1 Corinthians 8:1-13

The first sermon I ever preached was about eight and half years ago, and it was on this passage. It was the summer after my first year of seminary and I was full of knowledge to share to with the world. I got sent to a church in eastern North Carolina near the middle of nowhere for possibly the longest 10 weeks of my life. It would’ve been difficult to find a congregation of people more different than me. I was out of place there and didn’t always connect well with the people. And so when I was given the opportunity to preach my last Sunday there, what did I do? Did I choose to preach from something that would be easy to understand? - of course not. Instead I chose to preach from 1 Corinthians 8, which has to be one of the stranger passages in the New Testament. Why did I do this? Well, part of the answer is surely that I was a bit full of myself, but mostly it was because it was the passage I had spent the whole previous semester studying, so I was really ready to say something – even if no one could understand what I had to say.

When I finished people were polite, but few had anything good to say about my sermon. As I’ve looked back over the years, I’ve slightly regretted the decision that I made. I think it would’ve been much better – and less arrogant – to preach from something a little easier to understand. Well, tonight I’m going to preach on this passage again. It’s still a hard one to understand. Some people would say that it’d be better to only deal with easier passages with youth, but I think you all more capable of understanding than many might give you credit for. Plus this passage has a really important lesson. So it might be difficult to follow, but stick with me; I think you’ll get it.

The Corinthian church wrote to Paul about a disagreement they were having about meat. You might think that meat is a strange thing about which to disagree, but people in churches can disagree about all kinds of things. Perhaps you’ve already learned that. Some disagreements are worth having and some are not. But this one had some Corinthians really upset. Here was the problem… You probably know that people used to sacrifice animals. The Israelites did this in the Old Testament. Christians believed that because Jesus was the final sacrifice they didn’t need to do this anymore. But in the city of Corinth there were lots of people who weren’t Christian or Jewish, who instead believed in other gods. They would sacrifice animals to their gods – what Paul called idols - and then they would sell the meat at the market.

Now some of the Corinthian Christians saw no problem with buying and eating this meat. It was good meat; it came from a regular old cow. They didn’t think it mattered that it had been sacrificed to another god because, after all, those gods weren’t real. What difference could eating it make? It wasn’t like they were worshipping a false God; they were just eating the animals that had been sacrificed. Why let it go to waste? It wasn’t cursed; it didn’t possess special powers; it was just meat like any other.

On the other side, there were some Corinthians who felt strongly that this meat should not be eaten and they were greatly troubled that other Christians would eat it. Although they were Christians who believed that there was only one real God, they still worried about what it might mean to eat animals sacrificed to another God. They thought it was best to avoid any association with those gods, even if they weren’t real and no power. Better to stay away than to give the wrong impression – or worse, find yourself confused about which gods are real and which ones are false. And because many of these Corinthians had probably worshipped these gods before they became Christians, they thought it was best to have nothing to do with them. It really bothered them that other members of their church would eat the meat, so they called upon Paul to settle their argument.

So who won the argument? In a way, they both did. And, in way, neither did. Paul said that the ones who thought that eating the meat was fine were technically right. There is indeed only one God and the meat sacrificed to idols is just meat; there’s nothing wrong with eating it. But the fact that they would continue eating it even though it bothered their brothers and sisters was wrong, Paul said. The meat-eaters knew that there really was nothing wrong with the meat so they went ahead eating it. They thought being right justified their behavior. They thought that because the others were wrong their feelings didn’t matter. They thought something like, “Why should we not do something that’s fine just because it bothers some people who are wrong anyway?” So even though they were right, they were wrong. The truth without love is not the truth.

And this why Paul criticized the meat-eaters, because even though they got the facts right – even though their knowledge was accurate – they weren’t acting in love. He even said that they were sinning against fellow members of the body and against Christ himself. The right thing is the wrong thing if it hurts someone else. And besides, Paul says, eating meat isn’t that important. It’s certainly not something worth hurting another’s faith. He said he’d rather not eat meat at all than possibly cause someone to fall. His example is, of course, Christ who sacrificed by coming to earth and then by dying on the cross because he loved us. Therefore, if we are Christ’s followers we too should be willing to sacrifice for our brothers.

Here’s an example that might make more sense. Many of what we call cusswords don’t actually bother me. Of course, there are some ways of using them I don’t like, but that’s true of many words. Cusswords are really just words like any other. There’s nothing magical about them; they don’t hold any special power. Like eating meat sacrificed to idols, I think Paul would agree that saying certain words is not wrong. But there are many Christians who think these words should not be used and it really troubles them when they hear other people use them – especially other Christians. There are many people who are likely to question the faith of another if they hear that person use certain words. I think this makes about as much sense as some Corinthians questioning the faith of those eating certain foods.

However, while I think it’s true that some words we’ve placed off-limits are words just like meat is meat, out of love for those who feel differently, we should not say these words. If my saying certain words causes someone to fall it would be silly and selfish to insist that it’s fine to use them. It’s not much of a sacrifice not to use the words either – especially when compared with Christ’s sacrifice. Instead of trying to justify our actions to ourselves – as I could do with cusswords – it’s much better to ask ourselves if our actions are loving toward our neighbors. Again, the truth without love is not the truth.

Whenever churches asked Paul to settle disputes he almost never just said which side was right and which was wrong. Instead, he attempted to help them understand their question – and their whole lives – in light of who Christ is and what he has done. Paul reminded the Corinthians that Christ put others before himself and so we ought to do the same. Christ did not just think of himself, but he always acted on behalf of others. When we consider how to behave, what to do or not do, we should always think in terms of how it affects our brothers and sisters. It’s not enough to be “right.” Following the rules, staying within the boundaries, not crossing the line, etc., doesn’t count for much if you’re not loving your neighbor. Sometimes loving our neighbors will mean that we should give up things that that we have a “right” to. This is exactly what Christ did when it came to Earth; he deserved to be served himself, but instead he served us. This is the model for our behavior.