Christian Freedom & Gospel Witness  – 1 Corinthians 10:23-33

Good morning church. Just wanted to welcome all who have joined us at the hall today and our friends who have joined us online. Every time we come together as a church family especially as God’s Word is being opened up, let’s remember that it’s no ordinary event but God is intending to do something deep in our hearts. And that’s what we get to do together as a family each week. 

If you’ve been tracking with us at the Gathering, we’ve been going through a series titled The Church: God’s Dwelling Place from the letter of 1st Corinthians. What we’ve seen so far is that the church is not a building, it’s not an organization, it’s not a formal event that you sign up for a few hours each week. The church is a People whom God has redeemed through His Son Jesus Christ. 

In these passages that we’ve read over the last three or four weeks, Paul has been consistently addressing the topic of christian liberty or christian freedom – what does it mean for us to be free in Christ. 

In chapter 8, he tells us that Christian freedom can’t be an excuse to become a stumbling block for a weaker fellow believer. In chapter 9, he uses his own life as an illustration to demonstrate how he himself surrendered his rights for the good of the Corinthian church (He’s asking the church to look at his life’s example). In chapter 10, he tells us how our Christian freedom can’t be an excuse to participate in sin (idolatry and immorality). 

And as he brings this topic of Christian freedom to a close this week, he’s challenging the church to look inwards and ask themselves if their “Christian freedom” has become a hindrance to their Gospel witness. 

As their spiritual father in Christ, Paul is lovingly telling them “You think you’re mature, you think you’ve got some superior knowledge which allows you do whatever you want under the umbrella of being free in a Christ, I want you to take a hard look at yourselves and see if “Christian freedom” is becoming to your own Gospel witness. 

And even as we’re listening to this, we realize that this isn’t an irrelevant topic for us today. We all understand the tension between our Christian freedom and our Gospel witness. As we are living out our identity as children of God in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and in places of leisure, we’re all trying to figure the balance between our freedom in Christ and ensuring that it doesn’t compromise our Gospel witness. 

If you’re there today, wrestling with this tension of Christian freedom and your Gospel witness, let me encourage you to know there’s hope and help available in today’s passage. It’s not coming from a place of legalism which asks “If you call yourself a good Christian, is this what you do?” Rather it gives three quality checks to help us deal with this tension.

1. Does it edify?

 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 [23]  “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. [24] Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 

As we’ve read 1st Corinthians, one thing that we’ve grown accustomed to is seeing Paul cite a quotation and then respond to it. Most likely these quotes were questions that Corinthian church had written to Paul asking for biblical counsel on it. This was the Ask Pastor Paul podcast of that time. 

The question they asked Paul in V23 was “All things are lawful”. In other words, “I have the right and power to do anything and everything because I’m free in Christ, right?” And Paul’s response is, “Alright, but anything and everything is not helpful”. That word helpful is translated as “profitable”. Is it actually profiting you? Is it actually benefiting you in some way? Is it actually productive for you? Is it actually good for you? 

And then he quotes them once more by saying “alright you’re saying you can do anything and everything” but is that actually going to build up faith? Not just your faith but the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ. 

In fact in the original Greek, the word is translated as house builder. The picture of a construction worker who is laying one brick upon another to build a house. And that’s the imagery that’s being used for our faith. Are we building up our faith by doing this? Are we building up our brother and sister’s faith by this? 

And what Paul is doing by this is challenging their assumption that their freedom in Christ allows them to do whatever they want. And he’s challenging them to ask themselves if it’s profitable to them? And if it’s helping build up their faith and their neighbors faith through it? In other words, by doing this or not doing this is it helping to edify yourself and your fellow believer’s faith? 

And then in V24, he tells them to not seek their own good but the good of their neighbor. If you’ve been around a church, you’ve probably heard this a few times. 

But I want us to take a minute to think how antithetical it is to the culture around us? We live in a culture that tells you that if you seek your own good, if you seek your own interests then you’ll be happy. Then you’ll progress in life. And it’s not just the culture around us, our own sinful hearts tell us the same thing – Put yourself above others, seek your own good and then later on care about your neighbors. 

And it’s to that culture and sinful heart that this verse tells us “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor”. I’m saying this so that we can acknowledge that this doesn’t come naturally to us. We are simply not wired that way. We are not able to do this by our own strength. We desperately need God’s grace to help us live with this perspective of seeking not our good, but the good of another. 

And when Paul is saying “seek the good of another”, he’s not just preaching some broad moral science lecture. There is a specific context to what he’s saying. The context was on eating food offered to idols. There were some so-called mature believers in Corinth who were saying “I can eat because I’m free in Christ”. What Paul has been discipling them through is to consider a younger believer among them who won’t see it that way and instead it will hurt their conscience. He’s telling them how they need to lay down their rights to eat that food for the good of their younger brother and sister. 

In my previous church, once our youth group had the chance to go to an orphanage outside the city to conduct a VBS for the children out there. During the orientation we were told to not wear jeans and tight fitting clothes while we’re on the premises. I remember being not so comfortable with that instruction. Felt it was very restrictive and old fashioned but later on I realized why we were told that. It was a context where wearing jeans and fitting clothes were perceived very differently. And we were going to spend the good part of the next 2 days sharing the Gospel in skits, songs and through teaching and the people out there who understood the context better than us didn’t want our Gospel witness to be hindered in the process. 

Was there something sinful in wearing jeans? No but in that context it would have been perceived in a way where it would be an obstacle to them receiving the Gospel. And so it meant that we had to let down our pride, let down our rights for the good of those children. 

It’s a good place for us to pause and ask ourselves what are some places in our lives where we need to lay down our rights for the good of our brother and sister? What are some choices that we need to make with the intention to edify our faith and the faith of our brothers and sisters? 

First quality check – Does it edify? Second one. 

2. Does it glorify? 

1 Corinthians 10:31 [31] So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

But before we come to v31, I want to ensure that we don’t skip the verses in between. So a quick summary of the verses in between. In verses 25-30, Paul is dealing with the question of eating food offered to idols but in a slightly different situation – at the marketplace and at somebody’s home. Till now Paul has been saying “No” to the question of eating in the temple, but now it seems like he’s making an allowance in these situations. Why is that so? 

Again, let’s understand the Corinthian context. In those days everything in that city revolved around the temple and their worship of their many idols. And so inevitably even the meat that was sold at the local market probably had a touch point at the temple. So the Corinthian church was asking “can we eat this meat if it was purchased from a local market”? 

And Paul’s response is that if you’re buying from the local market without anyone giving a disclaimer saying that this was previously sacrificed to an idol, just take it. Don’t be paranoid, don’t do a background check, don’t do a criminal investigation. Just buy it and take it home. 

And then another question “what if it’s served at the home of an unbeliever?” Paul’s response is again the same. If there’s no disclaimer given stating that this was offered to an idol, just eat it. No need to do a background check, don’t do a criminal investigation. Just eat it. 

However, if someone at the table mentions that this was offered to an idol, then you need to avoid it for the sake of the other person’s conscience. Not your conscience – because you’re eating it with a clear conscience after giving thanks to God for that meat. But it is for the sake of the other person’s conscience that you need to avoid it. 

I think this is a helpful principle especially when our unbelieving neighbors or colleagues or sometime family members offers prasad to us. Sometimes we just know what to say or do in that moment. If they come to you offering prasad, then the reason you need to decline and avoid eating it is for the sake of the conscience of the others that are there. In fact it’s an opportunity for us to witness to them by saying “I’m so sorry, but I won’t be able to take this because of my faith in Jesus alone”. 

But is there something inherently wrong in eating the prasad? No. If you’re eating it giving praise to Jesus, you can do it with a clear conscience. However, it’s for the sake of the other person who will probably perceive it as us being okay with worshiping an idol. 

And that’s how we arrive in v31. Because it’s telling us whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, everything needs to be done to the glory of God! 

Couple of observations from this verse. 

• There is nothing insignificant in our lives for God. There’s nothing too small or mundane or random in our lives which don’t deserve to be lived to the glory of God. Even things as mundane as eating and drinking need to be to the glory of God. Waking up, Brushing your teeth, Taking a shower, Putting on your clothes, Taking a bus or train or rickshaw to work or school, while you’re filling a redundant excel sheet at work, while you’re taking your lunch break and chai break, scrolling through your phone – all of these mundane things are significant to God and needs to be done in a way that brings honor to Him. 

• There is nothing out of bounds in our lives for God. Whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. There is nothing out of scope, there is nothing out of bounds even the areas of our life that we think are private and personal. Our relationships, the content that we individually consume on TV and social media, private conversations we have on chat, how we spend our money, (sometimes we get embarrassed to say this) but even something as private as our sex life all of it needs to be for the glory of God. Whatever we do on a Sunday morning or whatever we do from a Monday to Saturday, that need to be for the glory of God. 

And so it’s a helpful practice for ourselves and with each other to ask – can we honestly say that we’re thinking this, or saying this or doing this to the honor and praise of God?

3. Does it unify? 

1 Corinthians 10:32-33 [32] Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, [33] just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

If we read verses 32 & 33 out of context, we can very easily misunderstand it as though Paul is promoting people pleasing. A couple of reasons why we shouldn’t misunderstand is because that phrase “Give no offense” doesn’t mean being politically correct or overly sensitive but it actually is translated as “don’t lead anyone to sin” or as the NIV translates as “Don’t be a stumbling block”.

Secondly, we understand the goal that he’s trying to accomplish in doing all this. It’s not so that people can love and accept him more. The goal in trying to please people is for their salvation. (V33) Now that doesn’t mean being a doormat, it doesn’t mean compromising on our gospel witness, it doesn’t mean being dishonest just so that they get saved. Without compromising on our gospel witness, we are called to accommodate ourselves for the best interests of the other. 

It’s not trying to ask others to come to where we are at, but rather to meet people where they are at without compromising our witness. It reminds us that each and every believer is called to be a missionary (even though it’s not a formal title or vocation). We’re always on mission whether inside the hall of the church or outside it. We are called to think like missionaries who are always exegeting and understanding their context to ensure that the gospel is made accessible to their context without compromising their witness. 

It tells us can’t be living our Christian life in oblivion without understanding or caring about our current context. The most loving thing we can do to understand where others are at and then strive to meet them where their at without compromising our witness so that they would be able to receive Jesus. 

After all isn’t that what happened when God reached out to us. God didn’t wait for us to come to him but rather came to us without compromising his holiness. God had undertaken the greatest and most significant mission trip by sending his Son Jesus Christ to the earth to take on the form of man and then live the life that we needed to live and die the death we deserved to die for us. He was buried and three days later on that Resurrection Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the grave so that whoever would believe in Jesus would be saved and converted to His children forever. Our salvation is hinged on the fact of Jesus Christ laying down his freedom and his rights for our best interests. 

As people who have experienced the benefit of Christ’s work first hand, we are called to similarly lay down our freedoms for the best interests of others. We do that by asking ourselves these quality check questions:

• Does it edify? 
• Does it glorify God? 
• Does it unify?