Olympics

It just seems conversation is dominated or centred around what was going on in London. Now the London two thousand and twelve Olympic games, it was just the ads on TV. It just permeates our whole life. These two weeks we seem to put it aside. But for the athletes too, it's their life has been a journey of dedication, a journey of commitment and training and perseverance that brings them to this point of seeking glory in Olympic competition.

That's what they're trying to do. A chance to win a gold medal that will mark them out as best in the world. And there was, I don't know if you know how many nations were there? 204. Very good.

Over 3,000 events and 14,000 athletes. That's a lot of people gathered in one place, the London Olympics. These athletes who live and breathe their sport who give up years of their life for a chance to stand on the stage. It's a time of exciting wins, disappointing times and it's filled our news, the disappointment that people have had with the Olympics. I think it was exciting for some people.

We have the rowing and the sailing gave us gold medals. We have the disappointment of the swimmers, these high expectations which they haven't met. You know, there's agonising defeats and a surprising victory. Athletes bringing glory and honour or athletes bringing shame to themselves and their country. I don't know if you remember the some of the badminton teams bringing shame to their country, cheating, deliberately losing a game so that they can change the draw.

So bringing shame to themselves and their country. And we have inspirational stories. His name was Hamuda Isaka, a 35 year old from Niger. And you know, he shouldn't have been in the Olympic games. He took up rowing three months before the Olympic games.

Three months and he was given a special wildcard entry into the Olympics because one of the themes is to strengthen the principle of universal representation. So he got to row in the Olympics. If you watched it, he was sloshing away on the lake, you know, just struggling to sort of stay afloat and not tip the boat. He crossed the line in eight minutes thirty nine point six six seconds, one minute and forty seconds behind the winner. But, you know, he got the biggest round of applause for what he achieved.

Spectators jumped to their feet and cheered him across the finish line. Spectators were doing that. Yannanza was screaming, you can do it. You can get there. After finishing, he lifts his head and he salutes the crowd with this massive grin on his face.

And he's being interviewed later and he said, oh, it went well. I passed the finish line. That was good. I tried to make a good time and the people in the grandstand encouraged me and I was happy for their applause. You know, these are moments that will stick in your mind and it sticks in his mind because he got the opportunity to compete and to be to stand on the big stage, a bigger stage of the world.

The Olympics, you know, it fills our mind. But did you know that the Bible is also filled with Olympic terms, with metaphors urging us to use that same commitment that athletes have for what God wants us to do and to be in our Christian walk. And that's what one Corinthians nine, that's where that comes in. Paul uses the image of the Christian life being a race where you strive to win the prize. A prize that you attain after strict training and discipline.

And just like the modern Olympics affect our world today, and thank goodness it's only once every four years, it can be said the same can be said of the ancient Olympics that influenced these New Testament writers. They're not writing about something that people didn't know and understand. Those ancient games were modern in their day until about March when they stopped. And there was fame awaiting winners at that time. And there was probably one game about every year, but they sort of rotated the cities in Greece.

And it was this ancient Olympics that influenced the writers. And so when Paul talks about running and boxing, it would connect and resonate with his readers. When Paul writes at the beginning, do you not know that in a race, all the runners run but only one gets the prize? He begins with that, do you not know? And when he uses that question, he's confident that his readers do know.

They do know what he's talking about. They knew the ancient Olympics. They knew what it was all about. They dominated much of their life as it does for us in our days. There was glory and honour waiting those who participated and won in the game as much as it does today.

And now, Paul's writing to the church in Corinth, and the city of Corinth held a very important ancient games, the Isthmian games. And so they really knew what Paul was talking about. And what Paul did with the Olympic games, just like he and Jesus did with everything else in life, they want us to see that in terms of our relationship with God. He takes the games and he tells us as Christians, as followers of Jesus, to raise it to a different level of understanding. In effect, he's saying, you know, the ancient Olympic games, they're played at this level.

The races are run with this level of reality. They box at this level. They train. They practise. They deny themselves at this level.

They set their sights on glory at this level. And Paul says, I want you to take it to another level. I want you to transpose those temporary struggles and triumphs of Olympic games and bring it to a different level, a different level of reality and understanding, a spiritual level of understanding. So when you see athletes running, think and see a different kind of running. When you see them boxing, think of a different kind of boxing.

When you see them training and denying themselves, see another kind of training and denying on a spiritual level. When you see them with a medal around their necks, see it as another kind of prize that we're to strive for. That's what he's doing with this text to the Corinthian church. And if I understand what he's doing there and then the games in London are meant to be seen and heard by Christians in a similar way and to for us to take a tremendous impulse to spur us on to fight the fight of faith, to run the race of life with nothing less than that same passion and perseverance and dedication that Olympians have. If you jump forward to verse 25, Paul writes, everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. That word strict training is that idea of self control. Self control. What's self control? Fruit of the spirit.

It's a fruit of the spirit. Athletes need to exercise tremendous amounts of self control. You read the stories of even the Australian athletes and what it takes to get to the Olympics. Self control, sacrifices to get into the games, sacrifice of time, of friendships, of junk food, of nights out, that strict discipline of early mornings, late night, early to bed too I suppose I should say. No social life, hours and hours of training.

Takes a tremendous amount of self control. You know, they might have natural ability but without hard work, without sacrifice, without self control, they never reach their potential. They never get the goal that they're after. But I realised that very few of us would say that self control is one of our greatest strengths. Yet Paul says self control is necessary if we're to win the prize.

So I ask you, what area of your life do you need to exercise self control? Do you need to exercise self control over your media intake? Do you watch too much TV? Do you play too many computer games? Do you surf the internet for too long?

Do you need to exercise self control over your leisure time? Do you spend too much time working out, too much time with your hobbies? Do those things get in the way of your relationship with your family or with God? Do you need to exercise self control in friendships? Are your friends more important to you than God?

Are your friends drawing or pulling you away from all that God wants you to do and to be? Do you need to exercise self control over addiction? Is food a drug? Do you drink too much? Smoke too much?

Are you addicted to some other aspect in life? And Paul says that there are no flabby Christians. The Christian life demands self control. It demands discipline. So you have to ask yourself, what slows me down in hinders me from God's kingdom work?

And if I haven't touched your life yet with some of those things, what about some other things that Paul says we need to wrestle with and take control over? Gossip, bitterness, jealousy, self ambition. What area of your life do we need to exercise self control over? What hinders you? In Hebrews 12 verse one, the writer there says, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance, the race set before us.

Again, Paul's using or the writer there is using the picture of the ancient Olympics. And these Olympians took extreme measures and they went to the extreme measure of actually running naked. And when we talked about this in our family setting, Asher, who's my youngest, he went, oh, don't you I'd wanna see that? I thought they threw off everything that hindered them so that they could run the race and win the prize. Paul's bringing that image to the Christian life.

Throw off those things that slow you down. But to cast them off, to throw them off needs prayer because the fruit of the spirit is self control. It's saying to us that it doesn't come naturally to us. We need to ask God to help us and to work that into our lives. And to pray for the spirit of self control.

I don't know if you know what the Olympic motto is? Someone give it to me. You don't give it to me in Latin. You give it to me in English. I won't give it in Latin either.

Faster, higher, stronger. That's the Olympic motto. Who knew that? Just went brave enough to say it just in case you were wrong. Faster, higher, stronger.

That phrase actually comes from a Dominican monk who challenged his students not just in sport but in life to strive to be faster, higher, and stronger. You know, the great thing about that phrase is that it's not static. It's not fastest, highest, or strongest. It's about a continuing to move and to change and to strive, continuing to get better. You know, that so that you can just be improving each and every day.

And I recognise that in myself running a little further every day. When do I, you know, when do I know that I've reached my goal? You don't because you just strive a little more each day when I was running. So you have an injury and then how quickly you lose that fitness and it's hard to get back. But that's what athletes do.

They try and they strive to improve to be a little better every day. Some of the most excited Olympians were the ones who did their personal best. They may not have got a prize, a medal, but they were happy because they did their personal best. And so that's what they do. They train each day to say they're a little better than the day before.

Isn't that true of it may be true of athletes, but isn't that true of the Christian life as well? It's a journey to improve and to get better. It's not static. It's not somewhere where you say I've arrived. There's always more to be done, more challenges to do.

We strive to grow. We strive to be a little better every day with the strength of God. We strive to say, I wanna know. I wanna get to know God better. We strive to say, I need to study scripture a little more so that I can get to know God better.

I strive to pray more meaningfully. I strive to show more compassion or more grace or more love than I did the week before to the people within the church community and the people around me. And the question is do you feel like you're growing? You know, in Reformed circles, we call that sanctification. In the grace and the power of God becoming more like God wants us to do and be, becoming more like Jesus.

And I have, personally, I have seasons when I think well I'm not really growing. Times when I just find that things are tough. Then it's the time to stand back or just to step back, to reflect more on the journey, to see where I've come from, where I'm going, to come back to God in prayer, and to seek His leading and guiding so that I can strive to be a little better. Need to step back and say, are the obstacles? What are the things that are hindering me?

What are the things that I need to be doing to be able to go a little faster, higher, and stronger? And then we can achieve the prize. In verse 25, the second part there, Paul says, but we do it to get a crown. They do it to get a crown that will not last. We do it to get a crown that will last forever.

I did some research on crowns in the ancient Olympics. These were great international events and victors received crowns of leaves woven together. And the crown that was given was woven together was different for each city state that held the games. And for the Isthmian games, which were held in Corinth where Paul's writing to, those crowns were made of celery sticks. They wove celery sticks together.

They made a crown that was put on your head. I don't think I'd compete for a crown of celery sticks. I don't like celery. So would you compete for a crown of celery sticks? A perishable crown.

He says they were going for a perishable crown. Paul talks about a crown that will last forever. An imperishable crown, the crown of life. The imperishable crown of righteousness that makes us finally fit for heaven. We don't have it yet.

We still sin. We repent. We seek God's forgiveness and grace. We move on. We're striving.

We're moving a little closer each day. We fight and we run in pursuit of righteousness. As it says in Matthew five, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We're striving to get there and we don't run in vain. At the finish line, we will hear the judge say, well done, good and faithful servant.

Welcome to your inheritance. That's the crown at the end of the race. But you know, there's also joy in the race. The joy of serving God, the joy of bringing Him glory as we strive for Him. How much are you willing to give up for the crown that lasts forever?

The old hymn says, it demands my life, my soul, my all. The Olympians give that to win a gold medal. Paul says do that to win the crown that lasts forever. But in a sense with all metaphors even the one that Paul's using here, the picture can break down. Because as in the Olympic creed, what's most important is not that you won the race but you competed.

So we have the Olympic motto but there's also an Olympic creed. This is the creed. We'll pop that up. The most important thing in the Olympic games is not to win but to take part. Just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

That's what the creed is for Olympians. And I think they forget that sometimes when they're disappointed because they get second. They get a silver medal by point zero one of a second and they're disappointed. I think it's second fastest in the world. Just grow your fingernails a bit longer next time.

You know, it's just oh, point zero one of a second. That's just but you know, they they disappointed. But it says, it's the important thing is not to win but to have taken part. Isn't that with the Christian life? It's not about whether you win the gold medal.

In fact, you are already in the race. You already have the crown. You already have the gold medal. See, we're not competing against each other for some temporal prize. The fact that we're on the track and we're running in the race is what God looks at.

It's the fact that we compete in the race. John Piper, a I guess a modern day theologian. He doesn't mince words when he talks about this passage. He says, I'm gonna pop it up there. God has not saved you to sit in the stands.

God has not saved you to lie on the track. God has not saved you to sit on the edge of the pool with your feet in the water. God has saved you to spend yourself for the glory of His son. You are not your own. You are bought at a price.

Glorify God with your body. One Corinthians six. And he goes on to say, the point of salvation is to make the glory of God visible in the universe. That's what this text is about. The running and the fighting that glorifies God, that demonstrates He is real and worthy and precious and powerful and pure and loving and holy and satisfying.

Running and fighting are all about revealing who Christ is for us and who we are in Him and how precious the prize of eternal life with Him is to us. John Piper sums it up. And I need to clarify this so that you don't go away with the wrong idea. The Christian life is not a race to achieve entrance into heaven. As we read in Ephesians chapter two, we're saved by grace.

Not by our effort, not by our discipline or obedience or good works, not by anything else that we do. We're saved by believing, not by achieving. We're saved for good works as it says in Ephesians two, not by good works. But still the Christian life is a race. A race to accomplish what God has put us here for which is bringing glory to Him.

How do you start the race? It starts with a decision. A decision to trust God and to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. It starts with acknowledging God as creator and Jesus as Saviour. It starts with acknowledging your sin that you're unfit to even be in the race and your need for God.

It starts when you follow Jesus as Lord, the coach in your life, and then you're on the track. Then you're in the race. And now you train. You train. You bring in self discipline to know, to love, and to serve God and each other.

And athletes don't make the rules for the race just like we don't make the rules when it comes to the Christian life. If we try and make our own rules, we'll go off track. God makes the rules we play according to the what's the rule of the race? His greatest rule.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself striving each day to do that a little better. It's true. You know, but I think and the good thing about the Olympics is there are so many different sports that people can be good at. So many different events that people can compete in and you get some pretty strange Olympic events. I was just thinking about this and it was the one of the last days of the Olympics last Saturday or even Sunday.

Synchronised rhythmic gymnastics. And I thought, now that's pretty strange. You know, if you get these quirky events, but people can compete in it and people can get the prize and that's true of the Christian life. Just there are so many different sports and different activities that make up things that people can strive to do. Each one of us is also gifted differently, but all of it brings glory to God.

I don't know if I put it up there. Romans have I got Romans 12? I do. This is what Paul writes. He says, we have different gifts according to the grace given us.

If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it's serving, let him serve. If it's teaching, let him teach. If it's encouraging, let him encourage. If it's contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.

If it's leading, let him govern diligently. If it's showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. What's your Olympic event? Is it encouraging others? Is it serving others?

Is it teaching? Is it leading? Is it loving? You know, we all have an opportunity to work in a different field and to do it to the best of our ability and see God glorified. And so just finishing up this morning, I just wanna say that the Christian life is an awesomely serious affair.

What you do with your life, the way you run the race, the way you fight the fight demonstrates your commitment to God and His glory. And life then is a serious business. And Paul says, be like the athlete. The athlete who is goal focused. You know, they wake up thinking about the race.

They go to sleep at night thinking about their race. They're focused, intent, and driven. We need that in our walk with God. We need that as we go to sleep at night thinking about our walk with God. We wake up in the morning beginning the day walking with God focused and intent.

You know, we see through the Olympics where the path of discipline and pain takes athletes. You know, they strive to win a gold medal. They strive to get the glory of men. As we've watched their efforts, we put that in the light of the Christian life because what we've got before us is 10,000 times more valuable than all the gold in London. That we wanna hear and get the praise of God and not of men to strive for that prize.