The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 4 September 2023 – For The Prize’s Sake
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TOPIC – For The Prize’s Sake
READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 9:1-27 (NKJV)
- Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
- If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
- My defense to those who examine me is this:
- Do we have no right to eat and drink?
- Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as [do] also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
- Or [is it] only Barnabas and I [who] have no right to refrain from working?
- Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
- Do I say these things as a [mere] man? Or does not the law say the same also?
- For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about?
- Or does He say [it] altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, [this] is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.
- If we have sown spiritual things for you, [is it] a great thing if we reap your material things?
- If others are partakers of [this] right over you, [are] we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
- Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat [of the things] of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of [the offerings of] the altar?
- Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
- But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it [would be] better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.
- For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!
- For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
- What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
- For though I am free from all [men,] I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;
- and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those [who are] under the law, as under the law, that I might win those [who are] under the law;
- to those [who are] without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those [who are] without law;
- to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all [men,] that I might by all means save some.
- Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with [you.]
- Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain [it.]
- And everyone who competes [for the prize] is temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to obtain a perishable crown, but we [for] an imperishable [crown.]
- Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as [one who] beats the air.
- But I discipline my body and bring [it] into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
THE MESSAGE:
The outburst of St. Paul in this text was a response to those who questioned his apostleship. He proved his authenticity by showcasing all his credentials which included “seeing Jesus Christ our Lord.” He also chronicled all he had achieved as well as the rights and privileges that accrued to him as an apostle and a preacher of the gospel. As a man, he felt that it was better for him to die, than that any man should scorn his work (verse 15). The Apostle echoed it that his achievements were not his source of motivation, rather, the necessity laid on him to preach the gospel of Christ. This therefore moved him to accept every situation, humbling himself to fit into the life of different sets of people in order to reach them for Christ. He subjected his body and personality to the dictates of God’s will in order to receive the crown that he looked up to.
Some people have left their duty posts and began to chase shadows as a result of the attitude of other people towards them. St. Paul is a great example to us here that we must fix our eyes on God’s work and our calling no matter the distractions from those who envy and disdain us.
PRAYER: Father, please deliver me from the distractions in the world that I may do Your work without fail.
