Self Disciplined for Running Purposefully - 1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon Series: Confused?

Some individuals have careers that we are able to discern based on certain details that are noticeable. For instance, we tell our children that if they ever get lost they are to look for a police officer. Well how does a child distinguish if someone is a police officer or not? By his or her uniform. Police officers have their uniforms given to them – they don’t get them from Gap or Old Navy, which means you and I can’t go out and buy a police uniform to wear around town. Police officers need to be distinguishable, so they are set apart by their clothing. How about someone who has a career in the arts, someone like a musician, a dancer, or a painter? What distinguishes one of these individuals? Probably their ability. If a person can’t sing or play an instrument, he or she probably is not a musician; if a person can’t dance, he or she probably is not a dancer; and if a person can’t paint a picture he or she probably is not a painter.

Now I want to ask the question, “What distinguishes a professional athlete?” Is it a uniform? It might be, but some NFL players only wear a uniform for about 3 hours a week. Plus I can go out and buy an authentic jersey that would match one that a real professional athlete would wear. But when I put that authentic jersey on it doesn’t make me a professional athlete. Is it his or her ability? That’s a good one, but with advances in technology some companies are making equipment that can hide (to some degree) one’s inability. Golf companies are making clubs that drive the ball straighter and balls that fly straighter or spin more. So how about this characteristic – his or her income? If someone is a true professional athlete he or she makes his or her living by getting paid to play the sport. If a guy plays a softball game a couple of times a week with some other men from church but earns an income selling insurance, he is not a professional athlete. If a girl plays kickball on Friday nights but earns her income as a nurse, she is not a professional athlete. But if a guy gets paid to play football on Sunday afternoons and has his check signed by the Carolina Panthers, then that guy is a professional athlete.

In this week’s text we are going to discover that some in the church at Corinth were challenging whether Paul was a true apostle of Jesus. They were trying to distinguish what really made someone a true apostle. And in their minds they thought they had determined what one of the ‘deal breakers’ was. But Paul took the occasion to correct their misunderstanding and to continue challenging them in their own discipleship.

Chapter 9 is a unique section in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. In the first six chapters of this letter Paul was responding to some issues that had been reported to him by other brothers and sisters in Christ who had been to Corinth and who had returned to share with Paul things that they had observed. However, beginning in chapter 7 he began responding to some specific issues that the church had written to him about. In chapter 7 he touched on a few issues pertaining to marriage and in chapter 8 he began to address some in the church who were participating in sacrifices and meals at pagan temples in their community. In chapter 10 Paul is going to further speak to idolatry, which will indicate to the reader that Paul hasn’t said all that he wants to say about that particular topic. But in chapter 9 Paul seems to briefly turn aside from addressing their topics of concern to address their failure to respect and follow his authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ. We know that this letter was not Paul’s first opportunity to instruct the church at Corinth. He had written earlier in 1 Corinthians 5:9, “I wrote to you in my letter . . .” where he made reference to a previous letter that he had written to them. So we have good evidence that Paul had already written a previous letter in which he sought to instruct the church at Corinth and there is no reason for us to believe that Paul would not have provided a great deal of instruction when he had first planted the church there. But now Paul was having to deal with some in the church at Corinth who were rejecting his position as an apostle and both his authority and instructions which would have accompanied that position.

Part of Paul’s words of instruction in chapter 8 dealt with those in the church who perceived that they possessed great spiritual knowledge. They believed that their spiritual knowledge had shown light on personal freedoms and rights that they possessed as believers in Christ. In particular, some believed that their personal understanding that there was only one real God, and that the idols of their culture were fictitious and made up, gave them the freedom and right to be able to eat at the sacrifices and meals that took place at the pagan temples in their city. Because that food was being offered to fictitious beings those believers felt that they had the freedom to attend without actually committing the sin of idolatry. Paul had instructed them not to do this however, not because their ‘knowledge’ was wrong, but because their behavior was self-centered and unloving. Some of those believers who had a firm understanding of the existence of the one true God were bringing along other believers whose understanding and faith was not as firm and those believers were getting caught up in the ceremony and practices that they had once regularly participated in before coming to faith in Christ. Intellectually they believed that there was only one God and they had made a profession of faith in Him. However, emotionally they were still vulnerable and still prone to get caught up in the celebration and worship of false gods that they had once been so involved and invested in. So when they attended these feasts they began to sacrifice and eat as if they were sacrificing to another god and they became guilty of idolatry all over again. Paul said to those who were proud of their knowledge and who were relentlessly pursuing their ‘rights’ and ‘freedoms’ that their pursuits were not building themselves or others up, but in fact they were tearing others down. Paul ultimately suggested that the better thing to do was to lay down their personal rights and freedoms for the good of and the building up of their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Articulating those instructions seemed to trigger another thought for Paul that briefly caused him to get sidetracked. The issue of ‘freedom’ had actually been one of two issues that some in the church at Corinth were using to deny Paul’s apostleship, authority, and instructions. So having just spoken to the Corinthians about laying aside their own freedoms for the sake of others, Paul sets out in chapter 9 to defend his apostleship by talking about his rights and freedoms and how he had sought to lay them aside for greater purposes. [One of the things you will note in this chapter is Paul’s use of rhetorical questions. Paul uses them early and often in chapter 9 in order to help his readers anticipate certain answers or responses and to help strengthen his arguments.]

From the very beginning of chapter 9 Paul sets out with a series of four rhetorical questions all of which anticipate a positive response, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?” (verse 1). The first question is probably a response to some who were a part of the church at Corinth who were proud of their knowledge and the ‘freedoms’ and ‘rights’ that they believed their knowledge had enlightened them to. But Paul had just instructed them that the better thing to do was to lay aside their freedom to eat at pagan temples so that they might not inadvertently lead someone into idolatry.  He went on to further demonstrate that he, himself, was even willing to abstain from certain foods he had the freedom to eat if it would keep a brother or sister in Christ from stumbling into idolatry. To these particular Corinthian believers that didn’t really sound like one who was free – so they challenged Paul in regards to his freedom. Paul would go on to address his ‘freedom’ beginning in verse 19, but before he addressed that concern, he turned his attention first to another issue that some in the church at Corinth were challenging Paul on – his apostleship. Paul asked the rhetorical question (with the implied positive response), “Am I not an apostle?” Paul expected a positive answer – “Yes Paul, you are.” But rather than leaving that question up to their own discernment Paul began to lay out an argument to address their misunderstandings.

From the very beginning of chapter 9 Paul sets out with a series of four rhetorical questions all of which anticipate a positive response, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?” (verse 1). The first question is probably a response to some who were a part of the church at Corinth who were proud of their knowledge and the ‘freedoms’ and ‘rights’ that they believed that knowledge had enlightened them to. But Paul had just instructed them that the better thing to do was to lay aside their freedom to eat at pagan temples so that they might not inadvertently lead someone into idolatry, and that he was even willing to abstain from certain foods he had the freedom to eat if it would keep a brother or sister in Christ from stumbling into idolatry. To these particular Corinthian believers that didn’t really sound like one who was free – so they challenged Paul in regards to his freedom. Paul is going to address his ‘freedom’ beginning in verse 19, but before he addresses that concern, he turns is attention first to another issue that some in the church at Corinth were challenging Paul on – his apostleship. Paul asks the rhetorical question (with the implied positive response), “Am I not an apostle?” Paul expects a positive answer – “Yes Paul, you are.” But rather than leaving that question up to their own discernment Paul begins to lay out an argument to address their misunderstandings.

The first part of Paul’s argument for his own apostleship came in the form of more rhetorical questions that spoke to the definition of an apostle. Paul asked, “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” One could not be an apostle without having had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus, so Paul began there. He had indeed encountered Jesus after His resurrection while he was traveling to the city of Damascus one day (see Acts 9). This would have served to fill the first criterion. Additionally, a true apostle was one who had been commissioned by God to proclaim the Gospel. Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Galatia, “But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles . . .” (Galatians 1:15-16). Paul had in fact been commissioned by God to preach Christ; Paul had been faithfully fulfilling that call; and the fact that there was now a church of professing believers in the city of Corinth was clear evidence of that! So Paul said to those in the church at Corinth who were denying his apostleship, “Your individual profession of faith and your believing community serve as evidence that I am in fact an apostle.” Paul went on to say in verse 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.” In other words Paul said, “There may be other believers in Christ who were reached by someone else who proclaimed the Gospel to them. Perhaps those believers could question my apostleship because they don’t have first hand knowledge of me proclaiming the Gospel and people responding in faith. But that isn’t true of you all. Many of you first came to faith in Jesus because you heard me proclaiming the salvation that is available through His death, burial, and resurrection. If there is anything that puts a seal of authenticity on my apostleship it is you all, who came to faith in Christ as a result of my proclamation of the Gospel.”

Still, Paul understood that there were some other underlying causes for some in the church at Corinth to doubt his apostleship. So Paul declared in verse 3 that he was going to give his defense that would address those accusations. “This is my defense to those who would examine me.” Apostles, and those doing the work of the Gospel, had the right to receive support for the their work in the ministry. Paul made mention of a few examples in verses 4-6, “Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 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? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living.” Because of their work in the Gospel they had the right to receive support from others in the form of food and drink – that which would sustain and nourish them for their continued work for Christ and the Gospel. They also had the right to take along a wife with them to help support them (and probably to help meet sexual needs) while they were out doing the work of the Gospel. And what we are also going to discover in greater detail in the verses that follow is that they were free to and had the right to receive payment for the work of the Gospel that they were doing, so that they would not have to work at ‘regular’ jobs. Yet even while they had the right to receive payment for their ministry and to earn a living by doing the work of proclaiming the Gospel, Paul and Barnabas had chosen not to accept payment for their ministry among the Corinthians. In the minds of some who were part of the church at Corinth, they saw their refusal to accept payment for their ministry and their resolve to continue to support themselves by carrying out a secular trade as further evidence that Paul was not really an apostle. Let’s work together to see how this all unfolds in the verses that follow.

After making mention of what they had the rights to in verses 4-6, Paul went on to explain why he had the right to receive payment for his work in the Gospel, using practical life examples, Old Testament scriptural examples, and declarations of Jesus, Himself, as examples. First let’s look at the practical life examples he used 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?” Using real life examples Paul asked three rhetorical questions to continue to make his argument. Paul asked if soldiers go to protect their countries and to fight wars without receiving food, drink, and sustenance for their efforts. The answer is “No! Of course not.” Next Paul asked if those who plant vineyards get to receive some of the produce of their labors, and the implied answer is “Yes, they should.” Thirdly he asked if shepherds who labor to watch over flocks get some of the milk that the flock produces. And once again the answer is “Yes, they should.” In real life those who work at something are supposed to receive some of the fruits of their labor. But receiving payment for one’s work was more than just a practical aspect of life, it was also scriptural! Listen to verses 8-10, “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 the oxen that God is concerned? 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.” Paul said (through another rhetorical question) at the beginning of verse 8 that the concept of receiving payment for one’s work wasn’t just a human idea. Receiving payment for one’s work was God’s idea. Paul argued that God made that clear in Deuteronomy 25:4 where God commanded that the oxen doing the work of treading out the grain should be able to receive food as a payment for his work. Then Paul gives even further insight into the principle which God was communicating in that OT passage. Paul said that God’s chief concern wasn’t for the oxen and making sure that the oxen got what was due to him. Paul said that God commanded these words for our sake, so that those who do a certain work should receive payment for the work that they do. So Paul asked the church at Corinth a question in verses 11-12, “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?” Paul asked the church at Corinth, “Since we have in fact done the work of the Gospel among you, is it too much to ask that we receive payment for that work?” Apparently there were others who had come to the city of Corinth and had done the work of ministry there and who had received payment from the church at Corinth. Paul doesn’t dismiss the work that these others had done, but he had already suggested that the church itself was the seal of his apostleship (see verse 2) and that it was because of his declaration of the Gospel that so many of them had come to faith in Jesus. So Paul said if these others who had come had the right to receive payment and had received payment for their work in the Gospel, he had even more of a right to receive payment.

Paul had just made a strong argument that he was an apostle, that he was doing the work of the Gospel, and that as a result of ministry he had the right to receive payment from the church at Corinth. But in the second part of verse 12, after such a strong argument, Paul went on to say, “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right . . .” Paul had a right to receive payment for His ministry, but he had not made use of that right. Paul had not taken payment from the church at Corinth for his ministry among them. Instead he had chosen to support himself financially through the secular work of tent making. Why? He went on to answer, “but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.” Paul was going to expound on this thought more in verses 15 and following, but before he did that, it seems that he forgot one more reason for why he was deserving of payment. So in verses 13-14, he quickly went back to give that third reason, so as not to leave out any argument for his right to payment. “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.” In writing to a group of individuals who has professed Jesus as Savior and Lord, this may be Paul’s strongest argument for why he was deserving of payment for his ministry – because Jesus commanded it. In the OT those who had served God as priests and who were responsible for helping the people draw near to God by making atonement for their sins through the offering of sacrifices had received payment for their labors in the temple. Additionally Jesus had commanded in Luke 10:7 and Matthew 10:10 that those who proclaim the gospel should make their living by it. Paul didn’t say that it was a suggestion or recommendation of Jesus – he said it was what Jesus commanded. So because of Jesus’ commands Paul had the right to receive payment from the church and the church had the command to support those doing the work of ministry to make sure they were making a living.

In verse 15 Paul returned to his explanation for why he had refused to receive payment from the church at Corinth. “But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure such provisions. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.” Paul said he had not taken advantage of his right to receive payment for his work in the ministry, nor was he writing about his right to receive payment for his work in the ministry so that he could start receiving payment. Paul didn’t want anyone to be able to take away his grounds for boasting. What was his grounds for boasting? He told us in verses 16 and following. “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 if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to abuse my right in the gospel.” Paul said that his grounds for boasting was that he had made the good news of the Gospel available to all for free – just as God’s gift of salvation had been made available to all for free. Paul explained further using language that implied imagery of free workers and slaves. Paul said that his apostleship didn’t come by choice. He didn’t sit down one day and chart out where he wanted to be in 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years. He didn’t sit down and weigh out the pros and cons of tent making versus being an apostle of Jesus. Had he done that it would be hard to believe that he would have chosen a life that would have promised him some normalcy and a steady income for a life that would be marked and characterized by great persecution, trials, and hardships. Instead Paul said that the call to be an apostle was laid on him by Christ, which made it a work of necessity. If he had chosen a career as an apostle voluntarily he would have deserved some form of payment for his service (just as free men and women get paid today for the work they do in their careers). However, if he wasn’t a free man, but a slave, he would still be required to carry out the tasks assigned to him, only then he would not be owed any kind of payment for his service. So Paul likened himself more to a slave of Christ than a free man and sought to protect himself from any accusation of abusing his right to receive payment for his work in the ministry by not accepting payment from the church at Corinth and working to support himself through his work as a tentmaker.

Paul was a picture of freedom! Because of his faith in Jesus he was free from the OT law. And because of his work to financially support himself he was under no obligation to perform certain tasks or ministries for the church at Corinth. He was by definition ‘free’ – just as the believers in Corinth had boasted in chapter 8 (i.e. that their position in Christ gave them the right and freedom to participate in pagan temple feasts if they wanted to). But then Paul – who possessed great freedom – made a shocking claim in verse 19, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 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. To those outside the law I became as one outside the (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” While Paul was under obligation to no one, he made himself a servant to all – to Jews, to Gentiles, and to those who were weak (i.e. the ones who should have been the servants of others). “What would possess Paul to do such a thing?” That’s a great question that Paul answered clearly in a couple of other letters:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

Though Paul was free he chose to become the servant of all (1) because that was the example that Jesus set for all of us. The One who had more rights and freedoms than any other laid aside His rights and freedoms to become a servant for us – to die in our place and pay the debt of our sin for us. (2) Secondly Paul understood this to be Jesus’ calling on the lives of His followers. The freedoms we were given weren’t given to us so that we could indulge our flesh or our selfish desires. Our freedoms were extended to us so that through love we might serve one another. And so Paul said that he had laid aside his claim to his own rights for the sake of the gospel and so that he might be able to see more people place their faith in the saving work of Jesus.

Chapter 9 concludes with a paragraph that serves as a great transition. It takes all that Paul has been arguing for in chapter 9 and rolls it back into the topic of self discipline that he will expound on more in chapter 10. “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. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Paul turned the attention of the believers at Corinth to the imagery of sports. He began by asking a question that he believed they all knew the answer too. They all knew that a race is run by multiple runners, but that only one of them actually wins. So Paul told them to live their lives like a runner running his hardest to win the prize. In order to do that it would require them to discipline themselves and to run toward the established finish line (as opposed to their own goal or end). Self control was a must in athletic training. It required one to give careful attention to one’s diet, exercise habits, and training. It meant not taking advantage of their rights and freedoms to consume certain foods or drinks because it would work against their athletic training. It meant not taking advantage of their rights to stay up late so that they could get the rest and sleep they needed so that their body could perform at its best.

Athletes had to always be making choices to lay aside what was permissible for them in order to do what was best for helping them obtain their desired goal – winning in their sport. Believers in Christ have to live the same way! They have to learn to lay aside things that are permissible for them in order to do what’s best for achieving the purpose and goal to which they have been called. They have to be self-disciplined and focused. Imagine if you will 8 runners getting ready to run a race. The call goes out, “Runners take your mark,” and the runners step over their starting blocks, place their fingers behind the starting line, and place their feet in the starting blocks. Then the next call is given, “Get set,” and the runners raise their back sides into the air ready to spring out of the starting blocks. Next the gun sounds. What do you expect at that point? You expect all 8 runners to start running in a straight line towards the finish line, don’t you? What would it look like if all of the runners took off running in different directions? What if one took off running to the concession stand for a hot dog, one took off running towards a Gatorade cooler for a drink of Gatorade, one took off running towards an attractive young woman in the stands, and another took off running around with no recognizable end in mind – just running in strange lines and circles? What would that look like? It would look bizarre and crazy! It would look pointless! It would look like a bunch of guys running around aimlessly – not a bunch of guys running hard toward a clearly defined goal. Now imagine what that would look like in our churches. I would suggest you probably wouldn’t have to put a great deal of effort into imagining what that would look like, you probably just need to take a look at the Church in America today. In our churches today we have a whole bunch of people trying to live the “American Dream” with a Christian spin on it. Some believers in Christ are running hard after career goals, some are running hard after material possessions, and some are running hard after status and position. Yeah, our car radio stations are tuned to Christian radio, and we faithfully attend church services and small groups, but few of us ever imagine laying aside our rights to pursue these things for the sake of Gospel. Paul understands what it means to have freedom in Christ – he could understand and relate well to the believers in Corinth in this regard. But Paul also knew that God had called him (just as He calls all of us) to make disciples. So Paul was willing to lay aside his personal rights and freedoms for the sake of the Gospel. Paul was willing to become a servant of all so that he might make know the salvation Christ had accomplished to as many as possible. And Paul extends the challenge to the church at Corinth. This wasn’t God’s call for Paul alone – this is God’s call for all believers. So Paul says, exercise self-control! Don’t demand your own rights and privileges when it gets in the way of proclaiming the Gospel. And don’t run the race God has assigned you aimlessly – but run after the goal which God has called you to and run in such a way that you may obtain the prize.