Dear Lighthouse,
Last Sunday in class we touched on our freedom
in Christ. Several examples were brought up.
It is a large issue. I thought it would be good if I took a moment to
bring out a few more Scriptures for you to consider when making these difficult decisions and judgments on how to exercise
your freedom under the law of grace.
I Corinthians 8 gives us an excellent
example to wrestle through. It seems that Corinth was a very pagan city. They had many feasts held in honor or their made-up false gods. It was such an imbedded practice in their society that it was difficult for those converted to Christianity
to separate themselves from the parties in which food, especially meat, was sacrificed to those gods. Secondly, only part of the animal sacrificed to the false gods was burned up as an offering. Much of the meat was sold in the marketplace. It was nearly
impossible for the consumer to know if it was meat that had been sacrificed to a false god or not.
So, with this in mind, Paul writes to Christians
who struggled with the dilemma: should we eat meat in Corinth or not? The question was dividing the Body of Christ, the Church, in Corinth.
Some believers said that it did not matter at all if the meat was sacrificed to idols.
In fact, they didn’t see anything wrong with eating it right in front of the alter. Why? Well, their reasoning was that there is only One true
God. So, in their mind all the ceremony was irrelevant – they just wanted
a good steak! They ate with a clear conscience, praising the only God for their
food. Other believers felt that if the food was used as a sacrifice it became
in essence ‘unclean’ and should not be eaten by Christians. They
believed God would be offended. They also did not want to condone, by their actions,
the practice of pagan sacrifice to false gods. So, they refused to eat the meat
and thought the other group that did eat was sinning by their conduct.
Tough one.
Sounds similar to our drinking discussion. So what is the solution? Who’s right? As it turns out, both
groups of believers are right and both are wrong. I know, you don’t like
gray areas. Me neither, but follow Paul’s argument in chapter 8. The question comes down to how we exercise our freedom we have in Christ.
Paul makes it clear in Galatians 5 that
“it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” We are free
from the old law and the curse that comes with law. We live under the law of
grace – bought and paid for by Jesus Christ Himself (see Rom. 3:21-22).
So, we do indeed have the freedom to judge many things for ourselves as to whether they are sin or not. If your conscience was clear on the issue you could eat meat in Corinth.
You would have decided in your mind that God was God. No matter what the
pagans did with the meat it was from God and good to eat.
However, there is a catch. (You knew it!) Consider the caveat Paul mentions as he attacks
a common argument given by the ‘eating group’ we mentioned. “’Everything
is permissible for me’ – but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything
is permissible for me’ – but I will not be mastered by anything.”
(I Cor. 6:12) This is an excellent passage to ponder. In Christ we do have enormous freedom, BUT we should consider if what we are doing is beneficial or strengthens
our relationship with God. If it is neither – if it is detrimental or overpowers
God’s influence on us – then it is a dangerous thing and could easily lead to sin.
Paul and Peter both write essentially the same
warning. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” (Gal. 5:13, see also I Peter 2:16) The
message is plain; we are not to seek out sin because we think we can get away with it.
We are not to abuse our freedom under grace any more than we would want our child to abuse the freedom we allow them.
So, how does this apply to I Cor. 8? Well, Paul argues in vs. 9, “be careful, however, that the exercise of your
freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” Those that
understood there was only One God we right and justified in eating the meat from the markets.
However, it caused the weaker brothers among them to stumble and Paul says that was wrong. For the sake of the weak, the more knowledgeable Christians should exercise restraint in their freedom
so as to not cause another believer to fall.
I’ll be honest with you; this is a tough
issue. It is especially tough for the stronger brother. We don’t like our freedoms impinged upon. But for the
sake of Christ we must be willing to consider the effects of our behavior and decisions on the weaker brothers among us. This includes the issues we raised Sunday of drinking, bikinis, going to bars, and
so on. We demonstrate our love for one another by sacrificing our freedom sometimes
for the good of another.
Jesus ate and drank with the tax collectors and
sinners, as we read in Matt. 9. He did this to point out the exclusivity of the
Pharisees and to bring home the point of why He came here – to minister to the needy.
Unfortunately, our motives for doing things are not always so pure. All
three factors must be weighed when we are faced with possible sticky situations: what are we doing, why are we doing it, and
how might it affect the weaker brothers among us? And then thank God for His grace when making tough choices!
I do invite you to think about these issues. They are important and relevant to each of us.
But one last thought, if I may. Our freedom is a precious gift. But the nature of a gift is that it is free to the receiver but costly to the giver. Right? Well, our freedom of choice was paid for by the stripes
on Jesus. By his beating and death we have been counted as righteous and are
covered by grace. So, when Paul writes in vs. 12 of I Cor. 8, “when
you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ”, it should really
give us a moment of pause.
Don’t forget your freedom in Christ includes
the freedom to say, “no” to yourself for the benefit of others. It
includes the freedom to show mercy and kindness. Your freedom is the freedom
to love as Christ loved and give yourself up for the sake of others.
This is a tough concept. But this is called being a Christian. I encourage you all
to continue to show your love and kindness to one another this week. And I do
mean it, thanks for making my ministry with you a joy because of the love you freely give each day.
Serving with you,
Evan