Illustration: Setting up the problem - the letter from Corinth
Dear Paul,

Next, we have something that sounds kind of silly. As you may remember, we have a lot of temples in Corinth, and the two main ways of sacrifice are sex with a temple prostitute and offering up the finest foods to the idols. It's big business here. The fat priests eat as much as they can, and then sell what meat they can't eat in the marketplace. Some of the merchants even market their meat as "offered to the gods" and charge a higher price, but most of the meat just sells alongside the other meat that is sold each day.

All of us here at the church at Corinth possess knowledge of God's grace saving us from idolatry - imagine that we could have been so stupid as to bow down to stone and wooden objects! But now, all of us possess knowledge of what is right, all of us have knowledge that an idol is nothing, just a lifeless form … all of us, that is, except some of us. Alethia and Armethus came in the other day in tears feeling so guilty. We thought that they had done some grave deed like harming someone or returning to the temple prostitutes.

Do you know what their loud cries and sobs were all about? They had eaten some of the meat in the marketplace that had been offered to idols hoping it would give them spiritual strength, then they felt so guilty about it! We all looked at each other and then burst out laughing, and then we felt badly. We explained to them that, no matter what a priest does in the temple, food carries no spiritual component with it - we are not worse off if we don't eat meat offered to an idol; we're not better off if we do. Food is just that - simply food. We were wondering if we as leaders should go down to the marketplace and buy our meat down there just to demonstrate to these new believers that it is ok to do so. What do you think?

1. Watch the Know-It-All Mentality vv. 1-3
Knowledge puffs up - don't belittle, make them little
Love builds up - make them big

2. Idols Have No Spiritual Component vv 4-6 (see also 10:20)
Demons want idolatry, so they will mimic an idol (make a graven image and call it Keesha, pray to it and watch what the demons do) or mimic an ancestor

3. Acting With a Clean Conscience is Critical vv 7-8
The conscience of the natural person outside of Christ is programmed by natural law (innate rules of right and wrong) and social rules (the things we are taught are horrible, bad, not the best, ok, good, wonderful and the best). Most social rules are right, some are wrong, depending of the influence God's people have had on that culture.

When a new believer has come to Christ, he is not just running to God but away from his or her old life. There is a tendency to become super-sensitive to sin, and to be very fearful that he or she will fall back into the old way. Thus, they may tend toward setting up fear-based rules to keep them away from sinning. Over time, they need to learn - that walking with Christ is quite simple. Obeying God's Rules boils down to obeying the Holy Spirit, who will lead you to love God foremost, and to love others as ourselves, and will always keep you right in line with Scripture.

The problem is that some new believers go to Bible school or seminary and become pastors or educators without ever having moved on to the simplicity that is in Christ. They don't trust the work of the Spirit in other's lives; they must help the process, so they set up rules for dress, for hair, for music, for entertainment, for activities on Sunday, etc.

Motivations To Do Right

• Love & respect for God
• Love & respect for others
• Love & respect for authority
• It is the right thing to do
• Fear of the consequences

4. Your Liberty is Limited By Another's Weakness vv 9-13
As believers, we desire to please the Lord fully through holiness and devotion to His will. But godly people will differ on personal conduct (music, education, dress, dancing, etc.) based on their understanding of the Scriptures.