Super-athlete Michael Vick has pled guilty to dog fighting. Possibly his NFL career is over, certainly it’s on ‘hold.’
It’s his post-guilty plea statements I find curious. In part he said …
“… I’m upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now.
Like I said, for this — for this entire situation I never pointed the finger at anybody else, I accepted responsibility for my actions of what I did and now I have to pay the consequences for it. But in a sense, I think it will help, you know, me as a person. I got a lot to think about in the next year or so.
I offer my deepest apologies to everybody out in there in the world who was affected by this whole situation. And if I’m more disappointed with myself than anything it’s because of all the young people, young kids that I’ve let down, who look at Michael Vick as a role model. And to have to go through this and put myself in this situation, you know, I hope that every young kid out there in the world watching this interview right now who’s been following the case will use me as an example to using better judgment and making better decisions.
Once again, I offer my deepest apologies to everyone. And I will redeem myself. I have to.”
I pray that Vick has found his Savior! This would be amazing grace covering a violence-addicted heart. But we’re also aware now is a great time to publicly “find Christ” in the hopes of swaying more lenient sentencing. May Vick truly find his peace in the Cross and find wise counsel from pastors in his life. We can pray to this end.
But there is a deeper lesson in these words for us all. We want to “find Jesus” and, at the same time, want to redeem ourselves. We don’t say it like this, but it’s a real struggle. We struggle against legalism because we struggle to rest our full eternal redemption into the hands of another.
Trusting in the gospel is to be eternally redeemed in Christ, relinquishing all hope of becoming redeem-able. It means crying for mercy in light of the impossible demands of self-redemption. We have seen the sin in our hearts, the holy standards of God, and cannot be redeemed today or tomorrow or in a year by our self-improvements.
In Scripture it’s one sinful tax collector and one bloody criminal hanging next to Christ that both find redemption by relinquishing self-improvement. This is hard for us to grasp in a society bent on self-improvement and image and perception. We are repulsed from the idea that our souls cannot be improved to God’s approval. We don’t want to be helpless. We need Jesus for an initial push of momentum in the right direction.
Recall what Mark Lauterbach recently wrote: “I have wondered for a couple of years where the Gospel intersects modern American life — and I think it is here. The Gospel calls us to stop trying to improve ourselves.”
At some level the words of Vick are the words of us all: ‘Redeem me so I can redeem myself.’ This prideful contradiction energizes legalism, undermines the humbling power of the gospel, undermines the grace-sustained Cross-centered life, undermines our Cross-purchased eternal security, and undermines honesty over personal sin in small group meetings.
At the least, these words reveal a false dichotomy between private, spiritual ‘redemption’ and public, PR ‘redemption.’ At the worst, Vick’s words reveal a misunderstanding of the gospel, a gospel so confused in popular culture that to “find Jesus” may now be the first step towards self-redemption.
great article. thanks for the reminder that we need to always be tearing down our own self-salvation projects. i also pray that Vick comes to a true understanding of the gospel through this experience.
Comment by cameo | August 28, 2007
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“If you find me short in things, impute that to my love of brevity. If you find me besides the truth in anything, impute that to my infirmity. But if you find anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on you and me. Yours to serve you with what little I have.” John Bunyan (Works, 1:336).
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“In the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theater, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world. The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross, in which there was a wonderful change of things—the condemnation of all men was manifested, sin blotted out, salvation restored to men; in short, the whole world was renewed and all things restored to order.” John Calvin
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Welcome to Miscellanies [formerly The Shepherd's Scrapbook] a blog serving sinners who seek their daily food in the Cross of Christ. Our goal is provide thoughts on Cross-centered living, theology, preaching and pastoral ministry. We review books considered excellent, announce new books that look interesting, and encourage biblical discernment with both. All of this should fuel our pursuit of the Cross. [Meet the winners of our book of the year awards: 2006 winner and the 2007 winners.]
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Current reading …
Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought
Michael Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (3rd ed.)
F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from its First Beginnings to the Conversion of the English
Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms: 73-90, Boulding trans. (vol. III/18 )
Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life
Do-it-yourself Blank Bible. Of all the books we promote, none compare with God’s Word. We pursue the Cross as God opens His Word to us. In this anticipation, we encourage you to make your own blank bible like Jonathan Edwards.’ Building a blank bible shows both a commitment to serious, life-long reflection and the anticipation of God’s illuminating Spirit. To date, over 15,000 readers have accessed the Blank Bible Index.
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FREE book! What is God saying to us? How can we know Him? I wrote a little book — Come Unto Me: God’s Invitation to the World — to answer these questions. You can download the book as a PDF and you can read more about the background of the project here.
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Humble Calvinism.Early this year we started a series on Humble Calvinism, a study through John Calvin’s Institutes. Especially noteworthy is Calvin’s experiential sensitivity to the contours of godliness. Join us as we continue learning humble and holistic Calvinism as Calvin intended. See the Humble Calvinism series index here.
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The Puritan Study. The Puritans were Cross-boasters. So how do we use the wealth of Puritan literature in our personal devotions and expositional studies? Our series on building and using a Puritan Study answered this important question. For more see the full Puritan Study series index.
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Who am I? My name is Tony Reinkebut call me “chief of sinners.” For 22-years I hid from God in self-righteous religious ‘faithfulness’ until my stubborn heart was subdued by God’s sovereign grace (Eph. 2). In one moment, after a sermon by Paige Patterson in Lincoln, NE on Luke 18:9-14, I perceived the Gospel as the great exchange, and by God’s grace I released my self-righteousness to cling to the saving righteousness of Jesus Christ. That day I recognized I was a sinner playing the part of the Pharisee. It was the day I was reborn. Now nothing is more precious than knowing Christ — the God-man who died for me and gave me His righteousness in place of my sinfulness (Phil. 3:7-9). Pursuing further up and further into the Cross has become the center of my life and this blog is intended as a place to share this pursuit.
Educationally, I graduated from Bellevue University in Omaha, NE with a degree in Liberal Arts. Theologically, I’m an autodidact under the wise direction of a local church. I’ve been married for 10 years to my best friend, Karalee (a more gifted writer and blogger than myself) and we have three precious kids, a majority of whom are named after dead preachers. Last year I was interviewed by Joshua Sowin about life, books and reading (if you want more info)
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My book wishlist. Hopefully one day these valuable books will be added to my library. All from the The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Yale editions) …
Vol. 10: Sermons and Discourses ( 1720-1723 )
Vol. 14: Sermons and Discourses ( 1723-1729 )
Vol. 19: Sermons and Discourses ( 1734-1738 )
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Vol. 13: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 1-500 )
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Vol. 20: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 833-1152 )
Vol. 23: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 1153–1360 )
Vol. 15: Notes on Scripture
Vol. 8: Ethical Writings
Vol. 21: Trinity, Grace, and Faith
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Princeton Cemetery. I don’t know how I did it, but in the Spring of 2006 I convinced my wife and kids it would be fun to spend the day at Princeton cemetery. Princeton is famous for its school and less famous for its rich evangelical history. I took several photographs at Princeton Cemetery (where Edwards, Hodge, Warfield and the Alexanders are buried). These photos always remind me to be Cross-centered.
Super-athlete Michael Vick has pled guilty to dog fighting. Possibly his NFL career is over, certainly it’s on ‘hold.’
great article. thanks for the reminder that we need to always be tearing down our own self-salvation projects. i also pray that Vick comes to a true understanding of the gospel through this experience.
[...] WorldMag Blog * Christianity Today * Phil Ryken * Scot McKnight * Ben Witherington * Tony Reinke * Explore posts in the same categories: Gospel, Evangelism, Jesus, Personal Commentary, [...]