That question is quite often a deep reflection point for clergy and people in church work also, did you know that? Let’s spend some time with the apostle Paul today as he wrestled with that question as he was writing to the Christians in the big business city of Corinth, Greece in the first century. Paul wrote: ‘When I preach the Gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do NOT preach the Gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.‘ (1 Corinthians 9:16,17) Oh my, can we grasp the significance of this statement in a world of labor negotiations, high salary demands, work stoppages, agents, contracts, free-agency etc.?
This is a very, very important issue my friends, and it is a blood-thirsty battleground, do you understand that? In Paul’s second letter, to these same Corinthian Christians, Paul used that word ‘compelled’ to explain his WHY . WHY his Gospel proclaiming work was such a passion for him. Paul wrote: ‘For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all…that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised to life again.’ (2 Cor. 5:14,15) Do you see several very important, life guiding, world changing principles here?
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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