Read 1 Corinthians 9.1-8 incarnationally. As you reflect on the passage, note what you believe is the primary implication of the text.
Read 1 Corinthians 8. Note the similarities between the two passages. Note any differences.
How do you see this text much more than a discourse on money? What’s it’s primary focus?
What was the primary issue of the Corinthians with Paul and the financial support of this ministry?
What are the “rights” Paul describes in the text? How do you see Paul giving up his rights?
How do you see Paul giving up his own rights so he might stand up for the rights of others?
How might self-righteousness become a very real temptation for you in this space?
Read Matthew 10.9-10 and Luke 10.7. What does Jesus say about preaching and money?
Read 1 Corinthians 9.12. This verse is the anchor of this section of the text. How so?
Reflect on this phrase, “We put up with anything rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ.”
Respond to the following:
- What is Paul putting up with here?
- How might this issue be a hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel?
- What are you “putting up” in order for the Gospel to be peached?
Read Ephesians 4.1-6. How does this passage encourage you as it relates to our Faith Family? Where do you sense the need for patience individually and corporately?
Read and reflect on the quote from J.D. Walt.
“As the apostle rests his case, he shows us what real maturity in Christ looks like. It’s not about me. It’s about Jesus, and because it’s all about Jesus, it’s all about you. Right here we see the love of God and neighbor in perfect harmony, and he’s able to do it without gritting his teeth or grinning and bearing it because he knows that he knows that he knows in his deepest innermost self how high and how long and how deep and how wide is the love of Christ Jesus for him, and this love constrains and compels him to not just talk about it to others but to demonstrate it. This is the mind of Christ operative in Paul—as Thomas a Kempis would put it, “the royal way of the holy Cross.”
In summary, answer the following questions.
- What’s the primary implication of this study for you?
- What right might God be asking you to give up?
- What are you allowing to hinder you in fully receiving the Gospel of Christ?
