God Speaks To Me In The Movies (Part 1 - 300)

I am never ceased to be amazed at just how much Jesus speaks to me in the movies (and afterwards about the movie).
300 was a great epic, (although there were some dodgy scenes in the beginning)... I was so pleased I saw it on the big screen... it just wouldn't have been the same on my 22' tv at home!



There was heaps and heaps of lessons that I drew out of 300... but I'll stick with one for today:

I was amazed at a character called Ephialtes in the movie. In the film he is a hideously deformed, hunchbacked dwarf.
Ephialtes approaches King Leonidas, desperate to serve with him as the 300 Spartans face the hordes from Persia. He has alot of keenness to face those hordes... it has been his dream for so long.
The problem was however that Ephialtes could not raise his shield... and therefore he could not protect the man next to him. The Spartans were such great warriors because of this very fact... they worked together as a single unit (creating the Spartan phalanx)... each man responsible for the other... each man had the others back (theres a lesson right there!)
Because of this Ling Leonidas refused Ephialtes a position among the fighting men... although offering him a position to help removing the dead men off the battle field (a very important job - by the way - although not quite so glorious).
[Its like in church... host teams etc. aren't as glorious and glamorous as upfront ministry... but vitally important... in the Bible would say it is worthy of greater honour!
1Co 12:23-25 ESV (23) and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, (24) which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, (25) that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.]

Ephialtes who had declared his allegiance to the King, to Sparta and to Greece was so angry at this denial... his heart became so hardened and grieved... that he betrayed all!
We look at him with disgust and self righteous indignation. We feel nothing but contempt. We are disgusted.

But how do we respond when corrected, rebuked, or re-positioned?
How many people I have seen leave the church because they felt slighted... when they didn't like their positioning in the church... when they didn't like the changes they were told to make in their lives.
Their hearts hardened...
They spoke against their leadership and their church...
They pulled down Christ's church...
They left the church...
They never grew...
Some left the faith... some went to another church... only to go through it all again.
Heb 3:12-13 MSG (12) So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. (13) For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes. Pro 13:1 ESV (1) A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.



Hows your heart?
Are you happy serving in the position that you are in?
How do you react when you hear 'what you don't want to hear'?
How can we keep from becoming like Ephialtes... with a deformed heart?

I look forward to your comments : )