The Win

By: Ken Hensley

Passage: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

When reading the Bible, pay attention to repetition. Authors, like speakers, tend to repeat things they believe are important. In this passage, one word is repeated five times: Win.

“Win” has built into it the idea of gaining or acquiring. You might remember the book by Dale Carnegie – “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” This doesn’t mean we win friends like we win a prize in a raffle drawing. We gain friends by the way we treat them.

But then Paul shifts from “win” to a very important word: Save. “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” Paul wasn’t simply trying to win people over to his point of view. He wanted them to find a saving relationship with Jesus.

This is where a supernatural partnership is formed between God and his church.

It’s the task of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Jesus (John 15:26). Just as a compass will point north, the Holy Spirit will always point to Jesus. The same should be true of Christians.

My job as a pastor is not to ask people to adopt a philosophy, live out a principle, or start a new habit. My calling is to help them put their faith and trust in a person – Jesus.

This is where the divine-human partnership comes in. If you are spiritually available to God, he will place in you a concern for the spiritual well-being of your unbelieving friends. At the same time, he is at work creating a spiritual hunger in that person.

Evangelism is like football. The goal is to advance the ball down the field and score a touchdown. But not every player will carry the ball across the goal line. My role might be to block for others. You might carry the ball five yards or catch a pass for an even bigger gain.

It is everybody’s responsibility to avoid personal fouls and penalties!

The way you move the ball in football is by taking action. In our case, evangelism is a matter of taking redemptive action.

But it’s more than just being a nice person. It’s about being God’s person to your friend.

It’s about earning the right to share the good news and trusting God to create the opportunity.

Tip for Today: What might redemptive action look like? It could involve sitting with the person no one else sits with during your lunch period. It might be shoveling the sidewalk that’s not in front of your house. Or maybe it’s taking a meal to someone just to do it and not waiting until they are in distress or recovering from an illness.

Ken Hensley is the lead pastor at Mountainview Community Church in Highlands Ranch, CO

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