Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
When you turn to Bibles of First Corinthians chapter #8 as you
remember, we've been in our series living for God in an
ungodly world, and we've been starting to go into a little bit
more of a speedier pace as we picked up into Chapter 7,
chapter 8. We will continue this way to
chapter 910, eleven, and then finally slow down in chapter 12
and chapter 13 and onward from there.
And the reason why is because as we look at these chapters, each
of them deal with one specific issue, 1 specific thought.
And I could say that's about other chapters as well.
Chapter 5 particularly comes to mind with Church discipline.
But I do feel like these chapters really lend themselves
well to us being able to take them all together, particularly
this evening's chapter as we consider this issue that
remember at the beginning of Chapter 7, Paul says, you've
written to me about some issues. Now I'm going to address these
issues with you now. And we're going to look at
another one of those issues this evening.
And it really comes down to the possibility of the abuse of the
Christian liberty that the people of Corinth had for one
another. And the title, the message this
evening is this. You can, but should you?
There's a lot of things in life
that you can do, but the question is just because you can
do it, you know, should you do it like that third cup of coffee
that you had today? You know you can do it, but
really, should you do it? This is why I switched to decaf
not that long ago because it was a bad move to drink as much
caffeine as I have, although I take this sip and again, this is
decaf, so it's all good. You know, you can carry all the
groceries in one go, you know, with by the handles.
But is it a good idea, especially when you drop the
eggs or who knows what milk, eggs and bread and such as you
could say, and keep opening the door, the oven, you know, just
to see if everything's baking inside.
But is that a good idea? Who knows?
Probably not. You stay up till 2:00 AM
watching TV, watching a West Coast Red Sox game because they
started late in Anaheim or in Seattle, working late on a
project, but just because he can.
Is it a good idea? Life is filled with these kinds
of decisions where I can do it, but ought I to do it?
And I'll be honest with you, a lot of them, the consequences of
them are very short lived and they're very minor.
You know, you stay up late one night, you'll be a little groggy
the next day. You drink up too much caffeine.
You know, one day you stay up too late that night and you'll
be a little groggy the next day. However, there's some very
serious issues that come along with this idea, and this is what
we're going to look at this evening.
Tonight we're going to see the Church of Jerusalem had a
similar issue with something they had Christian liberty to
do, but the issue itself was tearing the church apart.
And through the conversation in chapter #8 Paul makes clear
this, that love matters more than liberty.
And if you want to remember something from this message this
evening, it would be this. And we'll explain what it means
in just a moment that love matters more than liberty.
So let's read chapter #8 OK, we're going to start verse one.
We'll go all the way through. And it says this now as touching
things offered to idols. We know that we all have
knowledge. Knowledge puffed up, puffeth up,
but charity edifieth. If any man think that he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
But if a man love God, the same is known of Him.
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are
offered in sacrifice unto idols. We know that an idol is nothing
in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven
or earth, as there be gods many and Lords many.
Now don't be afraid of that. We'll look at that again in just
a moment. But to us there is one God, and
the Father of whom are all things, and we in Him, and 1
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.
Howbeit there's not in every man that knowledge.
For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a
thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak, is
defiled. But meat commendeth us not to
God. For neither if we eat, are we
the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse.
But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a
stumbling block to them that are weak.
For if any man see thee which hath knowledge sit at meat in
the idols temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak
be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to
idols? And though thy knowledge shall
be weak, pardon me. And though thy knowledge shall
the one more time all right. And through thy knowledge shall
the weak brother perish, for whom Christ die.
But when he sins so against the brethren, and wound their weak
conscience, he sin against Christ.
Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no
flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to
offend. Now, before we get too far into
our message this evening, it's important for us to review once
again the concept of Christian liberty that we looked at just a
few weeks ago. Back in chapter 6.
We asked ourselves this question in regards to Christian liberty.
If we're free, are we then therefore free to sin?
And we saw in that message that freedom in Christ does not mean
that we have freedom from living for Christ.
So that freedom in Christ does not mean that we have freedom
from living for Christ. In fact, our Christian liberty
actually makes us more free to be able to live to serve Christ
out of love, and now out of obligation.
Our love for God helps us to understand that liberty is not a
blank check to be able to do whatever we want.
And that's really what this chapter builds upon.
Christian liberty when it comes to what we saw in chapter #6 we
need to be thinking about God when we are making the decisions
that we are in regards to Christian liberty.
Now here in chapter 8, it's not just that we need to think about
God, but now that we need to think about man in regard to our
decisions as to what Christian liberty is all about.
So what is the issue that they are arguing about?
You saw it mentioned here in our text, this issue of eating meat
that is offered unto idols. And we'll explain more about
that what means in just a moment and why they would have been
controversial and why some people would have thought it's
not a big deal and why other people would have thought that
it was a huge deal. But before we get to that, I
want to give us some background that really Paul gives us in
this chapter. So if you're if you're following
along your prayer bulletin, which you are not, but if you
were to have a prayer bulletin and you were writing down inside
your prayer bulletin, the first blank would be #1 the concern #1
the concern. What was the concern that Paul
had for the Corinthians in this matter?
You see, before he addresses the specifics of the controversy, he
makes a statement that seems like on his face it would have
nothing to do with the controversy whatsoever.
He says knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies.
You see that verse number one right there at the end.
Knowledge puff it up, but charity edify it.
Now this may sound strange. It may sound like Paul is saying
that knowledge is no good, but we understand by knowing the
whole counsel of God that knowledge is very important.
But knowledge is not the end all or the be all.
And So what Paul is saying is that knowledge is good, but
there is another element to knowledge that you need to know,
and that is charity, of course, the purest form of love.
First Corinthians 13 we're going to get there where we find that
charity is not just love, but is the highest regard of love, the
type of love that gives, expecting nothing in return.
And so here he says knowledge puffeth up, but charity
edifieth. Now here's how I've explained it
before and I'll explain it again this evening in regards to
knowledge. Knowledge is like having a pile
of bricks. If you're going to build
something, having a pile of bricks is a good thing.
And if you're building something with bricks, can't build it
without, well, the bricks, right?
That just makes sense. If you were a bricklayer, if
you're building some of the bricks, you have to have bricks.
And knowledge is like a stack of bricks in building something,
you need to have the right kind of bricks.
I have heard that there are different kind of bricks that
may not be as suitable for the tasks that are needed.
They could be too crumbly, they could be too porous, they could
be the incorrect or inconsistent sizing.
These are issues that make sure that you have the right kind of
bricks. And so when it comes to
knowledge, it's it's the same way that we need to make sure
that we have the right kind of knowledge because there's
knowledge that is foolish. There is knowledge that is truly
not knowledge. And so it is important that we
learn knowledge. We're not condemning knowledge
here. Paul certainly as one who was so
learned as he is, was not condemning knowledge in any way,
shape or form, but he's trying to make people understand that
you need to know what knowledge is for.
And knowledge needs to kind of stay in its lane, if you will.
Just because a bricklayer has bricks doesn't mean he can build
in whatever way he wants. You know, he could do a lot of
things with the bricks that were incorrect.
He could make a lot of mistakes. He could just collect bricks and
never do anything with them. He can just find all these
beautiful bricks and never actually do anything with them.
He could say with pride, look at all the bricks that I have and
maybe feel arrogant about the fact that he's collected more
bricks than any other Mason. You could start to build and
never have a plan. Just brick here, brick there,
and hey, we'll see what happens. You can use the bricks to build
something, but then follow the wrong kind of plan that's
suitable for that which you were trying to build.
You can build properly, but yet you can build lazily and not
with that haste that is necessary, particularly when
you're considering the mortar that holds them together.
If you don't lay the bricks in the right timing, then you could
end up not having them cohesively together and they
could cause problems later on. So having the bricks is good,
but what you do with the bricks is vitally important.
Here's what I'm talking about when it comes to the issue of
knowledge. Having knowledge is good.
You need to have the right kind of knowledge.
But just because you have the knowledge doesn't mean you have
achieved the end goal. It doesn't mean you've gotten to
the end result. All it means is, well, you have
some knowledge, you have some bricks.
And here's the question. What are you going to do with
those bricks or what are you going to do with that knowledge?
And that's why he says this. That knowledge puffeth up.
But charity edifieth. Now what is that word charity?
Well, we just talked about what the word charity means.
But that word edifieth, what does that mean?
It it literally means something that is helpful or something
that will build. And so here we see the the
connection of the illustration to what we see here in the Word
of God. If knowledge is the bricks, but
then the bricklayer has to make sure that he is building in a
way that, well, builds properly. If we have knowledge, then we
may have to make sure that we edify or build upon that
knowledge in the right way. And how do we do that?
We must use knowledge with love. We must use knowledge with
biblical charity. And this is how Paul opens First
Corinthians 13, 13 when he says, though I speak with the tongues
of men and angels and have not charity, I'm become as a
sounding brass or tinkling cymbal.
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 and have not charity, I am nothing.
He says this, it's good to have the knowledge.
It's right to have the knowledge.
But that's not the end all be all.
It's just the beginning. Like a Mason can't collect
bricks and say I'm done. It's like, dude, you just
started, what are you going to do with it?
OK, You have knowledge, you're going to do with it, You're
going to employ it. You were going to use it in a
fashion that builds people up, which means that you need to use
it with charity. And so Paul's laying a
foundation right now in this whole argument about whether we
should eat meat offered to idols or not.
This argument that's taking place in the Corinthian church,
it's so hot that they are now writing to Paul and saying, help
us settle this issue, whether we should be acting this way or not
with the meat or without the meat, with the idols or without
the idols. And Paul says time out.
Before I tell you what I think you need to do with this, you
need to understand that the knowledge that you have is good.
However, the charity that you have, one to another, should
supersede that knowledge and should really coincide with the
knowledge so that make it you can make sure that you are
making the proper decisions because these decisions aren't
being made in a vacuum. And Paul reiterates that in
verses #2 and 3 when he says, if any man think that he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
Basically Paul saying a know it all doesn't know anything.
He says though, listen to what I'm trying to explain to you.
Listen to what I'm trying to teach you.
Because if you're just going by this is what I know, this is
what I believe, and that's it. And you're not keeping in mind
the other people around you, then you're going to abuse your
Christian liberty. And the verse #3 says, but if
any man love God, the same is known of him.
And we could look at it this way, that true spiritual
maturity isn't about how much you know, but by how much you
love and how much you are loved by God.
And again, we know that God loves us all, that God loved us
when we were unlovable, that he loves us.
We love Him because he first loved us first.
John, we just mentioned, I just mentioned that last week, But
rather, we also understand that we are known of him, that our
love that comes from him to us, that there's an intimacy that
comes when we have a loving relationship with him.
And so Paul's reiterating that here to the people of Corinth,
You know, you know what you know and what you know is good, but
you have to make sure that you have charity with each other as
well. And so that first part is the
concern that Paul's laying out. He's giving the groundwork for
the problem at hand here, and this is important for us to see.
But then he lays out number two, not just a concern, but the
controversy. So what's the actual controversy
that takes place? I know we saw it here, mentioned
it briefly, but what exactly is taking place?
And verse #4 opens up with that when it says as concerning,
therefore, the eating of those things that are offered and
sacrifice unto idols. We know that an idol is nothing
in the world and that there is none other God but one.
OK, so it says right, right there that there is this issue
that people in the church are eating meat offered to idols.
Now, that's enough for us to be able to have some understanding
what's taking place, but history actually also gives us a fuller
understanding of what Paul is talking about here.
The meat that was being spoken of was offered on Pagan altars
and it was usually divided in three portions when it was taken
to the altar of Zeus or would have been taken to the altar of
Aphrodite, particularly there in Corinth, that they had this meat
that had been sacrificed and now they had loads and loads of meat
that was leftover and typically one portion was burned and honor
the God. Another portion was given to the
worshipper to take home and to eat, and a third final portion
was given to the priest. Now the priest didn't always
want that portion or the priest sometime may have had more of an
abundance that was necessary. So what they would do is they
would take that and they would sell that meat at what would be
a temple restaurant or a temple market or something of that
nature. So what you have is the people
at Corinth are having questions about whether members are going
to the temple, an area adjacent to the temple, maybe even inside
the temple, and they are going to eat this meat.
And the meat was at a bargain because it was received for
free. And so, you know, people in back
then like a good deal. And So what is going to happen
is that the Christians of the Church of Corinth, some of them
were saying, listen, my meat market is the temple.
Why is that? Well, I don't like the what goes
on to the temple, but they have the best prices and I want to
make the most of the money that I have.
Nobody has been prices than temple meat market.
Nobody cooks it better than the temple meat market.
So I will go over there and eat. And so you can see that there's
this argument that's fomenting here for that's not the word I
was looking for fermenting. There's, there's an argument
here and that's, there's an argument that's taking place
amongst the people. It's hard.
I don't have any feedback because it's just me.
And so some of you just saying, Pastor, what are you talking
about? I can't tell what you're saying.
But anyway, if I could just stare at myself on the computer
screen and I, I don't, I'm not giving myself approval right
now. But anyway, even there's a Greek
order and philosopher who talked about this.
His name was Christostum and he said in the markets of Corinth
and other cities, people do not think it's strange to buy meat
from the sacrifices, for this is lawful and customary among men.
So this raised many ethical and theological questions amongst
the people that were there in the Church of Corinth.
And so they had some real issues with this questions like what if
we're served meat purchased at the temple market when we're
guests at someone's home? Can a Christian eat at the
restaurant at the Pagan temple? Is it proper to be able to eat
meat at all that has been blessed by a Pagan priest or
that was offered to a Pagan God? And so there are two sides to
the argument here. And maybe already you're
thinking about, well, I know what I would do if this was me.
And I want you to put that on pause for just a second because
I want you to consider the arguments and then consider what
Paul's going to say in response to him.
But they're basically 2 arguments.
There's one group that says, listen, who cares?
The gods aren't real. We know they're not real.
We know that God is real. He's the only one that's real.
I'm trying to save my money. I'm trying to be a good steward.
If I go there and I buy it for cheap, then what's the
difference? And that's really the argument
that comes up in verse #5 and six for though there be that are
called gods, whether in heaven and earth, as there be gods many
and Lords many. And again, I told you, don't
worry about that. Let's talking about the human
gods and human Lords. In fact, you go to Psalm 82,
verse 6 through 8. It talks about those leaders
that have a judgment that is laid upon them.
But it's not talking about the fact that there are other true
gods, because it says in verse #6 But to us there is but one
God. Of course, that was reiterated
the end of verse #4 as well. But there is to us but one God,
the Father of whom are all things, and we and him and 1
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
So there's this first group who says, if I know that God isn't
real, well, who cares if I go or not?
I can handle it. I'm not going to go into the
temple and worship in the way that they worship.
And I know that God's not real. And if anybody saw me walk into
that temple meat market and thought that I was actually
going to worship that idol will shame on them for thinking that
because they should know my Christian testimony as such as
that. I don't believe those things.
And so that one group is very passionate about that.
But you had the second group that, well, they didn't quite
understand why, if you're saved by the blood of Jesus Christ,
then why on earth would you go back to the temple of which you
probably were worshipping at before, and now you're going
back? But it's like, hey, I don't
believe that anymore, but I like the meat.
And listen, I like BBQ as much as anybody.
But the question is, does that mean I should be going into a
Pagan temple to get it? And that comes up in verse #7
where it says, howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge.
For some with conscience of the idol, under this hour Eden is
the thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak,
is defiled now. The first group could dismiss
the second group and say, well, listen, get it together.
You know, you're a believer now. You know that this isn't a
thing, so what's the big deal? But the second group could say,
what's the matter with you? Don't you know we used to
worship there? Don't you know the things that
took place there? Don't you know that that meat
was offered to the idols? Why would you have a part of
that? And there were some that perhaps
were Jews that in their soul they were uncomfortable with
this Pagan worship. They were uncomfortable with it
in his very core, even before they were saved and said, no, I
don't want to go in there. But then again, there were some
of the Gentiles who went in there freely before they got
saved. And and now they're saying, why
would I want to go back there? And they kind of look at the
thing with the first group and say, how could you be so casual
about this? How could you not?
How, how could you just go in there knowing what takes place
and, and knowing that this meat was offered to idols?
Why on earth would you do that? And it says that there's a, a
weakness in their spirit in that second group in verse #7 when it
says and their conscience being weak, is defiled.
Now, again, that's not talking about the fact that they're weak
and self-discipline in the sense that they Paul's not suggesting
that they think that if they go back to the temple, all of a
sudden they're going to start worshipping at the temple again.
Was talking about that in their conscience.
They say, I, I can't handle that.
I can't do that. I, I, I can't square that
circle, if you will, that I would go back to the place to
buy meat where I used to worship a Pagan God.
And so it seems like they're loggerheads.
It seems like there's two groups that have two very entrenched
positions and never the twain shall meet.
And so we have this concern that Paul has he he lays the
groundwork that knowledge puffeth up.
But charity edifieth knowledge is like the bubble and charities
like the builder, right knowledge, you know puffeth up,
you know, you know the bubble and then you have the builder.
That's what charity is. And so we start with this
foundation of charity and then he goes into the the controversy
itself. And again, their knowledge is
getting in the way. A little bit of really thinking
about this group says, I know that God is not real, that
little G God that is being worshipped.
I know he's not real. My knowledge is right and true
about that and that other group, but their knowledge is different
and they're saying, I came from that before.
And I don't understand why anybody would want to go back
there, even if it's not to worship, even if it's just to
get this cheap meat. And so that really brings us to
the third part, which is the conclusion.
And unfortunately for you, that's the longest part of my
message. And so we have the concern and
the controversy, but we also have the conclusion because what
does Paul say about this? And interestingly enough, this
conundrum doesn't probably have the satisfying answer that
you're looking for because perhaps maybe just going back in
your mind from when we read the text a few moments ago, you're
saying which camp did he go into, camp number one or camp
number 2? Was he?
And it's not a big deal to go in there or you ought not to go
back in there at all. And the answer is yes, you say,
pastor, it's not a yes or no question.
And the answer is exactly, it is not a yes or no question.
And if you're looking for a yes or no answer, then you're going
to be very unsatisfied by what you're going to find in the next
verses. But really the issue all comes
down to this love. Now, I'm not talking about that
weak, wishy washy, mealy mouthed, liberal Christianity
type of love. That means love everything that
God hates. That's not what I'm talking
about. What I'm talking about is love
for the brethren, love for one another.
This is what is to govern, what we ought to do.
Love matters more than liberty. That was true in chapter 6, that
our love for God matters more than our liberty.
And here in chapter 8 our love for each other matters more than
liberty. And this shouldn't surprise us
because we go back to the Gospels and Jesus says this.
He says the 1st and greatest commandment is this.
Love the Lord thy God of all that heart and all thy soul, and
all that mind. And the second greatest
commandment is life unto it. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Upon this hangs all the law and the prophets.
And Jesus said this because he basically said if you love God
the way you want and you love man as you want, then really you
can fulfill all of the law and the prophets in that.
Because, well, even the 10 commandments, the first four
deal with this love God. The last six deal with this love
man. And if you call those or if you
follow those the way you want, you follow all the 10
commandments. And the issue here is the same.
Christian liberty should be tempered by our love for God.
Christian liberty should be tempered by our love for each
other. See, a lot of times when we come
these issues, and this is where we're going to kind of get down
to brass tacks because here for us, you're saying, pastor, this
is not an issue for us today and it's not an issue for us today.
But the issue that underlies the issue is as relevant today as it
was 2000 years ago when this was pinned.
When we get to these issues, you know, what should I do?
Should I eat the meat offered idols?
Should I not eat the meat offered idols?
Everybody was concerned with what I need to do.
Now catch this. Everyone's concerned.
What can I do? What am I allowed to do?
Me, me, me, me, me. And so Paul says this.
The answer really comes down to not you.
The answer has to come down to your brother.
It's really not about what's best for me, what is about
what's best for thee. And that's what Paul gets down
to, to the place that if you did something that you knew would
cause your brother to stumble and fall into sin just so you
can exercise your Christian liberty, then you are the one
that is in sin. This is what Paul says for us,
and this is what Paul means in Galatians 513.
I know we read this verse back a few weeks ago in relation to
Christian liberty and 1st Corinthians chapter 6, but he
said this in Galatians 513 For brethren, he had been called to
liberty only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by
love that what do we just see? Charity edifieth by love serve
one another. And so we see here think about
the other person. And so Galatians 513 just fits
so well into this chapter. But by love serve one another
that our liberty is not to be abused.
And that is true even with our Christian brethren, or I should
maybe even say, especially with our Christian brethren.
So what should a Christian do when meat is offered to idols?
Well, again, the problem with answering this so cleanly is it
doesn't. It's an answer that can't be
answered in a vacuum because you're talking to people who are
intertwined in a church. You're talking to brothers and
sisters in Christ who are observing one another in the
temple, outside the temple. And so the answer cannot just be
as clean as this is what I want to do because you were part of a
body. And we learned from First
Corinthians 12, and it's why the book just goes so well together.
God's harmony of this word is that First Corinthians 12, we
are a body and that we are intertwined.
And what you do affects me, what I do effects you.
And so it's not just about what I want, cheap meat.
It has to be more other than that.
It's not just about that God isn't real.
It has to be more than that because what you do effects me,
and what I do ought to affect you.
So now go down to verse #8 let's read through the rest of the
chapter and see the conclusion of this matter.
It says, But me commendeth us not to God.
For neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not or
we the worst. So Paul says, stop right here
before you get so bent out of shape.
It's just made, you know, there's so many hills that we
want to die on. And if we just took a breath and
backed up for a second about backed up in the ice maker.
But if we we just took a breath, we realized this isn't as
important as I'm making out to be.
He says you eat meat, you don't eat meat.
Really in the eyes of God, this doesn't matter.
Again, there's nothing wrong with eating meat in general.
We know that Peter struggled with this.
And then the vision came down three different times.
Peter was told rise and kill and eat.
So there's no condemnation that comes with that.
But whether you eat it or not your whole life, this is not the
real issue of life. And so he starts by saying,
listen, calm down for a second. Take a breath, survey the
landscape of this argument before you plant your flag on
one side or the other. And that's why he used the
phrase take heed in verse #9 but take heed by any means.
This liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to them that are
weak. So you have the liberty to go to
the temple, but make sure that you don't cause someone to
stumble. Make sure that someone who is
weaker. Remember weaker in their
knowledge. We're going to see weaker in
their conscience, the idea that either they're younger in the
faith or because they've had some experiences in their past,
or because of a sin that does so easily beset them.
Be careful that you don't allow your Christian liberty to cause
someone else to stumble. For if any man see thee which
hath knowledge sit at the meat in the idols temple, shall not
the conscience of him that is weak be emboldened to eat those
things that are offered to idols?
What you do matters to other people.
As soon as somebody sees you do something, they see that as
approval. And so Paul says, think about
this. Imagine you were sitting at the
window, if we could just put it that way, of the temple meat
market. You're enjoying a rack of ribs
right there. You got sauce all over your
face. You got sauce all over your
hands. Saint Louis style BBQ.
OK, I'm going way too far here, but you understand.
You're just loving life and you got barbecue on your face.
You got barbecue on your hands. You got those wet naps and
you've got them everywhere. And you look out the window and
right there is a man from church and he's staring at you.
This brother just got saved. This brother perhaps used to be
in service in the temple. Now he sees you sit in the
temple eating the ribs, having the time of your life.
What does that communicate to him?
And maybe say, well, listen, I'm just going to live my life and
it really doesn't matter. Knowledge puffeth up.
I know it's not real knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies.
Is that meat so important to you that you were willing to allow
someone else to stumble in their walk?
And so verse #11 continues. And through thy knowledge there
it is, the connection with verse #1 thy knowledge.
Shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died.
Now talking about that brother perishing, I, I, we could look
at that several different ways. The Bible talks about the
outward man perishing, but the inward man renewing day by day.
Perhaps even that brother could end up going into a place, not
that his soul was taken, but that he could get into some
very, very bad ways. Because he's seen other people
that have given the name of Christ, but for some reason
doesn't seem like they're acting like Christ.
And now they get involved in something they shouldn't get
involved in. And now all of a sudden they get
themselves and stared into a really, really bad place.
And so Paul said, does this, Are you willing to sack love my own
preferences. And so verse #12 says, but when
he sins so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience,
ye sin against Christ. This is important.
You say this is a preference password.
Whatever I do, you know if you do something that causes another
brother to stumble, then you have sinned against the Lord,
even if what you are not doing is inherently sinful.
Because your inherent sin is loving yourself more than loving
the other person. Your inherent sin is
selfishness. So.
But what I was doing wasn't a big deal.
But the meat. The idols aren't real.
Yes, but you took an idol and worshipped it.
You weren't expecting. You worshiped yourself above the
other person, and so in that you have sinned.
You see, there's a completely different way of looking.
You know, we're so in tune and ingrained, especially United
States of America. These are my rights.
And by the way, we have rights
and thank the Lord for the rights that we have.
But sometimes we take that into the Christian realm and all we
think about is this is what I can do, this is what I can do.
And we don't give a hoot about our brethren, and we might cause
them to stumble, them to fall, them to be concerned, them to
have a conflict of conscience. And it never even crosses our
mind. And Paul says this is sin and
you're sinning against Christ. But verse 13 says, wherefore me
make my brother to offend? I will eat no flesh while the
world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Now there's an interesting phrase here.
It's given twice in the phrase in the verse.
It doesn't say that if you offend somebody that you need to
correct your ways because boy, people can get offended on
anything nowadays. But it says if I've caused my
brother to offend, the difference there is it's not
that I am they are offended because of their sensibilities.
But if I do something that caused them to offend, in
essence to stumble to sin, that's a big difference because
if you're constantly looking around, are you offended?
Are you offended? Are you offended?
Are you offended you can't live the Christian life because we
just need to make sure we live for the Lord as he has told us
to live. But in that he has told us make
sure that you're looking to others, that you're not going to
do something that is going to teach them something that will
cause them to stumble. And so because of that, what do
you do? Christian Liberty says you love
the other person. There's a lot of examples of
this today. Again, you say, pastor, this
probably doesn't have a whole lot to do with us today.
There are in Christianity several items that again, this
is not about things that God calls sin.
You say, well, you know, some people drink alcohol and some
people don't. The Bible calls it sin.
We're not talking about that. Well, you know, some people use
the King James Version, other people use different Bible
versions. Nope.
I believe very clearly the King James Bible is the inspired word
of God for the English speaking people.
Praise the Lord for it. That is perfect.
It's inspired. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about items that, you know, different people look
at a little bit different ways. There are some Christians that
won't eat pork. I love bacon.
Avoid. Well, I love bacon.
I sure do. I couldn't do that.
I could not. I go back to, you know, rise and
kill and eat. But there are some Christians
who believe we should be following the Leviticus,
Levitical dietary laws, the laws of Moses.
Some Christians don't eat meat at all.
That is their right to be able to do so.
There are issues like Christian School and home school and
public school, which is right. And boy, there could be heated
arguments on all of those sides. I'll say I have typically not
like a lot of regard for the public school system, but there
are some places where in situations where the public
school system is such that you feel like your child could be
shielded from a lot of the worldly influences.
But that's something that you have to get with with the Lord.
Going to eat on a Sunday or even shopping on a Sunday.
There's some Christians who won't do it, Still won't.
I've encountered some of them before.
I'll go out to eat on a Sunday. Don't have any problem with it,
but there's some that do. Going into a paki and buying
something that is not alcohol, you know, you go in and buy a
bag of ice. You can go in and buy a soda,
you can go in and buy a pack of gum.
You can do that. Now, I would argue that we're to
abstain from all appearance of evil, and I think that ought to
cover something like that. But you could also say, well, I
mean, I'm not going in to buy any alcohol, so what's the big
deal? And you could be right about
that. You can walk into a packie every
day your entire life, never get alcohol, never get scratch
tickets, never get anything like that and you could be fine.
But the question is, what happens when those people see
you go in there every day? Are you going to be able to
witness to them? What happens when someone from
church sees you going in there? Are you going to be able to talk
to them about the Lord? Are you be able, oh, could they
stumble? Go to a restaurant that serves
alcohol? That's another one.
I know some who don't want to go to a restaurant that won't serve
alcohol. Not many to go to anymore.
Be honest. Even Cracker Barrel serves
alcohol anymore. It's an abomination as far as
I'm concerned. But I go to restaurants that
serve alcohol. I just don't sit at the bar.
And there are some Christians who feel like that is not
something that they should do. So here's what it comes down to.
What? What should we do?
Well, what we need to do? As you just read, we finished
the chapter. He said, which one can't #1
can't #2 where does Paul fit? Again, Paul doesn't fit in
either of them. He says this.
Consider the brethren. Consider that you don't cause
them to offend, to stumble. So think of others more than you
think of yourself. Now, this follows a lot more
than just the Christian element, or rather maybe the Church
element, we could call it, but it ought to be just true in our
homes. You know, when it comes to a
marriage relationship, we ought to think of our spouse more than
we think of ourselves. If we're not careful, even in
marriage, we can push our own ideas, our own things that we
want to do. This is what I want to do.
This is what I want to spend my money on or our money on.
This is what I want to do this evening.
And we can end up just pushing our own agenda and causing the
other person some real harm in the sense that they don't feel
loved or they don't feel cherished.
And so we prefer ourselves more than the other person.
And that can be problematic amongst friends.
Even making sure that one another cares for one another
and encouraging each other, building each other.
They're up in their Christian walk instead of something that
could take away from it. At work, again, even amongst
other people that we're making sure that we're acting in such a
way that people can see Christ in us.
The hope of glory. Our mindset should always be one
of love and not of liberty. It's not that I can do it, but
the question is, should I do that?
That's what we have to truly ask ourselves this evening.
Now I want us to to finish by turn to Romans chapter #14
there's a text. I think they'll be helpful to us
tonight. Romans chapter #14 begin in
verse #1 here in just a second. This text fits very well with
what we're talking about tonight.
You know, I'll be honest with you.
There are times I don't even tell people, you know, this is
what TV shows I watch or movies I watch because even then, now
we watch our television shows and movies with filters because
there's filtering companies filtering software out there
that are great at that. But what if somebody shouldn't
be what? What if just turning on the
television certain things brings things up in their minds that
they ought not to? Maybe some people don't have
televisions in their in their house.
Maybe some don't have the Internet and a lot of different
things. I don't want to call someone
else to stumble by past, you know, Pastor said this, this
show is approved. Well, sometimes I watch a show
and maybe I realize later, maybe I shouldn't have watched that
show. The Holy Spirit starts working
on my heart. What I'm saying what we got to
be super careful about how we affect other people, not because
we're going to offend people, but I don't want to cause them
to offend. I don't want them to stumble and
to put my thumbprint to put my stamp of approval on something
and it could end up somebody go in a direction they ought not to
go in the 1st place, just because I exercised my Christian
liberty in a way that was unwise because thinking more about
myself than I was thinking about other people.
So look at Romans chapter 14 verse #1 him that is weak in the
faith receive ye, but not too doubtful dispensation
disputations. Rather, one believed that he
made whole things. Another who is weak Edith herbs.
So see, that kind of goes back what we're talking about
vegetarianism and such like that.
Let him, let not him that Edith despise him that Edith not, and
let not him which Edith not, judge him that Edith for God
hath received him. Here's what's being said in
conjunction with what we just read about.
If you're in camp, number one, don't despise the people in camp
#2. And if you're camp #2 don't
despise the people in camp #1 because the people in camp #1 if
they are truly right in their heart, just want to love Jesus.
And in their mind, they know they love Jesus and there's
nobody else like Jesus. So I'm going to eat this meat.
And the other side, they're not going in because they love
Jesus. And they don't want to go in
because they love Jesus and they don't want to do anything that's
may even have a sniff of it. So it says if you're whatever
group you're in, don't despise the other.
To understand with Christian charity again charity edify this
that knowledge that builds that it tears down so often again,
not that knowledge is wrong, but built improperly can cause so
much trouble. Who art thou that judgeth none
of the man's servant to his own master.
He standeth or falleth. Yeah, he shall be holding up for
God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above
another. Another esteemeth everyday
alike. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. I'm going to go here.
Maybe it's because I'm at home and because I can't look at your
faces, but I not go here anyway, whether I was at church or not.
There's controversy, especially here in New England.
Is Christmas something that we should be celebrating or not?
Because our Puritan roots here in New England are such that
they go back to, you know, some Pagan roots of Christ of
Christmas. There are people have problems
with Christmas trees, things like that.
Now, I love Christmas, I love Jesus of Christmas tree.
We had people at liberty who had a problem with Christmas trees
and problem with Christmas and those kind of things.
We had a man at one point who decided he wasn't going to come
to church during Christmas, which it seems odd to me because
we still want to like be in church because we ought to be.
But that was his Christian liberty to be able to do so.
But here's what it comes down to that even in those groups that
the people who celebrate Christmas, what's about Jesus,
we love him. And the people, the other group,
they see something in Christian, which I believe some of their
historical background is actually in error, quite
honestly. But in that even in their heart
it is. But we love Jesus.
And so instead of looking at each other like we're enemies,
why don't we try to encourage one another even if we're on
different sides of the issue. And so Paul says this, don't get
yourself bent out of shape about this.
And I'll be honest, there were people even at our church the
first couple years ago really bent out of shape by this to the
point I had to say, listen, we're all on the same team.
Everybody here is trying to love Jesus and we're trying to do it
the best that we can. This is what Paul says here.
You can't argue with Paul. You can argue with me, but you
can't argue with Paul because Paul says literally about
regarding the day and others not regarding the day.
He that regardeth the day regards that of the Lord.
And this is what I just said. He that regardeth not the day to
the Lord, he does not regard it. He that eateth the Lord or he
giveth God thanks. He that eateth not to the Lord
he is not and giveth God thanks. Now remember I said none of
these things happen in the vacuum.
Here's what it says. For none of us live it to
himself, and no man died to himself.
For whether we live, we will live into the Lord.
Whether we die, we die into the Lord.
Whether we live therefore die, we are the Lords.
So we think of the Lord with our Christian liberty.
We think of others with our Christian liberty.
And love Trump's liberty. Again, not the wishy washy,
mealy mouthed liberal Christianity.
Love everything, love sin. No, no, we're not talking about
that. Our love for the Lord and our
love for others should make sure that we do right no matter what.
I give you the story and I'll be done and I've given the story
before it's been a few years, but there was a man who lived or
rather worked at Westgate for just a year.
He was a man who was a got an earned doctorate from UC
Berkeley. Now you understand that not all,
excuse me, not only is that a very prestigious institution is
also probably one of the more most liberal institutions in
America, perhaps apart from Harvard and anything that would
be located in Cambridge. But this gentleman got saved by
the blood of Jesus Christ. Absolutely incredible.
Was living a very, very Pagan life before in every way, very
heavy in the party scene. Now this man's relaying this to
me in his 60s, very heavy in the party scene, very heavy in
substance abuse of all kinds. They got saved by the blood of
Jesus Christ, and it took some time for him to extricate
himself from that lifestyle because he was in the place
where he said, well, I'm going to do less of what I did before
that. I'm not going to do what I did
before, but I'm still going to go to the parties and those kind
of things. And he was trying to wean
himself off, which is probably not the wisest thing, but if you
don't have someone necessarily disciple you exactly in this,
this is what he was doing, and he was trying to do it for the
Lord. Now he was talking to someone
else about becoming a Christian and he was very adamant to this
gentleman that he needed to receive Christ just as he did.
And so he was doing that and this was going on for some
period of time where he was trying to explain to him his
need to believe in Jesus Christ just as he did.
Went to it happened to be that this gentleman that I knew went
to a party one night and they said, hey, you know, do you want
to drink? And he said, no, you know, I'm
not drinking anymore. I'm here, but I'm not going to
drink. They said, Hey, we go to the
liquor store, then we're at we're out of liquor.
And So what happens is he says, well, I guess I should, I'm
going to just go and I'll, I'll just go and, and, and get some
liquor. And it may honestly may have
even not been liquor. It may have just been they got
some mixers or some ice or something like that.
That part, I don't remember. This part is very clear to me,
but that he was in the store and he was in line at the store.
And who happens to walk into the store and sees him in the line
carrying a bunch of stuff. The man that he's trying to
witness to. And he says, I thought you said
you were a Christian. And he's who I am.
I'm not really, this isn't for me.
It's really for someone else. And this man looked at me, tears
in his eyes. That has probably happened four
years before or so. And he said that that man would
never listen to him about Jesus Christ ever again.
And so he understood. Was he doing anything wrong?
He wasn't going to drink it. He wasn't imbibing himself,
nothing of that nature. But he realized I really
shouldn't be doing this and it's going to hurt someone else.
So when it comes down to the issue of sin, don't do sin.
That's the end of the message for that.
There is no Christian liberty when it comes to sin, right?
Don't do it. I mean, you can, but you ought
not. But there are some of these
issues where you're not really doing anything wrong, but if you
are causing someone else to stumble, you are doing wrong and
you are sinning. So tonight, are your thoughts
more about me or more about thee?
Is it more about I have my rights, or is it about I'm going
to try to help other people and I'm going to consider them more
than I consider myself. Not just a church, but in my
home, the marriage relationship, in the home, in the workplace,
the people you're trying to witness to, the people that
you're around every day, just in the here and there of life.
Will you consider them more than you consider yourself?
Because love matters more than liberty.
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.