[Becoming a Champion]
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
This Material was originally presented to a high school audience in PowerPoint format. If you have any questions or would like a copy of the original PowerPoint (less the video clips, which are too large for email), send me an email at robert.fox@alltel.com
[Becoming a Champion]
Slide Graphic – pictures of “Touchdown Jesus” mural on Notre Dame’s library.
Slide Text –
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
This is the last week of the series where we are looking at football as a metaphor of Christianity. I hope this hasn’t come off as treating lightly the spiritual battle raging around us.
I think of this series like Paul saying that, when we are in Rome, we should adapt our message to the Romans. That doesn’t mean the message changes – it just means that we use the things that are relevant to the culture around us to show people the Truth. God’s message is as real today as it was 2000 years ago, we just have to show that to people.
First century fishing is not relevant to people’s lives today like it was when Jesus used fishing as a metaphor for life. Today, people understand football. There are a lot of ways that football can be used to show the Truths of Christ. People see this – they understand this. This world could use a little more football Jesus.
At Notre Dame, a artists were commissioned to design the mural that was to cover the outside wall of the new campus library. Many artists were considered, and their proposals sent to the approval committee. What the committee didn’t realize was that they were being duped. The picture was carefully crafted so that, when viewed from the nearby Notre Dame stadium, only the top of the mural showing Christ with hands raised was visible, just over the home team end-zone. This mural is now known as “Touchdown Jesus”. I like that. I serve Touchdown Jesus.
• How being part of a football team with a common goal is like being one of Christ’s followers (week 1)
• I thought about how playing your unique position on a football team is similar to serving the unique mission God gifted you for (week 2)
• I thought about how the special equipment you need – helmet, shoulder pads, cleats, etc. – is like the armor of God (week 3)
• And I thought about how being dedicated and giving your all to win a championship ring is like living a life sold out to God and receiving a crown of glory (week 4)
Paul told the people of the Church at Philippi that he was living his life in pursuit of a prize. A prize that Christ had called him to. Paul wanted to be a champion for Christ.
Today we are talking about what it takes to be a champion for Christ. To reach the end of your life and see Jesus himself in the end-zone, throwing up his hands. Touchdown Jesus.
[Invincible]
Slide Video – trailer for movie “Invincible”
This is the trailer for the movie “Invincible” – a true story about a time when the Philadelphia Eagles held open tryouts and offered anyone who showed up a chance to earn a position on an NFL football team.
Hundreds of men showed up. Every one of them wanted desperately to make the team. Each one gave the best performance they could. Only one made the team – a 30 year old part-time schoolteacher named Vince Popale.
How come he made it when all the rest didn’t? Every one of those men wanted desperately to make the team. Every one of them gave it all they had. Why did only Vince make it?
We’ve been comparing being part of a football team to being a Christian. All of you have received an open invitation. I would like to think that all of you have accepted the invitation and are in line, trying out for a special place on the team. Each of you really want to have what it takes – you want to be selected by God for an important mission. You want to make a difference. You want your life to count. You are willing to give it all you have. That line of people in the trailer – that’s us! God has declared open tryouts. All you have to do is show up and say you want to be part of the team. How come some of us, most of us, don’t seem to measure up? We accepted the invitation. We are Christians, but we aren’t one of those champions on the team. We settle for sitting in the bleachers and watching them from a distance, cheering them on and wishing we had what it takes to play on that field.
The thing that made Vince different from everyone else in that line was that he had lived the kind of life that prepared him to be ready when the moment came.
That’s what we’re here to talk about today. What does it take to be a champion? It takes living a life that prepares you for the moment.
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. (1 Corinthians 9:25)
Like the men in that tryout line, only one in a thousand of the Christians in God’s church are living the kind of life that is preparing them to be ready when the moment comes. God has a mission for you. He needs you on that field. But you have to prepare yourself. You have to get ready. You can’t live a self-centered, casual life and expect to be ready when the moment comes. You may have all the desire in the world. You may be willing to give it all you have. But you are too weak. You were told what to do, but you didn’t get ready. You are unprepared.
In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. (2 Timothy 2:21-22 MSG)
[We want it easy]
Slide Graphics – pictures of “dream away” weight loss products. Learn to play rock guitar in ten easy lessons. Cliff notes. 15 minute, no sweat, total fitness exercise program.
Slide text –
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3)
In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus tells the parable of the young women who were told to be ready to go to a wedding party - the bridegroom would come for them sometime that night. Five wisely prepared themselves and brought enough oil to make sure their lamp would burn all night, the other five did not. When the voices called that the bridegroom was coming, the five silly girls lamps had burnt out. They ran to buy more oil, but by the time they returned, the bridegroom had come and the doors to the party were closed.
That’s us. We all have an invitation, but not all of us are prepared. Like the men in that tryout line. Unprepared. You can’t expect to be able to run out and prepare yourself at the last minute when the call comes. Jesus has said that he has a mission for you. He is coming for you. Are you prepared? Are you ready? What are you doing right now in your life to be ready when he calls you?
1976 Indiana University won NCAA National Title. When interviewed about their success, coach Bobby Knight said, “the will to succeed is important but what is more important is the will to prepare”
There is no easy way to prepare. It’s hard work. It can’t be done at the last minute. You have to live the life it takes to be prepared when the call comes. It’s easier to be a casual Christian than a committed Christian. It’s easier to give up that to go all the way for God. Hardship will come, and it’s the hardship that separates the champions from the pack.
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3)
If you knew absolutely that God himself was going to speak to you one week from today and ask you to do something huge for him, what would you do this week to prepare yourself? Would you study the bible? Would you spend time in prayer? Would you get rid of some baggage you are carrying around in your life? Would you cut off some relationships? Would you try to restore some relationships?
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)
If you know what is holding you back from being prepared to serve God, why aren’t you dealing with it? Why aren’t you preparing yourself. God is coming. He is calling you by name. He has a mission for you – don’t be a mission field, be a missionary. Are you going to be ready on Game Day?
In football one of the worst things that can happen to a player is to come home with a clean jersey. It means you didn’t play. You sat the bench. Real players get dirty. Are you going to heaven with a clean jersey?
A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD’s work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed! (Jeremiah 48:10)
[Giving everything, every time]
Slide Video – clip from “Invincible” – approximately 42:10 – 42:45, where Vince, unlike the other players, runs all the way to the end zone every time he gets the ball.
Champions are the ones who have single minded passion for the goal. The ones who have disciplined themselves for this one thing – to win the prize. Passion is what separates the champions from the chumps. Are you passionate enough to pay the price? And pay it without arguing, complaining, or looking back?
14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (Philippians 2:14-17)
Tom Landry—coach of the Dallas Cowboys sums up being a champion like this. You must have faith to believe you can be a champion, you must work hard every day, you must set the goal of winning as your only goal, and you must have the will to win no matter how difficult that task before you.
[Gimme Five!]
Slide graphics – pictures of the 1931 Rose Bowl
I was reading the other day about the history of football. Specifically, I was trying to figure out how long it has been since Duke (my alma mater) had a decent football team. It turns out that Duke played in the Rose Bowl in 1942. Because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor less than a month earlier, this was the only Rose Bowl game ever played outside Pasadena. When Duke was named to play, the league officials decided to move the game to Durham, North Carolina – Duke’s home field, where Duke still lost to Oregon State 16-20.
While I was reading about the Rose Bowl, I found out some other interesting information about the game of football:
• In the first intercollegiate game, Some guys at Princeton challenged some guys at Rutgers, and were defeated 6 goals to 4 in 1869 at New Brunswick, New Jersey
• By the 1890s interlocking offensive formations such as the flying wedge had made the game extremely dangerous. Despite restrictions on the flying wedge and other precautions, in 1905 eighteen players were killed in college games. President Theodore Roosevelt informed the universities that the game must be made safer or he would make it illegal. However, it was not until 1910, and after further deaths, that interlocking formations were outlawed.
• the first forward pass was thrown in 1906 in a Wesleyan University game against Yale, eventually revolutionizing football. When forward passes were first allowed, there was a 15-yard penalty for an incompletion.
• Kickers score more points than anyone else in professional football. George Blanda, who began his 26-year career in 1949 and ended it as a kicker in 1975, scored 2,002 points – more points than any other player.
One of the most interesting things I found, though, was the story of another Rose Bowl game – this one in 1931. In the 1931 Rose Bowl game, A running back named Fogerty carried 25 times and gained exactly 5 yards on every single carry. It was in that game that teammates started celebrating the oddity of Fogerty’s achievement by slapping palms - this practice is now known as exchanging "high fives." Thanks to "Five-Yard" Fogerty, Alabama beat Washington State 24-0. High fives represent consistency. Are you a consistent high-5?
[Overcoming Obstacles]
Slide Video – Scene from “Invincible” 50:00-52:04 where Vince trades his regular shoulder pads in for quarterback pads in order to run faster, even when it means that it will hurt more when he gets hit.
Slide Graphics – picture of Karoly Takacks – one-handed Hungarian pistol champion
Slide text –
“Beware of worshipping Jesus as the Son of God and professing your faith in Him as the Savior of the world, while you blaspheme Him by the complete evidence in your daily life that He is powerless to do anything in and through you.” (Oswald Chambers 1874-1917)
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering (2 Timothy 4:6a)
Karoly Tackacs was a Hungarian pistol champion before losing his right hand in grenade accident. Unwilling to give up his goals and dreams, he taught himself to shoot left handed and won Olympic gold in 1948 and 1952 .
If you are going to be a champion, you have to overcome hardship. That’s what separates the champions from the chumps. You WILL face hardship in life. Overcoming it isn’t easy. It’s hard. Really hard. There’s always an easy way you could take to avoid overcoming the hardship. But you will have to overcome your hardships to be a champion.
Look at some of the things that the Bible has to say about overcomers:
• He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
• He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Revelation 2:11)
• He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)
• To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations (Revelation 2:26)
• He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. (Revelation 3:5)
• Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. (Revelation 3:12)
• 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. (Revelation 3:21)
• He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:7)
[Spiritual First Downs]
Slide graphic – escalator to heaven, picture of Auburn head coach Shug Jordan
Slide text –
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 (1 Corinthians 9:24)
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? (Galatians 5:7)
There is a difference between a jogger and a marathon runner. Both may get out and run, but the jogger is casual. He doesn’t run when it is raining, or too cold, or too hot, or just inconvenient. A Marathon runner is serious. He has a goal. He pushes himself every day to go further, to go faster.
What kind of a life are you living? Are you a casual runner, or are you trying to get better every day? Don’t live your spiritual life like a jogger. Live it like a marathon runner. Get better everyday, work hard to become more today than you were the day before. Set new goals every day. Paul is saying that you may be one of those who are content to hang with the pack in the race, but he is running to win!
Ask this question: am I closer to my spiritual goals now, then I was a year ago?
Have you ever gotten on an escalator and gone the wrong way. You are going through the motions of walking, but you aren’t making any progress. Don’t live that kind of life.
D.L. Moody scored touchdowns. One time at a soul winners conference, while people were all learning how to witness for Christ, he led 13 people to Christ in the hotel where the conference was being held. While others were teaching, he was out scoring spiritual touchdowns.
In football, it’s the goal of the team to gain yardage, to run over the enemy. You don’t want to let the enemy keep you from moving down the field.
Paul to the Galatians that they had been doing well, but let something stop them on the field. What is it the is stopping you from gaining ground? What is it that is standing in front of you, blocking you from gaining yardage? Don’t let it block you when Christ gives you the power to run right over it!
Legendary Auburn head coach Shug Jordan once asked a colleague to help him with recruiting. When Shug was asked “what are you looking for?” He said, “You know the guy that gets hit and stays down, I don’t want him. You know the guy who gets knocked down, gets back up, gets knocked down, gets back up, and gets knocked down, but gets back up.” “Yeah coach, you want him.” “No, I want that guy that’s knocking everyone down.”
Paul said that the Truth of Christ gives us the power to knock down the enemy and run over them.
[The Death Crawl]
Slide video – the death crawl scene from “Facing the Giants” 44:45-50:50
This is one of the clips I that convinced me that we could do a series on how being on a football team is like being one of the followers of Christ. The bible says that there is a war going on. Not between men or nations, but between God’s army and Satan’s army. If you have signed up to fight on God’s side, then you are part of the battle.
God needs you. He needs you to give it all you have.
I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. (Joshua 14:8b)
But that isn’t easy to do. It’s a lot easier to live an average life. There’s a price to pay to be a champion, and most of us aren’t willing to pay the price.
Don’t think you can get away with saying that you just weren’t made for this. That may be true for football, but the Bible says that God designed you especially for the tasks he has prepared for you. Like one of those natural athletes that everyone envies. You have it in you to be incredible at what God called you for. But there is a price to pay. Even those natural athletes don’t sit around living ordinary lives between games. They prepare themselves to use the gifts they have for the mission they serve.
Are you willing to pay the price to be a champion? Not just on game day, but beginning right now, every minute of every day?
I don’t know what you are called for. It might be to teach. It might be to preach. It might be to heal the sick or to fight against injustice. It might be to build or it might be to protect. It might be to encourage or it might be to speak the Truth into people’s lifestyles. Only God knows where the road he set before you leads. But he designed you in your mothers womb to be gifted in such an incredible way that, if you are willing to pay the price, if God can count on you, you can change the world in His name.
If you are a Christian, you and I will meet in heaven 16 million years from now, and we will both look back on the few short years we had on this earth. What will you say about your life? Did you pay the price? Were you a champion? Could God count on you? Were you ready on game day? Were you prepared?
[Roy “Wrong Way” Riegels]
Slide graphics – pictures of Roy Riegels
In a span of about 10 seconds, Riegels cost his school the victory in the 1929 Rose Bowl, made himself a legend among bumblers, and earned a new nickname - "Wrong Way."
It all began in the second quarter of a scoreless tie between his team, the California Golden Bears, and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Tech running back Stumpy Thomason was hit on his own 36-yard line and fumbled. The ball bounced to the Tech 40 with both teams in hot pursuit. During the wild scramble for the loose ball, Riegels, the California center, picked it out of the air. He started running downfield in the right direction and was only 30 yards away from a go-ahead touchdown when suddenly his radar went awry. While pivoting to get away from a tackler, Riegels completely lost his bearings. He wheeled around in a U-turn and legged it out for all he was worth toward his own end zone.
Centers aren’t supposed to be fast runners. But Riegels was sprinting like a man possessed, pumped up with the determination of which heroes are made. Some of his teammates were fooled by his misguided attempt at glory and they began knocking down Georgia Tech tacklers who themselves seemed confused.
The legendary sports broadcaster Graham McNamee, who was calling the play-by-play on radio, couldn’t believe his eyes. "What’s the matter with me?" he shouted into the microphone. "Am I going crazy?"
Tech players on the bench jumped up and began to shout, but coach Bill Alexander ordered them to sit down. "He’s running the wrong way," the coach said. "Let’s see how far he can go."
Riegels would have gone all the way if it hadn’t been for the clear thinking of Benny Lom, the California quarterback. Lom immediately chased his teammate, shouting, "Stop, Roy! You’re going the wrong way!" At the 10-yard line, Lom caught Riegels and slowed him down with a bear hug, but Riegels shook him off. "Get away from me!" shrieked Riegels. "This is my touchdown!" At the 3-yard line, Lom grabbed him again and this time held on. Riegels finally realized that something was wrong and turned around. Just then a wave of Georgia Tech players smeared him on the 1-yard line. Riegels had run nearly 70 yards in the wrong direction! He sat on the ground in shock as his sympathetic teammates came over and consoled him. California decided the best way to get out of this jam—as well as get Riegels off the hook—was to punt. But Lom’s punt from the end zone was blocked for a safety. It was the most crucial play of the game because the safety gave the Yellow Jackets the 2 points they needed for an eventual 8-7 victory.
After the safety, a dejected Riegels trudged to the sidelines and took himself out of the game. At the half, Roy sat in a corner of the locker room with a towel over his head, crying. The coach could think of nothing to say. Finally, at the three-minute warning, the coach announced “the same players who started the first half will start the second”. As the players took the field, Roy told his coach he simply could not move. He felt he had lost the game for his team.
The coach responded “Roy, the game is only half over – get in there and play”. Roy took the field, and those who saw him play that second half said they had never seen anyone play with that passion and ability before or since. After the game, his teammates voted him as their captain for the next season.
The point is that you are part of a team – this student ministry, our church, the Christian community. You may not half had a great game so far. You may have even scored a few points for the other team. You may have some hardship of your own making to overcome. But the game isn’t over yet. Get in there and play.
[Championship]
Slide Graphics – picture of Hiesman trophy
Slide Text –
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
Slide audio – Chorus of “We are the Champions” - Queen
Paul saw the Christian life as a race to finish, and a fight to win. He gave a picture of heaven as a championship dinner where the presenter of the awards was Jesus Christ.
• All of us who accepted the open invitation to join Christ’s team will receive the crown of life.
• All of us who lived a life that prepared you for Christ will receive the crown of righteousness – the championship ring.
• But the best trophies of heaven will be the souls that found Christ, family and friends who found their way to God by first seeing him in you.
We’ve been talking about gaining yards for the team. Most battles are fought over ground – lines on a map. Israel is fighting over the city of Jerusalem today. Satan’s army is fighting for ground. That ground is the souls of your family, your friends. When we are talking about gaining ground for gods army, we aren’t talking about white lines in the grass – we’re talking about people. Immortal souls. Satan wants them.
When we are talking about you being unprepared to take the field, we are talking about losing the souls of your friends. When we are talking about you standing firm, preparing yourself for your calling, and advancing the cause of Christ, we’re talking about saving the souls of your family and friends.
This is important. If you believe in the Bible, then you believe that those who follow Christ will live with him forever in heaven
[Game Day]
Slide Graphic – Game Day poster
Slide Audio – “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus”
in 1857 Dudley Tyng helped lead a prayer service at the YMCA that within a short time had 5000 coming for noon prayer. One day while visiting a farm Dudley got his arm caught in a threshing machine and severed the main artery in his arm. Realizing he was about to die his friend George Duffield asked Dudley, what would you have me say to the world. Dudley Ting said, tell people to stand up for Jesus. At the memorial service for Dudley Ting, his friend George Duffield read his poem: “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross, lift up his royal banner, it must not suffer loss, from victory unto victory His army He shall lead, till every foe is vanquished, for Christ is Lord indeed.” The last verse says, “stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long, this day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song, to him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be, he with the king of glory, shall reign eternally.”
Don’t run your race with low expectations for yourself. Stand up for Jesus. Dig deep and pay the price it takes to make you the champion you were born to be. This is your day! Make yourself ready. Don’t accept anything less than what God made you to be. Don’t stay with the pack in this race – run to win! Don’t jog into heaven with the crowd, race in with the champions!
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)
No weapon forged against you will prevail (Isaiah 54:17b)
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (Luke 10:19)
Get up every morning and set before you the goal of being wholeheartedly the person God made you to be. Let go of anything else. Let that be your dream, and you will win!
