Chasing greatness

Chasing greatness 

1 Corinthians 9: 25-27

Saw a guy in Walmart who’s T-shirt caught my attention. It read “chasing greatness.”

Inspiration can come from the strangest places. Even a Tshirt. 

Our culture is obsessed with attaining greatness. 

Even trump. What does maga mean?

We want to be the greatest, or put another way, the best at whatever we’re doing. 

Restaurants claim to serve the best (greatest) food.

Auto manufacturers claim to have the best (greatest) vehicles. 

Politicians claim to have the best (greatest) ideas to fix whatever ills their opponents surely caused. 

Sports over the last decade or so have coined a new anachronism: GOAT. 

It means “greatest of all time.” 

People argue, cuss, and fight over all these things and more. 

Paul gives a few points to us Christians who wish (to use an old slogan) to be all that we can be for Jesus. 

1 Corinthians 9: 25-27 “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

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‭When I first went into the army, I could run, but I had no idea how to properly breathe and pace myself. So consequently when I ran, my breathing would get so heavy that I just couldn’t keep going. I’d have to stop and catch my breath. 

Of course the drill sergeants couldn’t have that so they’d make the whole platoon circle back to pick up us stragglers. 

This added unnecessary steps and distance to my fellow soldiers and did not make me popular among them. I was making life harder for them in an already hard situation. 

Some would say that they shouldn’t have to go back for the stragglers. Because why should they have to put forth the extra effort for those that lagged behind?

But the drill sergeant’s understood 2 important things. 

1. every soldier is valuable and brings different strengths and weaknesses to the table. And the strong runners could one day be saved by the weak runners who may be able to shoot better than or patch up the wounded good runners. So if the weak ones fall out, you go back for them. No soldier left behind. And 
2. The battle is won together. The battle is very seldom won by one soldier. It’s a group effort made up of every soldier doing their part. So they came back for us.

Finally, a young drill sergeant took me to the side after watching me and explained that I had to control my breathing while I ran. 

If I ran counting my steps, breathing in for a few steps and then out a few steps. Kept the process going, then my lungs would strengthen and my body would respond. 

I tried it and never fell out of a run again. I may have fallen out of the formation for a while thereafter, but I didn’t stop running. They didn’t find me on the roadside breathing hard. 

They found me still running. 

Maybe a little slower than them. But running. 

And their attitudes changed towards me. I was running. I was working at it. I was trying. 

Eventually I got to where I could run with them and not fall out of formation. 

In the future for a time, I got to where I was running 5 miles a day: on my own. Just because I had mastered it to a degree and enjoyed doing it. 

Spiritually, we are in this thing together. We’re not lone wolves. We’re not alone. 

And we go to heaven together, or to hell alone. 

So if we, or one of us, stumbles or falls, we are supposed to circle back and get them we’re supposed to pick them up and help them make it. We’re supposed to teach them how to properly run this race. 

Not ridicule, make fun of, or slander. 

Paul said he had run the race and fought a good fight. 

He learned how to control his body and make it do what needed to be done whether it wanted to do it or not. 

He forced it to give up certain things and to strive for heavenly things in order to attain the high calling of God!

1 Corinthians 6: 12 

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

Marathon runners train for the marathon. They pay attention to what they put into their bodies. They don’t eat a lot of junk food or drink a lot of sodas or alcohol. 

They give things up that their body enjoys in order that they may finish their race. 

So should we in our race. 

Fried chicken may not technically be bad for the marathon runners. But they don’t eat a lot of it. They control their diet and exercise to accomplish the goal. 

That hobby we have may not be sinful, but if it takes away prayer time, ministry time, bible study time, or family time, then perhaps we need to give up the hobby in the short term in order that we may achieve our long term goal of hearing the Lord say, “well done” and spending eternity with him.

In my youth there was a show called “the wide world of sports.” I used to watch it sometimes. 

On one occasion, they showed a marathon race. In this particular race, two men had been neck and neck, battling for the lead. As they neared the final stretch, one of them suddenly tripped and fell by the wayside. 

The other man had a clear path to victory and all the prestige and fame that would come with it. 

But after a few more steps. The leader stopped. He turned and watched as his fallen competitor kept trying to get up and just finish the race. But he was wounded and couldn’t run on his bleeding leg. So he limped very gently towards the finish line. 

The leader ran to his fallen competitor. Placed himself on the side of his wounded leg, draped his arm over himself. And helped the man finish the race. 

Neither one of the two men who had led the race for several miles would now win the race. Other inferior runners would now win the prizes of the first few finishers. 

But the two men did finish the race- together. 

The stronger man helping the weaker to make the final trek- one grueling limp at a time. 

The former leader had given up his own glory. He’d given up the prize money. He’d given up the prestige. He’d given up the magazine photo shoots and tv interviews he would have gotten had he continued and won the race.

But he did finish the race- helping his fallen and wounded comrade do the same. 

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Galatians 6:9 Do not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap. 

But do you know who the newspapers and magazines and tv stations wanted to interview? Do you know who got the photo ops ? Do you know what the sports anchors showed on the air? 

It wasn’t the ones who won the race. It wasn’t the ones who gained the prize. 

It was the two competitors, now comrades, who had competed so hard against each other, but finished the race together- even though they didn’t win.

At the heart of all we do must be prayer and relationship with Jesus. We get our strength from him. We get our marching orders from him. We get our healing from him. Everything we need is in him. 

The biggest battle we have is not with the devil or demons. They are defeated foes. 

It’s not with other people. We choose whether to let them affect us or not. 

It’s not with governments for if we are born again we belong to the greatest kingdom that controls and defeats all others. 

No our greatest battle is keeping our old man down. 

When we get tired and weary, we must not give into our old comforts. We must press on. Holding onto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith we move forward and keep our body under subjection to his spirit. 

And when we’re ready to throw in the towel and give up, he says “come to me all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Our rest is not found in chilling out. It’s not found in our comforts. It’s not found in other people. It’s not found in handouts. 

Our rest is found only in Jesus. Just Jesus 

So press on. 

But when you do fail, when you do fall. 

Fall at Jesus feet. 

He will always circle around and come back and get you- if you don’t give up. 

For the joy that was set before him

 For the joy that was set before him 

Hebrews 12:2

He was God in human flesh, yet he did not operate towards us from that state. 

He humbled himself as a servant 

He had the right to demand (not ask for) worship, praise, adoration, obedience, and more. 

He had the right to demand a palace and royal robes, yet he was born in a stable and raised in a poor area by a poor family. 

He had the power to subdue kingdoms, and the whole world actually. Yet he healed the hurting, reached out to the outcasts, taught the confused. 

Do you honestly believe that he rebuked the Sanhedrin (Pharisees and sadducees) because he despised them?

No

He first tried to teach them on many occasions. He showed miracles to try and get their attention. He rebuked them sharply not out of malice, but as a loving father trying to get his children to change. He whipped their subordinates and ran them out of the temple out of holiness and loving corrective action. 

Was he angry? Yes. But he was still doing what he did out of love and service 

He never once demanded what he deserved of mankind. 

Rather, he lovingly served us. 

Why?

For the joy that was set before him. 

He took the ridicule from his inferiors. He took the abuse from the scoffers. He took the slander from the prideful. 

All because he knew that one day, all the pain he endured, all the doubt he tolerated, all the accusations he ignored, would result in a bride! 

Without spot or wrinkle. 

A people made holy and righteous by his suffering. 

He would be their God. And they would be his people. 

We are supposed to be Christian’s. 

The word means “Christ-like.”

But does he really expect us to humbly serve each other as he did?

Yes! 

Matthew 20: 25-28

That’s the opposite of how we do things. 

We’re focused on our rights. We’re focused on what we think we deserve. We’re zoned in on our own authority. And if our authority isn’t recognized and respected, we get angry!

From CEO’s down to shift managers, everyone is focused on being respected and getting the job done using their company given authority to do it. 

But it doesn’t stop there. 

In churches, people are very title oriented. Bishop this, evangelist that, missionary this, prophet that. 

Why? 

Because having that title they believe makes them a somebody. 

Why?

Because with those titles comes God given authority. 

And humans love to use authority against each other. It makes us feel like we’re better than others or are somehow above them. 

Even in families, most of the marriage problems are really about one spouse trying to take authority over and control the other. “You’re supposed to do things this way.”

Never mind that every home has its own culture. When a couple gets married it’s not about trying to convert their spouse to the culture they grew up in. It’s about becoming one. It’s about learning what works to make your home and lives work well together. it’s supposed to be about blending. 

Both Giving up what the other spouse hates. Both serving each other and trying to find out what works for their relationship and home. 

Most of the problems with children are about exercising authority over each other. “That’s my computer, that’s my room, that’s my toy, that’s my stuff. You have to have my permission to use that and you can only use it the way I say you can and for the length of time I say you can use it.”

At the heart of it all is love! Whether business, church, or home. 

Agape’

It starts with personal submission to God. Letting him have control. Letting him guide us in everything. 

Jesus manifested his love by serving in everything he did. 

His love is supposed to be allowed to manifest in and through us through serving others. 

We focus on authority and control. 

But he focuses on humble submission- to him and to each other. 

The apostles didn’t submit to him because of his great authority and position. 

They submitted because of his incredible love! 

How much smoother would a church run if everything was handled through humble submission to each other and prayer, rather than manipulation and power plays. 

How much more peaceful would our homes be if parents humbly submitted to each other, serving each other and their children in the love of God?

Even when Jesus exercised authority, he was standing on the word of God and acting out of love and humble service for humanity. 

The world says “take what you can get.” 

His says, “give yourself away (within the bounds of the word).”

When we fully understand and realize just what Jesus gave up in order that we might be made new, we will willingly obey his commands because we will fall in love with him. 

And by extension, we will lovingly serve each other because he is living through us and empowering us to do so. 

Mt 16:25

The whole crux of the gospel is almighty God served humanity by becoming the sacrifice for our sins in order that he may empower us to put our wills down and allow his will to operate IN earth (in us) as it is in heaven. 

That’s him having complete authority and wielding it in and through us. 

That’s why he came.

That’s why he died. 

That’s why he arose. 

That’s the only way any of us will ever make heaven.