Love, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Holiness - [Romans 14-15]

I don't know if you've ever considered that the church is not a voluntary organization. The church is not voluntary, and I mean that in the sense of the universal church.

You are given ones. Listen to John, don't turn there yet, but listen to John, chapter 6.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me

I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life.

And I will raise Him up on the last day. A little bit later in the chapter, some disciples followed no more.

Jesus said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the

Father. After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well?

Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. If you are a

Christian, you have been granted to the Son by the Father. You just didn't say one day to yourself,

I think I'm going to become a Christian. My question this morning is, as we get into the text,

How do you come to Christ Jesus? How do you come to Christ Jesus? On your own?

With God's help? That question was asked and answered by a variety of different theologians throughout church history.

Pelagians have said, I came by myself. This group of people that would follow

Pelagius would say, when it comes to me being saved, I came by myself. Semi -Pelagians, they said,

I wanted to come and God helped me. So I had a desire, but God gave me the help.

Armenians have said, God gave me sufficient grace to come because Christ died and I cooperated.

Lutherans would say, God brought me and I did not resist. Now, do you fit in any of those categories?

Do you say to yourself, I cooperated, I didn't resist?

Or did you say with the biblical writers, God brought me to Christ.

I've been brought to Christ by God Himself. I love

George Mueller and in his biography, he really, really struggled early on with the doctrine of sovereign grace.

With the doctrine of election. With the doctrine that God brings Christians to Christ.

He called election a devilish doctrine. How many people do you know who call sovereign grace a devilish doctrine?

But he began to study. And then he said this, the electing love of God in Christ, when

I have been able to realize it, has often been the means of producing holiness in me instead of leading me into sin.

God brought me to Christ. And so if you're a Christian today, you didn't decide to become a

Christian on your own. You didn't cooperate with God. God made you a Christian. And what was the response when

God made you a Christian? Your response was repentance. Your response was faith.

Your response was belief. Your response was, I have a desire to follow Christ Jesus.

And I think you know deep down, because of the teaching here, and also by your own prayer life, isn't this the way you pray?

When you get down on your knees and say, God, thank you that you allowed me to cooperate with you to make me a

Christian. Do you pray that way? Or if you pray for someone else, how do you pray? Dear Lord, I've got a friend, a family member, a spouse.

And would you please give them enough grace so they can cooperate with what you've done?

Or what do you say? God, bring them to Christ. God, save them.

Spurgeon says, you don't pray this way. I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself.

I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved.

Thou givest grace to everybody. Some do not improve it, but I do. There are many who will go to hell, as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was.

They had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them. They had as good as chance, and they were as much blessed as I am.

It was not thy grace that made us to differ. I know it did a great deal since I've turned the point.

I made use of what was given to me, and others did not. And that's the difference between me and them.

So if you're a Christian today, you didn't just sign up for Christianity.

God, in the eternal counsels with the Father, Son, and Spirit, granted you to Christ Jesus.

And then in time, can you imagine 1 Peter 1? God made you born again.

So if there's that kind of love, that kind of initiating grace, that kind of intention that wants your best, that wants you to glorify

God in all that you do, that sees you not based on your sin, but sees you through the righteousness of Christ, what should be our response?

In other words, when we learn about this great love that Father has, remember the song, Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus?

In response to the love of Jesus, then our response should be what? To obey.

Not out of trying to improve our standing, but we say, God, you have done this for me. Then out of gratitude,

I would like to respond to you, to give you honor, to give you glory. Since you've done this for me, my response should be obedience and love.

So today, if you'll open your Bibles to Romans 14, we see the response of Christians in regard to Christian liberty as one as a response to Christian love initiated by Christ Jesus.

Now, we've been going through the book of 1 Corinthians, and I counted the other day, we've been in the book of 1 Corinthians for 66 messages, and we're up to chapter 9.

Now, that's halfway through, and so if you're calculating 66 times 2, because there are 16 chapters in 1

Corinthians, you'll probably be wrong, because we're going to go faster. You already probably feel the pace picking up in chapter 7 and in chapter 8.

But I wanted to look at Romans 14 and some of 15 this morning for this particular reason. It helps us understand 1

Corinthians chapter 8. 1 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul deals with strong Christians and their convictions as they deal with the weak.

On the other hand, Romans chapter 14 and 15 talk to both. They talk to both the weak and the strong.

And so here at the church, we have both weak and strong. And how do we all get together?

They say variety is the spice of life. I think that's true. But then how do we all act together?

How do we act together in a group that we've been drafted into, yet we are so different in so many different ways?

Let me say up front, I want you to have convictions. If they're biblical convictions, then

I want you to have them with lockjawed kind of tenacity. When I was a kid,

I was always petrified. I'm going to get lockjawed. I've cut myself on a nail. I'm going to get lockjawed. Well, in this particular case,

I want you to have lockjaw -like tenacity on biblical doctrines.

And I also want you to have other convictions, too. People without convictions, they don't really...

Maybe I shouldn't say I'm not that impressed, but I want convictions. The question we have to work through, though, in our church with weak people and strong people is this.

Short of Bible convictions, what do I do with my convictions that aren't necessarily biblical?

And here's what happens. The strong people in the church, they say, you know what,

I'm prideful. They don't say it, but that's how they act. I've been taught these things, and I know there's nothing wrong with aerobics for Jesus or whatever kind of thing you want to talk about.

There's nothing wrong with alcohol in and of itself. There's nothing wrong with this, that, or the other.

And I have now become prideful, and so Paul will address that. That's their problem.

The strong's problem is pride. Remember back in chapter 8, early on, he even talks about the puffed -up head and that Greek word phusio, blown -up head.

The strong, they struggle with pride. And the weak struggle with something, but it's something different.

The weak struggle with condemning what the strong do. I don't like that.

That bothers me. I'm offended. How could you do that? And so Paul, wonderfully, in Romans chapter 14 and 15, deals with both of the issues.

I want biblical convictions at this church. I desire those. I also want you to have convictions about other things.

And I don't care whether that's Halloween, whether that's, I don't know, what would be some other ones, dancing.

I want you to have biblical convictions. But the question is, how do we get along to the glory of Christ, and how do we keep our unity in spite of having a whole mixture of people?

By the way, isn't it great that the blood of Christ Jesus and the work of the Messiah on Calvary saves all kinds of people like us?

Remember 1 Timothy chapter 2, that there's one mediator between God and man, the

Jew Christ Jesus. The text says, the man Christ Jesus. All different kinds of backgrounds, shapes, colors, ideologies, and we're saved.

But now we're put all into this organism. You've been drafted. The best word would be called.

You've been called into this body. So what do we do? So today I want to look at Romans chapter 14 and 15 fairly quickly.

And then we'll see from God's perspective, how do the weak live with the strong?

How do the strong live with the weak? I like convictions.

I'm just not so sure that unbiblical convictions that you have need to be everybody else's convictions.

That's what Paul is going to talk about. Biblical convictions, die for them. Will we die for the inerrancy of Scripture?

I would. Would we die for substitutionary atonement? I would. That Jesus is fully

God and fully man? I would. The literal resurrection of Christ Jesus? I would. There are truths that we hold to be sacred, but there are other convictions that we have that Paul doesn't want us to die for them, and also

Paul doesn't want to make sure you go around and A, make sure everybody knows your convictions about whatever it might be, and number two, that we don't divide over those and say

I will die for those convictions. Some people here think we should have wine in communion, some grape juice.

Some people here let their kids play with fake guns, others don't. Some people here go to Taekwondo and Kung Fu and others don't.

Some go to acupuncturists and chiropractors, others don't. Some people, do we have any vegetarians?

I won't ask you to raise your hand, especially in light of what we're going to do after the service. I'm not preaching this sermon for what we're going to do after service, but if it helps, good.

Some of us come from legalistic backgrounds. Some come from very loose, licentious backgrounds.

And so if the church is properly going to reflect her groom, her husband,

Christ Jesus, then there's a way that we're supposed to think, and there's a way we're supposed to act around other people who don't have the same convictions that we do.

Now, as we come to Romans chapter 14 and 15, I will talk about chapter 3 in a moment, but I do find this interesting.

In chapters 1 through 11, Paul is laying down doctrine, and then the duty comes in chapters 12 and following.

Oh, once in a while he'll give an imperative early on, but the bulk of the conduct for the Christian, in light of our righteousness given to us by God, is found in chapters 12 to 16.

But I did notice, just counting, in chapter 12 through 16 he has two verses on the mind, six verses on an estimate of yourself, 13 verses on a call to love, seven verses about church and state.

And without trying to be scientific and say, we have to weigh verses, I did find it fascinating, though, that there are 35 verses written on how we should accept other people who differ on issues not related to the

Bible. That is to say, chapter 12, 1 and 2, you know, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that's an important thing.

Later on, though, he just puts tons of weight on this issue. Say, well, that's because the Romans were probably studying, they were probably dealing with that issue and they were not doing well.

That could be true, but Paul wants us to know, today as well, that this is going to be an important doctrine.

How do we respond to the grace of God? How do we live in light of the cross? In other words, when we have inevitable disagreements.

So let's go to Romans chapter 14 and 15, and this morning for an outline I'll give you three exhortations to love other people in the local assembly since God has loved you in Christ before eternity passed.

Three exhortations to love others. Maybe three requirements to keep Christ's church unified even though we have differences and we have debatable areas.

Now, you're going to see a lot of strong and weak talk in this passage. Let me just say a couple of things to start.

Strong and weak people in the context of Romans 14 and 15 and 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, they both believe in Christ Jesus.

They both are born again. They both are believers. We're not talking about the strong or Christians and the weak aren't.

No, both are Christians. But the difference is very interesting. The strong have understood who

Christ is and then they flesh it out in their lives. They know the doctrine of justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, grace alone, and then it shows up in their life.

But the weak know they've been justified by faith alone. They just don't live it out.

They're not sure about that. And again, remember I said the last couple of weeks, immature Christians, I like immature

Christians. Because when you're newly saved, what are you? You're a new

Christian. You're an immature Christian. You're a weak Christian. We just don't want to be weak when we should be strong.

We just don't want to be immature when we should be mature. The strong here in this passage grab hold of faith and understand justification by faith alone and then it changes the way they live.

They realize all foods are okay. Meat's fine. Whatever day of the week I work to worship, why put one day above the other?

We have freedom in Christ Jesus. What I do, can you imagine what has been done to me in eternity past, at Calvary, when

I was saved and what's going on to me right now? There's nothing I can do to make God love me less. Sometime read

John 17 again, especially towards the end. Can you imagine when God sees you in Christ Jesus, He sees you through the righteousness of Christ Jesus and He could not love you more because He loves you as much as He loves the

Son. So you say, well, you know what? If I eat some pig, will God love me less? No, He won't because I understand justification by faith and now it's fleshed out.

So I think it would be helpful if we turn back to Romans 3, just for a moment, to understand justification by faith.

I firmly believe that if you struggle with liberty in your Christian life, it's because you don't understand justification by faith alone.

That is to say, I have a problem. Well, it's a doctrinal issue. Chapters 14 and 15 aren't just dropped in like a parachute behind enemy lines.

They follow the long train of a whole book of Romans, the righteousness of God. That's how you define

Romans. And then how do we get the righteousness of God credited to our account? And if it is credited to our account in chapter 3, we see an illustration in chapter 4, we get the benefits in chapter 5, then how shall we live?

So if you don't understand issues about Halloween and issues about alcohol, whatever you think are some of the gray areas, for you maybe they're not gray areas at all, but they're debatable areas at least.

Couldn't you at least grant me that? This is a debatable area in Christianity. It all goes back to justification.

It all goes back to your theology. Because if you grasp that, and then God uses what you know and you live out that truth, you'll be on your way to becoming less and less weak and more and more strong in your faith.

So I love Romans chapter 3 because it's tied to chapter 14 and 15.

If you're weak today and you say to yourself, I watch other Christians who are strong and what they do

I do, but then I feel convicted afterwards, you'll be helped. Romans chapter 3 verse 20,

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

But now, but now, the righteousness of God, can you imagine how perfect that righteousness is and how glorious and how holy, has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus, or Jesus Christ, for all who believe.

For there's no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They've all sinned in time past and they keep on falling short now of the glory of God.

And are justified, declared righteous, by His grace, as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show

God's righteousness. Because in His divine forbearance, He'd passed over former sins.

It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. But what kind of love? By a law of works?

No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.

Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the

Gentiles also. Justification by faith alone. When you grab it, understand it, study it, you will live your life then, in light of it, by the

Spirit's empowering. And then you'll go, what I eat, the day I worship, all the other debatable areas, are really moved to the irrelevant point of over here someplace, because nothing

I can do changes my status before God. If I eat anything, or don't eat anything,

I'm still declared just as righteous as I was before. And here we see the love of God, because God gives

His own Son as a propitiation. Remember back in the old days, you had all these cults, and they would try to mollify some

God by giving them some sacrifice, some food, some apple, some banana, something else, to mollify that, and the person himself as the sinner would want to pacify the

God who was angry. Can you imagine God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, knowing we can't pacify

God, God Himself makes propitiation for us by providing the sacrifice.

So all that to say, if you struggle with debatable areas, Romans 3 is going to be key for you.

Now let's go back to chapter 14 and give you the first exhortation to love in spite of differences.

Number one, strive for harmony in spite of your differences. That's basically chapter 14 verses 1 to 12.

Strive for harmony, and then He gives three commands in light of that, that all have to do with striving for harmony.

You see all kinds of imperatives here, and they're given to us. I believe you preach with imperatives.

I believe you tell people, this is a response to your justification by faith alone and free grace. Strive for harmony in spite of differences.

And He says first, accept the weaker brother or sister. Verse 1, as for the one who's weak in faith, the one who believes, but they don't really understand the ethical changes from Romans 3 and living in light of justification by faith alone, those kind of people who are weak, they're the kind of people that have convictions and they want them to be everybody else's convictions and they're condemning the strong for living a lifestyle that's a little looser in their mind.

As for the one who is weak in faith, what? Welcome him. Isn't that fascinating?

Receive him. Present tense, keep on receiving him. It means to welcome in your home with open arms.

Some people have a little mat in front of their house when you walk in to wipe your feet off on, right? What's it say?

Welcome. Welcome. You're going to see how this is all going to drive as there used to be a no trespassing sign to the glory of God and His love through Christ Jesus, He is, as it were, a welcome to us as a great mediator and advocate.

We are to love other people, love our neighbors and ourselves. He just says, welcome him. Wholehearted welcome.

Receive him. Ray Steadman said years ago, the favorite indoor sport of Christians is trying to change each other.

And so look at what he says at the end of verse 1. Welcome him, but not to quarrel over his opinions.

God wants people who are immature and have weak faith involved in the life of the

Christians. We don't have, you know, are you a new member here? Yes, you are. Okay, you stay. You get the room upstairs, the overflow room, and you stay there until you grow up and then you can come out.

What does that say about you people up there? I don't know if anybody is in that room today. No, we welcome them, but our welcoming is not, well, you know what?

Come over to my house because I'm going to set you straight. No, it's come over to my house. It's not to debate over things, but just because I want to love you.

They trust Christ Jesus. They've looked to Him with faith. They've got all kinds of other scruples and opinions and debatable things that you got over years ago.

But we're going to open our arms because we'll see later Christ died for them as well. When you meet somebody who's just so new in the faith,

Paul is saying, don't just barely tolerate them. Don't treat them some second -class way.

Open your arms. Welcome. We'd love to have you. Great. I'm so glad you're here. By the way, when you've come to Bethlehem Bible Church, you've all had the first time that you've come and I've tried to just welcome you with just common courtesy welcome.

I'm thinking to myself this way every single time. I hate to tell you this, but I'll just tell you anyway.

I'm thinking to myself, Lord, this is your church. You can build the church any way you want. You bring the people here sovereignly.

And then I say to myself, I wonder what baggage these people are bringing. And everybody who's laughing, you've got the most baggage.

Because you understood. I wonder where they're coming from. Are they saved? Are they a false teacher trying to creep in unaware?

What do they know? Why did they leave their last church? Are they weak in faith? Are they strong in faith?

But I don't say, no, you can't come or anything, because I say, you know, this is God's church and my job is faithfulness and stewardship and my job is to minister to sinners.

And if Christ Jesus ministered to sinners, then I will too. And I say to myself, I was that person in 1989 that walked into Grace Church and MacArthur probably looked at me and said, who is this guy?

You don't become a stickler over things that don't matter. You accept the person even if you disagree with them.

True warmth. True fellowship. He gives an example, verse 2. One who believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Now we know that Christ has declared everything clean. We know that what goes into our mouth doesn't defile a man.

We know that we're not more justified because we eat certain things. And that's one of the signs of a weak person.

I want a do and don't list. That's how I was when I first got saved. I'm saved by the blood of Christ Jesus.

I accept what He's done. I believe in what He's done. My life is now one of repentance and I'm repenting of my repentance.

And I say, but just give me a list. Wouldn't it be easier if you had a list? Don't trick or treat.

Don't shoot guns. Don't wear spandex when you ride your bicycle. That's me.

I haven't seen that. Don't dance. Don't go to any movies.

Don't do such and such. Don't put dried leaves in your mouth, light them on fire and inhale. Just don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.

Now some of those things might not be good to do. Some of those things might be horrible to do. But my point is this.

You want lists when you're weak. Because that makes it easy. And you don't have to really think through the issues.

You don't think through, okay, what is justification by faith alone? I'll never forget, just two days ago,

I'm listening to S. Lewis Johnson and he said, for the average Christian, and by the way, praise the Lord, this isn't a church full of average

Christians. So many of you learn and grow. S. Lewis Johnson said this, if you have a marriage seminar, a love, sex and marriage seminar, almost all the church will show up for it.

But if you have a theology seminar, a theology conference, we have a conference, it's nothing but brute, raw theology, hardly anybody comes.

But if you thought biblically, you'd say this, love, sex and marriage are all going to be better when

I have a right view of God. As long as I see God for who He is, to use this language, if I get

Romans 3, 4 and 5 down, everything else just falls into place. And by the way, in heaven, guess what your topic is going to be forever as you study

God and His glory? It won't be love, sex and marriage. It will be Christ Jesus, theology.

You are studying theology forever. If you're not going to sign up for the Institute of Biblical Studies in two weeks, you ought to.

How'd you like that plug? When you first get saved, should I eat this or shouldn't

I? Should I become ecumenical in my palate? Should I be vegan? He's not condemning the weak.

He's not saying good things about the weak. He's just saying, you know, some people are different.

And he goes on to say with some more imperatives here found in verse 3, strive for harmony by accepting, but also treat the fellowship like God does.

In other words, don't be more restrictive in fellowship than God is.

Don't be more exclusive in fellowship than God is. How does God treat people?

What does He do? Well, Paul begins to talk about that in verse 3. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.

Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

So if God's fellowship is you believe in Christ Jesus, you've recognized that you're a sinner, and God has made you born again, you've responded with faith and repentance, and you believe in the literal resurrection, etc.

God says open arms. Then why do you say closed arms unless you agree with what

I say? Paul says don't do that. Don't despise. Don't look down on. Don't be more restrictive than God is.

By the way, in the back of your mind should be this. Since God's Word performs its work in those who believe,

Christians mature. If you're a Christian, you're going to be maturing. If you're not maturing, then I question your

Christianity. But you will mature. In the background, it's not explicit, but implicit is these believers who are weak will learn to grow.

They will grow. And since you're not saved by pallet, what do we care?

Shouldn't be fellowship by pallet either. Whose verdict really counts? Verse 4. Wow, this is wild language here.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servants of another? So someone has a slave, and then you go, that person's slave's not working too hard.

That person's slave over there doesn't serve me properly. That person's slave over there, that slave reports not to you.

It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the

Lord is able to make him stand. So he moves from the servant, then back to the weak Christian. He's going to stand.

God's going to make him stand, so why judge? He doesn't report to you. All the weak people here, if you're weak, strange thing is when we hear a sermon, we never think, oh,

I'm the weak one. Unless you're a brand new Christian. Then you go, okay, I know I'm weak. But the weak people don't report to the strong.

So why would we snub them, or judge them, based on what kind of jewelry they have, or what kind of music is appropriate for the church, et cetera.

Actually, Paul goes on to say, just keep your convictions private. This will help harmony. Accepting people will help harmony.

Treating the fellowship like God does, helps the harmony. And keeping your convictions private. Look at verse 5, and as I read these verses, make sure you look for the words,

God and Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, to the Lord, to the Lord, to God.

One person esteems one day is better than another. Oh, so food wasn't the only issue. Well, another esteems all days alike.

And you know the tension between Jews and Gentiles here. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Fully assured. So let me give you the Abendroth translation.

Abendroth Standard Translation. It's the ASV. Paul says, mind your own business.

Keep your convictions to yourself on some of those things. I always wonder, there are some people at church, I say to myself,

I don't really know what they think about some of these issues. And I go, I'm glad. God is working a grace in their life, because I don't know what they believe in.

Because it's a sign of weakness and immaturity when everyone knows of the church where you stand on all these issues.

They're not issues about the Bible being true, and Christ, penal substitution, literal resurrection.

They're not those issues. There's all these other issues, and everybody knows. Oh yeah, I know where he stands on this.

I know where he stands on that. I know where she stands on Halloween. I know where he stands on smoking. Paul said, just mind your own business.

You're to be convinced, what's the text say? In your own mind. Christian convictions, private and personal.

Verse 6, the one who observes the day, honors it in honor of the Lord. I think they're really trying to please

God is what Paul's saying. The one who eats, eats in honor of the

Lord. He's really trying to eat the right thing to honor God. Since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the

Lord and gives thanks to God. Paul is saying the weaker brother here really has a desire to honor

Christ Jesus. And so if he has a desire to honor Christ Jesus, then we should be welcoming. We should count him as a brother.

And then verse 7 and 8, not just horizontal issues are involved with one another, but also

God himself, for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the

Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the

Lord's. Should not the focus of every one of our lives be we want to honor the

Lord? It shouldn't be ourselves anyway. So why do we go around making sure everybody knows about all our convictions? It's theological.

Verse 9, theology matters. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be

Lord both of the dead and the living. Before you were a Christian, you were enslaved to sin. And now that God has made you a

Christian, guess what he wants? More slavery. Enslaved to Christ Jesus the

Lord. King Jesus. Verse 10, why do you pass judgment on your brother?

Are you? Why do you despise your brother? See, he's talking about the weak and the strong.

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. We will receive judgment.

We are not to give judgment. We are not to give premature judgment.

We will receive judgment on that day. For verse 11, it's written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me.

And every tongue shall confess to God. Every person will give homage and glory and ascribe greatness, not to us, but as Paul quotes

Isaiah 45 and 49, to God. Verse 12,

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. The strong not to the weak, the weak not to the strong.

With accounting, CPA, math kind of language. You say,

Well, on judgment day, I'm not going to have to try to defend the weak people. You say, On judgment day, I'm not going to have to try to defend the strong people.

Grey areas are grey areas. We have other things that bind us together. That's kind of the negative side.

Just don't do a bunch of these things in light of the gospel. Now Paul turns positively to give our second requirement for love in spite of differences.

Make edification your goal. So the first one was, strive for harmony in spite of differences. Now number two, make edification your goal.

In other words, build up. So Paul in Ephesians, he would say, put off this behavior in light of the gospel.

Put on this behavior. If you struggle with lying, then your response should be unto God. Of course, repentance and confession, but I need to stop lying and I need to replace it with something else.

Telling the truth. If you're lazy and you don't work, you need to respond with, I need to work.

So Paul says, stop this, do that. He does the same thing here. It's really neat. Stop doing all this critical judgment and make edification your goal.

Now as we work through, I want you to get something in your mind that's very, very important. Here's what's important. Here's what stumbling is in the

New Testament. I think it's okay to wear, let's see, let's use smoking.

I think it's okay to smoke a pipe, smoke a cigar. You come over to my house and you smell cigar smoke and you get really mad.

You get perturbed. You say, how could Pastor Mike do that? That's not stumbling.

That's just you're bugged and you're perturbed. Stumbling is, is if you think cigarette smoking is sinful because it's destroyed your life and everybody else's life and you think, you know what,

I gave up cigarette smoking when I got saved and I went over to Mike's house and I could smell tobacco and since Mike does it and he's the pastor,

I'll do it too and you smoke and when you drive home, your conscience is killing you because you thought you've sinned.

That's New Testament stumbling. New Testament stumbling is not, let's use the one with our harvest fest.

I commended Steph and Wesley last week for one thing and that is, they wanted to just love other people but that was not 1

Corinthians chapter 8 specifically. Here's 1 Corinthians chapter 8 applied to our harvest festival at Bethlehem Bible Church.

Last year we let people dress up as, I don't know, astronauts and ballerinas, whatever. Some people didn't want to come though because they didn't believe you should dress up around Halloween time.

So if Steph and Wes said, you know what, but according to 1 Corinthians 8, here's the issue.

We let people dress up and people that think dressing up is sinful, let their kids dress up anyway because some of the leader's kids dress up and driving home from the harvest festival, you think it's sinful because you let your kid dress up.

That's the offense. That's the stumbling. The offense is not, I disagree. I'm bugged.

I can't believe Bethlehem Bible Church out of all places would let kids dress up with some kind of football outfit on October 30th.

That's just beyond me. That reeks of the world and devil and Satan and unholy trinity.

That's what I used to do as a pagan. To be bothered is not the stumbling block. Now I don't drink alcohol, but if I did drink alcohol and you saw me drink and you said,

I don't go for that at all. How can Abendroth drink? That's not stumbling. That's not the offense that 1

Corinthians 8 nor the offense Romans 14 and 15 is talking about. It's the weak person who says,

I don't agree with the strong, but I'm influenced by their behavior. The strong do things and since I'm weak,

I'm just sucked into the gravity flow and then I do it and later I say to myself, I've sinned.

That's the issue. So when you say to yourself, well you know what, that really bugs me and I don't like it when people dress up.

Maybe you say, I like to dress up during Halloween, during the Harvest Festival. The being bugged and disagree and I wouldn't do it that way, those aren't my convictions.

That is not what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 and 15. Say, well you know what, the church is going to put together a ballroom dancing.

So we're going to have ballroom dancing in the church and you go, I hate dancing. Dancing is for these kind of people. Dancing is this way.

Dancing is that way. Here's what people do when they dance. And you go, I don't agree with it. The church should not be doing it.

That is not the stumbling in 1 Corinthians 8. That is not the stumbling in Romans 14 and 15. The stumbling is this.

You think dancing is always sin and you go anyway because you want to be around church fellowship and you know it's sinful in your mind and therefore you see me dance, which by the way, you're not going to ever see.

You see me dance. Okay, I will dance one time in a church even though I pretty much ascribe to the regulative principle.

Here's when I'll dance our leap for joy. If I got handed a check for $10 million so we could just build that new building and it was handed to me and somebody came up,

Tom came up, there's just been a check and it actually cashed $10 million. I will right here jump up and down for joy.

You can call it David's dance if you want. I don't care. But then you say, you know what?

I just don't agree. That's not 1 Corinthians 8. That's not Romans 14 and 15. But if you go and then you dance even though you think it's sin because you watch me dance, that is 1

Corinthians 8 and that's the stumbling we're talking about. So I wasn't commending Wes and Stephanie for that was exactly apples to apples, 1

Corinthians 8. I commended them for this. Doesn't matter one way or the other and their job is this way.

We just want to love other people. Instead of thinking what my convictions are, what my personality is, what

I'm allowed freedom in Christ to do. Instead of that as leaders, you know what? Let's just love other people. And isn't that what

Paul is talking about? Loving other people since we've been loved. So let's get into this positive side here.

Making edification your goal. This is what we want to do. We want to build up. And I think sometimes even when it comes to gun issues, we were having some people get together to shoot guns not that long ago and some people were really, really bothered.

How could a pastor shoot a gun? How could a pastor shoot a Sig Sauer .40 caliber automatic, semi -automatic?

How could he do that? And then he's teaching his son to shoot too. By the way,

I dare you not to let your boys play with guns when they're little because they'll even make guns out of their crust of their bread and their toast because they're just meant to defend.

It's true. One guy said, I told my son he couldn't play with any guns. He made a gun out of his toast. I tell

Luke, defend your sister. It's admirable, but just, you know, I don't want any friendly fire. You can't shoot at mom and dad, but they're bad guys.

Shoot them. It's the same thing when I tell Luke, you know, there's a time to hit somebody and pummel them and if they're hurting your mom or hurting your sisters, you pummel them until they stop.

But I guess this isn't a parenting class now, is it? I don't like it that Mike gets into guns.

Okay. You don't have to like it. But if you say, you know what,

I think shooting guns is sinful and when I show up with Mike to go down to the range and shoot,

I drive home thinking, I'm dirty. I'm sullied. It reminds me of when I used to be in a gang and I'd shoot people and I ought not to do that.

That's the issue. Paul says, edify. By determining not to trip up a believer.

Look at verse 13. If the focus is on edification, then the issue is not who's right and who's wrong.

Weak can edify, strong can edify. Therefore let not us pass judgment on one another any longer.

You can just hear Pastor Paul, Apostle Paul. But rather decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother.

If you really want to judge things, judge this. Judge yourself that you'll never do such a thing. Determine this.

Judge this. Don't put some tripping instrument in front of someone that they could trip over it.

Don't do anything in such a way that a weak believer will follow you because you're the leader.

He says in verse 14, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got my theology down.

I'm Paul Strong is what he's saying. I'm persuaded in the Lord Jesus, the Lord, the King, that nothing is unclean in and of itself or in itself, but if it is clean for anyone who thinks it is unclean.

So, that is to say, if you think eating meat is wrong because you used to be a

Gentile and you were back at Corinth and back at Rome and they'd offer them to gods and then you ate anyway because I ate, then

I'd make you stumble. If you just disagree with me eating, that's not what Paul is saying. He's persuaded by the

Lord. So, Paul says you can just say no to yourself. Verse 15,

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, if he watches you and does what he thinks he ought not to do and then has the guilty feelings later, you're no longer walking in love.

But what you eat, do not destroy. And here's just this wild thing. It has nothing to do with I believe in unlimited atonement.

It has nothing to do with I think you can lose your salvation. He just gives the full weight because there can't be a greater appeal than this.

Do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. Destroyed, like eternally destroyed. That's the way

Paul always uses the word. He's not saying you can lose your salvation if somebody watches you, then stumbles.

He's not saying Christ died for each and every person that was ever born. He's not saying any of that. He's just saying with language, like he used in 1

Corinthians 8, if I'm going to make somebody stumble, I'll just never eat meat again. With rhetoric and hyperbole, he's just going to say, here's the issue.

The weak brother is grieved because they violated their convictions by watching you.

John Murray has a great section in there and you can read his commentary if you'd like to learn more. Do not destroy with your food him for whom

Christ died. Hey, what's really important? Verse 16. This is good. Isn't this good?

Remember what was really important. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.

What's the local assembly all about anyway? For the kingdom of God, verse 17, is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. Either talking about the righteousness of Christ, our ethical qualities, but the point is still the same.

Our life is not determined by some of the things we think we have liberty to do By the way, at Bethlehem Bible Church, why do you think we never have classes on IBS or Sunday school or anything else that are how to exercise your liberties?

How to understand your preferences? Why? Because the next one that Harrington is going to teach in two weeks is on soteriology, the doctrine of salvation.

Because the more you understand the doctrine of salvation, the more you'll live in light of what you know. So then, verse 19, let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual up -building.

That'd be better. Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

You don't think you can eat? I eat, and as a leader you watch me, therefore you eat, and then your conscience gets you.

It's verse 21, good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

Summary charge to the strong, verse 22, the faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.

Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

And then lastly, we don't have much time, and I talked about this two weeks ago, so we'll just make it brief. If you'd like to understand how to love

Christians who differ with you, one, there's the negative side, don't do this and don't do that.

Two, there's the positive side, go for up -building. Three, look to Christ Jesus, that's Romans 15, 1 -13.

Here's actually a real case for WWJD. Who still has a WWJD bracelet on?

Anybody? Alright, come and gone. There's so many things that we can't do what Jesus did. Talk to Satan out in the wilderness, stuff like that, minor things, right

Charlie? But here is the example of Christ. Now Christ's example culminated at Calvary.

Of course, He was assuaging the wrath of God. Of course, substitutionary atonement is the linchpin of understanding

God's perfect atonement. But it did show an example of love. That's not the key thing for the atonement, but it does show that, and that's exactly what

Paul is talking about. Christ's life and Christ's death as an illustration of love, wanting what's best for others.

Self -sacrificial love. Couldn't you describe Jesus' life and work by self -sacrifice? I think you could.

And so when you ever have a problem in your Christian life, the best thing you could do is look at Christ Jesus. What did

He do? How did He go about doing it? The answer is Christ Jesus. And then take a look at the passage.

Isn't this just great? We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

I think if you said to yourself, not even knowing what the next verse has said, you should be thinking, that's exactly what

Jesus did. Laid down His life for us. That's how we know love. Let each of us please

His neighbor for His good to build Him up. That's exactly what Christ Jesus would do.

We don't even have to know the next verse. We could understand that. Almost summarizing the first...

all of the chapter 14 of Romans. And then here comes His example. A theological appeal.

For Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached

You fell on Me. What did Jesus say? Not Thy will, but Thy will be done.

Not My will. Romans...excuse me, 1 Corinthians 13.

Love does not seek its own. Jesus said in John 4, My food is to do the will of Him who sent

Me and accomplish His work. So when you look to Christ, you say to yourself,

My number one goal is not to shut down that gun club at church. By the way, we don't have a gun club. If you want to start one though,

I'll sign off on it. You've got to come up with your own budget. My goal is not to try to bring back outfits for the

Harvest Festival. My goal is not, you know, once in a while somebody will invite me over to watch a

TV show and I'm going to try to shut that all down. The goal is to focus on Christ Jesus and then to honor

God in light of who you are in Christ Jesus. Have this attitude in yourselves,

Philippians, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied

Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. And like Paul does all the time, to give weight to his argument, he quotes the

Bible. And then he begins to quote Psalm 69 and other passages.

If Christ was insulted and reviled and killed because of His association with God as God, then we can restrict our liberty because of our association in Christ Jesus.

Verse 7, go down there. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.

How did Christ welcome you? I know how He welcomed me, as a wretch. How did Christ welcome you?

As a sinner. How did Christ welcome you? As weak. How did Christ welcome you? As ungodly.

How did Christ welcome you? As helpless. How did Christ welcome you? When nobody should have welcomed you,

Christ welcomed you. And He's become our advocate. He's become our mediator. He's become our Savior.

And He's become our Lord. He received us as sinful. We receive other people even though they're weaker.

We receive other people even though they're stronger. So for Bethlehem Bible Church, I think the

Lord has been doing a good work in our life here. And I'm very, very happy to see you flesh out your thoughts in your life of justification by faith alone.

And coming full circle, when you realize God has loved you in eternity past, then it's a lot easier to love other people.

If you realize that God drafted you into His church, He's called you, then you respond with gratitude and love.

If you struggle with these issues, then may I remind you that you should probably begin to study the Godhead and start with the love of God.

For many years as a new Christian, I didn't want to know anything about the love of God because I thought it was too sappy, too inane, too modernized, some kind of K -love, love of God.

But the older I get in Christ Jesus, the more I want to understand how God would send

His Son and have Him lay down His life for me, that He would love me even though I didn't deserve it. John Owen, the great

Puritan said, the greatest sorrow and burden you can lay of the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to Him is to not believe that He loves you.

Can you imagine? Not some horrible sin, not some pornography, not some adultery, not some lie, not some deceit, not something else, but to forget theology, to live in Romans language, to forget chapter 3, 4, and 5, knowing you deserve chapter 1 and 2 because that's who you were, and then living out who you are in Christ Jesus.

We all aren't going to agree on decisions. For the ones we disagree with, then we say we disagree, but we love one another instead.

And when elders make decisions and you don't like them and you have to submit, then when

God gives us discipline, then my response to you is, duck, because the elders will have to decide.

Paul doesn't want the strong to be puffed up, and Paul doesn't want the church dominated by the lowest common denominator of the weak.

He wants both to be looking to Christ Jesus because Christ Jesus is worthy. Isn't it good to study the

Bible? Isn't it good to say, you know what, God knew ahead of time all the things that we would need, and He's given us this trans -chronological, trans -cultural truth that we can understand in a local church.

And we'll move on to 1 Corinthians 9 next week. Let's pray. Thank You, Father, for our time today in Your Word.

It's like we find great spoil, Father, when we come and see what You've revealed to us.

Oh yes, the sun and the moon and the stars are wonderful and awesome and declare Your power and wisdom, but how much more refined, as it were, is the revelation about Christ Jesus and His church.

Thank You for calling us into the church. I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church as we have our issues with growth, our issues with weak and strong, issues with disagreement, that You'd help us and remind us by Your Spirit's illumination about mutual up -building, about Christ Jesus' life and death, and about the love that You, the