Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
9. 1 Corinthians 9. Now Paul is dealing with believers'
liberty in Christ. The believers' liberty in Christ. But he's teaching liberty as
it regards weak brethren, as it regards weak brethren. Last time he used meat left over
in the idol's temple as an example. They sold that meat in the market
and if a sinner eats that meat, a believer eats that meat, he's
not worse off. And if he does not eat it, he's
not better. Meat's nothing. But he said, if a weak brother's
standing by and you eat it, that weak brother may be compelled
to eat it, but he doesn't have the faith to eat it, so his conscience
would be wounded. And he said, when you do that,
you sin against Christ. So he said, So when the weak
brother's near, we won't eat something like that. If it's
going to make my brother to offend, I'll forgo my liberty. And now
in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul uses himself as the illustration.
Paul had a right to be fully supported financially by the
Corinthians. But for the sake of weak brethren,
Paul didn't use that liberty. He didn't use it. We may have
every right to our liberty, but for the glory of Christ and for
the good of our brethren, we may have to set aside our liberty.
That's what Paul's teaching here. Now let's read our text, and
I'll show you what I want to deal with. Verse 1, Am I not
an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others,
yet doubtless I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship
are ye in the Lord. Mine answer to them that do examine
me is this, have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we
not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles,
and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? For I only and Barnabas
have not we power to forbear working?" Look at verse I'm sorry, verse 14, "...even
so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel. But I have used none of these
things, neither have I written these things, that it should
be done unto me." Paul said, that's not why I'm writing this
to you. And he says this, it were better for me to die
than that any man should make my glorying void." Now I want
you to see what Paul is glorying in in these first six verses. Our subject is provision which is honoring Christ. Provision which is honoring Christ. Paul gives five reasons here
why It is honoring to Christ to provide for pastors. Now what
I want you to focus on here, and what I'm going to show you
is, why Christ receives glory. Why Christ receives glory. Why
He receives honor in the support of a faithful pastor that He
has sent. Why does Christ receive honor
and glory from that? That's what, as Paul's going
to talk about his liberty, and show us a lesson on liberty.
The first thing he does here is show why it's honoring to
support the pastor, why it's honoring to Christ. Now, let's
look at these things. First of all, the reason Paul
gives is he was an apostle. He says, verse 1, Am I not an
apostle? Now, what does he mean by that? Why did he say, Am I not an apostle?
Well, the emphasis here is Christ called the apostles directly
and Christ gave the apostle as Christ's gift to the Corinthians. This was Christ's gift to the
Corinthians. Now, how honoring would it be
to you if you gave a gift to somebody and they took that gift
and looked it over and they said to you, I don't really like it. That's not very honoring to you,
is it? Well, by the Corinthians not supporting Paul, those that
wouldn't support him were saying to Christ, I don't really like
this gift you've given me. I don't really like it. I don't
appreciate it. And so that wasn't honoring to Christ. That wasn't
honoring to Christ. We don't have apostles today,
because they were called directly by Christ, but every preacher
that is sent by Christ, not all are sent by Christ, You can tell
by the message they preach. But all who are sent by Christ
are Christ's gift to his church. The Christ's gift to his church.
Remember what Ephesians 4 said? He gave. He gave. Some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. He gave.
Christ gave. It's Christ's gift to his people.
So being called and sent A preacher being called and sent. Why does
he do that? Why does he call and send a preacher? Because that glorifies Christ. That's what God the Father did
with His Son. God the Father chose Christ and
He called Christ and He sent Christ forth as His gift. to His people. That's what the
Father did. That's why the Lord sends forth
His preacher. It's an honoring to Christ who
was sent by the Father. Remember Moses said, God said
through Moses, I will lift up a prophet like unto thee. And
whenever Christ came, they said, indeed, this is that prophet
that should come. This is Him. Some of them said
that. Now, when He came, how did Christ speak? Where did he
get his message from? The words were put in his mouth
by God the Father. He spoke only that doctrine which
God the Father taught him to preach. He didn't preach his
own doctrine. He preached that which the Father gave him to
preach, which the Father gave him. And he spoke everything
the Father gave him. He didn't hold anything back.
See, it's not honoring to Christ when the preacher won't preach
Because Christ gives the message to His preacher. Christ puts
the Word in the heart of His preacher, and He sends His preacher
to preach everything Christ has taught Him to preach, because
that's what Christ did when the Father sent Him for. So that
preacher that comes that's not preaching the Scriptures, not
preaching the truth of sovereign election and particular redemption
and irresistible grace, that man that's not preaching this
message, He's not honoring Christ. Not only is He not honoring Him
in the message, He's not honoring even in what He's doing. Because
that's not what Christ did. Christ came forth and taught
everything the Father gave Him to preach. But His preacher,
Christ's true preacher, He's going to preach the gospel. Because
He's under the power of Christ and He's going to preach that
which Christ has put in His heart to preach. You can be sure of
that. You can hear the message and be sure of that. And then
the way that Christ did the things He did was the Holy Spirit was
poured out on Him without measure. I'm talking about as the servant
of God. As God, He's all-powerful. But as the servant of God, the
Spirit was poured out on Him without measure. He said, the
Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He's anointed me to preach
the gospel of good tidings. And see, this is what Christ
does for His preacher. A preacher is nothing. A preacher
is nobody. He couldn't preach, he couldn't
do anything except Christ, in a lesser measure, pour the Spirit
out upon him and give him some ability and some gifts to preach. He gets the calling from Christ,
he's sent by Christ, he gets the message from Christ, and
he has the Spirit from Christ. See, everything's from Christ.
Everything. And that's why this office is
honoring, honoring to Christ. You see, Paul was a gift. He
was a gift to Corinthians from Christ, from Christ himself.
So it's honoring to Christ whenever his people receive the preacher
he sent and bestow double honor on him. That means support him
fully That's honoring to Christ because Christ sent Him. And
it's honoring to God the Father because the Father sent Christ.
Remember what Christ said when He walked this earth? He that
receives Me, receives him that sent Me. He that believes on
Me, believes on him that sent Me. I and my Father are one.
Christ says the same thing about His preacher. Look at Luke 10. Luke chapter 10, verse 16. He says, He that heareth
you, He's sending forth His preachers. And Christ says, He that heareth
you, heareth Me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
Me. And he that despiseth Me, despiseth
him that sent Me. That means His preacher is one
with Christ and one with the Father, just like all the brethren
are. You see that? Now, this is a sure indication,
brethren, if a man thinks little of Christ's messenger, And he
thinks little of missing the gospel and not coming to hear
the gospel. It's a sure indication that that
man thinks little of Christ. That's what Christ is saying
right here. If he's despising my messenger, won't support him,
won't come here, won't support him financially, won't provide
for him, won't hear him. He despises me. and he despises
him that sent me." Now you'd think that all those at Corinth
who wanted to honor Christ and wanted to honor the Father, you
would think they would have fully supported Paul because that's
honoring to Christ and honoring to the Father. That's why Paul
said, am I not an apostle? Have I not been sent by Christ? Have I not been a gift directly
to you from Christ? Do you want to honor Christ?
This is what will honor him. That's what he said, this is
what will honor him. If Christ was walking amongst their midst,
Christ himself, and they knew this is the Christ, this is the
one who redeemed us, do you think they would have said, now, but
you need to get a second job? Would they say that to Christ?
Surely not. Surely they'd have honored Christ.
And Paul says, well, I'm sent by Christ. See that? So this
is why it's honoring to the preacher. It's not just to support the
preacher. It's because, what did he say?
Do whatever you do as unto the Lord. And it's honoring to Christ. It's honoring to Christ. And
our motive for doing it is, it's honoring to Christ and honoring
to the Father. That's the motive. That's the motive. Now secondly,
here's Paul's glorying. This is what he was glorying
in. Glorying in Christ. Look here, the second reason
Paul gives is that Christ gave him liberty and responsibility
and authority to minister over Christ's house." He gave him
liberty and responsibility and authority to minister over Christ's
house. Paul says, am I not free? Am
I not free? Now, the emphasis here when you
see the word free is the apostles didn't have anybody over them.
Christ made them to have all authority in His church. There
was no men over them. And so they were free to minister
to Christ's people. They were free to minister to
His people. Because they didn't have men to tell them what to
do. They could minister to Christ's people. See, they were not only
free from the yoke of the law. All God's elect are free from
the yoke of the law because Christ fulfilled the law and He redeemed
us from the law. We're free from the yoke of the
law. We don't serve Christ because we feel like we have to. We serve
Christ because we want to. That's the difference, the motive
of the heart. But see, here you have a man who's not only free
from the yoke of the law, he's free from the yoke of men. And
Christ gave him that authority. Christ gave him that liberty.
Now the worst thing in the world, why is that a gift from Christ
to his people? Why is that a gift? You know,
a lot of people will say of Christ's preacher, well, we're going to
tell him what to do. He can't do anything but what we tell
him to do. And you know what's at the bottom of that? I'll tell
you what's at the bottom of that. Thinking, I have the power and
I need to keep a check on him. Well, you're not the authority
over him. Christ is. Christ is, just like he's the
authority over you. Christ is. And see, the worst thing you
can have is a preacher who's bowing to men rather than bowing
to Christ. Imagine what would have happened
to the children in the wilderness if Moses would have bowed to
those men instead of bowing to the Lord. I mean, they were always
complaining and wanting to turn him another direction. If he'd
have listened to them and done what they said, they'd have wandered
in that wilderness forever. Korah stood up and he said, you
take too much on yourself. You shouldn't be over us. We're
all holy just like you are. Well, they were all holy, but
Moses was the one that Christ put over them. And so he swallowed
them up in the earth because of it. See what I'm saying? It's a gift to be able to have
a man that Christ has given authority to know Christ is over him. ruling Him, and Christ is ruling
His congregation, so that man can fill out his responsibility
being over his people and not bow to men. Now, how is that
honoring to Christ? Did Christ do that very thing?
Exactly, He did. Remember, they sent out unto
Him their disciples with the Herodians, and they said, Master,
we know that Thou art true, and teach us the way of God in truth.
He taught the truth. Neither carest thou for any man,
for thou regardest not the person of men. That means Christ wasn't
bowing to men. He was preaching the truth no
matter who was around. Well, He gives that same spirit
to His preacher. And He sends His preacher forth
not to regard a rich man and treat him differently than He'll
treat a poor man. Treat them the same. Preach the
gospel to them. That's what they both need equally.
Now there's three names given to his preachers in the scriptures
and they all are interchangeable. They all refer to the very same
office of a preacher and they all tell a little bit different
responsibility the preacher has. But here's what I want us to
focus on. They show Christ. They show the glory of Christ
in it. And I'm trying to show you what this word free means.
It means they have authority because Christ gave it to them.
But you see that's glorifying to Christ because that's Christ
is our head. He's over us. And that's glorifying
to Him. The first name that's given to
Christ's preacher is a pastor. Do you know what the word pastor
means? It means shepherd. That's what the word means, a
shepherd. Christ is our shepherd. He's our shepherd. Christ laid
down His life for His sheep, taking away all our sin, satisfying
divine justice for us and making us the righteousness of God in
Him. He laid down His life for us. And Christ seeks now and
He saves all His lost sheep. He gathers up the lambs with
His arm and carries them in His bosom. And He gathers those that
are with young and leads them. And He folds us together in His
fold like a shepherd does. And He gives us green pasture,
feeding us this Gospel. And He stands between us and
He stands between us and the wolf, so that He will not let
us be carried away by beasts of prey. This is what He does
as He preserves us and keeps us and carries us. And He won't
lose one. And the reason Christ can do
this is God's raised him from the dead and given him all authority
over all. John 10, you know that scripture. John
10, you can look there with me. Christ said, I'm the good shepherd.
I'm the good shepherd. He's the pastor who is God and
man. That's who he is, the pastor
who is God. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that's a hireling and
not the shepherd, That one that comes that's preaching, that's
not the true preacher, what's he going to do? The sheep are
not his own. When he sees the wolf coming,
he's going to leave the sheep and flee. And a wolf will catch
him and he'll scatter the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he's
a hireling and he cares not for the sheep. You see, he might
do that through compromise. It doesn't mean he's necessarily
going to leave the pulpit. He might do that through compromise. Not
Christ and not his preacher. Look, I'm the good shepherd and
I know my sheep and I'm known of mine. As the Father knows
me, even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have, he said, which are not of this
fold, not of the Jewish fold, he said, I also must bring them
and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Therefore does my Father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man takes it from me, but I lay it down myself. Now watch this.
I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment, everything he said here, including this
power to lay it down and take it again, this commandment I
received from my Father. Where does Christ's preacher
receive his authority? from Christ. Just like Christ
received it from the Father, Christ's preacher receives it
from Christ. So he goes forth and he's a shepherd and his responsibility
as an under-shepherd, under Christ, is to lay down his life for the
sheep. To lay down his life for the
sheep. He's not going to have the same life he would have had
if he wasn't a preacher. He's going to lay his life down
and serve the sheep. He's going to feed the sheep.
And when he comes to the wolf coming, he's going to stand between
the sheep and the wolf. He's going to stand between the
sheep and the wolf. Because Christ sent him, and
that's honoring to Christ. See that? The other name is bishop. That means overseer. The bishop,
the overseer, is patterned after Christ, who is our bishop. This
is the authority he gave to Paul when Paul said, I'm free. He's
a bishop. Christ takes the oversight. He
oversees God's house. And Christ looks to and ministers
to our needs. He knows what you need, believer. He knows what I need. He knows
what His people need who are lost before He ever comes to
us. Prevenient grace. He's working everything out ahead
of time where He'll one day bring us to see Him and bring us to
Himself. He's working grace for us before
we even know it. He knows our need and He comes
and He oversees us and He works that need out for us. That's
what a bishop does. That's an overseer. That's an
overseer. And He has authority over His
house to do that. Well, He makes His other bishops
to have authority so that our job is to oversee His house. When you see one of the sheep
have a need, you try to provide for that need. as a bishop, because
you oversee his house. See, you do it knowing Christ
is the chief overseer. He's the chief bishop. This is
honoring to him. And in the third title the preacher
has is an elder. These are the pastor, bishop,
and elder. All apply to the same office.
Now, elder is the word, Greek word presbyterios, which means
where we get presbytery from. And that's what his preacher
is. He's an elder. The elder rules the house. He
governs the house. He governs the house. He makes
decisions where to go, what to do. He governs the house. Christ
governs by teaching us His Word. The government's on His shoulder,
remember? Christ governs by teaching us His Word, and that's how we
learn where to go. And Christ is that Word. So when
He sends forth His preacher to be an elder, you know what He's
sending forth His preacher to do? Preach the Word. Labor in
the Word. Preach the Word. And through
that Word, Christ is going to govern His people and lead His
people. Lead His people. You know how
I govern? What I do is if I think it's
time to move in a direction, I'll ask around and talk to people
and listen to you talk. And when I realize, all right,
everybody's ready, we go. Everybody goes. But if we're
not ready, we don't go yet. We wait. We wait. Christ has given us faith to
all go the same direction. That's what Christ does. He said,
let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor,
especially they who labor in the Word and doctrine. Abraham
the Word and doctrine. Now, you can read about that
in 1 Peter 5. He gives all of these three titles
there in 1 Peter 5. Let's move on though. So Paul
is not saying we ought to glory in the preacher. That's not what
he's saying. No, that's not at all. He's saying for the sake
of the office he holds, because it's honoring to Christ who is
the head of his church, who has all authority over his church,
who is our pastor, our bishop, and our elder. For the sake of
that honor of that office, we ought to bestow double honor.
And for the sake of their labor, we ought to bestow double honor.
That means support them fully. Support them fully. That's why. It's honoring to Christ. We don't
do anything that's not honoring to Christ, see. That's our motive. Alright, here's the third thing.
Paul gives this reason. He's a witness of Christ. He
says there, Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Am I not a witness
of Christ? That's what he's saying. Now,
again, that's a gift of the Corinthians. Christ called Paul and sent him
with one charge, one purpose. He was sent to be a witness. What does a witness do when a
witness gets on a stand in a courtroom? All they're interested in is
what he's seen and what he's heard. That's it. They want to
know His witness. What did you witness? Well, that's
what we're sent forward, to witness, to bear witness of Christ, to
tell the people what we know, what we've seen, what we've heard,
what we know. That's what Christ came forth
to do. And again, He gets the honor. He's the chief witness.
He's the chief witness too. Listen to this. I have greater
witness than that of John. John was a witness. He was sent
forth to bear witness of Christ. He's that voice crying in the
wilderness. But Christ said, I have a greater witness than
him. What is it? The works which the Father hath
given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness
of me, that the Father hath sent me, and the Father himself which
has sent me hath borne witness of me. Just like the Father called
from heaven and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye Him. That means me, you, and everybody
on the face of this planet ought to bow down and hear Christ.
Because God the Father said, this is my Son, hear Him. You
know what the first charge is going to be against the unbeliever
in glory? I told you to hear my Son and you didn't. You despised
Him. In doing that, you despised me.
Hear my son. Just like that father is the
witness, every work Christ has finished and shall finish is
a witness to us that He is the Christ. Christ came into this
earth and He fulfilled. He finished the work God gave
Him of fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. There may be some
things left in the Prophets to fulfill, but He's going to fulfill
them. This thing of sending forth a preacher after his own heart,
that was a prophecy. Given through Jeremiah, Jeremiah
3.15. Christ must fulfill it. He must send forth His prophet,
His preacher, His faithful preacher. And that's what He's doing. He
finished that work. That bears witness of Him. Christ
went to the cross, brethren, and He finished the work of redeeming
His people. He finished the work of bringing
in an everlasting righteousness. He finished the work of purging
the sins of His people. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. He
finished that work. That's a witness to Him that
He is who He says He is. He's the first one who ever finished
the work. We saw it just this morning.
Who first is the forerunner. Who's the first one who entered
into glory. Leading the way for His people.
He's the forerunner. And He was sent by God to finish
that work. He said, I have power to lay
down my life. I have power to raise it again. And I've received
this commandment from my Father. He finished that work. We don't
look at the resurrection like we used to look at it. We used
to look at it and His ascension, and we used to think, oh, that's
just foolishness. We don't look at it like that
now, do we? We'd look at it knowing this is a witness that He is
the Christ. I know He's the Christ. He finished
His work. It's a witness. He finished the
work of calling us, didn't He? That bears witness of Him. A
rebel like me and a rebel like you who's running away from God,
and yet He would not take no for an answer. He did everything
to hedge us up and to strip us and to bring us to see that we're
without Christ and we have no righteousness and we need Him.
He did everything necessary. Did He fail? No, He didn't fail. He's not failed in anything else.
And these works are a witness that He is the Christ. One of
these days, He's going to finish that work of raising us in resurrection.
And he won't fail in that work either. So, you see, here's the
truth of the matter. It's not what a rebel has not
seen that troubles him. That's not what makes him troubled
with the gospel and with God. It's not what he has not seen.
You know, that's what they always bring up, you know, some crazy
question that you can't answer. What about this or that? It's
not that that troubles the rebel. It's not what he has not seen.
It's what he has seen that troubles him. It's what he knows that
troubles him. See, Christ is born witness. This thing wasn't
done in a corner. It wasn't done in a corner. So
Christ called Paul to bear witness. Remember when he called him and
what he said to him? He said, Stand up on your feet, I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness of these things which thou hast seen and of those things
in which I will appear unto you. Make him a witness. See, Christ's
preacher, this is what Christ is. Christ is a chosen vessel.
Remember Isaiah? He said, Behold mine elect whom
I have chosen. Christ is a chosen vessel chosen
by the Father. He's the first chosen, the first
elect of God. That's what his preacher is.
That's what his people are. Chosen of God. And then, he sent forth Christ
was sent forth to bear witness of the Father. Sent forth to
bear witness of His glory. That's what He sends His preacher
for, bear witness of Christ and His glory. We don't come forth
preaching our word, we come forth preaching His word. Preach what
we've seen, what we've heard, what He's taught us. And so all
His preachers are a spokesperson. They're a voice for Christ, speaking
in the behalf of Christ. See what a gift that is of Christ
to give to His people? Paul said, now then we are ambassadors
for Christ. What does an ambassador do? He
speaks for the president of the country. He goes to a country
and he speaks for that president. That's what God's preachers are. We're ambassadors for Christ
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you, in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. Now let me ask you a question. Can you put a price on the witness
of Christ? Would we dare say, you know,
this is what's going to cost me to hear Christ speak. Christ is here. He's at a place.
He's speaking. This is what's going to cost
me to hear Him speak. Would we dare say, I've already paid enough,
that's too much for me to go hear him speak? Would we? Would we do that? That's what the Corinthians were
doing in essence by not providing for the one Christ is sent to
bear witness of. And they were saying, that's too much to...
I'll tell you this brethren, At the end of this month, we're
going to send an offering to missionaries. You know why we're
doing that? We're doing that so that they can freely labor
in the Word of God, so that they can freely minister to Christ's
people, so that they can bear witness of Christ to the people,
without being distracted. That's why we're doing it. You
can't put a price on that. The witness of Christ. If you
know Christ and know you need of Him, you can't put a price
on that witness. See how this is honoring to Christ?
Alright, fourthly. The fourth reason he gives that
they should have supported Paul, and to me this is almost the
very chief reason right here. I mean, do you think this would
just be the chief reason? Through Paul's preaching, Christ
saved them and their children. Look at there. He says, verse
1, "...are not you my work in the Lord?" If I be not an apostle
unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. For the seal of my apostleship
are you in the Lord." We think of how rich we are. You think
of how rich you are by the unsearchable riches of Christ. Just think
of that, believer. Think how rich Christ has made
you. You're chosen children of God. John just couldn't get over
that. The Apostle John could not get
over that. He said, Behold what manner of
love God has bestowed on us that we should be called the children
of God. You wonder why the world don't hear us and the world don't
know us? It's because they didn't know Him. The One who's called
us and made us children of God. That's rich, rich, rich, rich,
rich blessing. You've been redeemed by Christ
and have eternal righteousness worked out by Christ. That's
a blessing, brethren. You're not manifestly declared
to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, not with ink,
but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone,
but in fleshly tables of the heart. The Holy Spirit's begotten
you again. He's ministered this gospel on
your heart. He's written His word on your
heart. And He said, when I do that, they'll be my people and
I'll be their God. What makes you cling to Christ?
What makes you to where you can't leave Christ and you see that
you need Christ and you believe Christ? What makes you do that?
Through this message, Christ wrote His word on your heart. On that new heart He made by
the Spirit of God, He's written the word on your heart. Paul
said, you're my seal. Proof that I'm called of God. He saved you by my gospel. And
some of your children. And you're complete in Christ.
That's unsearchable riches. Complete righteousness, complete
acceptance with God, complete eternal life. It'll never be
taken away. He that hath the Son hath life,
brethren. So we have unsearchable riches
given us by Christ through the gospel. And you know, when I
think about the faithful preachers Christ used to minister to me. One man he used to call me through
his preaching, and several men he's used to minister to me over
the years. And when I think of what Christ
has done for me through those preachers, you know what it does? It makes me love them. It makes
me think there's no price I could empty my bank account for those
men, and it wouldn't compare to how those men have enriched
me, how Christ has enriched me through them, through their preaching.
I told you this before. A man told me one time that he
told me he despised these preachers that I love. And I told him,
I said, if I don't even know a man, and he preaches Christ,
and I hear him and hear him preaching Christ, my heart's endeared to
that man for the gospel he preaches whether I know him or not. You
see what I'm saying? All right, fourthly, here's the
last reason Paul gives for fully supporting, I mean, fifthly,
the last reason he gives for fully supporting Christ's preacher
is his preacher has the same right and needs as every other
believer. The same right, the same need
as every other believer. Verse 3, he says, My answer to
them that do examine me is this, Have we not power, right to eat
and to drink? Has God's preacher not a right
to receive recompense equal to their labor, the same as believers
in a secular occupation? Do they not have a right to receive
recompense equal to their labor, just like you do in your secular
job? They've got the same bills as every other believer has.
One time somebody asked Brother Henry, how much should we give
our preacher? Brother Henry answered with this, however much it takes
for you to pay your bills. Then Paul asks this question,
has Christ's preacher not the same right to provide for his
family as those to whom he ministers? Verse 5, have we not power, right,
to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and
as the brethren of the Lord, and as Cephas does, as Peter
does? Christ's preacher has the same responsibility and the same
desire to provide for his wife and his children just like every
faithful husband has. And when he can't do that, it
presents great difficulty to his ministry. You want me to
tell you why? Because you're constantly feeling like you're
either neglecting your own family or you're neglecting the Lord's
house. And you're always plagued by that. I'm always plagued by
that. Then Paul says Christ's preacher
has a right not to have to take a second job. Verse 6. He said, "...or I only and Barnabas
have not we power right to forbear working?" We're the only ones
that don't have this right, Paul said. You know, when you faithfully
pray and study and minister the gospel, that is a full-time job. Full-time job. It's a full-time
job. I mean, it's as difficult as
any other job, if not more. It's a full-time job. So if a man has to take a second
job, something's going to suffer. And usually it's going to be
the ministering of the Word. You think about it now. He's
praying for you. He's looking for a Word for you.
He's coming to minister to you. What does it say to say, I want
you to neglect that? Paul is saying to them, in your
jobs, when you're qualified, when you do a full day's work,
your employer sees to it that you don't have to take a second
job. Paul said, is it only I and Barnabas who do not have that
same right? We're the only ones that don't have that right. Now
how does that glorify Christ? How's that glorify Christ? Where
was Christ chosen from? Where'd God choose him from?
Chosen from among his brethren. from among his brethren." Remember
Hebrews 2? It tells you why he was made flesh and dwelt among
us. That he might be a faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, and that he might be able to know exactly what you
and I are going through, what we suffer, so that he can comfort
us in all our affliction. That's the two-fold job of a
high priest, to minister to God, the sacrifice is required, and
do it on behalf of the people, and it's that he might pray for
the people, and minister to the people, and have compassion on
the people, because he's a man just like them and knows what
they're going through. That's Christ. Christ was made flesh
for that reason. He knows what we suffer. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows exactly what we need, when we
need it, how we need it, because he's been there. He suffered
it. He experienced obedience by the
things which he suffered. He came into that realm of obeying
God and understanding what it is to have being dependent on
God to hand you stuff. He's experienced that. So he
knows what it's like for you and me. Well, that's why he sends
his preacher and chooses his preacher from among the brethren.
The same exact reason. It's honoring to Christ first.
It glorifies Christ. It shows us a pattern of how
Christ was chosen from among his brethren. And secondly, it's
so that that minister can be praying to God on your behalf,
and at the same time have compassion on you, because he knows exactly
what you're going through. He's fallen just like you fall,
and he's sinning just like you're sinning, and he's comforted like
you're comforted, and everything you're going through, he knows
it, so he knows what you need. See how it's glorifying to Christ?
All these things are glorifying to Christ. So these are all Christ
honoring, brethren. And he says there, Christ gave.
This is why his preacher has a right. Christ gave it. That's what Paul's saying by
those six things. Christ gave us that right. That's what he
goes on to say over there in verse 14. Even so hath the Lord
ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the
gospel. Here's the right. Christ called
and sent the preacher. It's Christ's gift to the church.
Number two, Christ gave him authority over his house. Christ has all
authority over his people. Remember I told you about that
banker that asked me, he told me about all these checks and
balances they have within their congregation, everybody watching
everybody, you know, and all that. And he asked me, Y'all
don't have any of that?" I said, no. He said, they don't even
have that over you. I said, no. He said, well who
checks on you? Who keeps up with you? Same one
keeps up with them. Christ. He's the authority. Christ sent his preacher to bear
witness of Christ to his people. By the free salvation that Christ
bestows on some of you and your children by calling you, that's
the right the preacher has. He's used his preacher to call
you, save you. Is that worth anything? Here's
the fifth right, by calling his pastor from among his brethren,
so that he knows his brethren, knows what they're touched with,
just like Christ does. See, all these things picture
Christ. Everything that happens in this world, everything God's
ever created, everything He's doing in His people, everything
He does with His pastors, is patterned after Christ in some
way. It brings glory to Christ in
some way. Every bit of it. And yet, now,
I can't end until I say this. Yet, this is the point we're
going to see as we go, and this is what Paul's getting at. Yet,
for Christ's glory, And for the sake of weak brethren, for the
good of the whole church, Paul, knowing he had this right, knowing
he had this liberty, laid it aside and took a second job to
support him and himself so he could preach, so there wouldn't
be a hindrance to him, so the gospel wouldn't be hindered in
going forth. You know, when it comes to not supporting a pastor
fully, this is usually the church that men use. The example men
use, you know, you'll hear folks say, well, Paul had to, he had
to work a second job. I'm going to tell you something,
brethren, you don't want to put yourself in the place of the Corinthians
because that's not a testimony of faithfulness to make Paul
have to work. Where the testimony of faithfulness
is, is Paul who laid aside his liberty and worked. That's where
the testimony of faithfulness is. Paul knew there were believers
at Corinth that would have done more if they could have. He knew
that. He knew that. And he knew some
needed to be grown by Christ so they could do more and only
Christ could grow them. He knew that. He experienced
that. He knew that. And so while he's
teaching them liberty, he declares these Christ-honoring reasons
for supporting the pastor. He's showing them Christ in these
things by saying that. They knew what it meant, what
he meant when he said, I'm an apostle, and I'm free, and I'm
witness of Christ. They knew these things meant
what I'm telling you right now. And he stopped in the midst of
declaring liberty and showed them these things. Because he
cared for them. He wanted to see them grown in
grace. Now here's two things we can be assured of, and I'm
finished. Get this. Don't miss this. Here's number
one. Christ will fully provide all
for all who He gives a heart to fully support His preacher."
It's just like we saw the weak brethren in 1 Corinthians 8. The weak brother who tries to
support fully a preacher and doesn't have the faith to do
it, He's going to be troubled and fretful, and he won't do
it cheerfully, and he'll do it from the wrong motive, and it's
just going to be sin. So you don't try to make a brother
do anything. Wait on Christ to teach him.
But those that Christ has grown in faith to where they know,
I can support this preacher with everything I've got. I can go
above and beyond to do it. They'll never want. I've said
something. One time I was talking to Brother
Maurice Montgomery and he said to me, he said, those that always
give, always have enough to give. Just so. Christ will provide
all for all who He gives a heart to fully support His preacher.
And here's the next thing. Christ will provide His preacher
grace and love to forego His liberty while He waits on Christ
to give His people that faith. See, Paul didn't do this just
of Paul. Paul didn't set aside his liberty
and do this just because of Paul. Paul did this because Christ
was working in him. So he waited on Christ to teach
his people and grow his people in faith. Isn't that so much
more honoring to Christ than these messages you hear preachers
preaching where they're just trying to fleece God's people?
Peter said there in verse 5, you do this not for filthy lucre.
Don't do this to set your nest on high. Don't do this to lord
over God's heritage. You're not a lord over them.
They got one Lord and that's Christ. Do this willingly. Because
you love Him. You love Christ and you love
your brethren. There's so much more honoring than fleecing His
sheep. Alright, Lord bless it.