“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof’” (1Cor. 10:25, 26).
Fear vs. Delight
You can experience the fullness of the earth in a very real way by sleeping in a tent in the wild California desert. Eating and sleeping outdoors among the wild things helped prepare David the shepherd to write the Psalms. In fact, I’m convinced that the Psalms come alive when you spend a night or two in the desert. As David was taught by God and by nature, we need nature’s lessons along with His word. When we are removed from the comforts of home, we can better perceive God’s ownership of creation.
One warm summer in Joshua Tree National Park, we encountered the earth’s “fullness thereof,” when they came flying, buzzing, jumping, and crawling to us. Our campsite swarmed with birds, lizards, and thousands of insects. During lunchtime one of “those who dwell therein,” about three feet long and sporting a fine set of rattles, interrupted our picnic as he came slithering under the tables. We all stood back and waited for him to find the cool shade under the bushes.
That night we were extra careful to zip our tents tightly shut. Lying quietly in our sleeping bags, however, our peace was disturbed when our dog Cashew suddenly jumped up with a “Woof.” The bushes next to our heads crackled and rustled, so I grabbed a flashlight and went outside to look around. A large family of kangaroo rats was hopping around, pilfering our food off the picnic tables. They were also busy avoiding that big bad rattlesnake who was hunting them. We felt a bit nervous, realizing our tent was surrounded with creatures, including poisonous ones that bite.
This paradox raises questions. Kangaroo rats are cute and confirm God’s love for furry things, but did God really make rattlesnakes for Himself? Indeed He did, for our text doesn’t allow any exceptions in the animal kingdom. Everything in the earth is the Lord’s. Psalm 24 teaches us how to worship while living in His creation, to eat and sleep in peace wherever we are. The desert is not a “God-forsaken” place, for even the crawling, biting things belong to Him who made them for Himself. God owns and delights in all His vast creation; even the dangerous, ugly animals. Every creature outside our tent was created by the Son for His purposes and pleasure.
“For by (Christ) all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:15,16).
How could we sleep in all that commotion that night in Joshua Tree? After the excitement died down, we finally remembered who owns all those critters, and we offered a prayer of thanks for them. Even our doggie Cashew curled up and slept.
Lost Glory?
What about Adam’s fall? Hasn’t the Curse obscured God’s goodness in His creation? With all the death and disaster in nature, we can fail to see God’s ownership and delight in His earth. We know that all creation groans, waiting to be set free from its bondage to corruption (Rom. 8:19-23). In the present order, however, we can marvel with David at God’s provision for the natural order (Ps. 104). In fact, God designed the fixed cycles of our sun and moon to provide for earth’s creatures and man (Ps. 104:19-21). Everything has its place as He designed, including the predators, as “The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God” (vs. 21). God has provided abundant evidence of His sovereign goodness in nature (Rom. 1:20), so that unbelievers are without excuse. As Spurgeon said,
“As a whole, the ‘all’ of creation is a wise achievement, and however, it may be chequered with mysteries, and clouded with terrors, it all works together for good, and as one complete harmonious piece of workmanship it answers the great Worker’s end.” The Treasury of David, Psalm 104, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/psalms/104-24.htm
Seeing how God is the owner over all nature, let’s look again at our opening text. Paul’s argument for our liberty in choosing meats is founded on God’s ownership. When you approach the meat section at your local grocer, do certain meats raise questions for your conscience? In 1Corinthians 10, Paul deals with our questions concerning meats, idolatry, and what Christians can eat. Those Christians certainly had spiritual issues with food. Some of them were apparently joining the idolatrous pagan feasts, while others were fearfully avoiding all meats at the market. Today in 2019, we don’t have feasts celebrating Zeus or Hermes, but as good neighbors we will face similar issues when we eat with non-Christians.
The crucial matter when sharing food was not the kind of meat being served, such as clean or unclean, but was how the meat affected their neighbor’s conscience. The Corinthians were not to join pagans in feasting on sacrificial meats as participants in their worship. However, Paul says, sacrificing meat to an idol did not change the nature of the meat itself, for idols are nothing in the world. That same meat being sold in the open market could be purchased and eaten by Christians. Meat is not spiritual; the spiritual issues lay in the minds of the worshippers.
When I was 17 years old living on the island of Guam, I enjoyed helping Chen, a 16-year-old student from Taiwan, to learn English. Chen was bright, funny, and struggled in school, but we worked together and we laughed a lot. His mom always served Jasmine tea and sometimes offered me something to eat. One day she brought me a steaming bowl of soup with some strange chunks of meat. I was Adventist (she didn’t know) and I hesitated, especially after she told me it contained pork stomach. She was so nice, and I couldn’t say no, so I ate. I had to admit it tasted pretty good, even those strange chunks. My host’s warm hospitality softened both my pork aversion and my superior attitude.
When David wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (Ps. 24:1), he stated a greater truth than he imagined. David surely didn’t anticipate Jesus declaring all things clean (Mk. 7:19), for he lived under the food restrictions of Sinai’s covenant. However, when Paul quoted David in 1 Corinthians, he announced the end of all the dietary restrictions of Moses, for under Christ’s reign, we are free to enjoy His creation in new ways. Proclaiming that “the earth is the Lord’s” reminds us of God’s original creation when God made every creature “good.” Christ the creator has now conquered as redeemer, and all of creation is His. He calls it good.
The New Covenant announces the arrival of radical freedoms and responsibilities in the kingdom of Christ. “All things are lawful,” Paul says, and sweeps away all the Mosaic food restrictions. There are no longer any unclean or evil animals, not even the smelly and dangerous ones. It is not our place to judge the animal kingdom with our preferences, cultural or religious. It is His animal kingdom, so Christians need not fear eating the flesh of any animal. This does not mean we are required to eat things that can harm us or truly offend us. It does mean that there are no laws that bind our consciences against meats, or that make any type of food a spiritual issue.
Calling all of nature good allows fellowship at the table of Christ with all the nations in all their diversity. New covenant fellowship requires care and discernment, as Paul makes clear in the rest of the chapter. “Not all things are helpful” and “not all things build up” (1Cor. 10:23). In our gatherings, if food is pushing people apart instead of drawing them together, gospel realities probably haven’t taken hold. Now in the gospel age, food is God’s blessing to draw people together, not to create barriers.
What concerns the body of Christ is protecting and loving the souls for whom He died.
“Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (1Cor. 10:32-33).
As for the Christian conscience, everything in the meat market is suitable for food. Why? Because, God told us through David, “The earth is the Lord’s,” and every creature is good in Christ’s universe:
“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1Tim. 4:4, 5).
The kingdom of Christ leaves no part of human existence untouched, including our diets. Our new covenant freedom has greatly increased the size of our menu with an infinite variety. Every creature that was condemned in the law of Moses is now released from condemnation. We can be fearless at the meat counter and at our neighbor’s barbeque, so let us stop clinging to our fears of our Lord’s creatures and acknowledge that He is Lord of all. †
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So I suppose that you would do as a friend of mine who thought it was OK to eat the jellyfish that was served to him in South Korea?
When he was hospitalized they told him there was no anti-toxin for the jellyfish, and he had to “ride it out” and he nearly died from the toxin.
And remember, if a lobster dies before you pop it into boiling water, it’s flesh is poisonous also.
But then, you would not want to be offensive or possibly missing out on some new epicurean treat that you could write future articles bragging on, would you?