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Trinity Evangel Church
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Sermons from Trinity Evangel Church in Marysville, WA
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Sturdy Substance
Feb 15Tap to summarizeSturdy SubstanceFaith-filled and OverflowingIf you were to summarize the culture we're building at Trinity Evangel Church, what would you put at the top of the list? Gratitude? Blessing? Jealousability? All Are Yours? Kuyperian Dispensationalism? All worthy candidates, but none hit the spot. What is the thing that unlocks and leads to all the rest? What do we start every calendar week nourishing? The proposed TEC rallying cry: Fide Vive - Live by Faith. Faith enables gratitude. Faith begets blessing. Faith lives jealousably. It's by faith that we can say "All are ours." Faith is the summary of our Christian walk. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" - Romans 1:16-17 What Is Faith? "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the simple, strong, and single-minded surety that what God has told us we should expect, we will receive. No doubt. No wavering. A single, solid assurance. That's why James says the one who doubts is "like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind... he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." To doubt is to be double-minded, wanting one thing, but expecting another. If we are not living by faith, we are unstable in all our ways. Our goal is to form stable kids who grow into sturdy adults. We are raising people to be sturdy and full of faith. What we see in today's culture is believers who are not stable and not sturdy, like chaff in the wind, blown in whatever direction the current mood drives them. When faith is lacking, people are either babies or bloats. Babies When faith is lacking, adults act like babies. They cower and quiver in the face of the slightest pressure. The onslaught on the church through wokism, governmental overreach, the gay-Christian agenda, and compromising leadership is not a safe space for babies. Too many good men stare into the corruption with uncertain hesitancy - not because they don't know what to say, but because they are double-minded. Good men are sinfully careful when cowardice, not confidence, lies at their bedrock. Christians can barely handle the stress of normal dominion-taking efforts. Just taking responsibility for what's in front of us - our own discipleship, our family, our kids, our church - is a crushing burden for those who are babies full of doubt. Bloats The bloat is the confident dimwit, too sure of himself to learn from his own failure. King Solomon warned his son of the fool who can't enter a room without thinking he's the smartest one there. This fool feels full of himself. But what he's full of is arrogance-carbonation producing pride bubbles covering up his emptiness. One big burp and all is made clear - noise and stench and not much else. The bloat has faith, but not with any substance. He simply believes in himself. But the "Believe in Thyself" philosophy is straight from the pit. We don't want our kids to grow up to be babies. We want them sturdy. We don't want them to be bloats. We want them to have substance. If our aim is for them to live by faith, we are to build sturdy substance. Sturdy Substance Parenting is an ongoing job with no quick-fix formula. But in building sturdy substance, two components we want to instill: Confidence and Competence. We don't want big babies. We want confidence. We don't want big bloats. We want competence. Sturdiness comes from confidence - rooted and grounded, not blown by doubts or outside pressure. Substance comes from competence - real results, not just words. Confidence: A Father's Pleasure At Jesus's baptism, before any ministry, miracles, or teaching, the Father declared: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Attention: At Jesus's baptism, "a voice came from heaven." The Father was paying attention. A dad's active presence means knowing his kids: their strengths, struggles, fears, and fortitude. This attention isn't just for instruction and correction, but for the child's security. "Dad is with me. I'm okay." Acknowledgment: The Father not only pays attention but identifies with the Son: "My Son." A child's identity is reinforced when dad acknowledges them, through encouragement, feedback, instruction, discipline, or reassurance. This means slowing down and actually talking to kids about their lives. Attention without acknowledgment isn't sufficient. Love: The Father's acknowledgment includes "Beloved." The foundational reality holding everything together. A father's attentiveness and acknowledgment must flow from love. The confidence we're building in our kids is rooted not in performance, but in dad's love. Love changes how attention and acknowledgment look and feel. Pleasure: Attention, acknowledgment, and love culminate here: "With you I am well pleased." Kids sense when they're a burden versus when they have dad's pleasure. A hard-to-please dad is a familiar stereotype, but not what we see in our Heavenly Father. In Christ, God is well-pleased with us despite our instability. We reflect that fatherhood to our kids. The Father's pleasure precedes the Son's performance. Christ received the Father's attention, acknowledgment, love, and pleasure before the wilderness temptation, before the ministry began. He didn't earn it through work - he received it first, then went out to work. Fathers reflect to their kids the pleasure of God the Father. In Christ, we have our Heavenly Father's pleasure despite our instability. We are secure in that. We ought to reflect that fatherhood to our kids. How do we raise confident adults sturdy in their faith? We are pleased with them, even when they're unstable kids. Competence: A Father's Discipline Character matters - but it's measured by actions and results, not words and intentions. Too often, "character matters" justifies incompetence among Christians: "Sure, he's not good at his job, but he's faithful to his wife." This is a falsehood. You cannot choose character at the expense of competence. Real character produces real competence. Does high character demand valuing hard work? How is that demonstrated except by working hard? You can't be a good parent if you're a lousy worker. Teaching our kids excellence demands that we excel ourselves. "Competence" comes from Latin com (together) and petere (to strive) - literally, to strive together. To compete. To be competent means to compete and to win. How do we raise winners? How do we train our kids for the competition? "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things... But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Through discipline. Through control. Through training. Paul wants discipline so he wouldn't be a bloat, full of sound words but no results. Paul is after real substance. As the father's pleasure leads to confidence, so the father's discipline leads to competence. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves... For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." - Hebrews 12:5-6, 11 The word "discipline" here (paideia) implies training an instructor provides - painful, but with a benevolent end. Training is not simply harm. Training always has purpose. Fathers are to train their kids to carry responsibility. If that burden is heavy, teach them how to carry it. Many parents quickly relieve their kids of burden lest it hurt them, and in doing so, hurt them. Mothers are nurturing by nature, prone to relieve the burden. This is why fathers' discipline is what children need. The father must have the nerve to let his child remain under discipline, not to crush, but to train unto competence, unto substance, unto winning. We want kids with substance that commits, endures, and wins. Substance that doesn't tap out when things get difficult or tedious. Faithfulness can seem dull - it's not always exciting. But substantive competence developed through discipline endures. When the faithfulness of the competent is to the brim - when they are faith-filled - it overflows with abundant fruit, real results, visible good works. Sturdy substance is faith-filled and overflowing. Conclusion To raise kids who live by faith, we raise them to be sturdy and have substance - confident and competent, faith-filled and overflowing. How? Through pleasure and discipline. The father's pleasure yields confidence. The father's discipline yields competence. Colossians 3:21 tells fathers not to discourage their kids, literally, not to make them "lose heart." We want them to live by faith. So do the opposite: instead of discouraging, give courage. Instead of making them lose heart, give them he...
Transcribe →Parenting Tune-Up
Feb 15Tap to summarizeParenting Tune-UpOr, Nothing Goes Without Saying“Blessed the man that fears Jehovah and that walketh in His ways!” That’s one of our favorite psalms to sing (Psalm 128). Blessings from the Lord include children all around a man's table like olive plants (verse 3). Blessing includes seeing his children's children (verse 6). It's not just the fact of family and generations, it's a gift from God to able to enjoy family and family fruitfulness. This blessedness, and the purposes and principles and practices involved to get it, does not go without saying. It all has to be said, again and again, in public and from house to house, clearly and with illustrations. It’s easy, but foolish, to assume that everyone is doing the same work in their houses. When it comes to the glorious responsibilities and privileges of parenting nothing goes without saying. So, let me say some things. The God who created heaven and earth invented the idea of parents. God gave breath and souls and a mandate to the first parents. The same God calls us to pray to Him as our Father and to see ourselves as His children. When image-bearers, husband and wife, make love, God gives them children. Fruitfulness is a feature of blessed intimacy. God made it so, praise God! But we do not always see our kids as gifts until they’ve been asleep quietly in the crib for a couple hours. Parenting can feel more like burden than blessing, and boy, diapers are expensive and potty-training is annoying and orthodontists aren’t in the office on the days we’re free. In our day and place, kids are costly and inconvenient, let alone when they learn enough words to say that they’re ungrateful. But for all that, we are not the first people to have parenting problems. It's easy to miss that the last prophecy in the Old Testament is the Lord's promise to fix hearts in the household. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5–6 ESV) Not mentioned here, but the most important heart turn is to the Lord, away from self and the world. That’s earlier in the chapter (in verse 2), so the good is for who fear the Lord’s name. The next most important turn is a generational turn, with emphasis on the fathers. Fathers will turn to their kids, kids will turn to their fathers. This does not mean that the family only looks at each other, but there is a loyalty. What does this look like, practically, concretely, rubber gloves meet the dirty dishes sort of thing? That's good to ask, though I would point out from the passage itself that the turn is first internal and spiritual and attitudinal and obvious in the same way that gravity works. There’s a time to think about the pattern for laying bricks, but not if you’re trying to lay bricks on top of smoke; you need a solid foundation. The foundation for parenting is turned hearts. We've made it to our first Parenting Tune-Up day. A tune-up is an accessible and workable analogy. A tune-up is not the same as collision repair after the train dragged your car down the track for a quarter mile. I'm going to speak as if your hearts are turned to your kids, that maybe you need to make some adjustments, but not heart overhauls (though those can be done with God’s help!). There are some basic checks, always relevant, and like I said, nothing goes without saying. I'm not one of those possessive mechanics trying to guilt you for waiting until 3005 miles to change the oil, though I do care for your sake. The goal here is a running car, by which I mean a household running in glad fellowship and increasing fruitfulness. These checks are for potential parenting breakdowns not problem children. Kids have problems, parents do need to deal with those problems, but you can be problematic while dealing with problems. So assuming your heart is turned toward your kids, here are some reminders for sake of your heart being tuned up. TIFS for the Motivated Being a dad or mom is a relentless vocation. You should want not just to endure, but to excel. There are helps, but remember, “The unmotivated are notoriously invulnerable to insight” (Friedman). It really does require care and constant attention, lifelong learning, and dying to bring life. We're talking about being high agency parents, who have clear thinking, who are willing to disagree with their kids (for their good), and who have a bias to action (even if that is the action of waiting on the Lord). High agency by itself, in the flesh, will just keep dragging the plow through the field and so nothing good will grow. We need high agency (human responsibility) multiplied by grace. High agency x God's grace = abundant blessing. I like to play around with my disdain for "tips" in such big subjects such as parenting. So how about TIFS instead. Time Deuteronomy 6 (see especially verses 4-7) implies presence, parents with their kids sitting down, walking around, at bed time, and breakfast. Presence is not only measured in minutes-per-day, but a parent trying to calculate the least minutes-per-day is already missing the point. Looking at your calendar/schedule and acknowledging that the minutes aren't enough is one thing, but trying to find the lowest possible minutes is abdication. Someone should be available, it’s often the mom. Go to their stuff. Intention All the time in the world doesn't matter if you're merely drifting out in the middle of the ocean heading nowhere. It's not just amount of availability, it's aim. You are raising Christians, raising future parents. If nothing else, know what to avoid, since the apostle Paul requires fathers to avoid provoking to anger (Ephesians 6:4) or discouragement (Colossians 3:21). Hanging out can be intentional. It’s not just planning the next lecture, but you should be able to see where things are going. Faith Having great intentions, or at least intentions for them to do great things, could be an anxiety fest. High expectations can suffocate, setting you up for frustration, and you can want the right things in brutal ways. By grace through faith, not self-willed manipulation, also not doubting. Keep on trusting God, in front of your kids, and for your kids. Sacrifices High agency parenting by grace is not the same thing as everything going according to your plan. It's not just that you're sacrificing to make a plan, which you should, it's that you should "plan" that key moments will happen that weren't on the list for that day. Yes, you make sacrifices to earn a paycheck and prepare dinner and drive them to practice and buy them birthday gifts, as it should be; sow bountifully to reap bountifully (the principle in 2 Corinthians 9:6). But they are going to ask for counsel when it is not convenient. They will bring you bad news when you’re already full up on bad news. They are going to need you to care about things that aren't in your wheelhouse. They are going to require you to say things, because nothing goes without saying, and you’re the one God gave them to say it. TIFS: time, intention, faith, sacrifices. THIQ Discipline Parents should expect THIQ obedience from their kids; there are verses for it. Kids should obey totally, happily, immediately, and quickly. That is the standard. When our kids were younger we wrote THIQ on our five-gallon paint-stirring "rods" to remind us all what we’re after. But I think this has a second application for the one holding the rod. Total Your discipline should aim to pull the whole weed. Part of what this means is that you're looking for their attitude to be right, not just for them to stop hitting their brother, as good as that would be, or parrot back the forgiveness formula. This is a place that you've got to know your kids. With the dig and dung analogy for discipline, dig with your gut, and let the dung be full of grace. With certain kids what you see is all there is. With other kids they might not even know what’s inside, so help them figure it out. Happy Of course we're not talking about being giddy. There's no godly glee in inflicting pain received through the ears or the bottom. What this does mean is that you must not do it angry. Discipline should not start, continue, or end with your frustration, or resentment, or anxiety. Could you start singing a psalm at any point? And I don’t mean “understand, O stupid people, when, O fools, will you be wise?” Against anger, annoyance, and anxiety discipline in love, joy, and peace. Immediate Don't let disobediences pile up. Of course there are times when you wait to get out of the store into the car. In some cases you need to leave the store and go to the car while the half-full shopping cart sits in the aisle. As kids get older they can remember why they earned the talk, or the rod, and fine. But in general, don't let sin build up. It's not good for them, or the watching siblings, and isn't going to help you be happy. Quick The conversation takes as long as it takes, as does the spanking. Again, we're looking for turned hearts which isn’t about a stopwatch. And also, when the heart has turned, don't keep the heavy drama going just to drive the point home deeper. Pray, hug, sing, go back to the dinner table, and ge...
Transcribe →The Turning Prophet
Feb 8Tap to summarizeThe Turning ProphetOr, A Fulfilling Birth AnnouncementIt's delightful how Luke set us up to expect an orderly, historical account before slamming us in his next move with a part of the story so crazy that it's almost unbelievable. Really, after his short and formal preface, the first main section of his book is about two incredible birth stories; one of the kids doesn't even have a human father. Luke's done his homework. He went back to the beginning of things and, unlike Matthew or Mark, Luke tells us more background about the announcements and the arrivals of John and Jesus. There's a back and forth, announcement about John then announcement about Jesus, followed by the birth of John then the birth of Jesus. And when we put it like that, it sounds like normal timeline accounts. But while giving us the expected parts of the setting—some of the basic who, when, and where—Luke says, in a rather nonchalant manner, that one of only two named angels in Scripture showed up while a priest was burning incense and said it was time for the fulfillment of a 400 year old prophecy, and then made the priest mute (and deaf, see verse 62) because he didn't accept what the angel said immediately. That. Is. Crazy. As we're getting strapped in so that we can be certain about what we've been taught (the purpose of the book of Luke according to Luke 1:4), Luke gives us a bridge. In fact, he bridges a few things. The account itself bridges from the Old Testament to the New, with echoes of previous barren couples who looked to the Lord. John in particular is the last prophet before the coming of the Christ and His kingdom, the fulfillment of old promises moving into new stages. And looking ahead, if you can't believe this, you're definitely not going to believe what happens next. Luke 1:5-25 tells us about the angelic announcement of the birth of a prophet who would precede the coming of the Lord and turn the hearts of his people to the Lord. We're introduced to the two main human characters (verses 5-7), given the setting (verses 8-10), then the appearance and announcement of the angel (verses 11-20), and then the aftermath (verses 21-25). Days of Heartache (verses 5-7) We meet a new sort of Abram and Sarai, a couple who are serving God yet with no offspring to show for it. It starts with a traditional time marker: In the days of Herod, king of Judea. This puts it around 5 BC (since multiple sources say Herod died in 4 BC). For those who might be rereading Luke's book, there's a little bookending with Jesus crucified as "the king of the Jews" (23:37-38), a more definite description, and of course, Jesus is the true King. But here at the beginning, the Roman senate granted this kingship to Herod who promised he could keep the peace and keep the tax money coming in. We meet Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, both Jews, and both from priestly families. More than bloodline, they were both righteous before God. The feared the Lord, they worshipped God, they obeyed the Law. But, like many of the Old Testament characters they had no child, and by this point they were too old to expect any kids. Psalm 119:1 says that those whose way is blameless are blessed. But Zechariah and Elizabeth probably didn’t feel so blessed. They had at least two massive heartaches: living under a Roman’s rule, and living under reproach/disgrace (verse 25) because they had no child. Their heartache is like heavy rain that they couldn’t get out of. Days of Turning (verses 8-23) Verses 8-23 all take place in one week, and most of it on just one day, in the temple in Jerusalem. Nehemiah established the 24 divisions of priests as part of his work of reformation when Israel returned from captivity. Each division served semi-annually, that is, two weeks a year. Zechariah lived "in the hill country" (1:39), but his division was on duty in Jerusalem. There were about 750 priests in each division (making a total of around 18,000), and so they cast lots to determine who would get to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. It was a once-in-a-lifetime honor, not every priest even got a chance, and the lot fell to Zechariah for what appears to be the afternoon offering, when a bunch of Jews outside the temple who were gathered to pray. The incense even represented their prayers. Everything through verse 10 is normal enough, but no one, Zechariah most of all, was expecting what happened next. We’re only ten verses in and the story turns hard. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord. An angel shows up? And an angel of the Lord? So yeah, Zechariah was troubled...and fear fell upon him. The first words quoted in this history: “Fear not." These are actually frequent words when there is some sort of supernatural occurrence, including eleven more times in Luke. The angel doesn't warm Zechariah up with any chit chat, but gets right to the point. "Zechariah, God heard what you asked for. He's giving you a son, and not just any son, but a prophet." That’s a lot to take in. Zechariah might have first wondered, What prayer? Was he praying for a son that afternoon? Probably not, he’d likely be focused on his priestly role representing the people. When was the last time he'd prayed for a child? Might it have been decades? Was the angel referring to “cold”/old prayers? Or was Zechariah praying for the Lord to come and deliver Israel from unrighteousness and unrighteous rulers? Was Zechariah praying for the promises of the Messiah to be fulfilled? The angel doesn't say. But Zechariah's second question would be, Why the name John? That wasn't a family name. Naming is a sign of authority, and this was God taking the authority. But, still, it was another surprising piece. What does it mean, he will be great before the Lord? He's not supposed to have wine or other alcoholic drink. No priests on duty were allowed to drink, and those who took the vow of a Nazarite also didn't partake. While similar, this kid was being set apart. In fact, he would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. The Spirit came upon people in the OT, but didn't start dwelling in people until some thirty years after this interaction. Verses 16 and 17 describe his prophetic work, which would be prophetic fulfillment. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16–17 ESV) Some of this was the very last promise in the last book of the OT, and you can read it in Malachi 4:5-6. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5–6 ESV) John would preach, and by God's grace, many would turn. Israelites would turn back to God, so there would be vertical restoration. Fathers would turn to their kids, so horizontal and family restoration. And the disobedient would turn to the wisdom of the just, the goodness and blessing of living in obedience. All three turns would prepare a people for the Lord. John would be the turning prophet. Again, this is a lot to take in. Zechariah heard it but he wasn't accepting it. I'm not saying I'd have known what to do. But still, if he thought he was dreaming, why argue. If he knew it was a real angel, and since he’s a guy who knew the OT stories, the part he wondered about is pregnancy? “Zechariah, you really don’t remember the stories?” The angel responds with some credentials. "Look, man, I'm the angel who talked to Daniel about the end of times and the restoration of Israel. Maybe you remember Daniel 8 and 9. What's more, I'm one of those who are in God's immediate presence. So yeah, I’m here as heaven’s messenger, sent to bring you this good news." Without a pause for Zechariah to accept it, Gabriel gives Zechariah a sign, but not really the type he was asking for. Because Zechariah did not believe, he would be mute until the baby was born. This interaction took longer than expected, so the people outside were wondering what happened. When he came out and couldn't talk, the people rightly assumed something special like a vision occurred, but they apparently gave up trying to get him to say what it was. What sort of charade gestures get this news across? Days of Hope (verses 24-25) Once he got home, we can assume that Zechariah and Elizabeth worked out some system of communication. And the fact that she conceived, without further note, suggests that it happened in the old fashioned way, but with God’s special blessing to make fruitful. Maybe because Zechariah couldn't say anything anyway, and because we’re about to find out that she’s related to a young woman who is about to become pregnant, the attention shifts to Elizabeth. Why she hid herself for five months isn't stated. Seems like it would have been a cause for unshame, since now being a mom was a taking away of reproach. But she's rejoicing, and taking it as a sign of personal blessing from the Lord. Conclusion Just in this opening scene heartache turns to hope, and this is a theme in Luke, it is the point of the gospel. The lost are...
Transcribe →Conscientious Consumers
Jun 17, 2018Tap to summarizeConscientious ConsumersOr, How to Eat RightWe eat food every day, multiple times a day. Food is one of the most mundane, as in earthly rather than heavenly, things we concern ourselves with, and yet God says that even our eating and drinking is supposed to be for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). What are our responsibilities when it comes to food? How important are the ingredients? The source of those ingredients? The chemical make-up of those ingredients? The preparation/packaging of the food? Should you research and investigate the motives of anyone who had any part in getting the food to your table? What if the people who grow/make/sell you your food are idolators? We come to the hinge point in 1 Corinthians 8. Last Lord's Day we began to talk about food, especially food associated someway or another with idols. The Christians in Corinth were Kuyperian Calvinists, before that was even possible of course. They had the knowledge of God's sovereignty over every thumb's width of grain and vegetable and animal. They knew that idols couldn't compare, let alone compete, with the one, true God of gods and Lord of lords. Food eaten at a pagan temple couldn't actually give power to a "so-called god," even if people actually believed that they were praising that god. Meat bought from the butcher shop connected to the pagan temple couldn’t have effective idol cooties. Only one God gives food, and while some "gods" might have been real demons disguising themselves (see 1 Corinthians 10:20), even if those demons claimed to be givers of corn and wheat and cows and sheep, the Corinthian Christians knew the actual and ultimate source behind every bite: God Himself. "All things" are "from" the Father and "all things" were made "through" Jesus Christ. The problem, as we began to see, is that some of the Christians held this knowledge in a way that magnified themselves rather than their brothers, which means they were not actually honoring God either, no matter how accurate their slogans about God's sovereignty were crafted. What they knew was (mostly) true about God, except they showed that they didn't truly know God because He is the God of love. We're supposed to love like Him, not just know about Him. Those who were conscious of God's sovereignty were not conscious of (some of) their brothers' consciences. Some brothers were loving their eating (and perhaps socializing) more than loving their brothers' souls. What should have been building up the body was destroying it. Paul calls the Corinthians to be conscientious consumers. But this is not being conscientious about the food as much as it is being conscientious about the God of food and their brothers in the Lord. There is a way to eat clean, to eat right, and it has more to do with how we consider the consciences of our fellow consumers and less to do with what we put in our mouths. The Problem (verses 7-8) The Corinthians knew that all the Corinthians had the knowledge (8:1), but they didn’t know that they were also wrong. However, not all possess this knowledge. Paul isn’t referring to the nonbelievers in Corinth, but to some of the believers in the church. It's not that some of them had received different teaching, it's not as if some of them were Arminians, or evolutionists. The rest of verse 7 explains the problem: their head knowledge hadn't fully informed their conscience. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Paul introduces us to a category of believer: the weak in conscience. Conscience is an important, but not infallible (meaning that it could be wrong) system. It observes and evaluates and urges reception or rejection. The mind and heart and will all interact with this internal judge. The judge could be loose or legalistic. The judge could be sure or uncertain. The man with a weak conscience isn't quite sure what is right. The compass is broken, or he keeps it in his pocket. Many of the Corinthians had a testimony that included previous idol worship, but some had a harder time leaving their practiced habits behind. Others, those who had strong consciences by contrast (though that word isn’t explicitly used to describe them), apparently could eat more food, and they could connect that food directly to the true God with thanks and freedom. Still some consumers didn't experience that internal freedom, but ate anyway, and based on the force of habit couldn’t keep from connecting it to idols, and then felt guilty. “Certain actions trigger old memories and associations” (Garland). The food itself wasn’t unclean, but by going against their conscience, they defiled or made their conscience stained. The problem was with the subject, the eater, not the object, the food. Food will not commend us to God. This could be translated as, "Food will not bring us closer to God or make Him be pleased with us." That goes for both fasting and feasting. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. A man is not defiled by what goes into him but what comes out of him (Matthew 15:11, 17-20). This is one of the most important, and most brutal, truths. No food, of any kind, whether free-range or full of antibiotics or having a history with idols or a history with cruel (or idolatrous) farmers, in and of itself, can make God be happier or unhappier with us. That doesn’t stop others from saying we “need” to eat for sake of building relationships in the community, nor does it stop others from saying we need to not eat for sake of a holy testimony in the community. Both sides can argue about what makes for a better witness, but you cannot be more “right” or right with God based on where you shop for food or whether the ingredients are “clean.” We are to be conscientious consumers, but we are to be conscientious about how we're eating more than about what we're eating. We end up attributing godlike power to food when we treat it so fearfully. The Priority (verses 9-13) There is more to say about being conscientious consumers, and that relates to being conscientious of our brothers, especially the weak ones. Paul does not address the weak directly, though he implies that the weak could become strong in the knowledge of God's sovereignty and food's impotency. But those who recognize their freedom to eat must be conscientious about how they consume in front of others. The Command (verse 9-11) Knowledge isn't enough if it doesn't result in love, and Paul urges the consumers to watch the exercise of their diet on others. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. "See to it, watch out, look out" so that your right doesn't cause someone else's ruin. Because God is over all things, you have authority; what will you do with it? A stumbling block sits in the middle of a path and causes a fall, and in the rest of the paragraph the brother is "destroyed" and wounded. Verses 10 and 11 describe (at least) one way to be a stumbling block. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? Imagine that one of the strong is at a social event in the fellowship hall of the pagan temple. Maybe a fellow Christian was walking by, on their way home, had received an invitation himself, but had resolved not to go. He sees you. You are someone he's looked up to, and your example causes him to go against his conscience and he, temporarily, decides it's good to eat. He sits down at the table, or he takes a to-go plate, or he RSVPs to the next event. He is encouraged…to eat, the same word as “built up.” But he is not edified. What's the big deal? And so by your knowledge this person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Destruction is a big deal. If Christ died for this man, and he is a genuine brother, then he cannot be finally destroyed in hell away from the presence of God. But it is a severe word, and going against one's conscience is a much bigger deal then we tend to act like today. The progression is as follows: 1) one Christian believes that all food comes from the one God. 2) He consumes in light of knowledge about the ultimate source of the food but without consideration of those with weaker consciences. 3) Another Christian is encouraged to eat food that their conscience, though not as informed as it could be, says belongs with idolatry. 4) Following the example of the first brother, the weaker brother commits an act of idolatry and hardens his heart against his conscience. This is not a person who is destroyed by being offended or getting his/her feelings hurt. This is not a Christian with a more legalistic bent being bent out of shape by a brother who isn't following the same standards. She isn’t posting her shock on FB that anyone could ever eat at that restaurant or feed that to her kids. That is another actual problem, two Christians with different judgments on acceptable discipleship practices, but it is not the problem in this passage. “Those are foolish, who allow Christians scarcely any use of things indifferent, lest they should offend superstitious persons.” (Calvin) A conscientious consumer considers not just his own conscience, and not just the conscience of his brother, but the crucifixion of Christ. Is there any othe...
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