player on bench-warmer?

I just came in from umpiring a couple of softball games at Logan County. After that I went and watched the Eastwood adult’s team put a “beatdown” on their opponents (it is okay for Baptist to use the term beatdown isn’t it?). During Eastwood’s game I stood over by the dugout and talked to our adults. There was a part of me that said “You know, I could still play this game.” But then I realized that “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (grin). So I have relegated myself to the role of “cheer-pastor”, though Greg Swack may try and get in on my gig.
As I thought of no longer playing and only cheering I was reminded of a true story from a few years back. It was the first day of basketball practice at Wingate High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Coach handed a ball to each player. “Boys,” he said, “I want you to practice shooting from the spots you might expect to be in during the game.”

One of the boys one the team was basically a substitute and would be only used in the event of multiple player injuries or a blow-out win or loss. As the coach instructed them to shoot from where they’d be during the game, this young man immediately sat down on the bench and began shoot the ball toward the basket from there. I’m sure part of what he was doing was to get a laugh out of his teammates and he obviously didn’t expect to play much. But this same thing plays out weekly in the average Baptist Church. There are some people who sit the bench, because that’s where they’ve gotten used to being. They never strive to much more than that, because they don’t believe in themselves enough to put in the extra effort and practice to change their status. With that kind of attitude they likely are always going to “sit the bench”.

In our churches, it’s as if we’ve made Christianity a spectator sport. Many simply want to sit back in the pew, listen to the music and sermons, and never really get involved in the game. With our nation grasping desperately for hope anywhere they can find it, it’s time for Christians today to get off the sidelines and get on the front lines. God has a “position” for all those who are in Christ to play, but you will never discover it as long as you watch “safely” from the sideline. I would rather attempt something great and fail than to attempt nothing and succeed. So let’s put action to our faith and get involved in the spiritual battle that is taking place all around us.

This weekend pull out your playbook (the Bible), head out to the field (church), ask the Head Coach (the Lord) to speak through His position coach (your pastor) to reveal your part of the game plan. So that when He says “Go to the position you expect to play in the game” you will be prepared, and head somewhere other than the bench.

Would God choose to use you?

The devil, whom Jesus described in John 8 as a “liar”, is quick to place into the mind of the believer the thought that God would never choose to use the likes of someone like them because of their great sin past. Truth be told, there are days I am amazed that God would use me. I relate to what Paul said about himself when he said he was the “chief of sinners.” So let me ask you a question. Do you really think, in light of all the sin you have committed throughout your life, that God could or even would, choose to use someone like you? Consider the following story.

There was a man who was born on August 19, 1843 near Clinton, Michigan. When he was 17 years old he moved to his sister’s home in Tennessee where he enlisted in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He got out of the army a year later in 1862 and he went to St. Louis to study law. On September 21, 1866 he married his wife, Loentine. In 1869, he and family moved to Kansas where he practiced law. He then entered politics and served in the Kansas House of Representatives. President Grant appointed him United States District Attorney for Kansas in 1873. But he resigned within six months under suspicion of misuse of his office for personal gain. He began to drink heavily. His wife gained a legal separation from him and then eventually divorced him. He returned to St. Louis and reentered law practice. But during this time he sunk into a life of stealing and drunkenness. And then, in 1879, a man named Thomas McPhetters witnessed to him and he got saved; he trusted in Christ alone as his Savior.

He immediately became active in Christian ministry. He assisted in the evangelistic crusade ministry of D. L. Moody in St. Louis that year. He joined the Pilgrim Congregational Church.

He was licensed to preach by the St. Louis Association of the Congregational Church shortly thereafter. And then he organized and pastored the Hyde Park Congregational Church in the city. In 1882 he accepted a call to a mission church of the denomination in Dallas. He started the church with fourteen people. Thirteen years later, the church reached a membership of eight hundred.

He was also involved in Bible teaching and theological training. He helped start several schools, including Southwestern School of the Bible in Dallas, Northfield Bible Training School in Massachusetts, New York School of the Bible, and, finally, Philadelphia School of the Bible (now Philadelphia Biblical University).

When it came to missions, he founded the Central American Mission in 1890. And he presided over its direction for nearly thirty years.

He was a voluminous writer. He authored countless pamphlets and books on numerous biblical subjects. And he mentored a young man named Lewis Sperry Chafer who went on to become the Founder and President of Dallas Theological Seminary.

So, who is this man? Who is this one-time divorced drunk and thief who went on to do such great things for God? The man’s name is Cyrus Ingerson Scofield—C. I. Scofield—the author of the Scofield Reference Bible—the study Bible that has helped me and countless others gain a clearer understanding of the deep truths and riches of the Word of God.

Now, if God can use a repentant divorced drunken thief, then He can use you. And He can use you in a wonderful way. The choice is yours.