CAREFUL STEPS TO OUR ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE
1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-33
NASB
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was [a]Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them [a]did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them [a]did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them [a]did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
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 [a]bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one [a]bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one [a]bread. 18 Look at [a]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 [a]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 [a]ALL IT CONTAINS. 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake. 28 But if anyone says 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, so that they may be saved.
10:4 [a]I.e. the Messiah 10:8 [a]Lit acted immorally 10:9 [a]Lit made trial 10:10 [a]Lit grumbled 10:16 [a]Lit loaf 10:17 [a]Lit loaf 10:18 [a]Lit Israel according to the flesh 10:24 [a]Lit the other 10:26 [a]Lit its fullness
NLT
1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters,[*] about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”[*] 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ[*] to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. 15 You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. 16 When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 18 Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?
19 What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? 20 No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons. 21 You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too. 22 What? Do we dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is?
23 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”[*] —but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything” —but not everything is beneficial. 24 Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.
25 So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.”[*]
27 If someone who isn’t a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience. 28 (But suppose someone tells you, “This meat was offered to an idol.” Don’t eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you. 29 It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.) For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks? 30 If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it?
31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles[*] or the church of God. 33 I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.
[10:1] Greek brothers. [10:7] Exod 32:6. [10:9] Some manuscripts read the Lord. [10:23] Greek All things are lawful; also in 10:23b. [10:26] Ps 24:1. [10:32] Greek or Greeks.
In one of his most significant works, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn presents an unadorned and disturbing picture of life in a Siberian labor camp.
The protagonist in the story, Ivan Denisovich, has been unjustly sentenced to ten years of grueling labor. But Solzhenitsyn chooses not to unfold for us the long years that stretch before the prisoner; rather, he narrows our focus, letting us experience with Ivan the regime of just one day: “from the first clang of the rail to the last clang of the rail.”[51]
Though our own context and that of Ivan Denisovich are worlds apart, many of the statements Solzhenitsyn makes in his classic novel strangely resonate with our own society. They deal with transcendent issues of personal loyalty, human dignity, and faith. These topics appear throughout the novel, creating a thematic thread running from page to page.
But amid the development of these major themes of human existence, the author has strewn a few minor motifs that can get obscured in the shadows and rarely catch the passive reader’s eyes. One such theme is the purpose our lives can have if we live with a clear, ultimate objective set before us.
Persistently hungry, chilled to the core, and cursed with every reason to give in to despair, Ivan Denisovich had a job to do, a reason to face each morning. His task was to build a wall from brick and mortar. He took simple pride in just knowing he had made it through another day and was constructing a fine wall. Rather than fumbling through his daily existence wondering when his pointless life would end in Siberia’s gray, subzero winter, Ivan approached each day with renewed resolve, determination, and purpose.
Just as Ivan Denisovich built his wall with barrows of brick and buckets of mortar, so Paul, “a wise master builder,” laid the foundation of the church in Corinth (3:10), then charged the believers with the daily task of building upon it —brick by brick, one carefully placed piece at a time. Their job was simple: Build up the body of Christ. With this goal clearly in mind, Paul also gave them detailed instructions for daily construction.
The problem was that the Corinthian believers had each been building their own little dwellings for themselves with no regard for the glorious temple they were supposed to be constructing together. They had forsaken the authentic fellowship of the body for self-centered focuses that weaken and injure the body rather than heal and strengthen it. So, beginning with the example of the Hebrews in the wilderness, Paul urges the Corinthians to stick to the guidelines God had given them to live by (10:1-11). He then returns to the theme he introduced in 1 Corinthians 8 —eating meat consecrated to the idolatrous worship of false gods, contrasting it with the proper worship and fellowship in the body of Christ (10:12-22). Finally, he leads them to refocus their efforts on the ultimate purpose of life: the glory of God (10:23-31).
— 10:1-11 —
Paul urges that the way forward for the Corinthians begins by looking to the past. He points them specifically to the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt and their experiences as the people of God in the wilderness wanderings. He appealed to this history as an illustration because the believers in Corinth needed to learn the same lesson as the children of Israel: Neither the Israelites of old nor the Corinthians in Paul’s day could blame their failure to follow God’s guidelines on receiving unclear instructions. Both had been privileged to receive the latest and greatest revelations from God in their own days —revelations so astounding that they would become both the objects of unparalleled faith and of cynical disbelief for millennia.
Paul draws analogies between the Hebrews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt and the Corinthians’ conversion from a life of slavery to sin (10:1-4). Paul employs a common first-century Jewish rhetorical device called “typology,” a term derived from the Greek word typos [5179], which Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11: “Now these things happened as examples [typos] for us . . . . Now these things happened to them as an example [typos], and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Grant Osborne distinguishes typology from prophecy and describes its use in the New Testament:
Typology differs from direct prophecy in that the latter texts [prophecies] are forward-looking and directly predict the New Testament event, while typology is indirect and analogously relates the Old Testament event to the New Testament event. The early Christians (like the Jews) saw all of salvation history . . . as a single continuous event. Therefore events in the past are linked to those in the present, so that God’s mighty deeds like the exodus or the return from exile foreshadow the experiences of God’s present community, the church.[52]
By correlating New Testament truths with Old Testament events, Paul reminds the Corinthians of their own miraculous deliverance from their former slavery to sin and of their present life of deliverance. They naturally would have understood how these events foreshadowed their own initiation into the faith, including baptism and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
THE HEBREWS’ DELIVERANCE FROM SLAVERY |
THE CORINTHIANS’ DELIVERANCE FROM SIN |
Hebrews passed under the cloud, which symbolized the presence of the Holy Spirit among the Israelites (Exod. 13:21). |
Corinthians entered into the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling the church as the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16). |
Hebrews passed through the Red Sea by a miraculous deliverance from slavery (Exod. 14:21-22). |
Corinthians passed through the waters of baptism, marking their deliverance from a life of sin (1 Cor. 1:13). |
Hebrews were “baptized” into Moses in the cloud and the sea, that is, fully associated with Moses as their spiritual and physical head (Exod. 14:31). |
Corinthians were baptized into Christ as head of the church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13) and the baptism of water (1 Cor. 1:13). |
Hebrews partook of the “spiritual” food, the manna from heaven, which sustained their physical lives (Exod. 16:4-36). |
Corinthians partook of the Lord’s Supper as a sign of intimate spiritual fellowship with Christ and one another, receiving spiritual blessings (1 Cor. 10:16-17). |
The idea of being “baptized into Moses” (10:2) might appear confusing at first, until we realize that Paul’s analogy pulls together three distinct but inseparable ideas concerning baptism in the New Testament: baptism in water as an outward symbol of faith, baptism by the Holy Spirit as a spiritual reality that occurred at the time of belief (Acts 10:47), and the idea that both the spiritual and physical baptisms were baptisms or, literally, immersions “into Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:3). That is, just as a garment immersed in dye emerges a different color, so also a person baptized into a particular teacher’s worldview emerges a devoted convert to that new teaching and way of life. Moses did not perform any baptism ceremonies, but the circumstances of the Exodus were a picture of spiritual and physical baptism, as the people trusted Moses’ God-given words and were delivered. With reference to this Old Testament baptism “into Moses” (1 Cor. 10:2), one commentator notes that this “simply means they were initiated and inaugurated under God into union with him and also with Moses and his leadership.”[53]
God’s presence among the people in the cloud, the deliverance via the Red Sea, the prophetic leadership of Moses, and heavenly food and drink: Every one of these privileges was much more than the provision of a physical need for the ancient Israelites. Each of them was also an act of divine grace. In our lives, too, there is no gift, blessing, or privilege we enjoy that meets only a physical need. With each kindness shown to us —even the seemingly small acts of provision —God shines forth His grace and mercy toward us. What was true of the Hebrews in the Old Testament is true of Christians in the New.
You’d think that a people as blessed as the Hebrews would have instantly and unquestioningly responded to God with thankfulness and obedience. But it didn’t unfold that way in the wilderness of Sinai. After listing their many blessings, Paul explains that God was “not well-pleased” with most of them (10:5). Out of the hundreds of thousands of Israelites in that first generation that escaped Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb pleased God. The rest of the rebellious Israelites —bestowed with indescribable physical and spiritual blessings —were strewn across the wilderness over the next forty years. One commentator notes, “What a spectacle is that which is called up by the apostle before the eyes of the self-satisfied Corinthians: all those bodies, sated with miraculous food and drink, strewing the soil of the desert!”[54]
In what ways did the Hebrews fail to please the God who had delivered them, and how did their example of disobedience and judgment become a warning to the believers in Corinth? Paul points out the vices that the Hebrews and the Corinthians had in common.
They craved evil things (10:6). Paul starts off by identifying a deep-seated attitude of the heart —lusting after evil. Dissatisfied and ungrateful amid blessings, the Hebrews kept longing to go back to Egypt (Num. 11:4-6). The Corinthians, like many believers, struggled against their former lifestyles, tempted to “go back” to the evil of their past (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
They engaged in idolatry (10:7). After being delivered by the great “I AM,” the Hebrews fashioned a golden calf and declared that idol to be the one responsible for their freedom (Exod. 32:4-6). Ultimately, an idol is anything that takes God’s rightful place on the throne of our lives. The Corinthians, like many today, placed other people and other things above the appropriate and solitary lordship of Christ (1 Cor. 3:3-4).
They became immoral (10:8). The Israelites turned their idolatry into a drunken orgy (Exod. 32:6-7). The idolatry that began with an evil attitude and continued with a substitution of other things for God resulted in an immoral corruption of character and action. The Corinthians, too, had their share of impurity in attitude and practice (1 Cor. 5:1-2).
They tested the Lord’s faithfulness (10:9). Questioning God’s faithfulness in providing for them, the Hebrews asked Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” (Num. 21:5). God responded with judgment (Num. 21:6). Daring God to come through on His promises shows a lack of faith. As we will see in 1 Corinthians 15, some in Corinth failed to fully believe even the basic tenets of Christian doctrine (15:12).
They grumbled against God’s leaders (10:10). When the Hebrews didn’t get what they wanted, they complained bitterly and relentlessly against God’s ordained leadership (Num. 16:41; 17:5, 10). In a context of self-seeking schism, the Corinthian Christians, too, tended to complain, grumble, and rebel against those who had been placed in authority over them.
— 10:12-22 —
The point of Paul’s typological application of the tragic events following the Hebrews’ exodus rang loud and clear. The Corinthians were headed for a similar kind of judgment by the hand of God if they didn’t repent of their own lust, idolatry, immorality, unfaithfulness, and grumbling. In the name of celebrating their liberty from the Law, forgiveness of past, present, and future sins, and their freedom of conscience in Christ, the Corinthians participated in idolatrous practices at the local temples. As Paul explains, this was just one curve on the downward spiral into the pit of demon worship.
Believing that their baptism in the Holy Spirit, seal of water baptism, and participation in the grace-giving life of the church provided them an infinite expense account to spend on sin, the Corinthians received a sobering warning from Paul to shock them out of their twisted theology: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). The word heed means “to look at something.” Paul is saying, in essence, “If you think that you will avoid the disciplining hand of God’s judgment because of your conversion to Christianity, take a closer look: Realize that you —yes, even you —are liable to the discipline of the holy God.”
Yet with Paul’s stern warning comes a positive encouragement. Though the Corinthians faced all kinds of trials and temptations, God promises that He will faithfully “provide the way of escape” from these temptations or tests of faith. The Greek word translated “temptation,” peirasmos [3986], can refer to tests that challenge the integrity of one’s faith (as in 1 Pet. 1:6). But it can also refer to “temptations,” things that appeal to our sinful tendencies and challenge our moral integrity (Luke 4:13). In the context of 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul seems to have in mind the everyday snares of sin, but he could also have in mind various trials of faith that come with everyday life. In any case, he says that up to this point they only had to deal with temptations “common to man.” Because Paul is about to discuss the spiritual, demonic dimension of idolatry, he may be referring to the opportunity they have at this moment to turn away from their current, mundane course of spiritual decline before they find themselves in a “supernatural” situation from which it would be much harder to escape, though it would never be too late to turn around and begin to do the right thing (10:13).
The Corinthians desperately needed this encouragement, for they had chosen to live on the unraveling fringe of the Christian experience. Living dangerously close to the pagan world, they surrounded themselves with all its temptations. Paul warned that if they kept going in the same direction, what had begun as a celebration of liberty would end as a lamentation of bondage to sin, complete with demonic oppression. The express content of this warning is: “Flee from idolatry” (10:14).
Paul positions this warning like a flashing sign in front of the straying Corinthians because he understood the devastating implications of outright participation in idolatrous worship. To support this initial warning sign, he waves two more yellow flags to urge the Corinthians to slam on the brakes, put it in reverse, and leave their idolatrous practices in the rearview mirror (10:15).
First, association with idolatry leads to participation in false religion. Through two examples —the Lord’s Table and the nation of Israel —Paul shows the Corinthians how this first step toward spiritual disaster occurs (10:16-18). Notice that the idea of sharing/sharers (koinōnia [2842]/koinōnos [2844]) comes up three times in this passage. The word refers to intimate fellowship with one another. When believers properly partake of the bread and wine of communion, they participate in a confession of faith that they can see, taste, smell, touch, and hear. In the fullest physical sense, believers confess the incarnation of the God-man, who took on real flesh and blood (John 1:14), who died for our sins and rose from the dead to give us new life. With Christ presiding at the table as the host of His supper and by participating in the “cup of blessing” and the “one bread,” believers are fellowshipping with Him through the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). They are also fellowshipping with one another as “one body,” united in this solemn observance (1 Cor. 10:17).
The Israelites had also participated with God in fellowship and worship through the sacrifices of the Old Testament Law (Deut. 12:18). It was Jesus, the unseen host of the Lord’s Supper, and God the Father, the unseen reason behind the sacrifices of Israel, who made these things meaningful and powerful.
Taking his readers back to the issue he introduced in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul clarifies his warning about the spiritual dangers of idolatry (10:19-20). He reaffirms that there is nothing inherently good or bad with the actual meat sacrificed to an idol (8:8), since idols are merely physical objects that have no power in and of themselves. But he clarifies that there is real danger in the demonic spirits that people have spiritual fellowship with when they engage in the idolatrous sacrificial worship in the pagan temples. Commentator R. C. H. Lenski puts it well:
It is a great mistake to imagine that back of their idolatry and their idol sacrifices there is nothing but an empty vacuity. True enough, as 8:4 makes plain, the gods of the idols have no existence whatever; no being by the name of Jupiter exists, and this is true with respect to the other gods. But something does exist, something that is far more terrible than these pseudo-gods, namely an entire kingdom of darkness which is hostile to God, a host of demons or fallen angels who are ruled by the greatest of their number, namely, Satan.[55]
The heart of the problem with Corinthian Christians showing up at the pagan temples to partake of the best charbroiled steaks in town, hot off the grill, was that their presence and their actions were precisely the same as those engaged in the worship of demons. Like fire and water, Satan and Christ don’t mix (10:21). God won’t tolerate split loyalties. He never did in Israel’s day (Deut. 32:21–25; 2 Kgs. 17:7-23; Ps. 78:54-64), and He didn’t in the Corinthians’ day. He doesn’t in our day, either. When it comes to us splitting our loyalties between the one true God and demonic idols, our God is rightly a jealous God (1 Cor. 10:22). That is one fact we must never forget!
— 10:23-33 —
Paul concludes this section regarding strengthening authentic fellowship in the body of Christ by reiterating a theme he first introduced in 1 Corinthians 6: “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable” (6:12; 10:23). Putting the two principles together, we get both the negative and the positive boundaries for exercising Christian liberty.
The basic guidelines for wisely determining whether we should or should not engage in any otherwise neutral practice can be summarized in three questions:
- Does the practice avoid a wicked, immoral lifestyle (6:12–20)?
- Does the practice seek the good of our brothers and sisters in Christ (10:23)?
- Does the practice ultimately bring glory to God (6:20; 10:31)?
So, to sum up Paul’s argument concerning meat sacrificed to idols, let’s look again at our three-tiered diagram of the various kinds of meat a believer might acquire and consume, and ask our three questions.
With regard to eating meat while involved in temple worship (the blue center of the diagram), to Paul this is a no-brainer. This practice engages in idolatry and spiritual immorality (question 1), it causes other brothers and sisters in Christ to follow into sin (question 2), and it dishonors God by worshiping demons (question 3).
Concerning sacrificed meat purchased at the meat market (the second, lighter blue circle), Paul gives the following advice: “Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience’ sake” (10:25). In other words, if we treat the meat as simply a harmless creation of God purchased in a neutral environment (10:26), then it does not involve idolatry and immorality (question 1), it does not cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble (question 2), and it glorifies God when the food is received with thanksgiving (10:30) (question 3).
Finally, with regard to sacrificed meat eaten at an unbeliever’s home (the outside, lightest blue circle), Paul says that if the unsaved host does not mention where the meat came from, believers may eat freely (10:25). If the one serving the guests makes a point that the meat was sacrificed to idols, however, then he is likely to be viewing the meal as an extension of his own devotion to the pagan god. In that case, for the sake of the Christian’s testimony and the conscience of weaker believers, the Christian should quietly abstain from eating the food (10:27-29).
Ultimately, Christians should be willing to set aside their right to exercise Christian freedom for the sake of fellowship with God and with one another. The truth of the gospel of Christ is already offensive enough (1:17-18), and we must never surrender our stand on the non-negotiable truths of the person and work of Jesus Christ —even if it seems like foolishness to the world. When it comes to questionable, optional, or “gray” areas of our practice, however, we should eagerly heed Paul’s command: “Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved” (10:32-33).
APPLICATION: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-33
Keeping the “Ps”
Every day Christians are faced with decisions —not simply between right and wrong, but between good, better, and best. God has given us a world filled with beauty for us to enjoy, but how do we determine where to draw the line between delighting in His gracious provision and overindulging in sinful desires? As we seek to put into practice Paul’s teachings in 1 Corinthians 10, let’s consider three basic principles that will equip us to make wise, healthy decisions and set us on a course for a God-honoring life: the profit principle, the people principle, and the purpose principle.
The profit principle (10:23). The profit principle reminds us that our freedom in otherwise neutral matters is not to be exercised at another’s expense, but for another’s profit. Note that the emphasis here is on the benefit to others, not simply for ourselves. As we consider everything from how we spend our time to how we spend our money, we should constantly ask ourselves some probing questions. Who will benefit from this? How will they benefit? Would other actions be more profitable? This kind of thinking will work against our natural tendency toward self-centeredness.
Romans 14:19-20 makes the same point in stark terms. Let me challenge you to memorize this passage: “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.” While in theory, Christians are free to participate in all sorts of activities that are not immoral in themselves, we are also called to focus on those things that will benefit others.
The people principle (1 Cor. 10:24, 33). Closely tied to the profit principle is the people principle. As we seek to engage in activities and make decisions that are more profitable for others, we need to be careful that we truly have the good of others in mind. This means getting to know people. Not just their names. Not just their résumés. It means getting to know their needs, their hurts, their pains, their strengths and weaknesses. Only then can we actually answer the question, “Is this in their best interests?”
Giving people what they want or fulfilling their immediate desires isn’t always what will benefit them most. This is especially true in parenting. Sometimes the greatest profit for a child comes from withholding what the child desires. Sometimes it means giving our children what they don’t want. Philippians 2:3-4 underscores this same point. These are verses worth memorizing: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
The purpose principle (1 Cor. 10:31). Do you eat or drink? Do it to the glory of God. Do you play baseball or hockey? Do it to the glory of God. Do you preach or teach? Do it to the glory of God. Whether you fix tires, serve fast food, study algebra, clean homes, run for president, or raise children —all of these things should be done with one purpose: God’s glory.
We shouldn’t just think about big career choices, either. The little things in life that tend to be done with reluctance should be done with God’s glory as our focus —pleasing Him, as if in His service. I mean things like loading the dishwasher, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathroom, making the bed, moving chairs at church, taking care of a sick child, even living out your retirement. Whatever you do, consider it a service to your one Lord God. He owns it all anyway: your life, your time, your energy. It’s all on loan from Him.
Why don’t you take a moment to memorize 1 Corinthians 10:31? What a great way to begin to place the purpose principle center stage in your everyday life! “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”