1 corinthians 9 (NMV)
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?
2 Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who examine me:
4 Don't we have the right to eat and drink?
5 Don't we have the right to take along a believing wife, as the other apostles do, and the Lord's brothers, and Cephas?
6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work for a living?
7 Who serves as a soldier at their own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk?
8 Am I saying this merely from a human perspective? Doesn't the Law also say the same thing?
9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
10 Isn't He actually saying this for our sake? Yes, this was written for us, because the one who plows should plow with confident expectation, and the one who threshes should do so with confident expectation of sharing the harvest.
11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
12 If others have this right to receive from you, shouldn't we have it even more? But we have not used this right. Instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the good news of Christ.
13 Don't you know that those who serve in the temple eat from the temple offerings, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who proclaim the good news should earn their living from the good news.
15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this so that something will be done for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my reason for boasting.
16 For when I proclaim the good news, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to do it. Woe to me if I do not proclaim the good news!
17 If I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if unwillingly, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.
18 What then is my reward? That when I proclaim the good news, I may offer it free of charge and not use my full rights as a preacher of the good news.
19 Though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to everyone, so that I might win more of them.
20 To the Jews, I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the Old Covenant Law, I became like one under the Law, though I myself am not under the Law, so that I might win those under the Law.
21 To those who are without the Old Covenant Law, I became like one without the Law, though I am not without God's law but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without the Law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this because of the good news, so that I may share in its blessings.
24 Don't you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 Everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we do it to receive a crown that will never perish.
26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like one beating the air.
27 Instead, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.