The Race of Your Life (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
Gary McManus, 06/28/2015Part of the New Life series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
June 28, 2015 The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (p. 1134/ p. 1149)
The Bible and sports; yes, there are references.
The Bible is not REALLY talking about sports.
The Bible is talking about our life in Christ
(See 1 Corinthians 9:25, Hebrews 12)
Paul says following Jesus requires strict
training!
Two traditions in American Christianity:
--immediate decision (Mark 1:18, 1:20) or
--training (see Luke 14:25-33, Luke 13:24-25)
2 Timothy 3:16
“Training” DOES remind us that following
Jesus takes TIME and EFFORT.
Paul, the Greeks, and sports. . .
Paul will compare the Christian life to
a running race. (Galatians 5:7)
The Apostle himself makes references to boxing
and running: 2 Timothy 4:7 [Full Chapter]
Compare Hebrews 12
The Apostle is talking about a race
—our life in Christ is a race set before us.
--The course is set for us (we don’t set it).
--Two things DO in preparation:
-we throw off everything that hinders
(KJV) “let us lay aside every weight.”
AND, he adds
-(throw off) the sin that entangles.
So the weight is NOT the sin.
Things that are NOT sinful can still slow us down
in following Jesus.
There is nothing worse in a foot race than
getting entangled. . .in anything!
Then we are ready to run WITH PERSEVERENCE
the race that is set before us.
Then the apostle looks to Jesus:
(Just as the runner runs to get the prize ((vs.24)
or Philippians 3:14))
Press on, persevere, for the end, the prize.
2 Timothy 4:7 (just happy to FINISH!)
After the training, the preparation,
do what you can do to finish. Amen.
The Naked Olympics Tony Perrottet
(Although the Greeks participated naked,
the book is about the “the naked truth”
concerning the ancient games. Funny, hunh?)
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More on 2 Timothy 4:7
“Finishing well” is a goal of every Christian.
We are all well aware of high profile Christian
leaders and Christians who “crashed and burned.”
The Bible mentions a few also.
1 Timothy 1:18—20 mentions the fight of a
battle for faith. But not everyone is able to
survive (or, at least, their faith does not
survive). So, we all want to finish (the race
of living for Jesus) well.
Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
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