Introduction:
Philippians 1:9-11
1 Corinthians 6-8-10 Principle: Five Questions to Ask To Make the Best Decision in a "Grey Area":
- Is it Permissible ? (1 Cor 6:12)
1 Corinthians 6:12 - "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful.
"All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. - Is it Beneficial ? (1 Cor 6:12)
1 Corinthians 6:12 - "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful.
"All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. - Could it get me under its Power ? (1 Cor 6:12)
1 Corinthians 6:12 - "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful.
"All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. - Could it cause a brother to Stumble ? (1 Cor 8:12-13)
1 Corinthians 8:12-13 - 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.
- Is it Glorifying to God? (1 Cor 10:31)
1 Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:48-00:56
My baby boy is 18 now, but when he was in preschool, I never thought he would make it this far.
00:58-01:04
When he was in preschool, he came up every day with reasons why he couldn't go to preschool.
01:05-01:07
You got somebody like that in your home?
01:08-01:13
He would say things like, "I can't go to preschool today." Why not?
01:13-01:14
It burned down.
01:15-01:16
(congregation laughing)
01:21-01:24
I can't go to preschool today, why not?
01:25-01:26
Oh, they canceled it.
01:26-01:34
Oh, there was a little bit of a problem with these things he came up with.
01:34-01:36
I was in charge of the preschool.
01:39-01:43
And I think if it would have burned down, somebody would have told me.
01:45-01:48
But there was a season, it was a daily struggle, daily.
01:51-01:59
And one day I was driving him to preschool, we're on 422 heading to Butler, and all of a sudden I hear,
02:00-02:01
(imitates car engine revving)
02:02-02:13
I said, "What was that?" He said, "My pants ripped." I pulled over and turned around.
02:13-02:17
He had the jeans that had little holes in them.
02:17-02:23
He took them and (imitates ripping) completely ripped them top to bottom.
02:25-02:30
So I called Aaron and I'm like, what am I supposed to do?
02:30-02:33
Because you know what's gonna happen if I bring him home.
02:34-02:36
He's gonna rip them pants every day.
02:39-02:40
But I can't take him to preschool.
02:42-02:43
(audience laughing)
02:43-02:45
Looking like the Incredible Hulk.
02:47-02:50
I'm like, what can I, what am I supposed to do here?
02:54-02:58
My wife, brilliant as always, she said, I get an idea.
02:58-03:06
She said, there's actually a load of clothes that the kids outgrew that I put in the trunk to take to Goodwill.
03:08-03:09
Get him a pair of pants out of those.
03:11-03:12
So that's what I did.
03:12-03:19
I got in the trunk and I got him a pair of pants that he outgrew and he went to preschool that day, walking around.
03:21-03:23
He looked like Kramer from Seinfeld.
03:25-03:28
And do you know he never ripped a pair of pants after that?
03:31-03:35
But you know, he didn't think it through.
03:37-03:42
He made, shall we say, not a great choice.
03:44-03:45
And he learned.
03:46-03:50
And right now we're in this series on discernment.
03:51-03:57
And I hope that we are learning because we're talking about growing in your walk.
03:58-04:03
We're talking about growing in maturity and your walk with Christ, your sanctification.
04:03-04:08
And the Bible says, we've already covered that, That means you have to grow in discernment.
04:08-04:09
You have to.
04:12-04:20
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about discerning the truth and we saw, John told us, don't believe everything you hear.
04:21-04:22
You've got to test everything.
04:24-04:27
And last week we talked about discerning God's will.
04:27-04:31
Does God have a secret path for me to be on?
04:31-04:33
No, no, no, it doesn't work that way.
04:33-04:35
The Bible tells us to be a living sacrifice.
04:35-04:37
Don't be conformed to the ways of the world.
04:37-04:42
Let the word of God renew our minds so that we're transformed.
04:43-04:48
And we necessarily will make choices that honor God.
04:51-04:52
But what does that look like?
04:54-05:03
How does that process go from just a concept that we sort of introduced last week to actually making that happen?
05:03-05:08
How can I make choices that best honor God?
05:09-05:11
That's what we're gonna get into today.
05:12-05:13
So let's just bow our heads for a moment.
05:13-05:18
I'm gonna ask that you would please pray for me to communicate God's word clearly.
05:19-05:24
And I will pray for you to receive God's word eagerly.
05:24-05:25
Let's pray.
05:30-05:36
Father, we've already seen and studied that we need to be transformed by having our minds renewed.
05:36-05:38
And I pray that's exactly what happens right now.
05:40-05:43
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
05:44-05:48
Philippians chapter 1, verse 9.
05:49-06:19
Paul says, "And it is my prayer that your love may abound more more with knowledge and all discernment." Stop there. Discernment. What does that word discernment mean? Well, the Greek word here for discernment means sharpness of perception.
06:22-06:30
You're like, OK, so what am I trying to sharply perceive?
06:31-06:33
Well, look at verse 10.
06:35-06:37
He says, so that you may approve what is excellent.
06:40-06:41
There it is.
06:43-06:45
I want you to have discernment so you may approve what is excellent.
06:45-07:10
says, "I pray, church, that you are capable of evaluating and determining and choosing the things that are excellent." And I've told you before, and I'm going to tell you again, that is my biggest concern for this church.
07:11-07:12
That's why we're doing this series.
07:13-07:15
But my biggest concern for this church is discernment.
07:19-07:27
And doctrine, first and foremost, of course, that you're not believing everything you hear, but you're testing everything.
07:27-07:33
But also my concern for this church and discernment is in the choices that you make.
07:37-07:41
Because discernment is knowing the difference between good and evil.
07:41-07:42
We talked about that, right?
07:42-07:49
Absolutely, you gotta know what's from God and what's not from God.
07:49-07:58
Absolutely, but when it comes to making choices, you've noticed that not everything is black and white, is it?
08:01-08:04
Much like my closet, there are lots of shades of gray.
08:06-08:32
And maturing is growing in not only choosing good over evil, but it's also learning to choose what is best over what is good. Right now somebody's thinking, "Wait, wait, why does it matter?" Well, hang on, hang on a second, Hang on.
08:35-08:39
Isn't it just okay to choose what is good?
08:40-08:43
Why do I have to be so concerned with choosing what is best?
08:45-08:48
Why do I have to shoot for excellence in my choices?
08:50-08:52
That's a really good question.
08:57-09:01
We'll get the next phrase, because there's your answer.
09:02-09:15
It says, "And so be pure and blameless." Why does it matter that I'm seeking to choose what's best over just what's good?
09:16-09:18
He says to be pure and blameless.
09:18-09:21
Do you realize what he's talking about here?
09:22-09:23
Pure and blameless.
09:23-09:26
Let me use a couple of other words to describe the concepts here.
09:27-09:31
This is about your integrity, and this is about your reputation.
09:33-09:37
Pure and blameless, your integrity and your reputation.
09:38-09:43
That's why it should matter because those are two things, your integrity and your reputation.
09:43-09:46
Those are two things that should matter to you more than anything.
09:49-09:53
Now this word for pure, this is a really interesting word in the Greek.
09:53-09:55
Do you know what it literally translates to?
09:58-10:01
Sun judged, S-U-N, sun judged.
10:02-10:03
That's the word for pure.
10:03-10:05
Like, what do you mean?
10:06-10:11
It's taking something out into the sun to evaluate it.
10:11-10:15
Because you see, in those days, you would have merchants that would sell these pots, right?
10:15-10:22
And obviously if you're buying a pot, you wanted one that was intact, right?
10:25-10:44
But as pots often do, they would break and what the merchants would do is they would take a really fine layer of wax, real tiny layer of wax in the seams of the crack to hold it together so they could sell it that way because you made more money if it was intact.
10:44-10:49
And if somebody just came, oh, this is intact, not knowing they just bought a broken pot.
10:51-11:01
So how did you know if the pot was intact if it had the wax seal holding it together, it would have to be sun judged.
11:02-11:09
You would take it out into the sun and hold it up, and you could see those fine seams.
11:11-11:16
Because you wanted to make sure that your pot that you were buying was pure.
11:16-11:18
You would say, yeah, it's pure.
11:19-11:21
It's been sun judged.
11:22-11:23
That's what that means.
11:24-11:34
Interestingly, this is where we get the English word "sincere." Do you know what "sincere" literally means?
11:35-11:36
It's actually a Latin word.
11:38-11:43
But I'm sharing this because it comes from the exact same context.
11:44-11:46
The word "sincere" means without wax.
11:48-12:04
Because if a dealer had a pot that he knew was intact, wasn't broken, and he wasn't trying to fool anybody by holding it together with wax, he would put a sign in front of that pot that would say this pot is sincere.
12:05-12:08
Meaning it's without wax.
12:13-12:15
Meaning it is authentic.
12:17-12:22
And you're like, all right, okay, Jeff, now I know what to do next time I go to Walmart to buy a pot.
12:23-12:33
What's the point? Here's the point. Don't be a phony. That's the point. Don't be a phony.
12:33-12:51
Christian, you are a child of God, and that identity should make you concerned about your integrity. The Bible says you're an ambassador of Christ. That should make you concerned about your reputation.
12:55-12:57
Don't be a phony. Don't pretend.
12:58-13:06
Listen, don't pretend to be one way in church when you are a different way the other six days a week.
13:08-13:20
Don't pretend to be one way in here with their Christian friends and then you're another way when you're at work, when you're at school, when you're at home.
13:22-13:23
It's about your integrity.
13:24-13:26
I heard one preacher this past week put it this way.
13:26-13:27
It really stuck with me.
13:28-13:39
He said, you know, when you make bread, you can't just throw all the ingredients into a pan and throw it in the oven and pull out bread.
13:40-13:41
Doesn't work that way.
13:42-13:48
Why not? Because you have to stir the ingredients together, don't you?
13:51-13:56
You have to make sure that all of the ingredients are touching each other.
13:56-14:03
And in the same way, you need to make sure that every part of your life touches every other part.
14:04-14:19
Meaning this, what you believe should be consistent in every single area of your life, at work, at school, at home, at church, it's all the same.
14:21-14:21
That's integrity.
14:27-14:28
You want to be sincere?
14:30-14:33
You wanna be not known as a phony?
14:36-14:38
Well, this is about the choices that you make.
14:42-14:45
You see the flow, look at verses nine and 10, look at the flow.
14:45-14:54
He says, Paul's praying that you have knowledge and discernment so that you approve what is excellent so that you're pure and blameless.
14:54-15:02
In other words, Paul says, have discernment so that you can make the best choices so that you're sincere, you're authentic.
15:05-15:06
It's about your choices.
15:06-15:12
And the first choice that you have to make, I will use discernment when I make choices.
15:15-15:20
And I will evaluate my choices, not just simply in terms of what's right and what's wrong.
15:23-15:27
I'm shooting for what is excellent.
15:28-17:13
I'm shooting for what is best. And if for some reason your integrity and your reputation, if those things aren't enough motivation for you to be concerned about making the best choices, we'll give you another one. Look at the text. He says, for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. There's your motivation. We want to be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Someday you're going to stand before Jesus Christ. And the only thing that's going to matter on that day is your sincerity. Meaning this, you might trick us into thinking that you know Jesus Christ, but you haven't fooled Him. And on that day, on that day, don't you want to be able to say, "I love you, Lord. I received the gift of salvation that you've given through your death and your resurrection. I received that. And Jesus, you saw how I sincerely tried to honor you by the choices that I made.
17:17-17:19
That's why discernment is so important.
17:23-17:28
But as we said earlier, you're going to face things that are gray areas.
17:30-17:32
You're gonna face things that, you know what?
17:32-17:37
The Bible doesn't specifically address this thing.
17:37-17:41
How do I make the best decision?
17:41-17:44
The gray areas is what we're talking about here, right?
17:45-17:50
Situations where it's hard to tell what is right.
17:53-17:55
We gotta be clear, we're talking about gray areas here.
17:56-18:01
We're not talking about issues of, should I steal from work?
18:02-18:05
Oh no, the Bible's pretty clear about that one.
18:05-18:14
Or, "Hey, I received Jesus. Should I get baptized?" That's not an issue because the Bible's very clear about that.
18:15-18:17
Yes, we are commanded to be baptized in response.
18:18-18:22
Or, "I'm facing kind of a gray area, Pastor Jeff.
18:22-18:27
Is it okay to murder my boss?" Like, no, no, that's not a gray area at all.
18:30-18:43
We're talking about areas that don't have a book, chapter and verse that I could take you to and say, "Well, you absolutely should make this choice "because of what God clearly said here." You hear these all the time.
18:43-18:45
Maybe some of you are struggling with them right now.
18:48-18:50
Maybe for some it's like, "Well, is it okay?
18:52-18:54
"Is it okay for me to drink alcohol occasionally?
18:54-19:00
"I mean, I know what the Bible says about drunkenness, "but what if I occasionally drink alcohol "and I don't get drunk?
19:03-19:12
"Is it okay for me to smoke cigarettes?" The Bible doesn't specifically say, "Thou shalt not smoke 'em if you got 'em," or whatever.
19:16-19:18
Is it okay to listen to secular music?
19:26-19:29
Is it okay to buy lottery tickets?
19:31-19:40
I mean, the Bible doesn't say, Thou shalt keep on scratching, whatever that weasel says on those commercials.
19:43-19:50
And you're like, "Hang on, hang on, Jeff. Doesn't the church have..." What, it's not a weasel?
19:51-19:52
What is it?
19:53-19:54
Oh, it's a groundhog.
19:55-19:58
Well, I guess that makes more sense.
19:59-19:59
(congregation laughing)
20:05-20:06
Not a zoologist.
20:06-20:07
(congregation laughing)
20:09-20:11
I have groundhogs in my yard.
20:11-20:12
They don't wear shirts and play the lottery.
20:13-20:14
(congregation laughing)
20:16-20:17
Well, you might be like, hang on, Jeff.
20:18-20:22
Doesn't the church have rules about these things, these gray areas?
20:22-20:23
Doesn't the church have rules?
20:24-20:27
And my answer to you is absolutely not.
20:28-20:28
Do you know why?
20:29-20:31
Because that is called legalism.
20:31-20:39
If I start giving you the list of rules of here's what you can do and here's what you can't do, when it's things that are not covered in God's word, that is legalism.
20:39-20:45
We absolutely do not have rules about those things because these things are matters of conviction.
20:49-20:50
So what do you do?
20:52-20:56
How do you take principles from God's word to make the best choices?
20:58-21:03
I just want to share with you today something that my pastor, Pastor Bob taught me many years ago.
21:03-21:07
I've heard him teach us and it always stuck with me and I want to commend this to you.
21:08-21:19
But on your outline, the first Corinthians six, eight, 10 principle, when you're facing a gray area, here's five questions to ask to make the best decision in a gray area.
21:20-21:25
All right, we'll have the verses on the screen for you, but I encourage you to take some notes.
21:26-21:32
we're gonna be jumping out of Philippi into the Corinthian culture.
21:34-21:36
Now the Corinthian church had a lot of issues.
21:36-21:37
Have you read those letters?
21:37-21:39
They had a lot of issues.
21:40-21:48
But you know, one scenario they faced was this, should I eat meat that was sacrificed to an idol?
21:52-21:58
That's really not a great area I've had to counsel people on, but let me catch us up to speed here.
21:59-22:10
The Greeks and the Romans, the pagans, the pagan Greeks and Romans, they believed that there were evil spirits everywhere.
22:10-22:20
And they had this really goofy belief that what these evil spirits would do is possess animals that were to be eaten.
22:22-22:27
And then when you ate the animal, That was how the evil spirit got inside you.
22:29-22:29
All right?
22:30-22:32
So they had this belief.
22:32-22:34
Well, that meat's got, maybe that meat has an evil spirit.
22:34-22:37
And if I eat it, now the evil spirit's gonna live in me.
22:37-22:45
So what they would do is they would sacrifice that animal to their gods, their Mickey Mouse pantheon of gods.
22:45-22:47
They would sacrifice the animal to the gods.
22:48-22:53
And they believed that that got the evil spirit out of the steak.
22:54-22:56
Well, then they would have their pagan festivals.
22:57-23:07
They'd have their big pagan parties where they would eat this meat that has now been freshly exercised, but whatever they didn't eat at their parties would end up down at the market.
23:09-23:20
And everybody knew, yeah, that meat was sacrificed to a pagan god, and now they're selling it.
23:21-23:28
So the issue the Corinthian church faced was this, is it okay for Christians to eat that kind of meat?
23:31-23:32
And there were two camps.
23:35-23:51
You had people that came out of that background, maybe they were pagans that came to Christ and they knew all of this stuff and they didn't want anything to do with the old lifestyle, the old pagan lifestyle.
23:51-23:52
So they were like, "You can't eat that.
23:53-23:54
No, no, no, no, no, you can't eat that.
23:55-23:56
Do you know what that was used for?
23:57-23:59
That was used for pagan worship.
23:59-24:01
You can't eat that.
24:02-24:08
Like if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you shouldn't have anything to do with that." That was one camp.
24:09-24:16
And then you had another camp that was like, "Look, a hamburger is a hamburger.
24:17-24:19
The boogeyman doesn't live in the hamburger.
24:20-24:22
It's just meat, like, come on.
24:23-24:25
So you had these two camps.
24:27-24:27
So what do you do?
24:27-24:28
What do you do?
24:28-24:33
Because again, again, there's not a, thus saith the Lord on that.
24:35-24:36
So what do I do?
24:39-24:40
Paul talks a lot about this.
24:42-24:43
Gives us some principles here.
24:44-24:45
Encourage you to write this down.
24:45-24:49
I encourage you to keep these notes.
24:50-24:59
Stash them in your Bible, because when you're facing a gray area, this will help you make the decision that honors the Lord.
25:01-25:01
All right?
25:03-25:06
Five questions, principles drawn from 1 Corinthians.
25:06-25:09
Number one, first question you have to ask is this, is it permissible?
25:11-25:14
This thing that I want to do, this gray area, is it permissible?
25:15-25:20
That comes from 1 Corinthians 6, 12, where Paul says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.
25:21-25:26
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.
25:28-25:30
I wanna focus on the phrase, all things are lawful for me.
25:30-25:39
And see that came up a couple of times and many scholars believe, and I lean this way as well, that that was actually a slogan that they threw around.
25:39-25:43
It was something that the Christians said, I'm free in Christ.
25:44-25:45
So everything's permissible for me.
25:45-25:49
I can do anything that I want because I'm free in Christ.
25:49-25:52
And I know Christians like that, even until today.
25:52-25:55
I can do whatever I want because I'm free in Christ.
25:57-26:07
And I would say this, yes, it is true that if you are truly saved, there is nothing you can do to lose your salvation.
26:09-26:09
That is true.
26:11-26:13
But do you know what else is true?
26:14-26:20
is freedom is never an excuse to sin.
26:24-26:35
And according to God's word, we are called to submit to God, obviously, but also we are called to submit to the governing authorities.
26:36-26:47
So long as the government does not command us or mandate us to sin, to do something God forbids or to not do something God commands.
26:47-26:53
So long as the government isn't calling us to sin, biblically we are to submit to the governing authorities.
26:54-26:59
So the first question you have to ask yourself in a gray area is this, is it permissible?
27:01-27:03
Would the Bible allow this?
27:03-27:06
And is it legal according to our laws?
27:07-27:09
Is this permissible?
27:09-27:10
That's the first question.
27:11-27:16
Second question is, is it beneficial?
27:20-27:22
Same verse, all things are lawful for me.
27:22-27:26
Look at this next phrase, but not all things are helpful.
27:27-27:28
Paul recognized that.
27:28-27:31
Not everything is good for me.
27:33-27:33
Good for me how?
27:33-27:35
Not everything is good for my body.
27:37-27:43
This is the body that God has given me to navigate through this life.
27:44-27:46
Not everything is good for the health of this body.
27:46-27:48
Not everything is good for my mind.
27:48-27:49
We talked about that last week.
27:50-27:52
You have to keep your mind renewed.
27:52-27:56
Not everything is good for my mind.
27:57-27:58
And not everything is good for my spirit.
28:00-28:08
So the second question you have to ask yourself is, in making this decision, Is it something that's going to be good for me?
28:10-28:11
We're gonna say it in the negative.
28:11-28:15
Is this something that could be harmful to me in some way?
28:16-28:18
Is it beneficial?
28:22-28:26
Third question is this, could it get me under its power?
28:28-28:31
Same verse, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.
28:32-28:34
All things are lawful for me.
28:35-28:44
"But I will not be dominated by anything." And that last phrase, "I will not be dominated by anything.
28:45-28:51
"Could it get me under its power?" We've spent time talking about addiction of any kind.
28:52-28:57
And what addiction really is, ultimately, is a worship disorder.
28:58-29:04
Jesus Christ is to have all of your affection and all of your attention.
29:07-29:12
And when you have an addiction, something else is getting that.
29:12-29:13
It's a worship disorder.
29:13-29:20
And for the Christian, we say, I'm not a slave to anything or anyone except Jesus Christ.
29:21-29:26
So the third question is, is this something I could get addicted to?
29:29-29:30
Could it get me under its power?
29:33-30:02
The fourth question is this, "Could it cause a brother to stumble?" And here we jump to 1 Corinthians 8, verses 12 and 13, Paul says, "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.
30:03-30:14
So the fourth question is this, this decision that I'm thinking about making, this gray area, how is my decision going to affect other people?
30:19-30:21
Could it be a stumbling block to others?
30:23-30:25
And right now, if you're like, who cares?
30:26-30:28
I don't care what other people think about me.
30:28-30:29
I don't care.
30:31-30:35
I would say that's an extremely immature attitude.
30:37-30:45
There is nothing godly or wise or loving with an attitude like that.
30:45-30:46
Do you see Paul's attitude?
30:47-30:58
Again, you had people that came out of this pagan background and they're Christians and they're like, "Oh no, no, you can't eat that, you can't eat that." So what are you gonna do?
30:58-31:06
Walk in eating one of these, you know, boogeyman burgers or whatever, and like, "Oh, I'm free in Christ," right in front of this guy?
31:07-31:10
That would be like showing up at an AA meeting with alcohol.
31:11-31:12
Like, why would you do that?
31:13-31:25
Don't you care that somebody struggled in this area and they're trying to get on track and they're walk with Christ, and you're just gonna launch your freedom or whatever?
31:27-31:36
Paul's like, look, if I thought for a second that eating meat in front of somebody would cause him to stumble, Paul's like, I'm a vegan.
31:37-31:39
As horrible as that is.
31:44-31:52
He says, "I'll never eat meat." So could this decision that I'm making hurt a weaker brother or sister?
31:53-31:55
Could it cause a brother to stumble?
31:57-32:01
And the fifth question is this, is it glorifying to God?
32:07-32:20
And there he jumped to 1 Corinthians 10 31, where he says, "So whether you eat or drink, Or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32:23-32:26
That's the last and ultimately most important question.
32:27-32:30
Can I do this unto the Lord?
32:31-32:38
Can I stop and thank God and praise God and say, "God, this is done to your glory.
32:39-32:46
God, I'm doing this to honor you." You do that before you make your decision.
32:48-32:52
Can I do this to the glory of God?
32:58-33:02
Do you have a gray area that you're struggling with?
33:04-33:05
Well, there's your answer.
33:07-33:08
I'm not going to tell you what to do.
33:11-33:16
You let God's word and God's Holy Spirit bring you to conviction.
33:20-33:22
I got a couple of minutes here, let's try it.
33:22-33:23
You wanna try it?
33:25-33:25
Yeah, let's try it.
33:26-33:32
Let's do, we talked about the, we talked about that groundhog playing the lottery, right?
33:33-33:35
What about for Christians?
33:36-33:39
Is it okay for a Christian to play the lottery?
33:40-33:45
And I'm not going to tell you what to do, but let's run it through the test to see what's the best choice.
33:48-33:48
Is it permissible?
33:49-33:50
Yeah.
33:51-33:53
Do you have to be a certain age to play the lottery?
33:53-33:54
I probably should have looked that up.
33:54-33:56
Don't you have to be a certain age?
33:56-34:00
You're not like sending your preschooler with his ripped pants to buy lottery tickets, are you?
34:02-34:02
18?
34:03-34:03
I don't know.
34:06-34:09
OK, so if you're an adult-- I'm talking to the adults now.
34:09-34:10
If you're an adult, it is permissible.
34:11-34:13
You are legally allowed to buy a lottery ticket.
34:15-34:16
Okay, check.
34:17-34:18
How about the next question?
34:18-34:18
Is it beneficial?
34:21-34:23
Is it beneficial for you to play the lottery?
34:24-34:27
And you're like, it will be if I win.
34:30-34:33
And I'm like, because that happens all the time.
34:35-34:38
Lottery is just a tax on people that are bad at math.
34:38-34:40
(congregation laughing)
34:45-34:46
Is it beneficial?
34:47-34:48
Eh.
34:51-34:55
I would say no, but you wrestle with the Lord or not yourself.
34:56-34:59
How about, we'll go to the next question then.
35:00-35:01
Could it get me under its power?
35:04-35:05
It's a form of gambling.
35:07-35:08
Is gambling addictive?
35:11-35:13
Well, I think it is, but that's not even my opinion.
35:13-35:19
Do you notice every time they have one of them casino commercials, gambling problem, call this number.
35:19-35:20
Like, what?
35:20-35:26
Like, you're advertising something, and then you're immediately cutting yourself off at the knees, right?
35:27-35:28
Why do they do that?
35:29-35:30
Because it's addictive.
35:30-35:40
So I would say, hmm, hmm, maybe this is helping me make this decision on if I should buy the lottery ticket.
35:41-35:44
What about, could it cause a brother to stumble?
35:48-35:49
What do you think?
35:49-35:50
Could it cause a brother to stumble?
35:51-35:58
If somebody came into your house and you're scratching a lottery ticket, could it cause them to stumble?
36:03-36:03
What do you think?
36:06-36:07
Yes or no, what do you think?
36:11-36:14
Maybe, yeah, maybe if they have a gambling addiction, I don't know.
36:15-36:16
Even that is just like, eh.
36:18-36:20
Then number five, is it glorifying to God?
36:24-36:35
I'll tell you what my conviction is on that, is this absolutely isn't because you're taking God's money that he gave you to try to win more.
36:39-36:43
So you see, that kind of helps you make the decision, doesn't it?
36:45-36:46
How about another one?
36:47-36:50
Is it okay for me to go to the bar with my friends?
36:51-36:57
Like, look, my friends are going to the bar, I don't drink, but is it okay for me to go to the bar with my friends?
36:57-36:58
Just to hang out with them.
37:00-37:01
Be a witness, all that.
37:02-37:04
Well, ask the questions.
37:04-37:05
Is it permissible?
37:06-37:07
Yeah, sure.
37:08-37:09
Is there an H for that?
37:11-37:12
Yeah, it's permissible.
37:12-37:16
As an adult, I am legally allowed to go into a bar.
37:18-37:19
Is it beneficial?
37:20-37:21
Is it gonna be good for me?
37:23-37:25
Is it gonna be helpful for me in any way?
37:32-37:43
Well, if I had a problem with drinking, that's going to kind of lead us to another question here but maybe not.
37:43-37:44
I don't know.
37:44-37:46
Or even if I say, "Okay, you know what?
37:46-37:50
It's not going to harm me, so I'm just going to move on." Number three, could it get me under its power?
37:51-38:06
Well, if I had a drinking problem and I'm putting myself in a place of temptation, when Jesus told me to pray, lead me not into temptation, see some wisdom maybe in avoiding that, if that's my situation.
38:09-38:12
Still kinda on the fence here maybe, right?
38:12-38:15
But then you get to number four, could it cause a brother to stumble?
38:17-38:26
Hmm, what if I'm involved in like addiction recovery ministry and these guys find out that I'm hanging out at the bar?
38:29-38:31
The number five is glorifying to God.
38:33-38:36
Like I'm bar hopping in the name of Jesus.
38:38-38:41
Again, you gotta come up with the conviction, right?
38:42-38:43
What's another area?
38:43-38:44
We got a minute, shout one out.
38:46-38:46
You got one?
38:46-38:47
You got a gray area?
38:51-38:51
What's that?
38:52-38:53
Dating somebody?
38:54-38:55
Can we be more specific?
39:04-39:11
Well, I think you absolutely should use that, but I think maybe something more specific would be helpful on answering the questions here.
39:12-39:13
Oh, I got a bunch of them here.
39:14-39:14
How about this one?
39:15-39:17
Is it okay to watch an R-rated movie?
39:19-39:20
Is it permissible?
39:21-39:22
Yes, if I'm of age.
39:22-39:23
Is it beneficial?
39:24-39:25
Oh, hmm, hmm.
39:26-39:29
What kind of stuff is gonna be pumped into my head here, right?
39:30-39:31
Could it get me under its power?
39:33-39:43
If I have an addiction for immoral, sensual things, and that's what's being portrayed in the movie, I'm feeding that monkey and I shouldn't.
39:44-39:48
Could it cause a brother to stumble if somebody walked in and saw me watching this movie?
39:49-39:50
Would I be embarrassed by that?
39:51-39:57
Would I be okay with saying, "Hey, sit down and watch this with me." Is this glorifying to God?
40:01-40:02
See?
40:06-40:34
Any gray area that you face, ask these questions and ask the Holy Spirit to clearly convict you on not just what is right and wrong, but on what's an okay choice, but what's the absolute best choice that I can make.
40:35-40:38
I'd like you to bow your heads as the worship team makes their way forward.
40:40-40:41
And I just wanna pray over you church.
40:46-40:48
The same thing that Paul prayed for the Philippians.
40:49-41:11
He said, "It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more." And Father, I echo this and say, God, I pray that this church would be a church of love and forgiveness and brotherly affection and self-sacrificing service and all the things that you've called us to in Agape love.
41:13-41:17
Father, I pray that we would grow in love for one another as a church.
41:20-41:40
As Paul prayed with knowledge and all discernment, Father, I pray that you would fill the minds, my brothers and sisters here in this church, with the knowledge of your word, and with that, Father, that we would have discernment to be able to approve what is excellent.
41:43-42:02
Father, I pray that we wouldn't just fly through doing whatever's in front of us to moment it, but we would stop and evaluate, as your word calls us to do, to test everything, to discern what is the most excellent choice.
42:04-42:07
Because, Father, we wanna be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
42:07-42:10
Father, remind us that we are going to stand before you someday.
42:12-42:14
And we wanna be people of integrity.
42:15-42:26
Not putting on a show, not making people think that we make good decisions when secretly we don't.
42:29-42:43
But the power of your Holy Spirit, Father, the wisdom of your word, permeates and saturates every single area of our lives.
42:45-42:51
Be glorified, Father, through the choices that your children make.
42:52-42:54
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Philippians 1:9-11 and 1 Cor 6:12, 1 Cor 8:12-13, 1 Cor 10:31
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why is it important to discern what is best, not just what is “right and wrong”? See Philippians 1:10.
Name a “grey area” you’ve personally struggled with. How does the 1 Corinthians 6-8-10 principle help you come to a conviction in that area?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
If you are struggling with discernment in the form of an addiction. Check out the 5-part series where the church faces this series need head-on. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the pastors or elders of the church to get help!