Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Have you ever wondered what it means to give something glory, more specifically when scripture or a person says give God the Glory?

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the act of giving glory to something as the act of “worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving.”

While this definition helps us understand that us giving God glory is an act of worship, it really stops a little short of the Bible’s meaning.

The Holman Bible Dictionary tries to help give a better context to the Bible’s usage when the writers defines to give God glory as, “‘To give glory’ is to praise, to recognize the importance of another, the weight the other carries in the community.”

What is so cool about this definition is the understanding of the weight the other carries in the community.

Let me ask you a question,

worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving

“To give glory” is to praise, to recognize the importance of another, the weight the other carries in the community.

“Does God have weight in our community?”

Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

(Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).

Let’s go a step further,

“Does God’s Word weigh more than what the world’s suggestions for our lives?”

In large parts of the United States, you would see that the world’s standers have far greater weight than the standards of God.

I will let you decide as we study God’s Word where we fall in Hooks, Texas.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to examine what it means to give God glory.

This week we will be starting with a verse that this ministry holds near and dear to our hearts.

It is .

You can turn there in your Bibles.

Let’s do some set up shall we?

In Corinth, which is where the church or churches are located that Paul is writing too, the people have a big problem in their culture.

Any guess as to what the issue might be?

The sin of idolatry.

It was common practice for the people in the market to sell food that had been sacrificed to idols.

For Jews, to purchase and eat food connected to idolatry would be completely unacceptable.

However, the gentiles would lean more liberal towards this specific matter.

What is important to note is 10:14 where Paul sells all the people,

14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

1 Corinthians 10:14

He warns them to flee from idolatry and in fact tells them in verses 18-21

18 Consider the people of Israel.

Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

19 What am I saying then?

That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

I do not want you to be participants with demons!

21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

Clearly, Paul is telling the people it is best not to eat any food that is sacrificed to idols.

He then quickly transitions to telling the people that all things are permissible but not beneficial nor does everything build up.

Paul, tells the people that it is okay to eat of the food in the market, just don’t ask if it has been sacrificed to idols but if someone tells you it is then do not eat of it for that person’s sake.

Clearly, Paul is telling the people it is best not to eat any food that is sacrificed to idols.

He then quickly transitions to telling the people that all things are permissible but not beneficial nor does everything build up.

Paul, tells the people that it is okay to eat of the food in the market, just don’t ask if it has been sacrificed to idols but if someone tells you it is then do not eat of it for that person’s sake.

It is within this context that we must dive into the verse of this student ministry,

Please stand in the honor of reading God’s Word,

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Let’s pray....

1.

To give God glory, we must abstain from wickedness.

(18)

Paul tells them here in verse 18 that they are participating in idolatry if the eat the sacrifices to these demons.

What does that even mean?

In America, idol sacrifice and rituals are so foreign to us.

What this basically means is that much like the Jews in the Old Testament, these gentiles would offer a sacrifice to their gods in the form of meat offerings.

In fact, today if you go to India or a Hindu temple you will see idols getting baths, food offered to them, and people praying to them.

I know what you are think, Brother Ben, I don’t think we do that today.

To be honest, you are right, we don’t sacrifice or try to feed idols physically, but we do sacrifice ourselves every day to the demons.

I know what you are thinking, how?

We do it with our eyes, actions, and lifestyles.

When we chose to watch a film which has sexual explicit content in it, we praise the immorality idol of this world.

When we make fun of the kid at school, we worship the idolatry of self.

When we give more time to a sport than God’s Word, we worship the pursuit of fame in the name of sports.

When we know every lyric to our favorite musician but cannot quote more than a handful of Bible verses we worship the god of entertainment.

Wickedness is so much more than being a participant, but being a willing observer of the wickedness.

Scripture is so clear on these things,

We must reject any notion of filling our lives with sinful desires along with avoid supporting the ideologies of the world with the things we watch.

For example, the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why is a series which I have not watched, but read reviews and plot centers on the story of a girl who committed suicide.

Centering on these 13 reasons.

Essentially, the show if nothing more encourages immorality and paints suicide as possibly a legitimate option to escape this life.

Let me tell you, first it is a lie.

Suicide is never an option, it only leaves destruction and pain in its wake.

Secondly, the show has vile and ungodly language and visuals.

It is not good to expose yourself to that kind of content.

According to Paul here in this passage, we become participants in the ungodliness of those whom we support.

We encourage the wickedness.

Another important verse in scripture to memorize and apply to your life is

If it dishonors the Lord, we must flee from it with all of who we are.

It is a non-negotiable reaction.

Another verse you all need to remember and hold near to your heart is

Ultimately, we must flee from the appearance of evil to not be found guilty of encouraging others to fall into temptation.

We have seen that To give God glory, we must abstain from wickedness.

We also see that,

2. To give God glory, we must be selfless.

(28-29)

Paul has just finished telling the people to not eat of idol sacrificed food knowingly in verses 14-22.

However, in the next sequence of verses there is a little different message being told.

He tells them that they can eat all the food in the market, simply do not go out of your way to find out if it was sacrificed to idols.

The reason being that,

“

meaning the food belongs to the Lord.

But, Paul tells the people that under no circumstance is it okay to eat when someone tells them that it was sacrificed to idols.

Why would there be a difference?

It was dealing with food.

In order to avoid alienating or hurting the opportunity to witness to the people Paul encouraged them not to seek out if it was sacrificed to idols.

In the circumstance the person told them it was sacrificed to idols, they were to abstain for the sake of winning them to Christ.

We see in many passages of Scripture that ultimately our goal as a Christian is to care about others before ourselves.

All of these are all about God being first and lifted up and us being less or for others needs placed before our own.

There is a true story of a mission a group of people set out to accomplish for the sake of a rule town in Nome Alaska.

Diphtheria a deadly bacteria infection began in a child of six years old.

So the doctor took his immunization shots and gave them to as many children as he could.

It was not long until he ran out.

Thankfully, a team of people with their dogsleds raced against time to travel a 1000 miles to Nenana, Alaska where more medicine was located.