Epiphany 5 - Follow God's Game Plan

Text: Romans 10:13-17
Series: ILCW C(S) – Epiphany 05
Theme: Follow God’s Game Plan
Place: Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, Myrtle Beach, SC
Date: February 7, 2010

No game is more important. No game is more pressure-packed. No game can define your legacy more than the Super Bowl. Maybe, just maybe, that’s why both Jim Caldwell, the Indianapolis Colts’ coach, and Sean Payton, the New Orleans Saints’ coach, will have spent more than 100 hours in preparation for this one game. They’ve watched video tapes. They’ve reviewed the scouting reports assembled by their coaching staff. They’ve held staff meetings and team meetings. They’ve conducted practices and held a walk-through. They’ve developed and implemented a game plan for tonight’s game.
That game plan is an important piece of the puzzle. Every team has one. You see the coaching staff knows the players and their talents. And for every type of game situation – whether it’s third and long, or a play where they need only one or two yards, or they are at the goal line trying to score a touchdown – the coach has designed a plan for each of those situations to involve certain players. Maybe for one play the plan is to use the running back, while another might be to throw to the best wide receiver, while still another might be that the quarterback keeps the ball and runs. A game plan is important. And following it increases the chances of standing on the platform after 60 minutes to hoist the Lombardi trophy into the air with confetti falling, while fans are cheering and FOX Sports’ Terry Bradshaw interviews the Super Bowl champs.

This morning, through the Apostle Paul, God gives us a game plan. A game plan divinely given, designed in such a way so that when followed, it isn’t the Lombardi trophy that is hoisted or a Super Bowl ring that is worn, but something better. People who call on the name of the Lord and are saved! If that’s going to happen, friends, Follow God’s Game Plan. 1. Divinely Given with 2. Divine Results.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, remember what he said? Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation (Mark 16:16). But do you know why he said that? Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told the disciples to Go and make disciples…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I am with you until the end of the age (Matthew 28:19,20). Do you know why he told the disciples that? Do you know why the Lord of the Church gave to his Church some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11,12)? Do you know why it is that God comes to you and me today with a series of questions that the apostle Paul puts before us?

Because those questions put before our very eyes God’s Game Plan that he wants us to follow. It’s a rather simple plan isn’t it? Four rhetorical question? How will people confidently call on the Lord if they don’t trust and believe in him? Obviously they can’t and they won’t. How can they come to believe and trust in the Lord unless they hear the message of God’s grace in Christ? Obviously, they can’t and they won’t believe the message unless they hear it. How will they hear that message unless they hear someone proclaiming it, announcing it to them? Obviously, they can’t and they won’t unless someone preaches it? How will those people preach it unless they have been sent? Obviously, they can’t and they won’t unless they are sent.

Sounds simple enough, right? This is God’s mission until the end of the age that he has assigned to each of us? His game plan for us is to follow what he’s given us. That’s the way it was all along. That was the Savior’s plan all along. He planned that he would come to earth and live and die and rise again. He planned that he would accept the work of his Son as the payment for sin. He planned that everyone who calls on his name will be saved. And he planned that we would be sharers, proclaimers, heralds of that message. That was his game plan he gave to his first century followers and that’s the game plan he has given his twenty-first century followers. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

You know what else is pretty obvious? It’s pretty obvious we haven’t followed his plan too closely, too seriously, too cheerfully, or too willingly. If for just a second I wasn’t glad to come here to hear his Word so that my faith might be strengthened and solidified. If for just one second I wasn’t willing to listen to the pastor preaching the Word or encouraging him to remain faithful to the Word. If, just between yesterday and today, forget about the week, I unwillingly prayed before breakfast or lunch so I could witness to Jesus when I had friends over for dinner or as I sat in the school cafeteria. If I cheerlessly filled my envelop for church, not even giving thought about how I prioritize my money as a witness for Jesus and how that money will be used to send out missionaries who bring the good news of the Lord? It’s obvious! I didn’t follow God’s game plan. You didn’t either. When we don’t we stifle his game plan in two ways: we stifle his plans for the people around us. Those people he wants to call on his name and be saved. And we stifle his plans for us – the people he wants to follow his game plan. What a mess we make!

What would happen tonight, if the game plan the coaches developed and implemented for their respective teams wasn’t taken seriously? If the plays that the players practiced over and over the last two weeks weren’t followed too closely? What if the wide receiver doesn’t run to the spot where the quarterback is going to throw the ball or the offensive lineman doesn’t protect the quarterback? The chance of scoring a go-ahead touchdown slips by. The quarterback might fumble the football as he is tackled to the ground. Following the game plan is vital.

The problem is we haven’t followed God’s game plan too closely, too seriously, too cheerfully, or too willingly. Because we make a mess of his plan we deserve to hear bad news instead of good news. We deserve the ugliness of feet stomping instead of beautiful feet sharing. We deserve damnation instead of salvation.

But there is something about God’s game plan that is absolutely amazing and astounding. God put that game plan to work for us. You see God’s game plan went from heaven to a manger where the God-Man, the Lord lay. And then from there, from the manger, to the cross where the Christ was crucified. And then from the cross to the empty tomb where the Eternal Son of God, our Savior, proclaims life over death. And then from that empty tomb to the Upper Room where Jesus proclaims sin is forgiven and promises his disciples who were huddled together behind locked doors on that Easter Sunday evening, Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you (John 20:21). From heaven to manger. From manger to cross. From cross to empty tomb. From empty tomb to Upper Room.

That’s how God’s game plan was worked. With a Savior who took seriously, followed closely, carried it out willingly and cheerfully God’s plan to rescue man from damnation so that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. That only can happen because God’s game plan, divinely given, works such divine results. No more condemnation for those in Christ? Peace between God and man? A cleared conscience? A clean slate? Life given and sin forgiven?

God’s game plan was that those once pierced feet, fastened to a cross, proclaimed to his disciples in the Upper Room, “I’m sending you out. You’re going to bring good news. Good news that lifts people up out of the depths of hell and raises them to the heights of heaven. Good news that takes the walking dead and the mortally wounded and gives them life and immortality. Good news, the word of Christ, that creates saving faith to know that Jesus is Lord of my life and calls on him for salvation.”

God’s plan was that faith creating message – the words of Christ – would go out from the Upper Room to the remote corners of Creation. God’s plan was that faith creating message that transforms hearts would be shared by lips that pass it along to someone else’s ears so they too could hear. It’s a domino effect that produces divine results. Hearts to lips to ears. Heart to lips to ears. Heart to lips to ears.

And you know what? It’s come to you. From the Upper Room to pages of Scripture. From the pages of the Scripture to the water of your Baptism. From the pages of Scripture to the study of a pastor. From the study of a pastor to the message that passes from his lips to your ears. From ears to your heart. Someone was sent to you. That someone preached to you. You heard. You believe. And you can call on the name of the Lord for salvation all because God’s divine game plan has worked divine results in you.

And now you know what God says, “Go stand on the sideline and fill the Gatorade cups? Find a seat on the bench and watch? Not at all. He puts us in the game, if you will. You are a part of my game plan so others might call on me too and be saved.” This is God’s divine will! Part of his eternal plan. It’s you, following closely, taking seriously, doing willingly and cheerfully what God has asked. Oh, sure you may not be a pastor, but you are a part of the plan. You have been sent out.

Part of God’s game plan for you is to come here and hear often his Word so that your faith is strengthened and solidified. God’s game plan is for you to willingly listen to the pastor preaching the Word or encouraging him to remain faithful to the Word. God’s game plan is for you to share the words of Christ that create faith. That might happen by opening your mouth and sharing the message of Jesus to that neighbor who is on the brink of losing his house or that co-worker who is going through a divorce or that classmate who is dabbling in drugs. Or God can use you as you cheerfully open up your checkbook or wallet or pocketbook to generously support the work of the church that pastors and missionaries can bring to others the good news of the Lord? God’s game plan is for you to pray that the words of Christ may be shared faithfully. That the feet that bring that good news might walk freely wherever and to whomever and that God would continue to work such divine results.

Look to your left. Look to your right. Look in front of you. Look behind you. Hearts to lips to ears. Hearts to lips to ears. Hearts transformed because someone’s lips passed along the words of Christ for your ears to hear. You call on the Lord and are saved. That’s a divine result produced by God’s game plan. Just imagine how many more, by God’s grace, will call on the Lord and be saved because he used you!

One coach who coached in a past Super Bowl said of all the effort and energy in developing, implementing, practicing, and running the game plan in the Super Bowl: “There is no relaxing, but I remember the outcome. I remember how I felt after the last play. It made all the stress and hard work worthwhile.” God’s given us his game plan. There’s no calling if there’s no believing. There’s no believing if there’s no hearing. There’s no hearing if there’s no preaching. There’s no preaching if there’s no sending. By his grace, you and I are a part of it. Let’s take the message of Christ – a message that has created faith in our hearts – and share it and watch God work divine results so that others too will call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Let’s follow God’s game plan.