7. Christianity Over Culture: Love Is Better Than Knowledge

This weekend we continue in our series called CHRISTIANITY OVER CULTURE, a study through the book of 1 Corinthians. In chapter 8 we will learn the supremacy of Love over Knowledge. Knowledge is valuable and matters a great deal in regards to our success as followers of Jesus. Knowledge fuels us as we desire the mind of Christ in order to live out our faith as God desires. As this epistle makes clear however, knowledge has a weakness, it can cause the person who obtains it to feel superior to others once they have acquired it. In other words, knowledge puffs us up. In the Corinthian church some were using their knowledge, regarding their faith in relation to some cultural issues, to discourage or even destroy other believers. It appears that they had restaurants or markets in their city that served meat which had been used in Idol worship. Some Christians had figured out that these idols were not real gods and so eating at these restaurants and eating this meat was not wrong. They felt no conviction at partaking of this food. Other believers had not learned yet that these idols were not real gods that did not exist. The believers who had discovered that there was nothing wrong eating this food were hurting the faith of the believers who felt strongly that it was wrong to eat it. They did this by flaunting their freedom and knowledge even pushing it on them. Paul reminds them in this context, that love builds up the church and this is what matters in the end. Our freedom fueled by knowledge can lead us to destroy the faith of others and this is the wrong use of knowledge. We must learn that our freedom fueled by knowledge must be governed by Love. We look to do things that build others faith no tear it down. This is of the greatest importance as we live together in the church. Join us this weekend as we gain wisdom regarding the character needed in order to use our knowledge and freedom correctly. For Scripture, notes, upcoming events, & more: http://bible.com/events/49084392