Living in Shades of Gray
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
I like black and white. No, not the racial thing, but questions that have yes or no answers, those questions that are either right or wrong. It makes life simpler, and Lord knows, I could use a simpler life. The Bible is really good at that in some respects, like with adultery. The Bible doesn’t leave much room with adultery. Adultery is sin. You know, one of the big ten and all, and we could go on down the list: murder, covetousness, stealing. The Bible is pretty clear on things that are right, too. Things like honoring God, honoring our parents, honoring the Sabbath.
It would be very nice if life were that simple, but you and I both know that we are faced every day with situations and circumstances that are not always so black and white. A man who had been a Christian for several years told a pastor that his favorite form of relaxation was smoking pot.
The pastor said, “Do you see a contradiction between Scripture and smoking marijuana?”
The man said, “No. In fact, Scripture allows it.”
The pastor replied, “How do you see that?”
The man said, “Genesis 1:29. God says, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”
Now the pastor had him: “It says ‘for food’. You smoke marijuana; you don’t eat it.”
“You haven’t tasted my brownies,” came the man’s reply.
We live an inordinate amount of time, not in realms of black and white, but in a land painted with varying shades of gray, and it causes us no small amount of confusion when we wrestle with all the questions that seem to draw their life in those shades of gray.
What are some of those gray areas I mean? Let’s take movies as an example. Some people struggle with whether or not they should go to the movies, or if they can, what kind of movies should they go see. Alcohol is another one of those gray areas Christians disagree upon. Why, would you believe some churches even serve real wine at communion? And, there are other Christians who think those Christians who drink alcohol are not Christians at all. In certain circles, if you are a woman who wears make-up, enjoys playing cards, and goes dancing every Friday night, you might even be the incarnation of evil itself.
Pastors get questions every holiday that rolls around concerning whether Christian should celebrate. From Easter to Halloween to Christmas the questions abound. Should we have Santa Claus? Should we put up a Christmas tree? Does the Easter bunny make an appearance at our church? Do we even let the children hunt Easter eggs? About the only holiday most of us agree on is Thanksgiving, and even that one has become so totally secular. It’s about football and feasting, not giving thanks.
Then, of course, there is the question of culottes. You know? Is it all right for women to wear pants, or for men to have long hair? And just to think, we haven’t even mentioned the issue of tobacco. This is, after all, Louisiana, and how could we talk about gray areas without mentioning gambling and the casinos? The questions are endless.
Quite honestly, the Bible seems to be very silent on these and a lot of other issues we face today. We are left with our own consciences to guide us, and we wonder who’s right?
The Apostle Paul had to deal with the same type of problem all the way back in the first century. I suppose there is some consolation in knowing human nature has not changed in over 2,000 years. In a little church in the city of Corinth, Paul was confronted with a question grown in the gray areas of life. The church there asked him about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Most of the meat that was sold in the town market came from sacrificial animals that had been slaughtered at the ceremonies in the local temples of any number of pagan deities. Part of the meat of each sacrificial animal was burned on the temple altar, part was eaten in temple ceremonies, and part was sold in the Corinthian marketplace for consumption at home. The question at hand was this: “Did these rituals somehow automatically taint the food with some weird spiritual voodoo? Could Christians eat meat that had been offered to idols?”
Some Corinthian Christians embraced the idea of liberty they obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul founded this church and he undoubtedly shared with them the same philosophy he taught the church he established at Galatia: “For freedom Christ has set us free;” (Galatians 5:1).
What wonderful knowledge to possess! But that was just the problem. Certain Corinthian Christians possessed this knowledge and they flaunted it, and they appealed to Paul to prove that it really didn’t matter if they ate meat offered to idols. They had a point to prove to those who said they shouldn’t eat the meat, and they felt they were superior because they had this special knowledge.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 8: 1-13:
Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.[a]
4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6 But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. 8 It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 10 For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? 11 So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer[b] for whom Christ died will be destroyed. 12 And when you sin against other believers[c] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.
Paul said to the Corinthians who embraced their liberty, “You’re right! It doesn’t matter if you eat the meat because you and I know that there is really only one God, and those other gods are no gods at all, so in reality, the meat has not been offered to anyone or anything.” Then, he said, “But wait before you get all puffed up and proud. Not everyone understands this reality. Some people still believe those idols are real, and to them, to eat meat offered to idols is the same as worshipping the idol, and they are convicted in their own hearts because they are weak, and by your liberty, you could cause one of them to stumble.”
Paul would go on to clarify his statement. He said, “Look, here’s what happens. You get an invitation to a wedding down at the temple of Aphrodite. You know Aphrodite is not real and so you see no problem with going to the ceremony and sharing in the reception. But someone who is weak in their faith sees you at the temple doing what they think is wrong, and they say, ‘Oh, well, he is doing it so it must be okay,’ and they eat, but later they are convicted in their own hearts because they ate. They get confused, and their confusion can destroy their faith. And, don’t forget Christ died for them just like he died for you. So don’t use your knowledge concerning your freedom to allow anything like that to happen. Instead, give up ever eating meat if eating meat might cause one for whom Christ died to be destroyed. So, Paul really says this is not a legal question, but it’s an ethical one. That’s where it comes down for each of us friends concerning all the questions in the gray areas of life. They’re all ethical questions. Legality has nothing to do with them.
I see two principles Paul uses in counseling the Corinthians concerning this gray area. I think they are instructive to us as we live in so many shades of gray. First, Paul says let love be your guide. In verse 1 Paul offers, “while knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really builds up the church.” Pride so often gets in the way of our love. We think we have all the answers, that we know all there is to know. We can even get puffed up and think we’re spiritually superior just like those Corinthians. Paul said it was that type of attitude that would destroy the church. Love is what really builds up the church.
Love is the principle that sets the boundaries around out liberty. The moral decay we see in our culture hasn’t happened because we allowed gambling, or because we went to the movies, or because we played cards, or smoked cigarettes, or because some Christian somewhere made a questionable value judgment in a gray area of life. Moral decay has come because we embraced the right to liberty without simultaneously embracing the responsibility to love. Rights without responsibility quickly devolves into selfishness.
Paul reminds us in chapter 13 of this same letter that “love is patient and kind,” that love is not “boastful or proud, or rude.” Paul says, “Love does not demand its own way.” That means we don’t use our freedom quite as freely because we have a responsibility to someone else to help care for his or her soul. Love takes the mind that was in Jesus Christ, who chose to humble himself through the obedience that carried him all the way to the cross (Philippians 2). We build up the body of Christ, and those who are weaker in their faith when we show the love of Christ to them, and put their interests ahead of our own.
Secondly, sacrifice should guide us in living our lives in shades of gray. Paul said, “If what I eat is going to make another Christian sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live…” (v. 13). Paul was willing to give up his freedom if it meant building up someone who was weaker. He did not demand or cling to his right, but embraced his responsibility to his brother/sister.
We ask ourselves a simple question when confronted with those sticky issues that hang out in the gray areas of life: “Am I willing to stop what I’m doing if I find out it is causing another person to question it?” If I can answer that question in the affirmative, then I am observing the principle of sacrifice, which, by the way, is what Christ did for you and me. Remember, he did not cling to his own rights as God. He made himself nothing for humanity (Philippians 2:6ff). It is Christ’s example. Ma it be ours, too? Why? Because what we do matters.
Our lives are contagious. Leslie Flynn point out in her book, Your Influence is Showing, that the Italian word for influence is influenza. The word influenza was introduced into English in the mid-1700’s, apparently coming from the Italian phrase that attributed the origin of this malady to an influenza de fredo (influence of the cold). Our example spreads to others as easily as the flu. Does our influence destroy or does it build up?
I’ve come to discover in my own life that while God does care about how good we are, He cares more about how good we are to others. And, while God cares about our liberty, he cares more about our live. With love and sacrifice as our guiding principles we won’t encounter nearly as much difficulty living in the shades of gray.
