851 1 Cor.9.1-18 The Gospel Comes First Pt.2
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A young man left his employer, a timber merchant, and began business in competition with him. For a while he prospered greatly and got many orders that would have gone to the firm he had left. But just when his business seemed to be flourishing, and he had more orders than he could supply, a huge fire in his yard destroyed all his timber. The day after the fire he saw his old employer coming toward his office.
He said later, "I could have hated him, for I thought he was coming to gloat over my demise. But he came to me as a friend in need and said, 'I know you have agreed to supply timber to your customers by certain dates, and this unfortunate fire makes it impossible for you to do it. My timber yard is at your disposal. You can have what you need and pay me at your own convenience. Your business may go on as usual.' " The young man was overwhelmed by this embodiment of the Golden Rule & the rivalry and hatred that he had felt gave way to love.
The Gospel Comes First Pt.2
The Gospel Comes First Pt.2
Date: 19-01-20 851 Echuca
A young man left his employer, a timber merchant, and began business in competition with him. For a while he prospered greatly and got many orders that would have gone to the firm he had left. But just when his business seemed to be flourishing, and he had more orders than he could supply, a huge fire in his yard destroyed all his timber. The day after the fire he saw his old employer coming toward his office.
He said later, "I could have hated him, for I thought he was coming to gloat over my demise. But he came to me as a friend in need and said, 'I know you have agreed to supply timber to your customers by certain dates, and this unfortunate fire makes it impossible for you to do it. My timber yard is at your disposal. You can have what you need and pay me at your own convenience. Your business may go on as usual.' " The young man was overwhelmed by this embodiment of the Golden Rule & the rivalry and hatred that he had felt gave way to love.
- The term, the “golden rule” is a statement of Jesus found in
—12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
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- Last time in Corinthians, we looked at & we looked more broadly at the main thrust of that passage
- To remind you again of that: I spoke about the Gospel & how the Gospel was other-centred & not self-centred
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- The Christian life is counter-cultural & cuts across the grain of the usual way in which people operate
- People think mostly of their needs – we can all do that
- But as Christians, we know that we are to die to self & live for God
- To put it another way, we are dead to sin but alive to God
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- So often, however, the self wants to get in the road of me, being & living as a disciple of Jesus
- When we experience inner turmoil & are feeling pressured, we can default back to the “fleshly” way – which is the sinful way - & we react in ways that are wrong
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- Although, this happens to us, we need the wisdom of God to understand what is going on within us
- God wants us to become what He has made us to be
- He wants us to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ
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- If we want to be real, we need to take time to evaluate ourselves – to evaluate our level of maturity in Christ
- We are on a journey & we are at different junctures on our journey with the Lord
- If we find that when we are under pressure, we respond according to the flesh, then we need to be honest & understand that our level of maturity may not be where we think or hope it might be
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- The fact of the matter is this – anyone can live in a certain way, when they are comfortable, when they are at peace & when everything is going well for them, everything is falling into place for them – anyone can control themselves in that situation
- It’s when the squeeze is on that we get exposed regarding our maturity in Christ for when we lose the plot & start grumbling, gossiping, bickering, becoming spiteful & discontent – then bingo, we start to truly see the level of our maturity in Christ
- Now you may not like me raising this, but it’s true, isn’t it!
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- We all have had to face these situations – I’m not wanting you to feel bad or feel judged about this, but I think it is helpful for us to support one another in what is a common factor in being a disciple of Jesus
- A way to help you grow in maturity is by committing yourself to read a chapter of the Bible a day – let that be your NY’s resolution
- When you have the word of God constantly being placed before your mind, you will be amazed at what will happen in your life, especially, in those moments when you feel pressured
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- Understanding, enlightenment, wisdom, strength, conviction – all of this will come to you, as you commit to reading a chapter of the Scripture everyday & that is not a hard thing to do
- Guys, you go off to that little closet every morning – there’s your chapter
- My strong suggestion is that you go through books of the Bible
- I know there are reading plans that will jump you all over the Bible, but the Bible wasn’t written like that & I think it is better to read the Bible as it was written – one book at a time
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- Getting back to the Gospel – it is other-centred – that is the essence of Jesus’ work on the cross – He came to die for us, so that we might benefit from His sufferings
- In the book of Romans, Paul says that Jesus took our sin upon Himself & in exchange, gave us His righteousness
- That is unbelievably unselfish – He takes our stain & gives us His clean sheet
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Q. Now reflecting on this glorious Gospel of other-centredness, how can we reflect that Gospel in our dealings with one another?
- It’s a serious question, that invites serious evaluation
- We should stop seeing one another as “such & such” & start to see each other as a child of God – imperfect, yes – but as someone who has been taken, by God, into the family of God
Q. How should we, therefore, treat someone who has Jesus in them?
- Should we grumble, complain & whisper terrible things about them
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- Because here’s the thing – when we are under pressure, we want to vent – certain venting is not good – when the tongue goes off in the distance, sin is nearby
- My suggestion is that if we speak about another person, we speak as if they are present – as someone has said...
Nothing makes a long story, short like the arrival of the person you happen to be talking about
- This is also in line with the “Golden Rule”
—12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Q. Would you like them talking, behind your back, about you in derogatory ways to other people people? Of course not – so hurtful
Q. Would you like them talking about you in derogatory ways to other people, behind your back? Of course not – so hurtful!
- The golden rule would then say, “if you wouldn’t like it to be done to you, don’t do that to someone else”
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- Just recently, University of Queensland Liberal National Club president, a young man, Wilson Gavin died on the 13th Jan
- Yet, even after his suicide, the “tolerant progressives” of the world, were still vilifying him on social media - so easy to speak in nasty ways when you’re not face to face
- He committed suicide over the abuse he coped from cowardly people sitting behind an inanimate computer or phone screen
- It’s amazing what people will say when that person is not in front of them
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- But you might say, “how do I get an issue off my chest”?
- Easy – do the courageous thing & talk with the person concerned - face to face
- That also lines up with the teaching of Jesus
—15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
- A one on one situation always works for the better of everyone concerned
- A one on one situation always works for the better of everyone concerned
1. An Apostle Has Rights, says Paul (vs. 3-12)
1. An Apostle Has Rights, says Paul (vs. 3-12)
- I want to look at v.8-10 in more detail this morning
- Paul uses an OT passage to establish his right to be supported by the church at Corinth
- God says in the law of Moses
—4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.
4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.
- The interesting thing here is that this verse in Deut. speaks to the care of an animal, right in the middle of speaking about duties of brother to brother
- The interesting thing here is that this verse in Deut. speaks to the care of an animal, right in the middle of speaking about the dealings or duties of brother to brother
— 1 “If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case…
4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.
5 “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man...
1 “If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case…
4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.
5 “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man...
- You might think that God wants to make sure you are not being cruel to the animal, but what is it doing in the middle of talk about brotherly relationships
- I know that a change of topic can happen from one verse to another, but the apostle is reading this section through the eyes of the New Covenant of Jesus
- So the apostle has another take on it
- And he maintains that there is a principle behind that passage & that God is not concerned about oxen, but about the way we treat a fellow brother, specifically, in that the worker is worthy of his wages
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- I think the easiest way to explain this is to have you go to & see what Paul says about Israel
—5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
- He notes that they grumbled; they were sexually immoral; they got involved in idolatry – very relevant to the Corinthians who want to hob nob it with the social elites who are feasting at the local pagan shrine
- He notes that they grumbled; they were sexually immoral; they got involved in idolatry – very relevant to the Corinthians who want to hob nob it with the social elites who are feasting at the local pagan shrine
- These Israelites, Paul says, were all laid low in the wilderness – meaning, they never made it into the promised land
- God lead them all around in the wilderness until all that unrepentant generation had died
- He then took, with Joshua & Caleb, the next generation into the promised land
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- Then Paul continues from this remark that they were laid low in the wilderness...
—11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
- Here you have in the OT some examples of what NOT to do
- Here you have in the OT some examples of what NOT to do
- He brings the church right alongside Israel & says, don’t think you’ll escape if you’re into the same behaviour they were into
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- The advantage for us is that we look back in hindsight
- We get to see the end result of their actions
- We have an even greater benefit, in that we are at the end of the ages
- Christ has come & the end of the age has come & begun – He is the fulfilment of the Law & Prophets so we have an excellent vantage point to now see from the perspective of Jesus
- After all, don’t we find in the book of Hebrews, that the OT was the shadow, but Christ is the reality
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- We have to be very careful in the way we treat the OT
- We can’t make it say whatever we like, but we see here that God’s appointed apostle knows how to make application of the OT examples
- He doesn’t change the meaning, but he gives it greater application
—9 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? 10 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.
9 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? 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.
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- He presses this right further, by claiming that it was a common principle among men: it’s what happens with soldiers, with those who operate a vineyard or those who have a milk vat
- They all receive from what they labour in
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- But then, he goes to the priests of Israel to establish it as a divine principle
- The Jewish priests were entitled to eat of the sacrifices that the people brought to the Lord
—8 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. 9 “This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even every grain offering and every sin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. 9 “This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even every grain offering and every sin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.
- Here is a divine principle that was established for the living of the priests of Israel
- Here is a divine principle that was established for the living of the priests of Israel
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- But you also have input into this from Jesus
- Paul says in v.14 of today’s passage
—14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.
14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.
- He is meaning here the Lord Jesus Christ
- He is meaning here the Lord Jesus Christ
- Before He was crucified, Jesus gave His disciples a missionary work to do in Israel - He says to them as they go...
- He says to them as they go...
—5 “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 “If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 “Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.
5 “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 “If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 “Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.
- Jesus Himself establishes the principle that those who work in the ministry of the Gospel to have their living from the Gospel
- Jesus Himself establishes the principle that those who work in the ministry of the Gospel are to have their living from the Gospel
2. Paul’s Missionary Practise (vs. 15-18)
2. Paul’s Missionary Practise (vs. 15-18)
- We come full circle now back to where we began with regard to the other-centredness of the Gospel
- From the Corinthian’s point of view Paul must have worked with his hands as a tent-maker because he lacked the rights to be supported - that is, he really couldn’t have been an apostle of Jesus
- This all went hand in hand together, in their minds, as they question his right to claim to be an apostle
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- But for him, the reason is entirely different
- For Paul, what was important, was the gospel
—18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
- There is a missionary context here
- There is a missionary context here
- If you are trying to win someone to Christ, imagine how suspect the Gospel could be, if there was a charge associated with it!
- One could easily be led to think that selfish motives were involved
- In his missionary work to the Thessalonians, he writes...
—8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;
8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;
- He did all this for the sake of the Gospel message
- He did all this for the sake of the Gospel message
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- The point is this – he gave up his right to support – a practical right & a divinely decreed right – for the sake of the Gospel
- His direction in life was Gospel oriented, Gospel first
- Yes, he had a responsibility - a charge from Jesus Himself to preach the Gospel & he had been given certain divine abilities to do the miraculous
- But he calls on the church, both the Corinthians & ourselves, to be Gospel oriented in our approach – the other-centredness of the Gospel
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- There will be more on this in the remainder of this chapter, but this passage is dealing with the weak brother, remember, & the one who may be negatively impacted by the liberties we assume to ourselves
- Paul’s response is = I will give up my liberties for the sake of the Gospel, my right to be supported by you – now, will you give up your liberties for the sake of your fellow believer? Will you practise Gospel living?
—1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
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- This doesn’t mean to say that he rejected all support from churches
- It seems that once a church was established, he did receive support from them, even if they were not well off themselves
—8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; 9 and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.
8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; 9 and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.
- The apostle had a real concern for the unsaved & he was prepared to give up his liberty to see them saved
- The apostle had a real concern for the unsaved & he was prepared to give up his liberty to see them saved
- We see that established churches were also involved in winning the unsaved, by supporting Paul in his mission work
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Q. But, of course, supporting missions is not the point of this passage, is it?
- Remember to keep in mind the previous chapter where the Corinthians felt they were at liberty to go to pagan feasts at pagan temples & did not care what impact that had on a fellow Christian
- This Christian, Paul refers to as “weak”, not because they are physically weak, but because they are weak in conscience
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- It means that they have freshly come out of a pagan situation & have not made the transition to Christian values & understanding
- There are certain practises that we do, that either help or hinder a fellow believer
- How we dress, how we speak, whether we drink alcohol in front of a new or “green” Christian
- It’s really whatever might tempt a person to violate their conscience to do, what they think might be the wrong thing to do
- It does happen, that some Christians have caused other Christians to stumble
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- Let’s remember the “golden rule”
—12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.