Another warning against food sacrificed to idols

~Revelation 2.18-20

“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

Yet another reference to the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

Gone without Food

~I Corinthians 6.4-7a In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us.

~I Corinthians 11.27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Going without food was a cost this apostle sometimes had to pay in his extensive work and travel to share the knowledge of God in Jesus.

Limiting for Love

~Romans 14.1-3

Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.

~Romans 14.6b

Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

~Romans 14.14-16

I know . . . that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. . . . For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

~Romans 14.20-22

Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble. You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right.

Paul expounds again here for Roman readers some of the same points he made to Corinthian readers in I Corinthians 8, 9, and 10. "No food . . .is wrong to eat," yet believers are urged to limit their freedom out of love. So if I am a in a setting where something is disapproved of, something which I believe is ok, rather than flaunt my freedom or engage in arguments, I am to "keep it between myself and God."

Eat for God's Glory

~I Corinthians 10:3-5, 6-7, 15-22, 25-31

~25-26 So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

~31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

In this chapter Paul covers several food-related topics (see labels), but there is nothing specific about a particular food. I print only the key verses 25-26 and 31.

Another interesting point here is the connection between idols and demons. Surely it's possible to make an idol of food. Be careful, Ruthie!

Don't muzzle the ox, Mom!

~I Corinthians 9.3-4, 7-10

This is my answer to those who question my authority. Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? . . . . What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.

~I Corinthians 9.11-14

Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? . . . . Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.

~I Timothy 5.17-19

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” (Deuteronomy 25.4) and “The worker deserves his wages” (Luke 10.7)

~II Timothy 2.6

And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

Our kids loved to remind me of this ox when they were mixing up a batch of cookies or biscuits as a reason for helping themselves to the dough. It's a reasonable point. Paul uses it twice. :-]

Considering Others

~I Corinthians 8.9-10, 13 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? . . . . So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.

~I Corinthians 10.14-31 expansion of same subject

This passage uses dietary choices as one arena for showing respect to brothers and sisters in the faith. I need to lovingly consider the beliefs of people I eat with so that I encourage and rather than discourage their journey of faith.

Jesus, the Passover Lamb

~I Corinthians 5.7b-8 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

John 2.29 and 36 also refer to Jesus as the Lamb of God, that is the lamb sacrificed for the Passover meal. Why lamb? I expect to look at this more when I get to Exodus.