back to index5-27-18 "In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity" Part 2
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Romans chapter 14, and I'm going to be reading from verse 5 all the way down to verse 12. 00:00:08.600 |
This is the second part of the sermon that we started last week about dealing with this 00:00:13.840 |
very practical issue in the church about division. 00:00:23.400 |
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. 00:00:28.400 |
Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 00:00:30.680 |
The one who observed the day observes it in honor of the Lord. 00:00:33.640 |
The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one 00:00:37.280 |
who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 00:00:40.800 |
For none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. 00:00:44.080 |
For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. 00:00:47.060 |
So then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 00:00:50.800 |
For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and 00:00:56.540 |
Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? 00:01:00.280 |
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 00:01:03.300 |
For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue 00:01:08.980 |
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. 00:01:17.840 |
Grace and loving Father, we thank you so much for this morning. 00:01:24.140 |
We thank you for the grace, Lord, that causes us to stand. 00:01:28.600 |
Help us, Lord, to lift up our eyes, our thoughts, our mind, our will, all of it, Lord God, to 00:01:40.240 |
Help us to hear the voice of Christ that we may follow him and no other. 00:01:47.560 |
As you guys know, we're continuing the series in the book of Romans in chapter 14, one through 00:01:52.720 |
Paul is giving us very practical advice of how to apply love in the church. 00:02:01.000 |
One of the biggest issues that we have in the church, and it's just not just in the 00:02:05.120 |
modern era, but all throughout church history, is the division that comes into the church. 00:02:11.240 |
What makes the church beautiful is the diversity. 00:02:15.000 |
Different background, different economic status, different culture, that God has placed us 00:02:19.480 |
all together and he took away the barriers between the Jews and the Gentiles, between 00:02:24.240 |
nationalities, cultures, economic status, and made us all one family. 00:02:29.880 |
The things that cause division in the society, he took that barrier away and he put us together. 00:02:36.640 |
The glue that binds us together is this love, is the gospel message itself, that we are 00:02:42.480 |
Whether you are Nicodemus, you are a high person in society, or whether you are a Samaritan 00:02:46.720 |
woman who is afraid to even go out during the day because of the judgment and the stare 00:02:51.640 |
from other people, that God equalized where we stand in God's kingdom. 00:02:57.480 |
So the beauty of the church is the diversity, but the very thing that makes the church what 00:03:08.380 |
Because of this diversity, because of the differences, because of our paradigm and the 00:03:12.760 |
way that we view things, that when the glue of Christ isn't at the center of what we are 00:03:25.240 |
Division is already existing in our very nature of who we are. 00:03:28.400 |
The people that we like, we're extroverted, introverted, our hobbies. 00:03:31.920 |
We like to sing fast songs, slow songs, we want the lights turned off or on, and we all 00:03:36.720 |
have different preferences of how we want to live our lives, what we prefer. 00:03:41.200 |
And if we take the glue that brings us together and makes that a side issue, and we begin 00:03:47.440 |
to highlight our opinions and our thoughts, independent of that, automatically there's 00:03:54.660 |
So it wouldn't be an understatement to say that one of the greatest challenges in living 00:04:01.420 |
the Christian life is staying together, fighting to become one. 00:04:07.120 |
I remember in the early days of going out to China, the very first person that we brought 00:04:13.140 |
the gospel to became a Christian, and she became our first contact in China. 00:04:17.800 |
And I went during the winter time just to try to follow up with her, with another pastor 00:04:24.760 |
friend of mine, and we went to China and we were trying to introduce her to a local Bible 00:04:30.100 |
And I remember going to that Bible study, and again this is probably what, 1999 or year 00:04:34.640 |
2000, and I took her to the Bible study, some of you guys may remember, her name was Lucy. 00:04:41.080 |
And right off the bat, I could tell something was off in this Bible study, because the whole 00:04:44.880 |
Bible study was about why King James is the only version that any Christian should read, 00:04:49.520 |
and that was the whole thing that he spread out. 00:04:52.160 |
So I was hoping like, okay, you know, tolerate this and then we'll move on, because obviously 00:04:59.520 |
But the whole Bible study was about why King James is the only version that you should 00:05:04.840 |
So obviously I was disappointed, it was about an hour and a half of Bible study, and the 00:05:08.800 |
room was filled with probably about 80% non-Christian, and maybe a couple Christians scattered throughout 00:05:14.680 |
here and there, and this was a Western missionary from the South who came and was leading this 00:05:20.200 |
And if that wasn't bad enough, the end conclusion of this Bible study was, don't trust the other 00:05:28.720 |
And then there was a Calvary Chapel missionary that was down the street, there was a Southern 00:05:32.360 |
Baptist missionary that initially I had some contact with, and he specifically named those 00:05:37.120 |
people and said, "Don't go to their Bible study because they don't use King James, so 00:05:43.240 |
And then they prayed and then we separated, right? 00:05:46.280 |
So as we were walking out, you know, obviously Lucy was confused, and I was trying to introduce 00:05:50.440 |
her to this Bible study, and the first question that she asked me was, "Why are you Christians 00:05:57.320 |
And obviously, you know, I was trying to give her the right answers, you know, very young 00:06:01.400 |
Christian, and in the end, there really wasn't any good answer, except that's not what God 00:06:10.200 |
I wish I could tell you that that is unique to my experience in China, but you know as 00:06:17.680 |
If you've been a Christian for any period of time, you know how divided the church is. 00:06:22.600 |
There are some things that we can clearly understand why we are divided, and then there 00:06:27.960 |
are some things that if we, the more we explain it, the more confused we get. 00:06:35.920 |
This is not a challenge just to the new church. 00:06:38.960 |
This was a challenge from the very beginning of the church, because initially, we talked 00:06:43.140 |
about last week, you had a church filled with people who are former Jews, who lived, and 00:06:48.640 |
the more faithful they were to obeying the dietary laws and the Sabbath and various New 00:06:53.900 |
Moon festivals, the more faithful they were to that, they had a harder time transitioning 00:06:58.480 |
into the new covenant, where the gospel basically said all that was fulfilled in Christ, that 00:07:02.960 |
we no longer need to abide by these ceremonial laws. 00:07:07.560 |
And so the more faithful Jew they were, the harder time that they had. 00:07:11.160 |
So it naturally caused divisions in the early church. 00:07:14.840 |
Now we talked about last week that Paul clearly identifies with the stronger, meaning that 00:07:20.320 |
he was the one who was trying to teach them, we need to move beyond that, but he was being 00:07:24.840 |
very patient, because he understood why this division was taking place. 00:07:30.980 |
We already shared that it wasn't a division between a group of people who really loved 00:07:37.040 |
the Lord and another group of people who were compromising. 00:07:40.260 |
It wasn't a division between idolaters versus people who loved Christ. 00:07:45.840 |
He made it very clear that both groups were loving God. 00:07:49.840 |
Both groups were trying to honor God, and that's oftentimes the hardest thing to deal 00:07:53.440 |
with in the church, when you have two groups who are doing their best to honor and to love 00:07:58.400 |
God, and yet we are not on the same page, which is common, and it is unavoidable, and 00:08:07.280 |
So Paul is giving very practical advice on how to deal with something that permeates 00:08:15.740 |
It is not unique to our church, it is not unique to the first century church, it is 00:08:20.000 |
not unique to church in China or church in the United States. 00:08:23.480 |
Everywhere where Christians are gathered together, there is this issue of how do we come to become 00:08:31.320 |
So in the text that we're looking at this morning, starting from verse 5 to 12, he gives 00:08:35.680 |
us three principles, three things that I think will highlight and give us very practical 00:08:41.060 |
advice on how we ought to approach this issue. 00:08:44.680 |
Now let me say right off the bat, before we even jump in, Paul is not saying, he is not 00:08:53.280 |
Paul is not saying that you should never fight. 00:08:56.880 |
He is not saying that we should just kind of sweep every difference under the rug and 00:09:03.880 |
If you know anything about Paul, Paul knows how to draw lines. 00:09:08.200 |
If you remember Galatians, he says if anybody preaches the gospel other than what I preach 00:09:13.400 |
He had no problem calling out Peter, the leader among the apostles. 00:09:17.560 |
He had no problem calling out Barnabas, who actually stood up for him. 00:09:22.200 |
So Paul is not saying that you shouldn't fight for certain things, that you shouldn't have 00:09:28.720 |
But in dealing with the conflict that naturally arises in a church that is diverse in opinion, 00:09:34.360 |
diverse in background, how do we deal with it? 00:09:37.680 |
What are some fundamental principles that are given to us how we ought to approach all 00:09:42.760 |
We're going to deal with the three things that I believe will help us in these principles. 00:09:48.680 |
Number one, we are called first and foremost to judge ourselves. 00:09:55.840 |
In verse five it says, "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another 00:10:02.220 |
Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." 00:10:08.000 |
Now if you read that carefully, you should have asked the question, "Isn't this the 00:10:12.680 |
reason why there was a division in the first place?" 00:10:16.000 |
Because they all determined in their own mind what they thought was right, but they didn't 00:10:22.280 |
So is Paul just reemphasizing what was causing the problem in the first place? 00:10:26.800 |
Clearly that can't be what he's talking about, because that was the reason why there 00:10:33.720 |
He is not calling that everybody just determine for yourself what is good and just practice 00:10:43.400 |
I think it will give us a little bit more clarity if we keep reading in verse six when 00:10:46.640 |
he says, "The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord. 00:10:51.760 |
The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. 00:10:55.160 |
While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God." 00:11:00.640 |
So what is he talking about in verse five when he says, "Be fully convinced in his own 00:11:06.120 |
What he is saying in verse six is that determine for yourself why you are doing what you are 00:11:16.980 |
There are two false applications that whenever we try to determine what is righteous and 00:11:22.320 |
what is unrighteous, or what is sinful and not sinful, you have what we call legalism. 00:11:29.440 |
And legalists tend to emphasize simply the external, the objective truth. 00:11:36.920 |
This is what righteousness looks like in my life and this is what righteousness should 00:11:41.740 |
So their emphasis is just simply on the objective truth. 00:11:47.020 |
And then you have the other end of the spectrum where we could call them licentious or worldly, 00:11:52.400 |
where their determination of what is right and wrong is completely relative. 00:11:59.040 |
And so the way they come to the conclusion is, "Well, it doesn't bother me." 00:12:02.320 |
Or if they say it is right, who are we to judge them? 00:12:06.160 |
We should never judge anybody if they seem sincere. 00:12:09.520 |
So right and wrong is simply based upon their sincerity. 00:12:14.760 |
Now either end will get us in trouble because the scripture clearly tells us that whether 00:12:19.800 |
we are aware of the sin or not, there are things that God will determine sinful even 00:12:27.080 |
Paul says that of himself in Acts chapter 23 verse 1. 00:12:30.480 |
As he is standing before the Sanhedrin, he describes his life as a Jew like this. 00:12:36.200 |
Looking intently at the council, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God 00:12:43.720 |
Paul described his life to be righteous in his own mind, in clear conscience. 00:12:50.120 |
Now the Jews when they heard this got angry because they disagreed with him. 00:12:55.060 |
Because if you truly lived righteously, you wouldn't be proclaiming Christ. 00:13:00.640 |
Because the Pharisees, this is exactly how they were living. 00:13:04.640 |
They were trying their best to objectively, these are the things that a good Jew does, 00:13:11.920 |
Do you remember that encounter that Jesus has with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 00:13:17.560 |
Where they're going back and forth and Jesus reveals himself to be the Messiah and the 00:13:22.880 |
Samaritan woman basically says, "You guys worship in that mountain or in this mountain." 00:13:27.540 |
And she was basically thrown out of the smoke screen, identifying the difference between 00:13:34.980 |
And Jesus says to her in that context, "If you want to know the truth, the Jews have 00:13:42.980 |
And if you want to simply determine righteousness by truth, you guys are wrong. 00:13:47.900 |
The Samaritans are the ones who compromised and went astray. 00:13:53.320 |
But what God is looking for is not simply truth, but spirit and truth." 00:14:01.380 |
Meaning righteousness, and right and wrong, isn't simply determined by objective truth, 00:14:08.540 |
but also subjective, meaning your motive matters. 00:14:13.320 |
Why you do something is just as important as what you're doing. 00:14:16.500 |
That's exactly what the problem with what the Pharisees were. 00:14:19.620 |
They complied to the objective truth better than anybody else. 00:14:27.020 |
They wanted to make sure that they kept the law so perfectly that God wouldn't be able 00:14:34.620 |
And yet when Christ showed up, he pointed out their sin left and right. 00:14:43.740 |
You're doing all of these things objectively, but internally, it's nothing more than a 00:14:50.980 |
So what Paul is highlighting here is first and foremost to examine ourselves. 00:15:05.460 |
Because you can come to church all your life and do the right thing, say the right things, 00:15:12.020 |
give the right things, and be dead wrong in the presence of God. 00:15:23.900 |
You can be the biggest donor in the church and be dead wrong in the presence of God. 00:15:30.660 |
He's saying first and foremost, if you want to determine what is right and wrong, first 00:15:39.360 |
Because there is objective truth, but there is also subjective truth as your motive. 00:15:42.620 |
In James chapter 4, verse 17, it says, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails 00:15:53.860 |
But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the 00:15:59.700 |
For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be 00:16:05.700 |
encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered to idols? 00:16:09.340 |
And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed. 00:16:12.420 |
The brother for whom Christ died, thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience 00:16:20.100 |
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat lest I make my brother 00:16:26.380 |
The apostle Paul describes what is sinful in the context of a weak brother. 00:16:31.860 |
He's not simply saying, he believes that if you embrace the new covenant that these things 00:16:41.340 |
But he's not determining sin and righteousness simply objectively. 00:16:46.340 |
He's determining in his own heart in that context the motive behind what he is doing 00:16:54.140 |
And that's exactly what he is saying here first and foremost. 00:16:58.540 |
Determine in your own heart your motive or why you're doing what you're doing. 00:17:02.900 |
Remember in Acts chapter 16 when apostle Paul first picks up Timothy to be his disciple? 00:17:09.520 |
The very first thing that Paul does with Timothy, do you remember? 00:17:15.060 |
And then yet when we get to Galatians chapter 2 verse 3, Paul boasts that he didn't circumcise 00:17:22.040 |
So if you read the scriptures carefully, you may look at that on the surface and say, Paul 00:17:27.900 |
One, he circumcised and then the other he boasts that he didn't circumcise. 00:17:36.800 |
I mean, it's been going around for a while where Paul's theology changed in time. 00:17:41.260 |
And they'll interpret this as like, well, he didn't know earlier on, but later on in 00:17:44.940 |
his ministry he realized he was wrong and so he changed his mind. 00:17:47.900 |
Obviously, that is not a biblical right theology. 00:17:52.020 |
Paul circumcised Timothy because every city he went, he was preaching the gospel in the 00:18:00.000 |
So as a young Jew who wasn't circumcised, he wouldn't have been able to get into the 00:18:04.740 |
But for the purpose of preaching the gospel, he had Timothy circumcised. 00:18:11.620 |
So to circumcise Titus at what he was doing with Titus, it would have confused the gospel. 00:18:18.300 |
One he circumcises, the other one he doesn't circumcise, all for the same purpose of preaching 00:18:27.100 |
And that's why it says in Hebrews chapter 4, 12, the word of God judges the thoughts 00:18:37.980 |
If we study the scriptures simply to acknowledge what is right and what is wrong, at the end 00:18:44.100 |
of the day, all we become are Pharisees who are good at pointing out what other people 00:18:50.660 |
He says the goal of Bible study ultimately is to know God and that by knowing God, that 00:18:57.180 |
God in his word would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. 00:19:03.660 |
But when we approach the word of God as simply objective truth and we pile up all this theology 00:19:09.160 |
that we're filled in our heads of knowledge, then we become experts in pointing out what 00:19:16.040 |
But the point of the Bible study is to judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. 00:19:19.980 |
And that's exactly what Paul is calling us to in this text. 00:19:23.480 |
First and foremost, as we are wrestling with this difference of opinion to focus our attention 00:19:28.900 |
and judge the thoughts and intentions of our own heart first. 00:19:32.540 |
Secondly, we are called to establish Christ as Lord in all things. 00:19:38.780 |
Are the reasons why we are wrestling and struggling ultimately about his glory? 00:19:44.660 |
He says, do whatever you do, do it in the honor of the Lord. 00:19:48.100 |
In verse 7 it says, "For none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself." 00:19:53.500 |
If we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the Lord. 00:19:57.260 |
So then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 00:20:01.320 |
For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and 00:20:07.740 |
Let me stop right there before I even read verse 11. 00:20:09.940 |
You notice how he doesn't simply say that he died and we ought to establish Christ. 00:20:15.420 |
He says, to this end Christ died and lived again. 00:20:24.380 |
The purpose of his death and resurrection is to establish Christ as Lord. 00:20:30.680 |
So much of our Christian life is frustrated because fundamentally we get that wrong. 00:20:36.660 |
That we think that Christ delivered us from this bondage of sin so that now we can enjoy 00:20:42.580 |
Superficially, fundamentally, that is correct but it is incomplete. 00:20:48.620 |
What was lost at the fall, the main core of human rebellion is to reject him as Lord. 00:20:56.660 |
That's what Adam and Eve did when God clearly told them not to do this. 00:21:04.500 |
And so they rejected his commandment and decided to live by what they thought was right. 00:21:10.900 |
And it was something simple as eating a fruit. 00:21:17.900 |
It was a simple, deliberate, willful rebellion against God's Lordship in their life. 00:21:24.980 |
So if redemption is to restore what was lost, what was lost is Lordship of God. 00:21:33.180 |
So Paul says here, the whole point of the Gospel, the whole point of our gathering, 00:21:40.880 |
the whole point of Bible study, the whole point of evangelism, our fellowship, everything 00:21:45.360 |
that we do is for the purpose, for this end, it says, he died. 00:21:53.060 |
So our ultimate goal, our ultimate end is not your family. 00:21:58.320 |
It's not so that you can have a safe place to raise your kids. 00:22:03.260 |
It is not a place where we can share our lives and comfort each other. 00:22:07.100 |
These are all byproducts, great things to have, but the end goal of everything that 00:22:26.100 |
Sometimes God will end somebody's life for his glory. 00:22:31.860 |
Sometimes we will live a long life for his glory. 00:22:34.860 |
Sometimes you will live a healthy life for his glory. 00:22:41.000 |
Sometimes you will have a great job and pay your bills for his glory. 00:22:46.280 |
Sometimes you will struggle and have a difficult time for his glory. 00:22:52.720 |
The end goal with our conflict, the end goal of why we need to be united is not you, it's 00:23:03.120 |
It is not about having money or not having money. 00:23:07.640 |
You can eat and give glory to God and you cannot eat and give glory to God. 00:23:12.680 |
I know plenty of people who have a lot of money who are righteous people. 00:23:20.800 |
And I know people who are very poor in honoring and loving God. 00:23:25.880 |
I know people in the Presbyterian church that I look up to. 00:23:28.760 |
I know people in the Charismatic group that I look up to. 00:23:30.880 |
I don't agree with all their theology, but they give God the glory. 00:23:39.360 |
In Mark chapter 2, 27-28, Jesus was constantly being accused of breaking the Sabbath. 00:23:46.480 |
But Jesus turns the table on them and he says, in verse 27, he says, "The Sabbath was made 00:23:55.320 |
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." 00:23:58.560 |
In other words, he says the whole point of the Sabbath was given to man so that you would 00:24:05.080 |
But there was nothing that burdened a Jew more than the Sabbath. 00:24:09.840 |
And the irony of the conflict was the word Sabbath basically meant rest. 00:24:16.720 |
There was probably nothing more that brought burden upon a Jew than the Sabbath because 00:24:22.320 |
they created all of these laws that they needed to follow and they were examining everybody 00:24:31.440 |
Did you milk the cow or did you not milk the cow? 00:24:34.800 |
Did you turn on the light or did you not turn on the light? 00:24:36.840 |
Did you touch the fire or not turn on the fire? 00:24:38.760 |
I mean, they made the Sabbath into the hardest day of all the other days. 00:24:45.760 |
So Jesus turns the table around and said, first of all, Sabbath means rest. 00:24:52.840 |
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. 00:24:57.440 |
He says further on, he says, "But the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath." 00:25:11.480 |
And on the seventh day, he told man to glorify God. 00:25:16.960 |
He was made in the image of God to reflect his glory. 00:25:21.280 |
And when the Sabbath was broken, what does the scripture say? 00:25:30.100 |
So the point of the Sabbath is to bring glory back to God. 00:25:35.760 |
So ultimately, the reason why we need to work toward unity is for his glory. 00:25:42.560 |
Not because of the Beroean Community Church, not because of my family, not because of my 00:25:49.200 |
Philippians 2, 9-11, it says, "Therefore God has highly exalted and bestowed on him the 00:25:53.400 |
name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in 00:25:57.680 |
heaven and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, through 00:26:05.320 |
The text that I just read to you is a portion of the earliest hymn that we know of the church. 00:26:12.120 |
You know, kind of like some churches practice Apostles' Creed or we have the Lord's Prayer. 00:26:16.720 |
They believe, the church fathers believe, the church historians believe that that was 00:26:19.940 |
a hymn that the early church recited back toward one another. 00:26:23.280 |
So it was kind of like their first Apostles' Creed that stated the most core doctrines 00:26:31.200 |
And I just read to you the end portion of it, which was exaltation of God. 00:26:35.440 |
That every knee should bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:26:39.660 |
But the beginning of this hymn starts with Paul telling the church, "Do not consider 00:26:44.400 |
yourself better than anybody else, consider others better than yourself." 00:26:47.760 |
And then he says, "Have the mind of Christ, who emptied himself, became nothing, humbled 00:26:52.160 |
himself, took on the form of man, even to the point of being hung on the cross." 00:26:59.000 |
So the path of his glory was his humiliation. 00:27:08.780 |
And so what Paul, in this passage and every other passage that he teaches us about love, 00:27:14.000 |
is to bring the greatest glory to God, the path to do that is to humble yourself before 00:27:23.280 |
So examine ourselves, bring God the glory, ultimately, and again, those are the two principles 00:27:32.920 |
Let me give you a practical illustration of this in my life. 00:27:42.240 |
Some of you guys may like him, some of you guys may not, I don't know. 00:27:47.920 |
There was a period when I listened to him pretty regularly, because, not necessarily 00:27:53.280 |
because of the exposition, but he's a passionate guy and I know that he practices what he preaches. 00:27:58.960 |
But I love his preaching, I love his passion, I love his examples, but one thing just really 00:28:08.520 |
If you watch his videos, he's always wearing a slipper when he preaches. 00:28:14.880 |
So first time I watched it, I was like, "Oh, maybe there's a baptism going on today." 00:28:21.480 |
And sure enough, every week I'm watching, he's wearing slippers. 00:28:23.720 |
And then sometimes he has ripped jeans, and sometimes, he's wearing very casual clothes. 00:28:28.680 |
So I never knew why he was doing that, it just didn't sit well with me. 00:28:32.200 |
So I love his preaching, if he would just change his shoes, it would be so much better 00:28:39.680 |
So I actually looked it up to see why does he wear slippers, of all things, I mean, maybe 00:28:43.920 |
even tennis shoes I can tolerate, okay, but slippers? 00:28:47.920 |
So I actually looked it up and there's a video of him explaining why he wears slippers on 00:28:53.560 |
So his explanation was that he wants his church to not be a Sunday Christian. 00:29:01.900 |
So he wants them to be consistent Monday through Sunday. 00:29:04.280 |
He doesn't want people to kind of dress up for Sunday and pretend to be somebody that 00:29:09.680 |
So because he wears slippers throughout the week, he wants to come up on the pulpit and 00:29:14.680 |
to teach his congregation that I want you to love the Lord all week long, Monday through 00:29:22.060 |
And that's why he dresses the way he does, because he wants every day to be consistent. 00:29:35.900 |
I understood why he was in it, and I respected him for it. 00:29:40.360 |
One day I'm going to write a letter to him, "Please change your shoes." 00:29:46.320 |
I know you don't know who I am, but it would help the kingdom if you just wore regular 00:29:56.240 |
I think Sunday worship, corporate worship, is set apart. 00:29:59.440 |
That we ought to be consistent Monday through Saturday, but Sunday corporate worship is 00:30:04.440 |
Corporate worship where the gathering of believers are together ought to be set apart and we 00:30:08.680 |
should, there should be extra sacredness of the gathering of believers, of the community. 00:30:13.320 |
There are certain things that are considered more sacred, just like the Holy of Holies 00:30:16.960 |
were more sacred than the outer court, and then the outer court outside of the wall, 00:30:21.040 |
all of these have different levels of sacredness. 00:30:28.120 |
But I respect him, and I understand why he's doing what he is doing, so that helps me. 00:30:34.000 |
But that is not something that I need to fight for. 00:30:37.600 |
I'm not going to stand here and say, "No slippers. 00:30:44.940 |
You must do that," because that's simply my opinion, and this is my preference. 00:30:50.960 |
And so the Scripture says, "Ultimately, he's trying to establish Christ as Lord, and I'm 00:30:55.840 |
trying to establish Christ as Lord in our church, and it just doesn't look the same." 00:30:59.400 |
So again, Apostle Paul is saying, "Ultimately, make sure that he is glorified." 00:31:04.000 |
Third and finally, we are called to remember that God is the ultimate judge. 00:31:13.720 |
In Romans 4, 14, 10 through 12, "Why do you pass judgment on your brothers, or you, why 00:31:20.320 |
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 00:31:23.760 |
So then each of us will give an account of himself." 00:31:28.040 |
What does it mean for Christians to be judged? 00:31:31.280 |
He says, "Don't judge because God's going to judgment." 00:31:35.080 |
Because in John 5, 24, it says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes 00:31:42.160 |
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." 00:31:44.840 |
He clearly says, "Salvation means that we are not under judgment." 00:31:50.080 |
And yet, here it says, "Don't judge because God will judge." 00:31:53.720 |
Romans 8, 1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." 00:32:00.180 |
So are we misunderstanding here when he says, "There is no condemnation, there is no judgment," 00:32:04.360 |
and yet he says, "Do not judge because God is going to ultimately judge." 00:32:10.160 |
I think the clear teaching is in 1 Corinthians 3, 12 through 15. 00:32:14.200 |
You can look it up or you can look behind me. 00:32:18.440 |
Before I even read this text, I spent probably about eight to nine months with two supposed 00:32:29.360 |
When I say local church, I'm talking about the Witness Lee group. 00:32:34.040 |
It's a cult group that gathers together in each local area and they call it the local 00:32:40.920 |
Their whole premise of their church is based upon this text. 00:32:45.560 |
And then obviously all their proof texts, but this text. 00:32:48.480 |
We spent eight, nine months dissecting over the meaning of this text. 00:32:53.320 |
The reason why I'm sharing this with you, because if you are a UCI student, or if you're 00:32:57.840 |
from UCI or ever been on UCI, they have 17 full-time missionaries just stationed at UCI. 00:33:07.480 |
They'll never identify themselves, they'll just say, "We're just a Christian group," 00:33:12.400 |
Then eventually as they do Bible study, this stuff begins to come out. 00:33:17.000 |
Now before I explain this text, the context of this text. 00:33:22.440 |
Paul began 1 Corinthians because he's concerned over the division in the church. 00:33:33.800 |
Some were judging and saying that maybe Apollos is the one that we ought to follow. 00:33:40.680 |
Apostle Paul was the one who was bringing the gospel literally to the world, to the 00:33:49.680 |
This guy was a guy who was persecuting and killing Christians, and all of a sudden now 00:33:52.820 |
he's propagating the same gospel that he was trying to squash. 00:33:56.880 |
Clearly we know why they were going for Peter, because he was a leader among all the apostles. 00:34:02.040 |
He was a leader among leaders, so clearly he ought to be the one in charge. 00:34:10.440 |
He knew his theology from the Old Testament, even before he met Christ. 00:34:14.180 |
He was teaching the right doctrine of what the Messiah looks like, and all he had to 00:34:18.720 |
do was to be shown that that Messiah he was preaching actually showed up. 00:34:23.360 |
So the reputation was that Apollos was the gifted one, and Paul was the passionate one. 00:34:35.640 |
So there were clearly reasons why any one of these three men would have been venerated 00:34:42.640 |
But Paul is addressing this issue, why the church is divided and all separated. 00:34:48.000 |
This was causing all kinds of trouble in the church. 00:34:50.400 |
And so it is in that context, because they were saying, "You shouldn't follow him, we 00:34:58.800 |
Have that mind, that's the context that he's writing this. 00:35:01.560 |
And he says, "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, 00:35:05.480 |
wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose 00:35:12.680 |
When he says, "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold," now what's the foundation 00:35:20.280 |
He's talking about spreading the gospel, right? 00:35:24.880 |
No, no, I just want you to think, I'm not actually expecting an answer. 00:35:33.040 |
Paul spent probably the second most time in this city preaching the gospel than the first 00:35:37.800 |
place that he spent most time is in Ephesus, and the second is Corinth. 00:35:40.600 |
So Paul was the one who spread the gospel, right? 00:35:43.200 |
So he is the one who laid the foundation, and then Apollos and Peter may have showed 00:35:48.340 |
up later, and they were encouraging the church and feeding and teaching. 00:35:52.260 |
He says, "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, 00:35:58.700 |
hay, or straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it." 00:36:08.300 |
Because it will be revealed by fire, the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 00:36:14.780 |
Peter, Paul, and Apollos, because that's what they were divided over, right? 00:36:28.940 |
If there's any judgment to be made, he said God's going to judge that, because it will 00:36:32.380 |
be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 00:36:36.940 |
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 00:36:44.780 |
He's not talking about judgment of condemnation, or judgment of punishment for your sins. 00:36:51.180 |
He's talking about reward for the laboring for the gospel. 00:36:57.180 |
He said if there's any judgment to be made, and any reward to be passed out, God will 00:37:01.420 |
test their work, and God is the one who will reward them. 00:37:03.980 |
And if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, 00:37:10.700 |
In other words, if even everything that he has done is nullified, he will still be saved. 00:37:21.660 |
So what is Paul saying, that God will ultimately be the judge? 00:37:24.380 |
He's not saying to Christians that if you don't behave and you get it wrong, you're 00:37:27.900 |
going to be condemned and go to purgatory to pay for your sins. 00:37:31.660 |
He's saying if there's any judgment to be made, God is the only one who will really 00:37:39.580 |
God is the one who's going to determine if that was ultimately done for God's glory. 00:37:43.180 |
And God is going to be the one who's going to determine by fire, testing of their work, 00:37:49.180 |
whether it's foundation laying, whether it is building or feeding, whatever it is, leave 00:37:59.260 |
The conclusion of everything that Paul is saying, Paul himself actually applies what 00:38:05.260 |
he is saying here in Romans chapter 14, the text that we read, and we see that clearly 00:38:16.220 |
1 Corinthians 4, 3 to 6, Paul actually practices what he tells the Roman church to do. 00:38:21.900 |
But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human 00:38:31.420 |
I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. 00:38:35.820 |
Paul says he lives with a clear conscience that everything that he does, as far as he 00:38:42.220 |
knows, he's aware of, he's doing the right thing. 00:38:46.220 |
In other words, he could just be not aware of it. 00:38:51.180 |
Exactly what he says, examine yourself first. 00:38:53.260 |
Because the Lord is the one who will judge me. 00:38:55.900 |
Do not pronounce judgment before time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the 00:39:02.380 |
things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purpose of the heart. 00:39:08.780 |
God is going to come and he was going to discern if what we are doing is ultimately really 00:39:17.420 |
Then each one will receive his commendation, not condemnation, but commendation from God. 00:39:26.780 |
I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit. 00:39:34.300 |
So again, the larger context of everything he's talking about is because they were judging. 00:39:42.140 |
And so he's applying all of these things for your benefit that you may learn by us. 00:39:50.060 |
Not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against 00:40:01.900 |
The only authority that I have in this church is the authority behind the word of God. 00:40:13.100 |
I can tell you that I've served this and I've done this and I've done that. 00:40:16.540 |
But you can probably cite 10 other people that are older than I am, has experienced 00:40:21.740 |
more than I have and know more of the Bible than I do. 00:40:27.420 |
The only authority that I have up on this pulpit is, is it biblical? 00:40:34.620 |
And that's why he says, do not go beyond what is written. 00:40:37.420 |
Anything that goes beyond what is written, he may be puffed up in favor of one against 00:40:44.780 |
Root of the problem is going beyond what is written. 00:40:52.300 |
Now I could sit here, you know, this is probably one of those texts that if I was preaching 00:41:00.380 |
Because I know what sermons are better received. 00:41:03.260 |
You know, I can talk about the deep, deep love of Christ, right? 00:41:11.660 |
We can talk about the unending grace of Christ, how he does not delight in the punishment 00:41:19.420 |
I can fill the preaching calendar until the day I die with things that, that, that will 00:41:27.580 |
You know, like how to determine whether you should eat or not eat, which is Sabbath, Saturday 00:41:39.020 |
We can talk about the love of Christ and how we ought to be united, but when we actually 00:41:42.540 |
begin to practice these things, we have all kinds of issues. 00:41:45.340 |
And the struggle that we have in practicing this love is that it looks good in theory, 00:41:55.020 |
And that's why I think the Bible is so practical. 00:41:57.980 |
Because Paul was dealing with the same problem in the early church that they did in every 00:42:08.540 |
And the wisdom behind everything, the end conclusion of all of this in the end, is that 00:42:15.260 |
what keeps us together is the love of Christ. 00:42:22.380 |
And as simple and as fundamental to our Christian faith as that is, it is very difficult to 00:42:32.940 |
practice because it goes against our nature to rebel. 00:42:43.180 |
It goes against our nature to be somebody, to be recognized, to be better than our neighbor, 00:42:51.580 |
to succeed, to get an A, to move ahead, to get promoted, to move to a better house, to 00:42:58.460 |
It flies against, the love of Christ flies against our rebellious nature to establish 00:43:05.660 |
So we can talk about the love of Christ in a flowery way where everybody is encouraged, 00:43:11.180 |
but the day-to-day grind of practicing this requires a commitment to the church. 00:43:18.300 |
It is not strange that we have different opinions. 00:43:26.540 |
In fact, what is strange is that the church is on divide already. 00:43:29.580 |
Considering how diverse we are, considering how different opinions that we have, what 00:43:38.700 |
And what causes us to persevere is the commitment to practice this love, no matter how difficult, 00:43:48.940 |
no matter how hard, no matter how humbling, that our goal in this church is to exalt Christ. 00:43:57.500 |
At the communion table this morning, we come together and nothing exemplifies that more 00:44:04.860 |
Because the communion table brings us all low. 00:44:08.620 |
Whatever pride that we had before we came in and whatever lowliness and guilt that we 00:44:14.300 |
felt before we came in, he brings us all to the communion table by his grace. 00:44:21.340 |
Not of you, not of me, not of some good example, but of him. 00:44:25.340 |
That Christ was crucified because of our sins. 00:44:28.300 |
And so he brings us to this table to unite us, to put aside the differences and to fix 00:44:36.140 |
our eyes upon Christ, the author and the perfect of our faith. 00:44:39.260 |
So this morning, as we open up the communion table, we're going to ask you guys again to 00:44:46.300 |
come from the outside and go down the middle so that we don't create traffic in here. 00:44:53.500 |
So it's for us to celebrate our union with Christ. 00:44:57.660 |
And so if you've never experienced that, you've never confessed your sins to the Lord 00:45:01.660 |
and established him as Lord in your life, and we ask that you would just remain seated. 00:45:05.580 |
And if you have further questions about the meaning behind all of this, we're more than 00:45:11.900 |
And for those of you guys who are coming, come meaningfully, not with any righteousness. 00:45:18.140 |
Again, you may have come this morning and said, "You know what? 00:45:19.820 |
I don't know if I should participate in communion because I just was not good. 00:45:29.500 |
That's what the communion table is ultimately for, is to remind us that the solution is 00:45:36.140 |
And so we want to encourage you to take some time to contemplate and think and to repent. 00:45:42.060 |
And to come to celebrate together as we open up the communion table. 00:45:44.860 |
So let me read 1 Corinthians 11, 25, and a few verses down. 00:45:49.820 |
And then Pastor Nate's going to come and he's going to help me with the communion table 00:45:52.860 |
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the 00:45:59.980 |
When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. 00:46:06.060 |
In the same way, also he took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant 00:46:11.820 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.'" 00:46:15.420 |
So let me pray for us and then our worship team is going to come and lead us. 00:46:19.260 |
And then as you are ready, we ask that you would come one by one. 00:46:22.220 |
Gracious and loving Father, you know the depth of our sins. 00:46:30.700 |
Things that we are aware of and things that we are blind to. 00:46:38.460 |
Search us and know us and see if there's any hurtful ways in us. 00:46:41.660 |
I pray for my brothers, Lord God, who are struggling in their conscience, Lord. 00:46:48.140 |
Because they truly desire to honor you and yet they feel like they're failing over and 00:46:56.320 |
Strengthen them today in this communion table. 00:46:59.100 |
Remind them, Lord God, there is hope in the name of Jesus. 00:47:01.420 |
Remind them, Lord God, that we have the Holy Spirit groaning on our behalf, Lord God, 00:47:09.180 |
I pray for those who are living with clear conscience. 00:47:16.620 |
But even in them, Father, remind us, remind them that if it wasn't for your grace, we 00:47:25.500 |
If it wasn't for your mercy, Lord God, that we would not be able to worship you. 00:47:30.700 |
So I pray that as we participate in this communion table, make us one. 00:47:36.220 |
Help us to fight to be one, Lord God, to honor and glorify you. 00:47:42.060 |
May this communion table sanctify your church.