Bench Warmers
Pt. 2 – The Clock Is Ticking!
I. Introduction
They are flashy. They are dominate. They are the superstar. We love the superstar. But don't overlook those who are on the sidelines and on the bench.
After being a starting QB on his college team this young man spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. No one would give him a look. Finally, in 1994 he was signed by the Green Bay Packers. However, he never even stepped on the field in a regular season game before they not only benched him but released him. He went home and began working for $5.50 an hour at the local grocery store. He made his way to the Arena Football League and played there for the next 3 years. He finally made it back to the NFL in 1998 and was riding the pine as a backup on the Rams football team. He was a benchwarmer. Finally, he became the St. Louis' starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Kurt Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl 34, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, enroute to a Super Bowl 36 appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl 43 with the Cardinals. He is now considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player. He is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017. He was benchwarmer who finally got off the pine and made a difference.
Last week, we began to look at another well-known benchwarmer. We discussed the fact that most benchwarmers stay on the bench and refuse to answer the call to serve or fulfill their destiny due to reluctance. I mentioned last week there are numerous reasons why we are reluctant. I want us to look at one of the reasons Jonah was so reluctant because I think his reason to resist and hesitate is the same reason so many of us refuse to get in the game.
Text: Jonah 2:10; 3:1-5, 10; 4:1 (TLT)
Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.
Too many of us are riding the bench because we are angry!
Jonah was reluctant because Jonah was angry. His anger kept him from responding to the call of God on his life.
How many of us sitting here today are on the sidelines simply because we are angry? We will talk about the target of our anger in a minute but let's talk about the result of anger first. For Jonah it leads to being thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish. It then leads to a pouting session in chapter 4 because He gets angry that God doesn't destroy the 120,000 in the city. His anger sidelines him.
How many of us could be living productive and effective lives, but instead we are so angry that we sulk, sour, and are swallowed up by what made us angry?
If you don't think anger will destroy you, then would you please go reread what Paul says in Ephesians 4:26-27. He gives us these instructions . . . “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry . . . great instructions but we miss the last line and fail to connect them to the instructions he has just given . . . and do not give the devil a foothold.”
You missed it . . . if we don't handle anger correctly it gives the devil a foothold. It gives the enemy of our soul a point of leverage in our lives. It gives him entrance. A foothold is literally a secure starting position from which further advance can be made. Haven't you discovered that a foothold can quickly turn into a stronghold? What started out as a minor issue can mushroom into a full-blown war. A small offense can end up exploding into something that destroys the relationship entirely.
Anger is advantageous to our adversary!
Anger leads to denial and then leads to more anger. You can admit most other emotions - I am afraid, I am worried, I am experiencing sorrow, but we deny anger. I am not angry I am just sticking up for myself. This problem isn't my fault. Haven't you noticed that it is hard to convince angry people that they are angry?
Anger will not only put you on the bench . . . it will keep you there!
The wise man writes in Proverbs 19:19 - A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again. So, if you give the enemy a foothold of anger it will lead to denial and ultimately more anger. You will have to be rescued again and again. Anger traps you!
This is why the same writer tells us in Proverbs 22:24-25 . . . Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
I want you to notice the targets of Jonah's anger.
Benchwarmers are often on the bench because they are angry at people!
The passages I read to you reveals that Jonah didn’t run from the call of God on his life due to being afraid of the people of Nineveh. He ran from the call of God because of his hatred of the people of Nineveh! They were cruel. They were wicked. Jonah saw them as less than human. He was angry at these people because they didn't care about God.
How many of us Jesus loving people won't serve Jesus not because of lack of love for Jesus but lack of love for people? People anger can keep us from serving. Someone hurts us and we sideline. Someone burns us and we bench. A fellow church goer says the wrong thing at the wrong time, and we exit the game. A pastor says something or doesn't do something, and we want to ride the pine for the next 10 months to punish them. A parent, a friend, a teacher, a boss says or does the wrong thing and 10 years later we wake up on still on the bench, still in a bad mood, still out of action, still nursing (feeding it) the anger and the infraction has put us on the bench.
Anger will destroy your empathy, compassion and your ability to love like Jesus!
Who you mad at? Haven't you nursed that thing long enough. "Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Being angry at people is literally poisoning you and destroying you from the inside out! It is a foothold that became a stronghold! Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. If you hang on too long it will hang on to you too long! The clock is ticking!
Benchwarmers are often on the bench because they are angry at God!
Not only was Jonah angry at these for people for not caring about God, but he was also angry at God for caring for these people! Sound familiar. We are rescued but then we get angry when God rescues others.
Jonah becomes enraged at God because God saw that the people of Nineveh had listened to Jonah's message and repented. So, He decides to spare them. However, in Jonah's mind, by God's choice to spare them it made Jonah look bad. I said you were going to destroy them and now you didn't, so I look like a fraud. So, Jonah becomes angry at God because God didn't do what Jonah thought He should do. So, I will just ride the bench awhile.
How many of us are not on the field of battle because we are bitter at God? How many of us are angry because God didn't do what I wanted Him to do when I wanted Him to do it? I wanted God to change my home life. I wanted God to change my appetites. I wanted God to take that temptation away. I wanted God to give me the opportunities I dreamed about. I wanted God to stop that person from doing what they did to me. We become angry! We act like we are angry about where we live, that our path didn't go where we thought it should, our weakness but the truth is when you get right down to it, we are really angry at God!
God if you had done what I wanted you to do I wouldn't be broken, hurt, wounded, addicted, struggling, divorced, bankrupt, healthy and deep down inside we are benched because we are angry at God!
We blame God and we stay imprisoned by anger.
If we are going to get off of the bench, then we must deal with our anger! Whether it is people anger or God anger we must deal with it. We must answer this question . . . are we going to be . . .
Angry or Available?
Our willingness to get in the game must override our anger! There are things like anger that must be dealt with daily. We must put it to death! There are some emotions that never are completely eradicated that can be arrested! Some deliverance isn't the absence of something it is the management of something! How many of you know you can be delivered from the activity and still struggle with the appetite? Certain actions by people and decisions by God make me want to get angry, but for me to stay delivered I must manage my anger because the appetite for anger hasn't been eradicated, however, it can be managed. Why do you think Paul said I die daily? My anger won't die on its own I must put it to death daily. I must choose to be angry or available!
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. The clock is ticking! The sun is going down. The season for being angry is quickly coming to a close. You have to let it go or you will be stuck on the bench!
