1 Cor. 9 ends with two key paragraphs in terms
of how Christians preach the gospel to all the nations. In v19 Paul makes a comment that he
illustrates in v20-23. Paul says I made myself the servant of all, that I might
win the more. He illustrates this by
describing his desire to win Jews, those under the law, those without law and
the weak. What he did was to become as these different peoples so
that he might win more of them. In the
end he claimed, I have become all things
to all men, that I might by all means save some.
What does this mean? It has been taken in all manner of directions
in designing ministries that often mirror the cultural likes and dislikes of
people in need of the Gospel. In the
case of Paul one thing evident is that, like Christ, he was willing to be with
people, to meet them where they were,
as many say. But at the same time it is
also evident he did not pattern his lifestyle according to those cultures so as
to win them. For example, he had Timothy
circumcised when he joined the team
so as to avoid an unnecessary stumbling block when dealing with Jews. But he never taught the necessity of
circumcision. Again, he associated with
Gentiles, those without the law (e.g. at Athens, Acts 17). But he did not live in a lawless way but
called them out of their lawless philosophies.
Remember our context of 1 Cor. 8-10.
The issue is to cause no unnecessary
stumbling block before those who need the gospel. Paul sought to love people by going to them
where they were; but he did not seek to replicate their lifestyle in his own
life to accomplish this.
Consider this from the life and ministry of
Christ. He did not tell the woman at the
well that she was pretty (John 4); he did not pat Nicodemus on the back and
tell him what a great man he was (John 3); he did not talk investments with the
rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23). He
loved each of them, meeting them where they were. And in different ways He confronted them with
their sin and the need to trust (follow) Him completely. Again, He dined both with religious leaders
and those considered sinners by the same
religious leaders. But He did not adopt
their lifestyle to reach them. To do so
would have destroyed the message itself.
In the closing paragraph of the chapter Paul
describes how serious and careful he was about the ministry of the gospel. He disciplined himself so as to serve Christ
in the best possible way, as a boxer or a runner must do to win in his sport. If we keep this in the larger context Paul is
saying we must work hard to live lives of love for those around us. The easy thing is to live for our own pleasure or according to our own rights but in the process we destroy
opportunities to be fruitful for Christ (John 15:4-5,16). It is hard for some evangelicals today to
understand: the big question in life is not about guns, public prayer or even
the right to life. It is possible to
engage people who disagree with us on all those issues for the sake of the
gospel. Let us examine ourselves, and
then discipline ourselves, for the sake of the gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment