CCK Blog

Paul is dealing with another issue in the Corinthian church – how they have misunderstood and mishandled the things of the Holy Spirit. They have become sensationalists, becoming obsessed with spiritual and mystical ideas, with having simply an “experience” void of any meaning or purpose. They have also become competitive, having rivalry with spiritual gifts, being proud in how “gifted” they were.

But spiritual gifts are for a purpose and a goal. This is why the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts:

1. To honour Jesus

• You can only say that Jesus is Lord from the heart by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Likewise you can’t curse Jesus from the heart if you have the Spirit.
• The Spirit wants to bring about the Lordship and worship of Christ in people’s hearts.
• The Spirit brings about revelation of Jesus – who He is and the fact that He’s alive
• Jesus gets a lot of attention when the Holy Spirit turns up. Jesus sent us the Helper who would bring an awareness of Jesus wherever the Spirit goes.
• The Holy Spirit is God and should be worshipped as such, and yet He brings attention to the Father and the Son.
• We don’t worship spirituality, or even just focus only on the Spirit, but God Himself in all He is.
• The Spirit works powerfully when Jesus is honoured and worshipped and enjoyed and exalted.

2. For the common good

• Same Lord, same Spirit, same Body.
• All of us are who are in Christ are given the same manifestation of the Spirit.
• Spiritual gifts and abilities are for the good of others and the building of the Body. It’s bigger than just you – it’s for the Church.
• The gifts are to server – otherwise they’re not a gift!
• Paul uses the analogy of a body – you become part of it automatically when you come to Christ
• You only hurt yourself if you damage the Body, the same if you hurt one part of your body, there is a knock-on effect on the rest of yourself.
• We need to live for the overall purpose of the Church.
• Don’t be a cancer! This is someone who only lives for their own purpose, draining the Body of time and energy. Don’t just be a consumer – be a part of the answer and the solution.
• The part you play is vital for the Body. A healthy body is where every part plays its correct role. How are you functioning?

This deals with two problems:

1. Self pity (v.15-17)

• We need to resist feeling like we are not a part of the Body just because we don’t have a particular gift or are not a particular part of the Body.
• We are not called to be the same as each other – not called to do what others are called to do.
• We fall into self pity when we can’t do the same thing or be like someone we admire and measure as the idea of a successful Christian. Don’t give into gift envy!
• Be the most useful version of yourself by the grace of God, to the blessing of the Body. Don’t waste your time trying to be something you’re not!
• God custom-designed us each for a specific purpose. Eph 2 – we are His workmanship, created for good works which He prepared in advance.
• You learn what your purpose and role is by trial and error.
• Help others find out what they’re meant to do – tell them what they’re good at (and be brave enough to tell them what they might not be so gifted in).
• You won’t find out what you were meant to do if you’re not in the Church!

2. Superiority (v.21-23)

• We are totally wrong when we identify importance with profile.
• The last shall be first, the first shall be last.
• Your gift is not there to make you more public. That may happen anyway, but don’t idolise fame and profile.
• Give honour to the “lesser parts”. Outdo one another in showing honour to others – be competitive about that!

Self pity and superiority are both issues of the same root problem – a security that is not found in Christ. Find your security in Him – not in how good you are at doing particular things. God could take away your gift at any time, or bring someone along who is more gifted in the same thing as you. Ensure your identity is firmly built on Christ!

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In the Corinthian culture, people enjoyed eating and drinking together, and so the Lord’s Supper appealed to the church in Corinth as a time of getting together for a feast with wine – but it lost its true meaning, and Paul wants to remind them about it. In this we learn what the meaning and principles of Communion are:

1. Brings His presence

• It has always been God’s plan to dwell amongst people and have communion together.
• There is a history of meals being involved as part of God visiting His people in a powerful way.
• God wants to eat with us – like the way we do with other people when we want to spend quality time together.
• As we hunger physically, God wants to remind us that He is our true satisfaction. We all crave peace and joy and comfort and look for it everywhere except God, but He is the only one who can fill us and meet those longings.
• God gives us these opportunities to draw near to Him and feast on Him. We feed on Christ when we feed on Communion.
• The bread and wine don’t literally become the body and blood of Jesus – He very often described Himself in metaphorical terms, and this was one of them. But neither is Communion meant to be merely a “memorial” service, with no sense of wonder or expectation to meet with God.
• Our minds are involved in the process – Communion isn’t magic.
• The bread and wine tell our story – like how the Israelites celebrated Passover – of how God has redeemed us and rescued us from our slavery to sin and death. We reflect on the rescue mission He has accomplished for each of us, and we celebrate who we now are – the chosen, redeemed children of God.

2. Demands our purity

• We examine and purify our hearts in preparation, coming to God humbly on His terms.
• We do it with the right motives and a soft heart, not hard-hearted or stubborn towards God but open for Him to search us.
• ’some have died’ – God often does things drastic to wake us up from our wanderings, to get our attention because He loves us and cares about us too much to let us go on in our own foolish ways.
• We need to be open to what God is doing in our lives.
• If you are in sin, do business with God in your heart – repent and receive His forgiveness and grace.
• Paul is addressing corporate sin – i.e. divisions within the church. There is to be unity – there should be no social divisions; we are all one in Christ.
• Communion brings us together – we should celebrate and enjoy it, and just be together, and pray for one another.

3. Proclaims the future

1. We proclaim the the Lord Jesus’ coming as we take Communion – we take it until He comes back.
2. The bread and wine are tangible things to help us remember the past and the future of what Christ has done and what He will do.
3. Communion is a shadow of the great feast to come in heaven.

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This is a difficult passage and is controversial in our day and age, but we need to humbly submit ourselves to it and listen to what it is saying to us, rather than force our own interpretation on it.

1. What is instructed here?

• v.4
• Because of the freedom that has been bought for us through Christ, we can sometimes “over do” it and take our liberties too far, throwing off every rule and principle. One of the things we can do is blur gender
• Jesus promoted a new freedom, a new way of equality between the sexes – and this is what Paul is also promoting
• When this letter was written, it seemed as though women in the Corinthian church were not following the normal protocol/dress code of the day – it could be that they were not wearing their headcoverings, which distinguished them from the men, or that they were wearing their hair like immoral women would
• The principle here is that men should be men and women should be women – and it should be visibly seen that way

2. Why is it instructed?

• v.3
• Paul wants there to be an understanding of the beautiful and honourable principles of authority and submission, and distinction within gender
• The key phrase here is ‘the head of Christ is God’ – it all comes back to and originates within the Trinity – 1 God, 3 persons, where there is order, headship and submission
• Equality of essence does not diminish distinction of roles
• Authority does not mean a higher importance, higher value or more envied position
• Jesus is glad to submit to the Father
• The woman is the glory of man – woman was made from and for man. She was made in the image of God as man’s equal, but with a different role
• Paul wants the church to shine with complementarianism and equality
• The word “helper” used to describe the role of the woman is not a derogatory word; the exact same word is used to describe God the Holy Spirit. God does not mind being called a helper! It is an honourable thing

3. How is this fair?

• Paul stresses that both sexes are equal before God
• The key phrase is in v.11 – ‘in the Lord’ – this all works in the Lord
• In God all of this works in joy and harmony – and it was the same with Adam and Eve in the garden
• What ruined everything was sin – it brought on gender wars, oppression of women, etc. Women desire to control men and men oppress and rule over women
• It’s not that there is a problem with headship and submission are wrong – is that there is a problem with us
• Men are supposed to lead and use their power with humility – like Christ, who did not boss people around or lord his authority over people; He serves and He loves
• Jesus used his power and authority wisely – husbands are to do the same
• Jesus is also the model for wives in that He submits to the Father with gladness, honour and joy, trusting the Father

4. What now?

• ‘Judge for yourselves’ – it is obvious to us what makes our gender distinctives in our culture
• We need to know that God cares about gender, even if our culture doesn’t
• Women are only called to submit to their husbands, and men only have authority over their wives – but we can have echoes within the church of men taking responsibility and serving as a way of leading, and women can come alongside and be of great help
• Look to Jesus – as the role model and as the strength to be able to carry out our roles

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Paul is challenging the Corinthians on wanting to have it both ways – of wanting to have both God and their idols. This is typical of human nature – wanting to have multiple gods – but you can’t just switch gods when it’s convenient; God has a right to us and a right to be our God because He made us and He is the only true God. We are made to worship Him alone – that’s where we find true life, that’s where life makes sense. Our relationship with God must be exclusive like a marriage – God won’t accept other idols, otherwise it means we don’t really love God.

We also can’t use the line of “being all things to all men” or trying to be culturally relevant as excuses for idolatry. We may think it’s harmless but we allow idols to have power over us when we worship them.

Paul goes back to the Exodus of God’s people to make his point. He says that they did the right “Christian” rituals – once saved by God out of Egypt, they had their own equivalents of baptism and communion – and yet God still overthrew them in the wilderness and all but 2 out of 2 million failed to fulfil their destiny, even though they still remained God’s people and didn’t go back to Egypt. We are foolish if we take that lightly.

Paul says that eternal life is something we need to “lay hold” of. We are saved – by grace – for a reason; we have a God-given purpose to fulfil. And the hurdle we fall at is tempation.

1. Be ready

• Prepare to be tested. Be careful, don’t be cocky, because testing will come. Wake up!
• Do not misunderstand or underestimate our enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 – our enemy, the devil, wants to destroy us. He is real and he will use anything at all – any desire or longing or thing we want – as bait to lure us away from God’s purposes for us.

2. “Special case” syndrome

• We so often make exceptions for ourselves, saying that we can handle certain temptations that others can’t, or that our circumstances excuse us from not giving into temptation because it is just to hard for us.
• But obedience to God is always hard and any temptation we face is one common to man.

3. Hold fast to Scripture

• This is the antidote to the devil’s lies, because when we give into temptation it means that we are believing the false promises of Satan and the false picture of the future that he presents.
• The devil casts doubt on God in our minds and makes us distrust Him – so we need to beat the devil’s promises with God’s promises.
• Whenever we sin, we are effectively saying that we don’t trust God, but we need to know that God is faithful and that the one who is trustworthy is the one who hung on a cross for our sake.

4. God is in control

• You are not “giving God a break” when you give into temptation – that is nonsense!
• God allows the temptation to happen – He knows how much we can handle and He always provides the grace we need to endure it.
• God does not tempt us, He tests us – to strengthen us. The devil tempts us to destroy us.
• God cares so much about us – He is our good Father.

5. It will end

• The testing won’t go on forever – God always has an escape (literally “outcome”) ready for us at the right time.
• The way to endure is to remember that God has an outcome prepared, that there is an end in sight.
• Sometimes we think we can’t go on any more, but God gives us the grace to just get through one day at a time.
• Jesus endured every temptation and endured the cross, and yet He really was abandoned – for our sake, and so that we can endure and reign in life with Him, never being forsaken.

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1. Culture

• Each culture has its own language, customs, habits, etc, and we have to learn these if we are cross into other cultures. Culture isn’t confined to being international – there are many sub-cultures within any culture. There are even different cultures just as we step outside our front door!
• Paul dealt with the challenge of culture crossing – he especially needed to as an apostle.
• Paul was firm and unmoving in his beliefs and convictions, but he was also pliable and able to accommodate different types of people.
• The problem is that we often assume that our culture superior and is the “right” way of doing things, and we can equate certain customs and cultural values with the gospel – bringing the gospel plus our customs to other cultures. But what we need to do is bring the gospel in its absolute purest form.
• It is difficult and it isn’t comfortable to cross cultures effectively.
• Paul is FREE – he is free from trying to impress people and God. He is not taking on other people’s cultures to impress those people, nor is he trying to earn favour with God. He is free from condemnation and free to live for God alone.
• Paul’s home is not in any culture because it is in heaven, so he can put aside his cultural comforts and enter any other culture.
• Paul makes himself a servant to all – for the sake of those who don’t know Christ.

2. Jesus

• Paul was free because of Jesus. Jesus bought our freedom and peace with God with His blood. Jesus was made a servant so that we could be free.
• The way Paul enters other cultures like this points to something deeper and more powerful – he is acting like Jesus.
• God Himself came down and entered our world, taking on our likeness, and made all the effort and took all the steps to reach out to us. He gets on our level and communicates to us in a way we can understand.
• Like Jesus, we are to take the glory of God to other people.
• Jesus will take us over borders in order to reach those who don’t know Him.
• We have to learn the cultures and world in which we live – we need to go as far as we can to reach people, without sinning.
• Don’t put barriers in the way of the gospel!
• The onus is on us to take the steps and go to people with the gospel.
• We need to be flexible and get our priorities right.

3. Challenges

• Listening challenge: we need to learn to listen to others first, as our propensity is usually to preach at people instead. People will listen more when they’ve been heard.
• Persuasive challenge: we need to know what and why we believe, and we need to give reason for those beliefs. Sometimes we can be superspiritual and just “leave it to the power of God”, but we need to challenge other people’s worldviews because we love them and want them to know Jesus.
• Sunday challenge: the church has the challenge of drawing people into the community of God. We need to present ourselves and our meetings in an intelligible way, being accessible to all, and not being lazy about explaining what goes on during meetings.
• Community challenge: drawing people into zones and small groups, particularly those who are on the fringes, and not sticking to Christian cliques. Jesus left the 99 sheep to go and find the one – we’ll grow to be more like Jesus when we reach out to and hang out with those on the edges.
• Public challenge: this is how we present ourselves as a church in terms of communications, aesthetics, online presence, etc – presented in a clear and relevant way.
• Misunderstanding challenge: by trying to reach out into our culture(s), people may accuse us of “selling out” and just trying to be “hip”. Other Christians and other churches may cut us off – but true maturity is putting aside the barriers and our personal preferences in order to advance the gospel whatever it takes.

Often on Sunday nights at CCK we take some time at the end of the meeting to answer questions sent in via text message. We did this a few weeks back after my preach ‘Jesus and Your Money’ but due to time we weren’t able to answer all the questions on the night, we said we’d put some answers online so here they are.

Q. Should we give out of guilt?

A. No! The Christian gives out of an assurance that 1) Everything belongs to God anyway and 2) That God has shown the great extent of His love for them in giving His son. As Paul says in Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” – if we understand this and hold it to be true, it must surely follow that we can no longer give out of a sense of guilt.

Q. Is it spiritually worthwhile to pursue a career in which you can progress thru a hierarchy to gain increased wealth and influence to re-inject your earnings back into church and its projects while encouraging your colleagues if you are in a position to do so? Or would it be better to take a job that allows more opportunity to become more involved with the projects personally? Or are both stances equally spiritually rewarding and good uses of our giftings?

A. It is possible to pursue either of these courses with integrity, equally it is possible to pursue either and be entirely fruitless. What is in question is the state of your heart: If a thing is done to the glory of God, it is worship and therefore acceptable. If it is done with purely self in view, in an attempt to justify oneself by gaining merit / appeasing guilt etc. it is a dead work. A Christian can bring great glory to God in either of the ways mentioned in the question but only if His glory and fame are the desire of their heart.

Q. Is there merit in the saying that being on the edge financially keeps you more reliant and trusting on God?

A. As with the question above, it is quite possible for this situation to go either way: If the individual in question has a right assessment of who God is, and so fears and honours Him, they will find that they approach impending poverty with faith and hope. For those without this perspective, they might well panic and fear the situation. 1 John 4:18 tells us “Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” Therefore, the true deciding factor in reliance on God is whether or not one truly knows God as a loving Father. Whether or not this person is ‘on the edge financially’ is incidental.

Q. Is not the current system of money itself evil, as well as the love of money, in that it requires perpetual debt? Should we be partaking in a resource based economy instead, is this not what both Jesus and Paul advocated anyway?

A. Earthly governments are always a mixture, therefore we have a tension: On the one hand, we read in Romans 13:1 “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God”. On the other hand, several verses later in Romans 13:8, we read “Owe no one anything”. This leaves those in our situation with a problem: How do we submit to the authorities in a ‘debt’ culture? It would certainly involve not participating in the aspects of the culture that were counter to the Faith – in this case living on credit. The underlying principle to be observed is: Live in a godly way within the time and place and under the authorities that God has placed you. This does not mean that where things are unjust and ungodly we do not pray consistently and seek peaceful reform. On the second question: One could probably cite Scripture in various creative ways (and many have,) to suggest that Jesus and Paul advocated one particular mode of government or economy but this would involve reading into the text.

Q. If we invest in God’s church here in CCK, do you think this city will change?

A. In a word: YES! Our vision is to be ‘in Brighton, for Brighton’. In writing to the exiles, Jeremiah advised them “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7) We feel a similar mandate on us for Brighton. By giving to CCK, we are giving to an initiative that will effect permanent positive change, as the peace and prosperity of Brighton and Hove are placed high on the agenda.

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Paul has been explaining what true freedom is and what it is to be used for. When talking about money, we have to set the foundation right first, which is that grace is a free gift – it cannot be bought or earned with good works (e.g. giving lots of money to church). We can’t cover our sin with money – the price was God’s own Son. Another thing that needs to be clarified is that Paul is speaking to Christians, to members of the church.

Paul explains that he has every right to be paid by the church – and yet he chose not to in the case of the Corinthian church, as he didn’t want people to think they could bribe him, and the church had only recently been started up. However, Paul does explain four reasons why he has this right, as do the leaders of any church:

1. Common sense

• v.7 – if you work, you should get fairly paid.
• Often, Christians are the slowest to get this – some of us have a superspiritual view of money, thinking it is “unspiritual” or the root of all evil, or thinking that it will make the pastors/elders more spiritual and humble by keeping them poor! But money can and should be used for God’s glory, for blessing others – the church needs it. It is the LOVE of money that is the root of all evil – when you treat money as god.
• Jesus had to be supported financially when he was in full-time ministry.

2. God wants fairness

• v.8 – it is in the law of God.
• God has said many times in Scripture that He cares about fairness. He wants there to be justice for those who work – to be given dignity and rights and treated well.
• Paul uses the metaphor of an ox – good representation of what ministry work looks like: genuinely hard work, carrying a heavy load, extends beyond ordinary working hours, a continuous labour.

3. God’s presence costs cash

• v.13
• The Church is the presence of God – extending the Church, doing the work of God’s kingdom requires resources, and that requires money.
• The Church is God’s plan and only plan for the world – Jesus gave His life for it, and He will build it.
• We can be tempted to give our money to other ministries that seem more exciting than giving to our church – but the church is God’s mission and the mission we should be on. God has placed us here, to serve THIS city.
• We are not forbidden from giving to other ministries – it’s just that our priority in giving should be our church. We can give on top of what we give to church.

4. Jesus said it

• v.14 – ‘the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel’
• 1 Timothy 5:17-18
• It is a clear, biblical principle, taught by Jesus Himself.

There are four common myths that stop people from giving:

1. “More people = more money”

• i.e. thinking that it will just be covered by others. However, every member is needed. The church cannot afford to have people not giving.

2. “It’s ‘my’ money”

• No it’s not, it’s God’s money. We are stewards – we merely look after God’s money. He can do with it what He likes. Our calling in life is not to accumulate wealth and material possessions, but to steward well.

3. “I can’t afford to give”

• If we have this attitude, will we ever be in a place where we’re able to give?
• It sets a principle of “God gets the leftovers” or “God gets whatever I have spare”.
• The reality is, we can’t afford not to give! We need to learn that God covers us – that He is our security, not money.
• We can’t outgive God!
• We rob God when we don’t give to Him the first and best.
• We need to realign our priorities – where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
• If we learn to steward with little, God can trust us to steward with large amounts.
• Learn to give freely, wholeheartedly and crazily!

4. “CCK just needs to survive”

• i.e. we just need to stop being so ambitious.
• In truth, we need to be way more ambitious – God has much GREATER ambitions for our city, our nation and our world!
• This is a serious matter – we need to reach people with Jesus, we need to be building and growing more and more. And in order to do that, each member needs to play their part.

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The church in Corinth were facing the moral dilemma of whether it was right to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. We may not have the same problem in our time and culture, but we will struggle with many issues of conscience, many grey areas as Christians. This passage gives us good principles to help guide us through the issues we face.

There tends to be two different types of attitudes:
1. Relativistic – where there is no real right or wrong or absolute truth – very prevalent view in our culture
2. Making universal rules on every single issue – forcing your own convictions onto everyone else

Paul says that the second view is weak. Christianity and the Bible is not about following rules. Jesus in fact had the most trouble on earth with the religious leaders, the legalists.

1. Gnosis and love

• Paul draws a distinction between knowledge that “puffs up” – the Greek word ‘gnosis’ – and love.
• He addresses the attitude of the heart – wanting to be right and win all the arguments – the attitude of lifting up knowledge rather than love
• Don’t be more passionate about debating doctrines rather than the doctrines themselves
• We often build our life on what group we are “in” with – our hope is in what we know, which is pride
• If anyone loves God it proves that they are known by God. This is humbling because we only love God because He foreknew us and loved us first
• We should pursue knowledge for the purpose of worshipping better

2. Knowledge and freedom

• Paul does address the issue directly that the Corinthians were disputing – that there is only one God, and the idols aren’t real – AND that there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul inserts Jesus’ name here into what the Jews would usually recite (Deut. 6) because Jesus is the revelation of God, the only way to know God
• You look at Jesus and you see how God deals with people and how He uses His freedom

3. Freedom to love

• What is our freedom for? The answer is found in Jesus – it is for the sake of love
• All of us as Christians are at different stages – some do not possess the same knowledge as others and struggle with things that others don’t. We need to be patient and loving towards those with weak consciences
• Don’t ignore your conscience! Even if other people are doing what your conscience tells you is wrong. Don’t live with a bad conscience – protect it and educate it
• Loving others sacrificially is far greater than personal freedom – and do it with gladness and joy, so that your joy is made complete in serving others and putting their needs first
• Don’t flaunt your freedom but serve others
• Jesus is neither indifferent nor rigid – He is patient with the weak, even though He is always in the right
• What do you base your hope and identity on? Whose opinion do you care about the most? God should be the answer to these questions
• Jesus not only gives us an example – He gives us the power and strength to be able to love others in this way. Otherwise it is impossible for us!
• Jesus also gives us a new, clean conscience

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Paul is dealing with the issue of litigation in the church in Corinth, when there were rock star lawyers and suing people was a way of making money. Paul reserves his harshest words for this topic – he wants the church to feel ashamed for such behaviour. In our present day and culture, we may not be taking others to court but we do hold grudges and take vengeance on others.

Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that they have forgotten the following:

1. Themselves

• They have forgotten their identity – who they are – and their destiny – where they are headed – as the people of God
• All the saints (that is, anyone who has saving faith in Christ) will one day rule the whole world, including the angels
• We are God’s ecclesia – His people – so we should be able to sort out our differences amongst ourselves
• Paul is furious that they were making the Church look like any other organised religion that is just about ripping each other off. He is keenly aware that the world is watching, and so should we be
• Jesus prayed that His people would be one, would be unified
• We know better than to get revenge on each other
• Paul is NOT advocating covering up sins within the church and keeping them secret. He wants the city to see the church as genuine, open and humble, shining for Jesus, and civic authorities have been put in place by God – so there are times when we need to bring issues out into the open for the sake of justice
• However, this is about personal grievances and wanting money

2. Their Master

• We follow the example of Jesus – He suffered, forgave, was merciful, took mistreatment without retaliating, was loving, and did not take vindication against others
• We betray Jesus by not acting like Him and getting revenge
• However, we can’t just try our hardest to be like Christ – we’ll never make it in our own strength. We are innately sinful – we long for personal vindication in our hearts. But Jesus took all this on the cross – our sin and also the sins committed against us
• Jesus at the cross gave us a righteous standing with God and the power to live righteously. He was disempowered so that we could be empowered and reign with Him for all eternity
• Although we as God’s people continually treat Jesus with contempt, He never once gets back at us even though He has every right to
• Ch.3 – we have everything in Christ. This is why we can suffer losing money, personal grievances, etc
• Dwell on the fact you have been forgiven – he who has been forgiven much, loves much
• There’s an illusion that holy people just choose miserable, hard things for sake of it. But the truth is, it’s all done in faith and knowing that they have a destiny which cannot compare – e.g. Abraham
• We’re not advocating being doormats – we do need to seek justice when necessary

3. Their story

• If you spend your life grabbing and getting, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. If you try to hold onto your life, you will lose it – but if you give it up for the sake of Jesus, you will find it
• In this passage Paul lists any and every kind of person who lives to gratify their own pleasures. He is not picking on certain people, e.g. homosexuals – but having a go at everyone who lives for themselves
• We have a new story, a different story to the rest of the world
• You’ll live a joyless life if you live for yourself – everything you try to grab becomes cheap
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. True peace is always costly and God is the ultimate peacemaker – we are called to follow His example
• None of this is easy but it becomes easier the more you grow in your relationship with Jesus

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Paul here is warning against apathy, against the danger of assuming that once you become a Christian, it doesn’t matter how you live your life. He wants to show us what could be lost out on and uses the image of a race to do so. It is not an apathetic image but rather a one of a passionate exhortation to work, labour, etc.

1. Training

• It is all-consuming preparation – full time, constant, habitual
• The athletes who want to win think differently to other people
• It requires discipline – to train when you don’t feel like it or aren’t in the mood
• We have to train as Christians – same application for getting the most out of our relationship with God, to do great things for God with our life: we have to press through and persevere
• We also encourage one another to press on
• We are always fighting against the temptation to give up and throw in the towel, because following God’s will is never easy. But there is more we are capable of than we realise, we are able to handle more than we realise – because of the grace and power of God
• Training requires focus – you have to turn your focus away from other things
• The PRIZE:
• Many people think this is heaven, to obtain eternal life, but Paul already knew he was going to heaven because of his faith in Christ and the fact that God had saved him. Eternal life is a gift to be received not a prize to be won.
• The prize is the reward of a life lived with God. Not every Christian will receive the full reward of their life – some people will be saved ‘as one through fire’ – with nothing to show for their life, nothing achieved for God.
• God saved us for good works – we have a unique plan for our life.

2. Seeing

• We all pursue different prizes in life – but all apart from the reward of doing God’s will are perishable, they do not last
• We need to SEE the imperishable prize before us – we need to see the end goal
• Paul saw that goal and was obedient to the vision
• We have to see the end, have to have it in sight to keep going
• Don’t be so short-sighted – see something better than this passing age
• JESUS is the only reason we get to take part in the race in the first place. He has gone ahead and run the race for us, and now we get to run our own race with His help and power.