 Well, here we are in chapter 9. We'll look at verses 1 and 2 as we introduce our study, and we'll be going to verse 14. So let's begin reading here in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 at verse 1, reading verses 1 and 2, and getting into this study. The Apostle Paul writes, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. Now, as we begin, I need to introduce this by giving you some information that relates to how he's beginning this section of his letter. I want you to notice in verse 2 how he says, If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. Now, obviously every letter that the Apostle Paul writes has a reason for it being written, and 1 Corinthians is written because there are those in opposition to him. And this is a continuing theme in both 1 and 2 Corinthians, because in Corinth false teachers had been boasting of their exploits and they had been belittling the Apostle Paul. When you read 2 Corinthians, you discover who they are. They're Jewish pseudo-intellectual mercenaries, and part of what they were doing is they were claiming superiority over the Apostle Paul. As a matter of fact, when you read 2 Corinthians, and you read it carefully, you'll discover something about that book. You'll discover it's Paul's most open-hearted letter that he writes, because throughout the 13 chapters of 2 Corinthians, Paul actually answers some 21 different accusations that had been lodged against him. When you begin to read through 2 Corinthians, you discover that Paul was under attack. And 21 different times, at least 21 different times, the Apostle Paul actually answers one of the charges. And so, as he was answering some of those charges, one of the charges that he had to answer related to his financial compensation, they had been accusing him, these pseudo-intellectual mercenary false teachers. They had been accusing him of manipulating people for his own personal gain. And so he answered that in 2 Corinthians, in chapter 2, verse 17. There he says, we are not as so many peddling the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. We are not adulterating the gospel, we're not changing it for financial gain. And so the Apostle Paul had to deal with that kind of question in not only 2 Corinthians, but he deals with that kind of question here in 1 Corinthians. Later on in 2 Corinthians, in chapter 11, verse 7, he had to answer the fact that his accusers were saying, well, if he's not peddling the gospel, he certainly isn't worth paying either. And that's why he said in 2 Corinthians 11, 7, did I commit sin in abasing myself that you might be exalted because I preach the gospel of God to you free of charge? And so on and on again it went with him, where these people were making these false accusations against him and calling into question the fact that he was an individual who either was compensated or was not worthy of being compensated. And so that's what Paul is dealing with in his ministry. Later in this chapter, Paul is demonstrating his right to be supported financially by those whom he ministered to. Now as we look at this, I want you to notice that he begins in verse 1 with actually four questions. These are four questions that are intended to validate his right to support in his ministry. The first question he asks is this, am I not an apostle? Well the obvious answer would be yes, you are an apostle, you're an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's something that Paul would speak of frequently. He would make a mention of his apostolic calling. In 1 Timothy, for example, chapter 2 verse 7, he said for this purpose, I was appointed a herald and an apostle. I'm telling the truth, I'm not lying, and a teacher of the faith, the true faith to the Gentiles. So am I not an apostle? Well the answer to that would be yes you are an apostle and then secondly he said, am I not free? In other words, as a Christian I also have liberty, I'm not bound by the law, I'm free in the Lord Jesus Christ just like you are. Galatians 5 verse 1 says it is for freedom that Christ has set us free, stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Am I not free? Yes I am free. I'm an apostle and I'm free of the law. His third question establishes his apostolic credential. He's the one who saw the Lord. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Now in Acts chapter 1 verses 21 and 22 it reads, therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time. The Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection and so part of the apostolic credential was one who had seen the Lord and Paul did see the Lord. He saw the resurrected Christ. He saw the resurrected Christ when he was on the road to Damascus in that fantastic conversion that took place as he was on his way to Damascus, Syria to take and to put into chains those who were professing faith in Christ that he might try them or bring them back to be tried as heretics. And we all know the story of how that he went on his way to arrest people but he himself was arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks in Acts chapter 9 in this way in verses 4 and 5. It says that he fell to the ground, he heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, he replied. And it's hard for you to kick against the prods. Have I not seen the Lord? The answer is yes. And then finally he says in verse 2, are you not my work in the Lord? Are you not my fruit of my labor which is the seal of my apostleship? When Paul was writing to the Corinthians again in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, he said something interesting found in verses 1 through 3. He says, are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Letters of commendation, we would call them letters of recommendation. In the early church there were letters of recommendation that would be written for those who were teaching and going from place to place, ministry. And so somebody might arrive here in the city of Chino, we'll say, and they would bring with them a letter of recommendation from the church that they'd been serving in, because they might want to come and bring a word to the congregation. And so I, as a pastor, would not allow them to come and take a pulpit and speak unless they had a letter of commendation. And so if they handed me a letter of commendation that I could verify and it was recommending them as being solid and stable in the faith, then I would give them my pulpit so they might bring a word of the Lord to the people. Paul is saying, are you asking me for a letter of recommendation? It would be like me saying, you know, this month we celebrate our 31st anniversary of planning this church. 31 years ago this month we started this church on July 26, 1981. And it would be like me having to get a letter of recommendation to speak in my own pulpit, to come up and say, I've got a letter from Pastor Chuck and he says I can speak to you today. Well, I've already been doing that for 31 years. I already have letters of recommendation and the letter of recommendation that I have is written on human hearts. It's the fact that there's a church in existence that has been established to glorify the Lord. And that's what Paul is speaking about here. He's saying, you are the fruit of my labor. You are the seal of my apostleship. The existence of the church there in Corinth is an evidence of my calling, is what he's saying. You exist as a believer because Paul is saying, I planted the church there. I brought the gospel to you. It's like what he had said earlier in chapter 4, verse 15, when he said, though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. He's saying, I laid the foundation. I brought you to faith in Christ and you may have a lot of people who want to add to the work that I began, but the bottom line is you may have 10,000 instructors, but you have one father because I brought you to faith. And that's why he's saying in verse 2, that you are the seal of my apostleship and the Lord. You are the proof of the genuineness of my ministry. And so as he begins, he now gives his defense. Notice verse 3, my defense to those who examine me is this. Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man or does not the law say the same also? For it's written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned about or does he say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? My defense for those who have a legal inquiry, those who are examining me is this. And so here we go, he's responding to critics that are bringing slander against his motives and his ministry. Any ministry that is being used by God is going to be subject to attack. Any ministry that is being used by the Lord will have attacks. As a matter of fact, Satan works overtime to destroy the work when that work is actually effective. Satan will always work in opposition to God's moving in his spirit. Where there is good, there will be evil also. Where there is wheat, there will be tears. Where there is unity, he will sow division. Where there is peace, he's gonna cause confusion and cause people to get upset. That's how the enemy works. Anytime God is moving, the enemy moves to disrupt it. And sometimes when you, as believers, especially you who are new believers, you get saved and you see God doing some neat things and use some blessed things and your life seems to be going so well, you can get surprised when suddenly you find yourself under attack. You can find yourself being a little spiritually depressed or you can feel kind of put on if you will that what's going on in my life? What's happening to me? I feel oppressed in some way. When I got saved, I felt so good, but right now I'm feeling bad. Well, the fact is, is when you were with the enemy, he would do enough in your life to keep you unsatisfied and give you a little bit to keep you satisfied so that you wouldn't seek the Lord. You belong to him. You were his. You were doing his will all along, but then you got saved. And when you got saved, now you become an enemy. You instantly became his enemy. He instantly, instantly began to oppose you and he has always hated you, but the bottom line is, is now you're doing things that you never did before. Now you're telling people about how they can be free. You're starting to share with people how that Jesus Christ sent you free. It's called a testimony and you're beginning to give it. You're telling your mom. You're telling your dad. You tell a brother, a sister, your friends, co-workers, neighbors. You begin to share. They say, what happened to you? And you say, what do you mean? And they say, well, you used to be a certain way and you've changed. Now they're not always happy about that. Sometimes they think that you've become quite the bummer. They don't like you that way. I remember my cousin, I had a cousin named Ray. When I got saved, Ray didn't like it at all because Ray knew me as kind of a crazy party kind of guy and all of that. And now I'm saved and I still remember him saying to me, what happened to you, man? I said, what do you mean? He said, what happened to you? You used to be a lot of fun. And what he was basically saying is you would get drunk, make a fool of yourself at parties, people could laugh at you and we enjoyed that. And now you're sober. And now you're telling us that we need Jesus Christ and now you're telling us that God can change lives and he wasn't happy with that at all. And what he did is he began to attack me. He did so because he liked me when I was unsaved. Or you have friends who will say to you, listen, you're a Christian now. And you say, yeah, does that mean you can't drink? Well, I don't want to. No, does that mean you can't drink? I still remember that one. And our friend Art Pacias and I went to a party. I had just gotten saved and Art is saying to me, you're a Christian now. And I said, yep. And he said, does that mean you can't drink? And I said, well, I can drink. He'd say, well, then here, here's some beer. Have a beer with me. I said, I don't want to drink. He said, no, no. He said, come on, drink a beer with me. I said, I don't want a beer. And he kept on prevailing. He said, what is it? You just can't drink. That's what Christianity is about. You can't drink. So I took a beer and I drank half a glass with him. And then I felt convicted for doing that. I felt terrible because I thought I blew my witness because when I drank that beer, he gave me that look like, yeah, right, you've changed. Look at you with your beer. And so I started learning early in my life that if I'm gonna make it with the Lord, then I'm gonna have to do those things that he's pleased with. And like I told my friend later on, I said, listen, I can drink if I want to drink. The fact is the Lord has taken away the taste of alcohol for me, so I don't want that anymore. It's not that I can't drink. You know I can drink. You know how much I used to drink. It's not that I can't drink. It's that I don't want to drink because I've got a deeper need that was filled by something much deeper than the alcohol. And so my life has changed and that's how it works. You see it? It never was legalism. It was never, oh no, I can't drink wine. I better not drink wine. And then find a little loophole. Well, it's Christian brother's wine. You know, Christians made it. I mean, a Christian can drink it. I mean, you know. You know, it wasn't anything like that. It just, have you discovered that? How God changes your taste buds? You know, I had friends say, you know, we used to call marijuana herb. I don't know if any of you, we call it herb. And so I have a friend of mine who says to me, well the Bible says that God made the herb and it's good. And I said, that doesn't mean that I can smoke pot. You know, we just call it herb. It's not an herb, it's weed. You know, I don't want, you know, and I got into arguments and discussions from the beginning because all of my friends were unsaved. All of them, I only had a handful of Christian friends and they were the ones that I would see once in a while but I hung around as an unsaved person with unsaved people. And now I'm saved and now I'm beginning to share with people how that the Lord works and how God can change your life. And they began to look at my life and my life began to be an example of what God wanted it to be. And when that happens, guys, don't be surprised when the enemy who at one time had you in his camp discovers that you're AWOL and wants to take you back and he comes after you and he wants to attack you. Normally in ministry, when the enemy goes after somebody, he goes after the hardest target. In ministry, he goes after the hardest target. When I was in the military, we had three targets, 300, 150 and 75 meters. My drill sergeant says, which target do you take out first? You've got three options. One of the guys raises his hand and says, I take out the one closest to me. It's only 75 meters away. I'll take the first one out and I'll work my way to the hardest. The drill sergeant said, no, start with the hardest target and work your way back to the easy one. And that was a principle I learned in basic training. Take out the hardest target first and work your way down to the easier one. Guess who the enemy goes after first? Does he chase after the back slider? The back slider's already doing his will. He doesn't have to chase him. He just needs to give him a few things here and there to keep him satisfied. Who's he gonna go after, the hardest target? He's gonna go after the one who wants to serve the Lord. He's gonna go after the one who is serving the Lord, who does the devotions, who loves Jesus Christ and he's gonna attack with vehemence and he's gonna attack with violence and it's gonna be prolonged, it's never gonna stop. I've had people say, well, how long do trials last? Anyway, pastor, the one I'm in right now has lasted 41, almost 42 years. It lasts your whole life because there's always one onslaught after another, one attack after another. It's the way it works because he wants to destroy you. He comes to steal, he comes to kill, he comes to destroy. But Jesus came that he might give you life and that more abundant. And so what we do is we turn our eyes on the Lord but we're aware of the fact that the enemy works against us and the enemy will attack and in this case, the enemy is trying to attack the apostle Paul to undermine his ministry credibility so that those who look up to him will be stumbled. And that's why he says in verse three, my defense to those who examine me is this. And that's why he said, do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife? And as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? And so he begins to deal with that. Should we be denied food and drink? Should we be denied the essentials of life? What he's doing is defending his ministerial rights. See, that's the right of any minister of God who faithfully ministers to God's people. In Galatians chapter six verse six, it says, anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. So those who are taught by the pastors and teachers sustain those who instruct them. And so he's saying, should I be denied food and drink? Should I be denied the essentials of life? No, because the Bible teaches that I should be cared for. Secondly, in verse five, do we have no right to take along a believing wife as do the other apostles? In other words, don't I have the right to marry a Christian and have her minister with me wherever I go? I want you to notice something here. It's subtle, but you note it, a believing wife. Do I have no right to take along a believing wife? Paul never thought of marriage for a Christian in any other terms. And it's interesting, and we can note this and just touch on this, notice how he says, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas. And so we know that the apostle Peter was married. It's mentioned in Mark chapter one verses 30 and 31. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. They told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. His mother-in-law was ill and Jesus healed her. And somebody one time said to me, do you know why the apostle Peter denied the Lord? And I said, well, yeah. And he says, no, you don't. I said, okay, then why? Well, because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. But the first pope was married. Keep that in mind. Now, this verse supports paying the pastor enough to support his family. Wives need the ability to be free to support their husbands and to raise their families. And it applies to paying the wife's expense which he travels with her husband in ministry. When he speaks about taking along a believing wife, the word take along means to carry about in your company. It speaks of supporting companionship that's so very important when you're away from home. Verse six is that only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working. And that, by the way, is sanctified sarcasm. That's what that is. Are we the only ones who are to always pay our own way? Is what he's saying. If you note, the other apostles and the apostle Peter are compensated in such a way that their wives are able to travel. But what it's Barnabas and me that aren't supposed to be compensated, so that's called sanctified sarcasm. And then he builds it up. Verse seven, whoever goes to war at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat its fruit? He gives us various illustrations. He speaks of the soldier who goes to war at his own expense. In the military, I can speak from first hand experience. Soldiers are provided food, clothing, arms, lodging. We got all of that. When he speaks about planting a vineyard, the farmer does not farm for free and do other work that he might live. Shepherds expect at least some of the milk. And these are the types of work that are compensated. And if that's true, then why is it wrong to compensate a minister? Without making a big case out of that, because I certainly want to be careful not to give the wrong appearance in teaching a Bible study. Some may think, well, you wanted to teach on compensation simply because you're a greedy pastor. And that's true. No, yeah, I need shoes. Okay, I won't say what I was gonna say. I'll keep going. No, I will say it. I've had conversations in the past with people who tell me about the quote unquote church that they go to and they'll say their pastors are not financially compensated. And they say that because people like myself are that I'm really not as sincere a minister as a ministers who minister in their church. And this passage here is actually a passage that addresses that. The apostle Paul is making it very clear that if a soldier is at war, if a farmer's planting a field, if a shepherd's carrying for the sheep or his flock, that all of these things being cared for in the military or eating of the produce or drinking of the milk, all of this is demonstrating that the work is to be compensated accordingly. And so when I've had people approach me and say to me, well, you pastors are all the same. You pastors are all after just the money. It's normally being stated by somebody who really doesn't understand what they're talking about. It's somebody who really doesn't understand ministry and doesn't understand scripture. Because when the apostle Paul was speaking about this, he was making it very clear that because accusations were coming against him as it related to his compensation and travel expenses, he wanted to make very clear that on a biblical foundation Paul had the right should he have partaken in it. He had the right to be able to be compensated because the Lord has made such provision for those who serve him. He says it in verse eight, do I say these things as a mere man? And when he says it like that, do I say these things as a mere man? He's simply saying this is not just selfish human judgment. This is something that God's word actually commands. Does not the law say the same also? It's written in the law of Moses. You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does he say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt. This is written. That he who plows should plow in hope and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we've sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? And so this isn't just selfish human judgment. God's word commands it. Deuteronomy 25 verse four makes the point God cares for animals, yes, but it's humans that are most valuable. So Paul is given instructions and he's given instructions to the Corinthians, but it's something he says in other places. For example, when he was speaking to Timothy in First Timothy chapter five verses 17 and 18 and he was speaking to a young pastor, Paul said, the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching for the scripture says, do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain and the worker deserves his wages. Ministers who rule well are to be generously compensated. I remember somebody once saying that you're not to give proper compensation to a pastor because you want to keep them poor because if you keep the pastor poor you're gonna keep him humble. And he really believed that, keep them poor and you keep them humble. I can remember as an assistant pastor one of the elders in the church saying to me, you really don't deserve a raise, but out of, I don't remember the proper word but it was something like out of pity will give you a raise though you really don't deserve it. And I found that very interesting because I was making $938 a month before taxes and before tithe. And I give 10% of that. So I was bringing home about $800 a month. I had three small children and a $500 a month house payment and everything else that went along with that. My average, the first week that I worked in the church was 70 hours. So I put a lot of hours into my ministry. And so to have this elder say to me, you don't deserve compensation you don't deserve compensation, but out of pity will give it to you was something that I've never obviously never forgotten. That was over 33 years ago where that was said to me and I've never forgotten the attitude. Well, it's the same kind of attitude that the apostle Paul is dealing with. When he's speaking concerning the fact there are accusations concerning him and his travel. And he's saying, are you saying that certain people can be cared for but Barnabas and I can't be? Haven't you even read the law? The law says don't muzzle the ox while it treads out the corn. Does God care about oxen? Or is this a principle? If it's a principle then what's the principle about? The principle is about somebody serving and somebody working and somebody should be cared for. So he's saying this is something that the scripture teaches. He uses the same scripture as he's speaking to Timothy to point out that the worker deserves his wages. Now when he was writing to Timothy in 1st Timothy 5 he was speaking about the minister who rules well and he's saying there to be compensated generously. The words rule well while the way you know if he's ruling well is God's blessing in general on the church. How do you know this is occurring? How do you know that they're ruling well? It's evidenced by at least two things. You can tell by the content of the preaching and the teaching. Is it scriptural and is it thorough? And then you can see it by the impact of the teaching. Is the church healthy and are people being saved and are people growing? When Paul was speaking concerning being worthy of double honor he's speaking of monetary honor. The word honor there is honor area. So he is simply saying pay the ones who rule well and work to the point of exhaustion pay them generously. He speaks of labor and ministry because ministry is work. He speaks of laboring to the point of exhaustion in the word to feed God's people. And so if you take care of him it provides him with the appropriate environment to work with the fewest distractions. It sets him free from material concerns and totally focus on family and ministry. And so that's his argument. When he says in verse 11 if we have sown spiritual things for you is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If you're spiritually growing and benefited from ministry should you not support that ministry? Spiritual food and spiritual service is to be valued and supported. I've discovered that the reason people don't support ministry is they just don't see its benefit. Now he says in verse 12 if others are partakers of this right over you are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. This isn't a unique concept to you. Notice again verse 12 if others are partakers of this right over you are we not even more? This isn't a unique concept others benefit from your finances. You support other ministries you support other people not only that but I wonder how many of you have gone to a movie recently? Anybody go to a movie recently? Anybody? Anybody buying shoes lately? Anybody? Anybody? Nobody? Oh you're all barefooted. Anybody buy any clothes at all? Has anybody eaten at a fast food place in the last week? How about today? That's called home cooking now right? Every service that a person receives is it free? Did you walk into the movie and did they say oh we're opening the doors to you today for free? And then you walk up and say I want that $12 box of popcorn. And they said oh yeah this is free and I'd like to have that slurpy thing there too and I want the biggest when you go oh yeah it's free. You know they didn't do that did they? When you walked into the shoe store they didn't say it's on us today anything you want you know you want those you want those you want them all take them they don't do that you're going to the store and they will sell you something and they usually want to make a bit of a profit that's called capitalism that's what they do that's how it works and so that's a point he's making don't other people benefit from your finances and we all would say yes they indeed do of course they do nobody's giving away shirts today nobody's giving away shoes today and if they're giving away shoes and shirts their shoes and shirts I won't wear because they're probably not my style or my size and so what I do you know I go and I purchase a shirt or purchase pants or whatever and I walk in and I take out some money I pay for it and I walk out and their services have been rendered to me but not for free and that's the whole point he's making he's saying you are used to going places and pulling out whatever and spending money on it and you see it as a service but you have a problem this is what he's saying to the Corinthians and this has been poured into them by the false teachers but you have a problem Paul was saying with your belief that I'm being compensated for my ministry well I want to tell you something he's saying I haven't used this right I haven't over the years we've had people say some interesting things to me things that are sometimes just kind of silly and I don't remember all of them I do remember a few of them I remember somebody very mad at me because at one time I had a red car yeah yeah he told me on the phone he said you shouldn't have a red car I said really why? Because red's not a good color for a pastor I said really what color should I be driving? You should have a white car I said really why should I have a white car this is true this conversation is true I should have a white car and he said yeah I said may I ask you why? he said because white is the color of purity I said red is the color of the blood of Jesus I mean come on let's get serious here you know I had someone give me a pair of shoes I wore it as I was teaching new pair of shoes they were given to me a friend of mine worked at a particular place he gave me a free pair of shoes I was given a Bible setting I said to the congregation many years ago I said be careful that you don't go out and spend $100 on a pair of tennis shoes for a 12 year old who's gonna mess them up in a week be careful with how you spend your money and I'm standing in the back when the lady walks up to me and says I'm not supposed to spend my money on shoes huh and I looked at her and she says look at yours turned and walked away you know and I said Marie you know this was given to me no how dare you you will be surprised at the things people will say that they're very sincere about they're really sincere and so with Paul he's dealing with this the false teachers who've entered into the Corinthian church are saying he is not worthy of compensation and any money that you give to him is only coming because he's peddling the gospel of Jesus Christ and he's making money off of it that's why he wants you to support him and he's saying I haven't used this liberty he's saying I haven't used this it's something I could use the Bible teaches me that I can use but I haven't used this and that's what he's doing he's defending his ministry if others are partakers of this right over you are we not even more I'm not asking for your support as a matter of fact he's saying we endure it we bear with it silently I don't want you to think I'm trying to get rich off of the gospel those who proclaim the gospel are supported as they do but we don't use the gospel to become rich don't you know that compensation is proper the Lord verse 14 has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel and so he was speaking of supporting the man of God he was saying in verse 13 that those who minister to the holy things he was speaking of the things of the temple he was pointing out the priests had no allotment in the inheritance with Israel so they lived on the offerings made to the Lord by fire because that was their inheritance according to Deuteronomy 18 1 don't you understand he was saying that ministers can be compensated ministers ought to be compensated especially those who labor in the Word especially those who are ministering properly he's saying I want you to know I haven't used that for my own benefit so that I can say I've preached the gospel free of charge to you so that you could not ever lodge such an accusation against me supporting the man of God it's one of the more difficult things and let me close with this and then we're gonna pray then we're gonna share a little bit and then we're gonna go out and enjoy our baptism one of the more difficult things that I had to adjust to and believe it or not was receiving compensation for doing something that I did for years with no desire for compensation I taught three Bible studies a week I was on a church board I was going to school and I was working a full-time job and I was raising children with my wife and I did that for a very long time I taught home Bible studies from 1973 September of 1973 into 1982 for many of those years I never received anything and never wanted anything I can still remember a man asking me to come and tutor his children through the Gospel of Mark I was a college student at that time I went to his house I took him into Mark chapter one and as I taught them chapter one at the end of the study I prayed with his kids and I was about to leave he said to me, what do I owe you? and I said, you don't owe me anything he says, well I want to pay you for this and that was the last time I went that was the last time I taught there because I'm not one who pedals the Gospel I'm not one who tries to be compensated for doing what I love and so it was one of those difficult things for me when I went on staff and the senior pastor at that time said to me it's going to be difficult when you receive a paycheck for doing the thing that you love to do and have done for free for so many years and I have to tell you the first paycheck I ever received was very difficult to receive because you have to have a heart to proclaim the Gospel free of charge you have to have that heart because if you don't the Lord isn't going to bless an honor it's not that it's not proper you can be compensated and the Lord has been good to compensate me over the years but the mentality of becoming rich off the Gospel is a plague on the church and unfortunately sometimes pastors of churches especially churches that are called megachurches membership of several thousands unfortunately sometimes the pastors of those churches forget that they were actually given a privilege of proclaiming the Gospel and unfortunately sometimes they forget the privilege and they begin to just make use of the finances and in that mentality ultimately what happens is you become a hireling and no longer a minister when you become a hireling you're actually preaching for pay people will call and they'll say we'd like to have pastor Dave come out they usually only call me once after I come out they don't ask me to come a second time but they'll call and say we'd like to have pastor come out and teach what is his fee what is he charge and the answer has always been the same nothing we don't charge a thing if you'd like me to come and bring the word I'd love to do it and I've been doing that for many years free because freely you have received freely you give so when you have a mentality of making money off the Gospel it's a dangerous thing but on the other hand ministers are to be compensated and like Paul said they receive double honor they should be generously cared for because they labor in the word of God and they encourage people and so Paul's argument here is though there are accusations being lodged against him Paul's statement is I have the right to receive compensation I have chosen not to so that none of you could make accusation that I do ministry for profit I don't he says I do ministry for the love of Jesus Christ because woe went to me if I preached not the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he says for the love of Christ constrains me that is the reason why all ministry should be done because God's love for you motivates you to give for him