No Participation Trophies

Romans 14:16-23 (KJV) Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. 19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. 20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. 22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Opening: I remember several years ago Sherry and I were in Georgia watching our oldest grandson play soccer. When we got to the soccer field I noticed a large, long table, with about 50 little trophies on it. I wondered why there were so many trophies. After watching the children play – and being young, none were very good – one team finally made a goal after about two hours. I remember one team made a goal before that, but the little boy kicked the ball into his own team’s goal, so it didn’t count. After what seemed like an eternity the two teams lined up and everyone got a trophy. Everyone.

Welcome to American confusion.

The child who never touched the ball got a trophy, along with the one child who scored the goal. The child who kicked the ball in his own team’s goal got a trophy. The child who got hot, and walked off the field got a trophy. The child who got distracted and chased a butterfly rather than the ball got a trophy. Everyone got a “Participation Trophy”.

Life is not like that.

People complain that the male players in the NBA get paid more than female players in the WNBA. The NBA generates $10 billion in revenue each year. The WNBA generates around $200 million in revenue each year, about fifty times LESS revenue than the NBA. Women are paid less because, dear friends, there’s no “Participation Trophies” in sports. Where more money is generated, more money is paid.

Life does not give out “Participation Trophies”. Those who work harder are rewarded with better pay and better status. Children who grow up believing in “Participation Trophies” become adults who believe that they should be rewarded just for showing up.

God Does Not Give Out “Participation Trophies”

Sadly, the concept of “Participation Trophies” has crept into the Church of Christ.

Poor preaching has led people to believe not only that salvation is a “Free Gift”, but it is also a “Cheap Gift”.

People have been told that they can come to Jesus, say a “Sinner’s Prayer”, join a Church, and then act just like the lost world in their daily lives. You will not find that taught in the Bible. The Bible teaches that in order to be saved, you must first REPENT:

Matthew 4:17 (KJV) From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, REPENT {metanoeō}: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 6:12 (KJV) And {the disciples} went out, and preached that men should REPENT {metanoeō}.

Luke 13:3, 5 (KJV) {Jesus said} I tell you, Nay: but, except ye REPENT {metanoeō}, ye shall all likewise perish. … [5] I tell you, Nay: but, except ye REPENT {metanoeō}, ye shall all likewise perish.

Acts 2:38 (KJV) Then Peter said unto them, REPENT {metanoeō}, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Word Study: To “REPENT”, the Greek metanoeō, means to “go through a change of mind, to set your mind in another direction”. Before salvation we live in the Kingdom of ME. “I” do what “I” want to do. Those in the Kingdom of ME suit themselves. They live their lives saying “It’s my life” and “It’s my body, I’ll do what I want”, or “I have a right to ___”. The Kingdom of ME has a god of one, that’s ME. But to be saved, you must REPENT. ME is no longer your god. We preach:

Acts 2:38 … REPENT {metanoeō}, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

REPENT. Change the direction of your mind. BE BAPTIZED. Why? Because it is the first command of Jesus Christ our Lord (Matthew 28:19). If you are saved, you will obey Jesus. The outward FRUIT that shows you are saved is that you obey Him. Jesus said,

John 14:15, 23 (KJV) If ye love Me, keep My commandments. … [23] If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.

Once you repent, and show the fruit of obedience, God causes you to be BORN AGAIN. He writes His Law in your heart as He has promised:

Jeremiah 31:33 (KJV) … I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Salvation moves a person from the Kingdom of ME to the Kingdom of HE, the Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of God.

Romans 14:17 (KJV) For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy SPIRIT {Pneuma}.

The Holy Spirit Who causes you to be BORN AGAIN, Who causes you to enter the Kingdom of God, produces certain visible fruit. There is a Kingdom of ME, and a Kingdom of GOD. Let’s look at the negative first:

the Kingdom of God is not MEAT and DRINK

In many religions there is an emphasis on what you eat, when you eat, and how you eat. Before Christ came Judaism taught that certain foods were “clean” and others were “unclean”. The reason God established stringent rules on eating and drinking under the Old Covenant is because

Galatians 3:24 (LSB) … the Law has become our tutor unto Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.

God has ALWAYS saved people by Grace. He saved Adam by Grace. He saved Noah by Grace. He saved Abraham by Grace. He saved Jacob by Grace. He saved Israel by Grace. God gave the Law at Sinai as a schoolteacher to show us that, by our strongest efforts, we cannot save ourselves. The Law came to teach us and draw us to Christ. We do not come to God by the Law, but by Christ. As the Apostle wrote:

1 Peter 3:18 (KJV) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

It is not what you EAT or DRINK that matters to God, but how you manifest the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT to those around you.

In the Kingdom of ME, I was concerned about satisfying myself regardless as to what the God Who made me thought. But in the Kingdom of HE, I am concerned about pleasing my God. “We are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). We are not about glorifying ourselves, but about glorifying the Lord Who loves us.

We are no longer in the Kingdom of ME.

What IS the Kingdom of God? It is not meat or drink, but something much greater. We are told:

Romans 14:17 (KJV) For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy SPIRIT {Pneuma}.

Now pay attention. “RIGHTEOUSNESS” is an attribute that we are not born with. We are born into this life with a faux righteousness. Ever since we ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we have thought that we set the standards of righteousness. But Beloved, “RIGHTEOUSNESS” is what God says, not what we think. The Bible says:

Isaiah 33:22 (NKJV) For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save us

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV) we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;

It is GOD Who sets the standard of right and wrong, and He has revealed this standard in the Scripture. No Christian lives in the Kingdom of ME, but in HIS Kingdom. We do what God says. We have righteousness because God imputed righteousness to us when we received Jesus as Lord and Savior. We now follow after HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS because He is our Lord. Jesus said that once we are saved, quit worrying about meat and drink. The world chases after that. Jesus said:

Matthew 6:31-33 (NKJV) do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

We live to please our Heavenly Father. We live to please our Lord Jesus. And remember, “there are no Participation Trophies”. God has expectations for His children, just as all good parents do. Our fruit should not look like the lost. Our fruit should be RIGHTEOUS.

Romans 14:17 (KJV) For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy SPIRIT {Pneuma}.

The Kingdom of God is not just RIGHTEOUSNESS (which is as God has defined it), but PEACE. If you are saved, then you are NOT at war with God. The Scripture says:

Romans 5:1-3 (LSB) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about perseverance;

If you are born again, saved by the Grace of God, you “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Now Jesus told us,

John 16:33 (LSB) These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

If you are in the Kingdom of HE, then you will be at odds with those in the Kingdom of ME.

The Christian is at peace with God. Not because we are perfect, but because we are hidden in Christ. We walk through this life following Jesus – even when its tough. The Pharisees hated Jesus, because He was not as religiously rigid as they liked. The Sadducees hated Jesus because He was not liberal enough to suit their tastes. The Herodians hated Jesus, because He would not endorse their political party. The Romans hated Jesus because He would not worship their gods and goddesses. Everyone in the Kingdom of ME hated Jesus, and nailed Him to a Cross for not toeing the “Party Line”.

Jesus rose again on the third day, and His Kingdom endures forever!

Never was there a man hated more than Jesus. His name is a curse word, even today, often more popular than that horrid GODDA__ that people say! If you follow Jesus, then you will find yourself at odds with the world.

I’ve had people come up and say to me, “I invited so and so to Church”. That’s fine, insofar as that goes. I have also been told by “Christians” that they like to attend large Churches where they are not known, and are not expected to do anything. They hide in the crowds. Beloved, a Church doesn’t save a person, but Jesus does. My preaching will not save you, but if you HEAR the Word and RECEIVE the Word, God will make a change in you. Let’s try something that the early Church did. Before you invite someone to Church, invite them to Jesus. Tell them what Jesus did for you in YOUR life. Tell them how you changed, how God changed you.

Romans 14:17 (KJV) For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and JOY in the Holy SPIRIT {Pneuma}.

When God’s people come together, and God is in our midst, there should be “JOY in the Holy SPIRIT”. Christian, if you are not walking in daily JOY, there is something wrong in your spiritual walk. If you are being persecuted for your faith, for following Jesus in righteousness, Jesus said:

Luke 6:23 (NKJV) Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward [is] great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

If the world is mad at you, if your Facebook or YouTube feed is being blocked, if the harpies on “The View” are mocking you, “REJOICE and LEAP FOR JOY!” Your fruit is about right! But if the darkness endorses what you are doing and how you are living, if you think that God is going to give you a “Participation Trophy”, then odds are you are not saved. The saved walk with Jesus IN THE LIGHT.

1 John 1:7 (NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Those who are saved by Grace “WALK IN THE LIGHT AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT”. We love one another. We major on the major things.

Every Christian Is Running A Race

Why do we come and gather as a Church once we are saved? Does going to Church matter? Read with me:

Romans 14:19-21 (KJV) Let US therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. 20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

In the early Church, some who were saved by Grace were Gentiles who were accustomed to eating all manner of things. Others were Jews, saved by Grace, who were raised to believe certain foods and drinks were clean and others unclean. The Church is a mix of people from various backgrounds.

But every Christian is running a race for God.

We come from culturally different backgrounds. I grew up poor. We ate pork neck bones and rice, cornbread, bread bought from the “day old bakery” store, pig feet, hog brain, pork skins. I wore hand me down socks, white, daddy’s socks, because they were the cheapest we could get. I never owned a new bicycle, but had a used one that I learned to repair. I never played in High School sports nor in the Band because we couldn’t afford to rent instruments, and my parents had no spare time to take me to the games.

Everybody has different backgrounds, different things they were raised with. In the Church we obey the clear teachings of Scripture – but we are not to be sidetracked by things not clearly defined in the Bible.

The Bible defines the Christian life as a RACE:

Hebrews 12:1-2 (KJV) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Every believer is to be “RUNNING THE RACE SET BEFORE THEM”. Every believer is to be “LOOKING UNTO JESUS” as we run. If you are saved by Grace, sealed by the Spirit, then you are to RUN, not WALK for Jesus. Someone told me,

“I don’t see why you reach out to the homeless, you have so much else to do”.

My answer is simple. God put it on my heart, and I strive to run the race looking unto Jesus. You should, too. Beloved, if you are running the race for Jesus, there are no “Participation Trophies”. To whom does Jesus give the reward? To the victor. To the one who runs until they cross the finish line. God saved us, and left us on this earth to overcome.

1 John 5:4-5 (LSB) For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the overcoming that has overcome the world–our faith. [5] Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Christians are OVERCOMERS in the race of life because we look unto Jesus. As we run our race, there are cultural differences in each one of us. But listen:

I am supposed to run MY race without causing you to stumble in YOUR race. I am not supposed to TRIP YOU UP over foolish things that are not part of the Kingdom of God.

Romans 14:20-21 (KJV) For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

In my past 30 years of ministry, I have seen Churches explode – not over BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION – but over STUPID STUFF that has no business destroying us.

WHO CARES what color that wall is?
WHO CARES is a tree is cut down in a cemetery?
WHO CARES whose birthday was forgotten?
WHO CARES about the minor stuff?

It is my responsibility as a Christian to help my brother and sister run the race set before them. I am to emphasize the KINGDOM OF GOD, which is “RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE and JOY in the Holy Spirit”. I am to stay focused on what the Bible has clearly said is truth. But cultural differences that are not addressed in Scripture – I may not agree, but frankly, its none of my business.

And it’s none of yours, either.

I was asked several years ago about “speaking in tongues”. Being saved in a Pentecostal Church, I know all about that. I referred to the Scripture, and told them:

1 Corinthians 14:28 (KJV) But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

If there’s no INTERPRETER present, keep it to yourself. That goes for anything that the Bible does not clearly present. We as Christians together are to emphasize what God has clearly said, and encourage our fellow believers to keep running their race, by faith. In the early Church this meant that the Gentile was not to eat something the Jewish Christian considered “unclean” in front of them. And if they did, the Jewish Christian should readily forgive them for their offense.

Romans 14:23 he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Lift up your fellow believers. Run TOGETHER the race set before you for the glory of God. Amen!