Bible Reading Challenge #22

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[b] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Do I care about preaching the gospel as much as Paul? That has been our guiding question over the past few days, and we have been looking at some of the things Paul has given up which shows his deep devotion to the sharing of the gospel.

On Monday, we saw Paul give up his right to earn money off preaching, and the correlative loss of life-comforts since he had to work with his hands to earn money. Yesterday, we saw Paul give up the Christian freedom to live life as he chooses in order to have a wider audience with which to share the gospel by meeting them where they are.

Today, Paul commits to strict disciplining of his body and its desires so that he does not become distracted or disqualified from the work of preaching the gospel. I am still a novice in Greek, but I think one commentator has it exactly right when he calls verse 27a a weak translation. Rather than “discipline my body and keep it under control”, I think it is more helpful for us to consider a more literal translation.

“I pummel my body and make it a slave”

Wow. That is pretty intense. Are you willing to do that if it makes you more effective at sharing the gospel with more people who desperately need it?

Are you willing to give up what your body desires? And that is not only giving up sinful things like gluttony, lust, pride. A lot of the things Paul is referring to are not even sinful things!

Paul’s metaphor of athletes is an excellent one, because they have to give up many things that are considered normal and even acceptable in moderation, they can’t even have them in moderation. The wine (in their time), maybe it’s best to think of sweets or delicious fatty foods in our time.

So my challenge for you today is to ask yourself, what would you have to remove to approach sharing the gospel the way an athlete approaches training?

What time would you have to find/make/sacrifice to consistently spend time with God and spend time sharing the gospel with others? Maybe this means giving up some TV time, some work time, some phone time, etc.

Do we care about preaching the gospel as much as Paul? I think the obvious answer is no, but can you imagine what the church would look like if we even tried to?

I don’t think we can even imagine what would change, so let’s try and see what God does.