OUR LORD WHO PROVIDES FOR HIS SERVANTS

In 1 Corinthians 9 verse 4 - 14, the Apostle Paul says this;

Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 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? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?

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? Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?  For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 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.

If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 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.

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? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

In this passage, Paul talks about how He and his fellow preacher, Barnabas,  forfeited their right to be supported by those who benefitted from their work preaching the gospel because they did not want to hinder the gospel.

He, none-the-less, explains that it is the right of any man who shares the gospel to share in material support from their spiritual beneficiaries.

Let us remember to materially support those who tirelessly serve the Lord in His kingdom by  preaching the gospel. Let us recall all those who intercepted our lives with the good  news of the gospel and where possible, bless them.

Amen.