“We Need to Sort Out Our Priorities!” 1 Cor 9 16-27


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There’s a line in J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone where Hermione, the female among the three protagonists of the book, is speaking to Harry Potter and his best friend Ron Weasley and she warns, “Now, if you two don’t mind, I’m going to bed, before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed, or WORSE… expelled.”  To which Ron says, “She needs to sort out her priorities.”
I’m tempted to make the same remark about the Corinthians to whom Paul is writing in his first letter to the church in Corinth. First Paul has to defend the rights of missionaries, pastors, and others to get paid for their work spreading the Gospel.  Then, ironically, he has to defend his decision to not be paid –  because some were asserting that because he refused payment, that it somehow showed that what he had to say was not up to par with the other apostles!
No wonder Martin Luther calls the Corinthians “immature know-it-alls!”
The truth is of all the things in this world that we gladly throw our money at in order to have, the Gospel is discounted completely.  And it is the only thing that is worth EVERYTHING!