Should You Eat Meat Offered to Idols? 1 Corinthians 8 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Once again, this is program number four, and we've got it up on the board. For those of you who wonder what the internet is, it'll be on the screen as well. But for those with computers and access to the internet, punch it in and you can at least see a schedule of our programs. Remember that all the programs are available in the little books that you see on the screen. Each book has just been transcribed off of a 6 hour video, and that goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 1. Let's get right back with the time that we have left this afternoon, and I'm going to go all the way up to I Corinthians chapter 8. Now we're going to deal with yet another problem that was holding the Corinthian church at bay. They just didn't know how to cope with meat in the marketplace, or maybe at the table of someone who was inviting them to dinner, could they eat it if it had been offered in a pagan temple. It was a problem. Now granted we don't have to face this particular thing, but still I think it's appropriate for us to study it for a little bit, because we have other things that are probably just as important to our society today that is analogous to this. It's likened to it, and so consequently I feel we have to look at it. Verse 1 of chapter 8. Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we have all knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity eddeth forth. Now of course when we get to chapter 13 in Corinthians we're going to study the love chapter, and remember that love is the very foundation of our whole Christian faith. Love is what prompted Christ to go to the cross. Love is what prompted Him to save us by simply believing, and then the other side of the coin is that love is the predominating factor in the life of the believer. Whether it's in our marriage relationship, whether it's with our kids, whether it's with our neighbors, it all boils down to how much do we love them. I was hit with that even just in the last week or two. I was reading one of the famous authors, and he was bringing this out, and then I have to think, maybe that's one of my shortcomings. I just don't love the unlovely as much as I should, and I can't help it. I recognize it as a shortfall, and I have to confess it. Because when people do things that are so contrary to the Scripture, that are contrary to the good of the community, for the good of society, it irks me. I'm not afraid to admit it, but we have to always understand, and you've heard it long before I came along, that we hate the sin, but we love the sinner. And I'm the first to recognize that this is what I have to constantly be aware of. That yes, I can hate what these people do, but don't forget that you love that person. I got that taught to me years and years ago, and it was a man who was in kind of a funny situation. In fact he was the fellow that bought all my fat cattle when I was feeding cattle up north years ago. He was a devout religious man, and he would go to weekend retreats, but he had language like whatever. He could cuss like a trooper. So one day he was telling me that he had a large family, and his little 5 year old came in one afternoon when he came home from work, and he was crying that the kids up and down the street were picking on him because he was a different religion than they were. So he said, I set the little fellow on my lap, and I said, Now look son, you don't have to like the little so and so's, but you're supposed to love them for God's sake. And you know that was a lesson, isn't that true? There are people up and down the highways and byways of our life that we don't necessarily have to like. We certainly don't like the things that they do, but what are we still supposed to do? Love them for Christ's sake. He died for them, and that's just a practical, everyday illustration. Son, you don't have to like them, but you better love them for God's sake, and I've never forgotten it. Now then Paul comes in here, and verse 2. 2. If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. In other words, when we think we've learned it all, we're just getting started. There's no way we can exhaust the things of God, it's just unfathomable. Verse 3. 2. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. In other words, when we love the Lord who first loved us, don't you think for a minute that God doesn't know you and I on a first name basis? Absolutely He does. We're not just a number of millions. He knows us on a first name basis. He knows all about us, and He knows our needs even before we ask. Here comes the problem. Verse 4. 2. As concerning therefore, don't lose sight of the motivation of love, 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, and that there is no other God but one. For though there be that which are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us as believers there is only one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all things, and we by Him." In other words, He is the Creator of us all. Now I guess I just have to keep reading on for a moment. Verse 7. 2. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge, even these Corinthian believers, who were still babes in Christ, did not have the full comprehension of who and what God really is. And I dare say there are a lot of believers today that are saved, they're still babes in Christ, and they have no comprehension of who God really is. For those of us who have been Christians a long time, it's beyond us. I've said it before and I'll say it again, except for my faith in the Word, and don't think for a minute I don't believe it. Yet from the human side I just can't comprehend that the One who created the universe, that the One who created man and brought him up out of the dust and breathed into him the breath of life, that that same One went to that Roman cross and suffered at the hands of mankind so that He could have me and you in eternity. That's beyond me. That is beyond me why and how the Creator did all that just for the salvation of mankind. But He did. In the same way here Paul says, some of these Corinthians, even though they were saved, they still didn't have the comprehension of our God in compared to the powerless, for the most part, gods of idols. Read on. I Corinthians 5. Verse 7. I Corinthians 5. For there is not every man that knowledge, for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. What does he mean? Well for these weak young in the faith believers, knowing where that meat had gone before it got to his table, he had some reservations about eating it. Now again, I guess I have to explain. Whenever you are under a pagan society, remember the only way these pagan religious leaders can keep their people under control, is to have them saturated with superstition. You all know what superstition is. You're scared to death to make a move in the wrong direction, for fear that the powers that be will come down on you. This was the whole idea of pagan religion. They had their people steeped in superstition, and they were scared to death of the power of their gods, and they knew all too well the powers of the demons in the air around them. Now we in America have been blessed that we're not too plagued with demonism. It's coming, but so far Christianity has been strong enough that it's held the demon powers at bay. But you go into other areas of the world, and demonism is rampant. It's real. It was at Christ's time. It was at Paul's time. And so these pagans understood demonic powers when we were in Haiti. Voodooism. Those people know that voodooism has intrinsic power. It's satanic power, but it's a power. Now these idolatrous pagans, these people in Corinth, were so aware of the power of the demons of the air, that when they got ready to eat the meat, their superstitious mind said that if a demon was going to make entrance into his body, what would be the easiest way for him to do it? Get on that meat, and then there he'd be inside. And so this was a big hang up. Now in order to contradict that, these pagans then would take their meat to their pagan priests, and the priests would put some kind of a blessing on it that would keep the demons off their meat, so that they could eat it safely. Now all these things enter in, and a lot of times we don't understand. So here comes a believer now, and his best friend's daughter is getting married, and he's going to be going through all the pagan rites of marriage, and he's invited to the wedding feast. Now Paul never tells these believers to stay away from that. They were free to go. But Paul says, remember that even though your friend who is an idolater, feels that that meat has to have been blessed and sacrificed to a pagan god to keep the demons out of it, you don't have to worry about it. Those idolatrous gods can't do anything to you because you are a believer. Go ahead and eat the meat and don't worry about it. But here on the other side of the table at that same wedding feast is a brand new Christian, and he hasn't grown in any maturity whatsoever. And he looks over there, and there sits a Christian who has been there now a believer for 12-18 months, and he's eating that meat. What does this guy think? How in the world can he sit there and eat meat that's been offered to an idol? Now then what's Paul going to say? Listen, if you are going to cause that young believer to stumble and to have problems, then don't eat the meat. But so far as the idol having any power on it, forget it. Now again remember that when these pagans took their animals to be sacrificed in a pagan temple, the priests of that pagan temple would keep a certain portion of that meat for themselves. Much like Israel did. Then they would give the remaining part of the carcass back to the individual, and it was his to do as he felt with. So if he wanted some cash in hand, what do you suppose he would do with the remaining meat? He'd take it down to the butcher shop and sell it to the market. Now here comes unsuspecting people buying a chunk of meat off that ox or off that goat. Where has it already been? Oh it's been up there to that pagan temple. So these Christians knew this, so they had to write and ask Paul, what are we going to do Paul? Paul said, "...most of the meat that we buy in the market has already been offered to a pagan god. Or if we're invited to a wedding feast of one of our friends, we know it's been blessed by a pagan priest." Can we eat it? Now let's carry on in the text. Verse 8. Ephesians 1. But meat commended us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. Plain as day isn't it? The Bible never demands that a believer is a vegetarian. I have to say that because I'm a cow man, and I like to sell beef. The more the better. But never in Scripture are we admonished not to eat meat. Paul says it doesn't make any difference whether you do or you don't. Now verse 9. But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. I've already covered it. Here a mature Christian can do these things, and he knows it's not going to hurt him. But the young believer who is still relatively weak, gets all shook up by seeing what this fellow is doing. So Paul says rather than cause problems in the life of this new believer, don't eat the meat. Do it for his sake. Verse 10. For if any man see thee, who has knowledge, sitting at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him who 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? Are you going to cause him to stumble? Verse 12. But when you sin so against the brethren, and wound their conscience, what kind of a conscience? Weak. See? Paul says you don't have to worry about the believer who is grounded in the faith, and he has no more compunctions about it. But consider the poor fellow who is still weak. And that's what all of us have to take into consideration. Watch out for that weak brother. And so when you wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Because the Lord understands where that weak person is, and He understands where the mature person is, and He knows they have the wherewithal to make it a level playing field. Let's go on. Verse 13. Wherefore if meat makes my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. Well that's basically what he said back in Romans. Remember when we were studying Romans, Paul said the same thing. If something that you feel you're mature enough, it's not going to hurt you, but it's going to bother the weak believer, then for his sake, don't do it. Alright, a lesson that we can apply in so many areas of even life today. I can probably do things that so far as I and the Lord are concerned are perfectly legitimate. I have that liberty under grace, but maybe there's somebody just down the road who would see me do that, and that would take tremendous offense, and maybe even unbelievers. They can look at us, and we know that there's nothing wrong with what we're doing. But they think it is. Now then for their sake, what do we do? We just stop doing it. And for their sake, we're not going to tempt them. I've made the statement over the years in my classes, do you realize that the unbelieving world is far more critical and judgmental of you and I as believers than God is? Just think about it. The unbelieving world is far more critical and judgmental of what they think you and I can and cannot do, than God is. Because God has given us the guidelines in His Word, and we know that we have this amount of liberty that we are determined to do or not to do as the Holy Spirit gives us guidance, and not by what our neighbor thinks. But we still take into consideration what is our neighbor's attitude, lest we cause him to ever not become a believer. We have to move on. Chapter 9. I thought I was going to get all through with chapter 9 and 10 today, but it just doesn't work that fast. Now chapter 9, again as I've said so often on this program, the Apostle Paul is always having to defend his apostleship. And here's another one. Verse 1, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. Now how could he say that? Because he had seen them saved out of abject idolatry only because of his ministry. So he says, you're the proof of the pudding, and if I were not an apostle you'd still be in your paganism. You know that's what I am ready to answer people, and they say, well who do you think you are? You're just a layman, you don't have any education, what business do you have standing up there teaching the Word? I probably would have questioned myself years back, but you know what I've got as proof of the pudding? I've got umpteen people who have been saved out of especially abject sinful background. That's my proof that the Lord has honored what we're doing by seeing so many people come out of darkness and into the light of the Gospel. And that's what Paul is saying, my apostleship is proven by you yourself, because I have led you out of dark idolatry. Verse 3. Ephesians 2. My answer to them that do examine me is this, have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not the power to lead about a sister or a wife as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Peter? Or only I and Barnabas have not we power to forebear working? Now what was the big complaint against Paul? The big complaint especially from the Jewish community was that he wasn't one of the Twelve. You didn't walk with Jesus three years like Peter did. You never had that experience of being with Him day and night for three years. You've never even seen Him. But what does Paul say? Oh yes I did, I saw the resurrected Lord, and he's going to point it out more clearly in a coming verse. But he always was being accused of not being what he claimed to be, because he had not had that three years of experience that the Twelve had. Well that's logical, but here he comes back and says, you are my proof of apostleship, and it wasn't just Peter and the Eleven that the Lord used. He's using me, and Barnabas, and a little later on he's going to use Silas. Verse 7. Now he's still dealing with his apostleship. Ephesians 2. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Okay, what's Paul going to start driving at? Well he's going to start showing from the Scriptures, the Old Testament as well as the New, that a servant of God, whether it's a pastor, or a teacher, or an evangelist, is worthy of his labor. And he's using this language right here. When a nation calls a man into the service of the armed forces, does he expect him to pay his own wages? Of course not. Who pays it? The government. When we go into the service, the government gives us a living wage. It's the same way with Rome. Their troops were paid a certain stipend so that they could buy their necessities, and that's what he's talking about. Or he says, if someone plants a vineyard, and puts all the work into getting that vineyard to produce, is he supposed to turn around and say, but I don't want a profit? No. What does the vineyard owner deserve? A return for his labor and capital. Now then he takes it one step further. Are you going to feed a flock of sheep or goats, which were primarily the ones in the Middle East? Are you going to take care of a flock of goats or cattle, or whatever the case may be, and not even partake of the milk that they produce? Are you going to turn around and say, I can't have a drop of this milk? So Paul is bringing this all up now to show that as an apostle, he deserved a certain compensation for his time, for his suffering, and all that. But did he ever take it? No. He never took it, for the simple reason that he didn't want anyone to ever point a finger at him and say, Well Paul you're just doing this for the money. Now you see back when he was in Judaism that was a factor, and we didn't look at it in an earlier program. Let's look at it now in Galatians chapter 1, and I imagine this is another reason why he was so adamant against taking any kind of pay or compensation for his work as an apostle. It's because he had seen in his earlier life how it could corrupt him. And I guess that's my biggest fear even in a ministry such as this. I am scared to death to take money out for fear that being human, it grabs me and makes you greedy. And I think this is what was driving the apostle Paul. Verse 11. I certify you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, when he saw Christ face to face, and the Lord revealed these doctrines of grace to this apostle. Now verse 13. For you have heard of my conversation or manner of living in times past in the Jews religion as a Pharisee, as a member of the Sanhedrin, and how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. Now verse 14 is the verse I want you to see. And he said, I profited, now there's only one way you profit, and how is that? Monetarily. Monetarily he profited in the Jews religion above many of my equals. Now I've shared at least in my classes in Oklahoma, and when we go to Jerusalem we'll see the archeological dig of the ancient house of Caiaphas, the high priest. It was sumptuous, umpteen bathrooms. Those people capitalized on their religious position, and Paul did too. He says he did, by inspiration. I profited in the Jews religion more than many of my equals. And over against that now, I think in his being an apostle and the preacher of the age of grace, he's going to do just the opposite. He is not going to let anyone accuse him, that he's getting rich by his ministry. And oh listen, we're seeing so much of it today. I remember when I was a kid first out of high school, one of my best friends said, I think I'll just go into the ministry because it's pretty easy money. Well he certainly wasn't looking at it from a believer's standpoint, but this is what Paul is talking about. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. 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