1 Corinthians 9:1–18

1 Corinthians 9:1–18

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A Pattern of Self-Denial

1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we have no right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

15 But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Co 9:1-18.

• Transcript

  Make sure that everybody is able to join us live. It's almost there. Give it one minute. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I we get together. We have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2022. Hopefully, we'll make it from the book of Acts through the book of Philemon. We're at first Corinthians chapter nine, the first half of the chapter this morning. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for what a joy and a blessing it is to get to come to Your Word. We thank you that we don't get to make these things up. Or only read what we want. But Father, you're the one who has things in store for us. And so Lord, we would pray that we would have minds to understand it. Hearts to believe it and wills to follow it. In Jesus's name, Amen. All right, here we go. So we're at First Corinthians First Corinthians chapter nine. And we'll be doing the first let's see here 18 verses. So first Corinthians chapter nine, the first 18 verses I am am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship and the Lord, my defense to those who examine me as this? Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife? As do the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and see fuss? Or is it only Barnabas and I have no right to retain refrain from working. Whoever goes to war at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also, for it is written in the Law of Moses. You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads the grain is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does he say all together for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt this was this has written that he who plows should plow in hope and he who thrushes and hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have certain spiritual things for you. Is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things less we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you know or do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the holy things of the temple and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that I should that it should be done so to me, for it would be better for me to die than that I shouldn't make my boasting void. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the Gospel. Oh, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? Be? What's the best verse to summarizes and see, what are we called to do in response to these words? So here in First Corinthians nine, Paul is continuing on in what he picked up in chapter eight with liberty and rights. There are people in the church in Chapter Eight who are saying that they knew that idols were absolutely nothing and so they could go to a temple and eat meat and not worry about it at all. And they had a right to do this and they were going to stand on their rights. They had a liberty to do what they wished to do. And Paul says, you know, while you're trampling over the conscience of your weaker brother and you're sinning against Christ himself. So he uses chapter nine, and it's going to take us two days to get through this. So hop by back on here on Monday and we'll finish this chapter but when he's bringing this up, he's telling them to look to himself as an example. Right? He has a right that he doesn't exercise. He has a liberty that he doesn't use. And he uses this right and this liberty to show the people that, Jeff, because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something. No, you should do the most loving thing. And what is Paul holding back from? It's holding back from getting paid. He says, you know, like I have a right to take along a wife. That's what the brothers of Jesus did. You know, James and Judas, by the way, if you don't think that Jesus had brothers, you got to reconcile that with Mark chapter six and Matthew chapter 13. But that's a whole nother story. But Jesus is brothers get to do it. Yes, Peter Sefa himself. He he has a wife and she goes with him. Visit just Barnabas and I who don't get to take along a wife. No, it's It's a liberty that you're choosing not to take. He says, you know, you're just supporting me, but you could be supporting a whole family. I know that I'm a part and apostle, I've seen the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm working in his vineyard. He sent me out to go do this work. But I'm not getting paid for it. And this is this is one of these really interesting things right? He says, it's not because I shouldn't get paid for it. I should it's the exact opposite. Right? He goes to Deuteronomy. And he says, Don't muzzle the ox treads the green. This is really just talking about oxygen. No, it's talking about way more than just oxygen. Right? It's talking about ministers of the gospel. Right. If if somebody's doing work, you need to pay them for the work they're doing. It says if I'm doing spiritual work amongst you, shouldn't you be supporting me materially? He says, if somebody is preaching the gospel, they should live from the gospel, but he's not going to and here's why. Paul doesn't want to be a stumbling block. Some people might find it offensive. So you know, he says, No, I'm not gonna get paid. I will work my tail off. I will go and I will. I will labor and I'll make tents and I'll go to the marketplace and I'll, I'll do hard manual labor and I'll use the skill that I've learned to be able to earn money so that I can preach the gospel freely. He says, this is his boast. Right? He's able to go everywhere in anywhere and he's able to say he he didn't build on anybody else's foundation and be he didn't charge anyone when he went there he was willing to receive gifts when they sent them, you can go pick up the book of Philippians. Actually, we'll do that in a couple weeks. And we'll see that he has no problem receiving, but he's not going to say well, you need to pay for this. Now he has things to say in the pastoral epistles about that. But the point here isn't that you should or shouldn't pay ministers. Clear from First Corinthians nine you should. I'm very thankful for many of you who are in our congregation who are probably watching this today and have paid my salary. I'm very thankful for you. But Paul's point is he's going to love the weaker brother. If somebody might stumble over the gospel because they think is this guy just in it for the money. Paul says, you know, I won't even work for money. I won't even do this. Even though I have a right just like if I planted a vineyard, I got a right to go pick grapes from the vineyard. I'm not going to do it. Even though I have this inherent right because I'm the one who's sowing the seed and so I should be able to go and and enjoy the harvest. He says, it's not gonna happen. I'm going to suspend my right so I don't put a stumbling block in front of somebody to receive Christ. And so that's what this is really getting at is even though we might have rights or be able to do things or have the liberty to do things, doesn't mean that that's what we ought to do. So when you ask yourselves be what's the best versus summarizes let's see here. You know, I don't have my normal Bible with me. I left it at the house on accident, trying to figure out what I would underline here. I think I would underline verse 12. If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things less we hinder the gospel of Christ. That's probably what I would underline what would you underline in your Bible? What would you put as what you think is the best first, last see calling what are we called to do in response to these words? Well, let me ask you, what is it? That has been a liberty? We especially if you're in America, we love Liberty, right? We love being able to say it's a free country. I'll do what I want to right if you ever talk to us a seven year old. Yeah, sure, you can do what you want. What are you doing with loving? Paul Ticsa the application that we talked about yesterday? And first Corinthians chapter eight, when he talked about not eating meat, sacrifice for others, to idols, because of the brother with a weaker conscience, and he takes that principle and he shows how he uses it in his own life to not work or not charge a pastoral salary as he's doing missionary work. What Liberty have you used in your life? That's actually hurt people. Is there someone you need to go and apologize to? Is there something in your life right now? That is offensive to people? And you keep holding on to it because it's your right? It's your liberty, it's what you want to do. And the meantime you're trampling down the church. You know, churches are ripped apart because of this type. of stuff. quite legitimately, you know, somebody says, I have a right to say what I want in the congregational meeting. Yeah, but you don't have it might not be the most loving thing to say whatever you want in a congregational meeting. I have a right to criticize this person or that person. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta mouth you're more than welcome to say what you want. But that doesn't mean what you're gonna say is edifying. What is it in your life that you can forsake as a liberty to show a sacrificial love for your brother or sister? Let's pray. Father, we thank you that the best example of this sacrificial love is Jesus Christ, who put away the rights of heaven and you became flesh. As the giver of the law, you came under the law and you purchased freedom for us. God we pray that we would not then take that freedom and use it against our brothers and sisters. But we pray that you would teach us the law of love. Father, please give us a heart of sacrifice. Give us a heart of gentleness. Care for us this day. In Jesus's name, Amen. May Lord bless you today. May you walk in the love of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai