April 28, 2025 • 49 mins
In this compelling episode, Pastor Karl dives into Romans 14, exploring what he calls "Applied Christianity." This chapter challenges both seasoned and new believers to navigate the balance between personal freedom in Christ and public restraint for the sake of others. Pastor Karl unpacks the concept of spiritual maturity, emphasizing private liberty and public restriction as biblical principles rooted in love. He addresses the tension between those strong in faith, who live in the freedom of grace, and those weak in faith, who adhere to stricter rules, using the historical context of meat sacrificed to idols to illustrate disputable matters. Through practical examples like alcohol, Halloween, and homeschooling, Pastor Karl highlights how non-essential issues should not divide the church. He introduces the "law of love," urging listeners to prioritize others’ faith over personal freedoms, and explains the Bema Seat judgment, where Christians are rewarded for their sacrifices, not judged for salvation. Join Pastor Karl for a thought-provoking discussion on living out faith with grace, love, and unity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
And. I appreciate you being herethis morning.
We had a great celebrationlast week at Easter at Less.
And now we're gathered togetherback at our own home
to wrap up the last two weeksof the book of Romans.
As we've gone through this study, chapterby chapter.
This morning,I'm going to be in chapter 14.
(00:24):
And, this is an interesting chapter.
This chapter, chapter 14
is going to hit a little differently,for all of us.
And for those who are kind of old schoolchurch folk,
it's going to hit a little bit harder.
(00:46):
For newer church folk, newer Jesus people.
It'll be like, yeah, yeah,if you church people could get this right,
that'd be great.
So I just think that, you know, it'sgoing to hit a little differently.
And I'm going to have to do
a lot of interpretation and explaining,because in the context
when it was written,it made complete sense for us.
(01:10):
We have to translate a little bit.
So and I'm going to do thatas we go through chapter 14.
And so if youhave a Bible, you brought one with you.
I want you to go to chapter 14.
But but I want you to understandchapter 14 is what I call
a study in applied Christianity.
This is a this goes beyond
(01:31):
I believe in Jesus and what he didon the cross for my salvation.
Now this is how now that I believe thatthis is how I apply it and work it out
and flesh it out in my lifein super practical ways.
So chapter 14, to study of what I callapplied Christianity.
And there's a big idea.
(01:53):
The overarching idea for this chapteris this
spiritual maturity
includesprivate liberty and public restriction.
Now, let me just tell you,as we go through this is going to fill up.
I'm going to warn you upfront.
It's going to feel a little two faced.
You're going to feel a little bit like,that doesn't it?
It feels
(02:13):
like you're waffling.
I'm not.
And it's not two face and it's not fake.
It's biblical.
But but we have to understandon the front end that spiritual maturity
includes private, libertyfree, and Christ.
But public restriction
went around other people. It'snot to face.
(02:34):
It's not fake.
It's biblical. It's Christlike.
It's discipleship.
And so in chapter 14,
let's just read this, verses one and two.
As for the one
who is weak in faith, welcome him,
but not to quarrel over opinions.
One person believes he may eat anything,
(02:58):
while the wheat person
is for some reason a vegetarian.
And it's it's only vegetables.
So this is this is part of thethis is part of the translation
that I have to
that I, that I've got to do to so thatthis makes a little bit more sense.
As for the one who is in this translation,
the English Channel version,it says the one who is weak in faith.
(03:20):
There's a word missing in this translationthat should be there,
and it is in some other translations
and just helps usunderstand a little bit more.
As for the one who
is weak in the faith,that word does important
because Paul is a Paul is obviouslycomparing two groups of people, right?
The what's the first one? The what?
(03:42):
The what?
The weak.
And he's talking to the strong.
And so he's addressing
those who are strong in the faith, talkingabout those who are weak in the faith.
The word that's really important becausehe's not talking about saving faith.
He's not talking about salvation. Faith.
If you believe in Jesus, you're saved.
(04:04):
But there's an element to this faiththing.
The faith
strong and weak,and what he's talking about
for those who are weak in the faith,the faith he's talking about
is everything he's talked about in Romansup to this point.
So like Romans five one,
(04:25):
we are justified by faith.
So so that's.
Romans eight one.
Those who are in Christ, there'sno condemnation for those in Christ.
And there are some peoplewho are weak in the faith
and are those who are strong in the faith.
(04:48):
And to those who are strong in the faith.
He says about thosewho are weak in the faith.
Don't quarrel over opinions.
Don't argue about stuff that aren't clear.
Sin issues and salvation issues.
And so
these two groups are going to be comparedthroughout this chapter.
(05:11):
Those who are weak in the faith
have an overly cautious conscience.
There's a lot of rules around their lives.
There's a lot of stipulations.
You don't do this. You don't do this.
You don't do this. Be very careful.
Those who are strong in the faith
understand I'm
(05:32):
justified by faith because of God's grace,not because of rules.
There's no condemnation.
This gospel of grace is complete freedom.
Those are those who are confident,living in the freedom of grace
and will.
Paul seen as those who are confidentand secure, living
in the freedom that grace brings.
(05:53):
Have to be very carefulwith those who are who,
who live by an overly cautious conscience,with a lot of rules.
Those who are weak in the faith,in our vernacular, we would say, are
we know what these are like.
Like some virtue signalers
right?
And so he says,you got to be very careful now.
(06:16):
He's not talking about sin issues.
He's talking about disputable matters.
He's talking about opinionsof what it means to follow.
And so here's the translation.
In verse 21, we understand
he's talking about the meat eatersversus vegetarians.
It has it.
It has to do with religiouspractice behind them.
(06:37):
And so the
context he's writing to Christians in Rome
and in Rome, their religious systemhad a whole bunch of gods.
And it's almost likeevery god had their own temple,
and they wouldall practice animal sacrifices.
And when they would practiceanimal sacrifices, these animals
sacrificed to these pagan godsin these occult, cultish practices,
(07:01):
the church, always looking forways to raise money right,
would take the good cuts of meatafter being sacrificed
and sell it at a meat market rightnext to the church.
And there were a lot of Christians in Rome
who felt as though it is wrong
(07:21):
to give your money to evil enterprises.
Things that are attached to the cult,
and to participate
in meatthat have been sacrificed to pagan idols.
You just don't do it.
God's called us to be separatefrom all that stuff.
So why would you give your money?
Why would you participateby eating what they've set?
(07:44):
Does that make sense?Yeah, like you need to have some.
And some thought it was very, very wrong.
And there were others
who were very confidentliving in the freedom of grace.
This meat has nothing to dowith my salvation relationship with Jesus.
It's meat, for goodness sake.
It has nothing to do with.
(08:05):
If my love of the Lord
and thought nothing wrongwith taking advantage
of a great price at the meat market,
I'm going to give me a good prime rib.
I had no problems with it
because it wasn't a salvation issue.
And they understood grace is greater than
(08:28):
that. Who Paul is talking about here.
So in our context, most of usdon't have rules around our lives.
Religious rules regarding meat,like we'll eat bacon and ham
and all oysters and,you know, lobster and all that, like, but
there are many in our context
who have religious issueswith other things that aren't clear.
(08:50):
Sin issues,
for instance, drinking alcohol.
There are some who would say no,
God's called you out of that.
You don't participate in that.
Like having a good Cuban cigar.
(09:11):
God's called you out of that.
It's not appropriate for a Christ followeranymore.
Like celebrating Halloween.
Like those people watching the Chosen.
Did you know that some of the executiveproducers are Mormons
(09:32):
and they give your attentionto that right?
It's like
homeschooling.
As if that is God's approved messagemethod of educating kids.
These are all disputable mattersand they're not clear send issues.
What is a clear sin issueregarding alcohol is getting drunk,
(09:54):
not having a drink.
And so what Paulis saying is there are some who are strong
in the faith,who live in the freedom of grace.
There are those who are weak in the faith,
who have a lot of rulesaround their lives.
Both are okay
because they're not clear sin issues.
(10:15):
Here's the danger
in the religious world
to make essentials out of non-essentials
and to make non-essential the essentials.
There are things that are essentialto the faith
one faith, one Lord, one
baptism, one Scripture.
(10:38):
But there's more that are not essential.
And Paul's talking about these thingsthat are not
essential.
People of grace
ought not despise the legalists.
Let them have all the rules they want.
But the legalists
ought not judgethe freedoms of the grace and joyous.
(11:06):
Everybody understand?
I want you to notice how important this is
in first Timothy four.
But the Holy Spirit tells usclearly that in the last time,
the last days, some inthe church will turn away from Christ
(11:27):
and become eager followers of teacherswith devil
inspired ideas.
Now, understand what I'm saying.
We all want to turn our attention to the
people not in
the politics and the agendas.
What the Bible tells us in the last days,
(11:48):
some of these devil inspiredis going to be in the church.
And here's what it looks like.
These teachers will tell lieswith straight faces,
and do it so often that their consciencedon't even bother them.
They will say it's wrong
to be married and wrong to eat meat.
Even though God gave these thingsto well taught Christians to enjoy
(12:12):
and be thankful for. Here'swhat he's saying.
He's saying in the last time.
So there's going to be people who teachwith straight faces that it's wrong
to enjoy the pleasuresthat God has given us to enjoy.
When it says wrong to be married.
That's a polite way of saying wrong.
To enjoy the pleasures of marriage
and eating meat is wrong.
(12:32):
To enjoy the delicaciesthat God has provided people to enjoy.
And he's saying, in the last dayspeople will teach with straight faces.
That is a wrong to enjoywhat God has provided.
And Paul saying, listen,there are some people who will live
in the freedoms of grace and enjoy,and there's others who will,
out of a way to honor God, will put strictrestrictions around their life.
(12:54):
Just just let it be.
Be it.
Each of us will answer to God.
You won't answer to me.
I won't answerand we won't answer to each other.
We'll answer to God.That's where Paul's coming from.
So let's go on.
Watch this.
Verses three and four.
(13:16):
Let not the one who eatsdespise the one who abstains.
And let not the one who abstainspass judgment on the one who eats.
For God has what?
What?
God's welcome to both of us.
Who are you
to passjudgment on the servant of another?
(13:37):
It is before his own masterthat he stands or falls.
And he will be upheld.
For the Lord is able to make him stand.
But the Bible says
God will make his servant stand.
Again, we're not talking about issuesthat are clear sin issues.
We're talking about issues of conviction,personal issues of conviction
(14:01):
that God says for you.
I want you to abstain for you.
Go ahead and enjoy. We're talkingabout these disputable matters.
But the point is this.
And this is what we have to understand.
I must not make God's convictions
of me to be commandments for you,
and you must not make God's convictionsof you
(14:22):
to be commandments for me to understand.
You understand
God may be convicting me of something,
but that doesn't meanit's his commandment for you.
God may have convicted you of something,but that doesn't mean
it's his commandment for meover these disputable matters.
(14:45):
To his own master, I will stand or fall.
You will stand or fall.
You won't stand or fall before me.
I will stand, fall for you.
We will stand or fall before God.
And God is able to make me stand.
God is able to make you standas long as we are abiding.
The leading of the spirit in us.
(15:06):
In these beautiful mattersand some hope with great liberty,
and some will be with great restriction.
Now watch this.
One person esteems
one day as better than another,while another esteems all days alike.
Each one should be fully convincedin his own
mind.
(15:28):
Look at the one who observes the day.
Observes it in honor of the Lord.
The one who eats, eating
honor of the Lord.
Since he give thanks to God,while the other, who abstains, abstains
in honor of the Lord and givethanks to God.
For none of us lives to himself,and none of us dies to himself.
(15:50):
For if we live, we live to the Lord.
And if we die, we die to the Lord.
So then, whether we liveor whether we die,
we are the Lord's.
So Paul's dealing
with not only this, these kosher laws
and the freedoms
(16:10):
in his context of this meat,these liberties.
He's also dealing with the issueof when you worship
against in that culture,it was really important
the Jewish holidays and celebrationsand abiding by them and the day of worship
before the resurrection,the church worshiped on Saturdays
because that was according to the the,the example of God, the Sabbath.
(16:34):
After the resurrection,
the church moved its worshipto Sunday in honor of the resurrection.
But there are some who said, no, no, no.
Biblically, this is the day you worship,and some of those people
still are around today.
And Paul says,I don't care when you worship God
if you're worshiping as to honor the Lord,how about it?
(16:57):
If you want to say this is the one dayfor you to honor, great.
But honestly, every day is God's.
So whenever you choose,do it now in America,
we set that aside that day asidefor Sunday because it fits culturally.
It fits who we are.
That's whywe have corporate church on Sunday,
(17:18):
and we do it as honoring the Lord.
Does it make sense?
You know, this is
this.
This even gets to the idea of the Sabbath.
And there are some who say, like,like like the Sabbath.
You don't you don't do anything
(17:39):
you like, put on Netflixand take a nap like you don't, do.
You? Just.
And and we forget
that unless it's done to honor the Lord,it's wrong.
Even if it is obeying the law.
And we forget that Jesus
said the Sabbath wasn't
(17:59):
man wasn't made to keep the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was given to manas a gift to recalibrate.
And so I still serve the kingdomon the Sabbath.
I'm still industriousfor the kingdom on the Sabbath.
I still serve people on the Sabbath,
but I don't work for my futureon my Sabbath.
Does it make sense?
(18:22):
And I do that to honor the Lord.
This.
I like how the Living Bible translatesthis.
The Living Bible says like this.
Some think that Christians
should observe the Jewish holidaysas special days to worship God,
but others say it's wrong and foolishto go
(18:44):
through all that trouble for every daylike belongs to God.
On the questions of this kind, everyonewants to say, must decipher himself.
If you have special days for worshipingthe Lord, you're trying to honor him.
You're doing a good thing.
So is the person who eats meat
that has been offered to idols.
(19:06):
He's thankful to the Lord for it.
He's doing right.
And the person who won't touch such meat.
He too is anxious to please the Lordand is thankful
we are not our own bosses to live or
die, as we ourselves might choose.
For this very reason,Christ died and returned to life,
(19:27):
so that he might be the Lord of boththe dead and the living.
You then why do youjudge your brother or sister,
or why do you treat them with contempt?
For we will all stand beforeGod's judgment seat.
It is written as surely as I live,says the Lord.
Every knee will bow before me.
(19:48):
Every tongue will acknowledge God.
So then each of uswill give an account of ourselves to God.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying this whole idea,
whatever we do is to be donein honor of God,
not in pushing my liberty
on someone who has experience it,and not in restricting myself.
(20:10):
Because I think out of my restriction,it makes me more religious
and righteous.
When Paul talks about
everyone of God will make us stand.
Everyone of us willthen stand before the judgment seat.
I want to understand what that is.
When Paul
talks about the judgment seatin Romans 14,
(20:32):
he's not talking about the judgment of Godover salvation.
He's talking about a different judgmentseat.
Did you know there's just a coupleof different judgments?
What he's talking about here
is the judgment seat of Christ,and it's called the Bema Seat.
Everybody say bema.
(20:53):
That's the Greek word that's used forthe judgment seat is the Bema Seat.
Here's why this is important.
The Bema Seat here in other placesis different
from the great White Throne of Judgment
in Revelation 20
that deals with sin, salvation,and damnation.
(21:14):
That's not what Paul's time is not sayingthat we will all stand before that seat.
He's saying every Christian will standbefore the Bema Seat.
Here's why that's important.
Because the beam is seat.
This is differentfrom the seat of judgment.
This Bema seat
is the seat of reward judgment,not salvation.
(21:34):
Judgment.
So everybody who has a relationshipwith the father through the son
will standbefore the reward judgment seat.
That's called the Bema Seat in Scripture.
Let me show you whereit comes up in other places
at the Bema Seat.
We're not judged for salvation.
We're rewarded for sacrifice.
(21:56):
This is really importantfor us to understand.
Amen.
Second Corinthians 510
for we must all appearbefore the judgment seat of Christ.
That's the BMC,the same one that Paul uses in Romans 14.
We will all him for the judgmentseat of Christ, the Bema Seat,
so that each 1st May receive what is due
(22:19):
for what he has done in the body,whether good or evil.
This is a different judgmentthan salvation, because salvation
is not dependent upon what we do,but on what Jesus has done.
Rewards are based on what we've done.
(22:40):
Do you understand?
And there are real rewards in heaven
on a real new earth.
And those rewards are not salvation.
That's faith.
By God's grace,but the rewards that we will be given
will be based on throughout all eternity
(23:02):
on what we've done on earth.
You need to understand this.
This is what Paul saying.
Each one of us will stand before the beamand see the Christ
and receive
from him the rewards for what we've done.
(23:23):
Again, not salvation, but rewards.
Jesus told a parable in Luke
19 that the servants of a master.
When the master went away,the servants were expected
to be industriousand serve the interests of the master.
And the master returned and demandedan accounting of what they've done.
(23:46):
He said, such is the kingdom of God.
How you and I invest
and increasewhat's been given us to further
the kingdom of God in this world,and to serve the kingdom
interests in this worldhas profound impact
(24:08):
on our experienceand rewards throughout eternity.
You have to understand this.
We are
saved because of God's gracethrough faith.
Done.
But we are rewarded
and how we invest and propel the Kingdomof God and the interest of the kingdom
(24:28):
on this earthin real time, with our time, our talents,
and our treasures.
The neglect
of investing our time, our talentand our treasure on earth
and the Kingdom of Godhas profound detriment
on your eternity,
(24:49):
not your salvation,
but your rewards in eternity.
And every one of Christ'speople will stand before him
at the Bema Seat.
And face the ledger.
Do you understand?
Understand?
(25:12):
So towards that end,
I have these serve brochures
that.
Time, talent and treasure.
For some, it's going to require a profound
reorganizingand reprioritizing of your time,
(25:35):
of your schedules,
of your priorities and your finances.
If you're not
involved in the work of the Kingdom
and the advancement of the kingdomand the kingdom's interests
through your local church,
this will help you find out where.
(25:58):
Now, I don't have a brochureabout your finances.
Just start giving.
We all I you
need to invest, actively invest your time,
your talent and your treasure. Now
(26:19):
your eternal rewards are based on that,
not your salvation.
Here's here's I want you understand this.
Grace saves you.
Faithfulness rewards you.
And what you and I do
today will echo in eternity.
(26:40):
And we will stand before
the Bema Seat of Christ.
Be clear. Clearer.
Not clear. For.
Romans 14 hits, doesn't it?
Yeah. Yeah.
Like some of you're thinking.
Okay, I didn't like Easter was fun.
This is an Easter.
(27:03):
You know, I.
Do realize that
this is what Easter leads to.
This is applied Christianity.
This is Christianity 101.
All right.
You want to be apprentice of Jesus?
This is what we're talking about.
(27:23):
Look at verses 13 through 16.
Therefore, anytime you find the wordtherefore, you have to ask, what's it?
Therefore. Sorry.
In light of everything Paul said.
Let us not pass judgment on one
another any longer, assuming that we have,
but rather decidenever to put a stumbling block
(27:45):
or hindrancein the way of a brother or sister.
I know and am persuaded in the LordJesus that nothing is unclean in itself,
but it is uncleanfor anyone who thinks it to be unclean.
For if your brother is grieved by what youeat, you are no longer walking in love.
But what you eat do by what you eat.
(28:05):
Do not destroythe one for whom Christ died.
So do not let what you regard
as good be spoke of as evil.
So like this.
You got complete freedom in grace.
You got complete liberty and grace.
But here's what he's saying.
(28:26):
This is the best way I can say it.
Freedom isn't to be flaunted.
My freedom
and grace is not to be flauntedin front of other people
who haven't understood that,or who don't live in it yet.
My freedom is to be yieldedin consideration of others.
And let me just tell you thisI got this wrong for a long time.
(28:49):
I've been on both sides of this equation.
I grew up in a churchthat was really religious
and really strict, and everybody knew
you don't smoke, you don't chew, you don'tgo with girls that do like their.
You just are you justthere's a lot of rules around life
and what it means to be a Christian.
Now, I grew up in that culture,
(29:10):
and when I had this, like,I kind of refer to as,
almost like a, conversion of grace.
And I finally understood the freedomI have in Christ.
Like, I'm completely freefrom all those stupid rules
that, like,I just explode, like, yes, I love this.
It's so liberating.
(29:31):
And here's why I was at fault.
I flaunted that freedom
in front of other peoplethat weren't there yet.
And I was like, well,you know, too bad for you.
Like, this is Grace and you better love itbecause it's awesome.
And I allowed what was good
(29:54):
and the grace of God to be spoken.
Evil of.
Because of my immaturity.
Yeah.
My ignorance and arrogance.
So I've been on both sides of this.
I'm still learning.
I'm still learning what it meansto be an apprentice of Jesus.
(30:15):
And I got. So I got some.I got some ways to go yet, but.
But what Paul is saying is, look,these are not sin issues.
So if you enjoy this grace, enjoy it,but don't flaunt it.
You might have to sacrifice it
for the sake of some other peoplethat Jesus died for.
Verses 70, 17 or 19
(30:35):
for the kingdom of Godis not a matter of eating
and drinking,but of righteousness and peace and joy.
And the Holy Spirit,
whoever that serves Christ, is acceptable
to God and approved by man.
So then let us pursue
what makes for peaceand for mutual upbuilding.
(30:55):
Here's what he's saying.
When we get this and start living this waythat I enjoy the freedoms God has given,
I enjoy grace,
and I let people who live with a lotof church and stuff with restriction.
If that's where God'slet them, God's let them. They're.
But I'm going to
sacrifice my freedomfor the sake of someone else's
faith.
(31:16):
And when I do that,God approves of that life.
Living,
and it makes other people think,
well of God and his people.
And I'm to live in this way,because this helps keep the peace
amongst God's people and builds them up.
(31:41):
See what he's talking about?
Here is the overarching rule,and here's what it is.
Do not, for the sake of food,destroy the work of God.
Everything is indeed clean,absolutely complete liberty.
But it is wrong for anyoneto make another stumble
by the expression of their liberty.
(32:05):
It's good not to eat me.
It's good not to exercise your libertyin public or drink
or do anything that causes your brotherto stumble.
Here's the overarching rulethat Paul's talking about.
It's the law of love.
It's the law of love.
And this is this is my concern for me.
And this is my concernfor American Christians,
(32:28):
because some are more Americanthan they are Christlike,
because I'm out to protectmy freedoms at all costs.
And if God hasn't said, I can't do this,
I'm going to do it regardless.
Because I am free.
Free indeed.
And we teeter on being more American
(32:49):
than we are Christlike.
So the idea is this that we livelike this.
You belong to him rather than like
freedom belongs to you.
Amen.
I must learn to livelike I belong to Jesus.
(33:12):
Not like freedom belongs to me.
He says don't put a stumbling block.
I need to be a stepping stone.
And if laying down my freedom,that's good.
Freedom.
So that someone else can take a stepforward.
(33:33):
That's living by the law of love.
And how much more attractive would Iand the church be
if that's how we lift up?
All of this
reminds me of one of the affirmationsof the Reformation.
The Reformation was this.
In the essentials for salvation,we show unity and the non-essentials.
(33:58):
We show liberty in all things.
We show charity or love.
So in the essentials,there are essentials to the faith.
There's one faith, one Lord, one Christ,one cross, one baptism, one Scripture.
We are unified in that,but in all the other stuff
we have great liberty.
We let people stand or fall before God,
(34:21):
but in all things we show love.
This is back to where we startedverses 22.
The faith that you have keepbetween yourself and God.
I'm going to talk about thatbecause it doesn't mean what you think
in first reading
between you and God.
Blessed is the one who has no reasonto pass judgment on himself for what
(34:41):
he approves.
But whoever has doubts is condemned
if he eatsbecause the eating is not from faith.
For whatever does not proceed fromfaith is sin.
What he's saying is just listen.
If you have doubts about the libertiesthat are yours in Christ
and you transgress those doubts,
(35:02):
it's sin for youbecause you're not doing it to honor God.
You're doing it in oppositionto your own conscience.
That the way God is leadingyou internally.
So don't violatewhat the spirit is telling you.
If the Spirit's telling you,I need to avoid these things
for my own conscienceon my own, then avoid them.
(35:25):
But if the Holy Spirit's telling you likethis are these are negotiable.
These are nonessential things,and you want to enjoy it,
but just do itwith the overarching law of love,
and don't use it as a stumbling blockfor somebody.
What he's saying here is, is.
(35:49):
Spiritual maturity.
Do you understand?
This now involves private liberty
and public restriction.
And so if I am one who loves and enjoys
the freedoms of grace,then I have every right under God
because he has made me stand to enjoyall those freedoms
(36:11):
in private.
I don't mean like,
you know,I I'm day drinking in the closet.
That's not what I'm talking about.
Like,
well, what I'm talking about is like,
I can enjoy those amongstother people who also enjoy the freedoms,
but in public, where people might strugglewith that,
(36:32):
then I have to practicepublic restriction.
This makes sense.
You follow.
Guys, this is applied Christianity 101,
and I do it
because I'm so desperately
desiring to honor my Lord
(36:52):
and show love to other people.
The Living Bible translation
of this is, as you may know, thatthere's nothing wrong with what you do,
even from God's point of view, but
keep it to yourself.
(37:12):
Don't put your faith in front of others
who might be hurt by it.
That's a good word
when it says,keep your faith between you and
God is not talking about your witness.
It's not talking about first Peter 315.
Always be ready to give a reasonfor the hope that you have.
(37:32):
Like you're still vocal with your witness.
You don't keep your faith private.
You keep your libertiesbetween you and God.
Does that make sense?Not your witness and testimony.
You understand the difference betweenstand up and be clear about that.
So I can't go through chapter 14
without diving into the first part of 15,because this all ties right in.
(37:53):
So just bear with me. Let me get through.
Let me get through the first part ofchapter 15, because at the end of the day,
if I love my brother,I will limit my public liberty,
because love for youis greater than liberty for myself.
That's what Paul saying.
I mean, it's exactly what Jesus did
on the cross.
(38:16):
He laid down his liberty.
Because of our failings and weaknesses.
Versesone, two and three of of chapter 15.
We who are strong.
You understandwhat he's talking about on the right.
When you are strong, have an obligation
(38:36):
to bear with the failings of the weakand not to please ourselves.
Let each of us pleasehis neighbor for his good to build him up.
A law of love for Christdid not please himself, just like we said.
But as it was written, the reproaches ofthose who reproached you for fall on me.
Spoken love of Christ.
(38:57):
And so he says, listen.
Jesus laid down
all of his rights and liberties.
For you and me.
And to liveaccording to the law of love means
we do the same with our libertiesfor the sake of others.
Now watch this verse for
(39:19):
for whatever was written in former days.
Well, what's the former days?
Was the former days
for you?
You seem unsure for what was in the formerdays was written for our instruction
that through endurance
and through the encouragementof the scriptures, we might have hope.
(39:41):
What's the former daysand what's the scriptures?
Paul's talking about
the old times, everything beforeMatthew, he's saying, listen
for whatever.
Whatever was written in the former dayswas written for our instruction,
that through endurance
and through the encouragementof those scriptures, we might have hope.
Listen, ask yourselves this question.
(40:03):
Ask yourself, are you tired?
Are you discouraged?
Are you losing hope?
Some of you are like,oh, I'm not losing. I'm.
I lost it already. It's gone.
See, it's through the scriptures,
the Old Testament and the New Testamentthat you get those back.
Alright. Are you tired?
(40:25):
The Old Testament,New Testament work together.
Are you discouraged?The Old Testament doesn't work together.
Are you losing hope?
The Old Testament, New Testament worktogether. Here's what we need.
We need both.
It's important for both the Old Testamentand to gain hope,
because we get the beauty and the truthin the New Testament, and we get the death
and the foundation. The old.
(40:48):
And he's saying what we needis both the depth
and the foundation of the Old Testamentand the beauty and the truth of the new.
All my friends,
we get a lot of good New Testamentbeauty and truth.
On Sunday morning, and we've dive.
We've, we've we dive into the OldTestament once in a while, too.
(41:10):
But here's what I want you to know.
This that currently we are drinking deepfrom the Old Testament.
Well, on Wednesday nights,you people who come, you know,
we're diving deep in the Old Testament
for the depthand the foundation of our faith.
And we get the beauty
(41:31):
of the New Testament on Sunday morning.
But if you and I neglect
the study of both,we do so to our own detriment.
I want to understand that.
There's a truth in second Timothy 316
that says all Scripture,new and old, is profitable
(41:51):
for teaching, rebuking, correcting,and training in righteousness,
that the person of God may be approvedand equipped for everything.
And he both.
But watch this
again.
Second Timothy,for the time will come in the end times,
(42:12):
when people will not put up a sounddoctrine.
Sunday is good,
I'm telling you.
Wednesday is deep.
Sound profound Old Testament doctrine
that feeds the beautyand the truth of the New Testament.
(42:34):
I love my wins in that group.
You guys are in it.
It's good stuff.
And you're all invited,
but at some point you need both.
Let me wrap up with this.
May the God of endurance.
May the God of encouragementgrant you to live in such harmony
(42:57):
with one another, in accord with ChristJesus.
May the God of encouragementand the God of endurance,
because you're in the word,you're living by the law of love.
Grant you to livein harmony with one another.
The old story goes like this.
Charles Spurgeon and Dwight Moody,great preachers,
great theologians, contemporaries.
(43:21):
The story goes like this.
One of them loved a good cigar
and the other love the good food.
And Charles Spurgeon
met D.L.
Moody for a meeting, and CharlesSpurgeon was smoking a cigar.
And D.L.
Moody said, how can you, man of God,
(43:43):
smoke that cigar?
And so Spurgeon
patted Moody on his big belly and said,
the same way that you men of Godcan be so fat.
Here's the point.
(44:07):
I have to be mindful
of chastising sin and another
while cherishing it in myself.
You have to be mindful
of chastising your sinand someone else for cherishing it
in yourself.
(44:28):
Do you understand?
This is a law of grace.
This isthe freedom that we have in Christ,
and freedom to lay our freedoms downfor the sake of someone else.
Because we remember
(44:49):
that grace is greater than.
The experience
of grace begins with repentance.
And with repentance comes freedom.
That's the invitation.
(45:12):
To live freely in Christ
and to abide by the promptingsof the Holy Spirit in you.
To restrictwhat he encourages you to restrict,
to enjoy what he gives you, to enjoy.
To answer to God for those thingsbecause we're not sin issues,
and to let other people live in that same
freedom.
(45:36):
Chastising the sin in ourselves
rather than what we see in others.
Follow
applied Christianity.
This is how we live. It.
Why don't you pray with me?
Father.
Thank you. Thank
(45:57):
thank youfor the opportunity that you've given us
to interact with you through your word.
Thank you that it is so,
so plain and so relevant,
that it's so transformed,that it's alive and active,
and that we to interact with this life
being called your word.
(46:21):
Thank you that through itwe find encouragement and endurance,
freedom
and restriction.
I pray, father, that you allow us
who are yours, to live simply to honor
you both in our restrictionsand in the enjoyment of freedom.
But to do so under the auspices of
(46:44):
not just honoring you,but loving those around us.
Holy spirit,
I ask that in this moment
that for those issues in me,
that for those issuesin us that are sin issues,
(47:04):
that we repent.
And that in repentance
you allow us the experience of your grace.
And in that grace we find freedom.
Friends,I'm gonna invite you in this moment.
Like at.
Would you just ask if you so dare
(47:28):
say God,
what's my sin stuff?
Where have I cherished sin in me?
And maybe where have I chastised
sin and others?
(47:49):
And then seek his forgiveness.
Repent of it.
God. I'm sorry.
I've winked at sin in me.
I've cherished it.
Maybe it's God. I'm sorry.
I flaunted my grace and my freedomin front of other people, and it spits.
It's caused some to stumble.
And I repent of that.
(48:12):
And father, as your people repent,
as they as we.
Come before you in repentance
and thanking you for the forgivenessthat you've offered through your son.
I ask in the
name of your son that you give us all,
that your grace will allow you.
(48:32):
We love you.
Thank you that you loved us first.
In your name I pray. Amen.
Alright.
Romans had been a good study, hadn't it?
It hits
if you're listening.
It hits.
We're going to wrap it up next week.
Last part of 15 or 16and it gets real personal.
(48:57):
And so my my, my, my ask of you this week
read chapter14 and 15, read it with some new eyes.
And as you read it, just say, God,would you speak to me through your word?
What do you want to tell methrough your word?
What's your word? Saying?
And the read verse.
Chapters 14 and 15.
Okay. And then get into 16 a little bit.
We'll talk about it next week.
(49:19):
Listen, I love you.
It's been good for us to go through.
You okay?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
All right. Hey,
either go from this place and live
in all the restrictionsthat God's put on you
or go from this place
and live and enjoying the freedomsGod's placed on you.
(49:41):
Either way,
do it to honor him. Yeah. Let's sing.
And. I appreciate you being herethis morning.
We had a great celebrationlast week at Easter at Less.
And now we're gathered togetherback at our own home
to wrap up the last two weeksof the book of Romans.
As we've gone through this study, chapterby chapter.
This morning,I'm going to be in chapter 14.
(00:24):
And, this is an interesting chapter.
This chapter, chapter 14
is going to hit a little differently,for all of us.
And for those who are kind of old schoolchurch folk,
it's going to hit a little bit harder.
(00:46):
For newer church folk, newer Jesus people.
It'll be like, yeah, yeah,if you church people could get this right,
that'd be great.
So I just think that, you know, it'sgoing to hit a little differently.
And I'm going to have to do
a lot of interpretation and explaining,because in the context
when it was written,it made complete sense for us.
(01:10):
We have to translate a little bit.
So and I'm going to do thatas we go through chapter 14.
And so if youhave a Bible, you brought one with you.
I want you to go to chapter 14.
But but I want you to understandchapter 14 is what I call
a study in applied Christianity.
This is a this goes beyond
(01:31):
I believe in Jesus and what he didon the cross for my salvation.
Now this is how now that I believe thatthis is how I apply it and work it out
and flesh it out in my lifein super practical ways.
So chapter 14, to study of what I callapplied Christianity.
And there's a big idea.
(01:53):
The overarching idea for this chapteris this
spiritual maturity
includesprivate liberty and public restriction.
Now, let me just tell you,as we go through this is going to fill up.
I'm going to warn you upfront.
It's going to feel a little two faced.
You're going to feel a little bit like,that doesn't it?
It feels
(02:13):
like you're waffling.
I'm not.
And it's not two face and it's not fake.
It's biblical.
But but we have to understandon the front end that spiritual maturity
includes private, libertyfree, and Christ.
But public restriction
went around other people. It'snot to face.
(02:34):
It's not fake.
It's biblical. It's Christlike.
It's discipleship.
And so in chapter 14,
let's just read this, verses one and two.
As for the one
who is weak in faith, welcome him,
but not to quarrel over opinions.
One person believes he may eat anything,
(02:58):
while the wheat person
is for some reason a vegetarian.
And it's it's only vegetables.
So this is this is part of thethis is part of the translation
that I have to
that I, that I've got to do to so thatthis makes a little bit more sense.
As for the one who is in this translation,
the English Channel version,it says the one who is weak in faith.
(03:20):
There's a word missing in this translationthat should be there,
and it is in some other translations
and just helps usunderstand a little bit more.
As for the one who
is weak in the faith,that word does important
because Paul is a Paul is obviouslycomparing two groups of people, right?
The what's the first one? The what?
(03:42):
The what?
The weak.
And he's talking to the strong.
And so he's addressing
those who are strong in the faith, talkingabout those who are weak in the faith.
The word that's really important becausehe's not talking about saving faith.
He's not talking about salvation. Faith.
If you believe in Jesus, you're saved.
(04:04):
But there's an element to this faiththing.
The faith
strong and weak,and what he's talking about
for those who are weak in the faith,the faith he's talking about
is everything he's talked about in Romansup to this point.
So like Romans five one,
(04:25):
we are justified by faith.
So so that's.
Romans eight one.
Those who are in Christ, there'sno condemnation for those in Christ.
And there are some peoplewho are weak in the faith
and are those who are strong in the faith.
(04:48):
And to those who are strong in the faith.
He says about thosewho are weak in the faith.
Don't quarrel over opinions.
Don't argue about stuff that aren't clear.
Sin issues and salvation issues.
And so
these two groups are going to be comparedthroughout this chapter.
(05:11):
Those who are weak in the faith
have an overly cautious conscience.
There's a lot of rules around their lives.
There's a lot of stipulations.
You don't do this. You don't do this.
You don't do this. Be very careful.
Those who are strong in the faith
understand I'm
(05:32):
justified by faith because of God's grace,not because of rules.
There's no condemnation.
This gospel of grace is complete freedom.
Those are those who are confident,living in the freedom of grace
and will.
Paul seen as those who are confidentand secure, living
in the freedom that grace brings.
(05:53):
Have to be very carefulwith those who are who,
who live by an overly cautious conscience,with a lot of rules.
Those who are weak in the faith,in our vernacular, we would say, are
we know what these are like.
Like some virtue signalers
right?
And so he says,you got to be very careful now.
(06:16):
He's not talking about sin issues.
He's talking about disputable matters.
He's talking about opinionsof what it means to follow.
And so here's the translation.
In verse 21, we understand
he's talking about the meat eatersversus vegetarians.
It has it.
It has to do with religiouspractice behind them.
(06:37):
And so the
context he's writing to Christians in Rome
and in Rome, their religious systemhad a whole bunch of gods.
And it's almost likeevery god had their own temple,
and they wouldall practice animal sacrifices.
And when they would practiceanimal sacrifices, these animals
sacrificed to these pagan godsin these occult, cultish practices,
(07:01):
the church, always looking forways to raise money right,
would take the good cuts of meatafter being sacrificed
and sell it at a meat market rightnext to the church.
And there were a lot of Christians in Rome
who felt as though it is wrong
(07:21):
to give your money to evil enterprises.
Things that are attached to the cult,
and to participate
in meatthat have been sacrificed to pagan idols.
You just don't do it.
God's called us to be separatefrom all that stuff.
So why would you give your money?
Why would you participateby eating what they've set?
(07:44):
Does that make sense?Yeah, like you need to have some.
And some thought it was very, very wrong.
And there were others
who were very confidentliving in the freedom of grace.
This meat has nothing to dowith my salvation relationship with Jesus.
It's meat, for goodness sake.
It has nothing to do with.
(08:05):
If my love of the Lord
and thought nothing wrongwith taking advantage
of a great price at the meat market,
I'm going to give me a good prime rib.
I had no problems with it
because it wasn't a salvation issue.
And they understood grace is greater than
(08:28):
that. Who Paul is talking about here.
So in our context, most of usdon't have rules around our lives.
Religious rules regarding meat,like we'll eat bacon and ham
and all oysters and,you know, lobster and all that, like, but
there are many in our context
who have religious issueswith other things that aren't clear.
(08:50):
Sin issues,
for instance, drinking alcohol.
There are some who would say no,
God's called you out of that.
You don't participate in that.
Like having a good Cuban cigar.
(09:11):
God's called you out of that.
It's not appropriate for a Christ followeranymore.
Like celebrating Halloween.
Like those people watching the Chosen.
Did you know that some of the executiveproducers are Mormons
(09:32):
and they give your attentionto that right?
It's like
homeschooling.
As if that is God's approved messagemethod of educating kids.
These are all disputable mattersand they're not clear send issues.
What is a clear sin issueregarding alcohol is getting drunk,
(09:54):
not having a drink.
And so what Paulis saying is there are some who are strong
in the faith,who live in the freedom of grace.
There are those who are weak in the faith,
who have a lot of rulesaround their lives.
Both are okay
because they're not clear sin issues.
(10:15):
Here's the danger
in the religious world
to make essentials out of non-essentials
and to make non-essential the essentials.
There are things that are essentialto the faith
one faith, one Lord, one
baptism, one Scripture.
(10:38):
But there's more that are not essential.
And Paul's talking about these thingsthat are not
essential.
People of grace
ought not despise the legalists.
Let them have all the rules they want.
But the legalists
ought not judgethe freedoms of the grace and joyous.
(11:06):
Everybody understand?
I want you to notice how important this is
in first Timothy four.
But the Holy Spirit tells usclearly that in the last time,
the last days, some inthe church will turn away from Christ
(11:27):
and become eager followers of teacherswith devil
inspired ideas.
Now, understand what I'm saying.
We all want to turn our attention to the
people not in
the politics and the agendas.
What the Bible tells us in the last days,
(11:48):
some of these devil inspiredis going to be in the church.
And here's what it looks like.
These teachers will tell lieswith straight faces,
and do it so often that their consciencedon't even bother them.
They will say it's wrong
to be married and wrong to eat meat.
Even though God gave these thingsto well taught Christians to enjoy
(12:12):
and be thankful for. Here'swhat he's saying.
He's saying in the last time.
So there's going to be people who teachwith straight faces that it's wrong
to enjoy the pleasuresthat God has given us to enjoy.
When it says wrong to be married.
That's a polite way of saying wrong.
To enjoy the pleasures of marriage
and eating meat is wrong.
(12:32):
To enjoy the delicaciesthat God has provided people to enjoy.
And he's saying, in the last dayspeople will teach with straight faces.
That is a wrong to enjoywhat God has provided.
And Paul saying, listen,there are some people who will live
in the freedoms of grace and enjoy,and there's others who will,
out of a way to honor God, will put strictrestrictions around their life.
(12:54):
Just just let it be.
Be it.
Each of us will answer to God.
You won't answer to me.
I won't answerand we won't answer to each other.
We'll answer to God.That's where Paul's coming from.
So let's go on.
Watch this.
Verses three and four.
(13:16):
Let not the one who eatsdespise the one who abstains.
And let not the one who abstainspass judgment on the one who eats.
For God has what?
What?
God's welcome to both of us.
Who are you
to passjudgment on the servant of another?
(13:37):
It is before his own masterthat he stands or falls.
And he will be upheld.
For the Lord is able to make him stand.
But the Bible says
God will make his servant stand.
Again, we're not talking about issuesthat are clear sin issues.
We're talking about issues of conviction,personal issues of conviction
(14:01):
that God says for you.
I want you to abstain for you.
Go ahead and enjoy. We're talkingabout these disputable matters.
But the point is this.
And this is what we have to understand.
I must not make God's convictions
of me to be commandments for you,
and you must not make God's convictionsof you
(14:22):
to be commandments for me to understand.
You understand
God may be convicting me of something,
but that doesn't meanit's his commandment for you.
God may have convicted you of something,but that doesn't mean
it's his commandment for meover these disputable matters.
(14:45):
To his own master, I will stand or fall.
You will stand or fall.
You won't stand or fall before me.
I will stand, fall for you.
We will stand or fall before God.
And God is able to make me stand.
God is able to make you standas long as we are abiding.
The leading of the spirit in us.
(15:06):
In these beautiful mattersand some hope with great liberty,
and some will be with great restriction.
Now watch this.
One person esteems
one day as better than another,while another esteems all days alike.
Each one should be fully convincedin his own
mind.
(15:28):
Look at the one who observes the day.
Observes it in honor of the Lord.
The one who eats, eating
honor of the Lord.
Since he give thanks to God,while the other, who abstains, abstains
in honor of the Lord and givethanks to God.
For none of us lives to himself,and none of us dies to himself.
(15:50):
For if we live, we live to the Lord.
And if we die, we die to the Lord.
So then, whether we liveor whether we die,
we are the Lord's.
So Paul's dealing
with not only this, these kosher laws
and the freedoms
(16:10):
in his context of this meat,these liberties.
He's also dealing with the issueof when you worship
against in that culture,it was really important
the Jewish holidays and celebrationsand abiding by them and the day of worship
before the resurrection,the church worshiped on Saturdays
because that was according to the the,the example of God, the Sabbath.
(16:34):
After the resurrection,
the church moved its worshipto Sunday in honor of the resurrection.
But there are some who said, no, no, no.
Biblically, this is the day you worship,and some of those people
still are around today.
And Paul says,I don't care when you worship God
if you're worshiping as to honor the Lord,how about it?
(16:57):
If you want to say this is the one dayfor you to honor, great.
But honestly, every day is God's.
So whenever you choose,do it now in America,
we set that aside that day asidefor Sunday because it fits culturally.
It fits who we are.
That's whywe have corporate church on Sunday,
(17:18):
and we do it as honoring the Lord.
Does it make sense?
You know, this is
this.
This even gets to the idea of the Sabbath.
And there are some who say, like,like like the Sabbath.
You don't you don't do anything
(17:39):
you like, put on Netflixand take a nap like you don't, do.
You? Just.
And and we forget
that unless it's done to honor the Lord,it's wrong.
Even if it is obeying the law.
And we forget that Jesus
said the Sabbath wasn't
(17:59):
man wasn't made to keep the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was given to manas a gift to recalibrate.
And so I still serve the kingdomon the Sabbath.
I'm still industriousfor the kingdom on the Sabbath.
I still serve people on the Sabbath,
but I don't work for my futureon my Sabbath.
Does it make sense?
(18:22):
And I do that to honor the Lord.
This.
I like how the Living Bible translatesthis.
The Living Bible says like this.
Some think that Christians
should observe the Jewish holidaysas special days to worship God,
but others say it's wrong and foolishto go
(18:44):
through all that trouble for every daylike belongs to God.
On the questions of this kind, everyonewants to say, must decipher himself.
If you have special days for worshipingthe Lord, you're trying to honor him.
You're doing a good thing.
So is the person who eats meat
that has been offered to idols.
(19:06):
He's thankful to the Lord for it.
He's doing right.
And the person who won't touch such meat.
He too is anxious to please the Lordand is thankful
we are not our own bosses to live or
die, as we ourselves might choose.
For this very reason,Christ died and returned to life,
(19:27):
so that he might be the Lord of boththe dead and the living.
You then why do youjudge your brother or sister,
or why do you treat them with contempt?
For we will all stand beforeGod's judgment seat.
It is written as surely as I live,says the Lord.
Every knee will bow before me.
(19:48):
Every tongue will acknowledge God.
So then each of uswill give an account of ourselves to God.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying this whole idea,
whatever we do is to be donein honor of God,
not in pushing my liberty
on someone who has experience it,and not in restricting myself.
(20:10):
Because I think out of my restriction,it makes me more religious
and righteous.
When Paul talks about
everyone of God will make us stand.
Everyone of us willthen stand before the judgment seat.
I want to understand what that is.
When Paul
talks about the judgment seatin Romans 14,
(20:32):
he's not talking about the judgment of Godover salvation.
He's talking about a different judgmentseat.
Did you know there's just a coupleof different judgments?
What he's talking about here
is the judgment seat of Christ,and it's called the Bema Seat.
Everybody say bema.
(20:53):
That's the Greek word that's used forthe judgment seat is the Bema Seat.
Here's why this is important.
The Bema Seat here in other placesis different
from the great White Throne of Judgment
in Revelation 20
that deals with sin, salvation,and damnation.
(21:14):
That's not what Paul's time is not sayingthat we will all stand before that seat.
He's saying every Christian will standbefore the Bema Seat.
Here's why that's important.
Because the beam is seat.
This is differentfrom the seat of judgment.
This Bema seat
is the seat of reward judgment,not salvation.
(21:34):
Judgment.
So everybody who has a relationshipwith the father through the son
will standbefore the reward judgment seat.
That's called the Bema Seat in Scripture.
Let me show you whereit comes up in other places
at the Bema Seat.
We're not judged for salvation.
We're rewarded for sacrifice.
(21:56):
This is really importantfor us to understand.
Amen.
Second Corinthians 510
for we must all appearbefore the judgment seat of Christ.
That's the BMC,the same one that Paul uses in Romans 14.
We will all him for the judgmentseat of Christ, the Bema Seat,
so that each 1st May receive what is due
(22:19):
for what he has done in the body,whether good or evil.
This is a different judgmentthan salvation, because salvation
is not dependent upon what we do,but on what Jesus has done.
Rewards are based on what we've done.
(22:40):
Do you understand?
And there are real rewards in heaven
on a real new earth.
And those rewards are not salvation.
That's faith.
By God's grace,but the rewards that we will be given
will be based on throughout all eternity
(23:02):
on what we've done on earth.
You need to understand this.
This is what Paul saying.
Each one of us will stand before the beamand see the Christ
and receive
from him the rewards for what we've done.
(23:23):
Again, not salvation, but rewards.
Jesus told a parable in Luke
19 that the servants of a master.
When the master went away,the servants were expected
to be industriousand serve the interests of the master.
And the master returned and demandedan accounting of what they've done.
(23:46):
He said, such is the kingdom of God.
How you and I invest
and increasewhat's been given us to further
the kingdom of God in this world,and to serve the kingdom
interests in this worldhas profound impact
(24:08):
on our experienceand rewards throughout eternity.
You have to understand this.
We are
saved because of God's gracethrough faith.
Done.
But we are rewarded
and how we invest and propel the Kingdomof God and the interest of the kingdom
(24:28):
on this earthin real time, with our time, our talents,
and our treasures.
The neglect
of investing our time, our talentand our treasure on earth
and the Kingdom of Godhas profound detriment
on your eternity,
(24:49):
not your salvation,
but your rewards in eternity.
And every one of Christ'speople will stand before him
at the Bema Seat.
And face the ledger.
Do you understand?
Understand?
(25:12):
So towards that end,
I have these serve brochures
that.
Time, talent and treasure.
For some, it's going to require a profound
reorganizingand reprioritizing of your time,
(25:35):
of your schedules,
of your priorities and your finances.
If you're not
involved in the work of the Kingdom
and the advancement of the kingdomand the kingdom's interests
through your local church,
this will help you find out where.
(25:58):
Now, I don't have a brochureabout your finances.
Just start giving.
We all I you
need to invest, actively invest your time,
your talent and your treasure. Now
(26:19):
your eternal rewards are based on that,
not your salvation.
Here's here's I want you understand this.
Grace saves you.
Faithfulness rewards you.
And what you and I do
today will echo in eternity.
(26:40):
And we will stand before
the Bema Seat of Christ.
Be clear. Clearer.
Not clear. For.
Romans 14 hits, doesn't it?
Yeah. Yeah.
Like some of you're thinking.
Okay, I didn't like Easter was fun.
This is an Easter.
(27:03):
You know, I.
Do realize that
this is what Easter leads to.
This is applied Christianity.
This is Christianity 101.
All right.
You want to be apprentice of Jesus?
This is what we're talking about.
(27:23):
Look at verses 13 through 16.
Therefore, anytime you find the wordtherefore, you have to ask, what's it?
Therefore. Sorry.
In light of everything Paul said.
Let us not pass judgment on one
another any longer, assuming that we have,
but rather decidenever to put a stumbling block
(27:45):
or hindrancein the way of a brother or sister.
I know and am persuaded in the LordJesus that nothing is unclean in itself,
but it is uncleanfor anyone who thinks it to be unclean.
For if your brother is grieved by what youeat, you are no longer walking in love.
But what you eat do by what you eat.
(28:05):
Do not destroythe one for whom Christ died.
So do not let what you regard
as good be spoke of as evil.
So like this.
You got complete freedom in grace.
You got complete liberty and grace.
But here's what he's saying.
(28:26):
This is the best way I can say it.
Freedom isn't to be flaunted.
My freedom
and grace is not to be flauntedin front of other people
who haven't understood that,or who don't live in it yet.
My freedom is to be yieldedin consideration of others.
And let me just tell you thisI got this wrong for a long time.
(28:49):
I've been on both sides of this equation.
I grew up in a churchthat was really religious
and really strict, and everybody knew
you don't smoke, you don't chew, you don'tgo with girls that do like their.
You just are you justthere's a lot of rules around life
and what it means to be a Christian.
Now, I grew up in that culture,
(29:10):
and when I had this, like,I kind of refer to as,
almost like a, conversion of grace.
And I finally understood the freedomI have in Christ.
Like, I'm completely freefrom all those stupid rules
that, like,I just explode, like, yes, I love this.
It's so liberating.
(29:31):
And here's why I was at fault.
I flaunted that freedom
in front of other peoplethat weren't there yet.
And I was like, well,you know, too bad for you.
Like, this is Grace and you better love itbecause it's awesome.
And I allowed what was good
(29:54):
and the grace of God to be spoken.
Evil of.
Because of my immaturity.
Yeah.
My ignorance and arrogance.
So I've been on both sides of this.
I'm still learning.
I'm still learning what it meansto be an apprentice of Jesus.
(30:15):
And I got. So I got some.I got some ways to go yet, but.
But what Paul is saying is, look,these are not sin issues.
So if you enjoy this grace, enjoy it,but don't flaunt it.
You might have to sacrifice it
for the sake of some other peoplethat Jesus died for.
Verses 70, 17 or 19
(30:35):
for the kingdom of Godis not a matter of eating
and drinking,but of righteousness and peace and joy.
And the Holy Spirit,
whoever that serves Christ, is acceptable
to God and approved by man.
So then let us pursue
what makes for peaceand for mutual upbuilding.
(30:55):
Here's what he's saying.
When we get this and start living this waythat I enjoy the freedoms God has given,
I enjoy grace,
and I let people who live with a lotof church and stuff with restriction.
If that's where God'slet them, God's let them. They're.
But I'm going to
sacrifice my freedomfor the sake of someone else's
faith.
(31:16):
And when I do that,God approves of that life.
Living,
and it makes other people think,
well of God and his people.
And I'm to live in this way,because this helps keep the peace
amongst God's people and builds them up.
(31:41):
See what he's talking about?
Here is the overarching rule,and here's what it is.
Do not, for the sake of food,destroy the work of God.
Everything is indeed clean,absolutely complete liberty.
But it is wrong for anyoneto make another stumble
by the expression of their liberty.
(32:05):
It's good not to eat me.
It's good not to exercise your libertyin public or drink
or do anything that causes your brotherto stumble.
Here's the overarching rulethat Paul's talking about.
It's the law of love.
It's the law of love.
And this is this is my concern for me.
And this is my concernfor American Christians,
(32:28):
because some are more Americanthan they are Christlike,
because I'm out to protectmy freedoms at all costs.
And if God hasn't said, I can't do this,
I'm going to do it regardless.
Because I am free.
Free indeed.
And we teeter on being more American
(32:49):
than we are Christlike.
So the idea is this that we livelike this.
You belong to him rather than like
freedom belongs to you.
Amen.
I must learn to livelike I belong to Jesus.
(33:12):
Not like freedom belongs to me.
He says don't put a stumbling block.
I need to be a stepping stone.
And if laying down my freedom,that's good.
Freedom.
So that someone else can take a stepforward.
(33:33):
That's living by the law of love.
And how much more attractive would Iand the church be
if that's how we lift up?
All of this
reminds me of one of the affirmationsof the Reformation.
The Reformation was this.
In the essentials for salvation,we show unity and the non-essentials.
(33:58):
We show liberty in all things.
We show charity or love.
So in the essentials,there are essentials to the faith.
There's one faith, one Lord, one Christ,one cross, one baptism, one Scripture.
We are unified in that,but in all the other stuff
we have great liberty.
We let people stand or fall before God,
(34:21):
but in all things we show love.
This is back to where we startedverses 22.
The faith that you have keepbetween yourself and God.
I'm going to talk about thatbecause it doesn't mean what you think
in first reading
between you and God.
Blessed is the one who has no reasonto pass judgment on himself for what
(34:41):
he approves.
But whoever has doubts is condemned
if he eatsbecause the eating is not from faith.
For whatever does not proceed fromfaith is sin.
What he's saying is just listen.
If you have doubts about the libertiesthat are yours in Christ
and you transgress those doubts,
(35:02):
it's sin for youbecause you're not doing it to honor God.
You're doing it in oppositionto your own conscience.
That the way God is leadingyou internally.
So don't violatewhat the spirit is telling you.
If the Spirit's telling you,I need to avoid these things
for my own conscienceon my own, then avoid them.
(35:25):
But if the Holy Spirit's telling you likethis are these are negotiable.
These are nonessential things,and you want to enjoy it,
but just do itwith the overarching law of love,
and don't use it as a stumbling blockfor somebody.
What he's saying here is, is.
(35:49):
Spiritual maturity.
Do you understand?
This now involves private liberty
and public restriction.
And so if I am one who loves and enjoys
the freedoms of grace,then I have every right under God
because he has made me stand to enjoyall those freedoms
(36:11):
in private.
I don't mean like,
you know,I I'm day drinking in the closet.
That's not what I'm talking about.
Like,
well, what I'm talking about is like,
I can enjoy those amongstother people who also enjoy the freedoms,
but in public, where people might strugglewith that,
(36:32):
then I have to practicepublic restriction.
This makes sense.
You follow.
Guys, this is applied Christianity 101,
and I do it
because I'm so desperately
desiring to honor my Lord
(36:52):
and show love to other people.
The Living Bible translation
of this is, as you may know, thatthere's nothing wrong with what you do,
even from God's point of view, but
keep it to yourself.
(37:12):
Don't put your faith in front of others
who might be hurt by it.
That's a good word
when it says,keep your faith between you and
God is not talking about your witness.
It's not talking about first Peter 315.
Always be ready to give a reasonfor the hope that you have.
(37:32):
Like you're still vocal with your witness.
You don't keep your faith private.
You keep your libertiesbetween you and God.
Does that make sense?Not your witness and testimony.
You understand the difference betweenstand up and be clear about that.
So I can't go through chapter 14
without diving into the first part of 15,because this all ties right in.
(37:53):
So just bear with me. Let me get through.
Let me get through the first part ofchapter 15, because at the end of the day,
if I love my brother,I will limit my public liberty,
because love for youis greater than liberty for myself.
That's what Paul saying.
I mean, it's exactly what Jesus did
on the cross.
(38:16):
He laid down his liberty.
Because of our failings and weaknesses.
Versesone, two and three of of chapter 15.
We who are strong.
You understandwhat he's talking about on the right.
When you are strong, have an obligation
(38:36):
to bear with the failings of the weakand not to please ourselves.
Let each of us pleasehis neighbor for his good to build him up.
A law of love for Christdid not please himself, just like we said.
But as it was written, the reproaches ofthose who reproached you for fall on me.
Spoken love of Christ.
(38:57):
And so he says, listen.
Jesus laid down
all of his rights and liberties.
For you and me.
And to liveaccording to the law of love means
we do the same with our libertiesfor the sake of others.
Now watch this verse for
(39:19):
for whatever was written in former days.
Well, what's the former days?
Was the former days
for you?
You seem unsure for what was in the formerdays was written for our instruction
that through endurance
and through the encouragementof the scriptures, we might have hope.
(39:41):
What's the former daysand what's the scriptures?
Paul's talking about
the old times, everything beforeMatthew, he's saying, listen
for whatever.
Whatever was written in the former dayswas written for our instruction,
that through endurance
and through the encouragementof those scriptures, we might have hope.
Listen, ask yourselves this question.
(40:03):
Ask yourself, are you tired?
Are you discouraged?
Are you losing hope?
Some of you are like,oh, I'm not losing. I'm.
I lost it already. It's gone.
See, it's through the scriptures,
the Old Testament and the New Testamentthat you get those back.
Alright. Are you tired?
(40:25):
The Old Testament,New Testament work together.
Are you discouraged?The Old Testament doesn't work together.
Are you losing hope?
The Old Testament, New Testament worktogether. Here's what we need.
We need both.
It's important for both the Old Testamentand to gain hope,
because we get the beauty and the truthin the New Testament, and we get the death
and the foundation. The old.
(40:48):
And he's saying what we needis both the depth
and the foundation of the Old Testamentand the beauty and the truth of the new.
All my friends,
we get a lot of good New Testamentbeauty and truth.
On Sunday morning, and we've dive.
We've, we've we dive into the OldTestament once in a while, too.
(41:10):
But here's what I want you to know.
This that currently we are drinking deepfrom the Old Testament.
Well, on Wednesday nights,you people who come, you know,
we're diving deep in the Old Testament
for the depthand the foundation of our faith.
And we get the beauty
(41:31):
of the New Testament on Sunday morning.
But if you and I neglect
the study of both,we do so to our own detriment.
I want to understand that.
There's a truth in second Timothy 316
that says all Scripture,new and old, is profitable
(41:51):
for teaching, rebuking, correcting,and training in righteousness,
that the person of God may be approvedand equipped for everything.
And he both.
But watch this
again.
Second Timothy,for the time will come in the end times,
(42:12):
when people will not put up a sounddoctrine.
Sunday is good,
I'm telling you.
Wednesday is deep.
Sound profound Old Testament doctrine
that feeds the beautyand the truth of the New Testament.
(42:34):
I love my wins in that group.
You guys are in it.
It's good stuff.
And you're all invited,
but at some point you need both.
Let me wrap up with this.
May the God of endurance.
May the God of encouragementgrant you to live in such harmony
(42:57):
with one another, in accord with ChristJesus.
May the God of encouragementand the God of endurance,
because you're in the word,you're living by the law of love.
Grant you to livein harmony with one another.
The old story goes like this.
Charles Spurgeon and Dwight Moody,great preachers,
great theologians, contemporaries.
(43:21):
The story goes like this.
One of them loved a good cigar
and the other love the good food.
And Charles Spurgeon
met D.L.
Moody for a meeting, and CharlesSpurgeon was smoking a cigar.
And D.L.
Moody said, how can you, man of God,
(43:43):
smoke that cigar?
And so Spurgeon
patted Moody on his big belly and said,
the same way that you men of Godcan be so fat.
Here's the point.
(44:07):
I have to be mindful
of chastising sin and another
while cherishing it in myself.
You have to be mindful
of chastising your sinand someone else for cherishing it
in yourself.
(44:28):
Do you understand?
This is a law of grace.
This isthe freedom that we have in Christ,
and freedom to lay our freedoms downfor the sake of someone else.
Because we remember
(44:49):
that grace is greater than.
The experience
of grace begins with repentance.
And with repentance comes freedom.
That's the invitation.
(45:12):
To live freely in Christ
and to abide by the promptingsof the Holy Spirit in you.
To restrictwhat he encourages you to restrict,
to enjoy what he gives you, to enjoy.
To answer to God for those thingsbecause we're not sin issues,
and to let other people live in that same
freedom.
(45:36):
Chastising the sin in ourselves
rather than what we see in others.
Follow
applied Christianity.
This is how we live. It.
Why don't you pray with me?
Father.
Thank you. Thank
(45:57):
thank youfor the opportunity that you've given us
to interact with you through your word.
Thank you that it is so,
so plain and so relevant,
that it's so transformed,that it's alive and active,
and that we to interact with this life
being called your word.
(46:21):
Thank you that through itwe find encouragement and endurance,
freedom
and restriction.
I pray, father, that you allow us
who are yours, to live simply to honor
you both in our restrictionsand in the enjoyment of freedom.
But to do so under the auspices of
(46:44):
not just honoring you,but loving those around us.
Holy spirit,
I ask that in this moment
that for those issues in me,
that for those issuesin us that are sin issues,
(47:04):
that we repent.
And that in repentance
you allow us the experience of your grace.
And in that grace we find freedom.
Friends,I'm gonna invite you in this moment.
Like at.
Would you just ask if you so dare
(47:28):
say God,
what's my sin stuff?
Where have I cherished sin in me?
And maybe where have I chastised
sin and others?
(47:49):
And then seek his forgiveness.
Repent of it.
God. I'm sorry.
I've winked at sin in me.
I've cherished it.
Maybe it's God. I'm sorry.
I flaunted my grace and my freedomin front of other people, and it spits.
It's caused some to stumble.
And I repent of that.
(48:12):
And father, as your people repent,
as they as we.
Come before you in repentance
and thanking you for the forgivenessthat you've offered through your son.
I ask in the
name of your son that you give us all,
that your grace will allow you.
(48:32):
We love you.
Thank you that you loved us first.
In your name I pray. Amen.
Alright.
Romans had been a good study, hadn't it?
It hits
if you're listening.
It hits.
We're going to wrap it up next week.
Last part of 15 or 16and it gets real personal.
(48:57):
And so my my, my, my ask of you this week
read chapter14 and 15, read it with some new eyes.
And as you read it, just say, God,would you speak to me through your word?
What do you want to tell methrough your word?
What's your word? Saying?
And the read verse.
Chapters 14 and 15.
Okay. And then get into 16 a little bit.
We'll talk about it next week.
(49:19):
Listen, I love you.
It's been good for us to go through.
You okay?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
All right. Hey,
either go from this place and live
in all the restrictionsthat God's put on you
or go from this place
and live and enjoying the freedomsGod's placed on you.
(49:41):
Either way,
do it to honor him. Yeah. Let's sing.
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