It’s been a great week for sports. Tiger Wood’s comeback victory to win the Masters after an 11 -year hiatus from major victories was amazing. Most people thought his career was finished. Many thought that he would never win a major event again.
How do you know when something or someone is finished?
This week I arrived home late from a meeting. The Clippers vs. Warriors 1st round NBA playoff game was on TV. When I went upstairs my wife asked me who was winning. I told her it was a blowout, so I wasn’t interested in watching it. At one point in the third quarter, the highly favored Warriors were up 31 points to the underdog Los Angeles Clippers.
If that were a home game for the Clippers I bet there would have been many people who would have left the arena early. The Clippers appeared to be finished, but the game wasn’t over.
The next morning, I checked my phone and saw a notification “Historic come from behind victory.” That’s right, the Clippers became the first ever team to come back and win a playoff game
A team may look finished but don’t count them out until the game clock reads zero.
That is unless you’re the 2013 Alabama Crimson Tide football team. In the Iron Bowl against in-state rival Auburn, The Tide had the ball at the end of regulation with an opportunity to kick a long field goal for the win. Time had actually run out on the field and the game appeared to be over but Alabama coach Nick Saban contested the clock and after review, the refs put one more second back on the game clock.
This gave The Tide the opportunity to line up for a potential game-winning 57-yard field goal attempt. The kick was short and remained in the field of play right where Auburn’s Chris Davis could receive it. He caught the ball just inside the goal posts and ran it back for a 100-yard winning touchdown.
When do you know something is finished? When the final whistle is blown.
What do you look for at the end of play like that in the modern game? You look for flags you listen for a whistle. At the end of a game do you hold your breath and wonder is it finished?
When is a painting finished? Many thought Van Gogh’s paintings were underworked and unrefined. But we know his art today as masterpieces.
Who decides when a painting is finished and considered a masterpiece? Critics or the artists? Who’s right?
You may have recently watched a movie that you thought could have used a few more scenes for it to have been considered finished. There were too many plot holes, too many gaps in the narrative, and not enough character development.
You may have also watched a movie and thought this movie is way too long. Like the Lord of the Rings movie, Return of the King that had about 6 endings and it just kept going. Is it finished, now?
What about a book? When is it finished? Did the author accomplish what he set out to accomplish? Some books you can’t put down and you wonder could there I have been more to the story? You hope that the book is part of a series.
How do you know when something is finished?
On the cross, Jesus, before he breathed his last breath said, “It is finished.”
What Jesus came to do on this earth was finished.
What was finished? A new religion?
Jesus had revealed the Father’s name, he had revealed the Father’s word, he had gathered people and had drawn them near to him, and he had shown the world the Father’s love. There was nothing more to do.
He revealed love not religion.
Jesus gave us everything that God’s love required. He gave until there was nothing left to give. What price does love pay?
He fully lived a life of love and the end he suffered much. It appeared to those around him that “it is finished” was “at last it is over.”
When he “gave up” his life it doesn’t mean that he gave up. He handed it over.
When is something finished? When Jesus says it is.
Jesus says, my sacrifice is complete. My salvation is complete.
It is finished but it’s not over.
Like Tiger Woods, many counted Jesus out after his first miracle at the wedding feast. Many counted Jesus out and left his ministry after the feeding of the 5,000. His closest friends abandoned him and only a few remained to watch his suffering on the cross in grief-stricken shock and bewilderment.
The fans left early. Turn off the TV this deficit is too big to overcome. The clock struck zero and the game was over.
Some thought, “is this it?” This body of work is incomplete. We didn’t get enough character development. His followers had seen him escape the grasp of his enemies on multiple occasions. Would he do it again?
Jesus says, “It is finished but it’s not over.”
You may have suffered from multiple defeats in you life but those defeats don’t have to be endings.
Love came down and love always wins.
When is your life complete? Is it finished when you breath your last breath?
Death is still the ultimate game over for many people. But with Jesus it is a victory.
Death is not the end.
When you trust in Jesus you too can say, “It is finished but it’s not over.” The end really isn’t the end.
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Jovan preaches for the Littleton Church of Christ near Denver, Colorado. Visit here to listen to sermons preached at the Littleton Church.