“I have become a servant of everyone so that I can bring
them to Christ”, were tearful words from Paul I’m sure. The rest of 1 Corinthians 9 continues with
his personal plea to pursue the lost with all the strength his battered body
could muster:
“When I am with the Jews I become one of them …” (9:20)
“When I am with the Gentiles, I fit in with them as much as
I can…” (9:21)
“I try to find common ground with everyone so that I may
bring them to Christ …” (9:22)
As an Army Soldier I can relate the question of the church’s
mission to our nation’s military. What
is the purpose of the U.S. Armed Forces?
To train soldiers who will perform well?
To develop better technology than our enemies? To build bases all over the world?
While these are all good functions of our military, none of
these is its primary directive, which is to fight and win America’s wars, at
home and abroad.
The same is true of the local church. I think it’s good to encourage Christians
through Bible studies and church programs, but it seems the same to me as
continuously training soldiers how to shoot a gun, without ever sending them to
war.
Our primary job as a church is to seek and save the
lost. It’s what Jesus came to do, and it’s
what we’re commanded to do first, even before teaching them to “obey all
things”.
“So I run straight ahead to the goal with purpose in every
step” (9:26). What is the goal that Paul
is talking about? He is running for an
eternal prize, training his body to do what it should, to preach the gospel to
those who need to hear (9:27).
Two chapters later Paul exhorts the Corinthian church again,
telling them to “follow my example as I follow Christ’s” (11:1). I believe Paul put all his heart into
training church elders and infant-minded Christians into greater Biblical
understanding, but his primary purpose reflected the primary purpose of
Christ’s, which was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
The local church should reflect this same purpose in all it
does without compromising Biblical principles.
An excellent story illustrating how the church is a
lifesaving station that has slowly evolved into a Christian club can be read below:
http://executableoutlines.com/top/lifesave.htm
