Transcript

Well, let’s go over to 1 Corinthians 9:15 and we’ll go down through verse 27. As the apostle Paul begins to give us some insights into his own heart and his commitment, and I’ve entitled the message, A Dedicated Disciple.

1 Corinthians chapter 9, beginning in verse 15. Paul says,” but I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things that it may be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than to have any man make my boast an empty one. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a salve to all, that i might win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified”.

A dedicated disciple. That certainly is what the apostle Paul was. And I want to point out two main things that will be true about any dedicated disciple. Number one, first of all, there will be a renouncement of rights. A renouncement of rights. You could say a denying or a giving up of so called rights. And the first right that the apostle Paul said he had as a gospel preacher that he was willing to renounce or give up, was the right to a salary. Now last Sunday night we looked at this very thoroughly about how the apostle Paul said it is proper and right to compensate the man of God financially for his ministry in the word among you, but Paul say is this case, because of the false teachers who are using the fact that I receive a salary to discredit me, and because there are carnal and back slidden folks in the church who are fussing about this, he says, I’ll just to receive a salary. I’ll just take that one away form you. And even though the apostle Paul is not making a point for all ministers to follow this example, he is making a point about renouncing rights. And we begin in verse 15 with this renouncement of a right to a salary, and he says there clearly in verse 15, “but I have used none of these things”.

Now what are these things he’s talking a bout that he is not utilizing. Well, we begin all the way back up in verse 4, and he says, “do we not have a right to eat and drink”. His first point is, we have a right as the men of God to expect the church to pay us a salary so that our personal needs are met.

And then what are some of the other things. Well, in verse 5 he says, “do we not have a right to take along a believing wife”. He says, not only my personal needs, but it is right for the churches to support my family if I had a wife and family. Now Paul is single, and that gave him some liberties and freedoms that of course a married minister would not have.

And then he talks about the fact in verse 7 that “a soldier would never fight at his own expense”, and he says, that parallels with a preacher should not have to preach on his own expense, and then “the person who plants a vineyard and keeps a vineyard should not have to do that at his, at his own expense”. And then a person whose a shepherd, all this in verse 7, should not have to do that, at his own expense.

And then he talks about an ox down there in uh verse 9, that while an ox is helping you to thresh the grain, “you should not muzzle the ox”, the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy taught that, the ox should have the right to reap if you will, or to feed himself from his own labor, so should the preacher, he’s saying, be able to have his needs met from his labor in the gospel, from those particular people.

And then in verse 11 he said, there’s that basic law of sowing and reaping, “the man of God sows spiritual things, he ought to reap material things back in return”. And then he came to that very strong argument down in verse 14 or 13 and 14, he said, remember how the priest of the Old Testament, how the law required all the people to bring all the first fruits of all the, everything that came in, and the best of all their first fruits. And God said, all of that was for the priest, and he says, notice how well God expected the priest to be taken care of in the Old Testament. He said that and all the forementioned things, all of those things were rightfully mine, but I’m not using any of that. He said, I’ll not ask for any of that. He said, I have an exceedingly strong argument to expect you to pay me, a good salary, but he said, I’m bypassing that right.

Verse 15 continues, let’s just read it all. “But he says, But I have used none of these things. And And I am not writing these things that it may be done so in my case”. He says, I have not received any of that from you, even though you should have offered it, and I’m not now hinting that you need to start giving me a salary for my labor among you, and then he continues there with a very strong and intense statement in the original Greek. That is the last statement of verse 15 where he says, “for it would be better for me to die than to have any man make my boast an empty one”. Generally speaking, he’s saying, I would die before I would let some of the heretical false teachers, I would die before I would let some of the self centered, carnal, back slidden church members, make a case out of me receiving a, a salary for preaching. I’d die first, Paul says.

Now before you make Paul out to be a.., maybe, he’s a great spiritual giant, probably the greatest who ever lived since the Lord Jesus, but we do know from other texts that the apostle Paul was receiving regular compensation, financially speaking, from four other churches. So its not like he’s going to have nothing when he tells the Corinthians not to, that he’s not asking them for anything. Its just that he’s saying I should receive it from you, but I’m giving up that right, I”m renouncing that right to a salary.

And then look at verse 16, rather. He says, “for if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion, for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”. Now when Paul says, if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion. Literally that means it lies up on him. He said, God Almighty has laid something on me to do. And he says, if I do what my Lord tells me to do, that’s, I have nothing to brag about. Haven’t done anything extra, I haven’t done anything commendable, I’ve done just what a lowly servant should do. Jesus has called him, and he can do no other, and he deserves no credit for what Jesus has called him to do.

And tying this in, Paul is saying, that he was free to refuse payment, from the church at Corinth, for his gospel ministry, but he was not free to refuse to preach the gospel. There’s no man on earth that’s God called that will stop preaching if you stop paying him. Now he may, he may stop preaching to you if you stop paying him, but he will not stop preaching. When he’s called of God, he’s got to preach. If he’s called of God, he’s got to minister. You cannot, as a matter of fact, I would say, if you analyzed my life and you took my life back when you paid me $85 a week, and now that you pay me a little more than that, I would, I would think if you looked at my life there’s really no difference in Jeff’s zeal or enthusiasm, from $85 a week to where he is today. Because I’m not doing it for the pay, I’m doing it because of the call. I’m doing it because God gave me this responsibility. I may have the right to refuse compensation and nothing would thrill me more than for somehow, some way, God would get me to the point that I could sustain my family without receiving a check from the church. That would thrill me.

W. A. Crissell, the pastor of the First Baptist church of Dallas, Texas, has repaid the church their at First Baptist Dallas, all the salary they’ve ever paid him, and he doesn’t receive a salary any more. But of course, he has some oil men in his church that gave him some oil wells many years ago. That helps a little bit, you understand. But nonetheless, he didn’t have to do that, it was still proper for him to receive the salary, as long as he ministered there. He simply saying, you don’t have to pat the preacher on the back and say, boy we appreciate you preaching the gospel, we’re just so glad you decided to do that.

Folks, I didn’t decide to do this, it wasn’t my choice. I was  apprehended by the Almighty and given this course. I know what its like when he says, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. I would be the most miserable man on planet earth. I’ve told you a thousand times, just about every Sunday my flesh says I want a Sunday off. Every Sunday I say I want a Sunday off. Man, I need a Sunday off, I want a week when I don’t have to study, I want a week when we don’t have all the administrative stuff and the nuts calling your house who are drunk wanting help, I want a week away form it. Every week I say I want a Sunday off, and then I get a Sunday off and Monday morning after the Sunday off, I’d say, I want to preach, I’m ready to preach the gospel to somebody. Its just there when you are called. It has nothing to do.., and Paul just simply says, man, I’m under compulsion, its God called and God given. I’d submit to you again, some of these young people, we have so many young people who have surrendered to the ministry, let me tell you young person, know that you know that you know that you know God called you. That mama didn’t call you , and grandmama didn’t call you, and the church didn’t call you, and no, God called you. If you can do anything else, do it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Go out and get a degree try something else. And if God just keeps pulling on you, then surrender to the ministry. If you can do anything else, do it. Trust me moms and dads, you listen to what I’m going to tell you, you don’t want your sons going through the heartaches that the man in the pulpit goes through unless God’s called him. Trust me. He don’t need to be there if he’s not supernaturally endowed to handle, you get hit from all directions, pressure form every side. When you stand behind this desk. You’d better know you’d better know you’re called when you get here.

Well, look at verse 17. He’s still talking about, he’s renouncing his right to a salary. He says, “for if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward”. He says, if I woke up one day and said, you know God’s a good God, I think I’ll help God out, I’m a very talented person, I’m very articulate, I’ve studied theology, I think I would be good for God in his work, I think I’ll be a preacher. I think I’ll just volunteer to help old God out. He saying, if I did that, then of course I would deserve a reward. I chose to do something. But he said, that’s not the way it is.

Last phrase, verse 17, “but if against my will I have a stewardship entrusted to me”. Now in this verse Paul is not showing the difference between cheerfully preaching and reluctantly preaching, Alright. That’s not what he’s pointing out. He’s showing the difference between optional preaching and obligatory preaching. He said, its not an option for me whether or not I preach. Now, Paul said, I have a stewardship entrusted to me, I have a call on my life, and he’s not saying this is some drudgery to me, he says I enjoy my call, I’m glad I’ve been called, but nonetheless, I didn’t volunteer for this thing, it got me.

I’ll never for, forget Jerry Spenser, who was preaching one night and he was talking about how we preachers want to quit, want to give up, want to throw in the towel, we’re tired of it, sick of it, and then he says, you know God showed me one day that you can’t quit what you didn’t start. And that’s true for all of us, you can’t quit what you didn’t start. And that’s basically what Paul is saying. I didn’t volunteer for this. You can’t pat me on the back and say oh, that’s wonderful that you gave your life to the ministry. What do you mean wonderful? God laid this on me. There’s a compulsion that’s been laid on me and that’s what the apostle Paul was talking about.

You see, there’s a big difference in what a slave does in obedience to a command. And that’s the way Paul was picturing himself. I’m just his slave, and my master gave me a command, preach, preach my gospel. There’s a big difference in what a slave does in obedience to a command, and what a man volunteers to do of his own accord. A slave may feel honored by the command of his master, and obey gladly, but its still just a service, he’s done nothing special and nothing extra, whatsoever.

Paul was commanded to preach the gospel, and gladly did it but was not commanded to refuse payment for the gospel. And that’s what he says he doesn’t want anybody to make his boast in vain. He wasn’t commanded to refuse payment from the church, now he could voluntarily refuse that. But he didn’t have any choice about volunteering about preaching. That was cut and dried.

So he’s tying that whole truth together, as he shows his heart. As a matter of fact, keep you finger in I Corinthians chapter 9, and to, look at Luke 17, look what our Lord said here. Luke 17:10. As a matter of fact, you just cut my salary off and see if I don’t keep preaching. I’ll preach bad about you, but I’ll keep preaching. Luke 17:10. “He says, so you too when you do all the things which are commanded you saying, we are unworthy slaves, we have done only that which we ought to have done”. That’s what we ought to say. That’s what every preacher ought to say. I have done nothing special when I study, I”ve done nothing special when I pray, I’ve done nothing special when I prepare and get on my face before God, I’ve done nothing special when I put these notes down, I’ve done nothing special when I pray over these notes, and I’ve done nothing special when I preach God’s word, that’s what I am called to do by my master, I’m his slave. I’m an unworthy slave. Just obeying my master’s command.

Well, now Paul’s saying all of that again tying that in to his refusal to receive the salary. He had a right to receive the salary, and the way he lays it out a very generous salary, but he says, I’ll renounce that right, because it could be a hindrance due to the heretical false teachers who’ve crept in and due to the back slidden condition of the church at Corinth. So he says, I’ll gladly renounce that right. And a real dedicated Christian, is willing to renounce his rights for the cause of Christ.

I do not know what rights young people, God may be asking you to renounce for the cause of Christ, but if you’re a dedicated disciple, there will be some so called rights, some things that should be your’s but you are willing to renounce those for the cause of Christ. I don’t know what it would be single person or mom and dad, or grandmother and granddaddy in the work place, a thousand and one different applications of this principle, but a dedicated disciple is willing to renounce some rights. For the cause of the gospel.

Now had the apostle Paul not been single, had the apostle Paul had a wife like Cephas and the other apostles, had he had children to take care of, he pronounced, could not have renounced this particular right. But as a single man, this is a particular way he could give up a right to further the cause of the gospel.

Look at verse 18, go back to I Corinthians 9 and look at verse 18, we’re still talking about his renouncing to his right of a salary, and he says there in verse 18, “what then is my reward”. Now, now tie this in. He’s saying, since I’m only doing what I’m commanded to do as a slave, I don’t deserve any reward for that, what then is my reward. “That when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel”. He said, this is my reward, that I can refuse the proper payment that I should receive from ministering to you. He said, that’s rewarding to me. That’s rewarding to me. To preach without any charge. Doesn’t say that charging is wrong, as a matter of fact, he spent all the verses previous to this saying, that charging is right. He’s just saying, that was rewarding to me. To be able to preach the gospel and renounce my right to a salary.

Now there have been those in the ministry who have done things along this line and seemingly and I believe in their hearts they purposed to do what was right and they ended up doing something very hurtful, I’ll give you one quick example. There was a, a large church in our state who had a, a man as the pastor, who pastored there for many, many years. And he never ever, ever accepted a salary raise. Never accepted a salary raise. This was about eight or nine years ago, this man’s salary was just in the, the teens, like 14, 15, 16, 000 dollars a year. He was an elderly man, he had some money put back, he had a home paid for, he didn’t need it, and, and the people thought that was so grand and so wonderful, that this man would, would do that, and in his heart I know he was intending to do what was best. But one thing happened. He retired and left that church. And a young pastor came to that church who had five children. And they just about killed that man and his family because they said, if you’re spiritual you won’t want a pay raise either. You are suppose to be like doctor so and so that was here, and never, and that guy really struggled, and there was all kinds of warfare in the church because he needed triple or more the salary of the other guy, he had children he was raising. So churches have to be wise and careful in this area.

And, and once again, let’s remember the apostle Paul is a single man, didn’t have a wife and children, and number two, we know four other churches who regularly were supporting him probably at this very time. But for the church at Corinth, he had a full right to receive generous compensation for his ministry among them, but he said, its my glory, its my reward to renounce that right to a salary form you. The church at Corinth. And any dedicated disciple is willing to renounce some rights to advance the gospel.

Now notice not only did he denounce the right to a salary, he also renounced the right to self preference. Self preference. We see this in verse 19 through 24. Let’s begin there in verse 19. He says, “For though I am free from all men”, in other words, I”m not bound to any man made laws, requirements or ideas. He said, I’m free from all of that, I’m bound to God’s law, not to anything from man. “I’m free from all men”. Now, now notice, “but I have made myself a salve to all”, that i might win the more. So he says, I have a voluntary bondage to all men. He said, I’ voluntarily enslave myself to men that somehow I may win them. And he’s tying it, this back again to the church at Corinth by saying, I voluntarily refused payment so that I might have a more effective soul winning ministry among you. I voluntarily put myself in within that restraint.

So he’s showing us that self denial carries over into all areas, it may be in the area of salary, in this particular, specific situation, and then again in other situations, it may be in many others. Now here’s an important point. In nonessentials, Paul was always yielding of his rights. But it would, when it came to essentials, biblical absolutes, biblical truth that was clear, Paul was more than dogmatic, Paul was bull-dogmatic. Are you following me. In non-essentials, whether or not a woman wears makeup, whether or not a woman should wear a skirt or pants, whether or not a Christian can go to a movie, there are a lot of nonessentials, and Paul said, when faced with some of those particular situations, if I was trying to reach that particular person with the gospel, I would gladly yield my right and go along with what they felt about the situation. But when they came to some doctrinal or moral issue that the word was clear on, I never yielded in those areas, to reach them. But my self preference was always yielded in nonessential areas if that might help me win others.

Look at verses 20, he continues, “And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the Law, though not myself, or not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the law”. Now he’s generally saying here, I’ve learned how to put the gospel to the Jews, without offending them and without compromising the law of my God. And the Jews had all of these ceremonial laws, maybe he went to a Jew’s house and he was trying to win that Jew to the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul of course was a converted Jew, and they brought in certain types of meat and they wouldn’t eat certain others, Paul said, when they sat down and they had their Jewish dietary laws, Paul says, I knew there was nothing to diet getting you to heaven, but he said, I would go along and eat what they presented and wouldn’t rebuke them about what they did or didn’t like about their, their meals, because that’s a nonessential. Food’s food. When I dealt with Jews I did as much as I could to go along with them, so that I would not offend them and I might possibly be able to win them.

But we must remember this was a voluntary concession that never violated any essential doctrine or truths of the word. Now listen very carefully, some of you young people, some college people, particularly, there are a lot of ministries among students today that I think are very close to real sin in these areas, because they become very pragmatic about reaching people. They become very much geared as, a, as the end justifying the means. We go along, join up, participate in all these clubs, groups and activities that are full of sin because we’re trying to win somebody in those. That’s not what Paul was talking about.

As a matter of fact, he makes that very clear. Look at a couple of verses, keep your finger in I Corinthians 9, and look at Acts 16:3. Acts 16:3, we’re going to see Paul, I would say, I have to say Paul and Timothy here, you really yielding up a nonessential area in order that that they might possibly win more people to Christ.

Acts 16:3, Paul wanted this man to go with him, this man is Timothy. “And he took him”, Timothy, “and circumcised him”, an adult man. “Because of the Jews who were in those parts for they all knew that his father was a Greek”. In this particular situation, Paul said, Timothy we know that circumcision doesn’t mean anything about a man having a right standing before God, but those Jews we’re trying to reach do believe that. So in order for us not to have a stumbling block right up front with these folks, we’re going to circumcise you, I don’t know, it doesn’t say how Timothy felt about this thing, but we’re talking about pastoral authority here, there’s no discussion, vote, didn’t bring it before the church. Paul just said, you on my staff, this is what we’ve got to do, you know, we don’t want you to be an offense. So, that’s yielding your rights brother, to reach the lost.

Now there were times when Paul said, you give up and yield some thing, body, Timothy had every right to remain as he was. But this was a particular case where that was needful, it was a nonessential area. Now look at another area though, look at Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 we see right the opposite happening because it was a different type situation. Galatians chapter 2 verse 5. This is about Titus. And they, there were some false Judiasers, some false teachers called Judiasers, who were insisting that circumcision is a part of salvation. And so they wanted Titus, one of Paul’s associate pastors to be circumcised and notice what Paul said, Galatians 2. “But we did not yield in subjection to them, for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you”. Paul said in this particular case, this would have fueled the false heretical teaching that works is a part of salvation. So in that case, that is a nonnegotiable. I could not yield anything there, Paul said.

Now here’s the real point. Now you listen very carefully to what I’m going to tell you. Paul and all of us as Christian, we never defend our rights, but we must defend what is right. Did you get it. We never defend our rights, but we must defend what is right. Paul didn’t stand up before those false teachers and say, now Titus has a right to remain as he is, Titus has a right to refuse circumcision. Didn’t say that, he simply was saying this. We’re not going to give these false any ammunition for their heretical gospel, saying that circumcision and works is a part of the gospel. So in this case, he certainly did not allow that to take place.

So that’s just a picture of how in different settings and different situations that one time you may can yield and never violate biblical truth and biblical authority, on another situation, depending on the viewpoint and what’s happening in that environment, you may very well be violating biblical absolutes and you cannot yield. But generally speaking he yields his personal preference. He says, when I’m with the Jews, I’ll go along with their ceremonial laws, as long as it doesn’t discredit gospel truth.

Now, look, continuing in 1 Corinthians 9:21. He continues “as though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without the law”. Now, he, when he says now on the other hand, there are Jews who are still functioning under the law, then there are those who have never been taught the mosaic law. There are those who are not Jewish in this heritage, and they have no concept of the Old Testament law. And he says, when I’m with those guys, I’ll try to get along with them, I’ll try to meet them where they are, I’ll try to identify with them, that I might somehow win them. But he makes a very important qualification in verse 21. “To those who are without the law”, he said, “I’m as without law”, here’s the phrase, “though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Chris”.

Now you trying to reach somebody with the gospel, as a matter of fact, I heard some time a while back, that there was a group trying to reach night club people. And they were forming Bible studies in the night clubs. That when all these night club dances and everybody else got up work, off work they would go to the Bible study. In my opinion, they just violated that text. They were trying to be like those who were without the law of God, but they forgot they also had to remain under the law of Christ. In other words, they can’t violate clear biblical moral absolutes to reach people.

And there are so many other examples we could give. Paul’s rebuke of Peter on that occasion when, when Peter was refusing to eat with Gentile believers, but was eating with Jewish believers because he wanted to identify with them and perhaps reach them and appease them, who knows all of his motives, but Paul firmly and openly, publicly rebuked Peter for that situation. So even though we try to, identify with people.

Let me make another clarification here. In no way shape or fashion is this implying that the pastor and the leadership of the church are suppose to structure their worship services so that the unregenerate are comfortable. That’s not what this is teaching. We’re not suppose to make God’s church into some sort of carnival so that lost people are comfortable so that we might win them. The whole context here is personal evangelism out there in the market places of the world. Its out there when your invited to dinner, its out there in the classroom at school, its out there in the factory, its out there in the neighborhoods, you don’t run up and down the streets in the neighborhood and start preaching to people all about of these sideline issues. No, you be a real friend to them, and you meet them where they are and you try to identify with them. If I go witness to a fellow and I see he’s got a four wheel drive vehicle out front, I”m going to tell him about how many dear I killed this year. We’re going to me, meet him where he is. And in whatever else, and, those things are nonessentials. But you can never compromise biblical truth to reach someone. And we should never find ourselves trying to help out God by sinning to reach the lost. What an evil that is.

But let’s don’t forget our prefer, our principle here, God is, Paul is saying I renounce my rights of self preference. I’m a Jew with the Jews, as much as I can be without sinning, those who are without the law, I act like them, when I’m with them, when I witness to them, as much as possible, without sinning. And then look down in verse 22, “To the weak I have become weak, that I might win the weak”. Now the weak here I believe are those who are weak in the knowledge of the truth. He said, I witness to a lot of people who have no concept of gospel truth. I just try to meet them where they are and try to witness to them and talk them toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says, “I have become all things to all men that I may by all means win some”. So he’s saying here, my life is driven, the apostle Paul is saying, by a self renouncing love for my Lord and for lost souls. That’s the key factor. Don’t get hung up on all these well, now is this, this and this wrong, but this, this, don’t worry about all the particulars. Where is your heart? Is your heart where Paul’s heart is. A self renouncing love for Christ. And for the lost. That’s why he says, I’m doing all of this stuff, all of this renouncing of my rights that I might by all means save some.

Now saving men was Paul’s goal. And it was worth renouncing a salary, it was worth renouncing self preference. If that was necessary. To win more souls to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now look at verse 23. He says, “and I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it”. Now those who would hold to works salvation have a, ha, ha, have a delirious party on this verse. I do all thing for the sake of the gospel that i may become a fellow partaker of it. They would say there, here you see Paul, trying and hoping and striving that maybe somehow, some day, he will get in on the gospel, and he’ll really get saved himself. All I could say, if Paul was that uncertain, if he was struggling, all the rest of us just box ourselves up and go on to hell. Because if Paul was struggling to even maybe think he might get in on it, the rest of us are sunk. Would you agree with that.

A. T. Robertson’s probably the greatest Greek authority who has written in the last 200 years, and he says, literally that phrase could be translated “I have, and I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I might be a good partner with it”. That I might be a good partner with it. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying, God’s given me the gospel, and the gospel’s perfect. The gospel’s going to do its work. The gospel has power. You preach Jesus and him crucified, him buried, him resurrected, that men are sinners, they need his forgiveness, the gospel’s fine. He says, I just want to be a faithful vessel, so that me and the gospel are partners. To go out there and get God’s bride for him. That’s what he’s saying. I want to do everything I can be a good partner, he’s given me the perfect gospel, now I want to be a perfect partner with this gospel to share it with everybody I can and to do my part particularly as the apostle to the Gentiles. Peter and James were the apostles to the Jews, but Paul said, I’ve got my role or responsibility as apostle to the Gentiles, I want to be a good partner with this gospel.

And so in like principle, all of us are partners with the gospel. The gospel saves and the gospel alone saves, but God’s chosen to use human vessels to spread that gospel. So when you leave this room tonight, you’re going out with the gospel beside you. You’ve got your arm around the gospel, the gospel has his arm around you and ya’ll are going out as partners tomorrow. And see what ya’ll going to do together. It takes both of you to get the job done. That’s what Paul is saying. He’s saying, I certainly don’t want to enjoy the gospel by myself, I want to be a good partner, so that many, many others can be partakers of it also. This full and free salvation.

Now, boy, let me ask you something. Sunday school teacher, are you driven by a self renouncing love for lost people. A self renouncing love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sunday school classes, are you getting in your classes and saying, every class, every class, every class ought to get together this next week and say, we’re partners for the gospel. Now, the gospel’s perfect, you don’t have to do anything to it, but for some reason, in God’s sovereignty and almighty authority he said, I want you to take it now to other folks. Just like a marriage can’t be a marriage without both husband and wife. So the gospel will not be spread without a human vessel to proclaim it and share it.

We’ll, let’s have that heart of the apostle Paul. Let’s become all things to all men out there in the factory. You’ve got a guy that works beside you in the factory, don’t stick up your nose at him, meet him where he is. As long as you don’t have to sin to do it. Get to him, you’re going to find 99% of those people that you think are snobs, or stuck up, will never come to the Lord, they are hurting inside, very deeply.

Try to meet them, love them where they are like Paul was saying, they are a Jew, try to be a Jew to them. Of course, we don’t have that same analogy, but we have others. If they are without the law, try to be without the law. But never sin. Never violate scripture to reach them. There will be times when you have to make a stand and maybe lose their ear, perhaps, but that has to happen, if it comes to violating the word of God.

And let’s be good partners. With the gospel of Jesus Christ. Man, can you even imagine how and why God would make us partners of the gospel. Incredible. I mean, the message that saves men for eternity, that’s what we are going to talk about in, in the last half of this text is that we run the race because its a worthy race to run. It changes men for eternity, eternity is on the line with this. And we get to be a part.

A dedicated disciple, is a man who renounces his rights, out of love for Christ, and love for lost souls.

Now let’s come to the second major point. So first of all, he says, I will renounce my rights in order to honor Christ and be effective for him and serve him. And secondly, he’s going to show us that he was resolved to run the race, notice his resolve to run the race. Now, when I say run the race, and this is in verses 24 through verse 27, when Paul says, run the race here, he’s not talking about the race to heaven, but that race to complete the special task, he was assigned as apostle to the Gentiles. He’s already on the team, but now that he’s on the team, salvation is getting on the team. He’s already on the team. But now that he’s on the team, he had a special assignment and he says, I want to complete that assignment. I want to run that race to the end and run it well.

Now you and I can never again run Paul’s race. So let me give you this word of caution as a as a new or immature believer, every time I read about Paul’s sacrifice and commitment and everything, I thought if I didn’t sacrifice and if I was not committed in exactly the specific same way, I’m backslid. And I put great burdens of legalism on myself, and probably on some of you. I was innocent in my motives because I was trying to act like the Apostle Paul. And then one day God said, there are no more apostles. I’m not calling any more men to the office of apostle that era over. I’ve completed my canon. There are no more men who can go to any church anywhere. Walk in the door and say, pastor, sit down. I’m in authority. There are no more of those guys. How many of you would rejoice if a guy walked in the door, said, I’m God’s Apostle, by the way, brother, just sit down. I’ve got a authoritative word from God. We don’t follow that anymore. There’s no one with that apostoic of authority. We now have pastor-teachers to take the writings of the apostles, the completed New Testament, and teach those to the church.

So I was trying to follow the dictates that God put on an apostle. So you need to take the principles Paul is talking about, but not all the practicals. For example, he was a single man who didn’t seek to be married because he wanted to be all he could for God. That’s not necessarily my calling or years, so watch out when you try to pin some of the specifics about the apostolic ministry on us, in our age, all the specifics will not fit, but the principles do fit.

Now anyway, Paul is saying his resolved to run the race, not the race to get to heaven, that’s already settled, but the race to complete the task God’s given him. Now, all of us sitting in this room, God’s given you a particular task. Now you may not know it is clearly defined as perhaps I know man and maybe Paul knew he is. But you have a task, and your task is chiefly related to your spiritual gifts and the needs of your local church. Let me say that again. Your task, the race you are to run, is particularly related to your spiritual gifts and the need of your local church. Now, if you’ll understand that you’re well on your way because you know the race you’re to run is to minister for God and to Christ, to and through your local church. And so therefore you look and say, what are the gifts I have? How can I use these gifts to meet needs and advance the cause of God’s local church he’s put me in. It’s amazing to me how many people miss that. When they talk about their calling, or their task, or their mission, usually they come up this broad, mystical, abstract thing out there. No, it’s simple and practical. Your local church family, what are the needs, what gifts you have to help meet that need? And how is your church structured in order to meet those needs? Dive in. Jump in. Go forward. Finish your race. Like Paul said, be resolved. I’m going to finish the task that God has given me.

Now. Well, I’ll I’ll skip that verse and let me go on to my first sub-point under Resolve to Run the Race. First of all, he says, I run the race. I rather “I run to win the race”. I run so that I might win it. And we see this in verses 24 and 26. In verse 24 he says, “do you not know those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win”. Now there are those who would take this idea of running and only one wins and says, “see there, the Bible teaches you’ve got to run, and if you win, you get to go to heaven”. If that’s an analogy of going to heaven, you know what it means. Only one person gets to go. The guy who comes out at the top when it’s all said and done. I mean, if you’re going to use that as an analogy, let’s follow it all the way. How many people win the 100 yard dash? Only one. How many people win the Boston Marathon only one. It’s the first place guy! So if you’re going to use that as an analogy, let’s use it all the way.

That’s not what he’s talking about. He’s just simply saying, as you are figuring out and you might not know definitively, but as you begin to see how God can use you in your local church, that’s your ministry for the Lord, as you begin to say that take off and work for that with great resolve, in the same way that an Olympic type athlete would resolve to come in first place. Not that the first place is significant. The analogy is not perfect, but if you want you to get the general principle of the resolve and dedication. Paul says, “run to win the race”. Run to complete that task God has given you.

Now, in this day and time, the Isthmian Games were held in Corinth every third summer, and when they’d had these great little Olympic time games, the guy who won the race was always immortalized. Sounds a little bit like athletes today, does it? I mean, they made these guys gods. The greatest thing you could do was to win that race. And these people he’s writing to. He uses that analogy because these Corinthians understood well how deeply committed an athlete was when he competed in these games. These Corinthians knew what kind of resolve it took. If you are going to be the winner.

I was reading about, Nancy Kerrigan, that figure skater who won the silver medal in Albertville, France. And it was interesting, as I read this, her mother’s name is Brenda. And if you remember, if you watched Nancy Kerrigan in the Olympics a few years ago, how her mother is legally blind. She had a virus when she was younger and the virus, has disabled her her seeing, and and the only way she could see her daughter, Nancy Skate was through a television monitor put right against her face. I mean, she’d put her face right up against it. They interviewed Brenda during the Olympics, and they ask her about what it took to reach this level. And she said, you know, it’s something for the last eight years, almost without exception, Nancy and I got up every morning at 4:30 a.m. to practice. We spent over $35,000 each year to train our daughter. That’s more than my husband’s annual salary. And then Brenda Kerrigan, Nancy Kerrigan’s mother, said this. Really, it never made any sense. We just did it.

Now, as you think about that, you think no one really in America has ridiculed, criticized or laughed at Nancy, or her mother Brenda, for that discipline and resolve when they really finally didn’t know exactly why. They just knew she was talented and went for it. That’s not unlike our Christian commitment, is it? You’re not going to intellectually figure out all the reasons why. You just know it’s the right race to be in, and it’s worth it to make that kind of commitment. You see, faithfulness does not secure all the answers, it simply responds in love. That’s what Paul’s saying when he says “run to win the race”. And Paul says he runs like that to complete the task. That’s before him. He wants to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ one day and hear the Lord say, “I gave you a special and unique task of being apostle to the Gentiles”. Never again will there be an apostle taking the gospel to the Gentiles for the first time. That’s already happened in Paul. “And Paul. I want you to know something. You ran as if other people were competing with you to try to get the gospel there first and do a full, thorough job with doctrine and everything else. Paul, I want you to know you completed the task”. “You ran as if you wanted to win the race”.

Look at verse 26. He continues on this same theme. He says there “I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air”. Now, first of all, he says, “I run in such a way as not without aim”. I mean, these guys in Corinth would understand what it would look like if a guy lined up at the starting block there in their Isthmian games and he took off, but he didn’t know whether go forwards or backwards. He’d go one way a little while, and turn back. He’s not going to run is very much zeal and resolve and dedication If he’s not sure where he’s aiming for, where the finish line is, Paul says, I don’t run like that. I run like I know where the finish line is and I’m going for everything I’ve got.

Then, he says, uses another analogy from the games of this day. He says, verse 26, last part “I box in such a way as not beating the air” Now they were very familiar with the way the boxers would warm up, and they would just box in the air, and as they’re boxing in the air, they’re just warming up and loosening up. They’re not they’re not using great discipline and zeal and power and they’re punches. They’re shadowboxing, Paul said. That’s not the way I box in the spiritual arena. I go for broke, like Mike Tyson’s in front of me, and I better get this guy with all I’ve got. He said, I’m going for broke. He said, I run to win the race.

And so he’s challenging the church at Corinth and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So he’s challenging us today. Maybe you’re not an apostle. That office is not functioning anymore, but maybe you’re a Sunday school teacher. You’ve been given the gift of teaching, and your race, your task is for God to use you in a mighty way in that Sunday school class. He said, go for it. Like the Olympic athlete would train and go for the first place medal and don’t coast. Don’t become at ease. Be disciplined. Be dedicated. Run to win the race. Give it everything you got. But not only does he say I run to win the race.

Secondly, he says “I run because it’s a worthy race”. It’s a worthy race. Look at verse 25, the first part and “every one who competes in the games exercise is self-control in all things”. Now, in this day 2000 years ago, as it is today, an Olympic level athlete, used extensive discipline, followed an extensive guideline of diet and exercise to prepare for these games. It was generally noted by historians that their training took 10 months of abstaining from wine, following a strict diet, and participating in rigorous, rigorous exercise. And so Paul knew these guys understood these insights. And so he says, you know, if you’re going to run, you need to have that kind of discipline about yourself. And then look at verse 25 B he completes his thought here by saying “they” the Olympic athlete, “then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable”. Now, the most honored thing that could happen to you at the games is for you to win. And when you won in this day, they did not put a gold medal around your head, around your neck. They put a vine on your head. It’s literally a wreath. Not a whole lot different than some of the green wreaths we put on our door at Christmas. For whatever reason, we just like them. But they need to have a Garland of pine leaves, of parsley, our wild olives. And this was the most coveted honor in the entire Greek world.

Now here’s what Paul saying. You’ve got all these Olympic athletes rigorously training with utmost discipline, diet, self-control, hard work. In our day, we’ve got the Nancy Kerrigan’s, her mom, Brenda Kerrigan. 4:30 a.m. every morning, practically speaking, eight years, $35,000 a year. And in that day, you know what they did it for? Something set on their head, made out of olive leaves that in a few years check that a few weeks will wilt and die and turn brown and begin to fall apart. But they have such a zeal and dedication, Paul says, how much more should we, because of the worth of what we’re about? They’re doing it for a perishable thing, a vine crown on their head. We’re talking about the eternal soul of men that’s on the line. How much more are ours is an exercise of infinite worth.

Now know what some of you guys face at work, and some of you guys face out there in the the world as perhaps people talk to you about our church. I say, man, you guys are crazy. I mean, you’re down there with that cult leader and he’s telling you, if you’re going to teach Sunday school, you ought to be faithful to visitation on Monday night. He’s telling if you’re going to be a leader in the church, at least have your income. And and they’ve got the standards for leadership down there, don’t you know, you can be a good Baptist, even a good Baptist deacon, and almost do nothing? Why would you be under the domination of all those rules and guidelines? And why would you do that outreach? And why would you go trying to enroll people and making sure you’re faithful on Monday night and trying to be in a an accountability group to stay strong in the Lord? What I mean, good grief, shouldn’t have to do all of that stuff.

But I was thinking there about. What is the result of doing this stuff? My friend, you listen to me when you get to heaven, and you men in these Sunday school classes that have seen people say, like these guys and the many others, and you look around and see these guys in heaven, you’re not going to miss the bass tournament. You’re not going to miss the bowling league. Ladies, you’re not going to miss the ladies flower Club. Our Rotarians, our Lions are the PTA. As important as that is, whatever else we do, God and infinite grace has allowed us to be a part of the worthy race. Look around. It works. It’s worth the effort. And really, what we require is such a tiny thing compared to what a person who loves Jesus ought to be willing to do. It’s worth it. It’s worth it. Paul says, man, they run to get this olive vine put on their head. Paul says, when I go to sleep at night, I think about hundreds of people worshiping Jesus in the city of Corinth that didn’t even know who Jesus was, before I showed up. That’s why I run. That’s why I do without somethings. So I can be faithful to God’s call and God’s calls. I run this race.

It’s a worthy race. But not only does Paul say run to win the race and run because it’s a worthy race. Lastly, he says, “run with wisdom in the race”, run with wisdom in the race, and notice Paul’s wisdom as he reveals it there in verse 27. First of all, he says in verse 27, “but I buffet (BUFF it) my body and make it my slave”. Now there’s a new Baptist translation of verse 27 that says, but I buffet (boo FAY) my body. But that’s not what Paul is saying. We know pretty much about buffeting our bodies, but that’s not what Paul is saying. He said, “but I buffet my body”, you know, that literally means this is, I “bruise” my body. Now, Paul, it doesn’t mean that he actually goes out and does harm to his physical body, like some of these pagan cults do, to show that God was sincere. He just simply saying I’m severe when he said I’m not going to let my body have its way because my body is stupid at times. My body is rebellious at times. My body don’t want to honor God at times, so I buffet. I keep it under control.

I was listening to a tape by John MacArthur and he brought up the issue of fasting, and he said, “sometimes when there’s nothing wrong with it, there’s no sin involved in it, and you can take yourself out to a luscious, sumptuous meal”, he says. “Sometimes y’all just say no just to show your body. It can’t have its way all the time”. That’s a good point. I’m not a regular faster. There’s nothing in the scripture that commends that either way, but there are occasional seasons. When I have fasted, I think the most ever fasted is three days, and occasionally I’ll fast for a day. And I went away for a day a while back and fasted, and I was in a cabin about an hour and 15 minutes away from here, and just got with God and planned our calendar for the next year, year and a half. And I believe I found God’s will, you know, and it was just good for me. As undisciplined as I am to keep telling my body, I know you’re hungry, I know you want something, but you don’t get your way all the time. It’s just good to tell your body,
“Body, you and your appetites are not my Lord Jesus is”. I’m not telling you how to do that or when to do that, but I’m just talking about the principle,

Paul said “I buffet my body”. Then he says “I make it my slave”. The metaphor here of this slave is the picture of the victor leading the captive by chains. This is a picture of a man, maybe he was the king of an opposing a kingdom, and now he’s been taken captive, and he has shackles on his feet and chains on his hands, and an iron band around his neck. And a steel chain on that band, and and the victors are leading him along. Paul said, that’s what I do to my body. I wrap it up in chains and lead it long, because the appetites of my body aren’t going to run me. I’m gonna keep all that under constraint, because I’m about a worthy cause that’s worth me disciplining myself in this way. His bodily desires, he said, must be kept well in hand by whip, and reign like the horse in the chariot race, in order that he might win the prize are complete his task that God’s called him to.

Then he goes on in verse 27, notice that’s a lot of wisdom for a man that understands about his fleshly body’s desires, and on the one hand knows they’re not evil in and of themselves, but they can’t have their way all the time either. Your bodily desires aren’t evil, their God given, and blessed. They just don’t know where the boundaries are. You go eat yourself to death. If you let your body follow its appetites, you can follow all your bodily appetites. They’re not evil enough themselves. They just need to be under restraint and under control.

Then he says, look at this next part of verse 27, “lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified”. And when Paul says disqualified again, let’s stay in context. He cannot be talking about disqualified from going to heaven. If you follow that analogy, you’ve got to go back up to verse 24 and say only one person is going to make it to heaven because it says only one wins in this race. He’s not talking about heaven.

He means I don’t want to be disqualified from completing the special task of my calling, being the apostle to the Gentiles. Salvation is the race. He’s already on the team. He’s already in the race. But now he says what you do for the team once you’re qualified for the race, is what’s important. As apostle, he was in charge of the race. So he’s saying, I’ve been put in a position where I’m helping define the rules and the guidelines for the rest of the team. That’s the unique role the apostles had. They they wrote scripture. That’s not being done anymore by the way. Next time a guy comes along, says, I’ve got apostolic authority, say “Oh, what next? What book of the Bible do you write?” It’s not being written anymore. Paul says, I am responsible to help write the rules and the guidelines for the whole team that’s going to be all in the race together.

He said, “So of all people, I don’t want to become disqualified from finishing that task”. It’s too important i’m to be an example. Of all people, I don’t want to miss the mark. I’m the one that’s in charge of the rest of the team under Christ. Paul wanted it to be said of him the same thing that was said of David in Acts 13:36. This is a very important verse to me. Acts 13:36 says “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep”. I like that, and I’ll be honest with you, after I’ve served the purpose that God has for Jeff Noblit in this generation, I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. The Bible says, after David did what God called him to do in that time and that age for God’s glory, he fell asleep, died. He went on to heaven. And every single solitary one of us. You have a unique and special task in calling from God in your local church. It’s always connected to the local church.

Now to be our heart God. Maybe. Maybe you’ve just given me a great amount of the spiritual gifts of service and helps. By the way, I don’t see people begging God for those gifts. You hearing in me. Everybody wants the manifestations. But service and helps. Maybe God’s given just a whole bunch of service and helps. And maybe as the person with the gift of service and helps, you can organize the chairs and the Sunday school class and plan the socials and be the treasurer and just serve and help. But your goal ought to be: “God, as I’m doing those service helping things, I want to get to heaven, and know, I did it to the full. I completed my calling and my task”.

Now you listen carefully to what I’m about to say. If those are your gifts and you’re faithful to open the door, be the usher, or be the greeter, or set up the chairs, plan plan the class socials, or keep the treasury. And that’s basically where you’re comfortable. And that’s basically where you contribute. When you get to heaven, you all have the same crown as the greatest soul winner in this church. You did what your task was. You ran as if to win. You know it’s a worthy task. And when your class has that new man that enrolls and gets saved and he becomes a good daddy at last, and becomes a good husband, and is an influence for God, you can say, Hallelujah! I straightened up the chairs, but I straightened up a chair one morning that that man said in and he got saved. And I’m a part. Man, that’s exciting to me. Just to humbly look at your gifts and accept your calling and get after it as if to win the race.

You know, this thing of Paul saying, I buffet my body, I make it my slave. I don’t want to be disqualified. I don’t want to not complete the task. My unique calling I was given. I want to I want to complete it and complete it well. It’s that principle, or rather, that principle is the reason why we have accountability. The reason why we’ve designed the simple accountability in our church family. And it might be 1,000,001 ways to do accountability. I’m not suggesting ours is the greatest way, but it has worked well. And the reason Jeff Noblit is in accountability right now is because I don’t trust my own body and my own appetites. I mean, the whole world is pulling me in another direction. I need some accountability to stay in check. Me being in accountability for those simple three basics of the Christian walk helps keep my body buffeted so it doesn’t have my way and me and ruin me and disqualified me. I need that accountable. I have accountability not because I’m strong and disciplined, but because I’m weak and undisciplined.

It’s a part of me buffeting my body. I mean, the whole world’s pulling against us. It’s like the the story I read about the little boy who was at in his yard, and he was pulling up weeds, and he got a great big clump of weeds, and he pulled and he pulled and he pulled and he twisted and he turned and he pulled and finally yanked real hard. The weed came out, root and all, and he fell back on his backside. A man was walking by and was chuckled at it and said, “man, that was quite a fight, wasn’t it, young man?” He said, well, it ought to be. I had the whole world pulling against me. Well, you do too. You’ve got the whole world pulling you know the direction. That’s why we need that practical accountability.

Let me end with this thought. You know, it’s never the open, scandalous sin that really disqualifies you. It’s really an un dealt with series of small compromises that lead to the scandalous sin that did you. And that’s why that basic accountability is so important, that basic accountability catches me when I begin a habit of of so-called small compromises, and that therefore, by buffeting myself in that way, prevents me from reaching the scandalous failure that would disqualify me from the office of pastor here. Which is my task and my calling, and bring shame to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s those little sins that gradually dull the conscience until the conscience is so seared that it will tolerate a serious moral failure. As the great leaders in Christendom that have fallen into moral failure. And they’ll tell you, I didn’t have any accountability back in those basic everyday areas. And it led to little bigger, a little more, a little bigger, a little more.

Paul says, man, I don’t want that to happen to me. And so I buffet my body. I keep it in check. Paul says he has a resolve to run the race. He says, man, there’s not one winner. We’re all winners in Jesus. But as far as completing my task, I run as if there’s only one guy going to be able to cross the finish line as a winner, and I want to be that guy. I run to win the race. He says also I run because it’s a worthy race. He says, All I gotta do is look at the souls of men that I’ve changed, and I’m motivated to keep on denying myself, buffeting my body, doing whatever.

And also, he says, I run with wisdom. I’m wise to know that I can’t let my bodily appetites have their way completely. I’ve got to keep them in check, or they’ll lead me down a trail of small compromises that will ultimately lead to some sort of failure that will disqualify me. And I’ll have to face my Lord one day and he say, “I gave you a task. And because you gave in to your bodily appetites and had no accountability in your life, you fell into serious muscle failure and you disqualified yourself from the task you were given”. Honestly before God, I’d rather anything happen to me. I’d rather go to heaven now than to knowingly fail at the calling my Lord has given me. Whether it’s just being an usher, or greeter, or a group leader or an outreach leader, or teacher in Sunday School, or staff member or the pastor/teacher of this great church. Run, run in such a way so as to win the race. That’s something that Paul says about A Dedicated Disciple.