You Don’t Have to Eat the Worm

1 Corinthians 9:19-27

¹⁹ For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ 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. ²² 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. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Whenever I read these words I think of a story told by Bishop Joseph Garlington at a worship conference back in the late 1980s. He was describing the “worship wars” that were being waged during that time and referenced an older woman from his congregation who enabled him to teach a valuable lesson. She was complaining about the “modern” music being used during the worship time and wanted it to stop immediately. For her, it was the worst thing to happen in worship for a long time. So, Bishop Garlington used this analogy to help clarify why the church was using this music.

He told her about going fishing with his dad when he was a kid. They would sit in the boat and after placing a worm on the line, cast it out into the water. Eventually, they would catch a fish and feel successful having caught their lunch. “But”, he said, “even though we did catch fish, I never had to eat the worm. You see, fish don’t like cheeseburgers. They like worms. So I used worms as bait, not cheeseburgers. Even though I don’t like worms, I knew what would bring success. You may not like this ‘modern’ music, but it is what the non-churched people enjoy, and so we will use what works to bring them in so that they might hear the Gospel.”

Paul speaks in the same terms, albeit less graphically! He speaks the language of the people he is trying to win for the Kingdom. If that be Jews, he would lean into his Jewish heritage. If it were Gentiles, he would lean into his Roman ancestry. He would set aside his own preferences for the sake of the people he was speaking to and if that meant some of his rights were trampled, oh well.

In a culture that seems to be bent on protecting the rights of every individual to never be offended or challenged in any way, this is a revolutionary idea. Imagine setting aside your own needs (or more commonly wants) to improve your ability to connect with someone else for the sake of the Gospel. That’s almost antithetical to who we have become today. I wonder how Paul would react to our sensibilities. He probably wouldn’t be impressed.

But that begs the question for each of us. What would we be willing to sacrifice, even for just a short time, in order to increase the effectiveness of our witness? An eternity at the feet of Jesus is worth it, as Paul spells out for us here.