Not stumbling others

If you would please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. I was going to read the entire chapter and we'll see if we can condense that a little bit. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. Now as touching things offered unto idols we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up but charity or love edifies.

And if any man think that he knoweth anything he knoweth nothing. Yet as he ought to know but if any man knoweth of God the same is known of him. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one.

Now going down to verse 7. 10 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge for some with conscience or custom of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience is defiled. Verse 10 or verse 9. Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block unto them that are weak. Or if any man see thee which hath knowledge sit and meet at the idol's temple shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened or built up to eat those things which are offered unto idols and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died.

But when you sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience you sin against Christ. Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend or stumble I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my brother to stumble. We'll stop with that.

I'd like to say at the beginning of course that to study the epistle of Paul to the Corinthians it's very helpful and important I believe to learn how to divide it into its sections. I'll just say at this point that I take it that there's a section of teaching that Paul is giving commencing in chapter 8 that goes on until chapter 11 and verse 1. It's a it's a section that has to do with a question of whether my conduct is really not only according to the will of God but is it going to be beneficial or harmful to my brother and with whom I have fellowship. One thing about Paul's teaching is that his teaching is very it's very shall I say orderly.

He taught the truth very orderly and you see that in the epistle to the Corinthian believers where he begins in a certain fashion and he develops his argument gradually until he reaches the conclusion. And when it came to this issue of eating food that was offered to idols you'll find that he begins almost on one side of the question and he ends up on the other side of the question. And he does that because he wants to defend something that was very important and he wants to defend something else that was even more important.

So his teaching was very orderly. It's also a teaching that was very definitely progressively instructive. In other words moving from one point to the other and building until the final conclusion is reached.

I think that you'd find that in this section where you first of all read in verses one through six that he's defending the liberty of those that felt that it was perfectly acceptable to eat food that had been offered to idols. He says we all know that an idol is nothing. So in that sense if you read the context of these first seven or six verses you find that he is defending those because he says we know that an idol is really nothing and whether you eat food offered an idol it's not really that important.

But then he changes his point of view and he's not defending the liberty but he's also reminding them of the restrictions of the liberty. He says you have liberty yes but not liberty that's unrestrained. You don't have liberty to do whatever you want to do if you think it's all right because you have to consider the other believers in your assembly.

You can't just do whatever you want as if you're a man or a person living on an island and there's no one else around. If that were the case you do whatever you feel is right between yourself and God. But he says you've been brought into a fellowship.

You've been brought into a relationship with other believers and you simply cannot conduct yourself that way because you may by your actions have a harmful impact and cause disaster in the life of another believer. Now he develops that very nicely because he takes both sides of the argument in chapter eight. That's what I take it to be.

But in chapter nine I notice another thing about Paul's teaching and that is he didn't teach anything that he didn't practice personally. He comes into chapter nine he says I'll give you an example. He says there are things that the apostles do that I don't do.

They're perfectly right to do them and they're not violating the will of God if they have a wife and they take the wife with her with them or if they're involved in other activities that's perfectly legitimate. But he says I don't do those things and I do it for a reason because I don't want to hinder the gospel in any way. He tells the Corinthian believers also I could be like them and I could receive fellowship from you.

I could receive money to help support me but I don't do that because I don't want to hinder in any way the gospel that I'm seeking to preach to you. And so he takes himself and he could he could properly use his own life and his behavior as an example of them to reinforce the principle that he's seeking to teach them. That only tells us brother that if you stand before God's people and seek to teach them anything make sure your life is consistent with what you're trying to teach.

Otherwise those who know you will realize that it doesn't have any weight at all. It won't have any impact. A man's life should sustain and demonstrate what he seeks to teach to others.

We're always told to practice what we preach and that's where it definitely applies in each one of our lives. But he says I can show you an example. He says I don't do these things because lest when I preach to others I become disallowed, disqualified.

And so he says I restrain my liberties. In chapter 10 he comes to the example of the children of Israel. And he says they had liberties too.

They were brought into the sphere of great blessings. And he enumerates the blessings they had received. And all those things that God had given to them.

But he says the sad thing is they were not responsive to those privileges. They had privileges but they failed to act in accordance with them. These medications you take when you get older they sure dry up your mouth I can tell you that.

But then he comes into chapter 10 and he concludes his argument by saying I want to go beyond what's offered to idols to what's behind it. What about an idol? What about the idol itself? What's behind the idol? You have food and you can say that's innocuous. Should be no reason why I can't eat that.

But then you have to think about what is it connected with? It's connected with the idol's temple and the idol. Well now what's the idol connected with? It's connected with a demon. So he says you trace it back to its origin and you have to realize the fact it's not permissible.

And the conclusion of chapter 8 is I don't do those things because I don't want to ruin the life and the testimony of another believer. That's something that we always have to keep in mind. We always have to be aware of the fact my life in some measure what I do, what I think, what I say, the places I go to, the things that I'm involved in, they may hurt or they will help another child of God.

And we should always have the concern according to the will of God that we seek to edify one another. That by our life and by our testimony we build up the assembly. We strengthen the believers and we reinforce principles and practices in their life to be a help and to preserve them.

They say there are two sides to it. You have liberty but you're not living on an island. You have to restrain your liberty.

I think the same subject is in his mind when he reads, when he writes to the Roman assembly in Romans chapter 14. There were those who had the custom of doing certain things they thought that was perfectly acceptable. But he says there's the other side of it as well because there are brethren that are going to be stumbled and they're going to be hindered because you think you can eat food and all these other things that they were connected with.

So he's making it very clear. And one thing I want to conclude in this conference gathering is that you and I have been brought by the grace of God into a fellowship with other believers. It's the unity of the spirit that has been formed in the bond of peace.

So the essence is to seek to maintain peace with my brethren. The essence of it all is to guard the unity. It's not our producing the unity.

It's already been produced. And it's based on the oneness of what is developed. Our brother spoke on that yesterday.

But we're challenged, we're commanded, actually it's a mandate to guard the unity of the spirit of the bond of peace. Now you can't guard the unity of the body of Christ. But you can guard the unity of the local assembly.

We don't have a responsibility toward the body of Christ. That's the Lord's responsibility entirely. But you and I have a responsibility toward fellow believers.

If you can't conduct yourself in a way in a local assembly that would be beneficial to the conduct, the testimony, and the principles of that assembly, you'd be better off not to be there. We love to have every believer in the assembly. But some are not willing to be in subjection to the authority that is vested by God in that assembly.

So that you have this experience, and I think we have to consciously be aware of that. And I want to take up a few examples before I sit down. And there's coming, I don't have any notes.

So this is all coming out of my head. I hope it's by the spirit of God. But there's an issue that's coming up among us and as believers in this state, as well as in the Midwest.

Is it all right to engage in social drinking? Now maybe I'm getting into deep water. I can swim. And there are those who would say, it's perfectly all right for us to drink alcoholic beverages now and then.

Well, yes, it is. It's not absolutely forbidden. Or you say, well, in the word of God, they drank wine.

Well, you can research a little bit. I don't think they ever drank wine that was not diluted. According to what I understand, that wine in the scripture was always diluted with water.

But nevertheless, the word of God never condones it in a sense of encouraging it, except on rare occasions. But you say, well, I think that's all right because it's practiced in the scripture and I can control it and I don't have any problem with it. I'm not going to get drunk.

I'm not going to do the things that are vile in the sight of God so far as my conduct is concerned. Maybe you're not troubled with that. I'll say that there was a time when I was a younger believer.

I'm being honest about it. I thought it was all right, too. I couldn't see anything wrong with it.

It's really interesting how smart you are when you're young and how dumb you get when you get older. I used to think that about my dad. He got smarter the older I got.

Well, that's only a sidelight. The question is not what it will do to you necessarily. The question is, what is it going to do to the assembly? What is it going to do to the testimony of that assembly that you're identified with? What is it going to do to other believers? You know, there are some believers and they're alcoholics.

Even after they're free from drinking, they haven't drunken or drank or whatever that is. They haven't indulged for 15 or 20 years. They are still alcoholics and they still have the potential to go back into that.

And the teaching of this passage is that if you engage in that, there's a danger you're going to cause them to fall. You're going to ruin their life and testimony. You're going to cause them to have a disaster and even end up away from the assembly.

So it's not what it's going to do to you. It's what is it going to do to others? And maybe to yourself, it's not very commendable either. You could take other examples perhaps that you say, well, you know, there are some movie pictures that they show.

Well, maybe not even in theaters anymore. They're declining in popularity. I can see them on YouTube or Netflix or what are they called? I don't know what all those things are.

But you say, I just watch those things now and then. Well, you can ask yourself, first of all, dear brother and sister, is it beneficial to you spiritually? Is it really enhancing your spiritual life? You know, there are things that the flesh desires to see and really enjoys watching and engaging in. And maybe you say they're neutral.

But I can tell you this, they're taking you away from the things of God. It's one of the things which snatches a seed away, like our brother's been speaking, or strangles a seed or prevents it from growing. But then suppose you're inviting another brother over or another person over to your house and they find out in some way that that's what you're engaged in and they're watching you.

There was a time when they were addicted to movies and all the things that have to do with the entertainment world that we live in. You think it's going to be beneficial to them. It may be something that would cause them to say, well, that brother, he's so spiritual.

He seems to be doing so well. He takes part in the assembly. That sister, she exhibits such a godly life.

And so it must be all right for me too. There was a time when they were very troubled by it, but you're leading them back into a condition which may be a ruin to them spiritually. That's what the apostle Paul was saying.

Don't let this liberty of yours be a stumbling block. A stumbling block in this sense is that which is going to cause the person to trip up in their pathway. It's a trigger that is like a trap and it's going to trap them and they're going to stop making progress spiritually.

And without you intending to do so, perhaps, you ruin the life and testimony of another believer. The same could be involved in many other activities. I'm not actually going in all the examples, brethren and sisters, because I'd always leave one out and I don't want to do that.

But just think about your life, your behavior, your conduct, not only what you do in your home, perhaps, but also what you do in public, especially, and ask yourself, if I, if others realize what I'm doing, first of all, am I going to help the assembly? Am I going to build up the testimony? Am I going to make others in a surrounding environment realize that we who profess the lordship of Christ are actually practicing it, carrying it out in life? Or we just say so and are not willing to subject our life to the will of God. And the great desire of a heart should be more than anything else, not what I want, not what my flesh enjoys, not what I think will thrill my soul, not what will be a moment of pleasure in my life. What is the will of God for me? Is that really God's will? Well, you say God will let me do it, and perhaps He will.

But is it really what He wants you to do? I believe there's a difference between what God permits and what God directs. And our desire shouldn't be to do whatever God will allow me to do. You know, God allowed the Israelites to refuse to go into the land.

God allowed them to turn away and wander in the wilderness for 38 years until they had all died. They were over 20 years old. That's not what God really desired for them.

And sometimes I wonder how many believers have come right up to the edge of the land where all the bounty of it and all the blessings of it are before them and they can see the evidence of it. They turn away and they wander in the wilderness the rest of their life. I just say this, brethren, because I'm exercised about it, that there may be things creeping into our lives today.

I don't know what everybody does in their life. I'm not interested. I have enough problems with myself.

But I'll say this, that the world always seeks to intrude its tentacles into the lives of God's people. They're not always great big things. They're oftentimes very little.

And they get into your life, they get into my life, and they result in bringing ruin, perhaps not just to you or to me, but to somebody else. We should appreciate and nurture the unity and the fellowship that we enjoy with God's people. I don't agree with everybody.

I know there are believers that do things that I just say I don't like them. Simple enough. But I have a responsibility by life and practice to seek to exemplify what God desires for them.

And we desire with all of our heart that God will build up and strengthen, reinforce the truths that we believe are so important. That the changes that the world and the flesh would seek to bring into God's assembly might be resisted on an individual level, first of all, and then as well into corporate gathering.