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All the Good Things
1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
September 16, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kid’s Korner.
The sermon starts at 17:05 in the audio file.
Or, Raising the Right Questions
There is little need for love and wisdom to make decisions when all is law, when “decisions” are made for you already. Likewise there is little need for maturity and sacrifice to make decisions when there isn’t much of anything to decide. It’s when we’re free and when there is an abundance that we really run into a need for self-control.
In the Old Testament God told His people what they were allowed to eat. Other things were not just out of season, they were unclean, and so prohibited by God’s law. In the New Testament, those dietary laws were done away with; believers were and are free to eat as long as they do it with thanks. That freedom, however, caused new (potential) problems. As just one example, what about meat that had (possibly) been offered in worship to an idol?
This also would not have been an issue if there simply was no meat to buy and/or eat. No one could choose wrongly if there was no choice, and no one could be offended that someone chose wrongly because, again, no choices were on the table.
But God didn’t bless the Corinthians with limitations and scarcity. He blessed them with liberty and plenty, which also meant that He blessed them with the possibility of messing it up and also with the possibility of showing theological maturity and affection for others. He provided them with all kinds of ways to fail, which actually were all kinds of ways to love on the body and to glorify Him. He gave them ways to imitate Christ.
We come to finish Paul’s section about eating meat offered to idols, the subject of 1 Corinthians since the beginning of chapter 8. Next time we’ll switch to the apostle’s thoughts on head coverings and hair length, which ought to be fun. For now we get counsel on how to receive all the good things.
The Priority (verses 23-24)
The apostle quoted this true but easily misused motto already in 6:12. Some of the Corinthians used it to declare their liberty and to justify their sins in the body with other persons. Now they may be using it to justify their sins with what they put into their body regardless of other persons. “All things are lawful,” and here it’s in the context of what is lawful to eat, but not all things are helpful. The NASB translates, “not all things are profitable,” and we might ask, Helpful or profitable for what? The second half of verse 23 clarifies, but even the word helpful could be translated as “bringing together.” It might not disobey a specific verse for you to do something, but freedom to do something doesn’t automatically make that something good.
“All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. This is more edification talk, and the context is the building up of the body not the building up of one’s own spiritual life. So, Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. What is the priority? The priority is proactively and freely choosing not to argue for your own way.
The right question is not just is it lawful, but is it beneficial for building up?
The Scenarios (verses 25-30)
In the previous paragraph Paul laid down the law that “you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (10:21). It’s not right to eat meat as worship to an idol. But that’s not the only place of possible contamination. In verses 25-30 Paul gives counsel for a couple other situations.
Buying Meat as a Consumer (verses 25-26)
Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. The alternative would be if you raised your own cattle, but those living and worshipping in the city of Corinth probably weren’t ranching for themselves. So they [...]
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By Trinity Evangel Church1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
September 16, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kid’s Korner.
The sermon starts at 17:05 in the audio file.
Or, Raising the Right Questions
There is little need for love and wisdom to make decisions when all is law, when “decisions” are made for you already. Likewise there is little need for maturity and sacrifice to make decisions when there isn’t much of anything to decide. It’s when we’re free and when there is an abundance that we really run into a need for self-control.
In the Old Testament God told His people what they were allowed to eat. Other things were not just out of season, they were unclean, and so prohibited by God’s law. In the New Testament, those dietary laws were done away with; believers were and are free to eat as long as they do it with thanks. That freedom, however, caused new (potential) problems. As just one example, what about meat that had (possibly) been offered in worship to an idol?
This also would not have been an issue if there simply was no meat to buy and/or eat. No one could choose wrongly if there was no choice, and no one could be offended that someone chose wrongly because, again, no choices were on the table.
But God didn’t bless the Corinthians with limitations and scarcity. He blessed them with liberty and plenty, which also meant that He blessed them with the possibility of messing it up and also with the possibility of showing theological maturity and affection for others. He provided them with all kinds of ways to fail, which actually were all kinds of ways to love on the body and to glorify Him. He gave them ways to imitate Christ.
We come to finish Paul’s section about eating meat offered to idols, the subject of 1 Corinthians since the beginning of chapter 8. Next time we’ll switch to the apostle’s thoughts on head coverings and hair length, which ought to be fun. For now we get counsel on how to receive all the good things.
The Priority (verses 23-24)
The apostle quoted this true but easily misused motto already in 6:12. Some of the Corinthians used it to declare their liberty and to justify their sins in the body with other persons. Now they may be using it to justify their sins with what they put into their body regardless of other persons. “All things are lawful,” and here it’s in the context of what is lawful to eat, but not all things are helpful. The NASB translates, “not all things are profitable,” and we might ask, Helpful or profitable for what? The second half of verse 23 clarifies, but even the word helpful could be translated as “bringing together.” It might not disobey a specific verse for you to do something, but freedom to do something doesn’t automatically make that something good.
“All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. This is more edification talk, and the context is the building up of the body not the building up of one’s own spiritual life. So, Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. What is the priority? The priority is proactively and freely choosing not to argue for your own way.
The right question is not just is it lawful, but is it beneficial for building up?
The Scenarios (verses 25-30)
In the previous paragraph Paul laid down the law that “you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (10:21). It’s not right to eat meat as worship to an idol. But that’s not the only place of possible contamination. In verses 25-30 Paul gives counsel for a couple other situations.
Buying Meat as a Consumer (verses 25-26)
Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. The alternative would be if you raised your own cattle, but those living and worshipping in the city of Corinth probably weren’t ranching for themselves. So they [...]