First Corinthians 10 centers attention on eating meat. In those days the premier taboo was not going to the movies or wearing cosmetics or dancing or playing cards. Back then the major question was this: Should Christians eat meat that had been offered to idols? That needs some explanation.
In ancient pagan worship, portions of meat were offered to idols. Some of the carcass, however, was left over, which was sold in a meat market. It was perfectly good meat. There were Christians back then who had no qualms about buying that meat in the meat market. Others who were young and recently converted out of an idol-worshiping lifestyle felt they should not do that. They reasoned like this: "That is meat that has been offered to idols. We shouldn't buy it or eat it. Its association with an idol temple and pagan worship contaminates the meat." Paul writes to say, in effect, "Meat isn't contaminated because the other part of the animal was sacrificed on a pagan altar. There's no way that some idol of wood or stone could contaminate a piece of meat." Which explains why he says, "Eat anything that is sold in the meat market. ..." The apostle felt free to eat it even though others did not.
Look again at verse 27: "If one of the unbelievers invites you, and you wish to go, eat anything that is set before you. . . ." Paul is digging an ice hole. He is setting believers free. They don't have to worry about the meat served in an unbeliever's
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home. If the unbeliever is going to have barbecued steak, great! Eat up and don't ask questions.
Paul also makes some wise comments about times when it is best to restrain; but the overall general rule is to eat the meat. "The grace of God says you can eat it," implies the Apostle of Grace. So enjoy! Some, however, don't feel the same freedom, but they have no reason to slander those who eat.
And Paul says the same thing here. Look at verse 30: "If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?" That's a great question. In asking it he breaks open another "breathing hole." And he states his case rather boldly: "Why do you slander me because I happen to enjoy eating the meat that is served? Some go for certain kinds of meat, others for another."
A funny thing happened to me recently. One of the sound-and-light people at the church where I pastor (a real character!) heard me teach on this subject. A couple of weeks later he pulled a gag on me. With an impish grin he said, "You had a birthday recently, didn't you?" I nodded yes. He said, "You're originally from Texas, right?" By now I knew I was in for something! "Yep," I answered. He said, "Well, I have something for you." He put a small can in my hand about the size of a can of snuff. It was a can of armadillo meat. I groaned. The label read, "Pure Texas Armadillo—sun-dried and road-tenderized." The ingredients were printed on the other side: "Pure sun-dried armadillo, run over by a log truck three miles south of Pollok, Texas. Not over twenty percent hair and gravel. May contain foreign matter."
He told me that since I was such a believer in grace, I was free to eat it. I thought, Whoa! This will gag a maggot! My point? Because of grace, my friend can eat armadillo and I can eat armadillo. It's okay. It's fine if he wishes to, but it so happens that God has led me not to eat armadillo. (It's that "foreign matter" that concerns me.) But if you want to eat armadillo, that's great! Personally, I have my own personal list
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of dietary don'ts (which includes armadillo). You may not have that on your list, so in good Texas fashion, "git at it." I promise, I will not slander you or judge you as you munch on all that hair and gravel.
What in the world is all this about? Let me give it to you straight. Don't give me your personal list of do's and don'ts to live by! And you can count on this: I will never give you my personal list of do's and don'ts to follow! Being free means you have no reason whatsoever to agree with my personal list; nor should you slander me because it isn't exactly like yours. That is one of the ways Christians can live in harmony. It is called living by grace . . . and it is the only way to fly.
Now you say, "Well, what if we find a list in Scripture?" That is a very different issue! Any specified list in Scripture is to be obeyed without hesitation or question. That's an inspired list for all of us to follow, not someone's personal list. Let me encourage you to guide your life by any and all Scripture with all of your heart, regardless of how anyone else may respond. But when questionable things aren't specified in Scripture, it then becomes a matter of one's personal preference or convictions. I'll say more about that later.
God has given His children a wonderful freedom in Christ, which means not only freedom from sin and shame but also a freedom in lifestyle, so that we can become models of His grace. Being free, enjoying your liberty, and allowing others the same enjoyment is hard to do if you're insecure. It is especially hard to do if you were raised by legalistic parents and led by legalistic pastors with an oversensitive conscience toward pleasing everyone. Those kinds of parents and pastors can be ultra-controlling, manipulative, and judgmental. Frequently, they use the Bible as a hammer to pound folks into submission rather than as a guide to lead others into grace. Sometimes it takes years for people who have been under a legalistic cloud to finally have the courage to walk freely in the grace of God. Unfortunately, some who finally grasp this freedom go so far in it they abuse the grace of God by flaunting their liberty.
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That can be just as tragic as those who don't go far enough. To return to one of my favorite words, we need the balance.
In the previous chapter, I referred to the first part of Romans 6. In this chapter, let's focus on the second part of that chapter. But first I'd like to look again at the two questions around which Romans 6 revolves. The questions may sound alike, but they are not the same.
First Question
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? (Rom. 6:1)
Earlier, in Romans 5:20, we read "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." The question that would logically follow such a statement is the one Paul asks in 6:1, which could be paraphrased, "Should we continue living under the domination of sin so that grace might superabound more and more?" And he answers with gusto: "Perish the thought!"
As we've already discovered, the first question has to do with those who fail to live in freedom. They choose sin as their dominating master. Those Christians who live like that every day are overly conscious and sensitive to sin. They fear failing. Shame dominates their thinking. In essence, they focus so clearly on sin that they set themselves up for failure. Instead of concerning themselves with the positive benefits of serving Christ and enjoying the liberty He has provided, they continue living under the domination of their old nature.
By living like that, we develop a "worst-case" mentality. That is like my taking my keys and handing them over to one of my teenagers who just got a driver's license and saying, "Now let me remind you, you're going to have a wreck. So the first thing you need to do is memorize the phone number of our car insurance agent. That way, when you have an accident, you can be sure to call the right number. But here are the keys. Hope you enjoy the drive."
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What a weird, negative piece of counsel. Yet that's what we do with young Christians. "Listen, you need to know you're going to sin. And so you've really got to watch out. Memorize 1 John 1:9, okay? That way when you sin you'll know what to do." How seldom (if ever) young believers are told, "You know what? You no longer have to serve sin. You can actually live several days without it, perhaps a week or more. The reason is you've got a new Master—Christ. And you know what else? You have a power down inside of you, one you never had before, called the Holy Spirit. And you have a set of keys called the Scriptures. So when you engage the key in the ignition correctly, you can enjoy a life like you've never enjoyed before. There may be times when you may have an accident. There will be times when sins do occur. When they do, let me tell you how to handle it. But remember: That's not the norm, that's the except
ion. The good news is that you have freedom from the old master because of Christ." Grace has set us free! We have been emancipated.
Talk about opening up breathing holes! What if someone had told us that? Could we have grown? Would we have found the ocean? I mean, with people cutting holes like that for us, we would have been swimming free, out in the depths, within a matter of months! When grace awakens, hope and joy dominate our days.
Second Question
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! (Rom. 6:15)
This question may look the same, but it is quite different from the first. This one asks, "Shall we deliberately sin now because we're not under law, but under grace?" In other words, why not just go full bore? Pull out all the stops? "Not under law" must mean "I'm strictly on my own. Why not eat, drink, and have a blast? I'm under grace!" Some have misread it to
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mean just that. As a result, they rationalize their way around deliberate acts of disobedience. I have seen folks go off the deep end so far they convince themselves it is okay to disobey specific scriptural statements or principles, dissolve their marriages, walk away from prior commitments, and choose another partner. When asked how they could justify such irresponsible behavior, almost without exception they refer to grace, as though it is the God-given, pervasive covering for whatever they please. Twisting Scripture to accommodate our desires has nothing to do with grace.
Such rationalization is freedom gone to seed, liberty without limits . . . which is nothing more than disobedience in another dress. Some may see it as amazing grace; I call it abusing grace. Those who do so not only live confused and get hurt, they confuse and hurt others. And that's what the latter half of Romans 6 is about: being so determined to fly free that you abuse the very freedom you've been given. We are wise to think of grace as a privilege to be enjoyed and protected, not a license to please ourselves.
CAREFUL WARNINGS TO ALL WHO ARE FREE
Even those who live in a free country need warnings. So we shouldn't be surprised that God gives His own a few warnings lest we abuse our privileges as people under grace. These warnings are set forth in verses 16 through 23 of Romans 6. None of them is complicated, but to grasp each one we'll need to concentrate. For some reason, this information is not commonly heard in many churches today. So we must be taught to handle grace rather carefully.
An overall principle is woven into the words of verse 16:
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you
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obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
If you were to ask me to give you in one sentence what the balance of chapter 6 is teaching, it would be this: How we live depends on the master we choose. "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey. . . ." Why, of course! Submission to a master is tantamount to slavery to the same master. And what are the alternatives?
There are only two: ". . . either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" Every day we live, we have a choice to do what is right or what is wrong. When we send our young children off to school, we tell them, "Now, sweetheart, you need to know that Mom and Dad won't be there to make your decisions. You will find some kids at school who will encourage you to do what is right and you'll find others who will lead you to disobey and do what is wrong. Make the right choice. Select your friends carefully. Be smart."
We would say in terms of Romans 6, "Serve the right master. Link up with righteousness." You see, before the Savior was present in our lives; we had no choice. We were all trapped under the ice. Breathing free wasn't an option. There was no way we could find freedom, no way to enjoy the ocean depths of righteousness. We were enslaved to wrong, lawlessness, selfishness, wicked choices, and impure motives. When Christ came, He freed us, leaving us with a choice. We can choose Him to be our Master, or we can go back and choose sin to master us.
As J. B. Phillips states it: "You belong to the power which you choose to obey." It's that simple. Each moment of every day we choose whom we wish to follow. If it's the Savior, the benefits are many. If it is sin, the consequences are destructive and miserable. Then where does grace enter in to this equation? Quite simply, grace makes the choice possible.
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Before Christ, we had no choice. Sin was our one and only route. All of life was marked by unrighteousness. But once we came to the Cross and gave the Lord Jesus the right to rule our lives, we were granted a choice we never had before. Grace freed us from the requirement to serve sin, allowing us the opportunity to follow Christ's directives voluntarily. So as long as we do this, we will not sin! But as soon as you or I compromise with His mastery over us, the old master stands ready to lure us into sin.
I wish I could guarantee all of us full freedom from sin 365 days a year, but that is not possible—not so long as we are earthbound. Perpetual sinlessness (theologians call it "sinless perfection") will not be ours to enjoy until we are given glorified bodies and we are at home in heaven. But the good news is that we don't have to sin on a constant, day-after-day basis. Grace has freed us to obey Christ.
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness, (vv. 17-18)
Wonderful, wonderful truth! Choosing righteousness, we enjoy a lifestyle marked by God's blessings, stability, and strength. All of which seem to multiply. But have you discovered, as I have, that when you choose wrong, you adopt a lifestyle that gets increasingly worse? Let me show you from Scripture how true that is. Proverbs 5:21 states: "For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, / And He watches all his paths."
Let's imagine that Frank is a Christian. Though he knows better, Frank chooses to fall under the dominating sway and authority of his own nature—sinfulness. He deliberately decides to disobey, which he's free to do. Even though the Lord could intervene, He permits Frank, in grace, the freedom to choose. Look at what happens.
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His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. (Prov. 5:22-23)
What a word picture! We usually think of this situation as applicable only to an unbeliever. But it could just as easily be applied to a Christian who deliberately chooses to disobey his Lord. And instead of seeing the error of his way, he stays in a state of carnality, which grieves the Spirit of God living within him. Carnality occurs when a believer deliberately operates in the strength of his or her own will . . . stubbornly refusing to acknowledge wrong and choosing to walk contrary to the teachings of Scripture. The promptings of God's Spirit are ignored as disobedience becomes a lifestyle. Choosing to live like that is like getting caught in a whirlpool. The wickedness intensifies. It gets more treacherous as Frank goes deeper into it, until he finds himself less sensitive to it, and before long he is sucked into a kind of black hole of waywardness. Like the Prodigal Son, he winds up in misery and filth. And that is exactly where some Christians find themselves today. There aren't many places on earth more miserable. Actually, Frank could die in that condition, tragic as it may be. Some in Corinth did: "For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep (1 Cor. 11:30). Yes, some refused to return by confession and repentance, and it resulted in physical death.
Admittedly, many carnal Christians excuse such a lifestyle by saying, "It's all under grace. I can leave my wife and walk away from our children and marry someone else who is more attractive and will love me more passionately. It may not be accepted by some in the Christian community, but under grace I am free to do that. After all,
the lady I'm marrying is a Christian, too. We're both under grace!" Or "My preference is to live with this person, not marry him. I'm not into a
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long-term commitment and vows. Grace gives me the liberty to do as I please!" Wrong! That isn't what grace is about. That is an abuse of grace.
Grace never means we're free to live any way we wish, whatever the consequences. Grace does not mean God will smile on me, regardless. It means I'm free to choose righteousness or disobedience. If I choose the latter I will have to take the consequences: mental anguish, a guilty conscience, hurting and offending others in the Christian community, and bringing reproach to the name of Christ. If righteousness is spurned, sin can multiply much the same way as it did in our unsaved days. The Christian can be temporarily addicted to sin. As I have mentioned before, it is called carnality. I would encourage you to make a serious study of carnality, because you will encounter it throughout your Christian life and you will discover how easy it is to get caught in its trap. As one man writes:
Sin begets sin. The first time we do a wrong thing, we may do it with hesitation, and a tremor and a shudder. The second time we do it, it is easier; and if we go on doing it, it becomes effortless; sin loses its terror. To start on the path of sin is to go on to more and more.'
I am emphasizing this not to be negative, but to sound a necessary warning. We need to pass it on to those we wish to guide into freedom. As we begin to stretch our wings in grace, enjoying new freedom, new depths and new heights, we will be wise never to forget our primary goal in life: to glorify and please God. God grants you grace . . .
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