1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
— 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, ESV

Here is a long sermon with a long title from a long text that I pray you will remember for a long time.  

It captures the inner thoughts of the most important person in the history of Christianity, other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  Followers of Jesus should seek out other followers of Jesus to follow, if they follow Jesus well.  And no one followed the Lord more closely than the last appointed Apostle of Christ’s church, Saul of Tarsus, better known as the Apostle Paul.

Paul occasionally poured out personal glimpses of himself in parts of his thirteen epistles, especially the two to the Corinthians (ref. 1 Corinthians 9, 2 Corinthians 11–12).  In them he tells what made him tick, what his passions and priorities were, and what he hoped to accomplish with his relatively short life.  

These are Paul’s convictions, experiences, and affirmations about the Christian life, almost all of which may be attained by any joyful and serious disciple of the Lord.

An Experience of Grace and a Calling from the Lord (vs. 1-2)

Born free, as free as the wind blows,
As free as the grass grows,
Born free to follow your heart.
 — Don Black & John Barry

Paul was born free twice.  

He was born first as Saul, son of well-to-do Jewish parents with free Roman citizenship.  They lived in Tarsus, a capital city in its day located in modern day Turkey.  This is the city where Cleopatra met Mark Antony, and where Saul of Tarsus met the Pharisees, and became one.    

Then he followed his black heart to Jerusalem where he became a chief prosecutor and persecutor of the early Christians.  He saw to the imprisonment and execution of some, including one of the first church deacons, Stephen.  Saul was traveling on the road between Jerusalem and Damascus to round up more Christians, when he came face to face with the risen Christ Himself.

That’s when Saul was born, again, by grace alone (God sought and saved him when he was by no means looking for God) through faith alone (an immediate gift of the Holy Spirit that accompanies regeneration) in a personal encounter alone with Christ, alone (we will all have to face Him, now or in eternity).  With this new birth he became truly free to follow his changed heart.  He changed his name, too, and became known as Paul.  Jesus gave him a new title to go along with that new name, Apostle.  

Our English translations usually do not distinguish between an apostle and an Apostle.  Paul was both.  In one sense he was like any other Christian, and apostle, one sent (by God) to share a message (the gospel) with people.  In a stricter sense, Paul was an Apostle, a special officer in the infancy of Christ’s church, appointed by Christ Himself, with special powers, privileges, and responsibilities.  

The Apostles numbered less than two dozen, and Paul was the last one chosen.  They were able to perform miracles, preach perfect prophecy, and write inerrant Scripture.  Of the latter, Paul was the most prolific.  When the last one died, the Apostle John, and the New Testament was complete, Apostles with a capital “A” ceased to exist.  

Paul never got over being saved by grace.  Paul never failed to fulfill his faithful calling of being a follower of Christ, a minister of the gospel, a missionary and planter of churches, an apostle and a holy Apostle.  You can read all about it in the book of Acts, Paul’s many epistles, and a most excellent book by F.F. Bruce entitled “Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free,” born and born again free, indeed.

A Willingness to Volunteer and a Mandate to Receive Support (vs. 3-18)

We are spirits in a material world.
— Sting

Whatever Jesus called upon Paul to do, Paul was willing to do.  And, Paul was willing to do it, and often did do it, for free.  That’s the spirit.  But there is also a parallel principle at play, that those who do God’s work, spiritually, should be supported by God’s people, materially.

This longest section of this chapter speaks for itself, with ample illustrations (soldiers, vintners, farmers, even oxen).  Those who give full time to the work, from the work should be given their full allotment for living.  Paul offered this foundational teaching to one of his first churches, in order to establish a precedent for the future of the church at large.  Vocational pastors, ministers, and missionaries are necessary to preach the gospel, establish churches, leads God’s people in worship and discipleship, and help get the gospel out to all the world.   

Even Paul needed to be paid, and was, although not by the church at Corinth.  Other churches funded his second missionary journey, when the Corinthian church was founded.  Other churches paid for his third missionary journey, from which he wrote the Corinthian letters.  But he never had to charge the Corinthians a dime, a fact in which Paul seemed to be particular proud.  

“Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel,” Paul wrote in vs. 16.  He did not have to be paid to preach.  It was his calling.  It was his passion.  He did not do it for money, like a televangelist.  He did it for the Lord, and for the people who need the Lord, which is all people.  He would have done it for free.

But, he needed support, and got it, from Christians and Christian churches.  Missionaries still need support.  Pastors and church staff members still need support.  And Scripture is clear, here and in other texts, on the validity of a vocational ministry supported by the members of the church.

A Freedom in Christ that Made Him a Servant to All (vs. 19-23)

If stay here with you, girl*, (*church, or ekklesia, is a feminine noun)
Things just couldn’t be the same,
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now,
And this bird you cannot change.
— Ronnie Van Zant

Paul was born free and a free bird.  By God’s free grace he had been saved.  By God’s free guidance he had been sent as an Apostle, a preacher, a pastor, and a church planting missionary.  He could go wherever he wanted to go, and he went wherever God wanted him to go.  Follow God closely and His will becomes your will, and your will reflects His will.  

Like Christ at the Triumphal Entry, the Apostle Paul deserved to be high and lifted up among the people, at least the Lord’s people.  But like the Lord, he sacrificed and selected the role of a suffering servant instead.  Weak, wounded, and weary sinners cannot be chastised and ordered into the kingdom of God, they have to be carried and cared for by a servant.  The servant Paul brought many to Christ, by meeting them where they lived.

“To the [blank] I became [blank],” and Paul filled in every blank.  This does not mean he got rip-roaring drunk to reach the alcoholics, or took up pole dancing to reach the strippers, or became a killer to reach other hit men for Christ.  It just means he did not discriminate against anyone when it came to offering the free grace of the gospel to a lost sinner.  

Paul would go to synagogues on his missionary journeys to see if any Jews were interested in hearing about Jesus.  He would take vows and engage in other meaningless religious rituals if he thought it would result in a chance to share the gospel.  He honored the superstitions of the weak and tolerated the sins of those with strong habits to show them love and understanding, in the hope they would eventually understand the love of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

A Commitment to Excellence that Kept Him in Close to God (vs. 24-27)

“Just win, baby!”
— Al Davis

Paul did not judge anybody except himself.  He did not judge himself by anybody, other than the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus saved Paul’s soul, changed his life, gave him a calling and a career, and offered him incentives of great rewards to be claimed when this life passes onto the next.  Paul wanted to so follow Jesus that God would use him to save other souls, change other lives, give others meaning in life, and help them to gain rewards in the life to come.  

Paul was deeply serious about the Christian life.  It was not a game for him, although he did play to win.  Christ-likeness was his goal and the word of God was his guide.  He was constantly sharpening his message of the gospel, and constantly guarding his character knowing that bad character could corrupt the good news.  

By the time Paul reached his earthly finish line, his missionary journeys, his church planting, his soul winning, and his epistle writing had revolutionized Christianity.  Most of the rest of us stand on his shoulders.  When he saw Jesus, again, this time on the road to Heaven instead of Damascus, no doubt he heard the words every Christian longs to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”  

A One-of-a-Kind Christian and an Everyday Follower of Christ

I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
— The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:16

I’ll never be like the Apostle Paul.  Neither will you.  He was one-of-a-kind.  We are everyday followers of the Lord.  But he gave us a template, in this very chapter, for all Christians to apply to their lives.

Where did you “see” Jesus, with eyes of faith?  Where is your Damascus Road?  Has the person and work of Jesus Christ been revealed to you in such a way that your repented of sin and trusted the Lord for salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone?

If so, what did the Lord tell you to do?  He told Paul what to do.  I think He has told me what to do, and I’ve tried to do it.  Do you know what the Lord has called you to do, and are you doing it?  

Are you willing to do it for nothing, even if it costs you everything?  If you are not willing, you are not able.  Would you leave your present career if God was calling you to a career in gospel ministry?  If you haven’t received that specific call, do you support those who have?

Do people see you as a servant coming to help them, or a boss coming to tell then what to do?  Do they see you as an advocate who can get them the grace they need, or a judge pronouncing all the things they’ve done wrong?  Give people grace and mercy, as God has given to you.

Are you committed to excellence in the quality and quantity of your worship, in your frequency of sharing the gospel, in the intensity of your Bible study and prayers, in the generosity of your giving?  Are you aiming high or shooting low?  God knows.  Paul probably does, too.

The amazing Apostle is with us today, in word and in spirit.  Learn and glean from him.  Live your life like he lived his.  And then along with him, you may well hear the words I’m sure he heard.  “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  For the person you truly want to please is not Paul, but Paul’s Lord, my Lord, and I pray your Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ.