The Law Of Love Displayed In The Practice Of Paul Series

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?”