Page 1 of 5 DARING FAITH - PART 9 *LESSONS IN FAITH FROM THE ATHLETE You and I can learn some important lessons about the life of faith from the dedicated athlete. The Bible compares your life and mine to a race. It s not a fifty yard dash. It s a marathon. As your pastor, I am like a coach. I want to help you to win the race that Christ has set for you. I want to help you cross the finish line a winner. I don t want to see you get disqualified or quit. I want to see you win the prize! Sunday morning Bible study and worship is training for the race of life that we each must run every day. How we do in the race of life depends on our training, dedication, and discipline. *Look at 1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. *26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. NIV Pray: Father, help us to run our race with an aim to win. Help us to embrace the discipline necessary to win the prize and help us to stay focused on our eternal prize. Help us to hear and obey your Word. TS Here is the first lesson we learn from the athlete. *1. AIM AT WINNING A serious athlete aims at winning! *Look again at 1 Corinthians 9:24 (In the Living Bible) In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. TLB If I am going to win in the race of life, if I am going to fulfill God s calling for my life, I must be intentional about winning. Winning doesn t happen by accident. It s not going to happen without focused effort. It s not going to happen unless I have winning as my goal.
Page 2 of 5 Is the aim of your life to win your race for Christ? Let me explain what the Bible means by winning the race. God has called each believer to a specific mission. There are people that only you can bring to Christ. There are people that you can minister to in ways that no one else can. There are disciples that only you can make. You will find these people among your family, neighbors, coworkers, people you meet in the community, and people in need. Most of the people that God wants you to reach live near you. Sometimes God calls us to go to other places both near and far. This is your calling. This is your mission. This is the race that God has called you to win. Do you want to complete your mission? Do you want to win the race that Christ has set before you? You will not win by accident. It will only happen when you set your heart on winning your race for Christ. How serious are you about winning your race for Christ? *I think everyone would agree with me when I say that LeBron James is one athlete that is serious about winning. This is what He told reporters after the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3 to 1 deficit to win the NBA National Championship: I came back (to Cleveland) for a reason. I came back to bring a championship to our city. Since James returned to Cleveland in 2014, his aim has been to win. *James scored 27 points, collected 11 rebounds, delivered 11 assists, blocked three shots and had two steals as the Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 93-89 in the final game of the NBA Championship. That was just one of seven triple-doubles he performed in the finals. That is the kind of commitment to winning that God wants you and me to have as we run the race that Christ has set for us. James was focused on winning a crown that will not last. A year from now most people won t care who won and fifty years from now it will not matter one bit. Winning a NBA Championship does not make our world a better place, but we are inspired by his focus on winning. Now, what striving for as believers will last forever. It will have a positive impact for all eternity. What we do to win will make the world a much better place. There is no greater benefit you can bring to a person and to the world than leading someone to follow Christ.
How deeply and passionately do you want to win? Page 3 of 5 TS Here is the second lesson we learn from the athlete. *2. EMBRACE DISCIPLINE *Look at 1 Corinthians 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. No athlete becomes a winner without discipline and training. You don t win by just doing what you feel like doing. There are no short cuts to greatness. We have all heard the stories of the discipline of Olympian athletes and what they give up in order to win a gold medal. They pretty much put their life on hold. They have a rigid schedule of when to get up in the morning, when to go to bed. They have a rigid diet what they can eat and what they can t eat. It takes enormous discipline. *Take for example Michael Phelps, who has made history by winning 18 Olympic gold medals. His speed, endurance, and athleticism are unbelievable. Even with all his God given physical ability, it is his discipline that has made him a winner. He has an incredible work ethic and training regimen. He trains in the pool six days per week and swims about 50 miles a week. He does weight training three times a week. He eats 8,000-to-10,000 calories per day! Eating the 8,000 calories might sound like fun, but swimming 50 miles would be the killer. Maintaining a training regiment like this takes more determination and discipline than most people can fathom. Olympic athletes put all this effort and discipline to win a prize that is not going to last. It is not going to make the world a better place and it is not going to have an eternal impact. But you and I as believers have the opportunity to invest our lives in that which will change the world and will last forever. *Look at 1 Corinthians 9:27 I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. NIV Paul tells us that it is a wise move to discipline yourself to win a prize that s going to last forever and to make your life count here on earth. So, how can we embrace discipline so that we may win the prize? We can start by looking at what we can do without so that we can spend more time with God, so we can
Page 4 of 5 give more to God, so we can serve others more, so we can be and do more of what God wants us to be and do. This is the question we need to ask ourselves: What am I willing to do without in order to be the best? Am I willing to do without popularity? Am I willing to do without wealth? Am I willing to do without comfort? If we do not embrace discipline in how we spend our time and money, we won t have much left to invest in eternity. The pain of regret is always greater than the pain of discipline. If I embrace the brief pain of discipline now, I will avoid the pain of regret that goes on and on. How would your life be changed if you were a little more disciplined in how you spent your time and money? What could you achieve for Christ if you were more disciplined? How do I become more disciplined? That is the real question. I can t depend on will power. It is pretty weak. Instead, I must depend on God s power. TS How do you get God s power? The secret to personal discipline is found in this passage. *3. FOCUS ON THE PRIZE *1 Corinthians 9:24 Run in such a way as to get the prize. NIV What s the prize for following Christ? What s the payoff for doing the right thing and for pointing people to Jesus? What s the payoff for serving others through the church? You will be rewarded for all eternity! It is not a little ribbon or medal or trophy that won t last. The prize is an eternal reward. To win the race, to stay disciplined, to complete my mission, I must focus on the prize. One of the reasons we come together every Sunday is help us stay focused on our eternal prize. The longer you are away from Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and worship, the more you lose sight of the prize. It becomes blurred, dim, and eventually disappears all together. Why does God tell us to be consistent going to church? It is so that we won t lose sight of the prize. You can handle enormous pain and discipline when you understand the purpose of it all and when you focus on the prize. When you forget the prize, when you forget the reward, you re going to give up and quit. Many have quit going to church and they have lost sight of their prize. That s why Paul says run your race to win and keep your eye on the prize. Look at what Jesus said from His throne in heaven about our prize.
Page 5 of 5 *Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward (that is your prize) is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. NIV *Look at 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" NIV I cannot describe your prize. Words would fail me if I tried and our imagination is woefully inadequate. But this is what I can tell you about your prize. If you aim at winning the race that Christ has set before you, if you embrace discipline and keep your focus on the prize, for all eternity you will look back over your shoulder and be glad you did. So give all the time you can give, give all the money you can give, and point as many as you can to Jesus and for all eternity you will be so very glad you did! Challenge: What would your life look like: if you aimed at winning the race that Christ has laid out for you, if you embraced discipline in every area of your life for Christ, and if you were focused on your eternal prize. *What changes do you need to make? Hey, a little pain now will bring an eternity of reward! You need to be plugged in to Jesus Christ and His church if you are going to make those changes.