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. 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 to not work for a living?
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. 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. 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.
I Corinthians 9:1-18
Since its inception, the church
has struggled with the issue of whether or not to pay its pastors and whether
pastors should find work outside of the church or minister full-time. I think
the answer that Paul gives us in this chapter is simple – YES!
If the work to be done in a
church justifies a full-time pastor, then the church should pay the pastor
wages appropriate to his efforts. If there are ample lay leaders to share the
burden, a church may choose to engage a minister who has a job outside the
church.
However, too often a church does
not grow because it cannot afford a full-time pastor who can give the work the
attention it needs and there are not enough qualified lay leaders in the
congregation to make up the difference. The church has two choices – hire a
full-time minister or train lay leaders to oversee various ministry efforts.
Some pastors may not want to be
full-time. I am sure that part of the Apostle Paul’s objection to paid ministry
was that it would take him out of the marketplace and rob him of opportunities
to witness to those who engaged him as a tentmaker. Often the answer is for the
pastor to be self employed so he can set his own hours and leave his work
should an urgent ministry need arise.
Whether or not your pastor is
paid, be open to opportunities for the development of lay leadership. The Bible
shows us clearly that the work of ministering to people is not just for paid
clergy. There may be untapped potential in others that the Lord wants to use.
No comments:
Post a Comment