Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who! centers around two characters: Horton, an elephant living in the Jungle of Nool, and the tiny mayor of Whoville, which is an extremely small world, which resides as a speck on a clover that Horton carries around.
Vlad, an evil vulture, chases Horton to grab the clover. As Horton runs to protect the citizens of Whoville, they experience earth-shattering upheaval. Whoville’s citizens are in a panic, so the mayor tries to tell them what’s really going on. Take a look. (show Whoville Mayor Warns Citizens movie clip).
"You've got to listen to me," he calls from an elevated balcony. “Our whole world could explode!” He tries to illustrate Whoville's peril by popping a beach ball with a pen, but his attempt goes comically wrong.
Laughing, the chairman of the Whoville City Counsel presses his advantage. “Mr. Mayor, you're finished! No one believes you; no one supports you.”
Determined, the mayor says, "Horton believes me."
"Horton?" the chairman asks. "Who's Horton?"
The mayor's response is a bit hesitant at first: "Horton is a giant elephant in the sky—don't bother looking, he's invisible. And he's the one risking his life to get Whoville—which, by the way, is a speck on a clover!—to safety."
The citizens of Whoville are confused at first, then erupt into gales of laughter.
Undeterred, the mayor says, "I can prove it!" He points to a small tube at the top of the balcony and says, "Horton's voice comes out of this horn." Speaking into the tube, he says, "Horton! I have all of the Whos gathered in town square. Let them know you're there!"
As Horton ponders what he should say, Vlad the evil vulture swoops down and steals the clover holding the speck (Horton Hears a Who, 20th Century Fox, 2008, directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, Scene 23, 00:54:40 to 00:56:30).
Poor Mayor. He tries to tell his people about the real world beyond their world, and nobody believes him. That often happens when believers try to tell people in their world about the Lord. The world thinks they’re crazy, but there is a way to get some people to listen.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 9, where the Apostle Paul shows us what he did to get people in his world to listen and believe.
1 Corinthians 9:1-2 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 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 (ESV).
Paul establishes his credentials as an apostle, as one sent by the Lord Himself. That is, he saw the Lord with His own eyes, and the Corinthian believers were God’s seal of approval on his own ministry.
1 Corinthians 9:3-4 This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? (ESV)
Paul had a right to eat and drink at the church’s expense.
1 Corinthians 9:5-6 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? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? (ESV)
Paul had a right to get paid by the church, so he could eat and drink, get married, and take care of a family. Paul asserts His rights as an apostle and preacher of the Gospel, and that’s what you must do to gain a hearing in this world.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
Confidently recognize your freedom in Christ, and acknowledge what people rightfully owe to you.
First, know your rights by virtue of your position. You’re a husband, a fathers, a mother, a senior adult, a teacher, or a pastor. And as such, you deserve certain privileges. You deserve respect. You deserve a living wage. You deserve a lot of things because of your position and rightfully so.
It reminds me of the pastor who requested $200 a month from his church board. He wanted to pay someone to mow the church lawn and care for the flowers on the church’s property. “The former pastor did that himself,” the oldest board member quickly pointed out. “I know,” the new pastor replied, “But he doesn't want to do it any more” (“Lite Fare,” Christian Reader).
Pastors shouldn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. The same goes for many of you. So know your rights by virtue of your position.
Second, know your rights by virtue of common practice. That’s the argument Paul makes in verse 7
1 Corinthians 9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? – NO ONE! Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? – NO ONE! Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? – NO ONE!
Everybody else in every other line of work receives a benefit from their labor. Why not you? Just know your rights by virtue of your position. Know your rights by virtue of common practice.
Third, know your rights by virtue of God’s precepts.
1 Corinthians 9:8-10 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 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? Does 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 (ESV).
God’s Law makes it very clear. Preachers should be paid for their work. You don’t muzzle the ox while it is working, Deut. 25:4 says. So you don’t starve the preacher while HE is working.
1 Timothy 5:17-18 makes it even clearer: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
Preachers have a right to be paid. God says so Himself, and you have rights too, which God gave to you. As a wife, you have a right to be loved (Ephesians 5:33). As a husband, you have a right to be respected (Ephesians 5:33). As a parent, you have a right to be obeyed (Ephesians 6:1). As a child, you have a right to treated fairly (Ephesians 6:4). As a senior citizen, you have a right to be honored (Prov 20:29). As a church leader, you have a right to be followed (Heb 13:17).
God has made it very clear in His Word. So know your rights by virtue of position, practice, and precept.
Fourth, know your rights by virtue of principle. Understand what’s reasonably yours.
1 Corinthians 9:11-12a If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? (ESV)
Of course they do! If they paid other teachers, certainly they should pay Paul, who spent more time with them than anybody else. It’s only reasonable.
On July 5 last year (2021), Heavenly Pizza in Findlay, Ohio, fulfilled 220 orders, but the restaurant didn't see a dime of its sales — instead, all $6,300, plus $1,200 in tips, went directly to employees.
Owner Josh Elchert decided to hold an Employee Appreciation Day to show gratitude for his team and how hard they had been working during the pandemic. He said, “You can have the best pizza in the world. If you have no one here to make it, it doesn't matter.”
Elchert knows his customers appreciate the pizzeria's employees as much as he does, and posted on Facebook that on July 5, he would give the entire day's sales to his workers. On a typical Monday, the restaurant fills about 100 orders, but on Employee Appreciation Day, customers came out in full force to show their support, ordering extra pizza and dropping big tips.
Each employee ended up earning $78 per hour for their shift. Timmy Lemire, 20, is an assistant manager who has worked at Heavenly Pizza for five years. She said, “I've never experienced anything like this before. It's a big gift” (Catherine Garcia, “To show his appreciation, Ohio pizzeria owner gave a full day of sales to employees” The Week, 7-12-21; www.PreachingToday.com).
What Josh Elchert did for his employees was only reasonable for all their hard work. And there are rights that are reasonably yours, as well. So know your rights by virtue of position, practice, precept, and principle.
Then fifth and finally, know your rights by virtue of precedent.
1 Corinthians 9:13 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? (ESV)
For centuries, God’s priests made their living from their priestly duties.
1 Corinthians 9:14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel (ESV).
When Jesus sent his disciples out two-by-two to preach the gospel, he told them, “Carry no moneybag… Whatever house you enter… remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house (Luke 10:4-7).
Jesus told his disciples to make a living off their preaching. The point is, if the priests had that right, and if the disciples had that right, then Paul have that right too. Paul had a right to be paid for his preaching like everybody else.
And you have your rights to be paid, to be respected, and to be loved. So know your rights. But if you want to gain a hearing for the gospel…
GIVE UP YOUR RIGHTS.
Set aside your freedoms. Lay aside your privileges for the benefit of others, because people are more important than privileges. Friendships are more important than freedom. Relationships are more important than rights. Being right with others is more important than having rights.
We saw that last week in chapter 8. There, God asked you to restrict your freedoms if it caused a weaker brother to sin. Here, in chapter 9, God asks you to give up your rights in order to advance the gospel, in order to gain a hearing for the good news of Jesus Christ.
Look back at verse 12, the second half of the verse, where Paul said, “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.”
Paul knew that if he demanded payment from the Corinthian people, they would disregard what he had to say. So he chose to make tents to pay his expenses. That way he could preach freely and unhindered. You see, when you demand your rights, you lose respect. But when you give up your rights, you often gain a hearing.
During the 19th century a group of missionaries in what is now Surinam in South America, wanted to reach the residents of a nearby island with the gospel. The only problem was most of the residents on the island were slaves on large plantations, and the plantation owners were afraid of the gospel. They wouldn’t allow the missionaries to talk with the slaves. They would allow only other slaves to talk with slaves.
So the missionaries sold themselves into slavery in order to take the gospel to the islanders. They worked in bondage, under the harsh conditions of a tropical climate, to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ (Ray Hoo, “Turn Your World Upside Down,” Discipleship Journal, July/August 1982; www.PreachingToday.com).
They gave up their rights to advance the gospel, and that’s what God calls you and me to do as well. Sure, you have the right to be comfortable. You have the right to be rich. You have the right to status and power. But when those rights keep people from hearing the Gospel, you must lay aside those rights, because people are more important than rank and privilege.
Joe Aldrich, internationally known speaker and author, talks about what giving up his rights means for him in his neighborhood. He says, “In my neighborhood is a neat couple across the street, who are a key couple. When they trust the Lord, the gospel is going down a web of relationships, and I think there'll be fifteen or twenty couples who'll trust the Lord within a very short period of time. This has been our experience,” he says.
“The husband, Phil, travels a lot. He's a sales representative, and he's on the road a lot. So Joe Aldrich has become a Mr. Fix it. He’s been over there to unplug toilets, and twice he’s been over to fix their garbage disposal unit.
“I wish they'd get a new one!” he says. One time he was there, it was so bad that he had to take all the molding out around the dishwasher and pull the dishwasher out. He was lying there on his back, all wet, with water and food all over everything.
Then right in the middle of it, he says, “I started laughing out loud. I just said, ‘God, you've got an incredible sense of humor, because I'd been praying for opportunities to serve, and you're sure giving them to me. I wish sometimes you'd keep your big fist out of that garbage disposal unit.” Joe knew good and well why it was clogged up (Joseph Aldrich, “How to Be a Redemptive Person,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 113; www.PreachingToday.com).
God was using him to win a hearing for the gospel, but if he chose to hold onto his rights as an internationally known speaker and author, if he chose to remain in his comfortable living room, then he would never gain that hearing. Instead, he chose to give up his rights. He chose to wallow in dirty dishwater, despite his fame, just so he could have an opportunity to share the gospel with a neighbor.
You may not be famous like Joe Aldrich, but you have rights. Even so, you must give up your rights to advance the gospel. You must set aside your freedoms. You must lay aside your privileges to gain a hearing.
John Holt put it this way: “Ministry is giving when you feel like keeping, praying for others when you need to be prayed for, feeding others when your own soul is hungry, living truth before people even when you can't see results, hurting with other people even when your own hurt can't be spoken, keeping your word even when it is not convenient, it is being faithful when your flesh wants to run away” (John A. Holt, Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).
It's hard, to be sure, but think about what Jesus did for you! Philippians 2 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him…” (Philippians 2:5-9).
Jesus gave up His rights as God to die for sinful people like you and me. As a result, God raised Him from the dead and gave Him the highest authority in all the universe.
In the same way, when you give up your rights to advance the gospel, God rewards you. God gives you something far greater in return. That’s what He did for Paul.
1 Corinthians 9:15 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 (ESV).
Paul doesn’t want them to start paying him now.
1 Corinthians 9:16 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! (ESV)
Paul doesn’t preach for the money. He preaches because of an inner compulsion to preach.
It’s like pressure building up in a pressure cooker. He’s got to preach, or he’ll just explode. I know what that’s like. Most Sundays I can’t wait to share the message God has laid on my heart. Please, turn me loose. Let me preach or I’ll just die. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:17 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 (ESV).
If I preach with pay, I’m just doing my job, but if I preach without pay (voluntarily), then I have a reward.
1 Corinthians 9:18 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 (ESV).
Paul is thrilled just for the opportunity to preach. He doesn’t want the money. He just wants the joy of service.
In the same way, when you give up your rights, you receive a joy far greater than anything money can buy. God gives you a true reward.
Bill Broadhurst ran in the Omaha, Nebraska, Pepsi 10k, a race of 6.2 miles. Broadhurst, who is a Christian, was slowed by a brain aneurism he suffered as a young man, leaving him partially paralyzed on the left side. He wanted to finish the 10k despite this obstacle. He was determined to run because Bill Rogers, his hero, was in the race that day.
Rogers is a great runner and ran the race in 29 minutes and 37 seconds. The other runners finished in 30 to 50 minutes. The joggers crossed the line in 60 or 70 minutes. It would take Bill Broadhurst much longer. As he ran, some kids didn't understand he was competing and said, “Hey mister, you missed a good race.”
As he ran, his left side got so numb he wanted to quit. He wanted to drop out. After two hours, the cars were back in the streets, it was getting dark on Saturday afternoon, and running through intersections became difficult. One policeman stopped cars to let him across; a nice lady handed him some water. At two hours and twenty minutes he said the pain was so bad and so throbbing, “I didn't want to make it; I didn't want to go on.”
Then he saw the end. They had already taken the banner down. Broadhurst ran down the street on the sidewalk, saw the banner had gone, and his heart sank because everybody had left. He thought, What's the use? But he decided to finish. When he got to the end, out of the alleyway stepped Bill Rogers and a gang of people. They were waiting for him. Rogers opened his arms, welcomed Broadhurst across the finish line, and hugged him.
After Broadhurst willed his partially paralyzed body the last few steps to the end of the race, Rogers took the gold medal from around his own neck and put it around the neck of the last runner to cross the line.
Rogers said, “Broadhurst, you're the winner; take the gold” (Knute Larson, Akron Ohio, from the workshop "Faithful Endurance," Preaching Today Audio #49; www.PreachingToday. com).
That’s what’s going to happen at the end of your race if you faithfully serve the Lord. Even though it’s hard. Even though you feel like giving up at times. When you get to the end, your Lord, who ran the race before you, will reward you!
So know your rights, to be sure, but give up your rights to advance the Gospel and receive God’s reward.
Watchman Nee tells the story about a Chinese Christian who owned a rice paddy next to one owned by a communist man. The Christian irrigated his paddy by pumping water out of a canal. He used one of those leg-operated pumps that looked like a bicycle.
Well, every day, after the Christian had pumped enough water to fill his field, the communist would come out, remove some boards that kept the water in the Christian's field, and let all the water flow down into his own field. That way, he didn't have to pump.
This continued day after day. Finally, the Christian prayed, “Lord, if this keeps up, I'm going to lose all my rice, maybe even my field. I've got a family to care for. What can I do?”
Then God put a thought in his mind. The next morning, the Chinese Christian got up much earlier, before sunrise, and started pumping water into the field of his communist neighbor. Then he replaced the boards and pumped water into his own rice paddy. In a few weeks both fields of rice were doing well… And the communist became a Christian (Making Things Right When Things Go Wrong, Howard, 1996; www.PreachingToday.com).
If you want to gain a hearing for the Gospel, go, and do thou likewise.
