Title : Love!

The citizens of the town of Corinth, two thousand years ago, would have been comfortable living in modern-day USA. A reading of First Corinthians feels like one is reading about every sort of issue that we face, today. Which, of course, proves the Bible verse to be true: there is nothing new under the sun.

Thus, when Paul talks to the Corinthian Christians regarding what they should do about food sacrificed to idols—which is not a particular problem for us—he sets the discussion in a knowledge versus love framework—which is a particular problem for us, as it was for our grandparents, and their grandparents, and for all ages.

The town of Corinth reminds me of the USA, poured into one city. Corinth was a port city, thus there was ongoing trade from the outside world. Because it was a port city, it was filled with merchants and tradesmen. Freed slaves made their way to Corinth, in search of work.

The town was a melting pot of people, so it should not surprise us that it also was a melting pot of religions, philosophies, and superstitions; of languages and cultures.

Corinth is particularly remembered as having been a hotbed of immorality. Prostitution was common and accepted. The rich and philosophical lounged around, discussing the latest ideas, while gorging on the finest foods, even while the poor and hungry were mere feet away.

The smart and rich most certainly thought they were better than the poor and hungry. So, what else is new? It’s a condition which is no different than the racism of whites and blacks. If you have knowledge, and use it to your advantage, and the next guy does not, and he winds up among the disadvantaged, and you look down on him simply because you have succeeded and he has not, how is that any different than people of different colors hating each other simply because of their color? It’s no different. And, it’s no different, today, for us, than it was for Corinth, two thousand years ago.

Paul’s example isn’t specific to us, as we don’t have idol worshipers, who are sacrificing food and then making a feast of those foods. That was a problem for Corinth, because they were new Christians, and the new Christians were old pagans. It was a challenge to leave behind former practices. That also meant leaving friends, who had not been brought to faith in Jesus Christ. It meant changing habits, and changing habits never is easy.

Pagans don’t worry so much about tomorrow, especially if there is a party, tonight. Paganism is the quintessential demonstration of the sinful nature of all human beings: it’s all about me, baby. It’s all about having a good time.

Usually, in our culture, those, who can afford to have a good time, have that quality which was admired by the Corinthians: knowledge. If you succeed in modern America, you either have the smarts, from education, to get the better paying job, or you have the smarts of common knowledge to use your income wisely, so that you have it to spend. Either way, you are not going to find yourself calling a pastor, hoping he has money in his church’s Barnabas Bank, so that you can pay the rent.

Some of the Corinthian Christians thought they were so smart, they could continue the customs of paganism. They thought they could continue to eat food sacrificed to idols. They were smart enough to know what Paul was saying was true: idols are nothing. Therefore, the sacrifice of food was nothing. Therefore, why let good food go to waste?

What they didn’t get, and didn’t spend a moment caring to get, was that not everyone could digest such a thing; not everyone had the smarts to be able to put the two together. Plenty of Christians were horrified at their fellow Christians’ behavior. This caused great division among the Christians. They were divided, because some were exercising their freedom, instead of loving one another.

The more pagan our nation becomes, the more chances we Christians have to divide ourselves. Go back only a generation or so, and you will find that most Christians found gambling to be an awful sin. Now, gambling is widely accepted. But, it is not accepted by all Christians. There are Christians who are horrified at the gambling of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you think any gambling Christians are going to change their practice, because they might be offending their fellow Christians, who don’t have their ability to balance their Christian faith with their having a good time?

There are plenty of Christians who are horrified at their fellow Christians who live together without marriage, who get drunk on a regular basis, who don’t discipline their children with anything resembling the parenting of a generation or so ago, who take or leave Sunday worship as if it is only one thing on the menu for a full and active weekend.

Yet, how many Christians will be concerned to alter behavior, for what Paul would call the weaker Christian? How many, at the suggestion that their behavior is not helping the faith of their fellow Christians, wouldn’t simply reply, "It’s not my problem"? There would be a lot of, "They need to get a life" and "I don’t care about them" responses. That’s simply the way it is in modern, pagan America, even among the Christians.

But, the Holy Spirit had Paul urge the Corinthians with, "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble."

Therefore, if any behavior of yours, which a fellow Christian finds to be pagan, in which you are seen as living an "eat, drink, and be merry" life, makes your brother or sister in Christ stumble, stop your behavior, lest you make your fellow Christian stumble in his faith.

Do you really think that we are fooling God? Jesus wondered if, when He returns, He will find faith on the earth. Looking back a generation or so, can we forecast the Christians of the near future? The answer is obvious, but, collectively, we are yawning. Nothing changes. Apathy reigns. Self-interest rules. Spending money on myself is our number one concern. We are letting the morality of the nation be our teacher’s children, and we are paying for it.

We are bringing up a generation of Bible illiterates. The youngsters, who come through confirmation, don’t know the Bible, because their parents had not been diligent in bringing them to worship or taking them to Sunday School. The youngsters, who attend the church school, disappear—along with their parents—in alarming numbers, once they are confirmed. You, the general population of the church, demonstrate your apathy for the Word of God by ignoring Sunday and Wednesday Bible study, and by allowing outside activities dictate your Sunday habits. More and more, our members are influenced by the behavior of pagans.

All of this behavior is witnessed by your brothers and sisters in Christ, and none of it builds up the congregation, but it sure does tear it down.

Like the Corinthians, you love to exercise your freedom, but you struggle with loving one another. And, despite the Lord being so conscientious of Port Hope, allowing us to have had so many big and graphic tragedies and struggles from which to flee to Him for His love and learn how better to love one another, we are not better for them.

As a whole, you folks are wonderful Americans, but you are terribly average Christians. And, sadly, you’re happy with that.

Yet, the Lord is faithful. Once again, He faithfully calls you back to Himself. Jesus Christ remains your Savior, and for you, who are sorry for your sins, you are forgiven. And, for you, who don’t take your sins too seriously—who will dispense with this sermon as soon as I say amen, the Holy Spirit will continue to prick your conscience, working to bring you to repentance, so that you, too, will possess the forgiveness for which Jesus died.

Thus, once again, I call you to rebathe yourselves in the baptism of your youth, where Jesus’ forgiveness became yours. Once again, I call you to Christ’s altar, to eat and drink of His love for you. Once again, I exhort you, to bask in the love of Jesus Christ so that you desire to live in fervent love for one another; so that, when you see in yourselves a behavior, which might make your brother or sister in Christ stumble in the faith, you use your knowledge of the Word of God to act in love toward your fellow Christian.

The Spirit had Paul write that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. I pray God the Holy Spirit to build you up in the love of Jesus Christ, that you love to build up your brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.