God's Acceptance

Back in the book of Romans. We'll be in Romans chapter 14. If you're new with us and don't have a Bible, we're on page 948. If you're using that pew Bible in front of you, that's page 948. We're in Romans 14 as we continue walking through this book. We took a break last week to meditate particularly on the resurrection. As we begin, I want to pose a question to you. Who poses the greatest threat to the kingdom of God? Who is the most, who can do something that would threaten the kingdom of God the most? Think about an answer. Now, if you said the Antichrist, okay, well, that was a good, good, good, good, hard to argue against that. But I want to challenge us with something today, church, is that you and I really have the greatest potential of doing damage to the kingdom of God. See, the greatest threat is not outside of the church. The greatest threat is that you and I, when we take on ourselves the name of Christian, little Christ, we pose the greatest threat. Because we can misrepresent Jesus Christ. The world is supposed to be looking to the church, to Christians, and asking, what is Christianity? Who is Jesus Christ? And we're supposed to be able to demonstrate with our words and our actions who Christ the King is. See, many folks, I fear, have rejected Christ, not because they actually heard of the true Jesus Christ, They heard Christians misrepresenting him. I was just talking with a friend who resigned from the pastorate. He resigned because he kept trying to teach this church to not emphasize its own opinions and its own rules, but to really focus upon the mercy and the gospel of grace of Jesus Christ. This church had a reputation in the town. Well, one of the stories related to this church is that there was a man who said, I want to come to church. Not join. He just wanted to be able to come to church. So he asked, can I come? And the message he got back was, once you quit smoking, you can come. He died two weeks later. He never got to come. He never got to come into a place where Christians gather and sing of the gospel, pray the gospel, and proclaim the gospel. Because he didn't clean himself up enough according to somebody else's standards. This is what I mean by misrepresenting Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God. So I just want to be clear what Christianity is. I think there's five basic truths that we can declare. This is the foundational truths of Christianity. So first, every human being is created with dignity and honor. Every human being has value and worth. And we know this because God has created us for the most worthy task of worshiping him. We're all made in his image with a purpose of worshiping him. Secondly, every human being has refused God. We've all rebelled. We've all rejected that great high calling to worship Him, and instead of worshiping Him, we decided we're going to live the way we want to live. The third truth, while we deserved judgment and wrath, God chose to love us. He sent His Son, to die for the sins we've committed, to take the penalty for the sins we committed against Him, so that that Son, Jesus Christ, He suffered in our place, He died the death that we deserve, and now He is risen. And the fourth truth is important. If you're not a believer, this is where you need to hear, this is what you need to do. Believe that you're a sinner. that God's righteous wrath is against you, but if you believe in Jesus Christ, his wrath is removed from you and has been put upon Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you will not be judged, you're forgiven. God says, I forgive you because you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ. And fifth, He gives us the grace now to live a new life, obeying Him, trusting Him, loving Him, and proclaiming Him. Here's the hard part about the church. We're still very sinful. Yeah, yes, we've been given a new identity as saints. We've been declared holy, but we're just not. We don't live that way. We've been declared holy, but we don't live that way. So non-Christian, do not judge our Savior. Do not misjudge our Savior because of our sin. Look to Him, know who He is, and know that He can save you, just like He saves all of us. Now, as we think about our passage this morning, I want us to see that what Paul is making clear is what Christianity is about and what it's not about. He's trying to make sure that this church is a place where love is genuine, where obedience is expected, where unity is around Christ and what he calls us to, because the world's watching. As I said before, the world, they're longing to see what real love is like. And it's supposed to be right here. And something that love provides, is liberty. Our passage this morning is about liberty at some level. Our passage is also really interesting because it's really what we like to talk most about as Christians. It's about the gray areas. So today, we're going to be talking about how to talk about gray areas. We're not going to address all the gray areas, we're not going to pry into them, but we're going to get into what should the church do when we have disagreements in what we call gray areas. Let me just give some context for chapter 14. If you look back to chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, We, because of the mercy of God, are called to be living sacrifices. We're called now to spiritual worship. We're called to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. We're called to not be conformed to this world, but to know the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And you see there, then we're called to be one body, verses 3 through 8 of chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 9, I believe, is a key command that controls numerous other expectations. Let love be genuine. Hating what is evil. Let love be genuine. And as he walks through numerous commandments about what that means, we get back to chapter 13, verses 8 to 14. If you want to fulfill the law, love. The church is supposed to be the community of charity. That is love. So if you think about what it means to love, we're going to see that it involves liberty. So I was originally going to go through all of chapter 14 today. I decided not to do that. However, we're going to break it up into two sermons, and I want to read the entirety of this passage, and I want you to hear something. We're going to read through 15, verse 7. So if you look with me, chapter 14, I'm going to read the first verse of 14 and the last verse of 15, 7. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel or opinions. Look at chapter 15, verse 7. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. Do you see there's a controlling verb of this entire passage? Welcome him, verse 14, 1. And you actually see that in verse 3, for God has welcomed him. Welcome him, for God has welcomed him. Chapter 15, verse 7, therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. So we have the bookend, welcome, and now let's see what Paul says in between. Hear the Word of the Lord, chapter 14, verse 1 through 15, verse 7. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 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. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person 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, observe it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eat 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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will 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 confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 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. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whatever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean. But it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. Will you pray with me? Father, you have called us to faith in Christ, to be recipients of grace for your glory. You've called us to be one body for your glory. You've called us to forgive, to ask for forgiveness, to live in harmony, to love our neighbor for your glory. Help us to see that this is our ultimate and greatest end, that we would truly live as one people for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If we look to chapters 14, one through 12, I want us to see three basic points. And you'll notice they all are focused on the word, the command, welcome. We're going to see here, focus on the weak brother. Next week we'll focus more on the strong brother. But here we have, welcome the weak because God welcomes them. That's verses one through three. Welcome the weak because God welcomes them. Second, welcome the weak because God is their Lord, four through nine. We're to be welcoming because God is the Lord of everyone who believes. That's four through nine. And then welcome because God is the final judge, 10 to 12. And you'll notice here that that outline follows the questions that Paul then transitions to. Verse 4 begins a new section, who are you to pass judgment? Verse 10, why do you pass judgment on your brother? So let's look to these in order. Welcome the weak because God welcomes him. Let's read that section again. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinion. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? So I went a little farther there. So here we see the basic command is to welcome. Well, we really need to find what a weaker brother is. weaker brother appears based upon this this entire chapter and we could go to a similar section in first Corinthians but the weaker brother appears to be someone who has added to Scripture their own rules so that they can live out what is clear in Scripture according to their own personal convictions So a weaker brother is someone who feels more comfortable living out the clear commands of scripture with extra rules. And it's based upon their own personal conviction. So we look back to chapter 13 and just look at verse 14. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, make no provision for the flesh to gratify his desires. That's what we're transitioning from. A weaker brother is someone who would have very clear personal convictions, and very precise rules so that they knew not to go anywhere near what may appear to be gratifying the desires of the flesh. So the weaker brother simply has more commitments, more personal conviction, and more rules. Notice Paul doesn't say that's a problem. Having personal conviction and having your own personal rules is not ever corrected in this section. That's important. For a weaker brother to say, I have a personal conviction, I'm going to abstain more, that's not a problem. The problem arises when the weaker brother says, I have convictions, I then have the opinion that these should be universal, and then I look down upon and judge other people who don't live out my personal convictions. That's a problem. Notice there in verse three. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. So those who have extra rules as to what they're supposed to abstain from, the problem comes when they start judging others who are living out their freedom. Another problem arises when the stronger brother despises the weaker brother for all their rules. Again, according to these personal convictions, we're not talking about things that are clearly committed in scripture. We're talking about personal convictions. When we universalize our personal convictions and we try to either tell somebody your rules are too much or your rules are not enough, you're causing a problem. That's what leads to quarreling. So again, the problem isn't extra rules. The problem is despising and judging. So let's look at verse one a little closer. The weaker brothers are to be welcomed. Here we see the church is supposed to be a place of love. And love, it allows liberty. They're supposed to be welcomed. You see, quarreling happens when we're jealous. And it could be here that there's jealousy about the rules or the freedom. And I believe here the stronger brother is the one who's warned Beware of the quarreling that's gonna happen when different opinions arise in the church. Based upon the definition of the weaker, that they're the ones who have a sensitive conscience, they're the ones that have more personal convictions, they're the ones that think they need more rules. The stronger brother, they're supposed to be the ones that, supposedly, that have the gospel-centeredness. The stronger brothers will be the ones that know this is clear in scripture and this is not, and they should be wise enough to say, we're gonna talk about the gospel. We're gonna talk about what is clear in scripture. We're not gonna quarrel over opinions. Now, there are good disagreements that can happen in a church. Everybody needs to say, yeah. Good disagreements. It's okay when Christians disagree. over personal convictions. We think any disagreement's a bad thing. No, as we're all striving to know how to live the life that puts on the Lord Jesus Christ and makes no provision of the flesh, there's going to be good disagreements. We just need to avoid the quarreling and the fighting. And good disagreements come when we actually respect the other person. When we actually trust they're pursuing Christ. Because let's just be clear that a lot of the commands in scripture are fairly vague and it allows the Holy Spirit to convict each one according to their way. There are good and godly disagreements. We will avoid quarreling and keep these as good disagreements when we decide we're going to rejoice. and the liberty that God provides to each person. Again, Paul never corrects the weaker brother for his rules. Let's broaden out to hopefully maybe understand this a little bit better because the word legalism has just, it has too much of an all-encompassing meaning in the way we normally refer to it. So I wanna broaden out for a moment from the passage. And I want to talk about three different problems that Paul corrects in his writings. So if we're to broaden out and look at all of Paul's writings, I think we could see there's three different kinds of people that Paul seeks to correct. There's the licentious. They're the ones that believe that because of grace, they have a license to sin. There's the legalists. Those are the ones that say, my works save me. And then there's the quarrelers. My personal convictions should be everybody's standards. Okay, three different groups. The licentious, they say, I'm saved by grace and now I'm saved to sin as much as I want. Well, that denies the gospel. The legalist, they say, my works helped save me. That denies the gospel. The quarreler, they believe in salvation by grace alone and by faith alone. but it's how they then live out the life that they're trying to add rules that are their personal convictions to other people. That is not denying the gospel. So let's just walk through. In 1 Corinthians 5, as Robert read earlier, Paul says to the church, you are supposed to judge one another. If you take upon yourself the name brother, if you take upon yourself the name Jesus Christ, other believers, the body of Christ that you belong to is supposed to be able to say, I see this clear action pattern of behavior that denies the clear teaching of scripture. You're bringing shame upon the name of Jesus Christ. Repent. If they don't repent, to be removed. Paul does not welcome the licentious sinner. The one who says grace gives me freedom to sin. Paul does not welcome that person. He calls Christians to judge them. And let's just be clear that the kinds of sins that Paul says you should be judging others for, they're pretty clear. We could go to 1 Corinthians 6. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? These are people who, by their pattern of behavior, they're making it clear they're not Christians. Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkard, nor reviler, nor swindler, will inherit the kingdom of God. And notice here, it's not you're guilty if you ever have done any of these things. Praise God. Verse 11, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, and were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. When you take upon that name that washes you, you do not return to the sin like a dog returns to his vomit. So the believers, we judge the licentious, we don't welcome them. If you go to Galatians, Paul condemns the legalist. He says, you're anathematized, you're condemned. The church doesn't welcome those who come in and say, I'm good enough, God should love me. The church doesn't say, yes, come into our fellowship and teach us, because they're teaching false doctrine. But notice chapter 14. Believers who have sensitive consciences, who have the tendency even to apply their own way of living their Christian life to others in a way that is not scriptural, they are to be welcomed, accepted, because God has accepted them. Now, stronger brothers, Our duty is not to convince the weaker brothers that they can have more freedom. That's not commanded. We are supposed to, or the stronger brother, you're supposed to be able to say, I want to give you the liberty to live out God's will for your life according to your personal convictions and the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart, so that you rejoice and live at peace with God. We're not to quarrel with them. We're not just supposed to try to explain to them why you have freedom. Sadly, Christians, we don't really talk about what's clear in Scripture. We'd rather talk about the gray areas. And we'd rather argue over these gray areas. We need to make sure that whatever we're really being clear about is clear in Scripture. Now, there's a popular mantra out there that I want us to think about for a second. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. This saying is helpful, but I think it's a little confusing at a point. Because if it says, in essentials, unity, I want to know who gets to decide what is essential. If we're going to say we're going to be unified around what's essential, well, how do we know what's essential? I think this mantra is unhelpful in the sense that anything that's clearly taught in scripture, we have to submit to as essential. As we just studied in the men's discipleship class, being a disciple means we're supposed to observe everything Christ taught. We don't decide that some things are clear or more important than other things that are clear. No, if it's clear in Scripture, that should be what we unite around. Whatever God says is clearly is what we must say these are the truths that we uphold for one another. Now, let me just pick on a particular example. We're about to hit the Lord's Supper. There's two ordinances of Christ, baptism and the Lord's Supper. A lot of folks want to say, you know what, these must not matter. These aren't essential because churches have disagreed about these for years and we don't understand it because too many churches have disagreed with it. Friend, churches have disagreed with this over and over and over again because it matters. These are the two ordinances of Christ. The Reformation was about the Lord's Supper at some level. When Christ says, these are what I'm asking you to do regularly, baptism of new believers, Lord's Supper for the regular fellowship, they matter. Now, praise God that there's disagreement, because they actually matter. We should be willing to have clear, helpful conversations about these things. If your tendency is to say those things the church always argues about and disagrees about those are things that i'm not going to touch Friends, those are usually the things that matter the most These are ordinances So instead of an essentials unity and non-essential liberty and all things Charity, I think it better say unity and all that is clear liberty for personal conviction Love is what's supposed to define our community Now what my little mantra is in no way catchy and will never catch on. And I recognize that. Let's go back to the command. Welcome him. The church is called to welcome the one who is weak in faith. Welcome the one who has a sensitive conscience. Welcome the one who has personal convictions and has personal rules. Why? Because God has welcomed him. Who are you to deny who God has welcomed? Who are we to say if Jesus Christ is purchasing their blood, you cannot come and be part of the fellowship? Now, it's very important here that those who come are coming with the understanding that there's truth, that we all agree to, which is clear in Scripture. It'd be very clear as well. We are not hearing tolerate everything about that person. The church is never called to tolerate clear sin. We're hearing accept every believer who's committed to Christ and his word regardless of how they live out those particular convictions. We accept everyone who confesses Christ and agrees to submit to his word together. The licentious, we do not welcome because they're not submitting to God's word. The legalist, we do not welcome because they're confessing a false gospel. The weakened faith, we welcome, but we must be aware of quarreling. Verse two, and the first point is much, much, much longer than the following two points. Verse two, let's look at the context. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Now, I would love to make a comment here about the importance of meat. That would not be very helpful, given the actual command of Scripture. The background isn't completely clear here. It could be that there's some believers here, and again, the Jew-Gentile issue is a real issue. But the background could be that some of these believers, they haven't heard of Peter's vision from the book of Acts. where God said everything's clean. Okay, it could be that they haven't yet understood that clear principle that yes, there were dietary laws in the Old Testament, but now God has said that those dietary laws have been released or relieved, that you're no longer under those. It could be that there's folks who know that vision, but they still say, you know what, if There were laws in the Old Testament that made them more holy, then we should still keep those laws because they would still be good and right. They may make us more spiritual. That could be an issue, but notice the Old Testament law doesn't say eat only vegetables. These folks are going beyond any law in scripture. Another potential backdrop is this. It may be that these folks want to avoid meat because they would not know when meat was sacrificed to an idol. That's clearly the context of 1 Corinthians. It may be they want to avoid meat because they don't want to, by accident, participate in something that has been part of a worship of another god. So, let's just pause there and let's say, if it is about idolatry, that's pretty important. A personal conviction that I do not want to take the chance that in any way I would be participating in a demonic practice of worshiping another god, that makes sense. Our worship really matters. And so if Paul here is being sensitive to the weaker brother who's saying, I only want to eat vegetables because I don't want to take a chance that I'm going to eat something sacrificed to another idol, he says, okay. He doesn't correct that. Paul's main point is this, and we'll get this to the next section. Whatever you decide to do or not to do, be convinced in your own mind, do it to the honor of God, be thankful to God. If you're going to partake, be convinced in your own mind. You don't have to convince everybody else. If you're going to abstain, be convinced in your own mind. You don't have to convince everybody else. This does not protect our right to sin against what's clearly in scripture. This protects your freedom to live out those rules and those commands and those prohibitions according to God leading you, regarding how far out you want your rules. You see, there's good disagreements about what it means to not make provision for the flesh. We're all gonna have different boundaries and different places, and some of us are gonna go further than others. And that's fine. The issue is we don't seek to insist upon others our personal convictions when scripture doesn't make it clear. So let's just practically think for a moment. One time, we'll do it again. How do we welcome someone without quarreling? First, we have to make sure that our fellowship is primarily about Jesus Christ. That is by definition what fellowship is. It's enjoying Christ through and with and in one another. Our primary conversations need to be about the gospel of grace. Our primary discussion should be about how we get to receive grace. That is what we all have in common. That is the one name that gathers us together. We should avoid winning someone over to our opinion. We should avoid thinking that everyone needs to live life like we live it. We need to make sure we recognize we can rejoice that others have liberty and others have rules. Notice every command in this passage is about an attitude. Don't despise them. Don't judge them. Welcome. See, how we think about someone, how we set ourselves towards them, changes the relationship. Avoid quarreling by focusing on what God makes clear. Our second point, welcome the weak, or welcome because God is the Lord of all. Welcome because God is the Lord of all. Look at verse four, it begins with a question. I believe this is setting aside a new section, and really we get one of our most important principles here. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. Here, I believe he's talking to the weaker brother. Don't judge him because he doesn't follow your rules. You're not his master. Remember, all of us share under the same head, Jesus Christ, we're all servants seeking to give that reasonable service to the one master. Don't pretend to be someone else's master, imposing your opinions. Rather, we're all under the same master, seeking to live out his commandments. Continue in verse four, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Verse five introduces a new issue. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. These days, it's not clear what they're talking about. Maybe they're Jewish festivals. For our context, it could be Good Friday, Christmas Eve. These are days that we choose freely to gather as a church and recognize a significant event, but nowhere in Scripture do you see it prescribed to gather for those particular days. There's numerous other days that other churches recognize. Some people may say these days are important and others say they're not. And Paul says, that's okay. No reason to argue about it. What you can argue against is the clear command, do not forsake the assembly. When the church gathers for the regular worship, you can't argue against that, because that's a clear command in Scripture. What he's saying here, I believe, is these other days, these extra days that may be more important to some, Paul's saying, don't worry about that. Don't argue about that. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. That's a real clear principle. This isn't what Paul is saying. Paul is not saying, you know what? Everybody gets to choose their own personal ethic, and we all just say, whatever you want to do, you do it. That's not what he's getting to here. Remember, he's talking about the gray areas that are not clearly prescribed in scripture. You can't have one person in a church say, you know what? Adultery is great and fine. I don't really care. It's my own personal. I've made up my mind. It's OK. See, God's word says so. No. God's Word has already said you're not going to inherit the Kingdom of God. God's Word has already made it very clear this is sin. However, on the other side, someone may have a rule. You know, I don't want to have a smartphone because I recognize the great temptation of pornography. Now, that's a great personal conviction. That's a great rule. But that isn't a rule that you impose on everyone. That's a personal conviction and a way of living out that conviction, but it's not a clear command in scripture that no one should have a smartphone because it can lead to certain kinds of sin. So each one needs to be made up in his own mind regarding his own personal convictions. Verse six is also key. The one who observes a day, observe it in the honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eat in the honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. While the one who abstains, abstain in the honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. Notice some key words are repeated, honor and thanks. Remember Romans 1? The key marks of a sinner, they do not honor God or give thanks to God. Sin is not honoring God or giving thanks to God. Paul here is saying, in your worship, whatever you're doing, make sure it is intentional. Make sure it is worship. Make sure that whatever you're doing, it is for the honor of God, giving thanks to God. The Christian life has boundaries, and the boundary is mainly set by the ultimate goal that whatever we do, we're supposed to be honoring God and thanking God with everything we do. It means we live intentional lives, seeking to follow His prescribed commandments. Verses seven to nine. 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 die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be both Lord of the dead and the living. Christ died to set us free. Free from the power of sin. Free from the power of death. Free to pursue him according to his word. And we as Christians have to learn how to rejoice in each other's freedom because we're all going to pursue this in different ways at times. So let's ask again, how do you welcome the weaker brother? Based upon the fact that Christ is the ultimate Lord. He's the master in verse four. He is the Lord who has died for us in verse nine. We are supposed to honor him and give thanks. Well, first we need to make sure we are pursuing somebody in genuine love. You know, I don't think Paul here is saying, don't talk about your different personal convictions and don't talk about your own rules and your own freedom. I think Christians should talk about these things because I think we as Christians can sharpen one another. I praise God for the way I've been challenged by other people who have more rules than me and people who have more liberty than me. We're supposed to be learning from one another, but it's not quarreling. We're supposed to say, okay, here's the clear command in Scripture. You know what, here's how I live this out. The key there is you know the difference between the clear command in Scripture and the clear personal conviction. We're supposed to recognize the difference. And so when we're making disciples, I think it's helpful to say, here's the clear command of Christ. Here are the ways I feel like I need to live this out. How are you living it out? And quite frankly, if we see somebody doing some activity that may be in kind of that fringe area, that gray area, and you're not clear if it's breaking the command, I think we need to have a culture of grace that allows us to say, brother, can I just talk to you about these practices? I have a hard time understanding how this isn't breaking a clear command. Would you tell me why and how you're doing this and how you're thinking about how it honors God and gives thanks to him? You see, we're supposed to be making disciples of one another, having clear, good, honest conversations, but it all starts here. We have to have a community of charity. We have to have a community where love rules and where grace abounds so that these conversations can actually happen. Do everything under the Lord. Whatever you do, whatever you abstain from, do it in the honor of God, giving thanks to Him. Our third point, which is shorter than the second point. Welcome the weak because God will judge them. Welcome because God is the ultimate judge. Look at verses 10 to 12. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? For you, why do you despise your brother? For he will 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 confess. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. I misspoke by saying welcome the weak because I believe this command is actually for the weak of faith. Because the weak of faith, they're the ones who judge. The stronger, the one who has liberty, they're the ones who are despising because of the rules. And the weaker, they're despising because of the freedom. They're judging because of the freedom. Paul makes it very clear, God is the ultimate judge. Trust the master, trust the ultimate judge. Everyone will have to give an account. Make sure you have the proper position of servant, not pretending to be the master. Now, in order to really think about all these things, I want to introduce some terms that I hope clarify. We're gonna take one and we'll get to drinking alcohol a little bit more in detail next week. But I wanna take a clear command of scripture and I'll walk through kind of the process and the way this works. So let's look at Ephesians 5.8 that says this. Do not get drunk with wine. That's pretty clear. Do not consume so much alcohol that you alter the state of your mind. Everybody agree that's clear? Scripture's clear. Do not get so much alcohol in your body that you become inebriated. Now, that's the meaning of the text, okay? So, keyword, that's the meaning of the text. Here's an implication of that text. You should probably avoid any substance that causes inebriation. So, for instance, The Bible never says, you shall not smoke marijuana. Does that mean you're free to smoke marijuana? No. Because marijuana is going to make you like drunk. It's going to be the equivalent of being drunk. It's going to alter the state of your mind. So therefore, you should also be able to clearly say, along with Ephesians 5.8, that any substance that inebriates you, that alters the state of your mind, that's clearly breaking that command. Clear still? Okay, here's the conviction. I want to avoid any appearance of evil. I want to avoid being drunk at all costs. It will be better for me not to drink alcohol. So the meaning is don't get drunk with alcohol. The implication is don't get inebriated with any substance. The personal conviction is this. It would be wrong for me to drink any alcohol. The opinion, it's wrong for anyone to drink alcohol. The judgment is this. You're less spiritual if you drink alcohol. You see, the weaker brother errs when he gets to opinion and judgment. For it to be his own personal conviction to drink alcohol, that's freedom. But he's imposing upon the Christian that it doesn't say in scripture that you can't drink any alcohol. It says do not get drunk with wine. You see, the weaker brother imposes upon the stronger brother when he says it's wrong for you to drink alcohol, you're less spiritual if you do it. No, the command in Scripture is simply do not get drunk. Let's turn the story the other way. Do not get drunk with wine. Meaning, don't get drunk with one. I don't need to explain that again. Implication, you should not take any substance that causes you to alter the state of your mind. Conviction, I can still drink alcohol but I know how much I cannot drink. I have boundaries. Opinion, anyone should be okay with my drinking alcohol and they should do it too. Anyone should be able to be okay with my drinking alcohol and should rejoice that I can partake in the liberty of alcohol. They despise the weaker brother when they say, I'm angry at you because your rules are not rejoicing in my liberty. The stronger brother sins when he's angry at the weaker brother because he still has rules and is not rejoicing in his freedom. See, the stronger brother, as Paul's gonna say, you abstain for the purpose of the weaker brother. We read that earlier, we'll get to it next week. But both the weaker and the stronger, they sin in different ways. And it starts with the opinion that universalizes their personal conviction. Let's make some concluding comments. Rules are good. Personal rules are really good. We should all have rules. We should all say, here's what Scripture clearly says, and here's how I want to personally live it out. Beyond that, every group of people, they have to have rules that go beyond Scripture. This church has rules that sometimes go beyond Scripture. For instance, we've asked folks not to go out that door during the worship service because it causes distraction. We can't say there's a clear command in Scripture that says don't go out the side door. There's not even a clear command in Scripture that there should be a side door. but it's simply a rule that we think is helpful to help everybody worship, which is a rule from Scripture. Okay, so that's called household order rules. My own household has many rules that your household does not. We have rules in our household. For instance, Friday night's game night, that's a rule. We impose that rule very strictly. We have rules and expectations so that we know how to live with one another. You don't get it from the table unless you've been excused. I can't prove that in scripture, but it's a rule in our house. Rules are healthy. Public rules are good in the sense that you know what to expect from one another. So children, know that the rules your family has imposed upon your home, they're good. Praise God for rules. So as I've wrestled with this, one of the questions I wanted to ask myself is where Have I been guilty of being a judgmental, weaker brother? I've asked numerous of you to help me with that. I can think of a past instance. When I was in college, I had an impressive collection of what we call secular music. And one day, as I wrestled with this for quite some time, it was pressed upon me, you've gotta get rid of that. And so I threw out this collection of CDs of how we listened to music back then. And I threw it away. And that was what I had to do. I was made up in my own mind. God had convicted me. It would have been sin for me not to do it because it was a personal conviction. Here's where I went wrong. I began to look down upon anybody who listened to that stuff. Because it was bad for me, I thought it must be bad for everybody. God's Word isn't so clear about that. See, I was wrong when I said my personal conviction is going to be opposed upon everybody else. And then I started looking down upon them. And that breaks fellowship. When I'm judging other people, it breaks fellowship. Because love has to have liberty. So that's the past one. It's always easy to talk about the past. Well, let me talk about a present one. Recently, so here's how I thought about it, just in case you want to pursue your own weaknesses. The word opinion seemed to be strong. I thought, okay, where do I have, in just an unusual amount of opinion, okay, I know a lot of places. But something happened recently to help me see I've got a lot of opinions in a certain place. I came in the office one morning and I was flustered for some reason, I don't remember why, Stephanie asked, you know, what do you think about this in the bulletin? And I just looked at her and said, I don't have an opinion about that. She looked at me with, like, just frightened eyes. Is something wrong with you? Are you okay? Like, she was so concerned because I didn't have an opinion about something in the bulletin, which, yeah, I always do have an opinion about something in the bulletin. You see, you as a church have asked me to be responsible for our worship. I take that responsibility very highly because it's worship. But, I realize that I oftentimes judge worship that doesn't follow the lines of what we do, and that's not helpful. I've realized that my opinions about what worship should be here have caused me to look down upon worship that takes place other places. Quite frankly, I think this is something that's fairly universal in the American church. We all have this idea of what worship should look like, hymns, songs, whatever we may think it should be. We can be judgmental when we say, they're not worshiping like we do. Well, Scripture lays out prescription for worship, and we should all seek to do that. But beyond that, we should have liberty. So those are two ways that I've wrestled with my weaker brotherness. You can pray for the judgmentalness on other kinds of worship. There's other things we could look at, but here's the key issue. When the weaker brother emphasizes his rule, he's breaking the biggest rule. Love your neighbor. When we emphasize our personal conviction as a universal opinion and therefore a standard, we have to realize we're making our rule greater than God's big rule. Let love be genuine. Love your neighbor. If we're going to impose upon something universally, we have to be very clear, it's a universal command in scripture. So this is why we say we have to constantly submit to this Word. This has to be our rule, and we have to give each other liberty to live out these rules and seek to learn from one another how to live out these rules. That's just called discipleship. So what we have to do is be a body committed to God's Word, committed to Christ, committed to showing each other grace, committed to living out our convictions. to honor God and give Him thanks. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You that You have spoken, that Your Word is clear, that You are a good God who's given us good instruction. I pray that we would know how to live out Your Word, that we would, we would trust it enough to correct one another when we see each other breaking these commands that are clear in Your Word, and that we would give each other grace when it comes to showing liberty. May we be marked as a people of grace and a people of love. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.