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哥林多前书：8:9-13: 9只是你们要谨慎，恐怕你们这自由竟成了那软弱人的绊脚石。10若有人见你这有知识的在偶像的庙里坐席，这人的良心若是软弱，岂不放胆去吃那祭偶像之物吗？11因此，基督为他死的那软弱弟兄，也就因你的知识沉沦了。12你们这样得罪弟兄们，伤了他们软弱的良心，就是得罪基督。13所以食物若叫我弟兄跌倒，我就永远不吃肉，免得叫我弟兄跌倒了。
人们总是急于抓住自己的权利不放。作为基督徒，正是因为基督将你从罪和律法以下释放出来，在上帝没有做出规定的任何领域你都有自由选择的权利。你有自由和权利选择结婚或不结婚。你有权利选择你想做的工作。你有权利选择穿什么衣服。但是与我们的权利相依相伴的是责任。与其坚持我们的权利，也许我们更应该想想我们的责任。
对于哥林多的基督徒而言，他们有权利吃祭拜偶像之物。那只不过是食物而已。但如果吃这些食物意味着在一个基督徒伙伴脚前放了一块绊脚石，那么他们就有责任不吃那些拜偶像的食物。保罗说，如果吃肉会使人在信心上跌倒，他就永远不再吃肉了。
有一个极好的例子就是我对政治选举的参与（尤其是作为一名牧师）。我有权利把票投给任何我想投的人，我甚至可以帮助他们宣传他们的政治议题和主张。但如果因为我这样做，会导致支持另一候选人的弟兄感到反感，甚至在他们面前放置绊脚石，于我又有什么益处呢？基督教信仰并不分党派。我宁愿和别人谈论耶稣，也不愿意谈论当前最新的政治话题。
这方面耶稣做的比任何人都好。他可以在夜晚与一个法利赛人（尼哥底母）会面，也可以和一个罗马军队的百夫长畅所欲言。当耶稣的敌人试图强迫他选边站，问他给罗马政府纳税可以不可以的时候，他告诉他们凯撒的物当归给凯撒，神的物当归给神。
今天我会为此祷告，我邀请你也这样做，这样的事情发生在我们生活中的太多方面。我对自己的穿着打扮有什么选择权？但另一方面，对我的邻居我又该承担什么责任？在喝酒的方面呢？在饮食的方面呢？作为父母或祖父母，当我在孩子面前做什么事情时，这又会如何影响我的选择呢？要记住，你做的每一个决定都如同一个硬币，一面写着权利，另一面写着责任。
祷告：主耶稣，你释放我得自由，可以为生活中的诸多事情作出决定。我祷告我所有的抉择首先能尊崇你，并归荣耀给你。其次，求你让我能体贴主内的弟兄姊妹，免得我得罪他们，不让他们中的任何一个在信心上跌倒。阿们。
1 Corinthians 8: 9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (EHV)
People are quick to insist on their rights. As a Christian, because Christ has freed you from your sins and the demands of the law, you have a right to choose in every area where God has not spoken. You have the freedom or the right to marry or not to marry. You have the right to choose what work you will do. You have the right to wear any kind of clothing you choose. But with our right also comes responsibility. Rather than insisting on our rights, perhaps we should instead think of our responsibilities.
For the Christians in Corinth, they had the right to eat meat sacrificed to idols. It was just meat. But if by eating they put a stumbling block in front of a fellow Christian, then they had the responsibility NOT to eat that same food. Paul said he would never eat meat again if it would cause someone to fall from the faith.
A good example of this might be my involvement in politics (especially as a pastor). I have the right to vote for whomever I want to vote for and even promote their politics and agenda. But if by doing so, I turn off and put a stumbling block in front of someone who belong to the other party, what have I gained? The Christian faith is neither red nor blue. I would rather talk to someone about Jesus than discuss the latest politics of the day.
Jesus walked that line better than anyone. He could meet with a Pharisee at night (Nicodemus),and he could speak freely with a Roman centurion. When they tried to make him pick a side by asking him if it was right to pay taxes to Rome, he told them to give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to God what belonged to God.
I am going to pray about this today in many aspects of my life and invite you to do so as well. What is my right regarding what I wear, and what are my responsibilities to my neighbor? What about in drinking alcohol? Or the food I eat? How does this affect me as a parent or grandparent when it comes to what I do in front of children? Remember that every decision you make has the word RIGHTS on one side of the coin and RESPONSIBILITY on the other side.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have set me free to make so many decisions in my life. I pray that all my choices would first of all honor you and give you glory. Second, make me sensitive to my brothers and sisters in Christ, lest I offend and cause even one of them to stumble in their faith. Amen.