Description
Quarterback
“The Quarterback Question”
By Ed Young
September 13, 2015
On the field of life, we all want to “win”. We want to get the most out of the time we are giving on the clock. God wants the same thing for us. But it doesn’t happen if we don’t have the right players in place.
In this message, Pastor Ed Young challenges us to all as The Quarterback Question. Because when we look at who is really calling the plays of our lives and hand control over to Jesus, we discover the only game plan to true victory.
Transcripts
Ed: Hey, it’s great to have with us Tony Romo in this series Quarterback. The man needs no introduction. He’s the man of the hour, too sweet to be sour, the tower of Cowboy power. You know where I got that line from? Professional wrestler, Dusty Rhodes. You remember him?
Tony: I do. I remember I grew up watching Hulk Hogan, Wrestle Mania 3, I think that was the Pontiac Silverdome. But I don’t know much about it.
Ed: You know what, Tony? I love wrestling. I love the old school better. I don’t know as much about the new school but the old school…
Tony: I would say I went to about Wrestle Mania 7-ish. I remember 6, we had the ultimate war and Hulk Hogan and then I started to fade after that a little bit.
Ed: Those guys are great athletes.
Tony: What they do, they’re like football players who have to get up on a rope and jump sometimes.
Ed: It’s crazy. Well, Tony, you quarterback America’s team. Talk to me about leadership. When I say that word what comes to mind?
Tony: Well, I think there are a few things. 1, I felt like there are many forms of leadership that we all have. I think ultimately you have to be yourself but ultimately the thing that everyone looks to since I’ve been in the NFL at any point is someone who does it the right way day in and day out. That’s probably the #1 quality that someone has. And then on top of that, your example that you set and the approach that you take, people are watching. You know, when you just do something small. Other people weirdly will not necessarily judge but they will absolutely be in a position to say, man, I want to be like that. And I think that’s the #1 way you get to be in the position you’re at is just doing things the right way over and over again.
Ed: Sort of like life in a fishbowl. Life in an aquarium, they’re watching when you’re a leader.
Tony: Yeah.
Ed: Being a quarterback, Tony, I know you’ve got to be smart as a whip just to think and to do what you do. What is it like? I mean, what is the raw and the real when the game is on the line, you’re in the huddle, I mean how do you take charge? Because you have all these incredible athletes and you’re the leader. I mean, how does that happen? What does that look like?
Tony: I think when you’re young, I relate it to sometimes when you’re a freshman in high school. It’s very hard to take control of that huddle when you have seniors in that group. But as you become that sophomore, junior, and senior and you become a guy who has been through the experiences a little bit, you have the ability to take the group with you. Everyone wants to be led. Ultimately we want someone to take control. We all want to be leaders, but at the same time if somebody has skins on the wall, experiences in the process, you want them to tell you how to be better.
Ed: How about play-calling? Talk to us about, how do you guys call a play? Because sometimes I hear you say this is about all I know about football. Omaha, Omaha, whatever. How does that happen? Does it come like from the, is it from the box?
Tony: It’s the coaches’ box but it’s a similar type of thing. A lot of coordinators will be up there and they’ll call the play down to someone on the side line. On our team the guy on the sideline calls them into me. They’ll come into my head into the helmet, I’ll hear the play, you’ll relay that message to the team. Well, when it comes in you’re changing personnel. So if I give you an example it’d be, we’re gonna change personnel. So we have 11 personnel, which is three wide receivers, one tight end, and one running back. Well all of a sudden on this third one we’re gonna change and go 13-Z personnel. So I’ll go, “13Z,” which now means all of a sudden we have one wide receiver, three tight ends, and one running back in the game. So I tell these guys. And right at that moment the coach is gonna call and go, “Let’s go I right wing, z short, 42 ISO, kill, act 5, 428, H5.” Now, you want to get this up to the line of scrimmage as fast as you can so you can kind of assess what the defense is doing and then attack where they’re vulnerable. So you’re trying to do all these things in seconds.
Ed: That’s amazing.
Tony: Yeah, it’s like anything, though. Once you do it enough times it gets going. When it first starts off for young guys it’s just… phhhhlll! It’s tough. But if they commit to their craft they have a chance to be pretty good.
Ed: Being a leader, being a quarterback, what are some things you would tell me and tell others who are watching this about dealing with failure? Trying your best and just, you know…
Tony: Ultimately how you respond to that will probably make the difference in your life in a lot of ways and I think anybody who has lived life long enough understands that you’re going to go through the ebb and flow, through the seasons of life. Whether it’s in marriage, whether it’s in football, whether it’s in the workplace, friends.
Ed: And I think marriage is probably the most challenging of all those.
Tony: I think you’re probably right.
Ed: No seriously! I always say all the time, marriage is not the easiest thing, it’s the hardest thing. But it can become the greatest thing if you’re willing to work.
Tony: No question. And I think that’s exactly it. I was lucky enough to choose what I feel like is the best wife I could’ve ever received or chosen but you’re two sinners and you’re living together. And to think that you’re just gonna come together and you’re both gonna get what you’ve always had on your own. It’s just silly but we think that. And then kids come into it and you get to really see sometimes the difficult part of it because we both have to put our respective, I guess you could say selfish, desires off to the side a little bit. And in that process if you have two people who are willing to do that it’s the most beautiful thing and joyful thing. It’s the desire. And then on top of it, just having Jesus as the center of it all, it just makes the design all work. And that’s ultimately what I think you want.
Ed: That’s so well-said. That’s a great sermon. This guy could preach, too!
Tony: Don’t look at me.
Ed: Tony, how do you deal with haters? Because that’s one of the things that students tell me all the time, ask me. Pastor, how do you deal with haters? You know, social media, with kids, whatever. And of course, Tony, everyone for the most part loves you but… what do you do about that?
Tony: When I first became the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys I had a good run where everyone wants to back up the plays and one of those things. And then you go off and you have a little bit of success. And in the process of having that success people were building you up and you get in this position, like any first pick of the draft kind of gets. Oh, they’re gonna do everything perfect and everything’s gonna be great! And then you go through the real life stuff where you’re not perfect and you have to figure out a way to be the best version of yourself. Well that was hard for me to hear people say negative things to me because I was like, I’m a nice guy. And what I found was after about a year or two I started to recognize that whether they said good or bad things it didn’t actually affect my life unless I allowed it to emotionally. They literally, they just, when I went to a restaurant and stuff people were nice. I didn’t see the person who was saying that negative thing on TV or a comment on the internet. But even if they did, that same person would be really nice to me. And then someone every once in a while would say something to bowling or some kids who are young or stuff, and they were like, they just don’t matter. Not to be rude but they’re gonna go away and you’re gonna live life and it just really isn’t gonna define you unless you allow it to define you.
Ed: I cannot take a picture of you today, Tony Romo, again, one of the best quarterbacks ever, blah-blah-blah, I cannot take a photo and make my judgment of you there. You know, contract, great family, whatever. To understand you I’ve gotta go back. Whatever, you with football, you with your dad playing golf. So I think that’s important for people to understand that when they do process people that criticize. Hey, as you said, let it go. I’m not responsible for that and just move on because you don’t really know me.
Tony: People are gonna pick on you for… you can be great. I saw the best quarterbacks, the best MBA basketball players, the best golfers, they’re getting picked on. No one is immune to this deal. This is life, this is what it’s gonna be like. Just be like, blah-blah-blah, Tony Romo. You know what? Everybody does. And so when you know that it’s easier to kind of take.
I was literally right here, and I was in that room over there in my second year in the NFL. I was in training camp. In the NFL you keep three quarterbacks at the most on your football team. We had been to the playoffs the year before. The returning starter is coming back. We brought in an old veteran to challenge him for the starting role and we brought in a young kid that we traded for who was possibly the future of the franchise. So you have the returning star, the old veteran, the future guy, and then I’m there, too. So the numbers as you look at it are very like… hmmm… This is gonna be tough. So I was very stressed and emotional the first two to three days of camp. And I sat there and I prayed at night. I said, “Lord, if I’m meant to be an assistant golf club professional back in Burlington, Wisconsin then I’ll be happy and enjoy that and be the best version of that that I can be. But I’m done making every single thing be the most important moment of my life. There’s no peace in that. I’m giving it to you. And I literally said, I’m just gonna go out there and I’m gonna throw that ball. I’m just gonna say he’s open, I’m reacting, and I’m just gonna let it go and throw it. I’m not gonna worry if I throw it 8 yards over his head or in the dirt. I’m done aiming and I’m just at peace with whatever happens. But I’m not going down hoping. I’m gonna play aggressively and I’m just gonna leave it up to you and I’m gonna be at peace with whatever the outcome is.” And I remember the next day it was just freeing. It was freeing. I just gave it to the Lord. It was like, he all of a sudden had it and I could just go play. And I had my two to three best practices in the next three days. And the starter ends up getting cut. Three days later I end up making the team and then. But I still relate that was the moment when I learned how to play the game. Because I literally gave it up. He has control and as long as he has control, I’m at peace.
Ed: How did you become a follower of Christ, Tony? What happened in your life that brought about that decision?
Tony: Well, I grew up in the church a little bit, you know, Sunday School, but I wasn’t… I never had known how to like, how to give yourself over to the Lord. I had never, I guess you could say, never really thought deeper about it other than just Sunday School was church. And church and you know, Jesus was Santa in some ways. And then I went off to college and I remember just a few people talking about it. I watched this guy and he was like, “Hey, we got Bible study.” And the way he lived his life. And I’d see him around and he probably didn’t even know it but you’re watching and you’re just looking and you’re kind of sensing. And then you’re like, you know, I kinda want that. I kinda want that, you know the freedom, the peace, just the ability to kind of be at ease when life goes crappy. When it goes good, you know, there’s peace. When someone else is taking care of you, you’re set. I can just live life and be OK with it. I’d love to tell you there was this perfect story about how then life from there was like – boom!
Ed: No, it doesn’t work that way.
Tony: To think that you’re never going to sin again, or to think that because you’ve come to the Lord, or that this Christian over here, he’s fake… well they don’t understand it then.
Ed: We’re all hypocrites.
Tony: Yes! Everyone. And I think just whenever you fail you come back to the Lord. You don’t run away from him, you run to him.
Ed: That’s right. Well, Tony, I drew up a play on the way down here. Here’s what it’s called, the Statue of Liberty. If you do this play, here’s the deal, I really think this could be the difference in the season. There’s you. And I had to have help drawing this. There’s like Jason, I’m guessing.
Tony: Yep.
Ed: And would that be Des out there?
Tony: Yep.
Ed: OK. You’re getting there.
Tony: There’s Cole, there’s Terrance, the running back.
Ed: They hike the ball to you. That’s the way I say it.
Tony: Yep.
Ed: Hike it to you, Tony, you go back. Statue of Liberty. They think what’s gonna happen? Jason comes around, all right? Takes the ball from you. You go out for a pass. Des goes out for a pass, and you just fire it down through there. What do you think?
Tony: And so I hand it to Jason and he throws it back?
Ed: Yes! What do you think?
Tony: It’s a great idea. And if you guys see what he’s drawn up here. The problem is Jason’s on the right. So he takes the ball and runs left. I know Jason well enough to know he’s not going to be physically talented enough to throw it back right. See? And that would be the only problem with Statue of Liberty.
Ed: Story of my life. Tony, here’s something else. Last thing. Stand up with us. Back in the day, Tony, I went to some pretty ragged public schools and stuff and played some sports and whatever. I remember back in the day, gimme five! Old school, that’s how it started it. And then you do the soul handshake and then whatever. What’s so funny now is guys give hugs. Whatever, which is cool. It’s cool. But I thought about starting something. It’s called the Hugalution. Here we go.
Tony: OK.
Ed: Now, you have a very stressful position. I mean you have a lot on you. So next time you hug, watch me. Boom-boom. Just put your head on the guy’s shoulder just for a second because it’ll give you a brief rest period during the day. Let’s just try it. Hugalution. Boom-boom-boom. What do you think?
Tony: I like it. I thought that was gonna be a stressful moment but that was actually … it was easy.
Ed: You can start this. You have the leadership chops to do Hugalution. It could be crazy! What do you think about it?
Tony: I like it. I probably would change the name. If I was doing it in the locker room. The hugs we would probably have to change. What’s it called? Hugalotion?
Ed: Hugalution. Now that we have… maybe it’s Tony Bromo! Have you ever been called that? Tony Bromo?
Tony: That’s a good one! That’s pretty impressive.
Ed: Tony, listen man. We’re so proud of you. I’m proud of who you are and whose you are, and man, your family. We pray for you. Man, you keep on doing what you’re doing.
<INTERVIEW ENDS>
<Ed is live on stage>
You decide to play recreation football. You invite your buddies from work and it’s a flag football scenario. You played quarterback in junior high. You gather your team together to play the opponent and you’re missing one person. So you see someone and you’re like, OK, hey man! Come over! Would you play for us? And it’s Tony Romo. And you go, “Tony, listen. You just play center. You block for me. You hike me the ball and you tell me what to do.”
So you play and you have a pretty good game. You do well but you do throw a couple of key interceptions and your friend drops a touchdown in the end zone. You lose. How crazy is that? You had Tony Romo on your team! One of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, maybe a Hall of Famer, and you played quarterback? You had him playing center and just blocking for you? How ludicrous is that? How ridiculous is that? Wow.
One day Jesus ran into a young man at the zenith of his life, at the apex of his life. You like this guy. This guy was wealthy. This guy was a leader. He had some serious influence. He came to Jesus at just the right time. He was young. And it’s so interesting how the Bible emphasizes young people giving their lives to Jesus. It’s great when anyone does, believe me. But when someone is young and they acquiesce control to Christ, I mean, the Bible says we’re literally entertaining angels. Angels give us a standing ovation when someone, especially a young person, acquiesces and opens up the lid of their lives and gives it all to Jesus.
So this guy runs up to Jesus. He has the right posture. He kneels before him. He’s talking to the right guy, the Savior of the world, and he begins to ask him some questions.
I think one of the most important things that we can do is ask the right people the right questions to get the right answers. And it’s so fascinating to see how many people ask Jesus questions. This is interesting because in this scenario, Mark chapter 10, it’s the only time where someone came up to Jesus, had a conversation with him, and left in a worse condition. Your heart goes out to this guy. You like this guy. He was the leader. He had a lot of money. Maybe he was a trustifarian. I don’t know. Let’s pick it up. Trust fund baby – trustifarian.
“As Jesus started on his way a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher…’” Now let me stop there. Good teacher. Good teacher. That sounds like, OK, good teacher. Do you realize during this context no one used the word good to describe a teacher unless you were talking to God. The only time good was used was in reference to God. So this young guy drops to his knees, come to Jesus at the right time, and he calls him good. I don’t think he even knew what he was saying. And then Jesus, if you could read the original language he’s almost saying, “Do you realize who you’re talking to? You’re talking to God.” So he says, “ ‘Good teacher…’ and Jesus says, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” Here’s one mistake this guy made. He didn’t recognize Christ as Lord. He didn’t recognize Jesus as his quarterback.
Here’s another clueless mistake he made. He didn’t understand, he didn’t understand performance. He didn’t understand his penalties, his wrongdoings. He didn’t understand that he was imperfect. He didn’t understand the holiness of God. He didn’t get it. He thought that salvation was something to be achieved, not something to be received and believed.
And it’s amazing how many people are in that same boat today, isn’t it? Somehow at the end of the day God will say, “You know what, Ed? You fumbled the ball. You threw interceptions. You were out of bounds here, out of bounds there. You blew that game, you blew this game. But you tried as hard as you could, man. You performed well. Come on into Heaven because your good marks outweigh the bad.” Sounds sexy, sounds cool, sounds politically correct. The only problem is it’s not gonna get us where we need to go. And that’s what Jesus is driving at when he talks to this young guy who was quarterbacking his own life.
Verse 19, Jesus says. And here’s what Jesus does. He throws the Decalogue at him. What’s the Decalogue? It’s the 10 commandments. The first 5 commandments would be God’s relationship to man. The second 5 commandments would be man’s relationship to man. Jesus talks about the second aspect of the Decalogue. Man’s relationship to man. This guy thinks he’s gonna perform his way into Heaven. Jesus says to him,
“You know the commandments. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.” And here’s the thing about the 10 commandments. We don’t break the 10 commandments, the 10 commandments break us. And in the New Testament Jesus took the 10 commandments to an HNL… a ‘hole ‘notha level.
Because in the Old Testament if you commit adultery you’re breaking a commandment. In the New Testament if you look at someone with lust in your … boom! You’ve committed adultery.
In the Old Testament, whack! You kill somebody. You’re breaking, you’re breaking the commandment. In the New Testament if you have anger in your heart, you flip someone off in traffic, you’ve committed murder. Wow. This guy didn’t get it. So Jesus is going, “Hey, you’ve kept all these really? Since maturity?” And maturity back in the day was from 12 years of age, on.
“Teacher,” he declared, “I’ve kept these since I’ve been a boy.” Well, here’s something else he didn’t get, a third thing. He didn’t get grace. So he didn’t recognize Christ as Lord. He was clueless about his performance. He didn’t get grace. So in verse 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him.
I love that, don’t you? We matter to God. Everyone matters to God. We’ve never looked at someone, we’ve never locked eyes with someone who does not matter to God. Jesus looked at him. He saw the potential in him. He saw what he could be. That’s what I love about Simon Peter.
You remember Simon Peter? This guy we can all identify with him. He’s like, “Jesus! I got your back, man! I’m, man, I’m with you!” And Jesus said,
“No, no, no. You’re gonna mess me around. You’re gonna deny me.” And you know what he called Simon Peter? He gave him a nickname. The rock. I mean, if you’d been there you’d be like, pffft!! This guy? Pathetic! This guy? Say one thing, do another. Jesus, you’re calling him the rock? Sure enough, what happened? He became the rock. One of the great men of God, ever. Jesus loved him.
He has a nickname for you. He sees your potential. Yet it all goes back to lordship. Who is running your life and mine? Because remember, Jesus wants the best. So Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack…” And I call this – you can mark it down – the quarterback question. “One thing you lack…” I mean, he read this guy’s e-mail. He hacked into this guys’ life. He looked at him, the Bible says. “There’s one thing you lack…” One thing. Now there’s a verse that really, really, really jumps out to me. “This one thing you lack,” he said, “Go sell everything.” You’re like, whoa. You mean if I truly follow Jesus, if I make Jesus the quarterback of my life I’ve gotta sell everything? Chill. Relax. This is the only time Jesus told someone to liquidate. He met with many people of great wealth, many people who didn’t have a thing. This is the only time. What did he see? He saw that this young man was the quarterback of his life. He saw that wealth, cash money, was running the show.
The Bible calls this a stumbling block. Throughout the New Testament the Greek term scandalon. Say scandalon with me. Scandalon. The picture behind scandalon is if you’ve ever been to Israel (I have several times), it’s a rock that actually grows from the earth. It looks like it’s part of the terrain and as you travel it would trip up travelers. Scandalon. Literally, a stumbling block. Jesus looked at him.
And see, here’s the great thing about Jesus. Jesus didn’t just love him superficially. I mean if it had been superficial love, politically correct love, he would have been like, “Man, you know I love you and, you know, everything’s cool. Yeah. We’re cool. All right, rich young ruler, I’ll talk to you later.” Jesus, though, does not love us superficially. He loves us completely. And because he loves us completely he will have the hard conversations with us. He will challenge us.
That’s why parenting, man, parenting isn’t for cowards. Parenting. It’s not superficial. That’s why it’s so tough. We’ve gotta get in people’s grill. Some of these quarterbacks that I’ve spoken with, they told me off the record. Hey, I’ve gotta get in people’s grill all the time if they’re one minute late for a meeting, if they miss this route, if they don’t hear the signal or I audible. Man, I’m after them! I’m thankful that Jesus tells the truth about our condition. He loves you, he loves me enough to tell us the truth about who we are.
So he looked at this guy and he saw the scandalon, the stumbling block. He saw who was quarterbacking his life. “ ‘Go sell everything,’ he says, ‘and give to the poor and you’ll have treasure in Heaven. Then come and follow me.’ At this the man’s face fell.” Literally, if you could read this in the original language he moved from sunshine to a storm. It literally means storm cloud, a horrible, horrible situation. If you look at the radar the radar would look like guacamole in this guy’s life. So his face fell. He took off his helmet and walked dejectedly off the field. So he made some dumb mistakes.
He didn’t realize Christ as Lord. #2 – He was clueless about his performance. #3 – He didn’t get grace. We’re saved by grace through faith. And #4 – He bolted. He walked off the field.
Now when I thought about him leaving you’re like, wow. He walked away from Jesus. He walked away worse than when he first met him. Why can I say that? Because he didn’t really know the 4-1-1 until after Jesus talked to him. So he had the truth and he was talking to THE truth and he decided to walk away. I really wish the guy would have hung out with Jesus. Think about it. Even Peter, James, and John. Did they really get grace completely? No. Did they really understand lordship? No. Did they really understand making Jesus the quarterback of their life? No. But it’s the question that I’m coming back to during this first session.
It’s the quarterback question. People debate it all the time. People talk about it all the time. You will not go to the Super Bowl unless you have a great quarterback. And if the truth were known a lot of us are in some funky, wildcat setup and it’s not working. Jesus is looking at our lives and he’s saying, whoa! I see the stumbling block! The scandalon. Who is running your show? Who is taking snaps? Who’s calling the shots? Who is the quarterback? It’s the quarterback question.
When you walked in you were handed this playbook. We provided an outline for you. The first thing I would like for you to fill out is this: Your quarterback. Your quarterback is either yourself or Christ. It’s as simple as that. Your quarterback is either yourself or Jesus. Because remember, this rich guy with all this potential was like, “Jesus! I’ve kept all the commandments!” And here’s what Jesus said, “Sell everything, give everything to the poor and follow me.” Boom! By saying that Jesus was saying, you’ve kept all the commandments? The Decalogue? You just broke the first one, big boy! What’s the first commandment? No other gods before me. He’s broken that! And Jesus is saying, what? Really? No turnovers? No fumbles? You played perfectly? Really? You performed perfectly? And in fact, Jesus does give us that option. If you’re perfect as a player on the field of life at the end of the hunt, when you clock out, when your time is up, when the horn sounds, Jesus will say, “Come on into Heaven. You performed your way in. Hey dude, you’re perfect!”
But the Bible tells me that I have this condition. The Bible tells me that God is holy. He’s pure. I have this southward, downward pull that is called my sin nature. When I commit just one turnover, when I step out of bounds one time, when I don’t run the route right one time, if I trip up one time, I cannot perform my way in. It’s not through achievement, it’s something I have to believe and receive. It’s something that we don’t deserve.
You’re the Lord’s #1 draft pick. You’re the #1 draft pick. Think about it. He scouted you, vetted you. He’s seen how many times you can bench press 225. He knows your 40-time, broad jump, vertical. And even though it’s this or that, whatever, he loves you. You matter to him. You’re his first round pick. And he’s offered this contract because he sees the potential that’s eternal, that is worth squillions of dollars. He’s given you the Montblanc pen and he said, “OK, here’s where to sign.” You know the little sticker arrow? Sign up! I mean, I can’t do it for you. Just sign up.
You see the law, going back to the law, why do we have the law? Well the law, obviously the 10 commandments, the Decalogue, tells us how to live but also the law shows us that we’re dirty. The Bible calls the law a mirror. We look in the mirror, we look in the law, we’re like, whoa! I’ve fallen short, you know what I’m saying? I’ve messed up. Well the mirror does not clean us up. The law points us to the supernatural love of God. God said, “Hey, I’ve taken care of it. I’ve sent the ultimate quarterback to live righteously, to die sacrificially, to rise bodily,” given you an opportunity to make Jesus your quarterback.
Who’s your quarterback? Cash? Who’s your quarterback? Feelings? Who’s your quarterback? Possessions? Power? Who’s your quarterback? What happens when we make Jesus our quarterback? It’s just simply lordship. Because Jesus has to be quarterback of all. If he’s not quarterback of all he’s not quarterback of all. He can’t just kind of be a quarterback. Yeah, Jesus is kind of my quarterback. He’s my quarterback when I’m in a tough situation. He’s my quarterback when I need to meet that girl. He’s my quarterback before I go into the office and have that deal. He’s my quarterback then but, you know, when I watch television, the places I go and what I do alone, well, well, I’ll just quarterback my own life. No, no, no. He wants it all. Because he wants us to discover what it means to push the ball downfield.
Well, what happens when we make Jesus our quarterback? #1 – Fill the blank in. It’s fun. Those blanks say, “Fill me in. Fill me in. Fill me in. Fill me in.” Right? #1 – We are part of a great team. We are part of a great team. And if you don’t think that 11 guys can change the world, think about the disciples. There were 12 disciples. Jesus cut Judas, he quarterbacked the 11 and they changed the world. They changed the world with some serious offense! So we’re part of a great team.
Isaiah says in Isaiah 61:10, “For he has clothed us in the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” So when I have this experience, when I have this exchange, when I sign on the dotted line, this incredible transaction takes place. All of my guilt for God’s grace. All of my penalties for the person of Jesus. All of my wrongdoing for his righteousness. So now I have the robe of righteousness. I have a custom-made, NFL jersey.
And then the Bible tells me in Ephesians 6:11, “put on the full armor of God.” If you’re gonna play in the NFL you better have some gear on. And that’s some true Under Armor, right? That’s the real deal. So we’ve gotta put it on. So Jesus clothes us in righteousness and then we’ve gotta get dressed every day for the game. Are you part of God’s team? He wants you to be. I think one of the reasons we have a desire to become team members of certain things, or fans, I think it’s just a micro chasm of a greater desire to be a part of the team of the Lord. So we’re part of the team.
#2 – Notice this, the quarterback question. When I make Jesus my quarterback we play our position. Isn’t it terrible when you’re out of position? One of my first jobs I ever had – this is horrible. I break out in a cold sweat telling you this. I worked in the accounting department of a travel agency. I am the worst mathematician ever! Algebra II I failed and had to take it again. And my younger brother was in the same class that I was. I’m a senior in high school. He’s like a freshman or something. Embarrassing! And I’m working in an office… what? Accounting? I remember thinking, this is horrible! I hate it! I was out of position. Do you feel like you’re out of position now? You’re yeah, that’s it! Man I’m just out of position! Omaha! Omaha! I just don’t feel right. Well if you’re out of position and you just don’t feel right, I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong quarterback. You’ve got the wrong quarterback. Who’s quarterbacking your life. So we have to play our position.
James 1:22 says, “Don’t listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.” The Lord has a position for you, and there’s peace in the position. But you’re not gonna discover your position, nor will I, until we make Jesus the quarterback. Listen to him, submit our lives to him. You see, that’s one of the major issues that we deal with, authority issues.
You know authority issues? Authority is everywhere. God is a God of authority. Can you imagine the cowboys huddling up, Tony calling a play, and everybody gets into a big, honkin’ fight in the huddle because they don’t agree with what he’s saying. That would be dumb. They have to submit their gifts and their abilities to the game plan, to the play. This is our playbook. God’s ways are higher than our ways. The coach’s ways are higher than the players’ ways. They see things from a different perspective. So you’ve got to submit.
So in culture, students, submit to the authority of your mom and dad. Submit to the authority of that coach, that teacher. “Well, I don’t respect him, man!” Good. You might not respect him. Respect the position. Do you think every player respects the quarterback in the NFL? No. They respect the position. You don’t understand everything Jesus tells you to do. We don’t understand every pattern, we’ll not understand every formation. We’ve got to trust him. Who’s your quarterback? Who’s your quarterback?
So we’re part of a great team. We play our position. #3 – We understand the game plan. And Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice.” Isn’t it crazy about being a parent, you can just recognize your kids’ voices. Crowds are going crazy! <yelling!> That’s my son. <yelling!> That’s my daughter.
Romo comes up, checks out the defense. And the devil’s trying to knock our head off. You know that. He’s playing for keeps! He wants to take you out and me out! He’s got a strategy to mess up your life, a strategy to mess up your marriage, a strategy to mess up your kids, a strategy to ruin your future. But Jesus is our quarterback! He’s looking around, he’s reading the defense. He’s changing the plays, audiblizing. We better listen and know the snap count. We better watch his cues because he has our best interests in mind. We understand his game plan.
And his game plan for life is this. Lisa and I did a relationship seminar in Virginia over the last couple of days. And as I was flying home yesterday before the service I thought to myself, wow, Ed. All you did was simply gave everyone God’s strategy for relationships. I just had to say, “OK, here’s God’s game plan. Jesus wants to quarterback your dating relationship, your marriage, your family. Here’s what he wants you to do. Here’s what he wants me to do.” So I’m just simply saying here is the game plan. But it starts, again, with the quarterback.
And the last thing is to tell you – and this is good. This is good. Yes, we’re part of a great team. Yes, we play our position. Yes, the game plan. But the 4th thing is, we will win. We will win! We’re gonna win! So are you really playing recreational football? Are you really trying to quarterback your own team? You’ve got Tony Romo and he’s playing center? Really? Really? It’s not gonna work. You’ll do OK, but it’s not gonna work. God wants us to win. It’s not easy. God wants us to win. We’ve got to put our Under Armor on. God wants us to win. We need to be a part of his team, playing his position, following his game plan. And we will win! We’ll push the ball downfield and we’ll discover what our lives are all about. And it’s the quarterback question.
[Ed closes in prayer.]