Lessons from The Matrix

Posted On April 19, 2020

“Morpheus:  Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real?
What if you were unable to wake from that dream?”

The Matrix

In case you haven’t seen The Matrix, the premise of this movie is that humans have been enslaved by a race of machines who have imprisoned their minds inside a computer simulation called the Matrix. A few humans know the truth and have the ability to alter things inside this artificial reality. Because I am I sci-fi nerd, I love the style and cool visual effects of this movie. But I realized that some of the scenes also offer good illustrations of Christian ideas.

I should mention that The Matrix is rated R by the MPAA for sci-fi violence and brief language. Personally, this does not bother me because it’s not what I focus on when I’m watching a movie, but I know some are more sensitive to this. None of the clips I have included in this post have any bad language, but the the final clip shows a character being shot to death, which is a critical part of the scene and sets up what happens next.

As I said in my “About Me” page, I believe that God speaks through many sources in many ways, even if those speaking are not aware of it. Whether it’s considered “religious” or not, I view it all through a Christian lens. I love to read or watch anything that inspires wonder and figure out what I can learn from it. Here are some object lessons I found in The Matrix:

There Is No Spoon

“Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible.
Instead, only try to realize the truth . . . there is no spoon.
Then you will see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

The Matrix

In this clip, the main character Neo is taught that to perform an impossible task such as bending a spoon with his mind, he merely needs to realize the truth of his existence: he’s actually inside a computer simulation of reality. For me, this scene is a good example of how to deal with the problem of sin. In my own Christian walk I have often felt overwhelmed by how completely incapable I am of avoiding sin. No matter how hard I try, I can’t be good all the time. I really want to. I know that God wants me to live a holy life, but it seems like I always fail to live up to that. In fact, as Paul reminds us, it is impossible for any of us to do this.

“There is no one righteous, not even one . . .
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:10,23 NIV

Paul also says in Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death.” So this is a serious problem. C. S. Lewis explains how serious in Mere Christianity. He says that some of us seem to think that gazing at the perfect Goodness of God would be fun. But as sinners we need to think again. This would be the most dangerous thing we could do. We have made ourselves the enemy of that Goodness. So what are we supposed to do?

“It is after you have realized that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken the law and put yourself wrong with that Power — it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

As a Christian, I know that Jesus sacrificed Himself to atone for the sins of all mankind so that by God’s grace we are all saved from the punishment we deserve and are granted eternal life. So does that mean I’m off the hook? Since Christ has covered my sins with His blood, and it’s impossible for me to stop sinning, do I really need to worry about this so much? The short answer is yes.

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

Romans 6:1-2 NIV

God’s plan is that we “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13 NIV). In fact, Jesus Himself commanded: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48 NIV). Be perfect? Really? But that’s impossible! It’s at this point I realize I must be missing something. What I’m missing is the third Person in the Holy Trinity: the Holy Spirit.

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

John 14:26 NIV

In his book The Holy Spirit, the Rev. Billy Graham tells us that the only way we can produce godliness in our lives is through the Holy Spirit. Our own selfish natures are in opposition to God’s will. We cannot produce good fruit without the Spirit. In other words, it is impossible to become holy on our own. We need to realize the truth of our existence: only through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives can we develop Christlike character.

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature . . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.”

Galatians 5:16,22-23 NIV

I Know Kung Fu

“Neo: I know Kung Fu.”

The Matrix

So what exactly does it mean to live by the Spirit? What are supposed to do? Rev. Graham explains it this way:

“We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery. Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed. If we feed our spiritual lives and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us, He will have rule over us. If we starve our spiritual natures and instead feed the old, sinful nature, the flesh will dominate.”

Billy Graham, The Holy Spirit

Which one wins? The one I feed. This means that I need to give the Holy Spirit something to work with. Like Neo downloading knowledge of Kung Fu techniques straight into his brain, I need to fill my mind with “Spiritual Kung Fu” in order to be equipped to face the challenges ahead. Rev. Graham cites two Scripture passages which teach us how to do this. The first is Psalm 1, which instructs us to meditate on the Word of God:

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.”

Psalm 1:2-3 NIV

For me, this means making a conscious effort every day to spend time reading the Bible and really thinking about what is being revealed to me. I can’t just rush through a daily reading and move on. I have to give the Holy Spirit time to speak to me and show me how to apply what I’ve read to my life. I have to think about it throughout the day and take time to digest it. In other words, my goal is not just to read the Word, but to meditate on it day and night. Scripture writing helps me do this because I have to slow down and take the time to copy down the verses. Then I go back and underline or summarize whatever jumps out at me, trying to focus on it the rest of the day. The key is doing this prayerfully and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. This is part of His job. He will guide us and teach us what we need to know. In The Beginner’s Guide to Hearing God, James W. Goll calls the Holy Spirit our personal Tutor. I think this is the perfect description for the One sent to guide us into all truth.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

John 16:13 NIV

The second Scripture passage Rev. Graham refers to is in John 15, where Jesus describes Himself as a vine with us as the branches. Jesus instructs us how to bear much fruit:

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:4-5 NIV

Apart from Jesus, I can do nothing. I have to “remain” or “abide” in Him. What does this mean? Rev. Graham explains this as a command to have the closest possible relationship with Christ, letting nothing else interfere. To do this, he underscores the importance of being disciplined in prayer, Bible study, and Christian fellowship. In other words, pray, study the Scriptures, and go to church. Do these things faithfully. Don’t let anything else get in the way. I have to admit that while I fully understand this and completely agree, I have not always been faithful in putting these things at the top of my priority list. Then I wonder why I feel so overwhelmed by my life. When I remain connected to God, I find I have the strength to face whatever comes my way. I am at peace. There is a fairly common object lesson I’ve seen about walnuts and rice in a jar. If you fill the jar with rice and then try to put in the walnuts, they won’t fit. But if you put the walnuts in first and then pour in the rice, there’s room for everything. It’s a reminder to put God and His commands first every day; then you’ll find that you have room for everything else.

In Ephesians 4:1, Paul instructs each of us to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” When I read this I am reminded that I must train myself to be ready to do God’s work. While there are certainly things out of my control and things that only God can do, there is plenty that He commands me to do. First and foremost is to stay connected to Him. This is because He can’t give me any other instructions otherwise. So often I have lamented that I wish I had a burning bush in my backyard to tell me God’s purpose for my life. But I don’t need a burning bush. I have His Word to instruct me. I have the Holy Spirit to teach me. I have other believers to help me.

In The Beginner’s Guide to Hearing God James W. Goll describes ten practical tools for hearing God speak. Number four on the list is “Obey the Last Thing God Said.” Why would God give us new instructions if He’s waiting for us to complete the tasks He’s already given us? Reading this was a light bulb moment for me! Over and over He’s instructed me to pray without ceasing and study the Scriptures, but somehow I never found the time to make it a priority. But this is precisely how we communicate with Him. How can He possibly speak to me if I’m not listening? I also was ignoring the fact that the Holy Spirit is right there waiting to help me. Once I learned to quiet my mind and listen, I found that God is speaking to me in many ways, but mostly through Scripture. The more I “download” directly into my brain, the easier it is for me to hear Him. Then, armed with God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, I will be prepared to face whatever comes.

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Ephesians 6:13 NIV

Neo Means New

“Trinity: You can’t be dead. You can’t be, because I love you.”

The Matrix

Notice that there are actually two deaths of Neo in this clip: Neo’s residual self image in the matrix is shot to death by one of the enemy agents, and this causes the death of his body in the real world. I want to talk about both of these. First of all, let’s look at the death and resurrection of Neo in the real world. When Trinity, Neo’s love interest, realizes Neo’s body is showing no life signs, she kisses him and brings him back to life with a profession of her love for him. This is like what God has done for us. Because of His love, God saved us from death through His Son and sent the Holy Spirit to prepare us for eternal life. In essence, the Holy Trinity has said to us: “You can’t be dead, because I love You.”

“This is how God showed his love among us:
He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”

1 John 4:9 NIV

Now let’s talk about the other death, the death of Neo’s residual self image in the matrix. An earlier scene in the movie defines residual self image as “the mental projection of your digital self.” I want to use this as an example of our inner natures, which, as I mentioned earlier, are in conflict between spiritual and sinful. The Rev. Billy Graham said that whichever one we feed will be triumphant. C. S. Lewis takes it a step further. He doesn’t just say we need to starve our sinful nature, but we need to actually kill it. Only then can we fully live in the Spirit and find our true selves as image-bearers of Christ.

“Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. . . . I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

When Neo is resurrected as a new man in the matrix, he is more powerful than he ever was. Fighting the evil agents is easy for him. Things he could never do before are now no trouble at all. The same is true for us. When we try to hold on to our old selves, we are in constant conflict with what God wants us to be. We struggle, and doing good seems hard or even impossible for us to achieve. But when we let go and let our old sinful natures die, we can be reborn as amazing creatures! When we let Christ have control and let the Holy Spirit fill us, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:13 NLT

It’s kind of a running joke in my family that God speaks to me sometimes in unusual ways. He’s spoken to me through Scripture and hymns, but He’s also communicated using my car, with doo-wop song lyrics, and via science fiction movies. When I mentioned the topic of this post to my son-in-law, he said, “That is so you . . . a nerdy Christian blog!” I think the Holy Spirit uses whatever we give Him to work with, and I’ve given Him quite an assortment of things in my brain! Here’s a summary of what He taught me from The Matrix.

There Is No Spoon: Do not try to become holy on my own. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth . . . the Holy Spirit is the One who can make me “perfect” as Jesus commands.

I Know Kung Fu: To let the Holy Spirit do His work, I need to stay connected to God and fill my brain with Scripture. Through the disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and Christian fellowship, I prepare myself for whatever challenges I’m called to face.

Neo Means New: God’s plan for me is not that I become just a nicer person or a better person. He wants me to be a new person. Only by letting go of my old self and turning my life over to Christ will I become what I’m meant to be.

“Those who put themselves in His hands will become perfect, as He is perfect — perfect in love, wisdom, joy, beauty, and immortality.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

This is God’s plan for each one of us: to be made new so that we can be made perfect. I have included more Scripture passages below which reinforce some of the ideas we’ve examined. Below the image is a link to download a printer-friendly pdf version. There are longer passages for reading and shorter passages that can be used for Scripture writing. I hope they are helpful for keeping you connected to God so that He can do amazing things through you!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!”

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

References:

• Goll, James W. The Beginner’s Guide to Hearing God. Regal from Gospel Light, 2008.
• Graham, Billy. The Holy Spirit. Word Books, 1978.
• Lewis, C. S. “Mere Christianity.” The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics, Harper San Francisco of Harper Collins Publishers, 2007, pp. 1-177.
• The Matrix. Dir. The Wachowskis. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. Film.

Matrix featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay