“The world is peppered with people who can coax small seeds of inspiration into richly flowering ideas that put humankind on a better path.
“And then there's that guy in Des Moines.” So began an Associated Press report a few years ago on October 15, 2017.
The Iowa State Patrol made his acquaintance at the back end of a chase on Interstate 80…
Shortly before 7:30 a.m. a trooper tried to pull him over for a traffic violation, but he stepped on the gas and triggered what turned into a 10-to-15-minute pursuit. Additional officers joined in. It all ended when he left the interstate, and a pit maneuver forced the fleeing car and driver to a stop near a Des Moines elementary school.
When asked why he refused to stop, the 46-year-old driver told authorities that leading police on a chase was just something on his Bucket List.
State Patrol Sgt. Scott Bright, a 28-year veteran of law enforcement, told the Associated Press he'd never heard such an excuse.
Adding to the list of things being sorted out by people in suits and uniforms—the car didn't belong to the driver; the driver was driving with someone else's license, and he was on parole at the time he hit the gas on his Bucket List quest. Formal charges are pending (“I-80 chase capped with ‘Bucket List' excuse,’” Associated Press, WOWT, 10-15-17, www.wowt.com/content/ news/I-80-chase-capped-with-Bucket-List-excuse-450980723. html; www.PreachingToday.com).
It’s amazing what some people pursue in life, most of which are trivial pursuits. Many people pursue getting rich, a life of pleasure, or being popular. However, these pursuits pale in comparison to the real pursuits that make a real difference in a real world. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians 10, where the Bible shows us what is truly worth pursuing.
1 Corinthians 10:23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up (ESV).
Sure, a lot of things in life are legal, but they are not helpful or constructive. So, what is helpful and constructive? What is a worthy pursuit in life?
1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor (ESV).
Live your life for others, not yourself. Seek to advance your neighbor above yourself. Seek his or her benefit more than your own. That’s the only life worth living, because it’s not about you! When you live to indulge yourself, life is miserable. But when you live for others, life is meaningful. Sure, go ahead and…
ENJOY YOUR LIBERTY IN CHRIST if you’re a believer.
Appreciate all the good things God provides. Delight in His abundant provision.
1 Corinthians 10:25-26 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (ESV).
That’s a quote right out of Psalm 24:1. Everything belongs to God, so everything is good, even the meat sold in the market.
Remember, Paul is addressing the issue of meat offered to idols, which vendors sold in the marketplace at a discount (1 Corinthians 8:1). Believers are free to enjoy that meat at home, as long as they stay out of the pagan temples where idolaters offered that meat (1 Corinthians 10:1-22). Believers are also free to enjoy meat in an unbeliever’s home.
1 Corinthians 10:27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience (ESV).
Don’t ask about where the meat came from. Just enjoy the steak without letting it bother your conscience. This reflects what Jesus said when he sent his followers out to announce the coming of His Kingdom. He told them, “Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you” (Luke 10:8).
Tim Chester, in his book A Meal with Jesus, put it this way: “Think of your favorite food. Steak perhaps. Or Thai green curry. Or ice cream. Or homemade apple pie. God could have just made fuel. He could have made us to be sustained by some kind of savory biscuit. Instead, he gave a vast and wonderful array of foods.
“Food is a central experience of God's goodness… The world is more delicious than it needs to be. We have a superabundance of divine goodness and generosity. God went over the top. We don't need the variety we enjoy, but he gave it to us out of sheer exuberant joy and grace (Tim Chester, A Meal with Jesus, Crossway, 2011, pp. 67-68; www.PreachingToday.com).
God delights in giving His children an abundance of good gifts. He also delights when His children enjoy those gifts.
When Sandy and I took two of our grandchildren to Central Manor Camp Meeting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, we were giving them a special gift. I had grown up going there every year with my family, and it became a special place for me. There were other kids to play with, a stream to get dirty in, ice cream at the snack bar every night, and children’s programs to enjoy. I wanted to share that with my grandchildren, but when we arrived at Central Manor, my 6-year-old grandson asked, “Did we drive all that way just for this?” There was not much to see at first, just a bunch of little white cabins in the woods. But as we got into the week, he began to enjoy the things I did as a kid. He had a great week, along with his 10-year-old sister, and that made me very happy.
In the same way, when you enjoy the good gifts your Heavenly Father gives you, that makes Him happy, as well! On the other hand, when you disparage what God has given you, you disappoint your Heavenly Father. So enjoy your liberty in Christ as a believer. Delight in God’s generosity, but…
SEEK THE GOOD OF OTHERS above yourself.
Pursue advancing your neighbor. Strive to benefit the believers and unbelievers around you.
Paul says, “Eat whatever is set before you” in an unbeliever’s house…
1 Corinthians 10:28-30 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? (ESV)
If the unbeliever tells you the meat has been sacrificed to his god, then refrain from eating it for his sake, i.e., for the sake of his conscience, not yours. You can certainly eat the steak freely with a good conscience. But if your unbelieving friend makes it an issue, refrain from eating the meat if it bothers his or her conscience for you to eat it. In fact, keep from doing anything that would prevent your friend from coming to faith in Christ. For a meaningful life is not about you; it’s about others.
So week the good of others to promote their salvation. Above all else, pursue rescuing the lost. Do everything you can to win as many people to faith in Christ as possible, even if it means limiting your liberty in Christ.
When Christiana Plews left her home one fateful night, she told her husband, “I think my worst nightmare is about to come true.” Plews is the Upper McKenzie Fire & Rescue Chief. Dispatch had called her to help fight fires about 30 miles away, but she knew the area was very, very dry, and she knew the weather forecast called for high winds—a recipe for wildfires.
“Be safe,” her husband told her. She could’ve said the very same to him; about five hours later, she ordered the evacuation of several surrounding towns, including her own. When she couldn’t reach her husband on his phone, she called one of her sons, telling him to leave. “Get in your car and get out of there.” The fire that she’d left to fight hours earlier was way out of control, and was, in her words, “ripping down the valley.”
Plews and the other firefighters in her unit are all volunteers; while they battled the flames the best they could, all of their homes burned down. In the aftermath of the flames, many community members rallied around the chief, helping to provide essential clothes, food, and supplies to replace what she’s lost.
Included among her admirers was actress Drew Barrymore, who gave her a check for $10,000. When Barrymore asked her how she remained so strong and steadfast, Plews responded, “Somebody has to do it. Somebody has to lead and somebody has to help get the healing and rebuilding process started… I just have to do it for everyone else and hopefully we can all find our way” (Maxine Bernstein, “Upper McKenzie fire chief loses her two homes in Vida as she battled wildfires with her volunteer crew” OregonLive, 9-14-20; www.PreachingToday.com).
Christiana Plews put the safety of others above her own comfort. In the same way, you and I need to put the salvation of the lost above any satisfaction we might enjoy otherwise. Get out of your comfort zone. Give up your freedom, if need be, to win people to faith in Christ. Seek the good of others to promote their salvation.
More than that, seek the good of others to prevent their stumbling. Pursue the spiritual growth of your believing friends. Do everything you can to remove any obstacles to their progress in the faith.
Some commentators believe that the informer in verse 28 is not the unbeliever who invited you to dinner, but a believer who has come with you to dinner. It bothers the conscience of your believing friend to eat meat offered to idols, so he or she tells you, “This has been offered in sacrifice” (1 Corinthians 10:28). Paul says, “Don’t eat it for the sake of his or her conscience.” Refrain from doing anything that would cause a believer to violate his or her conscience if he or she should follow your lead. Skip down to verse 32.
1 Corinthians 10:32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God… (ESV)
Give no offense means keep from causing others to stumble over your freedom. Refrain from anything that would trip new believers up in the progress of their faith.
There were Jews and Gentiles in the Corinthian Church, both with a very different set of scruples. So Paul is calling for church members to be sensitive to one another as they exercise their freedom in Christ. Refrain from unnecessarily offending each other. And especially, refrain from doing anything that would cause a weaker brother to stumble. The unity and growth of the family is more important than the exercise of your freedom.
At the beginning of the month (August 2022), Sandy and I traveled to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the heart of Amish country. We passed several people in horse and buggies, who have forgone some of the modern conveniences so many of us enjoy. It’s not that they reject all technology. Rather, they’re doing what all of us should be doing: practicing discernment.
When an Amish community member is interested in using a new technology, the community asks whether it will be helpful or harmful to relationships in the community. In one case, a community member wanted to buy a hay baler to make his work more efficient. But the community wondered how this would affect relationships if workers no longer had to work with each other. Another wanted to run propane gas into his family's bedrooms so each could have a light on at night, but the community wondered whether this would separate the family in the evening, where they'd previously shared the evening together in the living room. They rejected both ideas.
Now, you and would probably make different decisions than the Amish do, but we would do well to ask the same sorts of questions: How will this affect my relationships in the community of faith to which I belong? How will this smartphone, or this social media app, affect relationships within my home? Will this subscription to Disney+ bring our family together or give us more reasons to live separate lives? (Jeff Smith, “The Amish Use Technology Differently Than You Think. We Should Emulate Them,” The Washington Post, 2-17-20; www.PreachingToday.com).
You are certainly free to enjoy the technology, but if it damages relationships, you might want to reconsider.
If you want to find real meaning in life, seek the good of others, believers and unbelievers alike. Seek to prevent believers from stumbling, and seek to promote unbelievers towards salvation. That’s what Paul did!
1 Corinthians 10:33—11:1 …just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ (ESV).
Imitate Paul in the way he related to both believers and unbelievers. He put their salvation and spiritual growth above the exercise of his own freedom and preferences. You do the same!
As an under-graduate in college, theologian/author D.A. Carson co-led an evangelistic Bible study. He confessed that whenever he felt out of his depths, he would take skeptics and doubters to a bold witness on campus named Dave. On one such occasion, a young man he brought to Dave said, “I came from a family that doesn't believe in a literal resurrection and all that stuff. That's a bit much for us. But we're a fine family—a good, church-going family. We love each other, care for each other, and we do good in the community. We're a stable family. So what have you got that we don't have?”
Dave looked at the young man and said, “Watch me. Move in with me. I have an extra bed. Just follow me around. You see how I behave, what's important to me, what I do with my time, the way I talk. You watch me, and at the end of three months you tell me there's no difference.”
The young man refused Dave’s offer, but he did keep coming back to watch how Dave lived his Christian life. Eventually the young man came to trust Christ with his life and went on to become a medical missionary. Carson concluded what he learned from Dave's challenge:
A Christian is saying in effect: “I'm one poor beggar telling another poor beggar where there's bread. I drank deeply from the wellsprings of grace. God knows I need more of it. If you watch me, you'll see some glimmerings of the Savior; and ultimately, you'll want to fasten on him. Watch me” (from D.A. Carson's sermon titled “Biblical Authority: The Exclusive Authority of Scripture for Faith and Practice,” 2008; www.PreachingToday.com).
No matter where you’re at in your journey with Christ, imitate those who are a little further along, as they imitate Christ. Imitate those who have drunk deeply from the wellsprings of grace and have learned how to extend that grace to others. Trust Christ with your life, first. Then treat others as he treated you, by giving up His rights as God, becoming a man, and dying on the cross for your sins and mine.
If you want to find real meaning in life, sure, go ahead and enjoy your liberty in Christ, but seek the good of others above yourself. And in so doing…
SEEK THE GLORY OF GOD.
Pursue advancing His reputation and fame. In everything you do, strive to influence people to appreciate and respect the Lord even more than they do now.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (ESV).
If you want to find real meaning in life, make the glory of God your top priority in life.
Christopher Parkening, considered to be the world's greatest classical guitarist, achieved his musical dreams by the age of thirty. By then he was also a world-class fly-fishing champion. However, his success failed to bring him happiness. Weary of performances and recording sessions, Parkening bought a ranch and gave up on the guitar. But happiness eluded him even after he got away from it all. Instead, his life became increasingly empty. He wrote, “If you arrive at a point in your life where you have everything that you've ever wanted and thought that would make you happy and it still doesn't, then you start questioning things. It's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I had that and I thought, Well, what's left?”
Then, while visiting friends, he attended church and trusted Christ with his life. As most new believers do, Parkening developed a hunger for God’s Word, and ran across this verse I just read: “Whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”
He explains: “I realized there were only two things I knew how to do: fly fish for trout and play the guitar. Well, I am playing the guitar today absolutely by the grace of God… I have a joy, a peace, and a deep-down fulfillment in my life I never had before. My life has purpose… I've learned first-hand the true secret of genuine happiness” (Randy Alcorn, Happiness, Tyndale, 2015, page 25; www.PreachingToday.com).
He learned that the true secret of genuine happiness is not to give up the things you enjoy doing, but to do them for the Lord; do them to advance His reputation and fame. Go fly fishing with some buddies and let them see how God has changed your life for the better, especially when your hook gets snagged in some weeds.
If you want to find real meaning in life, sure, go ahead and enjoy your liberty in Christ, but seek the good of others above yourself. And in so doing, seek the glory of God.
It’s like C. S. Lewis once said: “The glory of God, and, as our only means to glorifying him, the salvation of human souls, is the real business of life” (C.S. Lewis; www.PreachingToday.com).
Are you involved in “the real business of life,” or are you just busy in life. Get involved in “the real business of life” and find real meaning in life.
