PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14 | FAITH JOURNEY

FAITH JOURNEY

PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14

AUGUST 21, 2016

“EVERY LIFE IS WORTHY OF A NOVEL…” THEY SAY, AND IT’S TRUE.

OUR LIVES ARE FILLED WITH PLOTS AND SUB-PLOTS, GROUPS OF CHARACTERS, STORYLINES, VICTORIES AND DEFEATS, SUCCESSES AND FAILURES, TWISTS AND TURNS…

HOWEVER, NOVELS ARE RELATIVELY LONG FICTIONAL PROSE PIECES, THAT IS, MADE UP STORIES, WHEREAS OUR LIVES TEND TO FALL MORE INTO THE CATEGORY OF “YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!”

THERE ARE STILL PLOTS AND SUB-PLOTS, CHARACTERS, TWISTS AND TURNS, BUT THEY ARE BASED UPON THE ACTUAL EVENTS OF OUR LIVES.

WE CALL THESE WORKS OF LITERATURE – BIOGRAPHIES – AND AGAIN, WHILE THIS IS ALSO TRUE, OUR LIVES, BECAUSE WE WRITE THEM OURSELVES, ARE REALLY WHAT WE CALL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES.

EVERY LIFE IS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL – WE WRITE THE STORY OF OUR LIFE OURSELVES.

WE WRITE OUR OWN LIVES ON THE BLANK PAGES OF TIME AND HISTORY, AND WHILE PLENTY OF THE STORIES, THE HIGHLIGHTS AND LOW POINTS, THE GOOD TIMES AND THE TRAGEDIES, ARE SOMETIMES NOT OF OUR OWN MAKING…

HOW WE CHOOSE TO LIVE THEM, LIVE THROUGH THEM, THE CHOICES WE MAKE, THE WAY WE RESPOND, HOW WE LET THEM SHAPE US, MOLD US, GUIDE US, IS UP TO US.  OUR STORIES ARE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S ANALOGY FOR ALL OF THIS, AND IN PARTICULAR, THE FAITH PIECE OF ALL OF THIS; OUR FAITH JOURNEYS, WE CALL THEM, COMES STRAIGHT OUT OF THE SPORTS PAGES.

IT IS BELIEVED THAT PAUL HIMSELF MAY HAVE BEEN SOMETHING OF AN ATHLETE IN HIS TIME.  HE OFTEN REFERS TO RUNNING, BOXING, TRAINING HIS SPIRIT THE WAY HE TRAINS HIS BODY, IN THE LETTERS HE WRITES.

AT THE VERY LEAST, PAUL WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE ATHLETIC COMPETITIONS OF HIS DAY, AND SOME HAVE SUGGESTED, AND THIS IS WAY COOL, GIVEN THAT THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN RIO WILL CONCLUDE TONIGHT –

THAT PAUL MAY HAVE ACTUALLY ATTENDED THE ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES OF HIS TIME.

OF ALL THE COMPETITIONS, ALL THE MEDALS – GOLD AND OTHERWISE, ALL OF THE OLYMPIC AND WORLD RECORDS SET IN RIO, ALL OF THE FIRST TIME AND MANY TIME COMPETITORS AND ACHIEVEMENTS…

PERHAPS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE, MOST FASCINATING, WAS AMERICAN SWIMMER MICHAEL PHELPS’ BREAKING A 2,000-YEAR-OLD RECORD FOR INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT.

NOW THIS ACHIEVEMENT DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL OF THE MEDALS, GOLD OR OTHERWISE, THAT HE ACHIEVED AS PART OF RELAY TEAMS, ONLY HIS GOLD MEDALS IN INDIVIDUAL EVENTS.

FOR MORE THAN 2000 YEARS, LEONIDAS OF RHODES, HELD THE RECORD FOR THE MOST INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC TITLES WITH 12.  HE WON THREE RACES IN FOUR STRAIGHT OLYMPICS.

PHELPS’ GOLD-MEDALS ARE IN FIVE DIFFERENT INDIVIDUAL SWIMMING EVENTS OVER FOUR STRAIGHT OLYMPICS.

LEONIDAS WON MEDALS IN THE STADION – A FOOT RACE MEASURING ABOUT 200 YARDS; IN THE DIAULOS, A RACE TWICE THAT LONG; AND IN THE HOPLITODROMOS, ALSO CALLED THE HOPLITE RACE, WHICH IS THE MOST INTRIGUING.

IN THIS RACE RUNNERS WERE REQUIRED TO WEAR A HELMET, LEG ARMOR, AND CARRY A SHIELD.  WITH 50 POUNDS OF ADDED WEIGHT, IT WAS A TEST OF STRENGTH AS MUCH AS SPEED AND ENDURANCE.

LEONIDAS WON HIS LAST THREE TITLES AT THE AGE OF 36.  MICHAEL PHELPS BEAT HIS RECORD AT AGE 31.

WHEN MICHAEL PHELPS WON THE 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY HE BECAME THE WINNINGEST OLYMPIAN IN INDIVIDUAL EVENTS EVER, SURPASSING LEONIDAS IN INDIVIDUAL WINS.

(HE WAS ALREADY THE WINNINGEST OLYMPIAN EVER – WHEN YOU ADDED IN HIS TEAM MEDALS.)

NOW IF YOU ARE MICHAEL PHELPS OR LEONIDAS OF RHODES, SWIMMING OR RUNNING A RACE, THE APOSTLE PAUL’S ADVICE IN THIS MORNING’S PASSAGE FROM HIS LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS IS SPOT ON.

“FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND AND STRAINING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE…”

THIS IS THE STUFF OF OLYMPIC COMPETITION AND OF WINNING MEDALS, AND ITS PRETTY GOOD ADVICE FOR US IN LIVING OUR LIVES AS WELL, WITH ONE CAVEAT.

OUR LIVES, AS MICHAEL PHELPS, AND PROBABLY LEONIDAS AS WELL, CAN ATTEST, RARELY MOVE FORWARD IN A SINGLE, STRAIGHT LINE.

IN FACT, LIFE ALMOST NEVER MOVES IN A STRAIGHT LINE; IT’S FILLED WITH UPS AND DOWNS, TWISTS AND TURNS, FLIPS AND FLOPS, BENDING THIS WAY AND CURVING THAT WAY, AND FOR THAT REASON, MAYBE WE NEED TO TURN TO A DIFFERENT ATHLETE, A DIFFERENT OLYMPIC SPORT, TO CAPTURE THE TRUE NATURE OF THE ANALOGY.

PERHAPS OUR LIVES ARE MORE LIKE AMERICAN GYMNAST, GOLD MEDAL WINNER, SIMONE BILES.  SHE’S AMAZING IN HER VARIOUS GYMNASTIC EVENTS.

SHE TWISTS AND TURNS, TUMBLES, RIGHT SIDE UP, THEN UPSIDE DOWN, FLIPPING AND FLOPPING, BALANCING AND DANCING, AND SHE DOES IT ALL TO NEAR PERFECTION.

AND THEREIN ENDS THE ANALOGY, BECAUSE IN LIFE, WITH ALL OF ITS TWISTS AND TURNS, FLIPS AND FLOPS, RIGHT SIDES UP AND UPSIDE DOWNS, WE HARDLY EVER DO IT PERFECTLY.

IN FACT, WE ARE AS LIKELY TO WIND UP ON OUR KEISTERS AS WE ARE LANDING ON OUR FEET!

BUT HERE’S THE THING, IF YOU WILL ALLOW ME TO PUSH THE ANALOGY ONCE MORE;

TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR’S OLYMPIC COMPETITION, AND OTHERS, OF COURSE, WHAT WE’VE SEEN IS ATHLETES FALLING AND FAILING, BUT PICKING THEMSELVES UP, DUSTING THEMSELVES OFF, AND GETTING RIGHT BACK TO THEIR COMPETITION OR ROUTINE.

HECK, THERE WAS EVEN ONE GUY, BRITISH, LONG DISTANCE RUNNER MO FARRAH WHO WAS TRIPPED UP BY HIS OWN TRAINING PARTNER DURING THE 10,000 METER RUN, WHO GOT UP, STARTED RUNNING AGAIN, AND WON THE GOLD MEDAL!

AND YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THE STORY ABOUT AMERICAN MIDDLE-DISTANCE RUNNER ABBEY D’AGOSTINO OF THE UNITED STATES AND NIKKI HAMBLIN OF NEW ZEALAND BOTH TOOK HARD FALLS ON THE TRACK IN RIO DURING A PRELIMINARY HEAT IN THE WOMEN’S 5,000 METERS ON TUESDAY MORNING, PUTTING THEM WELL OUT OF CONTENTION TO QUALIFY FOR THE SEMIFINAL.

BUT IT WAS WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THEIR FALLS THAT WAS REALLY GREAT, AS BOTH D’AGOSTINO AND HAMBLIN HELPED EACH OTHER UP, MADE SURE EACH WAS OK, AND THEN TOOK TO FINISHING THEIR RACES, EVEN THOUGH BOTH LOOKED HURT AND FINISHED MUCH LATER THAN THE REST OF THE FIELD.

IT WAS AN EXCELLENT DISPLAY OF SPORTSMANSHIP ON BOTH SIDES.

SO THE APOSTLE PAUL’S ADVICE HERE IS GOOD, WHETHER WE ARE A RUNNER, A SWIMMER, OR ARE JUST TRYING TO MAKE IT THROUGH LIFE IN ONE PIECE;

“FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND AND STRAINING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE…”

AND IN OUR CASE, AS BELIEVERS, WE NEED TO INCLUDE THE WORDS OF THE LAST OF THAT VERSE:

“TOWARD THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE OF THE HEAVENLY CALL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.”

IN THE NOVEL, BIOGRAPHY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY THAT IS HIS LIFE, PAUL ADMITS, THAT HE HAS NOT YET OBTAINED THE PRIZE… NOT YET REACHED THE GOAL…

BUT THAT HE “PRESSES ON TO MAKE IT HIS OWN, BECAUSE CHRIST HAS MADE ME HIS OWN.”

AND ONCE MORE, HE CONFESSES AS TO HOW HE HAS STILL NOT MADE IT, BUT CONTINUES TO STRIVE FORWARD FOR IT.

THIS IS THE STORY OF OUR LIFE.  OUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  OUR FAITH JOURNEY.

NOWHERE OTHER THAN IN CHURCH, PERHAPS, OR WITH OUR FELLOW BELIEVERS, DO WE SPEAK OF OUR LIVES AS A “FAITH JOURNEY.”

WE GET THAT – THE TWO THINGS YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT IN POLITE COMPANY ARE RELIGION AND POLITICS;

BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS, MOST OF US, IF PRESSED, WHEN LOOKING AT OUR LIVES, AND IN PARTICULAR AT THE TRIUMPHS AND TRAGEDIES, WE WOULD BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT THAT OUR FAITH PLAYED SOME ROLE IN THEM;

THAT IT WAS TO OUR FAITH IN GOD THAT WE TURNED IN THOSE TIMES;

AND THAT WE BELIEVE GOD PLAYED A ROLE IN NOT ONLY THE OUTCOME OF THESE EVENTS, BUT ALSO IN THE TRAJECTORY OF OUR FAITH JOURNEY, OUR LIFE, IN THE TIMES THAT FOLLOWED.

WE ARE – OUR FAITH JOURNEYS.  THEY SHAPE US AND WE SHAPE THEM, AND ALONG THE WAY, PEOPLE AND EVENTS, PLAY THEIR ROLES IN THEM AS WELL.

PRESSING TOWARD THE GOAL, AS PAUL SUGGEST, IS FINE;

SETTING OUR SIGHTS ON THE PRIZE AND STRIVING FORWARD IS GREAT;

FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND (BECAUSE WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING TO CHANGE THE PAST) IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE;

JESUS MENTIONED THIS IN A STORY HE TELLS ABOUT A FARMER PLOWING A FIELD, AND HOW IT IS THAT WE LOOK FORWARD, NOT BACKWARDS, IF WE WANT TO PLOW IN A STRAIGHT LINE;

BUT WE KNOW THAT LIFE, RARELY, IF EVER, MOVES IN A STRAIGHT LINE;

SO ARMED WITH OUR FAITH IN GOD, EMPOWERED BY GOD’S SPIRIT, TRUSTING OF GOD’S PRESENCE WITH US THROUGHOUT…

WE MAKE OUR WAY IN OUR FAITH JOURNEYS COME WHAT MAY.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT THE OLYMPICS IS HEARING THE LIFE STORIES OF THE ATHLETES; WHERE THEY CAME FROM; WHO THEY ARE; THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AT TIMES, DESPITE GREAT ODDS.

LIKE SIMONE BILES: ABANDONED BY HER YOUNG MOTHER WHO BECAUSE OF PROBLEMS WITH ADDICTION, COULD NOT CARE FOR HERSELF, LET ALONE CARE FOR HER DAUGHTER;

SIMONE WAS ADOPTED BY, RAISED BY, HER GRANDPARENTS, THERE IN THE STANDS FOR EVERY EVENT; SIMONE, PERHAPS THE GREATEST OLYMPIC GYMNAST EVER.

MICHAEL PHELPS, THE PICTURE OF PERFECTION, WHO HAVING STEPPED AWAY FROM HIS SPORT MOMENTARILY, FOUND HIMSELF LOST, CONFUSED, HIS LIFE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN, WHO RIGHTED HIMSELF, TO BECOME A FATHER, A HUSBAND, AND THE WINNINGEST OLYMPIAN EVER.

OTHER ATHLETES WHO STORIES TELL OF OVERCOMING PERSONAL HARDSHIP AND INJURY;

WHO COME OUT OF AREAS RAVAGED BY WAR AND POVERTY;

OTHERS WHO REFUSED TO GIVE IN TO STATE SPONSORED DOPING OF THEIR NATION’S ATHLETES;

AND EVEN A TEAM OF INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES AT THIS OLYMPICS REPRESENTING REFUGEES WHO ESCAPED THEIR WAR TORN NATIONS, UNABLE TO FIELD NATIONAL TEAMS OF THEIR OWN.

EACH OF THEM WITH A STORY; EACH STORY THEIR VERY OWN.

AND, OF COURSE, THERE WILL BE THOSE STORIES OF OLYMPIANS FROM THIS OLYMPICS, WHO WILL OVERCOME THEIR INJURIES TO COMPETE AGAIN;

DUTCH CYCLIST ANNEMIEK VAN VLEUTEN WHO CRASHED WHILE IN THE LEAD, JUST KILOMETERS AWAY FROM WINNING GOLD;

FRENCH MALE GYMNAST SAMIR AIT SAID BREAKING HIS LEG WHILE LANDING A VAULT;

THE OPPOSITE LEG OF THE ONE HE BROKE A FOUR YEARS AGO THAT KEPT HIM OUT OF THE LONDON OLYMPICS;

AND OTHER ATHLETES AS WELL, WHO WILL OVERCOME POOR PERFORMANCES AT THIS OLYMPICS, OR DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE UPON RETURNING HOME, WHO WILL AMAZE US WITH THEIR STORIES OF PERSEVERANCE, FORTITUDE, HEART, AND CHARACTER FOUR YEARS FROM NOW.

SO IT IS WITH US.  WE ARE OUR STORIES AND OUR STORIES, OUR FAITH JOURNEYS, ARE US.

WE PICK OURSELVES UP, WE DUST OURSELVES OFF, AND WE GET BACK TO LIVING OUR LIVES, ALBEIT, SOMEWHAT DIFFERENTLY FOR HAVING BEEN THROUGH WHATEVER IT IS WE’VE BEEN THROUGH.

PAUL TALKS ABOUT THE GOAL, THE PRIZE, THE HEAVENLY CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS, AND WHILE HE CERTAINLY FOCUS HERE AND ELSEWHERE IN OTHER OF HIS WRITINGS ABOUT ACHIEVING THE GOAL;

PAUL IS EVERY BIT AS CONCERNED ABOUT THE JOURNEY, HOW WE GET THERE, AS WELL.

THIS SHOULD BE A LESSON FOR US ALL.  OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE, OF COURSE, BUT MINDFUL OF THE JOURNEY AS WELL.

I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE, I KNOW, OF THE POSTER THAT HUNG IN MY BEST FRIEND’S ROOM GROWING UP.

HE WAS A CAR GUY, AND THE POSTER WAS FOR THE THEN DATSUN 240 Z.  THE PICTURE WAS SHOT AT NIGHT, IN THE RAIN, ON A WINDING, EXTREMELY WINDING, MOUNTAINOUS ROAD;

THE DRIVER CLEARLY PUTTING THE 240 Z THROUGH ITS PACES AT TOP SPEED;

AND THE CAPTION READ: “LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION.”

WELL, IT’S BOTH; JOURNEY AND DESTINATION;

AND WE SHOULD DO BOTH TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY; PUTTING OUR LIFE THROUGH ITS PACES; AT TOP SPEED AND MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE;

IT IS WHERE WE GET TO… BUT IT IS ALSO HOW WE GET THERE.

“…FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND AND STRAINING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE OF THE HEAVENLY CALL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.”