SPEAKER_00: May 27th.
SPEAKER_00: Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida announces his plan to roll back property tax on every single primary residence in Florida.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you have a rental property in Florida, you're still gonna have to pay property tax.
SPEAKER_00: But if it's your home that you live in Florida, he's working on a plan that you won't have to pay property tax.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand the blowers are blowing and the sound's a little weird, so let me say that again just in case you misheard it.
SPEAKER_00: In Florida, they're working on a plan so that you won't have to pay property tax on your home.
SPEAKER_00: And all God's people said amen.
SPEAKER_00: When I first heard that, I was absolutely stunned.
SPEAKER_00: And once I paused and re-listened, my next thought was, God must be calling me to plant a church in Florida.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, seriously, I'm not planning to go anywhere, not plant a church there.
SPEAKER_00: I am excited for us to plant a church here, though.
SPEAKER_00: And many of you were here in our family meeting, and we talked about next week kicking off 21 days of prayer over this church plant.
SPEAKER_00: That starts a week from tomorrow, next Monday, June 8th, 21 days of prayer, where we're praying over the place, the planter, and the people.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation for you is this will God call you to step out or step up?
SPEAKER_00: Some will be called to step out and be part of this new church plant.
SPEAKER_00: And as they go, there will be people needed to step up and serve in different ways or give in different ways or use their gifts in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the invitation: step out or step up.
SPEAKER_00: What is God calling you to?
SPEAKER_00: Look for more information next Sunday, some print materials guiding those 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We kicked off the year with the prayer and fasting four by four.
SPEAKER_00: Continue that theme of dependence on Christ.
SPEAKER_00: 21 days of prayer coming up starting next week.
SPEAKER_00: All that's an aside from talking about Florida and property taxes.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I first heard of Governor DeSantis' plan, it was remarkable to me for a number of reasons.
SPEAKER_00: One of which, you may know this, Florida already does not collect income tax.
SPEAKER_00: And I just thought, I want to be part of a state that has a government that is so well run that they can look at you and say, we don't even need your money, we'll give it back to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, and maybe imagine yourself in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: What if Governor DeSantis came to you two years ago and he said, Here's my plan to run a government at the state level so well that we can roll back property taxes.
SPEAKER_00: Would you like to be part of building that plan?
SPEAKER_00: Now, for me, that would be invigorating.
SPEAKER_00: Like, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: That's a vision I want to be part of.
SPEAKER_00: How can we do that?
SPEAKER_00: It would be really, really compelling.
SPEAKER_00: You might even say it this way, and these are words you maybe never thought would go together.
SPEAKER_00: It would be a beautiful political vision.
SPEAKER_00: I think it would be.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in Romans 14, you know what God is doing?
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting you to create something beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Way more beautiful than a state without property tax.
SPEAKER_00: God is inviting you to create this vision of a church where people with different convictions are loved and welcomed and celebrated.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting you to create a church where our differences don't define us and our differences don't cause division.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he's inviting us to create a church where our differences actually put on display the beauty of the gospel and a unity that runs much deeper than our differences.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a couple of examples here.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting us to build and grow a church where homeschoolers and public schoolers and Christian schoolers actually like each other.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting us to build a church where wine connoisseurs and teetotalers enjoy dinner parties together.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting us to build a church where IU fans and Purdue fans can.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's too far.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to go there.
SPEAKER_00: He's not wanting to do just that yet.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: No, what is he doing?
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting us to build a church where the bond of unity in the gospel is so great that even strong views on debated issues do not define or divide us.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the reality of Parkside Bible Church right now.
SPEAKER_00: Within a church this size, we have lots of people with lots of different views, sometimes very help, very strongly held views on debated issues.
SPEAKER_00: And that presents a constant threat to unity, a constant threat of division.
SPEAKER_00: We got to recognize that.
SPEAKER_00: So the main idea that I want to give you this week and next week, actually the same main idea for both weeks.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your bulletin, it's printed right at the bottom of the sermon notes.
SPEAKER_00: But here it is.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a bulletin, I want you to write it down.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say it slow enough.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you can get it.
SPEAKER_00: We glorify God by pursuing peace and mutual upbuilding instead of quarreling over opinions for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's a slightly longer main idea than what I usually give you, but it's this week and next, so I get two weeks in one, is how I'm justifying it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the main idea again.
SPEAKER_00: We glorify God by pursuing peace and mutual upbuilding instead of quarreling over opinions for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is to say, we build a church on gospel harmony and love instead of building a church where we all agree on agreement on these secondary debated issues.
SPEAKER_00: Now, reminder of where we are historically here.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Romans, Paul is writing to a church in the most influential city in the ancient world, and this book of Romans, you might say, is all about one word: righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: It's a righteousness that is demanded by God, a righteousness that is missing in us, a righteousness that is revealed only in Jesus Christ, and it is received only by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Righteousness, demanded by God, missing in us, revealed in Christ, received by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And when you get to the end of the book of Romans, Paul is saying in chapters 12 through 16, here's how you live out the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying this is how it will transform all of your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's a complete change of identity.
SPEAKER_00: Your identity is no longer formed by your accomplishments, by your failures, or by your views on debated issues, but on this, have you received the righteousness of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you are here and you're not a Christian, that is the most important thing you will hear this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That there is a righteousness demanded by God, missing in you, revealed in Christ, and can be received by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And it will determine your eternal destiny, and it will determine your earthly identity and how you live as well.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul has been saying in this lax section, here's how you live out the righteousness of God, chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: It all comes down to one word: love.
SPEAKER_00: He says the whole Old Testament can be summarized in this command: love one another.
SPEAKER_00: Let love be genuine.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, 9.
SPEAKER_00: Love is the mark of maturity.
SPEAKER_00: And it's as if the Roman church says, yes, Paul, we hear you about loving one another.
SPEAKER_00: We're serving with joy.
SPEAKER_00: We're seeking to show hospitality.
SPEAKER_00: We're trying to live at peace with one another.
SPEAKER_00: And yet they have found this one problem.
SPEAKER_00: There are debated issues within the church at Rome that pose the threat of division, just like they do at Parkside today.
SPEAKER_00: And what Paul will do, he hints at the right way to see the issue, but he goes full throttle on how to show love in disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: That's really important.
SPEAKER_00: You catch that.
SPEAKER_00: He hints at the right way to see the debated issue, but he goes full throttle on how to show love in disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the title of today's message and of next Sunday's message as well: Love in Disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Part one this week, part two next week.
SPEAKER_00: I actually thought we were going to push this all into one week, and the more I studied the passage, I said, I don't think that's wise for us to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take two, let's slow down and see what this has to say.
SPEAKER_00: Here's how I want to kind of outline the sermon this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Real quickly, I want to give some historical context about the issues that were debated.
SPEAKER_00: And then I want to give, again, quickly, an overview of the conscience, kind of the cliff notes.
SPEAKER_00: And then the third part, I want to say, what are some principles for how we show love in disagreement today?
SPEAKER_00: So the first two will be really fast, and then when we get to the principles of how we do it today, I'll slow down and linger there just a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, historical context, what was going on in the church at Rome?
SPEAKER_00: You had Jews and Gentiles together inside the same church.
SPEAKER_00: They came from different religious backgrounds and from different cultural backgrounds.
SPEAKER_00: Some had been taught God is honored when you avoid these things.
SPEAKER_00: Others had been taught God is glorified when you enjoy these things.
SPEAKER_00: And there are three particular issues that come up in the text.
SPEAKER_00: It's whether you can eat meat or drink wine or observe certain holy days.
SPEAKER_00: What's important that we note is these are not core doctrines of the faith, and they are not things that are clearly called sin in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: So you need to recognize these two.
SPEAKER_00: These are not core doctrinal disagreements, and these are not brothers or sisters living in clear sin according to the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: That's why, if you look at verse one, it calls them opinions.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome the weak in faith, but not to quarrel over opinions.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that word is very, very important for us.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes these are called matters of conscience.
SPEAKER_00: The weak person in verse one most likely were Jewish Christians who thought that abstaining from certain items was the godlier choice.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Roman church was not saying, you have to have my view in order to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: How do I know that?
SPEAKER_00: The Galatian church seemed to adopt that view.
SPEAKER_00: You must have this view in order to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul brings the boom on them.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you've read Galatians 1, he is so sharp in his critique and his rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, this is totally out of bounds.
SPEAKER_00: It's not in accord with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: His tone in Romans 14 is very different.
SPEAKER_00: So it was likely not them saying, you must agree in order to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, he's saying, I see within your church factions and separated groups, not a warm unity.
SPEAKER_00: And so what was a wisdom issue perhaps had become for some an obedience issue.
SPEAKER_00: And we notice over time the specific issues will change, but the enduring need to show love in disagreement doesn't change.
SPEAKER_00: That is to say, godly love in disagreement is more important than seeing the issue in the same way.
SPEAKER_00: I want to say that again because it's really important.
SPEAKER_00: Godly love in disagreement is more important than seeing the issue the same way.
SPEAKER_00: Or to reiterate the main point, we glorify God by pursuing peace and mutual upbuilding instead of quarreling over opinions for the sake of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: There's your brief historical overview.
SPEAKER_00: I told you I'd be quick.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's go to the conscience overview.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Cliff Notes from the book that is recommended in your bulletin.
SPEAKER_00: I highly recommend it.
SPEAKER_00: It's simply titled Conscience.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the survey of conscience, the Cliff Notes for you.
SPEAKER_00: The conscience is an inner knowledge of right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It's an inner knowledge of right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Principle of conscience is all over Romans 14, even though the word conscience itself is not explicitly mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: The conscience is listed more than 30 times across the whole of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: There is a parallel passage you might want to go back and study later this afternoon or this week in 1 Corinthians 8 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: A conscience is something that's getting given to every single person, every human, not merely given to Christians.
SPEAKER_00: So in Romans chapter 2, Paul says that all people will be judged whether or not they have the Holy Spirit, whether or not they have the Bible, because they have an internal knowledge of right and wrong, telling them you have broken God's law.
SPEAKER_00: So they are judged by their conscience even though they're not Christians.
SPEAKER_00: The conscience, therefore, is different than the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Godhead, is inerrant and is infallible, it is never wrong, but your conscience can be wrong.
SPEAKER_00: There's two ditches.
SPEAKER_00: A conscience can be oversensitive or it can be insensitive.
SPEAKER_00: Both are ditches, both are warned about in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in 1 Timothy 4, we read that there are some whose conscience has been seared as with a hot iron.
SPEAKER_00: It's very interesting that 1 Timothy 4 reference, those whose conscience has been seared are forbidding people from partaking in good gifts from God.
SPEAKER_00: They say, No, you can't do that, because their conscience has been seared with a hot iron.
SPEAKER_00: And so we recognize our conscience should be calibrated by Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And yet our conscience is oftentimes calibrated more by a cultural moment or the church that we're in or the community that we're in, and all of those things come together, and so we're seeking to always be calibrating that conscience according to Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Even as our conscience might be wrong, Scripture says it should be obeyed.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll see this more next week, but Romans 14, 23 says it is very, very important to obey your conscience, because even if my conscience is wrongly calibrated, the act of overriding it and going against my conscience is itself sin.
SPEAKER_00: So if your conscience is binding you, don't disobey it.
SPEAKER_00: Follow your conscience while seeking to reform and recalibrate your conscience according to Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Or as one pastor I heard say it this way: reject your conscience, wreck your life.
SPEAKER_00: This is what happened in 1 Timothy chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: There are people who'd walked away from the faith because they'd rejected their conscience and they had wrecked their life.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to your conscience.
SPEAKER_00: And in the sense of listening to your conscience, he was correct.
SPEAKER_00: Last thing on the conscience overview here: weak conscience versus strong conscience.
SPEAKER_00: This is often debated, what is meant by it?
SPEAKER_00: This is not referring to weak or strong belief as a general overarching term, but instead to say, how much Christian freedom do I sense on a particular issue?
SPEAKER_00: So the weak conscience generally perceives less freedom.
SPEAKER_00: In the Roman context, the weak conscience could not drink wine, could not eat meat, and had to observe all the extra holy days.
SPEAKER_00: A weak conscience is more likely to accuse yourself or accuse others.
SPEAKER_00: A weak conscience is more likely to fret over things that shouldn't cause you anxiety as a mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you're not a mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: It just means you're sensing less freedom than perhaps what the scriptures grant.
SPEAKER_00: The strong conscience, on the other hand, has more Christian freedom.
SPEAKER_00: In this context, they could eat meat, they could drink wine.
SPEAKER_00: They were free to not observe all the holy days.
SPEAKER_00: It's important to note here, having a strong conscience is also not the same as being a mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: You could realize all kinds of Christian freedom and yet not walk in love.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it's not about belief in general, but how much freedom you're perceiving according to your conscience.
SPEAKER_00: And the goal over time is to develop a strong conscience, more informed by the Bible, to appropriately embrace your Christian freedom.
SPEAKER_00: This takes time.
SPEAKER_00: And so the urgency of the command in Romans 14 is how do you show godly love in the midst of disagreement right now?
SPEAKER_00: Because everybody can do that regardless of how your conscience is calibrated.
SPEAKER_00: There is your conscience overview.
SPEAKER_00: Much more could be said, but I want to get to some specific principles.
SPEAKER_00: How do we live this out according to Romans 14?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you five principles for how to show godly love in disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want to do is I want to cite a particular debated issue in each of the five principles.
SPEAKER_00: That means we're going to have lots of opportunity this morning to be offended.
SPEAKER_00: And especially with some extra ambient noise, some opportunity to mishear.
SPEAKER_00: Not by hardness of heart, sometimes just by extra white noise.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you just a few of the ones I thought of off the top of my head this week: politics, school, alcohol consumption, what clothes to wear to church, contraception, dancing, music and movies, whether or not to participate in Halloween, fair trade coffee, modesty, child discipline.
SPEAKER_00: And that was before I sat down to really think about it.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot going on here.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just remind you before we get into these five principles, in the book of Romans, the greatest letter ever written, Paul dedicates about 10% of the letter to helping us think through how to show godly love in disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: 10%.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, let me make an analogy to this gym setup.
SPEAKER_00: We knew coming into this, it was gonna take a team lift to get the whole gym set up, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's a big job.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying to show godly love in disagreement, it's a team lift.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna take all of us, and it's gonna be a lot of work.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he gives 10% of the letter to it.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's jump into the five principles.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, embrace a warm welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Embrace a warm welcome.
SPEAKER_00: See, welcoming is the central word in how we live out this godly love amid disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse one.
SPEAKER_00: As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him.
SPEAKER_00: Circle that word welcome in your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: But not to quarrel over opinions.
SPEAKER_00: One person may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to drop down beyond what we read this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 15 and verse 5 in your copy of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read three verses here, and you're gonna see this word welcome show up two more times.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Embrace a warm welcome.
SPEAKER_00: This is warm embrace and fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: It's the opposite of excluding or canceling or simply failing to embrace.
SPEAKER_00: And what the end of Romans, well the beginning rather of Romans 15, verse 6 says that relational harmony sounds like a choir that's harmonizing with one voice up to God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you guys, I loved hearing your voices.
SPEAKER_00: I was so thankful John led us in some a cappella singing.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that beautiful to hear the voices raised together?
SPEAKER_00: What God says is when you embrace a warm welcome, all 500 of us, it's like a harmonizing choir lifting up praise to the God of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: It's more beautiful than a state without property tax.
SPEAKER_00: It's a more compelling vision, even than that.
SPEAKER_00: And what's natural for me and most of us is that we gravitate to people like us, people who think like me, people who are interested.
SPEAKER_00: In the things that I'm interested in.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is this will you go out of your way to warmly welcome people that are not like you?
SPEAKER_00: Now, I said I was gonna get into specific issues.
SPEAKER_00: Let's roll up our sleeves and let's do that right here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about school choices.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible doesn't say what kind of schooling you should pick for your family.
SPEAKER_00: And you can look out at the public school and the private school and the homeschooling options, and there are stereotypes about each of them.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, let me tell you, the stereotypes for all three are grounded in reality.
SPEAKER_00: So somebody can look at your choice and be like, I don't know about fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: You've already heard it, you're starting to feel a little defensive about your own choice right now.
SPEAKER_00: Those are grounded in reality.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have to despise someone or look down on someone because they've chosen a different option.
SPEAKER_00: But it's more than not despising, not looking down, it's actively extending a warm welcome.
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the ways this often breaks down for us inadvertently is as our kids get older, the birthday parties and the times we're gathering over the summer, we're not warmly welcoming people outside of our school choice.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not necessarily something we sought out.
SPEAKER_00: It's just your kids make friends at school.
SPEAKER_00: And so it takes intentionality to reach out and say, I'm gonna cultivate friendship with people in my local church that are in a different kind of school community.
SPEAKER_00: But it's way more natural for us to kind of cluster up in affinity groups and sort of cast some side-eye dispersions at people who make a different choice and not embrace a warm welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just gonna embody this by having a couple of families over for dinner who have all embraced different schooling options.
SPEAKER_00: You say these people maybe are not naturally my people, maybe they think differently, but you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You weren't naturally Jesus' people either.
SPEAKER_00: And he pursued you and he warmly welcomed you.
SPEAKER_00: And what you're doing when you extend this warm welcome is you're saying in a posture of spirit, I see the righteousness of Christ in you before I see this issue that could divide us.
SPEAKER_00: And that's our true unity.
SPEAKER_00: So we embrace a warm welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Second principle, here's how we show love in disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Reject judgment and condescension.
SPEAKER_00: Now here I see this rejecting judgment and condescension in verses three and four.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read from verse three.
SPEAKER_00: Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
SPEAKER_00: In a sense, this is the photo-negative of the first principle.
SPEAKER_00: The first principle, actively pursue this.
SPEAKER_00: The second principle, reject what's on the other side of it.
SPEAKER_00: There is an easy temptation to judge the person who partakes or to look down on the person who abstains.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just say this very clearly, because this is important for us as a church to understand.
SPEAKER_00: The attitudes in our heart are far more important than the words coming out of our mouth.
SPEAKER_00: An attitude of judgment or condescension will be felt by everyone around you, regardless of the words that you speak.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take another issue here and kind of unpack this, thinking of substances.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you want to talk about alcohol consumption or the use of tobacco, we're talking here within biblical parameters, so drunkenness is automatically out.
SPEAKER_00: Illegal substances, definitely out of bounds.
SPEAKER_00: That's clear sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what's being talked about here.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for the person who abstains to look at the person who partakes and in their mind think, my goodness, they don't care about holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Don't they know the risks of drunkenness?
SPEAKER_00: Why even open the door?
SPEAKER_00: This is unwise.
SPEAKER_00: Very easy for that to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And it's very easy for the person who partakes to look at the person who abstains and think, well, God clearly told us in his word, all things are to be received with gratitude through prayer.
SPEAKER_00: That's what 1 Timothy 4 says.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you being so legalistic and so strict?
SPEAKER_00: Receive what God has given as a good gift.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've had some of these conversations.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for that to take place.
SPEAKER_00: Which is to say, it's easy to walk in a spirit of subtle judgment.
SPEAKER_00: How could you?
SPEAKER_00: Or subtle condescension.
SPEAKER_00: How could you not?
SPEAKER_00: When will you get on my level?
SPEAKER_00: But what does Paul say in verse 4?
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep reading.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you aren't the master.
SPEAKER_00: God is.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things we sometimes say in the cookhouse is this when one child corrects another, we say, We don't need two mothers in this house.
SPEAKER_00: One is good enough.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like Paul is saying, we don't need two God the fathers in this house.
SPEAKER_00: One is enough.
SPEAKER_00: He's got it covered.
SPEAKER_00: And God very easily could have commanded full abstinence, and he very easily could have commanded full partaking.
SPEAKER_00: And apparently in his sovereign wisdom, he thought it better to leave it as a matter of the conscience, where each person should be fully convinced in their own mind.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you start to feel the spirit of judgment or of condescension, the move is to confess it to the Lord as sin and say, Lord, I'm starting to stand in your place as the judge, and that's not where I'm supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Would you help me to trust you as the judge here?
SPEAKER_00: That's the second principle.
SPEAKER_00: Reject judgment and condescension.
SPEAKER_00: Third principle, be fully convinced in your own mind.
SPEAKER_00: Here we are in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Look back at Romans 14.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says: one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
SPEAKER_00: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if Paul senses a response.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says this, well, there's lots of disagreement on these issues.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe I shouldn't have a strong opinion on any of it, and it's all just kind of laissez-faire, live and let live.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what's supposed to happen.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be fully convinced in your own mind.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take another issue where this gets played out: media consumption.
SPEAKER_00: Can Christians read Harry Potter?
SPEAKER_00: Can they watch The Office?
SPEAKER_00: Or the issue when I was a kid, can they watch The Lion King?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: A lot of strong opinions here.
SPEAKER_00: And some will open their Bible to Acts 19 and say, look, these people got saved and they burned all their sorcery books.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore we should not touch it.
SPEAKER_00: And others will turn their Bible to Acts 17 and say, Yes, but Paul was fluent in secular poetry to false gods.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in 1 Corinthians 9 that he became all things to all people so that by all means he might save some.
SPEAKER_00: And so you both have your Bible verse.
SPEAKER_00: You're both fully convinced in your own mind.
SPEAKER_00: For others, it's a little bit different when they hear a particular song or a genre of music.
SPEAKER_00: It takes them back to a time in their life where they were living totally contrary to the gospel and it becomes a stumbling block for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so they say, I'm gonna set that aside.
SPEAKER_00: They've become fully convinced in their own mind.
SPEAKER_00: The question, as you're seeking to be fully convinced in your own mind, is this to say, can I receive this with gratitude through prayer from God?
SPEAKER_00: I want to read to you from 1 Timothy 4.
SPEAKER_00: I alluded to this a couple of times.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to turn there, just jot it down.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first five verses of 1 Timothy 4 are very, very important for this conversation.
SPEAKER_00: This is 1 Timothy 4, 4 and 5.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says: For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it's received with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: For it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
SPEAKER_00: One of the frameworks I found helpful in thinking through, can I receive this with gratitude as a gift from God?
SPEAKER_00: Three R's that I kind of think through, especially on the media consumption side.
SPEAKER_00: Receive, reject, redeem.
SPEAKER_00: Some things you just clearly receive.
SPEAKER_00: Like you go watch the movies about the Chronicles of Narnia, and you're like, praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: I receive it, no questions asked.
SPEAKER_00: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Other things are clearly out of bounds.
SPEAKER_00: This is reject.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: That is totally antithetical to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Most things are a little less clear, and they're kind of in the middle.
SPEAKER_00: And we're saying, can this be redeemed?
SPEAKER_00: There's certainly elements that are sinful involved, things that are not pleasing to the Lord, and yet how much of that can I engage in and still receive it as a good gift from God above?
SPEAKER_00: For some of you on this media consumption thing, you really need to re-evaluate today and come back to have I been mindlessly taking in whatever Netflix or Amazon Prime or whatever your streaming service throws your way and say, can I really receive that movie, that show, that podcast, that YouTube channel is a good gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: You must be fully convinced in your own mind.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's also important to seek out godly counsel here.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's from other brothers and sisters in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes there are online blogs that we use, like plugged in online is one of these that perhaps some of you have used.
SPEAKER_00: These are helpful tools to help you see if you have a blind spot, and yet I would be careful that you make sure you are fully convinced in your own mind, not just taking what someone else has said, and you kind of lob that grenade, and because Pastor Steve says one thing, because Pastor Scott says another thing, therefore they must be right, and it has to be this way, make sure you're fully convinced in your own mind, not just adopting what someone else has said.
SPEAKER_00: Fourth principle.
SPEAKER_00: Assuming those motives in others is what we're referring to.
SPEAKER_00: This is in verses six through nine, and let's start reading in verse six.
SPEAKER_00: The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.
SPEAKER_00: While the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, as you seek to be fully convinced in your own mind, as you research an issue and decide upon an issue, it becomes harder to see other perspectives because you've become so convinced in your own mind.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, oh, hold on, hold on.
SPEAKER_00: When someone reaches a different conclusion, assume they're embodying 1 Timothy 4 and receiving it as a good gift from God or rejecting it as a way to glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: They're giving thanks for their position.
SPEAKER_00: Now, my assumption is with the church in Rome, some people had pure motives, and some people had less pure motives.
SPEAKER_00: Like, some were partaking out of gluttony, some were abstaining out of illegalistic self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Paul says, assume God glorifying motives from the others.
SPEAKER_00: So let's dig into another practical issue here.
SPEAKER_00: Should Christians participate in Halloween?
SPEAKER_00: Different people, different convictions.
SPEAKER_00: How do I assume God glorifying motives in the midst of this conversation?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you might resolve to pray for those in your church family.
SPEAKER_00: And if you choose not to participate in Halloween, you might pray a prayer like this that flows out of assuming God glorifying motives.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you for these brothers and sisters in my church who are dressed up today, and I thank you for the opportunity they have to be invited to the front door of their neighbors' houses where everyone in their neighborhood actually expects them to come to their front door.
SPEAKER_00: I pray you would bless those Reese's peanut butter cups they're about to eat for the glory of God, that it would result in salvations and eternal growth and people being baptized all throughout this community.
SPEAKER_00: Would you please make those peanut butter cups effective to that end?
SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
SPEAKER_00: And to the person who participates, you might pray over your abstaining brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Dear God, I thank you for the fellow members of Parkside Bible Church who have chosen not to participate in this Halloween because their conscience is bound by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that they are willing to stand up for holiness and they are willing to be counted as weird and outsiders by most in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: I pray you would strengthen more people at our church to put their foot in the ground for holiness and take a stand on what God has called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: You assume God glorifying motives while being fully convinced in your own mind.
SPEAKER_00: And what that posture of assuming God glorifying motives does, here's what it does.
SPEAKER_00: It says, I see the righteousness of Christ within you, guiding you, shaping you, compelling you, and for the sake of the gospel, I will seek mutual peace and upbuilding instead of quarreling over opinions.
SPEAKER_00: That's the fourth principle.
SPEAKER_00: Fifth principle.
SPEAKER_00: Trust God as the true judge.
SPEAKER_00: Here we are in verses 10 through 12.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read from verse 10 and see Paul articulate this himself.
SPEAKER_00: He says the following Why do you pass judgment on your brother?
SPEAKER_00: Or you, why do you despise your brother?
SPEAKER_00: For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
SPEAKER_00: For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
SPEAKER_00: So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you recognize I might be wrong in how I assess this issue.
SPEAKER_00: I might be wrong in how I look at others.
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think I'm wrong, because that's what it is to think.
SPEAKER_00: If I thought I was wrong, I would have changed my mind.
SPEAKER_00: But I might be wrong and I might not be aware of it.
SPEAKER_00: But trusting God as the true judge allows me to let go of judgment and trust Him to take care of it.
SPEAKER_00: It lets me focus on a clear conscience myself and genuine love towards others.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most quoted movies in the Cookhouse is Remember the Titans, and there's a great line in there where the offensive coordinator is having an argument with the defensive coordinator, and the offensive coordinator says, You just worry about your defense, and I'll worry about my offense.
SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of like God is saying that here.
SPEAKER_00: You worry about me being the judge, and you worry about having a clear conscience and showing genuine love, and not so much about making judgments on others.
SPEAKER_00: So, practical issue, how we trust God as the true judge.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk political engagement.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Here are statements I hear from people at Parkside pretty regularly.
SPEAKER_00: A couple different varieties.
SPEAKER_00: I hear this.
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard for me to see how any Christian could ever support Donald Trump.
SPEAKER_00: And then I hear someone else say this.
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard for me to see how any Christian could ever vote for a Democrat.
SPEAKER_00: And then I hear someone else say, it's really hard for me to see how any Christian could be apathetic towards politics.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's a chance to love one another and influence this country for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: I hear all three of those things today at Parkside, and I'm glad for it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen to me, when I say we don't make the judgment, we're trusting God as the true judge.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say a few things that we do engage in.
SPEAKER_00: We must, as a church, be able to talk about the issues together.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying we can't talk about issues.
SPEAKER_00: That's very important we get that.
SPEAKER_00: We can try to persuade one another.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing to do with firmly held convictions.
SPEAKER_00: And we can maintain a strong disagreement at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_00: But I cannot stand in judgment of my brother or sister because God has clearly said, that's my job.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get to do that part.
SPEAKER_00: Leave it to me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you take these five principles all together, you start to meld them into one church family, we're seeing a warm welcome across debated issues where everyone rejects judgment and condescension, yet everyone is completely convinced in their own mind while assuming God-glorifying motives of the others within the body, while delaying judgment and leaving it to God.
SPEAKER_00: And what you find is a stunningly beautiful vision of a local church.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, that's how it should be.
SPEAKER_00: Or if I go back to the beginning, a stunning picture of a state government that's so well run, they can say, we're actually going to give the money back.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need your income tax or your property tax.
SPEAKER_00: You say, oh, that sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be part of that.
SPEAKER_00: I want to build it.
SPEAKER_00: How can I do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me say two things.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, how can you do this?
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna run that state government that can cut taxes that aggressively, it's gonna take everybody rolling up their sleeves and losing part of their budget and their area of oversight to make it work.
SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna take all of our efforts, is what I'm trying to say, to build that kind of a church.
SPEAKER_00: But the second thing that's probably more significant, I want to push a little harder on this, to live out the gospel, to live out the righteousness of Christ, to warmly welcome, rejecting judgment, assuming the best, is going to reveal in me and in every single one of us a heart that actually struggles to warmly welcome, and a heart that actually gravitates towards judgment or condescension.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's going to reveal a heart that needs the gospel maybe more than I realized.
SPEAKER_00: And the more you seek to live this out, the more you're going to see that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about putting on your Sunday best and putting on a Sunday morning smile, but it's a complete identity transformation where all of life is transformed, and you'll find yourself praying, Lord, change me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy on me, a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: I need your help today.
SPEAKER_00: And in that way, as we seek to live out the gospel, it actually pushes us deeper into the gospel in order to create a community that is shaped by the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: May that be true here, this week, and every week, that we would glorify God by pursuing peace and mutual upbuilding instead of quarreling over opinions for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we need your help.
SPEAKER_00: We confess our neediness, that we trend to judgment or condescension, we trend away from warm welcomes, we easily assume selfish motives, we quickly want to put ourselves in the judgment seat, and we ask for your grace that you would change our hearts one at a time, and you would build a church on the foundation of Jesus Christ, and we would be shaped by his gospel and display that gospel in all that we do.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray it in Jesus' name.