Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father, who has spoken to us, speak through us to a perishing world in need of his son. Father, it is so hard to resist our own desire to live in safe little boxes. Church box. Work box. Home box. Help us to live as one person in all places. Help us to consistently come to you in prayer so that our will might be conformed to yours. Mold our whole lives to your will, Father. And as you do, in the name of your son, help us to freely offer up our whole lives to be molded by you. Help us not to resist your will Father.
Your Morning Song: "The Goodness" by Toby Mac & Blessing Offor
Your Monday Morning Sermon Recap: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
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How should we think about our witness? The way in which we are telling others about Jesus? If you had to break it down into a formula, like math, what would it look like? For example, if 1 + 1 = 2, what would a formula for our witness look like?
Here in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul is saying that the formula ought to look something like this...
My freedom in Christ + My free life lived for Christ = My witness about Christ
How does this work for each of us in our day to day lives, practically speaking? In Christ we are under his authority and teaching, the new covenant in his blood. And so all of our moral choices ought to be made with the goal of obeying his teaching and works. And in the rest of our lives we are free to do whatever we want. Sometimes we too quickly label too much of our lives as "moral" when in fact the majority of our daily lives are full of free, non-moral decisions. We are free to live a great deal of our lives however we please.
Freedom + ...life lived
In my life lived for Christ I am taking my freedoms to live how I please in my non-moral choices (most of my daily choices), and I am submitting those willingly and joyfully to Jesus's mission and desire to gain more brothers and sisters into God's family. I am free to do what I want, and what I want is to love others with my freedom. And the greatest love I can show them is found in my sharing with them the name and person of my savior.
Freedom + Freedom sacrificed to Jesus = Witness
How segregated is your life? Do you have a church box that you step into every Sunday morning? Do you have a home box? A work box? If you're anything like me, it is far too easy to compartmentalize my life to such extremes that I am like a faceless turtle, crawling between separate terrariums, wearing a different mask in each one until I have no identity at all, only masks.
Be the same person in all places, unchanging except for your becoming ever more like your unchanging Savior. Submit your freedom to Jesus's mission to grow God's family. And give of yourself to others, becoming all things to all people that some might be saved.
Live like this, seeing your freedom as leverage for the Gospel, and you will share in its blessings. And these are God's delight in you which he will share with you, and the gaining of eternal brothers and sisters.
What parts of yourself are you holding back? Join me in wrestling with myself, in struggling with my own desires and pride, and let's leverage our whole lives to build Gospel relationships wherever they may be found.
