April 2009 – Get Excited for Jesus

If you are a big sports fanatic, then there is a lot to be excited about during the month of April!   The NCAA Final Four Basketball championship will be played on April 6 th    (Go Tar heels!).   Major League baseball gets its season started (Go Rangers!).   The Stanley Cup playoffs will get going in late April as well as the NBA playoffs (Go Mavericks!).   For those who miss football, the NFL draft is in April and for some teams, Spring training.   I would be remiss if I did not mention that great tradition, the Master's golf tournament (Go Tiger!).

There certainly is a lot for the sports fan to be excited about, but I want to remind all of you men that there is something else happening that we should be equally, if not more, excited about; namely, the celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection!   I propose to you that Jesus' accomplishment at Calvary is far more worthy of our attention when you consider three things: the difficulty of His task, the enemy He defeated, and the durability of His victory.

I once listened to some sports commentators who were debating which sporting event is the most difficult.   They argued over which is harder to do: hit a major league fast ball, throw a touchdown pass in a playoff game, kick a game winning field goal, or hit a game winning three pointer. Personally, from casual observation it looks to me like the most difficult task in sports may be scoring a goal in a hockey game.   The discussion then went to whether it is harder to run a marathon or ride a bicycle in a road race.   If you know me very well, you know which one I believe is most difficult!  

Stop and consider that Jesus had to do much more than sink a putt, kick a field goal, or make a winning basket; He had to endure physical torture and then lay down His life on a cross!   There have been great efforts in sports history by athletes who endured pain and injury to accomplish victory for themselves or their teams, but nothing compares to the effort put forth by Jesus when He gave His life for us.   Hebrews 10:10 tells us, “…we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ …” I have seen basketball players give up their bodies to “take a charge”, and I have seen hockey players throw their bodies in front of a flying puck to stop a goal, and they have sometimes walked away with concussions or missing teeth.   Jesus' task was much more difficult.   He offered up His life, and the suffering He endured was no accident.   He offered Himself willingly in accordance with God's will.

Sometimes the greatness of a sports team is measured by the opponents they had to overcome.   Every year the debate goes on in college football over who belongs in the BCS championship games.   You will hear somebody say, “My team deserves a shot, they went undefeated.”   The answer always comes back, “They may be undefeated, but who have they played?”   Their record is diminished by the level of the opponents they defeated.

Go back to Hebrews 10:10 again.   “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ…”   To be sanctified means to be made clean, or holy.   In other words, before the death of Jesus Christ, we were all unholy and unclean.   Romans 5:8 says, “… while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”   Jesus had many opponents to overcome, the chief of which was “sin”.   In His death, he broke the dominion of sin over mankind, and He delivered us from the penalties of sin.   1 John also tells us that Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil,” and 1 Corinthians tells us that He defeated “death”.   Sin, the devil, and death are all three opponents that no man could dare face; yet Jesus defeated all three!

What is the greatest record in all of sports?   Which is the greatest team of all time?   What single game performance will be remembered for all time?   I am sure we could debate these questions for a while!   I remember as a child hearing Muhammad Ali proclaiming, “I am the greatest of all time!”   Many people believed that the records of Jack Nicholas would never be broken, but now it appears they will in fact be eclipsed by Tiger Woods.   Records are indeed made to be broken!

Take one last look at Hebrews 10:10.   There are three words at the end of the verse that I have not included in my quotations until now.   “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all .”   Those may be the most powerful three words in the New Testament, once for all !   The writer is telling his audience that not only did Jesus accomplish a most amazingly difficult task, and not only did He defeat a dominant opponent, but His accomplishment is unique and enduring for all time!   It will never be repeated.   It does not need to be repeated!   It was perfect and complete with lasting effects all the way to the present and forward into eternity.   As the song says, “the blood will never loose its power!”   Going a little further, Hebrews 10:12 says, “but He, having offered one sacrifice for all sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.”   Jesus offered up His body as one sacrifice, for all people, for all sins, for all time!   That's durability!

So, in this season of the year when there is a lot to be excited about, I encourage you to stop and think about what Jesus did for you and what that means to you personally.   Think about the difficulty of His task, the defeat of His opponents, and the durability of His victory.   It means a new relationship with God, a new identity as a child of God, a new purpose for living, and a new perspective on life events!   It also means a new ultimate destiny for those of us who trust in Him.   That's something I think we can, and should, get excited about!