How is Life more like that Classic Movie The Matrix than You Might Think?

I can’t believe it.  It’s been twenty years since it came out.  When I saw it, I thought.  This is such a cool movie.   Lots of other agreed.  It made almost half a billion at the box office.  It scored four academy awards.  Twenty years later, I still think it’s one of the coolest movies I’ve ever seen.  And this clip below may give you some idea of how cool this movie is.  See what you think or if you've seen it before, then simply enjoy! 

For those who don't know the movie, it tells a story of how evil supercomputers have taken over the world.  They have put human beings into this virtual reality world.  That way, they can use our bodies as batteries to keep up their evil computer ways, while we don’t have a clue.   The movie has these incredible special effects, slow-motion kung fu moves. 

But beyond all that, Christians, lots of Christians, got super excited about this movie.   Why?  They saw in this movie what had happened to them, what happens to everyone who gets the gospel.  And they were kinda right.  If you’ve truly experienced the gospel then this movie, The Matrix, has more to say to that experience then you might think.  How does an action movie with super computers and kung fu do that? In these words, God points the way.  Let’s listen and hear what God has to say.

Galatians 1:3-12

What the heck do the heroes in this movie, The Matrix. have in common with people who have experienced the gospel?   More than you think.   In “The Matrix”, when Neo, the character played by Keanu Reeves takes that red pill you just saw in that scene.  That red pill changes everything.  His whole perspective on himself, on the world around him changes radically.  He still walks around in that world.  But he knows.  He will never see himself or that world the same way again.   And when you experience the gospel, that happens to you.  In the words you just heard, God shows you how.

Right at the beginning you see the first way that the gospel changes you in one simple word, that word “called” as in:  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ.  

That word called may not seem all that significant because for us calling doesn’t have that much power.   If you’ve ever had kids or worked with them, you know that.   

Pretty much every morning, I have the job of getting my son, Patrick into the shower.   I shower first, and then I call him.   And I call, and I call, and I call, and finally, Patrick shows up.  I get it.  I behaved no differently.   As one person put it.  “A good way to prepare yourself for parenthood is to talk to rocks.  They have similar listening habits.” But it’s not just kids. 

In our lives calling doesn’t have that much power even with animals.   Heck, I might call my cat, but who knows if he’ll even show up.  Sometimes he does.  Sometimes he doesn’t.  And dogs aren’t much better.   The famed cowboy Will Rogers put it well.  “If you get to thinking you're a person of influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.”  We might call, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to come. 

But when you’ve experienced the gospel, you’ve experienced a call that does have power. It has in some strange way compelled you to come. That call doesn’t need to be some dramatic intervention to have power.

When I first started in ministry, I visited a young mom in the hospital.  I don’t remember why she was there, something relatively minor.   I didn’t even go because she belonged to the church.   The hospital had called because she had put down Presbyterian/Reformed on her intake form.  But when we visited, she did start attending the church.   She got more and more involved until one day she decided to join.

And as the elders, the church leaders, met with her, she shared her story.  She talked how she had grown up in a Reformed church in upstate New York, how she always enjoyed church.  But then her story took a turn.  She said.  “But ever since I started coming here I want to read and study the Bible so much.   I just find myself wanting to pray all the time.  I don’t know what is happening to me!”  And Lydia, this dignified Puerto-Rican preacher’s daughter, looked at her and said. “That’s conversion, honey! That’s what’s happening to you.”   The whole place cracked up. 

And if you’ve experienced the gospel, whether it happened dramatically or more like with that young mom, you know this.  Some power has acted on you.  That power has called to you in a way that has changed you.   You’re not the same person.   A power has intervened in your life.    

And why is that?  You know something.  Like Neo, you have discovered a truth, an insight, that changes everything, everything about how you see yourself and how you see the world. 

But here’s the strange thing, it’s easy to get the truth confused with something that’s not the truth at all.   They look the same but they’re not.  In fact, you can be active in churches for years and still not get it.    It’s easy to get the message confused.  After all, the Galatians did. That’s why Paul is writing them.  Folks have duped them with what Paul calls a perverted message, a twisted, inside out, version of the gospel.

Every now and then it happens.  I’m rushing to get ready in the morning.  I throw on my undershirt, and other clothes and off I go.   But then that night as get undressed, something seems a little off.  I realize, I had gone the whole day wearing my undershirt inside out.  Yet I had not noticed anything off at all.   The same thing happens when you experience the twisted gospel.  Except you don’t just go for a day with the message turned inside out.  You go for years like that.    

It’s been over twenty years ago, but I remember the scene like it was yesterday.  Two of the elders in the church I served on Long Island, Doris and John, were taking an evangelism course from me.   They were learning a simple way to explain the gospel to someone who was seeking.   I quickly laid out this gospel explanation and asked if they had any questions.  They just stared at me with the most puzzled expressions. 

Then one of them said.   I don’t think I’ve done that.   But I thought.  They were elders.  Heck, one of them served on the search team that brought me to the church.  He led our mission to El Salvador.   So, I explained it again.  And this time, they both looked at me and said.  “No, we haven’t done that.”   Stunned I asked. “What do you think the message of the gospel is?”  Basically, they said. 

 “Well, God wants us to do our best, and then God will see our sincere efforts and reward us.”  

They thought it was all about what they did for God.   But that night, they realized. The gospel had nothing to do with that at all.   It had everything to do what God had done for them.   Their doing had nothing to do with that at all.   So that night, two dedicated elders became Christians.   After decades of being in church, they finally got the message.            

And when you get the message, the real message, it does change everything.  You suddenly see the falseness in the world that has been there all along.   You realize as Paul puts it God has rescued you from this present evil age. 

In the Matrix, when Keanu Reeves’ character, Neo, takes that red pill, he realizes. The whole world he knows has been an elaborate lie.   It looks real, but it isn’t real at all.   Now we don’t live in a computer simulation, but have no doubt, most people are living in worlds, at least inside their heads, that are elaborate lies.   

People live thinking.  Oh, if I experience just enough pleasure or money or success or have a great family or a loving spouse or popularity or whatever, the list goes on and on.  Then I’ll know.   I have value.  I have worth.  I’ll be content.   But it never happens.   So, they go through life, living in this false world, and wonder why they sense something is always missing. It’s because something is.   They’re missing the truth.  They think they’re free, but they’re not at all.   They’re slaves to the lies. 

But when you see, the creator of the universe became one just like you.  When you see in Jesus this God gave up everything just to bring you home. You get it.  I already have ultimate value.   I already have love without end.   Then you see the world for what it is, a place filled with God’s love.  And once you see that world of love, you see how false all those other worlds are.  

And you know that not just because of some message.  You know that because in this message  you have come to know God not as a fact or idea, but as a person, someone who loves you like no other.   Close to 2000 years ago, an African Christian named Augustine described it well.

You called, You cried, You shattered my deafness,

You sparkled, You blazed, You drove away my blindness,

You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath and I pant for You.

I tasted and I hunger and thirst.

You touched me, and now I burn with longing for Your peace.

When you get the gospel, you get that.  You get Jesus.  Once you have Jesus, you never want to let him go.  Instead you want more.  Every day, you love talking with him.  You love his presence, his love, his utter faithfulness.   And if you feel that or even yearn to feel it, the gospel has taken hold of you.   Has the gospel done that?  Has it taken hold?  If not, make today the day you let it.