So, let's look at our passage for today. If you would turn in your Bibles to chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians, and we're reading from verse 23 down to verse 33, okay? So chapter 10, verse 23, down to verse 33. And this is what it says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience sake.

But if anyone says to you, 'This is meat sacrificed to idols,' then do not eat it. For the sake of the one who informed you and for conscience sake. I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's. For why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?

Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. But as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many so that they may be saved." All right, let's take a moment to pray and then we'll jump into the text.

Father God, we truly want to thank you for the word. God help us to be a people who are hungry for your truth. Hungry God, knowing that we need your guidance, we need your nourishment. And Father, as you are directing the church on how to behave in relationship to other brothers and other sisters, I pray Father God that you grant us wisdom.

Lord, thank you in Christ's name, amen. So this is like a great kind of conclusion to a long segment. For those of you guys, there's no table seating, so just sit anywhere you want, okay? This is a kind of a long drawn out section that is now coming to a little bit of a conclusion.

It began in chapter eight, okay? And remember, I mentioned earlier that it's talking about Christian liberty. And the way I would like to summarize that chapter eight till 11 verse one is really knowing the difference between right and wrong. So I left a blank for you there, knowing the difference between right and wrong.

But if you guys would, in your blank, write dot dot dot, or what's best. So it's knowing the difference between right and wrong, dot dot dot, or what's best. And it took me a long time to think about that little heading. But what I see as, again, a huge benefit to the book of First Corinthians is it is truly a wisdom book teaching you how to decide.

And if you take a look at verses 23 to 24, it says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify." And that really sends us back to chapter six, which when I taught that lesson, I introduced as a wisdom text, teaching you not simply to decide, hey, what's right and wrong, but teaching you to decide what's best.

Because you're asking the question, what is profitable? Not just what's lawful, but what's really profitable? And so, perhaps the people at the Church of Corinth wrote a letter to the Apostle Paul saying, "So what do we do about this disagreement we have? You got a bunch of people saying, 'We can't touch that meat because it's been offered to idols and it's been sacrificed and it will be unholy.' And then they're wrestling, like, 'Oh, but I want to, but I don't want to, and there's a lot of reasons to want to, and then there's a lot of reasons to not want to.

I don't know what to do.' And then there's a bunch of people who are saying, 'Dude, it's nothing. Just eat it. What do we do about this disagreement?' Maybe it was a simple question, but they just got an earful from Apostle Paul, from chapter eight to chapter 10, chapter 11, verse one.

Now what's really interesting about this concluding remark, okay? So this is a concluding section, is that I feel like Apostle Paul goes back and forth. If you read verses 23 and 24, essentially what he's saying is, "Don't eat it." Right? I mean, he's saying, "Look, all things are lawful, not all things are profitable, all things are lawful, but not all things edify." So he says, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." If you were to receive that after asking the question, "Hey, what should I do?" And you know, maybe it's your pastor or an older brother or sister, they're like, "Don't be so selfish.

Don't look out for your own good. Think about the other people." You would think, "Okay, fine. I won't eat it. Gosh." You know, like, that's the way you would respond probably, right? So what I'd like you to do in order to kind of get the point of what he's saying is, take a look at chapter six, verse 12, and tell me, by comparing contrast, what is he getting at here?

What do you see as a difference between what he's saying back in chapter six when he wanted the church to be wise, versus here in chapter 10 when he wants the church to be wise? So I'll read the passage for us, chapter six, verse 12. "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable." Hmm, sounds like the same thing.

"All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." Okay. My question to you guys is, it sounds like the same thing, but there's obviously a difference, and the difference is obvious, but why that difference? "Isn't 6.12 talking about what's good for me, and this is talking about what's good for someone else?" Excellent.

Okay. So in the context of chapter six, he's talking a lot about your own self-control, and it's in the context when he recently, or really closely in proximity, talked about sexual morality. So you are having a control over your own flesh. But then here in chapter 10, he wants you to think outside your box, and to think about other people.

And what he says is, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." Okay? So there's your point that he really wants you to get at, okay? Now, if you were to highlight, or circle, in that little phrase, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor," what would you circle as the command?

And I know it's kind of like, "What are you really asking here? It's really obvious what the command is." Well, I want to make a point from it, and I didn't know how else to get at it. Here's the obvious question, what's the command? So someone volunteer and tell me what you circled.

What would you circle as the command? "Seek." Excellent. Okay, seek. Sometimes you see things in the negative form, "Hey, don't do this." Okay? And then sometimes you see things in the positive form, "Do this." When I first read this passage in, you know, verse 24, I just underlined, "Hey, don't seek your own good." So essentially what that's telling you is, "Hey, don't be selfish." Right?

Well, let's think of a hypothetical scenario, and I want to make the point that if you were to leave it at that and say, "Hey, don't be selfish," that would not really capture what Apostle Paul expects. Okay? So let's all think of a hypothetical scenario where you have three friends.

I try to pick names that, you know, nobody shares the name in this room. First person, Lawrence. Lawrence wants to go eat with his buddies and says, "Hey, I feel like Mexican food today." But Rebecca is like, "Oh, I don't know. I was feeling like Korean today." But then Lydia was like, "Oh, but I had Korean yesterday." Okay.

Let me ask you a question. You got three people who want different things. If you were to obey the command of, "Hey, let no one seek his own good," in the negative form, what would you do? What? Get chicken? Is that what you said? Get fusion. Urban soul. Okay.

I guess that's one thing you can do. Stop messing up my analogy, all right? But I think a lot of times what I find people do is to say like, "Okay, then let's just do what you want." Right? Sometimes what I find like option A is just scenarios like this have happened, okay?

Three friends get together and they want to go out to eat and then everyone says something different and then so there's this like, "So, do, do, do." And then there's this awkward silence because everyone's kind of waiting for someone to say something. That's option A. Okay? Option A is to not say anything and let it be awkward.

Option B is to say, "Okay, fine. Let's just do what you want." Right? And the reason why I say that's not sufficient because to say whatever, "I guess I'm okay with Korean," is actually not what Apostle Paul is expecting. Why do I say that? It's because, let me suggest an option C.

Option C is for one person who perhaps is thinking of this scenario and really has the heart that exemplifies what Apostle Paul says, "Let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor," and becomes what I like to call the considerate initiator. Okay? The considerate initiator. And let's say it's Rebecca and Rebecca says, "All right, let's go Chipotle." It's like, "That's Mexican food." I guess you'd call it like, you know, Americanized Mexican food, right?

Well, the thing about that is she didn't say, "Hey, whatever. I'm okay with it," but what she said was, "I suggest." Here's an option that I know pleases you, but I'm suggesting it. It's very different from saying, "Hey, whatever. I can do what you want." Why do I say that?

It's because when you say something to the extent of, "Hey, like, I'm okay with it, but as long as you want it, sure," what ends up happening is the person who says, "Yeah, I want Mexican," they end up feeling selfish. And so I'm not sure if you guys have ever experienced a scenario with your friend or a scenario with your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever it may be.

And guys, this is free advice for you. If you say whatever you decide, you are already lost. Even if she gets in the end what she wants, you lose. You do. Because it seems like either you don't care, it seems like secretly you want something, but you're not willing to say it, which now you've lost your pants.

The other thing that happens is if you say whatever, you know what I'm saying, right? It's just a no-win situation when you do that. But if you become a considerate initiator, you say, "Okay, you're choosing something, and rather than choosing, like right now, Bea and I, we moved into our home, and I could have decided I want to decorate my house with masculine things.

Everything needs to be gray and navy blue, right? But if I chose to decide to become a considerate initiator and pick the thing that I know she's delighted by, now I've done way more, way more than just I'm not being selfish." Why am I making a point of this?

That's not even a biblical scenario. This is just like scenarios of this and that. It's because if you read the passage as, "Let no one seek his own good and stop there," you're not getting his point. Because if you put that into the right circles, it should be, "Seek the good of his neighbor," right?

And that is so much more than just simply stop being selfish. And I want to ask you the question, are you being characterized by not just simply, "Let the people have their way. Fine." Or are you going above and beyond that to, "Are you seeking what is profitable? Are you seeking what will edify?

Are you really seeking that which is good for your neighbor?" Do you see the point that I'm making? It is a go above and beyond what's minimal. Go above and beyond, cease from your selfish ways to now seek what is actually in favor of your brother and sister in Christ.

That is very much so more than perhaps what we would think. Does that make sense? Yeah. A biblical scenario more in tune with this is really, you know, let's say Wesley who is weak in conscience. Wesley could ask stubborn Steve, "Hey, could you not eat that for me? Because I saw that offered in the temple.

Could you please not eat that?" I mean, in this scenario, Wesley could be the one to ask, right? But the thing about it is, if stubborn Steve had this attitude of like, "I'm going to eat until somebody asks," is he fulfilling what Apostle Paul is calling him to? Do you see my point?

The considerate initiator. If he's in there, or if let's say, you know, Rebecca's in there like, "Yeah, I'm all Korean, but if they ask, okay, I will." You know what I mean? That's a completely different attitude of the heart. And I think that's what I'm getting at here and I'm seeing is, if you're reading it one way, it's like, "I will fulfill this by doing the minimum." But the other part is, the considerate initiator would be the one who says, "Beyond that, I'll consider what's best for my neighbor." Okay?

All right. If you would, turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 14, Romans chapter 14. And this passage, I've referenced before, when I was preaching chapter 8, but realize that this scenario, not only is it common in the Church of Corinth, but this scenario is common all across the various churches.

And I mentioned how not only is it common, but it's something that probably came up in everyday life, especially in their context. But the principle behind it will actually show itself in our everyday context as well. Are you guys cold at all? Sorry, I just got the shivers. If you're cold, you guys can lower that thermostat.

If you're fine, I'm good. All right. In Romans chapter, what did I say? 14, verse 13. Okay? >> Is this the best? >> What? Are you going to be considered or not, dude? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, it was honestly, I just wanted to see. >> I don't even know how I responded.

>> What would Jesus do, Jason? What would Jesus do, Jason? I'll let you work out your faith and fear and trembling over there. That's so funny. All right. Verse 13 of chapter 14 in the book of Romans. There's so much to glean from this passage. And it says, "Therefore, let us not judge another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in our brother's way.

I know and I'm convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him from whom Christ died.

Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who is this way serves Christ in this way, serves Christ, is acceptable to God and approved by men.

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives defense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith and whatever is not from faith is sin." Okay. Wow, that's a lot just packed in that paragraph, right?

But for our purposes, I'm just highlighting the exhortation, right? He essentially said, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." In almost very similar context, Apostle Paul is addressing the same issue in the book of Romans. Okay? All right. Let's take a look at verse 25 through 27.

Shan, Keresi. Welcome back and can you read verse 25 to 27? Sorry? Oh, my bad. Back in first Corinthians. Yeah, first Corinthians chapter 10, 25 to 27. "If anything that is sold in the meat market, not asking questions, but consciously, for the earth, for the Lord, and all it contains.

If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go eat at a set before you go to bed, and you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal.

And if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. And if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal.

And if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal.

But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal.

But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. But if you don't want to go, you can go to the market and ask for a meal. well as far as verse 23, 24, he essentially said, "Hey, can you please think about your brothers?

"Don't eat it", kind of right? He didn't say don't eat it, but he says, you need to think about your neighbors and I would conclude, okay I'm not gonna eat it. But then here he says, eat it, right? And you gotta ask, why? Why the flip flop and why go back and forth and what's going on?

Well, notice the repetition here. In the paragraph from verse 25 to 27, what is the phrase that you see repeated? I'm asking for another, again, just observation question. Please just yell it out. One more time. Okay, so eat anything is one. For conscience sake is two, okay? All right, so eat anything for conscience sake.

It's like, mm, okay. So he's saying, eat anything without asking questions for conscience sake. So he repeats that essentially, that whole phrase twice. Eat anything without asking questions for conscience sake twice, right? So that means in my mind, he's talking about two different scenarios. One scenario is, you're at the meat market.

Another scenario is, you are at your friend's house. Right? And the principle is, eat anything, don't ask any questions. Do you find that kind of funny at all? I find it pretty hilarious. I find it a little hilarious 'cause it's kind of like a don't ask, don't tell policy, right?

It almost sounds like, I don't know, doesn't that sound a little shady? Like, ignorance is bliss, I didn't know, you know, like that kind of stuff. And so my question to you would be, all right, so the scenarios, there's two, and then he says, eat anything that is sold in the marketplace, eat anything at your friend's house, but then don't ask the question.

My question is, is this what I think it sounds like? Is it the same as a don't ask and don't tell policy? Think about it a little bit. This one's a little bit harder question. And if you say no, then I'm gonna ask you why. What kind of principle is he thinking about?

Okay. And if it's not a, hey, don't ask, don't tell kind of stuff, then what is it? - I think it's not don't ask, don't tell. - Okay. - Understand that these things don't matter, so you don't need to ask. But if somebody tells you, then it matters for them.

- Okay. All right, did you guys hear what he said? So it's kind of like, there is still a difference between for you, for them, right? For you, for them. And the reason why that's there is because Apostle Paul in his mind knows that that's there. If you take a peek over at the next verse, okay?

Verse 29, I mean not your conscience, but the other man's, okay? So you're peeking over at verse 29, it says I'm not in your conscience, I'm conscience, their conscience, okay? So, it is not a don't ask, don't tell policy, okay? It's more of a differentiating your conscience, their conscience policy, okay?

So why do I say that? It's because for you, what exists is verse 26. And I asked the question, how does verse 26 support this policy of eating the market food without asking? Because the overarching truth that he quotes from Psalm 24, one, is basically the earth of the Lord's and all that it contains.

So even the, for me, what I believe, the truth that I've come to know is, even the food that's here before me, no matter who they offer it to, it doesn't belong to them. I know that the idols are nothing, and the food that's given is just food, right?

And not only that, but other passages, Acts 10, verse 15, what God has cleansed, do not consider unholy. First Timothy, whoa. I don't know what happened there. Okay, first time in. Okay, First Timothy, I believe it's chapter four, verses three through five. I think that's where I got it from.

It says basically, refuse the men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer, right?

So the truth that we know is that everything belongs to God, and it's the poor's idea, so you can eat it. Why, because this is your conscience. My conscience is actually still not ruled by the other person's conscience when it pertains to the food, okay? Now, it's gonna sound like you're splitting hair, but essentially what David said was right.

There's still their conscience and my conscience, but when it comes into effect about my conscience is the eating before this person's face. Does that make sense? If it's just me before the food, my conscience is clear. When my conscience comes into line is my eating before the face of my brother, right?

So there is a differentiation in the scenario. He says in two scenarios, you can eat because all the food belongs to God, but in the two scenarios, what comes into play is the other man's conscience. Does that make sense? So in order to kind of summarize this point real quick, I'm going to bring up a modern day thing.

Did you know that a famous restaurant, I can't say it's a restaurant, but in New York they have a thing called a Halal Guys. Have you guys heard of that? No? Yes, did you know it's coming right here? Right off of Bristol and Paul Arena, there's a little shopping plaza, Premistry is coming in there, and then there's like the Halal Guys coming in there, there's this like world renowned Japanese ramen place that's coming in there.

It's pretty cool, okay? But then what's really interesting is, the reason why this topic came up is 'cause I met a brother at church at a restaurant, and on the menu they had Halal food. And I said, "That's so funny, "I thought that was the name of the restaurant." And then so we Googled it.

And so for those of you guys who are really excited for this Halal God thing, I'm gonna ruin it for you right now. If you guys have never heard of what is Halal, Halal is actually a Muslim term, okay? It's an Islamic term. So Muslim is the people, Islam is the religion.

It literally means lawful, and it means lawful under the Quran, okay? And the reason why they care about this is because underneath the Quran, you have to have the right kind of animal, you have to slaughter it the right way, and then you have to prepare the food the right way.

And the thing about it is, underneath that law, they have restrictions in the kind of animal, it cannot be a carnivore. And then secondly, it has to be slaughtered in a way that's as painless as possible to the animal. And the preparation has to be, you can't just take a dead animal that's been dead for a while and do it.

You have to actually invoke the name of God, and soon after it's been slaughtered, you have to prepare it, and it has to be prepared by somebody who has been sanctioned. What's really interesting about that is the Quran allows Christians and Jews to prepare that food, because Christians and Jews are monotheistic, and they're scripturistic, meaning they have scripture text to abide by, right?

Which I think is kind of funny, because they look down on the, anyway. The thing about the whole thing is, I got bothered when, down the line, the food's coming out, smells really good, it's right underneath me, and I've got this Google thing coming up, and it says, "In the preparation, "you have to invoke the name of Allah." And I went, "Ugh." (laughing) Right?

The smell is coming up. Well, here's the thing. Do I eat it or not eat it? According to verse 25 to 27, do I eat it or not eat it? (laughing) Huh? I don't know, what do you guys say? Do I eat it or not eat it? - It doesn't apply to your conscience.

(laughing) - I don't know, what else do you guys think? You guys, should I eat it or not eat it, after reading all that? So I didn't, huh? Ruined it? I know, totally ruined it. Well, the other reason why that came up is because, yeah, the term actually is not just referring to food.

Muslims will call certain things halal, as in, it's just lawful. So know that that's what the term means, okay? Yes? - Similar to kosher, Jewish people, this time of year, they have to kill the animals. - Uh-huh. Yeah, so kosher food also, you're right, is strict. - Less by the law.

- Mm-hmm, yep. Kosher too is dietary restriction based on Jewish law. Okay? Man, kosher beef hot dogs are good though. (laughing) Okay, so any other thoughts? He's the only one with an opinion. Do I eat it or not eat it? You guys are all like, dude, it's coming, don't ruin this for us.

(laughing) Okay, I ate it, all right? I ate it. (laughing) This was in the past and I just ate it, okay? And failed, yeah. (laughing) Okay, the reason why is because this is what I did. I asked the lady who worked there, oh, like, do you guys promote this, you know?

And turned out the lady was Mediterranean and then the owner of the restaurant, you know, they just had that for people who came by. So the restaurant was more Mediterranean than it was Muslim. And in my mind, it's the whole idea of what does it identify with me? Wait, does that make sense?

What does it? What does it identify me with? So for example, if the Halal guys opened this thing up and they said, oh, we wanted to make sure that we as a people who are Muslim have a restaurant. If they had like, you know, certain things on the restaurant where essentially they were promoting their religion and faith, right?

And they were really advocating this as like, the success of our business is because Allah. And that's the whole thing, right? Then I would have had crazy conflict of conscience, I can't eat this. Because that was their intent, right? But then in front of me, it's just kebabs and like rice, you know?

And the food was really good. So I don't know if you guys agree with me on this point or not, but the thing is, I said grace, I thank God for the food, and I ate it because that was my conscience before the Lord. Right? But if, again, the restaurant and what it stood as an institution was a promotion of who they were, and they were really like, hurrah, yeah, like we're succeeding in our business realm, we're gonna make a name for ourselves, and I can't.

It's kind of a fine line, isn't it? Right? It's kind of a fine line. But the thing about it, if, again, if the restaurant was just about like, hey, we serve a bowl great for lunch, here it is. That's one thing. If the restaurant was more like, this is who we are, this is our identity, and this is why we make our food, that's a whole nother scenario.

Any thoughts about that? Agree, disagree? Yes. - I could share kind of a related story really quickly. That we ended up kind of the other way. We went to this sporting event that had Santa Claus, a person dressed as Santa Claus, connected to the event, and in the name of the event.

And we just went for the sports part. But somebody else pointed out to us that, well, you know, Santa Claus, that's not what Christmas is about. And it was clear that it really bothered them that we, it's not a Christian person, it really bothered them that we would go to this sporting event that was connected to Santa Claus, even though we try to keep Santa Claus far away from what we do at Christmas.

So at first I was really annoyed, and my attitude was like, well, you know, if they have a problem with Santa Claus, if they wanna keep Santa Claus that far away from their Christmas, that's fine for them, but I should be able to still go to this event and enjoy it.

And then I realized that this applies, that if my doing hurts their conscience, probably this passage means they shouldn't participate and it's causing problems for them. - Right, okay, good, thank you. So, I appreciate that. In me telling the story, so you kinda have different stories here. I'm actually not convincing you one way or the other.

You guys have to make your own decisions about it. But here's the thing that I think is Apostle Paul's making a point here. Verse 25 to 27, he says, "Eat anything that is sold "in the meat marketplace without asking questions "for conscience' sake." Okay? So, there's an element to which, and I'm gonna talk about it a little bit more in the next section too, but there's an element to which, coming back to the idea of the whole don't ask, don't tell question, again, it's not that.

But the fact of the matter is, he is stating the fact that there is a liberty for us because everything in the world is the Lord's. So, we have actually the freedom to eat it. Right? Yeah. So, that's actually one of his points here, is you have the freedom to eat it because everything in the world is the Lord's.

But remember that the whole idea is that the other person's conscience can be involved. So, his point here is don't involve his conscience. Right? I don't know if that sounds weird to you guys, but that's what he's saying. Don't ask the question because don't involve his conscience. And the thing about it is, if you do involve his conscience, then you gotta be willing to decline the exercise of your freedom for the sake of that person's conscience.

And that's when you are considering your neighbor. Right? But aside from that, we don't have to have legalistic standards, we don't have to have a law outside of the law of the Bible and say, I can't eat anything that says the law, I can't eat anything that says this, I can't eat anything.

That would be quite a standard above and beyond what the Bible says. Okay? Now, if somebody in here said, yeah, but Pastor Mark, now that you've explained that and then there's a whole idea of invoking the name of Allah and all that kind of stuff, I don't wanna eat it.

That's fine. You don't have to. If you just decide to say, yeah, I don't know. I'm gonna have to think about that more and until I think about it, I'm not gonna eat it. That's fine. So, I'm not gonna convince you one way or the other, but I believe the point of the passage is you do have a freedom because everything belongs to the Lord.

Eat it. Okay? Okay, let's move forward to the next section. Verse 28 through verse 30. Can I please have, let's see. Diane Kim, can you please read verse 28 through verse 30? (audience member speaking) (audience member speaking) Okay. All right, so verse 28 through 30, I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time, but there's a sense in which he flips back.

Don't eat it. Okay? He says, if, if it so happens that someone's conscience against a brother or sister, their conscience is bothered, and they tell you, hey, you can't eat that because that means sacrifice to idols. He says, don't eat it for the sake of the conscience of the person who informed you.

Right? He says, don't eat it. And then he makes sure, he says, I asked this question, so why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? And when I read that, I was a little confused. I was like, if I asked that question, why is my freedom judged by another man's conscience?

I almost would take that as like, so I can't eat it. My conscience, you know, my freedom shouldn't be judged by another man's conscience. Okay? Well, I wanna ask you this question. What do you think the meaning of that is? What does it mean to have your freedom judged by another man's conscience?

It's a bit confusing. He's saying don't eat, and he uses the question to support his statement. If someone brings it up to you, don't eat it. What does it mean then to have your freedom judged by another man's conscience? - Cynthia, I can't say it. - You don't wanna exercise your freedom in a way where someone whose conscience is bothered will have an opportunity to judge it and be bothered by your exercise of your own freedom.

- Right, okay. So it's simply that. I mean, it's not so much more than perhaps what you might have guessed. I think what he's saying really is, in the exercise of your freedom, why exercise it in such a way where someone might accuse you of evil? So let me say that again.

Why exercise your freedom in a way where someone might accuse you of doing evil? Remember back in Romans chapter 14, verse 16 through 17, I'm just gonna read it for us for the sake of time. He says, "Therefore, do not let what is for you "a good thing be spoken of as evil.

"For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, "but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." And what's interesting is even the term for judge, it's not kinda like judged as in judged against the Bible or all that kinda stuff. That term literally just means to come to a conclusion about.

Okay, so someone's looking at you and they come to a conclusion like, huh, what that guy's doing is evil. It's not really like a legal term. The person who's looking at you just thinks of you as evil. Does that make sense? So here, Apostle Paul is calling us to a sense of wisdom, right?

A sense of wisdom. A sense of wisdom is in my actions, is it going to lend for an opportunity for them to accuse me of evil? Or is it gonna lend to an opportunity for me to just, again, bolster their faith and the gospel message of salvation? Okay? Are there any questions about that section?

All right, then let's move on to the last section. Verse 31 through chapter 11, verse one. And if I can have, Mel Wong, can you read that for us? - Excuse me, whether then you need for thanks or whatever you do, you will also be glorified. With no offense, I do you this, with the teaching of Jesus.

Just as I also do you all, then, it is also in the past. Speaking my own prophet, let the prophet of the nations be the name you say to the imitators and the angels I have called. - Okay. This passage I bolded. This is a passage we should actually try to devote to memory.

And this is a passage that all of us should try to keep rehearsing. I'm not sure if you guys see value in repetition, but for me, I have a horrible memory, and repetition is good. It helps me learn. And the thing about it is, he gives an overarching principle.

He said, "Don't eat, eat, don't eat." And I almost feel like, gosh, that's confusing. Give me just one principle and let me do it, you know? But the fact of the matter is, he gives this now overarching consideration. And the overarching consideration is, whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So he asked this question, would Jesus eat it, you know? Would God, you know, be pleased in your eating? You're not eating. And so I left a blank there, next to the question of, what is the overarching principle? Now, obviously, the overarching principle is, whether you decide to eat or not eat, do it all to the glory of God, right?

Do it all to the glory of God. But to the blank next to that, please write in there, that is a life purpose statement. Did I leave enough room for that? Life purpose statement. Okay? Do you guys have life purpose statements? Do you guys have things that like, you know, in the moment where you're like, I don't know what to do, do you guys have a principle that will help you decide?

Do you guys have something that's going to keep you in line with what should be the measure of success in your life? I think this one, although it's probably the broadest one of all the Bible, is something that we should really rehearse and memorize. This life purpose statement, right?

That we need to do all things to the glory of God. So, actually, it matters incredibly a lot why you do what you do. It actually matters why you end up eating, and it matters even so why you end up not eating. Right? So there isn't a blanket statement here, in this scenario, do this, in this scenario, do that, in this scenario, do this, and in this scenario, do that.

Although that can be very confusing, there isn't a blanket statement for that. It's in that scenario, what is going to be most glorifying to the Lord? Right? And I asked you a moment ago, or at the beginning of the study, when you think about what is most glorifying to God, what do you think about?

And I want you guys to share just a couple of those things. Do I have any volunteers as to answer? When you guys talked about what do you think is most glorifying to the Lord, what did you guys mention? - Evangelism. - Evangelism, okay. Anything else? Yes. - Faith expressed through obedience, prayer, dependence, and stuff like that.

(laughing) - And stuff like that, yeah. Faith, obedience, dependence on God, prayer. Okay, anything else? Yeah, I mean, with Apostle Paul, I love the fact that we get a glimpse into his mind frame, how he thinks, you know? And he's just so goal-driven, and he's so, like, in many ways, purpose-driven, you know?

And his purpose is so set on glorifying God, but he has quite a clear vision as to what is most glorifying to God. And if you remember back in chapter nine, right? Let me see here. Oops, I'm in Romans, that's why I'm like, what is this? Remember back in chapter nine, verse 22 to 23?

Back in chapter nine, verse 22 to 23. 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. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

He sees as so precious, so valuable, the salvation of souls, that he would dare not put any stumbling block, right? To see an individual go from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, to see an individual go from orphan child to daughter and son of God, to see an individual as those who are slaves of their sins, to slaves of righteousness, to see an individual who had no God in the world to go to now giving thanks with their mouths to the Lord of heaven, he sees nothing else that would be a greater honor to God.

Right? And so Apostle Paul has as his great ambition to make sure that they might be saved. So he ends it right at the end, where in verse 33, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, so that they may be saved.

Genuinely saved. And again, just love that kind of passionate, bold, focused, intentional, very driven life that desires to seek the salvation of the lost. I want us to think about that a little bit is, for us, when we think about the glory of God, giving him honor, giving him praise, what are we thinking?

And all the things that you guys mentioned, it's right. We give glory when we reflect God's nature, we give glory when we show him to be a sufficient provider, we give him glory when we show his answer of prayer, we give him glory when we ourselves are thankful for his gospel, and all that kind of stuff.

But in this passage, at least, he's really thinking about the glory of God when it comes down to those who'd be saved by the gospel. Right? Those who'd be saved by the gospel. Now by way of concluding and wrapping up, I really think that this passage, in my mind, is a question of those who not only discern between right and wrong, but those who discern what is best.

What is most mature. You know, the benefit of having a veteran on your team, let's say you're playing football, and you have a veteran, a lot of the game of football, you have to react instantaneously. If you guys ever played defense on football, if you guys played anything, you have to just react.

You're looking at the quarterback's eyes, you're looking at formation, and you just have to react. The great thing about having a veteran is that through experience, they know what to do. I mean, a coach can sit there telling a rookie, okay, if the quarterback throws deep, you do this.

If the quarterback starts to pass off, you do this. But given all those different conditions, the rookie would sit there and be like, is it now, like, for right now, do I do this? You see what I'm saying? And so in my mind, when I think about Apostle Paul, he's a veteran.

And he's looking at the scenario, and then trying to teach the Church of Corinth, like, when you see the faith of the other people, you ought to be thinking like this. When you see what idolatry is, and what it represents, you ought to be thinking like this. When it comes to your own conscience, you should be thinking like this.

So he's giving, yes, all these conditional statements, but he gives them the overarching priority, right? The overarching priority is that you glorify God and honor Him in this. And we, if we are to mature, we need to do that with practice. So you guys ask good questions. In this scenario, what's most honoring to God?

In this scenario, what's really going to magnify the Gospel? In this scenario, what's really going to glorify our Maker? Okay? All right. Let's take a moment to pray. Father God, we wanna thank you. Lord, we get a glimpse into the kind of focus that Apostle Paul has. And in many ways, he's trying to impart his focus upon the church, and calling them to follow him as he's laid a pattern of willing self-sacrifice and self-restraint for the benefit of the rest.

And I pray, Father God, that we as a church would continue to mature. God, help us never to be a people who simply insist on our own rights, our own benefits, and our own securities. But rather, God, help us to really follow the footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who condescended, who sacrificed, and who really gave up much so that those who would come to salvation would benefit, and that he would lead many brothers into God's glory.

I pray, Lord, that you would give us that same kind of vision, the same kind of purpose and motivation in our lives. Father Lord, we do pray for every single person here. God, many of us live lives that are very busy. God, we have work that consumes a lot of our energy, our time, and our focus.

Help us, Father God, to persevere past that, to persevere past fatigue, to persevere past distraction, and sometimes feeling unmotivated because our energy is sapped. I pray, rather, God, that you would encourage us all the more with the energy that we have. Help us to honor you. Whatever we can afford, help us to glorify you.

And if you would see fit, and by your grace, give us the mercy of being used as your tool to share the gospel, and have the pure joy of seeing somebody, have the joy of Christ by being saved. I pray, Father God, that by all means would you use us.

Lord, we wanna thank you again in Saint Christ's name. Amen. Okay. If you guys would jot down, I realized, and I didn't have the discussion questions written on your thing, but I wrote it in my teaching notes. I've just basically asked the question, what are some real life scenarios where we can decline our liberty?

So just what are some real life scenarios that we can decline our own liberties? Second, I just mentioned it, but practically, how can we give more glory to God, and keep that as our purpose in life? How can we give more glory to God, and keep that as a purpose for our lives?

But also, what tangible ways can we actively seek the benefit of others? What tangible ways can we actively seek the benefit of others? Okay. So those are just some questions. If you guys have any other points of conviction, or applications you guys wanna share, you guys can do that.

So hope you guys have a good time of discussion, okay? All right, thanks everyone.