Welcome to South! We're glad you joined us today! Below you will find some sermon notes and Bible passages, to help you follow along with Pastor Scott's message in his series entitled Crossroads. We hope you will be encouraged by what is taught today.

What should they eat?

The food the Corinthians were considering eating was meat that had been sacrificed to idols. God had clearly told them that they should not worship idols--but He didn't ever mention whether they were forbidden to eat meat that had been brought for a sacrifice to worship idols.

As you read through the book of Acts, you will see Luke described cities like Corinth and others as being “full of idols.” These cities were polytheistic - meaning they worshipped many false gods. And not uncommon to the worship of many of the idols was ANIMAL SACRIFICES. People would bring the best of their flocks, or the best animal that money could buy, and present it to the priests to be sacrificed on the altar to a specific false god. These sacrifices would often be divided into three parts - one part to be burned on the altar, one part given as payment to the priests, and the final part was given to the one who brought the offering. Because of the large population in a city like Corinth, and the large number of idols in the city, there would be a large number of sacrifices made, so much so that the priests would not able to eat all of their portions. As a result, they would sell the leftover meat at the marketplace, or the local farmer’s market, for pretty low prices since they had no overhead on their part - they were given the meat. As a result, the decision these Corinthian Christ-followers were dealing with was whether or not they should buy and eat any of this reduced priced, left-over meat that was part of a sacrifice to an idol.

Truths that the Corinthians could consider:

--> “There is no God but one.” (vs 4) - therefore the idols the food was being sacrificed to were nothing more than stone, metal or wooden images.
--> Choosing to eat or not eat food can’t bring us closer to God - therefore eating food is a spiritually neutral issue.

Principles we can follow in decision making:

--> Ask "Will this decision glorify God?"
God's glory is intrinsic/inherent, and it is also ascribed to Him by us. While we can’t give God something that he already fully possesses, as human beings who exist because of His glory, and who know about His glory because of His revelation, we can and should be recognizing, praising, and spotlighting such glory.
--> Ask "Will this decision help me understand God/His glory, more?"
--> Ask "Will this decision give opportunity for others to understand God/His glory, more?"