The principle of Christian Liberty
1 Corinthians 10:23-33 · Bob Eckel · Jul 24, 2016
1 Corinthians, No. 29
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926536346082

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So let's read 23 at the end of the chapter. So I'm reading from the AD version here on my iPad. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. What wealth is, by the way, not in some versions.

So we'll come back to that here. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, meaning the market, that eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and you be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no questions for conscience' sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience' sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.

Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other, for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved."

Okay, interesting, and I think a very current kind of issue in terms of the application of scripture to our lives as believers today. So, first verse, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. So, all things are lawful for me, a very strong statement. Who's law? The law of Christ. What's the law of Christ?

A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Whatever you give a voice to or direction to do, you get to whatever it is. Okay, is this a list, though? No, it's more of just a guidance, and accepting that guidance from the Holy Spirit. Right, Tom. The law, of course, is above all legal principles and lists and things to do and not to do. And in a sense, that sets the stage for the liberty we have in Christ Jesus. Remember, when he will set us free, we shall be free indeed. And that's kind of the message that comes across here. Randy?

In my family Bible study we had this last week, we were talking about how Christ says, I do what my Father sent me to do, and that he sets in front of us this precedent of abiding and setting things up so that the law of Christ becomes this relationship element and not a list or to-do item. And Christ modeled that for his disciples so that when he brings those things up, And then the Holy Spirit shows up and acts.

They're not shocked. They're like, oh, God has already established this and I've seen it. All right, good. I think we've kind of tackled this one. The law is not a set of legal principles. This is a life, really. It's what it is. We'll kind of simplify it right now going forward. But not all things are helpful. Dot, dot, dot. And not all things edify. This is the qualification here. OK, so.

You know, all things are lawful for me, we have the liberty to live a life based on faith, based on grace as the foundation of that life lived by faith. But all things don't edify, and all things aren't helpful. So that liberty can be taken too far. And I think we're going to see examples of this in the rest of the text this morning.

Edifying the writings of Paul means to advance spiritually. This isn't edification to make your brother or sister feel good about themselves. This is to edify or lift up the body. In fact, if it's not the body, we have an opportunity to edify spiritually.

We were with non-believers last night and something came up about this issue and we kind of talked about this. Our purpose there wasn't to convert them, that's the job of the Holy Spirit, but what we shared was hopefully edifying in some way spiritually, not that it brought them to salvation, but the fact that it was biblical truth And I mentioned I'm going to be teaching this whole issue of freedom. And we'll come back to that in terms of some of the examples that we're going to be looking at here today.

So this is a reiteration of 1 Corinthians 6.12. You don't have to turn there, it's the exact same verse almost. Paul's already said this to the church at Corinth. This idea that all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient or edified.

Romans other examples here, Romans 14, 19. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the things by which one may edify another. Again, build up spiritually. And Romans 15, 1 and 2. We that are strong, who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. Again, building up spiritually. We can find many more verses.

I just use those as exemplary of this fact that edification is advancing spiritual truth in the life of the body. And all of this, this is kind of something that I just summarily state, all of this requires wisdom and judgment. And this is Holy Spirit-less. We kind of weigh the consequences of our behavior all the time. But let's make sure that the metric here is spirit-led, Christ-like behavior.

It's not pleasing the flesh, or using the flesh to please or edify someone else non-spiritually. We're all on the same page on this? OK, good. Verse 24, let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being. And by the way, well-being is not in many translations. So it's just the others.

Seek here is imperative, that means do it. It implies demanding something from someone else. So let's go back and look at the verse again. Let no one seek his own, meaning demanding of someone or something to please himself, but it's the other whom in fact we're concerned about. So what's the motive when we seek for ourselves? We don't have to study that in great detail, do we?

Well, we're demanding of something from someone else. A principle that we've had in our home, it doesn't always work, but I've had in the workplace too, is whenever we need something from somebody else, meaning it's related to our vocation or even in the home, whatever, the way to get something is to go to people for advice. And when you go for advice, nobody turns you down when you ask for advice. And by the way, then you have a conversation and ultimately, even though we're seeking something for ourselves, it's a practical application of ultimately a relationship that develops, hopefully edification in some way, and ultimately what you really would like to have from him or her is made available when they're advising you on the issue you've gone to. So it's just kind of a practical application of seeking something for yourself.

It's not demanding. It's going to people to get their input about the issue you're thinking about. All right. What is another's well-being or wealth? And by the way, that's not in the original text. Thus, it's for others. So what is someone else's well-being? Making them feel good?

A small class today and a quiet class today. Would there be more of a spiritual thing? Yeah, I think. It's kind of edification played out, Gerald. I think that's what we're talking about. Somebody else's well-being is ultimately enlightening them in the truth. Now, that's not slamming the gospel down their throat. It's through issues that come up on a day-to-day basis, and really, it's being spirit-led to stand on the biblical principles that relate to the new life of Christ Jesus. And we'll come back to that, too, as we go forward. All right, 25 and 26, I've lumped together. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience's sake, or the earth is the Lord's in all of its forms.

Okay, so this now is, by the way, New King James Revised Version. Define conscience. This is important. Not your conscience, but the other person's. OK, we're going to get to that, Tom. You're advancing the study here, but that's fine. But that's not the inquisition here. It's the fine conscience.

What's conscience? I think this is pretty important. I turn to Strong here. And Strong says, the soul is distinguished between what is morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter, commending one, and condemning the other. That's kind of a broad sweeping statement about conscience. I think it's pretty accurate.

Our conscience is steered by many things including the culture in which we live, our home environment, and the pressures we get from the world system around us. What's the conscience's source? And I think that's kind of what Tom was getting at here. Couldn't the conscience be equally influenced by the old man, as well as by the wisdom and truth that comes from above?

Absolutely. Maybe the conscience in Central Africa and tribal nations is really to be cannibalistic. And the conscience tells us, you know, when food's lacking, we just cook salad or a soup, you know, for dinner. I mean, so the conscience can really be putting someone astray. So I think the idea comes here. That concept comes from Romans 2, 14 and 15.

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things of the law, these, although not having the law, are law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. The law wasn't written to the Gentiles, but their own conscience is influenced by that. So that's an example of a culture ultimately coming to the Gentile missions that is Jewish in base, But yet the Gentiles are a law unto themselves, because their conscience is being influenced by the legal principles that are of the Jewish nation. One of the things I think is important to observe about the conscience is it's because we're created in God's image as human beings.

So we have a sense of right and wrong and obedience even before the fall. Adam still doesn't, he doesn't know that, I'm going to be careful how I say that, Before the fall, he didn't know what right and wrong were, but he knew obedience. He still had a sense of awe and obedience and compliance that is reflected of the conscience. It just wasn't corrupted, right?

So the conscience itself can be influenced by many, many things, but God puts in all of us, I mean, that's the omnipresent nature of the spirit in the world, God's spirit, right? During the tribulation, that spirit leaves, at least in the latter half. There's no Holy Spirit here anymore. So man is free to do whatever he wants. The old man's the only leading conscience that he or she might have. Now keep in mind, this can be modified.

Romans 9, I tell the truth in Christ, Paul says, and I'm not lying, but my conscience also bearing my witness in the Holy Spirit. So the conscience that's being appealed to here is the conscience, as Tom has indicated, we're going to get there in a second, is the conscience of somebody else. but it could be ours too, but here in context it's applying to someone else's conscience. But that conscience of someone else could be an unsafe conscience or it could be a safe conscience. These could be believers or non-believers. Just let me make sure we understand this, and I think this is correct, is the conscience is not what should be driving us, it's the Holy Spirit-led conscience that drives us as believers. Because the conscience can be modified by the world system around us. Think about the politically correct age in which we live. The conscience is, you've got to watch what you say with whom you're with, because the conscience is informing us that if we say the wrong thing, we may be offensive.

But that conscience is of the flesh. That's not the conscience of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you look at the latter half of Romans chapter 1, their consciences are seared. But because of that, their conscience is going full bore towards these wicked things. But as believers, we have the conscience of the heavenlies. We have a new nature, we're identified with Christ Jesus, and that conscience is biblical, and should not be modified or influenced by the world system.

I put this on your desk, Margaret, for you to read. I read James Dobson's scenario of this whole transgender bathroom issue. It's unbelievable what he wrote. How about that for having the conscience of a moral society in Christ Jesus being influenced by men going into women's restrooms. Dobson hits that very, very hard. So, I mean, I'm not saying how you should think, but I'm just saying our conscience can be so influenced by the world system and the way things are transpiring there. Incredible. All right. Macaulay. I like this in terms of this whole issue of the meat. And so I'm quoting him here.

Verses 20 and 21 have forbidden the eating of things offered to idols. Randy dealt with that last week. Verse 25 permits it. So how many of these verses get reconciled? Verses 20 and 21 deal with the Christian's presence in the heathen temple where the meat was sacrificed. Whereas verse 25 deals with the meat that had left the temple and arrived at the marketplace.

And this would show that upon arrival in the marketplace, or the shambles, so it's called. And we think shambles is a negative term. It's really the marketplace. The meat loses its pagan religious significance. So it's not about the meat. It's the setting in which it's being delivered. And talk about conscience and how it deals with these kinds of issues. The conscience of eating meat that's sold in the marketplace, even though it had been offered to idols, is no longer being wounded, if you will, by the fact that the history of the meat was what it was as a pagan sacrifice. So I think, you know, this is so incredibly important to interpret, correct? I think Macaulay hits the nail on the head here. Yeah. Well, you know, we kind of see that in other, you know, in our present world, other situations.

I think of people that, you know, dear, dear beloved believers that are will not celebrate Christmas because of the origin of Christmas. If you look at the day of Christmas, I mean, it's all pagan. Every emblem of that, outside of Christ's birth, it's all pagan. So you can get so wrapped up in that that you forget it's an opportunity to share the birth of Christ.

And so there's where your conscience can overweigh you Well, I'm a believer and this is all pagan. Why should I be celebrating this with this tree and this holly? If you start tracing through that, you get really discouraged. You say, what in the world are we doing here? And you can get so wrapped up in that that you miss, well, this is the birth of Christ. Why shouldn't I be excited about it?

That's a great, great example, Roger. That's a great, great example. And so we can put up a Christmas tree and lights, but have the focus of the birth and Yet, it's just kind of a tradition to put up lights in a tree. There's nothing wrong with that. It's like meat. And it's left that pagan environment, the tree and all that. And it's coming to our home. And it doesn't have to be. That's worth celebrating the birth of Christ, not this origin of where it came from. And I think that's kind of what he's addressing here. That's really great. Good. Other thoughts about this? Yeah. Tim.

Do you think he's making a statement against the Mosaic law food laws where he says eat whatever is sold in the market. Well, again, I think Macaulay explains the circumstances, I think, and we're going to see how that's applied. So just wait, we'll answer that question I think in the next ten minutes as we look at the verses going forward, okay? So, I promise.

So why did Paul add Psalm 24-1 here? What's Psalm 24-1? Do you have that before you? That's at the end of the verse. The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. So why is that added? By the way, it's added to another verse that we're going to look at here in a few minutes. I mean, we can't question Scripture. But I mean, isn't this kind of a reminder? Well, God's created it. Paul's addressed this other times, other places. If God's created it, then it's a gift from God, it's something that's supplied to us. So who are we to come in and say, well, that's it?

And we make our own opinion about that. Even though it's used for bad purposes in some situations. Once again, you're back to, how are you using the situation you're in? Are you going to go outside that, or are you going to stay within that situation?

And this meat, it comes from an animal, right? And the animal is part of God's great creation, right? And so the meat itself is not harmful. Yeah, the animal has no poison. That's right. Anyway, we'll get the top of the beacons. I did it. Jim and Trish's son being a vegan and they're doing it for for what? For environmental reasons, right? It's the reason they're vegans. Being a vegan may be good for your heart long term.

But I mean, nevertheless, it's not something that I think we need to recommend that they cheat. Well, well, Bob, I guess what's neat is when you see. family members that, you know, they'll change as they have kids. Kids come along and they start reading about how to keep they want them to have proper nutrition and stuff. And they kind of change. Well, I guess we all have some some meat in there because I can't guarantee they're going to have enough protein, enough protein.

So their minds change. And that's that's wonderful. My mind is vegan, but they move over. I don't want to go too far astray there. Somebody else had something to say. Alright, so Romans 14, 14. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean unto itself. Okay? Important principle.

But to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it's unclean. So this whole issue, now we're going to build the case to him that we're going to kind of get to your question here. In verse 27 it says, if any of those who do not believe invite you to dinner, OK, and this happens all the time. And you notice this, the qualification and you desire to go. Now, you may not go in your conscience. Maybe you're saying, I can't go here. I don't want to go to this person's home.

All right. So eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for conscience's sake. One thing you might have half-way overlooked is, yeah, let's go over to Lou's beer bin's joint and have some dorsal. And that's not dinner, strictly speaking. You have to basically think carefully and say, do I have anything I like to eat that would upset the apple cart otherwise? You know, if you're in the spirit of the Holy Spirit, we're containing you to make the decisions with you. OK, you're jumping in the quicksand.

I'll come back. I agree with you. You have a private room without any undue pressure. OK. Notice, you choose to go. And that may be a right or wrong decision, but that's a freedom we have. We choose to go or we choose not to go. That's your choice. God doesn't say you go or you don't go. Do you buy a black Chev or a white Ford? I mean, who cares? I think we get so wrapped up in what's God's will for my life and all these small Yeah, we pray about things like this, and that's not wrong, but you know, you can go to dinner or you don't go to dinner.

I mean, this is a qualification. If you choose to go, here are the circumstances. It says, if meat is offered to you, don't ask questions. Now, here Paul addresses a practicality. The believer is invited to a non-believer's home for dinner, and note, you want to go. Now what do you do if you're offered meat and you're some Jewish traditionalist who still is kind of under law to some extent?

Well, you're a vegan. You're rude and don't eat the meat, right? That's exactly right. Well, aren't you rude if you don't eat the meat if you're a vegan? I don't think you necessarily are. I think you need to have an explanation why you're not eating the meat. I don't know.

Okay, so I'll give you a perfect example. Let's get closer here. We had a dinner party. Well, a dinner at our house. We did. We've had many of those, okay. And so we have two, we have a daughter and a daughter-in-law who are celiac. Okay, that's a healthy. So we prepare things. just like Randy's family does because you're allergic or are in their pain. You get sick if you eat gluten. It's not a matter of gluten sensitivity. This is a disease. I'm just sensitive to gluten. That's not what this is. This is celiac. So they really get sick.

Okay. So we prepare things that are gluten free for them. So we find out that some of the people that are coming have just decided recently that they are Vegan. Okay? Just, I mean, like, really recently. Yeah, I remember this event. Yes. And so I was planning pork sliders. That's what I'm fixing. Meat.

So we find this out. So what I do is I send an email to them and I say, here's what we're having, pork sliders. And if this is something you can't eat, because we've just discovered they're vegan now, I mean, for no reason other than they just decided it. So we said, if you have other things you want to bring, why don't you bring some sides and things that you feel comfortable eating? Because my menu was already planned. I'd already bought the pork. It's already in the crock pot. You know, I'm cooking it.

But I did not feel obligated to fix all this stuff for this group that just has decided they're vegan. You know, it'd be different if it was a health issue, like our daughter and daughter-in-law. That's a different story. So anyway, I didn't feel, Bob actually said, you should fix some things. And I said, no, I've already gone to the store. I'm not, I'm not doing it.

If they, if this is what they've decided, They can bring the things they want to eat. And they did. They brought the things. We've had similar things where people have brought stuff that they can eat and that's fine. And that's fine. But I didn't feel, honestly, I didn't feel in any way bad about, you know, not having, I mean, we had salad and we had stuff, but they wanted more things. They could bring it. Well, so that leads nicely into the next question for the class.

Whose conscience, yours or theirs? Now remember, conscience is not right or wrong necessarily. Conscience is what we all carry about day in and day out about what's right and what's wrong. It may be misled by the flesh or political correctness or whatever, or it may be spirit led. So whose conscience here? Ours or theirs?

It says, asking no questions for conscience sake, it's for them. It's not our conscience, it's their conscience. Now, I'm going to extend that to say, and by the way, we're going to clarify that it's their conscience in verses to come, but if you don't drink, should you?

My first wife felt very strongly about alcohol. We had an alcohol-free home the entire time that Sharon was alive, and even subsequently thereafter. Then Margaret and I got married, and she really kind of respected that history and didn't drink any wine in the home. So when we'd go out, she'd have wine, particularly when the children weren't there. But we kept the home alcohol-free until all the kids were gone. Then I found out that all five of my children were drinking.

So suddenly Bob starts to enjoy a little wine that I'd never, anyway, it wasn't that I was being felt like I was being deprived necessarily, but I respected my first wife and her family history of alcoholism, and there was a strong history there, that that's the way we do things. Now what about drink? Now what if you don't drink alcohol in some, let's say, I'm going to make it really very circumstantial but very realistic. I remember when Sharon and I were invited to go to Munich for me to give a talk in 1984 and we were presented with this lovely alcoholic beverage when we went into the home of the people that invited us.

Of course, we said we don't drink. Is that what this verse is saying? Should we say, you know, they've offered us something alcoholic to drink and we don't drink. We are not following this verse. Well, I'm going to point out that, and notice, the verse says eat, not drink. It doesn't say anything about wine. It says eat. Eat meets offer to idols. Now, are we being overly particular there, or does it apply to drink also? Randy, what are your thoughts?

I think that this is a good question, first of all. But I think Paul's concern with alcohol enunciated in other verses, where we can see the consequence of consumption of alcohol could be a loss of self-control, which is not a fruit of the spirit. But barring some interesting medical condition, I think you could eat meat, whether it was sacrificed to an idol or not, and probably it's going to go through your colon and spine. But the alcohol has a different impact. I think so. We don't want to overly spiritualize this, but it doesn't say eat meat off of idols.

And by the way, we have evidence that wine was used in New Testament times. We are really cautioned against drinking too much alcohol because our life is spirit led. So if we're going to drink, we drink very modestly. And I think we all know those who drink the limits and it can't be much for many people. So I think that this does not I think pertain to not having a glass of wine if in fact offered.

I think we're overly interpreting this. Does this eat? Because we're going to come back to drinking here in a second in verse 31. Verse 28, but if anyone says to you, this was offered to idols, do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience's sake. For the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. There's Psalm 24-1 again. So Paul keeps coming back to that. You know, meat comes from animals. The Lord made the animals. What the heck? Eat the meat. And again, omitted in most translations is the repeat of Psalm 24, but it's in the version I listed here.

Who is this anyone? Let's go back and look at that again. But if anyone says to you, this was offered to idols. So who is this person, this anyone? It could be someone else at the dinner party. It could be the host. I mean, you don't know. Yeah, it could be the host. It could be someone else who's at the dinner party. And if so, is he or she a believer? Or are they a non-believer? And whomsoever, does it make any difference who it is?

Well, again, whose conscience? Conscience, I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience? But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil-spoken of for the food over which I give thanks? So it's not our own conscience here, it's respecting the conscience of those who've offered to it.

Now keep in mind, the conditions here are different. If we're offered meat that was given to idols but now is sold in the meat market and the And there's no kind of question as to why we would eat it or not eat it. We should eat it. I mean, it's just, that's what, but now if someone's raising this question about, you know, where this food comes from, I mean, then we've got to, we're in a particularly more difficult circumstance then.

So what do you think? Should our liberty be judged by another man's contents? That's what the verse is questioning. Haven't Paul talked about the stumbling before though, too? Isn't that sort of what we're talking about here? It's the stumbling. No matter what you think about it, if it's a stumbling block to someone else that you're with, then you should respect and have compassion for them if that's the stumbling block.

That's right. Let's turn to alcohol for a second. We're going to come back to that in a few minutes again. Some of these are alcoholics and they're not drinking. For us to go out to dinner and have alcohol in front of them, we're potentially stumbling them. And this is our conscience that relates to their conscience. So our conscience, spirit led, said we're potentially going to stumble these people. They're alcohol free, they've had a problem here, and we're not going to drink. And I didn't want to stumble my kids. Margaret would have been pleased to have alcohol in the home. modest drinker, but yet she didn't want to stumble what tradition had existed in our home. Now that's alcohol, not meats.

I think there's a little difference here. So let's look at 1 Corinthians 8, 10 through 13. I don't remember who taught this. Randy, Roger, or did I teach this? For if anyone sees you who have knowledge of eating in the idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? and because of your own knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died. But when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, their conscience being weak by the way, the alcoholic, the former alcoholic, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat lest I make my brother stumble.

Now again, let's put it in context. You're offered meat and nothing's said about where it came from. You eat the meat. But now if somebody's raising the issue, then we need to consider the conscience of others as to whether we eat the meat. Now, this seems ridiculous to us today, meat offered to idols. But there could be other examples. And I think, I mean, alcohol is a drink, but alcohol's a food. I mean, it has calories in it. So this is a conditional kind of scenario.

So my question to the class, but is our liberty in Christ Jesus really abridged by another man's conscience? So Pat, Brian, Tim, Cheryl, all of us, is our freedom modified by somebody else's conscience? Well, it could be temporarily, but is the freedom we have in Christ Jesus to make decisions about eating meat? No, it's in no way altered in terms of that freedom we have. We're just using a spirit-led conscience to say, let's not eat the meat in this situation. Everybody okay with that? Our freedom is not modified.

We have the freedom to make a decision based on a spirit-led conscience, not to stumble somebody else. And I think we have to put that into all the circumstances that enter into our lives on a day-to-day basis. And we have the freedom to disagree with other people's opinions about things.

Right, and is this an argument? This isn't edifying someone else, I mean, by arguing over these issues. It's backing off and having respect for what may stumble our brother or sister in the Lord. Paul wrote about this to the Romans, and in Romans 14-15 he says, For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love, do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. And I think that if the crux of the issue is, I have liberty, but I'm loving this other believer, then we can say, I'm not compromising my liberties, but I'm not compromising my love for this person. And that is the higher priority. Romans 14 is a good section for this.

And by the way, I just went forward to 2 Corinthians 8.21. No, it's simply, quote, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. So, you know, stumbling is not glorifying to God or to our brother or sister if in fact we are stumbling them by our freedom.

So we have tremendous freedom in Christ Jesus. Tremendous freedom. And remember what Christ said, to be made free indeed. That freedom really relates to live a life that's free of sin. I mean, we didn't have that in the old man. The old man can claim for self-righteousness. But because there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, when we're spirit-led, we have a conscience that is consistent with a new nature which we've been born unto. Now, I can't intellectualize that.

But by faith, as we learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ and him personally, and that relationship grows over time, this type of behavior becomes more routine for us. It's not something we ponder and think about. It's something about who we are and how that's manifested in our day-to-day walk.

Verse 31 is a verse you've heard so many times. Remember, after we got saved, we were in a Baptist church for a while. This verse constantly, constantly, constantly got bathed in the services. And I think it was on the wall of South Sheridan Baptist. Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. How you doing at that in the old man? You getting that done? No, you're not. An oft-quoted verse that relates to all life, of, that I put in the believer. Of the believer means that we have a responsibility in the believer's another life.

What better verse to quote than one we love here? I've been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Boy, I mean, at that verse we love, but it's so applicable in this setting of doing all to the glory of God.

It's an exchange life. It's a new life in Christ Jesus. And that's not something we work at. The only way we work at this is by faith, of being identified with the risen Lord and having all the benefits of that new life. thoughts about this. Do all to the glory of God.

And by the way, well, I was going to get into the next verse. Any further thoughts on this? Yeah, Rand. If you're going to summarize the law of Christ, that should be the outcome of it. So, it's a great bookend on that. So the last two verses, give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks, or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Now, note here that Jews, the Greeks, and the church implies the entire world, doesn't it?

Remember, Mohammed came about in what, 627 AD? What was the date, Tom? 632. 632? That's when the original residents and the whole thing started. Count on Tom for dates for things like this. So, you know, the Muslim faith wasn't there. I mean, Jews, Gentiles in the church, who else is there? So the whole world really is those that relate to this particular scenario. You think Paul really pleased all men and all things? But he says it other places. I mean, he said he verbalizes that other person. I think that was his intent. I mean, he wanted to. You know, and certainly he still had the flesh in him, too. So I'm sure there were times, many times just like the rest of us. Absolutely.

Tom, your thoughts. I'm thinking of that instance where he had to. place, what he had picked up in those three years of being trained by the Lord Jesus, to the church, and basically letting him know in some form, fashion, details of the present scripture, that I actually had special notes of certain things that were used with the Jewish converts later. Okay. All right, good. Let's build on that a little bit further.

The term, please all men, really is better translated, strive to please. I mean, how would Paul know if he pleased all men? Because they may not agree that he pleased all men. But the idea of striving to please all men is really that Christ's life really lived out in Paul as he spread the gospel and formed churches here, there, and everywhere across Asia and the Middle East.

Second Corinthians 6.3, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.

So in a sense, it's the ministry he's concerned about, not him being blamed. And the verse continues that that striving related to that they may be saved. Look at this. I mean, the striving to please all men is not for his own profit, but the striving to please all men would be to bring him to the Lord. And so that striving is not about Paul.

It's about the gospel. Well, that's what Hal always said, that we may be the only Bible that anyone ever reads, just us. And I think that's what Paul is saying there, too. And it wasn't about Paul, was it? No. It was about the ministry and about the message that he portrayed.

So let's kind of summarize today. So meat's offer to idols is in context what the setting is in terms of whether you should eat or not eat. And we're cautioned when we're inquired about this as potentially being adverse or harmful that our liberty then becomes transiently limited to not stumble our brother. a former smoker is, you know, I mean, God doesn't relate it to that. I mean, there are many ways we could stumble, our brother, with things in this world. You know, what magazines we read, or what, I mean, whatever.

Yeah. I think as believers, what we run into is the flesh is addictive, often. Yeah. Or there's patterns that it gets you to develop neurological reforms, or whatever else you've done. And it could be anything. I mean, the flesh is weird. It does gross things with things that were not gross. God meant this for good, and it got turned into evil. But as believers, when we're abiding, what's the consequence of our interaction with somebody who's got a weird thing that they do?

And the thing that I've learned here, and I hope you have a sense that I'm really correct here, the conscience can be influenced by many, many, many things. itself is not good or evil. But as believers, our conscience should be increasingly influenced by the truth of the word of God. But keep in mind, the world is trying to influence our conscience all the time. And I think sometimes we're ultimately taking that in more than we think in terms of what's right and wrong from the Lord's perspective.

And that doesn't mean we'd be dogmatic and we'd be really pejorative in the way we carried ourselves from Bailyn to Anne, because spirit-led life is one that is not offensive, that the ministry itself is what stumbles and not ourselves. So we've got to really recognize that I think harm can be done by presenting the gospel in the wrong way. Yet our lives, as Margaret said, is a Bible to many people. And that's not something, again, we work at. It's something we live by faith and letting that life be portrayed in us. Any other thoughts before we close?

There's actually a Christian, I bet you can all say doggo, out there talking about the Basically, the same topic in a nutshell, the last line of the poem is to say, what is the gospel of Jesus according to you? What is the gospel of what? Of Jesus according to you. Gospel of Jesus. According to you. According to you, yes. Yes, Pat? This thing about that they may be saved, somebody is saying that a person's salvation is dependent on somebody else. like Paul witnessing and feeling guilty? I think so. I mean, people are saved by the cross, and the cross needs to be information provided to people, right?

Paul doesn't save them, but he presents the message to bring them to salvage. I mean, we plant the seed, but the Lord does the work. So I think the idea is he's trying to please many by presenting the gospel to many. And it's not his responsibility what follows that. I mean, many of us can relate to our own salvation as a seed planted, but we didn't come to salvation for maybe days, weeks, months, or even years later. I mean, it's really a process of us planting seeds that allow you the Holy Spirit to do the work.

Which goes back to what I said. Sometimes we're the only, our lives are the only Bible someone reads. And you don't know 30 years down the road how that influence just by someone being around you and seeing the Lord through you. You don't know what that did. Let me give you an example here.

You may not agree with this, but Margaret and I talked a lot about this yesterday. In Bible Study Friday Night, we talked about this a little bit, Tom. I'm not sure you were part of the conversation with Mary, etc. Ted Cruz, I'm not sure how many saw that, but in his In his speech the other night, the idea of freedom and America and what it's all about was kind of a message he kept bringing forth.

But then in the news conference he did not endorse Donald Trump. Now I'm saying that's not good or bad, I'm just saying he didn't. So the next day his news conference implied because Donald Trump had sent injurious comments about his family, his wife and others in the family, that in no way could he support him.

And I went on the Ted Cruz website last night to try to send an email, but it's complicated. And I was late, so I just got tired. But here's my point. And I'm not here to judge, but I'm here to assess. You know, if Ted Cruz would have gotten up there and said, look, you know, Donald Trump said some harmful things about my family. But you know, as a believer, I forgive him. I forgive him.

And I'm going to support the campaign because of the importance of having a Republican elector as President of the United States. What a message that would have been. And for him to get up there in the flesh and say, Donald Trump's offended my family and no way can I endorse him. What kind of a message to an unsaved world is that about what a believer is and stands for? I'll tell you. I'm trying to send a message to his camp. He may never see it.

But kind of present the fact that the believer in Christ is ultimately forgiving of all things at all times, and that doesn't mean he has to endorse it, but that the transition of that message would be, I'm going to endorse the Republican candidate for president. So, I mean, I'm not sure what you think about that, but increasingly I've considered this, boy, what a message that would have been. On national television. Yeah, no, I agree. Actually, I thought the same thing, Bob. I had the same opinion.

Actually, it makes me wonder if, you know, and this politics is such a quagmire, so, the true nature of a person comes out in the heat of battle, and I wonder, well, Ted Cruz may not be the person I thought he was. I don't know. I'm just saying, not being willing to forgive somebody that said comments, that speaks a lot. But the other message would be to forgive him, even though he didn't ask for forgiveness.

I know, I agree with you. Well, I think I've read some powerful stories where believers, at the end of a trial, where let's say somebody had been raped and murdered, The innocent. The victim. And the believer is standing up, and after being railed at, the believer gets up and says, I forgive you, and I love you, because Jesus loves you, and you died for your sins. And the convicted person is being provoked, because that's not what they expect. They've hardened themselves, they're ready for the abuse. And the testimony that that brings about the forgiveness of Christ is a tremendous thing. I think that's a powerful message.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're grateful for the lessons we learn as we go through the Scriptures. This part of 1 Corinthians, the letter to the Church of Corinth that Paul has written, is really very applicable to us today, as we have great liberty in Christ Jesus. And yet that liberty at times needs to be considered seriously in terms of the potential impact of those with whom we interact. So we're thankful for the teaching. We're thankful for the new life that we have in Christ Jesus. And may our conscience always be spirit-led. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.