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Reaching for the Prize
A sermon by Dr. James Flamming
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
Sunday, May 15, 2005
I am intrigued when the NASCAR races come to Richmond. That
week is labeled “Race Week” and it’s almost like if you’re not in rhythm with
that one you’re out of step. The sports pages do not include the races; they
print a special section for the races. I believe that if the Apostle Paul were
here today he would love race week. See, he was quite a sports fan and he used
words out of the sports world that are found nowhere else in the New Testament;
not in the gospels, not in the other letters, not in Acts, not in Revelation,
they’re Paul.
I invite you to turn to I Corinthians the 9th
chapter. Now you will allow me, I hope, to read from Peterson’s paraphrase, but
it will be enough similar to the translation you have in your lap that you will
be able to follow. “You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race.
Every one runs, one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do
it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that is gold
eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line.
I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert
and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping; telling everyone
else about it and then missing out myself.” This is the word of the Lord.
Paul was in Corinth 18 months and I have to believe that
during that 18th month period, maybe twice, he went to the Isthmian
Games; some of the most famous games in the Ancient World. Now every city, just
like today, had their sports events, but in the Corinthian, which was a very
large city, in the Corinthian games, several different countries, counties,
regions, got together and put together Isthmian Games and he knew when he wrote
to these people at Corinth they’d been there too. It was a big citywide race
week. And because he saw in those games and in the races a huge parallel, a
parable, of what the Christian life was all about and so he just presented it.
And he presented it in such a way, especially in our day and time it reaches out
and grabs us because we know all about race week and games and races and winning
prizes.
Two words I call your attention to – the first one is the
word stadium. In the language of the New Testament and in this text the word
used is ‘stadio.’ It was the word often translated furlong. A furlong was 606
feet and a little bit, pocket change. And 606 feet was the very distance of the
first lap of a race. So eventually, the distance became the name of the place
and today we talk about stadiums. That distance, 606 feet, had three markers.
The first one was obviously at the beginning and one it was written, ‘excel.’
The second one was midway and it was called, written on it, ‘hasten.’ And the
final one called and written on it, ‘turn.’ Turn? Yeah, because in that day
and time, well it was like a swimming meet. You know how in a swimming meet you
go down a lane, you go down and you touch and you come back and…well in that day
and time it was that way with the running games and the chariot races. You went
down, you made your turn and then you headed for home and if it were a longer
race you would do the whole thing all over again. The final column, the final
marker was called ‘turn.’
The second word that I would like for you to look at is the
word ‘prize.’ It’s only found twice in the New Testament and this passage is
one of them. The other one, by the way, is in Philippians the 3rd
chapter when Paul says, “This one thing I do, forgetting that which is behind,
reaching forward to that which is ahead, I push myself to achieve the prize of
the high calling of God heavenward in Jesus Christ.” First of all, stadium and
the markers…second, prize. Let’s look at those three markers and let them guide
our thinking on what the prize is all about. The first thing you will notice
under ‘excel,’ is that we don’t put much emphasis on that. We put a lot of
emphasis, at rightly so on the love of God, the salvation we know in Jesus
Christ; by grace are you saved, says Paul in Ephesians. We put a great deal of
emphasis on trusting and having faith. Right. But every part of that is God’s
gift. What’s our part? God always asks us to participate. He gives us the
soil, but we have to do the planting. The oil is in the ground, but we have to
drill for it and get it up to the surface. He gives us, he gives us the grain,
and we have to make it into a loaf. So forth and so forth…we are partners;
partners with Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Okay. If we are partners, then what is our part? The
first one is participation. At the very least, the bottom line, the first step,
the beginning paragraph, the lead sentence, friend, you’ve got to be a
participant. At the race here in town, the NASCAR race, I tried to figure how
many were in the grandstands and how many were participating. Now there were 43
drivers and each one has 10 that go around and they’re part of the team, but
they also have some that come in during the week, I mean during the running of
the races. Okay. Do a little bit of math – you’ve got 100,000 spectators,
you’ve got less than 1,000 participants. Less than 1%…dear ones, we live in a
spectator society. We’ve made a whole language out of it – couch potatoes!
Don’t you think it would be wonderful if in the scripture all of the heroes were
active participants, running the race and reaching for the prize, but if you’ve
ever looked at the scripture where Peter walks on water, you know that
scripture? And we give him all kinds of bad marks because all he took was a
step or two and then he sank because of his lack of faith – where were the other
11 guys? John Ortberg calls them boat potatoes. It’s possible to be a pew
potato! And when you have a worship time like this, I bless you for being here,
but you know how you can participate? You can sing, you can pray, and if you’re
going to pray during or before the worship service, please put me at the top of
your list! Maybe I won’t forget as much, who knows? Pray for the choir, pray
for the young people, pray for those who have been baptized, be a participant!
You are better, you were made for more than simply to take it easy and loaf
through your Christian experience. Paul says – the prize. I stretch out toward
the prize.
The second of these words – the second of these words is
hasten and dear friends, hasten is something we don’t necessarily do
spiritually. There is a man that had a dream and in the middle of his dream he
dreamed that he had gone to heaven and the Lord Jesus sat down with him, I don’t
think this is what the Lord is going to do, but this was in the dream. He
reached up, took out a little folder, opened it up, handed it to the man, and he
began to read down and at the top of the page it said, “Things that might have
been.” Spiritually speaking there is probably no other category of our lives
that has so many things that might have been, no wonder that middle marker said,
hasten, or, get with it, or don’t give up, or move ahead. Things that might
have been in my life, in your life, if I were to hand you a pencil right now, my
guess is that there would be an immediate two or three that could be quickly
written down; if that’s true as we see it, what about eternity? I don’t mean to
give you a guilt trip because grace is real and God accepts us as we are, but oh
thank the Lord He doesn’t leave us that way. He moves us ahead. Hasten – there
are two demons that stalk you and me both. The first one is the demon that
says, do it tomorrow. Do it next Sunday! Do it if so and so is here! The
second – the demon that says, no hurry. You’ve got a whole life to live!
Friends, you do not live forever, nor do I. No wonder the Apostle is going to
give us a little urgency - I bring myself not to get sloppy.
The first one is excel, the second one is hasten, and the
third one is turn. Turn, it seems to me, is turning heavenward because that’s
what Paul says in the other place that the word prize is used. I press on to
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ heavenward. The pressing is not
restricted to this life. It is for the purpose of what’s waiting for us in
heaven. Heaven is one of those wonderful things that artists and others get a
hold of. The popular image of heaven I absolutely reject. Floating around on a
fluffy cloud with a halo and a harp is not going to grab my heart – it may
yours, God bless you and with all due respect to preachers, musicians, worship
services, being in a continual worship service for 14 billion years doesn’t grab
me either! I think in fact if we would just look, well, there are those who
think that heaven is going to be like a celestial retirement center with lots of
golf courses. Well, now we’re getting closer. On the other hand, it also says
about heaven that there is no sadness, no crying, no lying, no cheating, and no
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. That means there can’t be golf in
heaven.
Two quick things about that turn – it begins now. Now!
The first step toward heaven is from exactly where you are now. The second
thing about that heaven is this – I don’t think you need to get your cues from
commercials on television – go to Jesus. He’ll tell you about heaven and one of
the interesting things he did in His parable of the talents; those who
multiplied the gifts they had been given – they’re given an eternal benediction,
blessing. Well done good and faithful servant! You’ve been faithful in a few
things, now I’m going to put you in charge of many things. Putting us in
charge? Sure! That’s what Jesus said. I believe that what the Lord does when
we get to heaven is put us to work doing the giftedness that we have, who we
were always meant to be at the beginning of creation; God knowing the purposes
for which we were put together and not in some kind of heavenly fashion putting
us to work. And I believe it will be the fullest and most wonderful, joyful
experience of our whole life. Aren’t you happiest when you’re doing what you
like the best? What’s your passion? Now just suppose that the Lord who put you
together in the first place when you get to heaven says, oh I’ve got just the
right place for you and you’ll be able to experience who you really are. That’s
what I believe heaven is. I put you in charge of many things.
One more…are you ready? Are you prepared? Do you realize
that the prize is a huge motivator?
Pray with me will you? O Lord Jesus, we come this day; we
understand that we are but frail, often stumble, sometimes miss the starting
mark, but your grace has been with us all of the way. But Lord, just now, seize
us, grasp us, wrap your arms about us, motivate us and help us learn how to
excel, how to hasten, and how to turn toward you. And if any of that needs to
happen this very moment, in this place, in this service, may it be. Through
Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.
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