The Balance of Christian Etiquette
Notes
Transcript
Your invited to a meal. As you enter the home, you are given two options for the meal. You may choose one:
The first table contains:
Krispy Kreme donuts
Bowls of M&Ms
Dishes full of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce
Deep fried bacon wrapped hot dogs
Fudges
Chocolate chip cookies
Fried Snickers
Bags of crisps
The second table contains:
Meat
Potatoes
Green beans
Salad
If you sit at the first table, it may taste nice initially, but you know that you’ll regret the choice later with sudden sugar crash and the stomach that churns wondering why you chose all that sugar and fat
The second table will leave you nourished, satisfied, and stronger
Paul has presented a choice of tables here in Chapter 10:
The table of Sin
The table of Righteousness
Exploring 1 Corinthians: An Expository Commentary Part 4: Difficulties in the Church (1 Corinthians 7:1–14:40)
The one was a table of rebellion, the other a table of remembrance. The one was designed to lead astray; the other designed to lead aright. The one was a lewd table; the other was the Lord’s Table. The one was designed to be a snare, a provision for their lusts; the other was designed to be a spur, a provision by the Lord. At the one table there was a repudiation of all the Lord had done for them; at the other there is a recognition of all the Lord has done for us. In the one case the kinsman-redeemer was absent, he was on Mount Sinai accepting a great revelation; in the other case the Kinsman-Redeemer is absent, He is on Mount Zion anticipating a glorious return. The one table was a monument to their infidelity, idolatry, and immorality; the other was a memorial to His Person, passion, and position. They sat down at the one table to eat and drink and rose up to play. We sit down at the other table to eat and drink and rise up to pray. The one table brought the people face to face with judgment; the other table brings us face to face with Jesus.
He brought to attention the issue of eating meat, the liberty we have in Jesus, and then reminds us of the deceitfulness of sin inclusive of idolatry.
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
God wants our heart to sit at His table and enjoy the goodness of the Lord
O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.
Throwing sweets from the top of yellow school buses - Easter Candy Scramble
Thousands and thousands of pieces of sweets
2 types:
Strong would trample the weaker - jump higher, bigger hands, more strength to push through to get the sweets
Considerate of others - they would scramble to get the sweets, but if someone got to the sweet before them then they would not fight for it but go for another piece instead
Wealth - does not speak of monetary wealth, but rather the well-being of others
- Life was not a free-for-all looking out for only himself.
Garden of Eden - so many good choices - great liberty
God has given great liberty in Christ
He has not given us a license to sin
Paul now addresses the balance of Christian etiquette regarding meat offered to idols:
The 2 sides in Corinth were
Eat whatever meat I want wherever I want
Eat only meat not offered to idols or have any connection with idols
Personal Etiquette
Personal Etiquette
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.
Paul stated that when you are going shopping, just buy meat - no questions asked
You need meat? Yes. Does the shop have the meat needed? Yes. Buy the meat.
It truly is that simple.
Paul gives the Bible reason for it.
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.
The whole earth belongs to the Lord.
So what if a pagan priest had laid claim to the meat that eventually showed up in the butcher’s shop?
Does that nullify the superior fact of God’s ownership? Of course not!
Forget the “middle man” as the meat came from our bountiful Lord and that should satisfy the weakest conscience
Public Etiquette
Public Etiquette
Polite invitation
1 Cor 10:27
If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
Unsaved family asks you over for a meal, and you believe God wants you to accept the invitation; then go not asking about where the meat was purchased.
Christmas - mince pie - some choose to put alcohol in it. Paul said, just eat it.
Can’t offend your conscience if you don’t make it an issue
In addition to that, it is someone who does not know Jesus as Saviour and they don’t know why or probably wouldn’t understand why you wouldn’t eat the meat.
It may embarrass them giving cause for them to reject the Gospel from you.
It’s not wrong to have standards, but there is a time and place to for everything.
Ecc 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
That is not the time nor the place
Provoking invitation
Violation of principle
1 Cor 10:28
But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof:
Paul exposes 2 motives
One that is provocative looking to see what this Christian will do with this information
Another that is trying to be sensitive to the conscience of others
Father Chiniquy, in his fascinating book Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, tells of an incident which happened when he was still a zealous Roman priest in Quebec. He and another priest had been to visit a recently bereaved parishioner. The woman asked her priest to say a mass for the soul of her recently departed husband. The priest insisted on being paid for his services; the woman pleaded her extreme poverty. She had nothing. She was too poor to pay. The priest spotted a small piglet and demanded if it was hers. She confessed that it was, but pleaded it was all she had in the world. She counted on feeding it slops so that, when it was grown, she could sell it to help support her bereaved children. The priest was angry and told her that either she give him the piglet or her husband could do without his mass.
Chiniquy was upset by the dialogue but held his tongue. In the end the priest stalked off, the mass unsaid. The woman had her piglet and an anguished heart. Chiniquy had a conscience that accused him of cowardice.
Shortly afterward, he was seated at the table in his colleague’s manse. A number of other priests were guests. Supper that night was a roast of particularly tender pork. Someone congratulated the host on the savory meat, and the priest, laughing, said he had received it for saying mass for the soul of one of his recently departed parishioners. Father Chiniquy looked up. He inquired if it was the piglet about which his colleague had argued with the widow. Laughingly, his host admitted that it was.
Chiniquy put down his knife and fork. He pushed back from the table and rose to his feet. He denounced his colleague for his callousness and heartlessness and declared that his conscience would not permit him to eat meat, however tender, procured by such despicable means. Then he walked out of the room, his conscience appeased and, doubtless, the consciences of all the others who remained sorely stung.
The conscience is at stake!
Reasons to reject
The Lordship of Christ
1 Cor 10:28b
But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof:
Paul now emphasises the Lord of the earth - now the issue has become who is the owner of the earth
The idol
The Lord
One cannot reject the sovereignty of the Lord no matter the outcome
Christmas mince pie - there’s brandy in that
The respect of other’s conscience
1 Cor 10:29-30
Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?
The strong believer, by accepting the invitation to the unbeliever’s feast, may be very well aware that, by so doing, he is not sanctioning idolatry, even if he is bluntly told that the meat was bought from an idol temple. But, if the weak believer supposes that he has sanctioned idolatry by offering this meat, then, to that extent, the strong believer has wounded the weak brother’s conscience.
2 Christians are being asked to the feast, and if one Christian accepts the invitation or portion of meat where the other Christian doesn’t think that he should accept the invitation or eat the portion provided knowing what meat will be served, the weaker brother’s conscience will be offended.
The brings up a valid question though. Vs. 29b - why should my freedom be held ransom by someone else’s conscience?
Just because someone thinks I am doing wrong does not mean that I am doing wrong. We answer to the Lord. It doesn’t seem fair that the strong believer must sacrifice his portion or invitation just because of the weak believer.
1 Cor 8:13
Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Paul said I would rather not eat than hurt my brother.
1 Cor 10:30
For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?
What if I do eat the meat, maybe unknowingly of my brother’s conscience, or he hears that I would normally would eat the meat?
Why would someone speak evil of me, if I eat something for which I am thankful and for which I have given God thanks?
A strong believer puts limits on his liberty. If I am aware of the situation, I’ll respect their conscience, but when we are apart I’ll eat the meat.
Paul says when it comes to personal liberty, we should not be held in judgement for what others may think is wrong. Sometimes Christians hold one another in judgement over personal preferences. Paul called this attitude unfair and unscriptural.
However, he also reminds us in these verses that just because a strong believer is giving thanks for something does not, necessarily, mean that what he is doing is right.
Purposeful Etiquette
Purposeful Etiquette
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Paul gives here the purpose for what we do and how we prefer one another and are careful with other’s conscience
It’s all for the glory of God
Would what I’m doing call into question the glory of God?
Would this wound a believer?
Don’t give a Jew, a Gentile, or the church a reason for offence
Paul’s purpose was to leave the door of opportunity for souls to be saved, and people to continue in discipleship to grow so they may see people saved
Paul said - follow my example on this as I follow Christ
Paul had a big picture when it came to his personal preferences - He did not want it turn anyone away from being saved. Paul enjoyed his walk with God, his Father, and he would put his desires aside so someone would be welcomed into God’s family.
The notorious criminal, Charles Peace, was executed on February 25, 1879. Just before his execution, a Church of England minister halfheartedly read to him from The Consolations of Religion: “Those who die without Christ experience hell, which is the pain of forever dying without the release which death itself can bring.”
Charles stopped the minister and said, “Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”