1st Corinthians – Wayne Barber/Part 68
| By: Dr. Wayne Barber; ©1998 |
| Now what he is saying is, when we have the Lord’s Supper, there is a beautiful, spiritual intimacy that we are drawn together. Why? Because we are all celebrating the same thing. We would not be believers if we were not celebrating the Lord’s Supper. You see, believers celebrate the Lord’s Supper. |
I Corinthians 10:16
A Word to the Wise – Part 2
The first thing he is going to tell them is idolatry denounces God in your life. He is going to use two examples that you can’t miss. He is going to take Christians at first and their participation in the Lord’s Supper. Verses 1617 read, “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”
Now what he is saying is, when we have the Lord’s Supper, there is a beautiful, spiritual intimacy that we are drawn together. Why? Because we are all celebrating the same thing. We would not be believers if we were not celebrating the Lord’s Supper. You see, believers celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The cup represents His blood, the blood that was shed, and the bread represents His body, the body that was broken and died. The justice of God is in the blood, and the love of God is seen in the body that was given and died for us. Now, we celebrate that. We are already one body, but we are bonded even more together when we have the Lord’s Supper. That is what it is for. It identifies us and in a very real way, there is a spiritual participation together.
So when people walk in here and they see you and me taking of the Lord’s Supper with thanksgiving in our heart, when tears fill our eyes as we remember what Christ has done for us, when they begin to realize this, we are now identified. Our message is clear. Our pathway is straight. People know where we point. These people love Jesus and celebrate what He did for them.
In the second illustration he moves away from the church and moves to Israel to show you the same principle. He says in verse 18, “Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?” In other words, when they would bring a sacrifice, everybody participated in the sacrifice. You got a portion of it to eat for yourself. And as they would eat of that sacrifice that had been given, the first portion was the actual sacrifice. The other portion was for the priest. And when you would partake of that other portion, it simply meant that you were identifying. Just like a Christian would identify in the Lord’s Supper, these people would be identifying with all of Israel and saying, “We hold true with their ritual, with their tradition, and in the fact that they rejected Jesus being their Messiah.”
All of that would in the one package, but there would be a clear message and everybody around would say, “Yes, sir, those people went to the altar, those people sacrificed, those people identified themselves as Israel.” A Jew who has been saved would not go the altar and give a sacrifice. He would be over here with the Christians celebrating the cup and celebrating the body of Christ. But at least they are identified.
You know who the Jew is. You know who the Christian is, but then he brings his point in verse 19. He says, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything [“Am I saying that? Am I putting the idol worship into some kind of category that would equal what I just illustrated?”], or that an idol is anything?” He quickly answers his own question and says, “No!” But he said there is a more serious principle here that we need to see. He says, “No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.”
Now, he says, “I don’t want you to be identified with them. I don’t want you to participate with them. You are sending a mixed signal. That is more important than the fact that there is no such thing as an idol. It is more important than the fact that meat sacrificed to an idol will in no way hinder you in your standing with God through Christ Jesus.” That is not his point. His point is, you are sending a mixed signal. A man who points in every direction points in no direction. But if we point in one direction, then everybody knows which way we point. And he says, “Therefore, live your life that way.”
An idolatrous lifestyle is when flesh says “I want to do it this way,” but by doing it this way, pulls the witness away from what our focus really ought to be. He says in verse 21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord….” You cannot do it. “Cannot” means you cannot in any way, shape or form. “You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” You can’t do that. The two won’t mix. You take oil and try to mix it with water. They won’t mix. You take idolatry and try to mix it with Christianity, and it won’t mix.
What is happening in the 20th century is people who haven’t learned that yet. They still try to mix the world into their lifestyle, and at the same time practice living as a Christian and the two cannot coexist. And what happens is, you end up embracing flesh rather than end up embracing Christ and sending a clear witness to others.
Well, he says, in verse 22, a second thing. Not only does idolatry denounce God in your life and sends a mixed signal, but then secondly, it provokes God to anger. I don’t know about you, but I don’t do dumb things, I do stupid things—it is stupid when you know better but you do it anyway. And you see, what happens is, we provoke the anger of the Lord.
One of the greatest ways I know that I am a believer is in the chastening and the disciplining and the scourging of the Lord. I cannot get away with sin. How do you feel when you sin? “Oh, we don’t sin!” Oh, excuse me, I’ve got the wrong group. How do you feel? What is conviction like in your life? What is it like? “Conviction? Well, I haven’t felt that in a long time.” Are you sure you are saved? Because the Father said He chastens and disciplines and scourges those whom He loves. Do you know what the word “scourge” means? It means to beat severely. He will take you to the point of death to get your attention if you are His child. He is not trying to get you, He already has you. He is trying to shape you and conform you into the image of Christ Jesus. And so when people embrace the flesh, they provoke the anger of God.
He says this very clearly here in verse 22, “Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” Is that what you want to do? “We are not stronger than He is, are we?” The word “stronger” is ischus. We don’t have that kind of inherent strength to make us think that we can do what we want to do, thinking that He can’t do anything about it. We are not that stupid, are we?
And then he says in verse 23, “All things are lawful.” Now, he doesn’t mean you can go out and shoot somebody. He doesn’t mean you can drive 110 mph in a 65 mph speed limit. What he says is, in regard to your eternal salvation when you have received Christ, all things are lawful and the fact that they cannot in any way destroy your relationship to God. But, he says, “but not all things are profitable.” In other words, you can make your own choice, but you can’t choose the consequence.
Man, how many times I choose my flesh! Am I the only one who does that? Can you relate to me? I do all the time. We are all in the same mess. Just making those stupid choices and killing our witness and sending a mixed signal all because the flesh wanted it and we embrace the flesh rather than embracing Christ.
He says, “All things are lawful, but not all things edify.” In other words, we need to be sensitive that we are building up our brother and not tearing him down. We can’t take our liberty under grace and flaunt it over our brother, because it suppresses him and defiles his conscience. Then we have sinned against Christ, as we saw in an earlier chapter.
Verse 24 reads, “Let no one seek his own good.” In other words, you don’t live for your own benefit. I tell you, that is tough when it is worked out, isn’t it? I am telling you, I am serious, you go through some of the business dealings in life that you have to go through and all of a sudden you have got to learn that you don’t live for your own benefit. You live for the benefit of others. I want to tell you, everything inside of you will scream at you and say, “This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. I have rights! This is mine!” What are you doing? God says, “No you don’t, buddy. You don’t live for yourself. You live for the benefit of others.” You have no option except to embrace Him if you want to walk free. Now if you want bondage, it is instant. Just embrace the flesh and immediately you put yourself back into the bondage from which Christ has delivered you.
There would be no idolatry if we lived to glorify God in all things
Well, we come to the third point. Number one, idolatry denounces God in your life. Number two, it provokes Him to anger; and who in the world do we think we are? Then thirdly, there would be no idolatry in the believer’s life if we would all live to glorify God in all things. Now, it is going to take a while for Paul to develop this.
This should be your purpose and my purpose. When we wake up in the morning we should say, “God, I don’t know what I am going to face today, but all I want is for you to be recognized in me. Father, help me to decrease so that you might increase in me today. May people look at me today and see Christ.” If we would live that way, we would make all kinds of concessions when it comes to our own rights, and we would make all kinds of choices to die to ourselves. This is the tough part; this is where the line is drawn.
Do you know one of the worst doctrines that is going around today? That God is not fair. Have you heard that? I want to tell you something, folks, if God is fair, then we are all going to bust hell wide open. I thank my God that He is not fair. I thank my God that He is just and righteous and is willing to come to this earth and pay the price for my filthy sin. I thank my God for that. And anything less than hell is grace. Now understand this, that is the way we live: It is not our rights; it is not what benefits me; it is what benefits Him, no matter what it costs me, so that the testimony of Jesus Christ might be seen in and through us as His church so that we don’t send a mixed signal, that we say one thing on Sundays and live another way Monday through Saturday. That is the whole point.
Well, let’s see how he develops it. In verse 25, he puts some balance. Can’t you imagine after he has just finished talking to people who understood grace and he has just told them that eating meat sacrificed to idols is worshiping demons, can’t you see them sitting there saying, “Do what? I mean, he is the one who taught me this, what is going here?” Paul evidently anticipated that and so he puts some balance in here so that you can think through what he is saying. He says, “Eat anything that is sold in the meat market, without asking questions for conscience sake.”
Now you know what the conscience is? It is a little Greek word that means the inner witness within you that tells you that something is right or tells you that something is wrong. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been going through the line at the grocery store and you gave them some money and they gave you twice as much change as you needed? Has that ever happened to you? Something goes through your mind and says, “Don’t take it, don’t you take it.” And the flesh says, “Well, it is their stupid mistake. It is mine. I mean, ‘finders keepers, losers weepers’.” But something inside of you keeps saying, “No, no, no, that is wrong.” What is that? That is your conscience.
You ask, “Well, how can some people have a different conscience than others?” Because truth enlightens the conscience. So it depends on how much truth you have been exposed to as to how your conscience is going to work. If you have not been exposed to truth, you can grow up thinking all kinds of things are right. You can go to some cultures and they have immoral practices that we would say are immoral, but in their culture, they don’t understand that. Truth has never enlightened their conscience.
Paul says, “Listen to me, you have been taught. Your conscience has been enlightened. Don’t walk around so paranoid you are scared to death you are going to do something idolatrous. When you go to the store to buy meat, buy the meat, go home and cook it and eat it and quit asking all the questions because you are okay in Christ. It is not going to hurt you.”
Now do you understand their culture? All of the meat practically, 80% of it, was meat sacrificed to idols. What are you going to be, a vegetarian? I mean, if you want meat and you go to the market, don’t ask the question, just go in and buy it and walk out. He says, “Don’t ask the question for conscience sake.”
Boy, it is amazing, if you will take this thing and apply it. Do you remember years ago when a major car company in America was cited in the paper for giving a large contribution to the communist party? Everybody said, “I can’t drive that car anymore, because they gave money to the communist. I am not going to buy that car.” Well, I hate to tell you but just about every one of them have done the same thing in one way or another, maybe not as directly.
You keep taking that principle. “Well, I can’t go to the store. That store sells beer.” Well, what are you going to do, mail order your food? Come on, let’s just get real. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. We have to eat. Go to the store, get the meat, take it home and cook it and eat it. That is what Paul said. Quit walking around thinking, “Good grief, is this the law or not?” He said don’t ask these questions for conscience sake.
Then he says in verse 26, “For the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.” Now does that have any meaning to anybody? Yeah, if you have stayed in Corinthians it should. Go back to chapter 3, and it has a lot of meaning. If the earth is His, all of it belongs to Him. Remember what we studied in chapter 3? Look in verse 21 of chapter 3. I mean, this is so powerful. By the way, if everything belongs to Him, that includes the cows and wherever the meat comes from.
Verse 21 says, “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you.” Now wait a minute, I thought all things belonged to Him. Well, hang on, “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” In other words, He is God, everything belongs to Him and since you belong to Him, all things belong to you. Now go to the store, get the meat, cook it, eat it and quit griping. That is what he tells them. Quit walking around so paranoid you can’t even eat. Just go to the store and buy it.
Now wait a minute. He brings up another scenario here. One is buying meat at the market. The other one is in verse 27. “If one of the unbelievers,” now circle that: not a believer, an unbeliever. Remember, the Corinthians weren’t fellowshipping with the unbelievers. They had it backwards. “If one of the unbelievers invites you, and you wish to go, eat anything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience’ sake.” Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. First of all, he says if one of them invites you. By the way, if you ever want to know the word of your calling, that is the word kaleo. That is the word here. It is an invitation. When it comes to your calling being salvation, He sent us an invitation, didn’t He, through John 3:16 and gave us the grace and the measure of faith to receive it? So that is part of that word.
But he says here, “If they send you an invitation.” What do you get an invitation for? Probably in their culture, a feast, a wedding, big thing, but it is an unbeliever having it and he sends you an invitation. He says, “if you wish to go.” The word “wish” is thelo. You don’t have to go. It is not sinful if you don’t go, and it’s not sinful if you do go. “But if you choose to go,” he says, “I have got something to tell you.” Watch this. I love this. He says, “eat anything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience’ sake.” In other words, if you are going to an unbeliever’s feast, what is the assumption? The assumption is, 99.9% of the meat is going to be meat sacrificed to idols. That is their lifestyle. That is what they eat. He says, “But you are going as a believer, and you want to make an impact on this man’s life. You don’t walk into the door and address the fact that the meat is sacrificed to idols. No, sir. You take your fork and your knife, cut it up, eat it, put a little ketchup on it, enjoy it, because you are there for an eternal purpose. You are not just there to eat with him. You are there to affect him for all eternity.”
You know why that is? That is the heart of Jesus beating inside of you. Do you know who were the most unliked people in Jesus’ day? The Pharisees. Now you don’t understand the Pharisees unless you have been to Israel and been around a Hasidic Jew. Have you ever been around one? It is by the grace of God I have not put one in the floor. They are the most arrogant, push you out of the way. Why? Because we are dogs, we are dirt, we are Gentiles, and they are God’s chosen people! Well, I know that in Christ I can love them. I don’t like them. I want to tell you, that is exactly the attitude Jesus dealt with every day. He turned on them one time and said, “You whitewashed tombs, you vipers!” Jesus did that. I mean, it so irritated Him, this false religiosity which we see even in today’s time.
Well, Jesus, you know, He didn’t really like them, but He loved them. He came to die for them. Three times in the book of Luke He went to eat at the Pharisee’s house. And every time it says He went in and reclined with them. Do you know how they would eat? They would lay down. He would go and eat with the Pharisees.
The first time it is recorded is in Luke 7 and they wanted Him to come over. So He comes over, and a sinful woman comes into town and sees that He is Christ. She takes some alabaster oil and gets down and anoints His feet. The Lord Jesus received the worship of this sinful woman. Why do you think He was at the Pharisee’s house? Just to eat? He was there because they needed to understand that God loves even the most sinful. The Pharisees had such strict separation ideas that they wouldn’t even associate with anybody who wasn’t like them. And Jesus beautifully received the worship of this sinful woman.
The next time it is used is in Luke 11:3739. This is the time when the Lord surprised them that He didn’t go through the ceremonial cleansing before He had his meal. It says in verse 37, “Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. And when the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.” That was part of their ritual. “But the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.’”
Do you think He was there just to eat? No, sir, He wanted those Pharisees to understand and the only way to teach them was to be in the home with them. He went for the divine purpose. He went to get their hearts. His purpose was to show them that cleansing on the outside is religion, but no man can cleanse the inside, only Christ can cleanse the inside. And to be saved, you must be cleansed from the inside out. Religion won’t cut it. That is the way He talked.
But not only that, in Luke 14:14, He has another experience and on this one, it was on the Sabbath. Man, they were watching Him like a hawk. What is He going to do on the Sabbath? You can’t blink your eye practically. As a matter of fact, you couldn’t carry a burden on the Sabbath. You know, they said if you had a handkerchief upstairs and wanted to get it downstairs, you couldn’t carry it because that is carrying a burden. So you could wrap it around your neck and wear it down. That is different. I mean, that is weird. You couldn’t move on the Sabbath because the Pharisees made man for the Sabbath. Jesus had to go and show them as He healed the man with dropsy. He healed him of a very serious disease at the time on the Sabbath, on that day, in the Pharisee’s home to show them that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
I share these things with you because Jesus went to the people who rejected Him. He went to the people who invited Him. Why? He didn’t just go to eat. He went with an eternal purpose in mind. Now, this is what Paul is showing them. When you go pointing in one direction, you have a purpose bigger than the purpose for their invitation.
Well, Paul says in verse 28, “But if anyone should say to you, ‘This is meat sacrificed to idols,’ do not eat it.” Push the plate back and drop the fork and don’t touch another bite. Now what in the world is he talking about? Could this be confusion or what? Let me show you what I believe he is talking about and I’ll try to prove it in a minute.
There were more people than him at that feast. Do you think the pagan is going to stand up in front of the whole feast and say, “Hey, folks, I hope you are enjoying the meat sacrificed to idols.” Good grief, the pagan eats that all the time and couldn’t give a rip. Here he is enjoying himself and he doesn’t ask any questions because Paul told him not to. He is sitting over there eating that meat that has been sacrificed to idols and he knows it won’t affect his eternal standing in Christ.
But there is a weaker brother there. What has been his context since chapter 8? Why would he change it now? The weaker brother comes over, the pious, weaker brother. They think they are the stronger. Have you ever noticed how the weaker always think they are the stronger? He walks over and says to you, “You are eating meat sacrificed to idols.” And when that weaker brother tells you that, immediately, Paul says, “Stop eating. Drop the fork and don’t touch another bite.”
Well, why in the world would he say that? He tells you. He says, “for the sake of the one who informed you.” What has been his context since chapter 8? The weaker brother, who doesn’t understand, defiles his conscience every time he gets around it. He says, “and for conscience’ sake.”
Now, whose conscience? He just told him not to ask any questions for conscience’ sake. Whose conscience is he talking about now? He clarifies that in verse 29. “I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s.” In other words, what you are doing is not for your conscience’ sake. You haven’t been doing anything wrong, but to continue doing it would cause your brother to stumble and his conscience would be defiled. Therefore, you stop. Be sensitive to your weaker brother.
Then he goes on and he puts himself in this position. He says, “for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?” In other words, it is not going to be judgment on me, it will be judgment on him. Therefore, be sensitive.
Now I know one of the questions that has got to be going through your mind. It went through mine. How do you know when to eat? I mean, it gets a little confusing. Do you carry a little list around? No. God didn’t give you the map. He gave you the guide. You’ve got to stay as close to the guide as you possibly can. Be sensitive when He speaks. You don’t even have to know that there is someone there who is being offended. The Holy Spirit of God will let you know.
Well, how does He let me know? Let me give you this illustration. If my Mom would call me right now, that would be a miracle—she has been in heaven 17 years. If she called and I picked up the phone, “Hello, Mom,” and she would say, “How did you recognize my voice? I have been dead 17 years.” I would say, “Mom, I spent so much time with you down here on this earth, I would recognize your voice anywhere.”
You see, when you are attached to Christ, you are spending time in His Word and you are living surrendered to Him. He is speaking to you in those intimate times in the Word. Don’t worry, you will know when He is speaking to you when you don’t have the book in front of your face. He sensitizes you to His voice. You may never understand it down here.
I tell you what, perfection is not at all the subject of the matter. Predictability is. To live a life that is predictable enough to where people will know what you do, even when you fail they know what you’ll do. That doesn’t mean you are going to make it right all the time, but that is what it means to be attached to Christ, to be free to be what He wants you to be instead of doing what you’d rather do.
Well, he says in verse 30, “If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?” You have got to understand what is going on here. Here is guy who has gone to a feast with a godly motive. The word “thankfulness” is not thankfulness. Why it is translated that way, I don’t know. It is the word charis. It is grace. Grace motivates a believer. Grace enables a believer. Grace instructs a believer. Grace is the enabling power of God to be sensitive to Him.
How many Christians have not yet separated religion from relationship? That is what we are talking about. Relationship and grace is what enables all that. He is saying, “Hey, you are going to be slandered for some of the things you do, but the difference is when you let Christ be glorified in your life, then it is not you making the offense, it is Christ in you causing the offense. There is a difference in me causing them to be offended and Christ causing them to be offended. When I am embracing Him and they still get offended, I am free and clear. It is not me, it is Christ that is making them offended.
Then look at what he says in verse 31. Here is your principle. He says, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do [“whatever” is a little Greek word that means whatever; I mean, this is not a one time a week, this is everything you do], do all for the glory of God.”
Let me explain that to you. If I hold a coat up, there is no way life can be glorified in it, because there is no life in it. Do you know what glory means? Recognized. That is the root of the word. And then the word esteem comes out of that. But the root of the word means to be recognized, to give recognition to. How are you going to give recognition to something that is not there? But if life gets in the coat and the coat yields to the life, then it has given recognition to the life that is within it. So when it moves, recognition doesn’t go to the coat. Recognition goes to the life that is in the coat. Whatever you do, give recognition by the way you are willing to attach yourself to Him and deny yourself by saying yes to Him. Give recognition, not to you, no sir, but to the One who lives in you. Whether you are out eating or whether you are drinking or whatever you are doing, make sure your purpose is eternal. Let Christ be seen in you.
Verse 32 says, “Give no offense [don’t cause them to stumble] either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.” There are your three classes of people. Don’t cause them to stumble is the idea when it says “don’t give an offense.” The idea is if Christ has been glorified in you, He will cause them to stumble because He is the stumbling block, the gospel, the preaching of the cross. To the Gentile it is foolishness, and to the church, you’ve got the weaker brother, so you have got all of them covered right there. Don’t live your life to become a stumbling block. Build your brother, don’t break him.
Then in verse 33 we read, “just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit.” This is not brownie points. I am doing them for one reason:“but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.”
Look over in Romans 15. I have been accused of finding the Christlife in every passage of scripture in the Bible. That is a compliment, thank you. Somebody said, “Well, there is more teaching in the Bible than the Christlife.” Yes, there is, but every bit of it is rooted right there. If you don’t understand this one central message, the good news somehow is warped in your understanding. Christ did not just come into your life to renew you. He came into your life to replace you. Our combined effort of surrender to Him, it is then 100% His power, His presence and His passion that works through us. That is the Christlife. So anything He commands me to do, He lives in me to enable me to do it. And the results are not results that the flesh can do, the results are eternal results.
Look in verse 17. Paul says, “There in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting.” Here is the old Pharisee himself, obeyed all 612 laws, for he said in Philippians 3, “According to the law I was found blameless.” But he says, “I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except,” oh, listen, listen. He says, “I have discovered something. I wouldn’t open my mouth in a crowded room except to say this, not of what I could do for God. No, sir, my flesh has deceived me too many times.” His problem was not his rebellious flesh. His problem was his religious flesh. He said, “except for what Christ as accomplished through me [by the means of me, through me as the vessel], resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.”
Go back to verse 33 of chapter 10. He says, I do what I do to please all men, “for the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Paul can’t save anybody. But Paul said, “I have learned to embrace Christ, to glorify Him in all things, for people to see less of me and to see more of Him.” The eternal result is that some will stumble, some will slander you, but some will get saved. And they are the ones who will greet you one day when you get to heaven.
Now let me ask you a question. We are just about through with this whole subject, because he is going to enter into another area. What is it that you continually defend that you know under grace does not in any way affect your eternal standing with God in Jesus Christ?
“Man, it doesn’t hurt me to take a drink whenever I want to. Good grief, I like a little wine. Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach.”
How does that hold up with 1 Corinthians 810? Let me tell you how it holds up. It doesn’t float. That sunk before you got out of chapter 8.
“Well, I have to have a smoke.”
I am just picking the obvious. You know what I am doing. Have you ever heard me preach on either one of these? No, you haven’t. I preach Christ. But let me tell you something. Whatever you are holding on to and defending it as your right under grace, is the very thing that is hindering you from being what God wants you to be.
I want to tell you something else. Whatever restriction you put on God, God is going to turn right around and put that right back on you. And until you deal with that, God is not going to use you like you want to be used. You are not going to be free. You put yourself right back into bondage. That is me. I am looking in the mirror. That is me. That is you. The Corinthians didn’t get the picture.
If you are a Christian, you celebrate what Christ did for you. There is only one way you can live. Any other way is idolatry and sends a mixed signal and you’ve killed your witness and you are causing your brother to stumble, period.
