(Audio Transcription Below)

Two months have already passed us by, you now have 8 months to train for the 2024 Summer Olympics. You are all going to watch some part: track and field, basketball, rowing, swimming. Right now, the athletes who plan to compete in those games are on a training schedule which will land them in the best shape of their lives so they can compete for a gold medal.

Challenge Yourself: What two or three events do you want to be in peak shape for? Spiritual, relational, financial, physical shape?

Accountability: Write it down and share it with someone. Share it with me if you like and I will check in and see your progress.

Core Training: Think of the book Run to Win as our training guide for the year. Seventeen core exercises to keep yourself, your soul, in shape so you might run to win.

Never Celebrate Too Early Compilation 

We love watching these “finish line failures” – people who celebrated too early, who didn’t run all the way through the end. As Christian men, we too are in a race that we want to finish and finish well. In Run to Win, Challies says, “There are three great enemies you can be sure you will face from now until the day you break the tape in victory: The World, The Flesh, and the Devil.” Don’t celebrate too early, run all the way through the finish line!

Maintain Your Vigilance Against the World:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17

I get the feeling John is helping his congregation to be aware of the seduction of this world.

1. The desires of the flesh…wanting your own way
2. The desires of the eyes…wanting everything for yourself
3. The pride of life…wanting to appear important

John provides three gauges for us to examine on the dashboard of our lives.

1. The desires of the flesh: The Greek word John uses for desire is epi–thumea and it means “over desire.” John is not talking about evil desires, but over desires. In other words, taking good things and making them God things. Hunger is a good thing, gluttony is an over-desire. Sleep is a good desire, laziness is an over-desire. Sex is a good desire, immorality is an over-desire. John Calvin said, “The evil in our desires does not lie in what we want but that we want it too much.”
2. The desires of the eyes: Our eyes have an appetite. It’s why we have the phrase, “feast your eyes on this.” Certainly, advertisers understand this principle. Our eyes are the gateway for action.
3. The pride of life/wanting to appear important: Hunting for honors, exaggerating what you have in order to impress others, boasting of ancestry or acquaintances. One thing that drove me crazy working in the front office of the Atlanta Braves was the constant conversation about who you knew and who you talked with. It was a carousel of name dropping, hunting for honors and looking to impress others.

Timothy writes about a man named Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10, saying “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Demas was part of the inner circle with Paul and Luke. Imagine, your two friends are the two men who wrote most of the New Testament! But like a marathon runner, Demas hit a wall and he dropped out of the race. We can only speculate as to exactly what happened to Demas. He was running along the narrow way, yet he didn’t make it to the finish line. Somewhere he took his eyes off the eternal prize and began to focus on the shiny objects in this world. Something caught his eye and imagination and called him to an easier road. CJ Mahaney says, “Few, if any, are facing the threat of martyrdom, but everyone is facing the threat of seduction.”

Maintain Your Vigilance Against the Flesh: 

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

This list can be broken down into four categories or areas that need our attention if we are to maintain vigilance:

• Sexuality – 3
• False religion – 2
• Character traits which destroy relationships – 8 (hatred, fighting, jealousy, anger, rivalries, complaining & criticisms, the feeling of “everyone else is wrong but me,” envy)
• Substance abuse – 2

In Galatians 6:1, Paul says “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” We need other people to see what needs to change in us and to help us change. Restoration requires exposure and the help of others. In 2 Samuel 11, we come across the story of David and Bathsheba. David has done everything so well and then he fails. The way he gets restored is some brave person (Nathan) comes and says “Hey, you’re the person.”

Maintain Your Vigilance Against the Devil: 

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. 1 Peter 5:8-9a

The Apostle Peter had first-hand experience in dealing with consequences of not being alert, of not taking seriously the strength of his adversary, of falling asleep at a critical moment, so he closes his letter with a warning: Beware, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Peter knows what it feels like to get devoured, so he delivers three disciplines to avoid being devoured by the devil.

1. Be sober-minded – an obvious contrast to the effects of alcohol on your mind. One reason you don’t drink and drive is because alcohol slows down your speed of reaction. At 40 mph, it takes 60 feet to react. If you have been drinking, it takes 120 feet to react. So Peter warns us: “Be sober-minded.”
   Question: If alcohol clouds the mind of the driver, what clouds our minds? What fogs up our brain and makes us vulnerable to Satan’s attack?
   Answer: 1 Peter 5:6-7 – A lack of humility, pride.

   Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

   If you don’t humble yourself, then you think too much of yourself, you have too high an opinion of your conclusions. Pride deceives you into wrong conclusions and then pride causes you to stubbornly hold onto those conclusions even after you find out they were wrong.

2. Be watchful/alert – Wake-up! Peter recalls his conversation with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14, “Peter, watch and pray so you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
3. Resist – In France in the 18th century, Protestant Christians known as the Huguenots were persecuted for their faith. Some were killed, others were imprisoned. In 1729, a fifteen year old girl named Marie Durand was imprisoned with other women in a stone tower, The Tower of Constance. It was boiling hot in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. Sixteen years later, Marie was offered her freedom if she would agree to renounce Protestant worship. She refused. Marie became the spiritual leader of the prisoners. She nursed the sick, wrote letters of encouragement and read psalms aloud each evening. She encouraged her fellow-prisoners to sing. Marie remained captive for a total of 38 years and was 53 years old when she was released.Following the release of Marie and the other women, one word was found scratched on the stone wall inside the tower: Resist! From 15 to 53, Marie Durand resisted and stood firm in her faith.

Questions: 

What do you want to resist about…

1. 1. The World – Three Gauges: The over-desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life.  Which gauge needs your attention? What counsel would you give to Demas if you had the chance?
   2. The Flesh: Of the 8 character traits which damage relationships (hatred, fighting, jealousy, anger, rivalries, complaining and criticisms, the feeling of “everyone else is wrong but me,” envy), which one has caused the most damage in your relationships?
   3. The Devil: Be sober-minded, not prideful. Be watchful, not asleep. Resist, don’t cave in. How could you add these to the routines of your life so you won’t be devoured?

Iron Leadership Materials: 

• IL Handout – 11-17-23
• The Daily Office- 11-17-23