Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: What could be more important than my rights?

part ii

Text:

Series: Let’s be a Christ-centered church!

Pausanius ( Descr.

9.24.9)

reports that athletes and their trainers participating in the Olympic games swore an oath upon slices of boar’s flesh “that in nothing will they sin against the Olympic games.

The athletes take this further oath also, that for ten successive months they have strictly followed the regulations for training.”

- Garland, David E.. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 10189-10194).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

(1) Run (v.

24)

The popular use of the image would have struck a chord because Corinth sponsored the Isthmian games (cf. 2 Clem.

7: 1– 6), a pan-Hellenic festival celebrated every second year and featuring many of the same contestants who competed in the Olympian, and the Isthmian games “dominated the highly competitive culture of Roman Corinth” (R. Horsley 1998: 132).[

2] Greek athletic festivals were intertwined with, and owed their vigor to, religion (Gardiner 1930: 22; cf.

H. Harris 1976: 13; Poliakoff 1987), and the games were a prominent occasion for celebrating the patronage of the gods.

The occasion may have forced the issue of eating idol food.

- Garland, David E.. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 10189-10194).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Garland, David E.. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 10189-10194).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

(2) Compete for something worthwhile (v.

25)

To ‘enslave’ the body means, in this context, to devote it unreservedly to God’s service through service to others (cf.

9:19), not to practice self-denial for its own sake.”

- Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010).

The First Letter to the Corinthians (p.

440).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010).

The First Letter to the Corinthians (p.

440).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

He endures physical privations to win over his bodily cravings so that he can then win others over to Christ.

Discipline for discipline’s sake, therefore, does not drive him.

He buffets his body and makes it his slave to heighten his capacity to deny himself to serve others.

- Garland, David E.. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 10189-10194).

Baker Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

The strenuous self-denial of the athlete as he sought a fleeting reward is a rebuke to half-hearted, flabby Christian service.

The athlete denies himself many lawful pleasures and the Christian must similarly avoid not only definite sin, but anything that hinders spiritual progress.

- Morris, L. (1985). 1 Corinthians: an introduction and commentary (Vol.

7, p. 138).

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Morris, L. (1985). 1 Corinthians: an introduction and commentary (Vol.

7, p. 138).

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

The figure of the eternal reward “is intended to impress upon them that the goal, being eternal in nature, is of such value that it should affect the way they live in the present.”

- Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010).

The First Letter to the Corinthians (p.

438).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010).

The First Letter to the Corinthians (p.

438).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

(3) Run & fight purposefully (v.

26 - 27)

It would be a grave error to think that Paul is somehow relating salvation to the adoption of an ascetic lifestyle, as though harsh treatment of the body were the key to salvation.

Rather, Paul’s language about self-restraint rather than self-indulgence probably has more to do with the motifs of fleeing sexual immorality and idolatry, in this case, idolatry associated with food - Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010).

The First Letter to the Corinthians (p.

442).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010).

The First Letter to the Corinthians (p.

442).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

A man in Christ cannot lose his salvation, but he can find that his service for Christ has been followed through with his own resources and for his own glory.

That is supremely what Paul feared.

- Prior, D. (1985).

The message of 1 Corinthians: life in the local church (p.

164).

Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Prior, D. (1985).

The message of 1 Corinthians: life in the local church (p.

164).

Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Conclusion:

Getting believers to commit to activities, particularly ministries of visitation and outreach, at times other than Sunday morning, often defies the creativity of even the most innovative of leaders.

Yet Paul compares the evangelistic lifestyle of believers to athletes who sacrifice normal pursuits for the sake of strict training and a competitive edge.

In a day when fewer and fewer Christians commit themselves to long-term pastorates, career missions, lifetime service as elders or deacons, or other multi-year ministries, we need people who will make such commitments to Christ and to a particular local body of believers.

The same is true of personal spiritual discipline and holy obedience to all God’s commands.

- Blomberg, C. (1994). 1 Corinthians (p.

189).

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Blomberg, C. (1994). 1 Corinthians (p.

189).

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.