GOD’S OLYMPICS
“Profile Of A Spiritual Champion”
Part 1
Today I speak to you on “The Profile of a Spiritual Champion”. What is a spiritual champion? What does a spiritual champion look like? Of course in II Timothy 4:7-8 we see a spiritual champion that has been there, one who has succeeded, one who has come to the end of his life and has always been a champion for Christ. The Apostle Paul, to me, is the man to whom we should look other than the Lord Jesus if we want to see the profile of a spiritual champion.
In Reader’s Digest not long ago they published the seven characteristics of an Olympic champion. I was in Atlanta when they announced that Atlanta would be the sight for the summer games. And there was a spirit of electricity that just went throughout that city. And I have been there a time or two for meetings since then and every time you go to Atlanta you see the feverous preparation that was being made for the Olympics because champions from all over the world were coming there.
There is something about Americans; we love to be identified with the champion. And these men and women come from all over the world, places where they are already champions but their longing, their desire is to be a world champion, to win the gold medal, to win the highest prize. They have spent all of their life preparing for that, training for that.
Reader’s Digest said there are seven characteristics that are true, that are a profile of these Olympic champions. Let me just share those with you briefly. Number one, they all have a dream. They all envisioned years before of becoming that Olympic champion. And if you are going to be a spiritual champion you have to have that vision of being all God can make you to be, of being that person that God can use in a way to glorify Himself.
Secondly, they are all fired up! I mean that Olympic torch that is passed is a symbol of fire that burns within their bosom to become the champion. And you and I have the fire of the Holy Spirit. And that fire has to be allowed to be fanned, fueled, and to burn in our heart to make that the one burning desire of our life, to play at the level of championship in God’s Olympics, the game of life.
Number three, they bounce back. Many times on their road to the Olympics, they face difficulties, disappointments but they always let those disappointments make them stronger and better and more determined. Paul was that way. He had a lot of disappointments along the way. He had a lot of difficult ties but every time he had a difficulty he said when I am weak then I become strong. And he always came back.
Number four, they aim high. Paul said I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Is your spiritual aim high today? Number five, they planned for trouble. They improvise continually in the contest. They know that things will not always go as planned and they are always prepared to change direction. If they miss a jump they are prepared for the next one. And you and I in the Christian life have to be ready because we do not know what lies in our way. We have to be ready to improvise and to change direction as God’s Holy Spirit leads us.
And then number six, they never quit. Perseverance characterizes all Olympic champions. And any spiritual champion is characterized by perseverance in the Christian faith. And certainly the apostle Paul is a great example of perseverance.
And number seven; they make their own luck. That dark horse that nobody has ever heard of in the games may have a golden opportunity when the favored athlete fails or falters. And a spiritual champion doesn’t depend upon luck, but upon God, ready to take advantage of every opportunity to rise to the challenge that faces him.
And I want to challenge you as a church, as an individual, and myself as your pastor, to set a new goal and to have as the dream of our heart to be spiritual champions for Christ, to play at that level of excellence in the game of life that God enables to play.
II Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
I. THE PROSPEROUS PAST OF A SPIRITUAL CHAMPION
A. Spiritual Soldiers
I want you to see Paul as a profile of a spiritual champion. First of all, notice the prosperous past of the spiritual champion. Notice he speaks here of his past. A spiritual champion is called to be a spiritual soldier – “I have fought a good fight”. Who said the Christian life is going to be easy? Jesus didn’t. He said, “In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” There are going to be difficulties and there are going to be fights.
Long ago Moses said to a group of Israelites who wanted to enjoy the blessing of the Promised Land but they did not want to cross over to Jordan and fight for it. He said to them “God has called you to be a soldier. God has called us to a battle. We have an enemy on the other side. And if you will not fight in God’s army, if you will not go to war for God, you have sinned against the Lord and be sure, your sin will find you out.”
We are called as spiritual champions to fight a fight, to be spiritual soldiers. We are in a battle. The problem is a lot of Christians are even showing up for the war, amen? They don’t even know a battle is going on. But we are in a battle today. We are in a battle over souls. The devil wants the souls of men and Christ claims the souls of men. Every person in this city without Christ is a prize to be won, either for Satan or for God.
We are in a battle with Satan himself. Ephesians 6:12 says we are in a spiritual battle. We are in a spiritual warfare. We have an adversary. The devil hates you if you are a believer. The devil hates this church. He is going to do everything he can to stop you from being a champion.
We are in a battle with sin. Romans 7 describes that battle that goes on within our very being. The Bible says the things we should do, those are the things we don’t do. The things we should not do are the things we find our selves doing. The Bible says there is a victory for us in this war, and Jesus Christ has won the victory. When we make Him Lord of our life, Jesus Christ has promised us the victory. So we are called to be spiritual soldiers.
B. Spiritual Athletes
Secondly we are called to be spiritual athletes. Paul said I fought the good fight, I finished my course. Now t6he language there is that of the Olympic games. The Olympic games go back to ancient times, to Biblical times, even pre New Testament times. The Apostle Paul had seen those games. He preached in those stadiums. He had watched those races that had been run. The Apostle Paul mentioned that because when he talked about running a race for Christ, being a champion for Christ and winning the race for Christ, everybody in the audience knew exactly what he was talking about. And immediately their minds went to the Olympic games and the races because they were mesmerized by sports then just as we are today.
Paul said we are in a race. And he says every Christian has his own race to run. Now a battle is fought for victory, a race is run for reward, that gold medal or that silver medal, that reward that comes at the end of the race. And every spiritual champion has his own race to run. The difference in the Christian life is the Christian life is a marathon, not a 100-yard dash. It is not just who is the fastest for a short period of time, it is not who is just the flashiest, who shines the brightest, but the spiritual champion is the one who endures to the end of the race and finishes the will of God for his life, finishes that course that God has given him to run.
I have known so many people who started out well but they didn’t finish. They gave up. They turned back, they quit. The reason Paul is our example is – he said – I have finished my course. He wrote these words a short time before his death. He said I have completed the course; I have completed the race that God has given me. Have you ever noticed in those marathons that they televise you will see so many people at the beginning of the race and then when they show the end, the crowd has shrunk down? That is why Jesus said the way to eternal life is narrow and few there be that find it. It is not just those who start it is those who finish that count. Those are the spiritual champions.
C. Spiritual Stewards
A spiritual champion is called to be a spiritual athlete, a spiritual warrior and then he is called to be a spiritual steward. Paul said I have kept the faith. The faith there refers to the truth of God’s Word, the body of truth that we have as the Word of God, this Book that lies before right now. I have my hand on the faith once delivered to the saints. Paul said I have kept the faith.
Now, he kept the faith by being true to the faith. He didn’t vary from the Word of God. Joshua was going to fight a battle and God said to Joshua, let the words of this Book, let the words of God be in your heart constantly. Meditate upon them day and night, that is the way to be a spiritual champion.
Then Paul kept the faith by sharing the faith. Everywhere he went he told others about Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you in my book, to be a spiritual champion means not only to be true to the faith but it means to share a witness for Jesus Christ, for God has placed us in this world as stewards over the gospel and stewards on the way to heaven. And as such, we are to share it with everyone whom we come in contact.
So that is the prosperous past of a spiritual champion. He has fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith. If today you were to stand before the Lord, could you honestly say to God, God I fought a good fight, I stand in the battle, I finished my course, I didn’t get disqualified or distracted? Could you say I have kept the faith? I kept it by being true to it and I kept it by sharing it. That is the prosperous past for a child of God who is a spiritual champion.
II. THE PLEASING PRESENT OF A SPIRITUAL CHAMPION
But I want you to see the pleasing present of a spiritual champion. The apostle Paul wrote these words in II Timothy 4:6, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.” Her is Paul, not in a palace but in a prison, and he is praising God. And he said I am ready. A spiritual champion is always ready, are you ready today? Are you ready to do what God would have you to do? Do you have a peace in your heart that you are ready?
I want you to see that a spiritual champion is at peace in life. He said I am ready to be offered. This word offered comes from the Old Testament. It is the sacrifice that was called the outpoured sacrifice or the drink sacrifice. After they took an animal and laid it on the altar and the animal was burning, then the last offering was a cup offering. They would take that cup of wine representing their life; their being and they would pour that wine out on the sacrifice. Then he would go up in smoke completely given as praise to the Lord.
The apostle Paul said I have a peace in my present circumstance although I am in prison, although I am in a dire circumstance, I have a perfect peace in my heart. I am ready, for I have offered myself to the Lord like a drink offering poured out to God. Let me ask you this morning, have you said that to the Lord?
That is what the Lordship of Christ is all about, allowing your life to be poured out for God, poured out as an offering to the Lord. God whatever you want me to do, wherever you want me to be, wherever you want me to go, God I just give you my whole life. When you pour out that drink offering it shows you are holding nothing back, you are pouring it all out to the glory of God. And God is looking for a people, a church, men and women, young people, who are willing to be poured out to the Lord Jesus.
Not only did he use that imagery but also he said that I am ready for death. A spiritual champion is ready for death. He said the time of my departure is at hand. He said I know my days are numbered, but he had a perfect peace about death. This word departure is a word that had two images associated with it. The time of my departure is at hand; most people don’t look at death as a departure. They look it as the end, amen? They look at it as something to dread, but Paul wasn’t worried about death, he had been caught up in the third heaven, he had seen heaven. He couldn’t wait. He said I am looking forward to it because it is a departure. The word departure pictured an army pulling up stake, pulling up their tents and moving to another location. Paul said I am leaving this world but I am not just lying in a grave somewhere, I am going to another location.
And the other picture in this word departure is that of a ship leaving port. A ship pulls up anchor, looses the lines and the ship moves away from the port and you stand on the dock and watch that ship. And it goes further and further out in to the sea until it disappears over the horizon and you no longer can see it. But I want to tell you something my friend; it is going to another port. And when it docks in the other port, those who are passengers on that ship are going to come down the gangplank and their friends and loved ones are going to be there waving at them as they come in, cheering them as they come in, looking forward to seeing them as they come in.
Paul said that is what the death of a believer is like, that is the death of a spiritual champion. He leaves this old port called the world. Paul said I am going to leave this old prison, I am going to break the bonds, I am going to be set free, I am going to pull up anchor, I am going to set the sail. And he said glory to God I am going to another port. And you know on the other side there are going to be loved ones and friends but most of all, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will be there to welcome me and cheer me as I come in to my port.
Tennyson said it right when he said sunset and evening and one clear call for me. And may there be no mourning at the bar when I put out to sea. Paul said don’t cry for me, I am going to glory. That is the present of a spiritual champion, ready to live and ready to die.
III. THE PLEASING PROSPECT OF A SPIRITUAL CHAMPION
Notice last of all the pleasing prospect of a spiritual champion. He said in verse 8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” There are five crowns mentioned in the Bible, the crown of righteousness is a crown given to the person who is a spiritual champion all the days of his life, who finishes his course, who keeps the faith, who fights the good fight. And one day he will receive what the Bible calls a crown of righteousness. The word for crown there is the word stephanos. It comes from the Olympic games. It was the gold medal of their time. It was a crown made of laurel reeves but when a runner had won the race, he would come and stand before the judges’ platform out on the field. And he would hear the commendation of the judge and they would place the crown upon his head that is the stephanos, the laurel reef, the crown of reward.
Today they give the gold medal, the crowd stands, and they sing the National Anthem of that individual’s country. One day, Paul said, I am going to stand before that judgment seat and Jesus Himself with His own nail-pierced hands is going to place the crown on my head. And all of heaven’s choir is going to stand up and sing amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Paul said that can be not for me only but it is for every Christian who will be a spiritual champion, every Christian who loves His appearing.
Folks, listen, aren’t you looking forward to that day when you stand before Jesus? Don’t you want to live on the level that you can look forward and anticipate that glorious moment when you have run the race, when you have completed the course? You have been through all the trials and disappointments, you have stood the test.
There is a book entitled “I Paul” by Lester Wolfe. It is cleverly written because it is written in the first person, Paul telling his own story. He tells how he saw Jesus on the Damascus road and began to follow Jesus of Nazareth and is called to the ministry. But he comes to the end and Paul is saying in his own eyes what happened when they came to him, when he heard the key turn to the cell door. Paul said they brought me out from a dungeon so dark that when I saw the light it hurt my eyes. They marched me through a courtyard where there was a block waiting for me and I knew it’s purpose. When I saw it, a chill ran up my back. I tried to smile but no smile would come to my face.
My eyes were large, my face was pale, and I could hear the legionnaire as he cried out “kneel”. And I fell to my knees. But I shut my eyes on the way down and his rude, heavy, hands held my head against the block. I heard the centurion reading the decree that was my sentence of death but it faded out because in the background I could hear a choir, a large choir, begin to sing – “for He shall reign forever and ever hallelujah”. And it got louder – “hallelujah, the kingdom’s of this world shall become the kingdom’s of our God and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever”. The singing grew louder until I could hear nothing else. And when I opened my eyes a little, I could see the figure that I had seen so many times – Jesus of Nazareth – standing before me with His arms outstretched. With His eyes full of compassion as He was beckoning for me and I heard the swishing of the blade through the air and I cried aloud though my voice was silent – “King of Kings and Lord of Lords – hallelujah!”
