Love, Not Knowledge

You cannot be a Christian without being a theologian, because theology is a study of God,

and to be a Christian means you know God and you pursue greater knowledge of God.

So you cannot be a Christian without being a theologian.

But you can be a theologian without being a Christian.

What I mean by that is this.

One can know all there is to know about God and yet not know God.

One can wax eloquently about the love of God and yet not have a tincture of the love of God in himself.

Thomas Akempis, a 15th century German Christian, writes in the very first chapter of his devotional classic, The Imitation of Christ,

Quote,

Lofty words do not make a man just or holy, but a good life makes him dear to God.

I would rather feel contrition than be able to define it.

If you knew the whole Bible by heart and all the teachings of the philosophers, how would this help you without the grace and love of God?

Vanity of vanities and all is vanity except to love God and serve him alone.

Some of the Corinthians had fallen into this trap.

And they claimed great knowledge, but it was a deficient knowledge that did not produce love and good works.

So it was a knowledge that inflated their pride but deflated their love for one another.

So in this passage, Paul teaches them that love, not knowledge, is supposed to be the basis for Christian ethics, how we behave toward one another.

And reminds them that those who have been saved by the self-sacrifice of Christ should build one another up with self-effacing love, not self-inflating knowledge.

And that will be my three points. The first point will be self-inflating knowledge in first six verses, self-effacing love, verses 7 to 10, and self-sacrificing Christ in verses 11 to 13.

Paul begins in verse 1 with the phrase, now concerning, which is now the third time that Paul has used the phrase to indicate a new topic that he is addressing.

And this time the issue concerns food given to idols, food offered to idols.

So within the Roman Empire, various cultic festivals and family celebrations were regularly held in pagan temples.

And so usually when they have these celebrations and festivals, an animal would be sacrificed to the idols.

And then they would be divided up and served to the masses in the temple's dining halls.

For Gentile Christians in particular who had converted from their pagan background to Christianity,

there would have been enormous pressure, social pressure and family pressure to partake in these cultic festivals and family celebrations.

Especially, for example, if it happened to be a wedding of a relative happening in this pagan temple, right?

With the sacrifice taking place.

So the Corinthian believers had written to Paul about this matter, about eating food that was sacrificed to idols on such occasions.

And evidently they had insisted that they had the right to eat such meat at such festivals.

And their justification was this.

All of us possess knowledge.

That was their justification.

The word knowledge is a key word that occurs throughout 1 Corinthians.

It occurs nine times, four times in just this chapter.

And it's related to other key words that occur again and again in 1 Corinthians.

Words like speech, wisdom, right?

And Corinthians were, as we know from the previous seven chapters, they were people who boasted in their words of wisdom, lofty speech, and so-called knowledge.

And Paul contrasted his own approach to ministry from their perspective in chapter 2, verses 4 to 5 this way.

My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power,

so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The Corinthians believed that they had received special knowledge from God that set them apart from other believers and made them better than everybody else.

And because of that, they disdained even the apostle Paul himself and his teachings, thinking that they possessed superior knowledge than he did.

So this passage here is another instance of their misguided, prideful knowledge.

And Paul roundly rebukes them.

Read what he says.

This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

Paul's not saying here that knowledge is bad or that it is unimportant, right?

Notice the translators put quotation marks around the word knowledge to help us with that.

The knowledge that the Corinthians are boasting of is not true knowledge because it's not grounded in love.

And such knowledge does, all it does is inflate people with pride so that their heads swell up like a balloon, right?

And that's the image that Paul uses here.

It makes them puffed up, full of hot air, having big heads but no heart.

And such knowledge destroys people, Paul says in verse 11.

In contrast, love builds up.

Making them more vain and empty.

It loves, edifies people, builds them up, helping them to grow in a more substantive way.

Paul explains this further in verse 2.

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

Paul said earlier in chapter 3, verses 18 to 19.

Let no one deceive himself.

If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God, right?

So the Corinthian believers, they valued worldly wisdom over the message of Christ crucified,

over the good news of Jesus Christ.

And because of that, they were, even though they were convinced that they were wise, they were in fact fools.

In a similar way, those who imagine that they, you know, possess some kind of special knowledge that puts them a notch above everybody else,

they do not yet know as they ought to know.

Because true knowledge of God always begins with acquaintance with God, relationship with God.

And when we encounter God, it produces in us humility and submission, right?

I mean, if you read through the Bible, people who encounter God, meet him, they don't, you know, strut around with their chest sticking out and their heads up, held high.

They prostrate themselves on the ground and say, woe is me.

Because they're overwhelmed by the exceeding glory of God and their exceeding unworthiness to face him.

So all true knowledge of God begins with that kind of humility because that's where true knowledge is.

But Paul continues in verse 3.

In contrast to the Corinthian knowledge, self-inflating knowledge that exposed their ignorance of God.

But Paul continues in verse 3.

If anyone loves God, he is known by God.

Notice the two parallel, you know, contrasts between love and knowledge.

It says, you know, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

And then he says those who think that they know something, they don't know as they ought to know.

But those who love, right, are truly known by God.

And notice how he doesn't say those who love God truly know God.

He doesn't say that.

Those who love are truly known by God, right?

You see how he turned it around there from the active verb to know to passive verb to being known by God.

That's similar to what he says later in chapter 13, verse 12 of this chapter.

When he says, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part that I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Right?

So there he is saying that presently the knowledge that we have of God is partial.

We only know him in part.

But he knows us even now fully.

We're known by him in a full way.

Similar thing is said again by Paul in Galatians 4.9.

It's, but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God.

Right?

This is a typical way in which Paul turns things around.

Because for Paul, God's knowledge of us precedes and enables our knowledge of him.

God's knowledge of us is a reference to his electing love.

Right?

That God chose us to make a covenant with us, to have a relationship with us.

So God says to prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1.5,

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

He's saying, I chose you for a special purpose.

Again, in Amos 3.2, he says,

You only have I known among all the families of the earth.

God's not saying there that, well, I know who you are, Israel,

but I really don't know anything about the other nations.

I mean, that would be an absurd thing to say, right, from an omniscient God.

He knows everyone.

That's not what he's saying.

He's saying that I know you, Israel, in a special way.

I have singled you out for a purpose.

You are my chosen people.

So to know when God knows us, when we're known by him,

that means he's chosen us.

It's his electing love.

It's because we were known by him that we now know him.

Think about it this way.

It's used in illustration from other parts of scripture.

Matthew 7.21-23, when Jesus teaches about the final judgment,

he says,

Why is being known by God so important?

Because when you seek to be admitted to the king's court,

it doesn't matter one bit how much you claim to know him.

What determines your standing in the king's court is not whether or not you know him,

but whether or not he knows you.

Will the king acknowledge you?

Will the king grant you an audience?

And our love for God is the evidence that we are known by God,

and therefore truly know him ourselves.

But the Corinthian believers had become more concerned with possessing knowledge about God

than being known by God and belonging to him.

They were using their so-called knowledge to engorge their own pride

and advance their own agenda

and elevate their own perceived spiritual standing in the eyes of others,

when true knowledge would have instead produced deeper humility and submission to God.

Theology, right, the study of God,

must lead to doxology, which is the worship of God.

Which theoretical knowledge that we have about God

has to lead to personal and relational knowledge of God.

Knowledge of God must lead to the love of God.

As Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 13,

If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,

and if I have faith so as to remove mountains,

but have not love,

I am nothing.

Because if you do not love,

you do not know as you ought to know.

So Paul wants to bring the Corinthian so-called knowledge back to its proper mooring.

If anyone imagines that he knows something,

he does not yet know as he ought to know.

But if anyone loves God,

he is known by God.

Unfortunately, the Corinthian church

was not the only church that was guilty of what one Bible commentator calls

a tyranny of knowledge,

as we see here in this passage.

We've seen many of this throughout church history.

Sometimes the brightest students of the Bible

can be the most insufferable know-it-alls.

You guys probably know some of them.

I've been that myself in my life.

I saw an example of this self-inflating knowledge this past week.

A friend of mine wrote an article for the Gospel Coalition months ago,

and she recently discovered a scathing critique of her article on a Christian blog.

And I read through that critique because she posted it.

And the author of that critique was clearly well-versed in the Bible and theology.

In fact, he probably aligns very closely to exactly where I am theologically.

But as I read through that,

and even when he made a brighter point,

he was completely uncharitable and dismissive.

And whenever he could,

he assumed the worst of her intentions in her writing.

Let me ask you, right?

Have you ever used your superior theological knowledge

as a basis for looking down on others?

When you meet a fellow Christian,

do you always try to see how you measure up to each other

in terms of your spiritual history,

your Bible knowledge, and theology,

so you can establish yourself on the totem pole?

Do you ever engage in theological one-upmanship

in your conversation with other believers?

If your knowledge of God...

I struggle with this because I've been guilty of this so many times myself,

and it breaks my heart that this is what I've done.

If the knowledge of God doesn't make you more like God,

then you do not know God rightly.

Knowledge divorced from love, self-inflating knowledge,

is a telltale sign that you do not know God as you should.

And this is the case even when your knowledge is technically correct.

Having addressed the pride that was the root of the Corinthians' misguided behavior,

Paul returns once again to the issue in which their pride manifests itself

in verses 4 to 6.

Read with me, verses 4 to 6.

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols,

we know that an idol has no real existence,

and that there is no God but one.

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth,

as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

yet for us there is one God, the Father,

from whom are all things and for whom we exist,

and one Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

The knowledge that the Corinthians were claiming for themselves

was the foundational truth that there is no God but one,

and that by implication all the so-called gods and idols of their pagan culture

were in fact nothing.

They are not real.

They don't exist.

So Paul agrees wholeheartedly with the Corinthians' belief.

Their knowledge that they had about this was true.

There is no God but one, and Paul agrees with them.

He says,

We too know that an idol has no real existence,

and that there is no God but one.

This is objectively true.

But nevertheless,

Paul recognizes that there are many people in the world

for whom these idols are very much real in a subjective sense.

Do you follow what I'm saying?

So he says in verses 5 to 6,

That for them, indeed, there are many gods and lords,

yet for us there is one God, the Father,

from whom are all things and for whom we exist,

and one Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Notice the deliberate contrast there between the many gods and many lords

that the Romans serve,

and the one God and one Lord,

one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ.

So Paul is categorically denying that there are any other gods and lords.

That is true.

And that's a powerful Trinitarian statement, actually.

This is one of the earliest books in the New Testament.

It was written around 55 A.D.

And so this is,

and it already alongside God the Father,

the one God,

Paul affirms Jesus Christ as the one Lord.

And Paul has no problem simultaneously affirming

that there is one God and one Lord,

and at the same time that there is no God but one.

Right?

So this is the doctrine of the Trinity.

That God is triune,

that he is three in one,

that there is one divine essence,

but three divine persons.

This wasn't a doctrine that was made up later

and added to Scripture.

And of course,

the Holy Spirit is not mentioned here

because Paul is using the parallelism

of the many gods and many lords

against one God and one Lord.

But he includes the Holy Spirit later

in the Trinitarian formulae

in 1 Corinthians 12, 4-6.

So though they are one God,

the Father is not the Son,

and the Son is not the Father.

They are distinct persons

with distinct operations.

So look at verse 6.

Paul notes here,

the Father is described as the one

from whom are all things

and for whom we exist.

The Father is both the origin

and the destination of all creation.

But note that Paul doesn't say this.

He doesn't say,

from whom are all things

and for whom are all things.

That's not what Paul says.

He says,

from whom are all things

and for whom we exist.

He's making this personal for all of us.

not just abstractly,

oh, all creation is from him.

No, you are from him.

All of us are from him.

He is our origin

and he is our destination.

And this is a question,

these are questions

that everyone,

every human being wants to answer.

Who am I?

Where did I come from?

What is the meaning of life?

What is my purpose?

And apart from God,

you search for answers

to those questions in vain.

We have the answer.

The word of God tells us here

that we are from God the Father

and we exist for him.

Every Christian in this room

will tell you that

it's only when you renounce

your own sinful ways

and surrender yourself to God

that you truly come to know yourself

and find your true identity.

It's only when you give your life to God

and live for him

that you find true meaning

and fulfill your ultimate purpose in life.

If you're not yet a Christian,

I plead with you.

Give your life to God today.

And the Son of God

is described in verse 6 this way,

as the one through whom are all things

and through whom we exist.

If the Father is the origin and destination,

the Son is the medium,

the road to and from the Father.

And this too is personal.

Not only are all things through him,

it says we exist through him.

He is the word of God

through whom we came to exist.

And he's the mediator

through whom we receive salvation

and are united with God.

I've used this analogy before,

but if you think of receiving a gift from someone,

there's a giver

and there is the deliverer

and there is the gift itself.

You can think of God the Father as the giver,

God the Son as the deliverer,

and God the Spirit as the gift.

In terms of creation,

God the Father speaks things into being.

He creates, he's the planner.

And God the Son is described in Scripture

as the word of God

that proceeds from the Father

to bring all creation into being,

to accomplish it.

And the Spirit is described in Scripture

as the breath of God

that brings life,

imbues all creation with life.

And in terms of salvation,

it's God the Father

who plans from before the foundation of the world

to save his people.

And it's God the Son

who is sent by the Father

to accomplish that

by living and dying on the cross

and rising again from the dead.

And it is a Spirit

who is then sent by the Father and the Son

to imbue spiritual life,

impart spiritual life

to all his people.

If you want to,

and because of this,

and because all things are through Jesus,

salvation is through Jesus,

because Jesus is the way,

the truth,

and the life,

and no one comes to the Father

except through him.

If you want to get to know God

and to be known by him,

if you want peace with God,

if you want eternal life,

only way is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if you have not yet come to know

this Jesus for salvation,

you have a great opportunity to do it today.

So if this was the knowledge

that the Corinthians claimed to have,

what's the problem?

Right?

Isn't this all great things

that they should believe?

Yeah, Corinthians believed

that there is no God but one.

This is a great truth to believe.

So what's the problem, Paul?

Why are you rebuking them?

The doctrine is true.

The problem is not with what they believed

about the oneness and uniqueness of God.

The problem was in their application

of this truth.

The Corinthians were arguing

that because there's only one God

and the idols are no real gods at all,

that they should be free

to attend these cultic celebrations

and festivals and pagan temples

and eat all they want.

They're filled with the meat

that was sacrificed to idols.

Their logic was this,

why should we let this delicious

and expensive meat go to waste?

They're just,

they're nothing at all,

these idols.

They were correct in their knowledge,

but they were wrong

in their application

of their knowledge

in two important ways.

first, as Paul argues later in chapter 10,

even though the idols are no gods at all,

food offered to them in sacrifice

is essentially being offered to demons.

Therefore, to participate in such feasts

is equivalent to participating with demons.

So the Corinthians were wrong to think,

their knowledge was deficient,

they were wrong to think

that they could participate

in such feasts with immunity.

But that's not Paul's concern

in the present passage.

He'll deal with that in chapter 10.

Paul's concern with them is this,

the second problem

with their application

of their knowledge,

that their application of knowledge

did not stem from love

and consideration

for their fellow Christian brothers

and sisters,

but instead,

they were acting out of

self-inflating knowledge,

not self-effacing love.

That was the problem.

They were behaving

with a sense of selfish entitlement.

Oh, I could do that.

Not selfless love.

And that brings us

to the second point,

self-effacing love.

In verses 7 to 13,

Paul explains why

their insistence

on participating

in such pagan feasts

was selfish and unloving.

Because while their knowledge

that idols are no gods at all

is correct,

Paul adds this in verse 7.

Read with me.

However,

not all possess this knowledge,

but some,

through former association

with idols,

eat food as really offered

to an idol,

and their conscience

being weak

is defiled.

Even though

all Christians

believe cognitively

in their mind

that the idols

are no gods at all,

there are some,

because of their

former association

with idols,

still do not share

this knowledge

in an experiential,

emotional way.

Do you guys see

what I'm saying?

It's similar to how

many people in our culture

view superstitions.

Most people in the U.S.

do not believe

in superstitions.

They know that

superstitions,

they're not real.

There's no substance

to them.

But,

even though they know

that objectively,

many people

still believe

in superstitions

subjectively.

So,

they still avoid

walking under a ladder.

They try not to

cross paths

with a black cat.

They try not

to put an umbrella

indoors.

They try to be

extra cautious

on Friday the 13th.

You guys all know

people like that,

right?

So,

yeah,

they know

that these are not true.

They know the superstitions

are not true,

but subjectively,

in their experience,

they can't live like that.

They believe it.

In the same way,

when you have worshipped

idols year after year

at those pagan festivals,

even if you know

that they're not real,

they sure feel real

when you're offering

a sacrifice to them,

and that could lead

them to idolatry.

And for them,

because of their

weak conscience,

it would lead

to their defilement.

So,

then in verse 8,

Paul offers a brief

concession to the Corinthians.

He says,

food will not

come to God.

We are no worse off

if we do not eat

and no better off

if we do.

So,

he's conceding this

to the Corinthians.

You're right.

Food doesn't

command us to God.

It's not going to make us

more acceptable to God

or less acceptable to God.

You're right about that.

But,

Paul returns to his

main objection in verse 9,

but take care

that this right of yours

does not somehow

become a stumbling block

to the weak.

Even if you have

the right to eat

such things,

you should not

follow through with it

and exercise your right

to do so

because our actions

affect other people

and we need to be

considerate toward them.

Our right must not

become a stumbling block.

What does Paul mean

by a stumbling block?

This is commonly

misunderstood.

Paul explains it

in verse 10.

For if anyone

sees you

who have knowledge

eating at an idol's

temple,

will he not be encouraged

if his conscience

is weak

to eat food

offered to idols?

And so,

by your knowledge,

this weak person

is destroyed.

So,

if a Christian

asserts his right

and with a clear conscience

eats a sacrifice

made to an idol,

a Christian

with a weaker conscience

might see that

in the temple

and be like,

oh,

he's doing it.

Maybe I can do the same

but he himself

cannot do so

with a clear conscience.

And so,

in doing so,

he will be sinning

against the Lord.

So,

to be a stumbling block,

then,

it doesn't just mean

to offend

someone's sensibilities.

It means to cause

that person to sin,

to lead that person

to sin.

And when Paul says

that the Christian

with a weak conscience

will be encouraged

to eat food

offered to idols,

the word translated

encouraged

is actually

the exact same

Greek word

that was used

earlier in verse 1

to mean build up.

So,

Paul's saying,

literally,

they will be built up

to eat food

offered to idols.

So,

he's using that word

in an ironic way

because he said

that knowledge puffs up

but love builds up.

But Corinthians,

in contrast,

think that they're

building up one another

by imparting

this so-called knowledge

to each other.

They think that

they're building

each other up

and they're saying,

oh,

brother,

it's no sin

to eat this meat.

Let me show you.

Watch me eat this meat.

Come,

eat it with me.

Let me show you

how to live in freedom.

That's what they're doing.

They think that

they're building

the other brother up

but Paul says,

you're building them up

to be destroyed

because they might be led

to idolatry

and apostasy.

They thought

they were building them up.

They thought

they were being constructive

but they were just

being destructive

and how selfish

and self-centered

is this,

what they're doing.

Because Paul says

in verse 12

that by doing this,

what they're doing

is sinning

against their brothers

and wounding

their conscience

when it is weak.

It's the strong

that should accommodate

themselves to the weak

not the other way around.

Instead of bearing

your weaker brother

and covering up

his weakness

in love,

you are wounding him

while he is weak

as a predator would do.

How selfish is that?

This seems to be

a recurring problem

for the Corinthians

because remember

that one of the

Corinthians slogans

is all things

are lawful for me.

Paul quotes

that slogan twice

in chapter 6-12

and chapter 10-23

and in both instances

he sharply qualifies

their slogan

by saying that

while all things

are lawful,

not all things

are helpful.

And Paul's addressing

the same idea here.

Yes, it might be

lawful for you

to do that.

It turns out

that it's not even

lawful as we find out

in chapter 10

because they're

participating with demons.

But Paul's saying

let me grant you that

for the sake

of my argument.

Okay, let's say

that it's lawful.

Even if it's lawful

for you,

is it helpful

for you to do that?

Does it build up

your other brothers

and sisters

for you to eat there?

You might have

the right to do it

but that doesn't mean

that you should

do it.

And so this is

the principle,

the two-fold principle.

If you're not

fully convinced

that what you're doing

is lawful

and you do it anyway,

your action

does not stem

from faith

and therefore

it is sinful.

That's what

the weaker brothers

were doing.

But even if you

are fully convinced

that what you're doing

is lawful,

if what you're doing

is not helpful

for building up others

and you do it anyway,

then because your action

does not stem

from love for others,

it is sinful.

For the Christian,

love,

not our individual freedom,

is the higher code.

So Paul says

in verse 13,

it's so inspirational,

therefore,

if food makes

my brother stumble,

I will never eat meat

lest I make

my brother stumble.

Paul himself

was willing

to forego

meat altogether

out of his love

for other Christian

brothers and sisters.

He was ready to,

willing to,

curtail his own rights

out of his love,

self-effacing love

for others.

This idea is probably

offensive to a lot of you,

right?

You might say to yourself,

why should I change

how I live

based on what

other people think?

Why should I give up

my freedoms

for them?

Why should other people

have any say

in how I think

and behave?

You do you,

I'll do me.

Right?

That is the prevailing

narrative

attitude

of our culture.

We supremely value

our individual freedom

and believe that

everyone should have

the right to believe

what they want

and behave

the way they want.

But as the renowned

Canadian philosopher

Charles Taylor

insightfully observes,

while our culture

has uncritically

adopted the truism

that, quote,

nobody should have

the right to tell others

what to think

or how to behave,

it is clear

that to have

any kind

of livable society,

some choices

have to be restricted,

some authorities

have to be respected,

and some individual

responsibility

has to be assumed.

unrestricted

individual freedom,

the idea

that each person

should be completely

self-determining

is an illusion.

No one who thinks

and lives that way

will be able

to stay married

for long.

No person

who lives

and thinks

that way

will be able

to function

as a normal

member of society.

That kind of

radically libertarian

attitude toward human

freedom

destroys relationships.

it erodes community.

And the church

is an intimately

related

and intricately

interdependent

community.

It is described

as the family

of God.

That's why Paul

calls these people

brothers.

And if the family

is to thrive,

some individual

rights must be

restricted.

If the family

is to be built up,

some individual

rights have to

be given up.

But Paul

doesn't demand

this.

He doesn't

enforce this.

He encourages

each believer

to do so

voluntarily.

For the members

of the church,

self-effacing love,

not self-inflating

knowledge,

is the rule.

It's not enough

to be oriented

inwardly toward

yourself.

We have to be

oriented outwardly

toward others.

And Christian love

demands that we

forego our rights

for the sake

of others.

not insist

on our rights

at the expense

of others.

And here's

the reason

why this

ethic makes

so much sense

from a Christian

perspective.

That brings us

to my final point,

self-sacrificing

Christ.

Paul says

in verse 11,

And so by your

knowledge,

this weak person

is destroyed.

And who is

this weak person?

Paul continues,

The brother

for whom

Christ

died.

this is not

some stranger

we're talking

about here.

It's your

Christian brother,

it's your

Christian sister,

shouldn't you

gladly give up

your rights

for his or her

sake?

And if he is

a Christian brother,

that means he is

someone for whom

Christ died.

The one Lord

Jesus Christ,

the one through

whom all things

were created,

that Lord Jesus

Christ died for him.

He died for her.

Christ died on the

cross for sins

so that they might

be forgiven and

live.

And when your God

and when your Lord

did this for him,

you,

a mere servant,

you would selfishly

and pettily

insist on your

trivial rights

to destroy him.

The height

of arrogance.

The height

of ignorance

and selfishness.

When you do this,

Paul continues

in verse 12,

not only are you

sinning against

your brothers,

you sin against

Christ.

Why is this so?

Because your

Christian brothers

and sisters

belong to Christ

because they are

members of the

family of God

because by virtue

of their union

with Christ

by the Spirit

through faith,

they are parts

of the body

of Christ.

So by sinning

against them,

the parts of

the body,

you are sinning

against Christ

himself.

And look at

how closely

Christ identifies

with his people.

Jesus says

in Mark 9,

42,

whoever causes

one of these

little ones

who believe

in me

to stumble,

it's the exact

same word,

it would be

better for him

if with a heavy

millstone hung

around his neck,

he had been

cast into the

sea.

What a fearful

prospect.

We should

tremble at the

prospect of

leading any one

of our Christian

brothers or sisters

into sin.

Do you see

how loved a

Christian is

by the Lord

Jesus Christ?

Take a moment

to examine

yourself.

Is there

anything that you

are doing in your

life that might

lead others to

sin?

Are you

wounding another

brother or sister's

conscience in any

way?

Are you leading

a weaker Christian

sister into sexual

immorality and

fornication by the

way you show

physical affection to

your boyfriend or

girlfriend?

Are you leading a

weaker Christian

brother who was

formerly addicted to

alcohol back into

drunkenness by

drinking beer in

front of him?

Are you leading a

Christian?

Are you leading a

weaker Christian who

was formerly

involved with

Hinduism back into

idolatry by going

into a Hindu temple

to do some yoga?

Are you leading a

weaker Christian into

sin by watching TV

shows and listening

to music laced with

profanities and

vulgarities which

they themselves cannot

watch with a clear

conscience?

even if you can do

all of those things

with a clear

conscience are you

just thinking about

yourself or are you

thinking about your

brothers and sisters?

My examples might

cause considerable

discomfort to some of

you but let me ask

you if you're thinking

to yourself well why

should I care for them

is your attitude that

of the attitude of

Christ?

Christ is the

sinless one yet he

died for our sins

he had a perfect

relationship with God

the Father yet he

was forsaken by him

so we can be

reconciled to him

restored to communion

with him

we were his rebels

eneemies

yet Christ took the

punishment that we

deserved

and you can't give

that up for the sake

of your brothers and

sisters

see how Paul responds

therefore if food

makes my brother

stumble I will never

eat meat lest I make

my brother stumble

let that be your

resolution today

let that be your

attitude today

far be it from me

that I should make

a brother or sister

stumble on account

of my indulgence

and if you are not

yet a Christian

I hope from this

passage you see the

gravity of sin and

the intensity of God's

love for his people

first the life of sin

is a pathway to

eternal destruction

you must stop being

your own God

you must stop living

for yourself and turn

to the one God the

Father from whom are

all things and for

whom we exist

you must stop being

your own Lord and you

have to turn to the

one Lord Jesus Christ

through whom are all

things and through whom

you exist secondly note

the intensity of God's

love for you he loved

us enough to die for

us Jesus Christ the

Lord of life died the

death that we deserved

on the cross so we

might live the life that

only he deserved to

live Christ has earned

our righteousness he

has won our victory and

he has flung open the

gates of heaven for you

only if you would repent

of your sins

and believe in Jesus

Christ for salvation

don't wait until next

week or next year

we're creatures who do

not even know what

tomorrow holds for us

you can be known by the

almighty creator

you can know him

personally

intimately

you can know him and

have a relationship with

him today

stop spurning his love

receive his love today

let's pray together

God we know that this

this truth this principle

that you enjoin on us it

makes no sense to the

world it makes no sense

when we live with

worldly attitudes it

only makes sense in so

far as we take on the

attitude of Christ who

though being in very

nature God did not

consider himself

considered equality with

God something to be

grasped but humbled

himself

so Lord help us to love

as you love us with

self-effacing love

help us to build one

another up for your

glory

in Jesus name we pray

amen

зачем