Today I am surprisingly writing about football! Like a lot of people, I have gradually been caught up in the excitement of the ongoing UEFA European Championship, especially as England progressed through the Championship, eventually making it to the finals, which they will be playing today against Italy!

I recently came across a post from a friend and subsequently a podcast from Pod of the Gaps discussing God and sports, and I learnt something very interesting – a parallel between sports and Christianity – about team victory being our victory. When the team we are supporting wins, we jump up and down excitedly proclaiming “we won, we won!” even though we were not the ones on the football pitch actually playing the game. However, we see the victory of our team as ours. Similarly, Jesus died on the cross, becoming the perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins, and obtained victory over sin and death. As 1 Corinthians 15: 53-57 states “Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the Scriptures will come true, “Death has lost the battle! Where is its victory? Where is its sting?” Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory!”

Colossians 2: 11-15 paints an amazing picture of the victory Jesus achieved for us:

“Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant cancelled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets (MSG).

Verse 15 in the KJV says “…And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” What a picture!

Football fans don’t necessarily endure the gruelling training footballers have to go through, risk of injury, sweating for 90 minutes or more on the pitch, and yet they can, and do still claim victory! In a similar vein, we didn’t suffer a scourging with whips made of bones, metal balls and spikes, we didn’t physically die on the cross with Jesus, enduring thick nails pierced through our hands and feet, we didn’t pant with thirst and have vinegar offered to us, we didn’t experience that crushing abandonment Jesus endured, and yet we can still claim victory over sin and death!

I was reflecting further on this, thinking mainly about how we can respond to this, and I would like to focus on five areas – joy, identity, evangelism, worship and hope.

Joy! Watching football fans reacting when their team wins… going wild with excitement, screaming with happiness, that almost palpable feeling of euphoria, you can see that joy is a natural response to victory. I remember being caught up in such a football victory many years ago.… the jubilation, people dancing in the streets, hugging random strangers, jumping for joy… It’s one of those memories I will never forget. This is how we can respond to the victory Jesus has won for us. 1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV) says “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” We have a victory that is greater than any football win, and because of this, no matter what we are going through, we are filled with glorious joy and can rejoice. As Philippians 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice!”

If you take a walk round some streets in England today, chances are you will come across the flag of England flapping away in the wind in front of houses, sticking out of the sides of cars passing etc. Football fans may also be wearing their country’s jersey, and may also have various other football paraphernalia that they display, which proudly shows the team they support. People paint their faces, arms, wear hats, arm bands, you name it. Why do they do all this? To identify with their team. As Christians, we might not have a universal Christian colour or flag that we can wear or fly in a similar manner, but Jesus says “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35, ESV). As Christians, LOVE is our flag, our ‘jersey’. We are called to love not just friends, family, those we identify with, but everyone, even our enemies or people we can’t stand. Will it be tough sometimes? Yes indeed. But will it ever be tougher than what Jesus endured to give us victory? I don’t think so.

Football fans love to talk about their teams. They discuss stats, players, transfers and other football gossip. You can sense their passion for the sport from the way they talk. They will use any opportunity they can to defend their team and bring the sport into conversation. What can we learn from this? Jesus has asked us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15, AMP). 1 Peter 3:15(NIV) says “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” If we truly understand Jesus’ sacrifice and victory, then we will not need to be forced to do so. Like football fans, we will be happy to talk about Jesus passionately to anyone who will listen, but also do it with gentleness and respect.

Worship is a wonderful, compelling response to victory. The way some football fans idolise their favourite players is akin to worship. They would do almost anything to get into the presence of their favourite player, or even just to get an autograph or a note. They might even have huge posters of such players on their room walls, so that they are constantly looking at these players, and conscious of them. They would read anything published about their favourite player. I recently watched a cute video of a young girl’s very emotional reaction to receiving a footballer’s jersey in a stadium… there was a look of utter joy on her face. Someone described meeting their favourite player as one of the best moments of their life.

As Christians, we can learn a thing or two from this. We worship God for who He is and in response to what He has done for us. We should be desperate to be in His presence, to read what He writes to us in the Bible. We should never take the privilege of being in His presence for granted. John 4:23-24 (CEV) says “God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.” God is greater than any sportsperson, and has done far more for us than any sportsperson ever could. There is, and will never be, any one like God. We can declare His splendour all day long (Psalm 71:8) and worship Him with all our hearts, not because we are forced to, but because we love Him and genuinely enjoy His presence. As Psalm 84:10a (MSG) states “One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches”.

It is important to emphasise that none of this is done out of compulsion, but is a natural response to victory, and to love.

With football, when a team wins a match, it gives fans hope for victory for the next match. Some of us didn’t start following the championship until England had progressed considerably, and then each time they won, we held out hope that they would win again. However, unfortunately, there are no guarantees when it comes to football. That is why there is such a thing as football betting. But with Jesus, we have a solid cast iron guarantee. He has already obtained the victory and we can be fully confident in Him. 2 Corinthians 5: 5-6 (NIV) states “Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV) says “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” We have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee… how powerful is that! Christ is in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27) The hope we have is not just wishful thinking, but the joyous, expectant, confident, guaranteed knowledge that one day we will be with Jesus again, and we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:21).

I pray that we can respond to the victory Jesus has obtained for us with pure joy, identifying with Him and His church, telling others about Him, worshipping Him, and living in hope. For we know that even if the team we support does not win, we have a far far greater victory in Jesus!

Image source here.