Run With Endurance

In one paragraph

Several young adults in the Tribe fam ran a full marathon that morning, which gave Brian a natural on-ramp into 1 Corinthians 9 and 10. The message was about endurance in the life of faith, using Paul's own athletic analogy to press a serious question: getting into the race is not the same thing as finishing it. Brian opened with 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, where Paul compares the Christian life to a...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 9:24 opening race analogy, only one gets the prize, run to win
2. 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 athletes disciplined for a fading prize, Paul disciplines his body so he will not be disqualified
3. 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 all of Israel guided by cloud, walked through sea, baptized, ate and drank spiritual food and water, yet most fell in the wilderness
4. 2 Peter 2:21 better never to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turned away
5. Hebrews 12:1 surrounded by witnesses, strip off weight and sin, run with endurance the race God set before us
6. Proverbs 24:16 the righteous man falls seven times but gets back up
7. Ephesians 2:8-9 saved by grace not by works so no man can boast, grace also enables us to keep running

What was said

• Read 1 Corinthians 9:24 through 10:13 straight through without stopping, and notice how Paul moves from the race analogy directly into the Israel-in-the-wilderness warning.
• When you hit a moment this week where you want to quit something God has called you to, say out loud that you need his strength and ask him to fill you with it rather than grinding on alone.
• Identify one lie you have been using to psych yourself out of the race, name it as a lie, and reject it by name.
• Look up Hebrews 12:1-2 and sit with the image of the cloud of witnesses cheering you on, then think of one person who died loving Jesus and let that picture encourage you to keep going.
• If you have been treating Jesus as an add-on to your existing life plan, take a few minutes to write down honestly where he actually ranks among your priorities and bring that to him.

Talk about it

1. Brian pointed out that all of the Israelites had equal access to God, the same spiritual food and water, the same leadership, and yet most of them did not make it through the wilderness. What does that challenge you to think about in your own walk with Jesus?
2. Brian drew a distinction between getting saved and having endurance to finish the race, and someone in the group suggested the better question might be whether we can reject our salvation rather than lose it. How do you think about that difference, and does it change anything about how you live?
3. Nancy brought up 2 Peter 2:21, which says it would have been better never to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turned away. What does that verse stir up in you, and does it feel like a warning, an encouragement, or something else?
4. Brian described the comfort of the Lord not as God shortening the distance of the race but as him supernaturally infusing us with strength to keep going. Has there been a time in your life when you experienced that kind of comfort? What did it look like?
5. David made the point that quitting in your head is harder to come back from than simply tripping and falling, because with a deliberate decision to stop there is a gap of wasted time to reckon with before you start again. Do you agree with that, and what has helped you get back up after a deliberate decision to stop rather than just a stumble?