First Baptist Church: Sermon

Message for May 19, 2002
by Pastor Glenn Layne
(1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

THE BIG IDEA:
If we want to lead people to Jesus, we’re going to have to be like an athlete: intent, disciplined and focused.

My daughter’s birthday was Friday. My son’s is in December. It’s amazing how much detail we can remember about the birth of our children. I remember everything, from the color of the room to the fact that my wife broke all the bones in my right hand to the fact that I thanked God both for these new little lives and for the fact that, praise God, I am not a woman!

The Bible talks about the reality of being made right with God by many metaphors, and one that Jesus uses is being born again. Physical birth makes us part of a new life and a new family; so also does spiritual birth. I guarantee you that your heavenly Father also remembers with delight the day of your new birth. And He has entrusted to us the job and the delight of being part of the birth of more of His children, more sisters and brothers in faith in Jesus. This is evangelism.

In his little masterpiece, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman points out that most of the evangelism—the sharing of the goodness of Jesus—that takes place in the book of Acts is with people that have shown a receptivity to the message, or who have in some way shown some spiritual openness.

This reminds me of a fact that I rejoice in: the number one evangelist is the Holy Spirit Himself. It means that when we talk about evangelism, what we’re taking about is partnering with God in the task of making Jesus Christ known—known as Lord and Savior—so that more and more people will come to know and worship the living God—so that God has more children, and we have a bigger forever family.

This is Pentecost Sunday, the Sunday that marks the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower the church to do the business of making Jesus known and bringing more people into the circle of worshippers of the living God. Let me remind you again, as clearly as I can: this is why we exist as a church. Some seem to think that fellowship is why the church exists. Or worship. Or social justice. These are good things, but they’re not why we exist. Evangelism is our business; fellowship is a byproduct. Evangelism is our business; we worship because we have been evangelized. Evangelism is our business; we disciple people so we can be more effective and have more impact in our evangelism. Evangelism is our business; we exist to make, mature and mobilize disciples to Jesus Christ.

Recap Part 1

Two weeks ago, we began this look at evangelism. The big point of the first message was that the evangelism approach the Lord gives us through Paul is one of great flexibility (vs. 22b)

I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

Anyone who tells you that the proper way of sharing Christ is only by preaching, or justice, or personal evangelism, or crusade evangelism, and so forth, is just not paying attention. The God-appointed strategy is—extreme flexibility in strategy!

Let me illustrate this with the current thinking and strategies for reaching Muslims with the gospel of Jesus. Over the years I have known a number of missionaries to the Muslim world. There was a time, say 80 to 100 years ago, that Muslims were coming to Christ at a fairly good pace. But as Muslim countries became independent from European powers—as they ceased to be colonies and possessions, Islam re-emerged and surged as part of these countries’ nationalism.

One thing missionaries to the Muslim world slowly learned was that you could not work through the existing Christians (mostly Orthodox or Coptic) in countries like Syria and Egypt. Why? Because the Christian minority in these countries were part of a distinct and separate culture than that of the Arab Muslim majority. Christian Arabs even speak a different dialect of Arabic. The most common Muslim Arab man’s name is (guess what?) Muhammad. The most common Christian Arab man’s first name is George! Instead, you have to work within the culture of Muslim Arabs to present Jesus as Lord.

Today there are missionaries working quietly in the ghettos of Cairo and in places you would never imagine: Gaza, Damascus and Karachi. They have adopted local dress, speak the language, and respect the culture. They do not tell converts that they should change their name if it happens to be Muhammad. They call Jesus Isa, the Arabic way of saying His name. Their places of worship look very much like mosques, with carpets on the floor and worshippers barefooted. They are quietly pioneering the shape of an authentic Arab Christian church—all the time without compromising the truth of the gospel.

That’s the flexibility that vs. 19-23 speaks of. But in the following four verses, a big change occurs. In verses 19-23, the main image is that of a SERVANT; in 24-27, the main image is that of an ATHLETE.

I think that this tells us that there are two main issues in effective evangelism:

1. Approach/strategy: that of a flexible servant. A servant’s job is to do what needs to be done; he is by nature to be responsive to specific and changing needs. So in our evangelism strategy, we’re called to be nimble, responsive and quick to adapt to the mindset of those we hope to reach.

2. Endurance/opportunity: that of a determined athlete. We need more than a strategy: we need execution. We need determination. We need to be fit for the race. We need to stay faithful.

That’s the abrupt change that takes place at verse 24. The evangelist (and by that I mean any believer who takes seriously the call of Jesus to make Him known) is both a flexible servant as well as a determined athlete.

Background to 1 Corinthians 9:24-27: The Isthmian Games

It seems obvious to me that the background to vs. 24-27 is the Isthmian Games. Here are some facts about the Isthmian Games:

They were second only to Olympics in prominence in the ancient world.
They were sponsored by city of Corinth, and held nearby at the isthmus connecting lower Greece to upper Greece (hence the name).
There were no permanent facilities, either for athletes or for fans: people lived in tents for the duration.
There is chronological evidence that Paul’s time in Corinth would have coincided with an Isthmian Game.
This would have been a great opportunity for Paul as an evangelist—and as a tentmaker!
There were six events: running, wrestling, jumping, boxing, javelin, and the discus.
To enter the games, you must meet a requirement of having trained for 10 month beforehand.
What was the Prize? No Gold medals, no face on Wheaties, no Nike endorsement, but instead a pine wreath!

Paul uses two specific events to make his point:

1) The Runner, vs. 24-25

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Everyone starts at the same time, but not everyone ends at the same time! (24a).

I remember seeing the Olympics on TV as a kid and wondering why some guys got a headstart—until my dad told me that they really didn’t get a headstart, they were just accounting for the fact that the track is curved. One thing’s for sure: while they all start at the same time, I’ve never seen a race where they all finished at the same time.

"Run" to win (24b). What is "running" here?

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Every commentator agrees that these words represent the very heart of what Paul has to say to us. It’s not that believers are in competition with each other, but that we’re in competition against our own laziness and sin, and against the other forces in our world which clamor for the attention of the minds and hearts and soul of men and women.

Our "running" here is kind of like when somebody wants to be elected, we say that they’re running for office. They’re out there with a message that they’re trying to communicate—and person that they hope to commend to the people. Our message is not about taxes and healthcare and defense; it’s about the eternal love of God; and the Person we commend isn’t ourselves, it’s the crucified but now risen Lord Jesus.

You have to be in training if you want to get the crown (25)

Now if you want to run a credible race, you’ve got to train for it. Remember the 10-month training rule for Isthmian athletes. 10 months seems pathetic by modern standards! Today, Olympians are groomed in their sport from about the time they can walk. Take this year’s Skeleton Sled Racing Gold Medal winner, Jimmy Shea. Both his father and grandfather were winter Olympians before him, so I kind of guess that he was sloshing down icy hills before he was in Kindergarten.

I knew a church were they took a group of people and put them into training for evangelism. Two years of training! Somehow, I don’t think that’s what Paul has in mind here. Basic training in evangelism is good, but you don’t need two years of it! Most people can be taught the basics of sharing the faith in a couple of hours. The real training here I think is the simple and consistent seeking of opportunities to share Jesus Christ, and to effort to share Him. There’s nothing quite like OJT: On the Job Training.

The problem is, we haven’t trained ourselves to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. God places some pressing human need flapping in our face, and our first though is not, "I need to share the gospel with this person"; it’s "I’ve got to get home. Friends is coming on in 20 minutes."

We need to train ourselves to be alert to the spiritual needs of the people we encounter. I often talk about FRANK: our sphere of influence, what the Bible sometimes calls our oikos. Up in Victorville, at the largest church in our denomination, High Desert Church, Pastor Tom Mercer says that they’ve stripped down their purpose as a church to this simple idea: to enable people to share Christ to the people in their oikos, their sphere of influence. That takes endurance; it’s a long-distance run, but our prize is not a pine wreath crown, but a crown of approval from the Lord on that day we stand before Him.

The runner, though, is not the only image Paul uses here to describe the endurance needed to share Christ. Another event he draws from is the boxer.

2) The Boxer, vs. 26-27

26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

The Greek boxing match didn’t have rounds, and didn’t have big fluffy boxing gloves. Two men wearing simple leather fight gloves just went at it until one of them couldn’t get up anymore!

An effective boxer knows that you’ve got to throw blows that land. It’s amazing, watching a boxing match, how many blows just "beat the air" as Paul puts it. Did you know that blows that miss actually tire a boxer faster than blows that land? (Of course, having the other boxer try to eat your ear is kind of tiring too, but that’s another story!)
Paul says: be focused! Throw blows that land! What is really interesting is how he kind of turns the analogy around. When we think of the blows inflicted by a boxer, we think of what he does to the other guy (think now of Rocky Balboa’s bloody face!)
Instead, listen again to verse 27:

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

This boxer "beats" himself. Now don’t get any idea that Paul was teaching the kind of self-flagellation practiced by medieval monks, or by today’s Shiite Muslims. He’s not teaching that Christians should literally beat themselves to a bloody pulp to somehow honor God.

What he is talking about is the real and determined discipline of life needed to be a credible witness of Jesus Christ. Your body, your passions, your expenditures of energy can be a tremendous hindrance to being a believable witness. If you are hooked on wine or sex or success or leisure or food or whatever, that gets in the way. Nothing with take the steam out of our desire to share Christ faster than bondage to besetting sins.

You see, in vs. 19-23 (two weeks ago), we saw the rights we surrender for the sake making Jesus known (rights to my culture, rights to my way); in vs. 24-27, we get a taste of the wrongs (moral and spiritual) we must surrender as well.

And there are few things that purify us like a pure desire to share the Lord with others. Even more, there is something wonderfully sanctifying about actually presenting Jesus to another person. We’re reminded of the greatness of His love and sacrifice, and it draws something wonderful out in us. The joy of our own salvation is rekindled. Sharing Christ brings us back to basics, back to what is truly important. Let me say this: if you want to really grow in Christ, if you want to see the fruit of righteousness really blossom in your life, share Him, and share Him again and again with the people in your sphere of influence.

What we’re called to is to maintain mental and moral self-control: to be focused on the things that matter; to be genuine men and women of God, just as an effective boxer will engage in disciplined training and enter the ring with passion and determination.
And we have to have a certain determination bordering on fear. Again, listen to what Paul says in verse 27b: "…so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I think he has the confidence that what God had begun in him, God would see to a good conclusion. But frankly, even the best athlete, the best runner, the best boxer will tell you, it’s best to run a little scared.

I mentioned Rocky Balboa a few minutes ago. Do you know the movie Rocky III (1983)? That the one where Rocky—Sylvester Stallone—is the world champ; he beat his old nemesis Apollo Creed at the end of Rocky II. Now, at the outset of the movie, he’s getting rich on his name. His picture is on the front of Time magazine; he’s making commercials for American Express. The boxer from south Philly, the Italian Stallion, is becoming more at home in Versace suits than in his sweats.

Along comes Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T.) And he’s hungry, and he’s tough, and he takes on Rocky—and defeats him. And the night he gets beaten, his trainer, Mickey (played by Burgess Meredith) dies. Rocky’s world is shattered.

Apollo Creed, the man Rocky beat to become the champ, comes to Rocky and tells him why he lost: he’s lost that drive to win. He’s lost that drive, that passion, that determination, that focus. He’s lost "The Eye of the Tiger." (Remember that song? It’s the world’s greatest workout song!) Rocky has to fight to get that passion back—and then he is able to get back in the ring with Clubber Lang—and he’s able to defeat him.

Folks, we have to get the Eye of the Tiger back. That passion to make Jesus known to a hell-bound world. It will mean discipline and determination. It will mean doing some serious housecleaning in our own lives. It will mean a reassessment of what’s really important in our lives.

Jesus went to the cross with the Eye of the Tiger: utterly focused on the will of the Father and the needs of a lost world.

Folks, let’s run.

Let’s run for Jesus’ sake.

Let’s run because of eternity.

Let’s run for the sake of the lost.

Let’s run with all we have.

Let’s run—and fight—to win