Which Way?

Lamentations 3:19-23, 2 Timothy 3:10-17

By Dave Wilkinson

February 15, 1998

Roy Riegels was a walk-on freshman on the University of California football squad in the late 1920's. He distinguished himself as a freshman. So during his sophomore season he started as center on both offense and defense. He anchored the middle of the California line.

He started in front of bigger and more experienced players like Fats Glasgow. Now with a name like Fats you should be in the middle of someone's line. But Riegels beat him out for the starting position.

Roy had a good year that year and Cal had a great year. On January 1, 1929 Riegels stepped off a team bus in a parking lot in Southern California. He looked up at the building where his team was about to play. He read the words "Rose Bowl."

As Riegels stood there, little did he know that what was about to happen would change his life and reputation forever.

Now, Roy Riegels was a good, durable football player. Playing both offense and defense, he missed less than ten minutes of his junior and senior seasons. Apparently he was also a genuinely nice guy. But none of those things distinguish him in the minds of football historians. What does set him apart happened on the field of that Rose Bowl that January afternoon.

Cal was playing Georgia Tech. It was a tough game. The score was 0-0 when Tex Thompson took a hand-off and ran through the middle of the line. He broke into the secondary. He looked open for a moment before. seemingly from nowhere, the Cal safety hit him with a jarring crunch.

The football popped out of Thompson’s hands like it had been shot from a cannon. It flew into the air and dropped gently into the waiting hands of Roy Riegels.

Now, this was exciting! Interior linemen do not get to handle the ball very often. The safest thing to do would have been to simply cradle the ball and fall down. But "no guts, no glory." In that instinctive, adrenaline-rush moment, Roy tucked the ball under his arm and began to run.

He later recalled that it seemed almost effortless -- like watching himself in slow motion. He side stepped a would-be tackler and broke into the open field where he saw nothing but green grass between himself and the end zone. The crowd erupted in a near-deafening roar as Roy hurled his huge body down the field. He was straining every fiber of his being to out-race the chasing players.

As he sprinted along the Cal sideline, he remembered teammates running alongside him screaming words he thought were "Go, Roy, go! As he approached the end zone it was almost a sensory blur. But Riegels related that he heard his teammate Benny Lom, who was about to catch up to him, yelling, "You're going the wrong way! And Roy thought to himself, "What's wrong with him?"

Lom caught up with Roy on the one-yard line, grabbed him by the shoulders, and spun him around just in time to be buried under an avalanche of oncoming Georgia Tech players.

On the next play, the Cal quarterback was sacked in the end zone for a safety. Georgia Tech was awarded two points.

After the final gun sounded, Roy Riegels sat in the locker room and relived that play as he thought of the final score. Georgia Tech had beaten his University of California team by one point. And on that day he was given a nickname that he wore for the rest of football history. He was dubbed, "Wrong-Way Riegels."

So complete was the legend that thirty five years later, in 1964, when Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings picked up a fumble against the 49ers and raced the wrong way down the field the television announcers were heard screaming, "Oh no, he's doing a 'Wrong-Way Riegels'." Thirty five years later.

This story stands as an analogy of many lives.

Roy's problem was not that he was not sincere. He believed with all his heart that he was heading in the right direction. His problem was not that he wasn't trying his hardest. He was exerting every effort possible to reach the goal. Roy Riegels's problem was simple. He was running in the wrong direction.

The original title for this year’s 50 Day Spiritual Adventure was "Untapped Miracles for Tapped out Christians." We’ve changed it to "Untapped Resources for Tapped Out Christians,"

There was something about the original title that grated on me. The themes for the sessions didn’t sound very miraculous. They sounded like more work and more expectation to put on people who already feel tapped out. Things like "Being a 24 hour a day, seven day a week Christian," "practicing hospitality", and "prayer with fasting" sound a whole lot like heightened expectation rather than relief.

Now it is true that there are two different kinds of miracles in the Bible, There are unconditional miracles like the resurrection where God does it all. But there are also many other conditional miracles where human beings have a part to play. Namaan the leper in the Old Testament wasn’t healed until he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan. Peter walked on the water to meet Jesus only as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. It was a miracle, but it was miracle that was conditional on Peter’s participation.

I can accept that not all miracles come without human effort. But the original title still seemed overblown. Because what we are looking at in this 50 Day Adventure aren’t so much extraordinary miracles but the every day miracle of living life God’s way and finding out that it works. It is doing it God’s way and discovering that we become more and more energized. Because it often isn’t the effort that taps us out -- its the frustration.

Ron Oertli, a discipleship director for the Navigators writes: "During college, I took a physical education course in boxing. The instructor matched each student with someone of approximately the same height, weight, and reach. But my assigned partner kept missing class. So I frequently ended up boxing a fellow twenty pounds heavier. I had loose teeth the whole quarter!

Three one-minute rounds seemed to take forever -- especially when the opponent danced around the ring and I connected only once every several punches. Fatigue set in quickly. I learned a lesson that has stuck with me ever since: You're drained of more energy by swinging and missing than by landing a solid punch. When expended energies "connect," people last longer." And when we do it God’s way, we tend to connect.

During the next few weeks we will have the opportunity to do some direction evaluation by asking, "Am I running the way God wants me to? Am I connecting the way I want to connect? Am I tapping into God's resources for tapped-out Christians.

How will we do that evaluation?

We will spend time in God's Word, the Bible.

For those who are not in the habit of investing time in reading God's Word, now is the time to start! Let me give you six reasons why I've found reading, studying, and applying the Bible to be so important in my own life.

First, it is the Scriptures that lead people to know Jesus. When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, he told Timothy that life was going to be very difficult -- that the people in the province of Asia where Timothy was in ministry were going to turn away from the true God. Timothy needed to stand firm in his faith in time of confusion and of trouble. Paul told Timothy that "evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

This will happen to others, Paul told Timothy, "But as for you, stand firm in what you believe, in what you have learned, and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.".

Do we want to know the way through the fog to God, to a saving relationship with Jesus? It's through the Scriptures that we learn the way.

You may be here this morning, saying, "I've not yet come to the place of knowing that I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm not certain I can say for sure that, if I were to die tonight, I would be given entrance into heaven. If God were to ask me, 'Why should I let you into my heaven?' I'm not sure that I would have the answer which satisfies him." The Scriptures can lead us to that knowledge, to the faith in Jesus Christ that brings salvation.

Second, the Scriptures not only lead us to faith in Jesus but also equip us to work for him. Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Do we want to be equipped to work for God? Do we want to be able to do something of value in this world and for eternity? Something that's going to last forever? Do we want to serve Him? We're only going to be effective if we're prepared by being in the Scriptures. During this 50-Day Adventure, we have the opportunity to accelerate our preparation for serving God. If you don’t feel that you have the basic knowledge you need about the Bible then let me encourage you to take part in my Adult Class on "the Bible" that has just begun.

Third, the Scriptures arm Christians to fight for Jesus. The confusion, darkness, and fog that we face is not simply some physical fight that we're going through. Paul speaks in Ephesians 6 about the battle that we're facing, and he says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers in this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Because of the reality of this battle that's going on around us, Paul encourages us in Ephesians 6:13 to "put on the full armor of God." He then describes the armor that God has given us, and the weapons for battle that he's provided. Verse 17 says, "Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." It's knowing and being able to use the Word of God that prepares us to stand against the awesome evil in this world and the darkness and confusion that we face.

The Word of God is our "defensive" weapon.

Do you remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan? In Matthew 4 and Luke 4 we read that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. I think that Satan knew that the Messiah had come and that the Savior's plan didn't have Satan's advance in mind. Satan wanted to sweep Jesus off of the course on which the Father had placed him. He wanted to confuse him about where he should go and move him off the Father's way for him. But how does Jesus respond each time Satan hurls a temptation? He says, "It is written." Since he knew and was able to apply the Scriptures, he was, at the point of temptation, able to thwart Satan.

Now, in our lives, it's the same. Knowing and applying the Word is a defensive weapon, which enables us to resist temptation.

But the Bible is also our "offensive" weapon. The only offensive weapon described in Ephesians 6 is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." When Jesus said, in Matthew 16, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, He pictures us on the offensive. Satan, at the gates of hell, is struggling to keep those gates closed so we, as God's army, don't breach his security and rescue those held captive. But we're able to burst through with the Word of God, to reach those who have been held captive in darkness.

Fourth, the Scriptures guide us to live for Jesus. Psalm 119:105 says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." The Scriptures light our direction in the darkness that we face, and in the confusing times in which we live.

Several years ago I was at a conference at Rancho La Sherpa in the mountains north of Santa Barbara. When we went to our meeting place away from the main camp it was still daylight. But when we came out it was night. It wasn’t just night. It was night night. We had to slowly feel our way back for about a mile -- staying on the road and away from the cactus and cliffs.

At times in the past I have felt that very same way about life. I've sensed that I'm going into the spiritual woods and, though I have an idea of where I want to go, the darkness obscures the way.

I know, too, that there are dangers out there: trees of temptation, rocks of harm, and a snake. And, at times like that, I would give anything for a spiritual light. Well, God has provided me with that light. He has given us all his Scriptures, a lamp for our feet, and a light for our path. That's why, as we go through the 5O-Day Adventure, we have a combination of the sermons on Sunday morning and the small groups during the week. This will help us to learn how to operate this marvelous spiritual light. God means for this Adventure to have power in and for our lives. As Paul writes in Romans 10, "faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God."

Fifth, the Word of God also purifies us to glorify Jesus. We know that a life that is pure, that is holy, that is lived without hypocrisy or duplicity, is attractive to people and also easy to inhabit ourselves. Jesus instructs us in Matthew 5 to live such good lives before people "that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Peter echoes those same thoughts in 1 Peter 2:12 when he says, "Live such good lives among the pagans that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

But how do we live a life that's full of that kind of purity? Psalm 119 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your Word I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you" It's reading, understanding, memorizing, and most importantly, applying God's Word to out lives that allow us to have the resources to stand up, as Jesus did, against the temptations of sin and to live a life of positive goodness.

Sixth, the Scriptures encourage us to hope in Jesus. We live in a society that is full of hopelessness. Our society, especially to young people, is saying, "There is no meaning to life, there is no value to life. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you'll die." A rampant hopelessness has invaded our culture, and so many of the popular entertainers have become gurus of the "gospel of hopelessness."

In the words of Woody Allen: "More than any time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly." How cynical.

Ronald Marris is a sociologist, the former head of the Sociology Department at the University of South Carolina. He edited a journal called The Journal o[ Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. Years ago he wrote an article in that journal in which he said, "The root cause for all suicide is a sense of hopelessness, a belief that things are bad and they're not going to get any better." That root is planted deep in so many of our communities.

All around us this gospel of hopelessness is being preached. But the Word of God contains the gospel of hope. Paul wrote in Romans 15:4, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." The Scriptures will bring us the hope we need to face the dark and confusing times that will surely come into our lives. For at some time we all experience that sense of looking around and saying, "God, what are you doing? Why are you allowing this to happen?"

The prophet Jeremiah wrote five chapters speaking of his own confusion and his own loss in Lamentations. In chapter 3 he said, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." He remembered the wandering around as he sought answers in his confusion and loss. For him the loss was of his great city and country, destroyed by the opposing armies. Tapped-out, he's saying, "God, where are you? I don't know what to do."

Then, in the next verse, it's as if he turns a corner from the shadows of the alleyways into the bright light of the street. And he said this, "Yet I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

For the 50 days of this Adventure I'm going to ask you every morning to look at God's new mercies in his Word and to be renewed in hope. Jeremiah said, "This I call to mind and therefore I have hope." Let us call to mind the encouragement of the Scriptures and, in the times of confusion, let's have hope. We will, in this Adventure, learn who God is and learn that we can trust him to provide for us all that we need for life and holiness.

But you might say, "This Bible is huge. How am I going to get to know this thing?"

Let me ask you a question that I often ask children: "How did the ant eat the elephant?" The kids, usually, all raise their hands, and eventually they come up with the right answer, which is, "One bite at a time!" That's the same way that we're going to get to know this "elephant" of a book. We’ll take it a bit at a time. As we eat from this book, we'll grow and be strengthened, get stronger, and become more able to trust Christ and to know what to do when we don't know what to do.

If I can stretch my beginning football illustration to nearly the breaking point, this is "the ultimate play book." As we race through life’s game over the next days do not neglect to consult this book. I guarantee you'll be glad you did. You’ll become less tired because you’ll get the satisfaction of landing your punches.

Adventuring as a church is like being on the same spiritual team. You may know someone who appears to be headed in the wrong direction and would benefit by being a part of this Adventure. Would you be a "Benny Lom" to that person? You don’t have to tackle them, Just catch up to them, put your arms on their shoulders, and say, "Participate in the Adventure with me. Let's together head in the right direction."