1 Corinthians 9

It's about time for another post. I've been on this book for quite some time now. I only expected it to last a couple weeks, but hey, the Spirit has led me to say other things, which I suppose was the whole idea of the blog in the first place. I might decide to move those to another blog and post there instead of in 1st Corinthians whenever I get the chance or the inspiration. That way if one wanted to learn about 1st Corinthians they could come here, and if they wanted to figure out what Evan thinks about other things... they could go somewhere else. Just a thought.

1 Corinthians 9 is a great passage with what seems to me to be a challenging spiritual principle, and that is to go above and beyond what you are called.

Theres a synopsis at the bottom if you find yourself short on time.

Self Denial

In verses 1-18 Paul defends his apostleship to the Corinthians, and also explains that this gives him the right to marry, and have his family be materially sustained by the church (v.1-5). Instead of claiming this right, he gives it up in order to bring no hindrance to his success in ministering to the people. That would be the equivalent of the senior pastor taking on a full time job on top of shepherding the church so that he can care for his family! I imagine that would be an extremely challenging task. Now, since Paul had no family, I suppose this made the prospect of not receiving a church salary plausible. The idea here is that we as Christians, in order to bring in the greatest spiritual harvest, should be willing to give up as many material rewards as possible (v.12b). This is the self-denial that Christ preached being manifested to the extreme in the apostle Paul.

Now, I said that a great spiritual principle is to go above and beyond what we are called. Well, I must confess that isn't really true. The Bible calls us to conform to the mindset of Christ, who did everything imaginable. I suppose the point I was trying to make was this: We should not only be hating sin, but loving righteousness. And although I think the former is hard, the latter can be harder.

For example, some people may struggle with crude jokes, gossip, and cussing. It would be difficult for that person to stop doing those things of course, but to take that one step further and turn those sins of the tongue into encouragement and speech full of grace - how much more do we need Christ for this? James 4:17 says: "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." We need to keep ourselves separated from sinfulness and put on the righteousness of God which is manifested in the difficult qualities of love that covers sin, joy in all circumstances, peace that passes understanding, and daily self-sacrifice - among others I am sure.

Effective Witnessing

The next few verses are, once again, great verses (honestly, which ones aren't?! It seems to me that all of them have great and simple yet profound truths that we all need to learn or be reminded of). These verses describe a certain style of witnessing that Paul thought to be effective. That was to explain to people the truths of the gospel on their level. "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; 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; 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" (vv.20-22). Paul had experience being all of these things. He never tried to be something he had not already been before, but he took on all these characteristics when he was with these people so he could show them that all of these were appropriate positions from which to seek after Christ. In my case it would probably be something more like: to the philosophers I became as a philosopher, to the scientists I became as a scientist, to the Indians I became as an Indian (HAH!)

...Ok bad joke (Only those who saw or know about the Green skit at Survival Camp 2005 will get it). Anyways, I hope you are getting the picture I am attempting to paint. When we think like the group of people we are witnessing to, we become more effective ministers for Christ because we touch on what matters the most to them. We touch the heart, and that's what Christ wants to do: He wants heart change and an intimate relationship with the Truth, not simply a head-based knowledge and acceptance of the truth.

The Christian Life

In the last few verses if this chapter, Paul compares the Christian life to a race, explaining how we should live it. The first way he says to run is with desire (v.24). We are to live up to the motto Carpe Diem. But this isn't for ourselves, it's for God. We should renew the time and make the most of the days that God gives us here on earth to battle sin and witness to others. We need to run after Christ as if we want to win the only crown that Christ is giving out. How fast would you run?

The second way he says to run is by the rules (v.25)! You can't be taking shortcuts all the time and expect to win the prize at the end. There's no excuse for that - none of this "oh it was just a little bit" stuff. You cheated. You are disqualified. There isn't any excuse. Whether you "meant to" or not, you cannot be considered a candidate anymore because you didn't follow the track. In the same way we should strive to run the race of life with flawlessness, resting in God's grace alone to forgive us for our faults that everyone seems to so easily assume we are bound to fall into.

The last way Paul says to run is with purpose (v.26). We know where we going and what we're doing. If you find yourself ignorant of a purpose in the Christian life, sit down with someone and figure it out, otherwise you are just going to run yourself farther and farther off course. Or stop running completely - I'm not sure which is worse. As Josh Storrer put it: we're aren't just running in an endless circle around a track, we are aiming to get the heck out of that forest as fast as we can! (Again only Survival Campers will fully understand).

A Quick Overview

Deny yourself, and do it regularly. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." ~ Luke 9:23

Get to the heart of the audience you are witnessing to. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." ~ Hebrews 4:12

Live life with a desire for Christ. "And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." ~ Mark 12:30

Life life by the rules. Trust me, it's better that way. "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." ~ Psalm 37:4

Live life with purpose. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31