00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
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.
Preserving Unity in a World of Contention
Series Romans
| Sermon ID | 932124507012 |
| Duration | 57:35 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.