Tunstall Apo AM 30.4.06. Run to win.
Place: Tunstall Apo. Date: Am Sunday, 30th April 2006.
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Theme: Run to win.
Introduction: Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
If I were to ask you:
Q1. What is the mission of any sports term? What would you say? (Answer) To Win.
Q2. How do you know if they are achieving their mission?
(Answer) Whether or not they are winning their games.
Q3. How do you know if they are winning their games?
(Answer) They keep the score.
I mean can you imagine what a game would be like if the teams just lined up and played each other going up and down the field but did not bother to keep the score? What would be the point?
How about our Christian life? What is our mission? To win! How do we know if we are winning? We have to keep score! I read of a church with an old oak board that hung on the wall just to the left of the platform. There were three ways that church kept score and those three items were faithfully displayed every Sunday morning on the oak board. And they were:
• Worship Attendance
• Offering
• Decisions
Many churches are still keeping score this way. Numbers, offerings and souls. While I do not totally dismiss it, I am totally convinced that there are other ways to measure the church’s effectiveness. If anyone was ever considered a winner in the Christian Life and in the Church, Paul would undoubtedly qualify.
Paul used THREE Characteristics of a Genuine Winner.
1ST POINT: WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS.
1 Corinthians 9:24
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”
If ever a word described the Apostle Paul, it would be Contender. He did not just live life, he attacked it. In Acts 14, Paul was preaching to a crowd in Lystra. Some of his enemies were able to turn to crowd against him, and they stoned him, dragged him outside the city and left him for dead.
As soon as Paul came to, the Bible says “he got up and went back into the city.” He had such a burning desire to preach the gospel that even the threat of physical violence could not keep him away. Talk about a Contender! No wonder Paul could say at the end of his life. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” 2 Timothy 4:7.
There is a huge difference between contenders and pretenders.
Pretender:
1. Concerned about image and impressions.
2. Settles for weakness.
3. Quits in difficulty.
Contender:
1. Concerned about realness and honesty.
2. Strives for excellence.
3. Grows through difficulty.
What Paul was trying to say is that if you really want to “win” in the Christian Life and in the Church, then you must be a contender!
2ND POINT: WINNERS ARE ALWAYS IN TRAINING.
It never stops. It is a continual process throughout everyday of our lives. I do not know about you, but I find this to be one of the most exciting aspects of the Christian life. To think that there is always room to grow, that no matter how much we age, we can still be learning and growing!
Toddlers wear training pants, their first bike had training wheels, as Christians we need to accept the fact that we are in training, and always will be!
Let us look at two aspects of Spiritual Training according to Paul in this passage.
1. The Motivation for Training. 1 Corinthians 9:25
“And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”
1. The method of training. 1 Corinthians 9:26
“Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.”
So far Paul’s model of a winning Christian is that they are
1. A Contender – they run to win
2. Always in Training – they never stop growing.
But there is one more characteristic:
3. Winners are self-controlled. 1 Corinthians 9:27
“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
A. Self-control releases power.
B. Self-control creates trustworthiness.
Matthew 19:26
“With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Winners say: I have a plan.
Losers say: I have an excuse.
Winners say: Let me do it for you.
Losers say: It is not my job.
Winners: See a solution for every problem.
Losers: See a problem for every solution.
Winners learn from their mistakes. Winners set goals in their personal life, business, marriage, and ministry. Better yourself. If someone looks at you today, they should be able to see improvement over last year.
3RD POINT: WINNERS WILL ALWAYS PAY THE PRICE.
The value of your dream is determined by how much you are willing to pay for it. Michelangelo was not the best painter of his time. He had a bad back and a sinus condition. No one else was willing to do whatever it took to succeed. He lay on his back painting a ceiling for nearly 2 years and completed the Sistine Chapel.
Everyone wants authority without responsibility. The church is filled with people who want the benefits, the titles, the perks, but who do not want responsibility. In God’s financial system, there is no authority without responsibility.
In fact, the first mark of sin was failure to take responsibility. Adam said, “It’s not my fault, you gave me the woman” Genesis 3:12. Our sin nature always wants to blame others.
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! If your marriage is failing, take responsibility and get help. If your business is failing, take responsibility and get help. If your ministry is failing, take responsibility and get help. You have a choice. You are not a victim.
If you are waiting for the perfect church, the perfect marriage, the perfect business, you will be waiting a long, long time. Work with what is in your hand today.
CONCLUSION:
Be faithful in the little. Some of God’s greatest gifts came in small packages and changed the world forever. Calculate your life in terms of giving. Do not ever base your life on what you built up. Leave behind a legacy of principles and character not just money and resource. What you give is what you really keep.