1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 - All to the Glory of God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of 1 Corinthians.
We will begin reading in verse 23.
The end of chapter 10 marks the end of a three chapter argument that Paul has been making on the matter of Christians in Corinth eating food that has been sacrificed to idols.
The Corinthian church is experiencing disunity over this issue.
Some say, “we are free in Christ to eat whatever we want.”
“An idol is not really a god, so why not eat the food that was sacrificed to idols,”
“why not go to the temple feasts with friends and family, when we know the gods are fake anyway.”
Now, perhaps it would be helpful just to briefly outline some affirmations and denials from Paul’s argument thus far:
Paul agrees that an idol is not really a god.
Paul agrees that it is not necessarily a sin to eat food that had been previously sacrificed to an idol.
The food itself does not take on some kind of mystical harmful form.
Paul does not agree however that Christians should eat any kind of food if it creates division in the church, and causes others to stumble.
Christians should be willing to sacrifice their preferences for the unity and mission of the church.
Paul does not agree that Christians should partake in the feasts and festivals that are actually held at temples to false gods.
Christians can’t go to the temple of a false god and share a meal without condoning and participating in the demonic practice of idol worship.
Now in verses 23-33 Paul speaks to more specific situations that could arise, and he concludes by re-articulating primary principles that should guide a Christians thinking in every decision and circumstance.
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Lets Pray
Though the debate over food sacrificed to idols is not one of our modern concerns…, the principles here are beautifully practical.
The principles here represent marks of Christian maturity.
Paul reasons through this from the firm foundations of his faith in God’s purpose for our lives.
We Christians are living for something that is most ultimate. .
We are living for something eternal.
We are living for something meaningful and important.
We believe God has a purpose for the created world, and
we believe God has a purpose for us.
And that purpose influences how we process every decision.
God’s ultimate purpose for the world and for us should be the filter through which we pass every aspect of our lives From where we live, to what job we work, even down to what food we eat, and what invitations we accept.
This morning we are going to see several filters through which we should process decisions and situations, and I am going to present those filters by way of five questions.
We are going to let Paul’s argument provoke five different questions that we should ask of ourselves when considering what to do big or small.
Whether it be a consideration of whether we should say that sentence in a conversation, or as big as whether we should move our lives to another country.
So let’s begin again in verse 23.
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
Paul has already made this point that it is not inherently sinful to eat a particular kind of food Even if it has been previously sacrificed to idols.
This kind of food would have been everywhere in ancient Corinth.
It would have been hard to avoid and hard to determine which food in the market place was sacrificed to an idol and which wasn’t.
The Corinthians are making this point…. “All things are lawful”
That’s their slogan.
They are arguing that they are free to do what they please when they please because there are no food laws for the Christian.
Paul agrees that it is technically lawful to eat what you please.
But Paul argues not all things are helpful.
Not all things build others up.
We operate with different priorities as Christians.
We are not concerned only with what we are allowed to do, we are concerned with what we are called by God to do.
We are not concerned with exhausting all our Christian freedoms, we are concerned with pouring out our lives as servants of God an others.
We aren’t just trying to live our lives lawfully, we are trying to live our lives wisely, and effectively For the kingdom of God.
We want to love like Christ loved, and we want to put others before ourselves in all things.
We want to seek the good of our neighbor more than we want to eat whatever we want.
This is simply a repetition of the argument Paul has made already.
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
So here is the question we should ask ourselves in regard to any of our actions or decisions.
Question #1 Does This Build Up or Tear Down?
Question #1 Does This Build Up or Tear Down?
As far as Paul is concerned this motivation should dominate our ethical code.
It should be a filter through which we pass everything.
It is what Jesus himself highlights as the most important commandment:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love for neighbor is expressed by our intentional building someone up, rather than tearing someone down.
Consider your life.
Consider your decision making processes.
What gets put in the place of highest priority?
Your own preferences?
Your own comforts?
Your own reputation?
Your own way of life?
Or do you have ever on your mind the spiritual progress and well being of other people?
There are a lot of things you are freed to do in the Christian life.
There are a lot of things you can busy yourself with.
But Paul says this is primary…. The building up of others in love.
In Ephesians, Paul describes this as the very essence of Christian ministry.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
This should be the filter which you pass through everything even your words.
Mature Christians guard their mouths in this way.
Before they speak they have an internal check… will this sentence serve to build others up or tear others down?
One old Scottish theologian writes this in regard to our tendency toward tearing others down in criticism.
“The natural man loves to find fault; it gives him at the cheapest rate the comfortable feeling of superiority” - James Denny
How much of your day, or week, or year, is spent thinking, planing, strategizing, sacrificing for, the building up of others?
How much time do you spend actively putting down others to stroke your cheep feeling of superiority?
Question #1 Does This Build Others Up or Tear Others Down?
Now to question #2
Question #2 Does This Express Gratitude?
Question #2 Does This Express Gratitude?
25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
So Paul recognizes that it is difficult to grocery shop in Corinth without buying food that has been sacrificed to idols.
And Paul basically says just eat it In thankfulness as long as no one is offended.
Don’t ask any questions about where it came from.
No one is going to be offended, no one is going to think your participating in idol worship. You are free to eat Whatever you want from the market place.
That’s not the same thing as eating in the temple With the pagans as an act of worship
And he quotes from Psalm 24:1
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
This Psalm was often cited as the reason for which the Jews said a prayer of thanksgiving during every meal.
They wanted to acknowledge that all of their food was a gift from the one true God.
He is the ultimate provider of all good things including good things to eat.
So Paul recognizes that
a.) It’s not sinful to eat stuff that comes from the market
And
b.) Any food we eat is provided from the one true God for which we should give thanks.
so there are moments where eating food from the market place is not that big of a deal even if it had been sacrificed to idols As long as its not tearing down someone else.
Christians could purchase meat from there without asking any questions and no one was going to think they were participating in idolatry.
So no direct disobedience there as long as they express their gratitude to the one true God For his provision.
its an interesting side note, that Paul encourages gratitude in the midst of this argument, but its a sensible one.
The Corinthian problem has consistently been their own arrogance, and their own disregard for other people. Those tendencies pair perfectly with a heart of ingratitude.
When you are truly thankful for the grace of God in your life, you are humbled, and you tend to be more gracious with others...
When you feel deeply in your own soul that you do not deserve the food you eat, or the salvation you enjoy… you will find yourself extending undeserved mercy and grace to other sinners, just as you have received it from God himself.
ingratitude and disobedience tend to work together
just as
gratitude and joyful grace-giving tend to work together.
So we should ask ourselves…
#2 Does This action, or sentence, or decision Express Gratitude To my God?
1 Corinthians 10:27–29a (ESV)
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his…
Now, I want you to notice an assumption that Paul is making about the Christian life that would have been radical especially to Jews.
He writes, “If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner.”
Paul assumes that you Christian will live your life in such a way that you WILL get invited by Non-Christians into their homes to enjoy a meal with them.
Paul is assuming that you Christian will be intentionally developing meaningful relationships with non-Christians for the purpose of sharing the good news of Jesus with them.
For Paul, that is just normal Christian living.
Thats what we do.
We do what Jesus did.
Jesus ate at the table with tax collectors, and fisherman, and adulterers In their homes..
He met with them, he built relationships with them, he stewarded the opportunities to teach them the truth of his word.
And because of this lifestyle evangelism that Paul expected the Corinthians to be carrying out…, Paul expected them to be put into some awkward situations.
They may have to eat meat sacrificed to idols In the home of a pagan idol-worshipping person.
In this very specific scenario, Paul’s instruction is to just eat what they put before you without raising question.
But, if they say something about it being offered to a false god, then you should abstain from eating it so as to set yourself apart and maintain your witness as a worshipper of the true God.
The issue is your witness as a Christian, not whether you eat the wrong thing.
And Paul says you do this for their sake not yours.
You do this so that they can see your devotion is to the true God
Paul offers his commentary on this perspective in verse 33.
just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.
Pauls aim is that many might be saved.
This is his priority in all things, and this should be our priority as well.
here is a question we can ask When faced with a life decision.. .
Question #3 Does This Help or Hinder Evangelism?
Question #3 Does This Help or Hinder Evangelism?
I may have freedom to do this thing or to not do this thing and it not be sin…,
but does this thing aid in my gospel witness to others
OR does this thing have the potential of damaging my gospel witness to others?
For the Christian, our eternal priorities always, always, always triumph over our temporal priorities.
This is not always easy.
In fact this is often very difficult.
The Bible says that walking through life with these priorities requires a daily dying to self.
It requires what the Bible calls a crucifixion of our flesh, a daily picking up our cross, a regular renewal of our minds.
To live life like this is to follow after Jesus’ foot steps who for the love of sinners sacrificed himself.
Thus when we are faced with any decision small or large, we ask ourselves, “Does this help my evangelism, or does this hinder it?”
And that sometimes means sacrificing preferences not for he sake of our own conscience but for the sake of others.
Imagine a decision you have to make between two jobs.
Both are good jobs.
Neither option would be sinful.
One job pays more, but it has you working on Sundays, and its really got you working away from people making it hard to evangelize anyone in your day to day work life.
The other job pays less, but you have Sundays off so you can worship with church family, and it will put you in a good position to build relationships, make disciples, and share Jesus with co-workers.
The Christian should be weighing all of this Through a spiritual lens.
Is it sin to choose one job over another, not necessarily, but one of our goals in life that will have eternal effects is how we spend our live for the evangelization of other people.
So it is good and right for us to ask questions like, “Does this help my evangelism or does this hinder it?
Paul recaps now with a couple rhetorical questions.
29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
I think the best way to read those questions is to read them rhetorically assuming that the next sentence actually answers the questions
Why sacrifice our liberties for the sake of someone else’s conscience?
In part, we would do that for the sake of evangelism.
We want people to go to heaven, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to show them that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
but its more than just that.
There is something even more foundational than our desire to lead people to heaven…, and it’s our desire to glorify our God.
Verse 31 is one of those verses that I think every Christian should commit to memory.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Question #4 Does This Make Much of God or Self?
Question #4 Does This Make Much of God or Self?
In other words, when faced with a decision, what action makes God look most glorious.
What reflects his value and worth above all things?
What shows the world how precious your God is to you?
What reflects his character and attributes?
What helps others see Jesus in you?
What helps them to see that the gospel message has transformed you?
There is a way to enjoy a good meal that gives God all the glory.
There is a way to make and spend money that magnifies your primary and undivided devotion to the Lord.
There is a way to pursue a spouse while trusting the sovereignty of God so that you show God to be trustworthy and good.
There is a way to disagree with someone that showcases the patience, and loving kindness of our Heavenly Father.
Our goal in the Christian life is to pass literally everything we do and say through this filter…
Does it glorify the God whom I love?
Does it Make Much of God or does it Make Much of Me?
Paul calls this a kind of living that is worthy of God.
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
We want to live and think and act in ways that reflect the worthiness of our God and the greatness of our salvation.
Be careful, Satan likes to blur those lines.
He likes to subtly and slowly shift your priorities.
What once was a desire to make much of God, can slowly fade into a desire to make much of me.
It happens to all of us.
It happens to pastors and preachers of his word.
Remember what Paul said earlier in chapter 10.
12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
we can check ourselves by asking the question and praying for God to help us answer the question..
Am I bringing Glory to God through this or am i prioritizing the glory of self?
This is how Paul wants the Corinthians to think through things.
This is how Paul thinks through things.
In fact, Paul’s final word to them in this argument is actually in verse 1 of chapter 11… and it provides us with one more question to process through.
at the end of this long three chapter argument, Paul makes this big statement:
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Paul understands himself to be following after Christ’s example so closely, that he is confident that if the Corinthians would follow his example, they would also be following Christ’s example.
Paul wanted to live his life in such a way, that when people looked at him, talked with him, and followed him, they would find themselves following the path of Christ himself.
This is the final question we should ask ourselves when considering a particular decision or life direction.
Question #5 Would I Want My Loved Ones to Follow My Example?
Question #5 Would I Want My Loved Ones to Follow My Example?
this is huge.
And it tends to be a crisis that people have or at least should have especially when they have children.
We parents should always be asking… would I want my child to talk like this?
Would I want them to process decisions like this?
Would I want them to spend money like this?
Would I want them to watch this or listen to this or be entertained by this?
Because the reality of the matter is, our children are watching us.
They are imitating us.
They are picking up by our example more than what they are picking up by our instruction.
They are watching how much we are on our cell phones.
They are watching how we speak to our spouse.
They are watching how we speak about others.
And they are internalizing and imitating.
That’s parenthood, but thats also discipleship.
Christ has called us to make disciples of all nations…
When Jesus made disciples he did not just teach things to people…,
he invited other people to follow him.…
to live life with him…
to eat meals with him…
to go on trips with him.
Everyone of us is called to make disciples who make disciples.
WE are called to invite others to follow us as we follow Jesus.
Therefore, we should always be asking, would I want someone else I am discipling to do what I am doing the way I am doing it?
Maybe you remember the bracelets that said W.W.J.D. - What would Jesus do?
Those bracelets were meant to be reminders that our aim is to follow after the footsteps of Jesus
But our motivation is two fold….
We ask what would Jesus Do?
And we ask what will my children do if they follow my example?
Let me ask this, if every one of our church members followed the Lord the way that you follow the Lord, what would our church be like?
What would be our churches weaknesses and down falls?
Would we have any money in the budget because of the churches generosity?
Would we have any one serving behind the scenes?
Would we ever see anyone evangelized or discipled?
Would there even be consistent attendance to our worship gatherings?
Would visitors feel welcomed?
Church lets be ambitious to glorify God in every thing we do,
lets be ambitious to live lives in such a way that we could gladly say to someone else,
be imitators of me as I imitate Christ.
Five questions that can act as filters for our decision making.
#1 Does This Build Up or Tear Down?
#2 Does This Express Gratitude or Ingratitude?
#3 Does This Help or Hinder Evangelism?
#4 Does This Make Much of God or Self?
#5 Would I Want My Loved Ones to Follow My Example?
Now, if you are a non-Christian in the room all this might sound crazy.
I want to clarify something.
Paul is encouraging us Christians to live this way not because we want to earn God’s favor.
We don’t believe we have to earn our way to heaven by the way we live our lives.
He is encouraging us to live this way, because if the message of the gospel is true, it is worth it.
We want to live this way, because of what God has freely done for us.
We are sinners deserving of judgment, but God has shown grace on us.
He sent Jesus to Take the punishment for sinners.
And by his grace he forgave us of all our sin when turned and believed in him.
Its the best news in the world, and we think its worth giving our lives to tell other people that news.
So we encourage you today, trust God with your life, trust Jesus who died for you, and live with us for something eternal.
Lets pray and respond.