All For the Sake of the Gospel

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. – 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 ESV

Paul knew his rights all too well, but he didn’t let his rights get in the way or become a hindrance to his God-given assignment to share the gospel. In fact, Paul says that he made himself a servant to all. The Greek word he uses is δουλόω (douloō), which means “to make a slave of” (“G1402 - douloō - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 16 Aug, 2016. <https://www.blueletterbible.org).

Paul used the word in a metaphorical sense, indicating that he gave himself wholly to meet the needs of another, as in slave to his master. As far as Paul was concerned, he would rather consider himself a slave to everyone than to demand his rights or selfishly flaunt his freedoms in Christ. In fact, while he understood himself to be “free from all” — free from their judgment, criticism, demands, legalistic requirements, false accusations, and unrealistic expectations, he willingly chose to act as a servant to all. He even describes what he means by that. When he was with his fellow Jews, he lived like they did, even though he was free from having to do so. When in their company, he would keep the law out of a desire to win them to Christ. When he was with Gentiles, he would set aside the law of Moses, because they were not obligated to keep it (and neither was he). Instead, he would live under Christ’s law, the law of love.

Paul told the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 ESV). This is the exact opposite of how the Pharisees lived. Jesus said of them, “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” (Matthew 23:4 NLT).

Paul’s philosophy of ministry and life was simple: “When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22 NLT). His ultimate goal was their salvation. His freedoms took a back seat so that he might help them find freedom from sin and death through faith in Christ. Everything he did was for the sake of the gospel. To him, it was unacceptable to put his needs above anyone else, including the saved or the lost. He spent his life selflessly sacrificing himself and putting his needs and rights in second place. He describes the impact this attitude had on his life in his second letter to the Corinthians:

I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. – 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 NLT

Why was Paul willing to go through all of this? So that he might share the gospel with those who had not yet heard it. As he so clearly states, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:23 ESV).

He had experienced the blessings of the gospel firsthand and was not willing for anyone to miss out on hearing the same message that had radically transformed his life. While many Christians are highly appreciative of what the gospel has done for them, they are unwilling to share its life-changing message with others. They allow their rights and freedoms to get in the way and hinder them from telling others of the good news of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we can develop the attitude that we have a right not to associate with those who don’t believe as we do. But Paul would ask us, “How can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14 NLT).

We are not free to do as we please. We have an obligation, an assignment from God, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. God has given us a divine task to perform, that of “reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NLT).

We exist for the sake of the gospel. We sacrifice for the sake of the gospel. We die to self for the sake of the gospel. We give up our rights for the sake of the gospel. We forego our freedoms for the sake of the gospel. We do all things for the sake of the gospel. And for the soul-saving, life-transforming sake of a sin-enslaved world.

Father, I love the good news of the gospel because it radically transformed my life. But I have to admit that I tend to treat it like a secret that I refuse to disclose to others. I’m like a gospel horder, filling every area of my life with the blessings and benefits of salvation while others suffer spiritual starvation. I have been blessed so that I might be a blessing to others. I have been given spiritual sight so that I might lead the blind to the One who can open their eyes to the truth of the gospel. I am reminded of the words of Your Son: “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:14-16 NLT). I want to live my life with that kind of purpose and commitment. But I can only do it with Your help and the Spirit’s power. Show me how to do all things for the sake of the gospel and for Your glory. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Make Disciples

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples was His command that they “make disciples.” Matthew closes out his gospel account with this powerful and non-negotiable directive given by the resurrected Jesus to His faithful yet fledgling band of followers. He was leaving and assigning them the task of growing their number in His absence. The Greek word translated as “make disciples” is mathēteuō, a verb that conveys action and expectation. The primary methodology they would use to make disciples was teaching, a concept built into the word mathēteuō.

Jesus’ followers had benefited from the three years of instruction they received from Him, and now He was expecting them to carry on His ministry of disciple-making by passing on all they had learned. This would require them to recall all the oral lessons He had taught them – no small task. But Jesus had told them that they would have help in the form of the Holy Spirit.

“…when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” – John 14:26 NLT

Jesus also told them that this Advocate would be “the Spirit of truth” who would “come to you from the Father and…testify all about me”  (John 15:26 NLT). Upon His departure, the disciples would receive a new instructor, the Spirit of God, who would continue to mathēteuō them, transforming them into ever more faithful followers of Christ. But their growth in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding was not intended for self-enlightenment and personal improvement alone; it was to be shared. Their ongoing instruction by the Holy Spirit was to be a master’s class in pedagogical training that produced more faithful followers of Jesus.

The apostle Paul understood the weight of Jesus’ command to make disciples, even though he had not been there when Jesus spoke the words. This former Pharisee and persecutor of Christians had a one-of-kind encounter with the resurrected Jesus that left him a changed man. His unexpected, life-changing meeting with the risen Messiah had a profound impact on him and was accompanied by further instruction directly from the lips of Jesus Himself. 

Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. – Galatians 1:11-12 NLT

For nearly three years, the LORD personally discipled Paul through the presence and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This well-educated Hebrew received a PhD in personal evangelism that transformed him into a fervent disciple-maker. His passion for the gospel was unparalleled and highly infectious. He constantly shared his heart for the lost and his expectation that all believers embrace the commission Jesus had articulated. In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul prompted them with a series of probing questions.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:14-17 ESV  

Paul has just finished saying, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11 ESV), and “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 ESV). Paul used the Old Testament Scriptures, quoting Isaiah 28:16 and Joel 2:32 to prove his point. Belief in God would lead one to call out to Him in times of need or trouble. While Paul’s audience in Rome consisted primarily of Gentile Christians, this section of his letter emphasized the Jewish people. He expressed his heart’s desire that they be saved, even suggesting that he would be willing to suffer eternal damnation if it meant that the Jews would come to faith. But Paul knew they would have to experience salvation just as the Gentiles had. They would have to call on the name of the Lord.

But at this point in his letter, Paul asks his Gentile readers, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? ” (Romans 10:15 NLT). Yes, the Jews had a responsibility to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, just like everyone else. But Paul was adamant that the believers in Rome had an even weightier responsibility to tell them about Christ.

After His death and resurrection, Jesus commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19 NLT). He even described their geographical mission field as “Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NLT). But His commission and mission field directive didn’t just apply to the eleven men He left behind. They have been the marching orders for every disciple of Jesus Christ from that point until today.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul quotes from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah.

How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” – Isaiah 52:7 ESV

The original words had been given to the people of Judah to announce that God would restore them from captivity in Babylon and return them to Jerusalem. Paul borrowed this message of comfort and joy to express what it was like when someone hears the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time. When an unbeliever learns that they can be restored to a right relationship with God, even though they are undeserving of His amazing grace, it is “good news.” When someone shares the gospel with an unbeliever, faithfully obeying Christ’s command to mathēteuō, they bring news of peace and salvation.

But Paul breaks the sad news that not everyone who hears will listen. Even when Isaiah told the people of Judah that God would set them free from captivity in the land of Babylon, not everyone received his message with open arms. Not everyone believed. God told them, “Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves” (Isaiah 52:11 NLT). Yet the prophet would ask, “Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” (Isaiah 53:1 NLT). Many of the Jews living in Babylon would refuse to return to the land of promise. Rather than believe God’s message of hope and make the long, arduous journey back to Judah, they would choose to remain in captivity.

Paul stated that, in his day, not everyone who heard the gospel received it. Both Jews and Gentiles rejected the good news regarding Jesus Christ, refusing to accept the message of salvation through faith in Christ alone. For Paul, it always came back to faith. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 ESV). We have a responsibility to tell, but everyone who hears must express faith in what they have heard. We have a responsibility to communicate the gospel with unbelievers, but it is NOT our responsibility to convert them. They must confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Then and only then will they experience salvation.

Ultimately, it is God who calls, justifies, and glorifies (Romans 8:30). Salvation does not depend on human will or effort but on the mercy of God (Romans 9:16). God said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Romans 9:15 ESV). Conversion is never the result of coercion. We will never debate someone into a saving relationship with Christ. Our responsibility is to share and leave the results up to God. Paul provides an interesting and important analogy in his letter to the Corinthians believers.

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NLT

Jesus’ command to “make disciples” is not a directive to coerce conversion. All we can do is share what we know and give what we have received. Paul didn’t convert anyone, but he went out of his way to tell everyone what he knew. He faithfully conveyed the message of faith in Christ alone to all who would listen—Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul was a faithful disciple who was a fervent disciple-maker. He took Christ’s command seriously and shared it constantly, telling his young protege Timothy, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.