Below is the transcipt of Andrew’s sermon on Sunday. Next week, Andrew will be preaching on 1 Corinthians 9 in all three services.
1 Corinthians 8 What sort of knowledge do you have?
1. Introduction
The church at Corinth loved to eat. Like us!
Typically the society was divided in 2.
The pagans had their own customs. – many of their meals were held in the temple.
- meat was usually always offered to the gods somewhere between the slaughter house and the plate.
The gods were everywhere.
The Jews had their customs. Many foods were considered unclean.
And so the pagans and the Jews never ate together.
But there were Christians as well.
People had been converted- from paganism. Some may have been Jews as well.
There was freedom to eat anything…
Jesus had said, Mark 7:14 ff.
Jesus had abolished these ancient food laws, that kept Israel apart for centuries.
He had broken down this wall of separation.
You didn’t need to become a Jew to be come to God. We are fellow citizens with all God’s people. We go straight to God through Jesus, bypassing all those rules.
But something was not quite right.
There were new converts out of Judaism, and out of a very religious pagan society. They were being told that you can eat anything now, and being taken to these eating places next to the temple, and being told to eat…and….
Imagine you used to be a Hindu. You have just joined a Bible study group. You are very excited….
And one night, they take you out for dinner… and it’s dinner at the local temple… (every second eating place was a temple. And that was where you could get the freshest and tastiest Laksa or equivalent.
Your bible study leader thinks this experience will be good for you).
A sacrifice is made to the gods.
Your Bible study leaders says-‘Don’t worry Carlos, we’re Christian now… , eat up”… “cheers”.
And you think…. “food.. but not just food…idol, sacrifice, participation with demons…!”
You’re mind is in a spin.
One part of your mind is telling you one thing, and another little voice telling you another.
Well, this is what was happening.
And you eat. What happens?
In this chapter, Paul is again in damage control!!..
And he confronts the Corinthians over this issue.
2. Concerning Food offered to Idols vv 1-3
And he says… – “we all have knowledge” v1.
Paul agrees with them. We do have knowledge.
((The Corinthians PRIDED themselves on this point by the way.
1 Cor 1:5; 12:8; 13:2
And Paul is probably giving them a gentle reminder in this very quotation from the Corinthian letter, that “ALL possess knowledge” The Corinthians are not the only ones who know this).
- But he goes on to argue, it’s a substandard knowledge that they have!.
read v 1 b. It is hot air knowledge…. Knowledge is important, and Paul agrees with them on this. But it is their knowledge has led to pride. You’ve heard the saying, “A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous.” It’s a bit like that.
Their knowledge is…. incomplete.
Their knowledge is incomplete, partly because all knowledge is incomplete. So there is no point priding ourselves on what we do not know. (v2- read).
Although the word is not mentioned here by Paul, we might want to make a distinction between knowledge and “WISDOM”. The Corinthians lack wisdom. Wise people have knowledge, but they are humble, because they know that there is so much yet to know.
But their knowledge is incomplete, because they lack LOVE. verse 3 (read)- Verse 3. On the contrary… read v 3. Love is missing!!!
Love is the missing ingredient to their knowledge. Love is essential. This verse anticipates what Paul will say later on in 1 Cor 13- read vv 1-2… and so on.
Notice: He doesn’t say what the Corinthians would probably want him to say- “If anyone knows God, or about God, he is known by God”
But Paul says- “If anyone LOVES God, (not know, not know about, but LOVES GOD), he is known by God”
Is this new? They should know it Jesus himself, summed up the law- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and ……, and love your neighbour as yourself.
In vv 4- 6, Paul spells out what is known, by them.
He says to them “We know this…!”(He is speaking here, in fact in this whole chapter, to the “knowledgeable ones”. Those who are puffed up.)
And the purpose of Paul saying what he does here is to disarm the Corinthians of their intellectual ammunition at this point isn’t he?
“He knows what they know”.
He will go on to say in verse 7, “however, not all possess this knowledge, and so another principle kicks in right here… which is love”.
But back to verse 4…So what is this knowledge that they have, (and he has!, and which is true)?
3. Concerning the eating of food offered to Idols,
i. “we know” vv 4-6
- An idol is nothing in the world
If you’ve been down to Eastlakes, and seen the big idol behind the shops, fenced up so no one can vandalise it….
Been into one of the Chinese restaurants at Kingsford- with the shrine in the corner of the room.
Paul says…
It is nothing.
It is a block of wood, or stone, or metal. It sits there….and there is no power at all. It cannot defend itself… it cannot move…
We don’t have any buddhas at our place, or Chinese dragons. But if we did, it wouldn’t worry me.
I know a Christian lady who is Chinese, and she wouldn’t buy any furniture with the little dragons on them, because she thought they might bring her bad luck. But they have no power. There is no theological reason, to be scared of them. They have “no real existence”.
Isaiah 40.
Isaiah 40:18-25 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Secondly… – There is no God but one.
Read vv 5-6.
The most well known verse for the Jew in the Old Testament is known as the shema.
Deut 6:4.
And the teaching of the New Testament doesn’t refute or change that.
Here it is: God is one. Romans 3:20. God is one. Mark 12:29.
These idols are “so called gods” he says,…
And verse 6 a.
Paul doesn’t explore the relationship between the Father and the Son.
This is the Trinity.
1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 1.
One God.
3 persons.
Notice… – God is the source of all creation. – Jesus is the agent by whom creation was made, and by whom we are made new- the new creation (2 Cor 5:17).
Nicene Creed puts it like this-
“p 139 of prayer book”.
The bottom line: food is food! If it comes in contact with these idols it is not changed, they are nothing… and you “knowledgeable ones know this! and I know this”.
BUT!!!!! or HOWEVER….read v 7.
ii. but not everyone knows
- because of custom/ habit/ that’s the way they have always thought…. – they eat the food that is being spoken of here, as really having been offered to an idol.
And they have “a weak conscience”.
They are definitely Christian, perhaps they are new converts.
They have turned from serving “so-called gods”, from idols to serve the true and living god. They know that God is the King, and they’re taking up their cross to follow Jesus….
But their guts (their conscience- their moral centre) tell them – “if I was to eat that, they have sinned.”
On the mission field it is quite common for converts to find it very hard to rid themselves completely of a belief in witchcraft.
It takes time to change. It may take a lifetime to change.
And so if they eat that food, they think they are in some way participating in idolatry,…. And so their conscience is defiled. (To go against your conscience is to sin).
So…Read v 8- like Jesus, who declared all foods clean in Mark 7..
Those who eat fish on Good Friday. Those who are vegetarian.
Someone asked about fasting at the house party- that’s a helpful little verse to remember.
Notice Paul says it both ways- we are no better off if we eat or don’t eat . Perhaps the stronger Christians thought it brought them nearer to God if they DID eat the food. It showed that he had a full understanding of the truth, and that the idol WAS NOTHING.
They may have said someone was a WORSE Christian if he did not go ahead and eat, WORSE than the Christian who did.
By the way: We could broaden the application of this into other areas…
Does it matter if I wear thongs to church? Does it matter if we sing hymns or choruses… have drums or not have drums….
Does it matter if we have pews or sit on bean bags?
No!…
I’m no worse if I DO those things either. I am no better a Christian if I DO wear my clerical collar or tie. So I’ll wear my clerical collar to Chesalon, I’ll wear it to the Anzac Day service (I did last year- I might not next year). There’s nothing wrong with it, … it’s a peripheral issue for me, for those who know…
Except if there is someone who doesn’t know.
Does it matter if you hold your hands in the air when you sing?…
Doesn’t matter to me….you can pray to God in the toilet if you like.
Except…. For those who do not know… it may matter.
And here Paul is saying: Do what builds others up!
Don’t express your freedom in order to cause offense, or to fan your own self purpose. Especially if it may cause a brother to sin.
Read v 9-11.
So you can have a-
“Strong conscience”
“A weak conscience” and
“A defiled conscience”.
Strong Weak
Strong defiled Weak defiled.
Destroyed.
((Paul is talking in this passage to those with a strong conscience, who I have called “the knowledgeable”,…. to not cause anyone, in particular those with a weak conscience, to sin, and so have a defiled conscience.))
It is good to have strong conscience.
The advantage is you can eat any food. And you are not scared of being near a temple.
This new knowledge comes through correct Bible teaching.
But it is MOST important that our knowledge does not wound others, which it can.
iii. How serious is this?
v 12 (read)
Pretty serious!
“your brother”- not a stranger.
Christ”- no less than our Lord.
“For the sake of whom”- precisely to rescue him from such disaster- which you may jeopardize.
“who died”- not less than that!.
And so where and what you eat is very important.
Paul says- v 13.
(just goes to show how much Paul loved his meat )
Jesus talks about tying a millstone around your neck and casting yourself into the sea if you cause one of these little ones to stumble.
So, they may have knowledge, but there is no love….and that is where their knowledge is deficient!.
Jesus said- If you cause any of these little ones to stumble, it’s better that you tie this millstone around your head and be caste into the water.
Conclusion:
1. Who sort of knowledge do you have?
The hot air type.
The one that says “it’s my right”.
Or wisdom.
The knowledge that leads to love.
James said- 2:19.
2. What are you doing with your knowledge?
Martin Luther had a catchcry that was very helpful-
“A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all”.
Remember it is always easy for the strong Christian to see no harm whatever in their actions.
And while we don’t need to be shackled by the weak, the strong must act with consideration of others and love.
Are you using your knowledge to build up a younger Christian?
Who are the younger Christians around you, and are you discipling them? What are you saying to them, how are you modeling to them?
What impact are you having upon them?
Is there someone you can disciple?
I’m sure there is… and as you do….be patient with your brother.
I am often impatient.
I want people to change overnight.
And I can get frustrated, and fed up,… and even say “well they mustn’t be Christian,… move on Andrew”.
Can you think of someone who you think that of? Pray for them now.
This chapter is a great challenge to be patient. To love.