1 Corinthians 8 showed us that love for Christ and His people determines how we use our “rights.” As applied to eating food offered to idols, we learned that even if we no longer fear demons or false gods ourselves, even if we have no conscience issues personally with eating offered food, we must abstain. Why? Eating food offered to idols emboldens weak believers to sin against their conscience, because that food is immediately associated with idol worship to which they recently were enslaved

(This is part three of a series of four articles on “Food Offered Unto Idols.” Here are part one and part two).

If, by exercising our “rights” we encourage our brethren to sin, we actually “sin against Christ” [1] (v.8:13). Our decisions affect others. Love for Christ and love for His people demand that we lay aside our rights for the sake of the Gospel.

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul illustrates for us that he was not telling the Corinthian believers (and us!) to do something that he was not willing to do himself. He was a true apostle called by Christ (vv.1–2), not a self-proclaimed apostle motivated by selfish ambition such as some at Corinth who strove to discredit him. Paul was real. As proof, he often laid aside his rights, preferences, comfort, and sacrificed much to help unbelievers come to saving faith and for believers to be strengthened. The Corinthians knew this since they had experienced his life and ministry firsthand (v.2).

Paul delineates for us ways that he laid aside his rights for the Gospel. It is his “defense to those who would examine him” (v.3).

His Right to Financial Support

Paul was committed to a self-support model of ministry, particularly in a church plant. He doesn’t explain his reason here. It wasn’t because it was some kind of superior model of ministry or especially strategic. He declined support that people normally expected to give so that unbelievers and new disciples would not be confused about his motives or message. [2] He also did this to avoid being a burden upon the poor and to exemplify hard work where the example was desperately needed. [3] He chose this much more difficult path of self-support in most cases. He did this out of love to remove obstacles in making disciples. Enemies constantly challenged his motives as an apostle.

Paul knew and taught that God-sanctioned gospel workers were worthy of financial support. He knew and taught here that the norm was for gospel laborers to be supported by God’s people (vv.6–18). But he also knew that in his circumstances, it was important to be primarily self-supporting to protect his testimony and message. At great cost to himself, Paul “made no use of any of these rights” (v.15).

His Right to Marriage

Paul knew that marriage was created by God, honorable, and the expectation for most men, including preachers of the Gospel and other apostles such as Peter (v.5). It was their “right.”

As the apostle to the Gentiles, however, Paul’s ministry was itinerant, unpredictable, and dangerous. Severe persecution dogged him wherever he sought to break new ground for Christ. He willingly gave up family life in order to fulfill his ministry before God for the sake of those who would believe. He did this for Jesus’ sake.

His Right to Lifestyle Preferences

Paul was a Jew. He loved Jewish life and culture. No doubt he loved his ethnic food and preferred to dress as Jews typically did. He was human, after all! He was no ascetic and did not have a martyr’s complex. No doubt he really enjoyed himself when he could “be Jewish” among Jews. Yet he laid aside his right to live as a Jew, which was most comfortable to him.

When he was with Gentiles, which was the lion’s share of his life and ministry, he lived like a Gentile. Gentile food, clothing, customs—he adapted himself as best he could by God’s grace so as to not create obstacles for the Gospel.

When with the Jews, he did not want his growing “Gentile-ness” to be an obstacle among them. When with the Gentiles, he wanted to be like they were as much as he could without compromise, laying aside his “Jewishness.” He states: “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel” (vv.22-23a).

Paul sacrificed his own rights and preferences in order to be more effective in his service to Christ.

A Call to Discipline

“Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (vv.25-27).

A call to discipline: this is how Paul closes this section about laying down our rights in order to show the love of Christ to others. Choosing to sacrifice for others requires constant self-control. He compares it to the training an athlete maintains to remain at the top of his/her game. God’s Spirit here shows us that laying down our rights for the ministry of the Gospel requires a permanent and focused commitment to discipline.

Self-control is not a popular word. Self-control means bringing our bodily appetites into submission to our spiritual goal of bringing honor to Christ. Lack of self-control means allowing our bodily appetites to drive us, bringing dishonor to our Lord.

We must rise above coddling our opinions, preferences, rights, comfort, personal desires, and cravings and be willing to sacrifice for Jesus and the Gospel! By emphasizing this, Paul rebukes the “strong” in Corinth who sought to live out their “rights” and eat food offered to idols regardless of how it affected their brethren.

Laying Aside Rights

Am I willing to live in a challenging community and put up with all of its insecurities in order to win people to Jesus in that place?

Am I willing to accept inferior employment in order to help a struggling ministry somewhere?

Am I willing to give up my favorite foods and dietary preferences in order to effectively serve Christ somewhere?

Am I willing to remain unmarried or turn away from marriage to someone who does not have a heart for Christ?

Am I willing live simply to free up time and resources to serve Jesus more fully?

Am I willing to devote myself to learning a language and culture and strive to adapt to its ways in order to effectively serve the people in a foreign setting?

Is this my heart? “I have made myself a servant of all, that I might win more of them” (v.19).

The concluding article in this series: The Fear of Sin and the Fear of the Lord.

This post originally appeared at GFA’ blog Commissioned, where you can find more missions-related content.

[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotes are taken from the ESV.

[2] Acts 20:34–35