Training Camp - Loki

In Marvel’s Avengers, Loki thinks he should be in charge of everything. He scares a bunch of people and says, “You were made to be ruled. It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. In the end, you will always kneel.”

Now, it’s pretty obvious he’s the bad guy. He tries to get people to bow down to him by scaring them! He shouldn’t be ruling over anybody!

…but what do you think about what he said? Are you made to be ruled? Were you designed to bow down to someone else?

Loki’s actually right in saying that we were made to be ruled! And we turn to all sorts of idols to rule us. Long ago, people bowed down to idols made of stone or wood. Today, we usually bow down to all sorts of different idols. We let them rule our lives and decide what we do! We love idols like money, or being liked, or getting our own way. We do whatever we can to get those things – they rule over us!

We weren’t made to go after those kinds of things. God made us for a very specific purpose:

⁶     [Jesus], being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

⁷     but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

⁸     And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

⁹     Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰    that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹    and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-10)

See, we were made to bow down – but not to a bad guy! We’re not made to worship a supervillain who’s mean to us! God created us to bow down to Jesus – but did you see? We bow down after he humbled himself for us. Look what he did! He went out and rescued us from our sins by dying for us first!

In Marvel’s Avengers, the Avengers beat Loki by, well, beating him up. Jesus defeated all our fake idols by proving he was better. He made us. He saved us by dying. And he came back from the dead! That’s way better than anything Loki ever did for anybody!

Jesus is better than all your idols, too, and he proves it by what he does. You were made to worship – but not worship some idol. You were made to worship Jesus – and that’s actually really awesome!

Discussion Questions:

1.       When Loki says, “You were made to be ruled,” how does that make you feel?

2.       When Jesus says, “You were made to worship me,” do you feel the same way?

3.       What are some idols that rule over you?

4.       How did Jesus prove that he’s a better person to rule over you than your idols?

How does Jesus rule over you today?