Chan Willis – C.P.C.

                                                                                                                                                                February 14, 2010

“Choose to Believe”

Exodus 3:11-12, 4:10-17; Luke 17:5-6

N.O. Saints… World Champions.  Never thought we’d use those two phrases in the same breath, did we?  Aside from “Who Dat,” probably the most popular phrase in the last week has been  “Can you believe it?”  How many of us woke up on Monday morning wanting to make sure that the surreal events of Sunday night were not just some cruel dream?  For those of you who are not football fans… that the church has no business allowing this subject so much ‘air time’, particularly during worship… please know that I understand your concern.  Our job is to change the culture, not be shaped by it.  And while I recognize that we are not to be ‘of the world’, we must acknowledge that we are yet most certainly ‘in the world.’   

Right now we are living ‘in a world’ that it topsy-turvy in love with a football team.  A team that has, in its 43-year history, been known more for its futility than its ability.  The “Aints.”     Fans who would make wearing a paper bag over one’s head a fashion statement…  acknowledging that the team’s performance was once so bad, you wouldn’t want to admit being a party to it.  Well, the ‘bag days’ are long gone.  They are the ‘Aints’ no more.  After witnessing the estimated 800,000   people who lined the streets of N.O. on what was deemed “Lombardi-gras”, on “Dat Tuesday”… not to mention the many more who watched on all 3 major networks locally, as well as ESPN and CNN…  it is clear that no matter what struggles our American nation is going through, the “Who Dat Nation” is alive and well.

BUT…after all of the confetti and cans, beads and beer bottles have been swept away by SDT… after our strained voices and neglected tasks return to normal…  what is it that we can learn from this ‘Miracle at Mardi Gras?’  What can we take from this incredible, but yet, very worldly experience that is of more lasting significance?       We’ve done plenty to ‘Bless You Boys’… how does this all translate into ‘Bless you God?‘                                                                                                                                                      

Well, for one, the Saints’ march to the championship is about a group of guys believing in themselves.   Believing that they have been called together for a purpose, for a goal that is SO much bigger than any one of them individually.  If they were to attain their ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl… a pretty incredible objective, given that this was a team that didn’t even make the playoffs the year before… then there can be no room for doubt.  No room for self-serving egos.  They would have to work together.  Relying on each other’s strength.  Listening to their leaders, to their coaches.  NOT listening to critics, naysayers, ‘experts.’   Making a conscious effort to “choose to believe.”  

Moses was also called to achieve an incredible objective … no, not by Sean Payton, but by a much greater power-- God!  But Moses doubted his ability to do it.   ‘Pharaoh, and the Israelites, won’t listen to me’… ‘I am not eloquent, but slow of speech and tongue’… ‘let someone else do it.’  But God wouldn’t leave Moses any room for doubt.  God would reassure him that this wasn’t going to be accomplished on his own.  That he would have the help of his brother Aaron.  That God would help them, together, to speak… he would teach them what to do… “I will be with you.”  He IS “Jehovah Jireh”… “God who provides.”  But, no matter how much help would be provided by God, and Aaron, Moses is still the one who must ‘choose to believe.’

And friends, you and I are no different than Moses.  We too are called by God to serve him.  We may not understand why, or how, but as a Christian you are chosen by God not to simply sit in a pew with your hands folded but to serve the God who gives you life and breath.  As we grapple with how we are to bear witness to the risen Christ…as we struggle with how we are going to unfreeze our chosen lips and tell someone about (in the words of Scripture) ‘the reason for the hope that is within  us’… too often we too cry to God that ‘no one will listen to us.’  We can whine about how we aren’t ‘eloquent’ enough, that we don’t know the right ‘spiritual’ words to say.  We say to God, ‘let someone else do it’  (right, pastor?!)  But just like He was for Moses, God has promised to us, “I will be with you.”  He will provide brothers and sisters to stand alongside us in our battles.  God will teach us what to do… help us to speak the right words… if ONLY we will ‘choose to believe.’  We exhort our precious football team to ‘finish strong’ on the field… how much more do we need to encourage one another to ‘finish strong’ in the much more important contest of life?  God will give us the strength, the abilities that we need to ‘finish strong’, if we will simply ‘choose to believe’ that He will do so! 

Now, it is my hope that most all of you in this sanctuary have made that choice.  That you do believe that God, and God alone… through the blood of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit… is giving you the strength, the abilities, the power to ‘finish strong’ in your life.  It may just be that you need a little of encouragement, a  bit of pumping up… like Aaron was for Moses… like Drew Brees was when he would lead the team in their pre-game ‘pep rally.’  If the Spirit has NOT yet convicted you to ‘choose to believe’, then…well, WE need to talk!  Or if not with me, with someone whom you respect as a man or woman of faith.  Maybe someone who is sitting close by you right now.    As great as it was to be crowned a world champion in football, that reward will last a year, maybe more… but to receive the crown of life through trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior… now THAT will last an eternity…

Another useful analogy between this team of football and our ‘team of faith’ is its composition.  Think about some of the stars of this year’s team:  Jonathan Vilma… Jeremy Shockey… Pierre Thomas…  Marques Colston… Drew Brees.  Vilma, cut by the Jets; Shockey cut by the Giants; Thomas, a non-drafted free agent;  Colston, a late-round draft pick from a small school.  And most-notably, Drew Brees, who was let go by San Diego after undergoing what most ‘experts’ thought would be career-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder… on top of criticism that he was too short anyway to really cut it in the N.F.L.

These players are examples of ones who were given up on; told that they didn’t have what it took to succeed.  And yet, they came here, were united by a common cause, motivated to excel in the pursuit of a goal larger than their supposed shortcomings.  And they all overcame oppressive doubt to be crowned champion.

In that same vein, Moses too overcame great doubt to become a ‘champion’ for God.  Just as we too can be given the strength to overcome our own doubt.  Do not give up on yourself.  Do not let the world tell you that you are unworthy, of no value.  God believes in you… so you must believe in yourself!

            And finally, just as Moses had great challenges before him… difficult tasks given to him by God… so too are we given challenging assignments.  While you and I may believe in the promise in Romans 10:13 that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”, we know that not everyone is calling on that name.  As Paul goes on to say,     ¹⁴How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”  So that others might believe, God called Moses.  So that others might believe, God calls US!  Yes, YOU!  Like those thousands of fans exhorting their warriors to fight, to be victorious, God is encouraging us to ‘fight the good fight’.  To not give up.  To believe.  To finish strong.  

As we ALL know, to “Finish strong” became the mantra, the motto, the theme for this year’s Saints season.  It comes from the title of a book by Dan Green that Drew Brees introduced to the team in spring training.  I would invite you to watch, and listen to the following video based on that book.  I believe that the message it conveys goes well beyond sports…    www.finishstrongmovie.com)

            As the video asks, “How will you choose to respond to the challenge before you?”  Are you living a life that seeks to excel at honoring God?  Are you striving to ‘accomplish great things’ for Jesus Christ?  Or are you satisfied to live a life of Christian mediocrity?  To ‘just get by’?  Let us all… yes, ME included… be BOLD for Christ.  Those words of Dale Carnegie could have just as well been said by God to Moses… and to US:  “most of us have more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.” 

            No matter where you are in your spiritual walk with Christ, it’s never too late to change, to grow, to overcome complacency and adversity.  Remember what Coach Holtz said:  “How you respond to challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game…whether you are a winner or a loser.”  As we all know from the Super Bowl… and indeed, on several occasions during this Saints football season… no matter how you’ve performed in the ‘first half’, what matters is how you respond in the second.  And what you do in the latter stages of your life, will determine what you become when the final whistle blows…. to lose…or win.

            Be a winner.  Choose to believe!  Choose to finish strong! The strength is God’s… the choice is yours…

READING OF SCRIPTURE

One thing I found rather remarkable was to see the number of people who were so excited to touch the Lombardi Trophy, the iconic symbol of the NFL championship.  It almost took on a ‘mystical power,’ a ‘magnetic attraction.’  I thought about it as I read about Moses and his staff.  How God bestowed on that staff…through Moses… great power and might.  Just to touch it would bring awe and wonder.  Well, you and I too have a very powerful tool at our fingertips… one that should it is called “The Bible.”  It too should bring us a great sense of exhilaration and respect for its power as God’s Word to us.  

            Some of you may recall that a good while back I used a litany just before the reading of the Scriptures to remind us of their unique and powerful nature.   So today, I’d like for us to once again re-affirm the Bible’s importance.  I would ask you all to pick up a copy of the Bible, in the pew rack in front of you, and as you are able, to rise, and repeat after me these words of affirmation…

This Is My Bible  … It is the Word of God … It is called the sword of the Spirit

And it is my Spiritual weapon.  I am who it says that I am…

I have what it says that I have…  and I can do what it says that I can do.

Devil, I am armed and should be considered dangerous

As I operate according to the Word of God

My mind is alert… My heart is receptive… And I will never be the same again!

PRAYER TIME

Friday I rec’d a fwd’d msg fr Ruth Carr about the California Redwoods, those magnificent, massive trees that grow out West.  This beautiful piece talks about how these trees have survived, indeed flourished, for centuries… even as they show the scars of disease and fiery trials.  It also talked about how they grow in groves, with root systems that for every foot of growth above ground it will extend three feet out underneath the ground.  And of how these   intertwining roots of different trees insures that they will not fall… that they will remain standing tall by virtue of the strength of their ‘brother and sister’ redwoods.

It is through the prayer life of the church that we too can be those ‘spiritual redwoods.’  That no matter what ‘scars of disease and intense trials’ we may carry, as  long as we send our ‘root systems’ deep and wide into the fertile soil of God’s love and grace… intertwining ourselves with the deepest parts of our brothers and sisters… then we too will stand the test of time.  For every part of our lives that shows to others, may three times as much be immersed into our relationship with the Living God.  May we see the face of God in the faces of each other, His precious children. 

I have before me a few messages from members of the family that I’ve been asked to share…

CHARGE

Discussed before how sermon titles, themes, and subjects come to me in different ways, sometimes easy, sometimes difficult.  This one came to me as I watched some of the post-Super Bowl victory coverage from the French Quarter.  There was a young man in a Saints jersey, standing sort of by himself, not really whooping and hollering, but looking into the camera with confidence, holding high above his head a sign that read:  “Choose to Believe!”   

We have a man in our congregation who knows just how well people can notice someone who is doing something quite ‘simple,’ like holding up a sign.   Friends, may you and I be that unknown fan I saw on the TV.  Willing to stand, either with others or by ourselves, and boldly declare the life-changing importance to “choose to believe!”  To choose to believe not merely in a football team, but in the person of Jesus Christ.  For He is the ONLY One who will ultimately determine ‘what you become after the game… whether you are a winner or a loser.’    May the banner you hold high over your life be the banner of love, Jesus Christ.