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