Good, Better

1
Good, Better Best

• Principles from 1st Corinthians 7

2
Introduction

• The lessons today, which reflect the collective
  judgment of the elders, represent our continued
  public response to certain issues that have
  recently troubled the church in Alvin.

3
Focus

• Herein, we focus upon the difference between
  Biblical truth and personal opinion.
• We will also consider the distinction between
  good, better, and best.
• Let us note the problems that arise when we
  impose upon others our opinion of what is best.

4
1st Corinthians Chapter 7

• Paul provides teaching on marriage
• Offering divine instruction
• Offering personal opinion
• Yet, he distinguishes between the two
• Inspired Doctrine is Binding
• Personal Opinion is Not

5
Verses 1-5

• In the opening verses of this chapter, the
  inspired apostle discusses the blessings and
  responsibilities of marriage, especially as they
  relate to the issue of sexual purity (1 Cor.
  71-5).

6
Verses 6-9

• In verses 6-9, Paul offers his personal opinion
  on the relative advantage of remaining single and
  unmarried.
• While commending his way as good, Paul
  acknowledges that, under certain circumstances,
  the alternative is better (1 Cor. 76-9).

7
Verses 10-16

• In verses 10-16, Paul offers additional
  instruction, distinguishing between the words of
  Jesus and his own inspired message.
• Yet, both are authoritative the former coming
  from Christ himself, the latter received by
  divine revelation.

8
Verses 17-24

• In verses 17-24, Paul urges the Corinthian
  disciples to abide/remain in the condition in
  which they were called (1 Cor. 717-24).
• This applies to the distinction between
  circumcision and uncircumcision, and also slavery
  versus freedom.

9
Verses 25-40

• In the latter half of the chapter, Paul returns
  to the subject introduced in verses 6-9.
• Paul offers his personal opinion that in view
  of the present distress it is good for one to
  remain single and unmarried.
• Yet, he affirms, But if you marry, you have not
  sinned and if a virgin marries, she has not
  sinned.

10
Essential Application

• Let Us Note a Crucial Distinction
• Let Us Note a Critical Danger

11
A Crucial Distinction

• We must distinguish between doctrine (which is
  binding) and opinion (which is not).
• Let us abide in the teaching of Christ, and the
  inspired apostolic message (John 831-32 1 Cor.
  1437-38 2 John 9).
• Let us manifest brotherly acceptance and
  forbearance in matters of opinion (Rom. 141-4,
  10-12 Col. 216-17).

12
A Critical Danger

• In areas of human judgment, we must be very
  careful, lest
• Good becomes Better
• Better becomes Best
• Best becomes Binding

13
Falling Away From The Faith

• Consider the warning against apostasy as recorded
  in 1st Timothy 41-5.
• Scripture clearly affirms that marriage is
  honorable (Heb. 134) and meats are clean (Mark
  717-19).
• How, then, could certain believers reach the
  point of forbidding marriage and advocating
  abstention from meats?

14
Binding Mentality RE Marriage

• Well-meaning but misguided disciples could
  respond to Pauls counsel by saying, Isnt it
  better to remain unmarried?
• It is a small step from saying that being
  single/unmarried is better, to saying, It is
  best! and its alternative marriage is the
  inferior option.

15
Binding Mentality RE Meats

• Regarding meats, Paul elsewhere said, If food
  causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat
  meat again, so that I will not cause my brother
  to stumble (1 Cor. 813).
• Some might say, Isnt it better not to take a
  chance? Isnt it better to err on the side of
  caution?
• It is a small step from saying that abstaining
  from meats is better, to saying, It is best!
  and its alternative partaking of meats is the
  inferior option.

16
The Door of Apostasy

• Once we affirm that an acceptable alternative is
  the spiritually inferior option, we stand at the
  door of apostasy.
• In reality, we have already passed through that
  door.
• We are effectively binding our opinion/judgment
  in a matter of liberty and personal conscience.

17
Apostasy Demonic Doctrines

• If one forbids marriage and advocates abstaining
  from foods,
• even when avoiding meats/marriage under
  certain circumstances might be deemed better,
• he has drifted into apostasy and is teaching the
  doctrine of devils.
• Why? Because he is binding where God has not
  bound!

18
Sinful Examples

• This was the approach of the Pharisees and
  scribes who bound the washing of hands, cups,
  pitchers and copper pots (Matt. 151-9 Mark
  71-13).
• This was the approach of the Judaizing teachers
  who bound circumcision upon Gentile converts
  (Acts 151-5, 22-29).
• This was characteristic of the Colossian heresy,
  a strange amalgamation of restrictive Judaism and
  uninhibited Gnosticism (Col. 28, 16-23).

19
Sure Solution

• Down through the ages, man has never been
  permitted to add to, subtract from, or otherwise
  alter the Word of God (Deut. 41-2 Prov. 306
  Rev. 2218-19).
• Therefore, let us not turn aside to the right
  hand or the left (Deut. 531-33 Josh. 17-8),
  but walk in the path of divine revelation (Ps.
  11933-35 Isa. 22-3).

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21
Application to the Issue of Education

• Acquisition of Life Skills
• Advantages and Disadvantages

22
Acquisition of Life Skills

• The Bible does not directly discuss, much less
  provide an exclusive pattern, on how parents are
  to educate their children in secular subjects, or
  how young people acquire the life-skills
  necessary to make a living.

23
Acquisition of Life Skills

• Proverbs 2229 says, Do you see a man skilled in
  his work? He will stand before kings he will not
  stand before obscure men.
• We read of skillful workmen, craftsmen,
  musicians, warriors, etc.
• Where did these individuals learn such skills?

24
Acquisition of Life Skills

• How did Paul, Aquila and Priscilla learn to be
  tentmakers?
• How did Lydia learn to be a merchandiser?
• How did Luke learn to be a physician?
• How did Cornelius learn to be a Roman centurion?

25
Acquisition of Life Skills

• In some cases, men learned a profession from
  their fathers.
• James and John labored as fishermen with Zebedee
  their father (Matt. 421 Mark 119-20).
• Jesus, the carpenter, was a carpenters son
  (Matt. 1355 Mark 63).
• However, it was not always so.

26
History the Bible

• From a historical standpoint, parents in ancient
  times would often place their children under the
  tutelage of a skilled craftsmen, who would then
  train the child in a particular profession.
• From a Scriptural standpoint, the Bible is
  largely silent, offering no detailed description
  of how professional life-skills were acquired.

27
Spiritual vs Secular

• While parents bear primary (though not exclusive)
  responsibility for their childrens spiritual
  instruction (Deut. 64-9 Eph. 64), there is no
  fixed pattern on how one learns a craft, trade,
  or skill.
• Accordingly, parents are free to exercise their
  judgment regarding instruction in secular
  education and the acquisition of life-skills.

28
No Binding No Censure

• When there is no fixed Biblical pattern, we must
  not bind one approach to the exclusion of others.
  
• Neither should we treat our brethren as
  second-class citizens in the kingdom of heaven
  because they make different choices or exercise
  different judgments than do we in such matters.

29
Advantages and Disadvantages

• Different educational choices have advantages and
  disadvantages.
• For some, homeschooling may be the preferred
  option
• For others, it may be public or private school.

30
Dangers in Education

• Various dangers exist in public schools.
• Peer Pressure
• False Concepts
• Worldly Influences
• Lack of Discipline
• Various dangers exist in homeschooling.
• Peer Pressure
• False Concepts
• Worldly Influences
• Lack of Discipline

31
Dangers in the Workplace

• The dangers that exist in the public schools are
  the same dangers that exist in our places of
  employment.
• Shall we conclude that only those who work at
  home are the truly righteous ones?
• Shall we conclude that those who go to work are
  guilty of making a spiritually inferior choice?

32
Spiritual Realities

• In reality, we live in a sinful world, wherein
  most of humanity lies in the power of the evil
  one (1 John 519).
• Yet, in praying to the Father, Jesus said, I do
  not ask You to take them out of the world, but to
  keep them from the evil one.

33
Spiritual Realities

• Furthermore, he provided us with the power to
  accomplish this purpose Sanctify them in the
  truth Your word is truth (John 1713-19).
• Paul restricted his instruction regarding the
  severance of association to erring and
  unrepentant Christians thus, we must not go out
  of the world, but remain in the world, serving as
  salt and light (1 Cor. 59-13 Matt. 513-16
  Phil. 214-16).

34
Warnings

• Of course, we should teach parents the moral
  trials that they and their children will face in
  the public schools, just as we also discuss the
  dangers brethren face in the workplace
• Peer-pressure and worldliness
• The errors of humanism, evolution, etc.
• This sinful worlds embrace of sexual immorality
  and perversion

35
Dangers Without

• Please remember, however, that these threats are
  not unique to public schools, but are found in
  all areas of life.
• In our neighborhoods
• In the workplace
• In social and recreational settings
• Potentially, in the home itself

36
Dangers Within

• Finally, let us not forget that defilement may be
  found in our own hearts (Matt. 1510-11, 15-20
  Mark 714-23).
• Ascetic creeds and stoic lifestyles are of no
  value in the battle between flesh and spirit
  (Col. 220-23).
• The walls of a monastery are no barrier against
  sin.
• Our homes (and home schools) are equally
  vulnerable to invasion by the evil one.

37
A Binding Mentality

• Someone might say that a mothers decision to
  work full-time and send her children to a
  third-party institution for their care and
  instruction is not necessarily sinful.
• However, if they turn around and compare such a
  decision to going to a bar, social drinking with
  friends, attending the prom, etc., they are in
  fact binding their opinion.

38
A Binding Mentality

• If someone demands that the elders publically
  declare that parents who make such decisions have
  made a spiritually inferior choice, they are in
  fact binding their opinion.
• Such unreasonable (and false) comparisons is the
  pathway to legalism and law-making.

39
Fallacious Reasoning

• If someone recognizes the evils present in the
  public schools, but sends his child there anyway,
  he is accused of not caring about the childs
  spiritual welfare.
• Only by agreeing that there are evils in the
  public school system, and only by acknowledging
  that homeschooling is not merely a good choice,
  but the better, yea the best choice, the
  infinitely superior choice, only then could it be
  said that one truly cares for the welfare of his
  child.

40
Assault Upon Freedom

• Brethren, the aforementioned mindset is an
  assault upon the Biblical principles set forth in
  Romans chapter 14.
• Faithful brethren have long recognized the
  difference between doctrine and opinion.
• In matters of faith, unity. In matters of
  opinion, liberty. In all things, charity.

41
Assault Upon Unity

• When we lose sight of these principles, we
  endanger the sacred bonds of fellowship, causing
  divisions/dissensions and offences/hindrances
  that are contrary to the teaching received by
  divine revelation (Rom. 1617-20).

42
Personal Opinion

• While I might have an opinion (in a given
  situation) about what is good, better or best,
  when God leaves these choices in the realm of
  judgment, so also should I.
• If someone asks me my opinion, I might freely
  share it.
• Alternatively, depending upon the circumstances
  and subject matter, I may choose to remain
  silent.

43
Hear and Heed

• We must be very careful and cautious in offering
  unsolicited criticism/censure of someone, when
  they make a different choice than do we, when the
  matter under discussion falls in the realm of
  judgment.
• In matters of faith, demand a Thus saith the
  Lord, accepting nothing less than book, chapter
  and verse.
• However, in matters of opinion, when we reach
  different decisions, let us avoid strife,
  remembering We be brethren.

44
Hear and Heed

• Demonstrate kindness, tender-heartedness and
  forbearance.
• Diligently avoid the unnecessary alienation that
  comes from expressing a personal opinion too
  forcefully, too frequently, or too freely.