>> Jen: All right, good morning, faithful listeners. Today I'm going to talk about a controversial topic that a lot of people don't like hearing about. And today we're going to discuss tithing and giving. So stay tuned. First uh, 1 Corinthians nine is basically the
giving passage. This is where Paul kind of reams out the corinthian church, because the uh, 1 Corinthians decided that they didn't want to support Paul financially or Barnabas either, but they were supporting financially all of these other apostles. They were supporting Peter and, uh, Jesus's brothers, but they refused to support Paul. And this probably hurt Paul's feelings a little bit, not because the uh, 1 Corinthians weren't paying for him, but because Paul put so much work into building the
corinthian church. He was the founder of the corinthian church, and the uh, 1 Corinthians were just rejecting Paul left and right, not just financially, but also they were questioning his authority, whether or not he was an apostle. They were, you know, straying away from the gospel that Paul preached to them, and this was, you know, hurting Paul's heart. So let's get into first corinthians, chapter nine, one through 18. Today I'll be reading from the web. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?
Haven't I seen Jesus Christ, our LORD? Aren't you my work in the LORD? If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the LORD. My defense to those who examine me is, have we no right to eat and drink? Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the LORD and Cephas? Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work? What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants
a vineyard and doesn't eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock and doesn't drink from the flock's milk? Do I speak these things according to the ways of men, or doesn't the law also say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it for the oxen that god cares? Or does he say it assuredly for our sake?
Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who ploughs ought, uh, to plough in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things. If others partake of this right over you, dont we? Yet more. Nevertheless we didnt use this right. But we bear all things that we may cause no hindrance to the
good news of Christ. Dont you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple? And those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? Even so, the LORD ordained that those who proclaim the good news should live from the good news. But I have used none of these things, and I dont write these things, that it may be done. So in my case, for I would rather die than that any one should
make my boasting void. For if I preach the good news, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me. But woe is to me if I dont preach the good news. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That when I preach the good news, I may present to the good news of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the
good news. So I'm sorry if you keep hearing this truck backing up while we talk today. My neighbor runs a logging company, and for some reason today, he's been, like, extra loud. I don't know if the wind is just blowing a specific way to, like, make it come right through my, my house, but, um, he's just been backing up his truck all day. And normally where I live, it's very quiet. So this is kind of rare for
me to hear any kind of noise whatsoever. But, yeah, so that's, that's what you're hearing when you hear that, that truck. As of right now, uh, like, uh, constantly backing up. So today we're going to talk about first Corinthians nine. And as you guys know, this particular topic really gets me going. I like talking about this particular subject because I used to be a type of person who didn't understand giving. I was always kind of like, uh, I don't see any reason why we need to give money to the
church. You know, I give so many other things to the church. I give my time, give my, you know, my service. I give my talents. I give all these things to the church. Why do I also have to give money? And I know people to this day who still feel this way. But what really changed my mind was when I started getting to know the people who are leaders in my church and the financial struggle that
the leaders were going through. And also that the church was going through because there weren't enough people giving. And so Paul is really tackling this subject today. He says, in verse one, Am i not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus Christ our LORD? Aren't you
my work in the LORD? So the reason why Paul is asking all these questions is because the corinthians had begun to question Paul's authority as an apostle, which is really bizarre because Paul was the one who actually built the corinthian church. You would think that they would have a lot more respect for their founder than they did, but it seems like they don't have any respect at all for Paul. They started questioning, like, who is this Paul guy? Like,
is he really an apostle? And Paul's like, first and foremost, am I not a free man that came to you and preached the gospel to you and built the corinthian church? He says, am, um, I not an apostle? Because haven't I seen Jesus Christ our LORD? So a lot of people question what an apostle is, and even to this day, some people call themselves
apostle. But if you look in scripture specifically, um, what Paul says an apostle is, an apostle has to have seen Jesus Christ, and also an apostle has to be able to perform miracles, which both things Paul was able to do, as we know. So Paul definitely saw Jesus on the way to Damascus. Even if Paul hadn't seen Jesus in person like the other apostles had, he saw Jesus on the way to Damascus, and then secondly, he was able to perform miracles. So that's
what an apostle was. And Paul's like, you're questioning my apostleship, but, you know, I have seen Jesus Christ like, you know, I've seen him. So why are you questioning my authority as an apostle? Aren't you my work in the LORD? If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the LORD. You guys are evidence that I am an apostle. I mean, look at what the corinthian church has become. And that all started from my work that I did for you
guys. So even if I am not an apostle to other people, I should be, at least to you, but yet I'm not. And I think Paul's feelings are really hurt, quite honestly. And they're hurt not just because his authority is being questioned, but because the church itself is basically like, abandoning many of the things Paul taught them,
as we've seen in the last few chapters. And also the corinthian church was rejecting Paul to the point where they were refusing to support him, uh, financially, which is what he gets into next. He says it in verse three. My defense to those who examine me is, have we no right to eat and to drink? And I think who Paul is talking about here is him himself, and also Barnabas, who was one of his, um, coworkers in Christ. He says, have we no right to eat and to drink?
Now, this isn't talking about, like, ordinary food. Paul is specifically saying, don't we have a right to be financially supported by the corinthian church? And you guys buy us our food and our drinks. He says, have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles and as the brothers of the LORD and, uh, Cephas. He says, look, you guys are fine with the church supporting Peter and his wife. You're fine supporting, uh, the brothers of Jesus and their wives.
You're fine supporting all the family members and wives of these other apostles that you believe are apostles, but me and Barnabas aren't allowed to do this. And yes, Paul was not married, and we know that. I don't know if Barnabas was or not, but apparently the church was complaining about supporting Paul and Barnabas and supporting Paul and Barnabas's families. Like, let's just say Barnabas was married. They were probably complaining, like, oh, we have to support Barnabas and his wife and his
children and all these people. Like, that's not fair. Why do we have to support them? But Paul's like, you're totally fine supporting Peter and his wife. Why is it that it's just me and Barnabas who have no rights to these things? That's what he says in verse six. Have only Barnabas and I no right to not work. Paul's like, me and Barnabas have to work a side job to support
ourselves. Why is it that we're the only apostles that have to go and work to support ourselves while we're working a full time job, giving you the gospel, supporting you through various means, writing you letters? Why is it that we have to go and get a second job just to put food in our mouths, and you're not willing to give us that food that we actually need to survive? Why is that? Then Paul gives a few analogies here. He says, what soldier ever serves at his
own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat of its fruit? Who feeds a flock and doesn't drink from the flock's milk? So Paul's listing out some very common jobs at the time. A soldier, a shepherd, and a farmer. He says, who of these people ever works for free? Who goes and serves as a soldier and doesn't get compensated for it? Who goes and plants a vineyard and doesn't get a chance to eat the grapes or sell the grapes or drink
wine made from the grapes? Who has a flock of sheep that they are working at herding and taking care of and protecting and giving care for, and yet they're not allowed to drink the milk from the flock or sell the milk. Who does these very common jobs for free? Nobody does these jobs for free unless they are a slave. Is basically what Paul's getting at. Do I speak these things according to the ways of men, or
doesn't the law also say the same thing? Paul's like, look, you know, from a human standpoint, obviously people who work deserve to eat and deserve to get paid. But even by God's standpoint, that is true, because God talks about that in the law. god tells people to compensate those who are working. Then he quotes deuteronomy 25 four, which says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it for the oxen that god cares? Or does he
say this assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. The whole verse about muzzling an ox while it treads out the grain, God said that not just for the care of oxen, right? Because, say, you know, you have an ox and it's doing all this work for you, but yet you muzzle it because you're so greedy while that ox is treading out grain.
You're so greedy that you don't even want the ox to eat a little bit of it while it's treading it out. And, yes, of course, god wrote that law for, you know, people to care for their oxen and not be cruel to their animals. But mostly it was a law written for us that we shouldn't force people to work without paying them. And quite honestly, I understand wanting things for free. You know, I want free things more so than wanting to pay for something like, who doesn't love free stuff?
But when you expect the people in your lives to work for you for free, that is cruel. I can tell you that, um, I have been very much on the receiving end of this for a long time. For example, when I did hair and nails, I used to be a cosmetologist. I did hair and nails for many years. And, uh, when I used to do that, I can't even tell you how many just people in my lives expected me to do their hair. Like, expected me to do their hair and their nails for
free. And for a while there, because I didn't have many boundaries, I'd be like, okay, yeah, I guess I'll do it for you. And then I started getting really resentful of people and very tired of it. And then I just decided not to ever do hair and nails for anybody outside of my work. I'm like, no, you know what? If you want to get your hair and nails done, you're going to come to my work and I'm not going to do anything
for you for free anymore. It builds resentment, you know, in the, in the person who you are expecting that from. You shouldn't expect people to do free work for you. It's not kind, first and foremost. And secondly, those people really don't owe you that favor, like you might think that they do because they're a family member or something like that, and they might be willing to give you that favor because they love you, but you aren't owed that favor
from them. And quite honestly, you'd probably be very upset if somebody did the same thing to you if they expected you to work for free. It is unfortunately, a very common thing that I think we need to be wary of and careful of is not to expect too much free work or really any free work out of the people in our lives, because it's just going to once again breed resentment for the people who work for us. Now, the corinthian church was doing this to
Paul and Barnabas. They were expecting Paul and Barnabas to work for free. And disrespecting who Paul and Barnabas were, they were questioning Paul's authority. They were not really respecting him as the founder of the corinthian church. And also, they were really moving away from all of the teachings of Paul and of the gospel, which I'm sure was the most offensive thing to Paul was the fact that the corinthian church was not listening to what they knew
to do. They were being more like secular corinthians than they were like children of god. But in verses eleven through 14, Paul now talks about how the corinthians should be paying their spiritual leaders. Now, this is where I really get worked up. Since my husband and I have been very actively involved in our church for about a decade now, we have seen what pastors and worship leaders and youth leaders get paid. So I brought up some averages here across America.
Let's start with youth leaders. The average youth leader salary is about $33,000 yearly. I mean, that is terrible. That is absolutely terrible. Nobody can survive on that. Even 15 years ago, that would have been a terrible salary. Uh, I, uh, mean, that's awful. And I personally know how much work goes into being a youth leader because my husband is one. And guess what? My husband doesn't take a paycheck. He does it for free. And it is a lot of work to be a youth leader. So youth leaders get paid
nothing. Assistant pastors get paid approximately 34,000 to 44,000 per year, depending on state and church. Pastors make approximately $60,000 per year, and worship leaders make about 44,000 a year. I mean, these numbers are terrible. Like, especially if these people have a family, they're not going to be able to support a, even a small family
on those types of numbers. And yet, that is what we are doing to our pastors across America, and to our youth leaders across America, and our worship leaders and assistant pastors and whoever else else is working for the church. We are paying them almost nothing but expecting great results from them. But the majority of these people, they can't survive with like, $45,000 worth of yearly
income. The majority of these people, uh, I mean, if they have a family, they have to go out and get another job, or their wife has to go out and get another job to be able to support their children. And, uh, the church is not stepping up and helping these pastors and spiritual leaders in their church make a livable income. And yet, people expect the worship on Sunday to be perfect. They expect it to be cool. They expect the pastors to have
this wonderful, well prepared message. They expect the pastors to be there when they call. They expect everything out of their leaders and yet give nothing in return. That is what Paul is talking about here. And, yeah, this is why my personal opinion has changed about giving in the church. Remember, like I said at the beginning, I used to think, oh, I don't need to give money. You know, money that's valuable. I can just give my time, I can give my service, I can give my
talents, I can give all that, but I don't want to give money. I think that's one of the reasons why our churches are struggling so badly, is because we are expecting our pastors to tread out the grain while we muzzle them. We are not giving the people who plow hope. We're not doing any of that we're just
expecting from them. And I felt very convicted of that myself because that was something that I was doing also, but have since changed my mind on if we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things? That's what Paul says. He says, you know, that the greatest thing in your life, the greatest thing is your spiritual relationship with god. That is the most important
thing in your life. Paul says, if I contributed to you growing your faith in god, the most important thing in your life, should I not be owed some sort of compensation for that? If others partake of this right over you, don't we? Yet more. Paul's like, look, me and Barnabas, we were founders of your church. You support all of these other apostles that you claim are apostles, but yet you don't support me, and you don't support Barnabas. Why is that? Nevertheless, Paul says, we didn't
use this right. Paul calls it a right, that it is actually his right to be paid by the people who he is preaching to. We didn't use this right, but we bear all these things. Basically. Paul's like, I have. I'm, um, bearing this for your sake so that I won't cause any hindrance to the good news of Christ. Paul's like, I didn't force you guys to support me because I didn't want to hinder the
good news. Paul says, I would rather go and work as a tent maker, supporting myself, working a full time job as a tent maker to support myself, and also work a full time free job as a minister to you, so that you are not hindered in finding Christ, thinking that the only thing that I want from you is money or greed or something like that. Paul's like, I proved to you that's not what I wanted, because I went and did something else. I went and worked 100% of the time when
I was in Corinth, and that is what Paul did. He worked as a tent maker. That is how he actually, uh, became friends with Priscilla and Aquila, is because they were also professional tent makers. Verse 14. Even so, the LORD ordained that those who proclaim the good news should live from the good news. god himself declared. He proclaimed, he commanded the people who help you spiritually grow in Christ should be financially supported. god himself
ordained that. And that's another reason why I am, um, now in favor of tithing and in favor of giving money to people who preach the gospel in whatever form they might preach it. That's why I'm not in favor of it is because God actually ordained that. He commanded that. He commanded it in the Old Testament, and it remains true even now in the New Testament, God ordained it.
But verses 15 through 18, Paul kind of changes the subject slightly to encourage people who are preaching the good news but are not getting paid, are not getting the financial compensation that are due to them. He says, I have used none of these things. I don't write these things, that it may be done. So in my case, he's like, look, corinthians, I am not asking for you to now suddenly start paying me. He says, I would actually rather die than anyone
should make my boasting void. And what's he talking about, boasting? He says he's boasting in the good news of Christ, not his own personal achievements. For if I preach the good news, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me. But woe is to me if I don't preach the good news. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not my own will, I have stewardship entrusted to me. So what does this mean?
Why is this an encouragement to people who are not getting paid, though they are preaching the gospel message? This is an encouragement because even when you are not getting paid and you are not feeling like you are reaping any reward or any benefit from the hours of work you are putting into something, Paul says it is not about the money. If you do work preaching the gospel message only for financial compensation, only so that you can become
rich, that is your reward. That is your only reward you are ever going to get. But for the pastors out there who are making almost nothing, but they are working so hard. And for the youth leaders out there who are doing the same, I know a couple. And for the worship leaders out there who are doing the same, you have an even greater reward than financial compensation. You have something so much better. You have stewardship entrusted to you.
God entrusted you with something so powerful and so great. He entrusted that to you, and he is going to god himself. He's going to see you. He's going to see the work that you are doing. He's going to see how people are treating you. He's going to see that you aren't making any money. He is going to see all of these things, and he is going to reward you for the work that you are patiently doing in his name. He has entrusted you personally with a
special stewardship. A steward was a head slave, specifically entrusted to a very specific task in the house. And that head slave was trusted above all the other slaves to do something great. That is what a steward is. It's a head slave. It is a person who is doing the most important work because they are entrusted with that work. And God, even though we're slaves to him, he doesn't treat us like slaves, like the typical slave that you think of in, uh,
american history. He doesn't treat us like that. He treats us like a loving father who cares about his children. And someday he is going to reward you for all that hard work that nobody thanks you for. But to conclude this portion, Paul says, what then, is my reward? That when I preach the good news, I may present the good news of Christ without charge so as not to abuse my authority in the good news. So Paul ultimately says that he's actually willing to not take payment
in order to spread the good news more. In fact, he wants to ultimately give the good news away free of charge. He wants to do that because he believes that everybody deserves the good news, the gospel message. And to Paul, that is enough of a reward that god here on earth is sustaining Paul and taking care of him and providing for his needs. Even when the corinthian church was nothing, to Paul, that was a reward that god was caring for Paul, even when other people were not.
Cold weather is now on the way, even though it's very warm. Actually, today, the trees have changed, and that means that fall is here. Fall is here, and soon it is going to be very cold, and you are going to need an advent devotional for your teenage daughter or niece, which is why you should buy a copy of the advent devotional that I wrote for teenage girls called Adore, the Teen Girls Guide to advent that is listed
in the description of this episode. Because advent is only a month away, and we're very much looking forward to advent and the holiday season. Coming up. Faithful listeners have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your morning and evening. I'll see you guys tomorrow, 06:00 a.m. or whenever you choose to wake up and listen. Happy listening and God bless. Mhm. I.