Summary
The sermon titled "Run to win the prize" focuses on the metaphor of life as a race, emphasizing the importance of purposeful living and spiritual discipline. Drawing from Philippians 3:14-16 and 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, the speaker highlights that as believers, our lives should be marked by a continuous forward movement toward the goal of knowing Christ more fully and being transformed into His image. The message addresses the challenges of distractions, encumbrances, and the need to persevere despite obstacles. Paul’s analogy of an athlete training rigorously to win an eternal prize is contrasted with the fleeting rewards of earthly competitions. The sermon also touches on the necessity of spiritual preparation, resisting temptations, and maintaining focus on God’s eternal calling. It questions contemporary distractions like false prophecies, worldly influences, and misplaced priorities, urging the congregation to throw off hindrances and run with determination. Central to the message is the encouragement to find strength in the examples of faith from Scripture, trust in God’s faithfulness, and remain committed to the race of faith, knowing that the ultimate prize is an imperishable crown of glory.
Sermon transcription
Until our next anniversary again. And it is time to put in place our program for this year for the whole year. Make our schedules of activities and all the events that will be happening in the coming months and even submit our budgets for each department or ministry. Did we do that already? So we could set our financial goals for this year. Yeah. Now therefore it is fitting that we started a series of sermons about looking ahead and pressing onwards based on a text in Philippians 3. And today we will continue on this text. We need to go back to verse 14 which was covered by pastor Riard’s sermon last Sunday. Then verse 15 and verse 16. And this was the text that was read to us a while ago by pastor Angel. However we have a second text in 1 Corinthians 9 that we are also going to use today. So instead of reading Philippians 3 again, I want us to read 1 Corinthians 9 from verses 24 to 27. Shall we do that? 1 Corinthians 9 24-27. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 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. Verse 26. 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 make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. Now there's a lot of things happening in the world today. If you follow if you open your internet watch the news, you can still see wars raging in many places even as we speak. Protest. There are protests in all places. I can see the march rallies and the rise that are going on in all places in the world. Even in the Philippines amidst this unprecedented flood control scandal there's so much corruption going on that I don't want to listen to it anymore. It gets into your nerve you know. But how many of you know that rapture was supposed to happen last September 21 and 22? Do you know that there are people who changed the date to October 6 or 7 when the first prediction did not happen? But did you know that a lot of people already sold all their possessions their houses you know in preparation for the rapture? Of course I don't understand why should they do that you know can they bring the proceeds with them when they welcome Jesus in the clouds you know I don't understand that but there are people who mock all these things they laugh you know when these things are happening and they were saying where's your what took him so long you know but the truth of the matter is that and I repeat this again even if the predictions are wrong and this has been happening for many years already they are predicting the exact dates of Jesus coming but even if they are wrong the truth of the matter is that Jesus is coming soon and this is the truth you And the question is how should we live knowing that? Okay how should we live our life knowing that? How should all these things happening around us affect the way we lived our lives? That is the question. In fact to be direct as Christians how are we living our lives at the moment? Okay. Now life is described in many ways even in the scripture. It shows the elements of how our lives must be in line with our calling as Christians. Now it is said that life is a journey. Do we agree on this? And yes in a matter of speaking it is all of us are going somewhere. We're all pilgrims and aliens in this world and we are just passing through and this reminds us that everything we see around us are but temporary and what we can do is just to pass on our legacy to the next generations who are themselves to journeyers. Okay. And speaking of journey there are two important things that we need to know and remember you know. First you have to know in a journey you have to know where you are going. You have to know your final destination. Otherwise well you're not really on a journey and you will just wander around you know with no direction and you will just waste the precious time and energy instead of making the most of every opportunity. And second even if you know your destination you must know how to get there. And we're not talking about direction. You can always Google you know and if you have a tomb to yeah you will know where you are going and we're not talking about that I'm talking about our capacity to get there and this is exactly what our spiritual journey is all about but there's more and we will learn in a little bit in Philippians 3 if you still remember the message beginning in the first pastor Angel. Okay. And pressing onwards and followed by pastor Reard to continue on this series about moving forward. And we understand that the Christian life is not supposed to be spent in idling around or standing still. What we learn is that our life is about pressing onwards and a continuous forward movement. You know this is a continuous movement towards a goal ahead of us and just like in a race with a goal to achieve and a prize to win. This is what Philippians 3:14 was telling us and this is what Paul clearly emphasized also in the verse that we have just read in 1 Corinthians 9. The Bible uses metaphors or allegory about our life as believers. And at times we are compared to a sheep which needs a shepherd or a branch or a vine. Sometimes we are compared to a wheat or a soil where the gospel can be sown. But here in the text that we have just read in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul uses the metaphor of an athlete an athlete who is running a race. Verse 24 in 1 Corinthians 9 tells us that we are all runners and that we all run in this race called life. I believe that when he speaks about race I believe he was referring to the Eastmanian games in the ancient times in Corinth when he used this analogy about a marathon race that is very popular in Corinth in that time and this is a long-distance race where an athlete competes to get a crown and in this competition John there's only one prize to win. Therefore the emphasis here is for us not only to participate in the race but for us to run in such a way to win the prize. Now how many of you joy anybody? Oh nobody jugg. I also don't jugg. Yeah I tried walking long distance but running is really a different thing. One time I was asked to join a fun run. We also have that here in the Netherlands and I had to choose between 5 kilometers and 10 kilometers. You know I choose five. Although I was thinking I can actually do the 10 but I want to go home early so I choose five. So I arrived at the starting point registered myself. I was given a shirt and a number and then off we go. We run and at first I felt okay. I was like having fun waving at the other runners you know smiling at them. But in a little while I feeling my legs to become so heavy and so painful and I can hardly breathe anymore. So I was forced to you know to stop. I think I was able to run around a kilometer and a half barley a mile but I have to give up. I actually hailed the taxi and went home and I was still breathing hard in the taxi and the driver said hospital sir and no just bring me home. And now the marathon race that Paul was talking about is a thousand mile race across mountains and gorges. You know perhaps there are swamps to cross and difficult terrains and many obstacles. That's why Paul said in verse 25 everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training. Maybe like a Navy Seals training. No. In comparison something like that. That is if you're seriously running to win the prize okay? Not just to have fun. In the same way the life of the believer is never meant to be easy. And we know that the scripture is telling us that and we should not be surprised if suddenly you face trials and difficulties along the way. In fact Christians should expect this to happen because we're not really exempted from sickness and calamities you know all these things we have to go through ourselves like other people though we receive strengthening and encouragement and provisions. Jesus himself warned us. He said there will be cross to carry and cost to count if you want to follow him. And this is what Paul is implying when he said I press on toward the goal. To press on means to move forward with determination and resolve. It means you know it's not going to be easy but you are committed and you are determined to finish the race. The writer of Hebrew said in Hebrews 12 the first verse actually the end of the chapter of verse one he said let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Now the word to persevere or to endure means to overcome any and whatever obstacle that will come our way. It means not quitting no matter what. But we know that perseverance in itself is a product of these trials and these difficulties that we faced you know because you know that these difficulties will actually build us up you know to strengthen us. This is what actually James was writing in James 2:2 when he said consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. So this Christian growth cycle is ongoing like with a snowball effect you know you know a snow as when you roll a snow we haven't really a thick snow here in the Netherlands have we experienced a very thick snow no maybe in New York maybe in some place in the United States okay maybe in Austria. When you make a ball of snow and then you roll it as you move forward the ball becomes bigger. This is like what we call the snowball effect. That it builds us from in real life from one success to the next. That as we press on persevere and grow through this hardship we are strengthened and prepared for even the greater challenges of faith down the road. We are continually pressing onward and upward into greater maturity as we move toward our goal. You know which is full of potential of complete and perfect maturity in Jesus Christ. And this is actually what James wrote in chapter 2 in verses 3 and 4. I think it is there also when James said let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. Now I believe all along this is the goal that Paul was talking about. Pastor Riard talked about this last Sunday and also pastor Angel in the beginning that we may know Christ. This is the goal that we're trying to reach that we may know Christ more and more and to be known by him. Pastor Angel told us that and even to become like him and this is actually the picture the whole picture of what we wanted our life to be and when we come to Christ okay this is you can see this as a picture when you come to Christ we are justified and then you are sanctified you have you were set apart to belong to him. And as we move forward with this new found life we press toward the goal of being transformed into the very nature in the very image of Jesus Christ which is to become mature and complete not lacking anything which we can achieve as we come to the finish line. You know there we receive the prize for which God has called us heavenward and this is what Paul meant in verse 16 of Philippians 3. Now that don't get confused when we jump from one verse to another because we want to form a whole picture of what this message is all about. Okay. And verse in Philippians 3:14 it says there's only let us live up to what we have already attained and what have we already attained our salvation. Okay. So we start from there and move towards the transformation by the Holy Spirit in our life. Okay. Now let's talk about the prize in a little while. What is this prize that we are talking about? First let's see what happened as soon as we participate in the Christian race. Now can you picture yourself in a race? Okay can you picture yourself participating in this kind of race? And you notice it's not just incident that you are in the race. Coming to the race is actually intentional. It's like you know like an example if you go to war you have to know your what your enemy and who your enemy is. Okay. It's like going to war bringing a weapon you know with no bullets in it. You know it sounds silly. You know that sounds silly but it is actually what some Christians are going through in their life. They just sometimes they just move forward without actually knowing what we are doing and what we are doing and we already mentioned that in verse 25. Okay. That we need to press forward towards the goal to win the prize of the upward calling of Christ. A na in verse 25 we learned that we learned there that everyone who competes in a race needs strict training and we already mentioned that. But another important thing is that we need to focus. We need to understand why we are running this race and be committed to it and to make every effort and every opportunity to count. In verse 26 verse 1 Corinthians 9, it says therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. Now for those of you who know what boxing is you know what boxing is? That there's this shadow boxing you know when you just box in the air. This is what Paul was referring to. And he actually used the phrase beating the air as an expression. It's actually an adjumatic expression which refers to this futile effort in any endeavor which gets you nowhere. Okay. Now in the Christian race it could be anything that we do any activity or practice we get involved in that does not necessarily help in attaining our goal either a short-term goal or long-term goal. Now this shadow boxing is actually important but the boxer should go up the ring you know to be a boxer. That is what he meant to be to fight in the ring. Not you can spend all your life shadow boxing. It gets you nowhere. And this is actually what Paul was trying to say here. And then there's the incumbrances you know Paul talks about incumbrances and also the writer of Hebrew talks about this. But what does it mean? what are these things that we need to leave behind to throw off? You know according to the writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 in the first verse he said "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." Now about the great cloud of witnesses we can just make assumptions on what it means. Some people some even some theologians say they are people who went before us and now looking down at us and cheering us you know people looking at those and cheering us to go on to go on running. But there are others who believe as I do also believe that the writer of the book of Hebrews was actually referring to the people in the previous chapter in chapter 11. That is why in chapter 12 we said therefore it means that it is connected to chapter 11. And we look if you look at chapter 11 it was talking about the heroes of faith you know Abraham Sarah Yeno Moses and all the rest of the people that are there listed in the list of heros. Okay? And it does not say that they can actually see us down here but but that we can look at them. We can go back to them you know their story and we can actually learn look at them and learn from them and get our encouragement from them. And like when your destination seems to become hazy Abraham will tell you just trust God and he will get you there. Okay? And where he is leading you in that destination. And if the wall seems so insurmountable you know or it seems there is no way anymore you are stuck in a place that seems there's no more way. I believe Moses will tell you to just be still and see what the Lord will do in your midst. Okay. I think it was talking about that. Now to me it means we will never be alone in this race. It's like being in having a home court advantage. Who knows sports here? You know what home court advantage is. You know when we played the game in your own turf when you have your own people cheering you that's your advantage you know and I think it feels this way we are not alone in this race and there are actually people around us who are cheering us okay and ushering us to run the race to move forward and finish the race. And what about encumbrances in the second part of chapter 12 verse one. What are these things that we need to throw off the things that would hinder us? Now it is the New American Standard Bible that use the word incumbrance. In other versions it talks about everything that hinders you from running. That's the incumbrances that it was talking about. It is those stuff that slows you down and even impede your running to your ability to finish the race. So if we notice athletes wear a very skimpy clothes you know sometimes it's so revealing you know all that have you watch in YouTube the sports women's sports for example how they dress up in so very skimpy dress and I heard that in the games in ancient times sometimes they even run naked you know so that there will be no like anything that will hold them down from running and they are act they can actually be to run free. Yeah I think this is why men like to watch women's sports events especially the women's volleyball. So encumbrances in a way are not necessarily sinful things. Okay. Although Paul was talking about sin of course because it first and foremost is the reason for entanglement. Okay. But encumbrances if we look at it it could be sometimes like innocent and seemingly harmless things like relationships jobs hobby our work even family. These things we believe are good things and even important to us but becomes a baggage. It becomes you know a burden that pulls us down. It weighs us down so that we cannot move forward. So Paul was saying I have to discipline my body so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. That's in verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 9. So what is the prize? The athletes run to win a crown of garland like crown that withers you know and soon forgotten. But we run to win an eternal crown of glory that will never fade. It is you know and I think we are talking about this final salvation that all believers await okay with the rewards that is prepared for those who faithfully run the race and this is the imperishable crown for the faithful service in God's kingdom and this is what we are trying to win okay this. This is not an earthly prize but a heavenly prize. So what does Paul mean by getting disqualified for the prize? Now let's start here. First let's not let be clear that Paul was not talking about losing his salvation here. Okay that's unthinkable for Paul to lose his salvation. Salvation is freely given. It is by grace through faith and not a prize for something that you do. If it is a prize then you have to do some effort to win that but salvation is not like that. Okay. So Paul was actually talking about the rewards you know that we can receive in the finish line. Jesus said in Revelation 22:12 "Behold I am coming soon and my reward is with me to give to each one according to what he has done." That's not sound. He's talking about salvation here. He was talking about something else about the reward. So how can we be disqualified from getting the prize? I believe number one when we get pulled down by these encumbrances that we are talking about when we are weighed down and you know by something that hinders us from running well and therefore we don't finish well in the race. In 1 Corinthians 3:15 this is Paul said that everything we do is tested by fire and if this it does not pass the test then it gets burned. Okay? And if any man's work is burned up in verse 15, he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire. Now I have seen literally seen people coming out from a house that is burning and some of them there was a burning boarding house in the vow that got burned up and the student boards actually run out of the building almost naked. You know they come from the bed when they wake up the fire is there already and they have to run outside with nothing else. Okay. I think this is it describes what Paul was talking here. There are a lot of us who go to heaven because we receive Christ. We are saved but we bring nothing you know to offer to the Lord because everything that we do did not pass the test of fire. I think you do good works you give arms you know you help people. But if you do this for the wrong reasons then the Lord said you don't get a reward anymore because you have already received your reward the applause of men the praise of people around you then that's it. Okay. Then don't expect to get rewards in heaven for that. But of course you are saved. Okay. And the prize we're not talking about eternal life as the prize of finishing this race. This is already given and this is already assured for those who are in Christ that you will have eternal life. But rewards is something else. Number two we can be disqualified from the race when we get distracted and lost focus. Incumbrances are things that we carry. Okay. But distractions are coming from outside of us. Remember the enemy doesn't want us to succeed. He will throw everything on us you know to distract us starting from your weaknesses. And if we don't discipline ourselves and grow mature in faith then how can we resist the temptations of the flesh you know the wealth the comfort the power and the pleasure that the world offers. That's why there's so much corruption wherever you go because this is something like nobody can resist you know if you are not strengthened if you are not intentional if you are not disciplining yourself in the Lord. Now in his letter to the Galatian church and we are always we are almost there. We end here in Galatians 5 verses 7 and 8. Paul was talking about the Galatian church. He said you were running a good race who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth. As Christians we are guided always by the truth. When we get distracted we tend to follow something else. And that kind of persuasion and he continues in verse eight that kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. Okay? You know the story of Galatians of the Galatian church of course. Okay. They were convinced convinced by some Judaizers to actually go through a circumcision you know thinking that it was actually required for them to become a part of the family of God like the Jews like the Jews. But Paul was actually rebuking them on this okay that they have started a good fight. Now they are continuing on something else which will not save them. as believers and let's close on this verse in Philippians 1:6. Paul said in this verse he said being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. That's why let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. This is what actually the writer of Hebrews said in verse two of chapter 12 to fix our eyes on Jesus to fix our eyes upon Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith. That we believe that what the Lord has started in all of us he is going to put that in completion. Okay? Because he who began a good work in you is faithful. Okay? And he will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. As believers we are to press on to pursue Christ. You know this is our goal. We already learned this to know him more and more straining forward to finish this race we're on until we finally hear him say "Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." Amen.