The 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs were built to win a championship. Every Spurs fan had their sight’s set on beating the mighty Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, right out of the gate. San Antonio put up a 67-15 record over the course of the season that included a remarkable 40-1 home record. It was a historic season for the Spurs.<\/p>\n
As I watched the Spurs get bounced in the second round against the Oklahoma City Thunder, far short of expectations, I was in shocking disbelief. In my mind, and I’m sure in the minds of most Spurs fans, there was no way the Spurs wouldn’t win the NBA championship this year. But they lost. In the second round. To the Thunder.<\/p>\n
Amidst my post-loss disarray I came across a video that was posted by the official account of the San Antonio Spurs. The video was of the team’s return home to San Antonio that very night following the loss. As the team was exiting their plane, there was a crowd of faithful Spurs fans waiting for them, and cheering as loud as ever for their Spurs.<\/p>\n
As I watched the video, it occurred to me what was happening – they were cheering for their team that had just lost. Do you realize how profound this is? That’s not how sports go. There are cheers for success and boos for failure. But what I observed was just the opposite; then I realized: what an incredible picture of the gospel this is. The basis for the fan’s acceptance of their team was, at least in that moment, not based on the team’s success but on the fan’s love for them. The fact that the Spurs lost, and fell far short of expectations did not cause the fans to boo, but rather to cheer, and to cheer loudly as their team arrived home late that night. Imagine the disappointment the players must have felt – and maybe some shame. But to arrive home to a crowd of fans cheering of their love for them, must have been quite a moment for those players.<\/p>\n
As it is with God. We are far worse people, than the Spurs are a team. We are colossal failures – the biblical term being sinners. We are colossal sinners before an enormously holy God. Yet God’s acceptance of us is not based on our success – as if we had any. Rather, it is based on us being united with and loved in Christ. At the height of our failures, and in the depths of our sin is when Christ died for us. So it is there that God our Father is cheering for us. Amidst your failure, and your shame, lift your hanging head, Christian, and look to the cross of Christ. There you will see God not booing you, not disappointed in you, not ashamed of you, but shouting his love for and acceptance of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs were built to win a championship. Every Spurs fan had their sight’s set on beating the mighty Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, right out of the gate. San Antonio put up a 67-15 record over the course of the season that included a remarkable 40-1 home record. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[100,274,472,557,562,625,678,679,698,699,772,807,863,947,1136,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports","7":"tag-acceptance","8":"tag-christ","9":"tag-failure","10":"tag-god","11":"tag-gospel","12":"tag-how","13":"tag-jenkins","14":"tag-jesus","15":"tag-josh","16":"tag-joshua","17":"tag-loss","18":"tag-me","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-playoffs","21":"tag-showed","22":"tag-spurs","23":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3449,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/begin-at-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":0},"title":"Begin at Christ","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"December 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The following post is a selection from a sermon Charles Spurgeon preached on 1 Corinthians 1v24 entitled: \u201cChrist - the Power and Wisdom of God.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cIf you want to be a thoroughly learned man the best place to begin, is to begin at the Bible, to begin at Christ.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/12\/charles-spurgeon-scan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/book-review-onward-by-russell-moore\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":1},"title":"Book Review: Onward by Russell Moore","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"November 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The Bible Belt is teetering toward collapse, and I say let it fall.\" You cannot even escape the introduction to Russell Moore's,\u00a0Onward\u00a0without hearing canon blasts of gospel truth. This book takes on the nature of the gospel in the sense that the gospel is both offensive and life giving.\u00a0Onward\u00a0is chalked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"book\"","block_context":{"text":"book","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/tag\/book\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/11\/onward-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/11\/onward-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/11\/onward-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/11\/onward-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/11\/onward-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5509,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/theophanic-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":2},"title":"Theophanic Storm","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio When Moses told the words of the people to the\u00a0Lord,\u00a010\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Moses, \u201cGo to the people and\u00a0consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them\u00a0wash their garments\u00a011\u00a0and be ready for the third day. For on the third day\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/02\/signal-2023-02-11-184518_002.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/02\/signal-2023-02-11-184518_002.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/02\/signal-2023-02-11-184518_002.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1000,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/whats-so-great-about-the-nba-draft\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":3},"title":"What’s So Great About the NBA Draft?","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"June 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Thursday night was an event that only avid NBA fans were excited about: the NBA Draft. This is where NBA organizations get the opportunity to select college or international players to join their team. As a hardcore NBA fan, I love the NBA draft. But what's so great about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","block_context":{"text":"Sports","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3425,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/j-c-ryle-on-days-of-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":4},"title":"J.C. Ryle on Days of Darkness","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"October 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In the classic work \"Holiness\" by J.C. Ryle, there is a chapter entitled \"Growth in Grace\" in which he talks about Hebrews 12v11 which says, \"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/10\/ryle-jc_21.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/10\/ryle-jc_21.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/10\/ryle-jc_21.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2017\/10\/ryle-jc_21.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1037,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/million-dollar-gospel-pt-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":5},"title":"Million Dollar Gospel, Pt. 2","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"June 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In my previous post I talked about some gospel that I saw in the movie,\u00a0Million Dollar Arm.\u00a0There is one more gospel picture in the movie that I wanted to write on. I didn't feel that it fit with my last post, thus I've given it it's own post. In the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}