Now if you take your Bibles and turn with me to the 14th chapter of the Book of Romans or the Epistle of Romans. The Apostle Paul has written for us a lot of critical theology and a lot of helpful practical guidance from the Holy Spirit in this letter. And especially this morning I want us to pay attention to this chapter because, well, current events and opportunities to really apply what he's talking about here. Because strife is running rampant through the streets of the world. Contention has embroiled the nations of Myanmar and Afghanistan. In Myanmar perhaps you've heard about the military coup in which the military has seized control and is brutalizing citizens who are in their way. many Christians. And then there's Afghanistan, the poster country right now for unimaginable atrocities which arise as the Taliban run roughshod over everyone in their way. Strife runs rampant through the streets of cities in America. In our own city, murder is just about an everyday occurrence, perhaps once every couple days. Conflict abounds nationwide as Americans dispute over who is going to influence government and culture. Most workplaces are marked by contention. Anybody have a difficulty going on with people with whom you work? Relational troubles, squabbles, contention? In society, a fierce battle rages today also between those who believe that everyone ought to be required to be vaccinated, and on the other hand, those who think nobody ought to be vaccinated. Contention is everywhere, in families, in marriages, in the city, in the country. And where contention rages, there are lines of division have been drawn. And these lines divide and separate and pit groups against one another. Sadly, very sadly, many churches and Christian denominations have fallen prey to the rupture of division as well. Now, realistically, those divisions sometimes must occur. You believe Jesus is one of fifty ways to heaven. The Bible says he's the only way to heaven. We can't be on the same page. Sometimes these divisions must occur. Yet very often divisions in the church are shameful and bring dishonor to Christ. With the intensification of contention in the atmosphere of where we live, it's important for followers of Christ to pay fresh attention to what the Bible says about unity among the people of God. So our focal text this morning is going to be select verses from Romans chapter fourteen. We're going to read verses one through four, ten to twelve, and seventeen to nineteen. So please stand with me for the reading. While it was penned by the Apostle Paul, it is the word of God by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter fourteen. 1st verses 1 through 4. Paul writes, 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. Now verse 10. 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, declares the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Dropping now down to verse 17, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual building. Let's pray together. Lord God we turn once again glad and thankful giving praise to your holy word. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So to you we come today for that sustenance that is far more fundamental to us than the morsels that we put in our mouths for the truths that you have disclosed to us through your word. Help us give ears to hear what you have to say to us this morning. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. So unity should be one of the defining characteristics of every church which identifies with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a matter which we may overlook sometimes, especially if we are passionate in our opinions. However, the Scriptures point out that Christian unity is highly significant. My aim this morning is to explain and promote the beauty and the value of what true Christian unity is, and also in the process to equip us with knowledge that will enable us to cultivate and preserve unity in Grace Community Church, even while we live in a world where everybody is at each other's throats. So I'm going to kind of do a little differently than usual this morning. I'm going to have a long introduction. and a little bit of the meat. This is all meat though. Because to think rightly about the unity that God calls us to have as a church is really to first off stop and just think about its importance. And to understand its importance we need to understand several truths that lead us up to then how we deal with maybe times when there are issues at which we find ourselves with other true believers having a difference of opinion. How do we do that? Well first of all we need to understand that God values our unity. God values our unity. When we look to the scriptures, the Lord makes it clear that the unity of his people is a blessed, critical thing. It pleases the Lord and he blesses in the context of his people dwelling together in unity. Disunity among his people is destructive and unpleasing to God. Listen for a moment. Just concentrate as I read Psalm 133. which declares, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head running down the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life evermore. It is pleasant then when brothers dwell in unity. That's what the Bible says. It is pleasant when brothers dwell in unity. That we can well attest. You know it is just a joyful, stress-relieving, and welcoming environment when brothers and sisters in Christ are of the same mind. It's a soothing balm like anointing oil. It's also this balm, this oil that the psalm talks about would not just be known for its soothing qualities, but also for its fragrant qualities. So as it dripped down on the high priest, there would be also the eminence of a pleasant fragrance which would be the joy of those standing nearby. because therefore unity is like this anointing oil. It's refreshing and it is fragrant and gives off a pleasant aroma. It is pleasant, it is refreshing, says this psalm, as the dew with which rests gently upon Mount Zion. A blessing in life say this psalm, come in the context of unity in the worship of God. Where there is unity, there is peace. Unity and peace, you can't have one without the other. And where there is peace, there is welcome and there is rest. And when people dwell together in this way, it is indeed pleasant. Well a week before last I was kayaking in Door County on the Lake Michigan side. I often go over on Green Bay because it's calmer. And so that's definitely there's something different here that's enticing to go over there. But I've always wanted to go kayaking on the Lake Michigan side around Cave Point. I'd often been to Cave Point there seeing the water crash up against the rocks and the kayakers going by and say I want to be one of those one day. A couple of years ago, Ariel and I took our kayaks and we went over to the launch point and we looked at the water and we said, uh-uh, the waves are crashing like the ocean. And if we had gone out that day our concern would not have been how much fun we were going to have or whether we could see anything pretty. It was going to be can we keep from tipping over. So we went back over to Green Bayside and did something there. And that was bad enough there that day. But a week ago Monday the water was almost as smooth as glass. And the trip we made to Cave Point was as pleasant and beautiful as it could be. Temperature wise, the only thing was the sun was sort of starting to set and keeping us from really seeing the shore because it would be looking right into the rays of the sun because we went at the later part of the day. But as for the conditions and the setting, well that was about my highlight of our trip to Door County this summer. is when the water is calm, you almost don't notice that it's there and you can focus on all the beauty around you. And when relationships are calm and peaceful and God's people are unified, his beauty among his people is so much easier to enjoy. And the enthusiasm level of being one reaches a very high level. But this psalm indicates not only that unity is pleasant, but the very first thing that the psalm says about unity is that it is good. Behold how good and how pleasant it is when the brothers dwell together in unity. That it is good, it is welcome as opposed to unwelcome. It is good when good weather comes. Good weather is defined by being peaceful and not stormy. But we can also assert that being good here is being good in a moral sense, that it is morally good when the brothers dwell together in unity. It is to say that it is right when the brothers dwell together in unity, as opposed to being not wrong. It honors God. It pleases God when there is unity. and peace among brothers. So where there is peace there is welcome and rest, but where there is peace there is also what is honoring to God, a fulfillment of God's design for his people. It is wrong for brothers to fight and quarrel and be divided against each other. God's design in the church is for oneness. Just as in marriage two become one, in the church many become one. There is one body, although there are many members. And in the Spirit we are all baptized into one body, the body of Christ. Unity is the thing that makes the many work together for the well-being of the whole. Singular. Many become one. Paul states in Ephesians that there is one body and one spirit just as you were called to. One hope that belongs to your calling. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. This body is built up by equipping the body for the work of ministry that goes on in the body. As each part plays its role, the whole body is built up and strengthened together. And so this unity is part of God's plan This is highly valued by God. It's in His design for the church. So out of or within the context of this unity is when the body works properly and builds up itself in love. So it is pleasant and it is good when God's people dwell together in unity. So clearly God values unity. Secondly, I also want you to recognize and think about this morning that how valuable our unity is. It is so valuable that Jesus died for our unity. I'm not saying it's the only thing he died for, but when you say what he died for, you cannot exclude this, that Jesus died so that we might be one. Think about it. The church is this one body made of many members. In addition, the church is the bride of Christ. Not the brides of Christ, but the bride. Jesus does not have many wives, but only one. And that wife is a union of many members. This union of many members is the bride for whom Jesus died. You cannot separate the unity of the whole body from Christ's sacrificial work. Reconciliation is about reconciliation between God and man, but it is also about reconciliation between man and man. If I said man and woman, you'd think marriage. Person and person. It's about reconciliation all the way around. This kind of union and reconciliation happens only in Jesus. So when Paul preaches, teaches about marriage in Ephesians chapter 5, this great marriage text about husbands and wives, Paul is teaching that marriage is the model, is a model. It's an instructional tool for us to look at marriage and how it ought to be. And when we see that, we're actually seeing the way it is between Christ and His church. Wives are to submit as churches to submit to Christ, and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. How did Christ love the church? Paul says in Ephesians 5 that Christ loved the church by giving Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle and any such thing that she should be holy and blameless without blemish, which would suggests to us very strongly, I think it indicates directly, that part of what he's done in this church is to, taking away sin means taking away discord, taking away those blemishes that would keep her from being the beautiful bride that she is supposed to be for him. So this is not a bride that, can you imagine, you could probably do so. I mean people are doing all kinds of things these days in weddings. But mostly you think about when a bride prepares for her wedding day this is the consummate moment when she looks her absolute very best that she ever looked in all her life and everything coordinates. I don't imagine many brides putting together clashing colors. They look for colors that harmonize and complement one another. I'll be at a wedding this coming Saturday, and I know my niece is really intent on everything being just so. We've even been told we're supposed to dress up, so this is not one of those casual weddings. At such a moment of importance for her, I'll be packing my black suit, and people will be dressing up, and not dressing in a way that says, ooh, but doing their best to say, ah. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, He Himself has cleansed from every spot and wrinkle and blemish and every such thing to be totally attractive to Him. And one of the things that would be totally unattractive to Him would be as if His bride, made of these many members, were all bickering with one another, all out of sync with one another, any strife and hostility among themselves. Jesus died to make his bride one and beautiful before him. That's how he loved the church. His death was essential to produce in her these desirable qualities. He lived the life none of us could live, completely submitting his life and his will to obey the law of God. He died the death none of us could die that satisfies the demands of God's justice. And having died for sin under the penalty of God's wrath, he rose from the dead in victory in all who will forsake themselves and repent of sin and trust in Jesus. will be united into that body that is the Bride of Christ, thus brought out from under the wrath of God and brought out to be that beautiful Bride that is going to be joined with Jesus forever. To be in that body is to be rescued from wrath. To be in that body is to be loved incredibly by God and to be in that body is to be one of many who come together to be one bride to be joined ultimately to Jesus himself. Now to highlight this purpose just a little further we should turn to Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17. Just think with me if you are familiar with it. John 17 is where Jesus where John recorded this extended account of what Jesus prayed on the night that he was betrayed and as he was anticipating the cross. And Jesus engaged in an extended prayer, especially focusing upon those who would come to believe in him through the gospel. In John 17, verse 20, Jesus prayed for everyone who would believe in Him, and here's what He asked on our behalf. He said to the Father, I ask that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us. And Jesus later stated again His desire that these who believe in Him may be perfectly one. Do you see that to turn our backs on this topic is to turn our backs on something that just resonates with the heart of God and with the heart of Christ Jesus Himself? It is this important. Our union with each other is also a union with Christ, and even with His Father. Complete harmony with God. His will, our will. His glory, ours, with no contention. This is what Jesus died for. Our unity with each other and with Him, reconciled by God through the blood of Jesus. Jesus died for this. He died for our union, our unity with each other and with Him. That is how important it is. We may not wink, we may not turn our backs, we may not disregard this important aspect of seeking to live for His glory. Thirdly then, I want you also to see that our unity in Christ is a three-fold witness. So we see that our unity is important to God the Father as part of His design and is pleasant and He says it is good. Secondly, we see that Jesus died for our unity. Now let's understand that There is a witness that comes out of our unity. There is a testimony that is portrayed. Our unity, in other words, says something. And it says, it's a three-fold witness. There are three things to highlight here that our unity proclaims. So I hope you're getting a grasp of the fact that Christian unity is not optional, but integral to God's work and purpose for His people in Christ. It fulfills God's desire. It fulfills what Jesus died for. Now let's look at this witness. Still in John 17, right in the heart of Christ's prayer that we be one is a stated purpose for that oneness. Why does Jesus pray? In other words, Jesus, even when He prays that we would be one, tells the Father why He's praying this way. And He says it this way. Jesus prayed that those who will believe will be one quote so that the world may believe that you have sent me the unity for which I'm praying the oneness for your people which I'm praying for will be a testimony that the world that is set before the world to give them a message and it's so that the world may get the message that they will believe that God the Father sent Christ the Son. And again Jesus repeated two verses later that believers may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. So right there we see two things. Do you grasp what Jesus is saying? He is praying for the unity of his followers because that unity will testify to the world of two things. As Christ's people are in harmony and are of one mind and love together, the world will be shown two incredible realities. What are they? First, the first is that they will be shown that Jesus is not a fraud. that Jesus is who he says he was. When he said, ìI have come from the Father,î he was telling the absolute truth. The unity of the people of Jesus says to the world, because it is a powerful thing, ìWhere do you find this kind of unity anywhere on the world?î You donít. But in Christ there is a kind of unity that defies defies the understanding of the world and says something supernatural is going on here. And that supernatural reality communicates the truthfulness that Jesus indeed came from the Father. Jesus' claim of being the Son of God is vindicated by the unity of those who follow him. You see, God has invested testimony to the truthfulness of Jesus' claim in how we as his disciples in one body relate to one another. And that's profound to say our unity tells the world that Jesus is genuine. I'm afraid sometimes we do a pretty terrible job at it. and we need to go back and see it through this lens to understand it is this important that we relate with one another in a way that may be called unity. In a way that would be undergirded by love because this kind of love says only God could bring it about. The second incredible reality of our unity that it shows the world is that the Father, now this is something, it shows us that the Father loved us even as he loved Jesus. You see, unity is good and pleasant, and when the goodness and pleasantness of unity is experienced, we are experiencing something, as we said, alien to the world, something that can only be enjoyed through the unconditional and profound love of God. And here, as it speaks to the world, our unity also speaks to us. It's a testimony born to ourselves. God loves you this much. He sacrificed His Son to bring you into this unity, into this oneness with each other and with the Son and with the Father. It's just mind-blowing to me that Jesus was praying the way He did. That He said that our unity then, He's praying for this oneness so that we would know that the Father loved us even as He loved His Son. He loved us and sent his Son for us to redeem us and to bring us together to himself. And then there is a third aspect to this testimony. Our unity bears witness concerning Christ that he is genuine and concerning God the Father that he loves us incredibly. But it also bears witness concerning us. What does it say about us? It speaks about God the Father. It speaks about God the Son. It speaks about us as well when we are unified. What is this witness? And that witness is that we truly belong to Jesus. It's an assuring reality for us. We are unified. Ah, yes, this is God at work within us. It gives us confidence of our own faith in Him. Now, in order to make this point and for you to see it, we need to understand, of course, that love is the binder of unity. Love is what will draw us together. And love is what will propel us to be unified, intentionally unified with one another. In Colossians 3.14, Paul instructs that, above all, put on love, which he says binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. So see, love is what binds us together in unity. Now with that in mind consider the declaration of Jesus recorded in John thirteen thirty four to thirty five. He said a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you you also are to love one another by this. So first of all you should love each other now what what's going to happen here by this he says all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. So love is the binder, love is that thing, that principle, that part of interacting with one another, that description, that character of interacting with one another that is essential for being unified. And Jesus says, when you love one another, you show the world that you are my disciples. You not only show the world, you kind of show yourselves that you are my disciples. All people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So love which holds things together in unity is an indicator to the watching world and to ourselves that we follow Jesus. John put it the other way, a very opposite way to make the same point in his first letter when he said we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So brothers and sisters in Christ, it is abundantly clear that our unity and the love that binds us together in unity are incredibly important. In fact, we can point to evidence that disunity is particularly reprehensible to the Lord. We see it in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. There the believers had become divided over which earthly teacher was their favorite. And some said Paul, and some said Apollos, and some said Cephas, and some said Jesus. Hear Paul's opening words to these people. He says to them when he writes, I appeal to you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it is reported to me that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. So they had let their proclivities to certain favorite teachers divide them and they argued among each other instead of saying, well I really enjoy him, but yeah, it's true. They became divisive over these things. Later, Paul reported that the marks of their divisions in Corinth included jealousy, and strife and fleshly behavior. So rhetorically, he asked them, has Christ been divided? If you are one, if you are in Christ, just the whole idea that there be divisions should be cast away, because is Christ divisible? So here's the point we are making. Jesus is one. His body is one, His bride is one, and that is His people. His people should be one. so exhibited by unity arising out of the soil of love, which is prompted by the love of God and the work of Christ himself." Now, with these considerations in mind, we turn now to our focal text in Romans 14, with one major point to be made from Romans 14, and that is this. In Romans 14, we learn how Christian unity must persist in the face of differing opinions. Christian unity must persist. Differing opinions among Christians are not a roadblock to unity if we handle them rightly if we handle them biblically, if we handle them according to Paul's instructions here in Romans 14. So this Christian unity, and all I'm saying, you know, I know that sometimes I myself bristle when people start talking about unity because they say, let the walls come down. What about doctrinal walls? What about these divisions that are there because we differ in substance to the gospel? The gospel is one. If you disbelieve in the gospel, then you are not of Christ. Are there certain also that just convictional matters that would prohibit people from participating together in the same local church? So you can look at different levels, but certainly what Paul is looking at here in Romans 14 is a personal level, where these are people who live and breathe and walk among each other. they're part of the same body. Do they all have the same opinions on about everything? Clearly, that's why Romans 14 is here, because the answer is no. I don't know what kind of car you drove to church this morning, or if you even drove a car, but I bet there's about six different brands or models out there in the parking lot. Six, probably ten, twenty, who knows? But the point is, we all go to different places to buy our cars. We think, some of us think this one's better than that one, that one's better than the other. We've got opinions there. That's just one clear and obvious way. So when we think about unity, does that matter? Does that mean that we're exactly alike in every way, shape, and form? And the answer is clearly no. And does our attempt then to keep unified in love mean that we must wage a battle with each other to get everyone thinking exactly like us on every single issue? And in fact the Bible reveals here that within the body of Christ there will be times when believers have opposing opinions about matters that are not clearly stated in the scriptures or even about some that are But it's a matter of how faith embraces those issues. These will be matters in which the conscience of equally saved individuals will lead to convictions and actions which are not the same. And thankfully through Paul we have clear guidance as to how we preserve Christian unity when this occurs. Romans 14. In this chapter, in these verses we've read this morning, there are four directives that emerge. to guide Christians in maintaining unity, even when they differ on matters of lesser significance. So I'm going to give you those four this morning. First of all, the first directive here is in a word, welcome. I mentioned it earlier in the service this morning. As Paul says, as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him. The sense we get here is of a glad reception. I open the door, you're there, and I say, come in. No, oh, it's you. I thought UPS was bringing me a package. No, the sense we get here is of a glad reception. There is love. There is warmth. Embrace and joy. when one believer welcomes another. Unity is expressed when we welcome one another and treat each other warmly. A welcome is the kind of reception you get that makes you want to hang around. This is the way it should be in the church. Hearty greetings among believers depict the joy that we have in what brings us together. And you know, just to digress for just a moment, but speaking about the importance of greeting and welcoming This is why I said earlier, we're all on that committee. We're all on the team to welcome. We should be. When you see brothers and sisters, you've been away from each other for a week, you come back together. Some of us, do you go around like, oh, it's you? Or are you saying, oh man, it's so good. And sometimes you have to cultivate that. You must dwell on what it is that does bring us together. That should be in the forefront of your mind as you're coming to worship, because the worship is what brings us together. We are united around the one true God, His greatness and His glory, and the magnificence of His saving grace in Christ Jesus, and to worship Him and ascribe to Him the glory due His name. And it is a good thing to do it. And we do it together in a different way, in a more full and rich way than when we're apart. So it is a welcoming thing that ought to fuel our excitement to see every single person that comes into this building on a given Lord's Day. This is the way it should be in the church. Realizing this truth should lead us to make earnest efforts to be warm, practically speaking, warm and joyous as we come together as the body of Christ. You know, I just want to ask you, challenge you, whatever, to be thinking this way. Beginning today, think next Lord's Day, not just when I come through the doors, but even as I'm getting ready to be here. Welcome. Think of one word, welcome. Think of what that word means. and prepare to be the person that helps demonstrate to everybody how glad you are to be in their presence and have them in your presence. A welcome reception. That's the first directive that Paul gives here to these believers who have differences of opinion. Welcome one another. Open your arms. Second directive here is this. Refuse to quarrel. Refuse to quarrel. Now welcome the one who is weak in faith, but not to quarrel over opinions. The word opinions tells us that the differences of which he is speaking are not matters which divide the true followers of Christ from the lost or from false converts. This is among the true believers. Rather, these are opinions, though, and they're differences. The Scriptures are not definitive on these matters. Thus, what we hold in respect to our beliefs are called opinions. You know, I say it over and over and over, and today when I hear stuff coming from all kinds of different directions, And I hear opposite stuff. You call it news, they call it news, reports, and depending on the station or a place you get your news, you can hear stuff that's just diametrically opposed. And we live in that kind of world, right? If you read this newspaper, you get one story. If you read everybody else's, you get a different story. And you're going, and what am I to believe? Sometimes you might feel like you're in a quandary. I got news for you. This right here is truth. All of that is a measure of opinion. All of that is a measure of opinion. It's hearsay. I'm not saying it's all false, but I'm just saying we step into like this cacophony of voices, each saying a different thing. Experts on every corner telling you what you ought to do and what you ought to think. Here's truth. This is truth. And this is what we need to be committed to. Everything else needs to be regarded as opinion. When you regard it that way, then you refuse to quarrel over opinions. Scriptures are our anchor and our root. You know, I admit, even as pastor, you know, sometimes people will come up to me and just be so joyous and happy to start talking to me, and I feel like I'm suddenly being lured and being set up, and I am. Because then they're going to pop the question, and the question forces me to say, do I want to enter this controversy or not? I don't want to enter in controversies, especially when all the person wants to do is show me I'm wrong, what they believe I'm wrong. Having healthy discussions, that's not quarreling. Having healthy considerations is not quarreling. Quarreling is we take up sides and fight each other. And that's what Paul says we must not do. welcome one another and refuse to quarrel. Preserving unity we must welcome one another without sham in truth. Whether you share an opinion with me or not here is not going to divide us. To preserve unity, Christians must welcome one another with the focus on what really brings us together rather than what might potentially divide us. Our goal in welcoming a brother who is weak in faith must be for loving them as a brother or a sister, not for the purpose of arguing with them. Next, the third directive is this, refuse to judge. Paul is speaking in this context, of course, to the weak in faith and the strong in faith. And the specific context here is meat sold in the market. There were those who felt free to eat the meat sold in the market, and those who said, it's been sacrificed to idols, or it may have been sacrificed to idols. I am not free to eat meat that has been treated in that way. Those who felt that they could not eat the meat because it might have been offered to idols or the weak in faith, they have an aversion to eating it. Others, the strong in faith, however, recognizing that in reality an idol is nothing and since they are not involved in the act of sacrificing the meat to the idol, then what happened to the meat before they buy it is not a matter for their concern because they know there's no such thing as an idol anyway. And so they were free and able to eat of this meat with a clear conscience. Now, those who were free to eat were tempted, no doubt, to scoff at the tender conscience of the weak and seek to argue them into eating. Meanwhile, those who were unable to eat with a clear conscience were tempted to pass judgment on those who were able to do something they simply could not allow themselves to do. It's wrong for me, it's wrong for you. Paul says, no, no, no. Passing judgment in this way is despising your brother. Ultimately we do not answer to one another on these matters, we answer to God. All of us answer to God whom we serve. We as brothers need to leave the matters there and understand that sometimes there is going to be these differences. Now the fourth directive here is to pursue what makes for peace. We accomplish this directive by protecting one another from the temptation to violate the conscience. by not trying to lure each other into doing something that for us would be wrong. And if for us it is wrong, it is wrong. And if for us we are free, then you stand before God and defend your freedom or understand the freedom that He has given you. But we must do what makes for peace by protecting one another. Because whatever is not from faith, says Paul, is sin. So do not do what might cause your brother in Christ to stumble. Regard his conscience and grant him or her freedom to live accordingly. For these matters are outside the main scope of the kingdom of heaven, which is concerned with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Now for us in this day when meat is not offered to idols, Some might wonder where these principles might apply and I think you're probably understanding that there's a very real one right before us in our day. It's the vaccine controversy. And we can also think about whether one drinks is free to drink alcohol or not. Drunkenness is always a sin. Can you drink? Well, but another would be Sabbath observance because Paul speaks specifically about that in verses five through nine. Yet another matter is this vaccine matter. And I do want to speak about it today because it's It's here. And so this is a matter for we can really seek to honor the Lord by honoring and obeying the directives that Paul has given us here, which help us live well with each other in a midst of differing opinions and differing convictions on this matter. Because we do see, you know, people, and I don't know if you're alarmed like I am, but I am alarmed by the people who want to make everybody have to get the thing. Get the jab. and increasing pressure coming from a president of the United States to try to get businesses to require this measure in order to keep working. Conscience has been thrown out the window. But we see that increasing pressure where there are also family members. I've heard it. Heard you tell stories of family members who are on your case. because you haven't gotten the vaccine. And they are trying to guilt trip you down until you finally give in. Meanwhile, there's also on the other side strong voices who speak like you absolutely should not, must not, and woe be unto you and shame be unto you if you do, however how it's characterized, get the vaccine. And so we have these strong opinions And a number of months back, the elders were asked to speak to the vaccine and its issue, and we published a paper which basically urged everyone to be careful, consider all the facts that they can, and make their own decision in this area with the fullest information that they could. And that's where we remain. Here is one of those matters, though, where opinions abound. Now, you might say, well, that's not my opinion. Well, it's not your opinion, it's your belief. But compared to everything else, it's one of the opinions. Now, the opinions are strong, but they must not be allowed to disrupt our unity in Christ. So we're not saying, I'm not saying, you shouldn't hold a strong opinion. I'm saying, hold it in a godly way in the midst of God's people, each of us. A couple weeks ago or within the last 14 days, there was a really helpful article that was published that I came across. It was written by Benjamin Purvis, one of the pastors at Occoquan Bible Church in Woodridge, Virginia. And in this article, he took a look back in history at how the church responded in the 1700s when there was an epidemic of smallpox. It was a true crisis that resulted in 844 deaths out of the 11,000 citizens who populated Boston. So here we're not talking about you know, 1% or whatever. It's a significant number, almost less than, but closer to 10% here. When the epidemic broke out, so did a controversy over whether or not to get smallpox inoculation. The inoculation appears to have reduced the death rate from about 15% to 2%, significant reduction, but there were strong voices among Christians on either side of the inoculation. They were some saying, don't you dare get the inoculation. If you get the inoculation, you're not trusting God. And there were people on the other side saying, get the inoculation. If you don't get the inoculation, you don't trust God. Do not kill was the scripture verse to which both of these groups were appealing. And they were arguing vehemently with one another. One of the pastors, you might remember his name or recognize his name from the past, Increase Mather. Increased Mather resorted to calling those who opposed the inoculation, children of the wicked one. Other pastors were equally zealous, accusing folks who took the inoculation of not trusting God, both sides based, as I said, their case on you shall not kill. Now there were other leaders who called for a cessation to the vitriol and hostility, and who advocated that each person should be allowed to exercise freedom of conscience in whether or not to be inoculated. I'm based on Romans 14. Now, interestingly, I've got one other thing to tell you about this. It wasn't right in the heart of that one, but some 30 years later, a noted American pastor, whose name I'll give you in a second, was seriously considering whether or not he should take the inoculation and recommend it to his family. And so he even took the time to counsel with others and get information together as best he could. He sought godly counsel and he came to the conclusion that the inoculation was both an act of wisdom and an act of trust in God. He trusted the Lord, therefore he believed this to be the right course of action. And so he and several of his family members took the inoculation. Ironically, both he and one of his family members died as a result of taking the inoculation. His name, Jonathan Edwards. And his daughter, Esther. Now, he highlights the fact that though the inoculation did reduce the death rate, there were some who died as a direct result of taking it. And this is always, it seems to me, the case. And it points out the fact that a measure of risk is involved whatever decision is made. Living is a risk. Getting in your car and driving down the road to go to the grocery store is a risk. Taking, in this case, taking the inoculation, more risk. Not taking the inoculation, more risk. Christians in this very day face similar circumstances. Risk and wisdom in the midst of so many different voices, and faith, they're all factors involved in a context of conflicting information and claims. The emotion and challenge is intensified by some of those who think taking the vaccine is the answer to force others to do what they think should be done. It is challenging. And in fact, I'm quite infuriated by the desire of some to make everybody do what should be a decision determined by each individual person. That to me seems to be the most vile thing that is facing us today. But how do Christians show ourselves to be the church and bring glory to Christ by preserving the unity of the body? And I think that we would come together to say this right here in light of Romans 14, is that we would say among ourselves, it is more important to welcome one another without reference to a position on the vaccine or whether you have taken it or not than whether you actually take it or not. It's important for us to welcome one another without reference to who has what position on it or whether somebody's taken it or not. It should be the non-issue. This is like a mask issue, remember? If you wear a mask, that's OK. If you don't wear a mask, that's OK. You've got to decide. And nobody's going to look at you and say, why are you wearing a mask? What are you doing? That's the last thing it should be. Did you get the vaccine? Have you got it? No. What are you doing? Or, I'm not going to get the vaccine, and you can't make me. That's just not something we need to talk about here, unless you want to talk about it to get more information. Find out. You decide for you. That's what you should do. and you should trust God. We should welcome one another and love one another and refuse to quarrel with or judge one another. That's far more important than whether we take the vaccine or not. I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about it. I'm not saying that we should not be reasoning carefully through this decision. I'm not saying that we should not have an opinion about it. I'm not saying we shouldn't be passionate about our opinions. I'm saying that whatever decision to which we come must be held as an opinion, a conscience issue, not a point of division, not as a point of judgment, and not a point of shaming or blaming, but as a point of how God has led you and how you will live before God in faith. I trust God therefore. I trust God and therefore we trust God. Amen. Glory to God. Brothers and sisters, do not allow even the most volatile of subjects to darken the testimony of our unity that it is intended to bear before the world. Remember God loves unity. Remember Jesus died for unity. Remember that our unity speaks to the world about God, about Christ, and it speaks to them about us, and it speaks to ourselves about us. And so even when we have opinions which differ, let the world behold that we are a people of a great God with a bona fide Savior who is Christ Jesus the Lord to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray.