Misapplied Theology
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bibles, please open them to 1 Cor 8. We are in our series that we are calling ‘Messy Church.’ In it, we have been going through Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. Now the Corinthian church was arguably the most dysfunctional and messy church that we read about in entire the New Testament, but none the less, they still belonged to the family of God. And because they belonged to God, Paul continually urged them to repent and turn from their sins.
The letter is broken into five main parts, and in each part, Paul addressed a particular sin that were creating a mess in the church.
First he addressed divisions among the Christians
Last week we finished the second section where he called out the Church’s tolerance of sexual immorality
And this week, we begin the third section of Paul’s letter where Paul them to flee from idolatry.
Let’s hear how Paul addressed this problem, and as we do, please stand for the reading of God’s word.
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Let’s pray.
There are many health and wellness products each of which have their own purpose. Now, if you use a product in a way that it is not intended to be used, things might not turn out the way you want them to, or worse, you can even get hurt.
Think about it for a moment:
Two products that our toiletry drawer are tooth paste and face wash…
Now one is meant to clean your teeth, and the other is meant for clean your face...
But I can’t tell you how many times I have nearly loaded my tooth brush with face wash instead of tooth paste.
Sure both of them are in similar white tubes, but they certainly not the same.
Or think about milk shakes and protein shakes… they have similar names, but they are certainly not the same thing. If someone is trying to build muscle, but they decide to drink milk shakes instead of protein shakes after a work out, will that help them get in better shape? You bet it won’t. Protein shakes are meant to help you build muscle mass, while milk shakes are just supposed to taste good. But any weight gain from a milkshake certainly wont make you healthier.
The point is this: If you misapply a good thing, you will not get good results.
Sure face wash is good for your face, but if you use it to clean your teeth.
And milkshakes do taste good, but if you are drinking them expecting them to help you get in shape, you will be sorely disappointed.
When good things are misapplied, the results can be quite bad. The same goes for theology.
First of all, what is theology?
Theology is the study of God
Every time we read our Bibles, we are learning about God, and when we learn about God we are engaging in theology.
When I preach, and you receive the Word as it is preached, we all are engaged in theology as we learn more about God.
You see, theology is good, but when theology is misapplied, the results can be quite bad.
This is what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 8. Remember, the Corinthians prided themselves in their wisdom and knowledge. And the Corinthians certainly did have a lot of knowledge… they even had good theology. But the Corinthians misapplied their theology and it was creating quite a bit of problems in the church including the worship of Idols.
Listen to how Paul puts it:
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Here in v 1, Paul introduced the third problem creating quite the mess in the church. You see, the Corinthians were eating food that was offered to idols.
Now we don’t learn much about this from the text, but it’s important to understand the background to what is going on here. Corinth was a city filled with people who didn’t love or honor the one true God. Instead they worshiped all sorts of other gods, and as a part of their pagan worship, the Corinthians who were not a part of the church would offer animal sacrifices to these false gods.
But their temples in Corinth has another purpose than just a place to make sacrifice to the gods. These temples to false gods doubled as a meat market for the city. So if the Corinthians wanted to eat meat, they needed to go to the temple in order to buy meat that had been offered as a sacrifice to these false gods.
So put a modern take on it… Imagine if you will, if Costco was a business that had to do with idol worship. Would we be able to shop at Costco, or would shopping there be considered idolatry?
What do you think about this, would it be okay to shop at Costco if they did something like this?
This is what the Corinthians were dealing with. And to answer a question like this, the Corinthians used their knowledge of God… that is, they tapped into their theological understanding to try to understand if they were able to eat meat.
This is why Paul when addressing problem doesn’t actually talk about the food right away. Because food wasn’t the major issue in the church. Their problem was their theology that they applied to this issue. So Paul first addressed their knowledge
The Corinthians had this claim, “all of us possess knowledge” but Paul replies to their claim saying, “This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.”
The Corinthians knowledge only filled them with pride! But their decision regarding eating meat was not made with love for God or for their fellow Christians… And their knowledge was certainly not building up the church.
2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Notice the word imagines there in v 2… their so-called knowledge is more an imagined knowledge
In other words, you claim to have all this knowledge, but in your knowledge you are showing that you are in fact ignorant of something… And what they are ignorant of is this:
What is most important isn’t what you know about God… rather want is most important is that you are known by God. And if you are known by God, then you will in turn love God. And this love for God will radically change the way that the Corinthians made decisions about what to do and what not to do.
1. Knowing about God is not the same as being known by God.
1. Knowing about God is not the same as being known by God.
Having the right knowledge of God is the the great counterfeit of salvation.
let me repeat that
Having the right knowledge of God is the the great counterfeit of salvation.
Do you know what I mean by counterfeit?
A counterfeit is a fake and cheap imitation of something genuine and valuable
A knowledge of God, apart from a love for God, is just as effective for one’s salvation as monopoly money is for buying groceries.
Listen, if you have all your doctrinal ducks in a row, but you live just like the rest of the world, then you are not saved.
Even if you have all your doctrinal ducks in a row and you are a moral person, but you do not love God, then you are not saved.
This is why Jesus said,
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Do not think that because you know about God, that God therefore knows you.
Listen, there are people who know a lot about certain celebrities and athletes…
Take Shaquille O'Neal for example.
At 7’1” and weighing well over 300 lbs, the guy is a giant
His shoe size is a 23
He is 49 years old and was born in New Jersey
and we can keep talking about him
We can talk about his NBA career and family and kids…
we can talk about all the different movies he has been in
We can know a lot about Shaq
But that does not mean I know Shaq
Sure, I know about Shaq because of a google search, but if Shaq saw me, he wouldn’t know me from Adam.
So too, we can know a lot about God, but that doesn’t not mean God knows us. And what is far more important than a head knowledge of God is a heart that loves God because we know him and he knows us.
But what if our theology is sound? Does that have any merit?
Listen again to Paul:
4 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.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 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.
This is as theologically sound as it can get.
and the Corinthians had this theology about God, and about Jesus
Here in this doctrinal statement, we see that that there is only one God… just as we learn from Deuteronomy 6
English Standard Version Chapter 6
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Here in this doctrinal statement that the Corinthians knew and affirmed we know that they recognized that these so-called god’s are nothing more than statues made by man just as we learn from the prophet Isaiah
English Standard Version Chapter 46
6 Those who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
then they fall down and worship!
7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.
Here in this doctrinal statement, we see that they believed that Jesus was fully God and was the one who made all things just as we see from the Gospel of John
English Standard Version Chapter 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Here, the Corinthians are seen to have sound doctrine. And since God made all things, and since these so-called gods really are nothing but more than lumps of gold carved by men then it must be good to eat right?
No that’s wrong!
Listen to what Paul says in response to the Corinthians knowledge:
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
Paul continues in v 10
10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
What Paul is saying, is sure they are right in their reasoning behind the food and these false idols. It is created by God, and they are welcome to eat it! But if in their actions, if they cause a fellow Christian to return to worshiping idols then this is not okay. Because idolatry is and will always be sin. And if we in all our knowledge do what is unloving by leading a Christian back to sin, then we are just as guilty of sin as the person sinning.
2. Good theology without love leads to sin.
2. Good theology without love leads to sin.
For the Corinthians, theology without love led to idolatry. But that’s not the only sin that theology without love produces.
Consider this, the Corinthians were filled with pride because of their knowledge of God.
but we ought to know, a true knowledge of God and the gospel does not produce pride. Rather, when we recognize that we nothing more than poor and broken sinners it should produce in us a brokenness over our sins. And when we see that we have been saved only by God’s grace, then we become humble people who’s only boast is in the Lord. A knowledge of the gospel kills our pride.
But good theology apart from love, turns us into bullies who tear down others who lack such knowledge.
Good theology without love forgets that all the law and the prophets are summed up in love
Good theology without love, is not good theology at all.
Hear how Paul elaborates on this
8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
There were some among the Corinthians who thought that their eating this meet proved that they were better Christians with more knowledge. But Paul knows nothing of this.
He says,
“Food will not commend us to God”
You’re great theological knowledge that would permit you to eat this food does not impress God, or somehow make you a stronger Christian than all the rest.
Paul says, “We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.”
Eating this food does not change our status before God. As if somehow, our actions could add to our status as a child of God
Eating food does not make us better, and not eating the food does not make us worse Christians…
But there is something that we must be mindful of:
9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Here’s what I want us to see.
3. Our knowledge of God does not impress God and if our knowledge causes others to sin, then we sin against God.
3. Our knowledge of God does not impress God and if our knowledge causes others to sin, then we sin against God.
Really there are two parts of this to consider.
First of all, our knowledge of God does not impress God.
Consider this; if you think that your knowledge impresses God, how does that fit within what we believe about the gospel?
We know that we are saved by grace, through faith, apart from works. But if we add a robust theological understanding of God as a means of salvation and merit before God, we are just as guilty of watering down the gospel as those who add any kind of works to the gospel. And when the gospel is diluted by anything such as our works, or our knowledge then the gospel simply ceases to be good news.
So if you think that you can impress God, or if you think you add anything to him by all that you have to offer him in all your knowledge, then stop and use your knowledge of God and the gospel to think for a moment. Think about what you must do to be saved.
All you have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
And if you want to add to that, then you have reason to repent, and believe again for you are only saved because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross!
So while our theological knowledge does not impress God… our pride in our knowledge does do something to God. Our pride causes us to sin against God. And while our pride is unimpressive to God at its best, at its worst, our pride causes us to grieve God. Because when we sin, or when we lead another person to sin, we go against the very thing that Jesus died to do. This is what Paul means when he says:
9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Your gospel freedoms and rights do not give you permission to do whatever you want.
Your gospel freedoms were given to you so that you would no longer be bound by sin
And more than that, your gospel freedoms were given to you by the Spirit of God so that you wouldn’t need to carry around the law to try to please God.
Instead, God is pleased with us not because of our work or our knowledge and wisdom, rather God is pleased with us because of Jesus’ perfect righteousness that was given to us by faith!
And while we are free from sin, and free from the law, we do have a new commandment that we are to follow
Jesus taught us this;
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Paul himself tells us this:
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Do you think you are wise? Do you know God? If you do, you will love one another and so fulfil the law.
So, let us love, like Paul loved. Not insisting on our own way, but instead laying down our freedoms and our rights for the good of others so that they too can love God with all their heart soul mind and strength and so that they too can glorify God in all that they do. To this end, let us pray and ask God for help in these ways.