We are looking here in I Corinthians,
and we are looking in I Corinthians chapter 8. It says, Now as touching
things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think
that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet his he ought
to know. But if any man love God, the
same is known of him, or the same is loved of him. As concerning,
therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice
unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and
that there is none other God but one. For though there be
that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there
be gods many and lords many, But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. Howbeit there
is not in every man that knowledge. For some, with conscience of
the idol, unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an
idol, and their conscience being weak, is defiable. But meat commendeth
us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither
if we eat not are we the worst. But take heed, lest by any means
this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that
are weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge, sit
at meat in the idol's temple. Shall not the conscience of him
which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered
to idols? And through thy knowledge shall
the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. But when ye
sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience,
ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother
to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest
I make my brother to offend." This is an interesting chapter
and it is just keeping really in context
of what Paul has been writing to the Corinthians about. Really,
he is covering the same thing. I mean, he is really dealing with different subjects
but always coming back to the same point, which is you are not your
own. You are bought with a price.
You belong to Christ. And so it is not about what you
think is good or what you want to do or whatever. That is not
the important thing. And so he says, Now as touching
things offered unto idols. Now evidently there have been
some questions among the brethren therein Corinth because you have
to understand that Corinth was a very pagan city and it was
as were most all of the Greek cities. They were full of idol
worship, worshipped many gods and all of these things, had
all these temples and what not where they were to this god and
to that god. where there was just a lot of
religiosity. It's kind of like today, there's
just, there's religion on every corner. I mean, you can't go,
you can't go anywhere that there's not a temple of religion somewhere
around you. I mean, it'd be, you'd be hard
pressed anywhere within a, I'd say a five mile radius that you
won't find some sort of a place of religion of one type or another. Now I'm not saying they're all
the same thing, but I'm saying that's just the way it is. Man
is a very religious creature. But religion and spirituality
and spiritual worship are not one and the same thing. They
are two separate things. And that's one of the things
that Paul's getting at here, is he's saying don't confuse
true worship with external motions and things that people do. He
said, as touching things offer to idols. Now evidently, I believe
some had written to him concerning these things and asked him some
questions about how they'll handle this. As touching things offer
unto idols. There was, as we say, when these
Corinthians were converted, of course, they didn't automatically
just know everything that they came to know, did they, any more
than you did or I did. I mean, when a man comes to Christ,
he's pretty ignorant really of what's going on. The only thing
he knows is that he's a sinner and Christ is the Savior and
he needs help. And that's really basically where
he's at when he begins. He begins to cry out, O Lord,
help me. And the Lord in His mercy does
hear the cry of sinners. But He does cause them to learn
things as they go along. So everybody isn't just birthed
into the kingdom grand theologian with all the answers to all spiritual
questions. There are many questions that
arise in the minds and hearts of God's people that are answered
in the Word of God. And that is why it is vital that
we look at the Word of God. And so Paul is teaching these
Corinthians who were all steeped in these pagan religions. And
so he says, now as touching things offered to idols, that is, the
meats and things. Now when they offered these meats
and these offerings in these temples, then they had feasts
and they would eat the things that were offered. And so that
was what he was talking about. He said, as touching things offered
to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. That is, every
man has some knowledge. As when the Lord teaches, if
he doesn't know anything but that, he is a sinner. He has
some knowledge, okay? We do have some knowledge, but
our walk with Christ is not about what we know. Now that is a hard
thing for men to get to grips with, isn't it? Because we would
like to think that if we know the Bible real good, then that's
a sign that we are a good But we're walking with Christ. I
mean, if we can quote the Bible, we're really cutting the mustard. I mean, we're really faithful. So what he's saying is we have
knowledge, and knowledge is not a bad thing. He's not saying
knowledge is a bad thing, but he says the problem with knowledge
is that we get to thinking that knowledge is the be-all and end-all. And there's plenty of people
today that think that. They think if you have your doctrine
absolutely right, then you're right and you can stand on that
doctrine and that's just going to be the sign that you're walking
with the Lord because you're walking in sound doctrine. Well,
dear brethren, you can have sound doctrine and according to what
Paul is saying here, still be in error, concerning your walk
with Christ. Because he said knowledge puffeth
up, but he said charity or love edifies. And so he's saying if
you're going to have to choose between knowing something and
loving your brethren, loving your brethren is more important
than knowing something. Now there's a lot of people who
wouldn't want you to say that. I know a lot of people that wouldn't
want that to be said. But that's a fact. Knowledge
puffs it up. It can make you prideful and
it can cause you to fall out with one another. But he said
love trumps that. Love is more important. It's
more important to love your brethren than it is to know something. Charity builds up. Now if any
man thinks that he knows anything, he doesn't know anything like
he ought to know it. Now it doesn't make a difference
what you know. You don't know everything that there is to know. So, I mean, you can know a lot
of stuff, but you're still ignorant. That's what he said. Regardless
of how much you know, you'll still be ignorant, because you
can't gain in all the knowledge. But you see, there is such a
thing as perfect love. Perfect love is that where in
honor we prefer one another, esteeming one another above ourselves. Perfect love is when we are willing
to lay down our lives for our brethren's sake. How do we know
that? Because Christ demonstrated perfect love, did He not? And
He gave Himself for the brethren. He laid down His life for their
benefit. He demonstrated to us what perfect
love is. Now Christ being the Word of
God, He knew all things, but He did not show us, He did not
manifest the redemptive work on the cross of Christ in order
to teach us what He knew, did He? He stood at the Sermon on
the Mount and He preached and He told them many things that
He knew. But you see, when it came down
to demonstrating what the love of God is, that was something
that was of a more practical nature and He showed what that
was. And so that is what He is saying
here. Knowledge puffs up. But if any man thinks he knows
anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. So do
not hold on to knowledge as being the key to your walk with Christ. But if any man loved God, the
same is known of him. That is, if the love of God is
in a man, then he will love God. And that's what John said, was
it not? He said, my children, these things
write unto you that ye might love one another. That's the
emphasis that we would place upon all the things. I mean,
what good is it to know sound doctrine if we don't love the
brethren? It's not any good. It's not of
any value to you. And that's what he's saying here.
And if any man loved God, the same is known of him. How does
a man come to have the love of God? Because he first loved us. He knew us. He knew who we were. And so that's where the important
thing is resting. As concerning, therefore, now
having said that, keeping that straight in your mind, as concerning,
therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice
unto idols, we know Now we've got this in our mind. We know
that an idol is nothing. We know that. We've been taught
that. And as a man has walked with
the Lord long enough, he comes to be more convinced of that.
What he's speaking about here, as he's going to say when he's
talking about the weak or brethren, he's going to say that not in
every man is that same knowledge. That is, not in every one of
the brethren. Now, he's talking about the brethren
here. He's not talking about the world. He's talking about
how their relationship to the brethren is. And he said, As
concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered
in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the
world. There is none other god but one.
It doesn't make any difference. There's no conflict. If somebody
wants to raise up the temple of Diana over here and they want
to go in there and offer sacrifices to Diana or whoever, that's no
skin off our nose, is it? Because we don't care what they
do. We know there's one God. It's not like here we've got
our God and there God's competing with ours. I mean, people get
all up in arms about the Muslims. Now, I don't like some of the
stuff the Muslims do myself, but brethren, I don't care what
the Muslims do. I mean, I don't want them going
around hurting people. I'm not saying that. But the
Muslims, because they talk about all of them, what difference
does that make to me? There's one God. There's not two or three, so
we're not worried about all of taking over, are we? What do
we care? You know, that's the way it's
always been and it's always going to be that way. Our concern might
be in the natural realm of what these crazy jokers are going
to do, because they are nuts. I mean, even the Scripture says
that they would be wild men in the earth. So we're not surprised
at that, but we're not worried about it from that respect, nor
do we have any regard to it. For though there be those that
are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods
many and lords many in the world, there's all kinds of gods. People
have every kind you can think of. And most times it's the one
they like the best. In other words, they line them
up on a shelf and they say, well, you know, I think I'm going to
worship that one. That's just the way it is in
the world. But we know there is but one true and living God.
And we know that His name is Jesus Christ. His name is the
Father. His name is the Holy Ghost. He
has shown us Himself in Jesus Christ. And we worship Him. He said, I am the Father of one.
So we know there is but one God. And we worship Him and not another. But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. That is what we
come teaching. That is the truth. That is the
knowledge that we have. We have that knowledge. Okay? There is not in every man that
knowledge or that level of knowledge, that complete understanding.
He said, being strong in the faith, we know there is but one
God. And we don't have any regard
to the idol. It's just nothing to us. It doesn't mean anything.
We're not concerned that this idol is somehow going to taint
us. It can't hurt us. There's nothing that an idol
can do that's going to harm us. I mean, we can hold one in our
hand. We can lay it back and we can put it on the shelf at
the house. It is not going to matter. We do not have any regard
to it. It is nothing. Howbeit there
is not in every man that knowledge, for some with conscience of the
idol. Now not every man who has named
the name of Christ and who has come into the faith and is yet
weak in the faith and is yet a weaker brother Everybody doesn't
have that clear understanding. They might still have a regard
under that idol. And so it's not a good thing
if they should put one of these idols up on their shelf. I mean,
I can put any one of them on any shelf in my house. It ain't
going to affect me at all. But you see, a weaker brother
might put that idol up there, or he might come into my house
and see that idol on my And he might say, oh, well, there is
something worthy of worship in this idol because I see him as
brother and he's got this idol on the shelf and I have regard
to it. Well, I'm going to continue to
have regard to it. That's what he's talking about
here. He said, There is not in every man that knowledge, for
some with conscience unto the idol, unto this hour, eat it
as a thing offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak
is defiled. In other words, they eat this
meat and they are defiled by it because of the fact that they
have regard to it, that it is somehow or other connected to
some superstition or worship of another God besides the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so he says here, he says,
But meat commendeth us not to God, For neither if we eat are
we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse." Now,
if a man is washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and it doesn't
matter if he eats the meat or not, even if he's a weaker brother,
that meat cannot condemn him if he's in Christ. But what eating
that meat can do is wound his weak conscience and cause him
to be confused about the things of God and not be able to embrace
the purity of the Gospel in its truth. And so he says here, it
doesn't make any difference whether you eat the meat or whether you
don't eat the meat. It's just an immaterial thing.
It's just meat. It doesn't make any difference
what it is. But he said, Take heed lest by
any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them
that are weak." Now you can eat the meat. He says you can eat
the meat. You can eat the meat all day
long. It doesn't make any difference. It's just meat. It doesn't make
any difference if somebody offered it to an idol or whatever. But
he said, if you know, that a brother who has a weak conscience about
this matter would be emboldened to eat the meat because he saw
you eating meat and he said, well, hey, he's eating meat so
it must be okay to have regard to these idols. So he said, look
here, even if you won't eat the meat and it's good meat, tastes
good, somebody really barbecued it up nice or whatever and you
really were looking forward to eating some meat, he said, don't
you eat it. Well, Paul, you said it didn't
make any difference if we ate it or not. It doesn't make any
difference as far as you're concerned, but it does make a difference
as far as he's concerned because of the fact that what you do
would set forth a stumbling block and cause the weak brother to
partake of something and wound his own conscience and he'd not
be confused about this matter. But take heed, lest by any means
this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that
are weak. For if any man see thee which
has knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple. Shall not
the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those
things which are offered to idols?" He said, you can go down there
and eat the meat and sit in the meeting if you want to. It's
not going to cause you to be condemned before Almighty God
because you are free in Christ. But he said it would be a dumb
thing to do, because all the brethren do not have that same
understanding. And if they see you going in
there, because it is just me to you, they might go there because
they have regard to some extent for what is going on there. For
if any man see thee which has knowledge, sit it meet in the
idols' temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak
be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And
through thy knowledge," remember what he said? You know it doesn't
make any difference. It's an immaterial thing, but
because you Do what you know is okay to do without regard
to how it might affect your brethren, even though you have the liberty
to do it. And it can't bring you or him
into condemnation, yet it can cause, what does he say here,
cause your weak brother to perish. Now does it mean that he's going
to perish eternally because you ate some meat? No, it's talking
about the fact that he is going to perish, that is, he's going
to be wounded. He's going to be hindered. He's
going to be destroyed in the walk of faith, that is, because
his conscience is weak towards this thing and you've emboldened
him to do something that's caused him to go even further than he
should go. And he's confused in his mind
and he's troubled about these things and does not have a clear
view of the redemption that we have in Christ and who Christ
is. And through thy knowledge shall
the weak brother perish for whom Christ died. Do you want to help
your brethren or do you want to hinder them? He says. Why
would you want to hinder them? Not at all. If you love them,
even though you can do it. Now, this is a point, you know,
regardless of what it is in our Christian liberty that we can
do. Paul said all things are lawful
to me. Remember he said that just a
few weeks ago. We were looking at that scripture.
He said all things are lawful to me, but he said all things
are not expedient, that is useful. They are not beneficial to the
brethren. He says I won't do anything that would cause my
brother to stumble, even though I can do it if it causes a weak
brother to stumble. But when you so sin against the
brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. How do we know that? Because
Christ is in the brethren, is He not? Didn't He say that He
would dwell in His people? So if you sin against the brethren,
if you wound their conscience, if you are not mindful of their
well-being, You're sinning against Christ. You're not just, you
know, wounding their conscience. You're actually, as it were,
spitting in the face of Christ. Wherefore if meat make my brother
to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest
I make my brother to offend. Because I don't want to offend
my brother. Now he's not talking about hurting his feelings. That's
not what he means. You know what I'm saying? I don't
want to hurt his feelings. Well, now, obviously, we don't
want to hurt his feelings, but it's more involved than that. You know, it's not just we don't
want to hurt his feelings. We don't want him to be emboldened
to walk in things that are ungodly. And so, therefore, we desire
that he not see us doing things that might enable him to think
in that fashion. Now, you know, there's a lot
of applications that can be made with this. And I think that,
you know, there's many things that arise in our lives that
we don't necessarily all agree on as being good or bad things. We have liberty, dear brethren,
to partake of or abstain from anything that our conscience
dictates to us that we should abstain from or partake of. But
regardless of what that is, we don't have anything that we partake
of that we should partake of or abstain from that would cause
our brethren to be harmed in any way if we esteem them above
ourselves. And that's exactly what he said.
We need to be mindful of that. And it's not just us. He says it's not you. You can
do anything you want to. Eat it or don't eat it. It doesn't
matter. But it does matter, doesn't it? It matters because of the
brethren's name. And so may the Lord give us love
one for the other, because that's what Paul's getting at here.
You have to be using the illustration of the idle meat, but the idle
meat is nothing. It's just an illustration that
he's using, but it's a very effective one. And so we must learn from
it that we are not those that do things that we do because
we just want to do them. We're bought with a price. And
if we're bought with a price over our brethren, and if we
would sin against our brethren, then we would sin against Christ
according to what he says. May the Lord help us.