{"id":5867,"date":"2015-03-05T22:05:19","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T04:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/giveusthisdaydevotional.com\/?p=5867"},"modified":"2017-12-04T16:17:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T21:17:00","slug":"1-corinthians-91-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/1-corinthians-91-14\/","title":{"rendered":"The Care and Nurture of Your Pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Muzzle\"1 Corinthians 9:1-14<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cDo not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an interesting passage that St. Paul has chosen to use.\u00a0 But he is doing what we all must do: take the Holy Scriptures and apply them to our lives.\u00a0 Along the way, before we get started, Paul has also incidentally given us a lesson in biblical interpretation.\u00a0 Knowing that the Old Testament (which was all Paul had at the time, even though he had other revelations from God) was the inspired Word of God, Paul understands that everything that was taught in the Law of the Old Testament had a spiritual application to Christians.\u00a0 The early Church Fathers understood this principle as well.<\/p>\n

So why in the world would God command that you shouldn\u2019t muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain?\u00a0 Because it is right or just to feed an animal that you are asking to work for you.\u00a0 Now if God so cares about the dumb ox who is created to be a beast of burden, then does He not care much more about you?\u00a0 If even the ox are to be nourished out of love so that they are equipped to do the work to which they have been called, then shouldn\u2019t those who labor in the field for God be fed all the much more?<\/p>\n

Paul applies Deuteronomy 25:4 especially to himself.\u00a0 The apostles, though they were especially appointed by Jesus Christ Himself to be sent to be His messengers to the world, were often neglected.\u00a0 We might stand, at the comfortable distance of 2000 years, and marvel at how anyone could neglect St. Paul, St. Peter, St. James, St. Timothy, and all the rest.\u00a0 And yet it happened.\u00a0 Paul was often scorned or even abused, rejected as his Master was, and asked to do the work of an apostle without pay.\u00a0 Though Paul gladly suffered all things, he was rightly concerned with the matter of justice and with the progress of the gospel.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not muzzle an apostle when he is spreading the gospel.\u201d\u00a0 Paul knows that to the degree that his material needs are not provided for by the church, he will have to work making tents.\u00a0 While such work is honorable, it is not the primary work to which God had called Paul.\u00a0 It was the churches\u2019 responsibility to provide for the apostles so that they could serve as apostles.<\/p>\n

What application does this have to your life?\u00a0 You, too, have a shepherd or shepherds that God has given you: the pastor or pastors of your church.\u00a0 How well are you supporting them?\u00a0 Do they have to work a second job to provide for their needs and the needs of their families?\u00a0 Such work is honorable, but it does keep them from their primary calling.<\/p>\n

Just as importantly, are you providing for their other needs?\u00a0 Sometimes we think that if we just pay our pastor\u2019s enough that all will be well.\u00a0 And actually, often pastors are underpaid to the point that it is a distraction from their special God-ordained ministry.\u00a0 But pastors have many other needs.\u00a0 We need your prayers to support us in our ministry, and since we are always supposed to work towards whatever it is we are praying for, we need your gifts and talents.\u00a0 We need Timothys and Tituses and Epaphrodituses; we need Priscillas and Aquillas; and we need the unnamed saints of the churches of Corinth, Rome, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, and Thessalonica.<\/p>\n

We cannot do our work without you doing your work as well.\u00a0 Our ministry is only as strong as the support \u2013 financial, prayerful, practical, and spiritual \u2013 that you give us.<\/p>\n

And what about you?\u00a0 You, too, are a minister of Christ.\u00a0 You are expected to labor on His behalf as well.\u00a0 Have you been feeding yourself so that you are strong enough to do what God has asked you to do?\u00a0 You know where to get your daily bread that will sustain and nourish you: it is Jesus Christ, and He offers Himself to you through prayer, reading of and meditation on His word, faithful obedience, fasting, His Supper, and fellowship with the saints in your church.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably heard your shepherd (pastor) calling you to where he knows you will be able to find food for your soul.\u00a0 Have you been listening and following?\u00a0 Have you been seeking the spiritual food that will equip you to work in God\u2019s kingdom?<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re all oxen, treading the grain in God\u2019s kingdom.\u00a0 We all need to be adequately fed.<\/p>\n

Pass the grass, please.<\/p>\n

Prayer:\u00a0 Father, I thank You for caring about my great spiritual hunger and for choosing to feed me with the Body and Blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I ask that you would help me to seek Him daily in all ways possible so that I may have the strength to do the work you have asked me to do and so that I may have the strength to help feed others.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Point for Meditation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Find one way to help feed your pastor this week.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Use your Lenten fast and the hunger it creates to remind you that you need to seek God\u2019s spiritual food, which is Jesus Christ.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Resolution:\u00a0 I resolve to find one way today that I can help feed another Christian or lead them to Christ, their daily bread.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Muzzle<\/a> \u2013\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Pass the grass, please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2856,"featured_media":9038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[130,356,442,1552,1663,1699,1788],"class_list":["post-5867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-give-us-this-day","tag-allegory","tag-care-of-pastors","tag-christian-ministers","tag-ministers-of-christ","tag-ox","tag-pastors","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Care and Nurture of Your Pastor - Give Us This Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain, Church Fathers, Corinth Rome Galatia Ephesus Philippi Corinth and Thessalonica, provide for your pastors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/1-corinthians-91-14\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Care and Nurture of Your Pastor - Give Us This Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain, Church Fathers, Corinth Rome Galatia Ephesus Philippi Corinth and Thessalonica, provide for your pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/giveusthisday\/1-corinthians-91-14\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Give Us This Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-06T04:05:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-04T21:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/731\/2015\/03\/Muzzle.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"782\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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