Paul talks about the rights he has as an apostle. These rights apply to those who preach the gospel today. The pastor who preaches the gospel has a right to be supported by the church so he can devote all his time to serving the Lord and to serving the church members.
"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? 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." (1 Corinthians 9:1-2) As we learned earlier in our study, the Corinthian believers were arguing over which apostle to follow. Some of them were so prideful that they felt they didn't have to respect the authority of any apostle. Others thought Paul wasn't a true apostle because he worked to provide for himself, not taking anything from the church. Gentiles in cities like Corinth were used to having to pay to hear speeches by great philosophers, so they thought that if Paul were really an apostle he would expect some form of payment or support.
Paul says, "I work for our Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared to me and commissioned me to preach the gospel. He is the one who gave me the authority of an apostle. In other cities I can understand that some would doubt my calling, for they weren't saved under my preaching. But you were! I was the first to tell you the good news of the gospel. The fact that you are a vibrant and growing church is the proof that Christ called me to be an apostle. Since you were saved under my preaching, why do some of you doubt my calling? Why do some of you feel I have no authority to instruct you in Christian living?"
"This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don't we have the right to food and drink? 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? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right not to work for a living?" (1 Corinthians 9:3-6) He asks, "Why do you think I have no right to expect to have my basic needs supplied by the church I founded at Corinth? The other apostles are supported by the churches they founded. The married apostles take their wives along on missionary journeys, and the churches provide for the wives as well. Do you think Barnabas and I work for a living because we don't have the right to expect anything from you? Barnabas and I work, but not because we aren't true apostles." In a few minutes we will see why Paul and Barnabas work to support themselves, but first Paul uses an Old Testament example to prove his point that anyone who preaches the gospel has the right to be supported by believers.
"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? Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.' Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 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. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 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." (1 Corinthians 9:7-12) Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians and in 1 Thessalonians about how he worked to supply his own needs so he wouldn't be a burden to anyone. He didn't have to do this, but he didn't want it to cost anyone to hear the gospel.
"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? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:13-14) This statement was true for both Jewish and Gentile priests. The Jewish priests made their living from their work, as did the pagan Gentile priests. The rule should be the same for those who preach the gospel. If at all possible, churches should pay their pastors a full time salary so the pastors can devote themselves to their work. The quickest way to cause burnout in a pastor is to expect him to work a full time job outside the church, to expect him to preach sermons on Sundays and Wednesdays, and to expect him to be on call the rest of the time to attend to the needs of the church members. A schedule like that is exhausting for the body, the mind, and the spirit. My church is quite large, so we pay two full time pastors. They maintain daily office hours for counseling, plus they visit the sick at home and at the hospital, plus they preach funerals, plus they perform weddings, plus they preach three sermons a week. They receive calls from church members at all hours of the day and night regarding sicknesses or deaths that have occurred. They are doing some form of church work every day of the week and they deserve to be well compensated for it.
"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. 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! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 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." (1 Corinthians 9:15-18) He tells them, "I'm not writing these things so that you will support me. I'm writing these things to tell you why I have not asked you to support me. I have the right to expect your support, but I consider preaching the gospel such a privilege that I work with my own hands to support myself. I trust God to supply anything I need. There are many preachers who charge a fee to preach to an assembly. There are apostles who are being fully supported by the churches they founded. And they have the right to expect payment or other goods, but I am afraid someone will miss hearing the gospel because they think they have to pay me to share it with them. I am afraid an assembly won't ask me to speak to them because they can't afford a gift for me. So I'm preaching the gospel without expecting anything material in return."
Does this mean our pastors should preach solely for their love of the gospel? The priests in the Old Testament didn't serve at the temple solely for their love of God's word; they supported themselves and their wives and children from the living they made from serving at the temple. If a pastor wants to work with his own hands to support himself, he can do so. Paul did, and the pastor can too. But the pastor, just like the apostles, has the right to expect his church to support him, so there's nothing at all wrong with receiving a salary to work full time at the church. Pastors put in way more than an eight hour day. Pastors have to give up time with their families in order to minister to the church members because they are really on call twenty-four hours a day. It's only right that they should be able to take care of themselves and their families for their service.
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