Living for today, with an eye for tomorrow. This is the Voice of Vision broadcast. Now, here's our teacher, Pastor JD Hatfield. Well, hello there, friends. Once again, this is Pastor JD Hatfield of the Riverside Christian Fellowship in Hernando, Florida. As always, as we say every day, you can find us on the web at voiceofvision.org. and the day that this first shows up or the first time you hear this the first time we air this program speaking the language it'll be right there on the front page you can see the text copy if you miss that you can hit on daily blog there and find it in the archives again speaking the language we're talking about paul When he says in 1 Corinthians 9 22, I become all things to all people. The word called contextualization is a hot button issue today in the church and in the mission world and missional and things like that. And maybe you know some of that language, maybe you don't. That's the whole point of contextualization is making the gospel, making the implications and truth surrounding the gospel understandable for other people that may not be understanding the same cliches and sayings and things like that. So we're going to talk a little bit about that today. Obviously can't cover everything about contextualization, but we're going to look at the Apostle Paul and how he did it and talk about our Lord Jesus Christ and give some ideas here. So let me go ahead and read 1 Corinthians 9. I'll read verses 19 through 23. And he's talking to the Corinthians really about avoiding meat sacrificed to idols because they were free from any idols. There's no real other gods and yet other people didn't know that yet and they were offending them and they had weak consciences and they were training people to not obey their conscience. And so he was trying to show the principle that love limits liberty here. And he says, for though I am free from all, I've made myself a servant to all, that I might win the 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 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 might share And so Paul, he's talking about being all things to all people. Does that mean he's just acting? Is he a lying? Is he a hypocrite? What does he mean? Well, again, it's making the gospel understandable, depending on the context you're in. Please listen up, because we've got a lot to get to today. Some of this you might not have heard before. Some of it you might have heard before, but I think you're really going to get something out of it. But all things to all people means appreciating cultural and community customs, not accommodating doctrine or changing the substantive content of our preaching. This entails being a gentleman and understanding local history and language. Not bringing offense to local standards that are matters of choice for the Christian and all that. It doesn't mean compromising your doctrine or diluting the message. It means we try and not give any extra offense to people. We offend them with the gospel, you know, enough without trying to make ourselves be offensive to them. Of course the message of the cross again will always be against the current of any society and every soul that is unregenerate. And Paul would not change his doctrine or message to appeal to different groups. 1 Corinthians 1, 22, and 23, he specifically denies that, but he would change his behavior and manner of approach. He was willing to offend people over the gospel, but wanted to offend them only over the gospel. Paul could speak the language of his particular audience. He would do it without compromising the essentials. If he was talking to Jews, he could reference the law, keep kosher, and show how it points to Christ. If he were speaking to Gentiles, he would speak of not having to be under ritual and such, and about how faith works. To those who were a little over scrupulous, he would avoid the meat-sacrificed idols, and other things that might offend those who didn't understand their liberties yet. To those who were suffering under persecution, he may talk about how he was being chased by a mob of angry people, and how he'd been beaten, and perhaps about his thorn in the flesh, or some other bodily ailment. To a Roman, he could talk about what being a Roman citizen meant, and how allegiance to Caesar cannot trump over allegiance to Christ. He could speak many actual languages, which of course was a help. He tried to identify with them on some level and then show them that whatever their situations may be, the gospel was the answer to their most important questions. Paul brought them into the story by identifying with them so that they might identify with Christ. He showed them that he understood and was concerned about their circumstances and then he would lead them to see how you know, the gospel meets their real needs. He gains the right to be heard because he heard them as they were first. And he already knew who they were. They were sinners and he knew what they needed, the gospel. Yet they didn't know that he really understood their situations and was genuinely concerned for them. So he identified with them so as to gain an audience for the gospel. It's kind of like how you love your spouse. They know you love them, but you have to break through sometimes to each other in a way that the other can appreciate, depending on the circumstance. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's very hard. God does this with us as well. Think about it now. Contextualization is a very big deal, and that's why it gets perverted on both sides. That's why it's such a big issue, the over and under contextualizing, because Satan knows it's a great tool, and it is absolutely necessary, so he constantly attacks it. He's getting some people to dismiss it and act as if that's pious, while others go too far and act like they used to before they were saved. And I don't mean riding a motorcycle, I mean getting drunk and destructive with the gang. Paul was willing to adapt regardless of what inconveniences it might mean to him personally, but he would not adapt his message or practices in a way that would contradict what he was preaching. We can adapt to all kinds of disadvantages personally to witness to unbelievers, so long as that doesn't mean participating in things that are abhorrent to God. Contextualization is not compromise, but often compromise is mislabeled as contextualization. Paul is not catering to what his audience wanted, but giving them what they needed. This is the big issue in contextualization, to make sure we're using enough of the cultural elements to make the message clear, at the same time making sure we're not clouding it. Some believe that contextualization means making Christianity look just like the culture. But biblically-based contextualization is not marketing. Although much of what passes today, and they call it missional sometimes, and that doesn't have to be a bad word, but a lot of times contextualization is simply an effort to be trendy and edgy. Biblical contextualization is simply the process of making the gospel understood. Missionaries and Bible translators do this. Preachers do this. They preach in English, not Greek or Hebrew. If they're in America, they wear the clothes of today like a suit and a tie, not a robe or a toga. And if they have a illustration they're using, they're going to use something from modern life more often than they are of ancient biblical times. If the audience is different, say children or those with lower levels of academic attainment, they simplify their sermon. The problem is not the practice of contextualization. It's how it's applied. It's a misunderstanding of what the word means. That's the challenge. If you don't contextualize enough, no one's life is going to be transformed because they won't understand you. But if you contextualize too much, no one's life will be transformed because you won't be challenging their deepest assumptions and then calling them to change. Contextualization without compromise is the goal. A faithful minister never sets aside truth, but sometimes he sets aside his liberty. 2 Corinthians 2.17 talks about many people that are peddling the word of God, and it gives the idea of people who aren't faithful ministers. They're hucksters who use God's word as a tool for selfish gain, whether that be money, influence, popularity, self-esteem, or comfort at the expense of telling the whole truth. Their idea, or what's pictured there as contextualization, was to avoid whatever truth was necessary to get what they wanted. The word picture is someone who places the good-looking bits on top of the basket and hides the less attractive parts. And you would say, well, but that's what contextualization do. They're only putting out a good foot there. They're hiding the gospel. No. Paul's idea was not to put the good-looking bits on top and then the less attractive bits on the bottom. His idea was to bring the truth in a different basket. Same hard truth, same gospel, same redemption, same wonderful and same awful, you know, same bad and good news of the gospel, but it's in a different basket that people would recognize. The most important stuff remained the same. Now speaking about the Apostle Paul, let's look at a couple places here, and I'm not going to read all the scriptures, I'm just going to give you the reference for them. If you go on to voiceofvision.org, we have a mouse, you just scroll over with your mouse and you'll see the verses there, and we can send you a PDF copy if you'd like. But in Acts chapter 17, Paul uses the Greek culture of pantheism in Athens to his advantage. And verses 18 through 21, we see they were always interested in hearing new philosophies and ideas. And Paul was well-versed in rhetoric, and so he used that style with them. He quoted from their literature. We see that in verse 28. And when he said, you know, you're unknown God, he knew they didn't mean the real God, but he says, brick and stone and gold, we know these things can't be God. Your own poets say we live in Him, we live and move and have our being, and we're not living and moving in gold and silver and all that. So he applies what they already believed. You see him doing that in 1 Corinthians 15, 32. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, was quoting one of their own prophets. In Titus 1, 2, he says, their own prophets know they're all, you know, the Cretans are all misfits and all that, and he tells the truth. So Paul used things that they already accepted. as a way to get them to understand what he was saying. Now Jesus did this. He contextualized by using illustrations about farming and about fishing and about shepherding. He ate with the sinners, yet he didn't defile himself with them. Now let me give you, and let's finish up with this, some incredible things. If you think about them and you read this, you're like, hmm, that's amazing. Because regarding contextualization, Paul forbid Titus from being circumcised. We see that in Galatians 2, 3 through 5. And then later, The Jerusalem Council agreed it was not a requirement. You see that in Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council, verses 1 and 5, and they're saying you have to be circumcised, and then verses 19 and 20 and 28 and 29, you see, no you don't. We're going to send letters out that say you don't have to be circumcised. Well then why right after those things did he circumcise Timothy? You see that in Acts 16.3. And then again in Acts 21, 18-26, James, who presided over the council of Acts 15, asked that Paul will stand by the right of Jewish Christians to keep on observing the Mosaic law. Paul did as they asked. Why was that? Well, there's an answer. Titus was purely Greek, and the whole principle of Gentile freedom was at stake when they were in Galatia. That's the whole book of Galatians. You don't have to be circumcised to be saved. Circumcision was not, obviously, even a consideration for him. It was only going to bring harm and no advantage. But Timothy, in Jerusalem, there was both a Jew and a Greek. We see that in Acts 16. And he would have a different set of circumstances. With Timothy, it wasn't about accepting circumcision for salvation. And that's what Paul was, you know, warning about in Galatians 2, 2, and 3. But Timothy, Paul was wanting to bring him along into the synagogue so he could preach. And he was part Jew. And unless circumcised, Timothy could not have been allowed to preach in the synagogues. Paul voluntarily removed this stumbling block to the ministry of Timothy to the Jews. It was a question of efficient service, not an essential of salvation. Timothy was not being circumcised to keep the law, but to keep the Jews at bay. As for Acts 21, Paul is contextualizing here. You see this. He agreed and participated in the Jewish purification ceremonies, which he knew were not necessary for his own life, but he hoped to build a bridge of ministry to the Jews who had just become Christians and still were doing some of these old rituals. He did it because James and them asked him to do it and because he knew it would help Those weak brothers who took the Nazarite vowed to see him in the right light. It was a strategic decision by Paul. And it seems he did do this more than once. You see it again in Acts 18.18. Perhaps it was only suited to that time and place in redemptive history, but the principle of not giving unnecessary offense, of contextualization is still valid. Paul says why he did these things. In verse 23, I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them and its blessings. Paul wanted to share his passion with others. He desperately wanted to see people get saved and he wants them to enjoy the good news of the gospel as a way of life. Paul knew he was given a commission and he had an obligation to fulfill it. And so do you. Are you just in your own little world or can you speak to other worlds with the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'm not saying being a fake. I'm not saying being a phony. I'm not saying being a hypocrite. I'm saying use your own life and the things that you know about your life to speak to other people who are in similar situations. Bring the light of Christ into your world. Contextualize the gospel and get it out there to people. Well, that's all the time we have. We'll see you next time on the Voice of Vision broadcast. God bless you. Oh yes, I'm glad to know my life is here with Jesus And that that's where I'm always gonna be, right here We'll see you next time on the Voice of Vision broadcast where we are living for today with an eye for tomorrow.