Winning at Great Cost - 1 Corinthians 9:19-27

Good morning, church. I am excited to be here with you this morning. Rest and already introduce me. My name is Dalton Leslie. the church planting resident here at Northland Church. Very exciting time to be at Northam. We have a church plant coming up in March 22nd, so I expect all of you in this room to go with us. Just joking. But if you do have questions, please come find me or Pastor Tyler. We're both excited about talking about that. But we got some exciting things here at the church, we're going through 1st Corinthians today. We're going to be in one Corinthians 9, 19 through 27. So if you have a Bible, you can turn there. We got the church plant coming up, and maybe many of you are very excited that next month, the Winter Olympics are happening. Any big Winter Olympic fans in the house? We got a few. Okay? Some like snowboarding. I've been snowboarding. It really hurts. I've been skiing. It's a lot of fun. You know, one thing I really want to do, and it's also my personal favorite winter Olympic sport, curling. And I'm not even joking. Like, this isn't a pastor's story. I absolutely love curling. I started watching it in 2018 during the Winter Olympics and I had 5 roommates and we got bored and turned on the Olympics and we're like, this is the coolest thing ever. To me, it's like cornhole on the ice. Pam told me it's just like shuffleboard. Literally, it's just shuffleboard on the ice. If you don't know what curling is, it's those really awesome guys who are on the ice and they have this rock and they do this really cool slide maneuver, and then they release it, and then there's 2 other guys with brooms and they're bringing it down to the bottom and they're trying to get points. It's riveting stuff, actually. So please watch it. But I really love curling for multiple reasons, but one of them is that I could definitely curl. Like I could definitely get on the ice and compete. I really think that me and the pastors here at Northon could form a team and we could compete in the Winter Olympics and curling. It really, if you, like, we have a picture of them, we have a picture of these, these are the champions from 2018. Those are just dads. Like some guy kicked off his white new balances, took off his khaki shorts, put on the uniform, stepped away from the grill, onto the ice, and now he's an Olympic athlete. I really think I could compete in curling. Now, I'm sure there's plenty of discipline, plenty of sacrifice that actually goes into that. Um, I said it's like cornhole. I'm not even that great at cornhole. But when we think about these Olympians compared to another Olympic sport like Track, we have a picture of them as well, no, there's no shame here, but obviously they are different than curlers. There's a lot more discipline, different types of discipline that have to go into running tracks than there is into curling. When you think about other Olympians like weightlifters or boxers or wrestlers or any of these things, they have strict diet control. They watch their use of time, their hobbies as we're ramping up to the Olympics, or being sacrificed. They're looking at competing. They're looking to be the best of the best. They're competing against the best of the best in the world, and they want to win. You think of the best of the best. You might not be thinking about the sacrifice and discipline it took to be there, but it's significant. If you're an athlete or a former athlete, you know what it takes to compete. You know that if you don't work hard, you're not going to be any better. So they sacrificed much and they discipline themselves heavily to win. Today in 1st Corinthians 9. Paul is talking about sacrifice. He's talking about discipline, and he's talking about winning. He's talking about all of these things, but he's talking about it as it relates to winning people to Christ, as it relates to winning in Christ. So if you have your Bible, 1st Corinthians 9, 19 through 27. It reads, although I am free from all and not anyone's slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone in order to win more people. To the Jews, I became like a Jew to win Jews. To those under the law, like one under the law, though I myself am not under the law, to win those under the law, to those who are without the law, like one without the law, though I am not without the law, but under the law of Christ, to win those without the law. To the weak, I became weak in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that I may, by every possible means, save some. Now, I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings. Don't you know that the runners in the stadium all race, but only one receives the price. Run in such a way to win the prize. Now, everyone who competes, exercises self-control and everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or bucks like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. Let's pray. God, you are good, you are kind, your word is, is living and active. Lord, your word never returns void. Your word is deed. Lord, that is, what, it's our breath, it's your breath. Lord, pray that we would be, um, reading it daily, but I pray that today that you would be blessing us in the hearing of your word. Lord, that you would take the scribbles that are on this page that have been prepared by this normal person, and Lord, make it to where these people are blessed by your word. Lord, we thank you. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. So in verse 19, he says, although I'm free from all and not anyone's slave. We've been talking about this. Last week, specifically in verse 18, we see that Paul's reward in life isn't money. His reward from the Corinthians isn't their supporting of his ministry. He says that his reward in verse 18, my reward is to preach the gospel and offer it for free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel. He doesn't accept the Corinthians money. So they can't take away his boast. Rustin talked about a couple examples of what he means by that. The 1st one was this idea of patronage that a wealthy individual would pay a not wealthy individual for some kind of task or some kind of work, and that the wealthy person now had control over this because of the money. The other one is that he didn't want to be seen as in it for the money. He didn't want to be seen as preaching for the money. In whatever way that he actually rejects this support. What we're seeing is that Paul is sacrificing his own rights. He's choosing to lose what is his so that he may win so that others may win something that is not theirs to win salvation. That he is losing something so that they can win. And he's winning in a different way. So the 1st thing we're going to see is that winning people to Christ takes sacrifice. Winning people to Christ, takes sacrifice. Paul's prize is to preach the gospel for free and not make full use of his rights so that he can win more people. He chooses to sacrifice his own rights for the sake of advancing the kingdom. Just like the athletes in the Olympics. Paul must sacrifice much to win. And then he says, although I'm not a slave of anyone, I've made myself a slave to all. Paul is saying that he's purposely shaping his life to be in service to others. Although he's free from all things. He's free from the law. He's free from these dietary things. He's free from whatever. He is purposefully putting himself in the position of a servant in order that these people can more effectively hear the gospel. He's purposefully sacrificing things that he could enjoy, so that others can enjoy Christ. He's doing these things because he loves Jesus. Paul didn't see his freedom in Christ as a license to do what he pleased. He saw his freedoms and rights in Christ as things to leverage for the salvation of others. Paul could enjoy these rites, but he chooses to enjoy something higher. someone higher. He enjoys Christ. Paul didn't use his rights for himself, but he made great sacrifices of his rights for other people. And now we know this. We've talked about this 2 weeks in a row. Matt's preached a sermon on it. Rest and preached a sermon on it. I preach a sermon on it. Another one will preach another sermon about it for the next couple weeks. So if you're not hearing this, I pray that you would lean in as his 1st point, it says, as followers of Christ, those who have treasure, who have true treasure in heaven. We should view our rights as things we can sacrifice for the advancement of the kingdom. Although the rights and freedoms we have on earth are good, and we are free to enjoy them. Jesus is better. His gospel is urgent. We are free to enjoy these things, but if enjoying these things, mean that less people hear the gospel. Then how can we continue to enjoy the things that put people at an arm's reach. Paul understands that the freedom that he enjoys is not yet enjoyed by all people. So he makes great personal sacrifices so that others may be one to Christ. Now Paul's not coming up with a new strategy of reaching lost people. Paul is just echoing the heart of our God. And 1st Timothy, chapter 2, one through 4, Paul is writing to his disciple Timothy, and he's giving him instructions on what, on how the churches and the believer should be praying. He says, 1st of all, then I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone. For kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases our God our savior. He wants, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth? Paul is sharing the heart of God here that God wants everyone to be saved. So he's given this instruction that we should be making intercession. We should be praying on behalf of other people to God. Lost people save people alike, even on top of that, be praying for those in authority over you, for their salvation. Now you say that here in the United States today, be praying for those in authority over you. Whether it's the president or vice president or former president or future president, whoever it is, we're praying for those authority overs because God desires that all would be saved. Maybe immediately in your heart, you said, no. Maybe you would immediately say I'm not praying for that person. I would challenge you with scripture just to see what the heart of God actually is. That grace is to all who would have faith. That it's not about who is good and who is bad, but it is that everybody is an enemy of Christ. before they're his son or his daughter. Paul is sharing the heart of God. He's sharing the heart of Christ as he's entering into these places. Paul knows the heart of God, and he sacrifices his own rights, his own desires, his own thoughts, to share the gospel with the lost people. Now, Paul gives an example of specific people he's entering into their life. He says to the Jews, like a Jew, to those under the law, like those under the law, those are the same. The Jews have the law. Those are the same people to those without the law. These are Gentile people. He becomes one without the law. into the weak he becomes like the weak. Now, Paul is actually just drawing a giant circle. He says, I could become like Jews. I become like Gentiles, I become like weak, new believers. Now, that's everybody. If you're not a Jewish person, You're a Gentile. And if you're not an unbelieving Jew or an unbelieving Gentile, and you've just become a believer, you're going to be weak in the faith. You're not going to know what full freedom in Christ looks like. Just like we've been talking about with food stuff. So he talks about the people who are who weaken knowledge, not knowing that the food that they're sacrificing is not to anybody of importance. He said, but if food causes my brother or sister to stumble. Ill never eat meat. Again. Paul's goal is to win and to disciple all of these groups of people, to Christ, that he's sacrificing his own rights. He's sacrificing his own freedoms in order to reach them. That these people, uh, but these people are significantly different, especially in the 1st century, Gentiles and Jews were at odds, right? That Gentiles were given a law that actually separates them from Gentile people. It was meant to separate them in purity and in practice and all of these things. And the Gentiles were considered dirty towards the Jewish people. That their language is different. Their culture is different. They're different ethnically. They look different. So to reach these varying groups of people. You can't have a one size fits all strategy. People are different. People have different backgrounds. It takes flexibility. It takes strategy. And Paul's strategy, the way he's flexing is he's becoming, he's entering in to where they are. He's, instead, he wants to become like them. He becomes like one under the law, like one without the law, like the weak. And this is an echo of our savior. This is just like Jesus. In Philippians 2, 5 through 7. We read this. Paul, again, is writing adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death. on a cross. Jesus saw, Jesus is God, and he sits in heaven at the right hand of God, and he did not consider his equality with God something to be exploited. He didn't see his right to be sitting in a throne above all of the sinful darkness that we live in here as something that he can continue that he could exploit. But instead he humbled himself, he put on flesh, and he came down to become like us. That he wanted, he became like us. He entered into our world full of filthy sin to win us. He came not as a ruling king, but as a suffering servant, as a humble servant. He came and met people where they were and changed them where they were. For Jesus to save sinful humans, to save his enemies. He had to become like us. And Paul's looking to imitate Jesus. In Christ, Paul is free from the curse of the law and has freedom in Christ. He no longer has to make the sacrifices in the temple that he used to. He no longer has to abide by these dietary laws, but he enters into these to win sinners, because the gospel is urgent in loving our neighbor in this way is what we're commanded to do. In Luke 10, 25 through 37, Jesus gives a parable, and it's very helpful for this about loving our neighbor. Jesus is approached by a lawyer, and he's trying to get an answer that he wants. He says, what must I do to gain eternal life? Jesus says, uh, you must love the Lord your God with everything. With your heart, all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. And then the guy says, well, who is my neighbor? And he's looking for the your Jewish brother, your Jewish family, the people, close to you, the people that's easy for you to go to, but Jesus gives this parable. And he says, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest, a Jewish, a Jewish priest, happened to be going down that road when he saw him, he passed on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him pass on the other side, but a Samaritan, who is not a Jew, who was considered unclean to Jewish people on his journey, came up to him. And when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine, and then put him on his own animal. brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took on, uh, took out 2 dinari, 2 days' wage, gave them to the end quaker, uh, keeper, and said, take care of him. When I come back, I'll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend. Jesus then asked, which of these 3 do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robber? He responds, the one who showed mercy. Jesus says, go and do the same. The man's looking to get an answer that he wants. He wants to be able to love God with everything, and he wants to be able to love the neighbor, the easy neighbor, the one that looks like him, talks like him, thinks like him, but he's given an answer that he doesn't really like, that the person who actually was the good neighbor was somebody that he wouldn't agree with, that he doesn't look like, like he doesn't think like. And the person that was needing to be helped was somebody that he really doesn't want to help because in order to help somebody who's filthy and bleeding and have dead, you would become ceremonially unclean. That's why the priest in the Levite walked around. But this Samaritan, whose ethnically different, who was the one who was not expected to be obedient, comes over, he makes personal sacrifice. He shows mercy. He pays for him to be taken care of. He enters in and becomes ceremonially unclean by touching this filthy, half dying man and takes care of him. He shows compassion. He has become like him. And Paul says that he becomes all things to all people so that he might win some. Paul is becoming like these people by entering into their lives in deeply personal ways. Like the Samaritan that became unclean for a time to save the man. Paul does things at great cost to reach the lost with the gospel. Why? Like the bleeding dying man on the side of the road who needed urgent care. The lost are an urgent need of a saving word of the gospel. So Paul goes to great lengths to reach them. Now Paul recognizes what he's saying could potentially be problematic. I become all thanks to all people. I can do whatever I want. I have no chains binding me, is what some people would hear. May I, should I continue and sin that grace may abound? And he would answer the same way. By no means. Absolutely not. And verses 21 and 21 at 20 and 21. He says to those under the law, I become like those under the law, though I myself am not under the law, and to those without the law, like those without the law, although I'm not without God's law, but under the law of Christ. After each example, he's clarifying. He's clarifying that although he becomes like one under the law, he is not now underneath the burden of the law, although he becomes like one without the law, he is not without the moral law. He's not able to do whatever he wants, but he is free to flex within the law of Christ to win people. Although Paul is free from the law and does not have to try to keep it. He is not free from the moral law. One commentator about this writes this. He says, this does not mean that Paul is free from all moral laws, becoming all things to all people, does not mean, for example, that to the sexually immoral Paul can become sexually immoral. Paul is under Christ the law, the law of love. Paul knows when he can flex for the sake of the gospel and when he must not do so. Paul is not teaching that we should sin in order to win sinners. He's not teaching that you can do absolutely whatever you want in order to win somebody to Christ. There is still the law. There is still God's design. There are things that God has designed for us to enjoy and things for us to stay away from them. And Jesus, as he entered into our physical reality, experienced all of this, he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Paul is teaching that because of the freedom that Christ gives, he can do the customs of these people as they are within the bounds of the law of Christ, within the moral law of God's word. But he cannot leave that bound. But in love, we know that Jesus was known to associate with sinners in the same way Paul was. Jesus dined with prostitutes and tax collectors. He reached out and he touched the leper who then made him ceremonially unclean if you were to read the law really literally. But he made that person clean. The people that he dined with were in need of a healer. Although he dined with them, he did not join them in sin. Although he touched the lepers, he did not become unclean to be a sinner. Jesus loved his neighbor in the way with compassion and with mercy. And Paul was doing the same thing. It isn't for lack of knowledge that Jesus or Paul do these things. They're not entering into these different lifestyles because they don't know that there's temptation there because they don't know that there's a struggle there. But they're doing it with knowledge and love. Remember in 1st Corinthians 81. He says, um, we all have knowledge, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Knowledge without love just puffs you up. I'm never going to do that. I know that's wrong. I can't go there, but love with knowledge. allows us to be flexible within the gospel, flexible within the law of Christ to remain obedient to the Lord, and still reach the lost. become all things to all people. Love builds up. Verse 23 says, I do all of these things because of the gospel, so that I may share in the gospel. Paul sacrifices all these rites for the gospel and for the effect of sharing of it. The gospel is the good news of the salvation that we can be saved from God's wrath because of our sin through faith in Jesus Christ. It's the complete and utter removal of all sin and wrongdoing placed on Jesus as our substitute, he paid the price that we could be made right. And it's also that he who we who have faith have confidence knowing that we have been saved by grace, not just today, not just tomorrow, but before forever. Not by our own works, not by our own actions, but by his good work on the cross and his resurrection. Through the gospel of Paul, and we have an immeasurable treasure. It isn't comfort, it isn't money. It isn't the freedom to be married or to eat what we want. The freedom, the prize that we have. We already read, 1st Peter one, 3 through 5. It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because of his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance, into a prize, into a goal that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed. And the last time. You're not being guarded by your power. You're not being guarded by your ability, but you're being guarded by God's power. You're being guarded by the complete and utter finished work on the cross that Jesus sacrifices life for you. Through the gospel, we have an immeasurable treasure, and it is Jesus. He is our prize. He is Paul's reason to sacrifice. We gain Christ through the gospel. We gain an inheritance that is kept in heaven. It's imperishable, unfaded, and undefiled. Paul suffers the loss of all things because he loves Christ. He loves the Gentiles because Christ loved him first. Not only does Paul gain Christ and love Christ, but here, he says that he continues to join in the blessings, he's sharing in the blessings of the gospel. The sacrifices of his rights that he's doing. He's actually stacking blessing upon blessing. Not only does Paul have the ultimate prize of Jesus, but others gain that prize also as he is obedient to share the gospel with others. Paul gets to experience more blessing through the intentional sacrificing of his own rights to win more to Christ. As others are also being born again, as others are being raised to life. He is being blessed. Verse 24, we see that Paul is shifting a little bit. He was talking about sacrifice and now 23 is, this is why I do it. And now it's kind of how do we do this? 24, we're going to see that winning takes discipline. Winning takes discipline. Verse 24 says, don't you know that the runners in the stadium, uh, Sorry, don't you know that the runners in the stadium all race, but only one receives the prize. Run in such a way to win the prize. Paul's gonna start using a sports illustration here. I've already used one, and some people don't really like sports illustrations. They don't understand it, and that's okay. But it's biblical. So we're going to keep using them. I'm just joking. But Paul is using one here. And he's talking about these games similar to the Olympics, but they take place in Corinth. I'm going to maybe butcher the way it's pronounced, but I call it the Isthmian games. Is that right, Rustin? Oh, nailed it. Got it. But it's think the Olympics, but in Corinth. Now, this is a very well attended, very highly competed in race and other games that takes place in corn. So it's actually very common for these people to be seeing other competitors training. And they would go and they did the stadium and they'd watch the race and they know that they're entering into that race to win. Now, at the beginning of the year, many of us might have a goal to run more or to be more in shape or something like that. And that's great. Keep doing that. And some of us might even enter into a 5K. Maybe that's your motivation to do that. We'd enter into a 5K, and a lot of those would say, I don't really intend to win that, right? Maybe some of you would. I couldn't win a 5K. But what he's saying here is that the people who are running this race intend to win. The people who are into in this race actually want to win. To win means that you would, they would say that you had favor from the gods, that now you're revered in your culture. You get this perishable, this wreath that Paul is going to talk about later. It's made of these branches that would identify you as somebody who's favored by the gods. And that one person would win. They didn't enter it in for fitness. They entered into it to win. Now, in the modern day Olympics, we have first, 2nd and 3rd place, gold, silver, and bronze, right? But in the 1st century, there was one winner. There was no participation trophies. If you weren't first, your last, right? So he says, run to win. So just as those runners who entered into this race wanted to win, we as Christians are running a race and we should also desire to win. We should not simply participate. You're in this race to win. You should want to win. You should run to win. And how do we do that? Verse 25, he says, now everyone who competes in whatever games, exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable crown. So we prepare to win through discipline. In order to win, to get the gold, it takes sacrifice and discipline. Nobody actually rolled off the couch and competed in a track event and actually won. There's no guy named Dalton Leslie who's going to compete in curling and actually win in curling, okay? But I could probably compete. But in order to win, it takes sacrifice. It takes self-control. We talked about it in the beginning that the athletes who are in the Olympics are taking great pains to strictly bring their body under control, that they're watching what they eat. They're watching when they sleep. The hobbies that they may have had, especially as the games are getting closer, are slowly dissipating, right? They may have rest time, but they're solely focused on their event to win their event. One notable Olympian was Kobe Bryant. I got a picture of him. Anybody know Kobe? He had this mentality called the Mamba mentality. He was called the Black Mamba. So he coined this. He was actually famous for his work ethic. Some examples of that is that he would start his personal workout at 4 a.m. every day and he'd be practicing hours before his teammates would show up. He had a commitment to make 800 shots a day before he ended a workout. And sometimes he'd start at 4 a.m. practice would start and he'd continue to shoot even hours after to get that goal. Oftentimes after a workout, after a practice, he would actually invite or he would make, he wouldn't really invite. He would hold people hostage to play one on one to 100. Now, I play one on one to 7 sometimes, and that takes like an hour and a half . So to play to 100, even though they're at a completely different level, that's still determination. One time during the regular during a season, he actually broke his finger, but he refused surgery because the games were still going and he wanted to win, that he taped up his finger. He learned how to shoot a new way. He won the MVP that year, and he won the NBA finals. And another one, this is still mind blowing. One time during a game later in his career, he actually completely severed his Achilles tendon, just completely ruptured it. But during that motion, he actually was fouled, which means he gets 2 free shots. So completely ruptured. You see people today. We just had it very, hits close to home, someone tearing something and having to be walked out. But Kobe, with his mamba mentality, his discipline, stands up. He walks to the free throw line, unaided, makes 2 free throws, ties the game, and then walks out of the game unaided. He was a very successful player. He was famous for his work ethic, and it showed in his accolades. He won 5 NBA finals. He won 2 gold medals, 2 finals MVPs, and one regular season MVP. Kobe controlled himself heavily so that he could win. He practiced to win. He played to win. He shaped his life about around winning. He was consumed with it. Paul says, run to win. It takes discipline. It takes intensity. It takes self-control. We have an ultimate, we have the ultimate prize of Christ. We've already won. He has won us, but Paul enjoys further blessing in sacrificing his own rights to discipline his body for the winning of others to Christ. We also sacrifice our rights to further enjoy blessing, to win. Paul is telling the Corinthians to shape their lives around winning in Christ. Paul is self controlled. He's disciplined in his ministry. He said no to pay from the Corinthians. Earlier in chapter 9, he says, am I not free to take on a wife? He said, no, to carrying along a believing wife. He says no to certain foods. He says yes to discomfort. He says yes to suffering for Christ. Now, Kobe won a lot of stuff. He's got a lot of trophies. But they're all sitting there on a shelf collecting dust on a shelf that's going to fall down one day, that's going to deteriorate, that's going to have to be replaced. But the goal that Paul's working for is imperishable, kept in heaven for you, where neither rust nor moth can eat. It's imperishable. It's untouchable by the world. It's unshakable by our failures. It's imperishable. So the question, if the perishable things are worth the devotion of athletes, how much more worth are the imperishable things for our discipline, for our devotion. Versus 26 and 27. He says, so I do not run like one who runs aimlessly, or boxed like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be found, will not be disqualified. Paul's walk with Christ isn't aimless. He's not in a race running aimlessly. Again, maybe this year you're like, hey, I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to start running and you just wake up one morning and start running. You have no goal, you have no understanding of what you're doing. You're eventually just going to stop, right? If you don't know what you're doing, you have no goal to reach. You're like, I think I ran enough. He probably ran like 200 feet, right? Like, you're done, like, whew. That was a good workout today. But discipline takes sacrifice with that. He's not running aimlessly. He set a goal. He's running that way. He's disciplining himself for a purpose to win the lost, to remain faithful to Christ in all things. He's shaping his life, everything in his life, around Christ in obedience to his command. He moves to a different event in the games, and he talks about boxing. He says, I don't box the air, I don't box like one beating the air. We can maybe imagine Rocky running up the stairs. You know, he's he's fake fighting. He a shadow box and he's doing all this different stuff. That's great for practice. You're going through the moves, you're going through how you should be doing whatever. But shadow boxing is not great in a fight. If you're just shadow boxing nobody, you're going to get hit in the face, right? Practice isn't doing what we're called to do. Just practicing and not doing is not as effective is what we're called to do. So although great for practice, shadow boxing is useless. You have to hit your mark in a fight. So Paul is saying, in the same way that a runner does not running aimlessly. He has a goal. The boxer doesn't punch aimlessly. He's throwing his fist to hit the mark. He doesn't miss his shots. He's trying not to miss his shots. And actually different versions in verse 27. He talks about, I discipline my body. Yours might say, I buffet my body. He's actually turning the beating of the air to the beating of his body. He's not saying physically he's hurting himself, but he's bringing it under strict control that he's disciplining himself, that there's something more than just, oh, I'm disciplined. He's actively making shots at his body in order to bring it under control. It's a battle of faithfulness. He's attacking his mind. He's attacking his desires. He's disciplining his life. The self-control that Paul is talking about is during the event. The race during the race, during the fight. He's not running aimlessly in the race. If you enter a race and you just start running in circles, you're never going to win. But if you know where the finish line is, that's where we're running. When you're in a fight, you know the goal. You're staying disciplined in the goal. A runner who needs to take control of his breath when he's exhausted. A boxer needs to say discipline to keep his hands up so he doesn't get punched in the face. Paul goes to great lengths to remain disciplined in the fight. He has prepared for this moment, and he continues to remain disciplined. We are in a fight. We are in a race, run to win, fight to win. Paul's goal is not to be disqualified after sharing with others. He doesn't want to give in to temptations in the world. We can only imagine, we are in this world as well, that Paul entering in, wanting to become all things to all people, especially in a very dark place like Corinth. Temptation to have a moral failure is there. There are people wanting you to have a moral failure in Corinth. There's temptation to cross the line, his ultimate desires to win people to Christ. He might want to do that by any means possible, but he has to discipline his desires, discipline his wants, discipline his thoughts according to God's word, bring himself under strict control. This disqualification that Paul's talking about is not losing salvation, but it's just like in 1st Corinthians 3.15. It's the people who are laboring to build God's church, that they might build the things that are not worthy of the church. They might be building with straw or wood or hay. And on that last day, the fire will come and will show you what kind of work you did. Fire burns up wooden hay if you didn't know that. And what Paul is saying here is that he doesn't want to show up on that day and be disqualified because he cut corners. He doesn't want his work to be burned up. He doesn't want to be found, not faithful. He wants to hear from the Lord. Well done, good and faithful servant. He doesn't want to cheat. He wants to win the way God commands. He wants to be faithful to the Lord. He wants to share in those blessings. So at the end of our sermons. We like to give you some application. What does this mean for you? I want to give you some questions that you can just kind of mole over as you're going through your week. The 1st one is this. What are some things that I must sacrifice to reach the lost? What are some stumbling blocks that are getting in the way, in my way. Paul's life is an example of exemplary faithfulness and uncommon love for lost people who were very different from him. We live in a very divided world. politically, racially, whatever. It's divided. We have Chiefs fans, we got Broncos fans. There's a guy walking out of the Broncos shirt right now. So be kind to him. Um, We live in a very divided world. What would a world look like if we sacrificed our rights in order to win others to Christ? People don't change when a culture changes. Culture changes when people change. And people only truly change when they are transformed by the living God. The 2nd thing, think through, who is my neighbor that I need to love like this? Jesus came to his enemies. Paul came to those very different from him. There was no one off limits to the people that these 2 that Jesus entered into, that Paul entered into, but for some reason, we had people in a no-go, right? Christ love his enemies, Paul love his enemies. We should do the same. The 3rd one is, what would it look like to bring our lives under strict control? like Paul? Ruston already told me that this makes no sense. Well, yeah, he said grammatically incorrect. It looks fine to me. But Paul went to great lengths to bring his own body under strict control for a greater purpose than happiness. His goal was to please God and to win others to Christ. This new year, what goals can we have that would aim at sharing the gospel with others? What new goals can we create? What new discipline do we need to bring into our life that we would be better equipped to share the gospel with other people? What parts of our desire or thoughts or fears do we need to repent of in order to share the gospel with others? I'm going to end with one last thought through Hebrews. Hebrews 10, 24 through 25 says this. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love in good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as they see the day approaching. The athletes that are competing in the Olympics in a few weeks are not resting right now. They're not slowing down. They're not having cheat days right now. They're ramping up. They're getting closer. They're disciplined. The way that they're memorizing their routine or whatever it is. They're bringing everything under strict control. The big moment is approaching. Paul says, prepare like that. We're ramping up. We're learning to be more disciplined. Our races will come to an end. The end is inside, the finish line is close. That finish line is closer for some of us than it is for others. But we are called to finish well, to race, to win. A runner doesn't taper down as the race goes on. They actually have something called a kick at the very end, but they actually give it absolutely everything else that they have to win the race. They have one last kick to get to the end. They use up the rest of their energy. They turn it up. Boxers stay disciplined in a fight, and they keep their hands up to stay in the fight. And when they see that their opponent is weary, then they take the knockout blow. They don't wait. They don't taper down. They don't give up. We should finish well. Run with purpose. Run in obedience to Christ's command. Fight like your life depends on it. Let's pray. God, you are good, you are faithful, you are kind. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for your word. Thank you that it never returns void, regardless of who says it. God, we thank you for opportunities for repentance. Lord, your word says that you are long suffering. Lord, that you are compassionate, that you are merciful, that your mercies are new each morning and each new year. Lord, maybe some of us in here have not been living the way we'd like to live or the way that you've called us to live. Maybe we haven't been disciplining our body in the way that you've called us to. Maybe we haven't been as faithful as we'd like to be. Maybe we haven't seen our neighbor as somebody to be lost, but we saw our neighbor as somebody to be avoided. Lord, would you please convict us through your word? Would you call us to repentance? And Lord, let us fall into your loving arms. Your your forgiving arms. Lord, let us see that your mercy is new today. Lord, there may be many in here who might read your word for the 1st time ever, for the 1st time in a long time. Maybe they'll give it another try. Or would you meet them in your word? Would you be a comforting and encouraging word, uh, correcting um, word, uh, presence in that time? Lord, would you bring us to your word each morning? Would you unite as in Christ as we continue on the mission that you've given us to make disciples of all nations? We look forward to the day of worshiping you with all the tribes and tongues that fill the earth. Lord, we love you. I was love you more. Amen.