April 12, 2015
Morning Service

There were problems in the church Paul had established in Corinth.  He wrote two letters to them to help clear up these problems and eliminate them all together.  As we have looked at the letter titled I Corinthians, it is obvious that these same problems are still in our churches today.  We have seen warnings against false teaching, preacher religion, fornication, taking our brothers to court and in chapter 7 we saw the teaching on marriage.

We now enter the second half of this letter and the solution to the problems seems to have a recurring theme.  We find it in chapter 16:13-14.

 

1Co 16:13-14 (NLT) Be on guard! Stand true to what you believe! Be courageous! Be strong!  (14)  And everything you do must be done with love.

·         Sunday night we looked at the restoration of Peter as Jesus asked him three times “Do you love Me?”  Each answer of “Yes Lord” was followed with a direct command to “Feed My sheep.”  Our love for the Lord will bring about our yielding to His will and our obedience to His commands.  In other words, our true love for God should change our lives 

John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.

 

John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.

·         Paul instructs on many various subjects through the end of this letter, but the key to our understanding and applying what we read is doing it all in love because we love the Lord.

·         The topic that spans the next three chapters is eating meat that is offered to idols.  To us this seems to not be an important issue, but in their days it truly was.  Idol worship was very common place and many new converts had been delivered from these practices.  It would not been uncommon at all for meat sold in the marketplace to have been used in a pagan worship ceremony.  Meat served at social events such as weddings likely would be the same.  Let’s see how Paul handles this subject and ties in love.

 

1Co 8:1-3 But concerning the sacrifices to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.  (2)  And if any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.  (3)  But if any one loves God, he has been known of him.

·         Paul wastes no time tying the two together.  He states they all have knowledge of these sacrifices, but that is not all that is needed.  It is love that edifies or builds up.  If we think we know everything, it shows we know nothing

 

1Co 8:4-6 Then concerning the eating of the things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one.  (5)  For though there are those who are called gods, whether in Heaven or in earth (as there are many gods and many lords),  (6)  but there is to us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through Him we live.

·         We know an idol is not a real god, just a creation of man’s imagination.  He then uses this place to make an emphatic statement of what we believe about God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  We are created and live for Him, not vice versa.

 

1Co 8:7 But this knowledge is not in all. But some being aware of the idol eat as an idolatrous sacrifice until now, and their conscience being weak is defiled.

·         A good example of this would be a Jewish Christian’s dilemma of eating pork. He has a new found freedom in Christ, yet it is hard to eat with a clear conscience.  Look at how Paul defined this situation to the Roman church:

Rom 14:23  But, the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin.

·         If your conscience bothers you and you have doubt about if something is right or wrong, don’t do it.  Do only things you believe are right.  We, however, are not to stand in judgement of those who have the freedom to do the act that bothers you.

 

1Co 8:8 But food does not commend us to God. For neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.

·         Rom 14:17  for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

·         The food we eat does not help or hinder our walk with God.  Eating meat offered to idols or not eating it doesn’t affect us spiritually.  God is after our heart.

 

1Co 8:10-13 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol temple, will not the weak one's conscience be lifted up so as to eat things sacrificed to idols?  (11)  And on your knowledge the weak brother will fall, he for whom Christ died.  (12)  And sinning in this way against your brothers, and wounding their conscience, being weak, you sin against Christ.  (13)  Therefore, if food offends my brother, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

·         Here is where love trumps our knowledge and freedom we have in Christ.  We must be aware of things we may have the liberty to do in the Lord, but that other Christians may see as a stumbling block.

·         By willfully doing these things, Paul says we sin against our brother and against Christ.

We are all on a journey that will end when we meet God and answer for the choices we have made in life.  In verse 1, Paul stated that “knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”  Edifies means to build up, help or enable.  Let’s edify each other and not be a hindrance or stumbling block.

 

Lord, may my choices in life not be based on my knowledge, but from my love for You and my brothers and sisters.