Unlocking the Salvation Code

The Apostle Paul was a master at reaching the lost and making disciples and would do whatever it took to bring anyone and everyone into a relationship with Jesus. I pray that we would catch his passion and desperation for lost people through this passage.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

¹⁹ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. 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. ²¹ 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. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1.       A Slave to the Lost

‘...I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.’

What free man or woman would give up their freedom and rights to become a slave to someone? Not many, but that’s what Paul declares here. We might be comfortable saying that we would be a servant of others, but are we prepared to go as far as the Apostle Paul? The connotations of what it meant and means to be a slave is not a glorified position but a one of lost rights and other people dictating you life. Paul was more than prepared to give up all his rights to win every possible person for Jesus. This is very challenging thought. How far are we prepared to go for the sake of the gospel? God grace us to become ‘slaves to the lost’.

2.       Unlocking the Salvation Code to your own People Group

‘To the Jew I became like a Jew, to win the Jews’

Paul was a Jew and so had a burden to reach his own people group. This is always a great place for all of us to start when it comes to reaching out to people. Is our heart broken for our cultural group and land? One of the graces that Paul was able to walk in as he reached out to his fellow Jews was that he did not have to try to be a Jew, meaning that he did not have to work very hard to understand and relate because it all came very naturally.  You have a natural grace upon you to reach your own people because it is easier for you to understand them and you can have incredible insights into how to go about reaching them. Ask God for the best way to reach your own people and then go for it!

3.       Unlocking the Salvation Code to other Cultures

‘To those not having the law I became like one not having the law... so as to win those not having the law.’

As well as having a great burden to reach his own culture the Apostle Paul also had a heart and special anointing to reach other cultures. The people who were not Jews were commonly referred to as gentiles. Paul began his ministry reaching out to Jews but quickly found that God had called him and graced him to reach people that we very different from him. He was more effective with reaching gentiles than he was with Jews and so as time went on he devoted more time, effort and energy into reaching this group. The important thing to know is who is God calling you to? If you know who that is, then you can focus and with God’s help discover the specific ‘code’ to reach and unlock a culture, age group or nation.

4.       Divine creativity in reaching lost people

’...I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.’

The way you would reach youth will be very different to the way people would try to reach others in inland China, and this in turn would be different to how people would try and reach the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand. The point is that there is not only one way to reach all people, but many. Unlocking the salvation code for the many different people groups around us will require divine creativity. Pray and seek God to discover how to best reach the people you are trusting Him for and then share your ideas with your leaders. If it is possible and achievable then make it happen! Be released to do whatever it takes to save some!

Carpet Unity

A number of years ago I found myself going to a meeting at church that I was not looking forward to. There was enormous disunity and it broke my heart to see such division between people who had followed God strongly together.

I went there an hour early to pray for unity. As I was on my knees in desperation crying out to God to intervene The Holy Spirit spoke to me. He told me to open my eyes and asked me what I could see. A bit puzzled I opened them thinking I couldn’t really see anything at all. However I responded with the only thing I could actually see... carpet. God’s reply to that was ‘exactly, and that is what I am doing.’ God then gave me a vision of four people pulling on a sample piece of carpet that you would get from a carpet store. No matter how hard they pulled they could not pull it a part. God placed in my heart that day that He was building our church with that same kind of tight knit unity that it would be incredibly difficult to tear apart. That particular meeting still went on to be one of the worst and saddest meetings I have ever been to but despite that I still held onto the promise that God was forging something very special in the midst of chaotic disunity.

Years later I, along with my amazing Pastors and our phenomenal leadership team, stand upon a ‘carpet of unity’ by the absolute grace of God. It was fought for and to this day we continue to fight to preserve unity for the sake of the Kingdom.

We don’t want to take this unity for granted and so we seek to guard it and want to keep growing it. Philippians 2:1-8 gives us some great points on how to build unity and to also keep it.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

1.       Same Mind

Having the same mind or being like-minded is having agreed opinions, the same goals and same mission. A critical part of this is everyone setting out to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we have the mind of Christ then we will be focussed on Kingdom things that are important to Jesus.

Being of one mind does not mean that we always agree on everything but it does mean that we agree on the important things like major doctrines, vision and mission that God has collectively called us to. When we have those things set in place the lesser things don’t divide us but strengthen. Diversity in unity can give a team such incredible strength as each person gives a different perspective with the heartfelt motivation to preserve unity in the process.

2.       Same Love

Loving the One who loves us is collectively our number one priority both individually and as a spiritual family. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Matthew 22:37 he replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If everyone is focussed on loving God first with heart, soul and mind then that love binds us together.

When we love God like that we can’t help but also begin loving what is most important to Him: people. The second greatest commandment is to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. God has such great love for people that He sent Jesus to restore us back to Him through the cross and resurrection. Keep loving God and loving people!

3.       Same Spirit

Because we have the same mind and same love we act and behave as one. Our Spirits become aligned and we walk together in tight spiritual unity. Like in a three legged race where we have to work together to win or even finish the race, so we need our Spirits to synchronise in order to walk together in unity.

4.       Others first

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. - Philippians 2:3, 4

In order to walk in unity it requires us to lay down our own desires and agendas. Not only does it requires us to lay them down but even put other people’s interest and preferences before ours because we value unity more than we do getting our own way.

It means to commit to building each other up, speaking graciously and highly of one another. When we speak harshly, disrespectfully or gossip about one another we erode away trust and unity. Guarding unity also requires a commitment to stop and challenge people speaking about one another like this, especially about leaders.

If we all choose to put Jesus and other people first we will preserve unity and honour God

5.       Christ-like humility

We must be humble. The opposite of humility is pride. Pride is the filling of yourself with yourself so that you get the glory. Humility is the emptying of yourself to be filled with God so that He gets the glory. It is a lowliness of mind and having the proper view of yourself rather than an inflated view. Humility is something we should constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have.

Why is this all important for? Why should we fight for and walk in unity? The answer can be found in John 17:20-23

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The undeniable sign to a lost world that Jesus is the saviour of humanity and of God’s great love for them is that we as believers walk in complete unity. It is not healings or miracles but rather Jesus’ followers walking in unity that will convince people that Jesus is who He says He is. That should be all the motivation we need to fight for and preserve unity in God’s church!