When Christians Pursue Knowledge over Love...

As a church we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled when Christians act unchristian. And as we have gone through this series, we have seen that one of the reasons that the letter that Paul wrote to a church in Corinth is so relevant and practical for us is due to the fact that the culture that we experience today is so strikingly similar to the culture of the people who lived in Corinth during Paul’s day.

And one of the ways that our culture is so similar to the culture at Corinth is that just like America, Corinth was a goal orientated culture. Just like Corinth, we live in a culture that is marked by goal setting. If you do not think that is the case, just watch TV. We are saturated by adds to sell us things that will help us achieve a goal. Buy this car so you will be popular. Buy this exercise equipment so that you will lose that weight. Sign up for this dating site so that you can find the right person for your life. And every year we make New Year’s resolutions so that we can have a whole new set of goals.

Now I am not saying that goals are bad. We all should have goals that we set out to accomplish. The question is not whether or not we should have goals. The question is do we have the right goals in mind. So what are your goals? Are you pursuing the right goals? And more specifically, do you have goals when it comes to a relationship with God? And are those goals the right goals? And how do you measure those goals?

This can be especially difficult when it comes to the whole concept of spiritual growth and maturity. While we can use a tape measure and a scale to measure our physical growth, how do we measure our spiritual growth? Should spiritual maturity be measured by church attendance? Is that accurate? What about Bible memorization? Or serving in a ministry? Now I am not saying that church attendance, or Bible memorization, or serving in a ministry is bad. On the contrary, all of those behaviors mark spiritual growth and maturity. But is that the true measure of spiritual maturity? What goals should followers of Jesus pursue and measure when it comes to spiritual maturity?

The question of pursuing the right goal when it comes to spiritual growth and maturity is not a new question. And as we continue to look at this letter to a church in Corinth, we see Paul reveal for us another strikingly similar parallel between our culture and the culture of Corinth that can produce Christians who act unchristian. We see this parallel beginning in 1 Corinthians 8:1:

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

Paul begins by addressing a concern that the members of the church at Corinth had brought to his attention in a letter that they had written him. When Paul uses the phrase “things sacrificed to idols”, he is referring to sacrificial meat that was offered in worship to false gods in temples at Corinth. What would happen was that part of this sacrificial meat would be burned on the altar in worship to the false god. Another part of this sacrificial meat would be eaten by people as part of a solemn meal at the temple. The rest of the meat that was not used as part of the worship service would then be sold at the local meat market.

The members of the church of Corinth were asking Paul two questions. First, the members of the church were asking if it was o.k. for them to continue to attend these pagan temples and participate in the pot luck fellowships that were occurring at the temple. The Corinthians believed that since they were spiritually mature and knew that these gods were false gods that this knowledge would enable them to eat at these potlucks with their unchristian friends without any consequences. Second, the members of the church at Corinth were asking Paul if it was o.k. to purchase and eat meat from the local markets in town that may have been previously sacrificed to idols.

Paul responds to these questions by stating that we know that we all have knowledge; in other words all of the members of the church at Corinth believed that they comprehended and intellectually grasped what it meant to be involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul then continues by revealing for us a timeless principle when it comes to our relationship with Christ; knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. The word arrogant here, as we saw a few weeks ago means to have an exaggerated self concept. Paul’s point here is that simply having a comprehension or an intellectual grasp of what it means to be in a growing and maturing relationship with Christ will only result in spiritual pride, not spiritual maturity.

True spiritual maturity comes as a result of love. The love that Paul is referring to here is an other-centered regard and affection for someone. When Paul uses the word edify here, he is referring to an improved ability to live effectively as a follower of Jesus. Paul is explaining that love and not knowledge is the motivation that should drive a growing and maturing relationship with Christ. The members of the Corinthian church, however, falsely believed that knowledge about God was what marked spiritual growth. And it is this mindset that reveals for us another timeless truth that can occur when Christians act unchristian. And that timeless truth is that Christians act unchristian when we pursue knowledge over love. In 1 Corinthians 8, we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us two things that can occur when we place knowledge over love.

The first thing that occurs when we place knowledge over love is that pursuing knowledge over love leads to arrogance. Today, just as it was 2000 years ago, there are many people who believe that it is what you know that matters; the more I know, the more I grow. In verses 2-3, Paul addresses this belief that knowledge was the motivation that should drive a growing and maturing relationship with Christ by stating “if anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know, but if anyone loves god, he is known by Him”.

If Paul was communicating this phrase in the language that we use today, it would sound something like this; if you consider that your knowledge about God makes you spiritually mature, you are simply revealing that you really do not know what it means to follow Jesus. Just because you know about God doesn’t mean that you know God, but the person who loves God reveals the reality that they truly know God and have a growing and maturing relationship with Him.

The true mark of a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus Christ is a growing and maturing other-centered love for God and others. Our love for God and not our knowledge about God should be what motivates our behavior toward God and others. Christians act unchristian, however, when we are motivated by what we know about God, which ultimately results in spiritual pride instead of spiritual maturity.

Now a natural question that can arise is what role does knowledge play in a growing and maturing relationship with Christ? Is God O.K. with me remaining ignorant in terms of what I know about God as long as I love God? Tomorrow, we will see Paul answer this question for us.

So how do you think we should measure spiritual growth? What does spiritual maturity look like? And what role do you think knowledge plays? What is most important and what should motivate you in your relationship with God?