Called to Chameleon

To continue this question of calling, what does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23?

I once heard Donald Miller speak at a Youth Specialties conference about how the church (the actual buildings) have changed throughout history. As the world changed with each reformation and revolution, the church took a different form as well. I had never really thought about it in such a big scale, but as he laid it out it began to make sense. And as we sit (literally) in an entertainment age, our churches are integrated with tons of media and the center of our sanctuaries are stages.

In light of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, one must ask the question: how do we live out our faith? Do we change our faith to be relevant in our culture, or do we move and breathe with the culture, welcoming it to dress us, so we can be more relevant?

That is a tough line to walk. Our church is wrestling with these questions right now. What is our community around the church? What is the culture around our building and does our church flow with that culture or does it push up against it? Do we continue with our traditions and disregard what the culture is outside our doors, because we believe by holding on to tradition we are holding on to Jesus. Or do we allow culture to paint our walls, hang TVs up and put movie clips in our sermons in order to invite the culture in?

It would seem that Paul is in favor of both. In each line of that passage Paul is saying that he becomes something that he is not in order to win them for the gospel. He becomes and does all things for the sake of the gospel, so that he can partner with the gospel. As we read, it seem as though Paul is changing his faith in order to win people over, but I think he is playing the part of a Chameleon. A Chameleon can blend in to its surroundings, but it remains what it is. Paul does not diverge from his Christian roots, but merely changes customs, speech, actions, etcs... (those that don't contradict or undermine his faith in Jesus) in order to become more relevant to those around him.

In our church I would say this would be a radical way to live out our faith. We hold on to traditions and the way church and faith should "look" because to let those go is to give up our God. And maybe, inadvertently, that is the answer to our problem... What is our God? Jesus or the traditions of the church?

So, maybe Paul isn't a great example. Maybe people see him as a rebel. Well, let's take Jesus for instance. How can you fight the example of Jesus? He's God! Did He not meet and move with the people that the religious elite thought were "sinners." This goes back to that Christian subculture I spoke about in my last blog. The Pharisees had created a subculture, a way of "doing" faith that separated them from the "cultural scum" of the earth. But Jesus (God in the flesh) comes and spends time with those whom society had thrown away. Not to say Paul and Jesus are on the same level, but don't you think Jesus adapted to His surroundings as He ministered? Don't you think He learned about their customs and ways of doing life and tried to enter into their world before He spoke to them about God? Don't you think people want to know someone is interested in them before they're preached at?

We are called to be reconcilers of God and His creation. At what point did we disregard how Jesus and Paul walked that out and claim that people needed to bend and break to our customs before we would socialize with them? We are called to partner with the Gospel and bend and break, become slaves, to those who are lost. We do not give up our faith by doing this, but actually move into a greater reality of what it means to be God's ambassadors.

Back to churches... Our church culture is made up of white, upper-middle class business leaders. We live in the bible belt and expect excellence in everything we do. We are a safe church that has difficulties leaving our walls to interact with the world around us. No one has anything wrong with them, but the prayer cards about the families in ruin, the addictions, the bitterness and hatred for others, the dead faith, etc. speaks otherwise... This is our ministry. Not only do we become excellent to reach the excellent, but we also become surgeons who delicately cut through the B.S. in order to reconcile the healer to the sick.

I often ask my students, "If we are called to be followers of Jesus, where is He going?" As I search the gospels to learn more about Jesus and how He lived His life, the more I am convinced that to follow Jesus is to enter in to the world of the sick. To go to the places no one else will go. To meet with the people no one else will talk to. To give people the time of day who usually get passed by. To become slaves to the gospel, the reconciliation of God and His people. Jesus was a slave to the gospel to the point of death. He gave Himself up for that reconciliation. We are called to do the same. Become the Chameleon in your church. Move and breathe with the culture, but never forget who you are: a sinner saved, the walking dead brought to life, the sick made well...