We Live for the Gospel of Christ and Reject Worldly Rewards

1 Corinthians 9

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.

• Do messengers of the Gospel have the right to marry and to be at rest?
• A person shouldn’t be silenced while bringing forth the Gospel of Christ.
• We who share the Gospel live for the rewards of the Holy Spirit, not material rewards.
• Money and possessions are not asked for in exchange for the Gospel message.
• Presenting the Gospel to all people.
• Living in the restraint of the Spirit of Christ to receive the eternal reward.

Do messengers of the Gospel have the right to marry and to be at rest? “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 The greatest sign of our loyalty to Jesus Christ is to bring a person to Him and to help other of His followers to grow in His Spirit. Today, it is very difficult because people are being brought to the mark of the beast as they live by the thing which influences their thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behaviors. The Gospel of Christ has been scoured from society.

“My defense to those who examine me is this: Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?” 1 Corinthians 9;3-5 Those who govern by the mark of the beast puts a wedge between marriages formed in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, makes it very unpleasant to eat-out or order carry-out, and prevents a gathering of Christians from sharing a meal in the Spirit of Jesus. Cephas is Peter, and he was married. “Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?” 1 Corinthians 9:6 The followers of Jesus Christ are worked tirelessly by those who live by the mark of the beast.

A person shouldn’t be silenced while bringing forth the Gospel of Christ. “Who goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?” 1 Corinthians 9:7. We who live for Jesus Christ have no intentions of sabotaging His Gospel, it is victory over sin and death and is not a detriment. We share the Gospel and as a reward we share in the Spirit of Christ which flows from those who makes a decision to live for Him. That is why the society of those who live by the mark of the beast wants to shut down the Gospel and the fellowship that develops from the Spirit of Christ. They do not allow for the society of Christianity to grow and blossom within their social network.

“Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about?” 1 Corinthians 9:8-9. Paul is speaking in the Holy Spirit from scriptures in the Old Testament, a muzzle shouldn’t be put on the mouth of someone who is treading out the message of the Cross. “Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.” 1 Corinthians 9:10 We who share the Gospel should do so in the hope that a Christian relationship blossoms.

We who share the Gospel live for the rewards of the Holy Spirit, not material rewards. “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?” 1 Corinthians 9:11-12 As followers of Christ, it should be a joy to share money and possessions with one another. However, those who govern by the mark of the beast use money and possessions to reward other people as they live by the mark of the beast. They are hostile to sharing outside of their supervision. “Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 9:12 As followers of Christ, we realize that asking for material things would hinder the sharing of the Gospel, so we focus solely on Jesus Christ.

“Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?” 1 Corinthians 9:13 Paul again applies the teachings of the Holy Spirit to Old Testament scripture. Those who minister the Holy Scriptures live from the blessings within the temple, which are the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. “Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” 1 Corinthians 9:14 We who share the Gospel of Christ live by the teachings of Christ.

Money and possessions are not asked for in exchange for the Gospel message. “But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.” 1 Corinthians 9:15 As messengers of the testimony of Jesus Christ, asking for offerings of money and possessions is something to be avoided. We never want the free gift of the remission of sin and eternal life to be mixed with materialism. “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” 1 Corinthians 9:16 Today, sharing with others that we need to come to Jesus for the remission of sin and eternal life is discouraged, frowned upon, and made to be unprofitable. We have nothing to boast about relating to money and possessions. However, sharing the Gospel is what we are called to do.

“For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.” 1 Corinthians 9:17 If we share the teachings of the Bible willingly, we have the reward from the Holy Spirit in us, and if we share it as an obligation then the stewardship over the testimony of Jesus is a responsibility. “What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.” 1 Corinthians 9:18 By not accepting money and possessions for sharing about the free gift of Jesus Christ, our reward comes. That reward is of the Holy Spirit and of being a good steward over the scriptures of the Bible.

Presenting the Gospel to all people. “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;” 1 Corinthians 9:19 Paul didn’t owe anything to anybody, but he obligated himself to everybody to bring them to Jesus Christ. “…and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;” 1 Corinthians 9:20 Paul would live by Jewish customs while teaching the scriptures of the Old Testament to show how the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should present the Gospel according to where the person’s understanding is.

“…to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;” 1 Corinthians 9:21. To those who rejected the Old Testament laws, Paul put aside the Old Testament laws in order to share about the grace and freedom while living for Jesus Christ. “…to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak.” 1 Corinthians 9:22a. To those who believed it was a sin to eat meat, Paul would not eat meat as he shared the message of the Cross. “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22b. Everything Paul did when relating to others was for the sake of bringing someone to Jesus Christ. “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.” 1 Corinthians 9:23

Living in the restraint of the Spirit of Christ to receive the eternal reward. “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” 1 Corinthians 9:24 Some may say that we are in a rat race on this earth, and the only way to win that race is by living for Jesus Christ. “And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.” 1 Corinthians 9:25 Being temperate refers to being self-restrained in our involvement in this world and using moderation. We are not self-restrained to be fashionable with this world, we are self-restrained in the Spirit of Christ to obtain eternal life.

“Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.” 1 Corinthians 9:26 We are not trying to achieve vague and uncertain standards of the global “democratic” society of the mark of the beast. “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:27 We can’t share the Gospel of Christ with others but then live by the standards of this world for ourselves. We have to live the teachings of the Bible as we share Jesus Christ with others if we are to obtain eternal life.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11