Should My Conscience Be My Guide?

6 · Recounts the Disney version of Pinocchio with its therapeutic message of self-discovery and becoming your best self

If you're a, you know, a longtime or a recent Disney kid, you likely remember Jiminy Cricket with his little top hat. You know, the adorable little suit, little— is it like an umbrella that he waves around or something? And it's this adorable character from the Disney version of Pinocchio, and he always reminds Pinocchio, 'Always let your conscience be your guide.' And you just think, 'Oh, that's lovely. Lovely Jiminy Cricket.' And if you remember the Disney version of Pinocchio, you remember— well, it's a charming story. It's a charming story about a puppet who goes on a journey of self-discovery. This young puppet Pinocchio with his pal Jiminy Cricket, his conscience, is given freedom and abilities and he gets out into the world and needs to grow and he learns and he makes mistakes, but in the end he becomes a real boy, the best version of himself. And it reminds us that that if you have a dream in your heart, you can see it through and become a real— the real best version of yourself as well, right? Isn't that lovely? Lovely.

7 · Contrasts the original Italian Pinocchio fable with the Disney version

But the original version of Pinocchio is far darker, far weirder, and has a far different purpose. So knowing me as your pastor, which of those two versions do you think I'm going to focus on today? The darker, weirder, original Italian fable of Pinocchio. Now, in the original version in the late 1800s, many of the story elements are the same. There's a wooden boy, there's a kindly woodcarver father figure, there's a cricket conscience, but the point of the story is totally different. The point of the Italian fable is obvious from the beginning because Pinocchio is an absolute jerk. He is rude. He is mean. He makes fun of people. He will not listen to the woodcarver Geppetto or anyone. He joins a gang at one point. He pawns precious treasures for spending money. He is truly terrible. And over and over, he gets into terrible situations that are his own fault and receives the consequences for his foolish actions. And that is the point. That's the point of the original Pinocchio. The original Pinocchio was a fable warning specifically kids, but I guess really anyone, that using your freedom and your abilities in profoundly foolish ways that cast off authority and bring harm to everyone else around you end up destroying you as well. It's obvious why that wasn't made into a Disney animated feature. You imagine you watch the movie and you're like, 'And that, kids, is what happens when you disobey mom and dad.' Right? That— it's not going to sell as many tickets, I don't think.

8 · Maps the Pinocchio illustration onto the Corinthian situation

And I say all that to introduce our passage because in Corinth there was a problem. Everyone in Corinth thought that they were in the Disney version of Pinocchio. They thought that they were on this— they had been given these wonderful freedoms in Christ, they were on a journey of self-expression and self-discovery. If only the people around them would just get out of their way so they could become the best version of themselves. And Paul is looking at them and going, no, no, no, no, no, you're in the other version of Pinocchio. You are selfish and rude and crude, and you are using your freedoms and your abilities in foolish ways that are harming the people around you and will end in your own destruction. So stop it. That is what Paul is pleading with them.

9 · Synthesizes the illustration into a theological claim about the nature of the Corinthian problem

This version of the story of Pinocchio, the original version of the story of Pinocchio, is not an aspirational journey of self-discovery. It's a sober warning not to misuse your freedoms to hurt yourself and others. And that is surprisingly, that's the issue at stake in Corinth.

10 · Historical-cultural background on meat offered to idols in Corinth

The issue in that particular context was the issue of meat offered to idols. Now, I got to explain this for a second because in Corinth, very different from our day, most of the meat in the city was associated in some way with one of the pagan temples in the area. Most people, meat was a luxury item, not a daily thing, and so you you would find most of the meat of the city somehow connected to the temples. And what would happen is people would bring a big sacrifice, a cow, to the temple to try to get what they wanted from a pagan god. And some of it would be burned up, and some of it would be consumed in kind of a ritual way to get the favor of the god. And then, well, what about the rest of it? You're not going to burn an entire cow. So they take that part, some of it goes to the priest, and the rest of it usually then was sold at a discount by the temple or resold to another meat vendor, perhaps sold by that meat vendor to somebody preparing food in a restaurant or food stall. And so, in a way, all the meat that was there filtered through the entire city. And in fact, in the ancient world, it was common to just have events nearby or at the temple, like your birthday. So, look, man, I'm from El Paso and we love Peter Piper. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's some kind of unwritten requirement in El Paso that you've got to have your birthday at Peter Piper at some point when you're growing up to get your citizenship card for El Paso. But all of us have done it. It's amazing. But imagine in Corinth, instead of being like, all right guys, we're going to Peter Piper for, you know, Tito's birthday on Sunday. It's like, no, we're going to the temple of whatever because they've got cheap meat. We got to feed a lot of people, okay? That's what they did. That was the culture.

11 · Identifies the two factions in Corinth: those with sensitive consciences due to prior idol worship, and those confident in their freedom

And so some in Corinth, well, they were burned by their previous association with these idols. They were worshiping these idols before coming to Christ. And so now the idea of eating meat in any way connected to these pagan practices, they— is just grievous to them. They don't even want to eat any meat out of fear that somehow it had been offered in the temple. And then the others in Corinth thought, 'Oh my gosh, these ignorant brothers and sisters in the Lord, they need to recognize we're free in Christ. We can do whatever we want. God owns everything. Let's just live the way that we're meant to live. Live in freedom. Live and enjoy life as Christ intended.' Right? That's the issue here.

12 · Pivots from the ancient Corinthian context to contemporary application

But this issue really can be related to any time Christians disagree on matters of wisdom or conscience or preference. For example, what about these? Consider the following.

13 · Rapid-fire series of contemporary conscience disputes: schooling, voting, Halloween, movies, alcohol

What about when you realize that one of your close friends is sending their kid to public school and you and your spouse could never dream of not homeschooling your children and you're concerned about this family all of a sudden? How do you interact over it? Or what if a friend, you hear about a friend in a particular election coming up, they're going to abstain from voting because in their conscience they can't reconcile voting for somebody, either of the candidates, any of the candidates, and you are incensed and angry and you're mad and you're like, 'How can you think that? You have to vote. It's your duty.' Or what if you're trying to decide whether your community group can have a Halloween party and hand out candy to the neighborhood? Or what if you're disagreeing with another friend about a movie that you're going to watch that night because one of you is uncomfortable with the content of the movie? Or what if you have some people over from church that you don't know well and you've got some wine and other beverages behind the cabinet and you're kind of wondering, 'Should I leave them there? Should I bring them out? What should I do?' How then do you navigate these issues of wisdom and preference and conscience?

14 · States the sermon's main thesis in compressed, memorable form

Well, here's, I think, how we're to navigate them. We navigate these issues not using others to serve our freedoms, but using our freedoms to serve others. All right, does that track? We are not called to use other people to serve our freedoms, but rather use our freedoms to serve other people.

15 · Structural signal introducing the three-part exposition

Now, 3 dangers that this passage warns us about. The first one is knowledge without love.

16 · Expounds 1 Corinthians 8:1, identifying the Corinthians' self-quotation and Paul's response

Now, verse 1: Concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge. Now, that's a quote. These quotations are from the letter that the Corinthians had written to Paul that he's responding to. All of us possess knowledge is what they're saying. This knowledge, quote unquote, puffs up but love builds up. Now Paul is acknowledging that there's one group that he's going to side with. He's going to side with those that say, okay, listen, it is true that you have freedoms in Christ. It is true that you have the ability to eat, you know, meat in the marketplace and things like that. But these people who are so proud of their knowledge of how many sermons they've listened to, how many books that they've read in the Christian living section of their bookstore. I'm saying that facetiously because they didn't have one. How much philosophy that they've thought of, how many deep conversations they've had with others. They know better than the others in the church. And so they thought, 'Well, we know better, so we're just going to do whatever we want to do.' They had knowledge but did not have love.

17 · Restates Paul's argument as a mathematical equation

And so Paul gives them an equation. They assume, listen, as long as we've got knowledge, we're going to end up in positive territory. Because if we're smarter than everyone else, it must mean whatever we do is going to end up on the right side of where we're supposed to be. And Paul is saying, no, no, no, this is the equation: knowledge minus love puts you in negative territory. You don't do any net good with knowledge minus love. Without love, you're always going to end up harming yourself and others. This is what he's trying to get them to see.

18 · Returns to the Pinocchio fable to illustrate knowledge without love

And the old Pinocchio fable provides a vivid illustration of this. Soon after being created, Pinocchio decides not to listen to Jiminy Cricket. We'll get to that in a second. And he listens to these new friends he gets. And he's so impressed that these friends, they know so much more than him. They know the ways of the world. They know how to operate, and so Pinocchio's like, 'Awesome, I'm gonna just follow these guys.' But these guys, the cat, I think it's a cat and a fox at that point, they do not love Pinocchio. They end up tricking Pinocchio into paying for dinner, and then, to add insult to injury, the next day disguise themselves as robbers and rob Pinocchio, 'cause they know where he is. I mean, that's rough. To not only get someone to pay for dinner and then use their location, go back the next day and rob the rest of their money. That's cold, man. But they had knowledge. They knew exactly how to manipulate this little guy, this little puppet. They had plenty of knowledge but no love.

19 · Expounds 1 Corinthians 8:3

And what Paul is trying to help the Corinthian church see is, look, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have if you do not have love. And surprisingly, Paul then, in a masterstroke, uses the gospel itself to undercut these knowledge people. He says in verse 3, 'But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.' Paul is playing with this word knowledge here. He's saying, listen, okay. This is the way you think about the world. You think the world is based on knowledge rankings. So if this person's got knowledge level 11,000 and this person has knowledge level 10,999, the 11,000 person, that's the person who was always right. And that's the person God looks down on and says, well, that was good. That was very good. That last, Charles Spurgeon devotional really pushed you over the edge there. It got you that morning and evening. Ah, now you're the best. Now I'm pleased with you much more than the other person. That's how they viewed everybody walking around with little knowledge rankings. And Paul is saying, back up, guys. The only ranking about knowledge that really matters is not how much you know, It's about who knows you. It's whether God himself knows you and calls you his. That's the only thing that ultimately matters in the end, isn't it? Because you could have all the knowledge in the world without being known by God and end in destruction. Therefore, doesn't that breed a beautiful humility among the saints? 'Cause you realize, look, that person may have read 50 more books than you, that person may have read no books at all, that person struggles to read the Bible, but they are in Christ. And if they are in Christ, they are known by God. And if you are in Christ, you are known by God. And the ground is level there. So don't look to knowledge as the thing that you use to compare yourself with others. Couple your knowledge with love in a way that serves those around you.

20 · Works out the principle in a detailed hypothetical: two families disagree on schooling, both convinced they're right

Let me give you one really practical example about this. Imagine you and your close friends decide on radically different schooling options for your kids. One of you decides that they believe in homeschooling as the best thing and they're going to pursue that and a particular type of homeschooling method. Another person's like, 'No, no, no.' this other schooling method, either public schooling or a particular type of private schooling, that is the method. And you realize somehow in dinner conversation you've landed further and further apart on these issues. And you know, you just know that you know more than them. And it's just so sad where they are because they have not read the books that you have read on this issue. They have not considered the deeper things of the American educational system, and you, you in this moment just know that you're so right, and you're tempted to make some very specific and punchy comments about what they think. And maybe, just maybe, they're tempted toward the same thing. Now, I'm not going to resolve that issue. This is not a message about schooling options, but rather how we interact over those matters. And here is what question Paul is asking. Okay, in that moment, in that conversation, will your knowledge be matched and paired with love for them? That's the question. He's not even at this point asking who's right, although there's other parts of Scripture that deal with that. He's asking whose knowledge is matched with love. Because here's the thing, if that conversation is knowledge without love, it's only going to end in conflict and tearing one another down, isn't it? But if that conversation is knowledge matched with love, both parties will walk away from that conversation built up, will they not? So Paul is charging us, warning us about the path of knowledge without love, and charging us to couple any knowledge we have, anything we think think we know with love.

21 · Introduces the second danger and reads the next portion of the text

Second danger to avoid is freedom without submission. Verse 4: Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and there is no God but one.

22 · Expounds 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, first half

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God. So Paul is again responding to their assertions, which are in quotes here, and the argument they're making is this: look, idols, idols aren't real. They're just blocks of wood. They're just a big hunk of metal shaped into a funny shape. Listen, the Lord owns everything, and we don't have to worry about these little hunks of metal and what these little ignorant people think about them. We're free to just eat whenever, wherever we want, right? Right, Paul? Right? That's what they're writing to him. Right? And yet Paul does something brilliant. He both affirms part of what they were thinking and then profoundly undercuts it at the second turn. So, the first, he affirms what they're thinking and he says, 'Yes, the lordship of Christ frees us. There were some in the church who were literally afraid of eating any meat that may have been offered to an idol. If even it had been sold to a vendor and resold and then cooked by a guy in the street stall, they were still afraid. And in fact, there's some research that they may have been afraid of eating the meat lest the power of those idols get into their bodies. Right? So you're like afraid, like, man, if I eat that meat and that meat has Aphrodite power in it and I put it in my body, all of a sudden I'm going to be a sensual, evil person. Right? Or like if I eat the meat of Ares, all of a sudden I'm going to be angry and warlike. Ah, you know? And so they're afraid. The other Christians are going, 'Yeah, I don't think it works that way.' And Paul is affirming, it doesn't work that way. Okay? Meat, animals, the Lord made them all. The Lord owns them all. Wood, gold, stuff you make idols with, the Lord owns all that. All of it's the Lord's. He owns every square inch. And for the Christian, you need not have fear that somehow some other idol is going to have power over you. No, the Lord is your Lord. Be free and enjoy the things that God has provided.

23 · Expounds 1 Corinthians 8:6, second half

But, he says, the lordship of Christ also restrains us. Notice what he says there in the second half of verse 6. Yet for us there is one God, the Father, and notice his language, from whom are all things and for whom We exist. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. What is Paul doing? He is in this beautiful way reminding them, yes, you're right, the Lord is Lord of all. But if that is true, if he's the Lord of all meat and all homes and all wood and all gold, then it means this: the meat in your house is the Lord's. How will you use it? The gold in your house is the Lord's. How will you use it? Your kitchen table is the Lord's. How will you use it? Your body is the Lord's. How will you use it? So simultaneously, it frees us that we might enjoy all God has given, but it constrains us to constantly ask, listen, he's the one that made me. He's the point of all that I am. My very existence is sustained by him. So am I living under the lordship of Jesus?

24 · Synthesizes the exposition into a claim about the Corinthian error

Because, see, these people wanted the freedom of the lordship of Jesus without the restraint of the lordship of Jesus, right? It's like rejoicing, 'Man, I'm so glad this guy's our king. I'm so glad he's our king.' And the king's issuing edicts and they're like, 'Whatever, whatever.' This guy's our king, he freed us. And the king's like, please stop doing that in the middle of town. You're like, whatever, I have freedom because I'm, you know. And Paul's saying it can't work that way. You can't separate freedom under the king from submission to the king.

25 · Returns to Pinocchio to illustrate freedom without submission

And Pinocchio, the old story and the new one, has a great example of this. In that version of the story, the old one, they go to the Island of Toys. Where in the new Disney version they actually have it in there still, and they call it beautifully Pleasure Island. And you're just like, oh my gosh, it's Las Vegas for children. And this place is held out as a place where kids can use their freedom without rules, without restrictions, without pesky parents or officials or or anyone telling them what to do, and they're just like, 'Yeah!' They're just breaking stuff and destroying stuff and drinking and all kinds of things. They cast off parental restraint. There's no police, no parents, only to discover the entire place is a trap. And by casting off all that authority, they've removed themselves from any protection. And so, their freedom without submission leads to bondage and slavery to something else. Right? Freedom is good, but freedom is good when it is used appropriately. Freedom in a vacuum, you don't know if it's good or bad yet. What will tell you whether it's good or bad is how that freedom is then used. If you take that freedom and do something sinful, well, it is sinful. If you take the freedom and do something good, then it is good.

26 · Works out the principle in a detailed hypothetical: Halloween party debate when one family has a sensitive conscience due to past occult involvement

So, imagine this in a more practical level. Imagine your community group is discussing whether to hand out candy on Halloween and have a kind of a neighborhood party and invite some of the people in the neighborhood over to meet them. But one family in particular just has, man, they have serious reservations. And this family, you find out that one of the spouses was involved in occult practices in the past. And so, in her occult practices, there were lots of rituals around Halloween. And anytime they see even a sign for Halloween, there is a strong association between that and what they used I used to do. And so they feel like, man, any pumpkin, anything, any orange is just— it's getting too close to what I used to do. Well, how do these people resolve this? Well, first, it helps them— maybe this woman and her family see that there is freedom in Christ. And maybe it helps them begin to understand the others in the group, that this holiday might be used by some evil purposes, but God owns the calendar, God owns the pumpkins, God owns the color orange as well. And they begin to— maybe they don't agree, but they begin to understand how those around them got there, even if they're not there yet. And then it also helps restrain the rest of the group, right? It restrains them from using their freedom to mock or make fun of this family. You know, which you might be tempted to do. Just like, 'Ah, pshh, oh yeah, watch out, the witches are going to get you on Halloween, huh?' Right? That is what Paul is saying. That's freedom without submission. That's freedom without constraint under the lordship of Christ. Now, I don't know how this community group resolves this, but I do know this: the path through it is freedom coupled with submission to Jesus Christ. And that submission to Jesus Christ constrains us not just to think about ourselves but to think about those around us as well.

27 · Introduces the third danger and reads 1 Corinthians 8:7

Third danger, I think, is conscience without care. Conscience without care. Verse 7, however, not all possess this knowledge, but some through former association with idols eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled.

28 · Lengthy digression introducing a four-category taxonomy for Christian decision-making: sin, wisdom, preference, conscience

Now, I'm going to back up here and very briefly introduce the fact that there are a variety of scriptural categories when it comes to disputable matters among Christians. Uh, not every issue is a conscience issue, but conscience issues are one of the categories that we use on disputable matters. So, uh, there's 4 general categories If you— I'm going to breeze through these, and I think you'll see why. First, there's the category of sin in the Bible. Okay, so if you and a group of friends are trying to figure out how to get from this side of town to the other side of town, and you're wondering, 'How do we do that?' Sin categories help you realize, 'Well, one way we're not going to get across town is by stealing a car.' Right? I know it's silly, but that's true. It's a clear definition in Scripture. Do not steal. So if you're wondering, how do we get from here to there? The option is not, let's steal a car. Second, there's the category of wisdom. Okay? Wisdom is skill in the art of godly living. So wisdom is, okay, we'll say you have a car. Then the question is, what's the fastest way from this side of town to the other side of town? That's a wisdom issue. So you might argue about somebody's got Google Maps, somebody's got Apple Maps, somebody's still using Waze. If you're out there, love you. And you know, they're— and they're like going back and forth and going, this is the wisest. And somebody's like, I don't listen to any of those. I got my map right here, right? Like, that's a wisdom discussion. But then imagine you realize, okay, there's 2 or 3 possible routes. They're about the same. Then the third category is preference. Third category is preference. That is somebody saying, oh my gosh, I hate stop-and-go traffic. Let's not take Montana. As soon as we get on Montana or Mesa, it's like start and stop and start and stop. Just get on the freeway. It's going to take longer, but it'll at least keep moving, right? Or somebody who's like, oh, I hate the freeway. People drive crazy. There's too much construction. I'd much rather 'Or just, you know, do the stop-and-go light thing.' That is not wisdom even. It's just a preference, right? I like this, you like that. Okay? Imagine they finally are all in the car ready to go. They've decided on a route where somebody sheepishly in the backseat puts their hand up and says, 'I'm fine with anything as long as we don't speed.' Because speeding is a sin. And everyone looks back and gets angry at that person. But that is a conscience issue, okay? Conscience, defined by Andy Naselli and Crowley in a book I read this last week, defines conscience as your consciousness of what you believe is right and wrong. Or I would push it just a little bit further and say your conscience is your consciousness of what you believe is right and wrong before the Lord. Meaning, it is at or approaches the level of sin. So for that brother in the car, maybe he really, just in a literal reading of the text, has come to the conviction that speeding beyond 55, if the thing says 55, it says 55. I'm obeying the governing authorities. That's my conscience. I believe if I sped, it would dishonor God and be a sin. That's a conscience issue.

29 · Explains the concept of conscience calibration

Now, here is the interesting thing about conscience. Our consciences, as revealed in Scripture, are imperfect. That's the situation in here. This person has a conscience issue, this group has a conscience issue, but Paul knows their conscience is in a sense miscalibrated. So imagine, uh, this. Imagine you've got this clear category, true standard. This is God's true standard of what is right and wrong, right? But then you have a new Christian who, they have learned some things about the Bible and their consciousness, okay, this is their consciousness of what is right and wrong, is very similar to what is right and wrong as revealed in Scripture, but is a little little off. So in this area, maybe they feel freedom to do things that the Bible tells them not to do, but they haven't learned enough about the Bible to know that those things are wrong yet, right? So it's a person that's like, 'Well, like, I would never steal and I would never lie, but, you know, if I fudge some numbers on my taxes, it's not that big of a deal. I mean, everybody does it, so it's kind of a cultural practice here.' And if you read the Scriptures, you'd probably go, 'No, tax evasion is a sin. But they just— they don't know that yet. Now, there's other— oh, sorry, that's this right here. That's God's standard that they're not yet aligned their conscience to. This part right here is things they believe to be sinful that the Bible doesn't explicitly say are sinful, but they still believe them, and their conscience is not yet aligned yet. Perfect example of this for those who've grown up in fundamentalist kind of cultures is dancing. Like we, maybe sincerely, we've had numbers of people over the years that they're like, 'Dancing is sinful. It's just sinful.' 'How do you know it's sinful?' 'My mom taught me that dancing is sinful. And once you dance, you might as well go commit adultery, right? That's just— might as well go all the way. You've already danced.' Like, and you're like, 'I don't—' You know, you're looking at God's standard and you're thinking, 'I don't think that that's right.' So, everybody in their conscience, apart from the Lord's helping them, will have areas that they think are acceptable that the Bible says are not acceptable, and they will think things are sin that the Bible doesn't say are sin. And so Christian life is over and over, as you learn more and more about God's standards, by God's grace, you want these things to be as aligned as possible. Does that make sense?

30 · Applies the conscience calibration concept to the Corinthian conflict

Now the problem is, so imagine this person, okay, they're pretty mature. Then you add another person, right? And all of a sudden this Christian is like, what is wrong with that person? Unbelievable. But they do get some big things right, and yet their conscience is in need of calibration just the way that they are. That's the situation in Corinth. Maybe those who were free to eat some of the meat, their conscience is more calibrated to the truth of the Bible, but Paul has a concern. Paul's concern is that what their conscience allows them to do, that they, by doing that, do not damage the conscience of their friend. Because here is what the Corinthians were wanting to do, right? They are very aligned with God's standards, and they're like, listen, your conscience is whack. Here's what we're going to do. Bam! You know, you're wrong. And Paul is looking and going, you just killed their conscience.

31 · Pinocchio killing Jiminy Cricket becomes the central image for what happens when you destroy someone's conscience

In the original Pinocchio story, when Jiminy Cricket appears and he begins telling Pinocchio, you should listen to your father, and you know, you shouldn't do these things, Pinocchio. Do you know what Pinocchio does in the original Italian fable? He kills Jiminy Cricket. Straight up at the beginning of the story. He dead.

32 · Synthesizes the exposition and illustration into a direct charge

And so that is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, 'You just killed him.' They need that conscience. It is helping them on a lot of issues be calibrated to what the Lord teaches. The solution is not smashing their conscience. The solution is helping them graciously and slowly over time learn to line their conscience up with God's standards, right? And so Paul's plea to them is, on matters of conscience, do not destroy the conscience of others. Your conscience does not give you the ability to destroy the conscience of someone else. You must match your conscience convictions with care for others. Does that track? Does that make sense?

33 · Acknowledges the complexity of the conscience discussion, then pivots to the sermon's climax with a rhetorical question anticipating the listener's need for a positive model

Now, there's a lot there I'm not going to get into the details of, but that is the thrust of Paul's argument. Now, you may be wondering here at the very end, 'Okay, this is helpful, this is good, but I wish we had some kind of illustration of what this looks like to live this way.' Fortunately, we do.

34 · The sermon's theological and emotional climax

What does it look like to use your freedoms to serve others rather than use others to serve your freedoms? Brothers and sisters, it looks like Jesus. Jesus was Think about this: the person walking the face of the earth with more knowledge about the world and the way it really worked than anyone else alive. And yet, what do you notice about Jesus? At every point he couples that knowledge with love for people, right? He doesn't just stand up and say, 'You guys, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you guys are the worst,' and then walk away. No, no, he loves them. Any knowledge, any instruction he gives is coupled with love. And he really is the most free person on the face of the earth. He's the Son of God. He has supernatural abilities. He's filled with the Spirit. He could do anything he wants. He could go anywhere he wants. And yet, he lives his life submitted to the Father's plan. And he does it not for himself, but for the good of others. Of others. And now listen, His conscience was the only perfectly calibrated conscience so far in the history of the world until we meet in glory. And yet at every point, everything He teaches, everything He does is coupled with care for the people around us. And do you know where that takes Him? That takes Him to the cross. Look, the cross is Jesus Christ using his freedom, his free life, laying it down that he might serve other people. And who does he serve? He serves you and he serves me. He serves people who are just— if we could see ourselves accurately— little Italian jerk Pinocchios running around, taking the freedom and the abilities that God has given to us and using them to hurt others and to damage ourselves over and over and over again. And yet the Lord in his love, Jesus in his love, goes to the cross and offers himself for people like you and me.

35 · Applies the Christological claim to the listener's life

And then if you get that, this is what Paul's saying, if you get that, it changes the rest of your story because the rest of your story is not then, Okay, well, here's what I'm going to do. Thank you, Jesus, for the freedom. I'm going to go right back to using my freedom, my abilities, what God's given me selfishly. People better get out of the way. No, no, no. That's the first half of the story. Changed by Christ, our trajectory changes. We match knowledge with love. We take freedom and match it with submission. We take our conscience and govern it with care so that more more and more, who do we begin to look like? We begin to look like Jesus.

36 · Returns to Pinocchio one final time

Look, the thing I love about Pinocchio in the Italian version is that initially there was an outcry because he killed the character off because he was so bad, right? So he was just like, 'Yeah, and then Pinocchio gets what's coming to him. The end.' And the Italians were like, 'Ah, that's pretty dark.' Like, so he goes back and he writes another ending for Pinocchio. And here's what happens. In the end, through all of these trials, Pinocchio finally learns to support his ailing father by working faithfully for a farmer and taking the money he saved up to serve others. And one night he goes to bed a wooden puppet, and the next morning he wakes up a real boy. And I think there's a beauty in that, that he finds who he was meant to be all along, not in his path of selfishness and self-discovery, but on his path of sacrifice and love for others. He becomes who he was truly made to be.

37 · Five-point summary framed through Pinocchio imagery

So let me sum this up and then we'll sing to close. I'm summing it up intentionally in kind of a cheeky way in the hopes that it might stick with you. Here's the summary, Kelly. First, do not kill Jiminy Cricket. And that goes for all of us. Do not kill your own conscience. Listen to your conscience. Calibrate it constantly, but don't throw it away. Second, do not be Pinocchio's jerk friend. Do not have knowledge without love, because it leads to hardship and destruction. Third, Third, do not go to Pleasure Island, meaning don't live your Christian life with freedom without submission, right? No freedom without submission. Fourth, do not kill anyone else's Jiminy Cricket, right? If your friend has a different conscience issue, then don't say, 'Oh, here, can I see that?' Like, that's not going to help them. Be careful with them. Care for them. And fifth, I say this tongue-in-cheek, okay? There's some visitor that's like, 'Is it always like this?' The answer is yes. Number 5: Become a real child of God and not a donkey. When Pinocchio becomes who he wants to be, he ends up a donkey and then in the Italian fable gets turned into a drum. That happened. Far better the path of sacrifice and love in which he becomes who he was always truly meant to be.

38 · Closing prayer weaving together the sermon's threads

Would you stand and let's pray? Oh Lord, I pray that though we've laughed some this morning, Lord, I pray that we really would take to heart the message of this passage together. Lord, we are all tempted in Pinocchio kinds of ways to use what you have given us, use our freedom, use our abilities in ways that have no love, in ways that have no care, in ways that have no submission, and therefore damage ourselves and damage others. And so, Lord, I pray, I pray, Lord, that you would show us your path here. May we follow Christ. May we follow our Lord who is the wisest person, smartest person who ever lived, and yet matched that with love for others. The freest person who ever lived and yet matched that with submission to the Father. The most perfectly calibrated conscience yet matched with care for others. Pray that we'd remember what you've done for us. Lord, if we feel any areas of foolishness in our lives, and I pray that you would convict us and help us to see them. But as we feel those areas, Lord, may we not despair. May we remember that our hope is that you come to us, you love us, and you freely give yourself for us. And I pray that in light of that, Lord, we would live differently, live differently.

39 · Mid-prayer pastoral intercession

Lord, I just had this sense, Lord, pray for Any particular relationships in the church in which maybe it's a husband and wife, maybe it's friends, that there's been tension and contention as they've discussed matters where people, where they disagree with one another, maybe even some distancing as a result of that disagreement. Lord, I pray that this passage would push us back together with one another. That we would love that brother or sister, that we would care for them, that we would say, 'Lord, you've given me all this freedom, but I'm submitted to you.' And we'd go to them, that we might be reconciled and built up. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.