One Liberty

This is a sermon preview for the third week of our “One: Unity Comes from God” series.

Have you ever wanted to do something because you saw a friend do it? Not something bad, just something different that you wouldn’t usually have thought to do on your own.

After school, I rode the bus to my friends’ house to play until my parents got home from school. One year after Black Friday, I learned that their mom hid all my friends’ Christmas presents in the hall closet upstairs. Being the nosey person that I am and wanting to be in on the secret of what my friends were getting for Christmas, I ran upstairs to snoop in the closet. After all, who cares if I knew what gifts my friends were getting?

My friends’ eyes grew wide with fear as they realized what I was up to. They sprinted up the stairs after me and yelled. They blocked me from the hall closet door and begged me not to open it. I remember looking at them very confused. Why did it matter if I looked?

My friends said if they knew I snooped through the presents, even if they weren’t around, they would just be too tempted to snoop too. They really didn’t want to ruin Christmas for themselves or their mom. But they also knew they didn’t have enough self-control to keep themselves from snooping with me.

I didn’t want to ruin their Christmas either. So I left the closet alone. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter to me what they were getting for Christmas, so if they felt so strongly, I figured I could give up my opportunity to snoop for my friends. In the end, by sacrificing a bit of my own freedom, we ended up coming together all the more, as we mutually dreamed together what Christmas morning would be like.

It’s funny how giving up some of our personal freedoms can actually turn into a bridge that unites us with others. Perhaps we are united by one liberty given by God to serve others over ourselves.

This reminds me of the situation Paul is writing about in 1 Corinthians 8. The Corinthian church is having quite the debate: Can they eat food that their non-Christian friends sacrificed to idols?

Obviously, the Bible instructs Christians to have only one God. So sacrificing the meat to idols is a huge no-go. But Christians were allowed to still go to dinner parties with non-Christians, and what was served there could be outside of their control. Should they refuse the meat on religious grounds while potentially offending a neighbor? Should they eat the meat and ask for forgiveness later? Was there another option that they just weren’t seeing?

The advice Paul gives is surprising. He doesn’t actually answer the Corinthians’ question. Eat the meat or don’t eat the meat–it doesn’t matter! Christians know that the idol is powerless and that Christ has already freed them from such frivolous concerns.

But just because the Corinthian Christians are free to choose what they eat doesn’t mean that their neighbors are yet free from the consequences. Eat the meat or not–it won’t affect the strong Christian themselves. But it is the Christian’s job to consider how their choice may affect the spirituality of others in the room.

Will the neighbors be so offended by your refusal to eat their meat offerings that they cut you off from their lives? Eat the meat so that you can continue being a loving witness to the neighbor.

Is another new Christian at the meal still struggling with giving up idol worship? Refuse the meat alongside the new Christian so that they don’t have to be alone, or fall back into idol worship.

Eat the meat. Don’t eat the meat. You’re free to use either option as long as you are careful to use your rights in a way that encourages faithfulness to those who see you.

In America, we talk a lot about freedom and our rights. It is important to protect our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But as a Christian first, we must constantly remind ourselves that how we use our freedom is more important than merely having it.

If we are going to be a church that follows in the way of Christ, we must be united by using our ONE liberty found in Christ to serve and not be served.

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you ever thought about how your freedom affects others? Why might this be an important thing to remember when you make decisions this week?
2. What is something in your life that could be a “stumbling block to the weak?” How could you use your freedom in that situation to bring unity rather than division?