[Steve Myers] Well, we're back for another session of epistles of Paul. We've been going through 1 Corinthians and last time we left off in 1 Corinthians 10. We had just finished up talking about verse 13, and it's an interesting passage that talks about the challenges and the difficulties that we go through. And it demonstrates the fact that God is trustworthy. We can trust God. He is faithful because that particular passage says he won't allow us to be tempted beyond what we're able. And so oftentimes we may think that trials and difficulties are just going to go away, but this particular passage doesn't say that. Sometimes that may be the case. God may take away a difficulty or a trial or a temptation in that regard. But what this passage also talks about is the fact he makes a way of escape. And sometimes that means the storm goes the other direction, but other times it means it's going to go straight over us and we have to go through the brunt of the difficulties that are associated with that trial or that storm.

And what it does say though is that he will help us so we're able to bear it. And so sometimes that may be the best prayer when we're going through difficulties is to ask God to give us the strength to bear it, to go through it, to take on the challenges and the difficulties that we may face and ask God to give us the faith that we need to trust him to see us through. And so that's an important passage that he reminded the Corinthians about, that sometimes the difficulties we face don't go away, but will God help us through them? That's where we can take that to the bank and say, absolutely, there is no doubt God will provide a way that we can endure it. He's right there to keep us, to help us, to make sure we're not going to be overwhelmed by any difficulty or any trial or any temptation. And so we can certainly trust God in that in all situations. So as Paul finishes up that thought, he kind of pivots just a little bit to take on another idea that the Corinthians had been struggling with. Take a look at verse 14.

1 Corinthians 10:14 He says, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry."

So he comes back to that thought. Remember we had talked about the Isthmian Games and some of the athletic illusions that he talked about to illustrate the challenges that we face in our spiritual journey. He comes back to that idea of the race. What do we do when it comes to idolatry? You don't put up with it. You don't just consider it to be a minor thing. He says you run away from it, you flee. So he comes back to that idea of the games once again, get away from that.

1 Corinthians 10:15 He says, "I speak as to wise men. Judge for yourselves what I say."

You got some sensibilities. This is a reasonable thing. Get out of the way. Don't put up with that. Flee from those types of things that are against the way of God. That is kind of interesting what he connects with that as well. Look at verse 16.

1 Corinthians 10:16 He says, "The cup of blessing which we bless..." Now, what would that be? Well, that's referring to the Passover. "The cup of blessing which we bless," he says, "is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"

And so here he's talking about the Passover, he's talking about the bread and the wine. And in doing this, he makes this connection to unity. He uses the word here that is translated in English, communion, communion.

Now, in Greek, it's the Greek word koinonia, koinonia, which means sharing. This is where the Catholics and some of the Protestants get their idea of having communion when they have sometimes grape juice and a little wafer in their ceremonies. This is not talking about that. This doesn't shortchange what the Passover is all about. The Passover is about the body of Christ in the bread. The Passover is about the sacrifice of Christ in shedding his blood in the wine. It is the communion or the koinonia of the blood of Christ. What is koinonia? It's the same word that's often translated fellowship or sometimes it's translated sharing. It can even be participating. If you are having koinonia, you are participants, you're partners. We are partners in the blood of Christ. We are sharing, we are participants in the bread of Christ, the bread which we break. And at Passover certainly we break that bread. And as he says in verse 17.

1 Corinthians 10:17 "For we though many..." kind of like that broken bread, it's lots of different pieces, lots of different individuals. "Yet it came from one bread, it came from Christ." He says, "One body for we all partake of that one bread."

So what's he speaking about there? Unity, he's talking about we're to be together. We're to be of one mind, one heart. This communion, this sharing, this participation in the Passover is what he's referring to is such a great reminder of that fact. We are one, we are unified. We can't be all over the place. And remember, that was the biggest challenge in Corinth. They were divided over so many different issues, so many challenges, so many problems that they dealt with. And so here he's bringing it back. How can there be division when we're to be unified in Christ? And the Passover being one of the best examples of unity.

He's not done talking about Passover. In the next chapter, he's going to bring it up again because, yes, Corinth had problems even in the Passover ceremony itself, but he's already intimating some of the details when it comes to Passover and the fact that they should be unified even in this because we are to be one. And of course, as he's stressing this, he's also showing that as we partake of the Passover, we are sharers, we are participants, we are unified. And it's something that is an absolute requirement. This isn't just, well, it's a nice idea if we had unity. It's not just a nice idea to observe the Passover. I mean, is that something...is it all that necessary?

Well, notice what Christ said. If you want to hold your place here for a moment, go back to John 6. John 6 is one of those passages that certainly come to mind that as Paul reminds the Corinthians about the power of unity that's found in the Passover, that's found in the bread and the wine, that sharing of the body of Christ, it certainly brings us all the way back to what Christ himself said in John 6. He reminds us of how important the Passover is in sharing and participating in Christ himself. Notice John 6, we'll pick it up in verse 53.

John 6:53 Jesus said, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." Of course, that bread and the wine was symbolizing His flesh, was symbolizing that sacrifice.

John 6:54-56 He says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him."

And so we have fantastic symbolism that we're partaking, that koinonia, we're sharing in the blood and body of Christ. We're ingesting Christ in a sense that Christ is living in us and He's shining through us. And so this idea of food and drink is something that we need to survive. You can't survive without food and drink, right? Physically not possible. What about spiritually? You can't survive without Christ. You can't survive without ingesting Christ in that sense, without letting him live his life in you.

John 6:57 And so He says, "As the living Father sent me, I live because of the Father. So he who feeds on me will live because of me."

And so here he's talking about spiritual life. So this is absolutely critical that we must must partake of the Passover because it's symbolic of who we are spiritually speaking. Are we really true Christians? We rededicate ourselves. We recommit ourselves to God the Father every Passover and symbolically we show that dedication to God the Father and to Jesus Christ. And we allow Christ to live in us and live through us. And so we have unity found in him. So if you head back to one Corinthians 10, no wonder he talks about this idea of being participants, sharing, and certainly fellowshiping in Christ. And despite the fact we are so many diverse individuals, we all come together in that one bread and that one body because we're all partakers, we're all sharers, we're all fellowshiping, we're all partners in Christ. And so he can't emphasize that enough to help the Corinthians to see how they should be unified, that they can't be divided if truly they are in Christ. So going back then to verse 18.

1 Corinthians 10:18 He says, "Observe Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?"

So a couple of things going on. We're to be partakers, we're to have this koinonia, we're to have fellowship, we're to have unity. There was a sense of the priesthood participating in the sacrifices, they would eat of those sacrifices that were given from the altar, there were connections there. This is almost in one sense taking us back to Chapter 8 where he talked about those sacrifices and talked about idols and meat offered to idols. He's coming back to that as he says here, what am I saying? That an idol is anything or what's offered to idols is anything? Kind of contrasting this difference between the Passover and our commitment to God the Father and Jesus Christ and our unity found in them.

And then the challenges that the Corinthians faced over something so silly as meat, meat offered to idols, can we eat it or not? Well, he says, idols are nothing, absolutely nothing. You can eat meat offered to idols, that shouldn't be a problem. But there's something else you have to take into consideration here as well. So when he comes back to this thought in verse 20.

1 Corinthians 10:20 He says, "Rather that the things with which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I don't want you to have fellowship with demons."

You see our koinonia, our fellowship is with Christ. We don't participate with demons or demonic worship. And boy, was that prevalent in Corinth. They had all kinds of idol worship. And whether it was Aphrodite or whether it was Dionysius or whether it was Zeus, all of these gods they worshiped, we don't have fellowship with them, he says. And don't forget, this meat that was offered to these idols, it wasn't just absolutely nothing. There's demons behind that. False worship is what he's telling us here. And so don't have fellowship with demons.

1 Corinthians 10:21 He says, "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot participate in the Lord's table and of the table of demons."

And so they worship their gods by sacrificing these animals. And they were participating in demonic worship. And of course, he's saying, we're not careful, we could do the same thing. We could do the same thing. A Christian cannot participate at the table of a pagan god. I remember our discussion back in Chapter 8. Some of them were actually doing that. They'd go and have a meal after the sacrifices to pagan gods. Of course, they had this meat that was offered to these idols and then they'd have a meal afterwards to take care of the meat and they'd eat it.

Now, could a Christian do that? Well, he says, wait a second. You got to be careful. You can't be participants, you can't have fellowship. That's that same word there, koinonia, base word. You can't have fellowship with demons. So don't forget the power behind those pagan gods. He says, "That could provoke the Lord to jealousy. Are we stronger than He?" He says, "Be careful. You got to recognize the power behind that because you could become a participant in pagan worship, idol worship, which really is demonic worship." Now, there is a connection here. If you go all the way back to Deuteronomy...Go back to Deuteronomy for just a moment. Deuteronomy 32. Of course, the scenario here is Israel's planning to come into the promised land. They're getting ready to do just that and they have an opportunity to rehearse the law here in Deuteronomy. And so in Chapter 32, there's this interesting connection that's made when it comes to idols and this idea of participating in false worship.

And so in Chapter 32, let's pick it up in verse 15. Verse 15, here we have some prophetic things that look to the fact that Israel, if they don't watch themselves, can get off track and become idol worshipers. And so in verse 15 of Deuteronomy 32.

Deuteronomy 32:15 It says, "But Jeshurun run grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick. You are obese."

Now, of course, that's not just talking about their physical attributes here, the Jeshurun is another name for Israel and it's kind of an endearing term that God uses to refer to Israel. So here, Israel, what happened to them? Spiritually speaking, they're making the spiritual connection. Instead of being right with God and being spiritually in shape, what's happened to them? They're fat. They're fat. They're obese. And so they haven't worshiped God properly. It says they forsook God who made them and scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation. Yeah, they said, ah, who needs God? We've got our act together. We're fine, we're fine. In fact, it almost sounds a little bit like maybe America today, who needs God? We've got everything we need. We are fat and thick and obese. Yeah, probably physically and spiritually in America more than ever it seems that certainly is the case. But interesting, this is talking spiritually.

1 Corinthians 10:16 "They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods. With abominations they provoked him to anger."

Well, what are foreign gods, idols? Nothing. Right? An idol's nothing. Well, hang on a second. Is there power behind idol worship? Yeah. Even back here in Deuteronomy, it definitely makes that point.

1 Corinthians 10:17 "They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they didn't know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers didn't fear. Of the rock who begat you, you are unmindful. You've forgotten the God who fathered you."

So I can't help but think that Paul probably had these passages in mind when he writes to the Corinthians. You're getting caught up with the freedom that you have and you don't even realize the power behind this idol worship. What is the power behind Aphrodite? What's the power behind Zeus and Dionysius? What is all...? Well, it's demonic powers. And he says, "You've got to be careful. You can't sit at a demon's table and at the Passover." Doesn't work. Unacceptable. So when you consider that, you become a participant in that regard. And we don't have anything to do with demonic worship, with idol worship.

So if you head back to 1 Corinthians 10, he strongly makes that point that that provokes God to jealousy just like Israel who became fat, who trusted in themselves rather than trusting in God. And even though it's okay to eat meat offered to idols or even of itself to sit at a table and eat meat at whatever location you're eating at, it may not be an issue, he says, don't forget the power behind it and don't forget how it affects others. Is that important or do I just have to worry about myself? Well, he makes that point.

1 Corinthians 10:23 He says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify."

Of course, he's made this point before, hasn't he? Chapter 8, made the same point. I have the right to do anything. Yeah, there's nothing legally wrong with this, even spiritually to eat the meat or whatever, that's not an issue. But is that what's most helpful? Is that beneficial for everyone? Yes, there's a lawful use for everything, but is the question, it's legal? Well, is that the only question? Is that the only consideration? You see here, he's saying, well, does that help others or does it hurt others? Does it build others up or does it tear them down? Are we supposed to be worried about how our freedom might affect others? Absolutely. Yeah. There's no doubt about that.

If you hold your place here, just go back as a reminder to Romans 15. Romans 15 makes that same point, says it a little bit differently, but here's Paul writing to God's church in Rome making the exact same point. Instead of saying, all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful, not all things benefit others, we have to be careful about our behavior when it comes to others.

Romans 15:1 He says, "We who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak or the weaknesses of the weak and not to please ourselves."

And do I only have to think about how this affects me? He says, no, you better be concerned how it affects others. Not everyone had that same level of faith to be able to eat that meat offered to idols. So I should just chow it down in front of them and not worry about it because, hey, that's their problem? It's lawful. No, not at all.

Romans 15:2 He says, verse 2, "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification."

So we build others up and then he uses the example of Christ himself. Christ was the perfect example in that. And so even though I might have the right to do something, I better take into consideration that I am my brother's keeper and I have to be concerned about how it affects others. We are responsible for each other. That was one of the problems in Corinth. I mean the implication is everybody was just out for themselves. I could do this because it's legal and if it hurt a weaker brother or sister, that's their problem. Paul said, no, that is not the case. That is not the case. We have to be aware of that. We have to be mindful of that. And so he says.

1 Corinthians 10:24, "Let no one seek his own." Of course, that ties back into Christ. Did Christ seek his own? No, he gave his life for us. He says, "So don't seek your own, but each one the other's well-being."

So you might make a note. Am I my brother's keeper? Yeah.

Matthew 22:39 certainly says, "We love our neighbor. We love our neighbor as ourself."

That's making that very point. And so that's certainly something we absolutely have to consider. Now, what about that meat that was sacrificed to idols that now has ended up in the marketplace? Well, let's get back to that for a moment.

1 Corinthians 10:25 He says, "Eat whatever's sold in the meat market asking no questions for conscience sake."

So we remember the context from Chapter 8. This isn't talking about clean and unclean meats. That is not the subject here, is it? What's the subject? Meat offered to idols. It's not talking about clean or unclean meats. Where do we find guidelines for that? Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, they tell us what God's guidelines for clean and unclean foods, what's good to eat, that tells us what is good. So this isn't discussing that. And in fact, it's kind of interesting. There's only one reference in Scripture that even discusses the types of animals that were sacrificed to idols. Now, there's lots of exterior sources, extrabiblical sources that talk about the Romans sacrificing various animals, not all of them clean. But it is interesting, in the Bible there's one example and it's found over in Acts 14.

Take a look at Acts 14:13. And I just find this interesting that in this particular example, the only passage in the Bible that refers to animals being offered to idols is mentioned here in Acts 14:13. And let's notice what it says. Acts 14:13, what's kind of interesting here, this is the scenario of Barnabas and Paul are on their journeys, and Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, kind of associating them with the gods. And of course, they wouldn't have anything to do with that. And then in verse 13.

Acts 14:13 It says, "The priest of Zeus whose temple was in front of their city brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitudes."

But Paul and Barnabas wouldn't have anything to do with this. So interesting, what kind of animal were they going to sacrifice to their pagan gods? Beef. Beef. So does this give us an indication of what Corinth was dealing with? Yeah, I think so. I think it does. It's not talking about clean and unclean foods, it's talking about clean foods, meat offered to idols like oxen in Acts 14. And Paul says, "Eat what's sold in the marketplace." It's not a big deal. It's not a big deal.

So if you head back to 1 Corinthians 10, you don't have to ask questions for conscience sake. It shouldn't bother. It's not a conscience issue is really what Paul's saying here. You don't have to worry about this. It's not a conscience issue. It's fine to eat this meat. In fact, he even quotes a Jewish blessing, verse 26.

Psalm 24:1-2 He says, "For the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness."

And all its fullness. This is quoting from Psalm 24, Psalm 24. And oftentimes in Jewish tradition, they would actually quote this blessing at mealtime, "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness." Interesting that he connects that to eating this meat that may or may not have been sacrificed to idols. And he says, don't worry about it because it's not a conscience issue. It shouldn't bother your conscience because, after all, an idol is nothing. So don't worry about it, don't worry about it. Now, with that in mind, he gives an interesting scenario to consider. Notice verse 27.

1 Corinthians 10:27-28 He says, "If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you asking no questions for conscience sake." He says...we'll get the whole story here and then let's break it down just a little bit. He says, "If anyone says to you this was offered to idols, do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for conscience sake for the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness." Psalm 24, once again, okay, remember there's a principle involved here. There's a principle. Now, whose conscience is the one that you have to worry about? Well, he just got done saying, "Ask no questions for conscience sake." So it's not talking about you.

1 Corinthians 10:29 He says, "Conscience, I say not your own," verse 29, "but that of the other for why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience, by another man's conscience?"

So here he begins to point out it's not a matter of conscience for you because you know an idol is nothing and it's fine to eat that meat, but this other person is putting you to the test. They're going to say, "Hey, did you know this was offered to idols?" Why would that be an issue? Why then not eat it? Why not eat it because of conscience? Why not? Well, because they think that God is in that meat, that demon is in that meat, that pagan god because it was sacrificed to idol. They realize you're a Christian, you're different. And so if they've got this meat that was offered to idols and they say, Hey, did you know this was offered to idols?" and you eat it, now you're kind of validating their belief. And he saying, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't let them trap you in that way. Don't let that happen. For their conscience, don't eat it. Don't eat it. And so we see that interesting scenario here. And so you have to be concerned about their perspective. And so when we look at that, we understand that also offsets us much in the same way when you consider clean and unclean foods and you consider God's guidance for that, this ties into this whole scenario as well.

There's an interesting example. If you go all the way back to Leviticus 20...head back to Leviticus 20 for just a moment. And here we find an example that's really similar to what we read in one Corinthians 10. So go back to Leviticus 20:25. We have a couple of comments here about clean and unclean foods. And as you look here, we have God's guidance given here in verse 25 of Leviticus 20. And let's see how this connects with what we've been reading in 1 Corinthians 10.

Leviticus 20:25 He says, "You shall distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean." It says, "And you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I've separated from you as unclean."

And so in Leviticus 11, we have those instructions. Deuteronomy 14 spell out very specifically those things. But notice part of the reason why. Is it just because God's worried about our health and those would be bad things to eat? No, no, not at all.

Leviticus 20:26 He says, "You shall be holy to me for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine."

And so these clean and unclean foods separate the things that are edible from the things God says should not be eaten. Is there a spiritual point here as well? Absolutely. We to be separate from this world, from the ways of this world, from the pagan perspectives of this world, and we are to be God's people. And that becomes critical. We are god's. We are his people. And just like we separate food that's edible by God's standard and food that's not, how we behave, how we act show we are God's people and we are separated from the rest of the world. And clean and unclean foods is one of those things that exemplify that very fact.

We're to be a different kind of people, we're to be holy to God. And so just like the fact we don't put any old thing in our mouth, because God says don't do that, we're to be separate from this world, and we don't put any old thing in our mind. We don't allow any thought to get carried away. We are God's people and we are to be holy. And so He emphasizes that very point. And so when it comes to others, we have to recognize that as well. So back in 1 Corinthians 10, He says don't ever forget we are God's people. We're God's people. And so in our behavior, we take into consideration what others think. We don't want to offend others.

We don't want to validate an idea that somehow we agree with their pagan worship. No, we're not going to do that either. And so we make sure that's the case. And of course, Corinth had to deal with a lot of that sort of thing because it was overrun with pagan worship and this was probably the only kind of meat they could actually get in the marketplace. And so interesting here that he makes that connection. Now, of course, we should take just a moment to look back for a second at verse 27 because you could take this wrong if you're not careful. Take a look back.

1 Corinthians 10:27 It says, "If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner and you desire to go, eat whatever's set before you asking no questions for conscience sake."

Of course, we've set the context here. It's talking about meat that's offered to idols. We're talking about meat that would normally be clean meat, not unclean meat. But some take this to mean that if you go to somebody's house and they serve you pork chops, just go ahead and eat it. Not a big deal. Ask no questions for conscious. Is that what it's saying here? Well, remember Paul's already said, get away from pagan sacrifices and rituals. You can't participate in those types of things. You can't involve yourself in pagan sacrifices. That wouldn't be right. So is this then saying, well, it's okay to eat unclean foods?

Now, remember, that's not the subject here. That's not the subject here at all. And so the subject is meat offered to idols. Don't ask questions about that because of conscience sake. Their conscience, their conscience is what he's getting at here. And so, yeah, if you involve yourself in pagan sacrifices, that's sinful. This isn't talking about God's food laws, his dietary laws at all. And so this is not, as some would try to cherry-pick this verse and take it out of context...That's what most of Christianity does today. They'll take this verse out of context and say, "Hey, it doesn't matter what you eat. You don't have to worry about God's food laws anymore because just look at verse 27." Well, that's not what it's saying here. This idea of whatsoever is not repealing God's food laws in any way, in any way. Paul's not doing away with them here at all. He's just addressing this idea of meat offered to idols.

So what do you do in a situation like that? Somebody invites you to dinner. They're not a believer. What do you just show up and take your chances on what they're going to serve? That wouldn't be very wise, would it? So somebody invites you over, they're not familiar with God's food laws. They're not familiar with what you believe. What do you just take your chances, show up? I think that would be pretty rude, wouldn't it? Just to show up. And here they're serving a ham dinner and you say, "Oh, sorry, I can't eat that." Wouldn't that just be plain rude? What kind of example would that be of God's way?

I don't think He's saying take your chances and eat whatever served before you. No, not at all. You can't do that. So what do you do? An unbeliever invites you to dinner. Wouldn't that be the time to talk about, well, there's certain things that I don't eat, before you show up for dinner? Absolutely. Absolutely. You talk to 'em about that. "Oh, by the way, I don't eat certain foods." That would be the right thing to do. Right? That would be what's best. So you give them a heads up ahead of time, then you're not going to get into an uncomfortable situation when you show up to their house to have a meal. You've already dealt with it. And so don't be embarrassed by that. You don't know where that might lead. You don't have to make a big deal about it. You don't have to say, "Well, I don't eat any of that slimy ham or pork chops because that's just disgusting food that God says stay away from." Yeah, you don't have to do that.

But certainly that could be an opportunity. We've talked about an opportunity to stand up for the truth of God, an opportunity to say, "Well, I don't eat certain things because God says not to." Just say it as a natural, normal thing. You don't have to make a big deal over it. So, "I don't eat shrimp, and I don't eat pork chops, and I don't eat ham." And they might even say, "Oh, you don't. Why not? Do you have a health problem?" Sometimes that comes up. "Well, I don't eat any bacon." "Well, why not? Do you have a heart issue or a problem? Is that why, they're restricting your diet, the doctors are doing that?" "Well, no, I follow what the Bible teaches about that." Don't make a big deal about it. Just say it as a normal everyday thing. Now maybe they'll ask questions. "Well, why not?" "Well, it says in Leviticus 11, you shouldn't eat those things."

I mean, it could be one of those situations like Paul ran into at Athens. Remember talking about that situation at Athens? They're overrun by pagan gods and idols and altars all over the place. And he used that as an opportunity to stand up for the truth. You never know. You never know. Had a situation one time with one member of one of our congregations and they were at a restaurant and they ordered a salad, and as they were ordering their salad, they said, "Please don't put any bacon on the salad." Kind of a normal thing, right? Tell them ahead of time, no bacon. Well, the waitress asked them, "Oh, you have a heart problem? Is that why you don't eat bacon?" And this lady said, "No, I don't eat it because God's food laws say I shouldn't eat it." Interesting that the waitress had never heard of that before. And so this young lady who was a member of the church got into a discussion with the waitress after their meal and you know what happened? The next Sabbath, that waitress showed up at services.

You never know what might happen. Bacon bits could be a way that God uses to call someone. Now, it could have easily said, "Oh yeah, I just don't like bacon." Could have totally avoided the situation. You didn't have to say, "Well, God's food laws in the Bible say I shouldn't eat it." That's kind of hard to say, isn't it? Ooh, that's kind of weird. You're kind of a crazy, wacko religious person, huh? Oh, you don't have to say it like that. "Oh, I just follow the Bible." That's not weird. That doesn't have to be uncomfortable. Just say it out. "I follow the Bible and the Bible says I shouldn't eat that." That may be the end of the conversation. It may not go anywhere else, but you stood for the truth rather than avoiding it.

And all too often that's what we do. We avoid dealing with the truth when God might use you as an instrument to call someone else. And if you avoid it, well, what good has that done? If I just say, "Oh, I just don't like bacon," well, that's true. It's not exactly a lie, but that's not why you're not eating it. The reason you're not eating it is because I'm following God's food laws. It's a similar thing that happens sometimes when we're going to go to the feast. "Oh, I'm not going to be at work for the next week-and-a-half in October." "Oh, why not?" "Well, I am going to a church convention." No, you're not. You see, people, they know what a convention is. They're probably not going to ask you about a convention. But if you say, "Yeah, I'm not going to be here going to the Feast of Tabernacles," what do you think is going to happen then? They're going to say, "What? What's the Feast of Tabernacles?" Yeah, it's automatically going to bring other questions, which is a good thing because we're to be a shining light. We're to be able to answer. We should be ready to defend the faith.

1 Peter 3:15 says that, "Be ready to give an answer."

Don't avoid giving an answer. And so this is a good opportunity to do just that. And so we have a wonderful opportunity to stand up for the truth, just like Paul did in Athens. It may be something that God could use us as an instrument to call others. And so don't avoid those kinds of things. And so if somebody invites you over, they're not a member, tell 'em ahead of time, "Yeah, there's certain things I don't eat because I follow the biblical food laws." "Oh, okay, well, what is that?" And then you can go through the list of things that you don't eat. And so by doing that, I think you are a witness and you stand for the truth when we do those things. And so Paul emphasizes that very point here as well, that don't compromise, don't fall into pagan demonic worship, but also realize, yeah, an idol is nothing.

So if you head back to 1 Corinthians 10, after pointing that very thing out.

1 Corinthians 10:30-31 He says, "If I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks?" Yeah, people consider that evil when he says, nope, that's nothing. That's nothing. Verse 31 then, "Therefore, whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

And so he says it's not just about being your brother's keeper. Yeah, those are certainly important consideration. It's not just about your freedom to do what you will when it comes to these kinds of things, but remember, it's all about God. God is our creator. He's the giver of all things. And so he says, "Don't forget that." And remember, he had quoted Psalm 24 a couple of times here. Remember, he said, "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. Don't forget the great giver. Don't forget that God is behind all of this. Give him the glory." So verse 32, as a little bit of a summary here.

1 Corinthians 10:32 He says, "Give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the Church of God."

Boy, that covers the whole gamut, doesn't it? It covers everything. Those in the church, those outside the church, the Jews, the Greeks, the whole thing. Give no offense. That's how we should live our Christian life. Then, of course, here, you also notice the name of the church is mentioned here. We had talked about this all the way back in 1 Corinthians 1, the Church of God, "Give no offense to the Church of God." And so we are the Church of God. And that kind of ties us back once again to that idea of the body that he had referred to earlier when he talked about the Passover. That we are one body, we are to be unified. And so unity becomes a key thought here as he concludes Chapter 10.