Transcript

Grab your Bibles and let’s go to 1 Corinthians 8. What a powerful and true and I think liberating passage of Scripture this is. I hope it’s an encouragement to you and a reminder maybe for some of us to get a little better on track in our viewpoint and in our conviction about things concerning Christian liberty. 1 Corinthians and we’ll read the chapter down 1 through 13. Paul writing to this quite immature and troubled church, had a lot of problems, says this,

1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; 3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. 4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us [that is, us who know the truth] there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. 7 However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 8 But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11 For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

Now, the Corinthians as was their pattern in their carnality and immaturity, had taken the concept of Christian liberty and perverted it, if not turned it completely upside down. They viewed the liberty we have under grace as a permission to indulge in fleshly pleasures and if you didn’t like it, pfft. That’s where they were. That’s just where they were. If you didn’t like the Christian liberties we enjoy, then you’ve got a problem and you need to get over it. Now, in balance there may be a time or two when a firm word to some overbearing, obnoxious, proud, legalistic person might be in order but generally speaking that’s a warped upside down view of what Christian liberty is all about.

Let me share some things with you right quick here that I jotted down in meditating about this and I would entitle this whole chapter “Love is the Key in Liberty.” I just said that because it rhymes. Love is the key in liberty. That’s what they were missing. Now, the key in this whole chapter and I would encourage you just to make a mark in your Bible, if you would, is verse 3. If you miss verse 3, none of this matters. If you miss verse 3, the keystone in the arch of truth of chapter 8 is gone. If you miss verse 3, the foundation of all that Paul is teaching here is missed.

What does he say in verse 3? “If anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” It’s almost like Paul just throws that phrase in there but it’s just so very foundational. What that verse is saying is the new birth. “If anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” What is he saying? If something has happened in you – now listen to me – if something has happened in you whereby you are supernaturally transformed so that you have begun to really love God, in other words, you don’t just view God as this overlord master and you’ve got to do these do’s and don’t do these don’ts or he’s going to crush you. You don’t view him like that anymore. You don’t just view God as some sort of cosmic machine, slot machine, where I get the right things lined up I get blessings from him. He’s not some force out there I can manipulate if I have the right phrase or the right mantra where I can get something out of him. No, my heart has changed. I now have begun to know him and I have begun to love him. What he’s saying is if that’s happened in you, if that germ or genuine heart-felt love for the true God – now listen – as he has revealed himself in Scripture, not the God you make up in your head, not the God the culture dreams up. They’ll use the name “God.” They’ll use the phrase “Jesus” but they invent one they like and put the name on it. I mean the true God of Scripture, if you have a love for him from your heart, then you know God’s changed you. You didn’t just wake up this morning and say, “I am of such high and virtuous DNA that I will choose the high and lofty principle of starting to love God.” That just does not happen. God has to change your heart to enable you to begin to esteem and appreciate and treasure and love God.

That’s why he says it this way, “but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” In other words, you are known by God as one God chose, as one God elected, as one God foreknew, as one God has drawn to himself, as one God has regenerated by evidence by repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. God has sought you. He knows you as one of his own, caused you to be changed by the Gospel in the power of the Spirit, so that you now have a capacity to know God and to love him and, folks, that’s not going to make you jive well with most of the Baptists in the world today because most don’t know him. They know religion. They know a system. They know going through the motions. They know tradition. But they don’t know and love God.

Now, so he’s talking here – listen – he’s talking about, “Now, here’s how Christian liberty works for those who are genuinely born again; for those God has regenerated by the power of his Spirit. They have a capacity, a love capacity in them that causes them to do this thing, this exercising of Christian liberties in a very unique and wonderful way.” At the new birth, you see, love by the Spirit is birthed in me and now I walk in the Spirit with an energizing of that supernatural love. It’s there. It needs to be cultivated, it needs to be matured, it needs to be energized by the Spirit, but the Spirit has to do all of that.

Now, think about how foundational love is to everything we’re called to be and do as Christians. I just jotted down a few of these as the Spirit brought them to my mind. The Bible says we should be willing to lay down our life for the brethren. Now think about that. The Bible does not say, “Now, make sure you check off all of the Bible requirements for how to treat your brothers and sisters in Christ.” No, we don’t do a check off list of law of how we’re supposed to love each other. There are concepts and precepts and duties and assignments that we do appreciate but what he’s saying is love goes way beyond that. Love doesn’t just check off the list, love says what does it take, even giving my life if need be. The only way you can have that in your heart and it be really genuine is if the Spirit of God put it there for other Christians. That’s one of the things I deeply enjoy about Grace Life Church, there is a whole lot of genuine spiritual love for one another in this church. It’s not superficial. It’s not sentimentality. It’s not old time religion. It’s not what I like. It doesn’t matter what you like. What you like doesn’t matter. What does God like and has God changed you to begin to like what God likes? So we don’t just say, “Okay, I checked off the box. I’ve done my duties to my Christians at church this week.” No. Yeah, you follow some stuff as the Bible gives you guidance but from your heart you say, “What does it take?”

Let’s go to another one. Employees are to work for their employers like working unto the Lord, even to those who mistreat them. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. I work for a guy, I work my eight hours a day. I’ve checked off the box. I’ve done the right stuff.” No, no, no. Christian love means God has changed your heart. You have a capacity to do far more than just that for the man you work for or the woman you work for. You see, love just changes everything but it’s not your love. We don’t need your love perfected. We don’t need your love energized. We don’t need your love matured. We need to get rid of your love and let God’s love he put in you grow and flow out of you. That’s what this is all about.

Pastors are to shepherd those under their care, the Bible says, not under compulsion but voluntarily. “What a minute. I’ve got a job. I’m the pastor. I’m just going to check off. Here’s what the Bible says: check, check, check, check, check.” No, I am to follow the precepts about what I’m to do as a pastor but the heart should be, “I love my people. I want them to know Christ. I want them to do well. I want them to be blessed. I want them to treasure God from my heart.” You didn’t know me before I was converted but there is no way I would desire that for these last 35 years had Christ not changed my heart and put a love for Christians in my heart.

The Bible tells churches to love your pastors, love your elders and those who work hard at preaching and teaching. You’re to show them double honor, double blessing back. You don’t just say, “Wait a minute now. Here’s what the Bible says about how to love and appreciate my pastor. We’ve checked it off. We’ve done the minimum.” Then you’re not acting in Christian love. No, Christian love says, “No, how much can we do?” You know, people are blown away when they find out that our last fall outreach preacher got almost $30,000 in love offerings. Why? Because we bring these guys and we say, “Look, we’re not gonna do the minimum. How much can we do to bless these brothers?” You’re acting like Christians. Don’t get the big head, you’re just being normal.

Husbands, love your wives. “No, wait a minute now. I’ve checked off, I’ve done the minimal requirements for my wife like the Bible says so I’m free now and I can go fishing.” Well, no, the Bible does give you things you’re supposed to but in love you say, “No, she’s my one and only.” And that’s probably the primary emphasis of Paul’s writing to the church at Ephesus in the Gentile culture because telling men to love their wives would have been a radical new concept. Wives were slaves and property almost in that culture. So he says, “Yes, you take care of your wife. You nurture her, you love her, but the way Christ loved the church was he loves the church in a special unique way. The church is his one and only and from your heart you do for her more than just checking off the boxes.”

Titus tells wives, “Wives, love your husbands.” “Wait a minute now. I’ve done the minimum. I’ve checked off the boxes.” Well, the Bible gives you guidelines of the things you’re responsible for, your duties, your assignments, but you don’t just check them off. No, God has changed you so that you say, “No, to show off God’s wisdom in designing the complementary roles of husband and wife, I want to do more than just the minimal. I want to do those things and more out of love for him.”

Masters, give up threatening your slaves. Treat them more in a kind way. Wait a minute. In this culture there were certain rules about how you treated your slaves. You could just check them off. No, not as Christians you don’t. “Just check off the box. I’ve done these three..” No, love says do more than that. Do better than that.

Slaves, obey with sincerity your masters and do it from the heart. “Wait a minute. I have to be a slave to this guy. I’ve jumped through the hoops. I’ve done what I’m supposed to do under the law as a slave.” Not as a Christian. Christian, God has changed your heart. There is a new capacity in you to even love your master who may not be treating you right and do more than the minimum.

Parents are not to exasperate their children in raising them. Well, children also were like pieces of property to men in the Greco-Roman culture of this day so they could just say, “Wait, I’ve done the two or three things Rome requires or the Greek culture requires for my children.” No, no, no, no, you’re to raise your children with love and understanding. You’re not just supposed to go by the raw, cold law.

Love gives you a capacity to do even more. Someone sues you for your shirt, give him your coat also. Someone forces you to carry their pack one mile, take it two. Someone slaps you on your cheek, turn the other cheek also. Love says we refuse to do the minimum. We ask how much can we do?

So we come to Christian liberty and we don’t check off and say, “Okay, under grace I’m free. I’m not under law and you’re not going to impose your cold legalisms on me. So I’ve checked off. I’m under liberty. Now I’m free.” No, you’re not. You’re bound by the love God has put in your heart at the new birth. Liberty is for love. Love has everything to do with Christian liberty.

Now, let’s look at this just a little bit. I may not get through with it but it’s so very very simple in one way, but do you know what I was thinking? The last time I preached through Corinthians was 20 years ago and 20 years ago if I had preached this to Grace Life Church I would be grieved and troubled in my spirit that a good majority could not get what I was saying because I didn’t believe a good majority were regenerate and I believe I was accurate. As a matter of fact, I know I was accurate. I don’t feel that way now. I have the joy of knowing the majority can begin to grasp what I’m saying because the regenerate nature is in you and that makes pastoring a real joy. Have you ever been called to shepherd sheep and you ended up corralling goats? It’s not fun and it has given us quite a bit of wisdom to help pastors who are trying to be biblical learn what I call…what I tell pastors is, “What you’ve got to do, you’ve got a congregation, now you’ve got to find a church in there somewhere.” Amen? You just preach the word and find out the sheep keep coming to the sheep food and the goats keep grumbling and wandering and roaming off.

Of all things, a lady came to my mind. She’s a single lady and a sweet lady. When I was a single guy, I had an apartment right over here and she actually lived down there and she was a senior adult lady, very sweet. She joined our church, she hung around for a while and then she just drifted off. Then I saw her some time back and we fellowshiped. It was a sweet conversation but I thought, “This dear lady has not a spiritual bone in her body.” Sweet. Kind. I have a love for her but I knew there was no way I could ever cause her to be attracted to what we are as Grace Life Church. Do you get what I’m saying? Now, we always love folks and encourage them but only the Spirit can give them that desiring of, “I want to be with these people. I love these people. I want to serve these people and glorify my Lord by doing that.”

Folks, this thing of the church is Spirit-wrought. You don’t join just because I’ve become cool and don’t wear a tie on Sunday night; just because I’m novel and clever and faddish and with it. I want to be so not with it culturally to prove to the world people will come to the truth. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I’m supposed to design the Lord Jesus Christ’s church so that shallow, worldly, faddish gimmicks are needed to make him attractive? I’m going to tell you what: Jesus is beautiful just the way he is. We don’t need to put any garb on him but just let the raw piercing truth of the glories of Jesus out there and if that empties the building, I’ll preach to an empty building, and we’re about half empty tonight so who knows what’s going on.

I. Verse 1 through 3, Paul tells this backward, shallow, carnal church in Corinth some things they need to know. 1. Knowledge without love produces arrogance. Knowledge without love produces arrogance. He says, “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols.” Now he’s talking about meat that they would take, these idolaters would bring into their idol temples and they would kill this beef or whatever it was every morning and they would quickly consider that a sacrifice to idols but the best, freshest, finest meat was sold by these people who killed all these animals to sacrifice to idols. The best meat in town and people enjoyed eating that meat. So there was meat left over after these sacrifices, some people worshiping the idol would eat that meat as a sacrifice unto their idol, some would take it home and then some of it would be taken to the market. So Christians were kind of perplexed, “What are we to do about this meat?” So they had differing opinions. They said, “Can we eat it in the idol temple, kind of a restaurant that would be set up there? Is it okay to go in there and eat it? Or can we buy it in the market and take it at our houses and eat it? What’s allowable?”

Well, he says, “all have knowledge.” All have knowledge. Then he says, “but knowledge makes arrogant,” puffed up, “but love edifies.” Now, those who had knowledge concerning idols had developed an arrogance about those who didn’t have knowledge. Now, here’s how I would compare those two: the ones with knowledge knew that the cow belonged to God. God made the cow. God made the grass and it just doesn’t matter what people did when they were killing it, I’m gonna eat it and praise God for it. You all probably ate meat today that some pagan worshiping his own idol himself and the world in pleasure, butchered at some butcher shop somewhere and sold it and you ate it today and you just ate meat sacrificed to an idol today. But you have knowledge to know there is no such thing as an idol. There is no life or reality to idols. This is God’s meat. God made it. It’s okay to eat it. That means having knowledge and that’s the truth. The ones without knowledge came out of pagan idolatries of this day and they would say, “I’m troubled. I’m still not free in my conscience. All these years my family would sacrifice to these idols and eat this meat, I can’t do this.” They were without knowledge and the ones with knowledge were going, “No, no, no, you’re so weak. You don’t have liberty. You don’t understand grace. You’re not mature like we’re mature.” I’ve seen some Christians today drink their long neck Budweisers flaunting their liberty and how mature they are in Jesus. I don’t know if that’s very mature or not. As a matter of fact, I don’t think it is. I guess depending on the setting my advice to you is to stay away from all of it, especially anything close to drunkenness. But liberty in Christ means there is nothing we can do to take away our salvation. No keeping of the law can earn it or remove it, but love governs all of it.

Love, he says at the end of verse 1, “Knowledge makes arrogant,” and that’s what they were. “We’re so mature. We’re so enlightened. We’re so free in Christ. We have such liberty. We can eat this meat.” But he said, “Where’s the love? Are you considering how this is affecting another brother or sister in your church that may not be that far along in their maturity yet?” “Love edifies,” he says. Just knowledge can cause you to be brutal. Love always is concerned for the other one first. If knowledge puffs you up about yourself, then you cannot build up a fellow believer. Knowledge – listen to me now – knowledge must always be channeled through love. Your knowledge may be right but love is the filter it must go through in the application of that knowledge.

Verse 2, he reminds them in verse 2, “If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know.” Here’s what he’s saying, “If you really know anything about God and true spirituality, then you will realize you don’t know much of anything.” If you really know anything about true spirituality, then there is this inherent humility in you that says, “I don’t know anything yet.” Brothers and sisters, I have been preaching to you for 35 years, probably preached a little bit before that because I did preach some before I was called on staff here. I’ve done a ton of studying. I mean, a whole lot of it and I’m telling you I fell like today I don’t know as much as I thought I knew 25-30 years ago. If you know anything, you have just an inherent humility that says, “I’m not sure I know anything much.” Newton said that you’re only gathering pebbles on an ocean of truth. The really learned man knows his ignorance of what lies beyond.

Then he says, verse 3, to know God is to love him. You’ve come to know him because he knows you. He has produced in you a new spiritual birth whereby there is a new supernatural love in you and a capacity to energize that love and love others far above and beyond what the law might describe or might dictate. Those who love him are known by him, he says in verse 3. No man comes to God and no man comes to know knowledge, true knowledge, unless God does the initiating, and no man comes to God through knowledge alone. If anyone loves God, God says he has the kind of knowledge that only God could have given him. So Paul warns them, “If you have knowledge about what Christian liberty is but you don’t have love guiding it and governing it, then you are just arrogant.” And that’s a sin, and it’s a sin against Christ.

II. Knowledge without love produces sin against my brethren. Now notice in verse 4, he said, “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.” Now, he’s saying we know every concept of heathen gods and idolatry are myths; they just do not exist.

Then he goes down into verse 5, “For even if there are so-called gods.” In other words, in our culture we know there are a lot of them. They were just rampant in the ancient Greco- Roman world. “Whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,” verse 6, “yet for us there is but one God.” In other words, we know the truth. There is “one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” There is only one eternal, self-existing, almighty God and one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the administrator of the universe.

Verse 7, “However not all men have this knowledge.” They hadn’t gotten that far yet. They are genuinely converted, they’re just immature. Then he says, “but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.” Now, it was the habit of some of them in their former life that they worshiped idols and it still grips their heart. They still feel like, “If I do any of these things associated with idols, I’m worshiping an idol.” And it condemns their conscience. You know, the conscience is the internal court where actions and attitudes are judged and the Bible says they are defiled in their conscience. “Their conscience being weak,” last phrase of verse 7, “is defiled.” That means stained or polluted. It wasn’t that the meat stained them but the doing of something that the unenlightened conscience does not allow was a defiling thing. The point is: even if your conscience is misinformed and you’re wrong, you never make a practice of defiling your conscience. That’s dangerous to do. Yes, you could receive edification and information of the truth to get your conscience enlightened, but you just don’t make a practice of defiling your conscience.

Look at verse 8, “But food,” whether or not you choose to eat that meat sacrificed to an idol or don’t choose to eat it, “will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.” Quit being hung up on the meat. That’s not going to make you godly.

Verse 9, “But take care that this liberty,” that is, you’ve got knowledge, you’re free to eat it, you know it’s God’s beef, it just doesn’t matter what they did with it this morning, be careful that this liberty “of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” It’s totally non-Christian for the stronger brother to exercise his liberty in Christ at the expense of the weaker brother. Did you hear that? It’s totally non-Christian for the stronger brother to exercise his liberty in Christ at the expense of his weaker brother.

Here’s my point: watching a movie, sipping some alcohol, eating a steak, if it offends a weaker brother, then it’s not even a discussion or a question in my mind what I’m going to do because love is the key to this thing. Liberty is not the issue, love is the issue. Are you kidding me? My Lord that I’ve pledged my soul and my life to would die for this one and I can’t give up a steak dinner for him? That’s Paul’s point. “I don’t know if I want to do that.” Then I don’t know if you’ve got the Spirit of God in you because once you’re saved there is a supernaturally endowed capacity to begin to want to love Christians that way. Don’t let liberty in Christ be your battle cry so that you might indulge in your own whims and fleshly pursuits regardless of the effects it has on others. Liberty is not our banner, love is our banner. We enjoy and use our liberty to pursue the ends of true Christian love. Amen? That’s what we are and that’s where we are. Again, knowledge without love is brutality.

III. Knowledge without love is a sin against Christ. He goes a little further, you sin against your brothers but you also are sinning against Jesus when you do this. Verse 10, he gives a hypothetical here, “if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple,” again, this would be kind of like a restaurant, that morning they sacrificed that meat to an idol but they’re serving it to the public at noontime. If somebody sees you in there and they don’t have that liberty and that maturity yet, “will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?” Here he’s not really talking about the person is offended by watching you eat it, he’s talking about your example will cause them to sit down and eat it and they feel condemned in doing it. They’re only doing it because you tempted them to do it.

Now, you can’t live your life to some sort of paranoia, “Oh no, is there a weaker brother going to be around?” No, live your life, enjoy your liberties but the moment in a genuine real case a weaker brother is being caused to stumble, then you immediately sacrifice that liberty on the altar of love. It’s just what we do. It’s A, B, C’s. It’s as natural as breathing for a Christian. So you can by pursuing a liberty you have, emboldening a weak brother who doesn’t have liberty there yet to do what he believes is still wrong. The Baptist Greek scholar, about the best Greek scholar that’s ever lived, A. T. Robertson said, “How often defiance is flung in the face of the unenlightened brother.” How often defiance is flung into the face of the unenlightened brother.

Verse 11, “For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.” In other words, your knowledge should cause you…you should have true knowledge that means, “I would love this brother and forget my liberty.” But instead of loving him and giving up a steak dinner, you cause him to ruin and defile his conscience and he’s one Christ died for. What a poor use of your superior knowledge.

The word “ruined” here, I think, it says “you ruin him,” it’s the idea that he falls under guilt because he does what he saw you doing and he’s not ready for that yet. Secondly, he feels alienated from God because he feels guilty and when you feel guilty and alienated from God, you become vulnerable to the powers of Satan and the temptations of Satan and that is a path to ruin.

Verse 12, “And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” The word “wound” there means “a blow.” It’s like a punch in the face. So when you have a weaker brother who, they’re wrong but they’re just not there yet, and you flaunt your liberty and it causes them to be encouraged to participate in something they’re not comfortable with yet and their conscience is defiled, you in a spiritual sense just punched them in the face. Pretty graphic point Paul is making here. The greatest wound you can inflict on a brother is to influence him to violate his conscience. And he says, “If you do this, you sin against Christ,” and I think we have the understanding there, again, is when you do something, Jesus said if you give a cup of water to one of these brothers of mine, you do it for me. If you sin against him by using your liberties when those liberties cause that weaker brother to sin and stumble, you’re sinning against not only him but you’re sinning against Christ.

Now, there are challenging situations that it may not be real clear and the Bible gives us some of these, for example, as a matter of fact, turn over to Galatians. Would you do that? Galatians 6, look at verses 12 and 13. “For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves,” there is a group that has come into the Galatian church and they want everybody to have the circumcision under the law of Moses to be a complete Christian, so they’re imposing this legalism; they are in effect supplanting the true Gospel with works circumcision, alright? So Paul says to them, “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.” In other words, they want to glory that they have won a convert to their new doctrine. They have a new doctrine of Jesus plus circumcision and they’re supplanting the Gospel. Paul goes on to say, “We didn’t do it. We did not give up our liberty to not have to honor the laws of Moses in order to make this bunch happy because they were supplanting the Gospel with works doctrine for there is a time when you don’t give up your liberty.”

But then there was another time in Acts 16 where Paul and Timothy are touring and they’re preaching in the synagogues of the Jews and the first thing the Jews would say when they said, “We want to preach to you the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” and a number of the Jews were genuinely open but they’d say, “Are you and Timothy circumcised?” Timothy was a Greek and Paul said, “In order to gain the hearing, I had Timothy circumcised.” He had liberty never to be circumcised. He’s under grace, not under the law, but in that case, it wasn’t a supplanting of the Gospel, it wasn’t a changing of sound doctrine, it was just to gain a hearing and in that case, “we denied ourselves and gave up the liberty of grace and I had Timothy circumcised.” Now, the Bible does not record how Timothy felt about that but it does teach the principle that this is not supplanting the Gospel but it’s for expediency to be able to preach the Gospel in the synagogues.

Then Galatians 2:3-5, the same context again of legalists coming into the church and trying to change the Gospel. Verse 3, “But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.” In other words, we would be hurting them and hurting you if we denied ourselves the liberty to say, “No, we’re not being circumcised. We’re not under the law. We’re liberated from that bondage.”

So he said when the Gospel is on the line and the good of the church and the good of saints are on the line, we don’t care what that offended so-called brother, but here they’re not even so-called brothers, they’re imposters, they are false brethren who are trying to for their own glory and power and control, bring a new doctrine into the church as a false doctrine. But when it’s clear and it’s serious to use a liberty that may cause another to sin, that’s when it’s a stumblingblock, that’s when it’s a sin against them and that’s when it’s a sin against Christ. 1 Peter 2:16 reminds us, “act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as bondslaves to God.”

Knowledge channeled through love edifies my brother and glorifies my Lord. Knowledge channeled through love will edify my brother and glorifies my Lord. In all cases, love is the motivating factor and the only way you can have that kind of love is if you’ve experienced the new birth and it has been supernaturally placed within you that causes you to say – and I’ll be honest, this is a very common practice in Grace Life Church. It’s just so often I hear it at the testimonies over and over again where maybe a newer Christian of whatever it may be and the older Christian just the moment they know it, “Okay, I’ll change that because you’re far more important than whatever my viewpoint or my liberty was.” And that’s the way we always ought to be.

Now, in balance, there are those who I think are false just like Paul was dealing with in the Galatian churches that come in and they’ve got a list of 27 things you can’t do and, you know, you’ve got to raise your kids this way, you’ve got to read So-and-so’s book on child rearing and you’ve got to count 20 before you let your child feed past 2 o’clock and all those different things. Now, some people follow that and if that works for you and that’s fine for you, then praise God, but you can’t keep up with all the things that offends them and there comes a point in time when you have to decide, “You’re actually replacing the Gospel with your works system and I love you but I’m not going to be held in bondage by your list of 27.” But that’s not the context of the Corinthians. They were literally dealing with sincere immature brethren who needed to be loved and not preached down to, and to be patient with until their conscience was informed about the truth that you can eat it and enjoy it. Amen.

Let’s stand together in prayer.