Sermon Tone Analysis

I CORINTHIANS 9:1-27

 

           I.

Paul Establishes His Right To Receive Support                      A.  Illustrations From Life

              B.

Illustrations From The Law

 

          II.

Paul Defends His Right To Renounce That Support                    A.

We Lay Aside Some Rights For Jesus’ Sake

              B.

We Lay Aside Some Rights For The Sake Of Those                     Who Are Lost

              C.

We Lay Aside Some Rights For Our Own Sake

 

                     

            I want you to turn to I Corinthians chapter 9 tonight         and we’re going to look at the ninth chapter of First          Corinthians.

While you’re turning I want to share with you a      little story, it doesn’t have a thing in the world to do with      this message but I thought it was cute.

These three friends       of a man, the friend said to them, he said, “Now listen, I         don’t want my children to get any of my money so I’m going to      divide my money among the three of you, and then when I die I      want you to bring my money in an envelope and drop it in my        grave so my children won’t get any of my money.”

So they          agreed to do that and sure enough the man died, and when he        was buried they all three came with their envelopes and they       dropped the money in.

Sometime later the three friends were       together and one of them said, “This has just been bothering       me, it’s been bothering my conscience.”

He said, “Really,         I’m just going to have to tell you.

I have been a little bit      behind financially and I really needed a little money, so          what I did was I held back a thousand dollars of our friend’s      money and I put the rest of it in the grave with him.”

So         the second one said, “Well, now that you’ve confessed I’ve         got a confession to make too.

I’ve been in bad shape too and      to be honest with you I held back half of the man’s money and      I put only half of his money in the envelope and put it in         the grave.”

And the third guy said, “I’m disappointed in the      two of you.

I want you to know I wrote out a check for it         all and put it in.”

That doesn’t have anything in the world       to do with this but I thought it was real cute.

I’ve been         thinking about that one all week.

Some of them just kind of       grab you and that one did.

Now in the eighth and the ninth chapters of First Corinthians the great theme here is the liberty we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is wonderful to know as a believer in the Lord Jesus that if the Son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed.

Christian liberty is one of the great truths of the life of a child of God.

Jesus has set us free.

He has set us free from the bondage of sin.

We now have freedom, we are no longer under the bondage of the law, we are free to enjoy life to its fullest extent.

But because we have freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ and because we know this, this does not mean that we are free to abuse that liberty in Jesus Christ and be detrimental in the lives of other people.

So that’s really what he’s been talking about in the eighth chapter; he has pointed out that the knowledge of our freedom is to be balanced by our love for other people.

So it’s very important to keep that balance.

Now you will know the measure of the maturity of a Christian by how he uses his liberty.

You will know how mature a believer is by the way he handles the whole area of Christian liberty.

So what Paul is going to do is draw an illustration from his own life to show us that Christian liberty must be balanced by love.

Now Paul is going to show that he has the right as an apostle to receive financial, material support, but he is going to show us in a rather unusual and a rather remarkable way how that knowledge is to be balanced.

So what we’re going to find is that this whole chapter really divides itself into two main divisions.

First of all he defends his right to receive support, he defends his right to receive support.

Now notice how the chapter begins.

It starts with a series of questions and all of these questions have the answer, ”yes".

 

     1.

Am I not an apostle?

(The answer is yes.) am I notfree?

(The answer is yes.) have I not seen JesusChrist our Lord?

(And the answer is yes, he did seethe living Lord on the Damascus road.

And he says tothe Corinthians) are not you my work in the Lord?(And the answer is yes, because Paul went to Corinthand preached the gospel and led them to faith in theLord Jesus.)

So in verse 2 he says…

 

     2.

If I be not an apostle unto others (there were thosewho rejected his apostleship; he said), yet doubtlessI am to you: for the seal (that is, the proof, the        guarantee) of mine apostleship are you in the Lord.

So Paul is establishing here the fact that he is indeed an apostle, that he has done the things that God required for an apostle to do.

He has validated himself, he has credentials from heaven to be an apostle.

Having established his right to be an apostle he now says in verse 3…

 

     3.

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,

 

And I want you to underline the word “answer” or circle that word “answer” and really you might put in the margin of your Bible, “My verbal defense", it is a legal term, it is taken right out of the world of law.

Because Paul, right here, is putting himself in the posture of a lawyer who is arguing his case, he is establishing his right as an apostle, as a minister of Jesus Christ, to receive financial, material support.

Now he’s going to give us a series of applications or a series of explanations, really, about his right.

Look at verse 4:  Have we not power...? Now every time you see the word “power” in this chapter keep in mind he’s saying, Don’t we have the right?

He is not talking about physical power, he is not talking about strength, but he is talking about right, so he’s saying, Do we not have the right to eat and drink?

And he’s talking there about being provided his material needs by those who’ve been blessed by him.

And then he says in verse 5…

 

     5.

Do we not have power, or right, to lead about asister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as thebrethren of the Lord, and of Cephas?

And what he’s saying there is, If I wanted to I would have the right to have a wife.

We do not know exactly why Paul did not have a wife, we do not know if he was a widower, we do not know what the circumstances were, but he’s simply saying, I have a right to, I have that freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he says in verse 6…

 

     6.

Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power (that is,the right) to forbear working?

Now what he doesn’t mean there is that he’s not establishing his right to be lazy but he is establishing his right to receive his full support from those who are blessed by his ministry.

Now the Lord Jesus established this same right.

In Luke chapter 10, verse 7, the Bible says the laborer is worthy of his hire.

So like a lawyer Paul is laying down his right, his authority, as a minister of Jesus Christ to receive support.

Now in verse 7 he begins to give a series of

illustrations from life.

Look at what he says.

He says…

 

     7.

Who goes to warfare any time at his own charges?

(Hetalks about a soldier; and of course we know when aman is in the Army, when a man is a soldier, whenhe’s in the military, then he is given G.I. wages, heis paid, he is provided for by the government.

Andthen he says) who plants a vineyard, and eats not ofthe fruit thereof?

(There he pictures himself as asower who has planted the seed, cultivated thevineyard.

And now he says it is the right of theperson who has cultivated that vineyard to receivesome of the fruits, to benefit from some of thefruits.

And then in the next statement he’s like ashepherd, he says) or who feeds the flock, and eatsnot of the milk of the flock?

He is establishing, with illustrations from life, his right to receive financial support.

And then in verse 8 he says…

 

     8.

Say I these things as a man? or says not the law thesame also?

Now what he’s going to do is to move from illustrations in life into the Old Testament law.

Look at verse 9, he quotes from Deuteronomy 25:4, he says,

 

     9.

For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt notmuzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn.

And of course that was just a humanitarian, a humane, law that an ox who would plow would be allowed to eat some of the corn along the way.

It would be cruel to an animal to muzzle that ox and not allow that ox to feed himself as it went along.

But now Paul’s point is is that he’s not establishing just the right of an ox to eat.

You know, oxen can’t read the Bible so that’s not the point at all.

But look at verse 9, he says, Doth God take care for the oxen?

And what he’s saying is, That’s not my point, that’s not my interest.

And then he says…

 

    10.

Or says he it altogether for our sakes?

(In otherwords he’s saying this is an illustration in theBible that is to be used in the work of the Lord.)For

our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he whoplows should plow in hope; and he who threshes inhope should be partaker of his hope.

11.

If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it agreat thing if we shall reap your carnal things?

Now what Paul is basically doing here is simply saying, If we have been a blessing to you spiritually, if we have ministered to your spiritual needs, then Paul says, I have a right as an apostle, I have a right as a minister of the gospel for you to provide material means.

But now I want you to notice what he does; Paul does a very startling thing.

He has established his right to receive support as his freedom in the Lord Jesus but now, secondly, he defends his right to renounce that support for the gospel of the Lord Jesus.