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[ Silence ] [ Music ] [ Music ] [MUSIC - "BREAK BREAK TOGETHER"]

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(SINGING) Bear together on our knees. Let us break, bear together on our knees. May I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun. ♪ O Lord have mercy on me ♪

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♪ Let us drink wine together on our knees ♪ ♪ Let us drink wine together on our knees ♪ ♪ On a knee ♪ ♪ When I fall on my knees ♪

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♪ With my face to the rising sun ♪ ♪ Oh Lord have mercy on me ♪ ♪ Have mercy on me ♪ - If meat make my brother to offend,

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I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. Eat no meat. Persons with courageous faith

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are summoned by the Spirit of God to make a strong and effective witness for the kingdom. The church in Corinth is in trouble.

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We have in previous messages considered some of the problems that have disturbed the peace of the church. And so now we consider another problem, which is the eating of meat. It's a problem that has developed in the life of that congregation.

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The practice had arisen that there were sacrifices made to heathen gods on altars of idolatry. The meat that was used in those practices were sold at the marketplace later at a discount. And there were many Christians who didn't see anything wrong with the meat. They didn't believe in the gods anyhow.

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They only believed in the living Lord of history, Jesus Christ, Yahweh who had been revealed through Jesus Christ. And since they didn't believe, and this is a discount, you know how we are about discounts. You can save that much and make things better.

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And so this particular issue was presented to the Apostle Paul for his opinion on the matter. You are one of our founding pastors. Paul, what do you have to say?

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What should we do? There are people in the church who are taking sides on this issue. What should we do? What is your word on this matter concerning the eating of meat that has been sacrificed

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to idols? And Paul responds and he says to them that the basic matter is not what we eat in the sense of whether it comes from the pagan altar or from the altar of those who call themselves Christians.

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It's a matter that must be considered on the basis of whether or not it enhances our Christian witness, whether it makes us a better person as a Christian, or whether it does not. So the issue is on shall we eat or shall we not eat is still what the congregation wants to know.

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Shall we eat or shall we not eat? When I was a child in elementary school, we had a breakfast program. And this breakfast program was for poor children, children of poor families. Well, in a sense, all of us were poor in the class.

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But those who belonged to those poor families and who signed up could qualify to get a free meal. And back in that period, that meal I think was not as we have it today, a breakfast program, it was lunch too.

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And I remember mother calling me over when she was still in the bed, said Marvin, now they have that program down there, but don't you eat. We are poor and all that, I know what they say, but we're not so poor that you have to take that food so don't you eat it. Well I can't tell you honestly that I

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understood all what she had in mind but as I look back upon it I'm glad she told me not to eat because it made me more independent it made me more reliable self-reliant, reliable upon myself and it has made me a better person and has given me a stronger character by not taking that meal that was free.

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Now many take it today and need it, but this is the kind of dilemma in which Paul finds himself back in the first century, to eat it or not to eat it. Some thought that they were being smart by eating it and saving what little they could even and so Paul delivers this discourse on the eighth chapter of first Corinthians, whole

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chapter dedicated to this fact of what shall we do. Shall we buy this meat even though it's at a discount because there are some people who are not strong and they see us down there at the marketplace buying this meat, taking it home and distributed among their families and they wonder about the

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Christ that we serve and many of them are becoming weak because we eat meat. What should we do? What should we do? There are many who are very clear on this matter. They have no doubts whatsoever. They have no misunderstandings. They've made up their minds. But we want to hear from you. You are not only a noted preacher, but an

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outstanding theologian. What does God have to say about this? Well, Paul said, "Well, God is not caught up with food, whether you eat the meat or not. It's not something that God is wrapped up in. He has made everything that's in the marketplace and he spoke to Peter on the house top and told him that you're to

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rise, rise, stay and eat. Don't criticize anything that I've made because I have made it all. So God isn't caught up with food. Some people get caught up with food. But there's some underlying principles, there's some truth involved. of whether to eat or not to eat.

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Years ago in Waco, I was a member of a foreign policy discussion group. We had a number of people who were African Americans and others who were were Anglos who were in that particular group. Some were Protestants and some were Catholics

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and some were Jews. And we served in the various places, homes that whether we met, we served food. And I remember one couple who was a member of the group,

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when the time came for them to serve, it was a black couple, and they served, and we had Jewish members, and they served ham.

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They did not seem to know the difference. They loved ham, and they had this lovely ham for their Jewish friends without considering the fact that the Jewish people in that group did not eat pork.

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So the Jewish people in the group came, sat at the table and ate, but they didn't touch the ham. They didn't eat any meat.

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So, Paul is saying, "Eat no meat." If the eating of meat causes another to stumble, if that leads someone astray, even though you're strong enough not to be affected by it in a negative way, if it causes someone else, if it causes your brother to stumble, then he'd know me.

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Oh, how wonderful it would be if we had more dynamic models in our families who took this guiding principle in setting the way that family members should go, fathers, husbands, how wonderful it would be. To make that sacrifice, for the person who doesn't care, who doesn't believe, who isn't affected by the place that the meat has

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come from, it may not matter to that person, but to consider the model that you're giving, the example that you're setting for, that's what Paul is saying. I'll give another illustration of working with a group of boys, sort of like big brothers. We didn't have a big brother group, but ours was like that.

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And these boys stayed in the projects, and I had a mission center just a few blocks from where they lived in the projects. One of them was Arthur Fred, and Arthur Fred followed me wherever I went. He just thought the world of me, it seems.

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And one day his mother was lecturing to him about smoking. And he said, well, Reverend Griffin smokes. And when the word got back to me, I had been smoking, but I stopped smoking.

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I haven't taken a cigarette since then. Not because I thought cigarettes were going to keep me out of heaven. But if it might harm him and distort his view of truth in any way, diminish his character,

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what he might become, then I was willing to give it up. And I gave it up based on this scripture. If eating meat will cause my brother to stumble, not that it affects me. I know better. I know and Paul uses this, you know, he said now don't bank on your knowledge.

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Somebody said, oh yes, I know, I've read all about it. I've this and that. Like so and so, have you, are you, have you read all this about cigarettes? Yeah, I've read it. What you gonna do about it? Say, I'm gonna stop reading. Eat no meat.

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Eat no meat. The sacrificial system was developed to teach people loyalty and love for God. Your love for God, not that I'm doing anything wrong, but that my love for God is of such that I want to set a good pattern.

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And I don't want to do anything that will cause my children or my brother to stumble. So eat no meat. Eat no meat. No matter how available it may be, if it causes your brother to stumble, eat no meat.

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No matter how much you may know and how your knowledge may tell you that this doesn't apply in that particular situation, if it causes your brother to stumble, eat no meat. Well, what about our freedom, Paul? We've got freedom.

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heard this, I'm three times seven, you can't tell me what to do. I'm free, free as a wandering breeze and so I can do whatever I'm big enough to do. Oh how we hear that time and time again. But your freedom, as wonderful as freedom is, freedom has its restraints, liberty has its limits, and so we're to use that

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freedom in such a way that it does not harm the life of a brother. Eat no meat. But, in other words, Paul says eat no meat and then he sets forth to continue, "If meat will cause my brother to stumble, then I will eat no more meat." In other words, he says, "I'll never eat meat if it's going to cause my brother to stumble." In other words,

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my love for my brother is of such that I will give up things that are not really harmful to me but I'll give them up because of the love of my brother. So it's really love. It's really love. How much do you love your brother and we might include in here Paul also how much do we love our sisters. How much do we love our

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brothers and sisters and how much are we willing, the more significant approach to this is how much are we willing to give up because of the love we have for our brothers. Give up. How much? Sacrifice. Sacrifice. All the way to Calvary on that rugged brow, Jesus goes to make the supreme sacrifice for the world. God so

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loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son, "Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Sacrifice, sacrifice. On a hill far away. The greatest sacrifice is made, sacrifice. In our lives, whatever they are and whatever they may become, built upon sacrifices that have been made for our

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welfare. Somebody sacrificed. Somebody gave up something they cherished and and would have liked to have kept, but they gave it up because of their love. to sacrifice. So we come to this point as we come to the Lord's table every first Sunday we come and celebrate the sacrifice made for our salvation. The

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sacrifice made for our wholeness, the sacrifice made for our freedom, the sacrifice made for our lives. Thanks be to God for the sacrifice that he made for our redemption. So we come to offer the opportunity to those of you who may be here under the sound of my voice to give your life, not only what you know,

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but what you do and what you may become to Jesus Christ as a sacrifice. Not that Not that he needs the kind of sacrifices that were given in old times on an altar with animals. Not that he needs a sacrifice with rivers and rivers of oil, but what does the Lord require but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you.

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to sacrifice he wants us to make in our daily lives. We invite you to come, giving your life to Jesus Christ, becoming a part of the fellowship of God here at Ebenezer. We invite you to come. [ Music ]

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[MUSIC] ♪ Faith to increase ♪ ♪ And that my rest ♪ ♪ Be perfect, be great ♪

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♪ For you cannot rest ♪ ♪ For the earth will be blessed ♪ [ Music ]