Consider Others

 

Text: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Focus: unity

Function: to see how we are to live in consideration of each other.

8:¹Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge, ³but anyone who loves God is known by him.

⁴Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁵Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— ⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

⁷It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸“Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat and no better off if we do. ⁹But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is destroyed. ¹²But when you thus sin against brothers and sisters and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never again eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

Not that we have a problem with it here, but this morning’s passage is a teaching on sort of the idea of how to get along. How to live in a way that considers the needs, passions and perspectives of the other person.

The New Testament is made of of the 5 historical books, the gospels and the book of Acts, plus different letters written by various apostles to different churches and the book of the John’s Revelations.

The letters, or epistles, as they are called in theological circles, were mainly written as instructional pieces that dealt with theology sometimes, but most of the time, especially the letters to the Church in Corinth, Paul was trying to sort out some sort of mess within the church.

Although people have been given a cleansed heart and an Holy Spirit driven conscience, they still were not yet perfect and Paul had to correct them.

This is one of the corrections that he addresses and apparently he is answering some sort of correspondence with the leaders about the official church policy on eating meat that was previously used in a pagan ceremony.

I think I read somewhere that it was cheaper than going to a regular butcher.

And this caused controversy among some of the believers because before they trusted in Christ, they worshiped in the pagan temple and the practice of eating such meat now bothered their conscience.

However, Paul tells them that although their conscience is bothered by the practice, for some people, especially those who never worshiped in the pagan temple, they understood that although pagan peoples placed spiritual significance to the meat that was offered in the sacrifice, because they as believers were made pure by the Spirit, nothing has spiritual significance anymore if it isn’t tied to the Christian faith. Therefore, the “knowledge” was, it is okay to eat meat used in a pagan ceremony.

So, here is the problem: within the church, they had major differences of opinion about what holiness looks like.

For some it was liberty and freedom since Christ has set us free from the bondage of religion to a new faith of caring for others. But to others, they lived a sacrificial life and holiness to them was abstaining from what they might consider an appearance or justification of evil. They were afraid it would make them look bad. Their conscience was “weaker,” Paul said, that those who had the freedom to eat.

Now, there is a similar teaching in Romans 14. In this passage, the question has extended itself beyond meat offered to idols to any meat at all since before the flood we were created to not eat meat, and also drinking wine and whether or not we should worship on Saturday or Sunday or every day.

These differences of opinions lead to division within the body, and they do today. So Paul wants to address the important thing to remember when facing different opinions, consider the needs of the other person.

Romans 14:7-9 says: ⁷For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. ⁸If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

The context in the teaching is that the people who abstain from meat and wine are people who choose to live a life of sacrifice before God. I describe it like this: For them their faith is about the practices of the world that they abstain from.

And the same verses say that the people who feel the freedom to eat meat or drink wine do so because Christ has set them free.

And he tells us that both people are serving Christ with clear consciences.

And that brings us back to today’s passage. He is giving us instructions on how to get along and consider the needs of the other person.

He says we need to be concerned about the conscience of people. (Pause) I was going to say: “Because…” but then I realized it needed a period. Care for others is the salient principle of the passage.

Care for the ones whose conscience is weak.

I think the comparison using the terms weak and strong conscience indicates that those who are weak are yet to grow in their faith.

For example: It is kind of like the alcoholic. I would never tempt a sober alcoholic with a drink because it could lead them back into dependency.

I might even, as the passage says, abstain at that moment in order to protect their conscience.

But there may come a time when that person is healed, saved and restored by God and no longer feels dependent on alcohol to cope.

Jesus came to heal and restore people.

And that person has grown in their faith and may be free to imbibe again. And therefore, we don’t have to worry about their conscience anymore.

Brother Paul is telling us to be concerned for their well being more than proving a point about ourselves.

We are constrained, then, by the weaker conscience of those who are still growing.

I love the example of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. He drew a picture of a hill and people climbing up and everyone had the hand of the person in front of them and the person behind them, pulling each other up from level to level on the mountainside.

We as believers are in this position to encourage and enable others and Paul is asking us to take into consideration the fears and the misunderstandings about God that do not lead us to Christ.

I need this lesson myself. He is telling us to be patient with the weakness of others when in that area we might be gifted with strength.

One of the things that I have found in my life is that I have areas of strength and weakness and I have to remember that if someone is strong in another area than me, but weak in a different area, we are both gifted by God with the Holy Spirit and God is working it out in our lives according to our individual needs.

So, from this passage, I learn to be patient with others.

Starting with Jesus and his acceptance of the woman caught in adultery and the fact that he regularly ate with people who the weaker folks called sinners, to Paul and his preaching of accepting non Jewish people into the family of God, to John telling us that Love is really the only thing that matters, we see God at work opening the circle of faith bigger and bigger because as Peter reminds us, God is patient with us it is not God’s will that any should perish and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

So, let us bring this into a major area of division within the Church today.

First off, I believe the Holy Spirit is working in our culture to overcome the beliefs and practices that keep people from the LGBTQ+ community to have the same rights and privileges as others.

God is moving for us to accept “the other,” whether they are Queer, Muslim, or People of Color and is leading the Church to be more inclusive.

We are simply following the command to treat others they way we want to be treated. It isn’t a “Gay agenda” but it is working for equal rights for all citizens because Jesus set the example by eating with those the religious folks despised.

So, that is where I stand but I realize that the idea of normalizing a lifestyle we have been taught to call sin pricks at the conscience of those whom the Spirit has not convinced.

And Paul is telling us to be patient with those who disagree and allow the Spirit of God to do the work in God’s time in their life.

So, be kind in the way we oppose each other, because we love them and care for them as Christ does. It doesn’t mean that we all agree, it means we are all patient and believing that God is working with the other just as God has worked with ourselves.