Depravity: Idolatry, part 2

[0:00] All right, so we are in 1 Corinthians 9, and we looked at chapter 8, and I'll remind you that chapter 8, 9, and 10 run together as sort of a section because it's really dealing with one massive theme.

[0:22] And I was thinking about that, and I was thinking about the number of times I've had opportunity to be that person who had to confront another person, to confront them maybe about something that they were doing that was sinful, something that they were doing that showed that they had some sort of addiction or something like that.

[0:41] And I've always gotten one of three responses, not all from the same person, but different people would respond differently, and usually we've been able to work through those responses.

[0:52] But it's interesting because one of the responses that I remember hearing is something like, well, it's not hurting anybody. It's not hurting anybody.

[1:03] It's just hurting me. It's not hurting anybody else. And another response is, well, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to say that to me?

[1:15] And I thought, okay, that's interesting. And the third response is, well, it's not what you think. It's not what you think it is. And I started thinking about that, and I started thinking about chapter 8, 9, and 10 and the issue because the issue is that these spiritual Christians in this church have a thing that they're doing.

[1:41] They're eating the barbecue to Zeus, and if I were to confront them, then you might hear them say, it's not hurting anybody.

[1:52] And so chapter 8, Paul says, yes, it is. It's hurting these young believers, and you're not showing any love. And if they were to say, well, who are you to say anything to me about this?

[2:07] Then we'd be looking at chapter 9, where we're going today, because Paul is basically going to say, I'll tell you who I am, right? I'll tell you. You've got to listen to me. I am an apostle, even though you don't think I am.

[2:20] And then if they respond and say, well, it's not what you think it is, then we get chapter 10, where Paul kind of lays out some of the theological things that are behind all of this and why it's wrong for them to do what they're doing.

[2:33] And so I found that fascinating, because I was sort of thinking about all these things and kind of lining out those things. It's almost like these really spiritual Christians have made this sort of pushback against Paul in these three ways, and he's answering those objections.

[2:53] And so that's where we get into chapter 9 today, is that they have just pushed back, and he's now answering that pushback. And it really breaks down into two parts.

[3:06] One is, seems to be an accusation that Paul's apostleship is fake. He's not a real apostle. And the other seems to be his apostleship is corrupt, or the idea that he's a hypocrite, that he's not really who he says he is.

[3:26] He doesn't do things the way he says. And so we want to look at both of those, and we'll look at them one at a time. And I want to read, to begin with, verses 1 through 18, to kind of look at, it's just Paul defending himself.

[3:44] But from that, I think we can kind of lay out the issue here. He says in verse 1,

[5:18] Do we not even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right. But we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

[5:33] Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

[5:49] But I've made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground of boasting.

[6:05] For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

[6:19] For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, then I'm still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward?

[6:31] That in my preaching, I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

[6:44] Well, let's see if we can reconstruct the problem that the Corinthians have with Paul. First of all, we do know that they've had a conversation about the food sacrificed to idols already, because they're asking further questions about this.

[7:01] And we know that he's had all kinds of correspondence and discussion with them through various means. We get an example of that back in chapter 5, verse 9.

[7:16] And remember, this is 1 Corinthians. But in chapter 5, verse 9, he says, I wrote to you. This is the first letter. And in the first letter, he says, I wrote to you.

[7:29] So there's probably, and a lot of scholars believe, that Paul probably wrote four letters total to the church. And then, now there's about 20 different theories about what happened.

[7:43] I don't know what happened. One of the theories is that all four letters are what make up 1 and 2 Corinthians. Some say we've lost part or both of the other two.

[7:55] Here's the thing. Nobody knows. But Paul says he wrote to them. Now, is he talking about something that's already included in what we have or something else? I don't know. But my point is, he's having a lot of correspondence with them.

[8:09] He's having a lot of, you know, he's even sending people to them. To speak on his behalf. This letter, 1 Corinthians, is going to be carried by Timothy.

[8:21] Right? So the point is, is that they're having a lot of discussion about this. And these Christians have this problem of wanting to go to the temple, participate in the culture, and eat the barbecue to Zeus.

[8:36] That's what they want. And in response to Paul, because now he's defending his apostleship, they obviously are saying something to the tune of, we don't think you're a real apostle.

[8:52] Therefore, it's okay for us to do what we're doing, because who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? You have no authority over us at all.

[9:06] And so Paul is defending his apostleship. That's what he says in verse 3, right? He says, this is my defense to those who would examine me. And his defense rests upon this idea of thinking about the payment for what he's doing.

[9:26] Now, why is that the issue? Well, remember, in Corinth, one of the big things was this idea of patronage, right? So you've got somebody who's maybe an artist of some kind.

[9:39] They get to continue to do their artistry because I have enough money to be able to support them. So I'm their patron, right? That's what that concept is. That's something that goes pretty far back, and it's all through history.

[9:53] Even into this day, people still are patrons of the arts, which means that they will supply a salary to someone for them to just do art. But in Corinth, the big art was speech-giving.

[10:09] So here's the way I think of this in my head. The Corinthians had already paid to have Tony Robbins encourage them.

[10:22] And Tony didn't say anything about eating a barbecue to Zeus. So we've already got our truth, right? We know the truth. We've got our gurus that we pay, and Paul, we didn't want to pay you, and we're not even sure that you wouldn't take the money that we would give you.

[10:40] You're not because you get what you pay for. So since we didn't pay you and since you wouldn't take the money, you must not be really that special of an apostle.

[10:51] Okay, so that's how I see the problem kind of reconstructed from the way Paul's talking here, right? So what Paul does then, verse 1 and 2, he kind of mentions a couple of things about apostles.

[11:08] One is that, have I not seen Jesus our Lord? That was one of the marks of an apostle, right? And then he goes on and says, if I'm not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship.

[11:24] In other words, I've got fruit. I mean, things happened. It's not like I manipulated you or anything like that. I didn't come with eloquence of speech.

[11:35] I just presented the gospel, and look what God's doing in you. So he's basically saying, look at these two things. These show that I really am an apostle. Well, then he deals with making a living off the gospel, right?

[11:47] That it is right to live off the gospel. That's not a wrong idea. As a matter of fact, he talks about, in verses 3 through 6, he talks about all these other apostles that are doing that.

[12:02] And I think it's fascinating that his first two questions are, do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to bring along a believing wife as the other apostles?

[12:14] So other apostles can do these two things, and then he compares that or contrasts that with, but I can't, I have no right to refrain from working.

[12:27] So somehow, taking along a believing spouse and eating and drinking, is basically the idea that these apostles don't have to work for their living.

[12:38] You just paid them, right? And who is he talking about? He's talking about Cephas. Everybody knows who Cephas is? That's Peter. Does everybody know who the brothers of the Lord are?

[12:52] James and John? James and Jude. James and Jude. That's right. So if you look at the letters in the New Testament, you see the epistle of James and the epistle of Jude written by half-brothers of Jesus, right?

[13:09] They have the same mother, not the same father. Anyway, blended family. Just saying. So these apostles have the right to just earn their living from the gospel, but Paul's going like, but I don't?

[13:24] Am I not an apostle like them? And he goes on to then talk about that it's right to earn your living from that. He talks about soldiers. He talks about planting vineyard. He talks about tending a flock.

[13:35] And then he goes to the law. He goes to the command of the Lord. And the law says that you should not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.

[13:47] And we don't have time to chase this out, but I do think it's fascinating that that's the verse that Paul chose. And then Paul says, God's not talking about oxen here. Even though he's talking about oxen here, he's not talking about oxen here, right?

[14:01] That's a really fascinating thing. I'll just leave that with you. And then he goes on to say that various people who do things, just like the ox, they get their living from that business.

[14:17] It's just like this. Jack, you worked with HEB for years. You didn't work for HEB and Walmart pay you for that. HEB paid you for that because that's the way it works.

[14:30] The thing that you do and the people you do that for, you get your recompense from them, right? That's the way it's supposed to work. That's pretty straightforward.

[14:43] And he ends up even saying down in verse 14 that the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living from the gospel. So this is the right thing.

[14:54] The Corinthians are not totally wrong, but here's the problem. Paul is saying that it's just for you to get paid from what you do.

[15:06] And the Corinthians are saying, well, we pay these guys, but this is all because of the culture of Corinth. This is all because of eloquence. This is all because of something else.

[15:19] In other words, they do something similar, but it's not for the same reasons, right? And then Paul gives us his final statement. He says, but listen, I have not made use of this right.

[15:32] I'm not writing. In verse 15, I have not made use of these rights, and I'm not writing to make use of these rights. I don't want to make use of these rights. I have these rights, but the reason is that I want to boast.

[15:48] Okay, now that sounds bad, right? I mean, listen to how dramatic Paul is, right? Nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision, for I would rather die.

[16:02] I mean, he's laying it on thick here. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground of boasting. Now, his ground of boasting is not, I'm an apostle, and I'm preaching the gospel.

[16:19] Because he says, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel. I'm preaching the gospel because I have to. So there's, you know, don't pat my back because I'm preaching the gospel.

[16:32] Don't think well of me because I'm preaching the gospel. I have to do that. But I'm doing it free of charge, and therefore, go ahead. Pat me on the back. And I'll take that. Be proud of that.

[16:46] Now, I don't understand really why. Except that for Paul, I think he understood that had he taken the money from the Corinthians, they would not have understood the truth that he was proclaiming as being truth from God.

[17:04] It would have just been one among many. And so, that's what he's answering. So the question is, then how does this apply to us?

[17:16] Right? And I think it applies to us in two ways. Because, here's the thing, we're not in the position of Paul, so we can't just take straight and bring Paul straight over. We've got to understand where our place is in all of this.

[17:29] And I think that as he's speaking this, the outcome for the Corinthians, what the Corinthians should have been thinking, is really the application for us. And after he said this, the Corinthians should have been thinking, we need to have an unfaltering obedience to the Word of God.

[17:49] He is an apostle, and we need to listen to him. Having an apostle speak is like having God speak. Right? You know, if God dropped a big neon sign out of the sky, right in front of your face, and told you that you needed to move to Kenya to become a missionary, and you knew it was from God, I think most of us would be like, whoa, okay.

[18:19] We'd be like, I don't know exactly how that's going to happen, because I don't like flying. You know, or whatever. We might have different things. And maybe we would be like Jonah, and we might say, I'm going the other way.

[18:32] But most of us know and understand that if something like that really, really happened, we know you better obey that. All I'm saying to you is this. The Word of God is the neon sign that's dropped out of the sky.

[18:48] We don't need the neon sign. The Word of God tells us what to do. We are supposed to obey this as though God is speaking. And so many people will read things out of God's Word and be like, well, that's crazy.

[19:02] I'm not doing that. I literally have heard people look at me and tell me as we read through something, and they go like, well, what about this verse? And I explain it, and then they go like, well, I'm not doing that.

[19:15] And you just kind of go like, okay, but like, do you understand what you just said? Do you not realize? You know, you can see the whole thing, and I'll talk about this Sunday morning.

[19:26] Matter of fact, it's going to be the Scripture video where Jesus talks in Matthew 5 about loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. You tell somebody, pray for people who persecute you, and they go like, well, wait, what are you talking about?

[19:44] Because like, no, I just can't do that. I mean, are we going to obey God's Word or not? It's easy to see things such as this.

[19:56] It's easy to see things such as who leads the church, right? Who can be a pastor? God's Word is clear there. You know, we can talk about who can marry whom, right?

[20:08] Our culture's got all kinds of crazy ideas. We come to the Word, and those are low-hanging fruit for us. We look at God's Word, and we're going like, well, that's crystal clear. You know, we think about how everything came into being, right?

[20:21] Did God create Himself by speaking things into existence, or did it happen through evolutionary means, right? We understand things like that, but when we start getting into things such as praying for those who persecute you, forgiving those who've harmed you, bearing one another's burdens, those are the places where our belief or our obedience to those things, that's where it begins to get really sticky and hard.

[20:52] Because, I mean, sometimes, you know, that means I'm going to suffer. And it's like, that's right. That's right.

[21:04] I always think about Jesus getting His disciples in the boat after the feeding of the 5,000, and He tells them, get in the boat, go to the other side of the lake. And they do.

[21:16] They obey. And you know what happens to them? A storm comes up, and they think they're about to die. Anytime God tells us to do something, we do it. Pardon the phrase, but all hell breaks loose.

[21:29] So often, we have this mindset that says, well, if God tells me to do something, and I do it, I will know that I understood God right, because everything's going to go smoothly. Golly, no.

[21:41] No. And so, I think that's one of the things the Corinthians should have thought. I think the other thing that the Corinthians should have thought is, well, we need to do everything for the sake of the gospel.

[21:53] That's what Paul's all about. Right? That's all. And we're going to see even more of that when we get to the second section, but he's like, listen, I've been trusted with a stewardship to preach the gospel.

[22:05] And I would say to you, so have you. It's not about, it's not about feeling the desire to share the gospel. It's about, you have been commanded and given a stewardship, and you've got to carry that stewardship well.

[22:23] And that stewardship is share the gospel with others. And I think about, you know, I think about, you know, where people work. Okay?

[22:34] Work. I understand the problem of the secular workplace and being a little gun shy about taking and bringing proselyting into the workplace.

[22:46] And I get that. But just like that neon sign telling us to go to Kenya, if we thought God wanted us to go to Kenya to be on mission, we would be more likely to do that than we are taking a risk in the business world and sharing the gospel.

[23:05] And so, the point is not to go to Kenya, and the point is not to try to get yourself fired. The point is, how can you be as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove and also share the gospel?

[23:22] Maybe not in the workplace anymore, but maybe now it's with certain neighbors, or maybe it's at the holidays when you've got family in that like don't agree. And so like, you know, I know, I know what it's like to kind of be around family that don't believe, and you kind of go like, if I say something, it's going to turn into a big discussion, and this is going to be really uncomfortable and awkward for everybody, and I just want it to be peaceful.

[23:51] But we have a stewardship. And so, I guess the way I would say it is that every place that we are is a mission field. Every place we are is a mission field, and we need to be willing to share the gospel there.

[24:05] And that, that's going to come from the praying and asking the Lord to help me, to strengthen me, to encourage me, because I don't have it on my own. I don't have that bravery and that courage on my own, and I think it's interesting how Paul is constantly asking the churches to pray for him that they would have boldness, because that's what we need.

[24:25] Okay, that's the first, that's the first part of this. The second part is a different kind of attack. He's now shifting his defense, because now he's kind of talking a little bit about why he does the things that he does and the way he does it, because they say that he lacks integrity.

[24:44] That's what I think they're saying. And here's why I say this, because there's, there's actually room to kind of accuse Paul of hypocrisy. Let me give you, let me give you some examples.

[24:57] Remember in the book of Galatians, when we preach through Galatians, Paul was like, circumcision bad. Like, he just was like, he was just hammering it hard. Like, he has one statement where he says, and if you receive circumcision, then Christ is of no advantage to you.

[25:13] Right? Galatians 6, 12, he says, it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised. So he sees it as something where it's like, these people are trying to force you to be circumcised, and that's a terrible thing.

[25:28] Well, then, in Acts chapter 16, that's exactly right. They're in Derbe, and he's met this young Christian whose father was a Greek, and they're about to go on this journey, and in nine stops, they're going to stop in Corinth.

[25:49] But some of the stops that they're going to have before that, Paul always goes to the Jews first, right, to the synagogue first, then he goes to the Gentiles, and he's about to take an uncircumcised Christian into a synagogue, so he says, Timothy, let's get you circumcised first.

[26:07] Now, I don't understand. Like, I'm going like, that's too high a price. I don't know. That's just weird. But the point is is that you've got this duality, right?

[26:18] You've got this sort of duplicity going on, it seems to be, right? I think there's an explanation for it, but let me give you another example. How many times has Paul said that no one's going to be justified by works of the law?

[26:34] He says that we're no longer under law, but we're under grace, right? And so when he gets back to Jerusalem, there's a whole group of people that say that Paul's telling us to abolish the law of Moses.

[26:47] And so the elders of the church in Jerusalem say, okay, Paul, we've got a problem. There's a lot of people telling us and complaining, saying that you're saying to abolish the law of Moses, so here's what we're going to do.

[27:02] Acts chapter 21, he says, do therefore, they said, do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Okay? It's a Nazarite vow.

[27:13] These men, take these men and purify yourself along with them. Okay? They're going to the temple to purify these four men plus Paul himself.

[27:26] How would you purify yourself at the temple? Sacrifice an animal. Remember the purification sacrifice from Leviticus?

[27:38] So they're telling Paul to take five animals and go purify yourself and them. And then they say, pay their expenses. So it's part of that whole sacrifice.

[27:50] So that they may shave their heads. That's how we know this is a Nazarite vow. Okay? Because a Nazarite vow lets your hair grow long. Thus, all will know that there's nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

[28:10] And so Paul does it. Now don't you love that? The Corinthians might have a point.

[28:22] Look at that lack of integrity. Look at that hypocrisy, right? So, what's going to happen is verses 19 through 27, Paul's going to answer that.

[28:34] So let's see how he answers it. Verse 19, he says, for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all. I don't have to, I don't have to be doing these things, but I want to serve people.

[28:49] Okay? That I might win more of them. Now, as I read this, you look at how many times he says the word win, right? To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews.

[29:02] to those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law.

[29:22] To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I become all things to all people, that I might, by all means, save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings.

[29:39] Do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

[29:50] Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable wreath. So I do not run aimlessly.

[30:01] I do not box as one beating the air but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

[30:15] Here's the thing that we often don't understand about many of the things that are being talked about in the Old Testament law. For instance, circumcision.

[30:27] Circumcision was introduced in Genesis as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. Then circumcision was brought into the covenant with Moses as further sign of further obligation and commitment to God.

[30:48] Circumcision does nothing spiritually for the person but it's just an outward sign. When you get to the New Testament, that particular outward sign is replaced by baptism because circumcision was pointing to a spiritual reality.

[31:07] That spiritual reality is that we had hard hearts that needed to be circumcised. In other words, we were dead and needed to be raised to life. Baptism now points to the same reality but from a different vantage point.

[31:21] You were dead and needed to be raised to life. Right? That's what baptism is. It's an outward sign that points to the need of an inward thing and what God has done in the gospel for us.

[31:32] When we think about these covenants, what Paul's talking about when he's talking about things like taking circumcision or not being under law but under grace, he's talking about going back and using these old covenants as the way for me to get to God, as the means for me to get salvation, as the vehicle through which I will please God.

[32:05] And when you do that, you're lost. Because that's not how... Because now we have a new covenant in Christ who has obeyed the old covenant perfectly and now we're given the free gift of eternal life by faith and repentance.

[32:22] Right? So when he tells Timothy to do what he's telling Timothy to do, he's not telling Timothy to do that because, okay, Timothy, you have to be circumcised because that's the only way you're really going to be a Christian.

[32:34] No, he's just... He just doesn't want any questions. Like, who's this guy that you brought in? No, he's good. I promise you he's good. You know?

[32:45] When he goes to the temple to make the sacrifices for these guys, he's just trying to avoid the questions where people... Because these people, they're young in their faith.

[32:56] They're weak-minded. And maybe some of them, maybe some of them are not even believers. But some of them might be. And they just haven't learned everything. And so he's not trying to go like, listen, you about the law.

[33:10] But he understands that they're at a weak point. And so he's doing what he can to serve them until they come to the place of truly understanding everything. You and I are in a different place because we have all of the Word of God.

[33:24] So we know these things. So we're not fooled by these things. But it's just like we talked about stumbling blocks. You have somebody who believes it's a sin to watch TV. Well, what's the right thing?

[33:37] What's the right course of action? Is the right course of action to come up with all the verses that show that it's not a sin to have a TV and watch TV? And go like, you're kind of a weak Christian.

[33:49] What's wrong with you? Or is it to say, you know what? I just won't violate their conscience. But you know what? As we teach over the years, we're going to teach about the grace we have and the freedom we have in Christ.

[34:00] And maybe eventually they'll be able to be able to turn loose of that. Right? And so we bear with them. So we don't invite them over. If we do, we don't turn on the TV.

[34:10] Or maybe we move the TV out of our living room. And we think to ourselves, oh, is that being hypocritical? No. It's trying not to make our brother stumble. I'm telling you.

[34:24] That was a bad deal. It reminds me of the story. And you're going to know this story probably better than I do.

[34:35] But it reminds me of the story of Lottie Moon. You know where she was from? She was from Virginia. She was from Virginia. She was a southern belle. From a wealthy family.

[34:49] She loved the Lord. She almost married a guy who was a Baptist preacher. But like some of his theology was actually pretty weird and janky.

[35:01] And she refused. And ended up on the mission field in China. There's a lot to that story. But she adopted the Chinese culture. She adopted the dress that the women dressed in.

[35:14] She made her hair the way. She bound her feet up to be smaller. Because that's the way the Chinese women were doing their feet. She adopted their culture and became as much Chinese as she possibly could.

[35:26] Not because it's a good culture. Not because these are wonderful things. Not because just so that she could get a hearing for the gospel. And I think that's what Paul is saying about himself.

[35:40] As they accuse him of hypocrisy. He's going, it's not hypocrisy. This is about not selling out the gospel and the truth of that. Not leaning off the law.

[35:50] But this is about understanding where people are. And meeting them in their need. In order to bring the gospel there. To win them to Christ. And it really does ask the question.

[36:03] What is it that we would be willing to do to win people to Christ? Would we be willing to learn a new language? Would we be willing to have a completely different culture?

[36:17] I mean, like the Hill Country is a culture in itself. Okay? It just is. And if you've been here for any length of time, you love this culture. Can you imagine living in Houston?

[36:30] Downtown Houston? That would be an entirely different culture. We know a pastor and his wife. They were retiring. They were from North Carolina.

[36:42] And they moved to the hood in Atlanta, Georgia. In order to plant a church. You know how old he is? You know how old they were when they moved there?

[36:55] He was 73. But they felt God's call. And they wanted to go. They had to learn a whole new culture.

[37:06] One of the things that they ran into was that they had this photo album. And some of the kids in the neighborhood. Now, okay. This is a black neighborhood. And they're as white as all get out. Okay?

[37:16] And they've got their photo albums. And it's got their wedding in there. And as some of these kids in the neighborhood are sitting there visiting with them. And they've invited people into their home to have meals with them and such.

[37:27] They're looking through this photo album. And these little kids are going like, what's this? Oh, that's our wedding. What's a wedding? A completely different culture.

[37:40] But they have sold themselves into it so that they might, by all means, win some. The second part of this, Paul gets into talking about self-discipline.

[37:54] And I think here he's beginning to make a shift in order for us to get into chapter 10. And he's kind of barbing the Corinthians just a little bit. Because he's talking about living a disciplined life.

[38:06] Right? And in a disciplined life, you've got two things. Number one, you've got the aim. What is your aim in a disciplined life? In a Christian's disciplined life, the aim should always be home, eternity, the end.

[38:21] We should always be looking to the end. Athletes look for the crown, a perishable one. That's that Olympic crown, right?

[38:31] But Christians look for that imperishable crown. It's not wrong for us to work for the reward of heaven. It's not wrong for us to want to do all that we're doing in light of reward and crowns and things that we will get in heaven with God.

[38:49] It's not wrong for us to do that at all. Matter of fact, it's the right thing for us to do to say, man, I want to do what I can here. Because when I get to heaven, I want to see as many people, and I want the reward of that, because then I can turn around and just give praise to Jesus for it.

[39:05] It's a little bit like working overseas and saying, I want all of this to go home. Every bit that I'm working here, every single dollar that I get.

[39:17] So I'm going to get the cheapest hotel I can get. I'm going to eat the least possible amount of food I can so I can send everything ahead of me so that when I get there, I can enjoy the fruits of my labor.

[39:31] And that's what Paul is saying. But the other part of it is not just the idea of the focus we need to have in that direction, but then how do we live a self-disciplined life?

[39:42] And it's just gutting it out. A self-disciplined life is just gutting it out. You have to run the race. You've got to do the hard work.

[39:54] I watched my son run a marathon. And for like nine months, I watched him exercising and running and changing his diet and doing all the things he did so that he could run this race.

[40:07] Stevie Ray Vaughan. You know who Stevie Ray Vaughan is? He's dead now, but do you know how many hours he practiced as a guitarist?

[40:18] Six hours a day. Have any of us done anything for six hours a day other than our job, sleep? You know what I'm saying?

[40:29] Eat. You know? It's just that gutting it out and doing the work that needs to be done. That's what Paul is saying. And what he says in verse 27, he says, I discipline my body to keep it under control.

[40:44] That's what the Corinthians are not doing. They crave the barbecue. So they go. And Paul is going like, I discipline my body.

[40:55] Lest after preaching to others, like these Corinthians are doing to these young Corinthians, I myself should be disqualified.

[41:06] But he's basically saying, you've disqualified yourself in the eyes of these young Christians because you are running after the barbecue to Zeus and you're also trying to speak truth.

[41:19] Nobody's going to listen to you, but I'm not disqualified because I'm keeping myself disciplined. Keeping myself disciplined. It's kind of strange that when you're living in idolatry and you don't want to give it up, that you would look at somebody and say, who are you?

[41:40] Tell me what to do. So, anyway, with that said, what questions, thoughts, comments you got? Well, I didn't take it that way.

[42:12] Okay, okay.

[42:30] That's an interesting way of taking that. I didn't really take it that way, but I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. You know, most people think. Well, sure, sure.

[42:41] They were allowing, I think in Paul's view, the Corinthians were giving enough money for these other apostles that they could care for their wife and have food, but they weren't giving anything to Paul.

[42:56] So Paul couldn't bring anybody with him, didn't have anything to eat. But Paul wouldn't have taken it anyway because that would have robbed him of his ground of boasting. But, yeah.

[43:07] Anybody else? It's a good thing he was a tent maker. That is not a job I'd want to do. I don't even understand what that means.

[43:19] I mean, when I look at a tent, I go like, who wants to buy a tent? No. No, man. 15 were talking about the boat. Yeah.

[43:31] I was wondering if that boat is boasting or boasting about God. Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[43:43] Because we, I feel like there's nothing here that would trigger us saying that this is wrong of him. It just, it just, you have to point out when it feels different from what you read other places.

[43:55] And I do think that there is a way for us to glory in things. You think about, we've had this conversation about being proud of our kids. Or, you know, I've had people tell me, you know, we sure are proud to have you as our pastor.

[44:10] You know, it's using the same word, but it's meaning something different. And I think that's, I think you're right. I think that's where Paul is. It's, it's more of a, a glorying in such a way as God getting the praise for that.

[44:24] Because, I mean, how can you do something for free of charge that you feel like you have to do and suffer for it the way he suffered? Well, only by God's grace.

[44:36] So, good, good, good, good catch. Anybody else? Okay. Well, let's pray. Father, thank you for the opportunity to be together.

[44:49] I pray that you would use your word to equip and strengthen us. And I pray that as we go about our lives, you would help us. You would help us to obey your word and to be ready to share the gospel everywhere we go.

[45:02] And we pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.