Over the past two weeks, we've been looking at a passage from 1 Corinthians.  First we looked at the need to avoid sin, focusing on four specific sins.  Then we looked at God's way out of temptation and the options available to us when we are tempted.

This week and next week, we'll be looking at the Christian response to the "gray areas."

One of the gray areas in Paul's day concerned the question of meat that had been sacrificed to idols.  Much of the meat available in the marketplace had been previously involved in pagan rituals.  The Christians obviously didn't want to be associated with pagan idol worship, and that raised the question: should Christians eat meat that had been sacrificed to an idol?

Paul approached this question from two sides; this week, we look at the first of those sides.

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Right away, Paul points out that what we do has implications that go beyond the act itself.  When Christians eat bread and drink wine in celebration of the Last Supper, he reasons, we're participating in the body and blood of Christ.  Similarly, then, eating food that has been sacrificed to idols is a way of participating in the idol sacrifice itself.

In modern times, we don't have literal idol sacrifices to worry about, but Paul's point still has relevance.  What we do matters.

As Christians, we must be careful that our primary allegiance is always to Christ.  "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too," Paul reminds us, meaning that we must be careful not to participate in any elements of our culture that could tie us to something contrary to God's will.

In this case, the food itself isn't the problem.  Certainly, food is a gift from God!  But the implication of eating sacrificial food was to connect the person who consumed it with the pagan sacrifices.  And that, Paul warns the Corinthians, is a problem.

Our culture doesn't include pagan sacrifices or eating sacrificial food.  But there are many things in our culture, especially in secular gay culture, that are contrary to God's will.  We know this; that's why we're called to be "not of this world."

This week, think about some of the things around you that you know aren't pleasing to God.  Are there ways that your participation in certain activities or aspects of the culture can amount to putting other things above Christ?

Do you ever tell yourself that something "isn't really a sin" even though it reflects allegiance to the wrong things?  What can you do in your life that will reaffirm your commitment to Christ above all else, even when it means taking a stand contrary to those around you?

Next week, we'll look at the flip side of the equation, as Paul talks about the times we should participate in our culture.