FBC Morning Light – March 3, 2022

Well, a good Thursday morning to you.

Hope your week has gone well thus far, and you're seeing the Lord bless your labors for him.

Now today we're reading in Romans chapter 15, and you know Romans 15 follows Romans 14.

How's that for a no -brainer?

But the point is that in Romans 14, you know, Paul is talking about how we shouldn't be

we shouldn't be judging one another in terms of these doubtful things, these things where there's no clear

directive from God's Word.

We're left to draw conclusions from principles and precepts and so forth

from the scriptures and apply them to the various things of life as we encounter those things.

And sometimes we fall down in different places as believers in Christ regarding the practices or

whatever of those things that are disputed, if you will.

But in Romans 15, Paul builds on that, and he says that we

who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak.

So, you know, there are some Christians who are young in the faith, for example, and are very

sensitive to some things because of where they've been and experiences of life that they have gone

through.

They're very vulnerable to temptation in some areas where, you know, if

you've been a believer for a long time, you never struggled in a particular area, you don't have to

worry about that.

And there are things that you might be able to do that don't

affect you in the least bit and tempt you to do anything wrong or think wrong or

whatever.

But that wouldn't be true of a brother in Christ.

So he says, we who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please

ourselves.

Now, there's a statement Paul makes that flies right in the face of contemporary thought, isn't it?

We are not to live to please ourselves.

But, he says in verse 2, let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification.

So Paul is, you know, you hear this mantra all the time, you know, live for yourself,

go for what you want.

If somebody else doesn't like it, too bad for them.

That's their problem, that kind of a thing.

And Paul says, no, no, as believers in Christ, we do need to think about each other.

We do need to care about each other.

We need to think about how our actions and behaviors and choices

impact those whose consciences are tender and who

would be vulnerable to sin if they were, you know, doing the same thing that we were doing.

They'd be vulnerable to temptation to go places and get involved in stuff in ways that don't affect us.

We have to think about that.

We have to be concerned about them, not live to please ourselves.

Now, in that second verse where he says, let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification,

you know, Paul does give a couple of boundaries, if you will, or parameters regarding that let

each of us please his neighbor.

So,.

He doesn't end there.

Because, you know, sometimes what would please our neighbor wouldn't be for his good and it wouldn't edify him.

So, for example, let me give you an example here of something like that parents, Christian parents, are running

into these days.

Parents of kids who are maybe, you know, fourth grade on up, maybe even younger, but

especially you start to see it in late elementary, middle school years, and that is

this whole matter of having a phone.

You know, kids see other kids with phones and they see their other, their friends, you know, have

smartphones and they're playing games on them and they're doing Twitter and Instagram and all this kind of stuff

as sixth graders.

And it looks like great fun.

And it looks like it would be pleasing to your child to have one of these things so that he could be

immersed in the virtual world and immerse himself in all of these

various things.

But you're a smart Christian parent.

And so, you know, you look at that and you say, no, no, that's not good for you.

That would not be good for you.

Yes, it would please you, it would please you, but it would not be good for you.

And it wouldn't build you up in the faith.

It wouldn't lead you to Christ and it wouldn't grow you in faith in Christ.

So, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do this to please you.

I'll have to say no.

So, those are a couple important qualifications to that let each of us please his neighbor.

It's got to be for his good.

We're going to please him for his good and for his edification.

If something is something that would please him is not good for him and is not

going to help him grow in his walk with Christ, then I can respectfully and

kindly decline yielding to that thing that would please him.

The other thing I wanted to point out here in this chapter is that, you know,

right after he says this, Paul gives the example of Christ and he says, even Christ did not please

himself.

But he says, as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

So, Christ didn't live to please himself.

Christ lived and died to please his father and to accomplish the purpose

for which he was sent.

But then the next verse is what I wanted to key in on.

He says, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through

patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

So, one of the values of the Old Testament scriptures is the examples that it provides,

good and bad.

And those examples can help us in knowing how to live and

making decisions of everyday life.

Now, that does have with it a certain caveat, doesn't it?

The caveat is, we'll have to know what those Old Testament scriptures say.

So, I know, for example, there are some Christians whose attitude toward the Old Testament is, oh, you know, it's just all these

stories, and then there's these names, and there's these things, and there's these things, and I, you know, I just want to read the New

Testament.

The New Testament is for Christians.

The New Testament is for New Testament believers, followers of Jesus.

The Old Testament, eh.

Well, you have that attitude.

For one thing, it's not a very good attitude, because all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is

profitable.

But you're also missing out on.

On.

Learning from these examples that are good and

bad, that help us understand how to live,

how to walk this journey.

So,.

Let that shed a little light on how you view your Bible.

You know, we're following a Bible reading plan that we've been publishing, and right now we're in, you know, every

other day we're in the Old Testament.

We're reading in Chronicles, and about to finish that up, and going on into other passages in the Old

Testament, and I hope you're following along with that.

If not that plan, then another plan that at least incorporates the Old Testament, because

therein are things written for our learning, that we, through the patience,

or the endurance, and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

Well,.

Yeah, read the Word.

It's good for us.

All right, Father, we thank you today for these two areas of challenge and encouragement.

I pray that we would be encouraged to please our neighbor for his good and his

edification.

We would be encouraged to read your Word in the Old Testament, learn from the examples that

you've provided for us.

And this we pray, in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen.

All right.

Well, have a good rest of your Thursday, and I trust God will bless you in it.

Good day.