Deciding What to Do When the Bible Doesn't Clearly Say

Okay. I mentioned that we completed reading 1 Corinthians this week, if you are participating in the local reading program. And as you read through that book of 1 Corinthians, I would dare say that you thought, boy, Paul packed an awfully lot into one letter to the Corinthians, didn't he? We talked about some of the things last week. We were in the first several chapters, but as you read through this week, you saw where he was talking about various things that the church is still talking about sometimes. It has to do with the order of church services and the various spiritual gifts about the resurrection and the very many things that he wrote about the resurrection of the dead in chapter 15. And as you've been reading through Corinthians, you probably noted just one big issue after another. And we learn an awfully lot from the book of Corinthians, and there's a lot of things. And probably some questions that you have in your mind that we can discuss later on at the discussion group. But right in the middle of that book, you might have noticed something that just didn't seem to fit with all the other big issues of the day. When you talk about the Spirit of God and when you talk about the temple that God is building, you talk about marital principles and the other things that we talked about. In the middle of the book of Corinthians, you find chapter 8. And maybe when you got to chapter 8, this would have been last week, you read the first verse and thought, ah, one that doesn't apply to me. Everything else in this book applies to me. Still is valid for what we have to do today because it just affects the things we do. But here in chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians and verse 1, the first verse says, Now concerning things offered to idols. Now, you might have thought, it's never been an issue with me about things offered to idols. I don't know anyone who's made any offerings to idols. As you read through the book, you might have thought, have no idea. Never seen meat offered to idols. It's not been one thing ever entered by mind. I can cross that book off the list. There's not a whole lot I can learn because it's not an issue. Maybe, maybe that's what you thought. Keep your finger in 1 Corinthians.

Let's go back to 2 Timothy, though. 2 Timothy 3. And in verse 16, a memory scripture. If you don't have it memorized, this is one you should know by heart. Verse 16, chapter 3, Paul writing in Timothy says, All Scripture.

That includes everything in the Old Testament. That includes everything in the New Testament. Everything that God inspired to be written. Everything that's here is part of the Word of God that you have on your laps. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable for doctrine. When we're looking for truth, we can go into the Word of God and we can find it.

It's profitable for reproof. Things that we can go back and we can prove what the truth is. Or we can be reproved if we have gone off in some kind of error and thinking. It's profitable for correction. It's profitable for instruction in righteousness. All Scripture. Every part of the Bible. No part of it. Can we just cross out and say, doesn't apply to us today?

I don't need to know that. Boom! God has put everything in the Bible for a reason. And he's done that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Now we talked last week about the type of things that we need to do. God is very interested that we acquire knowledge. He wants us to know what's in the Bible. We do that by reading, studying, meditating, memorizing the things that we talked about last week. Well, we talked about applying the principles of God, applying this Bible into our lives.

Because, you know, if we don't apply the Bible, it's kind of dead knowledge that we have. Back in James, the book of James, he says that faith without works is dead. That's the same token. Knowledge without applying it into our lives, it's dead too. It might make us feel good that we can recite scripture in verse, but without applying it into our lives, without making the changes in our lives, without allowing God to let it affect the way we live and we think and we react.

The knowledge is good to have, but that isn't the only reason that God gives us. So when we look at chapter 8 of 1st Corinthians, we find a relatively short chapter here where Paul talks about an issue that was common in the city of Corinth. Of course, the city of Corinth was a, we know, a very wealthy city. It was a very pagan city. They had temples lined up. They had all many number of gods that they worshipped, and one of the things that they did in that city was sacrifice meat to those idols.

And because of the prevalence of this, it was becoming an issue in Corinth with the church members that were there. And something developed, and some questions developed, that they couldn't go to the Bible and say, boom, give us the answer, show us the verse, how do we deal with this situation that's developed in Corinth? Because we can go to the Bible, we can find the answer on a lot of things. The Ten Commandments tells us, you shall do this, you shall not do that.

Point blank. No compromise, no discussion. We simply do it. The Bible is full of principles that are just simply, this is right and this is wrong. But there are things that we come up with in life, issues that confront us, that we can't go to the Bible and say, oh, it's exact, it doesn't say exactly how to do this or exactly what we do in this situation.

And this was what was confronting the people in Corinth here. It's one of the reasons they sent one of the questions to Paul to ask him for something, a pronouncement on what should be done. Let me read to you from Barnes' commentary on what the situation in Corinth is that Paul is addressing here, specifically about these idols, because it's a very foreign concept to us today. But to understand what the Bible is saying, we have to understand the context of the people that were living during that time and what this was written and what the issue was.

Barnes' commentary says this, The regular worship of idols involved animal sacrifice. Part of the animal sacrifice was burned on the altar for the God. Part was given to the priest as payment for his services, and part was retained by the worshipper. So you have three parts of these offerings that were made to idols. At any rate, it says, meat sacrificed to idols was plentiful in Corinth. People who worship their gods and the temples were everywhere, they would bring animals, they would sacrifice them, they would get them back, and you had meat all over the city that had been sacrificed to idols.

At any rate, meat sacrificed to idols was plentiful in the city. It was either exposed to sale in the market or served up at the feast held in honor of idols at their temples or at the houses of their devotees. The priests who were entitled to a part of the meat that was offered in sacrifice would offer it for sale in the market, and it was accustomed with the Gentiles to make feasts in honor of the idol gods on the meat that was offered in sacrifice.

So what you had as a situation is all these animals were being offered, sacrificed, and people couldn't eat them all. The priest, it was too much for the priest to eat, too much for the worshippers to bring back and eat. So this meat was everywhere. It was on the market. It was like going to Publix, and you might have meat that was offered to an idol there because someone offered it to Publix to sell. And some of the people in Corinth were a little concerned about that.

Some were, we don't know if we want to offer, if we want to eat or buy meat that was offered to idols. Others, it didn't bother. It didn't bother. As long as it was clean, as long as it was in accordance with God's food laws, it didn't bother them. Let me go on. Some Christians, here comes the gray area, if you will, the dilemma that the people in Corinth were experiencing. Some Christians, Barnes said, would hold that there would be no harm in partaking of this meat any more than any other meat since an idol was nothing. Others would have many scruples in regard to it since it would seem to countenance idol worship. The request made of Paul was that he should settle some general principle which they all might safely follow. Do we eat the meat? Do we not eat the meat? Do we go to Publix and we ask the butcher where did this meat come from? Was it a sacrifice to idols or do we just buy it and we don't have any conscience problem? We just eat it. You can kind of see the dilemma they were there. You can see both sides of the story, right? Some might say, no, I will never eat meat offered to an idol. And their conscience bothered them if they did and they wanted to know. Yet there were others in the congregation like, an idol means nothing. Its meat is meat. It doesn't bother me in the least where it's been before that. If I don't know where it is, I don't feel compelled to go and ask about it. And so you had people on both sides of the fence, right, in the same church and they wanted Paul to say, you tell us what's right. You tell us which one, which thing is going on here. And so in chapter 8, and then there's a similar issue in chapter 9, and then following into chapter 10, you see Paul explaining to the people how they can come to accord with these issues. He never does give him an exact answer. But in chapter 8 and chapter 9 and chapter 10, it's buried some principles that we can follow when we're confronted with a dilemma of sorts.

Where there's an issue of, well, is it right or is it wrong? This group of people says it's wrong to do this. And they're in the church and they seem to be led by God's Holy Spirit and they have good arguments for it, but this other group says, no, there's nothing wrong with it at all and they seem the same way. How do we reconcile it? It was an issue there in Corinth. Chapter 9 was an issue in Corinth and with Paul. This chapter may be meaningless, but it gives it an outline on how to deal with those issues that arise. Now, if you spend a few minutes thinking about that issue in Corinth, we can relate to some of the issues that confront us today that might fall into the same category. We might call them moral dilemmas or just dilemmas. What do we do? And for some people, one side, their conscience really says this is how it should be done. For the other group of people, it doesn't bother them at all. Let me give you a couple, a couple to think about. And you probably have your own and if you do, we can talk about some of those later in the discussion group. One of them is bearing arms. There are some people in the church who would say, absolutely, we don't have any weapons in our house. We would never take a job that would require us to carry or bear arms. And they can cite you, scripture and verse, as to why that shouldn't be. And they can tell you you have faith in God, you never put your faith in weapons, all those things that are right and true. On the other hand, you would have another group of people who would say, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm not putting my trust in there and I'm not going to give up my job as security guard or whatever it might be because it doesn't affect my conscience. I can worship God perfectly by holding that job or having that in my house. We could look at both sides of the argument. We'd have a hard time coming to a verse in the Bible that says, you shall or you shall not. There's two sides to the argument. God lets us decide as we go through a process of what is right, keeping in mind that what he wants us to become is to think like him, to act like him, and to have ultimate trust in him. Let me give you another one that made me more real to you. Eating out on the Sabbath. Eating out at restaurants on the Sabbath. That's kind of a dilemma, isn't it? Some people say, I would never eat out at a restaurant at a restaurant on Sabbath. I will never take my credit card out and hand it to someone and pay for something on the Sabbath. In my mind, that's doing commerce and business and I will not do it. And they can point chapter and verse. They're very sincere. And there's a good side to that argument.

Other people would say, it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not bringing people into my house. I'm not hiring them. The stranger or the people within my gate aren't working. When I go out to eat, I'm not thinking about doing commerce. I'm simply going out. It's an extension of fellowship. And God would have that be part of this Sabbath day that we are together, we enjoy, and it's nothing wrong with it all. And you can see that end of the argument as well. And you would say, okay. So some would say, hey church, come out with a pronouncement. Tell us which is right. And so we have a study paper, or I guess it's called a study paper on the subject, and it'll give you the two sides of the argument. You know what it comes to the conclusion as? Go with your conscience. Do what is right before God because it's not an issue that you can say in the Bible, it's absolutely right, or it's absolutely wrong. We could come up with a few more examples, but we live in a day just like the people in Corinth. Their issue may not be pertinent to us today, but the concept and what God says here is something that applies to us today. So let's go to chapter 8. Let's see what Paul did to address this question here. We'll see, well in here we'll see many of the things that he has talked about. Well, some of the things I've already mentioned, but then we're going to see some principles. But before we go back to chapter 8, let's flip over a couple chapters to chapter 10, because at the end of 8 and 9, and what he talks about in 10, Paul comes to a conclusion that we can keep in mind, and it's one of those principles of the Bible. You know we have the Ten Commandments, the law, the way of life that we live. It's absolute, it's binding, God expects us to live our lives that way. There's many things in the Bible that are absolute. We don't compromise, we don't reason around, we just simply do it. There's other things that are principles in the Bible that should guide our thinking, guide our behavior, guide the way that we form arguments, if we're going to argue or not should say arguments, if we're going to review something. Here in chapter 1, chapter 23, of chapter 10, Paul comes to a conclusion, and down through the rest of the chapter, he talks about this concept of meat offered to idols and things. He says in verse 23, All things are lawful for me. He goes, you know what, I've reviewed the situation, and what I'm doing, it's right, in accordance with God's Word. It's right and okay for me to do it. But, he says, all things, but not all things, are helpful.

It's okay for me to do this, but all things aren't helpful. All things are lawful for me, and he doesn't mean all things are lawful, but the things that we're talking about here, but not all things build up. Not all things edify.

Well, there is a conflict. It's okay to do that, and it's in accordance with God's Word.

Your conscience is as defiled. You're acting in accordance with what God leads you to see. But just because it's okay, he says, doesn't mean we do it. Just because it's okay doesn't mean that it's helpful. And he says in verse 24, tying in principles to who we all are and the family we're all in here, let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being. So, he ties the principles and knowledge of Bible to the law of love that should govern our lives as well. Now, let's go back to chapter 8. We read in verse 1 what the subject is, now concerning things offered to idols, and he says that we know that we have knowledge. Well, we do have knowledge, don't we? All of us here have knowledge. We know what the Bible says. Some of us have been in the church as we say for a short time. Others have been in the church for quite a while. The more we read the Bible, the more we learn about it. The first time we read it through, we learn very valid concepts. We change our lives to comply with those things.

The next time through, we learn more. It's a mirror that we look at ourselves in and try to live up to the stature of Jesus Christ as we go through. And as God opens our minds, he says we have knowledge. We know what the Bible says. And then he gives two principles that we should remember as we go through any process like this. He says, knowledge puffs up is one of them. Knowledge puffs up. You know, it feels really good to be able to just recite chapter and verse and to be able to just say this or, you know, I mean, I memorized Matthew 24. I memorized the book of Corinthians. Pretty impressive, right? I didn't do that, but knowledge can puff up. We can think, oh, I've got all the answers. I know how to do all this stuff. Knowledge, if we don't watch out, can kind of inflate us. We can kind of pat ourselves on the back and say, hey, I know all those answers. You can take the quizzes online. You might know every answer to all the Bible trivia questions. It can puff us up. So knowledge is good, but knowledge can be a problem if that's what we're relying on. And then he says the second thing, but love builds up. Ettophise means builds up. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

God's love, and of course that's the Greek word agape there. Agape builds up.

It's what God is looking for us to build in our lives, and so the two go hand in hand. Knowledge alone, we can be puffed up, but love builds up. And then through the rest of the chapter, you see these two concepts in chapter 8. Verse 2, he says, if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet that he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. So he talks about, in contrast again, these two principles. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. They have to work hand in hand.

Verse 4, therefore, concerning the eating of things offered to idols, he begins the process here of answering the question that the Corinthians have. How do we reconcile this difference between us? And he starts recounting them the knowledge that he has, that they all have. Therefore, concerning the things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but one. So when we're faced with a dilemma, do we do this or do we do that?

Do we go to that restaurant or not go to that restaurant? Do I buy that gun or not buy that gun? Do I go into that bar or not go into that bar? Whatever the dilemma might be, we go back into our bank of knowledge because without knowledge, we're nothing. Without knowledge, we're nothing. Without love, we'll see we're nothing as well, but we have to have the knowledge. We have to know what's in there. We have to read. We have to study. We have to assimilate. We have to absorb. It has to be part of our mind so that we can go back and we can look at these things. And as Paul begins to analyze the issue, he says, well, we know about idols. Idols are nothing, he says. Now, they weren't talking about actually, he was talking about going into the market and disarming what this meat was offered to or whether the meat was offered to that. But concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. So if we're faced with a question on weapons, guns, we might go back into the Bible. We might look at every single verse that's in there and see what God has to say about it. And as we do that, God will work in our minds and we'll begin to see a picture. If we're not sure whether we should eat out at a restaurant on Sabbath, we might want to go back and look at every single verse pertaining to the Sabbath and how to keep it. Because God gives some specific viewpoints or specific directives on keeping the Sabbath. He says no one within our gates should work. We shouldn't have people coming over working in our house on the Sabbath while we're away. He gives us specific points on what we do on the Sabbath in Isaiah 58. We don't seek our own entertainment. If we're doing that, if we're going out to movies, we're doing those things, we're simply not keeping the Sabbath. Some people say, I would never turn on my TV ever, ever, ever on the Sabbath. Other people would say, well, I would watch the news and I might watch this. But you know, we have to work those things out in our minds, always remembering that it's God we are honoring. And if we're disregarding clear commands, then there's no reasoning around this. This is one that's different here, where Paul is concerned. Well, keep your fingers there in 1st Corinthians 8. Let's go back to just one place in the Old Testament that talks about idols. And God makes a pretty clear point on what He thinks of idols, that they're quite silly, actually. But you know, you can go back to hundreds of places in the Old Testament and be crystal clear that God is against idolatry and that idols mean nothing. Let's look at Psalm 115. Psalm 115. I'm verse 3. Maybe David, who writes this, I'm not sure. But in Psalm 115 verse 3, it says, "...but our God is in heaven. He does whatever He pleases." Verse 4, "...their idols are silver and gold. They're made out of material things. They're the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they don't speak. They have eyes, but they don't see.

They have ears, but they don't hear. Noses they have, but they don't smell. They have hands, but they don't handle. Feet they have, but they don't walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them." They don't see, they don't hear, they don't understand. It's a very, very empty, empty thing to worship an idol. Those who make them are like them, so is everyone who trusts in them. You can also mark down there Isaiah 44. I won't take the time to turn there.

Isaiah 44 to 16. He again kind of casts an idol as, what are you thinking, people?

You take a piece of wood and one end of it you burn in the fire, but the other one, the other side of that same piece of wood, you carve into an idol and you bow down and worship it. You can just see the disdain and the derision and how silly it is to trust in those things as opposed to God. And that's what Paul is saying. We know this, okay? Fact one, we know that idols are nothing to God. We know that idolatry is wrong. There's nothing to these guys. There's no spirituality in them. They are simply works of art that people in their blind state bow down and worship. And you know that we have idols not made of wood and carved out so much in this society today. We have our own idols in our societies today as well. People will worship, put their faith in more than God. So Paul says, here's one fact, one fact of knowledge. And then he says, the other fact is, we all know, right? Everyone in this room knows we worship the true God and there is no other. So in verse 5 he says, for even if there are so-called gods, even if I look around the city of Corinth and I see people worshiping Artemis and Ishtar and all these other gods, if I see all these temples, if there are so-called gods and they're foolish enough to worship them, even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as many as there are many gods and many lords in this city we live in, yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we live. So we live in a city that's full of these things that mean nothing to God. We believe in one God. We don't believe in the idols. We're not giving any credence to them. They're just there.

They're the silliness of the world around us that put their trust in them instead of God. He relies on fact. He relies on the truth of the Bible that you know and I know, okay? And the people in Corinth knew. And then he says, beginning in verse 7, a little word that should catch our attention. However, however, whenever we see, however, later on we'll see, beware. We'll flip over to chapter 9 here for a second and we'll see the word nevertheless. When we see those things, Paul is beginning to show us how we would process these things. Okay, there's a fact. There's a fact. One God, we don't believe in idols.

Let's flip over to chapter 9 here. I'm not going to read through all the verses in chapter 9, but here's an issue that Paul is dealing with as well. Another question that's come to him and it has to do with with he and Barnabas and what they are, what they are, I guess, how the church is supporting them as they go about on their travels. And some in Corinth have an issue with them taking anything. He makes the point that, you know, Peter, the other apostles do these things, blah blah blah. You know, we can go on through. Let's drop down to verse 8.

He says, do I say these things as a mere man? So he says, am I making my case here?

Okay, I'm giving you facts. He goes through the first seven verses here. He gives you facts from the Bible. Or does not the law say the same also? And then in verse 9, he makes an interesting comment. He says, for it's written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Now what Paul has done there is take a very basic principle, a very physical principle, from the book of Leviticus. You shall not muzzle an ox while he treads out the grain. And he sees the principle, or he's learned the principle that God has built into that sentence, and he's applying it to the situation at hand here. Now I've never owned an ox. I dare say none of you ever owned an ox. But it would be pretty cruel if you had an ox and you expected it to be plowing in the fields, and you put a muzzle on it. So that's all around working and sweaty and doing all this work, and you just don't want it to eat anything. You don't want to give it anything. You just want to keep it all to yourself. And God says, don't treat it that way. If he's working for you, let him let him eat. Paul takes that principle and he applies it to the situation in Corinth. And he says, hey people, Barnabas and I are working among you. We're feeding you. We're working with you.

We're building the church here. And yet you're saying we want to muzzle you. We don't want you to take anything from here. We want you to be out. We want you to do your own thing. We don't want to support you at all. You see how Paul took a principle and he applied it. Something that God was saying that was a physical thing back then, but applying it now. And the very next sentence in chapter or verse 9, he says, is it oxen God is concerned about? He made that comment back in the Old Testament. Is it oxen? Well, yes, he was concerned about oxen. But Paul is saying there's a bigger principle here. You learn the principles of God and then you can apply them into the situations that you encounter in life. Or, he says in verse 10, or does he say it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt. This is written, is what he says. So we see the principles, even maybe some of the things that we consider don't apply in the Old Testament to us, but we see the principle behind it that God is teaching and we apply it in our lives. So Paul goes through in chapter 9 and he makes the determination that he has the right for them to support him a little bit and that he doesn't need to be out doing something separate. Makes that case very well. And over here in verse 12, I'm really interested in the last sentence of verse 12. I'll read the first one, though, just so we're all in the same place. He says, if others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? But there's that word, the next word, nevertheless. Nevertheless. Now, I've made the case that it's okay. Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things less we hinder the gospel of Christ. Hmm. He says we have the right. I'm not going to use it, though, because what was more important to Paul? His own well-being or the well-being of the people in the church? The well-being of the people in the church. He would rather suffer and do those things even though he had the right to do it and he could point in the Bible and say, this is right. But he goes, no, for your sakes and for the gospel of Christ, I'm not even going to take that right. It's lawful for me to do it. Not helpful for me to do it in this case. So sometimes we will come up with something and we can absolutely prove, you know, this is absolutely right. I should be able to do this. You'd be right. But Paul says, it's not always just about being right. There's another consideration that goes on here. Now, not in talking about the Ten Commandments or the specific and clear directives of God, but in some of these other areas. So let's go back to verse 7 in chapter 8.

Verse 7 and chapter 8. We saw nevertheless in chapter 9. Now we see here in verse 7. So he goes, okay, idols are nothing, people. They mean nothing to God. They should mean nothing to you. However, there is not in everyone that knowledge. Oh, just because idols weren't a problem for Paul, just because idols weren't a problem for many of the people in the church, for some people that were in the church that maybe knew there was a problem. They had previously been steeped in idolatry. They had been there in the temple, offering their meat on a routine basis. To them, that had some meaning. And they're now separating themselves from that, beginning to realize idols mean nothing.

There's a God, one God, that I worship. But their minds hadn't totally dissociated from that yet. To them, it was a problem because it sort of threw them back into that realm, and they're trying to separate themselves totally.

However, there is not in everyone that knowledge. Now, he's talking universally, but he's also talking to the people there in that church. You know, we all have different backgrounds. We all have different things that have affected in our lives. What may be a problem for me, you would laugh at and say, really? I've never had a problem with that in my life. I've never struggled with that. A problem you could tell me. And I would say, you know what? It's never been an issue.

I've never had to deal with that. But we all have to understand each other. We all have to appreciate each other. We all have to take each other into account.

Paul doesn't want us to be judgmental and saying, hey, I'm better than you because I don't have that problem. Because you know what? That other person can turn around and say, and I'm better than you because I don't have the problem you've got. But he does want us all to understand how to come to grips with these matters that come before us because we're in the process of being trained. God is getting us ready to be kings and priests. There will come a time when he's looking to us to judge angels, it says in 1 Corinthians 6. How are we ever going to be ready to judge angels if we can't go through the process ourselves just like Paul has? Learn the principles that are in the Bible, not just the commands, and let those guide us so that we can take something that confronts us and say, oh, there's a bigger principle here in the Bible that that falls into. It comes from study. It comes from using the Word. It comes from experience in the Word and not just crossing it off and saying, not an issue with me. Sometimes we have to be able to put these things into practice and begin to think the way God thinks because he gives us some of these principles to guide us in our life that we can pick up as we go. And as we practice, we begin to apply those things to the situations that we get involved in or others get involved in, and we can help them see what the Bible has to say because God is guiding us and helping us to think like he thinks, to become like he is. So Paul says, okay, we've looked at the knowledge, but there is not in everyone that knowledge. For some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol. You know, they look at meat and what's in their mind is, what is that meat sacrificed to idols? Because that was just part of their life and it kind of bothered them to do that. And so they want to know, they want to go into Publix and say, where did that meat come from? The local farmer or did someone did it come from a temple because there's just excess meat out there. Well, if you understood their background, you might understand why there's that concern.

We can take that into some of the situations that we have. Some have problems with weapons. Maybe they've had some kind of problem in the past with it and they would look at it and say, no, never. Others might have problems with prescription drugs or things that they've had in their background that they would look at things a little differently than you and I. That they're watching. They're watching what we do or what each other does. For some with consciousness of the idol until now, eat it as a thing offered to an idol and their conscience, and it's a very unfortunate word here, weak. It doesn't mean weak. Our God is developing our conscience all through our lives. Their conscience being weak is defiled. If they go and eat that meat, if they just walk into Publix and buy that meat without asking it, they would be like sinning against themselves. I should have asked. I can't eat this. But they might be told by someone else, don't have to worry about it. Okay, Paul said I don't have to worry about it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna sin against my conscience. Is that the right thing to do? Of course it's not the right thing to do. Mr. Johnson was in James 4. Let's turn back to James 4 and see a later verse there. James 4 verse 17.

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

Well, it's a sin to have any other God before God. It's a sin to break the Sabbath.

It's a sin to lie. It's a sin to kill, steal, bear false witness. It's a sin to go against your conscience. God gives us the Holy Spirit. God develops within us a moral sense of what to do. And sometimes some things just happen and you think, man, I just don't feel right about doing that. I don't know what it is. There's not a direct biblical prohibition against it, but I just don't feel right doing it. You know what? No matter how much your friends try to convince you to do it, don't do it. Don't sin against your conscience or don't sear your conscience or don't act against it. You know, on the other hand, there are consciences I've mentioned before can lead us to do good things. Sometimes you'll be working and something just pops into your mind. Maybe a person. And you think, I'll just stop what I'm doing, send the person an email, say hi, and whatever. You know, as I've learned to do that and stop what I'm doing when something pops into my mind, not all the time, but sometimes I hear back. You know, I needed to hear from you that time. And I scratch my head and I think, really? Let your conscience be your guide, your conscience that is developed in God's Word, but don't sin against it.

It's a sin if you feel it's wrong to do and you do it anyway. It's a sin. And so Paul is saying that same thing here in 1 Corinthians 8. Some in Corinth said, you know what? Come on, just eat the meat. Don't worry about it. And they were going against their conscience and they were defiling their conscience. Let God develop you. Let God mature. Now, again, I'm not talking about Ten Commandments.

I'm not talking about directives. I'm talking about some issues where there isn't a clear-cut answer in the Bible or something that you're just not ready to understand yet that isn't a clear-cut command. We never compromise on the law of God. We never compromise on the principles of His. What we learn here in Paul is saying for some people, it's a problem for them. And he's saying, basically what he's saying, I'm not going to give you a directive and say, yes, it's okay or no, it's not okay. And then in verse 8, we find another principle that we should always keep in mind when we come into these situations.

Verse 8, he says, but food doesn't commend us to God, for neither if we eat it are we the better, nor if we don't eat it are we the worse. You know what he's saying?

Of the two groups that are there, one group says, I would never eat meat offered to idols. I will never eat meat unless I first decide or determine that it's offered to idols. Now they might say, look at me, how righteous am I? And God would say, you're going with your conscience, but what we do, in that case, God is looking to see, do we follow what he's led us to believe? But we can't say to the other group, I'm more righteous than you. God doesn't say, bravo, group that doesn't, that asks about the meat before you buy it every single time. He says you're following your conscience, that's good. Because if you eat it, it doesn't really matter to God. What matters is the process that we go through and what we're doing. On the group, on the other hand, that says, you know what? I'm stronger, I'm more mature, I don't have to ask that butcher where that meat came from, I'm just going to eat it. Therefore, I must be more spiritually mature than you. You can't say that. It's not the case. Just like the group that says, I would never eat out at a restaurant. Can't say, I'm more righteous than you, other group.

Because there isn't a clear biblical command. Search the scriptures from beginning to end. You can't find the clear answer on that, but what is right to you? You do. And you don't let someone talk you out of it if you let God lead you.

And on the other hand, the other group can't say that either. I'm better than you, I'm better than you, God says none of this, and Paul says none of this. Okay?

There's a difference here. You let your conscience guide you, you do what's right before God, but you never let it divide you. You never let it puff you up and think that you've got the answers. You never let it become an issue. You simply accept each other because you're there for each other. Let's go on to verse 9. Verse 9.

But beware. So he makes this comment here, and then he says another word, but beware. Okay, group that says, I don't have to... it means nothing to me. These idols mean nothing. It doesn't affect me at all whether that thing's been an idol, it doesn't even matter in my mind. Beware, or less, somehow this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak, those who are on the other side, if you say, who it is that those bother them, that feel they do need to ask. Hmm.

Beware. What he's saying is you might feel perfectly fine in that. You might see that there is liberty in the law, but the liberty in the law isn't what our focus should be. Our focus should be on love, he says. But beware, less somehow, this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. Now, we never want to be a stumbling block to anyone. We don't want someone to take our words to be offended. We don't want to be the hammer in issues that aren't black and white issues and say, this is the way I see it, that's the way it has to be, blah, blah, blah. Okay? Don't be a stumbling block. That's a principle. Know where the other person is. Reach them at their level. Paul says that very eloquently down in verses 19 through 23 of chapter 9. Well, let's go back and look at this concept of stumbling block because it is something that God is quite concerned about. Let's go back to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19, and we see another one of those physical principles that are back here in chapter 19 and in verse 14. Something we would teach our children when they're growing up and something, of course, we should maintain throughout our lives in chapter 19.

Leviticus verse 14, you shall not curse the death nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the eternal. Now, here's a very physical concept. We would never put a stumbling block before someone who couldn't see well, would we? That would be cruel. They could hurt themselves. All sorts of things could happen. God says, don't do it. And He tells Israel at a very basic level, don't put a stumbling block there to the blind. They don't see it yet, but don't make them fall. Don't let them hurt themselves. Don't let them think of evil of you. There's a principle there, just like muzzling the ox. A physical principle. But in the New Testament, we see the spiritual application of these stumbling blocks that God says back in Leviticus, don't do to those who are physically blind or don't have their eyes fully open yet. We have Christ over in Matthew 16 talking about stumbling blocks in a spiritual sense. Matthew 16.

Now, in the context of this chapter, He is telling the disciples that He's going to be arrested, that He's going to be crucified, and that He will arise or He will be raised the third day. And Peter, who hears all this, loves Jesus Christ. He doesn't want to see any of this happen, just like if you were telling me, this is what's going to happen to you. I'd say, no, that won't happen to you.

I don't want that to happen to you. So we understand Peter's sentiments.

And Peter says, no, this won't happen to you. Far be it from you, Lord. This shall not happen to you. In verse 23, Christ says, but He turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are, new King James, an offense to me. For you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. Now, let me read that to you from the Young's Literal Translation. That takes the Greek word for word and translates it. And Matt, in Young's Literal, Matthew 16, verse 20, says, When Christ says, You are an offense to me, it is, You are a stumbling block to me.

Get behind me, Satan. Peter, you're a stumbling block to me. Well, that would have gotten Peter's attention, wouldn't it? If Christ said that to you, you're a stumbling block to me, you'd think, Whoa, what have I done? Why would Christ say that to Peter? You're a stumbling block to me. Well, Jesus Christ knew exactly what the plan of God is. Before the foundation of the earth, it was purpose that He would come to earth, He would live, He would die for our sins, that He would go through the things. It's all written there in the Old Testament, and every single one of those prophecies of His death was fulfilled. It was going to happen exactly the way God said. But then here's Peter saying, No, no, no, no, that'll never happen to you, Christ. Well, it couldn't have been a pleasant experience or pleasant thought for Christ to think, I'm going to go through all this. We know the anguish that He went through in the hours leading up to His crucifixion. And here's Peter saying, No, we don't want it to be that way. Christ was saying, No, it has to be this way. It's going to be God's will. That may be difficult to accept, it may be difficult to do, but it will be God's way. Peter, don't be a stumbling block to me. My mind is made up, it will be God's will, and I will do it the way He said, no matter what. I don't need you saying, No, no, no, no. Not that way. Get behind me, Satan. Peter, you're a stumbling block to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God. You're not looking at what God's will is.

You're looking at it the way men do. Don't be a stumbling block to me. Paul says to the Corinthians, God says to us, don't be stumbling blocks. Don't be stumbling blocks to each other. A couple chapters over, Matthew 18. Christ, speaking to the little children, or speaking of the little children that were brought to Him to be blessed. Verse 5, Matthew 18. He says, Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Verse 6, Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes. Let me read that to you from Young's literal, the literal translation. Verse 5, And he who may receive one such child in my name does receive me, and whoever may cause to stumble one of these little ones who are believing in me. See that? One of these little ones who are believing in me, one of these people who I'm beginning to work with, who are beginning to grow, who are beginning to understand, anyone who causes one of them to stumble. It's better for him that a weighty millstone be hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world from the stumbling blocks, for there is a necessity for the stumbling blocks to come, but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block does come. We might be doing everything right in our own eyes.

God says, beware, don't be a stumbling block. Don't let one of these little ones that I love very much be cast off or fall or fall away because of what you've done. Never compromising God's law, never compromising his statutes, never saying this is okay and that's okay where God's directive is clear, but in some issue where it might be, you're weak. If you ask that butcher if the meat was for sacrifice to idols, that could be a stumbling block to someone because they're just not where you would like them to be yet. We are our brother's keeper. We are our brother's keeper. God said that to Cain back in Genesis 4. He would tell us all that again today. He tells us that back in Philippians. Let's go back to Philippians 2. Philippians 2 verse 3. Paul writing the same concept that he's talking about in chapter 8 there of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each one of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others. We need to be concerned about others' well-being. We need to be concerned about other spiritual progress. We need to be the type of people that can build up people in the faith. Not the type of people that would throw a stumbling block below them and then watch them disappear, never to surface again. There's a law in the Bible. There's a law of life that we follow. Now we learn it and we follow it closer day by day.

There's also a law of love. There's also a law of love that goes hand in hand with it that Jesus Christ perfectly demonstrated that all of us have so much more to learn. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, Paul said in the chapter before that he was talking about tongues and these spiritual gifts, I become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. I can have those gifts but I don't have this law of agape working in me and by running through my veins I become nothing more than noise. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, none of us are there but have love. I'm nothing.

I'm nothing. You have to know the principles of God, have to live by the principles of God, have to understand the law of love and working with each other as well. Let's go back to chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians. We were in verse 9 where Paul said, beware, don't become a stumbling block to those of you who don't see things the way that you do but also have their merit and their reasons for believing what they do. For verse 10, then he gives some examples, for if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? If they see you doing it'll be like, well okay, I guess the church is okay with that. Let's just go in there and eat that just like everyone else. I guess it wasn't that big of a difference anyway. Then he goes on and he talks. Paul talks, says, love will not lead someone to violate their conscience. Won't do it. Love won't lead another Christian to return to former sins. We don't know what the background is. We may say, no, no, no, no, no. Have a beer! It's nothing wrong with drinking. The Bible says there's no problem with that. But the other person isn't going to do it. We don't know what their background is. Don't force it on them.

Understand and don't cause them to go astray. Love considers the maturity level.

Love is there to help and build up. Not to hammer. Not to hammer, Paul says. So as he goes on here, and we'll just read through the rest of the verses here, verse 11, and because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? Because you have all this knowledge that's puffed you up, are you going to have him die because you've hammered him with it but you haven't taken into consideration where he is and allowing God to grow him? Not in matters of clear right and wrong. I keep repeating that because I don't want anyone to go from here saying this is compromise. It is not. But when you thus and notice the word here, when you thus sin against the brethren? It's sin if we break the Sabbath. It's sin if we kill, steal, lie, commit adultery. It's sin when we do so against the brethren. But when you sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. So Paul, in this question, they just want him to say, Paul, tell us it's okay. Tell us it's okay. Tell us you know what? We don't have to worry about this anymore. And he goes, no. You're all at different levels. This isn't one I'm gonna come out and say, you never have to worry about it. Just go out and eat whatever clean meat you find. You don't have to worry about it. I'm not gonna say you have to every single time ask the public's butcher, where was this meat before it came here? Look at his conclusion, verse 13. Therefore if food makes my brother stumble, if it makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. I have the right to eat it. My conscience is clear when I eat it, but I would give it up forever before I would have one person leave or fall because of something that I said that would make them sin against their conscience. Look at the self-sacrifice that Paul gave. Same thing that he comes to in chapter 9. I won't take any of those. I have the right, but you know what? I will do anything because I don't want to be an offense to you in this situation. Over and over and over you see Paul using the law of God, never compromising it, but always keeping in mind the other person, and his job was to build them up, that God could grow them in the body that he placed them in. So in chapter 8 and in chapter 9 we see a lot of principles. I hope it's been clear the process we can go through when these things come up to us when the Bible just doesn't say yes or no, or thou shalt or thou shalt not. But we can go through the same process, engaging of course God and the Holy Spirit in us. But let me just here for a few minutes go through a few of the verses here between chapter 10 and 13 some of the principles that we've talked about. Chapter 10 and 1 Corinthians that we can use to guide our life and things that as we review the Bible, read the Bible, apply it into our lives, that we can keep in mind. Chapter 10, 1 Corinthians verse 11. Paul is talking about the Old Testament here, but you know we've seen today that even chapter 8 and meet offered to idols, all things, all these things happen to them as examples. And they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Everything in the Bible has application to us today. We have to understand that and take the concept and not just say, meet offered to idols is not anything I have to deal with. There's plenty of other things that have the same that have the same kind of spirit to them that we would deal with today.

Verse 12, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Paul would say knowledge puffs up. Now we think that we are right with God. When we think that we are, that nothing can knock us over, we might want to be quite aware of what's going on. Let me read again verse 23, since we're here.

Right at the beginning, we'll read it here again. Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. And sometimes we do things for the benefit of others. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being. Chapter 9, verse 15, goes along with verse 13 here in chapter 8. But the end of this treatise that Paul is talking about and answering that question, he says, I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me, for it would be better for me to die, that anyone should make my boasting void.

I write this to you, I make my case, but you know what? I'm not, I don't want any of it. I'm just letting you know I'm willing to sacrifice for your well-being. Verse 27, same chapter, Paul says, I discipline my body, I bring it into subjection. His body, his emotions, the things that he wants as well. I discipline my body, I bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified by some of those principles. But God says it's sin, if you are a stumbling block. Sin, if you lead someone else to defile their conscience. And finally, verse 31, chapter 10, one thing that should always be at the forefront of our minds. Chapter 10, verse 31, therefore, Paul says, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And then you can see what he says next in verse 32. Whatever we do, do to God's glory. Learn his way, learn his principles, learn his law, let the mind of God be developed in you, and let his word be applied into your life.