Run to Win

1 Corinthians 9

There are plenty of scholars who suggest that what we call 1 Corinthians – and the same applies to 2 Corinthians - is not just one letter but a number of letters redacted together, though there is plenty of disagreement about how many. It isn’t as straightforward as chapters 1-8 forming one letter, chapters 9-12 forming another. It looks more like the result of a redactor dropping a pile of papers and not picking them up again in the right order. Take that alongside possible later additions by other redactors, and the problem that modern readers have with Paul becomes larger than the one that his original readers had, because we see letters that are longer, and that jump about thematically, in a way that Paul almost certainly didn’t. Chapter 9 is a case in point. It breaks into a discourse on food sacrificed to idols that should flow on from chapter 8 to chapter 10. Suddenly Paul is protesting about his rights as an apostle and the way that apostles are financially rewarded. This, I believe, is a section of a different letter, part of a dispute that we know Paul struggled with in his relationship with the churches of Corinth. Paul’s right to be rewarded for his work, but not to be treated as if he was a mere client accepting the usual rules of patronage. He wasn’t at the Corinthians’ beck and call, or that of certain local patrons, and if that was what they wanted then he wouldn’t take their money. The results of Paul’s thinking continue today in the acceptance that clergy are officeholders, given a stipend to free them for the work they do, and not salaried staff working for the reward of pay rather than the rewards of the kingdom of God.

That’s all very interesting, but it’s not the chosen topic for this fifth sermon, which has been developed with one of the Inspire Leaders in the benefice, Anjana Austin, and with the benefice children’s work leader, Julie Austin. The theme which Anjana has chosen is ‘Run to Win’, and it is based on the final few verses of the chapter, 24-27, which stand alone within this letter and offer a challenging message.

The people of Corinth would have been very familiar with the pan-Hellenic games, most especially the Isthmian games, which they had hosted every two years since the re-founding of the town as a Roman colony under Julius Caesar. For us, as we imagine the games, we should visualise a cross between a modern multi event sports competition and a festival. Competitions included not only sports but also arts. Competitors entered a wide variety of disciplines. A famous example is the female athlete Hedea, whose name appears on an inscription in Delphi. She competed in games across the country and won the war-chariot race at the Isthmian games, the 200m at the Nemean and the Sicyonian games and the prize for young lyre-players in Athens.

For Hedea, and athletes like her, winning mattered. She ran for glory, the only prize being a crown of celery. She ran to win because it was winners who gained the interest of patrons, who got invitations to give after dinner speeches or play their instruments at events. She ran to win because if you did not win you were a loser. There was no glory in coming second, and much less chance of winning the patronage that brought an income and the freedom to train hard and to keep on competing and winning. In that, a classical athlete was not so very different from a modern one. Hedea won glory, and that is how we come to know her story. Her hard training brought plaudits that made her worth remembering on a monument in her home town. She worked hard for it. Each day would have doubtless involved running, riding, chariot practice, lyre practise to keep her at the top of the field. And her hard work was symbolised by a circle of wilted celery.

Paul compared being a follower of Jesus to the discipline required of an athlete in the games. We need to have the same determination and dedication in honing our skills as followers. We need to be equally focussed on being the best, not settling for anything less. The prize is a much better one though: not a short-lived, wilting crown of salad, but the eternal crown of glory that is being received, forgiven, into God’s presence forever. That is a prize so much more worth training for. Paul demands that we work as hard on our spiritual disciplines as the very best athletes. We need to be as committed in our training as Mo Farah is in his, to practice as hard as Lang Lang does at the piano.

But that raises the question: what are the disciplines we are practising hard at?

Perhaps you might consider these:

• ·       prayer – in all its forms, listening hard to the Holy Spirit of God
• ·       deepening your knowledge and understanding of scripture
• ·       building up the church in unity and love
• ·       caring lovingly for each other, inside and outside the church family
• ·       telling others about Jesus
• ·       caring for creation
• ·       seeking justice and being agents of mercy, peace and reconciliation

(and if you spot the five marks of mission embedded in that list, well done).

Hedea wouldn’t have done it alone, of course. Someone taught her how to ride and to race, showed her the fingering on the lute. Someone coached her at the gym, perhaps someone else encouraged her and cheered her on, and someone else made sure that she had a good meal at the end of a training session. So what about us? We don’t train alone either. Who are our supporters?

First of all, we are members of Team Jesus. The team is owned by God, and the Holy Spirit is an active, hands on manager. God has called people to be local managers across the nations. Depending on our traditions, we might call those people bishops, archbishops, apostles, chairs, moderators, senior pastors… they are there as vision setters, teachers, example givers, supporters. They in turn encourage and enable local leaders in churches who might be compared to the coaching team. Your parish priest or church minister or pastor is joined by elders or deacons or readers or lay ministers or leaders of teams, and they are able to help with that practice that is so vital every day.

Like anyone in training, we also draw a lot of support from those training alongside us. We encourage each other, spur each other on, and perhaps shame each other into turning up for training sessions, whether that’s a cell group, prayer group, house group, team meeting or simply turning up to a church service.

We draw some help from experts in the field too. Watching films, reading books or articles, listening to podcasts, attending courses or going to events beyond our own churches – a diocesan bible day, for example – all help us to improve and grow in our discipleship. And of course, we must always pay attention to the best help God has given us that we can handle, our bibles.

So, as you reflect on your training needs if you are going to train in such a way that you run to win a lasting crown, perhaps you can prayerfully reflect on these questions:

• ·       who do you need to talk to and get help from in order to improve your training programme?
• ·       are there people you can help with their training? Who should you be praying for and/or actively helping?
• ·       who is in training alongside you? who do you pray with, study with, go out to visit with? How can you support each other?