Rev. Daniel Basel

ELS Giving Counselor

 

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Text: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

¹⁶ Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.

¹⁹ ¶ Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

            These are Your words heavenly Father, sanctify us in your truth, for your word is truth.  Lead us in the way truth now and always to the glory of Your name.  Amen.

 

Dear Fellow Redeemed,

I’ll never forget the time when a beloved professor at Bethany Lutheran College related a little story to a few people around a table of people who were drinking coffee after church one Sunday.  It seemed that a couple of “evangelists” had come into town and were going door-to-door (Mormon).  They happened to knock on the professor’s door and stranger than strange starting talking about how important it was for a believer to tithe.  They said, “If you are a true believer you must give 10% of your income to the church.”   The professor’s response was classic. His answer revealed just how absurd this teaching was when it comes to true Biblical stewardship.  He said, you should have seen the look on their faces when he said to them, “What? You mean I’d have to give less?!?”

            Needless to say we have a special privilege in helping to support the sharing of the Gospel.  We don’t have to give 10% to be Christians.  Being a Christian is free of charge.  All we give are offerings of thankfulness for the Salvation we have in Christ – Something that is 100% free. 

TODAY’S TEXT basically reveals how Paul approached the ministry of the Gospel, offering something that was indeed free.  And all the more reason to joyfully follow Paul’s example in…

 

“Sharing the Good News”

 

            We can do this

1. Though our redemption cost dearly

2. It is to be freely shared

3. Our purpose in doing so is that we, along with Paul we might by all means save some.

 

One of the most chilling moments that I every experienced while an offering was being taken was at a new mission. As the offering plate was being passed around I stifling a gasp, as a gentleman put in a 5 dollar bill and took out three (1’s) ones in change…

If you can picture that happening, then I would ask, can you imagine the gasps and eye-popping reaction if your pastor, right before the congregation, simply helping himself to the money on the altar?  Yet, as inappropriate as that is, and as eyebrow raising that would be, especially to an IRS agent… we know that one of the primary purposes of our offering is to support our pastors. 

Interestingly enough, right before our text - immediately preceeding it - are these verses, “1Cor. 9:13 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? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

            You see, although the Apostle Paul had every right to ask to be supported as he preached the Gospel, he chose instead to say, “I simply do what I am compelled to do” (in love for his Savior and His command) to preach the Gospel.  To paraphrase, he goes on to add, “If I do it for free, than my pay, my reward is to offer the Gospel “Free of Charge” to every one!

            Paul is very forthright here as he relates to us how important it is to support those who share the Gospel. Granted we are in a post Christian era in our country and to top it off economic hard-times make it even harder.  But rejoice, dear friends, many in the church are seeing the importance of supporting their church to the glory of God the Father for they are here to share the Gospel with you and all they meet, and if at all possible, they must share the Gospel to those outside the church, free of charge. 

 

Dear friends in Christ, our responsibility to support our church and our responsibility to share the Gospel are intimately connected. As we gather, we confess our fellowship is in this Gospel. Your pastor called to serve you in administering Word and Sacrament is part of your witness to the community and your fellow Christians.  And to top it all off, as you Pastor serves in your behalf, he should never have to assert his right to receive his support from the Gospel.  Why?  So that he might offer to everyone who walks through those doors, or anyone to whom he presents this Good News or even give the slightest hint or reason to think otherwise, than the fact that this Gospel is “FREE OF CHARGE!” 

            It is absolutely your pastor’s duty to “Proclaim the Good News,” to share it in all its sweetness and to offer what Christ Himself gives, salvation to all who believe. 

To faithfully proclaim the Good News we must first rightly divide the Word of truth.

So let us consider preparation for sharing.  Know that our Redemption cost dearly…

            How vital it is for us to present the right medicine at the right time.  It most often starts with the truth that “we are by nature sinful and unclean and have sinned against our God in thought, word and deed and we are without excuse.” This is shown in our actions.  Most simply sin is rebellion against God’s holy law and His holy will. It is lawlessness, as the Apostle John asserts.  It is the very thing that Isaiah warned about when he wrote, “Your sin has separated you from your God.”  In essence this truth leads to what Ezekiel states, namely, “The souls that sins shall die.”   Thus we note that “The wages of sin is death.” _Ro. 3:23

We see the consequence of sin all around us as we see the effects of aging and disease all around us that ultimately leads to death. We approach the fact that 10,000 American people have now died in the last eight years fighting a war that has yet to be declared.  That doesn’t even touch upon the 10’s of thousands murdered or subjected to deadly persecution around the globe.

            I’ve lived to bury enough children and young people in my ministry to never blink an eye at the fact that death comes to all men.  I’ve attended funerals of several people over 100, one was 104, yet all die.  We don’t have to look far to know that man does not have the answer to sin and death in himself.  He does not have anything but an empty wish no matter how much it is promised.  The reality, is that “It is appointed onto man to die once and after this the judgment.”  Heb. 9:27

            This truth screams of urgency.  How many of our friends, relatives and neighbors are going through life with no regard for their fate.  They are screaming down the road of life to a deadly fall.  Who’s going to warn them?  Who’s going to break their fall with the only thing that saves?  It’s not some glory theologian speaking about how if you just live right things will go right. The truth is found in one and One alone.  There is only One true Good News - that which is here proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures.  This Good News – which Paul and all preachers of the Word are “compelled to share” - is the Good News that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  And Paul in great humility states of this Savior, “of whom I am chief.”(1 Tim….)

            Here we find the Holy Spirit’s call to repentance, to confess that we have sinned and neglected God’s Holy Word.  To acknowledge with sorrow that we have treated our spouses or our children or our neighbors not in love, but in a selfish way and we deserve nothing but absolute punishment.  In that confession we turn to God for His undeserved love and pray,  “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Start:   So where is the Gospel in all this?  Where’s the Good News?  It is not found in what we do, have done or will do.  It is found only in the person of Jesus Christ, both Son of Man and yet by the Virgin birth also the Son of God.  In love and mercy our Lord Jesus took upon Himself our human nature.  The divine now takes on the human and yet in this union was true man and yet very God.  He is rightfully called the Son of God.  He is, as Paul states here in I Cor., the only way of salvation that he claimed with every fiber of his being.   As he writes, “I claimed to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (2:2).  He points us to the only one who can save and how He saves.

            And save us He did, not with some earth-born idea of a “bailout”.  But He saved us by taking on our flesh, being born under the law.  Although He had no sin He bore in His body on the tree the just punishment of sin.  His death is the one-time death for all sin.  His suffering paid all our debt and the just punishment we deserved was poured out upon his holy and innocent soul.  His death on the cross marked the full and just payment of our sin and having paid it in full we have been releasing from this curse of sin.  He became a curse for us.  Why?  So that we might be freed from sin’s debt.  Free from sin’s punishment, death and its smothering guilt. 

            As we remember our Lord’s resurrection, the sure proof that the debt of sin was paid, we can not help but rejoice with believers of all time as they recognize the joyous news that we have been “reconciled to God.”  The eternal life that was ours is a gift from God.  It is free.  Believe it and know it is true.  You were baptized into Christ - into his death - and as you were baptized into His death even so you shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Praise be to God!

 

Sharing the Gospel with others that we Might Save Some:

            A. Clearly we have a joyous responsibility here.  It comes as a privilege to those who know it and rejoice in it.  It comes with a sense of urgency as we recognize that the souls around us are facing death and eternal separation from God.  WE can either help in this work of spreading the Gospel, we can be our Lord’s instruments in spreading the Gospel, or we can be a hinderance.  We can lead our life in such a way that no one would ever guess we’re a Christian, we can make choices in life that do not reflect a concern for the lives our Savior has died for.  We can be selfish and self-centered enough that we skimpily share our earthly wealth or time and see the doors of our churches and our Christian schools close and allow the humanistic, post-modern gods of wealth and convenience allow us to turn our heads the otherway or to hide our light.

            But our Lord would have us to do differently.  Paul is our example.  While he was very clear that no teaching should for a moment be compromised, a stiff-collared approach to reaching the lost is often counter productive.  Too many are so far removed from Christianity to simply assume they have an openness to those sharing the Good News.  We must get to know them, know what their views are, and in showing a genuine concern and love for someone opening the door through the sharing of the Gospel.

            What does Paul say should be our approach in reaching the lost?  This is not a mandate, but it is a huge encouragement to step out of our comfort zone and actually connect with people and talk to them about Jesus and reveal to them that His love for them led him to live and die for them.

           

This being all things to all people that we might by all means save some involves action in other ways.  One such action would be that of the Indian chief who in listening to the missionary he had a desire to say thank you to Jesus.  After an inspiring talk of Jesus’ love the chief began by saying, “Chief give blanket to Jesus.”  The missionary simply keep on teaching and tell them of Jesus love and peace they had in Jesus and next the chief brought his peace pipe.  “Chief give peace pipe to Jesus.”  And the missionary kept on talking about what a joy it was to follow Jesus and chief ran out and brought his horse.  “Chief give pony to Jesus.”  As the Missionary closed with the final thoughts on following Jesus it dawned on the chief.  Things were not really what Jesus wants.  So finally he said, “Chief give self to Jesus.” 

As Paul wrote, so in joy we claim, “And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” And It is simply to say, “I give myself to Jesus.”  Not 10% or 50% but 100% to Jesus. All we are, all we have, all we hope to be, may it ever be that we confess and do all to the glory of our Savior Jesus.

            Today we want to thank those who have done so much, to build this church, to build those things that  allow us to preach and teach the Word and to reach the lost and dying, but also to those who through their gifts have enable others to go on our behalf.  Whether it is to support our local ministry or the country church that so many come to in recognition of those precious roots, for all this we thank you and we especially thank God for you.

            So as my professor friend would pointed out to his visitors that day, You don’t want to limit what you give to Jesus.  Just support the Gospel and the assertion that it is free to all who in faith receive it.  I means everything and that we why and how we share in this Good news.  After all, it’s not about us.  It’s about Him and the ones for whom He died, including you and me.

            May the Lord truly bless you and your congregation here and you effectually share the Good News and by all means save some to the glory of His holy name.  Amen.

 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning. Is now and every shall be, world without end.  Amen.

 

So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:8-13, NKJV