This is the second in a three part series "Why"
As always note that this is a manuscript and it's delivery had some additions and subtractions. Your comments are welcome!
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Intro with the Super Bowl and the training it takes to be an athlete on that field…
Many of you know I have signed up to compete in my first Triathalon this June. That’s a race where you swim, bike, and run. I’ve been doing a lot of training and so when this text from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians came up in the lectionary for this Sunday it resonated deeply. As Paul points out there are so many ways the goal, discipline, and focus of training as an athlete relates to our spiritual journeys and our relationships with God. And so I thought we would discuss the need to train this week.
I started training last year in order to run in the Warrior Dash. This thing is crazy, it doesn’t only involve running a 5k but 13 obstacles including a 30 foot wall, mud pits and leaping over fire just to name a few. The event was in May but I started running last February. I have never been a runner. I didn’t do it in high school or college or since. This was the first time ever. I started out by just trying to run to the end of my street and gradually began to add distance. The day of the event I was a nervous wreck. Everyone was ready to go but I started doubting my readiness wondering if I had run enough, far enough, if my endurance was all that it could be. I mean running a 5k is one thing but throw in some obstacles and climbing and add in the fact that some of the running is through the woods in the mountains. Well that is a whole different ball game.
I still say I hate it, running that is, now a year later. Well actually it is kind of a love hate relationship. At least every time I get out and start I hate it. I don’t want to do it. It is such a mental battle, but when I am done, I feel so much better, I know I am closer to my goal and more prepared to accomplish it. I know I have done the work that needs to be done and there are many other positive things that have resulted from the training.
I have run in several 5ks in the last year. That has been great for my training, something to continue to work toward to get a better time and run with others. I have won some nice medals and picked up many t-shirts for my efforts. None of them really matter. They are tokens. I like to think of them as reminders of the journey from where I was to where I am. It has taken a lot of time and effort. It has meant rearranging my schedule to accommodate training. It has meant running and biking in the cold and in the rain. It has meant getting out of my warm cozy bed on Saturday mornings when it is still dark and cold, fully convinced that everyone else on the planet is still sleeping. It has meant doing a lot of things I did not feel like doing because I was working toward an end. I had a goal in mind. It wasn’t going to happen magically. I wasn’t going to be able to roll out of bed one day and run a 5k or swim and ride a bike 13 miles. It took time and intention.
What Paul is writing to the church of Corinth here is that our spiritual fitness takes the same amount of time and energy and intentionality as an athlete in training if we are to grow in our relationship with God. God wants that relationship and has gone to great lengths to have it with each and every one of us through his son Jesus, but like any relationship it is a two way street. It requires effort on our part to grow and build the muscles of our faith, sometimes tiring them out in order that they will develop and mature. Then we are prepared to handle the 30 ft walls that are thrown in our paths midrun when we are already tired and muddy or the fire we have to leap over when we think we have come to the end of the sprint. If you have been disciplined and done the training those obstacles are so much easier to overcome. If you haven’t it is a whole different ball game. Training takes a goal and it takes discipline.
John Wesley would say we are working out our own salvation. Yes Christ’s death on the cross atoned for our sin once for all, but when we accept that gift of God’s love and grace we bear a responsibility, a respons—ability. We are working out our salvation, but we do not do it alone, we do it empowered by the Holy Spirit. We just have to be open to hear that voice calling to us come on Heather you can do it. Come on you’re doing great. You are not here alone.
Many of the things we work hard for in our lives will pass away from this world, all of those medals both real or imagined, but our relationship with God is eternal. Why are you running the race? Is the reward you are seeking one that is perishable or imperishable? Are you running aimlessly or are you training for eternity?
I joined a group this January of others training for their first Tri. They split us up into groups based on what our times were like running a mile. Some of us were faster than others obviously. This has been an amazing experience. It has really helped me improve my time chasing people that are faster than me and being spurred on and encouraged by them as well. I have also had the opportunity to cheer others on and help them with their pace. As the church we can do that for one another. We are all at different parts of our training, of our journeys, and in our relationships with God and in that we are called to spur others on that are coming behind us and run toward those who have gone before us. We have the responsibility to do this for one another as brothers and sisters, fellow athletes, disciplining ourselves to run the race that has been set before us.
Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, gathers and reflects on the stories of a number of people in a variety of walks of life whose success has been remarkable. None of these people, by their own admission, he affirms, were especially talented to do what they did. They all got to where they are today because an opportunity opened up to them that they were committed to take, and they spent at least 10,000 hours of practice in the kinds of skills needed to take advantage of that opportunity. 10,000 hours!
How many hours do you spend on spiritual fitness each week? In prayer, reading the scripture, studying, meditating on the scripture, fasting?
Besides time, my practice requires proper equipment…shoes, the right ones, made all the difference. Bible translation (if you don’t understand the one you have try another, talk to me and maybe I can help you find the right one for you….bike…learning how to use it your equipment…shift the gears at the right time makes a whole lot of difference in your speed and momentum when you are going up hill and down. Do you know how to read your bible? Why fasting is important (not to lose weight) Is prayer intimidating?…helmet…prayer/journal….goggles/see clearly, Do you have the eyes of faith to see the world? Do you need practice seeing people through God’s eyes and loving people with God’s heart using scripture as the lens?
How long will it take you to get to 10,000 hours? Are you a competitor or are you just warming the bench talking about how the athletes on the field could do it better?
I want to encourage you. You can be spiritually fit. It takes a goal. It takes a desire to know the God we say we love and long to spend eternity. It requires discipline—making room in our schedules, doing things we sometimes don’t want to do or are inconvenient or uncomfortable. Like the disciplined training of an athlete, these are the things that will strengthen our spiritual fitness and our relationship with God.
The Warrior Dash, that first race last year with the 13 obstacles was hard. I really had to fight to finish. I wanted to stop and walk off the course so any times. But I didn’t. One of the biggest reasons was I did it with my pastor friend. She had been in hardcore training for her first tri for several months. She completed a half ironman this past September, just to give you an idea of how dedicated she was to her training. During the race she was so great about circling back to run with me, encouraging me to press on and reassuring me I could do it.
Christ has done the hard training, has run before us that we might run toward him, and he is coming back for us. Be encouraged in knowing that you are not running the race alone. The Spirit of Christ runs with you. Your brothers and sisters are here to spur you on to greater victories through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
