Everyone deserves a participation Trophy

But it's not what your thinking...

 Some years ago my daughter played T-Ball, growing up playing sports I felt that it was important for her to learn to win graciously and when she lost to learn to work harder to improve and give it her all. She loved being on the field and cheering on her team...and the other team too. We quickly realized that maybe sports wasn't for her. At the end of the season all the teams got together and had a valley wide pizza party where everyone got a participation trophy. It's the proverbial thanks for showing up there's no reason they deserved one, they didn't do anything to earn it, if I remember correctly they didn't even keep score, and at that age I don't think they should, but to get a prize just for showing up? 

 

But that's not what this post is about. I want to share with you a couple of verses from the Bible that give us some insight why we all deserve a different kind of participation trophy.

2 Peter 1: 3-4 according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  (4) whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  (NKJV)

 

Did you see that? Let's go a little deeper...and dive in to

 

v 3. talks about a Divine power that has been given to us, it includes all things that are associated with life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him. Let's start with the Him, who is that? verse 2 tells that that He is Jesus. Let's look a little deeper here, we see that all things that pertain to life and godliness. You see when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are saying that we commit our living our life for Him and His glory. We no longer live for ourselves. We need to remember that it is not because of anything that we do but that redemption comes from Jesus alone. When we try to be godly on our own we can't it only comes from Jesus. He called us. The Bible says that He knew us before we were even born.

 

Let's now look at what has been given to us that allows us righteousness. Divine Power the word that was used in the Greek for Divine is Theios~ the meaning of this word is of Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the Father.  It is referring to our God, it's not saying that we're going to become gods but we get to participate in His power. Let's look at what happened when Jesus sent the disciples out. Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. The disciples of Jesus were able to do the same things He did, but that's not completely what Peter is referring to here, it's eternal. This divine power Peter is referring to is the same eternal life we receive when we follow Christ.

 

How does that sound? Salvation isn't just about fire insurance, what it is about is spending eternity with Jesus

 

Here is the good part. Verse 4 is where we learn how to get that participation trophy. Let me let you in on a little secret...it is FREE! We so often go through life trying to do things on our own, as Christians there are times that others will tell us that if we are not good or mess up that we will lose our salvation, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The first part of this verse confirms this, our salvation is granted by Jesus, it’s nothing that we can get apart from God. It is a promise as written in the Gospel of John 3:16-18.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

Being a Christian isn’t just about being a good person, that is a byproduct, but it is about being able to spend eternity with Christ, there are several things that happen when we accept Jesus as our Savior, the first thing is we get that participation trophy, that is the Divine nature that allows us to escape the corruption that our sin brings. The second is that when the time happens, we get to partake in the glory of a redeemed body and spend eternity with Jesus, I can tell you this I don’t want the alternative. I love that when we receive the divine nature that we are freed from the sin and corruption of sin in this world. 

 

In closing let’s review.

 

·      Divine Power-In all things

·      Called by Him-Who? Jesus

·      To what? His own glory and excellence

·      Who gave us our trophy? Jesus

·      Are we able to earn it? Nope, its free can’t do anything to get it and can’t do anything to lose it

·      What does it bring us? The ability to live in the new life that Jesus has given us freed from the bondage of sin and in the peace of God. That’s something that I want to shout from the rooftops!

 

Blessings,

 

Nick

 

 

The Day Before

Luke 23: 55-56

⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

 

This was the Friday that Jesus died, the curtain was torn in two. The sacrifice had been made, even the Roman centurion believed He was the Son of God. No one else was there watching Him as He was buried except Mary Magdalene, Jesus' mother Mary, Joseph of Arimathea who provided the tomb. They all knew where He was buried. What happens now? They went home and prepared the spices for his burial, this had to be done before the Sabbath, because God had commanded them to rest. Then comes the waiting day, you see Good Friday we celebrate that the ultimate sacrifice was made the penalty that had to have the shedding of blood which was usually made by a spotless lamb was made by the perfect Lamb of God. This is the now what day, God is still there He didn't disappear when Jesus died, He was silent, waiting on the perfect moment to fulfill all that He had promised.

 

 

Sometimes it's hard to wait, I'm sure Peter and the rest of Jesus's disciples didn't know what was to come. The day before has to be the hardest one, you're in the middle of waiting on the promise of God to be fulfilled and God is basically silent. Mark's gospel tells us who was there, that Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome showed up to anoint Jesus' body. They still didn't understand that He was going to rise again. Luke's gospel gives us a little more insight as to what happens, Luke 24 tells us that two men (angels) asked them "why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” back in Mark they specifically tell the women to tell the disciples and Peter. They then went and did just that, Peter sprinted to the tomb, why? He remembered what Jesus said, I'm sure it clicked, everything made sense. Those promises are fulfilled.

This is the same for us, we have those days where it seems like the worse thing in the world is happening and then silence, do we remember God's word in that He said he would provide? That He loves us and is always there? We need to remember that the promises of God always come to pass. He promised it and it will happen. It's that day before that is the hardest. But we have to remember that God will always fulfill His promises. Which is what we get to celebrate tomorrow.

He is Risen!