1 Cor 8:1-13 – Sacrificing our Rights
Ministry Breakup Party
Here’s the scenario – true story
Our ministry network had a breakup lunch at the Gulls Restaurant last month
At the luncheon are Baptists, Pentecostals, Uniting Church, and Church of Christ ministers
I like to have a glass of wine with my meal. Would I be within the bounds of scripture to order a glass of wine? Of course
What if I told you within the group was a one woman who has strong feeling against alcoholism because of her experience with her father’s abuse of alcohol
Would I still be within my rights to order a glass of wine? Do I exercise my liberty and order a drink?
This is the scenario we find in our section of scripture we are looking at today
Instead of wine being the issue, it is eating meat offered to idols
Not the usual run of the mill situation we faced this past week, but the principle is more relevant than we might think
1 Cor 8:1 Now let’s talk about food that has been sacrificed to idols.
This phrase comes up a number of times in this letter and it is a result of the Corinthians writing a letter to Paul and he is responding point by point to their questions
You think that everyone should agree with your perfect knowledge.
What do you think was happening in the Corinthian church to generate this type of sarcastic comment from Paul?
Isn’t it the way we are. Instead of just asking the question and waiting for Paul’s opinion on the matter, we like to pre-empt and give our opinion on the matter to impress with our superior knowledge
Paul’s response cuts to the heart of true Christianity
While knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really builds up the church.
How many churches do you know that have split over showing too much love to one another?
How many churches do you know who have split over superior knowledge?
What is the underlying issue Paul raises with those who supposedly possess superior knowledge? Pride
2Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3But the person who loves God is the one God knows and cares for.
What was the mistake the some in this church were making? What did they view as being the most important aspect of Christianity? Knowledge
But as Paul goes on to say here, those who claim to have all this knowledge have misunderstood the true purpose of Christianity
The one God cares for is not the one who can accumulate the most knowledge, but rather the one who shows love
Paul comes back to the question
4So now, what about it? Should we eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God and no other. 5According to some people, there are many so-called gods and many lords, both in heaven and on earth. 6But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
Makes the distinction between the pagans belief in many gods and the Christians belief in the One true God
Paul makes a distinction here between God and Father and Jesus as Lord
He did this to contrast the pagan Roman system where they regarded their deities as gods, and Caesar as Lord
For Christians there is only one God, the Father, and One Lord, Jesus Christ
7However, not all Christians realize this.
This is the whole point of the passage. There is the distinction made between those who are immature in their faith and those who are mature
By using the word “immature” we are talking about it in the sense of new Christians who are still wrestling with old concepts and beliefs of their past life
“Old habits die hard”
the point to remember is people need to be given time and space to sort through and overcome these old habits
none of us make the transition from old understanding to new truth overnight
we have had our own experience with this with our doctrinal changes
the journey has been different for everyone
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.
Friend on the Gold Coast whose brother has not attended church for over 30 years who gets up to all sorts of unchristian behavior, but still will not touch any meats that are unclean
This pastors wife understands rationally she shouldn’t get upset at someone drinking alcohol, but emotionally it is difficult for her to divorce it from her experience
8It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t miss out on anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
Eating or not eating is immaterial to the argument. We not going to win any brownie points with God
What is important to the argument though is how the behavior is going to effect our conscience
Romans 14:22-23 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
Fortunately for us, God judges our hearts on what we happen to believe at that point in time, not on what is necessarily the truth
knowledge is always going to be incomplete
Tell me, if God were to measure us by His perfect truth, how many of us would be accepted?
It also explains why God can accept Christians of all persuasions from all around the world whose views of Christianity may differ markedly from ours
Fortunately we are accepted through the saving work of Jesus Christ not the amount of, nor the correctness of the knowledge we accumulate
The one criteria that makes Christians everywhere acceptable to God is the blood of Jesus Christ
So we have to recognize that knowledge is always going to be incomplete, so it behooves us to approach these situations with humility – we might be wrong and we just might learn something if we listen
What makes this even more confusing is that sometimes the rules change
such as when the OC replaced the NC, created chaos in the NT church
sometimes the rules change even within a covenant
go back to Act 15
on the one hand we see Paul saying its okay to eat meat offered to idols, but this is not the original ruling at the Jerusalem Council
Acts 15:19-20 And so my judgment is that we should stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 except that we should write to them and tell them to abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from sexual immorality, and from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals.
Is Paul disagreeing with the council ruling or do we see here in practice the very principle Paul is talking about in this chapter – that is, not offending a brother who has a weak conscience
Remember it was primarily Jews sitting down at the council and the Holy Spirit led them to a decision for the sake of unity at the time which would be acceptable to the Jews
It was a compromise agreement so as not to offend the Jewish consciences
However as time went on and the church matured in their understanding, this ruling could be relaxed as people consciences adjusted to the new reality
We have experienced the same thing with our transition, eg, ham sandwiches after church
We can say, hopefully at this point, as Paul does in v.8, 8It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t miss out on anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
It’s a non issue – its not a salvation issue
But if ham sandwiches were brought out 8 years ago, it may have been a different story
So this is the case here. Paul was not contradicting the Jerusalem Council, it was simply that the church had matured and moved on
But the principal still applied to new converts who may be wrestling with the issue
Now Paul comes back to this point of maturity, but not the way his readers expect
9But you (Those of you with Perfect Knowledge) must be careful with this freedom of yours. Do not cause a brother or sister with a weaker conscience to stumble.
Paul is saying, “Okay, you brought up the subject of maturity. I’ll show you what real Christian maturity is!”
“You’re right, this meat is only offered to a dumb idol and there’s no way it can affect the food”. However you better be careful about this freedom of choice and how it may affect others
Christianity is not about our own needs, but rather considering the impact our actions have on others
10You see, this is what can happen: Weak Christians who think it is wrong to eat this food will see you eating in the temple of an idol. You know there’s nothing wrong with it, but they will be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been dedicated to the idol.
The best place to get a juicy steak in Corinth was at the temple precincts
The pagans brought their sacrifices to their gods and after it was killed and offered they could have a feast with their friends or the meat was sold to the local butchers
In chapter 10 Paul gives more instructions about eating in these temples. In this chapter he is addressing just the subject of eating the meat offered to idols
Notice Paul calls these people “weak” in the sense they are immature in their faith, new converts
He is not talking about longstanding members who seem to make a career out of being a weaker person with over-sensitive consciences
This of course is the other extreme
We don’t go around lowering the church to the lowest common denominator by catering to the whims of the weakest member
There will be those who are stubborn and resist the maturing work of the Holy Spirit and that is a very dangerous attitude to get into
Titus 3:9-11 Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These kinds of things are useless and a waste of time. 10 If anyone is causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with that person. 11 For people like that have turned away from the truth. They are sinning, and they condemn themselves.
There’s a difference here between the person who may have his own personal beliefs about a particular subject who keeps them to himself, and the one who deliberately tried to force those personal opinions on others and in the process causes division
Some of the early Jewish Christians leaders had to eat some serious crow about their previous beliefs
Peter was reprimanded publicly by Paul in Galatia (Gal 2:11)
This was after he had experienced the unclean animals in the sheet episode
Thing about Peter, was he was willing to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit and learn
Paul who had to be struck down for persecuting Christ
All of us are immature in some way, and we need to be open to the maturing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives
11So because of your (so called) superior knowledge, a weak Christian,[1] for whom Christ died, will be destroyed.
Paul uses some pretty strong language against these supposedly “mature” Christians who are flaunting their freedom
This was the problem, they were flaunting their freedom and in the process causing people to lose their faith
I would have been doing the same thing if I ordered a glass of wine at that meal
The point Paul is making is that “knowledge” alone is not enough in making a Christian decision
The element of love has to considered
If ever something has been used by Satan to divide and conquer Christians over the centuries it has been this problem of “superior knowledge”
What was the subtle ploy Satan used to appeal to Adam and Eve vanity? Superior knowledge – “you will be like God”
What was the Pharisee’s retort when arguing with Jesus? “We’re of Moses”
One of the groups of heretics that arose after Jesus’ death was the “Gnostics” – they supposedly had superior knowledge. It literally means, “We Know”
Over the centuries since, the church has divided time and again by someone claiming superior knowledge
We have been guilty of it in the past
Now there are times when it is a healthy thing for the church to take a stand and these things are clearly spelt out in scripture
They are not gray areas, they are black and white issues, issues of sin and issues of doctrine
Things such as the Status of God (Trinity), Christology ( Fully God and fully man), Salvation through faith alone (Luther and the Reformation)
But most divisions that have plagued the church down through the centuries have been over petty issues driven by this issue of “superior knowledge”
12And you are sinning against Christ when you sin against other Christians[2] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong.
Remember when Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, he said, “Why do you persecute Me?”
When we flaunt our rights around weak Christians, Paul is saying exactly what Jesus said to him, “Why are you sinning against me!
The onus is on the mature Christian to be humble and sensitive when dealing with new Christians
13If what I eat is going to make another Christian sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live--for I don’t want to make another Christian stumble.
Forget the juicy steak, I will give up eating meat all together in order to avoid driving my brother away from Christ
Can’t leave this passage without saying something about our “Conscience”
Our conscience is a wonderful gift that he has put in every human to help him govern and critique his thoughts and behavior
It is limited in its development as it is designed to work in conjunction with the Holy Spirit ( Rom 9:1)
This changes once we receive the Holy Spirit
However under to direction of the Holy Spirit it is what helps us confirm the true will of God
As we have learned from this section of scripture, a mature Godly conscience is going to be governed by two things, “knowledge” and “love”
So we should not value these differences that come up amongst us as necessarily negative experiences
On the contrary they are wonderful opportunities to grow and develop wonderful qualities of God
Look at the growth we have experienced as a result of the changes
One caution on the conscience
Just because we may have a strong conscience doesn’t give permission to ignore God’s clearly spelt out commands
eating food given to idols may be okay; but participating in idol worship is not
God’s will is very clear on Idolatry
there are times Christians need to be offended and if they are sinning they need to be made aware of it
Conscience issues only come into play in these disputable or gray area
Look at some of the lessons for us in this passage
Most of us agree on things the Bible tell us not to do – Don’t kill, lie, steal etc
The problem comes up when we try to agree on what the Bible allows us to do
These gray areas where God allows us to choose for ourselves
Let me just mention a few and you can gauge your own reaction to them
Alcohol, Ham sandwich, Speaking in Tongues, Sabbath day, dancing, contemporary songs, what shows to watch on TV, what books to read, what Days to observe, Christmas trees, Communion (how often, what kind of bread, what kind of liquid)), what we wear to church, offerings etc
If we were to go around the room and ask people opinions on these matters, we would be surprised at the variety of opinions on each of the subjects
So we end up with a third list, “Things in dispute”
How do we deal with these differences?
Do we take it as a personal attack when others disagree with us on these issues?
Are we oversensitive about issues which are neither here not there
Do we get with others of the same persuasion who will reinforce our opinions?
We will if we expect people to hold the same opinion as we hold
Church history is full of this type thing. That is how churches split
Wouldn’t it be better to recognize there are going to be differences of opinion on some things and get on with doing the Lord’s work instead of allowing our energy to be consumed on “peripheral issues”
God could have made it very clear what is acceptable and what is not, but He didn’t! Why?
Because he wants us to learn to love those who have different opinions by putting aside our personal preferences
He wants us to be humble and not arrogant
Wants us to develop a conscience based on knowledge and love
God wants us if necessary to give up our right if it is going to jeopardize the spiritual welfare of a brother or sister
There is a story from the life of Dr. Harry Ironsides.
He went on a picnic with a number of Christians, and there was a Muslim convert to Christ among them. The only sandwiches they had at the picnic were ham sandwiches. This young man graciously refused the ham sandwich. Dr. Ironsides said to him, "Well, you’re a follower of Christ; don’t you realize that the food restrictions have been taken away? You really are free to eat a ham sandwich."
The young man said, "Yes, I know that. I know I’m free to eat ham, but I’m also free not to eat ham." Then he said, "I am the only Christian in my family, and so far I’ve had the freedom to go home and share my new life in Christ with my mom and dad. Every time I go to the front door, my dad says, ’Have those infidels taught you to eat that filthy pig meat yet?’ I’m able to look my dad in the eye and say, ’No dad, I don’t eat pork,’ which gives me an entrée." He was able to forgo his freedom for the sake of the eternal destiny of his family.
This young convert knew he didn’t have to have to exert his freedom. By not exercising it, he left the way open for his family to embrace Jesus Christ
Was that a good choice
Its interesting Paul did the same thing
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings
we are free to exercise our rights or not to exercise them for the sake of love and for the sake of the gospel
We think freedom is exercising our rights
But godly freedom is submitting our rights to a higher cause. Those higher causes are for the sake of “love” and the sake of the “gospel”
