Illustration: Dr. Benjamin Rush was a founding father of the United States. He was a signer of our Declaration of Independence. Dr. Rush was also one of our first psychiatrists. He gave himself to curing what he called "the diseases of the mind. Perhaps because he was a psychiatrist, dreams played an important part in Benjamin Rush's life. One dream he had in 1785 changed his life completely. He dreamt he was standing in front of Christ Church in Philadelphia. A huge crowd gathered to watch a man climb the roof of the church and wrap his arms and legs around the weathervane. When Benjamin Rush asked what the man was doing, he was told the man could control the weather. In his hands, the weathervane not only reflected the wind, it directed the wind.

In the dream, however, the man's control wasn't coming off well. He called for the wind to blow, and the streets of Philadelphia were calm. He called for the sun to shine, and it rained torrents. Later he called for the rain to fall, and the sun burst forth. The man at first was agitated and then angry. Benjamin Rush said, "That man is mad. Then suddenly from the roof of the church a messenger swooped down dressed as Mercury. He had in his hand a placard. And on that placard were the words "About you a story is being told.

It takes a certain kind of genius to interpret a dream within a dream. When Benjamin Rush awoke, he realized the man on the roof was himself. He had given himself to trying to affect the currents of his day, to change the minds of his countrymen, and he recognized it was as futile as trying to control the weather. As a result of that dream, Benjamin Rush left all political life and never returned to it again.

A dream is majestic in its scope, its penetration, its myth. It is the dream of a man who has given himself to political life and discovered that in politics, when everything is said and done, infinitely more is said than done.

It could also be the dream of a minister of Jesus Christ. To be honest with you, it's my kind of dream. There are times in my life when a melancholy of soul comes on me, and I wonder what I'm doing. Like many of you I would like to see America come back to God. At least, I would like to see it return to a respect for the Scriptures. I've been in ministry for almost 40 years. In those 40 years America is further from God than it has ever been, as secular as any nation on earth. Like many of you I'd like to see a revival in New England. I'd like to see another Great Awakening. I've been here 10 years, and there are bits of fire here and there, but New England is as secular as it's ever been.

The melancholy comes over me when I go to mission conferences. On one hand, I'm challenged by the needs of the world and I'm delighted to know that in many parts of the world God is at work. It's the statistics that get to me. More people are born each day than we are able to reach. Around the world thousands die every hour who have never even heard the name Jesus Christ. Huge areas of the globe are under the influence of Islam. Even those areas that call themselves Christian seem not to have a basic knowledge of what New Testament faith is about. Sometimes I look at it all and it seems futile. I want to retreat and settle for some cheap doctrine of election. If God wants to win the world, leave it up to him. My efforts don't seem to do much.

When that pessimism of spirit comes on me, I've taken inspiration from the apostle Paul. I know if you're a Christian Paul is supposed to be a hero to you, but that was not always true for me. For a long time I looked at Paul as a man apart. He had a power I did not know, an authority I did not have. He was closer to God than I was. Then something happened. A friend of mine and I were able to spend a part of the summer retracing the journeys of the apostle, and during those weeks Paul became a man to me. He was 5'7, had bad eyesight, bore on his body the marks of brutal persecution. It was George Truett who said he saw the tracks of a wounded rabbit red across the snow, and those are the tracks of the apostle Paul across the Roman Empire. Terrifying, harsh, was the world in which Paul lived. We face obstacles; he did yet more.

His life ended in a dungeon in Rome. He was slain in Nero's persecution, and yet, somehow with all the persecution, imprisonment, beatings, and disappointments, that little Jew and a band of his followers made an imprint on the first century, in fact, changed the history of the world. In our day we name our dogs after Nero, our sons after Paul.

Why Paul changed his world

What made the difference? What was it that enabled Paul to make an impact on his time, a time every bit in opposition to the gospel as we face today? Well, you can say he had the wind of God at his back, controlled by the Holy Spirit. But so do we. I do not think the Spirit has changed or his power has lessened. You say he had a commission from God. He was knocked down on the highway to Damascus. That was dramatic, but you and I have a commission from God. The last word of the King before he left was "Go into all the world and make disciples out of every nation.

Without for a moment minimizing the power of the Holy Spirit in Paul's life, I think there's something else. There was something in Paul's spirit, in Paul's human spirit, that made a difference. Paul's spirit brought to the ministry what it takes to make a difference in the world. You can see flashes of that spirit in almost all of his letters. I think you see it in its fullest glow in 1 Corinthians 9.

In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul talks about his strategy for reaching the world. He also talks about his passion. He speaks of his spirit in 1 Corinthians 9 beginning at verse 24:

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. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last. We do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and I make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Obviously, the image behind what Paul wrote was the Greek games. We live in a sports obsessed society, but the Greeks did even more. They measured time in light of the Games. We date time forward and backward from the birth of Jesus. The Jews dated time from what they thought was the creation of the world, 3,761 B. C. The Romans dated time from the mythical founding of Rome, 753. But the Greeks measured time from the beginning of the Olympic Games. Those games were played every four years at the Olyus at Olympus, and every three years there were the Isthmian Games at Corinth. They're called the Isthmian Games because Corinth sits on an isthmus, a small mass of land between the Peloponnesian peninsula and the mainland of Greece.

The citizens of Greece flocked to the games. The noblest citizens of the land were chosen to be judges. They sat on small thrones and dressed in purple. They started the contest and judged the winners. They saw to it that people competed according to the rules. Athletes went through strict training. In gymnasia all over Greece they worked for nine months to be able to compete in the conteststrict, hard training. The word gymnasium comes from the Greek word gymnast, which means naked. Greeks were not squeamish about the body, and so athletes competed in the nude.

The Jews of the Diaspora would have nothing to do with the games. They couldn't handle the nudity, and they suspected homosexuality among the athletes. But Paul, determined to reach the Greek world for Christ, was not so put off. He evidently admired the games, the athletes. What he admired most was their dedication. They gave up everything in order to compete, and in competing to win a prizea twisted laurel leaf put on their brow. With the prize went ballads in their honor, and musicians would sing their praise. But they gave everything to get it.

Paul says, that's the spirit I bring to my ministry. It's the spirit you're to bring to your ministry. I compete like a runner in the contest. If you see a runner as he's running a marathon and comes to those last hundred face flushed, body straining, seeking to get across the line to get the see that spirit? That's my spirit. I'm not like some fat business man puffing around the high school track trying to lose a little weight. No, I'm trying to compete to win the prize. My spirit is that of the boxer in the ring, taking punches, giving punches, determined to get the knockout in order to win the prize. Not shadowboxing beating the air. No, I give myself to ministry. Like the athletes who gave up dainty food and social interaction to win, that's the passion I bring to my ministry.

That's the image. Paul's passion, he says, is like that of a Greek athlete.

What motivated Paul

The question, though, is out of that analogy: what is Paul aiming for in his ministry? What is he striving for? What is he giving himself to? And he answers that in verse 16. He says:

When I preach the gospel I cannot boast, for I'm compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I'm simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this, that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.

Paul is committed to preaching the gospel. He has to preach it. He says, "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. You would expect him to say, "Woe is the world if I don't preach it. After all, if I don't get out the message, they won't receive it. They can't believe. But Paul says, no, "Woe is me if I don't preach it, because with Paul the preaching of the gospel is both a commission and an obligation.

It was a commission. God summoned him to reach the Greek world, and under that commission he was obligated to follow through. There was no reward for preaching the gospel. That's what you were called to do. If Paul had a commission to preach the gospel and you have a call to ministry, what does that call involve? Simply Word and sacrament, to get with the saints on a Sunday morning? It is that, but it is more. If you have a calling from God, part of that calling is to make Christ known to those who do not know him. It was a commission.

It was also an obligation, because bound up in the gospel is the demand that we proclaim it. Here's a scientist at a great university. She has discovered a cure for AIDS. Imagine what would happen if she refused to share that cure with others. You cannot imagine that would happen unless her heart was as hard as concrete. No, to find a cure for a dreadful disease and then not share it would be a sin against science, a sin against humanity. To know the gospel of Jesus Christ and not share it is a sin against God. To know your sins have been forgiven, that all charges against you have been dropped because of the Cross, to know you have an eternal destiny, that you are joined to the timeless life of G know how that happens and not share it with others is a sin against the gospel, a sin against God, and a sin against people.

No, Paul and we are obligated to share the gospel. To fail to do it is to be derelict.

What Paul sacrificed to preach

Paul says the reason he gets a reward is not because he shared the gospel. That was an obligation. It's the passion he brought to his ministry. He was willing to give up any right that he had in order to make Christ known. And what rights did he give up?

Well, beginning in verse 3 of chapter 9 he tells us. He says he gave up the right to food and drink. In the previous chapter he's been talking about food or meat that was offered to idols. Paul had no problem with meat offered to idols. He knew what the issues were and knew an idol was nothing. But he also knew there were other people who did not know that, who had not allowed that truth to seep into their conscience and life. Paul said if in some way my eating food offered to idols were to get in the way of their faith or keep them from growing in the faith, I'd become a vegetarian. I don't think Paul had any about drinking wine, but there would be others who would. Paul said if that's the case, then I won't eat, I won't drink. He gave up his right to eat and drink.

He says he gave up his right to be married. He says, "Don't we have a right to take along a believing wife as the others do, the apostles, the Lord's brother, and Cephas? Paul certainly had a right to be married. He gave it up. He gave up the delight and joy of sex in marriage. He gave up the companionship of a partner to share life with.

I cannot imagine what that would have been. I look back on almost 50 years of marriage and all that Bonnie has contributed to me. At times I picked up the cross and was ready to drop it, and she said, "No, you'd better stay with it. At times when my head was too big, she brought it down to fairly manageable size. I cannot imagine what life would be like without a wife. But Paul, because he was an itinerant evangelist, gave it up for the sake of the gospel.

He also gave up receiving a salary. For the sake of the gospel he gave up receiving money. In fact, he wants us to know he had a right to be paid. He had a right to receive money from the Corinthians. He piles illustration upon illustration to make that known. He says in verse 7:

"Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Nobody who goes out into battle has to raise his own support. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? If you've got an orchard, you've got the fruit. Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? If you own a dairy herd, at least you have enough milk. You have enough cheese to keep you going.

If you don't like human examples, those illustrations, then he says, "Look at the law. The law says the same thing. In the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy it says don't muzzle an ox while he's treading out the grain. You got an ox or mare working to tread the grain, move the mill, take the muzzle off, and let him eat. It wasn't just said for oxen. It was said for people.

Then he wants us to know that even the temple tells us this. In verse 13 he says, "Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple? Those who serve at the altar share in what is offered in the altar? Whether he's talking about pagan altars or Jewish altars, it is true of all of them. The priest was able to share in what was offered.

That's not enough. The Lord says it. The Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. That the laborer is worthy of his hire did not come from the AFL/CIO. It came from Jesus Christ. Paul has piled illustration upon illustration, evidence upon evidence to demonstrate he had a right to be paid for preaching the Word of God. But he says, "We did not use this right. He gave it up.

When he came to Corinth, he was not after Corinthian gold. He was after Corinthians, and he knew that to come to the Corinthians and ask them to pay him for his ministry in their case might easily have made them think he was another huckster moving through town for what he could get out of them. Paul would not let that happen. So he ministered by day in the marketplace. In the synagogues, he taught. And in the evening when he was , he went back to his home and made tents to support himself. Paul says, I gave up my rights because I'm passionate about the gospel. As an athlete gives up the right to food, as an athlete gives up the right to social interaction, the right to ease, I gave up my rights for the sake of preaching the gospel.

Let's face it. The strength of any cause depends on the people committed to it. It depends upon their . It depends upon their dedication. It depends on what they're willing to give to it. Only fanatics make a difference in the world. The lackadaisical and unconcerned never make a dent. Fanatics make a difference, and Paul is a fanatic for the gospel, giving up every right necessary in order that it might be proclaimed.

But the big problem with fanatics is that they often build walls instead of bridges, often turn people off rather than turn people on. So Paul says that for the sake of the gospel I not only gave up my rights, I gave up my liberty. I became a slave to any person's philosophy, to any person's way of thinking in order that they might be saved. He practices a responsible relativity. Paul didn't change the message. Whether he was in Jerusalem or Antioch or Ephesus or Corinth or Philippi, it was always Jesus Christ and him crucified, his Person, his work. But Paul also knew people are shaped by culture. Paul also knew people are shaped by education, shaped by their families, shaped by their religion, and so Paul said, I have adapted myself to every person's way of thinking in order that they'd hear the gospel. He spells it out.

Verse 18: "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews. To the pagans, the Jewish religion was a heavy burden to be borne. The religion of the Jews was not wings; it was weight. But Paul knew it well. He grew up in it, and he knew in order to win the Jews he had to behave as a Jew. He didn't have to, but he did it for the sake of the gospel. "To those under the law I became like those under the law. Paul knew very well he was not under the law of Moses, but if winning people under the law meant that he observed their days, feasts, and other practices, he would do it. He'd be kosher in order to win them. He says, "I myself am not under the law. But I put myself under it. I give up my liberty if by doing that I can win those under the law to Christ.

Then he says, "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law, (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. When he was with the Greeks, he was the cosmopolitan man. He didn't bring all the Jewish baggage into his interactions with them. When he preached to them, he preached differently. He started at a different beginning. He had different illustrations, different philosophers he quoted. He didn't preach in Athens as he might have preached in Jerusalem. He was not an outlaw, but he identified with those who did not know the law.

He can't let that statement go unchallenged, though. He says, "Make no mistake. I'm under law to Christ. He always lived with faith in Christ. Finally he says, "to the weak, I became as weak people with very sensitive consciences. Everything bothered them. Paul was not about to go to those folks and knock them down. He would adapt himself to their conscience if in doing that he was able to give them the gospel, win them to the Savior.

Do anything short of sin to win people

What Paul is saying in this passage is this: I will do anything short of sinning to win a woman or a man to Jesus Christ. That was his passion. I will do anything short of sinning to win men and women to Jesus Christ.

Look at the verbs he uses. I want to win them. You can almost hear somebody say, 'Hey, Paul, you don't win them. The Spirit of God wins them. Paul says, "I act as though I win them. I give myself to them in order to win them. I give myself that I might save some.

"Oh, Paul, you don't save them. The Spirit of God saves them.

Paul says, "Away with your easy talk. I go after people as though it were up to me. I will do anything short of sinning to win men and women to Jesus Christ. That's the passion he brought to his ministry.

Paul says you are to run and minister in the same way. It's always been true. It has always been true of those who made a dent in their time. The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, was asked to explain his ministry. He said, "Well, God has had all of me. It's the passion of John Wesley, who in one of his journals says, "I was on the road to Nottingham today. I was held up by a highwayman. I witnessed to him. It's the passion of John Knox who said, "Give me Scotland lest I die. It's Richard Baxter, the Reformed pastor who said, "I preach as not to preach again, as a dying man to dying men. It's the passion of Paul. I will do anything short of sinning to win men and women to Jesus Christ.

That's where the issue lies. Going through school, getting a degree, going out and going to get another degree and coming back and teaching and going into the ministry, whatever you mean by ministry. Count your ministry a failure if through it men and women do not come to know Jesus Christ. And the reward is not the number that you win but the passion that you bring to winning them.

Those of you who are sports buffs know the program "Wide World of Sports. Jim McKay began that program every week talking about the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. In the games there's the agony of being a loser. You don't have to have that agony. Paul is not putting us in competition with one another. Everyone who gives himself to winning people to Christ, everyone who gives herself to winning people to Jesus Christ receives the prize. But there can be defeat. Paul talks about preaching to others, and then he himself is disqualified from the prize. To think that you've entered the games and you don't even know what the contest is about. To think that you enter the games and you go about it in a halfhearted, lackadaisical sort of way. No prize. You're disqualified.

But there is the thrill of victory. There is the thrill of giving yourself to ministry and through your ministry seeing men and women come to God. But there is the greater thrill of being able to stand before your Lord and have him place the gold medal around your neck, an eternal crown on your head. But it costs.

Bob Richards, the Olympic pole vault champion, said he would ask Olympic athletes, "How did you handle the pain? He said he never had anyone say to him, "What pain? They just told him. That's the spirit of the runner in the race. That's the spirit of the boxer in the ring. That's the spirit of folks who take the game seriously. That's the spirit of men and women who make a difference in their day for God. They will do anything short of sinning to win men and women to Jesus Christ.

That's the p assion of the apostle. And Paul says that needs to be your passion as well.

Haddon Robinson is senior editor of PreachingToday.com, Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at GConwell Theological Seminary, and author of Biblical Preaching (Baker, 1999).

Haddon Robinson

Preaching Today Tape # 210

www.PreachingTodaySermons.com

A resource of Christianity Today International

Haddon Robinson was a preacher and teacher of preachers all over the world. His last teaching position was as the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.