by Dale Reeves

Story Pastor

 

This past Sunday, our senior minister at Christ’s Church, Brad Wilson, began a four-week teaching series called “Overcomer.” If we truly want to make the most of what God has given us individually, if we really want to make a difference in others’ lives, if we really want to leave some footprints for others to follow, we will have to overcome the challenges that life throws at us. Pastor and radio preacher Chuck Swindoll has said, “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” God reminds us all throughout his Book that if we have chosen to follow him and make him Lord of our lives, he will be with us every step of the way, no matter what obstacles come our way.

 

The year was 2022. Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy was waiting to be drafted in the NFL. Eventually he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers as their third-string quarterback, number 262 pick, the last in the NFL draft that year, earning him the moniker, “Mr. Irrelevant.” But after former 49ers quarterbacks Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance suffered injuries that season, Purdy snagged the starter spot, and he’s never looked back. He led the 49ers to the NFC championship game a year ago, injured his throwing elbow, underwent offseason surgery, returned in time for 2023 training camp, and led his team to an appearance in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas just a month ago.

 

When asked about this title, “Mr. Irrelevant,” Purdy responded, “I really don’t care. . . .The bottom line is, life isn’t about you. . . . You get wrapped up in getting all the glory and the fame and the status, and I feel like that’s a shallow life and that can fade away pretty quickly.” Purdy has long been unashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and attributes his calm demeanor on the field to his Lord and Savior. In an interview with Sports Spectrum magazine during Super Bowl week, Purdy said that he had been living in Psalm 23 all year. He commented,

 

“I have what I need from the Good Shepherd in Jesus.”

 

To read more of that interview, click here.

 

Relevance . . . at What Cost?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “relevant” in this way:

rel-e-vant: adjective

 

  • “having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand”
  • “affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion” (as in relevant testimony in a court of law)
  • “having social relevance”

 

Something is relevant if it’s appropriate to the matter at hand. Relevant things are helpful, on point, and make sense at that particular time. In the middle of history class, your teacher loves to get relevant questions: questions that have to do with the material, rather than being way off target.

 

When I talk about my writing or teaching, I often say I want it to be “culturally relevant, biblically sound, and engaging.” Perhaps you’ve noticed like I have that there are some these days who are preaching the Word of God who seem to be more concerned with being “relevant” than being “biblical.” How do we look? How do we sound? How can we reach more people for God? To be sure, those are important questions to wrestle with. But, if the Word of God is compromised so that we can appear more relevant, I believe we’ve lost our way.

 

What Is Holding You Back?

In Brad’s sermon this past Sunday, he unpacked Mark 10:35-45, in which Jesus talks about what makes someone truly relevant. You can see that message here.

 

“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do us a favor.’

‘What is your request?’ he asked.

They replied, ‘When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.’

“But Jesus said to them, ‘You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?’

 

‘Oh yes,’ they replied, ‘we are able!’

 

“Then Jesus told them, ‘You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.’

 

“When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many’” (NLT).

 

Jesus makes it clear that is it not all about us, as “Mr. Irrelevant” stated Super Bowl week. It is about serving other people, gaining our relevance and purpose in life by loving others more than we love ourselves. If you feel that you are irrelevant in others’ lives, and you are seeking the purpose God has for you in your life right now, I would encourage you to read that above Scripture again, meditate on it, pray over it, and ask God to make that real in your life.

 

After Brad’s teaching last Sunday, we invited our church to answer this question on a large board in our lobby:

 

“What is holding you back?”

 

We as a church staff have read all those responses, and we have been praying over them. Our prayer is that God will help you overcome the battles you are going through, and through them show you your purpose and relevance in others’ lives. You matter. You have a purpose for living. You can be an overcomer because Jesus said this:

 

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NLT).