Volleyball Christianity (part two)

If Christianity is like a volleyball game, it's not like the game described in yesterday's post. Instead, it might be more along these terms.

You are a volleyball player with Rebekah's skills. Then you are tied up. On top of that, you are dead.

You are placed alone on one side of the volleyball court against an Olympic-level team. You are told that you must not only play this game, you must win. If you win, you get a reward. If you lose, you get tortured.

Someone hears about your predicament and has compassion on you. You don't deserve his help, but because he has offered out of the generosity of his heart, and because you don't have any chance, you accept. Fortunately, this guy is better than Superman, Spider-man, Batman, all the Incredibles, and Captain America combined. He steps out onto the court. He plays against the Olympic team. There he is, flying, spinning webs, using all his cool technological gizmos, power-spiking the ball at practically the speed of light, dashing around, stretching to reach the ball, using force fields, and coming up with incredible strategies against the Olympic players. He wins!

Then he comes up to you and says, "You won." He marks down his win on the scoreboard to your account. He unties you, raises you from the dead, and invites you to live in his house. He feeds you every day with a banquet fit for a king. He does fun stuff with you. He talks to you and listens to everything you say. 


Sound familiar? 


There you were, dead in your trespasses and sins. You were bound by the flesh and commanded to keep the whole law. That didn't mean just "do your best," it meant to win. To win, you actually had to never, ever break even one commandment. And when there are commandments like "Speak evil of no man," "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," and "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin," you were pretty much toast before you were even old enough to know what the commandments were. 


Sunk, hopelessly sunk. That was your condition. You were facing the righteous wrath of God and there was no option for you but to lose. Losing meant falling under His condemnation, being separated from him forever, and suffering the wrath of God in an eternity in hell.

But Jesus knew about your predicament and had compassion on you. You didn't deserve His help; He merely offered out of the generosity and compassion of His heart. He saw you and loved you. Jesus didn't just have to play a volleyball game for you, though--He had to go all the way to the cross and suffer death for you. (If this doesn't make sense to you, read The Misadventures of Person C, or, Why Did Jesus Have to Die? This is the best article I have ever read on the topic.)

He died for you and defeated Satan. He crucified your flesh, known as the "old man." He won! And he comes up to you and says, "You won." He marks down his win on the scoreboard to your account. He unties you, raises you from the dead, and gives you new life. He offers you forgiveness, but he doesn't just stop there. He invites you to live in his house. He feeds you every day with a banquet fit for a king. You get stronger. He invites you to participate in his work. He takes care of your problems and gives you everything you need. He defeats everything that comes against you. He changes you, dealing with all your flaws one by one, to release you from the destruction that you were sowing for yourself. He not only won for you, he allows you to keep winning! And all you have to do is take Him at His word and believe that He has done it and accept it.


That's Christianity.