On Idols (1 Cor. 10) | The Sandhurst Podcast

All right.

Welcome to the Sandhurst Beyond Sunday podcast.

We want to help Saints think biblically about God life and culture so that our faith goes beyond Sunday.

Amen.

That's what we want.

And so we are in 1 Corinthians 10.

And before we jump into that, Adam, anything crazy that happened this week?

You know, this week it continues, right?

World Cup still going.

And uh and what what the only crazy thing is, you know, we we lived in England those years and completely basically forgot about Wimbledon finals happening because of the World Cup.

So we watched some highlights and and uh and caught it that way.

But I mean the World Cup has just kind of been been been it for us.

Yeah, I think our last podcast, we were all excited about the United States playing Belgium.

Woo woo and woo.

Yeah, yeah.

That that was Hey, if you don't watch the game, uh good for you.

We got spanked.

Yeah.

Embarrassed.

But did you watch Wimbledon?

Uh so just the just the post-game highlights.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, I watched it.

I watched it.

Yeah.

It's a good match.

Dude, Sinner is a beast.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean it's a good match.

To to to f to alternate sets that go into uh to um tiebreakers is crazy.

Yeah.

Well well matched.

All right.

Well, if you don't keep up with sports, then we apologize.

Yeah.

If you keep up with the Bible, then great because uh that's where we are.

So um we're in 1 Corinthians 10.

We're gonna go through the text today, and really what happens is Paul really brings everything he's been doing the last two chapters, well, chapters three chapters, eight, nine, and ten, brings it all to a conclusion.

And so let's just kind of remember where we've been.

Let's keep First Corinthians uh in a way that we can hold it in our hands.

All right.

So chapters one through six is rebukes.

Chapters seven through sixteen is what?

Um issues.

Yeah, it's it's replies to issues that they've brought to him.

Yeah, yeah.

So rebukes and replies.

Um chapters one through four, he's rebuking them for their favoritism, yeah, for the divisive allegiances they've formed around their favorite church leader, and his solution to that is elevate the savior above the servant.

That um he goes, We plant, we water, God causes the growth.

And uh so then in chapter five, he moves to a new issue of rebuke, and that rebuke is a man is sleeping with his father's wife, probably his stepmom.

He gives some really hard words to the church there that we've spent a fair amount of time in our podcast talking about.

He says, Here's what you need to do.

You need to remove the man from your midst.

And what we've talked about is that's not because it was massive moral failure, but because it was ongoing unrepentant sin.

That's right.

We're not saying it wasn't massive moral failure, it was.

We're saying it is more than that ongoing unrepentant sin.

Yeah.

Um chapter six, he brings up the issue of lawsuits.

They're suing one another, and he goes, Hey man, is there not a wise man among you who can decide?

I literally, um, I was on the phone with a Christian a couple weeks ago who was talking about a dispute um in the church, and and he was like, he said, Um, well, if if this if she doesn't change, um then I'm I'm gonna take her to court.

And I I said, No.

Yeah, yeah.

I said, No, we're no we're not gonna do that.

Like, we have a chapter in the Bible for this.

We're not going to sue her.

There are people in church who can step in and help decide here.

That's right.

So this is like, this is real stuff.

Yeah.

Um, and then in chapter six, the other rebuke is this sexual immorality where they're sleeping with prostitutes.

And um, the good part about all this is in the midst of the rebukes, there are some that there's he weaves the gospel into it.

He does not just provide solutions to the rebukes.

He doesn't just say flee sexual immorality.

Right.

He weaves the gospel into it.

So put you on the spot a little bit here.

Um, is there any part of the the gospel thread through those first five chapters that when you read it, I'm like, you're like, man, I love that.

Well, I think the two things, you know, one of you which you mentioned and one's kind of at the very end of the section, you know, he says, look, you know, uh one one plants, you know, one waters, one fertilizes, but only God makes it grow has been so helpful for me and just reminding me who's the real boss here that uh that God's in control.

And I mean, even in our modern world, we're so proud of ourselves for all of our tech and everything we can do, and it's amazing.

But literally, we cannot make one stalk of corn grow out of the ground, still.

And so just the fact that that God remains in control of everything is super helpful for me to remind myself that the king the universe has a king, and you know, NVIDIA has not changed that.

He is still the king, and and that and that his laws still rule, and therefore we need to continue to submit his laws that because he is still the king, his kingship still stands, and it's not like, well, that was for the ancient barbarians.

You know, now we're kind of no, we still sit under this king.

And so that ver that that verse, that concept that only God makes it grow is one thing.

Second thing, well, hey, let me jump in there um and just ask you this.

If who what what kind of person at Sandhurst would you say, man, this that ought to be especially hopeful and life-giving to you, this reality that while we plant and we water, God calls us the growth.

Well, uh it's if someone, let's just call it um, you know, kind of faithfulness uh in obscurity.

You know, you're a mom and you've been raising those kids for 17 years and you've been plugging away, investing in their life day after day after day.

And, you know, you're like, where is that investment?

You know, God sees, God knows, God is going to, God is the God is the only one who can really make that grow.

So it's not, uh I think we're easy, it's easy for us to blame ourselves when things don't go like we want.

We shared the gospel, they didn't repent.

You know, we've we disciplined them, they didn't submit, you know, but only God can do that.

And I so I think for the person who labors in faithfulness and obscurity, that's the uh it's for them.

Totally agree.

Uh what it's true for a parent, like you just mentioned, true for an equipping class teacher, yeah.

True for a life group leader.

Yep.

Um, it's it's true across the board where we can we can go, okay, I'm gonna pour myself out for the sake of this person.

It's true for the person um who has chosen a one, like a a lost person that they want to win to Jesus, and they've shared the gospel now.

They didn't see the fruit.

Um, maybe they shared the gospel, maybe they prayed daily and yet have not yet seen the change that they want.

That's right.

We rejoice and we we believe.

We plant, we water.

God causes the growth.

That's right.

Um, all right, I have to cut you off that you had one.

Yeah, uh last thing being uh that there, that that last verse of that whole first section, last verse of uh chapter six, where he says, You are not your own, you've been bought uh with a price, therefore honor God with your body.

It's like just reminding us that that we are his and that uh that he that he is the master, he gets to say.

And so it's not like well that's when when when Paul's speaking into these things that they won't say like that's not how we do it, or that's not right anymore, or whatever.

You know, it's like okay, if if God has spoken to this, that is it.

You know, there's there's no God as my co-pilot, he's the pilot, right?

He and so he gets to say, and so we submit ourselves, and there's just freedom in that to let God be the master.

Yeah.

Uh you've been bought with a price.

You're not your own.

Um, therefore glorify God with your body.

So uh that's how chapter six ends.

Chapter seven then picks up with, again, answers to questions.

And the answer, uh, the question that they're asking about is about marriage.

And so he answers questions there and the principle of love all throughout it, that um that he says the husband doesn't have authority of his over his uh the the husband has authority over his wife, and the wife has authority over her husband.

And so what do we what do we understand there?

Well, we understand that we have authority over that which belongs to God.

How do you treat something in a way that uh belongs to someone else?

Treat it well.

Yeah, you treat it well, you do treat it in a way that honors their owner.

Yes.

And so that's the principle of love in chapter seven that I treat my wife in a way that honors her owner.

And that's God.

That's right.

Um, so that's chapter seven, chapters eight through ten, then is this issue of meat sacrifice to idols.

That's what it is on the surface.

Um, dig a little deeper.

It's about conscience, my internal court.

What what do I have freedom to do under God's word?

Um and uh but then you dig a little deeper, it's not just about conscience, it's about love.

It's about what I would um under under God's word and under my conscience, what I may be free to do, and then what I would, what freedoms I would lay down for the sake of the brother, and then not just for the sake of the brother, but to win the lost.

This is uh 1 Corinthians so far, and so that brings us to chapter 10, where he he brings this argument that he's making in chapters 8 through 10 full circle, uh, with the meat sacrificed to idols and operating under scripture according to conscience in love to win the lost.

So uh let's start here.

Let's uh give us a little bit of a synthesis, a little summary of you taught to this passage on Sunday.

What were you hoping would come out of it?

What did, if you're gonna kind of summarize it in a nutshell, what what did you hope happened on Sunday?

Yeah, so I mean, Paul is, as you said, wrapping up these three chapters on food sacrificed to idols, which is really about conscience, which is really about love, and he lands it full circle with the glory of God.

It's even, you know, so I was hoping to to do a kind of a higher level uh light and sin city, right?

So we're bringing the gospel to these, to, to the brokenness of the city and say, look, it's not what where where how can you bring how can and when you live in a world of pagans and there you can't control them, they're gonna they're gonna worship their own idols and they're gonna live in their way, which is but you have to be in the world but not above the world.

So how can you interact with them on a daily basis?

How can you live in the world and bring glory to God among people who don't?

They're committed to not do it.

Can you can you eat their food?

Can you celebrate their parties?

Can you go into their worship centers?

And so I think Paul is applying it.

And so I wanted to kind of the the two things I want to communicate were one um about this the the seriousness of idol worship and really the depth of why idol worshippers, you know, that in Paul's context, we're doing what they're doing so we could we could sympathize with as evangelists to sympathize with what draws them towards that.

And then secondly, kind of create a foil for that around the Lord's Supper to say this this is the the fellowship that we're meant to have is not with demons, not with idols, and not even ultimately with the world, but with God.

And it happens through uh through Christ, and then the the modern uh symbol that we have still is communion, the body and the blood of Christ.

And to to just have a sense of awe and reverence of the the significance of the fellowship that we have with Christ through communion and through our faith, and how that is much more closely mimicked in the pagan rituals than we think, and therefore hopefully give us some insight in how to reach out in love to them.

All right, yeah.

So uh if two hopes hope number one, tell me if I'm if I'm saying right correctly what what you just said.

Hope number one is to address idolatry.

Hope number two uh was to celebrate the gospel as articulated or as symbolized in the Lord's Supper.

Correct.

Okay, and and the reason that you wanted to do both one is because the text does, but also in terms of um addressing idolatry, uh, that you you you shared a fair amount about like the the Hindu temple that you visited and and trying to address idolatry where the the seriousness of it can be seen, but also that that idolatry is not just something that um that people out there do.

But to be see, this isn't just kind of some silly thing that people do with rocks and stones.

Um there's a lot of you might say attractiveness to it and then the way it resonates with the human heart and then and a lot of relatability to it.

Is that yeah?

So the hungers and the and the longings that we have as humans made in the image of God, which drive us to faith in God through Christ, they are sated in a in a dark way by these pagan rituals, but that's how they're answering the same questions that we all have.

And so it's a wrong answer and it it leads to death.

But it's it's the root of it, you know, is is this longing to know and relate to God is is is something that unites us as humanity.

And so I kind of wanted to to to to to not you can't erase the gap because there's a gap, but sort of like, you know, move us forward to see their their their idol worship makes sense in terms of the same longings that they have that we have that we have found satisfaction for in Christ.

And so that would hopefully give us sympathy to them as evangelists and witnesses, and also help us understand when we're miscommunicating support for the wrong systems versus uh support for them as people, right?

And and and just relating to them as humans and loving them as our neighbors.

So what is I guess that would be a way to think of it.

How can we love them as our neighbors without endorsing their their their lifestyle or their their paganness?

Right.

Um so that's that's addressing the idolatry and then celebrating the the gospel symbolized in the Lord's Supper.

Uh that was kind of part two of what you hoped would happen.

Yeah.

So uh let's let's go through the text.

We'll see it in the text.

And um on a sort of surface level, maybe not surface level, but just kind of like you take the text at face value, he brings up three environments uh related to the eating of meat sacrificed to idols.

One environment is in the marketplace.

Can you can you buy the meat in the marketplace that was sacrificed to idols?

Another is in the home of an unbeliever, and then the third environment is in the temple.

Right.

How do we operate according to God's word and conscience?

And then what bearing does that have on like if we cross the contextual bridge, so to speak, how does that apply to our life?

So let's let's read and then um we'll talk about the text and how how it relates to us.

So we'll we're gonna pick up in verse 23, right?

Correct.

Yeah, because this is the environment number one meat sacrificed to idols in uh sold in the markets, okay?

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

Okay, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's good.

Let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor.

Eat, so that's love.

Eat anything that is sold in the meat, in the meat market without asking questions for conscience' sake.

For the earth is the Lord and all that it contains.

Okay, so that is environment one in the markets.

What's he say?

You can you are free to buy that meat and eat it because the Lord made that, even though it was sacrificed to an idol, it's God's feet, it's God's meat.

Like the whole world is his, so no problem.

It's not an it's not an act of worship, it's not an act of honor or fellowship, it's simply you uh uh consuming what God made, no problem.

Okay.

Environment number two.

Anything else you want to say about that?

No, once we go through all the environments to kind of want to press it out and say, okay, so what does this have to do with like is this telling me I can't buy chicken from Publix or something?

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which Publix is coming up.

Yeah, it is.

Have you had the Publix fried chicken?

No.

Bro.

Staff lunch is gonna be Publix fried chicken, dude.

It's a mac and cheese and beans, yeah, we get it.

All right, uh, environment number two, and moving from marketplace to the home of an unbeliever.

Verse 27.

This is the next verse.

If one of the unbelievers invites you, and then you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience sake.

But if anyone says to you, this meat is sacrificed to idols, don't 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 being slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?

Okay, so uh walk us through briefly.

That's the environment in the home of an unbeliever.

What's he saying?

So this nonbeliever is serving a meal and the meat has been sacrificed to an idol, and he either brought it home from the temple with him or he himself bought it in the market.

And we he the text doesn't say, um, but if it's a non-believer or even the host, non-believer, saying, hey, this was sacrificed to an idol, what he's he's kind of announcing, re-announcing that, oh, by the way, this is going to be like superpower meat.

It's you know, this is part of the fellowship.

And so he's essentially re-inviting you back to number one, which is the temple situation.

Which we'll read in a second.

And so it that is a point to stand down.

So you would you would with withhold because you don't want to participate in that.

If he doesn't say anything, it's just about the meal.

If he does say anything, it raises it to the level from a from just a physical event of hospitality to a spiritual event.

Uh and he's saying we can't spiritually participate in that.

If it's a believer at the meal uh who happens to be with you or they're uh in attendance, then that believer's conscience is concerned about you consuming the meat, and that's where Paul has already addressed, you know, just just back down, not for your conscience, but for his.

But you know, you can eat it, it's fine.

But if he's concerned, don't break his conscience or encourage him to do so by eating that meat.

So just stand down.

All right, stand down.

Uh the let's read the first environment now, which comes in the text, but really the third one that we're mentioning.

Yeah.

And then, Adam, I really want to go.

Okay, so what does this have?

What relevance does this have for us?

Yeah.

All right, the first environment, this environment is not marketplace.

We already talked about that, not the home of an unbeliever.

We already talked about that, but now this is um the the in the temple.

Okay.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

I speak as to wise men.

You judge what I say.

Is not the cup of blessing which we sh which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?

Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

Okay, this is why we why you talked about communion, because he's he's himself is yeah, setting up the com contrast.

Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we are all for we all partake of the one bread.

Look at the nation of Israel.

Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?

What do I mean then?

I thank you, Paul, for asking that.

That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

And I do not want you to become sharers in demons.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

You cannot partake that word fellowship, koininia.

You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

We're not stronger than he are we.

Okay, so this is the third or you know, first in environment in the text.

And this is this relates to the three ways that the meat would have been used.

So let's just say you bring an ox and you're sacrificing it to the goddess Athena, and a part of the ox is uh given there to the goddess Athena and burned up.

Part of it is given to the priest uh and part of it as their payment, part of it is uh given back to the worshipper to either consume or sell.

So that's where the market, he would take it to the market or sell it to a marketer and it would be sold, or he might take it home and serve it to guests and friends.

That's the other two environments we just touched.

But this first environment where you're actually in the temple, you're actually participating in a pagan rite, um, Paul is saying that while we, while the idol is nothing, there are demon, the real demonic powers behind false worship, behind encouraging people to worship anything other than Yahweh.

And so to fellowship, that's the word behind all this participates, the koinonia to fellowship in that moment is to say, I am participating in the worship of this idol.

And you are now trying to create a bond because this hospitality, this sacrifice creates a bond.

It's like I'm submitting to.

That's why you bring a sacrifice, you submit yourself to uh some higher power.

And you're saying, I submit myself to this higher power by participating it with and endorsing this sacrifice.

And Paul's saying, we can't do that because we already have full ownership.

We've been bought with a price.

We we are not for sale, we aren't for share.

Um, and God uh wants all of our hearts, not just the part of it that goes to him and some other parts in other deity.

So he's saying that third element goes over the line in a market, in a home, fine.

But if you're in the in the temple and there's a worship element going on, you cannot do that.

All right.

Makes sense to me.

So let's let's cross over from Corinth to Florence.

Yep.

Talk to me about the relevance you see to these verses, these environments to the Christian in Florence, South Carolina today.

Yeah.

So um, you know, in their day, idols served, you know, and we we talked about in the certain one message the sermon that there that had nothing to do with like worshipping stone or or wood.

Nobody believed that this this thing was related.

Powerful.

But what they did is they went through a long and multi-day sophisticated ceremony by which to animate it with the spirit of some real god out there.

And that's why they took the idol so seriously.

This this image of it, I think graven image is a is a better translation.

Um, this image of the of the unseen deity.

They took this seriously, even in you know, Indiana Jones when he holds up the idol and the natives go running after him.

It's not because they're worried they're afraid of the the little golden head.

It's because they're afraid that the God behind it will be displeased if they allow his captor to get away.

And so they are now the emissaries of this deity to go capture Indiana Jones and punish him for what he did to the God through the head, right?

And so they they took this very seriously.

Um and and uh today in in in Florence, in South Carolina, we have the the idol in that moment simply is a way to access higher power, a way to find fulfillment in eternity, a way to find transcendence, a way to connect to eternal, transcendent things.

And we have our own ways of doing that, whether it's through career or romance or uh self-image or beauty or fitness or or whatever it is.

And we have many good gifts from God that then we make ult and we take good things and we make good things ultimate things, which makes them poisonous to us.

And we try to put our hopes for transcendence and eternity, not on God and thanking him for his good gifts, but now on the gifts.

And so I'm gonna find significance, my ultimate significance in my advancement at work or my kids' achievements, or controlling my environment and being financially secure, or whatever that thing is that we're putting our weight, our hope for deliverance, for transcendence, uh, for ultimate significance in.

These idols are everywhere.

And it doesn't, they're not, they're not pagan gods, they're good gifts from God, which we have elevated to play the role of God in our lives.

So how does this relate to Florence to Christians in Florence today?

You're going, well, the idolatry that was happening in Corinth is that kind of idolatry was maybe unique to Corinth, but idolatry was not a uniquely Corinthian thing.

No.

That is something that uh all of us are prone to.

Yep.

Idol idolatry.

Right.

Um, maybe say one other way then.

Yep.

So like um when Augustine talked about sin, you know, Tim Keller does this.

So I'm gonna give a sh big shout out to Tim Keller.

He talks a lot about idolatry.

Um, you know, he said Augustine talks about sin as disordered loves.

So, you know, we all know that it's okay to love uh your work, you know, in the sense that God gave Adam and Eve work in Genesis 1.

It was very good.

Like he called them to work the garden and it was good, it was a good gift from God, work.

And so to love doing your work and and using the gifts that God gave you is important.

That's a love.

It's a good love.

A second love is your family.

You know, God gave us uh a spouse or children, and that's a wonderful gift.

And but if you love your career and your work more than you love your family, and you neglect your family to pursue the love of your career, this is a disordered love.

And this will cause harm in your life.

You have idolized now the work uh that God has given us.

And it when it should be uh third place or fourth place, if it hops up to second place or even first place on top of God, then that's where we get into, and and we can do that in Florence.

So let's say my kid's on the soccer team, and I might even be a church-going Christian.

And and but during the week, um, I take my kid to Columbia or to the coast for practices.

Now, um, if something happens, if if I were to lose that, or if the kid gave up on it or was injured, would it drain the meaning from my life, or could I just give it back to God like He gave it to me?

Do I do I live that life with an open hand?

Or um am I do I kind of f fashion my life around it in such a way that if God took it from me or it was gone, then um I would be angry, bitter, maybe hurt towards God, who knows what, but that I would, I would, I would not give it up as as easily as I received it.

So I I think in the question that I'm about to ask, in some ways you just answered the question, but if from all the way back to Augustine to then Keller to now here we're going, okay, idolatry is a disordered love, I think theoretically that makes sense.

Um practically speaking, it can be very hard, at least I've felt very hard to discern if my love has become disordered.

Right.

Um so what we're not saying is the solution to a disordered love is to start hating something that is good to love, like work or family, like you mentioned.

The solution isn't, well, you know, if if I think that's a disordered love, then I need to start hating it.

It's to just order it properly.

But uh if as you've thought about this stuff personally, how have what has been helpful to you in discerning if something that you love has become a disorder to love?

Oh man, that's a good question.

Um if when it's threatened, I find myself um demonstrating the opposite of the fruit of the spirit.

Um I'm like, for example, um when my kid is not getting enough playing time uh uh in in the game, and maybe uh and I start and and the parents are all yelling at the coach for this, that, and the other, then I just jump in and I get angry at the coach and I'm and I'm not I'm not patient, I'm not kind.

Uh I have I I've kind of I'm I'm reverting to worldly means by which to protect the situation that I have because I don't want to give up that thing.

It would drain too much meaning from my life to let my kids sit on the bench.

And so I revert to ungodly means to protect the version of my life as I have fashioned it around the idols that I have.

Um, but it's like if you just sit and ask yourself the question, like, do I love my wife more than God?

That is a really hard, just theoric theoretical question to unpack.

I think you have to see it in action.

You have to to to see um, do I, am I patient with my wife or do I get angry with my wife?

Or do I am I possessive of my wife, or do have I clipped have I clipped my time with God to have time with her?

Or I mean there's just you almost have to show it more than just sit there and think, hmm, and just d discern it.

Discerning is really hard without uh looking at your uh schedule book, your checkbook, um, and your and your hard attitudes.

Yeah, so I'm gonna keep pressing this because I just think, you know, life is in the weeds.

Yes, it is.

And so let's take the example of your wife.

Or or maybe broaden it out a little bit.

Family.

Family.

Okay, yeah.

How do I know if I love my family more than I love God?

So and and let's just say I do.

How is that that bad?

Which obviously but maybe a better question.

Why would that be that bad?

Yeah.

I mean, that that is a great question.

And and the answer is yes.

Um it it would be self-defeating.

And uh this is why.

Um, because that gift is from God and meant to play a role in our life, but not to meant to play his role in our life.

And when we put anything above uh the role of which it was given to us, then it begins to undermine itself and even us.

So let's just say to kind of put some legs on it.

Um my family likes to go to the beach, and I just start going to the beach every weekend, and I realize I'm kind of slipping on weekly devotion to God.

Like our family isn't really attending a worship service, and worship and prayer are seem to be less environment.

But, you know, family is the most important thing, right?

So like we're going to the beach as a family and we're doing things as a family, and God gave me this good gift.

So why what could possibly be wrong with just going with that?

Uh and you know, I I think the answer is um it's it's it's a disordered love.

That that he God is the ultimate, that that family is an illustration of our relationship with God.

And when the illustration becomes the substance, we have replaced the substance with the illustration, then we have idolized it.

And so I'd have to ask myself as a leader: are my trips to the the beach every weekend, because in the context of what God is doing in our family and the life that He's bringing to us through me, that that is one way that we can do that?

Or am I just passively agreeing to the mob rule, which everybody just wants to go to the beach and I don't want to stand up to them?

So I kind of cling to this cliche that family is everything and it's okay.

Mm-hmm.

The I I heard this from Kelly Hayes.

I don't know if he got it from someone else, but uh I'll just give I'll give credit to Kelly.

He he used the language a lot of immovable rocks.

And he would just ask, you know, what are he as a family, he would go, okay, what do I want the immovable rocks to be for my family?

And this might be helpful in kind of discerning if if my love has become disordered, that if family becomes the immovable rock that everything else bends around, or you name the the immovable rock, if my hobby is the rock that everything else in my life bends around, my family bends around this, my um God-given priorities to not just attend church, but be part of a local church in terms of and giving and serving and um being a contributor.

If w what other what are the things that all of life bends around is probably gonna be a good indicator of a disordered love.

Aaron Ross Powell What things would you protect at all costs, right?

And the way the killer defines it as if what is that thing in your life that if it went away, it would basically drain your purpose and meaning and your will to live?

It would drain that away from you.

If if what is that thing to you?

And almost everybody, maybe everybody has that thing without realizing it.

So this is I I I want to stay in the weeds here because I don't know, we we maybe we won't find our way out of the weeds, but I think if you if if I'm just thinking personally about family and going, okay, is is the way I've kind of led my family, the way I view my family, is that a disordered love?

Um if I lost my family, would that draw out of me ungodliness?

Probably.

Would it remove from me a sense of purpose?

Maybe.

Does that mean it's an idol?

I'm not really sure.

And if and if to what extent is if loving God, part of loving God means loving my family, then to what extent should my family be an immovable rock?

Uh and that's not idolatry, that's obedience.

Right.

You know, that's this is where it gets hard for me.

So yeah.

Um Yeah.

It is a fine line.

And um, you know, d doctors who work with athletes talk about the fact that when they have uh some kind of injury, particularly career-ending injury, they don't just need medical care, they need therapy because when they give when they have to give up their sport, it's like they've given up themselves, their identity.

And some recover from that and move on and do other things, and some don't.

Some never recover from that.

And we can see that in the athletes that just refuse to retire.

They keep coming back again and again because they just can't not be that thing.

And so that's where I'd have to ask myself, okay, Lord, um, what is in my life that if it were out, if it were gone, it would drain my like you say, like you know, if I lost my family, there's no doubt I would need a lot of therapy.

And that's not, I'm not saying that's wrong.

You would have to grieve.

You could grieve, but would I say I have no reason to live anymore?

If I if that's true, then I have put my identity in that basket, and that's over the line.

It it's not meant to bear that weight.

It's not meant to bear the weight.

It can't.

Yeah.

Um so for the family going, uh right, I'm listening to the podcast.

I'm thinking about turning it off because uh they're in the weeds and I'm not sure they're gonna get out of it.

Um, but I really wanna, I don't, I don't want to have anything as an idol.

Certainly don't want to have my family as an idol.

Um how can I know?

How can I discern that part of what we're saying is it's hard to just do it on your own.

You do it obviously under the authority of scripture and in community with other believers.

And so um this is where our the Sanherst discipleship model, I think, is really helpful because uh relating to God is not just about you in the Bible and listening to the truth and doing it.

It is about uh relating to God in community.

And so we gather for worship, and um, other than that, we have equipping our to teach us how to live and real skills how to live out our faith, life groups to connect us in a community, and core groups to keep us accountable for growing.

And so there's it, we aren't we aren't it, we can't reduce idolatry to any one layer of our lives.

There's a spiritual layer, there's a physical layer, emotional layer, um uh a financial layer, and I mean, there's so many layers to idolatry and worship in our lives, to who we are at our core, our identity and where we aim it.

Um, it's it's it's a process of devotion to God, corporate worship, individual accountability, and relating to others, hashing things out so it there that we get to address all the layers and help us over time expose the idols, give them back to God, and hopefully um help us to uh be a witness so that if I realize that you know my uh my my kid advancing on this um travel soccer team is going to be uh is is is tempting me to idolize that environment.

My hope is that I can go into that and be a light in Sin City, that I could go and be a different kind of a soccer parent.

I could say, hey, you know, that that that we have received this good gift from God and we're gonna use it as long as he gives it to us.

But if it goes away, it's okay.

Um it reminds me a little bit about um, you know, the movie Chariots of Fire.

You know, so Eric Little has delayed going to China as a missionary to run in the Olympics, and his sister Jenny is not happy with him for the doing this, because you know, he should be going to China because God is your first priority, not sports.

You're idolizing sports.

And, you know, and then we see the famous line in the movie where you know it says, Jenny, Jenny, God made me for a purpose, for China, and for him, for glorious, like the passage says.

But he also made me fast.

And when I run, I feel his pleasure.

And when my my kid plays soccer, I can feel the pleasure of God.

And when I take my wife out, I can feel the pleasure of God.

And when I do a good job at work, I can feel the pleasure of God.

And the challenge to us is under God's word, as individuals, and in community with others, to make to keep an eye on, be vigilant for when those good things might become ultimate things.

And what if Eric had said after that Olympics, oh, I did so well.

Look, um, I'm gonna stay home and do another four years.

And if I won even more at next Olympics, I could, you know, what, you know, and that's you know, no, Eric.

Okay, good job.

Go to China, you know.

And that's where the community comes into play.

Yeah.

And so I guess uh w when I'm lost in the weeds, I kind of come back to, okay, when I don't know what to think, I go back go back to what I know.

And I know the what God has called me to in terms of priorities.

And um, anytime I commit myself so much to one thing, to one God-given priority, at the expense of other God-given priorities, that's probably a good indication that um I have idolized that thing.

So maybe I'm starting to get some traction in the weeds for myself right now.

Yeah.

Uh take you mentioned work.

Work is a good thing.

When work causes me to, when that becomes the immovable rock and um causes me to forego other God-given priorities in my life, then I've probably begun to idolize work um at the expense of other God-given priorities like my family or like worship, being part of a church family.

Um, when, since we keep using the the family example, when my commitment to my family that I'm actually starting to get traction here.

Okay.

So if you're still listening, um, when my commitment to my family causes me to forego other God-given priorities in my life, then I have probably begun to idolize my family.

And so to the to the family who's um not engaged in their church or a church because uh of their commitment to family, i.e.

family vacations or taking trips or sports or um whatever it may be, I think, you know, I would just I would want to ask the person, uh, does your commitment, your good commitment to your family, is that coming at the expense of other God-given priorities?

If so, uh, you've probably begun to idolize that thing.

And there needs to be um now that we've identified it, now that's good.

And to the extent that um that that we're bothered by idolatry, that's good too, because uh that's a sign of life.

Struggle is a sign of life.

And then once we identify an idol, then we can actually repent of it.

And by repent of it, uh, we wouldn't just mean we'll feel bad about it.

That's not repentance.

Yeah, that's self-loathing.

Yeah, um, that's despair.

That's that's Satan would love that.

Yeah.

But to the extent that we can identify it and then repent of it, in other words, turn to Jesus to say, that's not who I am, that's not who I want to be, that's not the only priority I've been given to you, that's not my God, it's not the it's not the my master that I serve.

My family is not my master that I serve.

You are, and so I want my life to um reflect the priorities that you've given me.

And so when I turn to Jesus, I'm turning back to him, to his grace, to his forgiveness, to his um, to his life and to his way.

And that is actually for my greater joy.

It'll be better for my family if I uh operate under God's priorities as opposed to just uh the the one priority.

Amen to that.

You know, yeah, good job.

Yes, yes.

And I and you know, at the risk of being a broken record, I just keep coming back to the community aspect of this to defend us against it in our own hearts.

So that um I don't want the burden of pointing out my idolizing either my work or my family or something else to be my wife or or someone in my family.

I would love it for if I've got a community around me, whether it's a core group that's uh keeps me accountable, whether it's a community group or my church or a friend who is able that I'm in community and my friends are able to look at my life and say, Hey, um, brother, I see you kind of doing all this.

Tell me more about that.

And we can unpack the layers enough to where I uh we I can see, you know what, I'm getting out of balance there.

And I need I can see I need to pull my my my my rein in those drives so that um I can move away from the edge and get back to, like you say, kind of a life-giving uh order of God's blessing in our lives.

Yeah.

Uh give ourselves to the priorities, to biblical priorities and um and repentance when there's a disordered love evidenced by a misordered priorities.

Amen.

All right.

Um, so chapter 10 is dealing with idolatry.

In the text specifically, we were we're looking at these different environments.

So we we tried to kind of hash out, okay, let's let's put idolatry.

That wasn't just the Corinth thing, that's that's a Florence thing.

Yep.

Um let's let's get in the weeds a little bit with the different environments um and kind of the what to do when.

When you're at the temple, well, don't eat it.

That's a participation in um in the idolatry when you are uh in the marketplace, you're free.

And when you're at the unbeliever's house, you're free to eat.

But if somebody's if somebody brings it up and and you learn, okay, their conscience seems to be uh at play here, then then maybe I I don't eat.

Right.

How do these different environments kind of inform the Christian who wants to love and obey God in their city?

And how how does this help us in love and obey loving and obeying God now?

Absolutely.

So um I did a wedding many years ago, and um I remember when we were the w the whole wedding weekend was on the beach, it was at a beach destination, and so uh I remember going to the dinner with the couple and the you know the the night before, the the rehearsal dinner was beautiful, wonderful, you know, ate all the food, you know, like it wasn't meat sacrificed to idols.

Um uh but it was I was participating in that and I was the minister later that night.

Um a bunch of the wedding party went out to a an establishment of very ill repute, right?

Okay, so um so it was you know clearly a worshiping of a goddess that uh that that I could not participate in.

And I just said that.

I said, hey, you know, and to use your words, will you encourage it?

And that's not me.

Uh that's that's not that that's not who I am, that's not what I do.

Um and I'm not stopping you, I don't think it's wise, but um for you for any one of us, but I'm I'm not gonna go.

And what was interesting about that is that there was a non believer in the wedding party who actually stayed back and said, Well, tell me more about that.

And we had a con we we hung out and the two of us had a conversation.

And I don't know if he did that, you know, used me as an excuse to get out of it, or if he really Was curious or what.

Um, but um I just was like, you know, that that's a line I can't cross.

Um, and uh, and then uh in terms of you know, the the you know being in their home, I was willing to to be received in hospitality for this wedding weekend, and I was willing to be a part of of the whole event, but I was not willing to do that because I felt like that crossed the line that that endorsed the worship of a false god that I could not, that would dishonor the people involved, and and including myself if I went.

And so I didn't do that.

So I feel like that's you know, a kind of a modern example, or if you're if you're if your company has has a party and and you're hanging out with the guys and they they tell a joke and they kind of slam women as a joke, or like wives, you know, and it it that is a moment, I believe, to stand up and be a man and not laugh at that joke, you know, and to say, look, I will participate, I'll be here, I'm glad to be a part of this company, I'm glad to be a part of this event, but I'm not gonna cross the line into dishonoring people that are made in God's image.

And so there, I think if we're just aware of we have to be in the world, but not of the world, means we participate in life.

We eat, we drink, we work, we play among idolaters, but we ourselves will not cross a line to participate in in activities that explicitly dishonor God and the priorities that we've been given.

Yeah.

I totally agree.

And so, sort of maybe my my way of articulating what you just said is I really appreciate that he kind of gives he he gets into the weeds of life and he's like, when you're here, do this, when you're here, do this, and when you're here, do this.

It but then if this happens when you're there, then do this.

Yeah, right.

Uh just like and having a set of principles that that go beyond the situation that would help me know how to operate within that situation.

Right.

And what we have um, and the reason that's so important is that when Jesus gave us those two commandments, love the Lord your God, with our harm, heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, it is not your Christian neighbor.

It's just your neighbor.

And to do that, you've got to be with them, do things with them, uh travel, work, play, whatever it is.

Um, and so, but there's going to come a point when that neighbor wants to honor a false God, and you can't do that.

And I think that's that's like this principle, like, what would that look like for me?

That's kind of what drops into my head.

Yeah.

Yeah, and and what love does is not always exactly clear.

Sometimes, I mean, young parents, especially, maybe it's not just young parents, maybe it's all parents.

Uh sometimes one parent thinks love would would give a some discipline right now.

Right.

And the other parent says, no, love would show grace right now.

It's like, well, what love does is not always extremely or what love should do, it's not always extremely clear.

But in any of the situations, uh Paul gives some principles that go that are bigger, deeper, and beyond the situation that give uh some some guidance.

And here's here's some of them from 1 Corinthians 8 to 10 that I hope will be really helpful to us.

Okay.

Uh in any situation, I'm going to live right here under God's word.

If God's word has spoken clearly to an issue, then uh there's nothing left to consider.

Right.

Okay.

There is no situation in which anything that God calls sin is actually permissible.

Okay.

So I start with what does God's word say?

Um, where God's word has not spoken specifically to an issue, then I go to, okay, well, what does my conscience allow?

Knowing that my conscience, my internal court, needs to be shaped by God's word.

Okay, so what does God's what what does God say?

Question two, what does my conscience allow?

Question three from 1 Corinthians 8 through 10 is gonna be, okay.

Well, what does what would love do?

What would be loving here?

Maybe God's word says I'm free to eat, and my conscience allows me to eat, but in this situation, love would say, I'm not gonna eat.

Um, I'm I'm not gonna eat it.

Or you you choose sort of your conscience situ your conscience issue there.

What would God's word say?

What does my conscience allow?

What um what would love do?

What would wisdom say?

That's layer four, and at risk of giving too many, uh maybe not layers, but too many questions, the fifth question that is just so in chapters eight through ten is what what would be important for my witness, or what would be helpful for winning the lost?

These are when when Paul is giving the situations, it's all under these questions.

What does God's word say?

What does my conscience allow?

What does what would love do?

What would wisdom say?

And what would be effective for winning the lost?

These are going to be his things.

And he kind of summarizes it here when he brings it all full circle in verse 31.

Um whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So in whatever situation he's in, he's going, okay, what would what would glorify God?

And we know what glorifies God.

Obedience to his word glorifies God.

Operating with sensitivity and alignment to our conscience glorifies God.

Loving people glorifies God.

Um, operating in wisdom glorifies God.

Winning the lost, glorifies God.

If you didn't catch it, those are the five things that I just said he operates, but all these things glorify God, and then he he fleshes out a little bit more.

Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many.

You know, that's called that's called love.

I'm not seeking my good, but seeking your good.

That's that is almost exactly our definition of love.

The steadfast sacrificial zeal that what that does what?

Seeks the true good of another.

Seeks the true good of another.

That's what love does, and that's how he finishes it.

But there's one st one more one more part.

So that they may be saved.

Amen to that.

So whatever situation I'm in, I'm the natural thought is okay, how close to the line can I get?

Um, what uh what can I do without getting caught?

Right.

Uh what you know the that that's the natural line of thinking.

Yeah.

But the Christian, the saint who's gonna shine in Sin City is going to engage whatever situation they're in, whether it's working a part-time job, being at school, being at home, being a grandparent, they're gonna ask, what does God say?

What does my conscience allow?

What would love do?

What does wisdom say?

And what would be effective for winning the loss?

These are going to be the questions that I can ask that can help me discern what would glorify God in this situation.

Yeah.

I hope that's no, that is helpful.

Yeah.

That's helpful.

That's helpful to me.

Yeah.

I mean, that is a good, a good grid, a good, again, you're talking about principles that help you decide what to do in the art of life, not the science, right?

The art of life that's the messy middle between nothing and everything.

What how do we how do we live in the world but not be of the world?

How to bring glory to God among pagans who don't, and how do we bring the light to dark places?

This is going to be a messy art.

And so to have some principles to guide us through is super helpful.

And and I do, I love it that he keeps going deeper and deeper.

It's meat to idols, no, it's conscience, no, it's love.

No, at the end of the day, it's the glory of God.

You know, that's what we're trying to reflect.

And that's why God made us in Genesis 1 and 2.

And that's what we'll have again in eternity future, uh, when Christ makes everything new and perfects the new creation.

But until that day, we're a part of a redeeming process where we are uh making all things new by bringing God's kingdom, by practicing his principles uh which are life-giving and um reject the death of the curse and bring the life of the new creation.

Yep.

And um, speaking of new creation and um you know being born again, winning the lost, I I do want to give a shout out to our church.

I've been hearing a lot of stories of people who have engaged their one in ways that uh lost people connected to people at St.

Hurst have not been engaged um in I don't know, in the past.

And I just want to give a shout out to the church and say thank you to church.

I want to say thank you to the Lord that um the the people in our church have identified their ones, or they've identified the environment where they're gonna find their one.

Um, where they have, after they've identified their ones that they have engaged them with invitations to church with daily prayer.

I don't I don't think that a day has gone by in staff where we have not prayed for our ones together um in our prayer times.

That's right.

Um, where there have been more gospel seeds sown, um, and we just have stories for these, but uh more invitations, more gospel seeds sown um in the recent weeks than than I'm aware of in the past.

And I just want to say thank you to church, thank you to the Lord.

I think that is uh evidence of health and sanctification by God's doing in our church.

Amen.

And it's just an exercise of our faith that strengthens our heart, strengthens our resolve, gives God opportunities to show himself strong on our behalf and uh and to grow us and to root us in him and uh and and uh to yeah, leave the results to God.

And if someone's out there who uh you've tried it, you've struggled, you know, one step forward, two steps back, just keep going because only God can make things grow.

That's the freeing and beautiful thing.

Yes, we belong to God, so we want to carry his mission, uh, and we've been bought with a price, but uh only he can make things grow.

So just wait on God's timing and and he will do it when he is ready.

Amen.

All right, let's uh close in prayer.

If you're listening to the podcast, don't don't close it yet.

All right.

Uh I want to invite you to just join your heart in uh the prayer right now.

And here's what I want to pray for.

I want to pray uh over and for our church in terms of the two things that we've really highlighted.

One is idolatry, and that is the the disordered love uh evidenced by a giving of a priority at the expense of other God-given priorities.

I'm gonna pray against that in our church um and pray for the ability to identify that and then repent of it.

And um and then I want to pray for our ones as well.

Oh, and and that, but then the second thing is praying that in any situation that we would have a filter by which a grid, I liked that word that you used, a grid by which I can go, okay, I know I know what we glorify God here.

It would be submission to his word and conscience and wisdom and love and winning the lost.

All right, let's pray together, Father.

Come before you, and um we know that the greatest commandment that you gave us is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

Um, we I know it's been said that we are idol-making factories, and to the extent, God, that uh you have used this conversation to help people identify the idols in their life, um, that they were that we'd go past that, um, move from identifying the idol to repenting of it, to coming to you, Jesus, finding mercy and grace to help in time of need, to be able to live as um once you have one master, and that's you.

Um as we want to be mature saints who love and obey you in whatever sin city we find ourselves, in whatever situation we find ourselves, and pray that um by your spirit that you'd allow us to have a helpful grid that would help us know what glorifies you.

That we would live in submission to your word, not just when we feel like it, um, but uh all the time because our God is not our feelings.

That we would live in alignment with our conscience that is shaped by your word, that we would act in love for the brothers and wisdom and for the sake of the lost.

And so we do pray for our ones, um pray for those who have not yet identified one, that they would um be intentional in an environment where they can find one and that our church that we would excel still more in sowing gospel seeds in our city with the full confidence that we said before that you plant, I mean that we plant and we water and you bring the growth.

And so we wanna we wanna share the gospel and the power of the Spirit and leave the results to you.

Praise you in advance for what you do through it.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, thanks for joining.

Next week, head coverings, chapter 11, one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible.

There we go.

Big time.

All right, we'll see you.

Yep.