KINGDOM LIVING: Lining a Life of Liberty

LIVING UNDER KINGDOM AUTHORITY

August 25, 2024

LIVING A LIFE OF LIBERTY

1 Corinthians 9:1-18

INTRODUCTION:

1 Corinthians 8:11 (NIV) So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

Romans 5:8 (ESV) …God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 4:11 (NIV) Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

John 13:35 (NLT) “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

1 Corinthians 8:1 (NIV) Knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

1 Corinthians 8:13 (NIV) Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

1 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV) Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

1 Corinthians 8:13 (NIV) where Paul says, If what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

TEXT: 

1 Corinthians 9:1-18 (NIV) 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? ² 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.

³ This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. ⁴ Don’t we have the right to food and drink? ⁵ 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? ⁶ Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?

⁷ 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? ⁸ Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? ¹² 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.

¹³ 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? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights. 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. ¹⁶ 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! ¹⁷ If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. ¹⁸ 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.

Background:

TWO COMPELLING ILLUSTRATIONS OF LIBERTY:

1. PAUL’S ILLUSTRATION OF LIBERTY

Two things to know:

• He had the financial support.

1 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) 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?

1 Corinthians 9:9 (NIV) ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

Deuteronomy 25:4

1 Corinthians 9:10 (NIV) ¹⁰ 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.

1 Corinthians 9:11 (NIV) ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

1 Corinthians 9:11 (NIV) ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

1 Timothy 5:17-18 (NIV) ¹⁷ The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

Ephesians 6:2-3 (NIV) “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

1 Timothy 3:4-5 (NIV) ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. ⁵ If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?

• He had the financial support.

1 Corinthians 9:12 (NIV) ¹² 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.

1 Corinthians 9:14 (NIV) ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

Malachi 3:8 (NIV) ⁸ “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.”

Malachi 3:9 (NIV) ⁹ You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.

Malachi 3:10 (NIV) ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

1 Corinthians 9:14 (NIV) ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:15 (NIV) ¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights.

1 Corinthians 9:12b (NIV) But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:16 (NIV) ¹⁶ 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!

CONCLUSION:

INVITTATION:

PRAYER:

WORSHIP:

ALTAR:

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