My little hometown of Canton, OH is in the news. Some of you know that the very first professional football team was the Canton Bulldogs. Therefore, the birthplace of professional football and the home of the Professional Football Hall of Fame is in Canton. If you ever drive I-77 through Canton, you will see the Hall of Fame on the west side of the freeway. On the east side of the freeway, directly across from the Hall of Fame is the hospital where I was born. Don’t bother looking for a plaque or commemorative sign.

Every year, several people are inducted into the Hall of Fame. The inductees are granted football immortality it seems, by being enshrined in Canton. The annual enshrinement event in August is a big deal and quite a spectacle for little Canton to have all of these big dogs and big names coming to town. There is a parade, a massive breakfast, an enshrinement ceremony and of course a football game. But it all starts with a committee who vote on who should be inducted. This year, Bill Belichick, the famed coach of the New England Patriots was eligible to be inducted. However, in spite of winning 8 Super Bowls as a head coach and assistant coach, the committee did not vote him in. Sports Media is going bonkers, which is nothing new. You have to go bonkers on a regular basis to keep people watching or listening to your talk shows and this “snub” is a great opportunity to be righteously indignant.

I honestly don’t really care, but I was concerned that my beloved birthplace would have some dirt and shade thrown its way. I was relieved to find out that local officials in Canton do not make the decisions about inductees. This is a responsibility of a committee of former players and long-term reporters. Whew! In defense of the committee, Belichick’s tenure has not been without a couple of scandals. I guess that a couple of the committee members thought that Bill needed to wait at least another year before he is voted in because while he was a successful coach, he did have, as some would say, “some issues.”

So imagine your status in eternity to be kind of like that. After your career (life) you wait to be voted on to the island (heaven), but you may not make it on the first vote until you demonstrate enough penance for your “issues” during this life. If people on earth, give money in your name, light candles in your name, or do other “good” things in your name, then your time in limbo can be shortened and you can get voted in sooner. The problem is, that no one knows exactly how much money, or how many candles or how much of the other stuff is needed to compensate for all of your mess-ups. The real problem is that God has made it extremely clear that we cannot pay for our sins or for the sins of someone else.

Atonement for sin comes from substitution and sacrifice. This is the story of the entire Old Testament. Someone or something outside of us has to pay for our sins and that substitutionary sacrifice has to be perfect. This imagery unveiled in the Law pointed to the life and death of Christ who, “died for the ungodly” Rom. 5:6; “gave himself for me” Gal. 2:20; “suffered for you”

1 Peter 2:21; “lays down his life for the sheep” John 10:11; “gave himself up for us” Eph 5:2; “laid down his life for us” Titus 2:14; “died for us Rom. 5:8 and 1 Thess 5:10.

If our admission into heaven was based on our record, we would have no hope. However, when you trust in Christ, his record replaces yours. This makes the vote unanimous!

Grace and peace,

Bob

Sunday’s Text: Luke 17:1-4