January 31, 2021
Hi, we’re in our last week of the sermon series Run to Win. We’re taking it from the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So, run to win!”
This series is about seeking victory in life, even if we’ve lost before. Maybe you started off the year saying, I’m going to be a better parent. I’m going to lose weight this year. I’m going to eat healthier. I’m going to save money. But life happens, and you find at the end of the year you haven’t made the progress you wanted.
We all want to win at life. And what does it look like to win? Well, there is one goal that can make this a great year, even if your finances aren’t great, even if your health isn’t great. Even if everything goes wrong in life, you have a winning year if you make God the centerpiece in your life. You majored in what’s major. Running to win looks like running toward him. You have peace, joy, courage and you can roll with the punches when you are close to God.
We’re believing 2021 will be an amazing year, because we will make God a greater priority in our lives this year than he was last year. You will look more like Jesus at the end of the year!
How do you get to God? How do you run to win? You have to say no to some things, and say yes to the best things. In our series we had a sermon on the power of prayer: the power of a relationship with God and time spent just with God. In the third sermon we asked, “Why read the Bible?” We read it because it’s a book about God who believes in you. Last week we learned how to read the Bible to understand it and to grow from daily reading.
Today, we’re going to talk about how to keep all this “Run to Win” training going.
Both my kids had a wonderful teacher in high school, Mrs. Urban. Tragically, she died at the age of 40 of a heart attack. Some students decided to hold a 5K race in her honor for several years. The biology teacher, Mrs. Weinrich, and high school students organized the 5k. Through it they raised money for scholarships for Mrs. Urban’s kids, who were preschoolers when she passed away, and scholarships for high school students. I ran it, and Mrs. Weinrich did too. We were close to the same age. At one point, she tripped and fell. I stopped to ask her if she was ok. She said she was. We continued running. The race finished with a half lap on the track, and I think to myself, “I want to beat Mrs. Weinrich to the finish!” Apparently, she thought the same thing. I sped up and she sped up. We raced each other, faster than we would have run if we ran alone. The young people had already finished the race, and they were yelling! They loved to see their teacher reach for it, running for the finish line. I pulled ahead, and I won!
But that’s not the end. Two years later I ran again. And after the 5k there was an award ceremony, where we all stood in a big circle. Mrs. Weinrich told everyone that same story I just told you about our race. But Mrs. Weinrich ended with, “and I let her win!” I don’t know, maybe. At least she remembered, and I remembered, how we ran that race to win!
It’s more fun to run a race with somebody else. You work harder. Maybe you compare; a little comparing is ok. You think, “If they can do this, I can do this!” It motivates you to get in the game. Running with someone motivates you to run to win!
The best training happens in relationship. In sports, you get better when you have a coach and a team. Whether it’s football, volleyball, softball or soccer, you don’t get anywhere by yourself. There are some sports that you seem to do alone, and you might think you could improve on your own. But even in the sport of running, all the good runners have a coach. Many runners have a team they practice with, even if they run races solo. Ice skaters in the Olympics may seem to do it solo, but they all have a good coach.
If you train by yourself, especially if you’re just starting something new, you’re not likely to keep going.
Stanford University did research on people starting an exercise program. They found that simply receiving a check-in phone call that asked about your progress every 2 weeks increased the amount of exercise participants did by 78%. Participants who received those bi-weekly check in phone calls were still exercising at the increased level even after 18 months.
So, if you want to stay in a workout regimen, pay someone $10 every 2 weeks, just to call and say, “Are you exercising?” “How is it going?” It works because you’re not made to run alone.
Today we’re looking at the Acts of the Apostles 2:42-46. The Christian church is brand new, it just started.
Verse 42 says about the followers of Jesus, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” We might expect it to say they went to church, listened to sermons, and prayed. It says that! They prayed and listened to the apostles’ teaching. But they did more: they were also devoted to fellowship and the breaking of bread. They knew following Jesus was a team sport. So, they were devoted to gathering with each other and eating together.
Verses 45 and 46 say: “45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” That sounds like us: they had rummage sales. “46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” How did they manage to do all this, every day? These were the first Christians. They had to get things going because there weren’t many Christians. We benefitted from them that they had faith on fire! They kept going and were strong in their faith because they followed Jesus together!
You know Jesus never said, “People will know you are a Christian because you do Christian things all by yourself.” No, he said, “Everyone will know you are one of my followers if you love one another.”(John 13:35) Following Jesus is a team sport. You need other followers in your life, and they need you. Following Jesus is a team sport.
Americans tend to be less involved with neighbors, friends and acquaintances around us than many years ago. Plus, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and loneliness has hit a high. Fellowshipping with others is really helpful about now. We need someone to tell us, “God is with you, I got you, Let’s do this.” You need encouragement. And you need to encourage someone or some other people.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2 “2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.” A follower of Jesus not only receives from other Christians, but they also give to them. Christians carry each other’s burdens. You help make someone else better. As Christians it’s like we’re all personal trainers: we’re spiritual trainers. Maybe you feel like you’re not perfect so you can’t help someone else. If you’re not perfect, then join the club! That’s the church and it’s a beautiful mess! We’re helping each other, encouraging each other, walking together spiritually. Can you just call someone every two weeks and ask, “How are you doing in your walk with God?” That will keep someone on track in their relationship with God. That’s how you help someone win the race of life and stay in this to win! Not alone, but with a team! Following Jesus is a team sport!
To carry each other’s burdens and run to win, takes some time, consistency and sacrifice. It means not giving up meeting together.
We started a group meeting on zoom to run to win. And folks who couldn’t come to the group are prayer partners. Each week we talk about the sermon and how we’re going to make God a greater priority. We are encouraging each other. Since we know there will be a check-in and we’ll talk about how we’re doing, it gives us that push, we try to follow through. There are wonderful people in the group, and we enjoy just having a conversation.
So, I invite you to come to the group on Tuesday at 7pm on Zoom. Or maybe you make an effort to talk to someone this week. My challenge for you this week is to think about, pray about, how am I going to be part of the team of Jesus’ followers? How will I encourage someone, and get encouraged?
If we’re training to run toward God and win the race that matters, one thing will help us keep training and running. That is to run together with other Jesus followers. Following Jesus is a team sport. We all need people who are for us. The early Christians stuck together, and it got them through the difficulties they faced. Not only do we need the encouragement of other Christians. It’s also fun to be with other people! So, let’s run toward God and run together. Amen.
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