Many times, when we are having trouble figuring out what to do, it’s because we are asking the wrong question. The people in Corinth knew that idols were phony, and so they knew that any meat that had been offered to idols was not magically altered in some way (10:19). So, they didn’t understand why they shouldn’t exercise their Christian liberty and eat such meat.

But Paul wanted them to take a step back, shifting their focus from their rights to their relationships. After all, when they took the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper, they knew they were expressing their union with Christ by faith. But they also knew they were demonstrating their unity with other believers (10:17).

So, why would they want to hurt a fellow believer who had come to the incorrect conclusion that they were engaging in an idolatrous ceremony (10:28-29)? By eating meat offered to idols, why would they want to give anyone the impression that they were joining themselves to demons (10:21)? What would ignoring the thoughts and feelings of other Christians do to the unity that is supposed to exist within the Church?

No, the question we should all be asking isn’t, “How much can I take advantage of my Christian liberty?” Instead, we should be asking, “How can I best glorify God and bless God’s people?” For if that is our greatest desire, we would seek to avoid even the appearance of impropriety so that either unbelievers or our fellow Christians wouldn’t get the wrong idea. In fact, we would make the glory of God our ultimate aim, no matter what we are doing (10:31), so that more and more people might trust in Christ and be saved (10:33).

So, what question are we asking today? Are we focusing on our rights or on our relationships? And what does that say about how accurately we are imitating Jesus?

I Corinthians 10:14-11:1 (NASB)

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say.
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?
19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.
24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.
25 Eat anything that is sold in the meat market, without asking questions for conscience ‘ sake;
26 for the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you, and you wish to go, eat anything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience ‘ sake.
28 But if anyone should say to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience ‘ sake;
29 I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?
30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.