Bible Reading Challenge #22
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[b] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Do I care about preaching the gospel as much as Paul? That has been our guiding question over the past few days, and we have been looking at some of the things Paul has given up which shows his deep devotion to the sharing of the gospel.
On Monday, we saw Paul give up his right to earn money off preaching, and the correlative loss of life-comforts since he had to work with his hands to earn money. Yesterday, we saw Paul give up the Christian freedom to live life as he chooses in order to have a wider audience with which to share the gospel by meeting them where they are.
Today, Paul commits to strict disciplining of his body and its desires so that he does not become distracted or disqualified from the work of preaching the gospel. I am still a novice in Greek, but I think one commentator has it exactly right when he calls verse 27a a weak translation. Rather than “discipline my body and keep it under control”, I think it is more helpful for us to consider a more literal translation.
“I pummel my body and make it a slave”
Wow. That is pretty intense. Are you willing to do that if it makes you more effective at sharing the gospel with more people who desperately need it?
Are you willing to give up what your body desires? And that is not only giving up sinful things like gluttony, lust, pride. A lot of the things Paul is referring to are not even sinful things!
Paul’s metaphor of athletes is an excellent one, because they have to give up many things that are considered normal and even acceptable in moderation, they can’t even have them in moderation. The wine (in their time), maybe it’s best to think of sweets or delicious fatty foods in our time.
So my challenge for you today is to ask yourself, what would you have to remove to approach sharing the gospel the way an athlete approaches training?
What time would you have to find/make/sacrifice to consistently spend time with God and spend time sharing the gospel with others? Maybe this means giving up some TV time, some work time, some phone time, etc.
Do we care about preaching the gospel as much as Paul? I think the obvious answer is no, but can you imagine what the church would look like if we even tried to?
I don’t think we can even imagine what would change, so let’s try and see what God does.
Bible Reading Challenge #21
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Do I care about preaching the gospel as much as Paul did (and yes, we are all called to preach/share the gospel)?
That is our driving question for this second-half of 1 Corinthians 9. Yesterday we looked at Paul sacrificing monetarily/comforts of life to make a greater gospel impact. Today we have an even more sensitive challenge for us as Americans. Today, Paul gives up his freedom to share the gospel more effectively and with more people.
Rather than living exactly how he wants, Paul instead makes significant life changes to meet people where they are. He undergoes Jewish purification rituals he knows are pointless since Christ has made him clean. But it does give him more common ground with which to share the gospel with Jews. Paul then doesn’t live out the law when around the gentiles (I imagine this looks like not eating kosher, dressing as they do within reason, engaging in their cultural practices like athletic games, etc). This may not be natural or even comfortable to him being raised in the Jewish religious elite, but it gives him more ways to share the gospel with gentiles.
But how does this translate to us today? I think there are three key guiding questions to ask ourselves.
Does the way I live my life allow me to meet non-believers (in a way that does not bring unnecessary temptation to sin into my life)?
Here’s an even harder question. Do I take those opportunities to befriend and build relationships with non-believers?
Finally the hardest question. If I make space in my life to make sure I meet non-believers, and I befriend them, do I ever take the effort/risk to share the gospel with them?
How many of us can say yes to all three of those questions? I fear the answer is not many.
Unless we are willing to give up some of the freedom to live our lives as we choose, we will never be able to answer a confident yes to all three of these questions and we will never be effectively sharing the gospel God has called us to share!
Bible Reading Challenge #20
1 Corinthians 9:15-18
15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Paul has just finished writing about the Lord’s command that those who proclaim the gospel may take the right to live by the gospel (essentially, accept money for their gospel work as pastors/shepherds/evangelists like Peter, Barnabas, etc).
Then Paul starts this next section by reminding the Corinthians that he has forsaken his right to do this and tells them why. He tells them that he does it so he is not deprived of his ability to boast.
What!?!?! That doesn’t sound very Christian-like.
But Paul is not boasting in his ability, nor is he even boasting in the fact that he preaches the gospel (he says that is a necessity and woe be unto him if he fails to preach the gospel). Rather, he is boasting that because he works with his hands and slaves away in various jobs, he does not have to take money to support himself for his preaching and that frees him up in his ministry.
All of that is important context, but it is not the main question I want you to consider. I think the main question this passage should make us think about is simple.
Do I care about preaching the gospel as much as Paul did?
Would I be willing to do the more difficult, less popular task to give me a greater chance to make a gospel impact in those around me?
Would I be willing to give up the comfort and ease of parts of my life so that I can share the gospel with more people? I mean, if we are being honest, are we even sharing the gospel with anyone? We struggle to even share the gospel once a week/month/year, when Paul and so many others have gone before us and faithfully picked the harder path because it gives them a greater opportunity to make Christ known. That is challenging me today.
Bible Reading Challenge #19
Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-14
1 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?
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
The Bible is a catalogue of real people with real problems seeking to honor the real God. Chapter 9 gets into a touchy yet honest conversation: money. Paul seems expected to do all of his ministry work pro bono. While other apostles were financially supported by the church, Paul often was not. Instead, he worked as a tentmaker and funded much of his own travel and preaching.
That raises a modern question: Should pastors be paid? For most of us, the answer seems obvious—yes (and I am personally very grateful for that!). But Paul’s teaching pushes us to move beyond what “feels right” and think through what is biblically right.
Paul argues that laborers should share in the fruit of their labor. He points back to the Old Testament, where God provided for priests through the offerings of the people. In the same way, Paul says those who preach the gospel should receive support from those who benefit from it. This is the same principle that drives how churches operate today—offerings are used to fund personnel, buildings, and ministry. On average, staff expenses make up 50–60% of a church’s budget. Is that right?
Well, it depends. Some churches operate with bi-vocational pastors—leaders who serve the church but also maintain outside employment. This can be a faithful and effective model, especially for smaller congregations. Other churches, as resources and needs grow, employ full-time pastors and staff who can dedicate themselves fully to shepherding and leading. Both can be viable; what matters is the fit for the church’s context.
What we must avoid are two extremes:
Treating the church like a charity that exists to keep a pastor on payroll, regardless of real need.
Expecting pastors to pour themselves out full-time while not compensating them fairly.
Paul reminds us that these kinds of issues—though practical and sometimes uncomfortable—are still spiritual issues. As Christians, we are called to honor God in everything, including how we steward our resources as individuals and as a church, as well as how we support those who minister among us.
Bible Reading Challenge #18
Read 1 Corinthians 8
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.
Day 2 of Chapter 8
Read 1 Corinthians 8
Yesterday, we discussed how to approach a topic that weighs heavily on another person's conscience. We should tread lightly, not arrogantly, into those conversations—for the sake of the other. We are not to abuse our freedoms at the expense of our brothers and sisters.
Today, I want us to focus on the other side: those who hold to cultural convictions that are not biblically forbidden. For Paul, the topic at hand was meat sacrificed to idols. In Corinth, the congregation was comprised of many recent converts, most of whom came from a pluralistic religious background. Simply put, they used to worship the very gods and idols that Paul says are “nothing at all.” While this is true, it was not an easy concept to leave behind quickly. As a result, eating meat sacrificed to idols felt like condoning idol worship. The consciences of these recent converts were being tested. It just didn’t feel right! While love and patience are demanded, Paul is also clear that there is nothing to fear.
In our day, the church is quite divided over what is “allowed.” The freedom found in Christ is understood and interpreted differently across denominations, churches, and even among members of the same congregation.
Here are some helpful questions to consider when discerning whether to partake in something:
Is it biblically forbidden?
(Examples: sexual immorality, drunkenness, idolatry) → If yes, avoid.Does it trouble my spirit?
(Is the Holy Spirit pricking my conscience?) → If yes, avoid for now (at least).How will this affect those around me?
(Example: Am I unnecessarily creating temptation or sin for someone else?) → If yes, limit or avoid in this scenario.Will this bring glory to God?
(Can I honor and thank God in it?) → If yes, enjoy with gratitude.