Well, if you will remain standing and take your Bibles and go to the book of First Corinthians. First Corinthians, chapter nine. First Corinthians, chapter nine, and our verses today will be verse 19 through 23. This is the word of the Lord. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became 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. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law. not being outside of the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. 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. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. This is God's word. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this day and for the gift of your scripture and the gathering of your people. And now, Father, we ask that you stamp with your own seal of approval and blessing on the reading and the preaching of your infallible word. Amen. Please be seated. Well, two weeks ago, we looked at the first half of chapter nine. And in that passage, we saw that the Apostle Paul stated his rights, his rights as an apostle, the right like other apostles to take a Christian wife and the right to be materially compensated by those to whom he was ministering. Beyond his rights as an apostle, he asserted his right to be paid for his ministerial services based on a number of reasons, not the least of which was that it was a common custom in all societies, and still is, thank goodness, at least for a while before they take all of our money. It's custom in all societies that a worker be compensated for his work. But we also saw that while Paul was vigorously asserting his rights, he was not relying on those rights to complete his responsibilities among the Corinthians. The right he ultimately rejected was the right to be compensated by the church for preaching the gospel. He didn't want some believer with a weak conscience to misunderstand his actions, and so he laid that right aside. And then last week in verses 15 through 18 in chapter 9, Paul reminded us that his reason for what he was doing was to preach the gospel. He said it was a necessity. a stewardship, something with which he had been personally entrusted by Jesus Christ and was thus compelled to do. And he rejoiced in the opportunity to do so free of charge. If you have lived overseas for any period of time, you can easily sympathize with Paul. It is sometimes very challenging to be of one culture and background while living in a completely different one. The apostle in spreading the gospel is straddling three cultures, Old Covenant Jews, that of Jewish Christians who live by the Mosaic law, and that of the Gentile Christians who were free from the law of Moses. He had to preach the gospel to all three groups while trying to bring them together in one community of believers, and all the while serving in a sensitive way as a pastor to those in both Christian groups who had weak consciences and needed special care. Paul was in the difficult position of ministering the same gospel message to three groups of people with significantly different theological backgrounds. He spent much of his time explaining to each group what it meant to be in and of Christ. And what were the consequences for their old way of life, either under the old covenant law or the way of the pagan gods? He probably asked himself many times what to do. How was the gap to be bridged? And Paul's strategy, as we shall see, was to make himself free of the minefields of picking sides between these three groups. indeed of all groups. His solution would be to make himself a servant for all. So let's go back this morning and look at each part of today's passage and see what else Paul has in store for us. Verse 19 says this, For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. I am free from all, he says. Earlier in this book, Paul has implied that he is no longer bound by the Jewish dietary laws. And earlier in this chapter, he has shown that he has no financial dependence upon the Corinthian church. But make no mistake, this is not absolute freedom to do anything that he wants. Freedom is a relative term. And it has implications. Paul is not saying in verse 19 that he is free from all things, but that he is free from all men. He is free because he has Christian liberty, but he does not avail himself of all available freedoms. Paul could say that he had the liberty to eat meat offered to idols. or not eat the meat. And though he deserved to be paid by the Corinthian church, he enjoyed the financial freedom and earned his money through his tent-making trade. And yet he was never free from God's law or the compelling requirement to preach the gospel. Augustine said three centuries after Paul's death, man is most free when controlled by God alone. As a free man, Paul was then able to relate to every believer in the Corinthian church. He had the apostolic right to be free from all human control, but he chose to be a servant. And the word actually rendered is slave. Slave, he chose to be a slave to the people so that he might win more of them to Christ. What does he mean to win? He means to lead someone to understand and accept the truth of the gospel message. He wants to save them from the fires of hell, and he wants them to embrace the one true God. Paul is not in a contest with other apostles. He does not want to gain more disciples for the cause, and he will do so by implementing the strategy of setting aside his rights and being a slave rather than being one who is to be served. Verse 20 says, 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. He became as a Jew and one under the law in order to win Jews and those under the law. As one who has become a slave to each and every one, Paul begins with his own people and abides by the principle first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. Romans chapter 1 verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And when Paul says that he became a Jew to the Jews, he is implying that he has become a follower of Jesus and that as 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, he is in Christ a new creation neither Jew nor Gentile. When Paul tried to win Jews for Christ, he took up the Jewish customs. He had Timothy circumcised in Acts chapter 16. He made a Nazarite vow and cut his hair in Acts 18. He escorted four Nazarites in their purification rites at the temple in Jerusalem and paid for their expenses and a sacrificial offering in Acts 21. And at other times he had no problems at all in obeying the law of Moses. He did all this and more among the Jews so that he might win some of them to the cause of Christ. As the champion of Christian liberty Paul set aside his freedom in Christ and placed himself in bondage to the Mosaic law. And he does so to win Jews to Christ. He does, though, make a disclaimer to his willingness to observe the law of Moses when he says, though not being myself under the law. That is because he desires to remain free in Christ Jesus. Verse 21 says, 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. God had trusted and entrusted the Jews with the very words of God, but had bypassed all other nations at an earlier time. And the nations were without the law. So whenever Paul spent time with the Gentiles, he did not observe the Jewish food laws, circumcision, and new moon and Sabbath celebrations. From a Jewish point of view, Paul's conduct among the Gentiles made him a Gentile. The Jews reasoned that he was not ignorant of the law. Therefore he had transgressed God's precepts. But Paul is not a lawless person. Notice what Paul has said in the first three verses of our passage. First, I am free from all men. Second, I myself am not under the law. And third, I am not without the law of God, but under the law of Christ. What Paul is saying is that being free means being neither under the law nor outside the law, but in Christ. The one who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation. In relation to Christ, Paul is free, yet at the same time he is under Christ's law. He is free in another sense. He is free from the law by which the Jews sought salvation. But now that salvation has come through Jesus, he subjects himself to the law of Christ. He no longer seeks salvation in relationship to the law, but now he wants to keep the law to show his gratitude to Christ. So what then is the law of Christ? The expression of the law of Christ occurs only one other time in the New Testament. in Galatians chapter 6 verse 2, and it says this very succinctly, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ appears to be the implementation of love, the bearing of one another's burdens. Although Christ has abolished the civil and ceremonial laws God's moral commands remain. And Paul must abide by the constraints of that law in the setting of Christ's covenant. Here's how D.A. Carson explains this. Quote. Whatever God demands of him as a new covenant believer, that is a Christian, that is what binds him. He cannot step outside those constraints. There is a rigid limit to his flexibility as he seeks to win the lost from different cultural and religious groups. He must not do anything that is forbidden to the Christian, and he must do everything that is mandated of the Christian. He is not free from God's law. He is under Christ's law, end quote. And then verse 22 says this 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." In this verse, Paul returns to those who are Christians with a weak conscience. In the case of the Corinthians, it's those who needed Paul and his counsel and encouragement to be strengthened in their Christian faith. They are not less of a Christian than anyone else. They are already known by Jesus and to Jesus, and they themselves recognize Him as their Savior. But as those weak in conscience, they need help from those who are strong. They need explanations and frequent contact with those who can encourage them and provide answers to their questions. Paul says that he has become all things to all people that by all means he might say some. He adapted himself to different situations in every culture. With the Jews, he lived as a Jew. With the Gentiles, as a Gentile. And to the weak, he became weak so that he became all things to all people that he might say some. People have often criticized Paul for being ineffectual, unstable, and changeable. Isn't it interesting how people two millennia removed can so accurately criticize someone they don't really know? And if this is the charge, they have missed the mark with their criticism. They fail to take into account Paul's motivation. his reasons for what he did. The driving force that motivated Paul was to bring the gospel to as many people as possible so that some might be saved. Paul believed that if he was faithful to preach the good news of salvation, then God would open the heart of every person he chose to save. For if God was pleased to save Paul, who calls himself the worst of sinners. The gospel would break through to the heart of anyone living in spiritual darkness. And Paul was the Lord's willing messenger. Paul worked hard and with no small measure of innovation to talk to all kinds of people who needed the gospel. Yet he always knew that it was and is God who affects salvation. He apparently worked as if he expected everyone to be saved, but he understood that only some, prompted by the Holy Spirit, would respond. And in verse 23, our last verse in the passage, it says this, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I might share with them in its blessings. Paul repeats that he is a humble spirit and servant of the Lord who will go to any length to go to any level of society to perform any menial task as long as the gospel is proclaimed to all people. And whether he is speaking and coaching a Jew or a Gentile, slave or free, male or female, he did it all because he understood that in Christ all believers or one. He wants to share with these new believers the blessings of the gospel. Paul was not the loser, but the beneficiary of the blessings that accompany the preaching of the good news. He partnered in the blessings that the converts to Christ would be received, and he rejoiced with them as they claimed the spiritual and eternal benefits that are realized from a life of obedience to the gospel. Well, I put down on your notes their conclusion. This is going to be a longer conclusion than normal, so don't see yourself getting out earlier than you thought. But as we conclude this morning, let me say a few words about what some of you may be wondering. Some of you might be thinking, You might be asking yourself, where does Paul get the idea that he can be all things to all men? It is really difficult. Just in a group like this, I'll bet you any one of you could stand up and look around and there's going to be somebody you're going to tick off for some reason. Right. All things to all people. Doesn't he have to take a stand for the truth of the gospel? Why does he promote the tactic of flitting around from one group to another trying to please everyone? Remember, there are many Jews and Gentiles and not a few Christians who oppose what Paul was doing and how he was doing it. Where did he come up with the various ideas he had to share the gospel with as many people as he could? Was he a rogue evangelist who wanted to claim to be the champion soul winner? Just what was Paul's motivation and what was his end game? He does what he does because he learned his tactics and his purposes from his master, the Lord Jesus Christ. The radical of radicals. And I mean, think about all the examples that Jesus modeled for his disciples and apostles. And I'd like to read some of these passages today, so just relax, sit back and listen to this. This is amazing stuff. Jesus. Who is our Lord, this is the way he operates. The first example is when he goes to his hometown, Nazareth, to preach for the first time. Luke chapter four. You know the story. He's been driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit for 40 days. And as he comes out, he begins to start his public ministry. And one of the first stops is Nazareth. And here's what it says. And some of these are lengthy. I hope I don't lose you. The worst thing you're supposed to do in a sermon, I understand, Dirk, when they train you in cemeteries, don't have long passages of scripture. Really? OK. Here's what it says in Luke four, beginning in verse 14, and Jesus returned in the power of the spirit to Galilee. And a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. I love this. This is so good. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found a place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Wow. And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? And he said to them, Dallas, you will quote to me this proverb, physician, heal yourself. What we have heard you did at Capernaum. do here in your hometown as well." And he said, truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, and the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow." Hang on to that thought. And then there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the Syrian. And when they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. They turned on Adam. They turned on him. They turned on Jesus. Why? Why did they act so violently against Jesus to the point where they were ready to throw him off a cliff? Rip him out of the synagogue and go throw him off a cliff and kill him? Especially when they were so positive at first. What did he say? Because of the two examples he gave, the widow of Zarephath and Sidon And Naaman, the commander of the Assyrian army, who was a leper, they were both Gentiles, you see. They're Gentiles. And God only went to them to take care of their problems. They couldn't stand that God, they couldn't even understand that God would work for the good of Gentiles. Here's another one. I need not tell you about how first-century Jews felt about tax collectors, probably about the same we do, right? The calling of Matthew in Luke 5. After this, he, Jesus, went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, or Matthew, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. and leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, Why do you even drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but it is those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but centers to repentance. Or how about Luke chapter seven, you can just keep going all the way through scripture, tension, the centurion servant, remember the centurion who is part of the Roman army who is occupying. Israel. After Jesus had finished all his sayings and the hearings of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now, a centurion, not a Jew, had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. And when the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking them to convince Jesus to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built this our synagogue. And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I, too, am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes. And to my servant, Do this, and he does it." When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him and turned to the crowd that followed him and said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." Ooh, that's got to hurt. That's got to hurt. an occupying soldier who worshiped pagan gods mostly, and he displays the greatest faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. The next chapter, the demoniac at the garrisons. This is a man clearly who was a Gentile. A Gentile who was mad. He'd break the chains that he was bound, and he would run roughshod over the whole neighborhood. And Jesus shows up and calls the demons out of him, whereas nobody else would even think about speaking to this person. He goes and ministers to him so that he is rid of his demonic captivity, and now wants to go on tour with Jesus. And Jesus tells him to stay there and be a good Christian. I love this one, John chapter four, the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus, a Jew speaking to a Samaritan, a rabbi of some standing and renown speaking to a dog Samaritan and a woman at that and a woman who gathers at the well at 12 o'clock in the daytime. It's a dead ringer. All respectable women go and gather their water in the early morning when it's cool, when they can visit with each other. The reason this woman goes at 12 is she's an outcast, an outcast in her own society. And the only time she's allowed to go is when nobody else is there because nobody wants to talk to her or see her. And Jesus comes. Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John. Although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples. He left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. He wasn't even supposed to pass through Samaria. That was evil country. You had a different path if you were going to Galilee from the south. It was a long roundabout trip. Not Jesus, he's going straight through. And he does it for a purpose, doesn't he? He had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria named Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the six hour, that is, noontime. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. And the woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. And Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty and I will not have to come here to draw water. That's an interesting statement, isn't it? I can do away with this. This this terrible punishment that I have of being separate from the rest of the population, I won't have to come and draw water. If what you say is true. And then Jesus lowers the hammer, he's had enough fencing verbally with her and he says, go. Call your husband and come here. And the woman answered him, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. And the woman said, probably the greatest understatement of all time, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here. when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth and the woman said to him I know that Messiah is coming he who is called the Christ when he comes he will tell us all things and Jesus said to her I who speak to you And he. Well, this is something else. Something else, and if our master is willing to do the things that he has done. And the apostles are also in line, where do we get off? Not sharing what we know, the gift that we have with others who need it. Here's another one, a very short one, Matthew 20. But Jesus called them, his disciples, to him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. and to give his life as a ransom for many. Paul in Galatians chapter 5 beginning in verse 13 said this, For you are called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. As I said the last two Sundays, so I say again today, whether it be a problem of eating meat offered to idols or compensating the one who preaches the gospel or any other issue that might overwhelm someone possessing a weak conscience or a lack of knowledge or even a different theological background. The foundational point for every Christian in settling any problem or issue is to maintain the priority of the understanding and the communication of the gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the interest of spreading the gospel, not only must pastors, missionaries and evangelists be ready and able to adapt themselves to the people and community in which they are placed, but also church members Believers of all kinds. Our purpose. Your purpose. My purpose. Is that we must all be prepared without ever compromising the demands of the gospel. Our purpose should always be to be sensitive to bring people all kinds of people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So my question to you. And to me this morning is this. What barriers are there in your life that prevent you and me from overcoming our hesitancy and our inadequacy and laziness so that you and I would be resolved to share the gospel with some person, any person, with whom we have little or no contact. It didn't stop Jesus. It didn't stop Paul. And yes, we aren't the son of God the way Jesus is. But we know enough to be accountable, don't we? It's laid at our feet. All we have to do is pick it up. Who is the person we encounter that we would go out of our way to knowingly, consciously avoid. And what is the barrier that we use to avoid contact? And what are we willing to do about it? Paul reminds us, as he learned from Jesus, that our attitude, as difficult as it sounds, is that we should become all things to all people that by all means we might save some. Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, you have honored us by calling us through the proclamation of the gospel, not by human wisdom or reasoning, but by your power. Bring to our minds that all that we are and will be is tied to the reality and the truth of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Remind us continuously that your divine will is found in your word and that our guide is the Holy Spirit. And, Great Father, if it's your will today, if there's anyone here who does not know you or is running away from you, draw them to yourself, that they too might be convicted of their sins and turn to you who can save their soul. We ask that you make us more like Jesus and his messenger, Paul. Help all of us to be prepared for our calling, to share the gospel with our families, our friends, neighbors, strangers that are around us, that is, our fellow human beings. Be our sword and our shield in the authority of Christ, we pray. Amen.