Read the Book: July - SeptemberSample

Week 38

1 Corinthians 9

Mission-Focused Living

Verses 19-23 focus on Paul utilizing his freedom in Christ to model Christ’s humility (see Philippians 2:5-11) to put others before himself with the goal to win as many people as possible to Christ. At first glance, verses 20 and 21 seem like Paul is telling us to be people-pleasers, but that’s not it; rather than wanting to win the approval of men, his approach is motivated by being a servant to everyone, humbly in love. He wants others to see his love for Christ and the way that his life is led by the Spirit so that others will desire to also submit their lives to Jesus (see Galatians 2:20).

The thing that strikes me the most in these 4 verses though is that Paul sets an expectation for himself in his efforts to win people to Christ: rather than saying “I’m going to become all things to all people, and therefore, I will win over all people,” he says that he will go to these great lengths to relate to and reach people so that he might “save some.” He knew that some people would hear his message and choose not to accept it. He did not have a false expectation of perfectionism that his efforts would lead to a 100% acceptance rate, nor did he selfishly believe that he had the power to change the hearts of men. He knew that he was simply a chosen instrument of God’s to be used to share a message of grace and salvation that he simply couldn’t not share.

How do we apply this type of thinking to our own mission-focused lives? We have to be secure in our identity in Christ, as Paul was, and we have to heed Paul’s encouragement to the early church to grow in our maturity in Christ. Attempting to be all things to all people for the sake of the gospel requires both humility (dying to self) and maturity that hopes for the salvation of others, seeing the best in others, and coming alongside them to help understand God’s love. Our own experience with Jesus ought to compel us to eagerly share the Good News with others who may not know Him yet, in hopes that some will choose to join the rich inheritance of eternal life with the King of Kings.

Family Connection: Have a short race! Three-legged, hopping on one foot, crab walk - your choice! What was the point of the race? To win! Paul tells us to live like we are in a race. We should train and work hard as Christians to know more about who God is and tell the people around us about Him. But how do we train? We can learn God’s word and pray. Learning more about God is a great way to prepare for our race!