The Living Bible (363 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Next is your question about eating food that has been sacrificed to idols. On this question everyone feels that only his answer is the right one! But although being a “know-it-all” makes us feel important, what is really needed to build the church is love.
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If anyone thinks he knows all the answers, he is just showing his ignorance.
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But the person who truly loves God is the one who is open to God’s knowledge.
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So now, what about it? Should we eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god, and that there is only one God, and no other.
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According to some people, there are a great many gods, both in heaven and on earth.
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But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created all things
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and made us to be his own; and one Lord Jesus Christ, who made everything and gives us life.
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However, some Christians don’t realize this. All their lives they have been used to thinking of idols as alive, and have believed that food offered to the idols is really being offered to actual gods. So when they eat such food it bothers them and hurts their tender consciences.
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Just remember that God doesn’t care whether we eat it or not. We are no worse off if we don’t eat it, and no better off if we do.
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But be careful not to use your freedom to eat it, lest you cause some Christian brother to sin whose conscience
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is weaker than yours.
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You see, this is what may happen: Someone who thinks it is wrong to eat this food will see you eating at a temple restaurant, for you know there is no harm in it. Then he will become bold enough to do it too, although all the time he still feels it is wrong.
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So because you “know it is all right to do it,” you will be responsible for causing great spiritual damage to a brother with a tender conscience for whom Christ died.
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And it is a sin against Christ to sin against your brother by encouraging him to do something he thinks is wrong.
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So if eating meat offered to idols is going to make my brother sin, I’ll not eat any of it as long as I live because I don’t want to do this to him.
I am an apostle, God’s messenger, responsible to no mere man. I am one who has actually seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes. And your changed lives are the result of my hard work for him.
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If in the opinion of others, I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you, for you have been won to Christ through me.
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This is my answer to those who question my rights.
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Or don’t I have any rights at all? Can’t I claim the same privilege the other apostles have of being a guest in your homes?
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If I had a wife, and if she were a believer,
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couldn’t I bring her along on these trips just as the other disciples do, and as the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter does?
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And must Barnabas and I alone keep working for our living while you supply these others?
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What soldier in the army has to pay his own expenses? And have you ever heard of a farmer who harvests his crop and doesn’t have the right to eat some of it? What shepherd takes care of a flock of sheep and goats and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk?
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And I’m not merely quoting the opinions of men as to what is right. I’m telling you what God’s law says.
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For in the law God gave to Moses he said that you must not put a muzzle on an ox to keep it from eating when it is treading out the wheat. Do you suppose God was thinking only about oxen when he said this?
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Wasn’t he also thinking about us? Of course he was. He said this to show us that Christian workers should be paid by those they help. Those who do the plowing and threshing should expect some share of the harvest.
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We have planted good spiritual seed in your souls. Is it too much to ask, in return, for mere food and clothing?
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You give them to others who preach to you, and you should. But shouldn’t we have an even greater right to them? Yet we have
never
used this right but supply our own needs without your help. We have never demanded payment of any kind for fear that, if we did, you might be less interested in our message to you from Christ.
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Don’t you realize that God told those working in his temple to take for their own needs some of the food brought there as gifts to him? And those who work at the altar of God get a share of the food that is brought by those offering it to the Lord.
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In the same way the Lord has given orders that those who preach the Gospel should be supported by those who accept it.
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Yet I have never asked you for one penny. And I am not writing this to hint that I would like to start now. In fact, I would rather die of hunger than lose the satisfaction I get from preaching to you without charge.
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For just preaching the Gospel isn’t any special credit to me—I couldn’t keep from preaching it if I wanted to. I would be utterly miserable. Woe unto me if I don’t.
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If I were volunteering my services of my own free will, then the Lord would give me a special reward; but that is not the situation, for God has picked me out and given me this sacred trust, and I have no choice.
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Under this circumstance, what is my pay? It is the special joy I get from preaching the Good News without expense to anyone, never demanding my rights.
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And this has a real advantage: I am not bound to obey anyone just because he pays my salary; yet I have freely and happily become a servant of any and all so that I can win them to Christ.
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When I am with the Jews I seem as one of them so that they will listen to the Gospel and I can win them to Christ. When I am with Gentiles who follow Jewish customs and ceremonies I don’t argue, even though I don’t agree, because I want to help them.
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When with the heathen I agree with them as much as I can, except of course that I must always do what is right as a Christian. And so, by agreeing, I can win their confidence
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and help them too.
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When I am with those whose consciences bother them easily, I don’t act as though I know it all and don’t say they are foolish; the result is that they are willing to let me help them. Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him.
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I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ.
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In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win.
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To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup,
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but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears.
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So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around.
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Like an athlete I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to. Otherwise I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to stand aside.
For we must never forget, dear brothers, what happened to our people in the wilderness long ago. God guided them by sending a cloud that moved along ahead of them; and he brought them all safely through the waters of the Red Sea.
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This might be called their “baptism”—baptized both in sea and cloud!—as followers of Moses—their commitment to him as their leader.
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And by a miracle God sent them food to eat and water to drink
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there in the desert; they drank the water that Christ gave them.
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He was there with them as a mighty Rock of spiritual refreshment.
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Yet after all this most of them did not obey God, and he destroyed them in the wilderness.
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From this lesson we are warned that we must not desire evil things as they did,
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nor worship idols as they did. (The Scriptures tell us, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to dance” in worship of the golden calf.)
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Another lesson for us is what happened when some of them sinned with other men’s wives, and 23,000 fell dead in one day.
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And don’t try the Lord’s patience—they did and died from snake bites.
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And don’t murmur against God and his dealings with you as some of them did, for that is why God sent his Angel to destroy them.
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All these things happened to them as examples—as object lessons to us—to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end.
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So be careful. If you are thinking, “Oh, I would never behave like that”—let this be a warning to you. For you too may fall into sin.
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But remember this—the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it.
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So, dear friends, carefully avoid idol worship of every kind.
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You are intelligent people. Look now and see for yourselves whether what I am about to say is true.
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When we ask the Lord’s blessing upon our drinking from the cup of wine at the Lord’s Table, this means, doesn’t it, that all who drink it are sharing together the blessing of Christ’s blood? And when we break off pieces of the bread from the loaf to eat there together, this shows that we are sharing together in the benefits of his body.
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No matter how many of us there are, we all eat from the same loaf, showing that we are all parts of the one body of Christ.
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And the Jewish people, all who eat the sacrifices, are united by that act.
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What am I trying to say? Am I saying that the idols to whom the heathen bring sacrifices are really alive and are real gods, and that these sacrifices are of some value? No, not at all.
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What I am saying is that those who offer food to these idols are united together in sacrificing to demons, certainly not to God. And I don’t want any of you to be partners with demons when you eat the same food, along with the heathen, that has been offered to these idols.
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You cannot drink from the cup at the Lord’s Table and at Satan’s table, too. You cannot eat bread both at the Lord’s Table and at Satan’s table.
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What? Are you tempting the Lord to be angry with you? Are you stronger than he is?
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You are certainly free to eat food offered to idols if you want to; it’s not against God’s laws to eat such meat, but that doesn’t mean that you should go ahead and do it. It may be perfectly legal, but it may not be best and helpful.
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Don’t think only of yourself. Try to think of the other fellow, too, and what is best for him.
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Here’s what you should do. Take any meat you want that is sold at the market. Don’t ask whether or not it was offered to idols, lest the answer hurt your conscience.
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For the earth and every good thing in it belongs to the Lord and is yours to enjoy.
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If someone who isn’t a Christian asks you out to dinner, go ahead; accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is on the table and don’t ask any questions about it. Then you won’t know whether or not it has been used as a sacrifice to idols, and you won’t risk having a bad conscience over eating it.
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But if someone warns you that this meat has been offered to idols, then don’t eat it for the sake of the man who told you, and of his conscience.
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In this case
his
feeling about it is the important thing, not yours.
But why, you may ask, must I be guided and limited by what someone else thinks?
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If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why let someone spoil everything just because he thinks I am wrong?
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Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because you must do everything for the glory of God, even your eating and drinking.
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So don’t be a stumbling block to anyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles or Christians.
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That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do, not doing what I like or what is best for me but what is best for them, so that they may be saved.