That’s true. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthins 2.14f, “but thanks be to God who
always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the
sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we re a
fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among
those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the
other an aroma from life to life.”
You stink... either sweet or gross.
In the Roman world at the time of Christ whenever a conquering general
returned in triumph they had a triumph parade. To the eyes of the world
in that day it was the most glorious spectacle which the imagination
could conceive. First came state officials and the senate. Then came the
trumpeters. They were followed by the spoils taken from the conquered
land. There would be pictures of the conquered land and models of
conquered citadels and ships. There would be a white bull for sacrifice,
then the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains. They would
shortly either be flung into prison or executed. Then came the musicians
and priests swinging censers with a sweet smelling incense that was
burning. Finally came the general himself and his army wearing
decorations and shouting in triumph. It was a tremendous day that might
only be witnessed once in a lifetime.
Imagine how the smell of the
incense would be to the captives. It would
be the smell of death. They
marched through the street only to be
derided by the conquering Romans and
would signal that soon you’d either
be executed or sold into slavery.
However, to the victorious throngs
that same smell would signal victory and
triumph. Same way with the
gospel according to this passage. It’s either a
smell of sweet victory
and life saving to some, but to other’s it’s a means
of destruction and
condemnation because of their rejection of the
gospel.
I had this point well taken today as we looked at this passage
with some
of our Christian bobsledders in town for the first world cup of
the
season. A visiting coach, peeked at the paper we were
looking at. He saw “You Stink” and made some silly comments. When Lyndon
Rush, Canada’s #1 bobsled pilot told him we were doing a Bible study the
visiting coach made some snide remarks about his mother and this “sh*t”.
We realized we were seeing a graphic playing out of Paul’s very
principle right before our eyes. To the God seeking athletes, the word
of God is precious, but to this godless coach.... well, it was clear how
it smelled to him.
How about you? How do you smell? We each give off
an aroma. Either life
or death to those around us.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Success and Failure in Sport & Life
Our weekly SportFaith Discussion group at the Canmore Nordic Centre came immediately on the heals of Canada’s first National team biathlon trials race. Of the 5 biathletes in attendance, not a one of them was happy with their result. One of them even exclaimed that he shot, "dirty", meaning that he did the opposite of "shooting clean" -hitting all the targets. In fact on one of the 2 trips into the range failed to hit a single target.
In God’s economy then it was no surprise that He engineered the topic of the day to be "Success/Failure". Does God have a different view of success compared to that of the world? Of course. Jesus Himself told the story of the talents recorded in Mt. 25.14f, where a rich man went off, but before leaving entrusted 5,2 and 1 talents to 3 different servants (according to their abilities). If you’re familiar with the story you know that the first 2 doubled the talents upon their master’s arrival. The last one buried his and only returned what was given. The message is that God has given (not equally) talents, resources, etc. that He expects us to use, invest and maximize. He was very displeased with the non-investing servant, even calling him wicked and lazy. Wow... pretty stern words.
So then, what would success be in God’s eyes? I think this parable tells us that it’s fully using what gifts He’s entrusted to us. To fail to do so brings God’s serious displeasure. Now, God doesn’t expect the 2 talent guy to produce as much as the 5 talent guy. But certainly He is equally happy with each when they do to the best of their abilities.
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Shane Stewart, Canadian 3x Nat'l champion, World champion and bronze medalist.
As we were sharing these thoughts during our SportFaith session, outside the window in the XC ski stadium was a young Special Olympian named Shane skiing back and forth amidst the loud, cold, blasting snow making guns. Shane was meticulously practising the scooter drill. It didn’t look like much fun in those circumstances, but Shane was persistently working it. It may help to understand who Shane is. When he was around 10 he was hit by a car and sustained life changing brain damage. As a young adult Shane now doesn’t have the capabilities that most his age enjoy. Yet he is one of the most loving, gentle, responsible and committed individuals I’ve ever met. He holds down a job at our local Safeway, but his passion is Special Olympics competition in XC skiing.
As we watched Shane live out those words of Jesus we realized that though he was only a "1 talent" guy, he has, and continues to absolutely fully develop what abilities he does have. A true inspiration. And a true success.
For the rest of the guys in the study that day, they each went home and prepared for day #2 of the trials, except now with a new version of success....fully releasing every bit of talent God has gifted us with. With a mind set like that you can focus on the task at hand and how to bring out all you’re capable of. The distractions of worrying about the other competitors and how you’ll fare on the result sheet fade to irrelevancy.
The guy that shot "dirty"? He’s a 19 year old Jr that the next day went on to finish 2nd overall beating several Olympians, most years older with tonnes of experience. The other guys moved up the results sheet as well. But that wasn’t the focus any longer. Funny though, when you learn God’s version of success, the other often does seem to eventually follow.
Jeremiah 9.23 "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.
In God’s economy then it was no surprise that He engineered the topic of the day to be "Success/Failure". Does God have a different view of success compared to that of the world? Of course. Jesus Himself told the story of the talents recorded in Mt. 25.14f, where a rich man went off, but before leaving entrusted 5,2 and 1 talents to 3 different servants (according to their abilities). If you’re familiar with the story you know that the first 2 doubled the talents upon their master’s arrival. The last one buried his and only returned what was given. The message is that God has given (not equally) talents, resources, etc. that He expects us to use, invest and maximize. He was very displeased with the non-investing servant, even calling him wicked and lazy. Wow... pretty stern words.
So then, what would success be in God’s eyes? I think this parable tells us that it’s fully using what gifts He’s entrusted to us. To fail to do so brings God’s serious displeasure. Now, God doesn’t expect the 2 talent guy to produce as much as the 5 talent guy. But certainly He is equally happy with each when they do to the best of their abilities.
Shane Stewart, Canadian 3x Nat'l champion, World champion and bronze medalist.
As we were sharing these thoughts during our SportFaith session, outside the window in the XC ski stadium was a young Special Olympian named Shane skiing back and forth amidst the loud, cold, blasting snow making guns. Shane was meticulously practising the scooter drill. It didn’t look like much fun in those circumstances, but Shane was persistently working it. It may help to understand who Shane is. When he was around 10 he was hit by a car and sustained life changing brain damage. As a young adult Shane now doesn’t have the capabilities that most his age enjoy. Yet he is one of the most loving, gentle, responsible and committed individuals I’ve ever met. He holds down a job at our local Safeway, but his passion is Special Olympics competition in XC skiing.
As we watched Shane live out those words of Jesus we realized that though he was only a "1 talent" guy, he has, and continues to absolutely fully develop what abilities he does have. A true inspiration. And a true success.
For the rest of the guys in the study that day, they each went home and prepared for day #2 of the trials, except now with a new version of success....fully releasing every bit of talent God has gifted us with. With a mind set like that you can focus on the task at hand and how to bring out all you’re capable of. The distractions of worrying about the other competitors and how you’ll fare on the result sheet fade to irrelevancy.
The guy that shot "dirty"? He’s a 19 year old Jr that the next day went on to finish 2nd overall beating several Olympians, most years older with tonnes of experience. The other guys moved up the results sheet as well. But that wasn’t the focus any longer. Funny though, when you learn God’s version of success, the other often does seem to eventually follow.
Jeremiah 9.23 "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.
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