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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Let's go. We got one. Corinthians, chapters 8, 9, and 10. To be honest, this is some of my favorite content in the Book of Corinthians, because it's gonna really talk about rights. All. I mean, if. If you're an American, the words. Right, the word right. That is a buzz word. Okay, now I'm gonna kind of break down what these three chapters are talking about generally. And then specifically, specifically, we are dealing with food sacrifice to idols and whether or not Christians can eat food that's been sacrificed to idols. Now, I'm gonna give some context here because there are two different things that are gonna get talked about in this stretch of Scripture. The first is just. I'm in the market, and food has already been sacrificed to an idol, and food is just out for sale. Okay? Food has been dedicated to an idol. Food's been sacrificed to a demonic God or goddess, and it's just available in the marketplace. Okay? Paul, what he has to say about that is, hey, this is a matter of conscience, okay? If your conscience bothers you about it, then you really shouldn't do it. And if your conscience doesn't bother you, then we don't appeal to what the law says, but we appeal to what love says. And love is going to ask this question, not is this right or wrong? But what will a weaker brother or sister in Christ, how will they be impacted by what I'm doing? Okay, so that's the first food sacrifice to idols. Now, the reason that this is a great conversation around Christian liberty and gray areas in general is because Paul deals with the specifics about food being sacrificed to idols. But he also just gives us a general principle that at the end of the day, there's always gonna be gray. Gray issues. That, to be honest, the Bible's not that black and white. There's this famous story about D.L. moody and Charles Spurgeon, okay? They are contemporaries. Charles Spurgeon is a prince of preachers. Okay? You can actually find his sermons. He was. I mean, like, had a mega church, like, in London. Like, I mean, Charles Spurgeon is just a giant in the faith. D.L. moody, same. I mean, Moody Bible Institute is still a thriving school today. Like, D.L. moody was a fantastic man of God. So D.L. moody travels, like, from America all the way to the UK to see or to meet Charles Spurgeon, gets to Charles Spurgeon's house, knocks on the door, and is just shocked that Charles Spurgeon, Prince of preachers, like the. The goat, okay, is smoking a big, huge cigar. And I mean, D.L. moody is just thrown. For D.L. moody, this is just a non negotiable. This is not gray. It's black, white. Well, D.L. moody's a pretty heavy set guy, okay? D.L. moody's a Pretty Large Gentleman. And. And so D.L. moody says something to Charles Spurgeon, like, I just. I just can't. I thought you were anointed. I thought you were a man of God. I thought this. I thought that. I just. I just can't get over the fact that you smoke. And I can't believe you do that. And so Charles Spurgeon then points at D.L. moody's belly and says, I can't believe you do that. Okay? So for DL Moody, you know, smoking is just right up at the top of the list of things you should not do. But for Charles Spurgeon, who smokes, being fat is just right up at the top of the list of things you should not do. And here's the reality. Everyone has gray areas. That's just the reality. And here's what I have made as a commitment just from me. I personally just would never drink or consume alcohol in public. The reason I don't do it in public is because I have no idea what anybody's history is. I don't know if there's a history of alcoholism in anybody's family. And the last thing I need is for me to be at a restaurant and I'm in my Christian liberty doing something that's not sinful. And then someone sees Pastor Manny drinking. And because we idolize leaders and because people have influence now, they start drinking. And what is liberty for me becomes bondage for them. And in love, I'd rather just have date night with no alcohol because I prefer the person rather than myself. I care more about the sheep that God's called me to lead. I care more about the Christian brothers and sisters around me than I do myself. It's funny. I was on a speaking engagement with a young guy named Cam. Cam actually is a videographer on our team. And swearing or cursing is a gray, gray area issue. Now, I don't swear or curse around Cam because he's a new Christian. He's a young Christian. He's not mature enough to deal with gray all the time. But I was on a speaking engagement and a friend of mine who's just kind of got a mouth of a sailor who loves the Lord, is a Christian, obeys the Scriptures, was swearing around Cam. And of course, Cam's immediately confused. He starts asking questions. He's like, I thought, I thought he was a pastor. I thought he was a preacher. And I immediately have to now explain to Cam, yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, swearing is not a sin. But swearing isn't wise around you. Like, he shouldn't have swore around you. He shouldn't have used that language around you because it caused confusion for you. And so we're always going to deal with great area issues. None of us are eating food, sacrifice to idols today. Like, that's not an issue that any of us are dealing with today. But whether it is swearing or alcohol or smoking or being overweight, there's all of these gray area issues that aren't super, super, super clear. But the thing that Paul keeps reiterating is I can't focus on my rights as an individual. I have to focus on the upbuilding of the edification of the church. That if everyone is selfish and if everyone is focused on their rights, then we're not really going to get anywhere. But if everyone can learn how to consider the other, how to consider their Christian brother or sister, then actually we can, we can make love the ethic. So the reason that I wouldn't drink in public has nothing to do with, like, whether it's right or wrong. It has everything to do with whether or not I love the church, I love Christians, I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. Swearing has nothing to do with whether it's right or wrong in and of itself, and everything to do with whether or not it's harmful for my Christian brother or my Christian sister. And that is what Paul actually wants us to focus on. This is an area where a lot of people really miss the forest for the trees. Paul is saying, really, it's a. It's a matter of conscience. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible on theology topics and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to know, a community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. Now, let me kind of help us now delineate a different issue that Paul is going to talk about. So Paul talks about meat sacrificed to idols. That's just meat in the marketplace. That's one issue that Paul's going to talk about in these chapters. Now, there's a separate issue that Paul's going to talk about, and it is going to dinner parties at temples where there are probably prostitutes present and going to birthday parties and functions and dinner parties that are hosted at the temple where there is a ritual in which the meat is being sacrificed to an idol and you're present for the ritual. And Paul says, ooh, that. Don't do that. Don't you know that you're sacrificing this to demons? So Paul makes a delineation, and if you don't have enough context, then you don't really realize that there's a difference between meat that's already been sacrificed to idols prior and now I'm eating it. And I'm just in the marketplace. And I was never at the temple when it got sacrificed to an idol or dedicated to an idol versus being at a dinner party in which you are present where there is a satanic or demonic or spiritual ritual where meat is being sacrificed to an idol. Both issues are going to get talked about in this section of Corinthians. And I want you to be aware that for one, Paul says, hey, just defer to what's the most loving to the second. Paul then actually brings up communion and he says, don't you know that when we have communion, the Lord is present? So if you're at a ritual, if you're at a dinner party at a temple and you're eating meat while it's being sacrificed to idols, who demons are present. So Paul gives It could sound like Paul schizophrenic, like, okay, Paul says, It's not that big of an issue. But then he says it is a big deal. What's going on? Well, actually, he's addressing two different things. There's nuance between what Paul is addressing. Last thing. Timeless truth. The timeless truth. So I gave us some context clues. I gave us a nerdy nugget. I want to give us a timeless truth. Here's a timeless truth. There will always be gray. And here's what I've kind of taught our team and some of the guys that I disciple. Paul says a couple things. He says, yes, it's lawful for me, but it's not beneficial. Yes, it's lawful for me, but it doesn't build up. Yes, it's lawful for me, but it's also gonna give me. People are gonna see this and it's gonna jeopardize my witness. And those three things right there are really great questions to ask. Okay, is it permissible? Awesome. But now let's ask the Some, Some. Some better questions. It's permissible. It's lawful. Cool. Whatever it is. Smoking, drinking, swearing, whatever. Whatever it is, it's permissible. It's lawful. You're not going to go to hell. You're. You're still a Christian. Cool. But let's. Let's ask some deeper questions. The first one, is it beneficial? Does it add benefit? And I would actually put alcohol in this category where it's never a net positive. Never gonna be a net positive. At worst, it's a net negative. And most of the time, it's just a net neutral. It doesn't add anything or take anything away. And Paul says, ugh, if it doesn't add, then we may want to just stop doing it. Right? Like, we may want to stop doing it. It's not a net negative. It's not a net positive. It's just a net neutral. And we could. We could eliminate things in our life that are neutral. Right? It's just a net neutral. I'm not netting anything from it. I'm not losing anything from it. But, man, man, if it's not going to add anything, we may as well take it away. Next. Does it build? Does it edify? Okay, does this make me better? Does it make me stronger? Does it build a church? If the answer is no, then we may want to just stop doing it. Right? And then last, does it jeopardize my witness? Is it gonna be something? Is this thing I'm doing going to jeopardize my ability to be seen as someone who's living above reproach? Okay? The way Christians act in public matters, the way that other people view us matters. And as we'll see as we get into the next section, Paul cares about there being orders in the worship gathering, because what Christians do in public matters, Paul is not going to see a worship service as just private. He's going to see a worship service as public because non believers should be attracted to the worship service. People who don't believe in Jesus should be showing up. And it should be evident to those who show up that we should be making Jesus attractive to people who do not know Jesus. And so this section, chapters 8 through 10 are about food sacrifice to idols specifically. But generally it's about Christian liberties and Christian freedoms. Let me say one last thing for those of you who may not know this. Switzerland has an insanely popular gun culture. Gun culture is huge in Switzerland, okay? And gun culture is huge here in America. Now, there's one key difference between gun culture in Switzerland and gun culture here in America. There's no school shootings in Switzerland. There's no mass shootings in Switzerland. And it's a perspective shift. The reason that there is a ferocious, like, awesome gun culture in Switzerland, but no mass violence is because everyone in Switzerland is raised that you carry guns as your responsibility to protect your fellow countrymen. So it's seen as a responsibility, honestly, like as a cross to bear. We carry guns, we make sure we practice, we know how to shoot because we have a responsibility to defend our country, okay? Switzerland was one of the only countries in Europe that wasn't invaded by Hitler. And partly it's because the citizenry is armed, okay? But the mentality is around responsibility. This is our responsibility. We have a responsibility to protect our countrymen, to protect our families. That's our responsibility. Key word, responsibility. When we talk about gun culture in America, the key word that gets used is rights. But it's our right. It's our Second Amendment right. And that shift from this is my responsibility to this is my right completely changes the culture and the spirit of guns and gun control and gun violence. The moment you go from responsibility to rights, we are teetering on a dangerous path when it comes to operating as a believer. Cause in this section, Paul is gonna say, don't we have the right to get money from you? But we don't exercise that right. Don't we have the right to bring along a believing wife? But we're not gonna exercise that right. Paul is gonna go in on all these rights that he has the right to claim but doesn't because he cares more about his responsibility as an ambassador of Jesus than his rights as an apostle of Jesus. And the moment we care more about our rights than our responsibilities, then things get off balance. And if you want to be a mature believer, then you really need to be thinking about your responsibility. What do you bring to the table? What do you add? What do you contribute? Not your rights. Christianity is actually a process of laying down my rights because of my responsibilities. And that is a timeless truth. All right, Gave you some context clues, nerdy nuggets. Gave you a timeless truth. Went on a little bit of a rant. I'll see you right here tomorrow. We've got 1 Corinthians, chapter 1114. I am so proud of you. This is going to be the year that you finally make it through the entire Bible. I'm proud of you and I'm glad to be on the journey with you. Love you guys. See you tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.