852 1 Cor.9.19-27 Run To Win

David R. McAllan

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

1 Corinthians 9:19–27

Gospel

Salvation

Perseverance

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Switzerland's Gabriela Andersen-Schiess finished 37th in the women's Olympic marathon at the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Games. In spite of the exhausting conditions and suffering from dehydration, sheer determination saw her over the finish line.

Switzerland's Gabriela Andersen-Schiess finished 37th in the inaugural women's Olympic marathon at the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Games. In spite of the exhausting conditions and suffering from dehydration, sheer determination saw her over the finish line.

Date: 26-01-20 852 Echuca

- Paul talks about this kind of determination in the Pastoral Epistles where he emphasises perseverance in fighting the good fight of faith in order to finish the race

- Here in Corinthians, in like manner, he emphasises striving to win the race

- His point here is, to not only be fixated on the competition, but winning the competition – it’s very “Trumpian”

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- We may not like to think of it this way, but Christians are to consider that they are in a race

- The race is all about Christian living & presenting the Gospel in the various ways in which we live

Q. How are we to be presenting & forwarding the Gospel to those around us?

1. To See People Won Over to Jesus (vs.19-23)

When Ros & I were in the USA, we had an Airbnb stay with a practising Jewish family in Boulder, Colorado. Many of you know this. They invited us to their Sabbath meal to start their Sabbath day off. I stayed up to about 12.00 talking to the son and the father about various topics. I asked for their objections to believing Jesus as the Messiah. I knew their first objection – they didn’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God. The whole trinity thing was nonsense to them. The second objection took me by surprise, however. They said that they could see no differences between the way Christians lived from the way they lived. In other words, Jesus did not make Christians a better people than the Jewish people or anyone else for that matter

- Now, if you want to look at pockets of Christianity, you might concede to that argument but on the whole, I think, it is quite evident that Christians, by & large, are a forgiving & generous people

- The benevolent institutions in western society have been predominantly started & run by Christians

- The ending of social evils, social ills, have been championed, mostly, by Christians

- Many of these Christians have done so, on a voluntary basis

- That is an expression of Christ’s love in action (a reflection of His Gospel)

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- There are two distinct ways in which a person’s behaviour can be modified: Either through an external force (imposed upon you) or an internal force (which is imposed from within)

- When society breaks down & becomes lawless, the government steps in & applies external force to arrest the situation

- When a person is controlled from within, then there is no need for externally applied force to bring compliance

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- In the great revivals, behaviours changed dramatically as people surrendered their lives to Christ

- No longer wanting to live for themselves, they started to live for Christ

- When the Holy Spirit comes upon a person, the power of God & His presence within transforms a person from the inside out

- In the Welsh revival of 1905 convictions for drunkenness, halved

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- The Jewish law of God was a standard that the Jews had to maintain & usually it was maintained by external or outside force

- You were lashed or stoned to death for certain violations of the law

- The nation of Israel were sovereignly disciplined by the Lord when they went after other gods & they were sent into exile (lost their land)

- There were some who truly had a heart for God, but external conformity could never be achieved as far as faithfulness is concerned

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- In the NT, God governs us from within

- In the NT, it is said that He Himself will dwell in us

- We are described as the temple of God & the significance of the temple is that God dwelt in His temple

- No longer dwelling in the Jewish temple, the people of Jesus now are His temple

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- Having a power from God Christians, in fact, have a helper in God Himself

- Since we are in Christ, God commits Himself to us to uphold & support us

- Even in His providence, He is watching over us

—13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB95

13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

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- How we live has a bearing on whether the Gospel of Christ gets a hearing

- If we needlessly offend, then we have in some way closed the Gospel off from getting a hearing

- The Gospel itself is an offence – we know that

1 Corinthians 1:23 NASB95

23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,

—23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,

- The unbeliever should have to contend with only one offence - & that is the Gospel – if they reject the Gospel it is because they are divinely offended

- This is why Paul writes what he does here

- We need to be very concerned about winning over people to Christ – so much so, that we strive for this with all the energy we would put into winning a race

2. Free, Yet a Slave (vs.19-23)

- What a paradox!

- Paul is free since he is supporting himself – the Corinthians can’t make a claim on how he is to minister, yet he has made himself a slave of all

Q. What does this mean because we are all exhorted to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ?

- It means that making Jesus becomes a core principle of a church

- It means to have the heart to see others won to Jesus

- It means being willing to put yourself out for others that they may be saved on the last day

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- He speaks here to certain circumstances as to how this may be done

- Some have found the key word here to be “accommodation”

- As in youth ministers emulating the youth culture – like wearing their pants half way down their backside

- Or joining the heavy punk rock music seen where they scream crass lyrics

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- Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China, accommodated himself to the Chinese by letting his hair grow & by putting it in a pony tail

- Nothing wrong with what Hudson Taylor did, except to say, that this passage is not speaking about accommodating ourselves to the various people we are trying to reach for Christ

- It has to do with putting aside our rights or freedoms to enable the Gospel to get a hearing

Q. For example, if you invited some people around for dinner and these people were either Jewish or Muslim, would you serve up pork to them?

- If you did, you’ve offended them big time

Q. Will you get listening ears when it comes to speaking with them about Jesus? Not likely!

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- There are 3 groups that Paul mentions here

- The Jew, the Gentile & the weak

- He makes himself a slave to everyone

Q. How is this? By giving up what he can rightfully enjoy for the sake of others that they may hear the gospel

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- In respect to the Jews & the legal requirements of the law, we find that Paul was happy to abide by the law, even though it has been fulfilled

- In order to get a hearing from the Jews, he practised some of the laws requirements

Acts 16:1–3 NASB95

1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, 2 and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

—1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, 2 and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Q. Does this mean that Paul compromised?

Q. Does he insist, in His Epistle to the Galatians, that circumcision is now irrelevant?

Q. Even more so, he condemns them for still practising it

—2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

Galatians 5:2 NASB95

2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

Q. How can he be so against circumcision & yet have Timothy circumcised?

- The answer is found in the context

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- On the one hand, circumcision belonged to the OC & has now been fulfilled in Christ – it is indeed irrelevant

- On the other hand, some still believed that you should be circumcised to be in a right relationship with God

- So here is the difference – if you believe you needed circumcision to be right with God, you’ve just turned away from Christ & all that He has done

- But if you believe that circumcision is irrelevant but want to not offend the Jews so the Gospel of Christ can get a hearing, then you are siding with Christ

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- You get a strong hint in this passage that I’m about to read at how this distinction of motive is real

1 Corinthians 9:20–21 NASB95

20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.

—20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.

- He hasn’t compromised the truth of God in any way

- The point is not that he conforms to their lifestyle

- He avoided unnecessarily offending people over non-essential matters

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- He is not lawless, but he is not under the law (not subject to it)

- Young men were increasingly being circumcised during & after the world wars where they were in trenches for days on end through rain & heat & where infection was very real

- It was for health reasons, not religious reasons that they were circumcised – Paul would not have had a problem with that

- But for the Jews, the law was all important & there was no right relationship with God, in their minds, if they neglected circumcision

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- Paul, again faced this problem when he came to Jerusalem

Acts 21:17–24 NASB95

17 After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 “Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.

—17 After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 “Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.

- For those new found Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, you would have to say that they would have to be included in “the weak” that Paul talks about in v.22

- For those new found Christians in Jerusalem, you would have to say that they would have to be included in “the weak” that Paul talks about in v.22

- It’s the same deal, I think, with church traditions & that “we have always done it this way”

- There is a lot to say for tradition & for tried & true practises, but if we are so rigid & unable to change or even consider changing, then we are demonstrating a form of “weakness” in conscience

- Our conscience, in this case, has not been able to handle the stretch out of our comfort zone – of what we have always known & accepted

- But the word of God is what should determine our beliefs

- If the Jewish people had had an open mind to change, like the apostles, then they may have received Jesus

- God did something new in Jesus & they missed it

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- Paul understood that new Christians had a weakness to change & he worked with the weak that he may win them over

- This does not mean he bent like bamboo to every doctrine that came his way

- In fact, at times he was very adamant about right & wrong

- He stood Peter up in front of everyone in the Galatian church because he started to split the church on national/ethnic grounds

- Peter was separating himself off & only hanging with the Jews, which denied the Gospel of Christ in that there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ

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- When John Mark decided to “take his hand off the plough” after having abandoned them in the midst of the first mission, Paul refused to take him along again after he wanted to go on the second mission & he had a big split with Barnabas over the matter

- In our next chp., chp, 10 he will tell the Corinthians outright that they are not to attend idolatrous food feasts at the local pagan shrine for to do so is to fellowship with demons

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- The point here is that Paul made himself a servant to all in order to win the many

- It means being Gospel oriented – having the salvation of others on your mind

- It means denying yourself those freedoms & rights IF those freedoms & rights get in the road of the Gospel of Christ receiving a hearing

- In this sense, Paul says that he voluntarily has become a slave to all & the Lord calls on us to emulate that trait &, likewise, become a slave to all

3. Keeping the Desire to Win (vs.24-27)

- There is a disturbing sense to this illustration of the apostle

- The illustration of an athlete running & boxing in the Greek games

- 3 things that jump out at me

1. That being a Christian means you’ve been entered into a race

2. The Christian is to have the perseverance of an athlete to the point of exhaustion in the pursuit to win the race/competition

3. That a person can possibly be disqualified from the race if they prioritise themselves over the other-centredness of the Gospel

- That means disqualified as a Christian – that it a hard teaching is it not!

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- But it is not as brutal as you may think, however

- The Corinthians are attending idolatrous feasts & they are compromising their Christianity in the process

- They are not only fellowshipping with demons, as Paul write in chp. 10, but they are not caring about their brother in Christ who might be led astray from such a carefree & inconsiderate behaviour

- In their insistence on their right to be there, they are opening themselves up for disqualification

Galatians 5:13 NASB95

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

—13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

- Commentator Gordon Fee warns...

Perhaps too many contemporary Christians have lost sight of their eschatological goal (their resurrection from the dead) and are running aimlessly, if they are in the “contest” at all. -- Gordon Fee

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- The Greeks loved their sporting games

- They had the Olympic games, the Nemeon games & the Pythian games & each of these games were dedicated to a pagan deity

- The type of events at these games ranged from chariot racing, running, long jump, discus and javelin throwing, boxing, wrestling and the pancratium (a form of all-in wrestling)

- Now, in your minds, you may be seeing some of the great athletes of our day competing in the Olympic Games - as you’ve seen them on TV

- However, a big difference, in Paul’s day, is that they all competed naked

- Wow, you are not going to forget that new image, will you

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- A big part of this teaching today is the emphasis on self-control or self-discipline – endurance!

- If we are only restrained by an external force it is because we have no self-control

- There is a fruit of the Spirit that is relevant for us here – it is self-control

- Self-control or self-discipline is evidence for the work of the Holy Spirit as He works to change you from within

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Q. What kind of self-discipline is envisaged here?

- The perseverance to honour God first & foremost

- Because the Corinthians think they have the right to hob nob it with the social elites at the local shrine & eat the sacrificial food, they continued arguing against their apostle about their rights

- But they lost sight of the fact that God was being offended by them “fellowshipping with demons”

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- To make this more contemporary & uncomfortable, what is happening in our society that may reflect the same principles?

- My thoughts are that we could include Aboriginal smoking ceremonies in this

- Smoking ceremonies are extremely religious with the practise meant to ward off evil spirits

- They are pagan in nature with no association with Christianity

Q. To what extent should Christians be involved with these?

- Very uncomfortable question isn’t it - its easy to condemn the Corinthians, but when such a like scenario is pressed upon us, we start to truly feel the pressure of the world

- We do indeed face similar pressures - how will we deal with it?

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- The victor of each event won a wreath that was worn around his neck

- Unlike the gold, silver & bronze metals that won’t perish over time, the wreaths surely did

- So the apostle calls it a perishable wreath, whereas the wreath we are looking too is the imperishable – in the resurrection from the dead

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- The essence of this teaching is that the church is to be Gospel oriented

- We need to be fixated on the salvation of souls

- If we are not, we are in the competition – boxing – as here in v.26 & we are merely shadow boxing – not even connecting with our opponent – hardly a winning strategy!

Q. How are you going to win doing that? (beating the air, he says)

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- Or, if we are in a running a race & we don’t stay on the course that is marked out for the race

- If you leave the track to take a short-cut, you’d be disqualified, so that is no good

- It seems evident that when the Gospel is pursued individually in it being communicated to those who are lost, that the church will have better things to do than to turn on each other & implode

- Let me close with a word from Charles Spurgeon on this...

Churches that do not care for outsiders quickly suffer from disunity and strife. What unites a church completely is the calling out of all its forces for accomplishing the Redeemer’s grand objective. This passion for saving souls not only employs but also draws forth the strength of the church. It awakens the church’s latent energies and arouses its noblest abilities. Communion in service and success welds the saints together and is one of the best securities for mutual love. As a common desire to defend their country welds all the regiments of an army into one, so the common desire to save souls makes all true believers akin to one another -- Spurgeon, The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1547.

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