Read: 1 Corinthians 9:1-23

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! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 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. 1 Corinthians 9:16-18

What Paul is saying is that he has no sense of pride and achievement because he faithfully preached the gospel without charge. On the contrary, he really has no choice about preaching the gospel. I am compelled to preach. In other words, If I do not preach I am miserable. I have really no choice in this matter. I would much rather preach than experience what I know I am going to experience if I do not: the lash of my conscience, the sense of failure in what God has called me to do. I cannot live with that. Woe to me if I preach not the gospel. He says, If I do it willingly I gain a reward. If I accept this commission from God, and joyfully do what he tells me to do, it is to my great advantage. I enjoy it; but whether I like it or not, I have to do it.

There is nothing wrong with a sense of duty; the feeling that God has given you a job to do, and you have to do it whether you like it or not. Many of us are uneasy with that kind of motivation, but Paul felt it. He said, There is no choice for me in the matter of preaching. Whether I like it or not I have a commission to fulfill, and if I want my life to be worth anything at all, I had better do it.

But that is not why he does it without charge. He tells us the reason in verse 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. He is saying that the thing that motivated him, the thing that drove him to work late hours at night making tents so he would earn a living and would not have to be supported by anybody in the church in Corinth, was the sheer delight it gave him to bless and enrich someone else without taking a penny in return. It was the joy of giving that Paul was experiencing.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – Duty and Delight →

Read: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that We all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 1 Corinthians 8:1

The best meat in Corinth was found right next to the idol temple. In these pagan temples live animals were sacrificed. Like the Jews, they reserved some of this meat for their priests and for public sale. So, the best meat markets in Corinth were right next to an idol temple. Everyone in town knew that if you ate some of that meat you were eating meat that had been offered to an idol. So, the question arose among the Christians: If a Christian eats meat offered to an idol is he somehow participating in the worship of that idol?

A group within the church was saying, Yes, that’s exactly what happens. When these local pagans see a known Christian sitting in the public restaurant next to the temple, enjoying a steak that had been offered to the idol, they will think that person agrees with with the pagan ideas about that idol. As a consequence, that Christian is giving a false testimony; he is not clearly declaring that Christ has replaced all idols. Furthermore, he is causing weak Christians to stumble, ones who might easily be led back into worship of an idol by their actions.

But there was another party that said, No, that’s not true. An idol is nothing but a piece of wood or stone. How can you worship something that really does not exist? How can we deliver people from their idolatrous ways if we act as if there is something to this? It is better that we act according to the knowledge of reality that God has brought us to in Christ. Let’s enjoy our freedom and eat this meat without any question. It is perfectly good meat, and it would be wrong to not use it. So, there was a division within the church.

Paul’s argument is that such problems cannot be solved merely based on, We know such and such and so and so to be true, therefore, we are free to act. No, Paul says, knowledge or doctrine alone is not enough. You need love. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Love looks at somebody else’s situation, not always one’s own. Knowledge, in other words, is self-centered, but love reaches out to include someone else in your thinking.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – For Love’s Sake →