PROVISIONS FOR MINISTERS IN THE EARLY CHURCH – TEACHING SERMON

Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.”[a] Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?  If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.  Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?  Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. (I Cor. 9: 7-14).

I thank God almighty for the opportunity of this teaching.  I thank the Vicar for approving my request to lay this to God’s children so that they may reap the blessings that follow.

I am very happy that I am doing this when it is very likely that I may not benefit so much in this church from this teaching but I am satisfied that I am given the opportunity to discharge this burden that has been with me for a long time.  The teaching bows to Biblical scrutiny but that we may not be misunderstood, we have been very reluctant.  I appeal to us, let us embrace this teaching with open minds.

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines Orthodox as conforming to established, accepted or traditional doctrines of a given ideology, faith or religion.

Orthodoxy means correctness of doctrine and belief.  Orthodoxy therefore means subjecting every teaching to Biblical standards.  It means going back to both Old Testament practices, New Testament and early church history.  In our teaching today, we intend to dig into history to find out how the early church provided for the ministers of the word, whether what the ministers demanded and the response from their recipients bowed to Scriptural scrutiny.

In the passage above, Paul quoted both the Old Testament teachings and the command of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning provision for ministers.  Paul then proceeded to explain to the Corinthian congregation that his refusal to demand the provisions as provided by the Old Testament teachings and the command of our Lord Jesus Christ does not mean that it is not his right.  He made it clear that as ministers of the word, it was their inalienable right to depend on the people for their provisions as other ministers were doing (especially ministers to the Jews).

In I Cor. 7 Paul asked 3 rhetorical questions which attempts are made here to explain.

1. Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Here Paul compares the minister of the word with a soldier. If the soldier is cared for because he lays down his life to protect the people from physical destruction, how much more the minister of the word who works to defend souls from eternal destruction.
2. Or who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? In our Lord’s parable of the sower (Matt. 13: 1-23; Mark 4: 1-20 and Luke 8: 4-15), he likens the word to seed and recipients to soil and so the sower deserves to eat of his labour.
3. Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? – The congregation of God is called flock and those who tend them must reap all the benefits of tending them.

In verse 8 Paul says that what he asked was what the law says.  “For it is written ‘You should not muzzle an ox while it treads out a grain’” (Deut. 25: 4).  He explained that this law applies not just to oxen but ministers of the word.

From verses 11-14 Paul no longer spoke in figures of speech but spoke openly what was expected of those that were taught in the word to do for their teachers.

1. We have sown spiritual things for you, therefore it is not a big deal if we reap your perishable worldly things.
2. If others are partakers of this right, what stops him and his team from enjoying the same (Note that Paul called it “right” not “privilege”)
3. Those who minister of holy things, eat of holy things and partake of the offering.
4. Those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.

Paul’s exhortation to the church has its tradition in the Old Testament and the teachings of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Let us see some scriptures that support Paul’s assertion:

Numbers 18: 21; Leviticus 7: 28-34; Leviticus 12: 1-8; Luke 10: 1-7; Matthew 10: 5-10 and Matt. 10: 40-42; I Kings 17: 8ff; 2 Kings 4: 8ff

Conclusion:  Jesus our Lord and most of the early apostles were full-time preachers of the gospel but they lacked nothing because those they served provided for their needs.

As members of Orthodox Church, we must always go back to Biblical principles in all things including care of our pastors so that nothing robs us of the blessings that follow.  The evil one is always striving to rob us of our blessings by putting funny thoughts in our minds, we must resist him and claim what belongs to us.

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Memory Verse:  Gal. 6: 6

Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.