Let me tell you something. You gotta get good and comfortable with the idea that you don't know it all. We won't. God shows us what we need to know to get from here to heaven. That's all you're going to know in this world.
Everything you need to know to get from here to heaven. The only thing worse than not knowing everything is not knowing that you don't know everything. Hello, and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, the Apostle Paul was a brilliant theologian who spent three years with the risen Christ and planted churches all over the world. That accomplished, yet he still admitted that while we're on earth, we see through a glass darkly. But one thing he knew for sure was that God should always be our first priority. And that's what today's message is all about. Don't forget, you can find us online at pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand and get details about how to listen on your favorite digital platform.
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Now, let's get started with today's Destined for Victory message: Living by the Joy, J-O-Y, principle.
Now, about food sacrificed to idols. We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.
So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols. We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed. There are many gods and many lords. Yet for us There is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came.
and for whom we live. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came. and through whom we live. But not everyone knows this.
Some people are still so accustomed to idols That when they eat such food, they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God. We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. 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 Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way, you wound their weak conscience. You sin against Christ. Therefore, If what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again.
So that I will not cause him To fall. As we continue to study Uh this important letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth. We come now to The next question or set of questions that Paul addresses. In the last message, we noted that when you get to chapter 7, of course, Paul didn't write in chapters, but later they were edited into chapters just for organization's sake. When you get to this section of the letter, chapter 7, he begins a kind of Q ⁇ A where he is answering questions that had been sent to him in advance by the church at Corinth.
And we saw in chapter 7 he addressed questions related to singleness and marriage.
Now, here in chapter 8, He begins to address whatever questions they send him regarding. Uh the issue of food That had been sacrificed to idols. It is apparent from the context that Some of them were concerned because, of course, the Corinthian church was made up of.
Some people who had come out of idol worship. Corinth was a hotbed for idolatry, and it was a well-known practice to worship a lot of pagan gods, and there were temples in their honor and that sort of thing. And so apparently there was some Controversy or some question regarding whether or not it was right for believers to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. I'm certain that some of the believers who didn't come out of an idolatrous background felt like: is good food, it's cheap, let's eat. But there were other people who said, no, no, this is nothing short of idolatry.
If you go into a temple and eat food that had been sacrificed to an idol, or if later you eat it when it's taken to the marketplace, which is something he addresses in chapter 10. Aren't you participating with pagans in idol worship?
So, some of the saints felt like you should not touch that food at all because of the way it had been used in their pagan practices. And others felt like, I'm not an idolater, I serve the Lord. It's good food, it's time to throw down. And so that's kind of where the controversy appears to have been.
Now, as Paul. uh addresses this particular question. And he'll do so over the course of chapters 8 through 10. What he really does is enlarges the issue and talks about some broader principles. And I want to look at the three principles that I see him raising over chapters eight, nine and ten as he addresses this issue and pans out to look at some deeper concerns.
I call it the joy principle, J-O-Y. And I want you to take note of these three Components of the principle, and then we'll see how Paul expounds it. Here is the J. Determine that as you live, Your life J Jesus Will be glorified. All others We'll be edified.
And why you will be sanctified. Let me give it to you again. Determine that as you live your life, Paul is going to teach us in these chapters that three things will take place and govern your life. J, Jesus will be glorified. All others will be edified.
Why you will be sanctified.
Now As he delves into this issue Look at how he begins. Verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 8.
Now about food sacrificed to idols. We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up. But love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
But the man who loves God Is known by God. As he begins to lay out his case for how they should respond to this controversy within their midst, He first of all says, you need to know how important it is for you to be known by God. And he says, all of us have a degree of knowledge. But knowledge We'll puff you up. We'll make you full of yourself.
He says, whereas love will build up others. And of course, the case he wants to make is that we ought to go toward actions and behaviors and attitudes that build up others rather than puff ourselves up. But he begins by saying, we all have some knowledge, but those who think they know, please understand you don't know everything. I like that he leads with that because we need to be reminded of that over and over again. that we do not have complete knowledge.
And we won't have complete knowledge. The Bible is crystal clear on this point. We will see it when we arrive at chapter 13: that we know in part. And therefore we prophesy in part. Whatever it is you think you know, God's only showing you what you need to know now.
I wish some of us would get used to the idea and comfortable with the idea that we don't have perfect knowledge. In fact, I would like some of you to make up in your mind today that from this day forward, you're going to be okay with not knowing everything. Have you ever met these people? Not you, but people I know. Who, if you let them tell it, they have never run into a question they don't like.
Because they act like they know everything. Do you know any? Have you met any? Do you have any in your family, on your job? On your road, do you have anybody like that?
Who knows everything? Ask him a question and see, don't you get an answer. Know everything. Let me tell you something. You got to get good and comfortable with the idea that you don't know it all.
We won't. God shows us what we need to know to get from here to heaven. That's all you're going to know in this world. Everything you need to know to get from here to heaven. When we get there, the Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 13, we shall know fully, even as we are fully known.
Meaning God's going to clear up all of our mysteries on the other side. One of these days, you'll understand it better, the old folk said, by and by. All of your mysteries now, just bag them up because when you get to heaven, God will settle all of them for you. But don't expect to get them settled before you get there. And so I want you to get comfortable with three words.
I don't know. In fact, would you say those with me? I don't know. All right, now take that with you through life. I'm a pastor, been pastoring for many years, studied the Bible for many years.
But folk regularly ask me questions, the answer to which is three words. I don't know. And I'm not going to pretend to know what I don't know. No need of me worrying myself and frustrating you. I can just tell you straight up, I don't know.
Let's pause right there for a quick timeout, but don't go away. The second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepard is coming right up. Our mission at Destined for Victory is to preach timeless truth for a victorious life. But truthfully, we couldn't do it without you, our listening friends and partners. You're the ones who provide all of our financial support, and we're so grateful to you, not only for your generosity, of course, but for the positive eternal impact it's having in the world.
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Well, our knowledge and understanding may be limited, but who we know is far more important than what we know.
Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: Living by the Joy J-O-Y, principle. And listen, if you run into a Bible teacher or a scholar who thinks they know everything, know that they don't know everything they think they know. Know that some of the stuff in their book is true, and some of it is, we'll figure it out later on. Because we don't know it all right now. God lets us know what we need to know.
The Bible is plainest about the things you need to know to get from earth to heaven. And all the things where we fight and debate in the body of Christ, and all of those debatable issues, those are things that we just need to believe what we believe, act in good faith, but don't be emphatic, don't be arrogant about that which you're not sure of. Because we'll understand it better by and by. Never forget that there are four levels of knowledge, four aspects of knowledge. There are people who know and know that they know.
And there are things God will let you know, and you know them for sure. Then there are people who know but don't know that they know. There are things that you know that are registered in your brain, but you don't have current recall of them because you don't need that recall. But if you get into a certain situation in life, and you'll be surprised what's stored in the computer of your brain. And it'll come forth just when you need to know it.
Then there's the third category which you want to be in: people who don't know, but know that they don't know. That's where we want to be. There are things we don't know, but at least we're in touch with the fact that we don't know them. But stay out of the fourth category. People who don't know.
But don't know that they don't know. You feel me? You know some of those folks? They don't know. Those are the people who will drive you all over town.
Because they refuse to acknowledge they don't know where they're going. And so there you are sitting in the car, a captive. Captive to their ignorance. You're sitting there and you try to throw out little hints. I don't think I've ever seen that before.
You're trying to help them along. You gotta understand, these fourth category folks don't take hints. You got to come right out and tell them. And be prepared when you tell them, they will fight you. You say, we are lost.
This is not it. This is not it. We need to pull over. We need to run into 7-Eleven and ask somebody. Go to a gas station and ask somebody.
And let me tell you, these people are the last to admit they don't know. But the worst there's nothing worse than being ignorant Except Being ignorant and not knowing you're ignorant.
So, I want to encourage you to be okay with it. And Paul says here as he opens a passage: we don't know everything. He says what's more important than what you know is who knows you. He says in verse 3: If you love God, you are known by God. I'd rather be known in heaven.
than to know a bunch of stuff on earth. I'd rather my name be written in the Lamb's book of life. And when you get saved, your name is written down on high. The Bible says God knows you by name. You are his child.
It's better to be known. See, it doesn't matter that you don't have some of your facts straight. You don't understand all the mysteries of the kingdom or all that. You're trying to get your understanding together. But when you are a child of God, you have what you need.
You have a working relationship with God. You don't have to know everything. I know the one that's important. That's what makes all the difference. Is that I know him.
Man was trying to find his way, driving, and got lost. And he he saw a little boy playing with his ball on his lawn, and he rolled down his window and said, Little boy, can you tell me how to get to the interstate? And he said, No, I don't know. And the man said, All right, well, can you tell me how to get to Main Street? It looks like if I can get to Main Street, it would take me to the interstate.
And little boy said, I'm sorry, I don't know. He said, Well, then can you tell me where the nearest gas station is or store so that I can ask somebody? And little boy said, I'm sorry, I don't know. And the man said, You sure don't know much at all. And the little boy bouncing his ball said, but I'm not lost.
You got to understand if you know Jesus, you know what you need to know. You might not have the mysteries of the kingdom straightened out. You might have a truckload of questions that are unanswered, but if you know him, You know what's most important. in life. Paul said, if you love God, you're known on high.
And with that lead-in, he begins to flesh out these three principles. And he begins to establish the fact that, first of all, we need to determine that as we live our lives, Jesus will be glorified. Let me help you understand something. He lifts up the name of Jesus as the most important feature and factor when you are trying to grapple with questions. He says in verse 6: There's only one God and there's only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
He's trying to help you understand: if you want to live right in this world, you've got to understand that you live your life through Jesus Christ. What that means is, you live what I call the kingdom first life. You decide that the reason you are on the planet is to lift up, to exalt, to glorify the name of Jesus Christ. We are created to make his praise glorious. We are created to lift up his name.
We are created to make God look good. We are trophies of his love and his grace. And the Bible teaches us that the life worth living is a life that seeks to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And everything you need in your life, God will add it to you.
In other words, you make up in your mind that I exist to glorify Jesus Christ. The reason I'm on the planet is to serve him, to love him, to lift him up, and to make his praise glorious. And I want to let you know, some of us still have to make up in our minds that that is why we exist. There are two types of Christians in the world. I've talked about it over the years.
I'll keep on talking about it by God's grace until more join the right crew. There are two types of believers: kingdom-first believers and brill cream believers. I date myself whenever I say it, but some of y'all know exactly what I'm talking about, which means you date yourself too. Brill cream was a product that was on TV. The commercial for it was on TV when I was a boy.
I haven't seen a Brill Cream commercial in decades. I'm talking the 60s when I was a boy, back when TV was just three, four, five channels. Come on, somebody.
Some of y'all don't want to go back, but you know you can if you decide to. You could go on back with me when you had ATV. Often the knob was broken on the T V. Come on somebody You had a pair of pliers that you kept right nearby. Yeah.
No need of putting this pair, no need of putting this pair in the toolbox because you need them every day.
So you had two pairs, one in the toolbox and one right by the television. And it would help you out when you had to get to a channel. And you could crank till you get where you're going. Wasn't but four or five channels, so you get there in a few seconds, no problem. But back in those days, grilled cream was a product, it was a hair gel, and they had a commercial, and their slogan was: A little dabble, do you?
Thank you, thank you for that help. A little devil, do you? I remember the commercial, and they would just put a little bit on their finger and rub it in their hands, and you could get your hair hooked up. A little dabble, do you?
Now, that's fine for grilled cream, that's fine for lotion or whatever it is you're dealing with, but that's not fine for serving God. Brill cream Christians are the type that say a little bit of church, but don't expect me there every weekend. I show up every now and again. Little bit of giving, but don't expect me to tithe or give above a tithe. Have you seen the economy lately?
I can't afford all of that. A little bit of serving, but don't expect me. Every now and then I might help out with a little something, but don't expect me week in and week out or on a regular basis to be involved in a ministry or a parachurch organization or help with the poor or minister to people in my community. Don't expect me to give quality time to that. I need some time for myself.
Don't expect me when I come to church, don't expect me to be raising my hand or singing out loud or anything demonstrative because you know I'm not into that. Brill cream, real cream, little dab of Christianity, but not enough to do any harm. Let me tell you something. Jesus is calling for kingdom first.
Sold out. on the record, out of the closet. Bye. Line drawn in the sand. I belong to Jesus and he belongs to me.
If you don't like it, build a bridge and get over it because I am a child of God. Yeah. You know, all too often we think of ourselves first, our feelings, our circumstances, our happiness. But the path to true joy works the other way around with When we put Jesus first, others second, and ourselves last, we will not only make better decisions, we'll find the joy we've been looking for all along. You've been listening to Destined for Victory and Pastor Paul Shepard's message, Living by the Joy Principle.
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You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538. He said, Beware of covetousness, beware of greed, beware of never having enough, beware of that thing that constantly drives you and never allows you to be satisfied and stop and thank God for what He's already done for you.
That's next time in our continuing message, Living by the Joy, J-O-Y, principle. Until then, remember: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
