February 8, 2026 SERMON

Live the Difference
BUT I LOVE STEAK!
I Corinthians 8:1-13     

A retired man who volunteers to entertain patients in nursing homes and hospitals, one day went to New York City’s Coney Island Hospital and took his portable keyboard along. He told some jokes and sang some funny songs at a patient’s bedside.

When he finished, by way of saying good-bye he said, "I hope you get better."
The man replied, "I hope you get better too."

Ouch! That hurt! How about us?
Have we ever done that to someone?
Have we ever been accused of being insensitive?

I remember a time (actually more then once) I was careless and insensitive with my words. There were two men who were running for the school board in which I was an instructor. I liked both of these men but in my enthusiasm for one of the candidates, and as I had tremendous respect for, I carelessly made comments about the other candidate that were unkind. In fact, my comments were inappropriate.

I didn’t think much about it, because it was a private remark made in a private conversation, until I heard that my opinion was made known. 

Even then, I was not that concerned because there was freedom of speech and all that. But in the process, I found that my words were being taken very seriously, especially by the other candidate.

Within days, he came to share his hurt with me and I realized my error.

I had been unwise and careless with my words.

Not only that, but I had also seriously misjudged him. It was an incident that made a profound impact in my consideration of people. I had been insensitive, and as a result, I had gravely wronged this man.

Likewise, Paul is dealing with a similar insensitivity that is happening in the church at Corinth. Starting with the last chapter, Paul is answering a series of questions that have come from the church itself.

In the portion we are considering today, Paul is answering a question regarding food offered to idols.

The Greek and Roman culture of the day was polytheistic. In other words, there were many gods.

And it was a common belief that evil spirits would attach themselves to the food in order to get into a person. So in order to remove the spirits from the meat and gain favor by a particular god, the food would be sacrificed. 

To accomplish this, the sacrifice was divided up into three parts. One part was burned on the altar. The second part was given as payment to the priest doing the ceremony. And the third part was kept by the one bringing the offering.

Now what happened more often than not was that there was an excess of the second part. In a given day, the priest would be given more than he could use. So, this excess meat was then taken and sold on the market, the proceeds going to the temple. This meat was highly valued, because it was considered cleansed and safe.

Not only that, anytime meat was sought for guests, the best meat in town would be found at the temple. Now, I love steak. When I want to purchase some, I want the best. And in this case, the best steak in town was at the temple.

For the Corinthians, this was a difficult issue.

For some in the church, to eat this meat violated their conscience. For others, they could eat this meat without any trouble at all.

For the latter… it is an issue of freedom. It was their thinking that since it is not directly forbidden in Scripture, then it is allowable.

But there is a tension here that has existed since the beginning of the church. How far does freedom go in regard to behavior that is not specifically forbidden in Scripture? 

While we don’t tend to deal with issues like food offered to idols, we do find Christians divided on issues of freedom like…Drinking alcoholic beverages; Smoking or chewing tobacco; Card playing; Wearing makeup; Dancing; Playing and/or watching sports on Sunday; Styles of music; Going to the theater; Going to the movies; Styles of dress; Gambling; Playing the lottery, Having Christmas trees; Celebrating Halloween; Making Easter eggs, etc.

All of these can be in the gray areas in Christian living. Now you may not have experienced all of these, but I have been confronted by each one of these, either growing up, or in my years of being a pastor. And this is not an exhaustive list.

Nevertheless, when one gets focused on these secondary issues (because this is what they are), we forget the priority and nature of what a Christian is and supposed to act like. So, how are we to be known?

WE ARE TO BE KNOWN FIRST BY OUR LOVE.

If we are not known by our love, we are in serious trouble. Along with that, it will be helpful for us to know what kind of situations especially call for the practice of love.

So…We will find in our study of I Corinthians 8:1-13, two issues that need the application of love.

I. The first issue is the WEAKNESS OF INTELLIGENCE (1-6). Immediately, we find that…Knowledge, left alone, leads to pride.

A pastor, a Battalion student leader and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down, but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, “I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children.” So, he took one and jumped.

The computer whiz said, “I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me.” So he took one and jumped.

The pastor turned to the young Battalion leader and with a sad smile said, “You are young, and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plan.

The boy said, “Relax, Pastor, the smartest man in the world just picked up my backpack and jumped out!”

Paul recognizes that many of these Corinthians have gotten the knowledge right. They are mature in what they know. They’ve got it right. We should not make any mistakes here. Knowledge is a good thing, for the Bible does not place any premium on ignorance. We are encouraged to grow in our understanding. But the Corinthians reveal a problem. When it comes to the demonstration of love, they are immature.

For knowledge left on its own makes you arrogant.

Without the balance of love, we become egotistical and overconfident. We become like that “smartest man in the world,” puffed up like a balloon. We may feel superior, but we end up looking silly.

It is interesting to note that when you think you are in the know, you show that you are not. One person has described knowledge as the process of passing from the unconscious state of ignorance to the conscious state of ignorance. True knowledge is the recognition that we don’t have it altogether; that our knowledge, even our Biblical knowledge, is incomplete. We recognize that there is more to learn.

Because they were arrogant, and they did not know how to apply love to their situation, the Corinthians had much room to grow. Specifically, they needed to know that…Knowledge does not mean we are free to do as we please.

Paul wanted the Corinthians to see the bigger picture when it came to their question. While they were right to consider themselves free to eat the meat offered to the idols, this wasn’t the only issue at stake. They were also to consider the needs of other believers, particularly those that were former worshippers of idols. 

They were to consider their needs as well. For these believers could not yet handle eating such meat. And as a result, when these “stronger” Christians encouraged such Christians to just “grow up” and eat it anyway, their encouragement was not based in love, but rather, arrogance.

These “stronger” Christians were not to use their freedom to offend, confuse or weaken a brother or sister in Christ. Yes, they were right. Knowledge-wise, they were right. They knew the food did not contaminate them. They knew eating this food had no significance in their relationship with the Lord.
But this knowledge was not the end of the story.

There is still an even better way to live than to just practice freedom. Alongside of their freedom, they were to look out for the interests of others.
They were to think with their heart over and above their head.

You see, the important thing here is not what I am allowed to do. The important thing is my relationship with the Lord. It is in loving God and being known by Him. And this relationship is very much judged by how I treat my fellow brother and sister in the Lord.

At this point, Paul returns to some basic doctrine.

When it came to the literal idol, it was recognized that there was really nothing to it. It was just stone, wood, or whatever material it was made from. So, since they knew there was no God but one, there was no reality to the idols. The gods these idols represented did not really exist.

In fact, the important fact that we are not to miss is about the nature of God. We know that God is the creator of all things.

God is absolutely unique.

There is only one God.
There is only one Lord.

And He stands in contrast to the fake gods and lords of the day.

The God we worship, God the Father, is the ultimate source and destiny of all things. 

The God we worship, God the Son, the Lord Jesus, is the Mediator through whom God created and through whom we are redeemed. Nothing lies outside the jurisdiction of God.

The fact is these “stronger” Christians already had it right. Paul repeats this because the redemptive activity of God the Father and God the Son is the basis of Christian behavior. God moved toward us to save us because He loved us. In the same way, therefore, in our relationships with each other, we too are to be characterized by love.

This now brings us to…The second issue, the WEAKNESS OF IMMATURITY (7-13).

A dietician was once addressing a large audience. "The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks erode your stomach

lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. Vegetables can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water."

"But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"

A 75-year-old man in the front row stood up and said, "Wedding cake."

For the new believer who had been a worshipper of idols, this person would want to have nothing to do with their past. For when a person is new in their faith, the old way of living is something that is left totally behind.

For these new believers, eating meat that had been offered to idols brought back memories of an old way of life that had been rejected. They didn’t want to go there anymore. And when these “strong” believers encouraged them to eat the meat anyway, to them it was as if they were reverting back to the old way of life.

Whether right or wrong, these new believers still imagined that the idols were real and/or the gods the idols represented were real. Now, even though Paul has already made the point that the objective reality is that these idols do not exist, for the new believer who has been saved away from them, they are real. It is a subjective reality. These gods do/did “exist” for them.

So when they are encouraged to eat, there was a huge conflict between the head and the heart.   They did not want to take any chance of being contaminated again.

Paul reinforces a truth here to support the “strong” believer’s claim. We are none the worst if we eat the food. And we are no better if we do eat it. This is morally neutral ground. But there is another truth that is not to be missed. That is…We are all required to act in faith.

Paul will write later to the Romans (14:23) about this same subject. In that letter he writes…But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Again, the eating of such food may be neutral morally, but in fact, it is a conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit to protect them. So, to eat is an act committed against the conscience. As a result, eating such food brought confusion, guilt and resentment.

It is more important to restrict one’s individual freedom and to build up a fellow believer. When we are with a new believer, we must consider how our freedom will affect them. More exactly, we should never allow ourselves to influence a fellow Christian to do anything that the Holy Spirit is protecting them from. True freedom is observed in the giving up of our rights, not demanding to exercise them.

So, this means that…We are never to be deliberately offensive. Paul describes what is happening to these new believers. He says that they are in the process of being wounded.

And here is what we must get right. When we wound a fellow believer, we wound a member of Christ. And when we wound a member of Christ, we in effect wound Christ, because the community of believers is the body of Christ. In effect, then, we sin against ourselves.

This means that we are to exercise patience and restraint. We are to take heart, because as an unbeliever matures, the limits of conscience are expanded. They will become stronger some day if we restrain our freedom now.

In the Guinness Book of World Records there is listed the shortest sermon ever preached. John Albrecht, an Episcopal priest in Michigan, gave it. He stood in his pulpit to preach, paused, and said "Love!" He then sat down. Some of AIbrecht’s members said it was the best sermon he ever preached.

Well, you didn’t get one that short today but do let me say…Let love always be the rule.

The Christian is always to be growing in our understanding of biblical truths. There is no prize for being ignorant. God wants believers to think and act intelligently.

But that is not all, and it is not the most important.

The Christian is always to be growing in our ability to relate to people. We are to practice loving one another, over and over. Jesus commanded us to “love one another” as He has loved us. We are to let that be the aim of our faith. Love is always to be the rule.

Be known for your love…realize that knowledge has its limits; it is good to grow in our understanding of God and doctrine; but love must rule the day.

Be known for your love…live in harmony with the community of believers in which you have been placed; let us love one another as He has loved us.

Amen.