Monday, November 06, 2017

"To the Glory of God Alone" Sermon: I Corinthians 10:23-33



“To the Glory of God Alone”
[I Corinthians 10:23-33]
November 5, 2017, Second Reformed Church
            We turn to the final of the five “solas” – “onlys” – of the Reformation this morning:  Soli Deo Gloria – to the Glory of God alone.
            Just as a reminder:
            Scripture Alone:  the Word of God Alone has the authority to tell us God’s way of salvation and how it is accomplished.
            Christ Alone:  the works of Jesus Christ alone merit our salvation – our works do not merit salvation.
            Grace Alone:  our salvation is completely a gift from God – we did nothing to deserve it.
            Faith Alone:  we receive our salvation and all of God’s Grace by means of faith, which is also a gift.
            This morning we consider that everything exists to the glory of God Alone – not to anyone else or with anyone else – and we are to be glorifying God for everything – even the most minute things.
            This “sola” emerged out of a teaching that came out of the Church in the Middle Ages.  The conclusion was drawn – and it was taught – that there are two levels of people, gifts, and acts – the sacred and the secular.
            For example, in the Middle Ages it was thought, a priest held a sacred job, and the banker, the baker, and candlestick maker held secular jobs.  The abilities the priests had and the acts they did were sacred, and the abilities that the banker, the baker, and the candlestick maker had and their acts were secular.  The priests were better, closer to God, the kind of work you would want your little Johnny to enter, rather than be the banker, the baker and the candlestick maker.
            And so, the clergy were considered to be on a higher level.  They were held on a higher level – they were glorified above the people.  As a result of that, the laity – the common folk – were taught they had to go through the priests to God.
            The reformers looked at this teaching and scratched their heads – because this is not taught in the Scripture.  The only thing that is taught in any sense of this is that those who are called to preach and teach the Word of God will be judged more strictly than everyone else (cf. James 3:1).
            Instead, the reformers taught what is called “the universal priesthood of believers.”  That doesn’t mean that everybody is a priest.  It doesn’t mean that there is no distinct between being a priest or pastor and some other calling – a banker, a baker, or a candlestick maker.
            What is does mean is there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular.  And you may shake your head and say, “Wait a minute, sacred music is worship music, and secular music is all that rap and heavy metal stuff on the radio.”
            Yes, there are categories of “sacred” and “secular” in some things, such as music.  But the point here, as one writer puts it, is “all of life [is] to be lived under the Lordship of Christ.  Every activity of the Christian is to be sanctified unto the glory of God” (“The Five Solas of the Reformation” Gregg Strawbridge, Ph. D.).
            If that is true, then it is also true that every Christian has direct access to God without a mere human mediator.  We do not have to go to a priest to ask for forgiveness or to be told what constitutes acceptable repentance.
            Peter writes of Christians, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9, ESV).
            And the creatures around the throne of God say of Christians, “and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10, ESV).
            All Christians are priests, in the sense that we have direct access to God through prayer.  And we are all called to recognize the absolute sovereignty of God and to do all things to the glory of God alone.
            First, God is Absolutely Sovereign.
            Let’s look at the issue Paul is writing to the Corinthians about:  meat that had been offered to idols and is now for sale in the market to eat.
“’All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”
            Some in the church were saying, “In Christ we have Christian liberty – all things are lawful.  There is nothing wrong with us eating meat that has been offered to idols.”
            Paul reminds them that “not all things are helpful” – to the individual.  And, “not all things build up” – their neighbors.  Yes, it is true that they can eat meat offered to idols.  What of it?  Idols are nothing.  However, eating meat can compromise your ministry – your witness – and it can mislead others.  The Christian is not number one – we must be willing to restrain our freedom in love for the sake of our witness and the way others are perceiving us and our Christianity.
“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For ‘the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.’ If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice,’ then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?”
            Paul tells them they are free to eat the meat that is sold in the market, as the Psalmist explains – God is the God of all meat and God has said we are allowed to eat meat.  In fact, God is the Sovereign God over all things.  God created everything good – for our use and enjoyment.
However, there are times when – for our sake and others – we ought to put aside our liberty and not eat meat offered to idols.  Why?
            Paul tells them that, if a non-Christian invites them to dinner and serves them meat, they ought to eat what is put before them, not asking where it came from, but giving thanks to God.
            However, if a non-Christian invites them to dinner and explains that they are going to have a wonderful meal, that the meat had just been offered up to the god or goddess, so it was fresh off the altar, they should not eat it.  Why?
            In not eating the meat, the Christian is witnessing to the non-Christian that he rejects the god or goddess the meat has been sacrificed to – he does not want to have anything to do with or to support the idea that this so-called deity is worthy of worship.
            Well, we don’t usually sacrifice meat to idols in our culture, so how might we see this today?
            Alcohol is one example.  God, our God, the One Sovereign God, created grapes and gives them to humans for food and drink.  God gives humans the understanding to ferment grapes and make wine out of them.  God even gives us wine as part of one of the Sacraments, and in His Word, we read that Paul recommends that Timothy drink wine to help settle his stomach (I Timothy 5:23).
            Alcohol is a good gift of God.  Yet, we know it can be abused, and there are plenty of warnings in the Scripture against the sin of drunkenness.  Still, alcohol is a good gift from God for those who choose to enjoy it rightly.
            So, three scenarios:
            Imagine you have just been dumped by your spouse, and your non-Christian friend finds out, and suggests that you both go to your favorite bar. (Going to a bar is not a sin; drinking is not a sin).  But you drink yourself under the table, and your friend no longer takes your Christian witness seriously.  You should have put aside your liberty and had no – or little – alcohol in this scenario.
            Again, imagine your non-Christian friend is a recovering alcoholic and really needs to talk with you, and you suggest talking over lunch.  But you like to have a drink during lunch, so you ask him to meet you at your favorite bar.  Your friend comes, but no longer takes your Christian witness seriously, because you have put him in a very vulnerable position – on top of what he want to talk with you about.  You should have put aside your liberty, forgone your lunchtime drink, and met at a place that would not add stress to your friend’s life.
            On the other hand, suppose your non-Christian friend wants to talk with you – maybe about Christianity – maybe about his family – whatever, and you both enjoy having a drink, so you suggest you meet at your favorite bar.  You meet, stay sober, and listen and speak with wisdom to your friend.  After this, he will take your Christian witness more seriously.
            Do you understand?
            Our Sovereign God created everything that is and gives us the Creation to love and manage and enjoy.  However, we are never to allow our enjoyment of what God has given us and our freedom to enjoy it to compromise our witness to the Gospel – to Christ being the One and Only Savior.
            Second, we are to do all things to the Glory of God Alone.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
So, as far this issue of eating meet offered to idols and Christian liberty – eat, don’t eat – what is most important is that you do what you do to the Glory of God.  Whatever we do – what we have for breakfast, the car we choose to drive, the clothes we choose to wear, the way we speak to people, the way we hold ourselves in worship, the ways we interact with each other during fellowship, the jobs we pursue and our reasons for them, the families we have and the life we share together – the most important thing is that what we do and how we do it is done to the Glory of God.
What does that mean?
“[G]lorifying God means to acknowledge His greatness and give Him honor by praising and worshiping Him, primarily because He, and He alone, deserves to be praised, honored and worshipped. God’s glory is the essence of His nature, and we give glory to Him by recognizing that essence” (https://www.gotquestions.org/glorify-God.html).
We give glory to God when we recognize that God is Sovereign and we are not.  God is God and we are not.  God is the All-Sufficient One and we are totally dependent on God.  If it were not God’s Will we would not be able to survive another second, much less enjoy it as we do.  So, in humility, we ought to give thanks.
Like our wonderful lunch last week – it was certainly right for us to thank those who cooked and served and cleaned up, but Who brought the food into existence?  Who made us able to buy the ingredients and understand how to put the ingredients together so we would have food to enjoy?  Who gave us the income to be able to buy the food?  Who gave us this building for us to enjoy food in?  Who created the human body so we can taste, enjoy, digest, and benefit from the food that is made?  In all these ways and more, we ought to bow our heads in thanks to God for His provision for us – for His Sovereign Will and work in our lives.
If we do – publically and privately, we ought to reflect back our thanks to God – showing Him to have all the Glory for Who He is and what He has done.
Others ought to be able to look at us and hear us speak and understand our thankfulness and our total reliance on the One Sovereign God.  They ought to be able to watch and hear us and know we are serious about Jesus Christ and His Gospel – what He did in space and time to secure our salvation.
Like Paul says, we ought to be mindful about what we say and do and make sure that what we say and do points positively to Jesus Christ and His salvation.  What we say and do ought to let others know who we believe God to be.  We ought to glorify God with our lives.
Have you noticed a pattern as we have looked at the “five solas” of the Reformation?
By the Middle Ages, the Church had stopped teaching biblical doctrine in some areas.  We have seen that the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Scripture is not enough – commentaries and councils and popes have equal authority with the Word of God.  Jesus is not enough; we must help Him by contributing our good works to secure our salvation. Grace is not enough – we must be worthy of the gift of salvation by merit.  Faith is not enough – we do not merely receive salvation, we have to take it by mean of our works.  And God does not deserve all of the glory – how can He, when He is not sovereign in our salvation?
By the Middle Ages, the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church became human-centered, rather than God-centered. 
Yet, when the Scripture is read honestly, people like Martin Luther object and say we have to reform the Church according to what the Bible says.  We have to repent of our errors and teach them and hold on to them no longer.
Hear again what Paul writes about Jesus:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:15-20, ESV).
Let us pray:
Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are the Sovereign God, our Creator, Savior, Advocate.  Yours is the Creation – of which we are part.  Yours is the Church – of which we are the Body.  Help us to glorify You in every detail of life that You would be known for Who You are and so we would not cause anyone to stumble over the announcement of Your Gospel.  Draw us to Your Word, for there, alone, do we find the words of eternal life.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

No comments: