1 Cor No.16 The Regulative Principle

Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

Eat anything sold in the marketplace, or in the meat market, without raising questions of conscience, for the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. If some unbelievers invite you to a meal, and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you, without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, this has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you, and for conscience sake, the other man's conscience I mean, not yours.

For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced? Because of something I thank God for. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the Church of God, even as I try to please everybody in every way.

For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. Amen.

Let me read them again, from the 31st. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the Church of God, even as I try to please everybody in every way.

For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. You may recall that last Sunday morning, I brought to you an address based on the passage of the 8th chapter, and the verses we read earlier this morning from the 10th, under the general heading of, Only the Sunday Joint.

And I selected that title deliberately as being provocative, because I wanted you to see something of the problems that the early Christians had in determining what was legitimate and illegitimate conduct at Corinth. And those of you who were present, and if you weren't you can read the relevant passages, will recall that this whole business of having a meal, whether at home or going out for lunch or for dinner, was problematic to the early Christians. After all, meat was invariably offered to idols, as such.

Didn't it appear that if you bought a half a pound of stewing steak, or a few lamb chops, or what have you, that you were recognizing the existence of other gods? Shouldn't Christians therefore exclusively be vegetarian? This was one of the problems that I was highlighting as being particularly rife for the believers at Corinth. And it might well have been that you made the conclusion, indeed, perhaps I suggested it to you. Well, what relevance does that have to us today? Because it doesn't seem to be a great problem for us in the 20th century as to where we eat out or the nature of meat that we buy.

Now, I will admit to that, it's not a great problem. But as I tried to show you, buried under the surface, if you look to the principles of God's Word, Paul, in the 8th chapter of this epistle and in the 10th, when he comes back to the same subject matter, is giving us some teaching that is highly important. Forget about the meat for a moment.

Think about other areas where there is controversy within the Christian community in the 20th century around such matters as I illustrated. Social drinking, going to the theater, watching television, investing your money, handling relationships, and so on. There are any number of illustrations that I could cite.

And, as you know, on some of these controversial matters, there are two viewpoints. Like there were at Corinth over this business of meat. There, there were some who said you can, and there were others who said you can't.

There were some who were imposing their license on those who were less inclined to eat meats offered to idols and there were those who were being very pharisaical, very narrow, very restrictive about it. Well, you get exactly the same attitude, do you not, today in some of the areas that I've touched upon by way of example. What are we to say about these things? What is the principle in God's Word that applies no matter what the nature of the difficulty might be? Well, it's for that reason that I'm bringing you back basically to the subject of last week but emphasizing the application where I ran out of time, so to do, a week back.

Here in these verses at the end of the tenth chapter there is what I call, I've got no other court of appeal for such a title, but it seems to me that it is reasonable to consider these verses as the regulative principle. Are you to engage in dancing? Are you to engage in watching television? How are you to handle your finances? Is there some teaching in the Word of God which is always abiding, always relevant, always up to date? I argue, yes, there is. And here, in a nutshell, is the praise of what the Apostle has been teaching the Corinthians on this vexed area of meats and every other subject of controversy regarding Christian behavior.

Whether you eat or drink, he says, and now he enlarges it, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jew, Greek, or the Church of God, even as I try to please everybody in every way, for I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.

Here, I say, is a maxim, is a principle that controls every controversial area. You may not fully have understood all Paul's teaching regarding meats. Well, all right, we can perhaps understand that.

We don't live in the days of the first century. But here is a bold, a clear, a blunt statement which even the most illiterate, theologically, this morning can comprehend. So, it's this regulative principle that by God's grace I want to impress upon the mind of both young and old as we consider these verses.

What does this regulative principle do? Well, several things. If you've got a pencil, you might want to jot down these headings as I go through them. What does the regular principle do? The regulative principle do? It exposes, number one, the dangers of extremism.

It exposes the dangers of extremism. You see, Paul is talking to those who were legalists and those who were libertines at Corinth. There was this attitude, as I say, which was something like the New Testament Pharisees amongst the Corinthian Christians.

A lot of prohibitions, a list of rules that they had drawn up and they were imposing their understanding of secondary issues on somebody else. But Paul says, no, you're not to do that. He addresses himself to the legalists.

But then there was the opposite scale. There were the libertines, those people whose particular cry, as you read it earlier on in this chapter, the 23rd verse, was everything is permissible. Everything is within the bounds of legality, legitimacy, simplicus of the freedom that I have in Jesus Christ.

Now, Paul addresses these free-thinking people and he believes that even they represent a threat to the church, both extremes, the legalists, the libertines. Let me develop this further. Let's take this business of legalism.

You may recall from your knowledge of the Acts of the Apostles that one of the greatest stumbling blocks for the expansion of the church was the Jewish-Christian attitude to non-Jews. When Peter went to Cornelius, as recorded in Acts chapter 10, he really needed a mighty visitation of God to stimulate him to enter into the house of a Gentile. Why? Well, Gentiles were unclean.

And there was a very dramatic interlude in Peter's life that caused him to go and to minister to Cornelius. No time to go into it, but you can read the context. And then, when he had ministered to Cornelius and he returned back to the church at Jerusalem, what did they do? Well, the 11th chapter of the Acts tells you, and I think it's the second verse, they criticized Peter.

Why did they criticize him? Well, one, he'd been in the house of a Gentile and he'd eaten meat. He'd had food at the hands of Cornelius. There was criticism.

You see, there was a legalistic attitude. And Peter, later on, though he acts magnificently in Acts chapter 10, when he comes to Galatia, something of his background comes to the forefront. And when Jewish people come to the Christian churches in Galatia, Peter removes himself from having a meal with them because he doesn't want to be criticized by Jewish Christians.

Legalism coming in again, you see. Paul happens to be in Galatia at that time and he rebukes Peter. You can read that in Galatians chapter 2 because of his legalistic tendencies.

Well, here Paul, I say, is addressing himself to the vexed question of legalism in terms of meat and social intercourse. And he's putting down some very, very wonderful principles. But it wasn't just the legalists, it was the libertines that also created problems.

These people who believe that because you're a Christian, you are free from the law, you could do anything at all. You get a very pronounced illustration of that terrible tendency in Romans chapter 6. Theologically it's called antinomianism. It means living as though there are no restrictions on you at all.

Of course you can be permissive. Of course you can indulge yourself in any area that you want to as a Christian. Why? Well, Jesus has died for you.

The blood of Jesus. It cleanses you from all sin. That means to say the more you sin, the more you have his grace.

A ridiculous notion. Paul was accused of preaching this and he has to make the balance as he writes his epistle to the Romans. Well, here we are.

The reason why I'm emphasizing this at the moment is that the regulative principle, it puts to flight both extremes. No legalism. No narrow attitude within the Church of Jesus Christ.

And neither is that freedom which if exercised offends other people and negates the gospel. There is a balance within this principle. Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

It exposes the danger of extremism, does this principle. What is more, it encourages genuine worship of God. Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

This is how you are to behave. This business of theater going, of indulging in social drinking, of investing money, of engaging in relationships. Ask yourself this question.

And it's a question that you alone in each circumstance can answer. No one else can do it for you. Do I do this for the glory of God? Is his kingdom in some way advanced through it? Or at least, can I argue that in no way am I causing the Lord's name to be dishonored by the practice in which I indulge? This is what my principle is all about.

Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Now, I say that this encourages genuine worship. There is a religious dedication that some people have that does not have as its objective true genuine worship.

It's religious bigotry. But it does not have the glorifying of God as its goal. You say, what do you mean? Well, I'll tell you.

I'll give you a New Testament example. Take the Pharisees. They got their lists.

They got their tradition. And Jesus reprimanded them. He said, you place such a burden upon the people that the ordinary artisan, the ordinary worker in the village, he just can't cope with all the additions that you put to the Mosaic law.

But the Pharisees reckoned that in keeping what they reckoned to be necessary regulations, they were worshipping God. No, says Jesus, you're not. It's mere partisan.

It's pure bigotry. You believe that that is your goal, but it's not. You're snug, you're complacent, you're religious, but you're bigots.

And Jesus excluded that. There is a pretense sometimes as to what constitutes the worship of God when it's really a desire in some of these secondary issues for people to agree with ourselves and to come under the particular category, whether we're libertine or legalistic in our tendency, that we adopt. The apostle Paul, he always has in mind whenever he is putting down principles of conduct, the thought at the back of his mind that a man or a woman should have the glory of God paramount.

For example, when he teaches, as we looked into it earlier, in the whole area of sexual ethics, he comes back to the point that a man or a woman is bought with a price, therefore they are to glorify God in their body. My morality is very much related to my doctrinal understanding of God and his holiness. And as I seek to glorify God, so these areas of question, they fall into place.

And I understand in given circumstances what is permissible, what is not permissible. The apostle here, you see, in this beautiful, this marvelous principle that needs really to be memorized by every person here in the tabernacle today, he uplifts the secular to the level of the sacred. He tells us that whatever you do, you do it for the glory of God.

You see, he recognized the priesthood of all believers. Most people have got a very narrow view of what the function of a priest is, of what the function of ministry is. For Protestants, it's the proclamation of the Word.

It's what the man in the pulpit does. No, says the apostle Paul, everything you do, every mundane activity, it can be because you are a priest offered for God. But ensure that that is your goal, the glory of the Lord, not entertaining some bigotry on your part, not satisfying someone who tends to be a modern version of the Pharisee in the first century.

Your goal is God himself in everything that you do. So, here you see how marvelous is this teaching. It exposes the danger of extremism.

It encourages genuine worship of God. Bear in mind who you are, who brought you, and what your goal in life is. Further, it enforces concern for others, does this principle.

It exposes the dangers of extremism. It encourages genuine worship of God. It enforces concern for others.

Come further, in this maxim, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jew, Greek, or the church. And he goes on to give us his own attitude to this particular aspect of his dictum.

Do not cause anyone to stumble. This, you see, was basic to his teaching, wasn't it, in the eighth chapter. Turn back to that, will you.

The ninth verse. He's dealing with this whole area, Corinth, the problem of going into a restaurant, which, as I mentioned last week, was probably in the precincts of a temple, or going to an unbeliever's home, who might give meat that had been previously offered to idols. Now, says the apostle, it's not just yourself and your own convictions that have to be watched, but regulating, helping to govern your action, is the thought of other people who may be present at the time.

Verse nine. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother for whom Jesus died is destroyed by your knowledge.

When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Let me explain what Paul is here saying. I've illustrated the scene, I set it up before I read the verse.

But let me go on to make this point. Paul is suggesting here that my example, if I'm acting and there is a weaker Christian, someone who doesn't follow my viewpoint in a controversial area, if I'm acting and he is present, then his very presence will in some way help me to rethink through my action. I do not want him to stumble.

The Apostle puts it very strongly. I don't want to wound his conscience. That's the only time in the Greek language, in the New Testament, that when that word wound is used spiritually and not physically.

It's a very strong word. It says, Paul, I don't want to wound him and I don't want to destroy him. What does he mean by destroying him? Well, you can't destroy his salvation.

That was given by God. But you can stunt his growth. You can cause him as a weak brother because of your boldness, so called, in a certain area, you can become a stumbling block to him.

This is why youth leaders, deacons, elders, anyone who has a position of responsibility in a church has to pay special attention to Paul's teaching in this area. There are some things which are quite legitimate in specific contexts but not legitimate in other contexts. That's why Paul says in the 23rd verse of 1 Corinthians 10 everything is permissible, yes, but not everything is beneficial.

Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive. He enforces, as he ties up the whole argument in the regulative principle, he enforces a deep concern that Christian people have for others. Look, this is put most eloquently from the 19th verse of the 9th chapter.

Will you turn to that? Here Paul is telling us about his whole attitude to ministering the gospel in diverse areas of the world and in differing racial groups with their different cultural backgrounds. And he says in the 19th verse of 1 Corinthians 9 Though I am free and belong to no man I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews I become like a Jew to win the Jews.

To those under the law I become like one under the law though I myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law though I am not free from God's law but I'm under Christ's law so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I become weak to win the weak.

I have become all things to all men so that by all means possible I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. You see, he's got a concern for other people.

He expresses this most strongly and it comes out in the language of the AV at the end of the 8th chapter when he says look if it's a question of my brother stumbling simply because I eat meat whether that meat's been offered to idols or not while the world lasts I'll not touch meat. I love my brother and his spiritual maturity is far greater to me in my estimate than having a good T-bone steak at the local Wimpy's. I've just updated the Apostle Paul in my last remark.

What does the regulative principle say? Well, it exposes the dangers of extremism it encourages genuine worship of God it enforces concern for others but stay with me for a few moments longer it erases the tendency to be smugly selfish it erases the tendency to be smugly selfish I'm developing the last point really even as I, verse 33 of chapter 10 even as I try to please everybody in every way for I am not seeking my own good but the good of many. Now Paul is in no way contradicting what he says in Galatians 1.10 when he tells us not to be men-pleasers there he's referring to trimming the gospel you never do that to get an audience you never neutralize or water down the word of God but there are certain things which because we're concerned for the advance of someone else's soul and their spiritual well-being we may put to one side certain opinions that we perhaps may cherish certain views that we may hold but we'll not be smugly selfish we will be concerned for the good of the whole in order that we might win as many as possible for the church of Jesus Christ you say you haven't followed my point let me try and give you it in the way of an illustration I apologize for the fact that it's personal but it's very hard to teach these practical, ethical and behavior principles without being personal because it's only in that way that I understand them myself I remember just after we'd got married and moved to London and for the first time we got together our own home we had a flat which for us was a very lovely place in North London my wife and I have always had particularly taking her example the desire to hold an open home a house that anyone or a flat that anyone could come to and have fellowship in and I can recall to this day giving some hospitality to an older brother I'd never met him before he'd traveled in the continent of Africa and he had some connection with the assemblies and we gave him hospitality and as best we could we ministered to that man we were very proud of our local church I don't believe I was assistant pastor then just an ordinary person going along and we loved our local gospel church our evangelical church we took this brother and he listened to a fine Scottish preacher proclaim the gospel told me afterwards how he'd been moved the tears had trickled down his cheeks as he'd heard the gospel proclaimed then we had a communion service following but we happened to have the wine in individual glasses and the loaf was split up into little pieces and as a result of this he felt he couldn't participate the gospel had moved him but he had to put his right later on as to what was the teaching of scripture regarding the one loaf and the one cup and then I remember some days later I've never seen that brother again since that time I remember getting a letter from him in our mail telling us how glad he was to have our hospitality but did he really think that we ought to have a television set in the corner of our lounge and newspapers which incidentally were not Sunday newspapers available for people to read now that's what I mean by a tendency to be smugly selfish to try to impose upon other people what are perhaps your rightly held opinions in areas that are not particularly significant I was just a young man not the old fellow that you see in front of you this morning at that time it could have smashed me it could have done tremendous amount of harm to us I'm not exaggerating it could have done this Phariseeism you see that resurges again in the 20th century this bigotry that Paul takes to pieces in Corinth that our Lord explodes in his own ministry it's possible for it to be revived and the regulative principle it dispenses with it says the Apostle Paul I try to please everybody in every way I'm not seeking my own good but the good of many I sometimes sink my own feelings in certain areas because they're not vital to the advance of the gospel so that I might not put off anybody so that as many as possible by God's grace shall be saved the regulative principle it exposes the dangers of extremism it encourages a genuine worship of God it enforces unclean it enforces concern for others it erases tendencies to be smugly selfish and finally and I can deal with this in a couple of sentences it endorses the teaching of Jesus follow my example as I follow the example of Christ what was Christ's example? well the Apostle tells us in Romans 15 and the third verse for even Christ did not please himself but as it is written the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me our blessed master he illustrates this principle the son of man he came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many he understood people's peculiarities he tried to minister in the context of a very bigoted Judaism he loved people he embraced the harlot when they came to him in penitent fashion he had a concern for the underdog he sunk what for him must sometimes have been very very special and holy traits as he ministered to sinners who at one level must have been repulsive because he represented the holiness of God and they represented the foulness of human sin in all its deprivation but this is the Christ ye know says the Apostle ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus how that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor he says exactly the same that was in Corinthians he says the same in Philippians let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus and he takes us into the heavenlies where Jesus was before he became man he tells us of the great renunciations of Jesus so that he might achieve that salvation for sinners on Calvary's cross now says the Apostle this is the principle here is the man who embodies it this is the great example here is one who worshipped the Lord his God here is one who spent himself in the interests of others forget Paul forget my teaching but remember the Christ for in him all these practical deductions that I am bringing to you are embodied and that's my plea for us as a congregation in our attitude in our behavior patterns in our relationships to one another in our holding of opinions on secondary issues the example of the Christ let this mind be in you as was also in Jesus our Lord Amen I think we'll go to the hymn I missed out which is 476 it's a hymn of assent and dedication 476 it will prepare us for coming around the table of our Lord in a few moments take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee Father God in the very complicated lifestyle of the 20th century with many decisions that we have to make feeling so utterly lacking in qualification grant us the wisdom of your spirit we pray for parents here particularly our young people in their courting days for all the friends in relationships and attitudes that they have and have cultivated whatever we are whoever we are whatever we're engaged in Lord may the principle that regulates Christian conduct be applied by us in every area and help us Father God to live honorably before our fellows and to bring you worship in the common task of everyday activity for Jesus sake Amen