Good morning. I’d like to ask a personal question of you today: Are you going to seek Jesus in your day? Consider some of the ways we might encounter Jesus as we make our way through this Friday:
Jesus, the provocative teacher; Jesus, the sacred friend; Jesus, the extreme forgiver; Jesus, the authentic leader; Jesus, the truthful revealer; Jesus, the compassionate healer; Jesus, the relentless lover; Jesus, the supreme conqueror. Perhaps you can think of some other descriptions of our Lord that would add to the list. I am sure there could be many more, but today let’s single out Jesus, the supreme conqueror.
What do you think of 2nd place? I suppose the answer would be determined through more details. If it is a football game, 2nd place means you lost. If it is a marathon with 300+ entries, 2nd place would be spectacular. Personally, I enjoy rooting for the underdog, so I had better be OK with 2nd place. Back in the 1930s the Russians had developed an automobile they were very proud of. So much so, they challenged the Ford Motor Company to a grueling race. The race was held in Russia, was over 500 miles long, and much of it was on bad roads. The Ford car crossed the finish line over 20 minutes ahead of the Russian competitor. The headline for the Moscow newspaper the next day put the results like this: RUSSIAN VICTORY IN MOTOR CAR RACE. They explained that it was a victory because in this prestigious international race the Russian automobile finished a proud 2nd while the touted American car finished next to last.
In 2005 Tiger Woods won the coveted green jacket for winning the Master’s golf tournament. He won in a playoff with Chris DiMarco, but he reached the playoff due to his making a 60 foot chip shot from the rough on the 16th hole. When pressed about the incredible skill required to make such a shot, he replied “skill gets you close, but it takes a lot of luck to find the hole.”
Jesus is a winner, no luck required and no need to stretch the truth. His strategy was counter cultural, His methods unorthodox, His victory unworldly. The Bible tells us that He is the ultimate champion, the greatest conquering hero, but He was a hero that needed to die to secure the victory.
It seems counterintuitive to think that the way to win the ultimate victory over death was to die. But that is exactly what Jesus did for us. He won His victory by yielding His will to the will of the Father, and this, too, seems to go against the flow of understanding. Victory is supposed to come by force not submission, right? But Jesus conquered by doing the last thing the enemy could ever expect. Jesus willingly went to the cross to die a horrible death in order to defeat the power of death. The result of this willing sacrifice is a victory so complete that it extends to all who will in humble obedience call on His name to be saved. We read the truth of His victory in 1 Corinthians 15.50-58: I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Jesus, the supreme conqueror. There is no 2nd place. There is either choosing victory with Christ Jesus, or the choice of death eternal.
Claim the victory, and God bless your day.
Vern