Serving God With Purpose!

Living Based Serving on WhatGod YouWith Are, Purpose! Not on What You Used to Be 1 Corinthians 9:1-18 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 August 9, 2018 June 24, 2018 THE BIG IDEA: In our text Paul teaches us that its okay to delineate and defend your rights, but when it comes to the Gospel, we sometimes need to set aside a right in order to present Christ most clearly. We also see in Paul what it means to serve God with a passion and sacrifice that cannot be squelched. THE GOSPEL: It is the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). When Paul spoke of the gospel he was saying that a Holy God, offended by our sin, graciously sent the sinless Son to die a substitutionary death on the Cross, satisfying the wrath of God on our sin. We are restored to a relationship with God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. 1 Corinthians 9 (ESV) 9 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? 10Does 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. [Luke 10:5-7] 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. Truths to Take Away From this Scripture: 1. Paul ministered from the unique position of Apostleship, which only 13 men ever held. There is no Biblical support for people to claim to be an Apostle today. 2. Paul gives a vigorous defense (apologia) of his rights ü Right to be supported financially ü Right for a wife to be supported ü Right to set aside his rights 3. Paul said the Gospel of Christ is so important that it is worth putting up with anything for the sake of its proclamation to people. 4. If God has called you to preach the Gospel: ü You’ll do it, no matter what. ü You’ll do it because you can’t not do it. ü You’ll do it because God entrusted it to you. Putting the Scripture Into My Life: § It’s ok to defend and explain your freedom and rights in Christ. § We are so free in Christ that we are free to set aside what we are owed. § We should joyfully support people who give their lives to proclaim the Gospel and serve the church. § We don’t expect every servant of the Gospel to make the same choices, but to use their freedom to choose their path. § The Gospel is so important that we should risk everything to tell others what it is. § The joy of proclaiming the Gospel is reward in itself.