Union In Liberty (Part 2)

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

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

Convictions About the Gospel and Justification

Now see, I want you to have convictions, but I want you to know your convictions on the gospel. There's one God, one mediator, one advocate. There's one God who makes propitiation. You ever think about that?

Every other religion says, God, here's a little basket of goodies for you. Here's a virgin. Here's a baby. Here's a food. Here's an apple. Please be merciful. But for Christianity, it's Romans 3. Actually God makes propitiation and he gives his only son as a ransom to save sinners.

And in light of that salvation, how do we act? If you look at verse 2, you'll see the strong and weak people here. One person believes he may eat anything. That's the strong Christian because what you eat does not determine or undo God's gavel of justification.

The weak Christian, while the weak person, eats only vegetables. The strong are able to grasp the significance of Christ's death for daily living. They're not under Old Testament mosaic laws and rules for what to eat, what's clean and unclean.

Aware of grace and the weak are still learning. They're sensitive to sin and it's easier to have a do and don't list, isn't it, in Christianity? Just tell me what not to do. And the weak also are so weak that they'll follow the strong even though they're not convicted to do the same thing except, I ask you the question, when people differ from you on justification, I think you evangelize them.

When people differ on these questionable, debatable gray areas, what do you do? You open your heart and your home. You accept them. Look what else Paul says in verses 3 and following. He just says, I don't want you to be more restrictive of fellowship than God is.

This is all striving for harmony. You accept people. That helps harmony. You treat the fellowship like God does. That helps the harmony. Verse 3, let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.

Don't, if you're strong, don't despise the person. Contempt, look down on literally, throw out as nothing literally and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. For God has welcomed him.

Both need to say we're going to stop holding judgment or making judgments against each other. God has made room for them and it's not salvation by pallet so it won't be fellowship by pallet either. Who are you?

Boy, that's tough language, isn't it? That's Nathan-like language, verse 4. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? This is like a worker at home. This is like a person that you hire to come clean your house for the day.

It is before his own master that he stands or falls. If you've got a house servant, they don't answer to the visitor, they answer to the head of the house and he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand.

This person who differs from you on birth control, homeschool, guns, anything else you can think of doesn't report to you so you just let it go. Don't judge them. Don't snub them. How much makeup is too much?

What about material goods? What kind of cars do you drive? We could divide over so many things. Paul says I want you to strive for harmony in light of justification. Take a look at verses 5 through 8.

Paul's really going to try to drive home that the way you strive for harmony is you just answer to the Lord. You keep your convictions private. See when I read verses 5 through 8 if you can notice here especially in ESV, of the Lord, to God, to the Lord.

The person who differs with you on debatable things doesn't answer to you. He's trying to do it before the Lord. One person, verse 5, esteems one day as 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.

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. Here's what's happening.

When a person gets saved, they're by definition a weak Christian, an immature Christian. They don't really understand the dramatic revolutionary ethical effects of justification by faith alone. They still understand enough about God to want to please him.

If you've been freed from your sins and you don't have to go to hell, you deserved it, you earned it, and you don't have to go, so you say to yourself, I just think about myself as a new Christian. Lord, Lord, I want to honor you.

Lord, I'd like to please you. I want to do the right thing. And for me, coming from a drunken background, I'm not going to touch alcohol. Probably by definition, I thought back in those days, alcohol was sinful.

It's just what I thought, and I thought, you know what? I just have to run from this. But here's my point. I didn't do it because my friends thought it was right. I didn't do it because my wife thought it was right.

I did it because I'm before the Lord. Lord, I want to live a life to you and for you. And so how could we look at a weak, immature Christian like that and say, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh? No, you do these things for me because I'm convinced that alcohol is irrelevant as long as you don't get drunk.

So you believe what I believe, and I'm sitting here thinking, no, no, wait, you don't know how it's destroyed my life and destroyed my wife's life, the parents' and grandparents' and all this stuff. I just got to run from that.

I'm thinking about this before the Lord. I really want to honor him. And so Christian friends, Bethlehem Bible Church, when you meet weak Christians, and they have certain convictions and they're trying to do them before the Lord, you let them.

They'll change. I believe in progressive sanctification. See the passage in verse 5 again, let each one should be convinced in his own mind, not your mind. They'll learn, they'll grow. I now realize it's the heart, it has nothing to do, alcohol isn't the problem, the heart is.

Sex isn't the problem, the heart is. Christian convictions don't define right and wrong, only God's Word does, and we ought to be patient and love, as we heard about in 1 John 4 today, other Christians.

These people do this all for the Lord. More theologically, verse 9, take a look at the passage, Romans 14, 9. For to this end Christ died, lived again, that he might be Lord, not us. We're not Lord of other people, both of the dead and the living.

Christ is the Lord. The weak are not our slaves, we are the slaves of Christ, the Lord. Lordship over his redeemed people, and we have to acknowledge that. You aren't my people. This isn't my church. This is the Lord's church, and he lays down his life in obedience to the will of God, purchases the church.

By the way, if you want judgment, stop judging yourself and remember the judgment you're going to get, verse 10. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Are you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

This is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, judgment, not for sins. You never get judged for your sins anymore, aren't you glad? Makes you almost want to turn into a vocal Baptist, right? Aren't you glad you never have to stand before God if you're a Christian, and answer for your sins?

Okay, somebody say, I do, somebody say, amen, something. You know, there's a lot of weak Christians who are afraid to express themselves with a verbal amen, amen. But what we do in the body, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 10, we'll be judged by God, whether it's good or worthless.

Our works are judged for rewards. So Paul is saying this, quit judging the people. If you're weak, don't judge the strong. If you're strong, don't judge the weak, because you all have to stand in front of the judge one day.

So why do all this judging? You need to think about your own self. You'll stand before your God, you receive judgment, you don't give it, and it's your brother. Well, if you were Paul, you'd back up things with the Old Testament regularly, and he does that here in verse 11.

If you'd like support for the verse 10 judgment, he gives that, quoting Isaiah 45 in Romans 14, 11, for it is written, stands written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to, not the strong Christian, not the weak Christians, bow to me, and every tongue shall confess, not to other Christians, not to weak Christians, not to strong Christians, but to God.

And he supports his judgment in Romans 14, 10 with this quote from Isaiah 45. The weak don't bow to the strong, nor vice versa. What's the conclusion? Then verse 12. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God, to God, to God, not other people.

Pursuing Harmony by Remembering We Answer to the Lord

Secondly, how do we live in light of justification by faith so we keep the church unified? Number one, strive for harmony. Number two, make edification your goal. Two main outline points today, Romans 14, 1 to 12, strive for harmony.

Romans 14, 13 to 23, make edification your goal. Let's talk about this a little bit, and you'll see in this section a lot of strong Christians are addressed. They're addressed here. Don't injure weak consciences.

It's one thing to have liberty. All right, I'll ask you the question. Choose one, liberty or charity. You only get to pick one. Now, of course, we don't necessarily have to pick, but if we had to pick, wouldn't we want to pick love over liberty?

No, I got to have love because love rules. God is love. We just learned about love today and love and propitiation. No, no, I'm all about liberty. No love first, and you'll see that section here. Paul says in verse 13, therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer.

Haven't we had enough of that? Have we had enough of criticism? Doesn't the world criticize us enough? Now, why do we have this habit of criticizing each other, harping and carping, but rather decide, but rather to judge literally?

Stop judging and say, but judge this. Get ready ahead of time for Halloween coming up. Never put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I honestly don't care what you do when it comes to gray areas.

You'll learn and grow because you don't answer to me. One thing we have to make sure to do is not, if we're stronger, think we're so much better, or if we're weaker, not to think, you know, why are they doing that?

Stop passing judgment on one another. If you want to talk about regeneration, virgin birth, second coming literal, real ascension, the doctrine of sin, what is marriage in the Bible, I will die for those truths.

I hope God would give me the grace to literally die for those truths, but on to these other things, I'm going to decide ahead of time not to stumble other people and block them. And the way the strong does it is this.

Strong says, you know what? You should be grown up by now. I'm going to do this anyway. You don't think drinking's good. You came out of a night clubbing kind of life, and so you don't think drinking's Christian, but I do, and so therefore I'm going to drink in front of you, and you're like, well, wait a second.

Mike's the pastor. Mike's older. Mike's mature in the faith, allegedly. And so since he can do it, I can do it. Then the Christian weak person drinks and then stumbles because their conscience tells them it's sin.

It's exactly what he's talking about here, a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. There's that brother language again. We don't want to exercise liberty that encourages weaker Christians to follow us and to sin.

Verse 14, here's the statement of Christian freedom. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if you're a weak Christian and you think it's unclean, then it's unclean to you.

But it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean, and of course he's talking here about foods, what foods are permitted in the law, and what foods can you eat, what can you not eat. So if I meet someone and they're Jewish and they get saved out of Judaism, and I say to myself, well you know what, I'm supposed to welcome them over and they're a brand new Christian, they've been a Christian for a week, and let's see, what shall I do?

Well you know what, they need to learn the lesson sooner or later, it's a cruel world, so you guys come over and lots of people like to put out some chips and dips. We put out pork rinds, because you just ought to, not many calories in pork rinds.

And we're going to have some ham, it's honey baked ham, and that's what you ought to have. And you're going to have to learn to figure this out sooner or later. First Timothy 4 says just eat whatever you want, see that's no good, it's the other way, let's see, okay, this person just came out of Hinduism, and they don't think they should eat a cow, and I'm not going to have them over for burgers, I'm going to have them over, I don't know, tofu burgers or something, I have no idea, I like tofu burgers.

Look at verse 15, see the command here, I want to edify them, I don't want to trip them up, I don't want to destroy them, I'm not trying to be right, I'm trying to love them. If your brother is grieved by what you eat, they're so grieved they're bugged at it, and then they follow you, that's the point, you are no longer walking in love.

By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. It's not a matter of right and wrong, it's a matter of love. Don't cause your brother to stumble by violating his conscience because he followed you in an action that he thought was wrong, but you think it's right, and he did it anyway, or she did it anyway, and now conviction.

Don't destroy. See that right there in verse 15, I mean, talk about, this is all I would need to be personally convicted. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. John Murray said, it is the contrast between what the extreme sacrifice of Christ exemplified and the paltry demand upon us that accentuates the meanness of our attitude when we discard the interests of a weak brother.

What is really important? Well, we want to make people grow, and it says in verse 16, so do not let what you regard as good, freedom in Christ, strong Christians, be spoken of as evil by weak Christians.

By the world who looks and says, the strong can't even take care of the weak, and the weak are upset with the strong, I don't want that kind of religion. What really matters for the kingdom of God is tobacco and alcohol and trick-or-treating.

Now please, I just want to say this ahead of time, I don't want any letters, please, about the horrors of Halloween and the satanic backgrounds and how Christmas was pagan and the Pope started it, it's bacchanalian worship and all this stuff.

My point is this, my point is not do I like trick-or-treating or not, do I like alcohol or not, do I like tobacco or not, the point is there are debatable, it's undebatable that there are debatable things in Christianity that we don't really know what to do with.

So focus on what matters. Verse 17, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. No longer are the Jews underneath the Mosaic Law, now we have the Holy Spirit instead of external outward rights, internal righteousness, doing right and joy and feeling of conquered, the peace of God with other Christians even, peace.

Stop fighting, it's a low priority. Christian, what you believe about liberties doesn't really matter much, as long as you love other people. Say, I can't figure out liberties, I don't know, I don't know, maybe tobacco is sinful inherently, maybe alcohol is sinful inherently, I've got to figure all this out.

Well you can study the Bible as much as you'd like, of course I want you to do that, but as long as you don't forget my responsibility in light of the cross is to love people in spite of who they are, because I got loved in spite of who I was.

Whoever thus serves Christ, verse 18, is acceptable to God and approved by men, we serve Christ. So then, verse 19, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building. Let's get together and talk about the Lord Jesus and his word and substantial atonement and the hope of heaven.

Heaven is kept for us, reserved for you, it's not perishable, it's undefiled, it's kept by God. Let's talk, get together and talk about heaven, do you know heaven is for real? You know, Lazarus so missed an opportunity, he goes to heaven and the glories of heaven and then now he's on earth and he's been raised from the dead and he could have made a fortune selling books about heaven.

Okay, back to the passage. Verse 20, we want to edify, we don't want to tear down, do not for the sake of food or anything like this destroy the work of God. Now, listen to my grammar carefully, who is the work of God?

Not what is the work of God, because the who here is the Christian. Destroy the work of God, that's the Christian with the figure of a building, an edifice. Who wants to go to some building with a sledgehammer and start knocking it down?

We don't want to do that, everything is indeed clean. When you understand the cross and you understand Jesus fulfilled Moses and you understand you're not under Mosaic law, you don't have to worry about clean, unclean anymore, it's moot.

If you're a strong Christian, but if you're a weak Christian, we got to love those weak Christians but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. He sees me eat meat or maybe as a Jewish person sees me eat shrimp, they eat shrimp but they still think shrimp is unclean and now they do it, now their conscience gets them.

And verse 21, it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. And you'll see this chapter, next chapter, the priority of stumbling is, the meaning of stumbling is not specifically and ultimately I'm just bugged at you.

It's I'm a weak Christian, I see you do it and I do what you do because you're strong and I want to follow in the Christian footsteps of the faith of my fathers and elders and those who have gone before me and then I eat it and then I feel bad.

That's Christian stumbling. We answer to the Lord, verse 22 and 23, the faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Now that is not a verse that the world should give the Christians so we don't evangelize them.

This could be the world's favorite verse, I'm going to tell the world, just lay off the whole shtick of judge not lest you be judged. If you want a verse, why don't you use this, if you're going to rip things out of context.

You see the context though, it's Christian liberty. When it comes to gray areas, debatable things, Christian liberty, differences even, keep between yourself and God. Strong don't show off, weak don't say how could you.

Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. Approved by God, blessed, spiritual blessed, happy, spiritually happy, apply both to the weak and both to the strong, but whoever has doubts, weak one is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith, for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

And Paul isn't finished in Romans 14 about liberty because he goes on to 15 to talk about the same thing. If you're a Christian, aren't you glad for progressive sanctification and growth? When I was a kid, I had one of those growing bean deals and we'd always stand there and my dad was about 6 '5", my mom was about 5 '10", 5 '9", and I always thought I was going to be like 6 '7", and I was going to be some kind of pre-Magic Johnson, George Girvin, point guard, 6 '6", dunking on people, weak Christians especially, you're dunking, and I would weigh myself, yeah, but I would, I weigh myself now, I would measure myself and going to grow and you know, am I growing?

Every little kid does the same thing, mom and dad I'm not growing, but you realize they're growing because their old clothes don't fit. You know what the grocery bill is and you're like, yes, you're growing, you're growing, and over time you notice it, same thing.

I don't know if I've grown since yesterday, but if you knew me 16 years ago, I hope by the grace of God you say, I've seen some growth in Mike, I've seen the Lord working, God says I'm going to start a work and I'm going to be faithful to complete it and I'm not yet done growing, but I think to myself, I still have room to grow and I'm growing and so if that's true for me and if I rejoice in my own growing, then why do I look at these brand new Christians who just minutes ago I was clapping saying they just got baptized, brand new Christian and then am I really surprised that the brand new Christian who just get baptized says something dumb, says something immature, says something they don't know, says something about weak faith or their Halloween trick or treating party thing, I don't know, whatever they say, should I really be surprised?

Love over liberty. That's what you want for you, wouldn't it? If you want people to love you in spite of your weaknesses or strength, then we ought to do the same thing and if you're not a Christian, you're here today and you think you're going to stand before God because you eat certain things or don't eat certain things, the only thing you can expect is the wrath of God unfurled on you for all eternity because how horrible would it be for God the Father to execute His Son in broad daylight and pour out His, the Father's wrath on the Son if you could get to heaven by not eating certain kinds of food.

But there's one Son, the Eternal Son and He is the one to whom you are to look. It's not based on what you eat or how you eat it or what you smoke or don't smoke, it's the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life as a ransom and all those who look to the Lord in faith will be saved.

Radio Outro and Ministry Information

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.