Bunbury
Sun pm
1/08/10
NOTE: For my American brethren that might read this, this sermon is based on the football game we play in Australia, a unique game to our nation & if you ask any Aussie, the only 'real' game of football in the world! But I'm sure you can draw the similarities between American football or soccer.
“The God of the game plan”
Intro: It’s only a few weeks now & we’ll be facing another national grand final football game.
Already the whole country is in the grip of football fever...... you can hardly turn on the radio w/o hearing some kind of football commentary.
Games are quite often sold out months in advance & scalpers are already planning on making big $$$ selling tickets to a sold out grand final.
One of things that intrigues me about the modern game of our AFL football – that is the game plan i/s.
It seemed as though years ago when we kids the idea was .....get a hold of the football & kick it!
Hopefully in the right direction!!!
And if you were lucky you might kick a goal & be the hero of the moment.
But in modern day professional football there is far more strategy involved that merely getting a hold of the ball & kicking it.
Players command big salaries, train full time .... coaches know that new contracts depend on how many games they win.
Everything in football revolves around a ‘game plan’ .... & often it’s not just the best team of players that wins but the best overall game plan.
Not just a game plan for a single game ...... but often throughout an entire season.
It’s a setting very similar to this that our text is focusing around ...... a game that has to be won!
But more imptly a God who can give us a game plan for winning!
T/n I want to preach a message I’ve titled ‘The God of the game plan’.
Text: Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) 2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
# 1. Keep your eyes on the coach.
A. The pict here is a sporting event
a. There is one overriding goal here & that is to win.
i. That needs to be our motivating passion in life – to win!
ii. *** I’ve been to a number of night time AFL matches. I remember the first time I went to the WACA to see a night match – two teams Eagles & Geelong. Thousands of people packed the ground. The crowds had come for one reason .... to see their team win! That’s what draws crowds / makes a game of football so exciting – two teams that are determined to win but in most cases only one team can win.
iii. Vs 1. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
b. This is the same atmosphere that is being spoken about in our text ..... it’s the excitement of winning, being the victors.
i. But in this case it’s not just kicking a piece of inflated leather through goal posts.
ii. Something of far greater impt ..... the crowds are cheering on eternal souls that have won the race of life.
iii. Some of them crossing the finish line w/ the flames of hell still licking at their heels.
iv. So our text gives us some good advice for whoever else wants to win.
B. Keep your eyes on the coach!
Vs 2. looking unto Jesus, ........
a. Too many players want to play their own game.
i. They get on the field & all they can see is what they are doing.
ii. When you’re involved in a game it’s easy to narrow your focus so that the only thing you see is what you are doing.
iii. It’s easy to forget that we are an overall part of a God given strategy to win..... forget He’s the coach is on the side lines to direct / guide us to a win.
iv. It’s possible to have a great game of football as a player but lose the game!
# 2. The God of the game plan.
A. If you need a coach in a game – how much more so do we need a coach in life?
a. God’s got an overall game plan for your life.
i. Life can get complicated / tricky / unpredictable ..... things can happen that we aren’t expecting.
ii. The trouble w/ us too much of the time is that we are just letting life happen.
iii. But God’s way is to live our life according to a plan – His plan!!!
b. But how? How do we find God’s plan? How do we discover God’s way of living? How do live our lives to get God’s best out of life?
Jeremiah 33:3 ( NKJV ) ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
i. Did you get that? God says He will show you!
ii. After all he is the COACH!!! And no coach enlists players in his team & tells them to go out & play – that’d be crazy.
iii. He shows them how to play he shares w/ them his u/s / knowledge of the game as a winner.
iv. He imparts to them his own experience about winning the game..... winning plays / strategies.
B. The good news is that Jesus has a total game plan for your life.
a. Even if you’ve already messed up a few plays, missed some easy goals, failed to take the mark.
i. The Bible tells us that God has an overall plan for the game of life that includes the beginning, the end & everything in between!
Vs 2. Says He is ......... the author and finisher of our faith,
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
b. Too often in a game being ahead on points isn’t enough.
i. In other words what I’m saying to you is that it’s not good enough just to be winning now / next week / month!
ii. That’s why we need a coach who is able to see the beginning & the end. ..... ‘the author & the finisher’.
*** Have you ever listened to a game on the radio. It’s amazing ...... especially if you just come back every now & then throughout the game for a score update ..... how the game can change. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a game commentary early in the game only to come back near the end of the game or hear the next day how my team was beaten! Just b/c they started .... were ahead on points was no guarantee that they would win.
iii. Jesus is our coach in life...... He can not only show us how to begin well but He can also show us how to finish well.
iv. He warns us of the danger of being a great starter & a poor finisher.
Luke 14:28 (NKJV) For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—
c. Life is like a game plan that has to be carefully played out / strategized.
i. There are some manoeuvres that are going to require a lot of skill if you are going win.
ii. But if you’ll keep your eyes on the coach He’s got a game plan to bring you right through to the end.
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Philippians 1:6 (Amp) And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
# 3. The Grand Final Win.
A. The dream of every coach is to lead his team to a grand final win.
a. This is what Jesus has in His view for your life ..... he wants to lead you into that Grand Final Win!
i. That ultimate win where you through all your striving / discipline / agony / endeavour in the kingdom will crossover into that final victory in heaven!
ii. Our coach – Jesus, knows how to lead us onto that Grand Final Win ....... b/c He’s already been there.
iii. Vs 2. ...... who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,....
iv. His vision for your is for your final victory / cross over that final line / come to that final day when after all the pain / suffering / sacrifice the victor’s crown is placed on your head.
b. Our Text is written to give us a taste of victory to come.
*** Any smart coach is going to be putting the taste of victory in the mouth of his team b/4 they win it. They will often bring in motivational speakers / grand final winners / expose the team to stirring inspirational movies (I remember a coach many years ago taking a premiership team along to see the movie Pharlap the night b/4 the grand final) .... they are creating a taste / appetite for victory!
i. That’s exactly what the writer of Hebrews is doing in our text too!
ii. I wonder if you can feel in your mind that crown being lowered down onto your head by His nail scarred hands?
iii. I wonder if you can imagine what it’s going to like to sense the weight of that victor’s crown being supported on your head?
iv. I wonder ... can you hear already as ...Vs 1. Says – since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, ...the roar of the crowd as they go wild w/ rejoicing b/c you won?
B. If it seems as though the coach is driving you beyond your limits at times its b/c He can see the reward of that final victory.
a. You see Jesus has been .... & still is a Grand Final Winner!
Vs 2. ...... and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
i. He is eternally seated at the head of the Grand Final Winner’s hall of fame.
ii. He has conquered every foe .... He has won the race .... He has fought to good fight & He is forever more victorious.
iii. And as our coach .... through the bewildered game called life .... He wants to guide / encourage / lead us onto final victory until we also can be seated w/ Him in heavenly places.
