00:00: Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 14.
00:04: We are continuing to look at this first half of chapter 14 where Paul is teaching Christians like us.
00:11: How do we agree to disagree together?
00:14: How do we maintain unity with different takes on some things?
00:19: Toward that end, let me ask you this.
00:22: Can you or I eat food in a way that glorifies God?
00:28: Yeah, right?
00:29: We can do that.
00:31: 1 Corinthians 10 31 says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
00:37: So it's telling us to eat for the glory of God.
00:40: I like that command.
00:41: Eat lunch today for the glory of God, folks.
00:44: That's a command.
00:45: 1 Timothy chapter 4 is talking about folks in the church era saying you can't have these sorts of foods, Christians.
00:53: Putting some things off limits.
00:55: And Paul speaks of those foods that are supposedly off limits as, quote, foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those that believe and know the truth.
01:09: In other words, they're not off limits.
01:10: If you lived between Moses and Jesus, there were certain foods off limit according to the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant.
01:21: But with the coming of Jesus, that covenant is fulfilled and all foods are available to us.
01:29: I love what for Easter dinner.
01:32: What is the most common main item at an Easter dinner?
01:37: Ham.
01:38: Ham.
01:38: That's fantastic.
01:40: A food that was off limits until Jesus comes now becomes the primary centerpiece of the celebrating Jesus meal.
01:48: I love that.
01:50: Now, do you have to eat ham?
01:51: By no means.
01:52: But I love that some people do.
01:54: That's great.
01:56: Now, I can eat for the glory of God.
01:58: Can I not eat for the glory of God?
02:02: Can I abstain or fast from food for the glory of God?
02:05: Absolutely.
02:06: Absolutely.
02:07: Jesus fasted, Matthew chapter 4.
02:11: So, if that can't be done for the glory of God, Jesus sinned, and we know that he didn't.
02:17: Jesus, in Matthew 6, gave instructions for his disciples of how, not if, they should fast at times.
02:25: And it shows up three times in the book of Acts as the positive, affirmed practice of the early church.
02:31: So, you can eat or not eat and glorify God through these opposite means.
02:39: Sometimes we can legitimately honor and glorify God in opposite ways.
02:45: But not everything is like that, right?
02:48: Can I glorify God through faithfulness to my wife?
02:53: Yes.
02:53: Can I glorify God through unfaithfulness to my wife?
02:57: And all God's people said, no, right?
03:01: Can I glorify God by obeying God?
03:04: Yes.
03:05: Can I glorify God by disobeying God?
03:09: No.
03:10: So, some things are just simply out of bounds.
03:14: And other things, even opposites, can both be in bounds.
03:18: The passage we looked at last week, Romans 14, verses 1 through 12, with some brief references later in the chapter, calls us as Christians to agree to disagree about some things, and it gives us a framework for doing so.
03:37: Last week, as we looked at the passage, we were like, okay, what kinds of things fall into this category?
03:41: And we saw from the passage that Paul's talking about these as things that are not sinful.
03:46: He's not saying agree to disagree about sin things.
03:51: These are things that do glorify God.
03:54: These are things that are not about legalism, not about I have to do this for God to be happy with me.
03:59: It's not about going under the Old Testament law as binding on us.
04:04: And in many cases, these are issues where one side may be using their freedom in Christ, their genuine freedom in Christ, more than the other perspective is.
04:16: Some of the ways that in Romans 14 this stuff shows up was things like eating or not eating meat, drinking or not drinking wine, celebrating certain days or not celebrating certain days.
04:29: You can see that in verses 2, 3, 6, 21.
04:32: It's a number of places in the chapter.
04:37: We're going to go further.
04:39: Let's reread the passage 1 through 12.
04:40: As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
04:49: One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables.
04:55: Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.
05:00: And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.
05:04: For God has welcomed him.
05:06: Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?
05:10: It is before his own master that he stands or falls.
05:14: And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
05:20: Each person esteems, one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
05:26: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
05:29: The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.
05:33: The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
05:43: For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.
05:47: For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.
05:51: So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
05:55: For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
06:02: Why do you pass judgment on your brother?
06:06: Or you, why do you despise your brother?
06:09: For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
06:12: For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
06:18: So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
06:25: I want to draw your attention to verse 5 this morning.
06:30: Look at that again.
06:31: One person seems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
06:37: One person says, I'm going to celebrate this or that special day.
06:41: The other person says, no, it doesn't matter.
06:42: You don't have to celebrate that.
06:44: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
06:50: I would not have written that.
06:55: Now, I'd have been wrong to not write that.
06:57: It belongs there.
06:59: But does that seem odd to you?
07:01: The entire context of this passage is Christians getting along with each other when they've got different takes on stuff.
07:07: And he says, you should really think this through and be fully convinced of your perspective.
07:15: I might expect him to say something like, hey, guys, this isn't that big a deal.
07:19: Don't squabble over things that aren't that big a deal.
07:22: Don't be so stuck on your position that you insist on your position.
07:26: We might expect Paul to encourage them and us to be kind of flexible.
07:30: Be a little wishy-washy over the minor things, Christians.
07:34: But that's not what he says.
07:36: Being wishy-washy would make it easier to get along.
07:38: I kind of think this.
07:40: I kind of think that.
07:40: But I don't think it too strongly, so who cares?
07:42: That would make it easy.
07:43: But instead, Paul says that each one, each Christian, should be fully convinced in his own mind.
07:51: He doesn't just say, hey, I know some of you are.
07:53: He says you should be.
07:55: That's for us today, too.
07:56: When we think these matters through, we should think them through enough that we come to a firm perspective.
08:03: That we are really convinced this is the way.
08:07: At a glance, doesn't that seem like it would be something that creates more conflict, not less?
08:13: Wouldn't it seem like people with the opposite ideas being more firm in their contradictory stances would increase the tension and conflict in the church?
08:24: I don't think that's where it actually goes, though.
08:27: First, we need to ask this.
08:28: What is it that Paul wants Christians to be fully convinced in their own minds about?
08:35: It can't be that he wants them to be firmly convinced that their stance is right and every other stance is wrong.
08:40: That wouldn't fit the context at all.
08:42: Rather, I think he wants them to be fully convinced of the sorts of things that we looked at last week.
08:48: That their choice is not a sin issue.
08:51: Be fully convinced that what you're doing is actually okay with God, is actually in accord with God's word.
08:56: It's a legitimate, non-sinful choice.
08:59: Number two, they should be fully convinced that this thing that they're choosing to do honors God, brings glory to God, honors the Lord.
09:06: And number three, that this choice is at least for them in this situation, the best way that they can think of to live for Jesus.
09:16: This is the best choice for them to make for the glory of God in this context.
09:24: In other words, Paul does not give us permission to be on autopilot in the Christian life.
09:29: We can't just do what we've always done.
09:32: We can't simply do what everyone else does.
09:34: Rather, we need to be fully convinced in our own minds.
09:37: We need to think it through.
09:38: We need to consider all the options.
09:40: We need to check God's word.
09:41: We need to consider the specific situation.
09:44: And ask for the Holy Spirit's help to make a choice that really honors Jesus in that moment, in that context.
09:53: Intentionally living for Jesus.
09:56: Okay.
09:57: So far, so good.
09:58: That's helpful and necessary to a point.
10:00: But I think it would still be really easy for two or three of us to have different takes on how to do that in a given situation.
10:07: And then to be like, I can't believe that you didn't make the same decision I did.
10:10: I made this decision.
10:11: I did it right.
10:12: I did a good job.
10:13: So you should agree with me.
10:14: It would be really easy for us to end up in that place.
10:19: Consider verse three.
10:19: Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.
10:26: And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.
10:31: So we're not supposed to be looking at each other who make different choices within this category with a bad attitude.
10:37: We're supposed to say of the other person, that's a legit option for you.
10:42: Good for you living for God's glory in that way.
10:45: I'm going to live for God's glory in this way.
10:46: You're going to live for God's glory in that way.
10:48: Both good.
10:49: Both thumbs up.
10:50: Even though we're making different choices.
10:52: How do we get there?
10:54: How do we get to the place that we can act in that way?
10:56: And Paul gives us these huge, weighty theological truths in this passage to anchor this.
11:05: Now, keep in mind, we're talking about Christians.
11:08: We're talking about people who are following Jesus and entrusting themselves to Jesus.
11:13: We're talking about not just generically nice or good people.
11:17: We're not talking about people that go to church per se.
11:19: We're talking about people who understand that the only way to be right with Jesus, with God, the only way to be acceptable in God's sight is to surrender your life in faith in Jesus, trusting that he has done everything necessary for your forgiveness.
11:37: And you say, yes, I want to be forgiven of all my failures.
11:41: I believe that you died in my place, and I embrace you as both Lord and Savior.
11:47: You get to call the shots in my life.
11:48: I will live, as best I understand it, the way you call me to live, Jesus, even if it means I've got to make changes, even if it's hard.
11:55: You are the boss in my life, Jesus.
11:58: That kind of mentality is the fruit of real faith in Jesus.
12:03: And it leads to living the way he's calling us to live.
12:06: Now, notice how verse 3 ends.
12:08: 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.
12:18: For, because, on this basis, God has welcomed that person.
12:21: I don't get to despise someone else who's a genuine believer in Jesus for making a different choice, because God has welcomed that person.
12:29: And I don't get to judge somebody, a fellow Christian, who's making a different choice than me, a non-sin choice, because God has welcomed that person.
12:37: Someone who is a genuine Christian has been welcomed by God, accepted, forgiven, loved, adopted as a son or daughter of God by God.
12:48: So where do we get the chutzpah?
12:50: Where do we get the audacity to reject somebody that Jesus has welcomed?
12:56: That's not in balance for us.
12:58: Can you imagine if you've got two or more kids?
13:01: One of the kids is out and about.
13:04: Another kid is at home.
13:05: The out-and-about kid comes, rings the doorbell to get inside.
13:08: The at-home sibling opens the door, sees their sibling, says, no, thank you, and slams the door in the face of the out-and-about sibling.
13:16: Totally inappropriate, right?
13:18: That at-home sibling has no basis to reject the sibling that the parents welcome.
13:25: We don't get to despise or be judgmental toward those whom God has welcomed.
13:30: So our perspective needs to reflect God's perspective towards the Christians who make different choices than us.
13:41: Notice also verse 4, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?
13:47: It is before his own master that he stands or falls.
13:52: That Christian that makes different choices than you, non-sin choices that are different than the ones that you would make in that situation, God's going to judge that, Christian.
14:02: That's not your job.
14:03: You don't need to judge them.
14:04: That's God's job.
14:05: I remember when my kids were little, sometimes one of my siblings would be bossy towards the other sibling.
14:10: It happens basically in every household where there's two or more kids, doesn't it?
14:14: The one kid starts taking it upon themselves to tell their siblings, you know, do this, you can't do that, and whatever.
14:19: I remember observing that a number of times and telling the bossy kid, wait a minute, does your little brother have a mommy?
14:27: Does he have a daddy?
14:28: Uh-huh.
14:29: Who's his daddy?
14:31: You are.
14:32: Yeah, so let me be the daddy.
14:35: I'm his daddy.
14:36: You don't need to be his daddy, right?
14:39: It's my job.
14:40: It's God's job to judge all, to judge the believers.
14:45: It's not our job to judge.
14:47: Leave it with God.
14:49: That's his domain.
14:53: Third, second half of verse 4.
14:56: 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.
15:06: How is your fellow Christian, the one with whom you disagree about non-sin issues and the choices they make differently than you, choices that nonetheless glorify God, how is that Christian going to fare in the final judgment when he or she stands before God?
15:22: And the answer is he's going to stand.
15:24: He's not going to fail in that encounter with God.
15:26: He's going to be fine.
15:28: Why?
15:29: Because God's going to make him stand.
15:31: God's going to ensure that he survives that issue intact, successfully.
15:39: God preserves and sustains his people, all who trust in Jesus.
15:47: And if God is going to give them a final thumbs up, how dare we give them a thumbs down in the meantime and say, no, you're good.
15:55: You're a terrible rotten sinner.
15:57: No use for you.
15:58: We're disagreeing with God at that point.
16:03: We can't go there.
16:07: So we see these big theological perspectives that God has welcomed this person.
16:11: God will judge this person.
16:12: And God's going to make sure that they pass that judgment.
16:16: And we also need to remember in verse 5 that both of the choices that we're talking about here glorify God.
16:24: Look at verses 5 and 6.
16:25: One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
16:32: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
16:35: The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.
16:38: The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
16:47: So we see whether they're doing it or not doing it, they're glorifying God.
16:51: And in both cases, they're doing it with a thankful heart toward God.
16:56: That can be hard for us to wrap our minds around.
16:59: It's so easy to think a thing through, come to a good decision, a reasonable decision, and say, everyone else should come to the same choice I made.
17:06: But it's not always so.
17:08: Which is why I began the way I did this morning.
17:10: Eating or not eating.
17:11: Both have their place for the glory of God.
17:16: Here's an example.
17:18: Suppose a group of Christians get together, spend time together.
17:21: They have a Christmas party or a bridal shower or whatever.
17:25: And they say, hey, before we go our separate ways, let's all get together and do a group for to remember this time of fellowship together.
17:32: Is that legitimate?
17:33: Can they do that for the glory of God?
17:34: Absolutely.
17:35: Absolutely.
17:37: What about Amish Christians who say, we don't want our picture taken because for us, it's a pride.
17:44: We don't want to lean into pride.
17:45: Can they choose not to have their photos taken for the glory of God?
17:50: Absolutely.
17:52: Opposite things, both for God's glory.
17:54: I remember 20-something years ago, I was applying to be a youth pastor for the first time.
18:00: My resume went to a particular church in Iowa.
18:03: And in talking with them, they asked me if I drank alcohol.
18:06: And the truthful answer, which I gave was, I've had a few drinks in my life, just a handful, but I don't drink presently.
18:14: And I've never been drunk.
18:16: And I've never, you know, done anything wrong with alcohol.
18:19: Just a couple of drinks here and there with parental supervision kind of scenarios.
18:22: And for that church, they said, nope, we're no longer considering you for our youth pastor position.
18:28: We don't believe that any Christian should ever at any time drink alcohol.
18:31: And the fact that even though you don't do it now, you've done it in the past, you're voided for us.
18:36: And I was like, what?
18:38: I was just speechless.
18:40: That church crossed the line because they were saying something that is a legitimate choice for Christians to make was completely unacceptable in their church.
18:50: And this person, in this case, me, could not be welcome there because of it.
18:54: That's a wrong choice.
18:57: They are saying a issue of legitimate Christian freedom is a deal breaker and you are not welcome anymore.
19:08: I was thinking also of a family I knew at a church I was serving that became members.
19:14: They attended for a while.
19:15: They went through the membership class.
19:16: They became members.
19:17: And a few months later, they discovered that a fellow Christian in the church had gone to a wine tasting.
19:24: And they were upset.
19:25: And they came to me and they wanted me to kick that person out of the church or at least change the rules of the church going forward that anybody who consumed alcohol was removed from the church.
19:34: And I was like, uh, no.
19:36: Christians have the freedom to consume alcohol or not.
19:40: Now, there's some rules on it, like not getting drunk and not being addicted, not causing someone to stumble.
19:46: But apart from those things, Christians have the freedom to consume alcohol.
19:50: This family left the church over it.
19:52: That was a wrong way of handling a Romans 14 kind of issue, to say we cannot be in fellowship with Christians who make a different choice than us.
20:02: I personally don't consume alcohol.
20:04: I have, at various times in my life, consumed alcohol in limited, appropriate ways.
20:09: But I don't drink.
20:10: I choose not to for a variety of reasons, including alcohol can be expensive.
20:17: I don't want to spend my money on that.
20:19: I can be somebody who goes all in on something.
20:21: I don't want to end up being tempted to go all in on alcohol.
20:25: I also know that in my family lineage, there's a lot of alcoholism.
20:29: And I don't want to get sucked down that rabbit hole.
20:32: I also know I live in Wisconsin where there's a lot of alcohol abuse issues.
20:36: And I'm happy to display with my own life, you can have a fully satisfying life with no alcohol involved.
20:43: Am I honoring Jesus?
20:45: Yeah.
20:46: Is a fellow Christian who chooses to drink alcohol within appropriate boundaries honoring Jesus?
20:52: Absolutely.
20:54: And let me point out in this scenario, I'm the weaker brother.
20:59: Your pastor is the weaker brother in that scenario.
21:02: But you don't get to despise me or judge me for it, nor do I get to despise or judge those in this church who drink alcohol.
21:09: This is something where we say, you're honoring Jesus one way, I'm honoring Jesus another way.
21:14: Woo-hoo!
21:14: We're on the same team of glorifying Jesus.
21:16: Amen?
21:21: Another truth that Jesus, another truth about Jesus and what he is for us that comes out in this passage to anchor these things is found in verses 7 through 9.
21:32: None of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself.
21:36: For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.
21:39: So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
21:43: For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
21:49: Now, at first glance, that feels really out of place in this passage.
21:53: You know, he's going from doing or not doing some earthly things, and all of a sudden, he's talking about life or death, and whether you're alive, you belong to Jesus, whether you're dead, you belong to Jesus.
22:02: How did he go there?
22:03: Why does he go there in this context?
22:06: The more I pondered these verses, the more it made sense.
22:10: Celebrating, not celebrating.
22:12: Opposites.
22:13: Eating, not eating meat.
22:15: Opposites.
22:16: Drinking, not drinking alcohol.
22:18: Opposites.
22:19: Life and death.
22:20: Opposites.
22:21: And in every case, they can both be for God's glory.
22:25: We belong to Jesus.
22:26: That's true right here, right now, while we're alive.
22:29: And as long as we're on this earth, we belong to Jesus, and we live for the glory of God.
22:32: But when we die, we don't stop belonging to Jesus.
22:34: Then we get to go be with Jesus, and have eternal life in the presence of God, and glorify Jesus.
22:40: And so whether here or now, or then and there, we're going to live for the glory of God.
22:45: Jesus is the center of it all.
22:47: We belong to him.
22:49: I like how one author I read put it.
22:50: He says, when someone asks, how can a person who is alive with a body, that can enjoy all this world's good things, and give thanks to God, and a person who is dead, and whose body is in the grave, with no ability to eat, or drink, or taste, how can these two radically different relationships to the world, both display the infinite worth of Christ?
23:12: Paul answers, Christ died and rose again from the dead, to destroy the power of death, and to make the living, and the dead, his own possession.
23:22: Therefore, the living lives to his glory, and the dead live to his glory.
23:27: The living display his worth by how they use his creation for his glory, and the dead display his worth by how they rejoice in the superior worth of Christ over all his gifts of creation.
23:43: We should live right here, right now, enjoying all the things that God has given us, right?
23:48: Food, beverage, a good night's sleep, and a soft, comfortable bed.
23:53: All the things, you know, bacon, bacon-wrapped ham at Easter.
23:58: Enjoy all the things this world has to offer, but realize that when we leave this world, and we go to be in the presence of Jesus, we are upgrading.
24:07: That is better by far, because Jesus is better than anything else, and everything else combined.
24:15: I don't believe that there's anybody who is a believer in Jesus, and who dies, and gets to be in the presence of God, who's like, no, send me back, this is terrible in comparison.
24:23: No, when we get there, we're going to be like, woohoo, better than I dreamed, this is fantastic, I'm here, I'm with Jesus, we're going to be celebrating.
24:33: That's what we're looking ahead to.
24:37: I love how Paul takes these, these minor issues within Christian living, they can threaten to tear church apart, and he says, let me bring weighty gospel truths to bear, so that you can fully embrace the choice that you're making, for God's glory, and not divide over it either.
24:57: I tried to brainstorm, and I said, what are some other ways that this might play out in contemporary settings?
25:02: I mentioned last week, an individual who said, I can't celebrate Christmas or Easter, that's not for me.
25:09: Fine.
25:10: As long as he's not saying it's sin for someone else to do so, because then you get into legalism.
25:15: He cannot celebrate Christmas for the glory of God, while I celebrate Christmas for the glory of God, or Easter.
25:22: How about this one?
25:23: Parents of newborn baby boys making decisions about circumcision.
25:29: Both choices are legitimate choices for Christians, so long as they don't think that they are required to by the Old Testament law.
25:36: That would be legalism, but as long as it's not a legalism thing, they can make either choice for the glory of God.
25:42: How about doing house church?
25:45: There are contexts when house churches are totally appropriate options, given the context.
25:51: And there are times when it's not an appropriate choice.
25:55: How about celebrating birthdays and holidays?
25:57: I've known Christians who choose not to celebrate any birthdays or holidays.
26:03: Because of their convictions, they choose not to do that.
26:07: They can do that for the glory of God.
26:09: You cannot celebrate a birthday for the glory of God.
26:13: But you can also celebrate a birthday for the glory of God.
26:15: Opposite choices, both legitimate.
26:18: How about this one?
26:19: How many of you have heard of the Billy Graham rule?
26:21: The idea that Billy Graham put into practice where he said, while I'm on the road, what about because there's so much that goes on and so many situations where I can be discredited and God can be dishonored, Billy Graham chose not to ever be alone with a lady.
26:36: So he always had a fellow with him so that when he was staying overnight at a hotel room, there was no question about, was somebody else in there that shouldn't have been in there?
26:43: There was always another fellow, right?
26:45: Or he wouldn't have one-on-one lunch or dinner with a lady.
26:49: Or he wouldn't travel alone with a lady.
26:52: That's often referred to as the Billy Graham rule.
26:54: For my adult married life, I have chosen for myself to employ the Billy Graham rule.
27:00: I have never tried to make anybody else do it.
27:03: I believe I honor Jesus in my own life by choosing to live that way.
27:09: And I believe that other people who choose a different way of doing it also honor Jesus.
27:15: There's not a right or wrong answer in that.
27:18: Both are legitimate options.
27:20: Again, in that scenario, I am the weaker brother.
27:25: I don't think, and you remember this from last week, I don't think Paul is bashing the weaker brother in this passage.
27:30: He speaks so favorably of them, saying, no, this is something that's welcome.
27:34: They're honoring God.
27:35: They're making good choices, even if it's a different choice.
27:38: So I would challenge you to be fully convinced, to think through intentionally the choices that you're making.
27:48: Make sure it's not a sin issue.
27:51: Ask, is this glorifying to Jesus?
27:53: And make sure you give an honest answer.
27:55: And brainstorm, is this the best way for me personally in this context to live for God's glory?
28:01: That's what we need to be doing.
28:03: And when we think through this Romans 14 context, there's two big mistakes that we can make.
28:10: Nothing belongs in this category.
28:11: There's no Romans 14 kinds of things.
28:13: We're just going to fight over everything.
28:15: No.
28:17: On the other hand, we can put too much in the Romans 14 category.
28:21: Stuff that doesn't really fit in this category.
28:23: We need to be able to discern what belongs here and what doesn't.
28:29: Go back to verse 5 as we wrap it up.
28:32: One person esteems one day as better than another while another esteems all days alike.
28:37: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
28:42: Wishy-washiness is not the path of Christian unity.
28:46: We are not permitted to be mentally or intellectually lazy about these matters.
28:52: Think it through.
28:53: Be intentional about living for the glory of God.
28:56: And give your fellow Christians room to do the same.
28:59: and celebrate that we're not cookie cutters.
29:04: That we're not all identical.
29:06: That different situations, God may lead different Christians to make different choices.
29:11: He'll never lead us into sin.
29:13: But he will lead us into particular choices that might not look the same as someone else.
29:19: Give each other the space and the grace to live that out.
29:24: So that God gets the glory both in your individual choices and his or her individual choices.
29:31: And God gets the glory through our unity with one another.
29:36: Let's pray.
29:36: God help us to recognize the kinds of things that are agreed to disagree.
29:44: To recognize that we don't all have to make the same choices in how to live for you.
29:50: But help us never to use this truth as a guise or an excuse for sin.
29:55: Help us to consistently say, I want to submit to Jesus.
30:01: I want to submit to what God's word calls me to.
30:03: And I want to live as wholeheartedly for the Lord as I possibly can while giving other Christians the freedom to make a little bit different decisions sometimes on what that looks like.
30:17: Oh, but protect us from finding ways to rationalize our sin.
30:25: So often the mind will justify what the heart desires.
30:29: May we not do that.
30:31: Convict us by your spirit on sin issues.
30:34: And give us peace and freedom and joy in areas of Christian liberty.
30:41: And may your people be unified for your glory.
30:45: In Jesus' name we pray.
30:47: Amen.