The Game Of Life

THE GAME OF LIFE

I Cor. 9:24-27

INTRO.- ILL.- A man was discussing his tennis technique with a friend. He said, “My brain immediately barks out a command to my body: ‘Run forward, and fast.’ It says, ‘Start right now. Drop the ball gracefully over the net and then race back to position.’”

His friend replied, “And then what happens?”

He said, “And then my body asks, ‘Who, me?’”

Brethren, when it comes to most forms of exercise, tennis or whatever, our bodies often ask, “Who, me?”

And most of us have found that we as we age our bodies keep asking more and more, “Who, me?”

ILL.- Several years ago my son Shane and I had an Olympic set of barbells in our garage at Anna. If you put all the plates on the bar it would weigh about 310 lbs. One Sunday evening we were getting ready to go to church and my daughter and son-in-law were visiting

with us. In fact, he was going to preach Sunday night and it was a good thing.

Shane, Chris (my son-in-law) and I were in the garage and I decided I would deadlift that 310 lbs. I thought, “I can do this, because when I was 28 years old I could deadlift 435 lbs.” I bent over that weight and strained and tugged several times and my body said, “Are you crazy or what?” Needless to say, I did not lift that weight, not even a little. And before we went to church that evening I had to take 6 Ibuprofen and two extra strength Tylenol.

As much as we hate it, as we age our bodies don’t respond as well as they once did. And most of us are not into any kind of exercise except for that hand-to-mouth exercise that we get at the dinner table. We’re pretty good at that, but it’s not an Olympic sport!

But the Olympic spirit is in the air! And most people have been watching the Olympics! In fact, they say that a staggering 3.7 billion people will watch the Olympics in Sydney for the allotted 17 days. And even though we may not be exercise enthusiasts, most of us still enjoy watching the summer Olympics.

The Olympic spirit is in the air. At least, in Sydney, Australia, where some 110,000 spectators assembled for the opening ceremonies.

And of course, the opening ceremonies are always exciting and fun to watch on TV. Quite a show, to say the least. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO THE OLYMPICS PERSONALLY?

The Olympics are considered by some to be the greatest show on earth where 11,000 athletes from nearly 200 nations join together in a common bond and competition to see who best athlete is in their respective sport.

I read that Sydney spent 7 years and about $2.6 billion dollars preparing for the games. Just a thought, but I wonder what the Lord must think? All that money spent on sport and having fun while millions have not heard the gospel of Jesus Christ!

A LOT OF EYES ARE ON THE OLYMPICS THROUGH THE MEANS OF TELEVISION. And if you haven’t watched some of the events, I’d encourage you to do so just for the sake of being an American patriot. Because we’ve there and we’re trying to do our best.

The most important thing about the Olympics is people. That is what it is all about. People from all over the world, competing in a sport they love and have talent in. Most of them are people just like us. They’ve just been blessed with a different talent than what we’ve been given.

PROP.- In this message I want use some of the Olympic sports to illustrate the Christian life. In Scripture we find athletic words or terminology to describe the Christian life. And in a sense, the Christian life is something of a grueling athletic event. It could be called the game of life. I have two points to share.

1- The games

2- The goal

I. THE GAMES

I don’t know how many different events or types of sports there are in the summer Olympics, but there are plenty...something for everybody to watch and enjoy. What’s your favorite?

ILL.- I saw a recent survey where people were asked what was their favorite summer Olympic sport. What is yours? 45% of the people surveyed said they liked the gymnastics the best. But, of course, that was before the track and field events had even started. I like most of the events, but prefer the track and field events since I was a runner.

But there are all kinds of events or types of sports: archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, judo, mountain biking, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, swimming, table tennis, track and field, triathlon, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling. That’s most of them.