1 Corinthians 8 - Take the Time to Show Someone How Much You Care Before You Assume You Need to Enlighten Them!

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Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols

Paul continues to teach the Corinthians why they needed to keep the main thing, the main thing! One of the things he address with the Corinthians was their pride. In this case he was referring to their "intellectual pride", as they claimed to have special knowledge. I love what Paul says, "Knowledge puffs up but love builds up!" 

We all know the oft used phrase, "No one cares about how much you know until they know how much you care!" Unfortunately Christians over the years have not heeded this phrase. Often we care about how much we know rather showing the care of Christ! The presenting issue was food, which was being sacrificed to idols in the marketplace. When meat sold in the marketplace some believers felt that this meat should not be eaten because the blood of the animal had been sacrificed to an idol. 

The issue raised many questions for the Corinthian Christians: Can we eat meat purchased at the temple meat market? What if we are served meat purchased at the temple meat market when we are guests in someone’s home? Can a Christian eat at the restaurant at the pagan temple? Instead of talking about food, Paul first talks about the principles of knowledge and love. Christian behavior is founded on love, not knowledge; and the goal of the Christian life is not knowledge, but love. - Guzik

Paul then takes a shot at the "so-called" gods. It would be ridiculous to compare these cheap imitations to the one true God. 

Because there is only One True God, idols are not competing gods. Idols are therefore nothing in the world, and are only so-called gods. - Guzik

With all of that being said, Paul also admonishes them not to use their freedom in a way that might cause a more "sensitive conscience" to stumble. Though you may have insight and knowledge that eating this meat really means nothing at all, for the sake of your brother or sister in Christ, you might not eat this meat. If this person were to take your lead and eat meat, which they been convicted not to eat, it would be detrimental to their walk with Christ. 

Paul concludes with a principle which would be good for all of us to remember in the Christian community, 

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.

Paul is essentially saying, "It is not about me and my rights and what I can do based on my superior knowledge. My job as a believer is to die to myself and build others up and consider them as more important than myself." 

These decisions take humility, are sacrificial and Christ like and show how much we care than just how much we think we know!

Where might you make a choice like this to help build up a fellow brother and sister in Christ? How will this kind of a sacrifice help you to kill off an attitude of, "I am going to do what I want when I want to because I can!"