Law and Grace - Liberty - Part 1

Good morning. We're going to be, beginning this Sunday, taking a look for four weeks in a row here at 1 Corinthians chapters 9 and 10. And the reason for doing that is because those particular chapters draw upon the Law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, draw upon the Law of Moses in order to gain principles that apply to us and the Church, Yes, the Law of Moses was inspired by God. But we're to look to them not to look to, you know, what rules do we follow, but rather what truths, what principles do we draw from these books that do apply to us who are not under the law, but are in fact under the principle of grace, the reigning principle. So anyway, we'll begin our study with what Randy just read for us here. 1 Corinthians 9.

I want to just point out we've begun sign-ups for the electives for next year. That's right, it's not that far away. And so I just want to draw to your attention a person who works with the Holy Spirit. Book of James and the Gospel of John, those are the three electives that we've selected. And so the sign-up sheets are in the lobby. To the extent you sign up, that helps us plan for the place and materials for those electives. So I appreciate your taking a look at that and considering that.

Now, in our 1 Corinthians 9, 1-14 passage, the believers in Corinth question Paul's apostleship, and in fact, this isn't the only place where he addresses that issue. They say, are you really an apostle? And they're questioning it. They're not certain. Some of them don't embrace it. In fact, in chapter 4, he's told them, you guys need to understand that we are stewards of the mysteries of God. We are, in fact, apostles.

But here in this chapter, he's addressing it as well. They had a series of written questions. As a matter of fact, Paul alternates between oral questions that someone has brought to him and written questions. And one of the things that they, however, continued to question was Paul's apostleship. And so in this passage, he's defending it. They questioned it big time. It's an issue he keeps going back to. As a matter of fact, it was 2 Corinthians. Which, by the way, isn't the second letter, but is in fact more likely the fourth.

He's still addressing the reality of his apostleship. So Paul continues to persistently defend his apostleship and come back, not mildly, but with strength. He does so, however, with humility. He does not get up on his high horse in order to do so. And through the rest of this letter and on into 2 Corinthians, he presents that as well humbly. And so it's an interesting thing. On the one hand, he says, yes, I am an apostle. But on the other hand, I'm not thinking too highly of myself. Don't get that wrong impression.

Though questioning his apostleship was not good, God is going to make good of his defense of his apostleship for our sakes. We're going to benefit from it. And he's going to do so in more than one place here by bringing up the law of Moses and how that has truths and principles to be applied to us in the church. So why do they question Paul's apostleship? We could ask that question.

Paul did not live the exact same way as the other apostles did. So that raised some questions. Where were most of the other apostles? Most of the other apostles were back still somewhere around Israel or close by. Some of them by this time had also gone into other nearby areas, for example, Peter up to Antioch in one instance, but many of them were still either in Israel or close by Israel. Paul was the one who was going off into Gentile lands and into what is now Europe.

In addition to that, there were four pagan customs about how teachers and philosophers were paid. And so drawing upon each of those customs, that had an impact on what Paul did and said. The four things that were done, some of the pagan teachers and philosophers charged fees for their teaching.

Some had a wealthy co-sponsor, someone who would provide the funds. Thirdly, sometimes it was just begging, just plain begging. Please give me money, you know, alms, that sort of thing. And fourth is working on the side. And of course, we're quite aware that Paul did that as a tent maker, right? So those were the four things.

Now, while there were those four things, each of those also had their critics. And so no matter what Paul did, he was going to have some sort of a critique of how he supported himself. And so while some would provide support, some would criticize, and it was just fairly common to do that. And so Paul was not exempt from that criticism. People had already been criticizing the teachers and philosophers using any of these methods. So here's what we're going to see from this and other passages when we look at it. Some of the qualifications for being an apostle are going to come out here. We're going to look at the others that have an impact as well.

That's going to allow us to see who claim to be apostles in our own day. In our own day, among some charismatic groups, there are those who claim to be a modern apostle. And so that would be one reason being able to discern, well, why is this person not an apostle? That's part one. We also have modern apostles in some of the cult groups. The Mormons, for example, have people that they call apostles. And why do they not qualify?

Well, we'll see that here. The next thing, we're going to see why the Lord gave the ministry that he did to the apostles and on what basis. So it isn't just a, hey, I think I'll pick you, but there's actual criteria that the apostles had to qualify by. And they were most certainly qualified, as we'll soon see. And finally, we're going to gain some insights into the ministries that the Lord has given to each one of us along the way.

Okay. The believers in the body of Christ also have freedoms and rights that go along with the ministries that each one of us have been given. At times we may be wise, in fact, however, to decline our rights and freedoms. We may be best off, under grace, to say, no, I'm going to step away from that even though I could do that for the sake of grace.

And by the way, that's something that's interesting. Grace may require things of you that the law never dreamed of. Get that? Grace may require something of you that the law never dreamed of. I may have a right to do something as a believer, but for the sake of my brother or sister's conscience, I may step away from something I have a right to in order that that believer not be stumbled.

So that would be an example. While believers who are of the church are not under the law of Moses, it's inspired scripture, God did in fact inspire the law of Moses. We'll tell you you're not under the law, but God inspired it. It's holy, righteous, and good. We can learn from and draw valuable truths from the Law of Moses that apply to us in the body of Christ who are under grace.

And that's exactly what Paul's going to do here. He's going to draw from and quote from, not only in this passage, but passages in the next several weeks here, draw from the Law of Moses in order to bring out things that apply to us in the body of Christ who are not under law.

So, Paul also responds here with I say rhetorical questions, many rhetorical questions. You might have noticed most of what Randy read for us was questions. A good deal of it was questions. As he's done that before, we saw that as we're going through Romans. Shall I sin that grace may abound? May it never be, but the question, right? He responds with rhetorical questions so that his readers might think about the right answers with him. That's the purpose of the rhetorical questions. It's also one of the purposes of the Bible, including, especially in the New Testament, IF. Why doesn't he just write SINCE? The reason is he wants you to think it through with him. Same thing here.

Rhetorical questions are so that we'll be following the thought process that he's got here. So those rhetorical questions here are found in verse 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. All but three verses have rhetorical questions. Paul asks a rhetorical question. It isn't because he doesn't know the answer. He asks the question so that we'll think it along with him, not because he's wondering himself. So, Paul responds with six reasons. So count that, right? Get your hand out and stick an extra finger there. Alright, Paul responds with six reasons for their questioning of the financial support of his apostleship.

One is custom. It's customary, that's verse 7. And then this is one of the reasons for including this passage in our Law and Grace series. He refers to the Law of Moses, verses 8-10. Next, physical support is given for spiritual support. So they're analogous. That's verse 11. Next, other spiritual leaders have an example. That's verse 12. And then Jewish priests, again out of the Old Testament law, verse 13. And finally, Jesus' teachings out of verse 14. So we find twice here that the law is referenced in two different passages, and so we'll go through that.

There's a table of spiritual gifts we've made available previously. Hopefully some copies are still available on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room. If you would like one and they're out, let me know. I can make sure you get one. We will be looking at this part and this other part here in detail in today's passage and pass on the rest of the detail there, but feel free to avail yourself of that.

Now, this part here is on the bottom of page one, and our reason for listing that is among the four lists of spiritual gifts, apostles is included in a couple of those, and that's the spiritual gift that he's talking about here in this passage. Paul is saying, I am indeed an apostle, one of the spiritual gifts This list that I have shown on this slide are those we call Apostolic Era gifts. They were gifts for the time of the Apostles, not applying to our present day. We won't go into why all those ended, but that's to be recognized. So let's take a look at that one. That didn't get much. Okay, let's go on. So what's an apostle here? Alright, so what's an apostle? The word apostle in New Testament times meant a special messenger. It wasn't just a person who had the general occupation of, I'm a messenger, I just run messages around.

That wasn't the point. The point was it was a special assignment. This person has particular authority to convey a certain message. and sent from someone who has authority. So it's a special messenger in that sense. He wasn't just a general messenger by occupation or general assignment. It was a specific authority given to a particular person to accomplish some particular thing. Our English word ambassador conveys a similar meaning. It is a messenger sent for a special purpose having a delegated authority.

So that's what Paul's talking about here. He's not just saying, hey, I'm a messenger by occupation. He's saying, I have a special purpose in my being sent and the authority that I carry is delegated to me by Jesus Christ. He would even say that sometimes in the beginning of his letters, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Now, here are the necessary qualifications of the Apostle. It's on a slide there on page 2 of your handout. It's also on the bottom of the supplement that we have available. But let's go through them. One is the Apostle had success in evangelism by the Lord's designation.

1 Corinthians 9.2 says it.

Right in this passage we're looking at 2 Corinthians 3.1-3 and Galatians 2.7-9. So there was a particular effectiveness that an Apostle had for evangelism. He had the capacity to suffer patiently. As a matter of fact, not only is that something stated in 2 Corinthians 12.

But when Paul became a believer, this Acts 9.16 reference, Jesus says he will discover how much he will suffer for my name. The capacity to suffer. By the way, modern apostles, very few of them will qualify for this, much less volunteer for it. So modern apostles, this is one of the areas where they will fail miserably. They will scatter and run from suffering. The next one, he received his gift and office by a sovereign decision of God.

It's not, hey, I want to be an apostle. It is instead God's designation. God's designation. Next, he had to have been an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus Christ. The twelve disciples, including Matthias, were personal witnesses of Christ's resurrection before he ascended. Paul was a special case where the Lord appeared to him directly, not only just to appear to him and say, Hi, I'm Jesus, but also to make personal revelations to Paul, and to essentially disciple him personally, as a resurrected being rather than simply a being who walked on the earth. And next, endowed with power to perform signs, wonders, and miracles.

So all those qualifications are given, and one of the things you'll notice, we have at least two, but multiple references for these. So these are not just, hey, I think it's there. No, this is most certainly present and spelled out in Scripture. These are certain, that is absolutely known, requirements for being an apostle. Now, the next is authorization to author scripture and to be a foundation. What we find is every one of the books of the New Testament was either written directly by an apostle or sponsored by an apostle.

What do I mean by that? Well, let's see. There's Matthew. He's an apostle, right? There's Mark, who was not an apostle, but who was alongside Mark. both Paul and Peter. Luke, he was alongside Paul, which also justifies his authorship of Acts. So we could go down through the New Testament and find all of the books were authored either by an apostle or they were sponsored by an apostle. We could go down the entire list and say that of every single one.

Next thing is Ephesians 2.20 says that the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church.

Now, one of the things you'll notice about any building, and this one is certainly the case, you build a foundation, and certainly you want a good one, you build a foundation for a building, but you don't just keep on building foundation, do you? A foundation takes a building to a certain point and after that you add the structure on top of it. Isn't that how it happens? So you don't keep on having apostles and prophets. They were a foundation, essential at the beginning, but not continued through the course of the church.

They are a foundation for the church, very important for us to recognize. Now we have of course this song where we go through here and as we were saying just earlier, apostles and prophets, they gave us the facts, they wrote the epistles, the gospels and acts. What's interesting is that is one list of spiritual gifts where it says Christ gives the gifts to the church. It's a different kind of giving and gifting than what we find in the other passages.

Paul begins with four questions in this passage that have yes answers. Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And he does that by asking, am I not free? Paul is not talking about free as in no cost, but meaning Christian liberty. And that's what we've titled this as Liberty Part One. Do I not have liberty, Paul is asking. Now, does he insist on the liberty? No. He does not insist on it. That's one of the reasons why I say we may have liberties, we may have rights as believers that we do not insist upon. Because what is important is the gospel, not my rights.

Nonetheless, he brings that up as an initial point. He next asks, Am I not an apostle? The answer, of course, is yes. Paul was a fully qualified apostle of Christ, as were the others, just as we saw in that one slide that gave the various qualifications of an apostle.

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord, one of the qualifications, personally having seen Christ the Lord Himself? And by the way, what was the first time he saw the Lord? It was a time when he couldn't see anything else, right? He couldn't see anything else. Whoa! What's happening? He's on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christians in Damascus.

And that's his first time seeing the Lord. He even asks, Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Are you not my work in the Lord? Paul himself had been the one to found and build up the church to the place where it was. The church wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for him being there. He says, are you yourselves not a testimony to my apostleship?

The fact that you are a Christian church and not just some pagan gathering. Now, verse 2, what if unbelievers think differently about something? The believers in Corinth were using the same criteria to measure, as did some others who were unbelievers, whether their own church's founder Paul was actually a real apostle. They were taking the points at which they would critique various teachers and philosophers out there and trying to apply that to Paul. So they weren't getting it, they were taking their unbelieving mindset and questions over into the church.

So believers need not be caught up in this world's values, viewpoints, and issues to determine what God has already made clear in his word. Do we need to pray about something that God has already revealed in scripture? No, we don't. We don't need to ask the Lord, you know, should we do this? Is this your will? About something he's already told us, this is not my will, right? Or is my will?

What the world thinks is not to be what guides us. There are in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3 messages to the seven churches and a great many of the points of concern in those messages are points where the church has absorbed the world's ideas. The church has absorbed the world's ideas. I would dare say that if the church has problems now that Very likely the source of those problems is the church absorbing the world's viewpoints, the world's values, and the world's understandings. What the world thinks is not to be what guides us.

Now, we have here, it's not wrong to have rights. It's not wrong to have rights. What do we mean by that? Paul does not insist upon and boldly claim all of his rights as an apostle. He could demand His rights, that's not his point here. He makes it clear he has a right to them along with all the other apostles, but he doesn't demand them.

His rights include to have meals as part of the support of the church body, to take along a believing wife to provide for her by the body's support. So far as we have any evidence Paul himself did not have a wife, it is clear that at least at one point in time Peter did. Christ in Capernaum healed Peter's mother-in-law, so that implies he did in fact have a wife. And other apostles apparently did as well. A right to be supported and not work separately in tent making. Did he make tents and support himself? Yes. He did not insist upon that right for support and did often work for his own support.

Now, we have here an illustration in verse 7. A soldier, a farmer, and a herdsman. Okay? Okay. Paul then uses the word pictures of a soldier, a farmer, and a herdsman, each having opportunity to receive physical provision in return for their service and labor. It was something, of course, that would illustrate that there is a yield from the work that people do, whether you're a soldier, a farmer, or a herdsman, and that's his point and purpose in bringing that up. It is, of course, customary for each of these three occupations, soldier, farmer, and herdsman, to be supported for and by what they do as a return for their service and labor in the battle or in the field.

Right? No matter what it is. So he gives that illustration here. In verses 8 through 10, this is where he draws from the law and is certainly central to our theme here. While Paul made it abundantly clear that believers are not under the Law of Moses, it is still fitting to draw some principles from the Law of Moses, as he does here and also in other passages.

Deuteronomy 25.4, prohibited the Jews from muzzling the oxen that threshed their grain for them. And so that's the passage that he is referring to here. That's in Deuteronomy. That's right out of the Law of Moses. That's the fifth book of the Law of Moses. It is the law that Moses delivered to the Israelites just before they went into the Promised Land. And so the prohibition against muzzling the oxen as they thresh the grain there at the end of the harvest season. Similarly, people who work in the field with the oxen should work, but be motivated by hope.

And he draws that out as well. Now, we have this principle of sowing and reaping in verse 11. Now, this isn't the sowing and ripping kind of thing. That's not what we're talking about here. This is sowing and reaping. Okay. Real groaners, I guess. Paul presented the principle of sowing and reaping a few times in his letters, and he did so in Galatians, and also in 2 Corinthians. Both of those passages contain that.

In this instance, an apostle who is sowing spiritually is due a harvest in terms of reaping and physical support. Do you see that? So he says, Sowing spiritually deserves physical support. So it's by analogy that he puts that together. That's the sowing and reaping principle. There were among the Corinthians apparently some who had already been supported by the Corinthians for their teaching and or labors among the church body.

So this was a practice that he point to. He says, see, others are doing it. It's not a problem. Since Paul is an apostle, there's no good reason why he should be treated any differently than these others. who might even have had less of a basis for being supported. So Paul says, certainly if you've been supporting others, I'm an apostle and I certainly deserve this support.

The next comparison he makes, and this again draws from the Law of Moses, is like the priests in the temple. The priests in the Jerusalem temple, the one of the Jews, were supported by those who participated in the temple rites and in their ceremonies.

So this is drawing directly out of the law. Those in the church were not subject to the law of Moses, and Paul was not of the tribe of Levi. He was the tribe of Benjamin. He said so. But the principle of ministry support remained. So he draws from the law not because he's a Levite, not because he's doing temple worship, but from the idea that those who are carrying on ministry are supported even under the law. So the principle applies even if Paul does not directly qualify as a Levite and he's not working in the temple. And finally, it says Christ also taught this principle.

Now when we say principle, let me explain something. A principle is either the way something works, or a fundamental truth, or both. So a principle is either the way something works, or a fundamental truth, or both. In this case it is a teaching, it's a fundamental truth that's being pointed out here. Christ taught this fundamental truth, is I guess one way we could put it.

In Matthew 10.10, also in Luke 10.7, Jesus teaches the same principle to the disciples as he sends them out to the people of Israel. In this case, this is taught by Christ as the ministry is to send them out only to the Israelites. But it's a principle that carries over into the church as a fundamental teaching.

Not because we're under law, not because we're only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And not because we're told not to go to the road of the lease of the Gentiles, but because the fundamental principle, that is the teaching, the fundamental truth, applies. Matthew 10, 9 and 10, the Lord said to his disciples, do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his support. So Paul is drawing from that principle, even though the assignment that Christ gave the disciples was explicitly for the Jews only. The principle still applies to us in the church. And that's Paul's final point here.

And we have here in 1 Corinthians 9-12, nevertheless we did not use this right but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. And this is pivotal. We have rights and liberties as believers. But just like Paul, we're wise not to go about just claiming and demanding rights. I have this right, I have this liberty. But rather instead to say, I have these rights, I have these liberties, but I will myself deny them if that's better for the furtherance of the gospel. You see that? We here in the United States, we're glad to have our Bill of Rights and we have our Constitution, we've got all sorts of rights guaranteed and whatnot, and people often fight for them.

A biblical principle is these rights and liberties that we have as believers are not things that we ought to just categorically go out and fight for, but rather consider carefully I have rights and liberties, but for the sake of the gospel, what is the best? And so Paul made this choice and he expresses it here. We didn't use this right because we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. The gospel is the priority, not my rights. The gospel is the priority, not my liberties.

Could I do that? Yes, I could. Would it be fine to do that? Yes. But for the sake of the gospel, I'll refrain from what I have rights and liberties to. Very interesting. Even where we have freedom and a right under grace, it may be times wise to set aside something. It is interesting that grace may cause us to step back from something that the law itself never even addresses. for the sake of the love of my brother or for the sake of the appeal of the gospel I might step away from something I have a perfect right to for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the body of Christ.

He says, have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Paul was qualified as an apostle in part because he had personally seen the living resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and that is the reason why Paul himself has some unique teachings. For example, other apostles wrote about the rapture, that is, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to take us to be with Him.

Paul explained it. None of the others explained it in the way that Paul did. Paul explained our identification with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. He explained it. Others expressed it. You can find, for example, in the Gospel of John. You can find identification. Even Peter, in 1 Peter, wrote about identification. Paul uniquely explained it. Why?

Because he had personally seen the Lord and the Lord himself taught Paul these things. Each one of us is called to see the Lord. Not as Paul did. but to behold the Lord Jesus Christ through the written word, and so to be transformed as a work of the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit does the transforming of us into the image of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

He does that work. Paul could say personally, with his own eyes, have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Yes, he did. In our case, we're called to see Christ as well through his word. Beholding the Lord through his word is the way we would put it. Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Actually, I hope this morning through his word that you have. Because that's exactly what God has in mind. Let's pray.

Lord, we do give you immense thanks. You have blessed us abundantly. And as we see here, you've not only blessed us in the heavenly places, but you've also blessed us with your Word, even the Law of Moses, from which we can draw tremendous and valuable truths. We just thank you that you've revealed these things to us because you love us, and that you sent your Son because you love us. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.