Christian Liberty And Justification - [Romans 14-15]

We are a different group of people, that is to say, the only thing that unites us is the blood of Christ.

Right? He has saved us and redeemed us, but we are so different in so many other ways.

And so how do we get along when we're so different? We have differences politically, we have differences the way we're raised, and we have different interpretations of how to live the

Christian life, especially when there are places that don't, there are issues in the

Bible that aren't addressed directly. It's easy if the Bible says, thou shall not do something.

But it's harder when there's an area that's a gray area. And what do we do if the Bible doesn't say something in particular?

And so tonight we're going to look at the doctrine of Christian liberty, and what do you do when you're at church and somebody has a different view than you do when it comes to, for instance, the

Lord's Day on Sunday, the Sabbath? What about makeup?

What about, let's just throw it out there, dancing? What if you have a different view of dancing than other people at the church?

What about tobacco? Can you use tobacco or can you not? What about alcohol? What about parenting styles?

What about, do you demand feed children or do you put them on a schedule? Because there are different views here in the church, and so how do we all get along?

I can just hear Rodney King back in Los Angeles. We just need to all get along.

And so tonight, if you have your Bible, why don't you turn to Romans 14, and we're going to talk about Christian gray areas, i .e.

Christian liberty, and how we should act toward one another when we have differences.

Some people do not think you should go to a movie. Some people don't think you should use the devil's deck. That is to say cards, playing cards.

Some people think it's wrong to go to a chiropractor or an acupuncturist. Some people think martial arts are incorrect.

Some people think you should never go to yoga, but it's okay to go to stretching class. Some people think you ought not to use wine for communion.

You must use grape juice. Other people think you cannot use leavened bread for communion.

You have to use unleavened bread. There are so many different things to deal with. What about guns?

I remember having folks at the church years ago, and they didn't think their boys should play with guns.

And so they never let their kids play with guns, their boys. And I remember them telling me the story about how the boy at breakfast made a gun out of their toast, because it's just built in a boy to protect and to have guns like that.

And so how do we get along with people at the church that have the opposite view that we do? And do we need to win them over to our view?

Do we make these gray areas the major thing? And so we're going to talk tonight about Christian liberty and making sure we don't want everyone to subscribe to our, sorry.

So I was trying so hard today to say worldly correctly. And then I kept saying,

I want your kids to sit next to you instead of, woe is

I. If there's a doctrine that's in the

Bible, then we want people to agree on that doctrine. It's a non -negotiable. It's very clear about God and His holiness.

But if there's something else that we think might be right, let's say it's the view of alcohol. They say, well,

I think I can drink, or I don't think Christians should drink, or there's all these different views. How do we deal with those folks?

And Ray Steadman said, the favorite indoor sport of Christians is desiring to change the other

Christian into your view. That's the favorite indoor sport. The London Baptist Confession, our statement of faith says this,

God alone is Lord of the conscience. So in other words, if something's in the

Bible, our conscience doesn't need to match up to that. It's in the Bible, it's clear. But things that aren't in the

Bible, gray areas, the conscience is the key thing. And God has left the conscience free from human doctrines and commandments that are in any way contrary to His word or not contained in it.

So believing such doctrines or obeying such commands out of conscience is a betrayal of true liberty of conscience.

Requiring implicit faith or absolute and blind obedience destroys liberty of conscience and reason as well.

So here's what we're going to do when it comes to Christian liberty tonight. It is directly tied to how

God saves and justifies. When you get in your mind that you stand before God based on the work of another, that should clear up all the areas of Christian liberty.

If you stand before God based on what you eat or don't eat, vegan, vegetarian, what are some of the other options we have?

What did you say? Pescatarian? What's a pescatarian? Oh, I did not know that.

Okay, I know Simon Eustace at Peccator, but I don't know pescatarian. Where was

I? I'm glad some children are sitting here in the congregation tonight. I'm very happy with that, very happy.

If you realize that you stand before God not based on what you eat or don't eat, because what if we were required in Scripture to not eat certain foods to have

God love us? Then we wouldn't eat those foods, right? But since we stand before God based on the work of another, what we put in our mouths or don't put in our mouths doesn't matter.

For instance, when it comes to alcohol, the Bible is clear, don't get drunk. But your standing before God is not better if you don't drink or worse if you do, because your standing is based on the work of Christ Jesus.

So what happens when you go to Romans 14 and 15 and you start dealing with gray areas and Christian preferences and stuff like that?

Here's what I don't want you to forget. This is going to sound dumb, and I probably mean it that way initially. When you're in 14 and 15, don't forget about chapters 3, 4, and 5.

In other words, 3, 4, and 5 talk about justification, and if you get justification down, then 14 and 15,

Christian liberty is easy. Show me someone that thinks they stand before God in a better fashion because they don't smoke, they don't play cards, they don't go to movies, and they don't drink.

I'll show you somebody that needs to revisit Romans 3, 4, and 5.

So I said turn to Romans 14, but let's go back to chapter 3, and let's make sure to start with how do you stand before God?

Because then we'll get to Christian liberty. This is the main thrust of the

Reformation, is justification. But John Owen called Christian liberty the second principle of the

Reformation because what you believe about God and justification determines how you live.

First principle is justification. When I die, how do I stand before God? Second principle is

Christian liberty. So if we go to chapter 3, let's just take a look and see what it says about how do you stand before God.

Obviously verse 20 of chapter 3 says, For by the works of the law, that's by doing good, keeping the law, obeying

God, no human being will be justified, that's courtroom language, in his sight.

God's never going to say based on your law keeping you're not guilty since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

The law was never meant to save you. The law was meant to show you that you need a savior. There's no way you can stand before God by doing good because Adam sinned.

We have Adam's sin and we, of course, as a consequence, have a sinful nature and we sin.

It doesn't take but one sin to keep you out of heaven unless that sin, of course, is forgiven.

So the text is clear. By the works of the law, that is our law keeping, he's not talking about Jesus' law keeping, no human being will be justified.

Verse 21, But now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law.

Although the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, bear witness to this. The righteousness of God, verse 22, how do we receive this righteousness?

Through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. There's no distinction.

For all have sinned, past tense and present tense, keep on falling short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

So when you're a kid, you say, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. And then the more you understand the faith, the more you understand words like redemption and reconciliation and propitiation.

And here's one of these words, justified. This is the opposite of condemned. This word means

God treats you as if you've perfectly kept the law, even though you haven't, because the one you're believing in,

Jesus, has perfectly obeyed the law. So justification is simple. I always think about it in three parts.

Part one, Jesus paid for my law breaking. Part two,

Jesus gives me credit for his law keeping. Part three, I know it worked because God raised him from the dead.

So Jesus paid for my law breaking. Jesus gives me his law keeping. And I know that's true because God raised him from the dead.

And how do I receive those? It's not by works of the law. It's not by being good. It's by faith.

So justification, you stand before God, not condemned, based on the work of another. And this is irrevocable.

It's unchangeable. You can't become more justified, less justified, if you think about your favorite missionary.

You're not more or less justified than they are. You are justified completely because they're trusting in the perfect work of Jesus, and so are you.

So you stand before God on that day. I went and visited somebody this week in the hospital, and they thought they were going to die.

And I don't think they're going to die right now. I think they'll, you know, we'll live to die another day, of course. But when you die and stand before God, how do you get in?

And it has to be because God sees you as a perfect law keeper. God has punished

Jesus for your sins, and you're just trusting in that. So justification, we like to say, is just as if I've never sinned.

But what's wrong with that? That's right.

Because it's just as if we've never sinned and just as if we perfectly obeyed the law because Jesus did not come just to die on Friday, but he came to be born of a virgin and then live perfectly.

So justification is a great concept where you can stand before God, even though you're sinful, you are counted as righteous, you are reckoned as righteous, you are thought of as righteous.

And this is the doctrine of justification. I think of imputation, and I'll never forget it as long as I live.

I remember when Luke was, he dated some girl, and I said, go talk to the father.

And so they sat down, and that father looked at Luke. Since Luke's not here, I don't have to pay him the dollar, although I owe

Will a dollar. Where's Will? Oh, yeah, there he is right there. Okay.

It doesn't count when I'm standing down here. That's the dollar area up there. And that dad of that young lady said to Luke, yes, you know,

I don't mind if you date my daughter. It's appropriate, and here's what I think you should do or not do physically, and, you know, don't be at home alone, and this, that, and the other.

And then he said, and I do want you to know this, Luke, that my daughter has $40 ,000 of college loans.

So what did he mean by that? If you say, I do, and she says, I do as well, by the doctrine of imputation, you now have $40 ,000 of loans.

You didn't earn it. She earned it, but you get credit for it, like every good marriage, and it goes both ways, of course.

It's the doctrine of imputation. So what she had got credited to his account if they were to get married, and that's what the doctrine of justification is when it comes to the

Bible. We desperately need holiness. We desperately need to be looked at as law keepers to be righteous, but we can't.

We're sinful. So we need someone to do that for us, and that's why Jesus is not just a representative but a substitute.

So this whole time I'm talking about what Jesus did. If God sees you as perfect because he sees you as the

Son, does it really matter if you are vegan or not? Does it really matter if you only drink grape juice or you drink champagne or whatever you do?

The issue is not do you have to, but the issue is will

I become more acceptable to God if I do such and such? And we even know as Christians, your obedience to the law revealed doesn't even make you more acceptable to God.

God can't love you more, Christian. Why? Because he loves you completely in Christ Jesus. God can't love you less.

Here's what most people think. If I obey the word of God as a Christian, God loves me more. And if I obey less,

God loves me less. That is a lie. For those of you that are good fathers and good mothers, when your children obey, certainly you're pleased.

But do you love them more? Do you love them less when they sin? So here's what's going on when it comes to Christian liberty.

You want to make sure you understand justification by faith alone properly because if you don't, you'll never get the rest.

If you understand, now let me push it. If you understand justification by faith properly and know how it affects your life, the

Bible says you're strong. You're a strong person. If you understand justification by faith alone but you don't know how it affects your life, the

Bible calls you weak. Now all of us have some weak areas and some strong areas and there's nothing wrong with being weak.

As long as you don't stay weak, we want you to grow. So let's go now to Romans chapter 14. Knowing what we know about justification and see how it plays out in Christian liberty.

Sinclair Ferguson said, The strength or weakness of our grasp of justification by faith and its domination of our hearts is bound to be the index and the measure of the liberty of God's children that we enjoy.

Now as we come to this passage, here's what I want to remind you. If your background was crazy, licentious living, you become a

Christian, where do you think you're going to swing to? Probably extra rules because you realize how awful that was and how licentious life was no good and so now you're going to probably go a little too far.

If 6 o 'clock is biblical truth and you lived at 5 o 'clock, you're probably going to, as a new

Christian, be a 7 o 'clock Christian, right? Because you were so loose and licentious.

Now you're going to have some extra rules. But what if you grew up in a legalistic house where you had all kinds of rules?

And I don't mean Bible rules, but I mean extra rules. Where do you think you might often go? You're going to go the other way where you're just going to go free from the law, right?

I'm trying to remember that poem. What's the poem, Steve? Free from the law and there's no... That's right.

That's Amen. Amen. I think I'm going to move back up to that pulpit. And now we've got a church full of all these different kinds of people.

How are we all going to get along when we have different views? And that's where Romans 14 comes in.

Romans 14 and 15. We want to love one another in spite of our differences.

In light of your forgiveness in Christ, what do we do? Well, the first 12 verses, let's put it this way. Strive for harmony in spite of differences.

Even though you're going to be different in the application of justification by faith alone in your life, make sure we go for harmony.

First, by accepting the weaker brother or sister in Christ. Verse 1,

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

This person is a Christian, but they don't really grasp what justification by faith is yet and how it applies to things like food.

Verse 21, Food and wine. He doesn't know what to do with this. And so we want to make sure we're kind and we're nice and we accept.

That, by the way, is a present imperative. Keep on accepting to yourself. And here's the thing. When this person finally grows, probably somebody new will come to the church, and then you're going to have to be nice to them too.

It never ends. It's kind of like, you know, what I don't want to be is like Tozer or Pink.

And those two men, A .W. Tozer and A .W. Pink, while both having similar names,

A .W., they both kind of got crabby when they were older. And here's why they got crabby.

How many times is somebody going to come up as a pastor and ask me the question, how do you reconcile sovereignty and human responsibility?

I'm like, I've answered that like 50 ,000 times and now you're going to ask me again? But no, you're not asking me again.

It's that new person at church who's finally figured out, wait a second, God is sovereign but I am responsible. How do these things go together?

So this is something we have to keep doing all the time because new people will keep coming to the church and they're brand new

Christians and they haven't figured this out. So what does the text say? Welcome them. Receive them into your realm.

And by the way, not just to talk them into your view. Doesn't it say that at the end of the verse? Not to quarrel over opinions.

He's not saying quarrel over, you know, is Jesus God or not? That's worth quarreling over. He already believes that.

And so you don't want to bring him in and say, you know what, I'm going to have him come over to my house because I'm going to set him straight on tobacco, chewing gum, homeschool, public school, private school, classical music versus rock and roll and all these other things.

I will receive him to change his mind. That's exactly what the text says not to do. As for the one who's weak in faith, right?

They haven't really appropriated the doctrine of justification by faith alone in their life. Welcome him.

Put the welcome mat out for that person. Because strong Christian, you used to be weak.

If you're a strong Christian, you used to be weak as well. Accept this person. Don't make them feel tolerated, barely, or second -class citizens.

Be kind to these people. Verse 2. One person believes that he may eat anything. And by the way, for that,

I say amen. While the weak person eats only vegetables.

Now, right, you've got Jews and Gentiles going on here and are involved here. And the Gentiles, they're used to going to these pagan altars and pagan gods and bring the pagan meat.

And you're like, wait a second. That pagan meat has been offered to this god and I don't want to eat that.

So that Gentile is weak at the beginning. He doesn't want to eat the meat. There's nothing wrong with the meat. You can eat the meat.

It's no problem. But he doesn't think so. So you need to welcome the people that can eat meat.

And you welcome people that only have broccoli, Brussels sprouts.

Do you girls like Brussels sprouts? Do you like asparagus?

Yeah? Are there any things you don't like? Beets? You like beets?

What's your worst food? Now, Jesus declares all food clean because it's not what goes into a person that defiles them.

It's our heart that's wicked and we can tell what defiles us by what comes out of our mouth. But some people have this thing where they're like, you know what,

I can't eat this certain kind of food because it will make my conscience feel poorly. It'll make me feel bad.

These people who are weak in faith have not fully realized the freedom they have in Christ, the liberty they have in Christ.

So how do you treat them? Hey, grow up. Hey, stop that. You welcome them. Accept means more than just, hey, you can stay here.

It means accept. I found some things that Christians could disagree on when it comes to this.

How about even other things like Bible translations? Oh, you're not

King James. Not allowed over here. Oh, you're NIV positive.

Then you stay back. Did I just say that? You have the revised standard perversion.

No possible way you're having fellowship with us. When I meet a Christian or a brand new Christian and they've got any kind of Bible, I'll even let them have the

Good News Bible. And by the way, for some of you legalists here, I'm going to push your envelopes. I don't even mind if they have the

Message Bible. It's not a real Bible. I know that. But I'm just glad they have something.

And I want to be kind to them. When I meet people, it's the wrong Bible, and I'm pulling them into my office the first day they're here.

I'm glad you're here. That's how we should treat them. Then you meet somebody and they're like, well, we don't believe in dating.

Well, I do. Let's split. Notice how 1 Corinthians 1, unity. 1 Corinthians 2, unity.

1 Corinthians 3, unity. 1 Corinthians 4, unity. The biggest problem that carnal church had was there was a lack of unity.

I think of Psalm 133, that unity between brothers is like that oil that comes down on Aaron's beard.

Remember that language? We don't think that's unifying, but it's just this great dew and refreshment.

What about this? People split here at the church or could over birth control. Should we use birth control?

Should we not? What about dating? Courtship? Courtship dating?

What about politics? Some are Democrats. Some are

Republicans. What about what you can do on a Sunday? Some people don't think you should play any sports at all, but they do think you could stay home and engage in gluttony or watch the

Patriots lose. I'm not sure. Can you imagine? What if you worship the Patriots today? Yikes.

It's fine to have like -minded friends, but we need to make sure that our home and our fellowship and our circles are open to people who confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord. I actually kind of like the diversity, don't you? It's kind of fun to have all these different kinds of people and all these different backgrounds and all these different tastes and palates, and it makes life interesting.

They don't all have to act like me. And by the way, look at verse 3 and following.

The question is really this. Are you more restrictive than God is with His fellowship?

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

Here's the strong person looking down on the weak person, and here's the weak person thinking the strong person is such and such.

When God has put the welcome mat out, God has said, welcome, you approach me based on the work of my

Son, you're welcome. You don't have to have all your theology correct. You don't have to have all this doctrine of gray area properly parsed.

The text says, don't despise. Literally, don't throw out as nothing. This word is used in Luke 23, and Herod with his soldiers after treating

Jesus with contempt. That's the word here. God has accepted these people.

Verse 4, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? What's he talking about here?

Christians are the Lord's servant, and now we're judging the Lord's servant. Who does that?

Who goes to somebody else's house and judges their servants? It is before his own master that he stands or fall.

These people don't answer to you. If you're a strong Christian, weak Christians don't answer to you. If you're a weak Christian, strong Christians don't answer to you.

You answer both to the Lord, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

He's even able to make weak Christians stand. Say, well,

I don't like when people wear jewelry. I don't like when they have their hair a certain way, and I don't think people should have tattoos.

Okay, fine. But these aren't things that are found in Scripture. These are things that are your own conscience.

So when you meet people, if you're a non -tattoo person, and you meet people with tattoos, how should you treat them?

With more judgment than God does? Does God judge people for having tattoos? Or does he say,

I welcome you because you come to me based on the work of another Christ Jesus? I always told my kids, listen, the

Bible doesn't say you can't get a tattoo. I could go to Leviticus, don't have a tattoo, and get cut for the dead.

It's a different scenario. And I don't want my kids to go, you know what, my dad used the Bible out of context to manipulate my behavior.

I'd rather just say, in my house, you can't get a tattoo without my permission. That's the law of the dads,

Medes, and Persians. That's what that law is. And when I say yes, then it's fine. What about Christmas trees?

I'm surprised I haven't gotten in trouble for having a Christmas tree here in the sanctuary. I mean, they're kind of pagan trees, aren't they?

And what about Halloween? I mean, it's awful when you let your children dress up like little bunnies and hop around the neighborhood and ask for candy.

Probably wrong if you dress up like Satan. But still, what if you meet a person here who does let their children trick -or -treat, and you don't?

How are you going to treat them? Say, well, I've never let my kids trick -or -treat. Okay, fine. Verse 5, 6, 7, and 8,

Lots of times I meet a person and I know all their gray area preferences.

And what this text says here in verses 5, 6, and 7, and 8 is keep your convictions private.

Don't be known as the guy who's anti -Halloween, anti -smoking, anti -cards, anti -alcohol, anti -this, pro -that, pro -this, pro -the other.

Well, let's see if the text backs that up. By the way, as I read verses 5, 6, 7, and 8, look for the phrase, for the

Lord and to God. One person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the

Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the

Lord and gives thanks to God. That's the focus to the Lord. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

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

Lord's. When it comes to food, alcohol, and even the day of worship, you have to be very careful.

Make sure you are fully assured in your own mind. One man said, personal convictions are private property.

I wonder if you ask the question honestly, am I known at church for the person, as the person that everybody knows, that I think public schools are of Satan.

And I think everybody knows that I'm the person that thinks homeschoolers are weird.

I'm just trying to be an equal opportunity offender here today. Everybody knows that I think birth control is wrong.

Or does everybody know, there's no one like the Lord Jesus. There's no one in whom you can run for refuge.

There's no one like him, a man closer than a brother, there's no one like him. Christian convictions about non -biblical issues aren't the main issue.

The text here, it's before the Lord and under the Lord. Christian convictions do not define what right and wrong is.

God's word defines what right and wrong is. The one who observes the day, verse 6, it's to the

Lord, to the Lord, to the Lord. It's edification under the Lord. And the theological statement is,

Jesus died, lived, and is Lord of the dead and the living, verse 9. So therefore, verse 10, why do you pass judgment on your brother?

Why do you despise your brother? He doesn't do what you say, or do what you do, or act like you act.

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Quit meddling with other people. Let them be.

Let them grow. And you just focus on the Lord. Take care of your own issues. You receive judgment.

You don't give it. That's the point. Verse 11,

For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to the pastor.

Every knee shall bow to the education committee. Every knee shall bow to me.

That is the Lord. And every tongue shall confess to God. They answer to the

Lord. So just be kind with people. Be patient with people. If you're right, they'll probably come along and believe what you believe.

Strong, the weak don't bow to you. Verse 12, So then, each of us will give an account of himself to not one another, but to God.

And there's some good emphatic things there. What about makeup?

What about tattoos? What about dancing? What about chiropractors? What about this? What about that? Honestly, what about it?

If your conscience will let you, just do it. Edification is the goal. Let's look at verses 13 through 23.

You want to be harmonious when people differ. And you want to build other people up. That's the rest of this section, verses 13 through 23.

Now, before I go any further, since this is kind of Sunday school -like, are there questions so far? Besides, do you like beets?

Yes. Stewardship, how we view others' expenditures. Okay, that's good.

Either lavishing it or being... Yeah, even stewardship, where we think, okay, why would they spend money on that?

They could be giving to the Lord or something. I mean, the one that I think of that makes me think of that is when people say,

I would never let my wife wear a tattoo because if God wanted to have you have her have a tattoo, she would have been born with one.

And then I think, does your wife wear makeup? Does she wear earrings? And so we can get in some trouble with our inconsistencies if we're not careful.

And so some people who are like, well, I don't think that's good stewardship when they have the $6 latte in their hand.

How people use their discretionary income. We could divide over that. We could divide over whether we think tithing our freewill offering are just above and beyond giving is right.

Oh, I tithe. I don't tithe. Okay. We've got the tithers and the non -tithers. How do we...

Stewardship of our body even. People say, well, I could talk about all these things.

Is alcohol good for you? Is tobacco good for you? And then I could ask the same thing. Are fatty meats good for you?

Right. And all those, we could go right down the line. Yeah. Choosing to be able to have money by abstaining from eating out a lot, for instance.

If the budget gets stretched and everyone knows that. Well, what happens is,

I think as I look at these passages in chapter 14, the Christian is left to do whatever he or she thinks is right as a family.

And then what you do, what you think is right, I don't wanna have to say, you know what? I disagree with that and that's wrong and that's gonna be the issue.

So what's right for you in the conscience? If the text says you should do something, then we all agree, you should do it, we'll help you to try to do it.

But if the text doesn't and it says something about, well, you know, what's your discretionary income? How often can you go out and do this, that or the other?

That's left up to the individual. I also think about how people get in, ensnared with their thinking when they say, you know what?

I don't think anybody else should, I don't wanna drink and therefore I don't think anybody else should drink because drinking has caused a lot of problems in life.

That's true. Drinking has caused a lot of problems. But if we're gonna use that scenario, we have to use that for sex too because there are all kinds of sexual sins that have caused all kinds of problems throughout the centuries.

But married people ought not to give up sex, right? Just because there are sexual sins in the world.

It's the heart that's the issue. It's not sex, it's not guns, it's not alcohol, it's not tobacco.

But if you have a view that says, I don't wanna drink. Okay, fine. Have that view. You have a view that says,

I wanna drink but not getting drunk. Fine, have that view. But I wanna see at BBC that drinker and the non -drinker have fellowship.

Say, well, I don't wanna have any fellowship with people. They think it's okay to have some champagne on their wedding.

I don't wanna have anything to do with them. Is that what we really wanna do? God accepts that person.

Not you accept that person. And then this person who thinks they can drink looks at the person who can't and they say, rightfully so, that person's weak because they have not understood what justification by faith is.

And I don't wanna be around the weak people. And so the weak people look to the strong and they go, you know what?

What are they doing? The strong people look at the weak and go, boy, they're sure immature and weak. And then what do we have?

Trouble in the church. And the point is, no trouble in the church. We are here for one reason, that the

Lord God has saved us and he's brought us together. And so now it is time for all of us to overlook some of those things of conscience and love one another instead.

All right, any other questions? Okay, here we go. So in regard, a case could be made that there's some biblical sort of framework for how we're to be good stewards of what we have.

What's the procedure for having that discussion with someone? Okay, I'm trying to think why you'd ask this question where two people in the same family are asking the same question.

I'm like, okay. Yeah, so when it comes to stewardship.

Not stewardship necessarily, but just any issue that's beginning to bump up against Christian liberty versus so like the drinking thing, right?

Right. Like casual drink or maybe one night you're out and they're getting a little too close to the end of that spectrum.

Well, I don't think there's anything wrong if we say to someone, you know what, it seems to me you've, this is your third martini and you're saying you have

Christian liberty to drink and legally you'd be intoxicated, right?

You can't drive. And so that I think is a fine conversation because that has to do with drunkenness.

Not can I drink or can I not drink? You know, is there, am I more righteous if I drink or not drink, right?

We're righteous the same. And with the stewardship thing, I want every couple to then figure out what they do with their own money and to be good stewards and factor in what the

Bible says about giving and everything else. And then when we meet somebody at the church who doesn't do what we think they should do because they've got a nice car or they've got nice clothes or whatever,

I think that would be a conversation I wouldn't have with people, hardly at all. The only time

I think that's ever come up to the church is when a family was really wanting a lot of money and help from the deacon's fund.

And I thought all those kids dress in high powered, and it was true, all the kids dressed in fashionable clothes and they just had a lot of money that they wasted elsewhere.

And so I thought it's a matter of trying to help that couple understand, do you know what? There's something more important than fashion.

And you can be fashionable and shop where we all shop, that is Marshall's, right? Coal's. They used to call

Bonwits in Bedford. Oh, I didn't know that. I just shop at Spags.

So, verse 13. So here's the big picture.

You before God are pure and righteous and holy and sinless because God sees you through the lens of Jesus.

Therefore, what you do or don't do doesn't make you more holy or less holy when it comes to justification.

Therefore, you can look at food and meat and fruit and this, that and the other, and you can do whatever your conscience will allow you.

And therefore, when you meet somebody who has a different conscience than you do, I want you to just be kind to them and get along.

Now, we're getting ahead of ourselves and we're not going to be able to get here tonight, but if you know someone has a problem with a certain thing that you do that they don't do or vice versa, when you have them over, what do you think you should do?

If you have people over and you know they don't eat meat. We have some people, Indian background here at the church, and let's say some of them just got saved out of Hinduism and you're like, come on over, we're going to have some wonderful cow tonight.

You think that'd be the smartest thing? Because maybe they're still thinking, you know what, that cow was grandma in my last religion.

So I want to be very careful. So it's just, the whole text here is, since Jesus has loved you, you love other people and you think about them the way that you ought to and that is, well, what would be good for them to build them up?

And that's what this section is and I think we've got to wrap it up here. Instead of putting up with people, now we build them up.

That's what we're after, verse 13. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother.

If you know a teetotaler and you have them over, you can hide the wine. You don't have to put the wine out.

You don't have to push the envelope. But let us not pass judgment and let's make sure we don't put stumbling blocks.

Let's take the high road, in other words. We don't want other people to fall and have an occasion to fall as the

American Standard puts it. Verse 13, rather determine this. That's a good way to sum that up.

We're determined, we're resolved and if this person doesn't think it's right to eat meat, I'm going to have them over and we don't have to eat meat.

Verse 14, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean.

Paul is strong and he knows his Christian freedom, but he knows he's going to meet immature people, therefore he's going to be kind to them and he's going to take the high road.

It's okay to say no to meat if you've got people from Hinduism just saved over to your house.

Why would you not? You can say no to yourself, can't you? That's what verse 15 says.

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you're no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom

Christ died. Don't grieve the brethren. Don't be preoccupied with liberty, be preoccupied with love.

All right, there's so much more to say, but I'm going to stop here because we are out of time.

What's the summary of my message tonight? The standard of our conduct is love.

What's best for other people and we can say no to ourselves and we don't have to be everyone's judge and if you do something differently than other people do,

I hope you get along with those other people. So, in light of that, what do we have,

Patty, tonight planned for the kids? Becky, you've got a plan. Do you want to spill the beans right now?

Decorate Christmas cookies. Do we have the cookies? No? Why are they all red, like beet red?

What would that mean? These are the broccoli cookies, right? I love broccoli cookies. Anybody here offended by broccoli?

Okay, Jonathan Newton, offended? Yes, okay. So, we're going to decorate Christmas cookies and Becky's going to get that all set up.

Why don't we pray and we don't even need to sing the last song. We'll just pray and we'll be set and off to the cookies, all right?

Father, I thank you for your word and even as we just scratched the surface tonight, we're thankful that we don't stand before you based on what we do.

That's based on the Lord Jesus and so I just pray that you'd help me, help the rest of the church to love, to overlook, to be kind, to not get into arguments about all things that don't matter as much as what's revealed in your word and so when it comes to what is revealed, let us be sticklers.

This is the truth and what's not revealed, Father, may we overlook as you've overlooked so many things in our life.

Thank you that you've given us Christians that were patient with us when we were new Christians, when we were immature and they loved us and they didn't scorn us or put us to the side and I pray that you would help us now as mature