1 Corinthians 9:22a-23 Inductive Bible Study: Discipline 3/23

1 Corinthians 9:22a-23 says, "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you."

Before these verses, Paul is giving examples of the different ways that he has been all things to all men. We've been talking a lot about this concept in the last few weeks. When you go into someone else's culture, you can't go in trying to push your own culture on those people. That would communicate that your way of life is better than theirs and they would most likely be totally shut off to hearing what you have to say. But if you go in with the humble view point of wanting to learn their view point and their way of life, you will be more effective because they will most likely be more interested in hearing what you have to say. This could include dressing like them, learning their language, eating their foods, etc.

This verse makes me think of Hudson Taylor. He fully embraced the Chinese culture when he started doing missions there. He broke through all the barriers by dressing in their traditional clothing, eating what they ate, living how they lived, speaking how they spoke, and I even heard that he put black stuff in his hair so that he would look more like them. He would actually get mistaken for a Chinese person. He set new standards for missionaries. Hudson Taylor had such a big heart for the Chinese. He wanted them to know about Jesus and to come to a saving knowledge of Him. He didn't care that it wasn't normal to do what he did. He didn't care about normalcy. He just wanted them to understand the death and resurrection. He wanted them to understand God's love for them.

I like the wording of this first verse. Even though it's frustrating, it's true. I won't save all; I will save some. But that's worth it. I need to have a heart for the lost. I need to realize what waits for them if they don't come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. A quick skim through Revelation shows me that it isn't good. So with this knowledge, whatever lengths that I need to go to, even if it's only some that are saved from eternal death, it's worth it. Not everyone is going to accept the gospel and a lot of times, it's just because they don't want to change. My responsibility, though, is to do whatever I can to communicate the Good News to them. Accepting it is their responsibility.

Because I am serving as an IGNITE Intern for 6 months in Guatemala, I get the awesome opportunity of teaching English in the public schools using the Bible as my textbook. How cool is that??? My Spanish has gotten better since living here but it definitely needs to improve so that I can share the Gospel here more effectively throughout the next 6 months.

Application:
I am going to write down ten new Spanish words/phrases that I want to learn that will be helpful for teaching in schools and talking to kids at Kid's Club. I am going to work on learning two of them every day this week so that at the end of this week I will know all ten.