Becoming All Things to All People
Download MP3I invite you to open your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 9. 1st Corinthians 9. We're not gonna read through the whole chapter, so let me, as you're turning there, just kind of give you the context for what we're about to read. Paul, he begins chapter 9 with a defense of his apostleship,
Jeffrey Heine:which is
Joel Brooks:kind of crazy because apart from Paul, there would not even be a church in Corinth, but there were actually those in the church that doubted his authority. It's not that they didn't appreciate Paul. They didn't value his opinion or anything like that. It's just that he did not look the part of an apostle. He was weak in his presence.
Joel Brooks:He did not even charge the Corinthians for his teaching. I mean, every teacher charged for his teaching, but Paul didn't do that. Instead, he made his money just by making tents, doing mindless manual labor. So surely an apostle doesn't do that. Surely, that's beneath the work that God has for an apostle.
Joel Brooks:So Paul gives his defense. Actually, it's way more than a defense. What Paul is going to do is lay out for us a strategy for all of life, not just for him, but for all believers and how they should go about living their lives. And he is challenging the Corinthians to follow his suit. So first Corinthians 9, we will begin reading in verse 19.
Joel Brooks:For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law. They're not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law.
Joel Brooks:Not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I've become all things to all people that by all means, I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. If you would pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, we pray that we would see your son, Jesus, clearly, that your holy spirit would illuminate the text in front of us, and that we would hear you talking to us, calling us to yourself. May Jesus indeed be lifted high in this place. May our entire view of living be transformed by what we hear. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Last week, we got to see how Paul laid down his rights in order to serve and to love those within the church. And now Paul is gonna tell us how we need to lay down our rights to love and to serve those outside the church. How how love can extend past the walls of the church into the lives of unbelievers.
Joel Brooks:And so Paul says in this famous passage of scripture that he becomes all things to all people so that by any means, by all means, he might save some. Now, this verse has been unfortunately been grossly used out of context over the years. So let me give a few qualifiers here. Paul is not saying something like, to the sexually immoral, I became sexually immoral in order to reach them. Or to the greedy, I became greedy in order to reach them.
Joel Brooks:He's not giving you permission to go out and be as worldly as possible. He's not saying go out, get drunk with your friends and blame him because of it saying I'm just becoming all things to all people. This is not Paul's version of when in Rome. You know, when in Rome and do as the Romans do and blend in, fit in. What he is saying here is that he adapts.
Joel Brooks:He adapts his personal taste. He adapts his behaviors. He even adapts some of his personal convictions. All in order to share the gospel. If he has a right, a right that is acting as a barrier, he's not gonna exercise that right.
Joel Brooks:Instead, he is gonna remove it and act in love all so that he might share the gospel. Now I realize that this feels pretty un American to to lay down your rights, And that's okay because the Corinthians were thinking it was pretty un Corinthian as Paul was telling them this. We have such a hard time, especially in America, understanding or really grabbing onto this because rights means so much to us. We have a bill of rights. We're all about our freedom and our rights.
Joel Brooks:And Paul, he's not saying that rights are wrong. He is all about some rights, some fundamental rights that he thinks every human should have. But what he is saying here is if those rights hinder your ability to communicate the gospel, lay them down. Lay them down. Do not let your rights define who you are.
Joel Brooks:Your identity's not built on rights. So when you became a Christian, Paul is saying you lost your identity. You lost your identity and you were given a new identity. Jesus has now become the defining quality in your life. And because of this, you are now free.
Joel Brooks:You are free to adapt yourself to any circumstance or to any environment out there because your identity no longer has anything to do with that circumstance or that environment. You've been given a new identity. Your identity is not in being an American. Your identity is not in the latest fashion or the latest designer jeans or shoes. Your identity is not in your political party.
Joel Brooks:It's not in your sports team. Your identity is not in your neighborhood where you live. It's not in your job. Your identity is that you belong to Christ. And because of this, you can now change.
Joel Brooks:You can freely move in and out of all of those other things because they don't define you. Your identity is not rooted in them. Does this make sense? Paul's whole argument is built off of this. And now before before Jesus reached down and actually saved you, your identity was being built on those things.
Joel Brooks:Many many of us here, we tried to become all things to all people, not in order to save them, but as a way of self preservation. We became many of those things we wanted because we actually were looking for an identity. So when you were in high school, you needed to look a certain way in order to blend in with a certain group. In order to be accepted by that group. The first time that you were with a group of people, and you laughed at a joke that you did not understand at all.
Joel Brooks:Why did he do it? You didn't wanna stand out. You you were trying to blend in. You were becoming all things to all people as an act of self preservation. You're looking for an identity and so you laugh at something that you have no idea what the joke was about.
Joel Brooks:Now Paul says that in Christ, you've been freed from that. You're not looking for an identity. You've been given an identity. You know where you belong. And because your identity is with Jesus, you can now freely become all things to all people in order to win them.
Joel Brooks:Not as an act of self preservation, but as an effective way of sharing the gospel. You don't become all things to all people in order to get something from them. That's what politicians do. You you become all things to all people because you want votes. We are becoming all things to all people in order to give something to them, to give them life, to share with people Christ.
Joel Brooks:So for Paul, this meant that to the Jews, he could become a Jew, become as a Jew, in order to win the Jews. Somewhat confusing because Paul was a Jew. I mean, he he was a Jew. Alright. He didn't have to try that hard.
Joel Brooks:What does it what does he mean here when he says, to the Jews I became as a Jew? Well, for Paul, what this primarily meant is he still continued to submit himself to Jewish leadership, and to Jewish discipline, when he didn't need to. He's still identified as a Jew. And so, this is how it played on Paul's life. Over and over again, you see Paul being arrested, and Paul being punished.
Joel Brooks:He was primarily arrested and punished, not by the Romans, but by the Jews. This is what you see over and over again, that Paul is not being arrested by Roman guards, but by temple guards. Guards who worked for the Jewish priest. So if Paul wanted to be part of the community, if he wanted to be part of that Jewish community, what he was saying is I'll submit by your rules and I will endure whatever discipline you give to me. And so, he was given discipline.
Joel Brooks:The harshest form of discipline that the Jews could hand out was to lash someone. The most severe form of discipline was was to go under the whip and you could receive 39 lashes. Paul endured that 5 times. We read this in 2nd Corinthians 11, when he says, 5 times I received at the hands of the Jews. At the hands of the Jews, not the Romans, the 40 lashes less one.
Joel Brooks:195 lashes, Paul received. The guy was a walking piece of scar tissue. It had to hurt, not just obviously when he received it, but it probably hurt him for the rest of his life as he dealt with the scars from that. And here's the deal. Here's here's what boggles the mind.
Joel Brooks:Paul at any point could have opted out. At any point, He could have just said, I'm done with this being Jewish thing. I no longer submit to that authority. And after all, why would he not walk away? He did not need the Jewish faith anymore.
Joel Brooks:He didn't need to go to the temple because Jesus replaced the temple. Jesus was now his access to God. He didn't need to go and make sacrifices because he believed Jesus was his once and for all sacrifice. He didn't need the Jewish faith anymore, but he submitted to it. He endured all of that when all it brought was pain.
Joel Brooks:But he could've walked away at any point. Why didn't he? Because it gained him access. Access to the Jewish people. Access to, the synagogues.
Joel Brooks:It gave him the ability to communicate to the Jewish people in a way he could not communicate if he had left them. And so, if it brought pain, it brought pain. But, he would do whatever was necessary in order to win people for Jesus. He would lay down whatever right he had, like the right to not be beaten. He would lay that down all for the sake of the gospel.
Joel Brooks:That's what that's what Paul means here. That's what he means when he says he becomes all things to all people so that he might, by all means, save some. He doesn't mean that he becomes all things to all people in order to save his own skin or of self preservation, he becomes all things to all people in order to save them, not himself. And so, when Paul does this, when he's around people, let's say, who are keeping the law, Paul says, fine. I could keep the law.
Joel Brooks:I'll keep the dietary restrictions you have. I'll observe the Sabbath like you have. And he does it as a way of reaching those people. When he's with the gentiles and they're eating whatever they want, Paul's like, pass the bacon. That's great.
Joel Brooks:You know? I'll I'll eat whatever you put before me, all to reach the Gentiles. Hey. Here here's the deal, people. We we're always trying to win people.
Joel Brooks:We always are. We're we're trying to win people. We're trying to convert people to our point of view. Always. So recently, somebody went to one of the new restaurants.
Joel Brooks:They're opening all up, you know, over Birmingham every other week and they went to this new restaurant and they said, they just had the best burger and they were telling me, I just had the best burger. And I said, well, you didn't because the best burger's at Shea Fon Fon. It's a fact. And the person goes, no. No.
Joel Brooks:I mean, it's it's really it's the best burger, and it's going on and on. It's like, I I hear what you're saying, but it's not better. I don't even need to go to the restaurant that that you want me to go to because I know it's fact. Chez Fanfon, best burger, grilled onions, the the the French fries, everything matched perfectly with it. Grilled bun.
Joel Brooks:It's it's phenomenal. And then I'm thinking as a person still trying to convert me, I'm thinking, why is that person trying to convert me? And then I'm thinking, why am I trying to convert them? Why is this so important that I'm so passionate that I want that person to understand what, of course, we all know is true. The chevaux bomb burger is undeniably the best burger in Birmingham.
Joel Brooks:But but we try to convert everybody to our point of views, to our political views. We try to convert people to the music we like. You know, I've had random people come up to me and be like, why, why is the only thing you listen to you too? And I'll say, well, why do you care? You know, Why?
Joel Brooks:Why are you trying to convert me to whatever you want to listen to, you want me to listen to? But whatever we believe is right, we try to convert people to it, And, and that's all fine and good. But, but there can be a problem. That's what Paul's getting at. There can be a problem.
Joel Brooks:The problem is this. Some people will never convert to the gospel because they think you're asking them to convert to all of these other things. Some people don't even hear the call to the gospel because you're so much louder on the call to convert to all these other things. And the truth is, you have so aligned yourself to a certain political party, or so aligned yourself to a certain political position, or to a certain way of schooling or homeschooling or raising your children, or even to us to listen to certain music, or to certain levels of modesty and what modesty means in how you dress. You you are, you have so aligned yourself with that, that people, they confuse a call to Christ with a call to all of those things.
Joel Brooks:They think you're calling them to convert to a package deal. So they confuse your call to Christ with a call to have to like casting crowns. You you you have to now, like, you know, burn all your old music and and or what do you do now? Just you literally you just delete it. Move it to the trash.
Joel Brooks:Or they have to give up their political party. They have to give up their view of health care. Give up their view of schooling, how they should raise their kids. They have to give up all of that. They that's what they hear you're asking them to do.
Joel Brooks:They can't even hear Christ because of all the other things you've aligned yourself with. And Paul is saying this. Those things is fine if you believe them. They cannot be the identifying markers in your life. They cannot.
Joel Brooks:If you want people to hear the gospel, Christ has to be the identifying marker in your life. Those things can become massive barriers to some people. Now I know some of you are thinking it sounds like Paul and me are are saying that, we're asking you not to be true to who you are, not to be true to yourself. Hear me. That that is not at all in saying, I'm not at all saying you need to hide who you really are.
Joel Brooks:Paul is saying here, don't, not for you to hide who you are, but for you to show who you really are. And that you're Christ. Your identity is in him alone. Everything else, or most everything else there is just preference. What matters to you is Jesus.
Joel Brooks:So if you are as straight laced as they come, but you were to choose to grow out a beard, wear a bell bottom jeans, listen to the Doobie Brothers, all so you can reach some hippies. Alright? Let's say that that's what you do. You can still be true to yourself. Even if you're as straight laced as they come, you could still be as true to yourself.
Joel Brooks:Why? Because who are you? You're Christ. You're Christ. And, all you're giving up is your preference, not your identity.
Joel Brooks:That's what Paul's talking about here. I've shared this before, but, I got to see this in some way or live this out in some way. The first time I ever drank alcohol, I was 28, 29. I can't remember exactly when it was. And my neighbor, I just had a new neighbor move in who I I knew drank.
Joel Brooks:And so I thought, why not, I'm gonna build a bridge there. And so, I went and I got some beer and I went over to his front porch. And, I didn't choose not to drink before because I thought it was evil. I did in high school, but you know, I'd moved past that. I didn't think it was evil.
Joel Brooks:Just I preferred not to do it. And now, it became a way of building a bridge. And so, I had my first beer as a way of sharing the gospel with my next door neighbor. I had to lay down what I preferred. What I preferred, all in order to reach someone.
Joel Brooks:I didn't want my identity to be bound, in that I'm a guy who doesn't drink. That was a sacred cow that I just needed to to put behind. Now, once again, Paul is saying, and I I just I have to be clear about this. He's not saying you act in such a way that's outside of biblical guidelines. He is not saying that, but he is saying that you will, at times, have to go against your preference.
Joel Brooks:You will, at times, have to lay down your rights. Do you think Paul preferred receiving a 195 lashes? Absolutely not. But he found it necessary in order to share the gospel. Now, if Paul was alive today, he would have absolutely hammered on this.
Joel Brooks:I mean, he already devotes an entire chapter, in 1st Corinthians. He didn't write in chapters. He he wrote a a long segment in his letter. Alright? Already, he devoted it to it.
Joel Brooks:But if he had been lied today, he would have devoted even more time to this because of how we use social media. Because back then, if you wanted to know Paul, you you actually would have had to spend time with Paul. Okay? You you would have actually had to spend time with him to know what music he likes, to know how he worships, to know any kind of political views. But now, we all know what one another eats.
Joel Brooks:We know every concert we go to. We know the political party we support. We know our views of every political issue. And hear me. It's fine that you have those beliefs and you vote your conscience and you do that absolutely fine.
Joel Brooks:But let me put as fine of a point as I can on this. Before you post anything on social media, I want you to be thinking of that non Christian, that unbeliever who you are friends with or who follows you, and ask yourself, will this help win them to Christ or will it act as a barrier to them? Before you post anything, ask yourself that question. By trying to win people to your position, you very well might be losing people to Christ. And who really cares if you convert people to your position and they remain lost?
Joel Brooks:And by the way, you can never convert somebody to your position through Facebook, all right? It never happens. You're either gonna support what somebody already believes or you're gonna anger the other people who don't. It's not a place for building bridges. But let me tell you, many barriers have gone up, and it has hindered your ability to communicate the gospel.
Joel Brooks:It has muddied the waters out there in the world as to what the gospel is and who Jesus is. And you need to be extremely careful in the things that you post. Think of who Paul was when he was on that road to Damascus. Everything changed for him when he met Jesus. Everything has changed for us when we met Jesus.
Joel Brooks:I mean, when Paul met the living, the radiant Jesus, his life was completely transformed. All the things that he once held dear, his Roman citizenship, his education, his heritage, his Jewishness, his strict adherence to the law, he said he now counts as loss for the sake of Christ. He actually says he counts them as rubbish. This is trash. All the things he used to find his identity in, he now says doesn't even matter.
Joel Brooks:He's now been given a new identity as a child of God and with this new identity is a new freedom. It's a new joy. And now, he can move in and out of any environment in any circumstance because his identity's rooted in Jesus. And he has such joy in sharing that with others. To the Jew, Paul became as a Jew.
Joel Brooks:To the Gentiles, he became as a Gentile. Actually, let's let's take time. We'll read these words again. Verse 19. Read carefully these words.
Joel Brooks:Every word counts here. As though I am free for all, I have made my for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law. Though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law.
Joel Brooks:To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I become all things to all people that, by all means, I might save some. Now, notice how Paul says that to the Jews, he became as one of the Jews, as a Jew.
Joel Brooks:Or to those outside the law, as one who is under the law. He becomes like them or as one of them. He's not actually becoming them. He's becoming like them or as one of them. But notice what he says when he comes to the weak.
Joel Brooks:To the weak, I became weak. He does not say to the weak, I became as one who is weak. No. He actually became weak. And he doesn't add the opposite, like he added to the other.
Joel Brooks:You know, to the Jews, I became as one of the Jews and basically to the Gentiles, I became as one of the Gentiles. He doesn't add the opposite. He doesn't say to the weak, I became weak and to the strong, I became strong. He just leaves it there. To the weak, I became weak.
Joel Brooks:Period. What Paul is doing here is he is recognizing that the presentation of the gospel has to match the Jesus Christ. We read these words in Philippians 2. Have this mind and yourselves that which is also in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Joel Brooks:That's the gospel. Hear me. There are a lot of things that Paul could have grasped onto tightly. A lot of rights he had. The rights of a educated Roman citizen could have taken you a long way.
Joel Brooks:The rights of an apostle. But he lays them down. He doesn't consider them something to hold on to, but he empties himself. Earlier in the chapter, he talks about laying down his right to be married. He's like, the other apostles are married, but I've laid down that right.
Joel Brooks:He lays down his right to eat whatever he wants. He lays down his right to charge the Corinthians for his teaching, all for the sake of the gospel. Now, lowering oneself, condescending like that, like this, was not something that was admired in the 1st century. I know, like, you know, presently, we we kind of admire these traits. We like it when a CEO or some famous leader humbles himself to kinda rub shoulders with average Joes there.
Joel Brooks:You know, that's that's endearing to us, but it was not endearing or admired in the 1st century. But Paul says, it's the way that we should live. We become weak, because God uses weakness for glory. Be honest here. When you picture the the great apostle Paul, the one who spread Christianity across the Mediterranean, the one who wrote a lot of the New Testament, one of the greatest minds in the last 2000 years.
Joel Brooks:When you picture him sowing, just sowing, do you think, you know, actually that's that's kind of a waste of time and talent, that you would you would stoop so low to do that. I I I struggle with that. I mean, I think for every hour he was doing that, he could have actually clarified a few issues in the bible. Alright? I mean, for every hour, I mean, wouldn't it have been nice if he just took maybe 15 minutes of extra time and just kinda wrote about baptism?
Joel Brooks:Settled it once and for all. Believers or infant. Okay? Just just, it would have taken one sentence of clarification. But he's he's he's sowing.
Joel Brooks:Or or to maybe write a little bit more about communion. Maybe write a paragraph more on predestination. You know, there's just there's a few things you just kinda wish your your time, Paul, could have been used better than sowing, doing manual labor, something so many other people could do. And Paul would say, could it? In 2000 years, we need to ask the same question because we are seeing the fruit of his labor.
Joel Brooks:God worked powerfully through a man who made himself weak, who made himself as nothing, a man who put down his rights. And Paul would later say, I'll only boast in how weak I am and how great God is to use such weakness for his glory. And he was always condescending, always moving down, because the presentation of the gospel needs to match the message of the gospel. There's always death before resurrection. Tell you, as I look at Paul's life and I hear the words that he he wrote, I have to ask myself this question.
Joel Brooks:What have I become, and why have I become it? I have become this all for the sake of this. Have I become all things to all men as an act of self preservation as a way of finding my identity? Or have I become all things to all men because I want them to see Jesus? Do I live my life in a way that calls people to convert to Christ, or am I constantly calling people to convert to all of these other things, and they cannot even hear my call to convert to Christ?
Joel Brooks:Do I gravitate towards wanting more power and holding on to my rights? Or do I consistently let go of power, let go of my rights, all for the sake of the gospel? Paul says, he does all of this in order that he might share with others the blessings of the gospel. Look at look at that last part, verse 23. We'll end here.
Joel Brooks:Says, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I might share with them in its blessings. Paul says, I will deny myself temporary preferences that exclude others in order to enjoy eternal blessings with as many people as possible. This is what drove Paul. He wants as many people as possible to enjoy the new life and the joy that he has. And that is his invitation to us.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Father, we desire to share in the blessings of the gospel with so many people. I pray that would become our priority. Lord, whatever rights we hold onto, I pray that you would give us the strength and the grace to let them go. Many of us here become all things to all people as an act of self preservation.
Joel Brooks:In order to get something from them. Free us from that. May we become all things to all people, because we have an identity so founded in you, that we are not defined by our environment or our circumstances. And we can freely share Christ. Jesus, we love you, and we thank you for the new life and the joy you have given us.
Joel Brooks:May we shout it loud and clear as we leave this place. In your name, Jesus. Amen.
