Please Click to play audio and follow along with the text below.
1 Corinthians 8 is our chapter today, and one which may seem a little irrelevant to your life and mine in North America in 2019. When you go to the your local grocery store there probably isn’t a section marked “food for idol worship”. And while many of you may have diet restrictions for medical or good health reasons, my guess is few of you design your diet according to religious or spiritual restrictions.
But for the people living in Corinth, to whom Paul was writing this letter, this matter of food dedicated for idol worship was a big deal. Corinth, as many cities in the first century, had a wide array of religions. It was similar to many major cities in Asia today, or maybe even Toronto or New York or LA where we will find Hindus, and Buddhists, and Muslims, and Seeks, and many, many other religious groups, each with their own temples or shrines for worship, and each with their own style and ingredients for worship. Many use special incense or even foods as part of their worship today.
So the Christians in Corinth had written a letter to Paul with a variety of questions asking HOW to live a God honoring Christian life, in such a religiously diverse city? May I point out two or three major themes in this 8th chapter.
First… verse 4&6 “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one…for us there is but one God, the Father FROM whom all things came and FOR whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, THROUGH whom all things came and THROUGH whom we live.” Can you see several powerful truths in these verses? Compare Colossians 1:15,16 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” Look very closely at each phrase and ask yourself… am I living each day in the TRUTH of these verses?
A series of fundamental questions haunt all living human beings in every generation, in every place: WHO or WHAT is God, the creator of all? Can I know God? What does God desire or expect of me, a human being, as I live my life here on earth? 600 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah the prophet wrote the answers so clearly. You’ll see these questions are the theme of Chapters 40-48 of Isaiah. Listen to a little of what Isaiah wrote: “To whom will you compare me? Or who is My equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name…do you not know, have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding has no limit..” (Is. 40:25-31)
Or this from Isaiah 45:5,6… “I am the LORD and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged Me, so that from the rising of the sun, to the place of its setting, mankind may know there is no God beside Me…” Or this from Isaiah 46 … “Listen to Me…all you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am God who will sustain you and I will carry you…To whom will you compare me or count Me equal?…Some pour out gold from their bags and hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it cannot answer, it cannot save them from their troubles. I am God, and there is none like Me…” (Is. 46:3-9) By the way Jeremiah chapter 2 and Psalm 115 are two of the greatest chapters in the Bible giving us God’s perspective on man-made idols.
This matter of idol worship is a big deal to God, for He alone is Creator of all and Sustainer of all He creates. In fact think about this statement: everything your five senses can see, taste, touch, smell or hear, is either CREATED by God or fabricated by humanity FROM something God created. Now ponder that a moment…do you agree? May I say it again… everything your five senses can see, taste, touch, smell or hear, is either Created by God or fabricated by mankind from something God created. So…who is this unique, almighty, creator God, and how can we know Him, and what does He expect of us, his human creation? God detests the notion that intelligent human beings, made in His image, would take a piece of wood or stone or something else God created, and shape it into some form, put it up on a pedestal and worship this lifeless thing. That’s why the first four of the 10 Commandments call His people to worship only the one, true, living, Almighty God.
Ok, so in our world of so many religions… what say you? Who is the one true God, for He alone is worthy of our worship…and HOW does your daily life reflect what you believe about this one true God?
Second major theme I see in chapter 8 is verse 9 “Be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” Remember what we saw in chapter 6:12 “Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is beneficial, and I will not be mastered by anything.” We’ll see it again in chapter 10:23 “Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is constructive…” Paul wanted these Christians in Corinth to understand they were set FREE by Jesus Christ and no longer bound by man made restrictions related to worship or man-made, lifeless idols. However, their freedom should be self-controlled so as to not be an offense, a stumbling block, something that would actually restrain or prevent someone from coming to Jesus Christ. Now let me ask… can you imagine anything in our modern day which you or I might do, which would make it difficult for people to trust in Jesus, because of our behavior, our attitudes or words?
May I give you one or two which I have heard? When a church going, Christian couple is fighting all the time, or a Christian who gossips or is slanderous of people… I’ve heard many non-Christians say “just listen to that person. They go to church every week and say they want to honor God with their lives… but listen to what comes out of their mouths. I don’t think I want anything to do with their God. “ Or here’s another one… when Christians struggle with addictions.. it could be alcohol or drugs or gambling or pornography… I’ve heard non-Christians say “Well obviously their relationship with God isn’t satisfying enough or strong enough to keep them out of addictions.” Living free, delivered by Jesus from our sin condemnation, is a wonderful reality for us Christians, but we need to be careful don’t we, that we watch our lives, our language, our attitudes, our choices carefully so we are not pushing people away from Jesus.
So Paul concludes chapter 8 with this statement: “therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall in to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.” Can I invite all of us to look into the mirror this Sunday, and ask God to show us… is there ANYTHING, I mean ANYTHING in our lives, that is making it difficult for someone else to be drawn to Jesus Christ? Maybe even ask a friend who will be honest with you… do they see or hear anything in you which could be a stumbling block to others? And then, my friends… when either God or our friend points to something in our life… let’s not excuse it, or ignore it, or pretend we don’t know… let’s deal with it, eradicate it from our lives.Oh I hope you have great Sunday my friends… do you have any idea how much God loves you?
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).