ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE THAT WE MIGHT WIN SOME
Notes
Transcript
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
From the start of this series this verse became our guiding stone in interpreting the rest of Acts.
Jesus is continuing his mission and ministry through his people by the Holy Spirit.
Before we get started today I want to make one thing very clear.
No matter how professional and skilled we are, no matter how well our presentation is, no matter how educated and brilliant we are, without the Holy Spirit we are powerless.
Effective witnessing starts with the Holy Spirit!!!!
With that said the Holy Spirit has given the Church of Jesus an incredibly powerful tool to spread the Gospel to unreached people.
That tool is CONTEXTUALIZATION.
Contextualization without the Spirit is worthless
But Spirit Filled Contextualization is POWERFUL!
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After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also.
But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.
But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.
And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Arguments and division happen in the church.
Paul seems to be concerned for the mission
Barnabas seems to be concerned for the person of John Mark.
Neither is wrong and both can be seen as a difference in personality and value systems.
Paul has been given the task by Jesus to go take the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Reading Paul it appears he sees this as an urgent task and believes Jesus could and would return at any moment. URGENT TASK!!!
Barnabas has a task by the Holy Spirit - Pastor and disciple the hard case people no one else wants. (I.E. Paul and now John Mark.)
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Now To Our Main Text!
Now To Our Main Text!
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,
and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium.
Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.
So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.
Wait, I thought Paul just argued with the Apostles in Jerusalem against circumcission?
Why is Paul having Timmothy circimsized?
Paul believed in Contextualizing the presentation of the Gospel and the Presenter of the Gospel.
What Is Contextualization
What Is Contextualization
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law;
to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.
I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
Paul needed Timmothy to be accepted by both the Greeks and the Jews if Timmothy was to be an effective partner in the Gospel expansion.
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Example of Contextualization.
Example of Contextualization.
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
What is CONTEXTUALIZATION?
What is CONTEXTUALIZATION?
David Hesselgrave and Ed Rommen have defined contextualization as;
“the attempt to communicate the message of the person, works, Word, and will of God in a way that is faithful to God’s revelation, especially as put forth in the teaching of Holy Scripture, and that is meaningful to respondents in their respective cultural and existential contexts.”
The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek Septuagint was an act of contextualization.
Presenting the Good news of Jesus in a way that is understandable to a foreign culture is contextualization.
Contextualization takes into account the language, cultural stories and narratives, art, dress, taboos, and world-view.
How would I present the Gospel message of Jesus to a Jew? Would it be different to a Gentile who had never heard of Jesus or have an understanding of the Jewish cultural narrative? The answer in short is yes!
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God Himself Used Contextualization To Communicate The Kingdom of God To Us.
God Himself Used Contextualization To Communicate The Kingdom of God To Us.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ”
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
God contextualized Himself
The Word becomes flesh is the greatest measure of contextualization of all time.
The Contextualization of Hudson Taylor
The Contextualization of Hudson Taylor
When people refuse to contextualize they become modern Pharisees demanding people become like them before, they can receive the Good news.
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How Can We Do Spirit Filled Contextualization?
How Can We Do Spirit Filled Contextualization?
Know the Gospel Well - What is it, what is it about, how and why is it good news for all. (Know it in its original context and your context). You cannot put into another context if you do not fully understand it in your own.
Study the culture you are going to present the Gospel too. (Know their stories, art, values, hopes, dreams, and fears.)
Depend on the Holy Spirit - Listen to the Spirit, He will open your understanding and open opportunities.
Know why you are presenting the Gospel - God loves them as much as he loves you and we must love them as much as we love ourselves.
Step into their Culture - Do not make them step into yours. (Paul quoted a Poet often quoted by the Athenians, Hudson Taylor embraced the dress and amoral aspects of the Chinese culture.
The Holy Spirit is already working in and through all the cultures of the world. He will not be left without a witness.
Three important steps we must take with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Embrace the culture that points to Jesus
Baptize the aspects of culture that are amoral
Reject and replace all aspects of culture that oppose Christ.
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Why is this important for you to understand and embrace?
We live in a connected world where cultures are colliding. We can see this as a danger or accept it as an opportunity for the Gospel.
Every people group have their own culture - Ethnic, racial, city, rural, religious, non-religious,
Osage has a different culture than Charles City, Riceville has a different culture than Osage.
If we want to be an effective witness we must be willing to bring the Gospel into the lives of others in a way that is understandable and effective.
When people refuse to contextualize they become modern Pharisees demanding people become like them before, they can receive the Good news.
We have been given the greatest news! Jesus is King, our sins are forgiven, and God is restoring and reconciling all things through Jesus.
If we desire for others to experience the restoration and reconciliation of God through Jesus we must take
Spirit filled Contextualization seriously.
If you want to reach your children - take it seriously
If you want to reach your neighbor - take it seriously
If you want to reach those across the world - take it seriously