All Things to All People: Thinking Christian about Adaptability and U. S. Politics

The world is becoming increasingly proficient at telling stories that deny God. As such, we need thinking Christian to become as natural as breathing. Welcome to the Thinking Christian podcast. I'm Dr. James Spencer. Through calm, thoughtful theological discussions, Thinking Christian highlights the ways God is working in the world and questions the underlying social, cultural, and political assumptions that hinder Christians from becoming more like Christ. Now, on to today's episode of Thinking Christian. Hey, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Thinking Christian. Today, I want to talk a little bit about 1 Corinthians 9, and I want to kind of situate this within the context of U.S. politics. U.S. politics has become something that is relatively prominent in our thought life, in the news media, in a variety of different settings. And I think it is influencing Christians in some difficult ways. What I would argue is that many times what's happening with Christians in politics, just before we get into 1 Corinthians 9, is that we have succumbed to what Robert Bella calls American civil religion. American civil religion is a borrowing of Christian terms and symbols, and this is a selective borrowing. It's not a full-fledged borrowing. They don't bring Christ over, for instance. There's no sense in which American citizenship is dependent on one's acceptance of Jesus as Lord, for instance. But many of the values that are abstracted from their theological context and just made to be morals, and I think that's an important distinction to make, are when Christians think about morals, when Christians think about a moral life, we think of that as emanating from our deep and abiding convictions regarding God. Those are not personal convictions. Those are actually opinions that we hold. I'm sorry, they're not opinions at all. These are convictions that we hold that we do not view as opinions. They are convictions about what we believe the reality of the world actually is. We proclaim those publicly, and part of the way that we proclaim those publicly is in the way that we operate in the world, the way we act in the world, the way we participate in different things. And so we will be constrained from acting in various different ways simply because our theological convictions lead us to the conclusion that to act in specific ways is inappropriate. We're not, for instance, just to use sort of an innocuous example, revilers. The Bible speaks against reviling, against sort of blaspheming others, against speaking poorly of others, slandering others. These are things that are not commensurate with the Christian faith and with the theological convictions that we hold. And so Christians, by and large, try not to practice those. Now, that does not mean that Christians are perfect at not doing it. There are many times, I'm sure, when Christians have done it, and that's a problem. But thankfully, we have sort of a built-in mechanism, confession, repentance of sin, that is actually a mark of the Christian community. So as we confess, what we're doing is we're leaning into our convictions that the truth actually matters, that reality matters. And as we agree with God that we have done something wrong and commit to repenting of that behavior, turning and doing something different, we're actually agreeing with God, and that's why confession is a mark of the Christian community. So civil religion, as Robert Bella describes it, is an incorporation by the U.S. government or by the U.S. governing authorities, not like sort of the superstructure or what have you, but by the United States more generally, is that these symbols, language, and selected biblical texts are incorporated into our corporate life. And so what we begin to see with the merger of Christians and politics, and I promise I'm going to get to 1 Corinthians 9, what we begin to see with Christians and politics is that, as Bella describes it, these symbols, the language, the different biblical texts are incorporated into the history of the United States, into this American civil religion, but they're done so in a way so that they're not anti-Christian. They are done so that they are incorporated in a way that Christians won't really even notice, that the normal lay people in America won't even notice. That, to me, is scarier than an opposition, that something be openly antagonistic to Christianity. I think that what it has done in America, it has merged or blurred the distinction between the church and the state. And so when we speak about something like the Christian nation, I think generally what most of us have in mind when we say that is not that there was a time in which all Americans were committed to Jesus Christ or that the American government was saying that, you know, if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, you can't be a part of this country. I don't think that's what we're saying when we say Christian nation. I think what we're saying when we say Christian nation is that there was, at one point, fairly early in American history, a Protestant majority. And that Protestant majority created a generalized set of principles that emerged from their understanding of the Bible, their desire to see the society structured in a particular way. And that creation is what we often refer to as Christian. Now, I would argue that that isn't exactly Christian, that in labeling something Christian like our nation, I think we're putting an undue burden on our nation when we label it Christian. I think that only God's people should be the ones to bear God's name. And so calling the nation Christian is problematic because it cannot stand up to, it cannot hold up. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free Retirement Defense Guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. God's name, it can't hope without the Holy Spirit, without the renewed hearts that we have that Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27 talks about. It has no hope, actually, of representing God well. And so I have a little trouble applying the word Christian to nation. What I would prefer to say is that we had a Christian consensus at one point and that there was a broad general sense about the morals that all of us would adhere to within a free society and that those morals are what we're really lacking today and we should be trying to jockey our way sort of back there through the governmental apparatus that we have at our disposal rather than saying we need to return to Christianity. Returning to Christianity is problematic because, obviously, only those who are united with Christ are actually Christian. So I say all that to talk a little bit about 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul speaks of being all things to all people that he might save some in relation to what I think Christians need to be thinking about with regard to their participation in politics. So here we go. I'll just begin by saying, you know, Christian participation in politics should not be so driven by the issue that we become incapable of adapting to become all things to all people that we might save some. So as the Apostle Paul interacts with various groups inside and outside the community of faith, he adjusts the way that he relates to those he's addressing. Paul doesn't compromise his convictions or scratch the, you know, sort of, doesn't tickle ears, as we see in 2 Timothy 4.3. He's not interested in just placating his audience, but what he's doing is he's modifying his message. He's presenting it in such a way. He's morphing and moving and conveying this complex truth of the gospel. He's picking the pieces up that he knows will resonate with his audience and he's providing them with that. And so what he's doing is he's trying not to offend them by picking up certain rights and he's trying to convey the message in a way that would actually speak to them. So he's speaking their language. And he doesn't convey the truth without considering how that speech and his actions ultimately are going to be received. And so what we see is that Paul's adaptability does not preclude challenging language. So Galatians 3.1-6 or 5.12, Paul speaks really harshly.

against heretics, those who are blatantly trying to distort the gospel. Not those who are simply unsaved, but those who are claiming to be saved or claiming that salvation comes via another way. He is pretty harsh against them. So this notion that Paul is just sort of wishy-washy and has no conviction and that his all things to all people thing is a little bit too willy-nilly for us is just not true. I think we can be both. We can be adaptable when we need to be adaptable. We can be firm when we need to be firm. Actually, being firm is part of being adaptable. We need to understand where we need to push back and be harder on things as opposed to allowing people to drive us or to adapt to them in the way that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 9. So he's not always gentle. Being all things to all people isn't about being nice or agreeable. It's about learning to proclaim the truth in word and in deed. And it's about learning to proclaim the truth in ways that others will understand and which with they'll resonate. We want people to know that God is in control, that God is behind the gospel, that God is the ultimate reality we want them pointing to. And so it isn't just about being nice or agreeable, but it is about helping them and reading the room, so to speak. It's about understanding who we're talking to and trying to craft our message in such a way that they'll hear it. So for better or worse, our room is a bit bigger than Paul's as we have mass communication systems that really outpace handwritten letters copied and read orally to local congregations. I mean, it outpaces even just the casual conversations that Paul seems to have with, let's say, the men of Athens in Acts 17. To some degree, it just may be wise for Christians to start looking at how do we make our rooms a little smaller? Because when we speak, particularly when we speak online, when I do a podcast like this, I could potentially be speaking to people that I don't know and I have no real way of adapting this message to my audience. And so because there's not a specific audience in mind, obviously, the podcast is aimed toward Christians, but I can't anticipate whether a non-Christian is going to dip in and listen to this. And so I can't adapt my message to them. It's going to be frozen in time. Once it's recorded, it's recorded. I can't really do anything else to adapt to it. And so as we think about this, there is an aspect of it where we really do need to think about making our rooms a little smaller. We need to be thinking about how we communicate more publicly. And we need to make sure that as we're doing that, that we're not being too harsh, that we're not being too generalizing in the way that we treat these issues. We have to be sufficiently nuanced so that the Bible speaks through us. The Bible actually has a fair degree of nuance. I mean, yes, it's also very cut and dry about the way you're saved and what is required of us, but there's a fair degree of openness and nuance and flexibility within Scripture that we need to bring out in our conversations. Now, I do think that when we think about, you know, what does it look like for us to, I don't know, make our rooms a bit smaller? One of the stories that I read in this past year was in the Rolling Stones and a gentleman named Tim Dickinson wrote this article and he highlights the comments of Pastor Hank Kuhnman and his objections to Vivek Ramaswamy, who was previously running for the Republican nomination. He's a practicing Hindu. And Dickinson says that Kuhnman notes, quote, if he, Ramaswamy, or presumably other candidates, I suppose, does not serve the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have a fight with God. He also goes on to say, quote, the pastor's, Kuhnman's remarks. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. This is Dickinson speaking. The pastor's, Kuhnman's remarks underscore the challenges faced by non-Christian candidates seeking the nomination of a party whose base is rife with evangelicals conservatives. And then he goes on to note that, quote, the reactionary goal of large numbers of Republican Christians is the imposition of a Christian faith and fundamentalist biblical strictures on a country they see as seduced by secularism, end quote. Now, I think there's a real challenge here because if the litmus test is going to be that someone has to claim to be Christian to run for president and for evangelicals to vote for them, that could be very problematic for us. Claiming to be Christian obviously doesn't mean that you're Christian. There are plenty of instances in scripture where we see that those who call upon the name of the Lord never actually knew the Lord. We see that people are not demonstrating the sort of behavior that suggests that they are actually part of our community. And so while it'd be easy and in some cases correct to blame the, quote, liberal media for mischaracterizations of Christians and Christianity, there's also a very real sense in which we as Christians have been guilty of refusing to read the room. And with the rise of mass and social media, the shift to 24-hour cable news, the data mining and research efforts making correlations between voter trends and religious affiliation apparent, the sort of adaptability that allowed Paul to be all things to all people has become more challenging. Once communication went global, reading the room and adjusting to one's audience was virtually impossible, particularly when addressing issues in the context of U.S. politics, which have become less trusted in recent years. So taking a political stand as Christians may at some point be appropriate and necessary. However, if the church and the state begin to align more closely or presumedly as Christianity is perceived to have beneficial ties to the state, it may be less than conducive to the growth of the church. This is in part why I think American civil religion is problematic and reduces our adaptability because American civil religion is fundamentally less adaptable in a sense than Christianity. Christianity is focused on pointing to and glorifying the triune God. And in that focus, we have plenty of adaptability to craft a message and point to God, knowing that as long as we don't get in the way ourselves, that people will still be offended by the gospel. But our goal, really, in being adaptable, and I think what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 9, is that what he's trying to do is he's trying to make sure that he is not the obstacle. His opinions are not the obstacle. His rights are not the obstacle to getting people to come to Christ. And so I think it's just really crucial that we recognize that to the extent that Christianity becomes blurred with American civil religion, where we're not really seeing a distinctive church, we're probably going to have issues. So in a polarized context where the world, or at least a much larger part of it, is looking on, Christians just need to prioritize what it means to be all things to all people so that we might save some as we determine, A, what aspects of the truth to proclaim, and B, how to go about proclaiming it. You know, I say that, and I just want to clarify, what aspect of the truth are we proclaiming? We're always proclaiming some aspect of the truth. I am not suggesting that we, you know, be selective, that we never, that we compromise a conviction. What I'm saying is that every time we open our mouths, we decide what to talk about. Even in this podcast, you know, like I've said, I'm looking and really investigating sort of in a more conceptual way 1 Corinthians 9 and what Paul's claim is to be all things to all people that he might save some. That means that I'm not automatically addressing Matthew 1 or 1 Chronicles 2 or, you know, any other biblical passage. I'm considering 1 Corinthians 9. That's a selection. It's an aspect of the truth that I am now going to talk about. And we do that all the time. And so when some people hear that, they'll hear me saying, oh, he's saying we shouldn't address the hard things. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that what we need to do is make sure that we understand and have thought through and discerned very, very well how these messages are going to impact the

believers around us. How is it that these messages are going to lead someone to Christ? What does that look like? Now, in saying that, I'm not suggesting also that there is some strategy that we can follow, that there's some magic words that we can speak that will automatically bring people to Jesus. We know that's not how it works. But we do know, and we see evidence in the New Testament of the fact that we can cause the Lord's name to be reviled. We see this in 1 Timothy 6:1. We see it in Titus 2:5. And so we have to be careful. We have to think through what it means, what aspect of the truth is appropriate in this situation, and how do we go about proclaiming it. I think those are appropriate questions for Christians to ask, though I also think there are a range of answers to those questions depending on an individual Christian's context, their convictions, their general disposition. There are certain things that are going to be very easy for me to talk about, whereas other things I wouldn't really touch with a 10-foot pole. And so I think it's just extremely important for us to ask some of those questions so that when we speak, we speak with a demeanor and a decorum that is winsome, but not winsome in a way that hides the truth. It is winsome in a way that uses these aspects of the gospel, these important truths of the gospel, the theological convictions to which we're committed. It presents those to an audience that has a high degree of possibility of hearing them. So I think when individual Christians feel the urge to express their political views online, we should, you know, this is just a good for instance, if we think about what it looks like for maybe the question we need to ask ourselves is, what does it mean for us to be all things to all people in a digital age, in an age where many of our thoughts and questions and comments are going to be put out to an audience that is highly mixed and that doesn't really fully necessarily, we don't fully understand. And so when individual Christians feel the urge to, for instance, express their political views online, I would argue that they need to ask themselves how doing so may be equivalent to being a Jew to the Greeks. In other words, when Paul looks at this, he's saying, I'm a Jew to the Jew and I'm a Greek to a Greek. And I think sometimes when we are putting our information out online, when we're speaking about our theological convictions to a broad... Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And then you're finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free Retirement Defense Guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. ...to audience. What we're really doing is we're losing the ability to be all things to all people. We're abandoning it. We're setting it aside. And oftentimes we're setting it aside because we're trying to, I think in my best moment, when I post online and maybe when you do too, I think what we're trying to do is we're trying to get likes. We're trying to drive traffic. Maybe in our best moments, we are trying to convey some sort of truth to the world. But in doing that, we are neglecting the idea that we're speaking as, quote, a Jew, and we're doing, we're speaking to a Jew to Greeks. And so there's a sense in which we're surrendering our adaptability in order to just complete blunt force trauma sort of truth out to people. So we need to ask ourselves, you know, are we speaking a language that other people can really understand? We shouldn't shy away from proclaiming the gospel, conveying truth in ways that will push non-Christians to consider Christ. I don't think that's what we're supposed to be doing. I think we see that in Acts 17 where Paul is talking to the people of Athens and he says, look, I see that you're spiritual in every way, but let me tell you that this God that you're worshiping of whom you do not know, I know him. And so Paul's not shy, but he doesn't also disrespect them. He doesn't call them idolaters. He calls them, you know, spiritual in every way. And let me tell you, this God that you're worshiping as the unknown God, I know him. And so we need to take care that we are thinking through how to use our language in that way. That's part of being adaptive. That's part of what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 9. As Christians, we also need to consider seriously the responsibility we have to, quote, give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, end quote, because we don't seek our own advantage. We want many to be saved. And that's 1 Corinthians 10.33. I think just as we look at what we're doing as we're communicating, as we're thinking through these things, do we have a right to do it? Of course we do. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul doesn't deny his own rights. What he's saying is, I voluntarily set them aside for the advancement of the gospel. I recognize that at some point, exercising my rights, these God-given rights, these rights that the government gives me, these rights, you know, wherever they come from, at times, it's appropriate for me to exercise those rights to advance the mission that I've been given. At other times, it doesn't make any sense for me to do so. It's actually a hindrance to the mission I've been given. And so Paul sets those rights aside. And I think, you know, at the end, if we're going to embrace being all things to all people, you know, I have my doubts that Christians will be able to advocate for one candidate or party without offending some of those who advocate for an opposing candidate or party. I think politics is, particularly these days, is binary. And it's difficult to express convictions about one candidate or party versus another and not offend someone. And so my question is, why do we need to do that? Why is it that we need to do it in the way that we've always done it? You know, we may find that discussions of policy may be similarly polarizing. And so let's not talk policy. Let's talk theology. Let's let Christ be the stumbling stone. You know, at the very least, I think if I'm going to walk away from a conversation and somebody is going to reject the message that I've just given them, I would much prefer that message be Christ than it be some sort of conservative position that I'm advocating for or some leftist position that I'm advocating for. Like those are going to be polarizing. We're going to offend people. And I just think we're offending them with the wrong thing. Let's speak the gospel. I think, you know, thankfully, the truth is sufficiently disruptive without us giving reason for offense. It's not that we ignore political issues or live in fear of triggering those who may disagree with us. But the political issues become secondary to the eternal life of our neighbors. And so the gospel needs to be the leading way that we offend others. We need to be sharing Christ and let Christ be the one who is the reason for the offense. You know, there's a number of other legitimate reasons to engage in politics. And I don't want to deny any of those. However, none of those legitimate reasons overshadow our fundamental mission of making disciples of all nations. And as such, it's not that Christian participation in politics is precluded so much as that participation is governed by the broader mission of the church. The church must continue to proclaim the truth in word and deed, even if that means stepping away from political discussions to proclaim the truth in different ways and in different realms. And so as Christians, we happen to live in the United States at this time. We need to reckon with how to be a people for such a time as this, as Esther 4.14 says. And I think we do that by proclaiming the truth as we seek to be all things to all people so that we might save some. I think Paul's lesson of adaptability in 1 Corinthians 9 is still extremely important to us today. I think it's more complex to pull off. I think we have, by and large, sort of given ourselves away in mass media from being adaptive. Even again, in giving this podcast, I'm anticipating that many of you will hear this message and that you're Christians and that you'll share a sufficient number of convictions with me. I'm not trying to speak to unbelievers right now. If I were, I would probably emphasize very different things. But this is what we give up in these sort of media. And so we have to be careful about how we're using these media, when we're using these media, and count the cost at the very least of conveying this information more broadly so that others can hear it and may not understand it. I think where I'd like to get us back to focusing on, despite the fact that I'm running a podcast right now, is how is it that we engage individuals on a...

individual level. How is it that we address people being all things to all people? How is it that we go about doing that in our day-to-day lives? What does it look like for us to maybe listen to a podcast, watch what's on social media, listen to the news, what have you, but ultimately to come back and realize that we're not talking to avatars or representatives of a particular party or position. We're talking to individuals, and these individuals have brokenness. They have disappointments. They have unique perspectives that have been drawn from experience. They have wrong ideas that need to be corrected. And that's only going to happen, not through sound bites, not through the normal little, you know, pithy remarks that we see all over the place. It's only going to happen in the relationship that they have with individual Christians who are wise enough to be all things to all people that they might save some. So my encouragement to you today is, look, be all things to all people that you might save some. Paul's adaptability in 1 Corinthians 9 is still an extremely important lesson to us today, and we need to develop that sort of adaptability where we're not surrendering our Christian convictions, but we're wise enough to understand that not every time that we're talking to somebody, we can quote the same chapter and verse and get the same effect. We need to be crafting our message for our audience. We need to be reading the room and we need to have the sort of adaptability that Paul demonstrates in this crucial passage in 1 Corinthians 9. Thanks, everybody, for listening. I'll join you on the next episode of Thinking Christian. I just want to take a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the Thinking Christian podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. Hi, friend. Are you stressed, maybe even worried about so many needs around you that you've forgotten you are worth taking care of too? Well, I'm Bonnie Gray, the host of Breathe, the stressless podcast. I want to invite you to join me as I share practical tips based on science, inspired by God's word to help you spark joy and restore God's peace and love to your soul. Subscribe now and go to lifeaudio.com.