What Can I Do? - 1 Corinthians 8 - 12

Last Sunday I asked you the question… What Should I do? Very simply stated the answer was that you should do what ever God expects you to do. The question before us today is… What Can I do? In one sense of the word, the two answers are the same. You can do what ever God expects you to do. Do you know why this is true? It is true because God has never asked his children to do anything that they should not do. It fact he has made us a promise—and it is that he will never place any task or burden upon us that we are unable to bear so he will never ask us to do anything that we are not capable of doing. We have learned that there are some restrictions that apply specifically to born again Christians. These are actions or deeds that are not sinful to us personally but may cause others to stumble.


Now I want to add a third question to the lesson today; and the question is: “How can you always know what God thinks you should do and what you should believe that you can do?” My answer is very simple but it is one of the most neglected acts that we are expected to do. You must both read and study God’s word. It just so happens that the right answer to ever question we have in life can be found in His word. We really have no excuse not to know the truth. This is so very important when we realize that only the truth is able to set us free.

Paul had witnessed in Corinth and moved on when this problem about eating food that had been sacrificed to [gods, idols] came up and was causing problems. New Christians were being criticized for eating the meat. Now Paul reminds them that there are really no other gods…these are false idols…and sacrificed meat to a god that does not exist has no effect on the meat, therefore there is nothing wrong with eating it. However, he also reminds them that if it causes weak Christians to falter, or unsaved to disbelieve then true believers should abstain from eating the meat that will offend others.

You will note that Paul is saying that true Christians and he knows that the meat is clean and eatable because there simply are no gods. Those that worship false idols do not know the truth and Paul says that Christians should abstain from eating the meat because of their love for the lost ones, and not because they have knowledge that the lost do not have.


I am so thankful that this Sunday school lesson time falls on July 4; which makes this America’s [234th] two hundred and thirty fourth birthday. Allow me to get personal and challenge you to listen carefully to what I have to say. I will be 86 years old on July 22, 2010. That means that I have been alive and kicking for more than [1/3]… more than one third of the time that America has existed!!! I attended public school and college a total of 24 years and worked as teacher and administrator in public education for 34 years. However, the answers I give to a majority of the questions I receive and of the statements that I make are dependent upon the facts of life that I have learned from God’s word which is the same yesterday, today and forever—and not from history books that are continually being rewritten by authors with an ax to grind; some believers, some nonbelievers and some atheist or agnostics.

Having been a history and social studies major, I have a fair knowledge of what has been written in these fields and I know that the American History books that our children are studying today in the public schools and in the nation’s colleges are nothing to compare with the ones written and studied prior to the end of WWII. Unlike God’s word, which never changes, secular writings have changed until it is impossible for us to know what to believe and what to condemn as truth that has been contaminated by liberal thinkers, and people who practice immorality openly. No problem has caused more harm than the differences of opinion we have in America on the subject of separation of church and state.

This problem is so critical that there will be criticism of pastors that lead in patriotic based worship in churches today—and there will be criticism of churches that devote time for Christians to praise God for their religious freedom. If you will check closely you will find that this kind of criticism comes from a group of people that are bent on and determined to remove God’s name from our currency, and prayer and the commandments from public buildings. We will not be worshipping our freedom. We will be worshipping and praising the one that has made our freedom possible. The source of worship comes from deep within the Christian heart; the act of worship expresses our feelings openly but the OBJECT of our worship is most important of all—Almighty God. To God be all the glory and praise for all our blessings, including liberty.

In chapter 9, Paul is discussing the rights of an apostle because some of the problems in the new church were caused by some who were questioning Paul’s apostleship. At first sight this chapter may seem disconnected from no. 8 which dealt with what Christians can do and what they should do—but it is not. Here is the point—some of the Corinthians who thought they were more mature argued that they could eat meat that had been sacrificed to the idols because they had the knowledge to know that there were no idols pertaining to the true God. Paul said they should not do this. Now he is an apostle and has a right to demand that the church take care of him financially, but he does not demand that they do so. He works and makes his own way, even though he is a disciple.

He makes two arguments on behalf of his apostleship. One is used by all the apostles. He saw the Lord with his own eyes. The Acts makes it clear that this is the supreme test regarding proof of apostleship…see Acts 1: 22 2:32 3:15 and 4: 33. Have you noticed that faith in the New Testament seldom acquiescence in a creed but it almost always names a person of trust. So it is here with Paul; he does not brag about what he believes—he says I know in whom I have believed. When Christ called the other disciples, he did not offer his thoughts, tell them his plan, give them a philosophy to examine—he simply said “follow me. All Christianity starts from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you two have a personal relationship?

Paul’s second argument is that he not only knows Christ but he [Paul] has been effective and successful in his work with and for Him. He reminds them that they [the Corinthian Church] are the living proof of his success. It is clear here that Paul brags about his making his own living and that he did not receive pay from anyone in this city with a heavy Greek population. He was a tent maker by trade and would not accept free room and board or pay from church members.

Paul did not accept money for his working for Christ. He regarded it as his privilege. He regarded his preaching as a duty. He did not choose preaching…God chose him as an apostle and that he could not charge for work God told him to do. He received no payment but he acknowledged that he received a great reward daily. Paul spoke of his method of ministry as of becoming all things to all men. He surely did not mean that he was hypocritically one thing to one person and then something else to a second person. But as we would say he was able to walk along beside any man and help him with his problems.

It is too bad that the Corinthian members were not arguing about a problem that had arisen between church and state in his day—may be he would have given us a clearly defined answer for our problem in America today. God bless America! And you!