Fundamental NoCo: Christian Liberty (Part 2)

Christian Liberty and the Problem of Gray Areas

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrock. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

There's nothing wrong with an immature Christian as long as they shouldn't be mature by now. But we get brand new Christians. I can't, don't you love it when there's a baptism? But when you have baptisms, I say to myself, here we go.

I mean, I can just see it coming. I'm going to have to say, you know, let's just talk about election again. Let's talk about free will. Let's talk about this, eternal security. Let's talk about all these other things.

You know, it's kind of like Pink and Tozer. I'm sick and tired of people coming to me saying, how does responsibility and sovereignty go together? But the thing what Tozer did is he forgot, new Christians need to figure that out.

You maybe have figured it out because God has helped you figure it out. But they haven't. How can Jesus be God and man? You think, oh, here, I got to explain this again to the next guy. Yep. But you know what?

Since God has loved me so much, I'll gladly do it. Two, build up instead of puff up, found in verse one as well. This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Paul had already said in 1 Corinthians chapter four, you're arrogant, verse 16.

Arrogant, verse 18. Arrogant, verse 19. Chapter five, you're arrogant. Chapter 13, love isn't arrogant. And they're all the same word, puffed up. They were a puffed up group. If Jesus didn't please himself, then we shouldn't either, Romans chapter 15, verse three.

Review point number three, found in verse two. Remember that you haven't arrived. No matter how much you know, you haven't arrived. By the way, when you hang out with old saints, you will soon find out that they don't walk around like they've mastered God.

I have a, you know, that's why I can't believe it. I have a master in divinity. I've mastered divinity. Then why did I go get my doctorate in ministry if I had already mastered divinity? That was sure dumb.

I've already mastered divinity. I am a master of divinity. We're always learning. Hang around old saints and you'll realize, you never think they've arrived. Paul says here in verse two, if anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

We all have so much to learn. One man said, some Christians grow, others just swell. Man, I've got my theological ducks in the road, doctrines of grace, tulip, five solas. And this is a bat ready to knock your head off, you immature, brand new baptized person.

Whack. If you're going to act like that, Paul says, you know what, you don't, I don't think you even really know those doctrines. I was going to make some comment about the Red Sox, but I just, I gotta stop.

If you have a different view than other Christians about something, here's what Paul would have you do. I should probably consider what they're doing and thinking and saying, because they just might have some truth.

They just might be right. Got everything all wrapped up in my mind about this, and you say, you know what, there could be, I know them, I know they're faithful in light of who God is, and you know what, they seem on board on a lot of things, they could probably teach me something.

Grace Alone, Welcome Mat Christianity, and Receiving Weak Believers

Number four, when it comes to gray areas, remind yourself that you are what you are by grace alone, the divine initiative alone. Difficult verse to translate, difficult to interpret, but verse three says, but if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

That's not if then, but if anyone loves God, then God is able now to know him. Here's the way you can think about it interpretively, but if anyone loves God, he has already been known by God. That's the idea.

If you say you love God, guess what, who's on first? God's already loved you. His initiating grace, so you can't say, yeah, we've got it all because we came up with it all. No, you didn't. You received it all.

Just like chapter four. What do you have that you have not received? Fiddley said, Paul ascribes nothing to human acquisition. God's religion is one of bestowment. That's good, and if you've been loved by God, God has taken the initiative, and then you take the initiative to love others.

It said in Romans 15, seven, therefore, welcome one another as God has welcomed you for the glory of God. How did Christ receive you? No trespassing sign until you figure out all the right theology. Barred, Arminians not welcome, Charismatics not welcome, Anglicans not welcome, whatever you want to put in there, Southern Baptists not welcome, but you know what, because of the gospel of Christ Jesus, the no trespassing sign to God's presence has been replaced with a welcome mat to God's presence because of what the Son has done.

Instead of the King Jesus saying, by the way, kill that subject, no, they used to kill people back in those days, I won't tell you the actual killing part, but they would tape a knife up under their neck before they went into the King, because felons even today, when you see them by a car getting taken away, what do they often do?

They want to hide their face, whatever the shame might be, and hide, and so instead of hiding from the face of the judge as he pronounced your execution, the knife would be taped right here so you could see that judge face to face as he condemned you.

Can you imagine, this is us without Christ Jesus, condemned, deserving of hell how many times over, and then it's, if I could just use the figure a little bit more, take the tape off, take the knife off, kill the fatted calf, put the ring on the guy, give him the best cloak because he's my son, you're not going to kill my son, because we're adopted into the family of God.

Romans 15 says, welcome into your personal space people who are weak Christians. Kim and I sometimes will say, well so and so is going to come over to our house, let's invite somebody else over to our house that might like this couple, and then this couple maybe can like that couple, and it's a good way for them to kind of get to meet them, and then Kim and I never have to deal with them again, and then they can just go.

It's kind of match make, maybe it should be even more than that, maybe it should be, you know this couple is going to come over for dinner, and they're pretty strong in their faith, they're firm in their faith, they're mature, let's see, who's a brand new Christian?

Who are the new Christians? Maybe let's invite them over, so it's just not a friendship, it's the stronger ones can help the weaker ones, and I know what I'd probably be thinking, I'd be thinking you know what, I'd like to kind of get to know these strong ones a little bit more, and kind of employ them into gospel ministry, and help serve around the church, but you know these guys are going to be asking me, you know, how does sovereignty and responsibility reconcile themselves?

Paul says, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Just as Christ, I know there's no one here, me included, who is not worthy of Christ receiving us. I know not one person here was so wonderful, it's all God could do to receive us.

One man said, did he receive me because I was irresistible? Not at all. By the way, that's a lie in evangelicalism, where you're so valuable, God had to die for you. No, you know how much God loves you, because he sent his son to die for you, because it's not of your value, it's because of his love.

It means everything, the difference is huge, and of course I've said it before, some haven't heard it, it's like with a makeup artist, home makeover, do they pick Hearst Castle to do home makeovers? Do they pick supermodels to do makeovers on them?

Who do they pick? I'm not looking at anybody in particular, like they pick you, I'm just looking for an answer. Who do they pick, Eric? They pick ugly people, so then they make them beautiful, so everybody goes, not that they're pretty, but they go, yeah, they're pretty, but look at the guy, look at the lady who did that.

If Christ receives sinners, how do you receive saints? That's the question. That's the question. Number five, found in verses four to six, study the Bible to remove needless offenses and increase your liberty.

Study the Bible to remove needless offenses and increase your liberty, verses four to six. Now, this part is really, really cool. This part right here in four to six is like dropping in on Paul's home Bible study.

How many people would like to be at Paul's home Bible study? That would really be cool. I have a lot of questions to ask him, but here's what Paul does. He says, you know what, you struggle in these gray areas and Corinth, of course, with the idols and the meat and everything else, but now let me give you a Bible study so that you have greater liberty.

Two guides in your life that you ought never to forget. Number one, the Bible. Number two, conscience. Don't go against the Bible. Don't go against the conscience. But you can take the Bible to elevate the conscience to think biblically, right?

Well, right, you can. You can say, I'll inform my mind and my conscience with the Bible, so I now don't have a difference between Bible and conscience, but they'll be the same. So Paul says, let me just bring you in on a little Bible study.

This is what I'm teaching the church of Corinth, so they don't have this weird thing about what's an idol and what's not. So he gives them a little Bible study, and he does it by using the Bible. So if you say to yourself, I've got some major issues with blank, alcohol, schooling, Halloween, I don't really care what it is, tattoos, I've got some real problems with those things.

That's your conscience. Okay, fine. Don't go against your conscience. But on some things, the things that I just said that you can find Bible verses for, you can elevate your conscience to think more biblically and then have more freedom.

Sound fair? So let's just dive in and see what Paul does on a Bible study on idolatry, eavesdropping on how Paul teaches weaker Christians the Bible. And he says lots of things. Here's the first thing he says.

Idols, the Shema, and One God

Idols don't really exist, verse four, one. His first point is, his first propositional point is, since idols don't exist, then eat what you want. Verse four, therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know an idol has no real existence.

Idols are nothing. Voodoo dolls are nothing. So food offered to idols doesn't defile you. That's the point. An idol has no real existence. And when I go to India, you have 1 .2 billion people, and they have 330 million different gods.

You heard Sammy say that. 330 million. How many of those are real? Ganesh? Not real. Hanuman? Not real. Shiva? Not real. Saraswati? Not real. Whatever, however you pronounce them. They're not real. So food has been offered to them, and then you eat the food.

It's still just what? Food. Food. I got this little app a while ago, and it's some kind of iPod, iPhone, iPad app, and it tracks your calories, and it's iTracker or something, I don't know what it is.

ISpy. And so what you do is, you type in things. And since it goes to the internet, I say, seven ounce protein bar clif, clif bar protein. Enter. It gets all the information off the web, and it says 25 milligrams of sodium, 270 calories, 14 grams of fat, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, and it just enters it in, and so I know how many calories I've eaten for the day.

And then if I say to myself, but I want to eat more, you have to exercise, then your calorie amount goes up so you can eat a little bit more. And so I have this little app, One Banana, 120 calories. I had a seven pepper corn steak salad from Longhorn the other day, and I just said seven pepper, it just pulled up the rest of it, entered in 670 calories.

With dressing? Yes. Yeah, this is nice. Double up the dressing, 900 calories. I ate a salad today. And you know what? Hanuman, demon-possessed chicken, low-main, enter. It will not show any calories for the demon.

Why? Because it doesn't exist. Low-cal. No, I'm just kidding. No-cal, yeah. Now just listen for a second. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths but do not speak, eyes do not see but do not see.

They have ears but do not hear, noses they do not smell. They have hands but do not feel, feet they do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them will become like them, so do all who trust in them.

Psalm 115. Demons don't exist. Paul is teaching them from the Bible, so they'll have greater liberty. That's how you change the conscience, is the scripture. Psalm 135. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of man's hands.

They have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. An idol is nothing, is what Paul is trying to say. They do not exist. An idol is not a him nor a her, it's an it.

When I go overseas, I usually buy a little idol and bring them home and set them up in my sunroom there and Kim always lays them down face down as it were, like Dagon in front of the Ark and all that.

But if you were to come to my house, they'd be nothing. But I think to myself, if someone from India came over who was a brand new Christian, I'd better get those things out of there. They're going to think I'm having a bunch of Indian, you know, they're Saraswati.

I mean, I only have this little goddess because I like to tell the kids, listen, this little god of education, goddess of education, do you want to study for the next three days for your exam or you just want to bow down and give her a flower and say, praise you?

Which one would you like to do? Uh, dad? Just an illustration. You know what? Idols are good for things. A for teaching illustrations and you'll see in the Bible for fires. I'm not kidding. For firewood, Paul's Bible said he continues his first point is idols don't really exist.

His second point is because there's only one God. Verse four B, look at the end of verse four and that there is, you can just hear the Shema from Deuteronomy six, four, there is no God, but one. If there's only one, there's no others.

That's a necessary consequence. Only one God. Then that means the one God made the animals and the animals aren't God. Even though the pagan priests say we offer this up to the non-existent God because there's only one God.

He goes on. Paul's third point at the Bible study to help elevate conscience up is just because something's claimed to be God. It doesn't mean it is. You can say whatever you want. In other words, verse five, for although there may be so-called gods, parentheses in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and any lords, there's not.

At Corinth, they had gods named Kronos, Poseidon, the sun, the calm, the sea, Aphrodite, Artemis, Isis, Dionysus, the tree, fortune, Apollo, Hermes, Zeus, Asclepius, Bunera, and many more. And none of them exist.

Paul gives another point. You have your existence from God the Father. He's the source. Look at verse eight, chapter eight, verse six. Yet for us, there is one God, the Father. And now he talks about source.

Now he talks about origin. Where'd you come from? From whom are most things. From whom are a few things. No, all things. No exclusions. God made everything in his creation. If there's only one God and we see the creation, then that one God had to make all those.

It's not half and half. By the way, on a side note, I don't have any time. I've run out of time, pretty much. Evolution is a slap in the face of God the Father who's made everything. I looked at a website last night.

It's called No Answers in Genesis. Creationism is not the alternative to evolution. Ignorance is. That's what they said. The source is God the Father. Actually, the goal of your existence is even God the Father, which is connected.

Look at verse six. This is another point Paul gives. This fifth point he gives. For and for whom we exist, the purpose of your existence is to glorify God the Father. Why am I born? Why do I exist? What's the purpose of my life?

Do I matter? God made you and therefore he made you to live in him and for him and to enjoy him. And what's the purpose of life? To enjoy God and glorify him. He sets eternity in your heart to worship him.

Why would you then split your affections and say half for this idol and half for something else? God. And here comes the agent that God uses. Who's the agent that God uses to create? Christ Jesus. Now before we read this next.

Let me read it, but then I'll talk about it. And one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Friends, if Jesus is God and the Father is God, but there's only one God. We have to believe in the Trinity.

If he was going to talk about idolatry now. And he is talking about idolatry now. Wouldn't it make sense if Jesus was a competing God? This would be a good time to put Jesus in his place. Subordinate to God.

A created being. A Mormon God. Some kind of lesser thing here. But in the middle of idolatry talk. He talks about the Father and the Son. One God and one Lord. The deity of Christ. The Trinity. If you're a Christian, you want to believe in the Trinity.

Because we're talking about the Father and the glory that goes to the Father. Because there should be no other idols. And who is Jesus? By the way, your Jewish friends think Jesus is not God. In the midst of his discussion about idolatry, you see.

As God would say, there's no other gods or lords before me. There's Jesus. Because the Father's God. The Son's God. The Spirit's God. The Father's not the Son. The Son's not the Spirit. And the Spirit's not God.

One God. The triune God. This is great. And one agent of creation. You could read Colossians 1 to find that out. One mediator. The person through whom God accomplishes all his intentions. So here's the main point.

Here's the point. God's Word says this. It's clear. But God's Word doesn't address certain things. So what I do is I use the Bible to help increase my knowledge of some of these things. So my conscience and the Bible can be as close as they can to one another.

So if you struggle with things that other Christians do. You say they might be right. I better study the Bible to make sure I have my own convictions. And love them at the same time. My last comment. God the Son is not only a means of accomplishing the Father's intentions.

He is a great mediator. You want to get to God the Father. Heaven. Fellowship. It has to be through the Son. And because of the Son. The Father hears our prayers. Speaking of idols. I'm going to read to you a prayer.

That is entitled. A Prayer to Every God. In the library of Ashburbanipal. And here's the super sad thing. This person didn't know there was just one God. Now if you think there's more than one God. How would that affect your prayer life?

I think it would affect your prayer life like. Our Father who art in heaven. And then I think it would affect your prayer life like. Something to marry. Full of grace. I think you'd say. You know what?

I got to split things up. Two gods. Two prayers. Ten gods. Ten prayers. This poor fellow here. Did not know that he was offending people. And he screams out. Help me. But he doesn't know who's there. It's like the pagan that knocks on the tree.

Are you there God? Are you there God? And as I read this. I just want you to think this. That aren't you glad. You are the recipient of. First Corinthians chapter one. One to nine stuff. You know there's a God.

Because his maze made it known to you. And you get to pray to God. And he hears you based on the advocacy. And mediatorial work of Christ Jesus. The only Lord. The only God. And if it wasn't for the grace of God.

This would be you. And I pity this person. Lost. May the fury of my Lord's heart. Be quieted toward me. May the God who is not known. Be quieted toward me. May the goddess who is not known. Be quieted toward me.

May the God who I know. Or I do not know. Be quieted toward me. May the goddess whom I know. Or do not know. Be quieted toward me. May the heart of my God. Be quieted toward me. In ignorance I have eaten.

Of that forbidden of my God. In ignorance I have set forth. On the forbidden. By my goddess. Oh Lords. My transgressions are many. Greater my sins. The transgression which I committed. Indeed I did not know.

The sin which I have done. Indeed I do not know. The forbidden thing which I have eaten. Indeed I do not know. The prohibited place on which I have set foot. Indeed I don't know. The Lord in anger of his heart.

Looked at me. The God in rage at his heart. Comforted. Confronted me. When the goddess was angry with me. She made me become ill. The God whom I know. Or do not know. Has oppressed me. The goddess whom I know.

Or do not know. Has placed suffering upon me. Although I'm constantly looking for help. No one takes me by the hand. When I weep. They do not come to my side. I utter laments. But no one hears me. I am troubled.

I am overwhelmed. I cannot see. The sin which I have done. Turn into goodness. The transgression which I have committed. Let the wind carry away. May my many misdeeds. Strip off like a garment. May the God who is known.

Be quieted to me. May the goddess who is not known. Be quieted unto me. There's one mediator. And one man. That separates. That's in between the separation between God and man. And it's the man Christ Jesus.

And aren't you glad that's not you? I'm super glad. And I with you want to live my life. In thankfulness to the gospel of Christ Jesus.

Firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text. Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 30 and 11 a .m.

And Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.