The Glory of God in a 38-7 Loss

Like most Vikings fans, last night I watched our hopes of Super Bowl glory fade away into a familiar void of despair.  It's happened so often in my lifetime that it has become a familiar feeling: the Vikings will do well during the regular season, and then dash themselves against the rocks in the playoffs.  Even my son, at the tender age of 10, chose to play Minecraft on the computer rather than watch the game because, according to him, "They're just going to lose."  Such is life as a Minnesota sports fan (actually, if you're looking for a bandwagon to jump onto, check out the Timberwolves, who are having a great season).

Last week's "Minneapolis Miracle" that led to a spectacular first-round win against the Saints was the stuff of legends.  I was pleasantly surprised by the commentary of several Vikings players last week who, after the improbable win, gave glory to God: "It's probably going to go down as the third best moment of my life," Case Keenum said, "behind giving my life to Jesus Christ and marrying my wife."  Keenum preceded that sentiment with a huge smile and said, "God is SO good!"

The first words out of Stefon Diggs' mouth were "Glory to God, because without him, nothing is possible, and I wouldn't be here."  I was glad to hear Keenum, Diggs, and several other players glorify God for what he has done in their lives.

But...there's a problem when we conflate God with professional sports, and that problem is when you get blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles 38-7 a week later.

After the "Minneapolis Miracle" took place, and after hearing from players like Keenum and Diggs, I couldn't help but wonder what the Christian players on the Saints team were thinking: were they giving glory to God after just losing what was possibly the biggest game of their lives?  Were they giving glory to God after their almost certain victory was snatched from their hands in a matter of mere seconds?  I doubt it.  There probably weren't very many "All glory to God!" exclamations in the Saints locker room.  I don't know for sure, but I would guess that the same was true of the Vikings locker room after yesterday's blowout loss.  Case Keenum and Stefon Diggs probably weren't thanking God for all that he had done for them.

That's the problem when we associate God's activity in our lives with only the good things that happen: we begin to see God as someone who is only active in our lives when life is going well.  Too often we think that God rewards us with good things in life, or that our life will be free from difficulty or painful football losses.  We forget that God is sovereign over all things - the wins and the losses.  God is not in the business of handing out football wins to those who give him the most glory.  The reality is that all glory goes to God whether you win or lose.

Have you ever prayed a prayer that goes like this? "God, if you (fill in the blank), then I will (fill in the blank)."  For some reason we are tempted to try to strike deals with God in order to get what we want, or to think that our good behavior will somehow garner his reward of a smooth, prosperous life.  But then, when things go wrong, we are also tempted to blame God, and we can't possibly see how he could be glorified in our disappointments and failures.

The reality is that the Bible never guarantees that true faith in God will lead to a pain-free life.  We live in a fallen world where suffering is unavoidable.  Sometimes the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper - that's just the way it is.  But not only is that the way it is, that is the way God has ordained to bring the most glory to himself.  It sounds counterintuitive, but that's what the Bible tells us: that God can even use our disappointments, failures, and suffering to bring about his good purposes for us.

Nobody knew this truth better than Joseph (Genesis 37-50).  Time after time, Joseph does the right thing and follows God, and as a reward he gets thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, and thrown into prison.  At every turn, Joseph does the right thing, yet God allows bad things to happen to him.  Compare that to how we often think that if we do the right thing, then good things will happen to us.  But that's simply not always the way it works in God's plan.  God is big enough and strong enough to even use our disappointments and failures and times of difficulty to accomplish his purposes.

Too many Christians have the false idea that if God is with us, then nothing bad will happen.  We have a tendency to think that God is with us during the good times, but not during the bad.  He's with us when we win the football game, but not when we lose.  We think of Bible verses like Romans 8.31 that say, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" as if they promise us a life without adversity.  But we leave out the verses that say we might experience suffering, famine, nakedness, peril, and many other obstacles (Romans 5.35-39).

We are tempted in the tough moments to question if God is with us, but the Bible assures us that he never leaves nor forsakes his people (Joshua 1.9, Deuteronomy 31.6, Hebrews 13.5).  Our hope is not in a God who keeps bad things from happening to us, but in a God who is with us in life and death, and who sees to it that nothing separates us from his love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8.38-39).  No suffering, no disappointment, no failures in our personal lives can remove us from the reach of his grace or disrupt his eternal plan.

Imagine for a moment that you are one of Jesus' disciples, standing at the foot of the cross.  All of your hopes and dreams are nailed up there on that cross.  There's absolutely no way that you could ever imagine something good coming from having your Savior nailed to a cross.  But that was not God's plan.  God's plan was to use the horror of the cross for good, and so he did.  In order to rise from the dead, Jesus had to die; in order for him to be exalted, he had to be brought low; in order for him to be vindicated, he had to suffer.

The difference-maker is that we know that God is sovereign over all aspects of our lives - even failure, disappointment, and suffering.  And God promises that he will use all things to carry out his plans and purposes, even those things that are very painful in the moment.  Your sadness and disappointment and pain are not in vain; they are not meaningless; God can and will use them to carry out his plan.

Let's face it: disappointments and failures are coming in your life.  Don't fall for a fake Christianity that says that God is not in those times, or that he can't or won't use them for your good.  You have a Savior who suffered before he lifted up, who died before he rose.  And he said that those who follow him would suffer like him.  But even in the midst of that disappointment and pain, we can rejoice because we know that God uses all things for his glory and our good.

So even if something hard happens in our lives, we can say with confidence and sincerity, "All glory to God!" because we know that he will use this difficult thing for exactly that purpose.  And not only that, but we have the promise from scripture that God will use difficult times for our good - to shape us more into the image of Jesus.

I Blew It

When it comes to sharing their faith, most Christians get nervous.  It's a difficult task to be sure.  After all, it's not easy to know exactly what to say or how to explain things or answer questions.  Plus a lot of Christians might feel they are being invasive or rude by sharing their faith with a stranger out of the blue.  We usually think that if someone wanted to know about our faith, they'd ask.

Other times people open the door and practically invite you to share the things of God with them.  I had one of those times today.  And I blew it.

A woman called the church office today and asked if we "did baptisms" at our church.  I must admit that the question caught me a bit off guard, so I answered hesitantly, almost questioning: "Yes?"

She then said, "Are you a non-denominational church?  I'm not sure what kind of church you are, whether you're Catholic, Presbyterian, or whatever."

"We're a Baptist church," I answered.

"Oh, OK," she said.  "I just need to get my son baptized."

By this time I had pretty much pieced together what she was driving at.  At first I didn't realize that she was not affiliated with our church in any way.  I didn't realize she was "baptism shopping."

"Uh, how old is your son?" I asked.

"He's seven months old," she responded.

"Oh.  Um, we don't baptize infants at our church.  Just children and adults who have professed faith in Jesus.  You'll need to contact a different church."

"OK, thanks," she said, and hung up the phone.

After I hung up the phone, I was still reeling a bit from what had just transpired in that short conversation, but I definitely knew on thing: "You blew it!"

What a perfect chance to share the gospel with someone!  Here was this woman, telling me that she was going to engage in a spiritual activity, and I had the chance to share with her the meaning of baptism, and why we believe it is performed on believers and not on infants.  I had a humongous foot in the door to open up a spiritual conversation with her, but what did I say?

"You'll need to contact a different church."

FAIL.

But this wasn't the only fail I've had recently in the evangelism department.  This past January Riverview participated in Project Home with another local church, in which we helped to provide emergency housing for those in need.  Here again, I had a golden opportunity to provide a reason for the hope that lies within me, but here again, I blew it.

As the Project Home "host" for the evening, I was instructed to tell the residents that their last chance for a smoke break was at 8:30 PM.  So at about 8:20 I went around and asked everyone if they smoked, and if so, they should take their last break now.  I found a couple people in the lounge area talking and asked, "Do you all smoke?"

"Yeah," one lady answered.  "Everybody here smokes.  You probably wouldn't know what that's like though, since you're a good Christian."

I then proceeded to tell her that no, I was in fact not a good Christian, and that's why I need Jesus.  I'm actually a very bad person with none of my own goodness, and that before God, I am a filthy sinner deserving God's judgment.  I have broken his law.  I have acted in ways that are an affront to God's nature and authority.  I deserve hell.  But God, being rich in mercy, even when we were dead in our trespasses, sent forth his Son to live a perfect and sinless life.  He took all of the sin that I had committed onto himself and paid the penalty that belonged to me by dying on a cross.  God crushed his own Son instead of me.  And Jesus proved he was God and that the sacrifice was sufficient by rising from the dead.  He has regenerated me and given me a new heart and new nature, so that now the sins that I once loved, I hate, and the things I once hated, I love.  So no, there is nothing good about me except the alien righteousness that was imputed to me through Christ so I can now come before God as clean and pure.

Actually, I didn't say any of that.  Instead, I gave a nervous chuckle and said they needed to take their last smoke break of the night, to which the woman and her companion said they already had.

I missed another opportunity to share the gospel that was served up to me on a tee.

If nothing else, these examples are good reminders for us to thank God that the eternal destinies of people do not rely on our efforts.  Instead, God is sovereign over how, when, and if people will hear and believe the gospel.  If it were all up to me saying the right words at the right time, then pretty much everyone would be damned to hell, because I'm flawed.  I don't make the most of opportunities, and I don't say the right things.  So praise God that he does his work even if and when I botch it and blow a chance to share the gospel with someone.  And it's also a good reminder to keep our eyes and ears open for every chance to share the good news.