A Safe Place for All ~ 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 ~ Fourth Sunday of Epiphany ~ January 29, 2012

Most of the food at the supermarket does not come directly from the farm supermarket...

Our food passes through the various hands of what is known as “the supply chain.”  Generally, our food goes from the farm, to the packer, to the wholesaler, to the distribution center, and then to the supermarket, and finally, our homes...

In the ancient city of Corinth, there was one very common link in the supply chain—which would be very unusual in our day...  Most of the meat that was bought and sold in the Corinthian marketplace had been sacrificed to idols.  It actually went from the temples to the meat markets.  There were even restaurants in the temples that served this meat. 

For some Christians, this wasn’t a problem...  In their minds, there was only one God—and no other gods existed.  So any sacrifices or rituals to those gods were nothing but a bunch of “bogus hocus pocus...”  They were free to eat whatever they wanted—and the Apostle Paul affirmed this freedom.  This food wasn’t cursed or evil because of where it had been or what it had been used for.  Food was food, and the Christian was free to eat it. 

But for some Christians, it was a big problem to eat food sacrificed to idols...  When they saw their fellow Christians eating it, they were scandalized.  In their eyes, these Christians were behaving like idol-worshippers.  So they didn’t feel safe at church in the company these persons. 

On the other hand, those who did eat it tended to judge those who did not as being weak and ignorant.  After all, they didn’t know the truth—or they couldn’t handle the truth…

So the church was divided—and a church that’s divided is a church that is weak…

But Paul’s solution to the problem was not about “enlightening” everyone into his way of doing things…  “Food will not bring us close to God,” he writes, even if it has not been sacrificed to idols. 

Paul’s greatest concern was that the Corinthian church be a safe space for all believers to come together in the presence of the living God.  And this would not be possible if some believers were scandalized by the behavior of some of their fellow Christians—nor would it be possible if some believers were judging others as weak, ignorant, or stupid for their beliefs…

All of the members of the Corinthian church were obligated to love and care for all of their sisters and brothers in Christ… After all, the greatest commandment is the commandment to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

So if eating food sacrificed to idols was going to cause others to stumble in their faith and feel unsafe in the church—then the right thing to do was to abstain from eating it—even though people knew that was no harm in doing so… 

Eating food sacrificed to idols is not an issue of debate in today’s church.  But controversy is as old as the church itself—and our day and age is no exception.  There are many changes taking place in the church; changes in how we worship; changes in teaching and doctrine, changes in leadership—and the church is divided. 

Conflict in and of itself is not a bad thing.  There will always be disagreement about matters of faith and practice.  But we go wrong when we become hostile and judgmental towards those who disagree with us…  Many judge those on the other side as being stupid or ignorant; or at worse yet, as untrue Christians… 

And the consequence of this is that people (on both sides of controversies) do not feel safe in their churches. 

And there many other reasons that people don’t feel safe in church…and thus never come…

Some people can’t get into the spirit of how congregations worship… 

Some may believe they’re too different from the people inside.  They don’t have nice clothes to wear to worship; or perhaps they believe they’re not good enough to belong; they’ve done a lot of bad things in their life and everyone in town knows their reputation… 

Some people may have a hard time believing in God with all of the bag things that have happened in their lives… 

But now, more than ever, it is vital that we work together in making our church a safe place for all people to come into the loving arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus never rejected anyone—so as the Body of Christ, we are called to show the unconditional love of Christ to ever sinner, every seeker, and every doubter in this community. 

And that’s not always easy for us to do…  It’s not easy to love people when they’re different from us…  It’s not easy to love those whom we know have not lived godly lives; it’s not easy to love those whose beliefs differ from our own.  And it’s especially not easy to love those who’ve offended us.  But there is no greater commandment from God than the command to love. 

Being loving is more important than being right.