STUMBLING BLOCK OR STEPPING STONE A sermon by Dr. J. Matthew Burton, Jr. Clemmons United Methodist Church February 1, 2015

1 Corinthians 8:1-13 (NRSV) 1 Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3 but anyone who loves God is known by him. 4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "no idol in the world really exists," and that "there is no God but one." 5 Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 7 It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 "Food will not bring us close to God." We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? 11 So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. 12 But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall. IDOLS The early theologian and philosopher, St. Augustine said this in his Confessions:

I was in misery, and misery is the state of every soul overcome by friendship with mortal things and lacerated when they are lost. Then the soul becomes aware of the misery which is its actual condition even before it loses them.1

Well, if that is true then my misery started at age 12. It was my first obsession with a “mortal thing.” Having moved to the Haysville, NC as a 4th grader, I wanted to fit in and be recognized. I soon learned that the only way to do that was to participate in sports. Football didn’t work out 1https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1427207-confessiones-sancti-patris-nostri-augustini. Accessed on 1/27/2015. so I decided basketball would be my game. Sports were so important in Clay County—a county of only 6,000 people with only one school—that even elementary school students were allowed to purchase letter jackets. The letter jacket became the “mortal thing” that would “lacerate my soul.” I had to have one.

I knew I couldn’t have it. I had already asked my father and he said, “Sorry son.” “NO!” There were three children to cloth and feed on a preacher’s salary and my emerging obsession to own a letter jacket was not a priority. So what did I do when the coach asked, “Who wants a jacket?” I raised my hand of course! I put it on and walked home hoping everyone in town would see me. I had only one day to show it off. The money or the return of the jacket was required the next day.

Here’s the thing: I wasn’t a good basketball player. The black and white letter jacket with yellow letters, gold pin, and orange basketball in the middle of the letters was going to be the grace for all the times I warmed the bench. The jacket had filled my thoughts and dreams for weeks. It would keep me warm when I walked home from school but more importantly it would turn heads. People would think I was one of the good players. As a 12 year old desperate for acceptance, it meant everything.

All through supper, the jacket hung in the living room closet among the other cheap, ordinary jackets. Somehow, I had to convince my father that twenty-eight dollars was nothing compared to my need for validation. Unable to come up with a good speech, I excused myself from the supper table and went to my hiding place. I thought if I wore the jacket, my father would see beyond the money to my need. I wasn’t much of a basketball player but I could at least look the part.

My need nor the tears that eventually formed in my eyes were enough to release twenty-eight dollars from my father’s treasury. So I continued to warm basketball benches throughout Western, North Carolina and walk home from school wearing a non-descript coat. It was always cold.

The 16th century French theologian and pastor during the Protestant reformation, John Calvin said, “Every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.” As we all know, Idols come in many forms. Wealth, power, position, a car, your home, your work, and even a letter jacket can become an idol—something we adore and worship more than anything else. These idols, as Calvin suggests, start at an early age. Giving up our idol worship is not an easy thing.

ALL PUFFED UP

The Corinthians supposedly gave up their idol worship. Unfortunately, they replaced their wood and stone statues with another even more dangerous idol/God-substitute—superior knowledge. There were some Christians who felt superior to others because they thought eating meat sacrificed to idols was no big deal. Idols were not God. They were just stone or wood and so food sacrificed to these nonentities was not tainted as some suggested. They lorded their position over Christians who believed that food sacrificed to idols should be avoided. The whole thing eventually turned into a massive food fight, so to speak.

The big issue for Paul was the lack of love for those who were new to the faith. Established Christians were causing some—those who they considered naive—to stumble. I faced a similar situation when I took building teams to Cuba. One of the visible and outward signs of being a Christian for many Methodists in Cuba was to dress differently, give up cigarettes, and alcohol. One of the first thoughts for many visitors to Cuba, including American Methodists, is the idea of a good Cuban cigar and maybe a little Cuban Rum. I always asked team members, though, to please refrain. I didn’t think a Cuban cigar or a little Cuban rum was going to do any harm but I did know that it might harm our image with our brothers and sisters in Cuba. Therefore, I asked all team members to abide by their rules. This also included asking the women to wear skirts to church and in public instead of pants. I didn’t think wearing pants or a skirt made much difference to God but it made a difference to our Cuban friends who were desperately trying to follow Jesus in a repressive society.

St. Paul reminded the “Puffed up” Christians in Corinth that while there was nothing wrong, really, with eating meat sacrificed to idols if consuming it caused a brother or sister in the faith to stumble, then it was wrong. Paul reminds us that we have a responsibility to one another. That means we are sensitive to other people and their spiritual journey.

LIVING WITH A HEART OF LOVE

Paul’s point was that knowledge runs the threat of becoming as dangerous as an idol when it is NOT tempered by the love of others, especially others who may think and believe differently than we do. If Thomas Aquinas is correct and there are only two credible things that must be believed in the Christian faith—first, that God exists, and second, that we are loved in Jesus Christ—then Jesus must expect His followers to live in His love. That means we will be genuinely loving people.

When John wrote, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth,”2 He was saying, “Don’t just talk a good game. Get out there and do what you say.” As Leonard Sweet says in his book I Am a Follower,

If we are followers of the greatest Lover who ever lived, then we will be great lovers ourselves. If the Spirit of God is in us and we

2I John 3:18. are abiding in Christ, love will spew naturally from us. In our words, deeds, our very being, we will be love casters.3

LOVE BUILDS UP Love casters understand that love is about building up not tearing down. This was Paul’s issue with the Corinthian Christians. The goal was not so much right and perfect thinking as it was loving others. Eating meat sacrificed to idols was a problem for some Christians so don’t be a stumbling block by insisting that there was nothing wrong with the meat or eating it in their presence. Have a kind heart and refrain for the sake of a fellow Christian whose journey was different at that point.

We all have different ways of thinking. Some are us are very conservative in our thinking while others may be liberal. Some may take the Bible more literally than others. There are those who love the old hymns of the church while others prefer contemporary music. The main point of being a follower of Jesus is having respect for all of God’s creation. Of loving with a heart of compassion, care, and openness. It’s a heart that doesn’t have to agree but always loves.

LOVE IS GIVING A heart of love is about giving. Love is not demanding or selfish. It’s not about having to be right or having its own way as some of the Christians in Corinth were demanding. Love is about a generous spirit (I’m talking about more than money and stewardship at this point). Generosity of spirit means that our heart is bigger than our need to be right or correct on all counts. A heart of love is about giving of ourselves in such a way as to make a difference in the lives of those around us. It’s about leaving a positive mark instead of having to always be correct and right in all things.

3Leonard Sweet, I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012), 110. Peace activists and Presbyterian pastor William Sloane Coffin wrote this to an imaginary college student in his book Letters to a young doubter:

I think self-righteousness is the bane of human relations, of all of them—interpersonal, international and interfaith. I’m sure it was self-righteousness that prompted Pascal to say, ‘Human beings never do evil so cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.’ Self-righteous blocks our capacity for self- criticism, destroys humility, and undermines the sense of oneness that should bind us all.

When Coffin says “Self-righteousness” he’s talking about a person who has to be right and forces that right on others. It’s the worst form of selfishness and conceit, really. He goes on to say,

Self-righteousness inspired the Christian Crusades against Muslims and, centuries later, the Easter pogroms of Eastern Europe, the sermon-induced slaughter of Jews after the morning celebration of the resurrected rabbi. . .

Over the years I have been convinced that the more important question is not who believes in God, but in whom does God believe. Rather than claim God for our side, it’s better to wonder whether we are on God’s side.4

Being on God’s side means that our love is giving. Love does not take away it restores and builds up.

LOVE IS A STEPPING STONE

4William Sloane Coffin, Letters to a Young Doubter (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 22-24. I guess that brings me to my final point: Love is a stepping stone. Paul told the Christians not to be a stumbling block to others. I’m going to assume that the opposite of a stumbling block is a stepping stone.

A man was walking down a street one night when he saw a wavering pinpoint of light coming toward him. He thought maybe the person carrying the light was ill or maybe drunk; but as he drew near, he could see that the man with the flashlight was carrying a white cane. “Why would a blind man carry a flashlight?” The man thought to himself. So he asked the man.

The blind man smiled and said, “I carry the light, NOT so I can see, but so that others might see me. I cannot help being blind but I can help not being a stumbling block to others.”5

A heart the builds up and gives is a heart that makes every attempt NOT to be a stumbling stone. Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to be a stepping stone to other believers. Sometimes being a stepping stone means not having our way. Later in his Corinthian correspondence Paul would say, “All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other.”6

In other words, be a stepping stone to others. Build others up. Don’t tear them down. Do what is best for the Body of Christ which sometimes means accepting some things that make you uncomfortable. Do it for the Kingdom. Don’t always insist on having your way. Don’t Lord your knowledge or Christian journey over others.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

5Source Unknown.

6I Corinthians 10:23-24. Leonard Sweet reminded me this week that the Greek philanthropos is where we get our word philanthropy. Philanthropy translates as “loving humanity.” Followers of Jesus Christ are called to be philanthropists— lovers of all humankind.7 The Gospel of John reminds us that we are to love others because love is from God.

The poet, novelist, and farmer, Wendell Berry says this:

I know that I have life only insofar as I have love. I have no love except it come from thee. Help me, please, to carry this candle against the wind.8

May our candle be a love that builds up, that gives, and is always a stepping stone to all of humanity. Think about it in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

7Sweet, 110.

8Wendell Berry, Leaving: Poems (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2010), 33.