You may recall a scene from the summer Olympics held in Atlanta. The eyes of the world were on an American athlete by the name of Carl Lewis. He stepped to the line for his third try in the long jump. He wore a nervous look on his face when he readied himself for the jump. He took off, his hands knifing through the air in his classic style. He accelerated into his takeoff, legs churning. He jumped with his legs bicycling in the air as he stretched out to grab extra inches. After the jump he fell face into the sand. When he saw where he had landed he broke into a broad smile and put his hands on the side of his head as if in disbelief.
When the white flag went up, signaling a clean jump, Lewis jumped up and raised his arms in triumph as the crowd chanted, "U-S-A, U-S-A." His jump was 27 feet, 103/4 inches, that was his fourth consecutive Olympic triumph in the long jump. Even more important, it gave him his ninth Olympic Gold medal. He became the only person in Olympic history to ever win a total of nine gold medals.
Since then, Micahel Phelps has won 11.
Before us in our text, the Apostle Paul paints a picture of the believer going for the gold. The imagery that Paul uses takes us back to the Roman and Isthmian games of the Greeks. The picture is of a runner in a long distance race. His objective is to win the prize, or as we would say, win the gold.
The picture of a runner running in a race is often found in the Bible. We find the picture in Hebrews 12:1, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." We also find the same picture in 1 Corinthians 9:24, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."
Paul must have been a sports fan. He referred to sports on many occasions to illustrate a spiritual truth. The devotion, discipline, and dedication of the athlete stirred the heart of Paul and he called for the same in the life of the believer.
In our text, we could say, that he is calling for the believer to go for the gold.
Gold medallists are people that have trained, worked, and practiced hour upon hour, day by day, week after week, month after month, and even year after year. Some of them have prepared from the time they were a child. All the work and practice has been for the purpose of developing themselves. Their objective is to get better and be the best at what they do. Paul had this in mind in verse 12, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."
He says in verse 15, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded," and in verse 16, "Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained." Those who train the Olympics have already exemplified a certain level of skill and athletic ability. They are already the best among the best. They have already attained a high level of achievement. They have already beat out a number of athletes to get to where they are. To be have been selected to be a part of an Olympic team indicates that they are the best of the best.
Paul is not speaking to those that are immature. In verse 15 he speaks of those that are perfect (mature). In verse 16 he speaks of those that have already attained. He is speaking to those who have grown in their Christian and have already reached a certain level of maturity.
At a quick glance it would seem that what he says in verse 12 contradicts what he says in verses 15-16. He says in verses 15 and 16 that he is mature and that he has attained. Yet, in verse 12 he says that he has not attained.
Paul is not contradicting himself, but clarifying what he is saying. He states that he is a mature Christian, but that he wants and needs to keep on maturing. He is declaring that he still has room for growth and there is still a need for spiritual development in his life.
It is like an athlete being chosen for the Olympic team. To be chosen, as I stated earlier, means that he or she is the best of the best. They are the best of their countries athletes in a certain sport. Yet, that does not remove them from the need of further development and growth. The long hours of practice and the weeks of hard work still continue. They are good, but they want to be better.
It doesn't matter how long you have been saved and how spiritual mature a person may be, there is always room for further growth and development. Spiritual growth is not for a time in your Christian life. It is for the total of your life. It is not for a while, but for the whole.
We read in verse 13, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." Paul not only wanted to be the best runner he could be, he also wanted to run the best race he could run. Paul was saying, "I haven't yet become all that I can be, but I am concentrating on getting there."
D.L. Moody said, "It is better to say, 'This one thing I do,' than to say, 'These forty things I dabble in.'" Paul was stating that he was not dabbling in forty things, but concentrating on one thing and that was winning the gold. To be an Olympic champion has its costs.
We read in verse 13, "And reaching forth unto those things which are before." A runner must keep his eyes on the finish line. A runner cannot watch the crowds in the stands or even be focused on what other runners are doing. He must be focused on the course in front of him and the finish line before him.
The words "reaching forth" give us the picture of a runner headed toward the finish line. It is the last lap and he is coming down the home stretch. Every muscle is straining, the heart and lungs are pounding in their chest and they are gasping for each breath of air. They are giving everything they have, reaching forth, to finish the race and win the gold.
That is how we are to run our race. We must be totally focused, allowing nothing to distract us. It is giving our all to win the gold. Someone has said that we are too near the crown to lay down the cross. We are too near the finish line to give anything less. The gold is before us and we must reach forth to win the gold.
Paul said, "I press toward the mark." The mark that he spoke of was the finish line. Paul was consumed with not only running his race, but also finishing it. He dreamed of the day when he hit the tape and crossed the finished line.
As Paul neared death he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). His testimony was that he finished the race as he had wished. Many a runner has started the race, but did not finish the race. Many have dropped out, some fell out, and others were kicked out. But thank God for those that did finish the race.
In the 1908 Olympics, there was an Italian runner by the name of Dorando Pietri. When he entered the stadium for the final 100 yards of the marathon he was running, he was in a state of collapse. The Italian runner fell five times before an official finally helped him across the finish line. He was disqualified, but he would not quit until he finished.
In the 1992 Olympics, Derek Redmond of Great Britain, about halfway through the 400 meters race tore a hamstring. Redmond hobbled the rest of the way with the help of his father, who rushed from the grandstands to aid his son. He came in last, but he finished.
In the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City, Tanzania's John Stephen Akhware, with his right leg bloody and bandaged, staggered into the stadium more than an hour after the winner had crossed the line. He said afterwards, "My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish the race."
As believers, we represent a heavenly country and we have not been left here just to start the race, but to finish the race. There is gold before us. Let's go get the gold!
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