For the 6th Sunday after the Epiphany, the three readings are 2 Kings 5:1-14 (Naaman, the leper); 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (Running the race) and Mark 1:40-45 (Leper cleansed). Once more there are so many good passages to choose but the winner is 1 Corinthians 9:24b “Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”
Here again we read a verse that appears to contradict the very essence of the Christian faith and give strength and ammunition to all those contemporary evangelicals whose motto is best summed up with, “God helps those who help themselves.” Too harsh? I think not. Using our test of asking the typical man-on-the-street his understanding of this text, what do you think you would hear? Clearly, the answer would be, “If you run the race of salvation properly, then you will not obtain a perishable crown but an imperishable crown!”
Then comes the $64.00 question, “And what is the essence of this run of salvation?” Answer? “My good intentions; my good works; my helping the needy; my humble life; my repentance; my asking Jesus into my heart…my…my…my.” Don’t kid yourself. It is the answer not only of all the false religions in the world; by and large it is the answer of the typical Christian who still hasn’t understood the distinctions between living under the Law and living under the Gospel.
For sure Christ Jesus has saved us from living under the Law (Romans 6:14) so that we are now saved not by works but by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). However, our old Adam can’t let go of the inbred attitude that we contribute to our salvation in some way. Therefore, running the race means that we are accomplishing something to merit that “imperishable crown.”
Yet the verse does exist as 1 Cor. 9:24. How can we get around the commonsensical conclusion that winning the race of salvation is up to me? Before moving to that subject, the sermon needs to make clear that not even a Christian filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit can take credit for his salvation. How then do we reconcile this passage which appears to encourage us to run the right race to be saved with the countless other passages that give God all the credit for true life?
Context is the king of interpretation. What does that mean? The reader of God’s Word needs to keep his eye on the context of the passage. For example, how come atheists don’t have the passage that says, “There is no god” written above their doorways? Because they read the context which says, “‘There is no god’ says the fool in his heart.”
The big question involves the context of this verse, “Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” If running means a work you do, then we have a problem. But the context rescues us with three phrases. The first is verse 23 which is found just before our reading, “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.” Of what is Paul speaking? The race he is running is not for his own salvation but for the salvation of others. He is willing to be temperate in the sense of becoming a Jew to the Jew, being weak to the weak; that is, in becoming all things to all men that he might by all means save some. (9:22)
The second phrase is in verse 27 in which Paul is speaking of disciplining his body and bringing it into subjection. This is not as an unbeliever but as a believer in order that “when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” His point is to practice what he preaches. But is that not another way of saying “do good works”?
This is where the third phrase is most important as found in verse 26, “Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty.” There is your $64 word. The opposite of running properly is to run with uncertainty. Who are those who are uncertain? Those without confidence. In the temporal realm one’s confidence is in regard to oneself that I am the kind of athlete that can win the race. But in the spiritual realm, my certainty, my confidence, my trust, my faith is in Another Who has run the big race for me.
I have no need to make something of myself for Christ the winner has made me His own with God as my Father. The race which Paul is speaking of is not the race to win my salvation. That already has taken place on a wind-swept hill outside of Jerusalem called Calvary. The race I now run is for winners only who can choose to run as though they have not won or as though they have already won.
Those who run as though they have something yet to merit will be like the Pharisees expecting God to regard his works as meritorious and even thanking him for not being like others. Those who run as though they have already won will be like Paul who chooses to become all things to all men that he might win others for Christ. I am willing to permit nothing to stand in the way of making Jesus more important than me. For you see, I have no need to make myself important; I am already regarded as a saint because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for me. I am not even worthy to tie his sandals.
Yes, we are running a race. But it is not the race to become justified. That already took place at the cross and our baptism. It is the race to live the sanctified life which needs all the certainty and trust in our Savior that is necessary to become a slave to others in order that they might also be partakers with us of the imperishable crown. How does that come about. By running with certainty and faith in Jesus Christ. Why we do we continue to need such trust. Because appearances are deceiving and at times we feel like we are losing. But through faith, we know that we have already won and the only question is how many more will Jesus make winners by using us?
Name:Tom Baker