GOING FOR THE GOLD
TEXT: I CORINTHIANS 9:22-10:13
INTRODUCTION
Paul in The 7th chapter of I Corinthians begins to address the specific questions that the church in Corinth had asked him, via the letter that was sent to him while he was in Ephesus, This section opens up with the phrase, "Now for the matters you wrote about", And then Paul begins to answer their questions. In Chapter 7 which we studied in great detail on Wednesday, Paul deals with, the questions and misunderstandings, that the church had in regards to such topics as; sexual intimacy in marriage, remarriage, divorce and being single.
And in chapter 8 the Apostle Paul begins an extensive discussion on Christian freedom, Paul talks about how we must not use our freedom in Christ in such a way, that it causes a weaker brother to stumble. Paul’s teaching on this issue extends all the way through chapter 10.
The text that we will be studying today, sits right in the middle of this teaching on Christian Freedom, and it is like a priceless sparkling diamond, on a ring of solid Gold.
[I Corinthians 9:22-10:13]
Paul in this text talks about four fundamental truths that we must understand AND apply to our lives if we are going to be successful in our pursuit of Gold.
I. If we are going to have an opportunity to win the gold WE MUST 1st RUN THE RACE
Before we can run the race their are 2 important questions that we need to answer. The first question is:
A. What exactly is the race? What does Paul mean by this term.
When Paul used the metaphor of a race it was something that the Corinthians could really relate to. You see On the coast of the city every 2 years the Isthmian Games were held. These games were very popular and were second in importance only to the Olympics. So as the Corinthians heard this term immediately pictures of exciting races, cheering crowds and training athletes flash through their minds. Paul used this imagery to get the readers in Corinth and to get Christians today, for that matter, to start thinking about the elements of a physical race, so that he could teach them about the much more important spiritual race.
The race that Paul is talking about, is in general terms the Race of the Christian Life. It is the race of being faithful to Christ until our death. It was the race in which Paul himself was an avid runner, on a track that had many turns and up hill climbs. And as Paul was on his final up hill climb he penned his last letter, a letter to his faithful companion Timothy, Paul wrote the letter from a Roman prison, because his faithful service to Christ had put him in chains. Paul wrote these words to Timothy as he sat in the damp, dark and cold walls of a prison cell waiting for the footsteps that would soon take him to his death at edge of an executioners axe, "The time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. (II Tim. 4:6,7).
The race that we are to run in general terms is to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ to the end, to remain faithful unto death.
But Paul also has, a specific aspect of the Christian life in mind, when he talks about the race in I Corinthians. And once again, it is the context that makes this meaning clear.
Paul in the verses preceding our text beginning in the 8th chapter tells us how, he will not let his freedom in Christ to eat any meat, cause a brother to stumble and thereby hinder the spread of the Gospel. Paul says in verse 12 of the 9th chapter that he has given up many of his rights as an apostle, he says of himself and the Apostles that "we put up with anything rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ". He goes on to say in verse 19, "Though I am free and belong to no man I make myself a slave to everyone , to win as many as possible." And he says in verse 22 of our text that, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some".
Paul’s main concern as he ran his race was to fulfill the mission of Christ, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And Paul would willingly sacrifice his rights and freedoms so that the Gospel message would not be hindered. Paul was in race to take the Gospel message to the lost and nothing of or in this world was going to stop him.
So the race is, being faithful in the Christian life to the end, and Paul is specifically referring to the race of spreading the torch of the Gospel message throughout the dark lost world.
Let me say that spreading the good news does not necessarily mean that you sit down with a person and take from being lost to being ready to accept Christ and be baptized in one sitting. Your sharing Christ and spreading the Gospel can take place at any point along the process.
When we speak a good word for Christ we are spreading the Gospel, When we stand up for Christian values we are spreading the Gospel, When you share your faith in God you are spreading the Gospel, and we also so help to spread the Gospel by not hindering the Gospel and our witness, by the things we say and do AND the places we go (we give up our rights so we do not hinder the Gospel.
B. So that’s the race, NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW TO RUN IT.
[ILLUST] They wake up in the dark, while most everyone else is still sleeping. When other people’s alarm clocks start ringing, they are already working at the gym. Their concentration is total, even at this early hour. Over and over, they twist and turn their bodies, making sure that each muscle knows exactly what to do. After practicing hundreds of moves, they might head off for a few hours at school, then it’s back to the gym for an afternoon into evening session. Every day except Sunday they put in 5 full hours until 9pm. They run and do conditioning exercises for about an 1/2 hour, then some stretches and basic skills work. Finally they work on their various apparatus rotations, three a day for 70 minutes each. They’re home by 9;45 at the latest, in time for a snack and some studying. Then, it’s bedtime. The next day it starts all over again.
And that’s the off season.
To prepare for an important competition, such world class gymnasts as Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller spend even more hours each day perfecting every detail of their performance. For teenage girls, the sacrifices are obvious. Zmeskal had to leave her Houston school in 1989, now she keeps up with classes through the mail. She has a strict low fat, no sweet diet and can’t remember the last time she tasted ice cream. Frozen yogurt is permitted on special occasions. She is a prisoner of her regimen. "Sometimes", she says, "family get-to-gethers happen without me".
1) Christians are runners in a race, when we accepted Christ we automatically became a contestant in the games, and we therefore need to go into strict training. (let’s keep in mind the strong dedication of athletes to their race as we ask ourselves some questions).
a. How much time do we spend sweating and straining studying the Word of God?
b. How often do we work out at our home and are we taking advantage of the training sessions in our gym (the church)? And are we spending time in one on one instruction with our coach?
c. Are we on a strict diet, high in Christ and low in the things of the world?
d. Are we constant in our workouts or does inconsistency mark our path.
e. And like an Olympic runner, Is all of our heart and energy into our race? Is it what’s most important to us? Is it the focal point of our entire life. We must go into strict training.
2) We also need to run with direction, we need to keep our goal in sight. [26]
3) And We need to have self-control. [27]
An athlete must have control over his or her body. Their bodies will not always want to get up and do the workouts, they may not always want to eat the right foods, BUT they must have self control. Paul realized that for him to run the race that he would have to control his body. He would have to knock it out, and then put a ball and chain on it so it would no longer hinder him in his race. Paul knew his body (his fleshly nature) would get tired and would try to tell him to quit, to slow down, to take a rest, and knew also that his body would want to do things and go places that would hinder him as he ran the race. Therefore, "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us".
we must run the race --- we must live the Christian life to the end --- and we must carry the gospel torch.
II. TO HELP US DO THIS, WE MUST KEEP OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
A. I’m sure that when an Olympic athlete gets tired when he feels he has to quit. when he thinks he has had enough all he has to do is visualize that gold metal and then somehow he is able to find the strength to go on. In the 1st century the prize was a crown made of pine leaves.
In Paul’s day and in our day thousands of athletes spend years training and sacrificing so that they could wear a crown or wear a metal, that will not last. The flame will go out, the games will be over, the cheering crowds will go home, and few will be remembered and the wreath will fade away to dust.
B. Can you believe the effort they put into for only a chance, of receiving a crown that will not last? Can you believe the efforts that many of us put into training for some sport, to achieve a small piece of fading glory? To receive a crown that will not last.
C. Friends we in the church of Jesus Christ, are not in a race to win a crown that will fade away, The crown we run for is everlasting, it’s a crown of life, eternal life. The prize is salvation, and an eternity praising our God and King in heaven.
D. That is what our brother Paul focused on and that is how he stayed on the track as endure great hardships. That’s how he finished his race, while being beaten with rods 3 times, flogged over 5 times, being stoned, persecuted by enemies and brothers, many times he was cold naked and hungry and now he is about to make the ultimate sacrifice, he is about to have his earthy life ended at the edge of an axe. YET THROUGH IT ALL HE HAD HIS EYES ON THE PRIZE. [II Tim. 4:6-8]
E. We must never lose sight of our prize, we must stay on the track and keep running. I know that sometimes it’s hard, sometimes you may feel like you can’t even breathe, your legs are weak, your tired and it may seem easier to quit, BUT DON’T GIVE IN keep living the Christian life, keep carrying the Gospel torch,keep training even though your muscles ache, Keep your eyes on the prize the crown of life, and don’t stop running until you cross the finish line, you can never quit.
III. WE MUST HEED THE WARNING
A. Friends the Christian race is not a sprint or 100 hundred yard dash, But rather it is a life long marathon. We must continue to run, we can not coast on past glories and accomplishments. When we stop running we have quit the race. When we stop spreading his Gospel and running the race of faith we have forfeited the prize.
B. Fellow believers I am going to say something and I want everyone, including myself to tune in.
In our churches we do not teach the doctrine of once a person is saved they will always be saved. Though we do not teach this doctrine, friends to many times we live like it. We live like we believe, that we really don’t have to do anything for our Lord except let his blood forgive our sins, we believe that we can run the race anyway we want, make our own rules.
Let me tell you the Apostle Paul didn’t feel that way. Paul believed that it was essential for him to spread the Gospel and to run the race of faith if he was to get the prize. [23,27]
C. Do you remember a couple Olympics back when the runner after winning the gold had it taken away because he had used steroids and was disqualified.
Paul doesn’t want that to happen to us. He goes on in Chapter 10 to drive this warning home.
[10:1-12]
Paul says he doesn’t want us to be ignorant, to be uniformed about the seriousness of the race.
1-4, they were God’s people but the took their eyes off the prize and allowed Satan to pull them off the track.
We need to learn from their example and be faithful to the end, they didn’t receive their prize simply because they were freed from bondage of Egypt, and neither will we receive our prize simply because we were freed from the bondage of sin. We have to finish the race. Of the millions of Israelites led out of bondage only 2 kept their eyes on their prize the promise land and finished the race. Paul say’s "these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did." D. As we run on the track of the Christian life, Satan and his angels will try to get us to quit running, to leave the track, to make our own way, to go where we shouldn’t go, he tries to get us to go off our strict diet, to not workout with the word, to not spend time at the training sessions in our gym, to not spend time with our coach, he wants us weak and flappy, so that the race will be harder for us, and so he can easily tempt us to no longer run the race.
WE MUST: RUN THE RACE
KEEP OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
HEED THE WARNING (THE RACE IS NOT WON UNTIL WE CROSS THE FINISH LINE, WE CAN, LIKE THE MILLIONS OF ISRAELITES LOSS OUR PRIZE AND NOT ENTER OUR PROMISE LAND, HEAVEN)
IV. After that powerful warning that Paul gives, it would almost seem like it is impossible to finish the race, because the temptation to quit would be so strong.
BUT in verse 13 Paul gives us A PROMISE TO HOLD ON TO
[10:13]
What a promise!
Paul says that God is with us. That God is, oh so faithful.
And that as we are running our race for the Lord, even though Satan and his demons will try to tempt us to quit, and try to get us to leave the track. Paul tells us that God will not allow them to tempt us, His children, beyond what we can handle.
God protects the Christian and limits Satan’s power over them. Can you see us running around the track, we are tired, weak we want to quit and Satan and his demons are telling us to quit, to give up. And then God sends his powerful angels to our rescue and says to "them STOP! THAT’S FAR ENOUGH!! And then God provides for us a way of escape. We must not quit, we must not give up, we must hang in their run the race, share the Gospel, and we must hold on to the promise, that God will see us through if we don’t give up!
WE MUST RUN THE RACE
WE MUST KEEP OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
WE MUST HEED THE WARNING
WE MUST HOLD ON TO THE PROMISE.
IF WE ARE TO WIN THE GOLD! THE CROWN OF LIFE.
CONCLUSION
Bill Broadhurst was a great runner and he entered a 10k race in Omahu, a race that Bill Rodgers would win in less than 30 minutes.
Bill Broadhurst had a handicap, he was paralyzed on his entire left side from an aneurism early in life. But he still loved to run and for him to be in the same race as his hero Bill Rodgers was the greatest thing he could imagine.
The banners had been taken down, the traffic had begun to flow on the roads, there was nothing left that would tell you that a race had been run.
Except one man Bill Broadhurst who was still running the race. 2 hours ago Bill Rodgers had finished the race and now Bill Broadhurst was nearing the place where the finish line was. A couple of kids on bikes road beside him and said "hey mister are you still running the race, it’s been over for hours, someone’s already finished first and won, why don’t you quit, the race is over!"
Broadhurst replied, "I can’t, I have to make it to my hero at the end of the line". And he kept on running.
As he approached the place where he knew the finish line would be, Bill Rodgers and about 30 people stepped out from an alley and they placed a banner up and strung a ribbon across the road. And Bill Broadhurst stumbled across the finish line. And there stood his hero , Bill Rodgers who took off the ribbon form his neck and placed it around the neck of Broadhurst, and he said, "you a winner because you never quit".
Brothers and sisters don’t quit, keep running. Your hero Jesus Christ is at the finish line waiting to give YOU the victor’s crown of life.
Today, if you are not a Christian, you need to join the only race that will give you a victor’s prize.
And we Christians need to keep running the race.
Jesus is at the finish line waiting for you...
He wants to place the golden crown of life on your head...
LET’S GO FOR THE GOLD!
