At first glance, distance running (the sport of my youth) is an individual sport. It’s just you against the clock and the other runners. It is up to you. If you let up, you’re the loser. If you slack off in practice, you alone lose conditioning which will impact your race.
However, for nearly every race I ever ran, I ran on a team: how I placed impacted my team’s score. This was especially true on distance relays…where I had to pass the baton on for the team to win. If I let down on my leg of the relay, I impacted the time of the entire team. If I dropped the baton, the team was disqualified, not just me. The only race I never finished was a gimme NCAA medal…there were 6 places and 5 runners, and I was unable to finish. How that must have hurt the team! All I was thinking about, however, was how bad I was hurting from taking 6x6 barriers across the shins before I went headfirst into the water (I was running the 3000 meter steeplechase) and how my pride was hurting from the crowd laughing at me as I sat on the next barrier and swung my legs over. I was only thinking about me when someone asked me, “Do you think you can make it?” I dropped out and my team lost the points.
In a society that values individualism and entitlement, we tend to think that life is about me and that I deserve a break. We think that as long as it impacts only me, it is my business. However if we look at the book of Romans, we discover that church is a team sport. It is not just about me. If I let up in living out my faith in Christ, I’m not the only loser. What I do impacts everyone else!
RO 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
RO 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God…
RO 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself…
That’s why Paul says…
1CO 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Yes, we will all stand before the judgment seat (I Corinthians 3) as individuals.
But, we will be evaluated on how we impacted our team.
Christ-following is a team sport!
However, for nearly every race I ever ran, I ran on a team: how I placed impacted my team’s score. This was especially true on distance relays…where I had to pass the baton on for the team to win. If I let down on my leg of the relay, I impacted the time of the entire team. If I dropped the baton, the team was disqualified, not just me. The only race I never finished was a gimme NCAA medal…there were 6 places and 5 runners, and I was unable to finish. How that must have hurt the team! All I was thinking about, however, was how bad I was hurting from taking 6x6 barriers across the shins before I went headfirst into the water (I was running the 3000 meter steeplechase) and how my pride was hurting from the crowd laughing at me as I sat on the next barrier and swung my legs over. I was only thinking about me when someone asked me, “Do you think you can make it?” I dropped out and my team lost the points.
In a society that values individualism and entitlement, we tend to think that life is about me and that I deserve a break. We think that as long as it impacts only me, it is my business. However if we look at the book of Romans, we discover that church is a team sport. It is not just about me. If I let up in living out my faith in Christ, I’m not the only loser. What I do impacts everyone else!
RO 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
RO 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God…
RO 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself…
That’s why Paul says…
1CO 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Yes, we will all stand before the judgment seat (I Corinthians 3) as individuals.
But, we will be evaluated on how we impacted our team.
Christ-following is a team sport!
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