Financial Obligations

It's good to be able to pray like a Christian.

I have to begin today with an apology.

Last Sunday at the 915 service, I used an analogy in my sermon.

And afterwards, as the rest of the service was going on,

I really felt in my spirit that I had not told the story correctly.

And I might have given some people the complete opposite impression from what I had intended.

And so I apologize for my lack of clarity in expression.

One of the things that you folks could pray for me is please pray that as I read God's Word,

that I will be able to see God's Word with increasing clarity.

And with, of course, increasing clarity, increasing humility.

And that I be able to speak clearly here in the congregation.

One of the stories or one of the analogies which people use against Christians,

because Christians believe what Jesus says in John 14.6.

Jesus in John 14.6 says,

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me.

And we Christians are ones who believe that.

And we are learning to believe it.

Or should believe it if we haven't believed it yet.

We might feel uncomfortable with that.

But it's what Jesus teaches.

And Jesus teaches the truth.

But in our culture, it's very common to think that there are many ways to God

and that they're all equal.

They're all equal.

And so, in fact, a story which is often told against us,

you know, if I was to say I believe, you know, what Jesus teaches,

that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me.

People will tell us, you know, human beings are like blind men

coming to meet an elephant for the first time.

And human beings are like blind men.

They've been blind all of their life.

And they meet an elephant for the first time.

And so one person touches the elephant's tail and says,

oh, you know, God is, you know, the beast that I'm, you know,

what I'm touching is like a snake.

It's, you know, it's short and it's wiggly.

And then somebody else touches the trunk of the elephant

and comes up with some ideas to what the beast is.

And other creatures touch the leg and come up with an idea

about what the creature is.

And then others touch its big tummy

and come up with an idea of what the creature is.

And the person telling this story says, you know,

and that just goes to show all of them get the thing

completely and utterly wrong.

They just have their limited little experience of the elephant

and they get the, what, they just miss what the elephant really is

because they just extrapolate from their little experience.

And therefore, George, to say that Jesus is the way

and the truth and the life is just showing

that you're blind and you're only touching one part of the elephant.

Now, the problem with that analogy is that the analogy actually,

that little story proves the opposite

of what the person telling the story thinks it proves

because the person telling the story knows that it's an elephant.

You see, they're trying to say that all of our knowledge of God is partial,

that all of our experience of God is partial,

and that our problem is that we extrapolate from that which is partial and unknown

to think that we know what the complete and perfect is.

But the analogy only works because the person telling the analogy knows that it's an elephant,

that in fact, the person is smuggling into the story really, ultimately,

an arrogant claim to have perfect knowledge of God.

In fact, you see, often in life,

attempts to show that belief in God is foolish ends up being foolish itself.

You make an absolute claim that all things are relative.

You know, you make an absolute claim that all truth is partial.

And in this particular case, you make an absolute claim

that nobody knows absolutely about what God is really like.

And in contrast to the elephant story,

the Christian way is actually very humble

because Christians should be the first ones to acknowledge

that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

A Christian should be the first to acknowledge that

I don't know anything about God because of my particular wisdom

or my particular...

I'm not particularly special.

I'm not particularly wise.

I'm not particularly learned.

We Christians are ones who say,

you know, in fact, I agree with you.

If God, in fact, hasn't taken the initiative to make himself known,

we can know nothing.

And the Christian claim is the humble claim

that God loved us,

and God has spoken and made clear to us

the way to himself.

And all I can do is pass on to you

what God has said.

And God's truth is not some private revelation

that has come to me as if I am some type of special seer,

but it is something which is public.

Jesus' ministry was public.

The word of God is public.

And our great opportunity is in humility

to share what God has spoken,

not bringing attention to ourselves,

but to Christ the Savior and to his word.

Now, that's what I should have tried to say last week.

Some of you are probably scratching your head,

can't even remember the elephant story.

That's fine.

Supposedly, we only remember 10% of what we hear.

So someday I'm going to preach the same sermon

10 Sundays in a row.

And that way, by the end of the 10 Sundays,

we've all heard it once.

And it's saving you a little bit of work.

No.

The other thing, another brief little caveat,

if someday we get that big screen up here

and, you know, the fancy projector,

there'll be a little parishioner's advisory notice

that would come up at this point in time.

You know, I'd like to have that

so that if I preach on hell,

there's a little advisory notice.

And, you know, you preach on sex,

there's an advisory notice.

And when you preach on money,

there's an advisory notice.

And the text today touches on money.

And so I want to say this to those of us,

those of you who are here who are our guests.

If you are here today as our guest

and you're a spiritual seeker

and you have not yet come to give your life to Jesus,

then I want you to know

that you should not put a single penny on the plate.

Like, I want to be as serious about that as I possibly can.

I don't want you to put even a penny on the plate

when the plate goes around.

The plate is for Christians.

You're our guests.

You are a guest who is a spiritual seeker

and we don't want you to put any money on the plate.

In fact, we want you to go downstairs

and have four cups of coffee all on us

and have extra cookies all on us

because you are our guest.

And we don't want you to put any money on the plate.

So, Paul today in 1 Corinthians 9,

and you might want to turn in your Bibles to page 992.

Page 992.

And you'll notice today that my...

Today I'm going to be using the...

Today's New International Version.

It's the latest version of the Bible that I'm using

for my personal devotions.

And so I'm going to be quoting from that.

You might notice some differences in the words,

but we'll be looking at 1 Corinthians 9.

And Paul today is going to be setting forward to us

a spiritual principle that I have to confess

I feel uncomfortable talking about.

Jill and I have joked about how it's hard to talk about money

when it maybe potentially touches yourself.

Like in an ideal world, you know,

I would go around trying to raise money for other people

and other people would go around raising money for the church

and then we could sort of do it with a clean conscience

or at least not feel any type of embarrassment about it.

But Paul here talks about the Christians having an obligation

to financially support gospel ministry at home and abroad.

The thing which sort of motivates this text,

if we don't understand this spiritual principle,

we won't understand the text.

And Paul spends 14 verses trying to drive home

using analogies from nature,

using analogies from just, you know,

sort of speak men and women of the world

who know how the world works

and, you know, what makes things work in the real world.

And even using scripture,

he spends 14 verses to try to drive home

a particular spiritual principle

that Christians have an obligation

to financially support gospel ministry

at home and abroad.

A couple of weeks ago,

Bill Clinton spoke in Ottawa.

And I can't remember now,

was it $100,000 or $150,000

he got paid for his short little speech?

Either one was way too much.

But he got paid $100,000 or $150,000

for a short speech.

And the place was packed.

People paid from $2,000 each.

Actually, in most cases,

it was probably their company paid.

But, or somebody paid between $2,000.

I think the cheapest tickets were $140.

I might be wrong about that.

I might have even been higher than that.

And you got to hear Lance Armstrong

and a few other people.

But the big draw was to hear Bill Clinton.

And I believe he got paid.

I know it was six figures.

I just can't remember

if it was $100,000 or $150,000.

And the thing which amazes me

is that people would pay that much money

to go hear Bill Clinton.

And I'm not saying anything about my politics.

I can tell you right now,

none of the party leaders in Canada

would I pay that money for,

nor any current president or past president

would I pay so much money

to go hear them speak.

And it just amazes me

that people were just,

they would so much want to hear Clinton

that they would pay that amount of money

and that he could, with a straight face,

ask for $150,000 plus expenses and get it.

Paul here, in the first 14 verses of chapter 9,

he's not saying that he's like Bill Clinton.

He's not saying, you know,

it would be like me going somewhere in the States

and said, you know,

if you only knew how great a speaker I was,

you would pay $2,000 to come hear me

and give me $150,000.

Paul isn't trying to puff himself up

and make it look like he should be getting money.

It's in fact completely opposite.

It's not at all like Bill Clinton.

It's more like Paul is saying

that a Christian has a financial,

has an obligation,

a spiritual obligation

to financially support gospel ministry

at home and abroad.

It's in a sense more like me with my children

or you with your children,

those of you who have children,

that of course,

a mother or father has obligations

to provide for their children.

Like, you know,

a little baby comes into the world,

you don't just start instantly saying,

well, I'm going to loan you the money, Johnny.

You don't know this,

but you know,

when you're 18,

I'm going to give you a bill.

And you know,

you get a little palm pilot

and every time you give them some formula,

you make a little record

and then at 18,

you give them the bill

and you expect,

you know,

you say,

you know,

I've been pretty generous with the interest,

you know,

only 2%

and it's been compounding

for all these years

and this is what you owe

and we'll keep running the tab

until you've paid me back.

You know,

that's not how it works

with a parent with their children.

Of course,

a parent with children,

you know,

I wish I had far more money

to shower my kids with gifts,

you know,

and of course,

it's my obligation

to provide for my children

financially

and Paul,

in a sense,

is saying

it's that type

of an obligation

which a Christian has

to financially support

gospel ministry.

Let's just look at the end

of verse 14

is on 1 Corinthians 9, 14.

That's sort of the end

of those first 14 verses.

It's, in a sense,

the concluding part

of his trying to argue this case

of the spiritual principle

of Christians

having an obligation

to financially support

gospel ministry

at home and abroad.

He says,

in the same way,

the Lord has commanded

that those who preach

the gospel

should receive their living

from the gospel.

And in a sense,

the command

is to the congregation.

Paul is saying,

in a sense,

if you understood

the Lord's command,

you would understand

that you have

a financial obligation.

That's what command means,

to financially provide

for me as I preach

the gospel.

In the same way,

the Lord has commanded

that those who preach

the gospel should receive

their living from the gospel.

But then look at verse 15.

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.

The commentaries tell us

that in Greek,

almost always this text

is not translated properly

because in verse 15,

Paul is overcome

with emotion,

and he begins

to speak a sentence,

and he breaks off

the sentence

right in the middle

and moves to

a different sentence.

That he's, in a sense,

overcome with emotion

on this particular point.

And so Paul moves

from teaching this first,

or reminding the congregation

of this first spiritual principle,

and now he, in a sense,

is returning

to his overall theme.

Those of you

who were here last week

remember that

in 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10,

Paul is dealing

on one level

with the issue

of certain Christians

who think they're

so spiritual

and so elite

that one of the things

that they do

is they can go

to the temple of Aphrodite

or the temple of Zeus

or the temple of Apollos,

and they can have

their animal sacrifice there,

and they can eat

with the other people

and lounge around

and just,

and they say to Paul,

some of you remember Paul,

we all know

that it's just a stone,

that it's not just

a bunch of bricks,

that there's no real idols,

and that we are free

in Christ

and that we can do this.

And so in 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10,

Paul is trying

to chip away

not only with the issue

but with the underlying

spiritual issues

which the Corinthians

should understand.

You see,

Paul could just say no.

He could just say,

okay, dudes,

the answer is no.

Don't do it anymore.

Next topic.

He could do that.

But Paul

isn't just wanting to give you

a simple yes or no answer.

He's trying to spiritually

form the Christians

and the Christian community

in Corinth.

So last week,

we saw how Paul

said,

yeah,

the answer is no,

and one of the reasons

the answer is no

is because

we have an obligation

to not do anything

that will obscure

the gospel message.

And the other thing

he said,

the other reason

it's no

is that because

we have an obligation

of love

towards those

who are weak.

And in fact,

super spiritual Corinthians,

the entire way

that you should be

motivating your life

is thinking

not what can I do

because I am free,

but how can I use

my freedom

to build other people up?

That's what should be

going through your mind.

And now Paul,

teaching this spiritual principle,

reminding them

of the spiritual principle

of a Christian's obligation

to financially support

gospel ministry

at home and abroad,

he now teaches them

an even deeper

spiritual principle

of purpose.

He says,

you know what,

I had this,

you guys should be paying me,

I have worked for free

here.

Why have I worked

for free in Corinth?

Why when I was there

did I work for completely

and utterly free

and not even ask

once for a penny,

even after I had formed

the church?

He said,

it's because we are

to be proactive

in sacrificing

our rights and freedoms

and even our money

to further the proclamation

of the gospel.

We are to be proactive

in sacrificing

our rights,

our freedoms,

and even our money

to further

the proclamation

of the gospel.

money gets

our attention.

Okay,

money gets

our attention.

You know,

it's easy

for the spiritual life

to be about

warm fuzzies,

it's easy

about the spiritual life

to be our comfort zone,

it's easy

for our spiritual life

to, you know,

that what we seek

in our spiritual life

is I just want to go

where I am blessed,

I want to go

where I am fed,

I want to go

where I am filled,

I want to go

where I am accepted,

I want to go

where I can get,

I can get,

I can get,

I can get,

I can get,

and it's very,

very possible

for the spiritual life

to descend

into a series

of warm fuzzies.

In a sense,

it's an inexpensive

form of Prozac

that you can just

sort of come

into the room,

I can come

into the room,

I just want

to be blessed,

I just want

to be blissed,

I just want

to receive,

and I just want

to be free,

and I just want

to be left alone,

and I just want

to do my own thing,

and what could

be possibly wrong

with that?

You know,

for us who like

contemporary music,

it might be,

you know,

we want the band

to be a better band,

you know,

and if you're people

who like the 11 o'clock

service,

the complaint would be,

you know,

all I want,

George,

is just,

you know,

it used to be

when people

complain about children,

I just want

an hour of peace

and quiet

on a Sunday morning,

and I don't like it

when kids make noises

and bother me,

I just want an hour

of peace and quiet,

you know,

what's wrong

with that?

A few spiritual

and uplifting thoughts.

Money gets our attention,

and so Paul is saying,

listen,

I'm not just talking

about doing

something emotional,

in a sense,

Paul is saying,

I sacrificed,

I mean,

in today's dollars,

you know,

he had a ministry

for two years

in Corinth,

he said,

I gave up

$150,000,

I gave up

$200,000,

you know,

whatever you think

the appropriate pay

would be,

$120,000,

I gave up

$120,000

because I believe

this is important.

Whoa,

that's a lot

of money.

Okay,

I'm not just talking

spiritual stuff,

folks,

I'm saying,

I gave up

six figures.

I was at a church

in,

now this guy

had some other

sources of money,

but I was at a church

a couple of years ago,

and they wanted

to go into

a building campaign,

and the minister said,

you know,

I've talked this over

with my wife,

I really believe

this is important

for the church,

and I want to share

with you,

for the next three years,

while we're in

this building campaign,

for the next three years,

I am giving up

my salary.

That got

everybody's attention.

Now,

he had some

other source of money,

he wasn't going

to just live on,

you know,

Kraft dinner

and crackers

for the next three years,

but saying he was

going to give up

his salary

for the next three years

because he really

believed in this,

that got everybody's

attention.

So Paul uses

an analogy

that gets

people's attention,

doesn't matter

what culture you're in,

doesn't matter

what it is,

giving up money

gets our attention.

And Paul

is saying

that we are to be,

you know,

you're concerned

about your freedom,

you're concerned

about what you can do,

you're concerned

about your friends.

In fact,

folks,

we are to be

proactive

in sacrificing

our rights,

proactive

in sacrificing

our freedoms,

proactive

in even

sacrificing

our money

to further

the proclamation

of the gospel.

Paul had discerned

that in Corinth

money

would have been

a barrier

and so he

didn't want

any.

He had discerned

that in Corinth

money was going

to be a really,

really,

really big issue

so he didn't

want any.

I spoke

at Ottawa

U Christian Fellowship

on Thursday night.

That's where

Jill from the band,

Jill from the band,

she's the

intervarsity

staff worker there.

It would be wrong

for her to get

money from the

people that she

ministers to there.

It would be wrong

for her to do that.

It would be a barrier

to the gospel.

Katrin from our

congregation

ministers to the

poor.

It would be wrong

for her to try

to get money

from them,

even though they

have a spiritual

obligation.

They are to win

them for Christ

and money would

be a barrier.

That's why it's

important for people

like us

to think of

ways and to

be financially

generous so we

can provide

money in these

particular ministries

so that the

gospel message

will not be

hindered.

It's why I

shared with you

folks that if

you're here and

you're a spiritual

seeker, you're

our guest.

You're not a

revenue source.

In fact, to

emphasize that we

don't want you to

put a penny in

here.

In fact, if for

the next, it

takes you five

years of spiritual

seeking and you

come here, I

don't want you to

ever put any

money in the

plate because the

plate is for

people who

have given

their lives to

Jesus Christ.

That's what the

plate is for.

It's one of the

reasons, folks, why

every church that

I've been in, I've

stopped yard

sales and

cranberry fairs and

stuff like that

because I don't

believe that the

community should be

supporting St.

Albans.

people who

have a yard sale

or a rummage

sale, it should

be to raise

money for

missions or

something like

that.

It should be to

give to the

poor.

It should be for

something like

that, but it

shouldn't be to

keep our doors

open because the

plate is for

Christians.

And we should

not look at the

world as a

revenue source.

We should look at

the world in

terms of how can

we share the

gospel and how

can we move

barriers that

hinder the

proclamation of

the gospel and

people coming to

know Jesus

Christ.

Paul is in

effect teaching

us to use our

freedom to

enter into the

big purpose,

big purposes

which come from

God, which are

to give shape to

our lives.

We are to use

our freedom to

enter into the

big purposes of

God, which are

to shape our

life.

life.

And then

finally in this

text, Paul

talks about yet

another spiritual

principle, another

deep spiritual

principle of

purpose.

And it is to

pray that our

church is never

without people who

will cross cultural

divides to speak

the gospel.

Pray that our

church is never

without people who

will cross cultural

divides to speak

the gospel.

Look at verse

22.

Actually, we'll

look at verse

19, this last

spiritual principle

in the text.

Though I am free

and belong to no

one, I have made

myself a slave to

everyone to win as

many as possible.

To the Jews, I

became like a Jew to

win the Jews.

To those under the

law, I became like

one under the law,

though I myself am

not under the law.

So as to win those

under the law, to

those not having the

law, I became like

one not having the

law.

Though I am not free

from God's law, but

I'm under Christ's law.

So as to win those

not having the law.

To the weak, I

became weak to win

the weak.

Here's the thing.

I have become all

things to all people

so that by all

possible means I

might save some.

I do all this for

the sake of the

gospel that I might

share in its

blessings.

Verse 22 again.

To the weak, I

became weak to win

the weak.

I have become all

things to all people

so that by all

possible means I

might save some.

Hudson Taylor in the

19th century caused

a huge scandal.

He felt called to

bring the gospel to

the Chinese.

And he went to

China.

And earlier

missionaries had

lived like Englishmen

or like Americans

in China.

And Hudson Taylor

went there and

quickly realized that

he had to do

something different.

So he grew his

hair long and he

put it in a

ponytail so he

would look like

Chinese men of the

time.

And he wore

Chinese dress and

he ate Chinese

meals and he

crossed the

cultural divide.

It wasn't just

enough that he

had left England

to go to China to

share the gospel.

But he didn't want

to have people

become English.

He wanted to have

people come to

Christ.

And so because he

wanted people to

come to Christ, he

realized that he'd

come all the way

from England to

China.

But on one level

he hadn't yet

come to China.

And so he grew

his hair long, he

learned the

language, he

dressed Chinese, he

ate Chinese, and he

shared the gospel in

Chinese.

And so Paul here is

not saying that he's

saying, he's not

saying here that we

have to change the

message.

You know, he's not

saying, gosh, you

know, the idea that

Jesus died for our

sins, that he is the

one who, you know,

who opened the door

to heaven, opened

the way to heaven,

that he is the one

who can, you know,

transport us to the

Father's side, that,

you know, he bore our

sin and rebellion.

Paul isn't saying

that's a complicated

message for the

world today, so go

ahead and change it

and do whatever you

want to have.

You know, Paul is

saying the message

doesn't change at

all.

The gospel is

unchanging.

He's also saying, he's

not saying that we

should be immoral.

He's not saying if you

want to evangelize

bank robbers, start

robbing banks.

He's not saying

that at all.

He says, you don't

change the message, you

don't become immoral, but

listen, be willing to

change your location.

Be willing to change

the way you dress.

Be willing to change

the type of music you

use.

Be willing to learn a

different language.

Be willing to change

your hair.

You know, if some of us

feel an obligation, you

know, if we feel a

calling to evangelize

goths, then you know

what?

We should look like a

goth.

Some of us might be

called to look like a

goth, to enter into that

goth subculture so we

can meet people and

befriend people and

share the gospel with

them.

We don't sit in judgment

and say, look at those

silly and ridiculous

people.

Look how they dress and

look down our noses at

people.

Anytime we look down our

nose at a person like

that, we are not speaking

as a disciple of Jesus

Christ.

And we should pray that

we as a congregation are

never without people who

are willing to cross the

cultural divides to speak

the gospel.

The Christian faith is a

go-to faith, not a

come-to religion.

Let's bow our heads in

prayer.

Father, I confess before

you, I like being

comfortable.

I confess before you, I

don't like making

sacrifices.

Father, I confess before

you that I like comfort

zones and I don't like to

be stretched.

And I confess to you at

the same time, Father, that

I acknowledge that these

things can become great

sins in me and great

sources of rebellion

against you.

Father, may your Holy

Spirit fall upon us afresh.

Fall upon us afresh so

that we might know your

purpose for our lives.

Father, grant us a heart

for other people, a love

for other people, an

ability to pray for other

people.

Grant us, Father, an

ability not only to make

good money, but to be very,

very generous in furthering

gospel ministry and gospel

outreach, not only amongst

our neighbors and those who

are our friends.

Father, help us to pray for

them.

But, Father, grant us a

heart for those who are in

different cultures that are

across a divide from us.

And, Father, show us the

ways that we can prayerfully

support and financially

support and maybe even

physically go across those

divides to share the gospel.

Father, give us such a heart.

This we ask in the name of

Jesus, your Son and our

Savior.

Amen.