Similarities Between Christians and Olympic Athletes

Introduction:

Over the past few weeks a major, worldwide event has been taking place in Sochi, Russia, the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics [as well as their counterpart, the Summer Olympics] are held every four years. Athletes from all over the world [even Australia and Jamaica] gather in one place to compete in a variety of events. The goal of each athlete is to win a medal [preferably a gold medal as Olympic champion]. However, only a few of the many athletes who compete will win a medal. Most will go back home empty-handed.

Does any of this sound familiar to you in your life? As Christians, we share many of the same attributes as these Olympic athletes. I want us to take a look at these similarities, and how they affect our faith.

Body:

I. Training

 Just like Olympic athletes, we as Christians must train in order to be successful. In order to be the best Christians that we can be, we must train vigorously, consistently, and often.

· Proverbs 22:6 Those who are young [whether it be in age or faith] need to be trained well early on; so that they will stay focused and on the right track.

· Hebrews 5:11-14 We can take a lot from this passage. 1. We need to train gradually. Do not take on too much too soon.

2. We need to improve gradually, not just stay stuck in the basics. 3. We need our faith to mature so that we can help those who are young or immature in their faith. 4. We need to be mature enough spiritually to embrace good and to shun evil.

· Matthew 16:24-25 In order to train up our faith, we must be willing to accept and bear the responsibility. We must strive to follow Christ and to deny ourselves. We must be willing to stick with our spiritual training, no matter how hard it gets. We cannot quit. 

II. We Need Help from Fellow Christians.

 Each Olympic athlete has help of some sort. They cannot do it all by themselves. They have coaches, agents, sponsors, training partners, and many of them have teammates. We as Christians also cannot do it alone. We need help from a variety of places to help build up and maintain our faith.

· We need to be part of a church, part of a solid congregation of fellow Christians. Why do we need a church? (Matthew 16:18) We see that Jesus built the church. This is Jesus’ church. If we have no part of His church, then we can have no part in Him. We are also commanded in Hebrews 10:23-25 to not forsake the assembly of the church. If we forsake the assembly, we forsake both Christ and each other. We are denying the importance of the church that Christ Himself established. We are not encouraging our fellow Christians, but rather we are discouraging them.

· We need to have solid leadership in the church. I Timothy 3:1-13 outlines the qualifications for elders and deacons in the church. These men must meet certain criteria and must be solid Christians [along with their household] in order to be the solid, dependable, and upright leaders that the church needs them to be. They are to manage the church properly so that the whole congregation stays on the right path with God.

· Romans 10:14-15 Each congregation needs a solid preacher or preachers so that the Christians there can hear, learn, and grow in God’s Word. No preaching means no learning and no growth. Also, if people say there is no need for a church, then why is there a need for elders, deacons, and preachers? Why does the Bible even mention these positions for the church if there is no need for the church?

· While having a solid and knowledgeable group of leaders in a congregation is necessary; the icing on the cake comes in the form of those who make up the congregation, the members, the believers, your fellow Christians. As Christians, we have tasks to complete in order to help other Christians and to make sure our congregation stays strong and united in faith.

· We must encourage our fellow Christians. (I Thessalonians 5:11) We must encourage and build each other up. (Acts 4:36-37) Barnabas set such a good example of encouragement that it became his name! He is still a good example to us today. We need to strive to be sons and daughters of encouragement to our fellow Christians.

· We are also commanded to admonish our fellow Christians when the need arises. (II Thessalonians 3:14-15) If someone is not doing right in faith, we must admonish that person. We must tell them of the error and help them to correct it. However, if they refuse to be corrected, then we have to cut ties with them. But if this need arises, we must do it all with care and with love. Admonishing is not an easy thing to do sometimes; but it must be done.

III. With solid training and help from our fellow Christians, we will be ready for the next step: To Fight and Defend Our Faith.

 Just as the Olympic athletes compete, we must compete and be victorious over those who attack or question our faith.

· Nehemiah 4:14 We must fight and not be afraid, because the Lord will always be on our side. We must fight for our faith and for each other.

· I Peter 3:14 Even though we will suffer for our faith, we must not be afraid. We must be ready to defend and prove our faith, to show others that Christ is real and His words are genuine and meant to be obeyed.

· II Timothy 4:7 At the end of our lives, wouldn’t it be great to be like Paul, able to look back and know that we fought hard for our Lord and kept our faith.

VI. As we mentioned earlier, the Goal of Every Olympic Athlete Is to Win a Gold Medal.

Just as these athletes train and compete in order to gain victory, we as Christians have to continue on each and every day so that we ourselves can gain the ultimate victory: eternity in Heaven.

· I Corinthians 9:24-25 In any Olympic event, many athletes compete; but only a few win. There are so many people in this world, but only a few follow Christ. Those few will win that imperishable wreath; while everyone else will lose out on Heaven. Jesus illustrates this point best in Matthew 7:13-14. Many will meet their destruction because they took the easy way out and did not train or fight. The ones who gain eternal life are few because they struggled and fought for something wonderful. Again, those who compete are many; but those who win are few.

· Matthew 5:1-12 “The Beatitudes,” [Blessed are. . .] Focus on verse 12. To those who do great things for Christ and are blessed, their reward in Heaven will be great. They fought and were persecuted for Christ’s sake. We will have a wonderful reward for our work, our struggles, and our faith.

· I John 5:1-4 If we believe in Christ, if we are born of God, this gives us the ability to be victorious and overcome the evils and temptations of this world. Our faith will be our victory! If we always keep our faith, then we will always be victorious!

Conclusion:

Just as an Olympic athlete, we as Christians must always train and work hard to build up our faith and keep it strong. We must surround ourselves with other solid Christians and be in a strong church with dependable leaders and accurate preaching. We also must be ready to fight for our faith and defend it. If we can do all these things, we will gain victory over this world and win our own gold medal – an eternity of happiness and joy in Heaven with our Lord and Savior.

Perhaps you are having trouble in your pursuit of Heaven. Maybe you are not training as diligently as you should be. Maybe you need more support, or you have not been supportive of others. Perhaps you are losing in your fight right now. Or maybe you have not yet begun training for the ultimate reward. Being baptized into Christ can get you started. If you have any need, please come. 

Zane Berner, Visiting Preacher

March 16, 2014