May 31, 2008

God Chooses Losers (and that's a good thing for me)

The other day I was having a conversation with an area pastor, in which he lightheartedly disparaged my choice of Brazilian soccer teams. To be honest, I really don't follow the Brazilian leagues that much, but everybody has to have a team, so I picked Palmeiras.

It just so happens that the Palmeiras team is currently on the top of the heap. They won one of the many national championships, and are now rated as "best in Brazil". I mentioned that to my pastor friend, and he allowed as how that was true, but that one had to go by a team's record. And the recent history of the Palmeiras record is not that great. In fact, up until this most recent season, they could have easily been described by the word "losers".

I explained to my friend that this was simply following a pattern in my choice of teams to cheer for. For example, I was a Bills fan during all four Super Bowl attempts. When I moved to Florida, I rooted for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers way before their (one and only) championship win. And, believe it or not, there has always been a soft spot in my heart for the New Orleans Saints.

Let's face it, I like losers. And the reason I like them is because when the losers win, the glory is greater. My celebration when the Bucs won the Big One was intensified because of their history of losing. Someday when the Bills actually win the Superbowl, you can bet the city of Buffalo will be shut down for a week of partying, made greater by what the team and fans have been through during all these years of losing. The Saints...well...one can dream.

Hollywood movies reflect our desire to see the underdog triumph. "Do You Believe in Miracles", "Remember the Titans", "The Replacements"--all glory in the victory of losers.

As I bantered back and forth with my friend, it dawned on me that this is precisely why God chose me. And you. He chooses losers.

I Corinthians 1:27-28 sums it up nicely:

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and dispised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are...

So there you have it. God chose a bunch of despicable, weakling morons (that is the actual Greek word) for his "team".

This passage always brings to mind the painful images of my elementary years when two kids would be arbitrarily chosen to "pick teams" for kickball. All the "good players" would be chosen first, and then the second-tier players, until it got down to the last guy...which was usually yours truly. Then would begin the humiliating fight over "who has to take Andrew". (Seriously, who was the genius who thought "picking teams" was a good idea?)

Now, imagine with me for a moment that one day onto our playground were to walk The World's Best Kickball Player(tm). Of course he would be one of the "team captains". Then imagine that he were to start by choosing the biggest loser (that would be me) and then moving on up the loser scale, until he had a team made up completely of losers.

Of course, at this point people would wonder if he were actually The World's Best Kickball Player(tm). Some--if not most--would start to make fun of him. "Look at that team full of losers!" they would say.

But then The World's Best Kickball Player(tm) would give us all his techniques, show us all of his secrets. Not only that, but of course he would be responsible for all the key plays and assists in the game. And before you knew it, the Loser's Team would have won...something like 50 to 0.

There would be a stunned silence, followed by a bunch of losers in wild celebration. Of course we would recognize that our victory would have been impossible without The World's Best Kickball Player(tm), and we would grab him and parade him around the playground on our shoulders.

And most certainly The World's Best Kickball Player(tm) would get far more enjoyment and pleasure from having made a bunch of losers win than if he had picked the most talented players in the school.

I am convinced that this is EXACTLY why God chose me. Check out what verses 29 through 31 of the same chapter have to say:

...so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Did you catch that? Being a loser qualifies us for being chosen by God, which qualifies us for victory, which qualifies us for bragging rights...in the Lord!

Sometimes I like to imagine what the first few moments will be like when the Church finds itself in the presence of it's King. In my mind, it is beginning to look less like a church service and more like the end of a Super Bowl where the underdog team has won. The place will be going wild. The loser-turned-winner players (us) will be jumping around, hugging each other, shouting, crying and doing little victory dances. Then all eyes will turn to the One who is at once our Manager, Coach, and MVP (how's that for an analogy of the Trinity?) and the "stadium" will be rocked by wave upon wave of deafening cheers.

So go ahead...embrace it...you're a loser. I'm a loser. And God picks losers so His glory will be even greater.

Posted by Andrew at 5:54 PM // Comments: 6 //
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May 6, 2008

From the Treasury: Running Through a Troop

The schedule is hectic, the "to do" list is full unto overflowing, but let us take just a moment to reflect with Charles Spurgeon as he offers a meditation on Psalm 18:29 "For by thee I have run thorugh a troop; and by my God have a leaped over a wall."

Whether we meet the foe in the open field or leap upon them while they lurk behind the battlements of a city, we shall by God's grace defeat them in either case; if they hem us in with living legions, or environ us with stone walls, we shall with equal certainty obtain our liberty. Such feats we have already performed, hewing our way at a run through hosts of difficulties, and scaling impossibilities at a leap. God's warriors may expect to have a taste of every form of fighting, and much by the power of faith determine to quit themselves like men; but it behoves them to be very careful to lay all their laurels at Jehovah's feet, each on of them saying "by my God" have I wrought this valiant deed. Our spolia optima, the trophies of our conflicts, we hereby dedicate to teh God of Battles, and ascribe to him all glory and strength.

First, I love Spurgeon's imagery of us as warriors "hewing our way at a run" through the enemy. It conjures up scenes from Lord of the Rings or 300--except Spurgeon had never seen those. How easy it is for us in our western comfort to lose our grasp of the truth that we are indeed engaged in a fierce battle. The fact that the outcome of the battle is secure does not diminish in the least its fierceness.

But that is not the great preacher's main point. He (as well as the psalmist) is concerned with what we do after the victory has been won. Here the temptation is to look back with satisfaction on the battlefield--strewn with the bodies of our enemies--and take satisfaction in the victory. In doing this, we seal our defeat.

No matter how hard we have fought, no matter how much of our own blood we have shed, the victory is not ours. The victory belongs to Christ, who shed his blood on our behalf, and in doing so won the victory for us for all time. To him be all the glory and praise forever!

Posted by Andrew at 10:44 AM
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March 28, 2008

From The Treasury: Spurgeon Answers Dawkins

Well, considering the fact that Spurgeon lived about a century before his atheistic compatriot, perhaps the title should read "Spurgeon Anticipates Dawkins".

Whatever the case, his thoughts on Psalm 14 ("The fool hath said in his heart 'There is no God'") are quite relevant in light of the resurgence of atheism in Western culture.

He writes:

Such fools as those we are now dealing with are common to all time, and all counties; they grow without watering, and are found all the world over. The spread of mere intellectual enlightenment will not diminish their number, for since it is an affair of the heart, this folly and great learning will often dwell together. To answer skeptical cavillings will be labour lost until grace enters to make the mind willing to believe; fools can raise more objections in an hour than wise men can answer in seven years, indeed it is their mirth to set stools for wise men to stumble over.

Having thus described the problem, he prescribes a solution:

Let the preacher aim at the heart, and preach the all-conquering love of Jesus, and he will by God's grace win more doubters to the faith of the gospel than any hundred of the best reasoners who only direct their arguments to the head.

Apologetics has it's place, but the best arguments in the world are useless if the Holy Spirit does not illuminate the darkened heart.

Posted by Andrew at 6:04 PM // Comments: 2 //
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March 18, 2008

Late Night Apologetics

I am "burning the midnight oil" getting things ready for the upcoming ladies' retreat. It is a pleasant experience, however, because Tim Keller is keeping me company. The following video--which comes to this blog via Centuri0n, is well worth the time investment. Notice the graceful, humble way in which he debates matters of grave theological and eternal import.

Posted by Andrew at 12:41 AM
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March 17, 2008

Spitzer: The Brazilian Connection and Blaming Protestantism.

I have purposefully avoided any mention of the Spitzer case on this blog for a number of reasons. However, two articles which came across my "wire" this morning cannot go without comment.

First, there is a Brazilian connection. Somehow, I knew there was going to be a Brazilian connection. There usually is.

clipped from www.nydailynews.com Authorities want to speak to Brazilian madam about Eliot Spitzer: source Schwartz, who was convicted of running a high-end midtown brothel in 2006, told her family she was being deported and would arrive Saturday. Instead, she's stuck in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, N.J., awaiting deportation. A source close to Schwartz said she'd been told she would be deported and was packed and ready to leave. Then, the source said, authorities wanted to question her about disgraced Gov. Spitzer and another prostitution ring.

The second item related to "Spitzergate" has to do with an article that came to me via Reality is Out There--one of my regular reads in Brazilian blogland.

Apparently a scientist named David Fleischer has definitively fixed the blame for the whole mess. And the guilty partner? Why, Protestantism, of course!

The following is my translation from an article that appeared in Brazilian newssource Terra:

"The problem is with the protestant ethic of moralism. It is a heritage. Adultery is a taboo. Just like it was a taboo not to elect a catholic president for fear that he would be subservient to the Vatican."

Um...no. Eliot Spitzer is responsible for his own demise. Protestantism had nothing to do with it. If our Protestant heritage has anything to do with the outrage felt by the nation over the events, then I say "three cheers for the Protestant heritage!"

Now let's pull this whole thing together: I feel for Spitzer. I feel for his wife and I ache for his teenage kids, but I especially feel for Spitzer. Hard times are only made harder when you know that what is taking place is entirely your fault. My hope and prayer is that he and his family will find the healing, forgiveness, and victory that can ONLY be found in Christ. As Christians, none of us are in any position to be throwing stones. Instead, we should be on our knees in prayer for Spitzer, his family, our state (those of us who call NY home), our nation, our generation.

God can and will get glory to His name through these events. May it be through the conversion and radical transformation of those involved.

Ok...the subject is closed on this blog. I promise.

Posted by Andrew at 1:04 PM // Comments: 1 //
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