“Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend” (vs13)
We must CONSIDER brethren. We are not saved to hate or saved to care less about others. We are SAVED to love God, love sinners, and LIVE for their salvation, which is their good (Phil 1:16-17). We do this in RESPONSE to God’s love, that He predestined us to life, gave us salvation, and BARES patient with us still. Having been SAVED, we have a heart saying, “Lord, what will you have me do”, and He says, “Feed my sheep”, so we SERVE God by loving men (John 21:17).
The EVIDENCE of truth is love. Without love, the TRUTH is not believed.
First, charity makes us love OTHER people and build them up in Christ, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (I Cor 8:1-2). Love makes us do sinner’s good, sacrificing our own freedom for theirs. The mother WILLINGLY lays down her life daily for the children, the father for the family, the pastor for the church, and the CHILD of God FOR the child of God.
If we don’t have LOVE, then knowledge is vain. If it doesn’t make us holy, then we haven’t learned. And, obedience is the way to SEE the fruit of faith, and there is no other way. Everything I believe will work out in my life.
Secondly, loving God BY loving men is the key, "But if any man love God, the same is known of him” (I Cor 8:3). I cannot serve God WITHOUT loving my neighbor, for God says, “If you love me, keep my commandments”. Start with faith, add to your faith, and work out your salvation with fear and trembling, obeying by the grace that He gives, “for if you do these things, you shall never fall” (II Pet 1:5-10).
Love God. Love men. Love what God loves, and you have made WISE use of wisdom, because learning without obedience is painfully sinful and ridiculous. It PROFITS us not.
Thirdly, we don’t want people to perish, so we serve God ourselves, “when you sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ” (I Cor 8:11-13). You see how, “He should know better” is NOT the response? The response is always, I should love better.
I should always GROW in grace, when I see sinners, ignorant saints, and the like. I shouldn’t say, “I’m ok, so everyone else is on their own”, because survival of the fittest isn’t the gospel.
I should say, “Let me help my weak brother”. I will not compromise my freedom in Christ, and I will not make my freedom into an excuse to sin against my brethren and lead them astray. With the WEAK, we must be weak, and with the strong, we must LEARN to be followers of God, as they are (I Cor 9:21).
Paul says nothing against meat and drink; it is the purpose that it is being used for. I’m not bound by man’s opinion of where I should go, but I worship the Lord Jesus and give no indication of loving another. Every believer is FAITHFUL to Christ, and we live that way.
