Jump Start # 533 

2 Timothy 2:5 “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” 

  Last night was the Super Bowl. Great game! The apostle Paul used illustrations from sports several times. He talked about running, boxing and winning. Here in this passage, Paul uses a series of three illustrations to emphasize the importance of being dedicated to the Lord. Paul mentions the good soldier (v. 3-4) who must suffer hardships; the athlete (v. 5) who plays by the rules; and the farmer (v. 6) who is the first to receive from his share of the crops.

  Playing by the rules—that’s something our mamma’s taught us when we were growing up but a lesson that it seems many have abandoned. It seems that many are looking for a edge, an advantage so they can win. Often what they find crosses the line of right and wrong. This is why there are drug tests on athletes, the equipment must be examined by impartial judges and strict rules set up to avoid cheating—this is true in Nascar, baseball, football, tennis, even horse racing. This drive to win at all costs crosses the lines of sports and is found in all areas of life. Cheating has sent Wall Street investors to jail, it has ruined business deals, it has resulted in college kids getting kicked out of schools, tainted corporations, and soured honest hard working people. We wonder if anyone is honest anymore. The number of incidents of cheating has made us not trust anyone anywhere. Handshakes aren’t good enough today. We have to sign a mountain of papers and have a line of attorneys standing behind us.

  There is one area in life that the cheaters cannot and will not prevail, and that is with God. The Galatians were told that “God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” There is no fooling God. There is no cheating God. Consider a few areas:

• There is no escaping death. Often when a person has nearly died but they didn’t, we might say that they “cheated death.” They really didn’t. God has an appointed time (Heb 9:27). If God decides your time is now, as the rich farmer found out in Luke, then that’s it. There Jesus said, in that parable, “This very night your soul is required of you…” That very night he died. There is no out running, hiding, nor escaping death. Since that is true, we need to live each day as if it were out last day. We need to express our love to our family and friends and walk hand in hand with the Lord.

• There is no pretending to be righteous when we are not, at least not in the eyes of God.  You can’t fool God. Some fool their families and some can fool a church, but you can’t do those things with God. The Pharisees thought they could. Jesus saw right through them. He described them as a dish or a cup that was clean on the outside but dirty on the inside. He said that they looked like a cemetery—beautiful, white tombstones, but underneath the ground, rotting and dead bodies. He knew. Sitting in a church building doesn’t make a person righteous—it’s following Christ that does. When I was small, we used to play church. My grandparents took care of the communion at the small country church they attended. What was left over was brought home and given to the grandkids. We lined up baby dolls, stuffed animals and anything else we could find and played church. It was a lot of fun. It didn’t do much to us on the inside—just as church services has little impact today on those adults who are playing their own version of church. God knows.

• There will be no one who cheats their way into Heaven. Stories of standing at the gate and telling the apostle Peter a great line and a whooper of a story so we can get in, may generate laughs from your friends, but it’s not that way. Peter is not standing guard at the gate. The gates opened, not closed. A person has to pass the judgment seat of Christ, where the books are opened before Heaven can be granted. Tears and sob stories and pitiful tales of hard luck doesn’t excuse a life that ignored God, was selfish and avoided what the Bible teaches. You can’t cheat your way into Heaven. Revelation 21:27 teaches, “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Names are in the book because God put them there. They belong to those who walked with the Lord in love, trust and obedience. They were righteous inside and out. They didn’t pretend. They were not fake. God knows. No one will get past God dishonestly. Won’t happen.

 If you want the prize, then you must go by the rules. That’s the point of the passage and the point of life. In the end, cheaters are caught and the dishonest lose. That’s just how it is. Honest—honest in our walk with God. Honest in our faith. Honest with our families. Honest to ourselves. No deceiving. No cheating. No planning to bend, fudge, nor break the rules. Walk hand in hand with the holy Savior. That’s the only way. That’s the sure way.

  We have to deal with cheaters down here. We won’t in Heaven. Don’t get caught up with their scheming and deceiving—it’s not right and it’s not worth it. I remember guys in college who went to extreme lengths to cheat on tests. What they came up with was unbelievable. If they spent that same energy in studying then they wouldn’t had to cheat, and more than that, they would have learned something. Cheating affects others. Would you like to have a surgeon operate on you if you knew he cheated his way through medical school? How about taking a flight with a pilot who cheated in flight school? Those are scary thoughts. Dishonest employees has forced stores to spend money on security which drives the price of products up. Cheating affects others. Even little things, like falsely identifying things on Ebay, affects others. People buy a product and it’s broken or not in the condition that it was listed as, they have been cheated and taken advantage of. The cheater laughs all the way to the bank, thinking he pulled a fast one, but he hasn’t. God knows. You can’t fool God.

  Play by the rules. Be a person of integrity and honesty. It may cost you, and you may see cheaters holding trophies above their heads, but God knows. He always knows. There is no cheating God. The honest person sleeps better at night. His conscience is good. It is the one who walks with the Lord that has the hope of Heaven.

Roger