Antioch Odessa
Attributes of God
- All My Boast Is In Jesus
- How Great (Psalm 145)
- O Lord My Rock And My Redeemer
- How is a believer too deal with Christian Liberties.Good morning. Turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. There are many people today who are in the church looking for someone to help them grow in their faith. We call this discipleship or being mentored. It is the duty of every local church to help disciple our people. We know that there are many new believers who have never had an opportunity to ask questions and grow in their faith and as leaders we want to help them. It is always exciting for me as a pastor to see Christians grow and as they do they have many questions about how to live their lives for Jesus.The basic problem that the Corinthian believers were dealing with is much the same for many of us today. How far can we go in our Christian liberties without sinning? In other words, what can we do that Scripture does not specifically tell us that is sinful?In today’s passage we learn about some people who struggled with eating meat that was sacrificed to idols. Even though today we don’t have to battle with this particular issue, our world has many gray areas that can trip up new believers in the faith. Some Christians have wondered is it ok to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, vape, dance, go to the beach, play cards, go to the movies, play sports on Sunday’s, participate in trick-or-treating, or listen to secular music?While most believers today know that stealing, murder, adultery and coveting are wrong. We may have many questions about these gray areas or Christian liberties.The key point here is that many behaviors, however are not commanded or forbidden in God’s Word. They are not black or white or right and wrong, they are gray. Just like those believers in Corinth during Paul’s time we too face the same issues. What will we do? How will we respond? Throughout the New Testament we see the importance of Christian liberty.
John 8:31–32 ESV 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.Galatians 5:1 ESV 1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.But church please here me this morning. Christian liberty does not give us a licence to sin. In fact, it should help us to see that there are of course things that in themselves are not sinful, but they may become sinful or lead others to sin.1 Peter 2:16 ESV 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.There are two things we must be on guard against here as we consider our Christian liberties. First of all we must be on guard against legalism. Legalists see things only through a black and white lens. The religious leaders of Christ’s time said you had to be circumcised to be a genuine convert. You have to wash your hands before you eat. They were so ruled focused that they missed the Son of God and true salvation. Their lives were law controlled, not Spirit controlled. What we see here is that legalism stifles liberty and the conscience. The opposite side of this, is living however you want with the mindset that God will forgive you. There are many people who think that everything is acceptable as long as it is not forbidden in God’s Word. As long as your conscience is free you can do as you please. This seems to have been the mindset of the group that Paul addresses here in chapter 8.Paul shares with us three important principles here.1. Love must rule and guide our Liberties in Christ.1. El amor debe regir y guiar nuestras libertades en Cristo.1 Corinthians 8:1 ESV 1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.1 Corinthians 8:2 ESV 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.1 Corinthians 8:3 ESV 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.Paul takes time here to give us some helpful information on what to do to avoid unnecessary conflict, fights, and division. It is interesting here that Paul begins with the ethic or principle of Christian love. The problem or issue here that Paul states is food being offered to idols. Why was this a problem? Well, there were several reasons. First, some believers could show up at a pagan temple eating and participating in a meal in honor of a pagan god. The second way a Christian could eat meat sacrificed to idols was by purchasing meat in the market place for them to eat at home. Finally, they could partake of this food by being invited to a meal at a friends home that included meat that came from a pagan temple. So, Paul takes time to address the issue. What are we to do?Paul appeals to the believer’s liberty in Christ. Remember what Paul said back in chapter 6?1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV 12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.The believers in Corinth understood their freedom in Christ, but for some of them this knowledge had led them to become arrogant and prideful, instead of showing the weaker brothers in Christ some love. Their pride caused them to abuse their freedom. This had already been seen in the issue of sexual immorality back in chapter 5.This is why Paul takes time here to explain to them the difference between knowledge and love.Knowledge can puff up. It can make someone arrogant. However, knowledge with love can build up. It can edify the body of Christ and make it healthier and stronger. A helpful rendering or explanation of the back part of verse 1 is, “knowledge blows up, but love builds up.” Knowledge about God and how we are to live our lives is of course a wonderful thing and needed, but if it is not controlled by edifying love it can be a dangerous weapon that tears down rather than building up. This is why Paul here is arguing for a love of God that shows itself in love for others. If we only have knowledge and love is missing in our lives that can lead to destruction and hurting others rather then helping them follow Christ. We love others enough to put our preferences aside so that we don’t cause another brother or sister to stumble and hurt the name of Christ.Being a disciple of Christ is more than just having a lot of spiritual knowledge or information. While this of course is helpful it is also important to have a love for God. Why? Because a love for God is a sign or evidence that one is know by Him. Love is not affection only it is devotion to God. So, to be known by God is to be one of His people. The question to consider this morning is, are you imitating Christ? Are you showing others the love of Jesus? It is not just knowing Jesus but imitating Jesus. Are you doing that?If you know God through faith in His Son Jesus and you have turned from your sin, than we cannot help but love our God who first loved us. This should cause us to have a deep love and compassion for those whom Christ died, our brothers and sisters. Love must rule and guide our liberties.2. Right worship and understanding of the one true God leads us to Christian love.2. La adoración y la comprensión correctas del único Dios verdadero nos conducen al amor cristiano.1 Corinthians 8:4 ESV 4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”1 Corinthians 8:5 ESV 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.Paul again takes time here to address the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols. At Corinth the believers who were more mature and had grown in their knowledge and faith understood two important confessions or truths.-First, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. In other words, idols have no real existence.-And second, There is no God but one.We know that Paul and other godly leaders would totally agree with this, but Paul is quick to point out the important qualification that we must remember especially in regards to those who have just recently been saved from a former life of pagan idolatry. Paul’s point here is that while mature believers understand that there are so-called gods in heaven and earth, while there are many “gods” and many “lords” we know that they are not divine because they have been made by man from wood or metal images. However, the lost person or unbeliever doesn’t yet understand this.One of the important things to understand behind all of this church is that Satan and his demons are often behind idol worship. What I mean is that they often try to lead people into false worship or to worship false things which are contrary from the worship of the one true God. Demons are very real and they can be worshipped, so this is nothing to play around with or to even give it a thought. Let me share with us a very helpful verse here. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 10.Deuteronomy 10:17 ESV 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.It is important to remember that in this Corinthian culture polytheism or the worship of many gods was very normal and practiced widely. This is why Paul takes time here to affirm the teaching of monotheism. This is the biblical teaching of our Christian faith. This shows us that there is only one God. There is one God and Father from whom are all things and for whom we exist. There is also one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Paul is pointing us to the doctrine of the Triune God. There is one God is that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.Thomas Schreiner says here, “Paul reaffirms the Old Testament truth that there is one Creator God and thus all glory and praise belong to Him. He is the father of believers and the word father here also shows us a relationship to Jesus the Son.”The point here is that we should have a deep love and reverence for God. We should have a desire to worship only God and nothing else. This should cause us to have a deep love and kindness for others so that they too might come to know God and trust in Christ as their Savior.3. Don’t use your freedom to cause others to stumble and fall.3. No uses tu libertad para hacer que otros tropiecen y caigan.1 Corinthians 8:7 ESV 7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.1 Corinthians 8:8 ESV 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.1 Corinthians 8:9 ESV 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.1 Corinthians 8:10 ESV 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?1 Corinthians 8:11 ESV 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.1 Corinthians 8:12 ESV 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.1 Corinthians 8:13 ESV 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.Paul now takes time to help us see here that not all people have the same knowledge or understanding about God and His Word. There are those who have walked with Christ for many years and they understand the deeper things of God’s Word, because they have gone through some difficult trials and struggles in their faith. Some of you know exactly what I am talking about. However, there are those who are weak in their faith or are new believers and they have come out of some worldly difficulties. Let me say this another way.Illustration = New believers who have been heavily involved in the wild party scene and have been around drugs and alcohol may be disgusted and upset at Christians who see nothing wrong with meeting a group of friends at a bar and grill for a meal. Young believers who have been saved from a life of sexual sin might get upset at a believer who has no problem going to see certain movies or visiting a pool or beach.My point here is that this is why Paul shows us that we as mature Christians have the responsibility to love the weaker believers. Those who were saved but untaught and immature may have been easily offended at others’ exercise of their liberty. As mature believers we know that in and of themselves, these places and things are harmless. But younger Christians, weak in their faith and growing in Christ, may still see these things and associate them with the sinful wickedness in which they were once involved. Be kind, be patient, and take time to help others grow in their relationship with Christ.So, remember that some of these Corinthians still bought into the idea that the meat sacrificed to idols or bought at the market was contaminated by association and therefore spiritually harmful to them. These believers didn’t understand yet that this meat issue was morally neutral. In other words, eating this meat would not affect their relationship with Christ one way or another. The one who does eat the meat is not sinning, and the one who does not eat the meat is not more spiritual for abstaining. Because this was such a sensitive issue in Corinth, Paul urges the mature Christians to show love by not using their liberty in Christ to eat this meat. Don’t make this a major point. When dealing with weaker brothers or sisters in Christ who may struggle with certain sins be mature and show self-restraint.Paul shows us here in verse 10 that those who were mature in their knowledge didn’t see anything wrong with eating meat and therefore went to the temple to eat. These insensitive believers overstepped their freedom and liberty, when they should have showed love and self-control toward the other believers. As a result this brought a number of the weaker believers down into a guilty conscience. For them it was still a means of worshiping false gods.Romans 14 deals with this same issue, addressing how to wisely and lovingly adjust the application of our knowledge to the spiritual needs of weaker believers. Listen to how Paul sums things up.Romans 14:14–15 ESV 14 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. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.Church, the implications of causing fellow believers to stumble in their conscience is a serious thing.The heart of the problem here is a failure of knowledgable believers to look out not only for their own interests but also for the interests of others as Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2. These mature believers flaunted their Christian liberties to eat any kind of meat they wanted, whenever they pleased, and because of that this weakened the fellowship of the church.This is why Paul makes the serious claim that he does in verse 13. “If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again.” In other words Paul is saying here if enjoying a piece of meat meant causing a brother in Christ to be dragged back into a lifestyle of sin that he had just escaped, Paul would abstain. Paul is talking here about teaching, discipling, and even protecting the tender conscience of the weak believer. Paul is showing us that Christian love must wisely temper Christian liberty.Conclusion: Today as we think about certain gray areas or Christian liberties that are not in and of themselves sinful, how far is too far? In deciding wether or not to participate in certain behaviors this short checklist will be helpful to consider.1. Is this activity or habit necessary, or is it merely an extra thing in my life that is not really that important.2. Is what I want to do helpful, useful, or only desirable? This is a great question to consider.3. Are we setting the right example for others, especially for weaker brothers and sisters? If we are following Christ others should be encouraged in what they see in us.4. Is my testimony going to be helped or hindered. Will unbelievers be drawn to Christ or turned away from Him by where I go and what I do?5. Will the Lord be lifted up and glorified in what I do? Remember that God’s glory and exaltation should be the number one focus and purpose behind everything we do.1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.(Close in Prayer) Deuteronomy 6:25ESV
Nehemiah 9:33ESV
Leviticus 19:36ESV
Deuteronomy 10:17–18ESV
Luke 10:27ESV
Psalm 11:6ESV
Romans 3:21–26ESV
Leviticus 20:26ESV
Hebrews 12:5–6ESV
Matthew 25:23ESV
Isaiah 45:22–23ESV
Isaiah 42:8ESV
Antioch Odessa
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