To Him Who Overcomes
One more year where I don't really have 'a dog in the fight', but I'm still planning on watching the Super Bowl tonight. Well, I'll be trying while my kids jump around and yell and spill food and do everything they can to try and distract me. And whether you're a fan or not - you can't deny that there's a lot of work that goes into any winning football season. And to make it all the way to the Super Bowl and win - that takes an extraordinary amount of talent and effort! The preparation and training these guys go through is incredible!
And this year, Americans are expected to legally wager over $1.39 billion on Super Bowl 59. You can place bets on the winner, the coin toss, how many times they'll cut to Taylor Swift during the game, even the color of Gatorade poured over the winning coach's head. You can - I won't be doing any of that! That being said - I still want to make a prediction. I will confidently say whichever team becomes the Super Bowl champion this year - that team will undoubtedly have several crucial characteristics.
The first characteristics needed to become a champion are…
I. Desire and discipline
You don't get to the Super Bowl by accident. You have to really want it. It has to be a consuming desire even before you start your training. If you're not 'in it to win it' from the very start – you'd never have a chance. You have to start with a strong desire to win.
Now, I'm not here to preach about football but it doesn't take much of a leap to make comparisons between sports and our spiritual walk. Just as in sports, in order to live out a successful Christian life – you need to have the desire. Yes, when we're kids, we may get dragged to Church whether we want to be here or not – but at some point – you have to make that decision to follow Jesus on your own. No one can make you have that desire.
Even God gave us the choice to accept Him or not. He could have created us without the ability to reject Him – but He didn't. We have to want to follow; we have to have the desire to follow Jesus.
Virginia McCaskey, daughter of George Halas and owner of the Chicago Bears, passed away last week at the age of 102 years old. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell repeated what many said, "Faith, family, and football — in that order — were her north stars." When asked why she had been so interested in football, she replied, "It was so important to my father...and anything that was important to him automatically became important to me."
What is important to Our Father - must become vitally important to us, too. We find the Apostle Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)...
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (25) Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (26) Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. (27) No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Paul here wasn't actually talking about 'beating his body' - but subduing his own will; bringing his body, his actions, under his control by exercising self discipline. Paul certainly had the desire, the motivation to give his all. Paul knew the prize was worth it!
Whether it's winning in football or following Jesus - it all starts with desire. But to win the 'big game' even the biggest desire won't make up for a lack of discipline. You need the desire and you need discipline. I say it over and over – if following Jesus was easy, everyone would be doing it. It takes a great deal of personal discipline to choose to follow Jesus every day, through good times and bad.
The intense training and discipline it requires to get to the Super Bowl is huge! – And it is to be applauded; but on its own it has nothing to do with what's beyond this life! Being disciplined enough to put learning God's Word and spending time in prayer – making those things a priority - will make a world of difference in this life and the next!
All athletes have to have this self discipline, but if they want to become the best they can be - they also have to accept discipline from their coach. In regards to our spiritual walk, the writer of Hebrews reminds us…
Hebrews 12:5-7 (NIV)
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, (6) because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." (7) Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
We need to be self disciplined - but also understand that we will have to accept a higher authority than our own standards. It seems very few people like discipline, and very few people in our culture accept any higher authority over them.
George Will in his book, 'Men at Work', wrote: "Baseball umpires are carved from granite and stuffed with microchips. They are professional dispensers of pure justice. Once when referee Ralph Pinelli called Babe Ruth out on strikes, Ruth made a populist argument. Ruth reasoned from raw numbers to moral weight - he shouted, 'There's 40,000 people here who know that last one was a ball, tomato head.' "Pinelli replied, 'Maybe so, but mine is the only opinion that counts.'"
Believers are also pressed by the weight of numbers aligned against the moral law of God. The number of people around us submitting to Biblical values seems to be dwindling as Church attendance is declining in our nation. The popularity of viewing human sexuality, marriage and human life as sacred - the understanding that God designed those things - that view seems to be losing traction with many in our society. But we know, that in the end, only one opinion counts... God says what's right and what's wrong. Will we discipline ourselves enough to align our values with God's - or - will we allow the world to tell us what we should believe and stand for?
What does it take to become a champion? To start, you need desire. To prepare, you need discipline. To endure, you need...
II. Commitment
Years back, during a game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers commented that Walter Payton had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. And the other announcer remarked, "Yeah, and that's with someone knocking him down every 4.6 yards!"
Walter Payton, one of the most successful running backs ever, knew that everyone gets knocked down. The key to success is getting back up again and running just as hard.
On the football field, if you have the ball – there will be a lot of large men trying to knock you down. I promise you that in your spiritual walk, you will get knocked down over and over. Many of you know exactly what I'm talking about... If you dare to take a stand for Jesus, Satan will be right there throwing anything he can in your way. But Jesus told His disciples, in John 16:33 (NIV)...
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Yes, we're gonna take some hits, but we know, in the end, that God, and His plans, will prevail! I want to be on that winning team no matter how bruised and battered I get along the way. But it takes commitment for the long haul. You can't just commit for 10 yards, the goal is at the end of the field.
No matter how tired you get, you don't get to retire from being a Christian. - Your role and your service will change drastically over the years, but you play to the whistle – you keep serving God until you are called home. And we have a handful of people here at Deep River who demonstrate that kind of service. We know the ones who are tired and their bodies are even failing them but they keep serving!
And the only way to carry through on that kind of long term commitment requires looking forward! We don't know when Jesus is coming back - but we know He IS coming back! We know we are closer to the return of Jesus every day and we need to keep looking forward to help us endure, and find the strength to serve, in whatever area God has called us!
I want to read an excerpt from the September '96 issue of the 'Chicago Tribune Magazine'. "Following a rags-to-riches season that led them to the Rose Bowl - their first in decades - Northwestern University's Wildcats met with Coach Barnett for the opening of spring training. He announced that he was going to hand out the awards earned in 1995. The coach called players forward and handed them placards proclaiming their achievements, they were cheered on by their teammates.
One of the other coaches gave Barnett a placard representing his seventeen national coach-of-the-year awards. Then, as the applause subsided, Barnett walked to a trash can marked "1995." He took an admiring glance at his placard, then dumped it into the can. In the silence that followed, one by one, the team's stars dumped their placards on top of Barnett's. Barnett had shouted a message without uttering a word: "What you did in 1995 was terrific, lads. But look at the calendar: It's 1996."
Some of us may have had some really great accomplishments in the past as servants of Christ. Some of us may even feel pretty worn out from much of that service. But if we're going to commit for the long haul, we need to remember that with God, our best days are always ahead!
Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (13) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
God is most interested in what I will do today, not what I might have done last week or last year. And this is not a matter of 'what have you done for me lately?' - but a matter of ongoing, consistent faithfulness that's always looking towards the future!
What does it take to win the big game? To start, you need desire. To prepare, you need discipline. To endure, you need commitment. To finish strong, it requires…
III. Sacrifice
No team, no coach, no player has ever won the Super Bowl without a great deal of pain and sacrifice. The players on that field tonight will give every last ounce of strength and energy to win. They'll play with aches and pains, muscle tears and sprains and even the occasional broken bone – but yet they'll play on to win.
Vince Lombardi, one of football's most accomplished and respected coaches, said, "The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor. I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious."
Men will give their all for a chance at victory and fame that will fade, for money and glory that won't last – all for a game. What are you willing to give to the cause of Christ? Following Jesus can't be just a hobby or a pastime – it requires everything you have, everything you are.
Do not get me wrong, I am very pleased that each of you has given of your time to be here this morning. That was the right choice... But please don't ever mistakenly think that this one hour on Sunday morning is all that God asks of you. Gathering together like this is a part of what the Church does – but it means very little if each of us, as the Church, does nothing else in our individual lives the rest of the week to serve and to expand the Kingdom of God.
Coming to a Church service, and even putting a nice check in the offering plate, doesn't equal sacrifice when compared to the example of Jesus!
John 3:14-17 (NIV)
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, (15) that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God gave His Son to save you. Jesus was lifted up on a cross and sacrificed His life for you - for me... Can we really be satisfied with just giving a little time and money? Winning teams know that you can't win without extreme sacrifice. We are called to follow Jesus daily, no matter the cost. Have you given everything to Jesus? What are you giving Him today?
So What?
What we do here on Sunday is not the big game – this is only preparation for living out our Christianity in the world. I know that you have the desire – that's evidenced by your presence here today. But how do you push on when life gets so busy, when you get knocked down, when your body tells you to quit, when work keeps you swamped, at the times when you just want to give up?
I'm not here to say, 'Just try harder!' I'm encouraging you to give it all to God. You can't push farther than your body and spirit will allow - but God can give you the strength! I'm encouraging you to continue in your discipline of prayer TO GOD and in your discipline of studying God's Word. I'm asking for your commitment and sacrifice, not simply to this congregation, not simply on this day – but for a life of commitment and sacrifice to Jesus Christ! And I want to close us out with Revelation 3:19-22 (NIV)...
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. (20) Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (21) To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. (22) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.