I Corinthians 8:1-13 *
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” Martin Luther wrote those words to describe the life of the Christian on earth. A first reading of this statement might leave a person scratching his head.
It is not too difficult for Christians to understand that they are free, set free from and no longer subject to sin and death. But if we have been set free from the bondage of sin, how can we at the same time be subject to all? Reason says you are either a slave or you are free. You can’t be both at the same time. It doesn’t make sense.
Paul addresses this paradox in our text for today. The church in
It was Paul’s goal to bring these believers together. He wanted them to understand that they were free in Christ, but he also wanted them to know that this freedom was a privilege. In short, Paul called upon them to respect the strengths and weaknesses of each other as members of one Christian family.
This relevance of this message goes beyond the first century church. Using a unique situation in one congregation, the Lord wants believers of all generations to appreciate the fact that…
CHRISTIANS ARE FREE TO SERVE
II. As
brothers and sisters in Christ, treasure your Christian family
Before we get into the text, let’s take a closer look at the
issue. The practice in question was
eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols.
When an animal was sacrificed on a pagan altar (and there were plenty of
pagan altars to choose from in
One portion went to the priest. Another part became the main course at a feast in one of the temple’s banquet halls. The person who brought the sacrifice was allowed take some home and serve it to his family and friends. And anything that was left was then sold in the public market.
The question was this: Which part/parts of this meat could a Christian eat in good conscience? In the Old Testament, the answer was easy. None. The Law of Moses did not allow the eating of any meat that had been offered up to an idol.
In the New Testament era, however, things were different. Dietary rules and regulations (like no pork, no shellfish, no meat sacrificed to idols, etc.) no longer applied. What had previously been forbidden was now an adiaphoron, something neither commanded nor forbidden by God. So could Christians eat a piece of meat that had been cooked on the altar of Aphrodite? One group in the congregation was saying, “Sure. Why not? After all, God himself says that idols aren’t real.”
Even though the answer was clear to some, others weren’t so sure. The Jewish Christians had grown up under the Old Testament Law. The Law of Moses with all of its little laws had been engrained in their minds from childhood. They couldn’t just throw the traditions of their forefathers to the side, could they?
Jewish Christians weren’t the only ones with reservations. Many of the Gentiles had participated in these heathen worship rites before they became Christians. Even though their heads were telling them that idols didn’t exist, their hearts kept insisting that eating meat sacrificed to idols was a sin. With weak and confused consciences, they looked to Paul for help.
Before Paul built his case, he made sure to lay a solid foundation: “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live” (6). In a world that acknowledges the existence of all kinds of gods and goddesses, Christians believe that there is only one true God. He is the source of all things. He is in control of all things. As our dear Father, we know that he loves his children because he demonstrated that love in the gift of his Son.
“And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (6). Jesus was with the Father at creation. Without Jesus, we would not be alive. Without Jesus, we could not exist. But God has made us alive through Christ. We live through him, and now we live for him.
Because our creation and our salvation depend completely on God, what a Christian eats or doesn’t eat doesn’t matter. Since we know that there is only one God, and since we know that there is no such thing as an idol, there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat that has been sacrificed to an idol. Paul puts it this way: “Food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do” (8).
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night,
President Bush touched on the subject of freedom. He said that there are times when it is
necessary to fight to preserve the freedoms we enjoy. Whether it was the Revolutionary War or the
Civil War or the two World Wars or a possible war with
Now compare political freedom with Christian freedom! Our freedom from sin did not come easy. Our freedom from sin had to be earned…but we didn’t earn it. We couldn’t earn it. Jesus set us free. Jesus unlocked the chains of sin and death. Jesus rescued us from Satan’s gloomy dungeons.
Our salvation doesn’t depend on us fulfilling certain requirements or obeying certain rules or abstaining from certain foods or worshiping on a certain day of the week. Our salvation is a gift from God. The same God who has freed us from sin, death and the devil gives us the freedom to make many of our own choices…as long as we can say “Yes” to the following questions: 1. Do my actions glorify God? 2. Do my actions benefit my neighbor? The second question brings us to the second part of this sermon.
Christian freedom is a blessing. We thank God for it. We treasure it. At the same time we will never want to exercise our freedom at the expense of another Christian. As brothers and sisters united by a common faith, the Lord calls us to treasure our Christian family.
“We know that we all possess knowledge” (1). Paul wasn’t trying to flatter the Corinthians with these words. He was simply stating a fact. Knowledge is important. It is impossible to believe in Jesus Christ if you have never even heard of him. Knowledge by itself, however, can be a dangerous thing. It has a tendency to make a person swell up with pride. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1).
Paul had some strong words for the “strong” Christians in
What if a weak Christian saw what his strong brother eating in an idol’s temple? What if that weak Christian wanted to be like his friend? What if that Christian tried to overcome his weakness before he was ready? What if that weak Christian sat down to eat and felt guilty about it later? Paul answers all of the “what ifs.” That person is guilty of sin because he sins against his conscience.
Unfortunately, the trail of sin doesn’t end there. Paul says to strong Christian: “When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ” (12). The strong Christian is just as guilty as his weak brother because he has contributed to his sin. And by wounding his weak brother, he sins against God himself.
To stop this cycle of sin before it starts, Paul concludes: “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” (13). If he had been in the same situation, if the choice had been his to make, Paul was prepared give up meat altogether. He was ready to become a vegetarian. He was willing to make any sacrifice necessary for the sake of his Christian family.
Because eating meat sacrificed to idols is not a hot topic in churches today, preachers look for modern illustrations and applications. For example, if a friend has a problem with alcohol, it would not be very loving to have a drink in his presence. I remember when my dad preached on this text, he made this application. It would not be very loving to eat a hot fudge sundae in front of a person with diabetes (by the way, my dad is diabetic).
You might find yourself in a situation like this, but then
again you might not. The issue in
The members of this congregation are not all the same. Some are younger. Some are older. Some are men.
Some are women. Some love
Bach. Some don’t. Some are lifelong members of
Satan tries to turn these minor differences into major divisions. He knows that a house divided against itself cannot stand. He knows that a congregation consumed by conflict is less likely to rejoice in the divine solution. He knows that all human stubbornness and selfishness and self-importance flow from a common source. He knows that the most powerful weapon in his arsenal against God and God’s people is sin. Sin destroys. Sin destroys relationships, families, congregations, even faith.
In spite of our weakness, in spite of our selfishness, in spite of our sinfulness, we are still united. How is that possible? It comes down to a single word, “love.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16). God gave up his Son for us. Jesus gave up his life for us. Jesus unites us and motivates us and empowers us to imitate His love.
Christian love doesn’t look inward. Christian love looks upward and then
outward. Christian love doesn’t ask: “What’s
in it for me?” Christian love asks: “How
can I serve God? How can I help my
neighbor?” We love God because he first
loved us. We love others because he
first he first loved us.
Martin Luther once wrote; “In heaven and earth there is nothing more tender than the conscience, and nothing less able to tolerate abuse.” The conscience is a delicate thing, and it is easily bruised. But that does not mean that you should set aside your Christian freedom altogether. Treasure your Christian liberty.
At the same time, Christian freedom is not a license to do whatever you want whenever you want. When the use or the abuse of freedom leads another person to sin, it is no longer freedom. It becomes an obstacle and a stumbling block to faith.
There may be nothing more tender than the conscience, but there is nothing more valuable than the soul. You might not know the person in the pew ahead of you, but you do know that person has a soul, a soul that has been bought and paid for with Jesus’ blood. Treasure those precious souls. Treasure the members of your Christian family.
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to
none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful
servant of all, subject to all. It
does make sense after all. As
Christians, we are free. We are free to
serve. Amen.