Free to be Me

1 Corinthians 9:1–18 CSB

1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? 6 Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock? 8 Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen? 10 Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel. 15 For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast! 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach—and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel.

Paul is still dealing with the issue of freedom in Christ, especially his freedom in Christ as an apostle.

There will be some who question your motive for sharing the gospel.

Paul gives several examples of rights the apostles had.

They had the right to eat, they had the right to be married and have their wives come with them.

Paul even addresses the idea of the apostle being supported materially in their ministry.

Now lets be fair, there are those who seem to seek fame and fortune as preachers but that is not the norm.

This transfers over to the church itself. There are things we must do as a church and guess what - we need money and people to do those things.

Still people think we are in it for the wrong reasons.

When we sow there is an expectation of sharing in the harvest.

Paul speaks in terms of the minister of the gospel being financially cared for by the flock he serves.

For us there is some expectation that all we put into ministering we will see something from it. Maybe we will see more people joining the church and maybe we will see more money being given to the church.

While I believe that expectation is valid our true motive shouldn’t be the growth of this church but the global body of Christ. If we focus on building the Kingdom then I believe God will reward us here.

Beyond the physical let us not forget the spiritual blessing that we receive by sowing into the Kingdom of God and the harvest that comes.

We must willingly follow the irresistible call to share the gospel.

We are compelled to share the gospel because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us.

If we do not share the gospel we will be miserable spiritually.

Much like giving financially where God loves a cheerful giver, the same is true in sharing the gospel.

While we have been commissioned to share the gospel there is no arbitrary number of times we must meet just like 10% giving is merely a starting point…

Once you experience the joy of sharing in the harvest of the gospel, you won’t stop.