The Olympics and the Kingdom: Two Types of Competition
The Olympics have begun, where the best of the best athletes from all over the world compete for the gold medal.
TV coverage will include many stories of all they did to develop their skills. Their dedication has been extraordinary!
They didn't just roll out of bed one day, hop a plane to Paris, and, thinking this could be fun, sign up for one of these events. They trained. They competed.
One wonders what the outcome might be if we were that single-minded, that dedicated in our race of faith. There's little doubt we would be much further ahead than we are right now.
Not that we would do any of this for recognition, for goodness's sake, or for personal glory, or for public acclaim. Oh, no. Not us.
Would we?
Could we?
Well, maybe, perhaps, occasionally, we could have that motive.
We read in Mark's Gospel of a motive very much like this being flushed into the open when Jesus asked the disciples what they were discussing on the road the other day. They didn't want to tell him (Mark 9:33, 34).
That's amusing. And did they think Jesus didn't already know? Remember, Jesus didn't have to hear in order to know. On more than one occasion he told people what they were thinking even though they hadn't said it yet.
Well, it turns out they were arguing about who among them would be the greatest in the Kingdom, and who would get the best throne? Competition!
Apparently, this wasn't a one-time discussion. James and John came to Jesus one day and asked, in effect, how they could be the winners.
Their mother did the same thing. Late one night, there was this secret rendezvous with the Lord where mother dear, on behalf of her sons, tried to secure an advantage in this competition.
Well! When word of that came to the apostles, this became dry tinder on an already smoldering fire. Quickly inflamed, and steadily incensed, the disciples ended up snickering and bickering—in the Upper Room, of all places! The very idea of this woman doing that!
Can you imagine? At the very hour Jesus needed these men the most, the spirit of competition took over and sensitivity to Jesus left the room!
In this sense, obviously, competition is not good.
The disciples' belief that Jesus would reign was good. Their belief they would be rewarded was good. Their elevation of eternity over time was good. Even the desire to be first was good. Jesus never repudiated that; he just redefined it.
Not willing to let this issue go, toward the end of the chapter Jesus addressed it further in an intriguing way. He said two things, first a command, “have salt in yourselves,” and then the happy result, “be at peace with one another.”
So what does this mean?
We know, for one thing, that salt is used for seasoning to add taste. What these disciples had been doing was decidedly distasteful.
We could wish otherwise, but this distasteful competition with fellow believers didn't end with these disciples. We see it all the time.
One soloist may envy another soloist when the other one was chosen to perform, not her.
Insecure pastors may want a man with superior gifting nowhere near his church—unless assured he's leaving town as soon as the meeting is over.
Megachurch pastors may envy the success of other megachurch pastors, and view what they do suspiciously.
This kind of competition? Not good!
In this same passage in Mark, in fact in the verse preceding the one we quoted, Jesus also said, “Everyone will be salted with fire.”
Now, salt and fire have properties in common. They both penetrate, getting to the core, getting to the deepest part of who we are.
If controlled, they both separate, removing corruption, what is not good from what is good.
Also, they both medicate: fire: by instant removal; salt, by subsequent binding and healing.
I'm telling you, undergo a purifying process like this, and that will put an end to the competition that's not good!
Notice, when Jesus gave the command, “have salt in yourselves,” he was saying: You make this happen. You make sure that the pride that destroys peace is eliminated. You see to it that salt and fire do its job.
Think carefully now as you contemplate this command. Has the wrong kind of competition derailed your peace with anyone?
Will you be honest about this? And if it has, will you admit it?
What you now should do, you now know. Go to the Lord, confess, and ask him to help you obey his command. The Spirit within you, who is your helper, will gladly get involved with your repentance.
As a postscript, I want you to know that the “socialism heaven” imagined by some—where all are equal and there are no rankings, no distinctions—doesn't exist. In fact, Heaven will have more rankings than earth does! However—
All such rankings are just.
No one is unhappy about their ranking.
No one is envious about another's ranking.
Yes, our elevation in the bridegroom of Christ did require the best sense of competition: discipline, devotion, dedication. We weren't lucky lottery winners. Wahoo! Wahoo!
The real reason that there will be no contentious rivalry in Heaven but only a camaraderie of peace is because the very qualities rewarded in us will be seen, and eternally revered, by others in the bridehood.
The way to be first in God's eyes is not by seeing how far in front you can get from others, but by how far you can lift others up.
It's hard to be negative toward someone like that.
