Go for the Gold
1st Part: Get in the Game
Keep Going
Hebrews 12:1
12 We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up.
Olympic history is filled with stories of athletes who gave all they had and then some in an attempt to capture the gold. It’s this willingness to go the extra distance and put out the extra effort that the writer of Hebrews refers to when encouraging you to RUN WITH PERSEVERANCE the race God has marked out for you. There is a major difference between the Summer Olympics and in the Olympics of Life. In God’s Olympics anyone who finishes wins the Gold!
You can’t keep going until you get started!
These are simple words and yet they are so profound. No one in all of history has ever won a race that they did not run. That sounds so logical and yet it is not quite true.
In the ancient Greek games the rich would have their servants compete in the chariot races in their name. If the servant won the master would gain the crown.
There really is something messed up about a system like that. And let me tell you that it will not work in the spiritual realm. You’re not going to become a spiritual champion because somebody ran the race for you. You’re not going to make it to heaven because your mom or dad or grandparent or spouse ran a great race and became a world-class Christian. You actually have to get in the race and get started.
And when I say that you have to get in the game I’m not merely talking about just deciding to believe in Jesus.
It is possible to be an athlete and yet not compete. Some athletes want to wear the uniform put they don’t want to put out the effort to run the race. They will never win because they will never try.
So what are you waiting for?
The game clock is running right now. Unfortunately it’s not like they Olympics today with the clocks boldly proclaiming the time. In real life we don’t know what the game clock says.
How much time do you have left? What are you doing with the time you have? Do you realize how valuable your time is?
To realize the value of a year, ask a student who has just failed the exam needed to pass a course of study. To realize the value of a month, ask a mother who has just given birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of an hour, ask lovers who only have one left before they are separated. To realize the value of a minute, ask a student who just missed the bus. To realize the value of a second, ask a driver who has just avoided an accident. To realize the value of a millisecond, ask a silver medallist who had to settle for second place in the Olympics.
In a lifetime the average American will spend:
Six months sitting at stoplights
Eight months opening junk mail
One year looking for misplaced objects
2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls
4 years doing housework
5 years waiting in line
6 years eating
13 years watching television
(Davon Huss – SermonCentral)
What are you going to do with the time you have left? Don’t worry about how you may have miss spent your time up to this point. It’s not too late to get in the game today.
You have to commit the time and you have to put out the effort!
DAVE jumps up and says: “Hey Rick, you’re right about it taking time and effort to make finish the race and I have something that will help everyone really understand! Do you mind? [Rick – no go right ahead]
Ok… I want all the kids in kindergarten all the way through the fifth grade to come up in front of the side walk for a special activity and treat…
2nd Part: Don’t Throw In The Towel
Hebrews 12:1
12 We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up.
Don’t give up.
Keep on keeping on. Don’t quit. Don’t throw in the towel. We know all of the clichés. But there is great truth here.
To be a world-class athlete you can’t quit. To be a Spiritual Champion you can’t quit! Quitters never win and winners never quit.
Did you here about the guy in the 2000 Olympics who won the gold medal in 400-meter hurdles even though he quit half way through the race? No? You didn’t? That’s because it never happened! You don’t bring home the gold by quitting in the middle of the competition.
You don’t become a spiritual champion by quitting.
Paul Stacy - my dad – is my hero in the faith. (Interview with dad)
How long have you been a follower of Jesus?
Have you ever considered quitting?
Why didn’t you quit?
3rd Part: Run the Race Given You
John Stephen Akhwari
An amazing story came out of the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City. The closing ceremonies had just been completed. The spectators and athletes, still warm from the euphoria of the celebration, were gathering their belongings to leave the stadium. Then the announcer asked them to remain in their seats. Down the boulevard came the whine of police sirens. From their vantage point, many in the stadium could see motorcycles with their flashing blue lights, encircling someone making his way toward the stadium. Whoever it was, he was moving slowly.
Everyone remained seated to see the last chapter of the Olympics take place. By the time the police escort got to the stadium, the public address announcer said that a final marathoner would be making his way into the arena and around the track to the finish line. Confusion was evident among the crowd. The last marathoner had come in hours ago. The medals had already been awarded. What had taken this man so long? The first sign of the runner making his way out of the tunnel and onto the track told the whole story.
John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania, covered with blood, hobbled into the light. He had taken a horrible fall early in the race, whacked his head, damaged his knee, and endured a trampling before he could get back on his feet. And there he was, over 40 kilometers later, stumbling his way to the finish line.
The response of the crowd was so overwhelming it was almost frightening. They encouraged Akhwari through the last few meters of his race with a thundering ovation that far exceeded the one given the man who, hours earlier had come in first. When Akhwari crossed the finish line, he collapsed into the arms of the medical personnel who immediately whisked him off to the hospital.
The next day, Akhwari appeared before sports journalists to field their questions about his extraordinary feat. The first question was the one any of us would have asked, "Why, after sustaining the kinds of injuries you did, would you ever get up and proceed to the finish line, when there was no way you could possibly place in the race?" John Stephen Akhwari said this: "My country did not send me over 11,000 kilometers to start a race. They sent me over 11,000 kilometers to finish one." (SermonCentral – John Harvey)
He was running for himself he was running for his country and so he refused to quit. When you are tempted to throw in the towel remember that you are not running for fame or fortune, but for your God. It doesn’t matter that you may set no world records. It doesn’t matter whether you finish first or last. God has called you to live this life and he expects you to finish the race. Here’s the secret with God. Everyone who finishes gets the gold.
Maybe you’ve moved away from the sidelines and have gotten involved in the game. Maybe you came out of the blocks well and got off to a great start. But you still need to finish what you’ve started. Maybe it’s not as exciting as it used to be. Maybe things are going the way you planned. Maybe you’re working hard and no one seems to appreciate it. Maybe you feel like throwing in the towel this morning, but don’t. God will help you.
Hebrews 12:1
12 We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up.
Folks not only must you run the race – you must run the Race given you to run…
Racers have to stay in their lanes. They have to follow the rules. Then have to run the race they are given to run. They can’t make up their own course, route or race. If they do they will be disqualified – it’s that simple.
If a sprinter or swimmer uses a dolphin kick during the breaststroke they’ll be disqualified. If a marathoner runs the wrong route he will be disqualified. If a sailor in a sailing competition sails off course he will be disqualified.
Why are they so strict about these rules? Aren’t they kind of old fashioned? I mean in our modern era of ‘do your own thing’ thinking shouldn’t athletes be allowed to run any route they want? Of course not! Nothing could be more foolish. A race with no route would be utterly meaningless. Can you imagine the gun firing and all the racers scattering in different directions. How would you know who won? Where would the finish line be? How long would the race be? When would it be over? There would be no answers to any of these questions without a racing route. Without a route the race wouldn’t be a race.
People like this are a little like Alice in Wonderland.
In a conversation between her and the Cheshire Cat, Alice asked, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don’t much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the cat.
When you run the race but fail to find the right course life just doesn’t make sense…
Lots of people have discovered this to be true.
For example, H.G. Wells, famous historian and philosopher, said at age 61: "I have no peace. All life is at the end of the tether."
The poet Byron said, "My days are in yellow leaf, the flowers and fruits of life are gone, the worm and the canker, and the grief are mine alone."
The literary genius Thoreau said, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation."
Ralph Barton, one of the top cartoonists of the nations, left this note pinned to his pillow before taking his own life: "I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am fed up with inventing devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day."
(Morning Glory, May 29, 1993)
Hebrews 12:1
12 We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up.
It is your relationship with God that makes life complete.
Without that relationship, there is a void, a vacuum in life. Many people, even those who are well-known, can attest to that void.
God brings meaning and purpose into your life. Without him there is something missing and life just doesn’t make sense.
The race before you is a race that leads to God...
We are not called to run just any old race we choose in any way we see fit. According to this verse there is a specific race that has been marked out for each of us to run.
Discover God’s plan for your life - get in that race and then Keep Going!
Your race is probably different from mine. In fact your race is uniquely yours to run. God has a plan and a purpose for your life that only you can fulfill.
You do have to keep going but you are never alone… never ever…
We have each other – that’s what church is about. We are like the Olympic Gymnastic or swimming team – each person alone – each person part of a team.
We have Jesus – that is what he is about. He will never let you down. I know that because he already paid the ultimate price for you to win the goal – just finish the race. If you following the course that God has laid out before you, I can guarantee that you will bring home the gold.
Eric Sherman is going to come and lead us into a time of communion with our Lord in this beautiful place this morning…
