Another god was Adonis. Now Adonis, the religion around Adonis originated in 200BC as well, and his followers believed: that he was born of a virgin; he was referred to as ‘the son of god’; and his followers believed that he died and rose again, in order to save human kind. That was Adonis.
The longest-standing god of the region was a god named Horus (what a horrible name for a god). Horus is the red-neck god of deer-hunting! Actually it is his name, Horus - and the religion that worshiped Horus originated in 1500BC; so 1500 years before Christ, this religion started.
Horus was born of a virgin named Isis, so the virgin goddess Isis gave birth to Horus - so he's the son of this virgin goddess. When he was a child, foreign kings came and brought him gifts as acts of worship. Horus eventually dies, and rose from the dead, in order to conquer death and bring life to his followers. That is Horus.
Then of course you had Julius Caesar, who died in 17BC - and 12 witnesses saw a strange star in the sky, which they said was him “ascending to the right hand of the bigger gods”.
So Paul comes into Corinth, and he calls a town meeting, saying: come, I have something to tell you about my faith. Paul comes into Corinth, and he breaks out a 19-page doctrinal statement; and he says:
Hey listen, I serve a man. His name is Jesus, and He was actually God in the flesh, and here's how I know He was God in the flesh: He was born of a virgin, He was worshiped by shepherds; there was a strange star in the sky, which substantiated His birth. He actually was killed by being hung on a cross - but don't worry about that, He rose from the dead, and that conquered death, and gave life to all His followers - His name's Jesus.
The people in Corinth in first Century would be like: that is so cool - us too! Hey, we serve Mithra - that happened to him too. We serve Addis - that sounds like him too. We served Horus - that happened to him as well.
So your God was born of a virgin, your God put flesh on, and was born of a virgin; there was a strange star in the sky that substantiated it; foreign kings bringing gifts. He was hung on a tree; and He died, and rose from the dead, in order to bring life instead of death for everyone who follows Him. You're kidding me - us too!
So Paul says that “his strategy changed in Corinth”, and instead of making fine-sounding arguments that Jesus was the Christ - he didn't do that at all. Actually, what he did was, he demonstrated what Jesus' life looked like, by living it out; and then that gave him the credibility to announce that the kingdom of God was at hand.
The same thing is true with us! Now this strategy was familiar to Jesus as well. Look at Luke 10. To demonstrate the power of God, within the disposition of messiah, gives us the credibility to speak life into whatever situation we want to speak into.
We have moved away from that, as a culture, and as a church. Most churches do not: demonstrate, then announce; we announce, and then hope demonstration comes.
Luke 10:6, Jesus is talking, so this is red letters; and Jesus is a Hebrew rabbi, talking to major followers of Him. He's talking to key leadership in His movement.
Now follow me here, because there's stuff here we have to wrestle with; and before I even read it, I'm going to tell you: I don't know the answer to some of it - and that's okay. I'm so glad that I serve a God that I can't figure out all the answers about Him, because if I served a God that I knew all the answers about Him, I'd be scared that I had chosen the wrong one.
Luke 10:6-8 says: “after this, the Lord appointed 72 others to go ahead of Him” - to pave the way. He gave them some instructions, and this is what He says: “When you come into a town and are welcomed, eat whatever is placed before you, heal the sick there, and then announce that this is the kingdom of God”.
Can you believe that? Jesus Christ, the Hebrew rabbi Jesus Christ, is telling His followers: when you go to spread this message of the kingdom of God, this is how you do it: go into a place, eat - listen to this instruction: eat whatever is placed before you. Now how revolutionary is that? He's telling a bunch of Jews, that when you go into a Gentiles house, you are free to eat whatever is placed before you.