Stumbling Blocks

1 Corinthians 8:9-13 says, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”

Observation: We have a very popular and sometimes controversal passage from Paul. What he is saying is that when you love others you will put the wellbeing of others before your own as Christ did in his life and death. So the discussion becomes what do I do that may cause someone to stumble into sin? And when is it not me causing someone to sin, but perhaps legalism? All good questions. Allow me to use the Bible Knowledge Commentary to clear the air: “The selflessness of Christ was an example for the knowledgeable. If Christ loved this brother so that he was willing to give up His exalted rights and even His life (Phil. 2:6, 8), surely the strong could give up his right to eat such meat.”

Application: There are times in the life of a follower of Jesus that you will have to make a decision to give up something, even if for you it is not wrong, so that someone else will grow in their walk with the Lord. For example, drinking a beer at a restaurant is not a sin in it self. But say you are having a drink at out on the town, and a friend who has been dealing with alcohol sees what you are doing, assumes that since you are doing it, all is good, picks up a drink and falls back into addiction. Is that a sin? I’m not the judge, but go back to what the Bible Knowledge Commentary said: “The selflessness of Christ was an example for the knowledgeable. If Christ loved this brother so that he was willing to give up His exalted rights and even His life (Phil. 2:6, 8), surely the strong could give up his right to eat such meat.”
Prayer: God, let me give up the things that may hinder the spiritual growth of others!