Worship Service on Sunday, April 6, 2025
The message today is keep your eye on the prize.
Pastor Ted was invited to the Williams home for dinner. Every time Mr. Williams made a request to his wife, he always did it in enduring terms, such as calling her honey, my love, darling, sweetheart, pumpkin, et cetera. Pastor Ted was very impressed since this couple had been married for almost 70 years. While Mrs. Williams was off in the kitchen cleaning up, he said to Mr. Williams, I think that is admirable that after all these years you’ve been together, you still consider your wife a prized possession and you refer to her in those loving, enduring terms.
Mr. Williams hung his head and spoke softly and slowly saying, Well, to tell you the truth, Pastor, I forgot her name about 10 years ago. I haven’t been married that long. And that happens to me. In fact, a funny story, since I had been married before and Marlon had been married before, when we got married, several times I would call him my ex’s name. Oops, wasn’t good. He only did it once or twice, but anyway.
In our Bible reading today, Paul is writing to the church of Philippi from prison 10 years later and encouraging them to live lives worthy of their calling in Christ.
Philippi was an ancient city in Northern Greece that in its day was a bustling metropolitan city with a strong industrial base and a great economy. Paul visited there around 50 AD and founded the first church in Europe. Paul’s understanding of Jesus was that he came to give joy, peace, satisfaction, and contentment. In this letter, Paul talks about how he found the secret of satisfaction. He uses the imagery of a race where the goal is to win the prize. The prize, according to Paul, is the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul is not talking about a physical prize.
This isn’t a material reward, but rather a spiritual one, a deeper relationship with God and the ultimate goal of heaven. The prize is achieved through following Christ and living a life of faith and obedience. Paul’s words are meant to encourage believers to persevere in their faith and to strive for spiritual maturity. We have witnessed this type of spiritual growth recently in the Auburn Tigers. The Auburn Tigers earned the number one overall seed in this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Players say their success is due to something more than hard work or strategy. They said a team Bible study brought them closer together and closer to God.
Chaney Johnson, who is their forward, said, Without God, we wouldn’t be number one in the country right now. And the center, Dylan Cardwell said, winning the championship isn’t his biggest goal anymore. I just want the biggest platform to spread the gospel and be a light for God. These young men may not become professional basketball players in their lives, but they will go far. Why? because they chose to have Christ as their prize and their goal in their lives. Paul emphasizes that he has not yet met his goal, but continues to press on. In our scripture reading for today, this passage uses the analogy of an athlete training for a race to illustrate the need for discipline and focus in the Christian life.
1 Corinthians 9, 27. But I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. Most interpretations of these scriptures, the prize is the reward of eternal life in heaven. By Paul using the analogy of a runner who focuses on a goal ahead of himself, it prevents the runner from becoming distracted or stumbling. Paul is talking, of course, about a spiritual goal in our calling to follow God in Jesus Christ and to spread the gospel. Paul tells us to forget about what lies behind and to move forward to what lies ahead.
It’s a hard thing to do, isn’t it? Life is exactly like a race. From the time you were born until the time you die, you are running a race. The one goal in every race is to cross the finish line. No matter what else you do in a race, it doesn’t matter how hard you run or how fast you run. If you don’t cross the finish line, you won’t win. 1 Corinthians 9.24 from our scripture lesson today. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run? but only one receives the prize.
Run in such a way that you may win. One surefire way to get joy and ultimately win in life is living to set your God-given goals and then to give your life every day to reaching those goals. Jesus gives us an understanding of what it takes to follow him. Now this is kind of confusing, Matthew 8, 20. Jesus said to him, the scribe, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Kind of weird, isn’t it? He wanted the scribe who said he would follow him wherever he would go to understand that following him following Jesus would only lead to Christ himself, nowhere else.
In those days and now, following Christ could lead to a great adventure, but adventure wasn’t or isn’t the point. The point or the end goal or the prize is that we get Jesus. Matthew 8, 23 through 27. When Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves. But Jesus himself was asleep. And they came to him and woke him saying, save us, Lord, we are perishing. He said to them, why are you afraid, you men of little faith?
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed and said, what kind of man is this? And even the winds and the sea obeyed him. I say this probably every Sunday. Those disciples had to be some dense guys. Here they have this miracle worker in front of them, yet they still doubt him. I’m like, jeez. When Jesus led the disciples into the storm, he wanted them to understand that even in utter darkness, even when we don’t feel his presence, he is right there. He never leaves, he’s always faithful. Today’s society likes to attach many other promises to Christianity. So the difference between modern Jesus and biblical Jesus Modern Jesus preaches only the message of love.
Biblical Jesus emphasizes the righteousness of God. Modern Jesus promises health and prosperity. Biblical Jesus offers salvation, hope, peace, and joy. Modern Jesus prioritizes fulfilling your desire over God’s intentions. Biblical Jesus prioritizes the will of God, the Father. Modern Jesus strives to avoid offending anyone. Biblical Jesus offends the world with truth. Modern Jesus avoids any negative message. Biblical Jesus warns about sin, judgment, and hell. Modern Jesus, loved and accepted by the world. Biblical Jesus, hated by the world. Interesting analogy, huh? Some say that our lives will be easier if we follow Jesus. It will lead to more comfort and financial prosperity.
What that does to us human beings, being human and fallible, We will make us walk away from Jesus the moment that things become difficult, or we find ourselves in uncharted territory. Jesus never promised an easy life. He promised us abundant life, John 10, seven through 10. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. So what does abundantly mean in this life? And according to this passage, abundantly. It’s Jesus. It’s the prize. All of him. Nothing more, nothing less. Are your eyes on the prize? Is that prize in your eyes a desire to follow Jesus? Are you willing to follow him if in the end you only get him? Do we have the courage to let go of our life’s expectations? and let him have complete control? Will we follow him wherever he leads for better or worse?
I believe the answer to these questions may be no. Our commitment to following Christ, no matter what, tends to waver because we are just plain human, right? I think at times we refuse to release all control to him. We forget that he can give us abundant life. We are afraid of the storm like the disciples were. We’re afraid of the storm that he may lead us into. So we have a tendency to withhold our love from him. We may sit comfortably in our Christian life, but does Jesus ask us to go deeper and trust further in him?
I do, however, see us being great Christians, striving to know Christ more, striving to love him more, striving to have more peace. We can, with his help and letting go, become spiritually wealthy, spiritually successful, and spiritually peaceful. We can be great in the eyes of the Lord if we let go and receive Christ as the ultimate prize. In order to do that, we may have to let go of some things in our lives. Perhaps now is the time to let go in no matter where he leads. Because in the end, he is the abundant life.
It is he who leads us. Christ who makes us great. And life with Christ is all that matters. Christ is not just our ticket to the prize. Christ is our prize. Amen.
