Help the Weak

Jann Martin January 29, 2006

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Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28

Gospel Lesson

²¹ Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum, and every Sabbath day he went into the synagogue and taught the people. ²² They were amazed at his teaching, for he taught as one who had real authority-quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

²³ A man possessed by an evil spirit was in the synagogue, ²⁴ and he began shouting, "Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One sent from God!"

²⁵ Jesus cut him short. "Be silent! Come out of the man." ²⁶ At that, the evil spirit screamed and threw the man into a convulsion, but then he left him.

²⁷ Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. "What sort of new teaching is this?" they asked excitedly. "It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!" ²⁸ The news of what he had done spread quickly through that entire area of Galilee.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

I have chosen to preach on I Corinthians 8, our first lesson this morning.

At the time of Paul's ministry, the meat that was sold in the marketplace very well could have come from the pagan temples. When the people who worshiped the idols brought meat into the pagan temple it was offered as a sacrifice to that god. It would have been eaten at a feast or a butcher would have taken it and sold it at his market. Some of the new Christians of that day were concerned about eating meat that was offered up to an idol and questioned Paul as to whether eating this meat would somehow connect them to the idol worship.

In Paul's letter to the believers in Corinth who were strong in their faith and not concerned about eating the meat, he said:

⁴ Should we eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God and no other. ⁵ According to some people, there are many so-called gods and many lords, both in heaven and on earth. ⁶ But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life. ⁷ However, not all Christians realize this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. ⁸ It's true that we can't win God's approval by what we eat. We don't miss out on anything if we don't eat it, and we don't gain anything if we do. ⁹ But you must be careful with this freedom of yours. Do not cause a brother or sister with a weaker conscience to stumble. ¹⁰ You see, this is what can happen: weak Christians who think it is wrong to eat this food will see you eating in the temple of an idol. You know there's nothing wrong with it, but they will be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been dedicated to the idol. ¹¹ So because of your superior knowledge, a weak Christian for whom Christ died will be destroyed. ¹² And you are sinning against Christ when you sin against other Christians by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong. ¹³ If what I eat is going to make another Christian sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live - for I don't want to make another Christian stumble.

So Paul is telling us to be strong in our faith but also to keep in mind our brothers and sisters in Christ. They may not be sure what changes they need to make in their lives, and we don't want to do things that would keep them from developing a strong faith. Their heads may know that there are really no idols, but there hearts or consciences may still worry about doing wrong.

Being a Christian doesn't mean that we can do anything we want. We can't earn our way into heaven; it is a free gift from God. I recently read the following and thought of it as a good way to describe how to get into heaven

A man dies. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates.

St. Peter says, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."

"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"

"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."

"Terrific!" says St. Peter. "That's certainly worth a point."

"One point!?!! I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."

"Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says.

"Two points!?!!" Exasperated, the man cries, "At this rate it'll just be by the grace of God that I ever get into heaven."

"Bingo, 100 points! Come on in!"

We can and should do many good things in our lives for ourselves and for those around us. We also need to remember that we shouldn't just do whatever we want to do. We have to remember that others are watching us for guidance as to how to live as a Christian. We don't want to live in a way that will cause someone else to stumble in his or her walk with the Lord.

What you do could actually even save someone's life. The following story about John and Bill is an example of this: John was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder.

John knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked John discovered the boy's name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, and that he was having lots of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

They arrived at Bill's home first and John was invited for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then John went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice. Then, both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years.

Finally, the long-awaited senior year came and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked John if they could talk. Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, John, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more than that, you saved my life."

Our actions can speak much louder than our words. Please be careful with both your actions and words. You never know who is watching and listening. Help those who are weaker than you are by being a good example for the Lord and sharing the gifts He has given you.

What if we were beginning a fundraiser to put an addition on our church and had a large sign out front announcing our plans. The next week a person from the community came by and dropped off a large check saying they wanted to help us on our project. Then it was brought to our attention that this person owned a store and sometimes sold alcohol to minors. Should we or shouldn't we accept the money?

Or, in another situation, we are having a special service and have invited a well-known politician to speak. It comes to our attention that this person supports some legislation that our church has taken a stand against. Should we still have that person come speak to us?

Both of these examples make it hard to determine what we should do. If we have a strong faith, it may not change our beliefs to use money from someone who has done something that could harm children. Similarly, it may not change our beliefs by having a speaker come talk at our service that has taken a stand different from ours. This too could cause a new Christian to stumble. It doesn't mean we should avoid all conflict but that we need to make sure others know what our beliefs are and how to act in a moral and Christian manor. Thus, we will be an example to help the weak.

Amen.

©Jann Martin 2006