We have just finished with the summer Olympics. My wife loves the oplympics and watched many of the games…… I on the other hand was far more interested in the way the Chinese worked feverishly to suppress charges of human rights violations, censorship, corruption, pollution, and labor abuses.  

The story of Michael Phelps' gold medal quest captivated the world. Anyone with a spark of competitive fervor must be amazed at anyone attaining eight gold medals. (the great 8) To say Phelps is on top of his game is a huge understatement.

In our Scripture for today Paul reminded Christians at the church in Phillipi about the need to be on top of their game, too. In fact, he used the Ancient Olympic Game of running the race as a word-picture for Christians to grasp his point.

He tells his readers, run to win the prize. Press towards the goal. Isn't that a powerful message for believers today?

 

The Beijing Olympic Games 2008 have concluded.  Soon, the names of many gold medalists will be forgotten. Events that dominated the news a few weeks ago are now history and will longer dominate.

However, the Christian's race continues. The battle continues to be fought,  We must discipline yourselves for the sake of the Gospel.  

Paul in our scripture today reviews the basics with the early believers. God’s word, is our safeguard morally and theologically, when we read it and meditate upon the word, God alerts us to corrections we need to make in our thoughts and deeds, attitudes and actions. It allows us to run deeper and stronger……

I watched very little of the Olympics but I recall one race in particular (Bob, Becky, Diana watched in our hotel room on the way to Glen Erie) All these women who have been training vigorously for this very moment, were finally running the race, trying to beat the clock and get the fastest time.

You could see the look of determination on their faces, as they set their focus on the finish line. Eyes focused ahead, muscles all tensed, ready to press forward.

In the next few moments, I would like for us to think of ourselves as spiritual athletes… spiritual Olympians if you will. We will be neither, in Beijing nor vying for medals in competitive sports. However, we will all be vying for the prize that will come at the end of our race.

This morning I want to talk about “Gold Medal Living”, and through out my message we will be looking at 4 essentials for Gold medal-Holiness living.   Here they are, they are very easy to remember: 

ü      Dissatisfaction

ü      Direction

ü      Determination

ü      Discipline

                                                

I. The first essential to Gold Medal Living is Dissatisfaction.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me.   (Phil 3:12) 

 

It is a remarkable confession from such a man. He had done and suffered much for Christ, yet he says, “I have not been made perfect.”

Paul has a very humble estimate of himself, as well as an aspiration for higher holiness. 

A Christian should never be satisfied with were he or she is at the present time, as Christians we should always be striving to be better, We should be growing in grace, striving to be Holier.  Paul says that it is his goal to know Christ and to be like Christ.

To be like Jesus this hope possess me in every thought and deed, this is my aim, my creed, To be like Jesus this hope possess me, His spirit filling me, like Him I’ll be….   That’s holy living!

We should not let anything take our eyes off Christ, We should never be content to stay where we are in our Spiritual walk, we need to strive to be better, no matter how far we are, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, dissatisfaction is an essential for Gold Medal Living. (Dissatisfaction  in the sense of wanting to be all that Christ wants us to be.)

Just as it is with athletes who participate in the Olympics. They are not satisfied with just being in the race, not satisfied to stay at the same level of progress. If these athletes can work so hard, for earthly rewards, how much more should we as Christians strive for spiritual growth and eternal blessing?

 

glorious prize within his reach.

Paul speaks in our text about knowing Christ. To know Christ is more than merely to know facts or doctrine about him. It should be the goal of every believer to know Christ more fully and personally, and that can be a lifelong process.

We live in a culture that breeds dissatisfaction. You are made to feel discontent with who you are and what you have, but you’re offered a way to feel better.   You do not have to live with the dissatisfaction.

“Drink this and have these friends.” “Where these clothes and be the life of the party.”  Live in that kind of a house, buy this kind of car…. Join this program, go to that college, you name it, it’s out there claiming your life will drastically change & you won’t feel dissatisfied again, if you just do this.

That’s why spending makes us feel better—for a little while. But ultimately, it makes us feel worse. Because we wake up after the purchase, the fog clears, and the feelings we didn’t want to face return.

I am talking about what Paul is saying….. “Not that I have already attained….or have already been made perfect…… Paul had a conflict still to maintain, and the issue would prove whether he should or should not be crowned.

He forgot the things which were behind, so as not to be content with past labors or present measures of grace. He reached forth, stretched himself forward towards his goal, striving to become more and more like Christ.

                                              

The first essential to Gold Medal – Holy living is Dissatisfaction! We need the desire to move forward in our spiritual growth.

Paul’s humble estimate of himself, as well as his aspiration for higher

holiness, is sure evidence that he had made some progress.

With such single mindedness of an athlete in training, we must lay aside everything harmful, and forsake anything that may distract us or hinder us from becoming effective Christians. We need to be devoted to what we are doing.

When an athlete is at the starting line, all of his/her energy, and focus is in the direction that leads to the end of the track. When an athlete is running down the track, he does not look back. If he turns to look back it would hinder, it would cause him to slow down, and maybe even cause him to go off course or stumble.

The second part of Phil chapter 3 verse 13 says, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. You can’t score if you don’t know where the goal is!.

When we talk about forgetting what is behind and putting our focus on what lies ahead of us. The story of Lot and his wife comes to mind (Found in Genesis 19:26), God told them to run away from Sodom & not to look back, but what happened to lots wife when she looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt.

Lots wife was looking back clinging to the past, she was unwilling to turn completely away, she wanted to look back to what she was leaving.  BIG mistake!  

 

By grace, we are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. We are not to return to sin and Satan. We are not to rest in self and the world. We are to go forward in the right direction. Reach toward Christ!

Are we like Lots wife this morning, are we looking back longingly at sin while trying to more forward with God? We can’t make any progress with God as long as we are holding on to pieces of our old way of life.

Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction writes, “It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim.

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said it this way, “No one can serve two masters.” When we make a decision to follow Christ, When we turn our lives around from a life of sin to a life of dedication to Christ, As we strive for holiness and holy living we need to look in the right direction.

We need to maintain a focus which is set on the goal that lies ahead, the goal which we have set out to follow and achieve, and that goal is to live a holy life, that goal is to live a life that would make us more like Jesus, that goal is to receive the reward of eternal life in heaven with our Lord and master. And to achieve that goal, as we can see, direction is an essential.  

So far we have seen three essentials for Gold Medal Living, the first was Dissatisfaction,  with staying the way we are: the second was Direction going forward and not turning back Good essentials for HOLY living….. and the third is:

III. The Third Essential for Gold Medal Living is, Determination.”

In the text we see that the first part of verse 14 says  (3:14a) To press on takes determination, there are obstacles in our way at all turns, but this verse say’s “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

(1 Timothy 4:7-8) says “...Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has promise for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

Thinking again about athletes who are Olympic Champions, I am sure we can all appreciate and understand the determination that it takes for such athletes to train themselves to be in such physical condition, they train themselves to be ready for the race, they are determined to do their very best, they give 100%.

There is a chorus that we sometimes sing, and it fits right in with what we are talking about this morning, “I am determined to hold on to the end, Jesus is with me, on him I can depend. I know I have salvation, I feel it in my soul, I am determined to hold on to the end.” May that be our pray and determination this morning. 

 

While Paul didn’t identify the prize, it seems from his words that the prize refers to gaining full knowledge of Jesus Christ   Is that your desire today, to gain the full knowledge of Christ?  All who finish the race will win it!.

 

Most of us have done things in our past, which we are ashamed of, and we live in between what we have been and what we want to be. However, because our hope is in Christ, we can let go of past guilt. We can move on with determination to what God will help us become.

                                              

Praise the Lord,  we can forget about the past, and move on to a life of faith and obedience. In Christ we can look forward to a more fuller and deeper and more meaningful life because our hope is in Him.

 

Doctrine #9       We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

God's purpose in saving us is to create in us the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ, who is the true image of God. It is to impart the holiness of Jesus so that we may 'participate in the divine nature' It is to make it possible for us to glorify God as Christ's true disciples. It is to make us holy.    (Salvation Story)

ILLUS: American Gail Devers won the 100-meter dash by only 6/100 of a second over her four top competitors in 1992. Gail suffers from Grave’s disease. Just one year before she won the Olympic gold, Gail came within two days of having both feet amputated.

After surviving that scare, she began to train and push herself toward her goal. Her determination and persistence won the day. Who would have thought the fastest woman in the world was the same woman who almost lost her feet. This showed the triumph of determination! 

 

A.W. Tozer says that people who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks: 1. They are facing only one direction, 2. They can never turn back, and 3. They no longer have plans of their own.

The important thing is that we reach the goal that Christ has set for us with great determination. No matter how successful we may be in the eyes of man, we cannot be rewarded unless we “take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of us.”

So far we have seen three essentials for Holy - Gold medal living, dissatisfaction, direction, and determination.

V. The fourth essential for gold Medal Living is Discipline.
V16 “..let us live up to what we have already attained.”

 

It is not enough to run hard and win the race; the runner must also obey the rules. 2 Timothy 2:5 tells us that, “If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.”

The issue is not what the athlete thinks, or what the spectators think, but it’s what the judge says. The Bible tells us in Roman 14:10-12. “...We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written; “‘as surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God’” If we have disciplined ourselves to obey the rules, to remain a Christian, we shall receive a reward.

 

We believers are in different stages, but everyone needs to obey the truth they have learned already. As we press on toward the goal, we should not use our lack of knowledge as an excuse for getting sidetracked. We must continue to learn and grow, while at the same time governing our lives by the light we have already received.

 

ILLUS:   A wealthy businessman, who was well known for being ruthless and unethical, told Mark Twain that before he died, he wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He said that when he got there he wanted to climb to the top of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and there read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.

“I have a better idea,” replied Twain, in his typical wit, “You could stay in Boston and keep them.” We need to play according to the rules

 

But we always prefer some great religious experience to the routine of obedience. We would like some mountaintop emotion rather than actually showing the evidence of a changed life.

 

Dissatisfation,   With staying where we are in our Christian experience.  

Direction,     Staying focused on the goal to be achieved. forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead. 

Determination, pressing on and getting past the obstacles that distract and discourage you.    

Discipline We’ve got to obey the rules in the race…. That’s the word of God, following His ways… being obedient in our faith.

 

These are the essentials for holy living. Living a holy life is not easy, it’s a process that continues as life goes on.  

As you examine your life, and your place in the race as a Christian, the alter is open, maybe you want to pray for strength, that God will give you these four essentials for Gold Medal – Holy Living.

 

Chorus:   I know the Lord will make a way for me.

               If I live a holy life, shun the wrong and do the right,

               I know the Lord will make a way for me.