Does God Have Anything To Do With The Broncos Winning?

Tebow's pastor says "Yes".

Tim Tebow’s pastor, Wayne Hanson, says he knows why the Denver Broncos are 7-1 since installing Tebow as quarterback – it’s the player’s faith.

“It’s not luck,” Hanson said according to TMZ. “Luck isn’t winning six games in a row. It’s favor. God’s favor.”

Hanson, who runs the Summit Church in suburban Denver, said the Broncos wouldn’t be winning games if God hadn’t decided to reward Tebow’s religious beliefs.

After the game on Sunday I have heard many interviews from people close to the NFL game who have similar feelings, saying that Tebow has some sort of special "anointing" and that God is somehow uniquely on his side.

Who knows?  Maybe God is doing something unique right now through the life of Tim Tebow.  Without question God has millions of sovereign purposes that flow through every life that lives on this planet.  Tebow is no exception.

But we must be very careful not to interpret God's pleasure as equated with "winning" as the world defines it.  If we do, we run dangerously close to believing a prosperity theology that says that if God loves you he will bless you with health, wealth, and "winning".   This belief system doesn't square with what the Bible teaches.

Does this mean that if Tebow had led the Broncos to seven straight loses that that would be a sign of God's displeasure?  In the Bible, "losing" is oftentimes a symbol of God's calling and fatherly acceptance.   See Moses, Job, Jeremiah, Paul, and most of all Jesus.  They didn't exactly have a winning record in the world's eyes.

I am thankful for all this happening.  It will be interesting to see how the discussion changes when Tebow starts to lose more games.  But as it stands right now, I think this is one of the best narratives that we have seen in a long time in the NFL.

Thankfully, Owen Strachan has written a great post dealing with some of these issues.  His conclusion:

...the most important story here is not that Tebow and the Broncos are winning in dramatic fashion, but that the Lord seems to have worked in this man such that, though faced with unbelievable fame, major wealth, constant attention, and the classically all-American success story, Tebow seems only to want to talk about the gospel. 

That, my friends, is the real miracle, and the work in which all of us---whether church planter, pipe-fitter, or homemaker---may participate.

Read the whole thing.