Part 1: PREPARATION

Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things – blocking and tackling.

Vince Lombardi, NFL coaching legend

I’m fairly certain that Lombardi was only intending to emphasize the importance of those two fundamental aspects of the sport above all other parts, because football involves more than just blocking and tackling. Truth be told, football can be rather complicated, and one of the more complicated aspects of the game is the playbook. The playbook begins in youth football with just a few plays that aren’t usually even written down and grows at each level all the way to the NFL where it is often 700 or more pages.

There's little things we do differently, and we don't want other people to know. So you always have it with you. That's the one thing that's sacred to football.  It has all our secrets.
Chad Greenway, current Minnesota Vikings linebacker

And the biggest of secrets in the football team’s playbook would have to be their list of trick plays. If you aren’t too familiar with the game of football, you might ask, “What constitutes a ‘trick play’?” A trick play is a play that uses deception and unorthodox strategies to fool the opposing team. Trick plays usually have a high level of risk, where the reward is great if executed properly but if defended well often have negative results.

As much fun as it would be to do so, I didn’t write this blog or preach this series so that I could talk football for a solid month. But the game of football – and specifically the aspect of trick plays – provides an interesting and hopefully relevant platform to discuss our own lives and situations and to expose the enemy’s tricks. Our enemy – that is the Devil and the demons that are on his side – is not opposed to playing some tricks on us. It is important that we as Christians are able to identify and then guard against the tricks that the enemy wants to play. I’m tired of the enemy defeating us. I’m sick of the enemy pulling out all the stops, digging deep into his playbook, and stealing the victory that belongs to God’s people. If you are as well, then keep reading. And even if you don’t like football, I’m believing these four sermons and coinciding blog posts will help you in your life, your family, your job, and your church.

The first key to identifying, guarding against, and defeating the trick plays from the enemy’s playbook: PREPARATION.

I've never coached a defense where you tell the players, "Well,

we don't have a reverse on this play if they run it. That would be

a touchdown." ...I just don't think you could coach like that. 

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick,

discussing the Cincinnati Bengals tricky offensive sets and plays

What Coach Belichick is saying is that his team prepares for trick plays. They’re not going to just give up and allow the other team to throw a bunch of gadget plays at them and run them all over the field.

How many of you live your life feeling like your leg is constantly being pulled? Or the rug is always being pulled out from under you? Or that the enemy is once again tricking you? It’s “4th down and 1 yard to go”, and you’re certain that you’re about to get the ball back and move forward to advance and win the game – only to have the enemy “fake punt”, get his own first down, and continue to ram the ball down your throat.

The first step the defensive coach must take

to defend the gadget play is mental.

“Defending Gadget Plays”, from www.nflhspd.com

In other words, PREPARATION. This is where you get ‘coached up’ and get mentally and spiritually prepared for what tricks the devil may try to play against you. That’s what this first blog entry is about. If you’re going to properly defend the trick plays from the enemy’s playbook, you must prepare for them.

Ephesians 6:11-14a NIV

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…

Let’s begin with verse 14 and then work our way back to the beginning of the text.

Ephesians 6:14a NIV

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…

Like many smaller, private Christian high schools, Greenville Christian Academy (NC) did not have a football program, so I played basketball. I remember being taught that when you guard a player in basketball to always watch his waist. You know where the person you are defending is going by watching his midsection – not his eyes, hands, or even feet. Your midsection is where you find your balance. And for Paul, he wanted believers to be balanced in the truth. That’s why he begins the entire listing of the pieces of the Armor of God with the Belt of Truth. He starts with the midsection, a person’s balance. It determines where one is going.

Consider Satan’s first trick.

Genesis 3:4-5 NIV

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Eve had just told the serpent that she could not eat of the forbidden fruit or she would die. He then tells her she would not die. He lies to her – his first trick was a lie – but she doesn’t recognize his lie. Why not? Because she was not balanced in truth. Look at what she actually said to Satan before he lied to her.

Genesis 3:3 NIV

But God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

(underline added for emphasis) 

She was not balanced in the truth, not grounded in what God had actually said. God had not said she and Adam could not touch the fruit. Sure, it was probably not a good idea to do so. That is not the issue here. The issue and problem was that Eve was uncertain of God’s actual words and it made her susceptible to the trick – to the lie – of the devil.

We must be certain of the truth of God’s word if we are to be prepared to defend against the tricks of the enemy.

Ephesians 6:13a NIV

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground…

The key here is you have to put on the armor of God before the day of evil comes. This is PREPARATION. You can’t wait until the day the enemy is attacking you to decide to get ready for it. You have to have already done that, and then you will be prepared when the attack comes.

Remember when Saul gave to David his armor to wear into battle against Goliath? David took the armor off. Here’s how different translations record David’s reasoning:

He was not “used to wearing” the armor (NIV).

He had not “proved” the armor (KJV).

He had not “tested” the armor (ESV).

“I've never had any practice doing this” (God’s Word).

We all learned in Sunday School that David was too small to wear the grown man’s armor, but that’s not what the Scripture says. David had not prepared to use the armor. What he was prepared to do was to take a stone and put it in a sling and throw it. It’s what he did against lions and bears, so he did it against the giant.

Ephesians 6:11 NIV

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

The Greek word Paul used for 'scheme' is methodeia. It means “to be cunning, deceitful, crafty, tricky”. It is used only one other time in the New Testament, and that was by Paul earlier in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11-14 NLT

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds (pastors) and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

How are you able, as Paul said in chapter 6, to stand against the devil’s schemes? How are you able to ensure that you aren’t falling for every deceitful scheme, as Paul calls them here in chapter 4? By allowing the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip you and prepare you. Essentially, the church leaders can and should act as ‘coaches’ to help PREPARE you in identifying and guarding against the trick plays from the enemy’s playbook. How? By telling you the truth of God’s word. Just look at the very next verse in that Ephesians 4 passage.

Ephesians 4:15a NLT

Instead, we will speak the truth…

The first key to guarding against the trick plays from the enemy’s playbook: PREPARATION. And we get prepared by knowing the truth of God’s word. The enemy’s first trick was a lie, and he’s lying today. Let’s not fall for the lies. Let’s be grounded and balanced in the truth.

The will to win is meaningless without the will to prepare. 

Joe Gibbs, former Washington Redskins coach