8-19-12 Sermon

To listen, click here (note: the first few sentences are missing from the recording).

RUNNING THE RACE OF LIFE

08-19-12 Sermon

Over the last few weeks all the eyes of the world were 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. 

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 Corinthian games including running, leaping, spear throwing, boxing, wrestling, chariot racing and racing in armor (my favorite).  Everyone that competed was required to take an oath that “I trained for at least ten months and I will not resort to unfair tricks.”  They didn’t have steroids in those days. 

There were many benefits to being a winner in the Olympic games. First, 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 Corinthians 9 that there are four things it takes to win in life. 

1.    First, It takes desire, he says.

 

I must want to win.  If I want to make my life count, if I want to win in life, if I want to succeed in life, I must want to win. 

As you watched interviews of the different athletes just the first few days there was a common denominator among every one them, no matter what country they came from and it is this: they had a desire to excel.  It’s a passion.  They eat it, they sleep it, they talk it, they think it, they live it.  They’re not just messing around.  They have this passion, this deep desire to achieve, to excel, to set records. 

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.”  Circle “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 really do.  They don’t run to win.  They run to retire.  Their whole goal in life is to just get enough money so that I can retire and veg out. 

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.  They think, “I don’t deserve to win.  Knowing my past, I had my chance and I blew it.  I don’t deserve to win.” 

         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.”  You’ve been living under that curse all these years and believing it.  They’re wrong.  Other people cannot determine what you do with your life.  You are in control of that.  God gave you that freedom. 

         Some people have a faulty theology.  They’re fatalistic and they think, Whatever happens is going to happen.  What will be will be.  They’re wrong.  So they decide to say, I don’t have any desires in life. 

That is not Christianity.  That is Buddhism.  It is Buddhism that says the goal of life is to eliminate all your desire.  When you get rid of all your desire then you’ll be happy and you won’t want anything.  God doesn’t say that in His word.  God says, Use your desires.  I have given you desires.  I have shaped you.  And you have an interest in certain things because I’ve placed that interest in you.  I want you to develop it and expand on it and make the most of it.  He doesn’t say eliminate your desires.  He says channel those desires to the things of God.  Channel those desires to help other people.  Channel those desires to win in life.

         Then there’s some people who think that they don’t want to win in life because they think success is being selfish.  It’s being unspiritual.  If I try to make my life a success I’m being unspiritual.  Did you know that God wants you to succeed in life?  Maybe you have the wrong definition.  If you think success is make a whole lot of money and spend it on yourself obviously that’s not what God wants you to do with your life.  That’s not the goal of life.  The goal of life is to figure out what God put me on this earth for, fulfill that purpose and do it the best I can.  You will be successful at what God made you to be. 

Psalm 35:27 “The Lord is pleased [circle “pleased”] with the success of His servants.”  Those of you who are parents, do you want your kids to succeed?  Of course you do.  And so does your heavenly Father.  When God looks down on an individual that He has created and knows Him in relationship to Christ and they’re making it in life, He looks down and goes, “That’s my girl!  That’s my boy!”  God is pleased when He sees the success of His children.  He didn’t put you here on earth to fail.  What’s the alternative?  So you need to have desire.  It’s ok to desire and say, “God, I want You to use my life.  I want to make an impact.  I want to succeed.  I want to be a winner.”  As Paul says, “When I run, I run to win.” 

The tragedy of life is that most people settle for second best.  They settle for less than what God wants to do.  You are capable of far more things than you’ve ever imagined.  Ephesians 3:20 says “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? 

Don’t be flippant about that.  Maybe take a few days, a week or so to think about it.  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.  I know a lot of people who’d like to be successful.  They had the desire.  But it takes far more than desire. 

2.    So next Paul says 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.”  Notice Paul says, I don’t run aimlessly in life.  I have a purpose.  I have a target.  I have a goal.  I have an objective.  I not only have desire, I have direction.  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.  Notice he says, I’m not just playing around.  I’m not just beating the air.  I’m not just shadow boxing.  I’m not just playing air guitar.  He says, I’m really going for it.  I have purpose in every step.  He is a purpose driven person.

Unfortunately that describes what most people aren’t in that phrase.  I’m not just playing around.  Because most people in life are just playing around in life.  They never really get serious about God.  They never really get serious about their own life.  They never really get serious about the contribution they intend on making in this world with their lives.  They live little selfish, petty lives of mediocrity.  They never get serious.  They just play around. 

They just dabble.  We have a lot of dabblers in this world.  They dabble in this and they dabble in that.  Whatever the fad is of the week that’s what they’re dabbling in.  How do you know when somebody’s a dabbler?  They use the phrase, “I’m into this.”  This week I’m into this.  Last week I was into that.  A year ago I was into that over there.  But right now I’m into this.  They’re a dabbler.  You may have desire but you don’t have direction.  So you keep moving back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  You’re never going to get where you need to go in life. 

If most people drove their cars the way they plan their lives they’d never get out of the driveway.  Most people have never really clarified where they’re headed in life.  People say, Where you going?  To lunch.  What do you want to do with your life?  I don’t know.  They’re just kind of drifting aimlessly all around.  They just try to coast through life. 

When you’re coasting, you’re always going down hill.  You never coast up a mountain.  Your life is going downhill if you’re coasting.  Proverbs 17:24 “An intelligent man aims at wise actions but a fool starts off in many directions.”  That sounds like a mother with preschoolers!  A fool starts off in many directions.  If you want your life to count you’ve got to settle your direction.  You’ve got to know exactly what you want in life. 

If, after church today. I was to go to a restaurant and the waitress comes up and she says, “What would you like to eat?” and I said, “Just bring me some food.”  She’d say, “What kind of food?”  Just some food.  “There are eighty-two items on the menu.  What would you like?  Be specific.”  Just bring me some food.  I’m not giving her anything specific. 

If you don’t decide what’s really important in your life other people will be glad to do it for you.  Have you discovered that?  You will go through life guided either by priorities or by pressures.  So either you determine what you want out of life, what direction you’re headed or other people will do it for you.  When you let other people decide for you your direction that’s called stress. 

Some of you are acquainted with that term.  You need to know not only the desire – “I want to do something with my life” – but you’ve got to clarify the direction – “What is my goal?” 

Philippians 3 Paul says “I bring all my energies to bear on this one thing [in other words he says I concentrate, I focus, I know what I want out of life.  And I don’t get distracted.  He says I focus.] 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. 

First, he says, forgetting the past.  Circle that.  You cannot live today and you certainly can’t plan for tomorrow if you’re always living in the past.  Maybe you have been hurt in the past.  Maybe deeply.  I’m not belittling that or minimizing that at all.  But you tend to wallow in it and you rehearse it over and over in your mind and you go over and over and over it.  You’re living in the past.  You’re allowing people in your past to continue to hurt you today.  Don’t do that.  People from your past cannot hurt you today without your permission.  Your past is past.  You have to let it go. 

He says “Forgetting the past.”  You can’t just forget it.  You probably need some help forgetting it, letting it go.  Maybe you get with a Christian counselor.  Maybe you get with a pastor.  If you’re always living in the past it’s like driving a car constantly looking in the rear view mirror.  You’re going to crash.  He says if you want to win the race of life you’ve got to forget what’s behind you.

Maybe you have had a major failure in your life.  And it hurts.  You still grieve over it.  In fact, you’re embarrassed about it.  If we were to talk about it this morning you would be very embarrassed.  In your mind you’ve gotten this idea, “I’ve had my chance and I blew it.  Therefore I’m going to have to settle for second best in my life.” 

Who said that?  Where in the Bible do you find the phrase, “You have to settle for second best.”  Folks, it’s not in the book.  You never see the idea of second best here.  You do see the idea of second chance.  God loves to give a second chance.  Aren’t you glad we serve a God of the second chance?  He gives us the chance to start over.  He doesn’t keep us stuck in the past.  He just says, “Let’s just try that again.” 

God says forget the past and press on.  I want to remind you that the guy who wrote these words was guilty of murder.  Paul had participated in the slaughter of innocent Christian people.  You could have called him a religious terrorist because that’s what he was before he became a believer.  He stood while one of the great Christian leaders, Steven, was being stoned to death.  He did nothing to stop it.  Yet Paul did not wallow in his past and have a pity party.  He said, I look forward.  He focused on God’s goal.

So here’s the second question if you want to be a winner in life.  If you want to make your life count, if you want to really succeed where it matters most first you ask What do I really want most in life second you ask, What is the focus of my life? 

Whatever you focus on you’re going to move toward.  If you say, I’m never going to be like my mother!  Guess what you’re focusing on?  We always move toward what we focus on.  So instead of saying, “I’m not going to do this.”  You need to just change your mind and say, “I’m going to do this.”  And by sheer changing your attention find freedom from the things in your past that hold you back.  You have to refocus and get direction.

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.” 

These two words – discipline and self-denial – are not exactly popular words in the American culture.  How many of you go home and think, “I think I’ll meditate on the word ‘self-denial.’  I love that word.  It gives me a quiver in my life.  It makes me feel warm and cozy.  I love that word!”  How about “discipline”?  Discipline is what we need most and want the least in our lives.  Yet it is the thing that turns ability into achievement.  Paul says I’ve got to deny myself some things.  Nobody has ever succeeded in life by just doing what they please.  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.  They’re not willing to pay the price.  That’s the difference.  It’s your choice.  Successful people are willing to do things, make the extra call, do the extra practice, study the extra book and on and on and on, work out the extra twenty minutes or whatever – go the distance and then a little bit more.  That takes discipline.

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. Discipline. 

That is so rare in our society that people will pay big bucks to get it.  You don’t become great by accident.  Desire, direction, discipline.  That’s what it takes.

As I said earlier, nobody becomes great by doing what he pleases.  So the third question you have to ask yourself if you really want to succeed in life is Am I willing to pay the price? 

A lot of people have desire.  And some people even get the direction right.  But then they’re not willing to put in the price, to pay the time, the hard hours, the sweat equity and all these other things to develop the habits.  You’re playing around if you don’t develop these habits. 

It takes desire, it takes direction, it takes discipline and then Paul says if you want to make it in life, if you want to win the race…

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.”  He’s saying I do whatever it takes to keep on keeping on.  To keep going.  Whatever it takes I do that to keep going.  I am not going to stop in the middle of the race.  I’m not going halfway through and quit.  I’m going to make it to the finish line.  That’s determination.

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.  Great people are just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination.  They don’t know how to quit.  Most people give up too soon.  They do.  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. Ask yourself: 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?  What is it that’s holding me back?  That’s a great question.  What is getting in the way of my spiritual progress? 

For some of you what’s holding you back is a habit.  You know it.  That habit continues to keep you from being all that God wants you to be. 

For others of you it’s a friendship.  You’ve got a friend who’s not really a friend.  They don’t know the Lord and they keep pulling you down, dragging you the other direction.  You keep hanging out with people who don’t lead you in the right way.  They lead you in the wrong way.  Then you feel bad about it after it’s over.  They’re holding you back.

For some of you it’s materialism.  The desire to acquire has so consumed your life and you’ve got caught up in American culture that says, I’ve got to have more, more, more, more.  You’re saying I want to be a strong Christian and have everything too.  That is not possible.  If all your time is spent making the buck you don’t have any time for the things that are really going to last in life. 

There are things in life, you have to ask yourself personally.  Take these questions home and say what is it that’s holding me back?  Is it a memory?  Something from my past.  I was hurt in some church and it’s held me back.  Or I was hurt by some so-called Christian and that held me back.  Is it a job that you need to change?  Whatever it is if you want to win Paul says you’ve got to let it go. 

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.  Sometimes our heart runs out of steam.  We want to give up.  But the Bible says, Don’t lose heart.  Don’t give up. 

Jose Lozano won seventy different medals in speed skating.  In the Pan-Am games this year he won five gold medals in speed skating.  He’s an incredible speed skater.  But he’s also a dynamic Christian.  He has led many, many of his teammates and Olympic athletes to Christ.  He recently said this “In the race of life you’re going to have times when you fall.  You’re going to have times when your muscles get tired.  When you fall down you get up anyway and you finish the race.  When people fall in the Christian life they need to get up and keep moving.  Keep moving.”

Some of you are tempted to give up.  Some of you right now that came this morning may be tempted to give up on your marriage.  You’re thinking, It’s not going to work.  Some of you may be tempted to give up on a job.  Some of you may be tempted to give up on the Lord and say, Why should I even try to be a Christian?  I can’t keep this up.  I can’t follow the directions.  The devil is telling you all along, “Who do you think you are?  You call yourself a Christian.  Forget it!  Give up.”

Some of you may be tempted to give up on a dream.  God wants to say to you, “Hang in there.  Don’t give up.  Hang in there.”  Like the old poster that says, “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on for dear life.”  Some of you need to do that. 

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.  Remember the movie Chariots of Fire.  One of the dramatic scenes in that movie about the Olympics was where the coach of Abraham was scolding Abraham because in the race he was running and he was winning and then he could not stop the urge to look sideways to see if Eric Little was coming up to catch him.  When he looked sideways Little passed him up and he lost the race.  The coach said, “Never take your eye off the goal!”  Don’t do it!  The moment you start looking at the competition you start looking sideways you’re dead in the water.  Don’t do it. 

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, and have kept the faith.” 

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.”  

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 bonuses, and the endorsements and getting your picture on the cover of some newspaper or cereal box.  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.  The race there.  He says the crowns here don’t last.  In the ancient Olympic games the award was a winner’s crown made out of olive branches.  In the Corinthian games they were made out of pine branches.  Or floral branches.  In each instance the moment the crown was made they began to wither.  Awards eventually tarnish.  Fame is fleeting.  It doesn’t last. 

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. 

One of the most dramatic examples of this fourth key of determination is a guy who ran in the Barcelona Olympics, Derek Redmond.  He was an English runner.  He ran the four hundred-meter.  As he was running that race he pulled a hamstring and fell while everybody passed him up.  [watch video clip]

Listen to this news report of what happened:

      Last Monday in the semi final heat of the men’s 400 meters the world learned a valuable lesson.  A lesson of what the Olympic spirit really means.  Derek Redmond runs for Great Britain.  He’s one of the country’s best but he has a history of injuries and this day was no different.  On the backstretch his Olympic dream came to an end.  This time it was a pulled hamstring.  In Seoul it was an injured Achilles tendon.  Two Olympic games and it looked as though Redmond would leave an Olympic race unfinished. 

      “Before I went to Barcelona, Redmond said, I’m going to come away at least running as many races as I can.  I’d rather be knocked out than carried out.”

      He’s going to try to finish the race!  The British have a tradition of running that you have to respect.

      With a hundred meters to go his father came out of the stands to help him the rest of the way home. 

      “When he came over and put his arms around me I started to shake him off.  All I remember is just breaking down.  He said, Derek, We started together, let’s finish together.”

      Derek Redmond didn’t set a world record that Monday.  He didn’t win any medals.  But he completed his race.  And in doing so he showed us what the Olympics means.

Did you catch what Derek said?  He said I was running and I felt an arm around me.  He tried to shrug it off.  Then my father called my name.  His father said, “We started this race together.  We’ll finish it together.”  He said I didn’t realize at the time but I do now how great it was that it was my father.  He, more than probably anyone else in the world is the one who could understand exactly how I felt.

Folks, life’s tough.  The race that God’s called you to is not an easy race.  You will stumble and you will fall and you will make mistakes and fall flat on your face.  But you have a heavenly Father who cares about you.  He comes and He picks you up and He puts His arm around you and He calls your name.  He says, “I created you.  We started this together.  We’re going to finish it together.”  He like nobody else in the world understands how you feel.  Lean on Him.  As He puts His arm of love around you He will help you make it to the finish line. 

The last verse, Psalm 60:12 says this “We can win.  We can win with God’s help.”  That’s the key.  Do you have Jesus Christ in your life?  Do you have a personal relationship to God?  If you don’t, when you stumble who’s going to pick you up?  Get to know your Father in heaven through His Son Jesus Christ.  He’ll help you.

I am not guaranteed a tomorrow, much less this afternoon or next year.  You don’t know how long your life is going to last.  I want to say to you as your pastor, whatever you’re going to do with your life do it now.  Don’t say, “I’ll wait until I get more money…  I’m going to wait until things settle down…  I’m going to wait until the kids are out of school… I’m going to wait until I get this job finished…” No!  Do it now.  Whatever you’re going to do for Jesus Christ, get on the stick now and do it!  You’re not guaranteed a tomorrow and neither am I.  You’d better start making your life count today.  We can win with God’s help.

Prayer:

      Get on track with God today.  The race starts with knowing Jesus Christ.  I invite you to pray this prayer, follow me in it in your mind.  Dear God, I realize You made me for a purpose.  You have a race for me to run.  It is my desire to be what You meant for me to be.  Today I’m asking You for direction.  Jesus, I don’t understand it all but I want You to be my guide and lead me to where You want me to go.  Give me the discipline that I need in the race of life.  Help me to let go of things that hold me back and hinder my progress.  Help me not to get discouraged and give up when things get tough.  Help me to keep my eyes on Jesus Christ and the rewards in heaven at the end of the race.  Father, I want to thank You that we don’t have to run the race of life alone.  That You love us and when we stumble You put Your arm around us and You call us by name.  What You start in our lives You finish.  Thank You that You are the God of a second chance.  May we focus on Your will for our lives.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.