Christian Liberty (Part 4)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrop. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

God’s Love as the Basis for Christian Liberty

See we forget how God has loved us and when we forget that, then we forget how we're to treat other people. But if we remember how God has loved us, then we say, you know what, nothing is too big of a deal.

Of course I love these people. You say, well yeah, but these people we're supposed to love are weak, they're scruffy, sheep sometimes bite. Well, I wonder how God loved us. So let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 8 because I think that was important to be reminded just how much God loves us because the whole passage is about in light of God's love, how do we treat other Christians who are weaker, who are scruffy, who bite?

It's hard to kick them because they're God's sheep and so you have to just love them. 1 Corinthians chapter 8, that was all my introduction, but I loved it. Not because it's my introduction, because it's the love of God.

Humility, Love, and the Limits of Christian Knowledge

1 Corinthians chapter 8, dealing with the exercise of liberty, can I do it? Wrong question. Should I do it? A few watchwords in review. Watchword one when it comes to gray areas in Christian liberty and we can apply this to schooling and how to feed babies and Halloween and Christmas trees or wherever else the church has difference of opinion.

Number one, found in verse one, when it comes to Christian liberty, as we saw two weeks ago, be humble, not proud. Verse one, now concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge.

Number two, build up instead of puff up, found in the second part of verse one. This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Christians who love others will be humble. They want to try to build up other people instead of just learn for no reason.

You learn to serve other people. Number three, we saw in review, remember that none of you have arrived. Verse two of 1 Corinthians 8, if anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

There's plenty for us to learn. By the way, if this anecdote will help, I don't know if it will or not, but I've changed my views in the last 14 years, not so much theologically, but on liberty issues.

Because when you first learn something, you think, I have the freedom to do it. And then later you think, you know what, but maybe I just shouldn't. We all can learn. Number four, remind yourself that what you are, you are by divine grace alone.

Verse three, if anyone loves God, he's known by God. That is to say, God knows you first and then you respond. Fifth watchword for gray areas, you can study the Bible to remove unneeded offenses. That is to say, if your conscience doesn't match with the Bible, then study the Bible so your conscience and the Bible are the same.

And he does this here for those who are caught up with the whole idol thing. Verse four through six, therefore as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and that there's no God but one.

And then Paul gives a little Bible study here. For although there may be many so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there's one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.

And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. So now we move to chapter eight, verses seven through 13, and we'll give you two more watchwords and finish this section up today.

Weak Christians and the Responsibility of the Strong

Let me read the passage first and I want you to see how many times you see the word weakness found. And before you start looking for weakness, let me say this right now. I'm going to say it about five times today, hopefully.

Convicting truth, ready for the conviction now before we read it? Paul doesn't say to the weak people, grow up. Paul says to the strong people, to the mature people, you're the ones who are responsible.

You are the ones. And at Bethlehem Bible Church, I think we have a lot of strong, mature people. So when others come in who differ on liberties, who are more immature in a certain area, or disagree about this, that, or the others, our propensity in the flesh would be, you people just need to grow up.

This is how we do things around here. This is what chapter four says in 1689, and you better get on it right now. You're going to see that Paul doesn't do that at all. You tell the younger kids in your family to be the leaders or the older ones.

Here, all the onus is on strong. If you think you're the strong Christian around here, then you ought to be the most patient. You say, yeah, but that new person that came to the church, they're kind of obnoxious, and that new person, they don't know this, that, or the other, and they don't do things the way we do, and they're loud, and they're this, and they're that, and they just kind of bug me.

Well, to me, you're just preaching a huge sermon, and that huge sermon needs to be to yourself. You are the one that needs to love them. It's always the stronger. So let's take a look at the passage. How many times can you count the word weak?

However, not all possess this knowledge, but some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God.

We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered to idols?

And so by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Christian Liberty Governed by Christian Love

Watch word number six. Don't forget about weak Christians. Number seven, in your liberty, yes, I have the liberty to drink and to smoke and to do all these things. In your liberty, in a gray area, remember weak Christians.

See, what we do when we first grab liberty, we say, you know, look what I can do. When I first got saved, I got saved out of a very sinful lifestyle, a very loose lifestyle, a very non-moral lifestyle.

And so then when you get saved, if this is biblical theology here, and you're an amoral person, and you get saved, sometimes you go too far the other way, don't you? If you're a fundamentalist and then you get saved, sometimes you go too far this way.

And there's that pendulum, and eventually, you know, when we're dead, we're right there. But we're slowly getting there, closer and closer. And so you go, you know what, when I first got saved, I pretty much trashed all my albums.

Kids, you know what albums are? And all this stuff, and I can't see this kind of movie, I can't do that, all these things. But the focus wasn't even on those things. You know, the focus was on me and my, what I believed.

And then I started to learn, and then I thought, you know what, I can do that. If I want to let my kid go trick-or-treating, I could. If I want to let my kids bob for apples, you know, I don't tell my kid, that's a satanic origin.

Every apple represents the cosmos dominated by Satan. And when you put your head under, you're baptizing your head into the unholy trinity. But I'm thinking, you know, I have freedom. I have freedom to do this thing.

I don't think I've ever let my kids go trick-or-treating. But one year, by the way, we let them dress up as Christian martyrs. It was Kim's idea, but I'll take credit for it. It was a great idea. And she had tracts from the Fox's Book of Martyrs.

And they would knock on the door and they'd say, trick-or-truth. And they're like, who are you? You know, we've been killed by the Roman Catholic Church. And, you know, I don't know if they said that.

Here's a tract. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, through Scripture alone. But my point is this. Okay. My point is this. You guys all know if you're visiting, we laugh for a second because then I'm going to kill you.

Hardy, har, har, bang. But the focus is on me. I have this liberty. If I want to put some dried up leaves in a pipe, light them on fire and suck in the smoke, maybe I have liberty to do that. Maybe if I say, you know what, if I have communion wine and it's really wine and it's not going to damn me and all these things, it's me, me, me.

I have the liberty. I have the liberty. I now have learned from the Bible, I've got liberty to do this. What Paul is saying, though, friends, we live in a community. This has nothing to do about the I.

When you learn a liberty, great. If it's true, wonderful. But don't ever take your eye off the other person that may be weaker, that may be just the new Christian, because you don't live in a vacuum. And in Christianity today, that's exactly what we end up doing.

You can go online and do the iChurch kind of thing. And when you want to get baptized, you bring your little Skype deal in with your laptop, put it on the counter, and you say in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and you baptize yourself, and everybody online claps.

Time for communion. You get a little juice, and you get a little bread, and everybody gets there together and huddles in the Skype and do the communion. Friends, we have body life here. And body life is always not what I could do, not what I should do, not what I must do, but forget the I's.

I have to think about other people because that's exactly what Jesus did, looking at these other folks. So he says, don't forget the weak ones. Do you see it in verse 7? I already read it, but I'll read it again.

However, not all possess this knowledge. See, back in chapter 8, verse 1, yeah, we've all got this knowledge. No, not all possess this knowledge. Some, through former association with idols, eat food as if really offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled.

Not every Christian is mature when it comes to these things. He really thinks this is going to be offered to an idol, and he's eating this food offered to an idol. He doesn't say weak change. You know why he doesn't say weak change?

Let me ask you this way. Should the weak change? Yes, but you know what? As they sit underneath the Word, they will change. The Word of God powerfully performs its work in those who believe. As Paul said to Thessalonians, they will learn, they will grow, because if you don't learn and grow, I know something about you.

You're not a Christian. It might be baby steps, but you will learn and grow. So strong Christians love the weak Christian. The final watchword is found in verses 8 to the end of the chapter. Christian liberty must be governed by Christian love.

If you think you have liberty, you must be governed by love of other people. Love in the Christian word, in the Christian sense, is I want what's your best. So let's read verse 8. We will gladly forego our rights for the sake of others, because we love them.

That should be our motto. Verse 8. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do eat it, and no better off if we do. On Judgment Day, that's the language here. Commend us to God on Judgment Day.

Future tense. Will God say, you know what? More crowns for you, because you ate a lot of beef. More crowns for you, because you ate a lot of sushi. More crowns for you, because you were a vegan. By the way, we could do a whole sermon on how people like Seventh-day Adventist over in Lancaster think that food can commend them to God.

Food doesn't commend you to God. And so Paul's future tense language here, on Judgment Day, for those of you Christians who have said, I've loved other Christians, so I just decided not to eat any meat, because they're going to think it's all full of an idol.

I just won't eat meat. You're not going to lose out on any rewards. By the way, what will you get? You'll probably get extra rewards for operating in love. You're no better off if you eat it or not to eat it.

You stand before God on Judgment Seat. It's what you've done in light of who God is for other people. Food's morally neutral. What does it say in verse 9? The only command in all of chapter 8. You want to find an imperative?

Here's the only one. It's two words in the English text. Take care. But take care. It's the only command found in this whole section. Take care. You, ye, the church, take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

Love gives for the weak. Don't make this a stumbling block. This isn't a stumbling block like, I stubbed my toe. The usual one. I just stubbed my toe. Ouch. It's not that one. This word stumbling block is some stone in the pathway or obstacle that makes you not progress.

That makes you not progress. Don't get in someone's way. They're trying to obey the Lord in light of the love of God, and then you're just like a big no trespassing sign. Stop it. Be careful not to do that.

That's its point. Watch out. Verse 10, Now, if you think about this, these people probably aren't Jews that Paul's talking to because a Jew would say there's only one God. Probably Gentiles here are the weak ones.

Verse 11, Wow. That word destroyed is put at the beginning of the sentence. For what? Emphasis. And you know what it means? Eternally destroyed to hell. I wish it didn't mean that. My theology, my exegesis would be simpler, but it means to ruin, to perish, to be annihilated forever.

It always is used by Paul to refer to eternal final destruction. You go, what's the big deal, Paul? You mean if they eat some food, they lose their salvation? No. It's such a big deal that you should be concerned about these people that there could be some who find themselves on the slippery road back to hell.

You say, theologically, though, that would mean they never were of us. 1 John 2. That's all true. Paul's not saying a Christian can lose their salvation. He's saying, friends, it's a big deal if you're going to lay down in front of a Christian and be a stumbling block to them because sin leads to more sin.

So be careful. That's all he's saying. And to give more emphasis, the brother for whom Christ died. That's a big deal. You say you've got knowledge, and that knowledge trips people up. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 11?

He's one weak person. Two, he's a brother. Think community. Three, for whom Christ died. I don't want to destroy that person. I don't want to be a cause for them to stumble in any way, shape, or form.

And then Paul says in chapter 8, verse 12, he gives a consequence. Thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Could there be a tougher warning?

Sin, sinning, twice there. In the same sentence. Sinning against Jesus by sinning against the brother. Reminds me of Paul. I'm Jesus whom you are persecuting. In other words, flaunting liberty could be sin.

Therefore, verse 13, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat lest I make my brother stumble. I think it's hyperbolic, but Paul said, you know what? I'm so resolved for the good of the other Christian in the church, if it comes to food, I just won't eat meat anymore.

When does food become spiritually toxic? It's when you eat it and other Christians stumble because you do. So, in light of God's love for us, you see other Christians, and they're weak, they have no liberty, they have this, that, or the other, and they come into the church.

By the way, I'm still glad we have new people come to the church, aren't you? But I don't think they're walking in, card-carrying members, and understanding all the doctrines and what we believe. Friends, I actually think that some churches are wound so tightly with all their doctrines and all their Reformed faith and everything else that they forget about this love for the weak Christian.

They forget about people who come in and they go, you know what? They don't believe like we do. They believe that Jesus died for their sins and was raised from the dead. That's about all they get. But they don't know all the isms and schisms, and we're this kind of person theologically, and we ascribe to this, that, and the other.

They are wound so tightly that when some immature person comes walking in that church, they never can make it. They never make it because these who should know better aren't loving. And some people go, you know what?

We only have 30 people in our church, and we're proud of it. Well, maybe that's a lot for some. There's nothing I'd be ashamed of to have 30 people at your church. I could care less about the numbers.

But if you have 30 because you've run away another 40 because you're not loving them, then I think there's a problem, don't you? So when people come through this door, let me just give you a little hint.

When we build that building and the new building opens up, there will be a lot of people attending Bethlehem Bible Church because there's a new building. A lot. When they go see the pastoral jacuzzi area, skate parks, no, listen, that's what people do.

You say, well, I look for a church because they hold to the word, it's inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient, Christ the only one, substitutionary atonement, penal substitution, literal resurrection, preaching, and that's how I look for a church.

That's good. That's how you should look for a church. But a lot of people don't look for a church like that. They go, you know what, it's close, or I like Iwana, and maybe it could be good. There's a thousand reasons, but people pick churches because of the parking lots and because of the nice building, and when they come in, I want this passage to just be brought up again to you by the Spirit of God's illumination and remembrance that we need to love these people.

Friends, when seeker-sensitive people come here, we need to love them. Wild-eyed charismatics, we need to love them. People who aren't reformed and couldn't tell you what a solo was if they had to, we need to love them.

These are the people we need to love. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure we get along and the people who are immature are the ones loving the immature ones. Isn't that right? That's right, not because I want a large church, but I don't want to hinder God's work by us saying, you know what, you should have got in line a long time ago.

Just shape up or ship out. No, if I could be frank, you mature Christian, you shape up or you ship out. Because that brother Christ died for him just as much as he died for you, and you ought to know better, so let's just lay down our lives and not have this club.

The shingle of Bethlehem Bible Church is this, the exaltation of Christ Jesus through verse-by-verse preaching. And if you like that, then we're going to get along with everybody else. And you just be patient and kind and loving to the weak, right?

That's what we do. By the way, a lot of you already do that. A lot of you, when new people come in, I time it. Here's what I do. I sit in my study, and when I see new visitors come in, I know exactly when to get up so I'm there at the door when they walk in.

Because I want them to think I'm nice before I get up there and blast them on Sunday from the pulpit. They're like, whoa. But I want to greet them, and I want to be nice to them, and I'm thinking, I have no idea what baggage these people are coming with.

But it's my job to love them, and God's shown us the truth, and so I want them to know the truth too. It's because God has loved us, we are to love other people. That's why you won't see at Bethlehem Bible Church a lot of things that are restricting.

This is the only way we do this schooling. This is the only way we do this parenting. This is the only way you're to feed a kid. This is the only way music style is done. This is the only way because you know what?

Those issues are irrelevant to your spiritual growth. You say, oh no, now you pushed it too far. Okay, if Paul can use hyperbole, I can too. Here's what I'm after. I'm after the Word of God to so richly dwell in you that you'll be changed, and if you have a conviction about schooling, which I do, then I can love people who don't.

What's going to happen when a homeschooled person who's really convicted about homeschooling sees a mom walk in with a five-year-old son and there's no husband to be found and God just saves her? She's got to work full time and that boy's in public school.

Then I want to see the love of Christ. Right? That's a perfect scenario. Think about it this way. I stole this from A .T. Pearson. Three thieves on the cross. No? The society all thought they were bad and scallywags and scoundrels, but there were two thieves and Christ Jesus, right?

The repentant thief, because of Christ's sovereign grace, didn't have the penalty on him. No sin on him. He had only sin in him. Sin in him because he was not perfect yet, but no sin on him because he was not declared unrighteous because Christ's righteousness was over him, right?

Sin was not on him, but it was in him. Christ Jesus is the other way around. Was there any sin in Christ Jesus? No sin in Jesus, but was there sin placed onto his account? Yes. So the first thief, the repentant thief, sin in but not on.

Jesus, sin on but not in. The last thief, sin on and sin in. When you remember that, you'll say to yourself, I should have got this, sin on and in for all eternity. But because of this, sin credited his account, even though he didn't sin.

I now have his righteousness credited to my account, even though I was never righteous. And because of that, Lord, just help me to love other people. That's a good message for our church. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you today for your word.

And as we sang that final song, speak to us in your word. Father, we know you have. Thank you for the many loving people here at Bethlehem Bible Church. Father, I pray that the people who visit, they come in, they're Wesleyan, they're Methodist, they're something else.

They come and they know the word of God comes forth from the pulpit. Father, would you help us to love them? And Father, if you love people, we want to love them too. Father, this is your son's church.

Help us to act like that in light of the grace your spirit allows. In Jesus' name, amen.

Church Life, Visitors, and the Final Benediction

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.