Let me invite you to take your Bibles, please, and go to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. And while you're turning there, let me just put in a word of encouragement for those of you who serve in our children's ministries. We've been emphasizing that this month we need you to re-up on the child protection policy. We've done some So we need you to read through it and watch the videos and then sign up for all the things that you need to. And that's a lot of people and we've made a lot of progress, but there are some people who are lagging behind. And so let me just try and stir you up to get that done so that we can continue to move forward smoothly in it. A number of you knew I was gone down to Texas to preach in a conference Friday night and yesterday. And thank you for praying, seemed to go well. It's one of those, if you go to, there were nine speakers. So two on Friday night and then five of us yesterday, and then two are finishing up down there this morning. And in theory, everything's worked out. Months in advance, we send our titles, text, everything's all set up, set. So I'm sitting there, the second guy gets up on Friday night, and he announces my passage with my title. Because it was 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11, and it says, such were some of you. So I mean, it's actually in the booklet, And all of a sudden, he announces it, and starts to preach his message, and I'm sitting with all the speakers, and a friend of mine from college was like two rows in front of me, and he turns around, like his eyes are wide, like, oh no, what are you gonna do? I started, I get a text, I shouldn't tell you, this pastor's texting me while the other guy's preaching, going, I thought you said that was your text. And I'm like, yeah, it was. So it was good times. So. Late night, Friday night, trying to figure out, should I change? And I decided I'd just sort of finesse what I was going to say, because he hadn't quite gone to some of the ramifications that I had on it and was gonna go. And I said, you know, it's the worst nightmare. You step up in a conference that someone takes your text and title, because just when I step up, up on the screen comes my text and title, and they're all starting to go, what, this is a repeat kind of a thing? And I said, you know, it just happens. And then you sort of hope the guy won't do well. And this guy happened to be like, he's like half the people were at the conference because of this guy, because he's like a very well-known, very dynamic preacher. And so I'm like, so sure enough, the guy who steals my message is this great preacher too. So you're stuck. And we just made our way through it, but it seemed to go all right. Everyone stayed awake as far as I could tell. and no one threw anything. So those are always big pluses in that regard, but thanks for praying. But if you would, 1 Corinthians 9, Paul, as we're seeing here, is taking three chapters of what we call chapters to make the case to the Corinthians that as they navigate the cultural challenges of their day, particularly about food offered to idols, that the controlling principle that should govern them is the gospel of Jesus Christ. that the content of the gospel cannot be compromised by their cultural activity, and the advance of the gospel should not be hindered by their participation in the culture around them. And so that issue is gonna be, that truth is gonna be applied to a series of contexts, some of which will result in Paul saying, so given the truth, and advance of the gospel, you can't do this. And then in other circumstances, you are free to do this. And so it's the kind of scenario, and depending on the kind of personality you are, if you're like a, you're a black and white person who just, you want someone to tell you where the boundaries are and that's it, this kind of a passage can be frustrating because we'd rather that, at times, we'd rather the Bible just, like, tell us exactly what we're supposed to think and do in every circumstance, and we just pick up our marching orders and go. But the beauty really of the New Testament for us is that Christ commissioned his disciples to go to the nations, which meant the gospel was going to go into an absolutely wide swath of cultures. It's gonna penetrate all kinds of places in the world where the cultures and norms and values are fundamentally different from each other. So the followers of Christ are going to have to figure out how to honor God in that kind of a culture, in that kind of a context. We need to be armed with principles so that then we can make the applications that need to be made in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. If we were just given one set of rules, then we'd find ourselves in a different world and not be sure how those rules apply in that part of the world. But instead, we have moral truths and principles that govern us. certainly doesn't exclude commands, but those commands tend to be the kinds of commands that have universal applicability, right? Abstain from sexual immorality doesn't take a whole lot of cultural thinking to figure out what that is. Right, so those things are universal, but then there's other things that when the particulars come, we're having to use moral discernment. That's why the scriptures emphasize it so much that the path of spiritual maturity is learning how to be skillful in the word of righteousness and having your senses trained to discern between good and evil. That's why Paul prays for the Philippians, that their love would abound more and more in real knowledge and discernment so that they may approve things that are excellent. There are going to be choices you face, and you need to put things to the test and approve the things that are excellent so that you can be blameless in the day of Christ. Instead of it meaning, like, too often it's treated, because we don't have the details of the Mosaic Law, the tendency is to think, well, like, hey, we just maximize freedom. We can pretty much do what we want. There may be a couple of rules that govern us, but other than that, we're free to do whatever we want. And that's not at all what we're called to do. We're called to use the word skillfully to think through the challenges of the time and place in which we live so that we might approve things that are excellent. So chapters eight to 10 are great for us, not just in the details of what the Corinthians are facing, but in also showing us how we would think through the types of things that we have to face. How do we do the, if I could put it this way, the moral reasoning that's necessary to live a kind of life that's pleasing to God. And so, as I said last week, instead of Paul just jumping right to the conclusion and saying, hey, there's four circumstances, here's the right answer in each of these, he's actually trying to equip them and shape their thinking so that they're understanding the principles when they step to a different kind of circumstance. And the first way in which he approached it in 1 Corinthians 8 was about the priority of love, that we need to love like Christ did, and we should actually love those whom Christ has loved. So we might, in an abstract way, have a freedom to eat any food, and we do. That's not ultimate. We have to ask the question, how does our participation in this line up with the love of Christ and actually show love to those whom Christ loves? So we might be able to eat that, but it wouldn't be operating by love to eat it in this circumstance. And so he has demonstrated that to us in chapter eight. In chapter nine, particularly the first part of the chapter, he's going to actually take and come at it from a little bit of a different angle. His rights as an apostle are not ultimate, but the gospel is. Look, if you would, beginning in verse one of 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I'm not an apostle, at least 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 not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? I'm not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the law also say these things? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. God is not concerned about oxen, is he? Or is he speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, so we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 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. It may seem, if we just read these or looked at these verses in isolation from what precede and what follows it, like a massive rabbit trail that Paul starts talking about his apostleship and his pay. What does that have to do with food offered to idols? Well, again, as I've said, he's layering in arguments to help them understand how they should think about these kinds of choices. And so Paul seems to be killing two birds with one stone here. There are people at Corinth who are critical of him. You can see that in verse three, my defense to those who examine me or judge me, same ideas in chapter four where they're told not to be judging God's servants before the time. So there is this issue happening at Corinth where there are people who are passing some level of judgment on Paul and his apostleship. And we know from the second book of Corinthians that part of that is tied to whether or not Paul received remuneration from them. And so that issue is hanging out there. and also the issue of this food offered to idols. And Paul really is a skillful writer, debater, weaves the two together so that in his actually answering the criticism of some of them, he's also teaching all of them a principle about how you navigate life. So he's taking opportunity by it to lay those out for him so that they would see that and he's doing it. Remember at the end of this section, he says, follow me as I follow Christ. So what he's saying is, listen, yes, there's a criticism of me on this front, and I'm gonna answer that criticism, but the reason I'm doing what I'm doing is because I'm trying to show you a pattern of life that's consistent with the pattern of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and should be a pattern that you follow. That's why I say he's teaching us how to think about the choices we make. and ultimately demonstrating the priority of the gospel for our lives. In verses one and two, he shows that the gospel, he deals with his position as apostle in verses one and two, and then three through 14, the privilege that comes with that apostleship of support. So look at verses one and two, he zeros in on his position. He puts the issue of freedom on the table right away. Am I not free? And he doesn't answer it, but the answer does come up in verse 19. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all so that I might win more. So he actually says, am I not free? The implied answer is, well, yeah, you are, but he doesn't leave it as an implication. By 19, he says, I am free. And that's important because Paul is free to make this decision. He is not bound to do what he's doing externally. He's making an internal decision to do what he's doing. He has the freedom to exercise the rights and authority of his apostleship. He has that position. but he's not so concerned about the position as he is the gospel and its advance. And then the second part of verse one is having to do with what we'd call the credentials of an apostle. Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? And that seeing Jesus is, I don't think, just visions. In chapter 15, I think you would indicate that he's actually had personal audience and visit with the Lord. as he was commissioned to be an apostle. And so he takes his place alongside of the others who had witnessed Christ after his resurrection. Remember when they were choosing a replacement for Judas, they were talking about people who had been with them all through the earthly ministry of Jesus and had seen him after his resurrection. And Paul takes his stand as an apostle in that regard. He has seen Jesus. He's actually witnessed him as raised from the dead. So he has that sign and authentication of an apostle. But also what God did for the Corinthians through Paul, was a stamp of his apostleship. Look at the end of verse one. Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I'm not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. So the things that God had done through Paul's ministry at Corinth were a confirmation that he was Christ's apostle. That's what that seal means. It's like a good housekeeping seal of approval. This is the mark that this is real. This is genuine. So they had come to Christ through the ministry of Paul, and they were in fact the seal of Paul's apostleship. And he comes back to this in 2 Corinthians 3, where he talks about, do I need letters to commend me to you? And then he says, you are my letters, right? What God did, through the gospel by his spirit among you is the proof that I was the apostle of Christ. They ought to recognize that. It's not completely clear in verse two who the others are. It could be just a general thing to other believers that came to Christ through the ministry of other apostles. Right, because there were, counting Paul, there were 12 of them going all over the place. So there were other congregations that had come to Christ through the ministry of an apostle. And so he could be just saying generally, I mean, others may not have had me serve and minister among them, but at least to you I am. Or it's possible this others is actually the people who are critiquing Paul and calling into question his apostleship. He might be saying, well, there's some people trying to deny that I'm apostle, but certainly to you, in terms of the congregation as a whole, you have to recognize that I was in fact an apostle, a sent one by the Lord, which is really what the idea is, that the Lord had commissioned him. and he had seen the evidence of Christ's work. And that's the way Paul thought. Notice at the end of verse one, are you not my work in the Lord? You may remember in Romans 15, when he's talking about his ministry, he says, I will boast of nothing except for what Christ has done through me. And so Paul had seen God do incredible things, but Paul didn't take the credit for that. He took that as the authenticating sign of Christ's commission of him. That's why just after that, he says that in 5.15, I think it's 17 through 19. Then later in that same chapter, he says, he is certain that he will come to Rome in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Paul expected Christ to work through him because Christ had commissioned him. He was Christ's apostle. And so Paul wants them to recognize, listen, I bear this position because the risen Lord commissioned me for it. So I'm not, what we're gonna be talking about here is not something that I've taken to myself and made some claim on my own. This is something that I have because Christ has commissioned me to do this. He's given me this position as an apostle. Then he shifts to the point that that really leads to, since I have this position, that means I am entitled to the privileges that are associated with that. And he's gonna narrow that in particularly to the issue of financial support. And that's because that's the point of rub with some at Corinth. Look again in verse three, he says, this is my defense, to those who are examining or judging me. And he lists a series of questions in four through six. Do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas, which Cephas is Peter. So that's another reminder that Peter had a wife. We know that from the gospels as well. And I'll just let that sit out there for you. And do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working. So this is a defense or an apologetic for himself and his practice of not taking money from them. But before he can get to the defense of not taking the money, he has to defend his right to be able to take the money. You've got to take it two steps. Before he can start to say, hey, here's why I don't take it, he has to establish the fact, I have a right to take it. And that's important because remember back in chapter eight, he says, don't let this freedom of yours be something that causes a stumbling block. They were thinking, hey, we have a right to eat whatever we want to eat. Cause Jesus said all foods clean. So Paul's going to establish the fact that you can actually have a legitimate right and not use that right. If not using it is for the advancement of the gospel. So that's the way he's gonna make the case on it. And what we have to be careful about, time to time you'll talk about like you're listening to somebody on the phone and you don't know for sure, nowadays you can because some people's phones are so loud. You can hear both sides of the conversation, right? I still have a hard time, I'm walking through a crowd and I'm walking along and somebody's talking and I think they're talking to me and I realize they got headphones and they're talking to somebody else, but I can't hear because they've got headphones. So if I happen to be hearing the conversation, I'm having to imagine what's on the other side of it, and that can sometimes be a dangerous thing. And the same thing's true when we're only reading Paul's side of the discussion. We have to be careful about creating with absolute precision what the other side of it is, but we're not limited to just this passage. As I said, in chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, listen to what Paul says. Did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? So there's some at Corinth who potentially are sort of offended that Paul wouldn't take any money from them, but then there are other people who are using that as a criticism of Paul. And that's why he says, did I sin against you by not taking it from you? And he uses the word humbling there because we know from Paul's other letters that his practice of not taking money from the people to whom he's ministering meant that he was often cutting it pretty thin. Right, he'd have to start making tents in order to have things to be able to eat and to cover his necessities. And in fact, he says in Thessalonians that he labored night and day. Right, so he actually had, he had to suffer some levels of financial difficulty due to the policy that he had. and it was humbling to him, but it then became a point of criticism against him. So what it seems like, the argument looks like something like this. Apostles deserve and accept remuneration, because he's gonna make that case. The apostles deserve and accept financial remuneration. Paul didn't take remuneration, so Paul's apostleship is debatable. That seems to be the line of argument that's coming against him. Hey, Paul, all the other apostles, remember his questions, right? All the other apostles take money. Others of them are married and are able to support a wife as they go about their ministry. I mean, that's what normal apostleship is. That's not what we see in you. There's something questionable about your apostleship. That's why he has to defend himself, because they're actually using his practice against him. And that may sound strange to us, but I don't think it's that far off if you start to think about how not only the world works, but certain religious circles work. I mean, how often do you see or witness in our culture people who use material prosperity as a visible symbol of their success? A person gets to a certain level They feel like they need to drive a certain kind of a car to signify the kind of level they are at, live in a certain kind of house, do certain things, wear certain clothes, because that prosperity signals their success. And that's the same thing happening here. In fact, I mean, it wouldn't take you long to research the prosperity theology kinds of churches to know that that's actually the kind of argument that's made, right? Our preacher needs to be in a, you know, in a mansion with gold-plated, you know, toilets because that's a symbol of God's blessing, right? He needs to, you know, Creflo Dollar needs to have his jet so he can fly around so everyone knows how significant our preacher is. They want to have the visible signs of success as the credential and credibility of their ministry. Look at how God is blessing this person. And here comes Paul. I'm going to go make some tents so I have something to eat tonight. And I'm like, that's not an apostle. That's not an apostle. So that's why he's having to defend himself on these points and to show that the rightness of his financial support is legitimate. And the rhetorical questions are intending to show he could rightfully claim to have the resources given to him because of his ministry that would enable him to not work, right? Verse six, I would have a right to refrain from working. I don't need to be a tent maker because I'm here as an apostle and you should be giving me money so I can do my apostle thing, not my tent thing. And in fact, I could claim enough so that I would be amply covered on the sustenance of my life, food and drink. And in fact, be able to support a spouse a believing wife, a sister, spiritual sister. So he sets those out because that's actually what should be happening for him. He has a right to that, but he's not claiming it. And I think it's because, and this is the beauty of God's word for us, he's addressing a very specific circumstance, and so Paul's gonna make the argument fully, and that argument has solid ground for application past his immediate circumstance. So he lays out in verses seven and following, the case for why a minister of the gospel has a right to that. In verse seven, he offers practical analogies from life. And they're rhetorical questions that assume an answer that fits his argument. Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense, right? We expect the people on behalf of whom the soldier is fighting to provide what's needed for the soldier to do that. Right, who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? Right, he's saying like, you know this. Right, I mean, just common sense would tell you that. That's verse seven, but then he goes one better than that. Look at verse eight. I'm not speaking these things according to human judgment or to man's standard, am I? Or does not the law also say these things? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. God is not concerned about oxen, is he? And let's be clear, God does care about oxen. but the point of that rule is larger than oxen. All right, and I say God cares about oxen because there's actually rules about how you shouldn't abuse your animals. All right, verse 10, or is he speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. So in verses eight to 10, Paul lays out an Old Testament principle. And he clearly is trying to make us see that this is not just a human concept, right? It's actually something dependent on God's revelation as well. that God gave instruction to the people of Israel that should inform us about this issue. And this is, to me, a great example of the profitability of the scriptures. Remember what Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3? All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine, for a proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So here's Paul, the guy who wrote that, because he's writing God's word, and as he thinks about a portion of the Mosaic law that is a statement of responsibility for the care of their oxen, Paul recognizes that that specific command is actually the specific expression of a moral principle. That's what he means when he says, that's not limited to oxen, is it? No, it's for our sake. There's a moral principle that is behind this specific regulation about not muzzling the ox. And then he tells you what it is. The plowman should plow in hope, right? So if somebody's laboring, they ought to be able to expect some benefit from their labor. That's the plowman should plow in hope. I mean, In its simplest form, that's why you should reject economic systems which deny the benefit of work. The scriptures say the plowman should plow in hope. When you work, you have a reasonable expectation that you would derive some benefit from that work. So if all of the means of production and all of the resources produced are all taken up by some other group, it's contrary to God's moral position on economics. There's a moral principle that has a specific concrete application with regard to oxen, and so he's trying to show them how you would use the moral principles of the Old Testament law to try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Remember what I said a few minutes ago about being skillful in the word of righteousness so you can discern between good and evil? Right? That's what Paul's doing here. He's saying, listen, we know how God established things to operate. When it comes to economic well-being, what are the timeless principles that would apply to this particular circumstance? and then he draws that out. And I think there's at least, the profitability of scripture, but there's also, and this is a little bit of a side thing, but I can't resist it, all right? From time to time, you'll get people who actually would say, you can't go in the Old Testament and draw out moral statements like that, or else you'll be guilty of moralism. And the only way to handle the Old Testament is to sort of spiritualize it and find your way to Jesus somehow. And that's an oversimplification of it. But here's Paul drawing out moral principles without dropping into moralism. He's not teaching self-righteousness. He's not teaching, this is the way you make yourself right with God. He's saying, this is God's will about how we would live. And we need to learn those principles so that we can then follow Christ faithfully. Right, and here's Paul, and sometimes you'll get people, and I, what I would say is that they're more spiritual than the writers of scripture. And when I put, I should put spiritual in quotes, because I don't really believe it. But they would act, if you go to the Old Testament and you read the Old Testament, and then you don't somehow find your way to squeeze Jesus into the passage, then you're just treating the Old Testament like a Jewish person. You're not treating it like a Christian. As if Christians read the Old Testament, and you guys know what a jack in the box was? I actually ate a jack in the box yesterday. They're down in Texas still. I didn't really eat, I just had a Diet Coke and some fries. You crank that jack-in-the-box until all of a sudden it pops out. And there's people that treat the Old Testament like that. You just keep cranking that text until Jesus pops out somewhere. And they can't handle the Bible the way Paul handled the Bible. Like he reads a mosaic regulation about not muzzling oxen and comes to a conclusion and he doesn't go, and the wood on that oxen is a symbol of the cross and Jesus died, that's why we think this way. Or he doesn't have to play games with the Bible. He looks at what God's will was, understands the moral principle connected to it, and then moves to make that moral application to us in our day. The Old Testament is extraordinarily profitable for us. It is, in fact, a revealing to us of God and his work and what he considers to be important and valuable, and we ought to learn from it wherever we can. And don't let anybody rob you of the ability just to read them. I mean, obviously, you're gonna have to think. You probably read that law and didn't think, oh, I bet that's about economics. Right, you may have just gone, I don't have any oxen. Onto the next verse, right? So you have to read it thoughtfully and go, what's the truth that's here? Because most of the Mosaic law is akin to what we sometimes call case law. It gives us specific case, which then causes us to think about what the principles would to apply in another situation. Because he can't cover every situation in human life, so he gives us examples of what the will of God would be in this kind of a situation, so that when we find ourselves in similar kinds of circumstances, we have an understanding about what righteousness is. Which means we have to read our Bibles thoughtfully, carefully, with a desire to hear and understand how God has revealed himself to us. We need to do what Paul was doing. And that's actually within the grasp of believers. It's not some hocus pocus magic. It's not throwing on your Captain Crunch decoder glasses so you can figure out what's going on there. It's reading it and thinking about what God's will was in that situation and are there any timeless principles that would come from that that might have application to my circumstances, right? And I'll tell you one, and I don't know if my wife remembers me quoting this one, When we were trying to teach our boys how to work hard and we were taking most of the money, we'd take the money that they were earning and they would give. And then most of it was going into savings. And I was the advocate that not all of it should go into savings, but that they should have some benefit that accrues to their hard work so that they actually plow in hope. Right, because if you never see the fruit of your labor, it tends not to motivate you toward labor. And my sons were oxes, I believe that, but the reality of it is I wasn't really thinking like, okay, they're my oxen. I was thinking, hey, this is the truth. You know what keeps that ox going? He's not muzzled. He can actually benefit from the threshing he's doing. And that's why the plowman should plow in hope. And so if I'm gonna help my sons understand hard work and the benefits of it, they need to understand that principle as well. Right, and Paul's doing the exact same thing with regard to this issue. Those who are engaged in this work should have some reasonable expectation that their needs will be met from working in that. Right, that's the point he's trying to make as he brings it out. Then he draws a spiritual analogy. Look at verse 13. 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 God's plan for the servants of the temple would be that they'd be allowed to share in the provisions of the temple. Sometimes they abuse that like Eli's sons, but the regular pattern was that they would be allowed to take some benefit from what was happening in the temple process. And so Paul's drawing an analogy to those who are serving in the gospel, are in a spiritual service, and should be able to derive some benefit connected to that. Then look at verse 14, in my mind, he drops the hammer. So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. That is actually a reference to Jesus' teaching in the gospels. Luke chapter 10, verse 7, and Matthew chapter 10 and verse 10, Jesus commissions them out and says that they ought to benefit in the midst of their work. So Paul goes, he's making the case again, like we'd love sometimes just like, give me one answer and that's it. But Paul goes, don't you normally expect that there would be some benefit, verse seven? And in fact, there's a moral principle taught in the Mosaic law that would affect this, and the plowman should plow in hope. And haven't you seen the way the temple worked? Those who served in the temple were actually able to derive some benefit from it. But end of discussion, this is what Jesus said to do, right? He told us this is the way it's supposed to work. All right, so if you weren't convinced by the first three, like here it is. The Lord said, this is the way it's to happen. And Paul isn't just winging it here because in 1 Timothy chapter five, when he talks to Timothy about in the pastoral epistles, and he says in 517, the elders that rule well should be worthy of counted of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. That's 517 verse 18, you know he does. He quotes the oxen quote. And he also quotes Jesus from the Gospels. So the double honor is tied to their care for those who are working as spiritual leaders in the church. And he goes again to the Old Testament moral principle and to the teaching of Jesus and says, this is what should be done. Okay, so Paul has made what I would say is an irrefutable argument that he as an apostle and a servant of the gospel has a right to expect remuneration for his work. He absolutely can claim it because it's grounded in the moral will of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ. but he doesn't do it. And that's why, if you're noticing, I skipped two verses. Look at now verses 11 and 12, because he tells us why he doesn't. 11 says he could, right? If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? So Paul deserves their support due to his ministry among them. That's his point in 11 and 12a. If others share the right over you, do we not more? So again, he's defending his ministry. He's being criticized. He said, okay, let me start right where the point of debate is. I am an apostle. You're questioning my apostleship. I am an apostle, verses one and two. And you know that because of how Christ worked through me among you. You're the seal of my apostleship. And as an apostle, I have a right to this remuneration. If I have had ministry among you, which has produced spiritual benefits, should I not have access to reap material? And if others have that, certainly I would, right? He deserves it because of his ministry among them. But look at the second part of verse 12. He refused their support so nothing would hinder the gospel. Nevertheless, we do not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. And that's really where the whole point of his argument aims to. He has a right to do this, but he doesn't do it because he's concerned about the advance of the gospel. And again, that's where we probably have to step back a little bit and try and understand what Paul's thinking is. The point goes something like this. The gospel that Paul preaches is a gospel of free grace. You can't buy salvation. You can't earn it. You can't work for it. He's gonna come into city after city and stand up in front of people who have spent, just like in our day, spent their whole lives having people tell them that they can, in some way, make themselves right with the gods by religious performance. He's certainly gonna stand up in the synagogues and talk to people who have fallen under a deception of works righteousness, that if they keep the law, they can be saved. And Paul's gonna come in and say, here's what God has done to provide salvation. He sent his son into the world and he did everything that needs to be done. He actually fulfilled the law, so he has perfect righteousness. He died in the place of sinners to provide redemption as a gift of his grace that you can receive from God the benefits of what Jesus achieved. He did what was necessary to provide this salvation, but you can only have this salvation if you actually renounce works. You have to declare yourself helpless and unable to achieve salvation. You have to repent of dead works. and put your trust in Jesus alone. You have to bank your entire hope of salvation in what Jesus did, not what you do. And the only acceptable response to the announcement of this, of what Jesus did, right? He actually lived. died and rose again, those are all historical realities that achieved certain eternal spiritual benefits, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, justification. How can those benefits actually be transferred from Christ to me? Only by repentance and faith. when I recognize that I can't do anything to earn any of those. I can't buy salvation. I can't earn salvation. Remember a crystal clear example I think of this is when the apostles start to preach the gospel in Samaria and the spirit falls on the people who've trusted in Christ and Simon Magus offers money to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. And Peter says, may your money perish with you. You can't buy salvation. It can't be done. It's a gift that has been paid for. And it's available for those who will humble themselves to acknowledge that they are helpless apart from Christ and will receive the gift of salvation. So that's the message that Paul's preaching. And here's what he's concerned about. If I show up and preach that, and then I pass the offering plate, am I gonna be sending a confusing signal here? Yes, you can have salvation in Christ for free. I need a little money. Because what was common in their day is still common in our day. Right, there would be people who'd travel around as teachers and lecturers, and they would, you know, spin their wisdom out and people would pay them for it, right? I mean, you can, in our day, you can get booklets and catalogs of speaker bureaus. This person will come and they'll share the secret to this thing or the secret to that thing, and it's only cost you $10,000 to have them in. And if you wanna go hear them, you can do it. I mean, you can get rich on the speaking circuit of contemporary America. The same thing was true there. And what Paul didn't want was to have people think that he was just one of those guys and that this message was just like that. So he made a decision. I have a right to pass that offering plate, but I'm not gonna use that right. because I think if I use that right, it might actually hinder the gospel. That's what he says in verse 12. It might actually work against the thing that I'm trying to do is convince people that God will save them solely on the basis of faith in what Christ has done. So he had a right but he refused to use that right because his priority was the gospel. And the key there is recognizing that that was a decision that he made because of his personal priority of the gospel. So, Corinthians, here's the way he's going. Ma'am, you're talking like you have a right to eat whatever you want to eat. I mean, all food's clean and nobody can constrain you. There's no Mosaic law to tell you specific details about it. And so here's what you're doing. You're focusing on your rights and you're forgetting that more important than your rights is the gospel. because you might be using that right in a way that's actually causing people to stumble contrary to the gospel. You're using that right in a way that's hindering the advance of the gospel. You've got your priorities out of whack. You think it's about you and your rights when it's about Christ and his gospel. He's trying to get them to change the way they're looking at this situation and their life, right? That they would see that the gospel is of greatest importance for how they would navigate life in the culture in which they are. So I think we look at a passage like this, and there's lots of things that we could say about it, but I don't think they're the point that, the primary point that Paul's making, and they're certainly not the point that I'm making. My point is simply what Paul's is. Do we have a gospel mindset? When we're looking at the choices in front of us, are we looking at it from a God-centered, gospel-oriented frame of reference? How will this honor God and how will it advance the gospel? Or are we too much conformed to the view of our day, the worldview of our day, the mindset of our day, which makes the ultimate concern the expression of my individualistic desires? Because it's woven into the fabric of our culture. that at the very heartbeat, in fact, this was basically the language of Supreme Justice Kennedy when he was ruling to overturn definitions of marriage, that the essence of liberty is for an individual to be able to create his own existence, meaning, and purpose in life. Right, that that's the essence of liberty, that I actually get to define my existence, define my purpose, define my happiness, and then pursue it. For a Christian, that's not it. Actually, God defines the existence of our lives. God has given us the purpose and meaning of life. God has told us what it is that matters. And that's what Paul's saying here. If we live our lives thinking that we are the center and every decision is made on the basis of what it will do for us, what it will provide for us, what happiness it will bring us, what sense of purpose and meaning it gives us, then we're really no different from a world that doesn't know God. We're no different than people who have no greater hope than this life. But if we've really understood the gospel that there is an eternity, there is a God, there is a Savior, there is a purpose, why we're still here and not with him yet, then it'll change the way we look at all of this. We'll look at it from the framework of what is God doing and how can the work of Christ be advanced in the daily choices that I make? Because Christ and his work has taken hold of our lives, so we won't use every right we have. we won't use the rights we have all the time, we'll always be looking at them in light of how can I best serve Christ and the gospel? Let's pray together, please. Father, please help us to think deeply about how important the message of the gospel is If we're here and we know Christ, at least at the very heart of it for us is the difference. It's all the difference between heaven and hell, between being separated from you, being with you, being trapped and enslaved in our sin or having been set free, having hope in this present world, having a confidence that whatever happens is in your plan and you are working for good. So that we don't have to scratch and claw and cling to everything. We don't have to adopt a mindset of people whose only perspective is shaped by the temporality of their lives. we can live differently, set free by the gospel to serve the gospel. Lord, please work among us to drive this truth deeply into the operating system of our mindset And we pray, Father, that you drive it deeply into the hearts of any who do not have real hope in Christ because they're trusting in themselves. Help them to see that Christ will give them salvation because he purchased it with his blood. If they will humble themselves and call on his name, that he is mighty to save and has extended that offer to all. Please work, we pray, in us and through us for the glory of our Savior in whose name we pray. Amen.