Choose Your Table Wisely | April 15, 2026

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Turn to your Bibles, please. The First Corinthians chapter

#10 First Corinthians chapter #10 this evening in the Word of

God I. Don't know if you noticed over

the past. Week or so that there was a new

story about the NFL coach from the New England Patriots, Mike

Vrabel, and a reporter for The New York Times slash The

Athletic named Diana Rusini. There were some photos that were

taken of the two of them. These are two married people, by

the way, married to other people, I guess I should say, to

be clear about that. And there were photos of them

holding hands. There were photos of them

hugging. There was photos of them alone

in a hot tub together. And these were put right on

front page of I believe it was the New York Post.

Now, Mike Vrabel said about these things.

He said these photos show a completely innocent interaction

and any suggestion otherwise is laughable.

This is what he said. Now, I'm not here to pile on

either Mike Vrabel or Diana Rusini, but I would say this,

that what is being portrayed in those photos isn't laughable at

all. That it's very natural for us to

be able to look at those photos and to see intimacy between two

people and to assume that because there is closeness,

there is also affection between 2:00 that are so close.

Now, I didn't ask my wife this question because, well, I don't

have to ask my wife this question if she would be

bothered if I held another woman's hand and hugged another

woman and just jumped in a hot tub with another woman.

You know what? Because I'm a normal person, I

don't have to ask my wife what she thinks about that, because I

know what she thinks about that. It would be crazy, to be honest

with you. I don't need to ask her to know

I shouldn't do it because I don't want to do it.

Because my affinity, my intimacy.

Is with my wife, my beautiful wife.

Diane, this is what I understand and this is what we know, that

there's an association that's there.

And because of that association, we assume that there's intimacy

because probably there is. Say, pastor, are you here to

preach on current events tonight?

And the answer is no, I am not. But I do believe there's a very

real application to what we see here tonight in First

Corinthians chapter #10 Paul's going to bring this message home

to the Corinthians in tonight's passage.

And that's. This Don't dine with the devil.

Don't sit down and have closeness with Satan and his

minions. That when you are close to him,

when you are in his proximity, it can only be assumed that you

have a closeness with him. That as believers, we ought not

to have. Don't cozy up with the devil.

Don't dine with the devil, however you want to say it

tonight, But the title of my message is this.

Choose your table wisely, and hopefully that'll make sense

here in just a moment. Choose your table wisely.

Now, we're going to try this evening to cover the rest of the

chapter, but we're just going to read the first few verses to

start, and we'll continue reading them as we go along.

So look at verse #14 First Corinthians. 10 where it says

this all right, I got 1 already, but thank you.

Oh, that's that's nice. Thank you.

I say super hydrated here. That's nice.

This one's cold and that's good. All right, I'll put that one

down there. All right.

Thank you, Kaylee. All right.

All right, First Corinthians 10/14 take 2 Here we go.

Wherefore, my beloved or my dearly beloved, free.

Let's try that again. Not free.

It's. What am I doing, Jay?

So wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry?

I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion

of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it

not the communion of the body of Christ?

Now we'll stop right there for a moment as we get into the

message this evening. Now last week we saw that Paul

was using examples from the Old Testament to show that the

issues of the Old Testament were still very relative to the

people of Corinth. Remember we saw that in the

first several verses. Remember, it says that you

should not lust. And then it said neither be

idolaters, neither commit fornication, neither, neither,

neither. And all Paul was doing was

taking issues that the Israelites dealt with in the Old

Testament, and he was making application to the people of

court that we saw last week. It's good to read the Bible.

It's good to read the Old Testament.

Why? Because the things we find in

the Bible, the things we find specifically in the Old

Testament, it's all as relevant today as it was back then.

Because the issues of the heart really haven't changed.

Change over human history. We're not as unique as we think

we are. That's what we saw last week.

And so Paul has been talking about don't do this, don't do

this, don't do this. These are things we ought not to

do. Israel didn't learn their

lesson. The people Corinth finally did.

Their learn their lesson, I believe when you read Second

Corinthians. And then we have to learn this

lesson as well. But now Paul is going to take

what he had spoken about in these previous verses, and he's

going to apply it to an issue that he's already spoken about.

If you go back to chapter #8 don't go back to chapter #8 but

if you were to go back, do you remember we talked about the

issue of me being offered to idols, about how that it was OK

to all eat meat offered to idols.

However, the issue really wasn't about whether you wanted the

meat. The real issue was about your

Christian brethren. That was what liberty is all

about. And that Christian liberty is

about. Well, I can, I can, I can.

It's about making sure you're looking out for one another.

And so Paul talked about that, but he's going to bring this

back to a discussion here for the remainder of the chapter

because really, there's some questions that still need to be

addressed by the people of Corn that maybe they're unsure about.

For instance, what happened when the meat that was offered to

idols? Ended up getting sold wholesale

and now they found it in a butcher shop.

Was the meat in the butcher shop offered to idols or not?

What do you do if you go to someone's house?

Do you know if the meat they are serving you came from the temple

or not? What's a person supposed to do?

Well, they still had questions about what to do in these

issues. And ironically enough, some of

the questions that they're asking are pretty relevant to

how we Live Today and some of the situations we find ourselves

in, as well as we'll make application in just a few

moments. But Paul's going to walk them

through this issue through the remainder of the chapter.

And there's three principles that are there that I think will

be a help to us this evening. And the first is this.

Number one, your table matters. You can write that on the back

of your prayer bulletin #1 Your table matters.

Now, we should probably take a second to dwell on verse #14

because honestly, we could probably just preach a message

just on verse #14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved?

And by the way, Paul's going to say some hard truths, but

there's no doubt that he loved the people of Corinth.

I have circled in my Bible. My dearly beloved, you can have

hard preaching and still be loved by the preacher.

And this is what we see here. He's going to tell him some hard

truth, but he still loves them. In fact, he loves them so much

that he's going to tell them the truth.

That doesn't mean the preacher has to be ugly about it, but yet

here it is that he's going to talk to them about these issues.

Therefore, wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

Now we saw previously Israel had a problem with idolatry, and we

know from reading First Corinthians Corinth had a

problem with idolatry. A huge temple of idolatry

dominated life in Corinth. And would you say we have a

problem with idolatry today? Idolatry is still an issue.

By the way, I was reading this this week and I thought I wish

the president would have read verse, verse #14 here.

I'll just leave that there. This isn't political, but

idolatry is idolatry. The Lord's not pleased with

idolatry. It's easy to see idolatry in

others, but it's not as easy to see it in our own lives.

Is it idolatry? Idolatry is real today.

First, John 521 says this little children, keep yourselves from

idols. Amen.

And that's a reminder for us here tonight as well.

You say, well, pastor, I would never bow down to an idol.

And who of us here would tonight?

None of us would. But yet idols are something or

is something, an idol is something that exalts itself or

that we exalt to a place it ought not to be.

You know, there are things that are obviously idols.

You see a a golden Buddha statue?

That's an idol. You see an icon of Mary?

That's an idol. That's not a popular statement

either today, but it is true. You'll tense on me right now,

all right? But that's OK.

He said. That's a, that's an idol, but

there are things that aren't necessarily idols that are made

into idols that we make them into because they're good and

they're right in them of themselves in the right way, but

yet can be made into idolatry. We'll talk more about that in

just a few moments. Christians must keep themselves

from idolatry today, Charles Spurgeon said.

Flee from idolatry means you do not reason with it, you don't

negotiate with it, you do not linger near it.

You run. When I think of that word flee,

I think of, of, of Joseph. When Potiphar's wife tried to

get a hold on him, what did he do?

He ran out. He didn't care if he had his

code or nothing. He was going to get away from

her. He was going to flee.

And that's what we are to do with idolatry.

Now over the next several verses, Paul uses a parallel to

show what idolatry is verse #16 the cup of blessing which we

bless. Is it not the communion of the

blood of Christ, the bread which we break?

Is it not the community of the body of Christ?

Now the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, Catholics and

many Protestants will teach that.

That verse there shows that it's actually the body and blood of

Christ that's received during communion.

I was taught that through the Catechism when I was a Lutheran.

But yet here that is not what Paul is communicating.

That's why Jesus kept saying this do and remembrance of me.

This do and remembrance of me. That's not what's being said

here. Paul is talking about something

that's deeper here, that when we are having the Lord's Supper,

it's not just that we are having the Lord's Supper and it's just

a remembrance of what Jesus did. And it is a remembrance, but we

are having intimate communion with the.

Lord, you know, I'm not trying to turn the the juice into the

bread and something that it's not, but I'm saying the Lord's

with us in the supper. That's why we call it communion.

We're communing together and look at verse 17 for we being

many or one bread. And one body, for we all

partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh.

Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers the altar?

And there he goes back to the Old Testament and says, isn't

that true of Israel, that when they were giving of the

sacrifice, they were partakers, and they would eat of some of

the sacrifices as well which they gave.

But then he says this. But I say that the things with

the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice the devils and not to

God. And I would not that you should

have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the

Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the

Lord's table and the table of devils.

Do you see the issue of the tables here?

He says this. You can take of the Lord's

table, you can have communion. I believe he's talking about of

the communion table, but then also of just the communion we

have of the Lord in general in our daily life.

But then he says this, that if you are offering things that are

to idols, if you are having things that are in fellowship

with idolatry, it's not just that you are having the

fellowship with that thing, you were having fellowship with the

thing behind the. Thing say, OK, pastor, I don't

know what you're talking about. Now, if someone was to bow down

to something that was made of wood and it's called a deity,

are they really worshipping that statue?

No, they're really worshipping what's behind the statue, the

false God. Who is really who?

Satan. Fellowship of Devils.

So what Paul is saying is this, when we partake in anything that

has the hint of idolatry, it's not just a little thing.

Just as much as we are a partaker of the Lord's table, we

could end up being partaker of Satan.

And that's what she says. I'm not teaching you're losing

your salvation. That's not in the Bible.

But the issue of fellowship is real, and you can be saved, and

not in sweet fellowship with the Lord, but rather having

fellowship with the one of whom you were saved from.

And Christians that ought not to be to be at the table with

Satan. He says you need to be careful,

you need to understand what the stakes are here when it comes to

the issue of idolatry. The people of of Corinth were

still dabbling with those things that they had come from.

They didn't think it was a big deal.

They thought it made them cosmopolitan.

They thought it made them open minded to live a little bit of

the old life, but also to live in the new life as well.

And really, Paul is saying this. Pick a table, because you have

to be at one or you have to be at the other, and which one you

are at is communicated to the people who are around you as

well. Your choice.

Matters who you fellowship with. Now I don't have time for us to

read a time you can write this down.

Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14.

Galatians 2:11–14

Peter after he got saved. Boy, didn't he do so much better

than the Gospels? You're just rooting for Peter in

the book of Acts, and he does so well.

There's really just one incident where you have to kind of

scratch your head a little bit and think, Peter, what were you

thinking? And that was an issue.

Where Paul and Peter were dining together with Gentiles and Peter

was sitting with the Gentiles and was enjoying fellowship with

the Gentiles until. A group of Jewish believers came

in and. Peter all of a sudden said.

Look at the time, got up from the table, slowly scooted over

to the Jews table. And sat down with them you know

what happened? Confusion.

Why? Well, because Peter wasn't at

the table that he ought to have been at and he was sending a

message by what table he was at. We're.

Going somewhere with us, but the table you are sitting at sends a

message to the people around you.

And you have to be careful because what Peter did is just

by standing up and moving to another table ended up causing

other people to say, well, maybe Peter is right.

And now everybody's trying to switch tables and confusion

reigns. And Paul has to withstand Peter

to the. Face the elder in the faith.

The faith was withstood by the younger one in the faith because

Paul was and. He had to tell him you did wrong

by what you did and look at what you've caused here just by your

simple action of getting up from the table you were at and moving

to another table. What do we look at here tonight?

The issue of this is dabbling with idolatry may seem harmless,

but you're sitting at a table and having things in common with

people you have very little in common with.

And worst of all, there will be people who are watching.

There will be people who will be looking.

And because of that, we must make sure that we do right.

When it comes to the issue of where we sit, and again, I'm not

talking about physically being seated, although sometimes I

guess that could be the case, but I'm talking about where

we're seated in our heart. Are we having fellowship with

the Lord? Are we having fellowship with

idolatry? It just can't be one or it can't

be both. It has to be one or the other.

Second Corinthians 614 through 16 Be not unequally yoked

together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has

righteousness with unrighteousness?

What community had light with darkness, And what conquered

hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that

believeth with an infidel? And what agreement at the temple

of God with idols for you, the temple of living God?

As God has said, I will dwell in them.

And walk in them. I will be their God, and they

shall be my people. Don't be yoked together.

When you're yoked together with that which is wrong, you know

what's going to happen. You're not going to pull wrong

in the right direction. You're going to get pulled in

the wrong direction. Don't yoke up with it.

They're polar opposites and God knows that your dining.

Choices of today will dictate your direction tomorrow.

Just a little bit of idolatry, elevating that above which it

should not be in your life. Could end up causing grave

consequences later. Again, you say, pastor, I don't

worship and I don't bow down to anything.

But I've said before, I believe the Scriptures make this clear,

that pretty much anything that you have to, well, I shouldn't

say pretty much anything that you have to consult with in your

life before you do the will of God is an idol.

Because if God says that we do it, well, God, I know you said

it, but stop right there. Whatever your next appeal is, is

an idol in your life. No, I'm talking to all of us

here tonight. Because we all have these idols

that need to be torn down. What I'm saying is those idols

don't come without consequence because you sit at that table.

Long enough with them it will dictate your direction.

And look at Corinth. They gave themselves up to that

which they got saved from, and they're a mess.

And they're a warning for us here tonight as well.

So what does it say your? Table matters.

First of all #1 your table matters.

But #2 your actions matter. Not just your table.

It matters where you are seated, if you will, but also your

actions matter. Verse #22 Do we provoke the Lord

to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

Verse 23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not

expedient. All things are lawful for me,

but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but

every man another's well. Verses #23 and 24 here really

set the tone. It says this, All things are

lawful for me. Here's a question for you now.

Are you ready? Are we free in Christ?

Some of you think it's a trick question.

It's not a trick question, I promise you.

Are we free in Christ? Amen.

Have we been free? We are free indeed.

That's what Jesus said. We are free in Jesus Christ.

But we've seen this before. Does that mean we are free to do

anything we want to do? The answer is no, no, no.

Now we have been set free to serve Christ, not to serve our

flesh. That's what we see.

And so Paul says all things are lawful for me, but not all

things are expedient. Just because it's lawful for me

doesn't mean it's a good thing. You know, I often hear people

say something like this. Well, you know, the Bible

doesn't say anything about it, so it's OK.

That's their standard in the Christian life.

And I understand that to a point.

Why, why they would think that The Bible doesn't say it's

wrong. So that means it has to be OK.

But that's the that's the wrong way.

I think that's the backwards way of thinking about it.

Really it should be something like this.

What's the benefit for me? And this question, what's the

benefit for others around me as well?

Isn't that what he says here? All things are lawful for me,

but all things edify not. Not everything's good for me

just because I can do it. Let no man seek his own, but

every man another's wealth meaning this.

Look out for the needs of others when you make this decision as

well. Everything through the rest of

the chapter is about that. That your actions should be able

to be blessed to be able to bless other people in your life

as well. It this would be like saying

something. Like, well, as long as it's not

illegal. It's good for me to do.

That that's the equivalent of saying, well, as long as the

Bible says doesn't say that you know it's wrong, then I can do

it. Well, there's a lot of things

that aren't illegal that you ought not to do.

You know I can fill. Up my house with Twinkies and Ho

Hos and snowballs and all those. Actually, it sounded pretty

good. Now I think about right, Marsha,

but organic. Of course it's legal.

I could eat candy morning, noon and night.

I could be like my son, eat candy in the bed.

Right, AJ? Yeah.

He likes that, doesn't he? I can fill myself with soda from

morning to noon tonight. Hey, there's no law against it.

Is that good for me? No, by the way, I've tried it.

I can tell you it's not. Good for you, all right.

That was most of my college experience right there.

It's not good for you. You can do it.

Nobody is going to stop you. What would we say in America?

It's a free country. But just because you're free to

do it don't mean you should do it.

And the. Christian life, we often look at

the actions that we take and say, well, as long as the Bible

doesn't say I can't do it, I'm going to do it.

Is that really the way to look at it?

Is this going to benefit me? The word the Bible uses Edify.

Is this going to help others engage in spiritual wealth?

Will they be built up in their life by watching me do this or

partaking it with me? Because if a younger believer

watches an elder believer do a certain activity, they're just

going to assume the Bible says it's OK because they trust you.

And you're communicating through your actions that which is right

and that which is not. So he says this, you're looking

at it the wrong way. Your actions matter.

And too many Christians fill their lives with the equivalent

of empty calories. Is it allowed?

Yes. Is it beneficial?

No. Now that brings to verse #25

look what it says. This whatsoever is sold in the

shambles that eat. Asking no question for your.

Conscious sake. Now you look at that word

shambles, you say Solon, the shambles.

I mean, what is that talking about?

Now to look that up here, just for my own edification, to make

sure I was looking at this clearly, but the word for

shambles, there is an old English word that literally

means the butcher shop. Now, that doesn't maybe make a

lot of sense to us, but what would we say if something's

falling apart? It's in shambles, right?

It's kind of how I feel right now.

You know, I just said that my my shirts in shambles, all right,

because I didn't iron it like I should.

And now I can't take my jacket off.

Something's in shambles. It's falling apart if a animal

has been taken apart. It's in shambles and the

shambles would be a butchery that would take apart an animal.

So that is a butcher shop. So that goes in line with the

discussion that was on chapter 8 about meat that was being sold

to idols. And so whatsoever is sold in the

shambles that eat, asking no question for conscious sake, for

the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

But or if any Verse 27, if any of them that believe not bid you

to a feast how you supposed to go whatsoever is set before you

eat, asking no question for conscious sake.

But if a man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto

idols. Eat not for his sake that showed

it for conscious sake for the earth is the Lord and the

fullness thereof. Now stop right.

There's a lot of things going on there for just a second.

But remember, we're talking about meat that's offered to

idols. But now Paul is taking it out of

the temple and this meat is now out in the open.

You're going to the butcher shop and Paul says this when you go

to the butcher shop, every time you go to the butcher, do you

have to say this? Do you have any meat offered

idols today? Because I don't want that.

Could you do that? Could you live like?

That probably not. They might not even know what

was offered to idols and not at that point.

It's probably all been mixed together.

How would they know? And it could be that everywhere

has some of that mixture there. And so because that he says you

don't need to ask every time you go to the butcher shop if the

meat has been offered to idols or not Why?

Because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

Now this is important, you'd say.

But that meat, it belonged to pagans.

Well sure, the meat did belong to pagans, but Paul's point is

who did it belong to before the pagans?

This verse came to mind. Psalm 50, verse 10 for every

Psalms 50:10

beast of the forest. Is mine and the cattle upon a

thousand hills? By the way, it still all belongs

to him, even if the pagans think it belongs to them.

It all belongs to him. Everything belongs to him.

And so Paul says that don't don't worry about this.

Don't, don't, don't stress about this.

Don't don't fret about this in this instance, if you go to

someone's house and they're an unbeliever when you go.

Over to the house. Don't ask them.

Was the meat that we're offering tonight the meat eating tonight?

Was it offered idols if you're. Trying to win someone to Christ?

Do you think this is probably the opening salvo that you

should have in trying to explain them?

Jesus Christ? Probably not.

But what if they come to you and say, hey, we're having a dinner

tonight? Boy, I tell you, we got a great

deal. We got it at the market.

It was offered to idols, and it's so cheap, you're not going

to believe it. Well, at that point, it kind of

turns on its head, doesn't it? OK, here's what you need to

understand about this tonight. Because not about the meat, it's

about the message. It's important.

It's not about the meat, it's about the message.

At that point when they told you it's offered idols, you are now

complicit and you're telling them I have no problem with this

and you need to be very careful. You say, pastor, does this have

anything to do with us today? Man, got to give you an example

from my point of view. First, imagine every time

someone ties, I get a report from Ruth, which I do not get,

but I said give me a report and on that report, I didn't know

where everybody got all their money.

It is so quiet. You have no idea.

This is because you have no, you don't know where this is going.

I know. Could you imagine?

I do again, this is an illustration.

We would never do that. Could you imagine the chaos that

would cause to every week to try to figure out where everybody

got their money from? Now, what if someone came to me

and said this, pastor, I robbed a bank.

I want you to have the money. You know, I'm giving it to God.

Perhaps even to make their conscience feel better.

My answer would be no thanks, Not interested.

Why? Because the message of that

would be I'm OK with what you did.

See, that would never happen. Here's one, pastor, if I hit the

lottery, we'll give you the money.

Not now you won't. Why?

Because the message that communicates from me to you is

we need I'll gotten gain to be able to support the Lord's work.

And that's not the message that I want you to have.

I had people tell me that over and over again.

Now am I going to ask questions every time someone gives you

say, oh, I see what it's supposed to be pastor, I should

do it. I just need to tell you about

it. No, that's not the heart of this

message. The heart of it is it's not the

meat, it's the message. Now, where does this apply in

life? Oh, I don't know.

Stores that are out there, do you shop at them?

Do you not shop at them? Do you know if I didn't shop at

ever at any stores that didn't support LGBTQ Plus, Prep,

Planned Parenthood, all those things, I probably wouldn't

shop. What do we do before I go to

every store? Do I need to ask them, where do

you invest your money in? Where do you donate?

This is a principle you had to put in a practice for yourself.

Say, pastor, are you going to give me a list of things I need

to boycott tonight? Where in my ministry do you

think that that's what I'm going to do to you tonight?

I want to give you a principle that you have to put in place

yourself prayerfully, because this is what he's telling them

to do. You have to put this principle

in place. But I want to teach what this

principle is. So, you know, because this was

helpful to me, every store do you go into?

Well, before I know I need to make sure I check every donation

that they make, what political party they don't donate to,

plan, parent, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You can't live like that. It's not even possible.

And also you do want to go in places that are dark so that you

can be a witness. So there is an element of that.

But what if I have to go to a coffee shop?

Well, I never have to go to a coffee shop.

What if I go to a coffee shop and right out front there's a

big rainbow flag? At that point, am I sending a

message by going in that I'm OK with what they're doing?

I think you are. And so when I see that, do you

know what I do? I don't eat coffee that bad when

there are stores that are openly promoting a lifestyle that's an

abomination to God, as we saw Target do just a few years ago.

Was it good when they were in your face saying we're going to

promote an entire month for homosexuality?

We're going to have clothing that kids can portray themselves

differently than the way God created them in that moment?

Am I going to walk in that store and buy anything I am not?

Does that mean you shouldn't go forever?

That's between you and the Lord. But in that moment, while

they're sending a message, I'm sending a message.

If I go in and shop and browse around all those other things

while I'm looking at that, there's other companies,

entertainment companies. Oh, let's just go ahead for

Disney. I remember when the girls were

kids, you put them in front of Disney stuff.

You just knew that's what you're going to watch.

It was OK, it was good. I remember the first time I saw

something, and this is not Disney, but in Sesame Street,

LGBTQ propaganda aimed at my 5 and 6 year old.

We're done, Arthur. So what's Arthur?

Isn't it a cartoon? They're like little anteaters

and stuff. You know, that talk that's, you

know, it was, you know, just normal stuff for kids.

You know, it was all great until Arthur's teacher, male teacher

married his boyfriend aimed at five and six years old.

We're done. Now, has Disney done some things

that have been pretty awful? They absolutely have.

And there are certain things. It's just like, I don't want any

part of that. But Disney owns about 18,000

companies. And does that mean you cannot

purchase from any Disney company at any time?

That's between you and the Lord. But I will tell you this, I

don't want to do anything that would cause a message to other

people that I support unrighteousness.

So it's really not about the meat, it's about the message.

So, Pastor, I see this is what I got from the message tonight.

Boycott Target. Boycott Disney.

I've shopped at Target since I live in walking distance to

Target. I hate it.

It's way too convenient. I can walk there and I say, and

if I walk there and walk back, I burn off the calories from the

ice cream. No, I won't, unless I walk for

two hours the way I eat ice cream.

All right, I understand. Disney and I I have memories of

that. I lived in Florida.

We would go on field trips to Disney World.

There's nothing, you know, going to Epcot.

That's scientific, right? Not really, but that's what we

did. I'm not telling you what to

boycott tonight. I don't think it's my place from

the pulpit to tell you as a church what you need to boycott.

I will say this. If something is sinful, don't do

it. That's the Bible.

But if there's something that's kind of associated with that,

you have to ask yourself this question.

What's the message of me participating in something

that's in its general sphere? And you pray on that, and you

ask yourself this, How does this edify me?

How does this edify other believers around me?

That's what you have to ask yourself.

You'll never hear me from the pulpit.

Get up and say don't ever do this.

Don't ever do this unless it says it in the Word of God.

If it says in the word of God, you'll hear me say a lot.

Don't do it because we're Baptists, we say don't a lot.

Neither. Neither.

Neither. Neither.

It's one of our favorite words. All all joking aside, that's not

true, but the idea is we do say thou shalt not quite a bit

because the word of God says thou shalt not quite a bit and

we don't apologize for that for the same time and issues of

conscience like this. It's not about, well, what?

What do I want to do you already?

It's not about you in the sense that what do I get to do?

Will it build me up? Will it build other people up?

In the midst of the brouhaha at Target, there's a lot of unsaved

people I'm trying to witness to here in Easton.

What if they see me walk in there?

What did that communicate to them that was on their side?

You say, would somebody think that?

I don't know, but it wasn't worth it.

Not for something I could buy somewhere else.

It wasn't what? What if I have to duck under an

LGBTQ flag to get into a coffee shop because it's so proudly

hung there and someone sees me walk in?

What message that send, I don't know, but it's not worth a cup

of coffee I was going to buy because it's about other people.

It's about other people and making sure we're doing right.

Your your actions matter and I want to communicate that I'm

sitting at the right table. I I don't want pictures of me

cozying up in a hot tub with sin.

You know, I'm saying to show intimacy with sin.

I don't want that because I don't want to be questions.

So what do we do? Your your actions matter.

How do we handle those things prayerfully and with thoughts of

others? If the Bible says don't do it,

don't do it. If the Bible doesn't say don't

do it, that don't mean you should do it.

You should pray about it. Be convinced in your own mind as

to what God would have you to do, but err on the side of being

an encouragement to other people.

Why do we say that? Well, because #3 your motive

matters. Your motive matters.

Look at verse #28 Paul is anticipating some push back from

the people of Corinth here. Kind of like maybe some of you

were thinking right now. So he say, I don't know that

everybody's going to be in line with this.

And so he says, But if any man say unto you, this is offered in

in sacrifice unto idol, Oh no, I'm sorry.

Verse #29 conscience. I say, not thine own, but of the

other. Now here's the what I would call

the parentheses here. For why is my liberty judged of

another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker,

why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks?

It's almost like Paul is saying, if I it's OK that I do it, then

why should someone have the right to be upset at me if I was

OK to do it in the first place? And you can kind of squint and

see where they're coming from. Paul.

Paul, I hear what you're saying, but we're not doing anything

wrong. We have liberty.

So how do they have the right to get upset at us when we're not

even doing anything wrong in the 1st place?

How do they have a right to claim it's a stumbling block

when they're not doing anything wrong?

And that's when he gets to verse #31 Whether therefore you eat or

drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Your motive is this. Not that I be praised, but

whatever I do, God be praised. That's the motive.

It's one of my favorite verses. I was a Christian School teacher

for seven years. At the top of.

Every year, the syllabus for my class, I would always put this

verse. Whether therefore you eat or

drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

And I'll be honest with you, for a long time I had my thinking

backwards about this. I'll remind you, we are every

word Baptist. We believe every word in the

Bible and every word matters, doesn't it?

It doesn't say do all for the glory of God.

I think sometimes that's how we think it is.

Do all for the glory of God. Lord, I'm doing it for you.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

You should be doing your doing what you do in life for the

Lord. You really should.

But that's not what it says. It says do all to the glory of

God, meaning this everything I do.

I am directing it. Towards God.

Everything I do, I'm directing it towards God so that I can

direct. Other people towards God, and

that's the motive and that's why I'm willing to give up certain

things that I don't have to give up.

Because everything that I do, I want to direct it to God so that

I can direct other people. To God once you see what that

verse really says. And not just fill in the blanks

of what we think it says, it actually makes it more powerful.

Imagine that man's words are as powerful as God's words.

Whether therefore you eat or drink, whatsoever, do to all to

the glory of God, give none offense.

Neither do the Jews, nor the Gentiles, nor the Church of God.

So. So what is he saying here?

Don't do something that would cause someone in the church to

stumble. Don't do something to cause the

unsaved to stumble. You mentioned this a few weeks

ago. Why don't I go into a paki and

pick up a soda or a bag of ice? Because I don't need that bag of

ice or soda so badly that will it take a chance that someone

could think that I, as a not just a pastor, but as a

Christian, doing something not to do?

I'll be honest with you. I think the Bible's pretty clear

about what it says about alcohol.

But even if you don't think that's the case, this alone is a

compelling argument to stay away from the stuff right here.

Because I don't want to cause someone to stumble.

It's not worth it for a drink or two.

Well, I'm not going to get drunk.

I would argue that could be the case in your life.

I know many people that that's the case.

But it's really not about that. It's about I don't want to put

anything in someone's way where they say.

What? I thought you were a Christian.

I didn't want them to question that.

I want to know what table I'm sitting at and I want to do

everything that I can to make sure the glory goes to God so

that I can help them come to know God.

Verse 33, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking

my own prophet, but the prophet of many that they be saved.

And again, that goes down to motive.

We're almost done here. It goes down to motive.

I don't want my own prophet. It's not about me.

I want to help somebody else because in heaven, at the

judgment seat of Christ, we won't care a nickel about a lot

of the things we care so much about down here.

But we will care about those people that we influence for

Christ, boy, that'll be huge. That'll be everything.

So he says, make sure you value the right things.

Make sure that you're looking for other people's profit and

not your own. Let me let me go back to

Galatians 2 for just a moment. Remember the the table that

Peter sat at mattered because other people were LED astray

because he sat at the wrong table.

That's why we have to be careful.

But do you know one of the people who was LED astray by

that whole situation was none other than Barnabas.

And Barnabas was a good man. Barnabas, you don't really see a

crossword about him in the word of God.

I mean, he and Paul kind of got at loggerheads at one point.

They both had some pride in their life and the Lord used

him. One went one way, one went the

other, and the gospel spread. But I mean, Barnabas, his name

literally meant the son of consolation, that he was one who

encouraged people. And Peter, when he moved over,

even caused a strong man like Barnabas to waver.

That's what I'm saying tonight. This isn't just about trying to

placate weak people, but strong people have weak moments.

Strong people have weak moments. I never have a weak moment.

Then you don't know yourself and someone needs to help you

understand yourself. Because we all have situations.

Our flesh is weak, the Spirit's willing flesh is weak, and that

even within a body of mature believers, if we're not careful

that we could in some action that was not thought out

properly or prayerfully, we could end up communicating to

someone else that something is OK.

That's not OK. And So what do we do?

We've got to be so careful. One person can make a

difference. One person can cause a whole

group of people to think something is OK.

That's not OK in the eyes of God.

But I'd also encourage you, one person who stands can do great

help as well. Here's the Philistines 40 days,

Goliath. Send me out a man.

And the people of Israel, the people of God, are all hiding in

their tents, including their king.

Here comes David, a teenager's, a little boy, not little, but

young enough, so not young enough to be in the battle.

He comes out, he looks around, he says, is there not a 'cause

he goes out with the help of God.

The giant's dead. David comes up, hacks his head

off. You want to talk about one of

the things I'd love to see in instant replay in heaven?

There's one of it right there. Hacks his head off and he's

standing there holding the sword above his head, probably 2 hands

all things considered. And all of a sudden Israel

charges through the valley and now the Philistines are on the

run. You know, they could have done

that 40 days ago. God would have helped him, but

took one man who was willing to stand up in the face of those

who wouldn't, and it changed the course of the people of Israel.

Yeah, one man can do great damage, but one man doing right

can be of great help. One who says I'm not going to

get involved in idolatry. I'm not going to think of

myself. I'm not going to play as close

to the edge as I possibly can without going over like it's the

price is right. You know what I'm going to do?

I'm just going to stick to this book.

I'm going to stick to what the Lord has for me.

I'm going to find things that are beneficial for me in my life

and beneficial for the people of others so I can communicate to

everyone that God gets glory in everything in my life.

So I can give the glory to God to bring other people to God.

Now, there's a lot of answers you'll have to work out for

yourself tonight. These are things that you

prayerfully will have to consider.

I'm going to give you the answers.

That's the easy way out. But I will tell you as your

Christian liberty allows you pray on it.

Think about others in your unique situations.

If God says don't do it, listen, don't do it.

There's nothing to pray about. You'll never hear pastor, they

don't pray. But I will say it about this.

If the law says do it, don't do it.

Don't pray about it, just don't do it.

Then you pray, ask God to give you strength to not do it.

But Lord, is it still not right? It's not going to be right

forever. You don't have to pray and ask

the Lord if it's if it's still the same in his word.

But there's some things that, well, how do we apply that in my

situation with the people around me, that I have influence on the

people I'm trying to win to Christ, that unique situation.

You have to ask yourself this question.

The principle is always the same.

How does it affect me? How does it affect others?

And can God receive glory? And can I bring other people to

Christ by making sure I do the right thing?

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.