What Does it Mean to Win?

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon
Sunday, October 9, 2011

Imagine, if you will, someone on another world looking down on ours on any given Sunday. What would they see? They’d see 60,000 people who spent $900,000 to sit in a stadium that costs $42 million, watching 22 men whose average salary is $7 million a year to dispute the possession of a ball that costs $16.95. And yet, it happens on a weekly basis on college campuses and professional stadiums around the country. Teams face off against one another. One will go home exuberant, the other will not.

Millions of fans will ride the roller coaster of emotions as points are scored and leads are lost but both players and fans just want one thing. They want to win. In football or any other game, it’s easy to know who wins. It’s simple. Whoever has the most points on the board at the end of the game wins. It doesn’t matter whether the team plays well or whether they play really, really sloppy. When times runs out, if they have more points on the board, they win. It’s simple.

In life, it’s not so simple. How do you know in life that you’ve won? When you’re sitting back in your retirement years and you’re looking back at the life you lived, how do you know that you did well? When that time comes, which it will for all of us, and we’re faced with our own mortality and our own death and as we think back, how do we know we won, we did okay?

As we start the series of messages about getting into the game, that is, in getting into the game of life, you have to ask the ultimate question first. You have to know what is it that we’re working towards? What is it that we’re trying to accomplish here? You have to answer what does it mean to win? And answering that question in life is not very simple. It’s not like there’s going to be a giant scoreboard at the end.

In the weeks of preparation for this message, I’ve been thinking about it and thinking about it and it really does come down to this: It’s all how you play the game. Since there is no final score, what’s really important then, if we’re going to compare life to a game, it really is all about how do you play the game?

For instance, are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose? It’s a concept that was introduced to me a couple of years ago because I’d never heard about it before. “What do you mean? Playing not to lose. That doesn’t make sense.” It goes like this: If a team is ahead, they have more points on the board, they have a decision to make. Either they’re going to keep playing to win, they’re going to keep on the offensive, they’re going to keep taking chances, they’re going to keep charging forward, knocking up more and more points on the board or they’re going to play very defensively, very conservatively because they want to hold onto the lead. They don’t want to take any chances that they might turn the ball over, somehow the other team might get ahead. So essentially, they’re playing not to lose.

For the fans up in the stands, watching a team playing not to lose isn’t much fun. I have to believe it’s even worse for the players down on the field. This isn’t a good time for them. This is a stressful time for them because they’re fearful they might lose the lead. So at the end of the game, I’ll bet there’s more relief than there is celebration because you’re playing not to lose.

In life, you can play not to lose. What I mean by that is say you tried your hand at a relationship once and it really went south and it just cut you deep. So you say, “No more of that. I’m not going to be vulnerable like that again.” And so you put up the walls and you’ve protected the barriers and you don’t let anybody in.

You applied for the promotion. They turned you down flat. You said to yourself, “Okay, can’t handle that kind of rejection. I don’t like how that feels. I’ll just stay in the position I am in and I will just coast to retirement even if it is 40 years away.”

You got angry. You said some things you didn’t really mean to say. You did some things that you knew were wrong. You were overwrought with guilt and shame by that and you didn’t like that feeling at all so from now on, you’re not going to say a word and you’re not going to do anything.

If you’re playing not to lose, one could even question whether you’re really living at all or are you just existing? Are you just putting in your time until finally, this life is over?

Unfortunately, I saw that firsthand. When I was a kid, my great uncle retired. He retired from a restaurant that he owned in Detroit. It was just a two or three-person operation, so he was there everyday. I don’t even want to guess the kind of hours that he worked in this restaurant. Forty plus years, he ran it. Finally, it was the time for him to retire. He closed the door. He locked it. He walked home. He sat in his chair and he turned on the TV and he didn’t move. He didn’t move. Everyday, the same thing. Countless times, we would go over to visit him and my aunt. He was always in the same place. He never got up and joined us for dinner. He never got up and joined us for lunch. He sat in his chair and he watched the TV. I’m sure he thought he was playing not to lose. I think he lost.

So the question for you is are you playing not to lose? There’s an implication just by the very question. If I’m asking you if you’re playing not to lose, it implies that you’re winning. That’s an intentional implication on my part because the ultimate win, the ultimate victory has been given to you. That’s the whole content of the gospel. That’s the purpose of Scripture is to tell you that the ultimate win, the ultimate victory has been given to you by Jesus Christ because, after all, isn’t the ultimate win in life is when this life is over, it’s not over? When our existence in this world ends, that’s the beginning of an existence in someplace which is better, someplace which is superior, someplace with happiness, someplace with no pain, no worrying, no anxiety? Heaven itself. Isn’t that the ultimate win in life? Life really isn’t over but it continues on for an eternity. That ultimate win, that ultimate victory has been given to you in Jesus Christ.

But here’s where it gets a little hinky because Jesus says if you want to save your life, if you want to win, you have to lose. Listen again to what He says, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Jesus says, “In order to win, you have to lose. And what you have to lose is you have to lose yourself.” You have to lose any kind of notion or idea that somehow you can make your way into heaven. You have to lose any kind of an idea that you play any role or any part in that eternal destiny, that heavenly spot that is awaiting for you. You have to lose any kind of idea that as long as you work hard and try hard, somehow you’ve played a role in getting into heaven itself because it just simply isn’t so.

Heaven is a perfect place by definition. Right? Who wants to go to someplace that isn’t perfect? If we’re looking forward to an eternal destiny someplace, I’m looking forward to someplace which is perfect. No flaws whatsoever. Heaven is perfect by definition. It is filled with a holy and perfect God. Therefore, only perfect people are in heaven. Anything else and it wouldn’t be perfect. Only perfect people are allowed in heaven. The last time I checked, you’re not perfect and neither am I.

I don’t care how good you are. I don’t care how long the eulogy will be at the end of your life saying what a nice person you are and what great things you did and the accomplishments you had in this world, you’re not perfect. And no matter how hard you may work at it and no matter how many nice things you may do, you’re not perfect.

I compare it to trying to jump the Grand Canyon. Whether you miss it by a mile or you miss it by an inch, the result is the same. We’re not perfect. Therefore, we have to lose ourselves. We have to finally surrender to God and say, “I can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t handle the pain from relationships. I can’t handle the rejection. I can’t handle the guilt and the remorse that comes over me. I can’t. Jesus, can you? Will you?” And He answers, “Yes,” to both.

This is the heart and soul of the message of Scripture itself, Jesus saying, “Yes, I can,” and “Yes, I will.” The whole message of Scripture comes down to this point. The eternal Son of God, the perfect Son of God, left heaven and came into our world. He belongs in heaven because He is perfect. He came and He lived among us but He lived a perfect life. Never once did He sin. Never once did He go against the Father. If anyone, and He did, deserved to be in heaven, it was Jesus.

But He wanted you to be heaven. He wanted you to have the ultimate win, so He sacrificed Himself on a cross. It wasn’t only the physical pain, it was the spiritual pain, taking all of your guilt, all of your shame, all of your sins upon Himself so He could declare you perfect. If heaven is only for perfect people, it takes Jesus declaring you to be perfect so you can reside there.

That’s what Jesus has done for you. He has delivered the ultimate win, the ultimate victory and He has declared you perfect, even though you’re not. He declares you to be perfect so, therefore, He guarantees you heaven so you have the win. The question is are you going to play not to lose or are you going to pay to win? Are you going to take this new life that Jesus has given to you? Are you going to take this gift that He’s laid upon you and are you going to make the most of it? Are you going to live life to the fullest? Because that’s why Jesus said He came.

John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it to the fullest.” That we could live out this life to the fullest, to our greatest potential for the glory of God Himself. That’s to play to win, to take this new life He’s given to us, to not sit back, to not close in on ourselves, not playing not to lose but to play to win, to jump into life, to be involved in life, to take the risks, the chances, to be everything that God created you to be and to live it for His glory. That’s playing to win. That’s what it means to win in life.

Tom Landry was the former head coach for the Dallas Cowboys. He once said this, “The thrill of knowing Christ is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I think God has put me in this special place and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do, whether I’m a coach at football or I’m talking to the press, I’m always a Christian.” He was playing to win.

And if you’re playing to win, then play your position. What I mean by play your position is how much time and effort is wasted on trying to be someone or something other than who you truly are? Every kid who desires to play football, what is it they aspire to be? What position do they want to play? Well, they want to play a quarterback. Maybe they want to be a receiver. Maybe they want to be a running back. I’ve never known a kid aspire to be the punter. You never say, “One day I’m going to grow up and be a punter.” No, they all want to be the quarterback or they want to be a receiver. The problem is if you have the skill and the talent that with accuracy and distance, you can kick the ball, how much time can you waste trying to throw the ball and you can’t get it past ten yards? All the time and all the effort you’re working on trying to tone that skill that you don’t have is time and effort not put into the skill that you do have, so you’re no good at either one of them.

How much time do we waste wishing and hoping that we’re someone or something we’re not? It’s the person who can’t sing who wishes he could. It’s the mathematician desiring to be an artist. It’s the introvert longing to be the life of the party. So much time, so much effort into trying to be something that you’re not. Play your position. God has created each one of you uniquely, and He has given to you special gifts and talents. Use those.

Paul told the Church at Corinth and he tells us, “But each man has his own gift from God. One has this gift, another has that.” Each person. Each person has a gift from God. Each one of you has a special gift from God, a special unique talent, ability which is given to you. So instead of going for the glamour, go for your passion. What is it that you’re passionate about? What is it that just comes naturally to you? What is it you’re good at? What is it that other people say you’re good at? What are the things you do that you don’t even think about them, you just do them? That’s your position. Play your position.

There are a few people in this congregation that have an uncanny sense of knowing when to send me a note of encouragement. I don’t know how they do it but just about the time I’m sitting at my desk and I’m, “Arrrg, mmmr, mmmr, arrrg, mmmr,” an e-mail will pop up or the mail will get delivered and it will be just kind of an, “Atta boy, that’s the way to go,” note. I guarantee you that they probably think nothing of it, probably think it doesn’t mean a thing, it’s insignificant. It means everything to me. My point is they’re playing their position. They have the gift of encouragement and somehow they sense and they know when the note needs to be written or when the email needs to be typed out and they hit send and they’re living in their sweet spot.

What’s yours? Play your position and, in the end, when you look back, you say, “Yeah, I did well.” That’s what it means to win. It’s how you play. You play your position.

And then play to make a difference, not a dollar. Play to make a difference, not a dollar. These days, everything is about more. You’re successful if you have more. You win if you have more. Whether it’s more power, whether it’s more possessions or it’s more prestige, if you have more, then you must be winning, you must be doing well. It’s the old bumper sticker that used to be funny but really isn’t funny anymore, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” I always found that curious anyway. “He who dies with the most toys wins?” You’re dead. I didn’t quite get that.

Well, evidently, neither did Lonnie. Lonnie back in 2009 died and he was convinced he was going to take it with him. He was going to take his prized toys with him, so he left detailed instructions on how he was going to be buried. And how he was going to be buried is he was going to be placed in his favorite car. It was described as a classic 1973 green Pontiac Catalina. Now aside from Lonnie’s taste in cars, it seems a little bit odd, maybe even a little bit funny. They placed him in the driver’s seat, buckled him in, put his hands on the wheel and loaded him into the ground. At first glance, we kind of chuckle. It’s kind of funny. And then it’s kind of sad, isn’t it? It’s kind of sad because each one of us, on some level, can kind of relate. Each one of us, on some level, is bitten by the idea that more means success. It means a win. We’re able to get the bigger house. We’re able to expand our career. We’re able to have prestige in the community. We’re able to have a large retirement fund put away. Somehow, we’re successful. We’ve won. But more doesn’t equal a win.

It’s kind of like the star player who plays for the losing team. He may have the best stats of the entire league. He could just rack them up, far surpass everybody else. Commentators around the country, “He’s the most underrated player in all of the league,” but at the end of the day, the team lost. They still lost.

You could have two homes and take fantastic vacations, but if your children don’t know you because you’re always gone, you lost. You could have a wonderful nest egg put away for retirement and winter down in Florida and be a world traveler but if you have prematurely worn out your body, you’ve lost. Play to make a difference, not a dollar.

Instead of spending extra time at work, spend extra time with your family. Instead of doing paperwork, why don’t you do a workout? Take care of your body. Invest in people. Pour yourself into your family and into your friends. Find a way to make a difference. Use your time, use the skills and gifts, use the resources God has blessed you with to make a difference in someone’s life.

Then when you’re sitting back in retirement years, you’re not going to count what’s in the checking account. You’re going to look back at the lives you touched. That’s what it means to win. It’s an important question for us to ask this morning as we launch into this whole idea of getting into the game. You have to ask the ultimate question. You have to identify what does it mean to win because that changes your perspective and it changes your priority. When you’re looking at your last days, you see things differently.

Steve Jobs, the cofounder of Apple, who passed away last week, back in 2005, he said this to the graduates of Stanford, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fears, embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what’s important.”

I would add to that, “Knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior, knowing that the ultimate win has been given to me, then all the other stuff just sort of falls away and only what’s important comes to the top.” This life God has given to me, if I want to classify it as a win, it’s all about how you play the game. It’s all about how you live the life that God has given to you. He has given you the ultimate victory. Don’t play not to lose. Play to win.

Be everything that God has created you to be. Be the full potential that God has laid upon you in your life and play your position. Don’t try to be somebody or someone you’re not. You’re uniquely created and gifted by God. And then play to make a difference. Touch another life. I classify that as a win. Amen.