Reflections on "Freedom" I Corinthians 9: 16-23; Mark 1: 29-39

Still working through Paul.  I am noticing how Paul shares his own personal commitment and response with the Corinthians.

 “Freedom” February 7, 2021; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp; I Corinthians 9: 16-23; Mark 1: 29-39

 16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.9 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20 To 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. 21 To 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. 22 To 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. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Introduction:  Two more weeks in Corinth, although next week is Transfiguration Sunday, so we’ll spend some time on the mountaintop with Jesus as well.

Move 1:  What do you think of Paul’s marketing strategy for sharing the gospel?

a.  Can you see Paul sitting around with the other leaders having sort of a conference on how to share the gospel.

1.  “What we need to do is connect with everyone where they are by being like them”

2.   If dealing with Jews, then become like a Jew.

If the people are under the law, then act like your e under the law.

to the weak, become like the weak.

3. Summary statement of the marketing strategy:  Become all things to all people.

4.  What do you think of that plan?

b. To us, it might seem a bit ego-centric.

1. It all revolves around Paul and what he can do.

2.  But, in the context of first century Greco-Roman culture that would have been expected.

3.  leaders were supposed to trumpet their virtues and proclaim all the reasons people should listen to them and follow their advice (Frank L. Crouch, Dean and Vice President Moravian Theological Seminary Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-1-corinthians-916-23-3)

2.  Otherwise, in that culture, the question was, why should anyone believe or follow Paul, or any other leader?

5.  Still, even if we give Paul a pass for making it about him, it goes against our sensibilities that Paul, or anyone, can be all things to all people.

c.  But as we read Paul’s words, we recognize that this idea of being all things to all people grows out of his understanding of freedom.

1. The gospel frees Paul freed to be anyone, to do anything.

2. Paul is no longer constrained by class or identity, or societal expectations - he is free.

2. in his context, Paul has a lot of privileges - he is a Roman citizen, a free man, well-educated, a person with leadership skills, and a history of serving as a Pharisee.  He is in some ways a Presbyterian demographic!

3. and now he is free from the law.

2. Freed from rituals.

3.  Free to act in the assurance of God’s grace.

d.  But, Paul is not living out a marketing strategy.

1. he is describing what it means to follow the resurrected Christ.

2. Receiving God’s grace means Paul is free to act as he chooses.

Move 2: But how does this freedom connect to the call to discipleship?

a. As we have seen, Paul makes much of the freedom followers of Christ have.

1. . One of the ways our faith resonates with our lived experience in a democracy is the importance of freedom.

2.  We love laying claim to living in the land of the free.

3. We trumpet our freedom loudly and often.

b.  But, notice how Paul  juxtaposes the freedom he finds in the gospel with the obligation the gospel imposes on him

1.  “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!”

2. We are reminded again that Paul is not developing a marketing strategy;  

he is living out the gospel.

3.  He must reach out to others, even if doing so means he gives up some of his freedom.

4.  we read in the gospel of Mark about Jesus’ beginning his ministry - Jesus heals the sick and casts out demons.

5.  When Jesus slips away to be by himself, the disciples find him and tell him, “Everyone is searching for you.”

6. Such is the power of the gospel and the needs of the people.

7.  Paul recognizes the obligation he has to share that gospel the a hurting and hungry world, even if it means giving up some of his freedom to do so.

Paul reminds us that our primary obligation is not to freedom, but to sharing the gospel, whatever it take.

Move 3:  this obligation becomes a conscious choice.

a. Paul thinks through everything, or so it seems.

1. He is not talking about some instinctive response to being freed by the gospel.

2. he is describing a decision he makes on how he wants to live out his calling as a disciple of Christ.

3. He calls us to make a conscious choice for how we live out our calling.

b.  Craig Barnes, President of Princeton Seminary, and friend of this congregation who preached from this pulpit a few years ago as part of our Fall Festival of Faith, tells a story about Saint Benedict’s Rules for Monks. 

When Benedict wrote his rules for monasteries in the sixth century he included specific instructions for how a novice would be received into the monks’ community of prayer.

The new and presumably young novice would enter a room called the oratory and vow stability, fidelity and obedience. Then he would say, “Receive me, Lord, as you have promised, and I shall live; do not disappoint me in my hope” (Ps. 119:116, Rule of St. Benedict). Benedict would then instruct the novice to pull off his street clothes and put on the habit of the monks. We would expect this.

But the next thing is surprising: the old street clothes were to be placed in the monk’s closet.

I discovered these instructions when I was in graduate school. I was puzzled by Benedict’s concern to preserve the street clothes. I told my medieval church history professor that I thought that Benedict should have demanded that the old clothes be burned, making the vow to become a monk permanent.

The professor told me I was “exactly wrong.” By leaving the street clothes in his closet, the monk confronted two habits every morning for the rest of his life. He could put on the habit of the monk or return to the habit of the streets and leave the monastery. He had to keep choosing what he had chosen. “This,” my patient professor explained, “was the only way the monk could fulfill his vow—in freedom.”  (M. Craig Barnes is president of Princeton Theological Seminary and author of The Pastor as Minor Poet.

Aug 15, 2013 issue; “Boxed In” Christian century)

Conclusion:  Paul is freed by the gospel to be anyone he wants to be.  he chooses to be a follower of Christ who willingly gives up some freedom for the sake of sharing the gospel.

who do you choose to be?