WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:03.000 Our accomplished violinist this morning is the 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:07.240 mother of Pastor David Ward. Star Ward, thank 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:12.179 you very much. Do you do impressions too? You 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:14.519 don't. Well, David doesn't play the violin either, 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:18.079 so I guess that's fair enough. Thank you very 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.879 much to your ministry this morning, and today 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.719 is the last day that Mark will be with us. Your 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:26.760 ministry here, how much we've appreciated his 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:30.140 work on staff. And at the end of July, on Sunday 00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:33.359 night, 27th, isn't it, here's going to be a concert. 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:35.840 And I think that night, are you not also going 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:40.179 to have a brand new release? That's the plan. 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.420 The plan is he's going to have a CD that he is 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:45.799 producing with some of his work on the synthesizer, 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.799 and it'll be released that night. It'll be the 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:49.700 premiere night. So we're looking forward to that 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:52.679 evening night. And after the service today, Paula 00:00:52.679 --> 00:00:55.700 will be out in the lobby and by a table there. 00:00:56.170 --> 00:00:58.549 some of her music and stop by and say hello to 00:00:58.549 --> 00:01:01.670 her and take some of that home with you. Let's 00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:04.549 open our Bibles together now please to 1st Corinthians 00:01:04.549 --> 00:01:12.430 chapter 9. The Revolutionary War in 1776 was 00:01:12.430 --> 00:01:15.650 a struggle for freedom. This week we remember 00:01:15.650 --> 00:01:18.590 the signing of the Declaration of Independence 00:01:18.590 --> 00:01:23.689 and the colony said to Britain, we are a free 00:01:23.689 --> 00:01:27.719 people. There were many champions of freedom 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:31.640 in those days. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:35.680 Another one who made a statement that many of 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:40.640 us learned in school years ago was Patrick Henry, 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:45.319 who was from the Virginia colony, and who was 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:47.859 a delegate to both the First and Second Continental 00:01:47.859 --> 00:01:52.340 Congresses. Patrick Henry speaking before a group 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:56.799 of Virginians, however, in 1775 was arguing for 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:00.980 a defense within the state of Virginia against 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:05.519 Britain and made the statement, as to what others 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.340 may choose to do, what others may choose what 00:02:09.340 --> 00:02:13.099 course they will as for me, give me liberty or 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:17.270 give me death. He was a champion of freedom, 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:19.610 and today as we look in 1 Corinthians chapter 00:02:19.610 --> 00:02:22.729 9, we're going to see another champion of freedom, 00:02:22.729 --> 00:02:26.030 and that is the Apostle Paul. There was no one 00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:28.569 who championed the Christian freedom from the 00:02:28.569 --> 00:02:33.150 law or argued more articulately against legalism 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:37.949 than the Apostle Paul. In the book of Galatians, 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:41.050 he called rule -keeping as a means for pleasing 00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:47.139 God a yoke of slavery. He declared it to be a 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:51.919 false gospel. The Apostle Paul boasted of his 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:57.060 freedom and of our rights as Christians, as those 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.240 who are liberated from the bondage of keeping 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:04.139 rules and obeying man -made traditions. And yet, 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:07.520 though Paul was the champion of Christian freedom, 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:11.360 he also warned that we Christians must not use 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:16.740 our freedom for self -service. He warned that 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:21.080 we must not use our rights so that we can do 00:03:21.080 --> 00:03:25.780 what pleases ourselves. Paul insists that we 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:30.360 must use our liberty for Christ's sake and limit 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:35.840 our rights for what brings good to others. I 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.000 begin reading in verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 9. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.860 I have made myself a slave to all, that I might 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:51.240 win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.020 that I might win Jews. To those who are under 00:03:54.020 --> 00:03:57.780 the law as under the law, though not being myself 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:01.020 under the law, that I might win those who are 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:05.699 under the law. To those who are without law as 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:09.300 without law, although not being without the law 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:13.719 of God, but under the law of Christ. that I might 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:17.540 win those who are without loss. To the weak I 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:21.199 became weak, that I might win the weak. I have 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:24.300 become all things to all men that I might by 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:29.040 all means save from. And I do all things for 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:32.360 the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:36.939 partaker of it. Do you not know that those who 00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:41.649 run in a race all run? but only one receives 00:04:41.649 --> 00:04:45.509 the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 00:04:46.029 --> 00:04:49.490 And every one who competes in the game exercises 00:04:49.490 --> 00:04:53.290 self -control in all things. They then do it 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:58.670 to receive a perishable wreath, but we and imperishable. 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:02.550 Therefore I run in such a way as not without 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:07.310 aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:11.720 but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:15.660 possibly after I have preached to others, I myself 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:21.379 should be disqualified." And so the apostle says 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:24.220 that for Christ's sake we must limit our liberty, 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.459 our rights, so that we may do what is for the 00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:30.600 ultimate good of others. That, of course, is 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:34.540 the way Jesus himself lived. He said, for even 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:38.360 the Son of Man did not come to be served but 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:44.339 to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:49.699 How far that spirit seems to be for many Christians 00:05:49.699 --> 00:05:55.139 today who want to be served and not to be bothered 00:05:55.139 --> 00:05:57.360 with service and who want to insist on their 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.060 rights while neglecting the needs of others and 00:06:01.060 --> 00:06:03.639 who seem to think that somehow we have been saved 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:09.449 to enjoy the good life. of materialistic America. 00:06:12.110 --> 00:06:14.829 In chapter 8, the apostle Paul acknowledges Christian 00:06:14.829 --> 00:06:18.189 liberty. He says in that chapter, as we have 00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:20.610 studied, that we are not in bondage to the ignorant 00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:24.389 worship of idols and to the taboos that surround 00:06:24.389 --> 00:06:28.949 that. But he balances what he says in that chapter 00:06:28.949 --> 00:06:33.089 about liberty against Christian love, which means 00:06:33.089 --> 00:06:39.000 putting others before oneself. the chief false 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:43.540 religion of our age, is in fact the worship of 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:50.540 one's self, adoring, esteeming, living for, exalting 00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:55.620 one's self, which is exactly the opposite of 00:06:55.620 --> 00:07:00.339 the worship of Jesus Christ, who calls his people 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:06.839 to self -sacrifice, not self -worship. Indeed, 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:09.579 there is nothing as self -destructive as self 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:16.560 -worship. Our walk with God delivers us from 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:21.139 that destruction. Now, in chapter 9, the apostle 00:07:21.139 --> 00:07:24.100 goes on to apply this principle of limiting liberty 00:07:24.100 --> 00:07:28.160 to himself, as David preached to you last week 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:31.100 regarding his own situation of his rights as 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:36.459 an apostle. And now I will... Move us a further 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:40.180 further ahead in our text as we think about the 00:07:40.180 --> 00:07:43.060 Apostles application of this principle of limiting 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:48.879 self liberty Christian liberty And he says to 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.100 us in essence in this paragraph we have read 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:55.639 I will determine he said To live for the sake 00:07:55.639 --> 00:08:01.600 of others in the gospel Paul says I determine 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:06.290 to live for the sake of others and for the sake 00:08:06.290 --> 00:08:11.389 of the gospel. You see, it is that kind of choice 00:08:11.389 --> 00:08:15.910 that makes life truly worth living, and which 00:08:15.910 --> 00:08:22.449 in the end will bring us eternal reward. The 00:08:22.449 --> 00:08:25.769 world's notion that living for others will rob 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:28.189 you of a meaningful and happy life is wrong. 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:32.070 I invite you, for example, to compare two people 00:08:32.070 --> 00:08:35.210 whose A spiritual status I do not comment upon, 00:08:36.190 --> 00:08:39.750 but whose lives are significantly in the opposite 00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:43.710 direction. On the one hand, consider Donald Trump, 00:08:44.830 --> 00:08:49.509 who represents all that our age seeks to worship. 00:08:51.370 --> 00:08:54.490 And opposite Donald Trump placed a mother, Teresa, 00:08:54.789 --> 00:08:58.350 for example, who lives for the poor of Calcutta 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:02.519 and other cities of the world. Tell me. Which 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:07.519 is happier? And whose life is going to make a 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.639 difference in the end, Donald Trump or Mother 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:18.480 Teresa? Paul, in this text, draws three pictures 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:22.379 of himself as he sought to apply this principle 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:26.799 of self -sacrifice to his own life. In the first 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.620 place, in verses 19 through 23, He says for the 00:09:31.620 --> 00:09:37.620 gospel's sake, he serves as a slave. A slave, 00:09:37.620 --> 00:09:41.100 you see, really has no personal rights. Now, 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:43.720 Paul said in the beginning, I'm free from all 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:50.940 men. He claims I have rights. But he says, I 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:56.019 have chosen rather to forego my rights and to 00:09:56.019 --> 00:10:01.820 enslave myself to all men. You see, Paul understood 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:04.899 that his purpose in being alive was found in 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:08.139 something other than living for his own pursuit. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.919 Now consider who sang this. It is Paul the apostle. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.759 Paul, one of the writers of scripture. Paul, 00:10:17.860 --> 00:10:19.940 the greatest missionary in the history of the 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:23.179 Christian church. Paul, one of the most brilliant 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:26.240 men of the ancient world, of whom we would likely 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.919 have heard even if he had never become a Christian. 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:35.899 such was his brilliance. But this man chose to 00:10:35.899 --> 00:10:38.580 limit his life for the sake of the debt that 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:40.779 he felt he owed to others. And why did he do 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:44.519 this? He tells us that he might win the more, 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:48.440 that he might gain the more. The word gain here 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:51.480 means to make profit. Paul is not thinking of 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:58.879 money. He is thinking of soul. He says, I am 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:02.159 willing to enslave myself to all that I might 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:07.240 win the more to Christ. You see, Paul had a vision 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:12.899 of the world as the Lord sees the world. So he 00:11:12.899 --> 00:11:15.320 accommodated himself that he might win others 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.860 to Christ. He accommodates himself to the Jews, 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.740 he says in verse 20, those who are under the 00:11:21.740 --> 00:11:25.639 law. those who feel compelled because of their 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:29.860 traditions to obey vows and dietary laws and 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:35.000 ceremonial regulations. That's what Paul wants 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.779 of you. He says, I'm no longer under the law 00:11:38.779 --> 00:11:43.360 myself, but he says, nonetheless, I will abide 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:47.860 under the Jewish law when it's necessary so that 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:54.740 I may win my kinsman to Christ. Indeed, Paul 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:58.240 so loved his Jewish brothers that he was willing, 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.899 had it been possible, to be severed from Christ 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:10.080 if only they would come to faith. In verse 21, 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:13.580 he says that he accommodates himself to the Gentiles, 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.740 those who have no law, those who are ignorant 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:21.559 of the Old Testament's regulations. And so when 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:26.039 he went wherever there were Gentiles, he sought 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:29.700 to live as they did. He ate what they ate. He 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:33.559 dressed as they would dress. He followed their 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:38.100 traditions so as far as the traditions did not 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:43.480 contradict the moral law of God. Paul says, I'm 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:46.200 not irresponsible. I don't live an unregulated 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:51.340 life. He says, I'm... Not without law to God, 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:54.259 but he says, actually what I am is in law to 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:58.980 Christ, is his little play on words here. Paul 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.860 did not compromise God's moral standards, but 00:13:02.860 --> 00:13:08.360 he did accommodate himself to the customs of 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.759 the people, the Gentiles, whom he sought to reach. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.960 This is the whole principle of what's called 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:19.350 contextualization. It is the job of a missionary 00:13:19.350 --> 00:13:23.990 going into a culture to understand the cultural 00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:28.029 context and to accommodate his lifestyle and, 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:32.309 insofar as he can, the message itself, so that 00:13:32.309 --> 00:13:35.289 the people in that culture, from their context, 00:13:35.509 --> 00:13:38.690 can understand it and see the truth that is in 00:13:38.690 --> 00:13:43.649 Christ. That's what Paul is saying here. And 00:13:43.649 --> 00:13:47.139 that's how you and I are to live as well. in 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:49.720 the culture in which we live, to understand what's 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:53.340 happening in our culture and insofar as we can 00:13:53.340 --> 00:13:58.860 to contextualize the message without compromising 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:03.600 it itself. But then Paul says in verse 22 that 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.039 he accommodates himself to the weak brothers, 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:11.360 those who are weak, whose consciences are easily 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:15.000 touched. He says he is willing to limit his freedom 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.639 among them that he might accommodate himself 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.480 to their weaker understanding of things. I understand 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.960 when Paul says he made himself a slave to these, 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:27.179 he is not saying that he compromised the gospel. 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:31.879 Just last week there was a letter in the Minneapolis 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:34.620 newspaper from the rector of the Basilica of 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:39.399 Mary in Minneapolis, a man who surely must be 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:41.639 one of the most liberal of the Roman Catholic 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:45.690 leaders in our region. And he argues that those 00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:49.950 who are absolutists, that is those who believe 00:14:49.950 --> 00:14:52.590 that Jesus Christ is what he said he is, the 00:14:52.590 --> 00:14:55.629 way, the truth, and the light, have been the 00:14:55.629 --> 00:14:59.210 source of a lot of problems. And that what we 00:14:59.210 --> 00:15:01.710 need to do is understand that there are many 00:15:01.710 --> 00:15:07.470 truths. So that is the pluralistic lie of our 00:15:07.470 --> 00:15:12.009 age that this religious leader is articulating. 00:15:12.970 --> 00:15:16.789 what he says flies in the face of what Paul preached, 00:15:17.750 --> 00:15:22.049 Paul the Apostle. For he was an absolutist. He 00:15:22.049 --> 00:15:24.350 believed that there was one gospel and that one 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:27.629 gospel would be found in the death, burial, and 00:15:27.629 --> 00:15:30.429 resurrection of Jesus Christ. And ladies and 00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:33.490 gentlemen, we are absolutists too, if we follow 00:15:33.490 --> 00:15:36.230 Jesus Christ. There are not many truths. There 00:15:36.230 --> 00:15:38.450 is one. And Paul knew that. He didn't compromise 00:15:38.450 --> 00:15:42.360 it. Nor does what he say here indicate that he 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:46.059 was involved in the sins of others to win them 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:50.139 Nor is he saying here that somehow he was a chameleon 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:53.679 But he changed his convictions depending upon 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.179 which group he was with he did change his practice 00:15:57.179 --> 00:16:02.960 But not his conviction Paul's heart was to identify 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:09.029 with all people just as just as Jesus Christ 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:14.769 identified Himself with us, and yet did not partake 00:16:14.769 --> 00:16:18.029 in our sins or condone it, but He identified 00:16:18.029 --> 00:16:21.490 with us, so that He might declare the Father 00:16:21.490 --> 00:16:24.610 to us. So the point here is this, that for the 00:16:24.610 --> 00:16:28.409 gospel's sake, you and I need to see ourselves 00:16:28.409 --> 00:16:33.370 as servants. without a claim to our personal 00:16:33.370 --> 00:16:38.389 rights, without demanding our way, so that our 00:16:38.389 --> 00:16:42.370 master's plan for the winning of the world may 00:16:42.370 --> 00:16:46.750 be realized. We need to adjust our habits, our 00:16:46.750 --> 00:16:50.470 choices, our preferences in order to win souls. 00:16:50.570 --> 00:16:53.070 We need to adapt our way of living in order to 00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:57.830 make others more receptive to our message. in 00:16:57.830 --> 00:17:00.330 the sense that Paul is saying here that he served 00:17:00.330 --> 00:17:03.429 as a slave. Now, secondly, as Paul moves ahead 00:17:03.429 --> 00:17:06.309 beginning in verse 24, he says, for the gospel's 00:17:06.309 --> 00:17:11.750 sake, he ran as a runner. Corinth was the location 00:17:11.750 --> 00:17:15.470 of what was called the Isthmian Games, one of 00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:19.890 the four national festivals of the Greeks. The 00:17:19.890 --> 00:17:23.430 Isthmian Games involved horse, foot, and chariot 00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:29.059 racing, wrestling, boxing, musical and poetic 00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:35.400 trials and animal contests. To the victor was 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:40.059 given a garland of leaves or a wreath of pine 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:46.019 as a symbol of his victory. Paul is drawing upon 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:50.660 this athletic metaphor so that he can make an 00:17:50.660 --> 00:17:54.759 analogy with us in our Christian life. Paul is 00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:57.819 saying here in essence that the runner is every 00:17:57.819 --> 00:18:00.720 believer. It's you and it's me. We are also running 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:05.759 in the race. The race is the course of life that 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:11.000 God has laid before us. No course exactly the 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:15.880 same. Courses that are of different lengths, 00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:20.940 but we each have a race to run. It is the will 00:18:20.940 --> 00:18:24.859 of God. And there's the finish line. where Christ 00:18:24.859 --> 00:18:27.539 stands and will give his approval at the judgment. 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:30.480 Now there are some obvious contrasts, aren't 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:33.180 there, between the Isthmian games and what Paul 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:36.079 writes. The one is an earthly race, the other 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:40.480 a heavenly race. In one there is one winner, 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:45.799 to him the wreath. In the other case, every Christian 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:50.819 can be a winner by running his course well. To 00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:53.440 the one there is a corruptible crown that fades 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:56.759 within days. To the other an incorruptible crown 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:01.420 of glory received from Christ himself. So Paul's 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:04.859 point is this, that as runners in our race we 00:19:04.859 --> 00:19:11.319 are to run to win. We as Christians must be wholehearted 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:16.140 in this thing. There are some things that may 00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:20.099 be okay for the average person. But for a Christian 00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:26.940 athlete, they are off -bound. Now, we have liberty. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:30.859 Oh, of course we do. The Paul says, if you want 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.799 to win the race, you must forego some of your 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:39.700 liberty. John MacArthur says, the athlete's disciplined 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:44.619 self -control is a rebuke of the half -hearted, 00:19:44.859 --> 00:19:48.059 out -of -shape Christians. who do almost nothing 00:19:48.059 --> 00:19:51.059 to prepare themselves to witness to the loss, 00:19:51.819 --> 00:19:57.740 and consequently seldom do. Yes, we have freedom 00:19:57.740 --> 00:20:03.119 in Jesus Christ. We have rights. But we also 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:06.359 have a race. And Paul says there are times when 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:10.700 we must put aside our freedom. We must discipline 00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:14.359 ourselves. We must be self -controlled. An athlete 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:18.230 has to watch what he eats. He has to train rigorously. 00:20:18.410 --> 00:20:23.230 He has to pace himself. And so we in our race 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:25.809 likewise must be disciplined and willing to set 00:20:25.809 --> 00:20:30.670 aside our rights in order to live in such a way 00:20:30.670 --> 00:20:34.170 and to run our race in such a way that we win 00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:40.369 people to Christ and cross that goal line to 00:20:40.369 --> 00:20:44.000 Christ well done. And so his point here is this, 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.180 that for the gospel's sake, you and I need to 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:51.180 see our lives as a race. And we must go all out 00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:56.559 to win. We must not expect to, as the hymn writer 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:59.839 says, be carried to the skies on flowery beds 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:03.539 of ease, while others fight to win the prize 00:21:03.539 --> 00:21:09.299 and sail through bloody seas. We must give our 00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:13.599 best effort. We must discipline ourselves with 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:18.440 self -control and lay aside the extraneous, lay 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:26.420 aside the luxuries of life to win. And then Paul 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:30.240 draws a third picture, a servant, a runner. He 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:34.480 says, for the gospel's sake, he fights as a fighter. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:40.769 Ancient boxing was a serious game. The fifth 00:21:40.769 --> 00:21:44.369 of the boxer were wrapped in leather thongs, 00:21:45.130 --> 00:21:50.089 and in the leather thongs there were studs of 00:21:50.089 --> 00:21:54.289 metal knobs. That's how they boxed in those days, 00:21:54.430 --> 00:22:00.589 not the tatted boxing gloves of today. Paul is 00:22:00.589 --> 00:22:02.589 saying here in these last verses that he was 00:22:02.589 --> 00:22:04.710 not playing at this thing of being a Christian. 00:22:06.230 --> 00:22:12.589 He was not shadow boxing. He sought to make every 00:22:12.589 --> 00:22:18.029 blow count. Too many Christians today are playing 00:22:18.029 --> 00:22:22.809 games with God. Paul says this is a boxing match 00:22:22.809 --> 00:22:28.630 that is deadly serious. The disciplined boxer 00:22:28.630 --> 00:22:32.970 must have mastery over his fleshly appetites. 00:22:33.670 --> 00:22:36.210 Paul pictures here as though it were his body, 00:22:36.349 --> 00:22:40.470 and by that he means the appetites that appeal 00:22:40.470 --> 00:22:47.190 to his flesh, including being easy on oneself, 00:22:51.009 --> 00:22:54.589 enjoying the luxuries of a society and a culture 00:22:54.589 --> 00:23:00.509 like ours in America. Pulse this here, I buff 00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:04.269 it in my body. Literally says I strike it under 00:23:04.269 --> 00:23:10.539 the eye. I make it black and blue. that it might 00:23:10.539 --> 00:23:13.640 be my slave. He says, I will not become the slave 00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:20.400 of the appetites of my body. What is that? He 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:26.299 warns that if indeed we do that, we become disqualified. 00:23:27.380 --> 00:23:33.960 Disqualified. Last night, Mike Tyson was disqualified. 00:23:35.259 --> 00:23:39.700 He bit the ear of the Xander Holyfield, my goodness. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.240 Have you ever heard of such a thing in boxing? 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.059 He twice bit the ear. Did he not have dinner 00:23:48.059 --> 00:23:54.299 before he boxed or what? The end of the third 00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:58.380 round disqualified, furious, angry about it. 00:23:59.099 --> 00:24:05.180 He broke the rules. and he failed in his challenge 00:24:05.180 --> 00:24:10.220 to regain his title and he should disqualified 00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:14.619 Paul had one fear in life and that was that after 00:24:14.619 --> 00:24:19.619 he had even preached to others that somehow he 00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:24.460 would allow his body's appetite to so overcome 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:28.640 him and life will become such a comfortable thing 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:34.779 and so easy that he would be disqualified in 00:24:34.779 --> 00:24:40.440 his match. And so his point is that for the gospel's 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:44.240 sake, you and I need to live not to be disqualified. 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:49.579 We need to finish well. We do not want to become 00:24:49.579 --> 00:24:53.640 sidetracked on self -focused pursuits, but we 00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:57.339 must discipline our own desires and train hard 00:24:57.339 --> 00:25:01.240 and give up pleasing ourselves for the sake of 00:25:01.240 --> 00:25:05.710 winning others. to Christ. Paul's whole life 00:25:05.710 --> 00:25:08.609 had one focus. It had one point, and that's found 00:25:08.609 --> 00:25:13.730 in verse 23. I do all things for the sake of 00:25:13.730 --> 00:25:23.750 the gospel. That was it. Everything that Paul 00:25:23.750 --> 00:25:28.650 did was read through that grid. It was measured 00:25:28.650 --> 00:25:34.829 by that standard. I do all things for the gospel. 00:25:37.369 --> 00:25:40.430 In a self -centered culture like ours, we have 00:25:40.430 --> 00:25:44.710 to ask ourselves some hard questions. I was reminded 00:25:44.710 --> 00:25:48.089 of this recently in a conversation with my good 00:25:48.089 --> 00:25:50.809 friend, our retired missionary, Homer Payne. 00:25:51.329 --> 00:25:53.529 He dropped by the office one day just to chat 00:25:53.529 --> 00:25:57.950 before he left for Bolivia. And he said to me, 00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:05.759 Galen, we are the Laodicean Church. And I reacted 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:07.359 to that a little bit. I said, well, you mean 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:10.519 that this is the age of the Laodicean Church? 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:15.019 He says, no, we are. We in America are the Laodicean 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:22.380 Church. And I really haven't gotten over yet 00:26:22.380 --> 00:26:31.190 what that said to my heart. We are so soft, so 00:26:31.190 --> 00:26:36.730 rich, so increased with goods, so comfortable, 00:26:37.769 --> 00:26:44.809 so filled with our luxuries, that we are lukewarm 00:26:44.809 --> 00:26:53.650 in our commitment to Jesus Christ. Jesus calls 00:26:53.650 --> 00:26:57.680 upon us to repent. of that lukewarmness, our 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:01.460 self -sufficiency, and to come to Him and buy 00:27:01.460 --> 00:27:05.200 what we truly need. We need to ask ourselves 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:08.059 hard questions like, what is the value of a soul 00:27:08.059 --> 00:27:18.259 to me? Am I willing to invest to my own loss 00:27:18.259 --> 00:27:22.220 in the work of Jesus Christ for the sake of a 00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:27.019 soul? Am I willing to lay aside my own pursuits 00:27:27.019 --> 00:27:33.660 and interests for the good of another? Very practical 00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:37.480 message today. How willing are we to adjust the 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:42.779 time that we arrive at church in order to accommodate 00:27:42.779 --> 00:27:49.119 a new ministry that will gain the more? This 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.500 fall, all of us will be called upon to make that 00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:56.049 kind of an adjustment. And yet we, some of us, 00:27:56.369 --> 00:27:59.529 repel the idea of having to change the time that 00:27:59.529 --> 00:28:03.230 we arrive at church. So I ask where is the spirit 00:28:03.230 --> 00:28:08.109 of verse 23 in that sort of attitude? How willing 00:28:08.109 --> 00:28:14.190 are we to change the room that we meet in? Think 00:28:14.190 --> 00:28:17.849 of the embarrassment of really even having to 00:28:17.849 --> 00:28:23.059 ask that question. How willing are we to even 00:28:23.059 --> 00:28:27.119 change the room that we meet in for the sake 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:33.559 of the Gospel? How willing are we to lay aside 00:28:33.559 --> 00:28:40.420 our own preferences in music or in preaching 00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:47.720 or whatever for the sake of the Gospel? You and 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:51.990 I can only be doers of the Word of God If we 00:28:51.990 --> 00:28:56.410 will apply what verse 23 says, if we don't apply 00:28:56.410 --> 00:28:58.990 that then let's call ourselves hearers of the 00:28:58.990 --> 00:29:02.549 word who deceive ourselves because that's what 00:29:02.549 --> 00:29:10.029 James says that we are. Paul says you have a 00:29:10.029 --> 00:29:12.509 change for me, you have a culture that I need 00:29:12.509 --> 00:29:16.529 to identify with, you have people I need to reach, 00:29:16.589 --> 00:29:20.720 I am willing to do whatever it takes. In limiting 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:24.740 my own tastes and my own preferences, I am willing 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:29.420 to do whatever it takes, for the sake of the 00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:33.259 Gospel, that I may be a partaker of it with others 00:29:33.259 --> 00:29:39.000 that yet need to be reached. Corey Ten Boom said, 00:29:39.180 --> 00:29:43.519 the measure of life, after all, is not its duration, 00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:49.789 but its donation. It's what I'm willing to give. 00:29:53.049 --> 00:29:55.509 One reason that we can hear a testimony like 00:29:55.509 --> 00:29:59.029 the Nicholsons gave this morning is because they 00:29:59.029 --> 00:30:03.789 gave to the ministry of the Church. We receive 00:30:03.789 --> 00:30:06.789 back from ministry in proportion to what we are 00:30:06.789 --> 00:30:12.130 willing to give to it. Just a bottom line principle. 00:30:13.029 --> 00:30:17.220 We receive. from ministry in proportion to what 00:30:17.220 --> 00:30:22.259 we give. That is the true measure of life, and 00:30:22.259 --> 00:30:25.920 it is to that principle that Paul calls us in 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.119 this text today. So by the grace of God, let's 00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:34.359 live what verse 23 says, which Paul applies in 00:30:34.359 --> 00:30:38.960 very practical ways. I do all things. Just tell 00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:41.519 me what needs to be done, says Paul. I'll do 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.440 all things for the sake of the gospel. What an 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:49.279 attitude, and that's why Paul was such a winner. 00:30:50.619 --> 00:30:54.599 Let's pray. Father, may we be winners, too, in 00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:58.700 our attitudes, in our service, and adopt the 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:02.480 attitude of life that he had for the sake of 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:08.019 the Gospel. In Jesus' name, Amen. I'm going to 00:31:08.019 --> 00:31:11.240 ask you to remain seated now as we have the opportunity 00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:15.500 to give. and to tell Paula that we've appreciated 00:31:15.500 --> 00:31:18.400 her ministry this morning. God bless you. As 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:20.819 you give, ushers will come now and see you sing. 00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:21.960 Thank you.