This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is our second day together looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 8, this
important chapter about knowledge and love. We looked yesterday at the fact that
we want to let love lead the way. But knowledge is also a part of our lives as
believers.

So how does it come into place? God wants us to have knowledge. He wants us to
use our minds as believers.

In Hosea 4-6 the scripture says, "My people are destroyed from lack of
knowledge. " So we obviously need to have knowledge. Proverbs chapter 8 verse 10
says, "Choose my instruction rather than silver.

" Knowledge over pure gold. So God values knowledge. How do we keep it in the
right place, in the right perspective in our lives?

How can that knowledge be balanced by love? How do you keep your knowledge
healthy? How do you make sure that it doesn't overshadow your love?

In these verses we're going to look at today, verses 2-8, Paul talks about two
specific things that you and I do that make sure that knowledge does not begin
to lead the way rather than love. That keeps knowledge strong but also healthy
in our lives. First, you know what you don't know.

And second, you know who knows you. Those are the things you do to keep
knowledge healthy. First, you know what you don't know.

In verse 2 Paul says, "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know
as he ought to know. " The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know
as he ought to know. Now that's not meant to be a puzzle.

What he's saying here is, if you think that knowledge can lead the way and what
you know is enough, then you don't know as you ought to know. He's talking here
specifically about the person who is sure they have it right, so sure that they
have it right, that no one else could have it right, no other opinion could
possibly be considered. Now anytime you meet somebody like that, it's usually
out of their own insecurity that they feel that way.

And Paul says instead of living out of insecurity, living out of fear, living
out of pride, live out of humility. Know what you don't know. Know that there is
so much that you don't know.

Thank God for the knowledge that you have, but also live in the knowledge that
there are a lot of things that you do not know. And anytime I think I've got it
wired, anytime I think I've got life figured out, anytime I think I've got
another person particularly figured out, and their circumstances, and why
they're doing what they're doing, God humbles me and reminds me that there's
things about their life that I don't know. Same thing is true of my own life.

Anytime I think I've got myself figured out, God humbles me and reminds me
there's things even about myself that I don't know. So in order to be healthy
with my knowledge, I want to use that knowledge, I want to enjoy it, but I
always enjoy it and use it. I always take the wisdom that God gives me and I
want to follow it, but always in the light of knowing there's a lot of things I
don't know yet.

Thank you God for what I do know. There's a lot that I don't know. Don't let
what you don't know keep you from doing what you do know, but don't let what you
do know make you prideful so that it even ruins what you do know.

Know what you don't know is the first thing Paul says. And then this second
thing. You want to really live with a life that is not controlled by knowledge,
then you know who knows you.

In verse 3, Paul says, "But the man who loves God is known by God. " If you base
your life on knowledge, that's how you're going to relate to others. On a
knowledge basis, on a cognitive basis.

But if you base your life on God's knowledge of you, God's love for you, that's
how you're going to live. You're going to live relating to others based on a
relationship with God. You want to get along with others, you want to get along
even in difficult situations.

You find the base for your relationships not in the facts in your head, but upon
your Father in heaven. And the fact that he loves you no matter what. How can we
be absolutely sure to keep love in its proper place over knowledge?

Verse 3 gives us a simple answer. You love God. The man who loves God is known
by God.

And how do you love God? By accepting his son, by accepting his gift of
salvation, of life, and then beginning to live out the life that he gives you.
Paul is reminding us here, who you know is more important than what you know.

Now, by the way, that's even true most of the time on a human level. But that's
not what we're talking about here. We're talking about on a spiritual level.

Who you know. Knowing that you know God, your Father in heaven, is more
important than what you know because that is the relationship that is going to
last forever. Know what you don't know.

Know who knows you. And Paul says in light of this, knowledge and love, let's
take all of this and now let's apply it to a specific situation. Let's get real
about this.

So in verses 4 to 6, Paul begins to lay it out for him and for us too when he
says this. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols. We know that an idol
is nothing at all in the world and that there's no God but one.

For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed
there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father,
from whom all things came and for whom we live. And there is but one Lord, Jesus
Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. Paul begins to
talk here about love and knowledge and he starts with knowledge and he says when
it comes to knowledge, we know that an idol is not real, but God is real.

Even if people sacrifice meat to idols in a temple, that idol isn't real. It's
just something made up in their heads. It's something they worship that they
made up.

There's no reality there. So a Christian who is free in Christ could easily say,
so what's the difference whether a piece of meat that I'm eating has been
sacrificed to an unreal idol or not? The idol isn't real.

If I can get a better deal on that piece of meat, what's the difference? I know
the idol isn't real. I know that only God is real.

He's the only one from whom all things came. Jesus Christ is the only one
through whom all things exist. Idols aren't real.

Case closed. I've won the argument. But Paul is reminding him here that that's
not what it's all about.

It's not like I can look at my knowledge as if I can look at my knowledge and
think, oh, those poor, unenlightened people who don't have the knowledge that I
have. It's so sad they don't understand like I do. They can't live a freedom in
Christ like I can live.

Paul is very clear here, and it's one of the keys to living the Christian life
to understand what he's saying here. He's saying that life is not an argument to
win. Life is an opportunity to love.

Life is not an argument to win. It is an opportunity to love, to love God and to
love others. And once you understand that, it's not about whether the meat was
sacrificed in an idol's temple and I can argue myself into, oh, of course it's
OK.

It's about loving. And who and how can I love God and others in this situation?
And in your relationship with God, God knows as well as you do that it's a false
idol.

So in your relationship with God, buy the meat at a cheaper price. Cook it up in
your house. What about your relationship with other people, other believers?

Paul says this in verse 7. He's just said, you know that it's a false God. You
know that it's not real.

But in verse 7, he says, but not everyone knows this. Some people are still so
accustomed to idols that when they eat such food, they think of it as having
been sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

But food does not bring us near to God. We're no worse if we do not eat or no
better if we do. Now in that last verse, Paul reminds us it's not about the
food.

In verse 7, he reminds us it's about the people. He says consider other people.
Consider their background.

They were brought up worshipping idols all of their lives. And even though
there's something in them factually that knows that that idol isn't real, still
they're weak in their faith. Recognize that what is knowledge or even freedom
for you could actually be sin for somebody else.

And don't do anything that could hurt them. Recognize that what is right for you
may, because of someone else's background, someone else's experience, be wrong
for them. Paul's asking some very significant questions of you and I here.

Is your life based on what you know or by whom you're known? Am I living my
Christian life based on what I know, the verses that I know, the verses that
I've memorized, what I learned in a Bible study? Or is my life based on by whom
I'm known, the fact that God knows me?

And yes, I need to go to Bible studies and learn God's word. Of course, I
believe in that. I'm teaching drive-time devotions right now.

Yes, I need to memorize God's word. But it's all based on my relationship with
him. It's not as if that stands alone.

It all begins by the fact that I'm known by him. Is my life based on my
knowledge or is it based on the fact that I'm loved by my Father in heaven? If
you've been a believer for any length of time, you know how it can begin to
slip.

And more and more your life becomes based on knowledge, because it's just easier
that way, it feels like. Is it about your relationship with him? There's another
question in these verses, and that is, are your actions based on knowledge, the
knowledge you have, or are your actions based on the people that you're choosing
to love?

If in your mind you've been having this argument saying it's the right thing to
do, it's the right thing to do, it's okay to do, the Bible says it's okay to do,
that's not the question. Sometimes we get caught up in the wrong question. The
question is, how can I best love in this situation?

How can I best love my Father in heaven, and how can I best love that other
person? Now you and I probably aren't facing the same situation that they were
in Corinth, most certainly are not. But the question is, what situation are you
facing?

We're going to talk about some more of that during this week, but right now in
your life, what's the situation you're facing where you need to choose love over
knowledge? Let's pray together. Jesus, thank you that you love us.

Thank you that you chose to love us. We're deeply grateful for your love, and we
pray that through your love for us, you'd give us the strength to choose to love
those who are around us. To choose not what we know, but to choose the fact that
we are known by you, and out of the fact that you know us, we can love those who
are around us, even those who struggle, especially those who struggle.

Help us to realize that there never comes a day in our lives when we cannot be
loved by you. If only we'll choose to accept your love, Jesus. We are always
loved by you, we'll only see it.

And help us to realize that there never comes a day in our lives when we cannot,
by your power, love that other person. They may not respond as we would want, we
may not be able to connect with them as we would like, but we can continue to
pray, we can continue to love. Lord, help us to see who to love today, by your
strength, by your power.

We pray this in your name, amen. Be sure to join us tomorrow. Paul's going to
tell us what to do when knowledge and freedom and love collide.