1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Liberty and freedom are blessings that believers hold as very precious.  However, they can be abused and result in great weakness in the body of Christ.  We must always be careful not to allow the use of our liberty in Christ to be a source of sin in our lives or a temptation to sin in the lives of others.

LIBERTY COMES FROM TRUTH: The truths taught in God's Word provide great liberty to the life of a believer.  We no longer need to worry about keeping a list of regulations or following a set of rituals in order to please are be accepted by God.  We have been liberated from the law and are now free to pursue a relationship with God where we can please Him due to our faith in the work of Christ.  Once we have knowledge of the truth taught in God's Word we can experience a freedom in our hearts that is different than anything experienced by those of other faiths.  We have been set free by the truth.

LIBERTY CAN OFFEND OTHERS: Though we experience a wonderful liberty in Christ, we must not fall into the trap of believing that we can live any way that we might choose.  We must recognize that there are standards to which God expects us to conform and that we are part of a body with very diverse backgrounds and convictions.  We must recognize that our liberty may cause others to be offended.  Different cultures and levels of maturity can cause believers to view different things or activities as sinful while others will have not problem with them.  We will all have different levels of liberty in our personal walk and it is important for us to realize and live in light of that truth.

LIBERTY SHOULD BE LIMITED: In light of the fact that my liberty might be offensive to someone else, I should readily limit my liberty in order to prevent that from happening.  The reality is that one person may have total freedom of conscience to participate in a certain activity or partake of a certain food or drink, while another believer does not have that same liberty.  If the weaker one sees the stronger one practicing these things he will either take offense or he will be tempted to do the same against his own conscience.  Either option is bad and should be avoided.  We must willingly limit our liberty in order to protect our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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