“Christ Is A Great Savior”
February 25, 2007 7:28 pm
I hope y’all enjoyed the Amazing Grace movie last night. I thought it was a ton of fun to be in a movie theater with a couple hundred of my closest friends. And what a great movie! The casting, acting, production, and plot were all wonderful. But the content is what made it so worthwhile. A few reflections:
- Mark Mullery noted this morning the film did a fine job portraying the difference a single person can make in the government, the marketplace, or any other setting. In the service of God, all of our work is honorable, holy work. You don’t have to be working full time for the church or a missions organization to be serving God. God has called you to serve God where you are: in school, at work, on the soccer field, in the home.
- Furthermore, in Amazing Grace we saw how Wilberforce brought his faith into his work. Would he have endured his political opposition and personal trials without his faith in Jesus Christ? We don’t know, but we can say that his biblical, Christian sense of morality fueled his abolitionist tenacity. We must ask in the same way: what difference does the gospel make in our lives? Does the worth of Christ and a sense of urgency to proclaim his gospel and further his kingdom motivate your studies, your work, your evangelism? If not, why not? Remember Colossians 3:23-24.
The references to Wilberforce’s profound faith in God and love for Jesus Christ were few, but they are worth studying more thoroughly. I urge you to get and read Piper’s Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce, which is also the third chapter in his Roots of Endurance. You can read it online for free.- My favorite line came from the mouth of John Newton: “Although my memory is fading, I do remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
So what did you think of the movie?
17 Responses to ““Christ Is A Great Savior””
Amazing Grace is a great movie. Its hard to find a movie at the theater that will edify you. This one did.
That is also my favorate quote. Though I also liked the one where he said something like I didn’t find God, I believe he found me.
Bought the above book after church! Great stuff!
Raised in England, by a Yorkshireman, until I was 32, William Wilberforce (24) ‘the Yorkshire terrier’ was a great hero of school boys like Winston Churchill who also came back from oblivion and political defeat to lead the nation against Hitler with powerful speeches, like Wilberforce’s. Youngest British Prime Minister ever, serving for a total of twenty years, Pitt ‘the Younger’, NOT Prime Minister Pitt ‘the Elder’, his dad, died of alcoholism amongst other things (…did he get saved? His last words, “Oh my country!”) Did you know that Wilberforce also reformed education and prisons, and founded the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (R.S.P.C.A.)?
Hence the scene with the horse being beaten! My sister’s cat, Jake, was reported to the society because he attacked the postman and terrorized neighbors!
Encouraging for Students?
William Pitt the Younger, sickly as a boy, was educated at a private school by the Reverend Edward Wilson. An intelligent child, Pitt quickly became proficient in Spanish and Greek. In 1773, aged fourteen years, he attended the University of Cambridge, where he studied political philosophy, classics, the stock market, mathematics, chemistry, history and woodwork. In 1776, Pitt, plagued by poor health, took advantage of a little-used privilege available only to the sons of noblemen, and chose to graduate without having to pass examinations.
It was a GREAT movie! My family and I went yesterday afternoon (we got lost Saturday night), but it was still lots of fun! Well worth the wait!
That was an amazing movie! New fave.
I also liked that quote by John Newton. I was really impressed by how much of the movie was based on and talked about a Christian’s walk with God.
I think it was probably the best movie I’ve seen in a while! It was especially well-done, and I think they did a good job of portraying Wilberforce’s fight against slavery.
I read Piper’s biography on Wilberforce, and it was very interesting and encouraging to read about how this man changed England, not only in the slave trade, but also in various other reforms. And all of this in the face of extreme illness and physical problems! God really used this man to bring glory to His name!
i agree. i too left the theater edified by this man’s life and the work of God in him and through him.
thanks for doing this, steve, it was a great idea!
I just saw the movie this afternoon. It was very amazing and moving… Especially the parts with John Newton, in my opinion.
Another perspective I saw was God’s kindness & sovereignty in bringing Wilberforce a wife, a helper, to strengthen his resolve for such a noble cause at just the right time. I thought the entire experience of seeing such a movie speaking of God’s greatness with a theater-full of Believers was great. I only wish we all woulda broken out in song ..”Amaaaaazing Grace”. Thanks for the idea - lets do it again !
And… the last scene begs the question: how can you play Amazing Grace on anything other than a bagpipe?
It sounds really good on the harp too. That was the only thing I thought the movie was missing, the harp playing Amazing Grace (although they did have a harp in the background of a scene).
Ok, and we all have to agree that it sounds good on the tuba. Bagpipes, harp, tuba.
Cello anyone?
i agree with mr. burgos, it woulda been totally awesome, truly awesome, if we’d all broken out into song when they sang amazing grace. i wish we could go back and do that.
…well, at least when we all sing it at church the next time, it will be sung with even a much deeper feeling of thankfulness to our loving Savior (especially if Seita can find a bagpipe player, huh Steve? ). I also thought it was neat how the movie portrayed a blind John Newton saying he can now ’see’…how true since the Bible teaches that we shall walk by faith and not by sight.
Actually, Mr. Burgos, I believe Mr. Lewis is an accomplished bag piper!
What about piano?
Care to comment?