What’s in a Greeting?

Let me begin by welcoming you to the first time for me to teach on a Sunday night! I am honored to be here tonight and feel blessed that Pastor Eric felt comfortable letting me speak here tonight.

As I began the thought process of what to talk about tonight, I was repeatedly reminded that I am here because of God, not anything I have done to earn the right. However, since this is my first experience teaching to a large crowd, I decided to focus on two topics that are my favorite topics to read and study, God and triathlon. Now I have you wondering, what in the world do those two things have in common?? Hopefully by the end, I will have answered that for you.

What’s in a Greeting?

Galatians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—”

So, as I begin, let me open with the verse that I want to expound on tonight: Galatians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—”

A little back story:

Galatians was written by Paul to the church at Galatia. There is some debate still regarding whether this was directed to the Northern Church or Southern Church. Depending on which side of the debate you fall, this dates the letter to either roughly the mid 40’s AD or the late 50’s AD.

During this time, there were agitators within the church causing conflict within the congregation. What the debate specifically centered on, which was circumcision, has little relevance to us today. However, the overall theme and purpose is still relatable today.

As we see from Paul’s letter, there were false ideas and teaching in the church that caused Paul to take action. Even though today there is no real debate regarding circumcision, the idea that a person has to do something first to become Christian remains relevant. Today we see this in two ways: Legalism And Works based theology

These are two traps that some regions still fall into today. Paul wanted to make sure that each person understood that everything pointed back to Jesus. Everyone is saved by faith is in Jesus, not by works, the law, or a man. By many scholars accounts, the central verse and overarching theme of the letter Galatians happens in chapter 2 verse 20 which says “I have been crucified with Christ, It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”

Now I would like to look at the wording that Paul chose. I do not think this was by accident. Paul made a point of pointing back to Jesus in his statement. During this time, Paul was a central figure in Christianity. He had completed missionary work, founded churches, and was an outspoken defender of Jesus. Many individuals looked to him for leadership and guidance, to the point that some placed him on equal footing with Jesus. This signals a transition to idol worship, and Paul quickly points this out to them. We see in his first letter to the Corinthians that he admonishes the congregation for even having this debate. He clearly states this in

1Cor 1:12 12 What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I thank God[a][b] that I baptized none of you”

Knowing how Paul feels about such things, I see his greeting to the Galatians as an expression of this as well. In a way, he is saying to the church “I will give you direction, but I am not Jesus”. Our focus should be on worshiping God not a man.

Now, I understand that we do not have an issue with circumcision today in the church, or in whether one person or another must meet some archaic law to worship with us, but there is a way in which I still see this verse applied today. And that is on the core meaning of man worship. In our modern time, we have the tendency to fall into this trap.

I think we have seen this play out in all aspects of our lives. It may not be a “man” perse but Idol worship is alive and well in our churches today.

Examples include:

Professional/College Football: Having lived in TX, I can vouch for this. There are many individuals there that equate Longhorns football as a religion, and they mean it. People feel like they are living and dieing with every play.

Social Media Influencers: This is the biggest transition in society that I can remember in a while. Suddenly, anyone with a camera can change the world. Trends are being set, medical advice given, and health recommendations are taken at their face value.

Online Ministers: Even good things can become bad. This is an area that I had to address within myself. When we relocated from Dallas to Tulsa, we had a rough time finding a home church at first. We found ourselves comparing things to our previous church and deciding that we would just attend “virtually”. Technology made that possible.

When I took this look at myself, I realized that I had lost the focus of who really ran my life. No longer was I letting Jesus direct my path, but I had began to let myself be in charge. I am not sure how or why that had changed, but I could see the cracks in my spiritual life it was creating.

To put things back into the proper context, I reverted back to something that I could relate to and understood, and that was triathlon’s.

Let me tell you this story:

My discovery of triathlon preceded my conversion and was the first thing that truly changed my life. When I started training and racing, I had reached a breaking point with my health. I had become very overweight, had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and borderline diabetes. Not a way to start your adult life.

I thought about a way that even at this point in my life I could still use my athletic skill and competitiveness to improve my situation. In this search I found triathlon: This gave me an opportunity to be competitive, burn calories, surround myself in community and grow. Triathlon forced me to set goals, work for them, and for the first time in my life care about what I put in my body.

As I continued to train and compete, I fell in love with the sport. I loved the experience and the challenge. Im a pretty competitive person, so I wanted to finish more competitive in my age group and increase my success. I felt that this was a sport that I could be good at.

To do this, I knew that I needed guidance. I needed someone that could help organize my workouts, keep me interested, and help me have a vision for where I wanted to go.

I decided to add a coach to my team. Once I had that piece in place, things started to get better and improve. Now someone else was in control.

Later in life, I also began attending church. I found my relationship with Jesus as just as rewarding to my life. I knew that Christianity was far more important than triathlon, so I wanted to improve in this as well. I decided to relate my walk with God with my experience in Triathlon. That is just how my brain thinks and in this process, I saw the similarities between triathlon and Christianity:

1. It’s a team activity: Without a supportive community, its destined to fail

2. You have to put quality into your body to have a quality output

3. You need someone that has unparallel knowledge on the subject

4. There has to be a goal.

5. You have to have someone that can help motivate you to stay on the path

How does this Relate

So, in a way, I realized that Jesus had become my Christian “Coach”. This was something that I wanted to know more about and wanted to focus on. Like Paul, I wanted to be a follow of Jesus, not of man. Lets take a closer look at each of these similarities.

I. Community is Vital

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

As we can see from this scripture, we are directed to interact with one another. Even with a solitary sport like triathlon, there is a team involved. No one gets to the finish line alone.

We can begin our look at this all the way back in Genesis. Adam was originally alone in the Garden of Eden, yet God decided “It is not good for man to be alone”, so a companion was created for him.

Surrounding yourself with community is a way to move each of us beyond our self-centeredness and isolation. We can begin to live authentic lives and have relationships that move beyond superficial. Things can happen when you truly start doing life together.

1. You suddenly have a source of accountability and guidance

a. Share your struggles and ask for help

b. Many times, there will be someone further along to help you avoid similar mistakes

2. A way to see Christ in others

a. See how others are living out the Gospel. Join them

3. You have a place to serve others

a. Community allows you to have a servant heart. Help in times of trouble and celebrate in times of success

4. Church becomes smaller

a. Suddenly you are more than a Sunday attender

5. You learn to care about other personalities that you may not have otherwise

We are directed to have a strong support system, as we are told that “three strands are not easily broken.

So how do we do this today? Find someone to live out life with. It can start with just a common hobby or stage of life. But it also must be deliberate. Community and maturity in Christ takes time to develop, so you have to be patient with the process.

II. Quality in/Quality out

Proverbs 4:23 “23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”

This is something that on the surface we all know and makes sense. I know for me it did, but I also found myself justifying a different approach. You can’t imagine how many times I heard that when you are training for an Ironman event “its great, you can eat as much of whatever you want!”

Hearing this sounds amazing! But the reality is completely different. You learn quickly that fueling with the wrong things slows you down, kills your motivation, and makes you feel depressed.

The same thing can happen in our spiritual life as well. On the surface we can make the argument that we are watching a show “because its funny” or listen to a band “because I like the beat”. Justification is simple.

What we learn, just like I did, as that that is still penetrating your brain. The words and the attitude are still deep down somewhere, just looking for a way to get out.

This is what makes the verse so true, eventually it will make it way to our heart and get out.

Along with this is how you treat others. One thing that I really enjoy at a triathlon is that you see any type of person, athletic ability, and racing style you can imagine. Everything from a retired professional athlete to a beginner that just decided to get off the couch. But everyone is cheered for the same. I have never heard anyone be rude or criticize anyone on the course.

That is something that should carry over into our walk with Jesus as well. Our words have Power! They can build up, and they can tear down. There will be times that you must bring something negative to someone, that is biblical too. But there is a right way to do this.

So how do we apply these ideas?

1. Love!! We should love each other well. Choose words that build someone up. Even criticsims is approached in a loving way can be affirming.

2. Stop the internal bickering. Each person is a reflection of God. Love them as such. No matter where they are from, what color they are, or how much they have they are the image of God. They deserve love and respect.

3. Love the difficult people because you are one

4. Protect yourself and your thoughts. Stay true to your beliefs and “guard you heart”

5. Care about what you put into your mind through your eyes and your ears.

III. Jesus has unparalleled knowledge

Psalms 139:1-2

“Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away.”

When I began this adventure, I had the misconception that I just had to do all three disciplines and over time, I would get better and faster. I thought the way to run more was to just run more. Same with biking and swimming. A year later, I knew that that was the wrong way to do things. I had to find someone that knew how to get better and teach me the process.

What I learned over time was that there were styles of training, different types of workouts, and recovery time. This had to be put in a specific order, at specific times to allow the body to fully adapt and perform.

The same thing is true in our walk with God. We should have someone that knows the scripture. We should have someone that knows how to perform on this Earth in a way that glorifies God.

There is no doubt that Jesus is that person. There are 66 books in the Bible that are meant to educate us on the way of God. As a whole, these 66 books tell us a story of love and grace. As we study the word, we can see a story of a perfect, divine man that came to this Earth to make a way to heaven for us.

Like with training, our spiritual growth takes time and training as well. There will be times that we find ourselves in the overflowing spirit of God. There will be other times that we find ourselves in a desert. Each one offers us the chance to grow and develop into the person God wants us to be.

Knowledge should also produce Authenticity

With knowledge you can see the authenticity of Jesus as well. When I talk about being authentic, I am meaning is that we do not compromise our own beliefs to please others. Do we live what we teach? Do we produce actions that are strong representatives of Jesus? I think this is where many of us fall short, but Jesus stands out. On a good day, we might make it to 8am before we short of the divine standard. That is why Paul reminds us frequently that we are sinners.

One thing that stands out from this perspective for me is also the humility and servant heart Jesus carried. You see this in his actions for everyone that he encountered.

Jesus shows us the standard of how to live. Even with the knowledge that perfection is not possible, we are always in the pursuit of improvement. Each day, we are offered the opportunity to be a better version of ourselves. Do not conform.

Another aspect of authenticity is servanthood. How good of a job are you doing serving others? While on this Earth, Jesus made sure to demonstrate this to us. He truly served others. Where we struggle with this today is in the concept of humility. You can not be a servant without first being humble. I feel as though that is why we are taught that we must die to ourselves each day. We need to live out Paul’s words “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,” and be willing to look at yourself.

When you look at yourself what characteristics do you see?

Did your pick the proper coach? Did you surround yourself with other members of the community?

Proverbs 27:17

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

When you look at yourself what characteristics are you demonstrating?

You will become what you surround yourself with

Proverbs 13: 20

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

In either case, if you do not like what you see, you need to take action. Draw a circle around yourself and fix what you do not like.

IV: Have a Goal

Romans 10:9: “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Every time you start a race in triathlon you have a goal. This is pretty simple: Finish at the finish line. Your walk with God should be no different. Our Goal should be to finish in heaven.

When we talk about goals, they have components to them. One is they should be obtainable. Two, they should be measurable.

Jesus Has our Goals at heart:

When we look at the first aspect of a goal, you can already see a problem without Jesus: Eternity is not obtainable without the help of Jesus. There is not amount of good works that can earn our right to reside in heaven. Jesus knows this and is ready to help us, so ready he hung on a cross to make it possible. We just have to confess our sins and believe in the resurrection!

So now this goal is obtainable.

So how do we measure our goals:

By having the goal in place, a plan to get us there can be set or “a short-term goal. What can you do today? How do you grow closer to God daily and move towards eternity?

We take each day as an opportunity to focus on Jesus. He told us that today, we can focus on him because “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Don’t misunderstand, no one reaches a goal just because its there. You have to do your part as well. Jesus told us, He will Get us to the finish line. But we must do our part. We do this by:

Training hard

Read the Bible

This is your playbook to life. Without knowing this, you are lost. God speaks to you through this book, make sure you listen.

Pray Daily:

Think of this as texting or emailing your coach. You have to have communication to talk about what went right and what went wrong. If you are not praying, how do you expect God to help you?

But more importantly, I surround myself with the words and the love of God.

V. Provide Motivation

Heb 12:1-2: “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.”

Motivation is an important part of anything. A good motivator is able to instill confidence in you and a desire to be a better version of yourself. They can also keep you humble on the peak, and motivate you from the valley? Without motivation, many of us would stray from our walk with God in times of trouble. We need that reassurance that eternity offers. No matter how terrible things are here, we have a “place with not death, or pain. No tears”. This is what helps us escape the valleys.

What about the peaks? How do we stay humble? What I have found for this is accountability. A quality accountability partner is vital to humility. The should be someone able to figure you out and call you out when you are not acting appropriately. We all need this because no matter what we think, Jesus knows our heart and motivation. We may think we are hiding or sneaking around, but we are only fooling ourselves with that thought.

So how does this look in practice?

Be teachable

No matter how good the coach is, if you do not listen and want to learn, you will not

'"IM NOT PERFECT. I"'M NEVER GOING TO BE. AND THAT'S THE GREAT THING ABOUT LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND TRYING TO LIVE BY FAITH, IS YOU'RE TRYING TO GET BETTER EVERY DAY"——TIM TEROW

One way we stay teachable is humility. We need to know that we are a sinner!

Be an active participant

Coaches lay out the plan, but athletes have to execute it

We should work daily at our “sport”. Do not forget that you are a direct reflection of your coach.

Without motivation, you are just checking the box

“A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who they have always known you could be.” Tom Landry

Conclusion:

I hope there was something in this tonight that resonated with you and stirred your heart. God wants the best for us, and we should also expect that from ourselves.