The date: January 17, 1988. The place: Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado. The situation: The Cleveland Browns have a chance to tie the game against the Denver Broncos with 1:12 remaining. However, on the hand-off from Bernie Kozar, Earnest Byner is stripped of the ball two or three yards from the goal line, fumbles, and the Browns’ hopes of going to the Super Bowl are dashed. The play known as The Fumble passes into Cleveland sports lore. Another opportunity missed in dramatic fashion.
That may seem like a weird way to begin a confirmation sermon, but stick with me. I bring up The Fumble today because the last thing I want to see happen is for you to fumble away your faith, but it can happen. In a couple of minutes, the seven of you are going to stand up in front of the church, and among other things, you are going to say that you would rather suffer death than fall away from the Christian faith. Now, I support you in that 100%, and I thank God that He would enable you to say that, but I also know that the biggest challenges to your faith are ahead of you. In so many ways, people are going to try to strip you of the ball. The devil himself wants you to fumble your faith. He can’t take your faith from you, but you can drop it, and if you fumble it away, you lose. I don’t want to see that happen—no one here today does—so let’s think about what it means to share in the victory of Jesus.
In today’s Epistle reading, we hear God say: “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Do you know what it means when God talks about giving thirsty people the water of life? It means people who thirst for the forgiveness of their sins. It means people who thirst for God in their lives. And you heard God say: “The one who conquers will have this heritage…” The person who conquers, or wins, is the person who hangs onto the ball. It means, the person who stays faithful to Jesus no matter what. That faithful person will have the peace of knowing their sins are forgiven and they will inherit eternal life, all because Jesus was the original champion over sin, death, and the devil. “The one who conquers will have this heritage…” A heritage is a story—a story that you get to be a part of—the story of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection is your story, too. It affects who you are. It affects your decisions and your priorities. And you will inherit all the blessings of eternal life as a child of God…if you don’t drop the ball…if you don’t throw these treasures away. And that is possible. You have the power to walk away from Jesus and to reject His story. But do you understand what you would be losing if you do?
In order to conquer and win with Jesus, you don’t have to live a perfect life or be some unrealistic version of a Super Christian. Instead, winning with Jesus means believing that “God has granted repentance that leads to life.” That phrase is from today’s reading from Acts 11. Repentance that leads to life is a gift from God. It means that instead of pretending to be a perfect person, you are honest with God. You’re real with Him, and you admit your sins to him, trusting that He loves to forgive you. He loves to include you in the story of His Son Jesus. Then you’ll be able to live without guilt and without fear. When you have felt the power of forgiveness, you will want Jesus to be the guiding force in your life. You will want to include Him in your decisions. You will always want Him by your side, because even when you mess up, He never turns His back on you. He will never reject you. He wants you to conquer and win. He wants you to be with Him forever. He will give you everything that you need in order for that to happen. That’s who you are saying “yes” to today. Say “yes” to Him every day. That’s the way to win.
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