WHATEVER IT TAKES.  Please stick with me to the end of this briefing.

Good Day!

We have considered Paul’s growth in his own Christian experience—being radically converted from zealous Jew to sold-out follower of Jesus Christ.  A funny thing happened along the way……his character was transformed to be more and more like Christ.  His embodiment of humility screamed loudly from his letters to the churches he loved so much; his humility drove him to give up his own rights in order not to give anyone a reason not to trust the Lord. 

Paul was a totally-devoted believer, and I must tell you that I am smitten with his passionate way of life.  John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd might have been on ‘a mission from God’, but no one ever fulfilled his mission like Paul.  He had a whatever-it-takes attitude and commitment to see people come to know and follow his Messiah.  Today’s passage is so telling about his singular focus:  “For though I am free from all men, I make myself a slave to all men, so that I might win more.  To the Jews, I became a Jew, that I might win the Jews.  To those under the law, I became as those under the law, although I am not under the law, that I might win those under the law.   To those who live without the law, I became as one without the law—not without the law of God, but within the law of Christ—that I might win those who live without the law.  To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all men, so that by any means, I might save some.  I do this because of the good news, that I might share it with all men.”  1 Corinthians 9.19-23

Paul had come to know the freedom in Jesus Christ; it was so different than trying to uphold 613 points of Jewish law!  The Jews labored under laws that governed every aspect of their lives from their diets to their sanitary habits to the Sabbath   vs.  “for by GRACE you have been saved.”  Ah….living in grace rather than being strong-armed by the letter of the law . . . Paul loved the freedom he enjoyed in Christ, yet his love for Christ constrained him to truly love others unselfishly.  He lived to see others come to know the God he adored, and was willing to ‘do whatever it takes’ to see them come into the kingdom.  Allow me to segue . . .

Late this last week, I made the 50-mile drive up to Long Beach to meet my homeless friends for prayer.  As always, it was a motley crew of about a hundred who gathered together.  Seated around tables, several had brought their Bibles and were eager to follow along with what I read.  I asked my new friend, Howard, what passage he would like to consider; he quickly requested ‘1 Corinthians 13.’  So, I read about the attributes of true love’s actions as Paul described them.  And then I queried, ‘have any of you never experienced love?’  The question hung in the air for a while, and then a rather large middle-aged man in the back of the room raised his hand, and said, ‘I’ve known lust, but never love.’  (You see, we’ve developed a rather honest, straight-forward way of sharing life with one another.)  And so I told about the Savior who is mad about him.  A few minutes later, he raised his hand again-- ‘Could you please tell me how I can know I will see my dad again in Heaven?  He died several years ago, and I just have to be sure I will be with him in Heaven—is that possible?’ 

I could have run to the back of the room and hugged him!  Questions like that make my heart beat faster, and make me want to jump for joy!  Of course, I could answer that question, and with assurance!  I told him how God made a way for us to be with him in Heaven forever—that way, Jesus Christ.  I said, ‘Ron, you have a choice to keep yourself as the center of your life, or ask Jesus to be that center--to be your leader.  Would you like to pray with me?  ‘Anyone else?’  And hands shot up around that big old room.  I submit to you that IT DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT.  And so I prayed, and they prayed aloud, too.  Not just one or two .  .  .  all around the room.  I think the angels are still partying in Heaven!

I think that ‘whatever it takes’ to tell others the good news, and win some to Christ, might simply mean going out of your way to be with people who are different than you.  It definitely means taking a risk, taking a chance . . . will anyone at all be in Heaven because you did ‘whatever it took’ to tell them about the God who loved them?  Hmmmmm . . . I pray so.

Let’s do WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Christine, www.pastorwoman.com