"Joggers for Jesus"        Dr. Julie Adkins

Text:  1 Corinthians 9:24-27                 

 

SERMON

I must admit

            that the thought of the Christian life

                        being like running a race

            has never had much appeal for me.

I’ve never been much of a runner.

In high school P.E.,

            I tried jogging for a whole year,

                        and I never did stop hating it!

Surely there must be more to the Christian journey

            than running round and round a gravel track,

                        gasping for air,

            in a regulation tacky blue-and-white gymsuit.

Well, yes, fortunately,

            there is more to it than that,

                        or I might have given up on Christianity long ago

                        just as I have given up on jogging!

And yet, the more I have thought about it,

            the more I realize that there are certain similarities.

Christian living … running in a race.

For some of us,

            it may feel like the Boston Marathon.

For others,

            it’s more like wind sprints,

                        or high hurdles,

                                    or an obstacle course!

  

So let’s take some time this morning,

            and see how far we can get with this image Paul has given us.

For one thing – and I have to be reminded of this constantly –

            living life as a Christian and running a race have this in common:

                        like anything we undertake in this life,

                        we’re not going to get it exactly right the first time!

You put on those sweats and sneakers for the first time in several years,

            or the first time ever,

                        and you aren’t going to run any seven-minute mile!

            (In fact, you may not make a mile at all!)

If you pick up a brand new piece of music,

            you don’t anticipate that the first time through

                        it’s going to sound just like the composer wanted.

If you’ve just learned how to sew,

            you don’t start by trying to make

                        a tailored suit, fully lined.

If you just got a new football,

            those first few kicks

                        probably aren’t going to go through the uprights.

Practice may not make absolutely perfect,

            but it does bring noticeable improvement!

And being a Christian is like that:

            We usually don’t get it right at first.

                        At least, not all of it.

We have to keep working at it,

            training, disciplining ourselves –

                        often, for our whole life.

Patience is one of the virtues

            that I will have to keep in training for

                        my whole life long.

For others of us, it may be humility,

            or charity, or prayer,

                        or whatever.

It requires practice, and training,

            to be a faithful Christian person.

Some things we will find come naturally to us,

            like Michael Jordan with a basketball.

Other things we will eventually get pretty good at,

            and some will plague us until our dying day!

There will be times when we fail miserably,

            and can only ask God for forgiveness,

                        and for the chance to pick ourselves up and try again.

There is no such thing

            as an “instant Christian.”

It’s something that we spend our whole lives growing into.

  

Another thing that occurred to me

            that’s a similarity between being a Christian and running a race

                        isn’t found here in Corinthians,

            but it’s suggested by other passages of scripture.

And that’s this:

            for both, we need the proper attire.

Most of us wouldn’t run a race barefoot,

            nor would we run in our best Sunday shoes!  (ouch!)

We need shoes with proper fit,

            and support, and weight,

                        and price, we hope.

I wouldn’t wear my heavy sweats in August,

            and I hope you wouldn’t go out on a day like this

                        in just your running shorts!

If we aren’t clothed properly,

            our racing around will do more harm than good.

Ephesians suggests that we must

            put on the whole armor of God:

                        the breastplate of righteousness,

                        shoes of the equipment of the gospel of peace,

                        the shield of faith,

                        the helmet of salvation,

                        and the sword of the Spirit.

Imagine how you might live differently each day

            if you were wearing those things:

                        righteousness, faith, salvation/

Or if all that armor seems a little old-fashioned to you,

            or militaristic, or just plain heavy (!),

                        try Colossians, where we are told

            to put on, as if they were clothes,

                        compassion, kindness,

                                    lowliness, meekness, patience,

                                                forgiveness, and love.

Talk about a layered look…

Imagine yourself,

            clothed in all those things.

Would you run the race differently?

            Could you run it better?

                        I know I could …

  

In passing, I should also be sure that we take note

            that the Christian race is not a spectator sport!

We all know that we aren’t going to get any health benefit

            from watching other people jog …

You won’t get any better at basketball

            just by watching the Mavericks play.

And it doesn’t do any good either

            just to watch and admire other Christians

                        who seem to be better at it than you.

It’s okay to learn from them, to be sure,

            but you still have to get out there and run your race.

No one can run it for you –

            not your parents or your kids,

                        not your spouse, or your Christian friends,

                                    not even others in your congregation!

You have your own calling from God,

            and you are the only one who

                        can live that particular call,

                        run that particular race.

  

So much for the similarities I see

            between Christian living and race-running.

There are also some important differences

            that make our Christian race quite unique,

                        and somewhat more appealing than other choices we might make

                                    about how we live our lives.

  

Every race has a goal, a finish line,

            a place where we want to end up.

So in that sense, it’s not like going out and jogging.

Though that image of training and self-discipline is important,

            our life is not to be one of going in circles,

                        no matter how good we get at it

                        or how fast we can run around in the circle!

There is an end point, a goal.

And for us, that goal is God.

We want to end up with God;

            in some sense, we want to end up like God.

And yet it’s a funny thing …

            God is not only our goal,

                        but is also our coach along the way.

Imagine that.

God doesn’t just sit in the winner’s circle

            waiting to see if and when we are going to arrive.

God is out with us every step of the way,

            sometimes cheering from the sidelines,

                        sometimes pushing or pulling us along,

                                    sometimes turning us in a different direction!

God gave us the Bible,

            so we’d have a few rules for the race,

            and some encouragement,

                        and correction,

                        and discipline,

                        and inspiration,

            as well as just some good stories to relax with!

God sent us Jesus Christ,

            who ran this race himself,

                        and who is more than happy to show us the way,

                                    if we are willing to follow …

            in fact, he is the way.

And God gives us other Christian “runners”

            to accompany us –

and it’s important that we remember to see each other that way,

            as gifts from God.

We help keep each other on track,

            we encourage one another,

            we chatter together

                        to help us forget how much our feet are hurting!

We push and pull one another along as well.

God is the goal toward which we all aim,

            and God is the coach for every one of us.

  

Which is really, perhaps,

            the most important difference

                        between running the Christian race

                        and running a normal human race.

The Christian race is not a competition.

At least, that is, we are not competing with each other.

You could say, I guess,

            that God has to compete with the forces of evil

                        to which one of them we will run towards!

But it’s not as though God has only one trophy to give,

            or only one gold medal,

                        with all the rest as consolation prizes.

This is one place where Paul’s metaphor falls apart,

            and I always worried a little about that …

                        was he wrong, or was I just missing something? …

            until a commentary explained to me that

                        Paul would likely have known nothing of team sports.

The sporting events that he was familiar with,

            in the Corinthian area, things like the Olympics,

                        were all individual sports,

                        like running foot races, or boxing, or similar things.

So because he needed for the Corinthians to pay attention

            to things like self-discipline –

                        remember, the Corinthians were kind of wild and crazy –

            he used the image of athletes in training,

                        even though it wasn’t a perfect comparison.

  

If you’ll remember,

            the letter of Timothy claims only that

                        “I have run the race; I have fought the fight” …

            not “I have won the race; I have won the fight.”

What matters is that we run,

            and that we don’t just run in circles (or “aimlessly,” as Paul put it),

                        and that we eventually cross the finish line and get to God.

In fact, it doesn’t even matter if we run across the finish line,

            or walk, or crawl,

                        or rollerblade,

                                    or get pushed in a wheelchair.

Just so we get there.

We are not in competition with one another

            to see who can be the best Christian.

The race of faith

            is not winner-take-all.

Or maybe it is,

            with Jesus as the obvious winner,

                        taking all of us with him.

  

So, lace up those running shoes;

            God is here to cheer you on,

                        and God stands waiting at the end,

            with a wreath for your head,

and a trophy with your name on it.

Take your marks … get set … go!

Amen.

 

© 2003 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)