Missionary Road

Whether I’m having a conversation with a college student at a coffee shop or hanging out with a homeless person on the streets of LA, I always try to follow Paul’s charge to become all things to all people that by all means we may win some. But, what does it really mean to follow what Paul said? How do you become gay to reach those in the gay community? How do you become homeless to reach those who are homeless? How do you reach the pluralist, the atheist, the porn addict, the sports athlete?

I feel there are many in the Christian community that care about doing this well, both to reach the culture and to honor God with their actions. But there are also extremes, those Christians who totally avoid culture and stay in their christian bubbles either out of fear or just a lack of understanding on how to do this at all, And, the other extreme, those that becomes so entrenched in culture that their culture changes them more than them having an impact for the Kingdom of God.

What is Paul really trying to communicate to us as we try to reach different cultures in society? I found a good interview that sheds some light on this volatile topic, In a recent interview with John Macarthur on Crosswalk.com:

Edwards (Interviewer): One of the things I get most frustrated about is whenever people like you who are standing for truth point out the error both in the emergent church and in the seeker movement people will immediately run to 1 Corinthians 9 and begin screaming, “You know Paul said, ‘I became all things to all men,’ which means to the grunge I become as grunge, to the Universalist I become as a Universalist.” But in 1 Corinthians 9 Paul isn’t saying that we compromise the message and we become whatever the audience needs us to be in order to make the gospel palatable.

John MacArthur (Response): Well, of course not. All he is saying is there’s a foundation in the proclamation of the gospel with the Jew and there’s a different starting point with the Gentile. If I’m going to evangelize a Jew, I’m going to start with the Old Testament because that’s the substantial basis. So every time the Apostle Paul preached to the Jews he started with the Scripture—the Old Testament Scripture. Every time he evangelized Gentiles he started with creation. For example, in Acts 14 and Acts 17 he talks about the unknown God. Who is the unknown God? He’s the God who made everything—that was the foundation.

All he is saying in 1 Corinthians 9 is you must understand the starting point of your audience and here’s the point: ideologically. In other words, how do they think ideologically, philosophically, religiously? What are the ideas, the theories, the viewpoints that they hold? It’s not about identifying with their lifestyle; it’s not about being able to converse about every episode of South Park, every R-rated movie and every Rap song—that’s not it at all.

How do people think religiously, how do they perceive truth?—those are the starting points that Paul was establishing. That’s a far cry from saying that to reach this generation we must do their music, we must dress the way they dress, we must live the way they live, we must be familiar with the baser components of their culture. That’s a million miles from what the Apostle Paul had in mind. He was talking about those things that controlled their thought process and their worldview.

Paul Edwards is the host of The Paul Edwards Program, a columnist and pastor. His program is heard daily on WLQV in Detroit and on godandculture.com. Contact him at paul@godandculture.com.

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