I Have Become All Things To All Men Kathryn Kuhlman 1 Corinthians Chapter 9

You know, I am going to be very frank with you today. And I'm going to make a statement that probably you will not agree with. You may be amazed to hear me say it, but I'm going to say it just the same. I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about this generation gap. And I mean exactly that. We hear so much talk about the new generation gap that must be bridged. We hear it on every side of us. We hear the politician talking about it. We hear the newscaster. The statesman. The average person on the street. We hear fathers and mothers. speaking about this new generation gap. Ministers are discussing this new generation gap and just how it must be bridged. You can scarcely pick up a magazine about their articles written regarding this new generation gap and how to bridge this new gap. Do you want to know something? I'm afraid to tell you. There was a generation gap between my parents and their daughter Catherine. Oh, and sometimes that generation gap got mighty wide between Mrs. Jo Kuhlman and her daughter Catherine. But do you want to know something? I'll tell you how that generation gap was closed. When Mama took me down the basement and when her hand hit my rear end, that gap closed very quickly. And five minutes later, there was no generation gap. between my mother and her daughter, Catherine. And there'll be no generation gap between your son and daughter and you if you fill it the way it should be filled and according to God's Word. And then, of course, the amazing thing is, along with this discussion, of filling this new generation gap. I find ministers of the gospel who will use a scripture quoting Paul when Paul says, we are to be all things to all men. And immediately we find the compromise. in their lives, in their teaching, in the preaching of the gospel. I'm going to talk to you about something that I feel is mightily important. We can use the Scripture to cover up many of our acts, but we must be careful how we use the Scripture. And there are many today who are misusing Paul's words when he said in the ninth chapter of 1 Corinthians that I am all things to all men. Turn, if you will, please, to the Holy Scripture. It's the highest authority in heaven and earth. And we must never take the Scripture out of its setting. That's one thing we dare not do. And here in this ninth chapter of 1 Corinthians, this portion constitutes a part of Paul's answer to the question that the Corinthians had raised concerning things sacrificed to idols. There does not seem to be very much in this passage on the subject, but as we proceed, we see the reason for that omission. in the last analysis the whole question must be considered in the light of christian liberty and its limitations there are some folk you know who feel that christian liberty has no limitation there are those who by their actions tried to prove to the rest of us that Christianity has no limitations when it comes to Christian liberty. The Word of God is contrary to the actions of some of these people. There are limitations to Christians' liberty. Paul dealt with that matter in chapter 6, saying these words, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. And then in chapter 10, the 23rd verse, he continues by saying, All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful, but all things edify not. That no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good. And then he goes on. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat. Read this portion of the Word of God. It's most enlightening. He is still in that region of things sacrificed to idols. The passages show that the whole question raised now about things sacrificed to idols there in Corinth and all similar questions of conscience arising in the minds of Christian people must be considered in the light of Christian liberty. and its limitations. Liberty is limited. That's one of the characteristics of our liberty. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. There is the whole matter. Read that entire 9th chapter of 1 Corinthians before you come to that 22nd verse where Paul says that I am made all things to all men. You dare not take just one verse of Scripture out of its setting and use it. You dare not take just one sentence from the Word of God and use it to suit yourself. You must keep it in its context and in its setting. Now to summarize, what he was not going to give up were his rights in the gospel. He could give up his rights of maintenance, his support, but not in the gospel. That's what he now argued at length. He said, necessity is upon me, constraint, something from which there is no escape, constraint is laid upon me. imposed upon me. I am mastered by this thing. I cannot get away from it. Necessity is laid upon me to preach this gospel. I've got to preach the gospel. I cannot escape it. God has given me this call. I'll die if I'm not true to him in the preaching of this gospel. That's what it means to have a real, honest -to -goodness call from God to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've had a real call, you've got to do it. As we say in Missouri, come hell or high water, you've got to do it. You'll do it if you'll starve to death. You've got to do it even if you know that it would cost you your life. And if you do not have that kind of a call, then you better get out of the ministry. I mean that. That's what a real call to preach the gospel is like. And that is what Paul was saying. I've got to. I can do without your material gifts. I am willing to waver my right when it comes to the material maintenance, but not in the necessity that is laid upon me. Then he says something else, that if I fail there, what then? Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. We should understand that woe, as it's used here, is not really punishment. Or that he is suggesting that he would be punched if he failed to preach the gospel. That's not what it means here. It is rather a sense of agony in his own soul if he should break down and fail. The word woe means alas. Alas to me. I cannot help it. Necessity is laid upon me, imposed upon me. I am constrained. I am bound up. It is part and parcel of my very life and nature. Alas, if I fail here. Alas, if I preach not the gospel. No, no, he said. There are rights. Rights that I cannot give up. There are rights of my apostleship and the whole of them are found in the gospel and the necessity for publishing it. Then he goes on. Verse 19. He speaks of the method by which he is carrying this out. He's coming bondage to all. For what? In order to gain. Always in order to gain what? The winning of men for the Lord Jesus Christ. The winning for the gospel. The gain of human lives. The bringing of them under the mastery of the gospel. Setting them free from their bondage and its power. And bringing them into the glorious liberty of the children of God. He says he became... all things to all men. It's remarkable that he says to the Jew that he became as a Jew, that is, those under the law, as though he were under the law. To those without law, he became as without the law. He would take his place. by the side of a Jew or Gentile. And be as that one. Make no mistake. He is not free from law. He's under the law of God, the law of Christ, but always to gain. It's a great grace when a man can do that without any compromise to his gospel. is no compromise for the gospel. Know that. If I sit down with a Jew or hold a communion with a Gentile, I become all things to all men. That did not mean that he lowered the flag or minimized the gospel. Woe is me, he said, if I fail. Yeah, there it is. Liberty is limited. That is one of the characteristics of our liberty. If in exercising our liberty, We put a stumbling block in the way of a person. Then we sin in exercising that liberty. You know, the ultimate victory of love in the forming of a judgment is the foregoing of a right. And perhaps that's the supreme thing. We may have a perfect right to eat. These things that some feel are a sin to eat. We know that there is nothing in these temples and idols and sacrifices because of our knowledge of the word of God. And we have a perfect right to eat these things. But wait a minute. Love will suggest that we forego the right and restrain from eating. if by so doing we may be helping the man who lacks our spiritual knowledge. Nothing can be clearer than this teaching. If there are acts that offend, even though we have perfect liberty to do these acts, one has not perfect liberty through the love -mastered life. Read the entire 9th chapter of 1 Corinthians. His rites of support, found in the 15th and 18th verses. Then his rites of apostleship, 16 and 17. Then in 19 to 27, we continue. And right here in the middle of it all, He uses that scripture that so many have misused. When he said to them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I may gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak. that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men that I might by all means save them. For this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. He did not sacrifice any Christian principle. Wore that very closely. He kept the law. Paul did not once even infer that he sacrificed any Christian principle or any part of the gospel in so doing. He did not let down the bars for one moment. Again I say, it's a great... when a man can do that without any compromise to his gospel. For there can be no compromise when it comes to the things of God. You can't do it. Don't stop there. Go on further. Read the rest of what Paul is saying. He took a wonderful illustration. pertaining to Corinth, the great city of learning and luxury. They all knew the figure of the race and the arena. And he showed them a man in the race and in the arena. And then he continued by saying, So run that you may obtain. Let me read it. Know ye not? that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. There's no compromise there whatsoever. There's no letting down the bars whatsoever. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body, and I bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. It wouldn't be religion. if it was modern. You don't modernize the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't modernize the Word of God to fill a generation gap. I've given you the Word of God.