Running to Win
Running to Win
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Introduction: Anne Scheiber died in 1995 at the age of 101. For years she had lived by herself in a tiny run-down apartment in Manhattan. The paint on her walls was peeling and everything was covered with dust. Scheiber lived on Social Security and a small monthly pension which she began receiving when she retired from the IRS in 1943. At age 51, when she retired, she was making only $3,150 per year. Those who knew her say she was the model of thrift. She didn’t spend money on herself. When her furniture wore out, she kept on using it. She wouldn’t even subscribe to a newspaper; rather she went to the library once per week to read The Wall Street Journal. Norman Lamm, the president of Yeshiva University was literally blown away when he learned that this poor old woman left her entire estate to his university – $22 million! How did she do it? One day at a time. She had managed to save $5000 by the time she retired in 1943. She invested that in stocks. "By 1950, she had made enough profit to buy 1000 shares of Schering-Plough Corporation stock, then valued at $10,000. And she held onto that stock, letting its value build. Today those original shares have split enough times to produce 128,000 shares, worth $7.5 million" (21 Laws… John Maxwell)
Anne Scheiber understood the value of investing for the long haul. Whether her stocks went up or down, she never sold it off. When she earned dividends, she kept investing and reinvesting them. While most people become poorer the older they get, she became wealthier. We can learn a valuable spiritual lesson from Anne Scheiber’s story: worthwhile investments take time to mature.
I’m not so much interested in your net worth or your financial health as I am your spiritual health, where you are on the ladder of spiritual maturity. No matter if you are a "baby Christian" and have only recently begun to walk with the Lord or if you are a "senior saint" and have served Jesus faithfully for years, we all need to learn the lesson that spiritual investments take time to mature.
Certainly Anne Scheiber must have been tempted to bail out or cash in her stocks. Who wouldn’t? I often meet people who’ve bailed out on their spiritual investments. I meet those who bailed out on being a husband and a father. I meet those who cashed out on ministry in the local church and walked away. I even meet some that have tried to walk away from God. However, wherever you go, God is already there.
Jesus wants us to be rich! Not, necessarily materially rich but spiritually rich. He wants us to reap the dividends of peace, joy, contentment and fulfillment. He wants us to be able to lay our heads on the pillow at night and feel content and satisfied. In fact He said in Jn.10:10, "…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." Although Jesus gives us so much, He allows us to invest our riches.
Remember the story of the rich young ruler? Jesus gave him an investment strategy in Mk.10:21, "Sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
He said in Mt.6:19-20, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break and steal."
In 1 Cor.3, we see the analogy of Jesus as the foundation of our lives and we must build on Him. Some build with temporary perishable materials and some build with eternal, imperishable materials
I’ve titled this message "Running to Win" because the Apostle Paul must have been a sports fan. He always opened the paper to the sports page first. As he shares the truths of long-term spiritual investments, he uses sports metaphors. In the process he describes three qualities of long-term spiritual investors, three qualities of those who live the abundant life.
I. Quality #1 is Determination (vv.24-25).
A. Life is Like a Race.
1. Paul asks, "Do you not know that those run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?" Life is like a race. Sometimes it’s a "rat race." Sometimes its uphill, sometimes it’s downhill. Either way, in the words of Bruce Springsteen, "Baby I was born to run…"
2. The race of life is a marathon, not a sprint. Big dividends come from long-term investments. Marathons are not won in a day. We have to have daily determination.
3. Notice v.24 again, Paul says, "all run, but one receives the prize." Here’s my translation, "In the race of life, some win and some lose." Some achieve great things for God, some live for themselves. Some find fulfillment, some live with what might have been. A poem says, "Of all the words of tongue and pen the saddest are ‘It might have been.’"
B. Some Run to Win, Some just Run.
1. Did you see the movie Forrest Gump? Do you remember the segment when Forrest decides to run? He says, "I ran and I ran I and I thought, ‘Might as well run some more.’" That’s the way a lot of people live their lives. They run and run and never really get anywhere.
2. Paul says only "one receives the prize" so "run in such a way that you may obtain it." Literally this phrase translates "Run in such a way that you may win."
3. What does it mean to "receive the prize" or win in this Christian race? What does it mean to have a long-term investment? Note v.25 "they," runners run "to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown."
4. In Paul’s day, the prize for the winner of a race in the Olympic or Isthmian games was a garland wreath or "crown." This was the symbol of a champion. Winners were widely recognized and given large rewards (this was before professional endorsement deals!).
5. We run in order to receive an "imperishable crown." In salvation, we have eternal life. However in running the race to win we obtain what 2 Tim.4:8 describes as a "crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give …on that Day."
6. The big difference in our race and those on the track is that every Christian can win. Every Christian who has the right strategy and practices self-discipline can win.
C. Determination makes all the Difference.
1. One of the world’s great tragedies is a person who possesses great abilities and potential but just drifts through life because he has no ambition, no drive, no determination. He just settles for mediocrity.
Several years ago Auburn was playing Syracuse in the Sugar Bowl. The score was 17-14 with Syracuse in the lead. Auburn had the ball and was driving down field. With only 7 seconds remaining, Auburn had the ball on the Syracuse 12-yard line, third down. Coach Pay Dye was faced with a decision: either go for the touchdown to win the game, or kick the field goal and settle for a tie. Auburn kicked a field goal. They didn't lose, but they didn't win either. I couldn't believe that after all the blood, sweat and tears the Auburn players had invested to make it to a nationally televised bowl game, when they had their chance for glory--they settled for a tie.
2. Paul’s message is, "Don't settle for a tie." Give everyday all that you have to give. God has given you one life to live--live it for Him. Don’t just run – win!
3. If you could describe the Apostle in one word that word would be "determination." He didn’t just live his life, he attacked it. He sold out totally to Jesus.
In Acts 14, Paul was preaching to a crowd in Lystra. Some of the Jews came and stirred the crowd against him. Listen to Acts 14:19-20, "Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, HE ROSE UP AND WENT INTO THE CITY." Talk about determination! They couldn’t keep him away!
4. Paul was determined to be a winner. He was determined to make wise investments of his time, abilities and resources. At the end of his life, he said in 2 Tim.4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
II. Quality #2 is Direction (v.26).
A fellow pulled his car over to ask an old man how far it was to a certain town. The old man said, "Well, sonny, if you keep going the way you're headed, it's about 25,000 miles. But if you turn around, it's about three miles." We need to have direction in life.
A. To Invest is not enough We must make Wise Investments.
1. Anne Scheiber could have invested her nest egg unwisely and died penniless. She became wealthy because she wisely invested her resources.
2. Paul says we are to run "not with uncertainty." Changing the metaphor to boxing, he said, "I fight: not as one who beats the air." In vv.19-23, Paul states his life goal is to win as many people as possible to Christ. He had direction, a purpose or a goal. What an example.
3. Whether it is the world of financial investing, running a race or fighting a round or living for Christ we need direction, sound strategies and sound planning.
B. Four Strategies to Keep Us going the Right Direction (Heb.12:1-2; Mt.9:36-38).
1. Lay aside distracting sin. Heb.12:1 tells us to "lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us." We all have sins that weigh us down and keep us from being who God wants us to be.
2. Run with endurance. Heb.12:1 also says we are to "run with endurance the race that is set before us." The Marines say, "When the going gets tough the tough get going." Many people sprint off the start line but don’t finish the race. More than half the people with whom I started seminary are no longer in ministry. Don’t stop short! Remember the story of the tortoise and the hair.
Heisman trophy winner Herschel Walker once said, "My God-given talent is my ability to stick with something longer than anyone else." Paul said in 1 Cor.15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
3. Keep our focus on Jesus. Heb.12:2 says we must be "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." In high school I ran the half-mile and the quarter mile low hurdles. Our track coach drilled into his runners not to look around but to focus on the tape, focus on the finish.
4. Look to the fields. Mt.9:36-38 is a familiar passage to many of us. Here Jesus is "moved with compassion" for the people. His heart ached for them. All churches have a tendency to become fortresses. Jesus prays to the Father that we will have His "compassion" and focus on the field.
III. Quality #3 is Discipline (vv.25,27).
A. Discipline keeps us Going when we’d rather Give Up.
1. In basketball, we "ran the lines." we climbed the bleachers. We were disciplining our bodies so in the heat of competition our bodies wouldn’t give up.
2. Paul says, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection." He said in v.25, "everyone who competes for the prize is temperate ["self-control" i.e. "temperance societies"] in all things."
3. Paul said, "I fight not as one who beats the air." There is an old saying that says, "Champions don’t become champions in the ring – they are merely recognized there." Champions become champions by discipline.
Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier said, "You can map out a fight plan or a life plan. But when the action starts, you’re down to your reflexes. That’s where your roadwork shows. If you cheated in the dark of the morning, you’re getting found out now under the bright lights" (Maxwell).
There was another boxer who holds my admiration. His name was Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. He was not only a boxer, but a man of ultimate action, the most flamboyant of all our nation’s presidents. He boxed, practiced judo, rode horseback, and went on long strenuous hikes. At one time he had been a cowboy and a big-game hunter in Africa. As a volunteer soldier and a cavalry officer, he led his "Rough Riders" up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. As a politician he was a relentless campaigner. Years after his presidency while preparing to deliver a speech, he was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin. With a broken rib and a bullet in his chest, he insisted on delivering his one-hour speech before being taken to the hospital.
When TR was a child, no one would have ever suspected he would arise to such heights. As a child he was puny and sickly. He suffered from asthma, wore thick glasses to correct his poor eyesight and was very thin. His parents were not sure he would survive. When he was 12, his father said, "You have the mind, but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make the body." TR did. He spent time every day building his body as well as his mind. He lifted weights, hiked, ice-skated, hunted, rowed, rode horseback and boxed.
Even after his presidency, TR refused to become idle. In 1909, he led a scientific expedition to Africa for the Smithsonian Institute. In 1913, he helped lead a group to explore the uncharted River of Doubt in Brazil. It was an adventure he could not pass up. He said, "It was my last chance to be a boy." He was 55 years old.
He died in his sleep on January 6, 1919 at his home in New York. Vice President Marshall said, "Death had to take him in his sleep for if Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight." When they removed him from his bed, there was a book under his pillow. To the last he was still learning, still disciplining his mind.
B. Smart People do Stupid Things because of a Lack of Discipline.
1. Why did President Clinton do such a stupid thing? Lack of self-control. Why have many politicians, pastors and church leaders made such stupid decisions? Lack of self-control.
2. Look again at Paul’s words, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection." The word for "discipline" here means to hit it in the eye. "Subjection" means to make a slave. He is saying, I beat my body into submission.
3. Most people, including most Christians let their body tell their minds what to do. An athlete must make his mind control his body. So must we. Why? In the words of the apostle, "lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." That prospect frightens me.
CONCLUSION: Above all, make the investment, run the race, enter the ring, make your life count. Teddy Roosevelt once said, "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
