1 Corinthians 9 - Part C

So he said, that's what I'm doing.

I'm living my life. I'm making decisions because I'm running a race and I have a goal in mind. So my decision as an apostle to go to certain places to take support from one church, but not from another, all of that is prompted by a singular calling as an apostle, as one who loves the people for whom Christ died, and I'm running the race to win it.

I'm in it to win it. The apostle Paul likened the Christian life to a race, and today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares uplifting words from Paul to encourage you to keep persevering in your faith. But before we begin, did you know that Skip shares important updates and biblical encouragement on social media? Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry.

That's Skip Heitzig at Skip h-e-i-t-z-i-g. Now we're in 1st Corinthians Chapter 9 today as we get into the teaching with Skip Heitzig. He sent them out and he said, now when you enter into a village, don't take gold, silver, or copper in your money belt. Don't take a bag. Don't take two tunics. Don't take sandals. Don't take a staff, for the workman is worthy of his wage. Eat the things they put before you. The Lord is going to take care of you.

Use the hospitality of the people you go to. So Paul remembers that Jesus said that, that is quoted from the Gospels, and he brings that up here. It's the argument from Jesus Christ. The Lord has commanded those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. But I, verse 15, I have used none of these things nor have I written these things, that it should be done so for me, for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. And I will say, woe is you if you do not preach the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. If, against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. Paul wanted to be able to boast, not in himself, but in the fact that God had been so good to him that he didn't need, when he came to Corinth, to take any kind of financial benefit from the Corinthians. He was a tent maker. He had the wherewithal to provide for himself. That doesn't mean he never took financial support. He never took financial support.

He never took financial support. He did. When he writes 2 Corinthians, he makes a reference to this. He said, I robbed other churches that I might minister to you. Didn't mean he literally went and like stole from them, but the idea is that he let others give to his ministry so that he could minister freely to the Corinthians. He was still getting support, not from Corinth, but from other places so that he could minister to Corinth. Also, when he wrote to the Philippians, he said, you did send aid once and again for my necessities. So he received from different places to be able to minister. And in the case of Corinth, he wanted to be able to say to them, though I have certain rights as a leader, as a pastor, as an apostle, as a teacher, I have forsaken that right so that I can have the absolute freedom in the Lord as a labor of love.

But I love this. I love verse 16 and 17. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. There was a compulsion in Paul. He was driven by the calling that God gave him. On that Damascus road, the Lord told him, you will be a vessel to bear my name before the Gentiles, before kings, and before the children of Israel. And when you read his life from that point on, it's like, this guy is like the ever-ready bunny, right? Is that even a thing anymore?

That's probably such an old commercial. So you wind it up and it keeps going. So you know, Paul just, nothing dissuaded him. He just kept moving on from place to place, get beat up, thrown in jail, moves on, gets up, you know, wipes the blood off his face, goes back into town, enlists Runderbi, preaches again.

Unstoppable. When he wrote to the Galatians, he said, I was separated from my mother's womb to be an apostle. We at this church have a process of ordination where we take young men in the ministry, watch their lives, and identify their gifts, lay hands on them.

We take them through a course so they can learn the theological implications and be suited theologically to do it. But it's not like, well, you know, I think I'd like to be in the ministry. If you think you'd like to be in the ministry, you shouldn't be in the ministry. Charles Spurgeon had a school of ministry, a class, and he told his students, if you can do anything else in the world besides preach the gospel, if you can do that, do it.

His implication was, it's only if you have to preach the gospel, I have to be in the ministry. Not like, yeah, I think that'd be a good gig. Maybe I'll try this. Don't do it.

Maybe I'll try this. Don't do it. If you can be satisfied doing anything else, do that thing.

I know for me, there's only one thing I can do. It's what I do. There's a certain compulsion.

You want to make sure you have to do it. Acts chapter 20, before Paul left Ephesus, he said to the elders, take heed to yourselves and to the flock, whom the Holy Spirit made you overseers. And it's until you know that the Lord has made you for that thing, to do that thing, otherwise you shouldn't touch it.

Charles Spurgeon put it this way. He said, all are not called to labor in word and doctrine, to be elders or to exercise the office of a bishop, nor should all aspire to such works, since the gifts necessary are nowhere promised to all, but those should, and listen to his words, but those should addict themselves to such important engagements who feel like the apostle that they have received this ministry. No man may intrude into the sheepfold as an under shepherd. He must have an eye to the chief shepherd and wait his back and command. Before a man ever stands forth as God's ambassador, he must wait for the call from above. If he does not do so, but rushes into the sacred office, the Lord will say of him and others like him, I sent them not, neither commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, sayeth the Lord, quoting Jeremiah 23. Speaking of Jeremiah, now there was a guy who knew he was called.

Jeremiah got beaten up, Jeremiah got thrown into a dungeon, Jeremiah sunk in the miry clay, and life got so bad for Jeremiah that one day he said, I'm done, I quit. I'm never going to speak another word in his name. I'm leaving the ministry. I've been a prophet, I want to be a non-profit organization from this day forward.

Turned in his resignation, but you know what he said after that. But his word was in my bones like fire. I couldn't contain it.

That's how Paul felt. I have a compulsion. If I do it willingly, I get a reward. If I do it not willingly, I still do it out of obedience, whether I feel like it or not, in season or out of season, week in, week out. I want to be faithful to the Lord. I've been entrusted with the stewardship. What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge.

He did that to the Corinthians, though he took financial backing from the Philippians and other churches, that I might not abuse my authority in the gospel. I loved the day when our media got to the place where instead of having cassette tapes like the old days, when if you liked a message, you would go to the tape room and buy a cassette tape, or then you would buy a CD, because that was cool now. We have CDs.

Most people don't even know what that stuff is. Cassette tape is like in a museum. That's antiquity. But I love the technology that we now enjoy, that you have MP3 and MP4 files that you can download free of charge, and we can broadcast through a number of different ways around the world, and people can get on the website and get any message ever preached absolutely free. When that day happened, I thought, hallelujah, now the word of God can spread more easily. For, verse 19, for though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more.

That's his overriding motivation. And to the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might win the Jews. To those who are under the law as those under the law. That I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without the law as without the law, not being without the law toward God, but under the law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without the law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that by all means may save some. What does Paul mean by that? Does Paul mean that I'm a chameleon and I change depending on what company I'm with?

Sort of, but not in a licentious way. It's not like, yeah, man, I go to the bars and I drink with everybody else so the unbelievers think I'm as cool as they are. Now they'll listen to me. No, they won't because they'll think you're just like them. Why should they be like you since you're just like them? They want to see something different, something that stands out from that. When Paul said I become a Jew to the Jew, it simply means I'm not bound to the law of Moses, I'm bound to the law of love, the law of Christ, so I keep my Jewish sensibilities and sensitivities.

I know the culture, I know the language, I know the customs, and I can relate to them. And many times we see Paul, for the sake of love and for the sake of the gospel, tend toward a Judaismistic approach. For example, in Acts chapter 16, young Timothy, part Jewish, part Gentile, Gentile dad, Jewish mother.

Timothy had never been circumcised because of his Gentile dad. Paul took and had Timothy circumcised, not because circumcision saved Timothy, but now the Jewish audience in Lystra and Derby will listen to the message of the gospel spoken of by Paul because Timothy was circumcised and they knew who he was. In Centuria, in Acts chapter 18, Paul takes a Nazarite vow, shaves his hair off, takes a vow so that he can once again share the gospel. When he gets to Jerusalem in Acts 21, the elders of the church say there are four men here who have taken a Nazarite vow.

Paul, we think you should take the vow with them and pay for their expenses when they make the sacrifice in the temple. So there's a few occasions when Paul, a Jew, became a Jew that he might win the Jewish audience. When he was with Gentiles, he didn't necessarily feel it important to keep certain Jewish customs because, again, he's not bound to the law of Moses. He is bound to the law of Christ and, in this case, the law of love in Christ.

Here's an example. When Paul went to Athens, it says he went into the synagogue, he went into the marketplace, and then he went to the Areopagus, Mars Hill, three different places. He went to the synagogue, and in the synagogue, he was a Jew speaking to Jewish people. He would have used the law, he would have used the fulfillment of Scripture in Christ to prove to the Jewish audience who Christ was. But when he went into the marketplace, the agora, which was the center of free speech and free ideas, sort of like a college campus, people could share their minds and debate issues. He took a different tact, not a Jewish approach. Then later on, he went to Mars Hill, the Areopagus, which where the governing body of philosophers were in charge.

It would be sort of like going to the Oval Office and speaking to halls of power. And when he's on the Areopagus, because he's speaking to philosophers, he quotes a sixth century BC Greek pagan philosopher. He says, for it says in your writings, in him we live and move and have our being. That's a pagan philosopher he just quoted. We also are his offspring, another pagan philosopher that he quoted. He has a very different approach to a Jew in the marketplace and in the Areopagus. So he is becoming all things to all men that he might win some, save souls.

Verse 23, I do this for the gospel's sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you. By the way, you know Jesus himself didn't have a single approach when he ministered to people. He didn't like put his hand on their shoulder every time and say, you know God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, and then have just a certain spiel. He gauged who his audience was.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Jewish scholar. He spoke about the new birth. He used things from the Old Testament. When he spoke to the woman at the well, he didn't use that. He spoke about living water that could satisfy her soul because of her past experiences. So depending on who he talked to, he tailored the same message but in a different approach, becoming all things to all men that he might win some. A partaker of the gospel with you.

We finish out the chapter in the last few verses. 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 or moderate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown.

We do it for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run this way or thus, not with uncertainty. I'm not out there for I'm not out there for just a little jog, trying it out for a little bit, trying out my new running shoes, seeing if I like it that day or not. I don't run with uncertainty and thus, I fight not as one who beats the air.

I'm not just out shadowboxing. I'm not just posting on Instagram my cool boxing pose. I'm an actual fighter. I'm an actual runner, spiritually speaking. I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Now we have studied that passage of Scripture a number of times in depth. Let me just close this chapter by saying it's not unusual for Paul to use analogies from the sporting world. He obviously loved sports.

He used it on a number of occasions. Acts chapter 20, which is the chapter I just mentioned, he said, wherever I go, the Holy Spirit tells me that bonds and tribulations await me, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear unto myself that I might finish my race with joy. He saw his life, his ministry as a race. At the end of his life, he said, I fought the good fight. I finished the race.

I've kept the faith. In the letter to the Philippian church, he said, I press toward the goal of the mark of a high calling in Christ Jesus. That's language of a runner in the games, reaching for that square pillar at the end of that raceway in the gymnasium. The Corinthians were like sporting freaks. They had the Olympics in Greece, but they had a game in Corinth called the Isthmian Games every two years that was almost as popular as the Olympics.

Everybody in Corinth loved it, went to it, watched it. So he is pulling analogy from something they would be familiar with, speak of the Christian life. So he said, that's what I'm doing.

I'm living my life. I'm making decisions because I'm running a race and I have a goal in mind. So my decision as an apostle to go to certain places, to take support from one church but not from another, all of that is prompted by a singular calling as an apostle, as one who loves the people for whom Christ died, and I'm running the race to win it. I'm in it to win it. And everyone who competes in the prize, verse 25, is tempered in all things. They do it to obtain a perishable crown.

It's interesting. When you would win first place in the Isthmian Games or in the Olympics for that matter, the first place wasn't like a hundred thousand dollars or even a gold medal. It was a little wreath of leaves that they'd put on your head.

Sometimes olive, sometimes celery. In Corinth, wispy pine needle wreath was placed on the head. That's it, first place. You do all of that work to win a wreath, a crown, that in a wreath, in a week, will wither away. You have it on your mantle and you go, come look at my gold medal, man. And it's just all wilted, kind of gnarly hanging there. You did all that work for that.

That's Paul's point. You did all of that work for that. He goes, we do it for an imperishable crown. Now an athlete makes decisions. An athlete says, I get up earlier, I work harder, I train longer, I don't eat Snickers, I don't have ice cream after dinner, I say no to outings with my friends so I can go to bed early and get a good night's sleep so I can train tomorrow and the next day. They're very, very focused.

They learn to say yes to certain things and no to certain things. Paul said, that's how I live my Christian life. I make decisions based upon my calling and I do it to win. 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. You and I are on a racetrack.

There are a lot of ways you can look at the Christian life. It's a walk. You are walking with the Lord. It's a race. You are seeing the goal in the distance.

If you take Paul's analogy, it's a race. How are you doing on the racetrack? Are you pacing yourself? Are you still at it or are you sort of meandering, strolling?

Are you taking the Instagram photos and it's looking good. People think you're a runner, but you're really, well, what is that called? A poser, right? Or are you just one who used to run on the racetrack and now you just sit in the bleachers and yell down what you think of those on the track? I don't like the way you're running. I think you should do it better. There's just some Christians, that's their whole life.

All they do is sit from the bleachers and look at those who are running and say, I wouldn't do it that way. You shouldn't say it that way. You should do it this way or say it that way.

Really? Okay. How's your race? How are you running, man?

Where are you going? We each have our own race, our own goal, our own calling, our own decisions to make. What propels us? What prompts us? The calling and the love of God in Christ.

That's right. In the most difficult circumstances, God can intervene as he did for Joseph, Job, and through the resurrection of Jesus. Here's Skip Heitzig. In fact, there may not be two more hopeful words than these two words, but God, because they point us to the great interrupter, the one who can powerfully and graciously interrupt our lives with his plans and change our lives forever.

Or call 800-922-1888. Coming up tomorrow, Skip Heitzig shares a vital lesson from Israel's history about how to use your personal liberty to glorify God and encourage others. The example here is the nation of Israel. They had been liberated. They had been set free. They had been given their liberty, but they abused their liberty.

Talk about liberty. They were given liberty. God sprung them from the bondage of Egypt. They had been slaves in Egypt. God gave them literal freedom, took care of them out in the wilderness. But what did they do with their liberty?

They abused it. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.