July 21, 2024 Traditional | On Track: Integrity

This is week 3 of our July Sermon

series on track. And if you've been with

us the past couple of weeks, you know

the basic. Premise here, inspired by the summer

Olympics, which kick off this week. We are

exploring some biblical metaphors that, talk about sports

particularly,

there are quite a few of those in

the Bible. They're quite good.

But, of course, they're not talking about the

Olympics.

And really neither are we, except to illustrate

a point here and there throughout this series.

So

what's our overall goal with

this series with with sports metaphors as our,

starting point, what are we trying to

accomplish

Well, for me, these scriptures that we're reading

point to a fundamental truth

that we often overlook. A, fundamental truth that

we sometimes

need to be reminded of, fundamental truth that

actually has the power to heal

and

restore.

Many years ago, 1 of my wife's oldest

friends, Aubrey. I recommended a book that I

found to be really helpful. It's... Actually from

another religious tradition, but it has some concepts

that are very much consistent with our Christian

faith.

Whitney and I were in and Arbor, Michigan,

visiting Herbs, family, and we were at dinner

1 night with Aubrey. This was right around

the time that I was beginning my own

journey towards ordained

ministry, and in in fact, Aubrey wedding would

be the first wedding I'd ever off initiate.

We're still very close with Aubrey and her

husband.

And I don't remember exactly how it came

up over dinner, but we were undoubtedly,

yeah, discussing the world's problems, most likely talking

about meaning of life. Kind of stuff. She's

1 of those those types of friends.

And she asked,

kind of out of the blue. Have you

read the doll of poo?

Now,

Aubrey is a thoughtful and insightful person.

She's very well read. She's very well read

about subjects that I care about. Her father

was a therapist and so she understands mental

health. She major in art history, so she's

got this fascinating

set of tastes and interests.

She and her husband would go on to

found a tea business, fascinating that continues to

thrive to this day. My point is when

Aubrey suggests something,

it's worth considering. But

but I didn't understand what she had said,

have I read what?

I asked

the Dow of poo.

As in when he's up.

This is the 4 anniversary edition of the

book. Which originally came out back in 19

82,

I didn't read this version I read it

before this version came out, but it's a

fast read.

It's pretty deep. It expresses some of the

concepts of Dallas philosophy,

and I'm glad that I read it. I've

still got, a copy of it. The copy

that I bought right after all we recommended

it on on a shelf in my office.

And the back of the book

actually gives you an indication of what it's

about. It says, while e fret

and pig it hesitate,

and rabbit calculates,

an owl po,

who

just is,

The book explores the wisdom of of Winnie

the poo who is a good,

authentic, genuine friendly,

bear, who's very much focused on, whatever is

in front of him at the moment in

the moment, who does not really show up

in what with any kind of hidden agendas,

all while his friends are

preoccupied,

and sometimes overly concerned with life doing their

particular

activities. And this book

makes the case for that fundamental truth that

I alluded to earlier, a fundamental truth that

we often forget or lose sight of or

get distracted from a truth that our faith,

can remind us of because our faith is

very much interested in telling us about this,

the truth that we are human

beings

and not human

doing.

When we're goal oriented and success driven, which

I'm guessing,

all of us are to varying degrees. We

can come to believe that our many seemingly

countless to do lists,

God knows that I have lots and lots

of to do lists. Can... They can come

to seem more important than any kind of

to be list. That we can come up

with. And yet, our faith

is really pretty clear that nothing is is

worth doing if we're not type of people

God is calling us to be.

So that, while there are certainly

an important

list, there is certainly an important list of

things that we do along our spiritual journeys.

And while we while we talk about those

quite a bit, Of course,

worship and bible study in prayer and generosity

and service and volunteer work in the church.

I mean, listen, we could do an extended

sermon series

about the things we do along our spiritual

journeys,

but it's also essential for us to be

aware of,

to reflect upon to develop

those those personal characteristics that God calls us

to how are we to be disciples

on these spiritual journeys with God.

And as it turns out, God sports metaphors

can be helpful because athletes in addition to

all that they do in order to pursue

their sport and the skills required in their

sport. They also have to exhibit certain characteristics

in order to excel. The mental game, the

being game is is a essential for athletes

to be an athlete,

it is essential to embody certain

traits,

some of which as it turns out are

also vital

for followers of Jesus. And so in first

2 weeks, the series we've talked about,

the importance of perseverance, and we've talked about

the of e.

And if you missed either of those sermon,

you can catch them on our website or

through our podcasts.

Today,

our trait is lifted up by the second

letter of Paul to Timothy. So we're gonna

be in the second chapter

I'm gonna read the first 7 versus first.

We'll come back and read some more later.

Listen friends for the word of God as

it is proclaimed

by God servant,

the author of second Timothy

You then, my child be strong in the

grace that is in Christ Jesus,

and what you have heard from me through

many witnesses

and trust of faithful people who will be

able to teach others as well.

Share and suffering

like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No

1

serving in the army gets entangled in everyday

affairs. The soldiers aim is to please

the enlist officer.

And in the case of an athlete, no

1 is crowned

without competing according to the rules.

It is the farmer who does the work

who ought to have the first share of

the crops

Think over what I say for the Lord

will give you understanding

in all things.

This is the word of God for the

people of God god.

Thanks, Peter God.

So second Timothy is 1 of 3 books

in the new testament,

Referred to as the pastor

letters, first Timothy and Titus are the other

2.

And somewhere between,

like, 80 to 90 percent of biblical scholars

consider the pastor letters who have been written

by a student of Paul some years after

his,

death, writing in another person's name was common

in the ancient world,

and examples of it show up several times

in the bible.

Second, Timothy, in particular is an important type

of biblical literature that appears a few times

throughout scripture from the old testament to the

new. It's a it's a final testament a

final

message from Paul

to 1 of his most important students, Timothy.

Paul had raised

had raised up, Timothy had identified him as

a leader had I had

mentored him to become an important leader in

the early church,

And in a letter, we we read that

he is, writing from prison, Paul is near

the end of his own life and ministry,

and he's offering Timothy

his final words

of advice, lessons that he's learned from so

many years of following Jesus and leading

in the church.

And what's fascinating to me.

And instructive to me is that Paul does

not leave Timothy with a big long

to do list.

His final advice to Timothy is not a

collection of tasks that that Timothy needs to

get done. Now, Paul has done plenty of

that in other places. It's not because he's

shy about telling people what they need to

be doing. His other letter, are are full

of very specific instructions to the churches he

had founded and to the the leaders he

had identified, to do lists were part of

the legacy

of the great apostle.

But here,

in his final testament and It's whether or

not it was written by Paul or by

maybe a student in writing in his name

after his death. Paul is reminding his most

important men he

who he is supposed to be

as a follower of Jesus.

Because, who we are as disciples

very much

influences,

what we do. And then our reading for

today, Paul starts with the most important thing.

He tells Timothy to be strong

in the grace of Jesus because, for disciples,

everything begins there. Everything

begins with

Grace.

We are saved by the grace given to

us in Christ. We are redeemed by the

Grace of God embodied in Christ. We are

empowered to live in accordance with the will

of God by the power of the grace

of Jesus working in within us. The Christian

life is is grounded in grace

from the moment. We place our faith in

Jesus until the moment we meet him and

each eternity someday

and beyond. Grace

is the starting place and the place where

we always live as followers. Of Christ.

And then

Paul identifies our

specific subject for today of he says, in

the case of an athlete,

no 1 is crowned

without competing

according to the rules.

Which means that

integrity

integrity matters,

and it matters always,

expressing that requirement through a sports metaphor

is particularly relevant as the world prepares

for the summer Olympics.

There's an Athlete from Dallas who's getting a

lot of buzz heading into the Olympics you

may have have heard of her, S

Richardson is a sprint phenomenon

from our air you back in 20 19,

as a freshman at Ls u. She set

the c record in the hundred meter dash,

a blistering 10.75

seconds. They that record

still stands.

And for many people, the the hundred is

the the premier running event in the Olympics

because it identifies

that person we describe as the the fastest

man and the fastest woman on Earth, and

Richardson

is certainly in that stratosphere

of world class talent.

She qualified for the pandemic related Tokyo... Or

sorry, pandemic delayed, Tokyo Olympics in 20 21,

and she was...

Thrilled to have the chance to join the

great Pant of American dominance in Olympic track.

She, oh,

was it

surely the favorite to a 1 the hundred

that year, but,

she was suspended.

And she was disqualified for failing a drug

test.

It was following the death of her mother.

She had used marijuana.

Which was legal in Oregon where she did

it, but it's banned by the world anti

doping

agency. It is clearly against the rules,

and integrity matters.

In the in the wake of that incident,

Richardson took 4 responsibility.

She, owned her mistake. She committed not to

do it again, and she set her sights

on rehab

her career.

The next couple of years,

she... As she worked on her comeback, her

performance was was uneven by her standards below

her high expectations. But but by 20 23,

she was back to form.

At the eleventh big trials on June 20

second.

She won the a hundred meters with a

time of 10.71

seconds,

the fastest in the world this year.

Having recovered from her mistake, she's the favorite

to win the gold in Paris. And as

you can see from this photo, she is

on the cover of V magazine

in August.

And you can you can bet that I'll

be pulling for our hometown star

this year.

The apostle Paul

was clear

about who we are called to be

as we... As we live our lives of

spirituality

and faith, drawing on a sports metaphor he

says, in the case of an athlete,

no 1 is crowned

without competing according to the rules.

For followers of Jesus, the rules as interpreted

by him,

are very much

all about the theology of grace. We are

called to love God with all our heart

soul mind and strength. We are called to

love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We're

called to preach the gospel through the way

we live our lives.

Grace is the foundation of all of that.

And in this world that has, you know,

competing values

to be people of grace,

requires integrity.

Let's finish 3.

This is second Timothy

versus 8

03:10.

Remember Jesus Christ

raised from the dead, a descendant of David.

That is my gospel.

For which I suffer hardship even to the

point of being chained like a criminal. He's

in prison.

But the word of God is not chained.

Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of

the alexa of that they may also obtain

the salvation

that is in christ Jesus.

With eternal glory.

I'm amen.

Though Paul

is in prison,

the word of god is not changed.

It's powerful contrast.

In that word of god, we believe is

all about

grace and we have to have the integrity

of knowing that grace is an essential part

of who we are. As he as he

near the end of his ministry at

near the end of his days. He encourages

Timothy to be strong in grace to make

that theology of grace the foundation of of

who he is, and how he will live

facing all of the challenges of the late

first century church in a hostile

Roman empire that would per the marty

even as it

imprisoned and would ultimately execute Paul.

Timothy is reminded to have

integrity as the world's values clash with God's

desire

for the world, his mentor is clear, nothing

else matters. Nothing else

matters if Timothy abandon

his very identity. If he loses sight of

who God wants him

to be.

And then at the end of this final

testament at the close of this final bit

of advice

to his most important

pro j.

A Paul offers

these po last words

to the next generation of disciples and leaders

This is this is in the fourth chapter

of second Timothy. He says,

as for me,

the time of my departure

has come.

I have fought the good fight.

I have finished

the race.

I have kept the faith.

Words

that we should aspire to have read at

our own funerals someday.

Paul

has long been clear who he is, who

God is calling him

to be, and he expresses it with this.

With this beauty in this depth that

that remain just as po 2000 years later

as they were when he when he wrote

them

it's 1 of my favorite passages of scripture.

And this... And the sports imagery in this

case brings home

the point. I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race I have kept

the faith.

What we do as disciples is inevitably shaped.

Finished by who we are. And the integrity

of our beliefs

is an essential part of who we will

be.

In the writing of Aa Mill,

poo offers

a famous encouragement to his friends. He says,

you are brave

than you believe, stronger than you seem

and smarter than you think.

We all need an encouraging friend like that

in our lives,

you know, but better yet.

We can be that kind of encouraging friend

for others while your fret and pig it

hesitate and rabbit calculates an owl

po,

who

just is.

The Dow poo ends with wisdom that is

entirely consistent with our Christian theology that the

holy spirit is within us all h writes

this. It says the masters of life know

the way where they listen to the voice

within them, the the voice of wisdom and

simplicity,

that voice is not just power and property

of a few

but has been given to everyone. The those

who pay attention to it, too often are

treated as exceptions to the rule rather than

as examples of the rule in operation,

a rule that can apply to anyone who

makes use of it.

If we are smart.

We will choose the way of poo.

Friends,

on this spiritual journey to which we're all

call.

We need the integrity to be who god

calls us to be.

When we have it,

that's when we fight the good fight.

We finished the race.

We'd keep the faith.

May it be so.

How man?