How much more should we be willing to discipline our lives for the souls of people that last forever? The crown that we're striving for is not having our name printed in the rafters. What I'm striving after is the soul of my neighbor. my coworker, or even your grandkids. That is the principle that cuts to the noise of all this kind of chaos.
Hey, friends, welcome to the Summit Life podcast. I'm Molly Vitovich. We'll join Pastor JD in just a moment, but first, let me share how you can get quick access to more gospel-centered resources. Did you know that we have a weekly newsletter packed with free content? Every Tuesday, we'll send you the latest from Pastor JD: links to recent radio, YouTube, and podcast episodes, news on free downloads, updates on new releases, and even stories from fellow listeners.
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Now let's get to our teaching today. You know, professional athletes are ruthless in their training, eliminating everything that stands in the way of winning. And we should be the same. Whether we're looking at our personal preferences, our worship services, our political decisions, even our ethnic identity, we lay it all on the chopping block for the sake of the gospel that we might save some. Is that your approach to sharing the gospel?
Let's see what Pastor JD has to say to us today. Oh. When I served as a student pastor, one of my favorite student group games was this one where you would create a small indoor obstacle course. The blindfolded person got to choose one person from their team to stand at the end of the obstacle course and call out instructions for them. Like, okay, turn left.
Now, duck, take two steps forward, step over the tire, walk carefully through the broken glass, that kind of stuff. Just kidding, not really broken glass. But the trick was that everybody on the other team also got to stand around the side shouting out counter instructions. It's actually a lot harder than it sounds. You'd think you'd be able to pick the voice of your friend out of the crowd, but it was incredibly difficult to cut through all the noise and focus on the guidance that you needed.
I'm pretty sure a few of the kids ended up in the emergency room because of this game, but thankfully, most people were less litigious back when I was a student pastor. That's probably why I'm able to be your pastor today. I share that because the title of our series through 1 Corinthians is Cutting Through the Noise, because that's what Paul is attempting to do in this letter to the Corinthian church. Paul's going to set up the gospel. He has been setting up the gospel as the voice that cuts through the noise to guide this church out of the troubled waters of all the situations they're in to guide them to safety and to peace.
In the first four chapters of Corinthians, we saw how the gospel heals the divisions in the church that arose from pride. In the second section, which was chapters five through seven, Paul demonstrates to them. How the gospel gives them clarity in the moral and the sexual confusion that abounded in their society. Today, we're going to cross over into the third section of this letter where Paul begins to explain to them how the gospel can unite them, even when they are culturally and politically divided, which you can see won't be relevant to us at all, will it? I've mentioned this before, Summit, but this church in Corinth, it was pretty diverse just in its makeup.
It was made up of Jews and Gentiles, young and old, rich and poor, people who had been religious for years, and those with no religious background at all. And that brought conflict into the church. You understand, it always does. A lot of you have this really rosy picture of multi-ethnic unity. And I'm going to tell you, bringing people together of diverse backgrounds always creates tensions and sometimes conflict.
And what that does is it creates an opportunity for the unique beauty and the power of the gospel to shine. The world longs to see this kind of unity. They idealize it in movies and they teach it in the classrooms. But very few seem able to accomplish it. And when you peel back the layers, you find that the unity that we celebrate in pictures is not a unity that really takes place on any substantive level.
Critical race theory cannot accomplish this. What the world tries to accomplish through things like CRT, the gospel accomplishes through the death and the resurrection.
So let's jump right to Paul's conclusion on this. 1 Corinthians 9, he's going to begin his conclusion in verse 19. Paul says, for though I am free from all, For the sake of the gospel, I've made myself. A servant to all. The word there for servant is actually the word for slave, by the way.
A slave is somebody who is totally owned by somebody else. And while a terrible, terrible institution, it is an analogy that Paul's audience would have been familiar with. Paul says, look, I've given up control. I've given up every preference. I've given up every perspective to the gospel.
I claim no rights to any of them at all. All I think about now. All I think about now is how I might win. more of them. And so to the Jews, I became as a Jew.
In order to win the Jews.
Now, that's a really interesting statement to me because I ask, Paul, you were ethnically a Jew. How could someone who was ethnically a Jew become a Jew to the Jews because you were already a Jew? What that meant when Paul's saying that, what he's showing you. Is that for Paul? His Jewishness, even his ethnicity.
His culture, he can play up or play down. He said to those under the law I became as one under the law, though not myself being under the law. What he means by that is, I was willing to live culturally like those who keep the law. What I don't mean, of course, is that I put myself back under the law as a means of salvation, like I used to believe when I was a Pharisee. I just culturally started to live like people under the law, and I did that.
That I might win those under the law. Verse 21, to those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Not, of course, being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, meaning I was willing to live culturally like those who were not under Jewish law. Of course, I don't mean by that, he says, that I cast off all morality and started to live like a reprobate. I'm still bound, of course, by the moral law of Christ.
But I lived culturally like those who did not have Jewish law in their background. And I did that that I might win. Those outside the law to the weak, I became as weak, or I became weak. That I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means.
I might save some, or better, you might say, translate that as I might have the chance to point them. to salvation. And here's your key phrase, verse 23. I do it all. Everything I do now, everything I do, I do for the sake of the gospel.
that I may share with them. In its blessings. And then verse 24. Do you not know? Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run?
But only one received the prize.
So run like you're actually trying to win it. Not just like you're trying to get through the race. Here's Paul's second analogy for how he thinks about his Christian life. The first analogy of a slave to the gospel. The second one is professional athlete.
A professional athlete gets rid of everything. That keeps them from winning. A professional swimmer, for example, takes off literally everything that might slow them down. Wearing a speedo, shaving my legs and my chest, and wearing a little rubber cappy would not be my preferred style in any context. But if I was a competitive swimmer, that's what I would probably choose to wear to the swim meet.
And you are welcome for that mental image, okay? You can never unsee that again. I may have the right to show up at a swim meet in board shorts and a tank top. But that is not a right that I will exercise if I want to win. Paul says, I've got the right to a lot of things in the Christian life.
But I lay them aside to help me win people to Jesus. Specifically, in chapter nine, Paul mentions three particular rights that he's given up. Help win people to Jesus. These are just examples, okay? Verse four, he said, don't we have the right to eat and drink?
That was a reference to a controversy in the early church over whether one could eat meat that had been offered to idols. If you want to read about it, go back. That's all of chapter eight. He discusses that controversy. Basically, almost, here's the deal, almost all of the meat sold in the markets in Corinth had been presented first to an idol for blessing.
And so a lot of the new Christians, particularly the Jewish ones, felt like that meant the meat was permanently tainted and that in eating the meat, you were A, condoning the idol worship that blessed it and B, you were inviting the power of that idol into your life. Plus, a lot of the meat was pork. which was forbidden under the Jewish law. Right.
So they were like, we just can't eat meat because it goes against our conscience. But there were other Christians in the church who were like, wait a minute, no. Idols are not really things at all. They're not gods. They're just statues.
God's power is stronger than any idol's curse. And Jesus' death has cleansed us, cleansed all things for us.
So go ahead. Go ahead and please pass the Baal-blessed bacon. I'm hungry.
Now in chapter 8. Paul's going to explain. These are two opinions, but one of them is right. Paul was on Team Meat Eater all the way. He said, The meat eaters are right.
The blood of Jesus has indeed cleansed us and all things for us, and God's power is indeed stronger than any idol's power.
So we're free to eat whatever we want. Paul was on Team Meat Eater with no questions, but Paul said, but. If my eating that meat will keep somebody else from hearing the gospel. Then I won't eat. I will not eat meat in a way that would cause them to stumble because I will eliminate anything in my life.
That hinders me in my race to bring people to Jesus. Yo, listen, giving up bacon would be a humongous sacrifice for me. But Paul says I've subjected even that to the gospel. This is making me hungry. We got to move on to the next point.
Verse five. Don't we also have the right? to be accompanied in our journeys by a believing wife. Y'all remember in chapter 7 when we studied it, Paul explained he remained single because why? Because it's more helpful for the mission at the time.
Paul's like, look, here he's basically saying, look, I'd like to be married. And I have that right to be married, but at this time, That's not what the Holy Spirit has shown me is best for the mission, so I've given that right up. Verse 12, if others have a right to receive financial benefits from you. Don't we, Paul and Barnabas, had chosen not to take a salary for their ministry, even though other Christian leaders at the time did. Paul said, there's nothing wrong with that.
They should. You should pay them. That was in part the reason they chose not to take a salary was because. There were a lot of people out there saying that the apostles were making up all these stories about the resurrection in order to get rich and powerful. And Paul said, Look, let me.
He says, I realize 2,000 years from now, a guy named Bart Erman is going to come along and say that we all apostles did all this.
so that we could just get rich. Let me just go ahead and take that off the table right now. I'm just not going to take any money for it at all. The Holy Spirit has shown me that my testimony will be even more compelling if I don't take any money for it to show that I'm not making these stories up to get rich and powerful. I've got a right to be financially supported in my work like anybody else, but I've given up that right.
for the sake of the gospel. Verse 15, for my part, I have used none of these rights. Verse 18, what then is my reward? My reward is to preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel. I do it all for the sake of the gospel.
that I might save more of them. Again, verse 25: Athletes who compete exercise extreme self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. Paul's like, it's like I'm running a race for the souls of the lost, and I'm willing to strip away anything that doesn't move me closer to my goal. I remember reading recently about the training program of Michael Phelps.
Michael Phelps, of course, was the most decorated Olympic athlete of not just our time, but all time. He's won a total of 28 medals, which means that by himself. He has won more medals than 70% of the countries that compete in the Olympics have won in their entire histories. To win those medals for Michael Phelps, though, has come at a pretty steep cost. During his peak training seasons, he would swim about 12 miles per day, every day.
He did this for 1,800 consecutive days. without missing a single one. He ate 12,000 calories a day. He would literally eat a pound of pasta. For lunch.
And then every day another pound of pasta for dinner. Who says you cannot out-exercise a bad diet, right? You swim 12 miles a day. You can eat whatever you want. And he did all this for a bunch of records.
Right that will one day be broken, and a bunch of metals that will end up in a dusty museum somewhere. And someday you realize our kids. Definitely our grandkids were probably been our kids. Are you gonna hear the name Michael Phelps or see him on TV and be like, who was that, Dad? They'll have absolutely no knowledge of him.
Most of today's students going into Cameron Indoor Stadium have no idea. Who two-thirds of the names that are printed on the jerseys hanging in the rafters don't even know who they are? Paul says, if athletes train like they do for crowns that perish. and to get their names and rafters that fade into oblivion. How much more should we be willing to discipline our lives for the souls of people that last forever?
The crown that we're striving for is not having our name printed in the rafters. What I'm striving after is the soul of my neighbor. My co-worker. or even your grandkids. That is the principle that cuts to the noise.
of all this kind of chaos.
Now what I want us to do with the rest of our time is I want us to apply it to us. in two different ways. First, I want to talk about us as a church, a church body. I want to explain how this impacts how we think about. And how we think about ourselves and how we organize our ministries.
Then, secondly, I wanna challenge you personally to think about how you are ordering your own personal life and your family life.
Okay, so first, let's talk about the church. I got three things here for the church that I want to emphasize. What this means is, number one, We gotta sacrifice preference, all of them. in order to reach the lost. We are celebrating, by God's grace, our 20th year as the Summit Church.
And that is my 20th anniversary of when I'm here, because when I'm here, new leadership team, we changed the name of the Summit Church. It was Homestead Heights Baptist Church for about 40 years before that. And so that has led me to a lot of reflection. Particularly because in the last year, you've heard me say this before, but in the last year, three of that original group of 300, three of those dear saints that started with me in 2002 have gone on to be with Jesus in the last 12 or so months. And I'm thinking, of course, about Carl Scott, who was one of our elders for many years, Doug Martalon, who ran all of our production, and David Baber, who was on our staff and before that was chairman of our elders for a while too.
All three of those were there at the beginning, and all three championed this value as much as any human being I have ever known in my life. And that is probably best illustrated by a story that I tell often here.
So if you've been here, you've heard me tell this, but it involves David Baber going back to 2002. Let me give you the cliff notes version of it. Basically, long story short is a friend of mine and I started a basketball ministry right when I got here because we owned a gym at the time. I was much younger then and still not very good. But a bunch of guys came from the neighborhood and they all, you know, Start, we hit it off.
They started to give each other nicknames. I've told you, like, you know, one guy was called Money because he never missed a three. One guy was called Flash because he was so quick. One guy was called Air because he could jump and dunk. They gave me a name, and I was pretty flattered by it at first until I heard the name, and it was: no, don't shoot.
No, Don't Shoot was the name that I was assigned on that team. And through God's grace, not because of my basketball skill, a couple of those guys ended up coming to faith in Christ. And one was about a six foot five African-American guy. And I got to baptize him. One of the first people I baptized at the Summit Church.
To my knowledge, first person. the first African American, this church had baptized. And so I'm up there and a baptized, he baptizes, he gives this incredible testimony. I mean, it's so moving about how God was working in his life. And David Baber comes up to me after the service.
And those of you that know David, this will make sense. David comes up and he said, He said, son, he said, you know. You know, a lot of people around here aren't excited about the changes you're making in our church. And I said, Yeah, I know. I get the emails.
He said, He said, but He says he gets all choked up and he points toward the baptismal where he just baptized. That guy, and he said, but if that's what we're going to get right there, you can count me in for all of them, and I will watch your back and cover you on every single one of them. Right, that's a generation of people. That have made us who we are. We are where we are, Summit, because a group of saints.
were willing to make themselves uncomfortable. for the sake of reaching others. And I think they would say from heaven, I did it for the sake of the gospel. Not because I preferred that in a church. I did it for the sake of the gospel, that we might save more of them.
Sadly, the countryside of America is dotted with churches who won't do that. They sit on furniture designed in the 1940s, listen to music from the 1950s. Listen to a pastor dressed like he got stuck in the 1960s. I heard one guy say, you know, if the 1950s ever come back, a lot of our churches are going to be ready. We're going to be totally ready.
But they don't want to change. They don't want to change because change is uncomfortable.
Some of you grew up in churches like these, and you know how hard it is to get them to change anything. The organ. Who pl who listens to an organ? The handbells. What other context would you pull out the handbells in?
And Lord, help us if somebody tried to bring in a drumstead. That's tantamount to setting up an altar to Satan. Right? The sad truth is that for many of these churches, they prioritize maintaining their traditions over reaching their grandchildren. And I don't share that with you so that you and I can feel smug about how advanced we are.
Look at our stage and look at all the lights and all the. Do you realize how easy it is for us to let that same spirit creep back in? How willing are you? to put up with things that you don't like in church. for the sake of reaching others.
Because I'm gonna tell you in 20 years emails haven't slowed down that much. How much you willing to put up with music or styles or topics? That may not be your favorite, but help us reach somebody else. How committed are you to this church reaching the triangle? Let me just make this real for a minute, okay?
Paul's illustration. for how he applied 1 Corinthians 9. was to have Timothy, his traveling companion, circumcised. For Jews, being circumcised was a thing that you did, not only to obey the law. but also to show your respect for your Jewish heritage.
Timothy had a Jewish mom. But because his dad was a Gentile, Timothy had never been circumcised. And that became a huge problem for a lot of the Jews that he and Paul were trying to reach because they thought in not getting circumcised, Timothy was disrespecting his Jewish heritage, like he was ashamed of it and trying to distance himself from it. And so Paul argues: listen, he's like, look, according to the gospel, he doesn't need to be circumcised. And for you to demand that is unreasonable.
But Acts 16, 3, in order to remove any obstacle to the gospel. Paul had Timothy, a grown man. Circumcised. You keep that in the back of your mind as the standard for being uncomfortable. I feel like Timothy's going to meet a lot of us in heaven.
He's going to say, please. Please. Do not belly ate to me that the music was not exactly to your liking. My becoming all things, all people cost me a lot more than you putting up with some new music. We're always asking of this church, as much as we can, how we can best set up this church to reach more people.
Yeah, that's the primary reason we chose to p pursue multi-site. Just to be clear, multi-site is a headache for everybody. But we figured that it was several of our staff over here to my left. We figured that it was easier. It'd be easier for us to reach more people in the triangle if people that didn't come to church had a facility they could come to that was within 15 minutes driving distance of them.
Like I always say, we're flattered that you would drive 45 minutes to come to our church, but probably you do that because you love Jesus. And so the person that you just met in your neighborhood who doesn't love Jesus isn't going to make that drive.
So rather than build one big gargantuan six flags over Jesus kind of building, we just said, hey, let's build slightly smaller outposts all over the triangle. We do it all for the sake of the gospel that we might save some. I hope that you and I will always feel a little bit uncomfortable here. Because the moment that this becomes the church that you've always wanted to go to, then we're no longer the kind of church that is reaching people around us that are unlike us. For many people, the book of Revelation feels mysterious, confusing, and maybe even a little intimidating.
It's filled with vivid imagery, difficult passages, and questions about the future that can leave us wondering where to even begin. But what if Revelation wasn't meant to leave us fearful or confused? What if its primary purpose is to help us see Jesus more clearly? That's the heart behind Pastor J.D. Greer's newest Bible study, the Book of Revelation.
In this 12-week printed study, you'll walk through one of the Bible's most talked about books and discover a powerful message of hope, endurance, and confidence in Christ. Rather than focusing on speculation or trying to decode every symbol, this study helps you understand the big picture of Revelation and why its message matters for your everyday life. You'll discover how the Book of Revelation encourages believers to remain faithful in difficult seasons, stand firm in a changing culture, and trust that God is still in control no matter what is happening around them. Most importantly, you'll gain a clearer vision of Jesus, His power, His presence, and His ultimate victory. Whether you're studying on your own, with a small group, or alongside your family, Revelation will help you fix your eyes on the One who is sovereign over history, faithful in suffering, and victorious in the end.
We will mail you a printed copy of the Book of Revelation Bible Study when you give a gift of $45 or more to support the ministry of Summit Life. Give us a call at 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220. Or go to jdgreer.com and request your copy today. We want to be a church that not caters to our needs and preferences, but one that is stripped down, so to speak.
for maximum effectiveness and reaching our community, which leads me to number two. We got to care not just about depth, we got to care about width also. A lot of Christians, the reason I say this, when they talk about their church. seem to think that the only measure That God cares about is whether they are doctrinally faithful.
So they'll say things like, well, we don't worry about the width of our ministry, we always worry about the depth. And listen, I get it. I get it. I do. We cannot control how many people receive and believe the gospel.
We got to preach the truth. As we understand it. And we got to leave the results to God. But y'all, I at least want you to see that Paul was not satisfied. with merely being in the right.
He's like, listen, I'll do whatever it takes. I'll become whatever I need to become. That I might by all means save more. That's my standard. That's what I'm going for, Charles Spurgeon.
one of the church's most important theologians in its history. Spurgeon said it this way. If my hearers are not converted, I feel like I've wasted my time preaching. I've lost the energy that I put into the brain and heart exercise. I feel as if I have lost my hope and lost my life unless I'm able to find for my Lord some of his blood-bought ones.
I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ and unpack all the mysteries of the divine word. For conversion is the thing. that we are to live for.
Someone, that's how I feel. I feel like if people, yes, I'm satisfied to leave the results to God, but in one sense, if I'm not being able to reach people, I'm like, what am I doing? Yeah, we want to get doctrine right. We want to grow deep, but we're not content to simply preach the truth accurately. We want by all means.
to save some.
Now, quick timeout.
Some of you are like, well, look. I'm just not comfortable with all this talk about saving people. They just feel so smug and imperialistic, like we're better than everybody, and we got to run out with some Messiah complex to save them as if we're better than them.
Well, let's just be really clear, okay? We are not capable of saving anybody. And we're not out preaching ourselves. You're not going to find any hope in us. If that's you coming in, you're not going to find any hope here.
But you see, the gospel message is that God sent a Savior. And all people, including you and me, we're lost without him. but he offers forgiveness healing and restoration and new life to all who will come to him Friend, I could no more deny that than I could deny Jesus himself. And if in your heart, if you're a believer and you don't yearn to see other people come to Jesus, Or if you feel like it's wrong to try and persuade somebody else to come to Jesus. And by the way, of course, I mean you do that respectfully.
But if you're like, yeah, I don't even want to try to persuade because that's just wrong. I question whether or not you actually believe the gospel. I mean, how could you? The gospel is that there's only one hope for all people everywhere. Only one way to escape God's judgment and be reconciled to God, and that is Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.
How could you believe that and not be doing everything you could? to try and get that to other people. Which leads me to the third thing for our church. We got to seek to reach all people in the triangle. Not just one kind.
Isn't it clear from what Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 9 that he was focused on reaching different kinds of people? Not just one, he had Jews and people under the law, you had Gentiles, those outside the law, and Paul was trying to reach all of them. And that was hard. Y'all, do you know how much easier it would have been for Paul? To just focus on one kind of person.
To go to one side of the city, the Jewish quarter, plant a church focused only on reaching Jews. And then go to the other side of the city the next couple of weeks and plant one there that reached Gentiles. She got First Adventist Jew on this side and First Adventist Gentile over there. and they'll cooperate in a joint community service project. Y'all, that would have been way easier.
And would have led to so much less conflict. I mean, they all would already have thought the same about meat questions and political questions. Paul didn't do that though. Instead, he challenged the church. to put some of their cultural preferences aside.
To reach somebody else because he knew what Jesus wanted. What would glorify Jesus? was a united community, not a bunch of segregated ones.
So the Jews, he says, I became like a Jew. Which means I did Jewish stuff. I ate Jewish food. I listened to Jewish music. I entered into Jewish struggles.
I wore Jewish clothes. I asked Jewish political questions. I listened to what they said. I got Timothy circumcised. At the end of the week, I became weak.
Paul says, even though I knew theologically I was free to eat the bacon. I refuse to do anything that put a stumbling block between me and somebody else. I made all of these cultural adaptations to reach people. And that was hard. Semites, listen to me.
I'm not going to make this rosy at all. The gap between us. Many of our neighbors. is often a cultural one. We know y'all that Jesus did not only die for Republicans.
We know that he didn't only die for political conservatives or white people or middle-class families with kids. He died for all peoples at all stages of life from all economic strata. And in order to reach all of them, we all have to be willing to turn down certain things and lean hard into some. And I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now, that's hard. Yo, it is so easy right now to nod your head back.
Mm-hmm. That's right. But it is hard when the rubber meets the road. Let me show you what I mean, okay?
Now, fair warning. This story is going to be hard for many of you. Candidly, it was. Pretty hard for me the first time I heard it. One of our members of colour.
who attended a black church for most of his life. Told me, he said, you know, growing up. He said, in times like the ones we went through in the summer of 2020. He said, you know, the church was the one place that I could go for refuge. Confident that everybody there felt the same pain?
shared in the same exi anxieties and just understood. And the church was the one place he said, I could just let my guard down and be. The trauma of slavery in the past and Jim Crow laws created, he said, a solidarity in the black community that served. As a refuge in times of trial, so he said when something tragic happened in the black community, he could expect. That it would be discussed at church that week because that shared pain and fear was on everybody's mind automatically when they came in.
He said, in choosing to come to a multi-ethnic church, our church. Especially one where the majority of the membership is still white. He said that he had given up that comfort because not every person in the church understands his worries. He says, I get that. Not everybody has the same perspective coming in, and I gave that up.
He said some, in fact, seemed primarily concerned to show that my worry or my pain is not even legitimate. He has chosen to be a part of our community here because he believes in the vision of this church. But it's hard. And here's the truth, y'all. He should not have to be the only one who has to adapt.
For those of us in the white community. We also have to enter as much as we can. into the culture of others. To take on their burdens, to listen to them. It doesn't mean that we say that their perspective is infallible and ours is wholly flawed.
It does not mean that at all. But it means that we lay aside cultural preferences and perspectives and try to enter in with each other. And remove as many barriers as possible to lay aside whatever we can for the gospel. We do it all for the sake of the gospel. That we might save some.
It also means that all of us will become a little more muted. And some of our perspectives. to keep us from causing unnecessary division in the body. Doesn't mean we're silent about them, just means we're judicious with how we talk about them. In First Corinthians 8:9, Paul was willing to be quiet or muted.
On secondary convictions. that he was fully convinced he was right about. Because he thought the unity of the church and its evangelistic mission were more important than maintaining a uniformity of perspective in all things. Paul never even said, I give up eating bacon altogether. He's just like, I just know that there are times to do it and times not to do it.
We have people leave this church all the time. They leave this church all the time because we don't say exactly what they want on some political or social issue. Oh, we say too much about some issue. Oh, we didn't say enough about that one. Y'all, listen, hear me.
I am not saying all perspectives are equally valid. I am certainly not saying that we are ever muted or unclear about injustice or wrong, the sanctity of life, the evils of racism, equality under the law. I'm not saying any of that. I'm saying that there are times. There are times that my particular perspective on the best way to set up society.
or my opinion about the best people to lead us there, or my interpretations of some event. There are times, y'all, I'll dial that back because it's more important that people hear and experience the gospel than it is that everybody see every situation the way that I see it. It's not that these other things are not important. They are. is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that much more important.
And I don't want people to get confused. into associating a particular cultural or political slant On secondary matters with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I got a right. I'll just go ahead and say it like Paul. I got a right to say what I believe about those things.
But I've voluntarily turned down that right a little. that I might by all means be more effective at saving some. We see a great example of this philosophy at work in the early church. It's such an important example, it's so overlooked. People read over this and they don't even realize what's happening.
It's amazing. Acts 15, Jewish and Gentile believers, y'all. are so divided. over a particular cultural issues that they can't even worship together anymore.
So the church leaders, Acts 15, come together and they got to like, we got to try to work something out. Their solution, however, first, I've told you this, it seems really confusing. Acts 15, 29, you can read later. They're basically that, look. Gentiles, look, A, avoid sexual immorality.
B. Avoid eating things that died by strangulation.
Now, let's just be honest. The reason for the prohibition on sexual immorality seems clear and fair. Stop going to prostitutes. Stop hiring escorts come with you to church. Cut that out.
That makes sense. But the prohibition on eating something strangled, that's the one you want to say, this is really important. No, they're not saying it was the most important. James explains the reasoning for the regulation. He says, look, from ancient generations, Moses has been preached in every city.
And what he means by that is, in every city, there's a lot of Jews. And Jews These Jews need to be reached for Jesus. And when Gentiles are out in the parking lot barbecuing things that they had just strangled. That's going to produce a major stumbling block for the Jews to even get in the church. The apostles knew that if these unsaved Jews came into the church and Gentiles are in the back, choking the gophers and throwing them on the grill, the Jews are not going to be able to stomach it, no pun intended.
And then they wouldn't get a chance to hear the gospel and be saved. And the apostles are like: yep, you Gentiles have a right to eat choke gophers if you want. Gross as it is, that's your freedom. But we're asking you to forego that right so that more unsaved Jews in the community can hear the gospel. And then James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, wraps up their decision by uttering one of the most important but overlooked phrases in the whole New Testament for what a church's mission philosophy should be.
Acts 15, 19, he said, we should not make it difficult. For the Gentiles or Jews. You are turning to God. Summit family, I've told you. That I wish I could plaster James Frays on every single one of our hearts.
I wish I could make it the headline over every single one of your Facebook pages. Do all you can not to make it hard for Gentiles. Who are turning to God? Don't make it hard for our black friends to find God. Don't make it hard for Democrats.
Don't make it hard for Republicans. Don't make it hard for Asian seekers or white seekers or brown seekers or anybody. Don't make it hard for public school teachers or policemen. We have a gospel too precious and a mission too urgent to let anything stand in its way. Listen, some of you are passionate about politics.
And you're passionate about which solutions will work best for society. And I want to be clear, that is a good thing. And we got to speak out about injustice and oppression and suffering around us, but. The point is in the church, let's not let a secondary, culturally shape perspective on the best strategies or candidates. Let's not let any of those become synonymous with the authority of the gospel because that's when the gospel suffers and people stay lost.
We do all this for the sake of the gospel. but by all means we might save more of them.
So that's what it means for our church. Quick minute, let me show you what it means for you personally, because they kind of grew out of this. If you think of reaching people like a race. That you're trying to win.
Something about evangelism is a duty you need to fulfill. Think of it as a race you're trying to win. How would that impact how you live your life? Life. Let me just ask you a series of questions, okay?
Think through them. Have you thought about how your career? might contribute to the Great Commission. I say that because some of you have been given jobs that can take you into places that are hard to reach with the gospel. Places I'll never get to.
Question is, are you taking Jesus there with you? You've probably heard this before, but you're the only Bible a lot of those people will ever read. They'll never hear me preach it, but they'll see you live it. Are you taking Jesus into those places that your career can take you?
Some of you have jobs that you can transfer to a less reached place. We often say around here that following Jesus means doing what you do well for the glory of God. but also doing it somewhere strategic for the mission of God. Every single year at the Summit Church, we send out people who uproot their lives from Raleigh Durham. to go with one of our church planning teams to live out their career in a place.
where they can be part of a new church plan. Thinking of people like Brian, who got his degree in patent law from Duke, and instead of opening a practice here, Opened one in the United Arab Emirates to be a part of one of our teams there, or the Parkers, who run a CrossFit gym in North Africa, or Craig, who's head of an engineering firm in South Asia, or Rachel. A counselor who works with abuse victims in a red light district in India. We've also had about 700 of our members go to domestic cities like Denver and Charleston and Greenville and Miami. And together, these people have planted 482 churches.
I'm going to tell you, there's people that go, don't do it because it's convenient. Or because they have wonder lust. They do it all for the sake of the gospel that they might by all means reach more of them. Are you spending your money in ways? That befits the urgency of the gospel.
Listen, I know that God doesn't need our money and that we don't bear the weight of funding a great commission. I get that. But are we giving like we really believe that heaven and hell are real? And the mission is urgent. If Jesus came back tonight.
And it was all over y'all. But you feel good about how you'd invested your money into his kingdom. Related to that, what lifestyle changes would you make? to free up some bandwidth for giving. What life you say, hey, you know what?
If it really is a race, this is something that I think I should give to God because I think it would help me reach people. Held the ministries I'm a part of, the church I'm a part of, reach people. How about this one? Have you prayed about fostering or adopting? It's one of the greatest ministries that you can have.
Have you prayed about it? If you're a family, maybe you don't have kids yet, or you got a few and you're thinking about more. Have you prayed about fostering or adopting? It's an incredible ministry. Here's a big one.
Can you critique your own culture? This is where most of us will break down. I mean, that's what Paul does, right? When Paul's like, look, I became a Jew to the Jews. He's showing that he was removed enough from his own culture.
but he could critique it when necessary. His commitment to Christ outweighed his commitment to Judaism. Leslie Newbiggin, the Christian philosopher, says that the true test of Christian maturity is the ability to allow the gospel to challenge my culture. Y'all, listen. Go ahead and day.
I love America. My kids have endured countless lectures on the uniqueness of America. I love my culture. but I love the gospel more. And where my culture falls short of the gospel, I want to be the first one to point that out.
Is there an opinion? Related to that, that you need to dial back on so as not to be a distraction to the gospel.
Some of you just got to pull up your Facebook page and know that you don't live out 1 Corinthians 9. What preferences do you need to forego? to create environments better able to reach people here. Are you really willing to be a part of a church where you feel uncomfortable sometimes? For the sake of reaching others.
Have you gotten comfortable with being uncomfortable? Will you set aside one night a month to invite over a non-church person from your neighborhood, your job, or a sports team? That's a great practical place to begin. For some of you, that would be uncomfortable. Listen, y'all, I get it.
It's easier to come home. Chill every night, eat dinner, hang out with people you're already familiar with. That's comfortable for all of us. Are you willing to try something uncomfortable? in an attempt to reach somebody.
How can you begin to include?
somebody not like you in your social rhythms. Reaching out and including in your social circles those that are not from your background. That's what Paul had done. Jews, Gentiles, he was. It's like Pastor Brian always says, diverse churches start with diverse dinner tables.
Last one, whom could you invite to start reading the word with you? We're to come to church with you.
Someone do not know. But in a race. All the runners run. Are they all doing their duty? They all, you know, most of them finish.
Only one wins the the prize. Why don't you run like you're trying to be that person? Athletes who compete exercise extreme self-control. in everything. They just do it to receive a perishable crown, but we.
An imperishable crown, y'all think. Think with me for a minute. Really just. Come with me for it. I want you to think about being in eternity.
Let's just say you've been there. 10,000 years. You're just getting started at eternity. During that 10,000 years, you've gotten to know some other saint. That is there.
You never knew him on Earth. After 10,000 years, imagine how much you'll love that saint. And then... You find out that they're there because of a sacrifice you made. that enabled them to hear the gospel.
So now you're talking about somebody who is nameless and faceless right now, but they're in heaven. You love them dearly. You never knew them on earth, but they are there because of some sacrifice you made, some accommodation for the gospel. Don't you think you'll say that it's a billion times worth it, whatever you laid aside for the gospel? When you love that person and you're like, you're here because.
I gave, put yourself there and begin to live now. Athletes who compete exercise self-control and everything. But it's just for a perishable crowd. We, an imperishable crowd. Mary Clark is a name you've never heard of.
She grew up in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the world. Beverly Hills, California. She started to get really burdened over the brokenness and hopelessness that were felt by many in local prisons there. Such an extreme contrast, she thought.
So she began to get involved in ministering to prisoners there in Beverly Hills, California, and she found that a huge obstacle. Was every afternoon when she left every day to drive back to her comfortable home in Beverly Hills, and all the prisoners stayed.
So she did something totally unorthodox. She asked the warden for a cell. They gave her one. And that's where she chose to spend decades of her life, little 10 by 10 cell. The inmates were so baffled by and drawn to her that they began to call her the prison angel.
If you want to look up her story, just type that in: prison angel. She was so revered that they say she once walked into a prison where, a prison riot, where there were bullets and tear gas permeating the air. But when all the prisoners saw Mary, they just, the riot stopped. Because she'd become one of them. She could reach them.
What I'm saying is that history has been changed by people willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of the gospel, that by all means they might save more of them. Are we as a church willing to do that for the sake of the lost in our generation? Are you willing to do that? for the sake of a lost in your life. Woo!
Is your yes on the table? If it's not, what are you afraid of? An important question to ponder here on the Summit Life podcast. If you're benefiting from this program, we would love for you to rate and subscribe to the podcast. It's a simple way to help others find Pastor Jeevie's teaching and be encouraged by God's Word.
Until next time, you can find all of the resources mentioned today at jdgreer.com, including the brand new Revelation Bible study and our weekly newsletter. See you soon. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Um
