The Stumbling Block

Intro

Over the next 6 weeks, I will be speaking about 5 issues that are nearest and dearest to my heart and ministry. I will save Mother’s Day for our mothers and spare us all on that day. But these five issues, I believe, are integral to our own faith, and even bigger than that, are - I believe - absolute necessities if we are to help others find the God who died for them too.

Not to mention heal as a nation. As a world! So as we tackle these subjects each week, I pray that you join me in exposing your soul so that God can convict and direct as He leads.

Listen, I get it. Some people disagree with me socially, and theologically - I get it. I can see the boredom sometimes in your eyes, and can relate. I’ve been there. I am sometimes there when I am speaking too. But that doesn’t negate the truth of scripture. My disagreement with something is never a cause to ignore and write off out of hand. All scripture is God breathed, right? Suitable for teaching, encouraging, rebuking. And all servants are God-breathed too! Suitable to listen to, and to glean truth from, even when we might not disagree.

So I hope that for the last 6 weeks we can join together to see what God will do with our hearts and lives if we just give it to Him.

And that starts today with our scripture. But rather than read it all and speak about it, I want to set it up contextually and then read through it and talk about it in chunks.

So go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter 8 after we pray for our sermon time.

Pray.

History [pic of corinth on map]

You can’t really start talking about context without putting a face to a name. In this case, a place to a map. So to do that, we have to know that Corinth was a major metropolitan city in the time of Paul.

It was a city of around 90000 people at its peak. It is the connector between the Peloponnese and mainland Greece. It was a country that before Christians came around would have been totally poly-theistic - that is that they worshipped multiple Gods.

There was, in fact, a God for almost everything! And as an act of worship, people built temples and offered sacrifices, from money to stuff to food.

Now why does this matter? Well it matters because the things offered to those Gods were sometimes repurposed for public consumption and use! From money, to stuff, to food! The people that ran the temples would sell those things to make money to keep the temples going.

But perhaps a larger point here, is that these temples, and their interactions with society at large, were FULLY intertwined with the regular functioning of society there in Corinth. If you wanted bread, lets say, you had to either make it at home - which at the time was a little more difficult than it is now - or buy it at the market.

No big deal, right?

Well it isn’t, to us that is, but to them it mean buying bread, or whatever else, that had been offered to a little “g” god.

[Paul writing]

And that is where we meet this text. Paul had gotten word that there was some discussion, maybe even rigorous debate, about people eating meat sacrificed to other gods.

And before I get going, I want to point out a truth about scripture. This is about meat. But it could be about bread. It could be about a good many things offered to other “gods”. But Paul is using the example both literally and figuratively. When we get stuck in literalism only, we COMPLETELY negate the prophetic power of scripture. So in short, literalism is the path to a single meaning at a single time. And thus negates our even discussing it.

Back to the point, here. Paul sees the issue more broadly and offers then for them and us, a primer on how to handle ourselves when faced with decisions that affect others.

And as Andy Griffith says, “hold her right there before she jumps.” This is the figurative part, church. WE face decisions every day that affect others. We have habits, hold positions, stand up for causes, champion our idols that we follow and wave banners for, we do things every day that profoundly affect the world around us.

I have, for my entire ministry, preached and taught about the “nones.” A group of people who are either leaving the faith, or who permanently have none. This number has been on the rise that entire time - but not just among young people. Among the greatest generation, Baby Boomers, and the older generations more broadly.

The retention rate of the faithful - the percentage of practicers who will continue on their entire lives - is now 55%.

Let that sink in for a minute. Only half. That should, I think, bolster the argument from Paul that we are about to encounter! One in which we should all find challenge and hope.

One last note before this text. It comes on the heels in this letter of Paul directing us all to live our own lives - which is something we will cover as a setup for another sermon in this series. But I would offer the verse from the 7th chapter; “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to them, and to which God has called them.”

1 Corinthians 8:1–3 ESV

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.

1 Cor 8:1-3

But to our text. [read]

Knowledge=experience=faith

It all puffs up!

It makes us think we know something secret, something hidden sometimes. And worse, it gives us the idea that those with this knowledge are somehow superior, or more deserving.

In the context of this letter, we can only surmise that the believers who wrote were arguing that there was no problem with eating food offered to idols because they “knew” or had knowledge that there was only one God! So if they know those idols are fake, what’s the big deal?

It is the old good lick with a crooked stick moment.

I mean what is the harm in doing or supporting things that fall outside of the spectrum of loving God and loving Neighbor? What is the harm in selling our morals and the very fruits of God’s spirit for a little bit of power?

Well, in short, according to Paul, everything.

And to that, I would add, just ask the nones what the harm is.

So Paul is offering that our knowledge of a certain thing being no big deal puffs us up, and thereby diminishes others. If we think we know something, he offers, then we don’t really know anything!

That goes for us to, you know! I am not the ultimate authority! Neither are you! We know almost nothing of God, truth be told. That is why He pares everything down in such a way as to make it simple for us! The fruits of the Spirit. Loving others. “JUST DO THAT!” He tells us.

That is the point of listening to others even when we don’t want to or think we won’t agree with them. Truth can still be found.

1 Corinthians 8:4–6 ESV

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.

4-6

This is the heart of their complaint. And for us, it should be a reflective point. I mean, we don’t eat food sacrificed to idols. We don’t have to worry about that sort of stuff. So what can this text mean for us?

Well, taken on the whole, what Paul is getting at is a very universal theme. The Corinthian argument was that there was no harm to do this thing, because it satisfied them and they knew that God wasn’t really offended by something like that.

And we need to apply that to our lives too.

We all do things every single day that serve us and - in our opinion at least - shouldn’t have any ill affect on others or God. In fact, socially, we sometimes find that those things fall in line with those around us. So what’s the harm? We can’t all be wrong, right?

Again, according to the nones, yes we can all be wrong.

Which brings us to the point of all this for Paul.

1 Corinthians 8:7–13 ESV

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. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 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? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

7-13

“Take care that this right does not become a stumbling block for the weak.”

I hope you center on that text this week. That is the entire point of this text. Of its inclusion in scripture and in our lives.

Sure you can have a position or a habit or a theological take - but the minute it becomes a stumbling block to others we must make changes to correct it!

Now this can’t go without saying. We live in a culture of micro-offense. Everything, even the words I am saying today, is considered offensive to some. And lest you think I am falling on one side of any social or political isle, every side is guilty of this.

I am not speaking of all things that cause micro-offense - although as a side note we have to stop it. And stopping it means that Christians stop it first by the way.

So this isn’t about little things we do, this is about broader theological issues. Things that would separate others from God if we let them grow in us.

And that point can’t be overstated. Because, I believe, our focus in faith has shifted over my lifetime from one of personal application to one of corporate satisfaction.

That is to say, there was once a time when we would belong to a body as a family regardless of our differences. Whereas now we separate the sheeps from the goats, at least in our minds, with our church and even religious identity.

We have become a people that would GLADLY put up a stumbling block rather than build a bridge.

I think we all need to hear this clearly, church; when we exclude others. When we act as if God is only our God because of some carefully chosen texts. When we look at others as unworthy of sacrifice, or unworthy of care, or just plain unworthy - we are looking through unchristian glasses. Worse yet, WE become a stumbling block to them!

[nones]

That is why, I believe, we have such a sharp rise in nones. We have taken those who are searching for something, for faith, for love, for acceptance, and turned them away! We have shouted Bible verses at them and told them to change EVERYTHING about themselves to be accepted by the very God who created them!

WE ARE THE STUMBLING BLOCK!

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Notice here that Paul offers an easy out - just like God would. And I want us to take it to heart, and make it our practice out in the world.

It happens in verse 10, and is easy to pass over because it is told in negative.

“...if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged...to eat food offered to idols?”

Our habits create their reality. Our shortcomings, our affiliations, our social ideas, our public persona - it creates the reality for the young and struggling believer.

So what can we do?

Encourager

Be an encourager. Let them work out their faith in a safe space, not abandon it before they can even understand it! In everything you say publicly, and privately, strive to encourage others like a parent encouraging their children. Offer space for mistakes, for differing belief, for theological dissonance, so that both they AND YOU might continue to grow!

It is like a plant. If you give water to a plant, and just enough light is in the area, a plant will grow. Sure it will bend itself into knots trying to get to the light, but it will - if given enough time and support - make it to the light!

SO TOO IT IS WITH EVERY HUMAN - AND US AS WELL! WE MUST BE THE PLACE WHERE EVERY HUMAN HAS ROOM TO GROW! THIS ISN’T A PLACE FOR PERFECTION, OR EVEN THEOLOGICAL CONSONANCE! THIS IS A PLACE FOR DIFFERENCES AND ADAPTATION! THIS IS A PLACE WERE ALL PEOPLE SHOULD BE WELCOMED WITH NO CONDITION! NO CHANGE REQUIRED! GOD WILL CALL EACH TO THEIR OWN DESTINY! ALL WE ARE TO DO IS TO OFFER TO HIM OUR SOULS AND LIVES, WHILE OFFERING TO OTHERS ROOM TO GROW!

And the best way to do that, is to take away the stumbling blocks. To live so simply, as to best minimize the obstacles to faith presented to others.

So be encouraged in that, and be an encourager. The hope you found in Christ is the hope for another, but their circumstances and views might be vastly different. Give them room.

And for those who are struggling in faith today - I feel your pain. I know your struggle. Give yourself room. Know that there will be mistakes. There will be times when you miss the mark entirely. Keep digging. Keep moving forward. Keep struggling to find God in everything.

You will make it. I promise you, you will. Just ignore the noise and keep moving toward God.

And as you move toward Him, never forget those things that were once difficult, and do your best to make it easier for those who are watching you.

Pray