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Hey, good morning and welcome to FSM this beautiful Sunday! I’m so thankful to be here with you guys today! A question I have though is does anybody have any idea what we are learning about today?
Correct the Corinthian Church! We are picking up in chapter 9 today but first…
Story: So several of you here may know that alongside working here at Fellowship, I also work part-time at Gearhead Outfitters. And last week a guy in his 40s or 50s came in looking for several miscellaneous things. I saw him looking at our hiking boots so I approached him and asked if he needed a size or to try on a pair - naturally as a Gearhead employee.
He told me he is going to the desert and it gets to low degrees at night. We started talking about his work trip and I asked him where he is headed and what work he does. Come to find out he is a home builder/who works for a construction company and he is going with several of his co-workers to Mexico to an Indigenous people group to deliver MP3 players with the Bible in their language. I ask more questions and learn about how he has been before. He tells me the language was translated by Pioneer Bible Translators and I tell him the church I work at has a partnership with them. We have been talking for around 20 minutes at this point and he tells me his story: how he hasn’t been going to church consistently but he is searching. He asked me what church I work at and I told him here.
His face lit up and he started laughing. And he says to me “I have to tell you something. But you are never going to believe it!” Then he begins to tell me how the first Sunday of the year he and his family who live off Tiger Road by the way, try out his son's church in Fayetteville. The doors are locked. Drive home and on the way try to open the doors of Gracepoint church next door. The doors are locked. And he tells his wife “I think there is a church down the road.” talking about our church. And of course, we are open it's a First Sunday. The story unfolds and he gets invited to Men’s Morning by someone sitting at a table by him at Big Orange. He has had several other run-ins with people from Fellowship in his day-to-day for the past few weeks. And he looks me in the eyes and he says “I have been unsure, but of all the places. You are here and I have no doubt the Lord put you in my path. Thank you! This is the last straw and I believe I am being called to go to your church.” and then I check him out and these are the things he bought.
It was incredible to how the Lord is using my part-time job at Gearhead to see other believers running toward him. In our passage today we see Paul refer to the Christian life as a race.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
I got to see this man’s race and run alongside him momentarily. His race right now looks like taking MP3 players to Mexico, meanwhile, my race, looks much more mundane, folding t-shirts and tucking laces into tennis shoes. We are running in the same direction: towards Christ.
I tell you guys this to encourage you to hone in and listen up as we learn about how what it looks like for Paul to run his race with the Corinthian church in the Scriptures.
We learn here that Paul addresses 3 groups of people:
Paul’s 3 people he is reaching (verses 19-23)
“19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
Jews/those under the law -
Read: verse 20 “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. “
Side note: examples of becoming as they are (Hos- “as” “like” = a simile = a comparison with the word “like or as”, used to make a description
So he first mentions Jews - Now we learn in Galatians 2 that Paul is called to specifically minister to Gentiles, but he was raised Jewish. What do you guys remember about Paul before he became a believer of Jesus Christ?
Let them answer.
So basically this is Paul saying “I will become enslaved to the very law that I was free from so that some of them could potentially become believers In Christ”
Acts 21:23-26 Paul participated in Jewish purification ceremonies to build a bridge of ministry to the Jews.
Gentiles/those outside the law -
Read: verse 21 “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.”
The Gentiles or “those outside the law” are anyone who is not Jewish.
And then Paul says the statement “I am under the Law of Christ.”
What is the law of Christ? I looked up a definition and it is the entire body of ethical teachings Jesus gave and endorsed including scriptures
like John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Matthew 22:37 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.” and lastly in
Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
The Law of Christ is love. And loving each other.
So he is saying he first and foremost is under the law of Christ and through this, he can become “as one” outside the law of Christ. He is not giving up the rights of God, but the rights of himself to connect with diverse groups and win them for Christ.
Lastly…
The weak -
Read: verse 22 “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.”
The weak refers to the people in chapter 8 with food sacrificed to idols. And likely referring to people who had not found full freedom under the law of Christ yet. They are newer believers of Christ.
Through these 3 groups of people in Paul’s run, he affirms why he is doing this:
Read: verse 22b-23 “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
Paul’s goal was consistent: to win people to Jesus
He did this by expressing that true freedom is found in serving others and adapting to their needs, not just insisting on personal liberties.
Paul recognized that it would have been impossible to reach all these groups of people living the same way - (potentially offended other Christians and that is probably why he is addressing it here)
Paul was empathetic:
Meet people where they are. He encourages the Corinthian church that it should not be uncommon to cross social spheres.
No bounds were too far. He was willing to do all to everyone in all, any, and every way for the sake of the Gospel.
He did not despise or judge them, but he became as one of them.
Is that your perspective on those who are lost around you today? Do you love them enough to be …. (uncomfortable, challenged, unfamiliar, stretched, or not get your way.)
I think if we learned how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, we would find real freedom as believers. Paul was free, but bringing people to Jesus was more important than using his freedom selfishly.
However, Paul recognized that there was the possibility to take advantage of this freedom.
read: Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
This is NOT what Paul is saying or modeling by adapting to reach the different groups of people. Paul stuck to the law of Christ, but Paul recognizes that there is an opportunity for the flesh and this is how it can manifest for me and you…
Chameleon: You say you are a believer. You go to church. You go to cell group. You have a bible verse in your Instagram bio. But you also would never miss an opportunity to go drink with your friends. You cross boundaries with your girlfriend/boyfriend. You find your identity in your sports. You gossip and “yap” all day long. You live a double life. And instead of sharing Jesus with them, you are showing nonbelievers the double life.
Read: (Only 14 and 15) James 1:13-15 “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”)
We are called to live under the Law of Christ (love) and live in godliness with freedom and point to Jesus and Gospel conversations. Reflect on your actions and ask yourself “Is my adaptability leading to gospel conversations and living in godliness with freedom? Or am I changing myself to fit in with these people while sacrificing the Law of Christ?”
If you resonate with the words I am saying then, I plead with you to reflect on who you are hanging out with and ask yourself “Can I hang around them and say no to their temptation, or am I caving to their temptation?”
You also may justify staying with these friends and this picture is you.
Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters
Live high above. And here you are the hero. Capable of swooping down and being the only one who can save. And create a savior mindset. You tell yourself “If I don’t stay with these friends, then how will they ever be saved?” If not me then Who else?. To that, I have to say - Well God. They are not yours, you did not create them. They are God’s. You will not save anyone, you cannot save anyone, and you do not have the power to save anyone.
If you cannot participate with these friends and this way of life without being tempted, step out of the situation.
Bring in a cell leader or trusted older friend. Or even one of us on staff. We would love to talk to you about this and you are not alone. It’s hard to be a believer in 2025. Especially in Junior high or high school. You are not a bad race runner or doomed if you struggle with these temptations. It is okay to struggle, but make sure you are making an active movement away from acting on these temptations.
You cannot save anyone, but you are in control of your personal relationship with the Lord, This looks like using your rights to run the race well. To excel like an athlete, and train in righteousness and love.
Paul showed them through his ministry to all of these groups how to run the race with excellence for the sake of the Gospel. (verses 24-27)
Paul tells the Corinthian church to train and compete as athletes who really want to win. People who actually care about the people they are ministering to. To love them and meet them where they are at, because he is always aware that someone did that for him. And someone did that for every person he ministers to.
Paul learned how to put down his rights and privileges and prioritize people from the perfect example of Jesus Christ. Paul knows he does not have the power to save, he is only a mere human.
Jesus is the only one who does have the right to act as a search and rescue helicopter. Jesus became like us to win us to him.
Jesus’s example:
Christ is God.
We need to take a tangent to understand this better.
Greatest Display Lowering himself -
John 3:16 GAVE his one and only son.
Philippians 2:5-7 “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Unlike us, he never conformed to evil. He humbled himself by stepping into influence but was never influenced.
The person of Christ, who gave up His rights and privileges in heaven to become human and display perfect humility.
Not only did he LOWER himself to being born as a baby and being born as a Jesus was born as a servant, He also lived as a servant, and died as a servant.
Lived as a servant:
Dining with tax collectors and sinners - Matthew 9:10 “And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.”
The woman at the well (picture) - When Jesus a Jew associated with a Samaritan woman
Disciples being friends
developing 12 disciples - (John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
Died as a servant: Philippians 3:8 “ 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
In Jesus’s life of humility, he showed the constant act of laying down. Whether it be his place in heaven or ultimately his life.
This is the Gospel we preach. And therefore…
END:
I want to challenge you to look at your life or your “race”. And surrender for just one moment and ask yourself this question: What is God calling me to lay down for the sake of others, and ultimately Him?
My encouragement to you all is that we must get near people if we would help them. So that we can become all things, to all people, by all means. Run with excellence and live under the freedom of the Law of Love.
Prayer:
Lord, we were made, created, and formed for the sole purpose of bringing you glory. You alone deserve the honor and the praise. You give us freedom! We are free in Christ. We are loved in Christ. We are held and there is community at the foot of the cross. Lord, may we think of people in our path, our schools, our workplace who you love. You love them. You died for them. You lowered yourself, you lived a perfect life and bore the cross only we deserved. You laid down your rights as GOD, for us. What are you calling us to lay down for your sake? For the sake of the Gospel.