For the Sake of the Gospel

People make sacrifices for the things that they really want and love, right, and everyone does.

People give up donuts, right, frappuccinos and chocolate chip cookies so that they could lose some pounds, right, and look better.

People give up their social life in order to work hard and get recognized and promoted in the workplace.

Mothers give up their professions so that they could raise their children.

And by the number and kinds of sacrifices that people are willing to make for a certain thing,

we can discern how important that thing really is for that person.

And how important is the gospel to you?

The gospel is the saving message of the person and work of Jesus Christ,

that he lived, died, and rose again to pay the penalty of our sins and give us new life and fellowship with God.

Have you made any lifestyle changes for the sake of the gospel in order to make the gospel known to others?

Have you made any sacrifices for the sake of the gospel?

We as Christians can often be sinfully apathetic and lethargic.

And so through exhortation and by offering himself as an example,

Paul teaches us in this passage that Christians should subject every aspect of their lives for the sake of the gospel.

And I'll unpack that main point in three sections.

First, is the support for the gospel in verses 1 to 14.

And secondly, sacrifice for the gospel in verses 15 to 23.

And then lastly, self-control for the gospel in verses 24 to 27.

In the last chapter, Paul exhorted the Corinthian believers not to eat meat sacrificed to idols at the pagan feasts

because they might make their fellow Christian brothers who have a weaker conscience stumble

by unwittingly encouraging them to partake in such meals

and tempting them to back to their formal associations with idolatry.

So after that, he concluded that chapter with this personal resolution in chapter 8, verse 13.

Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat lest I make my brother stumble.

And it's that personal resolution that prompts Paul now to talk about yet another way in which he has been sacrificing his rights

for the sake of other believers.

And that brings us to chapter 9.

And here, Paul talks about how he has every right as an apostle to receive financial support

for his gospel ministry from the Corinthian church,

but that he has intentionally sacrificed that right for the sake of the gospel.

But Paul is not merely offering himself as an example here in this passage to be emulated.

There's another underlying issue that Paul is addressing

because we know from 1 Corinthians chapter 4, 3 to 5,

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

that some of the Corinthian believers were examining Paul,

judging him, and challenging his apostleship.

So Paul had to remind them that he is not accountable to them ultimately, but to God,

and that he has to serve him.

So he said in chapter 4, verses 3 to 4,

With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.

In fact, I do not even judge myself,

for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.

It is the Lord who judges me.

And then if you look at the verse 3 of this passage,

he says,

This is my defense to those who would examine me.

The word examine there is the same word for a judge that was used early in chapter 4.

So Paul is now directly addressing the people who are challenging his apostleship

and examining him and judging him.

And this is his defense, and he begins this.

So he's really killing two birds with one stone.

So on the one hand, he's teaching the principle of self-sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.

On the other hand, he's defending his apostleship.

So he's doing both of those things in this passage.

Now, the Corinthian believers found several things objectionable about Paul.

We know, for example, from chapters 1 and 2,

that the Corinthian believers dismissed Paul's message of Christ crucified

as this elementary teaching.

And they despised Apostle Paul because they thought that he lacked worldly wisdom and eloquence.

And here in this chapter, we find another one of their objections to Apostle Paul,

and that is that he refused to accept compensation from the Corinthian church.

And so you would think that, I mean, that's kind of weird, right, to think,

if he's going to serve you for free, why shouldn't you be happy about it?

But they actually resented that fact.

And Paul talks about that directly in his second letter to the Corinthians,

2 Corinthians 11, 7 to 12.

And the reason for that is this.

This is the situation.

In the Roman Empire, there were several kinds of philosophers

who traveled from town to town to address audiences,

to gain followers, and to make money, right?

They were compensated in several different ways.

They made their living in several different ways.

The first way for these itinerant philosophers

was to rely on a wealthy patron

who used them as feature speakers at their lavish banquets and lectures.

And so they would get supported by these patrons.

That was one way.

The second way was to charge fees just for their teaching services.

Whenever they would teach, they would charge a fee.

The third way was to rely on public charity and beg, ask for donations.

And the fourth, and this was by far the most despised way in the ancient world,

was to work with one's own hands, to do manual labor, to supply oneself.

Most of the itinerant philosophers saw that way of making a living

as beneath their social standing.

And because of that, Paul, when the Apostle Paul,

the esteemed apostle, refused compensation from the Corinthians

when they wanted, even though they were willing to provide it,

when he became a tent maker and worked with his hands to provide for himself,

this irked the Corinthians to no small degree

because it seemed to them that Paul was degrading himself before their eyes

and cheapening his message.

And this may be related to what marketing experts nowadays call price-quality heuristic.

It's a phenomenon where consumers generally evaluate higher-priced items

with having higher quality,

even though that's not necessarily the case, right?

That's why Apple can't afford to sell a $1,000 phone,

even though it's not three times the value.

It doesn't have its actual value.

It's not three times that of other smartphones.

But its perceived value is higher because of the branding, right?

So in a similar way, conversely,

when Paul preached the gospel to the Corinthians free of charge,

the Corinthians began to devalue Paul and his ministry.

And soon they challenged Paul's apostleship itself,

saying that the reason why he did not take compensation

was because he was not a true apostle

and therefore could not commend the price of an apostle.

So that's where the Corinthians are and therefore accusing him.

So now Paul finds himself in this really awkward place, right,

of having, on the one hand, to defend his own apostleship

and his right to their financial support.

On the other hand, he has to also explain

why he voluntarily forfeited that right for their sake.

So in verse 1 here, Paul's launching into that defense

his right to support for the gospel.

He says, read with me verse 1,

Am I not free?

Am I not an apostle?

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

Paul's appealing to his apostolic freedom

to behave as he has been doing.

And the fact that he mentions having seen Jesus in verse 1

shows that he sees himself as one of the capital A apostles, right?

The apostles who were directly appointed

and commissioned by Christ

with authority to lay the foundation for the church once and for all.

And so even though Paul never saw the resurrected Christ in the flesh,

he did have a vision of Christ.

He saw the ascended Christ who appeared to him on the Damascus road.

And because of that, Paul understood that encounter with Christ

as his apostolic commissioning.

And because of that, he was an apostle,

even though he didn't see the resurrected Christ.

So because he didn't see the resurrected Christ in the flesh,

he referred to himself as an apostle untimely born,

he says later in chapter 15 of this letter.

But nevertheless, he did see Jesus and he is an apostle.

So he says, am I not an apostle?

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

Then Paul continues his series of rhetorical questions

in verses 1 to 2.

Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?

If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you.

For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Because apostles were charged with pioneering ministries,

beginning churches where there were no churches.

Because of that, churches that existed marked

to serve as proof of someone's apostleship.

And so Paul says that the Corinthian church

is his workmanship in the Lord.

And for that reason, even if other people disputed his apostleship,

surely they could not.

For, Paul says, you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

The very existence of the Corinthian church

serves to prove that Paul was an apostle.

They themselves were his seal,

the authenticating mark,

the signature of Paul's apostleship.

I mean, you could almost feel the pain of Paul

having to defend himself in this way

to the very church that he planted and loved and cared for.

It's like being questioned and judged

by his own workmanship.

It's like losing the affection and esteem of your own children.

And then Paul begins his defense in earnest in verses 3 to 6.

Paul expects the answer yes to all of these questions

because they all deal with the rights of the apostles

to have their needs furnished by the saints to whom they minister.

Local churches should provide for their basic needs as apostles

and not only for them, but also for their wives

if they are married and traveling with them.

And so that the ministers of the gospel

do not have to provide for themselves with additional work.

That's what Paul's talking about here.

And then in verses 7 to 10,

he illustrates this with several examples.

He says in verse 7,

who serves as a soldier at his own expense,

who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit,

or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk.

We don't expect soldiers who put their lives in danger

to fight our wars to do so at their own expense.

So why then would we expect gospel ministers

whom we thrust forward in our spiritual warfare

against the world, the flesh, and the devil

to fight at their own expense?

Likewise, we don't expect a vinedresser

who plants and harvests grapevines

to then afterward to have to go somewhere else

to purchase grapes to eat and buy wine to drink.

Nor do we expect a shepherd or a dairy farmer

to not drink any of the milk that his own flock produces.

So why then would we expect gospel ministers

who shepherd God's flock to derive some provision

and benefit from them as well?

Why should we not expect that?

And Paul insists that these analogies

don't merely demonstrate a human principle

of fair treatment and equity,

but it demonstrates a divine law.

So he writes in verses 8 to 10,

Do I say these things on human authority?

Does not the law say the same?

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?

Does he not certainly speak for our sake?

It was written for our sake,

because the plowmen should plow in hope,

and the thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

The word law can represent the entire Old Testament,

but here, because it says law of Moses,

specifically it's referring to the Pentateuch,

the first five books of the Bible.

And more specifically,

Paul's quoting directly from Deuteronomy 25.4,

which says,

You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

That's an interesting proof text to use,

because it doesn't deal with humans, right?

It deals with animals.

It refers to the ancient agricultural practice

of using an ox to draw a threshing sledge over a grain field,

so that as the sledge goes over the field,

it separates the kernels from the stalk,

and so that they can later collect those for consumption and for selling,

or whatever it might be.

And some people,

when they were using an ox to draw the threshing sledge,

they muzzle the ox,

so that the ox could not consume any of the precious kernels that fall

as he's working to feed the kernels.

But the Israelites, however,

were forbidden from muzzling the ox

while they threshed out the grain,

so that the ox can enjoy some of the fruit of its labor.

Now, what's interesting about it is,

if you actually go back to the original context of Deuteronomy 25,

it's surrounded both before and after

by all these commands that deal with

how we're supposed to relate to one another,

how we're supposed to love our neighbors.

And this is the only command in that context

that deals with animals, right?

So if you look at that and you consider that,

it shows us that,

yes, sure, God intended that law

to express his care for the oxen,

but it was more importantly

intended to illustrate

a broader principle

that's supposed to be applied to human beings.

That's what Paul is saying here, right?

Was it really for oxen that God put that there?

No.

It's so that if the oxen deserve to get

some of the fruit of their labor,

how much more the plower who's actually driving the oxen,

should he not get paid for his labor as well?

So Paul adds in verses 9 to 10,

is it for oxen that God is concerned?

Does he not speak certainly for our sake?

It was written for our sake

because the plowmen should plow in hope

and the thresher, thresh in hope,

of sharing in the crop.

Gospel ministers deserve to be supported

for their gospel ministry.

Even though here Paul's specifically arguing

for the apostolic right,

this principle can be applied

to gospel ministers in general

because Paul uses this exact same argument

and citation in 1 Timothy 5, 17 to 18

to say that elders of the church should be paid.

So he says there,

let the elders who rule well

be considered worthy of double honor,

especially those who labor in preaching and teaching,

for the scripture says,

you shall not muzzle an ox

when it treads out the grain,

and the laborer deserves his wages.

So this is a broader principle

that we can apply to other ministers as well.

So this is a very forceful and lengthy argument,

but Paul's not done,

and he says in verses 11 to 12,

if we have sown spiritual things among you,

is it too much if we reap material things from you?

If others share this rightful claim on you,

do not we even more?

Some people might argue,

well, a farmer eats of what he produces

because he's producing,

but a minister,

he's sowing spiritual seeds.

So shouldn't they be satisfied

with spiritual fruit

that he gets to reap from that?

Why should we also compensate him

with physical fruit?

I mean, that's an objection

that someone could raise.

Paul anticipates that,

but instead of that argument,

he turns that argument,

that trajectory,

on its own head.

And so basically what he's saying here is,

it is true that the spiritual rewards

are enough in and of itself,

but the problem remains

that they still need to eat, right?

And so Paul says this,

he says,

if the gospel ministers

are sowing spiritual things among you,

which are of eternal significance and value,

then why do you begrudge them material support,

which is comparably insignificant?

If you yourselves derive eternal benefits

from their service,

is it so hard to furnish them

with temporal benefits for their service?

When they willingly feed your soul,

do you do right

by refusing to feed their body?

Now, we would not think twice, right,

about paying our electrician

or a plumber for their labors.

Why do we then question

whether or not ministers

of the gospel should be paid or not?

Could it not be that we devalue their labor?

And the sowing of spiritual things.

I'm just preaching this

because it's here, guys.

It's really awkward for me to preach it.

And you guys don't have a problem with this.

A lot of churches do.

And moreover,

you know,

scripture itself attests to this truth.

And Paul,

that's how Paul clinches his argument.

It says in verses 13 to 14,

Paul writes,

do you not know

that those who are employed

in the temple service

get their food from the temple

and those who serve at the altar

share in the sacrificial offerings?

In the same way,

the Lord commanded

that those who proclaim the gospel

should get their living by the gospel.

So whether in Jewish temples

or in pagan temples,

right,

those who serve in those,

in making sacrifices,

they get the food in the end.

That's how they make their living.

And so Paul uses that

to make this argument.

And it is important to talk about this

because this is an issue

that a lot of ministers deal with.

I personally know

several ministers

who are under

considerable financial duress

and face a lot of family pressures

because their churches

don't compensate them fairly.

That's not you guys.

I'm grateful for that.

I mean, it's just,

personally, I know this,

my dad is one of the pastors, right?

He serves a church

whose budget is significantly larger

than ours, right?

But he gets paid a fraction

of what I get paid

for the work.

And because of that,

he,

when his teeth

are literally falling out,

he has to take a loan

to go to a dentist.

That's not compensating

a minister fairly.

That's not godly.

It's not idealistic.

And he says,

in Luke 10, 7,

Jesus commends this.

He says,

whenever you go out

on missionary journeys,

remain in the same house,

eating and drinking

what they provide,

for the laborer

deserves his wages.

That's what Paul's alluding to

here in verse 14

when he says,

the Lord commanded

that those who proclaim

the gospel

should get their living

by the gospel.

And I agree wholeheartedly

that the ministers

should not enrich themselves

off the gospel.

But should we not let them

make a living

off the gospel?

But in spite

of the biblical right

that ministers have,

so that's my first point,

support for the gospel,

Paul says that he himself

does not make use

of this right.

That brings us

to the second point,

sacrifice for the gospel.

Paul writes

in verse 15,

But I have made no use

of any of these rights,

nor am I writing

these things

to secure

any such provision,

for I would rather die

than have anyone

deprive me

of my ground

for boasting.

Paul emphatically denies

that he ever

demanded

to be compensated

from them

and that he's

not writing this

to get such

provision for himself.

He's saying basically,

I never took your money

and I'm not asking

for your money now.

And this issue

is so important for Paul,

he says,

for I would rather die

than have anyone

deprive me

of my ground

for boasting.

On the surface,

that sounds a little bit

like an overreaction,

right?

But there's a reason

why this is so important

for Paul

to not get paid

for his labors

and let's look at that

in verse 16.

He says,

For if I preach

the gospel

that gives me

no ground

for boasting,

for necessity

is laid upon me.

Woe to me

if I do not

preach the gospel.

For Paul,

preaching the gospel

is not this thing

that he chose

for himself,

it's a necessity

laid upon him

rather than

a choice he made.

And that's because

he says,

entrusted with

a stewardship

as he says

in verse 17.

Paul described

himself earlier

in chapter 4,

verse 1,

as a steward

of the mysteries

of God.

And he refers

to that same stewardship.

A steward

in this context

was usually

a slave

entrusted

with managing

a household,

taking care

of the property

that he doesn't

own himself

but that belongs

to his owner.

And he considers

himself this steward,

this slave of Christ,

charged with

safeguarding

and administering

the mysteries

of God,

which is a reference

to the salvation

plan of God,

which is the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

And for this reason,

Paul does not see

his gospel ministry

as a profession

that he chose,

but as an obligation

incumbent upon him

as a steward.

And that's why

Paul calls his

apostolic ministry

a calling.

He said in the

opening greeting

of this letter

in chapter 1,

verse 1,

Paul called

by the will of God

to be an apostle

of Christ Jesus.

I mentioned to you

several weeks ago

that the word calling

is not primarily

a vocational term

but a relational term.

Like 1 Corinthians 1, 9

says,

God is faithful

by whom you were

called into fellowship

with his son,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our Christian calling

is primarily relational

rather than vocational.

It's about our fellowship

with the triune God.

But because Paul calls,

but Paul calls

his ministry a calling

because his apostolic

vocation

was part and parcel

of his relationship

to God as a steward.

Ministry is a calling

only because,

strictly speaking,

it's not a vocation

but an extension

of one's Christian call,

how you relate

to God and serve him.

So Paul saw himself

as called by God

to the ministry.

And when the king

calls you,

you don't vacillate

and say,

okay, give me a couple weeks

and I'll think it over.

When the king summons you,

it's an authoritative summons.

You must comply.

And that's how Paul

thinks about his calling.

So his ministry

is much more

than a job to him.

It was a calling for him

as a steward of the gospel.

So he had no choice

but to preach.

So his preaching

of the gospel

was not something

that in his mind

that deserved special reward

and recognition

because it was

a necessity for him

and that,

this should radically

challenge the attitude

that a lot of ministers

are tempted to have.

As ministers,

we don't deserve

to be put on a pedestal

and considered better

than everybody else

just because we're

serving the Lord

and preaching the gospel.

If you're really called

to be a minister,

you're doing it

as a steward of God.

Don't act like you deserve

special recognition for that.

You're only doing

what is your duty.

You're only doing

what God's called you to do.

It's part of what it means

to be a Christian

for you to belong to him.

And because of that,

Paul says,

woe to me

if I do not preach the gospel.

If you don't do it,

it's not like you had the choice

and you could do it or not.

If you don't do it,

you will face God's judgment.

Woe is you.

If Paul had preached the gospel

and if he had been compensated

according to his right

as a minister of the gospel,

then he would have been

an unworthy servant

who had only done his duty.

But Paul wants to go above

and beyond his call of duty.

And so he says

in verses 17 to 18,

read with me,

for if I do this

of my own will,

I have a reward.

But if not of my own will,

I am still entrusted

with the stewardship.

What then is my reward?

That in my preaching

I may present the gospel

free of charge

so as not to make full use

of my right in the gospel.

Paul wants to not make full use

of his right in the gospel

so that he can do more

than his duty,

so that he can get a reward.

And what is his reward?

His reward is that he gets

to present the gospel

free of charge.

He gets to show people

that he preached the gospel

not just because he had to

but because he wanted to.

He gets to show people

that he preached the gospel

not as a professional,

as a means of making a living,

but as a Christian

who loves God

and is living for him.

That is his reward.

That in his,

and that's his ground

for boasting.

His reward or pay

is to receive no pay

and he would rather die

than have anyone

deprive him

of his ground for boasting.

It would kill him

to think that some,

that people think

that he peddles the gospel

for money

because the gospel

is so much more precious

than that

because Christ

is so much more worthy

than that.

So Paul's boasting

is not in how great he is

but on how great God is.

He's boasting

in his weakness.

He's saying,

I have the right

to be paid

but I voluntarily

forego my right

and bring myself

even lower

so that I can lift up

Christ and his gospel

even higher.

Christ must increase,

I must decrease.

That's his boasting.

Then in verse 19,

Paul gives the reason

why he took this approach

in this ministry.

Though I am free from all,

I have made myself

a servant to all

that I might win

more of them.

By winning them,

Paul doesn't mean

gaining their favor

or friendship.

He means winning them

to Christ.

That's why later

in verse 22,

he says that he did this

in order to save them.

That's what he's talking about.

And this is Paul's sacrifice

for the gospel.

He did not make use

of his right

to win more in the gospel

even though he's free from all.

He subjected himself to all

so that he might save more

with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then in verses 20 to 22,

Paul offers three general examples

of how he accommodated

his behavior

to the various social settings

he found himself in

for the sake of the gospel.

And this is really

the principle

that's been governing

his teaching

throughout this letter.

And even though

the Corinthians despised this,

they thought that he was

inconsistent.

They thought he was a flip-flop.

They thought he didn't have

a backbone.

You keep changing your stance

depending on where you are.

Where do you really stand?

That was the way

Corinthians were assessing him.

But Paul insists

that he's not compromising

the gospel

but rather he's contextualizing

his behavior

for the sake of the gospel.

And this is what he says.

Look at verse 20.

To the Jews,

I became as a Jew

in order to win Jews.

To those under the law,

I became as one under the law

though not being myself

under the law

that I might win

those under the law.

Those under the law

is another way

to refer to the Jews.

And Paul is saying

that even though

he is no longer

bound by the law

and no longer subject

to its penalties

because Christ

has fulfilled

all the requirements

of the law

on his behalf

that he nevertheless

became as one

under the law

when in the company

of other Jews.

So we see an example

of this in Acts 16,

1-5.

So here Paul takes

Timothy

who has a Gentile father

to be circumcised

because there were

some Jews

who were protesting

his presence

in their midst.

And he did this

so that he could

win those Jews over.

He contextualized

his behavior.

He became like a Jew

in order to win Jews.

And he applied this

consistently

when he was in the company

of Gentiles as well.

He says in verse 21,

to those outside the law

I became as one

outside the law

not being outside

the law of God

but under the law

of Christ

that I might win

those outside the law.

We see an example

of this in Galatians 2,

1-5.

So when Paul was ministering,

when he was ministering

to the Gentiles,

he taught them

that they did not

need to get circumcised

in order to be saved

because Christ

has fulfilled

all the laws

of the Old Testament.

And because

that is no longer

binding on Christians,

that's no longer

the way in which

you become a Christian,

a part of the people of God.

As Paul said earlier

in chapter 7,

verse 19,

neither circumcision

counts for anything

nor uncircumcision.

So even though

he taught this

to Gentiles,

so when the Jews

who were watching him

do this,

ministering this way

to Gentiles,

falsely claimed

that the Gentiles

needed to be circumcised

in order to be saved

and they pressured Paul

to act in that,

consistent with that manner,

he wrote about it

in this way.

He says,

we did not yield

in submission

even for a moment

so that the truth

of the gospel

might be preserved

for you.

Paul refused

to circumcise Titus

who was a Greek

for that reason

in that context

because the Jews

were trying to add

to the gospel

by saying that

if you don't circumcise

him,

then he will not be saved.

So,

exactly the same issue

of circumcision,

but in one context,

he circumcised Timothy

for the sake

of winning the Jews,

but in the other context,

he refused to circumcise Titus

for the sake

of preserving the gospel

and saving the Gentiles.

Do you see

the two different responses?

All for the exact

same reason,

for the sake

of the gospel.

Of course,

this doesn't mean

that Paul ever

participates in sin

in order to minister

to those outside the law,

but to make sure

that that's clear,

Paul adds

a parenthetical remark,

not being outside

the law of God,

but under the law

of Christ.

Christ fulfilled the law,

so he's kind of,

you could think of it

as this,

he is like a legend

of the map,

right,

that helps you

to make sense of

and to read rightly

all the different symbols

and signs on the map,

right?

So,

all the institutions

and offices

and rituals

and commandments

of the Old Testament

find their true meaning

and fulfillment

in Jesus Christ,

so that only by

seeing them

through the lens

of Christ,

you can really

make sense of them

and obey them

truly and rightly.

And because Christ

has fulfilled it

in this way,

the law that we are under

is no longer

that law of the Jews,

it's the law of Christ.

And the law of Christ

is not externally

imposed on us

like the Jewish laws were,

it's internally

impelled

by the Holy Spirit

and it's written

on our hearts,

as it says

in Jeremiah 31.

So,

because of that,

when he was with Jews,

Paul was kosher.

When he was with Gentiles,

he was not kosher,

right?

That's basically

what he's talking about.

And then lastly,

Paul adds in verse 22,

to the weak,

I became weak

that I might win the weak.

I become all things

to all people

that by all means

I might save some.

To those who have

weak consciences,

Paul didn't flaunt

his freedom

or to abuse his rights

in their presence,

but instead,

he became weak

like them

in order to guard

their consciences.

And all of this

he did for what reason?

Verse 23,

for the sake

of the gospel

that I may share

with them

in its blessings.

So far from being

a people pleaser,

Paul accommodated

himself to others

out of the love

for Christ

and out of the fear

of God.

There are two ways

you can misapply

that obviously.

This is one way

I was going to go

at length

to explain that,

but I'm going to let you

discuss that

in your community groups

because my sermon's

long.

But you can misapply

that obviously

by not being

too inflexible

and by adding stuff

to the gospel

and that's not

a gospel,

or you could be

too flexible

and you could compromise

the gospel.

So you could think

about the ways

in which that might

apply in your lives.

And it was for

the same reason.

So in verse 12,

and that's the same

reason why Paul

also refused

compensation from

the Corinthians.

It was for the sake

of the gospel.

So he says in verse 12,

nevertheless,

we have not made

use of this right,

but we endure anything

rather than put an

obstacle in the way

of the gospel of Christ.

If you translate that

more literally,

verse 12 says,

we endure everything

rather than put

any obstacle

in the way

of the gospel of Christ.

So what Paul is saying

is this,

I would rather endure

the greatest hardship

myself

than to put

a slightest obstacle

in the way

of the gospel.

Paul was a man

of single-minded

zeal and passion.

He was living

for Christ

and that was

his only drive,

only thing that

counted for him.

But in what ways

could receiving

compensation from

the Corinthians

prove to be an

obstacle in the way

of the gospel of Christ?

In the second letter

to the Corinthian church

that Paul writes

in chapter 11,

7 to 15,

Paul gives two

specific reasons

why he refused

compensation.

And the first reason

was, quote,

to refrain from

burdening them

in any way.

He didn't want

to be a financial

burden on them

lest the Corinthian church

be hesitant

to host him

and to invite him

to minister to them.

Second reason

was, quote,

in order to undermine

the claim of those

who would like

to claim

that in their

boasted mission

they work on

the same terms

as we do.

End quote.

By the time

Paul wrote

his second letter

to the Corinthian church,

there were false

apostles who were

posing as apostles

and they were

leading the Corinthian

church astray.

And they became

apostles,

so-called apostles,

because they were

motivated by greed

and the prestige

that came with

being an apostle.

And because

they were enriching

themselves from

the gospel,

Paul says that

he, in order

to distinguish

himself from

them,

he refused to

receive any

compensation for

his gospel labors.

Now, at this point,

some of you

are wondering

why I,

along with

most of the pastors

nowadays,

take a salary,

if this is the case.

Should not we

also be concerned

for these things?

Honestly,

it is a little bit

embarrassing

for me to preach

this to you,

because I believe

this passage

and because it

makes me look bad.

And I wish

I could forgo

my salary,

as Paul did,

in order not

to be a burden

to you in any way.

I do.

I really wish that.

I wish,

you know,

that I could

forgo my salary

so that people

don't think

that I'm one

of those false

ministers who

peddle the gospel

for money.

I'm not in this

for the money.

I would do it

for free

if I could.

But I would have

to dramatically

scale back

my ministry

if I were

to not take

a salary,

and I don't think

that serves

the best interests

of our church.

And not only that,

I will add that

I don't have

the gift of celibacy

like Paul did.

And honestly,

I think that helped him.

He wasn't married.

I mean,

I can live

on a very

tight budget

by myself.

It's not the same

when you're married.

I have a God-given

responsibility

to not just

care for myself,

but to care

for my family,

provide for them,

to care for them,

and spend time

with them.

Apostle Paul

didn't have to worry

about that.

He wrote earlier

in chapter 7,

32-34,

the unmarried man

is anxious

about the things

of the Lord,

how to please

the Lord,

but the married man

is anxious

about worldly things,

how to please

his wife,

and his interests

are divided.

I'm a man

of divided interests,

and I have

to attend

to those things.

For this reason,

I need to make use

of my right

to be compensated

for my ministry.

But with that in mind,

then,

in what ways

can ministers

like myself

apply this principle?

For one,

I try to cultivate

the same attitude

as that of Paul.

For example,

I don't see pastoring

as a mere job,

as a profession,

where everything

is contractual

and transactional.

I don't put

all my church

relationships

and conversations

on the clock

so that I can be

compensated

for all the

so-called overtime hours.

I keep track

of my hours

to make sure

that I don't work

less than the 50 hours

that I set for myself.

But I never stop working

just because,

oh, okay,

I filled my hours

for this week,

so all done.

Don't have to work anymore.

Because I don't do this

out of obligation,

but out of joy

because I love Christ

and I love his church.

I also apply

this principle

in smaller,

practical ways.

For example,

when I put my mind

to starting our church

here in East Cambridge,

our denomination

offered me a grant

for a one year

of church planting internship

and one year

of church planting residency.

But I knew,

starting out,

that a fledgling church plant

can't sustain

a full-time pastor's salary.

So for those two years,

I also fundraised

so that I could stretch

those two-year grants

to last four years.

I begged other people

for money

so that I don't have

to be a burden to you.

And then now,

even now,

actually,

so my salary,

we're small enough still

now that most of our money

goes out into the operational

cost of the church.

Not a single penny

from my salary

comes from our offerings.

It comes from the fundraising.

Of course,

that will run out eventually.

And even in taking a salary,

my intention,

I assure you,

is not to get rich

off the gospel.

I just want to make a living

for my family.

That's why when our eldership

set the annual salary,

we set it to be below

the median household income

for Cambridge.

I don't say that

to earn your pity.

I know that I'm wealthy

compared to most people

in the world.

And we are well supplied.

We are not needy.

I've never asked for a raise

and I never intend to.

These are admittedly

far smaller sacrifices

to make

than Apostle Paul did.

And I sincerely regret

that I can't make

the gospel look as glorious

as Apostle Paul did.

But I do want you to know

that this is something

that I'm seeking to apply

as a pastor

because it applies to me

because it's the word of God.

That's my second point.

Sacrifice for the gospel.

Making sacrifices

for the gospel

is no easy task

and it requires discipline

and self-control.

So knowing this,

in the final section

of this passage,

Paul motivates us

with an analogy

of an athletic competition.

This is the third point.

Self-control for the gospel.

In verses 24 to 25,

Paul writes,

read with me.

Do you not know

that in a race

all the runners run

but only one receives the prize?

So run that you may obtain it.

Every athlete exercises

self-control in all things.

Paul's not suggesting here

that the Christian life

is a competition

and that only one Christian

will receive the prize in the end.

That'd be terrible, wouldn't it?

The point of this analogy

is not to make us fearful

for our fate in the end

but to make each of us

recognize that there's a prize

that awaits us

at the end of our lives

and we should exert ourselves

and run with focus

and vigor

in order to obtain it.

This is what Paul has in mind

when he says in verse 23,

I do it all for the sake

of the gospel

that I may share with them

in its blessings.

Paul never took it for granted

that he would obtain

the salvation stored up

for him in the gospel.

He didn't take it for granted.

He knew that he had to

persevere to the end

in order to attain it.

Passages of scripture

such as Mark 4, 16-17,

Hebrews 6, 5-6,

2 Peter 2, 20-22

teach us that it is possible

for a professing Christian

who checks all the boxes

and gives all the evidence

of the outward appearance

of being saved

and having faith

could nevertheless

fall away from Christ.

This is why perseverance

is necessary.

The doctrine of perseverance

of the saints

states that all those

who are truly in Christ

will be kept by Christ

and be saved in the end.

That is a true doctrine

and we find it in passages

like John 6, 37-44.

However, that does not mean

that you will be saved

regardless of whether

you persevere or not.

It means that all true believers

will assuredly persevere.

So our assurance of salvation

is inseparably tied

to our perseverance

in the faith.

The more you persevere,

the more you will be assured.

And the more you are assured

in God's grace for you,

the more you will persevere

in faith and good works.

There's a prize waiting for us

in the end.

Eternal life,

eternal joy,

eternal and perfect

communion with God.

And we must exercise

self-control

and persevere

in order to attain it.

As Jerry Bridges

writes in his book

The Discipline of Grace,

we sometimes view

the Christian life

through the lens of

quote,

cruise control obedience.

He writes this way,

we quote,

we press the accelerator

pedal of obedience

until we have brought

our behavior up to a certain

level or speed.

The level of obedience

is most often determined

by the behavior standard

of other Christians

around us.

Once we have arrived

at this comfortable level

of obedience,

we push the cruise control

button in our hearts.

Ease back and relax.

Our particular Christian culture

then takes over

and keeps us going

at the accepted level

of conduct.

By contrast,

consider race car drivers.

They wouldn't think

of using cruise control.

They are not interested

in blending in

with the speed

of those around them.

They are not out

for a Sunday afternoon drive.

They want to win the race.

Race car drivers

are totally focused

on their driving.

Their foot is always

on the accelerator

as they try to push

their car

to the outer limits

of its mechanical ability

and endurance.

Christians are not called

to cruise for the gospel

but to race for the gospel.

We are not called

to a leisurely jog

for the gospel.

We are called

to a race for the gospel.

Verse 25 tells us,

every athlete exercises

self-control in all things.

They do it to receive

a perishable wreath,

but we,

and imperishable.

The wreath is a reference

to the prize

of the Olympic Games,

which of course

were invented by the Greeks

to whom Paul is writing.

In addition to the Olympic Games,

actually there were

three other games,

pan-Hellenic games

that included

all the Greek city-states.

And one of them

was actually held in Corinth.

So he's probably

referring to that.

It's called the Isthmian Games.

And in the Isthmian Games,

the reward for the champion

was a pine wreath,

which of course

because it's made

of organic matter,

rots.

And Paul's comparing

that kind of reward

that people strive for

with the eternal reward

that we have in Christ.

We just had the Olympics,

the Winter Olympics, right?

Lindsay Vaughn,

you guys know who she is?

Yeah.

I'm a fan.

And she just won

a bronze medal

at Women's Downhill

at the 2018

Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

And she's widely considered

to be the best race skier,

female ski racer

of all time.

She has 20 titles,

81 race victories,

135 podium appearances

in skiing World Cups.

In addition to that,

she has seven

world championships medals

and three Olympic medals.

And she opted to retire

after this last Winter Olympics

saying that her body,

quote,

probably can't take

another four years.

And her sister,

Karen Wildo,

Kildo,

said this about her

in an interview

with the Washington Post.

Every single meal

she's eaten

for the last two years

is to build up

to this moment.

Every single gym workout,

every single thing

she's done every day

for the last eight years

has been for this day

and those two minutes.

The intensity of focus

and dedication

that is required

to compete

as an athlete

at the highest level

is remarkable,

which is why

Olympic athletes

often break down

in tears

after a victory

as the realization

that all the sacrifices

they've made

day after day,

week after week,

year after year

has finally come

into fruition.

If Olympic athletes

can dedicate themselves

in this way

for an earthly medal

and temporal honor,

should we not

dedicate ourselves

for that heavenly reward

and eternal honor

in store for us?

So, Paul continues

in verses 26 to 27,

I do not run aimlessly,

I do not box

as one beating the air,

but I discipline my body,

control,

lest after preaching

to others,

I myself should be disqualified.

What kind of a runner

enters a race

only to wander off course

to explore the surroundings?

That's funny, right?

What kind of a boxer

enters the ring

only to beat the air?

He'll get pummeled

in seconds

and knocked out.

We too have

an enemy in the ring.

The enemies of the soul

were all the flesh

and the devil

and unless we are disciplined

and self-controlled,

we will get pummeled

and knocked out.

Are you living

with this gospel urgency?

One time,

this is very rare,

but I was running

on the treadmill

at a gym

and I got too immersed

in the book

that I was reading

and didn't notice

that I was slowing down

in my run.

I don't even need

to tell you

what happens next.

Of course,

I fell off the treadmill

and face-planted

and our lives

are like that, right?

There is no neutral ground

or still platform.

At every given moment,

every decision we make

is either bringing us

closer to that finish line

or driving us

further back.

The worldly influence,

our sinful flesh,

and Satan and his minions

are always trying

to drive us back.

And if you are idle,

lackadaisical,

you will be carried back

and you will not persevere

until the end.

So Paul says

he disciplines his body

and keeps it under control.

The word discipline

literally means

to beat up,

to bruise his body.

So he's continuing

that athletic metaphor.

He's not saying literally

we should punish our bodies

like ascetics

that, you know,

flagellate themselves.

That's not what he's saying.

He's using the metaphor.

Discipline yourself.

So let me ask you,

what sacrifices

can you make?

In what ways

can you exercise

greater self-control

so you can finish

this race?

Maybe you spend

an inordinate amount

of time, you know,

playing video games

or watching TV shows.

Sure, there may be

nothing sinful about that,

but maybe that's not

the best thing

you can do

with your time.

Maybe that's not

what an Olympic athlete

would do.

Maybe you're not

feeding your soul well.

Apart from

Sunday morning worship,

you hardly spend

any time with the Lord.

A cursory reading

of the Bible

here and there

and a few fleeting

moments of prayer

here and there.

Do you have a diet

that will nourish

your soul?

Do you have a

regiment that can

sustain you,

prepare you

for that race?

Will people who

observe your Christian

life see

relentlessness,

determination,

focus,

zeal,

sacrifice,

self-control?

or will they see

listlessness,

laziness,

distractedness,

and lack

of self-control?

But motivating

ourselves with guilt

will only go so far.

It will eventually fail.

In order for you

to run this race well,

you need to see

the finish line

and what's waiting

for you.

You need to believe

that it's going to be

worth all the sacrifices

that you make.

And to that end,

let me share with you

the words of

missionary David Livingstone,

the famous explorer

and missionary

who gave his life

to reach Africans

with the gospel.

When he was interviewed

about all the great

sacrifices he made

for Christ,

this is how he replied.

He said,

quote,

people talk of the

sacrifice I made,

I have made in spending

so much of my life

in Africa.

Can that be called

a sacrifice,

which is simply

acknowledging a great

debt we owe

to the God

which we can never

repay?

Is that a sacrifice

which brings

its own reward

and healthful activity,

the consciousness

of doing good,

peace of mind,

and a bright hope

of glorious destiny?

It is emphatically

no sacrifice.

Rather,

it is a privilege.

Anxiety,

sickness,

suffering,

danger,

forgoing the common

conveniences

of this life.

These may make us

pause and cause

the spirit to waver

and the soul to sink,

but let this only be

for a moment.

All these are

nothing compared

with the glory

which shall

later be revealed

in and through us.

I never made

a sacrifice.

Of this we are

not to talk

when we remember

the great sacrifice

which he made

who left

his father's

throne on high

to give

himself

for us.

Jesus made

that sacrifice

to run

his race

for us.

In Hebrews 2,

14 to 18,

it teaches that

because we are

flesh and blood

that Jesus

had to take

on flesh and blood

in order to destroy

the devil

and to free us

from slavery

to sin and death.

It says,

therefore he had

to be made

like his brothers

in every respect

so that he might

become a merciful

and faithful high priest

in the service of God

to make propitiation

for the sins

of the people

for because he himself

has suffered

when tempted,

he is able to help

those who are

being tempted.

Christ became

like us

in our weakness.

The eternal spirit

took on flesh

and blood

to save us.

the God

who cannot

be tempted

with evil

became a man

to suffer

and be tempted

so that he could

identify with us,

empathize with us