The Love One Another Podcast | Episode 18 - Laying Down Rights for the Gospel

This is the Love One Another podcast from Beach One Church.

Together, we're exploring the first letter to the Corinthians with the hope that we will be formed by the way of the cross and the love of the one who bore it.

Admitting, as this letter says, that we are nothing without love.

Love, empowered by the Spirit through the work of Jesus, is an unstoppable force.

It invites each of us to join God in the work of redeeming all things back to God.

With that in mind, let's open our hearts to God's work today.

Our reading today is 1 Corinthians 9, verses 1 through 18.

1 Corinthians 9:1–18

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.

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?

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 grain?

Is it about the 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.

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.

But I have not used any of these rites, 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.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Almost a decade ago, a child in our kids' ministry at Beach Point got a bead stuck up his nose.

How this happened is always a mystery and should not reflect poorly on the standards of safety kept and maintained by our volunteers.

But despite their best efforts, a bead ended up in a nose.

The child's mom couldn't get the bead out, and they decided it was best to take the kid to the urgent care.

Moments later, the nurse popped out the bead, and all was well again.

The mom, in sheer confusion and mild frustration, looked at her kid, bead in hand, and asked, Why did you put this up your nose?

And he replied, No one told me not to.

Just because he could shove a beat up his nose didn't mean he should shove a beat up his nose, whether someone told him to or not.

The Apostle Paul has a similar frustration as this confused and frustrated mom because the Corinthians seemed dead set on doing whatever they felt they had the right to do, even if it hurt those around them.

They were using their status, power, and wealth against their brothers and sisters in Christ.

They were engaged in sexual immorality within the church.

They were suing one another and were abandoning their fiancees and spouses.

They were eating meat sacrificed to idols when it was causing some of their brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble.

Now Paul grabbed them, a hand on each shoulder and shook them, saying, Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

And he pointed out once again to his own example.

Paul claimed he had the right to receive a material reward from the community, even going so far as to point to the laws on the treatment of oxen as evidence.

And yet he didn't act on that right.

Instead, he said, But I have not used any of these rights.

We live in a culture obsessed with rights, actually, not all that different from first century Roman citizens like Paul.

We are obsessed with what we have the right to do.

Our First Amendment right to free speech, our Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, our Sixth Amendment right to an attorney.

If you've watched an episode of Law and Order or any other crime procedural, you know your Miranda rights by heart.

And these rights are worth celebrating.

The Apostle Paul would even claim his rights as a Roman citizen in acts, much like we would claim our rights as Americans today.

But we also tend to believe that we have the right to do more than just that which is guaranteed by the Constitution.

We tend to believe we have the right to be happy, even if it requires us to hurt someone else.

We tend to believe we have the right to be independent, even if it requires us to hoard resources for ourselves.

We tend to believe we have the right to be free from the restrictions and requirements of people around us, even if it requires us to push through boundaries they have set up.

But there is something more important than what we can do.

And Paul's claim is that this is the gospel of Jesus.

Paul's example is the example of laying down one's rights for the sake of the gospel, not just for the Corinthians 2,000 years ago, but for us today.

Let's take a moment to respond.

What's an area of your life where you feel entitled to something like time, money, comfort, or recognition that God might be asking you to surrender for the sake of others?

Paul laid down his right to financial support so the gospel can move forward without hindrance.

What rights might you need to lay down so that others can more clearly see Jesus through you?

Can you think of a situation where you chose not to do something you technically had the right to do and it ended up blessing someone else?

What did you learn from that?

Thank you for taking intentional time to align yourself with God's love and the call to love one another.

You can find the Love One Another Sermon series and other resources at Beachpoint.com slash messages or on the Beach Point Church app.

May you carry the love of God into every encounter you have today.