This Sunday we entered the third week of our sermon series for our middle school ministry called "Now Showing." Each week we are taking scenes from movies and using those to point to Jesus and what it looks like to follow him. Recently, Disney re-released Lion King and because of that I wanted to include that movie as a part of our series; the scene we used to teach was full of great lessons that are all throughout scripture.
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"You don't even know who you are."
When Rafiki is talking to Simba, Simba is at the point where he has no idea who he is supposed to be. Simba is in the mddle of an identity crisis. This is true of Simba in this scene, and it is often true of many of us as Christians. We may at times look at ourself and see ourself based on the friends we have, the sports we play, or for parents, the jobs that we have. Anytime that our identity is founded in something other than Jesus, we are in danger of not knowing who we are. How often would we describe ourselves simply as a child of God? By the love of Jesus, we have been adopted into the family of Christ and we can know exactly who we are, God's children.
"He's alive."
If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole Christian faith is dead. Our faith is not based alone on the fact that Jesus died on the cross, but also that he rose again 3 days later. The God we worship is a God that is alive. He conquered not only sin, but death and the power of the devil. Death couldn't stop Jesus!
"And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." - 1 Corinthians 15:14
"He lives in you."
In Rafiki's amusing conversation with Simba, he mentions that Mufasa continues to live on in Simba. As a Christian one of the things that I often take for granted is that God actually lives in me. When is the last time you thought about the fact that God lives inside of you? God is with you wherever you go, amidst the choices you make, and the things you say. As we live our life as Christians, the presence of God is living inside of us.
"Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst." - 1 Corinthians 3:16