Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(elca)
Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God's Love
Sermon
January 31 and February 1, 2009
1 Corinthians 8
When Jesus was asked
what was the greatest commandment—
--how did he respond?
He said:
“Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and mind and soul and strength.
And love your neighbor as yourself.”
What’s most important?
Love God.
Love others.
Each year,
Lutheran pastors get a gift of a calendar
from Thrivent.
And on February 1,
today/tomorrow—
--it reminds us that it’s the 4th Sunday after Epiphany
--it shows which lessons we’ll be reading
--it has a place to write in the theme of the day.
It has all those things every week.
But this week,
I noticed for the first time this year,
it also says something else.
Right at the top,
underneath the words “Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany”
it says: “Super Bowl”.
I like football.
I like watching sports on TV.
I’ll be rooting for Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals.
I read that 70% of Rams fans will be cheering for them.
I’ll be enjoying the commercials.
But I’m also aware,
as I enjoy all this,
that it’s possible for something like football
to become a false god for us.
It’s possible that it becomes too important,
and becomes more important to us
than loving God and loving others.
Now, it’s less likely this year,
when it’s not our team that’s playing.
But we still take God’s gifts
and twist them.
Football can be a wonderful diversion.
Or it can be a consuming idol.
Money—can be a tool for living.
Or it can be an obsession.
Comfort can be the gift of rest.
Or it can be the driving force behind what we do,
keeping us from truly loving one another.
Saint Augustine, who lived about 1500 years ago, said this:
“Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used,
or using anything that is meant to be worshiped.”
God gives us things to use.
Pleasure.
Comfort.
Money.
Football.
But worship is for God alone.
So we strive to follow Christ,
by loving God with all our hearts,
and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
One pastor
took a look at our society
and came up with a set of 10 commandments
from our culture.
He sees our culture saying that the 10 commandments are these:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Have a good day.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Shop
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Eliminate pain
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[endif]-->Be up-to-date
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[endif]-->Relax
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6. <!--[endif]-->Express yourself
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7. <!--[endif]-->Have a happy family
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8. <!--[endif]-->Be entertaining
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9. <!--[endif]-->Be entertained
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10. <!--[endif]-->Buy entertainment.
What do you think?
Has he captured the values of our culture?
What would you add to his list?
I might add:
--Succeed
--Work hard
--Achieve
The thing that strikes me about these commandments
is that nothing is particularly wrong with any of them.
In fact, in the right context,
they’re good,
God-given gifts.
The problem isn’t with any of those things.
The problem is when they become central—
--instead of God being central.
Idolatry is worshiping something that ought to be used,
or using something that is meant to be worshiped.
Now, how do we live as people
who are worshiping God alone,
who are loving God with all our hearts and minds and strength,
We spend our whole lives figuring that out,
but today we hear guidance from 1 Corinthians 8,
which we read a little bit ago.
In Corinth,
there were temples to idols,
false gods.
And it seems
that in the marketplace
they sold meat
that had been sacrificed to those false gods.
And the Christians in Corinth
were arguing about whether or not
it was okay to eat that meat.
Was that okay?
And Paul,
in his letter,
is responding to their argument.
Did you notice the quotation marks in the text?
Take a look.
It starts out,
“Now concerning food sacrificed to idols:
we know that:
(quotation marks)
“all of us possess knowledge.”
(end quotes).
Or a little further,
verse 4:
“Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols,
we know that
(quote)
“no idol in the world really exists…”
(end quote).
Do you know why those quotation marks are there?
Biblical scholars
think those are the phrases that the Corinthians
were using in their arguments back and forth.
And the Apostle Paul
is using their language
to shape his letter.
And do you catch the essence of his answer?
Can you eat the meat or not?
He says:
“Yes, you can eat the meat.”
You know why?
Because there’s really only one God.
So it’s okay to eat the meat.
When it’s sacrificed to idols, false gods,
it doesn’t really change anything,
because those gods don’t exist anyway.
So, Paul says:
“You can eat the meat.”
But he doesn’t stop there.
He says, you can eat the meat.
On the other hand…
Some of the people, he says,
are so used to the concept of many gods,
that it’s a problem for them to eat the meat.
It’s a stumbling block.
It messes with their faith.
So, for them,
it’s a problem.
It’s not that it’s wrong to eat it.
But it’s a stumbling block to faith—
--for some.
So, Paul says,
“If eating meat
is going to hurt their faith,
don’t do it.”
In fact, he says,
if it’s going to cause them to fall,
I won’t eat meat at all.
I’ll give it up completely.
And—this is important—
--it’s not law that’s keeping me from eating meat.
What is it???????
LOVE.
The greatest commandment:
The second half of 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1 says:
Knowledge puffs up,
but love builds up.
We think,
if we know the right answer,
that’s what’s most important.
Then we can do what we want.
But Paul says no—
--knowledge puffs up,
--but love builds up.
Love is more important.
It’s not how much we know.
It’s how much we love.
They’ll never care how much we know,
until they know how much we care.
I heard someone say this last week
that 1 Corinthians 8
is a case study
on 1 Corinthians 13.
Listen to the connection.
1 Corinthians 13 starts like this:
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels,
but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Knowledge puffs up.
Love builds up.
And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains,
I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions,
and if I hand over my body
so that I may boast,
I gain nothing.
And 1 Corinthians 13 ends with these words:
Now faith, hope and love abide,
these three,
and the greatest of these is…..love.
So,
in Corinth,
eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols
wasn’t wrong.
It’s not a sin.
But, if it’s a problem for someone in your community,
maybe you don’t eat it.
You make the decision based on love.
Drinking wine is okay.
But, if you have a recovering alcoholic over for the game,
you don’t rely just on knowledge,
arguing that Jesus had wine,
so it must be okay.
Maybe you choose not to serve wine at all,
so it’s not a stumbling block.
Whatever you do,
you make your decision based on love.
Or back to the Super Bowl.
It’s okay to watch.
It can be lots of fun.
But, if you, or someone you’re with,
is struggling,
because the importance of sports seems to be taking over—
--and overshadowing loving God and others,
--maybe you re-emphasize what is really important,
--like with the Souper Bowl of Caring that the youth are doing today
--are at least not hanging on every word of the pregame show,
starting at 8:00 in the morning.
And how do you decide?
It’s not a law.
It’s not as simple or as harsh as a rule.
It’s love.
You decide based on love.
Love for God.
Love for others.
What’s the most loving thing you can do?
A week or two ago,
I e-mailed Blair Fingland,
and asked her to send us an update on how things are going for her.
We are supporting her
in the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program.
She’s spending a year serving in Edinburgh, Scotland.
This page is in your bulletin.
At the top is her blog address,
if you’d like to look that up and find out more.
As it says in her update,
she’s working at a center for men struggling with addictions.
In her update,
she talks about the value of “accompaniment”.
She says:
“As missionaries through the ELCA church,
we have agreed to accompany those at our placements,
to work beside them,
form relationships with them,
and understand and learn from their way of life
while at the same time,
sharing our experiences and insight
in a humble and Christ-like way.”
I’m proud of Blair
and the work she is doing.
It’s great to have a member of our congregation
serving in this way.
And it seems to me that this idea of accompaniment
fits into our call to love God and love others.
None of us has all the answers.
When we think we do,
we get all puffed up,
and think that everything has to be our way.
My prayer
is that we can grow stronger and stronger
as we follow Christ together,
as we love God and others in all we do.
is that we can listen for God’s voice,
and give our lives in love.
Even in the way we watch the Super Bowl.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
