Let's bow before the Lord and ask him to bless his word. Let us pray. Loving and most gracious Father in heaven, we need you now. We need you because our minds, our hearts can so easily drift away, and we can think of so many other things, and we don't even think that this is part of how we worship you. Lord turn our hearts to you and help us to see that we are worshiping you by hearing what you are saying to us in the reading of your word and also in its preaching we pray that you administer to our hearts and to our lives we will give our undivided attention to what you're saying to us grant this to us for your purpose for your glory and for our good and in the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus and in his name we pray amen Our scripture reading is 1 Corinthians 9 and our text is verse 22b, so the second part of verse 22 and 23. So we'll read all of 1 Corinthians 9 and in the sermon I'll explain how it's tied to our text. 1 Corinthians 9. Let us give our attention to the reading of God's holy word. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me is this. Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Whoever goes to war at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man, or does the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does he say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt. This is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things, that it should be done so to me. For it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. For necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, I've been entrusted with a stewardship, what is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. 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, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak, I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel sake that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. The Lord bless the reading and the proclamation of His Word to us this morning. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters in the Lord, We often have questions about what we can do and what we should not do, right? Is it okay to do this or that? Well, this morning the Holy Spirit speaks to us about how we ought to think about such questions. In many ways, our text is a summary of everything that the Holy Spirit through Paul has been writing about and teaching here in 1 Corinthians 9. So as we read, he begins by talking about denying himself certain liberties. When he writes about eat and drink, maybe, you know, because it comes out of the context of Chapter 8, you might say, everybody has to eat and drink. But this is about eating and drinking what has been offered to idols. And he wrote about that in Chapter 8. So in the sense that, you know, you go to the marketplace and you buy things, for example, meat. It would have been offered to idols. And there were those in the church who had been saved from this idol worship. And for them to see a brother or sister eating such meat, such food, well, it offended them. To them, it was as if they were treating these idols as if it was okay. So that's why he writes in verse 4, do we have no right to eat and drink? And he writes in verse 5, he writes about the right to take along a believing wife. He says other apostles do it, so don't we have that right too? And he says in verse 6, is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? That's in the same context. In other words, don't we have a right to spend time with our wives for a while? In verse 7 and following, he writes in great detail about the right they have to receive income from their work in the ministry. But, as we read in verse 12, we have not used this right. Instead, we endure all things lest we enter the Gospel of Christ. So we need to see, brothers and sisters, how all this leads to our text, where it says, I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. This I do for the gospel's sake. And so that's why what follows, we read it, so we would see this in verses 24 and following. It's all about the necessary discipline you needed. It takes discipline to give up what you have a right to have or do. And Lord willing, we'll see why you give things up. But first, brothers and sisters, I'm sure you will agree that such a view of life, of giving up what you have a right to do, to have, that goes against our society and culture today. But even more, it goes against our natural sinful selves. Is there none of us who have thought it? And maybe even said it? It's my life and I'll do with it what I want to. We live for ourselves. And if others don't like it, well that's just tough. And the Holy Spirit through Paul says, no. We read in Colossians 3, verse 3, you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. That means you don't live for yourself. You live life as if under the cover of Jesus Christ. When it says hidden with Christ, it means literally under the cover of Jesus Christ. And so in Colossians 3, as he read for the law, he writes how life is to be lived. What we must put off. Things of the earth. And that's not, you know, have your thoughts only on heavenly things in the sense that you're no earthly good. Right? It's all about sinful things to put off. And what we are to put on. The things that are from above. The things that come from God's Spirit working in us. And then he brings it all to this one conclusion in Colossians 3.14, above all these things put on love. And verse 15, let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you are also called in one body. It's about the law of love, so that instead of you ruling yourself, The peace of God rules you. And the you there is plural. It's all together. That's why he adds in one body. So we're not doing this as isolated individuals. We're doing this together. We're a body. We are to put on love and we're to have the peace of God rule us in our hearts. So now here in our text, The Holy Spirit shows how this law of love is to work in regard to how we use freedom, our liberties, what we have a right to. So our theme is the law of love requires voluntary restraint of freedom. And our first point is, you see them in the bulletin, the content of this restraint. By content We mean, what is involved in this restraint? Or as we look at our text, what is meant by, I have become all things to all men? What's that mean? Well, maybe you have experienced it, where some use this as an excuse to kind of water down the Gospel. That is, don't say things that will offend others. Especially don't talk about sin or God's judgment. The Gospel should be non-confrontational. How will you ever win somebody over to Christianity if you tell them that they're a filthy rotten sinner and they need God's salvation? They need Jesus Christ, right? And of course, well, I use the expression filthy rotten sinner, but I right away say and so am I. We all were once dead in Christ. Dead and then Christ gave us life, right? So that's how some misuse this thing about all things to all men. Some even use it in terms of how they live. You know, how they live depends on who I'm with. I adapt the way of life, my lifestyle, to those around me. Because I am all things to all men. Well, what we need to see and understand is that the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, in saying this, he is explaining his restraint. He's explaining him keeping himself back from normal freedoms. But it is only as they in no way affect the truth of the Gospel. So look at verse 19. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win them more. And this is what he has explained earlier. That he has the full right to eat meat, also that sacrifice to idols. He has the full right to have a wife, to spend time with her. He has the full right to receive income from his work in the ministry, you know, as he travels around and preaches. But he says, I have made myself a servant to all. The Apostle Paul made a conscious decision to not exercise these rights. to restrain himself from these freedoms. And in our text that means he has become all things to all men. So in verse 20, when he's with Jews, I became as a Jew. So they looked at me and they said, that guy's a Jew. And he speaks also about Gentiles, when he says those who are without the law, And right away he says that he is as without law. Well, here we have to understand he has to be referring to the ceremonial law because the Gentiles, the Greeks, were never under the ceremonial laws, right? And then in 22a, the first part of verse 22, he speaks about the weak. This isn't those who, you know, are too weak to shovel cement or something. No, the weak here are about Gentiles who are saved but were easily offended by those who were eating what was offered to idols. So they didn't have freedom in this way. They're called the weak. That's important. I think maybe you'll agree with me that today That kind of way of living is thought to be super holy. Those are the super holy folks. No, these are the weak folks. They don't have liberty to eat these things. Well, in chapter 8, especially in verse 4 there, Paul, by the Holy Spirit, declared that an idol is nothing in the world. So if you're eating meat that's offered to nothing in the world, what's the problem? and therefore he says he has every right to eat that food but he says I won't eat it to the weak I became as weak so when I'm around them I don't eat that stuff the point is Paul being all things to all men does not mean that he's being you know like them and so he won't confront them with the truth he won't confront them with the gospel And I'm saying the gospel because I'm talking about the full gospel, which is you have big problems in your life. You're a sinner and you need Jesus Christ. For many, the gospel is, won't you accept Christ? And they're never given a reason why, right? Paul being all things to all men does not mean that he will live you know, not in a godly way because he's with them so he doesn't want to offend them. It's very important when our text says that I might by all means save some and our way of thinking can be very easily misunderstood. That by all means is not saying by any method. Like, you know, I won't even talk about sin just so that I hopefully can save somebody. right? And I'm only saying this because I've heard this and I've seen this practiced and maybe you have too. So we have to understand when our text says by all means it is used to say definitely or certainly and we also use that expression that way. For example when we say by all means do it, right? That's Certainly do it. Definitely do it. By all means do it. And in fact in verse 10, we read it. The Holy Spirit through Paul uses the very same word, but here it's translated differently. Look at verse 10. It says, or does he say it all together for our sakes, for our sakes no doubt. All together is the same word as by all means. So literally it is, or does he say it definitely, or does he say it certainly for our sakes? And no doubt for our sakes. See? So in our text he's saying, I restrain my freedom, I become all things to all, so that I certainly might save some. Obviously this anticipates already our third point about the motive of the restraint. which is for the sake of the Gospel. But here in our first point, we see that he forgoes his normal freedom, his rights, except for compromising the Gospel. He was a Jew insofar as the Gospel allows him to be a Jew, and he was a Gentile insofar as the Gospel allowed. And this meant that he would even go along with some of the Old Testament ceremonies. We read about it in Acts. He makes a vow and he shaves his head and stuff like that. As long as it didn't compromise, it didn't tone down the gospel. So in Acts 18, we read how Paul follows the principle and it resulted in him reasoning with the Jews and vigorously refuting the Jews publicly. When he was with the Jews, he was a Jew. And yeah, he also faced great opposition. He still created an offense. But Jesus Christ was the offense. Jesus Christ was a great offense to the Jews, as you can well understand. So the point is, Paul did all he could to be sure that if there was an offense, it would never be about him and his person. And he would apply that principle even to the point of giving up his rights. So one example that I know about is a missionary couple in Pakistan. In Pakistan, women go around with their heads covered. Only their eyes are exposed. So they don't walk into walls, I guess. And well, you know, the wife could have said, I'm a Christian. I'm not going to do that. but instead she voluntarily restrained her freedom obviously she was not compromising the gospel and went around with her head covered and in doing that she gained a hearing with the other women well that brings us to our second point actually where we see the benefits of this restraint here we're referring to who this restraint is a benefit for he says I'm all things to all men." Well, the all men refers to anyone he comes into contact with. For that missionary's wife in Pakistan, she covered her head for the benefit of anyone she came into contact with. In Paul's ministry, well, in Acts 18, it shows his restraint of being a Jew was certainly a benefit to Jews. It allowed him to reason with them in their synagogues. And his restraint was a great benefit to Greeks. We can see that in Acts 17. That's where Paul is in Athens. Athens, the center of Greek wisdom, humanistic thought. And Paul went to the central place where the philosophers would gather, called the Areopagus. And he spoke to them. But it's very significant, and it's very helpful for us to see. He could not speak to them about the Old Testament scriptures like he would every other place. You know about the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? That would mean nothing to them. They don't know about that. So Paul began by speaking of the God of creation. And he even quoted their heathen poets. When he spoke to them, he began where they were at. So Acts 17.22 says Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. To gain a hearing with them, he begins with their religion. Because remember, all men, all people are religious. There's no such thing as you're religious but I'm not. Oh, I love it when somebody tells me that on the golf course or someplace else. it opens up a great discussion about how religious they are. So their religion is to the altar of the unknown God, and Paul starts there, talking about the altar of the unknown God that he saw. And it's out of that that he tells them about the God who can be known. And he says, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth. And Paul said, in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said. And he goes on there. Just think of that. Your own poets even talk about that. Well, Paul could easily have scorned the pagan wisdom. But he restrained himself. He was a Greek insofar as the gospel allowed. Why? For their benefit. so that they would hear the truth, they would hear the gospel, they would hear about the God that can be known. Now we should be clear, Paul did not quote heathen poets as if to say that they had kind of a corner on the truth. That would have been compromising the gospel. Instead, Paul begins with what they know. He begins with what they know. They know they're heathen poets, but also And this is so important. They know deep within the God who can be known, the God who made all things. Read Romans 1. God put the knowledge of himself in man. So Paul speaks to them knowing that's what they know. Yeah, they've been hiding it in unrighteousness. So They'll say they don't know that God, but deep inside they do. And as they hear the truth of Him, by the work of the Holy Spirit, it might come up to their consciousness. And they see that they need Jesus Christ because they're guilty before this God. Right? So Paul was a benefit to the Greeks by restraining his freedoms. And we've also seen how he was a benefit to the weak. Again, these were Gentiles who were saved from idol worship, and they were offended by eating food offered to idols. So Paul would not do that in their presence, so that this way they would not be offended. In fact, in chapter 8, verse 13, it says, therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I make my brother stumble. I don't want a brother in Christ to be stumbling over what he believes to be right or wrong by what I'm doing in front of him. See? And then also notice this restraint is a benefit to Paul himself. Our text in verse 23 says, This I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. See it? In other words, he restrains himself. This I do. So that he would be a partaker of the gospel. It really only just says a partaker of it. There really is no with you there, but it is of course assumed. Later on in verse 27, the Apostle voices the same concern when he says, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Point is, he benefits from this restraint. Because if the Apostle Paul would use his liberty, if he would use his rights, the result would be he would fail to be a joint partner of the Gospel. That means he would not be able to proclaim the Gospel to others. So, may we see, the Apostle Paul is really applying the second table of the law, right? The law of love to your neighbor. In Jesus Christ, There is a beautiful law of liberty, of freedom. But that law is lived out of love to your neighbor. So that there are situations where you restrain, you hold back your freedom and liberty out of love for your neighbor, out of care for his salvation. but then also out of care for your own salvation so that you would not be disqualified. And that leads us to our third point, the motive of this restraint. Well, it's obvious by now, isn't it? Verse 23, this I do for the gospel sake. So the motive is that the gospel may be heard. So as we saw in our first point, we are not all things to all men so that we will be liked. and not even so that we will not offend. If there is an offense, it should be related to truth. It should be related to the fullness of the Gospel. It should not be about my person. It should not be about my freedom and my rights. Out of my love for my neighbor, I discipline myself. I restrain myself from rights because I care about his salvation. Paul by the Holy Spirit in verse 19 says that I might win the more. Well, this is about winning the Jews. That's the context. But the word is literally to gain. And it means to gain a hearing. So it's not as if he is saying or we should win someone over to being saved. Instead it is that they would hear the truth, they would hear the gospel. That's what he means by saying that I might win the more. And it made me think of what we confess in Heidelberg Catechism 86, which we did earlier, that by our godly walk of life, we may win our neighbors for Christ. The point there is also by how we live, we are causing them to hear the gospel. I'm sure you've heard the saying, our actions often speak louder than our words. We can say a lot of nice things, but our life should also practice what we say. And again, as we heard earlier, this meant for Paul that he would not receive money for the ministry, although he had the right to it. But that way no one could think that he was doing it to enrich himself. It surely makes us think of many TV preachers who get rich from the following that they get. Someone brought it up, I think, on Friday night when we were together. But also, I know of pastors who have taken a call to be a pastor to a certain church only because of all the perks they get, which included a golf course membership, for example. I mention that because, wow, that would be nice. But that's no reason to take a call, right? That kind of thing has a potential to be an offense. to the hearing of the Gospel. So of course we know that those who are saved, they're saved according to God's sovereign choice, according to His good pleasure. But at the same time, brothers and sisters, we must see that God wants us to sometimes restrain ourselves, to keep ourselves from our rights, so that Through our practicing love, others might hear the Gospel and be saved. And again, they hear it also by how we live our lives. In Paul's case, we see an axe. It meant that some would still be offended, but it was the truth, it was the Gospel that offended people. And we also see that some came to faith and were saved. And that's why Paul, by the Holy Spirit, he wrote in 2 Corinthians 2.16 these words, to the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, to the other the aroma of life leading to life. Yeah, so we have to see. This is also true for you and for me. In other words, by even in our practice of the law of love, where we restrain our rights We will still be to some the aroma of death leading to death, but also to others the aroma of life leading to life. In conclusion, brothers and sisters, here in our text we have a description of the life of a believer. We are free in Christ, but also in Christ we are bound by the law of love. And being bound by the law of love, that's not a slavery. as our theme says, it is a voluntary restraint. So that means, if it's a voluntary restraint, that means that the Holy Spirit, by the word, works in our hearts to be willing to forego certain rights, certain liberties. And we do not think, it's my life and I'll live it like I want to. Instead, we restrain what we have a right to, so that we are not an offense and our deepest heart's desire is that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbor for Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Loving and gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that is powerful and is sharp and works in us to separate us from our sins, cuts out what is evil, gives to us what is right and good, gives us hearts to want it, to grow in it. O Lord, we pray that you will grant us such hearts. You will grant us to live such lives. We pray that you will fulfill the purpose of bringing your word to us here this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.