As we share some highlights from the Olympics for the next few days, I want to get this “lowlight” out of the way. It’s an example of not applying our closing verse from yesterday’s blog:

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12.11, ESV)

Three years ago after the Tokyo Olympics I wrote that it’s not enough to be fast to win the 4 x 100 relay. You have to know how to pass the baton. It just happened again, and as a guy who knows practically nothing about track and field, I’m wondering about our process.

The US has not won a medal in this event since 2004 despite having some of the fastest men in the world. These pictures, one from 2021, and the other from last week, are nearly identical. Different runners, but both, apparently, a product of a system that doesn’t work. Are we not selecting the right runners? Men who are not only fast but who can listen to instruction and learn to work together? Do we not know how to train the lead guy on when to start running?

As I opened with, it’s a failure to apply Hebrews 12.11. You would think “they” would use the disappointment (“chastisement”) of the failure in 2021 to propel them to figure it out – to develop “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” – seamlessly passing the baton. Nope.

But the US women won their 4 x 100 relay. Different coaches? Different system? We’ve got four years to figure it out. The proverbial definition of insanity is repeating the same action but expecting different results. The other applicable piece of wisdom is:

Your systems are perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.

Churches keep putting all their emphasis on Sunday mornings and wondering why they’re not getting the quality of disciples they say they want. Is church simply “a performance at a place with programs run by professionals,” as David Platt has written? Or are we serious about our God-given job description?

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, ESV, emphasis mine)

PS I shared the ideas of this blog with Mike Oldham, friend of mine and Adminstrator (and pastor-coach) of the American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains, who offered this analysis and lessons-to-be learned:

• It’s ego: these guys care only about their own event and don’t take time to practice handing off the baton
• Churches have the same problem:
  • The pastor who won’t retire and pass the baton to the next generation
  • The Sunday School teacher with the same death grip on her class
  • Those who run out ahead and don’t even wait for the baton to be passed
  • The good singer in the praise band who would rather stand out as a soloist than blend in

Good lessons, Mike. Thanks! And with respect to my observation about systems, Mike has a sign in his office:

You don’t perform up to your vision; rather you perform down to your systems.