| RUN TO WIN Erwin W. Lutzer I AM REVEALED B. Childress Dec 29 2011 There is a story about a frustrated basketball coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, who hit on an idea to motivate his team. Before the game he gave them a speech that centered around the word pretend. "Gentlemen, when you go out there tonight, instead of remembering that we are in last place, pretend we are in first place; instead of being in a losing streak, pretend we are in a winning streak; instead of this being a regular game, pretend this is a play-off game!" With that, the team went onto the basketball court and were soundly beaten by the Boston Celtics. Coach Fitzsimmons was upset about the loss. But one of the players slapped him on the back and said, "Cheer up, Coach! Pretend we won!" Many of us appear to be winning in the race of life but perhaps it is all "pretend." Standing before Christ we will soon see the difference between an actual victory and wishful thinking. We will see what it took to win and what it took to lose. We'll discover that we were playing for keeps. Paul loved to use athletic contests as an analogy for living the Christian life. The famous Greek marathon and the Isthmian Games in Corinth were a ready illustration of how to run the race that really counts. We are running the race, Paul taught, and we are running to win.
you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I run in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possible, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified (I Corinthians 9:24-27) our walk with God as we are to golf or bowling, we will do well in the Christian life. We can take what we learn in our tennis lessons and apply it to Christian living. Think of the energy, time, and money spent on sports. If we would transfer such resources to the race that really counts, we would all be winners. Society does not develop saints. There is nothing in our culture that will encourage us to have the stamina and encouragement to become winners for Christ. Indeed, we shall have to buck the world at every turn of the road, we shall have to rely on God and His people to help us develop the disciplines that lead to godliness. Let's introduce the analogy. In Greece you had to be a citizen in order to compete in the games. Of course, all citizens were not in the races, but if you are eligible, you had to give proof of citizenship. Just so, you have to be a citizen of heaven in order to qualify for the race that Paul speaks about. However, there is this difference: All citizens of heaven are enrolled in this race. This is not optional; there are no other events offered during this time frame. You do not run this race to get to heaven; you run this race in order to receive the prize. This race began on the day you accepted Christ as your Savior. Second, this is one race in which everyone has the potential of winning, for we are not competing with others, but with ourselves. We will be judged individually by God. To be determined is the question of what we did with what God gave us. Thus we all have our own personal finish line, our own personal coach, and our own personal final judgment. RULES OF THE RACE Some people don't compete in sports because they fear failure. The humiliation of coming in last is just too much for those who are sensitive to public opinion. But fearful or not, this is one race we run every day. We are best served by shirking our fears and running as best we can. Yes, this is one race you and I can win. What are those rules that make great athletes and thus make "great" Christians? Each of us can translate them into daily living. Discipline When Paul speaks of those who compete in the games he uses the Greek word agōnizomai, from which we get our word agonize. "Everyone who agonizes in the games..." You and I are simply unable to grasp the hours of agony that go into athletic conditioning. In August drive past a football field and watch the young athletes sweating under the hot sun. Clad in heavy clothes, padding, and a helmet, their faces grimace with distress and even pain. If they did this because their lives were threatened we might understand. What is difficult for some of us to grasp is that they do this voluntarily. All for a trophy that will be kept in a glass case and soon be forgotten in this life, and most assuredly not remembered in the next. They voluntarily want to play, and they will torture themselves in order to win. Athletes must give up the bad and the good and strive for only the best. They must say no to parties and late nights. They cannot have the luxury of any personal enjoyment that conflicts with their ability to concentrate and to practice. Every distraction must be eschewed. I'm told that Mike Singletary of the Chicago Bears would work out with his team, then go home and do more exercises. Then, late at night when the house was quiet, he would watch videos of opposing teams to see how he might win against them. Translate that into the disciplines of living the Christian life. Imagine the spurt of growth we would enjoy if we were to memorize Scripture, pray, and study the opposition with the same intensity as athletes attack their game. Just think of what would happen if we were to hone our spiritual sensitivities, our spiritual appetites, and our spiritual muscles. We could take on the world. Samson is a good example of someone who didn't discipline his body. He apparently broke his Nazarite vow when he touched the dead carcass and ate the honey that was hidden in it. He played with temptation, and eventually it ensnared him. Far from bringing his body into subjection, he followed its desires where they led him. We've all met people who are gifted and even love God, but they will accomplish only a fraction of what they might do for God. The reason is that they are satisfied with too little. They are in the race, but they don't want to pay the price of winning. There are many ways to fail in the Christian life. But all of them begin with lack of discipline, a conscious decision to take the easy route. Paul says, "I discipline my body and bring it under control." The lie is that the body cannot be disciplined, for indeed it can, especially with the help of the Holy Spirit, who gives us self-control. I'm not asking you to add to your busy and cluttered life, but rather to substitute the spiritual disciplines in favor of the priorities you have adopted. If you had to be on dialysis every day because of kidney malfunction, you would find the time to do it. We must approach our walk with God with the same single-minded determination. Paul says, "This one thing I do!" not "These forty things I dabble in." If you struggle with discipline, begin with this:
Discipline itself does not produce godliness. We are not made spiritual by being "under the law," depending on our own strength to win God's approval. Rather, the purpose of these disciplines is that we might learn to draw our strength from Christ. Direction Two different sports help us understand what is needed to win an athletic contest: running and boxing. "Therefore I run in such a way, as not beating the air" (I Corinthians 9:26). Imagine an official firing the gun to start the 100-meter dash and the runners all heading in different directions! A sun lover runs toward the west, another fond of mountains runs toward the east, and a third heads toward the sea. Each would be expending maximum energy, but none would win the race. Only those headed toward the finish line would qualify for the prize. Or, says Paul, consider a boxer. If he throws punches that never hit his opponent, he is wasting his energy. If the opponent takes not hits, it matters not how fast the swing or how powerful the punch. Paul would have none of this for himself; he ran toward the goal, and he boxed so as to make every blow count. Elsewhere, he returned to the need to keep one's eyes on the goal, to keep one's eyes fastened on Christ.
that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus...I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14) win because he keeps the finish line clearly in mind. In fact, the goal is his consuming passion. Growing up on a farm, I knew how important it was to plow a straight furrow, especially when beginning a new field. To do so, my father would chose an object in the distance and drive the tractor toward it, keeping his eyes on the "goal." There is a story, perhaps true, of a farmer who chose his target and drove carefully toward it, but when looking back discovered that the furrow curved behind him. The story goes that he had actually fastened his eyes on a cow in the distance, and as she walked around the pasture he had followed her movements! The goal you choose will determine how straight a line your life leaves behind. Many a man has left a crooked furrow because he chose a temporal target. "I want to be a millionaire by the time I'm thirty!" The man who chose that goal lived to see it fulfilled, but he was also divorced by the age of twenty-six! Moses left an enduring legacy because he chose an enduring goal.
endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26) the eternal reward and decided to go for it. Choosing this course was more difficult than herding sheep in the desert, but it was worth it. He did not confuse the invisible with the imaginary; he knew that heaven was more real than earth could ever be. He could see more than his contemporaries. Our best example, however, is Christ Himself. "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). He too saw beyond this life into the next. He was motivated by the prize of sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Focus is everything. Every one of us should be able to state our goals, our most fervent ambitions. We must strive toward that which will endure. While bobbing in a boat in Lake Michigan, I became nauseated until my friend encouraged me to choose a building on the shore and keep my eyes fixed on it. I chose the Sears Tower and discovered in a few moments that I felt better. He explained that the motion of a boat confuses our balance system if we look at the very object that is causing our movement. But we can handle the ups and downs if our eyes have a fixed object that is unmoved by our own vacillations. We all have our days when we must say, "Today I will remember the goals; I will focus on Christ no matter what storm might come my way!" Determination We've already referred to the passage in the book of Hebrews that tells us how to run the race. There we are given the rule book on how to run successfully. "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). You've heard Bible teachers say that this "cloud of witnesses" is a reference to those who have gone to heaven and are now watching us here on earth. But, in context, it is clear that the witnesses are the heroes of Hebrews 11, and we are motivated, not because they see us, but because we see them! Specifically, we look back to men like Abraham, Joseph, and Moses and conclude that if they could run the race successfully, so can we. We learn from them that endurance is always possible if we remember where we are headed. We are to glance at these heroes and gaze on Jesus. What are the rules of the race? First, we must keep our weight down. We are to "lay aside every weight." Some people have to join a spiritual Weight Watchers group. There are some things that might not be sins, but weights, those habits and actions that take time and energy from that which is better. Second, we are to keep our feet free. We must be free from the sin that does so easily "entangle" us. Sin tangles our feet, makes us stumble, and eventually will cause us to lose the race. Just think of the many people who began with a small weight or sin and ended up wounded on the sideline of the racetrack. Those of us who are still in the race have an obligation to help those who have stumbled so that they too can cross the finish line. In the 1992 Olympics, Derek Redmond of Great Britain popped his hamstring in the 400-meter semifinal heat. He limped and hobbled around half the Olympic Stadium track. The sight of his son's distress was too much for Jim Redmond, who had been sitting near the top row of the stadium packed with 65,000 people. He rushed down flights of stairs and blew past security people, who challenged his lack of credentials to be on the track. "I wasn't interested in what they were saying," he said of the security guards. He caught up to his son on the top of the final curve, some 120 meters from the finish. He put one arm around Derek's waist, another his left wrist. Then they did a three-legged hobble toward the finish line. Derek had no chance of winning a medal, but his determination earned him the respect of the crowd. His father said, "He worked eight years for this. I wasn't going to let him not finish." Whether or not his father knew it, he was acting biblically. "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed" (Hebrews 12:12-13). Some people have to be helped across the finish line. Some have stumbled over their own feet; others have been tripped by family members and so-called friends. We must help those who have fallen into the snares of the devil; we must lift up the fallen, bind up their wounds, and help them on their journey toward home. Determination will do it. MAKING IT TO THE FINISH LINE Every runner knows the danger of distractions and potholes. We not only have to know how to win, but we must also know why many people have lost the race. Please remember that chapter divisions in the Bible are not inspired! Paul does not conclude his thoughts about winning in the race at the end of I Corinthians 9, but continues his thought into the next chapter: "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren" (10:1). That little word for is a bridge that continues Paul's warning. In chapter 9 Paul says, "I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (verse 27). He feared that even he might lose the race! When he begins chapter 10 he uses the Israelites in the desert as an illustration of those who lost the race. These were people redeemed out of Egypt; they had crossed the Red Sea and had experienced the daily provision of God, and yet they fell short of the prize. First, Paul speaks of the blessings they enjoyed. They were given all they needed to run successfully.
the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. (verses 1-4) well-pleased" (verse 5). Then follows a list of their sins: idolatry, immorality, and ingratitude. Many of these people were saved in the Old Testament sense of that word: They will be in heaven. Nevertheless, they were displeasing to God and will not win the prize. The contrast is between their many undeserved blessings and their failures. They began the race with all the resources for the journey, yet they stumbled badly, far from the finish line. Not only did they not make it into Canaan, they never even lived successfully in the desert, where God supplied all of their needs. The same sins beset us today. Our only hope of winning is to repent; indeed our lives should be lived with an attitude of repentance. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the sins that might keep you from finishing well. If Paul feared that he might be disqualified, you and I are most assuredly vulnerable. "Say it ain't so, Ben." That was how the venerable Canadian Broadcasting Corporation led its national radio news on Monday, September 27, 1988. Their national hero, Ben Johnson, had just tested positive for anabolic steroids and was stripped of the gold medal he had just won for breaking the record in the Olympic 100-meter race. Even as members of the Canadian Parliament were in the middle of flowery tributes to the "fastest man in the world," reports began to trickle in that Johnson had been disqualified. What made the embarrassment more acute was the fact that Johnson had just been extolled as a model "Say No to Drugs" athlete for Canadian youth. Johnson learned that you can't win without obeying the rules. No matter how wonderfully we start, it is crossing the finish line well that counts. We look back and say, "Abraham won; David won; Joseph won; so did a host of people who did not see deliverance but trusted God anyway." We can do the same! But let us always remember what it cost them. Nothing fades as quickly as flowers. In the hot sunlight they last but a few hours. It was for such a wreath that the athletes competed in ancient Greece. Paul called it a "corruptible crown." In contrast, there is an incorruptible crown given to those who serve Christ. It is guaranteed to last forever. We must covet the "prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Paul was not embarrassed to say that he desired to win the crown; he did not think it unspiritual to seek for the approval of Christ and the honor associated with it. On a businessman's desk was this sign:
Do you want to win the race? Whatever it takes, just "Do it now!" Source: YOUR ETERNAL REWARD, by Erwin W. Lutzer, Copyright 1998, Moody Publishers. |
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