1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Good morning Church, it is a joy to be here with you all this morning.
Just want to remind you that if you ever need a Bible, they are on the table in the entrance, and the Ushers have them in the back there.
Feel free to help yourselves. If you need a personal Bible, let us know we would be happy to get you one.
This morning we are going to continue our verse by verse study of 1 Corinthians.
We are currently in chapter 9, we will finish the Chapter this morning, starting in verse 19. The message is entitled “Running to Win.”
Let’s pray, and we will get into it…
Now, remember here, that back in Chapter 8 Paul started dealing with a discussion on Christian Liberties or the Freedoms that we have in Christ.
Paul will keep this a central theme until Chapter 11. He will deal with the subject from different directions here.
Last week we saw at the beginning of this Chapter that Paul defended his rights as an Apostle and his authority.
Remember there were those in Corinth who challenged the fact that Paul could be called an Apostle, he most certainly was not a part of the original Twelve.
Remember Paul was one born out of due time.
Paul spent much of the time also defending his right to be supported in the ministry financially that he was called to.
After all, the Corinthians had no problem sending their support to others. And after Paul laid out a pretty clear argument that they should have supported him as a minister of the Gospel, he states in 1 Cor. 9:12 Nevertheless we have not used this right.
Why did Paul refuse their support? God was his Provider and had always taken care of him, and the Corinthians thought their money could control the Apostle Paul.
Paul laid down his own rights for the sake of the overall ministry.
So as we continue on nowhere in Chapter 9, Paul is going to bring some pretty clever analogies before the Corinthians to communicate the mindset that we are to be serving the Lord with.
He is going to draw their attention to a couple of Athletes.
It is clear that Paul may have been a sports fan, he most definitely knew the details about athletes, more than just the average observer.
I myself enjoy watching a competition between athletes, I actually love to play a little. I have had to take a step back over the last few years, I just cannot play anymore.
Not because I am fat and old, but because I have been accused of not being a Christian when I play sports. The competitor in me comes out, and I am a completely different person in the competition.
And perhaps if I was playing in front of people I was trying to pastor, it would be a very bad witness.
So, I abstain for the sake of the ministry. I enjoy going to the gym with Pastor Joe, who is a behemoth of a man, and he pushes me in the gym pretty hard some weeks.
But we as Americans really love sports and some of us even exercise, for the most part, maybe you, like me don’t as often as you should.
I found it fascinating when I read that of all the people who own running shoes 87% don’t even run.
That is like owning a 4x4 truck that has never been offroad, it is for ascetics only.
But for the most part, we understand sports metaphors, the Apostle Paul did, and he will use them here this morning.
So let’s read the first section of our reading this morning and then we will come back through and look at it a piece at a time.
Before Paul goes into his sports analogies he says this in verse 19…
Serving All Men
9:19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might, by all means, save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Something, as we will see more clearly here that was amazing about the Apostle Paul’s ministry, is the fact that Paul was status blind, color blind, and accent def.
What I mean is that it did not matter the person’s social status, if a person was upper or lower class, if they came from a distinguished family line or were very underprivileged, even if they were slave or free. Paul did not care about a person’s nationality, he saw Jew, Greek, and anyone else as the human race, and preached to one and all.
Paul did not care what language you spoke, probably being able to communicate in most languages that he came across in the Empire. Paul was adaptable to anyone in any division within society.
Look what he declares here in verse 19 again…
9:19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;
Paul was free from all men, he was at liberty to do as he wished in his ministry, he had already proven his spiritual authority over them, and he was not under any man’s thumb.
However, he used his freedom to willingly make himself a servant to all men.
Usually when we read of a servant we are dealing with the word doulos in Greek, a Bondservant of the Lord.
Here in this case Paul uses a variation of the word doulos, doulo’o meaning to enslave, to bring into bondage, or in Paul’s case he brought himself into bondage to all.
Paul made himself a servant. Paul in his authority as an Apostle, uses it to go lower than everyone else, he is a servant of all.
Paul is displaying here a proper attitude for a leader or servant of Christ.
It is the same reality that Jesus presented in His own ministry.
You remember on the very night Jesus was betrayed, that He stripped Himself of His clothes, wrapped a towel around Himself, and washed those disciple’s filthy feet.
He took the lowest place in that room, the place of the lowest servant and after Jesus finished, what did He say… John 13:12-17 "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
In the Church, leadership is measured through servanthood, not superiority. A leader among Jesus’ followers will serve others passionately.
For Paul, his authority and his freedoms came second to his ministry to others. And this is essential, when the Elders and I are praying about those who are called to leadership within the Church, we look for praying men and those who are servants.
There are a lot of talkers, but few powers
.
Now there is also a danger that comes when people are recognized as leaders, titles do weird things to people sometimes. And often they start out as a humble servant, and the Lord really blesses their ministry and there is growth. And then if they are not careful, they will somehow start thinking that they are the ones responsible for the growth of the ministry that they serve.
And there is this weird mindset that is more prevalent in some ministries where those who are supposed to be serving are now expecting others to serve and honor them.
That is a trap from Satan, Paul counters this idea altogether. Paul was willing to put himself aside, to die to himself, and declares that he is a servant of all, in order to win more souls to Christ.
He further explains this as we move on in our text here what Paul was actually willing to do in order to minister to others.
He lays out these principles starting in verse 20… 20 and to the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Perhaps you recognized the repetition here, 4 times we see Paul says that he is willing to change or give up something in order to reach someone with the Gospel.
That he might win the person to Christ. Now, we really need to consider here what Paul is saying when he says “I have become all things to all men.”
Is he becoming a biker to reach the bikers, drinking a beer to reach the drunkards, dressing like a hipster to be relevant to a younger crowd?
I don’t think this is the context Paul is using this in, as many people claim. They change their appearance and do ridiculous things in the name of reaching others.
I remember being a kid and watching my dad’s own ministry change dramatically as he learned this reality. He became our Church’s youth pastor when I was in elementary school, I remember one day he pierced his ear, and put a Bart Simpson earring in, he told me it might help him relate to the youth more.
Now, he soon found that this approach did not help him one bit in the ministry, the kids that were filling up our home each week did not care one bit what he looked like, they just cared that he cared about them.
Honestly, I don’t remember him wearing that thing more than a week, as the reality of being relevant proved to be futile in the real world.
Paul is saying here that he is willing to set aside his liberty and authority in order to win over the person’s soul.
When ministering to a Jew it probably would be an arrogant and disruptive thing to invite them for breakfast and serve bacon, or ham and eggs.
You don’t have to go back under the law to avoid pork personally, but in order to reach the Jew it would be better to give up that liberty in order to properly minister to them in your home.
On the other hand, on the mission field, I have eaten things that I would not otherwise eat in order to not create offense in their culture.
In the Philippines I ate Balut, you can Google the pictures if you dare, but what it is, is a fermented duck embryo in the egg.
You crack the top of the egg off and drink the embryotic fluid, then put some salt on the little creature and down the hatch.
I did a 14 day first, and it was still pretty soft, not too shabby.
noticed the other missionaries were groused out, and I thought it was great so I order 2 more 18 day eggs, and unlike the 14 day the beak and other elements were hardened and it hit that gag reflex in my throat, it was tough, washed it all down with a Coke. The next day, all my showing off came at a cost, sitting in Church the next day my face was turning green, and I was humbled, should have just been content with the one.
In Peru, they offered us Cuy… you can Google that delicacy, but here in the US it is a pet, so if that kind of thing makes you sad, don’t look. We call them Guinee Pigs, and there they are a delicacy.
You walk into the market or a restaurant and they are hanging upside down, skinned and ready for you to pick out. My friend Danny was so appalled by it, but we told him to experience the culture, and after we all tried it, he worked up the courage, and picked up the carcass of the Cuy, and bit the head off, and chomped it down.
We were like, “Bro, you are not supposed to eat that part.” But when you are in other cultures, in order to not offend and to have a fruitful ministry among them, you should be willing to take part in things that are important to them.
I think the most intense story I have heard was from my Pastor, who came across Chicha in Ecuador. The natives there make a very special drink, the women chew on a root all day and spit in a common cup, and make this delicacy of saliva that is flavored by this starchy root. It is something I hope I never have to experience.
But you see in order to spread the Gospel more effectively, Paul says he becomes all things to all men, with the goal of winning them to Jesus.
It is not a license to live a debased lifestyle in order to reach the degenerate person.
We are to die to self and put others before ourselves, and do all that we can to win the soul.
Consider verse 21 again here, “Those who are without the law, as without the law (not being without the law toward God, but under the law toward Christ)”
It is all that we can do without compromising our conscience or morals or violating Biblical mandates, we are to lay ourselves down and minister to people.
That we might win them to Christ.
Paul would have a completely different approach in communicating the Gospel to someone who knew God’s Law verses someone who did not know the law. He was careful not to bring offense.
It is interesting that we see Paul’s approach with two different apprentices one a half-Jew, Timothy, and a Gentile, Titus. Remember in Acts 16:1-5 Then Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Page 13 of 29 Iconium. 3 Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. 4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.
It is fascinating because the decrees they brought with them from Jerusalem were instructions not to put these kinds of burdens on people. Yet because Timothy was going to be joining the ministry, Paul did not want to hinder the ministry to anyone.
Paul understood that circumcision in itself was of no value spiritually, as he said this earlier… 1 Cor. 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. But as a minister, the Jews would not hear Timothy, being part Jewish and not circumcised.
There is a sub-teaching on a leader being held to a stricter standard here, but that is not the main point right now.
Timothy would have to take one for the team in order to be more effective in the ministry.
Now, when Paul was with the Gentiles, he had a completely different approach.
Titus, who was a Greek, Paul did not put that expectation upon, he would not be an offense because he was a Gentile. Titus would be able to minister to those he was called to without having an offense.
But a lot of people are very confused by all of this today, they have an unhealthy longing to be like the world, and they claim that they are doing so to reach the world.
Understand often this leaves the world confused. I know my father-in-law, when he was alive, was a 1% outlaw biker, he did not think too highly of the Christian ministries that tried to look like him to reach him. When he came to Christ, he wanted something different than the world he lived in and was wanting to find salvation from.
But there are those out there today who even cuss as they preach God’s Word, and it tarnishes the Gospel we are trying to preach.
Having a beer bash at next year’s men’s conference might draw some people in, but what are they being drawn to?
We don’t want to taint the message of the Cross.
Of course, we are free to use different techniques and approaches, but you will find no better and more fruitful ministry, than when you are genuine in your approach to reaching others and are motivated by your love for them.
But you see, it might not be wise to bring a screamo rock band to the Convalescent ministry. Our audience should be considered in the ministry but we cannot compromise exalting the name of Jesus.
Paul reminded the Corinthians of his approach to them back in Chapter 2. 1 Cor. 2:1-2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
The message is the power, not so much the means. So, Paul is going to further clarify in the final verses of this Chapter.
He will give the application here, or the means by which we do this. He illustrates now using sports metaphors…
Verse 24… If you want to win others to Jesus… Paul illustrates now… Striving for a Crown 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.
I don’t know what your metanarrative is in your life.
Maybe your main ambition is to be successful, or you have a certain goal in your career to make it to a certain position.
Maybe your ultimate goal is to get married and have a family. Or to have a certain amount of money in this life.
Your metanarrative is the narrative above all others in your life, it is the main thing that gets you up in the morning, it is your driving force in your life, to achieve what you consider the most excellent place.
Well, as believers sometimes this world’s pursuits blind us to the true reality of our existence. When we ponder our true end game, where all of this is heading, one day we will cross that threshold into Glory, into God’s presence, and all that we did in this life for His Glory will be assessed, as well as our ambitions that were based in this world.
The ultimate goal of a believer should be to hear, Matt 25:21 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.'
After Paul’s own conversion, his life’s ambitions changed dramatically.
Paul walked in this world a different man, focusing now on the eternal narrative of his life.
Everything Paul did was assessed through his final reality, also everything Paul saw was looked at through the prism of his eternal glory.
Paul could not even look at a sports match the same, it was not entertainment for him any longer.
Remember he has already used military and farming illustrations, and here Paul looked at the very popular sports world of the Corinthian culture, and he sees heavenly principles to use in reaching the Corinthian culture.
In Corinth at this time it was the center for what was known as the Isthmian Games, and some say at this time in history it may have even been more prestigious than the Olympic Games.
Paul is pulling an image from a picture that they could understand. Of course, just because 87% of Americans who own running shoes do not run, does not mean we don’t like to watch those who do.
We love our sports, and it is not difficult for these pictures to work even in our culture today.
Paul is not trying to get us excited about fitness here, and encouraging us to get busy in the gym. But he is using these things to teach us that the discipline that we use for our preparations for competitions, should instead be used in our spiritual life.
Spiritually speaking, maybe some of you in your faith are just spiritual walkers, maybe you even push into a jog every now and again, but nothing to uncomfortable.
Maybe spiritually speaking you simply never even get off the couch. Paul says here, that we are to be running, and not just running for the fun of it, but running to win.
We are to be disciplined and we are to bring our lives into subjection in order to win others to Christ.
Listen to what the writer of Hebrews wrote in… Heb. 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
You know, at the Boston Marathon, every year, thousands of people show up to run in that race. Most of which have no intention of winning that race, or even finishing it.
They jog as far as they can, and they will give up, and yet they will get a participation t-shirt saying they took part in the Boston Marathon.
But you see there will be one person, the one who has trained the hardest, dieted right, conditioned his body sacrificially, prepared himself so as when he hears the sound of the gun, he is laser focused and determined to win.
He is disciplined enough to push past the pain of it all, to break through the wall as the track coach at my high school used to put it.
And the one who has put in the most work will pull off the win of course.
Paul said we are to run like this in this Christian life like that man. But most are running with no intention to win, yes they are believers, but they are in it for the participation tshirt, they make no sacrifices for the cause of Christ.
They are just taking it easy, and unfortunately, when a little hardship comes, they have no tenacity to keep moving and pressing through, they are ready to drop out.
We are instructed here to run to win, think about that this morning, how much of an effort are you putting in for the Gospel of Jesus?
Are you living with the reality that we will one day be at the throne of Christ, and are running this race with the determination of winning, or for the t-shirt?
Paul continues on now in verse 25…
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.
Paul here uses the word temperate, “temperate in all things.” Some other translations of this verse might be helpful here…
1 Cor. 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. NIV All athletes are disciplined in their training. NLT Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. ESV
If you are completing to win, you will push yourself to the brink, until your body just cannot take anymore, and then you push it further to show that you can go a little more. We train hard, disciplining ourselves, they did in in Paul’s day, not for anything more than a crown.
And listen this was not a royal crown or diadem, in the Greek the crown mentioned is stephanos, a wreath made of pine branches or olive branches.
It would die one day, fade from it beauty, they did not get a gold medal in Paul’s day.
It was all done mostly for bragging rights and ego, there were no Nike deals. We as Christians, who are running this race in the spiritual sense are doing it for a lasting imperishable reward.
Ours will not wilt or fade. The life that we live and pursue in Christ has so much more to offer than that of a world class athlete.
This means to experience the fullness of all that God has for us, discipline is required, temperance, selfcontrol, strict training is essential for us to thrive in our ministry to others.
I hear of pastors and leaders falling all the time because they do not take this serious.
They are trying to cruise through their service in the ministry, their fall starts with little or no devotional life, then they begin to allow worldly entertainment and influences take the prominent place in their heart and minds.
And their lack of discipline spiritually leads to a painful fall.
We are to dedicate our lives to the end game,
like an Olympic athlete, whose every waking moment is focused on sometimes just a few seconds on a race track.
They cannot afford to sleep in, they must train, sometimes a win comes from a matter of 1/100th of a second, and imagine losing by that knowing that instead of training, you decided to sleep in a couple days before the race.
We are to be disciplined, temperate, and under a strict regimen.
We run to win, some of us are showing up to the race, after eating a full plate of pasta, and we have cowboy boots on, and we are just in it, but we are not taking it serious.
Paul finishes this section with these two verses, 26 and 27…
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
We are to run this race to win, not with uncertainty but with a laser focus on the goal.
There is nothing more thrilling for me as a pastor to see this click in someone. To see a person’s whole life changed, and take on a whole new direction.
It is like a light turns on, and they are awakened to what really matters in this life.
They are no longer running aimlessly to and fro in this world, but they are now focused on living their lives for God at all cost.
Paul here now brings a boxer into the picture, and says we are not to punch the air aimlessly as a shadow boxer.
My parents had a big mirror in our living room when I was a kid into my teen years. And in high school I thought I was some kind of tough guy, and I would stand in front of that mirror and vainly flex like Atlas, and I would pretend fight in front of that mirror, it was ridiculous.
But I would strategically plan and act out what I would do in a battle on the street.
Well, when I got into my first real scuffle, I found that there was no choreograph that could prepare me for a scrap on the street.
It was survival, no referees, you had to move, you had to strike, or you would be struck.
And really all that mattered in the real world was who could outlast the other in their conditioning.
Punching the air is much different than fighting a worthy opponent that is for sure.
We are not to punch aimlessly, we need to be in the mix.
Paul says that he disciplines his body, in the Greek the word is hupopiazo meaning to hit under the eye or to give a black eye.
Paul in essence is saying that he will go to incredible extremes to keep his flesh in check. Something like punching himself to wake up the spirit to subdue the flesh.
And the sacrifice sometimes is costly, to get to this place of discipline and spiritually winning.
Paul himself needed to protect his spiritual life with these disciplines in order for him to be found faithful and to maintain his witness before others.
Church, spiritual disciplines like reading God’s Word, praying, fasting, and serving others, these things are necessary and good in our Christian walk.
There is a constant need to beat our flesh into submission.
Church, I hope you understand that the message that you hold within your hearts, this Gospel of Grace, about the Cross of Christ, about this offer for new life, is the most important message in this world.
We have the Words of eternal life…
In Jesus’ ministry there was a time when things started to get heated, pressure started to mount, Jesus’ popularity actually started wain, and some disciples could not hang after hearing Him teach some difficult things.
And Peter, who usually put his foot in his mouth showed an incredible amount of loyalty and commitment.
John 6:66-68 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
When we too understand the enormity of our calling as Christians, what we have been entrusted to and with, it too will become our passion.
Lest what we have preached to others, we would become disqualified ourselves. We run to win in order to serve and minister to others, to win them to the Kingdom of God.
People know if your faith is genuine, and they will be drawn to an authentic faith.
People are getting fed up with this world, the world is chewing them up right now. And we have the answers that they are looking for, but if they see you are in figurative cowboy boots, trying to run this race of faith, they will not think your message is serious.
If we are focused more on our liberties and what others are doing for us in our faith, we dishearten those who need so desperately a faithful display of someone who walks with Christ.
Paul would have given up any right for the sake of winning a soul.
He would exercise and discipline himself, put in the spiritual sweat that was necessary to win someone to Christ.
Church we are called to lay down our lives for the sake of the Gospel.
Lord protect us from this “Me Monster,” where every decision we make is based solely on how it benefits me and mine.
Let’s end with the Words of Jesus in Luke 9:23-25 23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
The Christian reality is one of self-denial, to lay down our lives for Christ and for others.
It is interesting, when we are thinking of ourselves, we are so miserable, when we are focused on what others are or are not doing for us, we seethe in misery.
Chuck Smith used to say, “Only one life to live, it will soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last.”
Understand, true joy comes when we live as we are called too, it is the secret to joyful living, living your life to serve others, living all in for Jesus.
Maybe you are not a Christian this morning, but you realize the world has left you empty. The first step for you to experience this joyful living is to respond to Jesus this morning, turn from your sins, and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior.
If you are here, and realizing your need for Jesus this morning, there will be Elders, Deacons and Pastors up front here during this last song, make your way up, and receive eternal life.
For the rest of us, maybe you are the cowboy boot running Christian, you have not put in the discipline for the race you are called to run.
Come up and get prayer this morning, let these guys minister to you today.
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