Reverend Jonathan Waits
Sermon: Giving It Our All (1 Corinthians 9:19-27)
Date: June 9, 2024
I still remember watching the original Mission Impossible movie with Tom Cruise as superspy, Ethan Hunt, when I was growing up. It hit theaters the summer before I started eighth grade. I remember its being terrifically fun. The plot mostly kept you guessing until the very end. The twists and turns left you never quite sure who was playing for which side. I remember over the next several years watching the second and third installments in the series, but neither one in theaters. And they were just okay. They were fun, but never quite up to the focused, spy-thriller par of the original. After that, I fairly well lost interest. Life got busy. Marvel’s MCU got up and running. Streaming services were still in their infancy. And, I wasn’t willing to spend money to buy the subsequent entries on DVD. They looked pretty fun, but seeing them just wasn’t on the agenda.
A few months ago I finally fixed that. In fact, I went back and watched the entire series from start to finish. I remembered just how good the original was. The second and third are still just okay (especially the second), but the series really hit its stride with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. From there to the most recent, Dead Reckoning, the Mission Impossible series is easily the best spy thriller movie franchise ever created (yes, Ethan Hunt is better than James Bond), and—it pains me some to say this—the most recent four entries in the series are even better than any Marvel movie released in the last five years, including Spider-Man: No Way Home.
If you’re fairly new to the film franchise, it is based on the 1960s TV series by the same name. A group of elite spies known as the IMF (which sounds way cooler as an acronym than the full title, Impossible Mission Force) are tasked with some seemingly impossible mission that no other group is capable of taking on. Their missions—if they choose to accept them—are secreted to them via a recording device that self-destructs five seconds after playback. In the context of the movies, the mission is always to save the world from some nutjob who wants to destroy it. No odds, no matter how impossible they may seem, can get in their way. Everything is on the table to accomplish their mission. Well, nearly everything. They do have some rules they play by. These aren’t rules imposed by any government. They ignore those as often as is necessary. But they have an internal code that is set by Ethan Hunt’s personal commitment to protecting life and freedom wherever and whenever he can along with a relentless dedication to his teammates. The members of the IMF team value the lives of one another more highly than they value their own. In other words, at the end of the day, they are driven by their love for one another.
Well, as a group of Jesus followers, we have been given a mission. Jesus Himself made that mission as clear as it could be. We are to be His witnesses throughout the world, making disciples everywhere we go. We also have a code. We are to love one another after the pattern of His own love for us. Everything else is on the table. And, although it doesn’t always feel like it, our mission really is to save the world. The question for us in light of all of this is fairly simple: What are we willing to do in order to accomplish our mission?
This morning we are finishing up our short series, Building the Kingdom. Over the course of this two-part journey we are talking yet again about the church—a theme we’ve been coming back to over and over this year. This time, we are talking about God’s ultimate purpose for the church. We’re doing this because in a few months, we are going to take a really big step together as a church toward the fulfillment of a vision we have been pursuing for quite some time. If we are going to do that, I want us to be abundantly clear on what it means for us to be fully the church God has created and called us to be. If we aren’t clear about that, the likelihood that we will run off in a direction that isn’t God’s, pursuing our ends instead of His is uncomfortably high.
Last time, then, we talked about God’s purpose for the church. His purpose for the church is the same as it has always been when it comes to His actions toward the world. He wants to create a place where His presence dwells so He can have a relationship with us. In the ancient past, He limited His presence to a single physical location, first the tabernacle and later the temple. He did this because that’s where the people were culturally and could understand. He always wanted to go bigger, though, so when the time was right He came down Himself in the person of Jesus and cleared the way for His Spirit to take up residence not in a single place, but in the lives of all of His followers. Now, it is in the gathered lives of His followers—the church—that His presence dwells. God lives among us through the church. This allows Him to be entirely more mobile than the temple did. He is present wherever His church is, and since His church is all over the place, so is He.
Now, that’s a big idea all by itself. But the implications of that idea are staggering. This morning, I want to look with you at something the apostle Paul wrote that helps us get our minds around the weight of those implications, and at one particular implication this has for us as a church. Let’s start with Paul. If you have a copy of the Scriptures, find your way with me to Paul’s first letter to the believers in ancient Corinth. Now, the believers in Corinth were a pretty dysfunctional bunch. They had a really hard time not bringing all kinds of elements and habits from their mostly pagan backgrounds into the church with them creating a variety of headaches that Paul got to help them with. A great Babylon Bee headline that I saw while writing this put it in a way that perfectly captures Corinthians through a modern cultural lens: “Church at Corinth braces as little dots on text from Paul have been bouncing up and down for a while now.” Paul addresses all sorts of issues with the church there that are consistently relevant still today.
Right in the middle of the letter, Paul spends three whole chapters addressing an issue that was one of the most significant ones plaguing the church then: whether or not it was morally appropriate to eat meat that had been previously part of a pagan sacrifice. Now, that issue in and of itself doesn’t have much of any relevance for us today, but the line Paul takes on it absolutely does. Paul approaches it through the lens of the freedom we have available to us in Christ. Over the course of these three chapters, Paul offers a primer on how to get along with people in the church who believe and behave differently than we do on matters that are not determinative of our salvation. In other words, if some issue doesn’t get addressed directly in the Scriptures such that we are limited to one option in understanding what to do about it, our freedom in Christ allows us to choose from among a whole variety of options, all of which can be used as a means of glorifying God in Christ. He closes the whole section with the admonishment that “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”
Well, if this idea of being able to glorify God through a manifold of means is sitting in the middle of the letter as a whole, it would seem like you could make a case that the heart of this idea was one of the most significant ideas in the whole letter. So then, what lies at the heart of Paul’s counsel on using the freedom available to us in Christ in a way that brings Him glory? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not how best to use that freedom for our benefit. Look at this with me starting in 1 Corinthians 9:19.
“Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people.” Pause right there for just a second. Paul’s using slavery as an illustration here because slavery was ubiquitous in the ancient world. Everyone understood slavery and how it worked. No culture in the world meaningfully opposed slavery until the church appeared and followers of Jesus started trying to put His teachings into practice. It was an easy illustration to use. But he’s not talking about making himself a literal slave. He’s talking about going out of his way to make himself available to win more people to the Gospel.
Continuing in v. 20: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law.” The Jews and “those under the law” were basically the same. The latter group might include followers of Jesus who still submitted to the authority of the law instead of fully submitting to the authority of Christ, but there wouldn’t have been much in the way of daylight between the two groups.
“To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law.” This would have been the Gentiles—non-Jews—in Paul’s sphere of influence. Because Paul didn’t have to keep the law of Moses since it was fulfilled in Christ and replaced with the new covenant, things like that which might make him look so totally culturally alien and off-putting to the Gentiles didn’t serve as an anchor dragging down his ability to effectively reach into their culture and minister to them. He was still responsible to keep the law of Christ, of course. He couldn’t jettison his duty to love the people around him in Jesus’ name, but everything else was on the table.
There’s one more category of folks here, and this is a generalized category that is followed now by an even more general statement of his efforts and passion here along with the reason for all of it. Verse 22 now: “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.”
Do you see what drives Paul here? His goal is to see people connected to the Gospel. The means by which that happens literally don’t matter to Him. I mean, he wasn’t going to sin in order to accomplish this goal. That would have been unloving, and love was the one rule that held him in place. But short of sin, everything was on the table. All of it. If he needed to act one way in order to fit in with one group in order to gain a Gospel hearing among them, and then act another way to fit in with a different group in order to gain a Gospel hearing among them, he was all for it. Did this make him a duplicitous liar? Not at all. His goal was the same no matter which group he was with. In that he was consistent. And all of this was allowed by his freedom in Christ. His only rule was love and beyond that everything else was fair game.
And look again at why he does all of this. “Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.” Think about that for just a second. He dumps all his chips into sharing the Gospel with as many people as he possibly can not so they can share in its blessings, but so that he can. Now, what kind of blessings can only come by way of sharing them with others? The blessings of love. The blessings of the Gospel are all wrapped up in the love of God. If we are going to experience the love of God properly, it will happen when it is flowing through us into the lives of the people around us. In other words, there are blessings from God you can only access when you are actively sharing the Gospel to expand His kingdom. Paul was a blessing hound and you should be too. They’re available for you to enjoy to the fullest. Why on earth would you not want to do so? All it takes is committing yourself to sharing the Gospel. Or, to put that in the same terms we used last week, all it takes is a commitment to be God’s church. Remember? That’s God’s purpose for the church in the first place. The church is the dwelling place of God’s presence in this world so that people who don’t already know Him can come to know Him and be in a relationship with Him.
One last thing here and we’ll talk about one really specific thing this means for us. This effort to experience the blessings of the Gospel by sharing it with as many people as we can isn’t something we can give just a half-hearted effort to. It’s entirely more important than that. Like I said at the beginning of our conversation, the fate of the world is literally at stake in our efforts. We need to give this everything we’ve got. Look at how Paul wraps up this chapter: “Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.” We live in a grand competition. It’s a worldview competition against every other claim to truthfulness out there. And the thing is: all those other worldview claims lead somewhere other than life. I’ll let you work out where that might be. We are in a race and everybody else is racing to win. Why on earth would we do anything less than that?
“Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize?” Paul’s audience all knew this very well. The Corinthian Games rivaled the Olympic Games in prestige and size. They had seen races. They knew how this worked. “Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything.” Do you exercise self-control in everything? Olympic-caliber athletes do. That’s why they’re Olympic-caliber athletes. Our race is more important than theirs. “They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” Got that? Give your all to this and practice what you preach so you don’t get to the end and wind up finding out that you helped a bunch of people receive a Gospel you never received yourself. That would be a pretty depressing discovery!
So, can you see what Paul is saying here? Advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it. When it comes to advancing the Gospel, there is no effort too great to give to see it happen. That’s how we experience its blessings. That’s how we win the race against all the other competing truth claims in the world around us. It’s how we stay faithful and consistent with the call Jesus Himself put on us before He split until it is time for His glorious return. It’s how we live out God’s incredibly high purpose for us as a church. Advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it. Advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it.
Okay, I’ve been telling you for two weeks now that we were going to talk about something really specific that we as a church can do in light of God’s plans for the church, this church, and now the passion Paul has told us we should have to see the Gospel advanced and disciples made. I actually mentioned this last week. It’s something we’ve been talking about in bits and pieces for the last several months. I’ve been subtly casting a vision in this direction for the last couple of years. In pursuit of our call and command to advance the Gospel as effectively as we possibly can, one specific thing we can do as a church is to build a building. Really? How is a new building going to help us connect people with the Gospel more effectively? Well, let’s talk about it.
Let’s start here: We have all the space we need right now. We don’t fill up this room. We have several open rooms in the other building available for new Sunday school classes. Our youth are starting to push the limits of the youth building on Wednesday nights, but I suspect we can find some creative solutions for that when The Gathering Place fires back up to full speed again in August. We don’t ever have issues with parking. From a facility standpoint, we’re set. So, why build a building?
Because we don’t have the space we need. Wait, what? Pastor, didn’t you just say “we have all the space we need right now”? Now you’re saying we don’t have the space we need. That’s sort of a contradiction in terms, isn’t it? No, and let me explain. Right now, all of our Sunday school groups meet somewhere other than this building. That means that if you are in a Sunday school group—and you should be in a Sunday school group—once you finish that time, you have to walk from there to here, wherever “there” happens to be. That’s not such a big deal…unless it’s raining…or cold…or you have mobility issues and walking across a parking lot up a long, deceptively steep hill isn’t the easiest thing in the world for you to do. It’s not such a big deal…unless you have young kids who have to be left across the street in another building where you have no idea what’s going on with them and couldn’t get there very quickly if you needed to.
Can I be honest with you for a second? When Lisa and I first got here and found out where the nursery was and where we met for worship, while we had every confidence in the world in the nursery workers, and were used to putting our kids in the nursery, it was a bit of a struggle to leave Micah in another building across the street. Listen: if we felt that way coming in as the pastor and his wife, imagine how a “normal” guest might feel. If your kids are all grown and out of the house, if you have grandkids, if you were raised from the cradle in the church, there’s a good chance this doesn’t even register for you. When you were parenting young kids, you were like, “Of course you can take my kid! Oh, you’re a stranger? That’s fine. Strangers are pretty safe.” Parents don’t think like that anymore. And we can talk another time about why that is and what’s wrong with parents today (nothing that wasn’t wrong with parents in the past) and whether they should really be concerned about that, but the fact is that it’s how young parents today think, and we’ve got to keep that in mind when we try to minister to new people. In fact, we can’t just keep it in mind, we need to actively and intentionally let it impact how we minister. Parents with young kids today visiting a church for the first time are thinking something along the lines of this: “I’m not comfortable leaving my kids in another building across the street. My kids aren’t comfortable being left in another building across the street. But if I keep them with me, they can’t handle sitting through a whole service without being a major distraction for me…and everyone else around me. It’s my first time here. The last thing in the world I want is for everybody around me to notice me because my kid is distracting them. I’ll find somewhere we’re all more comfortable next time…if there is a next time.” Are you with me?
Okay, but is this really something worth our doing just to make some young parents more comfortable? Is that really a Gospel advancement issue? Yes, it is. It absolutely, unquestionably, unavoidably is. If the Gospel isn’t extended to the next generation, then the next generation grows without the Gospel. It is a badly cliched, but nonetheless unequivocally true idea that young people are the future of the church. If we aren’t communicating the Gospel to them, we’re failing at one of our most basic tasks. And how do you suppose we are to get in a position to effectively communicate the Gospel to young people? Through their parents. Kids can’t get here unless their parents at least facilitate it. Younger kids aren’t going to get here at all unless their parents bring them. If we aren’t making sure that everything we do, including the kinds of facilities we offer, is designed in such a way to help parents feel comfortable coming and bringing their kids with them to church, we’re missing a gigantic opportunity. Remember Paul’s passion: advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it. If that means building a building, then let’s build it. Advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it.
Now, that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Building a building is a big undertaking. It’ll be hard. It’ll be expensive. It is going to take every single one of us stepping way out on faith to collectively make a huge investment in the future of God’s kingdom here in Oakboro. It will be a sacrificial undertaking too, and there’s no way around that. When we sacrifice, though, God shows up. And we are going to literally change the Oakboro skyline because of our efforts. But if we get this right, we’re going to change a whole lot more than that. We won’t stop at just a new building either. As a part of this project, we are going to do quite a lot of renovating in the old building so that while maintaining its wonderful character, we make it look and feel (and smell) less like an old building and more like an intentionally inviting space for unchurched people to come and experience the presence of God through His people. And make no mistake: they’ll come. Building something new in Oakboro is going to attract attention. It will send a visible message to the community that God is doing something here, which will draw many of them to come and find out what that might be, giving us the chance to share the Gospel with more people. And, hey, we’ll just happen to have a great new space from which to do that. Look what God did. That’s worth it. Advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it.
Also, we won’t have to set up and tear down the tables and chairs every week. (And the deacons all said, “Amen!”) But mostly, we’re going to put ourselves in a place to be able to share the Gospel more effectively with more people—especially young families of all shapes and sizes—than ever before, making an eternal difference in this community and beyond. This community because we’re here; beyond because empowered disciples go where God sends them, and that can mean advancing the Gospel in all kinds of places. All because of some sticks and bricks. When you think about it in those terms, from the standpoint of the Gospel, we can’t afford not to do this. Advancing the Gospel is worth everything we can give it. So let’s get to it.