All Things to All People: a sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

 ¹⁹For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

How many of you have purchased an article of clothing that was sized as “one size fits all”? I’m sorry…. I don’t believe there is such a piece of clothing! I appreciate the ones that read, “one sizes fits most.” I have a little bit of a show and tell to illustrate sizing. This robe right here is an Alb. I purchased this robe about 30 years ago. I weighed much less than I do now. And yet, look at this robe…. (it is a fairly large white robe). It is a size SMALL—I think we can safely say that this is NOT a small in women’s sizes! In fact, this other robe, this is one that I purchased a few years ago—it IS a robe that was made to my measurements at the time. It is an XL.  (When you hold them up, you can see that the Small is LARGER than the XL.) One size does not fit all. And sometimes even when it has a size, it doesn’t fit right either!

One size does not fill all in more than just clothing. If you have ever been a parent or a teacher, a youth leader or even a cub scout leader, you know that every child is different and what works with one doesn’t always work with another. My father always liked to say that he could just look at my sister and she would cry, whereas for me… it took a little more.

         All of us are different and it takes a different approach to reach us. That is part of what Paul is saying in this passage from 1 Corinthians. In fact, in the last few lines of the scripture I read, Paul sums up for us what he has been trying to say, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.”

         The scripture reading today actually continues with themes from last week's reading which was from one chapter earlier. If you remember, in that part of the letter Paul was speaking about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols. Yet, the overarching theme throughout this letter continues to be about love and community. The message Paul conveys is about what it means to be a household of faith and live as Christ's followers especially when they are a very diverse group of people.

         Paul begins by describing his own authority to preach but then he moves into speaking about what we can call his Adaptive Missional Strategy. This is that he has become a Jew to those that are Jewish. He has become as one under the law, to those under the law. He has become weak to those who are weak. He ends with that summary statement. “I have become all things to all people.” To us, these words might seem strange, because we like to say “you CAN'T be all things to all people.” However, when we say that, we mean that you can't please everyone all the time.

Paul is saying something different here. Paul’s overall message has to do with creating unity within the body of Christ. He is saying that in order to achieve such unity,

we have to be willing to give up our own selfish prejudices. We have to be willing to see things from the perspective of others. If we are to share the Gospel with others, who are not like us, we must transcend our own finite opinions, upbringing and prejudices.

We have to see what life looks like from someone else's perspective.

This may be one of the most challenging things that any of us can do. We all see life from a certain perspective. Some of us recognize our bias—like knowing that anyone that graduated from our favorite school has to be smarter than that “other team.” We joke about that bias. Paul might have written, I have become an Auburn fan even though I grew up loving Alabama, but if it will gain one disciple for Jesus, I will do this.

         We have biases that we know and understand, but we all have biases that we cannot easily see. It is because we are rooted in our perspective on things. I am sure that there are things that I have said and done while living in the South that those of you raised here would say, “well, she’s just a Yankee.” And yet, I don’t recognize those things in myself. It takes a conscious effort to see beyond the biases that we don’t even realize we have. I highly recommend taking an implicit bias quiz to help you discover the things about which you might have bias. You can google that and find several—implicit bias or unconscious bias test.

         In order to effectively share the grace and love of Jesus with others, we have to understand our own biases. If we are going to meaningfully invite others into the fellowship of the Body of Christ, than we have to see how this looks from their perspective. In other words, sometimes we can think we have the best of intentions but if we are only seeing from our perspective, we might not be really offering what we think we are.

         Several years ago now, I had the opportunity to preach at the Church of the Reconciler in downtown Birmingham. For those of you who might not be familiar with this congregation, on any given Sunday morning, a large portion of the worshiping congregation of this church will be men and women who are unhoused. I was there to share about the hunger ministries of Society of St. Andrew. After the service I was approached by one of the worshipers, who wanted to talk with me. In his own unique manner, he questioned me as to why people thought that it would be helpful to give him soap and shampoo from hotels when he had no place that he could bathe. He was basically saying that people didn't understand how he lived if they were giving him such items.

         We have to see things from someone else’s perspective, if we want to effectively share God’s grace. Paul understood this. It most certainly wasn’t about changing the gospel message. Sometimes people think that is what you are doing when you adapt to a new situation. I would say that Paul was not adapting the Gospel. He was adapting himself to embody the message. If we are truly following Christ’s self-emptying example, we are empty ourselves of the pride that our way of seeing things is the only or the best way of viewing the situation. How can the message of God’s grace be received by others, if we do not embody that message of grace. We have to be willing to be like Christ-to be willing to sacrifice our own goals and priorities and preferences for others.

Part of Paul’s concern through this letter is the conflict that is happening among the Corinthian Christians. Just like the issue of eating meat offered to idols, there were differences among the members of the church. If we think of Paul’s words in light of conflict between persons, we can see how the conflict changes when we see one another’s perspectives. If the Church were a place where people learned to be gracious to their opponents, what a beacon of hope the Church could truly be.

Think about how divided people are right now. Too often, we sit in our own echo chambers—only listening to, reading or watching people with the same viewpoints we already have. I am certain that there are people with differing political views in this congregation. I am certain that there are people with differing theological views in this church. What happens when we try to see the other’s perspective?

         I knew of a father who would have conversations about various topics with his daughter. These might be serious topics about God and faith, or they might even be as trivial as whether she could have another ice cream cone. But, in the midst of the discussion (or argument as the case may be), the father would say, “OK, switch sides.” The daughter then had to argue the opposite of what she wanted and believed. In this way, she learned to see both sides of an argument. She began to gain perspective.

         When we can see someone else’s perspective, we gain a greater understanding of our own. When I learned a French and Latin in high school, and then Greek in college, I learned more about English than I had ever known. By learning foreign languages, I came to understand English grammar in a way that I had never before understood it from only learning English! When we study a different perspective, we gain a greater understanding of our own. If we close ourselves off from even wondering, “why does he think that?” we may be closing ourselves off from the opportunity to share God’s grace.

         In chapter 10, verse 33 of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, “I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.” Too often we think that people who like Paul are trying to please others simply have no backbone, or we call them people pleasing. But, what Paul is saying is that he is trying to please others NOT so that they will LIKE HIM, but so that he can reach as many people as possible.

         God calls us to move beyond our limited perspectives so that we can walk in someone else’s shoes and see their perspective. If we do this in authentic ways, we begin to LIVE the gospel and not just preach it.  There is not a “one Size fits all” way to share the Gospel. People need the robe that has been tailored to them. People learn and understand in different ways. If we as a congregation want to reach more people for Christ, we must begin to broaden our perspectives so that we can see and understand the experiences and perspectives of others. Paul invites us to enlarge our understanding so that we might truly EMBODY the gospel message.

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