1 Cor. 9:23 And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
Did you hear about the UT guys that went hunting?
One of the tackles and the quarterback from UT went hunting and as they are walking in the woods suddenly the quarterback falls to the ground and stops breathing and his eyes glaze over. The tackle grabs his cell phone and calls coach Philburn and says, “Coach, we are out here hunting and the quarterback just died! What do I do?” Coach Fulmer says, “Take it easy, I can help, first lets just make sure that he’s dead.” “Ok,” there’s silence on the phone and then there’s a loud sound of a gun firing. The voice returns to the phone, “Ok, Coach, now what?”
It’s important to get our directions straight, isn’t it?
Sometimes well meaning Christians follow God’s instructions in a way that makes them do things that cause more harm than good for the cause of Christ. I read a recent publication where two men were seriously debating about whether or not it is scriptural for a church to send money to another church to help in mission work. One said it was and the other said it was not. Because every verse in the New Testament that spoke about money being sent from one church to another was for benevolent purposes and therefore, we have no authority from God’s Word to send money to another church to help support a missionary; furthermore, to do so is a sin. His argument was, “Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.” Now when you think about it, that kind of thinking is about as funny as the UT joke.
May God deliver us from thinking that entraps and destroys the work for the very cause for which Christ died!
But wait a minute now. Have you considered the scriptures here and how they apply to us?
Let’s just read chapter 9 and notice what this chapter leads up to that is so powerful for the cause of Christ.
Read:
9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work 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 My defense to those who examine me is this:
4 Do we not have a right to eat and drink?
5 Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working?
7 Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?
8 I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things?
9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, "YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING." God is not concerned about oxen, is He?
10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.
11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you?
12 If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar?
14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things that it may be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.
16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.
17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law;
21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law.
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
23 And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
25 And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;
27 but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
In the first part of this chapter, Paul is defending himself against some accusers. During those days, teachers and great speakers would come along and get paid for their services. They sometimes opened schools and were considered the dispensers of wisdom. Most of them did not work other than to preach and teach. But when Paul came to Corinth, he didn’t take any pay. In fact, he and Barnabus got jobs and refused to ask for pay from the Corinthian church. Now, you’ve got to understand that back then the common laborer was considered a slave or at least a servant. Such a position was, to say the least, not becoming. What Paul did by refusing to take money was humble himself. He did not want attention to be directed toward him, but toward Christ. His enemies picked up on this and misunderstood his motive. They accuse Paul of not being worth the pay. He’s even single!
Just imagine the church here asking someone to come and preach for us and he won’t take any pay, but instead he gets a job as greeter at the local Walmart and collects aluminum cans on the side for income. You drive up the mountain and see him out there in the ditch picking up cans. He waves real big to you.
Now it might just be a problem for some people to tell everyone that their preacher is the guy who greets you at Walmart and picks up the cans during the evenings. That’s the judgment some are levying at Paul.
First he argues that he had every right to collect a check from them, and that even the Lord makes that clear. Second he says he didn’t take a dime from them because he had a reason. He even says he’d rather die than take a check from them. Why? Paul says, “Because my message is genuine.” I don’t need to be paid to do it. I can’t help but preach the gospel! It’s my call from God and I can’t do otherwise! Then it gets good.
Look carefully at how far Paul will go to get the message of Christ to others…
Just imagine the influence this man has had for centuries now. He’s still preaching! God inspired his words and had them preserved in scripture for you and me today!
But again, think about to what lengths this man went to proclaim Jesus and the saving message of the cross of Christ. Listen to his heart in these words:
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law;
21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law.
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
23 And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
What have you been talking about lately? Whatever subject you love the most, that’s what is on your mind and heart and what is coming out of your mouth. So, what’s coming out of there lately?
I was recently talking to a preacher who said, “Do you find it troubling that you have to encourage Christians to come to church?” What does it mean to be a Christian today if a Christian has to be prodded and coaxed to go to church? Either something is bad wrong with church, or someone has misunderstood the meaning of being a Christian if that’s the case.
Why do some people love worship and Christian fellowship and others don’t get anything out of it? What do you get a lot out of? That’s where your heart is.
Does God get a lot out of you? Then you probably don’t get a lot out of God either. The one who loves God is known by him. The most important thing you can do in your life is develop a passion for God through Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater, nothing more satisfying, nothing longer lasting, nothing richer, nothing more glorious, nothing fuller and more rewarding, nothing compares to filling your heart, soul, mind and strength with love for the God who made this universe and who loves you so much that He gave his own Son to die for you.
Come on! Doesn’t loving God beat watching football, or going shopping, or eating out and a fancy restaurant? Doesn’t loving God blow away all other temporal worldly distractions?
Paul wrote: 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.
Ask yourself, “Am I really a Christian? Or am I just a church person who likes to say that I’m a Christian?” Do I experience the power or godliness or just the form? Listen, God loves you either way, but he only saves those that seek him. What are you looking for? Don’t misunderstand the message and pull the trigger. Get on your knees and get to know the King of the universe.
