The FAITH portion of our workout was written by Jadi Rodriguez, FAITH RXD Interim Executive Director and member of the Board of Directors. The FITNESS portion was programmed by Anthony Davis, Games Athlete and FAITH RXD Coach.
FITNESS WORKOUT
The Mindset
We want your mindset today to be on the rep scheme and how that reflects our scripture reading. In the first half of the workout, the reps go up, one through eleven, and we have our eyes up at the wallball shot target. This should get you into the mindset that everything we do in life, fitness, work, family, and love, we look up and fix our eyes on Jesus.
In the second half of the workout, the rep scheme comes down, and we fix our eyes down on the bar as we hit the ground, stand up from our burpee and look down to jump and clear the bar. Similar to the reps and to our eyes, Jesus came down, humbled himself human, and died on the cross for us.
The Workout
2 RFT
1st Round
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11
Wallballs 20/14
Toes-to-Bar
Rest 5 min
2nd Round
11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Clean and Jerks 95/65
Bar-Facing Burpees
FAITH WORKOUT
Reading
Philippians 2:1-11 ESV
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Message
The hardest part of humbling ourselves is that it goes against nature- our sinful nature, that is. From the moment we are born, to the moment we die, we are in constant battle with our fallen nature that tells us seeking self-fulfillment is the purpose of life.
It does not make it any easier that society is upside down from the kingdom of God. At every turn, not only do we glorify those who exalt themselves, but culture actually encourages you to bask in your spotlight if so deserved. If you worked hard enough, you earned your glory. Yikes!
No different in fitness, is it?
Hit your macros, lifted hard, got those abs?
Flaunt it if you got it!
Best in the class?
Crush the WOD and let the rest know. You earned it.
Heck, even when it comes to our pursuit of fitness, most of us begin with a self-seeking desire we want to fulfill. I cannot tell you what I have heard as a foundations coach that members have told me is why they signed up to do CrossFit. Rarely it’s about anyone but themselves.
Like I always say about myself, I am preaching from the valley, not the mountain top. I’m guilty as charged!
It was not until I met the FAITH RXD community that I began to think about fitness as a tool to serve others. It was not until I went to a True Strength Camp that I met a community more interested in using CrossFit instead of having CrossFit use them.
No example is more remarkable than when I met Anthony Davis.
We met Anthony due to a secular podcast that he was on. One where he was vulnerable enough to openly talk about his struggles in walking with the Lord, his love for mercy with people, and the gospel.
We were immediately fascinated with Anthony, and Lindsey, our Marketing and Media Director, reached out to him to see if he would be interested in doing our podcast.
He did not disappoint. After this message, go to our app and search for his interview if you have not done so. It is heartbreaking in such a good way! So good that we immediately decided we just had to have him come speak and coach at one of our True Strength Camps.
One problem.
He wasn’t a former CrossFit Games athlete. He was a current CrossFit Games athlete pursuing his first-ever individual Games appearance.
He was going to need to train.
Staff does not get to train much at camp.
He was going to have to oversee his nutrition.
Staff does not always get to eat the way they want to at camp.
He was going to have to intentionally get good sleep.
The staff never gets eight hours of sleep, always share a bed, and sometimes we sleep on floors.
Hail marry pass is what this request was thought to be, given how close our True Strength Camp was to the Open.
Anthony Davis laughed at my concerns. I do not know if he thought of Paul’s words from our reading above. Surely he must have given some thought as to Christ’s example of humility, and He’s called to us to be humble.
Anthony answered me with scripture:
“The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23: 11-12 ESV)
That’s a guy who’s walking the walk.
Anthony’s desire to serve the community did not come with strings attached. He did not expect to be paid, sponsored, or receive special treatment. There was no self ambition or conceit. I believe he did so because he counted the FAITH RXD community, a community of God’s people, above his own interest. It was a Philippians 2:3-4 thing.
Proverbs 22:4 ESV
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
I have been writing these Faith & Fitness workouts for you guys for almost a year now. You probably know my tone, my preferred angles of study and teaching, and my theology. I avoid verses like these like the plague because they invite terrible errors in interpretations, and they require a great deal of study and spiritual maturity to understand. Charlatans like Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyers, and Joel Olsteen have been exploiting people for far too long with verses like these. I feel like we have discussed enough to know that the tenets of the prosperity Gospel not how God works.
God is not a genie that plays quid pro quo with his believers. It is not a matter of riches, honor, and life in the here and now. There is a certain level of mystery in why God chooses to favor some with wealth and not others. I have heard it said that the theologian who does not leave room for mystery in his theology must be avoided.
What better example of how the Lord rewards humility than Christ? Our reading in Philippians chapter 2 verses 9-11 tell us that because Jesus humbled himself as man, even to the point of the cross and death, the Father has exalted him the name above every name, that every knee should bow, and that every tongue must confess Jesus as Lord.
But notice the end, and see the why, “To the glory of God the Father.”
In the end, our exaltation, in due time, as scripture tells us, is not for us. Our riches, honor, and life, which are blessings from God due to our humility, are not for us.
They are all for His glory.
I believe Anthony Davis knows this. I pray that his wife Hannah never ceases to remind him. Because last True Strength Camp, I saw an athlete humble himself to serve others. And I believe God will reward that humility. In this life or the next.
I have a request of our community, to join together in prayer and fasting for Anthony’s journey the rest of the way. Pray, that if He so chooses, the Father will glorify Himself through His humble servant Anthony Davis in this year’s CrossFit Games.
QUESTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION OR PERSONAL JOURNALING:
- How was the workout for you? Did it reveal something unexpected to you, either mentally, physically, or spiritually?
- What selfish things have you recently been pursuing that you can give God?
- Can you think of an arena, whether it be family, work, church, the gym, where you can seek to be last and serve others? What does that look like specifically?
- How has God’s blessing rewarded your humility in the past? Were you quick or slow to give Him the glory?
