“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.”

Another of my unfavorite verses. I don’t feel like I am a very disciplined person. At some point will a lack of discipline disqualify me from the Christian life because I did not try hard enough? And by the way – what is hard enough? See why I didn’t like this verse? It seemed like my effort was the determiner of God’s relationship with me. That is not good news.

That changed when I put it in context: the cultural context, the textual context, and the gospel context.

• Cultural Context: Paul was likely referring to the Isthmiam  games held outside of Corinth. They were one of the great national festivals and included all kinds of athletic events including foot races. These races had heralds that both called others to the race and then also ran in the race themselves.

• Textual Context: In I Cor 9, Paul describes himself as one who is heralding others to the gospel. He has become “all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” That is his role in the race. He is the apostle calling others. What is he concerned about being disqualified from? From the TASK of being a herald. An apostle. Of calling others to the race. In the gospel, we can be disqualified from a kingdom task, but never from our relationship with the King!

• Gospel Context: Nothing “will able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So what are my applications? First – eliminate discipline? Absolutely not. I want to be effective and faithful in the task God has given me. And second – rejoice in the good news of the gospel, that when my discipline droops and my faithfulness flags, His loving and faithful arms are holding me tight.

ACTION: Forward this to a friend who needs some good news and suggest they become a subscriber so the good news of the gospel can keep permeating their lives and their reading of the Scriptures.

 

 

Many of you have read in my book Lay it Down or heard me speak about how I was an addicted people pleaser. It was an unhealthy addiction. Unhealthy because it was rooted in shame. Most people pleasing is. We focus on pleasing others in order to get something back. It is manipulative. Self-centered. For me, I wanted to please you so you would think well of me and I could then have a sense of worth. It was give to get. Because this kind of people pleasing is shame based, the only solution is the gospel.

BUT — the Apostle Paul was a people pleaser and it was healthy! We see it over and over in I Corinthians chapters 8-10 and it is summarized in I Cor 10:33, “Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, that they may be saved.” I think Paul uses this statement to summarize five key principles for pleasing others that enable it to be gospel-healthy.

1. It is never for our own advantage (I Cor 10:33). In chapter 8, verse 3, he says, “love builds up.” We never please others so that we get something in return and we are built up. It is always for the other person’s advantage.
2. It is a giving away our rights. Again in chapter 8, Paul mentions how he has the right to eat food that was previously offered to idols because he knows “an idol has no real existence” (vs 4). But he continues and says for some, because of their former involvement with idols, this is a real problem. A stumbling block. So he concludes, “…if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat…” (vs 13).  A love that builds up never disregards a weak conscience.
3. It requires endurance. Why? Because we are always giving. And giving. I Cor 9:12 – “...we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel.“
4. It is always focused on serving others. In chapter 9, verse 19, Paul writes, “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”
5. It is always for the advance of the gospel. “I do it all for the sake of the gospel...that they may be saved” (I Cor 9:23; 10:33). It is never about me.

NOW – here is the kicker. “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (I Cor 11:1). How is what he did an imitation of Jesus? Philippians 2:5-11 spells it out. Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” He gave up that right. He took “the form of a servant.” He endured “to the point of death.” Why did he do all this? So that “every tongue might confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” He did it for the advance of the gospel.

This is gospel people pleasing.

ACTIONS:

• What is one thing you can do to please someone for the sake of the gospel?
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