To save some (2)

Hello everyone,

How are you doing on this day? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord. We thank God for another Monday, His guidance, protection and the salvation of our souls.

Primary Text

“… I have [in short] become all things to all men, that I might by all means (at all costs and in any and every way) save some [by winning them to faith in Jesus Christ]. And I do this for the sake of the good news (the Gospel), in order that I may become a participator in it and share in its [blessings along with you].” 1 Corinthians 9v22-23 (AMP)

“… 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.” 1 Corinthians 9v22-23 (NIV)

I wonder if Paul was alive today how he would live his life and how he would engage different people in order to present the Gospel to them. Indeed he did everything in his power to be like the people he tried to save, apart from entering into sin with them (Dakes). Beloved, let us try to find common ground with people. Paul did not live outside of God’s law, neither did he go into sin, but he didn’t stand aloof from those who did not love the Lord. Rather, he engaged them based on their own understanding so that in the end, he could bring them to Christ. One example in the Bible is when he went to Athens, given they were very superstitious and idol worshipping, and liked to discuss new ideas, his point of entry with them was the altar they had to the unknown god. At the end, after he spoke with them, some believed him. Beloved, preach the gospel, communicate with others, you might win some!

Supplementary Text

“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring…. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.’” Acts 17v16-28, 32-34 (NIV)

Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your Word. I pray you may make me an incurable soul winner, and a partaker of the blessings of the Gospel, in Jesus name, amen.