Paul’s Rights as an Apostle
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas[a]? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
Paul is being defensive in Corinth in these verses. He was being defensive of his personal life and the job that he had where he makes a living. He was fighting for his rights to have a ministry where he didn't need a paycheck and then a job where he did get one. He fought for both because he didn't want to do his ministry for pay but yet he needed the money to live on. He was so passionate about his ministry that he didn't think it was worth getting paid for. He was trying to get Corinth to see that they were free to do what they pleased as long as it served Christ even if they did need to jobs. He also showed them that if you love it and are passionate about it that it isn't worth anything but love.
"You're not a "real" mom. You don't know how it feels when your child gets hurt.
I had my passions tested earlier this year when I was told that I had no idea how a child feels when it is hurt because I am not a mom. Well, I might not be what the world calls a "real" mom but I am a mom to so many children in the eyes of God. I do know what children are like and how they hurt especially when they don't have a mom at all. People might not see my teaching job as be being a mom to the children I am around but oddly enough I am and that is how I see myself. That is my passion and ministry until and if God is willing I get children of my own so I can be, what the world calls, a "real" mom. It is just a bonus that I get paid for it now but I would love doing it no matter what that is my real dream.
Rising children up for the Kingdom of God someday if God willing. I would get them from start to finish instead of in between. That is the hard part for me know because I don't know everything that is going on in their lives. I can just know what I learn and school and treat them as a student but I want so much more to treat them like my own. To be honest, there is no second thought here at all. I dream about being a "real" mom everyday.
He choses to work where he is. Here are verses 5-6 to show you that.
5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas[a]? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
Gospel ministry is a volunteer position and a "real" job makes our livelihood.
Those things are totally two different things. Here are some more ways to tell that they are difference. Gospel ministry is a position that you don't get paid for but love doing it because it leads people to Christ. While you are working a "real" job because you need money to live on because that is how the world works more and more everyday. I have always thought what it would be like if I was in and stayed in the Gospel Ministry position but we are all humans and God made us the way He did for a reason.
My Rights are:
-common sense
-Spiritual Practice
-Jesus' Command
1 Corinthians 9:13New International Version (NIV)
13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
1 Corinthians 9:15-18New International Version (NIV)
15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
Sometimes people pass up their rights for a greater reward and that is what gospel ministry is all about. It is where you are getting greater rewards in the long run and the GREATEST reward in the end. Those rewards are types that you cannot put money on at all. Seeing a child talk for the first time. Being the only person that can comfort that one child. Seeing a child get something for the first time when you have been teaching it for a long time or something new. Seeing a child shoot a deer for the first time. See people growing food plots because they know how to do it now. Seeing the difference between hunting seasons on the grounds.
If you are not doing your passion voluntarily, then you are simply not trusting God in providing for you in the long run. You are not trusting that God will give you a reward for doing what you are most passionate about. If you let people get the best of you with their words like I could have back then, then I wouldn't be trusting God now and I probably wouldn't be where I am now because I would have stayed. I trusted God enough to provide for me and I knew that I had passion for the children like a "real" mom so they weren't going to bring me down at all. I decided to move on and trust God because I wasn't going to stay down in the dumps for long. I knew better and I knew what my passion was.
My Prayer for You:
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
In these verses, it is talking about how Jesus didn't use the nature of God to His own advantage. Instead, Jesus made himself nothing when He came to this earth. He made Himself a servant because His passion was loving and caring for the people around Him. He humbled Himself and became obedient to what was best for the people, even death on the cross because He knew that that would save us from eternal Hell. Jesus' passion was us so He gave up everything that He had and came to this earth to live around us.
Are you willing to do that with your passions? Are you willing to give up your rights here are earth and obey God to the fullest?
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