Thanks for being here tonight. We're going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. I look forward to a great time with you here tonight and I promise we'll get out to those banana splits here in a little bit. I feel like last time it was difficult because I had hungry hippos to follow and now banana splits. I need to talk with the schedule guy, but we'll get on it and we'll get right to it. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. Let me start by just saying, here's what I'm not going to do tonight. I'm not going to suggest to you any church reasons as to why we do what we do here in church. I'm not going to analyze what you do, necessarily. I'm not looking or thinking when I'm teaching here about certain people who hold certain views. Matter of fact, I want you to think about what Paul is getting after here. in these three chapters, he is being very careful as he wants us to mature in love for one another. And that's what he wants us to do. How many of you are parents or grandparents in here? We've got parents and grandparents. Now, some of you aren't. And that's okay. But I think you can relate to the illustration here. And the illustration, I'll be honest, is not perfect. But it gets the point, I think, what we're going to be after here. It's not, you know, as a parent or a grandparent in your home, you have certain liberties, if you will. You have certain freedoms. You have a lot of responsibility, but you have, also, you're in charge. You've got it. You are your family. You are in charge. And, I mean, you make the money. You bring it home. You're the one that's responsible for spending it, in a sense. You hold a certain position. Maybe we could even say of authority. You know, as a dad, I get to play with big tools. I get to drive the lawnmower around. I get to shovel the snow. I get to participate in a lot of areas that maybe perhaps my younger, more immature, and I know some of you are looking at me like, well, you're not that mature. You're like, whatever. OK, bear with me here. But you know, there are certain things my kids can't necessarily or won't necessarily be able to handle yet. Let me tell you something, as the leader of the family, maybe even as someone who might be the mature person in the family, I want my family to be successful. That's very ambiguous, I know, but I want them to win in the Christian life. I want them to be successful. Matter of fact, maybe sounds cheesy, but I still wear some of the same clothes I wore in college, but I want my kids to have clothes that fit. You with me? I want my kids to have new shoes. I want my kids to enjoy some of the things maybe that I might sacrifice or set aside for a time. Why do I do this? Well, I'm passionate. I'm pretty passionate about my kids. Matter of fact, if you want to talk about anything with me, start talking about my kids. I'll talk for an hour, an hour, an hour, an hour, because I love my kids. But I love them. I'm willing to love my family and set aside things for my family for the sake of their maturity in certain areas. I'm willing to do that. And tonight we'll be talking about what it means to passionately, if you will, win others. We're going to talk tonight about what it means to love despite the fact of the good things and the good liberties that we may even have because of what Christ has done. And despite our freedom and our grace that we have as believers, may we also be willing to lay some of these down. Now as you go to the text tonight, here in chapter eight, we gotta remember a few things. Paul is writing to the church for a reason. Last time I talked to you, we were able to go through the first few chapters, and if you remember, he was calling them out to abstain from worldliness. That's the big thing here in this book. Those of you that were here with Pastor Dan, remember some serious sins that were going on in this church. You with me? If you were here last time, he spoke. Matter of fact, in chapter five, he called out the church for moral failure, not just moral failure, but accepting the practice. And this book is trying to get us to come out of the world. And really, the world needs to see our love for one another. Now let me say this. In scripture, there is some clear teaching sometimes. I'm this way. You may be this way. I like it when they say, hey, this is what you ought to do. This is what you ought not to do. I kind of appreciate and kind of like to live inside of that. All right, but there are some things that perhaps maybe some call them gray areas. There might be some areas in which we have liberty, but how do we handle those areas? You know, for instance, I've been a pastor for a few years, not super long, about 12 years or so. I've never had anyone come into the office and say, Pastor James, I'm just wondering what you think if God would be pleased for me to murder my neighbor or to steal from my neighbor. I mean, those are clearly obvious, they're obviously wrong. Or I've never really had someone come in and say, Pastor James, do you think God would desire for me to spend time in prayer, spend time enjoying and fellowshipping with him? But we do have discussions on a lot of things, like how do you spend your time? How do you manage your free time, whatever that may be? Should you let your kids be involved in certain community activities? You know, we're going through that as a young family. How do I manage those things? How do I manage my family time? What does it mean to have family time? We're critiquing and thinking about those things. You know, what clothes you should wear, how you should wear them, what music should you listen to, should you allow certain things in your home, should you allow your kids to go to certain places, should you go certain places? And don't get me wrong, there are underlining principles in all of these things. So as we look at chapter eight, tonight Paul is writing this letter, he's continuing the idea of calling us out to be separate. But what we'll see today is that he is not asking us to heap on more and more and more rules, nor is he telling us to take your freedom and live however you want. He's not saying those two things. Matter of fact, Paul here in chapter eight, he's actually, he'll talk a little more deeper about it in chapter 10, but he's not right at the forefront of dealing with what we should eat, or eat specifically food offered to idols. He's not gonna say, you do this and you do that. He doesn't give you the yes or the no. But obviously, for this church, this was a big deal, because meat offered up to idols would have caused someone to go back in their former ways, in their pagan ways, and they would have been like, uh, no, I don't want to associate with that at all. It would have been a big deal. So why doesn't Paul just say, you know, yes or no? Well, I think some believers may fall into a couple of categories here. And I've kind of mentioned it a little bit here already. But first, I think we have some believers who feel like they're free to do whatever it is they want to do. You know, the Bible doesn't specifically say, I can or can't do this, therefore I'm free to do whatever it is I want. I think we need to be careful. I think Paul would have us to be careful here, as we'll see about this. Our liberty should not be used in a way that puts us in a position to blur the lines of the obvious. Frankly, we need to be very cautious about how close we are to allowing ourselves to be doing things that could be tempting us even in areas that we're weak. And secondly, we have the legalist, probably essentially a legalist I was I read a book in college, and I think a great running definition of a legalist essentially is someone who confuses that ongoing things that they do in their sanctification, so their ongoing growth process, as if to look back and somehow that helps their position or justification before God. Someone, the illustration, the idea of if you have, you ever been to a circus? You ever see these guys who spin plates? Right? You know, and you're like, how do they do that? And by the way, the string's probably attached somewhere in there. Right? When you see these guys, you know, they're running around, they're frantically, and then all of a sudden, there's all these plates. You know, we get to certain things running, and then sometimes when our prayer life falls, or when our Bible reading falls, everything falls, and then positionally before God, we go, ah! You know, because the rules that we establish are parameters. Not saying that that's all a negative, but We have to be careful about that. So we make rules upon rules, and we make rules that actually are loud or scream loudly, where perhaps the Bible is silent. Chapter 8 says this, now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity or love edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, Yet as he ought to know, but if any man love God, the same is known of God. Paul here is giving us a, almost like a doctrine of knowledge here. This is pretty awesome. You know, here's the first, here in the first three verses, we have, maybe for you, I don't know, but when I was studying this out, it was like, man, my mind went right back to the first few chapters, because Paul's addressing like, hey, you gotta know God. And by the way, be careful about the world, because there's a lot of worldly wisdom that can take you away from who God is. But the best thing in us is that we are known of God. Even if we are in the know sometimes about certain things, we don't have all the knowledge. You ever not fully understood the whole story or both sides of the story, as it were? Perhaps you can relate. The best thing you can know is that you are God's. At the same time, we know that Paul says here, knowledge often can make one arrogant. But it's only when one is mature in love and mature in knowledge where true edification takes place. Look at verse four. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. I love that. And there is none other but God, but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things. and we by him." Look, Paul is literally saying here that an idol cannot be known. Not to mention the fact that it can't understand anything or know anything anyways. It doesn't even know it's being worshipped. Let that sink in. One of my favorite basketball players growing up was Michael Jordan. It got me a little trouble cheering for him growing through elementary school and high school, because I had a lot of buddies who were Pistons fans. But growing up, I loved Michael Jordan. And I can honestly tell you that he was just, to me, I think he was the best player ever. But let's say I want to get to know Michael Jordan. How do I get to know him a little bit? Well, maybe I can go back and watch some of his games. But you know, he's actually knowable. I can actually go talk to him. I can have a conversation. This will never happen, but he can actually maybe even get to know me a little bit. You know, let's fast forward, say, 100 years from now or 200 years from now. And Michael Jordan's off the scene. He's still alive here today. But let's say we all go down to the United Center there in Chicago, where he played. And out front, he's got a bronze statue of himself. And he's like this. He's got his tongue out. He's got the ball way up in the air. And let's say we go to that bronze statue, and we want to get to know him. You know, that statue has nothing. but resemblance. We can't know Michael Jordan through a bronze statue. And matter of fact, the funny thing is, that statue doesn't even know it exists. And I think what's important here, I think what Paul's really striving after here is that the center of our very lives rest in the fact that God is who he is. Catch this. Not only is he who he is, but he is knowable, and we can know him. And by the way, we need him. And he is our everything. And imagine, for me, a life with no hope. Imagine a life of daily visiting a bronze statue or an idol that doesn't even know what's going on. This life is filled with choice after choice. If you're a believer tonight, I pray that you think carefully about who is the center of your life. And I hope it's the one who is noble, and the one who is king. Praise God that we have a God who is, and who not only can he be known, of course we won't fully know him and understand him, but he's glorious. Verse seven, how be it there is not in every man that knoweth or that knowledge. For some with conscience of the idol unto the hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. Paul here is saying this, he's saying the fact that you may know what is acceptable, so like the fact that you're in the know that you're able to participate and eat this way, The fact that you're okay with it, the fact that it doesn't bother you, doesn't mean there is someone there that may be tempted to sin against his conscience. In all that we do, We ought to be loving and be able to lay aside those things for the sake of the brother. I'm going to come back to that idea of the conscience here in a second. Let's move on in the text. Verse 8, if you will. But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat or are we the better. Neither if we eat not are we the worse, but take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours, in other words, the privileges you have, you're able to eat, of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee, which has knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not this conscious of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died. But when ye sin so against the brother, and wound their weak conscience, ye also sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make a brother to offend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth, lest I make my brother offend. Paul's driving us back to this, he's driving us to this thought, that food, or eating food, or not eating food, has no spiritual significance. And what do I mean by that? You're like, wait a minute, wait a minute. You're like, what do I mean by that? The word commendeth there in verse eight, check it out. All right, the word commendeth in verse eight means to place near, means to bring beside. So food doesn't bring us, food in and of itself doesn't bring us closer to God. Food left alone is neutral. God has not forbidden food. Matter of fact, later on, he's gonna quote Psalm later on about food when he comes back in chapter 10. That is not to say that we shouldn't be careful about food. I'm not sure yet of any foods that I'm allergic to, but perhaps maybe you're allergic to foods and there's certain foods you shouldn't eat because it's not helpful. And of course, gluttony is wrong, it's harmful. It's harmful to our bodies, it's wrong. We're to take care of our bodies, we're supposed to be wise. Although food may not have merit, listen, here's the point. Although food may not have merit in our relationship with God, it certainly has an influence to our brothers. So Paul, in his day, here's the picture we get, this idea we have a spiritually mature person, He may be able to eat. He actually may even be able to eat with a pagan person. He may even, maybe he might even be okay eating their food. And this Christian has no problem conducting himself, but here a guy walks in and says, wait, don't you know what that's, look it. So the Christian here is doing his best to be salt and light perhaps. He has that liberty perhaps, but for food, And even eating there, it doesn't bring him closer to God. However, he's going to be careful about what he does because of his brother. Because the spiritually mature person doesn't take his liberty, what he may have or be able to do, and that's not his banner. That's not what he screams. It's loving one another. Go back to the text, look at verse 12. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Nobody here is going to say, you know, I'm really excited today because I caused my brother to sin against Christ. I mean, you're just not going to do that. Paul's making an emphatic statement here. When you do this, you're causing your brother to sin against the Lord. Oh, by the way, that's the same Christ who died for you, the same gospel we need to be serious about. Wherefore if meat make a brother offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth. So it's the conscience that one must lovingly protect. Let me read to you something that I found to be very helpful when it comes to the conscience. Listen to this. The voice of a Christian's conscience is the instrument of the Holy Spirit. If a believer's conscience is weak, it is because he is spiritually weak and immature. not because the leading of the conscience is weak. The conscience is God's doorkeeper to keep us out of places where we could be harmed. As we mature, the conscience allows us to go more places and do more things because we will have more spiritual strength and better judgment. A small child is not allowed to play with certain things. He's not allowed to be in the streets. The restrictions are gradually removed as he grows older and he learns himself the dangers God confines the spiritual children by the conscience as they grow in knowledge and maturity, the limits of conscience are expanded. We should never expand our actions and habits before our conscience permits it. And we should never encourage either directly or indirectly anyone else to do the same. Thus the text where it says, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Causing a brother to stumble is more than an offensive to him, it's an offense against the Lord. We should be eager to limit our liberty at any time to any degree in order to help the fellow brother. So we've concluded chapter eight, let's go to chapter nine. And in doing this, let me say Paul understood his own personal practice, and this is something we have to understand, that his own personal practice and what he did actually mattered. And what he did and why he did what he did mattered. He saw that for the people in Corinth, they need to be concerned about building one another up. Paul knew that love would go further than the law. Remember Matthew 5, you know, if someone wants to go one mile, go two mile with them. Someone wants your cloak, someone wants your shirt, give them your coat. Go further. So Paul expounds on chapter 8, from chapter 8 he goes into chapter 9. If you would turn, just for sake of time, let's go to verse 19. Verse 19 says this, for though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more And unto the Jews I became as a Jew. That's pretty profound, right? Coming from, if you know the author, that's pretty great. That I might gain the Jews. To them under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without the law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law of Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law. He's talking about the Gentiles. To the weak I became as weak that I might gain Christ, that I might by all means save some. Everything that he did was for the purpose of winning. Paul didn't just see his liberty or the constraint of liberty as the issue. uh... that that was meant to be and only between the weak and stronger brother he also expounded it it's not just between brothers and sisters it's also in Christ it's also uh... to those who are not in the faith And the primary purpose of Paul was to win souls. Paul would gladly limit his freedoms for those who are in unbelief so that he would gain more. In verse 20, it's pretty profound. As a matter of fact, you can search it up yourself in Acts 18 and Acts 21. We see Paul participate in some Jewish things, Jewish ceremonies, if you will. And Paul does this seemingly for the sake of the cross. And Paul himself would act as if he were a participant of these customs in order to admonish them and encourage them because he loved them. For the Gentiles, he did things for love's sake. And for Paul, it was a matter of self-control. His wants, his desires often got in the way for the sake of the cross. Can I encourage you here? I think that's an area where we probably all could work on. Our self-control and our direction, our clear intention for the gospel. Because our desires often get in the way. We tend to be the type of believer that flaunts our liberty and say, well, I can do this. Or maybe we're the type of believer that lives in legalism. But we've got to ask ourselves at what cost Are we sacrificing the gospel? And are we truly edifying one another? Verse 24 says this, Know ye now that they which run, run a race, and run all, but one receiveth the prize. Isn't that incredible? A lot of people run, but only one person wins. You ever get to that point, like, you ever been in gym class or been in any sports, you're like, man, I'm not gonna win. But Paul's like, hey, there's a lot of people that are running. Paul knew a lot about this stuff. Right where he was talking about, the Isthmian Games, were held right in Corinth. There were two major games, that one and the Olympics. You ever wonder why we love sports so much? We like a good story. So sometimes there are good stories. And maybe, like Paul here, he's obsessed with winning. Maybe it's the winner, but man, there are a ton of losers in sports. It can be pretty sad. Some of my great defeats, but some of the defeats in life, you kind of think back, man, that really hurts. But man, those athletes have to sacrifice, don't they? They really do. Look at what he says. Paul says, and every man striveth for the mastery that is temperate. You know, in Paul's day, we didn't pay the athlete. And bam, they had a job, and they were amateurs, and they still had to train. They had to compound that onto their work life. I therefore so run, not as uncertainty. Excuse me, verse 25. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible crown. He's taken us perhaps to the crown of righteousness. Paul knows that it's a matter of self-discipline. All believers need to be reminded that what we do and how we handle it is a choice. and they're big, important choices in life and the matter. He says this, "'I therefore so run not as uncertainty, "'so fight I not as one that beateth the air.'" He changes the metaphor to what? He moves it from a runner to what? A boxer. Now, I am clearly not in the physique to be one. However, a boxer has a lot of fake fights with himself. shadowboxing, perhaps maybe you've heard of this, or maybe they, Paul's saying here, look, I'm not a fake guy, I'm not a fake fighter, this is a real deal, and you better wake up. Paul's basically saying, get in shape. And he's not talking about his body, per se. He's talking about spiritual, or excuse me, he's talking about the spiritual journey, the Christian faith. You know, an athlete, you think of it this way, if an athlete is to excel, what liberties is he going to set aside? Well, he's going to have a pretty regimented schedule. His sleep, his food. You ever hear athletes, after they win a championship, like, yay, I can finally have whatever? You know, what are you going to finally, what are you excited about eating? Well, for six months, I haven't had this. Right? Exercise. How many of you need some more exercise? Don't raise your hand. We're going to set aside some liberty. Well, I don't really have to. It's been said that athletes, a trained athlete, is not slave to his body, it's the other way around. His body is his slave. And perhaps this is the analogy, perhaps this is what Paul is suggesting. Paul wasn't here to be fake. He wasn't the type to just be the shadow boxer. He wanted to fight, and he wanted to contend for the gospel. Verse 27, but I keep under my body, and bring it unto subjection, lest that by any means I would have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. You could almost say Paul would even keep under his body, have that, it's back to boxing there, the jab to the face, whether it's self-inflicted or not. Paul would put everything under subjection, even his own body, for the sake of the cross. I think there are two major thoughts so far in these two chapters. One, we mentioned love your brother in Christ and be willing to lay down your liberty that you may help them in maturity. Secondly, love others, even the unbeliever, and be willing to lay down your liberty that you may win them. And then lastly tonight, as we look at chapter 10, go over to verse 23. Lastly tonight, in all things, do things for the glory of the Lord. the glory of God. It's a convicting text here in chapter 10 because it's almost a rebuke. 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 eats, asking no question for conscience' sake. That's near like the idols, as it were. The temple, excuse me, idea of shambles there. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullest thereof. There's a quote from Psalm 25, I believe it is. Verse 27, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and you be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for the conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, this is offered as a sacrifice unto idols. He's bringing in a Christian here now. If a believer comes in and says, hey, if any man says it's offered to idols, eat not for the sake that it showed it. You know, don't eat it even though it might be, literally, this is what we can say, don't eat it even though it might offend the person, the unbeliever who brought you in. That's actually what it's saying there. That's the idea. Whatsoever is set before you eat, ask no question, verse 28, and the conscious say, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Conscious, I say, not thine own, but of the others, 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 you eat, you gotta love this text, don't you? Whether therefore you eat or drink, especially if you've been in the wilds, now this will maybe resonate with you. Or whatsoever you do, do all to the, what? Glory of God. Give no offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God, even as I pleased all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. What's he saying? No matter what in life, no matter what happens, we are to glorify God in everything that we do. Paul had so much confidence that actually, if you look at the first verse in chapter 11, he says, hey, follow me as I follow Christ. You know, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him. And the word glory means to praise, to uplift. We could probably give it a lot of words, but God's glory is in there. It's inside. It's who He is. You know, in Scripture, we're actually given the privilege to even ascribe glory to God. We actually have that privilege. That doesn't mean we're gonna add anything to Him. For instance, He's all-powerful. We can't add strength to Him. But we can thank Him. We can confess to Him. We can sing to Him. We can spread His Word. And we can fight for the Gospel. And we can get along for the glory of the Lord. And you might say, well, how can we do this? I think there are a few things, and I'll end with this. Number one, how can we do things for God's glory? And this will encapsulate chapters eight, chapter eight, chapter nine, chapter 10. Number one, we can encourage others. We encourage others and not lift us up. Our own pride. Go back to verse 23. It says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not what? Expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Back to, again, thinking of the context of what he's trying to say. Although we have liberty in Christ, we need to encourage or edify others with our life and not make it about us. You know, this morning we talked about a heritage. What a great way to leave a heritage. It's noteworthy to mention here that a mature believer will concern himself with the business of edifying, not making himself look better. And when faced with a choice of what to do, and if it is something we should do, we gotta go to scripture first. And if perhaps it's a gray area, we need to proceed if we feel it's best, if there is profit in it, if it edifies. In other words, we do things that build each other up, not tear each other down. It's why we do what we do. So first, we encourage others, we don't exalt ourselves. Secondly, I just put people matter. I mean, people matter. And we have to see life through that. And I think Paul's getting at this. People absolutely matter. Verse 24, let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Let that sink in. Let no one seek his own. but others' success. In other words, we could say it this way, we do what we do for the good of others, for what is good for them, what is best, what is right. We give up things in order to pour our lives into those in whom we meet. We wear the college clothes because of what we want to see and what's really a priority, what's really important. We set aside certain things or time that we could be earning or doing other things because we evaluate what's really important, and that is our brother being edified, that is the unbeliever coming to Christ. That's why we do what we do, because people matter. And I wonder if we pulled tonight, and I'm gonna throw myself in here, I wonder if we pulled ourselves tonight and we said, okay, what have I actually given up for the good of others, what we would come up with? What have I actually set aside because I know that people matter? And thirdly, this may sound rude, it's not intended to be, but don't be a legalist. What do I mean by that? Whatever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no question, verse 25, for conscience's sake. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullest thereof. Verse 27, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no question for the conscience's sake. And this is a kind of challenge, right? I mean, this is kind of where it gets a little tough. I mean, what do I do? Do I do this, even though I have the liberty? Do I not do this because, you know, it might offend, you know, we're analyzing why we say, okay, I get it, Pastor James, people matter, I get it, I need to elevate others and edify others, but how do I live this out? Because at some point, we're gonna have tension. At some point, we're gonna run into someone that maybe has a lot of, heaps and heaps of things, and we're like, I don't even know why they do that, and maybe I'm struggling, how could I not offend them? you might be even thinking. And again, I'm not thinking of any of us in here. I'm just saying at some point it's going to be a challenge. And no doubt you've run into this. But what Paul is saying there in the text is that the primary concern is others. But we can't live up to their laws in every possible way. It is our goal to not offend the weak, but we shouldn't make a big issue about the things that we hold to as well. In a sense, it almost goes both ways. But the very reason we give up our liberty is simply to build them up. Our restraint of our liberty shouldn't be legalistic in nature, but should be done in a way that we can help others mature. You know, you might just have somebody who just isn't there yet. Or maybe they don't understand why you do what you do. And so there are a lot of ways in which we can help them mature. Supremely, we have to love them and edify them. I guess I summarize it this way. Our end goal with one another is not to hurt the conscience, but to strengthen it. The end goal is to help one another in their conscience and not to crush them. Some of you are so gracious and very good at that. And fourthly, but this, don't be a critic and give it a rest. I don't know why I came up with that phrase, but bear with me here on this. Look at verse 28. But if any man say unto you, this is offered in a sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for the conscience' sake. For the earth is the Lord, the fullest thereof. Verse 29, kindest I say, not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be partaker, why am I evil spoken of? For that I which, for which I give thanks. The legalistic brother here shouldn't make us that way. We don't have to change and just be more like the legalist. We don't need to put him in his place either. But rather, it is best to give it a rest. Don't criticize someone who holds to something that maybe he doesn't understand or he or she may not understand their liberties. It's best to simply give it a rest, lay down your liberty for love's sake, because you have to be very careful about ruining the conscience. That's what Paul's after. Now in this text, There's something very important. I'm almost done. I know I did a lot of dictation tonight. But it may be noteworthy here. I somewhat mentioned it before, but it may be noteworthy here to say that a believer should not be offended at the expense of being a witness. You should not offend someone else at the expense, another believer. You shouldn't offend another believer at the expense of being a witness or a testimony to someone who is an unbeliever. Think of it this way. An unbeliever is not going to want what you have if they see what you have. And if what they see is just a bunch of arguing, probably not going to want. what you have. Also, it's very difficult for us to thank God for those things that we have done to make our friends stumble into sin. This is why Paul can emphatically say, verse 31, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Because the primary concern is to do those things for the believer, the unbeliever, ultimately for the Lord. Verse 32 says, give no offense, neither to the Jew, nor to the Gentile, nor to the Church of God. That kind of encompasses, like, everybody. You know, that kind of just says, you know, we all have to be careful about this. That's everyone you come in contact with. And it's also not when you're, well, I'll just go through my lit personal list. It's not just when your belly's full and you're not tired. It's all the time. the glory of the Lord, like Paul, with a specific mission, like a running athlete, or a boxer who's in the real fight. Because there are lives at stake. Whether you're a friend who's a believer, or your neighbor who is not. Whether they're a religious Jew who's got a lot of things going, or whether they're the person who is worshiping something that has no clue what it even is. That's what we got going on. Even as I please all men, in all things, not seeking my own profit. You know, Paul could actually say that, by the way, chapter 10, he talks about how in a little bit in 9 there, he's like, I don't even take a salary. But that's not what he's getting at. But the profit of many that they may be saved. He's saying, I'm not worried about what's going on right here. because the reward's coming later. The reward's coming later as I interact with my friends, as I interact with those who are in the faith, as those who are my believing brother and sisters in Christ, and those who don't know Christ. Man, Paul, what a huge testimony. I'm not trying to worship the person, but look what he says, like I said, in the next verse, chapter 11. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Hey, look, church, our goal in life is to do things for the glory of the Lord. Can I just share this with you? We're all in this together. We're all in this together. We're all doing this. It's all what we should be doing. You know, if you start thinking this way, there are some things that really just don't matter in life. You start looking at people the way you should. You know, the gripes and grumbles we have between each other, they kind of go away a little bit. We start thinking about the real purpose in life. And as we do things for Christ and others, may we do so in a way like Paul, that we can actually be followed as mature believers who are mature not just in knowledge, but mature in our love for one another. Look, I am so so not there. And I know it will never arrive, in a sense. But may we be followed because we are intentional about running this Christian race, and we are doing things for the glory of God. People matter. And you may come in here, and maybe you're not sure where you are, necessarily, as far as the legalist, the one who has liberties. where we all have liberties, but the one who has this full expression. Paul says, hey, let's set this aside for Christ, because there's a job to do. There are way more important things. It's a pretty incredible text. The liberties that we have as we follow Christ, and we become followers of Christ, and we're able to be followed. It's interesting. Interesting to think. what God can do if we give him truly the glory he deserves. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for this text. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for the encouragement in your word. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to delicately examine scripture for our own. Help us, Lord, as we desire to truly edify one another. Truly examine our own heart and say, you know, God, am I doing these things for your glory or do I simply want the praise of others? Help us all together to work towards maturity and work towards edification of each other. Thank you, Lord, for these who are here tonight and help us to encourage one another even as we have a time together. I thank you for the ice cream and the time to connect with families tonight. In your name, amen.