The Grace of Self-Denial Pt. 5

Again, if God’s people would
take their Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, where
we have been for many weeks. We have well established by now
that Paul is still addressing the great division in the Corinthian
church over the issue of food offered to idols. Even here in
chapter 9, the church of Corinth was a mess. They were on a mess
on a lot of fronts, but the Christian liberty was one of the more rancorous
of all the issues they faced. Believers on both sides of the
issue were insensitive to those on the other side. Some were
flaunting their freedoms while their counterparts stubbornly
refused to relinquish their legalism. Both sides were in the wrong.
The division was real. Paul had addressed the issue
before both groups, attempting to provide understanding and
bring about peace, but even if differences remained, they were
still called to gentleness and sensitivity toward their fellow
believers. Those on the other side might
stubbornly insist on their position on some area of freedom, and
they could be tempted to place some Christian liberty even above
their fellow believer. But those matters of conscience
must never have a greater higher value than their Christian brother. We must carry ourselves in love
This is why Paul advocated such a radical approach at the end
of chapter eight. If food causes my brother to
stumble, I will never eat meat again. That was his strong declaration. If the circumstances warranted
it, he was more than willing to sacrifice his liberty. His
brother was of infinitely greater value to God and to him. No earthly enjoyment could be
esteemed more highly than that. Our series here in chapter 9,
we’ve called The Grace of Self-Denial. The chapter, as I pointed out,
divides nicely into four distinct sections. Verses 1 through 6
pose consideration of the concept of self-denial. In verses 7 through
14, which verses we completed last Lord’s Day, Paul balances
self-denial. Yes, we’re called to self-denial,
but we also have rights. And then in verses 15 through
23, Paul sets forth his example of self-denial, literally a sacrifice
of such rights. And then Paul will close out
in verses 24 through 27, with an encouragement to the
Corinthians to self-denial. For our sake this morning, I’m
just going to zero in and focus on verses 15 through 23, Paul’s
example of self-denial. Would you read along with me
verse 15 all the way down through verse 23? where Paul wrote, But I have
used none of these things, and I am not writing these things,
so that it will be done so in my case. For it would be better
for me to die than to have any man make my boast an empty one.
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am
under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach
the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily,
I have a reward, but if against my will, I have a stewardship
entrusted to me. 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 the right, my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all
men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew
so that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law,
as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so
that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are
without law, as without law, though not being without the
law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win
those who are without law. To the weak I became weak that
I might win the weak. I have become all things to all
men so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for
the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker
of it. Last week, as I pointed out,
we wrapped up Paul’s balancing of self-denial there in verses
7 through 14. The believer, we as believers,
don’t have to go out and give up everything just because someone
is offended by it. We don’t have to give up enjoyment
of life’s blessings. There is a balance there. Paul
had a legitimate right to the support of his churches, financial
support. And there in that section, he
made three distinct arguments that he had a right to be supported
by his churches. His argument from livelihood,
his argument from priorities. What’s more important, the spiritual
or the physical? And then finally his argument
from the priesthood. Paul had good authority, biblical
authority. God himself had prescribed that
the priest should be supported. And then last week, we charged
headlong into Paul’s example of self-denial, these verses,
verses 15 through 23. This is where Paul moves to the
third great section of his chapter, exemplifying self-denial, that
he was exemplary in this area of self-sacrifice or self-denial. Paul had a right We’ve established
to be supported by His churches. He’s established that. And yet,
Paul says in verse 15, but I have used none of those things. This
is a reiteration of the point that he makes in verse 12, if
you’d glance there. We had rights, Paul says, nevertheless,
we did not use this right. Here in verse 15, he says it
even more strongly. I have used none of these things.
And by these things, we saw that Paul is referring back to the
several arguments by which he established his right to financial
support of his churches, livelihood, priorities, and the priesthood.
Paul had a right to the support of his churches, but he had not
exercised that right. pointed it out, I pointed out
rather a remarkable feature of this section last week. It’s
the repeating word for. It occurs six times in verses
15 through 19. We see it in verse 15, three
times in verse 16, once again in verse 17, and once again in
verse 19. And I suggested to you that this
whole passage, 15 through 23, could be likened to a river tumbling
down over a series of boulders, producing a waterfall of information. The pattern is this. We looked
at this last week. Paul makes a statement to which
there’s an implied question, why? And then Paul proceeds to
give the answer or the reason, and he does this six times in
a row. I’m not going to read the whole
passage for you again, but look, if you would, beginning at verse
15. Paul makes a statement. I’m not writing these things
so that we will be done so in my case. I’m not laying out this
argument of livelihood and priorities and the priesthood so that you
will cut me a check. I’m not doing that. Why, Paul? Well, he gives the reason. For
it would be better for me to die than to have any man make
my boast an empty one. But why, Paul? For? If I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. Why, Paul? For I am not under compulsion.
Why, Paul? For woe is me if I do not preach
the gospel. Why, Paul? For if I do this,
that is, preach the gospel voluntarily, I have a reward. What’s the reward? Jump down to verse 18, that I
may offer the gospel without charge so as not to make full
use of my right in the gospel. Why? And that’s what Paul begins
to answer in verse 19. We consider the first five occurrences
of that pattern, statement, question, answer, But Paul has one last
piece of information to share with us. We find it in verses
19 through 23. This last piece of information,
this last of six of these patterns, is based on his statement that
he did not want to make full use of his right in the gospel.
The implied question, again, is why? Why are you so insistent,
Paul, on offering the gospel free of charge? And the explanation
we see in verse 19 through 23, sticking with our metaphor of
a waterfall of information, we could call this last section. In a waterfall, you have usually
one pronounced section, a large plunge of the waterfall. And
so sticking with that metaphor, we could call this last section
the plunge. And based on the length of Paul’s
answer here, this is the largest answer that he provides. Look
at verse 19. For though I am free from all
men, I have made myself a slave to all. But in addition to this
fascinating literary feature in this section, verses 15 through
23, you have to notice Paul’s expansion of thought here. Stick
with me. whereas he has been speaking
up to verse 14 of the issue of Christian liberty in the church. Now he expands his principle
of selflessness to one’s interaction with those outside the church. Not only is the grace of self-denial
needed among God’s people, among our fellow believers, it is exceedingly
needful with those who do not know Christ. We must be in pursuit
of this grace of self-denial. And so Paul begins, why preach
the gospel so selflessly? First of all, glance down and
notice in verse 19 the answer, though I am free from all men,
I have made myself a slave to all that I may win the more. Paul makes that statement based on the statement that he
makes in verse 18, that I may offer the gospel without charge.
And then Paul begins here in verse 19 with his explanation
to the implied question, why? Why, Paul, must you preach the
gospel so selflessly? Paul had already established
the fact that he had a right to the support of his churches.
Why this dogged insistence that he would neither seek nor accept
financial support from them? Why? because Paul says, for I
have made myself a slave to all. Take special note of Paul’s wording.
He wasn’t forced into slavery. He willingly placed himself in
that position. His enslavement was willful. It was his own volition. And
he emphasizes that point well in that interesting and seemingly
contradictory qualifier. Glance at the sentence, if you
would, where he says, though I am free from all men. That
little conditional clause hearkens all the way back to verse one.
Look back at that, if you would, where Paul just initially asked,
this is what started it all. Am I not free? Of course he was free, but that’s
a strange statement to make for a slave. And he’s shown throughout this
chapter that even though he had rights, he had relinquished his
rights in order to remain free of the obligations of men. How
can it be that Paul is free from all men and yet has made himself
a slave to all? How can that be? Well, His qualifier,
though I am free from all men, points to the fact that he has
not indebted himself to anyone. He had no ties. He had no obligations. He had no sense of duty to anyone
except God himself. He wasn’t bound by other people’s
consciences. He wasn’t bound by other people’s
practices. He had chosen to adopt this position
with others. He didn’t know it. He wasn’t
obligated to it. His point is that a slave does
not impose his will on anyone. Rather, he selflessly serves
others. he is enslaved to all men. They are not enslaved to him. How did Paul make himself a slave?
This is what he will proceed to discuss in the following verses. Paul is about to show his readers
that much more than just giving up meat There was almost nothing
that Paul would not sacrifice for the sake of the gospel. Why
would Paul do such a thing? He tells us at the end of verse
19, where though I am free from all men, I have made myself a
slave to all. Why? So that I may win more. The word translated win here
at the end of verse 19 is repeated again and again and again in
this section. Follow along with me just as
a quick course deeper into this passage, the beginning of verse
20, so that I might win the Jews. at the end of verse 20, so that
I might win those who are under the law. Verse 21, so that I
might win those who are without the law. Verse 22, so that I
might win the weak. Paul is not speaking about the
salvation of souls as some simple game here, so that he might win. The word suggests instead gain,
acquisition, increase. winning in that sense. And so
Paul desired to win or gain more people, more Jews, more Gentiles,
and more of the weak. This was his overarching motivator,
to win more people, to maximize his harvest of souls. No matter
what group the individual was in, Paul could find something
in his life to sympathize with the individual. Regardless of
the person’s background, whatever was special or delicate or preferable
or sanctified in his or her mind, he was willing to treat them
as such. To operate within their sphere
of understanding. In order to have opportunity
with them, There was nothing that could be allowed to stand
in the way, nothing. There was no way that he would
win all, there was no way that he would win every person, but
by the application of the grace of self-denial, he would have
a greater yield than if he rigidly held to his own rights and privileges,
nothing. Nothing could be allowed to negatively
affect his efforts, but especially not his own preference issues.
Those things must take a subservient position to the gospel, to gospel
opportunity. Think of it, will you? Even in
your own heart and life. Sometimes we tiptoe right up
to the point of sharing the good news with someone. The good news of salvation by
faith in Jesus Christ. Perhaps it’s been a developing
ongoing relationship with a coworker perhaps or a neighbor. Perhaps
it’s just a brief providential meeting with someone, but we’re
there. We’re right up to the moment
of opportunity, only to blow it by opting to exercise our
right, to insist on our way, to hold fast to some Christian
liberty of our own. The opportunity is gone and sometimes
forever, isn’t it? Well, this is Paul’s general
principle. that he had made himself a slave
to all. But in verse 20, through the
first portion of verse 22, Paul wants to provide us some specifics. Exactly who are these people
to whom he treated according to this principle? He’s already
said that it’s all. But specifically, who would that
include? Well, first of all, the application of the Jewish
people. Look at verse 20. To the Jews, I became as a Jew
so that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law,
as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so
that I might win those who are under the law. Paul here begins
to apply his principle of gospel-driven selflessness. And the first group
to whom he applies it, to which he had already applied it, were
the Jews. And here in verse 20, Paul refers
to them in two different ways, to the Jews specifically, and
then to those who are under the law more generally. Both of those
references point to the nation of the Hebrews. Now, Paul did
not hold the religious customs as obligatory. We know that.
Not for himself, and certainly not for salvation. In a very
real way, he declares in Galatians 2 that he had indeed died to
the law. Remember? To the Philippians,
he declared that the things pertaining to the Jewish law he counted
as loss for the sake of Christ. It was a core feature of his
gospel proclamation that the Christian is not under law, but
under grace. And so Paul was no longer in
pursuit of salvation by law-keeping, but he was still free to honor
those practices to his own evangelical purposes, especially if disregard
of Jewish sensitivities would have been scandalous. The Jews were under the law.
They were under the law of Moses, the entirety of it, the law of
God. And look at the way he applies this principle of gospel-driven
selflessness. To the Jews, I became as a Jew. And to those who are under the
law, and I think we can fairly insert here, I became as under
the law. He was no longer obligated to
live according to the Jewish law. but he was able to place
himself under it as necessary to live like a Jew. Before the
Jews, Paul was careful not to offend his principled countrymen’s
sensitivities. when among them he lived like
them, and he worshiped like them. And if that meant that he needed
to dress in a particular way, or attend particular functions,
or observe some particular ceremony, that’s what he was compelled
to do for the sake of the gospel. If you would, I want to take
you on a brief, I don’t know, seven or eight passage tour.
Turn to the book of Acts, if you would, keep a finger in.
First Corinthians, we’ll come right back. Acts chapter 13, if you would. And find your way down to verse
14. But going on from Perga, they
arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day, they
went into the synagogue and sat down. We know that that was Paul’s
pattern, that especially among the Jews, he would honor the
Sabbath by going into the synagogue on the Lord’s day and preaching
the gospel. Over to 16 and verse 13. Chapter
16, verse 13. And on the Sabbath day we went
outside the gate to a riverside where we were supposing that
there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began speaking
to the women who had assembled. You know this is the story of
Lydia and the really the establishment of the Philippian church. Over
to Acts 18 verse 4, 18, for he was reasoning in the synagogue
every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. Down in that
same chapter to verse 18, if you would. Paul, having remained many days
longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria,
and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Centuria he had his
hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. He didn’t just go to super
cuts because it was there and convenient and handy. He was
keeping a Nazirite vow, and he had his hair cut in accordance
with Jewish principles. Acts 21, if you would. In Acts 21, verse 26. Luke records there of Paul. Then
Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along
with them, went into the temple, giving notice of the completion
of the days of purification until the sacrifice was offered for
each one of them. Paul honored the Jewish customs
of purification. A couple more. Go to Acts 26. Acts 26 and verse 4, he could
testify before the the ruling authorities there that all Jews
know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning
was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem, since they
have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to
testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect
of our religion, and now I am standing trial for the hope and
promise made to our fathers. In other words, Paul had lived
the life of a Jew, Jump down to verse 22. So, having obtained
help from God, I stand this day testifying to both small and
great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was
going to take place. He was a Jew through and through,
and he knew his Bible. back, if you would, to 1 Corinthians.
That doesn’t make Paul a hypocrite, that he was willing to live before
the Jews as a Jew. It opened doors for him, like
the keys to a deadbolt. It shows him to be one who esteemed
souls more highly than anything, and that no insignificant sensitivity
the laws of purification, that wasn’t going to stand in the
way of Paul witnessing to Jews. But there’s another group. Not
only the Jews was Paul sensitive toward, but also to the heathen
people. Look down at verse 21. To those
who are without law as without law, he became as without law
though not being without the law of God, but under the law
of Christ, so that I might win those who are without the law.”
Same goal. Here in verse 21, the second
group to which Paul applies this principle of self-driven selflessness,
pardon me, gospel-driven selflessness. The unbelieving world, the heathen,
He identifies them as those who are without the law. That statement, without the law,
doesn’t mean that they were not inherently guilty of sin, according
to God’s law, just that they were ignorant of it. They’re
out there doing their own thing, completely oblivious to God’s
standards and ways. Well, Paul does take a moment
to explain himself here. He does, it’s almost under his
breath here. Parenthetically, we might say
that there in the middle of verse 21, when he mentions people who
are without law, that he became like them as without the law. That doesn’t mean for a moment
that Paul apostatized into lawlessness. Paul was not without the law
of God in his heart. No, indeed, God’s moral law still
applied to him as it does to every person. All people are
under some kind of law, but with regard to Jewish ceremonial law,
Paul was much freer among his Gentile crowds, and so he did
not subject himself there to Jewish customs as he did when
he was among his Jewish countrymen. That doesn’t make Paul a hypocrite.
Further still, Paul tapped into the Greek Gentile culture. Remember, Paul was raised in
the Greek culture. This is one of the providential
features in his life that especially enabled him to have a ministry
among the Gentiles. In Acts 14, the people wanted
to declare him a god, remember? Which he immediately rejected.
He was nothing special. One of the ways this comes out
is his frequent citation of Gentile Greek authors and poets. That
would be akin to us citing the lyrics of some contemporary secular
song in order to capture the thoughts and attitudes of our
own culture. That’s what Paul did. He does
it numerous times. Acts 17 28. Remember, Paul, during
his discourse on Mars Hill, Paul urged that in him we live and
move and exist. Even as some of your own poets
have said, for we are also his children. That could have been
the lyrics to a song. Paul quotes it. in his epistle
to Titus. Paul quoted one of themselves.
A prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil
beasts, lazy gluttons. See, Paul knew Greek culture.
He knew it through and through, and he cited their catchphrases
as an advantage to develop an advantage with those to whom
he was ministering. He was not only careful about
how he ministered and conducted himself when he was among the
Jews, he did so also among the Gentiles. But there’s a third
group. There’s a third group of which
he was considerate, the weak. We find this group in verse 22,
to the weak, I became weak so that I might win the weak. Same
goal, different group, This last group to which Paul applies the
principle of gospel-driven selflessness is to the weak. That is to those
that he identified back in chapter 8 as having a weak conscience. This is the brother about whom
we have to be especially concerned about how we conduct ourselves
with regard to matters of conscience. Remember? If he thinks it’s wrong,
we need to be cautious around him, lest we cause him to stumble. And it’s important that we see
this. The first two groups, the Jews and the heathen, those who
are without law, are Paul’s evangelistic focus. But here, the weak, these
are, at least on the face of it, Christian brothers. Why does
Paul speak of them also as evangelistic targets? This is because they
may well be saved already, but then again, based on their weak
faith, they may not be. Are we going to play fast and
loose with their ongoing contemplation of Christianity by exercising
our liberty, offensive to him, mind you, indifferent to his
feelings. This is the professing brother
before whom we must be willing to sacrifice our freedom in order
to keep from offending his conscience As we saw in chapter eight, the
people of this group are almost certainly believers. We don’t
know. But if believers, they are believers
whose conscience is not yet fully formed and fully informed. And in many cases, they had these
so-called convictions that had a very feeble foundation. Their
consciences were weak. And in chapter eight, they were
the ones who were overly scrupulous about so many things, namely
eating meat offered to idols. But we saw and we considered
that whereas there it was about eating such meat, there were
many, many things about which a Christian might have a hyperactive
conscience. Remember? Paul says that around
such people, he was exceedingly conscious not to offend. He adopted
for a time their convictions as his own and conducted himself
accordingly. Paul might say to them, hey,
let’s go grab lunch. And his friend might respond,
okay, but I don’t wanna go to that idle brisket place again. And Paul would say, okay, Chick-fil-A
it is. Let’s go. Paul didn’t chide them. Paul
didn’t browbeat them. He exercised long suffering toward
them, just as his summary admonition to the Romans had it. We who are strong ought to bear
the weaknesses of those without strength. and not just please
ourselves. That would change everything
in the church, wouldn’t it? Paul lived according to that principle
because, again, the ultimate goal was to win them fully and
finally to Christ. Look at how Paul wraps up He
gives us the introduction of this gospel-driven selflessness. He applies it to the Jews and
to the heathen and to the uninformed people, and then he wraps it
up here by expanding this principle of gospel-driven selflessness. Look at verse 22 and 23, the
latter half of 22. I have become all things to all
men so that I might by all means save some. I do all things for
the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker
of it. Here in the closing sentences
of this section, Paul echoes the principle that he set forth
initially in verse 19, doesn’t he? There he put it in terms
of having made himself a slave to all. But here he says, and
really synthesizing especially the thoughts of these three groups
that he spoke of in 20 through 22, I have become all things
to all men, the Jews, those who are without law, the heathen,
and even the weak. No matter who it was, no matter
what their background was, whatever their preferences and practices
were, whatever their weak consciences dictated to them, Paul was sensitive
to them for the hope of securing or maintaining a gospel opportunity
with them. And the crowning sentiment of
this entire section, I do all things for the sake of the gospel. The gospel, the good news of
salvation by faith in Christ and his privilege to proclaim
it was everything to Paul. Consider his statement, I do
all things for the sake of the gospel. Everything in his life
centered around the gospel. Everything he did was for the
sake of the gospel. When Paul says, I do all things
for the sake of the gospel so that I may become a partaker
of it, he is not at all suggesting that he is seeking to earn or
secure his own salvation. Rather, he’s acknowledging that what the gospel produces
is a selfless individual. A selfless individual who is
selfless with regard to others, deferring to others and to their
particular preferences. Paul had already been touched
by the gospel. He’d already been saved and changed,
and his life indicated that. At minimum, we know what it was
for Paul. If food causes my brother to
stumble, I will never eat meat again. This was the example that
Paul set forth at the end of chapter eight, but it was an
example. It wasn’t the bottom line. It
wasn’t the only area of freedom that Paul was willing to sacrifice. He had already willingly sacrificed
so many things for the sake of his fellow Jews, for the sake
of the heathen world to which he was called. to those weak
in conscience with overactive scruples. When Paul met up with
any of these, whatever was necessary, Paul was willing to set aside
his own freedom just for the opportunity to proclaim Christ. And for us, although we don’t
face the dilemma of meat offered to idols in our own day and culture,
Paul’s discussion was not pointless. The principles that Paul set
forth here enable us to address similar matters of conscience.
Gray areas, we call them. Areas of Christian liberty. Scripture
seems to be silent on some of these things and even indifferent
about them. Matters that are not so black
and white. And we’ve pondered a few. over the course of the
last month, the use of tobacco, the moderate enjoyment of alcohol,
playing of cards or games, secular music, dancing, the television,
the beach and pool attire, where and how to educate your children,
levels and degrees of involvement in the church, how much insurance
to carry, contraception, politics, the use of certain words, piercings,
gambling, and I would say even listening to a particular genre
of Christian music. That again has become an issue
given the fallout with Hillsong. The list of potential dividing
areas is endless. and there will be new ones 10
years from now. So it’s a good thing that Paul’s
counsel and principles in these chapters is timeless. It’s for
us. Paul was willing not only to
abstain from eating meat for the sake of his brother, he also
had a long established conviction of abstaining from financial
support for the sake of gospel opportunity. Based on his own declaration,
Paul said, I do all things for the sake of the gospel. There
was nothing that he would not sacrifice if called upon to do
so. Not even his life. What about you? What are you willing to sacrifice
for the sake of your weaker brother or sister? What are you willing
to sacrifice for the sake of a gospel opportunity with an
unbeliever? I met up with two friends at the
door as we exited last Sunday and we had a brief conversation
and someone suggested that I write a book and I actually said I
have three books that I’d like to write someday. One about diagramming and that
and then another how not to plant a church. I’ve always said that
unlike what I did here, If I ever were to do this again, and I
have no intention of ever doing it again, if I were ever to plant
a church again, there were three things I would absolutely have.
A constitution, a plurality, and a worship leader. We started
with none of that. But there was a third book that
I proposed to write. This is my point. I don’t know
all the chapters, I don’t know how many chapters, I don’t exactly,
I do have the title, at least the title in mind, usually that’s
reserved for the publisher to decide, but I already have my
title. How not to be a pain in the neck. Here’s my thought. We, a lot
of times, use our role as consumers like a club. Don’t we? We go out and we demand customer
service. We talk to somebody on the phone
and might as well be a robot the way that we’re talking to
them. They can’t possibly have any feelings and they don’t deserve
my kindness. We go into stores and we do not
use our role as a consumer for the sake of the gospel. We don’t.
Typically, I watch, I look, I know I’m like anybody else, I get
busy, I get in a hurry, I expect customer service like the next
person. What I mean by this, how not to be a pain in the neck,
what about with a prayerful, winsome attitude, going in and
befriending others as a consumer, watching what it is that pastures
them of other customers and doing the opposite, being kind, being
patient, being winsome for the sake of the gospel, using our role as consumers in
the marketplace for the sake of a gospel opportunity. That’s
radical. Let’s pray. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves before you.