Dealing With Disagreements (Romans 14:1-15:7)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.320 If you're able to remain standing, please turn your attention with me to Romans 2 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:11.269 chapter fourteen. We are continuing in this portion of God's word. I'm been 3 00:00:11.830 --> 00:00:15.949 sure when I started preaching through Romans, but it's been all long enough to 4 00:00:15.990 --> 00:00:20.469 forget when I guess. But here we're in Romans fourteen, coming toward the 5 00:00:20.510 --> 00:00:23.899 end, and we're going to cover a large section this morning. Feel free 6 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:28.820 to sit if you need to, but this is Romans fourteen through chapter fifteen, 7 00:00:28.859 --> 00:00:32.659 verse seven. So one chapter and then a little bit of fifteen. 8 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:40.409 Here God gives us instructions on how we ought to deal with minor disagreements in 9 00:00:40.450 --> 00:00:47.530 the church. Let's give our attention to God's word. As for the one 10 00:00:47.609 --> 00:00:53.159 who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 11 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.759 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only 12 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.709 vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and 13 00:01:03.790 --> 00:01:08.629 let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for 14 00:01:08.750 --> 00:01:14.590 God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the Servant of 15 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:19.939 another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And 16 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:23.219 he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 17 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:30.099 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days 18 00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:36.569 alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one 19 00:01:36.609 --> 00:01:40.530 who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord, the one who 20 00:01:40.569 --> 00:01:45.010 eats eats in honor of the Lord, get since he gives thanks to God, 21 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:49.120 while the one who abstains abstains in honor to the Lord and gives thanks 22 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.840 to God. For none of US lives to himself, none of us dies 23 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.799 to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and 24 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:00.280 if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we 25 00:02:00.430 --> 00:02:06.829 live or whether we die, we are the Lords. For to this end, 26 00:02:06.909 --> 00:02:12.669 Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead 27 00:02:13.349 --> 00:02:17.860 and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? 28 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:23.699 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? For we will all stand 29 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:27.860 before the judgment seed of God. For it is written as I live, 30 00:02:27.979 --> 00:02:30.409 says the Lord, every Nie shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess 31 00:02:30.569 --> 00:02:36.009 to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself 32 00:02:36.969 --> 00:02:42.210 to God. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, 33 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:46.439 but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way 34 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:52.159 of a brother. I know, and I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, 35 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:57.280 that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for any one 36 00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:00.509 who thinks it's uncle clean. For if your brother is grieved by what you 37 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:05.590 eat, and you are no longer walking in love, but what you eat, 38 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:09.590 by what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 39 00:03:10.750 --> 00:03:15.300 Do Not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil, 40 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:20.539 for the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but 41 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:28.849 of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ 42 00:03:29.090 --> 00:03:32.370 is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us pursue 43 00:03:32.530 --> 00:03:38.090 what makes for peace and for mutual up you up building. Do not, 44 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:43.919 for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed 45 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.080 clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he 46 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:53.039 eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything 47 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.189 that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have keep between yourself 48 00:03:58.270 --> 00:04:01.349 and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on 49 00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:06.509 himself, or what do you proves? But whoever has doubts is condemned if 50 00:04:06.509 --> 00:04:12.460 he eats, because his eating is not from faith, for whatever does not 51 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:18.060 proceed from faith is sin. We who are strong have an obligation to bear 52 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:24.060 with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of 53 00:04:24.139 --> 00:04:28.129 us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up, for Christ 54 00:04:28.209 --> 00:04:32.009 did not please himself. But it is written the reproaches of those who reproached 55 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:38.370 you fell on me, for whatever was written in former days was written for 56 00:04:38.529 --> 00:04:43.360 our instruction that, through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we 57 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:48.319 might have hope. May the God of Endurance and encouragement grant you to live 58 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:53.990 in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together 59 00:04:54.069 --> 00:04:58.990 you may glorify, that together you may, with one voice, glorify the 60 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:03.790 God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as 61 00:05:03.990 --> 00:05:12.100 Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Amen. He may 62 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:24.129 be seated. When was the last time that you had perfect agreement on an 63 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:32.170 issue with every single person on the on the planet? Never write what about 64 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:35.759 within the O P? See, when is the last time that you agreed 65 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:43.680 on just one issue with every single person in our denomination? Again, never. 66 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:48.879 What about here in our own church or another church? Have you ever 67 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:55.550 belonged to a church where every person thought all the same things about every detail 68 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:59.910 of God's will for your live, for our lives? No, of course 69 00:06:00.029 --> 00:06:03.899 not. Even in our church, which is relatively small and happy and unified, 70 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:10.699 we don't all agree about everything. Let's narrow the circle war. What 71 00:06:10.779 --> 00:06:14.579 about your family or, if you're married, you and your spouse? Do 72 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:19.329 you agree about every single point of Christian living, not just the topics, 73 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:23.930 but the details, how they play out? What works, what doesn't, 74 00:06:23.970 --> 00:06:27.689 what's right, what's not right, what's proportionate, and so on and so 75 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:32.800 forth. Let's narrow it yet one more time. What about with yourself? 76 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:39.160 Do you agree with yourself on every single thing? Do you have a hundred 77 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:45.360 percent certainty exactly where the boundaries of God's will are, what freedoms you have 78 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.670 and what you don't, or do you find that occasionally, even inside, 79 00:06:49.389 --> 00:06:57.589 even just with one person, you're a little bit divided and unsure? Can 80 00:06:57.670 --> 00:07:00.860 you say that you have every you thought through, every single issue, that 81 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:08.579 you've studied every biblical opinion, that you're perfectly and confidently single minded about any 82 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:14.779 possible thing revealed in God's will. Well, of course not. I don't 83 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:18.370 feel that way and I don't see how any of us can. We suffer 84 00:07:18.569 --> 00:07:25.129 with sin, we suffer with blindness. We're always growing. SANCTIFICATION is a 85 00:07:25.250 --> 00:07:30.839 process. So we're starting with a little humility this morning, and I point 86 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:35.079 this out because I want you to see how necessary this passage is for our 87 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:40.839 lives today. Paul himself says that. He says in Verse Four of Chapter 88 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:46.790 Fifteen, whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction. They 89 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:50.149 are. He's most likely speaking of the Old Testament as it applies to these 90 00:07:50.230 --> 00:07:56.029 Christians here in Rome, but it also applies to the things he says to 91 00:07:56.189 --> 00:08:00.819 them and as it comes to us now. These things are given for us, 92 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:05.339 for our instruction, and obviously so. The situation that the Roman Christians 93 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:11.620 found themselves in are is the same situation that we find in not just here 94 00:08:11.699 --> 00:08:16.449 in this church, but in every church. Disagreements about minor things as a 95 00:08:18.209 --> 00:08:22.889 normal part of the Christian life. There will be some that are right and 96 00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:28.160 some that are wrong. There will be mature people and immature people. There 97 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.240 will be people that are strong in their faith, as Paul describes them, 98 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:37.080 in those that are weak. These words Paul uses to talk about the freedom 99 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:41.029 that people feel on certain matters. Those who are strong no God's will in 100 00:08:41.230 --> 00:08:46.110 certain points and know that they have freedom and exercise them, where those that 101 00:08:46.190 --> 00:08:50.269 are weak in faith, as Paul uses the term here, tend to judge 102 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:56.779 themselves and others more strictly than God does. They put rules and requirements on 103 00:08:56.899 --> 00:09:03.500 themselves where God doesn't. Now, of course, in life, in the 104 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:09.370 Christian life in particular, some things are nonnegotiable. There are disagreements that you 105 00:09:09.490 --> 00:09:18.809 simply can't tolerate. But not every disagreement a can and I'm sorry, not 106 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:24.289 every dissimate agreement can be ignored. But there's the but, but some can. 107 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:28.720 That's what Paul says here. He says that there are examples, and 108 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:35.679 he gives three examples concerning food, concerning drink and concern and concerning the observance 109 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:39.269 of days. But it applies to other things as well. He says that 110 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:45.629 if we want to learn true faithfulness to Christ, then we will have to 111 00:09:45.710 --> 00:09:52.750 learn about flexibility and minor things and he wants us to understand how we ought 112 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:56.860 to do that. Let's first consider some of the things in this passage and 113 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:01.740 the way Paul gives them to us. These words strong and weak. Will 114 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:07.730 start with those. Strong and weak are not neutral terms, as Paul uses 115 00:10:07.809 --> 00:10:13.370 them here. They're not equal side, sort of equally good options. Should 116 00:10:13.370 --> 00:10:16.169 I paint the room blue or should I paint the room read? They are 117 00:10:16.690 --> 00:10:22.120 there are sort of morally loaded terms. Right one is good, strong, 118 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:28.279 one is bad, weak, as Paul brings up these different questions food, 119 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:33.720 drink and question about what defiles you and what doesn't, whether you should abstain 120 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:39.470 from Jewish feast days or not. These questions I've split people in the congregation. 121 00:10:39.750 --> 00:10:46.070 Some who are strong in faith believed that they had freedom. They believed 122 00:10:46.149 --> 00:10:50.019 that, for example, in the case of food, God had given everything 123 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:54.419 and it was good and okay, that they're standing before Christ would not be 124 00:10:54.539 --> 00:11:00.019 changed, that they could not be defiled by the things that they put in 125 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:03.409 their mouths, as as Jesus put it, and Paul commends them for this 126 00:11:03.570 --> 00:11:07.929 several times. He affirms this opinion. He says this is the right way, 127 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:13.850 first by calling them strong and then saying it explicitly. For example, 128 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:18.799 in Verse Twenty, he says in affirms everything indeed is clean. He tells 129 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.519 a certain people in the church. You have the correct opinion about this. 130 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.639 There's nothing wrong per se with eating meat and abstaining, for vet from vegetables, 131 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:35.190 or abstaining from meat and eating only vegetables, is not required by God's 132 00:11:35.230 --> 00:11:41.629 will. Other Christians, whom Paul calls weak in faith, believed wrongly that 133 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:46.740 defilement was possible. They had a wrong thought and they had a wrong practice. 134 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:52.860 Same with the observance of days. The strong and faith believed that they 135 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:58.539 were not constrained by God's will to observe certain days unto the Lord. The 136 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:03.450 weak and faith believed wrongly that God did constrain them, and Paul corrects this. 137 00:12:05.090 --> 00:12:09.850 So these these these terms strong and weak, as I say, we 138 00:12:09.889 --> 00:12:13.649 can summarize in this way. Strong Christians, is Paul uses the word here, 139 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:20.799 are ones who recognize and enjoy the things God has given them without feeling 140 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:24.480 guilty. They look upowered on the earth and they see the things in the 141 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:30.870 gifts God has given them and they enjoy them without feeling ashamed or embarrassed. 142 00:12:31.309 --> 00:12:37.230 Their conscience doesn't bother them. Weak Christians are ones whose conscience does bother them, 143 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:43.779 but unnecessarily so. The conscience is a reality with them. It pricks 144 00:12:43.860 --> 00:12:50.179 them, it makes them feel guilty, even though it shouldn't. Weak Christians 145 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:54.460 are ones who feel unnecessarily guilty and require of themselves more than God does. 146 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:58.610 And so, as I say, these are not morally equal terms, strong 147 00:12:58.690 --> 00:13:03.649 and weak. One's right and the others prong. And as you see, 148 00:13:03.809 --> 00:13:07.409 as you can see, these issues are important in the mind of Paul, 149 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:13.600 though they're minor. He doesn't say it doesn't matter. He never says eat 150 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.639 what you eat or what you do, don't drink doesn't matter at all, 151 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:24.320 but he prioritizes them. He uses these loaded words to encourage us to correct 152 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:28.590 positions. But while these issues are important and of course touch on some basic 153 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:35.029 things about Christian living, eating, drinking, the observance of days, Paul 154 00:13:35.070 --> 00:13:41.539 also wants us to understand that their minor compared with a higher goal. There's 155 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:48.059 something more at stake, there's something bigger, there's something more important, and 156 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:52.500 that is Christian unity. Going back to verse twenty, listen to how he 157 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:58.690 says it. He says do not for the sake of food destroy the work 158 00:13:58.850 --> 00:14:05.850 of God. You see, that's a priority, a decision about priorities that 159 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:11.000 he's making, or to continue on. Everything is indeed clean, but it 160 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:16.720 is wrong for anyone to make another person stumble by what he eats. Now 161 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.120 by this, Paul doesn't just mean that if someone somewhere happens to be offended 162 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:24.870 by what you do, that you can't do it. He's speaking in stronger 163 00:14:24.950 --> 00:14:28.830 terms, for example later when he talks about destroying the person whom God has 164 00:14:28.950 --> 00:14:33.429 saved. The question is, if there's someone in your life that is going 165 00:14:33.549 --> 00:14:39.419 to go and do something against their conscience, they're pushing themselves, or perhaps 166 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:45.740 they're feeling forced by what you do to go do something against what they believe 167 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:50.779 is against God's will, well then you better stop. And Paul says that's 168 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:54.210 a good thing. In Verse Fifteen he says we who are of strong have 169 00:14:54.370 --> 00:15:01.289 an obligation to bear with the failings of the week. Isn't that strong language? 170 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:05.330 You would think there's would be a kind of Christian argument that could be 171 00:15:05.409 --> 00:15:11.240 made against this point, Christian sounding, an argument that says they are wrong, 172 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:18.559 they are disobedient in an aspect of God's will. Paul himself describes them 173 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:24.269 as weak. They are disobeying God. Are we ever supposed to be tolerant 174 00:15:24.389 --> 00:15:31.909 of disobedience? Are we ever supposed to bear with sin? He says. 175 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:39.460 Yes, he says we who are strong, have an obligation to bear with 176 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:48.899 the failings of the week. How can that be? It's because of priorities. 177 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:52.850 Listen to the end of Verse Fifteen and or a chapter, or the 178 00:15:52.970 --> 00:15:58.090 section that I've read for fifteen, verse five. This is what he wants. 179 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:02.970 This is what God is after as we bear with one another, may 180 00:16:03.090 --> 00:16:07.799 the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one 181 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:14.120 another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one 182 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:18.789 voice, glorify the God and the father of our Lord, Jesus, Christ, 183 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:26.149 welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. We'll discuss this a little 184 00:16:26.190 --> 00:16:27.789 bit more later, but I'll just ask it here, since I read the 185 00:16:27.870 --> 00:16:34.740 verse. Does Christ welcome us when we have it all together? Does Christ 186 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:40.139 welcome us when we are no longer sinning, when we know every aspect of 187 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:44.340 God's will and we have our lives perfectly in order and are no longer weak? 188 00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:49.090 Of course he doesn't. He welcomes us all. We are still weak, 189 00:16:49.970 --> 00:16:55.210 while we are still sinners. He bears with the failings of the week. 190 00:16:56.370 --> 00:17:00.929 It's not that he overlooks sin or doesn't care about sin or doesn't want 191 00:17:00.049 --> 00:17:07.039 people to follow his will, but it's that he's working in them, but 192 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:11.799 he's doing it in a way that is characterized by grace, and we should 193 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:18.390 do the same things. These are the goals that God has and he wants 194 00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:22.269 us to have these goals as well. When we think about our disagreements, 195 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:29.509 these normal disagreements that happen in the Christian Life, God wants us to be 196 00:17:29.670 --> 00:17:33.099 flexible, not because, well, everything is right or that things don't matter. 197 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:37.940 He wants us to be flexible because of this higher goal that he wants 198 00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:45.690 harmony and unity. The strong ought to refrain from despising the weak, and 199 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:49.609 the weak ought to refrain from judging the strong. Not because no one is 200 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:56.490 right, but for two reasons. One, because acting according to the conscience 201 00:17:56.650 --> 00:18:03.319 matters to God. God would rather have someone act according to their wrong conscience 202 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.359 with faith that they are being obedient to God, then having that purse that 203 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:14.950 same person forced to go against something they believe. Would be dis or to 204 00:18:14.990 --> 00:18:18.670 do something they believe is disobedient to God. It's about the heart, you 205 00:18:18.829 --> 00:18:23.869 see, God wants people's hearts aimed at him, wanting to serve him. 206 00:18:23.990 --> 00:18:29.700 That's why he uses the language here of servants and Masters, and he wants 207 00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:34.619 us to have that perspective with other people, because acting according to the conscience 208 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:38.299 matters to God, it should matter to us as well. And so when 209 00:18:38.339 --> 00:18:42.450 we meet a brother or a sister who we find there as in disagreement with 210 00:18:42.529 --> 00:18:47.490 us, what are we to do? Well, we can help, we 211 00:18:47.569 --> 00:18:51.329 can instruct, we can encourage, as God does with us. We can 212 00:18:51.369 --> 00:18:57.240 give good examples, but we should also allow them liberty of conscience, freedom 213 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:07.440 in these minor things. Unity matters to God, even when uniformity is not 214 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:14.109 always possible, and that means unity and flexibility should matter to us. You 215 00:19:14.150 --> 00:19:18.150 might think of it this way. We are to be faithful in being flexible 216 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:25.420 about minor things, because we're submitting to and maintaining the priorities that God himself 217 00:19:25.819 --> 00:19:32.380 has set, the things that he himself has been has commanded. Those who 218 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:36.940 reject God's priorities act in a way that disregards God's will in the matter, 219 00:19:37.019 --> 00:19:41.970 and that's kind of ironic to be pressing someone for their disobedience against God's will 220 00:19:42.410 --> 00:19:48.049 when you yourself have been told to be flexible about perhaps that particular thing. 221 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:53.640 Of course, not everything, but in these things I'll tell you, Paul 222 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:57.440 knows how to speak strongly. He knows where the lines are. He says, 223 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:03.519 for example, and Galacians, of those people that were demanding circumcision of 224 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.509 Gentile Christians in order to be saved, he says let them be accursed. 225 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:14.029 That's not flexibility, that's drawing a line in the sand, and that's important 226 00:20:14.349 --> 00:20:21.349 and necessary. But what Paul says here is not on everything, not on 227 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:26.660 everything, and that's why I said earlier that being inflexible in some things may 228 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:36.210 look like strict faithfulness, but it's actually unfaithfulness to God. I want to 229 00:20:36.329 --> 00:20:40.890 explore that a little bit with you about the kind of air ways that we 230 00:20:41.009 --> 00:20:48.250 can err on either side of this command. Some people that think that flex 231 00:20:48.490 --> 00:20:52.559 ability is all of what it means to be faithful to God. As long 232 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:57.240 as they're flexible with other people, as long as they're open to other ideas, 233 00:20:57.559 --> 00:21:02.640 fluid in their opinions, they will always be on the right side with 234 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:07.230 man. And if they care, perhaps also God. This is not what 235 00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:14.509 Paul is talking about. He's not talking about being unfaithful. He's not saying 236 00:21:14.589 --> 00:21:18.940 that flexibility is the highest mark of all of virtues and that everything must bow 237 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:23.579 to that. For folks that think this way, faithfulness is only found in 238 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:30.059 flexibility, because they believe that the only standard that matters is an internal one. 239 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:37.569 Faithfulness outside of one's own sort of personal feelings about things they wrongly think 240 00:21:37.170 --> 00:21:45.250 doesn't matter because for them there's no objective truth. This is how some people 241 00:21:45.369 --> 00:21:48.799 fall on this side of things. They use a passage like this to say 242 00:21:48.880 --> 00:22:00.119 that flexibility is faithfulness. Carrie popper as an investigative journalist who investigates claims of, 243 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:04.789 as she puts it, the paranormal and miraculous, and she described people 244 00:22:04.910 --> 00:22:10.150 like this well, I think, in a recent interview. There are people, 245 00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:15.269 and she's an unbeliever. She says there are people like herself that deal 246 00:22:15.349 --> 00:22:19.700 with the world on what she calls an odor truth level or objective reality, 247 00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:26.420 and this includes Orthodox Christians like us. I'm to quote from her. She 248 00:22:26.539 --> 00:22:32.170 says some people talk to me about their religious and paranormal beliefs. In this 249 00:22:32.329 --> 00:22:37.009 sense, they're really saying there are ghosts or Jesus rose from the dead, 250 00:22:37.089 --> 00:22:41.170 and I have evidence for this and I'm willing to talk to you on a 251 00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:45.880 scientific basis. I want to engage with you on let level and if that's 252 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.119 the level they want to talk on, game on, she says. But 253 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:55.359 sometimes people talk about their beliefs not on this outer truth level but on an 254 00:22:55.559 --> 00:23:00.430 inner truth level, and people like this safe to me. I believe Jesus 255 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:03.869 rose from the dead and carry if you don't believe that, that's okay. 256 00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:07.869 If that reality doesn't click for you, that's fine. I'm not trying to 257 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:11.349 foist it on you. That's an inner truth for them, she says. 258 00:23:11.589 --> 00:23:15.980 She goes on to make this comment. I think a lot of unbelievers, 259 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:19.619 like me, make this mistake of trying to force them then to discuss it 260 00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:23.980 on an outer truth level. If this sort of inner world that they're living 261 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:27.289 and where they don't want to have engagement well and they want to be a 262 00:23:27.410 --> 00:23:33.730 personal I just try to leave it there. So she's recognizing, and she 263 00:23:33.009 --> 00:23:38.730 cares rightly about truth with a capital Ta for people that operate on this level, 264 00:23:38.809 --> 00:23:42.640 that flexibility is everything and anybody can believe what they want, while she 265 00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:45.640 just sort of moves on. She says, I'm not going to waste my 266 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:51.680 time dealing with somebody who thinks about truth in this way. She, I 267 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:53.880 think, is trying to be charitable, but she sounds a little frustrated to 268 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.950 me. She wants to talk about truth with a capitalty, as she should. 269 00:24:00.269 --> 00:24:03.910 God has made a real world and is entered into it in real time 270 00:24:04.069 --> 00:24:11.779 and real space. The incarnation of Christ is not a metaphor for living incarnationally, 271 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:17.500 incarnationally with people. The incarnation of Christ is not a metaphor for living 272 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:22.740 presently with others. It was an event in which, on a particular day 273 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:30.369 in history, the divine son of God took on real humanity. In Christianity 274 00:24:30.450 --> 00:24:36.849 there are truths that must, must, must, be believed, and there's 275 00:24:36.849 --> 00:24:41.799 a way of life that must, must, must, correspond with those doctrines. 276 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:52.390 Flexibility Without faithfulness is not real flexibility, because flexibility implies limits. We 277 00:24:52.470 --> 00:24:57.990 are to be like the branch of a tree, rooted but movable, not 278 00:24:59.349 --> 00:25:03.509 like chaff that's carried away by every foolish wind. Chaff is not flexible. 279 00:25:04.029 --> 00:25:12.740 Just moving around a tree that's blowing in the wind, that's flexible. The 280 00:25:12.859 --> 00:25:17.380 point is is we can't take a passage like this, where Paul says don't 281 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:22.089 judge other people in these minor things, and and assume that he means that 282 00:25:22.130 --> 00:25:27.890 about everything, as though there was no capitalty truths. He himself operates an 283 00:25:27.970 --> 00:25:32.970 acts in that way. In other instances he commands people to do things, 284 00:25:33.089 --> 00:25:38.440 to believe the certain things, and we must follow in that. But it's 285 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:45.359 time to discuss another error. If some are by thinking that flexibility is all 286 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:51.950 of faithfulness, others are by thinking that you can have faithfulness without flexibility, 287 00:25:52.309 --> 00:26:00.029 and I believe that genuine Christians tend to air most on this point. Folks 288 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:07.539 that think you can be faithful without being flexible are those who give no thought 289 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:15.220 to getting along, but only to getting it right. Rarely do they try 290 00:26:15.259 --> 00:26:19.009 to see the other side, give the benefit of the doubt, reevaluate or 291 00:26:19.089 --> 00:26:23.210 read, read something they thought they knew, or simply be willing to live 292 00:26:23.250 --> 00:26:29.049 with a certain amount of messiness in the Christian life. People like this are 293 00:26:29.130 --> 00:26:34.720 often very critical. They often have something to say, an opinion, a 294 00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:40.000 way to fix things. They often have something to say, but it's rarely 295 00:26:40.039 --> 00:26:42.799 encouraging, unless, of course, it allows them to talk about one of 296 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:48.990 their hobby horses again and then they'll go for it. People like this are 297 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:52.549 always trying to fix things, always trying to fix people. Their mind is 298 00:26:52.710 --> 00:26:59.309 constantly busy about policing the world. They see everything that's wrong, and perhaps 299 00:26:59.349 --> 00:27:04.539 they even see it rightly, but they're anxious, they're unsettled, they're unhappy, 300 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:11.140 impatient and unloving. They never think of this kind of flexibility that Paul 301 00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:17.369 talks about, this harmonious living, this one voice praising as a virtue. 302 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:26.730 They rarely strive to bear with others or enjoy even bearing with one another's one 303 00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:33.200 another. And when you see it, the lack of love is often obvious, 304 00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:37.359 but it's hard to point out because what they often do is they quickly 305 00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:42.119 construct a wall of self righteousness. They corry out all of these things in 306 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:45.829 God's law and say, well, isn't this important, isn't this important, 307 00:27:45.869 --> 00:27:48.670 and how could you possibly deny this aspect of God's will? And they caught. 308 00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:52.269 They build this big wall so that you don't see the lack of love 309 00:27:52.390 --> 00:27:57.230 that standing behind it, so that they can ignore and distract themselves from what 310 00:27:57.430 --> 00:28:06.940 God wants. This is, of course, not a good situation or a 311 00:28:07.099 --> 00:28:17.650 happy situation. The truth is that John Us is the flexibility of the faithless 312 00:28:18.769 --> 00:28:26.930 is not real flexibility. The faithlessness or sorry, the faithfulness of the inflexible, 313 00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:34.440 is not real faithfulness. It pretends a faithfulness by being strict in all 314 00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:41.000 matters of God's will, but it misses the mark because it doesn't prioritize the 315 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:48.109 things in the way that God prioritizes them. You might find this somewhat shocking. 316 00:28:48.470 --> 00:28:52.549 I'm telling you that there are times when God wants us to live in 317 00:28:52.710 --> 00:29:00.059 harmony with one another, even when one of those sides is wrong. This 318 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:03.779 is the main message. This is Paul's point here. When we can't agree 319 00:29:03.859 --> 00:29:08.539 about minor things, God still wants us to live in peace with one another. 320 00:29:10.690 --> 00:29:21.250 He wants us to find unity, even when uniformity is sometimes impossible on. 321 00:29:21.369 --> 00:29:25.680 When we consider all of this and the requirements that God has placed on 322 00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:29.519 us, we can quickly see that we're all messing it up a lot. 323 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:36.680 None of us has a perfect understanding of God's will. None of us has 324 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:44.509 a keen eye and every boundary and a word of wisdom and in media inside 325 00:29:44.589 --> 00:29:48.430 into how every situation not to be played out, on how every thing ought 326 00:29:48.470 --> 00:29:55.299 to be decided and even when we have clear understandings, that necessit doesn't necessarily 327 00:29:55.380 --> 00:30:00.420 mean that we follow it. How many times can you say that you knew 328 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:04.539 the right thing to do but then didn't do it? Who among us can 329 00:30:04.579 --> 00:30:10.250 say that we are a shiny example of doing everything that God has asked us 330 00:30:10.289 --> 00:30:14.450 to do, that we have never gone against our conscience so that we can 331 00:30:14.490 --> 00:30:18.849 maybe look more for you than we really feel, or that we've never forced 332 00:30:18.930 --> 00:30:25.680 someone else's conscience so that we can make them stronger? Those of you who 333 00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:30.880 know freedom, have you ever flaunted it? Those of you who know that 334 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:36.869 your conscience is unnecessarily bound, you pass judgment on other people? Do you 335 00:30:37.029 --> 00:30:41.589 judge others in areas that you're maybe a little uncertain about? We could go 336 00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:47.910 on and on. The truth is is that we're a mess. We're a 337 00:30:48.029 --> 00:30:52.579 real mess when it comes to living God's will for our lives and for the 338 00:30:52.660 --> 00:30:57.259 ways that we treat one another. But that's exactly why God has given Jesus 339 00:30:57.380 --> 00:31:03.700 to us in the way that he has. He's given us a savior freely, 340 00:31:03.730 --> 00:31:08.569 not after we have lived our lives perfectly before him. God, of 341 00:31:08.690 --> 00:31:14.730 course, cares about every single aspect of his will. It's his will, 342 00:31:15.529 --> 00:31:21.000 and everything that God wills is perfect, Holy, good, beautiful, wonderful, 343 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:26.440 perfectly balanced, proportioned. Everything you could possibly say that is positive about 344 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:32.359 God's will is true. God does care about it, he should care about 345 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:37.589 it, he wants us to care about it. But it's because he knows 346 00:31:37.630 --> 00:31:44.789 how utterly short we fall of his perfect will that he comes to save us 347 00:31:44.950 --> 00:31:51.900 while we are still sinners, while we are still weak. He brings us 348 00:31:52.019 --> 00:31:57.579 into union with Jesus, who has fulfilled every single aspect of God's will. 349 00:31:59.420 --> 00:32:07.410 For US listen to Paul's words here. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed 350 00:32:07.529 --> 00:32:13.170 you. For the glory of God. It glorifies God to do that, 351 00:32:13.369 --> 00:32:16.799 not just because it's obedient, but because God is the one who is enabling 352 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:22.240 that to happen. God is the one who unites us to Christ. God 353 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:29.000 is the one who uses his spirit to work in us, to create these 354 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:38.230 communities of relative harmony. Sometimes I stand back and I am amazed that the 355 00:32:38.309 --> 00:32:44.619 Church hasn't imploded a thousand time. Aims over. Have you ever been in 356 00:32:44.660 --> 00:32:49.019 a congregational meeting or had an email exchanged? Are just talking with a friend 357 00:32:49.059 --> 00:32:53.740 and where you're wondering how can this possibly end? Well? How many millions 358 00:32:53.819 --> 00:32:58.460 of times has that happened in the history of the Church? And yet we're 359 00:32:58.539 --> 00:33:04.769 still here. That's a miracle. It's a miracle what God has done. 360 00:33:05.089 --> 00:33:13.039 This preserve a preserving preservation power. That happens because we are united to Christ, 361 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:19.359 who is perfect, who sanctifying us and working in us. In other 362 00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:23.960 words, God has not just granted you peace and harmony with him by uniting 363 00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:30.390 you to the body of Christ, he has given you peace and harmony with 364 00:33:30.509 --> 00:33:37.630 the brothers and sisters who are sitting around you today. This means that we 365 00:33:37.789 --> 00:33:44.259 don't have to wait until everyone gets their theology perfect and their lives perfect before 366 00:33:44.380 --> 00:33:50.259 God brings us together into communities that, despite our mess and despite our disobunity, 367 00:33:50.539 --> 00:33:57.970 our disunity, are still able to glorify him with one harmonious voice. 368 00:33:59.410 --> 00:34:04.170 That's amazing. It's a man. Perhaps you have a body right now that 369 00:34:04.490 --> 00:34:07.969 certain parts don't work quite like they ought to, and yet you're still alive, 370 00:34:08.369 --> 00:34:13.239 yet you're still functioning, yet you are still moving forward in the things 371 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.239 that God has called you to do, perhaps not with the efficiency that you'd 372 00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:20.639 like, perhaps not with the strength that you'd like, perhaps not with the 373 00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:24.230 beauty that you'd like or the sharpness of mind or whatever, but you are 374 00:34:24.349 --> 00:34:30.070 still you. The priority of you, the more important thing of you, 375 00:34:30.349 --> 00:34:34.909 is still there. And it's the same with the church. There's a mess, 376 00:34:35.349 --> 00:34:38.019 eyes don't work, fingers are broken, people are out of breath. 377 00:34:38.179 --> 00:34:45.940 The body of Christ in some ways is not all that beautiful, but because 378 00:34:45.980 --> 00:34:50.940 it's the body of Christ, because we are united to him, he makes 379 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:55.090 us beautiful, he makes us work, he gives to us a harmony in 380 00:34:55.130 --> 00:35:01.730 the church that we can glorify God. That's a blessing. We should praise 381 00:35:01.769 --> 00:35:07.960 him for it. This is possible not because we are so loving, but 382 00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:13.960 because he is. We are held together by the powerful love of Christ and 383 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:20.679 the eternal bond that we have in the Holy Spirit. In line of that 384 00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:24.869 fact, is it any surprise that he calls us to act in a similar 385 00:35:24.909 --> 00:35:30.469 way, that the character of Christian living should match the character of Christ? 386 00:35:31.630 --> 00:35:37.980 We are united to him. We are not an assembly line designed to produce 387 00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:42.780 as much holiness as efficiently as possible, throwing aside anyone or anything that gets 388 00:35:42.820 --> 00:35:46.539 in our way. No, we are a body that it is designed to 389 00:35:46.699 --> 00:35:54.690 work together, loving every part, even the weak and dishonorable parts. So 390 00:35:54.809 --> 00:36:00.889 I'll finish with these questions. How High, given what Christ has done, 391 00:36:01.530 --> 00:36:07.000 given what he has done for you and done for us, how high a 392 00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:09.920 priority is it in your life to have unity with your brothers and sisters? 393 00:36:12.119 --> 00:36:15.880 Is it an afterthought? Is it something you think about occasionally when it happens 394 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:22.110 to come up, or are you looking for what Paul says, mutual upbuilding? 395 00:36:22.150 --> 00:36:29.389 Are you looking for ways to encourage? Are you always the teacher or 396 00:36:29.550 --> 00:36:34.619 you sometimes the student? Do you merely tolerate the differing opinions of our other 397 00:36:34.739 --> 00:36:38.260 of others, or do you ever support them in them even as you protect 398 00:36:38.300 --> 00:36:44.619 your own freedom? Do you love, forbear and serve, or do you 399 00:36:44.659 --> 00:36:51.650 flaunt, despise and force? These are the kind of heart questions that we 400 00:36:51.730 --> 00:36:55.730 have to ask ourselves when Paul gives us these kinds of instructions. But given 401 00:36:55.769 --> 00:36:59.889 to us that he but given the fact that he gives them to us in 402 00:37:00.010 --> 00:37:04.599 the great context of the Gospel, in the context of what Jesus does and 403 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:08.719 is love and is welcoming and is holding us together, we ought ought to 404 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:19.110 merely stop with the questions but continue on with repentance and praise and faith. 405 00:37:20.469 --> 00:37:23.670 Brothers and sisters, if you have in your mind a church that has these 406 00:37:23.829 --> 00:37:30.860 things perfectly balanced, faithfulness and flexibility, a church that recognizes the reality of 407 00:37:31.019 --> 00:37:36.380 normal disagreements in the Christian life and is able to live to the glory of 408 00:37:36.460 --> 00:37:42.500 God in spite of them, then where are we going to go for the 409 00:37:42.579 --> 00:37:46.449 power and the strength to be that kind of church? There's only one place. 410 00:37:47.449 --> 00:37:52.250 We can only go to Jesus, because he's the only one who saves 411 00:37:52.289 --> 00:37:55.690 us in this way. He's the only one who unites us together in this 412 00:37:55.889 --> 00:38:00.599 way until the church is glorified on the last day. There are going to 413 00:38:00.679 --> 00:38:07.440 be disagreements about how Christians ought to live. Some of these will be major 414 00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:14.190 and some wrong views and practices cannot be tolerated, but many disagreements are minor 415 00:38:14.269 --> 00:38:19.750 and in these toleration is required. But if we are to have this kind 416 00:38:19.829 --> 00:38:22.590 of church, if we are to live with the unity and the harmony and 417 00:38:22.710 --> 00:38:28.980 the joy that Paul describes the Kingdom of God is having, then we must 418 00:38:29.019 --> 00:38:36.099 look to Christ, who reconciles all things, even disagreeable Christians, to Himself 419 00:38:36.179 --> Amend