1 Corinthians 8: Imma Do Me... Nope!

Have you ever had a friend that was a lot of fun in small doses? You could only stand them for a little while before they became hard to deal with? This is what I think about when I think of Corinth. They were in a large international metropolis filled with people from various backgrounds. It was likely a fun place to be for a visit. However, living there was probably a different story. Paul is in Ephesus when he receives word that the church in Corinth is at it again. Divisions and quarreling are breaking out everywhere over wild things... trust me... wild things. They are a church in division. Paul has a frank discussion with them on the need for harmony among the various people groups, the need to rally around the essentials, how to conduct proper worship services without hurting each other, and so much more. The real-life soap-opera needs someone to make sense of it all.

Let’s read it together.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:35 The Church in Corinth's Challenges
• 4:14 Food Sacrificed to Idols Debate
• 8:23 Knowledge vs. Love in Christian Freedom
• 12:55 Modern Application of Christian Liberty
• 16:46 Prayer and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Corinthians, chapter 8, and I'm going to give this one the title I'ma do me Nope. It's the idea of you know, we live in a culture where people say I'm going to do what I want to do, you're going to do what you're going to do, and that's how we'll all be happy, right? But at some point we've just simplified it to I'm going to do me, right. And here's the thing that sounds good as long as everybody else is out of your way. If you live on an island somewhere, that's fine. But as soon as you start doing life with somebody else, it becomes complicated. And so we're going to get into that a little bit, because it sounds like the family therapy session for Corinth is going to go in that direction.

Speaker 2: 1:10

All right, before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe on YouTube. We are over halfway to our goal of well, a little way, well, more than halfway to our goal to 1000. And I just am so thankful for you. I see everybody who is posting it everywhere and sharing a man. It is just wonderful to build a community together. So thank you so much for that. If you were listening to this on the podcast, you are still my favorites, and thank you so much for everybody who is leaving us a five-star review.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Don't forget to also tell us how you're engaging with God's word. We want to know, we want to know how we can do this better. We want to make sure that we are providing avenues, resources, opportunities for you to continue to connect with God's word. So make sure you go to the Facebook group Bible Breakdown Discussion. That team is just blowing it out of the water. I'm hearing from so many of you what a wonderful job they're doing. Make sure and don't just tell me, go on there and let them know how you're engaging with God's word, because it's really encouraging to hear and I love, love, love, love what they're doing, especially with the Las Vegas of the first century, the church at Corinth.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Now, don't forget, there's all these different people, groups that have come into this port town and they all want to serve God. They're all going after the Lord. But while Paul is minding his own business in Ephesus, he's starting to hear murmurs that all is not well in this paradise, that actually there's a lot of shenanigans going on. So Paul writes a letter to the church in Corinth just trying to help them out. Well, they end up writing him back, and now he is responding again until he can get there, and that is the letter that the Holy Spirit inspired that we have now, and what we said is it's almost like Paul Pastor, paul has invited the entire church into his office and said get down on the on the couch there, lay down and let's do a family therapy session, because we got to figure this thing out and if we were to give it an overall idea, it would be a divided church is finding harmony, because that's what they need. And so for the first three chapters, paul's being kind and he's saying hey, man, you know we're all on the same page here. I'm a spiritual father. And then he just starts saying stop doing this, stop doing that and everything else. Well, today he's going to talk about the idea that we don't live on an island, we don't live in a vacuum, and he's going to continue this theme over the next two or three chapters, and so we're going to get deeper into it. But he's going to start with this idea of eating food that has been sacrificed to idols. It's a big deal because, once again, the Church of Corinth, there's all these different people, groups with all these different religious backgrounds who've come together Now. They're worshiping God, they're worshiping Jesus and they're trying to figure out how to do this properly. So let's read this, and there's also a sneaky little kind of nugget, little thing here that you may not realize is wildly important when it comes to proving the Bible. We're going to get to that as well.

Speaker 2: 4:03

Okay, so, if you have your Bibles, open with me to 1 Corinthians 8, starting with verse 1. Here we go Now. Regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols, pause. Remember. He is replying to a letter they'd already written. So this is why this is likely the second letter he has written to the church at Corinth. All right, here we go.

Speaker 2: 4:23

Yes, we know we all have knowledge about this issue. In other words, this is not new. Y'all been fussing about this for a while. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it's love that strengthens the church. Can we just pause on that? But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. You know you can be right and be wrong. At the same time, your information can be right, but you can go about it the wrong way. That's what Paul's trying to say.

Speaker 2: 4:53

Verse two anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. So what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a God and that there really is only one God. There may be so-called gods, both in heaven and on earth, but some people actually worship many gods and many lords.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Now, here's the thing. Listen to this. But for us, there is one God, the father, by whom all things were created and for whom we live, and there is one, lord, jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live. And you say well, brandon, why is that important? Well, those that verse, right, there is called a creed, and what happened was is they would form these creeds because a lot of people didn't know how to read, and so what would happen is the person who would take this letter to Corinth, for Paul would get up in front of everybody and read this, especially the people who couldn't read, and so they developed these creeds. So you could keep the theology of what was going on in your mind. Well, this creed was one that had been taught to them and it's very important that this creed right here.

Speaker 2: 6:11

This statement likely went all the way back to within a year of the cross, and that's important because a lot of these letters were written 15, 20, 25 years after the resurrection of Jesus, and some of the opponents of Christianity would say well, you know, paul really changed a lot of this and he really kind of invented Christianity with his letters. And these creeds blow all that out of the water to say, no, no, jesus wasn't a good man, because one of the things they try to say is that Jesus was just a good man and Paul made him into the Messiah. That's not it at all. That actually Paul is rehearsing something with them. They already knew and it goes all the way back to the beginning. So Paul didn't invent anything, he's just sharing what they already know. And a lot of Christian defenders called apologists will use that to say Christianity didn't begin with Paul. You know, christianity happened to Paul. All right, here we go, verse seven. However, not all believers know this. Some in other words, I got carried away Not all believers realize that these false gods are not really gods at all.

Speaker 2: 7:16

Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as worshiping real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. Listen to this. It's true that we can't win God's approval by what we eat. We don't lose anything if we don't eat and we don't gain anything if we do. But you must be careful that your freedom does not cause others weaker than you, with weaker consciences, to stumble. So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer to whom Christ has died will be destroyed. Superior knowledge a weak believer to whom Christ has died will be destroyed. So when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live, for I don't want to cause other believers to stumble. Now we don't really deal with this as much. But let's take something else a little bit different.

Speaker 2: 8:29

I know in a lot of different environments, people think that smoking smoking cigarettes. Some think it is a sin, some people think it is not a sin. And what Paul is saying is I know that when you smoke this cigarette, it's no different than when you drink caffeine. It's just something that you do. It is not a sinful thing. And if you want to use, you know you're violating the temple of God. Well, the same thing when you eat too much and the same thing when you drink caffeine if you want to go down that road. So smoking a cigarette is not necessarily a sin. However, if you're with a brother or sister in Christ who is convicted by doing that, then are you really honoring Christ by smoking in front of them? No, of course not. Matter of fact, you're actually going to violate their conscience and you're going to make a weak Christian feel even weaker. And so instead, he's saying I put my preferences aside so that I can show love to others. Because, remember, he said at the very beginning that actually it's not the knowledge that makes us important, it's our love that strengthens the church. And so what he's saying is I would rather put my preferences aside so that I don't make a brother feel weak. Let me give you another example.

Speaker 2: 9:44

When I was just in my early 20s, I had some friends of mine. We all worked together and I had some friends of mine who they just they were not Christians, and so every Friday they would just go and get just plastered drunk, just just plastered. And I had never drank alcohol at all and didn't really desire to, and so I'd go and I just hang out with them because they were fun. And one day I was with them and there was a gentleman who came into the restaurant about the same time that we were really about to be done and all around our table were empty beer bottles, everywhere, and they were so everywhere that they looked like a bunch of them was in front of me as well. And the guy who had come in that I knew he had recently given his life to Christ and he had been struggling with alcoholism for years and he felt so convicted because he didn't have a drink, he was a drunk, he struggled with it and when he saw me there with all of this, you know, empty alcohol there, it broke his heart because now he's confused.

Speaker 2: 10:44

I thought that God didn't want us to do this. I thought, you know, and he just was so confused and I didn't realize it at the time and it wasn't until later that he came back and he's like okay, wait a minute. The Bible says to not be drunk but be filled with the Holy Spirit. But when I saw you and all this and I learned a lesson that day because I don't want my good to be evil spoken of and so now if I go eat with somebody I will purposely get a glass of water and sit in front of me, or I will just ask everybody hey, I'm so sorry to do this to you, but would you mind not drinking while I'm here?

Speaker 2: 11:18

It's got nothing to do with y'all, but it's got to do with the fact that I don't want. And I just tell them the whole thing. You know why. Why is it? Why do I let myself be inconvenienced in that way? It's because I don't want somebody else to stumble, because of my freedom. Now, I don't drink alcohol at all anyway. It's a personal preference, it's a conviction of mine. Therefore, when I go out to eat with another Christian and they do, it convicts my heart.

Speaker 2: 11:44

And we all have these areas. That are some of the grayer areas that we could enjoy our freedom. But at what cost? You can be completely right and be completely wrong at the same time. And so what Paul is telling you know this church, family that's in crisis and in division. Don't let your freedom call somebody else to stumble.

Speaker 2: 12:03

And I want to ask you this question when you became a Christian, did you think that the Christian life was all about you? Maybe that's what you were told. Maybe you were told. When you became a Christian, did you think that the Christian life was all about you. Maybe that's what you were told. Maybe you were told when you become a Christian, God's whole purpose is to make you happy. Well, his whole purpose was to make you holy and then empower you to make a difference. And it's in that freedom that you have that you begin to then bring freedom to others. And so we have to redefine what happiness is. There's joy beyond measure, but God slowly goes to war with every broken place in your life and the sin that we use to medicate those broken places. And you may be at a place now where you're so free that this area is completely fine. But it's not just about you and it's not just about me. And so we don't live just for ourselves, but we live for others. And that's not just about you and it's not just about me. And so we don't live just for ourselves, but we live for others, and that's a balance we have to strike there.

Speaker 2: 12:54

But I have a feeling that many of us are nowhere near a place to where we're putting ourself in bondage for the sake of others. It's usually quite the opposite. So for non-Christians they can say all the time I'mma do me, you do you. Everything's good, but as a Christ follower, I don. I say I'm going to do life the Jesus way, which means I'm going to give up my rights so that I can serve my neighbor. And that's hard until somebody does it for you.

Speaker 2: 13:23

Let me give you one more example, and that is you know, my family, my extended family, has struggled with alcoholism, and because of that, my wife and I hate it. We absolutely hate alcohol in all forms. We can't stand it. We think it's horrible because we've seen what happens. I've never heard of anybody that say I drink more and it makes me a better Christian. I just don't. Now, do I think having a glass of wine is a sin? No, but I think it can lead that way and so I hate it. Well, I can't tell you what it means to me when somebody who knows how passionate I am will go out to eat and they will purposely choose not to drink. It doesn't make me feel arrogant, it doesn't make me feel prideful. It makes me feel honored because they know that this is a passionate thing for me.

Speaker 2: 14:10

What could you do in your life that may slightly inconvenience you but may be a blessing in the lives of others? Let's pray together, Father. Thank you so much that you set us free so that we can be freedom bringers to others. But the only way we can do that, God, is to see our life as about so much more than our momentary perspectives and our momentary desires, but to see our life as an opportunity to serve Freely. We have been given freely, we give to others, but that's not what our culture says. So it's hard and we ask you to give us the strength to take the next step so that we can be a freedom bringer to someone else. Today, In Jesus name, we pray Amen, Amen. Well, family therapy session has come to an end for the Church of Corinth. Today, Don't forget God's word, says 1 Corinthians 10, 31,. For whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. I love you no-transcript.