Underdogs
God loves underdogs. As men of God we know that in our flesh dwells no good thing. However, we have been strengthened with His mighty power by the Holy Spirit which he gave us when we were born again. In the midst of the spiritual battle the Lord is our refuge and strength. He is our shelter from the storm.
In the days of Noah, God called Noah to warn the people of the coming flood. They went about their daily business and didn’t listen to God’s warning. Then when the flood came, they weren’t ready and they didn’t know what hit them.
Our times are challenging times. The average Christian guy is casual in his walk with the Lord. He’s stressed and doesn’t think he can do anything about it. He’s struggling with his walk with God. He cannot say, “Lord, without you I’m nothing. I need help.” Many casual Christian men have a father wound. Their dad never said, “son, I love you.” Guilt and shame dog and condemn the casual Christian. He’s angry and doesn’t know the cause of his anger or how to deal with it. Even though he’s attended church and has been to men’s retreats, he still feels uncomfortable on spiritual turf. He avoids places or situations where he might be asked to pray or look something up in the Bible. He’s fearful and doesn’t know where to turn. He finds his identity in his work and accomplishments. He strives for the world’s definition of success. He pursues the things the world holds dear: beauty, honor and money. He see’s himself as a good guy even though he’s not involved with his church. He’s an underdog when it comes to the things of the spirit of life in Christ.
Bob Bennet says that men of this world have been marginalized. They have been relegated to the margins of our popular culture. They have been emasculated and pushed aside while the women have taken center stage. The average guy has acquiesced to his marginal position trying not to offend the world’s standards of political correctness.
According to Isaiah 55:8-9 God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Therefore proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path.”
His ways, His Purpose, and His plan are much higher than ours. We don’t understand the end from the beginning…..but he does. As a follower of our Lord, our purpose is to follow him in close proximity.
The first chapter of 1 Corinthians says, not many noble, not many wise are called. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise. For the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God.
God has chosen the weak, the base, the foolish, and the despised things of this world so that no man can glory in his sight. Repentance is to turn from myself and unto Christ. Our credentials are not in our own accomplishments but only in Him. For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. Christianity is all of thee and none of me….that we may be to the praise of the glory of His grace.
By God’s grace he has called us and chosen us to be holy and without blame before him in love.
When God called Moses to confront Pharaoh, Moses said, “why me, Lord. I can’t speak. I’ve been banished from Egypt as a murderer. Why have you chosen me?” God chooses the things that are despised of this world to show the power of his grace, mercy, and love.
According to 1 Corinthians 1:30, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” According to this verse we’re saved from sin and the effects of sin. This includes the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin.
Salvation from these effects of sin also covers the three tenses of salvation. In the past tense were saved because of what Christ did on our behalf….not because of our own worthiness. Righteousness means that we have been saved from the penalty of sin. In the present tense, sanctification means that we are being saved, set apart from the power of sin. We’re separated from the power of sin according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named either in this world or that which is to come….. In the future tense, Redemption means that we will be saved from the presence of sin for when that which is perfect is come at Christ return, we shall know even also as we are known.
We’re not successful by the world’s standards. Jesus said, the abundance of a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesses. By his standard, he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He has called us to stand in the power of his might according tot he spirit of Christ in us the hope of glory.
God chooses underdogs from the world’s perspective….ordinary men who have the meekness and humility to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God.
God chose Joseph to provide and protect the nation of Israel to be separated in the land of Egypt according to God’s plan.
Likewise, he set Moses apart to lead the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. God had a plan for his life. God got his attention through a burning bush that wasn’t consumed. God called Moses to a high and mighty calling to deliver his people. Moses’ life was an example of His grace and mercy.
Jesse’s son David was also the story of an underdog. David was Jesse’s youngest son who was tending his father’s sheep. When Samuel told Jesse that God was calling one of his son’s to be anointed, Jesse left David in the field. Even though David was chosen to become king, he often walked outside of God’s will. He sinned woefully with Bathsheba, but he repented of his sin and God restored him to an upright position. God is rich in mercy and grace. A broken and a contrite heart, God will not forsake.
God has called men of God for such a time as this. He’s called us to be salt and light in a world of darkness. He’s called his men to stand in the gap as his wall of protection around the city. We’re watchmen on the wall to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to sand in the evil day and having done all to stand.
Despite the pestilence and pandemic, God says, fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
From the world’s perspective, Jesus was an underdog. Jesus lived one solitary life according to this poem attributed to James Allen Francis:
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned–put together–have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.
As underdogs and as servants of our Lord, may we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God,
That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
