The Purpose of the Cross in You / (Part #2)

October 6, 2013
The Purpose of the Cross in You / (Part #2)
1 Corinthians 9
Scott Howard

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the daily routine of living that we actually miss the ultimate reason for life.

If you are a follower of Jesus you have been saved for a Purpose: for the enjoyment of God and the spread of the Gospel from where you live to the ends of the earth.

Three Exhortations for Followers of Jesus Christ:

1.  Let's Relinquish our rights for the sake of the Gospel. 
(This was from Part #1 of this message, please see the previous sermon posting for details regarding this particular exhortation).

2.  Let's Rearrange our lives for the spread of the Gospel

• Jesus saving you frees you to be a slave
• We are freed by Jesus to be slaves of God
• We are obligated to obey

In our text, Paul changes from language about rights to language about freedom starting in verse 19.  And he defines what he means by letting us know that all kinds of people around us need to be saved, so we should make adjustments to our lives in order to be a slave to that purpose of sharing the Good News to others.

• Follower of Jesus, because you are owned by Christ, you owe Christ to the world.  (He purchased our debt on the Cross).
• "God's gracious conversion of us creates a Gospel compulsion in us."  --David Platt
• Salvation leads to mission
• We are free to be slaves of others (v.22)
• We willingly commit our lives, our families, and our church to this mission. (v.23)
• We lay aside all of our comforts for the spread of the Gospel.  We should not seclude ourselves in a "Christian Cocoon", that would be hoarding Christ all to ourselves and would be directly opposite His mission.
• We can't disconnect the two: being saved, and sharing salvation with others.

3.  Let's run this race together for the Glory of our God

Paul uses runners in a race as an example of our purpose.  Runners run for a purpose, for a prize.

The Requirements in this race:

• Sacrificial Self-Denial -- a runner does not indulge himself in anything that would hinder his progress or his training. (v.25)
• Stringent Self-Discipline -- a runner keeps control over his body (v.27)
• Single-Minded Devotion --there is one goal, one prize (v.23)

The Rewards of this race:

• Others will experience the eternal Joy of Salvation
• We will fulfill the earthly purpose of salvation

It will then be we, together with as many as we can bring with us, sharing in the riches of God and Glorifying God for all eternity.

If you allow the things in your life to distract you from spreading the Gospel, you lose out and others lose out too.  Let's not lose the race because of distractions.

Be saved today for a purpose: for the enjoyment of God and the spread of the Gospel from where you live to the ends of the earth!