Olympic Competition and Manhood and Womanhood, Part 2: The Gospel and the Desire for Victory

Yesterday we talked about several important topics that Dads can highlight with their families during the Olympics.  One thing stands out above anything else without any additional emphasis: the desire for victory.  Every athlete is competing to win.

CBS Wide World of Sports used to advertise that they would bring to us, via the televised broadcast, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."  Why does one thrill us and the other bring agony?  Competition and its press for victory is part of an inherent desire in all of us to be victorious even as all of creation longs for victory (Rom 8:18-30).  It is ultimately seen in Christ's pattern of victory most evident in the resurrection (Rom. 6:9, 1 Cor. 16:20, 54-56, Col. 1:18).

Hebrews 12:1-2 uses the competition imagery found in athletics to make a point.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

There is the expectation here that the runner would be looking for victory - it is the reason he is racing.  The contending, persevering, and enduring, required to win a race are also key elements of Gospel living.  I will use this imagery to point my family to Christ as we are watching athletes from all over the world strive and contend.

In Paul's writings to his son in the faith, Timothy, his language abounds with athletics imagery: "train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come," (1 Tim. 4:7b-8) and also, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Tim. 6:11-12); moreover, "An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules," (2 Tim. 2:5), and "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:7-8).

As my good friend Barak Tjader has said, "Paul's logic means that, while emphasizing the importance of victory in competition, one must never lose sight of ultimate eschatological victory.  Christ receives glory when striving and competing for a temporal crown actually brings attention to and emphasizes the preeminence of the imperishable crown.  For when an athlete strives for victory, and, whether he ultimately wins or loses, he magnifies Christ in that losing when he places hope in the eternal victory of Christ rather than the temporal sweetness of athletics . . . All of this is not to magnify athletics and competition to a place of undue importance.  Rather, a compelling theology of sports must see the longing for victory that makes competition both so appealing and vulnerable as a manifestation of the competitive longing that creation has experienced as a whole ever since God promised that a Man would one day crush the head of the serpent."