Study the Word

Guest (Male): Pastor Tom Keller has this to say about our conversations with our unbelieving friends and family members.

Pastor Thom Keller: Listen, remember this, that until that switch gets flipped up, until they get saved, they won't feel guilty or convicted about anything you tell them. The goal therefore becomes to get that switch turned on, to get them saved and get the convicting power of the Holy Spirit flowing through them. Then you will hear things like this. Do you know I'm feeling bad about some things that I never felt bad about before. What's that about? And I say that's about the Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): There are ministry opportunities all around us from vacant roles in the children's ministry at church to our neighbor who is hurting, not to mention the great needs overseas. And if you're a Christian, I hope it's your desire to be involved in the ministry. But the question we bring before you today on Study the Word is how can we be effective in the ministry? We'll look at the Apostle Paul's approach to help us get there. Pastor Tom Keller opens 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and points to an effective method of ministry.

Pastor Thom Keller: 1 Corinthians chapter 9, a tough old cowboy from Texas was counseling with his granddaughter. And he told her that if she wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal every morning. Granddaughter did that religiously until she died at the age of 103. And when she died, she left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren, 25 great-great-grandchildren, and a 40-ft hole where the crematorium used to be. Well, you know, sometimes the wrong kind of words that we share in the workplace as Christians can build up and create a major explosion.

And the day Paul tells us how to avoid that trap, this is a very practical lesson today. So let's dig in. 1 Corinthians 9 20. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under the law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so that I can bring them to Christ.

But I do not ignore the law of God. I obey the law of Christ. When I'm with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the good news and to share its blessings. Now here in these verses, because Paul wants the entire world to be saved, he breaks all of mankind down into three distinct categories. First are the Jews, second are the Gentiles, and third are the weak.

First the Jews. In 1 Corinthians 9 verse 20, NIV says to the Jews, I became like a Jew to win the Jews. Paul says to the Jews, I become like a Jew to win them to Christ. Paul was serious about this. In fact, the most extreme example of Paul following his own counsel on this is found in Acts 16. When Paul first called Timothy to the ministry, 16 verse 1, Paul first went to Derby and then to Lystra where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek.

Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. So Paul wanted him to join them on their journey in deference to the Jews, because of the Jews and in wanting to respond positively to the Jews. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek. So here Paul asks Timothy to be circumcised. Why? In deference to the Jews in the area. And to me, this is absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing, because it seems to clearly contradict what Paul says so strongly in Galatians concerning circumcision, where he himself strongly condemns those who demand Gentiles, which is what Timothy was to be circumcised.

Listen to Galatians 5. Paul speaking, I wish that those who are troubling you by teaching that circumcision is necessary for salvation would even go all the way and castrate themselves. That's pretty strong. That's pretty strong. And yet back in Acts, Paul asks Timothy, a Gentile, to be circumcised. How can that be? Isn't that a contradiction? No. Because although Timothy had the liberty not to be circumcised, Paul knew that because Timothy's ministry among circumcised Jews would be impeded by him not being circumcised, he asked Timothy to let his love for the unsaved Jews take him past his liberty, which permitted him not to be circumcised to a higher liberty, a liberty that called himself to be circumcised to further the ministry, which is exactly what Paul says in verse 20.

As you hear these words, be thinking about Timothy being circumcised. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too live under that law. Timothy being circumcised. Even though I am not subject to the law, even though Timothy did not have to be circumcised, I did this so that I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. It's exactly what Paul says here. You know, we too make some accommodations when we are in different settings based upon where people are on different issues.

I remember when Sue and I were involved in the Church of the Brethren disaster relief auction, we were asked, I was asked to speak in churches, just give a 5-minute update on the on the auction. And some of these churches were very conservative Church of the Brethren where they wore they didn't wear ties and they wore plain suits. And so I would take my tie off and I would sometimes butt my top button because that's how they dressed. And now I could have claimed liberty. I could have gotten in there and said I'm not bound by your law.

I'm free from that. I can wear a tie if I want to. But see for the furtherance of ministry, we make those accommodations. And then in verse 20 Paul 21, Paul shifts to how we are to go about winning Gentiles to the Lord, which is where most of us live on a daily basis. 1 Corinthians 9 21. When I'm with the Gentiles, and Gentiles is anyone that's not a Jew. When I'm with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so that I can bring them to Christ.

But I do not ignore the law of God. I obey the law of Christ. Concerning Gentiles who do not have the Jewish law, here in Greek the word for law is anomos. And it means destitute of or lacking in mosaic law. In other words, these are people that don't have the Bible. They don't know the Bible. Now it's very important to note that Paul is not saying that Gentiles are not guilty before God of breaking the law simply because they don't have the mosaic law. In Romans, God makes us abundantly clear that every single human being will be held accountable someday for their sins.

Romans 2 12 makes that clear. When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed even though they never had God's written law. And the Jews who do have God's law will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. So on what basis will they be judged if they don't have the law? Romans 2 14. Even Gentiles who do not have God's written law show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it even without having heard it. How is that possible? They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, in their consciences, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

And Paul says here in verse 21 that he tries to fit in with the Gentiles as much as he can in order to win them to Christ. This banner says one should not focus on the differences between people, but look for commonality and similarity. And Paul did this. As proof in Acts chapter 17 when Paul was witnessing to a group of Gentiles, Paul quoted out of Gentile secular literature in order to build a bridge. Acts 17 28. He's witnessing to Gentiles. He says for in him we live and move and exist as some of your own poets have said.

We are his offspring. Also in that chapter, same witnessing, he says this. For as I walked around, I looked carefully at your objects of worship, all these pagan idols. I even found an altar with his inscription to an unknown God. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship, and this is what I'm going to proclaim to you. Again, he found these things as a bridge. And note the difference Paul draws between Jews and Gentiles here. Paul says that when I am with the Jews, I keep the law to win some. When Paul was with the Jews, he did not eat ham.

But when I'm with the Gentiles, when I'm with the Gentiles, I disregard the Jewish law to win some. So when Paul was with the Gentiles, he had a nice big ham sandwich. Listen what he says in 9 21. To those not having the law, I become like one not having the law. Though I am not free from God's law, but I'm under Christ's law, so as to win those not having the law. So this is where today's lesson becomes very practical to you and me. Let me give you an example at work. Let's say at work your coworker uses the Lord's name in vain.

Now I remember when I first gave my life to Christ, a seasoned Christian told me that when that happens at work, he gets right up into the face of the person and says, don't you ever use a name of my Lord that way again. Very strong. And when he said that, I thought it just hit me in steep inside. Yeah. Tell him. That's what we ought to do. I'm going to do that. Don't you ever use the Lord's name like that in my presence again. But is that what Paul is advocating here? No. He says I try to find common ground, not ground that divides.

Is what they do right? Of course not. But how do we respond to it? Because if my coworker feels condemned by me, it will break my relationship with him and no relationship, no influence. Don't ever forget that. No relationship, no influence. Every time you break a relationship, you're losing influence. If you want to be a Christian influence in the life of your unsaved friend, you must have a relationship. You must. 1 Corinthians 5 9 to 13. This makes the point that we're not to judge those who are unsaved and acting in these kinds of ways.

This is from chapter 5. Paul writing, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters. In this case, you would have to leave this world. What Paul was saying in essence is listen, you guys work out in the workplace. How are you going to avoid the immoral, the greedy, the swindlers? You can't. You got to work. You'd have to leave the world not to be with them. Verse 11, now he comes back into the church though.

He says, but now I'm writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy and idolater, a slanderer, drunkard, or swindler, do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Listen closely. What business is it of mine to judge, to condemn those outside the church, those people that are not yet saved? Are you not to judge those inside? Meaning yes. But then in verse 13, listen again, God will judge those outside. So here becomes the underlying issue.

Until my coworker becomes a believer and then the Holy Spirit begins teaching him, until that point he will not feel the conviction about these things that I feel, because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit convicting him that these things are wrong. So then the goal becomes to flip the switch on, to lead them to Christ so that the Holy Spirit begins to flow in them, convicting them of these things. Because that conviction will not come until the Holy Spirit is in them. And then in verse 22, Paul goes under the third and final group, verse 22.

To the weak, I become weak to win the weak. The key word here is weak, those who are oppressed. 20 translations all use the word weak. 1 Corinthians 8 10. For if someone with a weak conscience, inability to discern between what's legal and not legal to God. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you with all your knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? The same idea. So personally, I believe Paul is referring here to those who are either newly saved or are still immature legalistic believers of whom the Bible consistently describes as those weak in faith, who are still questioning, still undecided, still uncertain about the liberty they have concerning lawful and unlawful things.

And why does Paul do all of this? All that we've been reading, why does he do this? In verse 22 and 23 he gives his reason. When I'm with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the good news and share in its blessings. Paul says that he does all of this for two reasons. One is to win others to Christ, and two to share with them in the joy of their salvation.

And folks, what a joy it is to be used by God to lead another person to Christ. And as a part of this, Paul likens our Christian faith journey in verse 24 to a race. Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets a prize? So run to win. All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I'm not just shadow boxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.

Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified. So again, Paul likens our Christian faith journey to a race. And speaking of this race, Paul says that he runs to win. I remember a couple years ago I heard John MacArthur on our radio station saying that he would never call a man to ministry unless he had a competitive spirit. A first time I heard that I kind of reacted to that. I thought I'm not sure I like that. But more I thought about it, I thought you know, that competitive spirit under the control of the Holy Spirit motivates the believer to do all that Paul is advocating for here to win some.

In verse 25 he says the world does this for a wreath, but we do this for an eternal prize. Paul says so run straight to the goal. Imagine a football player with a ball in his arms at the 50-yd line with a a clear path into the end zone, but stops along the sideline line to flirt with a cheerleader who's caught his eye. Unthinkable. The same should be true of how we run our race. Don't get distracted by shiny objects along the sideline. Paul says I discipline my body. Note that Paul says nothing about a personal trainer pushing him, cajoling him to do all of this.

Did you ever think about this? That in every area of life we have people in our lives to encourage us, to motivate us, sometimes even force us to do what we should do. Factories have supervisors, school schools have teachers, nurses have administrators. And yet in the most important arena of our lives, there's no one like this. Imagine what a school would look like with no teachers or administration. And this is why the self-discipline that Paul calls for here is so critically important to you and me. Because unlike at work, it is you and you alone will who who will see to it that you do or do not keep up with your discipline of Bible reading and prayer.

Because without those without those, I promise you you will fall to the back of the pack and you will not win the race because you will be distracted by shiny objects along the way. I remember Billy Graham said the thing to take out pastors, ministers is pride, money, and morals. I prayed that for years, and you know, the more I think about it, it takes everyone out. If there's something that takes us out, it's pride or money or morals. Shiny things. Soon I don't have any biological children, but every 10 years who I would look for in a husband for my wife would have changed based on where I've been in life.

And where I am right now at the age of 70, if I had a daughter, the first unnegotiable is that he'd have to know the Lord. That's number one, obviously. But the second thing I would look for is self-discipline. Because listen, he can say all the right things of all the right goals, all the right objectives, but if he doesn't have the self-discipline to get there, nothing's going to happen. Words, words, words, words. Self-discipline. It's so critically important. Yet you don't get that trainer in your spiritual journey. When I used to appoint people to management at the dealership who had never been in management, it was usually ended this way.

It would come up this way. A week or two later they'd come to me. I say, how do you like managing? They say I'm nothing but a glorified babysitter. I said welcome to management. Right? But we don't get that in our spiritual journey. And I believe this is exactly what Paul is pointing to in his closing words. He says this. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified. He doesn't want to pay that price. I remember years ago someone said this.

I never forgot it. They said don't go to the bench early. Don't go to the bench early. Don't be disqualified by something foolish you do at the end of your life as King David did, as Saul did. Be careful. So how does today's lesson apply to me? There's a lot we could say. I'm going to focus on just one because it is so vitally important to winning others to Christ. Last week I heard a longtime Calvary Chapel pastor on a radio station tell about when he first got saved. He would got radically saved, zealous on fire.

And he said he got fired from four jobs because of his his word zeal for God. He worked in the construction industry, and that's you know, that's what it is. And continually told his unsaved coworkers how their lives offended both him and God. He said you living with your girlfriend is sin. He condemned them for their drinking all weekend. And of course they just loved him. He said one time on the job site, one of the coworkers got so mad because of what he had saying. They had just framed a wall and they were setting it up on the second floor of a house, and he pushed it over the edge.

He said I got fired from that job. Listen, remember this, that until that switch gets flipped up, until they get saved, they won't feel guilty or convicted about anything you tell them. The goal therefore becomes to get that switch turned on, to get them saved and get the convicting power of the Holy Spirit flowing through them. Then you will hear things like this. You'll hear them say things like you know, I'm feeling bad about some things that I never felt bad about before. What's that about? And I say that's about the Holy Spirit. Sue and I were a part of a Bible study in Lebanon, a very mixed Bible study.

And I love this church. A lot of you love it for the same reason. We're just such a diverse bunch of people. I love it. I used to go home from our Monday night Bible study and I'd say to Sue after everybody was there. I mean, almost reminded me of a of of of the uh Star Wars in the bar scene where all those different animals around, you know, it's like all these different creatures. It's so cool. And the way home I said to Sue, I feel like I was just in Baskin and Robbins and I have all 33 flavors in my mouth at one time.

I just love this church. Well, we had a woman in a Bible study who made money from men nights doing things she shouldn't have done. And she got saved. And a couple weeks later she came to Bible study. I still remember that. She was so neat, so outgoing. And she said, hey, I got a question. She said I'm going to bars and doing things that I used to do. Never bothered me. Now they bother me. What up that? I said what up that? Is the Holy Spirit is now convicting you of things that never bothered you before, but now they do.

And he's doing it not because he wants to rob you of fun. He wants to give you true joy. And he knows all of those things are getting in the way. Jesus doesn't take things away from us to rob us of joy. He takes them away so he can give us true joy. Those things get in the way. The same is true with you, right? Listen, no one ever cleaned you up, no one ever cleaned me up. People came alongside and loved me, but in the end it was the Holy Spirit that cleans us up.

We want to have a culture that loves and accepts people where they are, who are open to hearing the word. We want to love them where they are, not sign off on their sin, but love them where they are and let the word of God hammer them. Because listen, when the Holy Spirit convicts someone, that person will feel conviction, not condemnation. They will never feel condemnation from the word of God. They won't. If I try to become the Holy Spirit, they feel condemnation, and that works against the cause. Be winsome to win some.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today for Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller and part of our study in 1 Corinthians. Hear this message again at our website at ccleb.com or visit our YouTube page. Subscribe to our channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon and watch our services live or on demand. For a CD copy, call us at 717-273-5633. Once again, that's 717-273-5633. Stay connected with us through Facebook and Instagram. You'll find us at Calvary Chapel Lebanon PA. It takes a team to bring these shows to the radio every day, and we look to our listeners for support.

If you'd like to get behind this ministry with either a one-time donation or ongoing monthly support, visit ccleb.com or call 717-273-5633. If you prefer to write, let me give you our mailing address. Study the Word 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. We'd like to invite you to join us at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. For more information about our service times or to watch the live stream, visit ccleb.com or again, go to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. There's much more to come in 1 Corinthians. Don't miss a moment of the journey. Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller is presented by Calvary Chapel Lebanon, Pennsylvania and made possible through the support of our listeners.