1 Corinthians 9:1-9
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?
First the introduction: Paul dedicates this chapter to teach about Church leadership and the way we should bless those that work for the Lord
Paul is talking about the way some people questioned the way himself and other men of God were being paid by the Church. Questioning about administration is something natural. Human organizations have a tendency to becoming corrupt, however in a Church there is a spiritual principle in operation were the devil always tries to choke the payment of the ones that work for the Lord because he knows that this will bring hinderances to the progress of God’s Kingdom. In this text Paul gives several examples of other apostles (Cephas and Barnabas) and talks about the farmer, the soldier and the shepherd. On verse 9 mentions Scripture. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4: ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain’, and applies it to the right and proper financial support that all those called by God to devote all their time to ministry should receive from God’s people. This was in harmony with the Old Testament practice that those whose work was in sacred things should gain their livelihood from it.
Is it the oxen God is concerned about? The principle of Deuteronomy 25:4 is much more important than providing for the needs of oxen. God is establishing the principle that a minister has the right to be supported by the people he is ministering to. As Wiersbe says, “Since oxen cannot read, this verse was not written for them.”
In a Church people that do ministry are the picture or type of the ox that is treading the grain. They have the right to live and getting paid by the Church.
In modern day Churches people that question apostolic authority will be upset if the Church pays mileage to the pastor, decides to pay his phone bill or gives him a financial bonus at the end of the year. They accept and value these things if a Corporation does it for an employee, they will admire and value corporation generosity when a company distributes shares to their employees but will try to deny any kind of privileges to those that will be accountable before God for their own souls. This makes no sense.
A pastor in a Church studies as a much as a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher or a psychologist. He has to be a judge, a CEO and a psychiatrist. However some want to pay (and honor) him as a temporary worker in a low paid job. Then people at the Church question why do pastors leave them after 2 or 3 years. When honor is denied by the people God will always intervene and remove His servants. Have you ever been in a Church with 10,000 members or more? See the way they treat their ministers and you will understand why things keep growing and God’s power is manifested.
Paul had very strong teachings about this and latter in life he gave instructions to his disciple Timothy.
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
18 For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain, and, The laborer is worthy of his reward.
The word honor has been translated carefully but if you ask an expert in Greek the answer is obvious. If an elder governs well he is entitled to a good salary. The meaning is not that he should have the salary doubled but honor must be applied. If a Church pays the pastors a salary below the average of a normal worker the rule of Scripture is denied.
Paul begins by asking three questions
1. ‘Am I not an apostle?’ Some may have mistaken Paul’s willingness to do manual work as a sign of uncertainty on his part about the authenticity of his apostleship. Instead it was his desire to make it plain that he never preached for personal gain.
2. ‘Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?’ Paul refers to his meeting with the Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1). All the 12 apostles were witnesses of the Lord Jesus’ Resurrection. Paul received a manifestation of Christ that is more than a simple vison
3. ‘Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?’ The establishment of the Corinthian church through his ministry was a proof of his apostleship (v. 2).
Note: So what is God’s “Manifestation”? The word “manifestation” as such is only found in the New Testament where it is translated from the Greek word phanerosis . The basic meaning of this word is ‘to make something visible, or clear, to make something known, to reveal something’. The root word of phanerosis is phos , meaning ‘light’. For something to be revealed, or made visible, there must be light, the source of which must be God. Therefore God Manifestation can be briefly described as the enlightenment about God, making Him known or revealing Him in some form.
When we get to chapter 12 we will read about the manifestations of the Spirit (charismas) in our life. God manifests Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Why do some people think that the Holy Spirit can manifest but deny that Jesus still manifests to God’s children in our days. This is like saying that the One that never changes decided to change to please their false doctrines.
But let’s move further in this study since my goal today is not to preach about the pastors salary and I don’t want to give that impression but as you can read from this passage this is the way 1 Corinthians 9 starts. More than talking about the Church duty to financially support the ministers Paul talks about apostolic authority.
1. The First thing I want to tell you is that some people reject portions of the Scripture for their own convenience or to support their beliefs.
Let me start with a simple question...how many apostles are there in the Bible?
Some people say 12... I say there are more.
Jesus Christ is called the apostle of our faith (Hebrews 3:1), so we have one more, what about Paul?
1. Paul recognizes that others reject his apostleship, so we must bear in mind that we will have contentions with others because of the principle of sin that still resides in us. Those who rejected the apostle had no right to do so; rather they were acting from self-interest and in sin.
2. Many liberal churches today reject the clear teaching of the apostle Paul as well as other Scriptures. For example, they reject the Scriptural role and place for women because it doesn’t suit them or the culture that they live in. To reject clear teachings of Scripture is nothing less than rejecting Christ and His authority over us.
3. Others reject the teaching that there are more than 12 apostles. If we count the 12 apostles of Jesus, plus Jesus we have 13, what about Mathias, Barnabas, Paul, SIlas, we are getting to 17.
Romans 16:7
"Greet Andronicus and Junias (Junia) my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was."
Now we are getting to 19 (and one is a woman...)
What about Apollos? He is indicated to be one of the strongest leaders in the Corinthian Church and compared by the people to Peter and Paul. Now we have 20... If we consider the mysterious writer of the book of Hebrews we get to 21...however
The Lord chose Seventy Apostles (described in Luke 10:1-16) in addition to the Twelve and sent forth to assist in the work of preaching. Over time, the Twelve added others to their number, who were sent out with the original Seventy to preach the gospel. Although this number eventually exceeded seventy, they were all nevertheless referred to as "of the Seventy" out of reverence to the number which the Lord originally chose.
Now the 12 apostles were in Jerusalem but the Bible says that
Acts 11:1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
So this shows that there were apostles throughout Judea. Humm, this get’s interesting.
1 Corinthians 12:28
And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.
Where is it written that God placed the apostles and then took them away?
Galatians 1:19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.
OK so now we have 19 apostles. (Besides these there were also false apostles.)
Ephesians 4:11
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers.
These are what we call today the five gifts of ministry or the five-fold ministries. Do you accept Christ’s gift or will you deny it and reject it?
There is nearly universal acceptance of the evangelist, pastor, and teacher as being valid ministries for the church today. But the ministries of apostles and Christian prophets are relegated by many to the first-century church only. But in recent years, many Christians have been reexamining the Scriptures to answer the increasingly heard questions: Are there apostles today? Are there prophets today? Were the ancient bible prophets and bible apostles the only valid ones? Or are there modern day prophets (that is, Christian prophets) and contemporary apostles? Does apostolic and prophetic ministry continue in our day?
The answer is: Yes! But like in the times of Paul some will deny this as they deny women in ministry or that God still does miracles today or that there is no baptism in the Holy Spirit.
God continues to manifest himself in the present day and age. A modern day apostles is someone who was called by God to do a special work for him and that received a special visitation from the Lord. Jesus manifested to that man, or woman and a supernatural level of faith was imprinted on these persons to do the apostolic work.
2. Second I want to answer to the question— Which of the Ephesians 4:11 ministries are mentioned most in the New Testament?
One of the core values of the Kingdom is evidenced in the expression of men working together in team ministry.
None of the gifts is more important than the other but if a Church is going to be modeled by the Bible we have to be able to compare what we are today with the teachings of the New Testament and try to correct what we are doing wrong.
Let us do some simple math...
The word “apostle(s)” occurs 85 times in the New Testament.
The word “prophet(s)” occurs over 150 times in the New Testament, about 20 of those occurrences referring distinctly to prophets in the Church Age.
The word “teacher(s)” occurs 125 times in the New Testament.
The word “evangelist(s)” occurs only 3 times in the New Testament.
The word “pastor(s)” occurs precisely one (1) time in the entire New Testament! One time! (Ephesians 4:11)
Consider those numbers. The Bible speaks of New Testament apostles, prophets, or teachers a combined total of at least 200 times. Pastors and evangelists are mentioned a combined total of four times!
And yet the modern day church calls most ministers by the term “Pastor” and shies away from “apostles” and “prophets” like a horse avoiding a rattlesnake! Man’s prejudices, fears, or misinterpretations have deprived the Lord’s Church of the two foundational ministries — apostles and prophets — that He Himself placed on earth. The Church today, wherever it denies these two ministries, is improperly structured. Pastors, evangelists, and teachers alone cannot bring the church to maturity. They were never intended to. Jesus gave all five ministries for that purpose.
Some people say that the qualification of the apostle has to be an eyewitness of Christ’s resurrection, this would immediately disqualify Paul since he saw the Lord in vision or in a supernatural manifestation as many of of us have seen him today. Jesus continues to reveal himself to people as he revealed himself to Paul on the way to Damascus.
Let’s read again
1 Corinthians 9:1-9
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.
Many people in those days denied Paul as an apostle but he kept telling Christians through the epistles about the signs of his apostleship.
3. Finally I want to tell you what a real apostle does by Paul’s own words
1 Corinthians 9:19
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.
1. First the apostle is free from human bondage (Free from all)
2. The apostle is not some sort of a king but is a servant to all with the goal of win souls
3. The apostle is able to reach both religious and non-religious people. His message is appealing to society.
4. The apostle shares his blessings. Some people are takers, others are givers.
As in the time of Paul there are many false apostles today but we still encounter the real ones.
One of the last prophecies in the Old Testament books is Malachi 4:6 that says, "And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse." In this verse, I see the fathers as being the apostles and the children as being the church.
Conclusion: There are Different Anointings
Each of the five ministries is represented by a specific anointing, and each anointing is different. The authority of the Church of the New Covenant is represented by the five fold ministries and the other elders and deacons of the local church, who all work together to do the will of God. These ministries are more than just functions in the body of Christ but it's God who anoints men and women to accomplish His will.
APOSTOLIC - The word Apostle just means one sent forth in a mission! Just as God sent forth His son Jesus into the earth and as Jesus sent out the disciples we believe that God is sending forth believers to spread the awesome, life-changing, miracle working message of the Kingdom of God! This ministry is being restored to the Church all over the World. I believe that God continues to use some people as apostles today, but that the title doesn't necessarily need to be used. What matters is the spiritual reality or fruit of how God uses a person, not the designations people claim for themselves. We clearly see God using some men as apostles today, even though they do not necessarily call themselves by that title. We accept that some ministers use the title of "Apostle" but we do not use it ourselves since this has brought some controversy and confusion in the contemporary Church culture.
There are many Christian Churches that are unable to grow beyond a certain point. Generally, the only spiritual food they receive is from a single anointing, that of the pastor. It all revolves around him, and everything begins and ends with him. There are thousands of churches like this that don't have relationships with other ministries and churches and exist in complete isolation. But in the New Testament, we find no independent ministries or isolated churches. On the contrary, we find numerous local churches spread across the Roman Empire, linked by the five fold ministries, working and functioning as one. That is why the people of God were able to grow and become mature. There were no barriers of race, culture, language, nationality, or social status! Also, the five-fold ministry does not consist of independent ministries. One person alone cannot accomplish God’s work. All five ministries working together are essential for the Church.
True apostolic oversight has to do with being a "father" to the church. Seeing the church as a father sees his children, intent on training his children according to their individual needs. Caring for children is tiring work. Paul said; You remember brethren, our labor and toil, laboring day and night (1 Thessalonians. 2:9). True apostles faithfully proclaim “The Gospel of God" without alteration or substitution.
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