Stumbling Block

1st. Corinthians Chapter 8 

Scripture: 

But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. (1st Cor. 8:8-9) 

Observation: 

First of all, background on the city of Corinth.  It was a tourist spot.  It sported a temple to Aphrodite which also housed temple prostitutes as the main attraction.    Part of the worship to this temple was to sacrifice animals, and it was so very popular that the priests had a hard time keeping up with eating their portions.  And so they sold the leftovers to the public; feasting became part of the experience of visiting the town.  This is the lifestyle of the average person that lived in Corinth and the challenges that faced the early church.  

Context for this chapter is that more mature Christians who knew that there wasn't any power in the false gods were eating at these feasts and those Christians who were young saw them do it.  They didn't understand that this meat sacrificed to idols had no power and it confused them why other believers would be eating there. 

Paul's response was to encourage the mature believers to chose love (which builds up) for their fellow believers over exercising the liberty they had through their knowledge (which puffs up).  He told them to abstain from any activity, including eating meat sacrificed to idols, that would be damaging their more immature brothers. 

Application: 

When I look at the issues that divide the church today I see echoes of this same thing in play today: where traditions, rituals, movies, music, alcohol, dancing and  clothing get in the way of being unified in Christ.  Later on in this book(10:23) Paul sums it up by saying "All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial." 

Prayer: 

Lord, help us to discern the difference between the things that are core to our faith and the things that are personal preference.  Help us to have compassion on one another, considering their needs above our own.  It's so easy to cling to our understanding of what is right and wrong and defend those  distinctions at the expense of others.  Help us submit to one another in love.  Amen.