For the Sake of the Gospel

I’m not gonna lie. I just can’t. When I began reading Chapter 9, I felt like Paul was being super braggy about all that he is and all that he’s done…making sure to note every little thing he deserves for it too. I thought, “How the heck am I supposed to write about this?” Well, I was wrong.

As I began to dig in, I realized the reason for it all. It was definitely an “Aha!” moment where I suddenly remembered how important context is!

Where are we? Well, we have just learned about a touchy issue in Chapter 8 regarding eating food sacrificed to idols. Some still couldn’t find it to be ok, while others had found freedom in Christ that made it a total non-issue for them. Paul was with the latter, but the one problem he did have was those who no longer found it to be wrong, were becoming a stumbling block for those that still did. In fact, in verse 13, he states “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”

From here, we enter Chapter 9. Instead of a brag session, he is actually simply stating his rights as an apostle. You see Paul had been being judged for some actions the Corinthians could just not seem to understand!

Let’s take a look at verses 4-6, “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 Barnabus who must work for a living?”

Something we don’t automatically consider about all this is it was expensive to host someone just coming into town, let alone adding a wife to the mix. It was their custom and expected that if an apostle came, they would be taken care of. Just as if a soldier wouldn’t have to worry about feeding himself if he was warring for his country, a farmer would expect a portion of his grain, and a shepherd, some of the milk produced from the flock.

I doubt you show up to work every day not expecting to collect a paycheck at the end of the week. Well, Paul was that guy! He didn’t do things the “normal” way. When He arrived in a new city to tell people about Jesus, the first thing he would do was find work to support himself while there. This didn’t sit well with the Corinthians. They started talking about him and questioning whether or not he even deserved all the things being offered to him. In verse 12, Paul confirms that just because he has the right to all these things, doesn’t mean he will take advantage of them. He prefers to lay these rights down.

Have you ever overheard someone talking or invited someone to church and their instant reaction was “Oh, all they want is your money!” Well, this was Paul REMOVING that! He was offering the gospel free of charge, not for one single solitary perk that came with that. It really just fires me up, because you know who else did that?!

Yes! Jesus! He offers the gift of salvation to us FREELY…but, the difference is, not ONE of US deserve it. We definitely couldn’t ever do anything to earn it.

I love how Paul mirrors Jesus in his actions like that! And, he shows it again in verses 19-22 by coming in familiar ways to each people group in order to gift them the message of the gospel. One of the many things I love about Jesus is how He will always come to you WHERE YOU’RE AT!

Paul concludes the Chapter by comparing the Christian walk, not to a walk at all, but to a race that we should train hard for to win. We see people dedicate years to training for races that offer a temporal reward, but where is that spiritual training for the race that WILL actually matter?

After all of this, I must admit I probably owe the Apostle Paul an apology for making assumptions about his character, when he was actually more than I imagined. He is a RARE find for sure! The world we live in today teaches us the goal in life is happiness, but our lives were never intended for self at all. Our main purpose is to love others the way Jesus did and bring them to the saving knowledge of Christ!

As beautiful, inspiring and mature as the message of Chapter 9 is, I think we would be mistaken to agree we’re all up to the task of actually applying it. Because if we were truly going to live like Paul, EVERYTHING WE DID would be ALL FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL!