Men in Strict Training

“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. 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. Therefore 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 so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

In the first century AD, the Corinthians hosted an athletic competition every other year called the Isthmian Athletic Games. The people of Corinth would quickly understand Paul’s analogy and agree that if anyone wanted to compete, much less win at that level of competition, they would have to go into strict training. Paul used the example of running to help these people understand the kind of Christian self-denial that it would take to run the Christian race. In order for the athletes to get into good enough condition to run the race in the arena, it took great self-control in diet and exercise: a rigorous bodily discipline. Here, Paul was teaching the Corinthians that if they wanted to win the prize for which God had called them heavenward (Philippians 3:14), they could not compete in an undisciplined way.

Let’s face it, we live at a time where so many people go to church and claim to believe in God and yet they run the Christian race in a very aimless way. I have studied the Bible with so many people who readily admit that they are not obeying Jesus’ teachings, and yet they are not urgent to change (2 Corinthians 7:8-11) because they believe Satan’s lie that they are saved whether they repent or not. 1 John 2:3-4 says, “We know that we have come to know him [Jesus] if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” So many claim they know him, but according to Scripture, they are liars.

Satan is so crafty and deceitful in the way he leads us astray, and the only way that we will be able to take our stand against the devil’s schemes (see last week’s article entitled “The Devil’s Schemes”) is to know the Scriptures deeply and to trust them more than we trust our feelings. It is the Holy Scriptures “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). We are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. However, Paul understood that the only way to keep his faith and win the heavenly prize was to run the Christian race with the same level of self discipline and “all-out effort” as the athletes. Otherwise, he could preach to the whole world yet still be disqualified and miss his reward.

Paul was serious about his personal righteousness. The ancient boxers would strike each other with punishing blows, beating each other black and blue. That is the image Paul wanted the Corinthians to have in order to understand how he would “beat his own body” in order to gain the Christian crown. We have to make our bodies, beginning with our minds, obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). It is time to get serious about our spiritual lives. The first step is to admit how spiritually out of shape we are and how we feel about it. In 1 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul teaches Timothy to train himself to be godly. Then he makes a comparison to physical training. He tells Timothy that “physical training has some value [in this life], but godliness has value for this life and the life to come.”

I wish I could just eat anything I want and be physically fit, but that is not how God made things. He made our bodies in such a way that if we don’t live a disciplined life, we will get out of shape, and when we are out of shape physically, there’s no hiding it. All you have to do is look at someone and you know how that person is doing physically. It is the same spiritually. Jesus said, “…by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:20). All you have to do is look at someone and talk to them about their lives, and you will know how they are doing spiritually.

Are you in shape spiritually? Are you competing in such a way that you will get the prize? This is a serious matter. Far too many people brush it off and say, “God loves me and he’ll forgive me.”

I remember watching television shortly after the tragic events of September 11TH, 2001. A man undergoing terrible grief over the loss of his brother shared that even though his brother never talked to God a day in his life, he knew that his brother was with God at that moment. Sadly though, this is what our emotions want to believe; this is not what the Bible teaches.

We need to know our Bibles. 2 Timothy 2:5 says, “Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.” There was a herald in the Greek games that would announce the rules of each particular athletic event to the crowd. Paul told us (in 2 Timothy 1:11) that he himself was a herald of the gospel. He was also a competitor who competed according to those rules that he was heralding. God has laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed (Psalm 119:4).

Therefore, strict training will help you run the Christian race in such a way as to get the prize that will last forever. If you listen to the devil’s lies and run aimlessly, Satan will lead you astray. Then you won’t get the prize; you will get disqualified.

We must hold dearly to the grace of God and yet never treat that grace cheaply. Be ever conscious and vigilant in your own battle against sin. The only way to win the heavenly prize is to run the Christian race with the same all-out effort that the athletes ran with.

Our “First Principles” classes will be starting next Sunday, October 8TH. This will be a time of strict training for our church. We need to pray that God will use this time to transform us into the men and women we need to be: men and women who can correctly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). This is a matter of salvation. How we handle the truth will determine if we make it to heaven and if our hearers make it to heaven (1 Timothy 4:16).

Bobby Knight once said, “Everyone has the will to win, but few have the will to prepare to win.” Let us prepare ourselves so that this class series will yield great fruit in our lives and in the lives of those that we are privileged to proclaim the gospel to.

Are you ready to run the race marked out for you (Hebrews 12:1)? If so, then what are you waiting for? On your mark… Get set… “Go… make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Chris Broom

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