In August 2008, the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, was published. It was written by a man named John Carlin. The book chronicles the efforts South African President Nelson Mandela to unite his nation after years of apartheid (Afrikaan for separateness). This legal racial segregation had been the law enforced by the minority whites of South Africa for nearly fifty years ( ). Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment at Robben Island for his activism against the policy, and had been an inmate there for 27 years prior to his release in February of In 1994, he was elected President of South Africa in the nation’s first multi-racial election. After election, he began the monumental task of national and international reconciliation.

Clint Eastwood’s movie “Invictus” is based on Carlin’s book. The movie tells the story of how the South African National Rugby team, the Springboks, tried to qualify for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

But the real story of the movie is how Mandela uses the team to inspire unity, hope, and national pride in the country. President Mandela excellently portrayed by Morgan Freeman. Actor Matt Damon plays “Francios Pienaar,” the team’s captain.

Early on, in the presidency and in the movie, Mandela realizes the importance of the team’s bid to qualify for the World Cup in uniting black and white South Africans. He invites “Pienaar” to the presidential office to elicit his help in the matter. It is this conversation that I want us to consider. Mandela: “What is your philosophy on leadership? How do you inspire your team to do their best?” Pienaar: “By example. I’ve always thought to lead by example, Sir.” Mandela: “Well, that is right. That is exactly right. But how to get them to be better than they think they can be? That is very difficult I find. Inspiration, perhaps? How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it is by using the work of others. On Robben Island, when things got very bad, I found inspiration in a poem.” Pienaar: “A poem?”

Mandela: “A Victorian poem. Just words- but, they helped me to stand when all I wanted to do was lie down......” The poem to which Mandela referred was “Invictus” by the English poet William Ernest Henley, The poem was originally untitled by its author. The title, Latin for “unconquered,” was added by Arthur Quiller-Couch when he included the poem in the The Oxford Book of Verse in “Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

(later in the same conversation) Mandela: (concerning inspiration he gained from a song everyone sang at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona) “It inspired me to come home and do better. It allowed me to expect more of myself.” “… We need inspiration, Francois, because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.” There were three things that really struck me from these quotes as needed in our struggle to be united with Christ: 1.The meaning of inspiration. 2.The need of inspiration. 3.The responsibility of inspiration. Let’s spend a few minutes considering these points from a biblical perspective that we might have spiritual hope and unity in and with Christ.

The meaning of “inspiration” In the NASV, the word inspiration appears only twice: in 2Tim.3:16, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” But here it is the Greek word, theopneustos, which literally means “God-breathed” and refers to the process by which the revelation came, cf. 1Cor.2: and in 2Cor.8:7, “But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. This is the kind of inspiration to which Mandela referred- the kind which allows us to “do better…to expect more of myself.”

The meaning of “inspiration” Please understand: The inspiration of God’s word is complete, Rev.22: It is fully capable of supplying all of our spiritual needs for information, 2Pet.1:3. It is God’s “perfect law of liberty” Jas.1:25. But our inspiration to “do better…and expect more of myself/ourselves” is an on-going process, cf. Phil.3: We must constantly be challenged- even inspired, to do more and become more in our service to the Lord, Luke 17:10; 2Tim.2:20-22ff. And we should constantly seek ways to inspire ourselves and others to greater service, Heb.10:24.

The need of “inspiration” I’m not sure I can clearly distinguish need from meaning here, but fear that we are rapidly becoming a people of low expectations for ourselves.  The desire and demand for excellence in the spiritual realm has been greatly diminished in the last few decades. Rather than expecting to overcome sin, we expect to fail. “We’re only human” has become our anthem rather than “We want to be like Jesus”! cf. 2Pet.1:2-4 >5ff, 11  We seek only to survive rather than thrive spiritually. This is not inspired living! cf. Rom.8:35-37 >  As Mandela told Pienaar (at least in the movie), “We need inspiration, Francois, because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.” If we expect little of ourselves, that is exactly what we will achieve, Matt.25:18,24-30!

The responsibility of “inspiration” Let me refresh your memory of the poem “Invictus” by Henley: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. Notice some keys words from the last lines of each verse: unconquerable soul unbowed head unafraid master; captain. Do you hear the determined responsibility of an inspired man? I do! And it challenges me to be so myself!

The responsibility of “inspiration” The great responsibility of being inspired to live up to God’s inspired Word is ours! Notice 1John 3:1-3 in this connection: We have been magnificently blessed by God’s love enabling us to be “children of God.” Shouldn’t that itself inspire us to live like His children- to “grow up into all aspects into Him”? cf. Eph.4:14 So why doesn’t it? Because we live uninspired lives- we don’t expect more of ourselves. Thus we don’t live with resolve to:  Have “unconquerable souls”, 1Cor.15:  Have heads “unbowed” to Satan and sin, cf. Daniel 3.  Be “unafraid”, cf. Matt.10:28; 1Pet.4:12-13; 2Pet.3:11-14; 1John 4:18.  Be “the captain of my soul”!

You can overcome your “imprisonment” of an uninspired life… And become the “captain of your soul”. You have the power, if you will but use it, Phil.2:12-13, “So then, my beloved…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” “Invictus”