“Chameleons for Christ”        Dr. Julie Adkins

Text:  1 Corinthians 9:16-23                 

 

SERMON

Last week, as you may recall,

            we talked about how Paul addressed the issue of

                        what is and isn’t proper for Christians to eat,

            not by making a set of rules,

            but by reminding the Corinthians that the most important thing is

                        how what we do affects other people.

That it’s not about what’s permissible for me,

            or what you are allowed to do,

                        but about what is the best for us.

This week,

            we hear Paul talking about that in a different way,

                        and describing how he gives up some of his own freedom

                     in order to tell the story of Jesus Christ to those who haven’t heard.

“Though I am free with respect to all,” says Paul …

            in other words, even though in Christ

                        I am free to do whatever pleases God and me,

                                    regardless of what other people think …

“though I am free with respect to all,

            I have made myself a slave to all,

                        so that I might win more of them.

“To the Jews I became as a Jew …

            To those under the law I became as one under the law …

                        To the weak I became weak …

“I have become all things to all people,

            that I might by all means save some.”

Paul alters himself

            to fit in with the group that he’s with,

                        so that he can present the gospel

                        in a way that makes sense to them.

  

Now, in our own day and time and context,

            that kind of changeableness and flexibility

                        are not always perceived to be a virtue!

If we say of a politician, for example,

            that he or she is “trying to be all things to all people,”

                        we don’t mean that as a compliment!

We mean that he or she is wishy-washy …

            says one thing to one group,

                        and the opposite thing to a different group,

            depending on what each one wants to hear.

If we describe a person we know as a “chameleon,”

            we are generally implying that

                        this person is so afraid of standing out

            that he or she adapts completely

                        to whatever environment they find themselves in,

            and we don’t mean that as a compliment either!

  

But what Paul is describing,

            and what I’m talking about in this strangely-titled sermon,

                        is a little different from all that.

Because what we somehow have to do

            when we have the opportunity to present the gospel to others,

                        is to keep the inner message in all its integrity,

                        and simply put different clothing on it,

                                    depending on who our hearers are.

That’s one reason I chose to stick with

            the image of the chameleon,

                        in spite of its negative connotations …

            because what a chameleon does

                        is change outwardly, not inwardly.

You put it down on a brown background

            and it turns brown,

                        but if you put it down in a herd of cows,

                                    it doesn’t become a cow!

It maintains its own clear identity

            while changing its outward appearance.

And that is what Paul – and I –

            are getting at, with the idea of

                        being “all things to all people.”

Not that we are fickle,

            “blown about by every wind of doctrine …”

not that we are workaholics

            trying to do everything for everyone …

not that we be something or someone that we are not.

But that we try to reach all people

            with the story of Christ,

                        in a way that they can understand it.

  

If you think about it,

            that’s what translators do,

                        when they are trying to turn ancient Greek and Hebrew

                                    into languages modern-day people can understand.

Let me give you an example that’s kind of silly,

            but which is just like the kinds of things

                        that folks like the Wycliffe Bible Translators have to deal with.

Are you all at least somewhat familiar with Star Trek?

Well, believe it or not,

            there has been a group hard at work for several years

                        translating the New Testament into Klingon.

And if you know anything at all about the Klingons,

            you know they stand in desperate need of the gospel …

Anyway, a dispute has arisen over the feeding of the five thousand,

            and how you translate the notion of “five loaves and two fish.”

Klingons don’t eat grain foods, or food from the sea

            (in fact, I don’t even know if their home planet has a sea!)

The question is,

            do you make up words that convey the literal sense

                        of the original language, as one group of translators insists:

                               “We have only five ‘grain foods’ and two ‘water animals.’”?

Or do you try to convey the sense that, for the people in the story,

            these were everyday kinds of food,

                        and so you use the names of everyday Klingon food:

                                    “We have only five blood pies and two serpent worms”?

How do you make a story make sense

            to people who have never heard the story before?

  

Well, Paul didn’t have a language difficulty …

but he did have to deal with different religious backgrounds

            and different cultural backgrounds

                        when he talked to various groups of people.

So he becomes as a Jew to the Jews;

            that is, he shows them that Jesus comes as the fulfillment

                    of the promises made in the Hebrew scriptures, our Old Testament.

He becomes as one under the law to those under the law;

            that is, he shows how Christ’s teachings

                        include, and fulfill, and surpass the law.

Paul becomes as one not under the law to those not under the law …

            perhaps the best example of this is

                        his speech at the Acropolis in Athens,

            where he demonstrates a clear knowledge of Greek religion,

            and shows them how God in Christ has come to them,

                        in fulfillment of what many of their wisest teachers have taught.

Nowhere in all of this does Paul “water down” the gospel,

            or preach anything less than the truth.

He simply starts with what each groups knows and understands,

            and then moves them from there

                        to greater knowledge and deeper understanding.

  

Now, we often do this sort of thing quite naturally,

            without even realizing that we’re doing it.

For instance, if a five-year-old asked you

            “Tell me something about Jesus,”

                        you would probably answer that very differently

                        than if someone your own age

                                    asked you the very same thing.

If I were preaching this sermon

            at Perkins School of Theology,

                        I would spin it a little differently.

For one thing, I could assume that everyone there

            either was or was going to be a religious professional,

                        and so I’d come at it from a slightly different angle.

I could also assume a shared vocabulary of theological jargon,

            so I might sometimes use different words.

Whereas here,

            if I came in and said,

            “Today I’m going to talk about Paul’s hermeneutical evangelistic method,”

                        you’d probably all tune me out,

                                    as well you should!

We talk about our church differently among ourselves

            than we do with members of other churches,

            and differently with them

                        than we would with people who don’t go to church at all.

  

We are all chameleons;

            we are all able to adapt.

And what Paul suggests that he does,

            and what I am suggesting that we do,

                        is to use that skill for the sake of the gospel.

If I were going to talk to a doctor, for instance, about God,

            I would focus on two things:

                        first, on how amazing our bodies are,

                                    and what a miracle it is that any of us turn out all right,

                                    considering the billions of things that could go wrong;

                        second, how clear it is

                                    that we are not just a body,

                                    but that we have a mind, and a spirit,

                                    that cannot be explained in any physical or organic way.

  

If I were talking to a scientist or a mathematician,

            I would emphasize how complex the universe is,

                        but how it boils down to understandable equations,

            and how to me that shows

                        that there is an incredibly creative mind behind it all.

  

If I were speaking with someone who was sad or grieving,

            I would read from the psalms,

                        about how God stays close even in our sadness,

            and from the prophets,

                        about God’s grief over us,

            and from the gospels,

                        about how much God loves us,

                     and how Jesus came to save us from death and sadness and crying.

  

Whoever we talk to,

            we need to be sure we tell the story

                        of why Jesus Christ matters to them.

We have to take the message where people are,

            and show them why it matters right then and there.

  

There’s a story told

            of a righteous person who died and went to heaven,

            and when he got there, there was no question about it:

                        the pearly gates swung open wide,

                        and St. Peter ushered him in, showed him around,

                                    got him settled in, etc.

But the man had only been there a couple of days

            when he started to get lonely.

So he went looking for St. Peter, and asked him,

            “Where is everyone?

              I know I can’t be the only person in heaven …

                        where’s the Holy Family, Mary and Joseph?

              Where are all the saints?”

“Oh,” said St. Peter, “they were here;

            you can go join them if you want to.

            They’re in hell, preaching to the damned.”

  

They became as ones condemned

            in order to reach those who were condemned.

Paul became weak

            so that he might win the weak.

Sometimes we need to become as if we were an unbeliever,

            in order to reach those who do not believe,

                        or do not know what to believe,

                        or simply do not know.

We exercise God’s own creativity;

            we change ourselves outwardly

                        to reach and to teach those different from us.

  

It takes some practice;

            and a lot of guidance from God,

                        but it’s really not very hard.

You don’t need acting lessons,

            and you don’t even have to be particularly outgoing or extroverted,

                        and you sure don’t need to be eloquent.

 

All you need is God’s love and God’s word,

            and a real desire to share them.

God will send you the people who need to hear,

            and the words you need to say.

With God’s help,

            we can be “all things to all people,”

            without compromising who we are to begin with.

We can be chameleons for Christ,

            who change our outward color

                        without changing our inner self.

  

This is a gift from God.

Let it also be our gift to God.

Amen.

 

© 2003 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)