Develop a Gospel Proclaimer’s Mindset!

1 Corinthians 9:16-23


Develop a Gospel Proclaimer’s Mindset!
I. It’s your calling.
II. Do whatever it takes.


We’re a little more than a month into the new year and we’re still seeing a host of ads that encourage us to make a change in our lives, usually a change regarding our eating habits and our weight. Those ads want us to decide that this is going to be the year in which we determine once and for all that we’re going to do it. We’re going to give up (you fill in the blank) and we’re going to exercise more. In fact, we’re going to commit to a certain course of action that is going to improve our health and we’re serious about it this time. We’re so serious that we’ve entered into a “contract” with a friend. We’re going to hold each other accountable. If that’s what you’re considering or are already committed to, then I commend you and wish you well. You’re embarking on an amazing transformation.

An amazing transformation took place in the life of the apostle who penned these words of our text. I’m sure you’re familiar with it. Paul had been a persecutor of Christians and he was transformed into the most amazing missionary that the Church has ever seen. The change in his life was nothing short of miraculous.

In this morning’s text, Paul speaks about one of the results of that transformation. It profoundly affected his mindset. Paul didn’t look upon preaching the gospel as simply an opportunity or as a professional obligation or as an unwanted consequence of becoming an apostle. In a very God-pleasing way he was obsessed with it. Without a doubt, he had a gospel proclaimer’s mindset.

I think you’d agree that the Church could certainly use a few Pauls today. Imagine the kingdom work that could be accomplished. Imagine you being one of the many Pauls accomplishing it. For that to take place, you and I may have to undergo a transformation, a complete change in our mindset. Are you with me on this? Then develop a gospel proclaimer’s mindset. Let’s see what that’s all about as we ponder Paul’s words to us this morning.

Part I.

From time to time we hear about the transformations that have taken place in the lives of other people and often we conclude that our situation is different. Our situation isn’t that critical or we have so many other issues going on in our lives that we just couldn’t do what that person has done.

It’s easy for us to have that attitude when we hear about Paul’s life and his work as an apostle. At first, we don’t seem to have much in common with him. And we’re right. His situation is different from ours. Let’s take a look at it.

Paul writes, “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.” Just what is he talking about? First, Paul is stating that his situation is unique, even among the apostles. All the other apostles had a choice to make when Jesus called them to follow him. They could have said, “No.” Thankfully, of their own free will they said, “Yes,” and followed Christ and later became his apostles.

But not Paul. Being an apostle was the farthest thing on his mind on the greatest day in his life as he travelled on the road to Damascus to arrest more Christians. The risen Lord Jesus appeared to him and completely determined Paul’s life from that point on. He would be his apostle especially to the Gentiles. And from that moment on until the day the Lord called him home to heaven, that’s what Paul was and that’s what Paul did.

But why is Paul writing about this in the first place? If you read the entire chapter, you’ll discover that Paul is referring to his rights as an apostle. It’s a biblical principal that those who preach the gospel should be supported by those who hear the gospel. But in Corinth Paul didn’t exercise that right. He worked with his own hands so that he could preach the gospel freely. No one could accuse him of doing so in order to fill his stomach. Paul preached because that was his calling.

But what’s our situation? What’s our mindset when it comes to proclaiming the gospel? Your first reaction might be, “That’s not my job. That’s my pastor’s job.” Or, you might make a hasty self-evaluation and conclude, “I’m not suited for that,” or, “There are others who would do a better job than I could.” And I understand those reactions. To a certain extent, you need some gifts to be able to proclaim the gospel and your need to know what to say and how to say it.

But putting all those considerations aside, the truth is that proclaiming the gospel is our calling, every one of us. It comes with the call to faith in Jesus. Jesus wasn’t speaking to a select few men when he commanded, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Those were his marching orders for his Church on earth. We’re members of that Church, every one of us. Proclaiming the gospel is what the Church is all about; it’s what we’re all about.

Develop a gospel proclaimer’s mindset. It’s your calling.

And what a high calling that is! Think about it. There’s no more important calling in all the world. God’s plan for his Church is to use you and me to proclaim his gospel. And rather than offer your mild objections or humble reluctance, consider this fact: you’re perfectly suited for that calling. What makes me so sure? Because you know the comfort and the power of that gospel. Where is the comfort of your forgiveness? Where is your confidence for eternal life? Where is your power for life as a child of God? Where is your strength, your hope, your rock-solid foundation? It’s in your Savior, Jesus Christ. You not only know him, by God’s grace you trust in him. In marketing terms, you’re the perfect satisfied customer. Who better to share that satisfaction than you? But to do that we have to develop a gospel proclaimer’s mindset by realizing that our calling.

Part II.

What would you do to earn $5 million a year? You might quickly react, “I’d do anything to earn that kind of money.” But that would be a thoughtless, hasty response, wouldn’t it? You wouldn’t really do anything to earn that kind of money. I would hope you wouldn’t murder or commit other heinous crimes. You have your limits.

But Paul spoke in rather limitless terms when he wrote, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Surely Paul had his limits, didn’t he? Well, he wouldn’t go contrary to God’s word, but anything else he would do and his lists some of them here.

First, he writes how he broke from his past. Recall what Paul was for the first 2 to 3 decades of his life. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. He thought, talked and acted in every way like a Pharisee. It was literally his life. We would say he was obsessed with it. But Paul put all that behind him when he became one of the Lord’s gospel proclaimers. At its very heart the gospel is directly opposed to pharisaism.

But, in order to win people for Christ, Paul was willing to be like a Jew. Just what did he mean? He was perfectly at ease among the people of the Jewish race. He knew their customs, their way of thinking and their world outlook. He knew what peculiar issues they faced and how the saving message of Jesus answered those issues.

But it went deeper than that. He writes, “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.” Now he’s speaking about people who embraced Judaism and lived according to God’s Old Testament laws. In order to reach such people with the gospel, Paul would have observed those laws, but not as a condition of salvation. He just wouldn’t let his freedom from those laws to stand in the way of sharing the gospel with someone.

And at the very opposite end of the spiritual spectrum, Paul could live like a Gentile if that’s what the situation required. He writes, “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.” If Paul was invited into a Gentile’s home, he gladly went and if they were serving pork, he gladly ate it, so that he could share the gospel with the people in that house. He would do whatever it took short of violating the word of God.

In fact, there were times when he wouldn’t make use of his Christian freedom at all. He tells us, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.” In the previous chapter of this letter Paul had written about eating meat that had previously been sacrificed to idols. Paul stated there was nothing sinful about do that, but there were Christians who just couldn’t bring themselves to do so. Their consciences would bother them if they did it. So Paul, in their presence, would refrain from doing so as well so that he could proclaim the gospel to them.

Develop a gospel proclaimer’s mindset. Do whatever it takes.

What would you be willing to give up to share the gospel with someone? I’ll admit mine to you if it will help you admit yours to yourself. I like my comfort zone and I don’t like venturing out of it. There are times when I have failed to speak up for my Savior because I loved my comfort zone more. Can you identify with that? I think we all can. It’s evidence that we’re not willing to do whatever it takes to share the gospel. And for that, may our Lord have mercy on us and forgive us. And he does through Jesus Christ and his death on the cross! That death transforms us into God’s people and transforms our hearts and our minds. It has the power to give us a gospel proclaimer’s mindset. May our God unleash his saving power through us as he gives us opportunities to proclaim his gospel! Amen.