Treading Out the Corn

Temple Baptist Church - 11-19-2025

1 Corinthians 9:7-18

 

Introduction: 

 

A.  Last week, I preached on the subject:  Doeth God Take Care For Oxen?  This Old Testament principle is given in verse nine to establish the obligation of the church to take care of the Pastor who is doing the work of the ministry!

 

B.  In Bible times, an ox “treading out the corn” refers to the way grain was separated from its husk—what we would call threshing.

 

1.  The “corn,” also called the “corn of wheat,” was usually wheat or barley. It was cut and placed on the threshing floor—a hard surface—where an ox walked in a circular path. As the ox trampled the harvested stalks, the husks broke loose and separated from the grain kernels. Some farmers used the ox to pull a threshing sledge to help with separation. Afterward, the threshing floor was winnowed by tossing the grain into the air so that the chaff could blow away, while the grain fell back to the floor to be gathered.

 

2.  It was natural for the ox to lower its head and eat some of the grain.  Some cruel men would put a muzzle on the ox to keep it from eating the grain.  God commanded kindness to working animals.

 

3.  Paul used it to teach that ministers deserve support for their labor in the Word.  This is the background behind Deuteronomy 25:4: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.”

 

4.  According to the law in Deuteronomy 25:4, the ox could freely eat some of the grain as it worked.  This illustrated humane treatment of the ox and the fairness in labor, and a principle Paul applied to gospel ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:9-14.

 

5.  In the believer, the “husk” is the old nature, and the grain is the new nature.  To remove the “husk” of the old nature, it takes a lot of threshing!  The threshing of the pastor and the “winnowing” or the breath of the Holy Ghost.

 

6.  This threshing is the work of the pastor using the Word of God which allows the Holy Ghost to separate the “husk” from the grain.

 

C.  “Who is feeding your ox?” was a message I preached many years ago.  In the ministry, you have good pastors and bad ones.  Many pastors are lazy, unloving, unequipped for the ministry, and many not called of God!  I do not want to dwell on these, but if they are not “treading out the corn,” they do not need to be fed.

 

1.  Some Shepherds Are Brutish - Jeremiah 10:21  For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.  (Insensible; stupid; as brutish men.  Unfeeling; savage; ferocious; brutal.)

 

2.  Some Shepherds Are Divisive - Jeremiah 23:1  Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

 

3.  Some Shepherds Are Lazy -  Jeremiah 23:2  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

 

4.  Some Shepherds Are Greedy - Isaiah 56:11  Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

 

D.  God called men, though still faulty men at best, who will get the work of the ministry done.  The real pastor is God called according to Ephesians 4:11, which says, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.”   

 

E.  The pastorate involves both obligations and responsibilities. It is not just an easy way to earn a living. It is a bittersweet experience and is reserved for the man called by God. Here are some of the pastor's obligations.

 

1.  He Is To Feed The Flock - Jeremiah 23:4  And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

 

Ezekiel 34:23  And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

 

2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

2.  He Is To Protect The Flock - Ezekiel 34:5  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

 

Amos 3:12  Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

 

John 10:11-12  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

 

Luke 2:8  And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 

3.  He Is To Gather The Flock  - Jeremiah 31:10  Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock

 

2 Timothy 2:24-26  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

 

4.  He Is To Guide The Flock - Psalms 23:1-2  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 

          1 Corinthians 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

 

5.  He Is To Correct The Flock - 2 Timothy 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

Titus 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

 

1 Timothy 5:20  Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

 

6.  He Is To Love The Flock - Matthew 9:36  But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

 

2 Corinthians 12:15  And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.  (In spite of what people do to him.)

 

7.  He Is To Be An Example To The Flock - 2 Corinthians 6:3-10  Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,  By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;  As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;  As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

 

1 Timothy 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

 

8.  He Is To Fellowship With The Flock - John 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:12  And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;