All things to all men

A few blogs back I discussed fellowship and this kind of follows that line of thinking but in a different tact. Paul wrote the following to the church in Corinth "19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make 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. 21T o 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 men 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." - I Cor. 9

Paul did whatever he could to bring others to Christ yet in so many churches across our country we are seeing the opposite. There are members everywhere who want everyone to become Pauls in the sense that they want everyone to transform into what they want or expect them to be. If the minister does not preach the right kind of sermons, if they sing the wrong kind of songs, these people take their Bibles and head somewhere else or even worse they cause so much discord that they split the church into two warring factions. It is their "right" to have their opinions and they want everyone to conform to them. Total opposite of what Paul said.

Stick with me here, one of the problems that we may have in America is that we have too many choices in religion. Instead of learning to get along and become more Christ like in our attitudes towards fellow believers, if we don't like what they are doing where we attend we move on to someplace else. And heaven forbid that a brother is caught in error, they are not confronted in love, they are just confronted. I have expressed similar thoughts in other blogs but will rephrase it this way, our rights as Americans does not extend to the church. We are part of a kingdom and are to submit our will to God's will, something I need to constantly remind myself of....especially when I get upset and want to take my toys and play somewhere else.

In Him,

David