Loving Our Neighbors for the Glory of God

1:12But of course, we don't get to choose our neighbors, do we? They are in large part chosen for us, because that's what the word literally means. A neighbor is simply one who is near. Who is my neighbor? That's a question that more and more Americans cannot answer anymore. We choose where we live based on a number of factors: the neighborhood, the house, the things in the house. But as long as the neighborhood isn't too run down, as long as it's not crime-ridden, we don't really think much about who our neighbors might be.

1:53And as we all know, it's difficult to love the people that we know best in this life. How much more difficult then is it for us to love people when we don't even know their names? I begin with this meditation on neighbors because Paul says in this text that we are to seek the good of our neighbors, those who are near, both Christians and non-Christians. And in today's text, we're going to be challenged to lay down our rights for the good of our neighbors, to seek to please them so that they may be saved.

2:32It's a tough passage because it confronts our natural bent towards doing whatever is best for us, even when doing what is best for us comes at a cost to someone else. So, what we're going to see today in the passage is that for the glory of God, we must love our neighbors by laying down our rights. If you were with us back in the fall, you may remember. That back in chapter 6, Paul, at the beginning of this long explanation of these questions about relationships, Paul quotes the same expression that we find here in verse 23: All things are lawful. He even replies in chapter 6 with the exact same reply the first time, but not all things are helpful.

3:24The difference between chapter 10 and chapter 6 comes in the second reply. Paul's second reply to all things are lawful is, but I will not be dominated by anything, back in chapter 6. But here, notice what he says: all things are lawful, but not all things build up. Why the shift? Well, in chapter 6, Paul is making the point that even if things are lawful, even if they are allowed, not everything is helpful to us. Some freedoms, if abused, will lead to us being dominated by them, will lead to us being mastered by them.

4:12But here in chapter 10, Paul is making the point that even if certain things are lawful, even if they are allowed, not everything is helpful to others. The focus here in chapter 10 is on others. So, what he's saying is. Is that some freedoms, if we aren't careful about how and when we take advantage of them, they actually can have a negative effect on other people. Not everything that's lawful is edifying to those around us. Exercising those rights may not help them to know Christ and live under his lordship.

4:50That's what Paul is saying here in chapter 10. So he teaches in verse 24, take a look there: let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. You see, for the Christian, loving our neighbors is given a higher priority than exercising our rights, our freedoms as believers. Take a look at how Paul explains this in Romans chapter 15. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

5:48Paul is saying here that if you're a mature believer, if you have a strong conscience and a clear understanding about Christian freedom, then what he's saying is that we who are strong. Have an obligation, look at that word, an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Our calling as Christians is to seek to please our neighbors and to build them up rather than insisting on our own rights. And why is that?

6:22The third and final verse in that passage on the screen tells us why. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. You see, friends, the gospel requires us, it obligates us to bear with the failings of the weak because we serve a Savior who bore our failings, all of our sins, all of the iniquity that we committed against God. Jesus bore our failings. And so the gospel itself requires us to do this, to put our neighbors and their good ahead of ourselves and our own good, because that is what Jesus did. He was the ultimate picture of loving neighbor.

7:18Now, friends, American society has not taught and conditioned us to think about others first. In fact, it has done the exact opposite. American society has trained us. has taught us to think about ourselves first. And in this particular area, we are at a disadvantage to our brothers and sisters who grew up, for example, in Eastern cultures, who are taught from birth to think about others first, to think about the family, the village, the team, the country, to put others first.

7:55That is what they have ingrained into them. But see, we here in the West, particularly in America, we don't have that same thing ingrained into us. We have the idea that we're supposed to look out for ourselves first. And as believers, as followers of Jesus, we don't have the freedom to say, well, our society just values the individual over others. And so we don't have to obey this command. Not at all. We have to learn to embrace and apply God's word in every culture, in every context, which tells us that we have to pattern our lives after Christ, who didn't seek his own good, but who sought the good of others.

8:41And so what Paul is going to do in this section, in the next couple of verses, is he's going to explain this issue of eating meat. He's going to go back to the same subject that he's been tackling now for several chapters, but this time he focuses on what happens in private rather than on what happens in the public square. In public worship services, for example. So, take a look at verse 25. 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.

9:20As we talked about before, a lot of the meat that was sold in the Corinthian meat markets came directly from the pagan temples. So, animals were slaughtered as an act of worship, and most of it was burned up in the sacrifice. But then a portion of it was given to the temple priests, and that was their food for the week. But everything else was sold and shipped off to the meat market. And that posed a dilemma for less mature believers.

9:49These new followers of Christ didn't want to eat meat that had been previously sacrificed to a false God. So, there are good intentions there. The heart is right in what they're thinking. But that scruple, that conviction to not eat meat sacrificed to gods, false gods of various kinds, was unnecessary. Why? Because as Paul affirmed earlier in the chapter, idols are not real, they don't have any existence. So, food that's been sacrificed to them is not tainted in any way, it has not been defiled, and more importantly, Paul argues here that God created the earth and everything in it, and he declared it to be very good. Paul reminds us of this by quoting Psalm 24.

10:41And this wasn't just a problem in these pagan cities. This was a problem in Israel, too. They had their own set of food restrictions. They had their own set of dietary laws that was given by Moses and then greatly expounded upon and added to by the religious teachers for hundreds of years after. And so look on the screen at how Jesus addresses this in Mark chapter 7. And he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled? Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they Defile a person.

12:04Mark Dever, in writing about the situation here in the ancient Middle East, says this: Food laws, which are a part of so many religions, are not a part of Christianity. A fact that well represents the gospel of Jesus Christ as a gospel for everyone in every place across all cultures. And so Paul is telling us: you can eat whatever is sold in the meat market. You don't have to ask questions of conscience about where it came from, as though it is defiled if it came from a certain place. But remember again the context of this portion of the chapter. The focus here is not about us. The focus here is on others and what is helpful to them. And so Paul transitions to a case study at this point. College students, aren't you excited? We have a case study in church this morning. A case study on how to build up our neighbors and how to seek their good. So let's look at verses 27 through 30.

13:12If 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?

13:48So, in this case study, you've got this unbelieving friend who invites you to dinner, and you want to go. You show up and you are thrilled because the grill is fired up. Since you weren't born yesterday, you have a pretty good idea of where this meat came from that is now simmering on the grill. It probably came from a pagan temple. But remember, Paul said, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question of conscience. In other words, you don't raise your hand at your friend's house and say, excuse me, was this meat sacrificed to a pagan god? I only eat free-range, non-sacrificial meats.

14:36First of all, that would be very rude, probably offensive to your host. Kids, we don't ask our hosts where they shop. Okay, that's just a good rule. Second of all, it's unnecessary to ask the question because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Idols are nothing, so the fact that it has been offered in sacrifice doesn't taint it in any way. And again, what are we talking about here in this section? We're talking about building up our neighbor and seeking their good.

15:09So you're about to dig in. You're about to start dominating those ribs. And someone turns to you and says, did you know this meat has been offered in sacrifice? You're about to start drooling on your plate, but you have to pause. You have to pause because this person, whether he is a non-Christian or a newer believer with a weaker conscience, he believes that you shouldn't be eating meat that was previously sacrificed to idols because you are a Christian.

15:43The non-Christian might think that because he knows Christians worship one God and not many. So maybe he thinks he's doing you a favor because he knows you're committed to worshiping only one God and he believes that you wouldn't want to eat meat that had been sacrificed to another God. Maybe he's trying to serve you. The weaker Christian definitely believes that other Christians, including themselves, should not be eating meat that was previously sacrificed to idols. Well, now you're in a real pickle.

16:16You are seconds away from that first savory bite. But now this person speaks up. Who invited this guy and his conscience anyway? So the host, your unbelieving friends, Walks over and says, Is there something wrong with the ribs? Is everything okay? And what Paul is teaching in verse 28 is that love and concern for our neighbor, whether an unbeliever or a believer with a weaker conscience, love and concern for our neighbor means that we must say, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that this had been previously sacrificed to an idol.

16:59I'll just have the veggie plate. That, my friends, is love for neighbor. Paul says, Look, our Christian liberty, our freedom, is not determined by the consciences of others, whether they are believers or unbelievers. He says, If we can take part in it with thankfulness, there is no reason to feel guilty at all about exercising your freedom. But, friends, that is the key. Look at that phrase in the text, verse 30: if I partake with thankfulness. That is the key. There is no reason to feel guilty about what you're eating, what you're drinking, what you are watching, what you're listening to. I feel like I'm getting the amens, you know.

17:59There is no reason. Reason to feel guilty, Paul is saying, about what you're eating, drinking, watching, or listening to, if you can partake with thankfulness. In other words, if you would be great if Jesus sat down right next to you and asked if he could participate too. But if you can't do that, then that's clearly not an issue of freedom for you. If you would feel bad if Jesus sat down next to you. But assuming that you can partake with thankfulness, whether your friend is a believer or a non-believer, then you don't have to worry about how they're receiving what you're doing. But if they bring it up, if they suggest that it's an issue for them and their conscience, then Paul says we've got to lay down those freedoms out of love. Love trumps exercising our rights.

18:57That takes us to the climax, to one of the best known verses in the New Testament. Take a look at verse 31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now, friends, I think a lot of us have read that verse dozens of times. Plenty of us have that verse memorized. Glorify God in everything we do. Okay? Got it. But what does that mean? More specifically, what does that mean in the context of this chapter?

19:40Well, friends, the Greek word doxa is used here. It's translated glory. And it's a noun here in this text, but in its verb form, what it means is to ascribe honor to someone or something, to praise or to glorify. And in this context, we're talking about glorifying God, ascribing honor and glory to him by doing what? By building up our neighbors, by seeking their good rather than our own, especially as it pertains to our conduct in the midst of an idolatrous culture.

20:21So what happens is we often read this verse, and we conclude that what Paul means is that we should thank God for what we have. We should thank God for our food, our drinks, our opportunities, the things that happen to us throughout the day. Well, friends, there's no doubt that that's true. We should give God thanks for everything that we have in this life. But in this context, I believe that Paul is saying something more than that.

20:53It was John Piper who coined the phrase, God is most glorified in us when... We are most satisfied in him. And I think that's what Paul is getting at here. See, the way that we glorify God in our daily lives is by saying with our words and with our actions, God, I am satisfied in you. If I get to partake of good things today or any day, I will thank you for them. I will enjoy those privileges. But if exercising my freedom is a problem for someone else, I will gladly lay down my rights because I am satisfied in you.

21:48You see, when we are satisfied in God, we have the freedom to exercise our rights or to lay them down. God and His glory, rather than the good gifts that He gives to us each day, is the reason that we get out of bed in the morning. That means, as Paul says in verses 32 and 33, that we can seek to please everyone in everything that we do rather than seeking our own advantage. Why do we do this? Look at what he says: that they may be saved. That's why we do it.

22:26So there's no stumbling block that we're putting in front of people. Except for the gospel itself, we don't want ourselves, our freedoms, our rights to get in the way of someone hearing the truth. We do it that they may be saved. And friends, that's exactly what Jesus did. That's why Paul says in chapter 11, verse 1, be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. For the joy that was set before him, Jesus gladly gave up all of his rights and privileges as the Son of God, and he took on flesh. He didn't seek his own advantage, he sought the advantage of many.

23:13Look at what he said in Mark chapter 10: For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus willingly gave up his life on the cross and rose from the grave on the third day to save us. He did it entirely for our advantage. And Paul, in laying down his own rights so that others would be saved, is simply imitating his Lord and Savior, Jesus.

23:52See, the Corinthians never saw Jesus. Paul came to them some 20 years after Jesus lived and died. Died and rose again from the grave. They never saw Jesus, but they saw Paul. They heard his witness and his testimony about him. They watched his lifestyle. And so Paul could say to them, it's okay that you never saw Jesus. Just watch me and do what I do, and you will glorify God. That is really convicting, isn't it? Watch me and do what I do, and you'll glorify God. Friends, we must be able to say with Paul, imitate me as I imitate Christ. But I think a lot of us are hesitant to say that very thing.

24:44And for some of us, we're hesitant to say, imitate me as I imitate Christ, because there are these certain areas of our lives, these certain places that we harbor sin. And it might be in how you act at work, where nobody from church would maybe see those things. It might be how you act in the privacy of your home with your spouse or your roommates or your children. It might be in the privacy of your computer screen or your smartphone.

25:16But we have these areas of our lives where we know we're not imitating Christ. And so we're hesitant to say, imitate me as I imitate Christ. But I think for others, we read the This statement, and if we're honest, we just say, I think it's prideful to call other people to imitate me. I think it would be prideful for me to say, imitate me as I imitate Christ. But, friends, I would say, based on what we are taught in the scripture, that it is prideful for us not to call others to imitate us because that is what we have been called to do.

26:00We have been called in the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations for the glory of God. That's what we've been called to do. And the way that we make disciples is by following Christ and calling others to follow our teaching and example as we follow Him. So, to say, I'm not going to call other people to imitate me as I imitate Christ, is essentially to say, I have no intention of making disciples. Friends, one of the greatest tools for us to use as disciple makers is our own discipleship. It is our own following of Christ, His teaching, His example, His commands, and calling others to imitate us as we imitate Him.

26:52So, insofar as we are imitating Christ, we are telling people, Imitate me. And every time we fall short, We have the opportunity to still call them to imitate us, but to imitate our repentance, to imitate how we acknowledge our sin and confess it and turn away from it. Even in our failure, we are discipling them to turn to the Savior, Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. The whole law, according to Jesus, can be summed up as love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

27:42And friends, that's what this passage is all about. It's all about loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Last weekend at the men's retreat, we were reflecting on injustice and how we suffer injustice as Christians. And one of the things that kept coming out in our small group discussion was the fact that sometimes it's a lot easier to bear the occasional gross injustice than it is to all day, every day bear the small, little injustices that we have to endure as employees, as classmates, as spouses, as parents, as friends.

28:28And I believe the same thing is true. When it comes to this idea of laying down our rights for the good of others, perhaps it's not that hard to lay down your rights in a big way once in a while. Maybe the real difficulty in following Christ when it comes to this is in laying down your rights in all of the little things day after day after day. Things like giving up the right to eat meat with friends.

29:01If we only lay down our rights because we are convinced that it's a nice thing to do, to put someone else first, we're eventually going to run out of motivation to do that. We're eventually going to get tired of making decisions based on everybody else's needs and preferences and consciences and scruples. But if we stay focused on the mission of winning people to Christ, as Paul does in this passage, then friends, our motivation for laying down our rights, even in the small things, time after time, every single day, is never going to dry up because we're doing it for that great cause of seeing people saved.

29:53So, church, for the glory of God and for the good of our neighbors. We must lay down our rights. Let's pray. Father, this is a challenging passage. It gets harder and harder when you put real faces, real situations, real rights and freedoms into the picture that may have to be laying down that we may have to say, I'm not going to exercise those. And I would be the first person to admit that I feel like I've put in my time.

30:58I feel like I have given up a lot in my life. And that surely I have come to the point where I can think about me. And I know there are so many spouses and roommates and friends and sons and daughters and employees in this room that feel the exact same way. Like they have. Have put in their time thinking about other people and putting them first. And now it's time to focus on ourselves. And so, God, we just acknowledge that we need your help.

31:47We cannot continually die to ourselves day after day after day, apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, apart from your grace. And so, God, we pray that you would pour it out on us so that we can serve others in these ways and see them come to saving faith in Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.