BEING
MISSIONAL
Introduction: Who are the
people you are most comfortable with?
Where do you feel most at home?
What foods do you love the most? A few weeks ago, we talked about the
calling of Abraham, the calling of Jesus and the calling of the disciples, and
how that call now has been given to all the followers of Christ. Let’s talk
about being missional about where and to who Jesus might be calling us to take
his message of the gospel of good news? I Corinthians 9:19-23.
What
is involved in following the call of God? It requires hearing the call, a sense
of being sent, and uncertainty and willingness to cross over, flexibility,
focus, mission, and having a burden for lost souls — a bit of background of the
city of Corinth.
I THE CITY OF CORINTH
IN THE FIRST CENTURY.
What
do we know about the city of Corinth and the Church in Corinth? Corinth was a critical
cosmopolitan Greek city located about fifty miles west of Athens. It was one of
the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Corinth was on a major trade route and
had a thriving economy. Greeks, Romans, Jews, and a mixed multitude of sailors
and merchants flocked to this crossroads. By the end of the second century,
Corinth had become one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Corinth was a sin
city. Degradation, immorality, and pagan customs abounded.
There
were many religions represented, even a temple with a thousand sacred
prostitutes, and pleasure was worshipped more than principles. Yet God in His
mercy had a plan and purpose for Corinth. What do we have in common with the
city of Corinth?
Like Corinth, our cities are infested with
Sin. Immorality is rampant. People worship sports stars and celebrities than
worshipping the true and living God. Some don’t even believe in God and follow their
own devices. Our town Sharon, in particular, has some similarities; we have a
substantial Jewish population as well as people from other faiths and diverse
cultures.
Coming
back to our text, what was the purpose of God in sending the Apostle Paul to
the city of Corinth? So that he might establish a Church. In Acts 18:4, we
read, “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and
Greeks.” Paul stayed in Corinth for eighteen months and established a church. After
a while, the church in Corinth ran into some problems such as divisions, gross
immorality, lawsuits, and marriage problems.
There
was also confusion about certain rituals of worship and food offered to the idols.
All these and many other issues prompted Paul to write two letters to the
Church in Corinth. God sent the Apostle Paul to Corinth to plant a church among
a sizeable Jewish population; similarly, part of Hope Church’s calling is to reach
out to the Jews in Sharon. What are we doing about it?
In
the first letter, Paul was seeking to build and strengthen the church in an
unbelieving, idolatrous, and ungodly society.
He reminded them of their position in Christ. I Cor 1:2, “I am writing
to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own
holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all
people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and
ours.”
He
was talking to these believers about a whole new way of living that is not
about who is the smartest, the strongest, or the most influential. In the
passage we read, Paul was reminding the Corinthian believers of their missional
calling. To motivate them to reach out to others who were different than them, he
used himself as an example. The Apostle Paul’s missional approach holds
insights for our approach to the members of other faiths and cultural
communities.
II THINKING MISSIONAL
Some
of you may have your concerns and reservations when we encourage you to attend
events where we interact with people of other faiths such as Muslims or Hindus.
You may be wondering these people are
killing Christians back in their home countries,
how
can I possibly love them? To find some answers, let’s seek some wisdom from the
Apostle Paul. Before we address what it means to be missional, let’s talk about
what God’s Mission is on the earth. God’s mission is the redemption of humanity
even before Adam’s fall.
John
3:16, “For
this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone
who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” “Being missional is
engaging in the mission of God as the primary concern and overriding objective.
People sometimes compare the relationship between church and mission to the
relation between fire and burning. One does not truly exist without the other.”[1] How could we cultivate
Missional thinking?
The
first thing we have to do in developing missional thinking is to learn to give
up our rights. Phil 2:6-8, “Though he was God, he did not think of equality
with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he
took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he
appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a
criminal’s death on a cross.”
For Americans, when so much of our life
revolves around our civil liberties, perhaps this is one of the hardest things
to do. Yet God is asking us to relinquish our rights, even our right of being
right for the sake of being right. I Cor 9:19, “Even though I am a free man
with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.”
Elsewhere
Paul challenges the believers to imitate him as He imitated Christ. If Jesus
and the apostle Paul were willing to give up their rights, are we higher than
them that we just can’t let go of our rights so that many people will come to
know Jesus? Secondly, we need to learn to identify with people whom we are
trying to reach. Paul identified with both law observant and not observant
Jews, and even to Gentiles without compromising his faith.
Vs.
20-21, “I have become all things to all man so that by all possible means I
might save some. I do all this for the
sake of the gospel.” Here is a real-life story of a young man who identified
with the youth of Amsterdam. David, a young American missionary in the 80’ had
little success in his efforts to reach the teenagers of Amsterdam until he
found the courage to adopt their form of dress and hairstyle a Mohawk.
As
David and his teammates identified with the street kids and the punks, they
began to respond. Many showed a deep desire for truth, and some became
Christians. David risked criticism from other Christians to communicate the
gospel more effectively in the street culture. David was willing to enter their
world rather than expecting them to enter his. How far are you ready to go to
identify with a particular group so that they can receive the gospel?
It
is most comfortable for us to interact and spend time with people who look like
us think and talk like us and have a similar lifestyle. But being missional is
more than that; it is connecting with others who may not necessarily share our
customs and values and share with them the love of Christ through patience and
our exemplary lifestyle.
That
was what Jesus, Paul, the disciples, and the other earlier missionaries did,
and even today, some are doing the same. We try to identify with people so that
somehow, we may win some for Christ. The BIG take away from these verses is
that we are not meant to merely relate as believers among each other in our
church and shun those who are outside of our faith.
These
verses call for us to make every effort to build and maintain relationships and
make the most of every opportunity. Thirdly, we cultivate missional thinking by
seeking to find common ground with everyone, as the Apostle Paul did. Vs.
22-23, “When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want
to bring the weak to Christ.
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.” When we
meet someone for the first time, our goal should not be to give them the gospel
but to develop friendship by finding common ground. Find out their interests and
build a conversation around it, as Jesus did with the Samaritan woman at the
well. (John 4:1-42). If there is an opening, then share the gospel.
III. BEING MISSIONAL
We must realize that every
Christian in the Church is called to be involved in the mission of God; it is
not just the job of the pastor and the elders but it is our job together. From
time to time, we need to be reminded of how God has saved us from the pit of
darkness and for what purpose He kept us alive. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are not
like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation,
and God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness
of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
Being
Missional is showing the goodness of God to the people around us. How do we do
it? God’s goodness can be seen in a nurse who is kind despite the workload. It
is seen in the patience of a middle school teacher. It is seen in the integrity
and honesty of a businessman. It is seen in the caring love and concern of a
police officer. God’s courage and protection are seen when a firefighter dares
to rescue people from a burning house.
God’s
compassion flows when we reach out to people in need beyond the call of duty. God’s
father heart is expressed through the time and attention a parent gives to a
child. God’s love is manifested when a husband and wife love each other. God is
pleased when we are kind to strangers and accept them for who they are as they,
too, are made in God’s image. By these and a myriad of other ways, we can
remain missional. After hearing this message, I hope we will try to become “all
things to all people so that by all means, we might save some.” Amen!
