Wednesday 18 March 2020

Psalm: Psalm 19

Background

The ‘rights’ that Paul hasn’t used are the rights to be supported financially by the church. Rabbis had the right to be supported materially but this right was widely abused with many rabbis living in luxury. Paul believed that this support should be available but, so as not to be tarred with the same brush as rabbis who took this as an opportunity to prosper, Paul supported himself by tent making. This was a way that Paul ignored his rights for the greater good of the gospel.

Paul goes on to explain his mission strategy. To save some he became "all things to all people": a Jew to win Jews; putting himself under the law to win those under the law; not under the law to win those not under the law and becoming weak to save those who are weak.

Some have seen this as Paul saying that he compromised his beliefs and actions, diluted them even, but for Paul it was all about modifying his behaviour to enable him to reach different people. Paul describes here how he identified with people, how he got alongside people where they were rather than expecting people to become like him first in order to hear the gospel for themselves. He removed every stumbling block he could to make the gospel, and therefore Jesus, as accessible as possible.

To Ponder:

• What do you think of Paul’s mission strategy?
• Are you able to identify examples where the local or national church has adopted this strategy in your lifetime?
• Can you identify any stumbling blocks that the Church needs to remove to allow people to see Jesus?