Catching A Tiger

Sure, he didn't win a major this year. And he lost a major when holding the 3rd round lead for the first time. But most people still suspected there was a big red "S" on Tiger Woods' chest. Turns out they were right about the color, wrong about the letter--it was a scarlet "A" he was hiding. I suppose it is inevitable with just about every superstar athlete, I mean that they cheat. If it's not steroids, corked bats, illegal swimsuits, or horseshoes in their boxing gloves, we can pretty much count on guys like Tiger, who no doubt have legions of women literally throwing themselves at them, to succumb to the temptation to go outside the rules of marriage while pretending to honor it.

I know people will say one thing has nothing to do with the other, but I hope not to see anymore commercials with Tiger as spokesman/image for anything, other than perhaps a marriage/family counseling service. Sure, it was his amazing ability to put that little white ball where he wanted to when he whacked it with his sticks that made his name synonymous with "winner," and motivated all those companies to pay him megabucks so their product would also be assumed to deserve the same label. But nobody really deserves to be paid that kind of money by pretending to really rather have a Buick, and like it or not, when you are a role model with the kind of blemish Tiger now has, well, you're not much of a role model anymore.

Yeah, I know Tiger shouldn't be penalized for finally showing he's as human as the rest of us who have "transgressed" (His word), but he made his, I guess it must be billions by now, by allowing us to go along believing that he was something special. Truth is, there has only been one human being who ever really deserved to be called "special," and he lived a long time ago, and, to my knowledge, never struck a golf ball, hit a baseball, threw a football, dunked a basketball, kicked a soccer ball, slapped a hockey puck, sang a chart topper, or starred in a Hollywood blockbuster.

He was special because, among so many reasons that I couldn't begin to list them all, he is the only human being to never ever "transgress." Like you and me in every respect, except that he was without sin (See Hebrews 4.15), no one ever asked Jesus to be the spokesperson for their product, other than God, who chose his Son to promote his kingdom. And instead of receiving a king's ransom for his work on behalf of the kingdom of God, Jesus signed on as Savior knowing a cross would be all he would be paid for his work.

It will never happen, but this is what I'd like to see happen with Tiger. He and his wife hold a press conference. She is the first one to speak, and simply says "I have forgiven my husband." Tiger then steps up to the mike and announces, "Effectively immediately I am retiring from the Tour, and giving up all my endorsements. From now on the only work I will do is to show my wife how much I appreciate the forgiveness she has given me, though I don't deserve it, and can never pay her back even with all my riches. My wife and children are much more important to me than money and tournament wins. I apologize right here to my wife and family, to my colleagues on the Tour, to my sponsors and business partners, to my fans, and most of all to God. I thought I didn't have to play by His rules. I was wrong."

WDJD? III

Not long after receiving the sign of the covenant (circumcision) Jesus was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem by Joseph and Mary. And there, though it was a passive act, Christ rewarded two particular people who had for years patiently and faithfully awaited the coming of the Messiah, Simeon and Anna.

For Simeon the revelation of Jesus as a light to the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel (Luke 2.32) was the fulfillment of a promise made to him by the Holy Spirit. (2.26) The promise had supplied hope and strength to the aged one, knowing that death would not come for him before he saw the Savior.

For her part, Anna had prayed and fasted in the temple night and day for many years (Lke 2.37). A prophetess, Anna too knew that the child in Mary's arms was the One Israel had been long for for a thousand years, and she offered great thanks to God that Israel's long wait for its Messiah was over, and redemption was drawing close.

Jesus has not stopped fulfilling the promises of God's Word to men and women, the young and the old, Gentile and Jew. What He did, He still does. Those who believe in Him still depart this life in peace, like Simeon. Like Anna, all who know Jesus give thanks to God and and speak to others of His redemption.

WDJD? II

After Jesus was born a helpless little baby, just like you and me, which, as we said in WDJD I, was essential for our salvation, the next thing He did, according to the Luke 2.21, was receive the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, circumcision. Again, we have a definite sign of the reality of the Incarnation, of God taking on our flesh and blood, as, for the first, but not the last, time, the innocent flesh of Jesus was cut, and the first precious drops of His blood were shed.

Jesus was, as His circumcision served to confirm, a Jew, a child of the covenant God had made with Abraham. In point of fact, had Jesus not been circumcised He could not have been the "seed" ("offspring") of Abraham through whom all the nations of the earth would one day be blessed. (See Genesis 12.3; 15.1-6;; 17.1-14) With His circumcision the Lord also received the name the Angel had told both Mary (Luke 1.31) and Joseph (Matthew 1.21) they were to give the child conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb, "Jesus" ("God Saves").

It might not seem such a big deal to any of us. Most of us received our names shortly after birth with little attendant fanfare. But, as the song says about Jesus, "there's something about that name," an incredible divine something. Inheriting a name far superior to the angels (Hebrews 1.4), the child was immediately both the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Revelation 19.16), though His majesty was concealed in the form of a baby.

Ultimately, the whole world will acknowledge and praise this name on the day when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. While a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, a savior by any other name than Jesus is no Savior at all, for truly, there is no name given under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4.12).

What Did Jesus Do? (WDJD?) I

I won't presume to say that we'll ever get close to commenting here on all that Jesus did, after all John correctly observed that the world isn't big enough to hold all the books that would be necessary to write down all that thing that Jesus did. (John 21.25) So I am going to limit myself mostly to the things that Jesus did that are written down in the Bible.

The first thing that Jesus did was come into the world the same way all of us do--He was born. Doesn't sound at all singular or spectacular, does it? But, were it not for Jesus being born one of us like all of us, well we would all still be in a world of hurt, which is not to say that we aren't in a world that's still hurting. Now, none of us get any credit for being born. But we all received an incredible gift when Jesus was born. The angel who announced "good news of great joy" to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem spoke volumes when he said "unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior..." A Savior, the Savior, born like all of us? What's that all about? Shouldn't a divine Savior just appear, descending in glory from heaven? Well, yes, but that will be the next time He comes. It was absolutely critical that when He came the first time that he be born like you and me because to accomplish the work of Savior He had to be just like you and me, He had to be fully human. And, with the exception of Adam and Eve, being fully human means being born of a woman.

Why was it necessary that the Savior be fully human? Because He didn't come to atone for the sins of beasts, birds, or bugs; He came to bear in his completely human body the penalty for every single human sin that would ever be committed. You see, there had been a system in place for a thousand years that sought to deal with human sins by shedding the blood of animals. But no matter how much animal blood was shed on the altar it was never enough to pay the full price for all our sins. While God commanded that the blood of animals substitute for our blood as propitiation for sin, God always knew that the old sacrificial system wasn't enough, there would be a day when His own Son would be born of woman to shed His blood as the one sufficient sacrifice for all humanity's sins. And Christ's sacrifice was sufficient because He was as human as you and I.

Of course, it was necessary that the Savior be fully divine as well. Anything, anyone, less and, well it would just be the blood of a sinner like you and me, and the blood of a sinner has never been pure enough to suffice as a sacrifice for another sinner. When we're talking about substitutionary atonement, we are talking about a sacrifice that is pure, without sin, spot, or taint of any kind. And no man or woman ever born before or after Jesus could supply blood so pure. Jesus, fully human and fully divine, alone provided what was necessary for our sins to be forgiven. Jesus was man dying for man's sins, and He was God dying for man's sins. Anything less and we would still be looking for a Savior.

I know most people are quite thankful that Christ was willing to die for us, but as Christmas approaches, it might be a perfect time to give thanks that Jesus was willing to be born just like us, just for us. There will no doubt be a lot of gifts under a lot of Christmas trees this year. But the One gift we all need to celebrate each and every day is the gift of Christ's birth. If Jesus hadn't done that, nothing else He did would have ultimately mattered.

We Need To Be Definitely Personal About Jesus

A pastor friend, whose initials are not KD, but who has achieved a certain amount of fame, or infamy, depending on your worldview, employing those letters to post his observations on faith, politics, and the foibles of, well pretty much everyone including himself, has said about Jesus that it's rather poor form to claim Him as yours when you don't know Him. And, because, I have a mind that often takes a peculiar turn, and spends far too much mental effort contemplating the significance of the insignificant, I have been thinking a lot about personal possessive pronouns and their use in sentences that also contain the name of the Lord.

Personal possessive pronouns are words like my, mine, yours, ours, his, hers, and their. Think of the song "Shout to the Lord," My Jesus, my Savior... The only folks who get to use personal possessive pronouns when talking about Jesus are people who belong to Him. When Jesus has come and sought you out and made you one of His, well you get to call Him your Savior. If He is not your Savior, well you don't get to call Him yours, and, obviously, you aren't saved because no one gets saved except by Him. I'm sure I've made myself absolutely unclear, so I'll go on.

In addition to pronouns there is another part of speech called the definite article. The definite article separates a person, object, idea from a group and identifies it over and above all others. There are lots of songs in the world, but the song I quoted was "Shout to the Lord." Notice, it isn't "Shout to a Lord," but "the" Lord. Always and forever, when it comes to Jesus, he is The Lord, whether you want to acknowledge Him as such or not.

But when I get to talking about salvation, well I want to be more than definite, I want to get personal, because, well, salvation is personal. No one is saved as part of a group. There is no class-action suit that can get you into heaven. Either Jesus is your Savior, and you're good to go, or He's not and you're not.

More confused, and wondering why I'm writing this? Well, when I'm talking with others about Jesus, or when I'm praying aloud in a group, I always try to make sure folks understanding that Jesus is definitely the Lord, the one and only. But I also want to make sure that as far as being Savior, well, that's personal, and I want people to hear the difference between being definite about His Lordship, and secure in the personal knowledge of Him as Savior. So, I try while I always try to identify Him as the Lord, I also try to always say He is my or our Savior, because while Lord of all, the truth is Jesus only saves some.

By no means am I suggesting that there is any other way of salvation, it's Jesus or nothing. But, and this is all about the sovereign will of God, not all will be saved, because not all are willing to personally receive Jesus and His gift of salvation. So, what's the sum of all this? When it comes to Jesus, we definitely need to get personally possessive.

The One Free Offer You Can't Afford to Refuse

I wore my NY Football Giants cap and sweatshirt to the grocery store the other day. ("Football" used to be necessary to distinguish the team that ran and passed the pigskin from the baseball team that used to play in the Polo Grounds) It actually takes some courage to go out dressed like that in the heart of Carolina Panthers territory, to say nothing of going public about my support for a team that has played so poorly over the past month that the NJ meadowlands smell bad enough to be offensive all the way down here in the Blue Ridge. When I got to the check out the young man took one look at me and--smiled! "Hey, you're a Giants fan" he called out. Only since a guy named Y.A. was completing passes to Kathy Lee's future husband.

The checkout clerk enthusiastically informed me he will be going to see the Giants play in person on December 27 at Giants Stadium, having won five free tickets to the season's finale (And considering the Giant's playoff chances, I do mean finale). The only problem the clerk had was affording his "free" game. It seems that while the tickets are free, he has to fly himself and his four guests from North Carolina to New Jersey, and that's not cheap. It wasn't the first time I had heard about a free offer that cost a lot to accept. Sitting in a drawer somewhere in my house is a letter describing a host of "free" vacations I could be eligible for. But, in fine print that I used to be able to read, but now struggle to decipher even with magnification, each one of the seven vacation choices details little things like "processing fees," ""taxes," and "port fees," that make the free vacations anything but free. In fact, they are so expensive I don't think I can afford to accept any of the "free" offers.

I reflected to the checkout clerk and the woman standing next to me in line that the only really free offer I knew of was salvation. And salvation really isn't free, it's just that Jesus has already paid the price for us, in full. There are no surprise costs, or fees hidden in some fine print in the Bible. Jesus has personally taken care of everything necessary for us to be saved. To which the woman responded, "Praise God!" Salvation really is the one free offer we can't afford to refuse.

Neither Terrorism or Vengeance Are Options for Us

The latest act of domestic terrorism last week at Ft. Hood, Texas had a distinctly international-jihadist look to it. And no few people, myself included, wondered if there just might be a connection between the religion of the gunman and his savage act. Well, I don't want to be unfair, or worse misrepresent the Gospel. And, in the interest of fairness, I need to say that Islam does not hold exclusive rights to violent extremism. Christians, or at least some who claim that title, also go off and commit heinous crimes. Like fundamentalists and radical pro-lifers who shoot doctors or blow-up abortion clinics to stop the killing of unborn babies. Sorry, but that's just as wrong as what happened at Ft. Hood, in fact in my eyes even more wrong because it's supposedly done in the name of Jesus. While Allah may be pleased with the shedding of infidel blood, and followers of Mohammad may believe they are purchasing passage to paradise by flying a commercial airliner into the World Trade Towers, no Christian does the will of God when motivated by blind hate or rage.

While I have a decidedly conservative and biblical worldview, it would be an offense to my Lord and a defamation of his Gospel to preach death to Muslims because their religion is false. While I know that same-sex "marriage" is clearly and consistently condemned and forbidden by the Word of God, I also know that it is also a sin to treat anyone who is in bondage to that life with any less compassion, love, and respect than I would my own family.

Oh, we need to be willing to take up arms, and to die if need be, to defend freedom. And we need to both promote and practice moral values rooted in the Bible and the life and person of Jesus Christ. But we had better not forget that forgiveness, grace, and mercy figure prominently in a life of discipleship.

Major Hasan should be tried for his crime, and when found guilty he should suffer the penalty for what he did. Such penalty could mean his execution. If so, it would not be an act of vengeance, but of justice. Mercy may intercede and spare his life. But only the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ can save his soul. I pray that before the day of his execution, should that day come, that the Major would come to know the Lord. Should that happen he might, with his last words, confess his guilt, yet claim the mercy of God by virtue of the blood of Jesus, and express a desire to live for his Savior while acknowledging that he willingly accepts the justice of his execution.