1 Corinthians 9:19-21 - A servant of all

9:19

The Corinthians were keen on exercising their rights, Paul was more keen on foregoing his rights for the sake of the gospel. So he made himself a servant of all in order to win people for the kingdom. Do we see the difference in approach to life? One approach is to live life focused on ourselves. We may well now seek to better our lives by “faith” in Christ, by doing things His way, but what we are doing is “seeking first the kingdom and His righteousness so that all these things are added unto us”. Our needs and wants are the primary focus. But what Jesus said was “seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt 6:33). We are to make Christ our focus, our goal, all other things in our life will be taken care of, but they must no longer be the focus.

9:20,21

So to the Jews Paul lived as a Jew, to the Gentile he lived as a Gentile. If doing this meant foregoing some of his “rights” then so be it, the goal was to win people for Christ. We should also note the two important caveats in brackets. Although he lived as a Jew he was not under the Law. I.e. he depended on Christ alone for his righteousness. He was not accepting the Jewish concept of “salvation”. This was largely an inward attitude that he would not adapt, though outwardly it would mean that he would not insist anyone was circumcised, and he would be teaching the Jews that righteousness by faith in Christ was the only way. The second caveat is the more immediately relevant for us, “not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ”. Paul most definitely would not be going along with pagan lifestyles! Neither in living as a pagan himself, nor in approving of them. He would seek to act righteously in all things, and avoid all immorality. This is the area where we make such a mess of things today. So often it seems that we do not know how to love people without condoning their lifestyle, but loving people, offering them life, without in any way condoning their lifestyle is what Jesus did, it is what Paul did, it is what we need to do. May God enable us to do that.