Running to Win

I Corinthians 9:24-10:13

Welcome! Today we continue our series into I Corinthians, finishing Chapter 9 and going on into Chapter 10. Although today’s passage starts with verse 24 of Chapter 9, I want to back up a little and go back to verses 19-23.

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. – I Cor. 9:19-23

Although I am completely breaking away with “proper” sermon format, which would first start “light” with an introduction, then discuss the passage, and finally, perhaps, present a challenging application, today I want to start with the challenging application. My question is this: What sacrificial or hard thing are you personally doing for the sake of the gospel?

Last week John talked about how Paul, among other things, explained that for the sake of the gospel with the Corinthians, he voluntarily chose to work for himself and not take any support from them, even though he was completely within his rights, within biblical precedent, and even biblical prescription, to take such support. I think Paul is too humble to tell us exactly what this cost him. It isn’t that, because he was too busy with his work, he then chose to cut back on sharing the gospel and discipling the new believers in Corinth. I am certain that he worked full-time and was a minister of the gospel full-time. In fact, I am also certain that the gospel took such precedence that, if he couldn’t work as much as he needed, it was work that was undone. Now Paul was self-employed, so not working likely meant not eating. Certainly it meant not saving up extra so he could take a nice vacation, or having a nest egg for retirement. I doubt he even had, as Dave Ramsey would wisely counsel, an emergency fund.

In addition, Paul became a Corinthian. Back in Roman times, because transportation and communication were nothing like they are today, each major city, including Corinth, had developed its own culture. They had their own culinary style, their own sayings, their own accents, their own mannerisms, and so on.

I remember years ago when I and one other member of our church went to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to teach at a local church there, that the first thing that happened, literally as soon as we got of the final plane after 24 long hours of travel, was that Tom, the missionary we came to help, began to instruct us in the Mongolian culture. There was a lot to learn! I learned that the Mongolians, although generally quiet in speech like many Asian cultures, are unlike many Asians in that their anger lies close to the surface, and that they are quick to shout and even come to blows. The best US analogy I can come up with is a coach getting in an umpire’s face and shouting “He was safe! Are you blind?! How could you possibly call him out? My mother could have seen that he was safe, and she was blind for the last 15 years of her life! From the grave she could have told you that he was safe!”

I learned that Mongolians tend to crowd in, that their concept of personal space is much smaller than that of Americans (indeed that’s true for most of the world), and I learned that if you accidentally touched their shoes with your shoes while shuffling about in a crowd, this was a great offense, an insult, and that what you must do immediately (if you don’t want to get slugged) is gently touch their arm and say the Mongolian word for “Sorry.” I learned that when you enter a Mongolian’s home (especially a ger, a round tent, their traditional home), you must not step on the threshold, and as you enter, you go to the right, never the left. (To step on the threshold was to bring terrible luck, and to go to the left was to deeply offend the family for reasons I don’t remember any more.) I learned things about eye contact, about how to speak, and much more.

Tom later told me that one of his favorite personal moments after being in Mongolia for many years was when a police officer pulled him over. Now, Mongolians are such terrible drivers, ignoring every law, that frankly I am amazed police officers ever pull drivers over for anything. In any case, Tom got out of his car, in Mongolian tradition, and began yelling at the officer (in Mongolian). The officer yelled back. This went on for several minutes until finally, the officer said, in English, “You are Mongolian” and went back to his patrol car and left. At that point Tom felt that he had finally succeeded in assimilating into their culture.  Now I should mention that Mimi and I knew Tom for years in the United States, and it is impossible for me to even imagine him yelling at anyone, because he is so kind and caring and soft-spoken all the time. But Tom became a Mongolian to the Mongolians.

Paul did this too. He “put on” their culture like we put on an article of clothing. He became a Corinthian to the Corinthians. Apparently, his taking money from them would have been a cultural offense or would have hindered his gospel outreach in some way, so he worked long hours as a tentmaker on top of the long hours he worked with their church. So again, I come back to my question: What sacrificial or hard thing are you personally doing for the sake of the gospel?

I’m not asking this so you feel bad. And I’m certainly not saying that God is not pleased with you unless you do this. God loves you, period. Let me restate that – God loves you, exclamation point! We serve Him, we sacrifice for Him, because He is worth it, and because it gives both Him and us joy when we live for Him, work for Him, sacrifice for Him. There is joy in the offering! If you have not experienced this, if you don’t know what I am talking about, all I can say is try it, and you will see. You will understand. You will experience it for yourself.

So when I ask you, what sacrificial or hard thing are you personally doing for the sake of the gospel, my purpose is not that you cry “Nothing!” and run weeping from the room. My purpose is that you really think about it. Maybe, after thinking about it, you say, “When my friend calls who is struggling, I drop whatever I am doing and give her my full attention, even if I have other urgent things I need to do.” Well, good! That is definitely something! If that were your answer I would follow up and ask, are you giving her what she needs most of all? It’s not just your friendship, although that is a fantastic start. She also needs you to minister Christ to her. Only Christ can give her the comfort she needs most of all. Only Christ can fill her hole in her heart. Only Christ can give her the wisdom and the courage, moment by moment, to move out of her situation, whatever it is. If she is not yet a believer, your job is to introduce her to Christ, to Christ that you know, to Christ who has helped you. If she is a believer, your job is to remind her to turn to Him, to seek Him, to follow Him. It might be to study God’s Word together with her, to see how she practically can come to Him every day. It might be to pray with her, not only because she needs prayer, but so that she can hear your prayers and learn how to really pray and open her life up to Christ in prayer herself. Then you really are sacrificing your free time, or are putting yourself in a time crunch on other matters, for the sake of the gospel.

Before time runs away from us, let’s look at today’s passage.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. – I Cor. 9:24-27

The “games” Paul is talking about were much like our modern Olympic games, although we have hundreds more events than they did. But back then, just like now, people trained intently, hours and hours every day for years for the Games. You could make a Nike commercial showing athletes training 2000 years ago, and apart from all the cool clothing they now wear or the Gatorade they now drink, they would look a lot like athletes training today.

For as long as I can remember, my favorite summer Olympic event to watch has been the 100m dash. My family has repeatedly asked me why, and I have had a hard time answering. I think part of it is the idea of training for your entire life for an event that only lasts 10 seconds. I think part of it is my love of speed as translated into the crazy things I did when I was young on snow skis. I think part of it is that we all know how to run, we can all try running for 100m any time we want, but how fast they go is absolutely crazy. I think part of it watching the record get broken again and again and again, knowing that it’s not technology enabling people to break this record, or even much in the way of new techniques, but just hard, hard, hard training. Watching Usain Bolt, bolt down the track is just awesome. He looks all wrong for the part. He is too tall. When I was a little kid, even though I was short, I was a decent sprinter, and I could easily outrun tall people, because they were so slow getting started. Not Bolt. He keeps up with them, and then he goes into turbo mode and everyone just eats his dust. And he has done it for three straight Olympic Games.

The ancient Olympians, like the ones today, competed for prizes. Indeed, the word “prize” is “Athlon,” from which we get words like “decathlon” and even “athletics.” They would receive a crown made of leaves as a symbolic prize, but they would also receive substantial rewards from their sending towns, including huge quantities of the very finest olive oil (which was extremely valuable and could be sold) and even bags of gold or other money. Apart from the Olympic Games themselves, there were many other games where great prizes were given directly at the events. Paul says, these guys go nuts to get temporary rewards; how much more should we go all out for eternal rewards!

Now imagine entering the Games without any training. In a race you would be in last place, far, far behind everyone else. In boxing, you would be so poor that you kept hitting the air instead of your opponent. Your opponent would quickly figure out you were terrible, and he might make fun of you by taunting you. Eventually he would get bored and just knock you out. Imagine the audience. People would laugh at you. They might start booing. You would be an embarrassment to yourself and to the town you came from.  

What is Paul saying here? He is comparing the poorly trained athlete to a Christian with no self-discipline, no real seriousness about his relationship with Christ, no real knowledge about Christ, no real faith to help him in times of trouble; in short, if you forgive the made-up term, a “Chrino”, a Christian-in-name-only. Unfortunately, “Chrinos” are very common in our society.

Paul is also making a distinction between “saying” and “doing.” He is warning against hypocrisy. Don’t tell others what to do and not do those things yourself. Be hard on yourself. In Paul’s boxing analogy, where does the punch land? Not on another person, but on Paul’s own body! Paul is his own opponent!

We need to remember this. One of your greatest opponents to your really living for Christ is … you. You are your enemy. You must be defeated. Other passages that talk about our flesh are saying the same thing, just with a slightly different analogy.

It’s not that our salvation is at risk, this is not what we are talking about. Paul says he does not want to be disqualified. The Greek here allows for many shades of meaning; the same words can also mean simply not pleasing to God. I have seen some use this verse as a proof-text that we can lose our salvation, but that is simply forcing one specific meaning onto a phrase that is much more general. I do like the word “disqualified” that the NIV uses here, because it fits the sports analogy. During the Olympic racing events, there were multiple times during the trials when people were disqualified. Some were disqualified in sprints for leaving the starting block too early; at the Olympics, unlike many other races, you don’t get a second chance. If you do this, you are out. Others were disqualified for just barely crossing the boundary lines for one’s lane or for the whole track. The US men’s sprint relay team has been disqualified repeatedly in recent Olympics; this year it was for a runner starting his run outside the acceptable region over which the handoff should occur. Frankly, these types of disqualifications are embarrassing, especially for the US men. Individually, these men are world-class runners. They could quit any time and coach anywhere in the world. So it is shocking when they repeatedly make these kinds of mistakes, the kinds of mistakes high school teams make, but should never happen at the Olympics. This is exactly the kind of embarrassment Paul is driving at.

Paul expands on this in the following verses:

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. – I Cor. 10:1-5

When Paul says they were all under the cloud, and they all passed through the sea, the point is that they were firsthand witnesses of God’s miracles. They were all experiencing God personally. They had it great! They were miraculously provided manna and water, even water from a rock.

As a brief side note, Paul says that rock from which the water came was Christ. Jesus later says that from Him living water flows, unlike that past water which after you drank it a little while you were thirsty again, the living water flowing out from Jesus could satisfy you eternally. I think the symbolism goes even deeper than that in how when Moses struck the rock out of anger to get the water to flow, his punishment was that he could not enter the Promised Land. I have sometimes heard people ask about this part of Scripture, as they say it seems like a harsh penalty, but on the one hand it points to God’s holiness and to God’s expectations for Moses given all he had personally experienced from God. Maybe, a second explanation is that this was also a symbolic foreshadowing of the extreme penalty of forsaking and striking the Rock from whom the living water flows.

Back to the bigger context, Paul’s point here is that all the Israelites (that word “all” is used again and again in this passage) were incredibly blessed to see God, to see Him work, to experience His saving protection, but they were followers in name only. The accounts of the Israelites are hard to read because their actions are so repeatedly cringe-worthy. And the consequence for them was terrible – they did not get to go to the Promised Land at all, but instead died over a period of 40 years in the desert.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. – I Cor. 10:6-10

Paul points out that we should use the misadventures of the Israelites as a kind of mirror; indeed we should use all of the historical accounts in Scripture in this way, looking at ourselves and asking, “Am I doing the same thing?” This is part of what it means to train so as to win the prize.

There are four specific things Paul warns us to look for in our own lives here. The first is idolatry, setting other gods before the one true God. What does idolatry look like for us? It includes many things, but most dangerous are the things people worship that they call God. The Israelites did this. When they made the calf out of gold while Moses was seemingly slow in returning from the mountain, they called it Elohim, God. They told Aaron, “Make us Elohim!” Today people might not be as blatant about it, but it is still the same effect. If you take your hope and place it other than in God, you are participating in idolatry. You can do this with your money, with your job and career, with politics, with science, even with your family, and even with the Clemson football team. None of these things in themselves are bad – but if they become your hope, you have taken God off the throne of your heart and put these things there, and that is idolatry. Ezekiel 14:3 speaks specifically of idolatry in your heart. It says, “Son of Man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of Me at all?”

Second is sexual immorality. I think it is fairly obvious what is entailed here, and we have discussed this in recent past messages on I Corinthians, but I will point out that this includes not only actions, but, as with idolatry, what goes on in your heart. The Sermon on the Mount makes it clear we are judged by both our thoughts and our actions in this area.

Third is testing God. What does this mean? It means to sin to such an extent as to provoke God to respond with punishment. The challenge of this is that we can’t possibly know what going “too far” is. All sin is displeasing to God, but sometimes, it is so bad that God responds with immediate and severe actions. In this passage, the “snakes” refers to Numbers 21, and going too far refers to what the Israelites said. From verse 4-6, “But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’ Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.” Another example that uses the same wording involves Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. If you recall, they sold some property and pretended to give all of the proceeds to the early church, when in fact they held back some of the money for themselves. This sin moved God to act by taking both their lives. Again, it is hard for us to know what might cause God to move in this way at one time and not another. There was something in what both the Israelites and Ananias and Sapphira did that was so brazen, so offensive to God, that He took immediate action. God of course looks not only at the action, but at the heart, and so there was something there that we can’t really see that provoked Him to act. But testing God to see just what you can get away with is, well, even more dangerous than provoking deadly snakes. I think it is no coincidence that snakes is exactly what the Lord sent to punish the Israelites.

And fourth is grumbling. You could argue that the “snakes” episode was also related to grumbling. Is grumbling really such a big deal? Yes, when it is against God. John MacArthur defines grumbling as failure to be satisfied with God’s will for your life. I think that is a good definition. What is the opposite of grumbling? Contentment. I think of what Paul says about being content in Phil. 4:11-13: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” I have long thought this passage is especially profound because it points out that it is not only people in need who struggle with contentment. Some of the most discontent people I have ever met have been rich. 

I confess that I have grumbled this week. I have been dealing with a crazy workload at work. While preparing for this message, it struck me that I was blaming my situation for putting me in a foul mood, a state of mind far from God, but that really isn’t correct. Paul’s whole point about his contentment is that it is not affected by his circumstances. And Paul definitely has had tougher circumstances most of his life than I ever have experienced. So what is the secret to being content despite the circumstances? Well, based on my past week, I am probably not the best person to answer this, but fortunately the passage tells us: Through Him who gives us strength. The secret to doing this is the secret to doing anything hard in the Christian life. We do it through Christ. I think the challenge in the area of contentment, which is also a challenge in many other areas of our lives, is that we are unaware of what we are doing, unaware of how we are thinking, unaware of how we are behaving.

For me, this brings it all back to the beginning of today’s passage. Run the race. As the saying goes, be in it to win it. Train like an Olympian!

Let’s continue with the passage. I am sure that you have heard the final verse many, many times, but let’s look at it freshly.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. – I Cor. 10:11-13

I challenge you to think of temptation in a broader sense than you have thought of it previously. Yes, it includes temptations to blatantly sin in areas that we know are forbidden by God. But it also includes the temptation to set up idols in your own heart, idols of things that even could be good things. It includes the temptation to grumble, to be discontent. It includes the temptation to withhold forgiveness, to be untruthful, to lose your temper, to bend an ethical rule, etc., etc., etc. There are countless temptations in this world, and they constantly pop up on us like hurdles in a race. Well, in some ways that is exactly what they are – hurdles. And if you don’t jump, you will trip and fall, or you will, as Paul says, be disqualified from the race.

I want to relate two examples from the Olympics that really encouraged me. The first involved Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, running in the Women’s 400 Meters finals. Shaunae came from behind by literally throwing herself over the finish line to just beat out her competitors. She later said, “I just tried to give all I had. I didn’t have more to give.” She doesn’t recall consciously thinking to dive. She said it just happened, and the next thing she knew, she had won. Her victory did not come without a cost. She tore up her knees sliding across the polyurethane track. No internal damage, but certainly plenty of pain, some blood, and possibly some scarring. But she literally struck a blow to her body, making it her slave, so she could win. Because I took a big fall 4 weeks ago that tore up my leg and knee quite impressively, and because the memory of enduring all the pain that ensued is quite fresh in my mind, I can really appreciate the sacrifice to herself that she made. To me she exemplifies the spirit of this passage. I remember reading some of the comments on an article that came out shortly after her win. Multiple people were upset, saying that it didn’t seem fair, or that they should change the rules to prohibit such actions. It kind of reminds me of people who say that one should never be too radical, too extreme in living out one’s faith, that Christianity is great, as long as you don’t go off the deep end with it. (Of course, probably many of the people who say these things are “Chrinos.”)

The second example you have almost certainly heard about on the news – distance runners Abbey D’Agostino of the US and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand collided in the women’s 5000 meter event. Abbey got up first but saw that Nikki was struggling, and without thinking about the cost to her own race, Abbey paused to help Nikki up. Nikki was later quoted as saying, “I went down, and I was like, ‘What’s happening? Why am I on the ground?’ Then suddenly, there’s this hand on my shoulder, [and someone saying] ‘Get up, get up, we have to finish this.’ And I’m like, ‘Yup, yup, you’re right. This is the Olympic Games. We have to finish this. I’m so grateful for Abbey for doing that for me. That girl is the Olympic spirit right there. I’ve never met her before. I’ve never met this girl before, and isn’t that just so amazing? Regardless of the race and the result on the board, that’s a moment that you’re never, ever going to forget for the rest of your life.”

I find that a perfect picture of both Paul’s call to run the race to win it and of my opening question, “What sacrificial or hard thing are you doing personally for the gospel?” Here we see a real-life parable of giving up one’s own race in order to run Jesus’ race. One answer we should all give to the question “What sacrificial or hard thing are you doing personally for the gospel?” is “Running Jesus’ race so as to win it!” If you remember just one thing from today’s message, it is what I am about to say: God wants us to be shining lights, shining examples of His transformative power. The gospel isn’t just what we say, it’s also who we are.

Running Jesus’ race so as to win it means working hand in hand with God to identify the hurdles in our lives, and by His power, jumping over them. He promises a way out, but that way out is only through Him. There is no way out in your own strength. If you feel like you are being tempted beyond what you can bear, it is because you are trying to bear it alone. In Him, you will have the strength and the courage to live for Him, to serve Him wholeheartedly and even, to die to self for Him so that the new life He has placed in you can shine brightly and draw many to Him.

Finally, nobody trains without a coach! Jesus is our coach! He wants to be there with us, literally every step of the way. He wants to cheer us on, not from the sidelines, but as a fellow runner, because He asks nothing of us that He has not already done. If we fall, he will be there with his hand on our shoulder saying, “Get up! Get up! We have to finish this!” If we need help, He will support us. If we cannot even walk, He will carry us. He will help us minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, and year after year. He is the best coach in the universe. With Him as our Coach, our Friend, our Shepherd, and our Savior, we cannot fail.