Guidelines for Using Our Liberties

Transcript

GR 1333
09-24-06
Guidelines for using our Liberties
1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
Gil Rugh

We've been talking about matters of Christian liberty and I just draw your attention to a little booklet we have that covers some of the principles that we're covering and some of the principles we're not covering. The booklet covers more than just the Corinthian passages on what the Bible doesn't say. Many of you are familiar with that little book, but if you don't have it you can pick it up and it will just list the guidelines the Bible gives to what we call gray areas.

We're in 1 Corinthians 10 and we're completing Paul's discussion on this whole area of Christian liberty or Christian rights. And it's interesting the church that in chapter 3 he says was functioning carnally, was fleshly, is the church that he has to spend an extended period of time, chapters 8-10, talking about the whole matter of their rights or liberties. Things are out of kilter when the focus of our life as a believer comes to be what are my rights, this is what I am free to do. And we often carry that attitude that this is my right, I have the freedom and nobody is going to tell me differently. If you have a problem with it, that's your problem, but I understand my freedom and this is my right. The Corinthians had written to the Apostle Paul about this subject, in particular in the Corinthian church it had to do with food and drink that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul not only addresses that immediate subject, but he takes that opportunity to go more broadly than just the idea of food sacrificed to idols. He used himself as an example of the proper use of Christian liberty and rights in chapter 9, how he functioned as an apostle, the area of marriage, the area of being paid for his ministry and so on, showing how the principles that guide the use of our conduct in areas that the Bible does not directly address are to be used broadly. And then in chapter 10 he comes back to the subject that he addressed in chapter 8 and that is food sacrificed to idols. And now at the end of chapter 10 he is going to give the general principles that govern our conduct and apply them to the matter of food sacrificed to idols. And these principles and guidelines should direct us in all the areas that the Bible doesn't specifically indicate are right or wrong.

There are certain things that are just flat out wrong, they are not areas of liberty. So we talk about liberty and your rights or freedoms, certain things aren't rights or freedoms. Certain things are required of us or forbidden to us. In chapter 10 verses 20-21 Paul said that false worship is the worship of demons. So while there are no other gods in the world but the one true and living God, there are spiritual beings behind false worship. So the believers at Corinth needed to be careful that they guarded against any kind of involvement in false worship, in idol worship, because that is really the worship of demons. And that is to challenge God. If you profess to belong to Him and become involved in false worship, it is what the Old Testament called spiritual adultery. You are being unfaithful to God. So there are parameters in these areas and certain things that are clearly wrong and certain things that are acceptable, proper, and certain things that are just neutral. And we have rights, we have freedom. How are we to use that freedom that we have in Christ?

Look at 1 Corinthians 10:23, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. That word translated lawful indicates our liberty. In all areas you have liberty. Now again he's talking about the areas that the scripture does not particularly address and define. I don't have liberty and freedom, it's not lawful for me to be immoral. I don't have freedom, it's not lawful for me to steal, and so on. There are areas that the Bible doesn't address—the kinds of things I eat and drink, there is liberty in that area. All things are lawful. Back in chapter 6 verse 12, all things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable. Same expression. I have rights, freedom in a variety of areas, but that doesn't mean that all these things are profitable for me to do. Look in chapter 8 verse 9, take care that this liberty, and this is the same basic word we're talking about with what is lawful, what are my rights, the things that I have the power to do, the freedom to do, the right to do. Take care that these rights of yours, this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. So there are areas that I have freedom to choose. I've been set free, I belong to Christ, the Bible doesn't say this is right or wrong. We might call it neutral, we call it gray areas and not black or white.

All things are lawful, back in chapter 10 verse 23, but not all things are profitable. Now there is a guideline set down for me in how I use my rights. It's not just a matter, does the Bible say this is wrong? Does the Bible say I have to do it? Well then I'm free. Yes, that's correct, I can do what I want. No, that's not correct, because you have to ask yourself, is this profitable? How is this beneficial? And the second statement, all things are lawful but not all things edify, verse 23, build up. So how is this beneficial? How will this build up other believers? How will this build up the church to make it stronger, more mature in Christ? I am not free to fill my life with things that have no value, no purpose. We sometimes get the idea as long as the Bible doesn't say it's wrong, I can do it or not do it. I don't have to do what I don't want to do as long as the Bible doesn't give clear instruction. That's not true. I am not free to waste my life.

In chapter 6 of this letter Paul says that we are not our own, we have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. So I do have liberty, but I have guidelines on my liberty. I just can't waste my life, I can't just decide to do what I would want to do, what I might enjoy doing. But I have to ask, how is this beneficial for others, for the church of Jesus Christ? How does this edify, build up and strengthen another believer? How does this build up and strengthen the church? You know sometimes our teenagers, can happen at any age, I guess, but sometimes the teenagers seem to hit a period of their life where they're just going to become a blob. They just don't want to do anything but lie around. You say, well you need to get up and do something? Well, I don't feel like it, I'm not doing anything wrong. Well, that's true. You're not doing anything right, either, you're just there. And you say, you just can't do that, you have to.......... And you know that's the way it is. Some Christians walk around, they're just there. I'm not doing anything wrong. But what am I doing that is beneficial, that's profitable, that will build up believers?

Look at verse 24, let no one seek his own good, really just his own and you see the word good there is in italics. His own things, his own good. Don't seek his own means you are not to be focused on what you would like, what you would want, but seek that of his neighbor. Literally, of the other. In other words rather considering now I'm free, I have rights, I have liberty, what do I want to do, I have to think what would be good for them, what would be beneficial for them, what would help them to grow. Remember Paul began this discussion in chapter 8 verse 1 by saying, knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies. The problem with the Corinthians, they had knowledge about the rights of a believer and it wasn't being translated into functioning in love for the good of others, to build them up. How can I use the freedom and rights I have now to help other believers grow to maturity? That's love, that is the pattern that is to be characteristic of my life. Love is serving others, doing what is good for others, sacrificing self for others. Many, many of you give of your time and your abilities and possessions and energy for the growth and development of other believers, for the reaching of the lost. Not because that's the most comfortable thing to do, the easiest thing to do, the most relaxing thing to do, but because of your love for others. That's why it's done. Let no one seek his own, but that of the other.

You know we have to be careful about this. It is difficult in our society because of its affluence to not get drawn into that pattern. I took some studies one time that examined churches across the world. One of the disturbing things they found that I've shared with you on many occasions was the great difficulty it is for the church of Jesus Christ to thrive and be truly strong biblically in the midst of affluence. It weakens us, it softens us, it gives us a desire for the good life, the comfortable life, the easy life, the enjoyable life, and cools off the passion and drive to serve Jesus Christ faithfully. I've shared with you that when I was in another country where believers are persecuted. I was visiting an elderly man in his late 70s, he was there to meet with us and pick up materials, biblical materials, to share with believers meeting in secret places. He was a man who had spent 20-some years in prison. I asked what he thought, and did he have fears meeting with us and accepting the material. And he said, what are they going to do? Put me back in prison? I've been there. They've already taken my home. If they put me in prison they have to feed me, they have to house me. So I guess they'll have to decide what they do. I think, prison, I'm not cut out for prison, Lord. I don't think I could survive. I'm a little bit soft, I'm a little bit .............. We need to be careful that we don't adopt the world's pattern and think, now let’s just lying down and we spend the last 20 years of our lives doing nothing of eternal value. Because we've earned it, we're just enjoying the good life, we worked hard. We have all eternity to enjoy the good life, the life that God has prepared for those who love Him.

But within all these things, the issue before me is. It's not that the Bible says, I can't do it or I must do it. But in these areas of freedom, how is it beneficial to others, how will it build them up, how is this for their good.

Now he's going to take these principles and turn them around and apply them to the immediate issue at the church at Corinth. Food and drink sacrificed to idols, that's the immediate issue at Corinth. Can I eat food or drink drink that has been sacrificed to an idol. Well, we've already learned in verses 14-22 of this chapter that I cannot be involved in false worship in any way. So I cannot use my liberty as an excuse to become involved in the false worship in any way. However, verse 25, that doesn't mean therefore that I can never eat anything that has been offered to an idol. You know we tend to want to swing to extremes. Either license, well since there is no God in the world but one and an idol is nothing and food is food, then I could go to idol temples and eat and drink because they're worshiping idols but I know idols are nothing, just pieces of wood or stone or whatever, figments of men's imagination. But there are spirit beings behind false worship so I can't get involved in that. Well then let's swing to the other side. We ought to have rules and regulations, no one should ever not only not eat things sacrificed to idols, they shouldn't even shop at a market where they are sold. You know, we want to now get into areas that we move beyond separation to secondary separation and so on because these rules will guard us. Well it's no more biblical to make the additional rules than it is to use freedom for license.

So what do we do? Verse 25, simple. Eat anything that is sold in the marketplace without asking questions for conscience. So you go to the market, there is a good chance in biblical times, sacrificing food to idols, idol worship, people's religion permeated everything. The city of Corinth, they would have a variety of gods so they weren't monotheistic, they were polytheistic, but religion permeated everything—business life, social life, family life. Depending, everyone may be worshiping a different god or gods, but it permeated everything. So I'm going to the marketplace, in all probability the food being offered for sale there had first been offered to the particular deity that this vendor worshiped. Now am I going to the marketplace and walk along and before I buy something here at this place I'm going to say, I want to know, did you sacrifice this food to an idol before you brought it here. If he says yes, then I can't buy it. No. You go to the meat market, you just buy it. I mean you could go to the market today. You may have a pagan working in that department, the meat department for example, and maybe he prayed over that food and said, oh Mary, we devote this to you. And it's because we worship you and you are the queen. It's to you, and may this impact everyone who partakes of it. Am I going to go knock on the window and say, send the meat manager out here, I want to know if this has been offered to an idol. It's a non-issue, just go buy it. Don't ask questions for conscience sake. In other words, don't make trouble for your conscience. I mean, you don't have to say, I wouldn't want to go home, I'll be sitting at my table thinking, I wonder if this has been sacrificed to an idol. I don't know. Maybe I should ask at the market before I get home and then I'll know. It's a non-issue because it's not associated with worship there in that context for you. You're just buying meat. Just buy it and go home and eat. Don't make trouble for your conscience.

Verse 26, he quotes from Psalm 24:1, for the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. This is food the Lord provided. That's all, it's food the Lord provided. Enjoy it. You recognize your God has provided all good things for you, He's the sovereign God. Thank Him for it and eat it. It's not in a worship religious context in that sense. It's just food. You know sometimes we probe around. I have people come and ask me questions, what do you think about this? I say, what does it have to do with you? Well, I just don't want to violate my conscience. Well it doesn't seem to me it has anything to do with you, something they're doing. I mean, I don't care whether my auto mechanic worships Buddha, I mean in the sense of whether he works on my car. I'm concerned about his soul. Or another area. I don't have to ask him and pursue this and decide whether I can be involved in this as tainting things. I'm free. I have my sovereign God who does it. So in other words we just don't have to be limited. I realize we publish the Christian directory and maybe you want to just shop with the Christians. I'm not saying you should or you shouldn't. The Bible doesn't require it. Here, go to the meat market, is he an idolater and offered the meat to idols? Doesn't matter.

All right. What about getting invited to an unbeliever's home. Verse 27, if one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go. This is an aside. Remember we talked about historical grammatical hermeneutics. It's interesting to me the commentators who said, if an unbeliever invites you and then they go off and want to tell you how it's Jesus' plan for you to go to unbeliever's homes and we shouldn't isolate ourselves. He's not talking about that, in fact, he says you don't even have to go if the unbeliever invites you. He says you want to go, you wish to go, you desire to go. It's not a matter you can't go. Well if I go to their house I know they worship Isis and whatever they put on the table is going to have been offered to Isis before it's served and I couldn't partake of idol food. If you want to go to their house for dinner, go. Eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience sake. Don't make trouble for your conscience. It's not an issue. Don't make it an issue.

So they bring out this food, eat it. He doesn't have to say you have to eat everything, you can eat whatever you want without asking questions. It's not an issue. We stir up a lot of trouble by trying to make issues that are not issues. It's not an issue. Now if you want to go, you do. Remember the weak Christians, it would violate their conscience to do it. They don't have to go to this unbeliever's house and eat his food. But Paul is going to get to this in a moment, just to prepare you for it. They can't criticize somebody who does go. This isn't in the context of being part of false worship. This is just going to somebody's house for dinner. All right, don't make trouble for your conscience, don't get into things you don't need to get into, don't ask questions you don't need to ask, don't pursue things that you don't need to pursue. Just live your life.

But, verse 28, if someone says to you, anyone says to you this meat is sacrificed to idols, do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you for conscience sake. Not your conscience, but their conscience. Perhaps you go to the unbeliever's home, that's the context he's talking about and he concludes in verse 33 with his concern for the salvation of the lost. So you went to this unbeliever's house for dinner and he sets the food on the table and he says, we have offered this food for our god, Isis, we worship her. She is the sovereign of this house and this food and we partake of it as an act of worship of her. I don't eat. Now I know the food is just food, the offering to Isis didn't change it. But now this person has made my partaking an issue of worship, and I don't get involved in any association with false worship. So now I'm going to have to create a scene, I'm in his home and I can't eat his food. Well I don't, for the benefit of the one who informed you and for conscience sake. I don't want to blur distinction for my unbelieving host that there is between the worship I have of the living God and the worship he has of something that is no god. So I can't go along to get along. So I draw the line here for his benefit, that there is a distinction. I appreciate you worship a different god, I worship the God that I believe created heaven and earth. He is the only God. And I realize you partake of this food and it is all part of the worship you have of this god, but I cannot join you in that worship. I appreciate your hospitality, I appreciate your inviting me, but I cannot be involved in any way to worship anything or anyone but the one true, living God.

Now there's a possibility, it says if anyone brings it up. There may be a weaker Christian that also got invited so that you both are here and he says, wait, we can't eat this. This has been offered to idols. Then I could forego eating it because of him. We dealt with that back in chapter 8 verses 11-13, if food causes my brother to stumble, I won't eat meat again. In other words, whoever brings it up, if anyone brings it up, now they've created an issue. You'll note, it's not an issue of my conscience and action, it's an issue of their conscience and their concern. So they do have an influence here on whether I'll be involved or not, because if they make eating this an issue of idol worship, then I won't be part of it. My conscience will be clear doing it, but now they've raised the issue, that would make it an issue for their conscience. If the unbeliever tells me he'll think in his conscience and way of thinking, and the word conscience is used a little more broadly than sometimes we use it, that it's acceptable for those who profess to worship one God to also be involved in worship of other gods. You understand the pagans of that day were polytheistic. So I confuse things because they'd come and worship my God in eating because in that society, the thing they didn't like was anybody who was exclusive with their God. I could worship Isis, but that didn't mean I couldn't also join with you in the worship of your God. So I don't want to blur things for them, nor do I want to offend the conscience of a weaker Christian.

So verse 29, I don't do this for conscience sake, but not my own conscience, the other man's. I recognize something of the situation here. So here's the guideline. I can do it with clear conscience, but that doesn't mean I can always do it. There are other restraining factors. Will this be beneficial for them? Will this help build them up? Is this for their good? In this kind of context there are restraints put.

He asks the question, for why is my freedom judged by another man's conscience? This goes back to the issue, verse 25 and 27. You eat anything you buy in the marketplace without asking questions for conscience sake. Verse 27, if the unbeliever invites you, you go to his house and eat anything without asking questions for conscience sake. Then in verse 28 and the first part of 29 there is like a parenthesis. But if anyone makes it an issue, then you have their conscience that you want to be concerned about. Then he says you don't partake. So the context is just buying meat in the marketplace or going to an unbeliever's house to eat, why should somebody be criticizing me for doing that. It's not associated with false worship in any way. It may have been, it may not have been sacrificed to idols, but that's a nothing. I'm buying it in the marketplace, not associated with idol worship. I'm eating it in somebody's home as a social event. I won't go to the idol temple and partake of it, for that associates it with the idol worship. But I go to an unbeliever's house, I eat his food because food is food. Just like I go to an unbeliever's house today and sit down. Oh, it's the home of an unbeliever. That's all right, doesn't taint anything. The air is the air that God created to breathe. It's not tainted because it's in an unbeliever's house. The food is not tainted. I shake hands, we know we're not defiled by contact with the unbeliever. These kinds of things we need to be aware of.

So why would somebody criticize me for buying food in the marketplace that may have been sacrificed? My conscience is my conscience. Verse 30, if I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks? We need to be very careful here. There is room in the Bible for your personal convictions, but I am not free to propose my personal convictions on you. I can eat strange things and have my reasons for eating them, I cannot eat other things and have my reasons for not. I have my personal convictions. There is always a danger we want to move our personal convictions into the realm of trying to make them biblical, because we're convinced of them. You can buy Christian diet books that say you should eat this and not eat this. Good grief, what's a Christian diet book. I mean, just stop and think about it. It's an exercise in stupidity. Now don't come up and tell me. I'm not against diets, I've been on every one of them. I eat what I like and .............. Oh yes, but your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, you don't want to put things in your body that will defile the Holy Spirit's temple. You know what Jesus said? What you put in your mouth does not defile our body, it's what comes out of your heart that defiles your body. Food and drink do not defile your body. So the idea that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with whether I had oatmeal for breakfast or pancakes. I mean, what I put in my mouth did not defile my body spiritually, whether this weight or this weight or this weight doesn't have to do with my spirituality. That doesn't mean I can't eat what I want to eat and not eat what I don't want to eat. But I need to be careful these convictions we feel so strongly about them that somehow we try to make them biblical. Preachers are great for this. We can't keep out of politics and other things because we have strong convictions. God didn't call me to preach my convictions, He called me to preach His Word. He doesn't call me to be the mommy and daddy for the congregation in that sense. I am to nurture them in the Word of God and then they under the guidance of the Spirit make their decision.

We need to be careful because we think our convictions..........we just can't understand why they wouldn't do this. And it bothers us when other people don't. Then we try to fall on the weaker Christian thing and, well it bothers me so they shouldn't do it. There is no place in any of the discussion for this kind of fleshly activity that I think I can control what other people do because I can tell when it bothers me. There may be some genuine areas, and we've talked about that, and I want to be sensitive to that. But most of the issues I've been aware of in churches have had to do with people who want to control the church so they just want to take control by saying, that troubles me, and that would bother my conscience so you shouldn't do it. Those kinds of things are just matters you need to deal with. Like Paul says, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks. Why would somebody criticize me for buying meat in the marketplace? Why would somebody criticize me for going to an unbeliever's house and having dinner? Why am I judged by another's conscience? You are free to have your conscience, I have my conscience. We can talk about things related to our conscience and what we have convictions about, but I can't move that over now and make that what God requires for you. We need to take these things and be careful about them and understand you have your convictions. Wonderful. I have my convictions. Wonderful. We can talk about our convictions. But those aren't the things the Bible says we must and must not do. I must exercise my liberty properly.

So he summarizes this, verse 31. Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. A very simple overarching qualification. Whatever you do, do for the glory of God. If you eat and drink, you do it to the glory of God. If you choose not to eat or drink, you do it to the glory of God. All of life is to be controlled by that desire to honor Him, to glorify Him.

Back up to chapter 6. Here Paul is talking about the use of our bodies and he'll apply it to food and immorality. In verse 12, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Come down to verse 19, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and that you are not your own. For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. So the same kind of parameters in the discussion in chapter 6 verses 12-20 as we have in chapter 10 verses 23-33. Glorify God in your body, all things are lawful, not all things are profitable. But glorify God in your body. Everything you do with your body must be for the glory of the Lord. And that is in the use of my liberty and freedom and in the care that I don't drift. In 1 Corinthians 6 the issue was immorality. We say, that's not an area of liberty. No, it's not, but somehow sometimes the thinking we develop something logically and pretty soon we've made it biblical when it is not biblical. It's an area of license. So some of the Corinthians evidently thought they had a case that made immorality acceptable. Just like in chapter 10 some of the Corinthians thought they had a case where false worship was acceptable for a believer. That's where we've used our liberty as an excuse to rebel against God and His clear will.

Turn back to Romans 6. Look at verse 17, but thanks be to God, though you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were created. Having been freed from sin, you are now free to do what you wanted. Having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness. You went from one realm of slavery to the other, but one realm of slavery is bondage and the other realm of slavery is freedom, because serving God, serving righteousness is freedom. That's what you were created for by the Creator. Go down to verse 22, now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God. That's why we sometimes say there is no such thing as absolute freedom, as it's sometimes defined. There are two kinds of slaves in the world, those who are slaves of sin and death and those who are slaves of righteousness and life, those who are slaves of the devil and those who are slaves of God. This idea that I am free to do as I please, that's the perverted thinking of unregenerate men who serve themselves. We have been set free from that kind of bondage to serve the living God, use our bodies to glorify Him by righteousness.

So you come back to 1 Corinthians 10:32, give no offense, either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. Now again you have to take that verse in the context. We pull that verse out of context, we think believers ought to be non-offensive people. But how can I preach the cross without offending unregenerate people? It becomes an excuse, well then I guess I shouldn't share the cross where it will make people angry. No, it's the context he's talking about—the use of our freedom that we have in Christ, the rights we have. That's not an excuse for me to do what I want even if you find it offensive, if my unbelieving neighbor finds it offensive, I don't care, they'll have to get over it. No, don't give offense to unbelieving Jews, don't give offense to unbelieving Greeks, don't give offense to the church of God. In other words, I use my liberty for the good of others, my rights for the good of others, the benefit of others. That brings glory to God. How will this enable me to draw this person to Christ? How will this enable me to help another believer grow and mature, become more stable and strengthened his life in Christ? Not running around just doing what I want because I have rights, I have freedom. Now I can do what would please God, I can do what would honor Him, I can do what would help the body of Christ to grow, I can do what would help an unbeliever to come to know the living Christ. So give no offense. The Corinthians had it turned around, they wanted to talk about what their rights were. Paul wanted to talk about how they could serve others.

Look at verse 33, just as I also please all men in all things. Now you have to take that in the context. If you know much about Paul and his life and ministry, you know he wasn't a man-pleaser. But in the use of his rights and liberty, I'll use that to be a servant to others, to please others. Not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved. Paul never lost sight of the goal. The goal of my life is not that I enjoy it, the goal of my life is not that I be comfortable, the goal of my life is not to do what I might want to do and enjoy. The goal of my life is to bring glory to God, to reach the lost and build them to maturity. That's what my life is about, that's what my life is to be about to the very end, to my last breath on this earth. That's what Paul is talking about, pleasing others. We would just wash out about 98% of the problems in the church, while most of the problems come, we have doctrinal conflicts, doctrinal battles, but the internal conflicts in the church, so much of it comes to what I like, what they like and clash. I just mention that we might some day remodel, I'm praying for the rapture. Many people, padded seats, benches, individual seats. We all have convictions. There is nothing wrong with convictions, nothing wrong with sharing them. When all is said and done I hope we aren't going to have any trouble over it. I mean, sometimes I think I'd like to go away on my summer vacation and when I come back it's all done. Then whatever it is, it is. Maybe we ought to just all go away for a vacation and we'll just assign it to somebody and we won't say who, and when we come back it will be done. And then we can all criticize someone we don't know for what they did, and it won't divide us because we'll be united in that they didn't do what we wanted. And we're sure of that.

We don't want these things that are of non-importance becoming important because of the way they are used. You divide over food and drink and food and drink is nothing. It's become something of eternal significance because we split the body of Christ over it. Something which is nothing in and of itself has been used to divide the body. This is what is happening at Corinth. The church is fractured over something like the use of your rights, your freedom. Just use it to serve someone else. If you like that better, fine with me. Doesn't have to be my way, not my favorite color, not my favorite design, it's not what I would do. But for you, eating food sacrificed to idols, it's an issue for you so when I'm with you I won't eat food sacrificed to idols. Fine, won't do it. Does that mean I won't ever eat food sacrificed to idols? No, but when I'm with you I'm not going to make your life difficult. I don't smoke cigars. Some people wonder why I'm not a Spurgeon, why I'm not a G. Campbell Morgan. They smoked cigars. How could I be a great Bible teacher and not smoke a cigar? Why don't I smoke cigars? My wife would divorce me. Why make it an issue? I don't need it in my life. Some of you would be bothered if you saw me smoking a cigar. Why would I do that? I mean, certain things I just don't need to do, right? Agreed, Spurgeon could smoke cigars, in his day it was all right, his church didn't care. He said the only thing that would be excessive is if he smoked two at once. Whether you agree with Spurgeon or not, I just don't want to get into it. I mean, if you want to smoke a cigar, fine. Don't smoke it if my wife is present.

This is good for Paul. You know Paul made all kinds of sacrifices, but you know it's not just for Paul. You know what Paul tells the Corinthian church? Verse 1 of chapter 11 really goes with the end of chapter 10, note the new paragraph really begins with verse 2. Be imitators of me, just as I am also of Christ. Paul saw this not just as an issue of how he personally functioned on his own, this was something you had to do. In other words, there is only one way to use your rights and liberty in Christ, and that's for the benefit of others. That's in love because that's how Christ functioned. Paul says you imitate me just as I am imitating Christ, because this is what Christ did.

Turn over to Philippians 2. Passages we memorize but they become harder to put into practice. Verse 2, make my joy complete by being of the same mind. The unity of the body, the church at Philippi, be of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Don't look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant. And he goes on to say, what did He do? He came to this miserable, wretched, sin-cursed earth and suffered and died in humiliation. What was that for Him? He left the throne of glory to descend to this earth. Why did He do it? For you, for me, love, the sacrifice for others. And we're bickering about our rights, saying we're followers of the Christ. He sacrificed all for us and these are my rights. I mean, is it any wonder the world doesn't believe? Look at that church, bickering and fighting and dividing. We will divide over doctrine, we will stand for the truths of the Word of God, but heaven forbid we divide and fight over these things that are nothing. They are irrelevant. We are to be imitating Paul who is imitating Christ. Food, drink, you're not any better if you do eat and you're no worse if you don't eat. I mean, why make that an issue to divide the body of Christ.

Come back to Romans 15. Chapter 14 as many of you are aware is similar in content to 1 Corinthians 8-10. It's about the use of Christian liberty. Look at chapter 15 verse 1, now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not please ourselves. That's what Paul has just been talking about. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good to his edification. This is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. This is an ongoing problem, he had to write to the Roman church about it, he had to write to the Philippian church about it, he had to write to the Corinthian church about it, he'd have to write it to Indian Hills and he did. The Spirit of God put it here for us. For even Christ did not please Himself, but the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. Verse 5, now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus. We need to have the mind of Christ. It's not all about me, it's about Him and then about you. So that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, to the glory of God. Christ became a servant. And then on he goes. I'm not going to become your servant, I've been set free.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 9. Remember Paul says be imitators of me as I am of Christ. We see what Christ did, verse 19, again of Paul. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, that I may win more. The end of Paul's life, where is he? 2 Timothy. He's in prison awaiting execution. Why? Faithful to the end, serving others to the end, glorifying God to the end. Looking forward, henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. Now I'm going to enter to the fullness of the glory that He has prepared for those who love Him. Look down in verse 22, to the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that I may by all means save some. Now we get into the area of my liberty, my rights, my only passion and concern is to use that freedom and rights so that I might see more come to know Christ, so that I might see those who come to know Christ grow to maturity to be more like Christ. That's what it's all about. I don't want to fight over whether I get to eat this or drink this, not fight over whether I get my way on this or in this. I mean, the Son of God came and suffered and died and I'm going to trivialize His death?

One more passage and we're done. 2 Corinthians 8:9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor so that you through His poverty might become rich. That's what Christ did for us. So because of His coming and His sacrifice and His giving up all for us, we've entered into the riches of heaven as our inheritance. Now is there anything I'm not willing to give up so that you might come to know the Savior. Anything that I'm not willing to give up in my rights and liberty so that you might grow to be more like Him. And praise the Lord, this church has many, many, many who sacrifice, give of themselves. That's what makes the ministry effective in the lives of children, in the lives of adults. That's what gives us the privilege of declaring the Word to the world, why we can grow together. We just want to stay on track and on target. The things that matter, matter and the rest of the things only matter because they can be used so that we might be more effective in sacrificing ourselves for the salvation of the lost and the growth of God's people.