Upside Down Messages

“Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.” 1 Corinthians 9:19

Paul was a master at blending in when it meant he could avoid causing offense to others. He didn’t mind causing a stir if it was necessary. Goodness know, there was a huge riot in Lsytra when he made it clear there was only one God, and only one Savior, Jesus Christ His Son.

But, if it were today, I doubt get red-faced over someone wearing a “Pro-Choice” t-shirt in the same coffee shop he frequented. He might look for a chance to start a conversation, but he would not risk doing something initially offensive that would prevent any open understanding right from the start.

Jesus was so good at this that He actually got tongue-lashed for hanging out with the wrong sorts of people. He had dinner with whores and coffee with IRS agents. He had long private talk with a woman know to be promiscuous by the whole town. He went to meet here at just the right time when no one else would be there. He rescued a sexual slob of a sinner from the hands of those who had every religious right to bloody her to death with the stones in their hands. Moses himself had even said that adulterers should not be allowed to live.

So, how did it ever get so turned around that Christians think the world is supposed to be our master, and that we should be so high-and-mighty different from everyone else that they will know we are Christians by our t-shirt slogans? (We’ve stopped putting Christian bumper stickers on our cars, now that we are in a high enough tax bracket to afford luxury vehicles.) Why do we constantly tell the world to straighten up and fly right when Paul considered himself the slave of the world? If you liked college football, the Apostle Paul would have studied your favorite team, purchased a jersey, and invited you over to watch their games. And, not in a “spider catches the fly” sort of way. Paul’s “method” or “intent” was to simply open up a relationship to make sharing Christ less offensive.

If Jesus visited the local mall, I wonder what He would wear. Trademark sandals, toga, grandma’s scarf made to look like a Christmas pageant headband? No, we are talking contemporary, aren’t we. He would buy a Brooks Brothers suit, a flashy silk tie, shined to reflective brilliance shoes, wool-blend socks and diamond cuff links. You can guess His watch, I don’t want to think about it. Pick any TV evangelist (or Republican Presidential candidate), and that will do for his hair. We want Him to appear different than the riff raff that goes in and out of the big box stores downtown.

I know, of course Jesus wouldn’t dress like that. But I don’t think we would look for him with the kids smoking pot behind the mall. We certainly don’t want to think about Him talking to the girl, late at night in the shadows, who has been trying to support both her baby and a meth habit by selling her body. People would get the wrong idea about Jesus, and we need to avoid that at all costs.

Oh, Jesus didn’t seem to care what others thought about Him? Well, that’s up to Him, I suppose. But His church better care! We have to keep people coming to services. We have to fund our programs. We have new computers, audio visual equipment, carpets, ovens and grand pianos to buy. If people ever thought Jesus hung out with dirt bags and women who probably reeked of STDs, our attendance would drop so fast we might as well shut the place down.

Oh, Jesus would rather shut it down if we don’t let Him in? It’s not that, Jesus. We just want you to look nice when you do enter. We want you to look nice, like us.

Oh, I get the picture. We forgot all about what Paul meant, and that he was truly imitating you. He didn’t care what people thought about him. He would learn the customs of people he wanted to tell about Jesus. He would try hard to understand their characteristics, even using one of their own altar, “To an Unknown God”, to tell them about that God: Jesus Christ. Why, he even quoted their own poets, pagan poets.

Have we spent way too much time trying to NOT look like the world? Maybe it is time to stop trying to make the world be my slave. I think I need to learn this, to become a slave to everyone else, so I can lead them to Christ. If they can’t trust me, they’ll never listen to me, that is for sure.

(Can you wait a few months while I grow my ponytail out and get my ears pierced?)