Imagine: You are a missionary to the people of Jerusalem in the year 55 A.D. You have invited a crowd of two dozen local Jews to listen to you share about Jesus on the beach one morning. As they walk up, they can smell something cooking. You’ve got a nice fire going, with bacon and sausage popping on a skillet and a few thick slices of ham on the grill. As your new friends arrive, you offer each a plate. How will they react? Will they eat your food?
They will not. In fact, they will be horrified, and they will run back to town, word will spread, and no one will EVER listen to you preach again.
Does your freedom in Christ allow you to eat pork? Absolutely. Does your love for people sometimes require you NOT to exercise your freedom? Absolutely.
A missionary—which we all are—should be careful not to give offense if it is the kind of offense that will keep people from coming to Christ.
Which is more important, my witness as a Christian or my pleasures as a believer enjoying his freedom in Christ?
I have a friend who is so deeply devoted to the doctrine of grace that he considers the law of Moses troublesome. Such thinking can lead people to abandon the Old Testament altogether. That is a mistake. A focus on the freedoms of grace to the exclusion of all other doctrines can result in a self-centeredness so focused on personal freedom we ignore the way our actions affect young Christians or the not-yet Christians.
When the early church was made up primarily of former Jews, people continued to be pulled back into the law. After all, that was all they had ever known! They kept arguing that Gentiles could only be saved if they were circumcised and followed the law of Moses, Acts 15:5. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James, and others argued against this, but they were outnumbered.
What should Christians do? Shrug and say “too bad” and go ahead and enjoy their freedoms? What if the freedom that you have found in grace keeps another person from coming to Christ?
After all, they may be so scandalized by your behavior that they are unable to wrap their minds around your message. Would you be willing to make some sacrifices if it drew a lost person closer to Jesus? Or is your freedom in Christ more important than another person’s salvation?
Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James found a compromise. They asked no one to be circumcised or to follow the whole law. Instead, they drafted a one-paragraph letter asking believers to make a few sacrifices to avoid offending unbelieving Jews and Jewish believers: “abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things” Acts 15:29.
Are they following the law? No. But they are making a concession. A sacrifice. You can make a sacrifice to avoid offending the lost or a new believer. Your freedom in Christ should not be an absolute rule but must be exercised with love for people for whom Christ died.
“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another” Galatians 5:13.
“It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” Romans 14:21.
“For if, because of food, your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food that person for whom Christ died” Romans 14:15.
Enjoy your freedom in Christ. But do not turn that freedom into an opportunity to indulge the flesh. Instead, ask how your choices can best serve others.
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