Last summer, our family enjoyed watching the Paris Olympics. Apart from the utterly bizarre drag queen Lord’s Supper reenactment, there was another moment I found noteworthy. During his opening address, the President of the Olympic Committee said to all the athletes, “This is the pinnacle of your Olympic journey. You’ve come to Paris as athletes. Now you are Olympians. Stepping into the Olympic Village, you realize, like generations of Olympians before, ‘Now, I am part of something bigger than myself. Now we’re part of an event that unites the world in peace.’ ”

Wow. What a privilege to graduate from “athlete” to “Olympian.” The Olympics have a way of bringing the entire world together, foreshadowing the ultimate peace we will experience when Jesus returns and sets up his earthly, millennial kingdom. But that’s a post for another day.

There’s so much we can learn from the world of athletics. Jesus was the master teacher, and much of his teaching was done through word pictures. He talked about farming and fishing and markets and wars and weddings. But I can’t think of a single time he spoke about sports. Maybe he did. Certainly there were many things not recorded in the Gospels that he taught (John 20:30-31).

While Jesus didn’t focus much on sports, Paul loved the analogy. There are a number of times in the New Testament that he draws a parallel between the spiritual world and athletic competition.

In Philippians 3, Paul says, “one thing I do, I forget what lies behind, and I strain forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God.” You can almost smell the sweat as Paul pushes forward to follow Christ and not look back.

In Ephesians 6:12, a passage usually associated with spiritual warfare, Paul references a wrestling match. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, over this present darkness.” Our real battle is against Satan, fallen angels, and false prophets.

In 2 Timothy 2:5, Paul says “an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”

Many such lessons were inspired by ancient games such as the Olympics in Greece and the Isthmian Games in Corinth.

Last summer at Calvary Church, we looked at another passage that refers to sports in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. It’s now posted on my podcast…

In this passage, we learn…

• The prize that awaits those who finish the race of life
• Paul’s love for athletic images in Scripture
• Why we should invest in heaven
• The danger of being disqualified from ministry
• Practical ways to grow in self-control

Thanks for listening! For a complete list of sermons and Bible studies, please visit the Sermon Page on my blog.

Other links:
Calvary Church Youtube channel
Calvary Church sermon podcast
Calvary Church website
Feed My Sheep podcast