Distractions

“Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.”
1 Corinthians 9:11-12 NLT

There was only one priority in Paul’s life, and that was spreading the Gospel, which I’m sure he would do even if he had to sleep on the streets without food. Paul had nothing but a few possessions that he could carry with him. No “stuff”. No excess baggage. In Hebrews 12:1, we read, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us”. ‭‭It may as well have been Paul who wrote that, because his focus was on converting as many people as possible to the faith about which he was so passionate.

We now fast forward to today, in Western countries that are overburdened with possessions and swamped with information and gadgets. How much of this is an obstacle to sharing “the Good News about Christ”? Regardless of all of this, I believe that a Paul today would still be the same, sold out for Jesus and delivering His redemptive message wherever he could. When Jesus sent out the seventy-two disciples, He told them, “Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveller’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road” (Luke 10:4). Paul literally lived out this command of Jesus, but would we today?

But regardless of all our wealth (we are wealthy compared with Christians in Paul’s day), do we let it hold us back in sharing the “Good News about Christ”? What hindrances do we face in sharing our faith with others? Well, there are a few, and mostly centred on who we are. Take, for example, the fear of rejection. We worry about what people might think of us, and so we remain quiet when an opportunity to share the gospel with someone is presented. Or we might be in a bit of a hurry and think we don’t have the time to stop and talk. Perhaps we are unsure of the Gospel, or haven’t yet worked out in our minds how we could present our testimonies. Or we just can’t be bothered, too caught up with our own problems. Perhaps on this particular day, we were late getting up, didn’t have time to spend a few minutes in prayer and reading the Bible, and were feeling depressed, weighed down by our sins.

I had a coffee recently with someone I once knew thirty or so years ago, but with whom I had lost touch. He confessed to being a frustrated evangelist, never seeming to find an opportunity to share his faith. However, during the conversation, we discussed some fundamental verses in the Bible that he was unable to reconcile with the prevailing societal beliefs. Issues such as sexuality and gender, and an apparent conflict, to him, between our God of love and hell. And sadly, his mind had become confused and clouded with noise that was drowning out the simplicity of the Gospel message that “Heaven is real, hell is hot, and Jesus saves”. That simple message resonated in our lives when we found Jesus and His saving grace. We weren’t struggling to understand the lofty theological concepts found on the bookshelves of a seminary with our minds. We just knew that Jesus was the real Son of God, as the Holy Spirit revealed Him to us.

Paul was one hundred per cent focused on sharing the Gospel. His testimony was well polished and convincing. His journey in life was driven by the goal of saving as many people as possible before he died. He wrote to the Philippians, “ … But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:12b-14). The race that Paul referred to wasn’t about himself at all. Perfection was a byproduct of his character, honed by his ministry and message. And the crown before him was all that mattered.

It might be a good time for us pilgrims to review our lives, to see if there is anything getting in the way of the “Good News about Christ”. We must pray that God will reveal anything that is lurking in the deeper recesses of our minds, things that are distracting us. And we ask for His help in clearing out the dust and cobwebs. David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). It’s a dangerous prayer to pray, but it might have some dramatic results!

Dear Father God. Help us, we pray, as we bring our lives under Your penetrating gaze, and please help us not to dodge anything that bubbles to the surface. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband. I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.”
1 Corinthians 7:32-35 NLT

Was Paul correct with his advice concerning the distractions of marriage? After all, marriage is an ordained feature of human life, and in its most basic sense, it is intended to continue the human race. However, anyone reading these verses can draw several conclusions that all perhaps point to marriage being something second-best for a Christian. For example, Paul wrote that an unmarried man can spend his time being devoted to serving God. Being married just gets in the way because it comes with “earthly responsibilities” and divides the man’s interests between those of marriage and those of Christian service. Paul continued with much the same theme for a married woman, referring to her “earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband”. It is interesting also to see from Paul’s words that an unmarried woman “can be devoted to the Lord” and is “holy in body and in spirit”, something that implies that a married woman lacks the same holiness. It’s all a bit confusing at first sight and something that needs much prayer to discern what the Spirit is saying, not least to someone who is considering marriage, or is already married and wants to know how he or she could avoid “divided interests”. But we note that the main issue that concerned Paul was about distractions. He wrote, “I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible”.

As a pilgrim today, getting the right balance between the Lord’s work and our earthly lives is very important. Too many Christians are passive believers, happy to attend church on a Sunday, or even the weekly prayer meeting, but do little else to further the Gospel or do anything else that serves God. Is that a bit harsh and judgmental? Possibly, but I have no one in mind except myself. Each believer has to get before God and ask Him what He wants them to do, and then make sure that they are obedient to His call. Paul was intent on furthering the Gospel in his day and was totally sold out to God in that process. Although we are not all Pauls, God has provided each one of us with something that He can use for His service. We read the parable of the three servants in Matthew 25, and note that each of the servants was entrusted with a sum of money while their master was away on a long journey. The important point to note was that each servant was given the money “in proportion to their abilities”. What the three servants did with their money we can read in Matthew 25:16-18, “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money”. Note that Jesus made no mention of servants who were given nothing, with the implication being that all servants would have had something to invest. Elsewhere in Scripture we read “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10). We should also note that God does not expect more from what he has given us than is possible for us to give. Therefore, the servant with two bags of silver was not expected to return five bags.

So, on the premise that God has given each of us something to invest in His Kingdom, what are we doing with what He has entrusted to us? To Paul, marriage would have seriously curtailed his ability to freely roam around the Middle East on his missionary journeys, because he would have to consider his wife in all his plans. However, on the other hand, a prominent figure in Jesus’ band of disciples was Peter, who was a married man (see Matthew 8:14). We also know that Moses, one of Israel’s most outstanding leaders, was married. So, referring to Jesus’ parable of the three servants, perhaps Paul was a “five bags of silver” servant, and his diligence in investing that gift can be found both in the New Testament through his letters and in churches planted all over the Middle East. So how many “bags of silver” has God entrusted to us? We all will have at least one bag, and consequently, we need to invest it in God’s service.

Paul realised that the believers in Corinth would have been either married or not, and he set out a higher call for God’s people there, that being the importance of “serving the Lord” in the best way possible. That call is still reverberating today, counter-culturally balancing the worldly distractions that are constantly being applied to us pilgrims. We are not all called to become missionaries, heading off to a foreign land to preach the Gospel to a heathen nation. But we are called to a mission field amongst our families and friends, who desperately need to hear the Gospel.

Dear Father God. Please clarify our gifting so that we can do Your work diligently wherever You have called us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Obstacles to the Gospel

Divided Interests