Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2006 : October 22, 2006

Theme: Be All Things to All People

Church year occasion: Pentecost 20

Do you read The Reader's Digest? In one section entitled "Word Power" your goal is to increase your word power, your understanding and usage of different words. One word found there was megalomaniac. It's a person who is overly impressed with his own importance. We've all met one or two. They live by the creed, "I'm important; I'm my own person; I do what I want; nobody tells me what to do; nobody owns me. So look out world, I have arrived." Our self-sufficient American society seems to breed people with that attitude. Just ask Europeans these days.

At first glance, St. Paul might appear to be a megalomaniac. He says, "I am free and belong to no man." But just as you can't judge a book by its cover, let's not judge Paul by one statement without looking at the context. There were religious people who were trying to make Paul continue to observe the Old Testament worship laws, like worshiping only on Saturday, the Sabbath; making all the prescribed animal sacrifices; not eating this or drinking that. But Paul understood something they didn't: The Old Testament worship laws were designed to prepare people for and point people toward the Savior which God had promised. When the Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, arrived, those laws were done away with. Paul is here stating that he is no longer governed by those laws and no one could tell him that he was, although many were indeed saying that. They were taking those Old Testament laws from the Bible, even adding some of their own, and trying to bind people's consciences with them. Paul says, "I belong to no man."

But it's important to read on: "I make myself a slave to everyone." No one could make him a slave to anyone. But he would voluntarily make himself a slave to everyone. Paul was ruled by Jesus Christ and his command to love one another. How to love one another is summarized by God in the Ten Commandments. Jesus repeatedly taught those commandments, the moral law. He did not teach the ceremonial laws dealing with worship, nor the civil laws of the Old Testament. But he did teach the moral laws which are summarized in two ways: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Paul was human. He had his likes and dislikes. But he didn't let them get in the way of sharing the message about Jesus. So, this is what he did: To the Jews, I became like a Jew. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law). Paul himself was a Jew by birth. He was well acquainted with the strict Jewish religious observances and laws. In fact, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, one of the most zealous for keeping the Old Testament laws and the tradition of the elders. But when he came to understand that the purpose of all those ceremonial laws was to foreshadow the coming of the Savior, Paul set aside his Jewish customs and false beliefs. But he wanted his fellow Jews to understand and trust in Jesus also, so he did not immediately trash the Jewish customs and practices. He continued to worship on Saturday, the Sabbath, while trying to convince his fellow Jews that the purpose of the Sabbath was to set their minds on the Savior God would send. The same applied to circumcision and the dietary laws. He had the freedom to observe them or set them aside. Depending on whom he was dealing with, he became all things to all people.

He then says, "To those not having the law, I became as one not having the law." When he was dealing with non-Jews, called Gentiles, who were not raised with these Old Testament laws, he didn't even bring them up.

He also said, "To the weak I became weak." There were new Christians whose faith and knowledge were not very strong. Paul earlier gives a concrete example of this. In Paul's day, those who worshiped false gods often sacrificed animals to them. But not all of the meat was burned up. Some of the meat of the animals was later sold in the marketplace. Paul knew that he had the right to eat the meat because those idols were nothing anyway. They didn't exist. Only one God exists -- the true God of Scripture. But he also had to be concerned about the impression he was giving to others who were watching him, especially new Christians who still thought it was a sin to eat the meat that had been sacrificed to an idol. By seeing Paul eat that meat, they could get the wrong impression that Paul thought worshiping an idol, or at least participating in that worship by eating the sacrificial meat, was okay. That would cause them to go against their conscience. So even though eating the meat wasn't wrong in and of itself, it became a sin because they thought it was wrong and did it anyway. And then Paul would be seen as leading them into that sin. So, in order not to harm their faith, Paul gave up eating that kind of meat. He became all things to all people.

How does all this apply to us today? It applies in all kinds of ways. Consider: What would you do with a member who doesn't like the style of worship music that you like? Maybe he likes traditional things like hymns and chanting psalms, but you like a more contemporary style of music. Would you make it your crusade to make sure that your preference is what happens in church, that the vast majority of songs in the worship service were contemporary? Or, would you not only admit that there are many good traditional hymns and other aspects of traditional worship, but also make sure that is what is played in church because you want to serve your fellow Christian and not lord your preference over others?

What about people who don't raise their kids the way you would? Maybe their kids are disruptive in church. Do you give them a dirty look, glare at them, or make it obvious that their kids are disrupting your worship time? Not if you want to be all things to all people. Instead, talk to them, encourage them to keep coming and the kids will get better, get to know them better, and maybe even offer to help them with their kids.

And those are just a few examples from our worship service. Now think about all the ways that you can serve your fellow Christians by being all things to all people. One big problem we have today is people of the opposite sex living together before marriage. They usually say that they aren't doing anything -- they're just trying out marriage to see if they are compatible. But even if they aren't using the blessing of sex that God meant only for marriage, which is seldom the case, not only should they be fleeing temptation, but they should also be thinking about what impression they are giving to others. Others would think that having sex before marriage must not be that bad because even Christians are doing it these days. In that case, the weak Christian would be led into sin. In being all things to all people, we need to think of what others may be thinking, and change our behavior accordingly.

But being all things to all people doesn't mean being wishy-washy and weak-kneed. One of Aesop's fables tells of a man and his son on the way to the market. The man rode the donkey and the boy walked. Someone complained that the healthy man should let the weak boy ride. So they traded places. Then someone complained that the strong boy should let his elderly father ride. So they both walked. Then someone complained how stupid that was because someone should use the donkey. They arrived at the market, both of them carrying the donkey. They were trying to please everyone. Being all things to all people is not trying to please people by doing everything they say or suggest. It's trying to put yourself in the place of the boy when you are talking to the little boy. It means taking time to find out the background of the one violently opposed to church and God. It's being patient, understanding, compassionate and persistent.

Why? Why all the bother and trouble? Paul tells us: "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." Paul was not a megalomaniac who wanted people to follow him. He wanted people to love and follow Jesus. Paul believed firmly what Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He knew that there was "no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved." He knew that people had enough built-in animosity against God without him, God's spokesman, adding fuel to their fire. Paul did not want to give anyone further excuses or reasons for rejecting God and his Word because of Paul's actions. He wanted to serve others because Jesus had so completely served him. The same is true of us. God himself took on flesh to take away our sins. He didn't just walk a mile in our shoes; he lived as a servant for 33 years in a fallen world and then took all our sins on himself when he hung on the cross. He certainly thought of others more highly than himself. When we think of how much Jesus served us, we will then serve others in the same way.

Do we have the love for people that would make real changes in the way we do things when changes are necessary to reach more people with the message of God's forgiveness in Christ? Are you going to use the freedom which we have to insist that it be done "my way" or for others and the advancement of the gospel? God gives us the love to tell people the good news "by all means possible." Amen.