WWUTT 1543 A Stewardship From God (1 Corinthians 9:13-17)

Paul had rights that he had as an Apostle, even a certain authority that had been granted to him, but he gave up those things for the service of the Church that many would come to faith when we understand the text.

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Paul’s Apostolic Rights and the Call to Support Ministers

Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in 1 Corinthians 9. We made it through the first 12 verses, so I'm going to pick up where we left off yesterday, reading in verse 13 to the end of the chapter.

This is in the Legacy Standard Bible the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth. 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 from the altar?

So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. But I have used none of these things, and I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case.

For it would be better for me to die than have anyone make my boast an empty one. For if I proclaim the gospel, I have nothing to boast, for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not proclaim the gospel.

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward, but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That when I proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my authority in the gospel.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews, to those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law.

To those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all men, so that I may, by all means, save some. So I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. 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. Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim.

I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. So coming back now to verse 13 where Paul says,.

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 from the altar? Paul is making a reference to Old Testament, to the law, where the priests who served in the temple were able to receive their share of the ministry work that they did.

The priests had one of the grossest jobs in Israel. I mean, we don't think about the responsibilities of the priests all that often, but they were basically like butchers. When a sacrifice would be brought to the temple, they would have to butcher that sacrifice, and they did that over and over and over every single day.

However, the priests did eat pretty well. They got to eat part of the sacrifice that would be burned on an altar. Consider what we read here in Numbers. This is chapter 18, beginning in verse 8. I'm reading from the English Standard Version here.

Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due.

This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire. Every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, every guilt offering of theirs, which they rendered to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons.

In a most holy place, you shall eat it. Every male may eat it. It is holy to you. God is saying that it is holy to you as to say to them, you will not be in the wrong or nothing will happen to you if you partake of it.

Of the sacrifices that are offered by the children of Israel that you prepare and lay on the altar for me, there are portions of those sacrifices that you may eat and you may enjoy. And it is holy to you.

You will not be defiled if you partake of it. So the priest got to receive a portion of those things that were brought into the tabernacle or into the temple to be sacrificed unto the Lord. So just as this was for the priests, so it is also for those who minister to the church.

Remember previously in chapter nine, verse five, Paul said, do we not have authority to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? So they, you know, it wasn't required for them to have to be monks.

Even the apostles could be married and take along their families in the ministry that they did. The Levitical priests, it was the same way in Israel. They had families and they were allowed to be married and raise families, still committing themselves to the work that needed to be done in the tabernacle and in the temple.

Once again, that was a very gross job to have to butcher all those animals and as often as they did so. But yet they received a good reward for the work that they committed themselves to. They couldn't do any other work.

There wasn't any other kind of work that they could do as priests in the tabernacle or in the temple. That was a full time job. They did that in service to the Lord and for the benefit of Israel. So since they could not take any other job, they were supported by the very work that they did.

Some of the money, some of the offerings would even go to the priest. And so it should be in the church as well. You have men who commit themselves to full time ministry in the church. The priests could not take on another job.

That was full time work that they did in service to God and to Israel. And so what they received in the work that they did was also their living. They were not only fed while they were doing that work in the temple, but then they're also able to bring money home and provide for their families also.

This was what the priests received for the job that they did. And so those who are committed to full time ministry in the church, likewise, they should be supported by the church. That's the argument that Paul is making here, that the Corinthians should be supporting those who come and minister to them.

Now, Paul gives up his rights and he's going to explain why coming up here a little bit later on as we as we read the passage in full, he's going to explain that a little bit. But that doesn't mean that all the other apostles or all the other ministers have to give up their rights.

Peter, who's married, would not have been able to. He needs to be able to support his family in addition to the work that he commits himself in Christ. And so the church is able to support him in that.

And then he doesn't have he doesn't charge for the gospel. The church just supports him in that he doesn't have to lay before them. Hey, here's all my expenses. I need for you to cover that. But the church gives him what he needs to be able to provide for himself and for his family that he may commit himself full time to the ministry work in the churches.

Churches that I have worked for, the church that I was a part of in Kansas when I started, when we understand the text and now living in Texas, these churches have supported me and my family is provided for through the work that I do for the church.

So I can do things like this also, this podcast teaching through scriptures and offer that for free. That doesn't cost you anything because the church has provided for me that I may do the work for the church and even extend ministry in this way and not have to charge anything for it.

The videos that are posted on YouTube, they stay ad free. I don't need any money for that. It would be an inconvenience even for somebody to take one of those minute and a half videos and have to sit through a 15 second ad before they play the video.

And then I can't even control the content of the ads that get posted there. And so it's better a better service for the church who are going to be using videos that I make. It would be better for me to not have any ads on them at all.

I don't make money off of any of those videos and I don't make money off the podcast. The church has provided for me and I don't need to ask any more than what I receive. Some of you want to give gifts and that's great and I appreciate that.

And so we do have a way that you can provide for us financially. It pays for things like, you know, the yearly thing that I have to pay for the podcast to stay up. If I don't pay that annually, everything that I've uploaded disappears.

So I do have to pay for that. There's costs to go to conferences. There's work that we want to do at our home so that I can have my studio at home. I'm still recording from the church. So there's ways in which the money definitely benefits us.

If you want to give a gift, you're certainly welcome to do that. But the church provides for me that I may extend this service for free. And Paul does that also with what he does. He is able to do, he's able to have a bivocational, it's not even a bivocational job because the church is not giving him any money at all.

He does all that he does for the gospel for free and provides for his living by being a tent maker, working with Barnabas and then later with Priscilla and Akilah. You know, he worked and provided an example to the Corinthians to work.

He says the same thing to the Thessalonians as well. I didn't take anything from you, but I provided an example to you as someone who works with his own hands to earn his bread. The bread that I ate, I didn't inconvenience any of you, but it was from the work that I did.

To the Corinthians, Paul is showing to them not only a work ethic, but that he's not like all the other philosophers that come into Corinth and demand to be paid for the philosophy that he's teaching them.

Paul did not take any money for the gospel that he proclaimed to the Corinthians so that nothing that he did would look anything like those philosophers. And later, Paul was also able to present himself as one who did not take money, unlike the super apostles.

That's going to come up later on in second Corinthians. There were other men that came into Corinth and they proclaimed themselves to be even greater apostles than Paul. Paul sarcastically refers to them in second Corinthians 11 as super apostles.

Now, they were all decked out in flashy duds and they had great orator speaking voices and and they took money because, hey, good sermons do not come cheap. Right. So you need to pay me. You want good quality stuff.

You need to pay me for that. And Paul did not take money from the Corinthians, so he could not be compared with those men at all. He was able to say, I gave up. These things for you, for your benefit.

And yet these guys are greater than me because they ask for money for what it is that they do. Nevertheless, even though Paul did not take a paycheck for his job as a minister, he does say to them, he says to the Corinthians, it is right that a minister be supported in the work that he does for the gospel and that you as a church support him.

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 from the altar. Verse 14. So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

When he sent out the when he sent out his disciples, Matthew chapter 10, or when you read about the sending out of the 72 in the gospel of Luke, Jesus directed them to go into the towns to proclaim the gospel in those places where they went.

They were to heal the sick and cast out demons, and they were to be received by the people in that town, even provided for and cared for by the people in those cities. So in Luke chapter 10, Jesus sending out the 72, he says to them, beginning in verse four, carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals and greet no one on the road.

Whatever house you enter first say peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you and remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide for the laborer deserves his wages.

That's something Paul also quoted with Timothy later on. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in it and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.

But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we will wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.

I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. So it should be in service to the Lord that a church would provide for those who minister for the sake of the gospel. And this they do unto Christ to care for those who minister is in service unto the Lord, those who work in service to the Lord are cared for by those who do so in service to the Lord.

The Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel, just as we see in Matthew 10 and in Luke 10. So in verse 15 here, back to first first Corinthians nine, verse 15. But I have used none of these things, Paul says, and I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case, for it will be better for me to die than have anyone make my boast an empty one.

In other words, Paul is saying, I'm not saying these things to you so that the next time I come, you will provide you'll be providing for me. It's not like I'm sitting here complaining, going, hey, why weren't you providing for me when I was there?

I didn't let you provide for me. Paul made a living for himself. He worked with his own hands. He ate his own bread. So that he would not be a burden upon anyone. And if he has any boast, he says here in verse 15, then it's not in me.

It's going to be in Christ. We're going on in verse 16 for I proclaim the gospel. I have nothing to boast for. I am under compulsion for woe is me. If I do not proclaim the gospel under compulsion as a as an apostle of Jesus Christ, it was a requirement as an apostle that he therefore preach the gospel lest he would be found unworthy of the office that he was appointed to.

So in this case, he's under compulsion. That's that's a job requirement for an apostle. He had to proclaim the gospel of Christ. But this was not to boast in himself. He boasts in the Lord as he had directed the Corinthians to do previously.

We go back to chapter one, first Corinthians one, verse 30, by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord.

No, no one can boast before God of anything that they have done, but we boast in the Lord. It is by his doing, by God's doing that you are in Christ who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

So any boasting that Paul does is going to be in Christ, not in himself. He says, if I proclaim the gospel, I have nothing to boast for. I am under compulsion for woe is me. If I do not proclaim the gospel, he would receive greater judgment, greater strictness if he was not obedient to Christ in proclaiming the gospel in the world into which he went.

That was exactly what he was supposed to do, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. That was what Christ had commissioned him to do. We read in James three, one, not many of you should aspire to become teachers, my brothers, because we know that teachers will be judged with greater strictness.

So woe would be Paul to have been given this assignment and then not go proclaim the gospel. Verse 17. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

Now, this is not Paul saying that he he is unwilling to do what Christ has appointed him to do or he talks about, you know, voluntarily. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. Well, it's not that he volunteered for the job.

He did not. Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus and made him an apostle. So this was not Paul standing up and going, send me, Lord, you know, that that wasn't Paul. It was certainly against his will that Christ transformed his heart and made him into an apostle of Jesus Christ.

If Paul had continued in his own way, he would still be rounding up Christians and putting them to death and would have stood before God in judgment and perished in hell forever if Christ had not appeared to him on that road and changed his will from somebody who was against God to somebody who is now passionate for Christ and desires to share his gospel.

So he didn't offer to do this job. He is still willing to do this job, but it is a will that has been transformed in Christ, not because he and his flesh said that he would do it. But if against my will, Paul says, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

Even though I did not volunteer for this and Christ appointed me for this, as he says in Galatians chapter one, I was appointed for this before I was even born. And so as Christ has appointed me to this, I have a stewardship.

I didn't volunteer for it, but it is still my responsibility to do it. A steward is is somebody who's in charge of the master's house, all of the things that belong to the master, the steward oversees all of that, takes care of it, takes care of even the master's finances, making sure that they're being held in a right and in a proper way.

Paul told Timothy that his responsibility was to steward the house of God, and likewise, he was to teach the church that the church is to be the all of the members of the church are to be stewards in the household of God.

That's what we have in in first Timothy three fifteen. He says to Timothy, if I delay in coming to you, I write these things to you so that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

And so we all have that responsibility. Paul says that of himself here, he has a stewardship entrusted to him. And certainly as an apostle, he has a unique role, a unique assignment that has been given to him.

But all of us have been called to steward the household of God and do so faithfully, caring for one another, making sure the gospel that is proclaimed in our midst is sound. It is doctrinally true. According to what we have from Christ and from his apostles that are given to us in the word, all of these things we have a responsibility for since God has appointed the church to be the pillar and the buttress of the truth, meaning that we are the instrument that God has chosen.

To take the gospel to the world. To grow one another in sanctification and call others to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, may we fulfill those things we who previously had wills that were against God, but our wills have been transformed to become followers of Christ by his Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for these good words today, and I pray that we do see that charge that is upon each and every one of us to care for your house, to care for your church and even to take the message of the gospel that came to us to a lost and dying world so that they may also hear and turn from their sin and so be saved.

We don't do this to profit off of it. We don't do this to receive any kind of boasting or praise from anyone else, but we do it in service to our God and King. Christ is our reward. Fellow heirs we are of his eternal kingdom.

So bring us into your kingdom. Heavenly Father, it's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

Paul’s Example of Gospel Ministry Without Charge

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.