Sitting In The Emergency Department 3/5/2018

Good Morning,

Monday came and I am still wondering where the weekend went. It just seemed to blow through very fast, and it didn't stop at this house very long.
I just poured a big mug of Door County Cherry Crème Coffee and packed my lunch. Now it is time to write.

Yesterday I found myself checking into the Emergency Department at the hospital. I had twisted my foot and it was swollen and very sore. The wise thing to do was to get it checked out and make sure that it wasn't broken. I am happy to say that it was diagnosed as a bad sprain and Ibuprofen and ice should suffice as treatment. The service I received at the hospital was very good and the emergency department was more than busy. I saw many people from many walks of life in the waiting room. We all had one thing in common, we needed some medical attention, some needed more than others.

Friends, that is how a church should be. Every church should be like an emergency room for those needing some help. Some will need more than others and they will need different types of attention. As the hospital flexed as was able to meet our different needs, churches should do the same.

The church is a direct extension of the love of Jesus. He is the Great Physician, we all need Him. But then he leaves the discipleship of individuals up to the church. Not every program fits each individual need and we need to flex at times to try and meet the need of an individual. Not change our beliefs, but flex our style.

1 Corinthians 9:19: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”

What did Paul mean that he became all things to all men for evangelism?
He adapted his teaching to their thought in their culture to reach them. He divides the world into the religious with the law, (Jews) and the Gentiles, without the law.

1 Corinthians 9:20 Not being myself under the law (. He was emancipated from the law as a means of salvation, yet he knew how to speak to them because of his former beliefs and life with them (Galatians 4:21). He knew how to put the gospel to them without compromise and without offence (from Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament.)
An example of this is recorded in Acts 17. He showed the philosophers they were wrong from logic, their own history and the Bible and explained to them what is right.

In 1 Corinthians 9:22 Paul said by inspiration of the Holy Spirit: “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
If this is isolated from the rest of Scripture one can assume that Paul was willing to do anything to reach the lost, including adopting their lifestyle and compromise his ethics, moral and beliefs. This is a doctrine that is popularized among the seeker friendly evangelism crowd today. If we use this logic then one cannot reach a drug addict unless they become one, one cannot reach a drunk unless they drink alcohol. This is far, far from the truth

When we compare Scripture with Scripture, we find that Paul did not mean this. Paul taught that believers are to “abstain from any appearance of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22). Paul would not have done anything contrary to Christ and his ways in his own life and ministry.

Let's do our best to help everyone without contradicting our beliefs.

Marty