Our Christian life can be compared to race. What is at stake in this race? How must we run this race? Join in this study to find out.
Teaching Notes:
The Christian Life As A Race
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Intro:
In this passage Paul continues to write about the need for self-denial for the sake of the progress of the gospel. He does so by relating the Christian life to a race and a boxing match. Every 2 years Corinth was the location of the Isthmian games, which were second in fame only to the Olympic games. In fact, Paul’s stay in Corinth during his 2nd missionary journey may have overlapped with these games in either 49 or 51 A.D. In any event, Paul is using images that the Corinthians would be very familiar with. God wants you and I to picture your Christian life as a race. Let’s do so by asking 2 questions: “what’s at stake in this race” and “how must we run this race?”
1. What is at Stake In This Race?
Paul answers this question 3 different ways. Each time he begins with “so that” or “that” showing a reason for what has gone before.
1) Becoming a partaker of the Gospel: 9:23. When Paul says “so that I may become a fellow partaker of it”, he is not referring to being converted, or beginning his Christian life. All the way through this passage, his eye is on the finish line, winning the prize, gaining the imperishable wreath. He is thinking about Judgment Day. So, Paul is saying that when He stands before the Judge of all the earth, he wants to become a fellow partaker of all that the gospel promises. But what does the gospel promise? Salvation in all its fullness! Paul wants to experience the full glory of Christ in heaven. However, he also knows that this promise is only for those who are united to the living Christ by a living faith. God had called Paul to live for and preach this gospel. Whether Paul does or does not is evidence of his living faith in Jesus Christ. Every day Paul is either validating or denying his profession of faith by the way he lives. Paul believes he has true saving faith, and he means to make his whole life a living demonstration that he prizes Christ and his gospel above all things. If he backs off and instead decides to live for himself this will mean his faith was a sham and he had been self-deceived. To those the Spirit unites to Christ, He also gives a faith that endures to the end, and one which produces a transformed life. Paul is simply saying that he does all things for the sake of the gospel because he is living for the day when God will grant him to partake of the unspeakable blessings of that gospel.
2) Winning the Prize Of An Imperishable Crown: 9:24-25. Notice in vs. 24 Paul says “run in such a way that you may win.” Winning or losing the race is at stake! Further he mentions “only one receives the prize.” The only other place in the NT that this Greek word for “prize” is found is in Phil.3:12-14. The prize is the upward call of God or his heavenly inheritance. Not to win this prize is not to get to heaven! When Paul tells us “run in such a way that you may win” heaven is hanging on whether we do or not. He is not saying that salvation is of works, as though we must in our own strength lay hold of heaven. Rather, he says that Christ has already laid hold of us, and that’s the only reason we can lay hold of the goal. Further in vs.25 Paul says “They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” The word for wreath is stephanos, which is usually translated as crown. The closest parallel to Paul’s use of stephanos here is in 2Tim.4:7-8. Notice in vs.7 that Paul mentions fighting the good fight, and finishing the course. Clearly running a race and fighting a fight are in his mind there, just as they were in 1Cor.9:24-27. In vs.8 he says “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day.” Paul has already been justified. That is to say the righteousness of Christ has already been imputed to him on account of his faith in Him. This crown of righteousness is yet future to be awarded on Judgment Day. This must be that final righteousness that will fit us for heaven. We are not talking about imputed righteousness but imparted righteousness. It is that act of glorification in which we become perfectly righteousness in practice, not just in position. So, to win the race, to receive the prize of an imperishable crown is speaking about the same thing Paul had mentioned in 9:23 – entering into the fully glory of our heavenly inheritance. That’s what at stake in this race!
3) The Possibility of Being Disqualified: 9:27. Now, what does Paul mean by being disqualified? There are 3 major interpretations:
- disqualified from further Christian service. If Paul does not discipline his body he is in danger of falling into sin and being put on the shelf so that he is no longer fit to serve as an apostle.
- disqualified from receiving eternal rewards, although not disqualified from entering heaven. This fits contextually with the idea of a prize and an imperishable crown in vs.25. This would be the same truth he already taught in 1Cor.3:14-15 where he says that in the final judgment if a man’s work is burned up, he will suffer the loss of rewards, although he himself will be saved.
- disqualified refers to being disqualified from entering heaven and winning the imperishable crown of righteousness. Although not without its difficulties, this final view is the one I lean towards, namely because it takes seriously what this word meant in its original form. The word is adokimos. The lexicon definition is “not standing the test, not approved, spurious, reprobate, worthless, rejected.” It is used in 2Cor.13:5. Remember that we have the same author (Paul) using the same Greek word in both instances, and he is writing to the same church. There he says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test?” It is used in Hebrews 6:8 where it means “worthless, and ends up being burned.” It is used in 2 Timothy 3:8 it refers to “men who oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith.” Because of how this word is used in the rest of the NT, I am driven to the conclusion that Paul is not talking about getting less rewards in heaven. He’s talking about not making it to heaven at all! This would be very similar to what Paul writes in Romans 8:13 “if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
So, the stakes in running this race are infinitely high. Whether we win or not means whether we enjoy the glory of heaven or not. How we live our lives is serious business! We are not to trifle with life. How we run and fight will mean whether we partake of the promises of the gospel or not, whether we win or lose this race, whether we attain the prize of the upward call of God in Christ or not, whether we receive the unfading crown of righteousness or not.
2. How Must We Run This Race?
Again Paul introduces the way we must run by the phrase “in such a way”. It also occurs 3 times. 9:24, 26 (2x).
1) With Passion: 9:24. This is the only imperative in this paragraph. Paul is not giving good advice, he’s issuing a divine command. “There are many runners in a race. Only 1 guy wins. You be that guy! Run the Christian life like the runner runs the race who is determined to win it.” Well, how does the runner run in such a way that he may win? He is driven! He directs all of his concentration, focus, energy, and effort towards this goal. He does not walk, or skip towards the finish line. He doesn’t give it a half-hearted attempt. He’s determined to give this race everything he has. Let’s call it a white hot zeal! This is the way God has commanded us to live the Christian life! A Christian can be excused if he is not greatly intelligent, or have great physical strength, but not if he does not have zeal. Does this describe the way you approach your Christian life? The way you approach communing with God? The way you approach obeying His commands? The way you approach serving the Church? The way you approach winning the lost? The way you approach using your gifts? The way you approach loving the brethren? Listen to these NT commands:
Eccl.9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”
Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door”
John 6:27 “Work for the food which endures to eternal life”
1Cor.15:58 “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord”
Gal.6:9 “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
Eph.5:16 “Make the most of your time”
Phil.2:12 “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”
Heb.6:11 “show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end.”
1Pet.1:22 “fervently love one another from the heart.”
Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved – to live with all my might while I do live.” This is simply the practical outworking of “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”
God deliver us from lukewarmness, apathy, and half-heartedness!
2) With Purpose: 1Cor.9:26. Not without aim. In other words, Paul kept the goal ever in front of him. He didn’t skip off into a meadow, or sit down on the side of the racetrack. He kept his eyes on the finish line, the goal, the prize, on Christ Himself. Heb.12:1-2. It’s so important that we have single-minded purpose. There are a million things we can do with our life. But what must we do with our life? That will be determined by our single purpose in life. My purpose in life needs to be the same as that of Jesus Christ. His purpose was to glorify God on the earth and accomplish the work which He gave Him to do (Jn.17:4). Paul summed up his single-minded purpose in Acts 20:24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” Because Paul had a single-minded purpose he won the race! “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2Tim.4:7). Do you live your Christian life with a single-minded purpose?
3) With Discipline : 9:25 “everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.” The Greek word for “competes” is agonidzomai, from which we get our English word “agonizes.” In order for an athlete to compete and win he must exercise ruthless self-control and discipline. Those who participated in the Isthmian games trained for 10 months prior to the race. When others were partying, he had to say “No.” When others stayed up late into the night, he had to say “No.” When others slept in, he had to be different. When others took a life of ease and comfort and pleasure, he had to stand out. If he wanted to win the race, he couldn’t live like others. He had to deny himself many things that others could indulge in. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Paul goes on to say in 9:26 “I box in such a way as not beating the air.” What does he mean by that? He explains in 9:27 “but I discipline my body and make it my slave.” The word “discipline” literally means “beat black and blue; to give a black eye.” Further he says “I make it my slave.” In other words, I force my body to do what it ought to do, not what it wants to do. In Paul’s case I’m quite sure his body did not want to walk all day long to the next town. It didn’t want to go through sleepless nights. It didn’t want to be stoned. It didn’t want to be whipped. It didn’t like being hungry. But if Paul was to finish his course well, he had to make his body do what it didn’t want to do. He had to discipline it. So, like a boxer who makes every punch count, Paul beat his body into submission and forced it to surrender to God’s will.
Winning this race means loving God and loving people. Let’s talk about loving God. This includes communion with God which will require effort. It will require you to force your body to rise in the morning so you have time to be with God before you head off to work. It will mean making your body cease doing a million other things, so that you can do the one thing needful: find your delight in God’s presence. And your body won’t like this one bit! This will mean making your body go to church, bible study, community group, or prayer meeting when it is tired and would like to pamper itself.
Let’s talk about loving people. This will mean making your body give up its desire to pursue your self-will, and instead concentrate on serving others. It may mean forcing yourself to go to your LTG or community group when you haven’t had much sleep or don’t feel great. You get the picture! How important it is that we learn to discipline our bodies and make them our slaves! It will mean the difference between winning the race and the prize, or being disqualified. God help us to finish well!
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