EPISODE 116 1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 8 "The value of a clear concience"

Welcome to Share the Word, a Great Commission project. In chapter 8, the apostle Paul continues dealing with questions from the church. This time, it's about the consideration of eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols. But today, the big idea goes much deeper than that. This is going to be good. Paul, 1 Corinthians chapter 8, the value of a clear conscience.

In chapter 8, the apostle Paul addresses another of the Corinthians' questions he got that must have been an ongoing cause of debates and problems among them. And it's one that we've already run across previously in Romans 14. That podcast was titled Navigating the Gray, remember? It was about what to do with differences surrounding questions that come up that the Bible doesn't clearly address, over which Christians have different opinions. One big question then in the first century churches was whether it was okay to eat meat offered to idols. Sound familiar?

That was obviously a very hot topic. Might sound crazy to us, but then again, we don't live in a society immersed in pagan religions. I'm not sure we have a direct correlation to that question now, but try to imagine a satanic cult operating in your city that sacrifices a couple goats every Saturday night in the middle of the night, 3 a.m., and then on Sunday sells gyros made from their meat from a food truck. Can you imagine that? I get it, you probably can't imagine that, but this is what the situation was like. Let's say your kids and you come out of church and your kids see the food truck and they say, Dad, Dad, can we get some gyros for lunch?

So would you be okay with eating that meat if you knew where it come from? Personally, I think I'd pass. But in Corinth or Rome or most other places in the empire, that was a real everyday question, a question over which people took strong stances that created hard feelings among church members. And that's why Paul addressed it directly in Romans and again here in 1 Corinthians. The pagan temples where this meat came from, their belief system taught that by eating the meat offered up to their idol, you were in some way taking on some of that god or goddess's power, identifying with it in a tangible and mystical way. It wasn't just eating a meal.

It was ceremonial and a part of their wrong belief system. If there was any power associated with those idols, it would be demonic. So as we saw in Romans 14, Christians with a more sensitive conscience, maybe Gentiles who had been saved out of devotion to one of those cults, or Jews who just abhorred the thought of idols, believed strongly Christians should have nothing to do with that meat. While others who realized the gods and goddesses behind the idols were fantasy creatures, because there's only one true God, had no qualms about eating the meat because it didn't matter if it came from the pagan temple or if it came from the grocery store. Paul's point to them was not to tell them to eat or not eat.

His point to them is to seriously consider, regardless of whether you decide it's okay for you or not, whether it might affect you or your fellow Christian's conscience in a negative way. Having a good conscience is too important. It's a brief chapter, and I'm going to read part of it. What I want you to listen for as I do, and I'm going to just take cuttings from this chapter, is the relationship between the question itself and how Paul asked them to consider its relationship to their consciences, because that's what we're going to focus today on the value and importance of our conscience. I'm reading from the Modern New Living Translation now. Regarding your question about food that's been offered up to idols, yes, we know that we all have knowledge about this.

But while knowledge makes us feel important, it's love that will strengthen the church. There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live. However, Paul says not all believers understand this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that's been offered up to them, they think of it as worship of real gods, and their consciences are violated.

So if others see you, with your superior knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, they may be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating that food. And because of your superior knowledge, a weaker believer for whom Christ died could be destroyed. Realize, when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, that is going against their conscience, you are sinning against Christ. It's pretty clear from listening to that how much value Paul placed on maintaining a good conscience and protecting the consciences of others. Our conscience is a very valuable spiritual asset. I wonder, how do you usually deal with things that weigh on your conscience?

Let's back up for a moment. What exactly is our conscience anyway? I found this definition through Google's artificial intelligence tool. Listen. Conscience is a person's inner sense of right and wrong, and the ability to use that sense to control and evaluate their actions. It's a cognitive process that involves emotions and rational associations based on a person's values and moral philosophy.

Well, I'm on board with the first half about our conscience as being an internal moral compass and acting as a useful guide for our actions. But disagree with the second part, labeling it a cognitive process that's based on learned values and morals. As a Christian, I take the information in the Bible as a revelation from God to us, a revelation of reality, of truth. I understand our conscience as part of God's image stamped into us. It's a part of our spiritual nature. In fact, I've often wondered how evolutionists who claim we are just highly developed animals account for our conscience.

I mean, why would we ever have evolved in a dog-eat-dog survival of the fittest world a conscience? The Bible, in contrast, teaches that humans are special, the pinnacle of God's creation and the only creatures made in His image. We have this built-in moral nature and conscience because God implanted it in us. Even if a human grew up in isolation, not learning any values or morals from others, I believe they would still know right from wrong because our conscience is a spiritual component implanted in us by our Creator. But can a conscience be affected, be trained? Yeah, it can, to a certain extent.

It can certainly be affected by what we're exposed to and what we are taught. But that's not where our sense of right and wrong originate. Remember, the Apostle Paul argued in Romans chapter 1 that the reason every human being is responsible before God is because He implanted in us a conscience. We know right from wrong. When we violate our conscience, it tells us. Could have been angry words we exchanged with somebody close to us, a sharp disagreement that broke off a friendship.

You shouldn't have said that. Or could be stealing time or material from employer at work, taking advantage of their trust. That was wrong. You shouldn't have done that. It could be being morally unfaithful. It could be breaking a promise.

It could be a lot of things. But if our conscience is working properly, it's telling us, Hey, you shouldn't have done that, or you shouldn't have said that. You know that was wrong. I say, if our conscience is working properly, because how we respond to our conscience will affect its ability to keep guiding us properly. Listen to a couple key verses about that. In Acts chapter 24, a passage we looked at a while back, where the apostle Paul was on trial before the Roman governor Felix, he was being accused by many things before the Jews' religious leaders in Jerusalem.

And in the midst of his defense, he made this statement: I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and before men. What do you think he meant by a clear conscience? Sometimes translators render it a good conscience or a pure conscience. Someone taught me this definition years ago, and I wrote it down to remember it because I thought it was on par. A clear conscience is an inner freedom of spirit toward God and others that comes from knowing they cannot rightfully point the finger at you and say, You wronged me, and never sought my forgiveness. I'll be honest with you.

When a teacher I respected first challenged me with that definition, it kind of stopped me in my tracks. I found that thought-provoking and convicting. Listen again. A clear conscience is an inner freedom of spirit toward God and others that comes from knowing they cannot rightfully point the finger at me and say, You have wronged me and never sought my forgiveness. No one had ever posed it to me that way before, I guess. Maintaining a good conscience, a clear conscience, is what Paul is urging on the Corinthians in our current chapter.

But that's only one possible condition of our conscience. To Titus, one of Paul's trainees for ministry, writing about people he would encounter he needed to be aware of, Paul wrote, To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. Now, what do you think Paul means by their consciences are defiled? I like to kind of physically picture it, although our conscience is not physical, but picture it as a sensitive membrane somewhere inside of us that's starting to get gunked up with dirt and layers of grime, which come from ignoring it, going against it, and ignoring it some more. When we run roughshod over our conscience, in time, it won't work very well anymore.

It won't be sensitive as it ought to be. That's a defiled conscience. Then, in 1 Timothy chapter 4 at verse 2, Paul tells another of his younger associates, Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are seared. S-E-A-R-E-D.

What do you suppose he means by a seared conscience? One translation calls it a dead conscience. Imagine putting a hot iron on that sensitive membrane I was describing a moment ago. Holding it there and shhhh until the nerve endings are burned out and dead. It will eventually heal over, but it's no longer capable of guiding us because what has grown over now is like scar tissue and no longer is sensitive. This describes the person whose conscience is seared.

It's ruined. They've acted against it for so long and so directly, it no longer works. Now realize this is a spectrum from a clear conscience on one end to the defiled conscience to the seared conscience on the far end. If we put those conditions on a one to ten spectrum, with one representing a clear conscience, then two, three, four, five representing a defiled conscience, then six, seven, eight, nine, ten representing a seared conscience. Where do you think your conscience is on that spectrum? Sometimes a messed up conscience shows up on our countenance and in our body language.

King David, after his terrible sin with Bathsheba and its cover-up, wrote in the 32nd Psalm, While I kept silent about my sin, my body was wasting away. I was groaning all day long. Day and night, God's hand was heavy upon me, and my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. With David, a man after God's own heart as he's described, that's probably because a defiled conscience was not something he was used to. It was unusual for him. Others who have become more expert at ignoring their conscience may not show the effects as outwardly like he did.

But what's it doing to us inwardly? It's making us callous to others. If we're Christians, it's pushing us further from God. Another scripture says, If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord doesn't hear us, so it's hindering our prayers. Ignored and defiled badly enough, it can spiritually ruin us. We can end up like a ship smashed on the rocks, Paul once wrote to Timothy.

On the other hand, there are great advantages, benefits of gaining and maintaining a good conscience, a clear conscience. Like what? Well, Hebrews chapter 5, verse 14 says, The mature, who because of practice have their senses trained, are able to discern both good and evil. Maintaining a clear conscience, keeping it in tune, keeping it sensitive so it does what God designed it to do, enables it to keep telling us what's good and what's evil, what's right and what's wrong. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15 and 16 says, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you about the reason for the hope you have, but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against you may be ashamed of their slander. So having a clear conscience also empowers us to share our faith.

It's hard to be bold in our witness when a little voice inside us is saying, Shut up, you hypocrite. Others will not take our faith seriously if they know we have issues in our life that we don't take seriously and have not resolved. A moment ago, I referenced King David's guilty conscience and how it affected him. But in the same Psalm 32, writing after confessing his sins and regaining a good conscience, he said, How joyful is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. How joyful is the man to whom the Lord does not charge sin and whose spirit there is no deceit. When he quit hiding and covering up the wrong, it produced in him an inner freedom and a renewed joy that he had lost.

And finally, one more good result. Wouldn't you like to be able to say this with a straight face? This is our confidence. Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. Our conscience testifies to this. That's something Paul later wrote to the same Corinthian church.

He attributes his own confidence to address them with problems to himself maintaining a good conscience. Truth is, having a clear conscience will positively affect every area of our lives. I'd like to share one more challenging verse on this topic. It's one of my life verses. When Paul was charging Timothy, his younger protégé, about what it would take to be successful in the ministry over the long haul, he wrote this to him: This command I entrust to you, Timothy: fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have suffered shipwreck with regard to their faith. That's 1 Timothy 1, verses 18 and 19.

Keep a good grip with one hand on what you believe, Timothy, your faith, and with the other, keep a good grip on a good conscience. Both will be required to be successful in the spiritual battles ahead of you, Paul told him. He considered keeping a good conscience toward God and men as essential as having a good grip on the doctrinal truths of the Christian faith. This is why he urged Timothy to keep a good grip on both. Okay, I don't want to just tell you about the value of a good conscience today and warn you about the danger in letting your conscience get defiled. I want to challenge you to make the same commitment Paul did in this important area.

And urged on those he taught, who were followers of Christ, and that was to keep a good conscience before God and men. I ask at the outset, how do you normally deal with things on your conscience? Too frequently, honestly, we brush them off, we minimize them, we rationalize them away, because it would take one of the most difficult things in the world for us to actually deal with them rightly. And you know what that is? Humility. Remember, I've said this a few times now, that pride was at the core of so many of the Corinthians' problems, and this is no exception.

When we have wronged someone and never sought their forgiveness, when we've callously hurt someone, when we've taken advantage of someone, or cheated someone, or been unfaithful to someone, or disloyal to someone, yeah, it takes humility to go back, own up to that, and straighten those things out. But the alternative is to keep building up gunk, building up gunk on our conscience. It spiritually weighs us down and can damage our relationship with God and others. So yes, showing humility is essential in gaining and maintaining a clear conscience, but it's well worth it. I love the verse when Peter reminds us, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He can exalt you.

So here's what I'm going to challenge you to do in response to today's lesson. Ask God to remind you of things that you may have ignored or buried that are really affecting your conscience. Actually pray about that, meditate about that for a couple days. See what He brings back to your mind. Some things may be very fresh. They often come to your mind.

They make you feel guilty. But others you may have done your best to forget about. But you know what? The other person or persons involved probably have not forgotten about those things. Whatever the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, make a little list of those things. Then determine, with His grace, to seek forgiveness and clear your conscience.

When I was challenged about this the very first time, my old nature came up with several rationalizations not to follow through. Yours likely will too, like, That's not important. That was so long ago now. Yeah, it is important because our conscience is of great value. Or, Making that situation right would involve money you don't really have. You know what?

An honest debt is much better than a bad conscience. You can no doubt make arrangements if it involves money. Or, The person you wronged is not even a Christian. What are they going to think of you if you come back and say this stuff to them? You know what? What they'll probably think of is, Wow, a Christian who not only talks their faith but walks it.

It will be a good testimony to them that your faith is real. Let me make a couple of brief suggestions here to anybody who hears this and decides it's important to clear their conscience before God and men, as Paul put it. Once you have a list of things you know need to be made right, begin with the very most difficult one. Why would I do that? Because once you do that and get past that assignment, you know what? The rest will be easy.

You'll see how good it feels to obey God and the inner freedom and joy that it brings to you, and that'll urge you on. The other suggestion is to plan your wording and try and address the other person in the most personal way possible. That is, not by email or letter, unless that's the only way you can reach them. But like the prodigal son planned when he was going back to try to make things right with his father, he planned out what he wanted to say. That way, when you get to the conversation, you won't say the wrong thing. But what is the right thing to say in order to pursue a clear conscience?

Simple. You take the blame and you ask for forgiveness. Just say something like, You know, Mark, God brought something to my mind recently that happened a long time ago, I know, when I was working for you, or whatever the situation was. And I just want you to know that I was wrong there, and I'd like to ask for your forgiveness. Will you forgive me? Don't try to share blame.

Don't try and make excuses. Admit that you were wrong and ask for their forgiveness. This is exactly what God asks us to do when we confess our wrongs to Him, isn't it? And that's the best approach. Take it from me. Pursuing and gaining a clear conscience is well worth the effort.

It's a God-honoring and very freeing experience. I hope you will go for it. This has been Paul for Share the Word. The challenge has been made, and it's an absolute worthy, necessary, and I love the description, God-honoring. Thanks, Paul, for such wisdom and discernment. You know, I'm saddened to think that as Christians, we need to be reminded sometimes to do the right thing.

We all know that it's not easy, but I agree that when you have a clear conscience, when we ask for forgiveness, your day is so much better. Thanks for listening, and we appreciate your support. Keep in mind, we're a crowdfunded nonprofit organization, and if you'd like to contribute, simply go to sharetheword.org and click on Give. From all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.