In the film Jurassic Park, after all the wheels have come off and everything has gone wrong, the character Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, utters the film’s most famous line:

“You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn’t stop to think if you should.”

That is the principle that Paul cites long before that film was ever made: just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. This is the Jurassic Park principle of Christian freedom and Paul unpacks what it means for the Christian life.

Love over rights.

Paul is pro-freedom. He agrees with the Corinthians when they say: “Everything is permissible.” But then he challenges them:

• "Not everything is beneficial."
• "Not everything builds up."
• "No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person."

In other words, just because you’re free to do something doesn’t always mean you should. There’s that governing Jurassic Park Principle.

That doesn’t mean you never express your freedom. Paul isn’t saying the Christian life is all restriction and abstinence. He’s saying that love trumps freedom. Our love for others is more important than the full expression of our freedom. Freedom may say we can but love may say we shouldn’t.

Possible Preaching Angle:
Paul’s guiding principle is this: love trumps freedom. That means sometimes we choose not to use our freedom because it could harm someone else, particularly in the faith.