Pastor Tom Johnson, January 29, 2012
Pufferfish are not the best swimmers. So when the pufferfish is threatened by a predator, it does not out swim its enemy. Instead, it ingests large amounts of water. It's elastic body expands to more than twice its normal size. The pufferfish makes itself too large to eat. The king cobra is just inches off the ground. But when it feels threatened, it can stand up and look a grown person in the eye. It will puff up or flare out its hood to make its head even more menacing to anyone who would threaten it. If the goose feels threatened, it will also raise its head up high. It will spread its wings and flap them. It will puff its body up to try to convince you that it is much bigger and powerful. Head on, it can appear three times larger than it actually is. The domestic cat has similar behavior. I'm sure you have seen a frightened cat stand high on all fours, tail strait in the air, and its hair stand on end. Like a cat that puffs up, even we humans have what we call “goose bumps,” our “hair stand on end,” or we have a “hair raising experience.”
In our reading from 1st Corinthians, Paul tells us that knowledge puffs up. Like a scared creature being pursued by its predator, we use our learning to try to deceive those around us. We try to convince them that we are smarter, bigger, stronger, and more significant than we actually are. We puff ourselves up perhaps for the same reason fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals puff up. We believe we are in danger. We feel threatened. We are insecure in ourselves. We puff ourselves up because we believe we are in competition. We feel the need to protect ourselves and defeat our opponent. The competition in our text is between those who believe they have the freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols and those who believe it is a sin. Paul is clear who is right—the meat eaters.
There is no such thing as idols. There is only one true and living God. The gods idols represent are false. When someone sacrifices an animal to an idol, there is no evil or spiritual harm transferred to the meat. The meat is safe. But for those whose used to believe in these so-called gods it is not that easy. Even though they have been told the truth, their conscience still bothers them. They remember killing animals to appease the gods. And with each bite of meat, they re-experience their troubled past. Their conscience is weak. It feels wrong. It seems like a sin even though they have the freedom to eat.
The meat eaters are right. But sometimes you can be right but completely wrong. Knowledge leads to pride. “I am not like one of those backward fundamentalists.” “I do not vote for that party.” “I am mature in my faith.” “I am a progressive Christian.” Like one of the creatures we talked about earlier, we puff ourselves up. And here is the insight that is so useful. Paul wants us to know that puffing ourselves is an illusion. We have not deceived any predators or any competition into thinking that we are bigger, stronger, and more significant than we actually are; we may have only deceived ourselves.
Here is the sobering truth: it does not impress God. He knows that none of us are as big and bad as we may convince others and ourselves we are. We are all—all of us—small-minded, weak, sinful, and broken people. “Knowledge puffs up; love builds up.” God is not calling us to tear down our opponent but to build up our sisters and brothers of the faith. We have the privilege in participating in what God is doing by his Holy Spirit in the lives of his children. This is the very heart of the work of the Gospel.
Isn’t it good news that God loves us even with our bad theology? Isn’t it comforting that others may scoff at us for our backward ways but God accepts us? Isn’t it wonderful that God has not brought us into a competition for his attention but a family of faith? Isn’t it a relief to know that we don't all have to agree on everything? God does not love meat eaters more. He does not love the theologically astute more. He does not love puffed up creatures more. And here is the really good news: God does not love puffed up creatures less. Jesus died for both puffed up sinners and for the deflated sinners alike.
The Gospel deflates our pride but also builds us up. God knows the real me. He sees though all the phoniness. He knows our weakness. He knows our brokenness. He knows our sinfulness. And he loves us all the same. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present. He is so wise, so strong, so perfect, so righteous, and so great that even the universe itself cannot contain him. But instead of being puffed up about his own glory, he sent his eternal Son from heaven to earth. He deflated himself—he humbled himself by being born of human flesh in a stable. Jesus so deflated himself that he died on the cross of Calvary. And through his death and resurrection he builds us up. He forgives us. He assures us of eternal life. His love builds us up now. His love builds us up for all eternity.
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