1 Corinthians 9:16-31
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
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. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday February 4 comes from First Corinthians chapter nine, verses 16 through 27. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me, Woe to me, if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this of my own, well, I have a reward. But if not of my own, well, I am still entrusted with a stewardship, what then is my reward, that in my preaching, I may present the gospel FREE of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them, to the Jews, I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Here ends the reading. This comes as part of a chapter that is talking about the the extraordinary measures that St. Paul and Barnabas did when they came to Corinth to refrain from putting a a barrier to the preaching of the gospel. The passages before this, talk about what it takes to how other apostles have traveled around and received support for their missionary work includes Sefa, Sir Peter, and the and their wives, that they would receive support in order to focus on preaching the Word. Paul and Barnabas, however, are arguing that they have not taken that right, they have not required that the Corinthians support them while they are there. Because they don't want to use that as a barrier to the Gospel. And they're not trying to take the right of apostles, but simply be open and free to give the gospel FREE of charge. And that's what Paul is talking about in the beginning paragraph of this where he says that he is giving the gospel FREE of charge, he goes What then is my reward, than in my preaching, I may present the gospel FREE of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel. And that's what he's talking about there. That as a pastor, an apostle, he has a full right to be supported by the church, his job is to go around preaching and teaching the gospel so that all people can hear it. And he has the right to be supported in that. And yet, he gives up that so that he can not put a barrier for the people who would have to do the supporting. And that's what he why he goes into this section right here. He says, further, I am free from all I've made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings. So Paul was talking about ministry tack tic that he is using to build connections with people who are different than him. So he says to them, to the Jews, I became like a Jew. So well, he already was a Jew. But this means that he he adopts some of their culture and their their actions and their ways. And then he goes to those under the law I became as one under the law. And we can see this, that when he goes back to Jerusalem, he goes through all the cleansing rituals and all the things that he would need to do to go into the temple, as if he were under the law again, even though he had been out and about with the Gentiles, all of this time, doing all sorts of things, eating all the wrong things being just like everybody who's outside the law. When he gets back to Jerusalem, he takes on the rituals and practices again, so that he can enter into the temple and reach out to those people. Because the same reason why when he went out to the Gentiles, he lived and behaved as a Gentile. It probably would have been weird, the first time eating pig for Paul, right? Do you think that would be crazy? That would be a little odd. I bet. He was a little like, oh, I don't know what this is about. But he does it. It actually kind of reminds me of some of the things they used to do when I was in band in college, we will go on band tour when you go all over the country. And every time we would play a concert, we would stay with a host family. And so the host family, they were great. They would invite people in, and you'd stay the night there. And they always told us the same thing. When you go into the house, if they offer you food, you have to eat it. It doesn't matter how gross it is, it doesn't matter what it looks like, you have to eat it. And then you say thank you and you smile. I think that's kind of what St. Paul is saying is that he was using every every means at his disposal to build a connection with the people to say, this is how you learn about Jesus. And that's what we did, we were supposed to show how thankful we were for being housed, how thankful we were for their hospitality, and that even if we thought what they were serving was kind of gross, it still came from a generous heart. St. Paul is trying to do the same thing. He's saying I'm gonna be like you so that you there is no barrier between the gospel. And we do this in all sorts of circumstances where we take the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we wrap it up in different cultures and music and ways of being so that it makes sense to the people who hear it. Paul finishes up he says, do not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control and all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. I love the athlete metaphors. St. Paul uses them occasionally. And especially I love the running ones because you know, I run and he goes Do you not know that all the runners run but only one receives the prize? Yeah, I get it. It's every once in a while someone will talk to me. They'll say I'm going to do a marathon and they'll be like, Oh, are you gonna win? And I go, No, there are 3000 other runners and about 5000 About 1000 of them are faster than me. No, no, I'm not gonna win. I know exactly who's gonna win, not me. But I still train like it. I still train like I want to be as fast as I possibly can be. And St. Paul was talking about this, he says, athletes train to be the best they can be and they put aside all of these things and discipline their bodies, and they're only doing it for a perishable reef. You know, that laurel wreath that they would put on their heads. For us marathon runners, it's those metals that they hang around our necks that go up on the wall and then you never look at him again. What more how much more discipline should we have as we chase after eternal life, the gift of Jesus Christ. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai