In this study
today, Paul seems to be complaining because he feels overworked, and underpaid.
Well … that can be
said, of ALL of us, who are called to go forward with the Gospel – to preach it
to every man, woman, and child.
WHAT Paul seem to
have forgotten is that the Gospel is to be GIVEN FREELY. Without expectation of
pay for receiving it.
And Paul was a Pharisee
BEFORE he was called by Yeshua to preach the Gospel. It seems to me – based on
what he wrote here – that he is falling back on those days when the Temple Leadership
WAS PAID in temple tithes for their Temple Service.
It also seems to me
– based on Scripture – that he is forgetting about FREEWILL OFFERINGS, and
focusing instead on what he feels is his “due rights”.
Remember to read Scripture under the guidance of The Ruach Ha’Kodesh
– remembering that men will be men,
given to the emotions of the flesh.
When we remember
THAT, we will understand that while Paul sounds whiney and contradictory … he
is only a man (a saved man), given to the feelings of a man.
And we CAN LEARN
from his example; whether that example be complimentary … or otherwise.
**********
1st CORINTHIANS ~Chapter 9
“Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Have I
not seen Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, with my own eyes? Are not you yourselves products
of my work in Mashiach? Even if I am not an Apostle to some others, yet at any
rate I am that to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in Mashiach. And
this is my defense in answer to my critics. Don’t we also have the right to eat
and drink? May we not also take with us on our journeys a Christian sister, or
a wife, like the other apostles and the brethren of Mashiach & Cephas? Are
Barnabas and I the only ones who have no right to rest from working for a
living?
What soldier ever goes to war at his own
expense? Who plants a vineyard but does not eat any of the grapes? Who takes
care of sheep without drinking their milk? I say this as man to man. But does
not the Law also say the very same things? For in the Law of Moshe is it not
written, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox, when he is treading out the corn.’ Is it
for the oxen only that Elohim cares? Is it not especially for our sakes? Yes,
indeed, it is written for us, for it surely is right that the ploughman as he
ploughs, and the thresher as he threshes, should have some hope of share in the
harvest.
We have been busy planting spiritual seed in
you, Is it a hardship for you if we reap some of your material harvest? If
others claim the right to share with you, don’t we have still greater right?
You ask, why have we not then made use of that right? No, we should rather bear
anything than set up an obstacle in the way of the Gospel of Mashiach.
Surely you must know that those who are in
the Temple Service get their daily bread from the Temple; and the alter
attendants get their share of the sacrificial offerings. In that way, too, Mashiach
has ordered those who preach the Gospel shall live from the Gospel. As for me,
I have made no such use of my rights. Nor am I writing this now to secure any
such belated help. I would rather die than have anyone make this boast of mine void.
I am not boasting of the fact that I preach
the Gospel. Necessity compels me to do that. It would mean, “Woe is me!” if I
did not preach the Gospel. If I preach it willingly, I have my pay. But if I do
it because I must, I am entrusted with a responsibility. In that case, what pay
should I get? My pay is this, that in my preaching I offer the Good News about
Mashiach free to all, without making use of my own right to a living by the
Gospel.
In this way no one has any claim on me, yet I
have made myself everyone’s debtor so as to win more souls. With the Jews, I
became as a Jew that I might wins Jews for Mashiach. To those under The Law I
became as one under The Law, though I, myself, was not under The Law, so as to
gain those under The Law. And to those outside The Law I became as one outside The
Law, too. This did not mean that I did not recognize the Law of Elohei; but it
meant that I was under the law of Mashiach, so as to win those without any
moral law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. In short, I
became everything to everyone, in order that I might by some means save some. I
am still doing this for the sake of the Gospel, so that I may have a share in
its blessings together with the rest.
You know that of all the runners who compete
in a footrace, only one gets the prize. Therefore, run to win. Every competing
athlete exercises strict self-control. In such a race the winner receives a
perishable wreath; but in the Christian race, the prize is an imperishable crown.
So, I keep on running, but not aimlessly. And I fight, but not as one beating
the air. I exercise my own body and I make it serve me, so that, after having
preached to others, I myself should not be disqualified.”
