WWFD – WHAT WOULD FREDDIE DO? : A SECOND INNINGS

Whether or not you’re a cricket fan, watching ‘Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams’ is a heartwarming experience – and a thought provoking one too, especially, perhaps, for peculiar types like me who call themselves Christians.

So why do I say this? 

Well, simply because of the very obvious parallels that exist between what the former England allrounder is seeking to achieve on a cricket field, and what Christians believe Jesus is bringing about through His church.

Think about it. Flintoff is someone who, having achieved considerable fame and fortune through sport, is now humbling himself by spending time trying to help those who, having not infrequently fallen foul of both the educational and criminal justice systems, have subsequently been largely discarded by society. 

It is youngsters such as these that Flintoff is giving a second chance – one that so many others have denied them. And in so doing he is becoming a genuinely loved individual – despite demanding of them a level of behaviour that they are not accustomed to and conveying to them words of genuine wisdom, such as how it isn’t money that makes you happy, but people. 

And he gets results too. 

Those he might be considered to have rescued from a futile existence, soon want to please their newfound hero by being better people – not only by curbing their often colourful language, but by showing real care for one another, becoming more socially minded, and seeking to share with others what they have experienced themselves.

Which, let’s face it, is more visible change than Christians like me sometimes seem to manage.

So what am I saying? That cricket is, perhaps, a better, more effective religion than Christianity? Well no, that’s not what I am saying, far, far from it – for not even I, cricket mad though I am, would ever say such a thing! 

But this third series of the BBC programme has caused me to ask some questions of myself. Because if the lives of those young people can be transformed by the loving concern of a former cricketer, then what should my life look like as someone who claims to be loved by the eternal Son of God? 

And could the reason I haven’t become the better person I ought to have, be down to the fact that I haven’t appreciated what it is that Jesus has rescued me from and what, because of Him, I now have to look forward to. And as a result of not adequately valuing the help that I’ve received, could it be that I do not love him as much I should, not enough, at least, to endeavour to obey his commands in the way that his love for me really does call me to.

Because I suspect that is indeed part of the problem. Since,  as Jesus himself said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [John 14:15]

So then, not underestimating the need for the Holy Spirit to work within me, if I want to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, I need to recognise the depth of my sin, understand what it was I was saved from by His substitutionary death for me on the cross, and fix my eyes on the one who suffered there – the founder and perfecter of my faith who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and who, having been resurrected on the third day, ascended into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. [Hebrews 12:2]

And the other thing I need to question is the assertion made by some that the proof that Christianity is true is bound up in the transformed lives of its adherents. 

Because it doesn’t. 

Firstly, as I’ve indicated, because my poor progress in the faith doesn’t question the truth of Christianity – rather it proves the paucity of my faith in its leader, or perhaps more accurately stated, the gap between what I say I believe and what I believe in practice that only the grace of God can, and will, close.

And secondly, as Freddie Flintoff’s experience makes plain, there are a great many things that can change an individual’s behaviour for the better, none of which require a supernatural explanation.

And the failure of some Christians to change to the degree they really ought to, no more proves the futility of Christian belief, than the continued poor behaviour of some of the youngsters in ‘Flintoff’s Field of Dreams’  proves the pointlessness of cricket or the kindness of one of its greatest ever proponents.

No, the truth of Christianity relies on something far more objective than any individual’s changed life. 

Rather it rests on the veracity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ – something we have very good reason to believe in because of the overwhelming evidence for the historicity of his empty tomb, the compelling eye witness testimony of those who saw him after he was raised back to life, and the absolute authority of the one who not only spoke the universe into existence but told us that Jesus, as His beloved Son, was the one we should now all listen to. [Mark 9:7]

All of which means that, though Freddie Flintoff is undoubtedly someone we should appropriately admire, and a role model we can all aspire to emulate, he is not the one who can ultimately bring about our salvation. 

For, unable to atone for our wrongdoing, he cannot secure for us the forgiveness of our sins.

For that, we will need someone even greater than Freddie Flintoff – someone that we really should seek to follow in order to be changed in the way that, I at least, need to be.

And that someone is Jesus – for he alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through him. [John 14:6]

---

To read ‘WWFD – What would Freddie Do?’, a reflection on the previous series of ‘Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams’, click here.