May the
words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
Let us
pray! Gracious Lord, it is with divine
authority that You healed the paralytic.
That authority is given by Your Father in heaven. It caused the people to be awestruck. Enable we Your children today to not only be
awestruck by Your authority, but enable us to lay claim to Your promise of life
and salvation offered to us by Your death on Calvary for all of mankind. And enable us to work for You in Your kingdom
here on earth to reach the lost who have not heard the message of salvation for
all of mankind, including all of the saints here at Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
Growing
up in rural Southside Virginia, fall was a time of great optimism. Unlike most Southern Baptist church families who
were devoted to the church all day on Sunday like in the Deep South our Sunday
pastime as a family revolved around sports. Not just any sport, it was about
football. It was always a past-time to
hurry home from church and eat our Sunday lunch, usually of soft-poached eggs,
toast and grits while watching the 1PM match-up of the week on ABC, NBC or CBS,
depending who was playing and which station came in best. Without fail my older brother Dean, who was and
still is a knowledgeable sports enthusiast would watch every down, every pass
and every turnover analyzing each move or misstep of the mighty. From his favorite team of the Cowboys to my
younger brother Dale and parents favorite of the Redskins, each game wet their
appetite further and without fail entertained and caused all of us, even my
mother to be in awe of the talent of each team and player.
Years
later when Dean worked for the Philadelphia Eagles during the Buddy Ryan years
I had the opportunity to meet some of the famous players like Randall
Cunningham. Personally I was most
awestruck by one player. His name was
Reggie White. Reggie was not a small man. He was huge and had a heart to match. His evangelistic nature and love of God was
clear and manifest since he was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In one real and clear sense, Reggie with his
football as well as his faith, took our theme this morning to heart, Reggie
would “Leave it on the field”, not only the grid iron, but the field of life. Reggie lived a life of faith as a model for
his teammates as well as the church he pastored.
In this
mornings Gospel we hear the story of Jesus Christ Who also lived His faith and
would “Leave it on the field.” Jesus
encountered a paralytic man. Matthew
writes, “And they brought to Him [that is Jesus] a paralytic lying on a bed.” For Jesus it wasn’t by chance, but by divine
design in order that His Glory may be revealed that the people brought this man
to be healed. But the scribes, looked at
Jesus and what He said with derision and distaste. Matthew writes, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to
the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” In a clear
sense of compassion and care on the field of battle with Satan, Jesus heals
this paralytic man. But all the scribes
could see is the foul against the Law of Moses by Jesus when they “said
to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.””
Yet with
the clarity of the Second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ “Leaves it on the
field” and says to the scribes. “Why
are you thinking evil in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up,
and walk’?” Jesus like a defensive
tackle who sacks the quarterback with the ball for a loss behind the line of
scrimmage clearly puts the scribes in the proper place and perspective saying,
“But
so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. Jesus stakes His divine right and claim that
He has the divine right and authority to forgive the sins of man and mankind
here on earth. Thus turning to the
paralytic Jesus says, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”
Can you
imagine the reaction from the crowd when Jesus had said those words. Matthew says, “But when the crowds saw this,
they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” Their collective jaws probably had to be
raised from the ground, because Jesus modeled His “leaving it all on the field”
when He rightfully claimed His divine authority to heal the sick.
How can
we lay claim to this today? In the
movie, “Facing the Giants”, Coach Grant Taylor not unlike Jesus Christ when he
encountered the opposition and potential attempt of his being fired was at a
lost, mentally, physically and emotionally.
But in wrestling with God for an answer Coach Taylor resolved to “leave
it on the field.” In wrestling with his
faith in God His faith in God was renewed and he told the players of the
breakthrough he had revealed by God. It
was simple. Coach Taylor resolved and
challenged his players and fellow coaches to leave everything on the field,
give it their all and leave the results to God.
Last
week, I suggested this same approach with the insert in the bulletin, both the
catechism as well as the small insert with the ad for “Facing the Giants” and
the sermon series. When we “leave it on
the field” and let God have control over the outcome, we give God the Glory He earned
on the Cross of Calvary. This same Glory
God gives to us in, through and by our baptism into His life death and
resurrection and enables us to call upon His name and trust Him with
everything.
This
afternoon, at the Sherman Theater David Branda will show, “Facing the Giants”,
I want you to see how God worked in the lives of the coach, the team and the
town. God worked so clearly that they
were awestruck by God’s action. But more
importantly it was Coach Taylor trusting God fully and clearly in everything
that had the most profound affect. Coach
Taylor let his actions speak for themselves in three ways. I challenge you to doing this as well.
First,
in your life, give your all in everything, whether it is relationship with your
spouse, with your children or family, your job or your church. Don’t settle for second best. In everything let God inspire your work
habits, your demonstration of faith and be manifest in your “leaving it all on
the field”.
Second,
trust God for the results. All of us
know the results will not always be success, but praise God even for
failure. Failure is an opportunity to
continue to praise God, because we may need to learn something from it in order
for God’s glory to be revealed to us whether in our lives or our relationship
with God. For Coach Taylor it was the
loss of a key player from the team, the loss of the first three games of the
season and the reality that he could not have children that drove him to trust
God fully and without compromise for the results in the future, whether in his
walk with the town, the team or on the field.
Finally,
if you give everything you can and trust God for the results allow God to work
and look for His results. We as a
society think the change of the world depends upon us, the change of the church
depends upon us, the change of a persons heart depends upon us. That is to much control and God through the
Holy Spirit is the only one Who can change the heart of man. Ezekiel the prophet says it well, “I will take the heart of stone
out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,20 that they may walk
in My statutes and keep My ordinances
and do them. Then they will be My
people, and I shall be their God.” This promise occurs only through and by what
God did on Calvary through Jesus Christ for each and every one of us.
May we as a church and as individuals inspired by “Facing the Giants” in faith, trust and hope give everything to God, trust in God for the results and allow God to change our hearts of stone, for this only occurs when we “leave it on the field” and allow God to be God. For the promises of God are clear that He freely offers us life and salvation through Jesus Christ death on Calvary for all of mankind because of His great and unconditional love for all of us. God will make us awestruck by His action, whether it be healing a paralytic, breaking our heart of stone or using Emmanuel Lutheran Church to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all of Goodland, Sherman County and Western Kansas. So let’s resolve to trust God and “leave it all on the field”. AMEN.
