1 Corinthians 9:1-27

All Things to All Men

In the previous chapter Paul talked about not placing your “rights” above what would benefit others. In this chapter he gives a concrete example of what he is talking about.

One of the reason it is so easy to get excited about a “new” church or “new” leaders such as the new guy in town or the visiting speaker is because you don’t know their life. They can say anything and it sure sounds great. We often fail to realize that anybody can say anything. I was talking with a pastor friend last week who shared about a man who several years prior had come to his church. This man presented as someone super spiritual. He prophesied over people. He interpreted dreams. He had “interesting” interpretations of scripture. My pastor friend was having doubts but quite a few of the people were quite excited about him. Then one evening while watching the local news my friend saw this “super spiritual” man being booked for armed robbery. 

Knowing someone’s life is worth hearing five hundred of their sermons.

The other thing we should note here is the statement, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Wow! How far does that go? Some would take it to pretty far extremes. Others would completely ignore it and pretend it’s not there. But it is there, and regardless of where you might think lines need to be drawn the heart behind such a remark is...well, remarkable.

As believers we should consider Paul’s commitment to the gospel. Few will be called to go to the lengths to which Paul was called. (On the other hand, few will have murdered people for being believers prior to their conversion.) But all are called to go to some lengths. Where the lines are drawn in your life isn’t really as important as the fact that you have considered you calling enough to know where the lines are. Some can and will go farther, others not so far, but if we all go where we are called then all of the spaces will be filled in, the enemy will be crushed, and the kingdom will be populated.