For our reading of Scripture this morning, we turn to 1 Corinthians 10. The Apostle in this chapter is going to use the example of the children of Israel partaking of Christ in the wilderness, and yet many fell and could not enter into the promised land because of unbelief, to then urge the New Testament saints to partake of Christ by faith in the sacrament. And then from there, he's going to make application of the eating and drinking in the sacrament and its meaning to actually the eating and drinking of everyday life. Good application. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our example to the intent. We should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh, he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh. Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. He cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. He cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "'All things are lawful for me, "'but all things are not expedient. "'All things are lawful for me, "'but all things edify not. "'Let no man seek his own, "'but every man another's wealth. "'Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, "'asking no question for conscience' sake, "'for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience' sake, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Conscience, I say, not thy known, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Our text this morning is verses 30 and 31. For if I by grace be a partaker, Why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, part of true thanksgiving is that we even consider why it is that we can give thanks and do give thanks, to consider even that we have the right to give thanks, as well as the ability, for not all thanksgiving is pleasing to God. much thanksgiving, even much thanksgiving in the church and in the world today, will in fact be great evil and wickedness. Surely it is evil and wicked for those who deny that God is the creator and God is the provider of all things to then lift up their voice with some sort of thanksgiving to this very God. And certainly it is evil and wicked to give thanks when one does not believe in God or one God is an idol We are even given this warning with regard to ourselves by Jesus himself, who reminds us of the Pharisee, who went to the temple to give thanks. And his thanksgiving went something like this, O Lord, I thank Thee that I am not like other men. And certainly like that publican I see over there praying. Jesus tells us that that Pharisee went home condemned. He did not go home justified. That means he went home condemned. What we learn from this text is the reality of why it is that we can give thanks. In the first place, the answer is that all things are the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So that which we partake of belongs to God. But even more than that, that which we partake of is given to us in God's grace. It is given to us, therefore, through the cross of Christ. The teaching of the text is that we could not give thanks and we could not even partake of the earth and its fullness lawfully unless God granted us that right, which he does when Jesus died for our sins and redeemed us from sin and from death. And we could not give grace unless God then, because of that right granted through Jesus Christ, then subsequently also gives us the power to live thankfully unto Him. This text teaches us, therefore, what we call the freedom of the Christian. The Christian is free to use the earth and its fullness. And part of that freedom is not only that he has the right to do so, but is given dominion over sin such that he actually does use it in thanksgiving. which also brings glory to God. Consider with me this morning this text under the theme, Thankful Partaking of the Earth's Fullness. Thankful Partaking of the Earth's Fullness. We consider in the first place what this means, what this is all about. The apostle in our text, verse 30, calls himself, and by implication, us, a partaker. And if we ask, well, partaker of what? The answer is given in the context, verses 25 through 28. He's talking about the food that one buys in the shambles, or the meat market, or the drink that one might consume in a temple when he's bidden to go, perhaps food even that he says was sacrificed to idols. So he's talking about eating and drinking, but they are only a part of what he's really talking about, which is the earth and its fullness, verse 26. We are partakers, then, of the earth and its fullness. Now, the earth and its fullness refers not to spiritual things, not spiritual meat and drink like he was talking about earlier in regard to the Lord's Supper. but actual physical meat and drink, the earth physically, and its fullness physically. That's obvious from the text and the example he uses about buying actual meat in the shambles or participating in meat and drink at a dinner in a temple. And then he goes on to say, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. That makes it clear what he's talking about. He's talking about all physical things that belong to the fullness of this physical earth. He is talking about partaking of the earth's food and drink, partaking of citizenship in a physical nation, physical houses. He's talking about partaking of music and of art, of the ordinances that found in this creation, like labor and marriage and government. He's talking about partaking in the activities of this earth and its fullness, getting an education, working and earning money, vacations, resting with one's family, raising a family. All of these things are included in the earth and its fullness. Now, the point of the passage is to teach that believers partake of the earth and its fullness lawfully. That's what he's referring to in verse 23 when he says, all things are lawful for me. The question is not whether we do or do not partake. Even the world partakes of the earth and its fullness. It needs to in order to live. But the question is, may we partake and is our partaking lawful? That's evident from the example. He talks about a believer who eats a piece of meat in the shambles that may have been offered to idols. Or he eats and drinks in a temple to an idol, and therefore its food and drink may have been offered to the idol. And the question is, is eating and drinking lawful? And now he takes that example and applies it to all of life. Positively, the text then teaches, it is lawful for the believer to partake of the earth in all its fullness. Now, before we proceed, we must understand he does not mean that in an absolute sense. However, that should be clear. For example, if I partake of poison that is from the earth and its fullness, knowing it kills me, then that is murder. That's an unlawful partaking. even going to the examples that he himself brought up earlier. If one would take gold from the earth and its fullness, use that then to fashion an idol, and then bow down to that idol, that is what he calls in verse 7, idolatry. If I partake of another man's wife, then that is adultery. That is not lawful. I may listen to music, but if I listen to music that blasphemes God's name, then I violate God's commandment. That's unlawful. So what does he mean? What he means is, it is lawful to partake of the earth and all of its fullness as it regards a certain category. And what category is that? All those things that God does not forbid us to partake of. All those other previous examples belong to a category where God explicitly forbids us to partake and partake in that manner. All else then, all the vastness of the earth and all of its fullness that God does not forbid explicitly in Scripture, It is lawful for the child of God to partake of. That is the teaching of the text. Now, the apostle gives two specific and significant reasons why it is lawful for a child of God to partake, and by implication, teaches that it is not lawful to partake except these two are truths. The first reason is because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So important is this reason. The apostle mentions it twice. And the child of God who knows the Scripture will immediately recognize he's quoting Psalm 24, verse 1. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. And then if you go Further, the reason why it's the Lord's, the earth and its fullness, is given, for He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. In other words, God creates and God provides. It's His. This is actually quite a significant citation of Scripture. because it shows us that the doctrine of creation is indeed very practical for life and indeed relates to our salvation. One of the insidious ways that denial of creation by the teaching of evolution has made its way even into Reformed and Presbyterian churches is by telling the lie that the creation really has nothing to do with salvation. It has nothing to do with Christ and the cross. It really has nothing to do with being a Christian. That's not true. Here we learn that the reality or truth of God being the creator and God being the provider of that creation has a direct bearing on our liberty or freedom to use the earth and its fullness lawfully, rightly. In other words, it has a direct bearing on our own Christian liberty. which of course we're going to see flows right out of the cross of Christ. The idea of the text is that it's the Lord's ownership of the creation that prevents it from being unusable for the child of God, even when it is filled with sin and is under the curse. That's the point. Take the example that the apostle uses. He's talking about a piece of meat. And he's talking about the possibility of what happens when that piece of meat is offered to an idol and used unlawfully in idolatry, in the worship of a false god. And even notes in the passage we read that behind that idolatry is worship of the devil himself. It's satanic. And he teaches that that all by itself does not make it unlawful for the child of good to use. That's what he means when he says, all things are lawful for me. It would be fine for me to eat that piece of meat that was offered to an idol that I bought in the shambles or that I got and received at a banquet in an idol's temple. Why? Because that piece of meat belongs to God. It doesn't matter it was used unlawfully. It doesn't matter that somebody else used it and sinned with it. That piece of meat belongs to God, and God has provided it for me. That makes it lawful for me to use. So the teaching of the text is, Even though a car may have been manufactured by a greedy, greedy company and greedy, greedy men, it's lawful for me to use that car. A symphony may be produced by an ungodly, wicked mind, but that doesn't wrest ownership of that music from God Himself. The government may be run. by liars and swindlers and corrupt politicians. But that does not wrest ownership of government from God. That's the idea of the text. The earth and its cars and its metals and its music. The world and its institutions of learning. The world in all of its fullness is lawful for a child of God to use, as long as it's not expressly forbidden by God, because it is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It's all His. And the idea is that sin and Satan and the curse doesn't wrest ownership away from God. The second reason it is lawful for the child of God to partake of the earth and its fullness is because God gives the earth and its fullness to us to use in His grace. Now make no mistake, the apostle is not teaching that the earth and its fullness is grace itself. that rain is grace, and sunshine is grace, and cars are grace. There's no grace in things themselves, but God gives them to us to use in His grace. And that's why it's lawful for us to use them. That comes out in the words, for if by grace I am a partaker. That's what he says. What he's teaching there is that for a child of God who partakes lawfully, he understands and knows by faith that he does not have an inherent right to use anything in this earth or its fullness. Oh, it's true. God originally made the creation for man to use and enjoy, but that's not the whole story. When man fell, he forfeited the right to use even a drop of water in God's creation. And any use of that creation then becomes unlawful for him. He forfeited his right to partake of the earth and its fullness, so that if he partakes outside of grace, If he does not recognize that what he receives is given in God's grace, then he partakes unlawfully. That is, his partaking is wicked and evil. You see, there's not only sin in the world and the curse in the world, but there's God's grace in the world. And by the power of that grace, God, who owns the earth and its fullness, keeps ownership and will not allow the devil to take it away from his possession. And then in his grace, God gives it to his people to use and enjoy. That comes out in Psalm 24 again. which the apostle is quoting. The earth is the Lord's. The Lord there is the Lord Jehovah. that is the covenant God of his church, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who saved me. The earth and its meat and its drink, the earth and its minerals in the ground and its trees in the forest, the earth with its fish in the sea, the earth with its beautiful mountains and all of its beauty, all belongs to him and he distributes it in his grace to us. God gives it to us in his grace, whereby he chose us eternally in Jesus Christ. God distributes it in his grace through the spirit of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died to redeem us and give us the right to partake of the earth and its fullness as his children. God gives it to us in His grace, which grace He actually gives us through the gift of His Spirit, so that that grace is actually a power to use the earth and its fullness with thanksgiving. So to repeat, the child of God has no inherent right to use the earth and its fullness. He is only able to use it because number one, God made all things and provides all things. He maintains ownership of the earth and its fullness. And number two, it is distributed to us in the grace of God. That grace is given through the cross of Christ. By that grace of God in Christ, we are given the right to use it when we lost that right, and then we're given the power to use it with thanksgiving. So, you see here there's a close connection between the lawful use of this world, the recognition of that, the understanding of that, and thanksgiving. The lawful use of this earth and its fullness is necessary to be thankful. And that's ultimately why the unbelieving world cannot give thanks and never will give thanks for using the earth and its fullness. They have no right to use the earth and its fullness. It belongs to God, whom they deny and whom they reject. They're dead in trespasses and in sins. That's why the question is so important to the apostle whether or not one may partake lawfully. You see, partaking is a matter of either having the approval of God or the condemnation of God. And the cited example of the Pharisee is an example of someone who believes he's giving thanks to God, but is in fact condemning himself. is saying that someone may not speak evil of him when he partakes of grace. Why am I, if I partake of grace of the earth and its fullness, why then am I spoken evil of? And that implies then that it's possible, and indeed is the case with all who are not in Christ Jesus, that when they partake, They do evilly and wickedly. Now, the question is, how does the child of God really then partake, and partake lawfully, and to extend even the connection of the apostle with thanks, partake thankfully? That's our second point. One way, and we're going to see basically three ways, one way that the Apostle highlights here is that we do that by not letting anyone take this freedom that was bought by Christ in His death away from us. especially by not letting anyone take this liberty away from us by binding or burdening our own conscience about whether we may eat or drink lawfully. And the apostle mentions that because that's always been a problem in the church. The question of whether one may partake lawfully doesn't happen in the world. The world doesn't care. It just eats and drinks without even a thought that every sip of drink that they take today and every piece of meat that they eat today is basically thievery and robbery. That's their sin. But then in the church, there are those who try to bind the conscience and then also take away that right. The example the apostle gives is what we call the weaker brother. The weaker brother is someone whose conscience is not so fully ruled by the gospel of grace that he enjoys this freedom. In fact, the freedom to use and enjoy the things of this world and all things, so that one says, all things are lawful for me, is not found in him yet. He believes he's saved. He believes Christ died for his sins. But then when he's in the church and he sees his brother, who has that strong conscience like the Apostle Paul, go into the temple of the idols when he's bidden to a feast and sit down and eat and drink meat that likely has been offered to idols, says, You sin. You're doing evil. And he makes that accusation because for him it would be. He considers it such. So it must be for you too. It may not allow that to happen. The child of God may be convinced by that argument. You must stand with the apostle and say, no, it's lawful for me. That meat and drink still belongs to God. The fact that it's offered to an idol doesn't affect me at all, doesn't change at all my own standing before God. I'm not made guilty before Him because I partake. But it can happen on the other end of the spectrum, too, with more of a pharisaical idea or bet, even that of works righteousness. among those who believe in some way that they're justified before God by what they do, which was the Pharisee and the temple. Oh God, I thank Thee. I'm not like those people over there and those churches over there. I'm glad I'm not like that publican. I tithe. I give. I go to church frequently. Those are the same kind of people that are usually binding people's consciences with all kinds of human traditions. You can only walk this far on Sunday. You can only go here and do that. Can't even roll up your bed so that when Jesus healed somebody, told them to pick up his bed and walk, they charged him with sin. They too try to bind the conscience. The child of God must resist all such things. There's the idea behind monkery, what we call asceticism, which basically is, oh yes, the earth and the fullness might belong to God, but it's cursed. It's inherently sinful. There's something wicked and evil in the material and substance of this world. So to be holy or more holy, one must avoid these things. Don't sleep on a mattress with silk sheets, but lay on some straw. Don't eat wine. Don't drink wine and eat meat. Eat vegetables and drink water. The apostle would condemn all that. And he would say, if you're going to partake lawfully, it begins with insisting, I have the right to partake because of God's ownership and because of His grace. And don't let anybody take that liberty away. But that implies we can do that to ourselves too. These arguments can be effective because we ourselves are often tempted to say, I have no right to partake in our own conscience. We bind our own conscience by sitting down to eat and to drink or to work or play, and then say to ourselves, well, I have no right to have these things. Well, that's true. in your nature, in your old man, but you do have the right to partake of them. And if we don't have that attitude by faith, then pretty soon it may set into our heart and soul that, well, maybe God will take away these things. God will take away my house and my job or my money or my family because I don't deserve them. Well, you don't deserve them. But neither are you forbidden them because that right has been taken away from you forever. God has earned that right. God has made it possible for you to use. So use. And don't forget, what's at stake? Why does the apostle bring this up? We might even look at what he says here and say, ah, it seems to be minutia. Paul, why don't you just not partake of such food? It just creates trouble, creates hassles and problems in the church because the gospel of grace is at stake. That's what you must understand. That's why Paul doesn't just come in and say, well, if such a case, just don't partake. Stay away. No. He first makes clear that it's understood we may partake even of meat offered to idols. Number two, how we use the earth and its fullness lawfully is by using it very carefully, and carefully is defined by the apostle with a view to the brother or sister in the church that is not only or simply or merely thinking only about yourself. Make no mistake, you have a right to use the earth at its fullness. It's at the heart and root of real thanksgiving, but don't leave out your brother or sister. This is what the apostle is getting at when he says, all things are lawful for me, but they're not always expedient. By expedient, he means helpful or beneficial to others. There are cases when I, even though I have the right, should probably just give up that right. And what he's talking about is, well, not just the brother either. It's kind of interesting. The apostle gives the example of a situation in which one could possibly abuse this freedom. exceed the bounds of this freedom. In other words, even this freedom itself is not absolute, something we noticed earlier. There are things God does forbid, but even among those things that God does not forbid, that freedom is not absolute. The idea is that we don't just simply eat for our own sake, for the sake of our own freedom, for the sake of our own belly, for the sake of our own growth, for the sake of our own advantage, even though we have the right to partake of it. So he talks about the sake of him that showed it. Somebody comes along and says, you know that meat's offered to idols, right? Now the idea is the one that showed it is someone where that, in their mind, is a sin. It would be sinful to partake. He's talking about the weaker brother, and the idea is, the apostle says, in that case, I'm not going to partake. But now why? Simply because the brother showed it? No, the brother's going to receive the same instruction we receive here. But there's a danger, you see. If Paul simply says, well, I'm going to eat for my sake. It's lawful for me. I've forgotten about another possibility, which is the brother who thinks that sin may partake because I am. Well, if Paul can, then I can. The apostle is pointing out the possibility, real possibility, that now he sins. Oh, there's nothing sinful in partaking of meat offered to idols in and of itself. But if the brother sins against his own conscience, he sins. If he does it knowing full well in his own heart that it's sinful, when in fact it's not, he still sins. You therefore put his soul in jeopardy. You have now torn him, as it were, away from his faith in Jesus Christ. He's not eating by faith in Christ. He's eating knowing full well in his own mind it's sin. He's not trusting in Christ. That's why the Apostle talks about not offending the brother. Not offending even, he goes on to say, anyone. That's another striking thing. That the Apostle extends the example not just to a brother, who might point this out to you, but even an unbeliever, your neighbor. Do it not for the sake of him who is even an unbelieving neighbor. The idea is, he's someone who knows you're a Christian. He's not. He doesn't care to be. But he looks at you and he says, well, you must not be a very good Christian, because he doesn't even care that this food and this drink is being offered up to an idol. Here he sits in a temple. The temple to my idol. Here he sits. Is he really a Christian? In other words, he could be an occasion to blaspheme God. The Apostle says, you don't want that. Then it's best you never even go into that temple and eat one piece of meat. This is an important thing too, because if one understands that, if one eats and drinks, or even abstains from certain meat and drink, which in itself is lawful for him to partake of, and he does that rightly, that is, with regard to others, for the sake of others, and not just himself, That then is what also leads then to being generous and giving. And if not, why we can be stingy. So there too, there's a real practical application. Lastly, the Apostle indicates that we partake of this earth in its fullness lawfully and thankfully in exactly how we partake. We show our thanksgiving in that. We will show it by the way that we use it and enjoy it. If our conscience is going to be bound, then we're not going to use it. So merely using it itself shows true gratitude to God and a right use of it. Or by the way that we eat and drink, in other words, in contrast to those who are unthankful. We do not eat and drink like the idolater as something we need or else we're not going to be happy. I have to have this or otherwise my life is miserable. That's the eating and drinking of the idolater. The child of God eats and drinks as this is something he has lawfully received and not something he has stolen or a robber. Even the wicked and ungodly reflect that in their eating and drinking. It's as if they know in their heart of hearts that they're stealing and robbing God when they take it to themselves and say, it's mine. The child of God isn't like that. The child of God who has been given this right through faith in Jesus Christ understands, God gave this to me, even though I don't deserve it. I haven't earned it, He's given it to me, it's His, and He gives thanks. And then, just not thanks for the meat and drink, but everything else that He's given. And as a part of the way that we eat and drink, We mentioned prayer. We heard this morning that the chief part of thankfulness is prayer. A child of God prays before he eats and drinks. And the idea really is he should always be praying about everything he receives. When we say, Lord, we're thankful for our meat and drink, we should be adding we're thankful also for our transportation, the car, may be made by the greedy businessmen. We're thankful for our citizenship. We're thankful for our government. We're thankful for all these things because we recognize that we've received them in the grace of God. Lastly, why? Why is it so important that as a part of our thanksgiving we recognize the lawful use of the earth and its fullness and the reasons why that is? And the answer is because it glorifies God. Unlawful partaking of the earth and its fullness for whatever reason always glorifies the eater and the drinker. One buys a car in order to make Himself glorious. I'm going to buy this car because when I drive in the parking lot of Covenant Christian High School, all the kids are going to go, wow, look at that car. That's not what you want. That's not what's pleasing to God. No, the child of God is interested in the glory of God, and the Apostle brings it out, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. And take note, the apostle isn't simply bringing up something here that's a slogan, something that is sort of, well, maybe someday, hopefully, if you advance to a certain level of holiness, you will do this for the glory of God. But the idea is, that all such thanksgiving glorifies God, and any other kind of thanksgiving that doesn't glorify God is not thanksgiving at all. It's simply self-service and idolatry disguised as thanksgiving. We need to remember that. There's a lot of things, beloved, that we use and enjoy, and God has given us in great abundance. Enjoy them. At the same time, ask yourself, how exactly now does this glorify God? If it's just for your own glory, that is, for your own pleasure, for your own enjoyment, you're going to find out you don't really care about the brother or sister, whether they have or don't have. As long as I have money to eat and drink, I'm not so concerned whether he has money to eat and drink, what I eat and drink. But even worse than that, we're only glorifying ourselves and not God. Ask yourself, how does this exact partaking of the earth in its fullness Glorify God. We need to find that connection because it must and it should. That's its purpose. That's its reason. It should be our concern without exception and without any exceptions to what we eat or drink or what we do. Playing basketball, going golfing, sitting on the beach, eating a steak. And this should be a way of life. The idea of the text is that this is what God requires with eat and drink. It's the bare necessities of life. This is something that God requires in all of life. Remember in the catechism we read, the idea of what we read is this is simply what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is to be thankful, and thanksgiving is all to the glory of God. And that's why it's a command. He's not simply giving a truth, but He's giving commandment here. This is the way it must be. Do all things to the glory of God. Not now to be saved, not now to earn the right to have them. If we do this enough, God may grant me that right and be gracious to me. No. God doesn't want that. God doesn't want you repaying Him for what He has done. But this is the reason God has given you that right. This is the reason God has given you those in His grace. Because the right and lawful use of them The use of them as outlined in the sermon, that is what glorifies God. It shows before all the world. You and I recognize I have no right to this in myself. God has granted me that right. In His grace, and in His grace He has given me the power to lay aside sin and to use it in His service and with thanksgiving, true thanksgiving to Him. Amen. Let us pray. Lord our God, we pray that indeed We may glorify Thee in this day by partaking of the earth and its fullness with thanksgiving. And that in that way, recognizing that all of this comes from Thy hand and is given to us only because we are redeemed and made Thy children in Jesus Christ, grant, Lord, that we be truly thankful. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.