Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Epiphany 4. 1 Corinthians 8.1f

January 30 + February 2, 2003

Now about food sacrificed to idols; we know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

We live in a mixed up and confused world. I heard about a man who bought a Winnebago—one of those motor homes—a house with a steering wheel in the front—and wheels underneath. This guy bought a Winnebago—this huge—box like mobile motor home and took it out on the road—out on the freeway. He was whizzing down the road—when he thought he could really go for a cup of coffee. So this guy—rolling down the road at about 71 miles per hour—sets the cruise control—then gets up—and heads for the kitchen in his mobile home—to make some coffee! Well—it wasn’t very long before this guy goes crashing off the road—into the ditch—rolls over. By grace alone—this guy is not killed. He of course sues the maker of these Winnebago mobile homes—because it doesn’t say anywhere in the owner’s manual—that you can’t get up and walk around—when you are supposed to be steering! I don’t think that’s as dumb as the fact this guy won! He won the lawsuit. He won one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars—and a brand new Winnebago to replace the one he wrecked. And now it does say in the owner’s manual—don’t get up and walk around when you are rolling down the highway—and you are the driver! There is danger in a world so upside down and so inside out. There is danger not only to our body. There is danger to our heart—danger to our mind—danger to our immortal soul. Today God’s Word is law and gospel—the wisdom of God and the power of God. Today God’s Word reminds us:

Jesus Changes Hearts and Minds!

1. Jesus fills our minds with God’s wisdom
2. Jesus fills our hearts with God’s love

Sometimes—I used to think—if St. Paul the apostle—of stained glass window fame was the pastor—then there would be no troubles. If the apostle Paul was the pastor—the under-shepherd of Jesus’ sheep here—he would know just what to say and how to say it. He would know God’s Word so well—because he was—well, the guy who wrote it down. Paul would be such an example of everything a pastor was supposed to be—that if there ever was a problem—why, he would just nip it in the bud. Anyone who had been beaten and imprisoned and shipwrecked and falsely accused—anyone who could sing hymns in a dungeon at midnight—would surely not be afraid to confront sin. Sometimes—I used to think—the congregations Paul established were surely next to perfect. The fact is—many of those congregations—blessed by the Gospel—were also sorely attacked by the devil. Our Heavenly Father—who makes everything—absolutely everything—including the most painful of troubles work for our ultimate eternal good—made even the troubles of Paul’s congregations work for our spiritual good.

We talked a few weeks ago—about the spiritual dangers that came with living in Corinth. There were temptations to the love of money—a love of possessions—the things and stuff that money can buy or at least rent. Remember the epistle reading from a couple of weeks ago—the bulletin with the mommy and the baby on the cover? “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”-but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both…Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:12f The people of God who lived in Corinth were blessed by God with tremendous Christian freedom. Everything is permissible for me. That is both a wondrous blessing and a profound responsibility. Everything is permissible for me—but we need to be careful—that what we do is always beneficial—that what we do does not take control of us!

Everything is permissible for me! This powerful statement is true—because Jesus took all my sins away. Imagine you are a teenager—you just got your driver’s license just a little while ago. Some of your friends say—you know what would really be fun? To drive out into the country—to this place where the road is very hilly. Where the road goes way up and then straight down—only to go way up and down again and again. If you drive really fast up those hills—you can actually be airborne! You know what kind of rush that would be? If you would drive really fast—like literally 100 miles per hour—you could just fly! You could do that. And lose control—and by God’s grace your life is spared—you lose control and crash—but by God’s grace your seat belt holds and the air bag works. But your friends—your best friends are thrown from the car and die! Would the guilt from that mistake crush the joy out of your life for now and forever? Or would you know and understand and believe you are forgiven for Jesus’ sake? Would you know and understand and believe that Jesus’ life free from any sin—and his death on the cross in your place washed away that sin—every sin—the sins that seem so horrible—and the sins we sometimes treat as if they don’t matter at all? Jesus died for every sin and mistake. This is good news for us to cherish in our hearts. And it’s good news for us to share with people we know who are sad and discouraged and ashamed. Jesus took away every sin so we can live in the freedom that only his innocent blood could buy!

In the verses we are concentrating on today God’s Word says, “Now about food sacrificed to idols; we know that we all possess knowledge.” There were at least a dozen temples in the city of Corinth. At least a dozen places where people worshiped idols—false gods—gods that were nothing at all! There was a complicated system of Greek gods who all played their parts in Greek mythology. There was a false god named Hades. He was the Greek god of the nether world—a strange kind of underground world—full of smoke and fire—of gross monsters and painful hurtful evil. Hades was also the Greek god who gave people earthly riches. There was Poseidon—the Greek god of water, horses and earthquakes. Kind of like the guy in The Little Mermaid—with a chariot pulled by sea horses—his trident—his three pronged pitchfork. He was responsible for the power of the horses—pulling chariots—carrying super heroes into battle. Responsible for the terrible storms at sea that could bring ships crashing into the massive stones along the coast. There was Hecate. She was a fertility goddess—later connected with Persephone—the goddess of the underworld—kind of the queen of Hades. She was supposed to be the protector of witches! Just one of the problems with Greek mythology was the fact it was often pretty difficult to keep straight who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Protecting witches would certainly seem like an evil thing to us. There was a god named Hermes. He had these really neat wings by his ankles—like the FTD—the flower delivery guy. Hermes was the god of commerce—trade and making money. He was the god of invention—thinking up new and clever inventions. Just think of the math, the science, the medicine, the architecture—the art and the Olympics—that the Greeks invented! Hermes was the god of cunning and theft. He was the patron—the protectors of travelers and rogues—the clever con men—the thieves and embezzlers—the liars and cheats that never got caught—prayed to Hermes! Hermes was the one who led souls down into Hades! What a religion—with gods so painfully like mere mortals that they would lie, cheat, deceive, commit adultery and murder—getting revenge—using all the powerful forces of nature for selfish and hurtful purposes. When it came to Greek mythology people feared the gods—feared to offend them. As time went on—more and more people realized that the so-called Greek gods on Mount Olympus just couldn’t be true. As people came to believe in Jesus Christ—the Son of God made flesh to wash away all our sins—they understood that the gods from Olympus were pretend—imaginary—make-believe! So Paul was able to write “Now about food sacrificed to idols; we know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Now about food sacrificed to idols—When people went to any one of the dozen temples to false gods in Corinth—they might very well bring an animal to sacrifice. Some of the meat would be given to the false god—burned up—a burnt offering to the god. Part of the meat might be eaten by the worshiper as part of a sort of potluck meal—part of the celebration of the false god. And still part of the meat might very well be sold out of a meat market—a butcher shop—connected with the false god—a sort of fund raiser for the temple. The problem came with this last part—the meat market part. Was it wrong to be a customer at the Poseidon meat market? Some people said—in Christian liberty and Christian freedom I can buy hamburger there. All I am buying is hamburger. Where that hamburger was an hour before I bought it—I couldn’t care less. Some building—dedicated to some make believe, imaginary pretend god? Who cares? I certainly don’t. All I care about is good meat and that’s what I bought. Others said—I can’t get out of my mind where that meat came from. I can’t keep thinking over and over again—all that that hamburger represents—temple prostitution—false gods—false religion—and by buying that meat—I am supporting that false religion. It really bothers me. If it does make you feel terribly guilty—even though it doesn’t have to—even though it shouldn’t—for you that would be a sin. Don’t brag and boast about your knowledge—your Christian freedom—Christian liberty—if it only makes you puffed up. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up!

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us—that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. 1 John 3:1 I read the other day about two mommies—who are being charged with negligent homicide. They left their seven little children alone in the house they shared—so they could go to a party several city blocks away. The house caught fire and all the children perished. How tragic and horrible and sad is that? Our children are in danger! Not from a house fire—but from the fires of hell! What our children need is not the most expensive video games—not the best home computer—not the most fashionable clothes—not the very best of the new food pyramid. What our children need is our love—our time and our attention. They need our love and time and attention to point them to their Heavenly Father. To point them to Jesus’ forgiving love—made real on the cross. They need to know the way to Heaven—because that’s all that’s going to matter the moment after we die!

The man who loves God is known by God. Jesus knows you and me. He is our friend in the ultimate sense of that word—he knows all our sins—our gross and dark and evil sins and he loves us still. He forgives our sins entirely and completely. There is a new jail down in Perry, GA. They are looking for volunteers—150 men and 150 women to spend next Saturday in jail—sort of a trial run. Would you do that? I think I would—just to feel once just what it is like to be in prison. To have the cell door slam shut—to be a prisoner—for just 24 hours. Of course it wouldn’t be the same as really being in prison—cause in 24 hours you are out again. I’m afraid sometimes we don’t really appreciate how horrible it must be to be a prisoner in hell—condemned and imprisoned forever—literally for eternity. How unbelievably horrible is that? We are forgiven. We are forever free. That means we live in the freedom—the liberty of that forgiveness. That changes everything. It changes our hearts—changes our minds—changes our lives—for Jesus’ sake. Amen!