Tidings for Tuesday
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no questions for conscience sake. 1 Corinthians 10:25
Let’s step back in time and make a visit with some friends in the Corinthian Assembly to the city markets to buy food. Amid the usual bustle and banter of vendors and customers, and the varying smells of baked goods and other delightful food items, we make our way to the butcher’s stall, because we need a roast of beef for supper. The butcher is busily wrapping purchases for customers, and finally has the time to tend to us. We tell him what we need, and he points with a broad smile to an excellent portion of beef, asking a price that is far too high. After a bit of haggling, we strike a bargain, and make our way out of the market with the heavy purchase. Out of curiosity, we ask our friends where the butcher gets his meat. With a grin, one of them responds, ‘Don’t ask! It’s good meat, and we will enjoy it.’ Later, somebody confides to us that the butcher gets most of his meat from the nearby temple to the pagan goddess Aphrodite. When people brought their sacrifices, the priests placed part of the animals on the altar, but they had a goodly portion they could keep for themselves. Those priests took all that surplus meat to the shambles, or market place, and sold it to the butchers. It was available for anyone to buy, even the Christians. And Paul tells us there was nothing wrong with that.
Although the liberty we have as Christians does not extend to participating in idol worship or attendance at unholy places, it does extend to enjoying the good things that God has provided for us. While we need to be careful that we don’t trespass on the devil’s territory, we also need to be careful not to ignore what God has provided. I heard of one group of Christians (at least they claim to be Christians) who have a leader who forbids his membership from going away on vacations. His excuse: they could come into contact with things that would defile them. Such an attitude is contrary to Paul’s admonition in our text. There are many wonderful and wholesome places where Christian families can go to relax and enjoy pleasant things. Some Christians would warn us not to eat food that was prohibited to the Israelites in the Old Testament. They say if God forbad it back then, it was probably not good for the people. Maybe so, but modern food handling methods have removed many of the dangers that lurked in such food as pork back then. Behind much of the efforts to restrict Christians in terms of what we are to enjoy are the legalists, those who would impose as many rules and regulations as possible upon us. And the legalists would bring us into the bondage of trying to gain God’s favour by our own works.
To appreciate the freedom into which our salvation has brought us, we must be careful about associating with evil. But we must also be careful not to associate with the shackles of the law from which we have been freed. -Jim MacIntosh