Sermon Central
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You've Got To Earn This!
Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Nov 20, 2022 (message contributor)
Saving Private Ryan is one of the best World War II movies. Three out of four brothers are killed in action, and then a search is launched to find the fourth, Private James Ryan, so that he is not killed, leaving his mother childless. Eight men are sent out to find Private Ryan, who is missing somewhere in Normandy. As these men wander through the French countryside, they have a running dialogue of angst: “Why is the army risking the lives of eight men to save one?” Their anger and frustration only increases as they experience one life-threatening situation after another. Then, one evening, before they sack out for the night, Captain John Miller says to his sergeant: This Ryan better be worth it, he better do something important with his life, he better become a doctor and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something. Captain Miller hopes Private Ryan will be worthy of the risks that he and his men are taking to find him.
Eventually, Miller and his Rangers locate Ryan, but he is duty bound to stay and defend an important bridge from German forces. Miller agreed to join Ryan and his makeshift unit, but in the battle Miller and most of the men who came to find Ryan are killed. In the final moments before Captain Miller dies of his wounds, he says to Ryan in a law and shaky voice: “Earn this. Earn it.” In essence, Captain Miller is telling Ryan to live his life from that moment on in such a way that it is worthy of their sacrifices. At the end of the movie, an elderly Ryan is seen visiting the graveside of Captain Miller and the other Rangers who sacrificed everything for him. Turning to his wife, he says, “Tell me I’ve led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.” As the scene fades out you realize that Private James Ryan has lived his entire life with Captain Miller’s words echoing in his mind: “Earn this. Earn it.”
The end of the movie is powerful because it strikes a chord deep inside that many of us struggle with in our journey with Jesus. We often feel like we have to earn God’s love or do something that makes us deserve what Jesus went through on the cross. Yet these feelings contradict the clear teaching of the Bible that God’s love is unconditional and that our salvation is free. But we sure struggle with that, don’t we?
- Precept Austin
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