“Rocky” Theology

I’m still on my couch, watching perhaps one of the best movies of all times: Rocky III. Being the preacher that I am, I can’t just watch a movie. I’m constantly seeing different themes in the movie that can be translated into a sermon (or youth lesson) series, topic or illustration.

You know the premise of Rocky III, right? For those who are hazy, here it is quickly:

Rocky Balboa is the champion of the world. He beat Apollo Creed for the world title. He is then challenged by the newcomer Clubber Lang, played by the illustrious Mr. T. After avoiding him for months, the two finally meet in a showdown that ends in tragedy for Rocky. He is beat. Really, he is creamed by Clubber Lang. Defeated, Rocky falls from grace, depressed and angry with himself. But encouragement comes from an unlikely place: Apollo Creed, his old opponent. Creed pushes Rocky to get back on his feet and reclaim his title.

This idea got me thinking about how this relates to Christians. It’s easy to fall into Rocky’s mindset from earlier in the third movie. Rocky underestimates Clubber Lang. He thinks, “I’ve defeated other foes in the past; this guy won’t be any different”. Because of that thinking, he gets pummelled in the ring.

All of us, no matter what stage of our Christian walk we are in (new convert, renewed believer, age-old believer) can fall into this trap. We’ve seen victories in our lives and so we let our guard down.

But Ephesians 6:13 says: Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground (NIV).

We have to prepare ourselves now for coming battles. Former victories don’t mean we can slack off; it means we need to train harder. The time to prepare for coming adversities is now. If we wait, we’ll end up in the ring with our enemy bashing our faces in.

Like Mick and Creed, we a “Trainer” (Counselor, Helper, etc…) that will be with us every step of the way. In fact, our Trainer is in the ring with us, fighting right alongside of us. And our Trainer is telling us to prepare for the fight; to be ready when the time comes.  Then we will win the fight.

“Now, when we fought, you had that eye of the tiger, man; the edge! And now you gotta get it back, and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning”- Apollo Creed