Church in the City – 1st Corinthians 9
Run to Get the Prize
October 6, 2024
Paul was using a race metaphor the people of Corinth would immediately understand.
Corinth was the home of the Isthmian Games – the city was full of athletes who were training.
1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV
“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.
Dare to Run
“Run” is present tense.
Paul is talking about an active engagement.
Why do people stay on the sidelines?
1. Fear of failure
2. Fear of criticism
Show Photo of Teddy Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Teddy Roosevelt
We must be first find the courage to be average before we find the courage to be great.
1st Corinthians 9:25a NIV
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
Train every day.
Athletes competing in the Isthmian Games were required to train at least 10 months while living in tents.
Because so many tents were needed, Paul got to know a lot of these athletes well since he built tents for a living.
Training involves discipline. Most championships are won during the offseason!
We spend most of our time waiting for the “Sovereign Surprise” when God is waiting on our “Daily Disciplines.”
Disciplined people are always asking two questions:
1. What am I doing right now that I should stop doing?
2. What am I not doing right now that I should start doing?
1st Corinthians 9:25b-27 NIV
They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Win the Prize
We’re all running and we’re all busy, but are we running toward the right thing?
Most of us need to redefine the prize we’re pursuing.
Was Paul thinking about heaven in the distant future? Probably
Was Paul also thinking about a prize he could have right now? Yes!
Philippians 3:7-8, 13-14 NIV
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.”13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
The prize is knowing Christ and being known by Christ. Right now!!
There is a race.
There is training.
There is a prize.
