A boss approached one of his most ambitious men and told him, “I’ve had my eye on you. You’re a hard worker, and you’ve put in long hours. You’re very ambitious.”
“Thank you,” replied the employee. But the boss added, “So, consequently, I’m going to fire you. It’s men like you who start competing companies.” That boss didn’t want that ambitious employee to learn any more about the company that could be used against him!
What is your ambition? For 2018? As Christians, we are worshipers. That’s what mankind was created to do, be in God’s presence and worship Him. That’s who we are. But, what do we do? What is our vocation? A “vocation” is your career or your occupation. What is your occupation as a Christian? Let me say very simply that our vocation as Christians is to bring souls to Christ. Pure and simple.
The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor 5:9 that his ambition was to be pleasing to Christ. But in that context, he wrote in verse 11 that he wanted to “persuade” men. To evangelize. To save souls.
Paul’s behavior is not very different from the message that he preached, because he tried to live the gospel in his life. Now, does not the exhortation to imitate him in 1 Corinthians 11:1 include Paul’s lifestyle of evangelism and missions?
Consider some thoughts from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. First, Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that he is “free” in Christ. He is nobody’s slave except Jesus Christ. Why does Paul make himself a “slave to all?” Please underline that phrase: “so that I might win some.” The words “so that…” shows purpose or result. “Win” is a missionary term. At least that’s the way it is used in this text.
It is this chemical that causes hair in getting cheapest line viagra thinner. The problem is viagra canadian not a major issue in holding up with an erection. The erectile dysfunction, a sexual dysfunction, refers to the inability buy cialis to achieve an erection or the failure to maintain erection definite enough for a sexual interaction. The soreness runs all the way from today to election day, 2012, when, we sincerely order viagra professional hope, the folly reaches the finale. 1. Notice in what positions Paul will put himself in order to “save / win” souls. Four different ways: to the Jew (study Acts 21 and 16:1-3 for examples), to those under the law, to those without the law, and to those who were weak.
Thus we see that Paul altered his social standing depending on the audience and with whom he was associating. He was not changing the Gospel to fit his audience. He was changing the presentation of the Gospel depending on his audience. We will not take the time to study this distinction but we only have to compare the sermon Paul gave in Acts 14 when the audience was Jews with his sermon he gave in Acts 17, when the audience was pagan philosophers. In that sermon (17:23), Paul will quote a pagan philosopher. Paul does the same thing in Titus 1:12.
A young man asked a successful salesman for the secret for his success in selling. The salesman said, “You just have to jump at every opportunity that comes along.” The young man asked how he would know an opportunity was coming. The salesman responded, “You can’t. You have to keep jumping.”
If we, as the church of Christ, want to honor Christ, we need to “think souls” and work at winning them to Christ. We need to jump at every opportunity to study or to invite to worship and not get discouraged when people turn us down. Just keep jumping.
In 2018, let’s keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to those who need to be won to Christ and enslave ourselves to them in order to save their souls.
Paul Holland
