I believe it was the 2007 Green Bay Packer/Dallas Cowboy game. Tony Romo was having a great game and Brett Favre of the Packers was not. In the 2nd Quarter Favre was injured with the Cowboys up 17 points, when the Packers substituted a “no name” at that time, a kid by the name of Aaron Rodgers who immediately began making one great play after another. Cowboys did end up winning the game, but it was obvious who was the best player on the field, “the substitute”. Since then, Aaron Rodgers has won three MVP awards and is “odds-on” to win his 4th MVP award for his performance during the current 2021/2022 season. I am not a big fan of him personally, but, in my book, he is the best player during game time in the NFL.
Do you know that as Christians, our best player for sure is a Substitute? In the “game of life”, the Bible states clearly that each of us are absolute “losers”. Romans 3:11&12 declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Not one of us has a chance to fellowship with a holy, righteous God based on our own effort. We desperately need a “Substitute”.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 states that is exactly what God did for us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us (a substitute), so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Our Substitute, Jesus, became like us, a human being, without committing one sin. He never acted independently of God’s will.
- Hebrews 4:15 explains, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” He became a “substitute” who lived out the holiness of God.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 exclaims, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
- John 14:6&7 makes it clear, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.” Jesus as our Substitute gives us the ability to get to know God personally. From the beginning of mankind, God has had a desire to know and fellowship with each of us.
By the way, our Substitute gave our opponent an old-fashioned whipping. Here’s how Colossians 2:12-14 describes it, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Our Substitute has done everything needed to live life on your behalf in and through you; however, He awaits a personal invitation from you. The Substitute will be MVP once you do.
Barnabas Man 