Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We are continuing our series through 1 Corinthians this morning.

Last week, Charlie pointed out to us that we are currently in a portion of the letter - that runs as one cohesive unit.

This section begins in chapter 8:1, and goes to 11:1.

Paul is dealing with the subjects of rights and freedoms, and how true Christ-like love will lead us to forsake our rights and freedoms for the good of others.

These issues that Paul is dealing with are wisdom issues.

Wisdom is sometimes a tricky issue for us.

We tend to like principles and ideas that are black and white, clear and simple.

But most of life is not clear and simple.

You know the difference between knowledge and wisdom, right?

Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

Wisdom is working out the knowledge and the principles in the every day difficult circumstances of life.

And that’s what Paul is doing here.

He’s working out his theology in order to impart some wisdom to the Corinthian church who were struggling with how to use their newfound freedoms in Christ.

The Corinthian church was really struggling with this.

And here’s what they didn’t understand.

Being free in Christ does not mean that I am free to do whatever I want to do.

It does not mean that I am free to hold on to my preferences and my rights no matter the cost to other people.

Being free in Christ means I am free to be who God has made me to be, which means I am freed FOR the service of God and the gospel.

The Corinthian church didn’t understand this.

If you remember what we talked about way back in Chapter 1, the overall problem that Paul is addressing in this letter is divisions in the church.

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.

Divisions were not only harmful to the unity of the family of God, but they were obstacles to non-believers coming to faith.

And so what was starting to happen was that these different groups were saying to themselves, “This is just how our group does things, and if they don’t like it, they can go find another group.”

The Christians in Corinth were using their freedoms abusively, thus tearing apart the unity of the church.

So, in Chapter 8, and in the first part of Chapter 9, Paul has been urging the church to use their freedoms not for themselves, but for the good and love of others in the church.

In our text this morning, Paul is now directing his audience - which includes us sitting in this room - that we should be using our freedom in Christ not only for those in the church, but also those outside the church, that more and more people might come to faith in Jesus.

Read Text

The word that we use to describe what the Apostle Paul is talking about here in these verses is contextualization.

So this morning we’re going to be talking about what this means for us, but rather than muddying the waters and getting into detailed examples for our church, instead I want to focus on giving us a positive vision and motivation to have an ongoing conversation as a church about contextualization.

I want to do that by answering 3 question from this text very simple outline this morning: 1) What is contextualization?

2) How do we contextualize? 3) Why should we do the work of contextualization?

What is Contextualization?

There’s 2 words that are repeated 5 or 6 times in these 4 verses.

Did you catch them?

He uses the word WIN 5 times and ALL 6 times.

What do you think Paul has on his mind?

SOUL WINNING.

He wants to win people for Jesus.

So he says, I become like a Jew to win Jews, I become like a Gentile to win Gentiles, I become weak to win the weak, and then this somewhat famous and controversial verse, “I become all things to all people that by all means I might save some.”

Paul is practicing what we today call contextualizing.

Let’s spend some time unpacking this idea.

Dr. Tim Keller, a pastor in New York City, someone who has really influenced me a lot in this area, gives us a pretty long and somewhat technical definition of contextualization.

Here’s what he says:

Contextualization is not — as is often argued — “giving people what they want to hear.”4

Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular time and place are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them.

Maybe for our purposes it would be best to summarize this definition like this:

Contextualization is not — as is often argued — “giving people what they want to hear.”

Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular time and place are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them.

Contextualization is the act of bringing the Christian faith to bear on particular people, in a particular cultural moment, by adapting our language and methods, in order to win people to faith in Jesus.

Or, maybe to summarize it even more, contextualization is REAL TALK.

Charlie, Porter and I were our the annual Presbytery retreat on Monday and Tuesday, the Presbytery the collection of all the pastors and elders in our denomination that are within our region.

The speaker that was brought in was Dr. Carl Ellis, who some of you know because he came to Shady Grove earlier this year to speak on the issues of race, racism and social justice.

He was addressing similar topics at our retreat.

One of the things I love about listening to Dr. Ellis is you always know when he’s about to get out of the clouds and get real with you.

He steps to the side of the podium and he gives you this look and says, “Can we talk!?”

That’s contextualization.

It’s getting real with people.

It’s getting our heads out of the clouds and bringing our faith to bear on the needs, questions and issues that people have from a particular cultural perspective.

Contextualization can be a tricky concept for some people.

And that is because what has often happened in church history is that people use contextualization as an excuse to change the gospel message.

So what some people have said and done is that we need to change the message of Christianity in order to reach the culture.

And you take that 10 miles down the logical river and next thing you know we are embracing all kinds of sins that the culture embraces.

So, rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ transforming and bringing life to the culture, the gospel of Jesus Christ is transformed by the culture and death is brought upon the church.

This is not what Paul is saying here in these verses.

Remember, contextualization is not saying what people want to hear.

It’s saying things in a way so that people hear it.

When I was a child, if my dad wanted me to do something, and he just kind of said, “Ben, go do this.”

I may not be inclined to listen.

But when he yelled at me from another room, “Benjamin Robert!”

I knew to get off my rump and get going.

That’s contextualization.

The message didn’t change, but it was said in a way that arrested my attention.

Paul is not telling us to change the message, Paul is telling us that we need to be willing to change so that others might be won to Jesus by his message.

We don’t change the message, we allow ourselves to change and be changed.

We don’t trim the message, we trim ourselves.

We don’t sacrifice the message, we sacrifice ourselves.

A word of warning: the author, speaker, or person who is willing to change the message of Jesus but who is not willing to allow themselves to be changed by the message of Jesus is not a person worth following.

Biblical contextualization is getting down to earth with real people, in a real cultural context, by bringing Christianity to bear on their lives through our language, customs and practice.

Culture is fluid, its forms, customs, language, goods, values, are constantly in flux.

So, unless our customs, traditions, or language is mandated by Scripture, we too must be willing to be fluid.

We must be willing to sacrifice our preferences and traditions so that by all means we might save some.

You follow me?

God’s kingdom is too big to be contained within any one cultural form or moment.

We shoul

So what are some examples of this?

Contextualization can occur on a pretty small scale.

It can also occur on a larger scale.

So, small example, how you try to explain the gospel to someone who was never raised in church will likely be different from someone who has been burned by a former church.

Or, perhaps the themes you draw out of Scripture to communicate the gospel may vary person to person.

You may choose to emphasize the family of God when talking to someone from a cultural background that places a strong emphasis on family.

You may choose to obey certain cultural customs in order to have a conversation with someone from a different background.

But it can be even bigger than that.

The language we use on Sunday morning might need to be over-explained for those who have no clue what is happening here every week.

We’ll talk about that more in Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians, where Paul is very concerned that outsiders will be able to understand our worship service.

But it can be even bigger than that.

The language we use on Sunday morning might need to be over-explained for those who have no clue what is happening here every week.

We’ll talk about that more in Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians, where Paul is very concerned that outsiders will be able to understand our worship service.

It might also mean that our ministry programs, strategies, and emphases need to adapt to our context.