The Support of the Ministry I Corinthians 9:1-18

The Support of the Ministry

I Corinthians 9:1-18

Introduction:  The discipline of preaching through books of the Bible guarantees that we won’t just focus on my “hobby horses,” and I Corinthians has certainly been an example of that!  I know that “money for ministry” is an important topic, that Bible has a lot to say about stewardship and giving, but it is such a personal issue for people I know there are strong feelings and I know speaking on the topic risks offending someone.  Some are probably visiting today and thinking great, just what I thought, all they ever speak about is money!  This is not the norm, it is the passage that we have come to in Scripture, and I am committed to teaching the Bible!  Now in our church I don’t know who gives how much, and except for those who count the offering you don’t know what Mary Ann and I give.  We do know that despite our numbers we have been able to meet our budget, so obviously we have generous givers in our church!  Let me take the pressure off myself a little at the start by saying we are very blessed, and very thankful for how the church has supported us since we have been here.  We are not lobbying for a raise, we certainly are not complaining! We are thankful for the generosity of the church toward us. Not only has the church supported their pastors faithfully through the years, and we give substantially to missions as well, and we have funded some very substantial renovations and projects. Is God pleased? I think He is! Even so, as we come across topics in Scripture we will preach it, God has it here for our benefit, to reinforce and strengthen our commitment to His mission.

The Big Idea: When we affirm that God has called someone to full time ministry among us, to the degree that we are able, we are obligated to support them in such a way that they are free to serve.

I. As an apostle Paul had the right to be financially supported (1-6).

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?  ² 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.  ³ This is my defense to those who would examine me.  ⁴ Do we not have the right to eat and drink?  ⁵ Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?  ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

The apostolic ministry (1a,b).   

Paul has been talking about being free in Christ, and about the concessions that we may choose to make for the sake of a weaker brother who may not enjoy the same freedom that we have in the Lord.  He begins in verse one with a series of rhetorical questions, the implied answer of each is an emphatic, “Yes, of course!”

       “Am I not free?” of course you are Paul!  You are as free as any of us, and as free as all of us! The Corinthians were claiming that they were “free in Christ,” and Paul just reminded them of the importance of considering how the exercise of their freedom might impact those around them, especially a weaker brother who might stumble in his walk with the Lord if he saw a fellow Christian eating food that had been sacrificed to an idol. Love should guide the exercise of their freedom.  Paul is stating that he too is free, he has rights and authority as an apostle, yet he will show them that he chose not to exercise some of his rights so that there was no chance he would be an offense to anyone.  

       “Am I not an apostle?” Implied answer: Yes, we recognize and affirm that you are! Paul was not just a pastor and a missionary, he was an apostle. The apostles had a unique, foundational office in the church (see Eph 2:20; 3:5). They had been entrusted with the Word of Christ, and spoke as his representatives. We’ll see from Paul’s next questions that there were probably some who questioned Paul’s right to the title “apostle.”  Why would that be? Well, he had not walked with Jesus as did the twelve for three years. In fact Paul had been a persecutor of the church, and only came to faith later, after the cross and the resurrection!  His ministry was unique, but he too had met Jesus face to face, and had been called and sent by Him.  Paul’s next question refers to this idea…

       “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” Yes, we know that you have, you testify about it all the time!  This underscores the uniqueness of the apostolic ministry. Even though Paul was not one of the twelve he met the resurrected Jesus and he was called, uniquely, to be the apostle to the gentiles.  Like Peter, James, and John and the others, he had authority to speak the word of Christ to the church. There are no “apostles” today in the technical sense of the New Testament office. Ephesians 2:20 makes it clear that that office was foundational, the church being built “…on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone…” We have a good number of men who have been builders or carpenters in our church, how many times do you lay the foundation of a building? Only once! In the beginning. Then the house is constructed above it. The apostles’ ministry was unique and foundational. But while Paul starts speaking of his apostolic ministry here, he extends in more broadly in this context to the support of the ministry in the local church.

The proof of the ministry (1c-2)

Are you not my workmanship in the Lord?  Paul is reminding the Corinthians that he was the one the Lord used to establish the church in Corinth.  He had no doubt won many of them to faith in Christ and discipled them. They were his work or “workmanship” in that their faith was the result of his labor among them, they themselves were “fruit’’ of his ministry. That being said, their immaturity and struggles no doubt grieved Paul. It’s kind of the opposite of what John said in 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” If obedient children bring joy, what did the Corinthians bring to Paul?  

       ^“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.  ³ This is my defense to those who would examine me.”

Up to the time of writing this letter, Paul had spent more time in Corinth that he did in any church that was planted on his first two missionary journeys, 18 months!  If anyone regarded him as an apostle, if anyone knew his heart and had been blessed by his spiritual gifts it was them! IF no one else recognized his calling and affirmed his ministry, they should.  Some were apparently challenging Paul’s credentials or his authority and he presents the Corinthian church as “exhibit A”, proof of his apostolic calling and authority. I think there is a principle here that our first obligation is to support the ministry of our local church. He’ll say here “If we sowed spiritually among you, is it too much if we reap materially?” The local pastor helps feed the church spiritually, and the church meets his material needs. For Mary Ann and I we have viewed our giving as first to our local church, that is where we commit our tithe, not under law or compulsion, but freely, with joy, as a starting point. Our support of additional ministries and missionaries goes beyond that.   

The rights of an apostle and the support of the ministry (3-6).

⁴ Do we not have the right to eat and drink?

I don’t think Paul is returning to the discussion in Chapter 8 of meat sacrificed to idols. He means that he had to right to be sustained in his missionary work among them, to “eat and drink” in that sense.

 ⁵ Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

       It is interesting that we don’t read much of anything about the wives of the apostles in the New Testament (though, besides the clues in this passage we also do see mention of Peter’s mother-in-law, so he was clearly married!).  But this is a clue that it was the case that most of the apostles, including the Lord’s [half] brothers and Peter, had a wife who accompanied them in the ministry.  Paul mentions this “right” here, the same word as in v.4, “authority,” a “legal right.” John MacArthur suggested that an application of this would be the expectation that a church would support their pastor at a level that would allow his wife not to need to work outside of the home. We know that a pastor’s wife, like a pastor, is always on call, and is almost unavoidably involved in many aspects of ministry. If she is financially able to not work at a secular job she can be more effective in complementing her husband’s ministry in the church.  Mary Ann’s gifts in ministering to children and her hospitality especially have been a blessing to many in our church.

       Paul goes on to ask,  “Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?”  [literally, “refrain from working”].

We read about Paul’s initial ministry in Corinth in Acts 18:2-5…

² And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,  ³ and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers.  ⁴ And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.  ⁵ But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

So we see that Paul began among them “making tents” and ministering in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  When his colleagues arrived, he depended on their support, or on gifts they had brought from other churches, and was able to give himself fulltime to the ministry. Paul’s letter seems to indicate that through the time I Corinthians was written, he had always relied on either external support or tent making to supply his material needs. He chose to do that lest something as carnal as money become an impediment to the gospel.  He surrendered his right to support for the sake of others.  When we affirm that God has called someone to full time ministry among us, to the degree that we are able, we are obligated to support them in such a way that they are free to serve.

II. The principle: It is well established and abundantly illustrated that those who work in full time in ministry have the right to be supported (7-12a).

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?  ⁸ Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same?  ⁹ 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?  ¹⁰ Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.  ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?  ¹² If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

       Paul turns to a series of illustrations from everyday life to show that a worker is worthy of his hire. Soldiers are not expected to pay their own way to the front. Farmers or shepherds are expected to benefit from the produce of their labor. These raise no questions or objections, they are expected.

            Next he turns to a scriptural principle to illustrate what he has been saying, “For it is written in the law of Moses…” In case the illustrations from life were not sufficient to make the point, Paul turns to Scripture, and quotes a law regarding “muzzling an ox.”  Again in vv. 9-12 Paul asks a series of questions applying this principle from the field to the church: “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 we not even more?” The implied answer is yes, of course!  When we affirm that God has called someone to full time ministry among us, to the degree that we are able, we are obligated to support them in such a way that they are free to serve.

III. The prerogative of the church planter (12b-18).

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.  ¹³ 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?  ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.  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.  ¹⁶ 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!  ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.  ¹⁸ 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.

       Having made the case of his right to be supported in the ministry, Paul, the church planter, set aside his rights in order to not be an obstacle to faith (12b-14).

“Nevertheless we have not made use of this right…”  (cf. v.15). Paul has established and illustrated a principle, he has shown the right, indeed the expectation, that a pastor would be supported in his ministry, but then just as he said in chapter 8 that he would choose not to eat meat if it would cause offense, he says he chose not to accept support from the Corinthians to avoid any offense. We know that Paul did accept support from at least some churches.  He mentions in his letters thanksgiving to churches for their gifts and support. But at this point at least he had intentionally not accepted any support from the Corinthians.

Paul chose not to use this “right” that he had (15-18). Paul wants to make it clear, he is “…not writing to secure any such provision…” Paul’s purpose was not to guilt the Corinthians into fulfilling their obligation to support him. His time serving among them was over, and he was probably writing to them from Ephesus! It is not his intention to shame them into supporting him – he is both illustrating the truth that freedom in Christ includes freedom to give up our rights for the sake of others, and at the same time he is responding to his critics who were challenging his apostolic credentials.

Question: Does the fact that Paul chose not to accept support from the Corinthians indicate that others are bound by his example? Well, think about the context. Paul was a church planter, he was “from away,” working among the Corinthians. He was a missionary. We support and send missionaries so that they can do the work God had given them to do. 

What is God saying to me in this passage? When we affirm that God has called someone to full time ministry among us, to the degree that we are able, we are obligated to support them in such a way that they are free to serve.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  In his next letter Paul will speak more generally about principles that should guide our giving. He says in 2 Corinthians 9:5-8,   

^“So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.  ⁶ The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  ⁷ Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

So Paul does at that point teach about generous giving, willing, joyful, trusting God. God has supplied for us generously through the gifts of the people since we have been here, and we are thankful. And if you are a member or regular attender, the Bible spells out clearly our obligation to support the local church budget. At our last annual meeting we authorized an exploratory committee, looking into the possibility of hiring a youth worker / outreach director, and for the last few weeks have received “faith promise” pledges, to see if this is God’s will and God’s time.  If this is a part time position we’ll need to have reasonable expectations.  What is the Lord telling us? Is it His will that we do this at this time?  If it is, what would he have you to do? If it is not, how can we more effectively carry on the outreach and discipleship that must be a part of our mission with our current staff and volunteers?   Think about that, pray about it. Are you a part of the answer?   AMEN.