The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 335: Run the Race (2023)

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

As we continue to follow the missions of Paul and Barnabas, Fr. Mike highlights the fickle nature of humanity and the futility of striving for the praise of men. He also encourages us to remain courageous in the tribulations we face, finding strength in other believers, and running toward the eternal and imperishable goal of salvation. Today’s readings are Acts 14, 1 Corinthians 9-10, and Proverbs 28:7-9. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 335. We're reading from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 14, from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapters 9 and 10, as well as the book of Proverbs, chapter 28,

verses 7 through 9. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast to receive daily episodes and daily updates. And you would know that today's day 335, we're the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 14,

1 Corinthians chapter 9 and 10 and Proverbs chapter 28, verses 7 and 8 and 9. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas in Iconium. Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue, and so spoke that a great company believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. So they remained for a long time speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers

to molest them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lyconia, and to the surrounding country. And there they preached the gospel. Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe. Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was a cripple from birth who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking, and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith

to be made well, said in a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. And he sprang up and walked. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lyconian, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, because he was the chief speaker, they called Hermes. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in the front of the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the people. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it,

they tore their garments and rushed out among the multitude, crying, Men, why are you doing this? We also are men of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, yet he did not leave himself without witness. For he did not leave himself without witness. For he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. With these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the people, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must

enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed. The Return to Antioch in Syria. And they passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia. And from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. And when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And there remained no little time with the disciples. The first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 9, the rights of an apostle.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife as the other apostles and brethren of the Lord and Kepha? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit, who tends a flock without getting some of the milk. Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it

is treading out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope, and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?

In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this to secure any such provision. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For 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. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward.

But if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this, that in my preaching, I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my rights in the gospel. The responsibilities of the apostle. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all that I might win win the more. To 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. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being without law toward God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak,

that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? Chapter 10 Warnings from Israel's History Tumul my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Chapter 10. Warnings from Israel's History. I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food, and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things are warnings for us not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance. We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put the Lord to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men, judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? All to the glory of God. All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, for the earth is the Lord and everything in it. If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, this has been offered in sacrifice, then out of consideration for the man who informed you, and for conscience's sake, I mean his conscience, not yours, do not eat it. For why should my liberty be determined by another man's scruples? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. The Book of Proverbs, chapter 28, verses 7 through 9. He who keeps the law is a wise son, but a companion of gluttons shames his father. He who augments his wealth by interest and increase, gathers it for him who is kind to the poor. If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,

even his prayer is an abomination. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We give you glory. We ask you to hear our prayers. And we ask you to please help us to not turn away from your law. Help us to always be attentive to your word. God, we ask that you open our eyes to see your will and your presence in all places and all things and all events. Help us to open our ears, Lord God. We ask you, please open our ears so we can hear your word and we can hear the voices of our brothers and sisters and respond in love. Give us hearts like yours, Lord God. You love perfectly. You love infinitely.

You love well. Help us to love more perfectly. Help us to love like you. Help us to love well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So Acts of the Apostles, we have Paul and Barnabas, and they're continuing their journey incredibly. So chapter 14, they go to Iconium, Barnabas, and they're continuing their journey incredibly. So chapter 14, they go to Iconium and Lystra and Derbe. They go all over the place. And this one city in the city of Lystra, there is a man. He's been unable to walk his entire life.

He's never walked. And the Lord Jesus heals them through Paul and Barnabas' ministry. And so what happens is they want to worship them as Zeus and Hermes, which horrifies Paul and Barnabas. I mean, it's remarkable. Again, when it comes to human beings, we're so fickle, right? We see this in the gospel every time we go to Palm Sunday, and if they're saying Hosanna to the King of David, and then on Friday, they're saying crucify him. Here is another great example. In this city, the city of Lystra, they want to worship Paul and Barnabas. And then some Jews come to that city from Antioch, and they persuade the people, and they stone Paul. Like the same person they were about to worship as a god, they then stone him. And again, it just, it shows us, it shows us the truth. The truth is

the praise of men and the shame of men, or the praise of men and the shame of men or the praise of men and the blame of men, the accusation of men and the fame that belongs to human beings or comes from human beings. None of it matters. It's so fickle. It comes, it goes. And the same people who will say,

we want to worship you today, will literally kill you tomorrow. That's what they did to Jesus. And this is, in this city of Lystra. This is what they do to Paul. This is what we can expect as Christians. We never expect the world to love us. That's it. Never expect the world to love you. If you're going to belong to Jesus, this is just the reality. Not only that, but prepare ourselves. We have to prepare ourselves for suffering. So Paul, after he leaves, he returns, he says, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium and to Antioch. What did he do? He and Barnabas

said in verse 22 of chapter 14, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Now, a translation that I love is, we use it at mass, it's called the New American Bible. I say, I love it just because I'm very familiar with it. But that translation says that it is necessary that through many sufferings, we enter the kingdom of God, something like that. That reality, here's St. Paul saying this, after he's just been stoned, he says it's necessary, it is necessary that we enter the kingdom of God through suffering, through tribulations, through many tribulations, in fact. And this is so important because here is Paul and Barnabas and they're strengthening the souls of the disciples

by telling them this, by reminding them of this, that we entered the kingdom of God through many tribulations. So if I find myself in tribulation, I can surrender to that and say, okay, Lord, I mean, I can fight it too, which is, you know, that makes sense. That's a dignified thing to do. If we find ourselves in places of injustice, yes, of course, we're going to be able to

fight that. You can always fight for justice. You can always fight for good. But also we recognize sometimes where no matter what we do, no matter how much we fight, we're still in the midst of that tribulation, whether that be sickness or loss or grief, whatever the thing is, in and through many tribulations, we must pass in order to be saved. This is how Paul and Barnabas strengthen the souls of the apostles, is letting them know this is common to everyone. Speaking of common to everyone, there is a line in the readings today where St. Paul

says this. It's remarkable. I want to go in order, but I'm not going to go in order. We're going to go to chapter 10 first, where St. Paul says, he says, there is no temptation that has overtaken you that is not common to men. This is chapter 10, verse 13. There is no temptation that has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. And this is just, this is important for all of us because there are some of us, there are some of us who would say the temptations that I experience are just too much or the suffering that I have to go through is just too much. And yes, there are different levels and different kinds of temptations, different kinds and different levels of

sufferings. And yet one of the things the word of God is declaring to all of us right now is that we're more alike than we are different. We're more alike than we are different. There is no temptation that's overtaken you that's not common to everyone. You might say, well, no, in my case. No, no, no. There is no in my case because the truth of the matter is every single one of us must

endure many sufferings, must go through many tribulations in order to be saved. It's just how it goes. And therefore, no temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to everyone you know. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength. Again, it's not just, well, didn't you just bear down and grit your teeth

and white knuckle this whole thing? It's no, no, no. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. So important. Oh my gosh, so important. Now, St. Paul in this section of, we already jumped to 1 Corinthians. I apologize if you didn't catch that jump. We have 1 Corinthians 9 and 10. One of the things Paul is making a claim to, he's making his claims to the rights of an

apostle. And he basically says, you know, when he went to Corinth, he worked as a tent maker. That was his trade, was it? He made tents. And so he didn't ask for any money, didn't ask for any support from anyone, essentially. He just simply worked. And here is Paul, though, saying that, remember, I could have. Paul though, saying that, remember, I could have, and remember that it's a real thing that you pay people who give you good service, right? You don't muzzle an ox when it's treading out the grain,

that the priests in the temple, they eat of the sacrifices that, you know, remember we went through the whole old Testament. How did the priests, they don't get any land, they have the inheritance, but how do they eat? Well, they eat because they take a portion of what's given in the temple. So what St. Paul is saying is I can too. I also can demand that since I brought you the gospel, I served you. I can demand that you take care of me, but he's, he says, but I have made no use of any of these rights and nor am I writing this to secure any such provision. I'm trying to let you know that I love you. I'm trying to let you know that I care about you. I'm trying to let you know that I'm not going to make any demands on you that are excessive, that aren't for your own sake. And this is just so important. But not only does St. Paul

have rights, he has responsibilities. And he says, though I'm free from all men, I've made myself a slave to everyone that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became like a Jew. To those under the law, like under the law. Those outside the law, like outside the law. I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save at least some. And then he talks about this is the end of chapter nine, which is one of my favorite. It just, it's one of those I just keep coming back to not only because I like the idea that I am or was an athlete at one point, but because it's so true here, St. Paul, do you not know that in a race, all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize. There are no participation trophies in heaven, apparently. So run that you may obtain it. Run that you may win.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Again, think about that. Think about the people that compete in the Olympics, how hard they work, how much they say no to themselves, how much they say no to certain kinds of foods or drink or alcohol or tobacco, whatever those things are,

how much they say yes to working long, hard hours, how much they say yes to sleep, how much they say no to going out, all these pieces in order to do what? It says, in order to win a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Now, if an Olympic athlete is striving for a gold medal more than I'm striving for heaven, this is why I love this is convicting. This is why I love this because it just pierces me to the heart. If an Olympic athlete is striving more for a gold medal that no one is going to remember next month,

if they're striving more for that medal harder than I am for heaven, who is the fool here? Say, well, yeah, but you know, all things in moderation. You don't win a gold medal in the Olympics through moderation. You don't. Champions don't practice moderation.

They don't. They have a single-minded devotion. They're single-minded in their goal. And yes, there's such a thing as prudence. Yes, there's such a thing as sense. And yes, virtue lies in the middle, but that isn't having moderate virtue. That's having extreme amounts of virtue. So St. Paul says, I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I pummel my body and subdue it. Remember, they keep going back to

fasting. They keep going back to prayer. This is normal for the apostles. This is normal for disciples in the early church. I pummel my body and subdue it. So people think like, wow, Catholics talk about mortifications. We talk about doing penances and that's strange. It's not strange. It is not strange at all. I pummel my body and subdue it lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified because yes, heaven is a gift. It is free. God's grace is a gift. It's free, but I can disqualify myself. I can disqualify myself by saying no to God's will at some point. So through fasting and prayer, through relying upon God, through pummeling our body and subduing it, everything for your glory.

And go back to this. If someone striving after an Olympic gold medal is working harder, striving for that thing more than I am for heaven, then something is off. And so I've just asked God, please help me. Help me to strive for heaven like a champion strives for the championship. Help me to strive for heaven like a state high school cross-country runner strives for the state high school,

just even to make it to state. They work harder than so many of us do when it comes to our faith. Lord God, please help us to be faithful. Lord God, please help us to be faithful. Help us to strive after you. Help us to strive out of not fear, but out of love for you,

out of a desire to always be with you forever. Not simply a desire to not be separated from you, but a desire to be with you. Let that motivate every one of our actions from this day, from this moment, until the last moment, until the final day, until the day we step into your presence. God, we ask you this.

Please help us. My friends, I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.