Now by way of introduction, there are certain phrases that are justpatently religious phrases. You don't hear them often in the world butyou hear them all the time in church. We talked about last week,"fellowship." But there's one in our text today that is the grand-daddyof them all. "Glorify"

How many times have do you hear the phrase, "Glorify God." GiveGod glory.

We make mugs with this slogan.

We make bumper stickers.

We make t shirts

That must be made for Idahoans...

It's even at the beginning of our missions statement.

We exist to glorify God...

And there's a reason this is so common. It's the Bible's most majortheme. Well, our passage today is going to climax with this verseyou've probably heard before, "Whatever you do, whether you eat ordrink, do all for the glory of God."

Our goal today is for you to move that way beyond cliche, waybeyond just Christian words and embed that deep into your heart asan operating principle by which you live.

Now believe it or not, that super common Christian phrase is hardlyever connected to the context. This is Paul's conclusion to this giantdiscussion he's been having on what Christians should do aboutmeat sacrificed to idols.

You will remember that the Corinthians came to Paul with a simpleenough question. Paul can we eat meat sacrificed to idols? Andinstead of answering like a normal human being, he launches intothis three chapter dissertation on the conscience and the history ofthe nation of Israel and her struggle with idolatry and we even starttalking about a ministers right to receive compensation as a gospelworker and communion. It's a wild ride.

Well what is the summary? What was his answer? It's not all thatclear to me. His answer seems to be bipolar fragmented, disjointedeven paradoxical.

Can I eat meat or not Paul? What are the limits of my Christianfreedom? That's what's really at stake in the question.

On the one hand he's saying, "You are free in Christ. Are youkidding me? You are free from all that idol nonsense. One person'sact of sacrificing to idols doesn't control you. Eat. You are free.

But then on the other hand he seems to say, danger everywhere!Danger. What might your eating do to a weaker brother? What mightyour eating do to your own soul? You might get drawn into idolatry.Careful! How could you ever justify such a careless act!

And so I could imagine the Corinthians saying, "Thanks for the non-answer Paul! That helped us precisely zero."

Paul's answer let the Corinthians know they were asking the wrongquestion. Of course we all want freedom! But true freedom is aslippery thing to get a-hold of. It's a byproduct of a different goal.Here's how it works.

Review of the ArgumentPaul said, let me explain for you why this is a paradox in your mind."You used to do anything you wanted and it resulted in all sorts ofsin. But you aren't like that any more. In Christ, you have beenwashed, sanctified, redeemed. And here's where the paradox began.You used to be able to do anything you want but now what? Yourrestricted. Your freedom has been taken away. You don't have theliberty you once did. So you are, in one sense, not as free.

As believers it's NOT okay to do whatever you want. As believersyou don't trust your wants. "As believers you recognize that whatyou want to do and what is best for you are not always related."

Paul says, one of the strongest, most obvious effects of the fall isthat our desires are warped. We not desire things that will heal andrestore us. And we desire other things that will ultimately hurt anddestroy us. That's very strange.

Paul has reminded us over and over that one of the greatestexpressions of pride is the dogged, unquestioning, loyalty to ourdesire. It's not even brought into question. Perhaps what I want isnot what is best? Perhaps my desires and passions are not the bestguide? Pride never asks those questions. It begins and ends withthe unquestioned assumption that my desire is the prime meridian,the calibration point, the north star. Pride says to any challenger,"How in the world can you say that getting what I want is not goodfor me? Leave me alone. How dare you try to tell me what will makeme happy? If there's one thing I know, it's what I need and want."

Paul says, no, you are bound. You are no longer free to do what youwant. You are not at liberty. Every desire we have needs to comeunder the lordship of Christ, what we desire to do with our money,what we desire to do with our time, our sexual desire and even ourdesire to eat a T-bone steak.

Paul, just like us, was fighting a culture that thought preciselyopposite of this. There were sayings of his day that reflected this. Inchapter 6 he said, I know you've all heard the saying, "All things arelawful for me." That sounds like freedom! But a Christian can't saythat. Our desires are constrained. We have to ask the question,"Sure, all things are lawful, but are all those lawful things helpful?"

Now if you were to just leave it there and ask the question, "Who ismost free? A Christian or a non-Christian? Well it sure seems likethe unbeliever is more free. He can do what he wants while theChristian is bound.

But Paul is going to show in this wrap-up that we are all bound. Thequestion is not if you are bound but do you love what you are boundto? How much freedom does your binder allow? Freedom is not

determined by what you are and are not able to do. Freedom isactually determined by what you choose to love. The greatestfreedom comes from choosing the greatest love.

Now let's see this worked out in the text.

Verse 23 begins with the phrase "all things are lawful for me." Thisis the exact same phrase he used back in chapter 6 but he's got atwist on it. This functions as bookends for this idea of taking ourdesires and submitting them to Christ.

Back in chapter 6 he said, "All things are lawful but not all things arehelpful. All things are lawful but I will not be mastered by anything.Here he changes it to all things are lawful but not all things build up.So the Paul begins his summary by saying, You want freedom?Then love others.

What's Paul saying? What Paul is doing here is articulating the truenature of gospel freedom. It begins by seeking the good of yourneighbor.

Now that may not be convincing just yet. This could very well just bereaffirming your already held belief that following Christ just limitsme. Here's another limit. I can't do what's good for me. I have toseek the good of my neighbor. That seems rather restricting. How isthat the gateway to freedom? In fact, what does that have to do withfreedom at all? You just changed the subject on me.

Right? Isn't that what Paul just did? He changed the subject. Thequestion before the Corinthians was, "Do I have the FREEDOM toeat meat?" And Paul says, "Here's your answer: seek the good ofyour neighbor."

Think about how this answer might feel to us. What are some of ourChristian liberty questions we ask?

Are we free to wear whatever clothes we want? I want freedom to dowhat I want when I want how I want. Paul says, that questionenslaves you. Paul says the real path to freedom is that in yourclothing selection you ask, "How can I seek the good of myneighbor?"

How is that an answer? How is that freedom? Your telling me thatthe path to freedom is enslaving myself to my neighbor?

It's intended to rock us a bit. We want to be free to DO what wewant. But in saying that we confuse what freedom really is. Freedomis ultimately a psychological state of mind. We can all picture a manwho is totally free to DO what he wants externally, and is living in amental prison of his own making. And conversely we can envision aman who unable to DO anything because he is in prison externallyyet he is whistling a tune free as a bird.

Christians and secular psychologists alike might all concede thatfreedom is in the mind. But what specifically is the mind doing thatgives one freedom? Here's the answer: The man who is the mostfree is the one who loves most correctly. Freedom is linkedinextricably with what you love. The only way to experience truefreedom is to love what God tells you to love. That is a bizarreconcept. But I promise you this is true.

One of the best ways to illustrate this point is to do a little thoughtexperiment. Okay, let's lift all these perceived restrictions. Let's justsay you get to do whatever you want. Does that give you thefreedom you are hoping for? By the way, this is anything but athought experiment. There are plenty of people living this way, sojust ask them what they gained by throwing off the morality ofChristianity? Do they feel free? That might be a good conversation

starter. I'd be curious what they would say.

I think one of the most interesting passages in the Bible in thisregard is 2 Peter 2 which speaks of the character of false teachers.Listen to the description.

So these false teachers are having a hayday with sin. They are notpracticing any restraint. Adultery is mentioned. The text says theyhave insatiable binge-appetites for sin. They are greedy. They havechecking accounts that are overflowing with cash.

Again, we see they are driven by unrestrained pride and promisefreedom through what? They promise freedom through experiencingsensual pleasure. That seems like the ultimate freedom. They havecast off all moral restraints. Isn't that what we thought freedom was?What could be more free than that?

Whoa! That is interesting. Now what's the point? Here's what we aresupposed to see. Freedom is directly connected to what you love.Look really carefully at what this text is saying. They were overcome.What does that word mean? It means some idea overpowered themand they bowed the knee to it. Some idea came up to them, arguedwith them and ultimately convinced them, if you serve me, if youmake me ultimate, if you worship me, I will give you the desires ofyour heart. They loved sensual pleasure. They loved money. Theymade an idol out if it. It overcame them. They loved it. And in beingovercome by it, they were enslaved to it.

For whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. This isn't abad thing. It's just an observation of how the human machines work.Christians are overcome by Jesus Christ, we love him, and webecome his servants, his slaves.

So Paul says, the greater the love, the greater the freedom. Thesmaller the love the smaller the freedom. We are all being masteredby something.

We all have masters. And so the question is, "How glorious is yourmaster?" Paul says, "There are some pretty underwhelming mastersout there, the least glorious of which is self."

Love of others is the beginning of true freedom. But there's aninverse of this as well. Love of self is the destruction of freedom.And that should make perfect sense given our understanding ofwhat freedom is. The larger your love, the more free you are. Whatis larger? Ourselves only or all other people. In ourselves we are justso limited. Compare your individual knowledge to all the knowledgeon the collective human mind on the internet. What would you ratherbe stuck with for the rest of your life? But it's not just knowledge.

Consider the greatness of thecollective culture of mankind,the collective human artistic ability, the collective power ofaccomplishment to build cities, power grids, amphitheaters, etc.

In and of ourselves we are tiny by comparison. Tiny love = tinyfreedom.

Now here's how this works itself out in the text. Paul's advice here isdon't make this about you. If you make it about you, you will be

absolutely a slave. But if you make it about your neighbor you canbe 100 percent free regardless of whether you eat or abstain. Yourfreedom isn't limited by the mere act. Your freedom exists in a realmnobody can touch.

Now look at how this works itself out. It's masterful. He gives ussome real world examples. He starts with going to Costco foodcourt.

He says, go to Costco and eat a hotdog. God made pigs. Eat em.Once again, he's laying out the paradox. First off he says, you arefree. He says, the gospel allows you to eat what ever you want andhe quotes Psalm 24, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullnessthereof." This would have shocked any religious Jew of Paul's day.Paul himself as a zealous Jew would have never in a million yearseaten any meat unless he were certain it had been rituallyslaughtered in accordance with kosher laws.

But the gospel transforms everything. Paul said in Romans 14something that would have caused the average Jew to choke on his

falafel.

Paul says, don't even ask. Just buy the Tbone steak and pop openthe BBQ screw open a bottle of A1 steak sauce and enjoy. It's a giftfrom God. To Jewish sensibilities this would have been a shockingattitude. But it's totally consistent with Paul's stance toward otheridentity-marking features of the Law such as circumcision. In Christ,these mean nothing. Paul says to the Christians, eat as you please.

But here comes the warning. Here comes the tension that createsthe paradox. You absolutely have freedom. But, if you love yourfreedom to eat meat more than you love your brother, if those lovesget out of order, you've just enslaved yourself again. Don't love yourfreedom to eat. That's too small of a love. Love your brother. Lovethe community. When your love of meat collides with your love foryour brother, choose the greater love. That's it.

So Paul constructs this hypothetical situation to make his point.

Now this merits some interpretive work here because Paul is beingreally unclear to us. I'm quite sure to them it was clear. He wasprobably answering some very specific questions but we don't havethose questions in front of us so it takes a bit of reconstructing work.

I have all sorts of questions when I read this.

Who is the informant?In other words, who is the one telling us that the meat wassacrificed to idols?Is the informant the host -the unbeliever?Is it a fellow Christian?How is the other person's conscience affected by this act of eating?

Now I have always read this text incorrectly up until this week. Ialways thought that the host in this passage was some pagan whowanted to make a point that the meat he was serving was sacrificedto idols and in so doing test the moral character of the Christian.Something like, "Hey superChrstian. Here's some meat sacrificed to

Apollo and then seasoned with a little Zeus worship." Would you likea slice? And because it was so flagrant, Paul says, don't participatein that.

But what never really made sense to me was the response of thehost. He says, "Don't eat for the sake of the informants conscience."How could a Christian's eating of meat destroy the conscience ofthe pagan who intended to test the Christian's willpower? Thatmakes no sense. So that can't possibly be the right reading.

Without getting into all the details, I think the best way to understandthis (really the only way) is that the informant is a weak Christian.Maybe he is one of the other guests or maybe a household servantbut he's among those that Paul mentions earlier in chapter 8. So inthis reading, the strong Christian just looks at the weaker Christianand recognizes the moral dilemma he'd be placing his brother in if heate and chooses not to eat in accordance with the principle alreadylaid down in chapter 8.

So here's how you'd paraphrase the text:

Do you see here what Paul is saying? He's saying if you love yourbrother you are free. In your freedom you choose to abstain.Because you care about him, because you love him, you willingly inyour freedom restrict yourself.

But if you love your freedom to eat meat, you have stopped lovingyour brother and started loving yourself. The second you say, "Iwon't give up my rights, you become a slave." The second you makeit about you, which is another way of saying, the second you startworshiping you, the second you are overcome by you, the secondyou love you, your world collapses into this tiny prison of self.

You see ultimately real freedom is found in ordering your loves theway God intends. And you can see what Paul does here. The wholething climaxes in putting God at the very top of those loves.

If the greatest freedom comes from loving the greatest thing. Thenthe most free person would be the person who loves God thegreatest.

Do you see what Paul is trying to do? He's trying to free us byreleasing us from the slavery of focus on self. Eating meat to theglory of self means I'll always eat meat because it tastes good to meno matter how much I hurt and destroy the community around me. Iwill do what's best for me because I love me and I worship me and Iam overcome by me. That person is in a me monster shackled to theprison of self.

On the other hand, eating meat to the glory of God meanssometimes I'll eat meat and sometimes I won't. It's not about me. Ilove something greater than me that frees me to enjoy things largerthan me.

If I make it about my rights, I'm a slave. An absolute slave. But if Imake it about loving my brother which is really an outflow of an evenlarger love of God, wow, the freedom just starts rolling down insheets (does freedom come in sheets?)

The larger your love the more free you are. Doing everything to the

glory of God really then becomes not so much an attitude but theoutflow of a love. I want God to be glorified.

I've mentioned this many times but it's worth mentioning again. Whatdoes it mean to do something for the glory of God. That word glory issuch an abstract word. But let's make it concrete.

The word simply means weight. Remember in the OT David's sonAbsolom? He was said to have some pretty magnificent hair. In fact,his hair is said to be glorious. It's the same word that is used to talkabout God's glory. And it's not an abstract term. It simply meansweight. You could take that hair and put it on a scale and weigh it.And the text said they did that. They put it on a scale and it weighedit and the text says it weighed 5 pounds. That's some serious hair.

So when we say that we are to glorify God, what we mean is that weare to make him weighty in our minds and the minds of peoplearound us. We look at the world and acknowledge him as theweight, the cause, the reason, the purpose of all things.

I kind of jokingly put that t-shirt at the beginning, God, guns glory.But it helps to understand what the word glory means. A gun has alot of glory. You respect a gun. You fear a gun.

And God, in someways like a gun, and in someways very unlike agun, but the principle is there to see. He has a lot of weight, a lot ofsignificance, a lot of force. The gravitational mass of who he is,alters the orbits of other things in our minds. It pushes aside lesserthings to make room for the greatest thing.

Every time God grows in importance in our mind, you give him moreglory

If you think about him more times in a day, his glory has grownIf you attribute causes to him more frequently, his glory hasincreasedIf you pray to him as the source of all good things.If you love him more you glorify him more.

This is why an unbeliever can do nothing that pleases God becausethey don't include him in anything. Nothing they do glorifies him. Itdoesn't mean they can't do kind things or nice things or be greatparents but they are doing it for some other reason.

This concept applies to everything. We need to approach everythingwith the glory of God in the very center of our minds.

What movie can I watch, TV, media, music. I want freedom. I wantdon't want to fret about what is right vs wrong. I want to do what Iwant when I want how I want.What about food choices. I want freedom.What about schooling choices. I want freedom.What about working moms. The Bible doesn't prohibit this. I wantfreedom to do what I want when I want.What about how I spend my money? I don't want to be restricted. Iwant to spend how I want when I want.

These are the kinds of questions that the Corithians were askingand they were the wrong questions.

The question is how can I glorify God in everything I do? And whatyou do depends on the situation. Sometimes it will be by justenjoying the gifts that he gives. Just truly sinking your teeth into thesteak and just praising him for it! What a wonderful giver you are ohGod. The earth and it's fullness are all his.

We need to recapture this exhilarating sense of thanksgiving for the"earth and its fullness." We never want to get into this crampedfearful posture distrusting the tastes and smells and sights of God'sworld and draw ourselves inward to avoid contamination.

Jesus says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"

So sometimes it will be this and other times we will limit ourselvesbecause a greater love for God's people has collided with a lesserlove of eating in freedom and so we gladly give it up to the GLORYOF GOD.

We've talked a lot about the theme gospel priorities. What is thepriority of the gospel? The very highest one? It's to glorify God in ourbodies.

Review of the Argument