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00:00:01 The Gospel reading for this morning is taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 8 1 Corinthians chapter 8 now about food sacrifice to Idols we know that we all possess knowledge knowledge puffs up but love builds up the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know but the man who loves God is known by God so then about eating food sacrifice to Idols we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one for even if there are so-called Gods whether in heaven or on
00:00:43 Earth as indeed there are many gods and many lords yet for us there's there is but one God the father from whom all things came and for whom we live and there is but one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things came and through whom we live but not everyone knows this some people are still so accustomed to Idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol and since their conscience is weak it is defiled but food does not bring us near to God for we are no worse if we do
00:01:23 not eat and no better if we do be careful however that the exercise of your free Freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak for if anyone with a weak conscience sees you have this knowledge eating in an Idol's Temple won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to Idols so this weak brother for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge when you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience you sin against Christ therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin I
00:02:05 will never eat meat again so that I will not cause him to fall this is the word of God good morning [Music] church right so um next week uh William me will be preaching on the next chapter which is chapter n the gospel and our rights followed by our Elder Arnold Lim gospel and gender identity and then the parable of unrighteous manager Brandon Wong who is one of our new preachers who we're field testing just like Vincent happened a couple of weeks ago so I hope that keep him in prayer as he prepares
00:02:50 for this uh task um so today we're going to be dealing with a very unusual topic how many of you you before we start are in a situation where you have to struggle with food offered to Idols can you put your hands up maybe I can see nobody nobody only one and that's Brian my goodness in America food offered to Idols are we talking about Chick-fil-A or well I I think uh well it's not just about food offer the idols it's about all the things in the gray zone so let's start with a word of prayer father Lord
00:03:34 we ask this morning that you guide us to understand this very crucial piece of scripture that is required to guide us in almost every area of Our Lives we ask for Jesus sake amen so the gospel in an idolatrous culture stumbling blocks or building blocks we can have a decision to do either in our lives now if you look at the landscape of our nation our country this is our landscape twin towers and the first thing that stricks you this dominates our culture it's materialism shopping same with Singapore
00:04:15 so this is our best of brightest but if you go back in time 2,000 years ago to the Corinthian culture they don't have Maria Marina Sans Bay they have temples these a temple of Apollo on top of the acro Corin right at the top also temples everywhere you look it's temples temples temples all right and that is the entire landscape you can't escape so it's a culture in which you are immersed where you when you become a Christian it's so difficult to exate yourself from that and temples are associated with idolatry
00:04:54 and they've got hundreds of gods and the thing about here is the food offered to Idols whenever you go to the temple there's a cultic meal wherever they go their religion is Macan and and and and you know for most poor people they hardly ever get a chance to have meat and the only time they might have meet is actually at the temple where they participate in the worship session there and then they get the piece of meat and there's evidence from archaeology that there are a lot of restaurants which are
00:05:29 attached to the temple just like a globe Cafe right they've got plenty of globe cafes and you can't escape eating the meat in a restaurant without being near the premises of the temple so you got the temple Celtic meal and then not only that after the temple the food has been offered to the idols then they gets distributed to the marketplace and the marketplace they sell the meat maybe offered to Idols at a discounted rate I don't know but you can't find a situation where you won't get food or meat on the marketplace
00:06:06 without it having been offered in the temple so you live in this situation it's very difficult and even for professionals you have the Guild of Carpenters or lawyers most of the meetings are also in the temple and then you get to McAn this food so the gospel in an idolatrous culture I now concerning food offered to this is a topic that spans a few chapters it is an argument which Paul puts out over three chapters not just one so if you're taking one you get a skewed idea you got to take the whole
00:06:42 three chapters in consideration so chapter 8 talks about people loving knowledge don't stumble weaker Christians as they were weaker is in inverted commers uh chapter n which William will be preaching on next week talks about about true Liberty which is actually sacrificing our rights for the sake of the gospel for others and number nine is right down to the Crux dealing with the Temptation that actually comes with idolatry that actually comes with uh going to the temple having the CTIC meal right so what of the relevance today
00:07:20 some people actually tell me to advise the Chinese not to offer food offer take the food offer the temple is not to eat the food in ancestor worship May implicitly advise them that they are not loving their parents or their grandparents and they not practicing love and ultimately they're not Chinese or in Brian's case not American uh I remember growing up with this we had a large family and my uh father has is one out of 14 siblings and every time you go to Chinese New Year invariably all the food there will be
00:07:57 offered to Idols they be sitting there and then the Flies will come around and my grandmother tell me the Flies represent the spirits so if the fly lands on your piece of meat better eat that because you're participating with the spirits and that's something that I had to struggle with as a young Christian in those days I can see many of you this doesn't happen anymore but the issue is widen dep because John says you are not of this world and I chose you out of this world how are we in the world but
00:08:28 not of the world and there's so many things that are in the gray zone for example dancing is that okay for a Christian to dance I grew up uh having become a Christian at the age of 17 and in those days in the Brethren Church we we look the elders would look of frown upon dancing if you go to the Disco you are a non-Christian all right and then for many many years whenever I look at I mean I've only been to this this go one time in my entire life one time and I became deaf from that so every time you you see dancing you think
00:09:10 oh my God you know they're all sinning and horrible is affects you but it's dancing wrong I mean that's why you see the way I dance is horrible the unforgettable we had a concert the other day and I for brief moment I let Temptation overtake me and I let go a few moves and somebody videotaped it and send it to my wife who then circulated for the whole world to see that I dance like a duck all right but you know uh my moment of weakness what was that an ungodly act what about social media that is that morally neutral it
00:09:48 can be or you can be part of an idolatrous culture what about shopping it and all the best malls about TRX the latest one is that immoral what about ming m movies I'm sure some of you the older folk were brought up in church in those days they will tell you if you watch a movie it is immoral and then they started to have all this grading PG m r the RS are immoral the pgs are okay until they introduce certain themes nowadays even PG is not safe all right so uh what about drinking alcohol somebody mentioned alcohol the other day
00:10:25 and everybody gets in a bit of a ruffle head hair ruffle because alcohol is it right to drink alcohol even in church premises so these are all gray zones so today Paul is going to give us some principles to for us to navigate every area of our life because many of these things are not stated in scripture right the gospel in an idolatrous culture there are four points the passage makes knowledge alone cannot be the sole basis of action different people have different levels of knowledge and conscience people are stumbled by
00:11:02 imitating our Behavior but not having our conscience the gospel gives us the true situational Insight balancing freedom and Truth in love now let's start off with knowledge now concerning food offer to Idols we know that all of us possess Idols sorry not Idols knowledge this knowledge puffs up but love builds up there are two groups of people there one the strong let put the inverted commers in the strong are they really strong let's have a look therefore as to the eating of food offered to Idols we know that an idol
00:11:40 has no real existence so what is they're saying is that Idol is nothing is just bit of clay or glass it's actually nothing at all and that there's no God but one for although there may be so-called gods in Heavens or on Earth indeed there are many gods and many lords yet for us Christian there's only one God father from whom all things and for whom we exist and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things and through whom we exist so what the strong is saying no problem going to the temple and eating the meat there because
00:12:16 the meat is offered to a piece of clay and the piece of clay actually is not a God so I don't think there's an issue because it's morally neutral so you can go to the temple you can eat whatever you like e second helping third helping better still all right now now if you take this passage on its own then you would have seen the strong are the clever ones right but if you fast forward which John will be preaching on into chapter 10 he is saying that he changed his story he says no I imply what pagans
00:12:52 offer sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God I don't want you to be participants with demons you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons you cannot partake on the table of the Lord and the table of demons shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy are we stronger than him so on one hand at chapter eight he says nothing or these Idols they're just made of clay they repr you know you're just eating meat offered to a piece of clay but in chapter 10 he goes deeper it is the motive with which you partake the
00:13:26 cultic meals the pagans take the cultic meat and they sacrifice to demons and if you sit down it's just that the Lord supper you sit down and participate in the bread and a wine you're sitting down and participating in a worship religious ceremony that implies you worship the demons so this strong are using this as rationalization it may apply to some or it may apply to all Paul doesn't tell us but he looks into their motive then the weak inverted conomus the weak all right the weak are like you know some of like me
00:14:04 you see dancing horrible I won't go right uh not all possess this knowledge some though for the former associate with Idols eat food as really offered to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled so here we're talking about another group in the church who were brought up in the temple and as far back as they could remember the of the meat offered to Idols is part of the worship right so now that you become a Christian you can't erase that memory you know your DNA is so transformed that
00:14:42 whenever you see the cultic meal being taken it means worship to Idols but if you're a Christian you're freed from all this you're absolutely free so you go in Temple but the moment somebody eats that meat offered to Idols in your back of your mind you think oh he's worshiping right he doesn't think that this piece of meat is just a piece of meat and the idols a piece of clay he Associates with it but the problem with him is that when he sees the Elders of the church go to the temple Mill and they wall up the
00:15:22 wagu beef and and or whatever the elders tell them oh W you beef W you beef and the give I take it's nothing is it all these Idols now that's a strong reason because morally neutral I can do it but his conscience whatever it takes to meet he's actually acting against his conscience because in his mind although he has this idea which the stronger one has told him that this is nothing when he takes it he feels condemned therefore he sins and he falls so you got two groups of people they eat the same wagu
00:16:02 beef one set feels great one set feels guilty and the difference between them is knowledge or or another word rationalization knowledge is power everybody knows that uh in under Greek culture uh wisdom is truth about the world and our place in it we find guidance for Life how do we live well all Greek philosophers are about living living well that's why they're the superstars of yesterday because they teach you how to live well and have knowledge our own philosophers Michelle Fuko says knowledge is always an
00:16:39 exercise of power and power always a function of knowledge the more knowledge you have the more power you have that we are a world driven by that and the greatest uh Revolution now is coming what artificial intelligence Nidia is now the second most important company in the world its value surges past $3 trillion overtaking Apple the new Superstar is Jensen hang you see knowledge knowledge is power all right but gospel wisdom knowledge alone causes Pride now concerning food offered Idols we know that all of us possess knowledge
00:17:21 this knowledge puffs up but love builds up if anybody imagines he knows something and yet he does not know he ought to know anyone who loves God is known by God so Paul Wars you can't operate on knowledge alone because knowledge puffs up all right now if you look back in the passage into the book of uh Corinthians there's so many areas where knowledge causes pride and pride causes this division here you are none of you uh uh that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one another so therefore they
00:17:55 are actually having different status the more knowledge you have the more Pride you have the better you are than the next church member you boast as if you did not live so they're actually taking the knowledge biblical knowledge theological knowledge and boasting and so therefore the attitude some of you are arrogant as though I were not coming to you but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power and chapter 5:2 are you so
00:18:25 arrogant see knowledge causes Pride pride and pride causes division Pride also causes ignorance he says that anyone imagin he knows something yet he does not know he ought to know you see nobody has all the knowledge know no matter how clever you are you look at this this is actually the um emblem of Harvard University one top universities in the world it's called Veritas Christo at Ecclesia actually started as a Christian organization Truth for Christ and the church in six 1992 if you look at this emblem there there are three
00:19:03 books two books are open what happened to the third book the third book is closed because the Christian forefathers when they started up Harvard realized that they don't have all the knowledge right but years later on they change now all the books open they have all the knowledge in the world but if you think you know all you don't because you look at recently in Harvard one Professor Harvard Business School Professor Gino Francesca kicked out plagiarism that means you know so much that you copy people president of
00:19:41 Harvard claudin gay also resigned due to what plagiarism must have copied mu or ukm all right so Pride causes ignorance all right if anyone loves God he is known by God now there are more popular manuscripts that give you an alternate reading and I think the alternate reading may be in this particular case more accurate all right and it says if anyone loves that person has true knowledge if anyone loves he has experienced true knowing so what Paul is trying to do is link up between love and knowledge all right so uh what
00:20:27 he's saying is that either way you go you can have intellectual unemotional knowledge or you could be spectacular and emotional either way it is actually not knowledge knowledge has a purpose and the purpose is love no matter how much theological knowledge or artificial intelligence you have if it is not a particular purpose then it is actually not wisdom let's look at the passage in chapter 12 on the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispens ensable and those parts that
00:21:00 we think are less honorable we bestow the greater honor that our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty chapter 13 if I have prophetic powers and understand all Mysteries and all knowledge and have all Faith to move mountains but have not love I am nothing so knowledge alone doesn't work and I shared with you when I we preached on James John Piper who puts out these three facets of true wisdom comprises of factual knowledge Insight which is situational Insight looking at how do you apply that
00:21:33 knowledge and necessary resolve and that is the area where the Corinthians fail you see true knowledge is cross-shaped what does the cross tell us it's an upside down world where you go down to serve others so your knowledge should serve others but in the real world today we use knowledge to put ourselves one up that's the problem knowledge would cause you to be if you talk to anybody in this world even in my profession you'll find that many of the knowledge that people have I've seen professors and world renowned
00:22:11 researchers whatever stuff they publish 10 years later it's all rubbish because our knowledge is limited we should use that knowledge to serve others now different people have different levels of knowledge and conscience not all possess this knowledge some though true former association with Idols eat food as really offered to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled food will not recommend us to God we are no worth off we do not eat and no better off if we do so what he's saying is that
00:22:41 all of us are Guided by our knowledge and our experience where you've been brought up if you're brought up by by a family where they do dancing all the time those dancing is great if you're brought up like me and never dance a day in his life then dancing is bad and that together will constitute what you seen as sin or guilt and and Paul in a parallel passage in Romans 14 you need to go back and read Romans 14 it's really um eye opening it's a parallel passage Whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not
00:23:15 from faith for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin so you've got Gray Zone dancing drinking alcohol social media and what Paul is saying you take that and you drink your alcohol in front of the globe Cafe and you say I do this to glorify God okay now if that comes from Faith that's good if that doesn't come from Faith that's bad and each person has a different level of conscience because each one is brought up in a different environment in a different culture more so in this church where where we're
00:23:59 actually expanding our borders at cross border Ministry and each one brings our own baggage and then we tend to judge each other don't we now people are stumbled by imitating our Behavior but not having our conscience I need to clarify stumbling block is so often used by everybody including leaders and but they use it wrongly as you see anyone who has knowledge eating an Idols Temple will he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered idols and so by your knowledge the weak person is
00:24:31 destroyed the brother whom Christ died Romans 14 but whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from Faith whatever does not proceed from faith is sin so here we actually have the strong and the weak the difference between them is knowledge and the person who follows the other person and violates his own conscience is basically sinning Romans 14 as for the one who's weak in Faith welcome him but don't quarrel over opinions the one who believes he may eat anything well the weak person eats only
00:25:08 vegetables let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats for God has welcomed him who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another is before his master he stands or Falls and he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand so the guy stands in front of glob Cafe and he has his glass of whiskey but you don't like whiskey are you going to standy Church cannot cannot bring whiskey here right same argument these are gray zones
00:25:46 we ought not to quarrel over these things nor condemn each other in Gray zone areas that's what Paul is saying that the difference between stumbling and judging these two are very closely related I want to explain this to you this morning stumbling is when you tempt someone unconsciously or consciously to violate their conscience it's like coming to Peter and then in front of me you dancing dancing myself look oh maybe I'll try that you and then I'll sin okay that's called stumbling all right judging is the behavior that you
00:26:26 have is so disdained so repulsive that I will never follow you all right and so therefore I will condemn you instead of following you it's a fine difference people mix these two things up take example Galatians Paul writes that Peter because of the Gospel the law is broken down Jews and Gentiles are one so therefore at Globe Cafe he sits down with all the Gentiles you know Jews don't sit down with Gentiles to eat 100% they never do because of the Mosaic law of clean and unclean so therefore Peter breaks that
00:27:02 law because of the Gospel he sits down with them and then when a whole bunch of Jews from James Chief from Jerusalem comes the pH okay well I won't eat with the Jews Gentiles anymore I'll wait for the for the coast to be clear when they go back to jerusalm I'll join you and so therefore he withdraws himself when keus came to Antioch I opposed him this is Paul I opposed him means Chinese translation I Taro him I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned for before certain men came from James he
00:27:36 was eating with the Gentiles but when they came he drew back and separated himself fearing the circumcision party so the reason what actually prompted his actual withdrawal was that he was scared of being condemned by the proper Jews right but his effect but the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically I mean all the Jews which were Antioch not the the ones from Jerusalem they join him so even Barnabas number two Apostle there Barnabas leted astray by the hypocrisy when I saw their conduct was not in step
00:28:10 of the Gospel I said to keus before all that if you though a Jew live like a gentile which we you used to eat with all the Gentiles at Globe Cafe and not like a Jew how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews which L you're actually asking the Gentiles to join you in the meal but they have to be circumcised they they have to follow Mosaic law which is actually totally contrary to the gospel so if you were a gentile and you used to have Fellowship you know eating onean me with Peter I said we we're good friends you know
00:28:43 nothing blocking us right and then suddenly Peter goes away and sits only with the Jerusalem Jews what I'm not good enough which means the only way I can be good enough is I go for minor surgical procedure at sgmc and I obey all the laws and become a proper Jew then I can join then what happen to the gospel your BOS gospel is worth nothing see that is when I'm stumbled when I go to sjmc I have my surgery if you don't go you're not stumbled all right so so that is the issue here uh Revelations I have a few
00:29:19 things against you you have come here there some of uh to there who hold the teaching of balum who taught balak to put stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrifice to idols and practice sexual immorality here's a famous story of numbers 24 Prophet balum was hired by King balak who was the King of the moabs who was so terrified of the Israelite Army that they wanted him to curse them so three times he asked them to curse and the thing the actual prophetic uh person was actually not bam was his
00:29:53 donkey his donkey was one made by the Lord to speak instead of cursing the people of Israel balum actually had to follow the lord and he actually had to bless them but he went behind the scenes and he told them don't worry about cursing all you have to do is introduce beautiful girls to them and then the people of Israel fell through sexual immorality so therefore this is an example Revelation talk about stumbling means enticing someone to act beyond their conscience it's a very serious matter because the spiritually vulnerable are
00:30:31 important to our Lord Jesus Christ whoever receives a child uh one such child in my name receives me whoever causes one of these little ones to believe in me to sin the actual word translation here is scandalo to be stumbled it would be better for him to have a great Millstone fastened around his neck and be drowned at the depth of the sea Jesus Takes a serious view of you stumbling people the consequences of stumbling is that the weak person is destroyed spiritually and you also sin against Christ so that's stumbling you
00:31:06 got to be doing something the other person wants to do okay if you the person doesn't want to do then you're actually judging judging is when you condemn someone for their behavior in 18 uh 28 is a very famous story of a Malay lady who was in South Africa and she brought in her dark skinned husband to a Dutch Reformed Church and everybody was they don't have Beyond borders uh Ministry there they all within border okay Dutch white reform church and uh when they came to the Lord's Supper the elders stood up and told the colored man
00:31:52 you know uh you Lord supper you better not take uh uh because they quoted 1 Corinthian 813 therefore if food makes my brother stumble I will never eat meat less I make my brother stumble so they said that if you take the Lord's supper with us then all everybody all the white men and women all stumble and die can't imagine that they would do such thing I mean you think if you're a white South African you would be tempted to sin because of a black man after all you look down on him right you would
00:32:25 never be tempted you see what I mean that is it's called judging some years ago we actually have uh subang Got Talent and talent show here and we had our lovely young lady called Rachel who he did if you know Rachel in those days she fantastic dancer so she does ballet so she dances and they have a special uniform I don't know what they call that leotard or something right and she dressed as a normal ballet uniform and after that wow all the the the phones couldn't stop ringing off the hook you
00:32:59 know who's complaining all the old women oh you're going to stumble my husband your husband stumble don't come now stumbling is enticing someone to follow their behavior you think the 65y old woman will also wear leot TI and dance around here there's no way they're going to be stumbled right you know what they're doing they're judging this this woman is immoral dancing here with the leot the world is coming to FBC the same thing but we also once had dog training outside and and and the people were upset again phones ringing off the
00:33:41 hook this is Hallowed Ground Sanctified cannot bring dog these are total gray zone areas which unbiblical they are judging they're not stumbling what is not stumbling judgmental to display an excessively critical unhealthful point of view condemning censorious critical nitpicking finding fault with another person or group of people you know this is you know I someone told me they had a great uh uh Myanmar Ministry in KL Baptist Church and you know what the people were upset about oh we sit in the
00:34:18 same LIF they all very smelly yeah when we first had Indian ministry in this church 10 15 years ago uh pastor Rama brought them in some shoes got missing and you know where the fingers are pointed ah we are a horrible judgmental church and it's a fact you know CH Chuck swindall tells a great story in his book Grace Awakening where a missionary family went somewhere to South America and they had uh uh work there and that particular missionary compound uh very hard to get peanut butter and and jelly I mean Americans
00:35:04 are crazy on it I don't know why I don't like it it sticks to my teeth uh and for them eating this is a great privilege and so they they happened to have a couple that actually you know had a peanut butter and jelly and then they ate it in front of everybody else and everybody look at them say you know uh when we come to a foreign country we must adopt the local culture they eat chak we eat chak they ate Bak we eat vak we don't take peanut butter and so therefore but this family love their little peanut butter you see
00:35:39 you must sacrifice for Christ and so therefore quietly they went and don't know whether DHL or whatever imported some and they quietly ate in their own room can spotted by the others and got condemned like hell you see you're so ungodly you don't want to sacrifice for Christ what's what's wrong with you you come all the way to become missionary and you can't even sacrifice a peanut butter you know the family was so disgusted and hurt they left this is not stumbling this is judging so whenever someone uses the word they must
00:36:15 understand what judging is and what stumbling is life way research study 2017 second most important cause of why young people leave the church judgmental and hypocritical hypocritical we're known for that uh this is uh the former president of the United States he went visited Saudi Arabia the wife forgot to wear something and so Donald Trump says many people are saying it's wonderful that Mrs Obama refused to wear a scarf in Saudi Arabia but they were insulted we have enough enemies so when he became president and
00:36:50 went there what happened to his wife what happened to his wife no scarf you know some people say uh you know Pharisees are like vampires they cannot see themselves in the mirror you know vampire you look at the mirror you cannot see yourself and the Hypocrites and judgmental people are like vampires they can never see themselves judgmental people actually sometimes jealous people in Disguise they have indignation anger masquerades as righteous anger and judgment and at the back you're actually jealous W the F had done so well
00:37:25 wonderful moves you know an Lim used to have a ponytail you know and I got righteous anger against him I wish I could had my hair can grow long enough to have a ponytail but it's all bald I can't grow it so therefore righteous anger see wrong you better cover your ponytail right whenever you come and preach actually I told him to cover it because I was jealous I I cannot grow 10 100 years I cannot grow so judgmental people are actually jealous people in disguise right so the Romans Paul says therefore you have no excuse oh man
00:38:04 everyone who judges for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself because you judge you the judge practice the very same things we don't know enough Paul says therefore don't pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes who will bring to light things hidden in the darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart that each one will receive his Commendation from God so you you can't know the motives of that person if you don't know the motives person don't pass judgment and we all accountable to God
00:38:38 for we all stand before the Judgment of God right so how can you judge somebody else's servant nothing to do with you imagine you go and you got your company and you go to somebody else's company and judge his company all right so thirdly the gospel gives us true situational Insight balancing freedom and love truth in Love Now The Gospel is a lens to which we see the world and we in this church because the gospel is our theme for the next few years we're learning to take the gospel and use that
00:39:17 as a lens through which we can actually see the entire world to have basically situational inside and not act just based on knowledge yet for us there is one God the Father from whom all things exist for whom we exist and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things and through whom we exist so when you look at someone else in a situation we need to look at them from not our perspective or our Horizons we need to look further as to they belong to God they are answerable to God God's opinion is the one that matters so
00:39:53 none of us lives to himself none of us dies to himself if we live we live to the Lord if we die we die to the Lord so what business do you have to judge that other person now he continues and by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed the brother for whom Christ died so when you actually take your lens and you look at your neighbor you know what you see you see the person for whom Christ died died so the next time you take your lands and you look at a Pakistani a Myanmar somebody who is not your own
00:40:39 culture the smell is not like your smell I mean your smell to them will be repugnant you know and you look at that person you see that is the person for whom Christ died all too often our worlds are basically encapsulated within your own experience and you judge people from other cultures using your own lens maybe in the past you know you you you were cheated by a Myanmar person example after that all Myanmar person all cheaters right maybe last time you you had a Filipino worker who basically stole
00:41:20 money from you so next time you you walk past Kimberly you quickly hold your wallet closer that's what we are we cannot do that we cannot judge you look at that person to the lens of the Gospel that is a person for whom Christ died even if you had to be vulnerable that is his the measure is is enormous and when you do that and you look at that through your own lens you actually sin against Christ freedom is offered on the altar of Love Therefore if food makes my brother stumble I will never eat meat L I make my brother
00:42:03 stumble all right so you are free as a Christian because the Idols are nothing eat whatever is sold in the market without raising any questions on the ground of conscience so so we have the freedom to do whatever we want as long as it's from faith and it long as it doesn't affect somebody else we're so used to living Our Lives we have you know they tell us in the popular movies you have to be true to yourself what should I do so we always looking at ourselves true to ourselves our feeling but naturual fact when you're a
00:42:34 Christian no you have to be true to the body of Christ you have to take in whatever you do you stand in front of globe Cafe and have your two swigs of whiskey you have to be careful where other people see you drink whiskey and they'll take the whiskey and they get drunk you don't get drunk because you can constitution of a mule but day after Wonder drink G gone you see mean so whatever you do your part of a body whatever Soul if you alone in the market uh uh There's No Label there offered to Idol you quickly take a mar
00:43:10 at home don't show anybody all right but if anyone says you this has been offered in sacrifice then don't eat it not because of anything else but for the sake of the one who informed you for the sake of the conscience I don't mean your conscience but his so if somebody ups at the G supermarket and there is some one argue beef on the discount $5.50 but there's a label there offered to quanin and then you saw down there you say I I can't read English I'm Chinese at so I want to buy and then Jerome comes up hey brother
00:43:48 you cannot read they offered to Idols you know are you going to buy her now the reason why I won't buy is because not because of me know for me it's a great deal is Jerome maybe he's the one to mention to me which means he thinks I'm compromising since I'm Elder whatever rubbish okay so I I cannot buy I wait for you know what I do I wait for Jerome hey Jerome I notice uh Joan is shopping over there you going see her so he go to see Jo then quickly [Applause] buy hey that's the biblical way buy because it's on discount where can get
00:44:27 550 for Bo beef you buy but you don't buy in front of himh if Peter is there buy one more for him you got different conscience right so now what you're doing is you're learning to live within a family all right now give each other jet latitude okay don't quarrel over small things so this advice to Jerome if you come and see p hanging around the J Super Market and going to buy then then he buy wagu beef offer to Idols what is is there Idols are nothing right give a bit of latitude why you so judgmental because
00:45:02 say a that Elder I better report to the other three Elders all right that that that you know he did this my God you should sack him you know so so it applies both ways you see don't quarrel over opinion one person believes you may eat anything the other weak person eat only vegetables don't quarrel I've got some people last time people com from different cultures we had some African students came and join us you know the frontage of the dress of a African woman and a Malaysian woman completely different you want to see Malaysian
00:45:36 woman look at Joo it's up to here right an African woman no they have some cleavage and it is a culture and they mean nothing by it and I've got protective church members coming oh take the cloth quickly cover because if if the men see a MTI I I think we shouldn't you should when you have different cultures you shouldn't let it your what you have here dictate what other people do give a bit of latitude we have to be that kind of church see Paul doesn't give you any details no he never actually said don't
00:46:15 go and eat food off Idols he never said he just said Beware because you're participating in a cultic meal he gives you principles we love to give laws he gives principles we give laws and that's the problem the church that's why you the church is see is judgmental isn't it what if these people came to your church and sat in front of you huh I actually have a problem with the guy with a big hair because it block my view okay I think he should sit behind so that he don't block anybody's view but you see in front you block
00:46:52 everybody's view but more power to you okay what if you uh have this sort of uh thing what as long as you're not singing on the worship team because you how you sing with a split tongue right but we shouldn't judge them what what is this guy comes and tells you uh you know apply you apply for a job in your house to be babysitter then he come to your house say hey hey mate I'm going to be a babysitter I'm very cheap all right would you hire him why not ah me said no Katherine said no you judging
00:47:35 him so judgmental and you're Filipino too Hal the issue is condemning it's condemning I don't think if I had a child I would hire that person to be my babysitter and I'm totally correct you see it's different from see judging happens all the time for a particular purpose for example you come an interview to work for me as a secretary or a young doctor I need to judge you and see whether you can do the job I don't condemn you if you can't do the job I just don't hire you you see so you need to tell the difference there is a
00:48:19 tension there very difficult tension early last month the United Methodist Church delegates all over the world they voted to reverse a long-standing ban on the ordination of the lgbtq clergy very sad there are about 8 million of these people all over the world the United Methodist Church and for years there's a ban on people being Elders or pastors if they are practicing lgbtq are they being judgmental out of the whole communion of these churches 7,000 churches left minority of 20 something per. but the
00:49:04 reason they left was because this standing band on other nation lgbtq is not a gray Zone it is actually scripture and for you to judge based on scripture is totally okay it's not eat eat meat offer to Idols it is a scriptural stance if you come from a church or a people in your church they tell you you have to follow the Mosaic law and all the sacrifices and all the you know which we had recently then I'm sorry I have to judge you and I said you has no place in this church so there's a find balance
00:49:40 what we're talking about things in the gray zone so let me end my sermon went on too long sorry we can be stumbling blocks or building blocks you know who's the biggest stumbling block in the world anybody know give me the name Donald Trump Brian you know who the biggest Trump talking about Jesus Christ yes so the honor is for you who believe but for do those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone and a stumbling block and the rock of offense the one who stumbl
00:50:20 the most people and causes the most problem is Jesus Christ try bringing up Jesus Christ name in any conversation non-Christian friend the first thing they think something wrong with him it because if they don't believe Jesus Christ will be stumbling blocks that's the one thing all right the second thing is that we are living stones as far as the church is concerned we are living stones being built up like a spiritual house Tim Keller says we're not meant to be freestanding stones on the right hand
00:50:55 side stand by yourself a lot of us come to church and you still think you're free standingstone oh I'm a little brick on my own I look pretty on my own I I'll decorate myself as a brick on your own you will amount to nothing you are meant to fit each other into one spiritual house that will reflect the honor and glory of God Ephesians Paul writes we built on a foundation Apostles and Prophets Christ Jesus being in the Cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy Temple in the
00:51:30 Lord and in him you are being built together as a dwelling place for the God for God by the spirit so when they buildt the temple they don't come like our modern contractors and start hacking the stone in front of the temple the stones are all hacked outside when they come to the temple premises is silent and they bring the stones and they fit each Stone meticulously to another another they cut it and it's a picture of God doing the pruning and all of us fitting led by the Holy Spirit looking after each other
00:52:06 that as a church First Baptist Church as a Church of Jesus Christ in this world we will be able to offer spiritual sacrifices to God and honor and glorify him may this be our vision and prayer today that we become not stumbling blocks to each other but building blocks let's end with a word of Prayer father Lord we there's so many areas of Our Lives where we come in clash with each other or we come and stumble each other but we pray that as we leave the hall today that in our hearts we resolve to be living
00:52:47 stones led by the Holy Spirit built together into a spiritual house offering acceptable sacrifices for we know that on our own we are nothing we are not supposed to be anything on our own we are supposed to be a family we are supposed to be a temple we are supposed to fit each other and together we honor and glorify your name we ask this for Jesus sake amen thank you Dr Peter for the message shall we all rise [Music] we B our hearts we B on need oh Spirit come make [Music] us we cast down our IDs Give Us Clean
00:54:10 Hands give us pure heart let us not lift our souls to end Give Us Clean Hands give us pure hearts let us not LIF our souls to another oh God let us be a generation that seeks that seeks your face oh god of Jacob oh God let us be a generation that seeks that seeks your f all our heart we Bend our knees oh Spirit come Mak us humble turn our from Evil oh love cast down our Idols Give Us Clean Hands give us pure heart let us not LIF our souls to another Give Us Clean Hands give us your hearts let us not th souls to
00:55:45 end oh God let us be the generation that seeks and seeks your face oh oh god of Jacob oh God let us be a generation that seeks seeks your face oh god of Jacob [Music] [Music] give us your heart let us not leave our souls to another keep us clean hands keep us your hearts let us not LIF our souls [Music] to oh God let us be a generation that seeks SE your face oh god of Jac oh God let us speak a generation that seeks that seeks your praise oh god of jcob [Music] for the benediction therefore my beloved
00:57:59 brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain so after a few minutes of silent meditation you may be dismissed for all of you who like us to have someone a leader pray for you please come forward and we'll be more than happy to walk with you through prayer
