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SERMON
As you learned last week, Paul began chapter 7 by saying: "Now
for the matters you wrote about…" So it's becoming evident
that a good part of this letter was Paul's response to a number of
vexing questions posed by the folks in Corinth. And that explains why
our lesson today begins rather abruptly, "Now, about food
sacrificed to idols…" Where did that come from? It came
from people who were wrestling with that question. But since few of us
are concerned with that particular issue, we might be tempted to skip
on to Paul's next point. But there are some timeless lessons to be
learned here. Paul certainly thought so.
In fact, he wastes no time in getting to the first one. He goes on in
verse 1 to say, "We know that we all possess knowledge."
But then he adds, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds
up." Paul reminds us that while all of us have knowledge, we
have a choice as to how we're going to use it. That's one of those
universal truths we acknowledge but often don't act on. We'll assume
that a certain matter is common knowledge. We'll say, "Well,
everyone knows that" (whatever "that" may
be). And that may be a reasonable assumption. But it doesn't follow
logically that just because everyone knows something, they'll
automatically have the wisdom to deal with it responsibly (whatever
"it" may happen to be).
For example, every member of a group may know that there is a meeting
coming up, therefore reports will be given and therefore reports are
due at a particular time. Everyone may know that; but that doesn't
mean those reports will be filed in a timely manner - or even written.
And it's certainly common knowledge that smoking causes all sorts of
respiratory problems as well as cancer. Knowing that, however, doesn't
mean that the corresponding wisdom will automatically follow.
There is far more at play here than simple knowledge. That's why Paul
goes on to say that knowledge by itself is a dangerous thing. And
frankly, one of the primary dangers of knowledge is pride (being
"puffed up" as Paul puts it - that is, "full of hot
air"). I see comparatively little danger in being proud of our
knowledge, as long as we keep that pride to ourselves. Unfortunately,
because of our fallen nature, we generally find it difficult to keep
quiet about what we know. We want to impress other people with it.
William Barclay put the matter well in his commentary. He said that
knowledge "tends to make a person arrogant and feel superior
and look down unsympathetically on the one who is not as far
advanced." I'm afraid that's too often true. And the net
effect of this kind of arrogance is that it tears people down.
"Knowledge puffs up," says Paul. Then he adds,
"But love builds up." But you'll notice that
it's not the generic term for love that he uses here. He uses that
singular word agape - that peculiar kind of love that he will
describe so memorably later on in this letter. "Agape builds
up," he says. There's a sense in which knowledge is the raw
material for growth. But it's love that does the real building. Those
of you who are teachers understand that. You know that you can stuff a
person's head with knowledge and it may not change them a bit. It's
when you love them, it's when you have a passion for them to grow,
that's when the real education happens. It's not just a matter of
knowledge. According to Paul, love is what causes people to grow in
stature and wisdom.
It's easy to spot the difference between the person who has a lot of
knowledge - a kind of "walking encyclopedia" who may be an
authority on everything, and the person who has the wisdom and
sensitivity to use that knowledge to build people up. I suspect that's
why Paul goes on in verse 2 to caution his readers: "The man
who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to
know." That is, the person who is proud of how much he knows,
doesn't know that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. He's
so impressed with his own intellectual superiority that he doesn't
realize that all human knowledge, including his own, at its
very best is only partial knowledge.
That might be laughable - except for the fact that people who think
they know it all can do a great deal of damage, particularly in the
church of Jesus Christ. It's becoming clear that what is at stake here
goes far beyond simply knowing whether it's appropriate to eat meat
that has been offered to idols. There are all kinds of religious
issues about which some people assume that they have the ultimate
answer. And it doesn't seem to make much difference the banner under
which they operate. Whether they're conservative or evangelical or
liberal (I'm talking about attitude here) people who
exude a kind of superficial overconfidence in their own knowledge can
tear others down and do great violence to the Body of Christ.
That's not to say there are no ultimate truths or answers about such
things as the absolute authority of Scripture or the singular lordship
of Jesus Christ or the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.
But those absolute truths that God has revealed need to be handled
with great humility and reverence, and not as weapons. Do you know
why? It's because people's convictions, especially religious
convictions, are not simply a matter of knowledge. They're also a
matter of emotion and will. Now, if we were all computers it would be
easy to correct each other's misinformation without any hurt feelings.
But we're not computers. We're people. We are all fallible,
fallen creatures who are nevertheless made in the image of God; so we
need to treat each other and ourselves that way. "The one who
thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know,"
says Paul.
Then he goes on to say, "But the one who loves God is known by
God." (He didn't say, "the one who knows
God.") Paul reminds us here that one of the fundamental facts
of faith is that loving God is more important than knowing about him.
As a matter of fact, the only way you can know God is by loving him.
And it's here Paul hints at a wonderful mystery. The greatest
knowledge we can have about God is that he loves us and he wants us to
love him. That's the best knowledge of all. But as Paul stresses again
and again in his letters, our love for God is expressed most surely in
our love for each other.
And so having laid this groundwork about the relationship between love
and knowledge, Paul returns to the question of living in a Christian
community where our love for God and his people is put to the test
every day. At verse 4 he reiterates the question: "So then,
about eating food sacrificed to idols…" And here Paul
reminds them of two fundamental facts. First, he says, we know that
idols are no-gods, they're nothing. (If you want a picture of what
no-gods are made of, read Psalm 115:1-8.) And second, he says, there
is but one God. (Deuteronomy 6:4 says it eloquently. "Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." The "Shema"
is the central affirmation of our Old Testament faith heritage.)
Now, Paul does acknowledge parenthetically in verse 5 that there are
indeed many of what the world would call "gods" and
"lords." But they really are nothing. As far as we're
concerned, he says, there is only one true God, the Father, and
only one true Lord, Jesus Christ. When we talk about meat that
has been offered to idols, those are the facts, says Paul. It's just a
pot roast; there's nothing sacred about it.
But even though this is basic theology and it should be common
knowledge among all Christians, at verse 7 he says "But not
everyone knows this." (I want you to note that he's not
referring to non-Christians here. He's talking about people in the
church at Corinth.) It was evident to Paul that while they all might
confess the same God and Lord, not all of them had that deep inner
assurance that there really is only one God and one Lord and therefore
"everything is permissible" (including eating meat that had
been offered to idols). Paul had already made that point in chapter 6
and he'll make again in chapter 10.
Nevertheless, there was serious disagreement among the Christians in
Corinth. Some were saying that it's alright to eat meat offered to
idols because those idols are really "no-gods." And
technically they were right (because that meat had been offered to a
"nothing"). But others there had spent most of their lives
thinking that these "gods" were real; so it was hard for
them to imagine that anything associated with their worship really
didn't mean anything. Paul had a significant pastoral problem here. He
knew it wouldn't work for him to simply lay down the law and say
either, "You may eat" or "You may not
eat." Because, as he already said, knowledge (even correct
knowledge) without love can be unhealthy. So what was the loving,
pastoral thing for him to say?
At verse 8 he says to them in effect, "Let's get one thing
straight. Food is not the issue here. The issue is what's in your
heart." Actually what he said in verse 8 was, "Food
doesn't bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no
better if we do." Our Lord Jesus said much the same thing in
Matthew 15:17 when he said, "Don't you see that whatever
enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But
the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these
make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These
are what make a man 'unclean.'" Neither eating meat offered
to idols nor abstaining from it makes any difference in our standing
with God.
"However," Paul says at verse 9, "those of
you who understand this truth carry an added responsibility. If you
exercise your freedom to eat meat offered to idols, you may cause a
weaker brother or sister to stumble." Then at verse 10 Paul
gives the example of a Christian who goes to a pagan temple to eat
meat offered to an idol because he sees nothing wrong with it.
Apparently this was common practice - a kind of First Century
equivalent of going out to dinner - with no social stigma attached and
no particular religious affiliation implied in the act.
So Paul says, in effect, "Suppose a brother who is less sure
of his faith sees you doing that, and is encouraged by your act to
follow suit. If he does, then to him, he would either be dabbling in
what he considers to be idol-worship, or perhaps assuming that one can
be a Christian and support idol-worship at the same time. In either
case you will have undermined his faith." Then Paul reminds
the "stronger brother" that Christ died for that
"weaker brother." So when you undermine the faith of the
weaker one, you not only wound his conscience, you sin against Christ.
Then he closes the topic on a personal note by saying, "As far
as I'm concerned, 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."
Paul was obviously trying to get the "stronger brother" to
see his "weaker brother" with his heart and not just with
his eyes - to do not what he knows is alright, but what is the loving
thing. Why? Because "knowledge puffs up, but love builds
up." Paul's primary focus here in this section is on the
pastoral issues involved. When we get to chapter 10 he'll deal in far
greater detail with the deep theological implications of idolatry. Now
allow me a couple of summary observations.
Paul offers here some profoundly practical pastoral advice. First,
let's admit that there are some things about which we are not going to
agree as Christians. So if we're going to live together in peace, we
need to accept those differences. And as long as they are not
fundamental to the faith, we can do that. It may not be easy, but if
we ask God to help us, his grace is invariably sufficient.
But second, when it comes to doing something which, by doing it would
threaten the spiritual integrity of another Christian (one with what
Paul calls a "weak conscience") Paul's godly counsel is that
we should refrain from doing it, even though we may know that there is
nothing inherently wrong in doing it. That, too, is not an easy
assignment. But then, our Lord never said following him would be easy.
However, he did promise that it will be good - and that's enough.
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