Sermon Archive

"All Things to All People", I Corinthians 9:16-23

Date: February 8, 2009, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Author: The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel

GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.

            I hadn't thought in years of my childhood neighbors. Just north of our house lived Bobby Acres. He was Catholic. Just south lived David Neumeier. He was Jewish. I was Protestant. I still remember one afternoon when the three of us were in David's backyard playing and talking. David said he only had half the Bible we had and Bobby said his Bible had more books than mine. We all believed in God. We all went to church or synagogue. We were friends. I think it was 1959 when we were in the backyard talking. Just four years earlier, Will Herbert, the sociologist, had published an essay entitled Protestant, Catholic, Jew. We had different faiths but we all had faith. America had faith.

            The world isn't as tidy today as in the 1950s. We are still divided by religion. We now have neighbors who worship other gods rather than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have associates who believe in no god and may despise those of us who do. There is hostility to faith that we never knew then.

            I miss the days when going to a restaurant there would be prayers printed on the placemats—Protestant, Catholic and Jewish prayers. I miss the public service announcements on television saying that the family that prays together stays together. I miss the days when stores were closed on Sundays and families would gather for worship and then go home to a pot-roast or chicken. It was easier to be a Christian when everyone was—apart from a few Jews, when the heathen lived in foreign lands and not across the street, when it was clear that America was one nation under God and no one disputed it.

            But then our grandparents, parents or our younger selves did not have such an opportunity to witness to faith, to evangelize with good news, as we have today. In the 1973 there was a national movement to witness to Jesus called Key 73. In the community I grew up in it was decided not to bother. Everyone was in some way affiliated with a church or adamantly refused to be. We no longer live in 1973 or in Moorhead , Minnesota . We are blessed to live in the twenty-first century in Eugene , Oregon , one of the least churched cities in America , in the least-churched state in the union. It is our privilege to be in a place where our witnessing counts.

            St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he had no choice but to evangelize, to proclaim the Gospel. He wasn't doing this as a job but because God had commissioned him to preach. His words may be spoken directly to pastors. Being a pastor and preacher can never be a job. We are called to be shepherds, not hirelings. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus talks of those who parade their piety: Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. I am glad to be a Lutheran pastor where our wage is set by synod guidelines, where there is no cult of personality of pastors and I have met very few who are rich. I have never walked into a Lutheran Church and seen a portrait of the pastor and wife prominently displayed in the narthex. Just before our text, Paul says that workers for the Lord deserve a living, but they should also never use their position for gain. Christians, clergy and lay, must never lord it over others or look down on others. The church is strongest when it is weak, when we do not put ourselves between the honest seeker and the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever scandal touches the church, whenever people detect judgmentalism or greed, whenever leaders take the role of the scribes and Pharisees, then our witness is compromised. True leaders follow Jesus who took the form of a servant. We are called to be all things to all people. Why? For the sake of Gospel witness. Why? So that some may be saved.

            Paul uses an interesting word in our text, “Win.” It comes from Jewish evangelism and is a synonym of “save.” Rabbi Hillel lived at the time of Herod the Great, the time when Jesus was born in Bethlehem . Hillel once said, “When you enter a city, follow its customs.” Jewish evangelism in the first century never downplayed the Law of Moses but tried not to make it offensive or a stumbling block to converts. Most synagogues had those who attended but had not converted, the Godfearers. These were people most receptive to the Gospel. They loved the God of Israel and followed the moral law but had not been circumcised and did not keep kosher. The Godfearers were at the same time, Gentiles and believers. Paul went to Jews, to Godfearers, to pagans. He proclaimed that the Law of Moses was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The social order no longer divided people. There was neither Jew nor Greek; neither rich nor poor, slave or free. Even men and women were one in Christ. Paul was a Jew to the Jews in order to win Jews. He became as one outside the law (but not lawless because he followed Christ's law of love) in order to win those outside the law. He became weak to win the weak. He became all things to all people so that by all means, he might save some.

            We are to be all things to all people so that we may win some. I thought about this a while; what does that mean for us? I knew a middle-aged pastor who thought he would appeal to the young people by getting his ear pierced and changing his hairstyle but instead of looking young, he just looked silly. I don't think that is what Paul meant. Some churches have eliminated the Lutheran name from their churches, eliminated the Lutheran liturgy and have adopted such an evangelical style that they lost their Lutheran substance. I don't think Paul means giving up true and cherished beliefs. But it does mean being open to new people and their different insights. It is not telling others what they should believe or do and hoping that they will not only join us but become just like us. It means being willing to set aside that which is of lesser importance for the sake of the most important, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our goal is that many will hear the Gospel and some will be saved.

            A couple of years ago we decided to run a television advertisement for Central. We had advertised in the newspapers for many years and run ads on the University of Oregon radio station highlighting our wonderful music offerings. When we ran the TV ad, we decided to advertise on sporting events and popular programs. Many of you have seen the Central advertisement. We led with our beautiful organ music and the renowned architecture of this church. All three pastors were dressed in robes and had speaking parts. We showed a young family and people receiving communion. We are a Lutheran Church and we will not change that. We are known for our music and architecture, that is who we are. But we are willing to reach out to those who may not have considered church to come and see. We ended with a line which has become my own mission statement for Central Lutheran Church : “Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here.” One of you suggested that sentence and I want to thank you. We are Christians, Lutheran Christians. Our life together is centered on Word and Sacrament and that will not change. But we are open and willing to listen and learn as well as speak and teach.

            St. Paul was under no illusion that everyone would respond to his message. In Corinth , as in so many of the cities and towns where he preached, he faced rejection. Last week in our Bethel Bible series we read how Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half. He worked as a tentmaker in leather and canvas to support himself. Acts says every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks. He tried to convince the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus but many opposed and reviled him. He shook the dust from his clothes and began to preach to the Gentiles. One night the Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Paul, but speak and do not be silent for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.” God could be saying those words to us: “Do not be afraid. Speak and do not be silent. I am with you.”

            Paul wanted to be all things to all people in order to save some, but he never downplayed the Gospel of Jesus. In the same way, we reach out knowing that there will be those who reject what we have to proclaim but many will hear and some will believe. We have a wonderful opportunity to witness to our faith when many have not heard the Gospel, where many know nothing of the story of Jesus and His love.   It is not Protestant, Catholic, Jew any more but an opportunity to reach out and win some. Amen.

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