Ep. 51 - Focus on not Abusing Your Christian Liberties: Just Because you Can Should You?

In today’s episode we’re diving into 1 Corinthians Chapter 8. At first glance it may seem like this chapter has nothing to offer us as the New Testament church but there’s so much more here than meets the eye. We discuss the importance of not taking advantage of our Christian liberties. We use alcohol as one of our examples just because we can drink should we?

Listen now to hear our take on this as well as other liberties we often take advantage of.

Scripture Read:

1 Corinthians 8

Ephesians 5:18

Proverbs 20:1

1 Corinthians 6:12

What’s the Purpose?

We can get so fixated on what is non-essential that we lose sight of what is essential.  Derek gave me permission to quote him as we were talking through this topic today, “a fixation on your preferences is NOT a fixation on Jesus.”  In today’s world, we will still face some of the same questions that the Corinthians face regarding if something is right or wrong and in finding our answers, number one, let love guide you as Paul began this chapter with, don’t let your pride lead you but your love for others and your desire to build them up, not tear them down.  Don’t allow your arrogance and pride to push people away from the Lord.  And secondly, we are allowed to exercise personal freedoms, just NOT at the expense of causing someone else to stumble in their walk with the Lord.  So be considerate and conscience of your actions but also your motives.

What’s the Challenge?

Ask the Lord where you may have allowed yourself to be a stumbling block for someone else.  Maybe you’ve relied on your Christian liberties and in return, someone you love has followed suit, but the outcome has not been the same for them.  I know we’ve used the example of alcohol, but consider if your freedom to consume alcohol has become a stumbling block for someone who has trouble turning a drink away, causing them to sin.  Love them more than your desire to do what you want. Our freedom to do things how we want will become much less important when we love others like Christ loved us and gave up His will to do the will of the Father.  Wendy Pope said it this way “We have to remember that Jesus demonstrated HIS love for everyone when He sacrificed His life.  None of these activities will cause God to love us less.  Yet we have a responsibility to follow the Spirit’s leading in our life.  If our conscience counsels us to abstain, then we should abstain.  What we abstain from may be the weakness of someone we know, and rather than causing them to stumble we can lift them up.”

God Bless from our Hearts to Yours,

Ashlee & Tabitha