To Eat or Not to Eat (2)
Life after Pentecost (VI)
1 Corinthians 8
One can wonder whether this
passage of eating meat or not is our concern in the 21st century.
How do we understand freedom in Christ?
Tom Landry, an excellent coach of the Dallas Cowboys said,
“Most successful football players not only accept rules and limitations… they
need them. (They) are free to perform at their best only when they know what
the expectations are and where the limits stand… you can’t enjoy true
freedom without limits.”
Our first point was that knowledge
without God’s love will not edify the body of Christ.
2. Let us not be addicted and enslaved to an idea.
"Everything is
permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is
permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything (6:12).
In another translation, it says,
“I must not become slave to anything.” (NLT)
Addiction is a very dangerous
thing. One will become a slave of that “thing”. Last week we were discussing the
concept that someone will MASTER your body; let it be God. “You
are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with
your body” (19-20).
Last Sunday I did not share
this with you. I want to tell you more about what it meant to be a slave:
The picture was very clear
for the people of
Eating meat or not should not
be a matter that binds us. These are secondary issues, move on do not get
stuck with them.
Last Sunday we asked you to
help us cook for the church picnic. The original plan was that we wanted each
person to bring his/her own food. There was some objection. Fine, this is a secondary
issue: to cook or not to cook. Thank God, we have volunteers and things are moving
forward. Now for the ones who wanted not to have to cook, I am one of those. It
is OK, we move on. Let us pray and prepare this picnic in a way that we can
bring unchurched people, or people who need fellowship. Let us see the greater
picture (how God can use us) in all these activities.
3. WWJD (What would Jesus Do?) was a
principle that many Christians used to come to conclusions in different situations.
Now the principle is good, but the problem started when “Christians” did not study Jesus’ life in his Word,
and started to speculate Jesus’ action.
We need to see what Jesus did.
Some believe if their conscience
feels good, then their decision is
OK.
How do we know if our conscience is in tune with God?
We read in 1 Timothy 1:5
“The goal of this command is
love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a
sincere faith.”
-How can we have these
qualities when God does not live in our life?
-How can you expect such a love
to be in you when you do not have any connection with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?
-Do you have:
a Pure
heart,
a Good
Conscience,
a Sincere
Faith?
Be careful not to answer this
question with your opinion about a pure heart and a good conscience and so on… We
need to learn about Christ. We need to learn about God. We need to learn,
study, pray, apply his WORD.
This does not happen in us automatically.
When we accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior, we ask the Holy Spirit to fill
us everyday. Everyday we need to plug in to God in order to have His love, and
to have
a Pure
heart,
a Good
Conscience,
a Sincere
Faith.
Yes, there are many ‘grey’
areas where we need to be careful about taking decisions.
4. No, Christians do not have the right to practice
anything that damages the faith of the another member of the family.
In other words, “Do not be a stumbling
block.”
“Be careful, however, that
the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For
if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an
idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?
11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your
knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and
wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if
what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so
that I will not cause him to fall.” (9-13)
Our weak friend is in our
family. We do not have the right to
damage him/her. Remember we need to build
each other up and not destroy. If eating
meat is not helping that person, why not stop it. It is a secondary issue.
I like to come back to
Daniel. For him eating or not was not the issue. For him obeying God and
demonstrating in that foreign land that God Jehovah is the true God was
the primary issue, the priority. So whether he was a stumbling block for anyone,
did not matter for Daniel. He obeyed God. Jesus was a stumbling block for the Jews.
He did not give up. He obeyed God the Father. We need to distinguish between
primary matters and secondary issues. Yet although we have freedom in secondary
issues, we should not be stumbling blocks for a weak brother and sister.
What are the “idol meats” in
our society today?
Drinking wine?
Going to the movies?
Dancing?
Being in a bar?
Ask these
question:
-Are they
(those secondary issues) going to help or hinder our relationship with God?
-Are they
going to be a stumbling block for weaker Christians? -Do we need to modify our behavior
at certain times or in certain circumstances?
-Do we
have friends who need greater care because they’re still young in the faith, or
still have weak consciences about certain things?
Notice
that there’s a difference between changing our behavior to be sensitive towards
our brothers
and
being a
hypocrite pretending to live a different life in front of our Christian friends
while living another life when we think no-one is watching us.
To eat or not to eat, this is
the question.
If it is a principal issue,
we will not compromise.
If it is a secondary issue,
let us be flexible so we do not be stumbling blocks for our weaker brother and
sister.
And most importantly, let us always
be in relationship with Jesus so we will be led by his presence through prayers
and His Word.
Amen