Well today we have the fifth and final installment of our series on the Bible’s
Biggest losers. For those of you who haven’t been here for the whole thing, let
me recap quickly. First we talked about Adam and Eve and their disobedience.
The next week we talked about Samson and his problem with pride. Next was David
and his covetousness, and last week was Peter and his unfaithfulness. These are
some of the biggest losers in all of the Bible, the people who had it made, and
somehow were able to mess it all up. They are truly some big-time losers.
However, today we are going to talk about the biggest loser of them all. This
is the one who has messed up more than any other, and has really shown what it
means to be the biggest loser of the Bible. The fifth and final loser of the
Bible – is us. We are the Bible’s biggest losers. You can’t go through
scripture and find anyone who has been a bigger loser than we have.
Now don’t you feel special knowing that? This is not a popular sermon to preach
and I probably won’t win any bonus points with any of you for this one, but
it’s the truth! We are the biggest losers. We. People. Humanity in general.
We’ve blown it. We’ve had it made, and we messed it up. And notice I’m saying
“we” and not “you,” because I’m right there in the boat with you. I’m a loser,
and I’ve got no doubt about it. I’m a loser, and so are you. We are losers
together.
Some of you are getting uncomfortable, I can see it on your faces. You don’t
like being called a loser, and neither do I, but I’m just being honest. I could
call us something nicer, but just like a rose by any other name would smell
just a sweet, a loser by any other name is still a loser. So let’s just be
honest with one another. We know that we’ve all messed up big time, right?
Nobody in here has gone through life so far without sinning and even if you’ve
become a Christian and you’re doing your best, I’m guessing you still blow it
from time to time, right? We all do. And guess what, that makes us losers. Let
me read for you what the Apostle Paul says about us in the Message translation
of the Bible. This is Romans 3:10-18.
Rom. 3:10 There’s nobody living right, not even one,
11 nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
12 They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right;
I can’t find a single one.
13 Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mud slides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
14 They open their mouths and pollute the air.
15 They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
16 litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
17 Don’t know the first thing about living with others.
18 They never give God the time of day.
That’s us, folks! Racing for the honor of “sinner-of-the-year.” We’ve all
messed up, we’ve all fallen short. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God.” Basically, no one has lived up to the
standard of perfection that God has set for the world.
And you know what’s ironic: a lot of people really like that verse! For all
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We love that, because if we
mess up, we really hope everyone else does, too, so that we don’t look so bad.
It’s like in the Olympics when an ice skater falls down, you know she’s hoping
that the next girl who’s skating falls, too. We love it when other people make
mistakes with us. We say things like, “everyone makes mistakes,” or “nobody is
perfect.” And we use that reality as a cop-out to stop reaching for a life of
holiness and Christian perfection. That is simply the wrong attitude to have.
Christ demands perfection. Our God demands perfection. We are called to be
holy. We are called to be Christ-like. We are called to put our sinful ways
behind us and to live a life that is holy and pleasing to God.
Someday when you stop breathing and you are standing before God and the
judgment seat, I hope and I pray that you aren’t going to answer God by saying,
“C’mon God, everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect.”
There are a couple of major things wrong with that. First, when you say that
everyone makes mistakes, you are implying that all of your sins were committed
by accident. Oops, I didn’t mean to. My bad. No, if we are honest with
ourselves, often times in the midst of doing something wrong we know we are
sinning and we do it anyways. Don’t we? Be honest with yourself. Sometimes it’s
a mistake, but many times it is not. Second, when you say, “nobody is perfect,”
you are dead wrong. Because there was and there is one who is perfect. God’s
son Jesus Christ walked on the earth as a man and he was perfect. The
scriptures tell us that there was no sin in him. He was and he still is
perfect. So even though he was God in the flesh, he was still in the flesh and
was perfect.
So us losers who have fallen way short of the mark, and that’s what sin means,
to miss the mark. We’ve been shooting for the target of perfection and we have
missed the mark big time. Us losers who have missed the mark had better come
before God with something better than “I gave it my best shot. Everyone makes
mistakes. Nobody is perfect.” Because if that’s all we have to say, I’m pretty
sure that argument isn’t going to hold much water. You could try to call a
lawyer, but good luck finding one up there. I’m sorry that was bad. Are there
any lawyers here? You’re the exception to the rule I’m sure.
You could also try the argument that you’ve lived a pretty good life and you’ve
worked hard and you’ve gone to church on Sundays and stuff, but is that truly
what God wants from us? No, that’s what we want from us. That’s the target
we’ve set for ourselves, that’s not God’s target. God wants perfection.
Let me tell you a quick story. You may have heard it before. There was a man
who drove by an old barn and he saw a giant target painted on the bard
with an arrow stuck right smack dab in the middle of the bulls-eye. The guy was
pretty impressed. He drove by the next day and there was a second target on the
barn with a second arrow in the bulls-eye. Now he was really impressed. The
next day there was a third target painted on the barn with an arrow in the
bulls-eye. The guy sees a old farmer outside so he stops and says, “Wow you
must be quite an archer. Can I see you shoot once?” “Sure.” The farmer said.
And he got his bow and arrow and shot it at the side of the barn. Then he
walked over to the arrow and carefully painted a bulls-eye around where the
arrow had stuck.
He was making his own target. Wherever the arrow landed, that’s what he was
aiming for. Friends, that’s not the way it works with God. You can tell him
that you’ve hit your target: you’ve worked hard, you’ve made a nice life for
yourself, you rarely missed church, all that good stuff. But God is going to
say, “That’s not my target. That’s your target. You’ve got to hit my bulls-eye
to get in. Your way in doesn’t count.”
And there is only one way to hit God’s bulls-eye, and even a loser can do it if
they know how. The only way to hit God’s bulls-eye of perfection is through his
son Jesus Christ. That’s it. In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me.” It doesn’t matter
what else you do. It doesn’t matter how good of a person you are and it doesn’t
matter how many times you’ve come to church. It doesn’t even matter if you are
a pastor or a Sunday school teacher or the head of 5 different committees here
at church, if you have not received forgiveness through and have a relationship
with Jesus Christ, you have missed the target. Period. That’s the only argument
that will work with God. If you stand before him on that day and say, “Yes,
I’ve sinned, but your Son Jesus has taken the punishment for me and has
forgiven me, and he is not only the one who has saved me, he is my best
friend,” God will look at you and say, “Bulls-eye. You’ve hit the target. Welcome
good and faithful servant.”
And the wonderful thing is, even a loser can do that. God loves turning losers
into winners through is son Jesus, and only God can do this. The Message
translation of Daniel 4:17 says, “He arranges kingdom affairs however he
wishes, and makes leaders out of losers.” It doesn’t matter how bad you’ve
been, there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love if we have Jesus in
our lives. And when I say that, I don’t just mean on Sunday mornings, I mean
always. In our lives. Daily. Hourly. Every minute of every day, we should be
worshipping Jesus with our whole hearts, because it is only through his love
and sacrifice that a loser like you or I can become a winner. He should be
praised when we get up in the morning, when we go to work or school, when we’re
at home with our families, and when we go to bed. Jesus deserves our praise in
every moment of our lives.
And you need to know this, too, that Romans 5:8 points out that while we were
still sinners, before we even started thinking about God, while we were still
doing everything in our power to miss the mark, Jesus died for us so that
someday maybe we would choose him and choose to hit the mark. While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. I’m going to say it again, it doesn’t matter
what you’ve done in your life, God loves you and wants a relationship with you.
He doesn’t want to go another minute without you. And he doesn’t just want a
commitment to come to church more often or pray more or read your Bible more,
he wants you to fall in love with him. Not in some romantic way, but in the way
a child loves their parents, or the way someone who has been rescued loves
their rescuer. He wants you to draw closer to him.
And for those of you who are out there thinking, “God doesn’t want me. I’m too
bad. I’ve messed up too many times. Done the same sin over and over.” Maybe you
feel worthless and undeserving of God’s love, hear this clearly: even in your
worst moment, in your darkest hour, the time in your life you are most ashamed
of, God loved you. If that moment, the worst moment of your life was the only
glimpse of you that God ever had, if that was all that God knew about you, he
still would have deemed you valuable enough to sacrifice his only Son for you.
Isn’t that amazing? You simply cannot make God stop loving you.
I’m going to sing a song for you now that talks about what it means for us to
always be found in God’s love. During the song I want you to just close your
eyes and listen to the words. And if you are so moved, take a moment to pray,
and tell God that you are ready to make his target your target. Tell Jesus you
want a relationship with him, and tell him you need forgiven. We all need
forgiven, right? Tell him you are sick and tired of living with guilt, and you
want to be a winner. You want to live with him someday. Or maybe you just need
to pray and thank him for never giving up on you, even when we’ve given up on
ourselves, he hasn’t given up on us.
Sing “Never Been Unloved”
If you prayed that prayer today, you are getting something that you don’t get
too often in life: a second chance. Next week we are going to begin a new
sermon series that looks at some of the attributes of God, and we’re going to
start with “A God of Second Chances.” And know that it’s never too late for a
second chance. If you still need to get right with God, take some time during
our last hymn and know that wherever you are at, you can come home to God and you
can start you second chance right here today in this very place. No matter what
you’ve done, no matter how many times you’ve messed up, remember that God is in
the business of turning losers into winners, and he wants you.
Van Buren United
Pastor Dan Metzger