Reflections with Andy - 1 Corinthians 8 – Food, Cards, and our Neighbors

Do our actions help our neighbor or harm our neighbor? That’s the question we always need to be wrestling with

In today’s episode of Reflections with Andy, we explore 1 Corinthians 8 and Paul’s teaching about food sacrificed to idols. While the specific issue may seem distant from our lives today, Paul’s principle is timeless: Christian freedom should never come at the expense of someone else’s faith. We talk about the difference between legalism and love, why our witness matters, and how asking, “Does this help my neighbor or harm my neighbor?” can shape the way we live every day.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning.

It’s Friday—we made it! The weekend is almost here, and I’m looking forward to it.

Tonight Holly and I are going to a concert that’s part of a fundraiser for an organization called Starkville Strong. They do a tremendous amount of good in our community, and we’re excited to go with some folks from church and support the work they’re doing.

Then Sunday is going to be a wonderful day.

We’ll continue our sermon series as we talk about the importance of sharing our stories and remembering that God has always been with us, no matter what we’ve walked through.

Then Sunday evening at 5:00 we’ll have a Gospel Jubilee here at First United Methodist Church. Our choir will be joined by friends from the Presbyterian Church as we sing some of the great old hymns of the faith.

And afterward...

Ice cream.

Now that’s a pretty good Sunday evening.

I don’t know that anything beats old hymns and ice cream. Those are definitely two of my top five favorite things.

If you’re in the Starkville area, we’d love to have you join us.

Today we’re beginning Chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians. It’s only thirteen verses, so we’ll read the whole chapter.

Read the passage here.

This chapter revolves around a question that probably sounds a little strange to us:

Should Christians eat food that has been sacrificed to idols?

That was actually a very real issue in the ancient world.

Many civic organizations, trade guilds, and social gatherings were connected to the worship of Roman or Greek gods.

Animals would be offered in sacrifice to those gods, and afterward the meat would often be served at public meals or sold in the marketplace.

So Christians constantly found themselves asking,

“Can I eat this?”

Paul says there were really two groups of believers.

Some were spiritually mature enough to understand that idols weren’t real.

Zeus wasn’t real.

Athena wasn’t real.

There is one God.

If the idol doesn’t actually exist, then the meat hasn’t been changed by being offered to it.

It’s still just meat.

Paul says those believers had the freedom to eat it.

But then there were newer believers.

People who had recently left pagan worship behind.

For them, eating that meat still felt connected to their former life.

Their consciences were troubled by it.

So what does Paul say?

He doesn’t say the mature believers are wrong.

He doesn’t say the newer believers are wrong.

Instead, he asks a different question.

Will your freedom become a stumbling block for someone else?

I think that’s one of the most important principles in all of Christian ethics.

Paul writes,

“Take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”

Christian freedom is real.

But Christian freedom is always governed by love.

Just because I have the freedom to do something doesn’t automatically mean I should do it.

The question isn’t simply,

“Is this allowed?”

The better question is,

“Will this help someone grow closer to Christ, or could it become an obstacle to their faith?”

That’s a question I try to ask myself all the time.

For example, I’m careful about the movie clips or songs I share on social media.

There are movies I genuinely enjoy, but I don’t want to post something that contains language or content that could cause someone to question my witness or become a distraction from the gospel.

Paul says,

“If food causes my brother or sister to stumble, I’ll never eat meat again.”

That’s a remarkable statement.

He’s saying,

“My freedom isn’t nearly as important as someone else’s faith.”

Now, there’s another danger we have to avoid.

We don’t want to swing so far in the other direction that we become legalistic.

I’ll give you an example.

I don’t know many card games.

Honestly, outside of Uno, I’m pretty limited.

Somewhere growing up I absorbed the idea that cards were associated with gambling, and gambling was sinful.

So I concluded that maybe Christians just shouldn’t play cards at all.

Looking back, I don’t think anyone actually taught me that directly.

I just picked it up somewhere along the way.

That’s not healthy either.

We can become so focused on rules that we lose sight of Jesus.

And that’s where I think it’s important to keep our priorities straight.

I’m actually not primarily interested in making people “good.”

I’m interested in helping people love Jesus.

Because if you truly love Jesus...

The rest begins to take care of itself.

A life centered on Christ naturally begins producing kindness...

Generosity...

Holiness...

Grace...

That’s the goal.

So I don’t want to burden people with endless rules.

I want to point them toward Jesus.

Because when Jesus is at the center, everything else begins to find its proper place.

I think that’s exactly what Paul is doing here.

The meat isn’t really the issue.

The issue is love.

The issue is whether our lives help or harm the people around us.

That’s a good question for all of us to ask.

Am I helping my neighbor grow closer to Christ?

Or am I making that journey harder?

That’s the question that should shape the way we live.

Thanks for being with me today.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

I hope to see many of you on Sunday at First United Methodist Church in Starkville. We’d love to worship with you.

Take care, and I’ll see you next time.