Be Wise about Personal Priorities

Scripture

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

1 Corinthians 9:24–25 KJV

Big idea

Summary

Paul interrupts his discussion of Christian liberty to illustrate it from his own life. He first establishes, at length, that he had every right to be financially supported by the churches he served — as an apostle, by ordinary human fairness, by Old Testament law and practice, and by Jesus’ own teaching. The point is not to complain but to set up a contrast: a right clearly possessed, then deliberately set aside.

He explains why he gave up this right. For the gospel’s sake, he refused payment so that no one could accuse him of preaching for profit, in a city full of traveling teachers who did exactly that. For the sake of the lost, he adapted his approach to Jews, Gentiles, and the weak alike — not by compromising his message, but by removing every unnecessary barrier to hearing it, becoming, in his words, “all things to all men.”

Finally, Paul turns the lens on himself, using the image of an athlete in strict training for a race with only one winner. Every serious competitor disciplines his body and habits for the sake of a temporary prize; Paul disciplines himself all the more for an imperishable one. His fear is not losing his salvation, but being disqualified from the reward of faithful service — a caution against assuming spiritual authority or rights are enough, apart from a disciplined life.

Key points

• Paul builds a thorough, multi-angle case that he had every legitimate right to receive financial support from the churches he served.
• He deliberately refused that right so that his motives in preaching the gospel could never be questioned.
• Becoming “all things to all men” meant adapting his approach to reach different audiences without ever compromising the message itself.
• Paul disciplined himself the way a serious athlete trains for a race, keeping his eyes on a reward that will outlast any earthly prize.
• Having authority or rights is not the same as being faithful — Paul feared being personally disqualified even while helping others toward the goal.

Illustrations & analogies

• Paul compares ministers of the gospel to soldiers who are supplied by the army, farmers who eat from their own vineyards, and shepherds who drink the milk of their own flocks — ordinary examples of workers benefiting from their labor.
• He quotes the Old Testament instruction not to muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain, applying the same principle of fairness to those who labor in the Word.
• He pictures himself as a runner in the Greek games, disciplining his body the way an athlete would to avoid disqualification, in pursuit of a prize that will never fade.
• He describes his approach to different audiences — beginning with the patriarchs for Jewish hearers, with creation for Gentile hearers — as building bridges rather than following one inflexible formula.

Notable lines

It takes tact to have contact.

Warren W. Wiersbe Be Wise, ch. 8

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Warren W. Wiersbe Be Wise, ch. 8, quoting missionary Jim Elliot

For reflection and discussion

1. What “right” have you held loosely, the way Paul held his right to financial support, for the sake of a larger gospel purpose?
2. How do you tell the difference between genuinely adapting your approach to reach different people and simply compromising what you believe?
3. What would it look like, practically, for you to train for the Christian life the way an athlete trains for a race?