Put on the Shoulder Pads

A Series on the letter of 1 John
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
1 John 2:28-3:24 

[The author of this letter is John. Prior to being a disciple of Jesus, he was a fisherman with a reputation for his bad temper. In fact, he and his brother were called the “Sons of Thunder”. But he was also known as “the one whom Jesus loved”. In this letter, John shares that same love with us.]

  

It’s often said that a sports team takes on the personality of their coach.

 

Tom Izzo is the head men’s basketball coach at Michigan State University. He’s an intense, hard-nosed coach that pushes his players to be the same. In the past, to make his point, Izzo had his basketball team wear football shoulder pads during practice. By doing this, his players could visualize what he wanted. Point made!

 

In John’s letter, he tried to help the believers to visualize who they shouldn’t be. Specifically, the Gnostics, who believed that the spirit was good, and the flesh was inherently evil. Because of this, they also believed that there were no consequences to how they lived. So, they could sin without any repercussions.

 

John flatly refuted this. He maintained that God was their Father, and they were his children. He emphasized that continual disobedient behavior was unacceptable.

 

⁹ Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.              NLT

 

John also helped the believers to visualize who they should be by giving them a goal. It focused on how they live their lives now in light of the expected return of Christ.

 

²⁸ And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.

 

² Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. ³ And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.                 NLT

 

Finally, John challenged believers to follow the commandment to “love one another”.

 

¹¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 

 

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. NIV

 

John’s words still ring true today for us. He’s telling us to “put on the shoulder pads” and practice so that we’re ready for the game. He’s giving us a picture of who we are to be and how we are to live so that we will “remain in him”.

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams

 

 

Launch Your Rocket

A Series on Lent
 (Use the link below to read the verses.)
Mark 5:1-20

[Lent gives us an opportunity to step back and pause to recognize our humanity and sinful nature. The Lenten season reminds us of our need for a Savior as a time to reflect and repent for our shortcomings. It is an opportunity to recognize the human condition we may spend the rest of the year running from and bring our need for a Savior to the forefront. Lent prepares us as we approach Good Friday and Easter with thanksgiving for the grace and mercy shown to us.]

  

Rocket Watts is a great name for an athlete. There actually is a Michigan State basketball player by that name. He’s a sophomore guard, and was expected to have a breakout season this year. Instead, he has struggled… until the most recent game against arch-rival Michigan.

 

To understand what happened, you need to go back to the game just before that which, in this COVID crazy season, was also against Michigan. At the beginning of the second half there was a loose ball. The star center for Michigan dove to the court to get it… while Rocket watched. Immediately after that, Coach Izzo yanked Rocket from the game, not to return.

 

Apparently, that got Rocket’s attention because when he got into the very next Michigan game, he played his best of the season. It was as if he had flipped a switch; the difference between the two games was night and day. Rocket had finally launched.

 

The story from Mark 5 has a somewhat similar storyline in it.

 

² When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. ³ This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. ⁴ Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.          NLT

 

In this story, the demon possessed man interacted with Jesus resulting in a change that could be described in the same terms as Rocket’s; it was as if he had flipped a switch; the difference was night and day.

 

¹⁴ The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.        NLT

 

Most of us don’t have this kind of a dramatic, life-changing experience when we come to faith in Christ. It tends to be more of a gradual change where we become more like Christ one small step at a time.

     

The tradition of Lent is to give up something that is meaningful to us. The idea being that we will better understand the love and grace of Jesus. What if we looked at it from a slightly different perspective?

 

What if we pursued giving up one thing permanently that would help us to become more like Christ? What if we asked the Spirit to show us some character trait or behavior or attitude that needs to be changed? And then asked him to help us change it?

 

Do you think you might flip a switch? Would you launch your rocket?

 

 

Tom Izzo is Mr. March

Revelation 20:1-15

 

If you don’t know it by now, I’m a huge Michigan State sports fan. Not surprisingly, I believe that Tom Izzo is one of the best college basketball coaches active today. What is his secret to success? Accountability.

 

At the beginning of every school year he has all of his players write down their goals – individual, team, academic and off court. He then collects those goals and during the year if he sees that a player isn’t working towards his goals, Izzo will pull him aside and talk to him about it.

 

Consider Revelation 20. God keeps us all accountable. First, the angel bound Satan for a thousand years. Then after being released for a little while, Satan is thrown into the lake of fire. Finally, anyone whose name isn’t found in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire.

 

Some of the images in this chapter could come right out of a Stephen King novel. But let’s think about this, not in a literal sense, but as a piece of the big picture of the Bible. If we don’t get bogged down in the details of it, what can we learn about our Heavenly Father? I would suggest these three things.

 

First, He is just; and He is true to His character. His yes is yes and His no is no. What this means is that He must judge evil. He must judge the unrighteous. He must judge us. He must keep us accountable. I don’t particular care for this lesson, but it’s there, and it’s true. However, there is Good News to go with this.

 

Because He is just, our sins have to be paid for. He did this by using the sacrificial system as a metaphor to show the Israelites in a tangible way the need for a sacrifice; the need for atonement; the need for redemption. The only way to pay for our sins was with a pure lamb, a spotless lamb – His son Jesus.

 

Therefore, the second lesson from this chapter is that God loves us so much that he sacrificed His one and only son so that we might know Him; so that we might not be thrown into the lake of fire; so that we might spend eternity with Him.

 

The final lesson is that God wins! He wins over Satan; over evil; over death. He wins in the end! Why is that important for us? Consider what John wrote in his first letter: “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world”. Ultimately, there is victory for us. Jesus will return.

 

Tom Izzo is known as Mr. March because of his record during March Madness. He knows how to win when it counts. He builds his team on accountability to help them be better; to help them win when it counts. God does the same thing for us. He keeps us accountable and paid the price for our sins. Because He wins, we win too.

 

So, who’s keeping you accountable?