1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Called to Flexibility
Theological Proposition/Focus: The Call of a Christian is to a call to be flexible, to be all things to all people that some might be won to Christ.
Homiletical Proposition/Application:
Introduction:
Image: What does it take to be an elite athlete
Pick your favorite athlete and take a look at what their routine involves. If you look, what you will find is that an elite athlete makes a lot of sacrifice in order to have the time to reach that level of play. An elite athlete spends hours upon hours each day trining and often has just a short amount of time available for things that are not training. Why? Because this is what it takes to perform at that level.
I was looking at the routine of an Olympic swimmer. 6:20 Wake-up 6:30 breakfast 7:15-7:45 strength and mobility 7:45-10:00 Swimming 10:05 - refuel with a snack 10:15-11:45 - Strength training 11:45-12:30 - Refuel with lunch 12:30-2:30 - nap 2:30-3:15 - refuel with a snack 3:15-3:30 - jump training for explosivity 3:30-4:00 - mobility and flexibility 4:00- 6:00 Swimming 6:00-6:15 cool down 7:00 dinner 7:30-9:00 - free time 9:00 bed
Did you catch that, 90 minutes of unscheduled time! An elite athlete must be flexible in their free time to be at that level.
Need: We need to be flexible to reach people with the Gospel.
Subject: Evangelism, Discipleship, Relationships
Preview: Those called to serve God must make life subordinate to the Gospel, be willing to give up their rights, recognizing that the ultimate goal is leading people to Christ always looking forward to eternity.
Text: Read the text with each main point.
Setting the Stage:
We have been in the middle of First Corinthians and there is not a lot to say other than to simply remind ourselves that Paul was writing to a church that was steeped in factionalism and needed to break away from an attitude of factionalism. The reality is the people needed to be more flexible in what they thought were their rights and instead learn to place the Gospel first.
Body
Those called to serve God may live life but that right is subordinate to the Gospel (9:1-11).
For those called to serve God, credentials are secondary to the Gospel (1-2).
Paul uses a series of four Rhetorical questions to present his credentials and their insignificance compared with the Gospel.
Am I not free? Yes, but that freedom is ultimately a freedom to serve Christ.
This is huge. In chapter 8 Paul talked about giving up his rights. Here, now, Paul reminds the Corinthians that he is indeed free. However, that freedom is a freedom not to do whatever he wants, but a freedom to serve the Gospel.
For Paul to be free is actually to be a slave to Christ!
Am I not an apostle? Yes but even that right is subordinate to the Gospel.
There is a sense in which Paul outranked everyone else. What Paul said carried authority, Apostolic authority. However, Paul's rank is still subordinate to the Gospel.
Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Yes, but even direct revelation from Jesus does not qualify someone to supersede the Gospel.
Image: Six degrees of separation and Erdos Numbers.
In 1929 Frigyes Karinthy wrote a short story in which a group of people play a game whereby they attempt to make contact with any person in the world through no more than 5 links in a chain of friends. This concept eventually led to researchers studying the number of links needed to reach anyone in the world. In the world of mathematics, we have what is called the Erdos Number. The Erdos Number is a sort of bragging rights idea of how many co-authors are you away from the famous mathematician Paul Erdos.
If anyone had bragging rights it was Paul, not only had he seen Jesus himself, but Jesus had come to appear to him! Yet in reality those rights were subordinate to the Gospel.
Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?
Paul had led the Corinthians into eternal life they owed him big time! But that was not more important than the Gospel!
For those called to serve God, the right to live a full life secondary to the Gospel (3-6).
In verses 3-11 there is an immediate implication, there is a theological expectation that we provide for those whose vocation is the Gospel.
However, the text is also clear, quality of life, for one whose vocation is the Gospel, takes a back seat to the Gospel.
Several items are secondary to the Gospel.
The right to food and drink
The right to family relationships
The right to earn one's wages through the Gospel - more on this later.
I want you to realize, these are in some sense basic fundamental rights - the right to food, companionship, and labor, but they take a back seat to the Gospel.
For those called to serve God, even their financial well-being is secondary to the Gospel (7-11).
The right to compensation for work is a basic right - soldiers, farmers, and shepherds are all examples of this right (7).
In fact, God provided for this basic right in the Law as quoted in Deuteronomy 25:4 (8-10)
If we make sure to compensate people for mere physical labor, how much more should we compensate for spiritual labor? (11)
Nevertheless, don't lose sight of the main point of the passage!
The main point is not that we need to provide compensation for those whose life is a labor of the Gospel, we do, the main point is that if we must give up that right that the Gospel might go forth then we must be flexible!
