SUNDAY April 29, 2018
Fellowship with Demons
Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have
fellowship with demons.
1 Corinthians 10:20
Paul made a clear distinction concerning sacrifices made to demons; they were not made to God. In Corinth, Christians were buying meat at the butcher’s shop that was sacrificed to idols. If they knew it was meat offered to idols, could they eat it? Of course they could! They were not under the Law; but under grace. However, if they invited a Christian who was weaker in the faith to eat with them, and that person found out that the meat was offered to an idol, they could be stumbled.
So, what Paul was saying to the Corinthian Christians was to not eat meat offered to idols for the sake of their weaker brother. Christians, out of love, needed to be far more concerned about their weaker brother’s conscience, rather than exercising their freedoms.
Yet, think about Christians who do exercise their freedoms today. They need to be very careful with their freedoms. Why? They can cause people to stumble.
Paul was also saying that demons were a part of man’s worship. He wanted to make sure they understood that idols were inhabited by demons. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were guilty of provoking God to jealousy with their idolatry and worship of demons:
They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God; to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear (Deuteronomy 32:16-17).
What about us, have we provoked God to jealousy?
If you love anything better than God you are idolaters: if there is anything you would not give up for God it is your idol… and conversion means
a turning from every idol.
~C. H. Spurgeon~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit Somebodylovesyouradio.org!
