Loving Liberty

Introduction:
He was raised in Godly home.  His father was a very influential man who greatly loved the Lord and the Word of God.  His father taught him to love and serve God, but along the way he began to enjoy his freedoms and liberties more than he cared about love for God.  Though he knew the Word, knew the truth, knew about God’s mercies and blessings, his desire for liberty began to overshadow all those things.  He began to worship his liberty rather than the God who gave it.  When his father, Josiah, a man of whom the Scripture says in 1 Kings 23:25, “neither before nor after him was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did, with all his heart, all his soul, and with all his strength”…when Josiah died, Jehoahaz became king of Judah.  He followed his idols, forsook the God of his father and, “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

Hundreds of years later, many like Jehoahaz were in the church at Corinth.  Not that they were the sons and daughter of a Jewish King, but they knew the truth, knew the Word of God, and they had allowed the liberty they had as believers in Christ to turn to idolatry.  In fact, they worshipped many idols.

Last week in 1 Corinthian 8:7-8, we talked about “Knowing an Idol.”  We have become so familiar with idols they are just an accepted part of life.  That’s why many righteous OT kings in Judah would leave some “high places” when they brought reform and led the nation back to serving God.  God said way back in Exodus, “you shall have no other gods in My presence!”  To get rid of what we are habitually familiar with requires significant changes; changes we cannot make on our own, but that can be made when we submit to Christ.  Last week we also talked about “Making an Idol.”  We make many things that are not inherently good or evil, into idols and thus sinful.  Anything that we love more than God  is an idol for us.

This week we move onto 1 Corinthians 8:9-13.  Here, the Spirit continues to focus on that problem among Corinthian believers – idols.  We skip right over 1 Corinthians 8-10 because, “I don’t worship idols, this is not a problem.”  That is exactly what Israel thought in the OT, as well as many churches in the NT.  There are plenty of false gods and “high places” considered perfectly normal and innocent, and lots ways for us to become addicted to the worship them.
So, let’s hear what the Spirit says to the churches…

Loving Liberty:
I.    Beware of Liberty (8:9-11)
Verse 9 says, “but beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.”   But beware” means to be ready to learn of something hazardous.  The modern battle cry for Christian liberty is like that in the church at Corinth.  They believed they “all had knowledge” (1 Cor 8:1), but knowledge without love makes you prideful (1 Cor 8:1).  If anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet (1 Cor 8:2).  They were divided and arguing (1 Cor 1:10-11).  They were carnal and spiritually immature (1 Cor 3:1); they were still following human wisdom (foolishness to God) (1Cor 3:18-19).  They affirmed immorality that even their pagan society rejected (1 Cor 5:1), and they were even taking each other to court (1 Cor 6:7).  That’s where worshipping their liberty got them!

Again, this discussion is in response to a question asked by the church (1 Cor 7:1, 8:1).  It was sparked by an argument between them and the question was something like this, “Is it okay to eat meat offered to idols?”  Now, we don’t eat meat offered to idols, but like I said 2 weeks ago, we consume the meat offered up on our TVs, we get our fill of the meat in our sports arenas, we chow down on paychecks, bigger houses and better cars, we feast on beauty products, and all the latest fashions.  Through the Spirit, love and worship of God takes away the power of idols.  As a spiritually healthy and mature believer, idols are truly nothing, having no power over us.  However, if we are not spiritually healthy and mature, like those in the Church at Corinth, they are a problem.

Now sin is always sin, if the idol is inherently evil we have no liberty to have any interaction with it.  Period.  But if something is not inherently evil then we do have liberty, but watch out!  TV is not itself evil, but most programming involves lust, murder, pride, etc which is sinful.  Sports are not inherently evil but can be something we love more than God, making them sinful.  Paychecks, a house, and a car are not evil, but we can worship them, making them sinful.  Beauty products and clothing are not evil, but if they involve creating lust or making you prideful, then they are sinful and can be idols.

Our passage in 1 Corinthians 8 goes on to say, “but beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.”  It’s already clear that the church at Corinth was not healthy, they were carnal and weak.  They all thought they were very spiritual, and thought that they knew what was best saying something like, “I have liberty to do whatever I want, but you are not doing right!”  For the majority, it appears, their knowledge was without love and their liberty permitted them back into idolatry.  Their love for God and each other should have put up a red flag that their liberty was a stumbling block to others.  But their heavy dose of liberty, and light dose of love made them insist upon their own liberty no matter how that affected a brother or sister in Christ.

So you’ve got people who did have some knowledge and some faith, who were being a poor examples to those who were weaker in their faith, and you had people who were still weak due to past familiarity with idols…

“For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?  It says that some of those with knowledge “ate in an idol’s temple.”  Hang on a second!  Eating meat at someone’s house, or buying meat in the market as in 1 Cor 10:25-28 talks about is one thing, but that is not what it says they were doing in 1 Cor 8:10.  Their “liberty” allowed them to eat IN the IDOL’S TEMPLE!  Right there where idol worship going on – this crosses over into sin.  In the pagan Corinthian temples, worship involved open immorality and all kinds of sinful activity.  What is a believer doing in that sin drenched place?!   There is a pagan temple just a couple blocks away…that gentlemen’s club.  If you saw me walking out of there and I said, “I was in there telling the girls about Jesus” you say, “yeah right!”  In such an case, the proper thing to do is tell people the Gospel when they are not engaged in the activities inside the pagan temple.  Entering such a place is subjecting yourself to things of which you should have no part. 

Our liberty can become an excuse for idolatry.  When it does a weaker brother is often emboldened to engage in outright sinful activity or interaction with an idol that can cause him great hurt and harm. Continue with 1 Corinthians 8:11, is our personal liberty so important to us that we’re unconcerned about how our influence may lead others into deeper worship of idols?  Is our liberty so important to us that we are unconcerned what may happen to someone else who gets a nod of permission from our actions or words?  We watch, talk about, and give approval to TV shows full of murder and sex.  We talk about our favorite drink, or take a glass after dinner and we are sending a clear message.  We, especially guys, joke about past escapades and, oh what fun it was!  We, particularly ladies, ear clothes that leave nothing to the imagination and wonder why our young girls dress the same way. But we say, “I have liberty!”  We even get offended at times that anyone question us about it.  

Just as knowledge without love surly leads to pride, so liberty without love surly leads to idolatry…our own, and in others.

II.   Do Not Sin Against Christ (1 Corinthians 8:12-13)
It is sin.  I my legitimately have liberty to do something because it is not inherently sinful, like owning a car, listening to music, watching sports, shopping, etc.  But again, I do not have liberty to do something if it is inherently sinful like, anything that promotes lust, materialism, pride, selfishness, etc.  Either way, if my actions or words give “permission” to another person to become involved with outright sin, or addicted to something that becomes an idol…I sin against Christ.

Then in 1 Corinthians 8:13, the Holy Spirit led the Apostle Paul to say, “if eating meat offered to an idol makes my brother stumble, I’ll never eat meat again.”  If in any way someone might have thought that his eating meat meant it’s okay to worship that idol or engage in that sin…never again!  Radical huh?  If my watching TV can lead someone to think the murderous, sex-crazed shows are okay to watch…I should never watch any TV again.  If watching football can lead someone to think that following sports is more important than following Christ…I should never watch football again.  If drinking a wine after dinner makes some kid think it’s okay to drink when they could very well end up an addict…I should never drink again.  Ladies, if wearing that top temps the guys eyes to stray or makes some young girl think that such provocative attire is appropriate…you should never wear such a thing again.  “That’s too radical preacher!  That’s legalistic!  I have my liberty!”  Yes you do, “but when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ” (1 Corinthians 8:12).

Conclusion:
I’ve said it before: sometimes the Word of God offends us.  The issue raised in these verses is, could your liberty give permission to another person to get involved in sin or some kind of idol worship?  Idolatry is loving something more than we love God.  Perhaps your liberty itself is something you love more than God, reflected by the fact you would never hold back on your liberty just so you might not offend someone for whom Christ died?

My challenge to you this week – READ 1 Corinthians 8 everyday, and pray everyday that the Lord would reveal any area in your life where you need to give up an idol and you need to give up something that could cause a brother to stumble.