Sick of the Side Lines - 2 Timothy 2:20-22

"I came up to Missouri and I coached this high school football team and we were mediocre at best. I mean, we trained hard, we played hard, we had a lot of fun. But we did most everything a team was supposed to do except we couldn't win." 

Family Discussions:

1. Can you recall a time when a coach or a teacher called you onto the field or onto the court and pointed out how valuable and gifted you were?
2. How did it feel?
3. How much greater is it to be useful to the master and pleasing to the true head coach?
4. What is this passage when it says "flee youthful lust and cleanse yourself of these things"?
5. What does this say to you now about the things that you need to do to become useful to the master?
6. How will you implement that today?

Transcription:

00:14 Hey, today I want to tell you about my favorite football player and my favorite football play that I've ever seen in my life. And the funniest thing about it was it was about a kid who sat on the bench. We're looking at Second Timothy Chapter two verse 20 through 22. You've got to capture this one. This is so incredibly amazing. It says this, "now in a large house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthen ware. In some for honor and some for dishonor, but if anyone cleanses himself of these things," Paul's talking about the purity issues. "If he cleans himself with these things, he'll be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for good work." And then here's the verse. "Now flee from youthful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart." 'Useful to the master' ain't that a great phrase to think about being useful to the master.

01:18 Well I coached the Texas Aggies, and then I came up to Missouri and I coached this high school football team and we were mediocre at best. I mean, we trained hard, we played hard, we had a lot of fun. But we did most everything a team was supposed to do except we couldn't win. Every Friday night we got killed. 36 to 6. 45 to 14. Man, it was awful. But we kept having fun. We had this one sophomore on our team named Robert and he didn't know sick them about the game of football. He was young, he was slow, he was inexperienced. But this guy had a huge heart for the game and man, he wanted to get on the field and play. Well, one Friday we were playing a rural high school nearby called Bolivar. And again, we were getting routed, but there was one play I'll never forget. As the Bolivar Running Back was streaking down the sidelines right in front of our bench with the ball in his hand.

02:13 You know, scampering wildly towards the goal line, 10 yards ahead of our fastest defender. Suddenly from out of nowhere, a flash of red shot past me, onto the field, completely leveling the kid with the ball. And as fast as the flash had entered the field, he tackled, smeared the guy. He left the field standing innocently by my side as teammates on the sideline. It all happened so fast. The referees didn't even see it. True Story. But the opposing coach saw it and he went crazy and he should've, he was lived it. But he ran out in the field and he started screaming and yelling at me and he got the penalty. But I'll tell you that Robert, man, he was so sick of standing on the sideline watching other guys play and get trampled by the enemy that he just decided to jump off the bench and smear the guy carrying the ball.

03:08 It's been over 25, 30 years ago and I'm still laughing about it. You know, everybody wants to play. Nobody in their right mind wants to sit on the bench. You know, God wants players too. You know what? God wants guys and girls who allow Christ to purify their hearts and to stay pure by living clean for Jesus. And those kids, those students, and those adults, those businessman, those women, you know, they play in the greatest, most competitive, most exciting game ever. And that's the game for eternity and the game for men and women's souls. Uh, you know, when a coach has you play for him, when those influential eyes look down the sidelines at you in that deep welcoming voice says, "hey son, I need you come play for me." You know, you run through a brick wall to play for the guy.

04:06 You know, you can learn a lot about God on a football field. You know, the best of all coaches, the best of all coaches, best of all coaches has invited you to be on his starting team. Man, You better hurry to get on that field. The game is almost over. And here's the questions. Can you recall a time when a coach or a teacher called you onto the field or onto the court and pointed out how valuable and gifted you were? Uh, relive that. How did it feel? And then how much greater is it to be useful to the master and pleasing to the true head coach? And then this is the big one. What is this passage when it says "flee youthful lust and cleanse yourself of these things"? What does this say to you now about the things that you need to do to become useful to the master? And how will you implement that today? And the lifeline for today is this: Love is wanting to be useful to the master.