Two Crowns
God’s mercy and grace be yours today!
We all know what it is like as we grow older to seek to get in shape and stay in shape! All the best plans, yet there are so many obstacles to making it to the gym. The day is busy, and fast food just seems like the logical option. Long hours working, odd meal times, high stress, and mental exhaustion! Add it all up and what do you have? Overweight and out of shape! This is where most of us find ourselves today.
What applies to our physical bodies applies every bit as much to our spiritual bodies as well. A good wholesome diet of the Word of God combined with the exercise of prayer, meditation, fasting, service, fellowship, and worship would make for a healthy spiritual life. Yet, what is it we subsist on? Titbits of knowledge gained from memes off of Facebook, a few Christian songs when we are driving, and the short discussions following Sunday Morning service, that is, when we make it to church. We starve ourselves spiritually and then wonder why we have little or no strength to face the challenges of our everyday lives!
Enter the Apostle Paul! Paul shifts his way of talking as we arrive at our text for today. While the Olympic games had their origin in Greece and not Italy, the Romans were big on the Games. The Roman Colosseum was a marvel of engineering in the 1st century, and it still is today. What was the purpose and use of the colosseum? The Games! Every type of game, from those you would see in the Olympics to the more gruesome exhibitions of the Gladiators. The games provided an opportunity for the average Roman citizen to live vicariously through individuals they admired. Nothing has really changed, has it?
Paul tells us in our text that he has prepared himself for the challenge he is facing. And what challenge is that? Life! Life as a Christian in this world.
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. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air; but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
We are in a head to head competition with the forces of sin and evil in this world. The struggle is real and the prize to be won is priceless. Paul uses the image of a race and that of boxing to illustrate his point. He says, Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
An athlete who is preparing for the competition is focused on what is needed to win the prize. If it is running, then nothing counts more than being the fastest and having the most endurance. If it is boxing, then power and accuracy when a punch is thrown is the important thing. To have self-control when training for the challenge ahead is to be focused and determined to overcome all distractions and temptations which would deter you from accomplishing what is desired.
What is it Paul is seeking? He tells us that those who compete do so for a perishable crown. He is not being sarcastic. The prize given for the winner of the games was a garland wreath. The winner would be crowned with a wreath and have glory for a day, but then what would happen? The wreath would wither, and the glory would fade away. All that effort and it would last for only a moment.
Paul disciplines his body and focuses his life in such a way as to obtain a crown which is lasting, and with this crown comes glory which will not fade away. His training for this great goal in the Christian life is to make his body a slave to his will and not allow the opposite to take place. So many people, even Christian, allow their lives to be ruled by their passions and desires. Their flesh is in control of all their decisions and their lives reflect the chaos of the ungodliness of this world. Paul says he seeks to rule over his body and make it a slave to the desires of his heart which is the will of God.
Why was this important for Paul. He understood how easy it could be to be drawn back into the life he had before Christ. He says, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. It is possible and sadly, far too common, for a preacher to spend his life proclaiming Christ only to find himself excluded from the glory of the kingdom because he has become captive to the flesh.
How sad it is when the headlines read that a pastor has been caught in an affair! Or the church finances are in disarray because the preacher has been lining his own pockets. Paul understood that the greatest temptation in his own life was that of pride! That is why he so often speaks of his total dependance on Jesus in his life. There are far too many Christians who have become numb to the fact that to become nothing in this world is to become everything in the kingdom of God.
As one who lived the majority of my adult life believing hell was the destination for my future and my efforts would never change that, I understand Paul’s fear. To be given a taste of grace and assurance and then to lose it would be devastating. To have come so close and then to have eternity slip away because of my own self-centeredness would be a tragedy indeed. To be disqualified is to slip back into the life of trusting in self and not the grace of God in Christ.
Paul was determined that nothing would separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He was going to work, preach, serve, proclaim Jesus to the glory of God and never allow anything to disqualify him from receiving the prize Jesus won for him on Calvary’s cross. I pray this is true for me and for you!
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
We all know what it is like as we grow older to seek to get in shape and stay in shape! All the best plans, yet there are so many obstacles to making it to the gym. The day is busy, and fast food just seems like the logical option. Long hours working, odd meal times, high stress, and mental exhaustion! Add it all up and what do you have? Overweight and out of shape! This is where most of us find ourselves today.
What applies to our physical bodies applies every bit as much to our spiritual bodies as well. A good wholesome diet of the Word of God combined with the exercise of prayer, meditation, fasting, service, fellowship, and worship would make for a healthy spiritual life. Yet, what is it we subsist on? Titbits of knowledge gained from memes off of Facebook, a few Christian songs when we are driving, and the short discussions following Sunday Morning service, that is, when we make it to church. We starve ourselves spiritually and then wonder why we have little or no strength to face the challenges of our everyday lives!
Enter the Apostle Paul! Paul shifts his way of talking as we arrive at our text for today. While the Olympic games had their origin in Greece and not Italy, the Romans were big on the Games. The Roman Colosseum was a marvel of engineering in the 1st century, and it still is today. What was the purpose and use of the colosseum? The Games! Every type of game, from those you would see in the Olympics to the more gruesome exhibitions of the Gladiators. The games provided an opportunity for the average Roman citizen to live vicariously through individuals they admired. Nothing has really changed, has it?
Paul tells us in our text that he has prepared himself for the challenge he is facing. And what challenge is that? Life! Life as a Christian in this world.
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. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air; but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
We are in a head to head competition with the forces of sin and evil in this world. The struggle is real and the prize to be won is priceless. Paul uses the image of a race and that of boxing to illustrate his point. He says, Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
An athlete who is preparing for the competition is focused on what is needed to win the prize. If it is running, then nothing counts more than being the fastest and having the most endurance. If it is boxing, then power and accuracy when a punch is thrown is the important thing. To have self-control when training for the challenge ahead is to be focused and determined to overcome all distractions and temptations which would deter you from accomplishing what is desired.
What is it Paul is seeking? He tells us that those who compete do so for a perishable crown. He is not being sarcastic. The prize given for the winner of the games was a garland wreath. The winner would be crowned with a wreath and have glory for a day, but then what would happen? The wreath would wither, and the glory would fade away. All that effort and it would last for only a moment.
Paul disciplines his body and focuses his life in such a way as to obtain a crown which is lasting, and with this crown comes glory which will not fade away. His training for this great goal in the Christian life is to make his body a slave to his will and not allow the opposite to take place. So many people, even Christian, allow their lives to be ruled by their passions and desires. Their flesh is in control of all their decisions and their lives reflect the chaos of the ungodliness of this world. Paul says he seeks to rule over his body and make it a slave to the desires of his heart which is the will of God.
Why was this important for Paul. He understood how easy it could be to be drawn back into the life he had before Christ. He says, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. It is possible and sadly, far too common, for a preacher to spend his life proclaiming Christ only to find himself excluded from the glory of the kingdom because he has become captive to the flesh.
How sad it is when the headlines read that a pastor has been caught in an affair! Or the church finances are in disarray because the preacher has been lining his own pockets. Paul understood that the greatest temptation in his own life was that of pride! That is why he so often speaks of his total dependance on Jesus in his life. There are far too many Christians who have become numb to the fact that to become nothing in this world is to become everything in the kingdom of God.
As one who lived the majority of my adult life believing hell was the destination for my future and my efforts would never change that, I understand Paul’s fear. To be given a taste of grace and assurance and then to lose it would be devastating. To have come so close and then to have eternity slip away because of my own self-centeredness would be a tragedy indeed. To be disqualified is to slip back into the life of trusting in self and not the grace of God in Christ.
Paul was determined that nothing would separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He was going to work, preach, serve, proclaim Jesus to the glory of God and never allow anything to disqualify him from receiving the prize Jesus won for him on Calvary’s cross. I pray this is true for me and for you!
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
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1 Comment
Great it hit home for me.