Love Builds Up

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

1 Corinthians 8:1

Last Wednesday was an amazing day! I had worked up some extra hours at the office, including a Saturday morning, and had enough to take the day off to escape to Lake Louise. Just me, my skis and the mountains. While that, in and of itself, was a spectacular experience, I want write about what happened during the car ride home and at 20's Worship that evening.

One of the coolest things about having an iPod is that I can load a whole shwack of sermons onto it and engage my audio-learning mind while driving or running or doing other mentally mundane tasks. On my way home from Lake Louise, I listened to Joshua Harris' message on 1 Corintians 8:1. Now, sacrificing food to idols is not something that happens a whole lot in the 21st century in Canada, but the parallels hit quite close to home.

Eating food sacrificed to idols in the culture of Paul's day was quite common place. It seems that some Christians saw that those idols were nothing, so "sacrificing" food to them meant nothing and eating that food was no big deal. Other Christians didn't make that connection or had a background such that idol sacrifices was a big deal and for them. That second group of Christians viewed eating that food as sin. Paul's point was that the knowledge that the idol sacrifice was actually meaningless would tend to "puff up" those who had that knowledge. Love, on the other hand would build up. So, despite the fact that eating food sacrificed to idols was "permissible" (1 Corinthians 6:12), if our indulgence in such a pleasure caused trouble for a fellow believer, we are called to love that person and parade about our so called "right" to eat that food.

Now that's just a very brief summary, and I would recommend that you give it a listen. That message was enough to get me thinking about what things I feel I have the "right" to do that other Christians perceive as off-limits. When I got to 20's Worship, Pastor Steve was talking about the same thing! He based his message off of a different passage in 1 Corinthians (which I can't recall), but the key point was the same: there are some gray areas in morality about which honest Christians disagree. These gray areas are not topics like murder or adultery, but things like alcohol consumption, dancing, secular music and the like.

Now, the fact that I heard two people give nearly the same message on the same day may just be coincidence, but I'm going to assume that God was trying to tell me something or at least get me to think about some things. Here are a few topics that came to mind:

• Alcohol consumption
  I think I'm pretty clear where I stand on this one. It doesn't bother me too much if friends have an appropriate amount of alcohol in a controlled setting and are smart about their driving habits afterwards. On the other hand, I can totally see why some people would dry a line in the sand and say no to alcohol anytime. I rarely have any, but that's manly because I don't like the taste or I'm too cheap. Clearly, getting drunk and losing one's inhibitions is sinful, but there is a lot of gray area in the middle and I can respect people wherever they are on that spectrum. Praise God that he has given me grace there!

• Skiing/biking/hiking etc time/money spent
  Well, this one hits pretty close to the heart doesn't it? I have to be honest about the fact that I spend a lot of my resources and time on my past times. I'm passionate about them. I love them. Yet, while I do draw nearer to God when I do them and they make me really happy, they can become quite inward focused. My idea of a spectacular bike ride is me, my bike, mile after mile of single track and no bears. There's not a lot of "love you neighbor" involved and it's true that the money that I spend on that bike could have been used to feed the starving masses in Africa.
  I suspect that some Christians would feel that my expenditures are uncalled for. I am comfortable with them though realize that I should keep an eye on them and make sure that I still give the money God asks for to the appropriate ministry.
  
  
• Yoga
  Now, here's something where I fall on the other side of the fence. I'm really uncomfortable with Yoga. I know that some Christians can, but I just can't get over the fact that it's deeply rooted in Eastern Religions. I might also be put off by the overly awkward positions in Yoga and the fact that I'm on the stiff side of the flexibility scale. I must remember to give other Christians the benefit of the doubt in this area. Christ can redeem anything, including bizarre stretches.
  
  
• Poker
  This is one where I'm not really sure where I fall. Poker has always had a negative stigma in my mind and I must admit that I haven't really given it much thought. I've heard two main arguments against poker. First, if you play with real money, it's gambling, which can be dangerous. The other is that it is basically a exercise in deceiving the other players. Thinking back, I'm not sure that the deception argument is that strong. Deception is part of football (play action pass), soccer (fake one way, hit the ball the other) and most active sports. It's also part of other benign card games like hearts or cribbage. So long as you all go into the game expecting deception, have fun and shake hands at the end I guess don't really see a problem with it. So, with the caveat to keep a watchful eye on the gambling side of it, perhaps poker is something that I should give a bit more grace too.

Clearly, these issues can go either way, and the point of bringing all this up, isn't the issues themselves. The point is that Christians on either side of the fence on these issues need to extend grace and love to one and other rather than judgment. Sometimes that will mean giving up activities we are comfortable with and sometimes that will mean respecting those who engage in activities that we aren't comfortable with.

Abraham, Henry and Steve

The last two times I have set foot in a Centre Street service (both Sunday and Wednesday), the pastor has spoken about the life of Abraham. Here are some neat things gleaned from those messages and from my own reading of the story.

• It would seem that God's selection of Abraham was fairly arbitrary. The Call of Abram in Genesis 12 simply starts out with God telling Abram (later called Abraham) to leave his country and go to a place that God would tell him about later. At that point, all we know about the man is some basic family relationships.
  
  Unlike Noah, who was chosen by God to man the ark on account of his righteousness (Genesis 6:9), Abram was just chosen and no reason is given. In fact, we see on a number of occasions that Abram wasn't righteous. He lied to the Egyptians about his wife Sarai; he slept with Haggar, etc.
  
  So why did God pick Abram to bless all nations? The only reason I can come up with is because He can. God has that sovereign right.
  
  The good news is that, as believers, He has chosen to bless us! It truly does not matter what state God finds us in; he wants to bless us. God's ways are higher than ours and they don't always make sense in the moment. However, His ways are good and He knows what He's doing. We can trust that what He chooses is the very best, when it is all said and done.
  
  
• Pastor Steve made a very interesting observation about the location of Isaac's near sacrifice and Christ's ultimate sacrifice. If you compare Genesis 22:2:
  

  Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

  with 2 Chronicles 3:1:
  

  Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah,

  you can see that the site where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac was later to be Jerusalem, the site where Christ was sacrificed on the cross hundreds of years later. In both instances, God provided the lamb. Also, as Abraham demonstrated that he feared God by not withholding even his one and only son (Genesis 22:12), God has demonstrated His love for us for giving us His only son (John 3:16).
  
  
• Moving back a little now, when God called Abram, He didn't tell Abram all the steps that he needed to take along the entire path. He just said "Leave your country, I will tell you the details later" (Genesis 12:1, paraphrased). That's a real tough one for me. I love having a plan. Typically, I have my schedule laid out down to the hour for the next 2 or 3 days. But, when God called Abram, He just said go.
  
  A plan is always a good idea and being intentional about life is really important. But, there will always be adjustments to that plan and our intentions don't always result in fruit. God tends to show us only far enough ahead so that we can take the next step. I think He does it that was so that we will cling all the more tightly to Him. That is so tough. That takes a lot of faith.
  
  I'm at a point in my life where I really don't have a specific plan. I have an idea about the big picture (honour God through my career, move towards a Christ-centered marriage, etc.), but like never before, the details escape me so I must press in to the heart of God. It's scary! But, it's an adventure!
  
  
• Last one! A neat point from Pastor Henry's message was about the nature of Abraham's faith. His faith was not perfect: he messed up a number of times. However, Abraham kept pressing on. He persisted in his faith and God "credited it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).
  
  As believers, our faith in Christ is not perfect. However, if we believe in Christ and persist in that belief, God will give us His righteousness as well (Romans 3:22).
  
  Also, God didn't ask Abram to make the big steps of faith, like sacrificing his son, first. God brought Abram through a series of small steps. First, God asks him to leave his country, but take all your things with you, then God promises a son, then God asks him to sacrifice his son. Faith is kind of like a muscle. You have to exercise it for it to become strong.

The Art of Losing Myself

There are few things more satisfying than being completely spent accomplishing something worthwhile. That's the feeling I get after a solid bike ride or a scramble up a mountain or a good run. My muscles are burning, my throat is sore from heaving breathing and I'm soaked in my own sweat. MMmmmm. The glory of the moment is the view at the top and the adrenaline rush, but the lasting joy is knowing that I conquered lethargy and pain.

The temptation in our world of pleasure and convenience to let ourselves go to waste sitting on a couch. I've been given an amazing machine in my body and I want to get the most out of it. The irony is, of course, that subjecting it to a great deal of pain and anguish is exactly what it needs become stronger and truly satisfied.

I think there's a spiritual connection to be made here too. A song that has been dear to my heart now for nearly a year is "From The Inside Out" by Hillsong United. The line that really does it for me is this:

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In giving you praise

It's as we expend the energy in our bodies that it is most satisfied, in a God-honouring way. It's as we lose ourselves spiritually that God is glorified and praise.

This is backed-up by the word of Jesus in Matthew 10:39 (NIV):

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Grabbing on to easy pleasures will get us nowhere. It's only as we expend ourselves that we truly find life. It makes me wonder what God is calling me to sacrifice for Him. I pray that He would show me and that I would have the courage to follow.