1 Corinthians 9
9
Paul talked about himself as an example
1Some of you mob might ask me if it is all right for me to write to you and tell you all these things. Yes, it is all right. You see, God picked me to be Jesus’s special worker, so I’m free to tell you these things. I have seen Jesus, our leader, with my own eyes. I work for him, and I told you mob about him, and now you belong to him. 2Maybe other people reckon I’m not Jesus’s special worker, but you know that I am. You see, you believed what I told you, and now you are Christians. That shows that Jesus sent me to you.
3Some people think that maybe Jesus didn’t send me, and they ask me a lot of questions, so I tell them about the way I work for Jesus. 4I work like this. I never ask people for food or drink. You know, it’s all right for me to ask for it. It can be my pay, for the work I did when I told them about Jesus. But I never ask for it. If I need anything, I buy it for myself.
5And it is all right for me to have a Christian wife and take her everywhere with me, but I don’t do that. Jesus’s other special workers, and his brothers, and Peter, they all have wives, and they take their wives with them when they go to other places. But not me. 6And I think that it’s only Barnabas and me that work hard to get our own money to pay for the things we need. I don’t think the others do that.
7You know, everyone that works gets some sort of pay for their work. You know about soldiers. They don’t have to buy their own food or their gear. And you know about gardeners. They work, and they always eat some of the food they grow. And it is the same for people that look after cows. They work, and they can drink some of the milk they get. You see, it’s right for people to work and then get something for it. So, if my work is to tell you about Jesus, it’s right for you to give me something for my work. But I never ask you to give me anything.
8And I’m not just saying what people reckon. God says the same thing in his laws. 9You see, a long time ago, God gave Moses this law,
“If you get an animal to work for you, you have to let that animal eat something while it works.”#Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Timothy 5:18
That is the law. And listen, God wasn’t just thinking about animals when he gave Moses that law. 10He was thinking about us people too. People have to get food, just like animals do.
Listen to this picture story about the gardeners that grow food. One man digs up the ground and puts seeds in the ground. Then those seeds grow into food plants, and after that, another man gets the food from those plants and puts it in a shed. Those 2 men both worked hard, so they both get some of that food. 11That garden is a picture of all of you Christians, and those gardeners are like the people that told you God’s good news. You see, we worked hard when we told you God’s good news. We gave you what your spirits needed. So now it is only fair for you to give us the things that our bodies need. But we never ask you to give us anything.#Romans 15:27
12Other people ask you to give them things, and that’s all right for them, so it has to be all right for us too. But we never ask you to give us anything. You see, if we ask for things when we tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, some of them will not listen to that good news. But we want everybody to listen to our message about Jesus, so we never ask anybody for anything. We reckon it’s better to go short of things.
13You know about the Jewish people that work all the time in God’s ceremony house. They cook the meat that other people bring to give to God. They also get some of that meat for themselves, and that’s good. You see, they get something for their work.#Deuteronomy 18:1 14And just like that, our leader Jesus said that his workers have to get something too. He said that the people that hear the good news and get new life, they have to give something to the people that told them that good news, so that Jesus’s workers get the food and other things that they need.#Matthew 10:10; Luke 10:7
15Well, I am the one that told you the good news, but I haven’t asked you for anything. And even now, while I write to you, I’m not asking you for anything. I reckon it is better for me to die than to ask you for something. Now I can tell people that I gave you that good news, and I didn’t ask for anything. You got it for nothing, and that makes me happy.
16You see, God told me to tell the good news to everyone, so I’ve got to do it. If I don’t tell people that good news, God will give me big trouble. So I can’t say, “I’m really good. I tell people that good news.” No. I can’t do that. 17But suppose I got this job just because I wanted it, then I will want some pay for it. But no, it wasn’t like that. I’m just doing what God told me to do. 18And I’m very happy when I can give everyone that good news for nothing. That is like my pay. You see, it is all right for me to ask them for those things. I know that. But I don’t do it.
19You know, I’m a free man and nobody can force me to work for them. But I work for everyone without pay, so that a lot of people will listen to me and believe in Jesus Christ. 20-21I do it like this. If I’m with my own people, the Jews, I live like a Jew, so the Jews will listen to me and believe in Jesus. I follow the Jewish law like they do. I know that the Jewish law is not really for me any more, but I want the Jewish people to believe in Jesus. (I don’t forget God’s law. I always follow the law that Jesus Christ gave us.)
Or if I’m with people that don’t know the Jewish law, so they never worry about it, I live like they do. I don’t worry about that law either. I live like they do, so they will listen to me and believe in Jesus. 22Or if I’m with weak people, I become weak too, so they will listen to me. I go to all sorts of people and live like they live. I do everything I can to get them to listen to me, so some of them will believe in Jesus, and God will save them. 23I do all these things so that I can help more people hear the good news about Jesus Christ, so that I can be happy, together with all the people that believe in Jesus.
24Now think about the people that run in a race. They all run, but only one of them wins that race and gets the prize. Well, we have to be like those people that run in a race. We have to try hard to win. That is, we have to try hard to do whatever God wants, so that in the end God will give us new life. That will be like our prize. 25Those people that run in races, they control themselves and train their bodies so they can win a prize, even though that prize will only be good for a little while. But it is better for us. We control ourselves properly so that we will win a prize that will be good for ever. God will give us new life, so that we will live for ever.
26So, you see, I’m like a good runner that runs in a straight line to the end of the race. And I’m like a fighter that hits and doesn’t miss. 27I control my body, and I make it do what is right. I want God to give me that good prize. I don’t want God to say to me, “You went wrong. You didn’t do what you told other people to do. So you don’t get new life.”
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1 Corinthians 9
9
Paul Gives Up His Rights
1Am I not as free as anyone else? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? 2Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle.
3This is my answer to those who question my authority.#9:3 Greek those who examine me. 4Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? 5Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife#9:5a Greek a sister a wife. with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter#9:5b Greek Cephas. does? 6Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?
7What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 8Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? 9For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”#9:9 Deut 25:4. Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? 10Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.
11Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 12If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.
13Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. 14In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. 15Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. 16Yet 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!
17If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. 18What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News.
19Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law,#9:21 Greek those without the law. I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
22When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
24Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
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