// Read: I Corinthians 9:1-13 //
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas[a]? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
MEDITATION:
Every member of the church has duties to perform to God and the man of God that God has put to shepherd His flock. These are the duties of the flock in the place of tendering the flock (i.e. the church of God).
i. Respect your Spiritual leaders – 1 Timothy 5:17
ii. Share good things with them – Galatians 6:6
iii. Obedience and submission – Hebrews 13:17
iv. Flocks should give milk (May your breast not be dry) – I Corinthians 9:7
v. Sowing Spiritual demands materials harvest – I Corinthians 9:11
vi. Food should come from the temple – I Corinthians 9:13
Are you doing all these as a member of a Church?
PRAYER: Pray that you will be faithful in these duties as a Church member.