Church Sermon - January 29, 2006

SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Gospel Lesson; Mark 1:21-28
Old Testament Lesson; Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Sermon Text; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

A little explanation is needed, before jumping right into our sermon text for today. That is tying in all the scripture readings and also explaining the picture on the front of our bulletin this morning. Remember, as Pastor Bartels read our Old Testament Lesson, it was Moses speaking to the people. Moses said that someday, a prophet would be raised up from their own brothers, who would speak the word of truth, of God’s Word. That found its fulfillment in our Gospel Lesson for today, as Jesus came into the temple speaking with authority. He spoke as one who not only knew what God wanted to be said, but actually spoke what God wanted to be said. And, Jesus proved He was the Prophet. He was God, through the miracle He performed. He caused that evil spirit to be taken out of that man.

This then gets us to the picture on the front of your bulletin.

The picture that you see is actually a picture of Jesus and Peter. But, as you look at that picture, you might say, "That does not look like Peter to me. It looks like the devil." You may recall at the end of Jesus’ ministry, He predicted His death to His disciples. Peter stood up and said, "Never Lord, this will never happen to you."

And Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Peter, here had his own self-interest in mind, trying to prevent Jesus to go to the cross for us. When, in reality, it was imperative and it was important for Jesus to go to the cross for us, to win the forgiveness of our sin. Here, Peter had his self-interest in mind, instead of the Will of God. By doing so, he threw a stumbling block in Jesus’ path, trying to cause Him to sin.

Just like Peter threw that stumbling block before Jesus, there are times in our lives, (maybe even unaware, unaware that we are doing it), we may throw a stumbling block in front of a brother or sister in Christ.

This then gets us to our Sermon Text for today, which is from the Epistle Lesson. The Epistle Lesson is a little difficult, because this teaching in scripture is called Christian Freedom, or adiaphora. Adiaphora are things that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God in scripture. We may call them ‘gray areas’ in our Christian living.

Oh how I wish that everything were ‘black and white.’ There are many things in scripture that are black and white, for example, the Ten Commandments. God tells us, "You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal." Those are ‘black and white, cut and dried.’

But, there are many areas in life that are ‘gray’ by nature. In our lives as Christians, how do we go about handling those ‘gray areas’ of life, for example, the kinds of movies we go to see or the drinking of alcoholic beverages? Other ‘gray areas’ that may arise in the church are, do we have red carpet, or do we have blue carpet? Do we have pews or chairs? Do we worship God in this location on Milwaukee Street, or do we worship God in a different location, on Holy Cross Way? Those are all ‘gray areas’ in scripture, which are neither commanded nor forbidden by God.

Our text then, really sets forth the dos and the don’ts in our Christian living. And before we get into those specific dos and don’ts, I want to start with maybe an illustration.

Let’s say that you invite a family to come to your house for dinner. They arrive at your house; and are walking up the sidewalk to your front door, when they startle a skunk. (You know what happens when a skunk is startled. It lets off an odor.) As that family comes rushing into your house, the odor also comes rushing into your house.

Let’s say that you go and grab a can of Lysol, and you start spraying that Lysol throughout the living room. And as you are doing that, your friend, whom you invited over to dinner, has an allergic reaction to the Lysol you are spraying.

What do you do? I will give you four options. You choose one.

I think that we would all agree that we would do letter B. Out of Christian love for our friend, we would let that odor continue to be there, and we would take whatever it took, medically speaking, to help them out.

That is what Paul is talking about in our text for today. He is giving us the dos and the don’ts of Christian living, as ‘gray areas’ arise in our lives. There are really two "don’ts" that Paul sets forth, and one "do."

The first thing Paul tells us is, don’t show off your Christian knowledge. In the very first few verses of our text, Paul says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

A situation had arisen, in Corinth. Corinth was a pagan city, and when Christianity came to Corinth issues arose because the pagan temples were still there. The heathen people continued to bring sacrifices into those pagan temples. As they brought that sacrifice in, part of it was consumed in the fire, part of it was given to the priest as payment, part of it was kept by the participant, and the priest would even take a part of what was given to him and sell it to the meat market.

And so the question arose to Christians, "Is it ok to eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol? Is it ok? Or is it not ok?"

Paul from our text reminds us, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." He goes on to lay out two very important principles. One, there is no such thing as an idol. Oh, people may say that there are many gods, many lords, and many idols, but they really are nothing, because the earth is the LORD’s and everything in it. Secondly, there is only one God and that is the Triune God. And so, to you who are strong Christians, you know that it is ok to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols, but don’t show off your Christian knowledge, particularly if you are around those who are weaker in their faith.

To this very point, the former president of Northwestern College in Watertown, WI, had this to say in his commentary on 1 Corinthians. "Even weak Christians may know that idols are really nothing. But head knowledge and heart knowledge are not always in tune. Knowing about something does not always make us feel right about doing it."

And so, there are times when we need to set our Christian knowledge aside for the good of another believer and out of love for them. In Luke 17:2 Jesus said it would be better for a millstone to be hung around our neck and for us to be tossed into the midst of the sea than to cause someone who believes in Him (one of these little ones) to sin. Not only would we (a strong Christian) be causing them (a weak Christian) to sin against their conscious, but we also would be sinning against Christ. Therefore, don’t show off your Christian knowledge.

Also, Paul in our text for today said we should not show off our Christian freedom, either. There have been times in my ministry, here at Holy Cross, where I have heard a phrase similar to this, "I am free to do whatever I want to do. If others don’t like it, that’s their problem."

Well, that’s showing off our Christian freedom. The rest of the story from our text for today, (which is, is it ok to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols), concludes by Paul saying to those who are strong in their faith, "You know it is ok to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. But, let’s say you are invited to go to a temple and eat that meat. It is ok for you to do that. But, let’s say, while you are doing that, someone who is weaker in his or her faith sees you doing that. They think it is wrong. But, because they see you doing it, they join in as well. By doing so, they sin against their own conscious and therefore sin against Christ."

Here, Paul says that out of love for your brother and sister in Christ, you shouldn’t do it. You should set it aside. And while you know that it is not wrong, out of your Christian love for them, you shouldn’t do that. Don’t show off your Christian freedom.

What a tragedy it is, though, if we are to live by that motto, "I don’t care what other people think about what I am doing. That is their problem." Carlton Toppe (the former president of Northwestern College) also addresses that when he says, "Every Christian who feels that he may exercise his Christian freedom when and where he pleases should read 1 Corinthians 8:9 – 13, slowly and thoughtfully. Burdening the conscious of a weak brother can have fearful consequences. How dare strong Christians offend their weaker brothers and endanger their soul’s salvation, when it cost the Son of God His life, to redeem them and make them His own? How can they be so indifferent to the salvation of their brother’s souls?"

He concludes by saying, "To have a friend lost to the church and to salvation because we insisted on our Christian liberty, what a tragedy."

While it may not be a sin to do ‘x, y, or z’, out of our Christian love for other people in the faith, we should not throw a stumbling block in their way, because by doing so, we cause them to sin against Christ.

Going back to the picture of Peter, he threw a stumbling block in front of Christ, in essence trying to prevent Him from going to the cross on our behalf. Thanks be to God that Jesus didn’t fall over that stumbling block.

Thanks be to God, that even though we have thrown a stumbling block in front of somebody else, (and we have done all that), that Jesus did continue to go to the cross for us to forgive us.

That act of salvation by Jesus is a complete act for us. At the cross, through the shedding of Jesus’ blood, our forgiveness was won. And salvation is ours. It is a free gift that has been given to us!

May the principal in our lives be to speak the truth in love that we may all grow up into Him who is the head that is Christ.

Two chapters later Paul did come straight out and answer that question, ‘what about meat sacrificed to idles? Is it ok to eat that?’ I am going to close with that section of scripture that answers the question.

What a wonderful application that is to us in our lives. Paul says, "Everything is permissible. But not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. Eat anything sold in the market, without raising question of conscious. For the earth is the LORD’s and everything in it. If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you, without raising questions of conscious. But, if anyone says to you, ‘This has been offered to an idol.’ Do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscious sake, the other man’s conscious not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscious? If I take part in the meal with thanksgiving, why am I denounced for something I thank God for?"

Here is the principal that we can now apply to our lives.

"So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, even as I try to please everybody in everyway. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I followed the example of Christ."

In our Christian living, as those ‘gray areas’ in life come up, out of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will want to live and speak the truth in love.

Amen.

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