When Pride Misuses Knowledge

WEBVTT 1 00:00:10.429 --> 00:00:21.859 Let's turn our attention to first Corinthians Chapter Eight. First Corinthians Chapter Eight. 2 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:29.539 I'll also be spending a little bit of time this morning in acts chapter eighteen, 3 00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:35.219 but will turn there a little bit later. So, First Corinthians Chapter 4 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:41.689 Eight. We've considered this morning already a little bit what it means to worship 5 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:46.490 God as the only God, our one true God. Indeed, we have 6 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:53.000 worshiped him and we have been called to do that. Now we come to 7 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:59.159 a question that deals with idolatry and other things related to conscience, related to 8 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.200 our place in society, all kinds of things. Let's give our attention to 9 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:10.150 God's word. First Corinthians Chapter Eight. Now, concerning food offered to idols, 10 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:15.989 we know that all of us possess knowledge. This knowledge puffs up, 11 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:21.819 but loves. Love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something he 12 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.060 does not yet knows. He ought to know, but if anyone loves God, 13 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:30.140 he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food 14 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:36.450 offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and that 15 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:41.930 there is no God but one, for although there may be so called Gods 16 00:01:41.969 --> 00:01:46.250 in heaven or on Earth, as indeed many are as. Indeed, there 17 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.359 are many gods and many lords. Yet for us there is one God, 18 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:56.480 the father, from whom all things, from whom are all things and for 19 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:01.310 whom, all whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through 20 00:02:01.390 --> 00:02:07.510 whom are all things and through whom we exist. This is such an important 21 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:09.830 verse I'm going to read it again. Of Verse Six, I'm confusing it 22 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:13.750 with another verse in my mind and mixing up the words. Let me try 23 00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:17.860 one more time. So verse six. Yet for us there is one God, 24 00:02:19.219 --> 00:02:23.740 the father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, 25 00:02:23.539 --> 00:02:28.699 and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom 26 00:02:28.939 --> 00:02:36.370 we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge, but some, through 27 00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:40.250 former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and 28 00:02:40.409 --> 00:02:46.240 their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend US and 29 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:50.800 will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do 30 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.520 not eat and no better off if we do. But take care that this 31 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:00.349 right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the week, for 32 00:03:00.430 --> 00:03:05.550 if anyone sees you, and if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in 33 00:03:05.710 --> 00:03:09.789 an idols temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, 34 00:03:10.110 --> 00:03:14.939 to eat food offered to idols? And so, by your knowledge, 35 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:20.300 this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died, thus sinning 36 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:23.860 against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against 37 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:30.610 Christ. Therefore, if food makes your my brothers stumble, I will never 38 00:03:30.729 --> 00:03:43.159 eat meat lest I make my brothers stumble. Man. So Paul is addressing 39 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:47.919 the Corinthians in a very particular circumstance and he's addressing them according to what are 40 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:55.949 probably requests. We've come through this section about marriage and and singleness and sex 41 00:03:57.110 --> 00:04:00.509 and various other things, and now we come to chapter eight and he says 42 00:04:00.990 --> 00:04:03.629 now concerning food offered to idols. Right, this is a transition to a 43 00:04:03.789 --> 00:04:09.909 new subject. He wants us to learn how to think about this particular thing 44 00:04:10.020 --> 00:04:15.060 in their context, and it's a very fascinating context with all kinds of layers 45 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:19.899 of and wisdom about how we ought to think wisely about our place in this 46 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:25.290 world. As we saw in chapter six and in Chapter Seven, we have 47 00:04:25.649 --> 00:04:30.689 multiple things going on. On the one hand, we very specific instructions on 48 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:35.050 how to deal and interact in a specific situation. But we also have something 49 00:04:35.170 --> 00:04:40.279 else. We have an example given to us about how to think through things, 50 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:46.240 about moral reasoning and example which gives us priorities and principles and ways to 51 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:51.600 think through complex and difficult situations. So let's pay attention this morning and think 52 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.790 about what, how what we can learn here about God's will for us and 53 00:04:56.949 --> 00:05:00.990 how we ought to live our lives. I think it helps to begin with 54 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:05.310 the particular situation that the Corinthians find themselves in. What is it? Well, 55 00:05:05.910 --> 00:05:09.379 you can begin, and this is where we'll start, back in acts 56 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:13.939 chapter eighteen, with a previous time in Corinth. So if you would turn 57 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:19.420 with me there for a moment, Acts Chapter Eighteen, here Paul records his 58 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:26.370 first beginnings. This is the startup of his time in Corinth and we read 59 00:05:26.449 --> 00:05:30.529 what happened and it relates to what is happening here. So in act chapter 60 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:35.639 eighteen, verse one, we read that Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 61 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.360 He stays in the house of a Jewish couple that had been expelled, 62 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:45.000 along with other Jews from Rome. The Romans had been kicked out by Claudius 63 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:50.350 and had gone different places and this couple had found themselves themselves in Corinth, 64 00:05:51.310 --> 00:05:57.589 very Roman city, a place being colonized, a place that was laid out 65 00:05:57.670 --> 00:06:01.350 according to the Roman street patterns, a place that was filled with idols and 66 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:06.139 temples, a place that was a destination place in the province of a Kia, 67 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:13.139 a center of commerce and government and activity, a kind of Washington DC, 68 00:06:13.579 --> 00:06:18.170 your New York City, of this part of the world. And here 69 00:06:18.290 --> 00:06:21.490 Paul finds himself and he finds this couple and he stays with them and then 70 00:06:21.490 --> 00:06:27.449 he goes into the synagogue and he begins to speak to the Jews. there. 71 00:06:27.490 --> 00:06:30.449 We read in verse five that he was testifying to the Jews that the 72 00:06:30.569 --> 00:06:35.879 Christ was Jesus. So there he is. He's in the synagogue in this 73 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:41.160 faraway place. He's not in Judea, he's not in Palestine, he's not 74 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:45.800 in Rome, he's in Corinth, this Roman colony, speaking to these Jews 75 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.110 who are not in their home place, who are not in their home territory, 76 00:06:48.389 --> 00:06:54.110 and he's telling them that the Christ has come and that Christ is Jesus. 77 00:06:54.230 --> 00:06:58.750 He's persuading them, he's testifying to what he's seen. What happens? 78 00:06:59.389 --> 00:07:03.259 What happens next is verse six. They oppose him and they revile him. 79 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:09.339 Paul does not get a warm welcome from the body as a whole. There 80 00:07:09.379 --> 00:07:13.060 are individuals, we read even the leader of the synagogue, who come to 81 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:16.769 faith in Christ, but as a whole the Jewish people there in Corinth are 82 00:07:16.970 --> 00:07:21.850 not happy with Paul. You can hear it in Paul's words and in his 83 00:07:21.930 --> 00:07:26.209 actions. We read in verse six that he shook out his garments and he 84 00:07:26.290 --> 00:07:30.480 said to them, your blood be upon your own heads. I am innocent. 85 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:33.439 For now on, I will go to the gentiles. And then we 86 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.000 read in verse seven that he left there and went to the house of a 87 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:42.759 man named tideous justice, a very gentile a name. They're a worshiper of 88 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:46.149 God. And so this is what he does. And and we read that 89 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:50.350 he was in Corinth for about a year and a half, preaching, teaching, 90 00:07:50.430 --> 00:07:57.269 drawing people to the Lord, persuading them. But as time went on 91 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:01.420 the Jews were not satisfied with Paul just leaving the synagogue and going to the 92 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:05.420 gentiles. All right, Paul's not in the synagogue anymore, he's not speaking 93 00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:11.540 directly to that body, but he's out talking with guys like this and they 94 00:08:11.579 --> 00:08:15.449 are not happy with this, and so they this is what they do. 95 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:22.250 In Verse Twelve, we read that good men Galio was made proconsul of a 96 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:24.129 Chao, or when he was proconsul of the Chaa, the Jews made a 97 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:30.519 united attack on Paul and they brought him for the tribunal. Now, this 98 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:37.480 tribunal, this pro proconsole, this Gallio, he is the boss, the 99 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.309 governor, the head Hancho of this whole region, a big region, a 100 00:08:41.429 --> 00:08:48.070 giant province in Rome and a very important province right, as the Greeks admired 101 00:08:48.190 --> 00:08:54.350 in some ways, and we're borrowing and doing other things in relation to the 102 00:08:54.470 --> 00:09:01.179 previous Greek culture. This is Greece right, this is Athens and Corinth and 103 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:07.500 all of this land. And so they take Paul to Gallio and they make 104 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:13.049 this accusation. In verse thirteen, they taken before this Roman governor, whose 105 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.049 rulings could only be overturned by the emperor himself. Right, what this man 106 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:24.759 says goes and they say to him this man talking about Paul, is persuading 107 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:31.039 people to worship God, contrary to the law. So what are they saying 108 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:37.000 here? What exactly are they accusing Paul of? There's two possibilities. The 109 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:41.269 first possibility, which I don't think it is, is they're accusing him of 110 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:46.590 what we see Jesus Being Accused of in like the gospel of John, for 111 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:50.269 example. For the Jews are saying by saying that you are God, or 112 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:54.659 by other people saying that Jesus is God, you are blasphemy your social you're 113 00:09:54.740 --> 00:10:01.139 becoming more than a monotheist, in other words, and so they were upset 114 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:05.179 and they were prop persecuting him because of that. Now Jesus, of course, 115 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:09.450 was God and so it wasn't blasphemy, but that was the accusation. 116 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:15.490 I don't think that's the case here. However, when they say contrary to 117 00:10:15.570 --> 00:10:18.250 the law, they're not talking about the law of Moses, because what would 118 00:10:18.250 --> 00:10:22.879 Galio care about that? Right? He is a Roman governor, not a 119 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:28.320 Jewish governor. I'm his job is not to prosecute or uphold or judge into 120 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.519 religious conflicts, especially within the Jews, who, by the way, just 121 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:35.549 got, as I mentioned before, just got kicked out of Rome. These 122 00:10:35.549 --> 00:10:41.389 are not people who were well loved in the Roman Empire. So they're not 123 00:10:41.509 --> 00:10:46.789 going to Gallio to have him decide questions about their law. They're going to 124 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:52.620 him to have questions decided about his law. And what do they mean? 125 00:10:52.820 --> 00:11:00.419 Well, the Jews had received a special exemptions not to participate, or allowing 126 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:07.289 them not to participate in emperor worship. The imperial cult was growing faster and 127 00:11:07.409 --> 00:11:11.129 faster, especially in places like Corinth that we're all about Rome, Rome, 128 00:11:11.250 --> 00:11:15.570 Rome, Rome, and we're getting more and more excited about Rome all the 129 00:11:15.690 --> 00:11:18.519 time. We're becoming more and more attached Rome all the time. And this 130 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:24.559 imperial cult in which the emperor and his family and those both deceased and present, 131 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:31.120 they were calling people to worship them, and indeed they had temples and 132 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:37.350 sacrifices and priests and priestesses, a whole system of religion built around the worshiping 133 00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:45.629 of the Emperor. The Jews protested this right, because you only worship God 134 00:11:45.710 --> 00:11:50.220 alone, and they protested it so much and so strongly that the Roman Empire 135 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:58.019 said enough, will give you an exemption. Amazing, wonderful, it's good, 136 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:01.419 really good that they did that. Well, so they pressed against the 137 00:12:01.450 --> 00:12:05.250 Roman the government. The Roman government gave them an exception. So here's what's 138 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:11.450 happening with Gallio. They go before his this proconsul and they say Paul is 139 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:16.840 teaching that this Christ, that Jesus, is the Christ and in doing so 140 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:24.440 he's undermining the imperial called he's undermining emperor worship. He's going against your law, 141 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.559 yes, the one that we have an exemption from, but he's not 142 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:31.029 one of us and you need to prosecute him. Does that make sense? 143 00:12:31.269 --> 00:12:37.870 They're taking him and they're saying prosecute him for persuading, and this word there 144 00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:41.830 probably means something a little more like in the context here, something like misleading 145 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:48.299 or seducing people to leave. This is kind of like a treasonous, the 146 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:52.539 sort of seditious thing to leave the Roman ethic, the Roman called the Roman 147 00:12:52.659 --> 00:13:00.210 everything, and start going after this Jesus. So here's what happens. So 148 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:05.730 what does was Gallio going to say? Right? So Paul's about to open 149 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:09.049 his mouth. He's about and you can imagine what Paul might say right. 150 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.480 What he talked about the relationship of the Queen Jesus and the and the Jewish 151 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.120 people? Is the son of Abraham and the fulfillment of the Messianic prospecies and 152 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.360 all this sort of stuff? Will never find out because when Paul was about 153 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:26.710 to open his mouth, Gallio speaks and he says to the Jews. If 154 00:13:26.789 --> 00:13:31.750 it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I'd have 155 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:35.669 reason to accept your complaint, but since it's a matter of questions about words 156 00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:41.779 and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to 157 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:46.899 be a judge of these kinds of things. Now there's a couple things to 158 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:52.139 notice here. Basically, I'll end with the end. What Gallio is saying 159 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:58.610 is that I see them, these Christians, basically is one of you, 160 00:14:00.409 --> 00:14:05.009 this is your this is a Jewish deal, and so move on. I 161 00:14:05.129 --> 00:14:09.080 have no this has nothing, no place here. So the effect of this 162 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:18.879 is that Gaulio extends, in the Jewish mind, extends to Christians the same 163 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:24.990 exemption that Jews have. So now Christians are not under the same kind of 164 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:28.710 pressure, at least within the province of a Chaa, to worship, at 165 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:33.990 least according to law. They can't be prosecuted by this, because Gallio has 166 00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:37.580 said it, and the only one that can overturn that ruling is the emperor 167 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:41.740 himself. And the likelihood of the Jews getting a hearing before the emperor, 168 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:46.340 you'd have to be a Roman citizen. All kinds of other things. It's 169 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:50.620 just not going to happen, and it didn't happen. So gallio this makes 170 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:56.250 this huge decision to not even hear the case and by not hearing the case, 171 00:14:56.649 --> 00:15:03.090 the Christians receive this exemption. There seems, in my mind any way, 172 00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:07.559 to be a mistranslation here in Verse Fifteen, when it says questions about 173 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:13.039 words, he says, since it's a matter of questions about words and names 174 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:16.200 and your own law. We did, we can guess what he means by 175 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.669 names, right, Jesus and Christ and your own law and their relationship and 176 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:26.110 that sort of thing. But what does he mean by words? It's not 177 00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:31.269 really clear, is it, unless, of course, he means this the 178 00:15:31.470 --> 00:15:39.299 word word there number one. It's singular and not plural. Names is plural, 179 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:43.539 but words is not. In the Greek it's law, which is singular. 180 00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:48.100 I'm so he says here. Instead of words, he says it is 181 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:52.090 a matter of questions about a word. Now word, of course, can 182 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:56.129 mean all kinds of things, but there is this one very specific and some 183 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:03.809 time in infrequent definition, but it fits the context here perfectly. Sometimes the 184 00:16:03.889 --> 00:16:12.039 word law US can mean a declaration of immunity and freedom from something and that 185 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:18.990 seems to exactly fit the context the governor is saying. But since it is 186 00:16:18.110 --> 00:16:22.870 a matter about this declaration of immunity, this thing that we have in Christ 187 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:26.350 and these things concerning your law, this is a Jewish thing, this is 188 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:30.669 a Jewish matter. I'm not going to touch it. So let's move on. 189 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:36.700 And he drives them out of the council. All right. So why 190 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:41.700 all that? Thank you for bearing with me in that. What that helps 191 00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:47.019 us to understand is that when we get to this passage in Corinth, after 192 00:16:47.210 --> 00:16:49.009 Paul has left, you know, a year and a half, two years 193 00:16:49.049 --> 00:17:02.000 later, these Christians are not under legal pressure to eat food offered or to 194 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.960 not eat food offer battles. They have freedom in that according to the law, 195 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.440 according to Gallio's pronouncement. So why then, this is the question. 196 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.190 Why then, are Christians trying to eat food sacrifice idols? What's going on 197 00:17:15.509 --> 00:17:19.670 here? What's that? What would what would even cause this, this conflict? 198 00:17:21.829 --> 00:17:26.390 And the answer is that in Rome at this time, in the midst 199 00:17:26.430 --> 00:17:30.500 of this imperial call to and all these sort of things, this is where 200 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:37.059 business happened, this is where work happened. There were tempt there were big 201 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:41.700 games that were going on, kind of like the Olympics. There were feasts 202 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:45.369 that were going on, there were parties that were going on, the emperor, 203 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:48.210 worship and Rome, and being Rome was all tied up in food and 204 00:17:48.369 --> 00:17:52.769 dining, in these sort of things. You'd go sacrifice your ox, for 205 00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:56.490 example, or the post of the feast would sacrifice the AC to the emperor 206 00:17:56.769 --> 00:18:00.839 and everyone would lift up their drinks, such to the emperor, the the 207 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:04.759 vine, emperor and worship, and then everyone would sit down at the table 208 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:10.640 and eat, and there you smell the food and taste and here's where deals 209 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:15.509 would happen and money would be exchanged and all these kinds of things of society, 210 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:19.630 of culture and life would happen. To avoid those kinds of things would 211 00:18:19.630 --> 00:18:25.470 mean getting left out. To not go to the parties, to not do 212 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:29.220 the networking, to not make the connections, meant that you were going to 213 00:18:29.259 --> 00:18:34.339 be left behind. So how do you navigate that as a Christian? Paul 214 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:37.779 tells you and tells us, the Bible tells us really clearly. He'll say 215 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:44.769 in chapter ten flee from idolatry. have nothing to do with it. And 216 00:18:44.890 --> 00:18:47.250 so, as a Christian, you could kind of think in your mind okay, 217 00:18:47.250 --> 00:18:49.809 I'm going to go to this party. I'm not going to go before 218 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:53.250 the altar and I don't even have to write. I'm not even required to 219 00:18:53.289 --> 00:18:57.559 do all that sacrificing stuff. I'm a Christian, Gallio set. It's fine, 220 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.440 I'm good there. And it's also true. This is the reasoning Paul 221 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.960 talks about in First Corinthians A. It's also true that, and I don't 222 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.829 really isn't anything at all, is it? These people? They think the 223 00:19:11.910 --> 00:19:15.470 emperor is a God. I know he's not a God. I know that 224 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:19.470 Apollos not at these so called Guy I know they're not God's if I'm eating 225 00:19:19.549 --> 00:19:23.579 this food, to me it's just food, it's just the piece of meat 226 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:26.980 well given to me by God, Him, the Real God, the God 227 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:30.859 himself. This guy over here, he may have sacrificed it and whatever, 228 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:34.980 and that's his deal, but for me I'm just enjoying a nice cut of 229 00:19:36.059 --> 00:19:40.690 meat and making the connections I need to make and prospering my business and trying 230 00:19:40.730 --> 00:19:42.930 to get a fair hearing at the next trial and whatever. And you're there 231 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:48.490 for and so you can imagine in the Christian mind how you could, with 232 00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:56.319 good and truth theological knowledge, navigate your way into a situation where you are 233 00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:00.240 sitting at one of these feasts, at one of these parties and in good 234 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:06.799 conscience, being wise, being cautious, not participating in everything, but eating 235 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:12.069 food offers sacrificed to idols. And so what does Paul say about this? 236 00:20:14.349 --> 00:20:18.630 Nice says in verse for as the eating of food offered idols. We know 237 00:20:18.750 --> 00:20:22.859 that an idol has no real existence and that there is no god, but 238 00:20:22.059 --> 00:20:26.859 one God. Food is food. You're not well, let me keep reading. 239 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:32.059 First five, for although there may be many socalled or there may be 240 00:20:32.259 --> 00:20:34.849 so called Gods in heaven or on Earth, as indeed there are many gods 241 00:20:34.890 --> 00:20:41.410 and many lords, yet for us there is one God. So this is 242 00:20:41.450 --> 00:20:45.769 what he says. He goes on to say in Verse Eight, Food Will 243 00:20:45.849 --> 00:20:51.000 Not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not 244 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:56.200 eat and no better off if we do. He's a son, so saying, 245 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:59.599 if you want to eat the food, eat the food. It doesn't 246 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.519 hurt you to take it. It doesn't hurt you, or it doesn't bless 247 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:06.230 you or help you in some way not to take it. It doesn't matter. 248 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:14.549 Okay, however, and then Paul adds a how a big however, 249 00:21:15.710 --> 00:21:21.099 he says in verse seven. Not all possessed this knowledge, but some, 250 00:21:22.140 --> 00:21:27.220 through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol. 251 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:33.730 So here is this person, this Christian and immature, a young Christian, 252 00:21:33.170 --> 00:21:37.089 who has lived a life of idolatry, who's lived a life of going to 253 00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:41.609 the temples and going to these parties and going to these feasts. They've eaten 254 00:21:41.690 --> 00:21:45.849 the meat and they've not just eaten it as food, they've eaten it it's 255 00:21:45.369 --> 00:21:49.680 worshiped to the emperor, is worshiped her as worship to a police and others, 256 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:55.319 and then they look over there and they see you eating the meat. 257 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:02.710 They're like, I thought we were Christians, I thought we were to worship 258 00:22:02.829 --> 00:22:07.950 the one true living God. What are you doing? And that sort of 259 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:15.029 stress and anxiety and fear that a young, young Christian and immature Christian that 260 00:22:15.069 --> 00:22:19.619 hasn't sorted through all these things yet and just sees idolatry. That's all they 261 00:22:19.740 --> 00:22:25.900 see and they see a brother or sister participating in that, that could cause 262 00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:29.420 them to stumble. Well, maybe I guess this is okay, maybe we 263 00:22:29.539 --> 00:22:32.890 don't have to worship Jesus. Is the one true God. Maybe we can 264 00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:36.650 give ourselves over to the things of this world and the emperor and whatnot, 265 00:22:37.410 --> 00:22:41.490 to gain the things of this world. And so Paul says in Verse Nine, 266 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:48.279 Take Care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block 267 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:56.480 to the weak. For if anyone sees you, you who have knowledge, 268 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:00.190 eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience 269 00:23:00.349 --> 00:23:04.190 is eat, to offer or to eat food offered to idols, and to 270 00:23:04.269 --> 00:23:10.630 take what he said before as though they were truly something big, because they 271 00:23:10.670 --> 00:23:15.579 were truly God's or something like that? And so the conclusion he draws in 272 00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:18.380 verse eleven. And so by your knowledge, this very weak person is destroyed, 273 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:22.819 the brother for whom Christ died. Paul says in another place that when 274 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:29.170 we when we know something, or let me put it this way, when 275 00:23:29.210 --> 00:23:34.569 we believe that something is wrong and we do it anyway, even if it's 276 00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:41.559 not actually wrong, we sin. Like if you believe they'll use this. 277 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.160 So example, if you believe in the bottom of your heart that riding a 278 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:51.000 bicycle is a sin and then you go and ride a bicycle, you sin, 279 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:53.319 even though riding a bicycle of course, is not a sin. The 280 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:59.670 SIN is not in the bicycle riding itself, it's in the doing something that 281 00:23:59.789 --> 00:24:04.230 you believed was wrong. If your conscience says don't do it and you go, 282 00:24:04.430 --> 00:24:08.029 I'm going to do it anyway, the Bible says that's a sin. 283 00:24:08.670 --> 00:24:11.900 So obviously we want to do two things. One, we don't want to 284 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:17.619 sin against our conscience and too, we want to calibrate our consciences so that 285 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:22.539 they're neither over sensitive nor under sensitive, that they don't say things or sins 286 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:26.890 which aren't sins and aren't hard against sins which are sins. We want to 287 00:24:27.049 --> 00:24:33.609 calibrate them so that they align perfectly and are perfectly sensitive to God's will and 288 00:24:33.849 --> 00:24:38.680 then to act accordingly. But in our relationships, but we're not on the 289 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:42.680 same page, we're not on the same place. And what Paul is saying 290 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:48.119 here is it's not just about you. It's not just about your right, 291 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:52.319 though you do have a right. It's not just about your freedom, though 292 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:56.869 you do have freedom. We have a responsibility to care for one another. 293 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:02.789 And so, though food won't commend you to God, you're no worse off 294 00:25:02.869 --> 00:25:06.150 if you eat it or if you don't. We are worse off if we 295 00:25:06.230 --> 00:25:11.819 cause our brothers and our sisters to sin. And so Paul says. Just 296 00:25:12.619 --> 00:25:17.940 put the point really clearly in verse thirteen. Therefore, if food makes my 297 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:22.490 brother stumble, I will never eat me lest I make my brother's stumble. 298 00:25:25.410 --> 00:25:30.210 Now how we apply this is complicated, even as this own situation is complicated. 299 00:25:30.450 --> 00:25:34.170 If you ask now concerning food sacrifice to idols, yes or no, 300 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:38.519 like we saw in the previous chapters, Paul doesn't say yes or no. 301 00:25:40.359 --> 00:25:45.240 If you give a blanket yes, yes, food sacrifice to idols, what 302 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:49.630 do you risk? Will you risk causing a brother or sister to stumble? 303 00:25:49.910 --> 00:25:55.750 You risk defiling them, defiling their conscience. You risk being in somewhat responsible 304 00:25:55.910 --> 00:26:00.069 for that. But if you give a blanket no, no, food sacrifice 305 00:26:00.150 --> 00:26:10.220 to idols, you risk binding consciences and freedom where it is allowed. So 306 00:26:10.380 --> 00:26:14.099 what do you do if it's neither a total yes or a total no, 307 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:18.650 what do you do? Well, the answer is you get your priorities right 308 00:26:18.730 --> 00:26:22.650 in your head and then you act according to wisdom in the context. And 309 00:26:22.809 --> 00:26:29.730 what are the priorities in this particular situation? One is there's only one true 310 00:26:29.849 --> 00:26:37.559 God and two, we ought to love our brothers and sisters. That's it, 311 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:42.799 it. And so in that context he applies it to the specific situation 312 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:48.549 with idols and thinking through that and and it and as it relates to these 313 00:26:48.910 --> 00:26:53.589 brothers and sisters. And so, as you think through morally challenging situation in 314 00:26:53.910 --> 00:26:57.069 your life, what should I do and what shouldn't I do? These have 315 00:26:57.230 --> 00:27:02.940 to be a priorities for you as well. All of us, I suspect, 316 00:27:02.980 --> 00:27:06.819 have been found ourselves in situations where we've had to decide what am I 317 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:10.700 going to do? How is this going to look? What's how's this going 318 00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:15.180 to affect my reputation? And sometimes you might call it one way and sometimes 319 00:27:15.220 --> 00:27:18.410 you might call it another, and you might be wrong in both or right 320 00:27:18.529 --> 00:27:22.609 in both, or wrong and one and right in the other. We need 321 00:27:22.690 --> 00:27:26.769 to pray for wisdom, don't we? These things are hard. They require 322 00:27:26.809 --> 00:27:30.039 a lot of thought and sensitivity and a lot of seeking God in his word. 323 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.720 I think this passage also teaches us what one other thing which I'll conclude 324 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:41.880 with here, and that has to do with just the use of knowledge in 325 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:47.230 general. This is how Paul begins, right he says all of us possess 326 00:27:47.750 --> 00:27:51.589 knowledge, and when he speaks there. I think he's thinking about worldly kind 327 00:27:51.630 --> 00:27:55.829 of of knowledge. But even if it's more than that, there is a 328 00:27:55.950 --> 00:28:00.740 danger of it puffing us up and making us prideful. To know the truth 329 00:28:02.140 --> 00:28:06.579 is a good thing, but isn't there aren't there ways in which, our 330 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:12.329 knowledge of the truth, we then use it to hurt other people, to 331 00:28:12.450 --> 00:28:18.130 put them in difficult situations, to not love but instead be conceded and for 332 00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:23.930 ourselves. And though the knowledge may be good, are use of it is 333 00:28:25.609 --> 00:28:32.960 not good. So how are we to know? How are we to not 334 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:40.440 abuse and guard ourselves against that abuse? And it comes from realizing how much 335 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:47.589 God has revealed to us in Christ. It really does. If you would 336 00:28:47.789 --> 00:28:51.430 turn with me to one other place, this is in your hymnals. Will 337 00:28:51.470 --> 00:28:53.349 sing this hymn in a moment and I want you to look at it with 338 00:28:53.470 --> 00:28:57.819 me, because I think this expresses this well, a hymn four hundred and 339 00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:18.089 seventy we the conclusion here is that we are better able to act and live 340 00:29:18.369 --> 00:29:23.960 within this world, to know how we ought to love when we first remember 341 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:30.640 and know how God first loved us. It humbles us in a way to 342 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:33.960 know what God has done for us, to know not just that he's the 343 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.670 one true God, but that one true God, our one true God, 344 00:29:38.309 --> 00:29:45.750 came into this world, became a man, Jesus, who died on a 345 00:29:45.829 --> 00:29:52.150 cross and forget to forgive us our sins. That death of the son of 346 00:29:52.269 --> 00:29:56.740 God and then his subsequent resurrection from the dead puts us in a place where 347 00:29:56.779 --> 00:30:03.059 we don't have to fear Rome or any other government. The Lord's victory in 348 00:30:03.140 --> 00:30:07.730 the Cross puts us in a place where we can try to do good in 349 00:30:07.849 --> 00:30:11.369 the courts and in our businesses and in our families and culture and life and 350 00:30:12.369 --> 00:30:15.769 be successful there, but at the same time hold it with a loose grasp. 351 00:30:17.930 --> 00:30:22.079 Knowing that we belong to Jesus Christ allows us to go to those places 352 00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:23.880 and go. You know what, if I can't go to this place, 353 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:27.960 if my business falls apart, if this ultimately costs my life, not to 354 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:34.710 participate in the things of this culture because they're too compromising or whatever, I'm 355 00:30:34.750 --> 00:30:40.190 going to be okay. If it means that I have to love. I'm 356 00:30:40.269 --> 00:30:45.390 going to love my brother my sister in Christ, even though they're not quite 357 00:30:45.390 --> 00:30:48.750 all right in their heads and in their hearts yet. I'm going to be 358 00:30:48.910 --> 00:30:52.180 okay I'm okay to bind myself in freedom. I'm okay to Louse, or 359 00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:56.619 I'm okay to bind my own freedom. I'm okay to lose the things of 360 00:30:56.700 --> 00:31:02.900 this world. I'm okay to give up my rights because I have everything I 361 00:31:03.019 --> 00:31:07.809 need in Christ. Miss Hymn expresses that each end, each verse, ends 362 00:31:07.890 --> 00:31:14.730 with a not till then how much I owe, except with a slight variation 363 00:31:14.809 --> 00:31:18.200 in the last one, and each one helps us to have us a sense 364 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:22.839 for what Christ has done for us and how we relate to this world. 365 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:27.279 Take the first verse, for example. When this world is passing done, 366 00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:33.829 when has sunk yawn glaring son, when we stand with Christ on high looking 367 00:31:33.950 --> 00:31:38.109 o'er life's history, then Lord shall I fully know, not till then, 368 00:31:38.309 --> 00:31:44.309 how much I owe. We will. We have this knowledge in a sense 369 00:31:44.470 --> 00:31:48.140 now, but when we come into heaven, when we come and we see 370 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:53.859 the world passing away, that's when we'll go okay, now I really get 371 00:31:53.900 --> 00:31:57.140 it. And if we're going to really get it and understand it, then 372 00:31:57.180 --> 00:32:01.650 we can begin to get it and understand it here and now. We can 373 00:32:01.730 --> 00:32:06.289 begin to see the world fading away, we can get in to see it's 374 00:32:06.609 --> 00:32:10.769 setting son, we can begin to see the glories of Christ and live accordingly. 375 00:32:12.809 --> 00:32:15.920 Firse two, when I hear the wicked call on the rocks and the 376 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:20.200 hills to fall, when I see them start and shrink on the fiery day, 377 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:24.319 Lose Brink, then Lord shall I fully know, not till then, 378 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:30.670 how much I owe. It is because of what we owe God in Christ, 379 00:32:30.869 --> 00:32:32.789 because of this great gift that he has given to us and love, 380 00:32:34.190 --> 00:32:37.829 that we don't have to fear the wicked, unrighteous, unjust people of this 381 00:32:37.990 --> 00:32:43.349 world. We can know that God will set it right in the Great Day 382 00:32:44.299 --> 00:32:49.539 of Judgment. When I stand verse three, when I stand before the throne 383 00:32:49.579 --> 00:32:52.579 dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou are, 384 00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:58.569 Love Thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord shall I fully know, not 385 00:32:58.769 --> 00:33:02.210 till then, how much I owe. When the Praise of Heaven I hear 386 00:33:02.450 --> 00:33:07.970 loud as Thunders to the ear, loud as many waters, noise, sweet 387 00:33:07.970 --> 00:33:13.880 as Harp's melodious voice. Then, Lord shall I fully know, not till 388 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:20.240 then, how much I owe. Chosen Not for good, and me wakened 389 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:25.000 up from wrath to flee, hidden in the saviors side by the spirit sanctified 390 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:31.549 teach me Lord on Earth, to show by my love how much I owe 391 00:33:34.190 --> 00:33:39.390 so, brothers and sisters, we can fix, I'll put it that way, 392 00:33:39.509 --> 00:33:44.940 our idolatrous problems by looking to Christ, by looking to him as the 393 00:33:45.059 --> 00:33:49.460 one true God. When we follow him and of him alone, we're no 394 00:33:49.619 --> 00:33:53.859 longer captured by the idols of this world. And it's also to looking to 395 00:33:53.940 --> 00:33:58.609 Christ and the love that we have received in him, the forgiveness of our 396 00:33:58.690 --> 00:34:01.049 sins, the promises of heaven and all the rest. It's when we know 397 00:34:01.250 --> 00:34:06.210 that love that that we can begin to let go of ourselves, even died 398 00:34:06.329 --> 00:34:09.760 to ourselves, as the scriptures say, and show to others that love that 399 00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:15.199 he showed us. May The Lord Grant these things in us as we come 400 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:22.800 to a better knowledge and understanding of him. Let's pray our heavenly father