All Things


Sunday, February 5th, 2006
Epiphany/Ordinary 5B
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
1 Corinthians 9:16-23

16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. 19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20 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 I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

During the Revolutionary War, both the Loyalist and the Revolutionaries offered freedom to slaves who fought for their side. In the movie ‘The Patriot’, Mel Gibson’s character, Benjamin Martin, forms and leads a militia that includes a slave who has been assigned to that duty by his owner. As the movie progresses, we hear the slave mention how much longer he has to serve before he has earned his freedom. As that time draws nearer, so does the climax of the movie. At last, the big battle looms, and the slave is still with the militia. One of the other men in the platoon comments to him that his time is up – he’s finished paying off his freedom, he’s free to go.

The slave, Occam, played by Jay Arlen Jones, answers “I know. I’m here of my own accord now.”

It is a small but significant moment. A line was drawn in his conscience, and in crossing it, Occam went from being a slave to being a truly free man.

What is the difference between doing something which you are obligated to do and doing that same thing out of your own volition, by your own choice – your own free will?

Paul is exploring that question in the beginning of today’s passage. He’s trying to explain to the church in Corinth why it is that he does what he does – why he travels around from city to city preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, usually risking rough treatment (to put it mildly) on the part of the Jews to whom he always went first, as well as from the gentiles, to whom he went next. Why he does it for no monetary compensation and what it is that compels him to keep on keeping on.

Of course, he answers his own question: What is his reward? “Just this: so that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights IN the gospel.”

Paul is in the middle of trying to get it through the heads of the folks at the church in Corinth just what it means to be a follower of Christ. In a single word, I suppose, it could be summarized as ‘submission’, a turning over of yourself, mind, body and spirit, to the will of God, releasing the hold you have on your own imagined control over your life and trusting God to work in and through you.

Yesterday, after our presentation at the RASnet conference, we stayed around and had an opportunity to talk to both a few of the people who attended as well as some of the other presenters. In the course of a couple of the conversations, Leslie used a phrase to describe our ministry to the Latino community on the Neck: “We’re FRAUDS, we don’t know what we’re doing! We’re making it up as we go along!”

I’ve heard her say that lots of times. I’ve even said it a couple of times myself. On one level it makes me cringe to hear it, but on another level I’m thinking “that really IS the truth!”

What is it that makes me uncomfortable? It’s not that we’re entirely clueless about doing this ministry. We come to it with experience and with heart, but I live in a culture that values competence, and competence is achieved through preparation, and preparation is achieved through dedication and hard work, which usually means studies, at least in ministerial circles. It all ends up providing you with a deep sense of accomplishment, in some cases, a really GOOD, DEEP sense of accomplishment, like “really proud of yourself” good and deep.

That’s not a bad thing. Not necessarily. There’s nothing wrong in enjoying your accomplishments.

The trouble arises when what you’re dealing with is the eternal and the divine.

It is easy – terribly easy – after having a good day – say the sermon comes out better than it seemed as it was being prepared, or the Bible Study generated some of the best discussion you’ve heard in a long time, or that visit in that home turned from a quick stop-in to a long, meandering, deep conversation that touched on the whole life of a person – one of those conversations you don’t get to experience too often in this life. It’s scary how easy it can be at the end of the day to lay down in bed and think ‘I did well today’.

Do you see the problem? I did well today.

Yes, there is DEFINITELY an element of preparedness that goes into living a Christian life, an element of intentionality in rising each morning … set in ‘receive’ mode, as it were, developing a sensitivity to the leadership of the Holy Spirit – wherever it may take you – and being willing to DO or GO wherever he takes you.

But it is, ultimately, GOD who is doing the work.

The prayer attributed to St. Francis – The Peace Prayer – gets to the heart of that calling – the sense of being used by the master.

"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, harmony.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."

The question before us today is, how much do we adhere to what Paul is describing that HE did and St. Francis put into the words of his prayer in response to what God has done for us?

Are we following this ‘way of Jesus’ solely in order to reap the benefit of the afterlife? To avoid the ‘lake of fire’ and eternal damnation? What is our primary motivator?

As you know, I spend a considerable amount of time taking people places, through the RBA Hispanic Ministry, whether it is to Doctor’s appointments, WIC appointments, Court appointments, or to or from the bus station or airport. I also spend time with folks in the ER, both in the role of chaplain as well as interpreter. Not a trip goes by, not a visit goes by, where I am not offered cash for the time or distance covered. The Latino community has become accustomed to having to pay for incidental services – usually charged by someone either within their own ranks or a local who has some connection to them.

To be able to help, to be able to fill that gap, and to do it in the name of and for the love of Christ and to have an opportunity to TELL them that THAT is why I am doing it – and to refuse their offer of payment – is completely freeing. It is, for me a direct reflection of what sharing the gospel should be, and it draws us closer together. It is an opening to relationship and conversation.

I explain why I am doing it and ask not for payment, but for friendship – and for responsibility. I was talking to Cecilia Simmons this morning, and she was talking about coming up against the same thing. Her request is for whomever she helps to respond responsibly with what they have been entrusted.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

How are we going to respond to what God has entrusted us with?

Maybe we should stop and consider just what it is that we’ve been entrusted with.

Paul refers to it later, in what we call his second letter to the same Corinthian church, chapter 4 and verse 7, as a treasure in jars of clay – earthen vessels. The treasure is the Glory – the Love of God in the face of Christ.

We, the folks sitting in this room, and millions of others sitting in similar settings all over the world, have been entrusted to GO to the rest of the world with the love of God in Christ. That is both empowering and overwhelming.

I’m not always up to the task. I’m not always ‘in form’. In fact, I’m SO not in form that whenever it DOES happen, I realize pretty quickly that it’s not me folks are seeing, but rather Christ in me. And the ‘me’ in that sentence really IS a clay jar … flawed, imperfect, weak in places, clunky in others, but all in all, very mortal.

THAT part of me, when I’m honest with myself, is perfectly comfortable saying “I’m a fraud; I DON’T know what I’m doing. But I go one step further and complete the thought – “because it’s not ME who’s doing it, but Christ in me”. I couldn’t have come up with the idea that I would be Pastoring Jerusalem Baptist Church, serving as an associational missionary to the Latino Community, going to school and helping raise three kids … that has been God’s doing. And if you ever hear me take any of the credit for that, please kick me gently.

My point is this: We are all here by God’s grace. Paul did what he did by the grace of God. We draw our very breath by the grace of God, and it is for us to rely on that grace to respond to his love by loving and caring for our community – our fellow man – whatever their ethnic background, whatever their cultural background, whatever their faith background. Paul spoke to that directly – to the Jew he became a Jew, to those under the law he became as one under the law, to the gentile he became a gentile, to the weak he became weak – I think he’d probably qualify that last one and say that would be a given. But he did this: he met people where they were, WHEREVER they were – and introduced them to Christ.

Can we do the same thing? Can we introduce ANYONE to Christ? Can we, like Paul, be all things to all people? Daniel Carro, the convener of the multicultural catalyst network where we spoke yesterday morning, described the stages of Cross-cultural skill:

Unconscious incompetence, (don’t know, don’t care) – at this level, one is not even aware of differences in culture and frankly, it is not a matter of concern. The approach is one characterized by the phrase, “if you don’t like it, tough”. One is only concerned with one’s OWN understanding in any given situation. There’s only ONE way to see or understand something.

Conscious incompetence, (know, don’t care) – at this level, one is aware of the cultural differences one encounters, but is not interested in bridging them. It is a socio-centric view, where one’s own culture is viewed as the only viable, important, and worthy culture.

Conscious competence, (know, care) -- at this level, one is aware of those differences, and is working to overcome them – in other words, one understands that there is a different point of view, a different understanding, and is trying to understand it in order to connect with the other person.

Unconscious competence, (don’t know, care MORE) – this stage is marked by an almost-instinctive awareness of the other’s culture – there is a sensitivity to the other’s point of view that automatically triggers an unconscious response where one finds those points in common with the other culture, or in their absence, manages to understand and connect with the other person in a very natural, uncontrived way.

Though the terminology applies to cultures, it can just as well apply to points of faith. How much do we relate with those who have no faith, or who have wandered from faith? Can we identify with that struggle for meaning, for self-understanding, for identity, or maybe the question is, can we admit to that struggle ourselves? Can we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes instinctively, intentionally, purposefully, in order to reach them in a way they will understand?

Isn’t that what God did for us, in Christ?

Let’s pray.