Tim Tebow, Denver Bronco’s quarterback, has been the latest, and recently the most visible, in a long line of sports figures to bring religiosity to the proverbial arena. Of course, since the days of the great amphitheater of early Rome, ‘sport’ and religion have been chummy. In fact, modern sports, to more than a few, is a religion, so any clamorous insistence that sports and religion should be separate, doesn’t really hold water.

However, the spotlight these days is on Tim Tebow, not only for his successes on the football field, but also for much of his efforts off the field, visiting the sick and dying, inspiring young and old alike with reaching out to others in the community, often times immediately before a game. All of these works are commendable, and a fine example to others in the professional sports world to follow. In fact, I’ll just say it, I’m glad Tim Tebow is getting the publicity that he is. That doesn’t make me a fan-boy, just pleased, for reasons I’ll get to later. 

Tim comes from a missionary family whose website, Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association (BTEA), is the place where you can read up and ‘meet’ the whole Tebow family and get a glimpse into their ministry.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post. We’ve talked about the Gospel according to Tim before, and while you can’t draw concrete conclusions about a man’s ministry based on a snapshot in time, his presentation of the Gospel was a little disappointing: no mention of the necessity of the new birth, no mention of repentance, just the all too familiar easy-believism presentation followed by the infamous sinners prayer.

Now, it’s not my purpose to criticize Tim Tebow here. As I noted, I’m glad Tim Tebow is getting all this attention. Stick with me.

As I said in the above mentioned post, I can’t really fault Tim completely for his understanding of the Gospel, which I’ve called tragic, and it is, but that doesn’t mean Tim’s celebrity cannot or  is not being used for God’s glory and the accomplishment of His purposes. Tim’s doctrinal understandings can, of course, be corrected! And we should not be so quick to dismiss Tim just because of a less-than-stellar presentation of the Gospel to prison inmates.

In that post, I referenced those who incorrectly may have taught these doctrinal shortcomings to Tim, yet at that time, I apparently was among the few who had no idea that he came from a missionary family. After that was brought to my attention, I hopped on over to the BTEA site to check out the Gospel according to the Tebow’s.

Under their statement of belief regarding salvation, we find this:

We receive eternal life by believing and putting our faith in Jesus. Repentance is a genuine turning to Christ for salvation. Jesus is the only way, because He alone can take away sin.

Now, I have no desire to ‘pick apart’ this statement word for word. Suffice it to say that if they mean that repentance is not merely turning to Christ for salvation but also a turning from sin as a lifestyle, then, I say amen. But they don’t come right out and say it, and that leaves readers of this statement with only half the truth of repentance communicated. In addition, elsewhere on the site, there is this cartoon presentation entitled Good News for You! which does the same thing, basically, defining salvation in easy-believism terms.

Does it matter? Yes, it does. If we leave anyone with the understanding that looking to Jesus for salvation alone – without a biblical repentance, turning to God and from a life of sin – we have not communicated the biblical message of repentance. Preaching grace is a wonderful thing, but grace that does not include obedience regarding turning from and forsaking sin is not biblical grace. It is just as dangerous a message as the New Calvinist message that all sanctification flows from contemplation of the Gospel (you know, all that ___-centered stuff). Easy-believism and New Calvinism (Piper, Keller, Mahaney, Horton, Chandler, Chan, TGC, T4G, et. al) BOTH preach a grace sans obedience to biblical imperatives, and therefore both present a non-biblical ‘grace’. BOTH easy-believism and New Calvinism are woefully lacking in the mentioning of the necessity of the new birth and a biblical presentation of faith and repentance. Saving grace enables obedience in the life of a true believer, enabled by the constant presence and working in them by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I said I was happy that Tim Tebow was getting all this attention, and I am. I see where Tim Tebow most likely learned his Gospel, from his missionary family.

Does that mean it can’t be used of God? Absolutely not. God used a donkey in Scripture, He’s used you and I (the latter sometimes a donkey) and God can certainly use Tim Tebow, even with perhaps an incorrect doctrine of repentance, and do it for His glory and to the amazement of all doctrinal sticklers here on earth.

In fact, one recent post gives evidence of this, reminding us that shortly after Tebow threw 316 yards for the Bronco’s amazing upset over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the recent playoffs, millions used Google to search for the well-known Bible verse John 3:16, becoming the number one search the day after the game. Reportedly, over 8,000 people saw an ad for PeacewithGod.net  and clicked on it, a site, by the way, that at least mentions turning from sin. (The site is run by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and I certainly have doctrinal issues there, but that’s a whole other post!)

The point is this: whether or not you’re a Tim Tebow fan-boy or fan-girl, his publicity brings attention to the Bible, to Christianity, to salvation hope in Christ alone for millions.

We can dismiss doctrinal error in a Gospel presentation and think, incorrectly, that God cannot possibly use it. But He can. How God has, is and will use Tim Tebow is held fast in His providence and sovereignty over all things, and that’s something that Christians cannot dismiss.

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