Gray Areas

1 Corinthians 8 NASB95

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

INTRO: How many of you like a good steak? I’ve found that it really does not matter where I am, if I ask around, people will generally point me to a place where you can get the best food at the best price. I know that I can buy probably the best quality steaks at The Fresh Market over in H’ville, and I can count on a higher price. But I can usually find an ok steak at Ingles and the price is a bit better.

About 2000 years ago, if you were in the city of Corinth and you wanted a good steak at a great price, the place to go would be one of the temples where many of the city’s inhabitants would make sacrifices to idols. The regular market sold steak, but it was much higher cost. So, you can imagine that many folks, including Christians would opt for this more economic steak.

This fact actually caused there to be a bit of a disagreement within the church. Why? Well, because we are all at different points in our Christian walk. You see, some of the Christians were more mature and stronger in their faith. They believed that buying meat from an idol-temple was fine because it’s just meat. They knew that eating this meat was not an act of worship to an idol. This was likely the group that wrote the letter to Paul.

But, there were other Christians who believed this was a ‘no-no’. These were Christians who perhaps had once been idol-worshipers and felt that if you ate this meat, you were in fact partaking in idol-worship. These were also likely newer converts and their faith was simply not as strong as the others.

Now, you and I don’t often give that much thought to where we buy our steaks… Some of you go to the grocery store, others go to a local farmer, and still others simply go to a restaurant. Regardless, we are not attaching our source of food to any religion. But, there are always issues that parallel to this concern of the Corinthian Church. Let me list out a few examples:

Whether or not your kids can go trick-or-treating

Can a Christian have a Christmas tree since it was originally used in pagan rituals?

Can a Christian partake of alcoholic beverages?

Can a Christian watch certain tv shows/ movies?

Can a Christian listen to certain music? Country? Rock-n-roll? Contemporary Christian?

Can a Christian dance in public?

Can a Christian do yoga stretches?

There are plenty more examples, but hopefully you get the idea.

These concerns will be debated through the ages because there are little to no specific instructions given in Scripture regarding these.

Thus, the Corinthian church sought the Apostle Paul’s help in how they should go about addressing these things. So in our time together this morning, we get to step into a special topic in regards to the Christian life. So, if you picked up a bulletin, open to the sermon guide and follow along as we explore 1 Corinthians 8 in a sermon entitled “Gray Areas”

Paul does not just give a yes or no answer here. I think it’s important for us to recognize that the growth of believers and the church is not simply about having a checklist of things to avoid or things to engage in. Knowing that there would be other gray areas the church would face, Paul takes on this opportunity to teach the church a process for addressing such issues.

This process begins with a principle. That Principle, Paul says is that:

Knowledge Has Limitations (1-3)

The Corinthians wrote to Paul appealing to him that he would affirm what they knew to be true. Idols were not really anything more than wood or stone and thus had no power to contaminate meat. For many in Corinth, it was silly that there were folks who would argue otherwise.

Knowledge is not unimportant. Yet, the problem Paul saw with the Corinthians is the same problem we tend to have and that is that we all think we have the answer.

ILL: Think about it from a broader view. Everyone over the last 2 years had the ‘answer’ about Covid. Everyone has the answer about the economy. Everyone has the ‘answer’ on war and foreign policy, border security, voting laws, taxes, energy, etc. We tend to make ourselves the ‘expert’ and our attitude is that anyone who sees it differently is just wrong.

What Paul is telling the Corinthians here is that everyone has some knowledge and they tend to get a big head about it. Let’s read again 1-2. (READ)

Verse 1b is a play on words. Paul’s literal words would sound like this - “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

You can think about this like many parade entries. There are some that look really big and impressive, but they are mostly air and illusion like the snoopy balloon or that giant gorilla balloon. Then there are these floats that are maybe a bit smaller, but are built for the purpose of displaying people. There is a reason people do not ride on the gorilla balloon...

Since we are talking about the church, Paul warns that knowledge can give the appearance of greatness, but it is love that truly builds a church. He supports this claim by reminding the Corinthians that those who claim to have all this knowledge really are just displaying their ignorance.

Perhaps you’ve met a know-it-all? You don’t usually walk away impressed, do you? No, because we recognize that they are just full of hot air! They are ‘puffed up’!

Now, verse 3 almost seems out of place, but I want us to read that again and let me see if I can help shed some light on the intent. (READ v.3)

Paul is turning the Corinthians to look at their primary calling- to love God. Not to know a bunch of things.

To love God, Jesus taught in John 15, is to abide in Him and He in you. If we love God, we are known by Him who does indeed have all knowledge. Again, we are called to be followers of Christ and disciple makers. Knowledge is helpful, but James tells us that even the demons know and believe, but that they tremble.

Christianity is not simply what you know, but WHO you love. If the Corinthians (and we!) are going to resolve disagreements, we must engage with our fellow believers in love; desiring God’s best for them. This includes educating them, surely, but knowledge without love is just a bunch of fluff.

Discuss: What are the limitations of our knowledge? How does that relate to our role and function as a church?

The principle we must grasp is that knowledge has limitations. That being said, we look back to Scripture and see Paul give counsel on our understanding. His perspective is that:

Being Right Might Be Wrong (4-11)

Now, I know that we have some folks in here that love to argue. In fact, some of you will argue until you are right. But being technically right can be wrong when you are considering building up the church.

Let’s look to the example here of meat sacrificed to idols. Paul affirms that those who wrote him were indeed correct that those idols were powerless and thus there was no real difference between the meat they got at the temple and the meat that they could get from the market.

In fact, he explains that there is only one true God and these idols are meaningless. We can see this strong statement in v.6. These idols cannot create nor save and those who place their hope in them will be sorely disappointed when facing God on judgment day.

Strong Christians can grasp with certainty that these gray areas are no threat to us because we belong to God.

We can have an Easter egg hunt even though that egg celebration is rooted in a pagan ritual.

We can listen to music that was written by an artist that believes differently than us. In fact, there are many broken, sinful people who have penned songs that praise God. Their sin does not transfer to us if we sing their song.

We are free to dance even though pagan cultures danced in their rituals. Scripture says David danced before the Lord in joyful celebration.

You could even make a case that the occasional alcoholic beverage is permissible because Scripture only labels drunkenness as sin. Now, I would argue that this is at minimum unwise due to the damaging effects and addictive nature of alcohol. I’d be happy to have that conversation with you at a later time.

Technically these are all fine. Now, let’s look to v. 7-11(READ)

Here’s the perspective. In the church of Corinth, there were Christians who had come out of idol-worship. In their understanding, these idols may just be wood and stone, but there was a real danger that if they partook of that meat, it would be like joining in a worship service for those idols.

Paul explains that these Christians are not yet strong enough to be exposed to these gray areas. They need support and training in order to grow in their faith before they can exercise this freedom. Like small children need defined boundaries, these gray areas are danger-zones for un-discipled believers.

This is true for every congregation. There are strong believers and those who are still grasping what it means to be a child of God. We must recognize that they are relying on the stronger believers to teach and disciple them. They need clarity and that comes through time and intentional discipleship. If they struggle with certain gray areas, it would be unloving for us to ignore their weakness.

So, while we are technically right to exercise our freedoms in these gray areas, we might be wrong to do so if we are a stumbling block to other Christians.

Discuss: What might be wrong with ‘being right’ in some gray areas?

Knowledge has limitations and being right might be wrong. But Paul does not leave us hanging here. He wraps up here by giving a policy for approaching gray areas. The policy is:

Safeguard Your Influence (12-13)

Paul takes the principle and the perspective and once again calls the Christians in Corinth to consider who they are and who Christ has called them to be.

Let’s look again at verses 12-13 (READ)

Here is what you and I need to understand:

As Christians, we are called to not only share the Gospel, but to train people in the Gospel. We are to grow in our likeness of Christ, and so too are to lead others to grow in Christ’s likeness. Disciple-makers are influencers.

Though technically not sinful because we better understand the grace of God, If our exercise of freedom influences or causes another Christian to stumble- to sin or to fall back into a sinful lifestyle, then we not only are sinning against that brother/ sister, but against Christ.

I want you to consider the seriousness of this charge. If it’s that serious, we must pay attention, maybe even repent. Could it be that we have been selfish to exercise our freedoms without regard for our brother or sister in Christ?

ILL: For example: I don’t exercise certain freedoms because I consider my testimony and influence to be too valuable to throw away on things that, as Paul says up in v. 8- neither draws me closer to God nor pushes me away from Him. So I am free to have a glass of wine or beer, but I am also free not to. And with much at stake, I choose to guard my influence and limit my freedom.

So, Paul concludes, IF his eating of this meat sacrificed to idols causes another to sin, then he will choose to give up that freedom for the sake of his brother.

Now, I want to make sure you understand what Paul is NOT saying. He is not saying “If my exercise of freedom in gray areas offends another Christian, I will sacrifice that freedom.”

No, people are going to be offended at all kinds of things. Paul explicitly says if it causes them to SIN.

So, if you are offended that I have a Christmas tree, I will simply ask you not to look at my tree if I invite you to my house around Christmas. But if you have been rescued from a pagan religion where you worshiped trees, and you believe that if you see a Christmas tree, you will be unable to control yourself from falling to your knees and worshiping that tree, then I will gladly move it or take it down so you are not faced with that stumbling block.

Bottom line is this:

Gray areas will come up in our congregation. We address them with love and consideration for the health and growth of this body. As we make disciples, we will have believers who stumble over our certain gray areas. So, we must teach them truth and at the same time ensure we are not confusing them or becoming an obstacle that would hinder their growth. Our love for one another and desire for growth will determine how we go about each case.

So, before we close, I want you to consider your influence on those in this body. Who is looking to you for guidance? Youth, children. New believers. New couples, etc. What eyes are on you? What message are we sending?

My encouragement for you and for me today is that we would seek to build this church in genuine love for our Lord and for one another. That might mean that you need to sacrifice a freedom for a time so another believer might not be shaken. Your influence could mean the growth or ruin of a believer.

In just a moment, we are going to pray and lift our voices in song. As we do, I ask you to commit to building up one another. If you have never taken the step to trust in Christ, you can use this time to come and allow myself or Pastor James to walk you through how to do that.

Discuss: How does Luke 17:2 help inform us. How will you ensure you are not a stumbling block?