The No Look Pass

 Read Hebrews 11

And so we come to the point in this book where I turn to a modern sports figure for comparison. No, it’s not Yogi Berra. Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded, that Yogi Berra. But not this time.

This time, I want you to think about Caitlyn Clark. She is a young girl in her first year of the WNBA. She played for the University of Iowa and now has entered the professional ranks.

Why do I care about Big 10 Sports? Why do I care about Big 10 women's sports? Why do I care about the WNBA? I kicked the NBA to the curb a few years ago with all this take-a-knee business.

The answer is, I don’t. The last time that I really paid attention to what the Big 10 was doing was while I was in college watching my Cowboys play, and they were not having a good day. It was 24 September 1977.

But at the same time on a Football field in Columbus, Ohio, the game between the OU Sooners and the Ohio State Buckeyes was coming to a close. This was a regular season matchup between Barry Switzer and Woody Hayes. This was number 3 and number 4 going at it in something other than a bowl game.

OU got off to a 20-0 start but then Thomas Lott and Billy Simms got hurt and were out for the game. The Buckeyes came back and took the lead. The Sooners had one last chance as time ran out and a young kicker named Uwe von Schamann split the uprights as time expired. The Sooners won.

At the same time back in the land of the Cowboys, the quarterback fumbled the ball in the backfield. I don’t remember if we recovered or not. What I do remember is that many had radios in the stands because of the historic game in Columbus.

At the same time that the Cowboys fumbled, von Schamann split the uprights in Ohio. The crowd in Stillwater erupted as if their own Cowboys had won a championship. Unfortunately, they had fumbled and were dumbfounded as to why their fans were cheering. The Cowboy offense just looked up at the stands wondering why their fans were cheering their miscue.

That’s probably the last time that I cared what happened in the Big 10 until these last couple of years.

Here is what everyone loves about Caitlyn Clark. She shoots from downtown. It’s not quite from half-court, but she drains them from the logo which is several feet beyond the three-point line.

What I love is her passing. She does not pass the ball to other players. SHE DOES NOT PASS THE BALL TO OTHER PLAYERS but gets many assists every game.

How is that possible?

Caitlyn passes to where her teammate needs to be. One minute the defense has the players in front of them. That is the defense is between the player and the goal, but with one well-crafted pass, the offensive player has moved without the ball and is receiving the pass behind the defender and laying in an easy bucket.

It is a thing of beauty.

It doesn’t work every time. Players are human. Players are competitors. Sometimes the play is broken up, but when it works, it’s like, Wow!  That ought to be worth 4 or 5 points. It was so beautiful.

You may or may not like Caitlyn Clark. You might not even know who she is. But you have to wonder how you have the confidence to pass the ball to a place on the court where you don’t have a teammate…yet.

She is not there yet but the pass is going to where she will be. How does she know that her teammate will be there? How does she know?

Faith!

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It’s knowing what can’t be known.

It’s seeing what others can’t see.

It’s believing in your teammate enough that you know with certainty she will be where she needs to be so Caitlyn can pass with authority. She makes the pass as if the person is already there.

Occasionally, you see a no-look pass in college and professional sports. The point guard looks and steps left as if to throw that way but instead sends the towards the basket where a teammate arrives just in time for an easy layup or dunk.

You have to know that your teammate will be there. You can’t hesitate or the pass will be intercepted. You can’t stop and think about what to do next. The defense will catch up and deny the easy shot to your teammate.

You can only make this pass if you have confidence—strong confidence—that your teammate will be where you are sending the ball.

No confidence. No pass.

You must be confident of what you can’t see yet. You must be fully convinced in your own mind that your teammate will be there. You have to know with certainty, that passing the ball to someplace where nobody is standing—yet—is the best play.

We are human and make mistakes, but when we get this confidence business mastered, the pass is a thing of beauty. But we are after all, human.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

If we can trust each other to make a no-look pass, can we not trust God all the more?

If God doesn’t pass you the ball where you are standing, then maybe you should move to where you have a better shot. Maybe, we should trust God to know where I am supposed to be headed and then head that way.

Why does the no-look pass work? Because the teammates know each other. They know each other so well because they put in the work to know each other. They have faith that their teammate will be where he or she should be, even though they are not there yet.

Caitlyn makes the pass as if the player was already in position to receive it even though she is several steps away. So often she hits the player in stride. It is a thing of beauty.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Jesus lived the human life but did not sin. If he was living as a human, how could he not sin. We can’t seem to do this. How could he.

Jesus didn’t have to have faith. He knew with certainty that heaven is for real. He had no dissonance between what he wanted—to do the will of his Father—and the temptations of the world.

Jesus came from heaven. He knew that everything his Father had said was true. He didn’t need a leap of faith. He already knew with certainty.

We are human but have not had the experience of spending time in heaven. By faith, we believe:

·       God is real.

·       God is love.

·       God loves you.

·       God himself took away your sin.

·       God has good plans for you.

·       Grace goes beyond our sin.

·       Our life does not end when these bodies wear out.

This is cool beans and it is for real. We believe this, but sometimes it seems too hard to live God’s way despite all that he has done for us out of love. We can make the no-look pass to another flawed human being and sometimes—not always—it is a thing of beauty, but we don’t trust our infallible God enough to do what he tells us to do, to be where we need to be.

We are asking for God to pass us the ball. We don’t have good position. The defender is all over us but we keep insisting that God get the ball to us. God wants to pass the ball to where we should be headed, but sometimes we don’t know where to go.

Maybe, just maybe, we don’t know God well enough. Perhaps we should study his word more. Maybe, we should pray more. Maybe this whole take my yoke and learn from me stuff is serious business. Maybe, putting his words into practice needs to become a normal part of our lives.

Those statements are not entirely accurate. Take all of the maybe and perhaps qualifiers out of the preceding sentences and they will be most accurate. We need to get to know God better through prayer, study, application, and persistence.

The closer that we get to God, the closer he comes to us. If we stay the course of belief and faith, our confidence in God’s promises will grow.

Jesus had the benefit of having come from heaven. What he knew firsthand, we must take by faith. The author knew this, so he gave us examples of faith known to many.

Of course we start with Abel. Adam and Eve gave us the example of original sin and Cain would go on to kill his brother. That leaves Abel. Somehow, Abel knew what sort of offering would please God. Or maybe he didn’t know, but was confident that his offering was the best he could give.

Enoch got to skip the whole death of the body business and went directly to heaven.

Noah didn’t know what rain was, but he built a huge boat because God told him to build a big boat.

Abram—Abraham obeyed God. He left his home and went on an extended trip to a land that God would promise to him and his descendants. OBTW—he didn’t have any kids yet and they would be a ways down the road, but Abraham obeyed out of faith.

 Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses all acted out of faith. They didn’t know what was next but they went where God sent them. The name-dropping continues throughout the chapter.

All of those mentioned in this chapter were living by faith when they died. They had not fully realized the promises of God, but they faithfully continued on the course that God had set for them.

The author continued with stories familiar to the Hebrew people. By faith, these examples conquered kingdoms, administered justice, made huge gains in this world, escaped the flames or the jaws of the lions, evaded the sword, and saw their weaknesses turned to strength.

Some did endure hardship but continued in their faith and obedience.

Those named were commended for their faith but never realized the fullness of God’s promise while they lived in the body.  It was as if they saw the fulfillment of God’s promises from a distance.

Our faith should manifest unshakeable confidence in the promises of God.

Paul would say that we walk by, live by faith not sight.

Tom frequently notes that the world states that seeing is believing. God says believing is seeing. Believe and see, even if the consummation of God’s promise is still off in the distance.

Those named were commended for their faith but never realized the fullness of God’s promise while they lived in the body.  It was as if they saw the fulfillment of God’s promises from a distance.

We need to continue in our faith, our belief, our trust in God even though the realization of his promises still appears to be in the distance.

We will have trouble in the world. Jesus told us that.

Some of us may be persecuted in this life because of our faith in Jesus.

Some of us know God’s peace despite all the turmoil in our lives and in the world, but we never quite get all the way there while we live in these bodies.

But we are called to live as if the promises of God are already realized. They are in God’s time. They will be when it’s the right time for us. We can see them off in the distance now, but the time is coming when we will be in the middle of all of God’s promises fulfilled.

How?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It’s time for our faith to be our sight. It’s time to live trusting fully in God.

It’s time to be fully convinced in our own minds that the promises of God are indeed true and we will realize them one day.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Amen.