I Need To Share!

 

“I just had to do it…”  Have you ever said those words?  Maybe, you saw a great looking dessert and you just had to taste it.  Forget the diet you were trying to keep it just looked too good and you had to try it.  Perhaps it was something at the store that caught your eye that you said you just had to buy it.  This item would make your life so much easier, or you think it would be great for someone you love, and you just had to buy it for them.  Or, on a particularly difficult day you see an opportunity to cheat, steal, or get away with something, and you just had to do it.  You just had to.  There are times when we feel so compelled to act, we claim we had no choice.  It was almost necessary for life.  At least it felt that way at the time.  There is a verse in the book of 1 Corinthians where the Apostle Paul declares his need to do something.  He has to do it!  He must!  It is necessary for life!  Let’s read this short passage and see what that thing is that Paul has to do.

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

             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.

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. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Things to think about:

·         The greater context of this passage is about getting paid to preach the gospel.  He is making the case that preachers, evangelists, missionaries, should be paid for the work they are doing.  But, he does NOT receive any money for sharing the gospel because he doesn’t want to send the message that he is in it for the money.  He doesn’t want to give an opportunity for people to accuse him of selfish motives in preaching the gospel.

·         Within that context Paul reveals his heart and his motivation.  He must share the gospel!  That is his heart’s desire.  What he longs to do more than anything else.  Almost as if he says, “I have to do it!”  Why do you think Paul found it “necessary” to share the gospel?

·         Do you feel the same necessity to share the gospel?  Would you ever cry out, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel?”  Is that a cry of every Christian, or just the professional preachers?

·         Paul did whatever it took to reach people with the good news of Jesus.  Why?  What are you willing to do to bring the good news of salvation to those who need to hear it most? 

·         Paul revealed some of his motivation in sharing the gospel.  How does he “share in the blessing” with those who hear the gospel?  Have you ever presented the gospel and shared in the blessing with the person who heard it? 

·         May we be people compelled to preach the gospel and feel like we have to do it!  May we share in the blessing of all those who believe!