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1 Corinthians: The Grime and Glory of the Church • Sermon • Submitted
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Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 8
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 8
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
PAUL ACKNOWLEDGES the Corinthians have knowledge
PAUL REVEALS THAT KNOWLEDGE IS NOT ENOUGH
Offers WAYS to pursue that higher good
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
First, what is exactly happening here?
Paul’s words here are again a response to a question that is being asked by the Corinthians…Notice verse 1
“Now concerning food offered to idols:”
Remember, we’ve said that all of these “Now concerning this” and “Now concerning that” are widely believed to be Paul taking the letters that have been written to him by the Corinthian church before this letter he’s writing and going point by point through those letters and answering their concerns.
So, this “Now Concerning” is most likely no different.
For those of you who have been following along in this series, you probably know by now that pagan worship in ancient Corinth was a big deal.
A lot of rituals performed in honor of these false gods, some of these rituals even sexual in nature, but also a lot of rituals of sacrifices and feasts were held in honor of these false gods.
It seems that sometimes the sacrifices were made and then feasts were held in or around the temple using the food that was sacrificed in worship in honor of the false god.
However, other times, the sacrificed meat appeared in the local marketplace to be sold later for just normal cooking and eating.
So, there are multiple layers to this question that Paul is going to be confronting over the course of 3 chapters! (Yes, this question is stretched out and explored from chapter 8-10 because there are so many more important thoughts to explore. Thoughts that reach far deeper than just dietary decisions. These are thoughts about idolatry and faithfulness, thoughts about true wisdom versus accumulated knowledge, thoughts about pride and humility).
Nevertheless as I mentioned there are multiple layers to this question that Paul is dealing with:
(1) Public participation in pagan and idolatrous worship in which the Corinthians were participating in a temple ritual where food is sacrificed to an idol and then used in a feast as a sort of a consummating act of worship to that idol.
What do we do in that situation? And WHY?
Paul is also likely dealing with
(2) Private participation in a meal with unbelievers who have purchased some of the meat that was left over from the Tuesday Temple Steak Night and was later sold in the local markets for just good old fashioned dinners. Try to picture going to somebody’s house for a BBQ and a guy bringing some fresh steaks over from the market on the Wednesday evening after Tuesday Temple Steak Night! Picture him going on and on about the great deal he got on them and when somebody asks, “hey man, did these come from last night’s temple rituals?” the guy looks at the people asking the question, shrugs, and says “How am I supposed to know and why do I care?”
What do we do in that situation? And WHY?
And then lastly, Paul is also likely dealing with
(3) Private participation in a meal with people who are now believers but who have been so impacted by their former indulgence into the idolatrous lifestyle that even though they are now walking with Jesus and have freedom in him, they can’t eat food that even has a hint of being connected to those idolatrous experiences
What do we do in those situations with our believing friends? And WHY?
All of these scenarios are likely on the table in the next 3 chapters with a church who is now saying, “Paul, you told us that ‘we now have freedom in Christ and that what God has declared clean is clean’ and so why does any of this even matter?!’
This is what Paul is seeking to address…So how does he do it?
1. HE ACKNOWLEDGES THEIR KNOWLEDGE
HE ACKNOWLEDGES THEIR KNOWLEDGE
HE ACKNOWLEDGES THEIR KNOWLEDGE
1 Corinthians 8:1a Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.”...
Many people believe that Paul is pulling these words from the thoughts of the Corinthians…maybe they’ve written this in the letters, maybe they’ve been reported back to him, maybe he’s heard them somewhere else, but the point is this...in REFERENCE to the validity of this food being BAD in and of itself, Paul is quoting the Corinthians saying now “WE KNOW” that this food is harmless to us! There is no demon in the Temple Tuesday Steak Night Steaks…they are just great steaks and I love Jesus just like the next guy, I’m just a little hungry and try get a good steak...”
“Thanks to your teaching, Paul, WE NOW KNOW THAT we no longer have to worry about CLEAN AND UNCLEAN foods. We have been set free in Christ!”
Here’s the truth of the matter, they’re right!
In Christ, we are no longer defined by the food we eat…we are not clean or unclean based on the food we eat.
Jesus affirms this truth:
11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
The Apostle Peter affirms this when describing his talk with God in a vision:
8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
And even Paul acknowledges this truth in Romans 14:14
14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
Paul even acknowledges it in this chapter:
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.
Paul acknowledges yes - FOOD doesn’t get you in closer or any further from God. There is no proof that you love Jesus any more or any less based on the diet that you have.
Now that might not be news to some of you but that is absolutely news to many people who hold to dietary laws and restrictions! Many people in Paul’s ancient audience and many people even in our modern day audience would find such a thought deeply offensive but the Corinthians have this RIGHT KNOWLEDGE and Paul ACKNOWLEDGES that KNOWLEDGE.
Here is another truth that Paul acknowledges the Corinthians get right...
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.”
HERE Again, Paul is quoting the Corinthians and acknowledging that now “WE KNOW” that idols have no standing before God and that there is only one God the triune God!
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.
The Corinthians would have been surrounded by people who held to a polytheistic understanding of the world, that there were different gods that held control over different things in the world. One may have reigned sovereign over war and another over peace. One may have reigned sovereign over fertility and another over death. However, the Corinthians have come to realize RIGHTLY that there is only one true God and HE REIGNS SUPREME OVER EVERYTHING.
There is one God who has created all things and through whom all things exist! That is the triune God. The Father, The Son, and The Spirit!
Like the previous truth, many people in Paul’s ancient audience and many people even in our modern day audience would also find this thought deeply offensive but the Corinthians have this RIGHT KNOWLEDGE and Paul ACKNOWLEDGES that KNOWLEDGE.
NOTICE that Paul doesn’t have any big corrections on the facts surrounding this knowledge. No theological quibbles here. No technicalities to correct. From what we read in this passage, it appears that Paul has no major qualms with the DETAILS around the Corinthians knowledge...
So what’s the issue?
KNOWLEDGE IS NOT ENOUGH
KNOWLEDGE IS NOT ENOUGH
1 Corinthians 8:1b (ESV)
...This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
The ESV in an effort to separate this particular knowledge of concerning food offered to idols takes a bit of a liberty here by placing the word “This”. It’s not in most versions of Scripture and I think there is a reason why…(1) That addition is not in the original Greek (2) It’s not the kind of knowledge that’s the issue.
It is knowledge that is severed from love. You see Paul acknowledges their knowledge. The danger isn’t the facts, the danger is that there is a certain kind of knowledge accumulation that come be established apart from LOVE and that knowledge more often than not carries INVITES PRIDE, DIVISION, and SPIRITUAL ABUSE.
The word phrase “puff up” here means to “inflate one’s own understanding of themselves”…to boost up one’s perception of themselves to themselves.
Knowledge can have the debilitating effect of convincing you that just because your right, your voice is the only voice that matters in a room.
It’s not that knowledge is a bad thing, but when removed from love it becomes a dangerous thing...
Knowledge truly is power but it can be a dangerous power...
But what makes it dangerous?
When it is divorced from a bonafide love for others...
As one of the early church fathers puts it, “when [knowledge] is without love, it lifts men up to absolute arrogance”
Knowledge carries the power to free others but when it operates without love, it will only pursue the freedom of its possessor EVEN at the cost of the bondage of others.
Knowledge carries the power to build up others but when it operates without love, it will only pursue the building up of its possessor EVEN at the cost of the tearing down of others.
This view of knowledge however is not only dangerous, it is also pervasive...
Without even realizing it, we’ve adopted popular sentiments from our culture and implanted them into our Christian doctrine and attitudes toward others...
More and more I’m seeing Christians gleefully co-op language like
“Facts don’t care about your feelings.”
or
“Baby, I’m just telling you what God loves…the truth”
Saints, “facts may not care about your feelings but LOVE actually does.”
Saints, “God does in fact love the truth, but you know what he loves even more…“the truth drenched in love”, “the truth robed in grace”...
Listen to Paul’s words in verse 2-3 as he shows us the value of love...
2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
Here’s Paul’s point. You can have knowledge and still be ignorant and if that knowledge only leads to selfishness and arrogance. To embrace knowledge, even BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE apart from love is to to have a suppressed understanding of who God is and what God has called us to!
Remember Jesus words, The DOUBLE CALL to LOVE...
Love God with everything you have, Love Your Neighbor as yourself ON THESE TWO HANG ALL THE LAW AND HANG ALL THE PROPHETS!
We walk in godly wisdom and godly knowledge only when KNOWLEDGE leads us to deeper love, deeper humility, deeper sacrifice...
I love what Paul says next in verse 3
3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Here Paul makes this bold contrast...
There are some of you who concentrate more on what you know rather who you love.
But that wrong emphasis can create this very sobering reality…we can known a lot by God but if we are void of love for God and love for others we will lack the greatest knowledge of all…GOD KNOWING US!
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Some of us have been fooled into thinking that wisdom is all facts, all content, but facts that lead to selfish ambition in our hearts is earthly wisdom, unspiritual wisdom, even demonic wisdom...
True wisdom is not just content, it is posture, it is attitude, it is desire for others good.
So pursue knowledge SAINTS but not as a weapon to beat down your brothers and sisters. Pursue to use knowledge in a way that is shaped by love and leads to your brothers and sisters encouragement in the Lord.
There is one more value that Paul wants to bring under the value of love.
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. 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?
Here Paul is taking on the value of FREEDOM now against love...
Why? Because love is not just content with its freedom while others remain bound. Love is not content with being at peace at the expense of others in misery. Love moves from the comfort of exercising my own rights at the expense of others to the sacrificing of those same rights for the sake of others?
APPLICATION: What are freedoms/rights are you currently holding on to based on your collected knowledge that may bring you pleasure, may bring your delight, may bring you happiness but leads to the stumbling or discouragement of your brothers.
CAVEAT: Before I go any further, I do want to offer this caveat: there is a saying that can at times be true, MISERY love company! Meaning, some people will always find something in you to be offended by. Typically, those people aren't known by their posture of weakness and humility in their walk with Christ but their arrogance.
They're not known by their posture of learning but from a posture that they know it all. They leave people frustrated in their nitpicking of what feels like every action that they don't 100% approve of and agree with.
These are the people that you cannot sacrifice your rights enough for. They will keep correcting, will keep objecting, and will keep critiquing. We must love these people as well, but we have to be careful not to be subject to all of their criticism.
Here is the danger in pursuing rights and freedom over our love from our brothers...
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.
In showing contempt for a brother who is stumbling through the idolatry of their past, we are participating in a form of idolatry in the present.
- In that moment, we love our food more than we love our brother or sister...
- In that moment, we love our right to a thing more than we love our brother...
- In that moment, we love our freedom more than we love our brother or sister...
- In that moment, we love ourselves more than our brother or sister...
However, since CHRIST also died for your brother and sister and according to Paul, we SIN against Christ when we sin against our brothers and sisters, WHENEVER we exercise our freedoms in a way that will lead to the stumbling of our brothers and sisters, we are not only putting ourselves, our rights, and our freedoms before them; we're putting them before the Savior who died for them...
How can we grow more in our commitment to love over freedom and love over knowledge?
How can we grow more in our commitment to love over freedom and love over knowledge?
Look to Jesus?
Jesus' love of us TRUMPED HIS KNOWLEDGE and Jesus' love of us TRUMPED THE EXERCISING of HIS RIGHTS
Jesus had perfect knowledge of us...knowledge that we were sinful and fallen in every way imaginable, knowledge that instead of grace and mercy with absolutely allegiance, we would constantly stray from his perfect will and choose our own way even when that way lead to more pain and heartache for us
However, instead of acting on that knowledge and exercising his rights to all the comforts of his heavenly Kingdom and exercising His right to judge us with eternal wrath in hell. He emptied himself, took the form of servant, became poor, and took our punishment on the cross in order that we might be set free.
Jesus knows what it means to choose love over the exercising of his rights because he did it for you and for me.
So every time we tempted to chose ourselves over other, we can look to Jesus and find a reason to sacrifice our freedom for love.
The first question I should ask when deciding rather to give up my rights, to give up my enjoyment to give up my comfort for another should not be "why would I give up my rights for this person?". No, the first question should be "How could Christ give up his rights for me!"
As the hymn is sung!!!
HYMN: "He left His Father's throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race;
'Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me."
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!
This is what Paul has in mind when he speaks in verse 13
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
I have decided to stick with love for hate is to great of a burden to bear...