Preached July 19, 2009
from
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Theme: We are to live the Christian life with all the earnestness of an athlete in a race.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

The apostle Paul wanted to teach something very important to the Christians living in the ancient city of Corinth. And since he wanted spiritual truth to sink deeply into their hearts, he chose to speak to them in terms that would readily capture their interest.

It just so happened that the Corinthians were great lovers of sports. Every two to three years, the city of Corinth would host the Isthmian Games—an event that was second only to the Olympic Games in importance. The Corinthians were very proud of this great athletic festival; and so, Paul used the analogy of the games to communicate what he wanted to say to the Corinthian Christians.

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, he writes;

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 (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

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Now; this passage describes one of the greatest needs we have in the church today—and that is for an attitude of earnestness in our commitment to live the Christian life in the power of the Holy Spirit. It calls each one of us, who have trusted Jesus, to make it our goal live for Him in the midst this world with the same sort of serious determination that a world-class athlete would exhibit in running a race.

Sadly, words like “seriousness” or “commitment” or “determination” rarely describe the way most professing Christians live out their faith. Far too many of us in the church live less like runners in a game, and more like spectators in the stands—content to cheer the truly ‘committed’ ones as they run, but then go back to life as usual when we’re through watching.

And it’s not for lack of information that this happens. Every one of us who follows Jesus Christ has a God-breathed Book that tells us everything we need to know to run the race. As Paul says elsewhere; “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Nor is it for lack of power. Left to ourselves, of course, none of us could never live the sort of life in this world that transforms people for Christ. But as believers in Jesus, we aren’t left to our own power in running the race of faith. God the Father has sealed us with the Holy Spirit; and because of His indwelling ministry, we are able to say, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us . . .” (Ephesians 3:20).

It’s not even for a lack of a good example. We have the testimonies of six-thousand years of faithful saints who have sacrificially run the race ahead of us. And what’s more, we have the greatest example of them all to inspire us. As the writer of Hebrews says; “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, 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” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

So; with all these remarkable things going for the church today, why is it that we as believers are having such a comparatively weak impact on the culture around us? I suggest that the missing ingredient is an attitude of “earnestness” in our walk. As individual Christians, we lack an attitude of fervent seriousness about our Christian faith, and don’t respond to the call to follow Christ with the same sort of whole-hearted, sacrificial devotion that it truly deserves.

We need to be gripped by the sort of disciplined zeal, in living for Christ, that characterizes an athlete in the games. And its that sort of “earnestness” that God, through this morning’s passage, is calling us to.

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Now; it would be very easy to misunderstand or misapply this passage. We need to take the time to stress what it is that Paul is talking about in it. And we probably need to begin by stressing what he’s not talking about.

First of all, he is not talking about earning our salvation. The “race” is not an analogy for good deeds according to the law; and “obtaining the prize” is not an analogy for earning eternal life. To think this would be to make this passage contradict the rest of the Bible’s clear teaching about salvation.

Scripture teaches us that no one will ever earn eternal life by their good works—no matter how “earnestly” he or she does them; “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, . . . for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16). As Paul writes elsewhere, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Nor is Paul talking about Christians competing against one another for a position of superiority in the church He isn’t saying that every Christian “runs” in the race of the Christian life; but that you and I ought to make it our personal ambition to rise head-and-shoulders above the rest. Actually, the Bible teaches us to do the exact opposite. As Paul says in Philippians 2:3-4; “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

So then; what was Paul seeking to do in this passage? He was addressing a specific problem in the Corinthian church; and it had to do with eating meat that had been offered to idols.

The Christians of Corinth lived in the midst of a very pagan culture—one that was given over to all sorts of immorality and idolatry. The city was filled with temples built to honor pagan deities; and the meat that had been offered to idols in those temples was then sold to the general public in temple markets. Some Christians had the spiritual awareness that there is no god but the one true God; and that the meat that had been offered to an idol had, in reality, been offered to nothing. It was perfectly harmless for a Christian to eat such meat; and so, the more ‘mature’ among them felt at liberty to go to the temple market, buy it, take it home, and enjoy it.

But other Christians, who were not so mature in their understanding, had a real problem with the idea of eating meat that had been offered to idols. They had, at one time, worshiped in those pagan temples; and they felt that to eat such meat was to backslide into worshiping the false gods that it had been offered to. And what was happening in the church was that the Christians who felt at liberty to eat were not being sensitive to those who did not. Their liberty to eat was exercised to the harm of the Christians who consciences wouldn’t allow them to do so.

In Chapter 8, Paul explained why it was unloving for one Christian to harm a brother or sister in this way. And in Chapter 9, Paul himself sets the example. He shows how he had made a practice of setting his own liberties and rights in Christ aside when doing so would advance the greater cause of the gospel in the lives of others.

Paul, you might say, was being like an earnest, self-disciplined, self-denying “athlete” in the “race” of the Christian life. He told the Corinthians that he did what he did “for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you” (1 Corinthians 9:23). He was willing to set aside his own preferences, or his own legitimate rights, or his own freedoms and liberties in Christ, in order to pursue a higher goal of advancing the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the lives of others around him.

It’s that sort of “earnestness” that is lacking in many of us in our expression of the Christian life. We forget that we’re in a race—and the race requires constant, continual, self-sacrificing, self-denying, disciplined earnestness on our part.

And that’s why this passage is so important. It gives us something we desperately need today. It gives us the reminder that we are to live the Christian life with all the earnestness of an athlete in a race.

Let’s look again at this passage and see what it has to teach us about running the race of the faith.

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First, notice that it reminds us of . . .

1. OUR MOTIVE FOR RUNNING (v. 24).

Paul writes, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?” (v. 24a). And of course, who would have known this better than the Corinthians?

They would have been the first to tell you that no one ran in the games unless they were absolutely committed to the idea of obtaining the prize. No one ever ran with the intention of just winning second or third place. No one was satisfied with just being entered in the race—whether they won or not. As far as each runner entered into the game was concerned, “receiving the prize” was the only goal in mind. It was everything.

Now; when Paul brings this to bear on the Christian life, he isn’t meaning for us to understand that only one runner in the Christian “race” will win, and that every other Christian who comes in later will be losers. Rather, his focus is on the earnestness that drives each individual Christian forward in the walk with Christ. He means for each of us who are in the Christian race to understand that we are to personally, individually run with the same motive as the athlete who had been entered into the Isthmian Games would have run—that is, to win! We’re not to run in a half-hearted, uncommitted, take-it-or-leave-it manner. “Run,” he says, “in such a way that you may obtain” (v. 24b).

I really can’t think of anything greater to have happen at the finish-line of the Christian life than to hear the Lord Jesus—the great Author and Finisher of our faith—say, “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” (Matthew 25:21, 23). The greatest day of our lives will be that glorious day when we behold Jesus and enter into His own joy over our faithfulness. To be in His eternal pleasure on that day will be worth whatever it may have cost us of the temporal pleasures of this world. That was certainly Paul’s attitude. He wrote, “Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).

That, I believe, will be the great “prize”—to hear our Lord’s “Well done!” What a great motivation! So, let’s pay attention to the motive which drives us to run this race. Let’s not be half-hearted about it. Let’s not lope along the track. Let’s be earnest about it. Let’s run in such a way as to obtain!

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Second, notice that this passage also describes . . .

2. OUR MANNER IN RUNNING (v. 25).

Paul goes on to speak of the manner in which we are to run when he says, “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” (v. 25).

In the Isthmian Games, the “crown” was a wreath of celery, or in some cases sprigs of pine. It was often set on a pillar that was in plain view of the athletes—sometimes even placed at the end of the race track. Paul spoke of it as a “perishable crown”; and indeed, it was very perishable! The winner of the race could enjoy it only for a short while before it began to wilt. Sometimes, it even began to wilt while still displayed on the pillar. And of course, it wasn’t for the mere “wreath” that the runner ran. It was for the great honor it represented.

But even that honor itself would—in time—begin to fade. People would forget the great athletic feat that it took to win the crown Nevertheless, the athlete would give everything he had to prepare for the race so that he would obtain that perishable crown—and the honor it represented. He would become “temperate” in all things. He would practice self-control; and would abstain from anything that might slow him down in the race. He would go into strict, disciplined training. He would carefully control himself in terms of what he would or would not eat. He would deny himself the pleasures and comforts that other people freely enjoy.

They went through all this effort, and suffering, and training, and self-denial—all in order to obtain a perishable crown. But Paul spoke of a crown we will receive from Christ that is “imperishable”. It—unlike even the greatest crown bestowed at the Isthmian Games—will be eternal. It will be, as Peter called it, “the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:4). How much more, then, should we be willing to put forth effort, and suffer, and train, and deny ourselves in order to obtain that which is eternal!

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Now; I said earlier that obtaining this “prize”—this glorious “crown”—is not a matter of earning eternal life. So then; what is it? Certainly, as I have suggested, it is the eternal joy of hearing our Lord great us at the end of the race and say, “Well done!” Certainly, it is the eternal joy of entering into the inheritance that our Lord Jesus has purchased for us—”an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away” (1 Peter 1:4).

But do you know what excited the apostle Paul? It was the thought that the people he loved and could influence for Christ would themselves one day stand before Him and join in that inheritance too. For Paul, seeing other people in heavenly glory before Christ—hearing Him say “Well done!” to them—was the “crown”. The apostle Paul told the Thessalonian believers, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).

And that’s what drove him to run the race in the manner that he did. That prospect was what led him to be “temperate in all things”—to even be willing to set his legitimate Christian liberties aside—if it would advance the cause of Christ in others that were called into the race.

Let’s—like Paul—bring an athlete’s discipline into the manner with which we live our Christian lives. Let’s be “temperate in all things” for the sake of an “imperishable crown”. Let’s be ready and willing to deny ourselves some of our legitimate liberties in Christ in order to earnestly advance His kingdom in the lives of others.

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So then; there’s the motive for running the race of the Christian life—that is, to run in order to obtain. There’s also our manner in running it—that is, being temperate or self-controlled in all things in order to win an imperishable crown.

And now; notice last of all . . .

3. OUR MODEL OF RUNNING (vv. 26-27).

Paul himself is our great example of earnestness. He wrote, “Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air” (v. 26).

Imagine a row of runners in position for a race. Imagine the firing gun going off, and picture them running with all their might—but in all different directions. Imagine some running to the left, others to the right, and some in a circle. They were all “running”; but they were uncertain of their direction. None of them would win the prize. And that’s no way to live the Christian life either. Paul, by contrast, lived the Christian life carefully. He used the same sort of attention to himself and his actions that a world class runner would use in competing in the games. He knew where he was going, and what it took to get there. He did not run “with uncertainty”.

Similarly, imagine boxers in a boxing ring. Imagine the bell going off, and picture the two boxers dancing, bobbing and weaving, throwing powerful punches—but while in their own corners of the ring. They’d be “boxing”; but none of the punches would connect. The “fight” would go on for round after round, until it was called a draw! Paul wasn’t like that either. Paul lived the Christian life with the same sort of earnestness that would characterize a prize-fighter. He made every punch count. He wasn’t like a boxer who just “beats the air”.

Now; all this didn’t come natural to Paul. He had to work at it just as we do. He said, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (v. 27).

Paul had the potential—just as we do—of stumbling. He could have fallen out of the race through sin, or through neglect, or through distraction, or through quitting when the going got tough. But he didn’t let that happen. He didn’t want to have the grievous experience that some have had—preaching to others that they should run the race, only to become disqualified and set on the side-lines himself. The prize was too great; and he was in the race to win. And so, he disciplined himself. He buffeted his own body and made it his slave. He told it what to do; so that the race would be run with certainty, and so that each punch in the fight would count.

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Let me close with a testimony from Paul’s own lips about his discipline in the race.

In Acts 20, the apostle was on his way, in the midst of his missionary activities, to Jerusalem. He had been warned more than once that what awaited him in Jerusalem was persecution. But he knew, nevertheless, that the Lord wanted him to go. And since he was in the race to win; and since he made himself the slave of the Lord rather than of his own passions and comforts; none of those threats of persecution or suffering concerned him.

In a farewell address to a group of pastors—just before he went to Jerusalem—he said this:

“You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself . . .” (Acts 20:18b-24a)

What resolve! What discipline of self! And what was the reason for it? He said,

“. . . so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (v. 24b).

Dear brothers and sisters; you and I are in that race too. So then; let’s live the Christian life with all the earnestness of a world-class athlete. Let’s run it in such a way as to obtain! Let’s be temperate in all things so that we may win an imperishable crown! Let’s run with certainty, and fight with purpose. Let’s discipline our own bodies and bring them into subjection.

And like Paul, let’s do all this, so that we may finish the race with joy, and hear the Lord’s “Well done!” at the completion of the ministry we have received from Him!