All things to all men!

1Co 9:19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.

1Co 9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law;

1Co 9:21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.

1Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.

1Co 9:23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Corinth was the most important city in Greece during Paul’s day, it was a bustling hub of world wide commerce, degraded culture and idolatrous religion. There Paul planted a church. A church right in the mist of a pagan gentile city. How was Paul going to reach a people that had no church structure no set bylaws no constitution and no committees to tell them how a church should be run? Should he run the church as they do in Jerusalem? Maybe he would need to operate this new church on the traditions he had grown up with.

I’m pretty sure that Paul would have to change the method of what he knew of church, or to what would be attractive and appealing to the people of Corinth. His message would be that of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, nothing more or less, but he knew that he would have to change his method for this church to grow. After all growth is what every church is looking for. If you don’t grow you die. And by showing the love of Christ he would be able to reach the city for Christ. What an awesome task! How to start a new work in a pagan environment. But without growth it would not succeed.

The same is true today, if the church doesn’t grow it dies, a long slow sometimes painful death. People are leaving the church today because of music, preaching or songs. The music has changed or they don’t like not singing the old hymns. (Let me say here that I love the old hymns as much as anyone. And I am so grateful to God that I was raised on the old hymns, and they have been taught to my children) Or they complain that the music is too loud or different from what they knew as kids in church many years ago. Do we not see that the church is an entity that is alive and needs a methods change to grow and live? I hear people say that they aren’t being fed by the preaching, wow are we listening to the message or has the hidden sins in our lives plugged our ears? The message of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified can never change, but we sometimes need to change our way of going to work for the sake of the cross of Christ.

Paul said that He was all things to all men so he might win a few. That doesn’t mean he was using the same method with everyone he witnessed too. 1Co 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. God is revealing Himself to a new generation of believers today. And I truly believe that He is using every method (new and old) that He has. What God used to reveal Himself to you may be very different from what He used to reveal Himself to me. I once won a brother to God by telling him stories from the word of God. I didn’t quote the scripture word for word I spoke to him in East Tenn. hillbilly language. It would have never worked in today’s church but today my friend is my brother and he is on the highway to heaven along with his family. He couldn’t understand The King James translation but he sure understood that God was revealing Himself to him by those stories.

Our method has to change to keep up with those whom God is revealing Himself too and we must be willing to accept however God is going to do the work, even if the music has changed. Today’s youth is the new life line for the Church, their worship is pure and undefiled before the Lord and they have a genuine desire to worship. Maybe we the elders could learn from the generation that God has called to usher in His Kingdom.

Isa 40:30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,

Isa 40:31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Pray about it

Pastor Phil