Sermon for February 1, 2004

End Zone Living by Paul Newell

1 Timothy 6:11-12

Welcome to Super Sunday!

One Sunday a year all of America and a large part of the world watches football. People will tune into the game today that haven’t watched a game all season. (That almost describes me!) The Super Bowl is the biggest game of the year. It’s the culmination of over five months of “grueling gridiron match-ups”. (Do I sound like an announcer or what?!)

But for some of us, it’s a great opportunity to simply get together with friends and enjoy the commercials and food. Although I always enjoy watching the parts of the game I actually see.

For those who are avid football fans, forgive my sacrilege on the subject.

For those who don’t have a clue what the game is all about, let me sum it up in a few phrases:

Two teams

A ball

The end zone

Get the ball to the end zone

And get it there as many times as possible, preferably more than the other team.

That’s football. All the timeouts, penalties, plays and commentary are just side issues from: two teams, one ball, get it to the end zone.

Now while you are trying to get the ball to the end zone there are forces fighting against you.

There are tackles when they drop you to the ground. There are fumbles when you drop the ball and the other team gets it. There are missed passes and failed plays.

Sometimes you make a little progress. Sometimes you make a lot of progress. Sometimes there are setbacks. But the point is to gain as much yardage as possible and push your way down the field and into the end zone.

The purpose of the game is to get the ball to the end zone. The best teams and best players never get their minds off the end zone.

THEIR PURPOSE IS THE END ZONE.

You could say that they are LIVING FOR THE END ZONE.

That’s football. That’s the Super Bowl. But when all is said and done, it’s still just a game. It’s a huge game with lots of money at stake, lots of trophies and of course the bragging rights. But in just eight months that will all be forgotten and all of the teams will start over again.

It’s just a game.

What we are doing this morning, on the other hand, is not a game. Church and genuine Christianity is not a game – it’s about eternity.

Someone once said, “This life is preparation for eternity.”

Eternity is the ultimate “end zone”. In many ways we are to be focused on “end zone living” as well.

That’s why we are challenged in 1 Timothy chapter six to…

“Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to” (The Message Paraphrase)

Our challenge is to run hard and run fast and to seize…eternal life.

What the Apostle Paul is challenging us as believers to do is focus on the end zone, focus on the purpose when God gave us His life, eternal life.

So how do you get to the end zone?

How does one practice “END ZONE LIVING”.

Have you ever noticed the players when they make it to the end zone? They celebrate, they dance, they get together with their team mates and make a big deal out of fulfilling their goal. Nothing else matters but making it to the end zone.

But how do you get to the end zone? And now I’m not talking about football, we’re talking about making it to our eternal purpose, fulfilling our eternal purpose.

Well, to make it to the end zone you have to gain yardage.

(Back to football for a moment)

The football field has also been called “the gridiron” because it is laid out in grids. The field is 100 yards long and is marked off at every yard. Then there are five yard markers and of course the well recognized ten yard markers that run the entire width of the field. The goal is to push the ball farther down the field and in the process “gain yardage”. You want to make gains.

In order to make gains in our spiritual life we have to think very similar to how the players think during a football game.

To gain yardage you can’t get distracted.

One of the great stories of football happened on New Years day, 1929 at the Rose Bowl. The teams were Georgia Tech and the University of California. The teams were scoreless in the second quarter when Georgia Tech’s John Thomason, nicknamed Stumpy, fumbled and dropped the ball. That’s when one of the UC players recovered the ball and began running. But in the confusion of being grabbed at, shoved and tackled, the player, Roy Reigels got turned around and disoriented. That’s when it happened.

He started running the wrong way – toward the opposite end of the field and the other teams end zone.

If it had not been for the quick thinking of a teammate who finally caught up with Reigels just one yard from making a touchdown for the other team, the outcome could have been worse. (As it was Georgia Tech won the game 8 to 7).

But from that time on Roy Reigels became know as “Wrong Way Reigels”, a name he never lived down.

Because he became distracted.

It’s easy to get distracted as believers, isn’t it.

It’s important to note that even the Apostle Paul warned about this in the very same passage we just read.

In 1 Timothy chapter six the Apostle Paul writes this:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain NIV… But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction NLT.” (1 Timothy 6:6,9)

What he’s telling us is when we focus on godly things we gain yardage…but when we start to focus on getting rich we get distracted and tackled and lose.

It’s easy to get turned around and focused on the wrong goals. All of us want to be rich, none of us want to be poor. But when we focus on the wrong kind of riches we get distracted, stumble, fumble and fall.

I like the way the New Century Version translates this verse.

Serving God does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. (1 Timothy 6:6, NCV)

Have you ever thought about “being rich”. Someone once asked a powerful and rich man how much was enough. His answer, “Just a little bit more.”

People who the world assumes are rich are usually trying to get richer. When is enough enough?

But the Apostle Paul tells us that serving God makes us very rich, if (and this is a huge if), if we are satisfied with what we have.

How do you know your rich, when you are satisfied.

Most people in this world who acquire lots of stuff still are not rich. None of that stuff satisfies. It only distracts.

But serving God does make us very rich. God’s riches are within all of our reach. And the best part is we don’t have to lie to ourselves, we really are rich. We have all the riches of heaven and God at our disposal. That’s why it says “Serving God does make us rich!” It’s just not about what this world considers riches.

To get to the end zone you can’t get distracted trying to fulfill yourself with the stuff of this world.

Not only that, but to get to the end zone

You have to run from your opponents.

Every time you start to run toward the end zone there is someone there to try to stop you. The New Testament talks about “our enemy”, our opponent.

“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, NIV)

We have to be aware that the Devil and his forces are trying to tackle us and keep us from the end zone.

That’s why after talking about the distraction of trying to get rich in this life, The Apostle simply says, “Run for your life from all this.” (1 Timothy 6:11, The Message).

Run for your life! That’s a pretty good description of how we are to respond to the pull of this world and it’s stuff. Run for your life!

I didn’t play much football when I was younger. As you can tell my body type was not conducive to the sport. But I remember when my brother would make me play. He was a real football player and lettered in the sport in High School.

David would throw me the ball and them take off after me to practice his tackling. It was pretty much a no win situation for me – he was bigger and faster. But I do remember running for my life!

Sort of reminds me of the two men walking through the forest when they came upon a grizzly bear. The one said to the other, “What do we do?” The other said, “Run for your life.” “But”, said the first, “we can’t outrun a grizzly bear.” “I don’t have to outrun a grizzly bear”, said the other, “I just have to outrun you!” (Ouch!)

We have to run from our opponents.

Often we have to learn how to sidestep both distractions and opponents.

It means being aware of the one who is out there trying to get us to stumble and simply run from him.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Keep away (avoid, abstain, run from) from every kind of evil.”

You also must follow your tacklers. If you are going to get to the end zone you have to follow your tacklers.

Verse eleven of our passage this morning tells us to run from some things, but it also tells us to run after others.

A good football player knows to stay behind his teammates for protections. We’ve been given some powerful teammates for end zone living.

Verse eleven says, “pursue (follow after) righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness”.

TO GET TO THE END ZONE YOU HAVE TO FOCUS ON THE END ZONE.

These six traits are not only our protection, they are our focus.

Here’s the point: Keep your focus and make your lifestyle these six things and you will not only live an End Zone kind of life, but you will be protected from those who would try to get you to stumble, fumble and lose!

Here are the six traits:

(1) End Zone living means LIVING TO SERVE GOD

That’s what it means to pursue righteousness and godliness.

It means to be focused entirely on God’s purposes for our lives.

Nothing else matters. Nothing else will get us what we truly need or want. Nothing but serving God and living for Him alone.

How do we do to serve God. The five basic purposes of life help us understand that.

We live for God by honoring Him (worship).

We live for God by touching others in His name (ministry).

We live for God by sharing the Good News about Him (evangelism).

We live for God by growing in our understanding of Him (discipleship).

We live for God by connecting with others through church (fellowship).

We’ll be spending detailed time beginning late this month on each of these powerful purposes and ways we live out godliness.

End Zone living means living to serve God

(2) End Zone living means LIVING CONSISTENTLY.

That’s what it means to live by faith. To live my faith means we trust God. To show God our trust we do what He wants us to do, consistently.

We don’t trust ourselves. We don’t depend on ourselves to get what we want. We don’t depend on ourselves to “get rich”.

We live by faith in God and let Him honor our trust in Him.

You can’t live by faith inconsistently. There is no such thing as inconsistent faith. We must strive for consistent faith.

(3) End Zone living means PATIENT LIVING.

Sometimes it’s just slow. Sometimes the response we want from God isn’t as quick as we want it.

We say, “Lord give me patience and I want it now.”

End Zone living, living totally with God’s eternal purpose for me in mind, means being willing to wait on God.

Patience goes with Faith. If you have faith, you will be patient. You will simply trust God that He will do what is best when it is best.

Do you find yourself trying to rush God? Do you find yourself trying to trying to intervene in other people’s lives when you know God wants you to wait? Too often we rush in to situations when God wants us to wait. We assume we must correct problems in others, when what God wants is for us to work on our own sins.

(4) End Zone Living means GOING EASY ON OTHERS.

That’s doesn’t make sense does it? I mean to get to the end zone we should have to push and show and kick and climb – usually over other people.

But remember, End Zone living is not about football – it’s about eternity. It’s about God’s purposes for us eternally.

The word in the passage is “gentleness”. It’s an interesting word, because in it’s Greek form it’s found only here in First Timothy, no where else in the New Testament.

It means to be humble, but in a very unique way.

It describes the ability to accept opposition, insult and provocation (you know – getting shoved around) without “losing it”.

Marvin Vincent (in his books called “VINCENTS WORD STUDIES”) takes a lot about this concept. He speaks of this gentleness or meekness. Put on your academic hats for a minute and read this description of gentleness with me:

Gentleness “bears the contradiction of sinners against himself…forgiving and restoring the erring in a spirit of meekness. [See Galatians 6:1-5]” From Vincent’s Word Studies, Volume 1.

I’m not sure if you get that so here it is again.

It means going easy on others. When someone else contradicts us (they go against us for whatever the reason) we willingly forgive and attempt to restore them into quality relationship.

How does that fit into End Zone Living?

Well, when we are focused on God’s purposes we want to serve Him faithfully.

To do that we have to love other people and the only way to show genuine love is through patience. And that patience is shown through our gentleness – we are willing to take the hits in order to serve others for God.

That’s End Zone Living.

The Apostle Paul ends his challenge to End Zone living with these words:

“Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

Run hard and fast.

Grab and hold on tight to the life and purpose God gave you.

Remember that it’s the life God called you to live.

And never forget that there are lots of people watching you. There are lots of witnesses in the stadium of this life who are watching how you live with the End Zone in mind…so many witnesses.

So what do we do with a message like this?

First, make sure you are suited up. You have to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ before you can life with eternity in mind.

Second, if you are not a part of a team – join! That’s what church is all about. In a few weeks we will host another FACs class which will tell you everything you need to know about being an active, covenant member of Family Fellowship.

Third, challenge your distractions. Enough said.

Finally, live with the End Zone in mind.

Live every moment with a God purposed focus. Practice consistency, patience and gentleness. And be aware that you only practice those when the tough plays are called, when challenges come.

I can’t help but notice how the Apostle Paul ended his own life here on earth. He wrote one final letter to Timothy and in it he talked about the End Zone living one more time.

“I’ve run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that’s left now is the shouting—God’s applause!” (2 Timothy 4:7-8, The Message Paraphrase)

I’ve made it to the end zone and God is cheering me on! I won!

We have that same promise if we will simply practice End Zone Living!