And we've come now to first a chapter dealing with liberty in Christ. And that topic is going to continue for another two chapters plus one verse. We've called this tonight Paul's Defense for the Sake of the Gospel. And when we think of Paul, I don't know any six words that go better with the name of Paul and the mission of Paul than these, for the sake of the gospel. So we're going to turn to chapter 9 in Paul's letter to believers in Corinth. And it's clear to us by now that 1 Corinthians is in large part Paul's response to a letter with many questions from new converts in Corinth. And this is a place where, as we recall, he had just brought the gospel just five years earlier. And as he dealt with these questions, he's got some overriding themes here. He continues to call them to live in light of eternity, to have an eternal view of things, to see this life and all these things of this life from an eternal heavenly perspective. He said in 8.13, the form of this world is passing away. So chapter 8, Paul returned to a subject he had first raised in chapter 6. And he said in the exercise of Christian liberty in things neither commanded nor prohibited by God. things that are neither good or bad in themselves in a moral sense. We must look not only to our own freedom. Not only do we ask, am I free to do this? But what about the impact, if I do this, it will have on our brethren. Particularly the weaker brethren. If we look back to 6.12 and look ahead to 10.23, take your pick, Paul states the principle in both places. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. And so Paul's message, 1024, let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor. You know, Paul sure loved people. He loved the brethren. He teaches about this over and over again in every letter virtually. So in this section, which runs from chapter 8, verse 1 to chapter 11, verse 1, the guiding principles are do all things to the glory of God and for the spiritual benefit of others, of the brethren. Now chapter 8, Paul wrote that knowledge without love makes one arrogant. Love edifies, but knowledge has the capacity to lead one to be prideful. To have knowledge is good, but something else is needed. And that something else is love. Something that enables us to use knowledge rightly is love. Love to God. And love to God includes love of our brethren. If we don't love our brethren, John said, you don't love God. Don't say you love God, but I hate my brother. And Paul isn't condemning knowledge. He's condemning the pridefulness that can flow from knowledge if it's not combined with love. And I want to give the definition again that I believe is the most biblical of love. It's the self-sacrificial giving of oneself for the benefit of another without any regard to whether the recipient of that love is deserving or undeserving. and without any regard to any benefit to the one who loves. And the easy way to look at this is look at Jesus. None of us deserved the love He's shown us. So love, instead of fostering pride in our hearts, it considers others. It aids them in strengthening their spiritual life. It aids them in protecting others from danger. So whatever the state of our knowledge, What matters in the end is do you love God and do you love the brethren? Sounds an awful lot like what Jesus said when he was asked, what's the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Remember, folks, the message of Scripture never changes because it's the same author. It comes from God. And those who do love God, are those who realize His love for us. Who realize He's decided to make a way to atone for our sin. He's decided to take our punishment. And so those who realize that God has done that and have gratitude for that are the ones who will return God's love to Him. I guess the way to summarize that whole chapter was this. Not our knowledge, but our love for others must govern our action. Paul has been teaching this throughout Romans. He teaches it here. The person, one writer says, who insists on doing anything allowable has not learned the Christian way of love. If you're going to use your liberty no matter what, or how it affects someone else, you haven't learned love, he says. And the actions of the strong should never be such as to make a hindrance to the progress of the weak. So Paul has laid down this principle then of self-denying love. And he used, we saw last week, the practice of eating meats offered to idols. Whether to withhold, restrain ourselves from doing that if it's going to harm the weaker brother. Or whether to go ahead if there's not going to be such harm. But Paul couldn't have told others, look, you've got to deny yourself if it's going to be helpful to the weaker brethren, if he hadn't done so himself. Paul always did as he instructed. But he applies this principle to himself. Look at 8.13. Paul said he would never eat meat again if it would cause a brother to stumble. So that's where we left off. So now he says, am I not free? He has four questions here. Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. So here's Paul now beginning his defense. Is he guilty of what he's taught them not to do? which has abused their liberty. The accusation against Paul, we're not told exactly what it was here. It may have been along the lines of, hey, this is just another huckster coming by with another message of his own. Or there may have been some that's saying, look, this guy's not even getting paid for his ministry. So he begins by defending his credentials as an apostle of Jesus Christ, as one sent by Christ. That's really important. If somebody told you, look, Christ sent me, you got to sit up and listen. He had seen the risen Christ, he says here. He'd seen Him. And we know that's true. And he had been sent by Him to preach the gospel. 2616. Here's Paul's commission. He is recounting this in His last trial, at least it's recorded in Acts. But get up and stand on your feet. For this purpose I have appeared to you, Jesus says, to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you. So Jesus, we know, appeared to him more than this one time on the road to Damascus. "...rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me." This is Jesus' words. to Paul. This is his message to Paul. So Paul's sent by Christ. And that doesn't keep people from finding fault with him. He begins here now speaking at great length of the right of the apostles to receive support, food, clothing, shelter from those they are serving. And basically his question is, if I'm an apostle of Jesus, why should I have lesser rights than others? Now he does this, at least in part, for the purpose of stirring them to forego their liberties and their rights for the sake of their brethren. He's putting himself forth as an example here. Paul's work, his work, and the effect of his work also validated him as an apostle of Jesus. The believers in Corinth, he says, were the seal of his apostleship. They were the proof of his apostleship. Basically, he's saying to them here in verse 2, even if to others I'm not an apostle, to you I am. You are my proof. Now again, God's the ultimate cause of a man's faith and salvation. But the preaching of man is the instrument that he uses. And so verse 3, my defense to those who examine me, and this is as to his apostleship really, is this. And the ESV, and I think the NIV also, kind of reword this to say this is my defense to those who would examine me. Now it's interesting that in the Greek, verse 3 could be read either way. The way that we have it in the King James and NAS. And the way that we have it in the English Standard. And the issue is, is he talking about what he's just said? Is he saying his defense is what he said in verses 1 and 2? Or is his defense what begins in verse 4? This becomes an argument among the commentators. Well, I believe clearly it's both. Paul's defense really begins with verses 1 and 2. And in verse 4 begins the body of his defense. Now in verse 4, we have a Greek word that I'm going to have to deal with now for all of our King James users. There's a word exousia, which has three meanings basically in Greek. It means right, power, and authority. All three. It's used for all three purposes. And virtually all versions translate this, do we not have the right to eat and drink? Which is, in our 2021 language, is correct. The King James uses the word power several times here. And it's not as though we don't have the power, but the better use here. But the New King James, by the way, has corrected it to right now instead of power. But the word, and the reason Erasmus had the difficulty with this, and the King James translators, is that's how it was used. They had power and authority. And we now know that the word is also used for right. And I think we're going to see that right is the better rendering. We're going to see it three times here now in verses 4, 5, and 6. So let me read. Do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Kephos? Or do only Barnabas and I not have the right to refrain from working? So we've got rhetorical questions here again. This is a device Paul uses frequently. And here he's affirming, one, his liberty and his right to receive support from those he serves. Here Paul's establishing the principle, or affirming the principle really because Jesus established it, that a minister of the gospel should be supported in his work. Second, he affirms the principle that ministers of the gospel are under no compulsion to remain celibate. that Peter, who the Roman Catholic Church falsely claims to have been a first pope, that Peter and the other apostles were married men. Matthew 8, 14. When Jesus came into Peter's home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with fever. And third, another place where some refuse to acknowledge what Scripture says, Jesus indeed had brothers. Matthew identifies them by name in his Gospel. 1355. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? So Jesus has at least four brothers and at least two sisters. And when we look at John chapter 7, verse 2, feast of the booze was near. And therefore his brothers said to him, Let's go up here to Judea, so your disciples can also see your works which you are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. And verse 5 is interesting here because it seems his brothers were actually trying to goad him. You're the Messiah? Okay, let's see it. Not even his brothers were believing in him. John writes. Paul's point here though, is that as an apostle of Christ and a minister of the gospel, he's entitled to be supported in his work. And he's not restricted to a celibate life by any law. Now it's amazing how many controversial subjects Paul managed to deal with. And just in these verses, well his point is actually something else. His point is that he's not restricted to be celibate and he's entitled to be supported. And if God calls him to celibacy, as we've seen, that's a gift. If He gives him that gift, that's another matter. But there's no requirement on a preacher of the gospel to be celibate and unmarried. But Paul, most writers say, is not merely affirming the right of apostles to marry. In those days, nobody would have questioned that. That came up, I don't know exactly when. I know there was one pope who, what was his name? Ciricius, called marriage a pollution of the flesh in which no one can please God. So what then must become Calvinist of these poor married apostles? So that wouldn't have been an issue in that day, that a man would preach the gospel and be married. What he's doing here most likely is affirming the right to take along a believing wife on his mission trips at the church's expense. That seems to be the issue here. And another thing that's interesting here is if you look at verse 6, Here he speaks of Barnabas and I in the sense of the apostles. And if you look at Acts 14, 14, Luke speaks of Barnabas and Paul as two apostles. So apart from all of those interesting asides that are involved here, Paul is supporting his argument that he's entitled to be supported. By reference to others who receive benefit from their labor. And that's what he starts in verse 7. Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat the fruit of it? Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? Now all of these receive a benefit from their labors. All of us receive a benefit from our labors. The custom of men, the practices of men teach us this is a reasonable thing, that somebody receives remuneration for his labors. And Paul says, this practice isn't merely one of human design. This practice comes from the Word of God. Look at verse 8. He says, I'm not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the law, that means the Old Testament, also say these things? For it's written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. And I'm not going to risk an explanation of the threshing process and the role of the ox here. But I think the point is pretty clear. And then Paul says, Look, God's not concerned about oxen, is He? And yes, He's concerned about oxen, but He made the animals for us to have, for men to have dominion over. Or, Paul says, is He speaking altogether for our sake? shall not muzzle the ox while he's threshing. He gets to eat while he's doing this. Yes, for our sake it was written, Paul says, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in the hope of sharing the crops. Now this isn't a complicated principle here. The law provided, Deuteronomy 25, 4, that while the ox tread the grain, he was not to be muzzled so that he could eat some of the grain that he was threshing. So there's a principle here. The worker shares in the fruit of his work. The principle, worker shares in the fruit of his work. So the principle applies to Oxen and to apostles. And notice the purpose for which God gave this law. For our sake, He says. And this is a principle that's stated by Moses and by Jesus. We'll get to that in a moment. The laborer is worthy of his wages. Now beginning in verse 11, Paul, a planter of the seed of the Word of God, applies this principle to himself and to all ministers who plant the seed of the Word. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? So the work of the apostles and their successors produced spiritual blessings of priceless worth. in return, at best they could receive was a cheaper return, bodily things such as food and drink and lodging. Is that too much? Paul asks. Well, now Paul's going to apply the principle he has taught in chapter 8. Because remember what he said. If exercising your liberty and your rights is going to maybe bring harm to the weaker brother, then maybe you ought to forego that liberty. He and his co-workers have a right to support. He's established that. But they will forego that right if it promotes the spread of the gospel and the strengthening of the weaker brothers. If others share the right over you... See again, there's that word exousia. Do we not more? If others share the right over you, don't we share it more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. How about that? Haven't been many Pauls come down the pike in the last 2,000 years. So when Paul and his co-workers were in Corinth, they didn't take payment for their work. They didn't make use of their right. Amazing as it sounds, some may have regarded this, the failure they weren't paid, as proof Paul wasn't a real apostle. See what he was dealing with? I mean, he couldn't win. Either he's taken too much or he's not taking anything. So maybe he's just recognizing he's not really an apostle. His inferiority. But what we actually see here is the parallel with chapter 8 and verse 9. And that is this, having a right and yet, for the love of the brethren, refraining from using that right. This is a very important principle that he's been teaching us here. We preach through books of the Bible because I don't know if anybody would go and pick this out and say, let's go talk about whether we ought to restrain our liberty because it might be helpful to somebody else or because the exercise of our liberty might weaken someone else's faith. So we see this parallel. Paul's got a right to support, which was as great as that of any man who's ever been engaged in the preaching of the gospel. No one has ever had a greater right to it. Well, verses 13 and 14, Paul goes back to the principle laid down by the Lord and the normal practice. And here's another one of these. Remember I said at the beginning, he uses this phrase throughout this letter. Don't you know? Well, here it is again. that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar. So also," now hear this, "...the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel," now we're in the New Testament, now we're at the gospel, "...the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel." So every natural consideration, just our common way of thinking, gives Paul the right to be supported. And so does the law of Moses. And now the Lord, he says, directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. Now look at Luke in our Scripture sheet, chapter 10, verse 7. He sends the apostles out. He says, stay in that house eating and drinking what they give you, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. So now Jesus is applying it to the apostles in their mission. Matthew 10, 9, don't acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts or a bag for your journey. or even two coats or sandals or a staff. Don't worry about taking anything with you, for the worker is worthy of his support." Now really the point of all of this that Paul's writing isn't to establish his right to the support. It's to establish he's willing to forego that right. Paul hasn't taken or received support from his ministry. He's gathered support from some places and taken it somewhere else. That's how he ends up in Jerusalem and gets arrested. So verse 15, I've used none of these things. And I'm not writing so that you'll pay me. No. It'd be better for me to die than to have any man make my boast an empty one. He would rather die than be lying about this. In verse 16, he's going to talk about a compulsion to ministry. When I had sensed the call of God to gospel ministry, a brother reminded me of something someone had once said. He says, go into gospel ministry only if you feel you cannot resist the call. If you can be at peace doing anything else, do that. Well, Paul uses similar words here. He says, for if I preach the gospel, I've got nothing to boast of. I'm under compulsion. Woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. The call to preach the gospel, if it's genuine, is such that one finds himself under compulsion to do so. It's in no way an oppressive compulsion. It's a joyful compulsion. But no one should enter gospel ministry merely as the choice of one profession from among several from which one might have to choose. One of my seminary instructors wrote, and I believe it was my first class at the Founders Study Center. He said, and he wrote it in a book, we who preach the gospel are not professionals. We're not professionals. We're called to be servants of the living God. And this is how Paul always looked at this. And in verse 17, he's going to refine this truth some. And he makes this very interesting statement. He's just said, I'm under compulsion. Woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. Now if I was doing this voluntarily, if I was just making a choice, I have a reward. But if I do it against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. So here's what I believe he's saying. Yes, he who chooses his labor, whatever it is, is worthy of his wages. But Paul does not view his apostleship as a choice he made. He sees it as what it is, a call he received from God, and which he is obliged by conscience to answer. He doesn't view his ministry as a job or profession, but as a stewardship. He says he is a steward of what? The mysteries of the kingdom of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery By revelation, the mystery is made known to Paul, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. You wonder how the church of Jesus Christ got started and got off the ground and spread all over the world? God revealed the mysteries of the kingdom to these men. And they went boldly into the world and preached them. And the resurrection of Christ and what it meant. And Colossians 125, of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is, here he says it again, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to His saints. to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." This is a mystery that was revealed by God to the apostles and now to us in His Word. So Paul is a steward of the mysteries of the kingdom of God and he must, he is under compulsion from within. to impart these mysteries to people. And this is what we saw back in chapter 26 of Acts. And this is the call, brethren, of every faithful minister of the gospel. Our calling is not to see how many people we can cram into a building. It's not to see how popular we can become. Our calling is to impart the truth of the Word given to us by God and trust Him to do the rest. We impart this Word to people to lead them to faith in Jesus Christ and to disciple them to help them grow in faith in the grace of knowledge of our Lord. That was Paul's mission. That's been the mission of everyone who's followed him. So the fact, though, that he was called by God didn't in any way disqualify him from support from those he served. But it seems, and maybe you got to read between the lines a little bit here, but it seems that Paul may have felt that by receiving wages for his efforts, he might taint his own message or weaken his own conscience. Start to like the money. So he says, what then is my reward? Well, he answers, that when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge. He takes great delight in that. So as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. He rejoices in things that we don't think about rejoicing in. Paul's reward is not earnings from his work, but the peace of knowing that he's free from obligation to anyone. If he preaches the Word of God faithfully, he has fulfilled his mission. And that's his reward. Calvin says this, in refraining from taking any pay, Paul went beyond what his duty required. But interestingly, Calvin says, he saw refraining from taking pay as part of his duty to provide against every conceivable cause of offense. So that the gospel wouldn't be impeded by his making use of his liberty. And Calvin says this, "...Yet I maintain that even in that case he rendered to God nothing more than was due. For I ask, is it not the part of a good pastor to remove every occasion of offense, so far as it is in his power to do so?" And that's what Paul did. So Calvin goes on, there's no ground therefore for imagining that Paul rendered to God anything that he didn't owe to Him, inasmuch as he did nothing but was extraordinarily necessary because of his apostolic office. Well then in verses 19 through 23, Paul lays out his philosophy of ministry. Though I am free from all men, though I'm a free man, I have made myself a slave to all. Think about those words. I've made myself a slave to all. Why? So that I might win more. It, you know, it just pours out of, flows out of Paul's writings. He cared about one thing. People coming to Christ and being forgiven. To the Jews, I became as a Jew so that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law. The ceremonial law is what he's talking about. so that I might win those who are under the law, to those who are without law... That would be Gentiles. ...as without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without the law. So he'd be a Jew to the Jews insofar as he didn't violate the moral law. ...to the weak I became weak, that I might win the week. I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel. This was Paul's guiding principle. It's a wonderful principle. And if his receiving wages for his labors was going to interfere with his mission, he would receive no wages. But here's the thing, he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of his mission. If he had to follow Jewish practice and eat only what the Jews ate, he would do that. If it meant he could reach them with the gospel of Christ. No shellfish, no bacon. If that was going to help him to reach them. Acts 16.1, Paul came to Derbe in Lustre. Disciple there named Timothy, son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lustre and Niconium. Paul wanted this man Timothy to go with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts. They all knew that his father was a Greek. He wasn't going to let Timothy's lack of circumcision interfere with the spread of the gospel. So as long as it didn't require him to violate the moral law of God, Paul would acclimate himself to the customs and practices of those he sought to reach with the gospel, whether Jew or Gentile, who he calls those without the law. But again, not at the expense of violating the moral law of God. But he would go along with their ceremonies if that meant he might be able to reach them. All that he did, he did for the sake of the gospel. He does this, though Paul and all Christians are completely free from all the regulations of the ceremonial law. He would avoid foods offered to idols if it meant he might win some to Christ. He'd eat the foods offered to idols if it meant he might win some to Christ. To the weak I became weak, not only in seeking to teach those who had come to believe, but to reach those who had not yet come to faith, that I may save some," he says. I've become all things to all men. Again, this doesn't mean he would act contrary to the moral law of God. And it doesn't mean that we should act contrary to the moral law. We don't go out and sin with others to align ourselves with them. But were no such principles at stake, he was prepared to go to any length to meet people and win them for Christ. And it's like His Lord said, Mark 10, 45, For even the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. And Paul couldn't save us, but his attitude was very much the same as that of our Lord. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Paul says my motivation is the salvation of others. And interestingly, he seems to say here that this ultimately involves my own salvation. Fellow partaker. He means that his preaching of the gospel with fidelity to the Word of God and his love for others bears on his own eternal reward. If I do this work in any other way than the one I've indicated, if I omit this matter of love for others in the hope of saving others, I myself might not be saved. So Paul indeed desired a reward. But the reward that he sought was not a reward that would be given on this earth, in this world. He sought a heavenly reward. The reward he sought is the one we should all be seeking, God Himself. And he pursued it earnestly. And that's what these last four verses are about. He uses the imagery from the Olympic games and the Isthmian games of those days. Don't you know that those who run a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games, exercises self-control, is temperate in all things. And they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Perseverance is another subject that we find all over Paul's writings. It's not enough to just set out on our Christian journey if we don't continue to run during our whole life. We must persevere to death. 2nd Timothy 4-7. You know, he knows he's ready to die as he's sending this letter to Timothy. And look what he says. I've fought the good fight. I've finished the course. I've kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." Something tells me Paul wasn't terribly afraid of dying. And so he talks here about competing in these races, competing in the games. The word is agonizimi, from which we get words like agony and agonize. Paul's talking here about maximum effort. Maximum effort. Every competitor in the games, and still today, athletes, they have to undergo strict training for months. And they have to maintain self-control. They have to be temperate. They've got to watch what they eat. They got to get their sleep. They got to practice. They got to devote themselves entirely to things that are going to help them. And they have to avoid anything that's going to hurt them. And he's saying that is the picture of how the Christian race ought to be. All men are seeking something. We're all trying to get some benefit, all men. And so men live in such a way of hoping to gain that benefit. And for many, that's just a mere worldly benefit. Wealth, property, nice house, vacation time. All things which Paul has told us are part of the form of this world, which is passing away. So of course for Paul, and I pray for us, what we are seeking is a heavenly reward. A reward that will last for eternity. And so Paul says, we are running a race. He speaks of Christianity as a race. Christian life as a race. And He exhorts us to run in such a way that we may win the race. And maybe you get tired of hearing me say it, but that means seeking to be Christ-like in everything we think, do, and say. That's how you run the race, folks. No, we can't earn this reward. But having received the grace of God, we can and must pursue it earnestly. Paul's calling his readers, again, to pursue our own sanctification, to persevere in faith, to follow Christ as his true disciple, and to put nothing ahead of him and let nothing and no one come between you and him. I've got to read this. What Leon Morris said, the commentator. 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 moral wrongdoing, but anything that hinders our own spiritual progress and that of our brothers. And He calls His readers to exercise self-control in all these things. Because temptation's going to come. Trials are going to come. Hardships are going to come. Keep your eyes on the prize of heaven. Keep running the race. And Paul concludes his answer here to those who have questioned him regarding these things. Therefore, he says, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. He's in the race too. His opponent's his own body, his own fleshly desires, his own weak inclinations. which are so ready to come against him in opposition, to come against his calling. Lenski says as his defense, quote, he does not maul his body, bruise it here or there or even all over, but he lays it flat with a right blow in the right place. The point is Paul refused to allow himself to be bound by bodily, earthly desires. And he stayed out of any path that would lead him to do that. He was focused on the eternal prize in everything He did. And He's telling us, so should we be. Why? So that I won't be disqualified. Here's Paul making sure, taking every precaution, that I won't be disqualified. He doesn't want to be disqualified as an inheritor, an heir of eternal glory. And so Paul, as we think back to his teaching on knowledge without love, And He's telling us that, look, we must be willing to forgo our liberties because of love for our brother. He shows us He's not giving us any instruction that He's not also giving to Himself. Lord, we thank You that You've given us this servant, this apostle. We thank You for these words. We thank You for his life. And we thank You, Lord, for this instruction in pursuing our own sanctification. We thank You that You have opened our hearts and our minds to desire to receive You, to desire to be taught by You. We thank You for Your Spirit indwelling us and teaching us. And Lord, I pray that You will stir us to respond to what You've been teaching us here in a way that is beneficial to the brethren around us and that is a manifestation of love and gratitude for You in response to the love and grace You've given us. In Christ's name, Amen.