Run to Win the Prize

Giving up a right (9:12-15). Paul had just shown that gospel workers have a right to be supported, like a soldier, a farmer or a priest at the altar (9:7, 13-14). Then he said, “I have used none of these things” (9:15). He set aside a real right so that nothing would get in the way of the message. Necessity (9:16). “Necessity is laid upon me.” On the Damascus road Jesus called Paul to carry His name to the Gentiles, to kings and to Israel (Acts 9:15). Preaching was not a hobby Paul could drop when he felt tired. Peter and John said the same thing before the council: “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Willing or not (9:17). If Paul preached willingly, there was a reward. Even on a hard day, he had still “been entrusted with a stewardship.” A steward managed his master's house and money. The gospel was God's, and Paul answered to God for how he handled it. The reward of free grace (9:18). Paul's reward was to “present the gospel of Christ without charge.” No one could say he was selling the message. The way he preached matched what he preached, because we are “justified freely by His grace” (Romans 3:24). The deeper reason. “For the love of Christ compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). Paul was driven by the love of Jesus, who “died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves” (2 Corinthians 5:15). For you. You do not need a stage or a pulpit to carry the message. Paul calls believers “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20). The good news you carry belongs to God, and He trusts you with it.

Free from all (9:19). Paul was an apostle, a Roman citizen and a free man. No person owned him. Yet he says, “I have made myself a servant to all.” He chose to put himself under others for their good, so that he might “win the more.” To the Jews (9:20). Paul had Timothy circumcised because of the Jewish people in that area, so they would listen to the gospel (Acts 16:3). He did not do it to earn anything from God. He did it to remove a stumbling block. Without law, yet under Christ (9:21). With Gentiles, Paul did not demand Jewish food laws or feast days. But he was “not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ.” Freedom never meant permission to sin: “only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). The weak (9:22). In chapter 8 Paul wrote about believers whose consciences were troubled by meat offered to idols. He said he would rather never eat meat again than make a brother stumble (8:13). The limit. Paul changed his customs and his starting point, never the gospel. “But we preach Christ crucified” (1:23). Becoming “all things to all men” never means becoming like the world: “do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). The pattern of Christ. “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus came down to where we are so He could bring us to God. Paul simply followed his Lord.

Isthmia. The Isthmian Games were held every two years a few miles from Corinth. It was one of the four great Greek games. Runners, wrestlers and boxers trained for months, and the whole city came to watch. The prize (9:24). The Greek word is brabeion (say: brah-BAY-on), the award the judge handed to the winner. Paul used the same word in Philippians 3:14, where he pressed on toward the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus. Self-control (9:25). “Temperate in all things” comes from enkrateia (say: en-KRAH-tay-ah), self-control. Athletes kept a strict diet and trained for months before the games. The same word appears in Galatians 5:23 as part of “the fruit of the Spirit.” A Christian's self-control is not just willpower; it grows as the Holy Spirit works in us. Two crowns (9:25). Stephanos (say: STEF-ah-noss) was the winner's wreath, not a king's crown. At Isthmia it was woven from pine or celery and withered within days. The believer's crown is “imperishable.” Grace first, then the race. The crown is not salvation. Salvation is “the gift of God, not of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt” (Romans 4:4). Eternal life is given. Rewards are given to people who are already saved, for how they ran (2 Corinthians 5:10). For all who love Him. Paul said the crown of righteousness is “not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). In this race every faithful runner can receive the crown.

No uncertainty (9:26). Paul pictures a runner who knows exactly where the finish line is. Years later he told the Ephesian elders that he did not count his life dear to himself, so that he could finish his race with joy (Acts 20:24). Beating the air (9:26). A boxer in practice might swing at nothing. Paul was in a real fight against real sin: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Romans 6:12). “I discipline my body” (9:27). Paul used a boxer's word that means to strike under the eye. He was not hurting himself to earn God's favor. He refused to let his body's desires rule him. Disqualified (9:27). Adokimos (say: ah-DOK-ih-moss) means not approved after testing, like a coin that fails the test or an athlete ruled out of the race. Paul knew he belonged to Christ: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). He did not want his own life to undo his preaching, so that he would be set aside as a worker. Spirit, not willpower. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). Paul's discipline came from the Holy Spirit's power, not from trying harder on his own. The finish. Near the end of his life Paul could write, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). The same Lord who helped Paul finish will help you.