Pastor Joel Barker preaches through Romans 14 on Christian Liberty and Conscience.
Bloomington Bible Church Sermons
Romans 14 - Christian Liberty and Conscience
Talking about Romans 14 and Christian liberty and the conscience and No churches have ever had problems with conscience or liberty issues And that's why this is the third time that I've preached on this in the life of our church Last time I preached on it was 2019 so I felt like it's open over five years and the Number of conversations that have happened the last six months seem like it'd be a good time to talk again and My hope is that you will have questions at the end of the sermon. I Do not anticipate answering every question that could be answered about the conscience or about Christian Liberty. I Would be happy if Some of your feathers were ruffled If you would be humble and ask questions if you have questions, okay Um Years ago, we had a family that came to our church. This was before COVID and I don't really remember all the details Exactly, but they came they were here one Sunday, and they did not come back And that's not uncommon in any church in our country for somebody to visit a church say this isn't for me and Then not come back No hard feelings from our end We were happy to love them Wasn't going to be the place for them. I came out to find that this lady. I did not bring her family back Because if some of you remember before COVID we used to serve coffee and the lobby And some of you might miss that, but we used to serve coffee and She was bothered but people were drinking coffee and the worship service And I'm not sure about the specific details regarding what bothered her Maybe she felt like people weren't singing or weren't paying attention, and so that's what bothered her Maybe it was just the fact that there was coffee And she didn't think a church should go. I'm not sure what the details are, but you know, I can sympathize with that To an extent I Don't know what bothered her exactly, but I can sympathize with being bothered in some way About how people are acting during worship. You probably might be bothered by some things that other people do or that our church does And that's okay That's actually might be a good just side note I think some of you would do well to say think more soberly about the worship service and so when for instance Daniel's reading the call the worship and The Word of God is being read in the church You should honor the Word of God and so what does that mean exactly and we have tons of sympathy We know we were gathering kids and stuff But kids that's also a good one of you if if we're singing to the Lord you should sing to God If we're reading the gods of God's word you should pay attention to God's word being read if the pastor's preaching you should give attentive years But anyway back to this coffee lady. I Can sympathize that she might have a reason why? This shouldn't happen in the church. It's fine conviction to happen to have It's a fine decision for a church just decide that they will not serve coffee in hopes that People will pay attention or because they don't want people to spill on the carpet and they don't have to clean it up Whatever the reason is that's fine It's even fine to me that this lady might have been so bothered that she felt like she couldn't join our church Now that's not a decision. I personally would make when I'm looking for a church because finding a good church in our land is so difficult that Coffee or being bothered by it wouldn't be that high in my evaluation of a church, but that's fine But if this lady were to say That drinking coffee during a worship service is a clear transgression of against God's law Then I would have a problem Then I would take issue with it Why? Well because adding to God's law is a very serious offense It's one that we don't take serious enough today, and it's one that God takes very seriously in his word And so this morning if you have your Bibles, please Open them to Romans 14 The question or one of some of the questions I want to answer for you today in part is what do we do? When our conscience collides with another person and their conscience When someone runs their life or leads their life and it goes in a direction or a way that I disagree with How am I to act? Or when I'm convinced that I'm free to do something But somebody else tells me I'm not free to do that How should I think about that? Those are pretty important questions and God's word gives us some clarity on those questions And so I'm gonna read all of Romans 14 so that we can have the context and then we're gonna walk through it a little bit And try to answer some of those questions, so please Read Romans 14 with me follow along 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 past judgment on the one who eats For God has welcomed him Who are you to pass judgment on a servant on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls and He will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand One person steams one day is better than another while another steams all days alike Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord since he gives the thanks to God While the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God, okay? So both doing different things both doing it to honor God For none of us verse 7 for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself For if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord So then whether we live or whether we die We are the Lord's For to this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God For it is written as I live says the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God So then each of us will give an account of himself to God Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer But rather decide never to put a stumbling blocker hindrance in the way of a brother I know I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself But it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is and thinks it unclean For if your brother is grieved by what you eat you are no longer walking in love But by what you eat Do not destroy the one for whom Christ died So do not let what you regard is good be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking But of righteousness and peace and its joy and the Holy Spirit Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men So then we'll just pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbringing Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble The faith that you have keep between yourself and God Bless is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith For whatever it is not perceived from faith is sin Let us pray Heavenly father, please instruct us and guide us this morning Father you instruct and you tell the waves of the ocean how far they are to come and they listen to you And father we ask that we would be instructed in similar ways That you would instruct us how far to go in order to live at peace with one another Help us and direct us We confess that we have been on both sides of the equation despising others passing judgment on others We've been the weak brother. We've been strong We've judged others for their decisions We've been annoyed at others for their weaknesses and their convictions We confess these sins to you in hopes that you will help each one of us live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit That you would help us deal with our conscience spiblically in a way that is pleasing to you and we ask these in Jesus name amen Okay, let's tackle some big ideas first that will help us look at the text everybody here has different ideas of What is right and what is wrong? Okay, what is wise and what is unwise? Everyone nobody in this room agrees on everything Nobody agrees on how best a parent a child But we should eat what we should not eat Some people think it's findy fast food Some people think it's sinful to eat fast food They would say that they're We used to deal with this in the past more than we do now today But we might have some that really would be bothered by how people would eat or treat their bodies Because they were convinced that because scripture says And first Corinthians that our bottle bodies are the temple for the Holy Spirit eating unhealthy is abusing the body that Christ has purchased for us And we should take good care of it so soda Unhealthy foods in their minds That was an issue But another Christian thinks that's too far thinks Jesus has declared all foods clean and So they don't have a problem going to McDonald's And so you think well, who's right? How do I know? And if you think it's a sin to eat fast food or to eat unhealthy Where does the line stop? How healthy do you have to be? Does it have to be organic? Scripture does not give us clear commands on many things like this So what are Christians to do? What are Christians supposed to do with with parenting issues For example, look at verse one As for the one who is weak in faith welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions Well, how do you determine if something is a matter of opinion? That's a big question, right Not to quarrel over matter opinion. Well, this person's telling me they've got their verse and Therefore to them, it's it's not a matter of opinion. Here's my verse Regarding the holy scriptures the Westminster Confession says this the whole council I think this should be on the screen the whole council of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory Man salvation faith and life is either expressly set down in Scripture or By good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture so I Think this is pretty basic for many of you if something is commanded in Scripture That does not fall under a matter of conscience. Okay. You do not get to argue that murder is a matter of conscience It is expressly lit down in God's word that you may not murder Now if something is deduced from Scripture by good and necessary consequence, it too is not a matter of conscience So abortion would be a good example of deducing something from Scripture by good and necessary constant consequence. Excuse me But anything else that is not expressly written down in the Word of God or cannot be deduced is a matter of Christian liberty It falls into the banner of your conscience Now what color to paint your room? What car to buy how nice of a car should you buy? Should you celebrate Halloween? Can you drink alcohol? What movies can you watch? What kind of risks are okay for your children? Should your kids wear helmets when they ride their bike should you have a wood stove in your house? What kind of technology? Should your kids have? Should you breastfeed? Should you bottle feed? How long should you let your papies cry before you pick them up? Can they cry at all? The Bible will give us principles to help us think about these things but there's no clear cut line on any of those and The fact is that godly Christians Would differ on pretty much every single thing that I said or brought up These matters and so many more are matters of Conscience of Christian liberty Now I will be honest with you deducing something whether it's a necessary consequence That is where the rub is Okay That is where churches fight. That is where churches dissolve. That is where churches split. That is where Christian relationship breaks down That is where the rub is and we'll talk a little bit more about that here in a bit But first I think it would be wise to stop back and and just answer some basic questions. What is your conscience? What is it? Your conscience is your internal is your consciousness or your internal awareness you could say of What you believe is right and wrong? Okay, everybody has a conscience. It's the little voice in your head that tells you what you're doing is right Or what you're doing is wrong. There's actually a great way to teach your kids about your conscience Is it's the little voice in your head that tells you what this is right or whether this is wrong? Two quick illustrations about our conscience You could say that your conscience is like a guide And if you've read Annie Naselli's book on the conscience that we've recommended for many years these two examples are from him Your conscience is like a guide. It's forward-looking Your conscience can urge you To do good And it can warn you Before you do something bad We've all been there when we've been tempted to sin and your conscience tells you that you shouldn't go there, right? Another illustration is that your conscience is also like a judge And it looks backwards into the past It can command or excuse me it can commend you when you've acted rightly when you've acted justly and It can also condemn you when you've acted wrong And everyone's conscience is calibrated differently Think of an obvious example Many of you have gone down to Planned Parenthood to pray or you've done the rally for life down to the square when it's been cold in January and Many of you have experienced people yelling about you yelling to you Flipping you off yelling profanities arguing that Abortion is health care and you are a bigots and you hate women because you think killing babies is wrong Their conscience Is very differently calibrated than yours about abortion Now their conscience is wrong and their Indefiance of God's word, but you can see our calibration is way different They've seared their conscience so much that they've tried to convince themselves that abortion is good It's not much different than whether a woman should be able to choose if she eats salad or pasta for lunch Our consciences are calibrated differently and even godly Christians When they try to calibrate their conscience to God's word, we still end up in different places And so that's your conscience your internal sense of what you believe is right and wrong Everybody's conscience is calibrated differently and so here's two principles about your conscience. I'll start with the second one Generally, you should always obey your conscience Okay, I'll hold on before you get worried if your conscience tells you to do something Generally you should do it If it tells you not to do something you should not do it Look at verse 23 But whoever has doubts doubts what kind of doubt that's where doubts in your mind Okay in your conscience Is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith For whatever is not perceived from faith is sin So what is Paul saying? He's saying if you're not convinced that this food is okay to eat and you eat it Anyway, you are sinning you're going against your conscience. You're not eating in faith God has given you your conscience as a gift to you to guide you Which leads the first principle God is the only Lord of your conscience You yourself are not the ultimate authority of your conscience neither Are your parents neither is your pastor neither is your friend Those other people may help inform your conscience They might show you where your conscience is calibrated incorrectly with God's word But they are not the ultimate Lord of your conscience remember an axe When God tells Peter It's okay to eat the animals Peter's conscience is telling him no I I can't do this and it's not right for me to do this But God is telling you yes, and he needed to let God be the Lord of his conscience and recalibrate it God is in heaven. He is the Lord of all and He's the Lord of your conscience So if your conscience is convinced that your ten-year-old should not watch a movie Your ten-year-old should not watch the movie Doesn't matter if other ten-year-olds watch that movie Your conscience is convinced that it's not helpful. So your ten-year-old does not watch the movie I'm not in charge to tell you your ten-year-old has to watch that movie None of your friends are your ten-year-old is not in charge God is And so now that we have that foundation Let's look at Romans 14 again and see if we can figure out how we're to act When our consciences disagree As for the one who is weak in faith welcome him but not to quarrel over opinions verse 2 One person believes he may eat anything While the weak person eats only vegetables Let the one who eats despise the one who abstains Of the one who abstains past 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 first off You should be humble Towards one another regardless of whether side of the debate you're on so When Christians were coming out of some of these Jewish traditions Some might have thought it's okay to eat something some would be convinced that it's not And there was conflict But You need to be humble Remember the context the person who's the weak conscience That's the person who thinks it's a sin to eat meat things We should not eat meat and the person with the strong conscience is the person who knows that it's not sinful to eat meat The person not eating meat isn't sinning, right? Verse 6 says the one who eats eats in honor of the Lord since he gives thanks to God While the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God They're not sinning because they're not eating But either side can be sinning if they despise or judge one another So the person with the strong conscience who thinks it's okay to eat meat that person is despot or is tempted to despise the weak person because they just think they're judging other Christians they're For eating it. They think they're weak the person's too legalistic They don't understand the freedom that we have and the weak in faith is always tempted to judge those who are aren't as strict as they are They're tempted to think the strong person doesn't take their faith as seriously Now you are all weak in some areas in your conscience And we love to make rules To make others require to live up to our standards so that we can judge them when they do not live up to them Your heart loves to do this There's a old quote that people attribute to Martin Luther But seems unlikely that it was actually him. He says a pope lives in every man's heart Or every man has a a pope in his belly you might have heard And as I was reading about the Westminster Confession this week I came along to this quote which I thought was really helpful when thinking about liberty We're all tempted to think that we could improve our fellow Christians if we had charge of their conscience We are likewise all liable to imagine that we are doing much better than others than the use of our cherished liberty We would restrict others and relax strictures against ourselves But the scripture requires the reverse Charity towards others and carefulness in the use of our own liberty We ought to give the other brother the benefit of the doubt so our temptation is When it comes when it comes to thinking of others is if you would just follow what I do if you would just have the same calibration of the conscience that I do Your life would be way better off And we must be careful that the convictions that we have and the confidence that we have that we'll talk about in a minute Is not one that's born of pride, but one that comes from faith with humility We all want rules that we can follow so that we can say look they didn't live up to that rule They don't take themselves seriously. They failed. I wish they were just like me their life would go way better if they would just live like me We love rules love man-made rules Because they give us the illusion of godliness. It's like why I've done these rules. I Think my life's going great. They've not done these rules. I see problems in their life. Therefore They would just be like me. They'd be fine God hates this As we'll see in a moment. It's wicked. It's oppressive if it stays in a church the church will be devoured by it But we shouldn't live like this Instead of making God my man-made rules God wants you to live by faith He wants you to let others live by faith to Continue reading in verse 5 one person of steams one day better than another while the other steams all days alike Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind fully convinced The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord the one who eats eats in honor of the Lord Since he gives thanks to God while the other one while the one who abstains abstains not of the Lord And gives thanks to God for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself For if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord So then whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's Not yours the Lord's for to this end Christ died and lived again That he might be Lord both the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you why do you despise your brother? For we all stand before the judgment seat of God for it is written as I live says the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue Shall confess so then I'll ask it so then each of us will give an account to himself to God Why is it so important that we live by faith and not man-made rules? Because faith glorifies God Faith trusts God Faith actually believes that God is in charge of others and not me When you act in faith You let others act in faith without judgment and you glorify the Lord When you make a list of rules that everybody has to follow or else listening you're doing what verse 10 says You're passing judgment on your brother over something that God has not commanded and you're not believing that person is going To stand before the judgment seat of God. I need to judge them. I Can't wait and let God judge them. I Can't wait and let God discipline them Instead have faith trust God You may think that your decision this is your making Regarding school choice is better than the decision that your brother is sitting next to you Fine, you should think that Because you should be convinced and then you should act in faith But you should hold that humbly On every decision that is a matter of conscience you need to be convinced of it and you need to act in faith So verse 5 says you should be fully convinced in your own mind verse 23 says whoever has doubts is condemned to eat Because his eating is not from faith For whatever does not proceed proceed from faith is sin. So how do we make decisions when scripture isn't clear and what's your process? You should pray about it. You should seek wisdom. You should do research. You should ask good questions to others You should trust God and you should act in faith Whatever your decision you come to about anything It's important that you're fully convinced about it And you act in faith That's the second point acting in faith Means you're convinced of your decision your convince your decision is the most honoring to God and it's the best for your family and you trust God But what's just as important in acting in faith is how you hold the position you come to you don't quarrel about it You don't pass judgment on others who are convinced differently than you you welcome them just as God is welcome to you You assume that the person who is different from you Who's refraining or who's partaking you assume they are doing so to the glory of God A brother that does something that you think is not best you think is wrong Scripture has informed your conscience a certain way But your assumption should be your starting place should be the person's doing it differently, but they're doing it to the glory of God as well How do you know the motives of their heart Don't think someone is selfish in their parenting because they do it differently than you Assume that they're fully convinced that the way that they're doing it Is best to glorify God and they're acting in faith Assume your fellow brothers are drinking wine to the glory of God a Church that begins with this assumption is a beautiful place. It's a freeing and it's a welcoming place and It's full of love and unity now I told you over the last six months I've had lots of different conversations that reminded me of the conscience So let me give you one of those that we are some of the men were arguing about many of you Know this man Called Brian save when you view love his songs. He's got podcast and He's been very helpful to many of you, including myself and he had a post the other day He's a pastor out in Utah. He had a post the other day regarding public school And he shared that nobody in their church goes to public school Except for where they don't have full custody of their child or some situation like that Not other kids go to public school. I have no issue with that. That's the culture of the church. Great But then he goes on and he says that they would withhold membership to anybody who sends their kids to public school and Brian is dead wrong about that To refuse baptism and to withhold the Lord's table because another person is convinced differently regarding you or regarding public school is a degree too far It is good for somebody to be convinced of their school choice You should be convinced of your school choice and I know we don't live in a perfect world But for many of us we are able to send our kids to our number one school choice or what we would want Some of you can't do that but for many of us we're convinced that this is best and we send our kids to a certain place Because we believe it's most glorifying to God and you know me listen We send our kids to a Christian school in town If you ask me about public school, I would tell you I don't think you should do it I would encourage families to avoid public school because I'm convinced that my position is best You should be convinced that your position is best Now that sounds like it's the opposite of what I just said I said the first point was to be humble and then it says well I'm convinced But it's not arrogant to think that your decision about school choice is best Why would a parent Have a conviction about something and then intentionally act against it You know that there's a difference between being convinced and being confident and humble and arrogant many of you have probably got into doctors offices and You know the confidence arrogant doctor But you also probably have it experienced with a convinced confidence humble doctor and the difference between those two people is wild The confident arrogant doctor just makes you feel like you want to get out there as quick You don't want to be around him. You can't stand him He doesn't listen to any of your concerns The confident humble man is such a comfort to you Okay You were told by scripture to be fully convinced in your mind and you act without It's not coming from faith and it's sin So yes, hold whatever position you have with humility be open to the possibility that you could be wrong But you are required to act With faith And Brian is a good man in lots of ways He's been helpful as I've said, but it's it's good for you to hear warnings regarding faithful brothers It's easy for us in our Christian world to just speak of people outside the church Let me talk about the culture and how bad the culture is. Let me talk about Bloomington and how bad Bloomington is Pretty much all agreed on that that's easy stuff for a pastor to do but It's much harder for a pastor to say something critical of another pastor that's in their same circles But it's good for a pastor to say that The next generation of well, let me just say this Lots of critical Lots of pastors were critical over the last 20 years Of the pastors in the 90s and the 2000s Who they always felt like they were scratching each other's ears. Nobody talked Nobody corrected anybody. Nobody talked poorly about anybody. Nobody said hey This person is thinking wrong because they wanted to protect their speaking gigs and they wanted to protect their book deals And if they were to speak up against this person that might Have qualms with the publisher and that publisher is not going to publish their books anymore. And so everybody's scratching each other's backs To make lots of money And so this next generation of Christian leaders kind of comes up and they're all done with that But in lots of ways they're doing the same things Now they'll tell you the reason that they Don't rebuke or push back on their brothers right now. It's very popular To say that Well, we're gonna just defeat all of our enemies to our left and we're not going to worry about punching right right now Yeah, we'll we'll go deal with them eventually, but First we have bigger fish to fry And so these smaller disagreements. We're just not really going to worry about That's the reason they'll tell you they don't disagree But i'm not so sure that's accurate or honest It's particular something like this On that post I didn't see one Of the newer christian leaders pushed back at all on brian or give support to it And I think that's because They're just doing the same things that they accuse the people of And the 2000s and the 90s. They're scratching each other's back This isn't a minor issue to withhold baptism from somebody to withhold the lord's table because They're convinced That public school is disobedience to Ephesians 4 It's a degree too far It's a fine position to hold personally But to withhold giving somebody confidence That they're a christian To withhold the waters of baptism to not let somebody come to the table That is a big decision But that is also what we do in our hearts to other people If you're a church member, let me just say this if you're a church member and you disagree with that You should come talk to me and i'd be happy to talk to you about We're happy to be convinced that you're convinced on a position of schooling We're not okay that you can pass judgment and divide a church over it But that's not all god says about how we're to act when our opinions differ Look at verse 13. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one Another any longer but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother I know and am persuaded in the lord that nothing is unclean in itself What it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean For if your brother is grieved by what you eat You are no longer walking in love But what you eat do not destroy by what you eat do not destroy the one for whom price died So do not look you what you regard is good be spoken of as evil for the king of god is not a matter of eating and drinking But righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit Whoever Thus serves christ is acceptable to god and approved by men So let him let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbringing Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of god now the work of god is the work of god in somebody's life Do not for the sake of god destroy the sake of food destroy the work of god Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats It is good to not eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble The faith that you have keep between yourself and god Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves But whoever doubts is condemned if he eats because eating is not from faith For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin So another thing to do when dealing with others who differ on your conscience is to be sensitive To be humble be convinced be sensitive Let's talk about the stumbling block issue. We often think of the stumbling block issue like this Do you think if this is going to offend somebody or somebody's going to disagree with me I'm just not going to do it That's not exactly what it means to be a stumbling to not be a stumbling block Or to cause your brother to stumble If that's how we lived the weaker brother would just be a tyrant and run the ship and be in charge of everything Everything that they thought In a situation the weaker brother would win and they would dictate everything They don't want coffee. We don't do coffee They don't think people should drink alcohol. No one drinks alcohol They don't want somebody to use the instruments in worship. We don't use the guitar That's not what it means That we create a mess Think of kids riding a bike. Let's say i'm okay with my kids not wearing helmets Maybe chris knell is He wants the kids to have helmets on I know let's say I know that chris He might be bothered by it He might not like it if he comes over and he sees my kids out in the yard not wearing their helmets And so What am i am i just to either not let my kids ride bikes anymore? Or do I have to make them get a helmet on when the snails come over? This is not a position that chris knell holds just so you know, I don't know what his positions are helmets. I don't really worry but for example Okay But let's say archie makes his kids wear helmets and knee pads And And so now what am I my kids can't wear ride their bike without helmets or knee pads if archie comes over And neo he has net helmets knee pads risk braces and Ben requires all of those But also shoulder pads Very safe You can see how absurd this can get very quickly if we just say We're going to do whatever the weaker brother wants Because then everybody comes hot becomes hostage to wherever the strictest convictions are You wouldn't be able to do anything Without somebody in your church getting mad or offended So not putting a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother cannot mean making sure that Nobody disagrees with you or nobody is offended by what you choose to do Because somebody will always be offended Not causing a brother to stumble means not tempting them to go against their conscience Look at verse 21. It is good Not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to assemble The faith you have keep between yourself and god Blesses the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves For whatever he doubts But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So think through this Paul says it's good to not do something if it's going to cause your brother to stumble Let's think about drinking alcohol. Somebody is a repenting Drunkard in our church Let's say there's a repenting drunkard in our church And now in their conscience their convinced for them that's a drink even a sip of alcohol Would be sin But if I flaunt my freedom to drink alcohol around this brother and I make it easily accessible for this brother To get alcohol Even though we I know they're tempted by it and I just leave it out Don't worry about it Or I encourage them drink. Hey, it's not that bad It'll be fine. It's just one drink That would be tempting somebody to go against their conscience and that would be causing them And being a stumbling block to them And so you can think about that practically you can think about like church potlucks like why don't Many people in this church drink alcohol. Why don't we have alcohol at potlucks Not because we think it's sin For a church to drink But we have brothers who have struggled with alcohol And having it easily accessible in our In the elders minds and our decision Would tend people to go against their conscience and so simply We just simply don't have it there But simply holding different opinions is not making somebody Causing somebody to stumble. You have a different opinion. That's not causing someone to stumble We have to be able to hold different opinions in this church. So go back to the bike example I can have my kids over to ride their bike And they might not have their helmets on and I'm not worried about Archie's opinion of me and my kids Regarding the helmet. I'm not worried about Ben's opinion of me even though he's the strictest in the church I may know that they don't do that But I am not tempting Either of these men to change their convictions or telling them they have to You The final point is this live at peace be peaceful Verse 17 one more time For the kingdom of god is not a matter of eating or drinking or but of righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit But whoever whoever thus serves christ is acceptable to god and approved by men Very important, whoever thus serves christ is acceptable to god and approved by men So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbringing God accepts your brother and your sister who differs from you in opinion. So do not reject them Pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding you know what Makes for peace and mutual entering defend one another's freedom You Pursue peace and mutual upbringing when you defend other people's freedom to live before god with faith and a good conscience Even if it differs from what you think is right Let's say you're a person who is convinced that all children should get their childhood vaccinations. They should get all of them Okay Even if you are convinced of that you should defend another brother's right Who feels differently and convinced before god That they will refrain from vaccinations Even though you might think that's the wrong way to do it You in love defend their rights This is what so many christians got wrong during covid Someone may have been convinced that as a christian the loving thing to do was to get the vaccine But they should have also fought for the freedom of the brother to not get the vaccine Because the kingdom of god is not about eating or drinking or vaccines or childhood education But of righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit Even if you think your brother is wrong If the matter is not clear in scripture Even if you think I think this informs me and so therefore This is why I do this, but if another brother is convinced in faith From scripture in a different way You should defend Their ability to be able to think differently and to hold that opinion. That's the only way a church can live at peace Because if you do not fight for that you will judge and you will despise others And it snowballs quickly And some of you have been here over the years and you've seen it snowball quickly If you do not defend your brother's freedom to live before god In a certain way I guarantee you that you will either judge or despise the person for being foolish You may look like you're living at peace with them from the outside, but inside That's not what's happening You think that you are superior to them And you can never fully live at peace with the person when you look down at them With contempt to pride Doesn't matter if you keep your mouth shut The way you love will not be pleasing to the lord So what matters of conscience? Are you judging or despising others about? In what ways do you make the kingdom about not about righteousness not about joy not about peace But about something else You must be humble in your disagreements. You must be sensitive to others You must be convinced that what you're doing Is best and you should do it from faith But be humble be sensitive and live at peace Let's pray Father, I Very much know that there are lingering questions and applications And I do pray that Just as you have in the past that you would help us work out our salvation with fear and trembling and that you would help us Continue to Figure out the ways that we need to grow And loving others that differ from us in matters of conscience and christian liberty Father You have protected our church over the years You have helped us be so much better at this than we were years ago And we ask that you would continue to teach us and continue to just instruct us Be merciful to us Correct us where we need to be corrected Help us not put a stumbling block in front of others Help us not be arrogant or prideful But instead help us be humble Opposite by faith Help us be sensitive to others And help us look for ways that we can live at peace and from mutual upbuilding We ask all these things in jesus name, amen Well, thank you for being here today [BLANK_AUDIO]