Can you imagine walking around with a mirror in front of you
all the time, so that everything you did and everything you said could be seen all the time?
Every time you stopped to help someone out or didn’t, every time you cut someone off or let someone in, every
time you smiled and helped someone else to smile, or every time you gave a nasty look that made another person back away. It is hard to imagine staring in to that mirror.
Luckily that mirror doesn’t exist, but how we are perceived by people does.
Whether we know it or not someone is always watching.
I have always been a people watcher, there is just something about it that appeals to me, I can sit in a busy mall
and just watch people go by, watching how an older couple cares for one another, or how a group of teenagers might mistreat
one another, to how a father cares for a child. People watching can teach you
a lot about the world. And I am therefore painfully aware that I am also being
watched, I think of the times when I trip over my own feet and it truly is funny, and I look around for someone’s eye
to catch to share the joke with. It is part of our relationship to experience
each other at different times in our lives. To see the example others are setting
to learn from where they have been and see Christ within them.
As believers in Christ we
are each suppose to be an example for others, what we do and how we act, what we say and how we treat other people is always
being observed, and without knowing it, one simple little thing we might do could bring someone to Christ or push them away. I think of the example of when driving and you get cut off by someone, just to see
a Jesus fish or a religious oriented bumper sticker on the back of their car. If
that was the only way someone heard about Christ, you can imagine how that might affect their thoughts.
For those of you with more
than one child, I am sure you are familiar with this idea, how often have you told your older child to be mindful of what
they are doing because their younger sibling is watching everything they do and copying it?
To some degree, that is what Paul is saying to the church in Corinth. For there were many people who were new to the faith who didn’t have the foundation
to know the different norms and accepted practices of the church. Our Corinthians
scripture is trying to remind those better established in their faith that there are others around them who are not, and they
need to remember to care for them to set the right example.
Where did the need for this
part of the letter come from? During a time when you have new people joining
the faith and are surrounded by the old way of doing things, it was a very confusing time.
The debate over idols alone was causing conflict. The church did not recognize
idols or the practice of sacrificing animals to those idols. As one commentator
discusses, “Meat was offered to idols before being served in temples’ dining halls or being used for communal
meals; some of the meat served at the market place had been offered to idols. One
who is in a temple would know the source of the meat; one who ate at a pagan friend’s home could never be certain.. In pagan cities with large Jewish populations, Jews normally had their own markets.”
As our scripture says, “Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,”
and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may
be so-called gods in heaven or on earth--as in fact there are many gods and many lords-- yet for us there is one God, the
Father, 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. It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some
have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat, as food offered to an idol; and their
conscience, being weak, is defiled. “Food will not bring us close to God.”
We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better, off if we do. But take care
that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For
if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak,
be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ
died are destroyed.”
Every day we as believers
who read and study our Bibles, who talk with other believer’s who might have been brought up in the church, constantly
surrounded by strong and faithful witnesses, come in to contact with those without this same instruction. We who are strong in faith have the responsibility to support those who are weak or new in faith. I think of the many things we do every day or every week that could cause others to
lose their footing. How many jokes do we tell about different denominations,
or perhaps one about a priest, a rabbi and a minister walking in to a bar. A
harmless joke to those who have deeper understanding, but what about those who don’t have any background on matters
of church, how might they perceive these same jokes? Or the ones about how many
Methodists or Baptists or Presbyterians does it take to screw in a light bulb and the answers are quick one liners just to
pick fun at some small element of the joke, in case you’re wondering, it takes one person to screw in the light bulb
and a committee to discuss how it is done.
These jokes aren’t
meant to injure one another but simply to get an, oh I get it, kind of response. But for someone new to church and new to
faith it may appear more that we are tearing one another down as opposed to some light humor.
How frustrating and confusing it must be for someone who is just trying to figure this all out and then to hear jokes
about different denominations that mean nothing to them. There are so many things
that appear to be harmless that can truly hurt someone’s faith. Our scripture
seeks to teach more experienced believers to be cautious of how strict they are, for in the scripture we heard that food will
not bring us closer to God, so don’t worry about the means of where the food came from, for if you don’t believe
in idols what harm would the food be?
I think of the table before
us, and how it is suppose to bring us together as believers that this should be the one table we are all suppose to be able
to gather together around, and here in this church all are welcome, all believers are invited to this table. But in many churches that is not the case, only those who are of the same denomination are able to partake,
for we do not all believe the same things about this table. How we have made
it so complicated to be united with God through this sacrament. It is sad to
know that what was started on the night when Jesus was to be betrayed, has caused us to separate from one another.
Our
psalm for the day reminds us of why we are here, why we gather together as believers.
It reminds us of how we should encounter new believers and those who don’t believe. How powerful the words are, “Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the
LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the LORD, studied by
all who delight in them. Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has gained renown
by his wonderful deeds; the LORD is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful
of his covenant. He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of
his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, to be performed
with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome
is his name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice
it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.”
The
true purpose of why we are here, because the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God who created the universe and all that is upon
the earth, the God who sent his only son, this God, one in the same, this is the God who is gracious and merciful and who
wants us all to Praise the Lord. It is easy as believers to become complacent
to forget the awesomeness of God, to take his unending love for granted. By this
example we are not encouraging new believers to truly seek God, to be still and know he is God. As the church in Corinth experienced there are many things that we might take more seriously, something
that truly isn’t important in the scheme of things, the layout of the altar, the order of the service and so on, in
the grand scheme of our faith these things aren’t important, especially if the debate or argument keeps others from
believing in God. So as Paul has told the church, food won’t keep you from
God, only you can keep you from God. But as believers we need to be mindful of
one another, to not do things that could hurt others ability to believe in God. As
the letter to the church in Corinth continues, “But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience
when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I
may not cause one of them to fall.”
We need to support one another, to be examples through our faith, although our lives are not in front of us
as our image in a mirror, what we do and what we say can be a hindrance to others. We
need to remember that Christ sent his disciples out to the world to share the good news, it is our responsibility to continue
the spreading of that good news, that with the table set before us, we remember that Christ lived for us, he died for us and
he was raised from the dead for us, for each one of us, what a powerful and wonderful message, let us remember that every
time we do something that might cause another to stumble.
And now with one voice let us stand and confess what we believe…I believe in God the father almighty.
