Sunday Morning, June 7, 2020, AM

All right, good morning everyone.

Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church this morning. Good to see some new faces this morning that we haven't seen in a while.

Everybody's slowly coming back in. Announcements this morning, just with regards to this week's opportunities, again, some

Sunday school classes have resumed as of this morning. A few more will be resuming next week, particularly,

I think, the younger kids because nursery will also be resuming next week, both during Sunday school and during Sunday morning worship.

Again, morning worship, 1045. As far as the evening service goes, if you're attending here at the church, that starts at 530, but the live stream doesn't start until 6 p .m.

And then Wednesday, as well, that starts at 630. Again, no evening meal there.

Our fighter verse for this week comes from the Psalms, Psalm 19, verses 9 through 11.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them, as your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward.

Meditate on that verse this week. A couple of reminders. We're still sort of in a time of social distancing, so the elders are reminding us that both during and after Sunday school, try not to linger here in the building, in the auditorium, but you are more than welcome to have all the conversations and fellowship that you want out in the parking lot and on the porch area there.

Also, offering plate, it's not being passed yet, but it will be on the back table, so give your tithes and offerings back there.

And again, like I said, next week, nursery resumes. Any more announcements I'm missing this morning?

All right, it's good to be together to worship today. We're going to prepare our hearts for worship, and then after,

Jerry will pray for us. This morning we come to you praying for wisdom, for the wisdom of our time that we need to stand strong for you, regardless of all the things that are going on around us.

So just give us the strength to stand, stand strong for the Lord Jesus, and live the life that he would want us to live.

So I pray for our time together this morning. I thank you for the freedom we yet have to come.

Pray for your protective handovers. Especially consider the virus that plagues us.

I think there's many things about that that are false, but the number of deaths that have happened make it very serious.

So give us wisdom on how to keep ourselves and our families safe.

Be with Michael. Just thank you for his diligence to prepare the rich food for us to hear and apply to our minds and hearts.

Protect us today and help us to hear your words.

Protect us as we go home and enjoy a time of family.

Bring us back tonight ready to hear again and to praise your name.

In Christ's name, amen. For our call to worship together, our passage this morning is found, once again, in Psalm chapter 42.

We're going to finish up with verse 11. If you got a bulletin when you came in, find the verse there.

It's chapter 42 in the book of Psalms. Read with me together verse 11.

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my

God. Our first song this morning is on page 233. Alleluia, sing to Jesus.

♪ All sing to Jesus, his the scepter, his the throne.

Alleluia, here's the triumph, here's the victory all o 'er.

Hark, the songs of peaceful Zion, thunder like a mighty flood.

Jesus, out of every nation, has redeemed us by His blood.

Alleluia, all we left in sorrow now,

Alleluia, He is near us, faith believes, no questions now.

All the clouds from sight received

Him when the forty days were o 'er.

Shall our hearts forget His promise,

I am with you evermore.

Alleluia, breath of new on earth, our food, our stay.

Alleluia, hear the symphony to hear from day to day.

Intercessor, friend of sinners, earth's

Redeemer, plead for me.

May the songs of all the sinners sweep across the crystal sea.

I hope you have your

Bibles with you. You can follow along as we read Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Here is what the Lord says in reminding His people all that He has done for them, all

He will do for them, and therefore how they shall now live. This is the word of the

Lord. All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the

Lord swore to give to your forefathers. You shall remember all the way which the

Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep

His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know.

Nor did your fathers know that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the

Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him, for the

Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of figs and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which

He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the

Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today.

Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold multiply and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the

Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water.

He brought water for you out of the rock of Flint. In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know that He might humble you and that He might test you to do good for you in the end.

Otherwise, you may say in your heart, My power and the strength of My hand made me this wealth.

But you shall remember the Lord your God for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth that He may confirm

His covenant which He swore to your fathers. As it is this day, it shall come about.

If you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them,

I testify against you today, you will surely perish.

Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish because you would not listen to the voice of the

Lord your God. This is the word of the Lord. Father, we come before you and recognize the vitality and the veracity of your word.

It is true and it is living. How accurate are these words?

How poignant are these words for Israel and for us? I pray,

Father, that you would remind us here today and every day of all that you have done.

It is you who have given us wealth. It is you who have given us freedom. It is you who have given us blessing.

It is you who has given us salvation in Christ and all that is with Him.

Let us not forget you in our actions, but honor you and revere you, give you glory this day and this week.

Pray all these things for the sake of Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased. Amen. You may be seated.

Those in the body of Christ know on a personal level the blessed salvation is from our

Lord Jesus Christ. He purchased our salvation with His own blood and has brought us into His family and called us to be the bride of Christ.

It is wonderful to be brought into His family as a child of God.

We can now say, I am His and He is mine. Let's sing together page 358,

I am Thine, O Lord. I am

Thine, O Lord, and I am drawn to Thee.

Thus where Thou hast died, draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed

Lord, to Thy precious sweet side.

Consecrate me now to Thy service, restored by the power of grace divine.

Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in Thine.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed

Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed

Lord, to Thy precious sweet side.

O the pure delight of a single hour that before Thy throne

I spent. When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee my

God, I commune and spread with friend.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed

Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed

Lord, to Thy precious sweet side.

Out in the highways and byways of life, many are weary and sad.

Carry the sunshine where darkness is bright, making the sorrowing glad.

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, out of my life may

Jesus shine.

Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.

Make me a blessing to someone today.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love, tell of His vow to forgive.

Others will trust Him if only you prove true every moment you live.

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, out of my life may

Jesus shine. Make me a blessing,

O Savior, I pray.

Make me a blessing to someone today.

Give as was given to you in your need, love as the

Master loved you. Lead to the helpless a helper indeed, unto your mission be true.

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, out of my life may

Jesus shine. Make me a blessing,

O Savior, I pray. Make me a blessing to someone today.

Let's pray together.

Worthy are You, our Lord and our

God. You only should we fear.

We have no need to fear man or even to fear death.

With You as our God, what peace and joy we may know as we are right with You.

You are worthy to receive glory for You own everything and in all that You do is good.

Lord, You are worthy to receive honor.

I thank You for those in our church and in our community, in our nation and world today who give

You honor. You are worthy to receive power.

We bow the knee to You. Everything about our lives, whatever responsibility, stewardship, authority, whatever we have,

Father, we give it to You. We offer it to You.

It's Yours. You just make us stewards. So we glorify and we honor and we magnify

You because You have created all things. You have made us.

You give us the very breath that we breathe. You have made us from the dust of the earth, but You have breathed

Your breath of life into us. You have made us in Your image and for Your glory.

It is by Your will that we exist. It is by Your will that we have life.

And so we give You the honor and we give You the praise. We ask,

Father, for the provision that we heard about this morning from Deuteronomy 8.

We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. So feed us,

Lord. Nourish us this day for all these things for the sake of Christ.

Amen. I'll invite you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 14.

Romans chapter 14. Some of you may be wondering why

I'm belaboring the point. We're still in Romans 14. Surely it doesn't take that long to get through it.

And for some people, they would amply, adequately, excellently deal with everything here in Romans 14 -15 through verse 7 and do so in a good 30 minutes.

And the folks that they shepherd and pasture would leave fully fed, nourished, and they would change their city overnight.

I'm taking a little bit more time because I'm not that good.

And I have a lot to learn. I am struck. Honestly, I am struck.

Even though I've read this passage several times, have even used this passage in counseling, sat with troubled families, and read through the entirety of this passage and found it so helpful and nourishing, guiding to our situations, whatever those may have been, that there is just so much that I had no idea about.

So that's part of the reason why we're belaboring the point. The other part of it is, I don't think that, based on what we're studying here and looking at here in this text, it doesn't seem to me, and I don't think it seems to you either, that the themes here are special occasion material, but they're everyday material.

This is the way that we are to accept one another in Christ, as those who are ruled and redeemed by Christ.

This looks like to be an everyday thing. This is to be an everyday thing, an every week thing.

This is something that we are to live with, to grow in, to mature in these ways of loving one another, and pass it on to the upcoming generation.

Our children, as they come to Christ, we should be teaching them these things, even in our homes. New believers, as they come into the body of Christ.

Members of other churches, as they gather with us. These are things that we ought to be teaching and modeling for one another.

It should be mainstream in our Christian lives. It should not be thought of as an

Apollo mission. I'll get to that in a second. Very often

I rely on, not my own 13, 15 years of pastoral experience, but I rely also on my father's 40 plus years.

All the stories, the things we've talked about, the scenarios we've run through, other pastors that I've spent quality time with.

It seems to me that every so often, and more often than we would like, someone comes to the pastor, or to the elder, and says, we've got a problem.

So -and -so is upset about this and this, because of so -and -so, and what happened here. What could have been solved, what could have been solved in the everyday loving one another, and accepting one another in Christ, of recognizing, oh, we have a difference of convictions here, and I'm immediately going to think about how

I'm going to be for you, and then the other person says, I'm going to immediately think about how I'm going to be for you. Instead of that being understood, and well applied, now there's a problem.

And then all sorts of things have to happen, and damage control has to happen, and basically the church has to, from the leadership's perspective, has to spin up an

Apollo mission from the ground floor to try to go solve this issue, to breach the gap between the two that are as far apart now as the earth and the moon.

How are we going to bridge that gap? It's an interesting thing, isn't it, that NASA can't get to the moon?

They used to, but they can't now. The reason why is because all of the staircase of technologies and processes and craftsmen, genuine craftsmen, that all cooperated together to run those

Apollo missions, all of that is gone. That staircase was quarantined, and it decayed very rapidly, and it's no longer there.

Upstairs is still there. It's just the staircase that was built to get there no longer exists. And the reason why is because apparently the cost of getting into outer space was astronomical.

That's what happened. And people said, this is not important anymore. It's not important that we go to the moon anymore.

Why? Different concerns took priority. Political, social, even religious concerns took priority, and the

Apollo missions just went away. The Vietnam War, oil crisis, even rapture fever made going to the moon seem pretty pointless, and it just kind of went away.

So the Apollo staircase quickly deteriorated, and nobody has to get back. Christian liberty, accepting one another in Christ, bearing with one another's strengths and weaknesses, and so on and so forth, that is no

Apollo mission. We shouldn't have to spin that up every other generation to save the church from splitting or to help people love each other in the church.

The need to accept one another in light of diverging convictions is obvious enough, I think, during a

COVID -19 lockdown crisis. I think it's pretty obvious during race riots.

But this is not an uncommon need. These are the things that we ought to be living with day in and day out, accepting one another as those who are ruled and redeemed by Christ.

That is the highway of Christian communion. That is the commerce of Christ's kingdom. And we should not approach this need by constructing some fragile temporary apparatus that serves us for the critical moment and then may be abandoned.

Now, that's the need to focus on it. That's the need for looking at it intensely and to begin to see how we can apply it in our own lives.

Some of you may feel this is more needful than others, but believe me, it's coming around your way, this need.

There's a sad tradition of families just moving on to other churches to avoid convictional confrontation.

Sometimes that's necessary, but sometimes it's just a sad kind of broken record. And Christ's church is not strengthened by that.

Christ's church is not strengthened by that. And we lose the opportunity to practice Christian love and Christian liberty under the lordship of Christ.

Well, please open your Bibles to Romans 14. I'm going to read for us, and I'm going to begin in verse 13.

If you'll stand with me, I'll read us the word of the Lord. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in the brother's way.

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love, do not destroy with your food him for whom

Christ died. Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food.

All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat, to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. We've talked about in the kingdom economy, in the oikonomos, in the household of Christ, how does he want things run?

Well, he wants us to use our minds for the good of each other. When we perceive that there is possibly some offense, we are to labor with our minds.

We are to think and use wisdom to remove stumbling blocks out of each other's way. We are to make sure that we're not scandalizing each other, and this would be very loving for one another.

And we've been talking about the heart of the matter, about Christian love, how we are to love one another, and the fact that Christian liberty is entirely dependent on our love for each other.

And in this heart of the matter, now we come to the Christian life described succinctly for us in verse 17.

Verse 17 again. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. Not eating and drinking. Paul is very pastoral here.

He wants the people to remember this saying, so he offers it in a very pithy way. In the

Greek, it sounds like this. The kingdom of God is oubrosis kaiposis, not eating or drinking.

Not eating and drinking. Oubrosis kaiposis. Ah, you could remember that. If you were a church member in Rome, that would ring around in your head a little while.

You'd remember that little jingle if you were ever in a situation where somebody had a different conviction than you, and you'd remember that.

Oubrosis kaiposis. That's a lead we should follow. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking.

You could use that formula. I don't really have anything as pithy as that, but we could say something along the lines of the kingdom of God is not reduce, reuse, recycle.

The kingdom of God is not take preventative measures. The kingdom of God is not black out

Tuesday. The kingdom of God is not if you don't lament, you better repent.

That's not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not these matters, but righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. So what Paul means is the kingdom of God is not defined, you see, by our food choices or our drinking habits.

These things were issues of hot contention in the church in Rome. I don't think that they're necessarily matters of hot contention with our church.

They may be here and there. But they were very big matters in the church in Rome.

So Paul is saying it's not about eating and drinking. Rather, as he says in 1

Corinthians 10, 31, whatever then, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, meaning this eating and drinking issue that we're dealing with, this is just representative of all these other things that we would be considering in the normal course of our human lives as we're living for Christ.

Whatever then you do, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God cannot be reduced to who is eating or not eating or who is drinking or who is not drinking or who is posting on social media or who is blacking out or who does virtue signal their laments on social media and who does not virtue signal their lamenting.

That's not what the kingdom of God is about. Do we really think that the economy of Christ's kingdom could be described by a list of convictions or a litany of freedoms as pork or wine or Christmas day or N95 masks or anything else to be thought of as the blessing of the kingdom or the borders of righteousness or the basis of peace or the bounty of joy?

If you have convictions about these things, hold fast to them for the glory of Christ and give Him thanks.

If you have freedoms concerning these things, hold them fast to the glory of Christ with thanksgiving.

But these are not determinative of the kingdom of God. The life of Christ, the reign of Christ, is manifested on earth as it is in heaven through His people.

It is His righteousness and His peace and His joy by His Spirit in us.

And that's what the Christian life is about. The Christian life in the kingdom, the very heart of the matter, is not a set of customs concerning food and drink or pestilences or protests.

It is life in the Spirit. It is Christ forming His image in us.

As we see, a couple of years ago, we went, maybe three years ago, I can't hardly remember, in Ephesians, we went through this very, very clear way in which

Christ builds His church and that He wants us, equipped by His grace, by His Holy Spirit, to be building one another up and we're investing in each other's lives according to His Scriptures, according to His Word, by the power of the

Holy Spirit, so that we're built up into the full stature of maturity who is

Jesus Christ Himself. That's what we're after for one another. We want to edify one another.

We want to build each other up into maturity and the picture -perfect maturity is Jesus Christ Himself who is the image of the invisible

God. He is the image of God. So, what is the kingdom of God all about?

It's about Christ forming His image in us and as goes the image of God, as we are born again and as we are sanctified, as we are renewed, as goes the image of God, so grows the kingdom of God as Christ's reign is expressed and expanded.

What about the spiritual life that He gives us? It is righteousness and joy and peace in the

Holy Spirit. It's not about what we eat and drink, but it's about how we eat and drink in regards to our heavenly provider, in regards to one another as we regard each other's convictions and freedoms and needs, in regards to our own personal convictions, whether or not we're going against faith or we're operating in accordance with our faith.

So, it's not about what we're eating and drinking, but how we eat and drink. Are we eating and drinking according to the

Spirit, in the righteousness and peace and joy of the Holy Spirit? That's where we're going to have the kingdom of Christ manifested.

And the first word we have here is righteousness. Righteousness.

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. What kind of righteousness is

Paul speaking about? Well, he's already dealt with righteousness at length in this very letter.

And he has talked about righteousness both positional and practical. Righteousness as we stand in Christ and His blood covers us, and His righteousness is imputed to our account before God so that God sees us as He would see

His only begotten Son. That kind of righteous. That kind of not guilty.

The positional righteousness which comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Positional righteousness. But he's also talked about practical righteousness, about living rightly, having right thinking, right affections, right speaking, right behavior.

That kind of righteousness. The kind of righteousness which comes when we follow the way of Jesus.

Things change in our lives because of the new birth, and they change as we follow

Christ, and He leads us into all of His ways. Positional and practical righteousness, which really should not be thoroughly separated.

They should be distinguished, but they cannot be thoroughly separated. I think of it this way, that every wave of sanctification, every wave of sanctification which washes over the shores of our lives rolls in from the ocean of justification.

They're distinguished, but they should not be separated. Why is this important?

Because the righteousness we're talking about, the righteousness in the Spirit, what we're talking about here is righteousness defined by God Himself, by His character, expressed in His law, fulfilled in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

We're not talking about right in cultural terms.

We're not talking about what is just in terms of what is fashionable today.

We're talking about what is right and just according to the character of God Himself.

We have to be clear on that. There's all sorts of passages in the Bible which can be twisted even out of their context and so on.

And many Christians, I believe, are being put on journeys of justice using the fuel of socially engineered guilt.

And that is not what we're talking about here. The Kingdom of God is righteousness in the

Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us the new birth. By the grace of faith, the

Spirit unites us with Christ and it is His righteousness that is given to our account and we have a real and personal and mystical union with Christ through the

Holy Spirit. It is Christ's righteousness which makes us right with God. Not our food and drink.

Not our food and drink. Not our customs. That's not what makes us right with God. It's Jesus Christ who makes us right with God.

Holy Spirit, having regenerated us, what does He do? He writes the law of God upon our hearts so that what is right in God's sight is inscribed in us that we have these desires now to be godly.

To be after the things of God Himself. This writing of the law upon our hearts by the

Holy Spirit, this is why we would have right affections and right thinking and right speaking and right doing. It's not that we're perfect, but it's the

Spirit sanctifying us. Now this righteousness in the Spirit manifests not as refusing pork or enjoying wine, but it manifests in how we accept one another.

In how we do the right thing in humility toward one another. That's where it's at.

So Paul said, shift your view, oh Roman church. Shift your view, saints. Instead of looking at who's not and who is, stop looking at it that way.

That's not what defines righteousness. What defines righteousness is how these disparate groups will love one another in Christ, submitted to His authority.

That's where you're going to see the righteousness of the kingdom manifested. And the second word is peace. Peace. For if because of food, verse 15 says, for if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love, do not destroy with your food him for whom

Christ died. Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. Doesn't it make sense that first we deal with righteousness and then peace?

Isn't that the way that thought process goes with Paul? Therefore, having been justified, same

Greek word, having been made right with God, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5 .1. Having been made right with God, then we have peace. Righteousness, then peace.

And we're reconciled with God through Christ as we're brought into living union through the

Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who has been given to us and indwells with us and He brings us into constant fellowship with God.

This is how we know peace. That the objective reality of being made right with God, the objective reality of having peace with God, is experienced as we abide in Christ through His Spirit who indwells us.

I think we need to turn in our Bibles over to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2.

We'll be reading verses 13 through 16. Righteousness, what is right, what is just, is not a mystery.

What is right and what is just is not a slippery word.

Slippery definition that nobody has ever really gotten right. Except our generation in the last five years.

We know what is right and what is just because it's based on the character of God.

Eternal God, immutable God, He who does not change. And He has revealed Himself and what is right and what is just in His Word.

So it's not a mystery. It's not a mystery. So we need that for our day and age, don't we?

To know what is right from wrong. We also need to know what is peace. How is reconciliation brought for those who are at war?

How is true peace accomplished? We need to think about that, don't we?

Ephesians 2 verses 13 through 16. But now, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace. Read that again.

For He Himself is our peace. Who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.

By abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.

And might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Paul is writing about a genuine division within humanity.

One which God Himself made. Out of all the nations,

He called out Israel, set them apart. He handcrafted a culture for them and made them distinct, and called them to be separate, so that there was a divide, a separation between Israel and all the other nations.

And His intent, His expressed intent in the scriptures, in the Old Testament, when

He said the reason why He made them so distinct and so set apart and special was to be a blessing to the nations.

They were not meant to be an attack on the nations.

They were not meant to be the destruction of the nations. They were set apart to be a blessing to the nations so that in their worship of the one true

God, that all the nations would see that distinction and that they, several different prophecies that talk about this, that they would come streaming to Jerusalem to worship the one true

God. So there was separation for the cause of reconciliation, which

He achieves through His Son, Jesus Christ, who broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, the wall that separated the

Gentiles from the Jews that was in the temple, that has been utterly removed. So every other type of separation that could be within humanity is not of God.

God has made a separation between Jews and Gentiles for the purpose of reconciling in Christ.

And so we have those who are in Christ and those who are out of Christ, and that's the separation of all humanity in the scriptures.

There's those who are in Christ and those who are outside of Christ. That's the only distinction, the only difference in all of humanity.

So any other distinction that anybody else would come up with is man -made. It's man -made.

The Bible has nothing to say about races because that is an invention of man.

The Bible has nothing to say about classism. That is an invention of man.

The scripture says that the one division that really was there,

Jew and Gentile, has been reconciled in Christ, Jesus Christ, who is our peace. Jesus Christ himself is our peace.

He is established peace, it says. He has accomplished it. He has achieved it, which means that we actually don't have any need to accomplish any kind of cultural, ethnic, social, or racial reconciliation.

Why? Jesus Christ already has. He has already done so by his blood on the cross.

It's already there. Reconciliation is already there.

It's not about getting everyone to hate the flag and then we can be unified.

Or get everybody to hate whiteness and then we can be unified. Or get everybody to hate privilege and then we can be unified.

Or to hate injustice. Have you ever noticed that every attempt by man to get everyone unified and together so that we can all be unified is always based on hate?

Jesus Christ is our peace. He is our peace objectively so that we come together in him before God.

He is our peace experientially, that we abide with Christ and we know peace. And he is our peace finally. In the final estimation, we see

Babel reversed. All the nations rejoicing in Christ.

It's important for us to recognize this because otherwise we're left with artificial attempts and the artificial attempts bring great harm.

In the name of racial reconciliation, some, not all, but some, employ rage and violence and theft and murder and blasphemy.

In the name of racial reconciliation, some hallow and sanctify the dishonoring of parents, adultery, and covetousness.

In the name of racial reconciliation, some demand that we worship the damned goddess intersectionality and we speak false witness against our neighbors.

Now, breaking all of the Ten Commandments at once is not righteousness.

And it will not bring peace. And we will not know joy. Injustice is injustice because God declares it to be so.

Any kind of injustice anywhere is that and it is despised before God's eyes simply because it is against his character and we ought to be the first ones to stand up and say when something is unjust according to the word of God, which is not a very popular standard to use.

But it reveals Christ and in him we know what is right, we can have our peace, and we can know joy.

The peace of the kingdom of God cannot be embraced unless the righteousness of his kingdom is followed.

So it's not about us kneeling to each other, it's about all of us kneeling before Christ. It's not about us kneeling to each other, it's about us kneeling before Christ.

That's where our reconciliation is. The peace of the kingdom of God cannot be embraced unless the righteousness of his kingdom is followed.

So when it comes to our accepting one another in Christ, the peace that we may know in our relationships is based in pursuing righteousness not excusing injustice, any injustice.

And the Holy Spirit is the one who binds us in the love of Christ and manifests the glory of Christ in our relationships as we have peace.

Also joy. Joy in the Spirit. Now joy, I think, is understandably the result of righteousness and peace.

I hope you know joy. I hope you know the joy that doesn't matter what is on the news, it doesn't matter what may happen in the negative prognosis of our nation, but do you know joy?

Do you have joy? Is your household one of joy? To take the particular context here in Romans 14, what about your convictions?

Do you hold those with joy? What about your freedoms? Do you hold those with joy? Convictions maintained as griefs and defended in grim -faced debates, that's not submitted to Christ.

If you hold your convictions, it's a good thing for you to give thanks to God. It's not meant to be something that turns you sour.

There's joy in the kingdom. There's joy. We don't have to defend our convictions and liberties and joyless trench warfare.

No. If we do that, we have failed to grasp the point. We have failed to grasp the heart of the matter. Ruled and redeemed by Christ and dwelt by the very same

Holy Spirit, led in righteousness and peace as the children of God. Here's the good news. The joy of the weaker brethren and the joy of the stronger brethren is the exact same joy.

It's the very same joy. It's not a different joy. We share in it together. Are you born again?

So am I. Hallelujah. Are your sins forgiven? So are mine.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Is your big brother the king of the universe? So is mine. Hallelujah.

Is there more glory ahead of you than behind you? Yes. Same here. Hallelujah. Did Jesus raise from the dead to the third day?

Did He ascend to the right hand? Does He even now reign? Will His enemies be placed as a footstool for His feet?

Will He return and raise us all from the dead? Yes. We get the very same joy.

And the Spirit Himself brings these promises to our mind so that we may rejoice together.

Joy is a precious grace in the economy of Christ's kingdom. Our households will know thanksgiving and laughter and warm love and singing, especially as we grasp hold of humility.

Humility in Christ. That's the kind of oikonomos Christ desires in His household.

The holy gladness of God, irrespective of our circumstances, is exactly the marker of kingdom life which so effectively serves

Christ in these matters. And it's about serving Christ, as we see in verse 18. This is the end of the matter.

Why are we even concerned about these things? Well, it's about serving

Christ. It's about pleasing God. And it's about a good testimony before all men.

It's what verse 18 says. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

This is the end goal here. This is the end of the matter. What's this about?

Well, we're serving Christ. We're serving Christ. Paul wants the saints in Rome to serve

Christ in these particular ways, to walk in love, accept one another in righteousness, in peaceable and joyful ways, in the

Spirit, out of our justification that we would treat one another rightly, out of our reconciliation that we would make peace with one another, and out of the joy in our new birth that we would glory together in the very same grace.

And doing all of that, yes, that's a service to each other. And doing that, yes, there's some personal spiritual growth, but that's not the goal.

The reason we are to live this way is because, Paul says, we're serving Christ.

For he who in this way serves Christ. And Paul just takes the noun in the

Greek for slave and turns it into a verb. For in this way, when we slave for Christ.

Do we know that, the final estimate, that we are the slaves of Christ? We're certainly going to know it at the end of all things, when an assessment is made of our stewardship.

We're going to know it then. Do we know it now? Do we know it now? I mean, think of what the

Master will say to you. Think of what the Master will say to us. Will he reprimand us for our prideful bullying of his other slaves, or he smile at the way we have loved his beloved?

Remember that in Matthew 25, Jesus makes special mention at the last judgment about how his sheep treat his sheep.

I mean, it's important to him how his sheep treat his sheep. To the degree that we have ministered, he says, to the degree that we have ministered to the least of these my brethren, he says.

We have done it to him. So, think of it this way. By accepting one another as those who are ruled and redeemed by Christ, by bearing with one another, we are loving and blessing and ministering as to Christ himself.

That's the end of the matter, isn't it? And it's acceptable to God. Paul says, for he who in this way serves

Christ is acceptable to God, pleasing to God.

Our treatment of others must seek to please God. When we accept one another in Christ by the graces of the

Holy Spirit, the Father is pleased. He's pleased. It's not meritorious, but it's relational. You know, my son is my son is my son.

And nothing that he did will brought that about, and nothing he does will end that. But I can be pleased or displeased with him.

And you and I stand righteous before God, reconciled to him by the blood of Christ who lives forever as our intercessor, and nothing we have done or will do shall end that.

But our Heavenly Father can be pleased or displeased with his children, right? I mean, fathers and mothers,

I mean, think of it. Are you pleased? Are you pleased when your children cut each other down and make each other look and sound stupid and find ways to pick fights and try to control each other?

Just bless you? No. Me neither. But what pleases me is when

I catch my children selflessly serving each other, when they thoughtfully go out of their way to bless each other, same way in your marriage, same way in your family, same way amongst your church members, isn't it?

Keep God's pleasure in mind. Keep God's pleasure in mind when you communicate with each other. Keep God's pleasure in mind as you fellowship and worship and serve together.

Keep that goal in mind, that you wish to please your Heavenly Father in the way that you serve Christ by accepting one another.

And the last is that we be approved by men, which is perhaps surprising, because we are told time and again that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, that there is great opposition from the world against the church.

And these things are objectively and experientially true. And yet Paul says that in the ways that we serve one another and love one another and serve

Christ, that this is approved by men. In what way? Well, think of it this way,

Galatians 5, 22 -23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

And then what does Paul say? Against these things there is no law. There's no law against these things.

Why? Because this is what all lawmakers wish that their citizens would engage in, right?

Everyone who's in charge of trying to keep the society from falling apart at the seams wishes that all of the citizens under their responsibility would act like that.

There are no laws against these things, right? And this is even why those dead in trespasses and sins try to seek these things.

I mean, the fruit of the Spirit tastes amazing to those who are made in the image of God, no matter what their regenerative status is.

Those who are dead in trespasses and sins still seek all of these very same things, but do so idolatrously, and what happens is they conjure up counterfeit virtues.

But it's obvious that the desires of the flesh descend into enmities, strife, this is from Galatians, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, envying.

Does this sound familiar? Have you seen any of that lately? That's what the desires of the flesh do.

You've seen this on your TV screens, haven't you? Enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, envying.

What do you think, objectively, in an opportunity to just tell the truth, what do you think man would desire?

Do they really want to live in a society full of enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, and dissensions, and envying?

Or do they want to live in a society full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control? Which one do you think they want to live in?

You see, it's approved by men when we, in the Spirit, live out righteousness and peace and joy with one another.

Culture is religion externalized. Let's make sure that the life of Christ at work in us will overflow from us as the salt we are to be, the light we are to be, and the city on a hill we are to be for our community.

You know, Christians used to build buildings, church buildings, that would last 20 generations. They used to.

They used to build buildings that would last for 20 generations. It's amazing. Well, how are we going to edify and build one another?

Let's build with good material. Let's build something that will last. Let's not just spin up Apollo missions to try to solve flare -ups amongst us.

Let's build with the building materials of Christ himself. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the time we've had in your

Word. I pray that you will do your work in us according to it.

Thank you for the way that you love us, the way that you shepherd us, and provide for us.

I pray that you would help us to truly walk in the Spirit and in love towards one another, that you would be glorified and honored not only in our midst but also in our land and in this world.

I pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?

We will be turning to page 43 in your Little Black Hymns, Hymns Small and Ancient. Thank you,

Brother Michael, for preaching the Word of God to us today. Thank you, Brother Michael. It reminded me of 2

Timothy 3 .16. It says, So Scripture alone is our teacher because it teaches that salvation is by grace alone.

Through faith alone, in Christ alone, through the glory of God alone. So let's sing together,

Grace Alone. Is only by His grace

Every mountain we will climb

Every ray of hope we'll shine

Every blessing left behind Is only by His grace

Grace alone which God supplies

Strength alone He will provide

Christ in us a cornerstone

We will go forth in grace alone

Every soul we long to reach

Every heart we hope to teach

Everywhere we share His peace

Is only by His grace

Every loving word we say

Every tear we wipe away

Every sorrow turned to praise

Is only by His grace

Grace alone which God supplies

Strength alone He will provide

Christ in us a cornerstone

We will go forth in grace alone

May the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.