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Turn to your Bibles, please. The First Corinthians chapter
#10 First Corinthians chapter #10 this evening in the Word of
God I. Don't know if you noticed over
the past. Week or so that there was a new
story about the NFL coach from the New England Patriots, Mike
Vrabel, and a reporter for The New York Times slash The
Athletic named Diana Rusini. There were some photos that were
taken of the two of them. These are two married people, by
the way, married to other people, I guess I should say, to
be clear about that. And there were photos of them
holding hands. There were photos of them
hugging. There was photos of them alone
in a hot tub together. And these were put right on
front page of I believe it was the New York Post.
Now, Mike Vrabel said about these things.
He said these photos show a completely innocent interaction
and any suggestion otherwise is laughable.
This is what he said. Now, I'm not here to pile on
either Mike Vrabel or Diana Rusini, but I would say this,
that what is being portrayed in those photos isn't laughable at
all. That it's very natural for us to
be able to look at those photos and to see intimacy between two
people and to assume that because there is closeness,
there is also affection between 2:00 that are so close.
Now, I didn't ask my wife this question because, well, I don't
have to ask my wife this question if she would be
bothered if I held another woman's hand and hugged another
woman and just jumped in a hot tub with another woman.
You know what? Because I'm a normal person, I
don't have to ask my wife what she thinks about that, because I
know what she thinks about that. It would be crazy, to be honest
with you. I don't need to ask her to know
I shouldn't do it because I don't want to do it.
Because my affinity, my intimacy.
Is with my wife, my beautiful wife.
Diane, this is what I understand and this is what we know, that
there's an association that's there.
And because of that association, we assume that there's intimacy
because probably there is. Say, pastor, are you here to
preach on current events tonight?
And the answer is no, I am not. But I do believe there's a very
real application to what we see here tonight in First
Corinthians chapter #10 Paul's going to bring this message home
to the Corinthians in tonight's passage.
And that's. This Don't dine with the devil.
Don't sit down and have closeness with Satan and his
minions. That when you are close to him,
when you are in his proximity, it can only be assumed that you
have a closeness with him. That as believers, we ought not
to have. Don't cozy up with the devil.
Don't dine with the devil, however you want to say it
tonight, But the title of my message is this.
Choose your table wisely, and hopefully that'll make sense
here in just a moment. Choose your table wisely.
Now, we're going to try this evening to cover the rest of the
chapter, but we're just going to read the first few verses to
start, and we'll continue reading them as we go along.
So look at verse #14 First Corinthians. 10 where it says
this all right, I got 1 already, but thank you.
Oh, that's that's nice. Thank you.
I say super hydrated here. That's nice.
This one's cold and that's good. All right, I'll put that one
down there. All right.
Thank you, Kaylee. All right.
All right, First Corinthians 10/14 take 2 Here we go.
Wherefore, my beloved or my dearly beloved, free.
Let's try that again. Not free.
It's. What am I doing, Jay?
So wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry?
I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it
not the communion of the body of Christ?
Now we'll stop right there for a moment as we get into the
message this evening. Now last week we saw that Paul
was using examples from the Old Testament to show that the
issues of the Old Testament were still very relative to the
people of Corinth. Remember we saw that in the
first several verses. Remember, it says that you
should not lust. And then it said neither be
idolaters, neither commit fornication, neither, neither,
neither. And all Paul was doing was
taking issues that the Israelites dealt with in the Old
Testament, and he was making application to the people of
court that we saw last week. It's good to read the Bible.
It's good to read the Old Testament.
Why? Because the things we find in
the Bible, the things we find specifically in the Old
Testament, it's all as relevant today as it was back then.
Because the issues of the heart really haven't changed.
Change over human history. We're not as unique as we think
we are. That's what we saw last week.
And so Paul has been talking about don't do this, don't do
this, don't do this. These are things we ought not to
do. Israel didn't learn their
lesson. The people Corinth finally did.
Their learn their lesson, I believe when you read Second
Corinthians. And then we have to learn this
lesson as well. But now Paul is going to take
what he had spoken about in these previous verses, and he's
going to apply it to an issue that he's already spoken about.
If you go back to chapter #8 don't go back to chapter #8 but
if you were to go back, do you remember we talked about the
issue of me being offered to idols, about how that it was OK
to all eat meat offered to idols.
However, the issue really wasn't about whether you wanted the
meat. The real issue was about your
Christian brethren. That was what liberty is all
about. And that Christian liberty is
about. Well, I can, I can, I can.
It's about making sure you're looking out for one another.
And so Paul talked about that, but he's going to bring this
back to a discussion here for the remainder of the chapter
because really, there's some questions that still need to be
addressed by the people of Corn that maybe they're unsure about.
For instance, what happened when the meat that was offered to
idols? Ended up getting sold wholesale
and now they found it in a butcher shop.
Was the meat in the butcher shop offered to idols or not?
What do you do if you go to someone's house?
Do you know if the meat they are serving you came from the temple
or not? What's a person supposed to do?
Well, they still had questions about what to do in these
issues. And ironically enough, some of
the questions that they're asking are pretty relevant to
how we Live Today and some of the situations we find ourselves
in, as well as we'll make application in just a few
moments. But Paul's going to walk them
through this issue through the remainder of the chapter.
And there's three principles that are there that I think will
be a help to us this evening. And the first is this.
Number one, your table matters. You can write that on the back
of your prayer bulletin #1 Your table matters.
Now, we should probably take a second to dwell on verse #14
because honestly, we could probably just preach a message
just on verse #14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved?
And by the way, Paul's going to say some hard truths, but
there's no doubt that he loved the people of Corinth.
I have circled in my Bible. My dearly beloved, you can have
hard preaching and still be loved by the preacher.
And this is what we see here. He's going to tell him some hard
truth, but he still loves them. In fact, he loves them so much
that he's going to tell them the truth.
That doesn't mean the preacher has to be ugly about it, but yet
here it is that he's going to talk to them about these issues.
Therefore, wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
Now we saw previously Israel had a problem with idolatry, and we
know from reading First Corinthians Corinth had a
problem with idolatry. A huge temple of idolatry
dominated life in Corinth. And would you say we have a
problem with idolatry today? Idolatry is still an issue.
By the way, I was reading this this week and I thought I wish
the president would have read verse, verse #14 here.
I'll just leave that there. This isn't political, but
idolatry is idolatry. The Lord's not pleased with
idolatry. It's easy to see idolatry in
others, but it's not as easy to see it in our own lives.
Is it idolatry? Idolatry is real today.
First, John 521 says this little children, keep yourselves from
idols. Amen.
And that's a reminder for us here tonight as well.
You say, well, pastor, I would never bow down to an idol.
And who of us here would tonight?
None of us would. But yet idols are something or
is something, an idol is something that exalts itself or
that we exalt to a place it ought not to be.
You know, there are things that are obviously idols.
You see a a golden Buddha statue?
That's an idol. You see an icon of Mary?
That's an idol. That's not a popular statement
either today, but it is true. You'll tense on me right now,
all right? But that's OK.
He said. That's a, that's an idol, but
there are things that aren't necessarily idols that are made
into idols that we make them into because they're good and
they're right in them of themselves in the right way, but
yet can be made into idolatry. We'll talk more about that in
just a few moments. Christians must keep themselves
from idolatry today, Charles Spurgeon said.
Flee from idolatry means you do not reason with it, you don't
negotiate with it, you do not linger near it.
You run. When I think of that word flee,
I think of, of, of Joseph. When Potiphar's wife tried to
get a hold on him, what did he do?
He ran out. He didn't care if he had his
code or nothing. He was going to get away from
her. He was going to flee.
And that's what we are to do with idolatry.
Now over the next several verses, Paul uses a parallel to
show what idolatry is verse #16 the cup of blessing which we
bless. Is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ, the bread which we break?
Is it not the community of the body of Christ?
Now the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, Catholics and
many Protestants will teach that.
That verse there shows that it's actually the body and blood of
Christ that's received during communion.
I was taught that through the Catechism when I was a Lutheran.
But yet here that is not what Paul is communicating.
That's why Jesus kept saying this do and remembrance of me.
This do and remembrance of me. That's not what's being said
here. Paul is talking about something
that's deeper here, that when we are having the Lord's Supper,
it's not just that we are having the Lord's Supper and it's just
a remembrance of what Jesus did. And it is a remembrance, but we
are having intimate communion with the.
Lord, you know, I'm not trying to turn the the juice into the
bread and something that it's not, but I'm saying the Lord's
with us in the supper. That's why we call it communion.
We're communing together and look at verse 17 for we being
many or one bread. And one body, for we all
partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh.
Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers the altar?
And there he goes back to the Old Testament and says, isn't
that true of Israel, that when they were giving of the
sacrifice, they were partakers, and they would eat of some of
the sacrifices as well which they gave.
But then he says this. But I say that the things with
the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice the devils and not to
God. And I would not that you should
have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the
Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the
Lord's table and the table of devils.
Do you see the issue of the tables here?
He says this. You can take of the Lord's
table, you can have communion. I believe he's talking about of
the communion table, but then also of just the communion we
have of the Lord in general in our daily life.
But then he says this, that if you are offering things that are
to idols, if you are having things that are in fellowship
with idolatry, it's not just that you are having the
fellowship with that thing, you were having fellowship with the
thing behind the. Thing say, OK, pastor, I don't
know what you're talking about. Now, if someone was to bow down
to something that was made of wood and it's called a deity,
are they really worshipping that statue?
No, they're really worshipping what's behind the statue, the
false God. Who is really who?
Satan. Fellowship of Devils.
So what Paul is saying is this, when we partake in anything that
has the hint of idolatry, it's not just a little thing.
Just as much as we are a partaker of the Lord's table, we
could end up being partaker of Satan.
And that's what she says. I'm not teaching you're losing
your salvation. That's not in the Bible.
But the issue of fellowship is real, and you can be saved, and
not in sweet fellowship with the Lord, but rather having
fellowship with the one of whom you were saved from.
And Christians that ought not to be to be at the table with
Satan. He says you need to be careful,
you need to understand what the stakes are here when it comes to
the issue of idolatry. The people of of Corinth were
still dabbling with those things that they had come from.
They didn't think it was a big deal.
They thought it made them cosmopolitan.
They thought it made them open minded to live a little bit of
the old life, but also to live in the new life as well.
And really, Paul is saying this. Pick a table, because you have
to be at one or you have to be at the other, and which one you
are at is communicated to the people who are around you as
well. Your choice.
Matters who you fellowship with. Now I don't have time for us to
read a time you can write this down.
Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14.
Peter after he got saved. Boy, didn't he do so much better
than the Gospels? You're just rooting for Peter in
the book of Acts, and he does so well.
There's really just one incident where you have to kind of
scratch your head a little bit and think, Peter, what were you
thinking? And that was an issue.
Where Paul and Peter were dining together with Gentiles and Peter
was sitting with the Gentiles and was enjoying fellowship with
the Gentiles until. A group of Jewish believers came
in and. Peter all of a sudden said.
Look at the time, got up from the table, slowly scooted over
to the Jews table. And sat down with them you know
what happened? Confusion.
Why? Well, because Peter wasn't at
the table that he ought to have been at and he was sending a
message by what table he was at. We're.
Going somewhere with us, but the table you are sitting at sends a
message to the people around you.
And you have to be careful because what Peter did is just
by standing up and moving to another table ended up causing
other people to say, well, maybe Peter is right.
And now everybody's trying to switch tables and confusion
reigns. And Paul has to withstand Peter
to the. Face the elder in the faith.
The faith was withstood by the younger one in the faith because
Paul was and. He had to tell him you did wrong
by what you did and look at what you've caused here just by your
simple action of getting up from the table you were at and moving
to another table. What do we look at here tonight?
The issue of this is dabbling with idolatry may seem harmless,
but you're sitting at a table and having things in common with
people you have very little in common with.
And worst of all, there will be people who are watching.
There will be people who will be looking.
And because of that, we must make sure that we do right.
When it comes to the issue of where we sit, and again, I'm not
talking about physically being seated, although sometimes I
guess that could be the case, but I'm talking about where
we're seated in our heart. Are we having fellowship with
the Lord? Are we having fellowship with
idolatry? It just can't be one or it can't
be both. It has to be one or the other.
Second Corinthians 614 through 16 Be not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has
righteousness with unrighteousness?
What community had light with darkness, And what conquered
hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that
believeth with an infidel? And what agreement at the temple
of God with idols for you, the temple of living God?
As God has said, I will dwell in them.
And walk in them. I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Don't be yoked together.
When you're yoked together with that which is wrong, you know
what's going to happen. You're not going to pull wrong
in the right direction. You're going to get pulled in
the wrong direction. Don't yoke up with it.
They're polar opposites and God knows that your dining.
Choices of today will dictate your direction tomorrow.
Just a little bit of idolatry, elevating that above which it
should not be in your life. Could end up causing grave
consequences later. Again, you say, pastor, I don't
worship and I don't bow down to anything.
But I've said before, I believe the Scriptures make this clear,
that pretty much anything that you have to, well, I shouldn't
say pretty much anything that you have to consult with in your
life before you do the will of God is an idol.
Because if God says that we do it, well, God, I know you said
it, but stop right there. Whatever your next appeal is, is
an idol in your life. No, I'm talking to all of us
here tonight. Because we all have these idols
that need to be torn down. What I'm saying is those idols
don't come without consequence because you sit at that table.
Long enough with them it will dictate your direction.
And look at Corinth. They gave themselves up to that
which they got saved from, and they're a mess.
And they're a warning for us here tonight as well.
So what does it say your? Table matters.
First of all #1 your table matters.
But #2 your actions matter. Not just your table.
It matters where you are seated, if you will, but also your
actions matter. Verse #22 Do we provoke the Lord
to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
Verse 23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not
expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but
every man another's well. Verses #23 and 24 here really
set the tone. It says this, All things are
lawful for me. Here's a question for you now.
Are you ready? Are we free in Christ?
Some of you think it's a trick question.
It's not a trick question, I promise you.
Are we free in Christ? Amen.
Have we been free? We are free indeed.
That's what Jesus said. We are free in Jesus Christ.
But we've seen this before. Does that mean we are free to do
anything we want to do? The answer is no, no, no.
Now we have been set free to serve Christ, not to serve our
flesh. That's what we see.
And so Paul says all things are lawful for me, but not all
things are expedient. Just because it's lawful for me
doesn't mean it's a good thing. You know, I often hear people
say something like this. Well, you know, the Bible
doesn't say anything about it, so it's OK.
That's their standard in the Christian life.
And I understand that to a point.
Why, why they would think that The Bible doesn't say it's
wrong. So that means it has to be OK.
But that's the that's the wrong way.
I think that's the backwards way of thinking about it.
Really it should be something like this.
What's the benefit for me? And this question, what's the
benefit for others around me as well?
Isn't that what he says here? All things are lawful for me,
but all things edify not. Not everything's good for me
just because I can do it. Let no man seek his own, but
every man another's wealth meaning this.
Look out for the needs of others when you make this decision as
well. Everything through the rest of
the chapter is about that. That your actions should be able
to be blessed to be able to bless other people in your life
as well. It this would be like saying
something. Like, well, as long as it's not
illegal. It's good for me to do.
That that's the equivalent of saying, well, as long as the
Bible says doesn't say that you know it's wrong, then I can do
it. Well, there's a lot of things
that aren't illegal that you ought not to do.
You know I can fill. Up my house with Twinkies and Ho
Hos and snowballs and all those. Actually, it sounded pretty
good. Now I think about right, Marsha,
but organic. Of course it's legal.
I could eat candy morning, noon and night.
I could be like my son, eat candy in the bed.
Right, AJ? Yeah.
He likes that, doesn't he? I can fill myself with soda from
morning to noon tonight. Hey, there's no law against it.
Is that good for me? No, by the way, I've tried it.
I can tell you it's not. Good for you, all right.
That was most of my college experience right there.
It's not good for you. You can do it.
Nobody is going to stop you. What would we say in America?
It's a free country. But just because you're free to
do it don't mean you should do it.
And the. Christian life, we often look at
the actions that we take and say, well, as long as the Bible
doesn't say I can't do it, I'm going to do it.
Is that really the way to look at it?
Is this going to benefit me? The word the Bible uses Edify.
Is this going to help others engage in spiritual wealth?
Will they be built up in their life by watching me do this or
partaking it with me? Because if a younger believer
watches an elder believer do a certain activity, they're just
going to assume the Bible says it's OK because they trust you.
And you're communicating through your actions that which is right
and that which is not. So he says this, you're looking
at it the wrong way. Your actions matter.
And too many Christians fill their lives with the equivalent
of empty calories. Is it allowed?
Yes. Is it beneficial?
No. Now that brings to verse #25
look what it says. This whatsoever is sold in the
shambles that eat. Asking no question for your.
Conscious sake. Now you look at that word
shambles, you say Solon, the shambles.
I mean, what is that talking about?
Now to look that up here, just for my own edification, to make
sure I was looking at this clearly, but the word for
shambles, there is an old English word that literally
means the butcher shop. Now, that doesn't maybe make a
lot of sense to us, but what would we say if something's
falling apart? It's in shambles, right?
It's kind of how I feel right now.
You know, I just said that my my shirts in shambles, all right,
because I didn't iron it like I should.
And now I can't take my jacket off.
Something's in shambles. It's falling apart if a animal
has been taken apart. It's in shambles and the
shambles would be a butchery that would take apart an animal.
So that is a butcher shop. So that goes in line with the
discussion that was on chapter 8 about meat that was being sold
to idols. And so whatsoever is sold in the
shambles that eat, asking no question for conscious sake, for
the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
But or if any Verse 27, if any of them that believe not bid you
to a feast how you supposed to go whatsoever is set before you
eat, asking no question for conscious sake.
But if a man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto
idols. Eat not for his sake that showed
it for conscious sake for the earth is the Lord and the
fullness thereof. Now stop right.
There's a lot of things going on there for just a second.
But remember, we're talking about meat that's offered to
idols. But now Paul is taking it out of
the temple and this meat is now out in the open.
You're going to the butcher shop and Paul says this when you go
to the butcher shop, every time you go to the butcher, do you
have to say this? Do you have any meat offered
idols today? Because I don't want that.
Could you do that? Could you live like?
That probably not. They might not even know what
was offered to idols and not at that point.
It's probably all been mixed together.
How would they know? And it could be that everywhere
has some of that mixture there. And so because that he says you
don't need to ask every time you go to the butcher shop if the
meat has been offered to idols or not Why?
Because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
Now this is important, you'd say.
But that meat, it belonged to pagans.
Well sure, the meat did belong to pagans, but Paul's point is
who did it belong to before the pagans?
This verse came to mind. Psalm 50, verse 10 for every
beast of the forest. Is mine and the cattle upon a
thousand hills? By the way, it still all belongs
to him, even if the pagans think it belongs to them.
It all belongs to him. Everything belongs to him.
And so Paul says that don't don't worry about this.
Don't, don't, don't stress about this.
Don't don't fret about this in this instance, if you go to
someone's house and they're an unbeliever when you go.
Over to the house. Don't ask them.
Was the meat that we're offering tonight the meat eating tonight?
Was it offered idols if you're. Trying to win someone to Christ?
Do you think this is probably the opening salvo that you
should have in trying to explain them?
Jesus Christ? Probably not.
But what if they come to you and say, hey, we're having a dinner
tonight? Boy, I tell you, we got a great
deal. We got it at the market.
It was offered to idols, and it's so cheap, you're not going
to believe it. Well, at that point, it kind of
turns on its head, doesn't it? OK, here's what you need to
understand about this tonight. Because not about the meat, it's
about the message. It's important.
It's not about the meat, it's about the message.
At that point when they told you it's offered idols, you are now
complicit and you're telling them I have no problem with this
and you need to be very careful. You say, pastor, does this have
anything to do with us today? Man, got to give you an example
from my point of view. First, imagine every time
someone ties, I get a report from Ruth, which I do not get,
but I said give me a report and on that report, I didn't know
where everybody got all their money.
It is so quiet. You have no idea.
This is because you have no, you don't know where this is going.
I know. Could you imagine?
I do again, this is an illustration.
We would never do that. Could you imagine the chaos that
would cause to every week to try to figure out where everybody
got their money from? Now, what if someone came to me
and said this, pastor, I robbed a bank.
I want you to have the money. You know, I'm giving it to God.
Perhaps even to make their conscience feel better.
My answer would be no thanks, Not interested.
Why? Because the message of that
would be I'm OK with what you did.
See, that would never happen. Here's one, pastor, if I hit the
lottery, we'll give you the money.
Not now you won't. Why?
Because the message that communicates from me to you is
we need I'll gotten gain to be able to support the Lord's work.
And that's not the message that I want you to have.
I had people tell me that over and over again.
Now am I going to ask questions every time someone gives you
say, oh, I see what it's supposed to be pastor, I should
do it. I just need to tell you about
it. No, that's not the heart of this
message. The heart of it is it's not the
meat, it's the message. Now, where does this apply in
life? Oh, I don't know.
Stores that are out there, do you shop at them?
Do you not shop at them? Do you know if I didn't shop at
ever at any stores that didn't support LGBTQ Plus, Prep,
Planned Parenthood, all those things, I probably wouldn't
shop. What do we do before I go to
every store? Do I need to ask them, where do
you invest your money in? Where do you donate?
This is a principle you had to put in a practice for yourself.
Say, pastor, are you going to give me a list of things I need
to boycott tonight? Where in my ministry do you
think that that's what I'm going to do to you tonight?
I want to give you a principle that you have to put in place
yourself prayerfully, because this is what he's telling them
to do. You have to put this principle
in place. But I want to teach what this
principle is. So, you know, because this was
helpful to me, every store do you go into?
Well, before I know I need to make sure I check every donation
that they make, what political party they don't donate to,
plan, parent, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You can't live like that. It's not even possible.
And also you do want to go in places that are dark so that you
can be a witness. So there is an element of that.
But what if I have to go to a coffee shop?
Well, I never have to go to a coffee shop.
What if I go to a coffee shop and right out front there's a
big rainbow flag? At that point, am I sending a
message by going in that I'm OK with what they're doing?
I think you are. And so when I see that, do you
know what I do? I don't eat coffee that bad when
there are stores that are openly promoting a lifestyle that's an
abomination to God, as we saw Target do just a few years ago.
Was it good when they were in your face saying we're going to
promote an entire month for homosexuality?
We're going to have clothing that kids can portray themselves
differently than the way God created them in that moment?
Am I going to walk in that store and buy anything I am not?
Does that mean you shouldn't go forever?
That's between you and the Lord. But in that moment, while
they're sending a message, I'm sending a message.
If I go in and shop and browse around all those other things
while I'm looking at that, there's other companies,
entertainment companies. Oh, let's just go ahead for
Disney. I remember when the girls were
kids, you put them in front of Disney stuff.
You just knew that's what you're going to watch.
It was OK, it was good. I remember the first time I saw
something, and this is not Disney, but in Sesame Street,
LGBTQ propaganda aimed at my 5 and 6 year old.
We're done, Arthur. So what's Arthur?
Isn't it a cartoon? They're like little anteaters
and stuff. You know, that talk that's, you
know, it was, you know, just normal stuff for kids.
You know, it was all great until Arthur's teacher, male teacher
married his boyfriend aimed at five and six years old.
We're done. Now, has Disney done some things
that have been pretty awful? They absolutely have.
And there are certain things. It's just like, I don't want any
part of that. But Disney owns about 18,000
companies. And does that mean you cannot
purchase from any Disney company at any time?
That's between you and the Lord. But I will tell you this, I
don't want to do anything that would cause a message to other
people that I support unrighteousness.
So it's really not about the meat, it's about the message.
So, Pastor, I see this is what I got from the message tonight.
Boycott Target. Boycott Disney.
I've shopped at Target since I live in walking distance to
Target. I hate it.
It's way too convenient. I can walk there and I say, and
if I walk there and walk back, I burn off the calories from the
ice cream. No, I won't, unless I walk for
two hours the way I eat ice cream.
All right, I understand. Disney and I I have memories of
that. I lived in Florida.
We would go on field trips to Disney World.
There's nothing, you know, going to Epcot.
That's scientific, right? Not really, but that's what we
did. I'm not telling you what to
boycott tonight. I don't think it's my place from
the pulpit to tell you as a church what you need to boycott.
I will say this. If something is sinful, don't do
it. That's the Bible.
But if there's something that's kind of associated with that,
you have to ask yourself this question.
What's the message of me participating in something
that's in its general sphere? And you pray on that, and you
ask yourself this, How does this edify me?
How does this edify other believers around me?
That's what you have to ask yourself.
You'll never hear me from the pulpit.
Get up and say don't ever do this.
Don't ever do this unless it says it in the Word of God.
If it says in the word of God, you'll hear me say a lot.
Don't do it because we're Baptists, we say don't a lot.
Neither. Neither.
It's one of our favorite words. All all joking aside, that's not
true, but the idea is we do say thou shalt not quite a bit
because the word of God says thou shalt not quite a bit and
we don't apologize for that for the same time and issues of
conscience like this. It's not about, well, what?
What do I want to do you already?
It's not about you in the sense that what do I get to do?
Will it build me up? Will it build other people up?
In the midst of the brouhaha at Target, there's a lot of unsaved
people I'm trying to witness to here in Easton.
What if they see me walk in there?
What did that communicate to them that was on their side?
You say, would somebody think that?
I don't know, but it wasn't worth it.
Not for something I could buy somewhere else.
It wasn't what? What if I have to duck under an
LGBTQ flag to get into a coffee shop because it's so proudly
hung there and someone sees me walk in?
What message that send, I don't know, but it's not worth a cup
of coffee I was going to buy because it's about other people.
It's about other people and making sure we're doing right.
Your your actions matter and I want to communicate that I'm
sitting at the right table. I I don't want pictures of me
cozying up in a hot tub with sin.
You know, I'm saying to show intimacy with sin.
I don't want that because I don't want to be questions.
So what do we do? Your your actions matter.
How do we handle those things prayerfully and with thoughts of
others? If the Bible says don't do it,
don't do it. If the Bible doesn't say don't
do it, that don't mean you should do it.
You should pray about it. Be convinced in your own mind as
to what God would have you to do, but err on the side of being
an encouragement to other people.
Why do we say that? Well, because #3 your motive
matters. Your motive matters.
Look at verse #28 Paul is anticipating some push back from
the people of Corinth here. Kind of like maybe some of you
were thinking right now. So he say, I don't know that
everybody's going to be in line with this.
And so he says, But if any man say unto you, this is offered in
in sacrifice unto idol, Oh no, I'm sorry.
Verse #29 conscience. I say, not thine own, but of the
other. Now here's the what I would call
the parentheses here. For why is my liberty judged of
another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker,
why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks?
It's almost like Paul is saying, if I it's OK that I do it, then
why should someone have the right to be upset at me if I was
OK to do it in the first place? And you can kind of squint and
see where they're coming from. Paul.
Paul, I hear what you're saying, but we're not doing anything
wrong. We have liberty.
So how do they have the right to get upset at us when we're not
even doing anything wrong in the 1st place?
How do they have a right to claim it's a stumbling block
when they're not doing anything wrong?
And that's when he gets to verse #31 Whether therefore you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Your motive is this. Not that I be praised, but
whatever I do, God be praised. That's the motive.
It's one of my favorite verses. I was a Christian School teacher
for seven years. At the top of.
Every year, the syllabus for my class, I would always put this
verse. Whether therefore you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.
And I'll be honest with you, for a long time I had my thinking
backwards about this. I'll remind you, we are every
word Baptist. We believe every word in the
Bible and every word matters, doesn't it?
It doesn't say do all for the glory of God.
I think sometimes that's how we think it is.
Do all for the glory of God. Lord, I'm doing it for you.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
You should be doing your doing what you do in life for the
Lord. You really should.
But that's not what it says. It says do all to the glory of
God, meaning this everything I do.
I am directing it. Towards God.
Everything I do, I'm directing it towards God so that I can
direct. Other people towards God, and
that's the motive and that's why I'm willing to give up certain
things that I don't have to give up.
Because everything that I do, I want to direct it to God so that
I can direct other people. To God once you see what that
verse really says. And not just fill in the blanks
of what we think it says, it actually makes it more powerful.
Imagine that man's words are as powerful as God's words.
Whether therefore you eat or drink, whatsoever, do to all to
the glory of God, give none offense.
Neither do the Jews, nor the Gentiles, nor the Church of God.
So. So what is he saying here?
Don't do something that would cause someone in the church to
stumble. Don't do something to cause the
unsaved to stumble. You mentioned this a few weeks
ago. Why don't I go into a paki and
pick up a soda or a bag of ice? Because I don't need that bag of
ice or soda so badly that will it take a chance that someone
could think that I, as a not just a pastor, but as a
Christian, doing something not to do?
I'll be honest with you. I think the Bible's pretty clear
about what it says about alcohol.
But even if you don't think that's the case, this alone is a
compelling argument to stay away from the stuff right here.
Because I don't want to cause someone to stumble.
It's not worth it for a drink or two.
Well, I'm not going to get drunk.
I would argue that could be the case in your life.
I know many people that that's the case.
But it's really not about that. It's about I don't want to put
anything in someone's way where they say.
What? I thought you were a Christian.
I didn't want them to question that.
I want to know what table I'm sitting at and I want to do
everything that I can to make sure the glory goes to God so
that I can help them come to know God.
Verse 33, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking
my own prophet, but the prophet of many that they be saved.
And again, that goes down to motive.
We're almost done here. It goes down to motive.
I don't want my own prophet. It's not about me.
I want to help somebody else because in heaven, at the
judgment seat of Christ, we won't care a nickel about a lot
of the things we care so much about down here.
But we will care about those people that we influence for
Christ, boy, that'll be huge. That'll be everything.
So he says, make sure you value the right things.
Make sure that you're looking for other people's profit and
not your own. Let me let me go back to
Galatians 2 for just a moment. Remember the the table that
Peter sat at mattered because other people were LED astray
because he sat at the wrong table.
That's why we have to be careful.
But do you know one of the people who was LED astray by
that whole situation was none other than Barnabas.
And Barnabas was a good man. Barnabas, you don't really see a
crossword about him in the word of God.
I mean, he and Paul kind of got at loggerheads at one point.
They both had some pride in their life and the Lord used
him. One went one way, one went the
other, and the gospel spread. But I mean, Barnabas, his name
literally meant the son of consolation, that he was one who
encouraged people. And Peter, when he moved over,
even caused a strong man like Barnabas to waver.
That's what I'm saying tonight. This isn't just about trying to
placate weak people, but strong people have weak moments.
Strong people have weak moments. I never have a weak moment.
Then you don't know yourself and someone needs to help you
understand yourself. Because we all have situations.
Our flesh is weak, the Spirit's willing flesh is weak, and that
even within a body of mature believers, if we're not careful
that we could in some action that was not thought out
properly or prayerfully, we could end up communicating to
someone else that something is OK.
That's not OK. And So what do we do?
We've got to be so careful. One person can make a
difference. One person can cause a whole
group of people to think something is OK.
That's not OK in the eyes of God.
But I'd also encourage you, one person who stands can do great
help as well. Here's the Philistines 40 days,
Goliath. Send me out a man.
And the people of Israel, the people of God, are all hiding in
their tents, including their king.
Here comes David, a teenager's, a little boy, not little, but
young enough, so not young enough to be in the battle.
He comes out, he looks around, he says, is there not a 'cause
he goes out with the help of God.
The giant's dead. David comes up, hacks his head
off. You want to talk about one of
the things I'd love to see in instant replay in heaven?
There's one of it right there. Hacks his head off and he's
standing there holding the sword above his head, probably 2 hands
all things considered. And all of a sudden Israel
charges through the valley and now the Philistines are on the
run. You know, they could have done
that 40 days ago. God would have helped him, but
took one man who was willing to stand up in the face of those
who wouldn't, and it changed the course of the people of Israel.
Yeah, one man can do great damage, but one man doing right
can be of great help. One who says I'm not going to
get involved in idolatry. I'm not going to think of
myself. I'm not going to play as close
to the edge as I possibly can without going over like it's the
price is right. You know what I'm going to do?
I'm just going to stick to this book.
I'm going to stick to what the Lord has for me.
I'm going to find things that are beneficial for me in my life
and beneficial for the people of others so I can communicate to
everyone that God gets glory in everything in my life.
So I can give the glory to God to bring other people to God.
Now, there's a lot of answers you'll have to work out for
yourself tonight. These are things that you
prayerfully will have to consider.
I'm going to give you the answers.
That's the easy way out. But I will tell you as your
Christian liberty allows you pray on it.
Think about others in your unique situations.
If God says don't do it, listen, don't do it.
There's nothing to pray about. You'll never hear pastor, they
don't pray. But I will say it about this.
If the law says do it, don't do it.
Don't pray about it, just don't do it.
Then you pray, ask God to give you strength to not do it.
But Lord, is it still not right? It's not going to be right
forever. You don't have to pray and ask
the Lord if it's if it's still the same in his word.
But there's some things that, well, how do we apply that in my
situation with the people around me, that I have influence on the
people I'm trying to win to Christ, that unique situation.
You have to ask yourself this question.
The principle is always the same.
How does it affect me? How does it affect others?
And can God receive glory? And can I bring other people to
Christ by making sure I do the right thing?
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.