Sermon
Sunday-February 10
That’s why they play the game
For
those who were in church last Sunday, you know that I was not pleased with the
outcome of the Superbowl—several of you let me know via phone and email how
pleased you were with the outcome, not only that your team won but that my team
lost. And that’s fine. I tip my hat to the New York Giants
fans. At least give me credit that I put
my loyalty out there—I am not a fair-weather fan. And football is just a game and
The
Superbowl serves as a metaphor for life—we’ve all heard that before. It takes patience, consistency, desire,
teamwork and lots of other things to reach the big game, just like it takes a
lot of those same things to be successful in life and to obtain the kingdom of
heaven. Teams try to make the most on every play, just like we’re supposed to
do the best we can with what we have on a given day—we talked about that last
Sunday.
Before
last Sunday’s game, most people had already crowned the Patriots as
champions. The Giants had no chance,
they said. The point spread was the
Patriots favored by 12 and most thought that was too low. Well, there is a saying in sports, “That’s
why they play the game.” No game has
ever been won before it started. No game
has ever been won at half-time. The game
is won when the clock says 0:00 and one team is ahead.
In
the game of life, we can’t declare anyone as going to heaven—that’s God’s job
at the Second Coming. We can’t declare
victory for even the most pious person when he’s 30 or 40—because this person
will probably live another 40 or 50 years, there is still plenty of time to
fall away. I’m 35, a Christian and a
priest—if someone was handicapping what are the odds I’ll go to heaven, perhaps
they’d give me pretty good odds—but as I approach what I hope is the half-way
point of my life, we can’t declare victory for me at halftime, not at the
beginning of the fourth quarter, not even when the clock say 3:00 remain—just
ask the Patriots, they were winning until the final minute. Only when the clock reaches 0:00 can God, and
God alone, declare victory—salvation for you and me. There are lots of churches who will declare, “just
believe in God and you’ve clinched heaven.”
“Accept Jesus into your heart when you are 20 and you are guaranteed a
spot.” The Orthodox Church does not
follow this teaching—you’ve got to end your life as a devout Christian. It’s what the score is at the end that
matters.
Here
is where the football analogy doesn’t work.
While the game doesn’t end until the game clock reaches zero,
statistically speaking, no team has ever been behind by 50 points at half-time
and come back to win. There have just
never been any such miracle comebacks—perhaps from 20 points down or 10, but
not 50. You know if you go into
half-time down by 50 points, the game is pretty much over. Not so in the Christian life. If you are 25 or 45 or 65 and you still
haven’t built a solid relationship with the Lord, it’s not too late—you can
start at any time. In fact, I got an
email from someone just the other day who’s been away from church for a while
and has decided to come back. And the
email asked what do I need to do to come back?
The answer, just come back. See,
in the parable of the Prodigal Son which we will read in a couple of weeks, the
Bible doesn’t tell us how long the son had been gone, only that he had gone and
had wasted all of his inheritance. What
the story tells us is that when he finally came back, his father received him
with joy. So, regardless of what the
score of the game of your Christian life is, if you come back to God with
sincere repentance, He has the power to reset the score to 0-0, no matter how
far behind you have fallen. So while we
don’t declare anyone a winner until they’ve lived out their days as a person of
faith, we don’t declare anyone a loser either—because you’ve got until the
clock reached 0:00 on your life to find faith.
I
said above that the Orthodox Church does not believe that one can clinch heaven
at age 30 or 40. That it’s what the
score is at the end of your life that matters.
There is one catch—on the game clock at a football game, you know
exactly how much time you’ve got left.
On the game clock of your life, you don’t know. I’d like to think I’m still somewhere in the
second quarter of my life, but you never know, today could be my last play. That’s why I’ve got to make sure that the
score always reflects God in the lead in my life. That’s why I can’t wait until what I think is
the fourth quarter to mount a comeback.
That’s why I have to keep the score of my life always in God’s favor,
just in case the clock reaches 0:00 today, that I’ll find myself on the winning
team.