6.9.49 10.31.2021 Misunderstood freedom 1 Corinthians 9

▾ Start

• Entice: I have mentioned many times that my goal in this series has been to take words written to Roman Corinth and to show you how they are valid in 21c Grayville.

In 1 Corinthians culture, social structure, and status are not mere background issues. They are often crucial for understanding the conflict which had erupted between Paul and some of the individuals whom he had led to Christ, in a Church he had founded.

Engage: In this text there are three central cultural issues:

• Patronage as a cultural-economic organizing principle in Roman Society.

• The mixed nature of the city and church: Jew, Roman, Greek, and "aliens" from Asia (Barbarians) worshipping together.

• The Isthmian games. Every two years the second largest games in the world to the Olympics. Money and prestige.

Expand: The specific issues are not the same. The central question remains. Are we willing surrender our rights, to advance the Gospel? Are we willing to follow the path of Jesus, the path of humility and sacrifice, even when it is personally painful? Paul was. That heart of this passage.

Explore:

The Gospel frees us from the tyranny of our selves.

Explain: Paul helps us to clarify how we see our. . .

1 Obligations

1 Corinthians 9:1–18 ESV

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? 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. 3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 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? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 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? 8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 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? 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. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 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. 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. 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. 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! 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. 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.

Patronage pride and cultural expectation in Corinth.

• A patron sought out clients to bring them prestige. similar circumstances pertain today. Many owners of sports franchises, galleries, and concert venues have little interest in the sport played, art displayed, or material performed. They pay money to build their reputation. Athletes, artists, teachers, philosophers, poets were "on the payroll of the elites" in Roman Corinth. This is why Paul renounced his own Biblical right to be compensated for ministry.

• Rights vs. responsibilities

They were at odds. Paul had an obligation to the Gospel. His response to this challenge encapsulates a principle which is still valid though the circumstances are completely different.

When our rights and our responsibilities are in conflict our responsibilities hold the trump card

Euchre. Me at a progressive Euchre party. I had never played the game before. I am not a good card player to begin with. As we made our way up the snowy street to the party Mrs. Beckman explained the basics about cards, trump, bowers, and "ordering up." I misheard. I liked the idea of trump because it seemed like unrestrained freedom! It was the ultimate expression of my rights as a card player to determine the highest cards for that hand. I will never forget the look in the eyes of one of my Elders when I ordered him up and then proceeded to take no tricks! What I had missed was that the right to determine trump had to be balanced by the responsibility to take tricks. If you ordered the dealer up (particularly if the dealer was your partner!) you were saying "I've got this."

Too many believers, echoing the sentiment of our culture are far too eager to claim rights without balancing those rights with responsibilities.

Next Paul helps us to clarify how we see…

2 Opportunities

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ESV

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 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. 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. 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. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Real opportunities require...

Flexibility

Real opportunities tend to bring...

Discomfort

Finally Paul helps us to clarify how we see...

3 Outcomes.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

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. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

The Right outcomes are a product of

Discipline

The right outcomes require

Focus

Shut Down:

• The Gospel is bigger than us. Bigger than egos which seek prestige through the compromise of others. Bigger than the comforts and rigidity which often prevent us

from seizing opportunities to change the lives of others. Bigger than the small outcomes you have envisioned and I have envisioned for our own lives.

• When Jesus gets a hold of us the negatives become positives, the risks yield rewards and the sacrifices can change someone else's eternity.

• We often hear the phrase…It's not about me. It can be easy to say and hard to do. Paul has just mapped out a strategy for doing it. That is God's Word for us

today.