The Maillot de Jaune

Today Cadel Evans gained the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France by just one second from Schleck after an epic uphill battle on the Col du Tournalet and Hautacam in the Pyrenees! The first Aussie since Anderson in 1982 to gain the Maillot Jaune this far into the Tour, and one of only five altogether to have worn it at all.

The professionalism and utter dedication of these guys is stunning. Some of the other riders from other teams, such as Fabian Cancellara and Jens Voigt, were willing to sacrifice themselves completely for their teams so that their main man would have a chance at the overall win in Paris in two weeks time.

But all of their extreme efforts pale into insignificance against what the Son of God did for us at the cross. He wasted himself utterly so that we could be forgiven and have the victory over sin, death and the evil one, not just in a stage of the race, but at the final podium on the last day. We are more than victors with Christ. But, like Le Tour competitors, to finish the race, we have to keep on going so we can stand with him on That Day as part of his team.

I reckon I can squeeze a couple more sermon illustrations out of this, actually. In his 2nd letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul uses the illustration of athletes competing several times. He says "...if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules." Already this year has seen at least one competitor disqualified as a drug cheat. What are the 'rules' of the gospel? Faith in Christ. When they asked him what works they must do to please God, Jesus replied "the work of God is this - to believe in the One He has sent." (John 6:28-29) If you try to justify yourself by your own good works instead, you will be disqualified for the prize.

There is another way in which the Christian life is like riding le Tour. The bible calls on us to give up everything for the team, to get others over the line in one piece with us. We are not riding individual time trials, but going for the team prize. Again from 2nd Timothy:

2Ti 2:10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him.


This is my first blog post, but it may well be my last. I didn't really intend to start a blog. Just seeing how it works. We'll see.