Paul showed his willingness to reach all different kinds of people in 1 Corinthians 9. Specifically, if someone was well-versed in the Old Testament law, a Jew, a gentile, or even a weak person, Paul noted that he would adapt to meet that individual’s needs. We lose sight of the profound importance of this basic theological idea. God wants us to always try and reach the lost. It doesn’t matter if they look different than us. It doesn’t even matter if serving someone might make us uncomfortable. The point is that we must adapt and apply scripture in all circumstances. We should be knowledgeable about our faith so that way we can effectively communicate it to others.

Tragically, we often have a “Well… not my problem!” attitude when it comes to worldly problems. We think that as long as we enjoy God’s salvation, there isn’t much more to do. “It’s not my problem… someone else ought to help them!” we usually think to ourselves. We would much rather prefer comfort and security over risking our life, resources, and energy to serve neighbors in need. I mentioned on Sunday how giving rates to charity are usually at 1-3%–which is very disheartening to see our world struggle with. This is just one example of how we might struggle with apathy instead of living out God’s kingdom by being generous with God’s blessings.

Elsewhere in scripture, we find evidence of Paul’s adaptability. Here is a brief rundown of the kind of life Paul led…

• 1 Corinthians 6 talked about a controversy surrounding eating meat sacrificed to idols. While Paul was arguably an “expert” in theology (and personally believed that there are no other gods!), he deliberately chose to minister to “immature” Christians who struggled with meat-eating. Instead of putting them down, he sought to reach them where they were and serve them.
• 1 and 2 Timothy were addressed to Timothy, a young pastor leading the early church. Youth can often be a limiting factor when leading other people, so I imagine Timothy faced a lot of challenges. But Paul sought to provide practical, encouraging advice for this young pastor to evangelize other people. Paul could have looked down on Timothy for his inexperience. Instead, Paul mentored him and by doing so, he helped the church Timothy served.
• Acts 17 tells a remarkable story about Paul preaching to a bunch of pagan philosophers in Athens. During his sermon, Paul doesn’t quote Old Testament prophecy, or even major details about Jesus’ life–Greeks wouldn’t have been familiar with these ideas! Instead, Paul actually quoted their own poetry and philosophy, and argued that God was knowable to these pagans. He proposed a radical thought, that they didn’t need to search anymore for false gods, but pursue Christ. Instead of shaming these pagans in Athens, Paul got down on their level and preached to them in a what they would understand.
• The book of Acts also shares several other sermons Paul preached, too. When Paul was surrounded by pharisees or experts in the Old Testament, he talked about how Jesus fulfilled prophecy and was the true messiah. Again, Paul got on the level of the Jewish leaders in hopes that he might minister to and serve them.

So remember Paul’s example. Use your gifts to reach others. Even when it might seem like a challenge or too far “out there,” remember to always spread God’s kingdom.

One profound verse we explored yesterday was at the very beginning of 1 Corinthians 8. Verse 1 tells us that “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Paul essentially cautioned the more educated and theologically mature Corinthians to consider younger believers. We should never use knowledge to put other people down. Instead, by loving others, we build them up.

You’ve probably witnessed this biblical truth in your life. It’s tempting to be proud of ourselves for various reasons, and boasting about a sharp mind is often at the forefront. Education and book-knowledge can be very beneficial in our world. Jobs often require a high school diploma, GED, college degree, or other forms of education. Being educated can help you manage money better, organize your life more, and improve your quality of life. These can be very good things, but as we’ve discussed many times before, good things can quickly become idols if we prioritize them over Jesus Christ. In many cases, knowledge offers us a false sense of security.

And even formal education aside, it is so tempting to believe in our heart that we just know more than the next person. Surely we are better off than him or her. This is something we often struggle with, and it usually leads to us judging people based off of our shortsighted viewpoint.

One of the most common insults you’ll see today is attacking someone for lack of intelligence. People call one another fools, idiots, stupid, and so on. This goes to show that we are obsessed with being smarter than other people.

Indeed, knowledge puffs up our lives.

Worshipping knowledge is one thing I’ve often struggled with over the years. As you may know, there are quite a lot of “hoops” one has to jump through to become a commissioned or ordained pastor in the Methodist church. In total, it takes about seven years of higher education, getting a bachelors and a masters. On top of that, there’s a lot of paperwork, essays, and assignments to do. (I mentioned on Sunday how my ordination paperwork was over 100 pages!). One temptation I struggled with near the beginning of seminary was to trust more in my classroom knowledge, rather than leaning more into God’s love. I learned so many new and interesting things in seminary (and all these have helped me to serve Concord as a pastor), but I quickly realized that if I truly want to serve Christ, I must first have God’s love in my heart. Knowledge without love has the habit of puffing us up!

John Wesley, Methodism’s founder, preached extensively about what this kind of love looks like. As a side note, it is interesting that if you want to read about John Wesley, you’ll have to turn to his personal diary and sermon manuscripts. He didn’t really write long books like other historical leaders in Christianity did. This is a testament in and of itself of how Wesley was concerned about being with people and communicating the love of God to them. He had a preacher’s heart!

Wesley often preached on what it looks like to have a spiritual encounter with God. That experience is something that changes your heart. You feel alive and regenerated when you enter into that sacred relationship. Wesley’s own conversion experience occurred when he heard someone reflecting on Romans 1, as he said that his heart was “strangely warmed.” Many refer to this idea as “heart religion”–brain knowledge isn’t the most important thing, but heart knowledge is.

If you think about it, you could even have all the knowledge of the world, but it still not impact you as it relates to your relationship with Jesus. An atheist could be an expert in biblical languages and studies, but that not make much of a difference in his or her life.

What matters is if you have the love of God in your heart. That kind of “heart religion” builds both us and one another up in Christ.

I enjoy writing each week, and one of the common reasons I do is that I am able to elaborate more on sermon material.

Yesterday we discussed how God ought to be the foundation of our life, and that God’s divine love must guide all other relationships, too. I used the illustration of a target, which I got from Danny Silk, a pastor in California. I’ve referenced Silk’s material several times before in his Christian-based counseling organization, Loving on Purpose.

This is just a brief example of how Silk often recommends we interact with others. It is so important to develop meaningful interactions with a spouse, children, family, and/or close fiends. Silk defines intimacy as “into me you see”–kind of a play on the word. When are are vulnerable with someone, we show some degree of intimacy, whether that be physical, emotional, or spiritual intimacy. Without properly cultivating these relationships, our whole life often suffers.

So how should we build and manage our intimacy with others?

1. God- Your innermost circle only has space for God.

Just like the picture above, God needs to have your heart above all else. God knows you better than any parent, husband, wife, or friend ever could. God knows your innermost thoughts and will never let you down. You can always count on God. God will never betray you. Jesus in Matthew tells the story of two builders, one who built a house on sand and another on the rock. The point of this teaching is that we need to keep God as our foundation, otherwise we will either struggle or crumble from life’s challenges. Keep God #1!

2. Spouse- Your closest relationship with another human being.

Godly marriage isn’t exactly normal in our world. What I mean by that is that there are so many temptations and opportunities to devalue physical intimacy and the marriage covenant. Sexual intimacy is twisted and distorted through things like pornography. Marriages often fall apart because of unfaithfulness. It seems like every week there is breaking news concerning a high-profile figure cheating on a spouse, whether a politician, musician, or movie star. And on an individual, everyday level, too many people in our world simply put up with a husband or wife, rather that working continually to develop that sacred relationship.

So, if you are married, you need to keep God at the center of that covenant. Remember Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: “A cord of three strands is not easily broken”–the three strands meaning husband, wife, and God. Both people need to have God in their hearts for marriage to truly thrive.

3. Very Close Friends- You need to have a couple of people who know you extremely well.

We find an example of this in the gospels with Jesus, John, and Peter. John was often referred to as the “disciple Jesus loved” and Peter was tasked with leading the early church. You could argue that Peter and John were Jesus’ “best friends.” We also have the same need in our life, too. If you’re going through a tough time, you need people with whom you can be vulnerable with and share in your struggles.

4. Close Friends/Family- Have about a dozen people you can turn to for all the needs.

Again, Jesus showed us this example through his life with the 12 disciples. Jesus had a core group of friends he ministered to. One tragic thing is that in our world we struggle to make friends. We often cannot name a dozen people with whom we can have deeper, more open conversations. We might be able to name folks we enjoy being around, but we have to ask ourselves if we have friendships that go deeper beyond sports, work, or surface-level interests. It is important to have people who we can turn to throughout both good and bad seasons of life.

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Intimacy is all about who we chose to let into our life. As I mentioned on Sunday, not everyone has a key to our house (or even our phone number for that matter!). Many people struggle with intimacy because they put a husband, wife, child, or friend at the center of their heart, instead of God. We also might struggle with intimacy if we are too closed-off and refuse to trust anyone.

We are designed to live with God at the center of our heart and life, and then work outward, always relying on the power of Christ to deepen and develop all those other relationships.