WWUTT 1546 I Made Myself a Slave to All (1 Corinthians 9:18-20)

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The Bible says to consider one another's needs ahead of our own.

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There may be something that you think you have the right to have, but maybe you need to give that up for the benefit of someone else when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. And picking up where we left off last week,

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I'm going to start reading in verse 18. We'll go through verse 27. This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

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The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. What then is my reward?

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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.

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For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.

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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.

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To those who are without the law, as without the 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.

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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.

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So I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

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Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?

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Run in such a way that you may win. Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self -control in all things.

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They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

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Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air.

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But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others,

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I myself will not be disqualified. Now there's a lot of this that you probably recognize.

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You've heard it said many times before that I make myself all things to all people, so that I may win some.

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And this is a passage that is used by many to pretty much justify any kind of approach to doing church or sharing the gospel, because any and every approach is going to, you know, there's something about that approach that's just going to grab somebody.

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It's going to win them to the gospel as long as one person gets saved. If one person repents and comes to faith in Jesus Christ, then it was all worth it.

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That's typically how this particular section gets twisted. But it's not at all what

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Paul is saying here, because you have to read this in light of what he has said previously in first Corinthians chapter one.

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In verse 23, he said, we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles .

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So preaching Christ actually means that a lot of people are not going to come to faith in him.

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Those who are Jews, Christ is a stumbling block. Those who are Gentiles, they think this whole thing is foolishness anyway.

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So preaching Christ, preaching the gospel, there isn't any way to dress this up to win somebody to the faith.

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If they are against God, they're going to remain against God. If you win them with carnal things, well, it's going to require carnal things in order to keep them there.

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As you've heard it said, Paul Washer is one who is known for saying this. What you win them with is what you win them to.

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If you win them with the gospel, you win them to the gospel. You win them with Christ, you win them to Christ.

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But if you dress it up, if you if you win them with a show, with a concert, with fog machines, with elaborate music, nothing wrong with doing music well in a church.

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But if you're thinking that this is what we need to do in order to draw the most number of people, well, you're just going to have to keep up the show.

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You're going to have to continue to provide great music, catching gimmicks, door prizes, whatever it might happen to be, to win somebody to the gospel, to keep them there in church.

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If you win them with carnal things, it will require carnal things in order to keep them there. So that's not what

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Paul is talking about here. Doing anything and everything possible in order to get a person to come to church and hear the gospel and so be saved.

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We'll look at this more intently this week as we finish up now. First Corinthians chapter nine.

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So we come back to verse 18, where Paul says, what then is my reward? Then when

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I proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge so as not to make full use of my authority in the gospel.

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Now, this verse probably goes better with the previous 17 verses that we had studied last week, more so than the section that we're looking at this particular week.

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But it serves for a good bridging verse, right? Brings us from that first section into this next section.

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Paul says, what is my reward? Now, previously in chapter nine, Paul was making an argument for the rights that he has or the authority that he has as an apostle.

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But rather than exercising those rights, rather than exercising that authority, he gives them up so that he can become all things to all people.

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Say he was going into a poor community where they would not be able to support him or provide for him.

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Well, if he has given up the demand for them to support him as an apostle, then he's placed no burden on that group of people that he's come to bring the gospel to.

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Now he can preach the gospel to anybody, not placing any obligation on anyone else to have to provide for him or wait on him or serve him in any way.

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He is there to serve them. Now, when we read this statement in verse 18, it's better to remove the question mark.

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I actually think the question mark makes it a little confusing. If you've got your Bible open and you're looking at the verse, then you know what it is that I mean, where Paul says, what then is my reward that when

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I and that's the question, right? Question mark that when I proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge.

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So as not to make full use of my authority in the gospel, I don't really think that he's making this as an argument, though.

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I don't think the question mark really works. That's out of the legacy standard Bible. But the the question mark is even in the

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English standard version. So verse 18 in the ESV, what then is my reward question that in my preaching,

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I may present the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

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I think rather the statement that he's making here is more rhetorical, not asking a question and then answering the argument.

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But he's saying something more to this effect. What then is my reward, but that I proclaim the gospel,

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I may offer the gospel without charge so as not to make full use of my authority in the gospel.

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So the reward that is given to him by God in this commission that he has as an apostle is to proclaim the gospel.

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That's the reward. That's the reward that he has. That's what Christ has given to him.

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And he rejoices in that. So, as I had mentioned last week, as we were going through those first 17 verses,

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Paul is in no way entering into this service begrudgingly. It's not against his will or his desire.

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He loves to do this and praises God that he has been called into his service to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

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The reward that he has received is that he gets to be one to proclaim this wonderful, glorious message that has been given to mankind, greatest message that has been ever given to man, that God so loved the world, he gave his only son, and whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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Jesus Christ, who is God, gave up his throne in heaven and took on the likeness of sinful man, became obedient to the

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Father's will, even unto death on a cross. And by his death on the cross, he made himself the propitiation for our sins, satisfying the wrath of God.

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And we receive all the blessings of that grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

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God's grace poured out upon us when we believe in Jesus. We put our trust in him, what he accomplished through his life, his death, his resurrection.

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Ascending into heaven is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, where he intercedes for us on our behalf, even now, and we become fellow heirs with Christ, all those who believe in him.

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By faith, we have received these things. The grace of God poured out upon us through Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. What a wonderful message that is. What great news that is to us to hear that it is not by our works, but by the finished work of Christ, that we have been made sons and daughters of God.

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And Paul considered it his privilege, his reward, to be able to proclaim this gospel.

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What then is my reward? That I get to proclaim the gospel, and I may offer the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my authority in the gospel.

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And that is certainly to the benefit of his hearers, that no one has to wait on Paul.

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He has not taken a wife. He doesn't travel with a family so that nobody has to therefore provide for his family, nor does it take anything away from Paul's assignment as an apostle to preach the gospel.

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Nothing's taken away from him to have to care for his wife and kids. He's able to focus himself entirely on the mission that God has called him to.

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And this is why he made the argument previously, like back in chapter 7, that it's better to remain single so that you can answer the call of God upon your life.

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If you are called to go out and preach the gospel, well, you don't have to be concerned about caring for your wife and your kids, or making sure they're provided for, or even if you're going to be persecuted for the gospel, that they're going to be safe.

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You're able to focus yourself entirely on this work that the Lord has called you to. And so this is what

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Paul does. And in this way, giving up the authority that he has as an apostle, he's able to devote himself more to the

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Lord and for the benefit of his hearers. He made the argument previously, we have the right to take a wife,

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Cephas, the other apostles, they can take a wife. In fact, Peter, Cephas, did have a wife, he was married.

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So it is good for us to take a wife if we can. But Paul is given that up so that he's not obligating anybody else.

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And he's able to respond more readily to God placing him in those various places that he needs to be in order to preach the gospel, plant a church, whatever it is that he is doing.

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So he gives up those rights that he may, that he may not make full use of his authority in the gospel.

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Now, I made this point last week, and I want to repeat it again. This is not

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Paul saying that everybody else therefore has to give up their rights also. This is just what

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Paul is saying that he has done. God has placed upon his heart and has given him this mission to do this thing.

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And he's done this to serve God and to serve others.

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That's what Paul has done. But he's not saying that every apostle therefore has to give up being married, or every apostle has to give up being provided for by those people in those communities that they go to and preach the gospel.

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No, because he made the argument earlier from the law. It is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

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Is God merely concerned about oxen? I was going to say merely occupied with oxen.

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God is not occupied with oxen. He's not concerned about oxen. He's speaking altogether for our sake.

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Yes, it was written because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.

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If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

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So those were verses nine through 11, which we looked at last week. And Paul is saying to the Corinthians, you have somebody that comes to you preaching the gospel.

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You should support him. You should provide for him. But Paul gave up the authority that he had or the rights that he had as an apostle that he may serve more.

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There are people who are taking these verses and they're twisting them to say that as a Christian, you need to give up your rights.

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You have you have a right to bodily autonomy. Yes, of course you do. But you need to give that up and get a shot.

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You need to you need to get an experimental vaccine because that's loving your neighbor.

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Now, see, Paul gave up all that he had the right to the authority that was given to him.

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He would give those things up. Sometimes he exercises his authority. But but here in this context here, seeing how he gave up his authority so that he could preach the gospel to others, the covid shot has nothing to do with that.

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So don't let anyone tell you that because Paul gives up his rights here in first Corinthians nine, well, you need to give up your right to bodily autonomy and get a shot because that's loving your neighbor.

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The two arguments are not even remotely close. It's not it's nothing like what

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Paul is saying here. Paul is giving up his authority and his rights to proclaim the gospel, to become all things to all people, that he might win some to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Doing a covid shot does no such thing. This is a certain agenda and narrative that exists in the culture that some

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Christians unfortunately have been manipulated by. And they're attempting to manipulate you with it.

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If you want to get the shot, get the shot. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. But these verses are not telling you to do that.

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They're not telling you to give up your rights to bodily autonomy and go subject yourself to some kind of experimental vaccine.

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If you if you believe that it's safe, then go right ahead and do it. But don't impose on anybody else that they have to.

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And if they don't, then they're not loving your neighbor. Paul would never have gone along with that. There's nothing in the

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Bible that says any such thing. As a matter of fact, those laws and those that that binding of the conscience, those mandates are pharisaical.

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It's more like Pharisees. It's nothing like what Christ commanded or what any of the other apostles said.

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If you're telling people you have to get a shot in order to properly fulfill the command to love your neighbor, well, you're being like a

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Pharisee who added to the law of God and taught the doctrines of men. There's nothing in the Bible that says anything like that at all.

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So let's come back again to what Paul really is saying here. He says in verse 19, for though I am free from all.

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I have made myself a slave to all that I may win more.

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He's not obligated to anybody as an apostle. He is obligated to serve Christ. And in that service to Christ, he's supposed to take the the gospel to the world.

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But he does not have to do anything that anybody tells him to. He does not have to adopt anything to try to impress anyone.

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He doesn't have to eat certain food that he may be accepted by certain groups of people.

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But he does it that he may have this opportunity to win more. So if you have a group of Jews that Paul is ministering to and they still keep the dietary laws of Leviticus chapter 11, they're not yet convinced by the gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus declared all foods clean, according to the testimony of Jesus.

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They're not convinced by that or they're not convinced from the story that Peter told about the Lord telling him, rise,

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Peter, kill and eat so that he may go and preach to the Gentiles and not feel like he's doing anything unclean.

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There are other Jews that are out there not convinced by these things at all. We still have to keep by the dietary laws.

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So Paul is going to give up certain things that he enjoys, good food.

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He's going to give those things up that he might have an opportunity to sit with the Jews at their table and break bread with them and share with them the gospel, whereas previously he would not be welcome at their table if they know he's eating pork because they would consider him unclean.

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So he can't dine with them, can't even enter the synagogue and preach the gospel because we know that that Paul is he's breaking the dietary laws.

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So Paul says, it's better for me to not eat meat that I may go and witness to even more, though I'm a

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I am free from all. I've made myself a slave to all so that I may win more.

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Verse 20 to the Jews, I became as a Jew so that I might win

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Jews. Now you might go, well, wait a second. Wasn't Paul a Jew? Yeah, he was. He was of the tribe of Benjamin.

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He had a Roman citizenship, but he was by no means a Gentile. He was an Israelite.

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And even the the Benjamites had been, you know, they had kind of been assimilated into the

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Jews, into the tribe of Judah. So he could call himself a Jew. That was accurate. But he says to the

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Jews, I became as a Jew. And in other words, he kept all of the Jewish laws that he might win

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Jews to those who are under the law. That's the next statement, because the Jews believe that they were still under the law.

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So to those who are under the law, I lived, I behaved as under the law myself, though not being under the law for, as Paul writes in Romans chapter six, we're no longer under the law, but we're under grace.

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I am not myself under the law so that I might win those who are under the law.

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If Paul were to come in to a group of Jews and he's not keeping any of these laws anymore and they see that about his behavior, well, they're going to believe that this grace in Jesus Christ that he's telling them about is antinomian.

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Meaning that I can live however I want and nothing is really sin because Jesus has just forgiven me of all of my sins.

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Well, that would turn Jews off immediately. They would say, no, you're just being a heretic. It's not that Christ is the

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Messiah, is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. You just want to sin however you want. And you are saying that Jesus gives you permission to be able to do that.

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Well, we don't want to hear anything that you have to say, because we know that the law came from God and we keep the law to to therefore have

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God's favor. OK, that's that's the way the Jews would react to Paul preaching something like that if they saw him living in that way.

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So it would be better for Paul to live as under the law, that he might be accepted at a

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Jew's table. And be able to share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they would hear the good news that Christ is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets, so they would turn from their sin and put their trust in Christ, not in their own works, not in their own ability to keep the law, but Christ, who has fulfilled the law and by faith in Jesus, they would be saved.

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Then, having heard that gospel and having heard that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and hearing more about the testimony of Jesus, then those

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Jews can find out, well, I don't have to keep the dietary laws anymore. The ceremonial law all been fulfilled in Christ.

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They they hear those things and they rejoice to not have to be burdened by them any longer.

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But that comes later. What's important first is that they hear the gospel.

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And that's why Paul gives up his rights. That's why he gives up his authority, though he is he is not obligated to keep dietary laws at all.

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Jesus declared all foods clean, but he's going to keep those things if it gives him an opportunity to dine, to sit with Jews and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

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And so when it comes to sacrificing ourselves for other people, that's what we have to think about, not, you know, not the cultural narratives and what they're trying to force upon us.

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Don't go by what the culture says. Go by what your Bible says. But we have in multiple places throughout the scriptures, these calls to love one another, and sometimes that that love is going to require great sacrifice.

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So think about what you can give up to benefit somebody else and especially what you would need to give up so that more people can hear the gospel of Christ.

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And that's on a case by case basis. That's a circumstantial thing. It doesn't mean that you have to give it up all the time.

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But when entering into those moments, ask God for wisdom that you may know how you ought to behave to win others to Jesus.

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Heavenly Father, we we read in Colossians chapter four that our speech needs to always be gracious, seasoned with salt so that we may we may know how to answer each person, even answering unbelievers.

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And so I pray that you would give us that wisdom, that we have this opportunity to share the gospel with others and we do so patiently, enduring evil and correcting opponents with gentleness.

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God, grant repentance to this crooked generation so that others may hear the gospel and turn from their sin and believe in Jesus and so be saved.

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May we walk with confidence in these promises that we have read about today, the promise of the forgiveness of sins, of eternal life with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

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And that gives us such hope today and hope for tomorrow. We pray these things in Jesus name.

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Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals and other resources online at www .utt