The gospel of Christ is presented as a light that dispels darkness, a truth that liberates the lost, and a message that compels The passage to share it. The sermon emphasizes that this compulsion stems from an awareness of the lostness of humanity and a divine commission to spread the good news. It further argues that fulfilling this obligation requires a willing surrender of personal rights, including the right to material support, companionship, and independence, all for the sake of winning others to Christ. The ultimate goal is to run the race of faith with resolution, aiming for an imperishable prize by making oneself all things to all people.
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Now may we sing, please, the hymn number six hundred and fifty-two, six by two, thou, with all mighty words, chaos and darkness heard, and took their flight. Hear us, we humbly pray, and, for the gospel day sheds not its glory. Let there be light. Thank you.
Oh, so my dear God, may us have died in death, and to their life. And God in joy will be at the end of the day. And there will be life to live. And God in joy will be at the end of the night. Oh, it's time to pray, on thy living way, healing and life.
And to the great night, and to this day one, all thou shalt do's it one, all thou shalt have it one. there is a future god in short thy mind.
that I know it is. Glory of giving me, with all the might, the blessed and glorious and flowing in Let me pray to God in Christ. Shall we remind our hearts of the verses upon which that in this verse?
The God of this world has blinded the minds the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel and the glory of Christ, with the likeness of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For it is God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts, give the light and the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ. Let us pray. O God, our Father, as we think of multitudes of men and women who groan in darkness, they have no light.
Indeed, they sit in darkness and are in the shadow of death, are submersed in prayer for them. We know that the God of this world hath blinded the minds of those that believe not, lest that light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ should penetrate into their hearts. That light that is brought by the Gospel, by the declaration of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And so we bow before thee to pray, and that the light of this Gospel may penetrate at our lips, and bring light and light to them. How we thank thee, O God, that thou sovereign over all, and that just as at the beginning thou didst speak, let there be light.
The whole world was confused with light. So thou hadst shined in our hearts. We worship and praise thee, that thou didst speak that word for us. their very light. Suddenly, out of our darkness, we beheld him who is the light of the world. We thank thee that thou hast shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That thou hast dawned upon us, that thou hast granted us this illumination, is alone of thy mercy. And so we bow to adore thee, we bow to thank thee, that we do not be left in darkness, but that we have the light of life.
We pray thee, O Lord, that we may not be content to have that light ourselves, but may be willing, as thou didst enable us, to communicate it to us through the preaching of the Gospel. And as this evening we consider this matter together, We pray thee that thou have illumined our minds by thy Holy Spirit through thy words, and we humbly ask thee that thou have challenged our wills concerning this matter. We confess to thee that so often we know the truth, but do not allow to affect us in our conduct, and that we may explain matters to others, but do not ourselves permit our lives to be governed by it.
O Lord, forgive us for this we beseech of thee, and grant to us this night that as thy word comes to us it may come as the sharp sword of thy spirit piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit of the thoughts of the intents of our hearts. Expose ourselves in our thinking and in our motives and in our acting to ourselves. As before thee, O God, that we may know ourselves as we really are, and that we may be determined by thy grace, and by thine enabling, that we may put right to that which is wrong, that we may the better glorify thee in our lives.
We thank thee that thou hast not only dispelled the initial darkness in our lives, bringing the delight of the truth concerning our Lord Jesus, But we thank thee that thou art prepared to dispel any corners of darkness that remain. We pray that we may have an eye that is single, but our whole body may be full of light. We pray that thou art superior to us those areas that are shaded in our own experience. Those things that we tolerate, for which are characterized by darkness rather than light. We pray that by thy grace, as we bow to thee, our whole body may be full of light, that we may be arraigned with the light that streams from our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we commend ourselves to thee for as are together and seek that blessing which comes only from thee. We pause to remember before me those whose hearts are here. Those whose desire to meet with thy people is a very real thing, but they are prevented without the advancing year and because of illness. We pray for the members of this church who are prevented in this way, and ask thee that thou hast drawn near to them in a very special way just now, giving them the assurance that they are being unborn in prayer here at this hour, and granting to them such a special consciousness of thy presence. such a real awareness as a dark whistle, that the joy of the Lord may become their strength.
We pray for those who have responsibilities and can't come, for those who care for little children, for those who are nursing elderly loved ones, and for those who have other responsibilities which prevent their coming, would our minister to them according to thy riches in glory by Christ Jesus. so answering and more than compensating for their needs. Curse, O Lord, for the world in all its dire need. We thank you that thou hast called us to intercede with thee on behalf of those whom thou hast placed in positions of authority and responsibility. We ask thee, O Lord, that they may seek the ways of peace.
We pray that they may in some way, be so controlled by thee, that thy services may be worked out through them for peace and blessing, for the peoples for whom they care. So we commit these great matters to thee, and ask thee now our heavenly Father, that we may abide in thy presence with peace and tranquility of spirit, being girded by thee with strength for meditation upon thy heart. Here, let's we ask all Jesus' sake. Amen. Now let us sing the hymn number six hundred and two.
In number six hundred and two. Lord, speak to me that I may speak in living echoes of thy throne. And thou hast sought, so let me speak. Thy airing children of the dead. Thank you.
Oh, give me that I may be Holy Spirit, my name Oh,
my mother to be Oh, will
be with thy golden throne, and will thy journey have your own. of you today, for that is grace you know. Oh, you hear us, you hear me, hear me, I am your God, my glory to you.
Our reading from the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, this evening is the ninth chapter. Once written into chapter nine, I want to read the whole chapter to you, which I should do in the revised standard version. Am I not? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my way our worship is the Lord? If you others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you.
For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife? as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any risk of fruit? Who cleans a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say this on human authority?
Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not mow the knots when it is treading out the grey. Is it the option that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake because the ploughman should plough in hope, and a fresher fresh in hope of the share in the crop. If we have done spiritual good among you, is it too much shall we reach your material benefits? If others share this right, food claim upon you, do not be still born. Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we do not, if you think, rather than put an obstacle, is aware of the gospel of Christ.
Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple? Those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I right in which to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
What if I do this of my own will? I have an award. But if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this, that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win them all. To the Jews I became as 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 without law toward 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 men, that I might by all means send some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its business. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete? But only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it, Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
They do it to receive a perishable reach, but we are imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly. I do not want this one meeting here, but I trouble my body, and so do it. Best after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. From the chapters in First Corinthians we have taken phrases that are similar. We have talked about the gospel of Christ, about the mind of Christ, about the servants of Christ, and this evening we come to the substance of this chapter which concerns the gospel of Christ.
The first thing that confronts us as we read through this chapter, The first thing that hits us between the eyes as we read through what Paul has to say here is that he was constrained by a deep sense of obligation, a sense of obligation. And unless there comes upon you and upon me a sense of obligation, we shall remain unmoved by the point of death. In this chapter, the apostle tells of that obligation that controlled, unloaded and gave direction to his life. there was upon him he held a compulsion a compulsion to communicate to men the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ eight times in twelve verses in this matter he refers to the gospel the good news for men regarding the Savior indeed in verse twenty three there is a phrase which might well epitomize the whole of Paul's career that might well have been his motto it is for the sake of the gospel.
For it comprehends within him that expression the whole of his career for the sake of the gospel. Now, strenuously, he denied any credit for this. He says, there is no ground for boasting, in verse sixteen, no ground for boasting whatsoever. Indeed, necessity is made upon me. Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. if I fail he says in his responsibility to communicate to men this gospel with which I have been entrusted then I shall not be surprised if a woe will be uttered upon me you might have thought that the woe would be uttered by himself much as I who went into the presence of God and when he found himself there confronted by the glory of God became conscious of his own sin cried out woe in me for I am undone I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.
Paul might have imagined himself standing before him who had commissioned him to this task. And as he said, he will cry, Woe is me, for I am a man of silent lips! But I have not spoken the message with which I have been entrusted. Conceivered, may he imagines that God would utter a woe upon him, much as in the chapters of Preceder, Isaiah chapter six, God utters a war upon Israel. Over and over again, war unto thee, war unto thee, God tells. So he imagines that if he fails in this responsibility, God might utter a war upon him. So strong is this sense of constraint in the compulsion that he says, I can't take the credit of being a volunteer for this task.
God has waited upon me as a duty. So a volunteer might be a meritorious thing. I displayed a reward if I were to volunteer, but not so. So powerful is the pressure to me, Christ knows that I count as poor regardless as optional. There's a question of duty. Now we might well ask ourselves, whence came this strong sense of obligation upon the Apostle Paul? I think there are two answers to that. And the first is this, that this strong sense of obligation came upon him because of an awareness of the plight of the lost. Then it would appear to me under the light of the whole of the passage, and is indicated by his stress upon the word saying, that I might by all means save some.
The metaphor that he uses is of a rescue operation. I was sitting in a barless chair before trying to make conversation with him and team with me and I was talking to him about the lifeboat service around these coasts and as he told me of the lifeboat stations and we talked about their wonderful courage in saving men. This came home to me again. Here is Paul and he thinks of men not in danger for their lives but in danger for their service. He thinks of them and I remember that the very scripture that I read to you before we craft contains this verse.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are perishing, to those that are lost. And he thinks of the not only the sense of ultimate perishing, an ultimate state of being lost, but they are in a state of lostness now. They are in darkness, they are in peril now. And so he says that I might by law meet save some. Does the plight of the lost exercise anything of a spur upon you or upon me today in communicating the Gospel to me? I wonder if we have lost this sense of a flight of those who are outside of Jesus Christ.
Once inactive as a strong spur for Christian service, and particularly for missionary the sense of the lostness of men and of tragedy of being outside of Jesus Christ that somehow or another we have grown used to the concept and it no longer exercises this strong sense of constraint upon us. Poorly, would God have we do it? And what this sense of obligation arises not only from that but from a consciousness of a divine commission. He says at the end of verse fifteen, I have entrusted with a commission. God had chosen him.
God had laid hold upon him for this very purpose. Others may volunteer, he says. I was apprehended of Christ Jesus. He was supposed to tell whenever he had the opportunity of the way that God laid hold upon him for this task. God had said to him, you will be a witness to all men of what you have both seen and heard. And again God said to him, you have tested though you must bear witness also at Rome, and the Apostle knew the ordination of the piercing hand. Necessity is laid upon me, he says, for a Jamie Phillips reasoned that a sacred responsibility is put upon me.
But we may say the Apostle had this in a specific sense. He had a divine commission to preach the Gospel, and I haven't had such a commission. in quite the same way. But those days get out of it thus. Every believer has a share in the responsibility of making Christ known and of witnessing to the Savior. Go to all the world, says the risen Christ, to all his followers. Go to all the world, make disciples of all nations, teaching them, baptizing them, making Christ known and winning them for his. ye shall be witnesses unto me, he says, after his resurrection to those groups around him.
You shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and also the uttermost parts of the world. Not one of us here tonight is exempt from this obligation. The task is not optional. There should come upon us a sense of obligation. But now I want to jump to the and speak with you about a single verse. Paul concentrates all his energies upon the fulfilment of this obligation.
And in this final paragraph, he makes a plea to Christians for desalination, for a spirit of resolution. The background to the illustration in this paragraph was the Olympics of the day. They were called the Isthmian Games. We're talking about Corinth on Sunday evenings and about its geographical position. Well, about three miles from the city of Corinth, these games were held on the Isthmus. They were held every third year. They were the counterpart to modern Olympics. And not infrequently, Paul draws illustrations from these games. And so he does here. The point is this, that he draws, that he makes. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain?
Now, don't they over-apply that illustration, as though we all here tonight were engaged in a race that only one member of this company would at the end of the day gain the prize. It isn't to foster a competitive spirit amongst us that Paul uses this illustration. The point of the illustration is this. that when all those runners are striving, building all their energies, though they may be the first to press the tape, only one gets there. Only one receives the prize. Now he says, in your execution of this task, in your fulfillment of this obligation, show a similar resolution, a similar determination.
Let there be eagerness. Let there be sustained effort. Predatically, I fear that this illustration is hardly apt to our lives today. In many respects, I think we're very much more like the Race in Alice in Wonderland. I don't know whether you remember the Race in Alice in Wonderland, that so-so marked up the voice course, we read, in a sort of circle. The exact shape doesn't matter, it says. And all the parties were placed along the course here and there. There was no one, two, three in a way, But they began running when they liked, and they left off when they liked. So it was not easy to know when the race was over.
Suddenly the dodo called out, the race is over, and they all tried their own panting and asking, but who has won? The dodo said, everybody has won, and all must have prizes. But I have heard addresses on the judgment seat of Christ that are far more like that than the illustration that Paul gives. All have won. Therefore, all must characterize it. Not so. Not so. Run! So that you obtain. The characteristic of our day is the state of laissez-faire, of noble objectives, the spirit of uncertainty. John Lehman and Paul McCosney, so I'm told, sing.
He's a real nowhere man. Sitting in his nowhere land. making all his nowhere plans for nobody, doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to. Isn't he a bit like me and you? And that's the sort of state of affairs in the world. Nowhere, men, going nowhere, making plans for nobody. What a refreshing and stimulating contrast, the Holy Scripture. How bracing is the word so run that you may obtain? It provides us with an objective, a goal, a purpose. Let us know that there are only two alternatives, and they are these, a crown or a character way.
A crown or a character way. And the crown is no more withering grief than worth. Man cries in mortal strife. No mere chapter of laurel leaves, such as the victor in the games, were given. but tis incorruptible as is the threat of a crime that he gives. The alternative is quiet, right? Between dowsiness, laziness, disinclosiveness, failure to communicate the gospel, these are the alternatives laid out before us. And so, first of all, of sins of obligation, and then secondly, of sinfulness of service.
But the nature of part of the chapter is taken up with a challenging statement by Paul that it is this, that for the fulfillment of this obligation he found it a necessity to surrender certain rights. Now you may have noticed, as I read you from the revised standard version, that this word was substituted for the word that you have in the authorized version, power, have we no power. Now that is a quite the word power, it no longer attains this meaning. What Paul is saying is this, in common with all others, I enjoy certain rights, things to which I am legitimately entitled, but faced with a sense of obligation, moved by the singleness of purpose, I design that it is essential that I should surrender these rights, that I should weigh these things to which I am properly entitled.
verse four, do we not have a right to our food and drink? The surrender, I suggest, of one's right to have encountered. So unusual was the nature of Paul's life, so out of keeping with that which was followed by servants of Christ, and particularly other apostles, that some quenched whether he was an apostle of Paul. But the way he went around... they felt hardly matched up with the status that should be accorded to an apostle, the prestige that an apostle should enjoy. Others received as they expected hospitality wherever they went.
Now Paul says, I weigh this right, the food and drink. Listen to some verses from these epistles to the Corinthians. To the present hour we hunger and thirst. We are ill, quagged and buffeted and honed. in toils and hardships, through many a feast of night, in hunger and thirst, and often without food, in cold and exposure. And they saw him ill-crabbed, ill-fed, often in cold and exposure. And they said, this can't be an apostle of crab? Surely he should enjoy food and drink. Surely he should have a certain status, a certain prestige, as he holds such a rank in the Church of Jesus Christ.
The fawn in the verse which says, And the birds of the air have not where to lay their nests. And the foxes of foals and the birds of the air have nests. But the son of man hath not where to lay his head. And this was a cause of discipleship. And he said, I was not. Let's apply it. What surrender of the rights have we made in the realm of Holy Covenants? When did we last go without a legal, in order to speak to someone about the rule of Jesus Christ? Are we prepared to throw our homes open in order to win people for the favour?
With all the inconvenience that that can mean, have you ever said to non-Christian young people, you're welcome any time. any time at all, and meet it, and they put it into practice. So when they do turn up, and it's just very convenient, you welcome them in, they feel at home. I know of homes where the carpets are threadbare, because those homes are thrown out open to folk who come in regularly and who meet Christian people and are confronted with a challenge of the world. a man who is prepared to make a sacrifice in the realm of home countenance for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.
Secondly, a surrender of one's right to human love. Verse five, do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and seekers? Now, if you can tell me afterwards whether Paul was married or not, and give me good reasons, I should be delighted to have the evidence that you're able to survive. I don't know. I've always thought that he wasn't, but I've heard people say that he was. Well, if he wasn't, all I know is that he could have been if he had wished to be. But here he says, I have a right in my missionary journey to be accompanied by a wife. the other apostles, the brothers of our Lord, Peter, they enjoy the companionship of their partners as they travel around.
But I have offered this right and made a voluntary self-denial in this realm." Now again, let's apply to our terms. Do we know anything of this, any surrender in this area of our lives? You say, well, how? For some people to discharge the calling of God to promulgate the gospel of Christ has entailed their remaining single. I know the many girls on the mission field, within on the mission field, who have surrendered any prospect to marriage in order that they might do the work to which God has called them.
And so who is the faith? But Jesus says, there are units who have made themselves units for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. he who is able to receive this, let him receive it. Now it hardly needs to be said to the congregation like this, that there is no such thing in the Scripture as compulsory syllabacy. That concept is utterly foreign to the New Testament. But the call of the Saviour to discipleship rins out in these words, Whosoever loveth father or mother more than thee is not worthy of thee. And many I repeat have responded human love and we need to honor it is an immense sacrifice of many and I might add a sacrifice that does not grow lighter with the advancing yearns the loneliness that can come in later years can be very real and very grateful if they have made this sacrifice for the propagation of the gospel then grateful their reward will be the coming day I wonder if any of us might be called to that and would be willing here and now to face that possibility.
But for others, it might mean separation. Husbands from wife, parents from children. Those who feel themselves called to this partner make the price of greatest care, and they must not demand that the sacrifice of their partner is greater than they are able to make or willing to make. The discerning word, I would judge, is given in this various history, chapter seven and verse three. by agreement for a season. But in a sense, this point will have an application to every one of us. And there must be a willingness of some sacrifice at least in this realm of human love and companionship. Would I talk to a group of young people here this evening, unmarried young people?
I would apply it in this way. Is your friendship so all-consuming of time and thought and emotional energy that there is little time left for the things of God and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It may well mean for such fewer evenings together. It may well mean for them earlier over night. It may well mean for them a deliberate and agreeable restriction on their demonstration of affection for the one for the other, for the sake of the gospel of Christ. Surrender of right in as well with human love. we must not judge our standards as Christians by the standards that are played in the world.
We have different standards. We are called to an altogether different part than the past, later on. Thirdly, a surrender of one's right in the realm of kindness. A quite a large section of this chapter, ten verses indeed of a third, are devoted to the question of establishing the rights of the servant of God in this matter. Now what is established is the right of the servant of God, whose work for God has necessitated his abandoning, his secular calling, his ordinary employment, to be supported by those to whom he ministers. And Paul appeals to three authorities. He appeals to the logic. He says, the soldier who's invested.
He's not expected to supply his own rations. But the husband, who owns the vineyard, is entitled to help himself from the fruit of that vineyard, slaves who looks after the flock might reasonably expect to have free milk. Logic. Then he feels to have a law, the kindly laws of the Old Testament about the odds, who treads out at the core. He's not to be noted. And the other kindly laws of the priests are provided for out of the offerings of the way of the Prophet of the Order. Logic and the law. He feels to the highest authority of all the Lord himself. In verse fourteen, where he says, in the same way the Lord commanded. Probably he's remembering the words of the Lord where he says, the laborer deserves his wages.
Now, he builds this up in some detail. Argument upon argument, argument upon argument, and a something that won't risk quite enough in the lockdown. He says, our greatest argument owns to make more dramatic wins. Nevertheless, we do not make use of this right. I am not prepared to use this right, not making full use of this right. Now, sometimes he did. Sometimes he accepted support from those to whom he ministered. But other times he did not. He had his own reasons, place to place, time to time. He was able to say to the elders from Ephesus, when they met him at my deacon, showing them his horny hand, collowed through drawing that rough course, care as he made the tests or it tells them, these hands have ministered to my necessities and to those that were with him.
Sometimes the executive support, sometimes he labors, to supply his own needs and the needs of those who were with him. He had no embarrassment about this matter whatsoever. But he says, I have a right. I have established this right. And now I surrender this right. I surrender this right in the realm of kindness. Now, how are we going to apply this to ourselves in our duty to extend the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the first and obvious way is that some will be challenged of God to give up their regular employment with us. man who earned his own living and to have the settlement stated salary and the measure of the security that he imagined comes with it.
But one will be called to give this up in order that he might be an evangelist or a missionary on the following theme. But for the majority of us it won't work out that way. How then might it work out that way? For some it might be that they forego promotion in their career. I knew a bank manager in a little town called Burnham-on-Sea, a brother of a well-known Mr. Douglas Braley, who was offered promotion in the bank on several occasions, was pressed to take it. But inasmuch as it involved leaving that town and moving to another, he courteously asked to be overlooked in this matter, that he be permitted not to take the promotion.
for he felt that the work of God that had been put into his hand in that time demanded his presence. He felt that God would have him remain there and therefore he forwarded this question of promotion. I know another servant of God who will remain nameless because he is still living. I was talking about him only today, a chartered accountant with a large practice in a Midland city in England. who for the work of God decided to sell off half his practice and to live on the other half because it was consuming so much of his time and he wanted to devote so much time to the assembly in which he was and to the work of the Gospel of Christ that had been committed to him and he was prepared to cut the thing in half in order that he could do this work for God.
A surrender of a right, perfectly legitimate, to have a full practice. But he surrendered it in order that he might do this work to which God had called him. Probably it might mean for some the curtailment, a voluntary overtime. It must be very tempting when the invitation is given to work so many extra hours at so much additional pay. Things are expensive or you're just burning a butter. we must each ask ourselves, will this interfere with the work that God has committed? With the spread of the gospel of Christ, are we prepared to make any surrender in this realm of finance?
And for all of us, it will be the surrender of our right over what we call our money. It all belongs to him. But Scripture pleads it each. that a distinct proportion of our income should be set aside regularly for God and for His work, that each week or month as the case might seem, we should set aside for Him a proportion. Now, I don't say what a proportion. The Scripture does not inform us. You might feel that you can't even start without Him. It might be a twentieth that you commit to it. But being faithful in the Lamb, You soon feel that you must make it more.
It may become a gift. It may become a gift. It may become a gift. Read the book that was written by Robert Legglaw sometime. Though his experience with giving systematically and proportionately to the work of God and encourage and challenge your souls by that. We each have the obligation of giving systematically, regularly and proportionally. of finance. Finally, the surrender of one's right to be independent of others. Verse nineteen, for though I am free from all men, independent of all men, says Paul, I have obligation for none.
No man can claim any right over me. I am free to select my friends. I am free to choose the company that I want to associate with those with whom I feel most of her. But I forfeit this right. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all men, that I might win the more. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Unfortunately, this verse has been tragically misinterpreted. Being made all things to all men has from time to time been used as a justification to permit oneself to do something that would otherwise be all things to all men, said someone.
And in this they think that they justify the taking of liberties, the going to places, the doing of things that could not be justified on any other score. Now, in point of fact, that is the text posthumous. Paul was not there to talking about taking extra liberties, but of curtailing the liberties that he already had. He said, I feel from all men may just myself a slave to all, I may all think to all men that I might win the more. Sometimes this expression has been used to describe somebody who is guilty of compromise, a sort of misdefeating both ways.
Some months ago I was battling by trade and I decided that I would read a Guardian for a change. So I bought a copy of the Guardian on Railway Station and I turned to the leader and Mr. Wilson had said about it in the heat that he was made all things to all men. And he was all things to all men. Now, when he said that, what he implied was this. That he said this to one person and he said something different to somebody else. That he was a man without conviction. That he was unprincipled. That he was guilty of compromise. I'm quite sure that Mr. Heath would have been quite happy to have said precisely the same thing about Mr. Whitten. But it only illustrates the misuse of the text.
Was Paul unprincipled? Was he a man guilty of compromise? Not a risk. Knowing that they might misjudge him on this, he inserts two parentheses, one in verse twenty and one in verse twenty-one. I shall not stop to deal with these as we get bogged down on that now, but it's interesting to examine these two parentheses. But positively, he says, I undercut all things to all men. I surrender my prophecy. to be independent of others. Now Paul gives four illustrations of this from his own experience. To the Jews, I became the Jews. To those out of the law, those out of the law. To those outside the law, those outside the law.
And to the weak, I became as weak. He says, I voluntarily limit myself to the situations, the needs, the scruples, the language, the four forms of those whom I am seeking to get near that I might win them for Christ. isolate one of these four, and not even with them all, to the Jews, I became as a Jew. You're the man, and he's seeking to reach his heavenly Jews. And he determines that he is not going needlessly to antagonize them. He will respect their traditions and their customs. And so on occasion he takes Timothy and he says to Timothy, look, you're accompanying me on certain work amongst you.
Your mother's a two S. I know your father's a Greek, but your mother's a two S. And they will regard you as a Hebrew. Has you ever been circumcised? Timothy says no. Well, says Paul, look, let me explain to you. That circumcision means absolutely nothing to me. If anyone insists on it, as they try to do with Titus, I put my foot down and said, no, not on your life, and not giving way on this point. But he says, in this case, in order that we do not needlessly antagonize those people that we're going to reach. Would you mind submitting to this operation? And so Timothy does. I am made all things to all men.
What sacrificial man. What a conciliatory act on the part of Paul and on the part of Timothy. For they are determined that they will not needlessly be fed. When he goes to preach to them, he finds that they are all in the synagogue. Now all you join well that the synagogue housed a dead religion. But that's why the Jews were gathered. So he had no scruples at all about going to where they were, preaching to them. I dare say that we wouldn't be terribly happy to have done that ourselves. We would have said, be the synagogue. No, I've been invited. I'm not going to the synagogue to preach to them. But that's where the sinners were. And can we say, I'm not going where the sinners are.
They must come where I am. Paul says to the Jews, I'm there, he's a Jew. I'm going to the synagogue to preach to them. And which day of the week did he go? Did he say, are the Sabbaths being abrogated? Is it now the Lord's Day? Is it actually preach the gospel in a church on the Lord's Day? No. He knew they were there on the Sabbath Day. On the Sabbath Day, he had the school. He went and he preached to them on the Sabbath Day when they were there in their synagogue. Now, the line between principle and what is policy is not easy to draw. And I'm not going to be tempted to draw any line for you tonight. You must draw those lines for yourself as before God.
But the important thing is that we should be prepared to surrender our rights in the question of being independent of others, of pursuing our own way. We must consider them. Never, I repeat, never choose this. permitting ourselves to go things, or do things, or keep covering them, which are contrary to the will of God and expressly forbidden in Holy Scripture. But for many of us, the far greater danger is that we are made nothing to all men. Made nothing to all men. No surrender of personal rights to win them for Jesus Christ. We are made independent of sins, and we must fill our insurer way.
We refuse to become involved with them. We will not sit as the prophet did, where they sit. We opt out of everything that brings us in close touch with those who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. We argue that we have nothing in common with them. Did Jesus Christ have anything in common with you? Or with me? When he left heaven, came down where we were. nothing at all. But he came where we were, that he might lift us to where he is. And it is to this that he calls us. Not that we should put up our hands in a sort of pious gesture, sanctimonious, but that we should sit where they sit and become involved with them in their need.
This has been relevant, I feel, to our gospel service. For if these services so often reflect the mentality which says to Jews, you must become as we are. To the weak, you must become as we are. To those under law, you must become as we are. If you would be blessed, you must come and sit here, and you must go through the service as we like to run it. And we run the service rather for our benefit than for others. What is our attitude going to be? I have made all things to all men. If it is not a question of principle, if it is not a question of that which is solemnly laid down as a bigotry in Holy Scripture, we ought to be far more out-curving than we are in seeking to win, men and women, for our Lord Jesus Christ.
God, there are evidences of this sort of thing. I heard of a girl only the other day who is in the fog. And in order to win those who are in the fog for Jesus Christ, She has withdrawn from the missionary society with which she was associated, the RBMU. Or she says, I was receiving a salary from them, and how could I say to the poor saints, how could I minister to them when they knew I was all right? And so she has withdrawn from that society and receives no salary and does the same work as they do and wears the same clothes as they wear and eats the same food as they eat and has taken the Nepali nationality.
Now this is an exceptional calling from God to an exceptional person, but it does come. I think of Dr. Edwin Short, in the leprosyrian, but not at all, working amongst leprosy patients, a man whose ability as a doctor could have got in one of the outstanding positions possibly in this country. But there he is, toiling away amongst lepers. I think of those who wrote Christian unions in their factories, in their offices, in their hospitals, and they get alongside the people they're trying to win for Jesus Christ. I think of many who are engaging in coffee bar evangelism and are sitting down at tables drinking coffee with people that probably they have nothing at all in common with because they want women for Jesus Christ.
I think of those who open their homes and welcome folk in. A surrender. of our right to be independent of other people. I have made all things to all men through the Apostle Paul. The great need today is involvement with others for their need, remembering that he who was the highest pinnacle of glory became involved with us for our need. So may God help us to see more clearly our obligation in connection with this matter to the Gospel of Christ and by divine grace to discharge it. Now let us sing our closing hymn, which is number five hundred and seventy-eight.
Saviour by dying God, who thou gave this, nor should I ought to withhold my Lord from thee. In love my soul would bow, my heart full to Israel, some offering.