1 Corinthians 10:23-33 - "The Believer's Freedom"

"'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, 'The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.' If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, 'This has been offered in sacrifice,' then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake--the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved."

I don't believe that it is coincidence that my next Thursday morning with Shidoshi blog is in direct parallel with my last one--1 Corinthians 9:19-23 because Paul is emphasizing the freedom that we have in Christ to make a choice. Paul made a choice when God appeared to him to "commit his life to ministering to the Gentiles." So, today my hope is that you will grasp the significance of "a believer's freedom."

In this passage, specifically in verse 31, Paul lays the foundation for his message to the Corinthians. He says that "whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." If you are a follower of Christ you have been given a tremendous freedom. We should understand that whatever we do in this life is to be an act of worship for the very life that God has given us. However, because we are human, we can easily abuse this freedom and stray from God's wonderful path that he has laid out for us. From this passage I gather four things to help us understand better the freedom we possess:

1) Verses 23-24 tell us that "everything is permissible, but not beneficial" or "constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." Just because God has given us a tremendous freedom doesn't mean he allows us to use it for selfish reasons. The purpose of our freedom is for unbelievers to see our freedom, so we can bring them to Christ and experience that freedom for themselves.
2) Verses 25-27 explain the idea that we should look at everything in this world as primarily good because God created it. So, for the sake of reaching people for Christ, we should be directly in contact with unbelievers, in the world with them but not of the world with them, without raising question of right or wrong.
3) In verses 28-29 Paul says if somebody tells you that what you are participating in is against God or dishonoring of God then you should not participate. So in this case, if the meat has been identified as meat sacrificed to idols and you eat it, the unbeliever might think you condone or even are willing to participate in the worship of idols. He also says for the man's conscience--not to cause this person to think it's all right to eat the meat himself.

Paul then says in verse 29 that the reason why we don't eat it is not for our sake, but for the man's. Because our freedom is not judged by the other man's conscience but is based on whether it will bring glory to God, whether it will build up the church of God and whether it will encourage the unsaved to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. We do these things until we realize that it causes our fellow person stumble...

4) Lastly, verses 30-33 tell us that when we do all things in thankfulness toward God, in the name of God, and bringing glory to God, we are living in full the freedom God has given us.

So, summing up this passage, we know we are living right and living out our freedom in Christ when: We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as yourself. This is our freedom...