Good morning and welcome to the 5 minute challenge! Hard to believe its October the 18th. Halloween is just a few weeks away and Thanksgiving is only 5 weeks away. Of course after that is Christmas and then 2019 is just around the corner. Time flies! It really does feel much more like fall this year for Margie and me. The last several years in Maui were pretty surreal as it was always sunny and 80. On Thanksgiving you could go to the beach. On Christmas Day you could go to the beach. It really made for an odd time processing the seasons of the year.
This morning as we are moving along through 1 Corinthians we are in chapter 8 and dealing with Christians liberties. The chapter itself is Paul dealing specifically with the issue of eating meat that has been offered to idols. Let’s examine exactly what that would have looked like in 54AD Corinth.
We’ve discussed in earlier chapters that Corinth revolved around the temple of Aphrodite. It was home to the cities religion and it was based on three things, food, drink and sex. The temple housed 1000 ‘virgins’ and people from all over the land went there to partake. As they did they brought with them their sacrificial animals. After the animals were sacrificed to their God of choice, the meat was brought over to the conveniently placed butcher shop to be processed and sold to someone else. So you see, the best place to get T-Bone steaks in Corinth wasn’t the local Wal-Mart but the meat market at the temple.
Now many of the new Christians in Corinth had a problem with this. They were asking Paul, how can we eat this meat after it's been offered to another God. Paul’s response?
“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.” 1 Cor. 8:4
Paul is saying if you rest in the true knowledge of Jesus Christ then you truly understand that idols are nothing and this meat is just meat. You can eat it without ramification. But Paul goes onto to address what he has addressed already back in Romans, potentially causing your brother to stumble because of your choices.
So, say that I am a mature Christian, firm in my faith and agree with Paul here in his thinking on meat offered to idols. I’m having another couple over for dinner that is new to the faith and new to the church at Corinth. As a “babe” in Christ and holding a limited knowledge of the faith, they believe that eating the meat from the temple meat market can affect their relationship with God. So for dinner that night do I run up to the temple meat market and grab some steaks to feed them? I sure hope not. That would confuse them and possibly cause them to stumble in their developing faith. You see, the real point here is that out of love we should respect others regarding the Christian liberties that we possess.
As Christians, God allows us many freedoms that are not specifically mentioned or forbidden in His Word. Therefore, some can and will partake of things that others will not. We need to be fully cognizant of this and not practice these liberties in a way that could confuse and affect others in a potentially negative way.
For instance, if you go out and have dinner with your Pastor and his wife and they order glasses of wine, is that wrong? Absolutely not. God’s Word does not forbid drinking alcohol but it does forbid being a drunkard. Enjoying wine with dinner does not make a drunkard. BUT…how would you view that scenario? Some might think nothing of it but some might see it as their Pastor condoning the regular use of alcohol and might themselves be prone to drink more regularly. The Pastor in this scenario must be strong enough and wise enough to make choices that will not cause others to stumble in their choices regarding alcohol.
I could go on with these scenarios forever, we have great liberties as Christians. Dancing, gambling, tatoos, make-up, piercings, R rated movies, smoking, clothing, etc. We have great liberties involving all of these as they are not specifically forbidden in God’s Word. We must address them all individually in our own lives but all the while being careful not to treat them in a way that could cause another weaker in the faith to stumble and make bad choices concerning them. Some can gamble for fun and some will gamble away their paychecks. Some can drink socially and anther can become an alcoholic. It all goes back to the fact that as Christians we are being watched closely not only by the world but by other Christians as they are growing in their walk with Christ.
This also brings up another point. If we are all responsible for our choice concerning “the meat” then how should you judge others’ choices concerning how they deal with “the meat.” Well, we’re clearly told in God’s Word that we shouldn’t judge, so don’t do it. I’ve often been at church and heard an “older” crowd judging a “younger” crowd. “These kids come to church wearing shorts and t-shirts and backwards baseball caps. What a disgrace to God!” This just should not be. I have seen great rifts in churches due to the judgement being passed from one age group to another. God can move greatly in the life of someone whether they are wearing cargo shorts or a tuxedo. I have seen moments that shaped my life as a youth accepts Christ in dirty shorts after playing all day. The tears and the transformtion was real, I never noticed the shorts.
But on the flipside, I have seen teen girls wearing extremely revealing clothing to church and this is a different scenario all together. Its distracting to others (especially the teen boys) and it could definitely cause the other teen girls to think this is appropriate and then dress the same. It’s a fine line and God lets us make the grown up decisions concerning these liberties.
Paul’s message here this morning? As Christians, God gives us the freedom to interpret many of the world’s liberties. Use them to the glory of God and not to cause others to see your example and follow it in a way that causes them to possibly make poor choices.
I pray that your 5 minutes in God’s Word today speaks to your heart and gives you wisdom to walk through your day seeing people, places and things through God’s eyes.
Comments