back to index2015-08-02 Knowledge Ends in Love
00:00:00.000 |
If you would turn your Bibles over to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. 00:00:09.400 |
As many of you guys know, on Thursday night we're covering the book of 1 Corinthians and 00:00:19.520 |
As you guys turn over there, I want to introduce a little bit. 00:00:22.680 |
You know, I used to think that the book of 1 Corinthians is just a slap in the face, 00:00:29.720 |
If some of you guys are those people, I forget the term, but there are people who like pain. 00:00:34.800 |
And if you want to get hurt a little bit, you read the book of 1 Corinthians and it 00:00:38.080 |
just slaps you around, dealing with all sorts of sin and pride and, you know, conflict in 00:00:45.960 |
And I always viewed the book of 1 Corinthians like that. 00:00:51.560 |
But the fact of the matter is, I think, you know, so much of scripture is so much more. 00:00:57.560 |
It's the way that it is more is it's a book on wisdom. 00:01:03.520 |
And it teaches you in areas of your life where you make application, it teaches you how to 00:01:13.000 |
And by way of introducing this, I personally think that's a great aspect and character 00:01:23.080 |
I like it when I see somebody who's strong mentally and they know how to decide this 00:01:30.160 |
You guys have all seen recent, you know, comic book movies, the Avengers. 00:01:36.640 |
Who's the guy who's always telling people what to do? 00:01:44.280 |
Here's this guy who's like a goody two-shoe guy, but he always seems to be like, okay, 00:01:48.760 |
And even to Hulk is like, you go do this thing. 00:01:57.600 |
He has such authority, but it's not because he's a mean jerky guy. 00:02:01.520 |
He's just happens to be a man who knows how to decide in this moment. 00:02:07.820 |
And I admire that because I'm going to be honest here. 00:02:12.800 |
You know, even to the smallest decisions when we were like working on the building, working 00:02:17.200 |
on the other side, pastor Peter would always ask me a question. 00:02:22.080 |
You know, like that's my answer to everything. 00:02:27.160 |
Because I take a long time to start processing. 00:02:30.200 |
And also, um, you know, we, sometimes we have really busy weekends, multiple events happening, 00:02:34.400 |
and then be able to ask me, what should we do? 00:02:38.840 |
And then she was like, I'll let you get back to me later. 00:02:41.040 |
Cause I'm just sitting there like, I don't know sometimes how to decide, okay, this is 00:02:44.720 |
what we're going to do because this is what's important. 00:02:50.720 |
So that's why if you're like me, you want things spelled out crystal clear in the Bible, 00:03:00.800 |
But truth is the Bible doesn't address every single scenario in our lives. 00:03:07.780 |
You know, everything from your personal relationship of dating and all that kind of stuff to school, 00:03:13.240 |
It gives you a lot, but it doesn't cover every single scenario. 00:03:18.080 |
And to those scenarios, we have to practice our discernment. 00:03:23.240 |
And to me, the character trait of being able to judge appropriately, that's maturity. 00:03:29.280 |
And so when I see veterans of the faith who've lived their lives, they've addressed scenarios, 00:03:34.480 |
they've experienced certain things and come out of that, not just like, Ooh, I got felt 00:03:37.760 |
beat up, but they started to learn principles. 00:03:43.040 |
They look in hindsight and they're able to discern this was right. 00:03:55.160 |
Well, in the book of first Corinthians, apostle Paul, like a spiritual father, initially he 00:04:03.280 |
So he starts to point out, starting from chapter one, all the various things that's in the 00:04:11.640 |
You think you're so wise and he rebukes them. 00:04:14.280 |
Some of you guys are competitive and you compete with each other. 00:04:17.000 |
I'm of Paul, I'm of a Paulus, you know, I'm of Jesus. 00:04:24.720 |
They have, they have immoral acts in the church. 00:04:28.200 |
And then they have, you know, they basically wage war on each other and take each other 00:04:34.480 |
And that's typically what we think of first Corinthians. 00:04:37.160 |
But actually the huge chunk of the letter is a response to their questions. 00:04:42.760 |
If you turn in your Bibles real quickly, look at chapter seven, verse one, he says, now 00:04:49.200 |
concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 00:04:54.400 |
Now I only read that passage because I want to show you apostle Paul, again, as a good 00:04:58.940 |
father and teacher, he's interacting with the church and he's answering some of their 00:05:03.960 |
And in so answering, he's giving them not just, you know, just the answer, but he's 00:05:14.080 |
And you, if you're going to mature, you need to judge appropriately. 00:05:18.080 |
So let me give you a sampling of some of those things. 00:05:23.720 |
We just studied this a couple of days ago on Thursday. 00:05:26.800 |
But in chapter six, verse 12, he'll say, all things are lawful for me, but not all things 00:05:34.600 |
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 00:05:39.240 |
When you read the Bible and you see stuff like that, those are principles you need to 00:05:43.720 |
There are people who think, look, everything is lawful. 00:05:53.040 |
In judging and trying to decide, should I do this? 00:05:56.600 |
In various gray issues of Christian faith, whether, you know, I'm going to bring them 00:06:00.400 |
up, there's like drinking, smoking, tattoos, going to lounges, going to do all this stuff. 00:06:06.440 |
I'm not going to tell you my perspective on those now. 00:06:09.400 |
What I am going to say is you should apply biblical principles, shouldn't you? 00:06:14.320 |
Apostle Paul says, all things are lawful, even for me, but not all things are profitable. 00:06:18.960 |
And I read that in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians as well. 00:06:23.400 |
He'll even say, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 00:06:38.000 |
Even if it seems like a good thing, even if it's work, if it's completely lopsided and 00:06:41.920 |
dominating your life, making it, making you its slave, it's absolutely not good for you. 00:06:47.880 |
You see how this principles are applied, right? 00:06:49.820 |
This is the wisdom that you need to exercise in your life. 00:06:55.280 |
So just by warning, this is like the longest introduction I've ever given, but there's 00:07:02.760 |
Verse 15 of chapter 6, he'll say, do you not know that your body is on the members of Christ? 00:07:08.440 |
Verse 19, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? 00:07:13.620 |
These are spiritual principle truths that never change. 00:07:19.720 |
If I am identified with Christ, what should I do with my body? 00:07:24.640 |
If I am representative of Christ's body, if literally I am one with him and the spirit 00:07:30.160 |
of God dwells in me and you, in this context, it's not you the church, it's you as an individual, 00:07:35.680 |
you are the temple of the presence of the Holy Spirit, you got to exercise your own 00:07:44.080 |
See this is what Apostle Paul is a good teacher and good father, is instructing the church. 00:07:49.840 |
The last time I preached here, I believe I preached out of chapter 7, verse 35. 00:07:56.320 |
He says, but I say this for your own benefit. 00:08:03.560 |
Not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted 00:08:11.120 |
When was the last time you were sitting there like, man, should I go with these people or 00:08:15.720 |
And you asked, does this contribute to my devotion to God? 00:08:21.520 |
Does this make me more committed or less committed to the Lord? 00:08:25.740 |
I mean, think, if we lived our lives like that, where the vast majority of our decisions 00:08:30.640 |
were based on is it profitable, is it dominating, is it in line with my identity, is it causing 00:08:36.560 |
me to be more in love and more devoted to Christ, I mean, we would be wise individuals, 00:08:42.800 |
But the fact of the matter is, I make it sound easy, but that's not easy. 00:08:48.340 |
In the moment, perhaps of your own desire, the temptations and lurements, or even in 00:08:52.300 |
the moment of trying to decide what do I do, you've got to start running in your mind and 00:08:57.820 |
start discerning these things and it's not easy. 00:09:00.500 |
Well, one of the issues, so now we're going to chapter 8. 00:09:03.380 |
One of the issues in chapter 8 that they come across is the issue of food offered to idols. 00:09:15.580 |
Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge, but knowledge 00:09:26.220 |
If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. 00:09:34.140 |
Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is 00:09:38.660 |
no such thing as an idol in the world and that there is no God but one. 00:09:43.500 |
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are 00:09:47.420 |
many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are 00:09:52.700 |
all things and we exist for him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we 00:10:00.060 |
However, not all men have this knowledge, but some, being accustomed to the idol until 00:10:05.220 |
now, eat food as if it were sacrifice to an idol and their conscience, being weak, is 00:10:13.660 |
We are neither the worse if we do not eat it, nor the better if we do eat it. 00:10:17.760 |
But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the 00:10:22.700 |
For if someone sees you who have knowledge dining at an idol's temple, will not his 00:10:28.180 |
conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 00:10:33.100 |
For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ 00:10:39.060 |
And so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, 00:10:45.260 |
Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will 00:10:54.140 |
Let's take a moment to pray and to ask the Lord's blessing on our time in the word. 00:11:05.500 |
It is your truth that gives us our direction and path. 00:11:09.860 |
But God, grant us this morning humility and acceptance in our hearts that we would not 00:11:14.060 |
rebel against your word, but God, we'd be fully in submission to your wisdom. 00:11:18.860 |
Lord, your scriptures often challenge us to go beyond what is normal, that goes beyond 00:11:26.340 |
But I pray, Father God, knowing that there is much blessing when we abide in you, help 00:11:30.180 |
us, Father God, to completely fulfill your word. 00:11:36.460 |
So, we look at this scenario, and so I painted this picture for you that we need wisdom and 00:11:42.780 |
discretion to apply the biblical principles in life areas that aren't explicit in the 00:11:49.820 |
But rather, they're life areas where it could be gray, it could go one way or the other. 00:11:56.700 |
You saw what they perhaps wrote about to Apostle Paul. 00:11:59.900 |
Dear Paul, our father in the faith, we've got a big problem. 00:12:06.740 |
Okay, that's kind of like the scenario that you see. 00:12:10.620 |
You see a group of people who perhaps, maybe the people who are writing the letter were 00:12:15.580 |
probably people who were a long time in the church, because they probably had that relationship 00:12:21.260 |
I'm just reading into the, behind the lines there, so understand that. 00:12:24.460 |
But perhaps are the people who know better, because they're sitting here thinking, you 00:12:32.780 |
There are people who have problem with me eating, but the fact of the matter is we know 00:12:40.540 |
And so now you have, I'm going to stand here, representative of one group, you have a group 00:12:49.340 |
But then there is a pointing at the people who are on this side, no, no, no, no, no. 00:12:59.700 |
And if they were Jewish, it'd be like, no way. 00:13:07.300 |
Now, as I was thinking about this, I was trying to think of something that maybe is in corollary 00:13:16.420 |
So what I would like you to do is imagine you're in India. 00:13:20.660 |
Recently, we just heard Wednesday from a pastor who was out in India. 00:13:23.820 |
His name is Pastor Ramesh, and he's talking about how if you're an Indian, you're essentially 00:13:35.260 |
And if you tried, the people would attack you. 00:13:37.820 |
And that's why they're so resistant to Christianity. 00:13:40.060 |
Because if you go over and you say, oh, you have to convert. 00:13:44.020 |
And Christianity says, there's only one way, man. 00:13:52.260 |
And the reason being is because they believe, the Hindus believe in just a conglomerate 00:14:02.700 |
And Pastor Ramesh was saying his family chose the snake. 00:14:10.820 |
And they would have worship services right in front of that thing. 00:14:13.700 |
But the fact of the matter is, that being the case, if you were to imagine yourself 00:14:16.900 |
in India, and you can hear stories about this sometimes. 00:14:19.620 |
So you'll see on the side of the road, you're walking down the road, and you have an individual 00:14:24.020 |
And if the cow happens to go past your car, you're not going to be like, bam, bam, get 00:14:32.340 |
So there in India, the practice of sacrifice to idols isn't just like an isolated event. 00:14:38.820 |
I want to paint for you a picture that this probably affected the life of the church greatly. 00:14:46.740 |
It wasn't just one meat lover versus the other guy who wanted to be a vegan. 00:14:53.500 |
It was probably a big portion of the church wondering, what do I do? 00:14:58.540 |
I go to my sister's wedding, and it's like, do I not eat their food? 00:15:03.780 |
Someone invites me to their house, and it's like, maybe I pack my own sandwich. 00:15:09.340 |
It would totally mess up the social environment of the church. 00:15:14.060 |
So that's why actually, Paul the Apostle Paul devotes a huge section of scripture, 00:15:19.820 |
This topic runs from chapter 8 all the way down to the first verse of chapter 11. 00:15:25.660 |
So it's an important, I'm saying it's an important issue. 00:15:29.020 |
Because you guys might be reading this and be like, hmm, I don't know if that's relevant 00:15:34.420 |
I don't have a problem eating meat offered to idols, you know? 00:15:39.220 |
But he's going to use this as a platform to address a bigger issue. 00:15:45.500 |
He looks at the people who are writing, you know, kind of metaphorically. 00:15:53.540 |
He says, "Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. 00:16:03.060 |
If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. 00:16:11.620 |
Therefore concerning the things sacrificed to idols," and then he goes on. 00:16:18.980 |
What I'm saying is, Apostle Paul is trying to teach them a principle to make decisions. 00:16:23.580 |
And the principle that exists in chapter 8 is not, is it profitable for you? 00:16:34.740 |
The criteria by which he wants you to decide now, all the gray areas is, is it loving? 00:16:43.500 |
And so I've entitled my sermon, "Knowledge that Ends in Love." 00:16:50.700 |
Because for you, in trying to make a decision about what should I do about this scenario, 00:16:54.860 |
not just this scenario, but other scenarios in my life that come up, I need to be able 00:16:58.940 |
to ask the question, is it loving towards my brother? 00:17:02.740 |
And that question shouldn't be just a passing thought, it should be important enough that 00:17:12.260 |
So today, we're actually going to be tackling that, just one aspect of it. 00:17:16.780 |
So this is actually part one of a two-part sermon. 00:17:20.300 |
I'm going to be preaching again August 16th, so every single one of you have to come back. 00:17:26.620 |
But this is just part one, because he gives an intro almost to the whole thought. 00:17:33.980 |
Are you loving towards your brother, and are you making decisions based upon this?" 00:17:37.780 |
He sees the attitude, the attitude of the people writing, and he makes this first point. 00:17:43.860 |
I'm going to have three points today, and the very first point I'm going to tell you 00:17:54.660 |
Now, I'm saying we should be loving, and we need to make decisions based on, is it loving? 00:18:04.500 |
Is because, let me paint for you a scenario here, okay? 00:18:19.660 |
And you can imagine how frustrating this could be. 00:18:22.300 |
Because for a Jew, remember how they make sacrifices? 00:18:25.740 |
They'll have an animal, and a portion of that goes to God, they burn it. 00:18:29.260 |
A portion of that goes to the priest, and a portion that you take home. 00:18:34.740 |
Remember, think about how important that portion of the meat is then for the family. 00:18:38.220 |
So every time you eat meat, it'd be kind of like a family affair. 00:18:40.980 |
What I'm saying is, this is again, not something easy for the people to give up. 00:18:45.780 |
It's a part of their culture, it's a part of their family life, it's a part of like 00:18:51.580 |
And it was like that for pagan idolatry worship too. 00:18:53.820 |
They would sacrifice animals, and a portion goes to the altar, a portion to the priest, 00:19:03.020 |
So you can imagine these people, these people, being very frustrated about this. 00:19:09.120 |
So this is where I want you to think about what I just said, admit your ignorance. 00:19:12.560 |
Because the way that they start off is saying, "Well, we know. 00:19:17.220 |
We've already decided and judged what's right." 00:19:19.700 |
An apostle Paul says, "Now concerning the thing, sacrifice to idols," this is verse 00:19:28.360 |
And then he almost rebukes it by saying, "But knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." 00:19:33.060 |
You can see him responding to their letter, and I'm imagining their letter sounding like 00:19:38.740 |
Apostle Paul, our father, we've got a big issue. 00:19:51.660 |
Where they're asking you a question, but it's not really a question. 00:19:53.860 |
They just want to really like you to affirm they've already made a decision. 00:20:01.940 |
You could almost sense that that's probably how they wrote the letter, saying like, "Look, 00:20:13.420 |
The idol has an empty reference, meaning it's just a piece to symbolize their God, but there's 00:20:26.140 |
But Apostle Paul challenged them, and he says, "You think you know what's right, and in your 00:20:33.380 |
knowledge you've decided what to do in this stance." 00:20:36.620 |
Maybe they're complaining, "Apostle Paul, can you write a letter to them? 00:20:40.020 |
Apostle Paul, can you come and make this right? 00:20:42.020 |
Apostle Paul, can you jump in and set them straight? 00:20:45.860 |
Tell them to be quiet and let us see what we want to eat." 00:20:51.900 |
But Apostle Paul comes back and says, "Your pride, or your knowledge, has made you proud. 00:21:03.340 |
Literally in the Greek it says, "You're so puffed up. 00:21:07.140 |
Oh, like, "You think it's right, so now I'll apply everybody. 00:21:16.140 |
I don't know if you've ever felt that way, like as a young person. 00:21:19.300 |
For me, I remember right when I became Christian, I learned a lot of Christian truths, and then 00:21:31.020 |
Have you met those people who are very interested in just revealing what they know? 00:21:36.660 |
I get that sense, and Apostle Paul is rebuking them, "Knowledge makes you so proud. 00:21:42.500 |
See, knowledge in of itself is so insufficient to decide what's right to do, because knowledge 00:21:53.940 |
You learn something, and what is it good for when you stop right there? 00:22:00.140 |
It's good for nothing but saying, "Look at what I learned. 00:22:07.180 |
So, Apostle Paul says, "But what you need to seek is to edify." 00:22:13.260 |
But the first step, but the first step is to acknowledge at least you don't know. 00:22:19.700 |
He says in verse two, "If anyone supposes he knows anything, he has not yet known as 00:22:25.300 |
You think you know, and you claim you know, but you don't really know. 00:22:38.060 |
You think you know, but you don't, and you have to admit that. 00:22:44.140 |
If you, you know, have ever gotten into conflict with anybody, typically the best way to resolve 00:23:01.860 |
But if you're sitting here, "I'm right, why don't you understand why I'm right?" 00:23:05.500 |
You're just going to fight and fight and fight. 00:23:07.700 |
You're going to have marathon fights, and it's never going to end. 00:23:11.860 |
And so in this moment of conflict in the church, Apostle Paul says, "You need to admit your 00:23:22.360 |
And then he says, the second part, so first was admit your ignorance, and the second part 00:23:38.620 |
And then he starts talking about how love is edifying, and he starts bringing up how 00:23:42.940 |
people are, because Apostle Paul is loving like a father. 00:23:50.380 |
In the second part to that instruction, take a look at some of the stuff he says here, 00:23:56.360 |
Look at how he describes, yes, so verse four through six, he describes and affirms, this 00:24:07.380 |
We know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and there is no God but 00:24:15.360 |
But then look at verse seven, "However, not all men have this knowledge." 00:24:19.500 |
Look, guys, you write me this long letter, you want me to make it right, and you want 00:24:24.300 |
me to jump in, you want me to get involved in your business, but here's something you 00:24:36.180 |
So that's why I say you have to seek to understand people, because that's an aspect of you loving 00:24:42.260 |
If you seek to edify, if you seek to encourage, you first need to understand. 00:24:47.380 |
You see, there are people who don't realize that truth is always given in context. 00:24:54.260 |
There are people who think truth is objective truth, everybody should just take it, here 00:25:02.140 |
As a young man, I don't speak to a younger person the same way as I speak to an equal 00:25:07.900 |
If I, right now, I'm preaching so I'm getting animated, my voice is getting loud, I'm not 00:25:13.340 |
going to say that exact same thing in the exact same way to somebody in front of me. 00:25:17.460 |
Am I going to say the exact same thing to somebody who's hurting, say the exact same 00:25:24.220 |
Apostle Paul says, "Do you realize some of these people, they don't know. 00:25:28.100 |
Some of these people are accustomed to living with idols until now, and they eat their food 00:25:32.700 |
as if it were sacrifice to idols, and then their conscience being weak, it's getting 00:25:38.500 |
See, a person who is loving will seek to understand that. 00:25:49.940 |
Categorically meaning, we like putting people into categories. 00:25:53.540 |
And I like addressing people that way sometimes, because it's just faster. 00:26:00.540 |
I talk about dating a lot because I work with the high school, college, and young adult 00:26:07.780 |
And somebody once teased me and said, "Oh, I think you're like a dating guru." 00:26:12.780 |
But there are times when I make a bunch of good guesses and a bunch of times when I make 00:26:19.220 |
If I'm counseling this one couple, and this guy is like, "Oh my gosh, I need to talk to 00:26:26.060 |
He's like, "I don't even know if you're going to understand." 00:26:29.740 |
He's like, "Man, you know, it's just kind of crazy. 00:26:32.300 |
I don't even know other people struggle with this." 00:26:41.060 |
It's like, sometimes the girl just feels like she's not considered and not cared for. 00:26:50.660 |
And then they get into this and they threaten breakup. 00:26:55.580 |
And I'm sitting there looking at them and I'm like, "Well, let me guess. 00:27:05.780 |
But the thing is, categorically, you can sometimes do that because, yeah, we're the same people 00:27:12.760 |
and we go through a lot of the same life experiences. 00:27:20.420 |
So there are other times where I'm like, "Let me guess. 00:27:25.860 |
Why do you think I always say something stupid?" 00:27:34.060 |
And you realize, if you're going to help, assuming always is bad. 00:27:41.340 |
I have to, even if I've asked the same question to a thousand people, I have to ask questions 00:27:48.060 |
Because that person is a different person, perhaps in the same similar context, but it's 00:28:05.020 |
And in that circumstance, there's different types of people who are weak. 00:28:07.420 |
They're the people who are sitting there who are weak because, "I don't know what to do. 00:28:14.740 |
It's meek, but they're sacrificing and all these people." 00:28:19.580 |
But do you realize in this scenario, there's other people? 00:28:23.300 |
There are people who are weak because they don't know what to do, but there are people 00:28:26.180 |
who are weak because they know what to do, but they have a hard time doing it. 00:28:29.540 |
Do you notice that in that past, there's the person who is weak? 00:28:32.740 |
It's not the person who just doesn't know what to do. 00:28:38.080 |
He thinks in his mind, "This is compromise to God." 00:28:47.980 |
So he says, "Oh, maybe I'll just eat it and no one will know." 00:28:54.540 |
That is a different kind of person that needs a different kind of advice. 00:28:56.900 |
That is a different kind of person that needs something else. 00:29:00.880 |
But we tend to judge that in just one lump category and be like, "Bah, you're just weak." 00:29:05.980 |
That's the kind of attitude Apostle Paul is attacking in this first three verses. 00:29:10.240 |
You think you know, but you don't really know as you should. 00:29:18.500 |
Do you ever judge people and their intentions so quickly? 00:29:28.380 |
You're trying to decide, "Is this right for me to do?" 00:29:32.780 |
I actually don't think the people who are weak are actually that weak when their heart 00:29:36.460 |
intent is, "I don't want to compromise my faith." 00:29:40.080 |
But these other people, "But if you go against my meat eating, you're weak." 00:29:46.980 |
There's an attitude of arrogance that Apostle Paul is attacking and we need to realize that. 00:29:54.580 |
But second, we need to seek to understand people. 00:30:02.500 |
Be people who appropriately speak truth in love. 00:30:09.380 |
Before you ever give advice, before you ever speak, and before you ever say, "This is what 00:30:16.580 |
Otherwise there's a huge danger, isn't there? 00:30:20.580 |
There is a huge danger of being completely useless. 00:30:26.780 |
You've got all this head knowledge, you're a teacher, you go preaching but you have not 00:30:31.940 |
You speak in tongues, you do all this stuff, what are you? 00:30:36.740 |
You run the risk of being absolutely useless. 00:30:39.740 |
But also you run the risk of being hurtful to the relationship and the relationship in 00:30:47.160 |
If you speak without understanding, you actually not only are not helpful, you become destructive. 00:30:53.580 |
You know, sometimes I don't like to use these examples of my kids but they're so good examples. 00:31:02.980 |
My son is really developing and he's becoming really good at Legos. 00:31:10.380 |
You know the ones that, like I got fat, shabby fingers so I can't even do it, you know? 00:31:13.580 |
It's just like, I start doing it and it gets really frustrating, I'm like, "Gah, I can't 00:31:20.300 |
He's got these nimble little hands and he's doing all this stuff. 00:31:22.580 |
I can actually give him a Lego instruction booklet. 00:31:29.780 |
And then sometimes he'll invite me over and be like, "Appa, look what I made." 00:31:33.620 |
And he'll say, "Come over and make it with me." 00:31:35.900 |
And sure enough, I go over and I'm making it with him and obviously, he's four, okay? 00:31:39.820 |
If you guys don't know, my son is four, right? 00:31:42.420 |
So he's four and he's doing the Lego stuff and I'm impressed. 00:31:45.300 |
But then obviously there's times when it's like, he does a fat piece, he's looking at 00:31:50.340 |
He doesn't know where to put it so he's just like jabbing it into somewhere, you know? 00:31:55.500 |
And I'll reach over and I'll try to grab him. 00:31:57.620 |
So if you look at the picture and then what you do is, and then before I finish my sentence, 00:32:07.140 |
Now, so that's the example of the people earlier I mentioned who claim to know everything. 00:32:20.420 |
Okay, so what happens is when I get to the point of not loving him but I'm like, "No, 00:32:26.860 |
And I start getting in his face, I'm like, "This is how you do Lego," right? 00:32:31.020 |
Tell me, is that constructive or destructive? 00:32:37.540 |
And not only that, but like, there's this childish, like, rage that comes inside of 00:32:41.060 |
me because he's like, "No, Appa, I'll do it." 00:32:43.860 |
And I just want to like, like, blow it up, you know? 00:32:47.180 |
Like, "Try to do it now," and then like ruin all his Legos. 00:32:52.540 |
And I have to step away, it's like, "It's just Legos, it's just Legos." 00:32:59.420 |
But my point is, if you don't understand the child, but you're so insistent, "But this 00:33:08.260 |
And you don't realize you have to speak truth in context and with people, what happens? 00:33:18.500 |
And that's the point I'm making is that Apostle Paul here, he hasn't really even like told 00:33:24.060 |
them what to do yet, but only to challenge their attitude and challenge their perspective 00:33:30.220 |
and say, "I want you to make decisions about what to do here, but first, submit your ignorance. 00:33:34.380 |
Second, seek to understand the people," right? 00:33:39.980 |
And then third, as we move on, this is the main point of the sermon really, is to end 00:33:52.680 |
There is an important facet of what they're doing in their context, which is they have 00:33:56.300 |
to maintain the unity of the church, the body of Christ. 00:34:01.000 |
And this was really confusing to me, but if you look at verse three, it reads funny. 00:34:11.860 |
It's like if anyone supposes he knows anything, he doesn't know nothing yet. 00:34:16.500 |
You claim you have knowledge, but you don't really know. 00:34:25.980 |
If you claim to have knowledge and you're all arrogant, that's bad. 00:34:29.280 |
So contrast that with you got to love God and then God knows you. 00:34:34.180 |
It all just reads, does it read funny to you a little bit? 00:34:36.540 |
It should sound more like, you know, if you claim to have knowledge, you're all wrong. 00:34:40.980 |
You should love God and then you should seek to know God and you're going to know God if 00:34:44.460 |
you love God or something like that, you know? 00:34:47.260 |
But I think there's this aspect that there's a gospel truth in here. 00:34:49.900 |
I think there's an aspect of our humility in here. 00:34:51.900 |
There's an aspect of the relationship that we have with God. 00:34:54.780 |
That what's more important here is not like just the factual knowledge of God, but the 00:35:23.460 |
Satan does not know God in the way that he's using and God knows you, right? 00:35:30.780 |
When it says here that God knows you, there's an element of Apostle Paul humbling them. 00:35:38.220 |
Apostle Paul might be looking at them like, "So do they frustrate you?" 00:35:58.700 |
And then he kind of brings this idea of God knows you, you know? 00:36:11.380 |
And he talks about this love relationship with God that needs to be maintained in this 00:36:15.340 |
whole endeavor of trying to rectify one situation. 00:36:18.660 |
And I think there's a sense in which for the people, they need to understand this too. 00:36:24.420 |
That their knowledge by itself is so insufficient to make a decision of what's right, you know? 00:36:32.540 |
They can't just come into a scenario, "Let me evaluate. 00:36:41.420 |
Because applied in the circumstance, they need to understand not just the facts, but 00:36:54.680 |
There's going to be a scenario in your life, "Should I do this or should I do this?" 00:36:59.500 |
Now option A, it's going to be comfortable for you. 00:37:11.260 |
Then sometimes a lot of that knowledge, a lot of that factual accounting knowledge, 00:37:20.260 |
So that's, I think that's kind of what he's pointing at here. 00:37:22.900 |
And the reason why I'm saying this is because even your knowledge, again, knowledge is crucial, 00:37:29.540 |
it's necessary, it's foundational, it's insufficient. 00:37:32.620 |
It's insufficient to do what's right in this scenario. 00:37:35.540 |
You need to have love, a love that's seeking to edify. 00:37:39.500 |
Even your knowledge, your truth, it needs to be spoken in love, meaning it needs to 00:37:46.820 |
Because in this context, they have to deal with their liberty. 00:37:51.420 |
I have a liberty to do what I want to do with my life. 00:37:59.820 |
Even your liberty has to be conditioned by love. 00:38:05.540 |
The freedom that you have, it has to exist in the context of love. 00:38:10.060 |
What you exercise, the things that is obligated and right to you, it has to be, as a Christian, 00:38:16.540 |
as a follower of Christ, modeled and emulated after that of Christ. 00:38:22.300 |
What right did Christ say, "That's my right, so I'm not going to do it." 00:38:29.740 |
Do you know what the scripture says about Christ? 00:38:33.380 |
What God, what Christ had in equality with God. 00:38:38.060 |
His divine nature, his authority, he did not consider it as something to be grasped. 00:38:44.860 |
I'm not letting go of this, because it's mine. 00:38:54.300 |
That's not our forefathers, and that's not apostle Paul. 00:39:24.660 |
"All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. 00:39:27.420 |
All things are lawful, but not all things edify. 00:39:31.780 |
Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." 00:39:37.860 |
"Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. 00:39:42.140 |
Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please 00:39:46.940 |
all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that 00:39:59.260 |
You think about what he's saying there, and that is crazy challenge. 00:40:04.060 |
Now, there is a place for direct confrontation, direct speech, rebuking somebody, exhorting 00:40:11.380 |
There's another place for saying, "Hey, here's the truth," and bam, you need to do it. 00:40:17.900 |
But the fact of the matter is, you see what he's saying here. 00:40:21.940 |
In love, we are not to define strength like, "I am who I am. 00:40:30.700 |
That's who I'm going to be, and everybody just has to deal with it." 00:40:38.740 |
The kind of strength Apostle Paul is seeking here is also not strength of intellect and 00:40:46.940 |
So you have a conflict, "Well, I know better." 00:40:51.380 |
The kind of strength he's asking for here is the kind of strength that enables you to 00:40:59.980 |
The kind of strength that presses the degree to which you will sacrifice. 00:41:04.620 |
I mean, seriously, if you guys know me, I love food, and I've confessed this sometimes 00:41:08.620 |
that when I'm stressed, I'm like a stress eater even, and it makes me happy. 00:41:13.540 |
It's just one of those things that's hard for me to give up, to give up food. 00:41:17.580 |
But for Apostle Paul to say, "Even if it's meat, I will never eat meat again," that's 00:41:22.260 |
a degree of showing to what extent will I go to love you. 00:41:32.060 |
In our decision-making process, we can be caught up with, "Is this profitable for me? 00:41:42.880 |
But there is another question Apostle Paul is challenging the church. 00:41:48.920 |
And your standard and your limit to which you've set, "I'm willing to go that far." 00:42:13.140 |
Lord, so many times we act like we know, but we know that we know so little. 00:42:19.500 |
God, thank you that you did not leave us in our ignorance. 00:42:23.140 |
Thank you that you did not leave us to our own destructive devices. 00:42:30.500 |
And in Christ, you show us the ultimate example of one who is willing to go at length to seek 00:42:42.820 |
I pray, Father God, that we be all challenged today. 00:42:45.140 |
If we have arrogance in our heart, deal with that, Lord. 00:42:49.760 |
If we have a habit of acting like we know, speaking first before we understand, help 00:42:55.500 |
God, help us in our week really to practice love. 00:42:58.780 |
To practice the kind of love that you have shown us. 00:43:01.860 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ and we pray.