11 THE DISCIPLE'S OLYMPICS

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Take time and trouble
to keep yourself spiritually fit.
1 Timothy 4:7 PHILLIPS
The Olympic Games are not usually associated with
anything of a religious nature, but those staged in
Melbourne, Australia, in 1956 were a notable exception. A
striking feature of the spectacular opening ceremony was
the deeply impressive singing by massed choirs of the
"Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah.
Although they were pagan in origin, there is much for
the disciple to learn from the Pan-Hellenic games, of which
the Olympics are the most famous. The New Testament
writers, Paul in particular, drew many parallels between
the training and performance of the competing athlete and
the duties and privileges of the Christian. It is most
probable that Paul would have had in mind the Isthmian
Games, which were hosted by Corinth every third year. He
was familiar with the rivalries and ambitions inherent in
the sport, to which there are more than fifty references in the New Testament.
Every serious entrant to the Games then, as now, was
determined to excel and to defeat his rivals. His aim was
nothing short of winning the prize in his particular event.
Recently, I saw a young New Zealand cyclist win a
grueling race in which he broke the national record. In a
subsequent interview by the TV sports commentator, he
was asked the question, "And what do you aim at for the
future?" With not a moment's hesitation the reply came
back: "I aim to be one of the best cyclists in the world."
In order to realize his ambition, he was prepared to pay
any price in training-grueling discipline, forfeiture of
social life, self-denial in many areas-and all for a piece of
gold, or even bronze. Why is it that so few disciples have a
similar, fixed ambition to excel for Christ? Are we "taking
time and trouble to keep spiritually fit," or have we grown
soft and flabby?
Immediately before his death, Polycarp, the saintly
bishop of Smyrna, prayed: "O God, make me a true
athlete of Jesus Christ, to suffer and to conquer." His
prayer was answered in his martyrdom. In our sports-
conscious world the great majority are only TV athletes,
and too few are participants. Unfortunately, in large
measure the same is true in the church.
The Indispensable Training
Take time and trouble to keep yourself
spiritually fit. Bodily fitness has a limited value, but spiritual fitness is of unlimited
value, for it holds promise both for this
present life and for the life to come. (1
Timothy 4:8 PHILLIPS)
In writing to his Corinthian friends, Paul reminded them
that "every competitor in athletic events goes into serious
training. Athletes will take tremendous pains-for a fading
crown of leaves" (1 Corinthians 9:25 PHILLIPS). It was an
inflexible condition of entering the Olympic Games that the
athlete undergo ten months of rigorous training. No
exceptions were tolerated.
During those months, they had to live rigorously
disciplined lives, bridling their normal desires and
refraining from certain pastimes that might affect their
fitness. They had to have a balanced diet and get rid of all
superfluous fat. In our day the more popular outlook is:
"Do your own thing. If it feels good, do it." This is not the
way athletes for Christ are produced.
The actual rules of the contest were recorded by
Horace. "There must be ordinary living, but spare food.
Abstain from confections. Make a point of exercising at the
appointed times in heat and cold. Drink neither cold water
nor wine at random. Give yourself to the training master
as to a physician, and then enter the contest."
What challenging words these are to the lax and
undisciplined disciple.
In reality there should be no such thing as an
undisciplined disciple. Both words come from the same root, yet discipline
has become the ugly duckling in
modern society.
A great deal of prominence is given to the Holy Spirit
today, and rightly so. But little prominence is given to
Galatians 5:22-23: "the fruit of the Spirit is . . . [discipline]
self-control." One of the clearest evidences that the Holy
Spirit is working in power in our lives is seen not merely in
our emotional experience, but in an increasingly disciplined
lifestyle.
The athlete who aspires to win the coveted prize does
not indulge himself. He is prepared to take a stand against
the spirit of this godless age. Is it not ironic that while
people will applaud and admire the sacrifice, discipline,
and self-control of the athlete, they are turned off when it
is suggested that there should be a comparable dedication
on the part of the disciple of the disciplined Christ?
The word Paul uses for "train" in 1 Timothy 4:7 is that
from which we get our word gymnasium-the place where
the athlete learns to harden his muscles, prolong his wind,
and gain flexibility. The Holy Spirit urges each of us to do
in the spiritual sphere what the athlete does in the
gymnasium. It is commendable that so many are taking up
aerobics today. It would be beneficial to the disciple to be
equally zealous in spiritual aerobics.
A pampered body means a lost race. A flabby athlete
gains no medals. Augustine knew this. He had a prayer
that he often offered:
O God, that I might have towards my God,a heart of flame;
Towards my fellowmen a heart of love;
Towards myself, a heart of steel.
Olympics for the Aging
It is encouraging for those of us who are older to realize
that God is not exclusively youth-orientated. In thinking of
the Olympic contests, we automatically associate them
with virile youth. They are the athletes.
But in his reference to the Games, Paul viewed himself
as nearing the end of the race-but still in training. Hear
his words:
Do you remember how, on the racing-
track, every competitor runs, but only one
wins the prize? Well, you ought to run with
your minds fixed on winning the prize! . . .
I
run
the
race
then
with
determination. I am no shadow boxer,
I really fight! I am my body's sternest
master, for fear that when I have
preached to others I should myself be
disqualified.
(1
Corinthians
9:24-27
PHILLIPS; emphasis added)
Thank God we older disciples are not out of the race!
We entered the race at conversion. At first it may have
seemed to be a 100-meter dash, but we have proved it to
be a 26-mile marathon that has tested our perseverance and spiritual stamina.
And now it is for us still to "run with
perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1)
so that we might win the prize.
It is easy to grow lax and less disciplined as the years
go by. Are we mentally lazy and undisciplined? Do we feel
we have earned the right to drop out of the race? Not that
way went the Crucified, and not that way went the men
and women who have counted for God.
God, harden me against myself,
The coward with pathetic voice.
Olympic Rules
If anyone competes as an athlete, he does
not receive the victor's crown unless he
competes according to the rules. (2
Timothy 2:5)
Mastery of the rules of the contest is a first priority for
the athlete. Unless he conforms to them there will be no
prize. Enforcing this condition, Augustine challenged a
runner: "You may be making great strides, but are you
running outside the track?"
How diligently the aspiring driver studies the provisions
of the Rules of the Road! Are we equally diligent in
mastering and conforming to the rules governing the
Christian race?The Christian athlete's rule book is, of course, the New
Testament. In it he will find all the guidance he needs for
what is allowable and what is not. But this Book has an
advantage over the Olympic book of rules; it promises
adequate power to enable the runner to complete the
race. Paul availed himself of that power, and on reaching
the tape he was able to testify: "I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the race" (2 Timothy 4:7).
Obstacles in the Race
"You were running well," wrote Paul to the
Galatians. "Who hindered you from
obeying the truth?" (5:7 NASB)
There are many influences to deflect us from reaching
the goal. We have a wily adversary who will draw on his
six millennia of nefarious experience to lure us from the
track.
There is an interesting Greek story of Atalanta and
Hippomenes. The fleet-footed Atalanta challenged any
young man to a race. The reward of victory would be her
hand in marriage. The penalty of defeat would be death.
She must have been a very attractive girl, for a number of
men accepted the challenge, only to lose the race and
their lives as well.
Hippomenes, too, accepted her challenge, but before
setting out on the race, he secreted on his person three golden apples.
When the race began, Atalanta easily
outstripped him. He took out a golden apple and rolled it in
front of her. The glitter of the gold caught her eye, and as
she stopped to pick it up, he shot past her. She quickly
recovered and again outdistanced him. Another golden
apple rolled across her track, and again she stopped to
pick it up, allowing Hippomenes again to sweep past her.
The goal was near and he was ahead, but once more she
overtook him. Seizing his last chance, he rolled the third
apple, and while Atalanta wavered, Hippomenes reached
the tape. They were married and lived happily ever after!
Our wily adversary is adept in deploying his golden
apples. He does not observe the rules of the game, and he
will use every subtlety to prevent our winning the prize.
But Paul had every reason to claim, "We are not unaware
of his schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11). Not all of us are able
to make a similar assertion. Too many are spiritual
illiterates when it comes to discerning and anticipating his
subtleties.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews was aware of
the obstacles and hindrances the athlete would meet and
urged his readers: "Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1).
It was customary for the Olympic athlete to discard his
flowing robes-his track suit-before he went to the track.
Those garments were cumbersome and would impede progress,
so he threw them off and ran almost naked.
In our own race, have we thrown off every entangling
and hindering thing-the besetting and upsetting sins that
prevent progress toward spiritual maturity? That is not
something God does, but something we must do with full
purpose of will. Satan's lures come to us along the main
avenues of appetite, avarice, and ambition. We should
check to see whether any of Satan's golden apples
operate in any of those areas of our lives.
Fixity of Aim
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author
and perfector of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)
The Greek foot race was regarded as the sharpest and
most violent physical exercise then known. In one race,
Addas, the victor, burst over the finishing line and then
collapsed, a motionless heap of muscle-dead. The
exertion had overextended his physical reserves. Winning
a race makes great demands on the stamina and
perseverance of the athlete.
Once the race has begun, the athlete cannot afford to
look back. He must press on to the tape without
distraction. His eyes must be fixed on the umpire's stand
at the end of the track if he is to win the prize. That was
the background of Paul's notable statement, "One thing I
do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for
which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"
(Philippians 3:13-14).
So must the disciple run his race with eyes steadfastly
fixed on his encouraging Lord, who is at once Judge,
Umpire, and Awarder. He is not to look back either
wistfully or hopelessly but to resolutely forget what is
behind-failures and disappointments as well as successes
and victories. He must strain forward to the tape with eyes
fixed on his welcoming Lord. It was He who initiated our
faith, and it is He who will strengthen us to complete the
course.
After employing the figure of the runner in 1 Corinthians
9:25, Paul turns to the sport of boxing: "I do not run like a
man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating
the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave" (1
Corinthians 9:26-27).
Boxing was one of the sports in the Pentathlon at the
Olympic Games, and Paul used it to illustrate his own
attitude toward his body, which was so often the focus of
temptation. He realized that his greatest foe lodged in his
own breast: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is,
in my sinful nature" (Romans 7:18).
There is a man who often stands
‘twixt me and Thy glory.
His name is Self, my carnal Self
stands ‘twixt me and Thy glory.
O mortify him! mortify him!
Put him down, my Saviour;Exalt Thyself alone,
Lift high the standard of the cross
and ‘neath its folds
Conceal the standard-bearer.
(Anonymous)
In some Eastern cities, as one walks along the street in
the darkness of early morning, it is a common sight to see
men with clenched fists, punching the empty air. But there
is nothing to fear from them. They are only shadow-boxers.
Paul disclaimed being a shadow-boxer. "I land every
blow," he claimed, "and the blows land on my own body.
Thus I make it my slave and not my master."
The Prize
"Run in such a way as to get the prize." (1
Corinthians 9:24)
What moves the athlete to exercise such self-discipline
and exhibit such feats of strength and endurance? Surely it
will be a large purse or some trophy of great value. But
no. "They do it to obtain a crown that will not last"-a
mere chaplet of laurel leaves, of no intrinsic value at all.
And yet it was the most coveted of all the honors the
nation could confer. Cicero maintained that the Olympic
victor received more honor than the returning conquering
general. But it was a prize that did not last.
The gorgeous Olympic pageant reached its climax when the crown of
victory was placed on the victor's head by the
umpire of the Games. Flowers and gifts were showered on
him by his admirers.
With that scene in his mind, Paul anticipated the day
when he would be crowned by the Judge of all the earth:
"Now there is in store 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
longed for his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8).
Throughout the years that he had run the race, Paul
kept his gaze fixed on Christ. To receive from His nail-
pierced hands the crown would be abundant compensation
for all his sufferings. To hear his Lord and Master say,
"Well done!" would make the self-renunciations seem as
nothing.
Paul finished his brief paragraph about the Games on a
serious note. Despite the vast scope of his achievements,
he still recognized the subtlety of his Enemy and the frailty
of his own human nature. "I beat my body and make it my
slave," he said, "so that after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be disqualified for the prize" (1 Corinthians
9:27).
As he grew older, he found that the world was no less
delusive, sin no less seductive, and the Devil no less
malicious than in his youth, and that caused him a
wholesome fear.
The word disqualified had no reference to his salvation.
He had no fear of losing that, but he did fear being
disapproved or disqualified by the Judge, thus having run in vain.
Let us entertain a similar, wholesome fear and
"run so as to win the prize."
Teach me Thy way, O Lord,
Teach me Thy way,
Thy gracious aid impart,
Teach me Thy way
Until my journey's done,
Until the race is run,
Until the crown is won,
Teach me Thy way.
(B. M. R.)
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