Voluntary Limits to Freedom

I Corinthians 8:1-13

I want to begin by saying that I was really blessed by Scott Brittin’s message last Sunday. The phrase “reign in life” from Romans 5:17 caught my eye many years ago, and I have frequently pondered what it actually means. It’s clear that when sin reigns in us it leads to death: the deadening of our spiritual life and sensitivity; the death of our relationships with God and with other people. To be able to reign in life sounds like such a wonderful thing. How many people, including believers, just seem to be getting by, going through the motions, not failing but not really thriving either? I know I feel like this at times. 

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to live in the reality of Christ’s victory all the time, to reign in life consistently? The key, as we were reminded last week, is to receive grace – the abundance of grace that God offers. There is tremendous freedom and power in simply remembering and taking to heart how much God loves us: that He accepts us the way we are – while always desiring more for us. Reigning in life means experiencing true freedom from everything that would drag us down or hold us back.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.—Galatians 5:1

Here Paul makes a very strong statement about freedom in Christ. (He is addressing in particular the issue of circumcision: would it be necessary for believers to be circumcised to be considered “real Christians.” His response is: absolutely not!) The law can become a yoke of slavery, if we think that by keeping it we become more acceptable to God. There are many other things that can become yokes that restrict us and keep us from moving ahead as believers. I’m glad that last week Scott mentioned the burden of expectations that we lay on ourselves and others. Am I “performing” as a Christian? Am I checking all the boxes and doing all the external “stuff” that makes me look like I’m doing well? God wants us to be free. Free from the need to perform. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus said. God wants our hearts. If those are in the right place, everything else will fall into place on its own.

There is a paradox here, of course. God does care about what we do. External stuff does matter. Complete freedom does not relieve us of complete responsibility. In the words of the old hymn by George Matheson, a blind minister from Scotland,

“Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. 

Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conqueror be.

I sink in life's alarms when by myself I stand;

imprison me within thine arms, and strong shall be my hand.”

It is only as we are slaves of Christ that we can experience true freedom. The world defines freedom as doing whatever we want whenever we want, guided by human impulses. But that just becomes bondage to self and our own appetites. How do we avoid that pitfall of selfishness? What should be the limits to our freedom in Christ? That is our topic for today, from 1 Corinthians 8:

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet 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.

But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.—I Corinthians 8:1-13

Paul takes the controversial topic of eating meat sacrificed to idols and enumerates several principles that should govern our behavior. The first is that we need to remember that our knowledge is limited. We don’t have the complete perspective that God does. So our default should be humility rather than dogmatism. There is a well-known saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. This is actually a misquoted line from a poem from 1711 by Alexander Pope. He wrote, “A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.” But the meaning is basically the same. We tend to think we know more than we do. Just watch someone learning to drive – it can be a scary thing! It is actually as we learn more that we realize just how much more there is to learn.

This is certainly true in science. We are just barely scratching the surface in our understanding of the universe. The latest theory is that 26.8% of matter is dark matter, something that we have yet to find a way of directly detecting, let alone studying in a meaningful way. Atoms are not the basic building blocks that we once thought they were. Each is made up of a myriad of subatomic particles, with each new one sounding weirder than the last. Biology, too, keeps delving into deeper and deeper levels of complexity. I came across a Scientific American article recently that celebrated 60 years of studying DNA. The title of the article was “DNA at 60: Still Much to Learn. On the diamond jubilee of the double helix, we should admit that we don't fully understand how evolution works at the molecular level.” Do you think that they ever will? And to think that a hundred years ago some people thought that we were getting close to knowing everything there was to know.

Knowledge puffs up. We take on an air of superiority when we know something that someone else doesn’t. People look up to experts who seem to have things figured out. Actually, the only thing you need to be an “expert” is to know just a little more than the next guy. Paul calls for humility. If you think you know something, you need to remember all that you don’t know. And submit to God who knows everything – and still loves us.

Whoever loves God is known by God. This reminds me of the passage from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus declares:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”—Matthew 7:21-23

Salvation requires more than just an external declaration of Jesus as Lord or even invoking the power of His name. Jesus says, “I never knew you,” and calls these people evildoers because they had no real love for Him in their hearts. Whoever loves God is known by God and will be accepted by Him on Judgment Day.

So our first principle again is that our knowledge is limited, so we need to approach controversial subjects with humility. Carrying on in our passage,

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet 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.—I Corinthians 8:4-6

The reason eating this food was a difficult issue for the Corinthian believers was that there was spiritual power associated with such a ritual. This is true among idol worshippers today. Eating the food acknowledges the power of the deity. The food may be taken as a blessing, a means of protection, an identification with some aspect of the deity’s personality, or simply to be accepted as part of the worshipping group.

I have talked about the significance of Jesus saying, “Take and eat; this is my body,” when He was instituting the Lord’s Supper. He was inviting his disciples to be identified with Him – through eating something. His body was about to become the sacrifice for all sin. In the same way, eating food sacrificed to idols has strong connotations for people who grow up in that culture. It is more than just food. It represents a very personal and intense connection with a deity.

Paul is not dismissing this connection as unimportant – he is saying that it fades into insignificance in light of our connection with the true God, the creator of the universe. He acknowledges that there are many gods and lords that people worship, but their power is nothing compared to that of the true God. So we don’t need to fear the power of the idol even if we eat of the offering. And we will not be defiled by what we eat. This is part of our freedom in Christ.

This, then, is his second principle: God’s power is greater than any other in heaven or on earth, so we don’t need to operate out of fear. The perfect love of our Heavenly Father casts out all fear. We are no longer under the dominion of Satan. He has no power over us anymore. We can rest in the assurance of that.

But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.—I Corinthians 8:7-8

What does it mean that their conscience is defiled? It means that they feel bad about something that they don’t need to feel bad about. A believer might feel like they have betrayed God by eating food sacrificed to an idol. But it ought to have no effect on them, spiritually or emotionally. Jesus taught that it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiles them it is what comes out: the speech that reflects the corruption in their heart. What we eat has no effect on our relationship with God, except to the extent that what we eat or that way we eat it reflects something in our hearts. For example, if we eat to find comfort instead of turning to God, then that is sin. Or if we eat or drink something to the detriment of our physical bodies then we are clearly not honoring God. But food in itself has no spiritual power.

In Nepal, I have been offered food sacrificed to idols many times. In fact, during the main festival of Dashain, there is hardly any meat available in the villages that is not from a sacrifice. There were times when I suspected I was eating meat that had been offered to an idol, but if no one said anything about it, I generally wouldn’t ask. However, there were times when people would intentionally tell me that it was the meat from a sacrifice, and then I would refuse it on the grounds that I did not want to take part in their religious ceremony. It would be a good opportunity to explain what I believed instead about Jesus and his once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin. If I was with a Nepali brother or sister who seemed concerned about what we were eating, then I would be especially careful about what I ate. The Dashain ceremonies are a particular test for new believers from non-Christian families. It is a time of great celebration and feasting with relatives but intertwined with worship of the goddess Durga. It is a great challenge to know how to continue to be “a part of the family” without compromising one’s Christian faith. Many such new believers just choose to stay away from family gatherings at Dashain and that can be a grief for both sides. It is part of the “cost of discipleship” in Nepal.

In America, however, eating meat sacrificed to idols is not much of an issue in the church. What would be the equivalent in our culture? Perhaps drinking alcohol? Some Christians consider this to be a sin, regardless of circumstance or quantity. However, the Bible does not specifically forbid it, and it seems clear that Jesus and the disciples drank wine, as was common in their culture. In fact, Jesus turned water into wine as his first recorded miracle. Therefore, many Christians do drink alcohol in moderation with a clear conscience, avoiding the drunkenness that the Bible clearly does proscribe. When should this exercise of freedom in Christ be curtailed? Let’s carry on in our passage.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.—I Corinthians 8:9-13

This, then, is the third principle: We need to be willing to curtail our exercise of freedom out of concern for the faith (or conscience) of our brother or sister in Christ. How might a weaker brother be destroyed? Perhaps for them eating meat sacrificed to idols is a slippery slope that leads them to compromise in other areas. Similarly it would be wrong to cause offense by drinking alcohol in the presence of someone who thought it was sinful. We should care more about our sister than about our rights. We should do whatever we can to keep our brother from falling into sin. Once again, love needs to be the controlling factor. What is the loving response to someone offended by our behavior? If our behavior is tempting them to sin, then we need to be willing to stop – for their sake. Paul says that if we wound their conscience it is the same as sinning against Christ himself. All sin is ultimately against God as we violate his standards.

However, consider a situation where the loving response to offending another believer might be to not stop. God might call you to do something intended to offend other Christians, to open their eyes to their own narrowmindedness or sin. Consider a few decades ago how a white marrying a black would have caused offense in this part of world. Well-intended Christians might have been offended by something like that. Would that have been a reason for not doing it? We can now say no with some confidence. Therefore exercising our rights can become a stumbling block, and at times not exercising our rights can become a stumbling block that reinforces sinful attitudes. Love, true love for God and others, will help us distinguish between the two.

In Romans 14, Paul addresses this issue of causing a brother to stumble – just in a slightly different situation.

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.—Romans 14:13-23

The issue for the Roman church was evidently food that was considered ceremonially unclean. Paul reiterates that Jesus declared all foods clean, but that some people might consider some foods unacceptable. The important principle is to walk in love, pursuing peace, and mutual upbuilding. Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. This is a useful definition of sin. As we consider our behavior and our actions, do they reflect our faith in God or do they spring from fear, pride, lust, or selfishness? What can you do, what can I do, to build up another’s faith? That needs to be our primary concern. We may need to limit our own freedom to do so.

Let’s review our three principles from today’s passage. First, recognizing that our knowledge is limited, we need to approach controversial issues with humility. Second, since God is more powerful than anything else in the universe we need not fear, but we can move forward with confidence. Third, we may need to limit our freedom out of concern for our brother or sister. Our guiding principle must be love.