Christians are those who embrace the death of their Substitute, Jesus and cherish Him in their hearts as the One who paid their sin debt and freed them from the power of sin. In light of what Christ has done for them, they willingly and joyfully sacrifice their rights to show Jesus' love to others.
The Apostle Paul devotes a whole section of his letter, 1 Corinthians 9, communicating that He has certain rights but he intentionally, joyfully, even eagerly, gives them up for others. He explains why he would do something like this, which some would deem foolish:
"But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ."
1 Corinthians 9:12
Here Paul speaks about his right to be paid for preaching the gospel, as God established the principle that those who work in the gospel field have a right to eat from the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:9).
Question 1. What reason does Paul give for refusing to exercise his right to receive payment for preaching?
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Paul's heart beats for the gospel; he yearns to see it go forth to people and absolutely refuses to put any obstacles in front of anyone that might keep them from believing the good news. This could mean that he doesn't want others to not believe the gospel because they see him earning a living from preaching the gospel. Indeed, he is willing to die, and, in context, that means starve to death, than to mar the image of Jesus giving His life freely.
"In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. 16 Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn't preach the Good News!"
1 Corinthians 9:15-16 NLT
Notice how Paul repurposes the word “rights” in this chapter. To the Corinthians, who were clinging to their rights and freedoms, unwilling to give them up for others, Paul states that while he has the right to receive pay for preaching, he won't exercise it because he doesn't want to hinder anyone from hearing the message of the cross. Then he repurposes the word “rights” by saying, "I have the right to boast about preaching without charge!"
Consider the power of knowing that you have certain rights, but also the right to boast about giving up those rights for the sake of the gospel's advancement.
Friend, we will either hold to our "rights" or enjoy boasting rights about giving up our freedoms for the sake of others receiving the powerful, life-transforming message of the gospel! To keep our "rights" means we give up our "boasting rights”.
And what motivates us to give up our rights to gain boasting rights? It is the same thing that inspired Paul.
Please read through 1 Corinthians 9, seeing how passionate Paul is about the good news of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Does this good word, motivate your heart, too? I pray that it does.
Question 2. In reading 1 Corinthians 9, where do you see Paul's heart of love for the cross of Christ?
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