Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
This morning, we will get into a sensitive issue in many churches and many people.
Personally, it is an issue that I find uncomfortable.
However, it is a topic that comes next in today’s study of 1 Corinthians 9.
As we will see from our text, today’s topic is the Local Church and the Pastor’s Pay.
It is a hot topic for one main reason.
Many so-called pastors have abused and misused God’s teaching on this subject.
I will give you a couple of examples.
About three years ago, I was scanning some news articles with I came across an article concerning a well-known American pastor.
In all honesty, I had never heard of this man or his church.
However, what caught my eye was the headline.
The headline read something like this, “Pastor Seeks Donors for His Private Jet.”
As you might guess, that piqued my curiosity.
I wanted to learn his secret for raising money to purchase a private jet.
No, I am only kidding.
My initial reaction was, “What in the world!”
As I read the article, I realized this pastor sought to raise money for his sixth private jet.
I am not joking.
He told his congregation, a rather large congregation, that God had given him a new vision of expanding his fleet of jets to six to accomplish more evangelism worldwide.
As I read that, I thought, how can one man fly in six aircraft simultaneously.
Anyways, I digress.
Men like this have abused and misused God’s teaching on the Pastor’s Pay to inflate their wealth.
By the way, I do not consider this man to be a genuine pastor.
He is not concerned about preaching the gospel or ministering to help others.
His focus is on what he is gaining for himself now and not what he is laying up in Heaven.
Men like this give pastoring a sad name.
Yet, on the other hand, I know of pastors whose congregation does absolutely nothing for them.
They do not help to feed him and his family.
They think nothing of helping him with his travel expenses to and from visits.
Additionally, they give him just enough salary to say they have done their duty.
In doing so, those pastors are often discouraged weary, and many have to supplement their income by working a secular job.
Both examples are incorrect.
Never should a pastor take advantage of God’s people by seeking personal profit.
Yet, the flip side of that is this.
Local churches should know and understand their responsibility to take care of God’s man.
The Pastor’s Pay and the Local Church are the subjects for today.
Before we get into the text and the message, I have this to say.
I am NOT PREACHING this today to get more money.
You, as a church, have been extremely good to my family and me.
I am blessed to be your pastor.
I am preaching this today because it comes next in our study of 1 Corinthians.
My whole reason for preaching books of the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse is to avoid a bully pulpit.
You know what a bully pulpit is, right?
A pastor who uses his pulpit to preach what he thinks instead of following the Word of God is a bully pulpit.
That is not me.
I desire to preach God’s Word just as God gave it.
For that reason, I preach expositorily.
I preach what comes next.
This topic is the subject that comes next.
A matter that indeed does fit into the overall understanding of a local church.
Remember that 1 Corinthians is God’s Blueprint for each local church.
Open now your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 9.
We will read our text and get right into today’s message.
Let me start by pointing out:
The Pastor’s Rights
“Have we not power to eat and to drink?
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?” (1 Corinthians 9:4–6)
These questions are a transition point in the Holy Spirit’s letter to the local church.
It transitions from the topic of causing another brother to stumble to a pastor’s pay.
Remember, the Holy Spirit is using Paul as an example.
Paul was an apostle.
God specifically called Paul into the ministry.
This calling, by the way, is something every pastor must experience before assuming the mantle of a pastor.
He must receive a specific call into the ministry from God in a similar fashion as Paul.
God’s call upon Paul and other men is always a call to full-time ministry.
God places in them a desire to serve Him.
In doing so, we see here the Holy Spirit using Paul to point now some rights that each pastor has from God.
Note that they are:
The Right to be Fed – “power to eat and to drink”
Guess what?
Food and drink are essential for living.
Thus, the local church’s responsibility is to provide food for its pastor and his family.
The Right to Receive Travel Support – “power to lead about”
The phrase “lead about” implicates moving from place to place.
Back when God impressed upon my heart to come here as your pastor, I led my wife and our family here.
They traveled with their wives and families from place to place as God led them to serve Him.
When God called me into the ministry, and later God impressed upon my heart to go to Nepal, I did not hesitate to lead my wife and our family to Nepal.
They went with me.
Even now, as your pastor, I travel from place to place (hospital visits, home visits, seminars, and other ministry-related travel).
Guess what?
Gas is not cheap.
It is nice to travel in a reliable vehicle.
It takes money to put gas in a car and keep it maintained.
Thus, the local church’s responsibility is to provide travel support for their pastor.
The Right to Receive Sufficient Income – “power to forbear working”
Here the Holy Spirit notes how Paul and Barnabas initially worked at tent-making to support themselves when they first came to Corinth.
However, now that there was a local church there, they could “forbear working” and receive full support as they labored for the Lord.
SIDE NOTE - Paul and Barnabas ministered more in the way of today’s missionaries.
Paul often went to cities that needed the gospel.
He would preach the gospel seeing souls saved.
From those who came to know Christ, Paul established a local church.
He then would move on to the next town or city, repeating the same process.
Thus, Paul is also an example of how today’s missionaries should be supported.
In both cases, pastors and missionaries are to be supported financially so they may devote their full attention to ministering God’s Word and preaching the gospel.
From here, the Holy Spirit supports the Pastor’s Rights - the right to be fed, the right to receive travel support, and the right to receive sufficient financial income.
The Pastor’s Rights Supported
“Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?
who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?
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