“Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9:22b-23 (NLT)
There have been times in my walk where I needed to hear this reminder, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Romans 12:18) It has been one of my chief struggles since my life changed back in 2003. Before that year it wasn’t a struggle at all, I just didn’t live peaceably with anyone at any given time. I would negotiate terms but wouldn’t keep my end of the bargain, that simple. However, God has taken me so far down this ever-narrowing path that I gotta make adjustments on the fly and it gets frustrating for this singular fact…I’m the pebble in the path that I keep tripping over. Sad, but true!
Now I’ve never really considered myself an evangelist at any level but that doesn’t mean I dismiss the effort at any given time either. When I find myself in deep conversations with residents of Secularland, I make it a point to let them know that I believe in God and that the reason for that belief is Jesus Christ. Because of the privilege of being a student of God’s Word, I get to share those moments where Jesus met folks at their level of struggle, what He did and said to lift them up to His level. Any story where Jesus sits down and eats a meal with the regular folk instead of the religious elite is always a great starting point…I’m just not heading there today.
Instead, I’ve chosen to join the apostle Paul in his conversation with the Corinthians. (Actually, we’ll pick up at 1 Cor 9) In the midst of the conversation Paul will state that he becomes all things to all people. This doesn’t mean be a partaker to any sinful behavior but to adapt as much as possible. In the 10th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul explains this better…
“Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:32-33)
So, when Paul declares that he becomes a Jew to the Jew, weak to the weak, a lawless one to the lawless, he’s coming from a place of authenticity. It’s that “place of authenticity” that has made it easier for me to share how messed my life use to be and how Jesus flipped the script on what my plans were going to be for my life (which weren’t exactly all that good).
Not that there’s any honor to glean from living disobediently to God’s direction, but being able to say that I once behaved like this or I once thought like that gives credibility to the saving power found in a life surrendered over to Jesus Christ. So, when the opening has its chance, I repeat what Paul says in 1 Cor 9: 23, “And I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” In John 3:36, Jesus gives this statement definition, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” By putting these two verses together, I share how there is peace in the here and now.
I might be preaching a better Freedom Fighter than I live here but in order to be able to live peaceably with all men, finding a divinely inspired common ground is key to being able to share the hope that is in you. Anything else is just agreeing to disagree and leaving opportunities to help folks find the love and freedom of Jesus Christ unfulfilled. Empty conversations may fill the air with noise but not the heart with joy.
John Piper once wrote that: “Christ died to set us free. Free from the wrath of God, and free from the loveless limits of the law. Free for love and eternal life. Are we using our freedom to make this good news plain? Or are we so separatistic that we have no connection with unbelievers; or are we so worldly that they don’t know we have anything radically different to offer.”
So yeah, I am my own worst pebble but I shouldn’t allow that to keep me from sharing that Jesus Christ saved me and set me free to walk on an ever-narrowing path. I consider it a privilege that I get to walk through the narrow gate at all considering the sin-stained life I once lead. Lets all use this freedom to become a servant to all, so that some may be saved. Amen?
Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a husband, a father, has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net
