In Haddon Robinson’s book, Biblical Preaching, he writes in his chapter on sermon conclusions, “In many conclusions a preacher looks back over the terrain the restates points covered along the way. In doing this, however, he reviews the important assertions in order to bind them into the major idea of the sermon.”1 Now, I haven’t read many books on preaching. That’s probably as obvious of a confession as acknowledging that I cut my own hair. But it’s not that I think such books are unhelpful. In fact, I think it’s hard to find a better description of what Paul is doing in 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 than what Haddon Robison writes here.
This is Paul’s conclusion to a section of this letter that began in 8:1, which he signaled with the words, “Now concerning food offered to idols.” And what he does in 10:23-11:1 is basically what Haddon Robinson lays out. You’d think Robinson could have taken his cues from what Paul did here. In this section, Paul is looking back over the terrain he’s covered and restating points he’s stated along the way. And if I’m going to preach this text in line with how Paul intended the text to be heard, then, this sermon should sound like a bit of a review from what we looked at in the first three sermons that took us from 8:1 to 10:22.
Therefore, some of the points I make this morning are very close to points made over the past several weeks. There may be a point or two that you haven’t heard, but that’s only because it was a minor point in Paul’s writing, but since we’re reviewing, I’m going to use it as an opportunity to highlight and stress a point or two that could easily fall into the background.
Now, with all that said, since it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve looked at 1 Corinthians, let me give you a bit of a refresher on what topic is being addressed in 8:1-11:1, by basically repeating what I laid out a few weeks back concerning the setting of this section in the letter. At this time in Corinth, there were temples to pagan deities, and there would be pagan religious festivals and worship services to these pagan deities. One thing that would happen in these pagan religious ceremonies is that an animal would be sacrificed to the idol, but not all the meat would be consumed in the sacrifice. Therefore, these pagan temples would sometimes serve as butcher shops and would also double as a place for banquets and the like (where fresh meat might be served). If the meat from the idol sacrifices wasn’t consumed in the religious ceremony, or in the temple dining hall where a group might have a banquet, wedding, or the like, it was taken to the market place to be sold there.
And this reality created a real difficulty for the Corinthian believers concerning what to do with this meat that had been sacrificed to an idol. Were they allowed to eat it? Were they allowed to attend dinners, banquets, or wedding celebrations in the pagan temple and eat it there? Were they allowed to buy it in the market and eat it there? If they were invited to dinner by an unbeliever who was regularly part of the pagan sacrifices at the temple and they were serving steak that night, should the Corinthian believers ask if the meat had come from an animal offered to an idol? If they found out it was, should they eat it? Should they ask at all, or just eat the meat? Moreover if they had gone to the market and were eating a dinner that night, could they in good conscience eat meat from the market when there was a chance it could have been part of an idolatrous sacrifice? Should they just abstain from meat altogether to be safe?
These questions were plaguing them, and the Corinthians had different opinions on these matters. Therefore, Paul dives right into the issue starting in 8:1. In chapter 8, he argued that the Corinthians should abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols at the temple, not because there was some false god infiltrating the meat but because one of their brothers, who thought it wrong to eat meat sacrificed to an idol, might see them eating and then be tempted to violate his conscience and do the same thing. And that would be sin for them because they’d be doing what they felt in their heart was sin. It would be subjective sin.
Then, Paul ends that chapter saying in the last verse that he’d be willing to give up meat altogether if that’s what loving his brothers required. And lest someone thought Paul was bluffing, he shows in chapter 9 that this is simply his way of life. With the Corinthians, he had the right to be paid and provided for by them, but he refused to accept payment, giving up that right so that there might be nothing that serves as a hindrance to the gospel. With Jews, he laid down rights to try to win Jews to the gospel, and to Gentiles he did whatever necessary (within the constraints of the law of Christ, of course) to win Gentiles. This is just how Paul lived.
It’s how he thought all Christians should live, and he disciplined himself to make sure that he never gave himself over to self-absorption, self-consumption, and self-exaltation instead of being others focused and gospel focused. Then, in 10:1-22 he encouraged the Corinthians to do likewise, taking pains to fight sin, disciplining their bodies so as to not be given over to sinful, selfish desires. And he encouraged them to flee idolatry, not eating meat sacrificed to an idol in a religious service or as an offering to a false god because that would be fellowshipping with demons. It was more than simply eating or drinking, just as the Lord’s Supper, for example, is more than just eating and drinking when we come to the table each Sunday. And finally, that brings us to 10:23-11:1 where Paul, among other things, will address what to do when buying meat at the market or what to do when an unbeliever invites you to dinner and serves meat that has likely been sacrificed to an idol.
And as Paul walks through these issues in 10:23-11:1, I think we see some principles and ways we can apply the truths he’s laying out to the Corinthians. These are what I want us to see this morning. The first of which is that:
Paul begins this section with what is most likely a quote from the Corinthians in their correspondence with Paul. So, I think the ESV has it right when they put quotation marks around the phrase, “All things are lawful” which is stated twice in verse 23. Apparently, the Corinthians had noted (perhaps in relation to eating foods) that all things are lawful. And Paul doesn’t fight against that claim as much as he points them to a higher plane.
Instead of arguing whether or not they have the right to eat certain things, Paul notes that though they might have the lawful right to do something, not all things are helpful and not all things build up. Then, in verse 24 he adds, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” So, do you see what Paul is saying here? He’s saying it’s not sufficient for us merely to ask if something is forbidden or allowed in the Scripture before deciding what to do. Now, it’s necessary to ask that. Don’t hear me (or Paul) saying it’s not necessary. But it’s not sufficient.
Paul instructs the Corinthians to consider love. He notes it in three ways. Basically, he exhorts the Corinthians to evaluate and see if what they’re about to do is helpful, builds others up, and is good for their neighbor. This is the heart of what the Corinthians were missing. They were missing love.
As believers on this side of Christ’s death and resurrection, it is simply not sufficient for us to determine what we do based on whether the Bible allows it or not. So, for example, the Corinthians should have been asking, “If I eat meat down at the temple, would that be helpful, edifying, and good for my brothers in Christ?” Instead they were simply saying, “Well, all foods are clean. I’ll eat.” Had they thought about it, they would have realized what Paul noted in chapter 8, namely, that they may well be tempting a weak brothers to defy his conscience and do what he thought sinful, namely, eat the meat as well.
And the same for us; it is not enough with regard to what beverages we drink, movies we watch, or way we spend our time simply to ask if what we’re doing is lawful. There may well be occasions in which we have the right to do something that in a certain situation just wouldn’t be helpful, edifying, or good for another. That is, it may be lawful but isn’t loving. And love should be our guide, in our discussions and thinking about what we do in life.
If we’re believers, then the Lord has arrested our hearts where we love God and love our neighbors. So, this shouldn’t be difficult in one sense, should it? My hope is that all of our hearts hear this and say, “Of course I want to do what’s most loving for others.” Therefore, let us simply keep this in mind and at the forefront of our minds. May we filter our decisions not only through a question that asks if something is lawful but also through questioning what is most loving.
Yet there is an area where I want to caution us as well. I don’t want us to wrongly go beyond what the Lord commands. That is:
Now, let me lead up a bit to showing you this note in the text. You can imagine someone having a conversation in the first century Corinthian church where one individual says to another, “Hey, if there are circumstances where we shouldn’t eat meat, like down at the temple, or if it causes my brother to stumble, why don’t we just tell everyone that they shouldn’t eat meat at all, and that’ll be playing it safe. Let’s just make a law against eating meat.” That makes sense, doesn’t it? There’s a certain logic to it. And it does feel safe, doesn’t it? If you make a law against eating meat at all, then no one should ever eat meat in such a way as to make their brother stumble. But there’s a problem with it. It’s an unbiblical approach to obedience.
Note that just where Paul could make this point that they just shouldn’t eat meat at all, he goes another way. He writes in verses 25-27, “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.’ If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.”
Paul notes that there’s nothing wrong with eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols, per se. Otherwise, Paul would have to say, “When you go to the market, make sure it hasn’t been sacrificed to an idol. Ask some questions. Do some investigative work.” But he doesn’t. He just says, “Don’t raise any questions. Just buy it and eat it.” And if an unbeliever invites you to his house, don’t start asking questions because then if it comes out that it’s been sacrificed to an idol, you’ve put yourself in a needlessly difficult situation. Don’t ask questions. Just eat it. And your conscience shouldn’t bother you.
See, to some who had corrupted their consciences by making laws where there are no laws – like don’t eat meat, period – this would have been hard to hear from Paul. “What,” they might ask, “I can just eat it?” And Paul says yes. You see, we’re probably more aware of the sin of running roughshod over God’s laws. So, I mentioned a few weeks ago that surely we can all agree that watching sexually explicit scenes in movies is incompatible with holy living. However, I think we can acknowledge that some sear their consciences where they no longer see the sin in this that is there, and they need to condition their consciences to grow more tender.
But there’s also a sin and a conscience issue that goes the other way. Note, for example, what Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1-5, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.”
Well, let me stop here and ask you a question. What do you anticipate these people doing? I mean, they are departing from the faith, devoting themselves to evil spirits and the teachings of demons, and have seared consciences. Surely we anticipate Paul saying, “And they’re involved in and encouraging sexual immorality, sorcery, murder, and the like.” But look what he says in verses 3-5. “Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
These demonic, seared conscience individuals are saying, “Don’t eat that. Don’t drink that beverage.” What? Who saw that coming? I think what it points out is that we can sin in ignoring God’s laws, and we can sin when we lay down laws on others where God has not made laws. Both are sinful. The Bible doesn’t label it safe to make laws and impose them on others where the Bible itself doesn’t have a law. It calls such an action sinful. Now, in regard to your own home and own family, you can make all the laws you want. But the Bible forbids us from imposing extra-biblical laws on our neighbors.
So, let’s be careful. Let’s have conversations about wisdom and how we can best obey. But let’s be careful not to lay down laws where there are no laws. Otherwise, we might find ourselves actually forbidding people to do the very things Paul commands in verses 25-27 in the name of holiness.
And let me just add a side note here. If you never want to have conversations with someone whom you feel is a little more toward one end of this scale than you are, then it may well be a side that you’re in a bad place. That is, if you’re toward the end of the scale where everything in the world is black and white, and you hate anyone suggesting that some things are complex in trying to pursue holiness, then it may be a sign that you’re in a bad place with a conscience that has been seared by making rules where there are no laws. And if you’re one who thinks that very little is black and white and Christians are free to watch almost whatever they want, for example, and you hate having a conversation with someone suggesting you may be sinning in the name of “Christian freedom,” then you probably are in a place where you’ve seared your conscience by walking in sinful license. So, let’s at least be people who walk in this area of trying to do what’s most loving, trying not to make laws where there are no laws, and realizing that we can benefit from the accountability and input of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
But now I want to go back toward the first point. Thus far we’ve seen that we should not simply ask what is lawful but what is most loving. Next, we saw that we need to be careful, though, not to make hard and fast laws where the Lord has made none. But let me push us again, swinging the other way a bit, by noting from verses 28-30 that:
Now, if it feels like we’re going back and forth on the scale on these issues, it’s because Paul does as well. Right after saying, “Just eat the meat. Don’t ask any questions,” he does note an exception. He says in verses 28-29a, “But if someone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice,’ then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—I do not mean your conscience, but his.”
So, yes, you have freedom to eat the meat at the home of the unbeliever, without asking any questions about it. However, if the unbeliever (and I think that’s the person Paul envisions here, instead of another believer, because he has then saying it’s been “offered in sacrifice,” which is the way an unbeliever would have referred to such meat) says to you, “It’s been sacrificed to so and so god,” then abstain from the meat.
Let’s note two things about this command. First, I think that Paul sees this as less than ideal. That is, he is really completely fine with you eating the meat if no one says anything. And the minute Paul would have been at the home of an unbeliever, ready to eat the meat, and the individual said, “Oh, I just sacrificed that T-bone down at the temple last night,” I think Paul would think, “Bummer. I was looking forward to eating.” Right? He knew there’d have been nothing wrong with just eating the meat.
Well, then, let’s note, secondly, why he argues that we shouldn’t eat it when informed it had been sacrificed. Paul’s answer is that we don’t abstain because of our own conscience. After all, we should be fine with eating the meat, no questions asked. We abstain for the sake of the unbeliever’s conscience. That is, they’re informing you because they think that surely believers wouldn’t want to eat meat sacrificed to a god they don’t worship. So, if you did then eat, you would risk the unbeliever thinking poorly of you. That’s the point, I think, that Paul is making in verses 29b-30. Now, it’s confusing because he writes, “For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?”
It could sound like Paul is saying, “Now, though I’ve said you should abstain, don’t for one second let that bind your conscience into thinking eating this meat is wrong.” And perhaps that is what he is saying. If he is, then I think I sufficiently made application of that point in my second point about not making rules where there are no rules. But I think he may be making another point. Various commentators agree that Paul may be saying something like, “For why [you ask] is my freedom being subjected to another person’s [conscience]?” as if that’s what the Corinthians may want to ask. And Paul’s answer is to ask another question, namely, “Why would I willing to be denounced in the eyes of this unbeliever for doing something that is acceptable?”2
That is, Paul is asking why we would be willing to let an unbeliever think that we’re compromising our Christian faith just for doing something that is actually okay. Wouldn’t we rather just abstain than risk inviting the unbeliever’s unnecessary judgment? Don’t unnecessarily let an unbeliever think you’re not serious about your faith when you really are. That would be an obstacle to that unbeliever coming to faith. And it would be completely unnecessary – over a piece of meat!
We should rather be willing to forego freedoms, if necessary, for others and the gospel. After all, meat surely isn’t a greater treasure to us than the gospel and the possibility of others coming to know Christ. And this leads us to our final point, namely,
Paul wants us to see that whatever we do, we need to make sure that we’re glorifying God and seeking to do whatever necessary to win others to Christ. Thus, Paul says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (v. 31-33).
This isn’t Paul’s way of saying he is a people-pleaser. We know better than that (Gal. 1:10). He’s saying that he makes sure never to put any obstacle in front of people hearing and believing the gospel. If you eating meat makes them think you’re not sincere about the faith, then abstain from meat. Abstain from that glass of wine if necessary, or drink that glass of wine, if necessary. Again, whatever it might be, make sure you’re putting no obstacle in front of the unbeliever coming to faith. Make God’s glory your goal in eating and drinking. Make winning others to Christ a priority. And Paul doesn’t tell us that this is what he does just so that we might be aware of his practice. He does it so that we’ll do the same thing he does. Thus, he writes in 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
That is, Paul didn’t just come up with this willingness to sacrifice our rights so that others might be saved and edified on his own. He got it from Christ. He’s imitating Christ, and he wants us to imitate him. Therefore, it’s fitting that we come to the table, remembering that Christ gave his body and blood for our salvation, even as we commit to being willing to do what’s necessary (even laying down our own rights) for the salvation of others. Let this be our goal, even through this holiday season, and may the Lord give us opportunities to share the gospel, even with our neighbors so that they might be saved. Let us ask what is most loving when making our decisions. Let us not make rules for our neighbors where the Bible makes no rules. Let us be willing to forego any rights if they’ll serve as an obstacle to another coming to faith. And let us make others coming to Christ our priority. In fact, let our response of “Yes and amen” to these exhortations be visibly seen this morning by our coming to the table. Amen.