The True Olympians Romans 12 : 1-8
What image are you going to take away from the Beijing 2008 Olympics? Is it Michael Phelps with a history-breaking 8 gold medals hanging on his neck? Is it the first-ever gold/silver finish in the women’s overall gymnastics? Or is it little Shawn Johnson finally getting her first gold medal – on the balance beam? Is it the pictures of athletes who, unlike me and you with our bellies and bulges and barnacles, represent the peak of physical human perfection? Is it men’s and women’s basketball both winning gold? Or is it the snapshots of the beauty and the vastness of China itself?
Have you enjoyed it as much as I have?
Maybe there is one more thing that will remain as a constant running through these Olympic memories: the haze. The pollution pall that settles over the city of Beijing was a constant concern for all the athletes and visitors gathered there. Did you see the pictures of the cycling athletes from the United States arriving in Beijing, coming into the city wearing black designer “pollution masks.” These were issued to wear whenever they were outside, although they ended up racing without. Instead of the ordinary white surgical mask-type protectors worn by average citizens, the masks provided for the Olympic athletes were unique: black, and sleek, and I might even say; “fashionable.”
If I asked each of you this morning one basic question: “What is the one thing that is required of an Olympic athlete?” – I think that most of you would give me the same, basic answer. In addition to the God given gifts, in addition to the support of his or her family, in addition to all of the other variables; every Olympic athlete needs disciplined determination. To become an Olympic athlete it takes absolute commitment, a focused fixation upon one single goal.
Many athletes talk about have that “fire in the belly.”
Athletes work nonstop for years. They work through pulled muscles. They work through colds and fevers. There is no weather too hot or cold to stop practice. Like parenthood, there are no “days off.” Through a grueling stair-step of competitions designed to allow only the best to finally triumph, athletes from around the world strive to make their country’s Olympic teams – 204 nations this time around.
But we all know one fact . . . and more than any of us the athletes themselves all know this same one fact . . . . . that in the end there will only be three medalists. And there will only be one gold medal winner.
What am I saying? Even in Olympic caliber competition, the majority of competitors know they have no chance. They are part of their country’s team, yes. They are the best in their nation, yes. But they know they will never be “in the running” for a medal. They know there will never be a medal for them.
Remember the Jamaican bobsled team who first appeared in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Alberta, Canada. A bobsled team from Jamaica? What chance did they have?
Yet, here is what is so amazing to me, and maybe the most lasting image of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Even though they know they will never win a medal, each of these unknown athletes works with the same single-minded determination, experiences the same pains, makes the same sacrifices of time and money and even family. In fact, the more obscure the sport, the competitors, or the country, the more likely that even greater sacrifices were necessary in order to make that Olympic dream come true.
So: How do these athletes do it?
Why do they do it?
What keeps these competitors going?
It is one thing to train and focus on the goal when you have a chance of winning. It is quite another thing to train just as hard, to focus on that goal, to “will that one thing,” when you know that you don’t have a prayer of standing on that podium and having a medal – any medal – draped around your neck.
The closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics have taken place today in Beijing. The United States ended up with 107 medals; China had 96. Its been a neck in neck race since the opening ceremony. And if you look at the total medal count, you will find a top tier of about 20 countries ended up with more than 10 medals. Then there is a second tier of about 20 or so countries that got 5 to 10 medals each. Then about 30 to 40 nations ended up with 1 or 2 or 3 medals. But that leaves the vast majority of nations who participate in the Olympics who never got any medal at all.
What keeps these competitors from no-medal nations going?
What keeps them coming to the Olympics?
What keeps them focused on the goal?
Is it this intense personal commitment, this ability to “will one thing” that enables those “second tier” athletes, those “third rate” and “last place” teams to give it their all, every day, 24/7/365, for years.
These competitors may never earn a medal, but every one of them is a “winner.” For this is really what it means to be an Olympian: to “will one thing,” to be swifter, higher, stronger.
In order to “will one thing” successfully, everything outside that goal must blur. Everything in life must become a hazy backdrop against which this one thing is focused. In order to “will one thing,” you must become a totally dedicated human being.
Today’s epistle reading from Romans 12 is one of the most familiar passages in all of Paul’s writings. It is also wonderfully appropriate for this last week of the Olympics. Here is the place where Paul focuses most intently on the physical body, and what we are to do with it and make of it.
In this text he admonishes the Christians at Rome to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (12:1). Virtually every commentator on this passage distills Paul’s thoughts down to one word: dedication.
Paul is calling Jesus’ followers to rethink their physical bodies as dedicated beings to be lifted up as an offering to God.
It used to be animals that were “presented” on the altar as an “acceptable” worship offering to God. Now, Paul is saying that each one of us needs to “present” our physical bodies as dedicated beings, offered in praise and worship to God. God is not in the business of dead sacrifices. God is in the business of living sacrifices . . . people who dedicate their entire beings to serving God by bettering humanity and building a better world.
This past week I was looking through a garden catalog that had come in the mail, and one item caught my eye. It was a big old rock. Etched in calligraphy upon this rock is this declaration: “Nothing is written in stone.”
The gospel reading for today, Matthew 16:13-20, takes that sentiment to task. There IS something written in stone. The church of Jesus Christ is written in stone. And the stone is called the Rock of Ages. And on that Rock is written this: “For God so Loved THE WORLD.” (John 3:16)
I love that Olympics commercial from VISA: “GO World!” it says. “Go World!” “For God so loved the World …” Well now,” GO WORLD!”
If you are a disciple of Jesus this morning, if you are a Christ follower, then you are called to present your bodies as dedicated beings. Like the Olympic athletes – like Michael Phelps – you are called to “will one thing:” you are to be the Body of Christ for this world. We are to dedicate our bodies to showing the world how much God loves this world.
Like each Olympic athlete who represents their country and want to do their best for their country, we represent God. We are God’s ambassadors, and we need to proclaim the Gospel everyday through our words and our actions as we do our best for God.
When I look out on you this morning, I don’t see very many of you who have written best-selling books. I don’t see many of you who will get your names in the halls and walls of fame. But I do see you out there, you unknowns who don’t get your names in lights, who are just as devoted, work just as hard, and pray without ceasing – without all the glory and the medals.
You are the real saints.
You are the real stars.
You are the real Olympians.
You are all “Olympians” because you are the arms and legs, ears and eyes of the greatest Olympian who ever lived.
Is your focus this morning as “one-thinged” and “single-minded” as those Olympians?
Is your passion to succeed as great as that of the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus in last weeks Gospel, and called after him until Jesus stopped and answered her prayer?
I saw an on-line video clip this week. This is one of those times I wish we had a big screen I could lower from the ceiling right now. I would love everyone to see this story of a very special father and his son.
The son asked his father, “Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?” The media reports that the father had a heart condition. But he couldn’t say no to his son, so they both worked it out so that they could participate in a marathon.
Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying “Yes” to his son's request of going through the race together.
One day, the son asked his father, “Dad, let's join the Ironman together.” To which, his father said “Yes” too.
For those who don't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race, staged in Hawaii, encompasses three endurance events – a 2.4 mile ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile marathon along the coast of the Big Island.
The kicker to this story is that the son is an adult child who is afflicted with cerebral palsy. He is confined to a wheel chair. His dad pushed and pulled him through the entire competition. They finished the race.
This father did indeed have a “heart condition,” but not the one you would imagine. The “heart condition” of this father was his whole-hearted commitment to “will one thing:” to show his love for his son.
Do YOU have a “heart condition” this morning? Do you have a “dedicated” body? Are you living a “dedicated” life wholly given over to God’s mission in the world?
Then you are the True Olympian!
View this race on God Tube, entitled My Redeemer Lives: Team Hoyt.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8cf08faca5dd9ea45513
