Sermon Text:

We are continuing our series Growing in Grace, working our way passage by passage through the letter of 1 Corinthians. Through the apostle Paul the Lord is teaching us what it looks like to live a life transformed by the grace of God. Believers in Jesus have been given a new spirit and God is speaking to us through the words of the apostle Paul, instructing us and equipping us to the life he calls us to.

If you have your Bible, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 beginning at verse 19. If you are using the blue pew Bible, we provide it is on page 1194. If you do not own a Bible or have need of one, please take that one with you as our gift to you.

Over the past several weeks we have been looking at Paul’s teaching about how love and how the gospel change the way we should think about our rights and liberties in relation to others. In our text this morning Paul is continuing that point. As he closes out chapter 9 he also makes some well-known but often misunderstood comments that we want to look at carefully.

As we work through what Paul says there are three I want us to see.

1. The Gospel frees and equips believers to make disciples of all people.

2. Believers are to be intentional and disciplined in using our freedom.

3. The reward is worth it.

First, I want us to see that the Gospel frees and equips believers to make disciples of all people. Let’s start with verse 19,

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 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. 21 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. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Paul begins by telling us that he is free from all. He doesn’t mean that he thinks there are no rules that apply to him or that he is free from his obligations to God. We can see that from verse 21 where he says he is under the law of Christ. Let’s keep in mind the context. Paul is saying that he is free in Christ from all the worldly limitations on his ministry. His calling as an apostle is not dependent upon anyone other than God. Remember back in chapter 4 he said,

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. He says, It is the Lord who judges me.

He is free from all men, but what does he do with that freedom? He says, I have made myself a servant to all.

It is important to remember that the social dynamic in ancient Corinth. First, Roman society, like nearly all pre-modern civilizations, was built upon slavery. This slavery was different in several respects from the system of slavery that existed in the America’s, but it is still true that ancient slaves were the property of their masters. That meant that they had no right to pursue their own will, they were always to do the will of their master.

These slaves could become freedmen if they were released or if they bought their freedom. One way to earn freedom was through military service and Corinth had a large population of Roman veterans, many of them being freedmen. Paul is writing to a group that included full citizens, slaves, and those who had become free. These folks understood what the difference was and the value of freedom.

There would also were Jewish converts in this church. The Jews had slavery as well, but even those who were free Jews lived under the restrictions of the Law prior to becoming Christians. They too knew the value of being liberated when they came to Christ.

So, it is quite a powerful image that Paul uses when he says that though he was free he made himself a slave. One of the primary desires of most people in this society to either gain their freedom or protect it and here Paul says that he uses his freedom to make himself a slave to all.

Friends, all of us are born enslaved. We are slaves to sin. Apart from God’s grace we cannot even see it, but we are in bondage to sinful thoughts and desires. But whenever someone accepts Christ as their savior, when God opens our eyes and we repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus as our only hope for salvation, we are changed from being slaves to sin to being slaves to God. On the cross Jesus purchases us from our evil master and we become instead servants of God.

But Paul is saying something even more radical. He uses his freedom not only to be a servant to God, but to all. The apostle Paul who has been freed from the condemning power of sin and freed from the Law that accuses the unrighteous, uses his freedom to become a servant of sinners. Paul uses his liberty to serve those in bondage so that they might be freed.

That is what he says,

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

Because of the liberty he has as a Christian, he does not need to be concerned about matters of diet, dress, and custom that mark people as part of particular groups. Our culture is more fluid than it was in the 1st century, but we still have these cultural separations. We can still tell a lot about how a person identifies themselves and which social group they are associated with by the way they eat and dress.

I remember a few years ago in my other job, our team was working to land a large account that manufactured construction equipment. We flew out to the headquarters in Minnesota to make a presentation. We had studied the needs and knew we had an excellent solution for them and so we were pretty confident.

When we showed up in the lobby, The guys were wearing jackets and ties and the women were wearing business professional suits and dresses which was our normal dress code for customer presentations. We noticed, however, as we saw our competitors leaving that they were not dressed as usual. They were wearing jeans and casual attire.

As soon as we walked into the conference room, before we even said hello, I knew we were not going to get the business. Everyone in that room was wearing construction clothes. They had been laughing and comfortable as our competitors walked out but as soon as we entered the entire mood changed. It was going to be difficult for them to hear what we had to say because we just didn’t fit in.

The trappings of our business cultural made it more difficult for them to trust us. We got in the way of them hearing our solution because our team focused only on the message while our competitors took the time to understand who they were talking to.

The gospel frees Paul to avoid that kind of problem. The same gospel that equips him to do ministry also frees him and us to do it in a way that allows him to remove unnecessary barriers to communication. That was our first point, the Gospel frees and equips believers to make disciples of all people.

In verses 20 through 23 he gives examples of how he does this. He says,

20 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.

The gospel freed him from being under the law, but he knew that exercising that freedom would make him offensive to some Jews. It would be difficult for them to get past that to hear what he was saying so rather than insist on his rights, he would set them aside voluntarily so that he could witness to these Jews. He was careful not to offend them with anything unnecessarily.

He is respectful of their sensitivities. You know, he doesn’t roll in there on a chomping on a ham sandwich trying to pass out gospel tracts. He is not required to eat Kosher, but he is willing to do so to not make himself a distraction from the gospel message. He continues,

21 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.

Paul takes the same approach with gentiles. You probably couldn’t find anyone more Jewish than Paul. I imagine that there were many things about gentiles that he would have found uncomfortable, but the gospel frees him to bear with them for their sake. He says,

22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

The weak here are those with weak consciences and connects back to the conversation on meat offered to idols. He doesn’t want to add barriers to people hearing and growing in the gospel. That is why he says, I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

We talk a lot about not making people into projects. I am not against street evangelism or having an elevator speech ready, but I think the best approach is to really interact with people. Get to know them as people and listen to them. To do that effectively you want to be able to have a comfortable conversation. Paul is being intentional in how he approaches others with gospel conversations. We can do that same thing.

I want to pause here though because we need to be careful not to misunderstand this. The principal of becoming all things to all people so that some may be saved is frequently taken out of context and distorted into something quite different from what Paul is talking about. For example, in his book Church Marketing George Barna argues based on this passage and examples from Acts that the apostle Paul deliberately looked to remove barriers to his ministry

and sought to make himself and his ministry “relevant to the needs and interests of those he preached the Gospel to” and argues that churches today ought to be doing the same thing.

Many churches have taken his advice. These ideas that owe more to business school than the Bible have been used to transform many churches into places that try to make the worship of God more attractive by appealing to those who are not believers. This logic that uses alleged evangelistic opportunities to justify nearly any means has unfortunately resulted in all sorts of nonsense. The holiness of God and a reverence for Him has been displaced with a cool casualness and a pursuit of entertainment.

For example, to attract younger people back in 2019 the Norwich cathedral, an Anglican church in the UK that meets in a church building that is over 1,000 years old installed a carnival slide. NBC reported that “The first to christen the ride in early August was the very Rev. Jane Hedges, dean of the cathedral, who slid down amidst the bright lights and vibrant colors at least four times in the space of 15 minutes, all while wearing her traditional vestments while the organist blasted along an accompaniment.”

Admittedly, this is an extreme example, but you do not need to look very hard to find milder forms of this misapplication of Paul’s teaching being used to try and grow congregations. But this is not what Paul is not talking about. The context shows us that Paul is looking to remove barriers to his ability to share the gospel but not to the gospel itself.

His point is that he is willing to give up his own rights so that if someone is going to be offended, it will be at the message and not at him personally. He wants to remove barriers to his proclamation of the truth. He is not trying to make the message itself more attractive. He is looking to avoid undermining his ministry by offending people in addition to the preaching of the gospel. There is a big difference between the two.

The preacher Paul Washer gives us a powerful illustration of this. The church is the bride of Christ and Jesus loves her. To Him, she is beautiful, and he has given his life to make her that way. For a time, He has entrusted her to pastors who are to care for her and protect her until he returns for her.

What then do you think Jesus is going to say to those pastors who have taken her, painted up her face, and dressed her like a harlot to make her more attractive to as many lewd and carnal men as possible?

Paul never adjusted the message. He never downplayed the holiness of God or the doctrine of sin to make the gospel appear more attractive. He was not ashamed to proclaim the foolishness of a crucified Christ clearly and plainly. He knew he did not need to make the gospel relevant because the gospel is already relevant. There is nothing more relevant to any person than the eternal destiny of their soul.

Pastor John McArthur says,

“The Bible itself is eternally applicable, and it is infinitely more germane to the issues of life and godliness than topical humor, personal anecdotes, pop-culture references, literary analyses, viral videos, stage props, or any of the other gimmicks people nowadays tend to think of as necessary tools of spiritual “relevance.””

McArthur then points us to what God’s word says in 2 Timothy chapter 4,

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Paul’s point is that he would give up his own comforts and privileges so that he could preach the gospel. He wanted to do everything he could so that it could be clearly heard. He wanted access to people so that he could share the gospel with them. He knew what the stakes were.

We are all born enslaved to sin. We love to sin because that is in our nature. Some of us sin by open rebellion against rules of any kind. Others of us sin by pridefully pursuing an obedience that we think makes us better than others and impresses God. Both and everything in between leads to death and eternal punishment.

We were all in such spiritual darkness that there was no hope of finding our way out. Perhaps you are still there now. The word of God shines a light into that darkness showing us the way out. It points us to Jesus Christ and what he has done so that we can escape the darkness and be brought to God. Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God entered this world of death and darkness. Unlike every one of us, he lived a righteous life.

Then in an act of extraordinary love he took the place of every person who would ever put their faith in him as their substitute. He was arrested, tried, and convicted not for any sin of his own but for the sin of those who put their trust in him. He was tortured, killed, and separated from the Father, enduring the wrath of God against sin.

In a sense, we can say he experienced hell so we would not have to. He suffered and died but then on the third day he rose again from the dead. By doing this he shows that he is greater than both sin and death. If anyone is secure in his hands, there is no safer place in all the universe. He is God and He is mighty to save!

Every one of us must put aside our own feeble attempts to earn righteousness or hide from God and instead run to Christ. Like Paul, it should be our passion to see others come as well so we can rejoice with them. They must come but how will they come if they do not hear? It is Paul’s concern, and it should be ours that we do not allow the joy of our liberties interfere with our greater joy in seeing souls rescued from hell by coming to Jesus.

This means we will passionately and intentionally pursue evangelism and discipleship without in any way distorting the gospel message or the sanctity of the church.

That brings us to our second point. Believers are to be intentional and disciplined in how we use our freedom. We can become all things to all people, but we must never lose sight of our own walk. Look at what Paul says beginning in verse 24,

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul uses several sports metaphors to illustrate his own discipline. Corinth hosted the Isthmian games, which for 1,000 years was second only to the Olympics. Paul probably made tents for participants and vendors associated with the games while there. So, he is drawing from real life things that most Corinthians would be familiar with.

Notice that his emphasis is not on victory so much as on how we compete. Only one person can win a race. For us, the person is Jesus Christ. He is the victor. Paul is not saying that we are in

competition with each other. He is calling our attention to the discipline and focus these athletes exhibit when performing.

Everyone who performs at that level runs so that they can win. They do their best to be prepared. That is his point. Think about how focused a high-level athlete is. The hours of intense training, the modifications to their diet, and studying opponents are all tightly managed to give them the best chances of winning. They worked that hard for a wreath, our work is aimed at eternal glory.

We do not want to waste our time like one who is boxing the air. We want each blow to land where it is aimed so we are effective and do not get worn out. We are to run hard, with every exertion moving us toward the finish line, leaving it all on the field, giving all we have.

Paul says he is disciplined so that after preaching to others he is not disqualified. For several reasons, I don’t think he is talking about final salvation. He is talking about his ministry as an evangelist. It is like what he said when discussing ministry back in chapter 3:13–15 when he says,

13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

He wants to be sure that he builds well. This isn’t only a warning for evangelists and preachers. All believers are called to share in the work of building the kingdom. We cannot proclaim salvation from sin and holiness if our lives testify that such realities play little part in our own experience.

We can understand that a person may be sick and choose not to take their medicine. That might not be any of our business. If, however, we learned that a doctor who was infected with a contagious and deadly disease refused the treatment they prescribed to others, how much confidence would we have in them? If our own well is too dry to refresh ourselves then neither can we draw from it to refresh others.

We should seek to be so satisfied in Christ that everything else flows from that. That is why Paul is willing to make himself a slave, because his greatest satisfaction and joy comes from Jesus. That is also why he does not feel any need to adjust the gospel to make it more attractive. It is the unaltered gospel that invites sinners to give up the hopeless pursuit of achieving their own righteousness and instead accept the righteousness that God offers as a free gift.

Paul is therefore intentional in how he lives in light of that gospel and focused in how he thoughtfully prepares himself to share it because the gospel leads to Jesus. That leads us to our final point. The reward is worth it.

There is no higher honor in the universe than for our Father to use us as a tool in His sovereign hand to bring others into His kingdom. What reward could be more amazing than meeting people in heaven who are there because God was pleased to use us to share Christ with them? I cannot think of anything. In verse 23 Paul says, 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Paul says his motivation is that he will get to share with others in the blessing of the gospel. What does it mean to share in the blessings of the gospel?

The Bible tells us about many gospel blessings. In the Gospel we have forgiveness, righteousness, sanctification, and the promise of resurrection. We also have many gifts that flow from these realities. But I don’t think that forgiveness, justification, or even eternal life are the greatest of the blessings we receive. All these things are means to something else. The greatest blessing of the Gospel, the most amazing, profound, deepest, and best blessing of the gospel is that by it we are brought to God Himself.

We gain union with Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that we may ultimately be reconciled to the Father. The greatest blessing of the Gospel is that God delights in us, and we will worship and delight in him forever. The greatest blessing of the gospel is God Himself.

Whatever the gospel demands of us, it will be worth it. As we leave this week let us consider our own relationships. What opportunities do we have to be intentional so that the gospel can be heard? Let’s pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and insight into this.

Amen