Title: Spirit of a Hero
Text: 1 Corinthians 9: 23-27
Background
The Corinthian culture to which Paul was speaking was worse than any Liberty Avenue or port town that we can think of today. It was a hub of international trade. People of from all over the word passed through this sea port town. The city was known for its great wealth as well as its vices. The Greeks even always portrayed Corinthians as drunks in their plays. There were thousands of prostitutes who were also priestesses in the local Greek religion. Added to the mix of this culture were the many international sailors who passed through the city making it not only known as a center of great wealth and luxury, drunkenness and debauchery, but also for disease. It was called by one historian as a “colony without aristocracy, without traditions, and without well-established citizens.” They were like a city who was just passing through and were out to get what they could while they were there.
The Hero
There was one thing that the city was proud of and that was of its sports. More specifically the Isthmian games that were held in their beautiful arena. They were one of the three major athletic contests that were held in the world. The Olympic games that were held in Athens and the third one being held at Delphi. These were the forerunners of today’s Olympic games. If there was one thing that ran counter to their culture, it was seeing these disciplined hard-working athletes preparing for the games. Only the best may compete in the games. In our sports minded town that remembers the super bowls of the 70’s, it is not hard to see that their heros were probably sports heros. It was to this hero that Paul points to as the example of the spiritual life. More exactly it is to his spirit that Paul points, the spirit of a hero.
The Hero has a desire to win.
Paul says in the text:
“Do you not know that in a race all run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to win the prize” 1 Cor.9: 24
One thing that all good athletes have in common is the desire to win. Between two athletes who are of the same ability, the one with the greatest desire will win. It can make people run faster, jump higher, and fight harder. How many times have you heard football players say that the team that wants the victory the most will win? Paul is telling us as spiritual runners that we need to have the desire to win, to finish the race.
In the Corinthian cultural environment of anything goes, Paul is calling the church to a higher way of life just like the Olympic athlete. Just like the athlete is running the race, or competing to win, we as Christians are called to victory. Somewhere in the athlete’s life he has made a decision to do what it takes to win, no matter what the cost. No matter what is going on around him, his sights are set.
The Hero separates himself.
These athletes were people who would not allow themselves to be immersed in the surrounding culture of excess and indulgence. They knew that it ran counted to their objective, their goal was a pine wreath that was placed on the victor’s head at the end of the contest. To win was to subject yourself to pain in the training. Like the advertisement says, “No Pain, No Gain.” The path of victory is always the path of those who exercised self control. Here was a lesson that the Corinthians seen every day being lived out in their mist.
The Hero is not a Spectator.
We need to make that decision to run the race, but many have not made it yet. The physical trainer will tell you the hardest thing to do is start. The activity that happens with the body begins with the will. We must have the desire to launch on a task of pain and self-denial. Why should we? It is so easy to just sit here and do nothing. How many of us are just watching the race? God has made us high performance race cars, and we don’t want to get out of the garage. If it is a nice day we might take out to church once a week, but we do not want to get out into the race and mix it up with the others. What is the problem here? Where is the motivation?
The Crown
The athlete knows that when he runs that there is the crown of victory that he is striving for. He drives himself for that one moment when the crowds are cheering him and he stands where many want to be, but are unwilling to sacrifice for. Paul says here is this man who takes on this discipline to have a fleeting perishable moment of glory. He is pushed by the goal, but what of us who are called to a far greater goal. We seek a greater “crown” than one of pine or laurel. But we do not run. Is the reason that we don’t run because we forget what the crown is? Jesus told of the value of the Kingdom in Matthew:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and went and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field and get the treasure too ! And again the kingdom is like a pearl merchant who was on the look out for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it.” ( Matt. 1: 44 - 46)
The goal, the treasure, the pearl, the lasting crown is worth our efforts!
Life is not a game without lasting consequences. Life is a proving ground where we prove who we are, whom we trust, and what we cherish. Eternal life, the upward call, the crown of righteousness, all these hang on what our life says about who we are, whom we trust and what we love. It is what we are running for.
The hero recognizes the competition.
The adversary is out there today challenging even more of our Christian heritage in our culture and our church, and yet I think a greater adversary is found a lot closer. The athlete knows that every race is a competition and the one we compete with looks very familiar. “I have seen the face of the enemy and it is us.” In the text, Paul switches his example from a runner to a boxer. And he says that he has a goal to defeat his opponent and his fiercest opponent is himself, or the “old man” as the Bible calls it. We need to recognize the adversary. In Gal 5:17 we read,
“So I say live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so you do not do what you want.” Gal. 5: 16 -17
We need to remember that the adversary is well trained, well motivated, and is going to do its best to defeat us. Paul said that he was not just shadow boxing but placing deliberate well-placed blows to the opponent. So how do we defeat the”old man,” or “the flesh?”
The old man
Don’t listen to the old man. Our sin nature is a liar! He will try to get you to believe that what we do doesn’t make a difference. Good or bad. If we do something good, he will tell you what you do will not make a difference. He will try to keep you out of the race. On the other hand, he will tell you that the sin you have in your life really doesn’t matter to God. He will tell you that the new life in Christ is only for certain areas of your life. He will convince you that in this area you can separate it from your Christianity. Once you done it once, what does one more matter and the defeating cycle goes on and on. We need to beat the old man or we may be disqualified from the race.
We need to starve the old man. The way to starve the old man is to feed the new man. Christian disciplines such as regular Bible sturdy, daily prayer, regularly gathering with other Christians strengthens the new man to stand up to the old man. But unlike the worldly athlete, will power alone cannot make us victorious, we need to realize that we are up against a powerful foe and we cannot beat him on our own.
The Secret Weapon
We need the help of the Holy Spirit.
“So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal.5: 16)
Without God’s help we are unable to even see, or understand the goal, or even where we are sinning. We need the spirit to have those spiritual eyes to envision being in Heaven; being with our loved ones who have gone on before, of seeing Jesus, of seeing the unveiled glory of God Almighty. This is our goal, our crown; to hear Jesus say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to run the race. It is only by the Spirit that we can inflict blows that will defeat the adversary in God’s battle we need God’s power.
The Hero plays by the rules
The world may say that we should win at any cost. But the hero knows that there are rules to be sure that the victory is fairly won. Paul tell us that we need to be careful least we be disqualified by not doing what we should. Paul even though he was an apostle realized that the race was til the end. Paul affirmed that the battle of the Christian life has always been not to just believe, but to keep on believing. There is a temptation to become a spectator at both ends of the Christian spectrum, with starting and also ending too soon. We cannot rest on our laurels and say “Well I’ ve done my part, I can retire and watch the others run. What if right at the finish line we say we quit and the competition blows right by us? Paul said that even though that he was an apostle, could not afford to quit. The race was not over until he collapsed into the arms of the Father at the finish line of his life. The hero never quits.
The hero is a person who has the desire to go after the goal and want to win it. They realize that he may not be able to do everything that the rest of their friends are doing but it is worth it for the crown. They realize that they must get in the race and not just be a spectator. They also know the competition and realize that they must train and be ready for the race. They also know that there are rules in the race and keep to them. They also know that they must not quit. The difference between the worldly runner and the spiritual runner is that God only blessed a few to be champion athletes but he enables all of through His Holy Spirit to run the race that He put before us, and that the prize has eternal significance.
Life is not a place for proving to God, or anybody, your strength. Life is the place for proving whose strength you trust, God’s or man’s. It is not a place for proving the power of your intelligence to know the truth. It is a place for proving God’s grace to show truth. Life is not a field for demonstrating the force of our will to make good choices. It is a field for showing how the beauty of Christ takes us captive and constrains us to run for his glory. Life has eternal consequences not because we are saved by good works, but because Christ has saved us from the dead works to serve the living God with Olympic passion. Jesus is encouraging us to get in the race and He will provide us with the spirit of a hero.
So get ready, get set, Go!
