Love, Liberty, and the Christian Life
I
Corinthians 8:1-3
Introduction: Many religions have the tendency to be guided by a
system of “rules.” They have their own idea of “The way life should be,” and
they will be very happy to explain it to you.
Others have only one rule: “There are no rules!” They are from New
Hampshire and their license plate says “Live free, or die!” There were some
conflicting ideas about grace and what it really means to be set free by Jesus
in the church at Corinth. And so they wrote to Paul, their founding pastor, to
get some insights about his thoughts on the matter. The issue at hand relates
to “meat sacrificed to idols,” but the principle behind it goes to the question
of Christian Liberty.
The Big Idea:
We are free in Christ, free to allow our liberty to be guided by love for God
and love for one another.
I. More than meat: How is our liberty in Christ to be guided in those
areas to which the Bible does not directly speak (1a)?
“Now
concerning food offered to idols:
we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’"
With
the phrase “now concerning” Paul
introduces the next subject that he will deal with over the next two or three
chapters, that is, food that had been sacrificed to idols (see 7:1, 25, and now
8:1 for the first uses of this phrase in I Corinthians). Your first reaction on reading that might be
“What?! What in the world does that have to do with me?” Burnt offerings or idol sacrifices are not
usually an issue in 21st century America (unless I am cooking
hamburgers on my George Foreman Grill, in which case the smoke alarm functions
as a “timer” and yes, there have been a few “burnt offerings have gone up in
smoke on my barbeque!). The abiding principle that underlies this subject is
the question of our freedom in Christ, and what if anything should guide our
freedom and how we exercise it. In
first century Corinth the city was full of idols, and as a matter of course
people would offer sacrifices in order to curry the favor of one god or
another. Some of the meat would be
burned typically as a sacrifice, and some would go to the priest. Some apparently would be shared in ritual
meals in the temple, and if the priest already had enough for dinner for
himself and his family, some would be sold to venders in the city who would
then sell the meat to the public. Through the next few chapters Paul touches on
various aspects of this matter. The problem was, that for some new believers in
Jesus, they wanted to distance themselves as much as possible from the pagan
practices that dominated their lives in the past. It wasn’t enough to stay away
from dinners in the pagan temples, some of them wanted nothing to do with meat
that been offered to idols. And so what
if they were eating with a friend or someone from their extended family, should
they inquire about the source of the meat?
What if it had been sacrificed to an idol? In the following
verses Paul says “idols are nothing” (v.4f) and certainly they could do nothing
to change the meat. That was truth,
plain and simple. It was correct theology. And some of the Corinthians were
insisting that their theology resolved the matter once and for all.
“….we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge’…”
The Corinthians apparently wrote in
their letter to Paul, “We all have knowledge…” i.e.,
we know the truth about meat and idols and we know we are free to eat or not to
eat, it makes no difference. We’ve got
our “theology” right. And they were proud of their knowledge and of their
freedom. Paul says yes, you are part right, you got your theology right,
but what about your heart? The problem
was that some of the Corinthians seemed to love their theological system more
than they loved people, perhaps, more than they loved God. Don’t get me wrong,
we want to pursue truth. We want to constantly seek to sharpen our
understanding of what the Bible teaches, sound doctrine. But sometimes our theological
system can become an end in itself, it can become a kind of idol, rather than
drawing us closer to the God who is, and deepening our love for people. That is
a foothold that the enemy can use against the church. The truth is, we are
free in Christ. We are free to allow our liberty to be guided by love for God
and love for one another. More than meat is at stake, and…
II.
“Knowledge” must be guided by love: Knowledge
can “puff up” if not guided by love (1b).
“This
‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.”
Knowledge is a good thing,
but “this knowledge,” i.e.
knowledge without love, can be deadly. Scripture
tells us that “Pride
goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall…” (Proverbs 16:18). One issue that was at the heart of many of the
struggles that the Corinthians were dealing with was the matter of their
“pride” regarding their own spirituality.
Paul has already called them out on this in this letter, emphasizing the
doctrine of grace (e.g. 4:7), and he isn’t finished yet.
How is it that “knowledge” can “puff up”? Pride,
or arrogance, means that somehow we have begun to think more highly of ourselves
than we ought. There is a real danger in
this regard with respect to our “theology.” Sometimes
it can seem like we are more in love with our theological system than we are in
love with God! Theology should
describe God, it should elucidate what He has revealed, but it should point us
to Him. I resist being “classified” in
terms of my theological position since I want to be a Christ follower, always
testing my theology against the Word. We come from a wide range of backgrounds
in this church and I think that is great. It brings a richness to our
discussions and allows us test our beliefs against Scripture. Whatever our
background…
There is a principle that should guide our application of our
theology in the Christian life, it should guide the decisions that we
make. Paul says knowledge “puffs up,”
and “love edifies,” literally,
“Love builds up…” As we act in love toward one another, we are
focused on others rather than on ourselves.
To encourage and strengthen my brother or sister becomes more important
than my freedom or my “rights.” That
“love” for one another is one thing that sets apart the church. The writer to the Hebrews said,
“24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to
love and good works, 25 not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb
10:24-25).
In fact, a little further on in First Corinthians
Paul will very eloquently make the point that knowledge, without love, is
worthless. We read in I Corinthians 13:2,
“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, but have not love, I am nothing.”
That is strong language! Knowledge, even
detailed extensive knowledge, if it is not motivated and guided by love, misses
the point of God’s revelation. We have his Word so that we can know Him and
know what He expects of us. Jesus said, “If
you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). He also said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you
love one another…” (John 13:34-35; see 15:12,17). I am not advocating emotion over thinking,
nor do I believe that is the point Jesus makes in his teaching or that Paul
intends in this letter. The point is that we are free in Christ, free to allow
our liberty to be guided by love for God and love for one another.
III.
A Word to those who think they know: If you think you have it all figured out, your pride
reveals your true ignorance (2).
“If
anyone imagines that he knows something,
he
does not yet know as he ought to know.”
I like the way the New Living Translation renders this verse, “Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't
really know very much.” Why is that true? Knowing facts, even facts of
theology, is not enough. Remember the
words of James, “You believe that God is
one, you do well. The devil also believes, and trembles!” The devil could quote orthodox doctrine in
many areas, but he obviously is not “saved.”
There is a “knowledge” that goes beyond stating facts, and extends to
include “faith,” trusting in those facts, resting your hope in what they reveal.
I think it is true that if we truly
“believe” good theology, in a biblical sense, we will be humbled, we will be
driven to love God and to love His people. The problem sometimes is making that
short trip from the head to the heart.
It is sometimes the case that when you
get freshmen coming into a college class that a few among them think they have
all the mysteries of the universe worked out. Usually, by the time they
graduate they realize that they don’t have all the answers, but maybe at least by
then they are asking the right questions!
When I started Bible College I was a little different, since I knew
that I didn’t know anything, I was just a new Christian and it was all new to
me. When I went to seminary, on the other hand, well I already had a Bible
College degree. Most of my colleagues had degrees in other disciplines so I
thought I had all the answers! During those years I began to see how
small and ignorant I am, and how awesome and majestic God is. Hopefully I’ve been learning through 35 years
in the Lord, but though I usually realize how little I know, pride still
tries to raise its ugly head way too often.
In His mercy God is constantly astounding me with his majesty and
overwhelming me with His grace. We are
in the world so that we can be part of His church as he carries out his mission
in the world. By his design, we need each other. I believe it was Augustine who
said, “Love God, then do as you please.” So we are free in Christ, free to allow our liberty to be guided by love
for God and love for one another.
IV.
Love for God reveals that He knows us (3).
“But
if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”
“But if anyone loves God…” We looked recently at the greatest
commandment, the call to love God whole-heartedly (see Deuteronomy 6:4-6). It
is also true that love for God and love for our brother are inter-related
ideas. John addresses the relationship
between love for God and love for our brothers in his first letter. He wrote,
for example in I John 4:20,21,
“20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates
his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves
God must love his brother also.”
So love for our brother is one evidence
that we truly love God. Love, of course,
is more than just a “feeling.” It involves a conscious decision to put others
and their needs before ourselves and our own needs. Giving up our freedom or
our rights to avoid causing a brother to stumble should be relatively
easy. After all, Jesus laid down his
life for us. Greater love has no man
than this, than he lay down his life for his friends!
Paul goes on to say in our passage “…If
anyone loves God he is known by God…” Literally, “…this one is known
by God…” The parallel phrases have a
change in verbal tense that we don’t want to miss. “If anyone loves God” (in
the present, that is loves him now, in an ongoing present sense) “he is known
by God…” (the perfect tense indicates a past action with continuing results,
God knew him, at a point in the past, and continues to actively know him). In other words, our love for God is evidence
that we are His. Remember the words of Jesus, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…”
It is not that we simply chose to love God, rather He loved us first. When
God is the subject, knowing, loving, and choosing, are closely related, and in
some contexts, almost interchangeable ideas. Read carefully through
Ephesians 1 and you’ll see how closely connected these ideas are. A couple of
selections from that chapter,
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, 4 even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will, 6
to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the
Beloved… (Ephesians 1:3-6).
We could (and probably should!) read the whole chapter, but skip for a
minute down to verse 15,
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks
for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a
spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called
you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable
greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his
great might… (Ephesians 1:15-19).
That is
amazing grace! From before the foundation of the world He chose us, loved us,
and knew us. Sound doctrine rightly applied will drive us to love Him, and to
love one another. That means putting the needs of others before our freedom,
and being diligent to encourage one another to love and good works.
What is God saying to me in this passage? We are free in Christ, free to allow our liberty to
be guided by love for God and love for one another.
What would God have me to do
in response to this passage? We need to be wary of the trap
of falling into either legalism or license, and though we should pursue truth
diligently, we need to apply it personally, loving the God of whom it speaks,
He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Pursue God. He said “Seek me and you will find me.” And might it be increasingly true of our
church, that by our love for one another, people would know that we are His
disciples. AMEN.
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