I know the constant pressure and, oftentimes, frustration of wanting to be part of a winning team. I’m a Minnesota Vikings fan! I can hope, but nothing guarantees that by choosing the Vikings I’ll be supporting a winning team.
However, when you choose life, you are on a winning team. It’s guaranteed, because life wins!
Jesus Christ defeated death and He gives us the victory! The Easter season is a great time to be reminded of that. It’s important to be reminded of that. We experience frustration when death appears the victor.
Death Wins?
Death seems to be climbing to ever-higher levels in our society. We have moved way beyond seeing death as the wages of sin and a reminder of the wrath of God. Death has moved from being unnatural to being natural, from being our enemy to being our friend, from something bad to something good, from something cold to something compassionate. Death has moved from something foreign to God’s design to our god, who we use according to our own design.
Martin Luther says in the Large Catechism under the First Article, “On the contrary, does your heart cling to something else, from which it hopes to receive more good and help than from God, and does it flee not to him but from him when things go wrong? Then you have an idol, another god.” (The Book of Concord Theodore G. Tappert, ed. Fortress Press, 1959, p. 368.) Death has become our society’s god who is turned to for “good and help.”
Society points the pregnant teenager to death through abortion as something good that will help. Society points the chronically ill to death through embryonic stem cell research as something good that will help. Society points those with severe disabilities to death through euthanasia or assisted suicide as something good that will help.
Jean Garton writes in Who Broke the Baby, “When we choose to offer death as an alternative to suffering, the list of those who qualify under ‘the new ethic’ expands greatly.” We’ve seen the expansion. Death becomes the solution of choice for dealing with life’s difficulties.
Sometimes it seems like death wins.
Not true.
Life Wins!
It’s guaranteed. Jesus defeated our enemy death— “swallowed” it up— and He gives us that victory. We live in that victory. God gives courage and hope from that victory. As Paul goes on to say,
“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” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
This victory is both the context and the content of our For Life message. We live in victory and we share a message of victory. Christians have the most powerful and positive For Life message in the universe! The victorious message that “Life Wins!” is tailor-made for addressing the life issues as they affect God’s people.
Life Wins and the Life Issues
“Life wins!” This message transforms us and gives us “good and help” so we can make God-pleasing decisions and avoid the “death traps” Satan constantly places before us. It points to a God who gives new life and says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20).
“Life wins!” This message offers true “good and help” for those in a crisis pregnancy. It points to a God who demonstrated the value He gives to life in the womb when He entered a womb. It points to a God who forgives mistakes and says, “Go, and from now on sin no more.”
“Life wins!” This message brings “good and help” to women and men who have made an abortion decision. It points to a God who demonstrated His love for all sinners when He nailed His Son to a cross, cursed and forsook Him in the sinner’s stead. It points to a God who paid the full price for forgiveness of sins and says “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1a).
“Life wins!” This message speaks powerfully of “good and help” to those experiencing the suffering of devastating disease or severe disability. It points to a God who knows about suffering. It points to a God who gives meaning and purpose to every life in every circumstance and says, “I know the plans I have for you” (Jeremiah 29:11a).
“Life wins!” We live in this message. We strive to help fellow Christians connect this message to the life issues. This message compels us to address these issues in our society. Only this message can ultimately turn people away from the god of death and restore value and dignity to life.
I certainly invite all of you to join me in choosing to support the Minnesota Vikings, but no guarantees! Choose life, however, and I guarantee you are on the winning team. Because … Life Wins!