1 Corinthians 9:1-27 | "Living By The Gospel"
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· 119 viewsSunday, August 15, 2021. 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 | “Living By The Gospel.” We are a people who love our rights! But is there ever a time when we should give them up? The apostle builds a strong defense for his rights as an apostle and preacher of the gospel of Christ. Rights that God even provides for him! Yet what he spends the first half of this chapter building up, he spends the second half laying down freely, for the sake of that same gospel. The apostle talks about his rights, his reward, and his race.
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I. Reading of Scripture
I. Reading of Scripture
[ 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 ]
13 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?
14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
This is God’s Word, Amen.
[Title Slide]
1 Corinthians 9:1-27
Living By The Gospel
1 Corinthians 9:1-27
Living By The Gospel
II. Introduction
II. Introduction
A. Introduction to Theme
A. Introduction to Theme
In the previous chapter, the apostle answered a question from the church about food sacrificed to idols.
Should Christians eat it? Or should Christians refrain?
It was a simple question to answer on the surface.
An idol isn’t real. An idol doesn’t have a real existence! So eating food sacrificed to an idol that doesn’t really exist, is not a big deal.
Food is food. Food will not commend us to God. So it is not wrong to eat that food.
But remember, the church’s question was two-fold. It was not only about food, but also “knowledge.”
What about my brothers in Christ who “know” where this food has been and have a weak conscience because they used to be associated with these idols, they used to worship these idols with this food, and now they are stumbling in their faith in Christ, the one Lord, the one, true, living God, because I’m eating of this food?
Now, the question no longer centers upon me.
Now, it’s no longer a question about whether I can or cannot eat this food, but rather how my knowledge relates to my brother who does not possess the same knowledge I do.
And so the apostle instructs the Christian who is strong in conscience, not to use his knowledge to destroy the Christian, who is still weak in conscience.
That brother, although weak, is “the brother for whom Christ died.”
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
This apostle says “this knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8.1).
This concern you show toward your weak brother is called “love.” And it is not just any kind of love, but it is a sacrificial love. It is the love that God showed us in Jesus Christ.
So the apostle ends Chapter 8 with this conclusion:
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
It’s not about “me.” It’s about “we.”
Christianity is not about what rights I as an individual am free to exercise.
Christianity is about what rights I as an individual am free to lay down so that we, the Church, are strengthened in the love of Christ.
B. Introduction to Text
B. Introduction to Text
The apostle seems makes a change in Chapter 9.
Instead of continuing to talk about food sacrificed to idols, it seems that he devotes considerable attention to a new topic: Why should a preacher of the gospel get his living by the gospel?
Warren Wiersbe says that this chapter may appear to be an interruption but it is not an interruption at all! It is an illustration (598).
The apostle is still talking about a “love that builds up,” but now, he is shifting the conversation to a topic that concerns himself so that me might show how he is loving them, the church in Corinth, with the same love that he wants them to have for one another in Christ.
In the first half of Chapter 9, the apostle explains his rights.
Then, about halfway through this chapter, he talks about his reward.
Lastly, he ends this chapter, with the imagery of a runner and a race.
We can outline this text in this way:
The apostle’s rights - the apostle’s reward - the apostle’s race.
III. Exposition
III. Exposition
First,
A. 9.1-14 | The Apostle’s Rights
A. 9.1-14 | The Apostle’s Rights
In verse 1, the apostle begins with a series of questions To the Church:
9.1
9.1
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?
These are questions that would be met with a resounding “Amen”!
Yes, Paul, you are free!
Yes, Paul, you are an apostle!
Yes, Paul, you have seen Jesus our Lord.
And Yes, Paul, we are your workmanship in the Lord.
That word translated “workmanship” is the word for “work.”
What is the apostle’s work? It IS this church in Corinth. His labor is for them and among them.
He did not seek out or apply for this work. He was called to this work by God.
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
It appears that others, people who were not believers in Christ, questioned whether or not Paul was actually an apostle, so he says in verse 2 —
9.2
9.2
2 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.
A seal certifies that something is genuine (LN).
So the apostle says - if you want to know if I am truly an apostle, look no further than yourselves who are in the Lord. You church, in the Lord, are my certification.
9.3
9.3
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me.
The word “defense” and “examine” are legal terms. The text now enters into the setting of a court of law.
For those who would judge the apostle, he will make a defense, that’s the word [ ἀπολογία ], an apology.
As G. Campbell Morgan says, the apostle “uses the word apology in the true sense. He [is] not admitting he [is] wrong. He [is] claiming he [is] right” (112).
In other words - oh prosecutors, oh judges, let me begin by telling you about my rights. Let me tell you about what I have the power and authority to do.
And notice the language shift in verse 4. He doesn’t begin by speaking of himself by saying “I,” but instead he says “we.”
He is making a defense not just for himself, but for his office as an apostle, his assignment as a preacher of the gospel, his calling by the will of God.
God’s calling does not nullify his rights. If anything, it validates them all the more!
9.4
9.4
4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink?
9.5
9.5
5 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?
9.6
9.6
6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
The apostle says that “we” - ministers of the gospel have a right to expect that our basic material needs be cared for. Food and drink.
We’ve got to eat to live! We’ve got to drink to live!
And beyond that, this calling to ministry does not restrict us from marrying a believing wife and “taking her along” in this journey of ministry.
In other words - I have a right to eat and drink, and by extension my wife along with me has the right to eat and drink too. I’m not prohibited from having a wife and a family because I labor in ministry.
I’ve found that many churches expect that their minister be married. Many churches expect that their minister have children.
But when it comes time to care for that minister’s needs, all of a sudden it is no longer about the family. The family is set aside out of view.
The wife and children are pushed out of the picture. “We’re not paying for them. We are paying for you.” That’s the economics of the world.
As if the wife and children should be left at home to fend for themselves, to work and earn for themselves, and not be taken along in the journey and not a part of the ministry because they are an “extra expense.”
And if you don’t believe this happens in the church, you’ve had your head buried in the sand and you don’t know and you are not asking!
When is the last time you asked a minister if ever: “Are your needs being met? Are you being cared for? What about your family? Do they have what they need??
The apostle asks:
6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
It is not that the apostles do not work for a living, it is that their work is the work of ministry.
“Is it only Barnabas and I who need to work extra, non-ministry related jobs, so that we can have the basic provisions our bodies need to live?”
It is the apostle’s right for his needs not only to be cared for, but provided for! Supplied for, by the church!
That is the apostle’s right. And not just his right, but the right of anyone called and devoted to the work of ministry among them.
So Paul then turns to common experience to show how his rights in ministry are in line with rights of other professions.
9.7
9.7
7 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?
And the answer is none of these!
A soldier does NOT serve at his own expense. He doesn’t pack his own lunch and take it with him to war. His food rations are provided for! He is supplied for his labor.
The one who plants a vineyard, and labors in that field, EATS of its fruit. He is supplied for his labor.
A shepherd tending a flock gets some of the milk. He is supplied for his labor.
The same is true of the work of ministry and of ministers devoted to that work.
Because a minister labors in God’s field as a result of God’s calling does not exempt that minister from the same needs and the same provisions as others vocations.
But don’t just take Paul’s word for it. Hear what God says!
God has spoken on this matter!
9.8
9.8
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same?
9.9
9.9
9 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?
God instructed in His Law, that an ox treading out the grain should benefit from that work with grain. Don’t put a muzzle on it so it cannot eat of that grain.
And here, the apostle brings forth God’s Law to show God’s concern for his labor the labor of his co-workers, as apostles.
Notice the phrase: “Is it for oxen that God is concerned?”
Now this issue becomes very serious.
God is watching how God’s called messengers are cared for by God’s people.
God is concerned about this. He’s not concerned about oxen, he is concerned about His ministers and His Church.
How you church, care for that minister and his family that God sends you, is representative of how you care about God and His Word.
9.10
9.10
10 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.
9.11
9.11
11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
Notice this - spiritual work has material needs.
We live by the Spirit, but for now we are still in the flesh. We have material needs.
The work of the church is not all spiritual: prayer, preaching, caring.
It is also material: budgets, administration, provisions.
Listen to what Paul writes in another place, 1 Timothy 5.17-18:
17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
We have learned as a church that honor, true honor, godly honor is not just verbal ascent. It is practical and tangible.
“Honor your father and mother” does not mean “say nice things about your father and mother.” It means obeying them. It means caring for their needs when they arrive at an age where they now need help.
Honoring Jesus does not mean simply calling Jesus “Lord” and singing nice things about Him. It is having a heart that is near to Jesus, obeying His commands.
For the elder that rules well, who guides well, who directs well - especially in the labor of preaching and teaching, the Scriptures say — you honor that elder. You take care of his needs.
And whatever takes care of his needs - you DOUBLE THAT. He is worthy of a double portion.
And do not neglect that elder’s family.
For to hold the office of overseer in the church, requires that overseer to manage his own household well too.
5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
This is God’s Word! This is God’s Way! This is what God would have His Church to Obey!
The apostle goes on in 1 Corinthians 9 —
9.12
9.12
12 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.
Notice the word “gospel.” That is a word that is repeated throughout this chapter. The gospel is the message. These apostles are special messengers of God’s message. Without their labor the message would not go forth and the church would not be built up and equipped.
The apostle speaks about his rights as a gospel messenger, a gospel laborer.
These rights are given by God with God’s authority, and the apostle is due every bit of that right.
But says “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right.”
He could have. He could have demanded that the church supply his needs and it would not have been a sin for him.
But the circumstances in Corinth, the division, the skepticism, the disfunction there could turn his right into an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
And the gospel is more precious to him than any of his rights! Christ is more precious to him than anything else.
“We endure anything rather than put an obstacle [hindrance] in the way of the gospel of Christ.”
He says - “I will put up with whatever annoyance or difficulty I have to put up with before I cause a difficulty for you receiving the message of Christ.”
9.13
9.13
13 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?
God provided for the ministers in the temple, performing the “holy services” to get their food from the temple.
God provided for the ministers “attending the altar” to have a share in the altar.
As sacrificial offerings were brought, the priests and ministers received a portion of those. That was God’s provision.
God did not give the tribe of Levi an inheritance in the land because they were priests. God was their inheritance. So God provided for their needs.
How did God do it? Did God provide for these ministers in extraordinary ways? No. But through ordinary ways. Through the people’s offerings unto the Lord. They received a portion.
Do you know what this was called then and today?
A tithe. A tenth. A setting apart of the first fruits of what God has given to you, and giving that back to God through the local church with offerings.
Tithes and offerings have a very practical purpose. The provide for the ministry of the gospel. The ministry of the Word. For ministers of the Word.
Tithes and offerings are not given to the church. They are given THROUGH the church TO God. And out of that offering, God provides.
So anyone that does not give tithes, or offerings to God through the local church, you are not robbing the church. You are not robbing the minister and his family. You are not robbing the building you gather in.
You rob God! You are a thief, stealing for yourself what does not belong to you!
8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
I want to speak this word to this church. I praise God for all who give tithes and offerings. For all who give beyond that.
My family practices at a minimum a tithe on our gross income. Before taxes, we set aside the first tenth and give to God through this local church a tithe and offerings. And that is a sacrifice but it is a joyful one and we believe we should lead first in this area.
So what I am about to say, I say in love, and I say as one who practices what I preach.
Church - We need less thieves in this church, and more tithe-ers in this church, who trust God with what belongs to God. Stop robbing God!
Some of you need to hear this! Our church is limited not by our the age of our members, not by the size of our members, but by the faith of the whole of our membership.
We must all work, and all work hard, and all work together!
Some in our membership are not trusting God sacrificially with what he has given you. And that says more about your faith than your finances.
You are not giving to God, and by withholding from God what God has given you to give, you are robbing us as a local church from receiving what God intends for us to receive through you!
We cannot begin to imagine the supernatural blessing God will provide for this church, Southside Baptist Church in Decatur, if we all by faith trust God enough to obey the natural things he commands us to do.
This will not make sense according to the economy of the world, but this works in the economy of God.
I know this teaching makes people upset. But I’ve learned over the years that the people who get upset are the ones who need to hear this message the most because they aren’t practicing it! And they can’t hear it because their heart is not given to God because their not obeying God in this one area of treasure, of money, of finances.
I would not be an honest minister of the Word if I didn’t teach on this.
9.14
9.14
14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Not just apostles, but “those who proclaim the gospel” who give their labor to this proclamation.
And listen - to get their living by the gospel, means that they need not go anywhere else to make ends meet. Their living is fully provided for by the work that they are invested in.
These are the Apostle’s Rights. The rights of the Ministers of the Word. The rights of those who proclaim the gospel.
The apostle has given his defense. His apology. He has made clear from common experience and even from Divine decree what his rights are.
B. 9.15-23 | The Apostle’s Reward
B. 9.15-23 | The Apostle’s Reward
But notice how verse 15 begins.
With the word “BUT.” A word of contrast. A word that changes the direction of his argument.
For the apostle, having declared what his rights are, will now explain WHAT HE WILL DO with those rights.
And what he will do, is something quite different than what he could demand.
9.15
9.15
15 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.
The apostle to date has not exercised his rights and demanded support from the church.
And just in case someone thinks he is writing the way that he is so as to infer that they should start supporting him now, he silences that objection quickly by saying: “nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision.”
“I would rather die...”
If the church didn’t provide for any of my needs, and I starved to death for lack of food or drink, I would rather starve. I would rather die than to be deprived of my ground for boasting by demanding your provision.
What is the apostle’s ground for boasting?
9.16
9.16
16 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!
9.17
9.17
17 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.
I’m compelled to preach the Gospel either way! God called me to this work, not you! I’m a slave to God! I am bound by Him!
Wherever he leads, I’ll go. Whatever he commands, I’ll do!
My ground for boasting is not whether or not I’ll preach the gospel, but whether or not I will exercise my rights. Whether or not I will be free to exercise my ministry and calling!
And I will not be deprived of my ground of boasting, by demanding my rights. Instead, I would rather be free.
I would rather be free to serve Christ as a slave to Christ than to serve you as a slave to your provision.
How often people give with strings attached! “I’ll give to you but when the time comes you do as I say.” The apostle says “I’ll have none of that.” I’d rather be free to serve my Lord unhindered.
Rather than my rights, I would rather have a reward.
The first half of this chapter dealt with the Apostle’s Rights.
Now the text speaks of the Apostle’s Reward.
9.18
9.18
18 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.
It is not about “me.” It is about “we.”
I know my rights. But in love, I choose not to exercise them, so that you will be built up.
The gospel sets me free to do this.
9.19
9.19
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
9.20
9.20
20 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.
9.21
9.21
21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
9.22
9.22
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
9.23
9.23
23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
That’s the reward. Gospel reward.
The oxen will tread the grain whether he eats of it or not. The work of Gospel ministry will produce fruit whether the laborer is cared for or not.
And the reward of the Gospel is worth surrendering all rights.
The apostle in other places will accept support from other churches. So this action is conditioned upon the circumstances in Corinth. But the apostle going about making demands would hinder the gospel, so the apostle - for the sake of the gospel, will not make demands, but will become all things to all people that by all means [he] might save some.
For the sake of the gospel.
C. 9.24-27 | The Apostle’s Race
C. 9.24-27 | The Apostle’s Race
9.24
9.24
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
9.25
9.25
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
9.26
9.26
26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
9.27
9.27
27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
This is the apostle’s race, and instructions for the church.
We who are Christians, should be willing to give up the things that we are due, the temporary provisions that we even need, in order to gain something far more precious.
We ministers of the Gospel should be willing to give up even the rights the Lord provides, so that our message will not be hindered and our work will not be rendered powerless.
The prize we are after is far greater than anything this world has to offer. It is the prize of eternal life in Christ. A prize that does not fade away.
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion
Do you not know?
Every time this phrase appears in this letter, it has revealed an ignorance among the church, concerning an unchanging and timeless principle, of which the church was disobedient to God’s instructions as revealed in God’s Word, which then threatened the loss of that church’s identity, the loss of their witness, and the loss of their power.
A. Gospel Proclamation
A. Gospel Proclamation
Church, our identity, our witness, or power is Jesus Christ!
And the Gospel is the message of Christ who gave up his rights for us!
The first half of this text speaks about the Apostle’s Rights.
What about our rights? What do we rightly deserve from God?
sin | death on cross, burial
sin | death on cross, burial
Because of sin, we rightly deserve death.
Each one of us has disobeyed God’s commands.
We’ve not loved God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
We’ve not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
Our sin, our lawbreaking, condemns us before God as guilty and deserving of God’s wrath. That’s our right.
Walk in a graveyard sometime and look at the tombs. Our right is to stay in those tombs forever because of our sin. Such is the right for all who reject the God of Life!
But what did God do?
God loved - and God gave, His only Son, Jesus.
Jesus took upon Himself the sin that was rightfully ours, and Jesus put our rights under sin, to death.
Jesus bore the wrath of God for our sin on the cross and died.
Jesus was buried in the tomb.
And then God showed the world something about rights, by doing what was right.
righteousness | resurrection, new life
righteousness | resurrection, new life
God raised Jesus up, from the dead to life again.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jesus puts our rights to death, and replaces our rights with HIS!
This is the Gospel of the grace of God!
This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
That by faith in Jesus we receive a new life in the Lord.
And this Gospel is more precious than any other “rights” we have.
judgment | return and the Day of the Lord
judgment | return and the Day of the Lord
A day of judgement is soon coming.
We will all stand before God in one form of judgment or another.
Will you stand before God to demand your rights? If so, you will receive them with all of Hell and the lake of fire.
But you need not demand your rights! For Christ has made a way for you to stand before God and demand His.
B. Sermonic Eschatonic
B. Sermonic Eschatonic
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
[…]
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.