Deeper Notes Message: Running to Win the Race (Paul s lessons from the Olympic Games) Bible Passages: Ephesians 2:8,9; I Corinthians 9:24-27 Speaker: Scott Gentry Date: August 5, 2012 Notes that accompany the Ferndale Free Methodist Church Worship @ 10:50 message for Personal and Group Study. WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN IN LIFE All the eyes of the world are focused on the Olympics. Why is it we re so interested in this? It s because we love to see people excel. We love to watch winners. Think about all of the training these athletes have done. Now imagine how they must feel if they lose their event by a fraction of a second or point. Now think about heaven. What if God judged you that strictly to get in. Would you make it? None of us would. That s why grace is so powerful. Ephesians 2:8,9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. What do you think when you read this? Jesus perfection and perfect sacrifice is applied to us. We win because of who He is and what He did. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul talks about the Corinthian Games which in ancient Greece was second in importance only to the Olympics. They were held every three years. The games included running, leaping, spear throwing, boxing, wrestling, chariot racing and racing in armor. Everyone that competed were required to take an oath that I trained for at least ten months and I will not resort to unfair tricks. There were many benefits to being a winner in the Olympic games. Your name and hometown were shouted out as you were awarded a wreath. Then you would be given a triumphal parade in your town. You would be given five hundred drachmas of money. You would be given the right to sit at a place of honor for all succeeding games for the rest of your life. Then if you won in the Corinthian games your children would receive a free education for life You would be exempt from military duty for the rest of your life. And you were released from paying taxes the rest of your life. Is there any wonder that everybody competed in the Corinthian games?
Paul uses these games as an illustration for life. He pulls out of them four principles for successful living. Four things you have to do if you re going to win at what matters most. We re going to look at them today. The Bible says in these verses in 1 Cor. 9 that there are four things it takes to win in life. 1. 2. 3. 4. It takes desire. I must want to win. It takes direction. I must focus on a goal. It takes discipline. I must be willing to work. It takes determination. I must never give up. It s pretty simple to explain these but we want to illustrate them this morning. First let me mention a couple things about the first point. 1. It takes desire - I must want to win. There s a common denominator among every one the Olympic athletes, no matter what country they come from and it is this: they have a desire to excel. It s a passion. They eat it, they sleep it, they talk it, they think it, they live it. What are you passionate about? What is it that turns your crank? What is it that motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? That really gets you going. That turns you on. A passionless life is a wasted life. If you want to make an impact with your life you must have passion. You must have desire. You must know what do I really want in life so you can go for it. Notice what Paul says. Paul was a passionate person. 1 Corinthians 9:24 You know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize. So run to win. He says if you re going to go for it in life, go for the gold. I m not just running to place. I m not just running for the fun of it. I run to win. I want to go for victory. I want to make my life count. I want to succeed. I want to be at the top. I want to be the best that I can be in life. He says in the Christian life run to win.
Have a passion to make your life count. The reality is most people really just live mediocre lives. They don t run to win. They run to retire. God did not put you on this earth to retire. He put you here for a purpose, for a reason. He wants you to make your life count. Why in the world would anybody not want to win in life? There are many reasons. Some people don t want to win because of guilt. Other people don t want to win in life because of background. Maybe somebody in your past said, You re never going to amount to anything. Some people have a faulty theology. They re fatalistic and they think, Whatever happens is going to happen. Then there are some people who think that they don t want to win in life because they think success is being selfish. Psalm 35:27 The Lord is pleased [circle pleased ] with the success of His servants. God is pleased when He sees the success of His children. He didn t put you here on earth to fail. The tragedy of life is that most people settle for second best. You are capable of far more things than you ve ever imagined. Ephesians 3:20 - With God s power working in us God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. So if you want to succeed in life you need to ask yourself four questions. First you need to ask, What do I really want most in life? Everything starts with desire. Nothing happens until you start getting God s dream for your life. Desire is the starting point but it s not enough. 2. So next Paul says is it takes direction. I must focus on a goal. 1 Corinthians 9:26 I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I m not just shadowboxing or playing around. I want to do something with my life.
But it s not just something. It s something specific. I m headed in a definite direction. Proverbs 17:24 An intelligent man aims at wise actions but a fool starts off in many directions. If you don t decide what s really important in your life other people will be glad to do it for you. Philippians 3 Paul says I bring all my energies to bear on this one thing... forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead I strain to reach the end of the race. Notice he says here if you want to have direction you ve got to do two things. 1. First, he says, forgetting the past. Let s just try that again. 2. God says forget the past and press on. So here s the second question if you want to be a winner in life. If you want to make your life count, Frist you ask: What do I really want most in life? Second you ask: What is the focus of my life? Paul says if you really want to make your life count, if you really want to do something that makes you a success in life 3. It takes discipline. I must be willing to work. 1 Corinthians 9:25 he says All those who compete in the games use self-control so they can win. Notice he says they use self-control. In other words he says I discipline my life. Then the next verse in the Living Bible To win you must deny yourself [circle deny yourself ] many things that will keep you from doing your best. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is simply this: successful people are willing to do things and develop habits that unsuccessful people aren t willing to do. We want beautiful bodies without exercise. We want beautiful bodies without exercise. We want wealth without work. We want success without sacrifice. We want spiritual maturity without service and study. It is absolutely impossible.
Notice in the verse, verse 25, he says all those who compete in the games circle the word compete. That Greek word is the word we get the English word agonize. He s saying the old saying, No pain, no gain. Proverbs 13:4 Lazy people want much but get little while the disciplined are prospering. The mark of a great achiever is personal discipline. 4. It takes determination. I must never give up. I must never, never, never give up. 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul says, I treat my body hard so that I myself will not be disqualified. Philippians 3:14 I keep trying [circle that. That s keeping on keeping on, discipline, determination, persistence, diligence] to reach the goal and win the prize for which God has called me through Christ to the life above. Persistence is the fourth key to winning. Determination, diligence, endurance. Hebrews 12:1-3 Let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that holds us back. Let us look only to Jesus. Think about His example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to Him. So don t get tired and stop trying. Notice he says that in order to finish the race in life there are some things you have to let go of and there are some things you have to hold on to. You ve got to do them both and don t get them confused. First he says you need to let go of anything that is holding back your spiritual progress. What is holding me back? What is it that s keeping me from becoming all that God wants me to be? What is it that is stunting my spiritual potential? Then there s some things to hold on to. He says remember Christ s example when you get discouraged. He held on. He didn t give up when people were putting Him down and criticizing Him and misunderstanding Him. He didn t get discouraged. He just kept on keeping on. What is the key to persistence? What is the key to determination? The key is what you have your eyes on. We must focus on Jesus. Notice it says, Let us look only to Jesus. The reason we give up too soon is we get distracted. Paul refused to be sidetracked.
That s why at the end of his life he could say, I ve fought the good fight. I finished the race. One day you re going to stand before God. Will you be able to say that? God, I finished the race You put me on earth to do. I did what You made me to do. I became what You made me to become. I didn t waste my life and I didn t get sidetracked. I didn t get sucked up into a materialistic culture that says Everything is here and now. It s not. The most important things are not here and now. Are you going to be able to stand before God one day and say, God I did with my life exactly what You made me to do. You gave me the desire. I waited for the direction. You gave me the power to be disciplined. I was determined I was going to finish the race. That is success. What matters in life is not all the awards and the acclaims and the salaries and the perks and the onuses and getting your picture on the cover of some newspaper. What matters is the eternal rewards which you will celebrate for eternity. 1 Corinthians 9:25 For everyone who competes in the games does it to get a crown that won t last. [How many remember all the Olympic winners from four years ago?] But we do it to get a crown that will last forever. He s talking about running the Christian life. So live your life for the awards that God s going to give. They re going to last for eternity. Focus on running the race that God intends for you. You will receive not only benefits here and now. But in eternity.