Finishing What We Started

We Living BasedFinishing on WhatWhat You Are, Started Not on What You Used to Be 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:13 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 September 30, 2018 June 24, 2018 THE BIG IDEA: Paul challenges Christians in Corinth to never let up or give up in their walk with the Lord. Quitting early or “retiring” from serving God are not legitimate options. Counting God’s blessings, learning from positive and negative examples, and relying on God’s faithfulness are all things that will help us finish what we’ve started. 1 Corinthians 9-10 (ESV) 9 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 man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Truths to Take Away From this Scripture: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to There is a difference between having the shirt and being committed to the race. The Christian who will finish the race: § Has “self-control” in the whole life § Runs with abandon § Runs for a greater prize – God’s eternal pleasure § Runs with purpose – swings with intent – cares about the “rules”. There is beauty and benefit to remembering God’s blessings – even those which came before we were born! God gives us examples from history of real people who are both good and bad examples for us. The terrible, no-good example of how NOT to live a godly life (and fail to finish the race): § Give no thought to your baptism. (10:2) § Pay little attention to the presence of Christ in your circumstances (10:4) § Desire evil. § Build idols. § Live immorally. § Test Christ. § Grumble regularly. § Pay no attention to the Bible. § Consider yourself invincible. § Convince yourself no one ever had it as hard as you, that there’s no way out of the temptations, and that God won’t help you. The Truth for Your Life: § § God is a faithful God. For every temptation we face, God provides a way of escape and a path to obedience. Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction. - John Owen