"All Things to All People"
“All Things to All People”
Rev Carolyn Waters
CCUM February 5, 2006
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
16If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
19For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20To 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 I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Paul was under fire by the locals. Not that unlike the way many people often feel about Paul today, his contemporaries were critical………..not just of the things he said, but the way he lived out his faith.
I’ve always liked Paul, a lot! He has some of the deepest wisdom for living a passionate Christian life of any of the Epistle writers. Of course, Paul has more pages attributed to him in the New Testament than any other individual so one would hope that here and there would be pearls of wisdom!
But one can also expect that someone so passionate will often say things that others disagree with, or that Paul might have even regretted speaking. I know there are several passages I regret Paul having spoken!
But this passage from Corinthians, gives ample opportunity for question and discussion.
“All things to all people!” What kind of clarity does that communicate about a conviction of belief? When with the Jews, be as a Jew? When with the Gentiles, be as a Gentile? Follow the law with those who follow the law, and then go outside the law with others? Be weak when others are weak, strong with others are strong.
Where is the clear and convincing behavior that identifies Paul as an apostle if he comes across so wishy washy?
Paul defends himself by proclaiming in verse 23 “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings”
Does that justify the lack of clarity in his stance of what it means to live out one’s faith?
From my current favorite New Testament scholar Wm Loader comes these words: (http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpEpiphany5.htm)
“Paul is eager to point out that he does not mean anything goes. This had always been the accusation: if you drop some parts of the Law, don't you invite lawlessness!? Fundamentalists have the same fear today about dropping any part of the biblical law. For Paul, the law of Christ demands much more than the biblical law, but it is also able to relate to new situations more flexibly, because its starting point is not rules but a central principle and relationship. Paul is arguing for flexibility. Notice that the underlying motivation is love. Paul puts it in terms of preaching the gospel and gaining people. His evangelism is not a numbers game, but one of drawing people into a relationship with this God who loves, and produces in people the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.”
Those are some thoughts worth thinking about!
The law of Christ demands much more than the biblical law.
The law is also able to relate to new situations with more flexiblity, because, because the starting point of the law is not rules but a central principle and relationship.
Paul,listen to this, PAUL is arguing here for flexibility.
The underlying motivation………for Paul, and he says for the Christian is love!
And then the gem of what Loader says is this:
Paul’s “evangelism is not a numbers game, but one of drawing people into a relationship with this God who loves, and produces in people the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.”
Thus the source of his words, “I have become all things to all people.”
I hesitate to pretend that I can do that. In healthy psychological terms I quickly think of the danger of co-dependency, taking care of the world, or pretending to take care of our little corner of the world. Too much! There are boundaries to respect, there are great concerns for safety, there are issues of dependency that prevent independence.
I can’t be in my living day to day, all things to all people. And in reality, Paul couldn’t either.
But in my belief system? In the things I hold as essential to my faith in God and my belief in humanity might there not be room for my heart to be big enough to attempt to understand those things I don’t understand. Might there be room enough in my heart to know that others have a story and a history and wounds too deep for words that make them the people they are. And in opening myself to the memory of kindness and gentleness, to the underlying motivation of the Christian faith which Paul says is Love, by rehearsing in my thoughts and actions that loving is more important than the laws or the rules or the tradition.
Might not Paul’s wisdom once again prove valuable by reminding us to remain flexible as we work on this vision of God’s Kingdom on Earth, of God’s presence among us and in us.
Might not I be challenged to be willing to be all things to all people in order that I might understand the presence of God within them, not just within myself?
Paul is sneaky! I think he’d be the first to be thrown out of the church today for disobeying the law.
He might even be one of the clergy brought up on charges for performing weddings that are against the law!
Gosh, I bet he would have gone to see Brokeback Mountain.
And I believe he would have been on the congress floor crying for peace.
Paul, in his being all things for all people in order to see the vision of God’s love in this world would have been a great panel member of interfaith discussions.
But finally what Paul was doing then, and what Paul challenges us to do now, is to see the world and its people through the eyes of God………….not through our own distorted and clouded eyesight.
To see beyond our assumptions, our prejudice, and our limited understanding of what is right and wrong. To be flexible with our ridged places, and generous with our love.
Rev Carolyn Waters
CCUM February 5, 2006
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
16If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
19For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20To 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 I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Paul was under fire by the locals. Not that unlike the way many people often feel about Paul today, his contemporaries were critical………..not just of the things he said, but the way he lived out his faith.
I’ve always liked Paul, a lot! He has some of the deepest wisdom for living a passionate Christian life of any of the Epistle writers. Of course, Paul has more pages attributed to him in the New Testament than any other individual so one would hope that here and there would be pearls of wisdom!
But one can also expect that someone so passionate will often say things that others disagree with, or that Paul might have even regretted speaking. I know there are several passages I regret Paul having spoken!
But this passage from Corinthians, gives ample opportunity for question and discussion.
“All things to all people!” What kind of clarity does that communicate about a conviction of belief? When with the Jews, be as a Jew? When with the Gentiles, be as a Gentile? Follow the law with those who follow the law, and then go outside the law with others? Be weak when others are weak, strong with others are strong.
Where is the clear and convincing behavior that identifies Paul as an apostle if he comes across so wishy washy?
Paul defends himself by proclaiming in verse 23 “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings”
Does that justify the lack of clarity in his stance of what it means to live out one’s faith?
From my current favorite New Testament scholar Wm Loader comes these words: (http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpEpiphany5.htm)
“Paul is eager to point out that he does not mean anything goes. This had always been the accusation: if you drop some parts of the Law, don't you invite lawlessness!? Fundamentalists have the same fear today about dropping any part of the biblical law. For Paul, the law of Christ demands much more than the biblical law, but it is also able to relate to new situations more flexibly, because its starting point is not rules but a central principle and relationship. Paul is arguing for flexibility. Notice that the underlying motivation is love. Paul puts it in terms of preaching the gospel and gaining people. His evangelism is not a numbers game, but one of drawing people into a relationship with this God who loves, and produces in people the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.”
Those are some thoughts worth thinking about!
The law of Christ demands much more than the biblical law.
The law is also able to relate to new situations with more flexiblity, because, because the starting point of the law is not rules but a central principle and relationship.
Paul,listen to this, PAUL is arguing here for flexibility.
The underlying motivation………for Paul, and he says for the Christian is love!
And then the gem of what Loader says is this:
Paul’s “evangelism is not a numbers game, but one of drawing people into a relationship with this God who loves, and produces in people the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.”
Thus the source of his words, “I have become all things to all people.”
I hesitate to pretend that I can do that. In healthy psychological terms I quickly think of the danger of co-dependency, taking care of the world, or pretending to take care of our little corner of the world. Too much! There are boundaries to respect, there are great concerns for safety, there are issues of dependency that prevent independence.
I can’t be in my living day to day, all things to all people. And in reality, Paul couldn’t either.
But in my belief system? In the things I hold as essential to my faith in God and my belief in humanity might there not be room for my heart to be big enough to attempt to understand those things I don’t understand. Might there be room enough in my heart to know that others have a story and a history and wounds too deep for words that make them the people they are. And in opening myself to the memory of kindness and gentleness, to the underlying motivation of the Christian faith which Paul says is Love, by rehearsing in my thoughts and actions that loving is more important than the laws or the rules or the tradition.
Might not Paul’s wisdom once again prove valuable by reminding us to remain flexible as we work on this vision of God’s Kingdom on Earth, of God’s presence among us and in us.
Might not I be challenged to be willing to be all things to all people in order that I might understand the presence of God within them, not just within myself?
Paul is sneaky! I think he’d be the first to be thrown out of the church today for disobeying the law.
He might even be one of the clergy brought up on charges for performing weddings that are against the law!
Gosh, I bet he would have gone to see Brokeback Mountain.
And I believe he would have been on the congress floor crying for peace.
Paul, in his being all things for all people in order to see the vision of God’s love in this world would have been a great panel member of interfaith discussions.
But finally what Paul was doing then, and what Paul challenges us to do now, is to see the world and its people through the eyes of God………….not through our own distorted and clouded eyesight.
To see beyond our assumptions, our prejudice, and our limited understanding of what is right and wrong. To be flexible with our ridged places, and generous with our love.
posted by Rev Waters | 8:43 AM
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