SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/11/2022 8:01 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “The Peril”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
18:6-7
Message of the verses: “6 but whoever causes
one of these little oneswho believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that
a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth
of the sea.
7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it
is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the
stumbling block comes!”
There is a section from Paul’s writing and I know it
is in 1 Corinthians, but I also believe that he speaks on the same subject a
bit in Romans. Now as far as believers
who were not Jewish they came up eating some kind of pork, and this was forbidden
for Jews. So here lies a part of the
problem. Another part of the problem was
gentile believers working on the Sabbath, as Jewish believers would never do
that. Now as mentions Paul covers these
issues in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8.
These are issues that was compounded by judgmental self-righteous on
both sides. The Gentile believers
criticized weaker Jewish believers for still refusing to touch pork or do any
work at all on the Sabbath, emphasizing the truth that, in Christ, they had
been freed from such ceremonial restrictions.
Then the Jewish believers criticized weaker Gentiles believers for
refusing to eat meat offered to pagan idols, emphasizing the truth that they
now knew those pagan deities were not gods at all and that, in any case, the
meat itself could not be spiritually or morally contaminating.
MacArthur writes “The important
concern, Paul too both sides, was neither eating or not eating certain foods
nor observing or not observing certain days.
More important by far were the consciences of their fellow believers. As long as someone believes a practice is
wrong, for him it is wrong, because his intent is to do wrong, even though the
practice not be wrong in itself. Until
his conscience grows to the place where he can honestly accept doing it, the
practice should be avoided. Not only
that, but those who do not share that particular inhibition should respect
those who have it. Otherwise they may
cause their brother to commit sin by going against his conscience. In fact, the stronger Christian should
himself refrain from the practice if doing so would help protect the conscience
of a weaker believer. In summary Paul
says, ‘All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and
gives offense. It is good not to eat
meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own
conviction before God. Happy is he who
does not condemn himself in what he approves.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not
from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin’ (Rom. 14:20-23; cf. 1 Cor 8:1-13).”
12/11/2022 8:22
AM
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