The past month most of the world (myself included) has been consumed by the massive tournament taking place in Brazil. I'm talking of course about the World Cup, Futbol's biggest event. Fans from all around the world have been flocking to the South American country to see history in the making, but one of the big stories there isn't about soccer. It concerns one of Brazil's biggest problems: poverty.
In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second largest city, while fans journey to see Maracana Stadium, one of the world's most famous soccer stadiums, many Brazilians look down from their homes in the many favelas that surround the city. They aren't interested in the glamour of the grand event, they are more concerned with how they are going to get their next meal. Rather than celebrate their country hosting such a prestigious event, they are angered and hurt that the attention and funds that had been given to the city's poor had been directed towards preparing the city for the event. While this is a tragedy and my heart goes out to those people in such miserable conditions, they are missing the point of what they truly need. Which takes us to another famous Rio landmark.
The giant statue of "Christ the Redeemer" is easily seen from all around the city, and while a statue isn't the answer to their problems, the man it depicts is. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This is the answer to their poverty, this is what the impoverished Brazilians and traveling soccer fans really need. This is Christ. This is the Gospel.
The answer to the poor isn't all the works done by the government to provide jobs and better housing. The answer is Christ. Now I'm not saying that Jesus will make them rich, or even that their physical state of poverty will be changed. What I am saying is that their spiritual poverty, the spiritual separation we are all born with because of our sin, is taken away, it is destroyed by the grace of God in the sacrifice of Christ. Since the fall man has always been innately sinful, but through Jesus Christ's perfect life, His sacrificial death that took on the wrath of God built up toward sin, and then His resurrection, we who have faith in Him are saved. We are redeemed. We are reconciled to God. Our original relationship with the creator and God of the universe is restored to its rightful place as we are adopted and now called sons and daughters. This is the answer to the poverty in the favelas.
For the true problem is this poverty of their souls. However, through the atoning work of Christ their poverty is transformed into an immense wealth, as they become co-inheritors with Christ. Thus after salvation their physical state is revealed to be glorifying to God, because, although they are poor, their faith and worship is in Christ, allowing them to echo Paul's letter to the Philippians where he writes, "I know how to be brought lot, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:12-13). This is what the gospel produces: contentment. Joy in God and His provision despite circumstances. This is what true faith is. This is what true love is. This is what grace does.
The contentment and joy received from the gospel comes from the knowledge that the gospel provides. That we are sinful and deserve nothing good, and ultimately we deserve punishment and death. This is why the gospel brings contentment. This is why through the good news that God graciously gives us salvation we are joyful and content. For we discover that all the good things we do have are also gifts from God. The poor Brazilian realizes that the fact that the little food and shelter they do have are gifts from God, not something they deserve. So then after their salvation and their realization of the power of God in the gospel, they can weather all the trials of this life. All the pains, the sickness, the poverty, the hunger is nothing compared to the glory of God. This is what allows them to do all things through Christ, because He becomes everything, and when Christ is everything nothing else matters.
Now let's not forget the futbol fan standing in line to get into the stadium, for Christ is the answer to his problem as well. His problem is the same problem we all have in our sinful state. A worship problem.
We were made to worship. It's part of our DNA to express adoration and give value to things, to celebrate that which makes us happy, to throw birthday parties and watch sporting events. To go to concerts, to read books, to go see awesome movies directed by Peter Jackson about noble and perilous quests. To do most of what we do, and this is not a bad thing in itself, however like all good things, when not in its intended place, sin arises. So we were made to worship, but more than that, we were made to worship God.
Romans 1 tells us that idolatry is worshiping creation rather than the Creator. However in our sinful nature our default is to worship things other than God. This is why it has to be grace. It has to be God giving us something that we haven't merited and that we don't deserve. For in all our works, in all our efforts to love our neighbors, to not cuss, to go to church and read our Bibles are rooted in our worship of something other than God. In something created rather than the One that created it, if our lives haven't been transformed by the redeeming power of the gospel that is. So that's why Paul writes concerning our salvation that it is "not the result of works, so that no one may boast." For if salvation is by works then we are all doomed for Paul writes in Romans 3:10-12 "as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'"
No one does good. Isaiah tells us that our good works are nothing but filthy rags, so praise God that our salvation is by grace and grace alone. Through faith which is itself "the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This is the answer to the soccer fan preparing to worship his idol of soccer. This is what will give him true joy, true fulfillment. This is Jesus.
This grace not only saves us but also sustains us as it allows us to see the right place of works. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) So because we have been saved by grace, that grace now empowers us to do the works God has already prepared for us.
Thus we see in the midst of the World Cup from two vastly different lives, two completely different stories, that the need is the same. This need that is shared by all of us, the need for something real. While the World Cup is now over, the need for Christ is still very much real in the lives of most people in the world, but so is the reality of the grace of God. That we might become His sons, not by our feeble efforts, but simply through His good pleasure.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." -Ephesians 2:8-10
In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second largest city, while fans journey to see Maracana Stadium, one of the world's most famous soccer stadiums, many Brazilians look down from their homes in the many favelas that surround the city. They aren't interested in the glamour of the grand event, they are more concerned with how they are going to get their next meal. Rather than celebrate their country hosting such a prestigious event, they are angered and hurt that the attention and funds that had been given to the city's poor had been directed towards preparing the city for the event. While this is a tragedy and my heart goes out to those people in such miserable conditions, they are missing the point of what they truly need. Which takes us to another famous Rio landmark.
The giant statue of "Christ the Redeemer" is easily seen from all around the city, and while a statue isn't the answer to their problems, the man it depicts is. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This is the answer to their poverty, this is what the impoverished Brazilians and traveling soccer fans really need. This is Christ. This is the Gospel.
The answer to the poor isn't all the works done by the government to provide jobs and better housing. The answer is Christ. Now I'm not saying that Jesus will make them rich, or even that their physical state of poverty will be changed. What I am saying is that their spiritual poverty, the spiritual separation we are all born with because of our sin, is taken away, it is destroyed by the grace of God in the sacrifice of Christ. Since the fall man has always been innately sinful, but through Jesus Christ's perfect life, His sacrificial death that took on the wrath of God built up toward sin, and then His resurrection, we who have faith in Him are saved. We are redeemed. We are reconciled to God. Our original relationship with the creator and God of the universe is restored to its rightful place as we are adopted and now called sons and daughters. This is the answer to the poverty in the favelas.
For the true problem is this poverty of their souls. However, through the atoning work of Christ their poverty is transformed into an immense wealth, as they become co-inheritors with Christ. Thus after salvation their physical state is revealed to be glorifying to God, because, although they are poor, their faith and worship is in Christ, allowing them to echo Paul's letter to the Philippians where he writes, "I know how to be brought lot, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:12-13). This is what the gospel produces: contentment. Joy in God and His provision despite circumstances. This is what true faith is. This is what true love is. This is what grace does.
The contentment and joy received from the gospel comes from the knowledge that the gospel provides. That we are sinful and deserve nothing good, and ultimately we deserve punishment and death. This is why the gospel brings contentment. This is why through the good news that God graciously gives us salvation we are joyful and content. For we discover that all the good things we do have are also gifts from God. The poor Brazilian realizes that the fact that the little food and shelter they do have are gifts from God, not something they deserve. So then after their salvation and their realization of the power of God in the gospel, they can weather all the trials of this life. All the pains, the sickness, the poverty, the hunger is nothing compared to the glory of God. This is what allows them to do all things through Christ, because He becomes everything, and when Christ is everything nothing else matters.
Now let's not forget the futbol fan standing in line to get into the stadium, for Christ is the answer to his problem as well. His problem is the same problem we all have in our sinful state. A worship problem.
We were made to worship. It's part of our DNA to express adoration and give value to things, to celebrate that which makes us happy, to throw birthday parties and watch sporting events. To go to concerts, to read books, to go see awesome movies directed by Peter Jackson about noble and perilous quests. To do most of what we do, and this is not a bad thing in itself, however like all good things, when not in its intended place, sin arises. So we were made to worship, but more than that, we were made to worship God.
Romans 1 tells us that idolatry is worshiping creation rather than the Creator. However in our sinful nature our default is to worship things other than God. This is why it has to be grace. It has to be God giving us something that we haven't merited and that we don't deserve. For in all our works, in all our efforts to love our neighbors, to not cuss, to go to church and read our Bibles are rooted in our worship of something other than God. In something created rather than the One that created it, if our lives haven't been transformed by the redeeming power of the gospel that is. So that's why Paul writes concerning our salvation that it is "not the result of works, so that no one may boast." For if salvation is by works then we are all doomed for Paul writes in Romans 3:10-12 "as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'"
No one does good. Isaiah tells us that our good works are nothing but filthy rags, so praise God that our salvation is by grace and grace alone. Through faith which is itself "the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This is the answer to the soccer fan preparing to worship his idol of soccer. This is what will give him true joy, true fulfillment. This is Jesus.
This grace not only saves us but also sustains us as it allows us to see the right place of works. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) So because we have been saved by grace, that grace now empowers us to do the works God has already prepared for us.
Thus we see in the midst of the World Cup from two vastly different lives, two completely different stories, that the need is the same. This need that is shared by all of us, the need for something real. While the World Cup is now over, the need for Christ is still very much real in the lives of most people in the world, but so is the reality of the grace of God. That we might become His sons, not by our feeble efforts, but simply through His good pleasure.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." -Ephesians 2:8-10
