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Life Community Church
Life Community Church
What You Do Matters | 1 Corinthians 8 | Shaun & Shelly Williamson
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You can be right and still be wrong in the way you treat people. We open 1 Corinthians 8 with a topic that sounds outdated “food sacrificed to idols” and find a challenge that hits modern Christian life at full force: what we do with what we know matters. Paul doesn’t start with a rule. He starts with the heart. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up, and when we separate the two, pride quietly takes over.
We talk through why this was such a big deal in Corinth, where idol worship shaped everyday meals, marketplaces, and celebrations. Paul affirms a strong, clear truth: there is one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ, and idols are nothing. That means some believers truly have freedom of conscience. But Paul adds a weighty warning: if our “right” becomes a stumbling block, we can wound a weaker conscience, damage someone’s faith, and sin against Christ by harming the people he died for.
Then we bring it home to the gray areas the Bible doesn’t spell out in detail: alcohol, entertainment choices, parenting decisions, schools, tattoos, holidays, and the arguments that can fracture unity and create what many people now call church hurt. The question shifts from “What am I allowed to do?” to “What honors Christ and helps others follow him?” We end with the example of Jesus, who lays down his rights in love, and we invite you to ask the Holy Spirit how to live that out in your relationships. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: where do you most need knowledge and love to work together?
Welcome And Scripture Setup
SPEAKER_00Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible. Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
SPEAKER_05So the first part of 1 Corinthians, uh, what we've already kind of covered, Paul addresses issues that the church is having and dealing with. And then beginning last week in chapter 7, it kind of shifts a little bit. And at this point, he begins answering questions that the church has asked of him. And so that's where we find ourselves in chapter 8 today. Um, another question that they've asked about, and so he's gonna address this. So we're gonna start in chap in verse 1, and I'm just gonna read these first few words, and then we're gonna stop for a second before we go on. So he says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1. Now, about food sacrificed to idols.
SPEAKER_03Oh, how exciting! Yeah, I'm so blessed.
SPEAKER_05This is so this is so exciting. The New Living Translation words it this way. Now, regarding your question about food that has been offered to the people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because the second half of the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter or second half of the book, we're dealing with questions. Right. First half of the book, we dealt with issues. Right.
SPEAKER_05So clearly they've asked him a question. What do we do about food sacrifice to idols? So he's gonna answer that. So this would be, you know, we read these words, so about food sacrificed to idols, and immediately we think, okay, this does not apply to me in today's culture. Like this has nothing to do with me. I think we can just skip this chapter. Let's just go on to chapter nine. We don't live in a culture where we understand anything about whether or not we should eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols or that has been a part of idol worship that does not relate to us at all. But I think there's actually a lot of depth here, and there's a lot that we can pull out and we can learn from and we can apply in our lives, and that's what we're gonna try to dig up uh here in just a second and try to kind of see, okay, Lord, you put this in scripture, so it has to be important. So what can we glean from it? But before we dive into that,
Why Idol Meat Was Everywhere
SPEAKER_05I do think we need to understand a little bit of background information, or none of this is gonna make any sense. Um, so why is it that Paul had needed to address this? Why did the church have these questions? What was going on with this issue of food and idols? Well, we have to remember that Corinth was a pagan city and idolatry was prevalent. It was all over the place, it was everywhere. Um, and so idol worship permeated all aspects of life for the believers, you know, who were living there, for everybody who lived there. And so it left the believers following Jesus in a dilemma. What are we to do? You see, these sacrifices were happening all over the city to various gods all day, every day, in a variety of temples, there were sacrifices constantly being offered. And every time a sacrifice was made, there was typically three different things that happened to the meat of this animal. Part of it was burned on the altar, you know, as the offering to the gods, but then part of it was usually returned to the family, and then there was a part of it that the priest was able was able to hold to keep back for himself. So what happened? Obviously, part of it was burned, but what happened to the meat that didn't get burned? What happened to the meat that the people got to take with them? What happened to the meat that the priests kept? Well, let's think about that. So, you know, a priest is offering sacrifices all day long. There's only so much meat that he actually needs, or even if he's sharing it, you know, and helping feed a family member.
SPEAKER_03Not putting it in a freezer, saving it for later.
SPEAKER_05No, so the priest was able to actually sell some of the portion of his meat in the temple marketplace. So he was able to sell that. Well, now, now that opens the door about, okay, well, meat that's being sold in a marketplace. Well, now where did that meat come from? As a believer, you're going to get meat for your home. Now you're worried. Well, what was the history of this meat? This particular cut. Was this part of idol worship, or is this something that was butchered just to sell? Like, so you're trying to track down the history of the meat. This is, it's becoming a lot, right? Well, think about the part of the meat that the family was able to keep. A lot of times the family would intentionally plan a big celebration. They would plan some kind of a feast to purposely utilize this meat. And so here, you might have been invited to a wedding, you may have been invited to some kind of a celebration. You get there, and now there's the question about the meat. Well, was this meat part of idol worship? And if it was, and if I eat of it, does that mean that now I'm committing idolatry? These are things that they're wrestling with because they don't know is the meat contaminated because it was somehow connected. Then you have another scenario. What about people who, you know, maybe you get invited to somebody's home? Come join us for dinner. Um something. I mean, probably not barbecue, but you know, I mean, you think, okay, even in today's culture, I think we can relate to this. We probably some of you, this might be you, and some of you you know people like this, where, you know, then there's the question of, okay, well, is this all organic? Was this cage um free? Was this pasture raised? Was it, you know, like the question, like, okay, then well, this is what I buy for my home, but now if we're gonna go out to a restaurant, if we're gonna, if we're gonna go here, are we gonna go there? Like, how much are we gonna be worried about the source of the meat?
SPEAKER_03Right, this is true.
SPEAKER_05This is for real for them. Like, what are they gonna do? Because there's this fear, if I eat this meat, am I committing idolatry myself? So it was a real issue. Um, and so that's why Paul is is bringing, that's why he that's why they're asking the question, and that's why he feels um the need to answer it. They really needed to know how to proceed. So the question that is being asked that Paul is gonna attempt to answer is can the Christians in Corinth eat meat that was part of idol worship? So now we're gonna take a look at Paul's response. I was just kind of setting the stage so we had a little understanding of what we're talking
Knowledge Puffs Up Love Builds
SPEAKER_05about. So, in answer to this, as he as he begins to answer, he's gonna present two different ideas knowledge and love, and how knowledge and love need to work together moving forward to handle this situation the right way. We have to have knowledge and love. So we find this, he introduces this concept in the end of verse one through verse three. So let's take a look and read that. So Paul's saying, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.
SPEAKER_03At first, he does not directly answer the question Should we eat meat sacrificed to idols? But deals with the root issue, an issue that we're gonna talk about the next three chapters. Jody and Kelly are gonna continue this conversation that we're having today in chapter 9 and also in chapter 10. He does that by reminding them that knowledge primarily puffs up and love primarily builds up. So he he's gonna deal with this issue of knowledge puffing up and love building up. You see, knowledge, and we understand this, we get this by itself, puffs up. It's usually more self-serving. It's like a balloon that an individual keeps on blowing up, and eventually that balloon is gonna pop. And when it does, everyone's gonna jump and no one's gonna like it. But when love is added to knowledge, it becomes more others serving. It builds up, it becomes useful, something that we all move towards. We're not mad when the balloon explodes. It we enjoy it, we embrace it, it is encouraging. Knowledge without love, listen, always will produce pride. Knowledge without love always will produce pride. And pride in itself produces destruction in my life and in the lives around me. Paul wants us to understand up front, before we get into the next chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapter 10. The problem is not necessarily the question you're asking me. The problem is not the meat. The problem is what you're doing with the meat. So the question we want you to consider this week is this what you do with what you know matters. What you do with what you know matters.
SPEAKER_05So let's dive a little deeper
One God And Real Freedom
SPEAKER_05into the knowledge component that he presents here. And we're gonna see, he's gonna give us some more in uh more words of wisdom about knowledge specifically. So let's look at verse four. Um, about eating food sacrificed to idols. So, okay, he he's actually circling back around because remember, verse one, he started out. Now about food sacrificed to idols. And it's like he took this little detour and said, Okay, time out. Let me tell you, knowledge and love, and knowledge puffs up and love builds up. Okay, now back. Now we're back on track. I'm back to answering your question about eating food that's sacrificed to idols. We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are many so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. There is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him. It's important for us to remember people from Corinth are intellectual, they value education, they're smart, they have a reputation for information. This is important to them. They value knowledge, and we see this trait here in the Corinthian church among the believers. Now, some of the Corinthian believers, they they have this thorough understanding that the one true God rules out the existence of any other gods. And because of this, it nullifies the significance of pagan sacrifices. There's a group of them that understand this, like they they get it. The one true God, he is real. Because of that, then the this issue with food sacrificed to idols, it's it's irrelevant. They believe, they understand that the God of Christianity so overshadows all of the others that may be called gods or lords that any of the others are entirely insignificant. They get it. And as we read in verse four, Paul agrees with their knowledge. He said, We know. When he says we, he's including himself. I know this, you know this. We know that an idol is nothing and that there is one God, there is one Lord. So he acknowledges, he agrees with their knowledge, he is affirming their theology. Your belief, like your perspective on the situation, is right. You do understand this. This is true. This is your understanding of there being one true God, you're right in that. And because of this, the food that's connected to idol worship is unaffected. It's not idolatry for you to eat it. He affirms that, he recognizes that. It's as if he's telling them, your knowledge is correct. You are right, you're not wrong technically, but he puts a but in there, and we're gonna read that here in just a second. But there's more to consider. It's as if he's saying, You're right, but there's more to this picture. There's more going on here. This is not just technically this, therefore move forward. It is you're right in this. However, there's more to consider. There's more to the story. He's not trying to discredit the importance of their knowledge, but he wants to make it painstakingly clear that knowledge alone is not enough. The knowledge alone is not enough. Knowledge is essential, it is important, there is value, but it's not sufficient. It's not the only piece to the puzzle, it's not the only thing that needs to be considered. And so while these believers, yes, they had a certain amount of personal, they had a certain amount of knowledge that led to personal freedom for them. We can eat this meat and not worry about it because it's really, it's not affected by the idol worship. Paul was saying it's gonna be of no value to you. Your knowledge of this freedom that you have will be of no value to the church if you don't take into consideration how this affects other people, if you don't deal with fellow believers in a spirit of love. And so that that's what
When Freedom Becomes A Stumbling Block
SPEAKER_05he's gonna get. Like that's what he's getting at. The knowledge is right, however. So now let's talk about the love portion of this partnership. We read about this in verses seven and eight. This is where we see the however. Here's the however, here's the other side, the flip side of the coin. However, not everyone has this knowledge. Not everybody understands it the way that you do. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food that's been sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not bring us close to God. We're not worse off if we don't eat, and we're not better off if we do eat.
SPEAKER_03Not all the believers here in Corinth, the Corinthian church understood the full picture of what it meant to have only one true God, which makes sense when we understand backstory, when we understand culture. They believe in the all-powerful God of the Christian faith, but are not yet convinced that there's not no longer any little C God or little C, what did I say? That little G gods all over the place. What are we saying right now, right? In their hearts, in their minds, it's difficult for them, right, to make that transition because the way that they've always thought, they've always processed, it's hard for them to get rid of old habits, old thinking patterns, old processes. Therefore, when they eat meat that has been a part of religious ceremony to a pagan God, they struggle to separate meat from worship. They struggle to separate meat from worship. Sometimes, you know this and I know this, the old ways of life, the old ways of thinking, the old patterns that have been a part of our lives for a very long time, for generations, it's a challenge for those things to disappear. For us to think and process a different way. And Paul's saying, listen, if you continue just to push your knowledge to people that yet don't understand fully all that you understand, you're going to do damage to them. So I need you, because what's happening right now, the what the real problem is, is not the meat. The real problem is the tension, the ununity that's happening in the body of Christ. This is what we're saying, and we this is an issue. And I need you to move forward, not just with your knowledge, I need you to pause, and I also need you to use love as well.
SPEAKER_05So let's look at verse 9. Now, before I start reading this, it's important for us to remember right now, he's talking to the believers that have the knowledge, the ones who understand that they they have this freedom, they have this right. This is what he says to them in verse nine. Be careful that this right of yours, this freedom that you know you have, be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, won't his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge. This is huge.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Paul is telling the mature Christians at Corinth that when dealing with a newer, he actually describes them as a weaker Christian, less knowledgeable Christian, those with younger faith. We're not just talking about teenagers, we're talking about also adults. Like spiritual age is different than physical age, right? You could have been uh you could be in your 60s or 70s, but yet still only be a Christian for two or three years, which makes you a young Christian, right? And so it's it's if it's if it's only handled with knowledge, Paul says in verse 11, their faith potentially is ruined. Ruined by your knowledge. He's telling them that exercising your freedom that has the potential. When you exercise your freedom, it has the potential to trip up another believer. Literally, your knowledge is the stumbling block that'll cause them to fall and to fall in such a way that it might have eternal implication on their life. Because we're moving only forward with knowledge and not love. And Paul's like, hold up, wait, pause. We're not talking about me. We're talking about how you are loving people.
SPEAKER_05Now let's continue on verse 12 and 13. This is a short chapter, so we're almost done working through working through the text. Uh verses 12 and 13, again, he's still talking to, he's still addressing the people that have the knowledge, the the mature Christians. Verse 12, these are his words. Now, when you sin like this against brothers and sisters. But wait a second, they didn't, they weren't doing anything wrong, right? Like they were allowed to eat the meat. He said that. Like it's okay, the meat is not affected. Why now is he saying, when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you're sinning against Christ.
SPEAKER_03It's a warning to us.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Therefore, verse 13 if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat so that I won't cause my brother or sister to fall.
SPEAKER_03These mature believers that have knowledge and are in the right, they sin by eating meat sacrificed to idols. Not because of the idols, but because of the damage done to their fellow believers. Listen, they sin by eating meat sacrificed to idols, not because of the idols, but because of the damage done to their fellow believers. These mature believers, those with knowledge, are sinning against God not because they're eating meat, but because they're they're they're eating in such a way, they're eating and ignoring the younger believers, and it's damaging the conscience of the younger believers. And so the younger believers are like, hey, if I jump back into an old habit, there's gonna be a chance that I'm gonna start pursuing worshiping idols and actually not worshiping the one true God. This is the issue. And Paul's like, if you push this issue the wrong way and just ignore it, you're gonna send them to destruction. Listen, what we do, what we do, what we do with what we know matters. Acting on knowledge alone, even accurate, right knowledge, without love for other believers, has the potential to harm the body of Christ, to hurt the church. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05There's a prominent New Testament scholar, Thomas Strener. He describes it this way: True knowledge is adorned with humility and accompanied by love. And if these qualities are lacking, then one's knowledge has not been applied correctly. True knowledge is adorned with humility and it's accompanied with love. If these qualities are lacking, one's knowledge has not been applied correctly. So now it brings us to this question. What
Modern Gray Areas And Church Hurt
SPEAKER_05does this mean for us? Like we do not relate to this dilemma about whether we eat food that was sacred that was part of pagan worship. And yet I do think like there are gray areas that the church, you know, there there are gray areas that scripture doesn't give us explicit, you know, details on. There are ways that we can just, I think, take time to reflect on this. I to me, whenever I read this, this is this is not um, you know, like recognizing, okay, I am a sinner, I need a savior, I'm gonna call upon Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Okay, I'm gonna dedicate my life to the Lord, I'm gonna get in his word, I'm gonna start to learn it, I'm gonna start walking this out the best that I can. This is another level. Like, this is going deeper, in my opinion, when it comes to our faith. This isn't just, okay, how am I doing like living for Jesus? Now I'm beginning to like pay attention. How is what how I'm living for Jesus, how is it affecting the rest of the body? Like it's beginning to not focus just on how, like, am I doing a good job? Like, am I doing the right thing? What about how are you doing? And how what can I do to help make sure that you're being built up? Am I potentially like, is there something that I don't have a problem with? I don't think that scripture has a problem with it. I feel like I'm entitled to do this and it's not wrong. I can wear this and it's fine. I can go here, I can say this, I can pursue this. But wait, should I? Just because I can, doesn't it mean I should? And I think there's there's a lot of this. Um, there's a lot of this that is, it's just, it's a lot deeper than uh than just the surface, kind of the stuff that we usually touch on. I think it means finding the balance of knowledge and love, bringing information to the table, but then evaluating it with the discernment of the Holy Spirit to say, okay, God, this is what I know to be true, but how should I apply it in my life? How do I live it out? It's letting knowledge and love work together in partnership as we make decisions and we interact with people. And so you brought up a really good illustration of this as we were talking through this sermon. So whenever Nathaniel was born, I'm the kind of person I need information. I crave information. I read a lot. I'm a words person. To me, somewhere along the line in the history of my life, this idea that like knowledge is power must have taken root because I just feel like I can't know enough. So the more that I know, then the better job I can do. So here we have. You know, this infant son the hospital releases to take home, and we have no idea how what how we're gonna do this. How do we raise this kid? Yes, it's kind of scary. And so, you know, first few weeks go by, we're kind of stumbling through. It's not going well. No, he's crying and an awful lot. He's not sleeping at all. I mean, I feel like he's not sleeping at all. So I needed help. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna do the only thing that I know to do. I'm gonna go for information. Well, a very well-meaning friend presents me with a book. Shelly, why don't you try this? Like, she knew the way that I worked and and books helped me. And I mean, I was desperate for anything. Like, what do you got? Like, give it to me. I need help. I don't know what to do with him. So I read this book. I practically memorized this book. I had it.
SPEAKER_01I couldn't even speak against this book. I was like, what is this? The Bible or Well, that's the thing.
SPEAKER_05Like, there was the Bible, and then in my mind, there was this book. This book was the magic, you know, that was going to solve all of our infant dilemmas. And I had in my mind, like, if it wasn't working, we were not doing it perfectly enough. Like I just had to do it. The book says you should sleep now. The book says you should sleep now. You are supposed to be sleeping right now. You're not sleeping. You're crying, but you're supposed to be sleeping now. It was a disaster. It was a train wreck. I was a hot mess, and he was not doing what the book told me he was gonna do if I did A, B, and C. It was a mess. It didn't work. You guys get that. And so here's Sean just waiting patiently. I mean, kind of, you know, like waiting to for everything to kind of I guess come to a head to be like, okay, Shelly, we we knowledge is not everything. I mean, I think for me, that's what I learned. In that instance, my knowledge failed me. It did not work. Like, knowledge did not help. It didn't get us where we were looking to go. We needed the other, what you bring to the table. When we move forward with knowledge, intuition, love, people, common sense, where they're at, what they need. Everything that's the opposite of pay attention.
SPEAKER_03You know, my information might not change their life. Let's think about the information they need.
SPEAKER_05Let's save the relationships.
SPEAKER_03Let's save the relationships. No, we cannot send him off to an institution. He has to stay with us. He's ours forever. He'll go away someday, but it's gonna be like 19 years from now. So we have to work together.
SPEAKER_05And we did. Like I learned a lot through that. I learned like you you actually the lack of information part is actually really, really helpful because information is not always it's not enough. Like that's the thing. It's not enough.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a very wise person uh stepped into our lives and they said to this, and we're gonna talk about this here in just a minute, uh, but it kind of moves into this direction. Uh well, yeah, I'll I'll wait for that. Let me just jump here first. Sorry, I'm getting jumping ahead. I'm gonna get in trouble if I get home and get off script.
SPEAKER_05No, you're not. I've gotten off script already.
SPEAKER_03Listen, Paul's teaching the church a very, very valuable lesson regarding gray areas in the church. And the gray area here in Corinth, in regards to eating meat with sacrifice that have been sacrificed to idols, is not a gray area we deal with. Yet at the same time, don't we also have our own gray areas? Are there not letters that we might write to Paul or questions that we might write to Paul saying, hey, Paul, they're doing this in the body of Christ. It's causing some confusion. Can you bring some clarity? Right? We have gray areas. Some churches it seems like it's totally fine to drink alcohol. Other churches, it's like, oh my gosh, don't touch this stuff. It's a gray area, right? There's there's some instructions about alcohol in the Bible, yet at the same time, there's a lot of not instruction. What about entertainment? I cannot believe they watch that TV show. They're Christians. I mean, I took my wife to her first movie theater after we were married. It was Santa Claus one. I said, babe, I think it's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_05I was raised in a home where I we didn't do the water. So I didn't go. But then once I was married, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_03Teenagers, this is for you to understand. Like, honor your parents. It'll serve you well later on in life. You might not understand everything, honor your parents, right? But what do we do with these kind of things? Should we send our kids to private schools or public schools? It's been a battle forever in the church. Tattoos? Can you mark your body forever? Is God okay with that? Right? Oh my goodness, you let your kids be a part of what holiday? You can't do that. You're going to send them straight to hell. Right? What do we do when Scripture has nothing to say about a particular issue? An issue oftentimes the enemy likes to grab a hold of and put in the center of the room and do everything they can to make sure the body of Christ starts fighting and arguing about it to create lack of unity. Because the devil knows, right? If he can break unity amongst us, we've just we've lost. Literally. As the outside world looks at us and says, look at them, they're crazy. Right? What do we do in the gray areas? This is such an important lesson for the body of Christ to learn. Then and now, we move forward with knowledge and love. And most of the time, we just like to move forward with knowledge. The book says this. This is how I interpret it. This is what we should do. And oftentimes we send somebody away that is a Christian and they're not sure they want to be a Christian anymore. We do serious damage. It's what now, when they come to church, they call church hurt. And oftentimes their church hurt doesn't come from those outside of the body of Christ, it comes from you. Because you've moved forward with knowledge and not equally also with love. In gray areas, mature Christians don't ask, what am I allowed to do? They ask, what most honors Christ and helps others, all of us, follow him. This is what we've been called to do.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I mean, this message is this is it's it's deep and it's very personal. Like that's just the reality. It I I we cannot, you know, Sean and I, we can't sit up here and say, okay, this is what it looks like. Like this, this, and this, do this, and we'll all be good. This is you taking what Paul had to say and praying about it for yourself. This is you saying, okay, Holy Spirit, like I I I see what I see what Paul wrote here. Like that if something is gonna lead a brother or sister to stumble, I don't want to do it. Will you open my eyes to from like I I'm I'm willing to like begin to explore this level of faith, like where I I may make some alterations, I may make some adaptations to things that I'm doing, especially it maybe in certain situations. When I'm when I'm in this kind of situation and I know that, you know, that's something that somebody else struggles with. Like I I'm going to be sensitive what is going on, you know, in somebody else's life. Like I'm willing to set my personal freedom and my understanding of scripture maybe to the side if it means that it's gonna help build somebody else up. And I don't, I can't tell you what that looks like in your life. I I know I've prayed about it. I know the things that the Holy Spirit has revealed to me and said, Shelley, I want you to think about this. I want you to think about how you're gonna proceed with this. I want you to think about, I want you to begin to examine. All that we can do is encourage you to do that, to do that for yourself. Like to read what Paul said and then to say, Holy Spirit, will you open my eyes to see the situation the way that you do? Will you open my ears to hear what it is that you hear? You may be aware of something that's going on in somebody else's life that I don't know. And so I'm I'm willing to grow in this area of my life. I just pray that you would show me. And I believe if you ask him, I believe that he'll do that. That he'll begin to kind of I just think this is a whole different level of walking in out our faith in the body of Christ. And it's not something that we hear all the time, it's not something that we even think about. And yet it's there. I don't want to cause anything that I do, I don't want anything that I do to cause another person to stumble, to trip them up, to put them back in bondage. I'm willing to set, you know, something that may be justifiably and technically fine in God's eyes, but if it means that it's going to encourage somebody else, I don't have to do that. I don't have to enjoy that. I don't have to say that, I don't have to wear that. You know, I I can be sensitive of what to what is going on in somebody else's life.
SPEAKER_03And to go back to the silly illustration of Nathaniel and kids and infants and brand new, and you all understand this, right? Uh, what
Parenting Story And Spirit-Led Wisdom
SPEAKER_03was the game changer in regards to how we uh things change? What brought knowledge and love together in Nathaniel's life was a very wise woman. We were youth pastors in Jerseyville, and it was one of our youth leaders, and she came to us. It was actually Casey's mom. She came to us and she goes, Hey, I know you guys are struggling. I can see it. She said, What you have to do, and you get this, mature believers, I'm not saying anything to you that you don't know, but it's where we need to stay. She said, You need to just rely on the Holy Spirit. Everything that you need.
SPEAKER_04Everything that he needs, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Everything that he needs, the Lord has given you. He's given you knowledge, he's given you love. Now listen to him and move forward. It changed everything. What changed everything? The Holy Spirit. We have to, if we're gonna navigate this the right way, we have to do it with the Holy Spirit. Paul shares a very similar word to the church in Philippi. Philippians 2, 3, 4, I'm gonna close with this. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain or conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourself. Not looking to your own interests, but but each other of your uh not looking to your own interests, but each other, each out of camp, guys. It's teen camp.
SPEAKER_04Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others.
SPEAKER_03Jesus never asked, What am I entitled to do? What am I entitled to do? He asked, What will help people know the Father? He could have said, This is what you should do, do it. You weren't motivated to move towards Jesus because he was right. You were motivated to move towards Jesus because of what he did. He gave up all of his rights and went to a cross and died on that cross for you. What changed your life, what changed you, what moved you towards Christ was not his knowledge and his words. And that was helpful. I'm not saying it's not. But first and foremost was the fact that of his sacrifice, what he laid down, his love. Jesus did not come to this world to be right, he came to be followed. Paul calls us to live the same way, not clinging to our rights, but using our freedom to build others up in love. The cross is the greatest example of 1 Corinthians 8. Jesus gave up his rights so others could receive life. What you do with what you know matters. Are you puffing people up or are you building people up? Knowledge alone, knowledge alone will always produce pride. And pride will destroy you and those around you. But if we're willing to move forward sacrificially with love and knowledge, we'll begin to see people transformed in a crazy way. Let us always be a church. Let us be individuals that are caring, that care both about love and knowledge. In all of our relationships, we're moving forward with love and knowledge. And the only way for us to do this successfully is to make sure that we continue to stay in tune with what the Holy Spirit is guiding and leading us to do. Would you stand with me as we
Jesus’ Example And Closing Prayer
SPEAKER_03pray this morning? Lord, I thank you so much for Paul. I thank you for this question that's been asked to Paul by the Corinthian church. And God, I ask today, first and foremost, God, we just present ourselves to you as believers, as Christians. And God, we ask that you might forgive us for times that we have just moved forward with knowledge and not also love. And that we've created in ourselves what we call today church hurt. That someone's literally been destroyed. Destruction has happened. God, because we were just puffing up, God, and not uh building up. We were moving forward with knowledge and not also love. So, God, first and foremost, God, as a as a corporate body, we just say, God, examine our own hearts. Examine us. And help us, God, uh, to understand that it's not about whether or not we should eat meat, but it's where we're at in regards to what are we doing with what we know? Are we creating unity? Or, God, are we pulling the church apart? And so, God, I pray at Live Community Church, would you help us to continue to be a spirit-led body? That we would allow the Holy Spirit to lead in our relationships at home, that we would allow us to lead in our relationships at our work, God, in our neighborhoods, that we would continue, God, Holy Spirit, that you would continue in every relationship to help us to understand how to bring together love and knowledge that we might continue to build up the body of Christ, that people might fully know you, that we might give you all of our rights, and ask you, God, to lead us in all of these things. We ask in the mighty name of Jesus.