1Corinthians9: 19-23
4February2018
Welcoming
Entry
Vonkk 72: 1,2Be quiet, because the Holy One is here in our presence- sit
Votum and Blessing
FromIsaiah 40and 1 Corinthians 1
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and calledto be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise
Psalm33:1,7Singing songs of joy, singing a new song of praise- stand
Song 258Joyful Message, Source of Heart Worship - Gospel Word!- stand
Children
Do you know this book?Where's Wally Now?
See if you can see him here.
There’sWally Now!
We read inMark 1:29-39
29–31Directly on leaving the meeting place, they came to Simon and Andrew’s house, accompanied by James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed, burning up with fever. They told Jesus. He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them.
32–34That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew his true identity, he didn’t let them say a word.
35–37While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found him and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”
38–39Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I’ve come.” He went to their meeting places all through Galilee, preaching and throwing out the demons.
It's amazing how much Jesus love people. He want to tell them about God and be good to them.
People also look for Jesus today.
Where do you get Jesus today?
We read from him in the Bible.
How else? We tell others about Jesus.Let's sing about it.
Vonkk 82Let us shine for Jesus with a bright light- sit
Prayer
Humbling ourselves
There is a little hunger in us, and a big hunger, says the Bushmen.The first hunger, after food, is easily satisfied.The second hunger, for meaning,is not so easy.To us as Christians,that great hunger isonly satisfied by God.
Flam 22I seek you, O God, my God, I thirst for you, God- sit
From John 1
I want to proclaim this message clearly today:
In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.He came as a witness to testifyconcerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became fleshand made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Scripture
1 Corinthians 9: 19-23(BDV)
Though I am freeand belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all peopleso that by all possible means I might save some.I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Paul has the right to share in the privileges of the gospel
Paul responds here in 1 Corinthians 9 to people that criticises his ministry. He uses a series of rhetorical questions with which he confirms that he is an apostle and the privileges that is associated with that, he could enjoy.
- Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord, after his resurrection ( verse 1)?
- Are you not the fruit of my work (verse 2)?
- Do I have not the right to be maintained by you (verse 4)?
And every time the answer is, yes.
- He saw the Lord Jesus.
- The Corinthians are the fruit of his labour.
- He has the right to be maintained by them.
He continues to justify this right in the law of God, because that's what Scripture also says.
- Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?
- Who plants a vineyard, and do not eat of its fruit?
- You may not bind an ox when it threshes your grain (Deut 25:4).
Yet, Paul decided not to use these privileges, so that no one can object that Paul enrichedhimself through the ministry. Why not ?
Because: "I do all this for the sake of the gospel!"
The gospel is more important to him than his own interest. He’d rather die than ask something from them if they do not give it freely! In fact it is his honour that he does this freely, although he has the right to be dependent on them for his livelihood.
To win as many people as possible for Christ
Then Paul elaborates on his passion in life, to win many people as possible for Christ and that is what he pursues with everything in him, just like an athlete on the track or a boxer in the ring.
And Paul had a worldwide ministry:
- He was there for Jewish Christians - people for whom the law was important.
- He was there for Christians from the nations - people without the law but on whose hearts the law of God was written.
- He was there for the weak Christians - people struggling to escape from the pull of idolatry (1 Cor 8; cf. Rom 14; 15).
In fact : "I have become all things to all peopleso that by all possible means I might save some."
"To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews."
- That is why Paul kept, for example, the Sabbath for the sake of the Jews, otherwise they would never have allowed him to minister in the synagogue to them (Acts 18:4).
- That is why Paul circumcised Timothy, even though he knew that circumcision was no longer necessary (Acts 16:3). But he did it because Timothy had a Jewish mother, and he did not want theJews to malign the gospel, because they thought that Paul did not take seriously the covenant obligations.
- That is why Paul once paid for the sacrifice of some Jews who took an oath and could not pay for it, and himself sacrificedonce, even though he knew the sacrificial system came to an end with Jesus' death on the cross (Acts 21:27; 24:17).
"To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews."Indeed.
"To those not having the law I became like one not having the law."
But at the same time he became for the Christians of the nations, "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law."
- Paul celebrated Sunday, the first day of the week, with the believers (Acts 20:7). Just as he celebrated the Sabbath with the Jews.
- Paul did not circumcise Titus because Titus was a Greek, and Paul wanted to demonstrate that circumcision was no longer a sign for believers from the Gentiles (Gal. 2:3). He knew that if believers from the Gentiles would start circumcising their children, they would actually deny the Lord Jesus. This would let them cling to external signs, rather than to the Lord Jesus.
- And Paul taught the heathen to sacrifice their bodies to God, because that was a religion that makes sense (Rom 12:1-2). He taught them to live in faith (Phil 2:17), and to give thank offerings rather than sacrifices, because that is the sacrifices that bear God's favour (Phil 4:18).
Paul said: "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law." Indeed.
So did Paul also became weak for the weak, in fact "to all people".
Why?
"so that by all possible means I might save some."
No wonder that his ministry and eventually writing has influenced and continues to affect the entire Christian world.
Paul never sacrificed his convictions
Paul never sacrificed his convictions. He adapts to the people that he minister to at any given time, so he can mean something to them. But that is only part of his ministry. Many times he also had manysharp difference with people whose convictions assaulted the heart of the gospel.
He could not keep quiet about that, otherwise he would be unfaithful to the gospel:
- That he did to JewishChristians, eg in Galatia, where he strongly opposed Peter and Barnabas because they discredited the gospel by making a distinction between people on the basis of their descent (Gal 2:11-14).
- This he did to Christians of the nations, even more often, as we see many times in this letter. He takes them on about wrong ideas about incest, lawsuits, immorality, divorce, sacrifices to idols etc.
- This he also did in his letter to the Romans, to the Thessalonians, to the Ephesians, to the Galatians, to the Colossians. In fact, in all thirteen letters, this forms the theme of his theology, "We live through the Spirit, let the Spirit determine our behaviour". That is what Scripture taught us, says Paul. That's what Jesus taught us, he says. That is what the Spirit teaches us.
And that's what all the children of the Lord must obey.
All of this I do for the sake of the gospel
I conclude with two verses of Paul.
Vers 23: “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
Paul follows it up in verse 24 with:“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
The question is, of course, how far you will be willing to go to try to win others for the gospel?
I would like to tell you the story of Gladys Aylward again
Gladys Aylward lived from 1902 - 1970 and wasa British housemaid. With only simple training - she wasa great reader - and one passion for China –she accepted Chinese citizenship later– she performed wonders.
Together with Jeannie Lawson she went the furthest north of any missionary up to that point with the gospel went and changed a lot of people’s lives.
One conversation with Jeannie struck me especially. Right at the start when she arrived there, she witnessed a execution, and wasdevastated by the cruelty thereof. Jeannie’s perspective and the way we as Christians should also think about our calling and passion for change, is as follows:
“There are many things that are horrible in China.But they will change – one thing at a time with the help of the Lord.And that's what we are here for.”
She also added:
“It's a hard life for a young woman, But it won't seem hard, I promise you.When at my age you look back, it will only seem beautiful.”
The idea for the inn’s name, The Innof the Sixth Happiness, comes from the five joys that Chinese treasure: wealth,longevity, health, virtue, and a peaceable death when you’re quite old. The sixth in Jeannie’s eyes was the one you find out for yourself, and that of course was the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why his she chose this name for the inn .
That the mandarin requested her help with foot inspections to stop the ancient use of feetbinding, was on the one handa really dangerous undertaking. But it was also the way in which she could share her faith with people, through which she could have success with her passion and calling to witness for Jesus in China. Like she says at one point, her Cup of happiness overflows.
She once even stopped a prison revolt, and brought great reforms to the prison. Like the mandarin says of her: "She thrives on difficulties!"
She eventually came known by the name Jenai - the one that loves people. At one stage a Colonel, Lin Nan, with whom a relationship developed according to the movie, although she denies this in real real life, says: "I love China as it Could be" To which she answered: "I love China as it is." And her whole life was devoted to give the people a sense of dignity and making a difference piece by piece through her love for people.
The mandarin eventually became a Christian, convincedthrough her love for people.
With the Second world war breaking out, and with 100 orphans (50 according to the movie), she crossed the mountains to safety with the song: "“This old man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb, with a knick-knack paddy-whack, give a dog a bone, This old man came rolling home.” to give the children courage.
The movie is based on the book The small Woman of Alan Burgess (1957).
After the 2nd world war she went to Taiwan and managed an orphanage there until her death. She is today known in China as Ai-weh-deh - the virtuous woman - or Jenai ,as the village knew her - the one that loved the people.
She became everything for all for the sake of the gospel.
Prayer
Confirmation
Thanks offering
Final Song
Song 492: 1 ,2 In you is joy, peace and joy in Jesus Christ, You are Lord - stand
Blessing
Reponse
Song 269 God remains with you, wherever you may go - stand
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