WEBVTT 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:09.839 As we're looking at Romans 14, so so 11 through 12 of Romans was a lot of theology. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:32.640 Uh it was a lot about proclaiming uh uh who God is and who we are in relationship to Him and how has Jesus uh affected or impacted that relationship that we have with God and what does earning uh uh or what does what who blah blah blah Christ earn for us right standing and reconciliation with God by his finished work. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:47.359 And so if we're gonna be made righteous, it's not through any of our own works or any of our own efforts are we gonna be able to be made righteous, uh, but it's through the finished work of Christ and his righteousness applied to us uh that we're reconciled to God. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:58.799 And then what Paul's been doing now is uh from uh from 13 on, is he's been in 12 on, he's been allowing us to understand how then does that impact the way that we live with one another? 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.039 And he's been really going through what does love look like? 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:09.840 And so we're kind of wrapping up this morning uh what love looks like within the body of Christ specifically. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:14.959 And so as we approach this text, what I want us to ask the question to ourselves. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:21.280 If you were to wonder, what does love demand of you, how would you answer that? 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:24.400 What does love require of you? 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:26.480 Uh specifically within the body of Christ. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:39.840 Now we live in a culture today where where everybody is shouting at you, if you love this person or that people group or whatever, you would look like this. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:47.599 And so we're getting all these shouts around us from culture of, well, if you were actually a loving person, this is what it would look like for you. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:55.519 Uh but the Bible gives us clarity in the ways of which explicitly how love looks like from us, right? 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:04.319 God says if you want to love your brother, if you want to love your neighbor, there's there's explicit things on how that looks, but then there's a lot of freedom. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:09.599 There's a lot of freedom in the ways that we can actually express and communicate love to one another. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:17.680 And that has to be guided by principles and spirit conviction on matters of indifference. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:32.479 And that's what we've been talking about the last couple of weeks is matters of indifference, where the Bible's not explicit on how we should be living our lives and conducting ourselves in righteousness, in love for one another, there's freedom, there's liberty. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:35.199 And we've talked about what do we want to do, though? 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.759 We want to make matters of indifferences explicit commands. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.599 We want to bind one another over things that do not matter according to the kingdom of God. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.759 And so we want to make that which is uh uh liberty uh obligation. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:55.520 That's our desire, that's our propensity in the body of Christ. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:07.120 And so we we put things on like how you dress, or what movies you're allowed to watch, or what bands you're allowed to listen to, or what you're allowed to eat or drink, or what holidays you're allowed to observe. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:12.960 What we do is where the Bible's silent, uh arrogantly we speak for it. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:22.639 And we don't allow matters of indifference to rest in this holy tension of that for you it might be sin, but that does not mean it's sin for me. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.120 But our minds can't compute that. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:30.400 What our minds tend to do is if it's sin for me, it must be sin for everyone else also. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.400 The Bible doesn't say that. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.919 Now, the Bible does explicitly call what sin is, right? 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:51.120 If we look at it just a simple example of the Ten Commandments, we kind of talked about this through the sermon series, but the Ten Commandments are a very simplistic example of explicit commands that no Christian has the freedom to not obey, right? 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:59.439 These are binding because they're revealed by the Word of God Himself to us on how we should live and what righteousness looks like. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:06.319 However, there's a lot of things within our life and the way that we conduct our lives that are matters of indifference. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.240 So now let me ask the question again. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:09.919 What does love demand of me? 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:11.919 What does love ask of me? 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:19.279 When it comes to the family of God, what lengths are we called to go to actually love one another? 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:21.279 And then what does that love look like? 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:29.519 Well, I'm gonna point us to 1 John chapter 3, verse 16 for our kind of baseline understanding of what does love demand of me? 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:40.639 By this we know love, John says, that he, speaking of Jesus, laid down his life for us, the church, so and so we should lay down our lives for who? 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.959 Y'all got vocal cords, brothers and sisters, yeah. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:47.040 Our brothers and sisters. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:49.040 We should lay down our lives for who? 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:51.199 One another, our brothers and sisters. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:52.959 That's who we should lay down our lives for. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.600 So, what does what does love demand of me? 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:00.639 It demands that I lay down my life in the same way that Christ laid down his life for us. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:09.600 So let's keep that in mind as we navigate matters of liberty and conscience, because there's a triumphing factor here. 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:17.279 The triumphing factor is not what your freedoms are, the triumphing factor is how does it affect your brother? 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:25.279 If we look at verses 13 through 15 of this passage, I would summarize it like this: your freedoms may be your brother's failures. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.959 Your freedoms may be your brother's failures. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:33.759 Uh the call to action made to us in light of our conscience, right? 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:38.720 So our conscience uh only binds us on matters of indifference. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:42.480 If for us it is sin, then it is sin for us. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:47.519 If for us it is free or liberty, then for then only for us is it so. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.079 Conscience is binding to the individual. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:50.639 Okay? 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:56.079 And so when we understand this, what Paul's saying is then stop judging one another. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:07.600 In light of conscience, in light of matters of indifference, the primary call is to stop judging one another for the things that you call freedom or for the things that for your brother is sin. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.720 The goal is not to convince or persuade one another. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:13.519 Paul actually warns us of this in the previous passage. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:27.360 He says, You who are the stronger brother, whose faith is greater because your understanding permits for more liberties, do not call in your weaker brother to try and persuade him to think like you, to get in a debate with him. 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.399 Stop judging one another, Paul says. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.399 We must stop passing judgment on matters of indifference. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:35.120 Why? 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:39.439 So that we might foster unity in the body of Christ. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.680 Because here, the fruit of judgment is always division. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.160 If we're honest, the fruit of judgment is always division. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:54.240 Now, I'm not saying that there aren't things in the body of Christ that we should divide over, that we should judge. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:04.000 There are things within the body of Christ that we should do, but those are the explicit things of the Lord, of which He's revealed to us through His Word, not matters of liberty and indifference. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:06.000 Uh, but we want to, again, what do we want to do? 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:14.319 We want to make those matters explicit matters rather than allow them to rest in the holy tension of freedom. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.879 So our energy should be focused from passing judgment. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:25.439 We're gonna avert our energy over from passing judgment to removing hindrances, right? 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:28.240 So, what where where should we put our energy and our effort? 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:33.439 From passing judgment on one another to removing hindrances from one another. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:41.120 Paul says, do not be, decide never to be or put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:54.399 This language of a stumbling block or a hindrance, it's it refers to a trap or a snare, something that entices them in and causes them to sin because they're violating their conscience on matters of liberty. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:08:03.439 For them to partake in this very thing, Paul's using the eating of meat or the drinking of wine in some instances or the observation of certain days. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:09.519 For them, if you entice them to partake in those things, you're you're setting a snare. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.000 You're setting a trap for them to fall into. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.600 And what are they falling into? 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:16.319 The violation of their own conscience. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:18.560 Because to them it is unclean. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:21.519 They cannot partake in those things. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:32.159 So a stumbling block or a hindrance is something we do that leads another to sin or destructive behavior. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:38.080 It's something we do that leads another to sin or destructive behavior. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:48.159 Paul's saying we must decide right now, decisively make a determined decision in your mind to never be that for another brother in the Lord. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:56.480 We need to be a people determined to not be responsible for our brother's sin, because we were indulging in our freedoms. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:02.799 In verse 14, we're brought into a deeper understanding of this thought of conscience, right? 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:05.679 14 really unpacks it for us. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.120 And so let's read it together. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:14.240 It says this I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:15.919 So let's stop there for a second. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:16.960 What's Paul saying? 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:19.840 That Christ has made all things clean. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:25.120 In Christ, through his finished work, there is nothing that is unclean. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:26.399 Here's an example of that. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:30.960 We see Peter actually getting this vision from the Lord of this sheet, right? 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:37.840 This sheet that just descends from heaven, full of bacon and pork belly and sausages and all these good things, right? 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:40.399 That we that Jews were not allowed to partake in. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:47.759 They weren't allowed to eat those things because they were intrinsically unclean for them, according to dietary law from the Lord. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.480 But then what uh the Lord says to Peter is, Peter, rise up and eat. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:53.840 Oh man, right? 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:59.120 It's kind of like when you get your number at a wedding and there's a buffet just full of, hey, rise up and eat. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.559 Number 17, you're good to go. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:01.120 What is it? 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:06.000 Every guy at the table just stands up real quick and lunges for that buffet bar. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.480 Uh that's what that's what Jesus was calling Peter to do. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:09.919 Peter, rise up and eat. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.279 These things are clean. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.519 Don't call these things unclean anymore. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:14.879 I've made them clean. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:20.320 So Paul says, I'm persuaded that nothing is unclean in itself. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.039 This is extremely important. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:33.440 We have to realize that intrinsically, with inside of themselves, none of these things are unclean or evil or good. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:38.559 We actually call these things morally neutral or matters of indifference. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:43.120 So video games are not good or evil. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:46.960 It's all about how we engage with them from our heart. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:47.519 Right? 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:49.840 Social media is not good nor evil. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:58.480 Now, some of us might want to say that it's evil, or some of us might want to say it's the greatest thing ever created, but intrinsically it has no moral value in it. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:02.240 It's how our hearts engage with it by faith. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.039 Same thing with meat and wine. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.200 This is what Paul's helping us understand. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.519 It is not unclean in itself. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:12.399 Then how can it become unclean for an individual? 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:14.000 He helps us out here. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:19.840 It is unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.559 This is what we're talking about in conscience. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:23.600 In conscience. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:25.840 So let's talk about wine. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.200 Wine is not unclean, it is morally neutral. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:34.879 It has no moral intrinsic value in it. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:46.159 If my mind determines that wine is unclean, something I have to abstain from, for whatever reason you want to add to it, then for me to indulge in it is sin. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:48.240 It's unclean for me. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:12:00.159 That does not mean that it's unclean for my brother or my sister, who may be able from a place of faith indulge in the drinking of wine and not violate their conscience. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:04.000 You see how this gets real muddy real quick? 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:11.679 You see how this talks about all kinds of nuances of the ways that we have to try to apply this passage to various things in our life. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:17.600 How does something that the Lord has called clean made unclean? 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:21.519 Simply by your own personal understanding of it. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.039 Intrinsically, stuff is morally neutral. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:38.159 What we eat or ingest, days we observe, video games, technology, social media, etc., these things are not evil or good, they're indifferent. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:44.639 The determining factor of our relationship with it resides intrinsically in us, not the stuff. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:49.759 How we view, understand, or engage with it determines our relationship with us. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:51.360 This is conscience. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.679 And this conscience must not be violated personally or communally. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.080 This is what we're diving into in Romans 14. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:01.360 The conscience cannot be violated personally. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:09.360 That means the individual has to hold to their conscience because if they engage in this thing, then for them it is sin. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.559 And it also must be not violated communally. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:19.279 This is where you and I now play a part in the upholding of an individual's conscience. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:33.600 We have to be ones who try to uphold that what they for them is unclean, we protect them and not allow them to indulge in, or else we have brought destruction upon our brother because we've set a snare and a trap. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:34.799 You see what I'm saying? 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:42.799 So what we have to do is both try to uphold, not cause a conscience to be violated personally nor communally. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:47.360 This is where we get involved, laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:53.600 It becomes, though, the responsibility uniquely of the stronger brother. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:06.399 This communal aspect, it becomes the responsibility of the stronger brother, the one with understanding that brings freedom to lovingly protect the weaker brother who is bound by his conscience. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:11.759 If we look throughout the scriptures, the call is always for the stronger brother to refrain. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.879 It is never for the weaker brother to partake. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.440 Let me say that again and help us understand. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:23.840 The call is always for the stronger brother to refrain, because for him to refrain from his freedoms, he is not sinning. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:29.759 The call is never for the weaker brother to partake, because if he did, it would be sin to him. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:33.840 So where's this call of obligation, of responsibility being made to? 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:44.399 It's being made to the stronger brother who has greater understanding, which provides for him more liberties and freedoms in Christ, because he knows and understands that Christ has made all things clean. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:52.159 It is unloving to be a hindrance or a stumbling block to our brother over issues of indifference. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:00.480 No matter our understanding or the lack of it, our conscience cannot be violated. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:04.559 And Paul brings this into a life or death situation. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:06.799 He doesn't treat this matter lightly. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.039 He doesn't just say, oh, this, it's not a big deal. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:14.000 Like if this, if this, if this happens, you know, no biggie, it's all right, we'll just kind of sweep it under the rug. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.639 Paul brings this whole thing into a literal life or death situation. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:24.720 If we look here at 15, for if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:30.720 By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:34.399 When he says destroy, he's referring to losing a brother. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.879 And he's not meaning relationally, like you and him got in a fight and now you're not friends no more. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.600 He's not talking about losing a brother relationally, he's talking about losing a brother from the faith. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:45.519 That you would actually destroy. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:46.720 He doubles down on this. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:58.799 We'll get this later in the passage, but that you would destroy the work of God by being a snare or an enticement for someone to violate their conscience because of your liberties. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:08.159 Our love for our brother must be greater than the freedoms we enjoy. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:12.159 Our love for our brother must be greater than the freedoms we enjoy. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:20.320 If we kind of come down to summary of verses 16 through 17, what we'll see is this is that the kingdom of God is not what goes into your belly. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.279 The kingdom of God is not what goes into your belly. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.200 Uh, I love this because it helps us understand the very words of Jesus. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.799 You are not made unclean by what you take in. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:34.720 You are unclean by what already resides within you. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:39.440 It's not about the eating and drinking of things that we take in that makes us unclean. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.240 No, no, no. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:45.600 We are unclean intrinsically because of our depravity, because of our sin posture and rebellion. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:54.240 We as human beings, without the work of the Holy Spirit, we are unclean, but it's not by what we take in, it's by what already resides within our chest. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.120 So, how should the stronger brother respond? 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.279 This is important. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:08.880 Because here's what we have a temptation to do: we have a temptation to say, well, let's just get rid of it altogether and let's just call it and label it evil. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:10.799 That way nobody ever gets hurt. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:15.599 That might be the simpler road, but that's not an understanding of the gospel. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:27.920 Paul actually says this that the older brother should stand firm in his freedoms and love his brother by refraining from them at times. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:30.640 He says, Don't throw one out for the other. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:33.039 He says, actually, to stand firm in your freedoms. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:38.559 Do not let anyone call what is good evil, is what he says. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.960 Don't let the weaker brother, because we talked about this last week, what's the propensity of the weaker brother? 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:54.559 He's going to be more tyrannical because he's going to try, because his conscience is bound, by saying something like alcohol is unclean, he is going to try and bind the conscience then of the others. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:18:04.400 Paul says again, he reiterates, what you know to be unclean, or what you know to be clean or good, do not let anyone, even your weaker brother, call it evil. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:08.880 But yet, still, at the same time, in this holy tension, what are we to do? 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:14.160 We're to lay our lives down and refrain at times for the weaker brother. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:20.640 A wrong response to matters of indifference is to call what is good evil. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:24.240 We should still stand up for the things we know to be right. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:29.039 We cannot allow the weaker brother to bind the conscience of the rest of us. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:40.559 But we have to work, both of us, the weaker and the stronger, to have a more robust understanding of the kingdom as we approach matters of indifference. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:44.319 Again, the kingdom of God is not what goes into your belly. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:51.680 The kingdom of God does not come through what we eat or drink or any other matter of indifference. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:19:02.160 For the weaker brother, we have to realize that by not partaking in these certain things, we are not ushering in God's kingdom of righteousness. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.759 And for the stronger brother, we have to realize the same from a different perspective of indulging. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:21.759 So some of us might have this propensity that we believe that because I refrain from these things that I have labeled unclean or that my mind does not allow me to see as free, because I refrain from these things, I'm ushering in God's righteousness into my life. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:25.440 And there's all kinds of camps and divisions within the church that will do this, right? 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:28.559 Because of the clothes I wear, I'm more righteous than you. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.920 Because of what I do not eat, I'm more righteous than you. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:36.160 Because of what I do not allow my eyes or ears to take in, I'm more righteous than you. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:40.640 I remember uh uh this is a uh this this take it for what it is, right? 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:47.039 When I was 18, I was the manager uh of the panties section at a Kmart. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:49.200 Probably the lowest point of my life. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.960 And I've been in very, I've been in very low points, right? 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.680 But the the manager above me, just let that sit. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:03.119 The manager above me, he belonged to an apostolic holiness church. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:14.240 Uh and so uh there was some uh uh women who would come in, his uh sister and and some other women from the church, they would come in from time to time and they liked Kmart and uh and they liked the pantyhose section. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.519 So they would come in, I'd say hi to them, you know, and and welcome. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:24.160 But it was funny, I heard out of their mouth a few times, they would label themselves fruit inspectors. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:25.599 Fruit inspectors. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.559 That's what they labeled themselves. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.759 That's what they just like a title that they gave to themselves. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:39.359 What they were saying was that they would look at other women or other people within Kmart and they would judge them because they did not have the righteousness that they did. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:41.519 How was that righteousness determined? 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:46.480 By their length of hair in a bun or the clothes that they uh chose to wore. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:49.200 That was how their righteousness was being applied to them. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:53.279 So they would then judge and condemn other women within Kmart. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.880 It was the silliest thing, um, uh, about what they were wearing. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:20:58.559 Because this is what they were believing. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:05.279 By the way that they robed themselves, by the way that they had their hair, they were ushering in righteousness to their own life. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:06.000 They were applying right. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:07.359 No, no, no, no, no. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.400 That's what the Bible's telling us is not true. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:15.039 Righteousness doesn't come from external things, righteousness comes from within us. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:21.519 What we are called to do as Christians is not to apply or add righteousness by the things that we do. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:37.200 We are called as Christians that because the fullness of the righteousness of Christ has been applied to us by his finished work, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we then live out of joy-filled obedience the very righteousness that now indwells us. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:44.160 We're not adding to as if our Savior was somehow insufficient the righteousness that he gives to us. 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:45.680 That's ridiculous. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:50.640 But we are called to joyfully live out in obedience that righteous which indwells us. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.759 But also for the stronger brother, just because you drink a craft of IPA at the bar with your buddies and talk a little bit. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.319 About, you know, soteriology. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:05.839 You're not adding righteousness to your life. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.319 You are not adding anything to the finished work of Christ. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:11.519 We cannot do that. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.359 No matter in the things that we refrain from or the things that we partake in. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.359 It is Christ who makes us acceptable. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:28.079 Not what we do in relation to such medial earthly things. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:33.279 We will not obtain a righteousness through our actions or behaviors. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:36.559 We obtain it by faith alone in Christ alone. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:47.279 So in light of this, maturity, maturity looks like getting away from judgments and futile arguments and pursuing peace and edification. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:51.839 We need to be a people who stops creating divisions and tearing down one another. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:57.920 We need to labor in fostering peace and building up one another on matters of indifference. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.279 This is what he says in 19. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.440 So then, in light of this, what are we to do? 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:07.519 We're to pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding or edification. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:15.039 If you think of edification as this edifice, this erection of a strong tower, this is what we're supposed to be doing in one another. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:24.799 Building up, fortifying one another in our faith, not seeking to constantly tear down, especially over matters of indifference. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:30.240 And like I said, the fruit of division or the fruit of judgment is always going to be division. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:32.000 How do we seek peace? 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:35.839 Stop judging things that don't matter. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:46.720 Honor the weaker brother in his conscience, honor the stronger brother in his liberties, and both of you seek to work out peace. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:53.759 Verses 20 through 23, we see flaunting freedoms and feeble faith. 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:56.559 Flaunting freedoms and feeble faith. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.119 Glad I did my jaw exercises. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:05.039 Again, Paul warns us about the severity of violating one's conscience. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:06.160 And 20. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:10.559 Verse 20, do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:12.720 Doubles down on it. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:18.720 The issue is not about your freedoms, the issue is about the effects your freedoms have on your brother. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:23.200 What is good for us as Christians to consider one another above ourselves. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:24.480 That's what we're called to do. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:26.640 Consider one another above yourself. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:30.559 We're never to put stuff over our brother. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:33.759 What is better than our freedoms? 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:37.519 Walking in love with our brother for their good. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:40.240 This is the purpose of Christian life. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:44.400 In essence, we're to lay down our lives for the sake of our brothers and sisters. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:48.079 We are to refrain so that others might enjoy. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.279 We are to lay down so that they can rise up. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:53.920 The Christian life is not about you. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:01.279 The Christian life is always about how our lives are laid down for the good of others. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:03.519 But that's not what the culture wants to help you understand. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:08.960 The culture wants to help you understand that everything you do should be about your own building up. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:30.480 Self-love and self-healing and self-whatever else, all of this junk, it makes you so uh self-centered that you're not able to understand that actually your responsibility to walk in love is to lay down your preferences, your indifferences, your freedoms, and everything else for the sake of the good of another person. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:31.599 Why? 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:33.440 Because that's what Jesus did. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:36.880 That's how we know what love looks like. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:49.119 We have to keep in mind that we are still to not call what is good bad, nor cease from partaking in our freedoms altogether. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:50.799 That's never the call for the Christian. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:58.480 Just to make that clear, in light of all of this, the call is never to then remove from yourself the things that you know are good. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:02.880 We are still to hold them in the faith that we have while working to love our brothers also. 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:05.039 And so we stand between two tensions. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:08.640 I've been calling this this holy tension that we must stand in between. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:15.440 The freedom we have on matters of indifference and the call to love our brother. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:16.880 And I love this. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:20.720 Paul uh actually calls out a blessing in this passage. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:30.799 This is one of the only places in the latter half of Romans where Paul calls out a blessing outside of the end of the letter where he uh closes in this doxological blessing that he gives. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:35.440 Doxological meaning this worshipful response to the majesty and grandeur of God. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:37.759 But Paul here calls out a blessing. 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:39.839 Who do you think he calls the blessing out to? 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:45.440 Do you think he calls it out to the weaker brother whose conscience is bind by his weak faith? 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:46.720 No. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.720 He calls it out to the stronger brother. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:51.200 The only blessing that he gives, he gives to the stronger brother. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:52.480 Let's dive into this real quick. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:58.079 He says this the faith that you have, verse 22, the faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:02.960 Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what? 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:04.960 For what he approves. 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:22.480 Paul's saying to the stronger brother, don't feel guilty, don't feel shameful, just because people who have a weaker faith or a shallower understanding of the freedoms that we have in Christ will try to bind you, or you'll try to feel inherent guilt or shame for the liberties that you partake in. 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:24.640 Paul's saying, no, no, no, no, don't do that. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:35.680 Blessed are you, brother, who does not pass judgment on himself, does not allow guilt and shame to overtake him unnecessarily for the things that he knows to be true. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:37.519 I love that. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.400 I love because what's our propensity? 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:42.079 Get rid of everything. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:42.799 Right? 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.680 Bonfire, CDs getting chucked in it. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:46.400 Get rid of it. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:47.759 You can't have it. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:50.079 No, no, that's not that's not what Paul's saying. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:55.599 If you know this to be right, if you know this to be clean, don't pass judgment on yourself. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:00.799 Consider it a blessing for you to hold tightly to the freedoms you now understand. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:08.000 But that's not without the call to love our brother in the midst of that, also. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:17.839 There's no reason to feel shame or guilt on the things you approve to partake in where on matters of indifference, where there's liberty. 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:21.200 You should have confidence in the Lord that He has made all things clean. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:26.000 And you should have confidence in your faith that it creates a clean conscience for you. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:31.839 Our final warning is one on the violation of conscience. 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:37.039 Faith is the ultimate personal determining factor when it comes to conscience. 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:43.680 What is okay for you to indulge in and what is not, what is sin for you to indulge in? 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.039 It comes down to the individual's faith. 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:54.000 If I can do this from faith, then for me it is good. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:55.599 Simple as that. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:59.279 If I can do this from a place of faith, what is that faith rooted in? 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.359 That Christ has made all things clean. 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:06.160 If I can do this from a place of faith, for me it is good. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:11.119 If I cannot do this from faith, a belief that Christ has made all things clean. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.440 If I cannot do this from that place of faith, then for me it is sin. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:23.279 So the conscience is violated personally by that individual's amount of faith. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:30.000 If for me to do it is good, then for me to do it is good from a place of faith. 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:31.920 If it's not, then it's sin for me. 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:35.279 Now, we're again we're talking about matters of indifference. 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:40.079 You could be a serial killer and say, no, no, I'm good with this. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:41.279 My conscience is clean. 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:44.160 I can I can just straight up kill people and be fine. 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:47.279 No, the Bible says that's bad. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:56.640 You can't do that, even if your conscience is so sedated or depraved that you can actually justify your actions. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:08.000 No, from explicit commands of the scripture, thou shalt not murder, we can easily come with a faithful judgment, not by our own authority, but by the authority of the Word of God, and say, no, brother, you're in sin. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:10.640 And this needs to be punished through justice. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:16.400 But on matters of indifference, we try to, we we try to push them into this category too much. 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:19.599 We have to leave it up to the individual. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.640 If I can do this from a place of faith, then for me it is good. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.400 If I cannot do this from a place of faith, then for me it is sin. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.519 And we find ourselves as characters in this story. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:37.519 Some of us were the weaker brother, whose conscience binds them from partaking in the fullness of the liberty of Jesus that he's provided for us. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:44.079 Some of us, though, we're the stronger brother, whose conscience frees him to partake more in those same liberties. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:54.319 Yet in this passage, the primary call is to the stronger brother to care for, love, and prefer the weaker brother over himself. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.079 He's like an older brother who's to look after the younger one. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.000 So the stronger brother should lovingly care for the weaker. 00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:03.519 Why is this so? 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:08.400 Ultimately, this is true because of this one reality. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:12.319 Family is more important than freedoms. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:16.720 Family is more important than freedoms. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:26.559 The relationship that we have for one another, the love that we are to communicate to one another by the laying down of our lives, so that we might have what? 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.960 Unity and peace with one another. 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:36.480 Our family, this family, is more important than any freedoms you and I could ever seek to partake in. 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:39.039 That's why the stronger brother gets the call. 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:46.559 Refrain, love the weaker, prefer him over yourself, so that we might have unity and peace. 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:53.200 No matter what liberties we may now have in Christ, none of them are more important than our family. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:58.480 What benefit would it be to indulge in your conscience but lose your brother? 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.400 It'd be of no gain. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:04.400 In fact, it'd be it could be of eternal loss, Paul says. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:13.519 We may be the ones who possess the knowledge with full confidence that Jesus has made all things clean, but our brother doesn't understand that. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:17.599 Or has not been able to see it for themselves yet. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:29.279 And so if we are unable or refuse to walk in love and prefer them over our stuff, we may cause them to sin through our freedoms. 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:36.720 We may be the very snare or entrapment that Paul tells us to make a definitive decision right now to never be. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:41.920 All of this is based on a conscience that is formed by faith. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:48.640 The weaker brother, what we consider as clean is unclean to them. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:53.599 They cannot indulge in certain things because their conscience doesn't permit them to. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:33:02.480 We are not simply dealing with things that are clean or unclean intrinsically within them, but we're dealing with faith and sin. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.920 Those are much more serious matters. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:10.000 Sin is no matter to take lightly. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:20.799 As we're instructed in this text twice, should we destroy the work of God by indulging in our freedoms and causing our brother to stumble? 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:24.240 Paul understood freedom. 00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:27.680 He had the knowledge that Jesus made all things clean. 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:30.000 He lived a life of faith. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:42.480 Yet, in a similar situation, at the church in Corinth, he goes as far to make this statement to communicate how important family is over our freedom. 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:47.039 So there was this issue in the Church of Corinth about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:50.000 You can find this in uh 1 Corinthians chapter 8. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:34:07.759 Uh, eating meat that was sacrificed to idols, there were issues within the church that was causing division and causing some brothers who did not have the understanding, whose conscience was bind, to not be able to eat that meat, to be finding themselves partaking in the very things they called unclean. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.599 They were causing their brothers to sin in certain ways. 00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:20.239 But the younger brother or the weaker brother wanted to bind the conscience of them all, to say that all meat that is sacrificed to idols is unclean and you cannot partake of it. 00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:21.920 Paul understands freedom. 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:24.320 Paul comes in and says, Hey, weaker brother, you're wrong. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.480 What God made clean, don't you dare call unclean. 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:28.159