Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of 1 Corinthians" by Neal Pollard - Part 7

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"A Study of 1 Corinthians" by Neal Pollard - Part 7 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good morning. If you want to go ahead and turn your
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Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, that's where we're going to be in just a
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moment. I want to apologize up front for being so pathetic
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that everybody knows to come up to me and express condolences to me,
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uh, as, uh, the Saturday results came rolling
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in yesterday. I'm glad that my team loses so infrequently
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that it's noteworthy and Hey,
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but you know what? Kentucky has the same record that Georgia does. So we
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can— those of you that aren't Kentucky haters, you would be happy about that too.
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1 Corinthians is about being of the same mind and the same judgment.
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And it's interesting as you walk through the book of 1 Corinthians
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to see the diverse kinds of problems that the church
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is having within its ranks, within itself,
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and the causes of division. You're going to find moral issues that
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are going to come up. You're going to find personality-related
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issues that causes people to elevate one personality
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over another. And you're going to have marriage issues that is
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impacting not just the home, but is impacting the church. And a variety
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of statuses of people like widows and the unmarried and those who
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are married to unbelievers. And that's kind of where we've been.
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There are 2 subjects that Paul spends more
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time on than he does anything else in the letter. And they're going to come
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here back to back with the Lord's Supper in the middle of them.
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And one is going to be one that maybe on the surface,
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we started it last week, Hiram did, with 1 Corinthians chapter
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8. And in a perfect world, if we had enough time, we would deal with
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these units together because this letter,
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chapter 8 is not in isolation. That's what we do in Bible class sometimes.
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We're going to study this chapter and it's like it has a world of its
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own. And then we come the next week and we study the next chapter
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and it's like it's got its world of its own. And what makes that complicated
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is there are passages that you know in various chapters that you recognize
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verses in isolation that are familiar
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to you. Let me give you a couple examples from where we're going today.
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In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says,
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I discipline my body and make it my slave,
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lest when I have preached to others, I myself become disqualified.
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Most of us have heard that passage before, right? But have we considered
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it in the light of our context? Here's another one. Therefore, let him that
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thinks he stands, what? Take heed lest
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he fall. Great application we can make from that. Or the next verse,
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there's no temptation taken you but such as is common
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to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you to
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be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation provide a means
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of escape that you may be able to bear it. Some wonderful comforting words
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in that, but what does it mean in the context of this discussion?
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Or whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory
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of God. Great idea.
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How does it relate to what Paul's talking about the church here? That's hopefully
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what we're going to do today as we walk through. So here's those 2
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big issues Paul's going to spend the most time on. And you can see
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how it's going to fit into this overall plea from Paul
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that there be no divisions among you, but that you be of the same mind
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and the same judgment. Here, he is talking about doing things that
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we feel like we have the right to do that may have a negative impact
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on unbelievers and weak or new
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Christians. And that's right down where we live because
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we realize that we're not just living our lives in isolation.
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We're not just an island to ourselves, but the things that we do impact
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the people who meet us in the community. But it also impacts
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the different people that make up the body of Christ, whether we know that they're
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watching us or not. And so Paul's going to spend
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3 of the 16 chapters as we have it divided on this one
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thing that may seem somewhat obscure to us. And then the other one
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that we will— we spend time on is 1 Corinthians 12
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through 14, and that's spiritual gifts. Whose gifts are better,
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my gifts or your gifts? Aren't you thankful we don't deal with that kind of
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thing in the church today? That we're just content to let you shine
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and that your works be recognized, and if mine never
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is, I'm okay with that. And so Paul's
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going to talk about some human tendencies, even though in that particular
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instance, we're going to be talking about the miraculous gifts that they were given,
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9 ones that Paul's going to mention, but we'll leave that for
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future us to deal with. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapters 8
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through 10. And as we do, we've got to ask ourselves
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some questions to help us to identify what Paul's talking about here.
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And the question is, what's the key to 1 Corinthians 8 through 10? Anybody want
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to take a stab at it? If you want to summarize
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or distill these 3 chapters, what's the key idea?
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Okay, good. I guess I have a purpose this morning in teaching class.
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I think that it all boils down to what Paul says in
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1 Corinthians 8:9. And chapters 9 and 10
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are certainly going to be building on that. Here's what Paul says there. You may,
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just as a review from last week, take care
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that this liberty of yours does not somehow
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become a stumbling block to the weak.
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Principle that's going to help us, even though I
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don't know that you can go anywhere in both— probably you can,
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but you'd have to look for it. To find somebody somewhere who is offering
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up an animal sacrifice on an altar that has— they've
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done their work now, and now that meat's gone down to the international meat
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market or to the Kroger or somewhere, and you can go in and it's labeled
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idol meats and pick it up. Even though that's not the
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case, this is going to be a very relevant principle to us.
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Now, what is the overall then issue
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that Paul is building off of in chapters
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8 through 10. Is it right or wrong to do what?
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Eat meat. And not just eat meat. This is not a vegetarian question.
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It's where did that meat come from? Why does that matter in
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Paul's writing to the Corinthians? Why does he have to talk about it?
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Okay, so this is a predominantly Gentile audience.
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And these Corinth— by the way, just remind yourself, go back to Acts chapter 18
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to give yourself the background of how this church got established in the first place.
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And you're going to remember how they came from idolatry,
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as many of them did on Paul's missionary journey, to serve the living God.
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That's how Paul puts it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9.
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But the same is true of the Corinthians. And so, in their background,
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there was a time in which they would offer up meats to idols.
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And then the part that wasn't used in that ceremony was
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still considered dedicated food to gods,
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to demons, as Paul's going to call it in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
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And so there's a conscience issue. If you came out
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of being an unbeliever where this meant something and now you're a Christian,
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Paul says that some of the Christians had knowledge. They knew that there
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was nothing wrong with this and they had a right to do it because there
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was nothing sacred about that meat. So Paul's going to talk about that issue,
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but There are some people who
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they still have an attachment. It still has baggage
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for them. And to know that you as a
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Christian are going to go and do that might
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make them stumble and fall away. So here's the
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dilemma. I have the right to do this.
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It's not technically biblically wrong.
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And if you have a problem with me doing that, that's your problem.
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Not mine. Man, a mindset like that's going
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to just cause the church to mushroom and grow, isn't it? And so Paul is
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going to really dig down on this concept and
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he's going to really challenge that. I believe on what we call questionable matters,
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there are some passages that help us to figure out
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our behavior, our conduct before unbelievers and new Christians.
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Romans 14 is one that we typically go to, But I believe
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that by the time that we are done with 1 Corinthians 9 and 10,
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you will see this is perhaps one of the strongest passages to determine
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whether or not an action is right or wrong and whether you should do it,
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outside of it being morally right or doctrinally right or
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morally wrong and doctrinally wrong. So Paul
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is talking about Christian liberty and eating meats. Now what
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Paul is going to do as he sets up these next 3 chapters is he
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is going to use himself as an example. Of how you should view
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your rights. And so, as we walk through chapter 9, verse 1 through 27,
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Paul is going to focus on himself and the things that he has the right
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to do and whether or not he exercises those rights
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and why, in the case of Corinth, he does not do
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so. All right, so that's the first thing he's going to do. The second thing
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he's going to do is he's going to do kind of like, you remember when
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we went to End of the Word and we talked about the examples in the
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book of Philippians? There were positive examples and there were even a couple of
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negative examples. Here's how not to do it.
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On this subject, Paul's not changing the subject from 8:1 to
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11:1. So everything we see is on the same subject.
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In chapter 10, verse 1 through 16, Paul is going to say,
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here's how you don't handle your perceived rights
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in community. And then the third thing he's going to do is he's going
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to show us what should bring us together, where we should sit
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down, What food and what drink symbolizes
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the unity and the oneness that God wants us to have?
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And so, this is a prelude. Do you ever— sometimes somebody is presiding over the
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Lord's Supper, typically if they read a scripture, they read from 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.
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But sometimes some folks will come in and they will read 1 Corinthians chapter
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10, maybe verse 16 or somewhere like that, which Paul is
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not focusing on questions they have specifically about the Lord's
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Supper. It's just going to form a good segue. He's going to talk about
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what we rally around. Instead of causing each other to stumble, we build
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each other up through the Lord's Supper. And I know I'm not going to have
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as much time when we get there. I want you to think about what you
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do today when we, as we do on the first
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day of every week, when we commune with our Lord,
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that that's not all that we're doing. Even though we're not vocally reaching
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out and talking to one another, we are sitting down together as
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it were at the table to
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eat in a food. I know if you're hungry, it's not
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going to slake your hunger, but to use that
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accommodatively as Paul is, and we're going to drink drink that doesn't
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cause one another to stumble and fall further away from the Lord,
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but what we're doing together, Though we never say a word
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to one another, as we're focusing on the Lord's Supper, we are saying
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by the very taking of the Lord's Supper that
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I am here for you and you are here for me to
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help me overcome, to help me not go away from the Lord, but to come
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closer to the Lord. And Paul's going to use a kind of an imagery
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there that you're either sitting at one table or another. There is
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no third option here. You're sitting at the table of the Lord, or as he
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puts it, you're sitting at the table of demons. All right, so there's the setup.
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Any thoughts preliminary to our getting into chapters 9 and
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10? All right, so let's look at what— how Paul develops this for us.
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The first thing that Paul says is, is that he chooses relationships
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over rights. So Paul has,
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in chapter 8 and verse 13, said that if eating
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meat causes my brother to stumble, I won't eat meat as long as I live
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so that I might not cause my brother to stumble. He goes
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right out of that to start talking about rights. And so,
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this is to help these folks who insisted on their right to eat
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meats. Maybe the more knowledgeable, those who knew enough to know that those sacrificial
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meats are okay, there's no sin involved in that. Paul says,
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okay, now let's focus on some things that I have the right to do.
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Now, what does Paul have the right to do?
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Verse 4. Okay, let's go
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with— that's true. Let's hold on to that one. What is in verse 4?
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Does Paul have the right to do? Why does he
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say that? It's the subject at hand.
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We're talking about things eaten on the idol, on the altar,
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or that had been sacrificed and now is available for resale for them to have.
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Paul says, I have knowledge. I'm the one teaching
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you. I'm the one who taught you the gospel. I have the right to
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eat and to drink. All right, what about in verse 5?
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What does Paul have a right to do? To take a wife.
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It's a right, and he's established that in chapter 7.
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And then what's the other right that he has?
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I can be paid. Of the gospel. I have a right to
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receive a salary from you because I'm ministering to
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you. And a lot of what he's going to say in verses 6 through 18
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defends that right. And in fact, in all of these, he is going to say,
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these are not rights or wrongs. These are
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things that I have the right to do. I'm not just a Christian,
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I'm an apostle, verses 1 through 3. But though
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I have this right, I am not exercising this.
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The first one, the food and drink, he says,
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look, what does— how does he end the discussion? Chapter 11 and verse 1,
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be what of me as I am of Christ? Imitators or followers
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of Christ. He says, so, all right, here you go. The issue that we're all
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torn up about, meat and drink to idols.
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I have a right to do it, but I don't. The second one,
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I have a right to be married. But I don't.
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Now, he describes he has the ability to control his sexual urges,
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chapter 7 and verse 7, and he can give himself more fully
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in devotion to the Lord. And he encourages because of whatever
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that current distress was that they consider doing the same thing.
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But he says it's not bound in Scripture. But for the purpose of
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this discussion, he's saying, I have the right.
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Now, there are unique circumstances and Paul's in a unique position.
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Paul is a missionary who is a Christian who has devoted
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himself to, as a single person, taking the gospel to the whole world.
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And so he says, I want to let
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nothing be an impediment in my way. And so that's why I'm not going to
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get married. Now, here's the question. Was Paul supported to do the work
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at Corinth? No, I don't think
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so. He was supported by Philippi. Okay,
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all right, so he was supported by Philippi,
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by the region of Macedonia. He didn't
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take money from Corinth. He said, I have the right to do that.
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And he establishes the biblical principle, even reaches into the Old Testament.
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And he says, I— in 2 Corinthians 11:7-9, he says,
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I robbed other churches for you.
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I took money from others. Because if you remember, go back to Acts 18:5,
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he had been doing tent-making work with Aquila and
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Priscilla, for a period of time and he was using his free time to go
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out and to teach. But there's a transition that takes place in Acts
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18:5. And for much of that 18 months, he is devoting himself, going to
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the synagogue teaching. And the Lord speaks to him, says, I have many people in
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this city. He has a very fruitful ministry there. But in 2 Corinthians
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11:7-9, he says, I robbed other churches. And apparently it's not
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because Corinth is poor. The encouragement
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in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 Paul says, I want you to flourish
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in this grace also as you did in other things. And who
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did he say was doing the supporting? The Macedonians.
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And how are they described for us? And that includes Philippi, by the
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way, which Levi mentioned. They're poor,
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but they gave themselves first to the Lord. And he said, unto us by the
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will of God. And so Paul says, my approach to
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you at Corinth is that I
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have rights. And he keeps— you'll notice if you'd like to draw
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a circle around words that are repeated, look at them in this
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chapter. I think there are 6 where he uses the word right. And I think
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it's like 4, 5, 8, twice in 12, and once
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in 18. You can go back and find if that's not quite right. But he's
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saying, I have the right, I have the right, I have the right. By hammering
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that down, He is speaking to the people who
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say, but I have a right to do this.
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Now, we're going to try to make that a little bit more specific here in
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just a moment. So what's the point in context?
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I think the point, Paul is setting them up in the middle of this discussion
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about what to consider before you eat meat
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offered to idols as a Christian who knows there's nothing wrong
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inherently in doing that?
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Okay. Yeah. So Paul's trying to protect himself from people who are trying to discredit
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him. He's not giving them any ammunition. All right. So that's the chief
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reason why he's not taking pay. So that feeds into this idea. I'm not going
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to give you any ammunition that's going to hurt the cause of Christ. And what
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does Paul care about more than anything else?
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In the work he is doing more than anything?
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To what end? What is our hope in spreading the gospel?
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What do we want? To save a soul.
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Now keep that in mind as we read verse— we will read verses 19
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through 27. I do want to take the time to read that to see the
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point in context. Paul says, for though I am free from
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all men, I have the right, in the areas
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he has just mentioned, I have made myself a slave to all so
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that I may win more. To the Jews I became
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a Jew so that I might win Jews. To those who are
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under the law, as under the law, though not myself being under the law,
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so that I might win those who are under the law. To those
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who are without law, as without law, though not being without the
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law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those
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who are without law. To the weak I became weak,
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that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men,
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so that I may by all means save some. I do
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all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow
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partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all
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run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that
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you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises
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self-control in all things. They do— then do it to receive a perishable wreath,
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but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as
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not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air,
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but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after
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I preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
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Paul is laying out his philosophy,
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I think, as plainly in 10 verses here as anywhere
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in Scripture. Did anything stick out?
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I tried not to overly emphasize it, but not to miss it.
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Do you hear Paul saying something over and over and over again?
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It's hard to miss. It's a phrase.
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In the Greek, it's one little word, hina. It's a
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conjunction. You're almost there.
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So that. Now, depending on your translation, it may on a
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time or two, as it does, I think I have the New American Standard here,
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maybe the ESV, I don't know. He says that. That instead of so
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that. So what does so that mean?
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In order to— say it again.
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Purpose to reach a conclusion.
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I'm doing an action to achieve a result.
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Now, you, whenever the Holy Spirit through a writer hammers
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it down so hard, We don't want to miss it. He's saying,
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I do X so that, I do Y so that, I do Z so
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that, so that, so that, so that. The same so that. What is
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the so that? One so that,
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reach somebody, somebody be saved.
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Conversely, that somebody not be lost.
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All right, so Paul is saying as he walks through his philosophy as
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a Christian, take out of the picture for a moment that he's a preacher,
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that he's a missionary, that he's an apostle. Try to put yourself
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in his sandals and say, as a Christian, I do X, Y,
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Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G so that people
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may go to heaven and not go to hell.
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And try to let that live more than an abstract principle.
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I'm going to try to help you with that in just a moment. Now,
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this hina clause, so that, is actually found 3 times
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before this paragraph. It really shows up here, but you go back to chapter 8
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and verse 13, if you want to draw the connections here, he uses it there.
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Go back to chapter 9 and verse 12 in that first paragraph talking about
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money, and chapter 12 and verse 15,
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you'll find that so that or that in your text. And so, it's a consequence.
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Now, let's walk through those particular ones.
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The first use of so that in this paragraph is in verse 19,
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where Paul states the general principle. What's the general principle?
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Verse 19. What does the whole thing say?
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Just read your verse 19. Is that
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the totality of the verse?
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Yeah. All right,
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so you have the potential on one side, you have the so that, and then
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you have the result. All right, so what does Paul say? What is his general
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principle? What does he do Before the so that.
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I make myself a servant, a slave
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to all. Here is what that means.
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You consider my rights and bend to my will so
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that I don't get lost. Agree or disagree?
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Huh?
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He certainly is. And he is trying to tell them, this is the example I
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want you to follow exactly. Let me say it this way.
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I'm going to be sensitive to you,
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and if I have a right, but my exercising that
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right may make it harder for you to live the Christian
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life and go to heaven, I'm going to surrender that
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for you. Does that sound a little better than the first statement I made?
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Do we ever do it the other way? Bend to
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me because I have a feeling about this and
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I feel like you need to consider— is that perhaps
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what's going on at Corinth and is creating this division? That you need
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to kowtow to my inclinations, please? And especially
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on something that was such a part of their past here.
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Yes, ma'am.
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That there were probably still people who did eat the meat.
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And I just wonder what the— I mean, I wonder if they did
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it separately. You know, maybe you can— you have an opportunity
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to eat the meat, I will not eat the meat. And they
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kind of did their own thing. So Paul's going to kind of deal with
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that in chapter 10. He's going to talk about 2 situations. And I'm looking at
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the clock. I'm going to go ahead and kind of foreshadow that for you.
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What if you are offered meat and you don't know where it comes from and
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they don't tell you? What do you do in that situation since there's nothing wrong
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with meat? He says, eat it. If you don't
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know, if nobody's kind of like highlighting this for you, but right
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after that he says, and this is like 27 and 28 of chapter 10,
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he says, if somebody says, here, here is some pork
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chops that we got from the temple of Aphrodite, the other
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day, and it's so good. I don't know that we've had a better cut than
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this in a while. Eat that, Christian. What do you do in that case,
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Paul says? Don't. Why? What's the difference?
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Here's this, whether they're an unbeliever or a new Christian, but in that context,
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an unbeliever says, will you eat this?
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And if you eat that, what do you run the great risk of doing?
25:20
Christians believe there's some attachment. They are
25:24
willing to sit down at the table with demons,
25:28
with idols, and to fellowship with that.
25:33
Hmm. Or you're sitting there with the unbeliever who's told you where
25:38
it's come from, from that temple. And then here's Brother
25:44
Gaius who has just become a Christian a month ago
25:48
and he sees you. What are you doing to
25:51
him? So there's the contrast
25:56
in chapter 10. There are different situations Paul is talking about where our actions
26:00
come up against our influence with other people
26:04
who may be susceptible to what it is that we're doing.
26:08
All right? Paul says, I make myself subservient to others
26:12
that I might save their souls. That's the heart of this.
26:15
And as we progress through this, Paul's not moving away from what he's saying right
26:19
here. And then he bookends it He begins the examples in verse
26:22
22 with a very similar statement. He says, I have become all things to all
26:26
men so that I may by all
26:30
means save some. Now, 5 times in between verse 19
26:33
through 22, he's going to use that so that phrase,
26:37
and he's going to break it down into individual categories.
26:41
So first of all, what's the first group that he examines
26:45
his behavior in front of? The Jews.
26:49
So what does Paul say he does? To the Jew—
26:54
to the Jew what? I became as a Jew.
26:58
Why? So that I
27:03
can save Jewish souls. What does
27:06
it mean to become a Jew?
27:09
Okay, alright, let's put a finer point on it. Jewish customs.
27:13
All right, because he's going to talk about law next. And so
27:17
if I'm sitting down with a Christian and I'm having you over my house for
27:20
Bible study, I'm not going to say, hey, we have pork chops,
27:23
bacon, and just to top it off, we're going to have a side
27:27
of ham. So come on over and let's sit down and study the Bible.
27:30
How's that going to go with somebody who has conscience matters
27:33
with that? Or, hey, I can't study with you on Saturday
27:38
because I'm working all day Saturday. And you're in individual
27:44
discussion with this person and you know that about them.
27:48
Now, the second one may seem a little bit more drastic. If we were in
27:51
a situation where somebody had a— maybe
27:56
it's not even a well-formed idea that it's wrong to work on the Sabbath
28:00
and we're trying to study the Bible with them, should we take those Saturdays
28:04
off? If that's going to be an impediment to them? That's the idea here.
28:07
I know the culture is somewhat different. We've moved far away from that and we're
28:11
not in a Jewish society. That's not our scruple that we deal with. But if
28:15
you were in a Jewish society, you probably wouldn't want to sit down and do
28:18
a study on Saturday because of how they view that day. So Paul is saying
28:22
when it doesn't come in, and that's going to be a thread throughout here,
28:25
if it doesn't come into conflict with what Christ says, or as he puts it
28:28
in this context, the law of Christ, I'm going to do it.
28:31
Now, the next time he uses the phrase is when he says, to those
28:35
who are under the law, I became as one who is under the law,
28:39
not as though being under the law of Moses, but being under
28:42
the law of Christ. What's Paul saying there? Is this same or different
28:47
from the last one?
28:50
Same principle. Same principle, kind of synonymous
28:55
here. But when it comes to the law, as long
28:58
as it's not a law issue that
29:01
causes somebody— so here's the thing. You couldn't do this. You couldn't come along and
29:05
you couldn't say, this scruple I have with regard to the law, this custom,
29:10
is gospel truth and you've got to do that. Well,
29:14
if we do that, what do we have then if we try to make
29:18
something that's not right or wrong become right or wrong?
29:22
We have the book of Galatians. The Judaizers were trying to say that
29:26
you have to observe the law as part of the gospel. Well, that's a different
29:29
principle than this. What he's saying here is
29:33
that the— so let me give you a couple of examples.
29:38
Timothy is going with Paul on the second missionary journey.
29:41
And what does Paul do in order to get Timothy ready to
29:46
go on the journey? Circumcises him. All right?
29:50
In recognition that he was going to come to synagogues
29:54
and he didn't want that to be an impediment for him. Now, whether it was
29:57
right or wrong, we have the circumstance in Acts 21 where
30:01
Paul exercises these purification rituals.
30:07
If we take the position that this was not a matter of right or wrong,
30:10
but Paul was trying to accommodate those under the law, this is something
30:14
that you can do. If it doesn't cause you to contradict
30:18
the law of Christ in deference to somebody's
30:22
scruple, then you do that so that you can win them. All right,
30:26
who's the third category that he mentions in the next verse?
30:31
Those who are what? Those who are without law.
30:35
All right, so what's an application of that for us?
30:39
Those who are without law, who are those, by the way?
30:44
Those are Gentiles. All right, so what's the principle?
30:47
Those who are without law, I become as one who is without law.
30:51
So Paul understands nothing sacred about the Sabbath,
30:55
nothing that's binding about the customs
31:00
and the things under the old law. We're not bound by that.
31:04
I think maybe the best example I can think of is up on Mars Hill.
31:07
How does Paul try to reach the folks in Athens?
31:11
Moses says, Isaiah says, David says.
31:14
Does he do that? What does he appeal to?
31:19
Principles from Revelation. But in order to try to win
31:22
them, thankfully he sharpened his tools enough
31:26
that he can say, look at science,
31:29
look at logic, look at philosophy, and out
31:33
of this, see that God is. And then he ties it even to the resurrection.
31:37
If there's a God who is unbound, what is
31:40
it that's off limits to him? And so Paul's saying, I'm working through
31:44
all these situations knowing ahead of time that it
31:48
might cause a problem for folks. All right? And so then he goes to those
31:51
who are weak, as who, those who are weak. Who do you
31:55
think he's talking about there? Who's the weak?
31:59
Think contextually.
32:08
Those who had problems with people eating meat sacrificed
32:12
to idols. That's the weak here. This is the first group of those who
32:16
are not non-Christians. This group are Christians.
32:20
These are the very folks. So Paul kind of puts that on the tail end
32:24
of this saying, maybe you get this. To the Jews, you accommodate yourself as
32:28
you can to the Jews. To the Gentiles who are outside of Christ, you accommodate
32:31
yourself as you can. But what about your brother in Christ who
32:35
might struggle with something that you technically have the right in
32:39
some way to do. Now, here's the question.
32:44
What would you be willing to give up for souls?
32:49
Now, Paul's going to summarize this entire discussion in verses 31 through
32:52
33 of the next chapter. Here's what he says. Whether then you eat
32:56
or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
33:00
Give no offense either to Jew or to Greek or the church of God,
33:03
just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my
33:07
own profit, but the profit of the many so that they may be saved.
33:10
That's his basic bottom line. So what about
33:15
us? All right, so in between verse
33:18
19 through 22, we have already seen that.
33:23
Paul says it again, so that, in verse 23 to defend why he does what
33:27
he does. It's for the sake of the gospel. He says, so that, again in
33:30
chapter 9 and verse 24 to encourage the Corinthians to encourage
33:33
his example. He's saying, see how I approach things?
33:37
I want you to approach things in the same way.
33:40
And I want to make a couple of applications before we move into chapter 10.
33:45
All right. Number 1,
33:53
let me ask it this way. What is that thing that you
33:57
feel like that you can legitimately defend as not being sinful?
34:01
In and of itself. Don't answer out loud. I want you to think about it
34:05
for a moment. First,
34:08
be sure that you're sure that
34:13
you're sure that you're right.
34:18
Number 2, be sure that
34:23
you are not living an undisciplined life that eventually leads you
34:27
further from Christ. I can't tell you how many people
34:31
who thought it was their right to do something, who entangled
34:36
themselves in that, and it became a precipitating
34:40
factor in their falling away from God.
34:44
You think Paul might have something to say about that? Wherefore let him that thinks
34:47
he stands in the matter of rights be
34:52
careful, that you do not fall.
34:56
And third, and all these are legitimate
34:59
factors of themselves, but we're combining them together in this context,
35:04
be sure that you are not causing someone
35:07
to stumble in the exercise of your right.
35:11
Now we're going to have some more litmus tests at the end of this,
35:13
but think about those 3. Are you sure that you're
35:17
right? Are you sure it's not leading you away from Christ? Are you sure it's
35:21
not making your brother stumble. Now, let me
35:25
give you a personal example of something I know out of my church
35:29
and ministry background. I knew of a deacon
35:33
who was evangelistic, who studied with and
35:39
converted a man and his wife.
35:42
They had 4 children, 3 daughters and a son.
35:46
This man doing, I think, something so vital as a part of evangelism,
35:49
had this new Christian family into his home for a
35:53
meal to do some follow-up study. At the meal,
35:56
this deacon or his wife, I don't remember that detail,
36:01
offered or had wine with the meal.
36:06
And he explained it. This guy had a lot of influence on their life.
36:10
He said, it's okay to drink in moderation.
36:14
It was the first time that this woman
36:18
had ever had alcohol in her life. First time. She had
36:22
all other issues, needed, of course, to obey the gospel, but that's one
36:25
thing she'd never done. This woman became
36:30
an alcoholic. Now, could that
36:34
have happened somewhere else down the line? Sure, it could have. Nobody becomes
36:37
a problem drinker without becoming a drinker in the first place, but that's where she
36:40
had her first drink, at the hand
36:44
of the person who studied with her. She and her
36:48
husband ultimately would divorce. They would stay faithful in
36:51
their attendance for years, but the marriage would break
36:55
up. I knew 2 of the daughters extremely
36:59
well, and both of them ultimately
37:04
would fall away out of the dysfunction that their family became.
37:09
Did they have other issues? In their
37:12
situation? No doubt.
37:16
But there's no escaping that this was a contributing factor
37:22
because this guy says, it's my right to
37:25
do that. And in encouraging that led,
37:30
I'm convinced, an entire family
37:34
to fall away. I know because we— We withdrew
37:39
fellowship from one of the 2 daughters, and she died in an unfaithful
37:43
state. Maybe you believe it's okay
37:48
to listen to contemporary Christian music with instruments
37:52
outside of worship in front of other people.
37:56
Maybe you feel like it is your right to observe Christmas as
37:59
a religious holiday with your family, and you're outspoken about
38:03
that in your interaction with other people.
38:06
Maybe you're convinced that God doesn't care if people see you having a pinch
38:10
between your cheek and gum, or you have an after-dinner
38:14
cigar from time to time out before other folks.
38:18
Now, what God expects of us is for us to use
38:22
common sense, humility,
38:25
an honest heart, and great sensitivity about
38:29
our actions and example before others. Listen, don't assume others
38:33
can take it. Don't see it as your job to try to
38:37
spiritually toughen them up. And don't be so in love
38:41
with your perceived rights that you trample on the faith of others. That's what Paul
38:44
is saying here. I try to think, what can I do to try to
38:48
make this not be meat offered to idols so that we can appreciate context in
38:52
which it may happen in our lives? What matters more
38:56
than my liberty? Is your soul. So God wants us
39:00
to fill in the blank. He wants us to say with Paul, you go back
39:03
to chapter 8 and verse 13, therefore, if blank causes
39:08
my brother to stumble, I will never blank
39:12
again so that I will not cause my brother to
39:16
stumble. And maybe that's helpful. Maybe make
39:21
a note at 1 Corinthians 8:13. And say whatever
39:28
the blank needs to be filled with.
39:32
That's Paul's— that's the heart of Paul's
39:36
argument here. And their question, is it right to eat meat
39:40
offered to idols or not? Let me hit this.
39:43
Here's the contrast. Ancient Israel chose to
39:47
flirt rather than to flee idolatry. You can read verse 1
39:50
through 15. Paul gives an example here, and it's the example of the— not just
39:53
the Israelites, of the Israelites who wandered
39:57
in the wilderness. And here's what's interesting to me. I hadn't caught this
40:00
before. Do you know what's common to every one of those verses?
40:04
He says, don't crave evil things as they craved evil things. Don't practice
40:08
idolatry as they practiced idolatry. Go all the way. Don't commit sexual immorality
40:12
as some of them did and don't grumble as some of them did. Do you
40:15
know what all of those— he's going to reach back to an Old Testament example
40:19
from those 40 years. Do you know what happens in every one of those situations?
40:23
I hadn't seen this before. Don't crave evil
40:27
things as they did. What was the thing that they craved?
40:31
Say it again. Meat.
40:34
They craved meat. And it became evil because they
40:38
didn't trust God. Their flesh is what they wanted to
40:43
serve more than anything else. And then
40:47
in the next verse, I just forgot. What was it? What's verse 7
40:50
say? Don't do what?
40:54
Commit idolatry. Okay, that goes to, I think it's
40:58
Exodus 23:19. Israel sat down
41:02
to eat and drink and they rose up to play. Do you remember what that's
41:05
in the context of? What happens right after that? As Aaron
41:09
explains it, people brought me all this gold. We melted it down and
41:12
out popped this golden calf. Wow, how did that happen? All right,
41:16
so it revolved around them sitting down together to eat
41:20
and drink, not to serve the Lord, but to satisfy their own
41:24
desires. Every one of these, the sexual immorality, you remember what that's about? We talked
41:28
about that, I think, in a sermon recently that Hiram preached. Who was the guy
41:31
who was behind that? Numbers 31,
41:34
the one who got the Moabites. So here it is, come to us and eat
41:38
this meal with us. And they sit down with them. And the next thing you
41:41
know, the women, the Moabite women, maybe they begin to disrobe. And make themselves available
41:46
to the Israelite men. And the next thing that you know, they commit
41:49
fornication. How did it start? With a meal.
41:54
So Paul is saying, you think you're so strong and
41:59
that your perceived right's not hurting anybody,
42:03
but look at what's happening. What are you craving?
42:07
How close to the line do you want to go? Is your
42:10
attitude with regard to even the things that you have the right to do in
42:14
front of people who are impressionable, Are you going to flirt with it, see how
42:17
close you can get? Are you going to sit down belly up at the bar
42:20
if you have a problem there? Are you going to sit in front of a
42:23
computer without some kind of accountability and go to places you shouldn't go without some
42:27
kind of safeguard? Or are you going to
42:31
flee from idolatry? So Paul's saying, I'm scrupulous.
42:35
If you're not careful, you're not going to be scrupulous and it's going to lead
42:38
you away. Your bottom line mentality ought to be,
42:42
I'm going to flee from it. I'm going to stay away from it as much
42:45
as I can. I want to get to this before we
42:49
close. In verses 16 through
42:53
33, let me just go on ahead to that. Paul says the church has a
42:57
better communion than idolatry. And he goes back and he compares them.
43:01
It's interesting, the language in verses 1 through 4 is Israel,
43:06
they were baptized, They ate the same
43:11
spiritual food and the same spiritual drink. He's saying that these
43:15
are the people of God. They were being led by God, literally by
43:19
a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Moses was
43:22
the guy at the front of the line. He was leading them. They were being
43:25
fed and they were given drink miraculously. And he
43:29
says, and this still happened to them. And so how do we safeguard
43:33
ourselves from that situation? In verse 18 through 22, Paul is still answering
43:38
the question back in 8 and verse 1. Should we eat meats sacrificed
43:42
to idols? Here is the 4 answers. And again,
43:46
take out meats offered to idols and put in blank, whatever your blank
43:51
is. Answer number 1,
43:55
should we eat meat or should we do X? First answer,
43:59
8:1 through 13. Not if you ruin your
44:02
brother by it. That's answer 1.
44:06
Answer 2 is chapter 9:1-27.
44:10
Not if you care more about your brother than you
44:13
care about your right. Answer number 3,
44:17
chapter 10:1-15. Not if you
44:20
want to avoid flirting with idolatry. And answer
44:24
number 4 is in verse 16-33. Not if building up
44:29
your brother is your chief aim. And so we've
44:32
already dealt with 10 through 29. Let me just say this. When it comes
44:36
to what I will and I won't engage in, here's what I want to make
44:39
sure of. This is 10:31 through 33. I want to make sure,
44:43
number one, that God will be glorified when I do it.
44:47
That's 10:31. I want to make sure, number two,
44:50
that unbelievers and new Christians won't be offended.
44:54
And then number three, I want to make sure that I'm seeking the profit and
44:57
the salvation of others. Verse 33.
45:02
I can see why that was a struggle for them, and we still struggle
45:06
with that, but I'm thankful that God gives us some guidelines,
45:10
some help to determine what we do when
45:14
our influence is on the line with other people on those things that we
45:18
perceive to be our rights. All right. I felt like I did a lot of
45:21
preaching there, but thanks very much for your patience. We got through that, and we
45:24
can start clean in chapter 11 next week.