Title: How to be Exemplary

Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Psalm 111

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Mark 1:21-28

One of the wonderful things in reading about church history is that one discovers from the very beginning in the early Church that there were real differences and diversity among those Christians.  They didn't always agree or see things in the same way, and as a result life was not as peaceful and full of light as we might think.  Movements and issues evolved that caused controversy and were instrumental in shaping the gospel and the Church.  In fact, they had their share of major issues to confront, issues that were just as volatile and divisive as many of the issues we face today--both in the Church and the society at large.   

For example, in our text for today Paul responds to an issue which had surfaced in this struggling congregation of Christians at Corinth.  The issue was what to do with food that had been offered to idols.  This may not be an important issue for us in the 21st century (although we get concerned about the possible contamination of our food supply and the prices we have to pay at the store for our groceries),  but this question  about eating meat first offered to idols was real for these Christians.  Part of the difficulty grew out of the fact that Corinth, like many of the other congregations Paul started, was made up of people from widely diverse backgrounds.  They often shared the Greek tendency to individualism and were more inclined to debate than cooperate in mutual understanding, love, and forgiveness.  So, Paul chose to offer a strong word of guidance and counsel here because these Christians were struggling with the problems of living in a pagan culture.  He reminds them that all new ideas, all knowledge, must be disciplined and guided by the ethic of love, a love that is self-giving and unconditional in nature.    

"Paul, should we eat meat offered to idols?"  This crucial question which apparently was raised in order to get Paul's response might sound quite irrelevant to us, for what possible difference does it make whether we eat meat that has been offered to idols?  What's the big deal? 

Perhaps a story about Nick, a friendly butcher in Corinth, may help us understand the situation a little better.  Like others in his trade, Nick had a special connection--a little chute which came through the wall right into the back room of his butcher shop from the temple to Apollo right next door.  About the only time that meat came on the market was right after pagan festivals where it had been sacrificed to the gods.  Nick often said, "Everyone knows they have far more meat next door than they can possibly use for their burnt offerings and temple banquets.  Sure, we give the priests a kick-back as well as those who make sure the meat is okay to eat.  It's a nice financial arrangement.  We offer the best bargains on roast beef in all of Corinth; the best cuts, too!  You ought to see the sacrifices these sailors bring in.  You would think they were afraid of the sea or something!"

It was true.  The sailors who filled this rough, bawdy, cosmopolitan seaport city were afraid of the sea.  They and the inhabitants of Corinth were convinced that the world was governed by a host of gods, each controlling some sphere of life.  To reduce the risks of peril on the sea, sickness or storms, it was best to remember the gods with appropriate sacrifices.  No sailor in his right mind would neglect sacrifices for Poseidon, god of the waters and ruler of storms.  No one who had experienced illness would neglect Apollo, god of the sun and of medicine as well as god of music and poetry.  As for Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, honored with a large temple at Corinth, there seems to have been little danger that she would ever be neglected. 

And so, in answer to this central question, "Should we eat meat offered to pagan idols?" Paul's first word is "Yes, it's okay" since eating such meat should not pose a moral problem.  He says, "Just as there is only one Lord for the Church, Christian people know that there is only one God who is Creator and rules over heaven and earth.  The powers of pagan gods are not a real threat to believers.  For although there may be so-called  gods in heaven or on earth--as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"--yet for we who are believers there is one God, the Creator, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist."  Later, in this same letter, Paul is even more specific when he says, "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 everything in it."

Now if you were born and raised in Corinth, you might have had trouble with some of these thoughts and ideas.  After all, the prevalent stories and beliefs about the various gods were no casual matters.  The gods were capricious, unpredictable, and often unreliable--much like we human beings.  They held vast powers over the mysteries of life and if they were neglected, they could get back at you in numerous ways.  Fertility, birth, illness, suffering, death, storms on the sea and good or ill fortune--all of these things were influenced by the gods.  So it was right to be afraid of what might happen to you.

Today we have gods with other names that we worship in our society--the gods of nationalism, which can often inspire the rhetoric of American exceptionalism, consumerism, technology, science, militarism, wealth, success, and the competitive spirit.  These may not be the same pagan gods of ancient Corinth, but they are nevertheless gods  that have their own altars and make ultimate claims upon our lives.  These are gods which we, as Christian people, need to resist in terms of ultimacy.  Our focus, our allegiance, our commitment, and our ultimate trust needs to be placed in the living God who has come to us in Christ   We know we live in a complicated, shaky, and arrogant world, but we follow one whose live was characterized by being humbly exemplary.  Jesus was a man of humility, and he lived with a sense of humility.  He made clear that the test of any society is how it treats the poor, the vulnerable, and the stranger.  That's what the Bible says, and that is what God calls us to do--to seek the common good in an age of selfishness, pride, and arrogance in our world.  That means being persistent in love, a love that patiently and stubbornly continues no matter what.  We are called to live authentically in the concrete image of our Lord so that justice in our world has a chance.  Thus, I believe we need to temper the rhetoric of our time where we have allowed bad taste and disrespect to increasingly define who we are as a people.  We need to stop pointing fingers at one another and start owning our own sin and shortcomings.  We need to discover a new civility and sense of decency amongst ourselves so that we can become more exemplary as a nation.  We should be about the job of creating a great nation among other great nations through wisdom, justice, freedom, compassion, and action, a nation that is more in line with the way of Jesus, being humbly exemplary and exceptional in service and in action and in doing things for the common good.

And then, suddenly, there is a twist in Paul's argument.  Just when he has affirmed the fact of Christian freedom regarding meat offered to idols, he tempers the message in a most dramatic way.  In essence, he says that as a member of the Christian community one is not free to do anything that they want to do, even though the activity may be all right for some.  He says, "It's wonderful that you know there is no God but one . . . from whom are all things and for whom we exist, but we need to take into consideration that not everyone has this knowledge or is on the same page.  When we participate in some of these banquets around here, we may find that this creates an intolerable pressure on some of those in the fellowship to violate their conscience.  You might be legitimately "puffed up" by your sense of rightness on this issue.  You may even feel self-sufficient and cocksure about your position.  But you need to know that not everyone comprehends this in the same way.  Others still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol and end up feeling defiled. 

So don't end up becoming a stumbling block to your sisters and brothers in Christ.  Deflate your own ego that is inflated by correct belief.  Be willing to subordinate your sense of rightness to their concern and for the sake of the community of faith.  Develop a life and a love that is exemplary, where there is no implication of perfection or of superior moral status, but rather "builds up" through love the community.  We all have something to learn; we don't know it all.  We must consider how our actions and attitudes will be understood by those who are weak in conscience.  Because of this, I have decided not to eat meat if it causes a fellow Christian to fall.  So I suggest that maybe all of you, too, for the sake of the community should consider not eating meat that has been offered to idols."

Now I must confess there is a part of me that is troubled by Paul's words in this text.  Isn't the argument of love too often used to justify or preserve the status quo, of no change?  Isn't it true that out of the respect for the feelings of others we might be hesitant to do something new that would stretch our faith, something that might be controversial and would rock the boat and alienate a whole lot of people?  To simply leave Paul's words at this point misses the full context of his theological thought and writing, for what really matters are the motives which inspire anyone's conduct.  If a person refrains from eating such food out of a true concern for the other, then it is good.  It is not good if one is restrained from a fear of the judgment of others, or a fear of defiling oneself. 

So what does all this mean to us who are living in the 21st century?  We are the people of God now, and the behavior that God expects of followers of Jesus Christ is that we need to be persistent in our loving and in our concern for others.  In other words, we are called to live exemplary lives.  Living as we do in a consumer-oriented society where the idol is material things and the ethic of getting rather than giving, of looking out for number one rather than others, it behooves us as Christians to challenge the arrogance and self-centered individualistic mentality of our society where there is a lack of interest in meeting the needs of other human beings.  Many people are primarily interested in making a lot of money and being successful and having it all now.

Even our worship services on Sunday mornings has can be tainted by this kind of consumerism.  We often, in our perverse misunderstanding of grace, find ourselves assessing worship by what we "get out" of the service rather than what we can "give".  To me, Christians gather to give and to praise God for what they have already received in the grace and love of God through Jesus Christ.

So how exemplary are we in our lives as Christians?  Do we in our behavior and conduct cause others to stumble in their own faith?  Are our words matched with actions which demonstrate a deep and persistent love and concern for others who are "weaker."  The challenge for us is to allow our knowledge and actions to be motivated by a self-giving love that does not demand or look out only for one's own interests.  Paul affirmed this challenge when he spoke words of love later in his letter: "If I speak in the tongues of human beings and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have no love, I am nothing."