1 Corinthians “Church Purity in a Polluted Culture” Part 12: Matters of Conscience 1 Corinthians 8: Corinthians “Church Purity in a Polluted Culture” Part 12: Matters of Conscience 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Chapter 10 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 2 Do everything for the Glory of God.

Main Point 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 3 We are not our own anymore!

Romans Romans 14 & 15 “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” 2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself… 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 4

2 Hindrances 1. 1.Arrogance 2. 2.Using your Christian freedom and rights in the wrong way. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 5

Temple Sacrifices 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 1Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 7

Paul to the Philippians 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 8 9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

Speak Truth in Love “Truth not spoken in love ceases to be the truth.” 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 9

1 Corinthians 8:4-6 4Therefore, 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." 5For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"— 6yet 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. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 10

Psalm 115:4-7 “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.” 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 8:7 7However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 8 Romans 15:1 “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Romans 14: 1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 13

Romans 14 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 14

Romans 14 To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 8:8 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 16

1 Corinthians 8:9 9But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. People don’t live life based on the facts, but on their interpretation of the facts. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 17

1 Corinthians 8:10 10For 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? 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 18

1 Corinthians 8: And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 19

JOELJOEL 12"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13and rend your hearts and not your garments." 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 20

2 Questions 1.Are you using your Biblical knowledge in an arrogant or harmful way or are you being a gentle instrument in the Lord’s hands to bring younger believers to maturity? 2.Do you need to re-think your positions on disputable matters not directly addressed within the pages of Scripture? 9/13/09 EBFC Sermon Series: 1 Corinthians 21