Love not pragmatism

Hey, good morning, friends. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. That's where every day you and I, we get together, we get into God's word. We have some coffee and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022, we'll make it from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. So glad to be with you this morning. Why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray and we'll get into the second half of First Corinthians, chapter nine. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you that every week. We get to start. By looking at what you have for us, by hearing from you. God, give us ears to hear. Allow us to know who you are. And how we are to walk before you in Jesus's name. Amen. All right. So we're at first Corinthians chapter nine. First Corinthians chapter 9 and we're going to pick up on the second half of that chapter beginning at verse 19 and we'll go through the end of the chapter.
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews I became a Jew, that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law towards Christ. that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
Well, we need to ask ourselves, A. What is this about? B. What's the best verse to summarize this in? C. What are we called to do in response to these words? So, what's this about? How has Paul moved from not eating meat sacrificed to idols to being a Jew to Jew and Gentile to Gentiles, law to law people and lawless to lawless people, stuff like that? What's he getting at here, right? How does this connect? Well, he's still showing his pattern of apostolic servanthood. He's showing his right and his liberties that are put under discipline.
You are free in Christ to do all sorts of things, and that is true. But that doesn't mean you should do them. The people in Corinth were saying, ah, we know that idols are nothing and we could eat whatever we want, all the while trampling on their weaker brother's conscience and sinning against Christ. And so he brings up the example of how he needs to make sure that he is not charging money because he doesn't want it to be a stumbling block for those who might think he's just in it for the money and then would not receive Christ. And so here he's saying, look, I do this all over the place.
When I travel in Jerusalem, when I go in Judea, when I'm around Jewish people, I don't exercise all the liberty I have. I'm not going to bring bacon into my Jewish friend's house. No, when I go to Judah's house, I eat like a Jewish person. Why? Because I don't want to be a stumbling block. And when I'm in Thessalonica and I'm ministering to the people there, I'm going to behave like I can in Thessalonica because I don't want to be a stumbling block for them. See, because the point is we want to bring people Christ.
This is not pragmatism. Hear me out here. This is not being a chameleon. This is not saying you aren't principled. This is not saying that somehow Paul doesn't have a spine. No, he's being courageous. He's disciplining himself. He's saying, I have these liberties, but I will put them to the side if I might be able to share Christ with someone. If I might be able to love someone better, I'll put my own preferences away. That's what he's getting at in verse 25. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Just because I can do something doesn't mean I should do something. Paul saying, yeah, I have rights as an apostle. I have liberties in Christ. But I will discipline myself like a runner whose eye is on the prize, on bringing Christ to people and loving people and showing them Christ.
So I'll pummel my body into submission. I'll do without food. I'll do without liberties. I'll do without money. I'll do without spare time. If I might bring Christ, woe is me if I don't preach Christ, right? And this is what he's getting at here. The discipline, this is not some type of moralistic thing. People take this passage and they divorce it from the whole scope of the context of what's going on. And they make this a moralistic thing, you know, just fight harder for your faith, you know, run for the faith, go for the faith. But that's not what this is talking about.
In the context of what this is talking about, it's about during the race of the Christian life, we discipline ourselves to love others. to put aside our rights, our privileges, our wants, our liberties, that we might bring others Christ. You know, I might just jump to calling. I've already told you what I think is the best verse. I have verse 25 underlined. You could disagree with that. That's fine.
But let's jump into some controversial calling. And we have, we know that C is for calling. C is also for Christ. C is also for, well, I don't know if I want this video to get blocked by YouTube, but you know, a virus that starts with C. And in the church, We were ripped up. Thankfully, not so much at Sharon, but there were possibilities all over the place.
People ripped up because they were demanding their way. however to respond to what was going on, this mandate or that mandate, these guidelines or those guidelines. And instead of people living with an eye towards preserving the conscience of the weaker brother, they thought there's only one way to do this and you must follow my way. Instead of being guided by the law of love. How many churches were ripped apart because strong men, instead of disciplining themselves, insisted on a certain way of doing things? How many strongmen, and this is on both ends of the pendulum swing, right?
Conservative who went so far as to demand that nobody was allowed to wear masks and nobody was allowed to do this. And on the other side, people who are very, very cautious and people who are saying, you must wear masks in church. We must have social distancing.
We must have X, Y, Z. And no one could find a place of love and middle ground trusting other people loving other people dealing with each other's consciences And saying I'm going to go as far as I can with you Because I love you I know that that mean might mean that I have to put away some of my liberties And you know what? That's okay And we saw this rip apart the church Liberty of conscience is real Loving the weaker brother is real We hold these intention we stand on principles Now there are other principles we could talk about this all day in the application section Right if you wanted to have a conversation go out to coffee You know hang out after church and we could talk about how these apply The question is do we love each other? Are we willing to put away? Our rights, our privileges, our liberties, and live in an understanding way with each other.
This is what Paul is saying he's doing. And when he goes to Jews, he loves them as Jews. When he goes to Gentiles, that's how he treats them. You might have rights and privileges and different opinions, but you know what's more important, bringing them Jesus Christ.
Is that how you interact with people in your life? Even over serious things? Will you put away some of your rights and liberties? Not talking again, not talking about being a spineless chameleon, not talking about pragmatism, talking about love. I'm about purposefully disciplining yourself. that you might put away your rights and privileges and focus on the soul of your brother and sister.
I hope we're those types of Christians. Paul was. Christ certainly was. He put away the rights and privileges of heaven, that he might come and save us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Thank you for the model you have set for us of love. Lord, we pray that we might put away our likes, our preferences, our liberties, and live sacrificially and lovingly. Father, please, we can't do this by ourselves. Please give us your spirit. Please fill us with zeal. that we might love others. In Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you today. May you enjoy Jesus Christ. May you love your neighbor. And may you have good work to do today. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.