When Paul was asked by a church that was struggling to live for Jesus and show His mission to the culture they lived in whether they were allowed to eat meat that had been used in pagan temple worship, he used the opportunity to help them understand why they were asking questions to avoid their real problems. Paul used the opportunity to spend time revealing their real problem. They were not motivated to live by the Gospel. Their place in culture was not about whether they could eat or drink certain things, but rather, what motivated them to go into the culture. The Gospel demanded that they engage the culture with the mission of Jesus that had saved them. In one part he tells them:

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
(1 Corinthians 9:19-23 ESV)

Many who claim to believe the Gospel live like they are bound to a certain culture (and it’s usually not even one that they enjoy).  We are not bound to an earthly culture, but the Gospel calls us to be bound to a missional culture consumed with the mission of Jesus. Many avoid the culture around them because they believe that it is sinful and misunderstand the calling that the Gospel puts on our lives. We are not saved out of the culture but rather, to become messengers of hope and reconciliation with God for the sake of those within the culture. The Gospel demands that we live the mission of Jesus in the culture.

The Gospel Demands Missional Humility (1 Corinthians 9:19)

When we call ourselves followers of Jesus we are not speaking of a standard of moral law that we have been enslaved to, but a mission in which we are graciously transformed so that we may choose to enslave ourselves, because that is the heart of Jesus. Jesus was truly free from all. But because of the great love that God loves us with, he humbled Himself under the mission to seek and save the lost and died under the penalty of our sins. Paul is enslaving himself to the revealed and obvious will of God through the revelation of Jesus.

When we set up cultures inside of the community of the church that are not blatantly missional and are more self-consumed than culturally relevant in order to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus, then our posture is not one of humility under the mission of Jesus. We must willfully become servants to the people in the culture around us. Missional humility brings about cultural humility. There is no such thing as a culture untainted by sinfulness. The culture itself does not cause or create or commit sin. People do that, and we cannot avoid people, but we must be motivated by getting the Gospel to people through the life that we live in front of and alongside them.

The Gospel Demands a Missional Mindset (1 Corinthians 9:20-22)

We must seek to bring the Gospel to the cultures around us in a way that is faithful to the Scriptures and is accessible to the culture. This is what Paul exhibited. In Jerusalem, Paul used the law and followed the law. In Athens, he preached through the culture of intellect and philosophy. In Corinth, Paul became a tentmaker and preached only the crucifixion to the pagan, blue-collar culture.

We must see ourselves as missionaries. Like Paul in Athens, we must use the tools of this culture in order to reach the people of the culture. We must form that same kind of missionary mindset by first saturating ourselves with the truth of the Gospel through God’s word in order to ensure our motives.

We must then get over our biases, prejudices, preferences, etc. that hinder the movement of the Gospel. In His sacrifice, Jesus removed the barrier between God and man, reconciling those who believe to Him. We must resist the prideful urge to erect religious and traditional barriers to the Gospel so that more may hear. We must become all things to all people that we may reach the most people. The mission compels us to live in such a way that we reach as many people as possible within our lifetime.

The Gospel Demands Missional Sacrifice (1 Corinthians 9:23)

True worship does not come without sacrifice. When we sacrifice, what we are saying is, “Jesus, you are more valuable, God your glory is more precious than these fleeting, fading, likes and dislikes.” It represents a life in which we believe that the mission of Jesus going forward into the lives of others is more satisfying and enjoyable than any cultural preference or personal barrier that I might have. That forms a missional culture that can go unhindered into the culture at large in Gospel engagement.

Belief in the Gospel brings with it a mentality that others are more important than myself. When the Spirit proceeds to work its way out of our lives through the reality of the Gospel, this causes a humble understanding that all I am is because of who Jesus is. This causes a missional mindset that brings about missional sacrifice.

The Gospel Demands a Missional Vision

The advancement of the Gospel is paramount to any other desire that I have in my life. As we strive to live this out, we will fail, and most of us will fail often. The Gospel must become our vision for living. In living the mission of Jesus we must constantly create environments in our lives to remind us that our identity, security, and success is not based on our missionary accomplishments. In doing this, we are denying the very Gospel we claim to be living for.

We must build a culture of Gospel saturation that prepares us to engage the cultures that we live in with a Gospel that we ourselves trust in. In doing this, our vision will spring from that which motivates us. We must develop a vision for our lives in which we are motivated to take the Gospel into the culture. The mission of Jesus exists to reach the people that live inside of culture. Therefore, we must live inside of that culture. We must be a culture within a culture for the sake of the culture through the hope of the Gospel.