GOD S HOPE FOR TROUBLED CHURCHES. The Law of Liberty Part IV: God s Glory. I Corinthians 10:14-33

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1 I. INTRODUCTION a. Read text. b. Pray. GOD S HOPE FOR TROUBLED CHURCHES The Law of Liberty Part IV: God s Glory I Corinthians 10:14-33 c. Opener You can t please everybody. i. Possible Responses 1. So, don t try to please everybody? 2. Or don t try to please anybody? ii. Paul 1. Please all men d. Comments. i. What Paul doesn t mean 1. Binding your conscience to someone else s convictions. 2. Allowing weak and immature believers to dictate. ii. What Paul does mean 1. Please all men means pleasing God first (His glory) 2. Please=sacrificial love (the good of His people) e. Context The Corinthian church no longer handled the issue of Christian liberty from a godly standpoint. Her members flaunted their liberty before weaker believers, causing many of them to stumble. There was great danger for the Corinthian church in this. The call to repentance for sin is evident though not explicit. f. Main Point of the Text/Sermon With regard to Christian Liberty, God is glorified when we sacrificially love all men that some might be saved. g. Purpose I want the members of Reddicks Grove to glorify God by their sacrificial love for each other and their sacrificial love for our community. h. Transition statement

2 II. PRINCIPLE #1 WE SACRIFICIALLY LOVE ALL MEN BY TAKING EVEN THEIR PERCEPTIONS INTO ACCOUNT WHEN WE ACT (vv ) a. EXPLANATION In other words, the very appearance of evil can be sinful. Paul instructs the Corinthian believers that to eat meat sacrificed to idols could lead others to believe that they are entering into fellowship with demons in the same way that they fellowship with Christ and His body through communion. i. Communion 1. Communion was one of the central acts of Christian worship for the New Testament church. a. NT believers were devoted to it as worship Acts 2:42 b. NT believers gathered for worship for the purpose of taking Communion Acts 20:7 c. NT believers gathered for worship for the purpose of taking Communion for a reason I Corinthians 11:20, 27 i. The reason they gathered v. 20 ii. The reason for regular communion v Communion as an act of worship marked the believer s fellowship with Christ and his fellowship with other believers. a. We experience the presence of Christ in the cup. b. We experience the presence of Christ in the one loaf. c. We experience unified fellowship with other believers as one body in the one loaf. ii. Old Covenant sacrifice 1. The Old Covenant priest ate meat that had been sacrificed to God on the altar Leviticus 7 a. The elements were holy b. The elements had to be eaten in a holy place c. The elements had to be eaten in a holy manner d. The elements had to be eaten by holy men i. For their acceptance ii. For their benefit iii. For their sin iii. Communion and Old Covenant Sacrifice were not synonymous 1. Christ is the sacrifice. 2. Christ is the priest. 3. We partake to proclaim the sacrifice. a. We do not literally eat of the sacrifice. b. We are already accepted.

3 c. We already benefit from Christ by the Holy Spirit. d. Our sins have been dealt with. iv. WHAT IS PAUL SAYING?? Perception matters 1. The food sacrificed was nothing. 2. The idol was nothing. 3. The worshippers believed otherwise a. Behind every false god is a demonic force Dt. 32:16-17 b. While a Christian strong in his conscience could partake of food sacrificed to an idol, even in an idol s temple, and fear not (I Co. 8:7-13), if the Jewish believer weak in his conscience sees him, he might have had the perception that the stronger believer was worshipping the demonic. i. Impossible for the believer ii. Provoking the Lord to jealousy b. ILLUSTRATION I Saw You in the Liquor Store! Gasp! c. APPLICATION i. Stored application For the believer, perception matters 1. Flee from idolatry 2. Flee from the very appearance of idolatry a. I Thessalonians 5:21-22 ii. Specific application 1. The Billy Graham Rule 2. Liberty U and R-rated movies 3. Cooking with alcohol III.PRINCIPLE #2 WE SACRIFICIALLY LOVE ALL MEN BY WORKING FOR THEIR INSTRUCTION NOT FOR OUR RIGHTS (vv ) a. EXPLANATION All things are lawful, but not all things are instructive. Paul says to the believers in Corinth, just because you can doesn t mean that you should. Live for the instruction of your neighbor. i. With regard to food sacrificed to idols 1. Eat anything a. Again, the food is nothing b. Again, the idol is nothing c. Again, you neither better nor worse for eating d. All things belong to the Lord

4 i. I Timothy 4: Eat freely, without question 3. Eat with thanksgiving 4. Do not be judged but instruct a. Romans 14:16 ii. With regard to the one with the weaker conscience 1. Do not eat a. Not for your conscience s sake which is free b. But rather for the sake of the other i. Seek the good ii. One s neighbor 1. A weak brother or sister in Christ 2. A lost person a. Jew b. Gentile b. APPLICATION i. Stored application For the believer, others matter more. 1. With regard to your own conscience and matters of Christian liberty a. Partake b. Partake freely, without question c. Partake with thanksgiving d. Do not be judged but instruct 2. However, with regard to your neighbor s conscience and for the sake of his soul, do not a. Seek the good instruction of your neighbor b. Circumstances (time, place, audience, etc.) matter 3. Consider and emulate Christ who sacrificed Himself for the sake of others a. Philippians 2 ii. Specific application 1. Avoid the innocent lunch/text/ 2. Decline the social drink 3. Choose a different film c. ILLUSTRATION Black pudding? Sinclair Ferguson, Ligonier Ministries i. It was years ago now, but I still remember the discussion. I was making my way out of our church building some time after the morning service had ended, and was surprised to find a small group of people still

5 engaged in vigorous conversation. One of them turned and said to me, Can Christians eat black pudding? To the uninitiated in the mysteries of Scottish haute cuisine, it should perhaps be said that black pudding is not haggis! It is a sausage made of blood and suet (the hard white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep, and other animals, used to make foods including puddings, pastry, and mincemeat), sometimes with flour or meal. It seems a trivial question. Why the vigorous debate? Because, of course, of the Old Testament s regulations about eating blood (Lev. 17:10ff). Although (as far as I am aware) no theological dictionary contains an entry under B for The Black Pudding Controversy, this unusual discussion raised some most basic hermeneutical and theological issues: 1. How is the Old Testament related to the New? 2. How is the Law of Moses related to the gospel of Jesus Christ? 3. How should a Christian exercise freedom in Christ? d. ILLUSTRATION Martin Luther A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone. IV. PRINCIPLE #3 WE SACRIFICIALLY LOVE ALL MEN WHEN WE OPERATE FROM A DESIRE FOR GOD S GLORY AND THE GOOD OF GOD S PEOPLE, NAMELY O THERS a. EXPLANATION The ultimate mark of Christian liberty is a desire for God s glory above all i. Paul is speaking to the believers with the stronger conscience ii. Paul instructs these stronger believers to partake to the glory of God 1. To partake of that which you are free to partake, anything 2. To partake of that which has been sanctified by the word of God and prayer 3. To partake of that which is received by faith Romans 14:22-23 iii. Paul instructs these stronger believers, however, to give no offense 1. No offense to the lost a. Jew b. Gentile 2. No offense to the church a. The saved Jew, weak in the faith b. The saved Gentile, weak in the faith iv. Paul instructs these stronger believers to please all men

6 1. In all things 2. Not seeking one s own benefit 3. But rather seeking the benefit of one s neighbor 4. For the sake of the gospel, that they might be saved!! b. APPLICATION i. Stored application 1. Principles to consider from the text a. Stronger Christians are to take the lead in matters of Christian liberty b. Stronger Christians should only partake to the glory of God c. Stronger Christians should live in such a way so as not to offend those around him d. Stronger Christians should strive to please all men (within the bounds of human reason) 2. Questions to ask when faced with matters of one s Christian liberty a. Can I partake/engage/etc. to the glory of God? b. Can I partake/engage/etc. with a clear conscience, that is from faith that such an act is permissible? c. Can I partake/engage/etc. in the current setting without offending someone else? i. Without causing a brother or sister to stumble ii. Without causing a lost neighbor to be hardened in sin or destructive behavior ii. Specific application Let God Be True An interesting perspective?? 1. Examples of Liberty Drinking wine Having a television Home births Health foods Smoking cigars Children in sports Epidurals Firearms in house Spectator sports Makeup on girls Birth control in general Pets in house Restaurants with bars Wives with outside jobs Voting in elections Circumcision Activities on Sunday Children in daycare Vaccinations School curriculum Pants on wife Visiting the beach Schooling options Interracial marriages

7 Drinking beer Union membership Cosmetic surgery Pledge to the flag Coffee and tea Gym membership Birth control forms Junk foods Breastfeeding or bottles Male or female doctors Bungee jumping Wedding rings Cigarettes Alternative medicine Hunting and fishing Dating or courting Coarse language Thanksgiving Day Marriage Length of hair Wife's attire at home Mother's Day How hard to punish Tattoos Hours at work Hobbies Motorcycles Being a lawyer Examples of Not a liberty???????? Flagrant speeding Catholic holidays Polygamy in the U.S. Organ in the church Long hair on men Training your children Marriage in the Lord Shoulder harnesses Casual church clothes Church attendance Abortion or devices Evil on television Drunkenness Flags in house of God Sedition re: government Filthy speech Thanksgiving Single but burning Short hair on women Poaching Gambling Appearance over spirit Marijuana in the U.S. Strike against employer V. SUMMATION & RESPONSE If the sick and troubled church is to repent and return to gospel faithfulness, she must cast down her idols of privilege and acknowledge that her reputation in the community matters, that her witness in the community matters, and that ultimately God s glory magnified through the love of His people for one another and the lost is what matters most. a. Just because I can doesn t mean that I should. b. Just because I don t have to doesn t mean that I shouldn t. c. We do all things for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ. d. We do all things for the sake of the lost.

8 e. We do all things for the sake of the gospel. f. We often set aside our rights and privileges in Christ for the benefit of others. g. We exercise constraint. h. We walk in holiness. i. We seek to glorify God in our decisions and in our love for others.