There were accusations against
Apostle Paul by someone in the church of Corinth. They accused him that he was
not an apostle because he didn’t belong to the band of the Twelve. These
accusers were poisoned by the false teachers and prophets who got jealous of
Paul. Some zealous Judaizers smeared into the churches and taught them that
they must keep the Law of Moses literally, saying, for example, “They must be
circumcised to be saved.” In his defense, Apostle Paul says that he did not use
his rights as an apostle and the gospel worker in order not to hinder the
gospel of Christ.That's the message of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that he gave up his life in order to save the world.
“Am I not free? Am I not an
apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in
the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you!
For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 9:1-2)
After Jesus was ascended into
heaven and went to the Father, the church was growing powerfully in Jerusalem
and Judea and Samaria and the gospel was spreading to the cities and towns and
villages in other countries. Apostle Paul was persecuting the churches in the
name of Mosaic Law, attempting to root out the Nazarenes who were following Jesus
of Nazareth and his teachings. But the Risen Lord Jesus met him on the way to
Damascus with the great light and made him blind until Ananias prayed for him.
He was indeed freed in Christ from the power of darkness and confusion by the
power of God. He couldn’t make himself free regardless of efforts and beatings,
but was made free by grace and mercy in Christ and called to be an apostle, his
chosen instrument to proclaim his name to the Gentiles.
“But the Lord said to Ananias,
‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and
their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must
suffer for my name.’” (Acts 9:15-16)
At least ten years after the
Damascus experience Apostle Paul began his teaching and preaching ministries
for the Gentiles in the church of Antioch. Then the Holy Spirit set apart for
him Barnabas and Paul for the work to which God had called them (Acts 13:2). He
preached the gospel of Christ in the cities and towns in Asia Minor, Macedonia,
Achaia, and Rome, being persecuted and suffered for the sake of Christ Jesus
the Lord. In his second missionary journey, he arrived in the port city of
Corinth with fear and trembling since wherever he preached the gospel he
received strong oppositions and beatings and imprisonments.
And the Lord Jesus strengthened
him not to be afraid but to keep on speaking and not to be silent because the
Lord was with him and no one was going to attack and harm him and because the
Lord had many people in this city (Acts 18:9-10). He met Priscilla and Aquila
who migrated from Rome and worked together for the gospel of Christ. That’s how
the church in Corinth was built and established on the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The city was full of secular and worldly businesses and idol worship
practices just like any other cities in the United States and around the world.
However, the message of the cross of Jesus Christ penetrated the hearts of the
people in Corinth powerfully and effectively that many Gentiles and Jews
believed in Christ Jesus. Here is Paul’s own words about the changes of the
Corinthians by the power of the Spirit of God.
“Or do you not know that wrongdoers
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Paul’s preaching and teaching
of the gospel of Christ was mightily working among the people in the whole
region of Achaia by the power and guidance of the Spirit in the midst of oppositions
and resistance. The people who were converted and changed were the seal of his
apostleship which proves that he was sent by the Lord Jesus Christ. What’s
Paul’s defense? How does he defend for the false and wrong claims against him?
“This is my defense to those
who sit in judgment on me. Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we
have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles
and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the
right to not work for a living?” (1 Corinthians 9:3-6)
Paul’s accusers said that he
couldn’t be an apostle because he wasn’t one of the Twelve. He didn’t marry nor
received the support of food and drink from the church. What he is saying is
that he and Barnabas have right to food and drink and to marry just like other
apostles did. But twice he says that though he has all of these rights for food
and drink and for marrying he did not use his rights (1 Corinthians 9:12, 15).
That’s the key for his defense. Now he explains the reason why he has right to
collect his living from the gospel.
“Who serves as a soldier at his
own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a
flock and does not drink the milk? Do I say this merely on human authority?
Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: ‘Do
not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.’ Is it about oxen that God
is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for
us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of
sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too
much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of
support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this
right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel
of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 9:7-12)
Surely soldiers and farmers do
not work at their own expenses. This is common sense and standard practices wherever
people trade in this world. They work to receive the pay for their labor as
reward. The Law also says the same thing. In fact, the tribe of Levites didn’t
receive any land property to possess. The priests severed in the temple and
offered the blood and offerings to the Lord. And they were allowed to receive
the share from the offerings by the tribes of the people. It shall be done by
the Law of Moses, saying “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the
grain.”
Apostle Paul planted the seed
of the gospel of Christ in the people of Corinth and labored for preaching and
teaching them. He sowed spiritual seed among them, which is the word of God. Through
the labor of Paul they were purified, washed, and justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit of God. In return, he could receive
the material support from them. Other apostles did receive the support from the
church, so could Paul. But he did not use this right. On the contrary, he put
up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. He labored for making
tents at night for food and drink in order not to be burden to the church of
Corinth and elsewhere.
“Don’t you know that those who
serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at
the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has
commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the
gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:13-14)
Just as the priests in the
temple get their food from the temple and share in what is offered in the
temple, so do the gospel workers receive their living from the gospel of
Christ. Where in the gospel did our Lord Jesus Christ give such a command? It
may be given to Apostle Paul because he was taught and revealed by none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. He testifies in the Epistle to the Galatians that
he did not receive the message of the gospel from any other apostles, nor was
he taught it but received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
“I want you to know, brothers
and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not
receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by
revelation from Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12)
Another case may be found in
the gospels that when the Lord Jesus sent out his twelve disciples he commanded
them not to have any bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals for the
worker deserved of his provisions. “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to
take with you in your belts—no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or
a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter,
search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave.”
(Matthew 10:9-11) So, it was perfectly and completely acceptable for him to
receive the support from the church, even by the Law of God.
“But I have not used any of
these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such
things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this
boast. For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to
preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I
have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed
to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may
offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of
the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:15-18)
Paul says that he did not use
any of these rights not because he wanted to claim his rights but because he
wanted to keep on giving up his rights. This is his boast. His boast was not from
his apostleship at all. He preached the gospel simply because he was compelled
to. Some might wonder that preaching must be voluntary, not obliged. But it is
both true, voluntary and obligatory. It is voluntary because God is pleased with
obedience not sacrifice. It is obligatory and compelled because anyone in
Christ is a great debt which cannot be paid by any means of humans but has
already been paid by means of the blood of Christ. That’s the reason Apostle
Paul says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
If voluntarily, what is the
reward? The reward of the preaching the gospel is to offer it free of charge,
not making full use of the rights as a preacher of the gospel. What is it? It’s
joy, yes the joy of heaven from the Father above. That’s the reward, the
heavenly joy and delight of sharing the good news of the glorious gospel of
Christ Jesus our Lord. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells so pertinently that our
Lord Jesus Christ endured the sufferings of the cross for the joy set before
him.
“For the joy set before him he
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that
you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:2b-3)
Our Lord Jesus endured such
opposition from sinners for the joy set before him. The joy of Jesus doesn’t
mean only the resurrection from the dead on the third day. It includes the joy
of the resurrection, but not everything. The joy means that everyone who
believes in him shall be saved and fulfilled through his death on the cross
because the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to life,
the true and eternal life (John 14:6). He had no reason to die because he was
sinless. But he died and shed his blood, taking up the sin of the world in our
place. Apostle Paul describes in the Epistle to the Philippians how our Lord
Jesus gave up his rights to be honored and glorified even though he was the only
One who deserved to be as the Designer and Maker of the heavens and the earth
and everything in them.
“Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather,
he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to
the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)
When the Son Jesus Christ made
himself nothing by being made in human likeness and obeyed the Father to the
point of death, the God of the heavens and the earth and the Father of glory
honored the Son and exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that
is above every name and is able to save anyone from the power of darkness and
confusion. That’s the joy and pleasure of God that he did not spare his own Son
but gave him up for us all (Romans 8:32). That’s also the joy of preachers and
teachers who are called and entrusted to expound by his own glory and goodness.
Prayer: Our heavenly Father,
thank you for teaching the truth of the cross that the Lord Jesus Christ gave
up all his right, honor, glory, and power for the joy set before him that he
would save anyone who believes in him whom the Father sent. Although our Lord
Jesus was sinless and no reason to die, he came to the earth as a servant in
the likeness of man and shed his blood and died in our place. Thank Jesus the
Lord who gave up all the rights in order to save the sinners of the world. In
Christ’s name. Amen.
July 1, 2016
© 2015-2016 David Lee Ministries – All
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