God at the Movies - Wonder Woman 1984
God at the Movies • Sermon • Submitted
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Big Idea:
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Hello My name is Charlie Kae and I am the lead pastor here at Grace Empire. If this is your first, second, or third time here, I want to personally welcome you and thank you for joining us tonight.
Grace Empire’s vision is to restore hurt people through an intimate relationship with Jesus X.
Grace Empire was always meant to be a conversation not a presentation.
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We are in our summer series called God at the Movies. We are looking for God’s biggest truths in Hollywoods biggest films. For the next 4 weeks we will be looking at 4 blockbuster films and see if we can find an analogy of theology in there.
This week we are watching and talking about Wonder Woman 1984.
Okay so if you didnt know, it is impossible for me to do a sermon about Wonder Woman or any movie mind you without explaining and spoiling the whole movie. So if you havent had a chance to watch WW84 yet, then guess what, you are going to see parts of it today and this is going to spoil the movie for you. Sorry, but not sorry because this is what the series is about. Can’t really help it. So with all that said, lets watch the trailer and talk about the movie.
Check this trailer out.
Play movie trailer
Cool. Here is the plot summary from wikipedia.
A young Diana participates in an athletic event on Themyscira against older Amazons. After falling from her horse due to looking back at her opponents, Diana takes a shortcut and remounts, but misses a checkpoint. Antiope removes her from the competition, explaining anything worthwhile must be obtained honestly.
In 1984, Diana works at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. while secretly performing heroic deeds as Wonder Woman. New museum employee Barbara Minerva, a shy geologist and cryptozoologist, is barely seen by her co-workers, and comes to envy Diana. Later, the FBI asks the museum to identify stolen antiquities from a robbery that Wonder Woman recently foiled. Barbara and Diana notice one item, later identified as the Dreamstone, contains a Latin inscription claiming to grant the holder one wish.
Barbara wishes to become like Diana, but acquires the same superpowers, while Diana unknowingly wishes for her deceased lover Steve Trevor to be alive, resurrecting him in another man's body; the two are reunited at a Smithsonian gala. Failing businessman Maxwell, aka "Max Lord" tricks Barbara and steals the Dreamstone, hoping to use its power to save his bankrupt oil company. He wishes to "become" the stone and gains its wish-granting powers, becoming a wealthy and powerful figure who creates chaos and destruction as his powers trigger worldwide instability.
Barbara, Diana, and Steve discover that the Dreamstone was created by Dolos/Mendacius, the god of lies, also known as Duke of Deception. It grants a user's wish while exacting a toll unless they renounce the wish or destroy the stone. Although Diana's power and Barbara's humanity diminish, both are unwilling to renounce their wishes. Learning from the U.S. President of a satellite system that broadcasts signals globally, Max, whose powers are causing his body to deteriorate, plans to globally grant wishes to steal strength and life force from the viewers and regain his health. Diana and Steve confront him at the White House, but Barbara, now aligned with Max, defeats Diana, escaping with Max on Marine One. Steve convinces Diana to renounce her wish and let him go, restoring her strength and gaining an ability to fly.
Donning the armor of Amazon warrior Asteria, Diana flies to the satellite headquarters and again battles Barbara, who has transformed into a humanoid cheetah after wishing to become an apex predator. Following a brutal match, Diana tackles Barbara into a lake and electrocutes her, then pulls her out. She confronts Max and uses her Lasso of Truth to communicate with the world through him, persuading everyone to renounce their wishes. She then shows Max visions of his own unhappy childhood and of his son, Alistair, who is frantically searching for his father amid the chaos. Max renounces his wish and reunites with Alistair, and Barbara returns to normal. Wonder Woman saves the day and learns the power of contentment.
So lets start the movie, I’d like you to pay close attention to Max Lord, the guy on the commercial, and try to catch all that he is saying cause it will be important for the story and for our message today.
Scene 1: 11:09 - 16:50
The movie starts off with a line from the television personality, oil tycoon, and our primary antagonist of our story, Max Lord. Max Lord begins his commercial in an incredibly compelling matter and sets up the theme of todays message, he starts his commercial by saying, “life is good, but it can be better.” And this will be the crux of his sales pitch and it is a great one. He isn’t saying your life is bad or your life needs work, he’s saying…you have a good life. You got a nice car, a wonderful home, picturesque kids, and a instagramable marriage. You have friends, investment properties, a solid financial plan with Edward Jones, life is going pretty good…but check this, did you know that your life can be BETTER?
Generally, I like this word better because I am never content with okay or pretty good. I am always pushing to be better. I actually consider this one of my strengths. And although the search to better myself can be a good thing, it can also be a dangerous thing. Church I want to introduce you to better’s villainous twin sister, let’s call her envy.
And that is the real commodoty that Max Lord is selling. He isn’t just selling a way to make more money and riches he didn’t earn, he is selling the life you wish you had. The life that your neighbor has, your friend has, he is selling the life you envy and discontentment, jealousy, and covetousness are powerful emotions.
The bible has quite a few things to say about jealousy and envy.
Galatians 5:19-21 says that the signs of our sinful nature are many. It bulks envy and jealously right along side sins like idolatry, sorcery, anger, and division.
James says this about jealousy and envy.
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
Envy and jealously are powerful sins that exist inside every man and woman, but it is one of those things that we don’t pay much attention too. We are constantly trying to better ourselves. We work out to lose weight, we read self help books to help us be better fathers and mothers, we read books and listen to podcasts so that we can be smarter with our money, but it’s pretty rare for us to see envy and jealousy as a problem that we need to fix. Instead of seeing it as a problem, we use it as a tool to achieve more. More greatness, more power, more influence, and more life. But when you saying it like that, it doesn’t sound that appealing does it.
In the next scene we are introduced to the sweet, kind, but definitely dorky, gemologist Barbara Minerva, her budding friendship with Diana, and the discontentment in their hearts.
Scene 2 - 19:53 - 25:05; 29:07 - 30:13
You got to feel for these two women. On one hand you got Diana, I mean she’s Wonder Woman. She is cool, sexy, confident, and did I mention she totally kicks butt, but the girl lost the man that she loved over 70 years ago. Talk about not getting over someone. What does Diana want? What does she envy? Having someone to love.
And then you have Barbara, by all accounts, she has her doctorate and is working at the Smithsonian. It’s not like her life is bad, you know? But as Max Lord would say…life is good, but it could be better. And Barbara looks at Diana and thinks, I wish I could be like her. Her envy of what Diana appears to be is worthy of her attention and worthy of her envy.
We all look at life through a certain lens and we see people living a certain type of life and it makes us envious and jealous. Barbara doesn’t just want to be strong, sexy, and cool…she wants to be special. She wants to FEEL special and that is something everyone can relate too.
And both woman grab a hold of the dreamstone and make their wishes and here is where the problems will begin.
In the next scene, Diana has wished for her dead lover Steve to come back, and he does, but in a different body. In the meantime, Max Lord has stolen/borrowed the dreamstone and will transform into our main villain here.
Scene 3 - 44:23 - 48:00; 50:19 - 51:11; 55:47 - 58:57
I really like these scenes with Steve. I’m sure being transported 70 years into the future and being given a second chance at life would make anyone giddy, and it’s funny to watch the 80’s in hindsight, but Steve’s experiences is supposed to be a tight contrast from Diana and Barbara. The women have found their lives wanting, but Steve is different. He sees the beauty of the world and the wonder of life because that is who Steve is. Steve is a simple man with simple pleasures. He knows who he is, and what he was put on this planet to do. Steve has found a way to live contently, peacefully, and full of wonder. It’s something all of us want, even if we never articulated it that way.
Before we get to the next scene, we have to ask a very important question. What is this dreamstone and where did it come from? How does it have the power to grant wishes? Let’s watch and find out.
In scene 4, Diana and Steve are on the hunt for the dreamstone. Barbara has told them that Max has it and Diana and Steve go to his office in search for it.
Scene 4 - 1:03:25 - 1:05:41; 1:29:01 - 1:32:38
Ah so the stone is not so much a dreamstone, as it is a ruse for the god of lies to get what he wants. The stone grants your wish, but takes from you what is most valuable to you. So for Barbara, she gets to be strong, sexy, cool, and super powerful like Wonder Woman, but loses her warmth, kindness, and humanity. Diana gets her man, but at the cost of her powers, which is powered by truth.
The bible mentions a similar false god to the one mentioned in the movie. It is also a thief of what is most precious to us, our lives.
John 10:10 says,
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
We have a very real enemy in our lives. The bible gives this enemy many names, Satan, Day Star, Son of the Morning, the Anointed Cherub, the Devil, the Temper, the Father of Lies.
44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Envy leads our heroes down a path of destruction, a path that they unintentionally went down. But our Mayan friend Frank has given the heroes a simple answer. Just renounce your wish and your powers and humanity will be restored…but do they? Is it so easy for us to give up our aspirations and dreams that have been unintentionally fueled by envy and discontentment?
It takes a real hero to look into their own hearts and see their motives for what it really is. It takes a real hero to look into a heart of envy and root it out. But can I tell you something? If you can agree with me that that is hard, too hard even, then let me tell you, you are on the right track.
Because none of us are superheroes. We are regular people and regular people have regular strength. Sin is a super villain and cannot be defeated by regular people. We also need to harness our power from somewhere else. Like Diana said, her power doesn’t come from herself, her power comes from something greater, and in her case, it is truth.
We are not so far off. The bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. He helps us see into our hearts and shows us what is wrong with us.
7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
The Holy Spirit is the one with the power to show us the discontentment in our hearts. Without Him, it is difficult to see who we really are and how much we need an outside source to help us.
And what is this outside source? Well for Wonder Woman it was truth, and for us? Well it’s still truth but the difference for us is that “truth” isn’t a principle, truth is a person.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So what will our hero due? Will she give up the love of her life in order to save humanity? Lets find out.
In the next scene, Max who now has the ability to grant wishes at the cost of his own health. After Max grants wishes, he has the power to take for himself what he wants from the wisher. Max has found himself in the white house talking with the president as the world begins to fall apart because of the wishes granted by the stone. Let’s pick up from there.
Scene 5 - 1:43:24 - 1:53:08
What is it costing them indeed. What does our envy, discontentment, and jealousy cost us? What does our ambition driven by discontentment take from us? Where will we end up? How much will we have given and lost when the dust settles? Happiness is not about how much, its about how we spend our time and better yet, it’s about who we spend our time with.
So as we setup our last scene, Diana will choose truth over her lie even though it will cost her Steve. Then finally we will move into the final scene, where Max has used global satellites to telecast his wish making power to every person within range of a TV. The god of lies gets what he wants, a world of complete disorder and destruction. Let’s see what truth will do for Wonder Woman.
Scene 6 - 1:54:46 - 1:58:24; 2:12:57 - 2:20:11
In the end, Diana appeals to the goodness in people to save itself and this is where the movie and the Bible take two different paths. The story of Jesus, is the story of a God who sends humanity a rescuer, rather than a teacher because humanity is not in a position to save itself. Humanity is like a drowning man and God in his infinite wisdom and kindness did not throw the drowning man an instruction manual on how to swim. Instead he sent a hero to save that drowning man. In the end of the movie, wonder woman gives humanity a chance to be it’s own hero. Wonder Woman banks on the goodness of people to make the right decisions, and although this sounds all well and good, in reality, we all fall short. How many times have we had a chance to do good only for us to turn a blind eye, or specfically choose evil? I bet more times than we want to admit. But that is why God choose to send us a person rather than a principle to save us. God would send Jesus to be the hero that we cannot. God would send a rescuer to defeat the envy, the jealousy, and discontentment in every one of us. And how does he do it? By getting us to take the focus on ourselves, our own wants, our own desires, and surrendering those wants and desires to Him.
When we learn to surrender what we want for what He wants for us, we begin to see that we are more than enough in his eyes. Just like what Barbara wanted, we learn that we are special, not because we are better than others or because we have amassed more stuff than others, but because we are accepted into the family of God. Our special status is who we are as God’s children, not how good we look on tik tok.