1 CORINTHIANS 9
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
– 1 Corinthians 9:1-7
1 CORINTHIANS 9 GIVING UP RIGHTS
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When you serve Jesus, you deny your rights
You do not fight for entitlements but you rely on Christ
This shows that you are giving up self-reliance.
Instead, you lean on God and let go of independence.
In this letter, Paul foregoes his right to be compensated as an apostle. Instead of his entitlement for wages for his labor of love, he emphasized the importance of self-sacrifice in order to prioritize bringing the gospel to the Corinthian church. He asserts his apostleship and mentions that he worked hard to ensure that the gospel reached everyone in Corinth. He wasn’t expecting them to pay him for all the things he did in order for God’s kingdom to come to Corinth. He focuses on the aim of the gospel preaching which is to save everyone’s soul if they believe in Jesus Christ.
In our world today, many ministries have risen and online platforms are being used to bring the gospel to our homes. It isn’t hard to find many mega-churches who have prospered because of certain media platforms they used to reach people. It even went overboard as to preaching the gospel, but has become a venue for prosperity gospels which have nothing to do with God’s kingdom. It seems to be the opposite of the sacrifice that Paul did in the time of writing of this letter. Some spiritual leaders have forgotten that they’ll be remunerated in heaven and not here on earth.
REFLECTION
· What rights have you given up as a Christian? Why did you give it up?
