How Paul Benefited By Becoming All Things to All Men
Illustration:Suffering from terminal spinal cancer at the age or 47, former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano spoke with a reporter. He looked back on his life and told a story about himself as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team. "Why is winning so important to you?" the players asked Valvano.
"Because the final score defines you," he said, "You lose, ergo, you’re a loser. You win, ergo, you’re a winner."
"No," the players insisted. "Participation is what matters. Trying your best, regardless of whether you win or lose -- that’s what defines you."
It took 24 more years of living. It took the coach bolting up from the mattress three or four times a night with his T-shirt soaked with sweat and his teeth rattling from the fever chill of chemotherapy and the terror of seeing himself die repeatedly in his dreams. It took all that for him to say it: "Those kids were right. It’s effort, not result. It’s trying. God, what a great human being I could have been if I’d had this awareness back then."
Gary Smith in Sports Illustrated, quoted in Reader’s Digest.
Some people wonder if it is right to accommodate oneself to another culture for any reason. Paul the apostle wrote, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. . . To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (I Cor. 9:19-25)
1. Paul demonstrated cultural, emotional, and mental adaptability for God’s purposes. Few people are willing to adapt themselves to their situations because of the complexities involved. Thankfully, Paul’s flexibility in methods did not alter his obedience to God’s divine plans. When Paul went to a Jewish community he spoke, acted and thought in terms that Jews would respond best to.
Example: When Paul went to a city filled with Roman officials, he turned on his Roman citizenship mannerisms. By exercising a wide variety of social, cultural and religious contextual skills, Paul communicated truth in acceptable means.
2. Paul’ s flexibility evidenced a servant’s attitude. Most of us are not willing to alter our approaches to every person we meet because of discipline that is required. The great apostle came to all classes of people and races with an attitude of presenting the gospel in a way that would be most appetizing from their world-view. Be a student of other’s cultures for the sake of the gospel.
3. Paul curtailed his personal privileges to cross cultural barriers. It is not easy to work in a culture that is different from your own. However, Paul gave us a great example of a person who knew how to humbly surrender his cultural norms and temporarily take on the culturally acceptable practices of another people for the sake of Jesus.
ILlustration:IDENTITY
I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.
Lily Tomlin in Jane Wagner, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
In The Mask Behind the Mask, biographer Peter Evans says that actor Peter Sellers played so many roles he sometimes was not sure of his own identity. Approached once by a fan who asked him, "Are you Peter Sellers?" Sellers answered briskly, "Not today," and walked on.
Today in the Word, July 24, 1993.
Suffering from terminal spinal cancer at the age or 47, former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano spoke with a reporter. He looked back on his life and told a story about himself as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team. "Why is winning so important to you?" the players asked Valvano.
"Because the final score defines you," he said, "You lose, ergo, you’re a loser. You win, ergo, you’re a winner."
"No," the players insisted. "Participation is what matters. Trying your best, regardless of whether you win or lose -- that’s what defines you."
It took 24 more years of living. It took the coach bolting up from the mattress three or four times a night with his T-shirt soaked with sweat and his teeth rattling from the fever chill of chemotherapy and the terror of seeing himself die repeatedly in his dreams. It took all that for him to say it: "Those kids were right. It’s effort, not result. It’s trying. God, what a great human being I could have been if I’d had this awareness back then."
Gary Smith in Sports Illustrated, quoted in Reader’s Digest.
While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.
"Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.
The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, " You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.
It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.
Theology News and Notes, October, 1976, quoted in Multnomah Message, Spring, 1993, p. 1.
The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore (1821-1883) lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not. Dore insisted that he was the man he claimed to be. "All right," said the official, "we’ll give you a test, and if you pass it we’ll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be. His work confirmed his word!
Our Daily Bread, January 6, 1993.
4. Paul deprived himself of his right to material support from those he ministered to for the sake of the gospel. It is not easy to give up what is rightfully ours. Cries for human rights flood our newspapers, radios and televisions. However, Jesus laid aside His rights for our sake and we are to follow in His steps. "Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me."
5. Paul knew how to communicate with people from different backgrounds because he was a practical student of cultures. The Lord will never waste any of your efforts to study people views from their contextual viewpoint. In order to win the weak, Paul became weak through hunger, deprivation and sacrifice. Experience is usually the best teacher.
6. Paul accommodated himself to the Gentiles without sacrificing his principles. Paul’s ministry did not go past the point of compromising his obedience to the Lord and His will.
7. Paul became known as a person with many connections. The missionary apostle had connections in strategic places who assisted in the communication of the gospel of truth.
8. Paul did not exercise his Christian freedoms around people of weak conscience. By Paul’s undaunted willingness to temporarily give up his liberties, he opened up many new areas for the gospel.
9. Paul became the human standard for cross-cultural communications of the gospel. For nearly 2000 years Paul stands out as the best example of a man who successfully communicated Christ in contextual ways to people of different backgrounds than his own.
10. Paul’s fellowships replicated his own pattern of cross-cultural ministries. In Thessalonica it was said, "The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia - your faith in God has become known everywhere." (I Thes. 1:8) When we successfully communicated beyond the circle of our normal contacts our ministry is multiplied by the power of the Spirit.
Conclusion:The dilemma of an unclear sense of personal identity was illustrated by an incident in the life of the famous German philosopher Schleiermacher, who did much to shape the progress of modern thought. The story is told that one day as an old man he was sitting alone on a bench in a city park. A policeman thinking that he was a vagrant came over and shook him and asked, "Who are you?" Schleiermacher replied sadly, "I wish I knew."
Source Unknown.
We need to know who we are in Christ so we can identify with others for the sake of communicating Christ to as many as possible to save some.
