1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Paul taught this lesson in verse 19, “I made myself servant unto all.” We are not our own. We are Christ’s. But we are Christ’s for love and service. He does not want us to spend our time merely praising him in words and songs. He wants us to go out into the world and do our work. He wants us to live to serve others – that is his work in this world. No matter how independent of others we may be in our earthly condition or circumstances, as Christians we are under bondage to all, to every man, woman and child. We are to love all, and love means readiness to deny ourselves in any necessary way in order to do good. We are to serve others as Jesus did. He kept nothing back, but gave all, even gave himself on the cross.
“That I might gain them.” We are in this world to win souls for Christ – not to win friends for ourselves, but to get people to be friends of Christ; not to gain honour for our own name, but to add honour to the name of Christ. We should think of what it means to gain a friend and a follower for Christ – what it means to the person thus gained. It means the saving of a soul from death, and the hiding of a multitude of sins. A great many people who join the Church seem to forget that they have anything to do in getting others to become Christians. It is the plan of Christ for saving this world, that his Church shall grow though the efforts of its members. One day, by the Jordan River, two men followed Jesus – the Church had two members then. These were the first. But soon each of these had brought another and then there were four. So the work of getting disciples went on. Each Christian has been brought by somebody else.
Page 1