Man, this morning I'm preaching on the subject of a spiritual athlete, a spiritual athlete.
Beginning in verse 23, the Bible says, And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might
be partaker thereof with you.
Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run
that ye may obtain?
And he goes on in the next few verses and he uses a sports competition, a race, as an
analogy for the Christian life.
Because the Christian life in many ways is like unto a race, and this isn't the only
place that the Apostle Paul speaks about this because also in Hebrews chapter 12 it says,
Let us lay aside every weight and run with patience the race that is set before us.
And so I'm going to give you a lot of principles about being a spiritual athlete from this
passage because obviously being a physical athlete, being an actual athlete in this world,
is not going to yield any eternal rewards or dividends.
It might give you benefits now and enjoyment now.
The Bible says bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come, right?
Because being an athlete in this life is only going to help us in this life, whereas being
a spiritual athlete we're also laying up treasures in heaven and we're going to earn that incorruptible
crown as the Bible says.
And so we want to be a spiritual athlete, we want to be an athlete spiritually, treating
the Christian life like training for athletics.
That's what the Bible's talking about here.
So the first thing I want to point out is that it says in verse 24, Know ye not that
they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain.
The first point that I want to make is that an athlete is a special individual, it's a
special type of person here.
It's not everybody, it's not the general population.
I mean the Bible's talking about how here it's just one person who wins the prize at
any given race and so it's an elite individual.
And when it comes to the Christian life, God does not want us to simply be like everyone
else.
He wants us to just be a general member of this population, just an average Arizona guy
or gal, an average American, just an average human being, an average person.
No, God commands us to strive for excellence, right?
Just as an athlete is not your ordinary person, they're excelling others physically, we want
to excel spiritually and be different than this world.
God has called us to come out from among them and be separate.
God has called us to be a peculiar people and so we want to excel spiritually.
Don't just compare yourselves to average people and start thinking that you're better than
them or something like that.
No, no, no.
God is calling us to strive for excellence and we need to compare ourselves to the standard
of God's Word and then we'll see that we have a long way to go toward achieving what He
has for us.
So that's the first thing I want to point out there in verse number 24 is that we need
to be spiritually elite, not spiritually like every other person.
But then verse 25 says this, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate
in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
Now what does it mean to be temperate?
Well temperance simply means self control or self restraint.
The opposite of temperance would be incontinence.
So if you're in temperance it means you have no control over yourself.
Well as an athlete you can see why this would be important because an athlete has to make
sure that they're eating the right things and they have to restrain themselves from
maybe some things that they would want to eat or maybe some things that they would want
to do because they have to be out there training and pushing their bodies hard.
You know it takes some self control to force yourself to train when you don't feel like
training.
And we as Christians we also are going to need temperance in our lives.
We're going to need self control.
Why?
Because there are sins that we need to abstain from and there are things that we need to
do for God that we might not always feel like doing, right?
Because we're not necessarily every day going to feel like reading our Bible or praying
or showing up for church or showing up for soul winning, but temperance will get us there
and get the job done because we have the discipline and self control to show up and
do what we need to do.
You know I guarantee you that there are saved Christians in this world that have the temperance
to stick to their diet but then they don't have the temperance to stick to their Bible
reading or to stick to church.
I mean I bet you that there are some Christians out there that man they go to the gym religiously
and they will never miss a workout but they'll miss church services, they'll miss Bible reading,
they'll miss prayer.
Right?
We need to seek first the kingdom of God and we need to apply the type of principles that
athletes apply, we need to apply those things spiritually.
And maybe you are a physical athlete this morning, maybe you are one who trains hard.
Well you know what?
Why don't you transfer that same temperance and discipline over to spiritual things and
be as diligent about your Bible reading as you are about your weightlifting or about
your running or whatever it is.
And by the way, you know when it comes to running, weightlifting, you know what I've
noticed is really important is logging your workouts.
You know, whenever I do any kind of training I always log every single workout because
it feels good to log a workout.
It just basically you feel like you did something, I accomplished something today, right?
And not only that, but you can kind of measure your progress and you can have goals that
you're working toward.
I mean, these guys who lift weights and don't log a workout, I just, I don't even know,
what are you even doing?
I don't get it.
Because to me, like when I walk into the gym, the first thing I do is I look at what did
I lift last week?
And then I've got to see if I can do a little more, a couple more reps or a little more
weight on the bar.
I mean, that's how you measure your progress.
That's what motivates you to keep going.
I can't understand going to the gym and not logging your workout.
Well, you know, it's the same way in the Christian life.
If you don't log your Bible reading, you're probably not doing that much of it.
I mean, maybe you are, but probably not.
I'm a very healthy example of a, of an athlete this morning.
No, I'm just, I'm getting over a cold.
We got to be healthy folks.
But anyway, the thing is, you know, if you actually keep track of your Bible reading,
you're going to be a lot more likely to actually do it when you get that gratification of checking
it off.
And you have a plan.
You have a goal of, Hey, I'm going to read through the Bible cover to cover in 2023.
And you know, you can always start that at any moment.
You don't have to start that in January 1st.
If you've never read the Bible cover to cover, if you've been saved for more than a year
and you haven't read the Bible cover to cover, man, shame on you.
Get in there and start reading that thing.
15 minutes a day will get you done in a year.
And so how does that work?
Having a plan.
See, 15 minutes a day isn't a lot, but you got to have the plan.
You got to have the temperance.
You got to have the discipline to show up and do it every day.
And then you got to log that spiritual workout, reading your Bible.
I'm going to need to deploy a cough drop here.
So every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things.
And why is the apostle Paul telling us this?
Is this a fitness lecture that he's giving?
No, he's telling you that if we look at athletes and they're careful about what they eat, they're
careful not to miss workouts.
We as Christians need to be careful about what we do, what we put into our minds, the
kind of activities that we do, and we need to have the discipline to read our Bible,
to go to church, to pray, to sing hymns, whatever it is that we need to be doing as Christians
and not to be incontinent.
The Bible goes on to say in verse 25 there, now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown,
but we are incorruptible.
Now the apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians.
The Corinthians are in ancient Greece, right?
He's writing to them in the Greek language.
They live in Greece and we know that in ancient Greece they were pretty big on athletic competition.
Sports were big back then.
Of course, there's no new thing under the sun because sports are pretty big right now,
even in America and elsewhere in the world.
Human beings have always loved sports, but in ancient Greece, of course, they had the
Olympic games and not only that, because the Olympics are only every four years, right?
Well, they had four sets of games that are each happening every four years, so they're
really having games every year because they have the Olympic games, the Pythian games,
the Nemean games, and the Isthmian games.
And here's what's interesting about these four ancient athletic competitions is that
they all gave you a literal corruptible crown.
You might think that the apostle Paul is speaking metaphorically here, like, hey, that gold
medal, you can't take it with you.
It's a corruptible award.
But actually, in the ancient Olympic games, the prize was literally a crown of olive leaves.
Now, do you really think that's going to last?
I mean, a gold medal is going to last a lot longer than an olive leaf crown.
I mean, it's literally made out of plants that are going to decompose and be gone, okay?
The Pythian games is a laurel crown, okay?
The Nemean games, a celery leaf crown, okay?
And the same thing with the Isthmian games.
And so you have a literal corruptible crown, which is kind of interesting that at least
even the worldly pagan Greeks realized that that was just a temporary glory and it's not
going to last forever.
Whereas today, we kid ourselves with that gold medal or silver medal or bronze medal
right?
Yeah, this is going to really last a long time, but you know, it's really just as temporary
in the scheme of things as those olive leaves, right?
It's a corruptible crown.
And so the apostle Paul could use this as an illustration perfectly because it's literally
a corruptible crown.
But he says we're doing it for an incorruptible crown.
You know, the achievements that we have for the Lord on this earth, the souls that we
win to Christ, the works that we do for God, whether it's raising godly children or teaching
the Word of God or winning souls to Christ or encouraging and lifting up our brothers
and sisters in Christ, those things will actually earn us spiritual rewards that fade not away.
And then he goes on to say in verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight
guy, not as one that beat at the air, he said, I'm not just shadowboxing here.
But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I've
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
So again, notice the physical discipline required to be an athlete.
The apostle Paul says, you know, I have to have some physical discipline, even to be
a Christian and to excel by doing all the things that I need to do and restraining myself
from the sinful things that I should not do.
Now flip over to Second Peter, chapter one.
Here's another scripture that brings up temperance because the main idea here in First Corinthians
nine is this idea of temperance, self control, discipline, and so forth.
And while you're turning there, let me just give you some tips that I've learned just
from actual training from actual athletic training that I've done, and I'm not a great
athlete or anything like that, but I do enjoy staying in shape and training and doing stuff.
And so here's some things that I've learned is one thing I've learned is that half a loaf
is better than none.
Half a loaf is better than that.
You know, I used to have this mentality that like, oh, my workout takes an hour, I only
have a half hour, not going to get it in.
But since then I've learned, you know, you're a lot better off to just get in there and
do that half a workout for a half hour, rather than doing nothing.
And it sounds kind of obvious, but it took me many, many years to figure that out for
some reason.
Okay.
But I had this attitude.
And you know, it's the same way with with the Christian life.
Obviously, we want to be on a serious Bible reading plan, want to get you through the
entire Bible cover to cover, read the Bible in a year, something along those lines.
But you know what, if you don't have time to do the Bible reading that you're supposed
to do, why don't you at least do a little bit of Bible reading, and at least get that
half a workout in, it's going to be better than nothing to get a little bit of Bible
into the pipeline rather than absolutely nothing.
That's one thing that I've learned.
You know, another thing that I've learned is that I used to, when I was training for
running, I'd run into some kind of an injury or a setback.
And I wouldn't be able to run, you know, maybe I got like blisters on my feet or pulled a
muscle or whatever.
And when that would happen, then I would just take a break and just rest and just not do
anything because I'm like, well, you know, I got to let my foot heal or whatever.
But then I realized that it was better to have a mentality that says, well, you know,
if my foot is hurt, and I can't do the running training that I want to do, you know, I could
still hit the gym and do pull ups.
Or I could still go in the pool and go swimming.
You know, one time I hurt my back really bad, I could barely even walk.
And I could still go in the pool and do swimming.
And so I learned to have multiple goals so that I could keep going at all times.
And you know, it kind of reminded me of the song that we sing little as much when God
is in it.
And there's a lyric in that song that says, are you laid aside from service, body worn
from toil and care?
You can still be in the battle, in the sacred place of prayer, little as much, right?
What a great point in that song saying, you know what, you can always do something for
God, even if you can't do what you normally would do, or maybe we're supposed to do, you
know, at least you could pray.
You know, oh, you can't make it soul winning because of a physical ailment or busy or whatever.
You know, you can at least pray, you can at least support those who do.
And then eventually you're going to get back into it.
It's not that I'm never going to run again.
It's just that I'm letting these blisters heal.
So you know what?
I'm not just going to totally lose fitness.
I'm going to jump in the pool and at least work on my wind a little bit in the pool,
or at least lift some weights or whatever.
It's the same way with the Christian life, have multiple goals, have multiple things
that you're working on.
You know, if you can't get out soul winning, do some extra Bible reading or whatever.
But get something done, stay spiritual.
Keep working towards your spiritual goals.
And obviously, eventually you want to get back to whatever the main thing is, but it's
okay to have a little side quest going, you know, just to give you something to do when
you can't do the main thing.
Okay.
That's another thing that I've learned a lot.
You know, sometimes I'll get sick and you know, I've had a cold this week and I remember
one time I was training for a very difficult event one time and I got sick and I really
needed to be training, but I was just, I had this cold and I couldn't really train.
And so what I did was I just decided to just go on a zombie walk all day and I just walked
all day.
I couldn't run.
I was too sick to run, but I just went out there and just like a zombie, just walked
all day long and I was just on my feet all day and I walked for like 14 hours straight
and you know what?
That ended up being a key workout and I don't think I would have finished the event if I
hadn't have gone out there and walked all day because it was all I could do.
You know, I couldn't do what I needed to do, but I did something right.
And so I love this principle in the Bible where God says that, you know, we're, we're
to run with patience and run and, and you know, the Bible also talks about walking and
the Bible also talks about in the evil day to just stand.
And so if you can't run, walk, and if you can't walk, stand, but don't lose ground.
And I think about this with the Christian life because in the Christian life, sometimes
we're running in the Christian life.
You know, we're going at full strength, we're, we're, we're, we're achieving great things
for God.
We're preaching the gospel to the lost.
We're growing and, and doing well.
But then other times we have to slow down a little bit because we get a little bit worn
out or life hits us with some challenging things that slow us down.
Don't quit.
Just slow down.
Don't just quit the church.
Maybe just slow down a little bit and just do the minimum and coast for a little bit
so that you can stay in the battle and live to fight another day.
And sometimes you can't run, you walk, sometimes you can't walk, you just stand, right?
You just maintain and at least don't lose ground.
But don't just throw in the towel and say, oh, I'm, I'm not doing everything I wanted
to do spiritually.
You know, I got a little backslidden.
I got into sin a little bit or whatever.
So that's it.
I'm just quitting on the Christian life.
And I've seen so many people do is they just quit on God.
They quit on the Christian life cause they're a little discouraged, a little backslidden.
Not just slow down, but stay in the battle.
Why?
Because that second wind can come.
You know, the Bible says they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall Mount up with wings like Eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint.
You know, sometimes you just walk, but you don't faint.
You keep going.
And so here, here's another thing I've learned is that, you know, when you're running a race
and things go bad, don't leave the course.
Don't quit.
Stay there.
You know, how many times have we seen these inspirational videos that people share where,
you know, uh, runners are running and one of them trips and falls and then they get
up and run and beat everyone after they tripped and fell, they get up and they still run and
win the race.
And those are some of the most glorious victories, right?
Well, that's the Christian life right there in a nutshell.
We're all going to trip and fall.
We're all going to have setbacks.
We're all going to fail.
You got to just keep pushing and keep going and just stay on the course.
You know, it reminds me of my, my son Solomon did an ultra marathon one time and I remember
he was just dead.
He couldn't, he couldn't go any further.
And so he just sat down at the aid station and just ate and drank.
And he was, you know, he thought he was done.
That's it.
It's over for me.
But he didn't leave the course.
He sat there, ate, drank, hung out for 30, 40 minutes, and guess what?
30, 40 minutes later, his cramps went away.
He was able to move.
You know, you never know when, when you're going to be able to come back from something
like that.
So don't quit.
Now the reason I had you turn to second Peter chapter one is because second Peter chapter
one brings up temperance.
And I think that a lot of what it says here could also be applied both to sports and it
could be applied to the Christian life where it talks about adding these different things
to your Christian life.
Look at second Peter chapter one verse five.
It says beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.
Now what is diligence?
Diligence is effort, hard work, putting in the time.
And of course that's what it takes to be an athlete as well, right?
Takes effort, hard work, diligence.
He says, give all diligence to add to your faith virtue, right?
So it starts with faith because the Christian life of course starts with faith because you're
not even a Christian unless you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what makes you a Christian is that you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of
God and that he died and was buried and rose again the third day and you're fully trusting
him as your savior.
That's salvation by faith.
That's the beginning of the Christian life is getting saved.
So then he says, well give diligence though to add to your faith virtue.
Now what is virtue?
Virtue is defined in the dictionary as moral excellence, goodness, righteousness, conformity
of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles, uprightness, rectitude, right?
So once you've put your faith in Christ, we want to add to our faith virtue, right?
Want to strive for moral excellence.
We want to try to live the best life that we can live, right?
As far as being a good person and striving for moral and ethical excellence, doing the
right thing.
And then he says, add to virtue knowledge, right?
Because we want to keep reading our bibles and growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
So we want to add to virtue knowledge and then it says we want to add to knowledge temperance.
We talked about that self-control discipline and then to temperance patience.
Why?
Because the Christian life is not a sprint, right?
It's a long distance event.
It's a long haul.
So we want to have the patience to keep serving God year after year, week after week, day
in, day out.
And then we add to patience godliness, right?
We want to be come godly.
We want to be a holy as he is holy.
And then to godliness, brotherly kindness, right?
Being kind to one another, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, treating our fellow
church members and fellow Christians with love and compassion and kindness and to brotherly
kindness charity because of course charity is the ultimate in the Christian life.
Love is the pinnacle virtue of Christianity for if these things be in you in a bound,
they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
So I was thinking about these things from an athletic perspective, right?
Because you know, we talked about these athletic virtues in first Corinthians nine and applying
them to the Christian life.
So now let's, let's take this list and kind of work backwards onto athletics.
You know, it starts out with faith because in order to be an athlete, you have to have
some kind of a vision or some kind of a goal for what you believe that you can achieve.
Why are you even training?
Because you believe that you can perform some kind of a, of a, of a feat that you're going
to be able to do it.
And then you add to faith virtue because here's the thing, any athlete who cheats is worthless.
Okay?
They're a worthless human being.
They're worthless athlete because it isn't, it's meaningless.
Victory is meaningless if you're cheating.
And what does the Bible say?
If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.
You've got to strive lawfully.
You've got to follow the rules.
You can't cheat.
So being an athlete, you've got to have a virtue because you've got to have ethics morality
that says, I'm not going to be doping.
I'm not going to be taking steroids.
I'm not going to be cheating or cutting corners or lying or whatever.
Okay.
And then you add to virtue knowledge, right?
You've got to learn about the sport and train smarter, not necessarily always harder.
Okay.
And then you add to knowledge temperance.
Obviously there's a discipline of having to do what it takes, the training, the diet,
et cetera.
Patience, because obviously this is a long process.
Godliness.
I don't know how that would specifically apply to being an athlete, but brotherly kindness
applies perfectly because it's good sportsmanship, right?
It's not just about winning at all costs.
It's about treating people well and loving other people along the way and practicing
good sportsmanship, charity, love, of course, et cetera.
So you can see how athletics is a great analogy for our Christian life.
And you say, well, pastor Anderson, I'm having trouble connecting with the sermon because
I'm not into athletics at all.
I'm not into exercise at all.
I'm not into fitness at all.
Well, here's the thing.
I'm giving you a chance to be an athlete even as you're a couch potato.
Okay.
So you should be real thankful right now.
This sermon is especially for you because it's sort of like that song that we used to
sing in Sunday school.
You know, I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery.
I may never fly or the enemy, but I'm in the Lord's army.
Yes, sir.
Who sang that song when you were a kid in Sunday school?
Yeah.
Well, this is like, you know, you may never do any exercise or eat any of the right things,
but I'm the Lord's athlete.
So you know, this is giving you a chance to actually be an athlete spiritually.
And you know what, honestly, I'd rather be totally out of shape and a couch potato and
serving God than to be some elite athlete who's just living for self and trying to earn
a corruptible crown.
Now look, ideally I do believe that we should be healthy and stay in shape and that, uh,
you know, that is important, but I think that being spiritually fit is about a hundred times
more important.
And so we need to understand that that's the priority and that even if you're never going
to be an athlete on this earth, you can be a spiritual athlete by serving God and putting
the kind of discipline into your walk with God that athletes are putting into their sport
and you're doing it for an incorruptible crown, whereas they're doing it for a corruptible
crown.
And so in second Peter chapter one, we see a recipe for success in the Christian life.
And again, it's going to involve discipline, temperance, following the rules, effort, diligence,
and so forth.
Kindness, love, all of these virtues are important for serving God.
Now if you would flip over to Hebrews chapter number 12, Hebrews chapter number 12.
The Bible also talks about this idea of the incorruptible crown in first Peter where it
says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy had begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved
in heaven for you.
That's where you want the real trophy case to be up in heaven where moth and rust does
not corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
The Bible says in first Peter five four, when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Like those leaves of the earthly crown would fade away pretty quick.
You get that moment of glory, you get that moment, you say, man, that's stupid.
I don't know why the ancient Greeks, you know, we're putting this disposable crown on their
head.
I mean, why don't they just give them a Burger King crown while they're at it and just put
some disposable, I mean, the Burger King crown would last longer.
Why are they putting a corruptible crown on their head?
But see, you're the one that's foolish because you think that these things actually last
or that these things actually have eternal value or that they actually have permanent
value in your life or that even five years from now or 10 years from now or 15 years
from now, these are really going to be the big thing for you.
You're kidding yourself.
The Greeks were being a little more real with it, understanding that, you know, you got
your little 15 minutes of fame and then guess what?
It's going to fade away.
You got to keep moving forward in life.
Can't live in the past.
Hebrews chapter 12 uses a similar illustration because of course the apostle Paul wrote the
book of Hebrews, but it says in chapter 12 verse one, we're foreseeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run
with patience the race that is set before us.
You know, in order to serve God, in order to live for God and, and, and do well spiritually,
there are probably some things that you're gonna have to get rid of in your life.
Some of these things are bad things, sinful things, ungodly things that you need to cut
loose.
Some of them also just might be things that are just making you too busy and you're just
too busy with something that you don't have the time and effort to put into your walk
with God or to put into reading your Bible, going to church, going soul winning, praying,
whatever.
So some of those things aren't necessarily sinful, but they're just a weight that needs
to be laid aside.
You know, it's just something that you're carrying with you that's not helping you.
You know, and most of the time on these long distance running events, most people are wearing
some kind of a backpack, okay, and they've got a backpack and they've got maybe a hydration
pack or whatever, and they've got essential supplies, right?
They've got a little bit of emergency food supplies, some band-aids, some, some to lube
with in case they're chafing somewhere, some kind of a, you know, sports drink, water,
whatever they've got in their pack.
But you know what?
They're, they're typically not gonna have, you know, like a harmonica, a ukulele.
Now look, I've gone backpacking before and brought a harmonica and a ukulele, both in
my backpack.
But guess what?
It wasn't a race, you know, and, and the Bible is saying, look, if you're going to run the
race of the Christian life, you need to lay aside every weight and, and some things that
there's nothing wrong with carrying a ukulele in your backpack, but it's not helping you
win this particular race.
And so if you really want to do your best, there are certain things that need to be cut
out.
There are certain things that need to be laid aside.
And look, I'm all for you enjoying life and, and eating and drinking and having some recreation
in your life because we want to live a balanced life.
And I believe that the Bible clearly teaches us to live a balanced life and doesn't command
us to be ascetics or to live like monks or something like that.
Okay.
I do believe that there is a time and a place for recreation, enjoyment, refreshment in
our lives.
But the problem is when that's keeping you out of church, when you're going out and doing
recreation on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night when you should be in
church.
Okay.
The problem is when you're doing recreational reading instead of reading your Bible, you
know, Hey, go ahead and do your recreational reading, but you better read your Bible first,
right?
Get your Bible reading in first.
And so a lot of things that are just wasting time in our lives could be sucking away opportunities.
And then we would sit there and say, Oh, I don't have time to read my Bible.
I don't have time to go to church.
I don't have time to go.
So what?
Well, in reality, you would have time if you would just lay aside some of these other things
that don't really matter in the scheme of things like spiritual things matter.
So we need to have our priorities right.
And so he said, lay aside every weight and the sin.
So notice, I think the weight and the sin could be two different things.
Lay aside the weight and lay aside the sin, which does so easily beset us and let us run
with patience.
The race that is set before us looking under Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God.
And you know what the Bible is showing us there in verse number two is that the process
is not always going to be enjoyable when you're a spiritual athlete.
Now think about this.
Do you think that athletes that are successful athletes, do you think they enjoy every single
workout?
They enjoy all the healthy stuff that they eat when they really want to be eating pizza
and cheeseburgers and they want to be gorging on ice cream and whatever.
Not necessarily.
It's not always fun to be out there at oh dark 30 in the morning running or to be out
late at night running or lifting weights or whatever it is, swimming.
You know, it's not always fun to get into that ice cold water in the morning and start
swimming laps.
I mean, that stuff's hard work.
You're not always going to enjoy every part of the process.
Don't be this hedonist where you only want to do stuff that feels good, that you enjoy
and you just want to have fun all day.
That's no way to live your life, my friend.
Every single day we have to do difficult things that aren't necessarily fun.
We've got to push ourselves to do things that we don't necessarily like.
And you know, the Bible says that Jesus is the ultimate role model.
Obviously he came down to this earth and he lived that Christian life.
He's the Christ of Christianity.
He lived that life that set an example.
The Bible says, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps.
And so he's already done it.
So we have this role model.
It's sort of like athletes.
Don't you think most athletes probably have certain role models that they look to?
You know, they play basketball and maybe Michael Jordan is their role model and they're thinking
about how they want to be like Mike or whatever.
Okay.
Wasn't that even a slogan for a while?
Am I making that up?
It was a slogan about, you're my Michael Jordan expert.
I saw you post something on Facebook about Michael Jordan.
Was that about Michael Jordan, that statement?
Be like Mike?
Nike.
Okay.
This guy, he could probably tell me what year it was published.
All right.
Thank you.
I got the resource right here.
But the point is that, you know, you've got your role model or whatever and a lot of times
this could just be like a coach or a trainer or somebody that you actually know in real
life that's mentoring you.
Well here's the thing, for us as spiritual athletes, Christ is that role model.
You know, don't put a poster of him on your wall, folks.
Okay, that's idolatrous.
But, you know, if that weren't a violation of the second commandment, yeah, you know,
we'd put up that poster rather than some sports guy because we look to Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith.
And Jesus Christ as the role model for the joy that was set before him, he endured.
And he endured the cross and the Bible says that we're to take up our cross and follow
Jesus.
We all have our cross to bear.
And so we're to endure like Jesus endured for the joy that is set before us, just like
he endured for the joy that was set before him, right?
But notice what it says, despising the shame.
So did Jesus just love and enjoy every part of the process?
No.
I mean, it should be pretty obvious that Jesus Christ went through a lot of pain and suffering
that he did not want to go through.
Because guess what?
Because in the Garden of Gethsemane, he flat out said, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
It always blows my mind, people, they do all kinds of mental gymnastics because they don't
want to accept that Bible verse.
I like that Bible verse.
Why would anyone want to fight that verse?
Why would anyone want to argue with that verse?
It's so beautiful.
Jesus saying, not my will, but thine be done.
But then they're like, you know, they write some theological encyclopedia about how Jesus
and God the Father, you know, their will is always 100% the same.
You know, go ahead and write all your encyclopedias, but I just like that verse.
Not as I will, but as thou wilt.
I don't need a theologian to explain to me why that's not really true, okay?
And I like the fact that Jesus said, you know what, I'm going to do something that I don't
want to do, but I'm going to do it anyway.
For the joy that's set before me, I'm going to endure the cross, not my will, but the
Father's will be done.
What's he saying?
He's saying, look, as a human being on this earth, he doesn't want to be beaten, spat
upon, mocked.
I mean, who would want to go through that?
Who would want to be nailed to the cross?
You know, and you can sit there and just try to smooth this over and make it out like Jesus
just did it, and it was just a piece of cake, and it was just easy.
But then you're kind of taking away from what he did.
If you take away from the humanity of Jesus there, you're kind of taking away from what
he did, because then it's like, oh, well, sure, Jesus could live a perfect life.
He's God.
Oh, yeah.
He could go to the cross and do all that.
He has ultimate endurance because he's God.
Yeah, but he was 100% God, but he's also 100% man.
And so, hey, he had sweat pouring off of him in the garden.
Don't miss it.
He had sweat pouring off of him, dripping down like drops of blood from him, okay, that
was foreshadowing the blood that would be dripping.
He's got these big drops of sweat dripping.
Folks, he wasn't just a great actor or something.
Hey, that's how he felt.
He was struggling.
That was intense.
I mean, if you knew that you were going to go through that on the next day, you'd be
pretty stressed out, too.
You'd be sweating, too.
And so Jesus Christ, he was hungry.
He was thirsty.
He was tired.
He was tempted at all points like as we are yet without sin.
And so he's sweating and he's struggling and he's fighting with this thing of, man, I have
to do this, but I don't want to do it.
Jesus despised the shame.
He didn't want to be up there stripped and beaten and mocked and ridiculed and spat upon,
but he did it anyway.
And so what's the Bible saying?
Look, the Christian life, when you take up your cross, it's not always going to be fun.
It's not always going to be enjoyable.
It's not always going to be easy.
It's not always going to be what you want to do.
But do it anyway, just like an athlete doesn't necessarily want to do that workout.
They don't necessarily want to show up for practice, but they show up because they want
to win.
Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.
Don't miss that phrase, despising the shame.
He didn't enjoy that part of it, did he?
But now he is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds.
So when you feel like quitting and giving up, remember what Jesus endured, because whatever
you endure, it's less than what Jesus endured.
Nobody's beating you and flogging you and whipping you and nailing you to a cross.
No matter how hard it gets, you can look to Jesus and say, wait a minute, if he could
endure that for me, then I can endure this for him.
Maybe I despise it.
I don't like it.
But you know what?
Tough.
It's pretty sad to get around people who never do anything that they don't want to do.
We all do stuff that we don't want to do every single day if we have any character at all.
Okay.
Jesus did something that he didn't want to do.
I do stuff I don't want to do.
You need to do something you don't want to do.
That's called life.
And I guarantee you, athletes do a lot of stuff that they don't want to do.
They go through a lot of pain, a lot of inconvenience, a lot of suffering.
Why?
Because they want to win.
They do it for a corruptible crown.
We do it for an incorruptible crown.
And so I hope that these lessons from this morning will help you and that maybe you'll
think about this a little bit as you're going through your Christian life.
And here's the real question I want to ask you this morning is how seriously do you take
your Christian life?
Do you take it as seriously as you take sports or do you take it since you don't take sports
seriously at all?
Do you take it as seriously as athletes take their sport?
Right?
Because you should think of it that way.
You know, think of it as training that needs to happen.
Think of it, you know, think of Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night as this gym
membership that you paid for.
If you paid for it, let's say you paid for a class that meets three times a week, right?
And it's some kind of a martial arts or whatever it is.
What kind of classes do people sign up for that to get in shape?
Spin, your spin class, you know, or you signed up for a gym membership to go lift weights
or whatever and it allows you to come three times a week or something, jujitsu, whatever
it is, right?
Your Pilates, whatever it is, you got your class.
Think of church as a class.
But here's the thing, instead of you paying for this class, because you know, we've all
paid for some membership and then we didn't show up and then we felt stupid.
Like I'm paying for this membership at LA Fitness and I haven't been there in a month
and a half and I'm paying for it every month and I'm not showing up.
Who's ever done that before?
You've ever had a gym membership that you didn't show up to?
All right, I've done it.
We've all done it.
Okay, well guess what?
This gym membership, faithful word Baptist gym, even worse than wasting your own money
is that you're wasting someone else's money because Jesus purchased the church with his
own blood.
So he bought you this membership with his own blood and then you're not showing up.
You know, and here's the thing, a lot of people are like, well, I got to go to this class
because I paid for it.
Well, I got to run this 5k because I paid for it.
You know, I didn't do the training, but I got to show up and do it because I paid for
it.
Who's ever showed up for a race you didn't train for just because you paid for it?
Yeah.
Well guess what?
Why don't you show up to this race because Christ paid for it and show up on Sunday morning
and show up on Sunday night and show up on Wednesday night.
And by the way, here's a great secret to the Christian life.
Half of the Christian life is just showing up.
I'm serious.
It's just getting your butt to church three times a week.
It's just showing up at a soul winning time.
Like that's half the battle, my friend.
I mean, if you can just drag yourself down here a few times a week, you're going to be
okay.
You know, you got it, but you got to drag yourself down.
That's a big part of the battle is just showing up.
It's just getting down here.
It's just being, by the way, you know, when it comes to school, one of the biggest things
for success in school is showing up to class.
And work.
Yeah, exactly.
Here's the key to success at work.
Show up to your job every time.
You know, it used to be that if you didn't show up one time, you were fired when I was
coming up.
Nowadays, people are so desperate for workers, it's probably not like that anymore.
But hey, just showing up for work every day on time.
Just if you just actually, even if you're not that smart, if you just kind of show up
for class and just sit there and listen, you're probably going to do okay.
You'll probably pass the class.
If you show up to church, show up to soul winning.
You know what?
That goes a long way in your Christian life.
Just showing up.
You know, this is another illustration about my son just because he and I talk about sports
a lot, but you know, he's training for a swimming event.
And he had a rule for himself that no matter how tired he is or if he's too busy, if he
doesn't have time to do any swimming training, he just had a rule that every single day he
has to put on swim trunks and get inside the water, even if he doesn't do anything.
Just that's the minimum requirement.
Just put on trunks and get in the water.
Now that might sound like, well, that's not going to do anything, but here's the thing.
That's like 90% of the battle is just getting your trunks on, driving down there and getting
in the pool.
Because once you do that, you're probably going to, you know, nature will just kick
in and you'll just start swimming, I guess.
But the point is though that the big reason why we don't even get started is just like,
well, I got to put on the clothes.
I got to, you know, I got to get down there.
And so his thing was just like, well, you know what?
Even if I'm feeling horrible, I can always just go dip my toe in the water, like, like,
like the, you know, the paralytic man in John chapter five or something.
You know, I can at least just touch the water and, and, and that's half the battle, my friend.
Well, guess what?
Why don't you just decide, you know what?
Maybe I'm struggling spiritually.
Maybe I'm having a hard time with Bible reading, soul winning, different things.
You know what?
But I'm just going to just at least, you know, put on the clothes and show up three times
a week and just kind of show up, you know, basically coming to church on Sunday morning
is like him just putting on his trunks and just getting in the water.
You know, it's something, you're there, at least you're still in it.
And chances are, like I said, you're going to end up swimming some laps, aren't you?
Because you're already down there.
You're already in the clothes.
You're already ready to roll.
You know, how hard is it to just show up and sit through a church service?
You say, well, when you're the pastor, it's tough.
Okay, well, sorry, but how hard is it to just show up and be a silent partner?
Soul winning, right?
Just show up and be a silent partner.
Just tag along.
Show up to church, right?
Open your Bible and just decide, you know what?
I really want to do this Bible through a year plan, but you know what?
At a minimum, I'm at least just going to open my Bible every day and read something.
And hopefully you'll build up the discipline to where you're actually doing the day portion
to get through it in a year and you're actually doing a real amount of Bible reading.
You know, it's just showing up is half the battle, my friend.
And so I hope that some of these principles will help you to become a spiritual athlete
so that you can strive for excellence in your Christian life and not just be like everybody
else, but strive for excellence.
Be one of the few.
Be an elite spiritual athlete.
Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and for these great illustrations that
you've given us in your word.
Help us to apply these things to our lives and put them into practice.
And Lord, help us always to look unto Jesus as the ultimate role model of a spiritual
athlete.
And it's in his name we pray.
Amen.