Friday, December 22, 2023

SPORTS FANS

People are serious about sports and their teams. Seriousness is an attribute, but it must be balanced.

Most people love watching sports and glorify their teams that win. If their team loses, they become dismal. Although most watch the race but never participate, they are watchers, not runners, bicyclers, or ball players. To be a runner, you must run. Those who run that you watch are running for themselves and not for you. They get the glory, but you feed off the glory that they receive as if it is you who won the sport.

You need to get serious. You are only a watcher and have no ability to help win or lose, especially if you remain comfortable at home. The best that you can do is to cheer them on, and that makes you only a ‘cheerleader,’ not a player!

Excellence in sports requires much practice. Nobody hits a homerun the first time at bat, and a new runner is left far behind by those who have developed stamina. Sports fans must even enjoy the efforts of those who are naturally better than themselves. Those who win must always give all they have to obtain.

Spectators often love the sport but never put out the effort for themselves to achieve. The nature of man is to love the sport, but not enough to seriously participate.

Those successful runners were not the best in the beginning but through years of practice, they become the best. Few are born ‘supermen’ but some approach that with practice.

One of the most notable events in the 20th century, and maybe even any age, was when Roger Bannister broke the time barrier as he ran faster than a four-minute mile.

Bannister only began to run at age seventeen. Before he ever broke the time barrier, he ran to win in many events. He saw the four minutes as possible as if it was already his, and after running for several years, he won the prize. He saw the goal, not as a barrier, but as already achieved. He ran hard and credited it tom never looking back. He cared little where his opponents might be but saw himself as already there.

Bannister ran in the 1952 Olympiad but never achieved his goal. He did not give up! When least expected he broke the limit of four minutes in 1954 in a meet between the British AAA and Oxford University. It is said that he added graphite to his spiked track shoes so the cinders on the track would not hinder him.

In a spiritual sense, he did not ignore the world but made his shoes swifter to have the advantage, not against his competitors, but to overcome at least some small part of the world. His race was not against his fellow runners but the barrier that most thought was impossible to overcome… time.

Spiritually speaking, the Christian is an Olympic sportsman and the Olympiad is running the race for the prize.

Wisely, Bannister, like the good runner, prepared for the race, “your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” and he did just that with the graphite on his running spikes. The cinders of the track would not hold him back, and as such, Bannister was no longer worried about the collection of cinders to slow him down. In other words, there would not be any trials with the track, but only between himself and his performance.

‘Peace’ is just that; the world having little affect on the runner. The best that Bannister could do, not having the capacity to control the strong winds that day, was to shoe himself with wisdom.

Obviously, the apostle Paul had seen the Olympiad in his travels for he used running as the allegory for following Jesus.

Usually, any race is competitive; and there is more than one runner. The Olympiads had more than one winner, awarding different ‘crowns’ (medals) for various performances, but only one wins the gold medal!

Paul wrote, “Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain” (1 Cor 9:24).

Roger Bannister came to mind because his race was not against competitors; he did not care about their performances but his own. He ran to beat the four-minute hurdle that had always been there. He could have given up, as he planned to do, after the 1952 Olympiad, but he kept on running, not to make a name for himself, but to overcome the limitations of the world. Four minutes, every one ‘knew’ for sure, could never be broken. However, Bannister beat it by less than two seconds. It did not matter how much he beat time, but that he beat it. The same goes for eternity.

That second or two was not much but was all that it took to do the ‘impossible.’ With the barrier overcome, it has now been broken by others. If Roger could do it, what would hinder others? Nothing but themselves and the world.

Sportsmen now even shave their legs to reduce drag as they run, swim, and bicycle. They all do things to diminish the effects of the world that would impede their performances.

Now, consider Christians. The prize is still time; not for breaking any records, but the goal is eternal life. It matters not how much time it takes to obtain the reward; even late runners can run the race for the dash to the finish line. For eternal life — the ‘prize — “Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Mat 19:30). The runners may be successful runners or poor. It does not depend on them, but their inherited abilities; it is not of themselves, perhaps in contrast to Bannister, but of God.

To run the race, the race must be entered, just as Paul wrote. The ‘entry’ is trusting God for your own performance. It is seeing yourself as able to obtain, not by your own performance, but by Divine Virtue that is engendered into your innermost being.

Jesus knew much about Olympiads as well. Whereas modern time is based on Him, time before Christ was based on the year of the Olympiad. It was not only 6 BC when Jesus was born but the 193rd Olympiad.

Time was based on perfection of the runners, and according to Josephus, because the Olympians competed naked, and because it was a pagan event, to enter the race, Jews had to conceal their circumcision. They were essentially still Jews inwardly but Greeks outwardly. How they did that is unknown, but circumcision prevented many Jews from running races in those Olympiads. Paul wrote to the Romans, who were also Olympians, the following advice: 

He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Rom 2:28-29)

 Romans participated in the Olympiad. The competition was between gladiators, so to speak. Each participant had their own god, and the winner exalted whatever god that was in the pantheon of gods. It was if their gods were competing. So, it is with the Judeo-Christian God. We credit our God for our own performances. Sometimes, Christians even blame God for their poor performances even though God was not even invited to the race.

The Jews concealed their lack of foreskins so that they would not be ridiculed. Perhaps, they grew hair to conceal it, or wore camel’s hair to hide their shame. Whatever they did, Paul saw through their efforts to hide their true identities, for him, “He is a Jew, which is one inwardly.”

They could run the race without shame because their hearts were inward and beyond notice. They could endeavor to change their genetics outwardly, but whatever they did, they remained Jews inwardly because their hearts (souls) were the true runners.

Jews competed in the ancient Olympics and still do in the modern. They are still runners in the race and have won 459 medals from 1896 to 2021 (Jew Virtual Library). [1]

Everybody that runs in the race are runners, but to run the Christian race, one must qualify. He must be a Jew inwardly, albeit even a Christian outwardly.

Jews are God’s chosen and peculiar people (Deut 14:2), and all the other runners must be as well (1 Pet 2:9).

The qualification for even running the race to eternal life is to be ‘born again;’ that instills within the runner the Power of God. Jesus said, if it had been in English, “Marvel not, you must be born again” (John 3:7).

Don’t be surprised; the runner must be qualified to enter the race. What must he do? Nothing, but stay still and God qualifies the runner.

Jesus spoke Greek. H really said, “gennao anothen” — “gendered from the beginning” (Strong 2006). As such, the runner, from the start must be engendered with the Power of God, or as it may be, imbued within with the Holy Spirit. If not, it is you running the race, not God holding your hand in tow, so to speak. Running the race to eternal life without the hand of God lifting you from above, you are certain to fail. Not only will the prize not be yours, but you will fall away (Heb 6:6) as if you have never entered the race.

Remember, you are not running to compete, but for time. Just like Roger Bannister ran for the time, so runs the Christian. Of course, his time was temporal but yours to beat eternity.

Many belong to churches that do not teach the necessity of rebirth (born again). You may be in the race for eternal life, but you are not numbered.

I ran the Bowling Green 10k event one year, as if I was a registered runner, just because I had run officially so many times before. Without a number that could be recognized, I was officially not even a runner. I did not stand a chance to even officially finish the race, let alone be timed and recorded as a finisher in their reports. I did not even look for my name in the paper to see how I faired, because it was as if I had never run the race. I had not qualified to even run by paying the entry fee or pinning my number to my shirt. I was running in vain as if I had not run.

Rebirth (born again) is the beginning of the race. God makes you an official runner and provides to you, entry to the race. Paul said, “So run that you may obtain.” You do that by God engendering you to qualify the race. Without the Genome, or Spirit of God, within you, your running, like mine was that time, is in vain.

Rebirth is not biological nor physical in any manner. It is a decision to be a runner to even qualify for the race to the final prize — to live forever and be glorified, as most Olympiads are.

Imagine if you will, the 193rd Olympiad, and you running naked like all the other runners. Suppose you came in first, second, or even third and stand there on your pedestal. Indeed, you have made a name for yourself, if you are Jewish, but when the camouflage is removed, it is revealed that you were not even an official runner. You may be a runner outwardly, but inwardly you are nothing but a Jew. Your God won but only in Spirit; he did not win in the flesh because you have not been engendered by Jesus.

You, although you won a medal, it will do no good because you are not a legitimate runner. You may even have a number on your wrist or in your mind, but you tried to cheat the system.

Unknown is how many runners were Jewish during the 193rd Olympiad, but we do know that was the year that God came in the flesh for anyone to run as if God was running in their place.

My hope is that you enter the race, legitimately. “You must be born again.” You cannot do that yourselves, but Jesus is “Yahweh’s Deliverer.”  You must see Him, the Christ, as God in the flesh. It is not physical work that you do, by training for the race, but asking God to perform for you. Jesus is the Power of God in the flesh, and as such, Jesus must endow you with His Power.

The Power of Jesus is Virtue that goes from Him to you. In the Greek, ‘Virtue’ is dynamis — the miraculous Power of Jesus. It is receiving the dynamics (forces of motion) of Jesus in your being. He becomes the runner inside of you and your flesh just an impedance to even finishing the race. As such, rebirth is Jesus overcoming the world (John 16:33) so that you can run without all the effects of the world hindering you.

Bannister did it with graphite; you must do so with ‘Living Water’ — the Holy Spirit — as if the earth has no effects on you.

Jesus demonstrated the Power of faith when He walked on water. He knew that He had overcome the world. Peter had faith to see that it was possible, but not enough faith to do it on his own. Jesus had to take him by the hand and pull him to the finish line… back to the boat. Peter had enough faith to enter the feat, but not enough to get all the Way to Christ. He soon saw that he had not depended on Jesus but his own power, and in that contest, Jesus got him all the Way to safety.

Peter got serious when he entered the water. He did not even try swimming because Jesus was the example on how to remain safe. The turbulence, for a while, never impeded him; it was the ‘graphite’ on his sandals that kept him up.

When he took his eyes off Jesus, he was swamped and quicky his faith fell away. The point is that Peter took his eyes off Jesus and did that often. All the time, Jesus kept him safe, but then he too was crucified. As it turned out, with Jesus gone, Peter kept his eyes on the Cross that was left behind, and that saved him in the end.

Peter was serious about Jesus. He was as serious about finishing the race that Jesus won for him — to eternity. just as Bannister was to defeat time using his own endurance.

Born again is when a sinner first gets serious about Jesus. That we are all destined to die but there is an opportunity to live forever. The runner to the prize cannot run part of the race but all the way to the finish line, “He that endures to the end shall be saved” (Mat 10:22). All the runners must run and run with seriousness and even with much hardship.

We must endure what? “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him” (Jas 1:12).

Blessed is winning the prize. Bannister won the prize, not in competition with other runners but himself against time. He endured the race to the end. Four minutes to run a mile required stamina, strength, speed, and endurance. He overcame the limitations of the world. He did so, perhaps, by his own power.

Sir Roger Bannister was a lifelong Christian, and he made a name for both himself and Christ. He is now a ‘lord’ but Jesus, during the race for eternal life, was Lord of lords. Jesus as well have won the race for Sir Roger because he credited Christ for his strength.

We all need to be serious. Bannister won the race, but it is well known that he was a Christian. His prize was not defeating the time limit but receiving time without limit. His prize was eternal time because it was as if Jesus was running for him.

So, you love sports? You have a choice, you know? You can either be a spectator and watch for the thrill of it all, while others run and win, or you can win yourself by running with enthusiasm and perseverance. You must be serious about running and even more serious about running hard!

The problem with so many Christians is that they are spectators who watch for Christ to hand them the prize but even fail to reach out to receive it. So many take the Name of God in vain; not even realizing that the crucifixion of Jesus was Him handing you the ‘baton’ of the Cross to run after Him all the Way there.

So many love the sport of it all, and even the rituals associated with entry, but then fail to run the race in seriousness. They have good intentions but as soon as the running gets hard, like poor sportsmen, they abandon the ‘team’ that goes on to win without us.

Most who call themselves ‘Christians’ are merely spectators to the universal ‘Olympiad.’ They have never entered the race for life at all but expect it for merely watching God’s Team overcome the forces of evil. You must be part of that; watching the race is not you that is winning it!




 

 

 

 



[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/

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