|
|
|
1 Corinthians 8
The story goes that two young men were vying for the affections of a young woman. The first was a student of psychology and knew many things about the way that people behave. So he applied his vast knowledge of psychology, using principles of reward and punishment and conditioning to win the young woman's affection. The other young man was not as intelligent or well educated, but he cared deeply for the young woman and tried to find way to compliment her and respond to her needs. In the end, as you can guess, the first young man was proud of his psychological prowess but the second developed a lasting relationship with the young woman.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8 "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Not that knowledge is bad in and of itself. It is better to know something than to be ignorant. I am a firm believe in education and in study of the Bible as well as science and literature and philosophy. That knowledge can be used in service to God. The problem is that if one is proud of ones knowledge it tends to puff one up.
Love on the other hand tempers knowledge. It never makes one puffed up. Instead love leads to the opposite of being puffed up. It leads to humility. And it draws one to building others up, instead of tearing them down.
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." - Paul knew what he was talking about. Paul was a scholar. He was a Pharisee. He had studied under the great scholar of the Pharisees: Gamaliel. He knew his Scripture. The end result of this vast knowledge of the Scripture and theology was that he determined that this new group, who claimed a carpenter from Nazareth was the messiah, were heretics.
Perhaps if he had loved his teacher more he might have listened to him. After all it was Gamaliel, Paul's professor, who had said of the Christians: "Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5:38-39) But puffed up by his knowledge he went after these new Christ followers to arrest them.
But in the end God humbled him. He was blinded and helpless. And in obedience and love a Christian named Ananias ministered to Paul who had threatened to murder Anannias' fellow believers. In the end Paul who had been puffed up and then humbled was lifted to believe in Jesus for himself. Knowledge had puffed him up, but love had built him up.
"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." - When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he knew what he was talking about from personal experience. Some of the Corinthians were puffed up by their knowledge. Many of them knew their scripture and they knew the truth. As a result they looked down upon and disregarded the feelings of those who did not posses their vast knowledge.
The context was eating meat sacrificed to idols. You see in the ancient world when you went to the market place much of the meat there came from the temples. The priests and their families could not eat all the animals sacrificed to Zeus and Apollo and Athena. So they often had a temple butcher shop on the side. In the worship life of the Greek world they believed that the god entered the animal that was being sacrifices and then entered the worshipper when they ate it. So eating meat sacrificed to idols was an act of worship much like taking communion is an act of worship of Christians.
Well anyone knowledgable about the truths of God knows that there is no Zeus or Apollo or Athena. They are just characters from Greek mythology; they don't really exist. So they could not enter the meat and so eating it is no different from eating meat not sacrificed to idols. The problem was that those ignorant of such things still felt that it was wrong. Many in the Corinthian church had grown up worshipping the Greek gods and had qualms about eating meat sacrificed to idols. It felt wrong. It felt like they were worshipping those gods they had denounced when they accepted Christ.
Puffed up by their knowledge the smart folk didn't care about the feelings of others. Even though they were right that those Greek gods didn't really exist, Paul still advised that they avoid offending those who had problems with it. Instead of being puffed up they should in love build up those who were not as knowledgeable and experienced as they were.
"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Sometimes Christians are a little too smart for their own good; or rather for the good of others. Good Bible studying Christians know what is right and what is wrong according to God's word. But too often they are puffed up by that knowledge, and they fail to act in love to build others up.
For instance the Bible clearly states that adultery and fornication are sins. It clearly states that the homosexual lifestyle is a sin. And there are many other sins that the Bible clearly defines. So armed with this knowledge sometimes Christians get puffed up. They spend all their time pointing their fingers and alienating those who are ignorant or in denial about their sin.
Now the puffed up finger pointers are right. Sex outside of marriage is a sin. That is why they call it "living in sin." But maybe if we acted in love we could build others up instead of tearing them down. Maybe we would notice that what people need more than correction, is love.
Maybe we could learn from the example of our Lord. Instead of condemning the woman caught in the act of adultery, he offered grace. Instead of chastising the unfaithful Peter who had denied him three times, he offered him forgiveness. Instead of losing patience with an ignorant Nicodemus, he patiently explained what it means to be born over.
You all are smart people. I now that because I have taught many of you. You know your Bible. You know what kind of behaviors are against God's will. But we need to be careful we don't let that knowledge puff us up.
After all God knows better than any of us. And he didn't act puffed up by His superior knowledge. Instead out of love he gave his Son and Holy Spirit to build us up.
Mark 1:21-28
One Sabbath Jesus was preaching in the Synagogue. In the middle of the service a demon possessed man began making a commotion. "Have you come to destroy us Son of God," the man hollered. Jesus commanded, "Be silent and come out of that man." After a fit of convulsing the man returned to his right mind. The people were amazed at Jesus' authority and power. He commanded demons and they obeyed.
Isn't that a quaint little story from a primitive prescientific society. Sociologists will tell you that it perfectly reflects the world view of first century Palestine. In Jesus' day people believed in demons. They believed these demons inhabited dark and unclean places. If a person wasn't careful around dark shadowy and unclean places, a demon might pounce on them. These demons were believed to cause illnesses from blindness to epilepsy. Everything from plagues to mental illness was blamed on demons.
But people don't believe in demons any more. Science has shown us that many of the things blamed on demons in the past really have other causes. Epilepsy is most often caused by scar tissue on the brain. Plagues are caused by viruses and bacteria. Mental illness is caused by biochemical imbalances and dysfunctional patterns of relating to others. Science has freed us from that ancient world view which included demons. There must be a scientific explanation for what happened in that synagogue. Let's look at the evidence. The allegedly demon possessed man apparently suffered from a psychosis of some kind. He suffered from the delusion that he was possessed by a demon. He thought the Son of God was out to get him. Obviously delusions of grandeur and persecution. So, you might ask, if he was deluded, then how did he know that Jesus was the Son of God? I am sure everyone in that synagogue suspected as much. They were talking about his authority and his teachings. In his deluded state this man and no inhibitions so he blurted out what others would barely admitted to themselves. The miracle is that Jesus freed this man of his delusional psychosis with only a few words. It would take our best Psychologists years to do the same.
We modern people don't believe in demons anymore. The last time you were sick you went to a doctor, right? You believe in the scientifically based treatments that modern medicine has devised. Maybe you asked a preacher or a friend to pray for you, but those prayers were probably that God would give wisdom and guidance to the doctors, right? How can we believe in demons if we don't even believe in the Devil? 71% of the population doesn't believes in the devil according to a recent survey.(George Bara, What America Believes, p. 206) Science has freed us from such beliefs.
I am a product of this 21st century scientific world view. I believe there is an explanation for everything and that empirical research is one of the best ways to study and understand our world. My undergraduate degree is in Psychology. One of my hobbies and areas of interest is astronomy. And I believe in demons! Yes, you heard me right. I believe in demons. Before you hypothesize that I am suffering from a delusional psychosis, hear me out.
I believe in demons because of the empirical evidence. In ancient societies people avoided darkness and protected their homes against demons. Today people avoid dark places and protect their homes against the evil of crime and violence. The results are the same: fear, even terror, that robs one of a good quality of life. In ancient societies people believed they were possessed by demons that took them over making their lives a living hell. Today people are possessed by desires, lusts and addictions. The end result is the same: something else seems in control and makes life unbearable.
The empirically verifiable evidence is irrefutable. Forces of evil exist and are out there. Now I don't believe in little green, gremlin-like creatures that crouch in dark and unclean places waiting to pounce on unsuspecting passersby. But I do believe in evil that can take over people's lives. These demons are the fears, anxieties and appetites that crouch in the dark places of people's hearts and souls. They are the demonic evil forces that cause things like racial violence and domestic abuse. They are the tempters that entice people to throw their lives and souls away for money, sex or drugs.
Evil demonic forces exist! They may not take the form of little red devils. But they do take form in the evil and sin in our world. And these evil forces can possess and work through people.
But the existence of demons is not what our Bible passage is about. The Bible assumes their existence and doesn't spend time trying to prove that they are. The Bible is more concerned with other matters. For instance: "Who is Jesus and what is he doing?"
The real issue in Mark 1:21-28 is the authority of Christ. It opens with the people being astounded at the way Jesus teaches. He doesn't teach like the scribes. They are always saying "Rabbi so and so said this," or "The prophets said that." Even the prophets said, "Thus says the Lord." Jesus just says what he says as if his word should be enough to believe it.
Some people were offended and said, "Who does this carpenter think he is and what is he doing?" It was a demon who answered that question. What did the demon say? "Have you come to destroy us Son of God?" That's the answer! Jesus is the Son of God. That is why he can speak with such authority. And Jesus has come with power to banish and destroy the forces of evil.
Here is the real point of this event: Jesus Christ has power and authority to banish evil from our lives! Repeat after me: "Jesus Christ - has power and authority - to banish evil - from my life."
Imagine, if you will, the forces of evil gathered before us. There is Violent Crime making people cower for fear behind bolted doors. There is Drug Addiction dragging her victims around in chains. Here is Teen Pregnancy enticing would be victims. Here is Domestic Violence abusing those closest to him. And here are Racism, Materialism, Me-ism, and all the other evils that invade our lives.
Scary bunch aren't they? Maybe if we close our eyes they will go away. No, that doesn't work. They are too real to just ignore. Maybe we can run from them. But that won't work either. Escapism is waiting to take us if we try. We can't defeat them ourselves. We don't have the strength or ability to defeat even Poverty. Even if our whole country declared war on one of these demons, the others would fight against us. We can't defeat even one of them.
But Jesus can! He came to destroy evil, and evil knows it. Because of Jesus' arrival, its doom is sure. Christ has the authority and power to tell evil where to go.
Do you remember the Walt Disney adaptation of the three little pigs? In one scene the pigs dance around singing "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf." If you remember the story, two of them were unafraid because they had underestimated the Wolf's power. They ignored the scientific data that demonstrated that huts of straw and sticks were not strong enough to withstand a category 4 wolf. But one of the pigs sang the song because he knew the Wolf's power and knew the strength of bricks to overcome it.
Well "Who's afraid of the big bad Devil?" Don't ignore the power of evil in our world. Whether you believe the Devil is an actual entity or just a metaphor for evil. Just look around you at what is happening in our world. Evil is real. But know this. Christ is able to overpower and defeat that evil.
Jesus was in a synagogue and cast a demon out of a man. Jesus is here. Are there any evil forces in your life? Any evil that causes fear and anxiety or even threatens to take over your life. Jesus is the Son of God and before something in you asks the question, I will answer, "Yes, he is here to destroy the demons."