A Sermon
Based Upon 1 Corinthians 9: 19-26
By Rev. Dr.
Charles J. Tomlin, DMin
Flat
Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
Epiphany 3,
Year (B), January 25th, 2015
“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one
receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. (1Co 9:24 NRS)
When the apostle wrote these words, organized
Sports were as important to the culture then, as they are in ours. If
you are going to win the race, Paul writes, you will have to ‘run in such a way that you may win it.’ He explains further that to win this race,
or any race, you need not only special gifts and abilities, but you will also
need ‘discipline. ’ “Athletes need self-control in all things.” (9.25).
It is quite an interesting thought to consider that
Christian love, a love that ‘bears all
things’ (1 Cor. 13.7) requires both strength and stamina beyond our
ordinary life not unlike the kind of endurance required of a professional athlete. Visualize someone like Atlas, the mythological
Greek god who bore the herculean burden of the world on his shoulders. More importantly, think of Jesus bearing ‘all
things’ for us on the cross.
Both impressionable images tell us something of the
demanding ‘load-bearing love’ that is called for so in our lives, so that we can win the race of faith, hope
and love, no matter what situation we face in life.
HOLDING
ON
The challenge of running the race of life, all the
way to the finish line, is poignantly exposed in the emotional story of the Brittney
Maynard, the 29 year old woman who had to face the unspeakable burden of a malignant,
inoperable brain tumor.
Experts told her that Stage 4 Glioblastoma was a terrible, terrible way to die, so she
decided to move to Oregon, where she could legally kill herself by lethal medication.
She was quoted telling USA Today that ‘not a single cell in her body was suicidal or
wanted to die,’ but ‘to choose to go
with dignity was less terrifying.”
Brittney ‘had fearlessly ran marathons and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro”, but even against her own mother’s
promise to take care of her, she
could not bear what was to come.’ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/07/brittany-maynard-death-with-dignity-newser/16851903/
While it’s impossible for most of us to even
contemplate Brittney’s decision, we can understand that it’s not only death,
but also life that can be difficult to bear.
How will we have to face the unspeakable or the undesirable? While
we may disagree with Brittney’s decision, we can understand some of the pain she
was afraid to go through.
How will we ‘hold on’ when the tests of life come
to us? To bear the burden of life and to
bear the burden of love will come to all of us in some form. Either the test will come to us as we are
challenged to ‘bear the burden’ of
others, or it will come to us to ‘bear
our own load’, but however it comes, we can be sure that the test will
come.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the call to ‘bear all things’ can be related to the
advice Paul gives about marriage.
Certainly, any kind of serious, lasting, enduring human relationship
will put love and life to the test. While
Paul has several things to say about marriage and divorce in 1 Corinthians chapter
seven, some that is still very applicable for us today, and many of which
cannot be easily applied to us, the one
word that stands out is the advice he gives to those who are married to
unbelieving spouses.
It is not just the advice Paul gives, but
confidence that the believing spouse has a great opportunity to influence the
unbelieving spouse that is most encouraging.
Notice how Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7: 13-14, that the unbelieving
spouse (both husband or wife) is sanctified through the believing husband or
wife). This is incredible, because most
people think it would be the other way around, that the unbeliever would have
more power to pull the believing spouse down, but this is not how Paul sees
it. Paul believes that the believing spouse
should not seek a divorce, but should seek to bear with the other for the hope
that the unbelieving spouse might be brought to faith.
The point we need to take for this is not that a
spouse to keep themselves in a destructive situation, but that they should bear
with the unbeliever in a constructive marriage that is full many more positives
than negatives. The point Paul is
making is that Christians should be able to ‘bear’ and ‘hold on’, even better
than anyone else. Who knows what good
can come out of our differences, our struggles, and even our faithfulness to
the other when we bear each other and we bear with each other in ‘all things’. This
is what love does, isn’t it? Love
bears. Love believes. Love hopes.
Love endures. It is the nature of
love not to insist on anything except love; and when there is true love, not
just anything, but even better things are possible.
LETTING
GO
To bear all things not only requires ‘holding on’,
even when things get tough, but it also requires us to let go of certain things, we might otherwise hold against someone, hold
each other, or even hold against ourselves.
One translation put it: “Love
keeps no record of wrongs.”
The situation where Paul reminds us how love must
bear all things by ‘letting go’, is not just in a marriage, but also in a
church, where people come together with very different interpretations, ideas,
politics, and persuasions. Paul’s major concern was the struggle between
the religious customs of pagan world around him that did not fit with the
beliefs in the church. Whereas most all
Christians had to buy meat that had been prayed over by a pagan priest and
dedicated to an idol, some would refuse
to eat meat and become vegetarian, and others saw it as no big deal, since
idols weren’t real anyway. The ones who
did not eat, Paul considered ‘weak’ Christians, because they thought eating
meat would weaken their faith. The ones
thought it OK to go ahead and eat meat, Paul considered the stronger
Christian. His recommendation however,
was that the stronger Christian, when in the presence of the weaker, not eat
meat, for the sake of the weaker Christian.
Paul’s reasoning was that if the stronger
Christian was really stronger in his or her faith, they would be able to give
up meat for the sake of unity, at least until the weaker brother or sister
gained maturity and wisdom.
My Barber says that when he cuts hair, that the two
things he can’t talk about are politics and religion. If he wants to keep his business going, he
must let these things go. But what
about at church, when we come together to worship God? We can be from the same family, the same community,
or the same congregation of faith, but we can still see or interpret things (life,
politics or religion) very differently.
How do we stay together? The
truth is, that we can’t, and many don’t, unless we bear all things by letting go of some things for the sake of unity,
agreement, witness and sharing our service to God.
Once I was in a home and the folks told me that I
needed to watch more Fox News, if I wanted to be the preacher I needed to be. I let that go. Other times, people have told me what I
needed to preach on, or what I didn’t need to preach on, or that I could even
preach the way they thought I should be preaching. I let that go too. Sometimes, as a preacher, when I preach, I
let things go that I probably ought to say.
Some Sunday’s some of you avoid coming to shake my hand, because you don’t
want to hurt my feelings. Thank you
very much for letting that go.
We all let go of things, even things that are
obviously true, so that we can love each other.
Didn’t you see the Film with Jim Carrey,
Liar, Liar? It’s not that any of
us want to be liars, but it would be a cruel world if we always told each other
exactly what we think. Every Sunday when
I preach, I let go of the things I believe to be true because I us to be
together. I want us to learn together through what the
Holy Spirit says to us together, not just from what I say. To do this, to listen, to love, to bear with
each other, we always have to let some things go, even letting go some things
we fully believe to be true.
To do this, as Paul told Christians Corinth, we
have to bear with each other. And to bear
with us, God too, gladly let’s certain things go. Isn’t this part of the message of the cross,
that through Jesus, that if we will confess our sins, God is willing to forgive
and forget them and also to remove them, as far from us as the east is from the
west? It is ironic, that the sin or
problem that most needed to be let go was not a real sin, but a perceived sin? I guess you could say that Paul’s point is
that, if we want to love or we want to have a love that bears all things, until
all come to know, at least for now, the stronger one will have to let it go.
KEEP ON
GOING
This brings us to our reading for today, which is a
summary and great challenge Paul gives to any who would keep their faith, fellowship
and love going, even when life or others are hard to bear.
We are in a ‘race’ Paul says. To be a Christian, whether you are a Christian
in difficult marriage, or your are a Christian is a difficult church, or you
are a Christian in difficult world, we should hear Paul’s challenge to keep on
running, keep on going, and keep on keeping on, until we all reach the finish
line in front of us.
It’s a powerful image isn’t it? The Christian life that is filled with
Christ-like love is quite an impossible assignment that is not at all a quick
sprint, or a walk in the park, but it is more like a long distance run. We won’t make this kind of long distance run
without some training, or discipline, or knowledge of God’s limitless love.
When I came to realize I had some ability and the
lungs for long distance running, I
joined the Cross Country Track team.
Our coach had little time to train us, so we were all on our own. I had no idea what kind of strength was
needed to run 3.5 miles until the first track meet. The runners from the other school were much
better trained than most of us, a lot better than me, and before I got to the
end, I ran out of gas.
After the race was over, I was embarrassed to tell
the coach what had happened. But it was
then that I realized that if I wanted to stay in the race, I needed to have much
more endurance. Isn’t this what Paul is
also saying to us? If any of us want to
stay in the race, we have to ‘run in a
way that (we) may win’. The only way to run, Paul says, is not to
run ‘aimlessly’, but to run with the
finish already in our minds.
I think this is the big question we all must
consider, whether we are bearing the weight of a difficult diagnosis, bearing
with a difficult person, or dealing with any a difficult decision or situation
is this: We shouldn't only think of how to
relieve our own pain in the moment. We
also have to think of the bigger picture, the bigger purpose, or the bigger
issues, that also and always surround
us, no matter what weight we are having to bear; no matter what race we have to
run.
If our goal
is only the relief of pain, we will decide one way. If our goal is the good of another or the good
of the community, we will decide another way.
If our life ends in the love of God and the hope of all that God promises,
then, we gain a different strength to hold on, to let go, and to keep on going,
when the load is heavy. If I’m only
thinking of now or me, I can’t but bear that much, but if I’m also thinking of those
around me, or I realize I don’t bear the
load alone, I can do more. If we
know we are loved with unlimited love, I believe any of us can keep running the
race and bearing our load. We can bear all things, Paul says, because
we know a love that bears us in all things.
This is what love does. Amen.
No comments :
Post a Comment