What We Don't Do
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you 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 eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 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? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things 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 treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even 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 these things 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 still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Welcome - continuing in 1 Corinthians - though a new chapter, not a new thought - I keep driving that point home because to understand the letter, we need to read it as a letter - a unified whole.
Here, Paul is still talking about laying down any rights we think we have if using them will not build up our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We saw last week that love is to be our guide in what we do and don’t do. Our first consideration in using our Christian liberty, is to be our brothers and sisters - those whom Christ died for.
So Paul encouraged the stronger Christians in Corinth to lay down their rights for the building up of the church. For the building up of their brothers and sisters who may be encouraged to violate their own consciences by what the so-called stronger Christians do.
But Paul doesn’t just intend this for the Corinthian church. Paul sees this as a universal for all churches.
That’s why Paul now uses himself as an example. He talks about how he does the very thing he is encouraging the Corinthians to do - including not doing certain things.
So in this chapter he talks about two things - what he doesn’t do that he could, all for the sake of Christ and the building up of the church, and then what he does, all for the sake of Christ and the building up of the church.
So he has the positive “this is what I do” which we will look at next week, and he has what we will consider this week: what he doesn’t do - regardless of his rights - because his starting point is love. Love for God, and love for the church.
Because that is how Paul - and we - live out the Gospel.
So he continues:
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you 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.
Remember where we ended last week. Paul just said that if eating certain foods would make a brother stumble, he will not eat.
Now he points out how he already doesn’t do things he could because love for the Corinthians is his first consideration.
Now, Paul is still addressing the “knowers” in Corinth. This all goes back to the beginning of chapter 8 where they say “all of us possess knowledge.” Paul says that isn’t true. Not everyone believes what they do about food offered to idols.
And what they believe, Paul has already intimated, isn’t really knowledge anyway.
Knowledge begins with love. Loving God, and loving your brother. So he is speaking to the “strong” Christians who he has called to lay down their rights for the sake of the weaker Christians.
And Paul uses himself as the example of how to do this. And this thought will all culminate in chapter 11 where Paul calls the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitates Christ. Paul is building to that.
And he starts by asking some rhetorical questions. And he assumes the answer to all of these questions is “yes.”
He is free. He is an Apostle. He has seen the risen Jesus - his Lord and theirs.
And note the focus is still on the Lordship of Christ! Paul is speaking as one who has seen Christ, and has submitted himself to Christ.
And he is an Apostle. As we saw, he planted this church. Never forget that God works in space and time through real people! He always has and He always will. And Paul is a superlative example of this.
He planted this church. His preaching led to the conversion of these former pagans. They are his workmanship in the Lord, the fruit of his labors in Corinth - in fact, he considers the Corinthian church the pinnacle of his labors.
He says that if he is an Apostle to anyone, it’s them! They are the proof of his Apostleship!
And Paul says this, in part, because of the divisions in that church. This is again referring to the factions in Corinth. Remember earlier in the letter where Paul said some of the Corinthians were of the Peter faction and some of the Apollos faction and others of the Paul faction.
What did Paul say regarding that? That they all had a role. He planted, Apollos watered - but God gave the increase. The focus was on what God had done and was doing.
And God used Paul to plant, which led to that increase in Corinth. So of all people, they should recognize Paul’s authority as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
And that’s why he says:
This is my defense to those who would examine me.
There were those who would examine - or question - Paul on his authority. Paul says, here is my defense to you.
And this word “defense” in Greek is of course famously where we get the word “apologetics.” It is unfortunate that that word “apology” took on a different meaning in English. Because Paul is not sorry for anything.
It means he is laying out a case for those in Corinth who might want to dispute his authority, including what he has already said in this letter. And his case runs from here through the middle of chapter 10, as we will see. He is laying out one long argument to the Corinthians here.
And what is Paul’s argument? It begins with more questions.
He asks:
Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
We will see that the “we” here refers to Paul and Barnabas. How the Corinthians knew Barnabas, we don’t know, since he and Paul separated their ministries right before Paul came to Greece, as we know from the book of Acts. But apparently, Barnabas had been there ministering with Paul as some point.
So Paul here addresses their “rights.” He talked about the right the knowing Corinthians believed they had, and now he addresses his own rights.
And again, these are all rhetorical questions he asks, because he is saying they do, in fact, have these rights.
And as the Apostle to the Corinthians, and the one who planted that church, he says he has a right to be provided for by them.
And he starts by talking about about eating and drinking. Paul is asserting his rights to be provided for materially - bringing in overtones of the eating he already spoke about - and foreshadowing the end of this section when he says:
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
So keep in mind the pinnacle of this section is still all about doing what we do to please God. Not asking what we can or can’t do - but asking what we can do for God.
Paul lived that way, and wants the Corinthians - and us - to follow his example.
So he asks:
Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
Paul is saying they have the right to eat and drink - to be provided for.
He is saying that they have the right to have a wife accompany them and also be provided for.
Paul has addressed marriage and believing spouses back in chapter 7. Where Paul talks about the right that all have to marry if they are not called otherwise. But Paul is saying that he has laid down this right.
Why?
As he said there, it is to focus more fully on his role in the kingdom - here defined as his ministry as the Apostle to the Gentiles, especially Corinth. This is Paul’s calling.
And the specific mention of Cephas - or Peter - is again a reminder of the factions that some in the church were forming over who they followed - be it Paul, or Apollos, or Peter. Paul is saying that they all have this right, but for him, he has laid down this right.
It is better for them that he remains unmarried.
But not because he doesn’t have the right to be.
That’s his whole point. When it comes to serving Christ and living out his calling, his rights don’t enter into the equation.
Like, his right to be supported by those to whom he ministers. He asks another question:
Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
Paul focuses the issue here on what he is entitled to from the Corinthians! From those who are exercising their rights with no regard for their brothers or sisters.
Paul says: “I have rights, too. And I am entitled to something from you!”
Yet, Paul and Barnabas chose to work in a second vocation - tentmaking - rather than be supported by the church in Corinth. They had the right to be supported for their preaching of the Gospel, but they laid down this right.
Again, Paul is an example of laying down one’s rights for the sake of the church.
And he is clear that this is a right he has. More questions follow:
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
This is another string of rhetorical questions. Soldiers don’t pay to be soldiers. They get paid. Those who plant vineyards get to enjoy the fruit of their labors. Those who tend a flock get milk from the flock.
They are all provided for materially because of their work.
Paul says that ministers of the Gospel should be provided for because of their work as ministers of the Gospel.
And Paul isn’t saying this of his own accord. He refers to a higher authority to back this up.
Do I say these things on human authority? [And the answer is no] Does not the Law say the same? [The answer is yes] For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? [And the answer is no]
Realize: Greek has different ways of asking rhetorical questions that makes it clear what the assumed answer is. So the “yes” or “no” of these questions is actually stated by Paul in how he asks the questions.
So Paul is saying that what he just said is based on a much higher authority than himself. He himself is the Apostle for this church, and that means he has authority. But he appeals to the highest authority in claiming this right to be provided for as a minister of the Gospel.
He goes to the Scriptures.
This “you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain” comes from the book of Deuteronomy.
You know, when we read the Pentateuch, it may seem like there are just random lists of laws given that are all independent of each other. That is not really the case.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is recounting the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the edge of the Promised Land, and he reviews many of the laws already given in the other books of the Law.
And right after repeating many of the laws we looked at last week from Leviticus 19 - things like not favoring the rich when making decisions or how you should leave gleanings in your field for the sojourner - all which, remember, are about loving our neighbor as ourselves - right after Moses reviews these laws, he throws in:
“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
And then, he goes on to talk about providing for your brothers widow and things like dealing justly in business.
Why this apparent throw-in about oxen that seemingly has nothing to do with all the laws given before or after it?
Well, that is what Paul explains.
This goes right along with providing for those who are in need and dealing justly with one another.
This is talking about those who labor getting compensated fairly for their labor.
Paul says this isn’t about oxen at all. It is about those that labor in the Gospel. They are to reap the fruit of their labors, like Paul has just said, and now says again.
Let’s read this whole section:
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? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things 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 treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
Paul returns to these agrarian metaphors like he did earlier when he talked about his sowing and Apollos’ watering.
It doesn’t matter who did what - there should be no factions over it - because through their work, God gives the increase. He gives the Spiritual fruit that only He can give.
But Paul says he has every right to then be supported by the church in Corinth, because he is called by God to plow and plant and thresh and shepherd among them.
This is talking about providing for the Corinthians Spiritually. God says they should then provide for Paul materially.
And again, he says if anyone has this right to this, he and Barnabas do.
See, whereas the “right” of the Corinthians to eat food offered to idols was assumed by Paul for the sake of argument, without comment on whether or not they actually have the right remember, here Paul here speaks of actual rights that he has laid down for the sake of his brothers and sisters.
He is clear that he has the right to material support from the Corinthians, but then says:
Nevertheless, we [he and Barnabas] have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
Paul is not being self-congratulatory here. He isn’t touting how great he is that he isn’t receiving what he deserves.
He is pointing out, once again, that one’s rights are not the measuring stick for what we do or don’t do.
It is love for our brothers and sisters. Because the Gospel of Christ must go forth unhindered.
Paul already told the Corinthians that acting according to their so-called knowledge will only build themselves up. That’s not what we’re called to.
We are to build the church up - build each other up - in love.
And what will build up the church? It is the Gospel. It is the good news of God coming in Christ and achieving salvation for His people. It is the message of God’s love for sinners. It is the wonderful news that what we absolutely cannot do, is done!
This is what builds up the church. The church is built up because the Gospel will save souls and add to our number - souls are saved through the message of the Gospel. That is how God has chosen to work.
But this is growth not just in quantity, but in quality. We who know Christ - we who Christ died for - we are built up in faith, in love, and in holiness through the message of the Gospel.
This is why, when we read through letters like 1 Corinthians, we need to remember Paul’s controlling thought: Jesus Christ. Because of Who He is and what He has done: He is Lord.
And all we do is to be for His glory.
And for us who have been saved by God through that message, brothers and sisters, it is still the message of the Gospel that continues to grow our faith and our holiness and our love. It continues to save us.
From the power of sin. From ourselves - from wanting our way. We are saved day by day as we are conformed to the image of Christ.
And that is God’s work through the message of the Gospel.
Because, as Paul said earlier in this letter, without being regenerated by the Spirit which happens through the Word of God, we can do none of these things.
We cannot submit to Christ as Lord - we can’t even recognize that He is Lord! We can’t know it, because that is Spiritually discerned.
We cannot seek to serve Him in whatever our situation is. Without being born again, we seek only idols.
We cannot live in true liberty - conforming to Him in holiness and love. It isn’t that we don't want to, though that is also true. We cannot do any of this.
But we now can because of the good news of the Gospel. We can because Christ loved us enough to die for us. And He gave us victory through His resurrection. And He ascended on high where He is Lord of all. And He sent His Spirit that we could be what He calls His people to be.
This is the good news that never stops being good for us.
This is the Gospel through which we were saved, through which we are being saved - and through which christ is building His church.
This is the Gospel that is more important than our rights. Because the God Who came to bring us the good news and then die to fulfill it: He is more important than our rights.
We are to love Him first. With all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.
And we do that, most practically, by loving one another.
This is the Gospel that Paul preached. That is the seed he planted in the Corinthians. That is the Gospel he encouraged the Corinthians to live out.
And he lived it out as an example to them. He laid down his rights in order to not hinder the Gospel.
And why would using his right to receive compensation for his labors hinder the Gospel?
Well, as we have seen, there were already people in Corinth that were dividing over who they followed - and some didn’t follow Paul.
If you read Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, you see that he has to expand his defense of his Apostleship because there were those in Corinth speaking out against Paul and his authority.
I said when we started this series - this church in Corinth was a troubled church for a long time.
And this may mean there were those in Corinth that were accusing Paul of being in the ministry for the money. In his second letter, he defends himself against being a “peddler of God’s Word.” So it seems he was being accused of some less than pure motives in his ministry.
And so Paul did not want to give them any reason to doubt his motivations. He wanted them to know why he ministered to them.
And if that meant laying down his rights and having to work a job while he ministered to them, Paul was willing to do that - to leave no doubt that his motivation was love for the Corinthians and the furthering of the Gospel.
As he says:
If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even 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 these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.
Paul again points out that as a minister of the Gospel he has a right to be provided for physically.
He refers to the Laws concerning the tithe in the Old Testament that were to provide for the Levites and the Priests who served in the Temple. He even refers to what we talked about a few weeks ago - how the Priests would get food from the offerings of the people.
Food offered to the one true God. There might be a little dig here at those who were eating the food offered to idols.
But Paul equates these Old Covenant ministers, with New Covenant preachers of the Gospel. He says that ministers of the Gospel are to get their living by the Gospel, just like the Priests and Levites made their living by working in the Temple.
Paul makes abundantly clear that he had that right.
But he says again: I have made no use of this right. And he tells them, “I am not writing this to get anything from you. This isn’t a reminder of what my rights are.”
No. This is an example of what he is calling them to do. He laid down these rights.
Because his ground for boasting is not what he knows. It isn’t how spiritual he is. It isn’t his Christian liberty to exercise his rights.
It is using his gift to serve the church. To serve his brothers and sisters in love. To love the God Who saved him by declaring the truth of the Gospel for the sake of Christ.
But not because he wants to - I mean, he does want to - but he does what he does, because that is what Christ has called him to.
Remember, we are all in a unique situation to serve Christ. Right where we are, God has everything set just right for us to serve Him.
Paul is an example of that, too.
But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things 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!
I said a few weeks ago that there are ways to misuse Spiritual gifts. We will see Paul address this in a few chapters.
And I said that there is the proper way to use our gifts for God’s glory and the building up of the church. And we should all seek to do just that.
But I also said that not using our gifts: that’s not an option the Bible gives us.
That is what Paul is saying here of himself in the strongest terms.
Necessity is laid on him by his calling in the Lord. So woe to him if he does not preach the Gospel. Woe to him if he does not fulfill his calling for the right reason.
And notice what he says. He says that he would rather die - again, strong language! - he would rather die than be deprived of his ground for boasting. Then he says that preaching the Gospel is not his grounds for boasting.
He says he can’t boast in that because he has been called by the Lord for that purpose, and simply doing what we’re called to do by our Lord is no reason to boast.
As Jesus said: when we have done all we are command, we are to say “I am an unworthy servant, I have only done what was my duty.”
That’s what Paul is saying.
What we are called to do, is what we are supposed to do, because, again, Paul’s point is that Christ is Lord.
That’s why preaching the Gospel is no reason for him to boast.
So what is his grounds for boasting?
Well, Paul continues:
For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.
Paul says that if he does this - if he preaches the Gospel - of his own will, that he has a reward. But if not of his own will, he is still entrusted with this stewardship - he is still under compulsion to fulfill what the Lord calls him to do.
This is a bit of a perplexing statement.
It literally says:
For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted a stewardship.
In other words, whether willing or unwilling, God has put a call on Paul’s life. He has given him a gift and entrusted him to use it.
And Paul is advocating for using his gift willingly.
Like Peter taught elders, we are to shepherd the flock of God that is among us not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have us - not for shameful gain, but eagerly.
This is what Paul is saying. He wants to do what God has called him too, and he wants the reward that comes from that.
What is the reward? Paul explains:
What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Paul’s reward, is using his gifting for the sake of Christ and the church, without exercising his rights.
Paul is tying together so much of what he has said over the last few chapters here.
And he is doing it to give an example to those strong, in-the-know, “I have a clear conscience using my rights,” Corinthians.
They have been gifted and called by God. In their unique situation - as we saw: married or unmarried, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free. No matter their situation, they have an opportunity to serve Christ.
And their calling is to use their gift for the building up of the church, in love.
And they are to forego whatever rights they may think they have, if that’s what it takes to do that.
And this is exactly what Paul has done. This is why he will call them to imitate him as he imitates Christ.
Because Paul has laid down his rights. His reward is the opportunity to lay down his rights for his brothers and sisters. To do what he does for their sake.
Because that is exactly what Christ did for us. And Paul imitates Him.
The founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, and now sits enthroned as Lord.
Ultimately Paul isn’t saying to lay down our rights like he himself did. He isn’t saying to love like he did. He isn’t saying to become a servant like he did.
He is saying that the Corinthians - and we - need to lay down our rights like Christ did. So that we can love like Christ did. So we can become faithful stewards and humble servants like Christ did.
How do we do that?
Let me offer some application from another of Paul’s letters:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love [note the focus on love for one another in this passage] , any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy [and Paul is saying that there are all of these] , complete my joy by being of the same mind [or knowing the same thing] , having the same love, being in full accord [no divisions] and of one mind [literally: all having one way of thinking] .
[And how should we think?]
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves [in other words, lay down your rights for each other] . Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others [because we have a responsibility to each other] .
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus [this is what we are to know - what we can now know - with Christ as our example] [we know this through God the Son] , who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Sacrifice and love for each other with Christ as the example. He laid down every right He had to come as One of us to make the Gospel the good news that it is. And note the conclusion - this is what He did, so He is Lord!
Just like He was for Paul. Paul had no choice but to do what His Lord called him to do. And Paul’s reward was doing it for the sake of his brothers and sisters in Christ. It was the opportunity to empty himself of his rights for those he loved - like Christ did for him, for the Corinthians, and for us.
My friends, this is what Christ is calling us to. The call to take up our cross and follow Him is on every single one of us.
Christ is calling if you don’t know Him - repent and believe that you may be made new - be made what He calls you to be
Christ is calling if you do know Him - whatever rights we hold on to, as Paul also said in Philippians - they are garbage compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ - let us count them as nothing in order to gain more of what Christ wants to give us - because He is our reward
lay down what we grasp so tightly, stretch our empty hands towards the One Who emptied Himself of His rights for our sake - let’s do that by letting go of whatever we have to in order to serve each other for the sake of Christ
What are we unwilling to let go of? Pray right now that God would open your heart and your hands - make you willing to surrender whatever rights you hold on to.
