Weak and Strong (might not be what you think)
- bordenmscott
- May 26, 2022
- 10 min read
This week's Overflow has some Biblical reflections from pastors Borden and Erica as we work through some of the highlights and key principles found in the book of 1st Corinthians for churches that want to be healthy, unified communities of faith. If you want to check out Erica's sermon video from Sunday it's here, and the audio is available here.
First Pastor Borden has some thoughts on weak and strong consciences, then Erica reflects on moving away from black and white rules by letting love lead. There are some devotional resources at the bottom as usual - happy ascension day!
Weak Consciences (From Pastor Borden)
One aspect of 1st Corinthians 8 that somebody (I’ve long forgotten the source) pointed out is the concept of a “weak conscience.” It’s interesting to me, because it doesn’t mean what most people would guess it means. I don’t have polling data or anything, but I think most people would naturally assume that a person with a “weak conscience” doesn’t feel as guilty as they should for things they do wrong. A psychopath would be the ultimate example – someone whose conscience is so weak it doesn’t prevent any wicked behavior.
That makes sense, but that’s not what “weak conscience” means in 1st Corinthians 8. For Paul, a weak conscience is one that feels unnecessary guilt. A person with a weak conscience isn’t confident in what they believe to be right, or is often unsure if their behavior matches their belief. A person like this will often be swayed by what others think and do rather than having a strong internal sense of right and wrong.
The stereotypical Canadian has a bit of a weak conscience, for example, because he or she will apologize when somebody else stumbles into them or steps on their foot. Most of us know a real-life person with this kind of underdeveloped conscience. They worry that things are their fault which clearly aren’t. They take the blame for things that weren’t their responsibility, or which were shared among many other people. If someone tells them they’re in the wrong they’ll believe it. Humility and some healthy self-doubt are good, but a weak conscience is a nerve-wracking and unpleasant thing to live with.
Those with weak consciences in the Corinthian church were struggling with the issue of meat sacrificed to idols. It seemed unfaithful to them to eat the surplus meat from temple sacrifices that was available in the marketplaces. This is understandable, many of them had spent their whole lives up to this point believing that these idols were, in some sense, real. They didn’t want to mix their new worship of Jesus with their old worship of Greek gods or other idols.
Paul, when asked about this issue, confirms that some of the Corinthians are correct in thinking that idols are “nothing” and so there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat available at a discount after being used in pagan temples. But Paul appeals to the people who are comfortable with this – those with strong consciences – to be willing to put aside their freedom to act in this way. If it might cause confusion or division to do what those with weak consciences are struggling with Paul recommends choosing love over (correct) knowledge and abstaining.
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (1st Corinthians 8:9-13)
The relationship between weak and strong consciences creates a delicate tension at times. There is a Biblical mandate to defer to those with weaker consciences out of love. But that principle can’t be followed without limit. What happens when someone confuses personal preference for Biblical or spiritual matters? Do we ban wearing jeans to worship services if a few people consider it disrespectful not to wear more formal attire to worship God?
Erica’s Sunday message laid out some examples where Christians might defer to those with a weaker conscience out of love today, including the explanation of why our church, like almost all Baptist churches, doesn’t use wine in communion. But when we look for principles to apply today I think it's also important to recognize that some of these situations in Corinth probably weren't permanent. The “meat to idols” issue likely resolved itself over time as the Corinthians became more confident and knowledgeable in their faith.
The goal was for the whole community to strengthen their consciences as their knowledge grew and faith deepened, and not to have those with strong consciences constantly deferring to those with weak consciences indefinitely. Love trumps knowledge, and preserving the faith of an immature believer was and is far more important than getting to do everything you can rightly do while living as a Christian. But it’s also fair to expect those with weak consciences to seek to strengthen them.
This tension still exists today. Can you sell things in the foyer before or after church, or will people see that as violating the lesson of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem? Is a church Sanctuary defiled by using it for certain secular purposes? Is it OK for preachers to tell jokes and use a fair amount of humour in a sermon? Can a Christian do yoga? Can they wear yoga pants to the mall?
I’ve seen passionate debate on all of these questions! But I’m less worried about the minutiae than I am with encouraging people to have a general awareness that our consciences are calibrated differently. To maintain unity in community despite this requires the gracious love of those with well-developed consciences and the willingness to receive and consider new knowledge and teaching from everyone.
This is one of the benefits of living in Christian community done right. There is support for those with weak consciences to become more confident in what is truly important to Christian faith so that they can stand for what matters and stop feeling guilty about things that don’t matter much. And, for those who think they have a more mature knowledge, there is the opportunity to focus on love that builds others up, occasionally combined with a recognition that there might be more merit to some of the “little” things other people care about than you once thought. Knowledge and love join together to help us have well-developed consciences capable of standing firm where we should, and being flexible where we can.
"Black And White" (from Pastor Erica)
This series about community - looking at what it means to be a church that grows together and promotes unity - has been something that I think has been hugely beneficial. Especially living in the North American culture, the focus tends to be on the individual. Shifting to a community thought process and outside of ourselves can be challenging.
This past week we looked at 1 Corinthians 8, which talked explicitly about whether or not the Christians in Corinth should be allowed to consume meat that had been part of an idol sacrifice. But Paul's response gets to the core of the Corinthians' issues. Instead of focusing on their knowledge and what they should and should not do, they needed to focus on building others up with love. Paul's entire response is to move away from the rules. What to do and what not to but instead to shift towards love. Shift away from puffing oneself up with knowledge and towards building each other up with love.
As I was going through 1 Corinthians 8, It really struck me the connections I saw to a lot of the interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees. For example, Matthew 12:9-14
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So, he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
The Pharisees were very upset that Jesus had healed a man on the sabbath which went against their interpretation of how the sabbath should be practiced. their pride in what they thought to be the right way to act got in the way of loving and helping this man who was suffering. And while a lot of those rules specifically surrounding Sabbath were put in place to make sure that people were following this very important practise that was implemented by God, all the limitations and rules that the Pharisees had set in place were creating barriers and stumbling blocks for people to be able to practice sabbath in a restful and meaningful way. Jesus' response to the Pharisees in this passage was:
“"Suppose one of you has only one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So, it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.”
Which has a lot of connections to our passage from this week in 1 Corinthians. That love for our community and neighbours must be held higher than what we think is right or wrong. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. To have a healthy, strong community, we must build each other up.
I was reading one article about this passage that talked about how we tend to think that strong mature Christians are the ones who live their lives by all the rules and get upset when they see others exercising their freedom in Christ. But in reality, it is the weaker Christians who need the security of the law and is afraid to use their freedom in Christ. It is the weaker Christian who leans towards the judgement of others when they perceive them to be doing something "wrong."
Which makes sense to me. Black and white, having a specific set of rules and laws is easy. What is difficult is the flexibility, knowing when something is acceptable and in what circumstances it is not, and coming to every situation, person and context with knowledge that is used through a lens of love for that person and setting. It is more difficult to move away from puffing yourself up with "knowledge" and towards a community attitude that builds up with love.
We all want a healthy community that together is growing closer to God. The first step is to make room for love and avoid being stumbling blocks for others, to have our strong Christians, the ones who know how to use this love principle, build up and help the weaker Christians to grow.
Devotional Resources
Today is the day the Church traditionally marks Jesus' ascension, so some scripture and prayer that follows is tied to this theme:
Psalm 47
Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,
the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.[b]
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings[c] of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
John 20:11-18
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Luke 24:36-53
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank You for sending Your Son who was with us only for a short time. Thank You for being the living water that quenches the thirst of all those who long for You. I give You praise for being Your resurrection power, it is because of You that we too can have everlasting life with You in heaven. I pray that we do not take for granted this special day, Amen.
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