This morning we will be continuing through 1 Corinthians in chapter 9, so if you will turn there with me. As you turn there, I need to tell you that this has been a really tough week to prepare, because this passage is so rich and good things to talk about. And so admittedly, the problem has not been what to say to you, but what not to say to you. So, 50 minutes later, we should have covered about everything this morning. But I am excited. I have to admit, too, that the text did not lead me where I thought it would at first. There's a lot of things that I thought we would be talking about that we're actually not. But in that, I hope that we'll truly discover the heart of what the Lord tells us this morning. So this morning, we're going to read the text. We will be in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 19, and we'll read through the end of the chapter. This is the word of the Lord. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them and its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable reef but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. That is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Lord, we give you praise for your word. Truly, Lord, if I was to sit down after this, we have still heard from you, and for that we give praise. I pray this morning as we navigate this text and seek to apply it to our lives that you would give us clarity, that you would illuminate us to how we can best do this. Lord, speak to all of us this morning. To the saints, Lord, encourage and edify us. To those, Lord, who maybe don't know you, bring them from death to life. But in every way, Lord, work through your word. Because all the more important beyond us, Lord, we ask that this time together would be glorifying to you. And I pray that in your name. Amen. Have you ever wondered what Barbie Doll's real name is? I didn't know she had a real name. She does. Her name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Crazy, but true. Did you know that Alaska is not only the most northern state and not only the most western state, but it is also the most eastern state in the United States? Crazy, but true. Don't pull it up on your phones. Look at it afterwards. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, which is now worth $61.6 billion, was inspired to start his company because he had racked up $40 at Blockbuster in late fees on the movie Apollo 13. Crazy, but true. The American flag as it now is, the 50-star design, was designed by a high school student on a class project in Lancaster, Ohio. For that high school student's efforts, they received a B-. Crazy, but true. A little more sobering, Satomu Yamaguchi was a Japanese man who worked in Hiroshima in August 1945. He was there when the atom bomb was dropped. Mr. Yamaguchi survived, and after getting out of the rubble, decided to travel home. His home was Nagasaki, Japan, which was bombed only a few days later as well by an atomic bomb. Mr. Yamaguchi, though, survived both and lived to the ripe old age of 93. Crazy, but true. In the category of music, there is a school for the deaf in Arkansas, whose mascot is the leopards. They are the deaf leopards. Barry Manilow has a hit song called, I Write the Songs. He did not write that song. Crazy but true. A few statistics. They say that 10% of all photos ever taken, ever, have been taken within the last year. Think about that. Women, on average, cry 47 times a year. For some of you, that might seem low. For some of you, that might seem high. I'll let you decide that. Men, on average, though, cry six times a year. And then lastly, in the category of geography, there is a town in Norway named Hel, and it freezes every year. Crazy, but true. I want to draw us a little closer to home, though. Because we live in a world that is very much crazy but true. A world where it is completely logically cogent to say that there are absolutely no absolutes. We also live in a world, crazy as it may be, where if people believe something in their mind, even if it stands completely opposed to biology or common science, they are entitled to live that way because society embraces it. We live in a world where government, business, and other leaders believe that it is the Internet that needs to be brought to all people if we are to have world peace, or money, literally free money given to all people that will solve our problems. Really, just the world in general is caught up on the ideas of economic systems or political ideologies as a means to fixing the hearts of man. Just the last few weeks, I think we've seen in a crazy but true world that, in the name of peace, Protesters respond with violence, and then the name of love was hate. We live in an anything-goes world, as we've talked about for many weeks up to this point. And Paul today is going to continue showing us how important our freedom and our rights are that we have gained through the works of Christ and the gospel, and how we are to channel those to an anything-goes world. And admittedly, his approach and his method are going to be backwards. They're going to seem paradoxical, and they're going to seem at least oxymoronic in terms. Yet, I think as we've seen, they are all the more appropriate in an anything-goes world. And so, if you will, let's turn to the text and see just what Paul is recommending us this morning. We'll start with just verse 19. Paul says, For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. Now Paul is beginning here with a very startling claim and really seemingly impossible. He is saying that because he is free, he is a slave. And not just by force or by the systems of man, he is a slave by choice. The word there for servant is quite literally and interchangeably, slave. Paul is saying, I'm so free that I've made myself a slave. Now the Bible has a lot to say about service and serving. It's a big thing that we talk about often with the youth. And while it details all sorts of verses about the necessity of it, it describes to us constantly the heart condition of serving, and it provides us with numerous examples to serve. There's one verse in particular I want to think of so that we can make sure we're all on the same page with what it means to serve. And that's a verse you might not often think of for this context, but it's Matthew 6.24. You don't have to turn there, I'll tell you. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says, no one can serve two masters. He will either hate the one or love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Now I don't want us to think about the money component so much as, what does it mean to serve a master? Particularly a master like money. If we apply all the normal ways we would serve, for instance, if you go on a mission journey, you might paint someone's house, or you might help them move, or you might mow their lawn, or do their chores, or run their errands, or all sorts of doing things like that. But if we apply that to money, that doesn't work. So what does Jesus mean by serving? I think very simply what he means is we orient all or part of our lives around it, letting it drive our decisions, and our behavior, and our choices, so that we can make the most of it. Now to be sure here, Jesus is talking about idolatry, but I think to an extent all of us can understand this, what it means to serve some kind of master. Money in that context becomes the master, and it gets to tell us, its servants, what to do, so that we will make the most of it. This is just as much and better applied actually to the Lord in the same context when he says you cannot serve God and money because to serve God is to give God all of our lives. Paul is most free here because his whole life is found in Christ. To give God all of our lives means that his word, not ours, his plans, not ours, his call, his authority, and his glory are our end. They are our mission. In the same way that the goal of serving money is to make much of it, To serve the Lord is to make much of Him. And that's exactly what Paul is telling us this morning. In effect, he's saying, I am so free, more free than any one of you, that I can exchange my freedom. I'm free to give up freedom for the sake of not just the lost, but the Lord. And then he's going to tell us here, starting in verse 20, what that actually looked like. So turn with me to verse 20, if you will. He says, to the Jews, I become as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not myself being under the law, to that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, though not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak, and I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. Now in many ways that sounds great, but this has been a text and a source of great confusion and frustration for many people. Some of you may also be kind of scratching your head and saying, I'm not too sure what that means. What is Paul actually trying to imply here? And a lot of people throughout history have actually become really uncomfortable with what they think Paul is talking about. Because he seems to resemble a certain type of person that I think many of us are familiar with. Somebody we generally call a chameleon. Now, some of us ourselves may have some of these tendencies. I know that I can. But generally, chameleon is not something you want to be called. I think we all can at least identify or think of someone we know that we are frustrated with or generally just have a hard time because they have these qualities. A chameleon is someone who will change everything about them to blend in. They'll change their opinions, their attitudes, their stories, the things they do, maybe even aspects of their personality, all in an effort to fit in or to blend in. And the worst part to me, especially when I find those tendencies in myself, The only person a chameleon never really is is themselves. You can never really know them because they're never them. But I want to make a hard distinction this morning and say that's not what Paul's doing here. I don't think that's what he's doing at all. I think he's doing actually quite the opposite. The one thing Paul never changes is who he is. He is consistent in his passionate heart for people, and he is steadfast in his love for the Lord. We see that here, we see that all throughout the New Testament. And the difference really is this, that Paul is never willing to give up his convictions. He's never willing to give up the calling the Lord's placed on his life, and he's never willing to subject his morality to sin. But in the opposite way, he is completely willing, as we just saw as a slave, to give up his freedom, his comforts, his preferences, really any other thing about him, all in the name of people who are lost and the Lord. And when you get to this list, you can kind of ask, well, who's he talking about? Because there's all these parenthetical phrases, too, of qualifying, you know, who are these people? And admittedly, we could spend most of our time this morning really breaking that down. But I think this list of people, really four people, is best understood as a picture of extremes. Paul is painting for us a variety of spectrums in which all people qualify. He's saying in a very real way, I have sought Gentiles and I have sought Jews. I've sought legalists and the non-religious. I've sought the weak and the strong. And we see in this small list a very big picture form of who is encompassed in what Paul is saying. He's providing for us really a very simple evangelistic principle, and it's this. Nobody is exempt from the gospel. All people, whether it's our next door neighbor or somebody we've never met on the other side of the world, are to be sought. Or said another way in the context, every single person we encounter is worth giving up our rights for, giving up our freedom for, because the Lord is our master. What he's saying here or encompassing here in more relevant or practical terms for us is, The people who are very near to us or the people who are very far to us are to be sought. The people who are very similar to us, which we often enjoy spending time with, but the people who are very different are to be sought. The very religious and the non-religious. Trump supporters and Hillary supporters. I got a lot of heads lift up when I said that. Homo, hetero, trans, all the sexuals, poor and rich, educated and uneducated, churched and unchurched. Nobody is exempt. from the gospel because Paul is mastered by the Lord and able to give up all of his freedoms, riding this foundation of the gospel to seek and hopefully save the lost. Now, admittedly, even as I was explaining this to Megan, she still says, OK, but I don't know what that looks like in everyday life. So I suspect some of you are also probably asking that question. And Paul here is not very specific on what that looks like. But the Bible and God's sovereignty gives us a book that is, and that's the book of Acts. Now, I don't want to spend a ton of time diving into that, but I really and strongly encourage you to look at the life of Paul and the apostles and all of their companions as they really did every day seek to save the lost. I'll just give you a few examples to the Jews and the legalists, people Paul mentions here. We see him and his friends enter into synagogues in nearly every town they go to. They go right to the Jews, and they argue with them from their texts. They have discussions with them on the things that they're already talking about. We see in Acts chapter 18, Paul takes a very distinctly Jewish vow. We see in Acts 23, Paul refers to himself as a Pharisee. The very people he's battling against, he counts himself among them. in the name of winning them. He even goes as far, most notably to me, in Acts 16, to circumcise Timothy so that they can have an audience with the Jews. Now let's think about just that one for a minute, not too hard, but that's a big commitment from Timothy, first of all. But then second of all, Paul is the same Paul who has said in multiple occasions, circumcision and uncircumcision doesn't mean anything. What he's saying is they don't mean anything in relation to the Lord. But when it comes to having an audience with Jews, Jews who need the gospel, well, it absolutely matters. If we can get an entranceway into preaching the gospel to these people, we will take it at all costs to ourself. Now, this is crazy, but it's the book of Acts. We see also the contrast to that when he's talking to many of the non-religious or those caught up in idolatry. For instance, in Acts 17, 18, 21, you can find plenty of other places that Paul still is confrontational, but in a much more patient and I would say gentle way. He's much less, or he's much gentler in the way that he argues with them and really disagrees with them. Not in a way that compromises what he's saying, but in a way that is just true to who they are. And we see, for instance, I think in several places, that he changes the message of the gospel. Not the substance, but the presentation of it. To summarize what I think is happening here in 1 Corinthians and in Acts is you just see a bunch of saved sinners, like you and me, doing everything they can to seek and save the lost. And they are giving up, in the meantime, all of their pursuits, their passions, their rights, all in the name of self-denial. so that they can be fulfilled. And that's exactly what Paul tells us is his goal here in 1 Corinthians. Look with me if you will to verse 23. Paul says, I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings. Now what he's doing here is not really I think what many of us in 2017 America would call a normal investment. Paul just before this has said he's giving his all so that for all people, that by all means, so all is a word that you heard dozens of times in this passage. All of Paul is engaged in this ministry. But he even tells us here that I might win some. Paul is throwing out everything he can for the sake of a few. Now I'm sure that many of us would give up everything if we were to win everybody. If we were 100% on our evangelism, well, we'd all be evangelists. But Paul here says that's never the goal and it never was. I'm giving my all so that some will come to know the Lord. What I think is happening here in Paul is really better expressed from Jesus in Matthew 13 when he's talking about the kingdom of heaven. And he gives many, many parables, but one in particular is the man who is digging in a field and finds treasure. This is one we talk about often in the youth. Youth, I'm sorry, you have to hear it again. A man, as he's digging in a field, discovers treasure. We have no reason why he's in the field. We don't know anything. It's not a good or not bad field. It's just a field. He discovers treasure. In his joy, he covers it, and he goes and sells everything he has. Everything. Complete sellout. So that he can buy the field. Now, we know the end of the story, but just envision that. A guy, a friend, one of your children coming to you and saying, look, I found this field, and there's treasure in it, and I'm going to sell everything. Can I have my college fund? Can I go ahead and have my inheritance? I'm going to sell it. I'm going to sell all of it, because I want to buy this field. You would think, well, I'll be gentle. At the very least, he's a horrible investor. But since we know the end of the story, And we know his discovery, he's made the wisest choice of anybody. Like Jim Elliot says, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. And I think that's what we see here in Paul, a man selling out to the kingdom of God, giving up everything, his materials, his privileges, his preferences, his comforts, everything, so that he would advance the gospel or the glory of God to make much of it. so that he would share with other people in the blessings of the gospel. That is his mission. But to be sure, this is a controlled mission. As I said, many people have taken these verses and they've just admittedly gone off the rails with how to incorporate or to include these things in their ministry. And that's where this analogy or this illustration about the race becomes very important for us to understand precisely what Paul's saying. The key that he's going to tell us is self-control, but let's see that for ourselves in verses 24 through 25. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable reef, but we an imperishable. In these passages and in the passages that are going to come, Paul is saying the key to this freedom The key to this type of service, the key to a God-honoring life that makes much of the Lord is self-control. Excessive self-control. And that's again one of those terms like service that I don't know what you guys think when you hear that, but when I've always heard it growing up or It's normally in the context of discipline, and I need self-control. I don't know where you guys fall on that. But more often for me, as I've thought about these terms throughout my life, self-control, temperance, discipline, all of these things have always been in very much black and white terms. I have to completely cut off and abstain from all the bad things, and I'm free to do whatever I want with the good things. I don't think that's what Paul or really any of the biblical writers are talking about, though, when they talk about self-control. C.S. Lewis gives a very helpful chapter on this in Mere Christianity. I encourage you to read that. But I'll summarize. He says that self-control is really moderation in all things. It's going the right distance in everything. And that matches perfectly with what Paul's saying here. Paul, who tells us we are free, free in Christ, free to enjoy the common grace pleasures of the world. And we're free, just as easily, to stop those things at any point. Sinners cannot stop sinning. They are bound by their will to sin. We know that very well. Paul here is saying that we are different. We are free to start and we are free to stop. And self-control is the key to knowing when. We, as God's people, can enjoy great meals. We can enjoy Netflix shows. We can enjoy competitive sports, like many of you probably did this weekend. We can be convicted of political opinions. We can be engaged in society. Yet, because of our freedom and the self-control that the Lord has wrought within us, we're able to just as easily stop those things and cast them aside the moment there's a hint of interference with our relationship with the Lord or people. In fact, I dare say to truly know that you're in control, we have to say no to good things at times. If we only indulge in the things we like and only say no to the things we think are bad, how in control can we really say that we are? And Paul is very clear, this type of discipline is not optional, but a necessity for a God-honoring life. Self-control is not contrary or contradictory to freedom, but in fact, ensures it. As well, I'm a natural Pharisee at heart, I don't know where you fall on that spectrum, but discipline for discipline's sake is a thing that really resonates for me. But that's not really what Paul's talking about here either. This discipline, this self-control, is all geared towards another end, an aim. In the instance of the runners, a reef, a perishable reef, the trophy, For us, though, I think it's so much more. But let's read the final part of our verse for today and talk about what that self-control leads us to. We'll do verse 25 again and read to the end. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable reef, but we, an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. The aim is very clear and very simple. It is the reef. Not the perishable reef, but as John calls it, the crown of righteousness. As James calls it, the crown of life. This crown that cannot fall away, that never loses glory, and if anything, gains it. Runners and athletes have invested so much time and life and money into winning temporary glory. And Paul here is saying to the Corinthians and to us, don't fall into that trap. Fix your eyes, as we saw in our call to worship on Jesus. We're going to get to that in a minute, but I really want to talk about these analogies, both running aimlessly and boxing. Because in this, I think Paul beautifully captures for the Corinthians and for us both the problem in a nutshell and the solution in a nutshell. This whole illustration about the race and boxing is one of the most well-known passages in this book, but it's really only describing everything that's coming before. It's not a new thing in and of itself. And so let's talk about what Paul's saying. The problem for the Corinthians is the runner and his self-defeating tendencies, which are, very simply, forgetting the finish line. I used to run tracks. Many of you have run races. You can't forget the finish line and hope to make it or have any level of success in track or in any kind of race. The Corinthians have their prize set, or their eyes set, on another finish line. As we've seen throughout this book, they desire knowledge, they desire status, they want to use their freedom to their own ends. And Paul's saying these things are not the end. The end is here, the end is glory. Those things are a means to an end. Fix your eyes on the true finish line. But here, more notably, he really corrects the problem with the boxer. And this was just wonderful to me to learn. Paul's solution is this boxer who is not beating the air aimlessly. And then, I don't think the English captures it very well, but in the very beginning of verse 27, when he says, I discipline my body, to the original audience, that was a much more of a boxing illustration. What Paul is literally saying here is, I do not box as one beating the air, but rather, I blacken or bruise my own eye. So quite literally, he's saying of the boxer, I'm not a boxer who's just randomly punching in the air, expending energy for no reason, and I'm definitely not fighting the other guy. I'm beating myself. I'm punching my own eye, quite literally in this. And again, I'm not a boxer, and I didn't even watch the fight earlier last week. But I don't know what kind of boxing career you would have if you were to only punch yourself in the ring. Floyd Money Mayweather did not practice that, and I don't think he would be interested in it. In fact, were he to continually punch himself in the eye, he would guarantee defeat. We would guarantee defeat. And I really think that's the point. Not only does it show the great level of self-control you have to have to do that to yourself, but it shows that that strategy, that boxing method, inevitably and in all other possibilities, leads to defeat. And that's the point. The Corinthians are beating themselves. They're punching themselves in the boxing ring. We oftentimes, I think we'll see in a moment, punch ourselves in the boxing ring. For the Corinthians here, as we saw in chapter 8, they're fighting the wrong battle. They're concerned about who's theologically correct when it comes to eating food sacrificed to idols. And instead, the real battle is with sin. The real battle is not who's theologically correct about that issue, but how can we in our freedom give up our freedom to love our brothers and make much of Christ? And even more so, how can we put down and battle our sin? Our battle is with sin, the sin that so easily entangles and hinders the race. Our battle is against ourselves, as we must beat ourselves into submission to rely on Christ. I don't think I have to tell you that our church, our country, we as individual families, are engaged in an extreme cultural battle that's ongoing in the streets of America. In the last 10 years, change has accelerated at breakneck pace. And if you're anything like me, I often find myself engaged in this us versus them mentality. I believe oftentimes, whether I say it or I don't, that the world is the enemy. those non-Christian, silly, secular types. They're trying to change everything. They're trying to undo everything. And we've got to beat them. We've got to put them in their place. We've got to put them back and win the day for the dirt church. And if you're anything like me in that, Paul has a word for us, and it's that we're wrong. The enemy is not those non-Christians. In fact, I dare say, based on what much of Paul says, the unbelievers are not the enemy, but the victim. The real enemy is sin. The real enemy is Satan. We, like them, have been victimized. And to be sure, we're accountable for the things we do. I don't wanna overplay my hand on sin. But the world is victimized daily and regularly by sin and Satan and the forces of darkness. Paul himself will say this later in Ephesians when he says, chapter six, verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. In other words, we don't fight against man. but rather against the rulers and against the authorities and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places. Paul says a very similar thing just a few chapters earlier in chapter 6 when he lists this list of sins such as sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, drunkenness, swindling, etc. And he says, the kingdom of God is not fit for these people and such were some of you. And what he's done here is he showed us that it's not us versus them. It's not us versus those non-Christians. Those people are sinners, just like we were. And sinners, sin. We should expect no less, and we should expect no different. And in fact, we should know that better than anybody because we were once among them. The battle rather, rather than being against fellow man, is against sin. Sin in the world, sin in other people, and more likely sin in ourselves. And with this in mind, we can really see that Paul's ministry is not just about Paul, and it's not even premised on his ideas or good theology. It's premised on another. It's premised on our servant King. We read about him in the call to worship, so if you want to I have an idea of what I'm talking about. I won't read the verse again. You can look at Hebrews 12. I would rather go to 1 Corinthians 15 because Paul is going to do this himself in his letter. But it's such an awesome chapter, I don't want to steal the next preacher's thunder and make you listen to it again. But in Hebrews 12, he says much of the same thing. He calls us very simply to fix our eyes on the works of Jesus. who has gone before us. And in this he shows us that the only way that any of this works this morning, church, the only way for us to serve our master and to lay down our freedoms for our brothers, the only way to be self-controlled, the only way to fix our eyes and see people for who they really are, broken sinners in need of the grace of Christ, is to look to Jesus. Not just look at him, but see with unveiled eyes his life, death, and resurrection. The type of service he served with, the type of self-control he maintained, and his striving. Because Jesus is the most crazy but true of all stories in the world. The king of the universe, clothed in power, splendor, and glory, came down, lowered himself to be a man just like us. To be tempted, to have the needs of flesh, to suffer unimaginable pain, and to die. The only person who never had to die, to die. I've always been struck by the catechism question that asks us which part or parts of Jesus' life were humiliating as we think about self-denial this morning. And for the longest time, I always assumed it was just that last part. His humiliation started probably when he got arrested and he went through those mock trials and was beaten and whipped and ultimately killed on the cross, the most humiliating of all deaths. But the catechism gives a much more clear picture. The Catechism says that Jesus' humiliation started when he was born. All of Jesus' earthly life, from the moment he entered this world to the moment he ascended back into heaven, was humiliating for the king. Every aspect of his human life was self-denial to us, his people, and to his Father in heaven. But Jesus did this to win the very crown, the imperishable wreath, to which Paul talks about. Because this morning in all of our paradoxical statements, we're going to see that Christ has really laid that foundation and run before us as we saw in Hebrews. In route to glory, he who was most free, Jesus Christ himself, made himself a slave. He who was the most unchanging in his being made himself a man and became like many of the fellow men and women he was around. Jesus, who had the greatest fulfillment in relationship with the Lord, denied himself in that most of all. Jesus, who was most in control of his life, was also one of the most excessive in discipline. We are seeing a Jesus, a man who fights not people, but wrong beliefs and sin. And we see, most of all in him, a man, our Lord and Savior, who won everything. Really, the only true winner. We get the benefits by adoption and by association, but Jesus is the only person to ever actually run and win the race. And he who won is the one who lost everything. This same Jesus in John 20, 21 says, just as the Father sent me, even so I'm sending you. Paul will tell us at the end of chapter 10, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. And today church, I think that's our very simple call. This is not a story about Paul and it's not a story about us. It's a story of Christ and our call to imitate him in our way and in our being. The only way to do that completely is to rely on his works and the work of the spirit within us. But I urge you, fix your eyes on Jesus and through that lens, see the lost around you. as the broken people that they are without the grace that we have. Through that lens, see your freedom as a means to give up your freedom for the sake of the Lord. And through that lens, fight the good fight, not the wrong fight. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We give you praise for who you are and your great love and works on our behalf. Truly, Lord, anything that we've talked about this morning is only possible because of you. You have run the race and completed it, and you have given us credit for your victory. Father, I do pray that this morning you would give us all eyes to see plainly the world around us, to see you for who you are and the marvelous things that you've done. Lord, help us to use our freedom to make the most of you in your name that we can. As well, Lord, though, I pray that we would see our brothers and sisters and all people as sinners in need of grace. and that we would be the channels by which you provide it. Lord, call us to great things, call us to ordinary things, and help us to honor you in both, we pray. And it's in your name that I pray these things, amen.