No More Pain

No More Pain

Dear Champions,

 

Below are small excerpts from Ted Headlee, who last night lost his wife, Kristin Headlee, to cancer.   Like myself, Ted works at McCallie, and Kristin was employed here too.

 

Monday, December 7:

 

This past Friday, Kristin began hospice care. 

Her condition degraded noticably the Friday before Thanksgiving, when work ended for Break. The timing was providential as it allowed me to care for her 24/7 over the following nine days. I'm not a big holiday guy, but this was one I'll treasure. Thank you, Lord.

Last Tuesday our appointment Thursday confirmed what we expected. As her oncologist, Dr. Graham, held her hand and leaned over to look her in the eyes to tell her how sorry he was to bring her the bad news, Kristin was still Kristin. She told him we were okay, and began consoling him, telling him that he shouldn't feel bad, that she knew he had done his best, and that she was grateful to have had him as her oncologist. "I couldn't have been better cared for," she assured him, and I agree.

 

Fast forward to Tuesday, December 15:

At 7:08 PM tonight our Kristin stood before God, forgiven and accepted--not on the basis of her good deeds (which were many) nor her own goodness (which was remarkable), but--solely by the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to her by faith.

Sometimes you just want to say it all in one sentence.

Her death came gradually, painlessly, and without struggle. Dying is hard work for the body, and the athlete in Kristin has been apparent over the past 72 hours. Her care team had not expected her to make it through the previous night.

All is well.

 

What Christmas is about is that Jesus entered our world of pain, so that we can live in eternity without any more pain.  Revelations 21:4 says He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Grace and Truth

Grace and Truth

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Steve Chesnee, and the scripture is John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

 

God says, "I am forgiving, but I never let sin go unpunished.  I am absolutely loving and absolutely just.  I am full of grace and truth.  I forgive everybody, and I refuse to let anything go unpunished."  And when you hear Him say that, you say, "That's impossible."  And yet God says, "Unless you understand how I can be both, you will never see My glory.  That is the essence of My glory."  It's only in understanding what Jesus has done does that glory come.

 

Do you want to see how much God hates your sin.  Look at the cross.  It's where His anger boils up and overflows.  But in the same breath, do you want to see how much God loves you.  Look back at the cross.  That's where God says, "I love you so much I will come, and I'll take your place.  I will send my precious son to absorb the full blow and full penalty that you deserve.  I'll take it on my own head."  Is God a God of justice?  You bet!  Look at the cross!  It's where His justice and His love come crashing together, but the crash is not on your head.  It's on Jesus!  You see, the cross is where God says, I love you this much! 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Taking Responsibility

Taking Responsibility

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is in the excerpt.  The verses below are after Adam and Eve sinned.  It's the beginning of mankind being irresponsible.

 

Genesis 3:8-12  Just after Adam and Eve sinned, the man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.   But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?".  He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid."  And God said, "Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Adam said, "Yes I did, and I take full responsibility for my actions.  Do with me as you will, but leave Eve out of this.  She is innocent."

 

Verse 12 is not in the Bible.  The world would be a different place if that is what Adam had said.  If only he had thrown himself down and said, "I'm here to protect and defend the reputation of my wife.  I take full responsibility for everything." 

 

Verse 12 actually says this.  The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."  I didn't ask for a woman, I didn't even know what a woman was.  There was just you and me and the animals.  It was a little lonely, but I was fine.  And then you took this rib out of me and you made this woman.  Look at the mess and the chaos that she has created.  God, this isn't my fault.  This is your fault and her fault.  So you guys work it out, and leave me out of it.  She gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.  Ultimately, I'm not responsible for all of this.  

 

Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?"  And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it.  It's not my fault either." 

 

Irresponsibility that leads to blame always creates conflict.  Where there is blame there is usually irresponsibility, shame and guilt.  Isn't it amazing and so rare when somebody steps up and says, "I'm to blame for what happened?  It may not all be my fault, but I'm responsible. 

 

Are we taking responsibility for our life, or are we blaming others or God?

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

He Took The Punishment

He Took The Punishment

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Steven Estes and Joni Eareckson Tada, and the Scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

"Son of Man (Jesus)!  Why have you behaved so?  You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped-murdered, envied, hated, lied.  You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten-fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed.  Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned!  Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name?  Have you ever held your razor tongue?  What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk-you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents.  Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons?  Does the list never end!  Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp-buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming pornography, accepting bribes.  You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves-relishing each morsel and bragging about it all.  I hate, loathe these things in you!  Disgust for everything about you consumes me!  Can you not feel my wrath?"

 

Of course the Son was innocent.  He was blamelessness itself.  The Father knew this.  But the divine pair had an agreement, and the unthinkable had to take place.  Jesus was treated on the Cross as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.

 

Reflect on the fact that Christ bore the punishment for your sins.  He took the punishment you deserved.  Do you feel His passionate and specific love for you?  He died for you.  He was condemned and cursed so that you could go free-He was forsaken by God so that you would never be forsaken (Hebrews 13:5).

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Patience

Patience

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is 2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The year after 911 I saw articles in the pages of the New York Times saying basically this:  "If there is a God, considering all the horrible things that have happened in the last year, shouldn't we be mad at Him?" 

In the late 90's I never saw anybody saying, "If there is a God, in light of all the prosperity we're experiencing, shouldn't we get down on our knees and praise His holy name?"  Somehow I never saw those articles in the New York Times.  

It works corporately the way it works individually.   Things that God did 30 minutes ago feels like 30 years ago in our hearts.  Disappointments we've had 30 years ago feel like 30 minutes ago in our hearts, and that is the way we all are.  Because of that we're always freaking out because we do not have a bird's eye perspective showing that God is continually being patient with us.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

The Cornerstone

The Cornerstone

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller and the Scripture is 1 Peter 2:6 See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him (Jesus) will never be put to shame.

The cornerstone is your foundation.  The cornerstone of a building is the thing on which everything rested.  If the cornerstone was unsteady in any way, the whole building trembled. 

I remember talking years ago to a counselor at an Ivey League School, and she said that what is interesting is that everybody who comes to an Ivey League School made A's where they came from and somebody is going to get B's, somebody is going to get C's and a lot of them showed up on my couch.  She said that it is one thing to want good grades, but it's another thing to basically build your identity on the idea that I am smart.  When the cornerstone shakes, then the whole life shakes. 

A lot of athletes start to feel good about themselves until they retire and very often their life falls apart.   It's great to want to be an athlete, but it's another thing to build your identity on it. 

The one who puts their trust in Him will never be put to shame.  If you build your life on any other cornerstone, you will be put to shame.  You'll feel like a failure,  and you'll be shaken to the roots.  You'll feel like you don't have a self.  You have to recognize that you do have a cornerstone, and Jesus has to become precious to you. 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Thy Will Be Done

Thy Will Be Done

 

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Romans 1:22-24 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

To those who object to the doctrine of hell C.S. Lewis asked several questions.  What are you asking God to do?  Wipe out all past sins?  He did so on the cross. To forgive them? They will not ask for forgiveness. To leave them alone? Alas, that is what He must do.

 

Lewis points out the truth of Romans 1 – God gives people what they want.  Do you want to be your own person and live without God?  He will let you. Hell is a monument to human freedom.

 

There are two kinds of people.  There are those who say to God, Thy will be done, and those to whom God says, thy will be done.  It is such hell because it is a self choice. Most people have a bad view of hell – people in a pit trying to get out and God laughs and closes the lid to keep them in. Not so. No one in hell is saying let me out because God gives them up to THEIR desires.

 

2 Peter 3:9 . . . The Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  We serve a God that would rather die for us than to live without us.

Trust Him

Trust Him

 

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is 2 Peter 3:8-9 . . . With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

 

In the book of Genesis God takes Abraham aside and makes a promise to him.  He says, "Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.  Through one of your descendants I will save and bless the world."  And when Mary was told that she would give birth to the Messiah, God had fulfilled His promise to His servant, Abraham, but it took centuries.  God always fulfills His promises but never at the time and way you expect.

 

The Israelites had all expected a Messiah, but a lot of them had given up.  It had been four hundred years since there was even a prophet in Israel, let alone a Messiah.   Most that were still expecting a Messiah did not expect their king to be born in a feed trough.  Even though God seemed to be absolutely away without leave, He was working.  In a sense, God is saying that even though I do not come through with My promises at the time or the way you expect, I always come through.  You can trust me. 

 

You don't have to take matters into your own hands.    God comes to Abraham and says, "Abraham, I'm going to give you a son through Sarah."  But you know what, God doesn't seem to be coming through, so what does Abraham do?  He says, I guess I'll just have to take matters into my own hands.  He sleeps with Hagar.  God promises  to take care of you, to love you, to work all things out for your good in your life, but it never seems to happen in the time or in the way you want.  Trust His promises and try not to step into the role of God.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Collisioins Help Us To See

Collisions Help Us To See

The short excerpt is by Ron Hutchcraft, and the scripture is in the excerpt.

One day a person went to the mall to get in shape by walking, and he actually made the national news.  He must have looked away for a moment, because he walked full-speed into a metal pole in the middle of the mall. The man had not had any sight in his left eye for years. Suddenly, after running into that pole, he sees light in that eye. That collision turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him! It suddenly helped him see.

Job's name is associated with human suffering. He symbolizes suffering probably more than anybody else in all the literature in the world. He really had some painful collisions in his life. He lost his wealth, health, and children.

Job 42:5; his final conclusion on the really hard things he had run into. He says this to God, 'My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You.' Job says, 'I can now see God as I never saw him before because of the pain I've been through.' Before he ran into those awful losses he knew a lot about God. Because of running into those ordeals, he says now he really knows God.

Actually, that's been the experience of so many hurting people over the years. They ran into something hard, but the collision was what helped them to be able to see things they had missed before like that man at the mall.  When we run into something we can't fix or control, we begin to consider 'Who can I turn to? I am not enough.' At that moment God uses that to open our eyes to a man named Jesus, whose love was proven by His death for your sin on the cross. And He's ready to walk into your life today.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Grace

Grace

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt this week is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture verse is Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

 

Grace is an undeserved favor or gift.  It is the undeserved forgiveness, kindness and mercy that God gives us.  Redemption is the act of being bought back.

 

It's alright for Christians to be persecuted, but Christians should never be persecutors.   When you become a persecutor or condemn people because they're not believing, that is the moment you have stopped understanding that you're saved by grace.   The person that you're talking to with the gospel could easily be a better and more moral person with better character than you.  Your salvation has nothing to do with how good a person you are.  Jesus Christ says, " It doesn't matter your performance.  I don't rejoice in what you've done.  I rejoice in who you are in Me.  You're absolutely secure and accepted."

 

Religion says, "I give God a record of righteousness, and then God owes me blessing."  But the gospel says, "God through Jesus Christ has given me a perfect record of righteousness which I receive by faith, and now I live for him." 

 

Have a great week!-David Vining

 

It Was All About Compassion

It Was All About Compassion

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is John 8:3-5,7,9-11 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Jesus' tone was not condemning.  It was all about compassion.  He urged her to leave her life of sin because Jesus knew that every sin comes prepackaged with a penalty.  Every time you sin something dies. 

 

Sin kills things.  Over time it will kill your conscious.  There are things that don't even bother you that used to bother you, and there is something in you that says that it should bother you.  Sin will ultimately kill your mind, your body, your self-respect and your relationships.  Sin for some of you has killed a family, a marriage, a relationship between you and your father or between you and one of your children.  Sin has the power to kill an entire culture, so Jesus urges her to sin not and to leave her life of sin.  I don't need to punish or condemn you.  Your sin has already punished and hurt you and destroyed your reputation in the community.  The consequences of sin is the reason Jesus urges her to leave her life of sin.  The message of Jesus is that when you sin you break God's heart because God knows that sin will eventually break you. 

 

A little while later Jesus would die for her adultery, and He would die for your adultery.  He would die for all of her sin, and He would die for all of your sin.  The reason that we know that his tone is one of urging and compassion rather than condemning is this.  When someone is willing to die for you, you never have to question where you stand with them.

 

Leave your life of sin not because God will get you, but because sin will get you.  Jesus died for you because He loves you.  The consequences of sin is the reason why Jesus urges you to leave your life of sin.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

I Am a God of Grace

I Am a God of Grace

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller of New York City, and the scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:14-15  For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

 

God had come to Abraham and said, "I'm going to save the world through one of your descendants." That means that in every generation, one person will bear the messianic seed.  "My salvation will come into the world through one member of everyone in your generation."  But look at how God does it. 

 

Here's Abram, and look at the women by his side.  Here's Sarai who is old and barren, and here is Hagar who is beautiful and fertile.  God blesses the world through Sarai.  Go to the next generation.  Here's Essau who is ruddy, handsome, big, macho, athletic, charismatic, dynamic, and a leader, but instead God saves through Jacob.  Then go down a little further.  Here's Rachael, and here's Leah.  Rachael is beautiful and the apple of Jacob's eye.  Leah is homely, marginal, rejected, and unwanted, and God comes to Leah and gives her Judah, the ancestor of Jesus.  Leah becomes the mother of Jesus.  Are you getting this?  The Leah's, the marginal, the outsider, the weak, the failure, is always the mother of Jesus.  Let's keep going.  Look at all of the nations of the world that God could choose to bring in salvation and truth.  What does He do?  He chooses Israel.  Why?  It has no economic clout, no natural resources, and no military power.

 

Why does God do it that way?  Why does He always choose the poor, the marginal, the outsider, never the religious, never the insider, and never the upstanding?  Why?  Because He is a God of grace, and the world doesn't believe that.  He has to over and over again hit the world over the head.  "I am a God of grace, and salvation comes not by you but by me.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

He Submitted First

He Submitted First

 Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is Matthew 1:20-21 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Jesus is the first person ever born who is older than His parents.   One of the most interesting things about the birth of Jesus is that the parents are not allowed to name the child.  Parents are always allowed to give their baby its name because they are older, and they are in charge.  What the angel is trying to say is that you don't manage Him, He manages you.  

I know all kinds of people who say, "I'd like to become a Christian, but does that mean that I have to drop my girlfriend because she is not real big on faith?  Does this mean that I'm going to have to spend less money on myself because I really like this and that sort of activity?  I'd like to become a Christian, but do I have to do this and this and this?" 

 

Here's what they are saying.  "I'd like to give God the Lordship of my life as long as I can stay in control."  Ultimately, at some point you're going to have to say, "I don't even know what it's going to bring into my life, but I give up the Lordship and control of my life.  I am no longer the Lord of my own life, I am the servant." 

 

Don't say to me, "Well I've tried, and I can't believe," when ultimately you're not willing to do that.  The only thing that leads you to do that is when you see that He gave Himself away for you first.  I don't know of what other kind of God that you could submit to.  You have a God who has already submitted to you.  No other religion gives you a god like that. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Nothing in My Hands I Bring

Nothing in My Hands I Bring

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Blessed are the poor in Spirit means that the gospel will come to you only if you get rid of your middle class Spirit and become poor in Spirit.  Religion is middle class.  It appeals to the people who say, "I can do it if I work hard enough."  But the gospel only comes into the lives of those who are poor in Spirit and say, "I have absolutely nothing of value to give you.   I need to rely completely on the grace of Jesus Christ."

If you are middle class in Spirit, you'll love religion.   Religion says, Try hard, live nobly, be good, be tolerant, and give money to the poor.  The religious person says, "I can do it!  I can summons up all of my strength.  I'm going to turn over a new leaf, and I'm going to start living like this."  The gospel, however, is not religion.  The gospel says that no one is good, not one (Romans 3:10).  There is nothing in your heart that is good.  Even your good deeds have been done to feel superior to other people and to try and get control and leverage over God to get Him to owe you.   Even your best deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  You're filled with self-righteousness, and you are no better than the person who has lived an immoral life.  There is no love of God in your heart, and there is only one hope. 

The hope-Jesus Christ, the rich one, became poor.  Jesus Christ, the king, became a poor man.  Here is a man who is rejected and who dies naked.  He is buried in a borrowed grave.  Only because He died for you and your sins and then rose from the grave do you have any hope.  You have no merits (works) to offer Him.  When you come to God you must come and say, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling."  You must not come saying, "I have lived a pretty good life, and you owe me."  Instead, you have to say, "You have every right to send me to Hell, but I want your mercy because of what Jesus Christ did."

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

 

Are We A Magnet Or An Excuse

Are We A Magnet Or An Excuse

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Ron Hutchcraft, and he Scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:20. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. . .

There he was in the homes of some ten million Americans every night - NBC's TV news anchorman. The voice that millions trust, or did trust. The most experienced, most watched anchorman in the country facing the worst possible question, "Can we believe him?"

Because of dramatic stories that he told about his assignments in the Middle East and during Hurricane Katrina; except in different tellings, there were different accounts. Accounts challenged by people who actually were there. So an anchorman had lost the one thing that a man with that kind of influence really can't do without - trust.

When you're the one responsible to report the Ultimate Story - God's Story - there's one thing you can't afford to lose - trust - because your life doesn't back it up. A person has to first trust the messenger usually before they will trust the message. So most people who come to Jesus do it because of a Christian they know. And most people who reject Jesus do it because of a Christian they know.

Your life, my life is either a magnet that attracts a lost person to Jesus, or it's an excuse for them to walk away from Him. In so doing, to walk possibly into an eternity without Him. So, I really need to constantly ask myself, "Is my life backing up the message? What is there in my life, what is there in the way I talk, what is there in the way I treat people, what is there in my attitude that contradicts what Jesus is like?"

And if I've lost their trust by my hypocrisy, I need to seek their forgiveness. Because I failed to show them how real Jesus is. I want to be a reason for people to trust Jesus, because they could trust me.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

We Worship Something

We Worship Something

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is the first commandment found in Exodus.  The Ten Commandments were written for people that were already believers because they trusted God by sprinkling the blood of the lamb over their doorposts.  God then passed over those home, the Egyptian firstborn sons were not so fortunate.

 

The problem with our heart is not our ordinary desire for bad things, but it is our over desire for good things.  It comes from idolatry.  Kill off the over desires in our heart which are caused by idolatry.  Exodus 20, the first commandment says, I am the Lord thy God.  Thou shalt not have no other gods before me.  Either you worship the true God, or you worship some other finite thing as a god. 

 

Notice that the one thing that is not possible is to have no god.  You are either going to worship God, or you are going to worship something as god.  It is impossible for the human heart not to worship anything and not to have any god.  Lots of people say, "I'm not religious, and I don't worship."  That may be true in the formal sense, but basically there is no such person.  Everybody lives for something that is the basis for your joy and ultimate value.  Whatever that something is, spiritually, it is your life.

 

What is there in my life -- what relationship, what condition, what thing – that if I lost it would make me not want to live?  Whatever that is, it is your life.  You have put into its hands the power of life and death over you.  It's your real Master and Savior and your real worship.  

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

When I Am Irresponsible

When I am Irresponsible

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt was written by me and was sent to my middle school tennis players and their parents last night.  The scripture is Luke 12:48 . . . From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

 

When I am irresponsible, someone else has to pay the price.  When you are irresponsible, someone else has to pay the price. 

 

Today we left out 13 tennis balls on courts 1 and 2.  I had assumed that we had picked them all up.  Two high school players were playing on court 2 when I left practice.  On Monday of this week they had left quite a few balls out on those courts, and I informed Coach Voges who made them go back and pick them up.  Today as I walked by I reminded them again to pick up all of the tennis balls when they were finished.

 

After those two players finished and went down to courts 5 and 6 with the other varsity players, they only picked up the 3 balls that they brought up there.  When I walked back by courts 1 and 2, I went and picked up 13 tennis balls.  I was slightly angered.  I didn't handle it well, and I made a scene with those two high school players.   Both of those guys played 3 years for me in the middle school, and I really love them and think the world of them.  When I asked them why they didn't pick up those balls, one responded and said, "Those were the middle school players' balls."

 

I was disappointed on two levels.  I was disappointed in our current team that was irresponsible.   Whoever is given much, much is expected.  We are given so much by getting to go to McCallie, yet we have an entitlement issue when we are too lazy to pick up after ourselves.  I was also disappointed in our former middle school players that would not cover for our irresponsibility.  The mindset that those balls were the middle school players' tennis balls is also an entitlement issue.  I thought those were McCallie's tennis balls, and I thought all of us were on the same team and wanted to take care of what we had been given.  

 

I cannot tell you how many tennis balls that I have picked up at McCallie that I did not leave out.  I cannot tell you how much trash that I have picked up that I did not leave on the courts.  Every person on the middle school and high school team should take pride about our facilities and look to pick up all of our tennis balls and trash.   We have been given much, and we need to be a good steward of what God has given us.

 

When I am irresponsible, someone else has to pay the price.  When you are irresponsible, someone else has to pay the price.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Only Through The Work Of Jesus

Only Through The Work Of Jesus

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.

The essence of sin is not breaking the rules.  It is taking a good thing and making it more important than God.  It's taking good things and living for them and being defined by them.  That's the reason why in the Ten Commandments the first commandment, the primary commandment, is to have no other gods before me.  Everything else, all of the other, the cheating, the lying, the murdering, the stealing, and all of that awful stuff, it all flows out of the first one.  That's commandments 2 through 10. 

Romans 3:10 says, "No one is righteous, not even one; no one seeks for God."  There are bad people who mug you and cheat and hurt people, and they, of course, are not looking for God.  But here's what's scary about good and religious people.  They think that they are looking for God, but they're not.  They are not looking for a God of grace.  They are looking for a god that they can control through their good works. 

Good people and bad people are both self-savers.  They both are taking things and making them into idols.  It's just that some idols lead you to be obedient to the law of God, and some idols lead you to be disobedient to the law of God.  But all the way across the board, no one is righteous, not even one; no one is seeking God, no one!  Good people think they are seeking God, but they're not.  They aren't seeking the God of grace.  They are seeking a god that they can control through their good works, a god who owes them.  That's the reason why if you are a Christian, grace has come in and grabbed a hold of you and shown you something that you weren't looking for.  It has shown you that you can only be saved through the work of Jesus and not your own works.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

An Infallible Person

An Infallible Person

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is John 5:24  Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

God has not given us an inescapable, infallible argument.  In Jesus, He has given us an inescapable, infallible Person!  Millions of people have found Him intellectually inescapable.  On the one hand we're going to see Him unbelievably open, welcoming, empowering and inclusive with those who were outsiders and outcasts.  You're going to see Him reaching out over and over to the poor, and to women, children, prostitutes, lepers, and even to collaborators with the enemy.   Jesus was utterly unique!  He was utterly outrageous!  He was over the top in His inclusiveness and openness and in His reaching out to all those people.

But, on the other hand, you're going to see Him making self-centered claims.  He says that He is going to judge the world on the last day, that He is the Author and Giver of life, that He alone has the authority to forgive sins, that He is equal with the Father.  He makes claims that go beyond anything anyone has ever said outside of a mental institution. 

Here's what's weird.  He's so beautiful, so tender, so kind, and so humble.  Jesus Christ lived a life of such moral beauty!   He got hundreds of people to believe in Him including the Jews.  They were the last people on earth who would ever believe that God could become human!  How do you explain claims like that?  How do you explain a life like that? 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

It Didn't Work

It Didn't Work

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller and is from a sermon on the Prodigal Son and the older brother (Luke 15:11-32).Luke 15:28-29 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

 

The Pharisees were excellent at following the rules, and Jesus over and over again says to them that the pimps and prostitutes were going into the kingdom of God before them (Matthew 21:31).  As John Girsner once put it, "The thing that really separates us from God is not so much our sins but our damnable good works."   How could your goodness separate you more from God than your badness? 

 

Your goodness actually masks your battle with God.  The Bible defines sin as trying to be your own Savior and Lord.  If you are the prodigal brother, you just decide to be your own Savior and Lord.  You say, "I don't need God or religion.  Don't tell me what's right and wrong.  I will decide what is right and wrong for me."  You know that you've kicked God out of your life.  Therefore when there is smoke and when your life falls apart, you say that maybe you need God. 

 

But if you are the elder brother, your goodness masks the fact that you are also being your own Savior and Lord.  Because of your goodness you aren't all of that dependent on God.  You don't want total salvation. You just want help at certain points.  You don't pray to Him day and night in dependence on Him.  You pray to Him when you are in trouble.   You are your own Savior and Lord, but your goodness masks it.  When your life stops working and falls apart; there is smoke all over, and you can't find the fire. 

 

I don't know how many times I have heard people say, "I've tried Christianity and God, and it didn't work."  What they mean is, "I wanted something, and God didn't give it to me."

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

I Love You Because I Love You

I Love You Because I love You

 Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is paraphrased in the excerpt.

Deuteronomy 7 goes  like this.  The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other people, for you are the fewest of all people, but it was because the Lord loved you that He redeemed you from the land of slavery.   I loved you because I love you! 

Ed Clowney says that if you have a god who says, "I love you because you repented and submitted to me and because you are keeping up and obeying the 10 commandments," that is not love.  All real love has to be circular.   

You will never love a god who you believe is only loving you because you are good, and because you are faithful to him in every way.  He is not loving you for yourself, and you will never love Him for Himself.  You will love him as long as he is forking over comfort and as long as he is forking over answers to prayers.  You are making merchandise of each other.  But if God just says, "I have just loved you before the stars were put into heaven because you were more beautiful than the stars.  The stars may fall from heaven, but my love for you will stand."  When you realize that He loves you just for who you are in yourself, you will be able to give Him love just for who He is in Himself.

You are an absolute beauty to God, and He loves you because He loves you.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Motion Into Our Devotion

Motion Into Our Devotion

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Matthew 25:37-40 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?   When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

Our devotion to God is incomplete until we put motion into our devotion.  Our devotion is authenticated to God and to others by our love for others.  There is something in all religious people that wants to keep it vertical.  If it is vertical, then I control it.  Jesus says that it is horizontal-as we do until others that is how you have done unto me.  Until you have done for them don't waste your time telling me what you have done for me.  

 

What if that had been the posture of the church for the last 2000 years?  What if the only thing that people resisted about the church was that we believed that Jesus was the son of God?  Nobody has resisted the church because the church has loved too much or that we were too welcoming.  No one resisted us because we were so willing to carry other people's burdens or that we were so forgiving, open and gracious.  What people find easy to resist about me and you and Christians is that we know it all, and we are better than y'all.  

 

Are you willing to put some motion into your devotion?  It is doing and not believing that makes the difference that changes the world.  

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Paying Back The Debt

Paying Back The Debt

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 18:21-22  Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

 

If someone wrongs you, there's always an internal, emotional debt.  You sense they owe you, and the currency is pain.  We want to see them suffer, and so we immediately go after them.  This is the natural thing our heart does to try to make them pay the debt. 

 

There're a lot of ways of making people pay the debt.  A direct way is to just go yell and scream at them, and they can feel horrible.  We may try to ruin them professionally or be incredibly cold to them.  We may totally withdraw our friendship from them.  There're also less direct ways.  One of those less direct ways of trying to hurt them is by destroying their reputation through gossip and slander under the guise of warning people about them.  But the most indirect way is that you root for their pain.  You want to see them squirm and as you see them suffer, you feel better.  That sense that they owe you starts to go down.  The debt is being paid down.  In a certain sense you get relief, but it will twist you. 

 

When you begin to see that Jesus Christ has totally paid the cost for what you have done rather than making you pay for it, you have the secret to what it means to forgive someone else.  Forgiveness leads to healing.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Teachings or Actions

Teachings or Actions

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.

It's not the teachings of Jesus but the actions of Jesus that save you.  If it's the teachings of Jesus that save you, then what basically saves you is how you live.   If it's the actions of Jesus that save you, then you can be saved by grace. 

If you look at all other religions, you'll see that what really is crucial is not what the founder of that religion did but what they said.  It's not their actions, but their teachings.  In every other religious system you are saved by how you live --by living a particular kind of life.  That means that what is really crucial is the founder's teaching on how to live.  For example, Buddha says here's how to find enlightenment.  Mohammad says here's how you submit and please God.  They all have somewhat different teachings, but the point is they're all the same.  It's their teachings that are important because it's how you live that saves you.  But Christianity works completely opposite.

 

We don't need a way for us to live the right kind of life, but we need the actions of Jesus Christ to come in and live the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.  We don't need a teacher.  We need a Savior.  We don't need someone who tells us what to do.  We need someone who does what we should have done. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining