Hi there, this is Pastor Rivera from Liberty Baptist Church.
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
If you would turn to 1st Corinthians Chapter 9 this
evening, I got to be honest with you, I'm glad not to be in my
kitchen this evening. All right, First Corinthians
chapter #9 this isn't too close, Vince is.
It's a good distance away. All right, good.
Yeah, he was a little. Concerned about how close I was
to him. So I told you just back up from
your computer, man. That's all you got to do.
But nobody listens to pastor. That's all right.
First Corinthians chapter #9 we're going chapter by chapter
right now in our study of First Corinthians.
We took about 23 or 24 sermons to get through 6 chapters and
we're picking up the pace right now for next few weeks as we see
really one item of note and other.
There's only one important thing found in each chapter, but
really each chapter lends itself very well to be treated
individually as one topic and Chapter 9 is no exception.
Let me ask you this, could you imagine challenging the Apostle
Paul about whether he's really an apostle or not?
I don't know the Apostle Paul, obviously I don't know him.
I can only know what you know from the word of God.
But it seems to me he was a pretty intense individual.
It seemed like he was pretty passionate about the Word.
He was passionate about persecuting Christians, but then
he was equally passionate about serving Christ once he got
saved. By the way, that's what Jesus
will do to your life. He'll change it completely,
won't it, if you allow him to. And so just as much as Paul was
running hard in One Direction, once he met Jesus Christ on the
Damascus Rd. he started running just as hard in the opposite
direction towards Jesus Christ. So I just can't imagine it would
go well if you challenge the authority, if you challenge the
apostleship of Paul and said, you know, who do you think you
are, Apostle Paul. But of course we know the
Corinthians aren't just a normal church, are they?
They're carnal in almost every way.
And so Paul is now going to address finally this issue that
has been hanging over the book so far.
And that's this, that there are some people, there's an element
within the church that really has questions about Paul being
an authentic apostle of Jesus Christ.
Now, Paul's going to handle these questions tonight.
And he's not going to do so in a way that's born out of his own
sensitivity. He's not going to act in a way
that he is personally offended at what is being spoken of, but
yet he is going to be able to address it very carefully for us
in this chapter. Because a challenge to the
ministry of Paul really is a challenge to the message of
Paul, a challenge to the ministry.
The authenticity of the ministry of Paul is really a challenge to
the gospel itself because that was the message of which he was
preaching. So I want us to look at that
here tonight to get a clearer picture of pastoral ministry, to
get a clearer picture of what Paul was doing.
Although he was not the pastor at Corinth, if you would, he was
the apostle. He is the one that helped within
the founding of the church. He was instrumental within the
life of the church. And we see this picture that he
is going to give us here tonight of what we could translate into
pastoral ministry today. And it's something that helps
people like me, men like me who are pastors of the word of God,
but it also helps church members as well to understand what
should the pastoral ministry be? What should you expect from a
pastor? And in essence, what should we
all be doing as we're all ministers of the gospel of Jesus
Christ? Because if you agree with
nothing else here tonight, you ought to be able to agree with
this. We're all called to be ministers
of Jesus, Jesus Christ. We're all called to be the
servants of Christ and to be ministers of the gospel message.
And as such, we ought to do it well, kind of like the idea of
church on Sunday morning. If it's God's church, then we
ought to do it God's way. If it's God's ministry, then we
ought to do it God's way as well.
And that's true for me behind the pulpit.
That's true for me as a pastor, and that's true for all of us as
God's people, no matter what ministry we may have.
Well, we're going to start reading in First Corinthians
Chapter 9, just verses 1 and 2. But then we're going to continue
to treat the chapter as we go along through preaching this
evening. So verses one and two present
the challenge that is being made to Paul in his apostleship.
And he says, am I not an apostle?
Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our
Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?
If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to
you for the seal of mine apostleship.
Are ye in the Lord now? We'll stop right there.
And it sounds like, again, he may be a little sensitive here.
Now, he's not being sensitive. We know that he's writing by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There is no sinfulness in these
things that are being written. However, if he is being attacked
for his pastoral ethics, if you will, if he's being attacked for
his ministerial ethics, his apostleship into the very core
of who he is, he does need to answer.
He does need to respond because again, it cuts to the heart of
the very message of which he's preaching.
An attack on his ministry is an attack on his message because he
is a gospel preacher. So we ask ourselves this
question, well, what is the minister?
Or maybe we can even say, what is the pastor supposed to be?
What is the pastor supposed to do?
What is he supposed to look at or rather look like?
Well, I once read the following. Listen to this.
This is a interesting way that people will look at the ministry
of the pastor. After hundreds of years, the
perfect pastor has been found. Excited about that?
No, I am. After hundreds of years, the
perfect pastor has been found. He preaches exactly 20 minutes
and then sits down. He condemns sin, but never steps
on anyone's sews. He works from 8:00 in the
morning until 10 at night, doing everything from preaching
sermons to sweeping the church. He makes $400.00 a week, gives
$350.00 a week to the church, drives a late model car, buys
plenty of books, wears fine clothes, and has a nice family.
He's always ready to contribute to every good 'cause and to help
every pan handler who comes along.
He is 36 years old and has been preaching for 40 years.
He has a burning desire to work with young people and spends all
of his time with senior citizens.
He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a
keen sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated.
He makes 15 calls a day on church members, spends all his
time evangelizing the unchurched, and is always in a
study whenever he is needed. Unfortunately, he burned himself
out and died at the age of 32. There's a lot of expectations
out there about what the pastor ought to be.
What is he to look like? And again, I'm not saying that
Paul is the pastor here of the church at Corinth, but yet he is
an apostle. And he certainly was
instrumental in the ministry of Corinth, not just at its
founding, but coming back and setting things are right over
and over again. And as such, we can look at
ministerial ethics and we could call them pastoral ethics here
as we translate them to the office of the pastor this
evening to help us understand what we ought to to be and what
I ought to be as a pastor, but what you ought to expect from a
pastor as well. And so in the 1st 2 church
verses, Paul lays out the premise for the chapter.
The people of Corinth are questioning his credibility.
They are questioning who he is and what he says that he is.
And we just looked at these verses here just a moment ago
and he asked the question, am I not an apostle?
Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our
Lord? And we know certainly that was
the case as he was on the road to Damascus that he saw Jesus
Christ. And I'm of the opinion that he
was also taught by Jesus Christ for three years in the desert
fulfilling his apostleship as well as we see in Acts chapter
one, that someone who was to be an apostle had to be someone who
had seen Jesus Christ and had been through the ministry of
Jesus Christ. By the way, just a quick
timeout. That's why there are no apostles
today. If you turn on TBN, if you turn
on the local religious station and find that apostle so and so
is coming to town, Understand this.
He may be coming to town, but he's not an apostle.
Because if he's an apostle, that means about 2000 years old.
And we know that's not the case. But the apostleship was made
clear of what it was to be in Acts chapter 1 when Judas had
lost his apostleship because of taking his own life, because of
turning on Jesus Christ, That there was one named Matthias who
was elected by the church to be able to take that spot.
And one of the requirements was that have been with Jesus
Christ. And that was true with Paul as
well, even though he was one, as he said, that was born out of
due season, out of the time of which the other apostles had
been those three years with Jesus Christ.
So he asked these rhetorical questions.
Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto
others, yet doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine
apostleship. Are ye in the Lord?
He says, if you want to see my credentials, if you really want
to get down to it, here's some credentials you can see.
Paul says, look in the mirror because this church is here
because of the work of which I have done.
No, he's not stealing the glory from the Lord.
Don't get me wrong. You can't get that from chapter
#9 that he's trying to take the glory from the Lord.
Paul is very aware of who he is. Paul is very aware of what his
abilities are, and Paul is very aware of who is the one who
empowers him. He knows it's the Lord.
But yet he says, if you want to see some credentials, you don't
need an ordination certificate. If you want to see some
credentials, you don't need to know about any of these other
things like a Bible college degree or diploma, or whether I
have doctor before my name. If you want to know, just see
the work that I've done, including the work that's done
here in Corinth. And then he says in verse #3 my
answer to them that do examine me is this.
So here's the rub right here. There's some people that have
some questions in the Church of Corinth about whether he is who
he says he is. And that word answer there is
the word apologia. It's where we get the word
apologetics today. What is apologetics?
It's defense of the faith, being able to understand how to answer
for your faith. So Paul is saying here I'm going
to answer. I am going to give a defense of
those who are trying to examine me and he's going to talk about
ministry and he's going to talk about his ministry credentials.
And again, we can see how that translates into who we are
today. And he comes at this from three
different angles. And the first we can look at is
this, what about the preacher's money?
We're going to ask the first question here tonight.
What about the preacher's money? Paul was at times a bi
vocational minister. Now we don't have time to go
there here tonight, have it written down, but for the sake
of time, you can write this down and look it up later.
Acts chapter 18 verses one through 4.
What does it talk about that Paul met 2 good dear friends in
the Christian faith named Aquila and Priscilla?
Everyone ought to have an Aquila and Priscilla.
Everyone ought to have someone that they are close to that
refreshes them in the Lord. Now why did they come together?
First of all, because they're bond in Jesus Christ.
Secondly, because they were of the same trade.
They were tent makers. And so Paul, at times and
seasons when the ministry necessitated it, was willing to
be able to forgo any payment from a young church and instead
supported himself with whatever he sold with his tent business.
That's why sometimes you hear a pastor will talk about his tent
maker, the idea of that's how he makes money outside of the
church. It's not because he's trying to
get rich, but it's the money that he needs to be able to do
what he needs to do with his family.
I've had tent makers in the time that I've been here of driving
for Uber or riding for companies online.
These are tent makers that I have had to be able to support
our family in time of ministry. I've had a tent maker of
cleaning out trash from an arena.
That was when I was back in Florida.
These are things that I have done in the past to be able to
supplement that which comes in. And so we know this about Paul,
that he has had this within his past.
It's not that he did it in every city.
I don't think the book of Acts makes clear that that was the
case. But it did seem to be something
that he was able and willing to do this.
We know he was able and willing to be able to do whatever he
needed to do for the gospel ministry.
It wasn't an issue of Paul was on a money making scheme going
around through Asia and Europe. His heart was not money.
His heart was the gospel and he was going to do whatever he
could to preach the gospel. But there were some people in
verses 4 through 6 who had some questions about his financial
abilities, and they had some questions about how he was
meeting those needs. And so he lays out this premise
here. Beginning of verse #4 he says,
have we not power to eat and to drink?
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as
other apostles and a brethren, and as the brethren of the Lord
and Cephas? Now that word power there is
being used as talking about the right.
He says this, don't I have the right to eat?
Don't have the right to drink. Now, what do you need?
If you want to eat and drink, typically you need, well, money,
don't you? I don't know how it works where
you're from, but where I'm from, the grocery store, they usually
take money, not just a hey, God bless you.
And they say, oh, take all the groceries you want.
I would love it if that worked, but that's not the way it works.
And it seems like it's going up all the time and the eggs might
be going down, but everything else seems like it's going up.
And that's OK. That's just the way life works.
But he's saying, don't I have the right to eat?
Don't I have the right to drink? Don't I have the right verse #5
to be able to take care of a of a family.
And now we understand that Paul's extended family would
have been different. But just the rhetorical question
of the idea of being able to have real support for himself
and those he is supposed to support.
And I only am Barnabas, have we not power to for bear working?
And so again, the thought process here is this.
What do I have the right to receive as a minister of Christ?
And so he's going to give two sets of examples.
And this is important because there are questions about
pastoral ministry and ethics when it comes to money.
Now, when I was in Bible college, one of the things they
taught us, in fact, I remember John Aldridge, an Old Testament
survey, he said this in the way that only John Aldridge could
say it, an old preacher, old country preacher.
He says, boys, there's only two things.
He said there's two things rather you don't touch when
you're the preacher, the money and the Mamas.
I'll let you think about that for a second, All right?
You don't touch the money in the moment when he's talking about,
hey, don't count the offerings by yourself.
And you don't don't touch the lady folk.
That's what you're supposed to do.
And you say, is that really something you should tell
preachers? Have you?
Seen the news that he may have been an old country preacher but
I'll tell you what a lot more common sense than a lot of guys
who are professionals if you will today.
It certainly was and continues to be very good counsel.
But that doesn't mean that a pastor is not to have any type
of money or have any type of funding.
Because there's some people that thinks the pastor's only godly
if he's poor, that the pastor is only good if he is receiving
salary from something else other than the church.
But then there's also the thought process that some
pastors have that they need to be the most well compensated of
anyone within their congregation.
And so the question is, well, where should we lie on that?
Where is a pastor should my thought process be?
And in turn, where should a church's thought be about this
as well? Say, pastor, how comfortable are
you talking about this tonight? My answer be about as
comfortable. I was on Sunday morning talking
about all the things people need to do in the church.
And the answer is, it's not about whether I'm comfortable or
not. It's about preaching the whole
council of God. By the way, it's not about
whether you're. Comfortable or not?
I'm not trying to purposely make you uncomfortable, but sometimes
the Word of God kind of makes us uncomfortable when we're not
where we need to be. And you have to understand that
what I'm talking about these things tonight, I'm not as much
talking about myself as I am the very office of which I have.
You need to understand these things for several reasons.
One, because this will apply to whoever stands behind this
pulpit as pastor over the many years this church will be here.
Praise God or we pray until Jesus returns that this church
will be here, will outlast all of us, unless He comes tomorrow.
And that's fine, we're all good with that.
And Satan can take over the lease of this building and we'll
all be gone. Amen.
And in fact, you'll find out how how much troubles there are in
this building. All things consider you can have
it. But the reality is, is that
sometimes it's good for you to learn these things because as
God moves you on to other places in the future, you'll be able to
take those and maybe be able to help a young church or to help
another ministry understanding biblical principles in these
areas. I am glad in the very infancy of
this church, there were some people who had known biblical
standards and had known biblical issues in dealing with the
pastor that were very good and gracious in helping us.
And I can thank pastors that were in this area maybe 30 or 40
years ago that trained them to do that.
And so my heart tonight is not as much to be able to help you.
To help me, this church again has been very generous to me,
very generous to our family, very kind to our family beyond
anything that we could possibly even articulate here tonight.
But it is. That you know why that is and
that you can use that not to apply to the man, but rather to
apply to the ministry office, whoever it is or wherever it is
that you are in the future. And so Paul when it comes to
issue of money, gives 2 examples and the first is the example of
the laborers. And so when he talks about this
issue of should the pastor receive money?
Because I think some people are getting kind of crossways here
with Paul about this issue with money.
And he says this who go with a warfare at any time at his own
charges, Who planted the vineyard and eateth not the
fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock, and
eateth not of the milk of the flock?
Say I these as a man? Or say it's not the law The same
also 4 is written in the law of Moses.
Thou shalt not muzzle the Alpha, the ox that treadeth out the
corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
Or sayeth he it all together? For our sakes, for our sakes.
No doubt this is written, that he that plow is should plow and
hope, and that he that threshes in hope should be partaker of
this hope. Now stop right here.
Paul gives the example of the laborers he says is a soldier go
to war at his own expense or does someone pay to make sure
the soldier goes to war? It Does a man plant a vineyard
is not allowed to eat from it or does the man who planted the
vineyard take from his own vineyard?
Is there someone who feeds the flock and can't take the milk of
the flock, or does it just expected that the shepherd of
the flock would be able to drink of the milk of the sheep?
And it's just understood that that is a way of compensation of
that the laborers. And he says he didn't even
explain that you don't muzzle the ox that treads the corn.
That ox may be treading corn, but don't muzzle.
Allow it to get a little bit here and there, because really,
won't the ox be better off if it gets a little bit of corn on the
way? You muzzle the ox, you get the
ox lean. And what happens now?
It's not strong. Now it can't do the work.
Now it's faint. Give the ox a little corn.
It's going to won't be okay. Everybody is better off when the
ox gets the corn and Paul says this.
If you think that principle and by the way he's using the verse
when it talks about it is written the Law of Moses from
Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse #4 that comes from the Old
Testament. Now I had someone a few years
ago tell me. I have said many times here at
Liberty Baptist Church, sometimes there's a mess here at
the church and there's a lot of kids around here and they make a
mess. And I'm not saying the kids
ought to make a mess in church. I'm not for that, like
intentionally, you know what I'm saying.
But I also know that if you want children in a church, there's
just going to be a little bit of mess.
That's just the way it is. And I have said about that in
the past that where the book of Proverbs says where there is no
ox, the crib is. Clean, and I've used that as a
way to use a truth about the children to talk about.
What Solomon talked about with the ox.
Not a man a few years ago who took a great exception with me
in a letter and said about that, he says.
Don't you know that verse isn't about people, It's about an ox?
And I wanted to answer, but I didn't really answer the letter
other than to say I can't answer all the things on there because
the Bible talks about answer. Not a fool according their
folly. But that's what I said, and I
wasn't trying to be mean. I'm just saying I can't go
through all these things and say them.
But I did say to this gentleman that that the whole issue is
that, yes, it's talking about oxen.
But do you think that Solomon was just trying to get some
issues across the people who are engaged in animal husbandry?
Because that would be a very small group of people?
Or was he using something that was true about animals to show a
truth that applies in a lot of other areas as well?
So when it talks about don't muzzle the ox that treads the
corn, even Paul says here, do you think that he say this all
together? For our sakes, He says for no
doubt this is written that he should plow and hope.
The idea is that, of course, if someone is engaged in the work,
they should be able to take a little bit from the work.
No, no, that doesn't mean that the pastor just gets to, oh,
I'll take a little bit here, I'll take a little bit there.
If we put that offering plate away, let me take a little bit
out of there. That's not what it's talking
about. But the idea is that those that
live of the ministry, if it's possible, should be able to live
of the ministry and not be guilty or feel guilty to be able
to do so. But the other side of it is
this. If it is not an ability of the
church to be able to do so, then that minister ought to minister
for the gospel sake, because whether he's receiving money or
not receiving money, he's ministering for the gospel sake,
not for the money. And we'll say that one more
time. If I can recall that, that I
just said whether he receives the money or he doesn't receive
the money, he's not really ministering for the money.
He's, he's ministering for the gospel's sake.
So whether the check is there or not, the ministry is the
ministry, the work of the gospel is the work of the gospel.
So he gives the example of the laborers, but then he also gives
the example of the Levites. And look at verse #13.
It says, do he not know that they which minister about holy
things live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at
the altar are partakers of the Lord?
So firstly he talks about these laborers, but he talks about the
Levites. So when someone was to give of
their tithes and offerings, guess who was to receive in the
temple of those ties and offerings?
The Levites? You.
Can go to numbers chapter #8 we're going to numbers chapter
18. Go ahead and do it.
All right, You need to go to these passages.
All right, Numbers chapter 18. I'm trying to save all this
time, but you know what you got to turn these places.
You got to get go get those pages of workout.
Amen. All right, thank you, Jay.
Everyone else, if you don't turn there, you just read Jay's
Bible, All right, because we know he's turning there.
Numbers chapter 18. But you got to know where these
things are in the word of God. You got to understand these
things. And sometimes I'm so busy trying
to communicate things to you and I don't want to.
I have you jumping all over the Bible that sometimes I think I
robbed you of the opportunity to see where there's things are for
yourself. And so I kind of had to calm
myself down a little bit to get you to these places.
Numbers chapter #18 look at verse #20 It says this.
And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance
in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them.
I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children
of Israel. And behold, I have given the
children of Levi all the 10th and Israel for an inheritance
for their service which they serve, even the service of the
Tabernacle of the congregation. The priesthood dedicated
themselves to God and in turn God would always take care of
them. That was the setup that God had
with the Levites. This is what Paul is talking
about in his second example when it comes to money in first
Corinthians chapter #9 he says the Levites were always taken
care of by God. Now drop down to verse #24 It
says this, but the ties of the children of Israel, which they
offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the
Levites to inherit. So when the people gave of the
tithe, where was the tithe to go?
To the Levites who were in service to the temple, because
they gave their life to the service of the temple and
because they couldn't engage typically in outside
entrepreneurialism, sometimes you would see that they own
cattle and different things like that, but in general they gave
themselves to the life of the Lord.
And because of that, when the tithe came in, it was to be able
to sustain them and to be able to continue to help them in the
work of the Lord. So Pastor, so we just pay you
and you just hold on to all of it and you just keep all of it.
You know what? I have to do the same things I
preach to all of you. You know what that means?
That the pastor gives tithes and offerings.
Why? Because it is the right thing
for the pastor. Do you don't say, well, you
know, I mean you all give the tithes and it just comes to me.
And so it's already been tithed on.
And so, I mean, we don't want to tie that again, right?
That doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it?
The pastor ought to be one of the best givers of the church.
You said, Is this conversation making you feel uncomfortable?
It's making me feel uncomfortable.
But you've got to learn this. You got to understand this.
I don't mean that I have to be one of the best givers compared
to everyone else. And I don't know that I am.
I don't know that we are, but I will say this, we ought to be
able to lead the way as best as we can with the resources that
we have because shame on me if I preach that everyone needs to
sacrificially give and we don't sacrificially give.
Tip critical is what it is. So to work hard at that, you
say, what do you give, pastor? Well, if you want to see my
tithe report, our tithe report. I say my tithe report because I
write the check. It's our tithe report because we
both have incomes. But I would guess I would show
it to you, but I would say the only people who do know are the
trustees, the people that count. And honestly, I'm just concerned
about making sure I'm doing right with the Lord.
That's right. That's that's what I need to.
Make sure of but but what do we see here?
We see that it says, I cut myself off early here, from
where we need to read. Look at verse 25.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thus speak unto the
Levites, and say unto them, When you take of the children of
Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your
inheritance, then you shall OfferUp a heave offering of it
for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe.
So when the Levites received the tithe, what did they do?
They tithed off of it. This is what it is supposed to
be. And so this is not even when I
get up here tonight and say to you that there is some ethics
and ministerial conditions that are given when it comes to the
issue of money. But yet even when I preach to
you, must be followed by our own family.
And that's true in the Old Testament, That's true in the
New Testament. We'll go back to First
Corinthians chapter #9. Now I'm going to give you some
riverology that is a, this is a, this is a clear warning sign
that I'm going to tell you something's not in the Bible.
You say, why are you preaching? Something's not in the Bible.
I'm going to give you my opinion on a matter and you take it for
what it is. But I believe that opinion is
fashioned by what we read here in these verses.
You say, what does a pastor, what should a pastor receive as
a salary? What should he receive?
And my answer to be would be a good rule of thumb is to pay a
pastor the average salary for his area and for his family
size. That's an aspirational goal, but
is one that makes sense. The pastor's family shouldn't be
the ones that have the least in the month in the church.
They certainly should not be the ones that have the most in the
church, but to have an average amount for their family size in
the area in which they live is a good thing.
So you say, pastor, unless a man gets that amount, he shouldn't
work at that church. Well, then Paul wouldn't have
done anything that he did. I said it's an aspirational
goal. Remember, we're talking about a
church here and from your side as well.
And again, I want to make abundantly clear that this
Church has taken such wonderful care of us from starting from
nothing. To where we are here in a very
few short months that we will be a completely self supporting
church by the grace of God and the good giving and godly giving
of God's people in this church. Praise the Lord for it.
But I don't do want you to understand the thought process
that goes behind it. That a pastor should have a wage
that will help him to eat some of the corn as he treads.
But at the same time doesn't need to be the one that is in
the highest income bracket. And if he cannot receive that
amount, it should not be that that's condition for him to
serve at that ministry or not. I will remind you get some of
you've heard this before and so I apologize if you have.
But I feel like with people coming and going, it needs to be
said every once in a while that when we got to the place of the
church paying us $300 a month, we still had salary and support.
But $300 a month. I, I knew I was probably had to
get outside work and we lost $600.00 of support in one month.
It was gone. I don't know about you.
I don't care what income bracket you are, you lose $600 in a
month and you know it's not coming back.
You know, you can kind of fudge things for a month or two, but
if they ain't coming back, it's a problem.
So I went to our trustees and I told them they wanted to know
when we had a loss of income. I told them that we lost some
support and they said, well, give us, give us till tonight
and we'll let you know what we, what we think about this.
And they said, we, we, we can't give you a raise, pastor.
And I said, I know you can't give me a raise.
I told you I was going to tell you this, but I know what's in
the, in the bank account. At the time we were making our
rent payments and such every month, but we didn't have a
whole lot extra in the bank. And one of the gentlemen says,
so does this mean you're going to leave?
And I said, who said anything about leaving?
This is where God's called us. This is what God's called us to
do. We're not going anywhere.
And by the grace of God, we did do different things.
And I worked Uber and my wife and children ended up having
their own tent makers where they were making T-shirts and making
signs and making glassware and making, I don't know what they
were making, to be honest with you.
They're creating all kinds of stuff in our house, and I didn't
want to be around it, so I wouldn't go to do work.
Oops, that slipped out. That was a little too real right
there. No, we did.
We had to do Why? Because about the gospel, not
about the money. As a church, you do what you can
and even by faith, stretch yourself beyond what you can,
because that's what the pastor preaches, right?
But the pastor can't preach to you and not live it himself.
And so Paul says right here, what about the preacher's money?
Well, he gets a good illustration right here of what
needs to be done. And Paul was willing to do
whatever it took for the sake of the gospel, whether it was a
church that would support him or whether it would make a tents,
he was good with it. Why?
Because the goal wasn't the money.
The goal was the gospel #2 Second question, what about the
preacher's motivations? What about the preacher's
motivations? I think we made it clear already
that his motivation was not monetary based.
And remember, he's not pleading his case here.
He's just pleading a case. Remember, he's not even talking
about himself. He says that in verse 15.
But I've used none of these things, neither have I written
these things that it should be so done unto me.
He's saying, I'm not even telling you to apply this to me.
I just want you to know what is right in this matter, that it
should be so done unto me that it were better for me to die
than any man should make my glorying void.
This is how serious he was about this.
Now look at verse 16. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is.
Laid upon me, Yeah, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
This shows the principle of the calling of God upon a man's life
to preach the gospel. And sometimes we talk about the
call to preach. I am not a preacher because I
can't do anything else for a living.
I am not a preacher because it is what I have chosen to do as a
living. I am a preacher and a pastor
because I believe that's the call that God has placed upon my
life. You say why is that important?
Well, because if there's no call upon my life and there's a
Monday that doesn't feel great, guess what, maybe I'm gone,
maybe I'm done. Says that ever happened.
I've heard pastor, what happens to me every Monday?
Well, I don't know what's the matter with them.
That doesn't happen to me every Monday, but there are Mondays
that it does. Happen.
There are Sunday afternoons that happens.
I felt that way in the car driving home on Sunday
afternoon. I told my wife, I said I, I I
preached on the church and people were just looking at me
like cow is looking at a new gate.
And I was talking about all these different things.
And I'm talking about it. There was visitors here and they
probably thought it was crazy because I was trying to talk
about all these different things.
And she just said, you just calm down.
This is what goes through the mind of a pastor because I have
to be articulate all the time and I have to say the right
thing all the time. At least that's what I place
upon myself because I know what I'm standing here, that this is
not some high school pep rally, that this is not talk radio,
that we're preaching the very word of God.
I got to get it right. I feel that pressure.
People say, do you get nervous when you get up behind the
pulpit? I don't get nervous around you
all anymore. I don't.
But I'll tell you, I feel the gravity and the weight of
standing behind this sacred desk every time I get behind it.
And the day that I don't, I ought to go.
Why? Because it's a.
Calling that's been placed upon my life, he said.
Well, pastor, thank you. Thank you for all that you do.
No, go ahead and say it. No, I'm just kidding.
I was waiting for somebody to say it.
That was your cue. If you were to say that, the
answer would be why thank me? It's what God called me to do.
That's what Paul says. There's no thanks that's needed.
My motivation is not that. You give me an attaboy and a pat
on the back. The motivation, it's a blessing.
When that does happen, I'm not going to lie, it's a blessing.
But if I get up every Sunday and Wednesday and preach to you,
hoping that you will give me. Hey.
Pastor, that's a good one. Then I've missed the mark of
what in the ministers to be. He says woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. It reminds me of the verse in.
Luke Luke chapter 17, verse 10. So likewise he when you shall
have done all those things which are commanded, you say we're
unprofitable servants. We've done that which is our
duty to do. You know, there's no thanks that
are necessary in something that is done just because it was the
calling to be done in the 1st place.
How serious is it? Verse #17 For I do this thing
willingly. I have a reward.
But if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is
committed unto me, that's a very serious verse.
And it's, it's very hard to untangle in just a few moments.
But the idea is this, it's to be done willingly.
But if it is done unwillingly, the calling is still upon the
man and he better get it done. So his motivation is about the
gospel. You say?
Would there ever be times when you wanted to preach against
your own will? There are times I don't feel
like being in the pulpit because it may be struggles within my
own life or because of hardships or heartaches.
But I always. Go back to Jeremiah chapter #20
verse #9 when he had a calling placed upon him that he couldn't
run from, and he said this. Then I said, I will not make
mention of his name nor speak any more in his name.
Jeremiah says as a prophet, I'm done, I'm not going to speak in
His name anymore. But his word was in my heart as
a burning fire shut up in my bones.
I was weary with forbearing. I could not stay.
He said. I tried to hold it in, but after
a while they had to come out. That was Paul, remember.
Paul got to Corinth. I had to be quiet.
He was waiting for the other group to come.
He was out in the. Marketplaces and it was just the
place where he's like, I got to say something.
There are lost souls everywhere. They need to know about Jesus.
Why? Because his motivation wasn't
about money. His motivation was the gospel.
What was his reward? Look at verse #19 for though I'd
be free from all men, yet have I?
Oh, actually verse #18 my apologies.
It says what is my reward then Verily then when I preach the
gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge that I
abuse not my power in the gospel.
You know what his reward was? If I was to just boil that down
very quickly, His reward was to preach the gospel, but I thought
his calling was to preach the gospel.
It was, but his reward was to preach the gospel of which he
was called to do. Do you know what an incredible
privilege it is for me to be able to stand behind a pulpit
and there to be people 30405070 who will come and listen to me
for 40 minutes? Someday, 50 minutes.
For a while. It's not lost on me that there
are people for years that have heard my voice more than almost
any other voice in their life other than their loved ones.
Do you know how much that affects me?
You know how much that really rings within my ears?
That's a reward of itself, that God would count me faithful,
putting me in the ministry, Paul said to Timothy.
And that God would place that upon all of us.
They remind you you're called to be an ambassador for Christ.
You know, I was thinking about this today.
Could you imagine terrorizing a school as a young person?
It's something you don't have to imagine, I guess.
But then growing up as an adult and then becoming principal,
that school, that'd be pretty crazy, wouldn't it?
Can you imagine robbing a bank and then years later becoming
the president of the bank? Be pretty crazy, wouldn't it?
Could you imagine being in the military and having a
dishonorable discharge and later on becoming the commander in
Chief? That'd be crazy.
Can I tell you something even crazier than that?
That we would be at odds with God, that our sin would place
him on the tree, and that He would turn around after saving
us with his precious blood, and count us to be his ambassadors
for Christ. Second Corinthians, chapter 5.
Well, I mean, I, I mean, that's, that's fine.
But I mean how much is the pay scale?
You missed the point. Well, how?
How much am I? How much am I going to make?
Am I? Going to have to work an outside
job. And there are young people,
young men coming out of Bible colleges today.
They won't even sniff a church unless they know what the pay
scale is, how much the insurance is, if they're going to get a
vehicle allowance, what days off they're going to get.
And I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to take care of your
family, but they don't even understand the calling of God
upon their life and shame on them.
They want to know what the package is.
Let me tell you what the package is.
The package is this book right here contained within this
cover. This book is your package, you
say? Well, Pastor, it's.
It's not that simple. I mean, the Levites just serve
the Lord and God took care of them.
I'm not talking about taking a blind eye towards the needs of
your family. One of the requirements of a
pastor is that he's taking care of his family.
But I'm also saying that the pendulum has gone so far that
way that there's really in some circles not even much sacrifice
when it comes to the issue of being a pastor.
I, I don't, I don't know where this is ending this.
I thought we're going to do a chapter a week.
I guess that's not going to happen.
Because I think we just need to park here for just a minute and
we'll be done. We'll get back to this when I
come back on this continent in a few weeks.
All right? I've never said that before.
That's actually pretty interesting.
But I feel like we need to, we need to get this here.
That we were at odds with God and he would allow us to be his
ministers is an incredible thing.
And that as a pastor, that I cannot get to a place where I
feel like I need to have XY and Z to be able to have what God
has in my life. But this is true for all of us.
Here's where we need to get this.
You may not have everything that you want in life.
I would dare say none of us do. And that's probably God's
benevolence and kindness in our life, to be honest.
Because if He gave us all the things we wanted, we may never
serve Him again. We'd be so busy going here and
there. We would have time for the House
of God. We would have time for a walk
with God. And so in His kindness to us,
He's given us what we need. He's always promised to give us
what we need. He's given us a lot of wants to,
let's be honest. But none of us are in the place
where we have everything that we want, but we're still called to
serve the Lord. The gospel is life.
Isn't life found in the gospel? I mean, where else can you find
true life but in the gospel? The gospel is life and so for
Paul, the gospel was his life. For us, gospel is life.
So the gospel must be our life as well.
That means this, that if the pay isn't what it needs to be, it's
OK because the gospel is what needs to be spread.
If we had to, had to see all the projections of what it would be
like to come to Easton and the amount of money they would take.
To live here. And all those things, you know,
we would have done, gone to the Bible Belt.
I even had a person tell me once she was a pastor's wife of a
church in Texas and she says this, why don't y'all start a
church in Texas? I thought, well.
I said. I said.
She said come to start a church in.
Texas, it's the promised land. And that was galling, and Kaylee
just laughed. But there was a promised land,
and I said, well, we'd love to go to the promised land, but the
Philistines still need churches. I'm not usually that quick, but
on that day I was like, hey, that's pretty good.
Actually. I got to write that down because
we're at an area where, well, they need the Bible Belt.
Guess what? We are called to minister to
those people out there. And it's not just a pastime.
It is our life because the gospel is life.
Here's what I'm afraid of. There's far too many ministers
talking about men who stand behind this desk that will only
go places if the package is right, if they get a full time
salary, if they're going to have the insurance package to be what
it is, if they have every assurance that they will never.
Have to work an outside. Job and what they do is they
miss the blessings and bounty of God because they are so
intensely looking at receiving something that they miss what's
right in front of their nose. I can't tell you how many I've
interviewed over the years been here 12 years.
Come to New England. The opportunities are wide open.
Young men from Bible colleges, several different ones.
You know, there's not a lot of interest.
Why we probably have to work another job.
Well, you don't work another job.
I I don't now, but I did for a while.
And if I needed to, I would again.
You say, are you hoping for that?
Are you crazy? No, I'm not hoping for that.
The church is so much better off when I'm able to do exactly what
I need to do. But for the minister, it's about
this. It's not about the money.
It's about the gospel being life everlasting.
So it's got to be our life. Here's what I'm telling you
tonight when it comes to you as a church, when it comes to you,
to wherever you are in the future.
And I hope everyone here stays at liberty again till Jesus
comes. But I also know that's just not
the way life works. But wherever you go, understand
that the minister must be taken care of, but you also must
expect the minister to take care of you.
I'll say it one more time. The minister must be taken care
of, but the minister must also be taking care of you.
The minister's motivations must be right, but you also must be
motivated to take care of the minister.
Liberty Baptist Church is a wonderful church.
I hope you don't misconstrue anything I say here tonight
because I love this church. I I can't even describe to you
the love that we have for this church and how good you have
been to us. And this is our family.
And, and they always say in Bible college, don't get too
close to people in your church. Well, I failed at that because
we feel very close to you. But I want you to do what you
do, not just because you love us, but because you understand
the biblical motivations for doing so.
I want to be right #1 and #2 but do you understand biblically why
you need to be right? Be #1 and #2 why?
Because it's the most important thing of all the gospel and it's
got to be our life. At the end of the chat, we'll
we'll get here like 2 months from now.
I don't know when we're back here, but when we get back here,
there are people that run for a crown that's corruptible.
I have in my notes Tom Brady that he, if I told you his
regimen, I don't have time to right now, the regimen of which
he undertook as a player just to be ready to be able to do what
he did. And he did some amazing things
as a player. Why?
Because he wholly gave his life to something that in eternity
matters for nothing. In fact, he burned through two
families on the way to get there.
No, I'm not trying to pound on the guy.
I'm just saying that's what reality is.
That's exactly what it was. He got what he wanted and it
cost him. And Paul says this.
If people are willing to do that for some that doesn't count.
How much more should we be able to give for something that does
count? It's the gospel man.
There's nothing greater. There is nothing greater.
And that he's let this bank robber, this dishonorable
discharge, that he has let this miscreant be able to be an
ambassador for the one of which I place the nails within his
hands and his feet. I don't need a reward of money.
It helps so I can eat and drink. My reward is that God lets us do
that which we don't deserve to do.
It ought to motivate us to go out and do more of it.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.