How to Share Your Faith Using Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Captain Jack is back! And in a big way! Expected to be the highest-grossing movie of the summer, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he tries to escape the consequences of the deal he made with the legendary Davy Jones. Years ago Captain Jack sold his soul to Davy Jones, now the blood debt is coming due. A doom of eternal damnation and servitude in the afterlife await him. In his efforts to escape the curse, Jack drags Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann into his wild and crazy adventure, ruining their wedding plans and generally wrecking havoc in creative new ways!
Colorful Captain Jack is Exhibit A in how to mess up your life with poor choices! Of course his biggest mistake was selling his soul to Davy Jones. As Christians, we realize that through faith our souls have been rescued from the evil one by Jesus - but all of us have friends whose ultimate destiny still hangs in the balance. Whether we like to think about it or not, we all know people who are unreached by Jesus' free gift of salvation and just like Captain Jack, they desperately need to find a way to escape. Moment by moment time is ticking by and the eternal destiny awaiting them draws closer. Are you doing what you can to share God's truth and grace with them?
And what about this whole 'selling your soul' thing - made so graphically vivid in Dead Man's Chest ? Few people consciously 'make a deal with the devil (or Davy Jones)', but unconsciously most of us find ourselves routinely compromising our principles as we face daily choices. As Christians, even as we've escaped the ultimate eternal consequences of our sin, we still often live in servitude to the things that we've come to idolize in this life - money and the stuff it buys, acceptance, popularity. So tempted as we are to shake our heads at the mess our favorite pirate finds himself in as a result of his poor choices, if we're honest, we'll acknowledge that we often live like we've sold-out to something less than what God's calling us to as His followers. When's the last time you made choices based on your wants and left God out of the picture? Probably about 5 minutes ago!
What's God calling you to? Matthew 6:33 says to "seek first His kingdom." The Message paraphrase puts it like this, "Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." Do you live like that? Most of us don't - and another way of putting it is that we are selling out for less than what God's calling us to.
Because Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest brushes up against the supernatural world and eternal destiny, consider using it as a conversation starter with your friends to initiate God-talk. Try exploring some of these types of questions with your unreached friends:
- Ask your friends if they believe in heaven and hell. What do they think gets them into one or the other when they die? Share what you believe about Jesus paying the price for our sin and giving us the free gift of eternal life. For help with this, check out the GOSPEL Journey.
- Do you think people can really 'sell their soul' in this life and have it result in eternal consequences in the next? Share what you believe.
- Are you living like you're a 'slave' to something that dominates your choices? Popularity, success, stuff?
- Ask your friends to tell you candidly what they think your priorities are, based on what they see of your choices from the outside. Do their observations match what you think is important? Are you living out what you believe about God's importance in your life? Is it apparent to others that you are seeking God first in your life? If not, ask your friends what they think would look different than it does now. CAUTION: Don't ask if you don't want to hear their honest observations.
Just like Jack Sparrow, we all make bad choices and need to be rescued from the consequences. Fortunately we have a God who specializes in rescuing us from eternal consequences! Pirates of the Caribbean is a fun piece of summer movie entertainment - cannibal tribes and all! But it can be more than that, if you want it to be.
Once again thrown into the world of the supernatural, Captain Jack Sparrow finds out that he owes a blood debt to the legendary Davey Jones, Captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman. With time running out, Jack must find a way out of his debt or else be doomed to eternal damnation and servitude in the afterlife. And as if this weren't enough, the Captain's problems manage to wreck the wedding plans of a certain Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who are forced to join Jack on yet another misadventure.
