This week we continue our series called Chronos. A term which means time. We have decided to study the scriptures this year in the order they were published. It gives us a very unique insight into the early church and the struggles of a growing movement. This review of history is important because The Center’s leadership believes we are on the cuspid of a great awakening in America. An awakening that will challenge the status quo of the current Christian industrial complex. An institution more concerned with Attendance, Buildings and Cash than the Gospel, Grace and Growth of the kingdom.
This week we also continue in the book of the first Corinthians. It’s another book written by Paul around 25 years after Jesus' earthly ministry. Corinth is the original sin city. It was a transitional city and as such there was a lot of anonymity. As a Coastal town people were always coming and going. Some for vacation, most for business. The community was know for their worship of the goddess of sex. They had one of the largest temples devoted to her and the idea of fertility. You can see why when you called somebody a corinthian back then, you were saying they were living without morality. After his 1 ½ years planting the church, Paul left behind Apollos who was an amazing preacher/teacher and yet, we can see from this book the people still had questions. The immorality of the culture was so rampant that Paul had to address everything from why church potlucks should not turn into drunken frat parties and worship of the one true God should not look like a kids first birthday party at a chuck e cheese restaurant.
Last Sunday, we dove head first into the book. Last week Paul encouraged us to remember Mutual love, respect, and submission are the cornerstone of a Christian relationship with these three principles, everyone grows in Christlikeness. This week we move to Chapter 8 where Paul once again is addressing another cultural as well as religious issue the new followers are struggling with.
Before we begin, has anyone given up something for the Christian season of lent. Lent is a time leading up to Easter where historically new candidates to the faith prepared themselves by fasting before publicly committing themselves to Jesus. I grew up catholic and remember being asked/told what I was giving up for Lent. Chocolate and soda seemed to be the best suggestion. I also remember not being able to eat fish on Fridays. I liked fish but wondered why? What was the big idea? I wondered and asked but no one could give a reasonable explanation.
So when I began to own my faith, I rejected all the religion and the tradition when there wasn’t a biblical reason.
Oh, The rebel had found a cause.
I rationalized that if people knew the truth about such practices they wouldn’t do them. After all, knowing they were worshiping idols, spiritualizing the rituals or at the very least being hypocrites would inspire then. Right?
I was wrong. It didn’t matter. People do what they always have done because it's easier and more acceptable than actually having to explain your beliefs.
Paul had heard of a similar practice and felt compelled to address the church in an effort to help them. The strong members of the church realized that idols could not contaminate the food so they saved money by purchasing cheaper meat available at the temples. If non christians invited them to a feast where sacrificial meat was being served, the strong Christians attended. The less mature Christians struggled with this because it seemed like an endorsement of the other belief system.
Paul writes to explain three important ideas that we all need to remember as we strive to connect to the world around us…Now let’s listen
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.
Knowledge can be a weapon to ‘fight with’ or a tool to ‘build with’ depending on how it is used. If it ‘puffs up,’ then it can not ‘build up.’
Paul is responding to a problem that had been plaguing it for a while. The people of Corinth were particularly vulnerable to these ideas because they either were formally Jewish or were culturally still very connected to the mythical gods and goddesses of the Roman and Greek cultures. A less mature believer can sometimes be affected by prior learning or experience. While it's completely logical to say, a non-existent God cannot contain food offered on his altar. For some, it's a terribly long distance from the head to the heart of the matter. The less mature were struggling. The more mature were saying our new found knowledge of God does not always support your stance against us getting cheaper meat so get over it. However, we all know it's just not that easy to let go of the past, especially in the area of spirituality.
As a result, Pastor Paul needed to set the record straight. Take a listen…
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Paul is making it clear.
We speak one truth and it’s “Christian.”
We believe in one triune God: the creator, redeemer and sustainer. One simple command, love Him and love others above everything else. When in doubt on how to love, look to Jesus.
If we are to expand the kingdom of God - connecting everyone, everyday and in every way to Jesus than we must couple Love and knowledge together to reach those around us as well as mature those within our ranks. It’s been said before, “truth without love is brutality, but love without truth is hypocrisy.”
Paul’s great concern was that the mature Christians were not helping the weaker to mature. Some people have the false notion that the strong christians are the ones who live by the rules and get offended when others exercise their freedom but this is simply not the case. It is the weak Christians who must have the security of the law and who are afraid to exercise their freedom in Christ. It is the weak Christians who are more prone to judgment and criticize strong believers who exercise their freedom.
Herein lies the second great consideration when dealing with the gray areas of the faith: LOVE. “love builds up” and puts others first. When a strong Christian can take the hand of a weaker Christian to help them stand to enjoy their freedom, the body of Christ is strengthened. Knowledge must be mixed with love in the body of Christ for it to grow and expand.
7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.
Paul introduces a third important factor in the growth of Christian: The conscience. Conscience is the internal court whereby our actions are judged. Conscience bears witness to God’s moral law. The more we know and act in love, the stronger our conscience becomes.
The conscience of the less mature christian is easily defiled, wounded and offended. The key for harmony in the body as well as growth in an individual is the more mature defer to the weaker in a love to help them grow.
Paul is addressing an issue that is stunting the growth of the church and its impact.
Now we aren’t dealing with meat sacrificed to idols but there are other “gray” areas in our life where doing what’s “right or wrong” is not clear.
“R” or “MA” movies or series? Tattoo? THC / Alcohol consumption? Violent Video games? Sports Gambling - Slot machines? Provocative outfits? Guns? Books - Harry Potter? Yoga? Halloween?
The truth is the scriptures don’t speak to these issues. However, we want you to understand the "food" in this scripture could be substituted with any of these other “gray” areas.
With this understanding, we want you to ask the following before proceeding:
Knowledge is not enough to justify doing whatever. We must ask, “what will our action mean to those who are less mature in their faith if they see or hear of my choice?
Love must always be our first concern. Will your action cause someone else to struggle or stumble in their life? A good example is you might be fine with a 50/50 raffle. I can look at this form of gambling harmless. I can justify gambling by the acceptance of practice of lots in the scriptures. However, if there is a former gambling addict in my circle of friends, knowledge without love may cause another to justify returning to their destructive ways.
Finally, look within your own conscience. If you know your actions could affect your becoming or continue to be whom God called you to be, whether in line with your spiritual knowledge and love, the action needs to be avoided.
Read Romans 14: 1 and substitute a "gray sin"...
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord…..
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.
Reference: Warren Wiersbe Commentary 594-595
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