1 Corinthians 9:16–27

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. ¹⁹For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. ²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Jesus was coming home from church that day. It had been an unforgettable church service because it was interrupted by a demon possessed man. In the middle of the service, just as Jesus was teaching, he started shouting and making a scene. He came up to Jesus and Jesus cast out the demon right there in the church service. Then, on the way home from church, Jesus and his disciples decide to have lunch at Peter's house. It so happened that Peter's mother-in-law lay sick in bed, near death. Most likely, from the description given, she had Malaria. Jesus at once healed her. Up to this point on this Sabbath day Jesus had cast out a demon and healed a sick woman.

The news spread quickly to the whole city of Capernaum, and by evening crowds were lining up at his door with sick and demon possessed people. He spent most of the night healing and casting out demons.

The next morning, and even bigger crowd was at his door. But Jesus said, "Let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

"For that is why I came;" to preach the gospel in all the world! He was under obligation to preach. He could do nothing other. It is interesting here that Jesus equated casting out demons and healing the sick with preaching. Yes, indeed, these were sermons. He preached by his actions, his miracles proclaimed the gospel. These miracles showed that the creator had come into the world to wipe away sin and reclaim his fallen creation from the power of sin and death and the devil. He healed the sick, showing that he was restoring the creation to its original goodness. He cast out demons showing that he had come to rescue his creation from the grip of Satan and sin.

Isaiah proclaims in our Old Testament reading: "Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth...who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in...The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary...he gives power to the faint and strength to the weary. Even youths shall faint and be weary, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not faint, walk and not grow weary." The Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth restores his creation and his people, giving strength to the weak and lifting up the weak as on eagles wings. Now, he was here in Galilee, preaching, casting out demons, healing the sick. This Jesus who did these miracles was the creator. In the beginning God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." God said! In other words, His Word went out from him and his Word created the light. And that Word was His Son, the very Son of God who himself is the light of the world, the light of salvation for all to see and behold. Jesus is the very Word of God "that became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

And that Word which created the world continued speaking when he came as a man into his world. He could not but preach. He had to go out and preach in the towns and villages and in all Galilee. His life was his message. And His greatest sermon was his death on the cross. God's greatest word to us is the cross of Jesus. It is the "verbus maximus" of God. It is the loudest law and gospel sermon ever preached.

Jesus' death on the cross is the law: for here God speaks his strongest word against sin. By putting his Son to death, God proclaims he wrath against our sin. On the cross we hear God proclaim his vehement hatred of all sin. Here we see what we all deserve and what would happen to all of us if Jesus had not come to save us. It is this wrath, this hatred, this punishment and death that we are all headed for apart from faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus death on the cross is Gospel: Gospel because here God attacks sin. Here God does violence to sin to destroy it utterly and completely. Here, on the cross, sin was crucified and put to death. Jesus "became sin" (II Cor 5:21) so that when Jesus was crucified, sin itself was crucified. That is why Jesus called out in pain, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Sin itself hung on the cross and died that day; your sin, my sin, the sin of the whole world. Your sin has been crucified; paid for; forgiven. You have been reconciled to God. And when sin died, death itself died, for "sin is the sting of death" (I Cor 15:56). The Word who created all things and they were "very good" (Genesis 1:31) has come into the world to redeem and restore the world to goodness. Your sins are paid for in full and you are being renewed. The fallen world of death is being restored as seen by his miracles of healing. The kingdom of Satan is being wrested from Satan's power and reclaimed by God, as seen by the casting out of demons. And new life, a new heaven and a new earth are seen by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That is the new life you now live. Baptized into Jesus, you are born again to the new life in the Spirit of God. You have been given the forgiveness of sins. You have been born again unto God and unto righteousness. You are reborn as God's children. So Jesus, the Word of God, could not keep his mouth shut. The Word had to continue speaking, preaching to all the world and he himself was the message. Jesus is the message of the Gospel.

And so even after his death and resurrection, after his ascension into heaven, the Word has to continue speaking. And that is what the Apostle Paul tells us in our text this morning. "Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" says Paul. Jesus continued to speak and preach through the Apostles, like Paul. Paul was entrusted with the stewardship of the Gospel. That word entrusted has the same root as the word for faith. God had faith in Paul to get the job done; the job of announcing the Gospel; of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. And so Paul says, "necessity is laid upon me."

What was Paul's reward for announcing the good news of Jesus Christ? That he might present the gospel in order to win people for Christ. Six times in this short text Paul talks of winning or gaining people for Christ. That by his Gospel some might be saved. Clearly his focus, his goal, was to win people for Christ, that all might be saved. Paul says everything he does, he does for the sake of the Gospel. For although he is free from all, he makes himself a servant to all in order to win more for Christ. He makes himself like a Jew to win the Jews, like a gentile to win the gentiles and weak in order to win the weak. "I do it all for the sake of the Gospel," he says.

And so, today, Jesus, the Word of God, continues to preach in all the world through his church; through you and me as we proclaim the message of Christ handed down to us by Paul and the other Apostles. Jesus is the message that we proclaim to all people. Jesus is the good news we announce to our family, neighborhood, city, and all the world. That we might win some for Christ. That they might be saved. Our job here at Emmanuel is to save souls by announcing the good news to every we meet.

And just as everything Paul did was for the sake of winning people for Christ, so does the church today. Everything we do must be for the purpose of winning people for Christ and saving souls. Paul says, "I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air." Neither do we. We have a goal; a purpose; a mission—and that is to save souls through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In a race all the runners run to win. They run to the finish line. They do not wander aimlessly around the countryside, but they run toward the goal and run to win the gold. They discipline themselves, they exercise, they train, all with a focus, a purpose, to win the gold medal.

That is how the church of Jesus lives. With a purpose, a goal, to win the crown of glory, the wreath of victory. And the wreath is not like the wreaths given to the Roman athletes that wilt and die, but ours in an imperishable wreath; an eternal wreath. Our wreath, our crown, our gold medal is the souls of those who are saved through our gospel message.

Yes, that is what the church is all about: saving souls for Christ. That is what the church does; it focuses on that one purpose, that one goal, that finish line that prize of bringing the saving gospel to anyone and everyone it can. We do not just run around aimlessly having this activity or that activity without a purpose, just to be doing something, without a goal or direction. We run the race to win people for Christ. We organize to proclaim the gospel. All of our efforts are focused on the goal. Like Jesus and like Paul, we cannot stop preaching the gospel. We are under obligation. God has placed his faith in us to get the job done. He has entrusted us with the stewardship of the Gospel of salvation.

Amen.