Running the Race

Persevering in the Christian Race

Okay. Well, good morning again. So this morning we're gonna be taking a look at 1st Corinthians 9, 24 through 27. Often when you only preach occasionally, it becomes so clear how long it takes the Lord to prepare a sermon in one who is not called to the regular duty of preaching.

Many people said to me this week, wow, I can't believe you preached on such short notice, but the the more I've been looking at this, the more I realize the Lord's been preparing this sermon for over a year.

That's how long it takes when you're not doing it regularly. For I have been growing in a desire to walk more closely with the Lord. Probably the men remember about a year ago we were at a men's meeting and I was talking about just how convicted I'd been over movies and things like that.

That's kind of when this started for me because I lament the fact that I don't see my desires for Christ being the first thing, right? That that old question, when you have nothing else to do, what's the thing you want to do, right?

Does it have anything to do with Jesus Christ and his Word? I want to be consumed with our Lord. I want him to be all that I think about and where my joy comes from. I want that to be an experiential reality in my life.

I still find sin has such a foothold, though. Its claws are still in my flesh and I hate it. I feel often like Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. As you guys know, one of my favorite books is Pilgrim's Progress.

I saw then in my dream, so far as this valley reached, there was on the right hand a very deep ditch. That ditch is into which the blind have led the blind in all ages, and have both there miserably perished.

Again, behold, on the left hand there was a very dangerous quag, into which, if even a good man falls, he finds no bottom for his foot to stand on. Into that quag King David once did fall, and had no doubt therein been smothered, had not he that is able plucked him out.

The pathway was here also exceedingly narrow, and therefore good Christian was the more put to it. For when he sought in the dark to shun the ditch on the one hand, he was ready to tip over into the mire on the other.

And also, when he sought to escape the mire, without great carefulness he would be ready to fall into the ditch. Thus he went on, and I heard him sigh bitterly. For besides the danger mentioned above, the pathway here was so dark, that oft times when he lifted up his foot to go forward, he knew not where, or upon what, he should set it next.".

Isn't that a wonderful illustration of the Christian walk? You know, we have legalism on the one hand, we have lawlessness on the other, and we are by God's grace treading the narrow path between them.

I find I have to keep myself busy with good things these days, all right? Truly Paul has it right when he says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

With sin I feel that as soon as I let my guard down, I'm getting lax in something. Media, work, anger, it is a game of whack-a-mole so often. I thought it would do me some good to consider the Christian life and what our battle with sin looks like, and I must say that over the past week it has.

My prayer is that it will do you some good as well. The verse I chose for today is 1 Corinthians 9 24 through 27, and the title of my sermon is Running the Race. 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, and 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.

These verses were some of the first that I memorized when I became a Christian. I've always loved the metaphor, the longer I walk with the Lord, the more fitting I see that it is. And as Ross said last week, the Lord did not use a race to show what the Christian life is like, but gave us races because the Christian life is a race.

So I want to cover these verses in four parts. Verse 24, running to win. Verse 25a, what is needed to run. Verse 25b, running for the prize. And then finally verse 26 and 27, how are we to run. So as a, by way of background, we know that Corinth is a place where Paul ministered for over 18 months.

He was encouraged by the Lord and a vision to stay there because he had many people in that city. Corinth was a great city in Greece where it was a bustling center of trade in the Roman empire. And the letters to the Corinthians are very relevant to the American church because we are very similar in our culture to that of the Corinthians.

We have incredible wealth, incredible luxury. We are an idolatrous people, and we especially these days struggle with sexual immorality. And back in those days, they did because the worship of Aphrodite was in that city.

Corinth was a city of about 600 ,000 people, so about the size of Boston, almost exactly the size of Boston. And it was actually, I was chuckling about that because the men had been reading a book on Sundays talking about, you know, a covenantal county where we go and try and find some place with only 10 ,000 people.

But God decided to send Paul to a place of 600 ,000. So I guess our God can do whatever he wants. The church in Corinth had a lot of problems because of the culture it found itself in and the compromise that they were constantly fighting against, right?

We see this in our own world, right? We don't, we praise God and we should for the freedoms that we have in this country and for the wonderful blessings and even the material blessings that God has given us in this country, right, where there are many places in this world where both the material blessings and the freedoms are not there.

But we have a different problem, and I'm not saying it's harder or less hard than what they have, but we have the problem of becoming complacent, right, by letting our guard down, letting this culture lull us to sleep in a Christian life.

And it can be as dangerous as a place where there is active persecution. So in the section of this letter that our verses appear, it seems Paul answers a question, is answering questions that the Corinthians have.

So in chapter 7, Paul starts a section where he's answering questions about marriage, right? When is it good to marry unbelieving spouses? What do we do with them? Should we remain single? And then in chapter 8, he starts a new section, answering a question related to idols and meet, offer to idols.

And this section goes on for three chapters, 8, 9, and 10. And so I'll cover that in just a moment. And then in chapter 11, he switches gears again and starts answering questions related to headship, to head coverings and the worship of God and things like that.

And so in our section here, we are in 8, 9, and 10, and the verses that we're focused on today, which I have no idea is any significance or not, but are in the exact center spot of these three chapters, right?

If you look at all the verses, there's 73, you know, chapter 9, verse 24 is verse 37. So it's right in the middle of this exposition that Paul is doing around idols and meet, offer to idols. And so he starts answering that question of idolatry and meet, offer to idols, but he expands it.

And it doesn't seem, at least from the way he writes this letter, that he's answering additional questions, but actually he's trying to help the Corinthians see something bigger, because he begins talking about self-denial.

He begins talking about not wounding another's conscience and being, you know, the whole thing about the weak versus the strong brother, right? He's getting into trying to help them to understand that a big part of their role in this world is to be self-denying.

He moves into chapter 9, and he uses himself as an example, right? Paul is showing himself that even though he is an apostle and he has every right to demand of the Corinthians of their material blessings, right, as he ministers to them spiritual blessings, he refuses to take those things, right?

He talks about, you know, no one will rob me of this boast, I will not cause any stumbling block for the gospel by doing this, right? He's not going to give anyone an excuse to say that he's peddling the gospel for the Corinthians, who are generally wealthy, material benefits, but he's being self-denying, right?

He has the right to ask for these things, and then we come to our verses, which I'll skip over for just a second, and then he goes into chapter 10, and as he comes out of the verses we're going to cover, chapter 27, but I discipline my body and bring it in subjection, lest when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified.

He then, in the beginning of chapter 10, goes into several examples from the Old Testament to talk about how the Israelites became disqualified, right? They all passed through the sea, they were all baptized, they were all, they got the receiving of the law, they were in the wilderness, they followed that rock that was Christ, and yet most of them fell, right?

I'm in numbers right now in my daily reading, and I just read how, you know, the only two who got to go into the promised land was Caleb and Joshua, and so they all lost the blessings, and why did they?

It was because of idolatry. It was because of the fact that they were not keeping themselves, right? That they were continually complaining against God, continually looking to other things for their strength, and so these examples kind of extend verse 27 and kind of say, therefore, you know, look at Israel as another example, and then finally he finishes it up, chapter 10, with getting back into the original question, back into idolatry and meat offered to idols.

He gives some practical advice about, hey, when you're in the market, if, you know, don't ask questions for conscience sake, but if somebody says this has been offered to idol, don't eat it, not for your conscience but for theirs, and again, he brings it back around to that self-denying for the gospel theme, and so this is where we find the verses that we're going to pick up this morning.

This section of scripture also has many well-known verses that we all have memorized, we've all put on little cards and memorized, right? Verse 813, therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat lest I make my brother stumble.

919, for though I am free from men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win them more. Verse 1011, and now these things happen to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages have come.

Verse 1013, no temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. 1023, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. And then finally, the summary verse of this entire section, so 8, 9, and 10 come down to a final therefore. 1031, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

And so that's ultimately the summary verse of this whole three chapter discourse of Paul. And so in the middle of this whole section on self-denial and those things we do to live the Christian life upon God's glory, we have a metaphor.

He uses the metaphor of a race, which is well known to the Corinthians, for the Ithmian games took place in Corinth, and most historians say these games are the most famous and well-known after the Olympic games.

So Olympics most well-known, but Ithmian right behind it. And so the Ithmian games were like the Corinth's NFL, right? Everybody knew these games, everyone knew how they went, everybody knew who competed in them, everybody knew how they competed.

One commentator said, the preparatory training, the diet, the willing temperance, and moderation, the regime of the athlete, and the studious care to observe the conditions of success furnished a forcible illustration of what was essential to those who would run the Christian race and win an immortal crown.

Running to Win

So going into section one, running to win, verse 24 says, 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. This verse is talking about persevering in the Christian life.

We must run this race of the Christian life to the end, and for us, the end is our death or Christ's return. This is a lifelong race that we run, the Christian life. This is not something that we run for a season and then we take a break.

We must continue to run. Those who run till the end will be saved. Now, I want to quickly say that it may seem that what I'm about to say is that salvation is dependent on running. I am not, and it is not.

It is dependent on the one who has won and what he has won for us. In the games, he who finished first got the prize. That is true in our race as well, in a manner of speaking. Jesus Christ finished first, and he has won the prize.

We win this race in him. The key is we must run the race in him, which means we have to run. When what Paul is talking about here is showing ourselves to be in Christ by running. Justification is a complete work of Christ, but those who are justified will be sanctified, and we play a part in that bit.

And if we are not being sanctified, then it may be because we've never been justified. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Philippians 2. In 2 Timothy, Paul uses the same metaphor. And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules, 2 Timothy 2 .5.

So what are the rules of this race? How do you know you qualify? Before you listen to a sermon on running a race, you should make sure you're in it. Arthur Pink said, when we ask, is Christ your Lord, we mean, does he in very deed occupy the throne of your heart?

Does he actually rule over your life? We have turned everyone to his own way, says Isaiah 53. Describes the course which all follow by nature. Before conversion, every soul lives to please itself. Of old it was written, every man did what was right in his own eyes.

And why? In those days, there was no king in Israel. Ah, that is the point we desire to make clear to the reader. Until Christ becomes your king, until you bow to his scepter, until his will becomes the rule of your life, self dominates, and thus Christ is disowned.

We must run in such a way that we may obtain the prize. Matthew Henry says concerning this verse, you may all run so as to obtain. You have great encouragement, therefore to persist constantly and diligently and vigorously in your course.

There is room for all to get the prize. You cannot fail if you run well. Yet there should be a noble emulation. You should endeavor to outdo one another. And it is a glorious contest who should get first to heaven or have the best rewards in that blessed world.

I make it my endeavor to run, so do you as you see me go before you. So then what is needed to run this race of the Christian life? Verse 25a, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

Let's look at what is needed to run. The Greek word for temperate means to exercise self-control or to control oneself. When one competes in a contest, they must exercise great self-control when it comes to those pleasures which are lawful, but that can be abused.

Food, drink, exercise, sleep. They have to decide very seriously how they will spend their time, what they will dedicate their energies towards, and how they will live. I did some research on how Olympic athletes train, and what stood out to me was not the extremity of it, right?

It wasn't a situation I assumed I was going to find out that these people work out like they're in the gym 22 hours a day, and they work, you know, then they somehow sleep eight hours a day, and they also train another 12 hours a day, and like I figured it was this insane thing.

But what I found is it's actually much more self-controlled, and there's a forethought to everything that they do. And I think there's a lesson in that for us. They work out hard, but they ensure they have time for recovery.

They plan meals and what they eat, often days in advance, in order to support their bodies, not just for energy, but where they are in their workout and training routines, recovery, muscle growth, things like that.

Hogan could probably do a whole lecture for us. They ensure that they get the proper amount of sleep, not too little, not too much. They cut out all things that hinder performance, drugs, drinking, partying.

They also focus on goals and mental performance, so that they can push themselves during the big contest, right? They set small goals in their training and their exercise to achieve those things just outside, so that they're getting used to pushing themselves to achieve a goal.

So when they're in the big race, and they have to make that last push for the win, they're already mentally able to push themselves even beyond their body's typical ability. What they're doing through all of this is not seeking to do some Herculean effort, but basically bring themselves to the optimal performance in order to get the most possible out of their bodies.

And there are lessons in the Christian life when we think about that. Those who run in a race are purposeful about being temperate. They exercise self-control to ensure that they are focused on the most important things, and that they're not over indulging in one area, right?

Actually, it was interesting when I used my Bible software to see where temperance shows up in the Scriptures. There's three verses that came up, and they were all related to elders and deacons and their qualifications, because the qualifications for elders and deacons are really just the qualifications for a mature Christian.

And so a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, 1 Timothy. Likewise, their wives, wives of the deacons, must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things, also 1 Timothy.

And for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, and not quick-tempered, which would be the opposite of temperate. And so ultimately, as Christians who are mature, we're called to be temperate.

We're called to hold all things in their proper place as we walk with the Lord, right? And again, what we're talking about here is all things that are lawful for us, but as we know, we can take even lawful things and sin with them.

And so this is a message that the Corinthian Christians sorely needed, and frankly, it's a message we sorely need in our day. As we said earlier, Corinth was a place of luxury and excess. There was wealth everywhere, and even the poor didn't have it so bad.

Kind of sounds like this place, doesn't it? In fact, the men were joking on Saturday morning about the fact that even the poor among us have cell phones and sometimes even Cadillacs, and you really have to scratch your head and be like, how are they poor exactly?

But this is where we live, and so we're used to excess and having excess in almost whatever we want. If we are to live the Christian life well, we must be thoughtful about what we need to be doing and what we need to avoid.

H .R. Ironside said concerning this verse, for us there stands in the distance the blessed Lord himself, waiting to place on our brow that incorruptible crown. Yet when many of us are in danger of losing it because we are so self-indulgent, so careless, so carnal, and so worldly-minded, let us take a lesson from the athletes and be willing to give up present pleasures for future glory.

Matthew Poole says, but look as it is with wrestlers in those games and practiced amongst you. They are temperate in all things, in the use of meats and drinks or any pleasures, though in themselves lawful.

We that are Christians and striving for heaven should also do the like, so behaving ourselves in the use of meats, drinks, apparel, pleasures, as the things so used by us may serve us in our business for heaven and be no clog or hindrance to us.

Another area that we need to consider in our day is being self-controlled in the use of media and entertainment. There has never been another time in history where the ability to distract yourself and waste time on things of no value are so accessible.

For me, as I mentioned earlier, movies have been a big thing that I have had to grow in temperance with, have to have self-control over how often I watch movies, because for me it is just something that ends up dominating too much of my time and negatively impacts my walk with the Lord, so I have to focus on that.

You know, what is it for you? Is it Facebook? Is it TV? Is it Twitter? Is it movies, books, some hobby that you have that, again, is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself as long as it has its place and it doesn't consume your life or hinder you in your run with the Lord.

So Paul is very wise to exhort the Corinthians to be self-controlled in the face of the excess that was in their society, considering themselves lest they lose their reward. Oftentimes moderation in lawful things can be the more difficult thing to accomplish.

They are things we need, like food and sleep, but they shouldn't be abused. Things that we can just cut off because they are never lawful can sometimes be easier because you can just remove them from your life, right?

Christians have no reason to ever use heroin, so just stay away from it, right? It is easy sometimes to do that rather than using heroin moderately. I think that because of this difficulty, Paul then mentions the reward as a means of motivation for striving and self-control.

Running for the Prize

So let us turn to section three, running for the prize. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Matthew Henry says, they take pains and undergo all those hardships to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

Those who conquered in these games were crowned only with the withering leaves of boughs of trees, of olive bays and laurel, but Christians have an incorruptible crown in view, a crown of glory that never fadeth away, an inheritance incorruptible reserved in heaven for them, and would they yet suffer themselves to be outdone by these racers or wrestlers?

Can they use abstinence and diet, exert themselves in racing, expose their bodies to so much hardship in a combat, who have no more in view than the trifling huzzahs of a giddy multitude or a crown of leaves?

And shall not Christians who hope for the approbation of the sovereign judge and a crown of glory from his hands stretch forward in the heavenly race and exert themselves in beating down their fleshly inclinations in the strongholds of sin?

Do you think about the prize often? I find that it's rarely top of mind for me. There are times in prayer or reading the Bible that I might have a longing to hear, well done, good and faithful servant, but I must say I don't often think of the crowns and the rewards.

Perhaps it's due to the fact that we don't see these illustrations in our culture as we have in times past. We don't have kings and emperors and so crowns are not really a thing that we connect with, I don't know.

But let's look at what the scriptures say of these things. Revelations 22 12, and behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. 1 Corinthians, if anyone works, if anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

1 Thessalonians 3 19, 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? And then in 2 Timothy 4 8, finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing.

James says, blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. And finally Peter tells us, and when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

So many in this life will live with such self-control in order to gain earthly glory that like the crown of leaves quickly fades away. As Christians we have a glory unthinkable waiting for us in a place of righteousness, life, and rejoicing.

We have a master waiting to tell us, 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. We should of all people be most concerned with having self-control in all things, but so often we take our blessings for granted and we must always be stoking our affections with the Lord.

So remember the prize. One of my favorite parts of Pilgrim's Progress is the end because I think Bunyan does a wonderful job imagining Christians entrance into the celestial city. Now I saw in my dream that these two men went in at the gate and lo as they entered they were transfigured and they had raiment put on that shone like gold.

There were also that met them with harps and crowns and gave to them the harps to praise with all and the crowns and in token of honor. Then I heard in my dream that all the bells of the city rang again for joy and that it was said unto them, enter ye into the joy of your Lord.

I also heard the men themselves that they sang with a loud voice saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever. Now just as the gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them and behold the city shone like the sun.

The streets also were paved with gold and in them walked many men with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands and golden harps to sing praises with all. May that be the meditation of our hearts when we grow weary in self-control.

Fighting Sin with Certainty and Discipline

Now let us turn to our final two verses and think about how we are to run. Therefore I run thus not with uncertainty and thus I fight not as one who beats the air. Paul finishes this illustration by taking self-control a step further.

It is more than just making sure we are wise in our use of good things. We must be in a very real way in a battle with our flesh. Paul says it like this in Romans, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

In verse 26 Paul talks about living as aware of these realities. We run thus not with uncertainty but with certainty of what our actions must be. This speaks of giving thought to ourselves and our lusts and ensuring that we take action to restrain them.

As Christians we have God's word and it reveals to us who we are. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, says Hebrews.

We know our inward corruption because the word and the law reveal it to us. So we must with certainty run this race. Simon Kistemaker says Paul is coming to the conclusion of his discourse on apostolic freedom and he applies his conclusive remarks to himself.

He is the runner and the boxer. As a runner in the arena he keeps his eye on the finish line for he cannot afford to run aimlessly. Throughout the race the goal is always before him. As he himself writes, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

No runner in a race loses sight of the finish line. All other contenders are a vivid reminder of that mark. Paul is saying to the Corinthians who seem to be lax in their spiritual pursuit, emulate me as you see me running towards the goal to win the prize.

Thus he fights, not as one who beats the air or someone who enters a fight just flailing around, wasting energy with punches that miss. Mike Tyson is one of my favorite boxers and I know that he's not someone to be promoted as a general person but he was a great boxer.

He was small but he was powerful. He was well trained and although he was super aggressive what most people don't realize is he knew how to attack and make his opponents miss and he was known for having laser accurate punches.

He did not beat the air. He always had a strategy when fighting and he was fierce in executing it. Most people were so afraid of him because of his reputation because they thought he was so powerful but at the end of the day he was a 250 pound guy of pure muscle but he was fighting 260, 270 pound guys of pure muscle.

They were just as powerful as he was but he always had a plan. He was always, even though he seemed very aggressive, he was actually very measured in the way that he came in and he could always get in under.

He was 5 '10 so he did not have a reach of most super heavyweights and so he had to get in under them and then he delivered that uppercut and most of the time it was over in a round or two. This is how we must be when fighting our sin and temptations in the Christian life.

We need to be fierce in fighting them but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified. The Greek for these verses paints a picture of beating our flesh black and blue and making it our slave to obey us as its master.

Calvin says, let us however treat the body so as to make a slave of it that it may not by its wantonness keep us back from the duties of piety and farther that we may not indulge it so as to occasion injury or offense to others.

Matthew Poole says by body here we must not understand only the apostle's fleshly parts which we usually call our body. No, nor only our more gross or filthy affections and lusts as some of the schoolmen have thought but what the apostle elsewhere calleth the old man under which notion come as the sinful inclinations of our will and corrupt dictates of reason as it is in man since the fall.

Right so this is our sinful nature this is the sinful side of our flesh that we're that Paul is talking about here. We see these admonitions throughout the scriptures. If your right eye causes you to sin pluck it out and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Philippians 2 16. Brethren I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead I press towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3. Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Hebrews 12. Behold I come quickly hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown says the Lord Jesus. For if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

Romans 8 13. And so it is with an exposition of Romans 8 13 that I want to draw to our application today. My favorite theologian is John Owen. I mean I named one of my boys after him. One of his greatest works is of the mortification of sin in believers.

Martin Lord Jones says of this book for Owens this text Romans 8 13 makes it abundantly clear that the believer has a constant duty to engage in putting to death the sin that still indwells his mortal frame.