Grosey's Messages

1 Corinthians 8  Dealing With Differences

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.

Butchers and Restaurants

The Apostle Paul had neither an email address nor could he send a "text message" to the Corinthians. He relied solely on hand-written communication, as did the rest of the ancient world. Men were employed as "runners" in that day to take important messages. Most of the time, however, mail was sent via friends or acquaintances who were going in the direction the letter was intended. Paul had received a letter from his friends in Corinth (7:1). 1 Corinthians constituted an answer to their letter. The Corinthians dealt with many problems, problems that threatened their very existence as a church. And, as we will learn today, the Christians in Corinth even had questions concerning questionable behaviour! In other words, they were struggling with issues the Bible clearly condemned (5:1ff), as well as with issues not directly addressed in Scripture. What God's Word condemns we have no right to debate. But what of those things not clearly stated in Scripture?  No single issue is more relevant for the church of Jesus Christ today.

The eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians deals with the second question these Corinthians had asked the apostle Paul in the letter they wrote to him. It has to do with a problem common in Christian lives today: "How much should I let other people's views control my actions?" That is, "Must I limit my liberty by the narrower, more restricted views of other Christians?"

The question was put to Paul in terms of a problem they faced in Corinth whether one ought to eat meat offered to idols. Have you struggled with that lately?

Well if you go to Chinese restaurants you must see that problem in front of you. Have you noticed a Buddha in the corner with some offerings on it? Ancestral worship?

Have you been to a neighbour's house for dinner where another god is worshipped?

Have you ever been given anything that has some spiritual significance other than Christian?

Has an Indian person cooked something for you in their time of feasting?

The best place to buy a good steak in Corinth was right next to the idol temple. In these pagan temples they did as the Jews did in Old Testament days--they offered living animals as sacrifice. And, like the Jews, they reserved some of the meat for the benefit of the priests and some for public sale. Everyone in town knew that if you ate this meat you were eating meat which had been offered to an idol. So the question arose among the Christians: "If a Christian eats meat offered to an idol is he not participating in some way in the worship of that idol?"

There was a group within the Corinthian church that said, "Yes, that is exactly what he is doing. When these pagans here in the city see a known Christian sitting down in the public restaurant next to the temple, and enjoying a steak that had been offered to the idol, they will think that that person is going along with the pagan worship of the idol. He is participating with pagans in idol worship!

And so, by participating, he is causing weak Christians, who might easily be led back into the worship of an idol, to stumble.

But there was another party who said, "No, this is not true. There is nothing to an idol--it is just a piece of wood or stone. How can you worship something that really does not exist? How can we deliver these pagans from their idolatrous ways if we act as though there is something to this? It is better that we simply proceed according to that knowledge of reality that God has brought to us in Christ. Let us enjoy our freedom and eat this meat without any question. It is perfectly good meat, and it would be wrong not to use it." Some were saying, "They might think it is offered to an idol, but I know better! I know idols are nothing, so why can't I eat the steak anyway?"

Differences That Provoke Controversy

There are other differences that sometimes provoke controversy.

There are Christians who will not have a Christmas tree in their homes because that custom originated with the pagans of Northern Germany who decorated a tree at the winter solstice. There are others who will not use Easter eggs because they originated in pagan spring festivals when the egg, the symbol of fertility, was offered to a pagan goddess. Clearly, the problem of Corinth is still with us.

Reopening of Church buildings. Some believe that they know better than others on this issue. Which way? Either way.  And so they demand to have their way.  The problem is not with the position whichever way they may face on this position, the problem is their attitude, that they must have it their way in spite of what others may think on this matter. Of course it's a provocative issue. But do you have to be provocative in how you handle the issue?

Oh Christians can fight over anything. More often than not it is not about the issue at hand, but rather a question of personal pride.. Did you notice:

The Deficiencies That Promote Controversy

Pride. This is the first Problem.

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.  

There is that Phusiioo word again.. knowledge puffs up.. makes us blow up like a balloon in pride. Makes us feel we know something (but Paul says…He don't really know nothing!!).

We note that there is first a distinct admission of the Corinthians' intelligence, though there is probably a tinge of irony in the language' We know that we all have knowledge.' 'You Corinthians are fully aware that you are very superior people. Whatever else you know, you know that, and I fully recognise it.'

The admission is followed by a sudden, sharp comment, to which the Corinthians' knowledge that they knew laid them open. Swift as the thrust of a spear comes flashing' Knowledge puffeth up.' Puffed-up things are swollen by wind only, and the more they are inflated the hollower and emptier they are; and such a sharp point as Paul's saying shrivels them.

It is a strange, sad result of superior intelligence or acquirements, that it so often leads to conceit, to a false estimate of the worth and power of knowing, to a ridiculous over-valuing of certain acquirements, and to an insolent contempt and cruel disregard of those who have them not.

'Love builds up,' or 'edifies.' Probably the main direction in which that building -up is conceived of as taking effect, is in aiding the progress of our neighbours, especially in seeing them come to Christ.

Very significantly, too, does Paul vary his conclusion in verse 3 by saying that the man who loves God 'is known of Him,' instead of, as we might have expected, 'knows Him.'  If you love others you are known by God.

That is a whole lot better than anything you might think you know. Wouldn't you rather have the Lord directing your way than you having a road map?

The fundamental truth of Christianity, that there is one God, who is revealed and works through Jesus Christ, was accepted by all the Corinthians.  But Paul wanted the real deal. To be known by God and to know God and to love others and to build up others. Building up others is how you see if someone really knows God and really is known, blessed by God.

The Decisions That Prohibit Controversy

The apostle here sets forth three distinct advantages of love over mere knowledge alone.

1 Corinthians 8—10, Paul enunciated four basic principles that would guide believers in making personal decisions about those "questionable" areas of the Christian life. The four principles are as follows:

Knowledge must be balanced by love (1 Cor. 8)

Authority must be balanced by discipline (1 Cor. 9)

Experience must be balanced by caution (1 Cor. 10:1–22)

Freedom must be balanced by responsibility (1 Cor. 10:23–33)

Some Christians have weak consciences because they have been saved only a short time and have not had opportunity to grow. Like little babes in the home, they must be guarded carefully. Other saints have weak consciences because they will not grow. They ignore their Bibles and Christian fellowship and remain in a state of infancy (1 Cor. 3:1–4; Heb. 5:11–14). But some believers remain weak because they are afraid of freedom. They are like a child old enough to go to school, who is afraid to leave home and must be taken to school each day.

The conscience of a weak Christian is easily defiled (1 Cor. 8:7), wounded (1 Cor. 8:12), and offended (1Cor. 8:13).

It is important to note that the stronger believer defers to the weaker believer in love only that he might help him to mature. He does not "pamper" him; he seeks to edify him, to help him grow. Otherwise, both will become weak.

We are free in Christ, but we must take care that our spiritual knowledge is tempered by love, and that we do not tempt the weaker Christian to run ahead of his conscience. Where knowledge is balanced by love, the strong Christian will have a ministry to the weak Christian, and the weak Christian will grow and become strong.

Love Builds up the individual

Love Evaluates the Individual (8-12)

Love is Self sacrificial for the individual

10, "For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?"

So the third thing he says is, "Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall." Love gladly exercises self-control in these areas.

Paul gladly gives in to the weakness of others. He says, "When it is a case of actually offending someone ('one of these little ones who believe in me,' as Jesus said), rather than do that I would freely give up my right." Paul is perhaps thinking of those very words from Luke 17 where Jesus said, "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea." That is, it would be better for him to be murdered rather than to hurt one of these little ones who believe in Christ.

Dr. H. A. Ironside spoke of an incident that illustrates this. On one occasion he was at a picnic with other Christians and a man who had been converted from Mohammedanism was there. A girl brought a basket of sandwiches up to this man and asked if he would like some. He said, "What kind do you have?" "Oh," she said, "I'm afraid all we have left are ham or pork." He said, "Don't you have any beef or lamb?" She replied, "No, they are all gone." "Well," he said, "then I won't have any." Knowing that he was a Christian, she said to him, "Well, Sir, I am really surprised. Don't you know that as a Christian you are freed from all these food restrictions and that you can eat pork or ham if you like?" He said, "Yes, I know that. I know I am free to eat pork, but I am also free not to eat it. I'm still involved with my family in the Near East, and I know that when I go home once a year, the first question my father will ask me is, 'Have those infidels taught you to eat the filthy hog meat yet?' If I have to say to him, 'Yes, father,' I will be banished from that home and have no further witness in it. But if I can say, as I have always been able to say, 'No, father, no pork has ever passed my lips,' then I have continued admittance to the family circle and I am free to tell them of the joy I have found in Jesus Christ." So we are free to eat, or free not to eat, as the case may be.

That story sets this whole problem in proper perspective. We do not have to have our rights. We are free to give them up any time the situation warrants it. Though we have the rights, we also have the right not to exercise them, for the sake of love.

Make Sure No One Stumbles Over Your Life

A guest star on a TV show once said, "Two things I've had in life, and both ample—good advice and bad example." This has been the experience of most people.  Most of us are careless or just too thoughtless about our influence. Every person's life is a profession of faith. Every person's conduct is an unspoken sermon that he is forever preaching to others. Someone said years ago, "Every man is some boy's ideal."  Oftentimes our influence is unconscious, but it is real nonetheless. God holds us accountable for our influence. Jesus said that it would be better for us to have a millstone hung about our neck and our body cast into the sea than that we should cause someone else to stumble and sin. This makes our influence mighty important.

I have often thought of the old story of the blind man who always carried a lighted lantern. Someone asked him why he did this. He replied, "To keep other people from stumbling over me." It wasn't a bad idea. Now he wouldn't stumble over anyone else, or at least if he did it would not be intentional. But he didn't want anyone to stumble over him, so he carried a lighted lamp.

We need to see to it that, under God, nobody stumbles because of our lives

Make sure no one stumbles because of your words.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver." Proverbs 25: 11

This described an expression of kindness in the day Solomon penned it. At a banquet hosted by a king a silver filigree basket was often placed on the table filled with small golden apples. As a gesture of grace, at given point during the feast the king would have the basket passed and each guest invited to take a golden apple. The apple embodied thoughtfulness, kindness, and generosity. It typified the value of words well spoken.

Today is yet another day for passing out golden apples. Keep in mind, an insightful and/or encouraging word is of great worth to the one to whom it is spoken.

"Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble."

"Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit."Proverbs 15:4

 "Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24

  "A person's words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook." Proverbs 18:4

The most powerful of words is the Word of God.

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." The word of God is so powerful it will change your life.

Check up on yourself, keep a total of the golden apples you give away today.

Now go give away some golden apples.