1 Corinthians 8:9-13

⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

Jumping Salad

A little child caught a very tiny shrimp alive from the river bank. She placed the baby shrimp in a basin with water and told her grandfather, “Grandpa, please watch for my baby shrimp!” Then, she went playing. When she returned, the child asked her grandpa, Grandpa, what happened to the shrimp. Her grandpa smiled without answer. The child suspected that her grandfather ate her baby shrimp.

Have you heard of “Jumping Salad?” It’s live shrimp! Add lime juice, salt, and chili, the live shrimps jump. You can eat them like salad, just like that!  Some people might be offended when they see people eating Jumping Shrimp Salad. Have you been offended when you saw other people enjoyed eating a delicacy?

The disciples of Jesus did not wash their hand when they ate their food. The Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus why his disciples ate their food with unclean hands. Personally, reflect on what Jesus replied in Mark 7:6-8.

⁶“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁷ They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

Everyone has the right to eat the food they want to eat or how they enjoy their food. They may eat their food with fork and spoon, chopstick or with bare hands. Whatever they want to eat should not offend us. Our main concern should be on how we may carefully exercise our right to eat whatever we want to eat.

1.  Exercise

⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 

The Scripture declares that food won’t bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do. We can eat whatever we think as beneficial to our health. We should carefully exercise our right and not become the cause for anyone to sin, whether we eat a particular delicacy or not.

Christian or non-Christian, cultural background could still influence anyone. Even after we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, habitual practices may be intertwined in our behavior consciously or unconsciously. And anyone with weak conscience who cannot readily accept such behavior could be possibly offended.

Exercise of right to practice cultural beliefs or traditional customs can be a stumbling block that may cause temptation for anyone to sin. So, if our behavior becomes the cause for believer with weak conscience to sin, we also commit sin. Really? Together, let us meditate on what it declares in James 4:17, ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Left Over

TMEC is acronym for: “The Maples Evangelical Church.” If TMEC is pronounced “Timek” it sounds meaningful. It’s fantastic! “Timek” is an Ilokano term for “voice” like “Voice of Truth or Voice of God.” How about that?

Someone suggested that the acronym TMEC stands also for “The Maples Eating Church” because TMEC attendees love to eat after worship services. And even after everyone is satisfied, there are so much leftover foods. Anyone is also welcomed to bring home some of the leftover food. Sharing food with others is a good practice that may encourage other believers. What do you think?

Actually, eating food was a problem that caused division in the Corinthian church. And, Apostle Paul addressed this problem in 1 Corinthians 11:21-22: ²¹Some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. ²² Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper in the church of Corinth was wrong. They could have shared their food equally to everyone who attended the church.

It was reported that when they celebrated the Lord’s Supper, rich attendees in the Corinthian church separated themselves from others; they did not share their food and drink with other church attendees. There were factions among them. The rich people ate the food they brought; other groups brought food only for themselves. They shared food with their group only while others were hungry.

Seriously reflect on what it declares on Proverbs 22:9, ⁹The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

Christ is the head of the church, and the church is the body of Christ. We are essential part of the body of Christ, the church. Together, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper; we participate as essential part of the body of Christ. As essential part of the church, together we share the Lord’s Supper elements, the bread and the cup; and so, we also participate in the generosity and blessings of the Lord.

Together, let us meditate seriously what is declares in Proverbs 11:25.

 ²⁵A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

As part of the church, when we practice generosity, new believers with weak conscience will be encouraged to participate and practice generosity also. As a result, everyone will be emboldened to practice generosity anytime and not selective. The term “emboldened” literally means “build up, edify, encourage.”

It’s very crucial for church members to participate and encourage each other. We encourage one another to be more active in our Christian life. Sincere smile, warm greeting or sharing food is pleasant impression to recipients of our generosity. But we should be careful not to embolden anyone to do otherwise.

2.  Embolden

¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 

When intellectual members of the Corinthian church ate in an idol’s temple, they may have justified that it was their cultural belief or habitual practice before they became Christians. And because of their justification, believers with weak conscience might interpret that: if it’s acceptable to eat in idol’s temple, then, they can also participate in idol worship, and others will be misled to worship idols and sin. Their justification emboldens others to sin; they also sinned against Christ.

New believers can be very enthusiastic to learn, and if they’re encouraged to practice cultural beliefs that are not acceptable to the Lord, it won’t build them up; it will destroy them. The so-called intellectual attendees in the church of Corinth may have cleverly justified it when they ate food sacrifice to idols.

It is possible that those intellectuals had also quoted what Jesus Christ had declared in Mark 7:15, ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.

It is true that the food we eat should not define our practice and belief, but not everyone has the same level of understanding. New believers do not readily ask questions. They may observe and follow what other believers do. They may just imitate behavior or lifestyle that they see from church leaders without asking for explanation or reason. They may assume that God accepts such behavior.

Apostle Peter

It is not absolute to conclude that believers who attend the church are all spiritually mature. Age of a person is not a basis for spiritual maturity. We can find biblical examples when Apostle Peter and some disciples went to the house of Gentile Cornelius, a centurion in the Italian regiment. Apostle Peter explained to the centurion Cornelius in Acts 10:28-29, ²⁸“You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

Previously when Cornelius was praying, an angel of God told him to send men to bring back Apostle Peter. At that time Peter was also praying when he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit told him that three men were looking for him and instructed him, “Do not to hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

So, Apostle Peter together with some believers went to see Cornelius.

And, Apostle Peter testified about his personal experience with Jesus Christ.

And as a result, Cornelius and his household and everyone he invited believed in Jesus Christ. Great story! Right? But the apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised Jewish believers criticized him in Acts 11:3,  ³ “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

The Jewish believers were still prejudice against Gentiles; they may have assumed that salvation in Jesus Christ is only for Jewish believers. But their view had changed when Apostle Peter explained to them that the Gentiles believers were filled with the Holy Spirit when he was testifying to them about Jesus Christ.

Confusion may happen, if we are not careful on how we may practice our right as believers. Observers may think that our behavior is biblically acceptable. We are free to eat whatever we want but we should be aware also of believers who might be confused by our habit or practice. It advises us in Galatians 5:13,

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

For the sake of love for fellow believers, we should not indulge ourselves in practices that may cause them to stumble. Whenever we’re invited to gatherings, we should be prayerful and careful. Let’s be careful of what we may eat or drink. Let’s explain humbly in love when they ask us why we eat or avoid such food.

3. Eat

¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

Why did Apostle Paul write that he won’t eat meat again? He didn’t want to cause anyone with weak conscience to stumble. When he wrote that he won’t eat meat again, did Apostle Paul imply that he became vegetarian eventually? Hmn! But, Apostle Paul had no written declaration that he became vegetarian. Right?

Some respected theologians clarified that since the context of his topic was idol worship, Apostle Paul might be talking about meat sacrificed to idols; and it’s not absolutely all kinds of meat that he won’t eat. He was concerned that anyone with weak conscience could be emboldened to worship idols when they saw believers who ate in an idol’s temple. So, Apostle Paul set an example they should follow to avoid confusion and avoid justifying actions as habitual practice.

Even if a delicacy is really very tasty and delicious to our taste buds, we should control ourselves as testimony for Christ. Galatians 5:24 says, ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

It should not by human effort that we control ourselves from indulging in habitual practices. Our natural instinct is to follow our passion and desire. The Holy Spirit gives us self-control as practical proof of our old self died with Christ.

By faith in Christ, we do not indulge ourselves in the passions and desire of the flesh; his Holy Spirit transforms us to behave in godly righteousness.

When you are given a chance to testify of the transformational work of Jesus Christ in your life, what practical transformation do you readily tell others?

Princess of Wales

Many concerned individuals want to know about what really happened to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. It was reported that she was hospitalized, but there’s no update or official report about her health. Then, a picture of family snapshot circulated online that sparked interesting interpretations and opinions.

Eventually, Kate admitted that she also tried some editing on their family photo. The family picture was supposed to calm speculations about her health, but observers were quick to notice the finger of Kate; her wedding ring is missing. Instead of solving the confusion, the picture added more problems to confusion.

If rich, famous and powerful can be careless of what they publish online, ordinary individuals can also make similar careless publication. Powerful or ordinary person, every one of us can make careless and reckless mistakes.

Struggle in relationship, financial difficulties, personal problems, confusion at work can disturb serenity of life. There are careless decisions we make that may make us feel like we are covered with stinky mud and mire. What can we do to get out of the horrible stench and unpleasant struggle from problem?

We can learn from King David. Together, let us reflect seriously on what he testified in Psalm 40:1-5, ¹I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. ²He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. ³He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. ⁴Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. ⁵Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Why did King David write about being lifted out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire? It is possible that he accidentally stumbled into the mud and mire.

Some scholars suggest that King David figuratively described his guilt after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, and murdered her husband Uriah. He felt like he was sinking deep into the stinky mud and mire. And sincerely, he asked God for forgiveness. God forgave and restored the joy of his salvation, and King David described his feeling like he stood on a rock and never will sink again.

Careless mistake could cause stinky feeling. God’s mercy is available to all. We ask God for his forgiveness, mercy and grace, and we’ll be blessed. To be forgiven and blessed are wonderful grace of God that we want to tell others.

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