Focusing on the Heart of the Matter - 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Well, good morning. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I've been able to talk to several of you in the lobby, and in the aisleways here about your Christmas, love hearing everyone's time they spent together and love hearing everyone's traditions. We're big on traditions in our family. I feel like every year we add a new tradition. And I love hearing what other people do. This year I got to add a new tradition. I got to hang out with some new members of our church. We've got a lot of new members over the last year. We've added 4 families that are all connected. They're all kind of right here. Bobby came from California and invited some family to church with them, and a lot of them landed here, and there's several Mark and Anka, and Joey and Emma, Paul and Tabita, Jordan and Sandra, several that are connected somehow. I'm still learning how everyone's connected here, but the siblings are from Romania. And so Joey texted me this week and he said, hey, Pastor, on Friday, we're all going to be hanging out. Come over and hang out with us. I said, okay, I'll see if I can fit that in. He goes, we're going to be killing a pig. And I'm like, killing a pig. Well, I'm definitely going to come see what that's about. And so I show up there. He said, hey, we're a couple houses down at Mark and Ancas, come down there. So when down there, show up. There's kids everywhere. I don't know, it's like probably 30 kids running around, the place, all the grandkids, kids everywhere. And then there are the guys over there, and there's the pig. There's like these palettes stacked up, and there's a dead pig. I miss the killing of the pig. Hopefully next year I'll get there early enough for that part of the tradition. And, um, and, and, uh, Flabius is like on a blowtorch and he's like burning the hair off the pig and, and guys have their shirts off. I'm like, this is amazing. Like, this is awesome. And so they're like, I said, tell me about this pig. They said, well, we got it in Springfield. And he pointed to the minivan. So we brought it in that minivan. I said alive, go, yeah. So they drove, someone drove 3 hours of a live pig in a minivan to get there. This little story just is amazing. And then they kill the pig, and so they're burning off the hair with a blowtorch. on this pig before they got this pig. And then Flavius, right? Am I saying that right? He walks up to me. He take, he talk to me, he gets his knife out. He goes over to the pig and like slices off the pig's ear and comes over to me and goes, eat it. So I'm like, all right. So I take the pig's ear and I'm, and I, and so, so what tastes like? It tastes like, imagine a pig's ear burnt by a blowtorch. That's exactly exactly the flavor that it is. And so I'm like chewing on the pig's ear. And then he like whacks off another piece and he goes to the other guy's like, try it. And all the dudes are like, nah, nah, none for me. And I'm like, what? Nobody's eating the ear, the knee. Is this like a Romanian tradition invite the preacher over and trick him and eating a pig's ear? Like, what is happening? So I'm like chewing on this pig's ear and no one's eating a pig's ear and I'm thinking, should I have just eaten this pig's ear? And then I'm thinking, as a pastor, pastors always do. Whenever something weird happens in your life, you immediately start thinking like, this has got to make a sermon someday, right? Like, this has got, you know, and God's timing would have it, that the moment I'm eating the pig's ear, guess where we are today. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. 1 Corinth chapter, we can turn in here. This is the chapter about whether or not you should eat some meat that's offered to you. And so I had a dilemma on Friday of, do I eat the pig's ear or do I not eat the pig's ear? It's kind of like what's happening in 1st Corinthians chapter 8? There's a dilemma. Someone has been offered meat to eat and they're wondering, should I eat the meat that's just been offered to me? We took a little break from 1st Corinthians to do our Christmas series. We're back in there. Chapter 8. If you don't have a Bible with you today, you can grab that Bible underneath the chair there in front of you. And if you turn to page 956 on page 956, you're going to find the chapter we're in today. What is in front of us here is a letter. It's a letter written by a man named Paul, who was a missionary of the early church, from the time of Jesus' resurrection, through the next few decades, Paul would travel around the Roman Empire, preaching the good news of Jesus, about his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, the forgiveness and the new life in Christ we can have by faith in him. And over the years, he would write letters to some of those churches that were started during his ministry. One of those letters was to the group of believers in Corinth, the city of Corinth. And so we're 1st century, cities Corinth, Roman Empire, and it's a letter written by the missionary Paul, addressing various challenges they were having in the church. And the one before us, had to do with meat that had been sacrificed to idols. So let me explain a little background on what we're going to see here. We have kind of a twofold challenge today. Number one is to understand what is going on in chapter 8. a little kind of a different situation. And then second, what do we do with it? Because you're going to find a situation here that you will not encounter this week, okay? But you're going to encounter situations where I think there's principles from here that might help you. And so what's going on? Well, 1st century Rome, you had Christians and you had Jews, and you had followers of various pagan religions, pagan gods. And so there would be temples all around the different cities. And in these temples, people would worship other idols, pagan idols, pagan deities. And so oftentimes that would involve animal sacrifice. So you would worship this pagan deity in this temple. You would go into the temple with your animal, your animal would be sacrificed, but not all of the animal would be consumed in the sacrifice. You have the meat left over. And so they said, what do we do with the meat left over from the animal that's been sacrificed. Those 2 things they would do with it. Sometimes they would serve that meat at events that took place inside the temple building. And other times they would sell that meat in the marketplace. So, for example, here at North, and we have this facility that we use for a lot of different ministry on Sunday morning. We have worship services in this room. Throughout the week, there are other things that happen here. For example, someone might use the building for a wedding shower or a baby shower or a birthday party, some event that happens. Well, that would happen inside these temples in the 1st century Roman Empire, and they would oftentime, at those events, serve the meat that had been sacrificed to the pagan deity. And then some of that would be sold on the streets, in the marketplace. And it was cheaper to buy this meat in the marketplace than meat from other sources. And so if you're a follower of Jesus. In 1st century Corinth. You would often have a dilemma. I've been invited to a wedding at a pagan temple. The meat they're going to serve at the wedding might have been was certainly sacrificed to a pagan god. Is it okay to eat meat from an animal that had been sacrificed to a pagan deity? I'm going to have a business luncheon. I have a business guild that I'm a part of. They're going to have some sort of business event during the week. And they're going to host that business event inside this pagan temple. And I'm going to go to the business event to conduct business. And they're going to serve lunch. The lunch they serve may have come, probably did come from animal sacrifice to a pagan deity. As a Christian, is it okay for me to eat the meat at lunch? I get invited over to someone's house. Brenda invites me over for dinner and I know she's bought meat from the out in the marketplace from the pagan sacrifice. And should I eat the meat since she's served? a constant dilemma you had. So in the church, it was a problem. You had people in the church, Christians who said, look, it's meat to a false God. The sacrificing this meat to a fake God, doesn't do anything to the meat, eat it. There's no problem. Others said, yeah, I'm just not comfortable eating meat that's been sacrificed to a pagan God because I've come out of paganism. Some people said, I used to go to that temple and worship that pagan God. And Jesus saved me. I turned from paganism to the one true God. And I don't think I ought to be going back into the temple again where they're serving the meat that they sacrifice to the pagan god that I used to worship. And so this had caused confusion and disunity within the church. And so they wrote to Paul and said, Paul, what do we do about this situation? And so in this letter? He's going to address the situation going on. So we're going to ask ourselves, what's happening here, and then what do I do about it? And that's a common challenge, by the way, when you're reading the Bible, say in the Bible. I heard someone say one time, A lot of scripture talks about letters of the Bible or books of the Bible, rather, were not written to us, but they were written for us. What does that mean? It was written not to us, but for us. Corinthians. It was a letter written to a very specific group of people about their very specific problems, but it was written for us. Like the letter to them, God said, it's my word for all of you. And so when you're reading it, you say, well, it wasn't written to me originally, but God intended it for me in my day today. And so what did it say to them? And what does it say for me? That's the question we're having here. Because we're going to see a lot of issues in here. There are a lot of dilemmas we face today, where we say, what about certain rules that we attach with Christianity. I know I'm saved by grace alone, through my faith in Jesus Christ alone, but there are a lot of, seems like there's these rules that Christians follow. What do I do with those? It's now a follower who's following Jesus. What about times where I disagree with another brother in Christ over some issue, that I have a particular conviction that's different from their conviction and how do we wrestle with that? I have a theological position that might be different from this person's theological position. And how do we relate to one another in that? What sensitivity should I have to other people when they view things differently than I view them? I'll give you some examples as we move through this message, but times when I might feel a freedom to do something, that you may feel it's not something we're free to do as Christians, what should I do in that place? Is there a point where I should sacrifice my individual rights, my individual freedom, for the sake of the community, for the sake of the body of Christ? These are the issues that are going to be addressed here as we dive in. So let's jump in. See, what does it say to them? What's the message for us in that? And then how do we bridge the gap from Corinth to Kansas City and apply this to our lives? Let's jump in. verse one. Now concerning food offered to idols. We know that all of us possess knowledge. This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Now notice 1st the very 1st phrase there, now concerning, now concerning, what's he doing here? He's shifting here from uh, to the next topic. They had written him, what about this? What about that? What about this? He said, okay, now concerning. I'm going to move on to the next question you had, which is this issue that's plugging the church here. Richard Brumit sent me a funny video the other day. It was about pastors that use everyday TV shows as parodies for their sermon titles. For example, the pastor did a Christmas series called Manger Things. With the Stranger Things, or How I Met the Father was one. One was keeping up with the Corinthians. That's a good, I've never seen keeping up with the Kardashians, but I bet there's a lot of drama in the show keeping up with the Kardashians. So keeping up with the Corinthians is actually a pretty good sermon title. There's a lot of drama in this church. And one of them is, what do we do about this disagreement? So I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you now what to do about food sacrifice to idols. Now notice here the phrase, all of us possess knowledge. That's in quotes. Why is that in quotes? That was a common phrase they were using. So you had the crowd that thought you could eat meat, the crowd that thought you couldn't eat the meat, and the crowd that thought you could eat the meat would probably often say, we have knowledge. We have knowledge. What is the knowledge? We have the knowledge that that's a fake God. And so we have the knowledge that it didn't hurt the meat. So according to our knowledge, I can eat the meat and do no spiritual harm. He said, I know you have that knowledge. But he said, the problem isn't knowledge. The problem is love. Look at verse one, the 2nd part. This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. It's not always about what you know. It's also about the love you have for one another. Knowledge is helpful. And making the proper decisions, but it's not the only factor. Paul's gonna say, I agree with your knowledge. I agree with your logic, but the problem in the church was not their knowledge or their logic. It was the attitude of their heart toward one another. So you said, we have all the knowledge. We're gonna talk about the knowledge in verse four. We'll impact that in a minute. But the opening verse opening verse here of this chapter reveals the real issue. And it was an attitude problem related to their arrogance rather than that what they knew to be true and exercised it with love. So the issue is not about the origin of the meat. The real issue is the attitude of their heart toward one another. Let's look at verse two. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know, but if anyone loves God, he is known by God. So, I'm not writing about your knowledge. I'm writing about your love. Anyone who claims to have all the answers doesn't really know very much. Knowledge without love is incomplete. I mean, we're saying here is, a humble heart is better than a proud mind. This is about your intellect. It's about your attitude. Now, let's get to the intellect, though. What does he know? Verse four. So say, here's what we all agree on. Verse four. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. Notice again, those are in quotes. It is a fact that an idol has no existence. It is a fact that there's only one God. So we got our knowledge right. Verse five. For although there are many so-called gods in heaven and on earth, as indeed there are many gods, lowercase G, and many lords, lowercase L, yet for us, there is only one God, the Father, for whom all things, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things, are all things, and through whom we exist. What's he saying? There's all these fake gods, there's one true God. And that one true God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us. And if we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we can have a relationship with the one true God. He said, we all believe that. So we know that these idols are fake idols. We are not going to worry about what they're doing to the meat when the animal is sacrificed. Now, look at verse 7 though. However, however, now we make a shift, okay, we're going to transition from knowledge, from their right knowledge to their faulty application of their knowledge. However, not all possess this knowledge. Not everyone understands the things that you understand. But for some through former association with idols, eat food as regularly offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. They're so accustomed to worshiping these idols in their past life before Christ, that they cannot separate the idol meet from pagan worship. That's the problem here. Let me give you an example. I tried to think all week about modern day examples, and they all kind of fall short to fully capture this. But let me give you an example of this. Years ago, Northland was quite a different church. It was very traditional. We had pews. We had a choir loft, we had a choir, we had a piano over here, and we had an organ over here, and we had a worship leader that did this on all the songs that we sang, okay? Over time it changed. We got more contemporary in our music, and we added new instruments to the band, and we remodeled the stage and made it a more conducive to the way we have the worship band here. We had a guy years ago, was no longer part of our church. He really struggled in the middle of that transition to the kind of worship we do. And he said, Matt, I get it, but he said, I, before I was a follower of Jesus, I played drums in a rock band. And it was a time of my life when I was far from God, and I was doing a lot of things that today I'm not very proud of. And when I hear drums, it just takes me back to that time in my life, and I just can't separate. The drums on a stage in a church from my former life of rebellion. And he said, I, I, I probably was not as sensitive in that conversation like to really hear him. Now I read this, I sort of get that. We have things from our past that we associate with things, and he said it was just such a struggle for him. I'd say that because I think that's a little bit what's going on here. They said, before Jesus, I used to worship in that temple. And now y'all are eating in that temple. Like, I just can't see how you could go into that temple and eat that meat, because I know what they're doing in there, and it's so contrary to my new life in Jesus. He said, we have to be sensitive to what these brothers, these sisters are going through. So his message was the meat to the meat eating crowd is your right. Nothing happened to the meat when the animal was sacrificed. I know that, and you know that, but they can't see that because of their former life of paganism. You feel freedom to eat the meat, but you're sitting the wrong message to those who are struggling to break free from paganism. Verse eight. Let's talk about the food. He says, food will not commend us to God. We're no worse off if we eat it. We're no better off if we do. But take care that this rite of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the week. He said, food is neutral. Food won't bring you closer to God, food won't push you further away from God. You won't win God's approval by eating, you won't lose God's approval by eating. Food is spiritually neutral. But your exercising of your freedom to eat the neutral meat is becoming, what he says in verse 9, a stumbling block to the weak. It elaborates in verse 10. Four, 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? Now, catch verse 11. so important, the gravity of the situation. And so by your knowledge, this weak person is, notice that word, destroyed, destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. See, verse 1011, help us understand the gravity. It's not just about offending. So I think when I read this several times as a Christian over the years. I thought it was about, I don't want to offend other people. Like if you have a conviction about something, and my conviction is different than yours. And I do this thing, that you don't think I should do. What I risk is offending you, and it's wrong for me to offend you. As I dive in deeper, I noticed that word in verse 11 destroyed. Look at verse 11 again. It does not say, by your knowledge, this weak person is offended. It says by your knowledge, this person is destroyed. It wasn't even destroyed. Here's what I think is happening. I think that the eating of meat, by the meat eating crowd, was creating a potential gateway back into paganism for the person saved out of that. I think what he's saying is, they came out of that, when you eat the meat, it sort of draws them back into that. And for you, it's no big deal. For them. It's a very big deal. They may be tempted to go back into the paganism. God saved them out of. And this is a brother. He says at the end, for whom Christ died. So they don't have the boundaries you have here, and they could be drawn back into this, and that's what's at stake here. Let's act in love toward these believers, he's saying. so that their faith is strengthened and not undermined now that they are following Jesus. So verse 12? Thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience, when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Again, raises the stakes. This is not just the sinning, it's the brothers, it's sinning. Christ. This is a sin. When we participate in something that causes a problem for a brother in this manner. So what's this conclusion, verse 13? Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble? I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. My freedom, what he concludes, my freedom is not worth the stumbling of a brother or sister in Christ. All right, that's kind of some background there. kind of got our heads around what's going on. What do we do with this? So let me give you the original application. And then we're going to talk about some ways we apply this. the ways people try to apply this today, and then some general applications, some principles we can learn. So what originally what's he saying? Here's put the whole chapter, that last 20 minutes or 15 minutes into one sentence. Here it is. Don't eat meat, sacrifice to idols. If it might tempt weaker brothers and sisters to return to pagan practices. That's simple what he's saying. The god is fake, the meat is fine, but when you eat the meat, it creates a temptation that's just not worth it. Don't put these former pagans at risk by going and eating the meat and causing problems for your brother for whom Christ died. That's the application. Now, here's the problem. None of you are going to a temple tomorrow to eat pagan meat. All right? So what do we do with this? People try to apply it in a lot of ways. Okay? Let me give you. I was just studying it. I just search for, what are the ways in today's culture, people apply 1st Corinthians eight. I'm giving you the list. I'm not going to take any one of these and elaborate on it. give you the list, and then I'm going to give you the general principles. Alcohol is the most common one. Is it okay for Christians to drink alcohol? People often go to 1st Corinthians 8 for their, understand that? Gambling, another very common one. Should a Christian buy a lottery ticket or sports wagering? Is there, does 1st Corinthians 8 address that movies and music? There are movies that a Christian should not watch in this room. If we took a poll, people would disagree on what level of movie content a Christian should watch or not watch, whether should I be running my running playlist? Should it be all Chris Tomlin, or is it okay to mix in some other artists in that running playlist? Um, uh, clothing tattoos and piercings? Just kind of lump those together. Is it okay? One person would say it's okay to have a tattoo or not, and they'll go to 1st Corinthians chapter 8 to try to talk about that. Language Melissa said, pastor, I saw you at a coffee shop last week. And I was with my coworkers, and they cuss a lot, and I was so nervous, you were going to hear them cussing and see me sitting there, and I'd have to come take 1st Corinthians 8 and preach a sermon to people who apply it that way, right? Like, what should I use? Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, things like uh, holidays. That's what I'm looking for. holiday traditions. Halloween comes up a lot. Should Christians participate in Halloween? Is it harmless fun or is there some greater risk? And we go to 1st Corinthians 8? Christmas traditions? A lot of people have different views on what parts of the Christmas traditions their family will do, a lot of people go here. And then finally, I would say political positions and political posts people make, where, um, you, you say, should I, we, we judge people based on who they voted for, didn't vote for, what they post, what they didn't say,, what they said, what they didn't say. A lot of times we come back to 1st Corinthians chapter 8. So I'm not going to pick one of those 9 and preach against it because we're going to have a lot of different views on a lot of these, and it's kind of hard to have that just a one-way conversation about that. So let me give you the general principles. And you may add to the list. You may come up to me latest. I got another one for you where I've found 1st Corinthians 8 helpful. Let me give you 3 general principles, okay, that we find in here. Number one, is knowledge is not the only factor in determining the best course of action. Knowledge is not the only factor. Verse one, knowledge puffs up, loves builds up. Love builds up. He said, I agree with your knowledge, but your heart's not right. The heart is important, not just the head. Knowledge devoid of love is not going to lead us to the right application in these situations. It's not always about having the right answer. Now let me say this. It is true that many times we sacrifice truth for the sake of love, and you should not sacrifice truth for the sake of love. That's a whole other sermon for another time. This is about people who sacrificed love for the sake of truth. What I mean is, you can believe something to be true, and you're right in believing it, and you should stand on it, but do you have a sensitivity to how other people view that topic as you apply it and work that out and talk about that? So it's not always just about the knowledge of our head. It's also about our heart that we have for people and the various different views that people have on this. I'll say to pastors a lot of times, young pastors, I've said, make sure you love people more than you love books. Because we can be tempted as pastors to pull out all the commentaries and come up with all the theological positions and not think about the hearts of people and how people are impacted by the positions we have. Sometimes I'll say of people, they seem to love the dead more than the living. They like a dead theologian more than they like someone right in front of them with real life issues. Someone one time said to me, years ago, we had Sunny, we called it Sunday school, not life group. They said, I think our Sunday school class isn't deep enough. I said what do you mean by that? They said, well, I wish we'd go deeper into theology. I wish we'd dive deeper into the original language. I wish you'd dive deeper. And I said, I can see that. And then the next day, someone said, I wish my Sunday school class were deeper. And they're going the same class. I said, what do you mean by that? They said, all they want to talk about is theology and the original languages. They don't talk about real life struggles that we have. You see the dilemma? One saw depth as intellectual depth, the other saw depth is, I want to get in your life and see what you're wrestling with, what you're struggling with. You see, the head and the heart are both important in this. And we must not just be all about our puffed up knowledge. It ignore the impact that has some of the people. So you can be right. All the time, I'll talk to people, go, you're right. I agree with you, but man, that was the wrong way to say it. That's the wrong way to go about it. That social media post, I think I probably agree with you, but man, that was kind of like not the best way to word that. That was not the most loving way to say what you're trying to say here. Or I understand the position that you hold political position you hold, but are you considering the people in our neighborhood that their lives are impacted by that particular political position that you hold? And it may be the right political position, but man, let's have a heart for the people impacted in some certain ways by those specific we hold. You see the point here? They were all about what I know to be true, failing to see how it was impacting people around them. Second principle. Be sensitive to how your actions might harm fellow believers. Be sensitive to how your actions might harm fellow believers. Take care, verse 9, take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block through the week, and verse 11, by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed. Again, I agree with your theology, he says, but he does not say to each his own. He does not say, let's agree to disagree. He said, it's actually hurting people. And so let's be very sensitive to the fact that some of our freedoms, If we don't exercise them properly, could harm other people. What are examples of that? I mentioned alcohol earlier. We should have a sensitivity to people in our lives who struggle with alcohol. And someone's exercise of their freedom in this area, could have a negative impact on another person's, their boundaries here. A concern that I was convicted about. I often see something like someone buying a Powerball ticket is kind of harmless way to waste $2 for a chance of winning one.7 billion. But with the rise of sports wagering in our culture today and how many people's lives are being wrecked by this, maybe that harmless thing that I may see as harmless, actually could be a doorway, a gateway, a pathway, to someone that this could bring far more harm in their life. Many of you remember Riley O'Laughlin. She was a member here. She was killed in a murder suicide a few years ago because of her faith in Jesus. And if you didn't know her, you've probably heard stories about her. And I remember when she told me one day, she sent me a podcast. She said, Pastor, listen to this, I want to talk about it. And it was about medical marijuana and dispensaries and illegalization of marijuana. And I was like, okay, I'm about to have a conversation with a 23 year old about marijuana. It's pre-common. She goes, Pastor, we got to tell people this isn't good. She said, God saved me out of drug addiction. And she said, these dispensaries on every corner are terrible. I was expecting to like that she was going to be on the other side of that. And she was like, this is like a, for me, she goes, it was a gateway to like destruction. And Jesus saved me from it and changed my life. And so for her, she saw something that some may see as a minor issue as a pathway to destruction. So these are some of the examples. You can think of others, of how we just have to have a sensitivity to, If I have a freedom, feel a freedom, how I exercise that freedom, could have an impact on people around me. Am I going to be sensitive to that? Third, love for others. Love for others and a desire for unity, may call us to sacrifice our individual rights and freedoms. What's the conclusion, verse 13? If food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat. Here's why this is challenging. This is a challenging passage. One, it's challenging to understand, too, it's challenging to find the current day application, and then three, once I find it, is really hard to do it. Because I think if you got really serious about 1st Corinthians 8, you started really prayerfully considering how your freedoms are impacting other people. God may put it on your heart to give up something that you like. So like alcohol, for example, I never cared for alcohol. When someone wants to say to you drink, I don't drink. 1 Corinthians part of it, but I didn't give up anything. I didn't sacrifice anything. If you tell me, you know, you can't eat a pig's ear, cool, I won't eat more pig's ears, okay? If you tell me you can't have a 12 ounce steak at Texas Roadhouse, we got to have a Bible study. Because I don't like steak. So I'm saying, you may dive into this and prayerfully dive into this, and the Lord may put something in your heart that's going to be hard to do. Hard to do. Will you put your individual rights and freedoms aside for the sake of a brother? So what now? What do we do with this? You're gonna do some work now, okay? This is one of those sermons where I go, I can bring you this far. And then you have to figure out what the thing is that what's the meat sacrifice to idols in your life, okay? So let me give you 3 questions that might help you. Number one, is my desire. Is my desire to be right hindering my love for others? Is my desire to be right, hindering my love for others. While we often sacrifice truth for the sake of love, we can also sacrifice love for the sake of being right. And knowledge is not the only factor. True discernment takes the head and the heart. We must temper our knowledge with love. Love looks out for the good of others. Love isn't, I'm right, I know I'm right. I'm going to say it, and you're going to have to deal with it because I'm the one who's right. Love says, what I believe to be true does impact people in my life, and I should have a sensitivity to that. Is it hindering me from loving other people because of this particular position that I hold so firmly to? It's not always coming up with the right answer. It's about taking the most loving action in some circumstances. Again, we're not sacrificing biblical truth because someone might feel like it's unloving, but it's holding to biblical truth in a way that allows us to love others, and that's communicated. Second. Am I exercising my freedoms in a way that is having a negative impact on those around me? Is there something I'm doing that I feel I have freedom to do, but the truth is it could be harming somebody. I could be setting an example or giving a license to someone who has a different position, a different sensitivity. Is there something I'm doing? Is it possible that my example, my freedom is leading someone to a negative consequence? And then finally, what sacrifice? Is God calling me to make for the good of others in my life? Verse 13, he said, it meets a problem. I don't have to have the meat. Are we willing to say that? This is crazy. I was writing the sermon and the old meatloaf song came to my mind. You might know the line. I would do anything for love, but I won't do that. Now that's stuck in your head. You didn't think that'd be the song stuck in your head when you left worship today? Some of you got, I don't know what you're talking about, meatloaf, singing meatloaf. It's no. But I'll do a lot of things for love of people, but there's some things I won't do. And God is sin. Oh, no, there's a thing you got to do. Are you willing to make the sacrifice? for the sake of others. Were you willing to say there's love does put limits on my freedom? I have freedom of speech, but I can't go around saying hurtful things. Just because I have the freedom doesn't mean I get to exercise it in a way that could be harmful. Love is worth this, unity is worth the sacrifice. Your witness is worth the sacrifice, and the spiritual protection of weaker brothers and sisters is worth the sacrifice. So what is the thing in your life? You've got to do the work. There's not a lot of black and white answers in this, but let's take the principles of that we've laid out here, the questions we put before us and say, Lord, is there a meat sacrifice to idols issue in my life that you need to deal with in my heart, then I need to sacrifice because it's harmful to unity or it's harmful to a brother. It's harmful to my testimony, to my witness. What is that for you? These are fake gods. There's one true God, and you don't know him. We don't get on this list and go, okay, what do I have to believe about alcohol and gambling and Halloween and Christmas and politics to know Jesus? That isn't the list. The list is faith in Christ alone. There's no list. There's one true God. And he said here in verse six, there's one God. And there's one Lord Jesus Christ. Have you put your faith in that one Lord Jesus Christ. Don't see this sermon about a legalistic list of, if I got to quit doing this for God to love me, You're made right with God through one mediator, Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. And then we live that out in a spirit of love. Let's pray together. What is that issue for you? Would you just ask the Lord, Lord, search my heart. Is there a meat sacrifice to idols issue in my heart? Maybe something named in the sermon, something not named in the sermon? Lord, what is it? What is it that in my life, I'm free to do. I know I have a freedom to do. But it could be hurting somebody around me. God, would you reveal that to us? God, would you show us these areas where our disagreements cause disunity, our knowledge puffs up rather than builds up, those times when we hold so dogmatically to the conviction that we have, that it turns out to be harmful in some way to another, would you show us where we need to sacrifice our individual rights for the sake of the body, where we lay down our individual desires, for the spiritual growth and protection of those around us, God, show us. These things in our life, give us the courage and the boldness and the strength to make the sacrifices, whatever you show us. We need your help. And we pray for your discernment and your guidance in Jesus' name. Amen.