God, the Ultimate Quarterback
Scripture: John
3:16, 20:30-31
< The Big Game >
Dear
brothers and sisters, I am so grateful to worship together with you today. No
matter how cold it is outside. No matter how busy or heavy our week has been. God
calls us here just as we are.
As
you all know, today is Super Bowl Sunday. Are you ready for the
"Big Game"? This morning, I want to share a little joke I heard from
my children. A football coach walked into a bank. Do you know what he said to
the teller? He said, “Give me my Quarterback!”
In
football, the Quarterback is the most important position on the field. Without
a leader to call the plays and throw the pass, the team cannot move forward.
The coach definitely needs his quarterback! Today, I want to ask us a very
personal question: Who is the Quarterback of our life? When life is
hard. When choices are confusing. When fear shows up. Who is calling the plays?
As
we saw in the puppet show with our children, God is our Ultimate Quarterback. Humanity
was backed up. We were stuck. Sin blocked the way forward. We could not save
ourselves. So God made the ultimate play. He did not just help a little. He did
not just fix part of the problem. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save the
whole world.
< TRUE LIFE >
As a
church, we have been reading the New Testament together. Some of you read with
your eyes. Some of you listen while driving or working. All of it matters. I
have heard some of your stories. God’s Word gave you peace at hectic home. It
gave you strength during illness. It gave you comfort while caring for loved
ones. Today, we arrive at the Gospel of John.
If
you compare John to the other "Synoptic" Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and
Luke—you’ll notice they talk a lot about the "Kingdom of God." But
John uses a different word. He uses the word “LIFE.” Specifically, “Eternal
Life.” If you plan to read John this week, please count how many times you
see the word "Life." You will find it over 35 times! Also, since today
is our Family Worship and we have all ages here, why don’t we make an “L” sign
whenever you hear me say the word "Life" during this sermon? “L”
sign for Life (Not Looser)
John
tells us why he wrote his Gospel. He says,
“These
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
and
that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
John
wants us to know where real life comes from.
In
the original language of the New Testament, there are two different words for
"Life."
The
first is Bios or Psyche. This refers to our physical
life—our heartbeat, breathing, and our daily living.
The
second is Zoe (or Zoe Aionios). This is the word
for Eternal Life. Zoe isn't just about living forever after we
die; it means "True Life." It is the kind of life that is connected
to God from the very beginning of time.
John’s
Gospel starts differently from the others. He does not start with a family tree
like Matthew. He does not start with stories of John the Baptist and Jesus like
Mark and Luke. He goes all the way back to the beginning. Because Jesus is the
Source of Life. He writes: “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
<
The Evangelicube: From Death to Life >
(Evangelicube
1st page) Look at the first picture on this cube. You see the
light? That represents God. God created us to live in His light and His Life.
But as we see on the next panel, humanity chose sin. Sin created a gap. We were
kicked out of the Garden of Eden—the place of eternal life—and we faced death.
As the Bible says, "The wages of sin are death."
For
a long time, people tried to fix this relationship through animal sacrifices.
God sent prophets to tell the people to repent, but they kept falling back into
sin. Finally, God did something radical. He sent His own Son to be the final
sacrifice.
(Evangelicube
2nd page) This is summarized in the most famous verse in the
entire Bible,
John
3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God
took all our sins and placed them on Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God.
(Evangelicube
3rd page) Jesus was put in a tomb, but three days later, (Evangelicube
4th page) He rose again!
By coming back to Life, He proved He was the Son of God. His death
wasn't for His own sins; it was for ours.
In
the Gospel of John, Jesus performs seven signs. John doesn't just call
them "miracles"; he uses the Greek word Semeion, which means "Sign"
or "Pointer." Just like a road sign points you to a
destination. Every sign Jesus made points to one truth: Jesus is Eternal
Life through his resurrection.
< The Choice >
(Evangelicube
5th page) Jesus also makes seven "I AM" statements in
John. He says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
He tells us that no one can get to the Father except through Him.
(Evangelicube
6th page) And now, He asks us a question: "Will you take
My hand?" Grabbing Jesus’ hand is how we taste Heaven right now.
Living without Jesus is like living in a spiritual hell; it is a life (Bios
or Psyche) that is "alive" physically but "dead"
spiritually. Jesus wants us to have a True life (Zoe)
Death
is not the opposite of life—it is the end of one chapter, and how we
live determines how we face that end. Jesus is reaching out His hand to you
today. He asks, "Will you hold My hand through the end of this physical
life? Will you let Me be the Master of your life instead of trying to control
it yourself?" He promises that death is not the finish line; it is the
doorway to Eternal Life with Him.
<
The Focal Point >
Last
week, we had a special guest, Gabriel in the afternoon school in Houlton. He is
an artist, and he shared something powerful with our children. He said that in
art, the most important thing is the Focal Point. You have to find that
center point to balance the whole painting.
Gabriel
said, “My Focal Point is Jesus.” He shared that he had painful wounds
from his childhood. He spent 20
years, from his teens to his thirties, living away from God.
But he realized that even when he let go of God’s hand, God never let go of
his. He felt God calling him back, asking to hold his hand once again.
Gabriel grabbed hold, and now he wants to serve the church with everything he
has.
Do
you want to grab that hand today? Do you want to move past just
"surviving" and start "thriving" in Eternal Life?
<
Prayer of Invitation >
If
you have never accepted Jesus as your Master, or if you feel like your grip on
His hand has become weak or blurry, I invite you to join me in a moment of
silence. Let us confess that we have tried to play Quarterback on our own. Let
us ask the Source of Life to re-create us.
(Moment
of Silence)
Please
repeat this prayer after me, in your heart or out loud:
"Lord
Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the
door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving
my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make
me the kind of person You want me to be. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen."
<
Faith is a Verb >
In
the Gospel of John, the noun for "Faith" (Pistis) is never
used. Not even once! But the verb "to believe" (Pisteuo)
is used 99 times.
This
tells us that faith is not a one-time event that sits on a shelf. Faith is an
action. It is a verb. It is a continuous, daily walk. When you choose to hold
Jesus’ hand, you choose to love Him.
(Evangelicube
6th page) And when you love Him, we study His Word, we
pray without ceasing, we have fellowship with each other, and we share that True
Life with others.
In
the "Super Bowl" of our lives, God doesn't pick sides to see who He
can leave out. He wants everyone to be on His team. He has already made the
winning play. He is our Ultimate Quarterback, throwing the pass of salvation to
every single one of us.
Touchdown!
Amen.
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