Introduction:
Three Valid Reasons for Liberty (that Don't Work When You Have a Weaker Brother). (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)
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I Have KNOWLEDGE. (1 Cor 8:1-3)
Philippians 1:9 – And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment
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I Have WISDOM. (1 Cor 8:4-7)
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I Have GOOD THEOLOGY. (1 Cor 8:8-13)
Matthew 18:6 - whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 25:40 - Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:36-00:39
Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians 8.
00:41-00:49
Oh, that sweet, sweet, quiet lull of early service on Daylight Saving Sunday.
00:51-00:52
So tranquil.
00:54-00:55
Let's kick that up, shall we?
00:55-00:56
Let's have a fight.
00:58-01:01
Amen, somebody came ready to rumble.
01:04-01:06
Not like a fist fight.
01:07-01:09
Let's just have a good old fashioned argument.
01:10-01:12
All right, that'll get the blood boiling.
01:13-01:15
All in favor of having an argument?
01:16-01:16
Some of you.
01:17-01:18
(congregation laughing)
01:19-01:20
Little too eager.
01:21-01:22
All right, here we go.
01:23-01:24
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
01:27-01:29
Oh, did you hear that Pastor Taylor?
01:30-01:31
Apparently we struck a nerve.
01:32-01:34
Show of hands, how many people say that a hot dog is a sandwich?
01:35-01:36
Okay.
01:37-01:39
Some of you, okay, how many people insist that it's not?
01:41-01:41
Whoa.
01:43-01:46
Whoa, you might wanna pump the brakes on that.
01:46-01:49
I mean, what, it's like meat and condiments in bread, right?
01:51-01:53
Isn't that the very definition of a sandwich?
01:54-01:57
And you're like, well, but it's shaped different.
01:58-01:59
Well, I'm shaped different.
01:59-02:00
Does that mean I'm not a human?
02:00-02:01
Like, come on, what's that?
02:05-02:07
Some of you are a little too emotional about that.
02:09-02:10
It's silly though, right?
02:10-02:14
We're not really going to fight about that.
02:16-02:24
But when we get to this next section in 1 Corinthians, believe it or not, and you will, it was a food controversy.
02:25-02:26
That's what's going on.
02:26-02:31
They had a food controversy, but it wasn't about hot dogs.
02:33-02:40
It was about something that was much bigger problem for the church.
02:41-02:44
All right, let's just stop for a minute.
02:44-02:51
This is a challenging text, but we are going to get through it together.
02:52-02:55
I'm gonna ask you to pray for me, and I will pray for you.
02:56-02:58
Let's see what the Lord has to teach us today in His Word.
02:58-03:01
All right, let's just take a moment and pray.
03:09-03:11
Father, fire us up to receive your Word.
03:13-03:17
We don't wanna go into a lull because we lost an hour of sleep or whatever.
03:17-03:23
God, this is your Word, and we should be excited to see what it is that you have told us in your Word.
03:26-03:30
and we should be looking to see how we can reflect the truth of your word in our lives.
03:30-03:46
So God, give us the faith to really believe what you said to the point that it takes root, to the point that it's manifest in our hearts, in our minds, in our attitudes, and ultimately in our conduct.
03:47-03:57
We pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and all of God's people said, Amen, amen.
03:57-04:03
In this section in 1 Corinthians, it's kind of like a big Q&A session, right?
04:03-04:05
And look at chapter eight, verse one.
04:06-04:07
Do you see the first two words in your Bible?
04:08-04:13
He says, in this chapter, he says, "Now concerning." We talked about that, right?
04:13-04:17
It seems to be like, okay, next subject, right?
04:17-04:20
That's his clue that we're moving on to a new subject.
04:21-04:46
And the next topic that again is going to span next three chapters is Christian liberty. Just in case we didn't offend anybody with the last part of it, let's talk about liberty, shall we? Am I free to do whatever I want? I'm free in Christ! I can do whatever I want to do, right? Right?
04:46-04:46
Right?
04:46-04:46
Right?
04:50-04:53
Oh, legalism versus liberty.
04:54-04:58
It's the issue literally as old as the church herself.
05:01-05:02
Legalism.
05:04-05:05
That's one side.
05:05-05:06
Legalism.
05:06-05:11
The people that are legalists say to be accepted by God, here's some things you can't do.
05:11-05:13
Here's your list of things that you cannot do.
05:14-05:16
And if you keep the list, you're accepted by God.
05:17-05:19
That's the legalist likes the rules.
05:19-05:24
But on the other hand, you have the liberty people.
05:26-05:28
The liberty people say, "Hey, I'm saved by grace.
05:28-05:30
My performance doesn't matter.
05:30-05:35
Nothing can change the fact that I'm saved by grace and I can do whatever I want to do.
05:36-05:38
Nothing will separate me from the love of Christ.
05:38-05:55
I am free to do whatever I want to do." Well their particular liberty issue that became a problem for the church is what Paul is addressing in chapter 8, 9, and through 10.
05:57-05:57
Here's their issue.
05:59-06:01
Look again, chapter 8, verse 1.
06:01-06:15
He said, "Now concerning food offered to idols." That's meat that was sacrificed to a pagan God.
06:17-06:19
Like what in the world is going on here?
06:21-06:24
Understand in the Greek culture, they had gods for everything.
06:25-06:29
It was part of every aspect of life.
06:30-06:33
There was a God for literally everything.
06:37-06:48
And when a pagan worshiper would offer a sacrifice to a God, that sacrifice was divided into three parts.
06:49-06:59
Part was burned for the pagan God, part went home with the worshiper, but then the third part went with the priest.
07:00-07:02
The pagan priest, right?
07:04-07:05
How much pot roast can you eat?
07:06-07:11
Okay, so you can imagine, these priests, they had an abundance.
07:11-07:14
So they would take the extra down and sell it at the market.
07:17-07:29
There was other pagan meat at the market as well, because in the Greek culture, they believed that an evil spirit could enter you through what you ate.
07:29-07:31
So they believed that an evil spirit could get in the meat.
07:31-07:34
And when you ate the meat, now you had the evil spirit inside you.
07:35-07:41
So they would sacrifice to a God who would make sure that there were no evil spirits in the meat.
07:41-07:53
And on top of that, because it was such a pagan culture, the temple was sort of the community center, meaning weddings and parties were commonly held at the temple.
07:53-07:55
You're gonna see that come up here in this text.
07:55-08:04
And here's the point, my friends, Almost all the meat in this culture was used for pagan worship somehow.
08:05-08:06
Almost all of it.
08:10-08:11
So maybe you begin to see the problem.
08:13-08:19
For the church, for the Christians, for the Jesus followers, there was division.
08:20-08:27
For some, they were like, "Should we eat the pagan meat?" Absolutely not.
08:27-08:28
I'm not touching that.
08:29-08:32
They use that meat in pagan worship.
08:32-08:34
I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole.
08:35-08:37
No way am I touching that.
08:39-08:46
And then there were more mature believers that were like, a hamburger is a hamburger, bro.
08:48-08:50
The boogeyman doesn't live in the hamburger.
08:51-08:52
Just eat it.
08:52-08:52
Come on.
08:55-08:57
Can you see why that would be a problem in the church?
09:00-09:16
People saying, "Eat the meat." People saying, "Absolutely, you shouldn't go near it." So in chapter eight here, and we're gonna be looking at the whole chapter, Paul is addressing the mature Christians who insisted on their liberty.
09:19-09:26
These mature Christians who said, "Hey, it bothers some of the weaker Christians that we eat the meat, but look, I'm free in Christ.
09:27-09:28
It's not haunted meat.
09:28-09:31
Am I not free to eat the meat if I want to eat the meat?
09:38-09:44
I'm gonna go way out on a limb here and guess that this probably isn't an issue for this church.
09:45-09:46
Right?
09:48-09:58
I don't imagine you've had to sit down at the table debate whether or not the boogeyman was in the steak, if you should eat it or not.
10:02-10:06
But you know there's always been issues of legalism and liberty in the church.
10:07-10:25
Always. Always. Okay so we're not arguing about the pagan meat, but I mean look at look at church history. We have this, even very recently, we are constantly At odds trying to figure out some things.
10:26-10:28
Issues of legalism versus liberty.
10:30-10:32
Like things like playing cards.
10:34-10:39
I know young people that might be hard to believe, but there was a time that that was a big issue in the church.
10:39-10:41
Should you be allowed to play cards?
10:43-10:50
Things like dancing, movies, hairstyle, dress.
10:50-10:50
Yes.
10:53-10:55
Things you can do on Sunday.
10:57-10:59
You can't go to a restaurant 'cause you're making people work.
10:59-11:00
You can't wash your car on Sunday.
11:00-11:01
That's considered work.
11:02-11:05
And you're breaking the Sabbath and there's so much wrong with that thinking.
11:05-11:06
But it's an issue.
11:07-11:08
It's an issue.
11:09-11:11
Things like yoga.
11:16-11:20
Last and certainly my favorite, Trick or treat.
11:26-11:27
I hate Halloween.
11:29-11:32
Not because you dress up like Spider-Man and get a Kit Kat.
11:32-11:33
I think that's kind of cool.
11:34-11:42
But just what it does in the church, because you have people that are like, it's fun, let's let them dress up and get candy and see the neighbors.
11:42-11:45
And then you have people that are like, it's demonic.
11:46-11:49
And like, I don't know what to do.
11:51-11:53
That's kind of the flavor of what we're getting here.
11:55-11:56
See, all these things are gray areas.
11:56-12:04
There's nothing explicit in the Bible that we can point to where the Bible says, do not do this, do not go trick or treating, do not dance.
12:05-12:09
Yet we can't find verses in the Bible that explicitly say.
12:09-12:12
So what do we do with these gray areas?
12:12-12:18
And the liberty person would say, I'm free to do whatever I want to do.
12:19-12:20
'Cause I'm free in Christ.
12:20-12:22
I'm free in Christ, man.
12:22-12:24
I can do whatever I want, right?
12:27-12:28
No.
12:29-12:37
No, not if doing one of these gray area things could cause a brother to sin.
12:40-13:34
So Paul addressing their issue with the meat gives us principles that apply for all times even until today. I want you to think about this scenario as we go through this passage because here's a real-life scenario that could happen to you where you need to apply these principles, this could happen to you this week. Just imagine the issue of alcohol. First of all, are you free to drink alcohol? Well, the Bible warns about drunkenness, but yes, the Bible does not say, "Thou shalt not ever touch alcohol." Okay? So yes, technically you are free, you are free to drink alcohol.
13:37-13:42
If you're of age and avoid drunkenness and all that, sure, sure, sure.
13:43-13:50
Okay, but imagine this scenario, a man who recently comes to harvest decides he wants to go to your small group.
13:52-13:55
But this man is coming out of an addicted background.
13:57-14:00
He had a really bad problem with alcohol, he went to rehab.
14:02-14:05
And this man ends up coming to know Christ.
14:05-14:06
He's born again.
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He received Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
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He's been transformed.
14:10-14:14
And now this man hates how alcohol has wrecked his life.
14:16-14:21
And this man sees alcohol a whole lot different than you or I might look at alcohol.
14:23-14:34
All right, so that guy says, "Pastor Taylor, I want to get involved in one of your small groups." And Pastor Taylor gets the guy coming to your small group.
14:35-14:43
And this week, you're having a barbecue at your small group because the weather is oh so great as it has been.
14:45-14:53
And as a small group leader, you're wondering, "Well, can I have beer at our small group barbecue?
14:58-14:58
Can I?
15:01-15:46
We have alcohol at a church event?" And you're like, "Okay, well this guy's coming and Pastor Taylor sort of told me this man's background and I know that if we have alcohol at our barbecue, it's going to bother that guy. I know that, but I'm free. I'm free to drink it. Why is his problem my problem? Should I still have it even though this guy's coming? I mean, I can have it, so let's just go ahead and have it and he can figure that out, right? Well, that was the Corinthian dilemma. Some mature believers were eating the meat regardless of how it affected the weaker believers.
15:47-15:53
And I'm glad you're sitting down because you're going to be shocked that this resulted in more disunity problems for Corinth.
15:55-15:57
Those people fought about everything.
15:59-16:00
And here's another issue.
16:03-16:12
So on your outline, listen very closely to this next sentence because you have to understand the angle at which Paul's going after them.
16:13-16:26
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 8, is going after the three reasons that the mature believers were using to justify eating the pagan meat.
16:29-16:33
It's okay for us to eat it, and here's why it's okay for us to eat it.
16:33-16:39
Paul goes after those reasons, and they're the same reasons we use today.
16:41-16:55
And interestingly enough, Paul agrees with them, but he shows them why their reasons for eating the meat, their reasons for liberty, do not apply in light of how it's going to affect a weaker believer.
16:57-16:58
All right?
16:59-17:03
That's why the heading on your outline, it's a big one.
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Three valid reasons for liberty that don't work when you have a weaker brother.
17:12-17:17
All of these are legit reasons for liberty, but they do not work when you have a weaker brother.
17:18-17:18
Y'all with me?
17:19-17:20
I can start over.
17:21-17:22
It's a hot dog and sandwich.
17:25-17:28
Three valid reasons for liberty that do not work when you have a weaker brother.
17:29-17:31
Here's the first one, number one, write this down.
17:31-17:32
I have knowledge.
17:33-17:34
I have knowledge.
17:34-17:36
I know some stuff.
17:37-17:38
I know, okay.
17:40-17:40
Back to verse one.
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"Now concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge." Stop there.
17:52-17:57
You see, they were saying, Look, I know I can eat the meat sacrificed to the...
17:57-17:58
I can do that because I know, I know.
17:59-18:01
I know what the Bible says about food, okay?
18:01-18:05
And Peter had that vision, Acts 10, the sheath, everything's clean.
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I know about that, I know, I know, I know.
18:09-18:11
And look, meat is meat, I know.
18:14-18:16
We do the same thing, by the way, with alcohol, right?
18:17-18:18
We know, we know some stuff.
18:19-18:22
Okay, small group leader thinking about having beer at your barbecue.
18:22-18:26
I know, I know, I know what the Bible says, okay?
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And in fact, you know, back in biblical times, they didn't have refrigerators.
18:32-18:37
So their grape juice fermented, and it was really only like a 3% alcohol on some things.
18:37-18:40
And it was, but some of the drinks was only 1% alcohol.
18:41-18:48
And (mimics barking) Look, knowledge is great.
18:49-18:56
Actually, God's word exalts knowledge, knowing God's truth.
18:57-19:01
But here's the thing, knowledge isn't everything.
19:02-19:02
Okay?
19:04-19:06
Knowledge isn't everything because look at the rest of verse one.
19:07-19:18
He says, "This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Just having knowledge puffs up.
19:18-19:20
Knowledge makes people proud.
19:21-19:22
That's what he's saying.
19:22-19:23
Knowledge makes people proud.
19:24-19:25
Have you ever been around that guy?
19:26-19:27
You know that guy?
19:28-19:30
The actually guy?
19:31-19:32
You know that guy?
19:32-19:33
That's like actually.
19:33-19:34
You know, you've been around that guy?
19:36-19:37
If you are that guy, I hope you repent.
19:38-19:39
But you know that guy.
19:39-19:43
You're like, man, it was like 80 degrees today.
19:43-19:47
Actually, it was 77 degrees.
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(sniffling)
19:50-19:51
You got me.
19:52-19:53
I'm a big fat liar.
19:54-20:00
Or you're like, strawberries are my favorite fruit.
20:01-20:04
Actually, a strawberry is not a fruit.
20:04-20:05
It is a member of the rose family.
20:06-20:08
Actually, a banana actually is a berry.
20:09-20:09
Actually.
20:14-20:15
Knowledge puffs up.
20:15-20:19
The guy that's just knowledge, obnoxious.
20:23-20:29
He says, "But love, love builds up." You see, knowledge is about me, but love is about you.
20:30-20:32
Love is about building you up.
20:32-20:37
And that's why you gotta have love with your knowledge.
20:37-20:38
That's Paul's point here.
20:39-20:41
Actually, he said the same thing, Philippians 1:9.
20:42-20:51
"And it is my prayer that your love may abound and more with knowledge. You see that? Love with knowledge and all discernment.
20:53-20:59
All your Bible knowledge does you no good if you aren't operating from a position of love.
21:01-21:16
So look at verse 2. He says, "If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know." Knowledge is a funny thing, isn't it?
21:16-21:20
You think you know something, and you don't.
21:21-21:30
The guy that's walking around thinking he's the expert and he knows everything, usually doesn't really know near as much as he thinks he knows.
21:34-21:38
You mature people, Paul says, you mature people insisting on your liberty.
21:38-21:43
You think you're so smart, but you don't know as much as you think you do.
21:44-22:04
because you're missing what the Christian life is all about and it is love. Biblical knowledge should move you to love. You're like, "Wait, wait, hang on.
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How does that work? How does knowledge and love, how does that How does that work together exactly?
22:12-22:17
And Paul's like, "Like your relationship with God Himself." Look at verse 3.
22:18-22:26
He says, "But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." There it is.
22:26-22:31
Knowledge and love working together in your relationship with God.
22:31-22:33
Both of them have to be present.
22:34-22:36
So you can know about God without loving Him.
22:38-22:45
But you don't really know God without loving Him.
22:48-22:49
So what's he saying?
22:49-22:50
Here's the bottom line, alright?
22:51-22:53
Here's the CliffsNotes version of this chunk.
22:53-22:58
He says, "Your knowledge means nothing without love." That's what he's saying.
22:58-22:59
Your knowledge means nothing without love.
22:59-23:06
God doesn't care that you know stuff if you don't love your weaker brother.
23:06-23:07
That's the point.
23:09-23:13
So again, you're thinking about having beer at your small group barbecue.
23:15-23:20
Listen, and that guy's coming that's had the struggle in the past.
23:20-23:26
Look, that guy that's coming, he doesn't need your list of alcohol facts.
23:26-23:27
Okay?
23:27-23:35
What he needs is you to love him enough that you care more about him growing in Christ then you do you having your beer.
23:39-23:48
So if you're insisting on your liberty on the basis of, I know some Bible verses, you missed the big picture.
23:50-23:52
All right, I have knowledge.
23:54-23:55
Great, great.
23:57-24:01
Doesn't matter in the face of a weaker brother, you gotta love him.
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I love 'em.
24:03-24:06
Number two, jot this one down.
24:06-24:06
I have wisdom.
24:08-24:09
I have wisdom.
24:10-24:11
There's a difference, right?
24:12-24:13
Knowledge, you know the facts.
24:14-24:19
Wisdom is like knowing how to apply the facts, knowing how knowledge works together.
24:21-24:23
Look at verses four through six with me.
24:24-24:39
He says, "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.
24:41-25:14
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords. Yet for us, there is one God the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." Wow. I could do like a whole series just on like the end of verse 6 there.
25:15-25:16
That is such an awesome verse.
25:16-25:17
You should highlight that in your Bible.
25:21-25:23
That's the gospel right there in verse 6.
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This is the gospel.
25:24-25:39
God came to us in Christ, and we go to God in Christ.
25:43-25:44
That's awesome.
25:47-25:50
Regarding the issue at hand, Paul's here saying, "Look, right on, right on.
25:51-25:52
Hey, I'm with you.
25:52-25:54
The idol is just a trinket.
25:54-25:55
There's no boogeyman in the meat.
25:56-25:57
You have wisdom.
25:57-26:03
You understand the world in light of the truth of God's Word." Awesome.
26:04-26:12
Verse 7, "However, not all possess this knowledge." See that?
26:13-26:14
Paul's agreeing with him.
26:14-26:15
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
26:16-26:16
I get it.
26:17-26:18
The idol's a trinket.
26:19-26:19
Right.
26:21-26:22
The meat's not haunted, I get it.
26:23-26:23
You're right.
26:24-26:34
However, however, look, God in his word has told us everything he wants us to know about him.
26:38-26:42
But we are all at different levels of understanding.
26:43-26:50
Some of us are just a little further down the road on our journey than others in maturing with Christ.
26:50-26:51
That's just the way things work.
26:52-26:54
We learn, we grow, we mature.
26:54-26:56
Some of us are more mature than others.
26:56-26:57
That's just reality.
26:59-27:00
And that's what Paul's saying here.
27:00-27:01
He's, "Look, good for you.
27:01-27:02
You know some things.
27:02-27:04
You know some things about the idols.
27:04-27:05
Guess what?
27:05-27:07
Not everyone understands.
27:08-27:09
Not everyone's where you are.
27:12-27:13
Not everyone gets it.
27:15-27:42
Look at the rest of verse 7, he goes, "But some," talking about the weaker brothers here, "but some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled." Your conscience, he says, "These weaker brothers having a problem with their..." What is the conscience?
27:42-27:44
We talked about this way and through the book of Hebrews.
27:45-27:46
Your conscience, what is your conscience?
27:46-27:57
The conscience is the part of your mind that approves or condemns what you do, based on how you understand right and wrong.
27:59-28:00
That's your conscience.
28:00-28:04
And some, Paul says, have a weak conscience, meaning it's immature.
28:06-28:28
not fully understanding yet. And if a weaker brother eats the pagan meat, they go against their conscience and Paul says, "They are defiled." That word "defiled" actually means "guilty." They feel guilty for doing it. They went against their conscience.
28:35-28:49
Have you ever believed something for so long that even when you learn the truth, it's hard to let go of that old belief that you held onto for so long?
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I think we've all been guilty of that.
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You know, here's one for me.
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When I was a kid, I've always been an excellent singer.
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(congregation laughing)
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What is going on here?
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Learning to have grace with the weaker brothers.
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(congregation laughing)
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Pastor Taylor, you are absolutely right.
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That statement was sarcastic, you are right.
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He is absolutely right.
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He's not the weaker brother, he's right.
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But I have always been a great singer.
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But anyways, when I was little, I would sing at the dinner table, 'cause I'm always singing, I'm singing, doing everything, but I'd come to the dinner table and I'd sing.
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And do you know what my mom told me?
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She says, "You can't sing at the table because it," anybody know?
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She made this up.
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My mom said, she says, "You can't sing at the table "because it makes the angels cry."
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(congregation laughing)
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I am dead serious.
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Now I found, I just this minute realized she just made that up.
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'Cause I was expecting somebody to shout that out.
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Nope.
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So I grew up like, don't sing, when I get to the table, I'm like, don't sing, why?
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because all the angels in heaven are like, "Oh, please." At first I thought it was just like anybody singing, but I think mom meant my singing.
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My singing offended the holy angels.
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But so I was like, "Don't sing at the table "because the angels, it just made the angels cry." And you're like, "That's silly." It is, admittedly.
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But I gotta tell you, to this day, if I'm eating somewhere and I hear somebody singing, do you know what the first thing is that I think of?
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You're making the angels cry.
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Way to go.
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Do you know what I mean?
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I know that's not true, but I do cringe when I hear somebody sing at the table because it was just so ingrained in me my whole life growing up.
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Don't sing at the table, don't sing at the table.
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Angels are weeping.
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Like...
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And it was true in this culture that Paul's dealing with here.
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Imagine the person that got saved out of idolatry.
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That's a huge change.
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You know, all this time, for all these years, the evil spirits live in the meat, got to sacrifice to the gods, you get the spirits out of the meat, the evil spirits live in the meat, and then they come to Christ, They get the truth of the gospel, and they're like, "That's not true.
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There's no evil spirits in the meat.
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It's not true at all." It's totally safe to eat, right?
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I mean, it is safe, right?
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But, I mean, it is pagan meat.
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eat. I mean, I guess it's okay to eat it. I mean, gosh, I just don't feel right about eating it. You see the dilemma? I know, but I...
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See, mature believers, mature believers, maybe you understand the real truth about the idols and the mate.
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Paul's like, "But your weaker brother, he's not there yet." And love says, "I will forego something that might bother the weaker brother." That's what love says.
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Look, spiritual maturity is deeper than right and wrong.
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The mature believer says, "How does what I do affect the baby Christians?" And you see with the whole alcohol, with the small group barbecue thing, it's the same principle in play.
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If the weaker brother is coming to the barbecue, the loving choice is to not have any alcohol there at all.
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Not being legalistic, being loving.
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I don't want this to be a problem for you, so we're just going to take it off the table.
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We'll have a Dr. Pepper.
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Look, if you're insisting on your liberty on the basis of, "I have wisdom, I know the ways of the world and how it works," you've just missed the whole picture.
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One more.
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Three valid reasons for liberty that don't work when you have a weaker brother.
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"I have knowledge." That doesn't work when there's a weaker brother.
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"I have wisdom." That doesn't work.
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When you have a weaker brother, number three, here's one that we often use, I have good theology.
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And see, these all do kind of bleed together, obviously.
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But I have good theology.
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Look at verse eight.
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He says, "Food will not commend us to God.
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"We are no worse off if we do not eat "and no better off if we do." Interestingly, that word commend is literally draw us near to.
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What you eat is not going to draw you closer to God.
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And that's what he's saying.
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Eating doesn't make you holy, nor does eating make you a sinner.
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That's good theology, right?
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It's good theology.
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What you eat will not draw you near to God.
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There's only one way to draw near to God, and that's Jesus Christ.
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He provided access to God through his death, through his resurrection.
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That's the only basis you have of coming to God.
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The only way you can draw near is through Jesus Christ.
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But it certainly isn't in what you eat.
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That's great theology, right?
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So God doesn't care what we eat, But, but God does care about his weaker children and the way we love them.
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He cares about that.
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Look at verses nine and 10.
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He says, "But take care that this right of yours "does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
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"For if anyone sees you who have knowledge "eating in an idol's temple, Will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
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Stumbling block, stumbling block.
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That's something that makes you sin, right?
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That's a stumbling block.
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And Paul here says, you're insisting on your freedom can make the weaker brother sin.
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What do you mean?
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Just simply this, if their conscience says, don't eat the pagan meat, and they see you eating, they're going to feel pressured to go against their conscience and eat, and that will make them miserable.
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They're gonna feel the pressure, they're gonna eat, and then they're gonna immediately, I shouldn't have eaten that.
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But you know, he makes me feel guilty if I don't join in and eat, but then I do eat, and now I feel guilty that I did.
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You see an obvious application, right?
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You decide you're gonna go ahead and have alcohol with your little small group barbecue, volleyball extravaganza thing.
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And you're like, I'm still gonna have alcohol there.
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And that recovering addict shows up.
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And he's like, yeah, I don't drink anymore.
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It ruined my life.
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But everybody else is drinking.
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Man, I kind of feel like the odd man out here.
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Maybe I should, I mean, these are new friends and I should try to fit in, right?
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So, I don't want to look like a weirdo.
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And then he drinks.
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How does he feel about himself afterwards?
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I can't believe I did that.
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Listen, never ever violate your conscience.
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I have people come to me for counseling all the time and it can be a gray area matter and they'll say, "I just have this conviction about this.
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"Is that right?" I tell them the same thing, ask anybody that's come.
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I'm like, I will never tell you to violate your conscience.
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If you have a conviction and it's different than mine, and it's a non-biblical issue, I am not going to tell you to violate your conscience on that.
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And at the same time, do not ever ask someone else to violate theirs.
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With your conscience, yes, understand, seek to understand why you feel how you do.
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Evaluate if it is from God, but never violate your conscience.
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Look, you're going to mature in Christ.
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Your understanding of God's word is going to mature, but don't force it.
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Let the growth happen naturally for you and for the weaker brother.
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And I know at this point in the message, there's still somebody, somebody's inwardly protesting all this, saying, "Why should I care what my choices "have to do with somebody else's conscience?
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"Like, why is that any of their business?" Well, look at verse 11.
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Paul says, "And so by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
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Why should you care?
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Because Jesus does.
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How much does Jesus care about this weaker brother, really?
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How much does Jesus care?
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Jesus died for him.
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That is how Jesus regards this man.
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That is how Jesus so loves this man that Jesus was willing to die for him.
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And that's why you should love him too.
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Verse 12, he says, "Thus, sitting against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ." Wow.
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Paul ratchets it up.
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This is the top of the mountain here.
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He goes, "Do you need a reason to not offend the weaker brother?
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Do you need a reason for that?" He goes, "Here's your reason.
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Here's number one.
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Jesus takes any mistreatment of his people very seriously.
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You sit against that weaker brother, you're sitting against Jesus himself." And Jesus takes this very seriously.
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Look, if you pressure my son into doing something he doesn't wanna do, we are having words.
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Jesus has a much stronger stance on this than I do, actually.
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Matthew 18.6, "Whoever causes," these are the words of Jesus, "Whoever causes one of these little ones "who believe in me to sin, "it would be better for him to have a great millstone "fastened around his neck "and be drowned in the depths of the sea." You sin against a weaker brother, you're sinning against Jesus.
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He takes that pretty seriously.
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And again, Matthew 25, verse 40, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, "As you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, "you did it to me." Serious business.
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And finally, verse 13.
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Paul says, "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, "I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble." Paul's like, "Look, run the risk of sinning against Jesus?
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Nuh-uh, uh-uh.
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I'm not going to insist on my liberty, my rights." Paul says, "I will become a vegan before I cause a brother to stumble, because loving Loving my weaker brother is more important than having a burger.
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And loving my weaker brother is more important than having a beer.
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So if you're insisting on your liberty on the basis of, "Well, I have good theology," you missed the big picture.
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All right.
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That was the introduction.
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Here's the sermon.
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Your liberty goes only as far as love.
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Like the Corinthians, you can say, "Well, I know the Bible and I understand spiritual truths.
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My theology is on point.
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I am free in Christ to do whatever I want!" No, you aren't.
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You must be willing to lay down your rights if it means protecting your weaker brother.
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For communion servers would come up, our worship team.
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I'll give you one more reason why we should lay down our rights out of love.
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And it's because we have a great example.
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You know, the Bible says Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.
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Wrap your head around that.
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Jesus had the right to insist on all of the privileges that come with being God.
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And he humbled himself to give them up.
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The question I have for you this morning is, will you follow Jesus in that?
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Are you willing to lay down your rights, your freedoms, out of love?
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I want you to stand.
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And when you're ready to receive the Lord's Supper, by the way, if you're a born again believer in Christ, this is for you.
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You don't have to be a member of Harvest Bible Chapel, but you do have to be a born again believer in Christ.
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And if you are, he invites you.
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Come down the center aisle, receive the elements, and I'm gonna ask that you take them back to your seat by going to the outside aisle.
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And when everyone has the elements, we will receive the Lord's Supper together as an act of church unity.
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All right, please come.
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Why should I choose to lay down my rights?
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because I have a great example in my Lord.
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The Bible tells us the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it.
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He gave thanks and He said, "This is my body which is given for you. Eat this in remembrance of me." After the meal, Jesus took the cup He said, "This cup is the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
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Drink this in remembrance of Me."
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Do you tend to lean more on the side of “legalism” or “libertine”? Why?
What exactly is meant by “stumbling block” (1 Cor 8:9)? How could you be responsible for someone else sinning (1 Cor 8:12)?
Besides alcohol, what are some examples of gray areas today that we need to be careful to “not make a weaker brother stumble”?
Breakout
Pray for one another.