This has been a bad week for athletes. Not that we haven’t had many occasions to be disappointed in athletes. It’s an old, old story. We put athletes up on a pedestal. We celebrate their accomplishments. They can’t live up to the expectations. They have some falling and their names are splashed across the headlines. We find ourselves saying things like a little boy was supposed to have said to Shoeless Joe Jackson after the 1919 BlackSox baseball scandal – “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”
So this week it was Alex Rodriguez, maybe the best player in baseball, admitting that he had used steroids to improve his play. He had lots of excuses. He knew he was the highest-paid player in the game and he wanted to justify his salary. He was insecure. Say it ain’t so, Alex.
And it was Michael Phelps, the best swimmer in the world, getting caught smoking what looked like marijuana at a party. We remember him from last summer. We remember the incredible routine he put himself through in order to be ready to swim all those races and win 8 gold medals. We know what hard work it took for him to be at the top of his game, in peak condition. But last week, there he was saying, “I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."[i] Say it ain’t so, Michael!
They’re just the latest. We could add many more to the list. Michael Vick, the great quarterback for Tech and for the Atlanta Falcons who ended up in jail because of his involvement in dog fighting. Darryl Strawberry, Barry Bonds, Mike Tyson…the list goes on and on. Why do they disappoint us so much? They are human after all.
In part it’s because we want to believe that there is an arena in which people will dedicate themselves to being the absolute best that they can be. We want to believe that there are people who have remarkable gifts but who hone their natural talents through hard work and single-minded dedication to be the best that they can be. We want to believe that there are people who don’t take shortcuts, who don’t try to cheat, who don’t take steroids, who live lives in such a disciplined way that they are beyond reproach. When our heroes disappoint us, they take away our confidence that athletic perfection is possible. Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so that the thing we want to believe about you isn’t true.
“All athletes exercise self-control in all things so that they can win a perishable crown, but we do so for an immortal one.” I’ll tell you how old this is. Those were the words of Paul written two thousand years ago to the Corinthian Christians. Paul was trying to get the Christian community in Corinth whipped into shape. They were a distracted bunch, at odds with each other and not really focused on what they needed to be focused on. So Paul uses an athletic image.
He reminds them of the runners who often competed in races near Corinth. The Isthmian games were held very close to the city and his hearers would have known the spectacles that pitted contestants against one another. Paul says, “If you’re going to run in one of these races, you’re going to need to be single-minded. You’re going to need to train and to show self-control. If athletes will do all of this to win a prize that is merely a wreath on their heads that will wither away, how much more should we train for a race in which the prize will not fade away, but last forever?”
Then Paul, who was not really the athletic type from what we know, gives them some humorous images of himself. “You see,” Paul says, “I run, but with a purpose. I’m up early every morning whipping myself into shape. Like Rocky in the meat locker preparing for a boxing match, I’m in heavy training. Because I don’t want to be found talking about the race and not being prepared to run it. I don’t want to be preaching the gospel and not living it.” If you’re going to be an athlete, you’ve got to give it your all.
Paul likes this image of the runners in a race. He uses it a lot. In the letter to the Galatians he says that he went up to Jerusalem to tell the other apostles about his ministry “in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain” [Gal 2:2]. He tells the Philippians in his letter to them that if they live out the gospel he proclaimed to them it will allow him to “boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain” [Phi. 2:16]. Later in that same letter he says that he is pressing “on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” [3:14]. Guide my feet, while I run this race, for I don’t want to run this race in vain.
Do you get the sense that that’s what we’re doing here as Christians? Do you feel like you’re in a race? Is this Christian life that we profess something that guides your whole life? Or is it maybe just window-dressing? And if it’s more than that…if it really is about living a life of purpose and meaning and direction and giving ourselves over to Jesus…why are we content to only give God second-best?
This week I watched a television program that opened my eyes. It was called Kitchen Nightmares and it featured a British chef by the name of Gordon Ramsey. It’s one of those so-called reality shows and the premise of this show is that Ramsey goes into restaurants that are on the verge of failing and spend a week with them to put them on the right track.
Now Ramsey is no model of Christian character. He’s foul-mouthed and arrogant and condescending. But he is a very good chef and he knows how to run a restaurant. He has restaurants all over the world.
So on this show I was watching, he went into a small, family-owned Italian restaurant on Long Island. He started by having lunch and they brought him a crabcake, which was frozen, and some other side dishes which were well-below standard. Chef Ramsey was not pleased.
He was watching the wait staff and the managers and owners, too, and he noticed that there was a lot of tension between them. The owners were a brother and sister. The brother spent all of his time hanging out in the front, drinking espresso and schmoozing with friends. He also was spending a lot of the profits of the restaurant on a nice car and nice clothes. Meanwhile his sister was doing all the work and everybody in the restaurant was trying to work around him.
Back in the kitchen, the equipment was outdated and dirty. Two of the ovens didn’t even work and they were using them for storage. The walk-in refrigerator was leaking and the food was rotting. The chef and all of the kitchen staff were demoralized. Everyone was acting as if they didn’t want to be there. And they didn’t. But they were a restaurant. They had a purpose. Only no one was living up to it.
Chef Ramsey was not going to let them get away with it. Step by step he forced everyone there to look at what they were doing and to reclaim the restaurant. He got them to address the kitchen problems and to get proper equipment. He had them update the menu and the décor. He focused on getting the service improved. And he took on the biggest problem of all – the brother who would not pull his weight and who was eating up the profits. Very forcefully he said, “You are the problem. You’ve got to look at yourself.” And he did.
I know it’s television and I know it’s easy to edit your way to a happy ending on TV. But I found myself very inspired by several things. One – Gordon Ramsey had a vision. He knew what a kitchen and a restaurant were supposed to look like and he was not going to settle for anything less than that. He was going to build the future of the restaurant around that vision.
Secondly, Ramsey was energized by his vision. Everyone else looked tired and dragged out, just like people do when they find themselves in a dead-end job or when they feel trapped by circumstances. Ramsey knew how important it was that the people in that restaurant step out of their discomfort, even if they believed that change was difficult, so that they could experience something new.
Finally, as people in the restaurant owned their purpose and moved forward, they challenged and inspired the people around them to grow and change, too. Their dedication and commitment to excellence was infectious. It sometimes led them into conflict, but when they began to work together you could see smiles and a real sense of camaraderie.
These are the things Paul was encouraging in the Corinthian church! He called them to keep their eyes on the prize – to know why they were doing what they were doing. They weren’t together for no reason – they were the body of Christ! They had heard the good news about Jesus and they had been baptized into the church and now their lives were supposed to look different. They were living for a spiritual kingdom and what they did in their earthly life together was supposed to reflect this new reality. That was the vision that brought them together.
They were supposed to be energized by that vision. When they got distracted by backbiting and when they slipped back into old behaviors and when they thought more about themselves than their neighbors – then they stopped being the church. Paul knew that if they could just claim their identity as people following Jesus rather than their own desires then they would have more energy, more vitality and more abundant life.
Finally, just as with that restaurant, when Christians own their identity and seek to give God the best they have to offer, then they inspire and challenge the Christians around them to offer the best that they have. And they make others who do not know Christ wonder what’s up. The Christian life, when it is alive and vibrant, is a catchy thing. Just like the hook of a song you can’t get out of your head.
I want to challenge you today to give the best that you have to this Jesus that we sing about each week. If you really believe that Jesus represents the way, the truth and the life…if you really want the world to be a better place…if you really are seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteousness…if you really do want to know the joys of heaven, which begin right here on earth…if you really believe that God came into the world to transform the world, including you…if you really believe all of that, why are you holding back anything from God? Why is there anything in your life that you wouldn’t open up for Jesus to do something wonderful with?
You were claimed by God long before you ever knew it and long before you ever responded. You have been invited into a relationship with God through Jesus that never ends. There is a prize waiting for you if you will only claim it. So what are we waiting for? What are we holding back? There’s a race to run. Let’s race to win because we don’t want to run this race in vain. Thanks be to God.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Don’t you know that in the arena all the runners run but only one receives the prize? So you also should run to receive one. All contenders exercise self-control in all things so that they can win a perishable crown, but we do it for an immortal one. So, that’s how I run - not aimlessly. And that’s how I box – not beating the air. But I beat up my body, so to speak, and bring it into submission, so that, having preached to others, I might not be disqualified.
So this week it was Alex Rodriguez, maybe the best player in baseball, admitting that he had used steroids to improve his play. He had lots of excuses. He knew he was the highest-paid player in the game and he wanted to justify his salary. He was insecure. Say it ain’t so, Alex.
And it was Michael Phelps, the best swimmer in the world, getting caught smoking what looked like marijuana at a party. We remember him from last summer. We remember the incredible routine he put himself through in order to be ready to swim all those races and win 8 gold medals. We know what hard work it took for him to be at the top of his game, in peak condition. But last week, there he was saying, “I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."[i] Say it ain’t so, Michael!
They’re just the latest. We could add many more to the list. Michael Vick, the great quarterback for Tech and for the Atlanta Falcons who ended up in jail because of his involvement in dog fighting. Darryl Strawberry, Barry Bonds, Mike Tyson…the list goes on and on. Why do they disappoint us so much? They are human after all.
In part it’s because we want to believe that there is an arena in which people will dedicate themselves to being the absolute best that they can be. We want to believe that there are people who have remarkable gifts but who hone their natural talents through hard work and single-minded dedication to be the best that they can be. We want to believe that there are people who don’t take shortcuts, who don’t try to cheat, who don’t take steroids, who live lives in such a disciplined way that they are beyond reproach. When our heroes disappoint us, they take away our confidence that athletic perfection is possible. Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so that the thing we want to believe about you isn’t true.
“All athletes exercise self-control in all things so that they can win a perishable crown, but we do so for an immortal one.” I’ll tell you how old this is. Those were the words of Paul written two thousand years ago to the Corinthian Christians. Paul was trying to get the Christian community in Corinth whipped into shape. They were a distracted bunch, at odds with each other and not really focused on what they needed to be focused on. So Paul uses an athletic image.
He reminds them of the runners who often competed in races near Corinth. The Isthmian games were held very close to the city and his hearers would have known the spectacles that pitted contestants against one another. Paul says, “If you’re going to run in one of these races, you’re going to need to be single-minded. You’re going to need to train and to show self-control. If athletes will do all of this to win a prize that is merely a wreath on their heads that will wither away, how much more should we train for a race in which the prize will not fade away, but last forever?”
Then Paul, who was not really the athletic type from what we know, gives them some humorous images of himself. “You see,” Paul says, “I run, but with a purpose. I’m up early every morning whipping myself into shape. Like Rocky in the meat locker preparing for a boxing match, I’m in heavy training. Because I don’t want to be found talking about the race and not being prepared to run it. I don’t want to be preaching the gospel and not living it.” If you’re going to be an athlete, you’ve got to give it your all.
Paul likes this image of the runners in a race. He uses it a lot. In the letter to the Galatians he says that he went up to Jerusalem to tell the other apostles about his ministry “in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain” [Gal 2:2]. He tells the Philippians in his letter to them that if they live out the gospel he proclaimed to them it will allow him to “boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain” [Phi. 2:16]. Later in that same letter he says that he is pressing “on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” [3:14]. Guide my feet, while I run this race, for I don’t want to run this race in vain.
Do you get the sense that that’s what we’re doing here as Christians? Do you feel like you’re in a race? Is this Christian life that we profess something that guides your whole life? Or is it maybe just window-dressing? And if it’s more than that…if it really is about living a life of purpose and meaning and direction and giving ourselves over to Jesus…why are we content to only give God second-best?
This week I watched a television program that opened my eyes. It was called Kitchen Nightmares and it featured a British chef by the name of Gordon Ramsey. It’s one of those so-called reality shows and the premise of this show is that Ramsey goes into restaurants that are on the verge of failing and spend a week with them to put them on the right track.
Now Ramsey is no model of Christian character. He’s foul-mouthed and arrogant and condescending. But he is a very good chef and he knows how to run a restaurant. He has restaurants all over the world.
So on this show I was watching, he went into a small, family-owned Italian restaurant on Long Island. He started by having lunch and they brought him a crabcake, which was frozen, and some other side dishes which were well-below standard. Chef Ramsey was not pleased.
He was watching the wait staff and the managers and owners, too, and he noticed that there was a lot of tension between them. The owners were a brother and sister. The brother spent all of his time hanging out in the front, drinking espresso and schmoozing with friends. He also was spending a lot of the profits of the restaurant on a nice car and nice clothes. Meanwhile his sister was doing all the work and everybody in the restaurant was trying to work around him.
Back in the kitchen, the equipment was outdated and dirty. Two of the ovens didn’t even work and they were using them for storage. The walk-in refrigerator was leaking and the food was rotting. The chef and all of the kitchen staff were demoralized. Everyone was acting as if they didn’t want to be there. And they didn’t. But they were a restaurant. They had a purpose. Only no one was living up to it.
Chef Ramsey was not going to let them get away with it. Step by step he forced everyone there to look at what they were doing and to reclaim the restaurant. He got them to address the kitchen problems and to get proper equipment. He had them update the menu and the décor. He focused on getting the service improved. And he took on the biggest problem of all – the brother who would not pull his weight and who was eating up the profits. Very forcefully he said, “You are the problem. You’ve got to look at yourself.” And he did.
I know it’s television and I know it’s easy to edit your way to a happy ending on TV. But I found myself very inspired by several things. One – Gordon Ramsey had a vision. He knew what a kitchen and a restaurant were supposed to look like and he was not going to settle for anything less than that. He was going to build the future of the restaurant around that vision.
Secondly, Ramsey was energized by his vision. Everyone else looked tired and dragged out, just like people do when they find themselves in a dead-end job or when they feel trapped by circumstances. Ramsey knew how important it was that the people in that restaurant step out of their discomfort, even if they believed that change was difficult, so that they could experience something new.
Finally, as people in the restaurant owned their purpose and moved forward, they challenged and inspired the people around them to grow and change, too. Their dedication and commitment to excellence was infectious. It sometimes led them into conflict, but when they began to work together you could see smiles and a real sense of camaraderie.
These are the things Paul was encouraging in the Corinthian church! He called them to keep their eyes on the prize – to know why they were doing what they were doing. They weren’t together for no reason – they were the body of Christ! They had heard the good news about Jesus and they had been baptized into the church and now their lives were supposed to look different. They were living for a spiritual kingdom and what they did in their earthly life together was supposed to reflect this new reality. That was the vision that brought them together.
They were supposed to be energized by that vision. When they got distracted by backbiting and when they slipped back into old behaviors and when they thought more about themselves than their neighbors – then they stopped being the church. Paul knew that if they could just claim their identity as people following Jesus rather than their own desires then they would have more energy, more vitality and more abundant life.
Finally, just as with that restaurant, when Christians own their identity and seek to give God the best they have to offer, then they inspire and challenge the Christians around them to offer the best that they have. And they make others who do not know Christ wonder what’s up. The Christian life, when it is alive and vibrant, is a catchy thing. Just like the hook of a song you can’t get out of your head.
I want to challenge you today to give the best that you have to this Jesus that we sing about each week. If you really believe that Jesus represents the way, the truth and the life…if you really want the world to be a better place…if you really are seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteousness…if you really do want to know the joys of heaven, which begin right here on earth…if you really believe that God came into the world to transform the world, including you…if you really believe all of that, why are you holding back anything from God? Why is there anything in your life that you wouldn’t open up for Jesus to do something wonderful with?
You were claimed by God long before you ever knew it and long before you ever responded. You have been invited into a relationship with God through Jesus that never ends. There is a prize waiting for you if you will only claim it. So what are we waiting for? What are we holding back? There’s a race to run. Let’s race to win because we don’t want to run this race in vain. Thanks be to God.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Don’t you know that in the arena all the runners run but only one receives the prize? So you also should run to receive one. All contenders exercise self-control in all things so that they can win a perishable crown, but we do it for an immortal one. So, that’s how I run - not aimlessly. And that’s how I box – not beating the air. But I beat up my body, so to speak, and bring it into submission, so that, having preached to others, I might not be disqualified.
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