EPISODE 117 1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 9A "Getting By Giving Up"

Welcome to Share the Word. The Apostle Paul certainly had his work cut out for him with the church of Corinth. The questions, the challenges, those who try to sideline or destroy his credibility. But as you'll see in this chapter, Paul, even though he had the right to certain things, he set them aside and set himself above reproach, not for his benefit, but for the benefit of sharing the gospel. First Corinthians chapter 9, part 1: Getting by giving up. I saw a picture with a short story the other morning on Facebook that caught my attention.

The picture was of a dozen or so African village children sitting in a circle on the ground with their feet facing inward, and they were sharing something, like passing around something. When I read the accompanying story, it said that some Westerner had visited their village, brought a bowl of candy for the children, and had challenged them to race to see who could get it first. Instead of racing, though, the children all joined hands and ran together. The caption was explaining how once they got the bowl of candy, they formed a circle on the ground and all shared it. The moral of the story was that in their culture, they were taught no one should enjoy something individually unless all could enjoy it together. I was thinking when I read that how different that usually is in my culture.

If you can run the fastest, you get the bowl of candy, and then you maybe share a few pieces with a couple friends if you're feeling generous, but most people would get none. Looked at through our lens, I was thinking there had to have been one kid more athletic in that circle who could have had it all, but willingly took the hands of others and did so for the group's benefit. I couldn't tell from the photo which one that might be. But he was there in that circle, old death thought. Back when we went chapter by chapter through Paul's letter to the early churches in Galatia, I spent a little bit of time on the question I have repeatedly gotten from people about whether ministers, pastors, and so on should get paid.

Although I have already recorded a podcast from what I think is the biggest idea coming out of today's chapter, 1 Corinthians 9, while I was preparing for that, I remembered that during the Galatians 6 episode I titled The Law of Sowing and Reaping, I commented on this statement by the Apostle Paul: The one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him. I like that whole episode, by the way, if you haven't heard it. It's episode 77, I believe, and it's about a lot more than the specific question about ministers' pay. But I said at the time that I would have more to say on that topic, that particular question, when we got to 1 Corinthians 9, and guess where we are today? 1 Corinthians 9. So, yeah, to be honest and to follow through, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about that topic from this chapter.

It comes up again here in more detail, not really as the main idea, but as support for the big idea. The way Paul handles this question is surprising. Listen to his slightly sarcastic opening lines in this chapter: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus the Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

If to others I'm not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me is this. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas—that's Peter? Or do only Barnabas and I not have the right to refrain from working? Just as we saw in Galatians, once again it seems Paul is having to respond to critics who have arisen, or come to the Corinthian church in the time since he was there, who are undermining him and his authority.

Our enemy will always do his best to create confusion and disunity in a church, and hurting the leaders, if they are the ones who are leading the way and making a difference for Christ's kingdom, is one of his key objectives. And who is making more of a difference for the kingdom than this man, the apostle Paul? Again, I wish we had their letter containing the questions which Chloe brought to see exactly what Paul was referring to and what was being said about him. But we can make an educated guess by listening to Paul's responses. My educated guess is that Paul here is responding to critics from among the Jews in that congregation when he asks, Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?

and then adds, Even if I am not to others, I certainly should be to you. Apostle means a sent one, and refers to those Jesus especially chose and sent out in his name with a measure of his authority. The Jewish faction in the church at Corinth, at least some of them, apparently were criticizing Paul as a Jew because he did not live like a Jew. By that I mean he didn't live under the restrictive laws of the law of Moses. He didn't live under all those obligations. When he was in Gentile cities, he lived like the Gentiles.

That must have irked them. Apparently, they question his legitimacy as an apostle too. I can hear them saying, You know that Paul, he was not even in Israel when Jesus was training his disciples, when Jesus appointed twelve apostles. How dare he call himself an apostle of Christ? Well, if you were with us through the book of Acts, you know Paul's unique story and how he was especially chosen and specially sent to the Gentiles. That's why he says here, Even if others doubt I am an apostle, one of those Jesus personally commissioned and sent, you certainly shouldn't, because I came thousands of miles to bring you the good news.

The very fact you're believers there in Corinth is due to the fact that I was sent. Then he turns to his personal choices when he asks whether it's only he and Barnabas who don't have the right to bring along a wife on their travels. Apparently, other apostles had, and he mentions Peter, that's Cephas here, and Jesus' brothers, probably James and Jude. And he makes his personal remark about financial support when he asks, Is it only me and Barnabas that don't have the right to expect to be fed, or is it only Barnabas and me who don't have the right to refrain from working, meaning to be paid for their time working for Christ and the Corinthians' benefit? Then, in a few short verses, Paul takes the case up that answers all of those who question whether he and legitimate ministers of the gospel should be financially supported. Listen, he asks, Whoever goes to war at his own expense?

Paul saw his ministry as an ongoing spiritual battle for souls and himself as a soldier of Christ. Don't soldiers get paid? he's asking. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit, or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock? Don't farmers benefit from the labor in the fields and with their animals? Isn't that the source of their income, he's asking.

Am I saying this only from a human perspective? Doesn't the law also say the same things? For it's written in the law of Moses, Don't muzzle an ox while he treads out the grain. Is God just concerned about oxen, or isn't he also saying this for us? The Old Testament law even made provision for animals who worked for people's benefit to be taken care of and fed properly. So that is written for us, Paul is saying as well, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes ought to do so in hope of sharing the crop.

Now here comes the big question. If we have sown spiritual things for your benefit, is it too much if we reap material things from you? Think about that. If we have sown spiritual things for your benefit, is it too much if we reap material things from you? Hmm. That's a fair question.

He's asking them about what they value, spiritual, eternal benefits or earthly material things more. If Paul was doing his day job making someone a tent, of course they would expect to pay him for his time and his expertise at doing that. Today, if someone comes into your home and fixes your plumbing, or you take your car to a shop to get it tuned up, you of course would expect to pay for that. Of course you would. But if someone comes into your home teaching you God's Word, or you go to a church and you are built up and nourished in your faith there by the ministers there, is that of any less value to you? Those who benefit you spiritually, aren't they worth what a plumber or mechanic are?

That's what Paul's asking. That's the real answer to the question that I've so often oddly got from people. He's saying it's all in what you value. If you don't think someone who leads you to Christ and teaches you God's Word or oversees your church is worth paying, hmm, what does that say about what you really value? Then he adds more for those, I guess, who are really slow. Don't you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple sacrifices, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings at the altar?

He's referring back now again to the Jewish temple and to the Jewish Old Testament system, probably for the ethnic Jews there in Corinth. God always provided for the priests and the Levites who worked at the temple, he's saying. He made a way for them to be cared for for their services. Then he concludes, in the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living from the gospel. The principle is no different for Christ ministers now in the church age, Paul is telling them. This couldn't be any clearer, could it?

As I said when we brushed against this question in Galatians, those who teach God's Word effectively and work hard at the ministry for our benefit should be paid reasonably for their time, just as any other person who works. Not excessively, but adequately so they can concentrate on this important work to advance Christ's kingdom without worrying about whether they can pay their bills at the end of the month. So that should settle that question and kind of sounds like the end of the story. But then, here comes the surprising part. Paul says, however. We have not made use of this right.

Instead, we endure everything so that we would not hinder the gospel of Christ. In fact, I have used none of these rights, he says, and I have not written this to make it happen for me like this. I'm not writing this for my benefit, he says. This is for other people. What? Paul is reminding them he certainly had the right to bring along a wife if he chose to do so.

He certainly had the right to pass the plate and take up an offering after he preached the gospel. He certainly had the right to expect those who he took care of, those 18 months that he was in Corinth ministering to them, sharing with them, teaching them, planting their church. But he didn't. Reality was, Paul surrendered all those rights and more to make sure no one could ever question his motives, even though it sounds like some goofballs in Corinth still were. Can't win with some people, and that's a fact. But Paul bent over backwards trying, trying to be sure those he preached the gospel to in cities like Corinth and others would never think of him as just another orator, just another debater who came to town, someone who was an entertainer or an actor who did what he did for money.

You know, this man Paul was really one of a kind, or close to it. He had chosen to take nothing from them for the 18 months he ministered in Corinth, leading them to faith in Christ and establishing their church fellowship. On his best days, he considered it a great privilege and one Christ would one day reward him for. And even on his worst days, he accepted it all, he says, as a stewardship laid on him as a servant of Christ, and one he had no choice but to fulfill after all God had done for him. Paul's willingness to surrender his rights seems very radical, especially to those of us living in societies that are all about demanding our rights. But Paul was not normal, frankly.

He was willing to forego the pleasures of normal relationship. He was willing to work with his hands and make his own way rather than to ask for a dime from the people he was ministering to. He was very willing to give up such rights. A moment ago, I said he was one of a kind and then corrected myself quickly to say, or close to it, because as I was thinking about this, I realized Paul certainly adopted these attitudes and values from what he knew about Jesus. Jesus, who, although he existed in the very form of God, did not consider his equality with God as something to be clung to, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself further by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Those are Paul's words written to another of the early churches he founded, and they tell me where Paul got this idea of giving up his rights to do something extraordinary for others, for others' benefit. Didn't Jesus come out of heaven, he's thinking, surrendering his rights as King of the universe, in fact, to live as a humble servant here, and all for our benefit, to serve our greatest need, to bring us back to God. The big idea in 1 Corinthians 9 is not about why it's right to pay ministers fairly for their work, although that certainly is taught here. The big idea in this chapter is about willing to give up rights for the benefit of others, for a greater cause, for a greater good.

And this should cause us, we who are often very concerned about protecting our rights, about maintaining our rights, about getting all that's coming to us, whether it's money or attention or respect or promotions or recognition, whatever it is, to consider if it's not for just the opposite reason that we consider the Apostle Paul such a great man. And if it's not for just the opposite reason that we are told God has given to Jesus a name above every other name. At the end of this chapter, Paul exhorts all of us, all of us who are followers of Christ and from a platform we should respect. 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. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things, and they do it to receive a perishable wreath, we an imperishable one.

So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box like one beating the air, like a shadow boxer. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. He's saying to his readers, and I am sure to us too, understand that athletes give up a lot and discipline themselves highly in order to win in the ring or at the Olympic Games, and they do all of that for a belt or a medal at the end of their competitions. So how much more should we be willing to give up or do without in order to be winners in God's eyes? He's challenging us to run our life's race, to fight our battles, so that at the finish line we can hear, Well done, from our Savior and Judge.

So that we will enjoy together the rewards he promises to those who serve him faithfully. So the question that follows from this, obviously, is what rights and expectations am I willing to give up if I need to, to hear well done from Christ on that day, to be a winner in God's estimation? That's what I hear Paul challenging me as the big idea in this chapter. I told the story at the outset about the photo of the African children, remember? I said, You know, there had to be one kid in that group who could have outrun the others and taken the prize all for himself. I was imagining if we had photos of the church at Corinth when Paul was there, wouldn't it be cool, by the way?

Wouldn't it aid our imagination and help us appreciate how real all of this actually was? But if you did see such a group photo of the Corinthian church in 52 A.D. and you reasoned, The apostle Paul must be in that photo someplace among those 75 or 100 people, or however many there were in that early church, do you think you could figure out which one was him? Who was the special one? I don't think we'd know which one was Paul, but all the others were there enjoying the benefits of knowing Christ because of him and what he was willing to give up. And he, in fact, did give up a lot to carry the gospel message thousands of miles to reach them. He sacrificed greatly to make sure a church was planted in their city for their spiritual benefit.

Yet he considered the costs and sacrifices required to be his privilege, because ultimately he did what he did for an audience of one. He was a true servant of Jesus Christ and the last of us that would ever have to worry about being disqualified, that's for sure. You know, I believe that we are given so much of this man's life on the pages of Scripture, his feelings, his accomplishments, his values, his heart shown to us. Because he is such an ideal, such a winner in God's eyes. Maybe with Jesus we could rationalize, but he was the Son of God, and I'm a mere man or a mere woman. But not with Paul.

He was one of us in every sense. So the lofty challenge is: follow Paul as he followed Christ, a man who truly understood and lived by the principle that life was not about what he could get for himself, but what he, by giving up, could do for the benefit of others. This is Paul for Share the Word. I'd like to take a moment and simply tell you how much of a privilege it is that we at Share the Word are given the possibility to create these podcasts and blogs and share the Word of God with all of you. There are so many places around the world that what we do is not possible. And everyone behind this microphone, they do what they do to bring you those wonderful, insightful gems chapter by chapter.

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