INTRO: Contextualization is inevitable and inescapable. Everyone does it whether they know it or not. The question is not whether we will contextualize at all but whether we will contextualize according to the gospel.
Positively: Adapting ourselves to culture in order to communicate the gospel is a good thing. We do not compromise the message or conform it to the culture. Rather we adapt ourselves and call the culture to change (repent) and conform to the cross.
Negatively: We must not conform to the pattern of the culture or compromise the truth of the gospel. Contextualization is not a free pass to be trendy, edgy, or experimental.
Our gospel-based priorities are revelation over relevance, scripture over culture, and incarnation over innovation.
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
This text has been abused by countless ministers and missionaries to justify (just about) anything and everything under heaven. It seems that almost any technique, method, approach, or trend can be justified if we just pay lip service to one thing: evangelism. “We’re just trying to becoming all things to all men so we can save the lost.” As long as it is couched in the language of saving souls a new gimmick or technique usually gets a free pass. Even if it does violence to the gospel.
Paul was not a “methodist” – he was a missionary to a multi-cultural world. In this text Paul was not concerned about which “church-growth” methods and techniques to employ. Rather he was concerned about the messenger’s cultural dexterity and adaptability.
As an apostle to the Gentiles he learned how to adapt himself to the melting-pot culture of the Roman Empire. Contextualization is important because it concerns the messenger’s attitudes, approach, and actions towards people in diverse cultural settings. Paul taught that the message of the gospel and the method of preaching must be combined with a culturally adaptable messenger.
FOUR INGREDIENTS OF BIBLICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION:
- Evangelical Truth
- Missional Purpose
- Pastoral Concern
- Spiritual Discipline
1) EVANGELICAL TRUTH
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 21 (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ). 22 I have become all things to all people (Jews and Gentiles), that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (Lit. that I may be a participant in it).
Christ is the Gospel and the gospel is the fixed standard. The message of the cross is absolute and inalterable. The method of communicating the cross is also absolute: God is pleased to save those who believe evangelical preaching.
Contrary to St. Francis of Assisi (he said, “Preach the gospel to all creation; if necessary use words.”) there is no such thing as evangelical preaching apart from words. God is pleased to save those who believe the gospel is proclaimed with our mouths and heard by sinners. “Faith come by hearing the word of Christ” not by seeing images and pictures about Christ.
The gospel is the wisdom and power of God for salvation and preaching is the primary God-ordained method of communicating the gospel to sinners in every the culture.
The bottom line: if God’s people do not open their mouths and proclaim the good news sinners will not hear the good news. If they do not hear they will not believe. If they do not believe they will not call on the Lord for salvation.
2) MISSIONAL PURPOSE
Saving and winning souls with the gospel is the mission of the church. If we win sinners/people to anything other than Christ, we lose and so do they. If we win sinners with anything other than the gospel they will not be saved. Our missional purpose is to win sinners with the message of the cross for the glory of Christ.
Here Paul gives two examples of his missional purpose among non-Christians.
20a To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.
Acts 13 – At Pisidian Antioch the apostle Paul visited a synagogue and preached the Christian gospel in a typically Jewish way. He identified with the Jews and used their book of scripture to tell the good news of redemptive-history. He showed his kinsmen how the scriptures were Christo-telic — they pointed the way to Christ. Among the Jews Paul adapted himself – not his message – to a target audience of devout Jews.
21 To those outside the law (Gentiles) I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
Acts 17 – At Athens the apostle Paul was invited to speak to a group of philosophers at Mars Hill. There he preached the Christian gospel in a philosophical way. He did not appeal to book, chapter, and verse of the Jewish scriptures. Rather he appealed to culture and nature and showed how they pointed to Christ. Among the Greeks Paul adapted himself – not his message – to a target audience of philosophical Greeks for the sake of the gospel.
3) PASTORAL CONCERN
Missionary efforts to contextualize often pose conscience problems for newer and weaker Christians. They don’t always understand how or why a cross-cultural missionary seem to compromise the gospel by being so flexible. Part of the problem is that they confuse methods with principles.
Here Paul give stwo examples of his pastoral concern among Christians.
20b To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
Acts 21 – At Jerusalem the apostle Paul (who preached salvation by grace apart from works, and salvation by the gospel and condemnation by the law) went to Jerusalem to celebrate a Jewish festival (Pentecost). He took part in the purification rites of some Jewish Christians who had taken a Nazirite vow. And he offered the required sacrifices for the rite and worshipped at the temple along with many other Jewish Christians. Again, we see that Paul adapted himself – not his message – to his context for the sake of the gospel and God’s elect.
22 To the weak (Christians) I became weak, that I might win the weak.
1 Cor. 8:8-13 – At Corinth the apostle Paul refrained from eating meat sacrificed to idols for the sake of weaker brothers for whom Christ died. He adapted himself – not his message – to the needs of the baptized community. To be sure Paul did not condone weakness and immaturity among the saints. But love demands that he help weaker Christians mature in Christ. Until they reached maturity Paul adapted his diet — not his message — to the weaker saints for the sake of the gospel.
4) SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we [exercise self-control to receive] an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Serving the gospel in the church and culture requires discipline and devotion. Paul was intentional and took deliberate steps to make sure he was connecting with his culture and serving the true needs of people around him with the gospel of Christ.
It takes a gospel-shaped person to serve as a cross-cultural missionary. Unless/until we are shaped by the message of Christ crucified we will not be able to take the cross to our culture. Serving the gospel in the church and world requires self-denial and self-control. That is what it means to take up your cross daily and follow Christ.
Christ is the ultimate example of a cross-cultural missionary. He entered the world on gospel mission. The incarnation of Christ (God in the flesh) is the ultimate expression of adaptation and contextualization.
Response
When it comes to gospel mission — are you a bridge or a barricade? Are you a stumbling block or a stepping stone? Are you leading anyone in your web of relationships to Christ? Are you living with gospel-intentions?
Think about the names and faces of people in your web of relationships. Now think of those who are perishing. Do you want them to perish or to be saved? What are you doing to rescue them? How far are you willing to go to steer them towards the cross?
