Anything Rather than Hinder the Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Dearly loved people of God,
Two weeks ago while I was still on vacation and I visited Brantford CRC. When the service started I learned that Teen Challenge was participating. As the men from the London Teen Challenge spoke, they described the 12 mo. residential program as an intense season of growing in faith.
Maybe it was Brad’s testimony that helped me see it. At 54, Brad is 10 years older than I (teen challenge isn’t just for teens). His story reminded me that church discipleship fails some people.
Brad grew up going to one of the Reformed family of churches. It wasn’t until he lost his small business and his house, and broke his relationships with his wife and his 4 kids due to his addiction to alcohol that he hit rock bottom. At that point was able to hear the gospel of Jesus. He isn’t done the program, but he described how the conversations and the activities have let him break away from alcohol in God’s strength. What’s more, he said he understands the gospel better now than ever before.
Now you know and I know that not everybody who grows up going to weekly worship services and church education classes has faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. In the CRC, the number of young adults who continue going to church after they leave home is low (find stats).
He’s not done the program, but he described how the conversations and the activities have let him grow in faith.
But this isn’t just about statistics; this is about people. It’s about people that you know and love. Many of you have family members and friends who live close by and could attend weekly worship services, but don’t. We’re concerned for them. We’re concerned for the next generation.
One of the big motivations in our conversations among elders and deacons and on the Go Local Team is that “the way we’ve always done things” doesn’t seem to be having the results we hope for. One of the saying at the Renewal Lab is, “Your organization is currently set up to get the results you’re currently getting.” If you’re not happy with the results . . . you probably need to change what you’re doing.
That’s what motivates the changes and the experiments we’re working on.
Is there a way to teach and model the gospel of Jesus Christ so that the next generation lives in the joy and comfort that they are not their own but belong to their faithful Saviour Jesus Christ?
Is there a way to present the gospel so that our neighbours and guests can hear the gospel and can grow and thrive in their faith?
Is there a way to ensure that you are not the end of the chain of making disciples? I mean, if you heard the gospel from a long chain of disciples that stretches all the way back to the women who saw the empty tomb and talked to the risen Jesus Christ, do you dare to be the last person in that chain of disciple-making-disciples?
One of the passages we have turned to repeatedly in our Council devotions is this passage from . Context:
Paul is defending his ministry
Paul never charged his disciples for preaching to them, even though it was normal for travelling teachers of religion and philosophy in his day to charge their students for attending lessons. Paul defends the right for preachers to charge for preaching the gospel with 2 OT precedents.
We didn’t read the flattering comparison to oxen treading grain. God gives instructions in his law not to muzzle them; let them grab a mouthful or two of grain as they help thresh it. In the same way, those who preach the gospel ought to earn their living by working in the Kingdom.
We did read the comparison to OT priests who were able to bring home certain cuts of meat from the offerings God’s people brought.
Paul says the reason he didn’t charge for a very specific reason: “We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
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 people so 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.
I cor 9: 20
If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
1 cor 9: 12
The challenge is to imitate Paul’s attitude of putting other people’s interests ahead of our own. This becomes all the more imperative as you grow in faith. Those who are mature in faith must bear with those who are weak.
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Many people have strong preferences about what they enjoy and like to see in worship services, Bible studies, and church programming. The question is, are you willing to put your own preferences aside for the sake of someone else?
Are you willing to imitate Paul - one of the more effective ambassadors of the gospel - and “put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ?”
What is that gospel?
Sin - Salvation - Service
It’s relatively easy to see what is offensive in other people. Nobody has respect for a politician if it seems they are in leadership for their own power, prestige. Disgust when you hear a story of a mother or father who leaves their kids alone in the car while they spend the evening in a club partying or in a casino gambling. We find self-serving behaviour and attitudes difficult in others. Yet when we’re honest we recognize that we don’t always shine either. On our bad days we’re not interested in