Running to Win
Text: 1 Cor. 9:24-27
Introduction
1. Illustration: Two gas company service men, a senior training Supervisor and a young trainee were out checking meters and parked their truck at the end of the alley and worked there way to the other end. At the last house a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two
men as they checked her gas meter. As they finished the meter check the older supervisor challenged his younger co-worker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck.
As they came running up to the truck, they realized that the lady from the last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong. Gasping for breath she said, "When I see two gas men running full speed away from my house, I figured I had better run too."
2. We run lots of races in life.
a. We race to accomplish our goals in life.
b. We race to get our work done.
c. We race to get our Christmas shopping done.
d. We race to be the first to the Supper table.
3. In the race of faith we have to:
a. Run to win
b. Run with discipline
c. Run with certainty
4. Read 1 Cor. 9:24-27
Proposition: Our journey of faith is a race, and we must run that race to win.
Transition: Paul says that we should...
I. Run the Race to Win (24)
A. Run In Such a Way
1. Paul compared our journey of faith to an Olympic race.
a. The Olympics were already operating in Paul’s time.
b. Second in popularity only to the Olympic games, the Isthmian games were celebrated every two years at Corinth.
c. Athletes would come from all over Greece, and the winners of the games were accorded the highest honor. —Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary
2. To get into the games, and especially to emerge as victors, required that athletes practice strict self-control.
a. Typically, for ten months prior to the games, the athletes-in-training denied themselves many ordinary pleasures.
b. Each put forth his greatest effort during the contest, setting aside all else in order to win the prize.
3. In referring to that race of faith Paul said, "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."
a. In the athletic contest, every runner enters the race for one purpose only: to win.
b. However, only one receives the prize; there is only one winner.
c. The believer enters the Christian race for one purpose only: to win.
4. Therefore, he strains in running to obtain the prize. Nothing is acceptable except running and running hard:
a. Walking fast is unacceptable.
b. Jogging is unacceptable.
c. Lagging behind is unacceptable.
d. Showing little concern for the finish line is unacceptable.
5. The point is this: as Christians, we must run the race of faith as diligently as the runner at the Olympic Games.
a. The believer must put out the same kind of vigorous effort in order to reach the finish line.
b. He must be vigorous and diligent; he must persist in the Christian race.
B. Determination
1. Illustration: Recently I read a fable about a dog who loved to chase other animals. He bragged about his great running skill and said he could catch anything. Well, it wasn’t long until his boastful claims were put to the test by a certain rabbit. With ease the little creature outran his barking pursuer. The other animals, watching with glee, began to laugh. The dog excused himself, however, by saying, "You forget, I was only running for fun. He was running for his life!" That does make a difference! Motivation is the most important factor in everything we do.
2. Col. 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything (NASB).
3. Like that rabbit, we are running the race of faith for our lives - our eternal lives.
4. Our motivation is not just to be in the race, but our motivation is to win the race.
5. The only way to win the race is to put Christ first in our lives.
a. We must surrender our wants and desires.
b. We must surrender our thoughts and plans for His thoughts and plans.
c. We must surrender our time and make it His time.
d. We must run the race to win.
Transition: In order to win the race we must...
II. Run the Race With Discipline (25)
A. Strict Training
1. Paul says "And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things."
2. Every runner and boxer is highly disciplined in body, mind, thought, spirit, exercise, workouts, and contests. He is disciplined...
a. In body: what he eats and how much he eats.
b. In mind and thought: his concentration on the goal and how to best gear his body, spirit, and mind to that end.
c. In spirit: in keeping his spirit strong and motivated for the strain necessary to work out day by day and to reach his goal.
3. The believer is to do no less. He must be just as disciplined as the athlete.
a. The word "competes" or "striveth" in the KJV means agony.
b. He disciplines himself to the point of pain.
c. It requires doing things that may not be pleasant at the time, but they are beneficial later.
4. And note: the discipline covers "all things."
a. It covers his body, mind, and spirit, the place where God’s presence actually dwells.
b. Therefore, he does not allow anything to touch or enter his body that is corrupt, impure, polluted, or that will cause a more rapid deterioration of the temple.
5. Paul reminds that what we are striving over has lasting value when he says "Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown."
a. The runners in an athletic contest run to obtain a passing fame and a corruptible crown or trophy.
b. The athletes in Paul’s day ran for a crown or wreath of olive or pine leaves.
c. Their fame and crown were the same as with our athletes: they both passed ever so quickly.
6. However, the crown and fame of the genuine Christian runner will never pass away.
a. His crown and fame are incorruptible.
b. He shall live and be rewarded with an eternal fame and with the most real and valued crowns imaginable.
B. Spiritual Discipline
1. Illustration: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work The Cost of Discipleship, rightly observed, "We have to practice strictest daily discipline; only so can the flesh learn the painful lesson that it has no rights of its own."
2. 1 Tim. 4:7-8 exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
3. Just as an athlete has to discipline his body through physical training, so we have discipline our spirits through spiritual training.
4. We train our bodies through:
a. Running
b. Lifting
c. Jumping
5. We train our spirits through:
a. Praying
b. Reading and studying the word
c. Fasting
d. Meditating
Transition: If we are going to win the race, we to train our spirits through spiritual discipline. Furthermore, we have to...
III. Run the Race With Certainty (26-27)
A. Not With Uncertainty
1. Notice what Paul says in verse 26: "Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty."
a. Effort is necessary, effort that sacrifices and strains to the point of hurting.
b. But note: he is just like the runner. He runs with certainty and without distraction.
c. He knows where the track is; he knows where the lines on the track are, and where the finish line is.
d. He is not uncertain.
2. Then Paul uses the example of a boxer: "Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air."
a. He knows where the ring is, and he knows his opponent.
b. Therefore, he does not beat the air as a boxer who misses his target.
c. He is not just swinging wildly, hoping to hit the mark. He does not walk out of the ring in the middle of the fight; he stays in and fights.
d. He does not glance away; he keeps his eyes on the target.
e. He knows the mark and the target, so his punches are planned, deliberate, controlled, and accurate.
3. The Christian knows he is in a spiritual warfare; therefore, he is fighting to conquer and to win the incorruptible prize.
4. However, we cannot miss what Paul said next: "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
a. Paul was concerned that his life measure up to his preaching.
b. He feared that he might fail to live what he preached. This is what he means by being disqualified.
5. Paul knew the utter necessity to live what he preached. He knew that the Lord would not tolerate hypocrisy.
a. Paul knew that the Lord just would not allow false profession from His people.
b. The word "disqualified" or "castaway" in the KJV means rejected, disqualified, disapproved, unfit, failing to stand the test. —Practical Word Studies in the New Testament
c. He knew, even after all he had done, if he did not finish well he could still be disqualified.
B. Determination
1. Illustration: Bull Simon said, "History teaches that when we lose the will to fight those who have the determination to fight on will always win."
2. In running the race of faith we have to show determination to win the race.
3. In running the race we have to be determined to finish at the top.
4. In running the we have to be determined to fight the good fight.
5. In running the race we have to be determined to hear "well done good and faithful servant.
Transition: Let us be determined to not give up, not slow down, or get distracted. Let us run to win!
Conclusion
1. How are you running?
a. Are you running to win?
b. Are you running with discipline?
c. Are you running with certainty?
2. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to win?
