SERIES: Christ Is the Answer When the Church Is in Crisis
Freedom Has Its Limits
SCRIPTURE: 1 Cor. 8:1‑13DATE: March 25, 2001
Introduction: Fifty years ago last month my father accepted a pastorate in the Old Orchard area of Webster Groves. This delightful little church was my home from age 7 to 17. There are a number of individuals here this morning who were part of that congregation–wonderful people who have built significantly into my life. There were in that church, however, some people who had quite a long laundry list of issues by which they judged holy living, particularly in other people, and since I was a member of the pastor’s family, virtually all of these prohibitions applied to me:
Don’t drink anything alcoholic.
Don’t smoke, even candy cigarettes.
Don’t chew tobacco.
Don’t play cards, except Old Maid.
Don’t dance.
Don’t wear make‑up (this was for the girls, of course, who also had to wear pedal-pushers instead of shorts).
Don’t go to St. Louis Cardinal games on Sunday.
Don’t go to movies.
Don’t gamble.
Don’t read comics on Sunday.
Don’t swim in mixed company.
Don’t read any Bible except the King James Version.
Christian liberty was almost non‑existent for some of these dear people. Gratefully, my dad made it clear to me that these were human rules, not God’s rules. He said I could make up my own mind about these issues when I left home.
Perhaps some of you had a similar background. None of us, I trust, want to go back to those days. But where are we today? Obviously, that kind of legalism is not a major problem in most of our evangelical churches. On the contrary, many people today drink socially, go to the cinema regularly, watch anything they want on TV, and even stay home from church on occasion to read the comics. The question I want to pose is this: “In shedding our rule books have we really become more biblical and more spiritual, or have we just exchanged one extreme for another? Has our Christian freedom gone to seed?”
This brings to our attention the area of “doubtful things,” or what we might call the grey areas of the Christian life. The average Christian can easily distinguish between things that are really good and those that are really bad. Honor your father and mother? Right on. Commit adultery? No way. These are black and white issues, and few Christians have trouble deciding what they should do about such matters (of course, whether they actually do them is another matter, but at least they will give verbal agreement).
But when it comes to that wide, slippery no‑man’s land of grey issues, there’s some confusion out there. How about gambling on football games? Watching trashy soap operas and R‑rated movies? Going to the lake nearly every weekend in the summer? Having a beer while mowing the lawn? Buying lotto tickets? Now the picture fades from black and white to various shades of grey, for all of these actions have the common denominator that they are not expressly forbidden in Scripture.
Sometimes Christians in the same church cannot agree on these issues, to say nothing of Christians in various parts of the country or the world. And this is not new. Similar disagreements were plaguing the church at Corinth. Oh, they weren’t arguing over movies or dancing or casino boats–their problem was, of all things, whether or not to eat meat. Now if that doesn’t sound like a biggie, actually it was. It was big enough to cause major dissension in the church and to foster name‑calling among believers. Please listen to the Word of God as found in 1 Corinthians 8:
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. {2} The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. {3} But the man who loves God is known by God.
{4} So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. {5} For even if there are so‑called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), {6} yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
{7} But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food, they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. {8} But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
{9} Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. {10} For 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? {11} So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. {12} When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. {13} Therefore, 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.
The problem: there are grey areas of the Christian life. (1‑3)
Verse one begins, “Now about food sacrificed to idols….” I doubt if anyone here this morning has ever faced this particular issue, but it was a very real one to first-century Christians in Corinth, which reminds us of the fact that …
The grey areas differ from culture to culture. Idol worship was the state religion in Corinth, and in the process of worshiping an idol, people invariably brought animal sacrifices to the priests. The priests cut out the rib‑eye steaks and the rump roasts for themselves and burned the entrails on the altar. But the rest of the meat they disposed of in various ways. Sometimes they would cater wedding banquets in the temple (for a fee, of course), and sometimes they would sell the meat wholesale to a market, which in turn would sell it to the public.
Now the Christian would never worship an idol, for that was a black and white issue, forbidden in the Second Commandment. Rarely would a Christian even attend a banquet at an idol temple, for most viewed the pagan temple as an evil place. But some were so troubled by the possibility of eating meat that had been offered to idols, they wouldn’t even buy meat in the market‑place for fear that it had previously been part of an animal sacrifice. Since one could rarely be sure about the origin of any particular piece of meat, they took the safe road and became vegetarians. Paul speaks of them in Romans 14:2 when he says that some Christians were eating vegetables only. Converted Jews were more likely to go this direction because of their strong contempt for idols. The whole concept of kosher food comes from this over-scrupulosity about the origin of certain foods.
On the other hand, there was a group which argued, “Who cares where the meat came from? Meat is meat! Let’s not make moral issues out of amoral things.” And they scoffed at those silly legalists who had become vegetarians because of their overly‑sensitive consciences.
Paul doesn’t scoff at either side of this dispute, but he does give a name to each of these two groups. The vegetarians Paul labels as “the weak” in verse 10 and in Rom. 14:2. The other group is called “the strong.” The weak Christian is the one whose conscience bothers him about many things; the strong Christian is the one whose conscience is not nearly so sensitive or fastidious. Interestingly, these labels have somehow gotten reversed in our day, so that the legalist with a rigid conscience sometimes appears as (and certainly thinks of himself as) the “strong Christian,” while the one who practices his freedom in Christ is often viewed as a “weak Christian.” For Paul it was just the other way around.
In almost every Christian church you will find both “weak” and “strong” Christians, and they can tend to serve as a healthy check and balance on one another. If a church has only “weak” Christians, chances are it is going to be a very legalistic and exclusive church. On the other hand, if it has only “strong” Christians, chances are that church may have some serious problems with unholy living. When freedom goes to seed, it tends to produce behavior that isn’t particularly godly.
In a healthy church, the strong and the weak are able to live together in harmony and fellowship, without either group considering itself spiritually superior to the other. The weak don’t denounce the strong as being worldly, and the strong don’t denounce the weak as being legalistic and pharisaical. But when a church is not healthy, the attitude problems readily manifest themselves.
This was apparently happening in the church at Rome, according in Romans 14:3,10: “The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him…. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.” Both strong and weak were sinning in their attitudes toward one another. In Corinth the same was true, though in our text Paul directs his words particularly to the “strong.”
Now it should be clear that while the surface issues differ from culture to culture, the ultimate issue does not.
The ultimate issue is one of attitude. He says to the strong Christian: “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” The knowledge Paul speaks of here is probably the knowledge which strong Christians had concerning the removal of Old Testament dietary restrictions with the death of Christ. They had knowledge that a new freedom was available in Christ for the NT believer. If you lived in OT times, you didn’t have any difficulty with grey areas–there weren’t any! Everything was spelled out for you in the 613 laws given by Moses. The only thing you had to watch was that you didn’t get a hernia from carrying around your rule book.
But when Christ died and the Holy Spirit came to indwell the Church, God began to deal with His people on the grace principle rather than the rule‑book principle. There are still laws, of course, but they are not nearly as extensive. God is now dealing with His people as mature adults. And while that creates difficulties, I wouldn’t want it any other way. And neither would you.
The strong Christian at Corinth, in contrast to the weak, had knowledge of this basic change in God’s way of dealing with believers. But, Paul warns, knowledge can make a person arrogant if he’s not careful. Knowledge can make a person dogmatic and overbearing. On the other hand, love edifies. Phillips translates verse 1 powerfully: “While knowledge may make a man look big, it is only love that can make him grow to his full stature.”
Verse 2 continues with the same thought: “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” Our knowledge as finite human beings is never final–we can always know more and achieve deeper insights. William Cowper once said, “Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more.” [i] The truly wise person clearly grasps how very limited his knowledge and understanding is, even in respect to the grey area.
And then Paul adds in verse 3, “But the man who loves God is known by God.” You might expect him to say, “the one who loves God is the one who really knows God.” But he doesn’t; instead, he says, “the one who loves God is known by God.” It’s more important that God knows us than that we know Him. Let me just stop and ask this morning, “Does God know you? Does He know you as one of His children? Does He have your name written down in His Book of Life?”
What Paul has done in these 3 verses is to give a gentle rebuke to those who give too high a place to knowledge in the Christian life. Knowledge is not bad, it’s even essential, but if it’s not tempered by love, it amounts to a big zero. 1 Cor. 13:2 puts it this way: “If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”
Well, the problem Paul is addressing is that there are grey areas of the Christian life. The antidote for this problem, as for all problems in the church, is the proper application of biblical truth. And so we move to an important principle:
The principle: a Christian possesses real freedom in Christ. (4‑8)
The fact of Christian liberty is one of the central truths of the NT. Consider the following examples:
John 8:31‑32: “To the Jews who had believed him, 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.’”
John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Galatians 5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Praise God for this freedom in Christ. It extends to the grey area because …
“Things” are not intrinsically evil. Verse 4 states: “So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.” Paul seems to be saying that eating meat sacrificed to idols can’t be immoral, because the idol is really just a piece of wood. How can an old piece of wood make a piece of meat immoral?
There is probably nothing that receives as much scorn and ridicule in the Bible as does idol worship. The Psalmist, for example, says of the gods of the heathen,
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. {4} But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. {5} They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; {6} they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; {7} they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. {8} Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them (Psalms 115:3‑8).
Isaiah heaps further scorn on idolatry by pointing out how the idol maker cuts down a tree, and with part of it he builds a fire to cook his supper and with the rest he makes a god to worship. He always tries to select hard wood, so his god won’t rot on him. And when he makes his idol, he is sure to make it larger at the bottom than at the top, so his god won’t fall over on him.
Elijah heaped further ridicule upon the priests of Baal, suggesting to them that the reason their god wasn’t answering was perhaps because he was off on a journey or maybe had stepped off the trail to relieve himself. The point is that idol worship is incredibly ignorant because there are no gods behind the idols.
But while “things” are not intrinsically evil, they can, of course, be used for evil purposes. Meat is not evil but using it for an idol sacrifice is. Cloth is not evil, but cloth can be fashioned into sensual clothing to be used for seductive purposes, which would be evil. Celluloid film is not evil, but it is possible for it to be put to very immoral purposes. Dice are not evil, alcohol is not evil, dance floors are not evil, but the use to which each of these things is put can be evil.
The problem for the weak Christian is that he has trouble distinguishing between the “thing” and the “utility of the thing.” Paul would prefer that Christians not categorically write “things” off as evil, and so, he appears to come down on the side of the strong believer.
But he’s not through yet. A second important point he makes is that …
Decisions in the grey area are to be left up to each person’s conscience. (Rom. 14:5) Though Paul personally has no conscience against eating idol meat, he is not about to legislate for other Christians in this area. He speaks most directly to this subject in Romans 14:5, where in addition to the issue of meat offered to idols, he mentions another grey area, namely whether or not one must worship on Saturday, as in the OT: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”
In other words, “Let your conscience be your guide.” At the same time, one should never violate his conscience. If you think something’s wrong, it’s wrong for you, but your conscience doesn’t apply to others. If you feel you ought to be a vegetarian, fine. If you feel you ought to be a meat‑eater, fine. If you feel you ought to worship on Saturday, fine. If you want Tuesday to be your holy day, fine. If you feel you shouldn’t go to movies, fine. If you feel you should, fine. If you feel you ought to eat Brussel sprouts, fine. Just don’t cook them around me.
As long as the issue is not legislated in the Bible, each Christian has the right, indeed the obligation, to make up his own mind.
A third important point Paul makes is that …
Spiritual maturity is not determined in the grey area. (7,8) Verse 7 and 8 read:
“But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food, they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. {8} But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.”
Here the thinking of the weak Christian is described in some detail. He is, first of all, ignorant of his freedom in Christ in respect to grey issues. Secondly, we are told that some of the weak Christians were former idol worshipers themselves. And having been immersed in idols at one time, they now will go to any lengths to stay away from idols. They are like primitive people brought up in witchcraft who, after conversion, have a hard time dispelling their fear of the witch doctor.
Not being able to quite shake off their feeling that the idol is real, these Corinthians feel they are doing wrong if they eat what has been offered to it. I was talking to a brother in this church on Thursday, who told me that the day he received Christ as his Savior he threw his life-long collection of music albums away, because they represented his former mind-set, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with it in the future. Were all those albums bad? I doubt it, but they represented evil to him.
Again, we note that Paul doesn’t denounce this weak brother. Instead, he says to both the strong and the weak that food is not the issue with God. What you do about eating meat will never make you or break you as a Christian. You’re not worse if you don’t or better if you do. It’s not a biggie! But your attitude toward your brother is a biggie!
I wonder sometimes what God thinks of the arguments and debates over peripheral issues that some Christians get into. We are capable of spending enormous amounts of time and energy arguing over whether Christians ought to do this or that, when all around us people are going to hell because no one has bothered to share Christ with them. Of course, if our habits get in the way of effectively sharing Christ, that’s another matter, but I suspect pride and gossip and lack of love are often greater hindrances to evangelism than beer and movies and dancing.
Let us summarize the truth taught in this passage: a Christian possesses freedom in Christ to make up his own mind, based upon his own conscience, in the grey areas where God has not given specific instructions. And his spirituality is not determined by what he does or does not do about such amoral issues.
Well then, that should be the end of the argument. Not quite. Paul has given us truth to face the problem, but now he gives us a challenge.
The challenge: a Christian should be willing to limit his freedom by love for others. (9‑13)
Look at verse 9: “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” You say, “I knew it! I knew there was a catch. I was sure no pastor would tell me I can chew tobacco and play slot machines if I want to. This Christian freedom one hears so much about is just a bunch of words. It’s phony.”
No, friends, it’s not just a bunch of words. Our freedom in Christ is very real. But like many possessions in life, it’s greatest use comes when it is given away. What is the highest use you make of your income? It is not the paying of bills, or the saving of some of it, or the investing of some. Rather it is the giving of a portion of it to the Lord. And what is the highest use a man can make of his freedom in Christ? It may be to give a portion of it up for the sake of Christ.
You say, “If I have to give something up once I have it, I might as well not have it in the first place.” Not at all. Is the person who earns $25,000 and keeps it all for himself as well off as the person who earns $40,000 and gives $15,000 away? They both have $25,000 left, but I would argue that the latter person is infinitely more wealthy in spirit. You see, you can’t give something away unless you’ve got it, and you can’t receive the blessing of giving unless you voluntarily surrender something that was really yours.
Paul is speaking to the Christian who has freedom, who knows his rights, who knows that “things” are not intrinsically evil, and who knows he can’t earn brownie points with God by means of a list of do’s and don’ts. And still to that person Paul says, “Take Care.” Take care, because, first of all,…
Refusal to limit freedom can lead to grave consequences. (9‑12) Note the example Paul gives in verse 10: “For 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?” Here Paul is talking about a strong brother who perhaps goes to a wedding in an idol temple and eats food that shortly before has been sacrificed to an idol. He has no conscience against it and is exercising his legitimate Christian freedom in Christ by so doing. But what if a weak brother who does have a conscience against sacrificial meat sees the first guy eating it? He may be influenced to do the same, condemning his conscience in the process. And the end result may be that he tubes the faith entirely.
Look at verse 11: “So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.” Let’s try to find a modern parallel. Suppose you are a strong Christian (“strong” in the technical sense of this chapter), and you feel you have the Christian liberty to keep your refrigerator stocked with Bud Light. Paul says, “Take care.” Perhaps a weak brother, maybe a young teenager who has a conscience about drinking, comes over to your house, sees your stash, and thinks to himself, “Well, if so‑and‑so who has been a Christian longer than I and even teaches a S.S. class, drinks freely, then maybe I can, too.” So he violates his conscience and finds it easier to do so the next time. Perhaps this weak brother is even a potential alcoholic who, being influenced by your example, ends up in ruins. I actually saw that very thing happen in Wichita.[ii]
Is it worth it to grasp hold of our liberty and refuse to let go? Not if a brother for whom Christ died might be ruined. Those are grave consequences indeed, to say nothing of the potential dangers that some grey areas might be even to the strong Christian himself.
Well, if a refusal to limit one’s liberty leads to grave consequences, we see secondly that a willingness to limit one’s liberty demonstrates sacrificial love.
Willingness to limit freedom demonstrates sacrificial love. (13) See how Paul demonstrates that kind of love in verse 13: “Therefore, 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.” What a Christlike attitude! He exhorts us by example, “Don’t look at your freedom; look at their need.” Our first concern should not be to exercise our freedom to the limit, but to care about the welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Paul doesn’t tell us he actually became a vegetarian, but the willingness was there. And I’m not suggesting that you ought to quit whatever you are doing that might fit into the grey area. What we Christians need is a new sensitivity to our fellow believers and a new willingness to give up these insignificant pleasures, if need be, so that other believers can grow in the Lord. And so that our testimony won’t be ruined.
This week I read a story about Dr. Harry Ironsides, a well-known preacher of the last generation. He went on a picnic with a number of Christians, and there was a Muslim convert to Christ among them. The only sandwiches they had at the picnic were ham sandwiches. This young man graciously refused the ham sandwich. Dr. Ironsides said to him, “Well, you’re now a follower of Christ; don’t you realize that the food restrictions have been taken away? You really are free to eat a ham sandwich.”
The young man said, “Yes, I know that. I know I’m free to eat ham, but I’m also free not to eat ham.” Then he said, “I am the only Christian in my family, and so far I’ve had the freedom to go home and share my new life in Christ with my mom and dad. Every time I go to the front door, my dad says, ‘Have those infidels taught you to eat that filthy pig meat yet?’ I’m able to look my dad in the eye and say, ‘No dad, I don’t eat pork,’ which gives me an entree.” He chose to forgo his freedom for the sake of the eternal destiny of his family.[iii]
By the way, isn’t the attitude Paul is asking for simply the attitude that Christ had? He gave up so many rights, so many prerogatives for our sakes. Should we do less for our brothers and sisters in Christ?
There’s one final point I would like to make, and it has to do with …
Discernment: where do I draw the line?
Perhaps you are thinking, “Aren’t some Christians just sitting on the sidelines taking potshots at other Christians, trying to find fault?” Yes, sadly, that is probably the case. In fact, I know some, even in this church. “Do you mean that I have to limit my liberty for legalists like that?” No, Paul is talking about an action which might cause a weaker brother to stumble, not just make a Pharisaical Christian frown. If we governed our entire lives by the frowns we receive from legalistic Christians, we’d be living in straightjackets indeed.
But distinguishing between the Pharisee and the weak brother is sometimes very difficult. Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and only He can make known in any given case what an individual ought to do. We desperately need, in the words of Heb. 5:14, “to have our senses trained to discern good and evil.” God does not ask us to give up our liberty to the legalist. But if a weak brother is sincerely trying to grow, he deserves every sacrifice we might make.
Conclusion: Perhaps you’re not a Christian or aren’t sure you are, and you’ve sat through this message wondering, “What in the world has the pastor been talking about? He’s talking about beer and movies and the Casino Queen, while I’m trying to figure out how to stop cheating on my spouse and on my income taxes.” Well, it’s true, I’ve been talking just to believers today, but I have a message for you, too. You can get victory over all your sins if you’ll receive Jesus Christ into your life. There is no other way.
Jesus gave up his position as ruler of the universe to become a man and die on a cruel cross, and He did it for you. And having paid for your sins, He was resurrected from the dead and God have him a name that is above every name. And all that God asks of you is that you realize your hopeless condition and put your trust in Jesus Christ as your only hope for salvation.
If you know Him already, I want to leave you with just one question: Are you willing to surrender any of your rights, if necessary, for the sake of another believer? “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
DATE: March 25, 2001
Tags:
Legalism
Liberty
Doubtful things (grey areas of the Christian life)
Conscience
[i] William Cowper, The Odyssey of Homer.
[ii]. I received the following email (very slightly edited to protect the guilty) from a leader in our church the day after I preached this sermon: “Once a year or so, I practice the awful habit of smoking a cigar. I always do it when no one is around so no one sees me or has to smell me. I particularly avoid doing it in front of teens or my children because they could misinterpret my conduct. Last Tuesday, everyone was gone and I was alone. I happened to drive by a cigar store on my way home. As I was sitting in the car in the parking lot lighting up my cigar, who walks by but a young teen from our church–one whom I have talked to about not smoking! Fortunately, he didn’t see me, so I hid the cigar and quickly sped off. I’m glad he didn’t see me because it could have compromised my position with him.”
[iii]. Doug Goins relates this story in “The Loving Limitation of Liberty,” Catalog No. 4524, 4, Peninsula Bible Church sermons online.