A. I have said it, or at least thought it, and you have probably heard it, “I want my rights.” As Americans who love their freedom we hold our rights very close to our being. The liberties that come because of our rights are worth defending as a nation and many times defending as a person when someone is trying to intrude upon them.
B. In chapter 8, Paul dealt with knowledge versus love. A person can have all the spiritual knowledge (and spiritual rights), but if that person does not have love, he can destroy a brother for whom Christ died. Paul would rather not eat meat if the eating of meat caused a new Christian convert to fall back into the world of idolatry and away from faith in Jesus Christ.
C. Chapter 9 will continue that same idea of letting our light shine through our love in spite of the rights we may have. Let me simply start by helping us keep this idea of rights in context. Read with me the first few verses and listen to the rhetorical questions Paul asks. Now remember, he wants them to change, to open up to a new way of thinking and so he will use himself as an illustration. Read with me verses 1-6.
D. This is not how Paul usually writes. He doesn’t like to make a show of his authority except when he’s forced too. But that’s what he’s doing here. He’s insisting that he’s free. That he holds the God appointed position of an Apostle. One sent from God. And even if other churches or Christians don’t acknowledge Paul as an apostle, the Corinthians have to – Paul was the one who planted the church in Corinth. He is their Apostle. And in 9:2, he says that they are the seal of his Apostleship.
E. Paul starts like this because he wants them to remember the full weight, and power of his apostleship. The Apostles are special people. Surely if any one should insist upon their freedom as Christians it’s them. Paul knows that its OK to eat meat offered to idols, because idols aren’t really gods. The Apostles have knowledge, something the Corinthians prized. But this Apostle is driven by love, not simply by the exercising of his freedom or rights.
I. How Far Do I Take This?
A. I was approached after preaching the lesson concerning chapter 8, about how far are we as a church to take this teaching? The question asked was, “Are we, who have freedoms in Christ, to be held hostage to those freedoms by a fellow Christian who disagrees that we have those rights?” That is a great question. If I like to raise my hand while we pray and you don’t like hand raising in worship, should I stop lifting up my hands to God in prayer? If I desire to have a different worship style than the one we practice here, am I to never sing a new song or a new style of singing?
B. Brethren, this is where we go from reading scripture to practicing Christianity. There is no doubt from reading chapter 8 that eating of meats offered to an idol was not sinful, listen to 8:11-13.
C. I have always agreed with our elders about desiring complete unity in voting on issues within the body. There is a difference between complete unity and complete agreement. You see a brother or sister can disagree with an action the church is taking, voice that disagree, help us all to think through it, but in the end, the brother is asked, “Can you live with it?” That idea is what Paul is helping the church in Corinth to see practically through his life.
D. Paul is not teaching, “Let the loudest mouth complainer set the tone for the body of Christ.” There are things I don’t like, but I can live with (or in some cases, live without) because I cherish the unity of this congregation.
E. Paul asks, “Am I not free?” Don’t I have the right? But Paul chooses to restrict his own rights when the pushing of them would cause a fellow Christian to turn away from Jesus and turn back to the sins of the world. He does not restrict his own rights every time some sits on a pine cone and shouts about it. You can study that in Galatians and other letters to see Paul doing something or not allowing some act to take place simply because one group wants to restrict the freedoms we have in Christ. There is a difference between causing my brother to stumble/fall, and letting a negative complainer get his own way all the time.
F. Listen to Paul in 9:11-15. Money can be used by a church to manipulate a preacher. If he is not paid, he is free from those restrictions. The most the church can do is say, “stop preaching.”
G. Paul did not use his rights to get paid because he did not want to hinder the gospel of Jesus. I don’t know how being paid would have done that in Corinth. I know there are several times when Paul received a financial gift so that he did not have to keep making tents, but could devote himself full-time to the preaching of gospel. But in this case he chose not to take their money.
II. It’s About Grace
A. Christianity is not about rights, it’s about grace. It’s about love. It’s about unity. It’s about being a family. It’s about being the living body of Jesus that is seen before the dying sinful world. For Paul, the idea of rights was not an argument he was going to get caught up in.
B. Christianity becomes about being a servant to others and knowing how to best help another Christian or even a non-Christian see Jesus and come to a saving relationship with Jesus.
C. During a heated debate at a church’s business meeting, one of the overheated members rose to his feet and with clinched fists declared, “I have my rights.” Quickly and sensitively, one of the older men replied, “You don’t mean that. If we had our rights, we would all be in hell.” Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and Romans 6:23 states, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." According to these two verses, to insist upon our rights, what we all deserve is to die and go to hell. I don’t think I’m interested in demanding my rights, are you? I’m interested in the part that says, “The gift of God is eternal life.”
Conclusion:
A. In a few weeks will conclude chapter 9 by hearing Paul teach us that what this is all about is becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means we might save some. That is “out-of-box” thinking. That lesson might stretch you some. But that is end result of all this teaching in chapters 8 and 9. Our goal is not about me, but about you and the lost. It is about restricting our rights when it is the right thing to do and exercising them when a person is simply a grump. How are you doing spiritually? Are you giving freedom to those who need it or seeking to hold someone back? C. How are you doing at letting go because you love this body and know that something you don’t is not sin, and so you can simply “live with it” verses destroy it? How are you doing at being the servant that Jesus was as he washed the feet of his disciples or hung on the cross for you and me? Examine yourself, your heart, and if there is a need for repentance, then take it to the Lord in prayer. If there is a need to privately share an apology with someone, do it today as you leave here. D. Casting Crowns sings a song that says, It's crowded in worship today as she slips in trying to fade into the faces. The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know, farther than they know A traveler is far away from home. He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row. The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances are better out on the road But if we are the Body, Why aren't His arms reaching, Why aren't His hands healing, Why aren't His words teaching. And if we are the Body why aren't His feet going why is His love not showing them there is a way. There is a way E. Let us show the world, and each other, there is a way. If you are in need of the healing and loving hand of Jesus we invite you to come before him and now and let us serve you as we stand and sing.
