Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for your Word and for beginning the week by hearing from you. Give us ears to hear, help us know you, and teach us how to walk before you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Serving All Men
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 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, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Striving for a Crown
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Co 9:19-27
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Paul willingly disciplines his apostolic rights and Christian liberties so that he can serve Jews, Gentiles, and the weak without becoming a stumbling block. Like a runner pursuing an imperishable crown, he subordinates preferences and privileges to loving people and bringing them Christ.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
1 Corinthians 9:25
And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.
Bryan explicitly says verse 25 is underlined. It captures Paul's disciplined restraint: having a right or liberty does not mean it should always be exercised when love and gospel ministry call for self-denial.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Discipline yourself to put aside preferences, rights, and liberties in order to love others and bring them Christ. Follow Jesus, who set aside the privileges of heaven to come and save his people.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
hey good morning friends welcome to coffee and devotions that's where every day you and i we get together we get into god's word we have some coffee and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2022 we'll make it from the book of acts to the book of philemon i'm so glad to be with you this morning why don't we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into the second half of first corinthians chapter nine let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you that every week we get to start by looking at what you have for us by hearing from you god give us ears to hear allow us to know who you are and how we are to walk before you in jesus name amen all right so we're at first corinthians chapter 9 first corinthians chapter 9 and we're going to pick up on the second half of that chapter beginning at verse 19 and we'll go through the end of the chapter for though i am free from all men i have made myself a servant to all that i might win the more and to the jews i became a jew that i might win jews to those who are under the law as under the law that i might win those who are under the law to those who are without law as without law not being without law toward god but under law towards christ that i might win those who are without law to the weak i became as weak that i might win the weak i have become all things to all men that i might by all means save some now this i do for the gospel sake that i may be partaker of it with you do not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives the prize run in such a way that you may obtain it and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown therefore i run thus not with uncertainty thus i fight not as one who beats the air but i discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when i have preached to others i myself should become disqualified well we need to ask ourselves a what is this about b what's the best first to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to these words so what's this about how has paul moved from not eating meat sacrificed to idols to being a jew to jew and gentile to gentiles law to law people and lawless to lawless people stuff like that what's he getting at here right how does this connect well he's still showing his pattern of apostolic servanthood he's showing his his right and his liberties that are put under discipline you are free in christ to do all sorts of things and that is true but that doesn't mean you should do them right the people in corinth were saying ah we know that idols are nothing and we could eat whatever we want all the while trampling on their weaker brother's conscience and sinning against christ and so he brings up the example of how he needs to make sure that he is not charging money because he doesn't want it to be a stumbling block for those who might think uh he's just in it for the money and then would not receive christ and so here he's saying look i do this all over the place i when i travel in jerusalem when i go in judea when i'm around jewish people i don't exercise all the liberty i have i'm not gonna bring bacon into my jewish friend's house no when i go to judah's house i eat like a jewish person why because i don't want to be a stumbling block and when i'm in thessalonica and i'm ministering to the people there i'm going to behave like i can in thessalonica because i don't want to be a stumbling block for them see because the point is we want to bring people christ this is not pragmatism hear me out here this is not being a chameleon this is not saying you aren't principled this is not saying that somehow if paul doesn't have a spine no he's being courageous he's disciplining himself he's saying i have these liberties but i will put them to the side if i might be able to share christ with someone if i might be able to love someone better i put my own preferences away that's what he's getting at in verse 25 and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things just because i can do something doesn't mean i should do something paul's saying yeah i have rights as an apostle i have liberties in christ but i will discipline myself like a runner whose eye is on the prize on bringing christ to people and loving people and showing them christ and so i'll pummel my body into submission i'll do without food i'll do without liberties i'll do without money i'll do without spare time if i might bring christ woe is me if i don't preach christ right he and this is what he's getting at here the discipline this is not some type of moralistic thing people take this passage and they divorce it from the whole scope of the context of what's going on and they make this a moralistic thing you know just fight harder for your faith you know run for the faith go for the faith but that's not what this is talking about in the context of what this is talking about it's about during the race of the christian life we discipline ourselves to love others to put aside our rights our privileges our wants our liberties that we might bring others christ you know i might just jump to calling i've already told you what i think is the best verse i have verse 25 underlined you could disagree with that that's fine but let's jump into some into some controversial calling and we have we know that c is for calling c is also for christ c is also for well i don't know if i want this video to get blocked by youtube but you know a virus that starts with c and in the church we were ripped up thankfully not so much at sharon but there were possibilities all over the place people ripped up because they were demanding their way however to respond to what was going on this mandate or that mandate these guidelines or those guidelines and instead of people living with an eye towards preserving the conscience of the weaker brother they thought there's only one way to do this and you must follow my way instead of being guided by the law of love how many churches were ripped apart because strong men instead of disciplining themselves insisted on a certain way of doing things how many strong men and this is on both ends of the pendulum swing right conservative who went so far as to demand that nobody was allowed to wear masks and nobody was allowed to do this and on the other side people who are very very cautious and people who are saying you must wear masks in church we must have social distance we must have x y z and no one could find a place of love in middle ground trusting other people loving other people dealing with each other's consciences and saying i'm going to go as far as i can with you because i love you i know that that mean might mean that i have to put away some of my liberties and you know what that's okay and we saw this rip apart the church liberty of conscience is real and loving the weaker brother is real we hold these intention we stand on principles now there are other principles we could talk about this all day in the application section right if you wanted to have a conversation go out to coffee you know hang out after church and we could talk about how these apply but the question is do we love each other are we willing to put away our rights our privileges our liberties and live in an understanding way with each other this is what paul is saying he's doing and when he goes to the jews he loves them as jews when he goes to the gentiles that's how he treats them he might have rights and privileges and different opinions we know what's more important bringing them jesus christ is that how you interact with people in your life even over serious things will you put away some of your rights and liberties not talking again not talking about being a spineless chameleon not talking about pragmatism talking about love i'm about purposefully disciplining yourself that you might put away your rights and privileges and focus on the soul of your brother and sister i hope we're those types of christians paul was christ certainly was he put away the rights and privileges of heaven that he might come and save us let's pray father we thank you thank you for the model you have set for us of love lord we pray that we might put away our likes our preferences our liberties and live sacrificially and lovingly father please we can't do this by ourselves please give us your spirit please fill us with zeal that we might love others in jesus name amen may the lord bless you today may you enjoy jesus christ may you love your neighbor and may you have good work to do today i'll see you tomorrow bye thanks for listening to this week's message from god's word for you a ministry of sharon rp church in rural southeast iowa we pray that the message would be used by god to transform your faith in your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website sharonrpc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10 a.m every sunday at 25 204 160th avenue morning sun iowa 526-40 may god richly bless you this week [Music]