Jesus Matters
Can I ask you a quick question? This is a guilt free, shame free question. Just think about how you would respond.
True or False: My relationship with Jesus is the most important part of my life.
4:13
I know we’re a few months away from football season but I heard this story the other day and it’s too good not to share.
In 2008, Tim Tebow was the quarterback for the Florida Gators. At the end of the season, they were playing perhaps the biggest game of his life up to that point in the SEC Championship in Atlanta vs. Alabama.
Earlier that season Tebow did something that a lot of players on his team were doing, he started wearing eye black under his eyes. A lot of his teammates were writing things on their eye black like the area code they were from, or their mom’s name… but Tebow wanted to do something different. Something that might encourage and inspire people.
As he’s laying on the training table getting stretched out before a game he’s wondering, what message should I put under my eyes? That’s when he decided to put a Bible verse.
But what verse?
Finally he lands on Philippians 4.13. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
It’s one of the iconic verses used by Christian athletes. They won the game that night, and they kept on winning… which took them all the way to the SEC Championship game.
He knew if they won the SEC Championship game they would be playing in the National Championship game and millions of people would be watching and he would have an opportunity to have an even greater impact on people’s lives.
They won the game that night against Alabama. That’s when Tebow decided to change the verse.
3:16
Over the next six weeks leading up to the National Championship game, Tebow thought about what verse he wanted to put under his eyes.
After thinking it over, he made his decision. For the National Championship game he would change the verse to John 3.16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”
One problem, the coach for the Florida Gators at the time was a guy by the name of Urban Myer, and Coach Myer was a creature of habit and highly superstitious. If his team wore long socks and they won the game, next week the socks were even longer. You don’t change what’s working!
After the walk through for the National Championship game, Tebow asked Coach if he could talk to him for a moment. That’s when Tebow told him, “You know the verse I wear under my eyes?”
“Yes, Philippians 4:13! I love that verse.”
“Well, I’m changing it.”
“WHAT!!! You can’t change it! That verse got us here!”
Then Tebow explained to the coach why he wanted to change it and eventually, Coach Myer agreed and supported his decision.
94 Million
They won the the National Championship game that night on January 8, 2009.
Two days later he’s having dinner with his family and Coach Myer is with them, too. During dinner Coach Myer gets a call. After the call Tebow asked him, “What was that all about?”
Coach Myer said that was our PR guy and he just told me that during that game 94 MILLION people GOOGLED John 3.16!
Why did Tim Tebow do that?
Because, for him… there was something more important than the National Championship Game.
What could be more important than WINNING the National Championship game? For Tim, it was getting this message out…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”
And that night 94 MILLION people heard that message.
Centering our Lives on the Person of Jesus
You see, What we SAY and DO communicates what we BELIEVE is TRUE.
Sometimes we forget the difference our lives can make when Jesus really is most important in our lives.
And don’t misunderstand me, I know Tim Tebow isn’t perfect. I think he would be the first to say that about himself. But none of us are perfect.
Yet all of us can have a far greater impact on the world than we could ever imagine when Jesus and our relationship with Him is what matters most in our lives.
The call on all our lives isn’t for perfection, but it is to center our lives on the person of Jesus.
Set Your Sights
This is what the Apostle Paul was calling the first generation of Christians to do.
Listen to what Paul says here…
Colossians 3.1-3
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
The Apostle Paul who wrote this letter to a small community of Jesus followers living in the ancient city of Colossae in modern day Turkey wanted them to know…
In this culture you’re living in, with all temptations and distractions your facing, not to mention the fact that many people are turning away from God to worship other things, as follower of Jesus you need to:
…set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
In other words, Jesus Matters.
Jesus Matters
Now, it may seem like that should go without saying to people who at least on some level… you already believe in Jesus.
Some of you may be reading this and you’re not so sure what you believe about Jesus. You may not have what you would describe as a strong faith. But it’s not going to surprise you to hear me say, Jesus Matters.
You might even wonder why I would even say this or why we even need to talk about this. But I think, if we’re honest, the evidence of our lives may suggest that there are a lot of things that matter.
In fact, the evidence of our lives may suggest that there are things that matter more than Jesus.
If we were to ask our kids to answer this question: True or False: My parent’s relationship with Jesus is the most important part of their life. What would our kids say? How would they answer that question about us?
Or… My grandparent’s relationship with Jesus is the most important part of their life. What would your grandkids say? How would they answer that question about you?
What Matters
If we look through our kids eyes and ask the question, what do they think matters most when they look at my life as a parent or grandparent we might be surprised to learn that from their point of view…
Work matters.
Sports matter.
TV matters.
Money matters.
Amazon matters.
Getting my way matters.
Getting more and more and more matters.
The kids matter!
And yes, Jesus matters, too.
There are a lot of things in this life that matter and as parents, we’ve got to keep a lot of plates constantly spinning. But the world doesn’t revolve around our work, our money, our TV, or even our kids.
What would it look like in everyday ordinary ways for our kids to realize everything revolves around Jesus?
Everything Revolves Around Jesus
Paul goes on to say this, and he’s talking a diverse church trying to help them understand what really matters isn’t what divides us, but what unites us. Listen to this…
In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is ALL that matters, and he lives in all of us. – Colossians 3.11
There’s a lot of background and context happening here in this passage that relates specifically to this church but here’s what I want you to see…
What really matters? When all is said and done?
Christ is ALL that matters!
The Hard Truth
The hard truth that some of you know all too well is that this can be true for you, Christ is all that matters.
You can love Jesus and you can love the church, and you can teach your kids this the best way you know how, and then your kids grow up and for one reason or another, they stop going to church. You’re not sure what they believe about Jesus. And you feel like a failure.
Some of you are carrying the weight of a lot of guilt and shame. You’ve second guessed your parenting decisions a million times.
If that’s you, can I remind you of a wonderful truth? This eternal truth?
God loves your kids more than you do. Have you ever thought about that? God loves your son, your daughter, more than you ever could. They are on a journey. And it’s their journey. And God is pursuing them like the Good Shepherd pursued the one sheep who wandered away from the flock and got lost.
Your job, our job is to keep the doorway of the relationship open and then to point them to Jesus whenever we can. There is a Savior, we have a Good Shepherd. His eye is on the sparrow and He is watching over your son, your daughter, right now. You don’t have to worry, our Father in Heaven is on the job.
What we all want is for all our kids to have their own personal relationship with Jesus. To realize that Christ is all that matters. But that raises the question:
HOW?
How do you teach this truth to your kids?
Back when I was a kid, we had Show and Tell days at school. I don’t know if they even do this anymore. But the idea was simple, bring something from home that is special to you to share with the class.
You can SHOW them what it is and TELL them why it’s important to you.
How do we teach our kids about what’s most important to us? I think this is kind of like that.
SHOW AND TELL.
1. It starts with Constant Conversations.
One of the best pieces of parenting advice I ever got came from a friend who told me to always talk about everything with my kids. There’s no such thing as a one and done conversation.
Just because you talked about it once doesn’t mean they got it.
Every Monday night Will and I drive to Farmers Branch so he can have a 30 minute hitting lesson with one of his favorite baseball coaches. And I’ve learned so much about hitting from our friend Coach Barry but I’ve learned even more about discipleship. Because every week for the last three years he preaches the same core principles into my son’s ears.
He rarely if ever at this point teaches him anything new, but he’s constantly reminding him of what’s true.
This isn’t just what good coaches do, this is what good parents do… we rarely teach our kids anything new, but we are always reminding them of what’s true.
Teaching Training, Coaching
When their young, we do spend a lot of time teaching them new things about who Jesus is and what he’s done for us. About the importance of the church and being a part of a family of faith.
Then they get a little older and they’re in those training years. Now they’re able to learn even more, but everything they’re learning at this point is reinforcing what they already know is true.
And then they become teenagers. They’re still learning, and they’re growing like crazy, but the conversations don’t stop because now it’s time to really start applying what we’ve been teaching all these years.
Now we’re coaching. And coaches do their work from the SIDELINES. We may call a few plays, we may tell them what we’re seeing on the field from our vantage point, but we let them play. We let them fail. We don’t step on the field. We don’t get involved in that way.
We coach from the sidelines, cheer them on, give them feedback and instruction, challenge them when they’re wrong and celebrate them when they’re right!
But the best parents like the best coaches I’ve ever known don’t just talk, they demonstrate.
2. Let them see you living it out.
You have to let them see you live out your faith because this is the goal: We want our kids to have a personal relationship with Jesus that they can rely on.
We have to show our kids what faith in Jesus looks like and to he honest, you’re the only one who can do that.
Other people can teach them about Jesus, about the Bible, about different ways to pray and more. But only you can show them was it looks like to follow Jesus in every day, ordinary ways.
Our kids need to see us praying and they need to hear us pray. They need to see us reading our Bible and they need to see there are verses highlighted, underlined, and notes in the margins. They need to see how we love our church, our faith family, how we serve and how we give sacrificially to the church that Jesus Christ loved so much He died for her.
Our kids need to see our concern for those in need. Our love for our neighbors. They need to see that sometimes we can’t do what they want or buy what they want because that time or that money is being given to something else, sacrificially, because of our love for God and our love for others.
Here’s the principle: What we SAY and DO communicates what we believe is TRUE.
And when we live this way… When we can honestly say Jesus Matters, our lives have a far greater impact on our kids and on our world than we could possibly imagine.
If you don’t believe me, let me share the rest of this story with you.
The Rest of the Story
Three years after Tim Tebow played in the National Championship game when 94 million people googled John 3.16, this happened.
It was 3 years to the day, on January 8, 2012, now Tebow is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos and they are playing in the first round of the playoffs against the Pittsburg Steelers.
Tebow is still wearing John 3.16 under his eyes. His team wins this crazy game in overtime and after the game Tebow is getting ready to go talk to the media. But before he does, the PR guy for the Broncos stops him and says, “Tim, do you know what just happened?”
“Yes, we just beat the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs!”
Patrick the PR guy says, “No… do you realize what just happened? Today is exactly 3 years to the day when you first put John 3.16 under your eyes. During the game you threw for 316 yards! Your yards per rush were 3.16. Your yards per completion were 31.6. In the second quarter when Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception that led to a field goal for the Broncos, that happened on a third down with 16 yards to go. The time of possession was 31.06. And the ratings for the night were 31.6. And during the game 90 million people googled John 3.16! And it’s the number one thing on all social media right now.”
“For God so loved the world…”
When Jesus Matters
When we can honestly say JESUS MATTERS, our lives have a far greater impact than we could possibly imagine.
What we want is for our kids to have a personal relationship with Jesus they can rely on. For that to happen, we must…
Show and Tell your kids that what matters most is Jesus.
So talk about Jesus. Talk about your faith. Talk about how your faith in Jesus impacts your decisions.
Talk about what should happen in a particular situation because you believe in Jesus. About forgiveness. About doing the next right thing.
Pray about things together. Talk about what you’re learning from God right now. What He’s teaching you. Talk about what you’re grateful to God for.
And show them. Show them what it looks like to be a person of uncommon generosity. What it looks like to be the bigger person. What it looks like to serve at church. To do something nice for a neighbor or a person in need.
Take them with you when you’re delivering food or serving at church or helping out a neighbor. Don’t leave them at home playing video games! Leverage every moment you can to be a teaching, training, or coaching opportunity.
Because what we want is for our kids to have a personal relationship with Jesus they can rely on.
What if we did this?
Not just parents and grandparents, what if all of us did this?
What if we all leveraged our lives to show and tell others what matters most to us is our relationship with Jesus? That this is true in our lives: Jesus Matters above all else.
May we live our lives today in such a way that others can see and hear that our faith in Jesus matters.
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