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Iron ManWeek #3
Ephesians 4:22-32 22
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, toput off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23
to be madenew in the attitude of your minds;
24
and to put on the new self, created to be likeGod in true righteousness and holiness.
25
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to yourneighbor, for we are all members of one body.
26
"In your anger do not sin"
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a
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: Donot let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27
and do not give the devil afoothold.
28
Those who have been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to sharewith those in need.
29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what ishelpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those wholisten.
30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed forthe day of redemption.
31
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling andslander, along with every form of malice.
32
Be kind and compassionate to oneanother, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Mixer1.) What is your name and what was your favorite partof the movie this week (or what things stuck out to youthis week)? Anything you didn’t like?2.)If you had an Iron Man suit, where would you go andwhat would you do there?Going Deeper1.)Reread Paul’s admonition to the church in Ephesus.Now look specifically at the council he gives in verse 28.Where do you see connection between this teaching andwhat Tony Stark is up to with Iron Man?
(Comment)
This whole thing in Ephesians is something I call
redemptive repurposing
. It’s the kingdom of God value of makingbeauty out of ugliness or order out of messiness. Here Paul tellsthose that are stealing to do more than just stop. Abstinenceisn’t good enough. Paul goes further to say that they must“repurpose” the use of their hands such that they now make(instead of take) and give away (instead of steal). It’s a beautifulmovement. This is kind of what Tony is doing (I say kind of because he
© Dixon Kinser 2009
 
doesn’t quite get there – see question 3). He is using the skills hehoned in the manufacturing of weapons and the generation of profit for himself and repurposing them. He has now created atechnology that he is using to destroy those weapons andprotect people. He realizes that what protects people is not thepresence of his weapons, but their destruction because thewarlords in the film are all vying for Stark Enterprise weapons.
2.)Consider this description of God’s dreams come truefor the world in Isaiah 2:4:
 He will judge between the nationsand will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowsharesand their spears into pruning hooks.Nation will not take up sword against nation,nor will they train for war anymore.
Reflect as a group on this scripture. Where do you seeredemptive repurposing happening here? (Weapons arerepurposed into farming implements – technology that bringsdeath is now technology that cultivates life).3.) Now compare this with the sequence when Iron Man fliesinto Gulmera, stops the terrorists, saves the innocent andblows up the Jericho missiles.
 
Why does Dixon contend (whichhe does) that this an un-satisfying sequence? Was justiceserved? Why do we see a vision here of Tony Stark almostgetting it right?
My take here is that while Tony’s motives are noble and his goal’s good(to promote peace by destroying weapons) but he does so by making aweapon of his own and matching might for might. In so doing hemisses the mark by kingdom of God standards because he is still usingweapons against weapons. He is remaking evil but being made in itsimage still. As a Christian I can’t be satisfied with this because it’s notgood enough. It’s justice of some kind, but not good enough justice.God’s justice is better. (Which is God’s total setting things to rights wesee a glimpse of in Isaiah 2).
4.) Do the film makers lead us to feel good, bad or indifferentabout the terrorists getting killed by Iron Man?
(I think they want
© Dixon Kinser 2009
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