The Weak and the Strong Pt2

The concept or word that we introduced
last Lord’s Day, one that we don’t use a lot anymore. The
word scruples, and it was fascinating as I introduced that word, which
really just points to doubt or hesitation about some activities,
some course of action, some. Practice. a fear, really, that maybe you’re
really doing wrong by participating in some particular action. It
was fascinating to me that just merely introducing this idea
of scruples, how many of you came and brought up other potential
issues, other ideas surrounding this, perhaps other things that
you had been excused from by God’s grace over the years, or
perhaps things that you knew others were still bound to observe
because of their scruples in particular areas. We don’t know
all of what was going on in the in the Roman Church. Paul writes
very generally. He does bring up a couple of
different specifics but Paul was addressing principles and
that’s where we’ll be for the next several weeks. I pointed
out last Lord’s Day that there are really in this rather lengthy
section, which begins in chapter 14, verse one in courses all
the way down through chapter 15, verse 12. I suggested that
there are five different exhortations here, five different subheadings,
if you will, underneath maybe the greater heading of the weak
and the strong. In these first 12 verses, We
might refer to it as the exhortation regarding differences. Paul just
acknowledges that, look, there are going to be differences in
the Christians life in the church. And he just merely points to
some principles in dealing with those differences. Then he points
in chapter 14, verse 12, To an exhortation regarding offenses
that there are going to be differences but we don’t want to be offensive
in those things that we do practice those things that we do partake.
The third exhortation we find in Chapter 15 verses 1 through
4 where. I would title it I’ve been titled
it an exhortation to edification not only do we not want to cause
offense everything that we do as Christians should be to the
end of building up, not tearing down our brothers in Christ. Paul moves from there quite logically
to an exhortation to unity. Not only do we want to build
one another up, we build one another up because we are one.
And we should walk as one and function as one. That we should
be of the same mind toward one another. And then Paul closes
with a final exhortation beginning in chapter 15, verse 7. An exhortation
to acceptance. And not just toleration. I mean,
the world is tolerant, so to speak, or that’s what they beg
for in their sinfulness. He’s not urging us to that kind
of a thing. He’s urging us to a full brotherly
acceptance of one another. In the Lord. We get to those eventually this
morning, we want to just focus on the first exhortation. Those
first 12 verses. Where Paul has begun to give
us his mind with regards to some of these differences. And we
knew that he had already introduced some of the potential issues,
though even as I mention them, I want to caution you, don’t
think that these are the only issues in Rome or that they are
the only issues in the church today. Meat offered to idols,
certainly a potential. the vegetarian diet that he refers
to, the use of wine. Others proposed many other potential
ideas here. The things sacrificed to idols,
as Paul had already mentioned to the Corinthians, but it’s
not exactly easy to decide on any one thing that Paul is pointing
to. He mentions also not only food
and drink, but sacred days. We have those. Many people celebrate
those with great religious observance. Others seem to at least try to
observe each day as honorable to the Lord. We have many differences. In my own day and age, in my
own Christian walk rather, card playing certainly we have seen,
dancing, hairlines. We’ve heard of places that have
great, great restrictions on what music or whether you listen
to TV or watch sports or participate in the same. How long is your
dress? How long is your hair? How do
you honor or do you honor the Sabbath? Do you go on vacation? Some people consider that sinful. Well, there are a great many,
and there are many more than even what I’ve referred to. In
our own day and age, people pointed out that pierces. Do you have
two holes in your ear or only one? Is it permissible that you
have one through your nostril or no? Well, those are some of the things
that we might wrestle with in the same vein as the church was
wrestling there in Rome and Paul begins to give them principles
and we have begun to consider those principles beginning in
verse 1 of chapter 14. If you would let’s just take
an overview once again as we read those follow along if you
would beginning in verse 1 where Paul exhorts now accept the one
who is weak in faith but not for the purpose of passing judgment
on his opinions. One man has faith that he may
eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Let not him who eats regard with
contempt he who does not eat, and let not him who does not
eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you
to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or
falls, and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him
stand. One man regards one day above
another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully
convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes
it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he
gives thanks to God. And he who eats not, for the
Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of
us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. For if
we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the
Lord. Therefore, whether we live or
die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end, Christ died
and lived again, that he might be both Lord of the pardon me,
that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your
brother? Or again, why do you regard your
brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live,
says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
give praise to God. So then, Each one of us should
give account of himself to God. We don’t know exactly what the
problems were in Rome. We know that because of what
we read, perhaps the problems were already beginning to manifest
themselves as Paul addressed two specific issues. But Paul
wasn’t veering in on any one area, as I’ve tried to suggest. What Paul is doing is seeking
to give us wisdom, principles if you will, in dealing with
a variety of issues. Giving us principles in how to
deal with differences with our brothers, giving principles in
how we should behave towards those who don’t hold to the same
practice as we do. opening exhortation that Paul
gives starts with an exhortation to a gracious acceptance of our
brothers and sisters in Christ. And what Paul is pointing to,
and we looked at it last Lord’s Day, he’s not throwing open the
doors to any practice. There are certainly plenty of
things in scripture that are absolutely forbidden. Lying,
for one. There are things that are absolutely
forbidden and yet There is great latitude with many others. Paul isn’t saying that we can
live however we choose. We need to live biblically. We
closed with one last little statement last Lord’s Day that years ago
found its way into our distinctives. As I suggested then it was originally
from what I heard attributed to Calvin though I never personally
found it. But it goes like this where the
Bible speaks we speak. where the Bible is silent, we
too are silent. You see, what happens is, we want everybody
to basically live like us, and we get uncomfortable when somebody
is living a more scrupulous life than we are, when they’re observing
things or doing things that we’re not particularly convicted to
do, but it bothers us. And so we become critical of
them, and they, looking at us, seeing our freedom, They become
critical of us and the fight ensues. And soon legalism breaks
out and those who feel a particular freedom are judged and those
who do not feel a particular freedom are criticized and scrutinized
and even rejected outright. Paul says it can’t be that way.
Can’t be that way in the church. Where the Bible is silent, we
too are silent. And we come alongside our brothers
and sisters in Christ. And even though we may not feel
the freedom to do what they are doing, we love them all the same.
Or even though we have particular scruples about particular areas
of our Christianity, and we feel like we’re doing right before
the Lord, we, unless we have chapter and verse, we do not
have the freedom before God to put those prescriptions on others. We don’t. And that’s the point
that Paul will make again and again all the way to chapter
15 verse 12. Paul said it very simply. Accept
the one who is weak in faith. Bring him in. Draw him into your
company. God, Paul will go on to make
this point very clearly here in a moment, God has already
brought him into his own company. God himself has accepted it.
God has received him into the kingdom, into his family. And who are we to stand at the
door of a physical church and to reject anyone? It had this idea of taking them
into intimate friendship. of receiving them fully, not
as a second-class citizen, not as if they had some letter dangling
around their neck. And that’s why Paul adds that
little caveat at the end, except the one who is weak in faith,
but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. Don’t
bring him in only to begin to change him or try to change him.
Try to cultivate him and work on him and criticize him and
even make fun of his viewpoints, his opinions, to make him, as
it were, a project. Don’t do that. Accept him in
Christ. Walk with him in Christ. And
as you’ll see, God has principles for dealing not only with the
weaker brother, but for dealing also with the strong brother.
As one pastor summarized that first great point, except the
one who is weak in faith. He said, be severe with self,
be gentle with others. That’s amazing, because we almost
turn it completely around, don’t we? We are so hard on other people,
and yet, oh boy, when we blow it, sure, the grace of God is
abundant and free and mercy is there, and we’re easy to apply
that to our own lives. Sometimes we’re a little slow.
to extend that to others. What Paul does in this section,
these first twelve verses of the study, he essentially gives
us principles in dealing with differences. Principles in dealing
with differences, and they’re in verse one. I told you the
first principle that he gives us is gracious acceptance. That
we are to be gracious with those unless we can take them and show
them chapter and and really call them to repentance. Remember,
I’m not throwing Richard Baxter’s statement out the window. Richard
Baxter said, pretend not to love them if you hate not their sin
and seek not their salvation. The most loving thing that you
can do if you have chapter and verse is to go to your brother
and to say, brother, you have you have sinned against God.
You need to repent of your sin. But until we have chapter and
verse. Even though we may not agree with what they abstain
from or what they participate in. We don’t have the freedom
in Christ to reject them to hold them in arms length. To exclude
them from our inner circle. We don’t have that freedom. Paul
has exhorted us to a gracious acceptance but second. He gives
another principle in verse 2. And he identifies what weak faith
is. Look at verse 2. One man has
faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables
only. Now let’s just pause for a minute. I don’t want you to run out here
and find that friend of yours that has, for whatever purposes,
gravitated towards a more vegetable-based diet and to criticize them that
they are weak in faith simply because they only eat zucchini. Don’t do it. It’s not right.
That’s not what Paul’s saying. He does want to expose what he
means when he says weak in faith. He does want to explain that.
It begs the question. Except those who are weak in
faith, how do I know that I’m not that guy? How do I know what
being weak of faith is. That’s what Paul wants to do,
and he gives an illustration, really, of the principle. This
isn’t the only one. It isn’t just vegetarians that are weak in faith. That’s
not at all what Paul’s saying. And he takes us to the principle
very, very abruptly. One man has faith that he may
eat all things. He’s got this faith. He’s come
to Christ. He’s placed his faith in Christ.
He understands the concept of justification by faith. He’s
no longer looking to pay God back for his salvation. He’s
no longer operating from a system of works or observances that
says, if I do thus and such, I’ll be saved. And as I suggested
last week, we do this in a lot of different ways. One of the
first questions I ask somebody who wants to be baptized is,
Do you believe that it will make you more saved? This man is long
past that. He is not looking to make himself
more saved. He knows that he stands fully
in the grace of God, absolved of his sin. He knows that he
bears the righteousness of Christ before God himself. He’s comfortable. He’s at peace. If you will, he’s
strong in his faith. He believes God. He takes him
at his word. clear about what God has told him in his word.
He understands what Christianity is, and he’s so strong that he
realizes that these ideas about food and getting all hung up
about whether you have a hamburger or not, or whether you order tofu instead,
he’s not hung up on that. One man has faith that he made
all things. The Mosaic Law He’s been absolved
of that. He no longer has to observe the
dietary restrictions that were prescribed in the Old Testament.
He no longer has to worry about food or meat offered to idols.
He doesn’t worry about that. He knows that he stands before
Christ as one who does not have to pay back for his salvation
or earn it any further. But there’s another in the church. In the in walks one, another
one, who is weak in faith. And Paul identifies him, and
he says, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Now this person,
for whatever purpose, they don’t have chapter and verse. And they
stammer and stutter in their attempt to suggest that they
could provide such, but they don’t, and they know it. But
for them, even though they don’t have chapter and verse because
of the way they were raised, or because of some other issue,
they believe that it’s a spiritual requirement. that they abstain
from particular food, in this case meat. And they’re timid,
they’re shy about it, sometimes they’re even ashamed about it
because they’ve taken it on the chin before for this issue of
confining themselves rather to eating only vegetables. As one characterized it, most
commentators have assumed that Paul is describing the practice
of some definite party in the Roman community and have discussed
with great divergence of opinion the motive of such a practice.
In other words, he says that you have a myriad of opinions
as to why these people were doing this. But I’m telling you, back
away from that. Don’t try to overstudy this because
Paul is giving a general principle. A general illustration, very
general. All he says is some people eat
meat, other people have scruples that says no meat. That’s all
he’s saying. But Paul, as I said, is writing
generally. And he picks this particular
issue, this illustration, that one man, strong in his faith,
he grasps Christianity and he orders a hamburger. The other
one, a little more delicate about his faith, he still is a Christian,
he has placed his faith in Christ, but he still feels like he’s
got to honor this particular precept, whatever it is. There were Jewish Christians
in Rome. And so there is some plausibility there to this argument
that the meat either offered to idols or those that would
try to adhere to the Jewish system A Jewish Christian would naturally
have some second thoughts, wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t it take some time?
If it even took the Apostles’ time to work through this question,
wouldn’t it take some time in a remote location for just a
new believer to work through this problem? You have those
that walk into the church every day, don’t you? On some issue,
they walk in and they’re still stammering and stuttering on
some particular area of freedom, or so we call it. They think
that this meat is unclean, or they think that it was prepared
by Gentile hands and therefore forbidden. Paul doesn’t say specifically
that the problem in Rome was the problem that he had identified
in Corinth, that it was meat offered to idols, but he’s writing
to Rome from Corinth. It certainly was a problem in
Corinth, and it certainly could potentially be a problem in Rome,
but he doesn’t identify it for a very good reason. He’s after
principles, remember? He wants us to be as relevant
to you and I today as it was throughout history. This issue
was relevant to Daniel, wasn’t it? Daniel abstained. Daniel ate vegetables only for
a set and specific purpose that really is quite vague to the
modern reader. Genesis freed us up. Genesis
9 said God blessed Noah and his sons. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. The fear of you
and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth.
Try this today. Walk out and go try to pet a
squirrel. No doubt, because they carry rabies. They’re all afraid
of us. You can’t walk up to a bird.
You can’t walk up to a large animal of nature. They are afraid
of us by God’s design. And they should be afraid, because
he goes on to say, all the fish, everything that creeps on the
ground, they’ve been given to you to eat. That’s why they’re
afraid. Even a squirrel. Every moving
thing that is alive shall be food for you. I give all to you
as I gave the green plant. In other words, he frees us up.
You can eat meat if you want. Whatever parts you want. And
you can eat vegetables. That’s why I gave it. But those
who were anxious. They were hanging on to some
issue that they possibly didn’t want to be defiled. That’s what
Paul identifies as the weak Christian, the person that comes in and
they’re just hanging on to some thing. They don’t have chapter
and verse. They don’t have a good argument
as to why. But it’s theirs. And they’re here. There’s the
third principle that God brings to us in verses three and four. Not only does he call us to a
gracious acceptance of one another, and not only does he identify
who are those with a weak faith, but he calls us, if you will,
to a mutual acceptance. Because it’s very possible for
one to come in with one of these scruples to very easily begin
to press and pry and to assert his conviction to the point that
then he begins to start a faction, doesn’t he? He begins to get
followers. Why don’t you do thus and such?
Well, let me tell you why. And then he’s got two and then
ten. And then the next thing you know, you’ve got one side
of the church against the other. Paul calls us to a mutual acceptance.
It can’t be that way. Look at verse three and four.
Let not him who eats regard with contempt he who does not eat.
and let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has
accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant
of another? To his own master he stands or
falls, and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him
stand.” See, pride. Pride comes in doesn’t it? And
that’s the natural inclination of the strong. You know, I’ve
been freed up from these things. Oh, you poor, weak Christian. And yet the weak Christian stands
and looks across the room and is critical with great disdain
at somebody who is partaking of their particular area of Christian
liberty. As one described it, the eaters
of meat would be liable to despise the non-meat eaters as not worth
taking seriously. Oh, come on. You’re such a joke. You’re going to come in here
and bring your vegetable pie. Whatever. While the non-meat
eaters would be prone to adopt a critical attitude towards the
meat eaters. You know, murderer. Well, that’s
the issue. That’s the issue at play in the
church. Strong Christians have this proclivity to look down
their nose at those who eat vegetables only or practice some habit or
hold to some scrupulous opinion, they look at them as being inferior.
And that we, knowing this, they don’t want to be inferior, not
for very long, and they begin to criticize, no, we’re the ones
that are right, you are sinning. And they make a sinful issue
out of something that God is silent about. Both, if you think about it,
are essentially cultivating the same error. We placed our faith in Christ.
We believe that we’re saved. We’re justified by faith. But
both now begin to slip into that error of worse. The strong one
thinks that, boy, his faith is that much stronger because he
does certain things, and the weak one thinks that his faith
is better than the other because he does not do certain things. It’s a system of works all over
again. Paul says it can’t be that way.
It simply can’t. You have to mutually accept one
another. Look at verse 3. Let not him who eats regard with
contempt he who does eat. The word is a hateful word, it’s
despising, it’s cultivating a hatefulness towards somebody else, judging
them and having contempt towards them to the point of ignoring
them. Where they come into the church, you kind of go through
the motions, but you really don’t want anything to do with them
simply because they hold to this, in your opinion, absurd practice. It can’t be. To do this, to do this is to
play the part of the Pharisees. Luke 18 9. He told this parable
to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and viewed others with contempt. They rolled their eyes, oh, you
know, one of those guys, the vegan. Acts 4 11. To do this, is to play the part
of the great majority of the Jewish people on how they responded
to Christ. He is the stone which was rejected
by you, the builders, that became the chief cornerstone. It’s to
treat somebody as being completely, you don’t even, you pretend like
they don’t even exist. Have you ever had a situation
like, we’ve all had that, haven’t we? Just me? Okay. You, you know, you think
that you’re invisible. They’re carrying on this conversation.
They act like you don’t even exist, like you’re not even there. To do this is to function like
the world functions with regards to Christians. Why would we want
to side with them? 1 Corinthians 1.28. The base things of the world
and the despised God has chosen the things that are not so that
He may nullify the things that are. There are things in this
world that are readily accepted, and it’s becoming frightening
what is. But there are things that the world generally hates,
and most often it is the things of God, the good things, the
pure things, the despised things of the world. We don’t want to
function like that. We don’t want to treat our brother
in the same way that the world treats us and treats God. We can’t despise him simply because
of his convictions. But it goes both ways. It’s a
mutual acceptance, and Paul deals with it straightforwardly. Look
at verse 3 again. Let not him who eats regard with
contempt he who does not eat, and let not him who does not
eat judge him who eats. If that is your position, if
you believe that you’ve got to have tofu burger, eat it! Enjoy it! If you can. I’ve tried. See, this is the judgment. This
particular judgment is a kind of judgment that makes a sin
out of something that God doesn’t call a sin. It creates a sin. It adds to Scripture. This person who abstains is so
timid, so scrupulous, so cautious, doesn’t want to offend, doesn’t
want to lose his salvation, heaven forbid, would love to add to
it if there’s only some way that he could. And he begins to condemn his brother
for eating like he never would. As one said this, pardon me,
there is mutual forbearance to be exercised. The strong are
not to despise the weak, as superstitious imbeciles, nor are the weak to
condemn those who disregard their scruples. Points of indifference
are not allowed to disturb the harmony of the Christian fellowship.”
Did you hear what he said? Because we’ve all got them. We’ve
all got our baggage that we brought in. We’ve all got our areas of
freedom that we want to cling to. We’ve all got our particular
scruples that even though I can’t find chapter and verse, I still
don’t want to do it. That’s fine. You just can’t mess up the fellowship
of God’s people. You can’t disturb the peace of
the church. You can’t. And Paul gives one
reason. Because God has accepted him.
What a glorious truth. How much freedom there is in
Christ. To come before God, He didn’t stand at the door, you
know, do you eat meat? Are you willing to observe, you
know, such and such days? Are you willing to avoid all
tattoos? Are you willing to, you know, God doesn’t do that
to us. He calls us to Christ as utter and thorough going sinners
and we respond only by God’s grace and we come to him in faith
and we bow before him in repentance and we cry out to him for grace
and he receives us and you know it. You know that you are saved. And then somebody else comes
along and wants to bring their baggage and put it on you and
make sure that you’re observing Christianity the way that it
should be observed, or at least according to them. God has accepted
him. In a sense, leave him alone.
He’s God’s, not yours. God has received him into his
own fellowship. Do you realize that? As we come
before the Lord’s table, this is something that always is fascinating
but we tend to overlook. We call it the Lord’s table,
we call it communion. Do you realize that we not only
commune with God, we commune with one another. That’s what
makes scrutiny so important. That we look after our lives,
that we’re careful to not partake unworthily. God has accepted
our brother in Christ. God has recognized that he is
a believer in Christ, he has received him into the kingdom
of God, who are we to continue to scrutinize and who are we
to continue to put our little practices and isms upon it? And that’s what he says in verse
four, isn’t it? Who are you to judge the servant of another? What he calls us to is a very
careful consideration of how we conduct ourselves in the church.
We have no right to get into what he refers to here as judgmentalism. Of beginning to doubt another
believer’s salvation. Either because they hold to this
wacky practice that we no longer do, or because this person is
living a reckless life. by eating meat or some practice. We have no right to sit in that
chair. We have no right to exercise that kind of judgment. We have
no right to look down our nose and scrutinize somebody else’s
salvation simply because they live a particular way that is
found only in the white spaces in scripture. See, it’s his master
that he’s answerable to. It’s his master that is going
to call him into account for his use of freedom. It’s his
master that’s going to correct him in time for his overuse of
scruples. The servant is not the weak Christian
slave. The servant is not the strong
Christian slave. The slave belongs to another
master, and the master is the Lord Jesus Christ. He answers
to him. And in a very real sense, he
answers to him alone. Now that principle is throughout
scripture you know what do not be judged so that you will not
be or do not judge rather so that you will not be judged.
Matthew 7 1 Luke 6 37 do not judge and you will not be judged
do not condemn and you will not be condemned pardon and you will
be pardoned. See it isn’t our business. to
judge fellow Christians. This doesn’t mean that we don’t
come alongside and call someone to repentance for something that
is explicit in scripture. Don’t try to build a funny case
though out of some obscure verse that you have not studied and
make a practice or a sinful habit out of something that God has
not. It isn’t our business to judge others. They have a master
to whom they answer and it is our common savior the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Paul builds upon that thought,
and I’ll close with this. In verse 4 he says, Who are you
to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or
falls. And the interesting thing about
that full sentence there, to his own master he stands or falls,
there are a number of different ways that people read this. As standing before a sovereign,
or coming before a sovereign, he would either be asked to stand
or he would fall prostrate before him. Or if he fell prostrate
before him, the sovereign would have you to stand. The king would
essentially accept you and allow you to stand in his presence.
There’s a number of different ways that this could be taken.
I take it to mean that God is either going to, God is the one
ultimately that approves or disapproves our practices, our habits, our
deeds, our freedoms. God is the one that instructs
us. God is the one that takes us to task. And God, God is the
one that is able to make us stand. As Paul will go on to say, this
is a regular image that Paul uses. 1 Corinthians 16, 13 says,
be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act
like men. Be strong. What a great verse.
Stand firm in the faith. God is able to make you stand.
You know what? If you have an area of weakness,
if you are holding to some practice that, you know, you can’t find
chapter and verse on, you don’t have to have a strong brother
to correct you. God is perfectly capable of pulling you aside
and saying, you know what? You’re overdoing it here. I want
to free you up in this particular area. God can do that. Or, let’s
be honest, say you’re allegedly strong, and you believe that
such and such a practice is perfectly legitimate, you’re perfectly
free to partake, and yet in time God shows you, you know what,
it’s really foolish. Or what you’re doing is really
dangerous, reckless. But the hope In that verse, to
his own master, he stands or falls and stand he will. Do you realize that? God, if
you have placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God will
make you stand. He’s going to correct everything.
He’s going to correct those that are overly scrupulous. He’s going
to correct those that are standing foolishly in their area of freedom. He is able to make him stand
and stand. He will God. will finish his
work. It’s his work. What a glorious
truth. As one pastor said, he shall
stand or be accepted, for God has the right and the will to
make him stand, that is, to equip and save him, however weak a
man’s faith may be. If he is a Christian, he should
be recognized and treated as such, for his weakness is not
inconsistent. with his acceptance by God. God
is not only able to make him stand, he will make him stand.
He will correct all of us. He will perfect all of us through
this walk we call the Christian life. Let’s examine our own hearts
before him. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves before you and thank you for these verses. Lord, in
so many people’s lives, these verses have been such a key and
a clue and yet, in some sense, a mystery. Lord, we thank you
that as we meditate upon these things, as we hear them expounded,
Lord, our understanding of them becomes clear and we see that
there are many areas of life where this can become a problem.
What we do and what we don’t do what we prescribe of others
and how we respond if they don’t hear us out. Father, we humble
ourselves before you. You are the judge, as we will
focus again on next week. And all of us will stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. And in a very real sense, that’s
a glorious scene where all of our sin will be done away with.
We will be granted grace and we will be perfected. Lord, we
come before you as we come before this Lord’s table. We rejoice
in your goodness and grace in our lives. We thank you and praise
you in Jesus name.