Supporting Pastors

[B-A-C]

Now of course there are good pastors and bad pastors, but this thread isn't about that. Let us assume you have a good pastor. (If you don't, maybe it's time to look for another),
1Corinthians is a tough book on the church at Corinth, Paul is pretty much scolding the church all through this book. It goes to show all churches aren't perfect.
Sometimes we look at Paul and say "What a great guy, everyone must have loved him." It doesn't appear that way to me. Consider the following.

1Cor 9:1; Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
1Cor 9:2; If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
1Cor 9:3; My defense to those who examine me is this:
1Cor 9:4; Do we not have a right to eat and drink?
1Cor 9:5; Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
1Cor 9:6; Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working?
1Cor 9:7; Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not consume some of the milk of the flock?

It seems some people in this church are questioning what Paul says. Paul says "Am I not an Apostle?" Haven't I seen Jesus (with my own eyes)? Paul is asserting who he is here.
Paul goes on to say, even if I'm not an apostle to everyone, at least I am to you (the church at Corinth). You are the "seal" of my apostleship... seal? What does that mean.
Paul is saying you are the "proof" of my apostleship. The very fact that this church exists and has people coming to Christ, is proof that I am doing the "work in the Lord".
In verse 1, Paul says they are his "work in the Lord". You kind of get the feeling they felt like Paul was expecting too much from them. It seems they didn't want to support him.
"Paul ole buddy, you come here making a lot of rules on us, and now you want us to feed you free of charge too? What are you thinking?"
In verse 4 Paul says "Don't I have a right to eat and drink?" In verse 7, he says don't they feed soldiers free of charge? Doesn't a farmer or rancher eat from his own resources?
It's also interesting that verse 5 mentions some had wives. Peter (Cephas) had a wife, as well as Jude (not Judas) and James.. "the brothers of the Lord".

1Cor 9:8; I am not just asserting these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well?
1Cor 9:9; For it is written in the Law of Moses: “You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He?
1Cor 9:10; Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops.
1Cor 9:11; If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
1Cor 9:12; If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
1Cor 9:13; Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar?
1Cor 9:14; So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

Paul goes on to say even the old testament Law supports this, He is saying here, you guys are my crop of wheat, my sheep (in a manner of speaking).
If everyone else is allowed to eat and drink some of your fruit, shouldn't I be able to also? Read the verses 8-14 again, and see what he is saying here.
In verse 14 Paul Paul is saying the Lord has directed that preachers and pastors, should earn their living by preaching the gospel. They should at least be able to eat.

1Cor 9:15; But I have used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make my boast an empty one!
1Cor 9:16; For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
1Cor 9:17; For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a commission nonetheless.
1Cor 9:18; What, then, is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Paul makes a subtle change here. He says he under compulsion to preach the gospel. He even says "woe to me" if I don't preach the gospel.
In verse 18 he says "I may offer the gospel without charge". Hmmm... whoa, wait a minute Paul, you just spent the last 14 verses telling us we need to feed you and support you,
now you are saying you should do this "without charge"?

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

... the previous post was getting a bit long. But this next paragraph really spoke to me...

1Cor 9:19; For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more.
1Cor 9:20; To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law;
1Cor 9:21; to those who are without the Law, I became as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law.
1Cor 9:22; To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.
1Cor 9:23; I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Paul says I am free to do whatever I want, be whatever I want..... but I have made myself a slave to all.
The old saying.. when in Rome, do as the Romans' do applies here. When I was with the Jews, I acted like a Jew. When I was with the Gentiles, I acted like a Gentile, when I with those who practiced the law, I practiced the law.
Now some might say, he was just being a hypocrite, that's what all preachers do. I think we are missing the bigger picture here. Paul was willing to do whatever it took to reach people. Even if he didn't necessarily agree
with everything they did or practiced. Sometimes we are too quick to point out what others are doing wrong, and we tell them, well I'm not going to do those things. Sometimes we win the battle, but lose the war.
Maybe it's OK to go along with some of the things some of these people are doing, if it gives us a chance to reach them.