Running the Race of Faith and Hope

Introduction

It has been a wild week yet again as we begin our second quarter. Fall KAIAC Sports are starting to finish up and now winter sports are around the corner. It is pretty amazing that God has blessed us with a school that can operate almost normally in the midst of this pandemic. I am sure that this COVID time has been hard not only on you but also on your families. I think about how many lives have been effected even at this school with how much the virus has reshaped the world.

I hope that these things get you to consider where you are spiritually in all this. Maybe you do not think of yourself in that way, but I am sure many of us have questioned why all this is happening. Though many of us cannot give an answer that will satisfy everyone, I am confident in a God who has all things under control. My life may seem crazy sometimes, but there is a rock-solid stability that does not come from me, but rather comes from what I call faith.

Maybe you have heard that faith is a journey? I have heard that as well. I took a journey recently over Chuseok. I made my second trip down to Busan by bicycle.

Here is a picture of me at the finish line.

I cannot tell you how many people have come up to me and said how could you do that. It is probably because when they take one look at me, they don’t see a strong person. They don’t see someone athletic, they just see a simple music teacher.

When I was applying to work here at GSIS, a man named John Bertken contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in coaching. I told him that I would be thrilled to “assist” the LSS students. I had 0 coaching experience and I just wanted to go out and have a good time with students. He looked at me and said, “No, I think you would do fine with USS Cross Country, we have a head coach who will take care of things.” So I was totally ignorant of what I was required to do. I just followed directions. The head coach would say, teach them strides, and I would say, “What is that?” Then she would show me and then eventually I got the hang of it.

Then one year, she was gone. I considered not taking on the head coach position because, hey what do I know about coaching cross country?

Now it has been a couple of years, and I can honestly say that I love coaching cross country. I learn new things every year. I have learned that it is very hard to squeeze an entire cross country season into a month!

Now why am I bringing all this up? I want to show that all of us are in a race and each performs differently. Let us read a text together. This is a passage from Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Corinth. He is speaking about how we should behave as Christians and he suddenly says this:

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Over the last two weeks, we have been discussing the Journey of Faith and the Hope we have in Christ. I want to speak to you about running races because now after coaching for a few years, I understand the sport of running a lot more than I used to. I want to continue to consider what it means to have both faith and hope while using the metaphor that Paul uses.

Running with faith

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is frustrated with their lack of faith. They are not able to control themselves. They behave as poor examples as to what a Christian should be. What do I mean? Well for one, in this church a man married his stepmom. Not only that they were proud of their behavior. It continues. They also were suing one another before the courts. Basically, they were making a mockery of Christianity. Finally, they were eating food offered to idols which was a violation of not only the OT law, but it was confusing those people who may one day believe in Jesus.

We have a word for this: hypocrisy. Maybe this is why the world seems to not be interested in Christianity. The followers don’t seem to be any different than the rest of the world.

In the early church, this was not so. The Christians were the ones caring for one another, giving up all they owned, laying down their lives for people, adopting the orphans, and caring for widows.

Now the Corinthians seem to be like an apple with a rotten core. Christian on the outside, but inside no different than the other people around them.

Consider yourself if you call yourself a Christian. What kind of life do you live? Is it one where people say, that person is definitely a Christian or would your friends be surprised if you called yourself that?

What has happened here?

1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

Paul says that in a race there is only one who wins first place. You don’t run a race to lose. One thing my runners always say before the race is that they do not want to come in last place. Why not? No one enjoys being last. It is hard when you know so many people have run before you and they did it faster.

Why is a runner not fast? Sometimes it is because running is new to that person. Sometimes it is because they have an injury. Sometimes it is because they forgot to sleep the night before or eat the right food.

This relates to our faith as well. Some of us may be new to believing in Jesus; some of us may be dealing with a lot of doubt; some may be wrapped up into sinful things and illegal activities.

What this shows is a lack of faith. You don’t believe that you can make it to the end. You feel like giving up and you think the race is over even before it is even started.

See a running a race is a bit overwhelming at first. 5km is just far enough that it is exhausting just thinking about how long your feet are going to have to pound the ground and how much your lungs are going to have to pump air.

Paul says that it requires self-control to run a race. My runners know this. The brain is constantly yelling stop, give up, walk…

1 Corinthians 9:25 ESV

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

But there is an end goal to our faith. There is a prize at the end: eternal life. Maybe you don’t believe that yet, but is that because you cannot see the finish line yet. If you knew that the finish line was right around the corner would you give up? I don’t know how long I will live. I pray to God that I get to live a long life and enjoy my kids growing up and hopefully grow old with my wife. But if tomorrow, God tells me that the race is over and I am going to cross the finish line, I pray that I am faithful and sprint to the end showing my Father how much I want to earn that prize.

The real reason we don’t run this race however is not only that we do not have faith, but we have also lost hope.

Running with hope

The brain tells a runner whether or not it is capable of continuing. As we run, the brain is receiving signals from all over the body. The brain starts off great, but as time goes on the body starts to get worn down from running. Suddenly a pain rises from the foot, the chest starts to hurt, there might be a pain in the side. Gasping for breath, the brain begins to send the signal to slow down or stop. This where true racers live. It is a balance of denying the brain and pushing their bodies to the limit to brink of collapse.

I tell my runner’s if they are able to answer the question, “What is your name?” at the end of the race, then they did not run hard enough.

So many times runners will come through the finish line and say, “I could have done better.”

In our life, we have only one race. The beginning is when you were born and the end is when you die. Now if you are running the race of faith in Jesus you are on a particular course set for a goal which is eternal life. We are not wondering around aimlessly for we have hope that we will receive this prize that is promised.

1 Corinthians 9:26 ESV

So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

Paul switches his metaphor from running to boxing briefly as he tries to explain that those who call themselves Christians are not running around with no hope, but instead we run with a goal in mind.

Last Saturday, there was a terrible hill my runners had to run. Many of my runners said they wanted to walk the hill. A couple of runners not from GSIS did walk the hill. What was the difference? Is it because GSIS runners are just better? I think what it actually was that they didn’t feel like they could walk the hill when their coach was standing at the top yelling for them to run to the top. In a sense, they wanted to prove to me that they could not stop. However, the other schools who had students that walked, their coach was not standing at the top. There was not an expectation for them to run seeing as no one was watching.

Is it not this same reason why we as Christians also give up? When our faith in Jesus begins to falter, we also start to lose hope. If we lose sight of Jesus, suddenly the end goal seems really distant and far off.

As a runner, it is a terrible feeling as you start to slip behind in the group which causes you to become more and more defeated.

Maybe this is where some of us are on in our journey and race. We have had things shake our faith that we once thought we had and now we have lost hope. Now you are running aimlessly...

It is no fun to lose hope.

I urge you today. If you have lost hope and you don’t know how to make up some ground let me share with you one last point.

Finish Strong

So what happens to a runner when they know they might not make it first place. They realize that coming in last place is something they would rather not do. So, there is a decision that is made during the run to finish as best as they can.

Paul says in 1 Cor 9:27

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

To rise out of the slump of no hope during the middle of the race, a runner must reach deep down and put their mind on the runner in front. They must tune out all distraction and lead the way.

On last Saturday, I had one such runner who has disciplined their body over the last couple of weeks by running 10km on their own outside of practice. They were not prompted to do this except for the fact that they were learning how to discipline their body. This 10km run was put to the test. Not only was the runner able to get their own Personal Record, but I saw something incredible. In the final stretch as the runner was climbing the hard hill for the third time, two runners stood in his way to the finish line. At the bottom of the hill, this runner summoned the remainder of their strength and put all their focus into getting to the finish. Well what do you think happened? This runner passed both those runners on the hill sprinting to the end with fiery speed.

Running a race is simply a metaphor that was used today to highlight the journey we all are on.

Just as Paul who wrote this letter was nearing the time of his death he wrote these closing words to a young man named Timothy.

2 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

This man Paul looks back at his life and declares his life successful because he has seen the Lord’s faithfulness during the entire journey. When the Corinthians were in the midst of sin, surely he wanted to lose hope because those people who he tried to preach Christ struggled to be godly.

Yet, one day we will be judged as it says in Heb 9:27

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

There is a finish line for your life. Everyday matters. If you have messed up during this race and you have tripped or stumbled, you can pick back up and call on Jesus who is founder and perfecter of our faith.

Hebrews 12:1–3 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Let us then run with both faith and hope and give thanks to God for giving us the grace necessary to run and forgiveness when we fall.