1 CORINTHIANS 9:1-14

This passage is about fair treatment. It isn’t about lining the pockets of church workers, but like many things in the Corinthian letters, it is about intentional equity based on Gods grace. God can work despite a lack of money from those he supports through church workers, but those in the church do not function correctly if they are enabled with no reciprocity from their church workers. There must be balance and equilibrium. As both the garden and gardener tend to each other’s needs through hard work and sacrifice, a mutually beneficial system is cultivated that benefits everybody. When we give willingly and joyfully to that system, all are blessed. Ultimately a church worker gets their sustenance from God, but the whole system gets a bountiful harvest from leaning into reciprocity, mutual sacrifice and interdependent hard work. This is an issue of relational maturity, not money. Why give to the church, because without that act, we tax the system and hurt it’s effectiveness.