THREE QUESTIONS TO ASK
1 Corinthians 10:23-33
Introduction: How do you govern your life as a Christian? How do you know what you should or should not say or do? Daily you and I are faced with choices that we have to make as believers; choices that will impact our lives, our relationship with Christ and those around us. Whenever it comes to making a decision I believe there are three questions we must ask and answer for ourselves. Is it moral? Is it legal? Is it ethical?
I. Is it Moral?
A. Moral Principles and Rules are standards of right and wrong based on core values. These moral values can come from a number of sources including society, family, and peers.
B. The problem is that we live in a fallen world that has had its values warped by the depraved hearts of sinful mankind.
1. Ecclesiastes 5:1 “Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.”
2. Job 24:13 “There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways nor abide in its paths.”
3. Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
• Every imagination - the whole imagination: the Hebrew word signifies not only the imagination, but also the purposes and desires, continually: Heb. every day
4. The reality of this is seen in the fact that two-fifths of self-identified Christians say do anything you want, just don’t hurt anyone. - Community Impact Seminar, Focus on the Family
5. It is no wonder that in 15 years of asking high school students throughout America whether, in an emergency situation, they would save their dog or a stranger first, most students have answered that they would not save the stranger. "I love my dog, I don’t love the stranger”, they always say. The feeling of love has supplanted God or religious principle as the moral guide for young people. What is right has been redefined in terms of what an individual feels. - Dennis Prager in Good News, July/Aug., 1993, Christianity Today, Oct 25, 1993, p. 73
C. True morality is based on the Character of a Holy and Righteous God. There is no standard of goodness apart from God.
D. God’s holy and perfect nature supplies the absolute standard against which all actions and decisions are to be measured.
E. God’s moral attributes include:
1. Love – 1 John 4:8 “…God is love”
2. Holiness – 1 Peter 1:16 “Be holy, for I am holy.”
3. Mercy – Psalm 103:8 “The LORD is merciful and gracious”
4. Goodness – Psalm 52:1 “The goodness of God endures continually”
5. Gentleness – Psalm 18:35 “Your gentleness has made me great”
6. Truth & Justice – Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.”
F. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
II. Is it Legal?
A. Laws are a codified declaration and guideline of morality.
B. Has God given us an express command to obey, something we are to do or a act we are to avoid?
C. There is among Christians today an antinomian philosophy that holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation. Their pet expressions for their actions are “I am not under the law; I’m under grace!” and “That’s the Old Testament” They quote:
• Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
D. Understand that God is immutable – that is He is unchangeable.
E. Malachi 3:6 “For I [am] the LORD, I do not change…”
F. James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
G. God’s moral nature is articulated to us in the form of divine commands. They are an expression of his perfect goodness.
1. i.e. God is Truth – Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” and Colossians 3:9 “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.”
2. i.e. God is Gentle – Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.” and Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”
H. Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
I. Though my eternal destiny is not based on the keeping of God’s law, I am saved by grace through faith alone, my life as a child of God ought to reflect the moral nature of the Holy Spirit that dwells within me.
J. John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
III. Is it Ethical?
A. Ethics are codes expected behavior that applies in the absence of laws.
B. Ethics must be consistent with the moral principles of God’s but entail knowing what to do when a situation presents more than one right answer.
C. There are times that we have express commandments that can give us direction for our behavior. At times there are no clear commandments. Things are not always black or white but seem to fall into that grey area.
D. Ethical Dilemmas occur when you are faced with two choices that a person can make; with either choice it is likely that someone will get hurt. It might be you, a family member, a brother or sister in Christ, an unsaved friend, the church, or the gospel of Christ.
E. You feel like you are between a rock and a hard place. It is not a situation where you are not sure what is right or wrong but what is more right or more wrong.
F. God’s Word can still provide guidance
G. 1 Corinthians 10: 23-24 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient (profitable, bring together): all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not (do not build up). Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.”
1. Does this activity built myself or another believer up? Does this activity bring glory to God? Could what I am doing give Christ or the church a bad name?
2. As we are ambassadors and representatives of Christ, everything we do will be seen by others as a reflection of Christ and will bring either glory to Christ or criticism of Him, the Church and body of Christ.
H. 1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful unto me , but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power (enslaved by, addicted to, brought under the control) of any.”
1. Though it may be lawful for me, will this activity keep me from growing spiritually or doing this that God wants me to be doing.
2. Is it controlling my time, talent, or treasure?
I. Romans 14:7, 13-17 “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself… Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.”
1. Could my actions hinder the growth of a fellow believer? Could I cause another brother to stumble? Could I keep someone from coming to Christ?
2. Zacchaeus could not see Jesus for the press, we are told. The crowd was in the way. They were between him and Jesus and he was not tall enough to see over them. Their bodies obstructed his view and prevented him from seeing Jesus. I wonder if the same thing is not true today, if some who claim to know Christ are not in the way of others’ seeing Him? Our bodies may not keep anybody from seeing Jesus, but our lives can and sometimes do. People cannot see Jesus because our lives are in the way. When you hear a person of the world say, "If that is Christianity, I don’t want it," some professed Christian’s life has come between that person and the Saviour. Is your life and mine a stumbling block that keeps someone else from Christ? A blind man went about with a lantern on his arm. Someone asked him why he carried the lantern in as much as he was blind. He replied, "To keep other people from stumbling over me." That is something to think about.—The Gospel Herald.
