Leaders Give and Recruit Resources – Paul (Part 1)

While serving in Poland, our Polish team was asked to help with the closure of our regional office in Austria.

The regional office would be moved to Poland, so I selected 3-4 team members to drive with me to Austria. During the days, we were busy packing up boxes and getting the paperwork needed to move everything.

None of us spoke German, so our free time was spent struggling to order meals, buy groceries, and navigate. After a few days of work, we were ready to move everything to Poland.

The morning of our departure, we went to the grocery store to get bread, meat, cheese, and drinks for lunch on the road. When we arrived, it was not a self-serve grocery store, and you had to order over the counter in German.

For three days, we had all bumbled along, relying on our English or Polish to get by. It had been torturous. We decided to “draw straws” to select the person who would make a fool of themselves at the counter.

Just as we started, Dorota, an introverted, reserved member of the team, volunteered. She walked up to the counter and started ordering in German. Then she struck up a conversation with another customer in German.

She reviewed the order with the clerk in German and then returned to our stunned group. She spoke fluent German. When we asked her why she did not tell us earlier, she said, “No one asked.” Sometimes people can surprise you! 

We think of Paul as the theologian, church planter, missionary, pastor, and evangelist, but we hardly imagine him to be a fundraiser.

However, perhaps to our surprise, we find just that in I Corinthians 9 and 2 Corinthians 8-9. We should not be surprised, as we are learning that effective leaders give and recruit financial resources.

In I Corinthians, we find Paul addressing the issue of personal support. He does so in a straightforward manner, unafraid to speak directly about money and giving.

Personal Support

In this chapter, the apostle Paul discussed a topic that apparently was delicate and important: the material support of vocational Christian workers, specifically the material support of the apostle Paul himself. 

An itinerant church-planting missionary, Paul had been involved in planting the church in Corinth. He had continued planting Christian churches throughout Asia Minor.

So, it was as the spiritual founder of the church in Corinth that he wrote regarding their material support of his ministry. This passage gives us insight into Paul’s understanding of financial resources and ministry leadership.

Much of this letter to the church in Corinth is Paul’s defense of his ministry in response to questions raised about the validity of his authority and ministry (4:1-5; 14:36-37).

Chapter 9 begins with Paul reaffirming his ministry as an apostle, and he specifically addresses his rights as an apostle, including his right to material support (v. 12).

Paul spoke boldly about what many today would consider a very delicate subject:

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? 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. This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. (1 Corinthians 9:1-3 NIV)

As verse three indicates, apparently, some people in Corinth had been judging Paul. They had concluded that they had no obligation to support Paul financially.

The apostle began a weighty rhetorical attack on his critics’ viewpoint. He used three arguments to establish that he had a right to the Corinthians’ financial support.

1. Precedent

Paul reminded the Corinthians that churches were supporting other apostles, including Peter (v. 5).

Therefore, Paul argued, as ministers of the gospel, Barnabas and he had every right to be supported by the church: 

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 must work for a living?
(1 Corinthians 9:5-6 NIV)

Since Paul and Barnabas had ministered in Corinth, they all the more had the right to financial support from the Corinthians (v. 12) just as Peter, the Lord’s brothers, and other apostles had that right.

Vigorously defending Barnabas and himself as their equals, Paul argued that Barnabas and he should receive the same care those leaders had received. The precedent had been set!

2. Natural Order

In the Roman world, soldiers serving in the great Roman army were paid for their services, so Paul drew an analogy between the soldiers and those who, like him, were serving in God’s army (1 Corinthians 9:7).

Paul also used two other analogies:

Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? (1 Corinthians 9:7 NIV).

The workers are not denied the fruit of their labor. That agreement was the natural order for soldiers, farmers, shepherds, and—by extension—apostles.

Now, about that natural order… When I was young, Dad and Mom piled the kids into the paneled station wagon (if you are under fifty, Google can help), and we headed to an orchard to help pick apples.

We were able to purchase some for ourselves and—most importantly—while we were picking, we could eat our fill. In this large orchard, the pickers could only eat a small percentage of the overall output. Yet the picker’s right to share in what they picked was the principle I decided to apply—to its very limit!

I am quite sure that, even today, I still hold the orchard’s record for the number of apples eaten by a six-year-old. In fact, I ate so many apples, I got sick on the way home.

3. Old Testament Teaching

Next—and quite forcefully—Paul based his argument on Old Testament teaching:

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 when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought 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 work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? (1 Corinthians 9:8-13 NIV)

Paul quoted Deuteronomy 25:4—Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain—to again make the point that he had a right to the Corinthians’ support of his ministry.

A little background will be helpful.

An ox would trample back and forth on the threshing floor to separate the ears of grain from the stalks. Sometimes, the ox would haul a threshing sledge for the same effect.

While it was working, the ox had a leather muzzle placed over its nose/mouth so it would not eat the grain. This trampling or hauling lasted all day, and the writer of Deuteronomy reminded the reader that it is wrong to muzzle the animal all day and never let it eat.

Similarly, it is wrong for Christian leaders and pastors to work all day and not be allowed to receive material support for their basic needs.

Paul’s arguments based on precedent, the natural order, and the Old Testament all support his basic point: the Corinthians were obligated to support Paul as he served in ministry.

Paul summarized his case with the strongest argument yet. He referred to Jesus’ teachings about a worker and his wages:

The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:14 NIV)

Paul did not cite Scripture, but he did refer to the teachings of Jesus Himself. Clearly, the Corinthians knew at least some of the Lord’s teaching, or Paul would not have made this reference.

Paul was reminding the Corinthians what Jesus Himself taught: spiritual workers should receive a wage from the people they serve. As we read the Old Testament, this arrangement is entirely consistent with its teachings and practices. 

Next week, we will conclude by looking at how these principles apply in leadership today!