Sermon Tone Analysis

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message.

The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

Up until about 450 years ago, almost everyone believed the earth was the center of the universe.

Although a similar model had been proposed by a Greek astronomer named Aristarchus 18 centuries earlier, it was not until Copernicus published his model in 1573 that the concept of heliocentrism - the idea that sun, and not the earth, was the center of the solar system - became well known.

Fifty years later, Galileo proposed the idea that the other planets also revolved around the sun.

People were so opposed to that idea that they threw him in jail and kicked him out of the church.

Tension

In some ways, things haven’t really changed a whole lot.

Today there are still a lot of people who get upset at the idea that they aren’t the center of the universe.

Unfortunately, that includes a lot of Christians.

Today we are going to be talking about our rights.

We certainly live in a world where there is a big emphasis on my rights, especially here in the United States.

For those of us who are citizens of the United States and well as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, this can be a difficult area for us to navigate.

On one hand we live in a country that was founded upon the idea that citizens are endowed with certain rights and many of those rights are specifically spelled out in our founding documents.

The first ten amendments to our Constitution are known as the “Bill of Rights”.

Like all of you, I am grateful that I live in a country where I have those rights and I certainly don’t want to lose any of them.

On the other hand, however, if you are a disciple of Jesus, you are primarily a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

And in that kingdom, one of the foundational principles is the idea of giving up one’s rights for the sake of others, just as Jesus did for us.

I understand just how hard it can be at times to live in both worlds at the same time and to try and reconcile what are often competing principles.

I am also thankful for the passage that we’ll look at this morning that I think gives us some really practical instruction on how to do that.

Truth

Since we’re wrapping up a sermon series titled “Selfless”, you probably already have an idea where I’m going with this message today, but before you rush to any conclusions, let’s let the Scriptures speak for themselves.

Here is the main idea we’re going to develop this morning:

Insisting on my rights is not always right

I’m going to begin with verse 1 of chapter 11, because it clearly identifies the mindset that we are to have when it comes to our rights.

We need to remember that there were no chapter breaks in Paul’s letter.

So I’m really glad that the ESV and many other modern translations choose to include that verse with the end of chapter 10 since it clearly fits in with that section of Paul’s letter.

There is no doubt that Paul’s command in that verse seems a bit arrogant at first glance.

But if we consider the entire command, we realize that he is only exhorting his readers to imitate him to the extent that his life lines up with that of Jesus.

And once again, we are reminded of Philippians chapter 2, which hopefully at least some of you read this week.

There Paul describes how that Jesus, because of His love for us, willingly gave up His rights in order to come to this earth, take on the body of a man, and die on the cross for our sins.

And he urges us to develop that same kind of mindset which puts the interests of others ahead of our own.

That is essentially the definition of “agape” love.

Here in 1 Corinthians, Paul approaches that same idea from a different angle.

He does that by using an illustration that is not very familiar to us - the idea of eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols.

Today, that’s not really an issue for us.

None of us go down to Fry’s and buy a steak or a rack of baby back ribs and thinks, “I wonder if that meat was sacrificed to another god before it got to the market”.

I’m pretty sure that the USDA makes sure that doesn’t happen anyway.

But the underlying struggle of how to deal with matters of our conscience is certainly just as real for us today as it was in Paul’s day.

It’s just that the issues are different in our culture.

Before we go any further it is critical to point out that Paul is not dealing here with issues that are clearly spelled out in the Bible.

He is instead, tackling the “gray areas” where the Bible doesn’t specifically speak and where we are therefore free to develop our own convictions.

Although I can’t possibly give you a complete list, here are some things that might fall into that category today:

Should a Christian celebrate Halloween?

How about other holiday traditions that might have pagan roots like Christmas trees or Easter eggs or even using the word “Easter”?

Is it OK for a Christian to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes or use marijuana?

Can a Christian wife and mother work outside the home?

Should I get the COVID vaccine?

Or any other vaccine for that matter.

Application

I am going to do my best this morning to make this message as practical as possible.

So in your sermon outline, I’ve given you the same chart that I’m going to put up on the screen right now.

I’m not even going to leave any blanks for you to fill in because I want you to listen carefully and then make whatever notes that will help you understand and apply this.

As we go through the chart, I’m going to bring in parts of today’s passage that will help us further understand how we are to make decisions as disciples of Jesus.

This chart is a tool that all of us can use when we are faced with a question about whether or not we out to engage in some behavior.

The first couple of questions aren’t addressed directly in our passage today, but they are certainly key questions to ask before we even get to the point of asking whether I am going to insist on my rights or not.

As I mentioned just a few minutes ago, Paul is not addressing issues that are clearly spelled out in the Bible.

So the first question I need to ask is: Does the Bible prohibit it?

Hopefully, it should be obvious that if the Bible prohibits a certain behavior, we have our answer.

We shouldn’t do it.

If you’re thinking about marrying an unbeliever, or engaging in pre-marital sex or any other kind of sexual immorality, or stealing or lying, it’s pretty obvious that you aren’t to do any of those things.

And the same is true of sins that we often find more “acceptable” like gossip, or unchecked anger, or lust.

So if the Bible doesn’t address the behavior, then we move onto the second question: Does it violate my conscience?

Although he doesn’t spend a lot of time on this question in our passage, Paul does imply here that we should never violate our conscience.

He also makes it clear here that there is a danger in unnecessarily subjecting some things to your conscience.

He basically says if you go to the house of a pagan to eat dinner, just eat whatever is served and don’t worry about the origin of the meat.

However, if your host were to tell you that this meat came from their sacrifice to a pagan god and made a big deal about that, now it is a matter of conscience and you shouldn’t eat it - not only for your sake, but for the sake of others.

I’m going to come back to that idea a little later.

Let me give you a more current day example.

Let’s say you put up a Christmas tree every year.

And it never occurred to you that at one time decorating a tree like that was part of a pagan ritual.

I am pretty sure that there is nothing in the Bible about putting up a Christmas tree, or even celebrating the birth of Jesus, for that matter.

And there is no reason that putting up a tree violates your conscience.

So you go ahead and put it up.

But what if someone told you that putting up a tree was a pagan practice and you began to research it some more.

Perhaps you would conclude that the practice was originally part of a pagan celebration, but that is not what it means to you today, so it still doesn’t violate your conscience.

Put up the tree.

But what if you did so much research that now you could no longer disassociate the practice of putting up a tree from its pagan origins?

Perhaps in that case, it would violate your conscience so you don’t put up the tree.

But I think now you see why Paul warns against subjecting everything in our lives to such deep investigation that will inevitably cause us to find something that might prick our conscience.

If taken far enough, we could probably find a reason that almost everything we do in life could result in violating our conscience in some way.

So just don’t go out of your way to find ways to cause that to happen.

So far that’s pretty easy, right?

But now we get to the heart of today’s message: Should I exercise my rights?

Remember earlier that I said that what Jesus did for us is a perfect illustration of “agape” love?

It’s important to note that in everything we do our primary motive is always to be love - love for God, love for others, and even a healthy kind of love of self.

And because love always takes priority over my rights, I must often be willing to lay down my rights.

Therefore these next four questions are really just a practical way to determine if the exercise of my rights will hinder my love or will it enhance it?

The first question is: Will it hinder my spiritual growth?

Paul addresses that question in verse 23.

He claims that while all things are lawful - in other words, they don’t violate Scripture - they aren’t all helpful and they don’t all build up.

While we see in the next verse that Paul has in mind how my actions might impact others, I think he also wants me to consider whether my behavior could hinder my own spiritual growth.

Let me give you an example.

I think we would all agree that it is permissible to exercise.

In fact, it is not only permissible, it is good for us.

But there is a guy that goes to the gym where Mary and I go that is there several times a day every day.

I don’t know his situation, so maybe for him that is OK, but I know if I did that, it would take away from the time I have to read and study my Bible, pray and do other things that contribute to my spiritual growth.