[Suit Up]
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:17)
This material was originally presented to a High School audience in PowerPoint format. If you have any questions, or would like a copy of the original PowerPoint (without the video, which is too large for email), drop me an email at robert.fox@alltel.com
[Suit Up]
Slide Graphics – “Football Jesus” bobblehead, and picture of figurine showing Jesus playing football with a couple of kids. Search the internet on “Football Jesus” and you’ll find them easily
Slide Text –
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:17)
This is the third week of a month of looking at football as a metaphor of Christianity. Of course, we’re not saying that you have to play football to be a Christian, or that all football players are Christians, or that Christ would play football if he born in our time instead of 2000 years ago.
I think of this as a “when in Rome” thing. The Superbowl is a big topic of conversation right now. It’s everywhere you turn. Rather than memorize a “witnessing formula” that we push down the throat of everyone we meet, I think Paul tells us we should use what’s going on in the culture, what people are familiar with and interested in, to bring the discussion around to Christ. That’s what this series is – a way of using something people are interested in and already talking about (football) to point to Christ.
When I first started thinking about a “Football Jesus” series, I was thinking about
• How being part of a football team with a common goal is like being one of Christ’s followers (week 1)
• I thought about how playing your unique position on a football team is similar to serving the unique mission God gifted you for (week 2)
• I thought about how the special equipment you need – helmet, shoulder pads, cleats, etc. – is like the armor of God (week 3)
• And I thought about how being dedicated and giving your all to win a championship ring is like living a life sold out to God and receiving a crown of glory (week 4)
But I have to admit that I also had to think what it would be like if Christ were born today instead of 2000 years ago. If he were a kid in our city, he might well have actually played football growing up.
Think about that. Jesus on a football team. That gives new meaning to the phrase “the immaculate reception” – or the “Hail Mary pass.” What if the all-powerful Savior were your wide receiver? What if the incarnate God himself was blocking for you?
“The Lord is my receiver, I shall not fumble. He leadeth me down the field toward victory in his name. Yeah though I run through the entire defensive line, I will fear no tackle, for Thou are blocking for me. Thy disciples, they comfort me.”
I mean, doesn’t this statue strike you as a little weird? First, who is going to be able to stop God from scoring – Jesus has got game! Are you going to plant yourself in the path of the Supreme Deity with the power to unleash Final Judgment on all Humanity? Even if the Living Christ just stiff-arms you on his way to the end zone, what is that going to do to your faith in his goodness and love?
Even if he humbled himself and played as a mere human, I mean, who’s going to tackle Jesus? What if you, like, broke his leg or something? If he had to be carried off the field, groaning in pain. You would be known forever as the kid who took Jesus out of the game. I’m sure he would forgive you, but that’s the kind of thing you could never really live down.
What if you were the coach, and Jesus was out there just turning the other cheek? Do you want to be the guy who benched the Holy One? Do you really want his Dad asking to “have a little chat with you after the game”?
And look at that uniform. I mean, come on! Playing football in a robe and sandals? What if you accidentally spiked his holy instep?
Football is a dangerous game. You need a lot of equipment to be able to play the game safely.
[It’s Dangerous Out There]
Slide Graphic – Football
Slide Video – clip showing hard tackles
Slide Text –
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! (Ephesians 5:15-16 MSG)
Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, … Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life (Ephesians 6:13-15 MSG)
Being part of team Jesus is a serious business. You’ll need every bit of protection you can get. Today, we’re going to talk about some of the equipment you should be wearing when you take this field.
Look at these guys taking some hits. Image what would happen if they weren’t wearing protection. The competition Jesus is asking you to join is far rougher. He is asking you to take the field and play your special position, like we talked about last week. God doesn’t bench his players. He wants everyone on the field. If you are sitting on the bench, its because you’ve chosen to. But there’s more to it than just signing up and stepping on the field – you have to suit up. That’s what we’re talking about this week. You have to get some protection or you are going to be an early casualty, and you won’t do your team a bit of good.
The 6th chapter of Ephesians mentions five things that you need:
• Your salvation
• Righteous living
• Faith in God’s protection of you
• Focusing on loving people like Christ loves them
• Living an authentic life
• Knowing and using the word of god
God gave you this list of equipment you need. You need it all. Any missing piece is going to leave you vulnerable somewhere. Put it all on! Think about this. Satan believes he has the power to fight with God himself. Do you really want to come up against him without your armor on? It doesn’t matter how powerful your weapons are - they are worthless if you don’t know how to use them or you simply refuse to use them.
Take my side, God-I’m getting kicked around, stomped on every day. Not a day goes by but somebody beats me up … I’m proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God. What can mere mortals do? (Psalms 56:1-4 MSG)
2Cor 10:3-5 By now we are completely aware that we are in a battle (That battle is a spiritual battle) and that battle must be fought with spiritual weapons.
God has provided the armor, but it is up to us as individuals to take the responsibility of putting it on. It seems so simplistic but you could have a whole closet of clothes but if you didn’t put them on they would do you no good. Paul states put on the full armor of God. This has to be a conscious choice to use the power the Lord Jesus Christ makes available through him. The armor is described in detail, as well as the enemy we must face. Without the armor of God we are unable to stand against the enemy.
Imagine going to war with no weapons, without a shield of any kind. Think about it a platoon of marines have just landed on the beach in Normandy like that scene out of “Saving Private Ryan”. The enemy is entrenched, in bunkers with rifles, machine guns, mortars, bazookas, howitzers, and flamethrowers. Now picture the marines jumping out of their transports stark naked – not even a slingshot for a weapon – not even a t-shirt for protection. That would be crazy! I don’t want to trivialize what those men did – they were real heroes. I’m just saying that many Christians today have joined the battle and are jumping to their position, but have totally neglected to put on their protection and pick up their weapons. It’s that crazy!
[Satan Isn’t Going to Win This Game]
Slide Graphic – picture of a pile of football equipment
Slide Text –
And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6:10-12 MSG)
There is a battle raging. It’s serious and the stakes are high. But no matter how hard Satan fights, it just isn’t his game to win.
That doesn’t mean that we can just kick back, though. It’s still going to be a hard fight. It’s as if God has already seen a tape of the game, and already knows the outcome. We win. That doesn’t mean, though, that it’s a walk in the park. We have to fight hard for our team.
God knows that we win in the end. He already knows, in fact, if you scored some big plays. If you gave it everything you had. And he knows if you showed up unprepared and unequipped, and had to be carried off the field after the first play.
When God looked at the future, what do you think he sees in the performance you turned in? What were your stats? This is the only game we get to play in. If you waste it, you don’t get to suit up for the next one and try again. You are on the field right now. The game has already started. The clock is running.
Middle-aged men will look back for the rest of their lives at that last football game in high-school when they played for the state championship. They will relive every play. They will kick themselves that they didn’t dig deeper, try harder. You can never go back and play that game again.
The same is true of you. For all eternity, you are going to look back on the life you are living right now as the glory days. That one chance you had to make a mark on history, to do something that will be remembered and talked about forever. But you will never get a chance to go back.
As that great philosopher Bruce Springsteen said, these are your “Glory Days”
[audio clip – Bruce Springsteen – “Glory Days”]
This is our game to win. This is our time. Satan doesn’t stand a chance, because these are the glory days of the followers of Christ!
[video clip – Waterboy – short clip from the beginning of the game a the end of the movie where Momma enters the stadium and sees the crowds cheering and says “Fooseball is not for de debil!”]
[Helmet of Salvation]
Slide Graphic – football Helmet
Slide Background – picture of a compass
Slide Text –
…the helmet of salvation… (Ephesians 6:17a)
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19)
In football, your helmet protects your head, your brain. Your brain is where you make decisions and determine what you are going to do. We’ve talked many times about what SIN is – deliberately choosing to walk a different path than the one God has for you. Deciding that you know better than God what is best for your life. Deciding that you are the master of your destiny, not God.
This is the choice Satan made when he rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven. This is the choice Adam and Eve made when they ate from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than from the Tree of Life.
You too have a choice to make. Use your head – choose god
If you have never chosen to follow Christ, then your head is not covered.
A lot of people are depending on being able to borrow someone else’s helmet when they need it.
[Video Clip – from “Waterboy” during first practice, where the waterboy borrows someone else’s helmet]
Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works on this field. You have to have your own helmet. You need to have made your own decision to be a Christ follower. And you need to reinforce that decision every day as you are faced with the choices in life. Keep choosing God’s way. Satan always attacks through your mind first – protect it. Choose God. Choose to wear the helmet of God’s salvation.
Other verses on this topic:
Salvation is a CHOICE
God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness. (Titus 2:11)
Salvation CAN’T BE ASSUMED
A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?" He said, "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ’Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’ (Luke 13:23 MSG)
Salvation is only through CHRIST
Jesus is ’the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one." (Acts 4:9)
Salvation is PERSONAL
If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered and the sum labeled "chosen of God," They’d be numbers still, not names; salvation comes by personal selection. God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name. Arithmetic is not his focus. (Romans 9:? MSG)
[Belt of Truth]
Slide Graphic – flag football belt
Slide background – close-up of T-Shirt “Walk in the Light”
Slide text –
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist (Ephesians 6:14a)
We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2-3)
So the next piece of equipment you need is Truth. Paul said the truth was like a belt buckled around your waist. Now, you have to picture a roman warrior. The belt is what kept all the other equipment in the right place. Without the belt, a roman warrior’s equipment would not be where he needed it.
The bible says that to make sure everything stays in the right place, you have to live a life that is transparent. Keep everything you do out in the open, so that people can see the kind of life you are living and judge for themselves. (2 Corinthians 4:2-3)
Nothing is worse than someone who says they are living according to Gods plan, but they are secretly compromising their life. Live your life in the light. Don’t pretend to be something you are not. If you are struggling with something, admit it. Satan can DESTROY your effectiveness on the field if you get caught without Truth in your life. Be Authentic. Be Transparant. No one expects you to be perfect. But they do expect you to be honest about it. No one wants to go to a church full of perfect people anyway – they want to go to a church full of people who are struggling with the same things they are – a church full of people who understand and can help – a church full of people walking a hard road together.
To be honest, I found some really funny – and really inappropriate – clips on the internet of people who desperately needed a good belt to keep things where they should be. I’m afraid you’ll just have to use your imagination, though – I don’t want to be getting calls from your parents. But when you imagine it, think how ridiculous YOU look when you are caught without the belt of Truth on in your life – when your pants drop and you are revealed. Not a pretty picture!
Second piece of equipment, then – keep the Truth buckled around you. Be real with people! Don’t be caught without your belt of truth missing!
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere; grace me with your clear revelation. I choose the true road to Somewhere, (Psalms 119:30)
Strap your sword to your side, warrior! Accept praise! Accept due honor! Ride majestically! Ride triumphantly! Ride on the side of truth! Ride for the righteous meek! (Psalms 45:2)
[Shoulder-Pads of Righteous Living]
Slide background – Torch and text “This is the torch I use for burning bridges”
Slide graphic – shoulder pads
Slide text –
…with the breastplate of righteousness in place… (Ephesians 6:14b)
So you’ve got the helmet of Salvation and the belt of an authentic life. The third piece of equipment you need is the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is simply doing what is right in the eyes of God. This is different than the belt of Truth. The belt of Truth is all about being real about where you are failing. Righteousness is about living the kind of life God wants you to live.
Paul told the Ephesians that they needed to cut off ties with their old selves. No regrets about their old lifestyles. If you decide to follow Christ’s path for you, then don’t keep looking back on the life you left behind. Burn your bridges behind you.
A Roman soldier’s breastplate was like a football player’s shoulder-pads. It kept the warrior from fatal injury to the vital organs. It doesn’t stop you from taking a hit, but it prevents the hit from doing much damage.
Oddly enough, a Roman soldier’s breastplate only covered the front. If you turn around to go back the way you came from, you leave yourself unprotected. Roman soldiers were equipped to advance on the enemy, not to run away. Whatever it is that’s behind you, it’s not worth turning back for – burn your bridges, don’t look back – look forward to what God has in front of you and advance, doing what is right in the eyes of God.
A lot of Christians look back on parts of their worldly lifestyle with secret longing. Maybe you even allow yourself an occasional backslide. You haven’t burnt your bridges. You are looking back. If you leave that path open, it’s relatively easy for Satan to push you back down that path and destroy your witness.
When Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico in 1519, he had his men burn the ships they had used to reach the New World. There was to be no option of giving up and going back. They were not going to be looking back all the time and wondering if it was time to give up and run back to where they came from. They were totally committed to making a life in the New World.
We Christians need to burn the paths behind us that lead back to a worldly life, and be totally committed to the new life to which we have been called.
[Gospel Cleats]
Slide graphic – picture of football cleats and picture of Roman soldier’s hobnailed sandals
Slide Video – clip of high school football running back leaping entirely over the other team’s players
Slide text –
…and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace… (Ephesians 6:15)
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)
A football players cleats keep him from slipping – they keep traction – they keep him from being pushed off course – they keep him headed in the direction he wants to go.
Roman soldiers had very similar footgear. They had sandals with short nails driven through the bottom – cleats. Oddly enough, the nails were driven slanting slightly back toward the heel, which meant that they were especially good at keeping the soldier from being pushed back. They were designed for advancing against opposition.
During wartime, Roman soldiers at the battle-front slept with their shoes on. Should the need arise, they were ready to spring to their feet and swing into action immediately. A soldier who does not have his shoes on will waste valuable moments searching for them, and then, in his haste to put them on, might not secure them properly. This could cost him his life, as well as the lives of others.
These Roman sandals were light and well ventilated – designed for marching incredible distances. Once broken in, they fit the wearer’s feet exactly and were very comfortable.
What exactly are these gospel cleats? Why do you need them? Imagine if you had everything else – you had the helmet of salvation, you had the belt of Truth in your life, you had the shoulder pads of righteous living. But you still didn’t have direction. The Gospel is your direction. To tell people the good news. Don’t back down from that. That’s your foundation – your proper footing. When you stand on that, you stand on good footing.
Jesus said the great commandment was to love God and love each other. That was what his entire life was about. He loved us enough to die in our place so that we could live. That’s the Gospel – the good news. No matter what you are doing in your life, if it isn’t about loving God and sharing his love with other people, you have been pushed off track – you are not on firm footing. Strap on your gospel cleats and get some traction in your life!
Lots of Christians today haven’t put on their gospel cleats. They are hobbling across the field in bare feet. They are easily pushed out of the way by the other team. They are unable to go the distance.
Many of you find your cleats uncomfortable. You find it hard to bring people the good news. You need to keep at it. It will be slow going for a while, but after a while, you get those gospel cleats broken in. Then you can’t be pushed from the direction God has set before you. You can march for miles and miles. Gain yardage for our team.
[Defensive Shield of Faith]
Slide graphic – picture of a Roman shield and a picture of linebackers protecting their quarterback.
Slide Text –
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16)
If you are one of the few who are giving your all on the field – sold out for the team – then you are one of the few people that our enemy is mortally afraid of because they know that you can do serious damage to their side. Consequently, the enemy will come shooting for you. The token players, the ones who aren’t really trying, they can be ignored. But they need to take you out of the game, and they will not stop attacking you. There is only one thing that can keep you entirely safe. It is the mighty shield; the shield of faith. You gotta have faith that God will take care of you – that God’s way is the best way, that God’s plan for your life is better than your plan.
When an enemy shoots arrows at a Roman soldier, the helmet protects their head, the breastplate protects their heart, and so on, but the shield is large enough to get completely behind, offering complete coverage.
In Football, you have your helmet and pads, but you also want a big lineman out there in front blocking for you. You will be protected by them. On God’s field, you can depend on your teammates, but it God who protects and defends the team.
The thing about a shield is that it doesn’t do any good if you don’t bring it with you. In fact, it only works if you actively use it, moving it in between you and whatever is coming. You have to be ready. This is hard work. It makes you tired.
So pay attention to where the attacks are coming from. Move your faith in between you and the enemy attack. Don’t depend just on your helmet of salvation or your shoulder pads of righteous living to protect you. Throw up your faith also.
You don’t have enough strength on your own. On a football team, you can’t expect to stand alone against the rush of the other team. You need some muscle. Against Satan, only God’s muscle will do.
{video clip – from “The Longest Yard” (Adam Sandler version) – where Crew (Sandler) sees danger coming and positions a huge inmate in between him and the danger. It’s the “He brokeded my nose!” segment]
Say this: "God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!"
That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—under them you’re perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day,…
Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you.
You’ll stand untouched…He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling.
You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path.
(Psalms 91:1-3 MSG)
[Holy Playbook]
Slide Graphics – picture of sword in hand, picture of football plays out of a playbook
Slide Text –
…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17b)
In football, your strategy comes from the playbook. You have a special book full of maneuvers for all sorts of situations. 3rd and long plays. Red zone plays. Blitz coverage plays.
You practice those plays until you know them by heart. When the game is on the line and the situation is 3rd and short – it’s too late to go come up with something. You need something NOW, something you’ve practiced. Something that you are confident will work because it has been tested. You need something out of the playbook.
Our playbook is, of course, the Bible. It tells us what to do in all kinds of situations. But it doesn’t do you any good if you haven’t read it and practiced it.
Paul told the Ephesians that the bible was their sword. This is the only offensive weapon in the list. Everything else, shield, helmet, shoes, belt, breastplate – they are all defensive. The Bible is what you use to take it to the enemy. It is the very word of God. Your word and my word have no authority over the enemy – only the word of God.
Even Christ himself, when he was tempted by Satan in the desert, responded with the word of God when he said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Think about that. Jesus Christ – God incarnate. Could do anything he wanted to Satan. What did he use? He whipped out the sword of the word of God. Jesus didn’t just know it in his head and believe it in his heart – he spoke it. He pulled it out and stuck it to Satan.
You can only use the plays in the playbook you have practiced. You can only use the parts of the Bible that you are living out – the parts you are practicing in your life. If there’s a part of the Bible that you are refusing to live out in your life, then you have, in effect, cut those parts out of your bible. They are no longer there for you to use. You want to use them? You better put them back in by putting them in your life. Many of you would be deeply offended if I took a pair of scissors to this bible and started cutting pieces of it out, but that’s exactly what we are doing every time we decide there’s a part of it that we don’t want to apply to us.
That is why David refused Saul’s armor (he hadn’t lived by Saul’s armor so he could not fight with Saul’s armor).
In 2 Samuel 23:9-10 one of David’s mighty men in battle named Eleazar rose up against the Philistines and he “smote them until his hand was weary and clave to the sword.” The word “Clave” means to “become united with”. It’s the same word used in Genesis 2:24 where it says that
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Genesis 2:24)
When we become one with the word of God, and it lives in us and breathes in us, and it speaks through us, then we are guaranteed mighty victories.
When Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land, God told him to “Keep my words in front of your eyes, and keep them coming out of your mouth.” (Joshua 1:8)
And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony (Revelation 12:11)
[Huddle Up]
Slide graphics – Football players in a huddle
Slide Text –
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)
So, if you want to play on this field – get suited up!
• Decide in your mind you are going to give control of your life to Christ, and put on the Helmet of Salvation
• Live your life authentically – be real, not fake. Be honest about what you believe and where you fall short – then you can put on the belt of Truth
• Turn your back on your old life and life the kind of life God wants you to – clean hands – pure hearts. Then you will be wearing the shoulder pads of a righteous life.
• Focus your life on spreading the good news that Christ loves all men and died to set them free, then you will be wearing your gospel cleats, and will not be easily moved from your purpose
• Watch for the enemies attacks and actively lift God’s big promises in between you and the enemy. This is the shield of faith.
• Study our playbook, the bible, so that you will know what to do in any situation.
Then, as it says in verse 18, pray for your team. Let me pray for you now.
[Prayer]
[Afterward]
Repeat “hard tackles” video clip. Remind students that professional football is a cakewalk compared to taking the field for Team Jesus. It’s not enough to join the team and take your position; you have to get suited up so you don’t get taken out of the game on the first play
