Whats Your Prize?
(1Cor 9:18-26)
Whats the prize that you want to receive the most? I was an honor student of the top university of Korea for four years. Yet I became a slave daughter-in-law of an uneducated woman. I was without a true prize. Let think about what the best prize is.
1. It is not making use of our rights. Paul sowed the spiritual seed that bore its fruit for two thousand years because he didnt reap any material harvest (1Cor 911-12). Likewise, I sow the seed of QT with CSAT re-takers for 16 years without claiming my rights while my children were struggling with CAST for 5 years. Thus God helped me not hinder the gospel of Christ. Paul confessed that he was a useless servant despite his hard effort for the gospel. A deaconess, who has a handicapped child wished that she could have a sound sleep straight through the night until 6 AM. What a great privilege for us to eat, sleep, and rise as we please! With the gospel, however, we can voluntarily give up all these rights. Just as our prize is giving up our rights for the sake of the gospel, so it is giving up our anticipation that others will be changed because of our action. Genzo Mizuno, a patient with serious cerebral palsy confessed in her poem 'Jesus of Nazareth! I crucified you!.' We can be a comfortable person when we confess our sins. When we claim our rights, we feel miserable and disposed to terminate our relationships with others. Our prize is not claiming our rights lest our actions should hinder the gospel.
2. It is sharing the blessings of the gospel. The truth sets us free. Yet, becoming a voluntary slave is a way of sharing in the blessings of the gospel. By being in others shoes, we can give our best comfort for them. Hyeongeok Kim, Professor of Yonsei Univ. recollected that the principal of his youth shed tears after confessing that he had vowed in a Japanese shrine for the sake of his students safety. Thus the principal, I believe, shared in the blessings of the gospel. The spectrum of Pauls spirituality, with which he became a slave of the Church in Corinth reflects his repenting heart. Paul cant forget the amazing grace of God, who forgave him, a great sinner, who gave approval to the death of Stephen, the greatest saint. Sometimes we can share in the blessings of the gospel by becoming a witness, risking peoples criticism in order to win a soul. After escaping from Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb, out of the two million Israelites, entered the land of Canaan. Thus one person among many understands the gospel in the midst of his trials. The person who attends todays worship service with a broken heart is the one who will receive the best prize.
3. It is self-control. In order to win a game, we need not training and practice so much as self-control. The last fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Its the fruit of tough training that calls for our patience, the proof of spiritual truth. The tough life that I had in my parents-in-laws house was actually what I brought on myself because of my pride. Yet it was also a miracle, which made me put into practice my extreme self-control. Thanks to this training of self-control, I was able to begin my ministry. Even the perishable crown on earth calls for our self-control. How much more, then, will the imperishable one do so! After my spiritual rebirth, I began to dive into the Bible far more often than I did when I was a piano expert. This made me save other souls. In Wooridle Church, where people share their lives with the Word, theres no tabooed topic such as divorce because everything in it has already been consecrated. Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things. Therefore, meditation on the Word is of great values. To me, cancer was one of my many profitable prizes. I had preached the gospel without any trouble in my life till I had surgery last time. That was enough for me! No deploring! The best chemotherapy for me was the fullness of the Holy Spirit, through which Christ showed his profound mystery. God inspires us with self-esteem, watching our application of self-control while were devoted to meditating on the Word and serving others in our small group as a shepherd. Without meditation on the Word, our life is aimless. Therefore, we need to focus on our direction rather than speed.
4. It is beating our body and making it our slave. We bring others to God when we submit ourselves to God beyond merely discussing abstract principles. We need to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Without this application, we cant rejoice in God even while the person we brought to God is rejoicing. Thats the moment we need to be afraid of being disqualified for Gods prize. Every time I was fed up with QT sharing, I thought what if God might distrust me. I was afraid that I might quit my ministry, claiming that Im not chasing money for it. We need to be more concerned about being deserted by God than getting a prize. God made Paul cold, naked, starved and a spectacle in order for even a soul to meet the Lord through him. Likewise, God has constantly cornered me to pray for our church members till I look for only God.
Heres the confession from one of our senior small group leaders. As a trainer of our shepherd training program, he had listened to a deacons sharing over the phone almost every day until he was fed up with listening to it when the deacon gave him a call while drunk. One day, he didnt answer the phone call from him because he was busy. The next day, he heard that the deacon passed away and from that time on, he was distressed with guilt. Busy as a director of a general hospital, he shared in the blessings of the gospel four days a week. After all his devotion, he was asked, 'What is your prize?' The best prize we receive from God is saying 'Im a worthless servant' after all our efforts to spread the gospel for nothing. Its a great blessing for us not to take any credit whether due to our humble circumstances or personality. May we all be able to press on toward the greatest prize of God!
'Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1Cor 9: 24)'
