All Things to All Men

In one paragraph

The pastor walked First B through 1 Corinthians 9, picking up where he left off the week before. The connecting thread from chapter 8 carried forward: who you love is more important than what you know. That conviction shapes everything Paul does in chapter 9, and it is the lens the pastor used to read the whole passage. Paul opens the chapter with four rapid rhetorical questions, each one...

Read together

1. 1 Timothy 2:5 quoted at opening to introduce the song about one God and one mediator
2. 1 Corinthians 1 the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
3. 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 the main passage preached through the entire sermon
4. Deuteronomy 25:4 quoted as the law of Moses: do not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain
5. Romans 5:6-11 quoted to explain what Paul is saving people from, specifically God's wrath while we were still sinners
6. Ephesians 2:8-10 quoted to connect salvation by grace through faith with being created for good works God prepared beforehand

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mark said that who you love is more important than what you know. What is the difference between knowing the right things and actually loving the people around you, and where do you see that tension in your own life?
2. Paul chose to give up his right to financial support so that money would not get in the way of people hearing the gospel clearly. What rights or freedoms have you found yourself holding onto that might be making it harder for someone else to hear or trust the message?
3. Paul says the throttle mechanism for denying yourself for others is the gospel itself. What actually motivates you day to day when you try to love or serve people who are hard to love or serve?
4. Pastor Mark described a scale between circling the wagons and blending in so completely that there is nothing distinctive left. Where do you think you personally tend to land on that scale, and what does it cost you to move further in either direction?
5. Ephesians 2:10 says we were created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand. What do you think God has wired you specifically to do, and what is getting in the way of you doing it?