Rachel continues our series, ‘Distinct’, going through 1 Corinthians.
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hello welcome to Hope Church hargate’s message of the week if you’d like to connect with us please head over to Hope harriet. co.uk connect we’d love to hear from [Music] you right so it is 1 Corinthians 9: 19- 27 I’m reading off here because I can’t actually see that really at the back you can all read us there if you can see it four although I am free from all men I have made myself a servant to all that I might win with the more and to the Jews I became as a Jew then 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 without the law as without law not being without law toward God but under law toward Christ that I might win those who are without the law to the weak I became as weak that I might win the week I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some now this I do for the gospel’s sake that I may partner be a partaker of it with you do you not know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize run in such a way that you may obtain it and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a perishable Crown but we for an imperishable Crown therefore I run like this not with uncertainty I fight not as one who beats the air but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection then when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified apologies this version does seem to have slightly different words than that Rachel than good morning I drove to Scotland yesterday it was pretty I I have lived here 23 years and I still uh turn into an American Tourist anytime I pretty much go anywhere and I just drive around being like it’s beautiful it’s amazing um so I’m back fresh from the sunshine of Scotland which is something that I didn’t think that I would be able to say um but what was the phrase that it’s the son the Lord so what was that Lisa what did you say what was the second something about wetting where’d she go she disappeared the Lord said and knows them that wants wetting I’ve live I have never heard that phrase before in my life and what does it mean don’t know I don’t know if I can all right well let a Ponder later what that British phrase means um right we are continuing the sermon series through First Corinthians how many how many vers how many chapters are there in First Corinthians Adam 16 so we are over halfway through I just looked at Adam to know all these things because he had to plan the sermon series for it I just know that there’s a lot and so we are almost half well we’re over halfway through and uh we are continuing on this if you missed Dan’s preach from a couple of weeks ago please to go back and listen to it it was well worth it because we are in a section that Paul really seems to care about and so he is talking about it a lot in sequence and so a lot of our sermons are going to refer back to each other and Dan’s was nice short and really helpful um and so uh we are going on to this passage and so if you want to have a look you can feel free to join me in 1 Corinthians uh 9 but you don’t have to I’m going to refer to it and it will pop up again uh so in 1 Corinthians 9 uh Paul is continuing this thing that he has got about sacrifice and about um what we are a slave to um because we started off as slaves to sin all of us were slaves to sin sort of Trapped in the being trapped into the Earthly desires the sin that easily entangles us the being unable to live the life that we are called to live in order to live perfectly to live with God and um we were trapped in that cycle and Jesus came to free us from that cycle to um free us from the chains to free us from being slaves to the sin that we are we are um living in so that we can live in Freedom so that we can be free from sin and free from the flesh that pulls us back and free from the trap of of feeling isolated and unloved and unknown because we now know the love of the father and we in that relationship with him we have all this Freedom that Jesus came to give us and the question that Paul is asking is what you doing with the freedom that you have because a lot of us evidently in the Corinth Corinth the city in Corinth but also a lot of the new Believers and I would say a lot of us are like woohoo I’ve got freedom now it’s mine and I shall do with it as I like and Paul was like that’s that’s not the point people that’s Jesus didn’t die so that you could just run and do whatever you want and be like I’m free I’m free I can do what I want um and it seems that some people in the early church were doing that they were like yes Jesus died for my sins past present and future therefore nothing I do matters I’ll do what I like I’m living in the freedom and Paul was like no no no no that’s that’s not what it’s about um other people were saying well great I’m free but I’m gonna continue to live in this way and I’m gonna do it just in the way I want I’m G to continue be a Jew and live all over the restrictions because that’s what I want to do and Paul’s like you got freedom there’s all of these questions of what are you going to do with your freedom because it seems like um people did what they liked and so that’s why we’re in first Corinthians in which we’ve so far covered sex conflict marriage and food used in idol worship which you know every time you go to a grocery store you’re in that qu quandry um and so he was just trying to help them figure out what do you do with all this Freedom that you have been given in Christ and we are continuing that Journey today because there was a real sense of them saying I have this Freedom I’m going to hoard it I’m going to spend it on myself I get it for me the Jews are like I no longer have to live completely constrained by everything hrah the Gentiles are like hrah I don’t have to do all of this other stuff I have this freedom and it becomes centered on themselves and Paul is like that that’s not what it’s for it’s for something way way way better than that and he Compares it to a race and I find this fascinating and so I’m going to read you this again would you mind oh perfect oh we are synced in our minds he says though I’m free and belong to no one I’ve made myself a slave to everyone and so we’re going to go into why this is but I want to skip to the end if you wouldn’t mind he’s talking about a race everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training they do it to get a crown that will not last but we do it to get a crown that will last forever therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly I do not fight like a boxer beating the air no I strike a blow to my body and I make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize for Paul he’s like your freedom is so that you can run your race really really well and I find it really interesting that he was talking to the Corinthians because you may not know this Biblical history um what you may not know is that you know the Olympics that happened in Athens right well evidently not the only thing that was going uh there was sort of like nowadays you have all of these different competitions you like World Championships and so you have the Olympics that did happen once every four years but then there was also other championships that happened all over the world and Corinth hosted them two times every four years so the Olympics happened every four years and the year before the Olympics and the year after the Olympics um there was something called the isthan games happening right outside of Corinth and the City of Corinth was in charge of Hosting these they had all of the normal competitions wrestling horse racing chariots boxing box boxing mixed martial arts it wasn’t called that it was called something else but it was pretty much missed martial arts and running the 200 meter the 400 meter the 1500 meter and the 5,000 meter Corinth was in charge of this so when Paul’s trying to tell them hey your freedom is for something and it’s for getting a prize they knew exactly what it was they knew exactly what it looked like and I’m going to show you when you ran a race and you won the race you got a little it’s not a hat it’s a like a crown right so the Olympics of course they did the Olympics had a crown of laurels but the is is mithian games were like Pine’s better and so you got a pine Crown when you won at the isthan games you got a laurel Crown both were just made of like local fauna and Flora and evidently more Biblical history and you see the next slide this is a funeral thing of a guy who competed in lots of different games and you can see really closely that all of them had different crowns made of different kinds of Flora and Fauna so this was like he was like oh I’m so excited and it’s like if someone competed in the Olympics eight times except he completed in like the world championships and the isian one and you can look and you see each Crown is made out of something different competing for a crown was a thing that they very very much understood and Paul was saying your freedom is not for you just to spend on yourself twiddling your thumbs and sitting in the corner you are called to run a race with a prize can I go back and see the one with the not one that Fades like these Earthly crowns but a crown that’s going to last for eternity for Paul our freedom wasn’t something to hoard and spend on ourselves it was a freedom to pursue something because running in a race requires sacrifice it requires really really hard sacrifice um it requires a sacrifice that is so all-encompassing because in order to run a race fast you’ve got to do stuff now I am not an Olympic Athlete do we have any Olympic athletes in the room I’m just checking you never know who’s in church uh and so but you’ve watched them run you’ve seen those little things you know when we watch the Olympics and they’re like uh starting at seven years old you know Joe Bob um loved running and then you see like a picture of him running at home and then they’re like woking up at 5:00 in the morning every morning Joe Bob worked really hard and then you know and then you see him working out you all through his teen life and then you know job could have gone to University but instead he chose to run 90 miles a day and you watch this whole life of sacrifice to get to the moment and then then they’re you know by the you know the beginning of the race and you’re like wow a whole lifetime of self-discipline to get to this moment of this race and then they run and you’re like run and you’re so excited for them because they spent a life sacrificing of us they were training for a purpose I’ve always wanted to see in the Olympics just a regular person have to compete in every one of the things do you know what I mean I would so volunteer for that job I wouldn’t want to like walk in the you know the opening things we’d have our own little outfits and then you would get to the point and there’d be like skiing Mogul and then there’d be like all the people who trained their whole lifetime and me like just going down very slowly because sometimes if you’re like me when I watch the Olympics I’m like she bubled on that fourth double triple back on suming on the beam she’s done that twice now you get really judgy about these Olympic athletes who are doing these amazing things but they’ve trained their whole life to operate at this level of excellence and amazingness and we just watch them and I would just love for a normal person to do it just so that you can like remember how much sacrifice went into the elite way that they run a life they have made a lot of sacrifices in their life to reach that level of excellence and Paul is saying your freedom is not just for you to be happy in a corner and be like woohoo I’m free it’s for you to spend that you may run a life worthy of the God who sent Jesus to die for you to to run your race that he has set before you we are used to this idea of sacrificing for something I remember I used to play volleyball in high school I was varsity volleyball captain and uh and there was something about diving on the floor and like putting your body on the floor for something that you’re like I have so many scars on my body from diving and it’s like worth it like momentary sacrifice worth it didn’t even think about it the sacrifice for the goal totally good who has been doing exams and exam prep we have gcses and a levels look at him look how tired he is you are doing excellently you you are putting in the work you are sacrificing every moment for the goal of an exam we are used to this idea of sacrifice of learning a skill the amount of time I’ve spent and I do blacksmithing and the amount of burns I’ve had on my hands from trying to do a thing because I want to get better and better and better and I pour out the time and the sacrifice we’re used the idea of sacrificing for something greater for a pursuit of something but then we get to the idea of life with God and we’re like I don’t want to sacrifice just want it to be good and happy and just everything that I want for me and it is so easy that we begin to see Christianity as taking our freedom away from us no you can’t have sex before marriage no you can’t do that it is just a stripping of all my freedom it’s all the things I can’t do and I think there’s something significant about changing the way we sacrifice that Paul has called us to because it isn’t a journey of stuff we can’t do it is saying we have got a lot of freedom what are we going to choose to do with it i’ I’ve got a lot of chocolate this represents my freedom this is the freedom that Jesus has given me and what I can do is sit in the corner and watch everyone else run the Christian Life and just enjoy the fact that Jesus died for me I’m just going to sit here with my freedom is that what you all want me to do no um because there’s something greater and this is what Paul has been talking about in these chapters he’s saying you have all this Freedom there’s something that you can do with it and so last two weeks ago Dan was talking about spending your freedom to lift lift others up other Christians who are struggling who want to enjoy the freedom and things that they’ve called them to but something is getting in their way if I’m doing something that is stopping them from running their race then I’ve got to put down that freedom I am willing to not I am willing to not do this so that you can do what God has called you to do and so if you’re like actually I can’t watch that show and I’m going to watch it and talk about it actually it’s really good for me say you know what I’m not going to watch it so that you can enjoy Community a bit better I don’t have that freedom anymore to do it because I’ve chosen to sacrifice it but that has been a blessing to someone else so that he can continue to run the race and have the freedom to be in the that Community does that make sense I put down what I’ve been given for the sake of someone else to run with it and that’s a joy but in this verse they’re also talking about the fact that there are times where I sacrifice for not just Christians but for people who haven’t yet seen Jesus because my freedom isn’t just for me I’m not just like I’m glad I have it but there are people who don’t know Jesus yet and sometimes that requires big sacrifice there are people who move to different countries there are people who follow what God’s asked them to there are people who have chosen to not have children there are people who have moved into locations that they wish they would not have chosen for themselves but God has pointed to it and said there are people here who need me they’ve taken a lot of the freedom that they have and they’ve said I’m going to choose to put down my dreams for my family or my hopes for how my com comfortable life would live and I’m going to give it so that other people may have freedom in Christ but those are precious things this is a Dairy Milk dime bar one those are some precious ones you don’t want to give away and I think it’s easy to give away the little small ones oh sure I won’t watch a television program am I willing to move my family to a place where my kids won’t have the schools I want them to then they get freedom in Christ someone else identified someone who needs the freedom in Christ of Jesus right there there you go and I feel like you might need some chocolate yeah see thank you Jesus I have less of a pile but more fruit it is a sacrifice of understanding it is a sacrifice of what is my right it is a sacrifice of what I want for me but I can choose it because my life is not spent trying to pursue the sin that I’m trapped in my life is spent in the service of others in the same way that Jesus did there’s a delight in it there is a joy in it and it gets really practical really fast because we’re like yeah I want to sacrifice for other people but sometimes that is deeply uncomfortable um but it’s the fruit that one of the things that I found fascinating this may seem really tangential but one of the things I do a lot of study on war and stuff that’s what my masters is in and one of the the methods of torture um in many prison War camps was having them dig dig a hole and then fill it up again and then dig a hole and fill it up again and I think sometimes we see the sacrifices that Christians make as just pointless just oh I just need to sacrifice I need to sacrifice but every sacrifice we make for the sake of another Christian every sacrifice we make for the sake of those to find Jesus is fruitful and powerful and significant it is not just making a sacrifice for the sake of nothing it’s making a sacrifice for the kingdom of God God it is the most productive thing you can do not the pursuit of your own freedom but setting your freedom down for the sake of others for me this is popped up in this thing so Paul is in in the context of Jews and Gentiles can we see the the beginning of the verse here we go he’s saying though I am free and belong to no one he was also a Roman citizen so he also had some natural born Freedom that he was enjoying um he is now free from sin Jesus has saved him he is excited and he has said now I am free I’m no longer a slave to to sin but I am free and belong to no one I have made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible he has chosen to take his freedom and say I’m going under you to the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews um to see those under the law those are the the Jews I became like one under the law the on myself I’m not under the law I can choose it they didn’t choose it I can choose it but I want to win those under the law the Jews were living with mer restrictive things you could they couldn’t hang out with people who hung out with gent Gentiles they couldn’t hang out with people who ate foods that combined it in order to sit with the Jewish population of the time he had to make sure he was giving up a lot his food choices his living lifestyle choices his clothing choices he had a chosen he’s like I’m gonna I’m gon to understand them I’m going to get there because what I want them to hear is the gospel same thing with the Gentiles when he’s hanging out with the Gentiles those who aren’t Jewish those not having the law I became like one not having the law although I’m not you know just doing whatever I want I’m still under Christ’s law you know I’m still being holy walking in righteousness but you know there’s they have all sorts of cultural things that they need me to do so as to win those not having the law he’s like I’m putting down all my personal preferences all the ways I want to live my life so that I can put them first would you mind giving that de side to the weak I became weak to win the weak I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some I do this all for the sake of the Gospel that I may share in its blessings do you know that in a race all the runners won but only one gets the prize run in such a way to get the prize he is passionate about this and and for me this pops up in really practical ways um I travel a lot I speak a lot and um I was telling God not sure these examples are going to be helpful but I I can only share with you my experience and um for me I one of the things that was I find deeply um um difficult sometimes was um when I travel in there’s different cultural contexts and so I was speaking in Finland and um and they were they have a cultural phenomena called SAA um and sauna is when you gather together in community in a really hot room and um and talk about very deep things it’s a very private very personal place that people then share things and men with men and women are with women um and its place and throughout the week I was speaking I was speaking for a whole week and um the first day they were like will you do sauna with us on Friday night and I was like absolutely um and they’re like they were like full all of sauna and I’m like yes and they were like we’d love to bring people who don’t know Jesus to sauna and I’m like I am here to share the gospel absolutely and they they started crying and they were like we’ve never been able to invite people who don’t know Jesus into the place because most people who come over um insist on wearing bathing suits and sa and it just makes people feel judged and there’s a barrier and stuff and we’re just so grateful that you were willing to share the gospel in the way it’s accessible to people and I was like sorry um and throughout the week people would be like I’m inviting my friend to SAA and I’m like and I’ll see you there and Friday night me and a bunch of women got in a box that was really hot and it was definitely not comfortable and it would not have been my choice and I had perfect right to say I have the freedom to say no I had the freedom I had the choice to say no I could have done something but there was something in the way that they wanted to share the gospel that I’m like is this a sin thing is it something that is a Holiness righteousness issue nope then I need to get over myself and serve the local people help them share the gospel and I sat in that room and I heard people’s stories and we talked about Jesus and I have it’s really interesting you can go really deep with a lot of people you don’t know when you’re all sitting around naked in a hot room and and I was I was in awe of how we cried and we prayed for each other and we telled our stories and and I could have missed sharing the gospel with people because I wasn’t willing to to put down my freedom there are so many times I have a friend who moved into an estate that has the highest rate of sexual abuse in the nation and he’s like this is a I’m choosing to move my four children into this space because that is where God has called us to be you’re putting down something for the sake of the Gospel you’re putting down something for the sake of other Christians who need you to back them up and sit with them and support them and say I’m willing to put down what I think I want for the sake of what you need we’re backing up people who don’t yet know Jesus we’re saying I’m willing to put down my comfortability my choices my rights what I think I need I’m GNA show up as an introvert to extrovert events because you need a face that will smile at you and love you I am going to put down what I want for the sake of the gospel for you but also this last section at the end may I see that next I’m going to put down what I think I want because I don’t want to show up at the end of my life and say thank you for this Freedom Jesus I ate it well I want to show up at the end and I want to say thank you for this Freedom Jesus I gave everything I could in the pursuit of living in Holiness and loving others as myself and loving God as I could because I really really really want to look at Jesus in the face and I want him to say Well done I’m so excited I’m just hoping for that was good enough but I’ll well done would be amazing I really really really want to look into the Jesus who came and died for me and see him proud of me because of all the fruit that he is brought about through a little tiny person who just ran really hard not because I think I could prove anything to him or earn anything better but just because I want to run the race that he has set out in front of me but what I love and and Beth read it this morning do you remember that story that we were reading in worship about the elders who had their crowns because when we get to heaven and we’re doing this Pursuit for a crown thanks I did not plan on snotting today people um I got I had a wedding is that a no not no not the I was trying to find it it didn’t it didn’t make it there we’re gonna find this out next time we’ll come back all of us non-british people are going to come back we’ll figure it out um I don’t know what I was saying it was really helpful what was I talking about sorry I’m a woman of a certain age uh um crowns oh yeah crowns excellent see it’s a team it’s a family um the crowns at the end of my life I’m gonna I’m G to get there and we’re pursuing this because we want a crown that doesn’t just fade away a little Pine thingy that you can put on your head and then put on your funeral thing that says hey I did some pretty cool stuff and you put it on your grave I want to get to see face to face with Jesus and he puts a crown on my head and then I get to turn around and I get to look him in the face and I get to take it off and throw it at his feet and say you are worthy and awesome and a holy God I’m so glad I get to be here and worship you because after all of that it’s not really going to be about me sitting around with my fancy Crown feeling happy I’m gonna get this fancy crown and then I’m going to look at the face of the God who is love and say all of this is nothing compared to who you are today was not a day I thought I’d cry but there we are the Christian sacrifice isn’t about living restricted the Christian s sacrifice is about living powerfully for the sake of others and for the sake of the kingdom and it is a a wonderful thing and it makes you not want to end up with a caramel chocolate bar still left over you love chocolate here for Jesus says here take this and enjoy can I pray for us God I thank you that your goal for our lives is not that we are just happy and content but that we are joyful and productive that we run a hard race but have the significant freedom and power to lift others up to help others find you to run a hard race that helps us become more like Jesus thank you Father that you have given us such significance on Earth thank you Jesus that you chose to put all things aside and come to Earth to be with us to teach us how to walk to put all things down for the sake of the joy that is before you and walk to the cross for us let us live lives of Joyful sacrifice that we may be a small part of the great things that you are doing on this Earth teach us how to run our race with integrity and kindness that we may be like you that we may see those who don’t know you find their freedom that we may see our Brothers and Sisters in Christ live joyfully and more free and run their race well that we may all together stand shoulder toosh shoulder worshiping you in heaven throwing the crowns that we ran so hard for at your feet crying holy holy holy Lord in a place of sheer joy and peace and love in Jesus name amen [Music]
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