back to index2018-06-03 Walk In Love
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 14, starting from verse 13 to 19. 00:00:10.900 |
And I know Elder Gerald already read that, but again, I want you guys to be familiar 00:00:15.640 |
with the text that we're going to be in this morning. 00:00:21.480 |
"Teachers, let us not pass judgment on one another." 00:00:25.880 |
"Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never 00:00:29.980 |
to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 00:00:33.520 |
I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but is 00:00:41.800 |
For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. 00:00:46.080 |
By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 00:00:50.080 |
So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 00:00:53.040 |
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness 00:00:59.360 |
Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 00:01:03.140 |
So thus let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding." 00:01:09.600 |
Heavenly Father, we entrust this time to you, asking Lord God that you would bless us. 00:01:16.480 |
Let your word speak and convict and guide and encourage this morning. 00:01:24.840 |
If I was to ask you a question, how do you measure if someone is a mature Christian or 00:01:32.280 |
The way you answer that question may depend on your background, what you have been taught, 00:01:37.120 |
maybe the previous church that you came from, maybe the denomination. 00:01:41.960 |
Some people might say that, again, if you go to a heavily Bible-emphasizing church, 00:01:47.560 |
that if you know the Bible well, if you read plenty of books and you know theology, that 00:01:52.840 |
maybe that's how we measure if somebody is mature, because they spent a lot of time wrestling 00:01:59.220 |
If you happen to come from maybe a charismatic background, the way that that community may 00:02:05.080 |
have emphasized, and maybe various spiritual gifts, and maybe you have healing, maybe you 00:02:10.720 |
have prophecy, whatever it may be, maybe in that context, that's how you measured if somebody 00:02:16.480 |
They had many encounters with God, many testimonies. 00:02:21.100 |
Or maybe you came from a background where there was a lot of discipline emphasized, 00:02:26.860 |
And so the way that spiritual maturity is measured by how disciplined you are and how 00:02:34.920 |
All of these things, on the surface, may point to certain things and say that that may look 00:02:41.040 |
like what a mature Christian should look like. 00:02:50.600 |
I think the scripture is pretty clear what we ought to be looking for to measure if someone 00:02:58.600 |
All of these things may be true, but in and of itself, all it does is make someone a good 00:03:05.760 |
In Matthew chapter 23, 23, Jesus says to the Pharisees, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 00:03:12.600 |
For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the 00:03:19.800 |
These you ought to have done without neglecting the others." 00:03:22.960 |
The problem was not that they didn't study the Bible or they didn't pray enough or they 00:03:28.120 |
He said you should have done all of that, but they were neglecting the weightier matters. 00:03:32.600 |
And if you look at the weightier matters, the weightier matters were things of internal, 00:03:49.160 |
Now all of these things that I've mentioned, whether it's proper theology or discipline 00:03:53.440 |
or discipleship or spiritual gifts, all of these things may be signs of fruit, one of 00:03:59.780 |
But the main fruit that the scripture tells us to look for is what? 00:04:05.880 |
In the fruit of the Holy Spirit, in Galatians 5.22, it says, "But the fruit of the Spirit 00:04:14.000 |
Love is the primary fruit of the Holy Spirit. 00:04:17.280 |
The evidence that the Holy Spirit is indwelling in an individual and having its effect on 00:04:24.580 |
And all these other descriptions of peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 00:04:28.600 |
gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. 00:04:31.960 |
All of these things are directly connected to the fruit of love. 00:04:43.260 |
So love is not just one of many fruits, it is the fruit in how we ought to determine 00:04:52.720 |
Because without love, and you can have all these other spiritual qualities, but without 00:05:01.040 |
And that's exactly what Jesus was saying to these Pharisees. 00:05:03.960 |
That you are so concerned about these external matters, but internally all you are is a nicely 00:05:15.600 |
Paul has been talking about in 11 chapters of what justification of faith looks like. 00:05:22.680 |
How we've been justified, the blood of Christ, what does it mean? 00:05:28.480 |
He's in 11 chapters of exposition, and then now we're in chapter 12 describing about the 00:05:36.960 |
And he begins by offering your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, not to be conformed but 00:05:43.360 |
And then since then he's been on this topic of love. 00:05:48.160 |
Even though whether he used the word love or not, you can clearly see starting from 00:05:52.380 |
chapter 12, the whole application of our Christian life is the practice of love. 00:06:01.480 |
Jesus himself said, if there's one quality that's going to distinguish you from the world 00:06:07.460 |
How you practice love, what kind of love you practice, the kind of love that he practiced 00:06:13.520 |
So all these other qualities, there's nothing wrong with it. 00:06:15.960 |
In fact, as a maturing Christian, these are qualities that we should be growing and increasing 00:06:22.400 |
But in and of itself, devoid of love, only makes us hypocrites and Pharisees. 00:06:28.420 |
So this morning, we want to look at these few verses that Paul is describing about the 00:06:37.040 |
If walking is love is the central, most important aspect of Christian life, what does it mean 00:06:47.960 |
And then if you pay attention, you'll realize it could only, it really is just one. 00:06:53.600 |
But I separate it in two so that I don't lose you in the middle of the sermon. 00:07:01.280 |
The first point, Paul describes in verse 13, walking in love means to judge to build and 00:07:13.240 |
Walking in love means to judge to build and not judge to condemn. 00:07:18.720 |
Romans chapter 14, 13, in the ESV, you don't really get the full meaning of what Paul is 00:07:26.120 |
In verse 13, it says, "Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but 00:07:29.840 |
rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother." 00:07:35.280 |
The word for decide here in the ESV is actually the same word for what he used to, in English, 00:07:45.640 |
So King James actually translated literally, and this is what you would read literally 00:07:49.240 |
in the English if you were to translate literally. 00:07:52.320 |
"Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put 00:07:58.820 |
a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." 00:08:05.920 |
So in other words, he's saying, don't judge to condemn, but judge to build up. 00:08:13.480 |
He says it again in 1 Corinthians 10.23, "All things are lawful, but not all things are 00:08:18.480 |
All things are lawful, but not all things build up." 00:08:23.840 |
Let me clarify this before we go any further. 00:08:27.000 |
Paul is not advocating relativism in the church. 00:08:32.480 |
He's not saying, it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere about it, 00:08:39.120 |
He's talking about, remember last week we talked about who is a weak brother and who 00:08:44.360 |
He's talking about in the matters that are not essential, in the matters that are not 00:08:50.160 |
essential, that we ought to practice grace and love. 00:08:55.720 |
Paul has a clear opinion upon this, but how do you deal with issues where you can easily 00:09:07.840 |
The reason why Paul says what he says in Corinthians 10, where he says, "All things are lawful, 00:09:11.680 |
but not all things are helpful," is because this is exactly what was happening in Corinth. 00:09:18.720 |
The problem was not a divide between a group of people who wanted to chase after the world 00:09:23.400 |
and another group of people who wanted to have idol worship and other people who wanted 00:09:30.720 |
The divide was happening with sincere believers who had a difference of opinion of who should 00:09:39.640 |
It should be Apollos because he's the gifted guy. 00:09:41.640 |
It should be Peter because he's the leader among the apostles. 00:09:44.160 |
It should be Paul because Paul is the one who first brought the gospel to Corinth. 00:09:49.160 |
So it is in the context of doing what they believe is righteous, but they weren't on 00:09:55.520 |
And then this divided the church and all kinds of chaos came into the church. 00:10:04.120 |
Even the communion table ended up causing bitterness and anger. 00:10:08.640 |
The root of all of that was a church who was refusing to give in to each other. 00:10:15.080 |
So that's why Paul says, "All things are lawful." 00:10:17.200 |
What you're doing is not sinful, but it's not helpful. 00:10:27.480 |
So with yourself, since you are eager for manifestation of the Spirit, strive to excel 00:10:35.320 |
This was a church that was blessed by God and all kinds of spiritual gifts were given 00:10:43.080 |
They had various manifestations of the gifts in the early church. 00:10:49.280 |
And they were practicing this without considering how their practice of the gifts were affecting 00:10:56.840 |
So one of the things that Paul points out here is that they had a group of people who 00:11:00.720 |
were speaking in tongues, but they were coming out and they just didn't care how it affected 00:11:07.040 |
And then there were people who were prophesying in the middle of the server, just standing 00:11:13.440 |
And they were just prophesying one another in chaos. 00:11:17.240 |
So it's in that context where Paul is saying, all of these things may be a blessing to you, 00:11:24.060 |
but the purpose why he gave it to you was to bless and to build up the body of Christ. 00:11:30.340 |
So this division in the church wasn't happening because they wanted the world over God. 00:11:36.640 |
It was a group of people who wanted to pursue God, but had differences of opinion. 00:11:42.200 |
And it is in that context he says all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. 00:11:47.300 |
Some people eat, some people don't eat, but the end conclusion of our judgment ought to 00:11:58.760 |
And this really is the main point of the whole sermon. 00:12:03.760 |
The practice of truth without love always leads to condemnation. 00:12:11.720 |
The practice of truth without love always leads to condemnation. 00:12:17.680 |
If we pursue truth without practicing grace and love, ultimately for the purpose of building 00:12:22.200 |
up the church, there is nobody who will pass this test. 00:12:27.840 |
Some people have been Christians longer, some people may be more disciplined, some people 00:12:31.680 |
may have better theology, but nobody will pass this test of somebody's intention to 00:12:39.960 |
examine everybody else to see if they're living up to what they deem to be righteous. 00:12:51.680 |
If we pursue truth without love and grace, it will always lead to condemnation. 00:12:58.440 |
And I'm going to revisit that later on, because that's the main thrust of what Paul is really 00:13:03.800 |
trying to say, that we ought to judge to build and not judge to condemn. 00:13:09.400 |
The church is a tremendous blessing that God has given us. 00:13:23.600 |
As a church, there are things that we can do that we would never be able to do by ourselves. 00:13:28.320 |
The reason why we're able to go out to China and to India and then Japan this summer and 00:13:33.440 |
do all we do is because of the collective body of Christ that we're running this race 00:13:39.800 |
There's a benefit of having diversity in the church from various backgrounds, education, 00:13:46.560 |
different fields, various ages, different culture. 00:13:51.600 |
All of these things benefit the body of Christ. 00:13:54.320 |
Especially now, we live in a culture where there really isn't true community. 00:13:59.120 |
More and more people are becoming isolated, where you work in a little cubicle, you sit 00:14:04.360 |
in front of a computer screen, you go home, and then you sit in front of another computer 00:14:09.560 |
Then if that's not enough, you sit in front of a tiny computer screen. 00:14:12.800 |
You go to a coffee shop and you blast the music so you can't hear each other. 00:14:17.400 |
True community really doesn't exist, at least in our generation, at least not where we live. 00:14:24.920 |
In fact, I would say I don't ever remember not attending church. 00:14:30.360 |
Some of my best memories of childhood was from church. 00:14:34.520 |
My dad was a pastor as long as I can remember. 00:14:38.240 |
Earliest childhood memories is celebrating Christmas together at the church and doing 00:14:42.360 |
presentations up on the stage and receiving gifts and somebody dressing up like Santa 00:14:49.240 |
Whether you agree with that or not, that was some of my best memories as a child. 00:14:55.680 |
But also, some of the worst memories I have of childhood is also in the church. 00:15:01.880 |
Slandering, divisions in the church, backbiting, sometimes even physical fighting I've seen 00:15:11.100 |
The church could either be a place of tremendous blessing, but if love, the glue that brings 00:15:18.200 |
us together, is not the central motivation, is not the central pursuit of the church, 00:15:26.240 |
All of our differences, all of the different perspectives, all of it ends up becoming a 00:15:37.600 |
In Romans 14, 16, it says, "So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil." 00:15:45.400 |
What he means by that is eating meat or not eating meat, in and of itself, could be a 00:15:51.720 |
But if you eat that, just completely ignoring the context, while it is destroying the conscience 00:15:56.680 |
of other people, the very gift that God has given you can easily turn into something evil. 00:16:03.540 |
The very blessing that God has given the Corinthian church, the spiritual gift to build up the 00:16:07.040 |
body of Christ, but because they were completely ignoring other people, it was causing confusion 00:16:12.620 |
and bitterness and hatred toward one another. 00:16:16.440 |
Don't turn what is good and turn it into evil. 00:16:20.800 |
God gave them the gospel to build up the body of Christ, to continue to spread this good 00:16:25.240 |
news, but because they were fighting over, "Well, who should we listen to? 00:16:30.280 |
All of a sudden, this very gift of God became a source of contention because it broke up 00:16:35.440 |
That's why, again, in 1 Peter 4, 7, and 8, it says, "The end of all things is at hand. 00:16:41.800 |
Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers." 00:16:46.320 |
He says, "The end of all things is coming, so therefore, you should live as if there's 00:16:51.240 |
a countdown, there's a clock ticking, that every minute of our lives should really be 00:16:59.240 |
But he says, in verse 8, "But above all, above prayer, above being self-controlled, being 00:17:05.040 |
sober-minded, above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of 00:17:13.880 |
If we practice prayer, righteousness, reading, theology, devoid of love, all of a sudden, 00:17:23.920 |
all we have are people who are practicing righteousness, pointing out what's wrong 00:17:31.440 |
Pursuit of truth without love always leads to condemnation. 00:17:35.560 |
I'm going to keep saying that so that you're going to remember this after this service. 00:17:39.480 |
Pursuit of truth without love always leads to condemnation. 00:17:43.360 |
And he's teaching this church, above everything that you know about Christianity, above all 00:17:48.840 |
of that, practice love, because if you do not have love, you will not cover over the 00:17:56.600 |
If you've ever studied Corinthians, especially 1 Corinthians, you know that the highlight 00:18:05.040 |
Even people who don't know, never studied the Bible, they know chapter 13. 00:18:10.600 |
It hangs on people's walls, even non-Christian stores, you'll see sometimes chapter 13, you 00:18:22.520 |
But just like everything else, you have to understand it in context. 00:18:26.120 |
You can't just take chapter 13, it's a beautiful chapter, and just kind of use that. 00:18:30.520 |
And in and of itself, there's a lot of significance. 00:18:33.280 |
But when you understand it in the context of what Paul has been arguing, chapter 13 00:18:38.160 |
is a culmination and the conclusion of an argument that Paul's been making starting 00:18:45.840 |
The problem that the church had is described in this way, "If I speak in tongues of men 00:18:51.600 |
and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." 00:18:55.600 |
Do you think Paul is just talking theoretically? 00:19:06.440 |
And when he says, "If I have tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy 00:19:09.600 |
gong or a clanging cymbal," he's talking to a specific problem in the early church. 00:19:18.920 |
God has given you this gift to speak in tongues, but because you're not practicing in love 00:19:24.400 |
concerned about the other people, all it's producing is noisy sounds and clanging cymbals. 00:19:37.040 |
He says, verse 2, "And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all 00:19:41.080 |
knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am 00:19:49.800 |
I mean, you can say, "Paul's exaggerating, even if he had prophetic powers." 00:19:54.120 |
Again, he's not talking theoretically because this is exactly what was happening in the 00:20:04.780 |
There were people who had the gift of knowledge who were prophesying about what God was revealing 00:20:09.380 |
to them, but they weren't practicing in love. 00:20:13.960 |
They weren't concerned about the other brothers, the weak brothers, the new brothers, the people 00:20:20.880 |
He said, "I have this gift and I just wanted to use it, and it was causing all kinds of 00:20:30.160 |
I mean, in our generation, if somebody has a PhD in theology, you know, and spent the 00:20:35.580 |
last 15 years studying, you know, theology, we automatically assume you must know God 00:20:43.360 |
He says if you have all the prophecies, all the knowledge, all the mysteries, even if 00:20:50.280 |
you have faith, I'm going to get to that later on, even if you have that as to remove 00:20:55.240 |
mountains, can you imagine if somebody actually removed a mountain? 00:21:01.200 |
I mean, the whole world would be flocking to listen to him. 00:21:05.200 |
But Paul says, "Even if you did all of that and you have not love, you are nothing." 00:21:13.480 |
He's talking to a church that was divided, causing all kinds of chaos because these spiritual 00:21:17.560 |
gifts were not being used to build up the body of Christ. 00:21:22.180 |
If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I 00:21:28.720 |
am nothing because this was causing the problem in the Corinthian church. 00:21:33.200 |
Again, all in the context of pursuing righteousness, all in the context of practicing God's gift, 00:21:40.920 |
all in the context of wanting to supposedly do what pleases God. 00:21:52.480 |
That's why in verse 4, it's a description when it says love is patient and love is kind. 00:22:00.000 |
I don't think Paul was just kind of sitting there thinking like, "What is love?" 00:22:06.080 |
And he's thinking about all the philosophical things and all the beauty of love and just 00:22:14.200 |
I think if there was any book, just humanly speaking, obviously the Holy Spirit is the 00:22:17.760 |
ultimate author of all of these things, but He used human agents. 00:22:24.680 |
I think Paul probably put more thought into writing 1 and 2 Corinthians than any other 00:22:30.200 |
Maybe Romans, but outside of Romans, maybe 1 and 2 Corinthians because he was grieved 00:22:36.400 |
This is a church that he literally almost gave his life to bring the gospel, and then 00:22:41.320 |
now he sees this chaos, and then now they're questioning his apostleship. 00:22:45.080 |
So he was heartbroken over what was happening. 00:22:47.280 |
So when he says love is patient and love is kind, I don't think he was just generically 00:22:54.120 |
I think he was probably thinking about a particular person. 00:22:57.760 |
He was probably thinking about a particular circumstance, a particular conflict. 00:23:01.800 |
And he's trying to teach this church, if you want to practice this love, love is patient. 00:23:16.000 |
Maybe the reason why the church was divided was because there was envy. 00:23:27.960 |
I think Paul is saying that because he's seeing some arrogance in this division. 00:23:42.200 |
People who have maybe good intentions could not come to terms with each other. 00:23:50.160 |
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 00:23:59.800 |
In the context of pursuing righteousness, and the person who is on the other side, they 00:24:07.660 |
If you don't love that person, it's like, "I told you. 00:24:15.000 |
If you really love, you wouldn't rejoice in wrongdoing. 00:24:19.960 |
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 00:24:29.360 |
Jesus said to pursue the things that have eternal value. 00:24:34.320 |
Everything that is on earth is going to perish when Jesus comes. 00:24:39.360 |
Our whole life is to be lived to invest in things that we're going to be able to carry 00:24:45.440 |
He says, "All prophecies, once it has fulfilled its purpose on here, it will end. 00:24:59.080 |
There's no use for it when we get up to heaven. 00:25:01.320 |
But love, love that is sanctified and learned and practiced, it will never end. 00:25:10.600 |
That is something eternal that we're going to carry on for eternity. 00:25:14.040 |
All other things, all the theology that we know. 00:25:18.560 |
When you get in the presence of this holy God, all of that stuff is going to just go 00:25:26.280 |
And so much of our knowledge of God is going to seem so elementary when we're in the presence 00:25:32.600 |
All the spiritual gifts, all the disciplines, all the stuff that we have achieved, when 00:25:37.520 |
we get into the presence of glory of God, you're not going to be wrestling with your 00:25:41.760 |
I mean, you're going to want to give him the glory. 00:25:45.840 |
And you're going to beat yourself on the head thinking, "Why didn't I notice this earlier 00:26:02.240 |
You're going to invest it in here, and you're not going to regret it when you get there. 00:26:07.560 |
That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 13, "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these 00:26:17.560 |
Think about what Paul's been saying for 11 chapters, that salvation is by faith and by 00:26:36.960 |
Our tomorrow, no matter how dark it gets, we are able to persevere and make it because 00:26:45.120 |
He says, "They abide, but of them love is the greatest." 00:26:57.240 |
In 1 Timothy 1.5, Paul tells Timothy, this young man, to go back to Ephesus and command 00:27:03.800 |
these men who are teaching false doctrines to stop preaching the false gospel. 00:27:08.480 |
He was giving Timothy authority as the apostle of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, authority 00:27:17.200 |
But he wanted to make sure that Timothy didn't get carried away, that he was going to practice 00:27:23.360 |
So he qualifies his command by saying in chapter 1 verse 5, "The aim of our charge is love, 00:27:30.360 |
that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 00:27:34.880 |
But in this fight, he says, "Don't forget, the goal of this fight is to love." 00:27:42.680 |
The reason why you need to stand up ultimately is for the purpose of love. 00:27:48.280 |
Test of truth without love always leads to condemnation. 00:27:54.760 |
Because all it does is truth is like a flashlight that we put on everybody to see if they're 00:28:02.120 |
But the bottom line of the gospel is nobody passes this test. 00:28:12.360 |
The only reason why you and I are here is because we've been covered because we were 00:28:18.280 |
So if we pursue truth without love, it only leads to condemnation. 00:28:23.640 |
Romans 14, 17, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of 00:28:28.080 |
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." 00:28:30.920 |
In other words, Paul is saying it's not about eating or drinking. 00:28:38.080 |
The kingdom of God is about peace and righteousness and joy. 00:28:43.320 |
This is not a new command in the New Testament. 00:28:46.280 |
It's not all of a sudden God had one way of dealing with people and then comes a New Testament 00:28:53.520 |
He says the same thing in Hosea chapter 6, 6, "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, 00:29:01.080 |
knowledge of God rather than burnt offering." 00:29:05.000 |
Why does he say that when he's the one who commanded them to give sacrifices? 00:29:11.160 |
We've been studying Leviticus and the burnt offering was commanded to be given every single 00:29:21.840 |
All of a sudden he said, "No, I don't want these burnt offerings. 00:29:27.160 |
Hosea is one of the few prophets who was sent by God before Israel went into exile. 00:29:41.000 |
And in those prophets, it gives the same warning to Israel that they are busy giving many sacrifices 00:29:50.680 |
but they were just noisy gongs and clanging cymbals to God. 00:29:57.240 |
Because in it, they were neglecting or ignoring the weightier matters of mercy and grace and 00:30:07.400 |
And so God says your burnt offering means nothing. 00:30:12.360 |
This is not a new teaching in the New Testament. 00:30:16.160 |
This is what God's been telling them all along. 00:30:20.840 |
Romans 14.8, "For if we live, we live to the Lord. 00:30:25.480 |
So then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's." 00:30:36.600 |
You can glorify God by eating or not eating, by being sick or being healthy, by living 00:30:47.400 |
Because the whole purpose ultimately is to honor and glorify God. 00:30:52.320 |
The kingdom of God is not about eating or drinking. 00:30:56.000 |
And what brings God the most glory is when we reflect Him. 00:31:01.880 |
And what is it about Him that we are to reflect? 00:31:07.520 |
If you love one another as I have loved you, then they will know that you are my disciples. 00:31:12.120 |
So if there's one character that's going to glorify God above everything else that we 00:31:20.080 |
So the first thing we are to judge, to build, and not to condemn. 00:31:25.720 |
And again, the second point is really the same point, but I want you to stay with me. 00:31:33.800 |
Walking in love means to consider others first. 00:31:38.240 |
Walking in love means to consider others first. 00:31:40.240 |
Romans 14, 15, it says, "For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer 00:31:46.720 |
By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died." 00:31:53.800 |
Paul makes it very clear what his opinion is. 00:31:56.320 |
In verse 14, he says, "I know, and I'm persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean 00:32:00.840 |
in and of itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean." 00:32:06.200 |
We talked about, I'm not going to get into that this morning because I've already talked 00:32:08.640 |
about it, that the weaker and the strong brother, he says he's strong, and the weaker brothers 00:32:15.080 |
are the ones who are taking their time transitioning into the new covenant. 00:32:19.280 |
And so he's asking the church to be gracious and be conscious in the context of pursuing 00:32:25.400 |
Christ, not to be divided over this eating or drinking. 00:32:30.640 |
Paul goes even further than that, and not simply to say, you know, to be concerned about 00:32:36.200 |
In Philippians chapter 2, 3 to 4, Paul said, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit." 00:32:42.200 |
"But in humility, count others more significant than yourself. 00:32:46.520 |
Let each of you look not only for his own interest, but also to the interest of others." 00:32:52.040 |
Whenever we read something like this or 1 Corinthians 13, it sounds beautiful, right? 00:32:58.360 |
Jesus is the perfect example of somebody who had the highest glory and emptied himself, 00:33:05.560 |
And we look at that and we admire that, we sing about it, we share about the love of 00:33:12.600 |
But as we draw near to God and God commands us to practice that, I say, "Are you kidding 00:33:20.640 |
I mean, we want to honor you and want to thank you for what you did, but you don't really 00:33:29.160 |
I mean, humanly speaking, our natural instinct is to survive. 00:33:33.560 |
And in order to survive, we have to be selfish. 00:33:39.480 |
The house is burning, we're going to run out, right? 00:33:42.800 |
I mean, even on the airplane, it says, "Well, you survive first. 00:33:45.240 |
You put the air, oxygen on, and then you take care of your kid." 00:33:48.520 |
And obviously, we know that there's wisdom in that, but it's our natural instinct to 00:33:56.240 |
We don't teach our children to go to school and say, "Everybody's better than you." 00:34:04.520 |
If your child comes home and say, "Somebody bullied me." 00:34:06.760 |
It's like, it's okay, because they're better than you. 00:34:11.920 |
We would never tell them that, even when we tell them to share, right? 00:34:16.580 |
They have to eat and then you have this, "Oh, okay, you don't need all of it." 00:34:19.680 |
So you take what you need and the stuff that you don't need, you share with other people. 00:34:24.360 |
So that's being a good parent, teaching them how to share, but you're not going to say, 00:34:39.820 |
So it's beautiful to read, to hang on the wall, but to practice this, to make decisions 00:34:49.280 |
because it benefits them, even at my own harm, but yet that's exactly what he's called to 00:34:59.000 |
And Jesus said that the greatest love is to lay down his whole life for his friend. 00:35:04.960 |
Jesus' love goes even beyond that, because he laid out his life for enemies. 00:35:10.220 |
We can celebrate that, we can admire that, we can sing about that, we can worship that, 00:35:20.520 |
If there's one command that will filter nominal Christians and genuine Christians, it's this 00:35:29.920 |
This is not something you can do in the flesh, because it is not in us. 00:35:38.720 |
We'll celebrate it from a distance, but we would never practice this in our flesh. 00:35:42.720 |
If there's any commandment, if there's anything about Christian discipline that divides between 00:35:55.280 |
Because only an individual who has experienced this love can practice this love. 00:36:02.020 |
Only an individual who understands that he failed the test, that he was the weak brother, 00:36:14.500 |
This tests the church to see who is real and who is not. 00:36:20.320 |
This is the litmus test of an individual who has seen the glory of the gospel in Jesus 00:36:25.540 |
Christ and has broken over his sins, and as a result, he lives a reasonable life, offering 00:36:33.100 |
You can know theology without practicing this. 00:36:38.280 |
You can avoid the world and live an aesthetic life. 00:36:44.380 |
You can be very disciplined without practicing this. 00:36:49.640 |
You can read tons of books and know all the answers and be the best counselors, and yet 00:36:58.100 |
And at the end of your life, it was all for nothing. 00:37:02.620 |
This you cannot practice until you have not only seen it up close, until you've experienced 00:37:11.320 |
And that's why Paul says, "The love of Christ consumes me. 00:37:20.440 |
The reason why he doesn't walk away from this church, the reason why he doesn't burn this 00:37:23.760 |
bridge is because he's been affected by the love of Christ. 00:37:29.700 |
This is not something we can do in our own flesh. 00:37:34.480 |
Ultimately, what Paul is calling us to do is to do exactly what Jesus did with us. 00:37:40.880 |
Romans 8.26 is, "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 00:37:45.880 |
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for 00:37:55.200 |
How many of you struggle with praying and not knowing what to pray for? 00:37:59.400 |
I've never met anybody who didn't struggle with this. 00:38:02.200 |
And I've met some prayer warriors, you know, in the 30 years, 30 plus years that I've been 00:38:08.920 |
a Christian, I've met some prayer warriors, but I've never met anybody who didn't struggle 00:38:13.460 |
He says, "The Spirit helps us in our weakness." 00:38:17.520 |
He saw our weakness and he didn't say, "You know what? 00:38:22.360 |
I've erased their sins and do you want more?" 00:38:25.520 |
He said, "God knew we were going to struggle in prayer and in our weakness, he came and 00:38:32.240 |
Even when we didn't know what to pray, the Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf, 00:38:37.920 |
There's prayers being offered to his children constantly, whether we know it or not. 00:38:45.960 |
He saw our weakness and he didn't walk the other way. 00:38:48.680 |
He saw our weakness and he didn't condemn us." 00:38:51.880 |
If Jesus practiced truth without love, you and I would not be here. 00:38:58.400 |
If he looked at us to see who was weak and who was strong and he drew near to condemn 00:39:03.440 |
the weak and strengthen the strong, we would not be here. 00:39:08.360 |
All he's doing is telling us to practice what he did with us. 00:39:12.560 |
Hebrews chapter 4, 15 to 16, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize 00:39:17.140 |
with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without 00:39:23.520 |
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy 00:39:31.000 |
Not only did he see our weaknesses and then not run the other direction, he came and he 00:39:50.680 |
So that when he says, "Come," that we would not be afraid. 00:39:55.480 |
That we would not be trembling in fear when he says, "Come." 00:40:03.960 |
See, only an individual who has been deeply affected by the love of Christ can practice 00:40:14.460 |
You can love like the world loves, but the love that Jesus practices can only be practiced 00:40:31.340 |
That's why he says, he sums it up in Romans 14, 18, 19, "Whoever thus serves Christ is 00:40:43.240 |
It is this that causes Christ to look at us and say, "He is approved." 00:40:49.840 |
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 00:40:57.160 |
As we contemplate and think this morning, this afternoon, what is it are we pursuing? 00:41:05.380 |
Especially those of us who are busy, whether it's being disciplined and doing the right 00:41:10.620 |
thing and serving and evangelizing, memorizing scripture, and all of these things are great. 00:41:15.860 |
Every Christian should be propelled to do that. 00:41:26.600 |
If love is not our pursuit, if love is not the glue that brings us together, if love 00:41:30.820 |
is not the reason why we fellowship, persevere, are kind and patient with one another, sooner 00:41:41.200 |
This morning as we invite our praise team to come, if I can ask the praise team to come. 00:41:47.120 |
We've given this time after the service so that we can, not just so that we can praise, 00:41:53.960 |
So they're going to give us some time to pray and then they're going to lead us in the main 00:41:59.640 |
I really want to encourage you, if there's anything that we need to practically apply, 00:42:05.280 |
Because there's not a single person in this room where this does not apply. 00:42:17.500 |
But there's not a single person in this room where this does not apply. 00:42:24.560 |
Not to simply be hearers of the word and say, "Well, okay, that's great. 00:42:27.680 |
That's another beautiful thing that we've been reminded about the love of Christ." 00:42:37.700 |
Worship God from a distance and watching him from a distance and say, "Wow, that's great. 00:42:47.640 |
The whole purpose of salvation was to open the door so when he says, "Come," that we 00:42:56.560 |
As you recognize that there are aspects of our lives that we practice truth without grace. 00:43:05.640 |
That we would come before the Lord in very specific application. 00:43:13.800 |
If you've been affected by the love of Christ, respond and bear fruit to practice what he 00:43:21.140 |
And that by doing so, that we would bring glory to him. 00:43:24.600 |
So let's take some time as our worship team leads us to pray before God. 00:43:28.360 |
And if you're not aware, to be very specific and come before the Lord, "Lord, soften my 00:43:37.840 |
Give me the grace that I need to reflect him." 00:43:41.460 |
So let's take some time to pray and to apply as we take some time to come before the Lord