In I Corinthians 9:1-18, the Apostle Paul provided the personal example of his refusal to exercise his apostolic right to be supported by the Corinthians. This was a reminder and object lesson of the need to surrender one’s rights for the benefit of others. In the balance of the chapter, he goes on to explain the character traits that must be cultivated to serve others in such fashion.
He begins by emphasizing the necessity of a servant’s attitude of submission. “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more” (I Corinthians 9:19; emphasis added). Paul, as a servant, submitted his own rights to others that he might serve them. We read previously (I Corinthians 4:1) that Paul saw himself as no more than a minister of Christ. The word “minister” means “under-rower” or, specifically, a slave in the lower compartment of a Roman galley ship whose job was merely to row with the oars. The key thing is that he made himself servant unto all. There were no distinctions in his mind that warranted different behavior on his part. He served all – ignorant, educated, Greeks, Romans, slaves or free. He saw himself as servant to each.
While the first characteristic was a submission of himself the second characteristic is a sensitivity to others. Paul sought to understand the circumstances that prevailed in the lives of others in order to serve them more effectively. “Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews…to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might gain the more” (I Corinthians 9:20-22).
Knowing others well enough to minister to them with focus and love requires an investment of time and energy that most of us are unwilling to make. Sometimes it is merely a matter of a listening ear. Yet even that is hard to deploy due to our sinful and selfish nature. For most of us our lives revolve around ourselves. Taking time to know and care for others is genuinely outside of our orbit. But this kind of love is the very heart of our Savior and we are to be like him!
Paul uses the example of those who trained for the Isthmian games (the precursor of our modern day Olympics) to constrain them to practice strenuous self-discipline. This constraint would marginalize the effects of a self-serving attitude. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate (self-controlled) in all things…I therefore so run…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).
A disciplined life is part of the necessary character composition that enables us to submit to others with a sensitivity for advancing the gospel of Christ. Christianity is not about us; rather, it is about Christ. If we want to see Christ in others, they must first see him in us. The revelation of Christ in men for his glory is the very reason he came to earth, suffered, died, and rose again.
From the Chaplain 