Good morning. Good to be with you again this morning as we continue our study in 1 Corinthians this time in the first half of chapter 9. We will follow our usual format in our class this morning. We'll read the scripture first, then we'll talk about the summary that I hope several of you had an opportunity to devise. Then we'll enter into our class discussion, which is special this morning, because you have the opportunity to devise your own discussion question. So we'll see how that goes here, and then we'll look at the outline and go through the lesson later. So let's begin by reading the scripture. Now let's keep in mind here that this is a continuation of chapter eight. That's not always recognized. Some people think this is a new thing, but it's not. It's a continuation of chapter eight, in my opinion, as Paul is really giving us an example here of the idea that he sets forth in chapter eight, and that is being concerned about the welfare of fellow believers as far as their concern for things that might or might not be sinful. And Paul concludes that chapter, you'll remember, by saying that he would never do anything, particularly the eating of meat was the topic there, the eating of meat that was offered to idols. He would never eat meat again, he says, if it will cause my brother to stumble. And now he picks up here. The reason people think it's a different thing is he begins with what appears to be a defense of his apostleship. And it is, but it has a point that's greater than that. So let's read through this and keep it in mind that this is a continuation of that idea of eating meat that has been already offered to idols in a pagan context. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least to you I am, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. Let's pray. Father in heaven, this is what appears to be a simple passage, but then as we delve into it, it seems to become more complex. It is perhaps complex because it is so simple. but I pray that you would help us to have insight into this text. It is the product of your out-breathing. This is the word of God, and it speaks to us. Help us to see what that is this morning, and so order our lives that we are in agreement with it. For we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So Paul is picking up here where you left off in chapter eight, Oops, wrong button. Paul is picking up here where he left off in chapter eight concerning eating of meat that has been offered to idols. And some people felt that that was a sin. Others who were apparently writing a letter to Paul and asking him about this thought that it must be okay because idols are nothing. Idols don't really exist. Those gods that the idols represent are fictitious. So therefore, what could be the harm in eating the meat that has been offered in the temples to an idol? Now, keep in mind that meat in those days was acquired at a marketplace, and the chief supplier of the marketplace was the temples. The temples that offer that meat to non-existent gods, but nevertheless, they offered it to pagan gods. That was the meat that was sold in the marketplace. So is it okay to eat that? Their contention was, since the gods do not exist that it was offered to, it must be all right. Christians have freedom. They're not under the law. They can do that. And Paul's contention is, But if you have a brother who thinks it's a sin and he sees you eating the meat offered to idols, it becomes sin to him then if he eats it, even though it may or may not be a sin genuinely. Now he picks up here in chapter eight, and I think what we have here is a wonderful example of the fact that Paul practices what he preaches. This requirement that he has placed upon the Corinthians He now gives this wonderful example of himself and how he, an apostle, and that's why he's defending his apostleship. I think what we have here is an argument from the lesser to the greater. It's a subtle argument, or maybe it's from the greater to the lesser, depending on which way you look at it. But Paul is saying, I'm asking you believers, all believers, to be sensitive to this matter. But if I, as an apostle, am sensitive to that matter, and I forego the rights that I have as an apostle, then surely you, as a believer, a member of the church at Corinth, should also forego those rights. And that's his argument for chapter eight. So first of all, we want to look at the summary statement. I hope you had a chance to set forth one, put it on paper. no more than three or four sentences, and then be able to read that to us this morning. So who would like to give us their summary statement of 1 Corinthians 9? Yes. Okay, very good. You picked up the main points there. Paul is making the argument that in my case, it's not eating meat offered to idols necessarily, but it's my right to earn a living from the people to whom I minister. That's a fundamental right of an apostle, fundamental right of ministers today. We pay those who labor in the word. It is our responsibility to support them. Now Paul says, I don't take advantage of that though. because it could cause a stumbling block. It could be a obstacle to the propagation of the gospel if I do that, and I won't do any such thing. So that picks up on those points perfectly. Thank you. Anyone else wanna? Yes, Edward. Right. Yeah, he makes the point there that I deserve to be supported because I'm an apostle and I'm ministering among you. But he's not saying, hey, I'm an apostle, you need to pay me. He's making that as a point that he forgoes that right. He has a right to receive a salary from those to whom he is ministering. He forgoes it so he doesn't put up an obstacle to the gospel. And that's an even greater example of being concerned about someone else's conscience rather than just your own rights. Let me read to you what I have come up with here, which is again pretty much the same thing. Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions that emphasize and defend his apostleship, calling out the changed lives of the Corinthians as a seal that proves that his apostleship was genuine. He gives examples to demonstrate his right to receive support as an apostle. Even though both the law and the Lord's command confirm this right, Paul does not avail himself of it, lest it should prove to be an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. I will do nothing, Paul says, that places an obstacle in the propagation of the gospel. Let's look at discussion questions then. Discussion question number one. says that we should compare these four verses, three verses in chapter 8, 1, 12, and 13. And I've listed those on the next slide that we'll look at in a moment. And then compare that to what Paul says in 9, 12, which I've put on this slide, and then determine what is the general principle that should govern our interactions with fellow believers. So what I'm looking for there is a nice pithy little saying, a nice pithy little statement of what the general principle is. A phrase or a sentence. Yes, Dennis. Self-denial. Self-denial. OK. Self-denial as opposed to asserting rights. Very good. Anybody else want to give their general principle here? Yes. Say that again. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So putting the other person first. Okay. Anyone else? Yes. Walk circumspectly. Walk circumspectly. Very good. Very good. Yes. It's okay to exercise your liberty to abstain. To? To abstain. To abstain. Very good. Yes. You have the liberty not to engage in some activities that may harm others or may wound their conscience, right? Let's look at those scripture verses that I gave you there, beginning with 9-12. Paul says, if others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more. Here's the argument from greater to lesser or lesser to greater. Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Then here are the three verses in chapter eight that we looked at last week to compare that to. Eight one says, now concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge. Remember, knowledge was a big problem for the Corinthians. It was not just knowing things, it was insisting that they knew more than other people in other places because they were special. So all of us possess knowledge, but this knowledge, that is the knowledge that the Corinthians claim to possess, puffs up. It's arrogant. It's prideful. But love builds up. So the principle here is to prefer love over the rights that we have as believers. 1 Corinthians 8.12 says, Thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. The assertion of rights that wind up wounding the conscience of others is sin. 1 Corinthians 8.13, therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat lest I make my brother stumble. Now I know that several people in the room went to Bob Jones University and I went there for grad school. You remember the sayings of Dr. Bob Senior. They were all over the alumni building. They were etched into the stained glass window in the student center. There was one in particular that's very well known. Two words. Do right. Do right until the stars fall, Dr. Bob Senior said. Do right even if the stars fall, but do right. And so I think that might be a good thing here. You're to do right. regardless of what the liberties you have in Christ are. Nevertheless, the controlling principle is to do right. Our rights and freedoms as a believer take a back seat to the conscience of a brother. And we do not act in such a way as to cause them to sin. Question number two. In chapter nine, verse two, Paul defends his apostleship, giving proof that he is an apostle. Compare 2 Corinthians 3.2, this is 2 Corinthians now, 3.2. What is this proof? Paul calls it a seal here in verse two of chapter nine. And how does it make the case? Let me read 2 Corinthians 3, 2. For yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all. Paul is saying that the Corinthians, he needs no letter of introduction from them because they themselves and the reputations they have are the letter. when he travels to other cities. So what is the proof that he sets forth in 9-2? He calls it a seal. And how does it make the case to prove his apostleship? Anyone? Yes, Dennis. A church in a multicultural city, which is in itself a miracle. Yes, I think miracle is the operative word there. This is clearly a divine action. These are pagans for the most part. There were Jews there too, but for the bigger part, I think probably of the Corinthian church was made up of pagans who had previously been idol worshipers. Thus this reference to offering meat offered to idols. eating meat offered to idols. They were worshippers of false gods. And now all of a sudden, they're worshippers of the true God. Their lifestyle has had a dramatic change. They have been born again. And being genuinely born again changes your lifestyle, doesn't it? It makes a difference. Can you imagine what the rest of the population of Corinth thought? Some of them may have said, well, how silly, how stupid that, but they took note of it. They took note of that this was a dramatic change that normally you would not expect to take place in human activity. People don't, the leper doesn't change his spots, I think is the governing principle there. But their spots were changed. Their spots were expunged. Their sins were forgiven. And now they were living a new life devoted to God. As marred as it may have been, as we have seen already, nevertheless, it was a new life in Christ Jesus. And Paul calls that a seal. He says, 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. Now, a seal is a mark of genuineness. This thing is real. It's authentic. That's why we use seals today. It's a genuine, authentic thing. And often that was the only way in those days of Noah. People didn't read. So they couldn't read it for themselves, but they can understand what a seal was. And the thing was sealed, therefore it was genuine and authentic. And so the very obviously supernatural event that took place in Corinth as these pagans were saved and became Christians is the proof, the authenticity of Paul's apostleship. that he really was an apostle and he had been commissioned by God himself and by the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel and to establish churches. So they're the seal. And as 2 Corinthians says, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. I think sometimes we think in terms of the ancient world sort of being isolated and the people in Corinth didn't know what was happening in Ephesus and vice versa and all around the Roman Empire. And that's not true. There was an active exchange of news going back and forth between those cities. There was commerce taking place between the cities and therefore there was news moving. So this event that happened to the Corinthians, this being born again, and this supernatural event, was not known just to the inhabitants of Corinth. It had become known throughout the empire. Others knew of it. They may not have understood it. They may have thought it was illicit because they were pagans. But nevertheless, they knew of it. And Paul says, that's the only letter of recommendation that I need. I don't need a letter written on parchment from you. You yourselves are my letter of recommendation. And in 9.2, he says, you yourselves are the seal that proves the genuineness of my apostleship. So he's making the case that he is genuinely an apostle because apparently, Judging from what he writes here, it had been called into question. Perhaps it had been called into question because he did not avail himself of his rights as an apostle to receive support. So they got him coming and going. They did not like the fact that he told them that they should put others' rights or others' conscience ahead of their own rights. So they dinged him for that. And then they dinged him again for saying, I won't take the rights that I have as an apostle. Therefore, you must not be a real apostle. So he couldn't win in that situation. Paul is taking the time here to prove I really am an apostle. Not a prideful thing, but a practical thing so that he can use that as the example that he sets fulfilling the requirement that he has already placed on the Corinthians to defer to the rights of others. So he says, you're the seal that proves my apostleship. Now, having set forth and proven his apostleship, he goes on in the rest of that passage that we're looking at, showing, giving some examples of the right that those who are apostles have and then concluding that he himself does not exercise that right. Now, here's what I've been waiting for. Discussion question number three. I ask you to come up with a discussion question that you can pose to the class, and then we'll see. And since none of us have had opportunity to think about it or study it, then if nobody has the answer to it, Would you please give us the answer? So what's a good discussion question that you would ask if you were teaching this class? Yes, Chuck. There's a certain number of churches that will teach that its leaders should have a vow of poverty and chastity. And so in contrast to that, if I'm following Paul correctly, if you, let's say, as a minister wrote Best-selling books, you know, very hot podcasts. You may know these. Have you seen them? No. What was that again? Look at Tel Aviv. The world looks at those guys. But what if it was legitimate? What if you buy your teachings, buy the gospel, you made a lot of money, is that okay? Is it okay to make a lot of money through the gospel? Yeah, I think I would answer that by saying that what the scriptures set forth is the right to earn a living from the ministry, from the preaching of the gospel, from the planting of churches and shepherding those people as they gain the knowledge and experience and understanding of governing themselves as a Christian church. It does not say get rich. It does not say get rich. Anybody else have an answer to that? It kind of depends on what they do with their wealth. If they turn it back in to tithes and offerings and other evangelistic pursuits. You can't, you know. Yeah, the motive. The motive is important too. and mansions. Okay, very good. Anybody else have a question? Yes. The question is, how much? I think there's an error teaching that comes from 2 Timothy, which talks about the double portion. But that verse begins, let the elder who moves well be considered worthy of double honor. I think the double honor is just that, it's just honor. You can't be quick to bring accusations against the elder. doesn't have anything to do with how to pay them. And I think there's an error out there that says, could you get paid double what everybody else gets? Right. Which is, I think, is just a blatant error. But the question is, how much? And you kind of answered it there. A living. Yes. But different cities have, it's a cost of living. And should a preacher of a little country church make the same thing as Right. Well, let me let me just speak to how we determine that here. We're looking at what does the PCA pay ministers of a similar size church. And we're about somewhere between six, 700 members here. So we look and the PCA publishes this for us. So we can see what ministers of similar size churches are being paid and whether they're senior members, associate, excuse me, senior pastors, associate pastors, assistant pastors, We then also look at what are churches in our presbytery paying similar positions. And so we try to base it upon that. And that seems to be a pretty good way of doing that. And I will say this, too. We took steps this last time, beginning January 1, to make sure that all of our staff has an insurance policy against, what's the word, the disability. long-term disability. We had that for Jeff. And that made a lot of difference that he continues to get some salary, not a full salary, but some. We had not done that for other members of the staff. It was just a one-off thing. And we expanded that so that our staff all has that. It's not expensive. But if something happens, it's So we look at things in detail and try to decide what is an appropriate salary. And that's what we pay the members of the staff at Second. Yes. I think there is a, you have to ensure if you have a pastor that is pouring out his life on the congregation, he has to not be worried about whether he can afford a car or whether he or take care of his children. But looking at the economy outside, if he writes books, if he's an author at all, I mean, that would be, to me, considered corporate type stuff. Then royalties coming to that and all, many of them donate a lot of those royalties back into the ministry and all. But for them to have a little easier lifestyle where it's like a head-baking type thing, you know, I don't think this is what that's addressing. This is more or less, first of all, this is Paul saying that as an apostle, I can, I should be taken care of at a reasonable thing, but in my liberty, I can also, did not want to become a burden to you. I have sources of others. Don't forget that Thessalonians were adequately taken care of in some of his ministry and stuff like that. So I look at it that way. It would be like a pastor having, if he had a lawn care business or whatever, but you would want the pastor to spend plenty of time in the Word of God so that he could rightly divide the precision so that he could raise up the saints to do the work of the minister. So I don't have a problem with a pastor writing some books and having some royalties. Yeah. Now, the important point here is that Paul is setting that forth in order. He's setting it up. He's setting up the argument. He's setting up the case that I have the right of all of that, but I forgo it. I don't take advantage of it because I'm more interested in, in not being an obstacle to the gospel. and of making sure that the word goes forth properly and that I minister without any problems to those that God has sent me to. So discussion question number three, that was a good discussion of how we go about determining what the right thing is. Now, let me quickly run through the lesson outline Helen got after me this week for not spending as much time as I should on this, and here we have like two minutes left, but I'll run through it. Three major points. The defense of Paul's apostleship in one through three, the instances of Paul's rites in verses four through eight, and the authority for Paul's position in verses eight through 14. Now, he begins with four rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is one that doesn't necessarily expect an answer because the answer is obvious. So he begins, am I not free? That's a connection to the previous chapter. That's free to not be under any obligation. I'm free as a Christian. If the Bible says, doesn't say anything about a particular activity, I'm free. I can do that. So am I not free, he says? Yes, is the answer. Am I not an apostle? Yes, is the expected answer. Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Yes, and I wanted to talk about this a little bit more and I don't have time now, but the key requirement for being an apostle was having seen the Lord after his resurrection. It was having been taught personally by the Lord, plus having witness to the resurrection. The apostle could say, I have personally seen the Lord after he was raised from the dead. So those are key requirements of an apostle. That can't be said about people today who call themselves apostles, can it? Neither one of those things. And he says, if I'm not an apostle, at least I am to you. Some people don't think I'm an apostle. To you I am, for you're the seal of my apostleship. And then he goes on to give one profound fact, that's the seal. In the instances that Paul's right, he gives several examples. First of all, he says, my rights are the same as other apostles' rights. I have the right to exercise those rights, the same as they do. It's not just me and Barnabas who don't have that right. It's the same as any other laborer. The one who labors has a right to expect to be compensated for that labor. In the ancient world, they were just as likely to be compensated by being given a portion of the crop that they harvested. or the milk that they milked from the goats or the cows or whatever. So they were paid in kind as well as in cash. And then the authority for Paul's position is that it's backed up by the law, and he gives the example there of the ox, you shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. The question is, is God really concerned there about ox? And yes, God is concerned about ox. God's concerned about all of his creation and all of the things that inhabit his creation. God is concerned about oxes, but he's more concerned about people. And that passage in Deuteronomy that says you shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain occurs in a passage that's concerned with the rights of people. So there's a good argument there that that's not really talking about ox in the original location. That's really a metaphor for treating people right. And he uses that here in 1 Corinthians 9 to make the case that the ox should not be muzzled. He should be able to eat the grain that he is treading. And likewise, an apostle, a minister of the gospel, needs to be able to be supported by those to whom he is ministering. That's in the law, but also there's a command from the Lord that he mentions in chapter 12. Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than to put an obstacle in the way of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offering? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. Now, the thing that we have extant today is the statement by Jesus that the laborer is worthy of his hire. And that's probably what this is referring to here. The Lord himself commands that. But Paul says, and here's the important thing, the thing that he's been leading up to, nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. The requirement that I'm putting upon you to be concerned about the rights of fellow believers before your own rights. I practice what I preach. I'm an apostle, but I don't avail myself of this right to expect you to support me. And that speaks volumes more than just simply saying, hey, I'm an apostle. You better listen to me. This is Paul saying, I do the same thing. Yes. But when they were given certain portions of the sacrifices, and they were given certain parts for their own nutrition, they weren't given property, but they were given other things. It's kind of like along those lines. But again, what he's talking about is the idea of exercising our liberty to abstain from pushing those rights, even though we have them. for the, to be able to not get in the way of the gospel. Because they were thinking, don't get those people back in. We're still thinking of the, you know, under the old church and the old priesthood and the liturgical law. Right. Yeah, and I think that's a great point, that we have the right to abstain from our rights. We not only have the right to exercise, but the right to abstain, yes. Jesus said to us in the Sermon on the Mount, not just, but in the Sermon on the Mount, He's commending meekness, saying that those who inherit the kingdom are the ones who are meek. It occurs to me in these chapters in 1 Corinthians that that's what's being instilled into the people, this putting others first, slowing down for them, submitting to them, is building meekness into their lives. Yes, that's a good point. That's a good point. I think perhaps a statement of the principle involved here was given by Jesus when he was asked, what's the most important point of the law? And he said, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. That's what we're looking at here, putting others, especially other believers, first before the rights that you have as a believer. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this teaching in your word. Help us to put it into effect in our lives. Help us to indeed be mindful of others and how they view the activities that we engage in. And I pray that you would help us to never be an obstacle to the advance of the gospel or to be an obstacle to to those who are, to prevent them from growing in the Lord. And Father, I pray that we will never sin by exercising our rights and thus sinning ourselves. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.