There's No Fear in Love Part 4

There’s no Fear in Love

Part 4: Love that Builds Up 
1 Corinthians 8
Pastor Ray-ann Dela Fuente
March 2, 2025

Opening Verse:
“Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.”
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 NLT

Introduction:
Welcome to another Beautiful Sunday here at The River of Faith Church! Today we are concluding our series I entitled “There’s No Fear in Love.” In this series we studied about the plain and most basic Biblical meaning of Love as defined in the Scriptures. We learned about its most fundamental application in our lives and define it as God defined it in His Word.

Main Pointers:
“Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.”
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 NLT

1. Love is needed for knowledge to be effective.

A. The apostle Paul here obviously responded to a very important issue that was brought up to him. Sacrificing meat to an idol was very common pagan practice in Corinth. It was prevalent that only a portion of the meat was actually sacrificed and the rest was recycled and sold in the marketplaces.
B. This situation created a division within the early church leaders who were trying to seek wisdom and counsel from the apostle Paul.
C. “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. Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.” Romans 14:1-4 NLT


2. The goal of love is not to make you feel important.

“So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 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, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.” 1 Corinthians 8:4-8 NLT

A. The apostle Paul here addressed the issue by acknowledging that the knowledge possessed by the Corinthian church was right, however the application of it was in the wrong place.
B. Instead of strengthening the weak Christians they would rather beat them down with “logical” arguments meant to make them feel important about themselves.
C. “If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 NLT


3. Knowledge means nothing if it causes someone to stumble.

“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 because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 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.”1 Corinthians 8:9-13 NLT

A. The apostle Paul guided by the Holy Spirit gave us the perfect answer. Christian freedom
must always be counterbalanced with love for it to be effective.
B. Mature Christians may even sometimes have to sacrifice their own freedom so that
they can prevent a weaker brother or sister from stumbling. That is the right application of love!
C. “We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.” Romans 15:1-2 NLT

Conclusion:
Love is what builds up the church. It is the engine that should drive our ministry. Without it, nothing we do will hold up. It may look big and strong from the outside but has no meaning and essence from the inside.

Love is what builds up! Love is what makes the truth stand and powerful. This is what we have in Jesus Christ!!!