The Contest and Crown

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. Therefore, I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, BSB)

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to encourage them to continue in their faith and remember God called them to Himself. He urged Christians to understand that being a Christian is not trivial, but a lifelong commitment. Paul taught them being a Christian requires discipline and encouraged them by reminding them of their eternal hope.

Paul used the metaphor of an athlete competing in a big race, like the games held every two years near Corinth. He reminded the church they cannot take their faith casually and not prepare for the contests. Like an athlete must exercise self-control of his body, mind, and heart, Paul said Christians must be self-controlled and disciplined to fight the battles that will besiege them. By training his body through strict habits and competitions, an athlete subjects his body to his will. Paul taught Christians must prepare themselves with spiritual disciplines that become habits to prepare for battles against temptations, trials, and forces of darkness. He meant each follower of Jesus will face contests to his faith, which can affect his body, heart, mind, and spirit. Therefore, each believer must prepare himself with spiritual disciplines/training, such as reading the Bible daily, memorizing and meditating on it, praying, fellowshipping, and worshipping with other believers, and standing up for his faith. Besides preparing for battle, each trial and/or temptation can grow the Christian and strengthen him. Those battles will make him ready for the next contest.

Living life as a Christian means the person does more than believe. He does not “beat at the air” without affect but strives, with training, to grow closer to God and emulate Jesus. Growing closer to God and becoming more like Jesus happens by following the spiritual disciplines mentioned in the above paragraph. When Christian growth through training happens, the believer gains a greater trust in God—a deeper faith. He fights battles with God’s strength and stands firm in his faith. The runner trains for the contest by subjecting his body to his will.

Discipline yourself. Subject it to your will, which you subject to God, and run the race strongly. By doing this, you will not fall short of the goal. You will not fail morally. Your testimony about God and the salvation He gives will prevail. Your faith in Jesus will inspire others to seek and to know Him as their Savior.

Remember, instead of getting a perishable crown, you receive the crown of life. Though thorny, like Jesus’ crown, your crown identifies you as being one with Christ. The thorns are the persecutions and temptations you endure and conquer, just as Jesus endured persecuted and tempted to conquer sin and death. By this, all who believe in Jesus become saved from sin and death. You, because of battling temptations and trials for your faith, will be identified with Christ. You will receive the imperishable crown as your reward from God, like Jesus’ imperishable crown, just as Paul wrote.

The contests—trails and persecutions of life—will occur throughout a person’s life. The ability to be victorious against them comes from going through them with God while receiving God’s power, wisdom, knowledge, and might. Having these with which to battle requires that the Christian discipline himself so he grows closer to God. By disciplining himself with prayer, meditating on and memorizing God’s word, studying the Bible, and attending worship services, the Christian draws close to God and immediately calls out to Him to be with and equip him for each battle he faces. The Christian, as a believer, has the imperishable wreath. He is God’s forgiven, saved child. With God, the struggles of life are conquerable. Christians have God with and for them, which makes the difference in their life journey.

If given the opportunity, many individuals would avoid engaging in contests of will, mind, heart, body, and spirit. Yet, we Christians have God’s mandate to tell everyone about Jesus so all believers can receive salvation. We have God’s promise that He will never leave or forsake us. Being able to live with and obey God daily with the joy and peace He gives makes the battles we face worth the cost. Our testimonies about God matter, regardless of the cost. Did anyone believe in Jesus because of your actions or words? If someone believes in Jesus and is saved from their sins, then the contests are worth the cost. Paul spoke of this in Acts 20:24. He wrote,

“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.”

How we face contests/challenges to our faith is important. Will our lives testify about God and His gospel? Or will our lives push people farther away from God? Facing hardships as a Christian is worthwhile to testify about God. The thorny, imperishable crown is worth the effort in life. Jesus considered it to be true and became the preeminent example. He died to save each person who believes in Him and confesses and repents of his sins. You will face contests as a Christian. The challenges are worth the cost of obeying God to spread the gospel. The crown is worth the contest and cost you will face.

Believe and receive the imperishable crown.

Be victorious in contests and live as a champion of the faith.

 

Salted and Best

“Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:50b [ESV]

In Matthew 5:27-30 and Mark 9:42-50, Jesus taught His disciples a lesson about intentions and actions. He made the point in the Matthew passage that a person’s thoughts, their intentions, can be as sinful as the sinful act or word. In Matthew 5, Jesus prefaced it with a teaching about adultery and so people often equate the teaching about the eye and hand to adulterous sins. When they do that, they miss the lesson. In these passages, Jesus taught about all sins. He did not intend we denote sexual sins as the greatest sins and so hold our “small” sins as not a big deal. That was not Jesus’ intention with this teaching in both Matthew and Mark.

In Matthew, Jesus made this point very obvious with His Beatitudes. Each of these eight verses of Matthew 5:3-10 speak about a person’s internal life, their emotions, attitudes, and intentions. A follower of Jesus is a follower internally first, then externally with actions and words. For, as Jesus said in Matthew 15:11, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles the person.” [ESV] Paul made a similar distinction when he said in Romans 10:9 that people must confess with their lips Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts God raised Him from the dead to be saved. Internal action, belief, goes along with external action, confession. With Matthew 5:20, Jesus further pointed to the internal motivations of a person when He said, “I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” [ESV] The scribes and Pharisees thought righteousness came from actions. With verse twenty-two, Jesus again highlighted that a person’s internal motivations/intentions are what God will judge. He said in this verse, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” [ESV] Each of these teachings come before Jesus’ teaching about removing an eye (seeing) and hand (doing) to keep one from sinning.

Before his writing about this lesson from Jesus about the hand, eye, and foot, Mark told of Peter, James, and John witnessing Jesus’ transfiguration and talking with Moses and Elijah in Mark 9:2-13. It terrified the three disciples. Peter babbled about setting up three tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, then a voice from a cloud, God’s voice, told them to listen to Jesus. In essence, don’t make plans, but seek the Lord and His purposes and will. Possibly the intentions of Peter to erect three tents was solely for honor of the three men, or maybe he meant he, James, and John were more highly regarded and so felt they should establish themselves by establishing these three tents. Next in this chapter, Mark relayed Jesus healed a boy with an unclean spirit (Mark 9:14-29). The boy’s father asked the disciples to heal him and they couldn’t. They asked Jesus why they could not heal the boy, and Jesus said this healing can only happen with prayer. Were the disciples unable to heal the boy because of an oral action or because of their internal action, little belief? Were they seeking the fame? Jesus spoke about a faithless generation in reference to the disciples being unable to cast out the evil spirit from the boy in verse nineteen. In Mark 9:30-32, Jesus foretold His death and resurrection again and His disciples misunderstood. Was it because they did not believe because they knew people cannot live again after dying? Jesus spoke again about faith, and internal action. In Mark 9:33:37, the disciples were concerned about their status in importance. Who was the most important of Jesus’ followers? Their intentions caused their argument. In Mark 9:38-41, John told Jesus a man was casting out demons in Jesus’ name and he and other disciples tried to stop him because he was not following them. Again, they were seeking fame and greatness among people. Jesus told them if a person is not against Him and them, he is for Him and them. Each of these segments of Mark 9 show us Jesus was teaching the disciples about internal motivations-intentions-and how they can be sinful. Actions and words are not the only ways for sin to occur. Intentions, attitudes, and thoughts can cause a person to sin, too.

What is the lesson Matthew and Mark tell us Jesus taught? Paraphrasing, if your hand, foot, or eye causes another person (be they a child or one less mature in the faith) to stumble in their faith or fall away from faith in Jesus Christ, then remove it. This sounds harsh. Consider some of the passages that preceded Matthew 5:28 and Mark 9:43. If the disciples had convinced the man who cast out demons to follow them, he would have had no power to heal people from demon possession. If one disciple was greater than another in status, only people who followed that one disciple would be right, and it would take away preeminent stature from Jesus. Only by and through Jesus can people be saved. If a disciple had this status, fewer people would be saved. If people could be angry and still worship God, then no necessity would exist for Jesus to bring righteousness. It would mean a wall could exist, a wall of hate. It would be contrary to the Law and mean God would be pleased without sacrifices and heart worship. Finally, with the Pharisees form of righteousness through the Law, the Law would not be fulfilled, people would not be cleansed from sin, and they would be unable to know Yahweh God, the eternal One.  

Understanding this, what did Jesus mean by cutting off a hand or foot or gouging out an eye? Did He mean for us literally to do this? Considering the laws of the nations at that time, such as a thief had his hand removed as a punishment for stealing, stating the lesson this way made sense to the people. Jesus meant whatever causes you to sin in action, word, or thought (intentions, motivations, and attitudes), cast it away from you. Remove it from your life. For one person, being near money makes him or her want to steal it, then don’t work with money. Don’t be a bookkeeper, cashier, or other financial worker. For another person, if talking about other people is a problem for you, when someone begins to talk about someone else, excuse yourself from that conversation or relationship. If that person regularly slanders, backstabs, lies about, or tells gossip about another person, separate yourself from that person entirely. If being with a homeless person makes you prideful that you are “better than them,” then identify at where your pride lies in your life and remove that thing or position or give it to needy people. If you think you know better, have a better education, or your way is always the best, consider Who gave you the gifts to allow you to study, to learn, and to be a more informed and wiser decision-maker. Each gift God gives a person, unless given back to Him daily in recognition of from where it came and for what purpose He wants you to use it, can be used for something less than God intended just like a hand, eye, and foot are good. God, when He created humans, said it was very good. That means hands, feet, and eyes are very good. Yet, if we use any part of ourselves-heart, mind, spirit, and body-separate from God’s purposes and plans, they are not being used for God’s best. Each part of our being, as created by God, is good. All God gives us is good. How we use them and for Whom is what determines if it is merely good, or best. God’s plans and purposes are always best.

Consider this, if God gives a gift of being an exceptional organizer, being efficient, and understanding things quicker than others, that doesn’t mean every plan of that person’s is the best plan. God can use other people also to be organizers, efficient, and wise. Also, if that person to whom God gave these gifts does not submit his or her day and plans to God at the beginning of the day, the plans of that person may not be God’s plans; they may not be the best plans. Just because a person is gifted in a particular area, does not mean what that person says or does is always the best. Each day, each person must submit to God everything He has given to him or her. We must give back to God each gift He gives us-care, love, faith, mercy, humility, home, job, education, car, wisdom, understanding, organization, counting, medicine, teaching, preaching, medical, healing, etc. All gifts from God can be used merely for good by us, or they can be used for the best by God when we submit them back to His purposes each day.

Of what good is salt, if it has lost its saltiness? What good are God’s gifts if they aren’t used by and for Him? (Matthew 5:13)

“Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:7a [ESV])

Lord, I get so caught up in my everyday life, I forget to come to You at the beginning of each day. I forget to give to You all You have given to me. Please forgive me for running headlong into the day without You. Forgive me for considering myself able to take care of everything and forgetting about You. It’s not that I don’t believe in You, but that I don’t give You high enough priority in my life. Without You, I am nothing; I have no existence. Forgive me, Lord. Lead me, Lord, to desire You above all else. Lead me to seek You first. Make my every breath and every heartbeat draw me closer to You, the source of my life, strength, and salvation. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for Your patience, mercy, compassion, and grace. I do not deserve You or Your goodness. You are almighty and all-knowing. Amen.

Do the Right Thing: A James 4:17 Devotional

James compiled his teachings to Christians into one singular lesson. He said in verse seventeen, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” When a person is a Christian, he/she belongs to God’s family and knows right from wrong because of Jesus’ Spirit indwelling the person. People can comprehend the heart of God. No believer can say he or she did not know the right thing to do. The Holy Spirit teaches of righteousness and convicts of sin. James said if a person recognized he/she was supposed to do something, but did not do it, omitting or choosing not to do what is right makes him/her a sinner. Whoa, intentionally not doing something right is a sin! Intentionally choosing to do something wrong is a sin, too.

Christians cannot say they did not understand. The Holy Spirit will tell believers what is right and wrong to do, say, and think. Luke spoke about this in Luke 12:47. The person who chooses not to do what God says is right, God will judge. Jesus similarly told the Pharisees in John 9:41. Peter took this idea further in 2 Peter 2:20-21.

Since we understand James’ meaning in verse seventeen, how is it a compilation of his earlier teachings? Consider his teachings.

·        Do not show favoritism to the rich hoping to gain influence and help from them in the future. God provides for each person what he or she needs when she needs it. You have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Love your neighbors as your self. Show your love of God in your obedience to His laws. Do the right thing. (Ch. 2)

·       Show God’s love even to the poorest person by giving food, clothes, shelter, and daily needs. In this, you show your faith by your works and fulfill the second greatest commandment. Faith without works is useless (2:20). Do the right thing. (Ch. 2)

·       Guard your tongues. Blessings and curses cannot come from the same mouth. Ask for God’s wisdom. Allow the Holy Spirit to help bridle your mouth, which bridles your whole body thereby showing the new creation your relationship with God through Jesus Christ effected. Teachers have a greater accountability and stricter judgment from God. Do the right thing. (Ch. 3)

·       Ask for God’s wisdom to guide you so jealousy and selfish ambition do not lead you astray to arrogance and lying against the Truth. Seek wisdom and produce the fruits from above. Do the right thing. (Ch. 3)

·       Do not envy another person. Envy leads to quarrels and fights. It makes a person an adulterer, hostile to God. God gives the greater grace – the better blessing(s) – salvation and eternal life. James gave six things for each believer to return to God.

ü  Submit to God

ü  Resist the devil

ü  Draw near to God

ü  Cleanse your hands

ü  Purify your hearts

ü  Humble yourselves before God.

                        When a believer does these things to return to the Lord, God will draw near

                         the person and exalt him/her. Do the right thing. (Ch. 4)

·       Do not slander and judge another person. By doing so you judge God. You are not greater than God, so you cannot judge another person. Do the right thing. (Ch. 4)

·       Consult God when planning your future – in business and everyday life. You do not know the future and cannot plan without God’s guidance, recognizing He holds the future, provides the profit, and gives everything you need. Do the right thing. (Ch. 4)

Each lesson James taught to the Jerusalem Christians in his epistle dealt with the whole person – heart, head, mouth, and body. He taught how to speak and act as Christians in this world. James taught Christians to be “doers of the word and not hearers only.” That means embodying the love of God in their daily lives. Christians understand what they are to do because of the indwelling Holy Spirit and Christian teaching. They sin if they did not do what is right and just. Christians cannot say they do not want to get involved. As Christians who understand the right thing to do, they must do the right thing in situations encountered in daily life.

Be “doers” of the word, not “omit-ers.”