Food, Faith & Freedom
Text: 1 Corinthians 8:1–13
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Paul encourages the Corinthian Christians to use their knowledge of God and the Christian faith for the benefit of others and to build one another up in love. The specific example he speaks about is whether Christians should eat the food offered to idols, but the core issue underneath it all is how we are to live out the freedom we have in Christ.
Food is not the issue. Freedom is not chaos. Faith is not private. Let’s pray…
Food is not the issue.
The Gospel—the message that Christ forgives our sin and saves us from death through His own death and resurrection—gives us freedom. We don’t live according to the hundreds of Old Testament laws about worship and the temple like the people of Israel did anymore. We don’t have restricted areas in our building like they did in the temple, although there does seem to be a weird sense of fear about walking into the vestry for some reason.
As Christian people, we are free from those high expectations and are instead called simply to have faith in Christ, receive His grace regularly, and reflect His love not under compulsion, but because it is our joy to do so.
Food is not the real issue for Paul and the Corinthians, but to understand the lesson it helps to know what is going on here.
The number one religion in those days was paganism. It was a common worship practice to sacrifice food to idols and then share that food in a feast. There were special spaces in their temples to sit down and eat together.
Many of the Christians in Corinth were converted pagans. They were used to following this custom and attending these feasts. They had been taught that Jesus’ death and resurrection had set them free from sin, from the weight of the law, and ultimately from death. They knew that in Christ, they were free from the strict laws of the Old Testament that required them to live in specific ways.
They also knew that the idols that people were worshipping weren’t real—they were just statues that were completely powerless to do anything. Therefore, eating the food offered to these idols was completely harmless.
Even today, there is plenty of meat we buy that is “halal”, meaning that the animal is killed in a certain way that makes it permissible for Muslims to eat. No one is forcing our meat to be halal certified, but (from my very limited research) nearly all beef and lamb in Australia is. Whether you knew that or not, it makes no difference for us as Christians.
Now, if knowing that makes you uncomfortable about eating red meat and causes you to rethink your shopping list, you have to do what sits best with your conscience.
Paul talks about those who have “knowledge” and those who are “weak” in faith. “Weakness” is not about how much or how little faith you have, but how likely it is that you will be offended by something. That’s not something to be ashamed of—it’s just a level of faith maturity.
The lesson here is that those of us with the “knowledge” of Christian freedom have a responsibility to look out for those who might not have that level of faith or confidence yet.
The example here is about food, but the real issue is about how Christians live in their freedom.
Freedom is not chaos.
Luther wrote a great little book called The Freedom of a Christian. In it, he says:
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.
There is no such thing as complete freedom. Whenever something is released or freed, it becomes subject to something else.
When a helium balloon is released, it is subject the wind and the lightness of the air inside it.
When a dog is released off its lead, it is subject to its own instinct to either run off or respond with the discipline it has been trained with.
When a child is released from the dinner table, they will go off and find something else to do or a sibling to annoy.
Likewise, when a person receives freedom from sin in Christ through baptism, they are no longer slaves to sin, but they become slaves of God (Ro. 6:16–22). Freedom is a matter of where our allegiance lies.
Many of those who don’t believe in Christ might have the opinion that living as a Christian is a kind of slavery. Being a Christian means we have to behave ourselves, watch our language, don’t drink too much, and make sure we don’t appear to be greedy or selfish. We give up a significant part of our weekend to go to church and sit through a boring hour or so. A non-Christian might say that Christians are anything but free, and, in a way, they would be right.
Does being free from the commitment to go to church or the obligation to be a “good Christian” make you freer? You will always be a slave to someone—will it be the one true God or something or someone else? Anything can become our idol.
The word “idol” is often used to refer to our favourite sportspeople. When the Adelaide Crows trained at Robe this week, some of the people saw their “idols” in real life for the very first time, and they said it was the best day ever. Of course, they use the word “idol” with a different kind of weight, but it still makes me think—is that really as good as it gets?
The God we serve, unlike other idols, never retires, gives up, or fails.
Christians, although we are servants to God and live under His rule and authority, are the freest people on earth. We don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone. God sets standards for us to live by, but when we fail (not if), he offers us grace and mercy. This is the freedom granted to us in baptism and we continue to live in it until we reach eternity.
Faith is not private.
We live in a time when personal choice is all that matters. We are allowed to practice whatever religion we want in Australia, but it’s preferred that we keep it to ourselves. Your faith, according to our culture, is a completely private matter. If it becomes public, you’ll be blamed for indoctrinating people and restricting their freedom by forcing them to believe certain things.
This cultural problem is making life particularly difficult in our schools. There are laws that are making teaching religion in schools increasingly difficult. Chaplains in public schools are unable to share their faith unless someone else initiates the conversation. One thing that works to our advantage is that there is no law against love. Our faith can be taught in many ways—we might just have to think creatively.
Paul says that faith is absolutely not a private matter, including within churches.
The love of God sets us free to selflessly serve God and each other. God doesn’t need us to protect the church or the Christian faith—after all, it’s not ours to protect. Rather, he calls us to serve one another in love. Let Him be our judge and our protector.
So, when it came to the issue of food offered to idols, serving in love meant avoiding eating that meat in front of others for the sake of their conscience. The mature in faith knew themselves that it was harmless, but they needed to be aware of how that impacted on the people around them.
I wonder what kinds of things we do that could be harmful to the faith of others without us realising. Sometimes, we do things with the best intentions at heart without noticing that the person next to us is uncomfortable, frustrated, offended, or confused. For the Corinthians, it was eating certain foods. What could those things be for us?
People see the way you live out your faith. Particularly if they know that you’re a Christian, they will watch you and expect that everything you do reflects your faith. The same goes for us as a church community—when people talk about St Martin’s, do they talk about how loving, faithful, and generous we are? Let’s give them every reason to.
With eyes on us as a church and as individuals, we have a great opportunity to show people what God’s love looks like. Quite often, people won’t let us tell them about the freedom of God’s love in Christ, but we can show them. In Christ, we are free to love and serve others. So go and do so, knowing that you are loved by God, you have been forgiven by Christ, and you have been called and prepared to do so by the Spirit.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
