>> Jen: Hey, Good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. My name is Jen, and I'm so happy that you're here to share a delicious cup of coffee with me. Or a not so delicious cup of tea. We're going to be finishing up first uh, 1 Corinthians 10. Let's go ahead and read 1st uh, 1 Corinthians 10:14 through 33. We'll finish up this chapter. Grab your cup of coffee or your cup of tea. Also your Bible in the version that you
prefer. But I'll be reading from the web. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn't it a sharing of the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf of bread. We who are many are, uh, one body, for we all partake of the one loaf of bread. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don't those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? What am I
saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to god. And I don't desire that you would have fellowship with demons. You can't both partake of the table of the LORD and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the LORD to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but not
all things build up. Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor's good. Whatever is sold in the butcher shop, eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience. For the earth is the Lord's and its fullness. But if one of those who doesn't believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for the sake of conscience. But if anyone says to you, this was offered to idols, don't eat it for the sake of the one who told
you, and for the sake of conscience. For the earth is the Lord's with all its fullness. Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's conscience. For why is my liberty judged by another conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced for something I give thanks for? Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God. give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God, even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.
On Tuesday, the first portion of first uh, 1 Corinthians 10, Paul talked about the history of Israel and all of the idolatry that they partook in, and also why Christians nowadays are not that much different than ancient Israelites that were wandering around the wilderness. Paul goes into how their idolatry and their lusts are the same things that you and I feel nowadays. So after speaking about idolatry, he talks about an idolatry that is very common in his
day and age. So he starts in verse 14, Therefore, my beloved flee from idolatry. Then he says, I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say. And this is funny, because this is Paul actually quipping at the uh, Corinthians again, because the Corinthian Christians believed themselves to be very wise and they could do whatever they wanted because God's grace was sufficient for them and that they had all the answers to all the
questions. So Paul once again sort of makes fun of the fact that the uh, 1 Corinthians truly believe that they are like the wisest Christians on the planet. And he's like, I speak as to wise men, so judge what I say. It's funny, you know, you miss things like this when you don't read the full context of first uh, 1 Corinthians or of the Bible. You'll miss little things like this. That's why it's so important to read the entire Bible, not just a verse here and
there. So he continues, the cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a sharing of the blood of Christ and the bread which we break, isn't it a sharing of the body of Christ? Now, of course, Paul here is talking about communion, and this would be the communion that you and I to this day still experience at church. Now, of course, our communion is a little bit different than the days of Paul because we go to a church building and do,
like, corporate communion. Whereas in the days of Paul, people would go to, like, house churches and perform communion there. And they might gather in, like, one big location for services and stuff like that. But for the most part, communion was done in homes. So it's a little bit different nowadays. But the whole premise of what Paul is saying
here is exactly the same. The whole idea of communion is to remember Jesus, because when we take the bread into our mouth and we chew it, we are reminded that that is like Jesus body that we crushed. You know, we killed him, we put him up on the Cross. But then when we take the cup of juice and drink that, we are reminded that even though we crushed Jesus body, His sacrifice cleansed us from all of that. Because the juice, you know, it's a representation of Jesus blood.
And it's also very refreshing after you eat a, uh, just a dry piece of bread that represents Jesus body. But the point of communion is to remember Jesus sacrifice and what he did for us, but also to partake in fellowship with all of our fellow believers. Paul says in verse 17, because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf of bread. In other words, we are all sharing in this communion meal together. And this shows
the unity of the church. But then Paul takes it back to the Old Testament, which he often does. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don't those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? So a long time ago in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus, God commanded the Israelites to bring sacrifices in a very specific way because the people were already bringing sacrifices, but they weren't doing it the right way. So god lays out the correct way to bring him
sacrifices. So Deuteronomy 12, 17, 18 talks about the sacrifices and how the people are to bring them and how the people are also supposed to eat them after they give part of the animal as a sacrifice to God. It says Deuteronomy 12:17. You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. Instead, you are to eat them in
the presence of the LORD your God. at the place the LORD your god will choose you, your sons, your daughters, your male and your female servants, and the Levites from your towns. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your god in everything you put your hand to. So when the Israelites brought sacrifices to god, part of the meat would go home with them. But God put a, uh, rule in place as to where and when the Israelites were supposed to
eat that meat. God wanted the Israelites to actually eat that meat in his presence, meaning that God wanted to be there when the people were eating this food. He wanted to fellowship with them. And we know that food specifically is a huge way that people fellowship with each other. You know, I just went out to lunch with a friend a couple days ago. I'm grabbing coffee with a friend today, actually. So whenever we hang out with People, it almost always
includes food. I can't think of a time that I've ever hung out with somebody that it did not include food at some point in time. Like, there's always food involved because food is how we fellowship. God understood this. God wanted to fellowship with the Israelites and have them eat that meat in his presence. So Paul is using this as an example. He says, consider Israel. Didn't those who eat the sacrifices
participate in the altar? Meaning there is a religious aspect to them bringing their offering, taking that meat home, eating it with their family, and also fellowshiping with god at the same time. Of course, there was a huge religious aspect to all of that. So Paul says, since there is a religious aspect to eating sacrifices, you have to be careful as to whom that meat was sacrificed to. He says, what am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an
idol is anything? He's like, look, I'm not saying that idols are anything. I don't believe that they are anything. And other places in scripture back up that idols are basically nothing. If you go to Isaiah 46, 5, 7, here's what it says, to whom? And this is God speaking, to whom. Will you compare me and consider my equal, and compare me as if I were the same? Some pour out gold from the bag and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a, ah, goldsmith, and he
makes it into a god. Then they fall down and yes, they worship. They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it cannot answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble. So God Himself said, these idols are literally nothing. You know, somebody takes some gold, takes it to a goldsmith, makes it into a little idol or a big
idol, and then what happens? They have to carry the idol home on their shoulders. They put it on a stand in their home, and then it sits there forever because it can't do anything other than just sit there. It is literally just a piece of gold. And then people are falling down and worshiping and crying out to this piece of gold that cannot answer them and cannot help them. That's God Himself saying that idols are literally
nothing. Then if you go to Psalm 115, it says in verses two through eight, why do the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, Noses but cannot smell. They have hands, but they cannot feel feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound
with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. Once again, idols are nothing. They're literally just scrap wood, pieces of material that have been formed to look like an animal or a human or an object of some sort. And yet people worship these things, and they literally can't do anything to save them. So Paul says, I am not saying that idols have any kind of power whatsoever. That is not what I'm saying here.
All I am saying, verse 20. The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to god. And I don't desire that you would have fellowship with demons. So Paul says, yes, idols technically are nothing, but the Gentiles are worshiping these idols, and they are giving glory to demons through the worship of these idols. And Scripture also backs this up. If you go to Leviticus, chapter 17. Once again, this is God speaking.
He says, they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to goat idols or demons or field spirits in which they have played the prostitute. This shall be a permanent statute for them throughout
their generations. Now, of course, God speaking to the Israelites here, he's saying, stop worshiping these goat idols and demons and field spirits that you're worshiping, because even though the idol itself is literally nothing, by sacrificing to that idol, you are actually giving glory to a demon that is behind the inception, I suppose, of that idol. Paul's saying the same thing in First uh, 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. He says, yes, these idols are nothing, but the Gentiles think they are
something. And the Gentiles are sacrificing to them. And because they're sacrificing to them, they're giving glory to demons instead of to god. So Paul says, flee from this. Flee from this type of idolatry, because I don't desire that you would have fellowship with demons. Obviously, nobody wants fellowship with. Well, maybe some people do, but Christians certainly do not want fellowship with demons. Then Paul says in verse 21, you can't both drink the cup of the LORD and the cup of demons.
You can't partake both of the table of the LORD and of the table of demons. Are m you going to provoke the LORD to jealousy? Are you stronger than he is? Now, what Paul is talking about here is a very specific type of feast that used to happen in Corinth. They were called temple restaurants, and food sacrificed idols. So apparently Corinth, which had 12 different temples dedicated
to, uh, specific idols. Several of them actually had restaurants inside of them where people could go and eat the food that was dedicated to the idols and then, like, fellowship with each other. It was almost like a Sunday potluck for idol worship. And this was very common
across the Roman empires. I didn't know this, but, yeah, the temples, a lot of them had restaurants inside of them where the food blessed by, uh, pagan priests would be offered to the guests that come in and pay for that particular food. So apparently, the uh, 1 Corinthians were going to these idol restaurants and eating there. And Paul's like, what are you doing? You can't. No, you're not supposed to do that. And the uh, 1 Corinthians
are probably like, well, why not? Just a few chapters ago, Paul, you said that we could eat meat that was blessed by the pagan priests. So what's the difference? What does it matter if I go to the temple and eat at the restaurant? Well, that brings us back to what, uh, Paul said in verse 18. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don't those who eat the sacrifices participate in the
altar? And then before that, Paul was talking about communion, how we're all participating in the remembrance of Jesus by eating the communion meal together. So anybody who eats a religious meal, whether it's communion or the Israelites, uh, in the Old Testament, eating the fellowship offerings, or the people of Paul's day going to the idol restaurants and eating the idol food, all of these people, in a way, are participating in a
religious ceremony. So Paul says, yes, you can eat meat that has been sold to a butcher shop and take it home and cook it up and give it to your family, because you're not partaking in, like, a religious ceremony. But if you go specifically to a temple that is dedicated to Aphrodite or something, and you. And you eat at that restaurant where all the food has been blessed by the pagan priests. And, you know, this, like, weird prayer goes along with it. Yes, you are actually participating in idol
worship. So the uh, 1 Corinthians didn't understand this. They thought, yeah, well, Paul said we could eat meat that was blessed by idols. So that means that we can go to, like, a religious ceremony at a temple. And Paul's like, no, that's not what I was saying. Then he says, you can't both drink the cup of the LORD and the cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table of the LORD and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke
the LORD to jealousy? So Paul wraps this whole thing up with this cannot serve two masters. You cannot eat from the table of the demons and also eat from the table of the LORD. And I mean, this verse is a very crucial verse in today's day and age, where so many people are both eating from the Lord's table. You know, going to church on Sunday, participating in communion, but then throughout the week doing things that would be considered idol worship.
So we have to be very careful about that because we might provoke the LORD to jealousy, is what verse 22 says. And we don't want to provoke the LORD to jealousy, just as we don't want to provoke our spouses to jealousy by, you know, flirting with other people or something like that. Because that's just going to make our, uh, spouse extremely unhappy. It's going to potentially destroy the marriage. It's just going to cause so many
problems, and you don't want to do that. So in the same way, you don't want to provoke god to jealousy because he loves you so much and he has just a strong affection for you that if you start worshiping other things while still saying, like, hey, God, I'm worshiping you, that is going to provoke Him to jealousy. And of course, He's kind and He's loving, and He gives chance after chance, even
if you're provoking Him to jealousy. But ultimately, if we claim, if we made a vow that we are going to worship god, if we got baptized saying, yes, God, I'm going to worship you, and yet we are also doing things that would be considered idol, uh, worship, then we broke our vow to God. To Conclude, in verses 23 through 33, Paul once again quotes, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but not all things build
up. Apparently the uh, 1 Corinthians really had this belief that everything was lawful for them because they recovered by God's grace. So because they had God's grace, they could basically do nothing wrong. So Paul's like, okay, you believe all things are lawful for you, but guess what? Not all things are profitable for you. You believe all things are lawful for you, but not all things encourage you. So let no one seek his own, but each one
his neighbor's good. So humble yourselves and think about other people and other people's spiritual walks specifically. Then to really nail the point home once again, he says, whatever is sold in the butcher shop, you can eat and you don't have to ask questions for the sake of your conscience. For the earth is the Lord's and its fullness. So in other Words. If something is in the meat market, you go in, it might be blessed by a pagan priest, whatever.
Take it home, grill it up, give it to your family. It does not matter. It's just a hunk of meat. But you shouldn't go to the temple restaurants. And also, he says, if you are invited to a friend's house and that friend is not a Christian, they invite you to a meal, you decide you want to go. You also have the freedom to eat whatever is set before you, even if that person went and bought blessed meat. If you don't know about where that meat came from,
it doesn't matter. You can eat it. But Paul says, but if your friend tells you, hey, this meat that I just gave you, this was blessed by the priest at, uh, the temple of Demeter, Paul says, don't eat the meat and tell your friend why. Tell your friend, hey, I'm not comfortable eating this meat because, you know, because I'm a Christian and I worship Yahweh, and so I don't want to eat this particular meat that was blessed by your god, Demeter. And Paul says, you're not doing that for yourself.
It's not for your conscience that you do that, but you're actually doing that for the sake of your friend, because that kind of gives you an opening and an opportunity to spread your faith to your friend. Now, if your friend says nothing about the meat, it doesn't matter. Go ahead and eat it. But if your friend makes specific acknowledgement that that meat was blessed by their god, then that is when you say, hey, you know, I'm not comfortable eating this particular meat. I'm very
sorry about that. And you explain to your friend why that is. So Paul says in verse 31, whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. That's one of the most famous verses in the entire Bible, like right behind John, uh, 3, 16. I feel like this is the one I always remember learning as a kid. Whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So even something as simple as eating food, we should be doing it with
a thankful heart. We should be doing it giving glory to god. So you might be like, well, how does this entire passage, you know, really talk about today? Because we don't have meat that is blessed by idols anymore. Well, no, but we have plenty of other idols. I mean, food itself actually can become an idol. I'd say that that's actually a very big idol in a lot of people's lives, including myself. And I didn't realize how much of an idol food was until I got on this particular diet.
And yeah, I have a huge problem with food that I did not even realize that I had. I was making an idol out of food because I love tasty food, I love eating, I love cooking, I love doing everything with food and that became an idol. So when we sit down to eat, we shouldn't be idolizing our food itself, but we should be giving thanks to God and doing everything to the glory of God. Then in verse 32 and 33 give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews or to Greeks,
or to the assembly of God. even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many that they may be saved. Thanks so much faithful listeners for tuning in to today's episode. If you would like to become a member and gain access to tomorrow's episode, then please check out KO Fi, which is linked in the description of this episode. Because tomorrow I have a separate podcast
for members only. We are going through the Book of Psalms on the Friday podcast, but of course I'll also see you guys on Monday for an episode from First Kings. Once again, I hope you all have a fantastic and wonderful weekend. Happy listening and God bless. Mhm.