When I was deciding what college to go to after Word of Life
I had 2 choices. Most of my friends went to Liberty
because they were a Christian
School Tennessee ,
I didn’t know much about that school but they were offering 75% off Tuition AND
Room and Board. Done deal. (Actually that school just announced it is closing
today!) Well, going there I knew I wouldn't be playing Ice Hockey, there wasn't
much ice in Chattanooga .
I quickly found and joined the inline hockey team that played against other
colleges in the area. Our team wore red and we were the Crusaders (an oddly
popular mixed message of a mascot for Christian Schools Covenant
College
So before the next season my boys Lyle and Zito move into
town and they want to join the team. Well since we had won it all there had
been a few guys that went to the school that wanted to join, and the regular
team said no, they won't add any more guys to the team, it would take away our playing
time and they didn’t want to share the glory with guys who didn’t put in the
time and practice in the first place. But I wanted my friends to play with us,
and I didn’t want to leave them hanging, so I defected and we made out own
team. Let’s just say Michelle Davis would not have made us the A team! We were
the leftovers, the JV, the B team might have been an overstatement. We got
jerseys that were the Flyers colors (cause me and Zito were from Philly) and we
got a huge logo of Underdog (the cartoon character) on the front. We were the
UnderDogs! And we were terrible.
Galatians 2:3-6
3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be
circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers
secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in
Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we
did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel
might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be
influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those,
I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.
Our team was not good, we did not win many games… but
we had a lot of fans. WE had a bunch of obnoxious loud friends that would come
and yell and support us, we called them the Dog Pound. We had our
girlfriends all sitting together near the front of the rink (till my girlfriend
got 6 stitches from a puck above the eye) and their section was called the
UnderPups. We had hats and t-shirts, we were pretty much the coolest team
around. We couldn't win a game, but we had a lot of fun. The other team, the
champs, they started showing up early to watch our practices and see why people
made such a big deal about us. Soon I realized that our practices were getting
more stiff, people were trying to do things that we weren't good at… we
had been spending more time practicing how to turn our sticks like horses and
ride them around like cowboys after we scored, now our practices were trying to
look really formal. And it did not work! We got worse. We were trying to be
like the other team, like the Crusaders, and we just weren't them. We did good
when we were just having fun and goofing around, but when we tried to play like
them, we couldn't do it. We couldn't have it both ways. We had to choose one
identity and stick with it.
It’s like that in this Bible passage. The guys from the old
way, the ones who thought that you had to follow the Law to impress God, they
were coming around and putting the pressure on, and the ones who had learned
the new truth, (that they were justified by their faith and not their works)
They were getting all mixed up… they were trying to keep the old group
happy and still trying to connect with the new group… it’s not gonna
work. Jesus died so that they didn’t have to live under the law anymore, they
needed to focus on the truth not on what others wanted them to be.
Answer This:
1. Have you ever been in a situation
like that, new teacher, new coach, new boss, someone that says “well it
used to be done that way but now its gonna be done this way”
2. “to them we did not yield in _________ even
for a moment, so that the truth of the ________ might be preserved for you.”
3. Who is pressuring you to live their way instead of the
way you know to be true?
4. Spend some time journaling about this passage.
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Written by Jeff
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