(1 Corinthians 8: 1-13)
My experience as the Drug Court Prosecutor here in Jefferson County was probably one of the more rewarding of my legal career. Not only did I learn about addiction and the mindset of the addict, I learned a lot about myself. Yeah, I know it’s been said, but it is worth repeating; There but for the grace of God, go I. There are many ways you can find yourself on the highway to addiction and finding the right exit can be difficult and seemingly impossible. One of the most important things I learned was how easy it was to be a stumbling block for someone trying to walk the path to sobriety. The Drug Court team consisted of me, as the prosecutor, the judge, the public defender, and a representative from Safe Harbor Recovery. It was our job to help them walk or work the steps of the program, and incidentally, it was a 12-step program. You started out with the simple basics and worked through them with each subsequent step getting more difficult or challenging. One of the more difficult challenges for many of the recovering addicts was in breaking ties with their old crowd of associates who were still living “the life.” For a number of reasons, these “friends” seemed to want to see them fail and would make their drug of choice readily available just in case they needed a taste. It could be as intentional as outright offering them the drugs or alcohol, or as unintentional as just thoughtlessly using in their presence or having it lying around the house. Many times, they would think that they had their problem under control and that just a little “taste” wouldn’t do them any harm. Sometimes, they would see someone who had completed recovery but still used, convincing themselves that if their use got out of control all they had to do was work the steps to get back on track. One of my concerns was that I didn’t want to do or say anything that might give them the impression it was okay to be an occasional or recreational user, as in; “I don’t have a problem, I can take it or leave it, I can quit anytime I want.” Sometimes I would find myself at the grocery store and I would spot one of the Drug Court participants or graduates and I would worry that they might see the bottle of wine in my cart. They’d see me and come over to say hello and see how I was doing, and I would see them glance down into my cart spotting the bottle of wine. They wouldn’t say anything, but I often worried that they might think that if I thought it was okay to enjoy a glass of wine, then what harm would it be if they had some wine too. If the Drug Court Prosecutor can have a little wine, why can’t I? I didn’t want to be a stumbling block in their recovery.
And being a stumbling block is what I take away from our scripture reading for this morning. To fully understand and appreciate what the Apostle Paul is talking about it’s important to understand who he was writing the letter to, his audience. He was writing to the church in Corinth that he had planted on his second missionary journey. Corinth was a major cosmopolitan city. It was a seaport and a major trade center. And, as it was not far from Athens, the congregation was largely made up of Gentiles. The city was filled with idolatry and immorality. It was Sin City. Imagine, if you will, planting a church in Seattle somewhere near the port, not far from Pioneer Square. That should give you a pretty good idea of the competing interests this Christian church encountered.
In this portion of his letter, Paul addresses the issue of eating food that was sacrificed to pagan idols. This seems odd, but it was a real problem at the time. What you had in Corinth was all these different pagan religions being practiced with their various idols. Sacrificial animals would be brought to these temples, killed before the idol as part of a pagan religious ceremony, and eaten at a feast in the temple, and what was left over was taken to a butcher who sold the meat in the marketplace. For the Jewish converts and those stronger in their faith this wasn’t a problem as they no longer followed the Old Testament traditions of animal sacrifices as an atonement for sin. They saw the meat for what it was. Just meat for eating, no more, no less. But some of the believers, those who were not yet strong in their faith, wondered if by eating such meat, they were somehow participating in the worship of pagan idols. When they observed another Christian eating meat that had been sacrificed to a pagan idol, they were getting a mixed message. Paul addresses this issue by saying: Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that no idol in the world really exists, and that there is no God but one. Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as in fact there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. What Paul is saying is that if we know there is only one true God then the idols do not really exist and there is no actual harm in eating the sacrificed meat. Kind of a no harm-no foul dynamic. He’s saying that as long as you place no more significance to it than it just being meat, then there isn’t really an issue of faith.
But then he says that it is not everyone who has this knowledge. He says: Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. He’s basically talking about these new Christians, who are not yet strong in their faith, relapsing and going back to the old life. Paul acknowledges that food will not bring us closer to God and we are no worse off if we don’t eat the food sacrificed to idols, or any better off if we do. But he tells us to take care that this liberty of ours to do as we please, does not become a stumbling block to someone who is weaker in their resolve. He asks; For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.
For Paul, the eating or not eating of sacrificial pagan meat was a real problem. For us, the meat is symbolic of those things we may do that confuses or causes new or weaker Christians to question themselves and their faith in Christ. This is not to say that because we are strong in our faith that we can do things we know are wrong or questionable and it is okay with God, that we can freely sin, repent and redo the steps whenever we feel like it. On the contrary, because of our faith we can be in the world and not of the world. Our strong and abiding faith is our shield. We must be aware of those temptations and strong enough to resist them as we go about our daily lives as we walk through this world with Christ. But we also have to be mindful of who is watching us and, if what we are doing might cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble and be dragged back into idolatry then, out of love we should give up that right to participate in what we are doing. If it doesn’t matter to us one way or the other, then we shouldn’t do it if it causes harm in some way to another, if it causes them to stumble and not be able to get up. We should take care that our actions do not encourage a brother or sister, particularly a new Christian, to fall back into an idolatry that once controlled them. If anything, we should be walking right along side of them helping them to walk the steps and helping them to avoid the stumbling blocks placed in their paths.
Please pray with me.
Gracious God, how we thank you for the freedom we have as Christians to live our lives in service to you and your creation. Keep us mindful of our calling as your disciples for the transformation of the world that our words and actions have consequences and that our best witness to the world is how we interact with the world. Through the love and sacrifice of your Son we are in the world but are not of the world. Help us to be an example to others, and to model our behavior in a manner that will bring the lost to you and not as a stumbling block causing the weak to fall and again become lost. We praise you for your unconditional love and for the confidence placed in us to do your work and your will. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.