Worship God as You Sacrifice Your Freedoms

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:15-17

For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.  Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.  Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

Insights:  This second point this week regards our freedoms in Christ.  To explain this discussion better, let me quote Paul from 1 Corinthians 10:23-24, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.  Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.”  The context of Paul’s words were in regards to meat that had been sacrificed to idols and then sold in the local meat market.  There were some weaker believers in the faith that for various reasons had a major issue regarding the purchase of this meat.  Paul was explaining that he knew there was nothing wrong with purchasing this cheaply priced meat, but that because of his love for his fellow believers, he would not purchase this meat.  In fact, he would go so far as to not eat meat while in Corinth if it were to cause his brothers and sisters to stumble in their faith.  In some ways, Paul’s attitude was like Maximus’ slave in the movie Gladiator when he said, “Sometimes I do what I want to do and the rest of the time I do what I must.”  Paul, and Peter in today’s passage, are telling us that we often times must sacrifice the freedoms we have in Christ Jesus for the betterment of others.  As a way of example, if a church is trying to reach the millennial generation, also known as the nones because the believe in nothing, then there may be some things they believe are helpful and advantageous to a worship service that the millennials find no value in at all.  Are those saved individuals willing to sacrifice their freedom of choice and preference in order to reach the millennial generation?  If Paul or Peter were faced with that question, they would say, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).”  Beloved, I whole heartedly agree that you have freedom in Christ, but for the greater good of the gospel, we ought to be willing to sacrifice our freedoms as an offering of worship for the glory of God.

Questions:

1.  What freedoms are you willingly sacrificing in order to worship the Lord?

2.  Are there any lawful things that are affecting your witness for the Lord that ought to be removed from your life?

Prayer: Father, thank You for the freedom You have given me in Christ.  May I not abuse those freedoms at the expense of other people.  May my love for You and them be greater than my freedoms.  Amen.