In 1 Cor 9:19-27, Paul continues teaching the Corinthian church about his passion for the lost, an all-consuming passion which leads him to ‘become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.’ (1 Cor 9:22) The freedom he has expounded upon at length in previous chapters serves this one purpose. His desire to reach all people with the gospel of Christ is challenging to us today, for we have inherited the same mandate, Jesus having told all disciples that we are to go and make disciples of all nations (see Matt 28:18-20).
Methodology will always vary. Paul behaved very differently in different circumstances (teaching Jews about the God of their fathers and Gentiles about the God of creation), as did Jesus (talking to Nicodemus about spiritual birth in John 3, since Nicodemus had a religious, Jewish background, but speaking to the Samaritan woman about living water in John 4.) Flexibility and adaptability will always be key tools of evangelism, but what must never change is this passion for the lost or the message we preach. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
This has obvious implications for missionaries, whose cross-cultural ministry demands flexibility. Hudson-Taylor, missionary to China, said, “Let us as far as possible set before them a correct example: let us in everything unsinful become Chinese, that by all things we may save some. Let us adopt their costume, acquire their language, study to imitate their habits, and approximate to their diet as far as health and constitution will allow. Let us live in their houses, making no unnecessary alterations in external appearance, and only so far modifying internal arrangements as attention to health and efficiency for work absolutely require.” For everyone, however, this presents the challenge of working out in our situations what methods God wants us to use to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. There are no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions here. Prayerful contemplation and passionate action have to go hand in hand. Our job is to find out how God wants us to make disciples in Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe, Bolton-on-Dearne and the Dearne Valley in 2016, but we will only do this as we contemplate mankind’s desperate need for salvation, to be ‘saved from God’s wrath through Christ.’ (Rom 5:9; see also John 3:36) Without Paul’s passion for the lost, we will have no urgency and no desire to see others saved.