LIBERTY… A STUMBLINGBLOCK

The Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’, John 14. 6. When we come to know Him we come to know the truth and the truth sets us free from bondage; we enter into Christian liberty; we are free to choose. Essentially, of course, we want to choose to do the things that please Him and are in accord with His word. When I choose to do something like the example in this chapter, eating meat that had been offered to idols, I exercise my liberty and my conscience is clear. I know that the idol itself is nothing. It is not real. It is a dead piece of wood or stone made by men’s hands. It has no power or authority; so the fact that some good meat had been offered to it did not change the meat and the meat will not hurt me. I have liberty in this matter.

However, there may be a brother or sister in the fellowship who, although now a believer in Jesus Christ, still thinks that the idol is something. He has not been freed from that bondage in which, perhaps, he spent most of his life. Should he see me exer­cising my liberty, that may stumble him. It may encourage him to do the same and wound his own conscience. His conscience is not clear; he is in bondage, or in a state of weakness. Does this mean that I am still free to exercise my liberty? The answer is, ‘No!’ Why? Because, says Paul, my action may destroy him for whom Christ died. My liberty must therefore be restrained by my concern for the weak brother. And that should be easy for me because I feel the same whether I eat or not, so, as we would say, ‘It’s no skin off my nose’. But it could be a matter of ruining his Christian life and causing him to stumble and fall. My liberty should not be allowed to become a stumblingblock.

Am I therefore to have my liberty constrained for the rest of my life just to satisfy this brother’s conscience? The text teaches just that. Said Paul, ‘I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend’, v. 13. With wisdom, this princi­ple may be applied in other situations and circumstances where liberty to do things is exercised. On the other hand I may also pray that my brother will mature in the things of the Lord and his conscience become stronger as he realizes that the idol is nothing. It is no big deal. Light dawns. He, too, is free!