Raiders of the Lost Ark with Paul McDonald and Britt Mooney
In week 2 of our summer blockbuster series, Paul McDonald and Britt Mooney celebrate the 40th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Like Indy, we are all treasure hunters. But what is the treasure we are chasing? Will it kill us if we get it? How do we find the treasure that will last? We discuss these questions and more.
Quotes
We have to learn what really matters.
God sends us warnings because He loves us, because He knows what we are pursuing will kill us.
We know the feeling of chasing a treasure that is always beyond our reach.
The deeper lie behind our pursuit of treasure is, “If I get this, I’ll be happy.” And that’s death. The truth is, “I need none of it.”
God plus nothing is still everything.
Temporary things cannot satisfy you. The real treasure is eternal things: the Word of God, and the souls of people.
God will use us seeking the wrong treasure to get us on a path to seeking the right treasure.
The truth of the gospel is that I no longer have to attain anything. With Christ, we’ve already won. I already have all things. I’m already loved. I’m already at peace. I’m already at rest. I already have all of those things. I don’t need to achieve or earn any of it. And now I can just love what really matters in life.
If I think that’s what I need to be happy, then I begin to resent it when I don’t have it.
There’s a difference between using people and valuing them.
Taking it seriously means understanding what’s really important.
In that moment, Indiana sacrificed his greatest desire to lay up treasures that will not die.
“They don’t know what they’ve got in there.” –Indy “Well I know what I’ve got right here.” –Marion
Wealth is the accumulation of things that money can’t buy.
Themes
Even when he gets a treasure, he loses it.
We live our lives with regret of lost treasure; or finding it, and it’s not what we thought it would be.
Indiana Jones has two fatal flaws: He is seeking the wrong treasure, and he doesn’t believe in the supernatural (what is unseen matters more than what is seen).
The movie has a contrast between what Indiana will do to save Marion versus what will he do to get the Ark. He doesn’t rescue Marion because it would jeopardize him finding the Ark.
We can fall into the trap of striving, chasing, working harder to find the treasure.
With God, I have everything I need.
The Ark of the Covenant won’t solve our problems, won’t fix the heart.
Marion and the Ark are intertwined and at some point Indiana will have to make a decision.
We fight from victory, not to achieve it.
We are created to be treasure hunters. We just need to pursue the right treasure.
We have a tendency to put God into a formula—if I give up this, then I’ll attain that.
We can’t pursue the treasure for what it will give us. That’s an empty treasure.
At the end of the movie, Indiana realizes his real treasure.
Finding the true treasure sets you free from the slavery to the false treasure.
Indiana sacrificed his treasure, what he held most dear, and the sacrifice saved him.
Sacrifice purifies us, moves us toward who we want to be.
Real worship of God is finding what He finds valuable (and that includes ourselves).
We need people around us to remind us of the treasure in us.
Resources
The Last Blockbuster documentary
Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” The Rewatchables podcast
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
Questions
What treasure are you chasing?
Where do you feel like, “If I get this (fill in the blank), then I’ll be happy.”?
What do you “need” for your satisfaction, your contentment?
What do you value? What is most important?
We spend a lot of time focusing on what we don’t have. What is the wealth you do you have?
Where do you feel like you should do more, where you haven’t done enough?
Who reminds you of the truth about your value?
Where do you feel like you lack?