8:12 But when you thus
sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against
Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat
meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Whether we realize it or not we live in a very self-centered
culture. Listen to advertising. The message is never a community focused one.
It's almost always about the individual. You deserve better, you are worth it,
you owe it to yourself, put yourself behind the wheel of a new truck today! The
life of Jesus tells a very different story. He did not live for Himself. He did
not use His gifts for His own advancement. He never used His superior knowledge
to gloat or make others feel small. He had one consuming passion and that was
to lift others higher.
A different spirit was riding up in Corinth in a subtle way.
Those who were realizing that idols were a complete scam were becoming
insensitive to those who didn't know it yet.
Rather than give them time and space to grow and figure it
out, they were being selfish. It was an attitude of "I know better and I'm
going to do what I want and I don't care how it affects you!"
Imagine being a new Christian and believing Jesus is the best
God among many and you have chosen to serve Him only because He is the Creator
of all. You are in the market shopping and you refuse to buy the food you used
to buy there because you know it was offered to the lesser gods. As you are
shopping you see one of your fellow believers buy and eat the food. You are
confused. Why did he do that? Doesn't he know better? If he can why can't I?
Someone needs to say something! Do something!
When you get an appropriate chance you speak to him. His
response is almost rude. "Idols are meaningless so what difference does it
make!??" Now you are hurt and even more confused. If idols are meaningless
why is he eating food dedicated to them? He's betraying our Lord!
It's not hard to see how divisions started over that issue.
Notice Paul's simple solution: "I will never eat meat
again if there is a chance it will make my brother stumble!" Paul's
concern for his ill-informed fellow believer is greater than his right to do
what he knows is perfectly fine to do.
A couple of years ago I sat at the feet of a preacher
significantly younger than I but wiser. He was speaking about the challenges
associated with pastoring multicultural churches. He had gone as a student
missionary for a year to a different country and culture. Right away he figured
out they had a different relationship with time. He would schedule an event or
a meeting for a specific time and when the time came people would begin coming.
Half an hour or more later people were still arriving. The strange part to him
was that everyone refused to begin until everyone else had arrived. He couldn't
understand. If the start time is 7 you start at 7. Finally he expressed his
frustration. This of course was new and strange to them and they explained that
you never start until everyone has arrived. It is an insult to the whole
community to not wait until everyone is present.
Now whether you agree with that cultural norm is not the
point. The point was that in that culture the community was more important than
the individual. Our culture is the opposite. When the Kyoto summit was held
many years ago most countries agreed to change their practices for the good of
the global impact on the environment. The United States refused to sign off on
it. George W. Bush declared "The American lifestyle is not on trial."
In more blunt terms "We are going to live as we please no matter the
impact it may have on you."
Love is self-sacrificing. Love considers others above self.
If my behaviour will hurt you I will change even though I know I wasn't
technically doing anything wrong.
It wasn't a matter of meat and idols. It was a matter of
caring about the impact our choices have on those around us.
No comments:
Post a comment