What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31, NIV)
Unlike some other sports, it is rare to find anyone in golf who is able to claim to be undefeated. We just watched the University of Alabama have an undefeated football season. The UConn Women’s Basketball team not too long ago went 111 games between losses; that spanned multiple seasons. Occasionally we see heavyweight boxing matches between two undefeated foes. However, it is hard to find anything like that in golf.
Currently, Phil Mickelson is undefeated on the PGA Tour Champions after two starts. Ben Hogan was undefeated at the Open Championship (aka, British Open), as he won the only time he went across the pond to play. Larry Nelson was 9-0-0 after his first two Ryder Cup matches; he did not lose a match until his third appearance at the biennial matches.
These are all impressive; however, all of us who play golf know that golf ends in defeat more times than not. More serious parts of your life may be feeling that way right now, too. Many people are struggling financially and physically, angered by recent social and political events, and suffering emotionally and psychologically from one or more of the circumstances of 2020. You have also quickly realized that nothing changed when 2021 began, other than the year you write on your checks.
Like me, you may have not yet returned to attending church in person. That may feel defeating as well, but it does not have to when we understand what Jesus and Paul claimed about the ekklesia, the Greek word later mistranslated as church (that word comes from an Old English and German word kirk and kirche, meaning “the house of or belonging to God”).
The growth and impact of the ekklesia was unaffected by who was in charge of the nation in which they lived—just as it is today.Jesus is only recorded using ekklesia twice in the Gospel of Matthew and nowhere in Mark, Luke, or John. Nonetheless, when he introduced his ekklesia (directly translated as “the called-out ones”), it had much greater meaning. He proclaimed to his followers that “the gates of Hades will not overcome it (or them). I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
Paul wrote that even in times of trouble, hardship, and persecution that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” and that “nothing can separate us from his love” (Romans 8:37, 39).
If you are feeling emotionally or spiritually defeated by today’s social, political, or even religious gather landscape, I would like to encourage you to dive deeper into the truth about Christ’s ekklesia. It transformed Western society in a relatively short period of time without buildings, professional clergy, religious freedom, or protected status. Its growth and impact was unaffected by who was in charge of the nation in which they lived—just as it is today.
The kingdom of God and Christ’s ekklesia operate 24/7. It is unaffected by politics, economics, and diseases. It has never and will never be defeated, and neither will you if you keep “reaching forward to what lies ahead,” and “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NASB).
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Josh Nelson
January 18, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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