Review:
A “Whatever it Takes” Commitment:
1. Does not hold to convention
2. Is not hemmed in by circumstances
3. Does not heed convenience
4. Is not hampered by criticism
5. Does bring honor to Christ
We’ve spent the last four weeks applying these five principles to:
• Knowing God – Discipleship
• Loving God – Worship
• Loving Others – Fellowship
• Serving Others - Ministry
This week we’re going to see how we can do whatever it takes to reach others – evangelism.
I know that many of you have heard this story before, but I’m going to share it with you again because I think it illustrates an important principle very effectively.
The evangelist, Leighton Ford was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat on the grass at the rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses, no one recognized him. Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to the preacher. When he invited people to come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder and asked, “Would you like to receive Christ? I’ll be glad to walk down with you if you want me to.” The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, “Naw, I think I’ll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night.”
A lot of us have somehow gotten the idea that evangelism is the job of the big guns – people like Billy Graham or maybe even the pastor. But the Bible is really clear that every one of us who has received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is compelled to tell the Good News to others. So this morning, I’d like to help you in that task by sharing three principles that will assist us if we really want to do whatever it takes to reach other people for Jesus Christ.
Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
I DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO REACH OTHERS WHEN I…
1. Waive my ways in order to win the worldly
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. (v. 19)
For those of you that have been in our Sunday morning Bible study for the past several months, you will remember that this passage comes right in the middle of a larger section of Paul’s letter in which he is addressing the whole issue of giving up my rights for the good of the kingdom of God. In particular here in Chapter 9, Paul is addressing the issue of his rights as an apostle and how he has voluntarily given up those rights for the sake of the gospel:
If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:12 (NIV)
Paul begins and ends the passage we’re studying this morning by clearly laying out his motivations. It is clear that every principle that Paul is about to develop for us in this passage is motivated by his desire to win as many people as he can to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Motives are always important. In fact one of the oldest questions around deals with motives – “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Here are the answers several famous people gave when trying to discern the motives of the chicken:
AL GORE:
I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.
PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal a job from a decent, hardworking American.
DR. SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road?
Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes! The chicken crossed the road,
but why it crossed, I’ve not been told!
GRANDPA:
In my day, we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough
for us.
BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story of how it overcame a serious case of molting and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
KARL MARX:
It was a historical inevitability.
CAPTAIN KIRK:
To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define chicken please?
COLONEL SANDERS:
I missed one?
But no one could question Paul’s motives. He was willing to give up whatever rights he had in order to win the world to Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately for us, that is easier said than done. In fact we’ve talked about that several times in the last month because it seems that being willing to give up my rights has been a recurring theme in making a commitment to do whatever it takes in almost every area of my life.
I’m convinced that when it comes to evangelism, how committed we really are to reaching other people is revealed by how willing we are to give up our rights. You see, if we are as committed as Paul was to reaching other people for Jesus Christ, we won’t have a problem giving up any of our rights, or as I put it for the purpose of alliteration, waiving some of our ways.
Let’s face it, most of us are pretty stuck in our ways, but if we really want to win the worldly, we have to be willing to change some things, to give up some of our “rights”:
• Our “right” to associate only with people who are like us
• Our “right” to be comfortable
• Our “right” to relaxation
• Our “right” to use our financial resources however we want
• Our “right” to determine our own schedule
• Our “right” not to be bothered
The same principle applies to us as a church. So many times, we’re unwilling to make any changes in the way we do things as a church in order to make our church a more attractive and welcoming place for unbelievers. That doesn’t mean changing our purposes or our beliefs and I’ll address that in more detail in just a moment. But it does mean changing our mindset that says,” We’ve always done it that way and that’s what I’m comfortable with, so why should we change?”
So the first step in having a whatever it takes attitude when it comes to reaching others is that I have to develop an attitude that says I’m willing to waive some of my ways, to give up some of my rights, so that I can be in a position to win the worldly.
2. Connect with the culture without conforming my conduct
Paul had grown up a Jew. He followed Jewish customs. He learned from Jewish teachers. He associated with other Jews. So Paul was very comfortable with the Jewish culture. But then he had an encounter with Jesus Christ and the Lord called him to go and be an apostle to the entire world, but primarily to the Gentiles. So Paul had to learn to connect with cultures that were radically different than the one in which he had grown up.
Paul tells his readers that he has learned to connect with the various cultures God has called him to go and reach. To the Jews, he became like a Jew. To those under the law, he became like one under the law. To those without the law, he became like one without the law. To the weak, he became weak. And then in verse 22, Paul summed all this up:
I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (v.22)
If we’re not careful with this portion of our passage, we could really go off the deep end here. We could get the impression that Paul was just some wishy-washy guy that went along with the crowd and that he lived his life without any morals or principles. So exactly how did Paul connect with the culture around him without conforming his conduct? And how can I do that in my own life?
• Not by isolation
Sometimes as Christians, we have a tendency to isolate ourselves from the world. We hang out with other Christians, we frequent Christian businesses, we go to Christian schools, we read Christian publications and we listen to Christian music. Now there is certainly nothing wrong with any of those things in and of themselves. But the problem is that we often do those things to try to isolate ourselves from the “pagan” world around us.
We know Paul certainly didn’t take that approach. Just read through the book of Acts some time and you’ll see that Paul was familiar with the customs and practices of the various cultures around him. He used the things that were familiar to those people as a starting point to share the truth of the gospel with them.
In fact, the very idea that God sent his Son into this world was intended to be an example for us that we are not to isolate ourselves from the world around us:
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
John 17:18 (NIV)
Like Paul, we need to be students of the cultures around us. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to relate to them. And we can’t do that if we choose to isolate ourselves from them.
• Not by imitation
Even though Paul was familiar with the cultures around him, that didn’t mean he imitated everything they did. For instance, when he says that he became like one not under the law, he is very careful to let his readers know that didn’t mean that he became lawless. In this passage, Paul is primarily writing about religious customs and traditions, and not ungodly conduct. Paul makes it very clear in many of his other writings that we are not to conform our conduct to the point that our lives are no different than the unbelieving world around us:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world…
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:9, 10 (NIV)
• By Association
Apparently in the Corinthian church, there were some people who had taken the approach that they were not to associate with the immoral unbelievers in their community. So Paul addressed that issue directly in his letter:
I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
1 Corinthians 5:9, 10 (NIV)
In other words, we shouldn’t expect unbelievers around us to live like believers. Until Jesus Christ comes into their lives and changes them, they are going to behave in ways that are contrary to the way of life that followers of Jesus Christ seek to live. But how are they going to commit their lives to Jesus unless we’re willing to associate with them so we can reach them?
Now all this sounds great in practice, but in the real world it’s often difficult to find a way to associate with people that won’t tend to lead us into an ungodly lifestyle. I’ve found that in most cases, it takes an intentional effort on our part to find an appropriate avenue where we can associate with unbelievers while still maintaining a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.
For me, it’s officiating. Most of the other referees I work with aren’t believers. But almost every one of them knows I’m a pastor. And that has allowed me to have conversations about spiritual things in a non-threatening environment. Maybe for some of you, you can make those connections at work. Maybe it’s coaching a Little League team or being a Scout leader. Maybe it’s being part of a craft or sewing group. Think about the things that you like to do and then find a way that you can participate in those activities in a situation where you can have some interaction with some unbelievers.
If I want to reach others, I have to start with an attitude that says I’ll waive my ways to win the worldly. Then I find ways to connect with the culture without conforming to their conduct.
3. Modify my methods while maintaining the message
Now I know what some of you are probably thinking this morning. Pat’s talking about watering down the gospel. This is “Christianity lite.” I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth. If you read Paul’s entire letter to the Corinthians, it’s apparent that is not what Paul is trying to do here.
Let’s start with the last part of this principle:
Some things never change:
• Jesus
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
• God’s Word
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:23-25 (NIV)
• The Gospel
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NIV)
The Good News has not changed one iota in nearly 2,000 years. That’s why Paul was so adamant that any gospel other than the one that proclaimed the incarnation, crucifixion, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a false gospel that is not capable of saving anyone. So we have to make sure that in whatever we do, either as individuals or as a church, we don’t try to change the truth of the gospel.
On the other hand, we must constantly evaluate our methods and be willing to change them if we can be more effective in reaching others.
Can you imagine what Paul would think if he came to our worship service today? He’d come into the parking lot and wonder what all this back stuff is all over the ground. And then he’d have a hard time figuring out what these funny contraptions were that people were getting out of. And the way people are dressed! Then he’d come into the building to find indoor plumbing and electricity. And what about that music coming out of these black boxes hanging from the ceiling? How do they do that and what is that music? I could go on and on, but you get the point.
We live in a world that is constantly changing. There is new technology all the time. And due largely to that technology the body of knowledge is growing almost exponentially. And all that has an impact on how we can reach people for Jesus Christ.
Someone once said that the only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper. But if we’re going to continue to be relevant to our culture, the church needs to embrace change. I’m not talking about making changes just for the sake of change, but I am talking about being willing to look outside the box, to at least consider other ways of communicating the gospel to the world around us.
I think our church has done a pretty good job of that. For instance, since nearly everyone in our community has access to the internet, we have a website for our church. We’ve essentially replaced hymnals with a computer, video projector and PowerPoint. We live in a world that is increasingly illiterate when it comes to the Bible so we provide an outline of the message with most of the Scripture we use right in the outline. We try to incorporate contemporary music in our worship services.
Do you want to do whatever it takes to reach people for Jesus Christ? Then you need to start with an attitude that says I’ll waive some of my ways to win the worldly. You need to connect with our culture while not conforming your conduct to theirs and you need to be willing to modify the methods while maintaining the message.
Over the past six weeks, I’ve given you a lot of food for thought. Frankly, there is no way that any of us could take all of the principles I’ve shared and implement them in our lives all at once. I know that many of you have already incorporated many of these principles in your lives. But I’m also convinced that there is at least one area in each of our lives where we can do a better job of doing whatever it takes in our relationship with God and with others. And my prayer for you is that you won’t be like the person who came up to the pastor after the service one morning and said, “Pastor, that was a wonderful message. Everything you said applies to someone I know.”
So here’s what I want to encourage each of you to do. If you’ve kept your sermon outlines for the last 6 weeks, go home this week and take them out and go back over them again. If not, you can go to our church website and go to the “sermons” page and there is a link that will take you to the transcripts of all six messages. As you review the principles from these last six weeks ask God to show you one or two principles that you need to work on applying in your life. Then I want to encourage you to share that with someone else that can hold you accountable and pray for you as you work to apply those principles in your life.
It is not what men eat but what they digest that makes them strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; not what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians.
-Francis Bacon
To that I might add: “it is not what is preached, but what we practice that makes us Christians.”
Booker’s Law:
An ounce of application is worth a pound of abstraction.
