Leave No Doubt

Got your Bibles, I would like you to turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians as we continue talking about choices in life and how important that is. And today what we’re going to talk about is freedom. You know, with Christianity, when you come to Christ, you get a freedom. You know, and the whole point is this, is you’re going to, I believe in preservation of the saints. I believe that once saved, always saved. But you can take that to an extreme because you can sit there and go, if I got heaven, then I can do anything I want. And you can have that kind of freedom. Well, you do. But Paul talks about how do you handle that? You know, do we go by the book? Do we, you know, say we got to do it this way? Or we just say we can do it anyway.

Well, the church at Corinth was having some issues with this. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul deals with this. You know, we always got some way to do it. Everybody’s, you know, it’s kind of like looking for the low bidder. You know, one of the stories is out there that, you know, Alan Shepard is he, you know, one of the top first great astronauts, I think the first one that was actually ever went to the edge of space and then went to the moon on another occasion, you know, got into the cockpit of that missile and on the launch pad and kind of looked around and says, and all this was made and built by the lowest bidder. Is that what we want in life? Do we want what’s made by the lowest bidder? You know, how many business meetings have you been to? You go, did you get three bids? And, and, and you just kind of look at it and you kind of go, well, maybe sometimes we just need to go beyond that. Maybe have some extravagance, but do we have, how much extravagance do we have? And Paul talks about just some things in the Christian walk. You know, you know, it’s not, it’s not, you know, well, now that I’m free, I can do anything I want, anytime I want with anybody I want. And that’s the last thing we see in scripture.

So if you’ll just kind of walk with me, we’re going to kind of go through that because here’s the deal. And here’s what Paul’s going to kind of narrow in on. He’s going to narrow in on that the activities of our lives should be motivated by two things, who we are and whose we are. We must remember that we’re Christians, but not just the fact that we’re Christians, but that we want to be more conformed to the likeness of those, of the first letters in that word Christ. That’s what we want to do. Look what he says, verse 23, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

Now what’s he talking about there? Well, he had a church here that was doing a lot of stuff and they were free to do it. They had professed their faith in Christ, but they were still, still living a lot of the old ways. There’s still a lot of doing the old things. And so how do you take care of those kinds of things? How do you deal with that? And Paul’s explaining the ground rules of Christian freedom. It’s not doing anything you want. And this church was doing some of that. So what happens a lot of times when we do that? Well, we kind of go to the other extreme instead of doing anything we want. And you got to remember what type of, Corinth was a, was a metropolitan church. I mean, a city. It was one of the crossroads that led to the empire, through the empire that went all the way to Rome. So a lot of things were going on. A lot of kind of different kind of folks lived there. They had a lot of different types of beliefs and all this was starting to infiltrate a lot of the church. Plus they were just used to live in that way anyway.

And so what would happen, we see a lot of times is people when they, when they become Christians, what do they do? They just put Jesus on a plate that’s already full. Not realize sometimes I need to take some stuff off the plate, put Jesus where He needs to be. And so he says, all things are lawful. You can Do those, but here’s two things you got to take care of. But are things profitable? Does it make sense for you to do that? Do they edify? Is, are you going to be lifted up for these things? And so what we do a lot of times, we say, well, if they’re doing whatever and, and these things get, then we’ll, we’ll just swing that pendulum all the way to the back. Well, what happens here is we just make a bunch of rules and laws. And I’m not saying that constitution and bylaws are wrong, but I’m telling, sometimes we can even go too far on them.

I remember I was in a church one time that people weren’t turning the lights off. So you know what they put in the constitution and bylaws? They made it a law to make sure that when you left the room, you turned off the lights. And you kind of went, really? You got to put that down in writing, make that a law of the church? So you see how that works sometimes. And here’s what usually happens a lot of times in a lot of, a lot of bylaws. Something got abused, so we don’t want to be abused anymore. So we just kind of go to the other end of the spectrum and we make it a law. And what I find is, is legalism, which is what this is, when you always make, you got to have all these laws. Legalism doesn’t free a church. Legalism puts the church in bondage.

Now, there are some laws, right? Because the Bible’s kind of clear about a number of things. The Bible’s real clear about some things you don’t do, and the Bible’s very clear about some things that you are supposed to do. You know, there are things, go to the best, go to the Ten Commandments. You’re not supposed to commit adultery. You’re not supposed to take the name of the Lord in vain. You’re not to covet. Those are some things you don’t do, okay? And that’s pretty black and white. And there’s some things you’re supposed to do. We’re to try and unify things in the church. We’re to love one another. We’re to show Christ in all the things that we do. Those things we’re supposed to do. But the Bible’s not always clear about everything. And Paul is kind of addressing that situation here where he says, you know, sometimes there’s some gray areas in the church. Things come up in life and you go, do we make a law against that? Or do we let that slide? Do I go here and hang out with these folks and do these things? Or do I not do that? Paul here gives us two clear things of choices we need to understand. Number one, is it profitable? Number two, does it edify?

So first of all, we need to understand this. Is it good for the church? Well, let’s look and understand what the church is, okay? Here’s my definition of the church. It’s a group of people called out of the world into fellowship with Jesus Christ to be God’s holy people. That’s who you are. Okay? It’s not a building. As pretty as this one is. As pretty as, I remember I had a young teenager come in and he had a girlfriend. He says, I want to show you the colored windows. Yeah, those are so pretty. And he took her up and down to church and he said, look at the, I love the colored windows here. They’re pretty. And this is a wonderful place, but it’s a place till you get here. Do you understand that? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Christ dwells within you. And so this is a wonderful place, but it’s not the church till you get here. Okay? It’s got the name outside, but what that name represents is the body of Christ that’s here, that’s part of this place.

So we’re a group of people that are called out. Why is that important? Well, the reason being called out is important is because God expects you to be different. We had a little Thomas coming here and we called up the parents and the grandparents and we’re sitting there saying, we’re going to bring them. We’re calling him out to be brought up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. We’re calling them to be different. Like I said, the dedication, we highlight Thomas. I walked up down the aisle with him, but the dedication’s for the parents and the grandparents and for you. Called out of the world into the fellowship with Jesus Christ. No Jesus Christ, no church. To be what? God’s separate people. See, when you go out into the world, what Paul is telling this church is you represent Jesus in everything that you do, where you go, where you eat, how you talk, who you hang with, all that, how you do business.

And like I said, you can be legalists. I had a roommate in college looked at me one day and said, and we were in church kindergarten together. We played football against each other here in Charleston. And I remember he looked at me and said, my parents made me go to church all my life and I’m not going back. Well, he’s back in church. Thank you, Jesus. But it was, it was so restrictive. You know, we need to tell our kids why they come to church, why this is important, who God is, why He’s invested Himself through the cross into their lives. Why this, this makes sense.

The purpose of the church, why we exist, is to be God’s holy, distinct people. Do you understand that? That’s why you’re around, folks. You’re to be different. When the nation of Israel went into the promised land, God made it very clear to them, you’re to be a city on a hill. You’re to be a light to the world. And He tells us the very same thing. He looks at us and He says, people need to know that you’re different. People need to look at your life and say, I don’t understand it. I don’t know why you talk the way you do. I don’t know why you do business the way you do. But because it is so incredible, has so much integrity, and I’m just seeing such a difference, I want to know what it is because I want a piece of that. Your love has to be transforming because His love is.

And then the mission of the church, what we should be doing. Our great commission is to make disciples of Jesus. You know, when Jesus left the planet, He gave us His mission statement. What did He say? Go into all the world and do what? Make disciples. Not just win them. God’s more concerned about making disciples. God’s more about what we need to do. That’s what it is.

Some areas are gray. And sometimes we say, well, how do I go into the world and be part of the world? And yet I can’t be really of the world. I mean, there’s such a thin line there, and there is. It’s kind of like the difference between a taxidermist and a vet. You know, thin line. You know, both times you get the dog back. Okay? So how do you find where the line’s at?

Well, here’s a self-administering test. I want you to do this. Does my activity, my attitude, cause other people to stumble in relationship to the Bible and the good news of Jesus Christ and finding out how to be a Christian? I’m going to repeat that. Does my activity, my attitude, cause other people to stumble in relationship to the Bible and the good news of Jesus Christ and finding out how to be a Christian?

So, Dad, how do you spend your money, your relationships, your time? How does what you do cause your children to either lift themselves or fall on their spiritual face? Businessman, businesswoman, does your job push you in a direction that might cause somebody else to stumble? Friend, girlfriend, tell me about a date, your dating life. Does it cause your boyfriend or girlfriend to stumble?

See, I believe this. I believe this to all my heart. More is caught than taught. Is that not true? I mean, we can sit there and read books. I can preach. We can do all those things. Think about your life. How much of your whole life do you remember? You don’t remember everything. If you do, I want to meet you because I don’t. Because here’s the deal. I can look back and there are certain periods of time where someone said a certain word, certain phrase, did a certain action that impressed me enough that I have still remembered it. And I want to tell you, people are watching. How we handle things.

I was reading something on the internet the other day that I thought was amazing. It said, how do you handle tough times? I mean, somebody’s chewing on you. And they’re doing it publicly maybe. And I read this. I said, boy, this just makes sense. And you’re ready to just get back in their face. You’re ready to just jump all over them. You’re ready to sit there and say, okay, you had your Turn. Now I’m going to have my turn. And someone said, just say three words. Are you okay? Okay. Tell me that won’t stop something. And there’s a lot of wisdom in that. And then from there, you can go somewhere else.

See, it’s like when I was in college. I want to tell you, not my dorm, my hall in my dorm. My dorm had 10 stories on it, okay? Russell Hall, University of Georgia campus. We had about 1,000 guys just in that one dorm. To north, Russell Hall was known around campus. It was a wild hall. I mean, when fraternities were having keg parties, my hall had a keg party. So do I go? And I remember I used to tell them, guys, if you want me there, you’re going to have to have a couple things. You’re going to have to either have a Coke there or root beer. I’ll be the designated driver if you’re somewhere else.

Now here’s the deal with that. It wasn’t that I was trying to jam my religion down their throat, but they needed to know where I stood on some issues, okay? I’ll go with you some places, but here’s how I’m going. Here’s what I found out with some things that I, is when they were going through struggles with relationships or school or parents or just trying to deal with something in life, and they just really weren’t looking for counsel. They were just looking for someone to dump on. They didn’t go to one of their drinking buddies. You know who they went to? Somebody that came to my room. And it’s not to say that I’m some great Christian freak or something. It wasn’t that at all. All I was saying was they were sitting there going, they were looking for something that was different. And we’ve got to be something different in the world.

See, the big question is this. It’s depending on where you go. Because here, look what Paul says. He says, eat anything that is sold in the market without asking questions for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains. You know, he’s not going back to all them laws in the Old Testament. You know, you go back and all the food laws and dietary laws of the Old Testament. He’s sitting there saying, God made everything. But we’ve got to be smart. Again, he’s sitting there saying, is it profitable? Does it lift up the edifier, lift up the church? I mean, everything’s law and you can do some things. But be careful. See, the big question becomes who’s having the influence? See, the deal becomes is what you’re doing bringing glory to Christ.

So what is God’s glory? Have you ever thought about that? Well, we throw that term around. We sing it in a ton of songs that Donnie will put up here. But what is God’s glory? Glory is one splendor, magnificence, and greatness. So when you think about God’s glory, we’re thinking about His wonder that we have an awe of Him. When was the last time you were in awe of God? When was the last time besides, I mean, we got Him as our cosmic genie. We got Him as our holy Santa Claus. We got Him as a whole bunch of stuff. When was the last time you stood in awe of God? His splendor, His magnificence, His greatness.

See, the glory of God is this. I love the definition. The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit which emanates from His character. How awesome is that? Listen to what A.W. Pink. Now, some of you may know who he is, but not everybody does. Listen to what he says about God’s transcendent glory. God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That He chose to do so was a sovereign act on His part, caused by nothing outside of Himself. God didn’t have to make us folks. Determined by nothing but His good pleasure that He did create was simply for His glory. God is no gainer even from our worship. He was in no need of that eternal glory of His grace which arises from His redeemed. He is glorious enough in Himself without it.

God did it because He wanted to. He didn’t have to. God doesn’t need us to worship. God doesn’t need us to come to church. You know who gains from coming to church? You know who gains from glorifying the Lord? You know who gains from being obedient to Him? We do.

A.W. Tozer said this, How awesome is that? That God would care enough and love enough because that is who He is.

that He would create us and create everything around us. He doesn’t need us. Folks, we need Him. And when we come to Him and we obey Him and we glorify Him and we worship Him, we draw close to Him, He shares that with us. And I want to tell you, it’s an incredible thing. And that’s what He’s talking about.

I mean, we are to bring God’s glory. The church is not to be a preserve, but we’re to be a hatchery. We’re not to be keepers of the aquarium, we’re to become fishers of men. We’re supposed to bring God glory. John 15:8 says this, “My Father is glorified by this.” This is the words of Jesus, “That you bear much fruit, and so that’s how you’re gonna prove you’re gonna be my disciples.” Kind of simplifies things, doesn’t it? That’s His glory.

See, my thing would be, when Mary Ann plays the organ, she’s playing for God’s glory. Mary Lou plays the piano, is she playing for God’s glory? When Donnie’s up here and he’s leading us, is it for God’s glory? When Al’s preaching, is it about Al or is it about God’s glory? When you sit there, is it about that you always have to get or is it about His glory?

See, God doesn’t need us to glorify Him. He already is. He didn’t create us to love Him. He is love. He doesn’t need worshipers to defend Him. He’s going to be who He is no matter what. I mean, here’s the God who, when the Pharisees looked at Jesus and said, “Jesus, shut your disciples up. Quit telling them to say what they’re saying.” Do you remember what Jesus said? “If these remain silenced, I’ll make rocks cry out.” Thinking, if God can make inanimate objects do what we’re supposed to do, what does that say about us? That’s who He is.

It’s like the disciples waking Him up in the boat. You know, they’re on the boat in the Sea of Galilee. A storm rolls in. Jesus is back taking a nap. And what do they do? They go back, and He’s sleeping. They’re thinking, “We’re going to die.” And when they go back, “Jesus, you’ve got to do something. You’re going to die.” I’m thinking, “Really?” What they’re saying is, “We’re going to die.” And then all of a sudden, Jesus stands up in the boat. Remember what He said? “Peace, be still.” And in a second, waves drop down like they never were high to begin with. Clouds parted. Sun came out. And remember their response? Who is this man who can control the seas and the waves and the wind? That’s who He is.

See, God wants to set us free from sin and bondage so that we can come to Him and acknowledge His glory. We’ve got to be careful about how we portray ourselves. I’ll never forget years ago, my neighbor who was kind of not quite across the street, but one house over. Her name was Deb. And Deb had, we didn’t realize at the time, but had hepatitis and she was staying at her mom and she was gone for months and so nobody was taking care of me. I remember the electric company come by. Is she still here or the mailman? Does she still live here? And she did. We found out but she was sick. And so me and my neighbor got out and I remember us cutting the grass and trimming her yard and her shrubs while she was gone. And I remember her thanking us when she came back. I mean, she pulled up in her car and she knew that I was a preacher and she said, “Al, what church do you preach at?” And I said, “Well, what kind of church is it?” I said, “It was Southern Baptist.” And she goes, “Oh, those are the folks that don’t have any fun.”

Folks, we don’t want always the world’s definition of fun, but we can have fun. But like He says at the beginning of this passage, is it profitable and does it edify? Now He sits there and He gives a thing. He says, but if anyone says to you, you know, because He doesn’t say you don’t need to, you know, like He’s telling these Jews, He said, don’t go to the marketplace and sit there and tell them, you know, where did that come from? Did you pray over that one? Was a priest around when you did that? I mean, who handled that one? Is that one blessed over there? That’s some common sense. But He says, if it’s going to make somebody stumble, we need to take a step back.

If what you do and what you say, how you act, how you do business, make somebody who is either a baby Christian or thinking about it take a step back and go, “I thought you were a Christian,” you may want to take your freedom and put it aside for a moment. Does that make sense?

See, a great display of love is when we are willing to withhold from ourselves for the benefit of someone else. The greatest form of love is saying—and parents, I see parents do this all the time—“Yeah, I don’t really want to go there, but kids get in the car, let’s go.” “No, man, I’d rather do something else.” “No, you want to watch that on TV? Turn to your channel.” Then we do that with—I’m doing that with grandkids. “Guys, that’s the wrong time.” But you do it anyway. You put aside your desires for the needs of someone else. Folks, if there is ever a picture of Christian love, that’s it.

See, freedom is to be balanced with responsibility. Freedom comes from knowledge, and it is to be balanced with love. Look, here’s the reason. Look what He says, verse 31: “Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do what? Do all to the what?” And we’ve already talked about this—the glory of God. He says, “Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks, or there’s a third group, the church of God. And just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many.” And here’s the reason—“so that they may be saved.”

You want to know why we do what we do? So people come and know Jesus. That’s why you do what you do. That’s the whole point here. Paul says this. He says, “To the Jews, I became a Jew.” If I had to go back to the Old Testament and read that with them, I’d do it. “Those under the law, I became one under the law, though myself not under the law. I worked with them that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law.” If they were Greeks or Romans or whatever they were, I’d hang around them and do some of the things that they did so I could win them. “To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I become all things to all people that by all means I might have some.”

Now, that is not—do not understand to say I do anything. That’s not what He’s saying. But He’s saying, if I have an opportunity to make an impact into someone’s life and be part of what they’re doing and who they are, I do that within reason. Our job is to win people to Jesus and be more like Jesus.

See, freedom, again, comes from knowledge and is to be balanced with love. We never glorify God when we cause someone else to stumble. It’s not always about us.

Let me close with this. Larry and Joanne were an ordinary couple. They lived in an ordinary house on an ordinary street. Like other ordinary couples, they struggled to make ends meet and do the right things for their children. And they were ordinary yet in another way. They had their squabbles, their fusses, and their fights. Much of their conversation concerned what was wrong in their marriage and who was to blame. Until one day when the most extraordinary event took place.

“You know, Joanne, I’ve got a magic chest of drawers. Every time I open them, they’re full of socks and underwear,” Larry said. “I want to thank you for putting them in there and filling them up all these years.” Joanne stared at her husband over the top of her spectacles and said, “What do you want, Larry?” “Nothing. I just want you to know that I appreciate those magic drawers.”

Well, this wasn’t the first time Larry had done something odd. So Joanne pushed the incident out of her mind until a few days later. “Joanne, thank you for recording so many correct check numbers in the ledger this month. You put down the right numbers 15 out of 16 times. That’s a record.” Disbelieving what she heard, Joanne looked up from her mending. “Larry, you’re always complaining about my record keeping and putting in the wrong check numbers. Why are you stopping now?” “No reason. I just want you to know I appreciate the effort you’re making.” And Shook her head and went back to her mending. “What’s gotten into him?” she mumbled. Nevertheless, the next day, Joanne wrote a check at the grocery store, and she glanced at her checkbook to confirm that she had put down the right check number. “Why do I suddenly care about those stupid numbers?” She tried to disregard the incident, but Larry’s strange behavior seemed to intensify. “Joanne, what a great dinner,” he said. “I appreciate all your effort. Why, in the past 15 years, I bet you fixed over 14,000 meals for me and the kids. Gee, Joanne, you look, the house looks great. You’ve really worked hard to get it looking so good. And even, thanks, Joanne, for just being you. I just sometimes just enjoy your company and hanging around you.”

Joanne’s starting to get worried. Where’s the sarcasm? Where’s the criticism? Her fears that something peculiar was happening to her husband were confirmed by her 16-year-old, Shelly, who complained, “Dad’s gone nuts. He just told me I look nice. With all this makeup and these sloppy clothes, he said it. That’s not Dad, Mom. What’s wrong with him?” Well, whatever was wrong, Larry didn’t get over it. Day in and day out, he continued focusing on the positive. Over the weeks, Joanne grew more to her mate’s unusual behavior and occasionally even gave a grudgingly thank you. She prided herself in taking it all in stride until one day something so peculiar happened, she just kind of went off herself. “I want you to take a break,” Larry said. “I’m going to do the dishes, so please take your hands off that frying pan and just leave it in the kitchen.” Pause. “Thank you, Larry. Thank you very much.” Joanne’s step was now a little lighter, her self-confidence higher, and once while she hummed, she didn’t seem to experience blue moods anymore. I kind of like Larry’s new behavior. That would have been the end of the story, except one day another most extraordinary event took place. This time it was Joanne who spoke. “Larry,” she said, “I want to thank you for going to work and providing for us all these years. I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much I appreciate it.” Larry has never revealed the reason for his dramatic change. I read on later and found out that he’d come to Christ. But she said this, “I’m just thankful it happened.”

Folks, when we look and we think about what we do, what we say, how we act, all the things we do, and it is to do a number of things. Number one, it’s profitable. It’s just the right thing to do, but it edifies the people we’re around. It edifies the church. It glorifies God. And it edifies the people that are around us. And it edifies and lifts up even the people that are looking at us and thinking about coming to Christ. It’s the right thing. That’s what Paul said, because he ends it with this. Chapter 11, verse 1, “Be imitators of me, just as I am also an imitator of Christ.” That’s our picture. You know, I tell you, it’s more than just something to wear around your wrist. It says WWJD. What would Jesus do? It’s how we’re to live. You’re free to say whatever you want, do whatever you want, act whatever you want, with whomever you want. And God says, be careful with that. Don’t free yourself so much that you end up in bondage. Be smart. Understand why you do what you do. Make the choices right, because people are watching, and people are listening. And people will act off the way you act. And if it helps bring them to Christ, makes all the difference in the world.

Let’s pray. Father, thank you. Oh, thank you for giving us freedom. With You, we can do anything. We just don’t have to. We don’t have the freedom to sin. We get the freedom from sin. Help us to realize that our job is to be such an example for You that it makes a difference. And what we say, and eventually people get it. And when it all points to You, and it all glorifies You, and it all honors You, then it’s all worthwhile. So help us to do that. In Your son’s name we pray. Amen.