The Law of Love Displayed in the Practice of Paul
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:1-18
Well let me begin by saying that I was really hesitant to preach on this passage today… I was hesitant not because it’s controversial in any way or something that will step on toes… it’s really not that kind of passage. I was hesitant because sometimes when a pastor preaches through this passage, one of three things can happen… FIRST: The pastor can use it to manipulate his congregation… and I sure don’t want to do that. I pray that I would never do such a thing… But sometimes it happens. SECOND: It can be taken the wrong way by the congregation… In other words, the pastor may be preaching and teaching through this passage accurately, and the congregation takes it as if he is trying to manipulate them, and I didn’t want that to happen… so I was thinking this last week about preaching something else, and I was convicted by that still, small voice, that said, “Are you not called to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word?” And so I was like, “Ok. I’m going to preach through this… And I’m going to pray that the THIRD thing that can happen happens… that a pastor will preach through it accurately and faithfully, and the congregation will hear it rightly.” And then it hit me, and I was like “Duh! That’s how I pray all the time… that’s the prayer I pray no matter what the passage of Scripture is.” Pray that I preach it correctly and accurately, and that those who hear, hear it accurately and correctly.
Now before we do get into the text, I want to remind you of what we looked at last time… when we were in 1 Corinthians 8… If you remember, Paul was teaching on Christian liberty and Christian love, and we saw how he taught that, “We are free in Christ, but that freedom does not permit us, or allow us to live so freely that it harms others.” Love is the higher law, so to speak. So I’m free to eat meat, as long as my conscience is clear about it, but if in doing so that causes one of my brothers or sisters in Christ to stumble, then I – out of love, should not do that. In other words, we surrender our rights out of love for one another. We restrain ourselves out of love for one another, and out of love for God. And again, that’s not talking about blatant outright sinning… We don’t make a practice of sin because we’re a new creation in Christ, we’re being transformed by the renewing of our minds, we are being sanctified by the hearing of the Word. And we love God, and power of sin has been broken in our lives. So we’re not pursuing it, or desiring it at the level we once were. Instead, we’re putting it to death, day by day, by the grace and power of God – AMEN!
And the reason I bring that up, is because in our text today, we’re going to see one way that Paul the Apostle put this very thing into practice.
So let’s open up our Bible’s to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, and please follow along as I read verses 1 through 18 (READ 1 Cor. 9:1-18).
Now Paul begins this passage by asking a couple of questions. First he asks, “Am I not free?”, and then “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” And then thirdly he asks, “Are you not my workmanship in the Lord?” And verse 3 tells us why he’s asking these rhetorical questions… BECAUASE some of the people in Corinth are “examining” him… meaning they are questioning his right and his authority to teach them. So he says, “Hey, I’m free in Christ just like you. I’m free to do what my redeemed conscience allows.” And then he says, “Am I not an Apostle? And he gives the qualification for that role – Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” And specifically an Apostle was one who had seen and been taught directly by Jesus after the resurrection, and who was then sent out to preach, teach, and plant churches… And that happened with Paul for 3 years… He tells us in Galatians 1:11-12 that he received his instruction as a direct revelation from Jesus. So for 3 years he was taught by direct revelation from Jesus… and then he went and spoke with Peter and James… and then started preaching. Galatians 2 tells us that Paul preached for 14 years and then went back to Jerusalem, where he compared notes with Peter, James, and John and they gave him the “right hand of fellowship” – meaning that they all agreed. So Paul is saying, “Listen, I’m free in Christ, just like you… I’m an Apostle… I’ve seen and been instructed by the resurrected Lord.” And then he goes, “But if I’m not an Apostle, then what the heck are you guys? You know… you came to faith under my ministry… but if I’m not an Apostle as some folks are saying, then are you even really Christians?”
Now that’s a legitimate question right?
This is exactly why the Bible tells us mark false teachers. If someone is preaching a false “Gospel” does that false gospel have the power to save? I mean… the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation… but if it’s not actually the real Gospel does that have the power to save? THE ANSWER IS NO! So if a false teacher is preaching a false gospel, and there’s a whole bunch of people sitting under that teaching, who think they are saved, what you’ve actually got is a whole lot of people who are deceived and headed toward a Christ-less eternity.
So in verse 3 Paul is like, “So if I am free in Christ, and I am an Apostle, and I have seen Jesus, and you all were saved under my ministry… here’s my defense.” And what he says next gives us a lot of insight into what was actually taking place. It gives us some insight into why there were some who were saying Paul had no authority over them, and that he wasn’t even an Apostle.
Because what Paul says next – in a nut-shell – is say to them, “I’m not going to take any payment from you.”
Now here’s the thing… and this is where either pastors use this passage to manipulate, or where church members wrongly think that a pastor is using the passage to manipulate… But here’s the issue – Paul is saying, “I’m not going to take payment from you. EVEN THOUGH I HAVE A RIGHT TO DO SO!”
Verse 4: “I have a right to eat and drink.” Verse 5: “I have a right to take a believing wife, just like Peter and the brothers of the Lord.” Verse 6: This one is where it gets controversial… he asks, “Is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?” In other words, “I have a right to make my living from ministry.” And he uses examples from the world around them. Soldiers get paid by the government they serve. The one who plants a vineyard has the right to eat the fruit that grows there. And when you tend a flock you have a right to get some of the milk from that flock.
So Paul appeals to the world around them, and then he appeals to the Law – that’s verses 8 – 11.
(READ 1 Corinthians 9:8-11)
And then in verse 12 he even says it is a RIGHTFUL claim. And this is reinforced with several other passages like Luke 10:7, Galatians 6:6, and 1 Timothy 5:17. We won’t turn to them today, but if you want to write them down, I’ll say them again (REPEAT).
So Paul has refused to take payment for his ministry from the Corinthians. And I think that’s great! I honestly wish that was the case with me… I wish that we could take every bit of money that the church takes in and use it to help people, and bless people, and reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And not just because I wish I didn’t have bills to pay, student loans and things like that…
So Paul makes his living working as a tent maker… and it’s interesting that Paul did take financial support from the Philippians while he was in Macedonia (that’s Philippians 4:15 BTW).
Now the question is – why did Paul chose to do that? Well he tells us. He basically says, “Listen, I’m going to preach regardless. God has called me to do that, and woe unto me if I don’t. So this is the stewardship I’ve been given, and I aim to be a good steward of this ministry.” So he’s like, “I’m going to preach regardless… but I can boast in the fact that I don’t take any payment for doing it.” Now I don’t think that’s sinful or prideful boasting – even though some have claimed that. The Greek word there is: “kauchema” and it means something you could boast about, but not necessarily the act of doing it. It’s something you can take pride in – again, not sinful pride, but you rejoice in it…
It's kind of like when you do something nice, or you do a good deed for someone, and no one really knows about it, but it makes you feel really good inside. And in essence; what Paul is doing here, is taking what he just said in chapter 8, about being free in Christ, but constrained by love, and applying it to his decision not to take any financial payment for his ministry in Corinth. He says, “I have a right to receive payment, but I’m not going to do that.”
So why did Paul choose to do that? Why does he choose not to take any financial support from these Corinthians, but he does take some from the Philippians? Well I think it probably has a lot to do with this group who are accusing him of not being a “real” Apostle.
You see, back in Paul’s day, traveling orators, or rabbis, or philosophers would take patronage. What that means is that wealthy folks would pay them, or provide them with lodging, or some kind of financial, or material backing. And that was good. It was expected. And as we’ve already seen Paul says that’s good and right. But unfortunately; sometimes those same patrons would expect favors in return. So in the case of a person in Paul’s position that might be something like, “Hey, I pay your wages, don’t be calling out my sin.”
And so when Paul doesn’t take payment, these folks are like, “Well who is he to be telling us what we should or shouldn’t be doing? Guy’s probably not even a real Apostle anyway.”
What’s the takeaway from all of this? Well for starters, we see yet again, that sometimes we need to give up what we feel we are entitled too, out of love for one another. Someone says something about you or does something and you feel like you have a “right” to get back at them, but out of love you forgo that right. You feel like you’re owed something… but because of love, you let it go and trust that God will work it out. Whether that’s money, or respect, or some kind of acknowledgement, or whatever. Love for one another causes us to surrender or so called “rights”. Why? Because we’re not doing something in order to get praise, we do it out of love.
And secondly; I think we can learn from the wisdom of Paul here, that we shouldn’t put ourselves in any position where we are obligated to someone, or to do something, at the cost of truth, or what’s right. As Christians we are called to stand for the truth. We are called to stand for what is right, and good, and moral. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say things like, “Well I have to do this because of my job.” “I can’t share the Gospel because my job doesn’t allow it.” “I have to keep my head down, and show tolerance because that’s the way our world is today.” Your job, your boss, your friends, the world… none of those things died for your sins! We are to be obligated to Jesus Christ our Lord, and Him alone. He alone has died for our sin. He alone is our Savior.
Have you trusted in Him.
CLOSING
