Forsake your Rights For the Sake of the Gospel

Date: 17 August 2025, 9.30 am

Speaker: Ps Luwin Wong  Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 9:1-27

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TRANSCRIPT

This is the most translated book in the world. Portions of it have been translated into over 3,700 languages, the New Testament 2,400 languages, and the full Bible into over 700 languages- making the Bible the most translated book in the world.

The most translated novel? The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery.

What about the most translated document in the world? The most translated document in the world is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been translated into over 500 languages, and it sets out 30 fundamental human rights to be universally protected, regardless of who you are, anywhere in the world.

The first article of the document basically says, “Guys, let’s just be friends”.

Which is like, “We needed the United Nations to tell us that? Doesn’t that go without saying?” Well, apparently, it doesn’t. The idea of coming up with Universal Declaration of Human Rights was conceived in June 1946, while the world was still reeling from the effects of WWII.

What had happened is that the world was condemning the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany as crimes against humanity, in that they violated fundamental human rights. And the natural question this raised was, “What are these humans rights you speak of?”

And so the UN went, “Well, let’s define them. Let’s declare these universal human rights. We can’t assume that people know, we have to make it plain. Because otherwise humanity is so prone to ignoring, abusing and violating the rights of their fellow human being”.

Now, nearly 200 years ago, a document was signed, on which were written:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

But by all men, they mean literal “men”, because women didn’t have the right to education in a public high school until 50 years after the document was signed, and they weren’t granted the right to vote until 150 years later.

And by all men, they mean all “white” men, because African Americans in the US had neither the right to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness until the abolition of slavery nearly 100 years after this document was signed. And African Americans didn’t have right to vote until 200 years later.

In other words, rights seem pretty important to define, to declare and to defend.

And so, at this juncture in history, the idea we have been raised to embrace is that unless we define and declare and defend our rights, unless we acknowledge, assert and affirm our rights, we would be oppressed, repressed and quite possibly depressed.

We do not want that, so we live with a worldview in which guarding our rights is a sacred duty to ourselves. It is right, we have been raised to believe, to cling to our rights firmly with both hands.

The apostle Paul is a man who knew his rights. He opens our chapter this morning arguing for his rights, declaring his rights. But he does so, not to defend them, but to deny them, not to protect them but to reject them, in order to leave us an example of what it means to live for the gospel, and what it looks like to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Before we get into the text, let us pray.

Heavenly Father, by your Holy Spirit, open up the eyes of our hearts to behold Christ in your Word this morning, that we might love him more deeply and follow him more closely.

In his name, we pray, Amen.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:1-2 1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Paul beings with a series of rhetorical questions, which makes the point that “Paul is a bona fide apostle.” As far as the Corinthians are concerned, Paul apostolic credentials cannot be questioned; it is not in doubt.

Why does Paul establish his apostleship? Because apostles are accorded certain rights.

1 CORINTHIANS 9 4 Do we not have the right… 5 Do we not have the right… 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right… 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

As mentioned, Paul begins by affirming his rights.

But almost as soon as he raises them, he erases them.

12  Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right,

15 But I have made no use of any of these rights,

And the question is why? Why recite your rights only to then rescind them?

And we’ll answer that question, but before we do, let us give a hearing to the positive case Paul makes for his rights.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:1-2 1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

First, he makes the case for his apostleship. He has seen the Lord and he has brought the apostolic word of the cross to Corinth.

Then he makes the case for his rights. And he has five lines of argument.

First, the apostolic example. He makes the case for his rights based on the example of other apostles.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:3-6 3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

First line of argument: Apostolic example. These are basic apostolic rights that the other apostles enjoy.

Second, an argument from other professions.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:7 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

Soldiers, farmers, shepherds, they all work for some form of material return. Working for material compensation is the everyday norm.

Second line of argument: the norm of other professions.

Third, the argument from Scriptural authority.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:8-11 8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

If God would not suffer an animal to work for nothing, surely, that same concern extends to the creatures made in his image. As the ox treads for a share of the grain, so the plowman plows, and thresher threshes for a share in the crop as well.

In the same way, as Paul has planted the spiritual seed of the gospel in Corinth, surely he is entitled to harvest material things from the Corinthians.

Third line of argument: Scriptural authority, biblical provision.

Fourth, parallels with the Levitical priesthood in the OT.

13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?

In case some Corinthians claim that if you serve the Lord, you should trust the Lord to provide instead of drawing a salary, Paul reminds them of the Levitical Priesthood in the OT. They were set apart to serve the Lord in the temple, and God’s provided for their material needs by way of the tithe and the temple sacrifices. God made it such the people provided for the priesthood.

The fifth and final argument for his rights comes from the Lord himself.  The Lord’s command.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:14 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

The command of the Lord Jesus Christ himself establishes the right for Paul the apostle to get his living from his apostolic ministry.

Paul furnishes 5 arguments to make the case for his right to financial renumeration or support as an apostle.

(1)     The example from other apostles.

(2)     The norm of other Professions.

(3)     Scriptural authority.

(4)     The OT Priesthood.

(5)     The Lord’s Command.

He is thorough in making his case, but the moment he establishes his rights he eradicates it. Just as he substantiates his rights, he subordinates them to a greater priority – namely, the Gospel of Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:12 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.  

And we come back to the question we raised at the beginning. “Why?”

Why does Paul declare his rights only to deny them?

The answer, he does so because he wants to see, that sometimes the right thing to do is to give up our rights. Paul wants us to follow his example, to see that there are good reasons to forsake our rights.

He gives us three reasons; all related to the Gospel. Three Gospel-centred reasons to forsake our rights

Reason 1: It is right to forsake your rights for the sake of Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:15-18 15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Paul says he would rather die receive payment for preaching the gospel because he does not wish to deprive himself of his ground for boasting.

In case anyone is thinking, “hmm, I have an idea of how to free up some funds for #09-04”, perhaps I should add at this point that this is not timeless and universal sentiment held by Paul, for all subsequent preachers to emulate.

We see in Philippians that he received and is grateful for the material support sent to him from the church. This application of the general principle to forsake your financial rights for the sake of the gospel is specific to the situation in Corinth, where people are unhelpfully aligning themselves to different preachers through the practice of patronage. That is, wealthy patrons would financially support teachers, and in return, the teachers are identified with them and are aligned to them, belonging to their “tribe”, which was the cause of division within the church spoken about in chapter 1. It also has the effect of identifying the gospel with those with means in the world, the wealthy, the powerful, the high society.

Which is why Paul reminded them,

1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-28 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

Paul is saying, I don’t want my ministry to be bound up with these power struggles, with these status symbols, so I am unwilling to accept financial support, even though I’m entitled to it. Why? Because I would rather die than be deprived of my ground for boasting.

Christian boasting, it sounds oxymoronic. But where have we heard that word “boasting” before?

There it is, right where we left off.

29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

And Paul goes on to explain...

1 CORINTHIANS 1:29-31 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Paul idea of boasting is boasting about Christ. In other words, Paul wants to be able to say, “The reason I preach, is not for status or salary, it is not for fame or fortune; the reason I preach is because Christ is glorious.

Paul wishes to strip away all possible ulterior motivations for his ministry that might detract from the glory of Christ, from his ground of boasting in Christ.

Two years ago, a popular local food review website SethLui.com got itself into the news for allegedly asking for payment to list a restaurant in it’s list of 10 best places to eat at Everton Park. Top spot is unfortunately taken, but for a lowly price of $2,300, you get your restaurant on the list. And if you fork out an additional $600, you get to be ranked second on the list. Allegedly, my lawyers have advised me to say.

Now tell me, would you trust that list? Would you book a table for your Coffee Meets Bagel date based on that list? You would not, they only thing we know is that these restaurants were willing to pay for their place on the list. Everything else, we ought to be skeptical about. In other words, practices like this don’t make the restaurants look good. Even if your restaurant appears on that top 10 list, there are no grounds for boasting.

And so Paul says,

“18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.”

Why? So he has grounds for boasting. He gets to brag about Christ. All can see that he preaches Christ not because he’s paid to, but because Christ is worth preaching.

Paul gives up his right to payment, he offers the gospel free of charge, so all can see that Christ is worth it. Christ alone is his boast and his reward.

That’s reason 1: It is right to forsake your rights for the sake of Christ.

Reason 2: It is right to forsake your rights for the sake of others.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-22 19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

I was talking to a friend the other day, and we were talking about travel, and I said most of my leave is spent in the Philippines, to see my godkids. And she said she was recently in Cebu. Now, I had seen pictures of the kids holiday in Cebu, and the place looked amazing.

So I said, did you stay at the Shangri-La? It was where the kids had their holiday, and also, if you knew my friend, it’s like, “where else would she be staying?”

And she said, “No la, what Shang, I was there with my church on a mission trip. We stayed near the village, my goodness, there is so much poverty in Cebu.”

In my head, I was going, “I didn’t see much poverty in the holiday photos.”

But that’s the difference. On a mission trip, you know this: you do not sleep on the beds which are the most cushy, you do not eat the foods which tastes best. You go to the places where the people are. You go to the people you want to reach, you go to the places you need to serve, no matter how dingy, how dark and how dire.

On holiday, fine dining; on a mission trip, wherever we’re dining, it’s fine.

You are on a mission to seek the lost, to reach the lost, so you go to the lost.

Did my friend not have the right to stay at the Shangri-La in Cebu? Of course she did. But on a mission trip, you aren’t concerned about your rights, you are focused on doing what is right, for the gospel, for the people, for the mission. It’s not about you, and your comforts and your rights, it’s about Christ and those for whom he died.

On a mission trip, ¹⁹ though you are free from all, you make yourself a servant to all, that you might win more of them.

On a mission trip, you become all things to all people, that by all means you might save some.

We know this, that’s why some of us die die don’t want go for mission trip.

We know it. But what we may not know, perhaps, is that all of life is a mission trip.

That’s Pauls’ perspective. Life for Paul, isn’t a holiday. It’s a mission trip.

After all, tell me this, which part of “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” sounds like a holiday to you? What does it sound like?

Tell me, which part of “¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” sounds like a holiday? What does it sound like?

That’s reason 2: On a mission trip, it is right to forsake your rights for the sake of others.

So friends, like Paul, put on a mission trip mindset as your day-to-day worldview.

But you say, Luwin, 4-5 days a year I can tahan. But how to live like this everyday? What kind of life is that? Well, I’ll tell you what kind life that is – the Bible calls it eternal life.

If you tell me you can tahan 5 days out of 365 days to adopt a rights-forsaking, mission-trip mindset, then let me tell you, you can tahan 80 years out of eternity.

The question, do you believe, do you really believe that you will enjoy eternal life in the new creation? Do you believe, do you really believe, that the way to eternal life in the new creation is through faith in the Lord Jesus, which entails following in his footsteps?

Because Paul makes this matter of rights a matter of righteousness. He makes this a matter of forsaking your rights a matter of salvation.

That’s Reason 3: It is right to forsake your rights for your own sake. For the sake of your salvation.

1 CORINTHIANS 9:23-27 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Paul says he does all this, he gives up his rights, for the sake of the Gospel – that is, for the glory of Christ and the salvation of others. But it’s also about him.

So that he may share in the blessings of the gospel. In other words, so that he too might be saved. He goes on to explain…

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul uses the contemporary examples of athletes to make his point.

Let me read out the caption to you.

This photo was taken in 1946. The guy is Ken Shimizu. He is 35 years old with two children.

Shimizu never runs, sleeps late, eats whatever he wants, even drinks beer instead of water. He eats dinner with many kinds of food every night.

What does Shimizu do to get such a body? Shimizu doesn't have any secrets.

Shimizu is the person sitting in the bottom left corner of the photo. As for the man standing in the middle, I'm not sure who that is...

The point is that if you want to maintain your fitness as an athlete, if you aspire to be a Olympic track and field gold medalist, you do not get the right to choose whether or not to go to the gym, you give up your right to eat whatever you like, you give up your right to sleep whenever you want, you deny yourself, you surrender your freedoms, you give up your rights.

If secular athletes will do all that to win a perishable medal made of metal, should not spiritual people do so all the more to win an imperishable crown of glory?

23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Do you want to share in the blessings of the Gospel? Do you wish to qualify for the imperishable, eternal, wreath of glory?

Then do not run aimlessly; do not box as one beating the air.

Rather,

FORSAKE YOUR RIGHTS FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL FOR YOU FOLLOW CHRIST

This is the application.

Because Paul describes his rights forsaking, gospel forwarding, mission tripper perspective of life for us to imitate.

Why? Because that’s the way Christ lived, that’s the path Christ walked, that’s what Christ did.

​1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

And following the King is the surest way into His kingdom.

If we want an example of one who gave up his rights, for the glory of God and the salvation of men, we need not look further than our King Jesus.

In Christ, we have a king, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (he did not cling on to his kingly divine rights, to worship and honor and glory) 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The head that was crowned glory from eternity

Wore a crown of thorns at calvary.

The hands that flung stars into space,

was nailed to the cross for our disgrace.

The one who had the earth as his footstool,

Knelt down to wash our feet.

The Son who had forsaken his rights to righteousness,

cried out to the Father, “Why have you forsaken me?’”

And the answer my friends, is to rescue the sons of men. It’s rescue you, it’s to rescue me, from our sins.

If that is the life of King Jesus, can there be a better way to live?

You might say no, but your heart might say “yes”.

You might be listening and saying, “Yea, but nah, it’s still better to live with all my rights – my right to comfort, my right to luxury, my right to a holiday twice a year, my right to choose how much I’ll give to others, how far I’ll go for Jesus, my right to speak when there’s something I don’t like about the church, and my right to be silent about the gospel at work.”

Yes, you can live with all rights intact, and can you die with all your rights intact, but will you be sharing in the blessings of the gospel that way? Is it not possible, asks Paul, to live with your all rights, and end up disqualified?

Yet, I know, living a life that forsakes your rights for the sake of Christ and others, may seem foolish.

It may seem like a silly way to live, but only to those who do not know Christ, It may seem foolish, but only to those who do not know the gospel, It may seem tragic, but only for those who do not know the ending of the story.

1 Cor 1:18 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Because see what happens to Jesus.

5…Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name

Because Christ did not grasp on to equality with God, Because Christ give up his rights and even gave up his life, Therefore, God raised him up to the name above all names,

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

So it is not foolish. He is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.

Friends, what the Word of God is calling us to do, the Son of God has done it. And in Him, guided by his grace, walking in his steps, through the power of his Spirit, we too can do it.

We too can forsake our rights, for the sake of the gospel, for we follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before I close in prayer, I want to address those of us who do not yet come to know Jesus. I do not know what you’re going through in life, but I do know that this world, obsessed with rights has led to a world full of wrongs, and perhaps you know what I mean.

Perhaps you are experiencing some of that brokenness in your life now.

Perhaps what your hearts wants above all is someone who would give up his rights for you, for your sake, for your good, to right your wrongs, to forgive your sins, and to love you to the end.

Such a person, my friend, is found in the Jesus Christ. He gave up the perfection of heaven to fix the brokenness of earth. He gave up his life so that you may not die. He emptied himself to offer you the fullness of life.

Would you come to know him, this humble God, this crucified Saviour, this servant King?

We’re here if you would like to, and I pray that you do.

Reflection Questions: 

1. Rights are benefits and privileges that a Christian has the freedom to insist upon. How willing are you to follow the example of Paul and Christ and give up some of your “rights” for the sake of the gospel? What encourages or hinders you from doing so?

   
   

2. What might be some “rights” that you can begin to practice giving up today?

   
   

3. Examine your level of self-discipline in your spiritual life. Are you focused on the temporal earthly treasures or eternal rewards that come from faithfully following Christ?