The Weak and the Strong Pt 4

We find ourselves still in chapter
14, Romans chapter 14. We have been considering. This
section called Life with Others began back in chapter 12, you
know it well, where Paul is dealing with various people, groups,
everybody from those that are contrary to us, to even civil
government, and he comes to this section beginning in chapter
14, verse one. all the way down through chapter 15, verse 12,
and he’s dealing with one group of people. But rather than deal
with only one set of individuals, one particular element of that
group, he deals with both equally the weak and the strong. He deals with both. He addresses
both throughout this section. And we have already spent no
little time in those first twelve verses. He’s dealing with the
weak and the strong and we will come back to that. What Paul
has basically done is draw the conclusion that really judgment
or judgmentalness is not our job. We are not to sit in judgment
of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not to look down
our nose. We are not to despise them as
Paul would say. We’re not to harshly judge them
for the convictions or conclusions that they derive essentially
from the white spaces of Scripture. There are certainly plenty of
clear commands of Scripture. And if we were to go and to address
a brother in what we deemed a sinful habit or practice, we would want
to go absolutely with chapter and verse, not just with this
is what I think or this is my particular conviction. If we
don’t have chapter and verse, we are on very, very flimsy ground. Well, Paul also wants to deal
with. How do we exercise our freedoms? How do we exercise our convictions
and hold to and live out our convictions that are not found
in the black and white? How do we maintain those? How
do we carry ourselves as Christlike in the midst of those things?
We are by God’s grace permitted to maintain areas of freedom. But we can’t violate the love
that we are supposed to have for our brothers and sisters
in Christ. Paul had pointed out already
this whole issue of right and wrong and he he gave us many
different principles on which to stand in those first twelve
verses. He told us that he gave us one
big long running exhortation regarding those differences.
And then he called us to stand before God on those convictions
that we derive from scripture, whether they are in the black
and white or whether they are clearly printed in black ink
or whether they are derived in the white spaces. If it’s our
conviction, we are to maintain it as such. Paul. Had developed that and now he
begins to point. To A much more difficult. Element. How do we live out that
conviction once we’ve arrived at that conviction, as long as
we’re not looking at other people, how do we live out our particular
convictions? As one said, all believers should
have a due regard for other believers whose view is different. That
they differentiate the important from the unimportant and that
they act with consideration for others. That would be almost
the overarching summary of this great section. Paul said it to
the Corinthians even more directly. He said take care in first Corinthians
chapter eight verse nine take care that this liberty of yours
he doesn’t deny that there are going to be areas of freedom
for the Christian. But he says, take care that this
liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the
weak. Don’t flaunt the way that you live. Don’t live in such
a way that is callous to those who don’t hold your conviction.
For if someone sees you who have knowledge dining in an idol’s
temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened
to eat the things sacrificed to idols? We talked about this
a little bit. Paul isn’t so explicit in Romans
here to talk about exactly what the situation was. He’s talking
about principles. But here in Corinthians, he’s
identified that there were some people that couldn’t eat anything
that might possibly have been sacrificed to an idol. And here
you have a strong brother that says, look, it’s just me. Let’s
eat. That’s. the very spirit that
Paul is going to attack here. How do we live as Christians
when others do not share our particular convictions? We pick
up in verse 13 of this section that goes all the way down through
verse 10, where Paul takes up a second exhortation. As you
may recall, I think that the section breaks out nicely into
five different exhortations. Verses 1 through 12 is the exhortation
regarding differences. The second exhortation begins
in verse 13 and regards offenses. How do we keep from offending
our fellow Christians? The third exhortation is found
in chapter 15 verse 1 through 4. It is an exhortation rather
to edification. Paul will point to that even
in the passage before us this morning. The fourth Exhortation
is an exhortation to unity, not just edifying, building up our
brothers and sisters in Christ, but living as one since we are
one. And then the final exhortation,
which I pointed out in weeks past, begins in verse seven of
chapter 15. It’s an exhortation to acceptance,
real practical acceptance. Not just something that holds
people at arm’s length, but something that draws people in near to
the intimate Christian relationship to which we’re called. But back
to the second exhortation, back to verse 13 of chapter 14. An exhortation regarding offenses
where Paul writes, therefore, let us not judge one another
anymore, but rather determine this. not to put an obstacle
or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. I know and am convinced
in the Lord that nothing is unclean in itself. But to him who thinks
anything to be unclean to him, it is unclean. For if because
of food, your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according
to love. Do not destroy with your food
him for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let what is
for you a good thing be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of
God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit for he who in this way serves Christ
is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then. Let us pursue the things which
make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear
down the work of God for the sake of food. All things are
clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or
drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.
The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before
God. Happy is he who does not condemn
himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned
if he eats because his eating is not from faith and whatever
is not of faith is sin. As I suggested, Paul gets into
a completely different exhortation here. He’s already pointed out
that there is going to be variety in the church, there is going
to be diversity. We are going to look at things,
we are going to come from different backgrounds, different convictions
are going to develop and we’re going to have differences of
opinion on even key points, important things. There’s going to be variety. And Paul basically said at the
beginning of this that, look, stop looking down your nose,
stop judging each other, stop despising one another. It’s totally
inappropriate for the life of the church. There are going to
be differences and we need to accept one another as God has
accepted us. But Paul also wants to make sure
that in holding to these varieties, these various opinions, these
various practices and habits, he wants to make sure that we’re
not going to step all over one another and offend one another
in the process of holding to our Christian liberties. Lance,
if you would, at verse 13. where he says, and he basically
draws a conclusion from everything that he said in in verses one
through twelve, but especially the immediately previous verses,
he says, therefore, let us not judge one another anymore. And
Paul basically acknowledges that, look, this has been going on
for some time, you’re in a habit of looking down your nose at
others who don’t hold to your particular conviction. He doesn’t
say, don’t judge or don’t ever judge. He says, stop doing what
you’ve been doing. Knock it off is how we would
probably say it. Get out of this habit, this ongoing
practice that you have of judging other people. Let them stand
as they already do before Almighty God. God is a very good corrector
of behavior, isn’t he? Hasn’t he done a pretty good
job with you? So far, he has a long way to go. You would acknowledge,
not just you. Paul says, look, whether you’re
strong or whether you’re weak, get out of this practice of judging
one another. We don’t want to usurp the responsibility
that belongs to one person, and that’s God himself. It’s God’s
prerogative to judge. It’s God’s prerogative to correct. It’s God’s prerogative to take
the weak under his wing and to say, look, what you’re holding
to is very scrupulous, but it’s not biblical. It’s God’s prerogative
to take the strong and to say, you know what, this may not be
the area of freedom that you hold it to be. It’s God’s prerogative
to take that so-called strong Christian and to correct him.
It’s God’s prerogative to take him and even to rebuke him for
the way that he’s gone about holding to his so-called area
of freedom. Stop judging, he says. Knock
it off. It’s not your job. Not your job
to judge a fellow Christian. But he says, let me tell you
what your job is. Look at verse 13. Therefore, let us not judge
one another anymore. That’s not your job, but rather
determine this. Not to put an obstacle or a stumbling
block in a brother’s way now. The interesting thing about this
is the word is exactly the same. Let us not judge. Rather, let
us determine it is a judgment. Very similar. I mean, it’s a
different use of the word, but it’s the same exact word. And
he’s asking for the same kind of thing, stop coming to a conclusion
that puts a roadblock between you and your brother. But if
you want to judge something, judge yourself and make a determination,
make a judgment not to put an obstacle in a brother’s way.
It’s used this particular way in a number of different occasions. Acts 13 3 the God of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus
the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate
when he judged or decided to release him. The word is used
frequently like that. It is a determination. If you
want to be determined don’t be determined against your brother’s
practice whatever it is. be determined about your own
practice that no matter what it is I am not going to cause
anybody to stumble in what I maintain. This idea of a stumbling block
is a frequent feature of Scripture. It is some practice or habit
that we hold to so tenaciously and in a sense foolishly and
in a very real sense carelessly that we thereby cause other people
to trip over the way that we’ve practiced or held to a particular
practice. The word is an interesting thing
about this word is it’s scandal. It’s a scandal on a scandal. We scandalize our brothers. We
we shock them in our behavior and it becomes a trap a veritable
trap a cause of offense A cause of stumbling and ultimately a
cause of sin, either in the way that they respond to us as they
look down their nose and begin to judge us. We provoke them
to that or we lure them into sin. Look, what I’m doing is
not that bad. Come along. Follow. Do likewise. We cause them to sin. We cause
them to stumble. And, you know, We might look
at our particular areas of freedom and I’ve already told you Paul
isn’t dealing with any particulars here. He mentions a few things
but he’s not dwelling on those. He’s not building an airtight
case on thou shalt not eat red meat. He’s not doing that. He’s
putting up principles so that we can deal with any contingency
whether it’s card playing or music or TV or hair length or
skirt or tattoos or piercings or whatever the case may be.
However, the future unfolds them to us. But he says, you know,
look, there are going to be differences of opinion. We already know that
you’re not to sit in judgment of your brother and sister in
Christ. And you’re also not to put a stumbling block before
them. Well, how do we do that? Well, in the careless way that
we hold to our particular area of freedom, There are often times
where we can cause somebody else to stumble and it is a serious
offense. Listen to this. These are the
words of our savior. Whoever causes one of these ones
who believe in me to stumble. Now, this just took on a whole
new level of seriousness, didn’t it? In the exercise of your area
of freedom, whatever that may be. You might have walked in
here thinking, well, if they stumble, they stumble. That’s
their fault. They’re they’re too rigid anyway. They’ve got
these scruples. It’s in the white spaces. I don’t see it. That’s
not our attitude. It’s not to be our attitude.
We have to take it. May it never be attitude with
regards to stumbling, because Jesus says whoever causes one
of these ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better
for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be
ground in the depth of the sea. Paul said the same thing to the
Corinthians. First Corinthians eight, nine, take care that this
liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the
weak. Don’t trip them up. Don’t cause them to stumble by
the way that you carry about your area of freedom. And this
scandal really refers, as one said, to any act or course of
conduct which tends to provoke others to sin. And it’s either
sinning in their reaction or sinning in their emulation of
what you hold to be an area of freedom. Don’t talk somebody
in to your conviction. If you know that somebody has
a conviction that taking a walk in the park on the Lord’s Day
is sin, don’t provoke them by inviting them for a hike. Don’t
do it. It is setting an example that
ultimately leads other people to sin. See, it’s not enough
for us as Christians to determine what is right and wrong and to
look at Scripture and its fullness and to wrestle with those things,
but we also have to consider other people and and the way
that our behavior, our habits and practices are going to affect
other people. One pastor said it this way,
the gospel teaches that man has not merely a right to his opinion. We have that in Christ. We stand
before God. Remember the priesthood of all
believers. We stand before God, not as a church. We stand before
God, not as a family. We stand before God as individuals.
We look up to God, we long to be taught and led. Of him. The gospel teaches that a man
is not merely a right to his opinion, a truth which is taken
alone leads to a mutual repulsion or indifference. In other words,
we look to Scripture and we see that it clearly says that something
is either forbidden or permitted. But he goes on to say it teaches
that he is responsible for his opinion to the Lord. We answer
to God, not just for the opinions that we arrive at, but how we
conduct ourselves in those. And he says, and this leads to
the thoughtful watchfulness, lest his own example should lead
another astray. When we come before God. When
we realize and recall that we stand before God in the exercise
of our so-called areas of freedom, the first thing that we have
to acknowledge that We have to purpose that there could never
come from my practice or habit stumbling blocks to my brother.
And that grows, really, that comes from an esteem for others,
an evaluation of others as being valuable, important. We find
that in verse 14. The second principle of this
section, not only do we purpose no stumbling blocks, but we purpose
we purpose that out of an esteem evaluation of others. Look at
verse 14, I know and I am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing
is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be
unclean to him, it is unclean. For if because of food, your
brother is hurt, you’re no longer walking according to love. Do
not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. We have
to have a value for them. We have to love them and value
them as greatly as the Lord Jesus did. How much did he love them? He loved them enough to die for
them. And we won’t leave off our habit. We won’t give up,
heaven forbid, a hamburger in front of them if that is their
particular area of scruple. Look at verse 14. I know and
I’m convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Now what Paul says there in the
Lord. He doesn’t say whether this is something that the Lord
told him, you know, separately, some private revelation. It doesn’t
say whether this just comes as a virtue of knowing Christ and
walking with Christ. We don’t know exactly what Paul
is doing, but he says that somehow in connection with the Lord himself,
Paul is tying what he’s teaching here to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, I come essentially with the authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ in this. That as a member of the body
of Christ, as an apostle of Christ, as a servant of Christ, I come
with this conviction that nothing is unclean. I’ve walked with Christ, I’ve
lived with Christ, I serve Christ, and I’m here to tell you that
there’s nothing unclean in and of itself. Now, what he does here is basically
abolish the the legal definitions that were found in the Old Testament
of what was clean and what was unclean, and we know that that
had already been freed up, corrected, if you will. All of those prohibitions
that were found in the Mosaic law about particular kinds of
meats. Ultimately, what Paul says here
is, look, there was nothing in the DNA of those meats that made
them unclean. God determined it and then God
removed that determination in time. Acts 1028. Acts 1028 says he said to them
you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew
to associate with a foreigner or to visit with him. And yet
God has shown me that I shall not call any man unholy or unclean. God has removed those distinctions.
In fact Paul when writing to Timothy young Timothy establishing
churches establishing elders in churches. Paul wrote Timothy
and gave him a very solemn warning. He said there are going to be
men troublemakers really heretics that come about and they forbid
marriage. They advocate abstaining from
good from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared
by those who know the truth. God has removed all those mosaic
prohibitions. Now mind you. Don’t take this
too far. When Paul says. There’s nothing that can be considered
unclean, he’s not talking about the things that you and I would
both acknowledge are impure in our society, even as my brother
alluded to this morning. There is much of our society
that is vile and putrid in God’s eyes, and it must be so in ours
as well. Unholy. It’s not right, it’s
impure. One pastor said it this way,
Paul did not certainly certainly did not mean that he was convinced
that nothing is objectively unclean. He’s not thinking about men’s
actions, we know many people’s actions are vile before God. Scripture says as much isn’t
talking about men’s attitudes. He isn’t talking about men’s
desires, thoughts, but only of the resources of the created
world which are available to men’s use. That’s what Paul’s
addressing. Can’t say that it’s unclean to
eat pork any longer. God has removed that restriction.
He goes on to say the fact that Christ’s work has now been accomplished
has radically transformed the situation with regard to the
ceremonial part of the Old Testament law. No longer obligatory to
obey it literally one obeys it by believing in him to whom it
bears witness. When we come to faith in Christ
all of that is wiped out. No longer sit under the mosaic
laws that is seeking to gain some kind of an approval simply
because we do not eat bacon. But. There is another side of
this equation. We are called. To be very circumspect
in not laying a stumbling block before another brother’s path. And even though we may know in
our hearts that it’s not unclean. If our brother thinks a BLT is
unclean, to him it is unclean. See, this brother has a conscience. We don’t know how it’s been informed.
We don’t know how he’s derived that. We don’t know why he hasn’t
been liberated from that yet. But he is under an absolute conviction
It would be wrong for him to partake of a particular food
or it would be wrong for him to go to a restaurant on the
Lord’s Day or be wrong for him to grow his hair, you know, seven
inches long, whatever the case may be morally wrong. And if that’s the case, that
person shouldn’t engage in that practice. That’s his conviction
that he absolutely, even if it’s misguided, even if it’s uninformed,
even if it seems outlandish, we’re not to push that. We’re
not to provoke him. We’re not to try and encourage
him. I’ll lay aside this ridiculous conviction that you have. Said one, the principle is an
important one. Men are not always doing right
when they act according to their consciences. For conscience is
not the ultimate standard of right. That’s why we want to
be in the word. We want to have our consciences
informed. We want to be instructed. Thy
word is a light into my path. We want to know that when we
are offending God exactly what those parameters are. Conscience
is not the ultimate standard of right and wrong. God is and
God and his word. The conscience. The conscience
can read something very casually very. And that’s why Paul refers
to these folks again as the weaker brothers. Most often it is young
believers in the faith. They’ve read something somewhere
they can’t put finger on it can’t even find chapter and verse anymore.
But I read something somewhere you know about feast days. So I’ve got to honor this feast
day. And if I don’t I’m dishonoring the Lord. Well then Paul says
you know what that’s your conviction. He goes on to say men are always
guilty. Men are always guilty when they
act contrary to their conscience, when they do not believe a practice
to be right. In other words, if that’s your
conviction, if however long you’ve walked with the Lord, whatever
white spaces or even the black and white that you’ve studied
and you’ve come up with a particular position, That’s your conviction. That can change over time, the
longer you’re in the word, you read various things. Your conscience
becomes informed, but you’re not talked into it by your buddy
who needs company for the Friday afternoon club, right? As one said, it mistaken conscience
calls for correction by better light, but never violation to
follow conscience is in itself no security that we’re doing
what is right. But to violate conscience is
always wrong. Did you understand that? If that
is your conviction. Then to engage in that practice
is absolutely morally wrong for you. But you go about building a case
to go about building a subset of the church to go about garnering
support from others who haven’t really thought about the issue
yet. That’s wrong, that’s factious. Paul’s dealing with the strong. He mentions the weak here, those
who hold to something they think that it’s unclean, but Paul says,
look in verse 15, If because of food, your brother is hurt
and this hurt is not just, oh, he’s offended. If this means a real severe hurt,
this means he’s really seriously sidelined in his faith. But essentially,
he’s become disobedient, he was led probably into sin, or at
least he’s reacting to his stronger brother’s conviction, and now
he has a sinful attitude towards him. He’s been provoked. And
his consciousness is it’s in complete conflict. It’s not just that he’s displeased,
it’s not just that he’s frustrated in the moment he’s in a very
real sense, he’s ruined or he’s destroyed to a degree doesn’t
lose his salvation. He’s messed up. One pastor said the word hurt
is a strong term. Paul is saying that the affront
to the weak brother’s scruples could cause him deep hurt. His
sensitive conscience is deeply pained as he observes the strong
brother doing what he cannot and feels is wrong. He may be
also emboldened to do the thing himself. In which case, the hurt
is even deeper because now his conscience has been offended.
and he goes home and he’s in grief, he’s utterly in despair
because he’s gone against the Lord and he sinned against the
light or the light so as he knows it. And if that’s the way we
carry ourselves as the strong, if we provoke others to follow
our behavior, if we if we conduct ourselves enjoying whatever area
of freedom, whether it’s red meat or card playing or dancing
or wine, if we do that, Careless of our brother’s feeling. Paul says you are no longer walking
according to love. You’re not concerned about your
brother, you’re not concerned about how your brother can be
affected by this. And we’re supposed to do everything
we’re supposed to do everything that we do out of a principle
of love. Paul says. And he couldn’t say
it anymore. I mean, look at it. Could he
say it any more plainly than this? Do not destroy with your
food him for whom Christ died. Is your area of freedom, is it
really more important than the life, the soul of one for whom
Christ died? You see how Paul puts this in
such explicit perspective. He did the same thing in 1 Corinthians
8.11. Through your knowledge, he who
is weak is ruined. The brother for whose sake Christ
died. Are we going to live so carelessly,
so flippantly that we don’t even care about a brother? Not just
any brother, but a brother for whom Jesus shed his blood on
the cross. This is the strongest possible
argument of all. You’re going to ruin him, you’re
going to despise him, you’re going to live carelessly in front
of him, you’re going to trample. Essentially, you’re going to
walk on the sacrifice of Christ on his behalf. Christ died for
him. You must love him and must esteem
him and value him in the highest possible terms. We can’t think
casually, we can’t think lightly about our brothers and sisters
in Christ. We are to look, we are to observe and to see God’s
dignity and God’s creation in all of our fellow man, but especially
those for whom Christ died. Not only the principle of. Abstaining
from placing a stumbling block in our brother’s way, not only
growing out of an esteem, a high esteem that we have for others.
But the third principle that Paul lays down here in this exhortation
is the principle of responsible freedom. That’s what he’s calling
us to. Responsible freedom. He’s already acknowledged that
there will be differences. He’s acknowledged that there
are areas of freedom found in the white spaces that we can’t
find chapter and verse that either prohibits it or promotes it.
There are those areas of freedom. But what he’s already pointed
to, what he’s already alluded to, that we’re not to destroy,
we’re not to live so flippantly that we live carelessly for him
whom Christ died, were to live responsible lives, were to conduct
ourselves in these areas of freedom with responsibility before God.
Look at verse 16. Where Paul again begins to draw
a conclusion, therefore, Do not let what is for you a good thing
be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not
eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit. For he who in this way serves
Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. Go back to verse
16. Therefore do not let what is
for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. Let me tell you what
he’s not doing here. A liberty is a good thing. It
may be a very good thing. We have these liberties as Christians. We can’t find chapter and verse
that prohibits them. They’re there. We know there’s
going to be diversity, but there is a cause for great caution
in the exercise of that liberty that could become a stumbling
block for others. That’s the point that Paul is
already lodged. But one thing that is absolutely
clear here is that Paul is not calling. for a strident defense
of your particular liberty. Did you hear what I said? Paul
isn’t asking you to stand up and defend your particular area
of liberty when he says do not let what is for you a good thing
be spoken of as evil. Don’t go on the attack of those
who you know what I don’t know about that deal. Don’t go around
defending and promoting your particular area of freedom. What
he’s saying here That it’s going to be spoken of as evil because
of the way you lived it out. Because of the way you tenaciously
held to that area of freedom and carelessly lived it out in
front of others and squandered as worthless. Your brother’s
conviction. Don’t give an occasion for that.
Don’t give cause, and you know what’s frightening here? It doesn’t
even say who who lodges this complaint. It doesn’t say that
it’s necessarily somebody in the church that maybe was in
the neutral ground, but they’ve watched the way that you held
your area of freedom. Oh, man. Anybody who does that
now? That’s all they’re on my list.
He’s not even saying that it’s in the church. That’s what’s
even more frightening. You know, the world’s watching.
You know, the world’s watching. And they watch and they see,
you know what? He doesn’t care for his fellow
church member any more than to do that in front of them. When he knows of his struggle,
he knows of his conviction. What do you think that kind of
a testimony is to the world? Paul isn’t calling us to a strident
defense, Paul’s calling us to a responsible conduct, very careful,
a very circumspect conduct. To speak of evil is our word
blaspheme. God and you and your church and
everything you stand for are blasphemed because of the way
that you conducted yourself. Is that what we want? I don’t
think so. Once said it this way, it’s not
clear whether the evil speaking came from inside or outside the
church, but the harm that would come to the Christian message
of people outside could see that some Christians had so little
care and concern for others. What a grievous thought. Paul
Paul comes full circle here, he says, look. Is is the church
really about hair length? Is Christianity really about
red meat? Is Christianity really about
music or no music or wine or no wine? Is that what it’s all
about? Look at verse 17, for the kingdom
of God is not eating and drinking, it’s just not what it’s about.
But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And he
basically appeals to the whole nature of the kingdom of Christ,
he says, we didn’t come here, we didn’t arrive at the kingdom.
Because we forbade ourselves of enjoying certain things or
freedoms. We came because of the righteousness
of God, we came because God bestowed that righteousness on us because
of faith, we came because we have now peace with God because
of what God has done in Christ, we came in the joy that we have
in Christ, that our sins are forgiven, that we stand completely
free of those sins before God. Romans 5. Therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction
by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in the
hope of the glory of God. We stand before God in his righteousness. That’s what Christianity is about.
It’s not about all these other little enjoyments of life. verse 18 for he who in this way
serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. Anybody. And this too isn’t saying that
it’s just the church people that approve you. It’s God that gives
his assent. But this is also the world that
looks and says you know what the guy’s a good guy. I don’t
have it figured out and I’m really not particularly inclined to
Christianity. But there goes a guy who cares
about his fellow church member. The man, says one who serves
Christ in the knowledge that he’s been justified by God, that
he’s reconciled with God, that he’s received the Holy Spirit’s
gift of joy. The man whose service of Christ
has its source in and is determined by these facts of what God has
done is well pleasing to God. Isn’t that what we want to be?
Isn’t that what we want of our lives? Or do we want to be in particular
camps that I do this and they do that? Join my camp. Paul says. These things ought not be this
way. We are to exercise, we are to
conduct ourselves in what he deems a responsible freedom of
a caring freedom that has esteem for others and refuses to put
a stumbling block in the way of a brother. Paul has much more
to say. Regarding this issue of the weak
and the strong, we’ll take it up here in this exhortation of
offenses next Lord’s Day. Would you bow with me before
the Lord? Our merciful King. We humble
ourselves and we see that. This is indeed a timeless issue.
The regardless of what the particular areas of freedom are. We know
that they have this issue has perpetuated throughout the history
of the church and is often torn little congregations into even
great bodies of believers have been separated for lengthy seasons. Because of what one group holds
from the white spaces. and because of the callous treatment
of them by the strong. God grant us the grace to stand
back from this, to examine our own conduct. Where we see, God
grant us the grace to be careful in what we determine. Where we
see an area of freedom, may we hold to it with a graciousness
and ultimately with a heart that esteems our brother more highly
than our particular liberty. Father, where we have scruples,
where we stand apart from certain practices and habits, grant us
the grace as well to hold to that conviction humbly, not seeking
to create a faction, but holding that humbly as an act of worship
before You. Lord, we acknowledge that You
are God and that You can and will correct us in time. That’s
a promise from Scripture. That one day we will stand before
You glorified, perfected. Lord, we thank You. We thank
You for the richness of this section of Scripture. We thank
You for uncovering it to us even this morning. Lord, we ask Your
blessing on our week. In Jesus’ name, Amen. As we close.