Monthly Archives: April 2014

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Thoughts on the movie Ragamuffin

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Last Friday, the Bradenton branch YMCA allowed us to host a showing of the movie Ragamuffin, the story of the late Christian musician Rich Mullins. Normally “Christian” movies are synonymous with “cheesiness” and bad acting. While the Ragamuffin actors may not ever see an Academy Award, I thought they did a fantastic job. Whereas with movies like Fireproof, you just have to give them a pass because its a “Christian” movie, I didn’t feel that at all with Ragamuffin. I could gladly show this movie to a non-Christian friend or neighbor and not be embarrassed.

While the acting was way beyond what I anticipated, the story-line gripped me and the honesty sucked me in. It was real. Rich was a real dude. He yelled at people, he was lonely, he was possessive, he cussed, and he drank. A lot.  The guy who wrote, “Sing praise to the Lord” and “Awesome God” had a drinking problem. He was a flawed human being, with feelings of emptiness, guilt, worthlessness despite a successful career in the music industry. As a fellow deeply flawed human being I resonated.

One takeaway from the film was the importance of a father’s love. Rich never felt loved by his dad. No matter how much he sought it, it just never came. And it stayed with him his entire life. His mother loved him, but his father’s love was as necessary as it was elusive. Dad’s matter. The words “I love you,” from a father are powerful and emancipating.

Still, we are reminded in this film, that we are not forever stuck in a bad-dad quagmire. An earthly dad’s love is not ultimate. While an earthly dad’s love is powerful, the gospel speaks hope of an even better Father. The journey is tough and slow, but the Christian can hear “I love you,” from the Ultimate Father. And that itself has the power to change.

Rich struggled his whole life. And so do we. The gospel is the power to save (Rom 1:16) us and change us, but it is first of all an announcement or proclamation that Jesus has already dealt with the problem of sin. We never stop struggling in this life. It might not be as visible as alcohol or drugs, though it just may be. The gospel is good news to all kinds of strugglers.

I think this film will make you cry. I cry way more now that I have three kids. I think with each one, I became more prone to this expression of emotion. I cried long before Rich died. And then when he did, I continued to cry, thankful for the dark room.

The most surreal experience was Rich’s brother Dave Mullins (who introduced the film and actually interviews the actor playing Rich in the film), standing next to me singing Rich’s song. I’m just a guy who knew little about Rich, yet was having trouble holding it together. And his brother who knew and loved Rich, was filled with joy, singing Rich’s song right next to me. Wow. Dave believed the gospel, and his singing called me to believe as well. Rich though he died, yet shall he live.

If you can’t find a showing on the tour, then you can purchase it in early May. I’m certain I will.

 

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The relational pre-requisite to deeper understanding of gospel

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At our last YMCA preview service I preached on one of our core values: gospel-centered. We looked at this passage from Colossians 2:1-5

“I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.”

Because I only have a limited amount of time, and I try to have one major point for each sermon, I wasn’t able to discuss the relational component of the passage. Instead I’ll be highlighting that core value this Sunday when I preach on Ecclesiastes 4. But one aspect of this passage that struck me was the relational prerequisite if folks want to get to a deeper understanding of the gospel.  For instance, Paul’s goal that the recipients of his letter “be encouraged in heart and united in love” was “so that they may have full riches of complete understanding.”

You cannot get very far in understanding the gospel without healthy Christian community. In fact, what this verse tells us is that a Christian community who doesn’t love each other well, will miss out on understanding the riches of the gospel. If they are not united in love, they will miss out on experiencing love from each other and experiencing the love of Christ. Divisive folk get a little relationship and consequently only experience a little of Christ. Not that He loves less, but we may experience His love less.

The final goal of Christian community is not Christian community but Christ. It’s not less than a community united by love, but a community that is growing in love of its Savior. You can have a community that loves each other and yet does not grow in love of Christ. Relationships are not a gospel substitute but should point you to the gospel. If you demand relationships to be the bottomless treasure that only the gospel is, you will be extremely disappointed. You’ll think something is wrong with the relationship. Yet the problem is that you have made the relationship the main thing. You will become frustrated and angry. Relationships should point us to Jesus, who is the “lovely source of true delight.” If your relationships point you to Jesus, you’ll find satisfaction in both relationships and in Christ. If you use Jesus as a means to get relationships, you’ll find satisfaction in neither. If you value church community more than Christ, you’ve reversed the order. Many people taste and experience the community of Christ before they experience Christ. That is beautiful and we should expect any missional oriented community to expect this. But it is never loving to leave people in such a place.

Personal gospel study and prayer is required but is not sufficient in itself to fathom depths of gospel. In other words, you can’t simply go off and study the bible and other helpful books by yourself, and expect to go all that deep into the gospel message. It’s like having one hand tied behind your back. If you’ve ever been in a good community group, you know that others bring out riches that you had forgotten or didn’t know existed. More often than not I walk away from teaching and leading a group with greater knowledge simply because I’ve listened to people give different answers to my questions than I had anticipated.