I couldn’t help but click on the headline. My curiosity was aroused.
“Sinner Wins Australian Open.”
As a pastor, I was intrigued. My first thought was, “Well, yeah. Unless Jesus plays in the Australian Open, whoever wins is going to be a sinner.”
The article clarified the matter. “Twenty-fiveyear- old Italian tennis star, Jannik Sinner, defended his Australian Open title last week by defeating Alexander Zverev in straight sets.” That makes sense.
Sinner wins Australian Open.
Such headlines should never shock us. “Sinner Wins Indianapolis 500.”
“Sinner Wins Super Bowl MVP.” “Sinner Wins Presidency.”
I’m not saying that Jannik Sinner is destined for greatness in all those professions. Rather I’m saying what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 3:23.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Every person on this planet sins daily. Every player and coach in the upcoming Super Bowl, eveiy single man in the NBA, as well as every member of your local high school basketball team, is a sinner.
And sinners sometimes win. At times, that frustrates us as Christians. We see bad people succeed, while good people fail.
We see sinners win, while Christians lose. It doesn’t seem fair.
What we often forget is that there are no truly good people. Everybody sins - even Christians. We are all sinners.
And though a sinner may win the Australian Open or Super Bowl MVP or even the presidency, no sinner will ever truly win. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul tells us (Romans 6:23). Even those who enjoy great success in this life will have to face God’s judgment in the next. The punishment for just one sin is an eternity in the hoiTors of hell.
No sinner can ever truly win.
That’s why we need Jesus. Jesus - the all-powerful and eternal Son of God - allowed people to treat him as a nobody. He looked like a loser as he hung, naked and bleeding and dying. He willingly allowed his Father to treat him as a sinner.
Yet, with his death and subsequent resurrection, Jesus won the victory over sin, death, and the devil.
He won that victory for us, in our place. Because of Jesus - through faith in him - we can’t lose.
Instead, we can say with the Apostle Paul, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Because of Jesus, our eternal headline reads: “Sinner Wins!”
Pastor Andrew Schroer has been a pastor for over-25 years and is currently serving at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Edna, Texas. You can find his latest books, “364 Days of Thanksgiving” and “364 Days of Devotion, ” on Amazon .com.
