Striving for the Mastery – Part Five

“Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  (I Corinthians 9: 24 – 27)

If an athlete didn’t follow the rules in striving for mastery, he became disqualified. If he did strive for mastery and became a winner, there was a reward. Why would one go through nine months of agony?  Why would one be willing to box in such a fight?  Because of the award awaiting.

They didn’t give medals. They gave leaf crowns. In verse 25 it is described as a “perishable crown.” That was only part of the award.

The Olympic Games honored Zeus, also known as Jupiter. The wreath was made of olive branches, a tree preferred by Zeus. At the Isthmian Games, which honored the Greek sea god Poseidon, the wreath was made from the god’s sacred tree the spruce.

Before the contests the wreath was placed at the feet of the statue honoring the god of the games. At Olympia it was Zeus. At the Isthmian Games it was Poseidon. This was referred to as “the joy lying before them.” A similar term was used of Christ enduring the cross because of the “joy lying before Him.”

The victorious competitor was then taken back to his home town for a celebration. If the city was walled, as most were, a hole was cut in the city wall in the profile of the athlete. After he entered through it, once again it was sealed. 

A parade followed in which the athlete rode through the city in a chariot. The people threw flowers in his path. Women splashed perfume on him.

The parade led to the center of the city where he was greeted by the equivalent of the mayor. There the city poet read an ode to him about himself. Next, the mayor presented him with a citation which in part gave him a life-time exemption from income tax. Now you know why they were willing to compete!

If they did all that for an corruptible crown, how much more we should be willing to strive for an incorruptible crown! That is a term referring to a heavenly home with our Lord.

The reward awaiting all faithful citizens of the kingdom who go through agony in obedience to the Master is a heavenly home. That makes it all worthwhile.

In the Book of the Revelation is given another depiction of the honor given a winner. It has a spiritual application.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

That is the ultimate reward awaiting the person who will spiritually “compete for the prize,” that is, “strive for mastery.”

Striving for the Mastery – Part Four

“Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  (I Corinthians 9: 24 – 27)

Every competitor in the Isthmus games had to be a COMPETITOR.

The expression “I fight” means I will compete to the best of my ability.

The figure of speech now changes from a runner to that of a fighter. In 684 B.C. the Olympic Games were expanded to include boxing. 

“Thus I fight not as one who beats the air…”

This is a description of a person shadow boxing — pretending. The Christian life isn’t a pretend world. It is for real.

To gain an understanding of what was involved in boxing in the Isthmus Games let me share these insights.

The boxer wore only oil and a pair of potentially lethal gloves. That’s all.  These gloves were known as “Caestus.” They consisted of leather thongs set with metal knobs of lead or iron. Round one began with the competitors towing a line and starting at a given signal. Round one ended when one of the boxers had been knocked out or killed. Round two began when the boxer who had been knocked out was revived. He was then given a certain amount of time to resume the fight. A line was drawn and he had to tow the line within the time limit. When he did, round two began. The fight ended when one had either been killed or beaten senseless.

We, too, have to toe the line for Jesus.

There was a technical term employed in boxing used in the text. The decisive first blow was the “fist blow under the eye” known in the Greek as the HUP-OPIAZO. “Hupo” meaning “under” and “ops” meaning “eye.” It was the term of that era comparable to our term “knock out.”  In our text it is used in the Greek and translated “I buffet” or “I discipline my body.”

Like such a boxer we must mentally use our spiritual resources to control our bodies if we are to be spiritual victors. Fight “not as uncertain.”

If you want a victorious spiritual life it requires being spiritually focused. The word in verse 26 translated “uncertainty” is ADELOS and it means “I do not run without clarity.”

No athlete has come to these games without clarity of purpose. Each knows in what he or she is to compete and is focused on that. Be certain of your role.

What is your goal in life?

Isaac and Ishmael: A Portrait of the Middle-East Today 6/14/98

Genesis 16:1-16, 17:15-21, and 21:1-21

JESUS CHRIST’s birth was the fulfillment of numerous prophecies. One was that He would be a descendant of Isaac. That was a most unlikely reality. By man’s standard an impossibility.

Who was this man Isaac? On the pages of the Bible he stands out on history’s horizon like a mole hill between two mountains. On one side was the summit of his father Abraham. On the other the peak of his son Jacob. Compared to them his life seems insignificant. Yet, as with all things great and small God had a plan for him.

Of him God said to Abraham, “Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac: I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” (Genesis 17: 19).

Let the story tell itself, and then let’s draw from it some vital conclusions. READ: GENESIS 16:1-16; 17:15-21; 21:1-21.

God’s plan became man’s parody when Sarah decided to devise a plan to do what she did not trust God to do. The Code of Hammurabi stated:

If she has given a maid to her husband and she has born children and afterwards that maid has made herself equal with her mistress, because she has born children her mistress shall not sell her for money, she shall reduce her to bondage and count her among the female slaves.

Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was a strong willed woman who wanted to exercise her rights when her plan failed.

Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maid, “despised Sarah” and “mocked Isaac.” Obviously she was also a strong willed woman with a bad attitude.

God promised Abraham he would have a son by Sarah through whom He would bless all mankind.

Consenting to Sarah’s wishes Abraham at the age of 86 had a son by Hagar. Later God’s promise of a son through Sarah became a reality. These two half- brothers were Isaac, his son by Sarah, and Ishmael, his son by Hagar. Isaac was the son of promise.

I. TWO SIBLINGS: JEWS AND ARABS IN PREVIEW
A. God promised to bless the child of Sarah and make her descendants a blessing. The lineage of the Jewish race began with Abraham and was perpetuated through Isaac and his son Jacob.

Matthew and Luke in tracing the genealogy of Jesus, from a human perspective, note this fulfillment.

Most Americans are aware of this promise and marvel at God’s blessings on the Jews (Gen. 17:19). This is appropriate. However, most of us seem to think the Arabs are God’s outcasts. Not so. God also promised to bless the child of Hagar, Ishmael and his descendants (Gen. 17:20). God said of Ishmael “I will make him a great nation” (Gen. 21: 18). It was through the line of Ishmael that the Arab nations developed. These descendants have also been blessed. Note who constitutes the oil cartel in the middle-east. It is the Arab nations.

Ishmael was born before Isaac. He was conceived of Hagar an Egyptian slave girl whom Sarah gave to Abraham for the purpose of conception. When he was born, Abraham prayed that he would be the child of God’s promised blessings (17:18). The expression “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” is a plea for him to be the heir apparent.

Evidently these two siblings contested each other on a regular basis. The scripture says that Ishmael was seen “scoffing” at Isaac. The verb tense used means he was always scoffing. Galatians 4: 29 reveals this scoffing involved “persecution.”

The descendants of these two are still antagonists. The perpetual conflict within the West Bank and Gaza as well as the constantly contested borders of Israel is an outgrowth. The Arab-Israeli conflict began in Hagar’s bedroom.

II. TWO SPOUSES: JEALOUSY AND ANGER IN PURVIEW
God never condoned polygamy; nor did He ever bless it even in the lives of some of His servants who violated His command regarding one wife.

Abraham and Sarah both had sacramental names given them by God. Abraham originally was called Abram meaning “honored father.” God renamed him Abraham which means “father of many nations.” God gave him this name when he was old and had no children. Sarah’s name had been changed from Sarai. Her old name meant “princess,” indicating that in her home land of Ur she was a member of royalty. Her new name meant “to rule.” She was to be the royal line by which God’s promise would be fulfilled to Abraham.

Strange as it may seem the first Jew was a Gentile. Abraham who came from beyond the Euphrates was the first person called a Hebrew (Gen. 14: 13). The word Hebrew means “the immigrant.” Sarah was the first female Hebrew, the fountainhead of the Jewish race.

God’s plan was for Sarah to conceive and bear a son.

Sarah amended God’s plan for Abraham to have a son by her young Egyptian maid, Hagar.

Things always go wrong when we decide God can’t keep His word and we have to do for Him what we don’t have faith to believe He can do.

When Hagar conceived, she chided the childless Sarah. Sarah became very jealous of Hagar. The mistress and the maid couldn’t coexist it appeared. Sarah dealt “harshly” with Hagar (16:6) so Hagar fled. In doing so she was violating the law which forbid a bondwoman to leave the service of her mistress.

God sent a angel messenger to Hagar on “the way to Shur.” Knowing Sarah had wronged her the angel nevertheless told her to return to Sarah. Two wrongs don’t make a right. She obeyed and returned. This is a beautiful illustration of submissiveness.

At the well where Hagar encountered the angel she used a beautiful name for God which means “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees” (Gen. 16:13). The well where this encounter with God occurred she called “Beth-lahai-roi,” meaning “The well of Him who lives and sees me.”

When Hagar submissively returned she and Sarah grew to be even more jealous of one another and eventually this flared into anger. Finally Sarah pulled rank and demanded that Hagar and her son Ishmael be banished. Notice that this caused discord between Abraham and Sarah. Discord consequents when we disobey God. Having two spouses causes conflict.

Reluctantly Abraham complied and sent them into the desert with limited provisions. Poet and artist alike have sought to capture Hagar’s anguish in the desert when their supplies ran out. One of the finest masterpieces in the Dresden Gallery is a painting called “Hagar in the Wilderness.” The child is depicted lying on his back, dying of thirst, while his beautiful impoverished mother lifts her eyes to heaven and prays, “Let me not see the death on the child.” God answered her prayer and opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. God spared them both in keeping with His promise.

Ishmael grew to be a desert-dwelling archer. Our last glimpse of Hagar was her act of securing an Egyptian wife for Ishmael. She found for him a wife from her own land of idols and worldliness. Untaught faith in Jehovah by Abraham and influenced by a pagan wife, a different lifestyle and code of beliefs emerged. This is an illustration of the fact the extension of the faith is only one generation away. If one fails to pass it on to another, it is lost.

When Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 she conceived and gave birth to Isaac, the child of promise. Sarah is the only one in the Bible whose exact age is given.

God kept His promise to them because Abraham believed (Rom. 4: 19 – 22).

As Isaac grew into manhood he went to dwell at Beth-lahai-roi, the place Hagar had lived. She impacted his life dynamically. She was his nurse and doubtless held him spellbound with stories of the Nile, pyramids, Pharaohs, and crocodiles. Had it not been for the strong and longer lasting influence of Abraham, Isaac might well have followed Hagar instead of the faith of Abraham and Sarah.

The child of Hagar is described as “scoffing” at Isaac, the child of Sarah. He had to learn this from his mother. Hagar had “despised” Sarah from the moment of her conception of Abraham’s son (16: 5). For Ishmael to have ridiculed Isaac would have been to mock all the promises of God inherent in him. This scoffing continues. From the lineage of Isaac came Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. From the lineage of Ishmael came Mohammed and the Moslem faith.

All of this happened because Sarah decided to do things her way rather than waiting on God. Does this same trait ever get you in trouble? The experience of Sarah is a caution against hasty action in times of trials and difficulties. It appeals for trust.

Sarah could not have anticipated that her single, disobedient decision would originate a rivalry which has resulted in the bitterest hatred through the ages which not even an ocean of blood can quench. We should always weigh the consequences of our decisions. They are often made in a moment with a lifetime of consequence. Sarah’s decision has endless consequence.

Likewise, a decision to receive or reject Christ as Savior has eternal consequence.

III. TWO SYSTEMS: JESUS AND ALTERNATIVES IN REVIEW
In Galatians 4: 22 – 31 there is an allegory using Sarah and Hagar to distinguish the difference in law, that is works, and grace. In verse 24 the account is described as “symbolical.” The word means an allegory which is an illustration.

HAGAR represents the Old Covenant of the law, a system of works.

She was a bondwoman. Her son, Ishmael, was “born after the flesh.” Ishmael was born the natural way; according to nature.

Hagar and Ishmael represent what is known as the “flesh principle,” rejecting God’s promise, rejecting the way of faith and trying to fulfill the will of God on your own terms. Persons operating on the flesh principle are trying to merit, earn, or deserve, by their works, what God gives freely.

Hagar represented “Jerusalem which now is,” meaning in bondage to the law.

SARAH represents the New Covenant fulfilled in Christ.

She was a free woman. Her son, Isaac, was “born through the promise.” Isaac was born the supernatural way; despite nature.

Sarah represents “the Jerusalem that is above” — “our mother.” This represents true faith originated salvation with heaven as its source. This depicts salvation by grace.

This account is included in the Scripture to let us know we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law. It has always been so. We are saved by grace not genes. The true line of descent was Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

This is the line of faith. Abraham had two sons. One, Isaac, had faith. The other, Ishmael, didn’t.

Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob had faith in Jehovah God and Esau did not.

It is the faith line that represents faithfulness. It still is.

Galatians now list three consequences of being a child of promise, that is, a saved person:
1) Persecution from non-believers, legalist (Vs. 29). As Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so the non- believing world persecutes believers.

2) Inheritance of a priceless, spiritual nature results (Vs. 30). Isaac was the sole heir. No one outside the covenant of grace, a non-believer will inherit what Christ has in store for all who believe.

3) Obligation is inherent in the inheritance (Vs. 31). The rest of the book of Galatians illustrates this.

If you are willing to live free, you can expect all three of these. The eternal nature of the inheritance makes it all worth while.

Striving for the Mastery – Part Three

“Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  (I Corinthians 9: 24 – 27)

Every athlete who participated in the Isthmus games had assigned to him a coach. The coach was a person who knew more than he about what it took to be the best competitor in his sport. Every athlete regardless of his sport did the same exercises. What made the difference was knowing the finer point of his competition in his sport.  The athlete had to be COACHABLE. 

The athlete’s coach was his master. What he said the athlete did. If we are going to be spiritual victors, we must submit to Christ as our master/trainer.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

In a more modern day Coach John Wooden, renowned UCLA basketball coach, would always call his team together before each game and say the same thing to them. “I have done all I can to help you. The rest is up to you. Now go do what I have taught you.”

Jesus has taught us all we need to know to win life’s game by His standard. It is time for us to do what we know to do.

A popular modern day discipline is group Bible study. That is good, but it is time to start doing what we already know to do.

There was a church member who needed coaching. Every time his pastor endeavored to instruct him he would say, “Let’s pray about it.” Finally the pastor said one day, “It is time to stop praying and start playing.” Keep studying, but by all means get in the game. Do what you know to do before you look for more to do, because if you don’t do what you know to do the Lord is not going to give you more not to do.

As a college freshman basketball player I got in the game near the end and scored two points. We won by one point. The next day I was spouting off to friends in the campus post office. I said such things as, “I should be the go-to man on this team. I am hot. I should be a starter. If you see the coach tell him.” They said, “You just told him. He is standing right behind you.” I ran laps that day.

Don’t try to tell Jesus what He should do. You do what He has taught you to do. Prove you are coachable. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

Striving for the Mastery – Part Two

“Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  (I Corinthians 9: 24 – 27)

In striving for mastery an athlete had to be CONTROLLED.

One common characteristic of every great athlete is self-control.  To participate in the Isthmus Games every athlete had to check into the training facility nine months before the games. When they checked-in they checked-out of society. They went into isolation from the public and were completely cut off from everything and everyone outside.

The Greek word describing this experience is AGONIZOMAI. Various translations of the Greek New Testament make its meaning more understandable.  Some are:

“Every man who strives for mastery trains himself by all manner of self-restraint.” 

Josh Davis, the swimmer who won three gold medals, spoke of his twelve years of training that resulted in a few moments of glory. Our lifetime of discipline will result in an eternity of glory.

“Anyone who enters a contest goes into strict training.”

The many splendid athletes who compete in the Olympics have done so. There is an English word that has come from the Greek word describing this intensive training. It can be heard in the Greek word AGONIZOMAI. Our word is “agony.” A hymn written by Isaac Watts in 1724 speaks to this.

Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord;
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by thy Word.
Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own his cause,
Or blush to speak his name?
When thine illustrious day shall rise,
And all thy saints shall shine,
And shouts of vict’ry rend the skies,
The glory, Lord, be thine.

How controlled by Jesus and His Word are you?  Recommit today.