Fighting

I have to admit something. You ready? Are you ready? Let's get it on!! That is one of my favorite sayings in all the world!!! Anyone care to guess or think you know where that comes from? I'll tell you. Those are the words spoken by Big John McCarthy when the big battles begin on the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I have been a fan of the UFC for years now. Didn't get to watch much until the last few years as the popularity of the sport has grown to the point that a cable network has picked up a lot of the broadcasts for things other than the pay-per-view events. I watch every chance I get and I have even shelled out the $40 or $50 to see the ppv live!! I watched UFC 75 from London tonight. I confess that I knew who won all the fights before I watched, stinkin' time difference and spoiler information on the net!! But I watched just the same. You are probably ready to find a different blog by now. Hang with me for a sec.

While I am watching these great athletes test their skills, endurance, will, and sheer desire to win, I was struck with the idea for a message for the church that I pastor or maybe even a series of messages. The Ultimate Fighting Christians. Every fight whether an MMA bout, boxing match, street fight, or fight between siblings all have some similarities that we would all do well to know and take to heart as we battle the enemy of our souls. Several things we have to understand in order to win any fight we take part in are as follows.
1. We have to fight to win. If you fight to fight then you are just a bully who is violent natured and probably has some sort of mental defect. If you don't fight to win why fight? Paul told his young apprentice Timothy on at least 2 occasions to fight the fight of faith. I like to think that he meant fight the fight of faith in order to win!! Matter of fact he did say that we should fight to win in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. The gist of that passage is that everyone that competes competes to win, no matter the competition. If you run, run to win. If you play ball, play to win. If you fight, fight to win.
2. We have to know who our enemies are and our teammates are. We fight the enemy and help the team. If we fight the team then we help the enemy!! I get really sick to my stomach when I hear about church people that are fighting amongst themselves. Don't they realize that the more they fight each other the less they fight the enemy? If we don't fight him then he wins!!!! The enemy is not the person on the other side of the building. The enemy isn't the person who didn't know they were in "OUR" seat. The enemy isn't even the Pastor who may want to do things a little bit different than they have always been done!! If they have always been done that way do they always work? If not they should probably be changed!!! Fighting the enemy isn't something that we can take out our 9mm, our boxing gloves, or even swords out and do. We have to know and understand that the place that we as Christ followers fight is on our knees and in our closets as we engage in Spiritual warfare through prayer!!!
3. We have to train in order to fight. How do we do that. Paul said that he beat his body into submission so that he wouldn't be disqualified from winning the prize. Think about all the baseball and football players that have been accused lately of taking shortcuts in their training in order to get ahead, by taking P.E.D.'s (Performance Enhancing Drugs). Barry Bonds, like him or dislike him, love him or hate him, has broken this year a record that people thought would never be broken. All sorts of accusations abound about him taking steroids etc. He has never failed a drug test though that has been administered by Major League Baseball. I don't like him, never have never will, as a player or as a person. But I do admire his skill even at his age. We have to train ourselves daily to fight this fight of faith that Paul talks about. We have to discipline ourselves in order to win.
4. When it's time to fight, we have to fight like there is no tomorrow!!! I have seen way too many fights where one of the combatants didn't "leave it all on the mat or in the ring"! You know what happens to them? They lose and often get hurt severely. God didn't give us the gift of His Son Jesus, the gift of eternal life, or the gift of His Spirit so that we could say that we could fight. NO!! He gave us those gifts so that we would fight!!! The fight that we fight has more ramifications than just here on earth. Our very soul and spirit depend on how we do in the fight. If we fight on God's side then we will win. We may lose a round or battle here and there, but the war is ultimately won by us with and through HIM!!

So I say this to you as I finish this post, FIGHT HARD, FIGHT the ENEMY, TRAIN TO FIGHT, and FIGHT TO WIN. And in the immortal words of Big John, "LET'S GET IT ON!!!"