WWUTT 1562 Do Not Ask for the Sake of Conscience (1 Corinthians 10:25-28)

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In 1 Corinthians 8 -10, the Apostle Paul has been addressing a matter concerning food that is sacrificed to idols.

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And though this was a context that was 2000 years ago in ancient Corinth, we can find modern application when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you Becky. Still in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. As with yesterday, I'm going to start reading in verse 23 and we'll go to verse 33.

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This is in the Legacy Standard Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

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All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but that of the other person.

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Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience' sake.

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For the earth is the Lord's as well as its fullness. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience' sake.

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But if anyone says to you, this is meat consecrated to idols, do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you and for conscience' sake.

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I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person's. For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?

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If I partake with gratefulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which

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I give thanks? Whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

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Give no offense, either to Jews or to Greeks, or to the church of God.

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Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.

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So, back to verse 23, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. And again, this was something that Paul had said to the

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Corinthians back in chapter 6. It's something that they would say. The Corinthians would say, all things are lawful.

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There are some translations you will read in which that's put in quotes, like the English Standard Version, but the

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NASB and the LSB don't put that in quotes. Because in the original

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Greek, there wouldn't have been quotes anyway. Like, quotes is an English thing. There wasn't such punctuation in Greek.

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But it's largely understood among scholars that when Paul is saying this thing, he's not saying it as an axiom of the

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Lord God, but he's saying it as something that the Corinthians would repeat. And it even somewhat comes from their

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Greek background. Because whatever a person wants, whatever his flesh desires, that he should have.

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That was a common philosophical teaching. That whatever it is you want, don't delay gratification, but rather go after the thing that you want.

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And so the Corinthians had kind of taken this and Christianized it, right? So everything is good for me.

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God has given it all to us to be received with thanksgiving. I quoted yesterday from 1

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Timothy chapter 4. So in that sense, I should be able to partake in this, and it's all right. There's nothing wrong with it.

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Therefore, all things are lawful. So we're taking that thing, which was common among even the Greek or the pagan philosophers, and we're spinning that into something

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Christian. God gave it to us. So therefore, it's good for me. I'm not breaking the law by doing this. The law is fulfilled in Christ.

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So therefore, all things are lawful for me. Paul quotes it, not necessarily as an affirmation, but to show them that they're not really thinking this thing through.

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All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. Yeah, you might be able to partake in this thing, and it not be bad for you, but does it profit you?

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And especially, does it profit someone else? So there's kind of a bridging statement here, since the last thing that Paul had said was with regards to our own ability to resist temptation.

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Back to verse 12. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

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You might think this is okay for you, and indeed, food that is sacrificed to an idol, since that's the context here, is not inherently defiled, nor does it defile you if you partake in it.

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But if you go into those pagan temples and sit with the pagans and eat of that food, if you dine at the table of demons, if you eat what is sacrificed to demons, how do you know that you won't defile your own conscience?

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And therefore, you fall into sin and to trespass. So don't even put yourself in a position to be tempted, but go the way of escape.

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That was verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you may be able to endure it.

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And that way of escape is Christ. By the way, with regards to this, and I didn't mention this when we were in 1

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Corinthians 10, 13, but with regard to that passage, Christ is one who is tempted in every way, yet without sin.

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Hebrews 4, 15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.

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So Christ is the way of escape for us because he was tempted and yet resisted the devil.

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So by the power of Christ in you, you are able to resist the devil schemes and not give into that.

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We must turn to Christ and not try to entertain those passions of our flesh. You know, the way that Christ was tempted, though he did experience temptation, it's not the same way in which we are tempted.

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He was tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin, like we are meaning tempted in all things, not tempted in exactly the same way that we are, because we have a fallen nature that does not desire the things of God.

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Since we're all recipients of Adam's sin nature when we are born, Jesus Christ is not under the federal headship of Adam.

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He was virgin born, not of the seed of man. So he was sinless from his conception, whereas, as David said in Psalm 51, we are conceived in sin.

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So we are born with that sin nature. Christ was not. He did experience a temptation, but it's not the same way that we are tempted.

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We will experience temptation and then dwell upon those tempting thoughts, and we may not ever indulge in them in the body.

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But the very fact that we desire those things that God does not desire for us, it's already become sin.

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For Christ, it was not sin because he did not dwell upon or think about things that were not honoring to the father.

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Nevertheless, as he has gone through those temptations and he has resisted them. So we have in the power of Christ given to us an ability to resist temptation, no longer doing things that are in the pattern of our fallen flesh or this corrupt world.

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But we might live unto God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.

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And this is our spiritual act of worship, as it says in Romans 12, 1. Anyway, didn't explain that.

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We were in first Corinthians 10, 13, thought I would come back to that here in a moment. But anyway, so Paul saying previously to watch yourself, that you don't give in to those evil things and so fall here as he comes back to the statement, all things are lawful again.

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He's talking about profitable for yourself or for others. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

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It's not good for you. It's not good for others around you because he's going back to that consideration, which was earlier in the section.

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Verse 23. Once again, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. Not for you, not for another person.

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All things are lawful, but not all things build up. They don't build you up and they especially don't build up the body of Christ.

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Since again, we're we're back in the way of of considering others needs, how this will affect other people who are around us.

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And it doesn't matter whether that person is a believer or an unbeliever. Yes, especially brothers and sisters in the

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Lord. Paul had mentioned that earlier. If if what I eat is going to cause a brother to stumble, well,

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I'd rather not even eat meat again. But here he's also going to say with regards to an unbeliever, if you're eating of something that was sacrificed to an idol will hinder them from coming to a knowledge of the truth and the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then it's better for you to not even eat that thing that's been offered to you by an unbeliever.

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You may think that it's just fine and you're not causing any harm to yourself at all. But could you be harming the conscience of the other person that they, you know, an unbeliever sees you partaking in this thing and they just think, oh, well, hey, for Christian can do that.

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I can do that. Apparently it's not really a big deal. We're just picking our own religions. So I've got my religion and I can eat this thing.

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They've got their religion and they can eat their thing. What's really the difference between our religions?

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We both worship gods. It doesn't matter what God we worship. Is that the message that you are communicating by your

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Christian liberty? Now we tie these things into liberty of conscience issues. What we're talking about here in first Corinthians eight through ten.

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And when we go to like Romans chapter fourteen and other places like that, we refer to these things as liberty of conscience matters.

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It might be OK for you to partake in it. But is your partaking in it OK for another person who witnesses you partaking in that?

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We do have to be mindful of the thoughts of the conscience of the well -being, the building up of others within the body of Christ and even among unbelievers.

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We have to keep those things in mind. It's it's just simply being considerate, being mindful of others.

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And as Paul said in Romans chapter 15, verses one and two, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

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But each one must consider his neighbor and how to build him up.

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And neighbor there can be that can be a brother or sister in the Lord, or it can even be an unbeliever.

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So all things are lawful might be OK for you. The mantra of the

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Corinthians to say all things are lawful. Yeah, but even if that's true, do all things build up, let no one seek his own good, but that of the other person,

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Paul says in verse twenty four. Now consider verse twenty five here. Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake.

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Now, remember, once again, this meat market is the place where meat was sacrificed to idols.

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There was pretty much no meat that you could get in Corinth that had not previously been offered to a false god.

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It's the pagan meat markets. Unless you knew a Christian butcher that wasn't doing such a thing, pretty much anything that was sold in the market in Corinth had previously been offered to false gods.

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They offer it to the false gods, thinking that, you know, we've appeased the false gods with this. Then the leftovers they're selling in the marketplace.

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And so whatever you're buying, you're buying meat that has previously been sacrificed to an idol.

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Don't even ask. If this has been sacrificed to an idol or not, that's what

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Paul is saying, eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake.

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And he says later on, I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person's that's in verse 29.

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Now, it's debatable as to whether or not what he says there in verse 29 only has to do with what he said in verse 28 or if it also ties into verse 25.

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So asking about the stuff that's sold in the market for conscience sake, is that your own conscience?

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He says, I don't mean your own conscience, but not until verse 29. So maybe with regards to this in verse 25, eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake.

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That could be your own conscience. I think you could apply it either way. So as long as you don't know, you don't know whether the food

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I'm eating has been sacrificed to an idol or not. That way, my conscience is not defiled. I'm not thinking as I eat this food.

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Boy, this was given to a false god. First, you're just eating meat. You're just eating for sustenance.

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That's all you're eating it for. And you do so to the glory of God conscience not being defiled by this thing being offered to a false god.

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Again, verse 31, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

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So whatever is put before us, we can eat to the glory of God. So don't ask where the thing came from.

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Just eat it. Don't ask questions for conscience sake. But if anyone says to you, this is meat consecrated to idols, don't eat it for the sake of the one who informed you and for conscience sake.

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I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person's for why is my freedom judged by another's constant.

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So in this particular case, the person is now informed you. Well, this meat was sacrificed to a false god.

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So don't eat it, even if in your mind I can eat it just fine.

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And I don't feel guilty about it. I don't care if it was sacrificed to an altar or not. I do it all to the glory of God, an altar or a sorry, a false.

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Did I say false altar, a false idol? An idol is an empty thing. It doesn't have anything to it.

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The devil is not tainted this meat in any way. I'm just fine in eating it. Even if you know you can eat it and you won't defile your conscience, it's still better for you to not eat.

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If somebody's informed you, they've said to you this was sacrificed to a false god. Don't eat it for conscience sake, not your own conscience, but the other person's.

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So you don't cause them to look at what you're doing and think, well, then I can sin, I can go to pagan temples and do whatever.

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And it's not going to you know, there's not going to be any consequences for those actions, because, look, this

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Christian's doing it. So if it's OK for Christians, it's OK for me. You are keeping in mind the other person's conscience so that they will not fall.

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And if they fall, you also fall, as Paul had said earlier, you cause somebody else to sin. Well, then you've also sinned against God by not being considerate for the other person.

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Now, there's limits to this. It's not like any time a brother or sister sins. Well, that that might be your fault.

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And it's not like we we constantly have to be thinking of our actions as either upholding a person in righteousness or causing them to fall.

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And any little thing that I do that causes somebody else to say, well, that must be my fault as well. But just that we have this mindset that we're considerate of others, not flaunting our own

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Christian liberty, but doing that which is beneficial for another person.

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Now, let's do some application here. We've got the rest of this chapter yet to go and we'll get to the final the closing verses here.

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First Corinthians 10 tomorrow. But let's do some application with what we've read here. What are some other things that this applies to?

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In context, we've talked about food that is sacrificed to false gods and pagan temples.

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But is there something more modern? Let me let me do a direct food to food equivalent here.

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OK, so we've been talking about food offered to false gods. Do we see anything like that happening in our modern day?

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How about foods that will advertise on TV promoting and supporting and advancing

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LGBTQ causes? OK. I'm not even going to use any brands. I don't want to elevate any brands.

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But, you know, there are some out there. You've seen the commercials. You've seen the ads. There's food companies, whether it's a soda or a snack food or a restaurant or fast food or even a supermarket, anything like that.

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There are companies out there, industries out it's the majority, vast majority of industries, certainly of the of the big corporations in corporate

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America, the huge corporations out there that are supportive of LGBTQ causes.

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You see. Food on TV being advertised, and they also show a gay couple that's partaking in that or they online, their logo has the pride flag colors all over it.

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So, you know that, well, they're supporting LGBTQ causes because they've got the pride flag stuff all over their logos.

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Can I now eat that food or am I defiled in eating that food?

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Because I know it's been offered to false gods. It's pagan. They are promoting wicked behavior that God has promised he will judge with fire, with their food.

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My advice to you would be don't even ask, don't even know what it is that's going on. But if you see them promoting abominable practices such as this and in your conscience, you can't rightfully partake in that anymore, then don't partake in it, lest it cause you to stumble, lest it cause you to fall.

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Don't even eat abstain from it so that you will not be defiled in your conscience. But if you know, hey, what they do with their money, that's between them and the

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Lord. This is just food. I'm not defiled if I eat it and you go and eat it and partake in it and it doesn't bother your conscience at all.

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Then then you're fine. That's that's your Christian liberty. For me as a pastor, though,

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I'm very, very careful with what it is that I buy and even what it is that I advertise. I do not wear shirts or clothing with brand names on them because I don't want anybody to see me promoting a brand that might even be promoting abominable, sinful behavior.

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And I'm not even aware that that brand has done that. I'm nobody's billboard, so I'm not walking around with brands advertising somebody else's product, whether it's a soda, even something retro.

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If I can help it, I'll try to even hide the clothing brand. I'm not trying to advertise any kind of brand now for me.

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I do that for a particular reason, because I'm a pastor. So the way the things that I do and what it is

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I wear and what I say might be perceived differently than if any other average person will do that.

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Most people in my community and especially within my church are going to know that I am a pastor. So I'm careful.

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With what it is that I advertise that way, I don't cause anybody else to stumble. I was in a store recently.

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I think I shared this with you, the store five below. And there was like a whole big

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LGBTQ display. Well, I was not going to buy anything off of that display. I don't want anything with those pride colors on it, even though I believe that the rainbow is a sign of of God's covenant promises after destroying the earth in a flood and wiping out mankind because of their wickedness and then promising that he's never going to destroy the world again in a flood.

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But nonetheless, I know that they're advertising those colors because they're trying to raise money for their their pride causes, promoting

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LGBTQ ism. So I'm going to abstain from those kinds of things. I won't partake in that, but did not feel dirty just because I was in that store.

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I'm only bringing that one up because I think I mentioned it on a on a previous podcast. Well, there's a direct one to one correlation, right?

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Talking about food 2000 years ago in Corinth, food in modern America today that is offered to false gods.

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There's other things that we can relate this to as well. One of the things that's a big discussion right now is whether or not a church should be singing

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Hillsong and Bethel music and elevation music in their worship services. These are churches that are heretical.

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Bethel Church especially has a completely heretical definition of the

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Trinity, of who the son is, who the Holy Spirit is and who the father is. And so we don't sing songs that come from Bethel music that may cause a person to stumble.

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They know where that music comes from. They start listening to Bill Johnson or the teaching that comes out of Bethel Church and then they're led astray.

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Same goes with Hillsong and Elevation Elevation Church, which is pastored by Stephen Furtick, who is also a heretic.

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So though those songs may be praising of God and there might not be anything unorthodox in the lyrics, we don't want to be in that kind of music that is going to lead a person to a heretical teacher and therefore cause them to stumble, cause them to fall.

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I've mentioned before about how I don't talk about my entertainment choices, not the novels I read, the video games

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I might play with my kids or the TV shows and movies I might watch with my wife, because though what

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I'm watching, I believe to be clean, I don't think is defiling me. It's made by unbelievers, but I don't think

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I'm being defiled by watching it. Nonetheless, somebody else's conscience might be weaker.

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And it's such a trivial thing. You don't even need these media options in your life to live.

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There's so much media around us. We think that we have to have it in order to live in the world in which we live.

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You don't have to have any of it at all. So it's better for me to not even mention those things that I consume, lest somebody else put themselves in front of it, listen to that kind of music or watch that kind of movie and then think, wow,

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Pastor Gabe's endorsing this kind of thing. And there's some behavior in there that somebody thinks it's

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OK for a Christian to do. And then they stumble and fall into sin. So it's better for me to to not even talk about that.

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In fact, when I ever talk about music and movies and TV shows, you're always hearing me talk about it critically, at least ninety nine percent of the time.

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I'm I'm critical about it, not ever praising it. Oh, I love this show. And so anyway, there's kind of some examples, three modern examples that we might tie this to regarding Christian liberty.

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And we'll draw a few more examples out of this tomorrow as we finish up Chapter 10.

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Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the freedom that you've given us in Christ.

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We've been set free from our sins and we have been given new life that we might walk in a way that is holy and pleasing to God.

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And I pray that the decisions that we make would be acceptable in your sight. And we also are mindful about those choices that could and how they minister to people that are around us.

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Let us not ever put ourselves into things that we may enjoy but might cause somebody else to fall.

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We're thinking about those things that we may build one another up in the Lord, not tear each other down, whether intentionally or inadvertently.

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So we who are strong, we're mindful of those who are weak. And we look to do those things that are building up of our neighbor, holding out the gospel of Jesus Christ for those who are unbelievers, that we may come to faith in Jesus, be sanctified by his power and be saved.

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It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .tt