Actor and comedian Bob Saget died from accidental head trauma, a Florida medical examiner declared yesterday. “His injuries were most likely incurred from an unwitnessed fall,” according to Dr. Joshua Stephany, who added that no illicit drugs or toxins were found in his system. Mr. Saget was found in his Orlando hotel room by hotel security on January 9 and pronounced dead at the scene.

We also learned yesterday that Prince Charles has tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time. Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II and Spain’s King Felipe VI announced this week that they also tested positive for the virus.

This news is relevant to Sunday’s Super Bowl in ways that might not be obvious but are deeply significant for our lives today.

Why do we care?

Front row seats at the big game can be yours for $62,095 each. You could buy a thirty-second ad for $6.5 to $7 million. You could star in one of these commercials, but apparently you have to be a superstar celebrity first.

Or you can be one of the one hundred million people who are expected to watch the game in the US. According to the Athletic, only two non-Super Bowl programs—the February 1983 MASH finale and the 1978 Leon Spinks–Muhammad Ali rematch—rank among the all-time top thirty US broadcasts for audience size.

On one level, this is merely a football game. Nothing that happens Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles will resolve the crisis in Ukraine, the truck blockade at the US–Canadian border, or the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. On another level, it is an opportunity for football immortality for the winners.

America is a celebrity-driven culture in ways that have only been exacerbated by pandemic quarantines, the explosion of social media, and the proliferation of streaming entertainment. Mr. Saget’s death was tragic, but only one of the 7,708 deaths that occur on average each day in the US. The monarchs who tested positive for COVID-19 are three of the more than 2.5 million confirmed cases each day.

We care about athletes who win championships, celebrities who fall ill or die, actors who are nominated for Oscars, and singers who win music awards because many of us live vicariously through them.

Why is this?

How to “live peaceably with all”

This week, I’ve been discussing the significance and implications of Christians’ status as the “children of God.” We have noted that we are loved passionately and unconditionally by our Father and thus called and privileged to love our fellow Christians and those outside the faith as our Father loves us.

Let’s close with this fact: When we truly believe that we are who God says we are, we find peace the world can neither give nor take and significance that lasts forever.

Many of us fixate on athletes and celebrities because our secularized culture has conditioned us to measure success by popularity, performance, and possessions. But all three are fleeting. Just ask any former celebrity, retired athlete, or now-bankrupt former billionaire. Then consider the presidents and kings, athletes and tycoons who now own the same six feet of dirt that will be yours and mine one day (if the Lord tarries).

Now decide that you want to define yourself as God defines you. Decide that your status and identity as the child of God is the foundational fact about you. Decide that there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more or less than he already does. Decide that you therefore need nothing the world can give or take, that you are a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Now you are free to love others whether they love you or not. You are free to serve Jesus whether the world rewards you or punishes you for your service.

You can “bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14). You can “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (v. 15). You can “live in harmony with one another” and “associate with the lowly” (v. 16). You can “repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (v. 17). And, “If possible, so far as it depends on you,” you can “live peaceably with all” (v. 18).

Imagine a world where everyone did this. Or a country, a state, a city, a community, or a family. Or a single Christian.

Why not you? Why not today?

Galaxies in the eye of a needle

Philip Yancey writes: “Scientists now believe that if you had unlimited vision, you could hold a sewing needle at arm’s length toward the night sky and see ten thousand galaxies in the eye of the needle. Move it an inch to the left and you’d find ten thousand more. Same to the right, or no matter where else you moved it. There are approximately a trillion galaxies out there, each encompassing an average of one hundred to two hundred billion stars.”

If Jesus is your Lord, you are the child of the God who made all of that.

Now, what’s your problem?

Denison Forum

As football fans and the culture at large gear up for the biggest sports event of the year as the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals face off in the Super Bowl this Sunday, I find myself in the unfortunate position of not really caring who wins. 

My Dallas Cowboys lost in heartbreaking—and rage-inducing—fashion a few weeks ago, but I’m still looking forward to the game and everything that surrounds it. That said, sports tend to be more fun when you have someone to root for.

With that in mind, I’ve enjoyed getting to know a bit more about the faith of several athletes who will be playing this weekend. 

Cooper Kupp

Cooper Kupp, for example, has become one of the most valuable wide receivers in the league and has consistently been the focal point of the Rams offense all season. He’s also among the most vocal and open Christians in the sport. 

Whether it’s reflecting on the lessons he learned while recovering from a torn ACL a few seasons ago or when he’s asked about his growing stardom in the league, Kupp consistently points people back to God as the reason for his success and the secret to staying grounded amidst his rise in prominence. 

For example, when asked earlier this season if he felt like the NFL fully appreciated his abilities, he simply paraphrased Proverbs 16:9, telling the reporter “Today, the verse that was on my mind was, ‘The heart of man chooses his path but the Lord establishes his steps. It just gave me so much freedom to go out there and play free, give everything I had [and] know the results rested in him.” 

When discussing the violence inherent to the sport, he notes that “it’s the nature of the game. In the same way, it’s also sporadic and oftentimes out of your control. I couldn’t imagine stepping onto a football field and not having a full body-mind-spirit belief that I am exactly where I am supposed to be, and doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. My faith in God and His plan for me allows me to play freely without doubt or fear.”

Evan McPherson

However, Kupp is far from the only participant to have made the news recently as a result of his faith. The Cincinnati Bengals are playing for the championship in large part because rookie kicker Evan McPherson ended the last two weeks with game-winning field goals. After his kick that sent the Bengals to the AFC Championship game, he attended the press conference wearing a black shirt with “God is good” printed across the top. 

He also regularly quotes Scripture on social media and responded to being named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for December by posting on Instagram: “Glory to God! 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.” Paul’s instruction in that passage is to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” which seems to sum up McPherson’s approach to the game quite well. 

Sony Michel

And Rams running back Sony Michel would agree with him. He told reporters during a previous trip to the Super Bowl—ironically when he was playing against the Rams—that “without Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, there is none of this. We get all this glory, but the glory is not for us. It’s for Him. We do this for Him. That’s kind of my purpose. So really, none of this matters to me.”

Akeem Davis-Gaither

Bengals linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither hasn’t been a Christian for as long as the others listed above, but he speaks of his faith with a wisdom and perspective that would surely resonate with the others in this article. 

After being baptized last summer, Davis-Gaither posted that “after 23 years I am so proud to have given my life to Christ and Received the gift of new life! God has done wonderful things in my life, picked me up from my lows and humbled me at my highs. Every step of my life, God has blessed me in so many ways. I’m blessed that I’m able to share his love and let my life be a testimony of his unwavering love for us all.”

The impact of Christians in Super Bowl LVI

Regardless of whom you choose to cheer for this Sunday night—or even if you choose to ignore the game altogether—having Christians publicly stand for their faith while the world is watching should be an encouragement to all of us. 

It should also be a reminder to pray for those willing to take that step because doing so puts a target on their back that Satan would love nothing more than to exploit. None of these men are perfect, and they will surely make decisions from time to time that our Lord would not approve of. After all, they’re still just as fallen and human as the rest of us. 

So please take some time today to pray for each of these players by name. 

Pray that God would continue to use their courage and their witness in ways that expand the kingdom. 

Pray that God would protect them from temptation and help them to remain faithful to his will. 

And pray that God will use their example to spark the desire to be used in similar ways in your own life as well. 

We may never have the same reach or audience as professional football players on the sport’s biggest stage, but that’s not an excuse to take the opportunities that the Lord does give us any less seriously than if we did. 

What opportunities will God bring your way today? 

Will you be ready when he does?

Denison Forum

The recent volcanic eruption in the South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga was hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb, according to NASA scientists.

As Morgan Lee reports in Christianity Today, the blast generated waves that reached estimated heights of fifty feet. Coastline villages and resorts were swept away. Rushing water buried roads under boulders and debris.

Yet only three people died and, despite the ash that covers large parts of the islands, life is returning to normal.

Fe’ilaokitau Kaho Tevi, the former general secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, is grateful: “We feel that we have been the subject of the prayers of the worldwide Christian community.” Tongan Christians also point to King Tupou I (1797–1893), who dedicated the islands to God. The only remaining monarchy in the Pacific is overwhelmingly Christian today; Protestants make up 64.9 percent of the population, while the rest are evenly divided between Catholics and Mormons.

These believers approach Christian solidarity in a unique way: “The nuclear family in the context of the West does not define nor exist in the Pasifika Island family structure,” as a pastor of Tongan congregations in Seattle explains. “Similarly, Jesus viewed others as his brothers and sisters, particularly those who followed God’s way, as told in Matthew 12. We all belong to God’s family. We all belong to the body, as the apostle Paul would describe in 1 Corinthians 12.”

A unified response to unprecedented challenges

This week I’ve been focusing on the transformational fact that Christians are “children of God” whose worth is found in our Father’s unshakable love and who can experience every day the forgiveness, freedom, and joy of his unconditional grace.

Today, let’s consider another aspect of our theme: if we are all children of one Father, we are all members of one family. Every believer across twenty centuries of Christian faith is our sister or brother.

More than at any time in my lifetime, you and I need this empowering encouragement today, for this simple reason: the unprecedented challenges we face require the unified response of God’s people.

In The Coming Tsunami, I explain why and how Christians are castigated today as outdated, intolerant, oppressive, and even dangerous. Biblical morality is branded as homophobic and bigoted. Followers of Jesus are increasingly facing antagonism and oppression on a level we have never experienced in America. Our founders believed that our Constitution was “made only for a moral and religious people” and would not recognize our culture.

But the good news is, we do not have to face our battles alone.

“People need embodied community”

Every image of the church in the New Testament is collective—we are members of one body (1 Corinthians 12:12–27) and branches of one vine (John 15:1–2). The apostle John was given a vision of our future in heaven: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).

I can find no solos in the book of Revelation.

As Covenant College theologian Kelly M. Kapic observes, “It takes the entire church to be the one body of Christ.” Our existentialist, isolated culture desperately needs this “body,” as Anglican priest and New York Times columnist Tish Harrison Warren notes: “People need physical touch and interaction. We need to connect with other human beings through our bodies, through the ordinary vulnerability of looking into their eyes, hearing their voice, sharing their space, their smells, their presence. . . . People need embodied community.”

As a result, she claims, “A chief thing that the church has to offer the world now is to remind us all how to be human creatures, with all the embodiment and physical limits that implies. We need to embrace that countercultural call.”

“Thank you for the fiery sermon”

One consequence of the pandemic has been a significant decline in church attendance even as restrictions have eased. Going to church online is apparently becoming more permanent for many who could attend in person. This trend reflects the growing consumerism of American Christianity in my lifetime as many go to church for what they can “get out of it” more than what they can give in worship to God and service to others.

But the time to prepare for a tsunami is before it strikes. The time to engage personally and passionately with fellow believers is before we need what only the body of Christ can provide.

It’s been said that every Christian needs a Paul (a mentor), a Barnabas (an encourager), and a Timothy (someone to mentor). Who are yours? Who would name you as one of theirs?

A pastor went to visit a church member who had stopped coming to worship. The man expected the pastor to scold him for his laxity and to urge him to return. Instead, the pastor stepped into the den and took a seat before the fire roaring in the fireplace. The puzzled church member took a seat next to him.

The two watched the fire in silence. Then the pastor stood up, took the fireplace tongs, picked up a blazing ember, set it to the side of the fire, and then sat back down. The two watched as it sputtered, smoked, and eventually went out and grew cold. Then the pastor retrieved the tongs, picked up the dead coal, and placed it back into the fire. Instantly, it leapt back to flaming life.

As the pastor stood up to leave, the church member said, “Thank you for the fiery sermon. I will be back in worship this Sunday.”

How close to God’s fire are you today?

Denison Forum