Playing Time

Matthew 13:3-9
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. "And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. "He who has ears, let him hear."

Having been involved in the arena of sports in some form or fashion either as a player, coach, reporter or fan, for the last 25 years or so, I have seen some dramatic changes in the world of sports. And it's sad to say that most of them are not ones that are for the better of the sporting community.

God has allowed me to experience a great variety of things during my tenure in the sports industry. All of which I'm grateful for, because I believe He will use those experiences to bring honor and glory to Himself.

It's amazing how sports and people are so intertwined in their existence. Whether or not you are a fan of any sport or not I would be willing to guess that your life has been at least somewhat impacted at one time or another, or will be impacted at one time or another through sports.

This has been the case for many many thousands of years. And we can see how the apostle Paul used the arena of sports to reach people even during his day here on earth in several parts of the New Testament. Sports have been a vitale part of society for a long, long time.

Today I want to visit with you about one of the not so positive aspects of sports — Free Agency.

Free Agency is, in my opinion, one of the worst things that has ever happened to the sporting world. It's very essence is "me centered" thinking, which is totally opposite of team sports. We could go on and on for days and list the ills that Free Agency has brought not only to professional athletics, but to down to the college, high school and even little league venues as well. How-ever, I want to focus on one primary issue and that's how Free Agency relates to playing time.

You know there used to be a day when athletes at any level were just happy to be a part of the team, whether it be little league all the way to the pros. There was just something about belonging to a group of people, who while were very individual, who put all those indvidualities aside for one common cause and that was the team.

Today through Free Agency if a player doesn't like his or her playing time, they just move on to the next organization. If a college player doesn't like his or her playing time they ask for a release from their scholarship and they tran-sfer to the next school. If a high school player doesn't like his playing time, he or she just gets their parents or guardians to move into another district, so they can attend a different school. And we even see it sometimes in summer sports programs such as AAU. If you don't like your AAU team (and these teams start as early as eight years old, and sometimes even earlier) you just find another one or better yet have your parent or guardian start one of your own, so you can be the star.

It's really a sad state. But it's really no different in our Christian walk. You see we have a coach. Or at least we need to see ourselves as having a coach. God is like the owner of the team and Jesus Christ has been given the eternal coaching duties. He has an eternal contract that never expires, nor is he ever on the coaching hot seat. And in Matthew chapter 13 we see that our playing time on God's team really is a matter of where our heart is. Where your heart is there lies your playing time.

You see if we have a hard heart like the seed that fell beside the road we are going to have very little playing time if any at all. The roadways back in the day were extremely well packed and extremely hard.

The hard hearted athlete is one of those athletes that when the coach comes to them and says get in the game Johnny its third-down-and-one and we need a first down, that athlete says no coach I should have been in the game from the very beginning, go get your own first down buddy. His heart is so hard that when he is needed he refuses to play.

The next athlete we see is the athlete that is so excited because they get the start in the first game of the season. They have the talent, and they know the plays, but you see after the first series they're all wiped out because they have no stamina. When the team was running wind sprints, lifting weights and running distance, this stud athlete was off to the side doing his own thing. I'm a star athlete I don't need to work out. My natural ability will carry me the distance.

Yep. He was right his natural abilities carried him the distance alright, except the distance wasn't very far. He only made it one series and then it was to the showers for him.

The next athlete we read about reminds me so much of former Miami Dolphin running back Ricky Williams. Please don't read too much into this. I don't think Ricky Williams is a role model by any stretch, and please don't look up to Ricky Williams as a guide to how things should be done. But he does serve our purpose as an example here.

The third athlete is one that has all the tools. He has the potential, the natural ability, the knowledge of the game, the proper techniques, and even the discipline to work out properly, but they are easily distracted by their environ-ment.

God says the seed was sown on the third soil among the thorns. It was per-fectly good seed, and it was good soil, but the environment in which it was sown had too many outside enemies.

Isn't that exactly what we saw recently with Ricky Williams. Man he had all the tools. He was a big time athlete. He was going places. But he got too distracted by outside sources. He had what it took, but he just couldn't focus on keeping on keeping on. There were too many other things that he wanted to do besides football.

And isn't that exactly what happens in our Christian life. Oh it doesn't have to be bad things like Ricky Williams got involved in. It could be good things. It could be your wife/husband. It could be your kids. It could be your job. It could be money. It could be ________________.

But all of those things can distract us from God, and when they do Jesus Christ will strole to the mound and say hand me the ball son it's time to hit the showers, you've lost your focus. You're out of the game.

Then we come to the last athlete. And that athlete is one that has everything. They have all the skills and athletic ability they need. They have all the endurance they need. They have all the focus they need. All because they know where it all came from. And they know where it comes from today. And they know where they are going to find it tomorrow. It's all about the Administration. It's all about God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

But that's not all they have, big-time team players also have the ability to know that some are going to have more than others and that's perfectly okay with them. You see the seed that was sown on the good soil had different return rates to it. Some produced a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.

The great championship teams have athletes that not only know their roles, but they accept their roles and play them without complaining. It takes each part of a machine to make it work, because each part of the machine has a role to play in order to make the machine operate properly.

And it's just like that in athletics. In every team sport it takes the cooperation of each individual part to make the whole progress toward the team goal of a championship.

Not only is that true in athletics, but it's true amongst our Christian brothers and sisters. We all have a part to play, to make it all work properly. We're all a part of the body. We just play different parts.

Finally Jesus, in His parable teaching, says anyone who wants to be as Dick Vitale would say a PTPer (a prime time player), if you want to get in the game and make a difference then hear what I've said.

He said if you want to be a champion don't just listen to the message, but hear the message and internalize it and act upon it.

God wants each of us to be players. He wants each of us to experience the game. But that experience depends on the condition of our heart.

Where is your heart today?

Dear God please give us a heart that longs and yearns to play for You. Give us a heart and yearning to be coached by You. Dear God may we have a heart that allows us to play, so that you don't have to take us out of the game.

 

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission."