A dietician was addressing
an audience about the unseen dangers in the food we eat. He said, “Most
of the food we put into our stomachs are so bad for us, that most of
us sitting here should have been dead years ago. For instance, red meat
is hard on the digestive tract. Soft drinks will erode your stomach
lining over time. And none of us know what harm is caused by the long-term
drinking all the germs that are in our drinking water. But there’s
one food that is the most dangerous of all, and most of us already have,
or one day will eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that
causes the most grief & suffering for years after eating it?”
A 75 yr. old man in the front row stood up and said, “Wedding cake!”
Well, I guess there are some foods that are more dangerous than others.
But what made the food that was being eaten in Corinthian dangerous,
wasn’t the germs or bacteria that might be in it, rather, it was
the attitude of the people over what was or wasn’t permissible
for a Christian to eat. There was a major battle going on between the
legalists and the liberals. Both of these 2 extremes are still found
in the body of Christ, and both need to be avoided.
Legalism is an approach to Christian living based upon a set of rules
& regulations. Legalists tend to live their Christian life by trying
to keep to their list of do’s and don’ts. Liberals, on the
other hand, are people who view the freedom they have been given in
Christ as a license to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and
with whomever they want. They don’t base their actions against
the standards set forth in the Bible. Rather, they let their feelings
be their guide.
While there are rules that God has given to us to live by, there aren’t
rules for every issue of life. And it is those areas to which God hasn’t
given us any specific rules, that most of us are tempted to fall into
either legalism or liberalism. Either we want to make some rules or
we want to do whatever feels good. It is therefore imperative that we
learn how to walk in freedom when it comes to issues that aren’t
specifically addressed in God’s Word.
The verses we are going to look at this morning provide for us the key
to living within the framework of freedom. The principle that Paul wants
us to see is that we possess real freedom in Christ. The fact of Christian
liberty is one of the central truths of the New Testament.
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So if
the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John
8:31-32; 36): Paul said, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2
Corinthians 3:17)
Obviously, this freedom doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever
we want. We still have to live within the boundaries God has established
in his Word. But when it comes to the gray areas, we have much freedom.
That’s because first of all, the things of this world are not necessarily
evil--vv. 4-5.
Paul would tell us that eating meat sacrificed to an idol isn’t
wrong because the idol is really just a piece of wood. There is probably
nothing that receives as much scorn and ridicule in the Bible as does
idol worship. King David, for example, says , “Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made
by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes, but they
cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; noses, but they cannot
smell; they have hands, but cannot feel; feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will
be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (Psalms
115:3-8)
Isaiah gives us another example of the foolishness of idolatry in chapter
44. It is one of the funniest passages in the Bible. It is hard to read
the chapter without laughing out loud.
Isaiah talks about a man cutting down a tree, and with part of it he
builds a fire to cook his supper. And with the rest of the wood he makes
a god to worship. And when he makes his idol, he is sure to make it
larger at the bottom than at the top so the god won’t fall over
on him. The point is that idol worship is incredibly ignorant, for there
are no gods behind the idols.
But while the things of this world are not necessarily evil, they can,
of course, be used for evil purposes. Clothing is not evil. But when
a piece of clothes is used for seductive purposes, it becomes evil.
TV & movies are not evil, but when the shows or movies portray values
that are contrary to God’s Word, they become evil. Alcohol &
dance floors are not evil, but when 2 single people combine the 2, they
can become very evil.
To show that idols are not really gods, Paul contrasts them with the
first & second persons of what we call the Trinity--v. 6. Part of
what Paul says here is one of the first truths he learned as a Jew growing
up. His father would have used every opportunity to teach, the then
called Saul, one of the most important truths to all Jews. In response
to the question posed by the Hebrew people after God had deliver them
from the hand of Pharaoh: “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?”
(Exodus
15:11) The answer was summed up in what is called the Shema: “Hear
O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy
6:4)
Saul’s father would have had him repeat the Shema over and over
again until it became burned into his memory. And since Paul had come
to faith in Jesus Christ, he understands that the monotheistic God his
father taught him about includes what we call the members of the Trinity:
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And this is the
truth that Paul affirms to here in v. 6, as he ties together the deity
of God the Father, and God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t pass over this as some unimportant theological statement.
For far too many people say they know God, but deny that Jesus is God.
They will say they are going to heaven because they discovered God while
on the top of some mountain. But never do they claim to have a relationship
with Jesus Christ.
The Bible makes if perfectly clear that there is no way these kind of
people are going to heaven. For it is only through knowing Jesus Christ
that we can know God the Father. Any other beliefs are from the father
of lies, Satan.
Jesus, in talking about the importance of believing that he is God,
referred to himself by the same name that God revealed himself to Moses,
when Moses asked what he should tell the people what the name of the
God that sent him is, Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am,
you shall die in your sins.” (John
8:24) John tells us that “He who has the son has the life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” (1
John 5:12)
What Paul is talking about here very much addresses the new age movement
we face in our world today. Far too many people look to the stars, planets,
and moon to seek wisdom & direction. Although there are planets,
and there is a moon & a sun, we are not to worship them as gods.
The deities associated with these celestial objects are simply creatures
of one’s imagination.
In the new age movement, God is seen as some kind of impersonal force.
Which is where the famous line from Stars Wars, “May the force
be with you,” comes. The lie that God is an impersonal force, didn’t
begin with George Lucas. It started a decade earlier with one of the
most popular songs of the 60’s.
Do you remember these words? “When the moon is in the 7th house,
and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planets and
love will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.”
What many considered to be a bunch of silly words sung from the rock
musical “Hair,” by bare-footed, love-bead wearing hippies
of the 60’s, are now being embraced as truths by those who wear
wing-tips & 3 piece suits in the 21st century.
Another important point Paul makes concerning the gray areas is that
rather than make a list of rules & regulation, they should be left
up to each person’s conscience--v. 7. Though Paul personally has
no conscience against eating meat that has been offered to an idol,
he is not going to force his opinion on other Christians. That’s
because he never wants us to do anything that would violate our conscience.
If you think something is wrong, then don’t do it! For in doing
it, it would become a sin for you. But that doesn’t mean your conscience
dictates to other people’s behaviors.
If you want to be a vegetarian or a meat-eater, that’s up to you.
But don’t force that decision upon others. If you think Saturday
is the day of worship instead of Sunday, find a church that worships
on Saturday. But don’t expect other’s to quit coming to worship
on Sunday. If you believe it’s wrong to own a TV or go to the movies,
get rid of your TV and don’t go to the movies. But don’t condemn
those who don’t hold to those convictions. If you want to homeschool
your child, go ahead. But don’t make those who send their children
to public schools feel as though they are not as spiritual as you are.
If you want to eat Brussels sprouts, fine. Just don’t cook them
if you’re going to invite me over for supper. As long as the issue
is not legislated in the Bible, each Christian has the right to make
up his/her own mind.
The next point that Paul makes is that spiritual maturity is not determined
by the gray areas--v. 8. As I said earlier, one of the problems that
was going on in the Corinthian church was the attitude of the people
over what was or wasn’t permissible for a Christian to eat.
The strong Christians were basing their spirituality on their ability
to eat meat that had been offered to an idol. They were going around
bragging that since Jesus had set them free, they could eat whatever
they wanted. But at the same time, some of the weak Christians, whose
pre-Christian days had been immersed in idol worship, were going around
saying that if you’re really a Christian, then you would stay away
from food sacrificed to idols. Since they were not mature enough yet
for their conscious to let them eat food that had been offered to an
idol, without it pulling them back into their former way of life, they
were saying that their abstinance was a sign of spirituality.
I can identify with them on that issue. Not long after I first got saved,
I threw my life-long collection of close to 1,000 records away. I did
so, not because all the music was evil, but I just didn’t want
to have anything to do with anything that reminded me of my past. And
rock & roll music was a major part of my life. I could name almost
any tune & artist in just a few seconds of hearing a song.
And during those first months after I got saved, Satan worked real hard
at trying to get me to believe that my former life was greater than
my new life in Christ. Even to this day, if I listen to a classic rock
radio station, I start to think about the days when drugs, sex, and
rock & roll were my gods. So while some of you can listen to Led
Zeppelin’s “Stairway to heaven” with no problem, to me
it is a problem because it causes me to want to get back on that highway
to hell.
But I don’t try to force my conscious on any of you. If you have
no problem listening to classic rock & roll, go for it. I can’t
because Satan uses it to get me to long for the lie that my B.C. days,
that’s life before Christ, were the good ‘ol days. So to keep
from backsliding, I avoid listening to classic rock & roll.
The problem is not whether or not you should do something that’s
not addressed in the Bible. The problem is your attitude toward those
who do what you feel is wrong! Unfortunately, we Christians have spent
an enormous amount of time and energy arguing over what Christians can
& can’t do, not realizing how much these kind of arguments
have hurt our witness to people who are lost and going to Hell. Of course,
if our behaviors get in the way of effectively sharing Jesus Christ,
that’s another matter. But I suspect the lack of love we have shown
our fellow brothers & sisters, over the gray areas of Christian
living, has been a greater hindrance to evangelism than drinking a beer,
or going to the movies, or listen to rock music, or even going dancing.
Paul now gives us a challenge when it comes to the exercising of our
Christian freedom. The challenge is that we should be willing to limit
our freedom by our love for others--vv. 9-11. Now before you say, “I
knew there was a catch,” I want to tell you some important information
about constraints. They are not as confining as you think they are.
They actual help us to enjoy our freedom.
An interesting study was done on the effects of constraints by examining
dogs that were kept in a fenced yard. If you take a dog, and fence him
in a small yard, he will bark, pace back & forth, and jump at the
gate begging to get out. And if by chance he accidentally gets let out,
or he escapes, he will run through the neighborhood, knocking over trash
cans, scaring cats, and chasing cars.
But if you take that same dog, and move to a farm with wide open spaces
and no fences, that dog will sit on the porch all day long. The reason
why is because he knows he is free, so he doesn’t need to prove
it to himself. In the same way, God has set us free from having to follow
a bunch of rules for every situation of life.
He knows that a bunch of rules will make us feel like we are living
in a small fenced yard. And when that happens, we long to get out and
chase after the things of the world. But when we walk in true Christian
freedom, we discover a contentment to live lives that are pleasing to
God, and bring glory to his name. And with that contentment comes the
ability to willingly, joyfully live within the only constraints God
places on us. Our only constraints are those things God specifically
forbids in his Word, and the love we are to show to the rest of our
church family.
Let me give you a modern day example. Suppose you are a strong Christian
and you feel you have the Christian liberty to drink a beer. And perhaps
a weak brother, whose conscience tells him that drinking is wrong, comes
over to your house, and sees you drinking. Since his conscience tells
him that drinking is wrong, he confronts you about drinking. Rather
than realizing that drinking might be wrong for him, and putting your
beer away, you justify your actions. In defense, you remind him that
there is nothing wrong with drinking beer in moderaton, and you keep
on drinking your beer. But then you cross the line, you ask him if he
wants one too.
Despite the fact that his conscious told him that it is wrong for him
to drink, he starts to hear another voice saying, “Well, he has
been a Christian longer than I have, and he even teaches a Sunday school
class, so if he can drink, then maybe I can too.” So he violates
his conscience, he believes the lie of his enemy the flesh, and he begins
to drink. How would you feel if this weak brother can’t control
his drinking, and ends up abusing alcohol and ruins his life, all because
he was influenced by your example?
Is it worth it to grab hold of our Christian liberty, and refuse to
let go of a gray area when it might cause another Christian to fall
into sin? Not when you start to realize that when your liberty causes
another person to sin, it is a sin against Jesus Christ--v. 12.
I don’t know about you, but that is the greatest motivator for
me not to do anything that would cause any of you to sin. I love Jesus
Christ so much, that the thought of hurting him, by me hurting you,
keeps me from becoming a liberal. It keeps me from using grace as a
license to sin.
I was talking to the pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Lexington a couple
of weeks ago. He was told me that 4 large churches in the Columbia area,
recently had pastors who had to resign because of sexual immorality.
Even in the CSRA, an associate pastor of a church was arrested last
week for using a camera to film up the dresses of girls in the Mall.
There are a lot of complex issues surrounding why pastor’s fall
into sexual immorality, but the bottom line is they didn’t love
their Lord enough to not want to do anything that would hurt the people
he placed them over as his shepherd.
While those are obvious violations of God’s standards, let me give
you a warning about becoming to liberal in the gray areas. They can
quickly turn into sinful situations, even to the strong Christian. I
experienced this just recently in my own life.
A couple of weeks ago, Carol & I spent a week at Hilton Head. Even
though, as a male, I occasionally still struggle with lust, as long
as girls dress modestly, I’m not opposed to coed swimming. But
what some of those girls wore for bathing suits defied even the most
liberal definition for a bikini. I quickly noticed that my freedom in
this area, combined with their lack of clothing, was becoming an opportunity
for me to start to look lustfully upon those girls. So everyday, when
I found myself heading in the direction of lust, I told Carol that it
was time to go do something else.
And the reason I did so wasn’t because I couldn’t bring my
thought life under the obedience of Jesus Christ. I did so because first
of all, I didn’t want my actions to be a stumblingblock for Carol.
And secondly, I didn’t want to hurt Jesus by causing Carol to stumble.
The last point that Paul makes is that a willingness to limit one’s
liberty demonstrates sacrificial love--v. 13. Paul doesn’t tell
us he actually became a vegetarian, but the willingness was there. Now
you can see why he exhorts us to follow his life as an example of how
a Christian should live.
Paul wanted to help those he led to the Lord to grow into mature Christians.
So he purposed in his heart that he would never do anything that might
hinder their growth. Therefore, he frames his activities by what is
best for others. He knows that his love for others will restrict his
love for doing his own thing. By the way, isn’t the attitude Paul
demonstrated simply the attitude that Jesus had?
Jesus gave up so many rights, for our sakes. Paul says that “You
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become
rich.” (2
Corinthians 8:9) If Jesus was willing to do that for us, should
we do less for our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Now this brings up the question of what we are to do with those Christians
who find fault with everything. Please understand there is a difference
between a weak Christian and a legalist. A legalist just wants to put
our freedom under his control. While a weak Christian just doesn’t
understand fully the concept of Christian freedom.
Should you have to limit your liberty for someone one who’s a legalist?
I believe Paul would say, “No!” Paul, being an ex-legalist,
would be the first to say that legalists aren’t more spiritual.
They are just pains in the neck, who live for the sole purpose of trying
to make the rest of the body of Christ miserable by trying to get them
to live under the same set of rules they adopted for Christian living.
I believe Paul would say not to worry about doing things that make a
Phariseetical Christian frown. For if we governed our Christian lives
by the frowns we receive from legalistic Christians, we’ll never
enjoy being a Christian.
In conclusion, let me say that this fellowship is not going to become
legalistic, nor are we going to become liberals. While we are not going
to set up a bunch of rules & regulations that are not found in the
Bible, neither are we going to teach that grace is a license to sin.
What we are going to do is to ensure that the weak don’t stay shackled
to a bunch of non-biblical rules & regulations.
And while that is happening, we are going to ensure that those who are
strong are going to show the weaker members Christian love. We are going
to walk in the truth that love changes everything, even when it comes
to the exercising of our Christian freedom. Never forget that the greatest
witness a church can be to the lost people in her community is not found
in having everyone live exactly the same kind of life. If that were
true, then groups like the Amish would be winning thousands of people
everyday to the lordship of Jesus Christ. But they are not.
Therefore, the greatest way we can be a witness to our world is found
in the words of the song that says, “What the world needs now is
love, sweet love.” Jesus captured the heart of that song 2,000
yrs. ago when he said, “A new commandment I give to you that you
love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one
another.” (John
13:34-35)
Let’s
pray
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