1 Corinthians 9:15-27
“Running for the Prize”
Sermon by
Mark A. Horne
Last week we looked at the first half of chapter 9. This week we are going to look at the second half of the chapter. If you will remember, I told you that I was not going to give a lot of points to remember from this passage of Scripture, even though there could be many points taken from it. However, what I wanted us to concentrate on is what I believe is the main point of the passage. That main point coming from verse 12 saying, “Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.” And the point I gave you is this – sometimes we have to give up rights or personal claims in order to show a Christ-like love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That same point is what we are using this week. Sometimes we have to give up rights or personal claims in order to show a Christ-like love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Paul addresses how we should do this in the whole chapter. Last week we looked at the first part of the passage from two different viewpoints, that of the Corinthians and that of Paul. If you look at the passage we have today in the same way you will see the same kinds of attitudes being displayed. It seems the Corinthians had an attitude that was arrogant. It seems Paul, trying not to be a stumbling block to his church and not to hinder the gospel of Christ, is humbling himself by not taking pay for his duties. But the arrogant Corinthians have backed him in a corner and said he was not an apostle because he did not take pay like the other apostles did from their churches.
So we pick up Paul’s defense in verse 15 and 16. For us to truly to show a Christ-like love for our brothers and sisters we have to do like Paul and give up something for them. For Paul gave up his wages and monetary support to be the preacher that he thought he needed to be. He tells the Corinthians that they can laugh at him and ridicule him all they wanted to, but they could not take that away from him. It was what he felt he needed to do and it is not something he compels anyone else to do. For Paul to be content as a Christian, in his service to Christ, he had to do this even though he had every right to it. And we have to be willing to do the same. We have to be willing to give up worldly things in order serve our brothers and sisters. From time to time we have to be willing to give up something that is very important for us to do or have in order to show a Christ-like love to someone who desperately needs to see it.
And these are the things we have to do on top of the everyday ministry we have. Paul says about his preaching, “woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” Are we that burdened about our ministry to others? Is our ministry such a necessity that we are compelled to live our lives so Christ can be seen in us?
Oswald Chambers says this (February 2, Utmost for His Highest)
Paul’s words have to do with our being made servants of Jesus Christ, and our permission is never asked as to what we will do or where we will go. God makes us as broken bread and poured-out wine to please Himself. To be "separated to the gospel" means being able to hear the call of God ( Romans 1:1 ). Once someone begins to hear that call, a suffering worthy of the name of Christ is produced. Suddenly, every ambition, every desire of life, and every outlook is completely blotted out and extinguished. Only one thing remains—". . . separated to the gospel . . . ." Woe be to the soul who tries to head in any other direction once that call has come to him.
What is the call for all of us? All Christians should be willing and able to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ. Again giving up the things that are most dear to us. Paul describes this in verses 19-23. As Americans we can relate to Paul somewhat in verse 19 because we were born free from any man. Paul was born free as a Roman Citizen. We are born free as Americans. We do not have certain bonds like some in other countries do. We have the privilege to preach the gospel without hindrance and with all liberty. But when we have been called into the Jesus Christ’s kingdom, we have to recognize the importance of becoming servants to all. Paul put his personal and social rights aside to deal with all sorts of people. Why? “To win the more.” Paul became a Jew to the Jews, a Gentile to the Gentiles, and weak to the weak. Paul became something to them that they can understand, without breaking Christ’s law, so that they could see someone like them who lived with a personal Lord and Savior. Paul did not despise or judge them, but he became one of them. Paul denied himself for their sakes so he could gain their souls.
Paul gives us a perfect example right here how an attitude for Christ should be. Paul shows us a glimpse of what it takes to be like Christ. I often here from Christians that we should not take part of certain activities or functions, or go certain places because we need to set an example against what is bad. I understand the concept, but I don’t think that is the intention the gospel writers portray Jesus’ life as. Jesus began his ministry in Galilee (Mark 1, Matt. 4 and Luke 4 right after he spends some time with the devil), the slums of the decapolis. He constantly was feeding the low class, eating with them, calling them out of boats and trees, and healing them. Jesus went to souls who were in bondage from some disease or another and he freed them. Paul portrays for us the same kind of life. We need to have our hearts warmed with zeal for God. We need to be breathing after the salvation of our brother and sister’s souls. We should not be content with “well I know I’m alright with God so I am not going to worry about anyone else.” Or the Reformed favorite, “It is only God who saves souls, there is nothing I can do.” No! We constantly should be in the midst of those whom we think we can’t so that we can win them over to Christ.
Again some encouraging words from Oswald Chambers (October 25, Utmost for His Highest)
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, "If only I were somewhere else!" All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact—". . . Jesus Christ and Him crucified" ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 ).
"I chose you . . ." ( John 15:16 ). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose—that He may be able to say, "This is My man, and this is My woman." We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Yes, sometimes we have to give up rights or personal claims in order to show a Christ-like love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
But where does that put as Christians? Verses 23-27 tell us. Paul says it is not a matter of where, but it is a matter of what. When we become servants to others in order to show them Christ, we have entered a race. The Corinthians were familiar with races. Not the Nascar races where cars go around and around in a circle. But the foot races in the Isthmian games. These games were the second largest in the Roman Empire behind the Olympian games. Paul knew they would understand what he was referring to.
Paul says we have entered a race, but it is not a 10k race, it is a lifetime race. And this race is one that requires discipline because we are running it with others. And the prize we obtain, Oh it is a glorious prize. It is imperishable. It is that of being with our Savior in heaven. The discipline by which we must constantly train ourselves to reach this prize is that of setting our selfish ambitions aside for the sake of getting others to run with us as verse 23 states.
Paul sets us to the course by Christ’s example, that of being temperate and enduring the hardships that come in running this race.
There is a story of a young boy who lived during the early nineteenth century in London that could be an example of what it means to endure hardships. He was one who aspired to be a great writer. Yet, he never attended school for more than four years. Everything was against him. His father had been flung in jail for not paying his debts. The young man endured the pangs of hunger because he had no money. Finally, he got a job pasting labels on bottles of blacking in a rat infested warehouse, and he slept at night in a dismal attic room with two other boys – guttersnipes from the slums of London. He had so little confidence in himself that he sneaked out and mailed his first manuscript in the dead of night so nobody would laugh at him. Story after story was refused. Finally, the great day came when one was accepted. He wasn’t paid a shilling for it. All he got was a simple thank-you from the editor. However, he was so thrilled that he wandered aimlessly down the streets with tears rolling down his face. The young man’s name was Charles Dickens.
We must run our race with confidence because we are running for a prize that will be obtained. We must run our race with confidence, because we are running the race with our Lord pushing and pulling us along. We must run our race with confidence, because we are running our race with others that will obtain the prize as well. And we must not fight with one another as we run, for this is like fighting against the air. It accomplishes nothing and slows each party down. We must control the desires that harm us rather than prepare us.
In the Isthmian games they were crowned with withering leaves or bows of trees of olive, bays or laurel. To receive our glorious crown we must keep the path of duty prescribed. Just as a runner in a race puts forth the extra exertion at the end to win the prize, we must constantly put forth the extra effort for those whom we are witnesses to. For we don’t know when our crown will be placed upon our heads.
Let us Pray: Father in Heaven, we come before you now, after studying your Word to guide our response to it. We dear Father, that you will help us to set our selfish ambitions aside for the work in your kingdom. Help us Father to set aside those things we hold most dear in order to show the Christ-like love we should to our brothers and sisters. Help us Father, to put forth the extra effort that we should for someone to gain knowledge of the saving grace you are offering to them. Thank you for your love and mercy to us. In your holy and most precious name we pray, Amen.