Knowing and Being Known
Notes
Transcript
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 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.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 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.
Welcome
What did we do with that 1% of our week
Continuing in 1 Corinthians
We are beginning a new section today as Paul shifts his focus a bit. This section goes from chapter 8 to chapter 10. There are even overtones of what Paul says in these chapters in chapter 11 when he discusses eating at the love feast and at the Lord’s table for communion.
And what Paul does, is build an argument over these chapters that we need to understand all together. Remember, chapters and verses were added way after the New Testament was written. Also remember that this is a letter. Don’t let the chapter breaks or the headings in your Bible make you forget that.
In fact, I encourage you - this week, read these three chapters in one sitting to try to understand them as a unit - because if we don’t understand this as one continuous argument, we will do what so many do and take a verse out of chapter 8 and a verse out of chapter 10 and think that Paul is contradicting himself
But he isn’t. He is talking about the fact that anything we do, we should do for the sake of Christ. And anything less - like, letting any of those things distract us that so often do - that is nothing less than idolatry.
And though Paul is switching gears slightly, what he says is not really a wholesale departure from what he has already been discussing. In the last few weeks, we have seen a few focal points for Paul:
You are uniquely called to use your gifts to glorify God in whatever situation you are in - we will see Paul repeat that in this section.
We are called to serve Christ for His glory without being hindered - especially by the enticements of the world - and we will see Paul address that again in this section.
And through all of that, I have pointed us back to the controlling theme of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: Christ is Lord. We will see Paul address that again today.
Only now, instead of talking about all of this in the context of marriage, which we have been talking about for four weeks, Paul is now going to address this in the context of idolatry.
And whereas I said that his points about marriage may not be specifically relevant to all of us, but that the general principles apply… here, over the next three chapters, I think we will all find some relevance to our particular situation.
So let’s consider today to be our introduction to this section.
And we are going to tie in a lot of what we have already seen in the letter with what Paul says here. Even more, we are going to tie in a lot of the Old Testament, as well as the teaching of the early church to Gentiles.
I’m excited! I love nothing more than exploring how the entire Bible is a unified whole that reveals our God to us! I love to see how God’s plan unfolds in real time, even over the course of thousands of years.
God is good!
So let’s begin. Paul again begins by addressing something else the Corinthians wrote to him.
Now concerning food offered to idols
We have another “now concerning” statement by Paul. He is signalling to the Corinthians that he is moving on to another matter about which they wrote.
And we see that they asked him about food offered to idols. And here, we have a few quotes from the Corinthians, so we can put together what they were saying based on their quotes and on Paul’s response.
So here is what the Corinthians said about food offered to idols.
“all of us possess knowledge.”
And what is it they clam to know?
that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”
So they wrote to Paul about eating food offered to idols and say they possess knowledge - they know - that an idol has no real existence and that there is no God but one.
There is a lot going on here. Because they don’t know what they think they know exactly how they think they know it.
First, let’s understand what this food offered to idols is about. This isn’t talking about partaking in pagan rituals or the worship of other gods. That is clearly wrong for Christians to take part in.
What they are referring to with the food offered to idols is certain food sold in the marketplace.
In most pagan rituals where animal sacrifices were made, some of the meat would be burned on the altar as an offering to a god, and some would be eaten by the offerer there in the temple as part of their worship.
Sound familiar? This is what happened with some of the offerings God commanded of Israel. The animal would be sacrificed, and some of it was burned on the altar, and some of it was eaten by the priests that offered it.
Realize, what God prescribed for Israel was not very different from what the pagans around Israel did in their worship. He just directed Israel’s worship to the proper Person.
And for the Israelites, in those offerings, there was part that was burned unto God, part that was eaten by the offerer, or the priest, and the rest was brought outside the camp and destroyed.
But in many pagan rituals, after the god got his or her part burnt on the altar, and the offerer got his or her part, the rest wasn’t destroyed. It was brought to market to be sold as food.
And Jewish tradition held - rightly - that eating this meat was forbidden because it was made unclean through its association with idols.
This is the “food offered to idols” being referred to here. Meat bought at the store that came from an animal that had been sacrificed to a pagan god.
Second, let’s look at this “all of us possess knowledge.” We will see Paul correct them on this statement in a minute. He will tell them that not everyone is convinced of the same things as those who claimed this. They don’t all share this so-called knowledge.
But when the Corinthians talk about this knowledge that they have, what they really mean, is what Paul already addressed in the previous verse.
This is how the last chapter ended. Paul corrected the Corinthians on what they thought about giving their daughters in marriage, and he says:
And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
We won’t rehash all of this, but the Corinthians believed the Spirit led them in their beliefs regarding marriage, and Paul told them they were wrong. Both in their beliefs, and in their claim that they were Spirit-led.
Well here, when they say:
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.”
...they are saying much the same thing. They claim that they have been given understanding by God.
And Paul has already talked about the fact that once we are made new by God, we can now understand the things of God. So that much is true. But they claim to have knowledge beyond - or as we’ll see, even contrary to - what God has revealed in His Word.
This is sort of an early version of the heresy known as Gnosticism. The name of that heresy, comes from the Greek word used here for “knowledge.” Those who were Gnostics - or “knowers” - believed they were given special knowledge from God.
Knowledge beyond what is revealed in Scripture.
And in many cases, what the Gnostics “knew” was completely contrary to Scripture.
Here, the Corinthians set Paul up for their beliefs about eating food offered to idols by saying, “Paul, it’s okay, we have knowledge from God about this. We know what He wants.”
This is what Paul addresses at the outset of the letter. We talked about this at the time. Paul sets up the letter and some of the main issues he is going to address. After his initial greeting, he says:
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul is going to contest their knowledge here - and in the next section he will contest their speech and their gifts. But remember the main point Paul makes here - Jesus Christ is Lord.
He is Lord. That isn’t just something Christians are supposed to say. We are supposed to live with Christ as Lord. What He says, goes.
And so, note what Paul here ties in knowledge with. The testimony about Christ.
In other words, just like being led by the Spirit, having “knowledge” of Christ and His commands starts with His revealed testimony. Knowledge comes from the Gospel revealed in Christ, and Christ as revealed in the Scriptures.
You want to know God and what He wants from you in any and every situation? You need to know the Bible, and then you need to obey it.
You want to be led by the Spirit? You need to know the Bible, and then you need to obey it.
And if you want to hear God speak - read your Bible out loud...
All that to say, this “knowledge” the Corinthians believed they had was no knowledge at all. Because true knowledge comes from knowing what God has revealed - which culminates with His greatest revelation in Christ, Who is Lord.
Again:
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Paul here challenges this “knowledge” they claim to have.
This is the answer to the Corinthians and the Gnostics they may have been among them: the kind of “knowledge” you’re talking about - that is not derived from what God has revealed - it isn’t knowledge at all.
And all that false knowledge will do, is puff up. It will build you up with pride and a false image of yourself. It will help you judge others. It will help you to rationalize your sin.
But you aren’t called to build yourself up. You are called to build up the Church in love.
And if you think you know something about God apart from what He has revealed, you don’t yet know God as He as revealed Himself.
Forget that kind of “knowledge” - and know God as He has revealed Himself. Seek Him as He has revealed Himself. Love Him as He has revealed Himself.
Because what matters is not what you know, but that you are known by Him.
Paul uses the same word for “knowledge” or “know” six time in three verses. He is shooting down this supposed knowledge of the Corinthians and refocusing them on being known by God.
Isn’t it simply amazing that God knows us? Who are we that God would be mindful of us? That He would look at us as His children?
Yet, we are known by God.
And Paul brings back the idea of love here. He will return to this idea later. But he has already introduced it. Back in chapter 2, we saw Paul compare worldly wisdom and spiritual wisdom. In particular, he talked about how before we are regenerated by the Spirit - before we are known by God in space and time - we can’t know God or understand His Word.
He says that even the powers of darkness - the gods the pagans worship and sacrifice to - did not understand that Christ’s death would mean victory. They lacked knowledge.
He said:
None of the rulers of this age understood [or knew] this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
This quote of the prophet Isaiah is the first time Paul talks about our love for God in the letter. Those who love Him - because we can love Him, because we have been made His children by the Spirit - we can know Him. We can understand what He has revealed.
We can understand Who He is and what He has done, which is so much greater than anything we could have ever imagined!
And the point is that only we can - only those who love God can, because we have the Spirit and now can know Him. Because as we saw:
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
The word here for “understand” is the same word Paul uses six times to talk about knowing in our passage today.
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know [different word] that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Those who love God, we know Him - truly know Him! Because our knowledge of Him comes from Him. In what He has revealed about Himself in Christ the living Word, and in the Bible that is the living Word.
But even more, we are known by Him. This is talking about our salvation. Paul will come back to this in chapter 10.
We are known by God - we are saved by God. And this comes through the Spirit Who has been given to us. Who enables us to know God.
Remember what Paul said - wherever we are, we can glorify God. And why? Because no matter where we are, God is with us. He is ours and we are His!
We know Him. But even better - He knows us.
But once we are known by Him, we are to know Him.
But knowing Him, comes with a warning.
Because the third thing I want us to notice in what the Corinthians say here, is that they believe their “knowledge” is derived from the Scriptures. They thought eating food offered to idols was allowed for Christians because, as they quote:
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.”
This is a great example of proof texting to fit your situation. To believe what you want, so you can do what you want.
Because, in a vacuum, both of these claims are true. They are both well supported by the Old Testament. God through His prophets mocked idolaters time and time again for making idols with their own hands. Carved images that are vain and useless.
Like in the Psalms:
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols
Or as God said through Jeremiah:
The customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. [You can hear the sarcasm!] They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
The physical idols were nothing. They were powerless. They were useless.
Or as the Corinthians said:
we know that “an idol has no real existence,”
But they took that simple fact a step further and said: “An idol has no real existence, so what’s the big deal if we eat meat offered to these things that are utterly irrelevant and are really nothing?”
“Especially when we know the One true God.”
They said:
we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”
This last part can be pulled right from the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
We see here what the Corinthians are saying. There is one YHWH God. He is the only true God.
And we also see that Paul pulls in the other part of this in his response - he talked about having love for God, which is the greatest commandment.
But it seems the Corinthians pulled the first part of this out of context.
But there’s more, because often in the Old Testament, these railings against idols are really to show how great God is and how He is the One true God.
Again, Psalm 96:5:
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but YHWH made the heavens.
Idols do nothing, God has done everything.
Or as Jeremiah adds to the prophecy we just looked at:
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” There is none like you, O YHWH; you are great, and your name is great in might.
This is basically what the Corinthians are saying. The idols are nothing, the God we worship is great. That’s true.
But it’s their conclusion Paul takes exception with.
“Idols are nothing, the God we worship is great, so we can eat the food associated with these idols, because it means nothing.”
Well, what do we think of that line of reasoning?
Is this simply a matter of conscience?
Is this about Christian liberty?
Do the Corinthians have a valid argument?
Paul says “no.”
And this is where we have to be so careful. Because we, brothers and sisters, are surrounded by idols. They are everywhere. The world worships millions of them.
Even worse, our hearts, as John Calvin says, are factories of idols. We have the tendency to idolatry within us.
And the important thing I want us to notice here is that the Corinthians are taking Scriptural language, and using it to justify their association with idolatry.
Again, we all need to be careful here, because it is easy to do. You can pick a verse out here and another there and draw conclusions based on them, but if you leave out the whole counsel of God, you are going to make some huge mistakes.
If we don’t know God as He has revealed Himself, we don’t really know God.
So you can’t claim to know you’re right when you contradict God’s revelation. You can’t claim to be led by the Spirit when you ignore any part of what He has breathed out in the Scriptures.
And that’s exactly what the Corinthians were doing.
Let’s put this in their context. Let’s think for a minute about Paul’s journey to plant this troubled church in Corinth. It happened on his second missionary journey, not long before this letter was written.
After his first missionary journey, Paul returns to Jerusalem and along with Barnabas and Peter tells the elders there how God has called the Gentiles along with Israel to faith in Christ.
Pastor James says, “Of course He has - this was predicted in the Old Testament. God is rebuilding the kingdom with both Jews and Gentiles.”
But there were those who still thought the Gentiles had to first become Jewish to be Christians.
So what were the early church leaders to do?
Well, they have a council, and they decide that Gentiles do not have to become Jews or even be circumcised. But there were a few things they had to observe.
And here is the decision. James says:
For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
And as I said, being led by the Spirit is being obedient to the Word of God He has breathed out. And that is exactly what the Jerusalem council was doing.
Because lest anyone think these requirements were arbitrarily chosen, these are actually taught in the Old Testament - they are all in the Torah.
There is in the book of Leviticus what is known as the “Holiness Code” - it is found beginning in Leviticus 17.
In the list of commands in that section, there are three commands where God says specifically tells Israel that they apply to them, and “to the stranger who sojourns among you.”
What are those three commands?
Abstain from sexual immorality - and among the examples given there is a the example of a man sleeping with his step-mother.
Second, abstain from eating blood - which traditionally meant you could not eat anything strangled to death. Why? Because you had to kill the animal through cutting while its heart was still beating so the blood would drain out.
Finally, the stranger who sojourns with the Israelites was to abstain from all forms of idolatry. This is actually the first command of the Holiness Code:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people. This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the Lord, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. And the priest shall throw the blood on the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations. “And you shall say to them, Any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, that man shall be cut off from his people.
Idolatry is forbidden, and any sacrifice made as an offering that is not sacrificed to YHWH is forbidden.
In other words, no food offered to idols.
I find it so amazing how God’s plan for Israel and the nations is fulfilled in the church where Gentiles are brought in and the dividing wall is taken down.
Because the Apostles looked at this and realized that we who are Gentile believers, are the sojourners among believing Israelites.
This is what the Jerusalem council believed, which is why they said that the Holy Spirit led them to place these requirements on the Gentile believers. Because God said in the Old Testament specifically that these apply to people like us.
And Paul was part of the council who determined that these must be observed by the Gentiles because God required it of them if they were going to be part of God’s people.
Then Paul takes Silas, starts his second missionary journey, and we read:
As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
Well, right after this, Paul has a vision of a call to go to Macedonia, and winds up in Philippi, then Thessalonica, then Berea, then Athens - all of which are in Greece - and finally he winds up planting a church where? In Corinth.
What do you think he taught the Corinthians? Gentile believers?
What the Holy Spirit already said about these things.
Like, abstain from sexual immorality. Yet here they were, condoning a man’s affair with his step-mother.
Here they were, rationalizing sexual immorality because the physical doesn’t matter - food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and all that.
And here they were, saying it was okay to eat food offered to idols.
Because an idol is nothing. Which is true. Because their God is only One true God. Also true.
So what’s the problem?
Well, there was either a misunderstanding of God’s Word because they were picking and choosing little parts. And I see this done all the time.
Or, even worse, they were knowingly misusing Scripture to rationalize doing things their way. And sad to say, I see this done far too often.
So what was the Corinthians misunderstanding or rationalization?
Well, let’s understand the idolatry of the ancient world. Even as far back as the earliest known cultures all the way through Paul’s day.
Ancient people were not as ignorant as we think. They were not ignorant enough to carve an image of an animal or a person, decorate it nicely, and think it was a god. What the idol was, was a place to focus their attention while worshiping their god. It was a representation of their god.
In many cases, people even believed that this man-made piece of wood overlaid with gold that Jeremiah spoke about would be inhabited by their god. They would make the vessel, they would carry it to it’s place, and their god would descend into it.
And they would come to this man-made vessel and worship their god and make offerings to it.
Does that sound familiar? Something made of wood, overlaid with gold, had to be carried around, where a Deity would descend, and it would be the representation of His presence where people would come to sacrifice and worship?
That’s the Ark of the Covenant.
Again, much of what God commanded Israel in their worship was not very different from what the nations around them were doing.
But God’s point was that He is the only true God.
Because He did descend on the Holy of Holies. He was with His people.
YHWH instituted a sacrificial system and a physical place for His presence to be represented, like the pagans believed of their gods.
But He is the God Who had victory over all other gods. He had victory over the God’s of Egypt. He is the God Who had victory time and again over the gods of the Canaanites.
He deposed these gods and showed them Who the true God is.
He is the God Who came to a people He chose - not the other way around. He is the God Who revealed Himself to His people. He came down - He condescended - and gave them His Law to reveal Himself. He came down and led His people in victory to reveal Himself. He came down and spoke to His people, to call them time and time again to be His people.
And He ultimately came as One of us to call all people to Himself.
He is the only true God. As He says in Isaiah 45:
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
There is no other!
Yet the Bible also tells us that there are other gods.
God Himself says that He will have victory over the gods of Egypt. He talks about them like they’re real.
And after the salvation of Israel from Egypt, what does Moses sing?
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
It isn’t just the physical idols that are nothing compared to YHWH. Even the gods they represented were nothing compared to YHWH.
But the point is that there are other gods. Like those Egypt worshiped. Like some of those the Greeks worshiped.
In other words, in many cases, the gods that the pagans worshiped, were real. They were real divine beings - what we might call fallen angels or demons now a days.
They are what the idols the pagans worshiped represented. They didn’t worship the idol, they worshiped the god.
When they sacrificed to the idol, they sacrificed to the god it represented.
So the Corinthians here have it right. There is no big-G God but one.
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.”
But they have it wrong. There are very real small-g gods.
Which is why Paul corrects them. They say an idol is nothing. But Paul explains the whole truth.
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—
There are small-g gods. So-called gods. Impostors.
Since Satan in the Garden, there have been other divine beings that want to be worshiped.
And the pagans worshiped them.
And Paul says, “indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords.’” There are many so-called gods.
“So slow your roll on the idol things, Corinthians. Think about what the food is really offered to.”
And Paul will address this in more detail later in this section, so we’ll save that until we get there.
But the Corinthians say an idol is nothing, and Paul gives them the whole truth - the gods the pagans sacrifice to certainly aren’t nothing.
Then they say they know there is One true God. And Paul again explains the whole truth.
He wants them to really grasp what that means for them, that there is One true God - and that He knows them and they are supposed to know Him.
So Paul says:
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist
There are many gods, but only One God.
And note the “yet for us” - who’s the “us?” It’s the regenerate - it is those who are enabled by the Spirit to understand - to know God and His truth.
It is those known by God and who know Him.
That’s us.
We know there is only One true God!
And compared to our God, the idols of the world - and the gods they represent - really are nothing. Just like in the Old Testament, Paul uses this talk about idols to point to the greatness of our God.
God the Father, from Whom are all things. Everything is His. And because we know Him, we know we exist for Him.
Think how rich this one statement is here. “For Whom we exist.”
Think about what Paul is saying. We exist for God.
This is what he has been saying throughout the whole letter. No matter your situation, no matter who you are, where you come from, how long you have believed, how well you know your Bible - you can and must glorify Him with everything you have and everything you are.
It’s literally why we exist. Why we are what we are.
So doing what the Corinthians are doing - taking what they “know” and rationalizing doing what they want - it’s the wrong way to think. Never mind that they are contradicting Scripture and what Paul explicitly taught them.
Our faith is not about what we can or can’t do.
It is about Who we exist for.
So asking, “can I do this?” is the wrong question. The right question is, “can I do this for God?”
Because remember what Paul has twice said already. If you know God and are known by Him, never forget, it’s because you were bought with a price.
The gods of the pagans may come down into a wooden vessel to be served, but our God - the true God - came down in a vessel of flesh not to be served, but to serve.
The gods of the pagans may demand sacrifices to be appeased. But our God came as the sacrifice that He may be appeased.
That’s why there is none like Him!
That’s why there is no other!
Christ - the true sacrifice - the true place of God’s presence - the true revelation of God - He came that we may know Him and His salvation. But even better, He came as one of us that we may be known by Him.
Known by Him in our humanity. Known by Him in our weakness and our frailty - and even known by Him in suffering in death.
And that is why Paul continues:
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.
There are many gods, but only One God. There are many lords, but only One Lord.
Everything is from the Father, through the Son.
We exist for the Father, through the Son.
This passage was often used by the church fathers to prove the deity of Christ. The Father does nothing without the Son and the Son nothing without the Father. Jesus taught that.
There is One God, and He knows us, and we can know Him, because He revealed Himself to us in the person of Christ Jesus.
It is all through Christ.
He is Lord.
Ah, Paul returns to his main point. There is One Lord, Jesus Christ. It is because of Him we are what we are.
Everything He did, He did to make us what we are.
So all we do is to be for Him and His glory.
So we don’t ask what we may or may not do - we ask “what can I do for Christ?”
And while I don’t think any of us will ever be in a position to eat food that has been offered to a pagan god, we are every day in a position where we have the choice to do what the world does, or do what we do for Christ.
To associate with the idols of the world, or associate ourselves with Christ, even if it costs us something.
So I ask: what do we partake of with the world that we shouldn’t? Idolatry comes in many forms. Some very subtle. Some very easy to rationalize.
Perhaps you realized that this week when it was difficult to devote another 1% of your week to Christ. Or when the whole idea left your mind by Monday morning.
Christian: What is your distraction from Christ?
What obscures the fact that He is Lord? That there is One Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things and through Whom we are what we are - and through Whom we are known by God?
What pulls us from from doing for Christ, to worrying about what we can or can’t do with our Christian liberty?
What is it we think we know, that keeps us from knowing God as we should?
Here is what I challenge us all to do this week:
Find an accountability partner, and through the week, be intentional about finding your distractions from Christ - pray that God would make them clear to you - and all I ask is that you confess your distraction to your partner at the end of the week.
Identify, and confess. Let’s start with that.
That is part of building the church up in love. It is also how we humble ourselves to keep from building ourselves up.
Will you accept the challenge?
And don’t forget the 1% challenge*
