1 Corinthians 9

Self-Preservation Is One of our Most Basic Instincts

Cf. Patrick walking up to me—sling hand in front of my face...”ha! flinched!” “You got me! My silly reaction to imminent harm…! There goes my manhood!”

In every dimension of living, we automate toward self-preservation

that’s what governs reflex actions

That’s why we diagnose self-destructive behavior as deeper problems

** But a higher order of thinking, feeling, and acting comes into play both because we are humans and—even more—because we are believers

Patrick asks for my cupcake… (have to think twice…)

Relationshis often require...

Problem, when feel imbalanced...

Now, I begin to see person as expense...

The ethical thing I have committed to becomes a chore to me—and even when I get it right, I have a hard time living with the loss I feel

Whether marriage or other relationship, as long as I feel like there is balance or safety, I am ok with some self-sacrifice; but when I feel those things being threatened, I tend to “turtle”. the problem” often teh time that self-preservation is my most natural ersponse is a time when self-sacrifice is most needed.

That’s the backdrop of

Read

Here Paul follows up with a discussion of teh surrender of rights… But now it becomes much more praactically part of his story, and much more pointed for ours

You see ...

Surrender Only Works If It’s Free

** Otherwise, something in us keeps resisting even after the release. Easily turns into grudges.

Cf. Reconstruction in the South—Freedmen’s Bureau…Federal Troops…riots in MEM ans MSY...gave rise to groups incl KKK—1867- then Federal Enforcement Act…1920’s, … Last year, Unite the Right rally ended with death…harshness back and forth...

Cf. Reconstruction in the South—Freedmen’s Bureau…Federal Troops…riots in MEM ans MSY...gave rise to groups incl KKK—1867-69…1920’s,

What remains certain is that Reconstruction failed, and that for blacks its failure was a disaster whose magnitude cannot be obscured by the genuine accomplishments that did endure.[5] (Historian Eric Foner)

Full ownership of the choice

** The threat of surrender always has two components—my standing (sense of self) and my benefit (what I have to preserve) In fact, this really is about preservation—Actually—personhood and privilege

Cf. calling “shotgun” History of this… now, place of privilege…my kids’ place of honor…

So really, I have to have a firm grip of my sense of my personhood (which I am NOT conceding) and my privilege (which is mine, and I choose this)

Real quandary when I “don’t have a choice”

No one likes to lose their sucker

Full conviction in the process

Sometimes it looks like compromise. In fact, Paul dealt with that. His compromise was always legitimized. In fact, sometimes we need to move beyond compromise.

NOte how Paul relates

This is us re: church (I mentioned this to a woman recently… concerned with not “watering down” the Gospel—actually waters down the Gospel by allowing our protectionism to prevail

Imagine applying this in any given moment to people we love

Imagine becoming ____ to the _____ (what other ways could you fill in those blanks?

Thanks be to God, that he gave me Stubborness, when I know I am right.Letter to Edmund Jenings, 27 September 1782, also quoted in John Adams (2008) by David McCullough, p. 272

When we must compromise, it may be best to not even think of it as compromise, but rather a surrender of the interests of a lesser law (self-preservation) to that of a greater law (law of love)

Romans 13:10 ESV

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

*** It is essential tat in the name of love we never compromise what is right before God.

Full awareness of the prize

Paul’s understanding of a prize stays with him, as it should us. He knows what he is after...

That’s an issue with losing focus—thus Hebrews reminds of Jesus’s approach

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

It’s the Prize that Makes Surrender worth the Price

From this same auther we get so much prize imagery

2 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 2:5 ESV

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Philippians 3:14 ESV

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

What that does is changes it from an issue of surrender to an issue of exchange--

It’s not a surrender, it’s a swap

*** Read the moment—what is the swap available to me?

is there something more eternal

is there something more substantial

is there something more central to who I am and what I’m about