Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Are you sometimes aghast when you hear mentioned some of the outrageous salaries some people are being paid for what they do in this world? Professional athletes for instance, making hundreds of millions to play professional sports for a few years, or actors and actresses making millions to act a part in a media production or… I wonder what astronomical salaries amaze you, my friends? It causes us to wrestle with fundamental questions of the value of every vocation, every initiative, to society, doesn’t it? Did you know the apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to address this issue when writing his letter to the Christians in Corinth? So, let’s rejoin Paul again, now in his 9th chapter of his letter we know as 1st Corinthians.
Paul asks a fundamental, practical question: “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 its milk? …whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.” (1 Cor. 9:7-10) Now that makes sense, doesn’t it? In the world of normal economics workers are paid a fair wage for their work, right? While volunteerism is commendable, still everyone has basic survival needs which normally require some finances for housing, food, clothing etc.
Paul was challenging the Corinthian Christians to wrestle with a very subjective but practical issue that perhaps could be framed with this question: “What is the material value of being presented with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and introduced to Jesus who can save you from eternal damnation? What is the worth to you of gaining heaven for all eternity, of living forgiven from your sin, of knowing you are adopted by Almighty God who you can call your Heavenly Father, and daily receiving His unconditional love? What is the worth to you of understanding the meaning of the Scriptures God has given us to guide us in God honoring living?”
Jesus, of course, taught the people God’s truths, and He never asked them for a penny. Jesus went all the way to the cross, paying our sin debt with His life, without asking anyone to pay Him any amount of money for His sacrifice which purchased our salvation. Our salvation is NOT for sale, is it?! Paul’s argument is simply this… it would be morally wrong for Paul or any preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, anywhere in the world, to offer the Gospel of Jesus Christ only to those willing to pay a financial sum to hear it!
And yet, the practical reality is, the preacher gets hungry and needs to eat from time to time. The preacher gets weary and needs rest and lodging. The preacher needs clothes to wear. The preacher, if married with a family, has mouths he’s responsible before God to feed. So, where do the finances come from for the preacher to meet the practical needs of the preacher while he focuses his energies and time on study, preaching and caring for the spiritual needs of the people?
If you’ve been with me for a while on this “Walking with Jesus” journey, you may recall we traveled with Paul on his first and second missionary journeys and found that he occasionally balanced his time of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus with time Paul used for making tents. Tent making or repair was a valuable vocation throughout the middle east in the first century, for flocks and herds, a mainstay of the economy and food supply, were tended by roaming shepherds and ranchers who moved with their animals from place to place seeking grazing land and water. These tenders of the animals lived in tents as they roamed. Tents needed mending and replacement from time to time! Paul’s tent making ability was always something he could use to generate finances he needed for survival. But making tents took time, for it was a laborious process of finding the materials and then hand sewing, stitch by stitch, every tent flap. It was impossible for Paul to be working on fabricating a huge tent, while simultaneously teaching God’s Word and explaining the Gospel to large groups of people.
Yet every town and city, every province and region needed the Gospel, for there were only the original disciples who’d walked with Jesus, and a few others, who could honorably, accurately and with clarity explain Jesus and His teachings. Paul, of course, was not only among them, Paul had received very special revelation from the Holy Spirit regarding the fuller details of the Gospel. So, Paul was in great demand to share all the spiritual truth he had received from God. But Paul had to eat! Can you see the challenge Paul faced?
Now let me be very clear about something here friends. I am NOT asking you for money for me. I’m not asking you to consider the financial cost of producing and making “Walking with Jesus” available around the world. This is a study of God’s Word, as we’ve been doing for more than two years together, this is NOT a financial appeal. In our chronological study, we have come to 1 Corinthians 9, thus we dig in to understand what God led Paul to write and how it applied to him and should apply in our time, Ok? Are we clear about that? So, let’s continue with Paul in his letter to the Corinthian Christians.
Paul writes: “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 Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 9:11,12)
Paul is reminding the Corinthians that during his 18 months in Corinth, (Acts 18:11) in order to feed himself, Paul had returned to tent making. In fact, he’d found two other tentmakers in Corinth named Aquila and Priscilla, and Paul joined them in their tent making business, remember we saw that in Acts 18:1-4? During their time making tents, it appears Paul actually taught Aquila and Priscilla the deeper spiritual truths of Jesus Christ’s Gospel so that later, after Paul, Aquila and Priscilla had moved to Ephesus, and then Paul had moved on to other towns, and a new preacher came to Ephesus, named Apollos, who was not preaching the total truth of Jesus. It was Aquila and Priscilla who took him in and taught him what they had learned from Paul, while they were sewing tents in Corinth! (Acts 18:18-26)
Apparently now, a few years later, other preachers had come to Corinth and wanted to preach their philosophy, but they demanded payment for their preaching! So, Paul is challenging his dear friends to some deep contemplation. What is the practical, financial value of those trained to proclaim and teach the spiritual TRUTH of God, and how does a person or a community put a value on the effective teaching or preaching of that truth proclaimer!? Perhaps even more important, how does a person or community validate that what the preacher is proclaiming is in fact God’s TRUTH?
Now, that’s quite relevant to our time in 2023 everywhere in the world, isn’t it? And sadly, in many countries of the world, we’ve seen professional spiritual proclaimers and leaders caught in financial corruption, deception and greed. Paul writes in summary: “When I preach the Gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled [by God] 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… Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” [to Jesus Christ] (1 Cor. 9:16-19)
Do we understand Paul is saying that he was commissioned by God Himself to proclaim and teach with clarity the unique Gospel of Jesus Christ? (Acts 9:15 & 13:2) Paul is compelled by Jesus to do so whenever and wherever an opportunity is given to him. Never is he to request or demand financial payment for offering the Gospel of Jesus. If no finances are offered him after Paul proclaims God’s truth, his reward is that he has been faithful to God’s calling on his life and the spiritual truth has been proclaimed which has the power to set people free from their sin and draw them into the family of God, rescuing them from eternity in hell and assuring them of eternity in heaven!
If, on the other hand, some financial remuneration is given in response to Paul’s faithful proclamation of God’s truth, Paul is grateful, but he is quick to assure his listeners he has offered the Gospel free and is simply being faithful to his assignment from God, but he will use those funds for sustaining his life and continuing his faithful proclamation of God’s Gospel. Now that’s a lot isn’t it my friends, and I want to leave you pondering it. What is God saying to you and me today about all of us Christians, all around the world, offering the Gospel of Jesus Christ FREE to anyone who will listen?
But it’s also a clear call for us to consider what God is calling us to see in the practical needs of those who spend their full time in study, preparation and proclamation of God’s truth, while also nurturing the people God has called them to serve spiritually?
Can you balance the value of the Gospel and the spiritual nourishment of people with all other vocations in our world? That’s a lot to ponder isn’t it, and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Cor. 9:7-14.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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