Teamwork

The Rev. Joseph Winston

May 2, 2010

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.1
As the school year draws to a close, it might seem like months until the first
high school football game of the season. Before that initial preseason scrimmage
in August, there are all those end of the semester activities that need our attention
first like planning for the pomp and circumstance of graduation and attending all
the different award ceremonies. Then after the last day of school, there is gradua-
tion and still no football is in sight. Now the days are long and hot. For the adults,
it often seems like the sticky days of summer last forever but they pass so quickly
for the children as they spend their time at the pool and the beach. The fourth of
July with its fireworks comes and goes. The last month of the summer finally rolls
around and it is time to start practice once again. Weight training begins for all
those boys who ignored it during the off-season. Time on the field improves both
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.

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speed and agility. The coaching staff brings books with plays that the team must
learn. Two-a-days allow everyone to devote more time to the sport. At long last,
Friday night comes. The boys arrive at the field house and start to suit up. The
fans slowly enter the stadium. The bands make their appearance too. The lights
come up. Players, coaches, and referees walk out on the field. It is time to start the
game. A coin is tossed. Sides are chosen. The game begins.
Friday night football is valued here in Texas. There is good reason for this
opinion. Football provides a time for friends and family to come together. Parents
drop off their children that play at the school. A little while later, they take their
place with other townspeople in the stands or underneath the bleachers working
the concession stands. The community also knows the game of football is impor-
tant for everyone. Reporters from the newspaper, radio, and TV assemble in the
press box. They are here to cover the game down on the field below. Then there is
the sport itself. Hours and hours of practice teach the youth how to work together
for a common good. The game gives you the ability to make decisions when you
do not have enough information. Remember, the offense lines up with the hope
they will be able to make this one specific play against their opponents. The de-
fense without knowing exactly what will happen tries to break up the play. This
continues all night long until the time runs out.
The book we call Revelation contains everything a true sports fan loves about
high school football. It tells us of a classic match-up with all those opponents you
know so well.2 No, they are not names like Llano, Cameron, or even Navasota but
2
God’s interaction in our world is through the Lamb and it also occurs when God lets the

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you still recognize the teams that they represent. Here are seven opponents you
recognize.

1. They come with powers that turn your life upside down (Revelation 6:2).

2. They bring war to the peace loving people of the earth (Revelation 6:3).

3. They take away your ability to put food and drink on the table (Revelation
6:4).

4. They remove any sense of justice in the courts (Revelation 6:10).

5. They cause you never ending pain (Revelation 8:13).

6. They kill unsuspecting people with natural disasters (Revelation 6:12).

7. They give you death and not life (Revelation 6:5).

Quite a full season that faces us. All of these different teams come here to play
you on your own turf and if you want to take your game on the road, you certainly
can find them there also.
This brings us to the second point that is the same between Revelation and a
high school football game. In both cases, there is something at stake in just about
every game. We all know that a team plays football for many different reasons. It
might be time to win on the road. It could be homecoming on Friday and the city
of Rockdale deserves a win tonight. It even might be the case that a win allows
horsemen of war, murder, famine, and death go about their work. Wendell W. Frerichs, ‘God’s
Song of Revelation: From Easter to Pentecost in the Apocalypse’, Word & World, 6 (1986):2,
p. 222.

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you to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Revelation tells you what this
team better known as the Church is expected to do in every game of life: be a
witness that shows others Jesus.
Reviewing the lineup listed in Revelation, tells you exactly how the Church
brings Jesus to the world. It is just like the high school coaching staff watching
films of the opposition. The coaches want to know how they play so your team
can do its best. You do too.

1. (Does anybody remember the first team? – Confusion) When people do not
know where to turn, when that team is in town, the Church had better show
up with a game that clearly points to Jesus.

2. (What about the second? – War) When the battle rages right outside your
door, the only strategy that works against that opposition is the Church
showing everyone Jesus and the peace He brings.

3. (Can you still see the third team? – Hunger and Thirst) Our opponents have
large players named hunger and thirst. One out of eleven houses in this
country do not have enough to eat.3 That means families in almost one hun-
dred and ninety houses in Rockdale go hungry.4 One-six of the world lives
without clean water.5 The Church that brings Jesus can defeat the entire
3
Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews and Steven Carlson, Household Food Security in the United
States, 2005, (http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err29/, November 2006).
4
The 2000 census reported 2,077 households in Rockdale. Anonymous, Rockdale, Texas,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockdale,_Texas, February 2010).
5
Idem, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, (http://www.unicef.org/wash/index_
statistics.html, April 2010).

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 lineup. Jesus is the bread of life and whoever believes in Him will never
thirst.

4. (And the fourth? – Injustice) Only one game plan wipes injustice off the face
of the earth. You know what it is. Jesus is the way to solve this problem. He
is the truth that removes all errors. He is the life that never ends. The Church
must say this clearly when it plays this team.

5. (What is the name of number five? – Pain) Often pain seems like the never-
ending companion that cannot be defeated no matter what we do. The Church
has the answer. Jesus gives it to us. He will remove every tear and pain will
be no more.

6. (How about the next to last? – Natural disaster) Another team that appears
too big for us to overcome falls under the name of disaster. We know their
wrath even in this country. After all, we still are cleaning up the mess from
Katrina and Ike. The Church needs to tell everyone about Jesus. Only the
One who walks on water in the middle of the storm has the power to help
us.

7. The final team has a name that we cannot bear to say. In today’s language,
you no longer die but pass away, move on to a better place, or are called
home by the angels. The fact is you will die. This team that seems to never
loose may take one, a family, or an entire community. The response by the
Church must be the same. One got away. Jesus can save you from death.

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 It is completely fair to say that the only reason the Church exists in this world
is to bring Jesus to the people that are hurting. In other words, the Church is not
some social club where you have a good time. The Church is not a religious school
where you learn what is right and what is wrong. The Church is not even the place
you worship God. Instead, the Church is where God comes to you. This is exactly
the definition used by Martin Luther and what Philipp Melanchthon wrote in our
confessions.6
Here in the Church, Jesus gives you this promise, “You are saved from every-
thing that can injure you, even death itself.” This everlasting covenant from Jesus
comes to you in three ways. You hear it. This is what we normally call Gospel.
You eat and drink it at the Lord’s Table. One of the names given for this Word is
Holy Communion. You are washed by it. This is Baptism.
This is exactly what the Church must look like. It brings Jesus to those people
who need Him.
Football fans understand this way of thinking. They will tell you that teams
have a certain look. Here are some examples you can hear in locker rooms and on
sports talk shows. Winners are confident out on the field. Champions have heart
they wear on their sleeves. Underdogs try like there is no tomorrow.
6
In 1521, Luther wrote to Ambrose Cartharinus (1484-1553). In this letter, Luther selected
Gospel, Baptism, and Eucharist as the three ways of locating the church. Gordon W. Lathrop and
Timothy J. Wengert, Christian Assembly: Marks of the Church in a Pluralistic Age, (Minneapolis,
MN: Fortress Press, 2004), p. 22. Ten years later in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531),
Philipp Melanchthon writes that marks of the church are the Gospel and the Sacraments. ibid.,
p. 71. Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article VII and VIII: The Church, 20; Robert Kolb and
Timothy J. Wengert, editors, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 177.

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 The question that I want to ask you is this, “What do people see in Peace
Lutheran?” Think about this and tell me later. “Do they see people loving each
other or something else altogether?” Go down to grocery store and listen to what
they have to say to this question, “Do they see you taking Jesus wherever He is
needed or not?” Grab a football player or a coach and ask them, “Do they hear
more about football in the summer or Peace Lutheran?”
Given the number of people here today, I bet you already can tell me the an-
swer.
God knows we need assistance in bringing the Word of assurance that Jesus
helps the people who are in pain. That is why He promised to live here with us
(Revelation 21:3).7 This way of life started many years ago for God. When the
Israelites left the land of Egypt, God was there. He traveled with them in a pillar
of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21). When they built the
holy Tabernacle, God came and lived with the children of Israel in the tent (Exodus
29:45-46; Numbers 35:34; 2 Samuel 7:6). Then when Solomon built the temple,
the Lord promised to live with His children forever (1 Kings 6:13).
Even that was not enough. It is like seeing a player’s stats but never watching
him down on the field during a game that actually means something. Jesus under-
stands how you feel. He came to the world and He showed you all His moves.
He helped the sick, fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, and
7
Andrew of Caesarea teaches that the tabernacle, that is the dwelling place of God, both is real
and made by humans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Andrew of Caesarea and the Apocalypse
in the Ancient Church of the East: Part 2: Translation of the Apocalypse Commentary of Andrew
of Caesarea, Ph. D thesis, (Université Laval Québec, 2008), p. 216.

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forgave sins. Then He went off and did something amazing. He brought the Good
News to the people that proper society loves to hate. He ate with men who profited
from the Roman occupation (Luke 19:1-9). He forgave women who slept around
(John 8:4-11). He lived the good life but still associated with the people who you
meet out on the street (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34). He then carried hope to the
people that lived outside of God’s promise. He told the woman from Samaria that
He is the Messiah (John 4:26). He healed the slave owned by a member of the
occupying forces (Matthew 8:5-10; Luke 7:2-10).
You still did not see it. All by itself, this is bad enough. It is sad when you live
your entire life and completely miss out on God being right here with you. That
is not the half of it. By not paying attention to what is going on, it was clear to
everyone else watching the game that you were about to be blindsided. One player
had your number in his sights and it was not going to turn out good for you. In
fact, it was clear to everyone watching that when he hit you it would be your last.
Jesus saw everything. He ran out and took that hit for you.8 He died making the
play and you lived to play another game.9
It is only a few more months until the start of high school football. Until then,
you will have to make do with the traditional summer sports like baseball, golf,
and time down at the lake and beach. Do not worry. It will not be long until that
first cold front blows in and you bundle up for a Friday night game underneath the
8
Jesus “bears away violence” that was justly destined for sinners and carries our sins. Carl E.
Bratten et al., editors, Chap. The Work of Christ In ‘Christian Dogmatics’, Volume 2, (Fortress
Press, 1984), p. 87.
9
We are the ones that caused His suffering and the death. Ibid., p. 89.

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stadium lights. There on the field, a battle is played out. Inch by inch, down by
down, the ball is marched from one side to the other until time finally runs out.
This is the life of a football player. Practice is long and hard. Winning often
seems completely out of your reach. Life is the same. It is difficult. Sometimes
you win and at other times you loose. Jesus knows that. He has played the game
Himself.
You have one advantage that Jesus never had. When all is said and done, He
will be waiting for you with a towel in His hands to wipe away all your tears.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”10

References

Anonymous, Rockdale, Texas, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Rockdale,_Texas, February 2010), Last accessed on May 2, 2010.

Anonymous, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, (http://www.unicef.org/

wash/index_statistics.html, April 2010).

Bratten, Carl E. et al., editors, Chap. The Work of Christ In ‘Christian Dogmatics’,
Volume 2, (Fortress Press, 1984), pp. 5–99.
10
Philippians 4:7.

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Constantinou, Eugenia Scarvelis, Andrew of Caesarea and the Apocalypse in the
Ancient Church of the East: Part 2: Translation of the Apocalypse Commen-
tary of Andrew of Caesarea, Ph. D thesis, (Université Laval Québec, 2008).

Frerichs, Wendell W., ‘God’s Song of Revelation: From Easter to Pentecost in the
Apocalypse’, Word & World, 6 (1986):2, pp. 216 – 228.

Kolb, Robert and Wengert, Timothy J., editors, The Book of Concord: The Con-
fessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress
Press, 2000).

Lathrop, Gordon W. and Wengert, Timothy J., Christian Assembly: Marks of the
Church in a Pluralistic Age, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004).

Nord, Mark, Andrews, Margaret and Carlson, Steven, Household Food

Security in the United States, 2005, (http://www.ers.usda.
gov/publications/err29/, November 2006), From the summary
found at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/err29/
err29_reportsummary.htm. Last accessed on May 1, 2010.

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