Making Decisions and Getting Them Right
New Friendship Baptist Church
July 31, 2006
1 Corinthians 10:23-33
Being a minister, I get asked a number of questions that other people do not get asked. One of the questions I get asked the most, right behind “Will you say the blessing so we can eat?” is “Can I do this?” This is what I mean:
“Can I watch this movie even though it has a questionable scene in it?”
“Can I tithe on the net, or do I have to tithe on the gross?”
“Can I go to this party where I know there will be drinking?”
All of these questions really boil down to this, “How far can I go before God gets upset?” We all want to know where the line is drawn of acceptable behavior. We all want to figure out what is right, and what is wrong. So today I am going to give you a set of questions that you can ask in order to determine if something is right, or wrong. Now if you are taking notes, feel free to write these down, but know that they are all coming right out of the pages of the letter to the Corinthians.
Read 1 Cor 10:23-24.
There it is again. There is the statement that is counter-cultural. “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” The first question we must ask ourselves is this:
AM I THINKING OF OTHERS BEFORE MYSELF?
Let’s keep this passage in context. Over the last several chapters, Paul has taught on this already in his dealing of whether or not we should eat meat offered to idols. When asking if we are thinking of others, what we are really asking is: “Will it cause my weaker brother to stumble?” (1 Corinthians 8) “Will it hinder my sharing the gospel?” 1 Corinthians 9) Now we must also remember that Paul is not instructing Christians to become doormats. Too often when we attempt to do something counter-cultural, we ride the pendulum too far the other way. God does not want a church filled with co-dependent people whose very emotions are dependent on pleasing others. That is becoming dependent on others when we are to be dependent only upon God. When we are looking at others before ourselves, it is not to make them comfortable while we suffer. The question is one of drawing men and women to a closer and deeper relationship to God.
Now let’s go back to verse 23. (Read first half) Here we find the next question we should ask:
IS IT HELPFUL?
Now we have to be very careful here because we have an amazing ability to rationalize almost anything that we want for its “helpfulness.” We say, “That new car would be helpful for getting me to where I need to go,” when your present car can do it albeit not as stylishly. Or we say, “That new dishwasher will help me get done with the dishes faster so I have more time for prayer and meditation,” when the honest truth is we just don’t like washing dishes and we have to go in debt to buy the dishwasher. What does Paul mean when he states not all things are helpful? Again, pay attention to context. Immediately before this statement he has talked about Israel’s example in their relationship with God and the way they followed idols, went into sexual immorality, and grumbled and complained. He speaks that we cannot participate in the cup of Christ and the cup of the Destroyer at the same time. Then he immediately says, not all things are helpful. Paul wants us to understand that some things will help us participate with Christ, and some things will lead us to participate with the Destroyer. So maybe the question needs to be amended for our clarification. Maybe the question should read:
IS IT HELPFUL FOR DRAWING US TO CHRIST?
The writer of Hebrews continues with this thought. “…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, Heb 12:1 (ESV)” Notice there are two things that we should lay aside. One is sin. The other is every other weight. There are things in our lives that while in and of themselves they are not sinful, they are weighing us down, slowing us down from running as we should. Maybe its because we were trying to be “helpful” and said yes every time we were asked and now we serve on 25 committees. If you are doing all the work, then you are doing someone else’s work and you are not helping yourself or others to draw nearer to Christ.
The verse continues (read second half of vs. 23) There’s your next question:
DOES IT BUILD UP?
Men love to build. Give them a pile of wood, nails, and hammers and before you know it you’ve got the Taj Mahal. The problem is give them the Taj Mahal for a week and you’ve got a pile of wood, nails, and rubble. We love to build, we love to wreck things. One church member told me with great glee in face about doing a “bombing raid” on his sons war scene that had been set up in the living room.” Unfortunately we often bomb our own lives with many of the choices we make. We tear down with the foods we put in our bodies, the movies and shows with which we fill our minds, the books we read, the places we go, and things we buy. How many better choices would we make if we started asking, “how will this decision build me into a better Christian?”
I wish I could say it was only things that people liked to destroy. But you have seen it just as I have, with but a set of words, lives are wrecked. People are crushed with a few uncaring, unconsidered words. We seem to forget what Paul exhorted us to do when he wrote, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Eph 4:29 (ESV)”
Can you imagine what the Church would look like if all the church fights were replaced with times of encouragement. Can you imagine what your life would look like if you began saying no to things that were not useful to building a strong Christian life?
Now we come to another question. (Read vs. 25-30) Here we find the next question:
CAN I DO IT WITH A CLEAN CONSCIENCE?
Now we recognize here that again Paul is speaking of worry about how your decision affects someone else. If you are with someone who believes something to be a sin, then don’t use that moment to exercise your liberty. Don’t go around flaunting your liberty at someone else’s expense. Remember, you have already done that in question one. But I also want you to understand that if you cannot do something with a clean conscience, then it is a sin to do it. Paul wrote to the Romans, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. Romans 14:14 (ESV)”
How many church dinners have you been to where people are sinning? I hear it all the time, “I really shouldn’t be eating this.” “I shouldn’t be doing this but I can’t help myself it is soooooo good!” Now have you ever seen someone take a plate away from someone and say, “then let me help you flee this temptation.” No. Instead they stand there with a serving spoon saying, “Here, have some more.” I’m not saying dessert is bad. If you can thank God while realizing God created sugar, chocolate, pudding, all that good stuff, then eat it and enjoy it. If everything inside of you, however, is screaming that you should not eat it, then you sin when fork goes to mouth. When you watch that movie, are you thinking, “I shouldn’t be watching this!” When you take that drink, what are you thinking? When you turn on that “Guilty pleasure” on the television, is part of you telling you to turn it off?
It all comes down to this last question. (Read vs. 31-33)
CAN I HONESTLY GLORIFY GOD BY DOING THIS?
If you can bring God the most glory by doing something, then do it with all your heart. No matter what you do, do it to bring glory to God. If you want to see an example of these questions in actions, look at Jesus before his crucifixion. He was in the garden and he asked his Father, “Can I do something else?” “Do I have to die?” But he went to the cross. Was he thinking of others? Yes. Was going to the cross helpful to bring people closer to God? It is the only way we can come to the Father. Was it useful for building up? Let me ask you this. Have you ever drawn strength from knowing that Jesus Christ died for you? I have. Could he do it with a clean conscience? Yes. It was what he came on earth to do. Could he glorify God by going to the cross? There was no greater act of bringing God glory than his death and resurrection. Jesus calls you to take this mindset to the things in life that you question. When you glorify God in all that you do, you will make the right decision.
