The Balance of Liberty and Love in the Christian Life - Sunday Evening - October 13, 2024
This podcast episode addresses the complex relationship between Christian liberty and the responsibility Christians have to not offend their brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor Josh Massaro emphasizes that while believers have freedom in Christ, this liberty should be limited by love for others. He explores the significant discussions from the Jerusalem Council in Acts, where the early church wrestled with the implications of faith versus the law and how Gentile believers should navigate their new faith in light of Jewish customs. The episode highlights the importance of unity within the church and encourages listeners to consider how their actions may impact the faith of others. Ultimately, the message is clear: love and consideration for fellow believers must guide our exercise of freedom in Christ.
Takeaways:
- The relationship between Christian liberty and offending others is a complex issue.
- Unity within the church is essential, especially when differing backgrounds are present.
- Rules for behavior, such as abstaining from certain foods, promote harmony among believers.
- We must consider how our actions affect the spiritual growth of others.
- It's important to balance our freedom in Christ with love for fellow believers.
- True liberty in faith should not lead to an occasion for the flesh.
Links referenced in this episode:
Thank you for joining our podcast. Visit our website at https://middletownbaptistchurch.org/
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/
00:00 - None
00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast
00:32 - The Importance of Christian Liberty
01:25 - The Jerusalem Council Overview
05:15 - Peter's Declaration on Salvation
10:08 - James's Guidelines for Unity
20:42 - The Balance of Liberty and Love
43:20 - Practical Application of Liberty
56:47 - Conclusion and Summary
Pastor Josh
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Pastor Josh
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Pastor Josh
Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Pastor Josh
We'll go ahead and get into the word here this evening.
Pastor Josh
Now, how many of you had a really, really big lunch and you're ready for a nap?
Pastor Josh
Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one.
Pastor Josh
Then we are going to be getting into tonight a very complex issue within the church, and that is the relationship between our christian liberty and freedom and offending other brothers and sisters.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
And you would say, well, what?
Pastor Josh
What are you talking about?
Pastor Josh
As Christians, we have freedom, we have liberty.
Pastor Josh
Let me ask, this is gonna be more of a teaching session, okay?
Pastor Josh
Tonight it's gonna be a little bit different, so I hope you're okay with that.
Pastor Josh
It's not gonna be as preachy as much as it is teaching because it's a necessity to teach through this.
Pastor Josh
These are the topics that are not always brought out in church.
Pastor Josh
Sadly enough, these are issues that sometimes get skipped over when we are looking at other more popular, easier to preach passages.
Pastor Josh
But we're in the book of acts.
Pastor Josh
You can go ahead and get ahead of me and get to acts, chapter 15.
Pastor Josh
We are right in the middle of the Jerusalem council.
Pastor Josh
Now, I know it's been a couple weeks.
Pastor Josh
I know we had the McCluskeys here last week.
Pastor Josh
I know we had a fifth Sunday before that.
Pastor Josh
So it's been two whole Sunday nights since we've talked about this.
Pastor Josh
And so I'm going to catch you up with what the Jerusalem council is and what we can learn from it.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
So this is a topic that we're gonna be talking about this evening that is sometimes glossed over or it's over emphasized on one side or the other.
Pastor Josh
As Christians, do we live now under the law?
Pastor Josh
Let me see, yes or no?
Pastor Josh
Do we live under the law?
Pastor Josh
No.
Pastor Josh
We're thankful for that.
Pastor Josh
Amen.
Pastor Josh
Right?
Pastor Josh
Guess what?
Pastor Josh
You cannot keep the law.
Pastor Josh
None of us can keep the law.
Pastor Josh
Now do we throw out the law and say the law means nothing to us?
Pastor Josh
No.
Pastor Josh
There are things that we can learn from the heart of God in instituting the law, but there is something called abusing our liberty and offending another brother.
Pastor Josh
We're going to talk about what the outcome of that would be within the church, specifically within the Jerusalem council.
Pastor Josh
So let me catch you up with this.
Pastor Josh
There's this church in Antioch that had Jews and gentiles as believers.
Pastor Josh
And so they were fellowshiping together, they were worshiping together.
Pastor Josh
And ultimately everything was going smoothly as best it could.
Pastor Josh
And then there were some people that came from Jerusalem.
Pastor Josh
That started to tell the people that everyone there had to be under the law of Moses.
Pastor Josh
So to be a believer, to be a Christian, they had to adhere to circumcision, which meant this was the gateway to get into the faith.
Pastor Josh
So you had to do that.
Pastor Josh
You had to be marked by the law of Moses to become a Christian.
Pastor Josh
And you had to keep the law to continue to be a Christian, to receive the grace of God.
Pastor Josh
So they were preaching faith plus works, faith plus the law.
Pastor Josh
And you can go back and look at that there.
Pastor Josh
In the early part of acts 15.
Pastor Josh
And certain men which came down from Judea.
Pastor Josh
This is verse one, taught the brethren and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Pastor Josh
And so there is the issue of salvation.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
So to come into the family of God, you must be circumcised.
Pastor Josh
You must be part of the law of Moses.
Pastor Josh
And be under the law of Moses like they had been for thousands of years.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
Then we see later on in verse five, it says.
Pastor Josh
But there rose up a certain sect of the Pharisees.
Pastor Josh
Which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them.
Pastor Josh
So to get into the family of God, you had to follow the law.
Pastor Josh
But then it says here, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Pastor Josh
And so that speaks to, after they're saved, to follow the law of Moses.
Pastor Josh
Or they would not be in God's good grace.
Pastor Josh
And so there was this conflict.
Pastor Josh
Because they had heard from Paul and from Barnabas.
Pastor Josh
That it's by faith and faith alone.
Pastor Josh
And now they're hearing that it's faith plus the law.
Pastor Josh
So now they have to figure this out.
Pastor Josh
So we have what's called the Jerusalem Council.
Pastor Josh
All these people meet there in Jerusalem, and now they're going to have this council.
Pastor Josh
And we see the first person talking here.
Pastor Josh
It's Peter, verse seven.
Pastor Josh
And when there had been much disputing, so there was a lot of conversation, there's a conflict.
Pastor Josh
Some people believe this.
Pastor Josh
Some people believe this.
Pastor Josh
They're disputing.
Pastor Josh
Then it says here, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us.
Pastor Josh
That the gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Pastor Josh
And God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us.
Pastor Josh
And so Peter is the first one that steps up and says, no, God has said the gentiles can come in by faith and faith alone belief.
Pastor Josh
That is the standard, just as it is a standard with us.
Pastor Josh
Then he goes on to something very interesting here.
Pastor Josh
He says that this is the same holy spirit that you have, that the Gentiles have.
Pastor Josh
And he says, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by this is verse nine by faith.
Pastor Josh
And so Peter is emphasizing salvation by faith alone.
Pastor Josh
We're going to get to the importance of that here in a few moments.
Pastor Josh
But then he says in verse ten something very interesting now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke or a burden upon the neck of the disciples?
Pastor Josh
That's not just the twelve disciples.
Pastor Josh
That's the followers of Christ, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.
Pastor Josh
So Peter's essentially saying this.
Pastor Josh
We weren't able to keep the law to save us.
Pastor Josh
Our fathers weren't able to keep the law to save us.
Pastor Josh
Why would we expect the gentiles now that are accepting Christ to keep the same law?
Pastor Josh
We can't.
Pastor Josh
That's something that God has not expected from them.
Pastor Josh
And so we see that verse eleven, but we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as day.
Pastor Josh
Peter gives this great statement here at the Jerusalem council about salvation by faith alone, by God's grace, not by works.
Pastor Josh
And so we see what happens here in verse twelve.
Pastor Josh
The multitude kept silent.
Pastor Josh
So they're thinking about what Peter just said and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul.
Pastor Josh
So they're hearing the testimonies of these gentiles coming to Christ.
Pastor Josh
And then it says, verse 13.
Pastor Josh
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, men and brethren, hearken unto me.
Pastor Josh
And so this is where we're gonna pick up now.
Pastor Josh
James is going to add on to what Peter has said.
Pastor Josh
Now who is this James?
Pastor Josh
This is not the apostle James.
Pastor Josh
The apostle James, as we already know, has been martyred by Herodore.
Pastor Josh
So this is not the apostle James.
Pastor Josh
This is James, the half brother of Jesus.
Pastor Josh
This is James that wrote, and most commentators will believe that this is James that wrote the book of James.
Pastor Josh
He was at this point in time a leader in the church at Jerusalem.
Pastor Josh
So he holds a lot of weight.
Pastor Josh
He holds a lot of authority.
Pastor Josh
Now we don't believe that he holds authority above the word of God.
Pastor Josh
That's a whole other teaching, and we don't need to get there right now.
Pastor Josh
But there is no man that holds authority over the word of God.
Pastor Josh
It's the word of God as our sole authority in faith and practice.
Pastor Josh
So James is just discerning by the spirit here.
Pastor Josh
And ultimately we know that they don't have the canon of scripture completed.
Pastor Josh
So James is here, is explaining this teaching and this thought process.
Pastor Josh
And so he says, men and brethren, hearken unto me.
Pastor Josh
Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles.
Pastor Josh
He's talking about Peter here to take out of them a people for his name.
Pastor Josh
And to this agree the words of the prophets as it is written.
Pastor Josh
After this, I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof.
Pastor Josh
And I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord.
Pastor Josh
And all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things known unto God are all of his works from the beginning of the world.
Pastor Josh
And so essentially what we see here is he's quoting the prophet, saying, this was a prophecy that is now being fulfilled, that God is going to engraft in the gentiles into the family of Goddesse.
Pastor Josh
So he says, hey, this was already told to us that we don't need to be shocked about this.
Pastor Josh
So he says, this is God's plan coming to pass.
Pastor Josh
Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble, not them.
Pastor Josh
So what James says, is this the same thing Peter says, don't trouble them with something more than what God expects from them.
Pastor Josh
Don't trouble them with the law.
Pastor Josh
If the law is not what saves us, don't expect them to do something to add on to their salvation.
Pastor Josh
Now, we need to stop here, and we need to say this.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
None of us struggle with keeping the law of Moses.
Pastor Josh
I don't think any of you read through the ten commandments or all 613 commandments and say, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh
We all need to keep that, or none of us are saved.
Pastor Josh
I don't think we struggle with that.
Pastor Josh
But sometimes what we end up struggling with is things that we've been taught by tradition that we think has to be added to have someone completely saved or to be growing in their faith.
Pastor Josh
And so what we see here is Peter and James.
Pastor Josh
And all of scripture tells us that if we add anything to the gospel, if we add anything to our faith, if we add anything to the grace of God, we're adding something that doesn't need to be there.
Pastor Josh
That's the yoke of bondage.
Pastor Josh
Now you're going to say, where are you going with this?
Pastor Josh
Where I'm going with this is sometimes we can abuse this liberty.
Pastor Josh
We're going to talk about that here in a few moments because James is about to say they're free to not be under the law of Moses, but there are some things that they need to do.
Pastor Josh
You say what?
Pastor Josh
He's contradicting himself.
Pastor Josh
He just said that they're only saved by grace through faith.
Pastor Josh
But now he's going to give them some guidelines.
Pastor Josh
Well, we're going to talk about what these guidelines are here this evening.
Pastor Josh
So he says, verse 19, wherefore my sentence is that we trouble them not, which from among the gentiles are turned to God.
Pastor Josh
So don't trouble the gentiles that have turned to God.
Pastor Josh
Don't put a stumbling block in front of them.
Pastor Josh
Don't put a rock of offense in front of them.
Pastor Josh
If they're trying to follow God, let them follow God.
Pastor Josh
Don't give them something that.
Pastor Josh
That we think is so important.
Pastor Josh
Verse 20.
Pastor Josh
But that we write unto them that they abstain from pollution of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.
Pastor Josh
Say, what is he talking about here?
Pastor Josh
Well, essentially what happens here is that James, this is, again, the half brother of Jesus, he says that there are some things that we would call them, quote unquote, rules or guidelines that the gentile Christians should live by.
Pastor Josh
These were not rules that the Gentiles must follow in order to be saved or keep being saved.
Pastor Josh
These were rules that would build harmony with the jewish people and the Gentiles, the jewish Christians and the gentile Christians.
Pastor Josh
And so if the gentiles were to eat meat, sacrifice to idols, that would offend.
Pastor Josh
If the gentiles ate the meat, it would offend the Jews.
Pastor Josh
Right?
Pastor Josh
And so there was something for the gentiles to do to not cause an offense with the Jews.
Pastor Josh
And so that's what he's telling them here.
Pastor Josh
And so, yes, they should abstain from fornication.
Pastor Josh
They should abstain from the pollution of idols.
Pastor Josh
But then we see this idea of them eating certain types of things, like they can't eat this meat that's strangled meat sacrificed to idols.
Pastor Josh
This way of living was a very pagan way.
Pastor Josh
And the four rules were essentially this.
Pastor Josh
They should abstain from food polluted from idols.
Pastor Josh
They should abstain from sexual immorality.
Pastor Josh
They should abstain from meat of strangled animals and of that blood of those animals to not eat that blood.
Pastor Josh
And so the instructions were not intended to guarantee salvation, but to promote peace within the early church.
Pastor Josh
So I want you to think about it this way.
Pastor Josh
Could these individuals actually eat meat sacrifice to idols?
Pastor Josh
We're gonna dig into that here this evening.
Pastor Josh
We're not gonna finish this complete message.
Pastor Josh
This is a two parter.
Pastor Josh
I can guarantee you that.
Pastor Josh
But we're gonna see in other passages of scripture that Paul says, meat sacrifice to idols in and of itself isn't evil.
Pastor Josh
Go ahead.
Pastor Josh
You can do it.
Pastor Josh
If it doesn't offend your conscience, do it.
Pastor Josh
But then we see somewhat of a contradiction here.
Pastor Josh
James says, don't eat meat sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
So what is he talking about here?
Pastor Josh
Well, he's not talking about salvation.
Pastor Josh
He's not talking about sin.
Pastor Josh
He's talking about offending our brother.
Pastor Josh
He's talking about offending someone within the church and going away.
Pastor Josh
That would be in my purview as a Christian to live out, but it might offend my brother.
Pastor Josh
And so we're going to dig a little bit deeper into that here tonight.
Pastor Josh
And he says here in verse 21, for Moses of old time hath in every city them that preached him being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.
Pastor Josh
And so I want to dig a little bit deeper into this thought process.
Pastor Josh
But what I want you to think about here tonight is the concept of unity.
Pastor Josh
Do we as christians, have freedom to do certain things?
Pastor Josh
Yes, we do.
Pastor Josh
Does anything that you do negate the grace of God in your life?
Pastor Josh
Can you sin and lose your salvation?
Pastor Josh
We don't believe that.
Pastor Josh
I don't believe that we can sin and lose our salvation.
Pastor Josh
I believe in the eternal security of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh
I believe that if we sin, we are still in his grasp.
Pastor Josh
We still have eternal destination.
Pastor Josh
So you have the freedom to exercise whatever you want in your life.
Pastor Josh
But we're gonna look here in a couple of different passages in the New Testament about how there's danger in living out my liberty completely, fully, and not caring about others around me.
Pastor Josh
And so we're gonna see that the whole heart of the Jerusalem council was first to figure out how individuals can come to Christ.
Pastor Josh
Is it by faith, or is it by faith plus works?
Pastor Josh
But then the secondary issue was the unity of the fellowship when you have two different types of people, the Jews and the gentiles.
Pastor Josh
And so I want you to go to a couple other passages that deal with eating meat sacrificed to idols, because that's the big issue here for the people, whether or not they were going to eat this meat or where they weren't, because if they said they're saved by faith alone, James just says, no, you can't do these things.
Pastor Josh
And so there's an issue here, and some people would call this a contradiction, because there's some passages in the New Testament that say you can eat meat sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
There's other passages in the New Testament that warn against eating meat sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
Oh, there you go.
Pastor Josh
There's a contradiction.
Pastor Josh
No, because we're talking about unity here.
Pastor Josh
We're talking about the difference of my freedom in my salvation and my discernment in how to deal with other christians.
Pastor Josh
And then the big issue is the conscience.
Pastor Josh
The Bible speaks of offending conscience, and then also the Bible says about how I can be a stumbling block to another brother or sister in Christ.
Pastor Josh
So first Corinthians, chapter eight.
Pastor Josh
Let's go over to one corinthians, chapter eight, because we're going to dig deep into this topic this evening.
Pastor Josh
I don't know how much we're going to accomplish, but we're gonna get through as much as we can here this evening.
Pastor Josh
So let's think about this idea of meat sacrifice to idols, because that's in context what's being talked about.
Pastor Josh
But ultimately, we're talking about the freedom that we have in Christ.
Pastor Josh
So, first Corinthians, chapter eight.
Pastor Josh
And I want you to look at verse number four.
Pastor Josh
Paul addresses food sacrificed to idols.
Pastor Josh
Now, we can all agree, hopefully tonight, that idolatry is sin, that idolatry is wrong, that idolatry is something that we should not deal with.
Pastor Josh
Okay, but what if meat is sacrificed to idols?
Pastor Josh
What do we do?
Pastor Josh
Well, Paul deals with that here.
Pastor Josh
So he's not justifying idolatry.
Pastor Josh
He's talking about eating meat sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
So, verse four, as concerning, therefore, the eating of those things which are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world.
Pastor Josh
So what is Paul saying here to the teaching?
Pastor Josh
In this teaching, he's saying, an idol is nothing.
Pastor Josh
An idol's not real.
Pastor Josh
An idol is made up of gold or wood.
Pastor Josh
And so the idol in and of itself does not corrupt the meat.
Pastor Josh
It's the action or the heart behind it.
Pastor Josh
It's the worship of that idol that's a sin.
Pastor Josh
It's eating that meat and saying, well, I'm partaking of this in the spirit of this idolatry.
Pastor Josh
But he says, in and of itself, the idol is not a real thing.
Pastor Josh
And so he says, consider those eating of the things sacrificed to idols.
Pastor Josh
We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one.
Pastor Josh
So it says these idols are just nothing.
Pastor Josh
There's only one God.
Pastor Josh
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be many gods many, and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the father, of whom all are all things, and we in him, and one lord Jesus Christ, by whom all things, and we by him.
Pastor Josh
We're gonna go all the way down here to verse number 13.
Pastor Josh
HoWBEIt there is not in EveRy man that knowledge for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol.
Pastor Josh
So he says, there are some people that eat it with that mindset of offering it to an idol, and they are sinning.
Pastor Josh
Okay, that is wrong.
Pastor Josh
And so he says so.
Pastor Josh
And their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
Pastor Josh
So he's talking about someone who has an understanding of this idolatry, and they're eating it with the understanding that that idol is in that meat and that meat is corrupted.
Pastor Josh
He says, if they have offended their conscience, being weak, then they have sinned.
Pastor Josh
But MEat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat, are we the better.
Pastor Josh
Neither if we eat not, are we the Worse.
Pastor Josh
But take heedless any means, this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.
Pastor Josh
And so what does he say here?
Pastor Josh
He says, it doesn't matter what you eat.
Pastor Josh
It doesn't matter what you eat because meat is meat.
Pastor Josh
But he says, if there is an individual who in their conscience is, this is a sin.
Pastor Josh
We need to be cautious of that.
Pastor Josh
We as a person need not be a stumbling block to somebody else in our freedom.
Pastor Josh
We're going to get to that here in a few moments.
Pastor Josh
A little bit more, he says, for if any man see thee which has knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols?
Pastor Josh
And though thy knowledge shall be the weak, shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?
Pastor Josh
But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
Pastor Josh
So he says, yeah, you could eat meat sacrifice to idols on your own, and that's not a sin.
Pastor Josh
But you take meat sacrifice to idols, knowing that that person is offended by that, knowing that person will lead back into sin and idolatry.
Pastor Josh
You have now sinned against Christ because you sinned against your brother.
Pastor Josh
So there's discernment there.
Pastor Josh
Do you have freedom to eat the meat.
Pastor Josh
Yeah, because the meat is one way.
Pastor Josh
It's the same thing.
Pastor Josh
Even if you sacrifice to an idol, it doesn't mean anything.
Pastor Josh
But if your brother, who has a background in that pagan worship, eating that meat might mean that that's a lifestyle back into paganism.
Pastor Josh
That is an offense.
Pastor Josh
If you push them into that, oh, come on, eat some meat.
Pastor Josh
It doesn't matter.
Pastor Josh
You see, as a christian, we can exercise our freedom, but when we're pulling someone into a lifestyle that they were saved from and saying, hey, you have the freedom to do this, this isn't really a sin.
Pastor Josh
You're now pulling them into a place of sin.
Pastor Josh
You've offended your brother.
Pastor Josh
Ultimately, you've sinned against the father.
Pastor Josh
That's what it says there.
Pastor Josh
You sinned against Christ.
Pastor Josh
Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Pastor Josh
He says, be cautious.
Pastor Josh
This is what we talked about this morning.
Pastor Josh
Be cautious of your testimony.
Pastor Josh
I don't want to be a stumbling block to somebody else.
Pastor Josh
And so ultimately, we see with what James is saying in the Jerusalem council is, hey, gentiles, don't eat the meat.
Pastor Josh
Sacrifice to idols, you had the freedom to do so.
Pastor Josh
But in the church, you need to seek after that unity.
Pastor Josh
You eating meat to that sacrifice idol is gonna cause your jewish brother to stumble.
Pastor Josh
So don't do it.
Pastor Josh
Keep unity.
Pastor Josh
So the thing is, is within our churches in America today, a lot of times what happens is the focus is me.
Pastor Josh
What can I do, pastor?
Pastor Josh
Am I allowed to do this?
Pastor Josh
Can I do this?
Pastor Josh
How much can I do?
Pastor Josh
Do I have the freedom to do XYz?
Pastor Josh
I can tell you, as a pastor, I get that question all the time.
Pastor Josh
Is it a sin for me to then fill in the blanken?
Pastor Josh
Sometimes it's very clearly in scripture.
Pastor Josh
Yes, this is a sin sometimes in scripture.
Pastor Josh
I can tell you, no, the Bible doesn't say anything about that.
Pastor Josh
But I can tell you that that isn't the biggest question.
Pastor Josh
The biggest question is me doing this.
Pastor Josh
Is this going to offend another brother and hinder them in their spiritual walk or hinder the gospel to be presented?
Pastor Josh
And so what Paul says here is, yeah, I could eat the meat.
Pastor Josh
But verse 13, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Pastor Josh
And so he says, be cautious of how you deal with others, because I'd rather have unity than me just to exercise my freedom.
Pastor Josh
And so what he's saying, is this.
Pastor Josh
Having the right to do something doesn't mean that we should do something.
Pastor Josh
Sometimes we have the right as a christian to have freedom, and there could be some, what we would call gray areas, and you might have the freedom to do that and do it.
Pastor Josh
But if it's offending another brother, then that's where the issue comes in to.
Pastor Josh
And so that's the whole idea of the issue with James speaking to those former pagans, those gentiles, to say, hey, be cautious of how you're dealing with the other jewish people within your church.
Pastor Josh
I want you to go to another passage of scripture, just a couple pages over in first corinthians, chapter ten.
Pastor Josh
First Corinthians, chapter ten, verse 23.
Pastor Josh
This is a verse that I think is a verse that we all need in that next step in our spiritual maturity.
Pastor Josh
Okay, let me tell you the question should not be, can I do this as a Christian?
Pastor Josh
You can.
Pastor Josh
Let me just tell you.
Pastor Josh
If you sin as a Christian, there is God's forgiveness.
Pastor Josh
There is God's grace.
Pastor Josh
Romans chapter six, though, says this, why offend God's grace?
Pastor Josh
Why abuse the grace of God?
Pastor Josh
And so this verse is a verse I take a lot of people to because you'll hear a lot of people say this.
Pastor Josh
Well, can I do this as a Christian?
Pastor Josh
Does the Bible explicitly say that I cannot do this?
Pastor Josh
I'll tell them no.
Pastor Josh
But let me read this verse to you in verse 23 of one corinthians, chapter ten.
Pastor Josh
And if we can grasp this, this can help us in a major way in our spiritual maturity.
Pastor Josh
He says all things are lawful for me.
Pastor Josh
This is Paul speaking here.
Pastor Josh
He says all things are lawful, meaning I'm not bound by the law anymore.
Pastor Josh
I don't have to follow the 613 commandments.
Pastor Josh
I can eat whatever meat I want.
Pastor Josh
I can do this.
Pastor Josh
If the Bible doesn't explicitly say that it's a sin, I can do this.
Pastor Josh
And even if the Bible does say it's a sin, I had the freedom to do it.
Pastor Josh
Now I have to deal with the consequences.
Pastor Josh
I can disobey my savior, but I had the freedom as a Christian, I can do what I want.
Pastor Josh
I'm not gonna lose my salvation.
Pastor Josh
But then he says this, but all things are not expedient.
Pastor Josh
That means better, good for me, beneficial.
Pastor Josh
Say it this way, I can do all things as a Christian, but not all things that I can do are beneficial to me and to others around me.
Pastor Josh
This is huge because that's not usually our mindset.
Pastor Josh
Our mindset is this.
Pastor Josh
Well, I don't care what anyone thinks about me.
Pastor Josh
I'm gonna do what I wanna do.
Pastor Josh
I'm a Christian.
Pastor Josh
I'm free.
Pastor Josh
God's not gonna.
Pastor Josh
God's the only one that can judge me, right?
Pastor Josh
Yes, but all things are lawful for me.
Pastor Josh
But not all things are expedient.
Pastor Josh
Not all things are beneficial for me or for others around me.
Pastor Josh
All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
Pastor Josh
Meaning this.
Pastor Josh
Some things that I do as a Christian, I can do, and I'm not gonna lose my salvation.
Pastor Josh
God's gonna still love me, but it's not going to be beneficial for my spiritual growth, and it's not going to be beneficial to edify other christians around me.
Pastor Josh
Think about that for just a few moments, because this is an area of the christian life that I think comes later on in our spiritual maturity.
Pastor Josh
So, for example, and I don't want to go too far into picking out specific gray area items, but there might be something that you say, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I have no problem doing this.
Pastor Josh
I have no problem exercising this.
Pastor Josh
And I can't see anywhere in scripture that says that this is wrong.
Pastor Josh
Okay, fair enough.
Pastor Josh
But if me doing this, is this going to help me in my spiritual growth, or is this going to hinder me in my spiritual growth?
Pastor Josh
Well, possibly could hinder me.
Pastor Josh
Well, then that's something that I don't need to necessarily do.
Pastor Josh
There's another thing in the spiritual walk.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
This isn't going to hinder me at all, but it might hinder someone that I'm discipling or that I'm ministering to or that I have fellowship within the church with.
Pastor Josh
And so it's not expedient to edify.
Pastor Josh
And so here's the test that I would say for you to do within the church.
Pastor Josh
Is this.
Pastor Josh
Can I do this in the word of God?
Pastor Josh
Is this a sin?
Pastor Josh
Okay, that's your first step.
Pastor Josh
What does the Bible say?
Pastor Josh
The Bible says it's wrong.
Pastor Josh
Just don't do it.
Pastor Josh
The Bible doesn't speak specifically to this.
Pastor Josh
Then what you do is you say, okay, is there a principle there?
Pastor Josh
Okay, there probably is some element of a principle there, but if there isn't an element of sin or either an element of a principle in scripture, then we would say, okay, is this expedient for my spiritual growth?
Pastor Josh
Is this going to build me up in Christ?
Pastor Josh
And then the next question that I would ask is this, does it edify the other believers around me?
Pastor Josh
If you check the boxes there, then do it.
Pastor Josh
Live it up.
Pastor Josh
Do what you want to do in that case you say what?
Pastor Josh
I've never heard a pastor tell me to live it up.
Pastor Josh
Well, if you do all those checks right there, then God has given you the go do it.
Pastor Josh
And a lot of times, people are like, well, that's not good.
Pastor Josh
I'm just telling you now.
Pastor Josh
There's interpretation there.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
The interpretation would be, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh
The Bible says this, but I don't mean it to say that.
Pastor Josh
I don't think it says that.
Pastor Josh
Well, that's where you get into some issues.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
Some people might say, well, I don't think the Bible actually says this.
Pastor Josh
Well, you're misinterpreting scripture, and that's a whole other conversation for another day.
Pastor Josh
But what I would tell you is, check the word of God.
Pastor Josh
If the Bible says something about it explicitly, it is sin.
Pastor Josh
But if there's something that we would consider to be a gray area, then you do that check of what verse 23 says.
Pastor Josh
Is it expedient?
Pastor Josh
Is it edifying?
Pastor Josh
But then go on a little bit further there.
Pastor Josh
In verse 24, it says, let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
Pastor Josh
Meaning this.
Pastor Josh
I shouldn't be thinking about myself.
Pastor Josh
I should be thinking about others in these decisions.
Pastor Josh
Like, that's the big thing.
Pastor Josh
Cause we're always thinking about ourselves.
Pastor Josh
Like, what can I do?
Pastor Josh
Am I allowed to do this?
Pastor Josh
Can I.
Pastor Josh
You know what?
Pastor Josh
The gentiles.
Pastor Josh
Okay, fast forward to when they go back to Antioch, because Paul and barnabas are gonna bring the message back to Antioch.
Pastor Josh
Some of the gentile christians could be like, well, I can't eat meat sacrificed to idols.
Pastor Josh
I can't eat the blood of these animals.
Pastor Josh
Come on.
Pastor Josh
I had the freedom to do that.
Pastor Josh
No, it's thinking about others.
Pastor Josh
And so that's what it says there in verse 24.
Pastor Josh
Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no questions for conscience sake.
Pastor Josh
So it's like, don't overthink it, okay?
Pastor Josh
For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
Pastor Josh
If any man, if any of them that believe not, bids you to feast and ye be disposed to go whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no questions for conscience sake.
Pastor Josh
And so going back to the meat.
Pastor Josh
Sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
You go over to a gentile's house.
Pastor Josh
They have meat there.
Pastor Josh
Don't ask if it's sacrificed to idols.
Pastor Josh
Like, just eat it.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
That's what he's saying here.
Pastor Josh
But he says, but if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake.
Pastor Josh
For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
Pastor Josh
Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other.
Pastor Josh
For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?
Pastor Josh
For if by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of?
Pastor Josh
For that for which I give thanks.
Pastor Josh
Whether.
Pastor Josh
And then he goes on to this classic verse, whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all the glory of God, give none offense, neither to the Jews nor the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.
Pastor Josh
So it goes back to the spirit of, am I offending another brother in this?
Pastor Josh
Am I offending somebody else?
Pastor Josh
And he says, hey, if nothing's mentioned, you have freedom to do it.
Pastor Josh
But if something is mentioned, stop and make a decision, okay?
Pastor Josh
Now, you know that's going to offend someone's conscience, so stop.
Pastor Josh
You don't have the freedom to go forward.
Pastor Josh
And so it goes back to that phrase, having a right to do something, quote unquote right.
Pastor Josh
Or having the freedom or liberty to do something doesn't mean that we should.
Pastor Josh
And I want you to think about this phrase here this evening.
Pastor Josh
Liberty is limited by love.
Pastor Josh
Liberty is limited by love.
Pastor Josh
Do we have christian liberty?
Pastor Josh
Yes, but that liberty should be limited by love.
Pastor Josh
If I love my brother in Christ and I'm discipling him, and I know that this is going to cause him to fall back into a pita that he got saved from, I need to love him enough and love God enough to die to my liberty to say, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I don't need to do that.
Pastor Josh
I don't need to do that specifically in front of him so that I offend him to go back to that way of sin.
Pastor Josh
And so love, in this case, is trumping our liberty.
Pastor Josh
You say, don't we have 100% liberty?
Pastor Josh
We do.
Pastor Josh
But ultimately, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Pastor Josh
Isn't that what the Bible says, to love them?
Pastor Josh
And so I wouldn't want someone to offend me.
Pastor Josh
I wouldn't want someone to bring me to a place of sin in my life.
Pastor Josh
Now, let me pause here, okay, because I need to clarify something.
Pastor Josh
This is not talking about someone doing something that you don't like, okay?
Pastor Josh
Because a lot of times we pull this card out, if someone does something that isn't our preferential thing.
Pastor Josh
Well, I don't like that you, you know, let me use something very vague.
Pastor Josh
I don't like that you sit in this pew up here.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
That bothers me.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
Well, they're not sitting in that pew and offending your conscience.
Pastor Josh
It's when you offend someone to a place of sin.
Pastor Josh
Right?
Pastor Josh
It's not just doing something that someone else doesn't like.
Pastor Josh
And you go, well, you've offended me, brother, so therefore I want you to stop doing that.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
I don't like when you drink coffee around my presence, so stop drinking coffee.
Pastor Josh
Well, it.
Pastor Josh
How was me drinking coffee going to lead you to sin?
Pastor Josh
If you can lay that out for me and you could explain to me my actions lead you to a place of sin, then as a brother, I have to respect that.
Pastor Josh
But just because you don't like what someone's doing, you can't pull the card of saying, well, I'm the weaker brother, so don't do that in front of me.
Pastor Josh
Well, what sin is this causing you to fall into what is appealing to your flesh by what I am doing?
Pastor Josh
So there's discernment here, because we can't all walk around saying, well, I gotta exercise my preferences on this person.
Pastor Josh
This is talking about the issue of sin being a stumbling block to sin.
Pastor Josh
And so I want you to think about that when it comes to exercising the weaker brother card.
Pastor Josh
Right?
Pastor Josh
Well, I'm the weaker brother, so don't do that.
Pastor Josh
Well, here's the thing.
Pastor Josh
Maybe you are the weaker brother, but the concept must be that you are going into sin here and then is it?
Pastor Josh
And this is how the unity works.
Pastor Josh
You tell me that this is offending you.
Pastor Josh
You tell me that this is leading to a place of sin, then I must respect that.
Pastor Josh
In love.
Pastor Josh
A passage of scripture that made me think about this is psalm 133.
Pastor Josh
Psalm 133.
Pastor Josh
Verse one is a passage of scripture that speaks of this unity.
Pastor Josh
And, folks, let me tell you that if there is one thing that we should seek after, obviously it's the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh
But when we come to dealing with other people within the church, we see the heart of God.
Pastor Josh
And the heart of God for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is unity.
Pastor Josh
If we don't have unity, we have to get to the root of that.
Pastor Josh
And when we have brothers and sisters exercising liberty and offending other brothers and sisters to sin, we can't be unified in that.
Pastor Josh
And so I must be willing to say, I will stop this if this is causing you to sin.
Pastor Josh
And so, psalm 133, one, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
Pastor Josh
That is a testimony to say we're dwelling together in unity.
Pastor Josh
We don't have time to go there.
Pastor Josh
But in Jesus high priestly prayer.
Pastor Josh
In John 17, Jesus prays for the unity of the church.
Pastor Josh
We see over and over again in the book of acts, unity is the heart of God.
Pastor Josh
And so we go back to the Jerusalem council.
Pastor Josh
Why would James give these four rules to the Gentiles?
Pastor Josh
It was for unity.
Pastor Josh
It wasn't for their salvation.
Pastor Josh
Because go back to that acts passage.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
What is being decided in the Jerusalem Council?
Pastor Josh
Is it morality?
Pastor Josh
No.
Pastor Josh
What's the core issue of the Jerusalem council?
Pastor Josh
Salvation and sanctification.
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
Salvation, predominantly, do you have to be under the law of Moses to be saved?
Pastor Josh
Okay, so then we see the rules that he gives.
Pastor Josh
Those four rules, if you go back to them, pollution of idols, fornication.
Pastor Josh
Now you would say, is fornication wrong?
Pastor Josh
It is a sin.
Pastor Josh
Yes, fornication is wrong.
Pastor Josh
But do people that have fornicated, can they get saved?
Pastor Josh
Yes.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
Yes.
Pastor Josh
Sins are forgiven, right?
Pastor Josh
If you come to Christ in faith, in repentance, your sins are forgiven.
Pastor Josh
And so James is not saying, well, they have to be people that don't do these things to get saved.
Pastor Josh
No, what he's saying is these are things that you seek after so that there can be unity in glorifying God in the way that you live a righteous life.
Pastor Josh
Cause he doesn't list here.
Pastor Josh
Don't lie to each other.
Pastor Josh
He doesn't.
Pastor Josh
I mean, we know lines of sin, but he doesn't list that.
Pastor Josh
And so he's specifically talking about things that were pagan that would have offended the jewish people to the point where they would have fallen into the same path.
Pastor Josh
And so what we can see here is that this is a desire for unity within the church.
Pastor Josh
Now I want you to see Galatians chapter five.
Pastor Josh
Galatians chapter five is another passage that deals with our freedom and our liberty.
Pastor Josh
So our freedom and our liberty should be celebrated within our faith.
Pastor Josh
We're not in a cult.
Pastor Josh
You don't have to keep a list of hundreds and hundreds of rules.
Pastor Josh
You can't lose your salvation.
Pastor Josh
So we have this freedom, and we should be celebrating that, but not celebrating to the point where we exercise our flesh.
Pastor Josh
So what happens within churches today, and really throughout all of history is that when we emphasize freedom and liberty, it becomes an occasion to the flesh.
Pastor Josh
And then we mingle in sin within the church.
Pastor Josh
And then we have a church that looks exactly like the world.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
Now does every church have to be a certain way?
Pastor Josh
No, that's why we had the freedom to be the type of church that we're called to be.
Pastor Josh
But what does Galatians chapter five, verse 13, say, galatians 513 says, for brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.
Pastor Josh
So you're called unto liberty.
Pastor Josh
As a Christian, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.
Pastor Josh
There it is, but by love serve one another.
Pastor Josh
So why is liberty given to us?
Pastor Josh
Not so that we can exercise our flesh, but so that we can serve one another, so that we can have people within our church that are from different backgrounds and different cultures and different preferences and different mindsets, and we can be unified in that common purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh
And so we can have freedom and liberty to be different.
Pastor Josh
We can have freedom and liberty to extend ourselves to a place that maybe not everyone could go.
Pastor Josh
So, for example, brother Tom might be able to minister to someone because of his freedom and liberty that I'm not able to minister.
Pastor Josh
Because maybe we have a different background, a different upbringing, you know, maybe there's someone in the church.
Pastor Josh
I won't pick an individual out because I don't want to pick any, you know, pick on anyone.
Pastor Josh
But maybe we have someone that was saved out of a life of really dark, bad places, and they knew what it was like to be addicted to drugs, and they knew what it was like to be part of really bad things.
Pastor Josh
And because God changed them and saved them, they now can minister to other people.
Pastor Josh
And they have freedom to minister to people that maybe would never listen to me, okay?
Pastor Josh
Because I come in, I've been in a christian home my whole life, and I grew up in church, and I go to someone and they're like, yeah, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
Pastor Josh
He doesn't know what I've gone through.
Pastor Josh
Well, maybe this fellow up here who has gone through all that struggle can go with his freedom and liberty and minister to somebody else and lead them to Christ.
Pastor Josh
That's the beauty of our liberty.
Pastor Josh
And so he says, our liberty is not there for an occasion of the flesh.
Pastor Josh
I can do this.
Pastor Josh
I had the freedom to do this.
Pastor Josh
God never says, I can't do this.
Pastor Josh
Yes, but is it an occasion of your flesh to exercise your freedom and your rights?
Pastor Josh
Or is it to say, I'm gonna serve one another?
Pastor Josh
Is it by love and service, or is it by an occasion of the flesh that we're exercising our liberty?
Pastor Josh
So one last passage of scripture, then we'll circle back to the book of acts.
Pastor Josh
I want you to see Romans, chapter 14 with me.
Pastor Josh
Romans, chapter 14.
Pastor Josh
This is what I believe to be one of the clearest teachings on this idea of exercising our christian liberty and not offending our brothers in Christ and our sisters in Christ.
Pastor Josh
Now, you would say, why are you talking about meat sacrifice to idols?
Pastor Josh
Because that's what this passage is talking about.
Pastor Josh
But for us, that's not a big issue.
Pastor Josh
Like, if I go over to your house, I've been over to many of your houses or gone out to eat with you.
Pastor Josh
I don't go, hey, guys, I need to know, is this meat sacrifice to bail?
Pastor Josh
I don't ask that.
Pastor Josh
Right?
Pastor Josh
That's not an issue in our culture today.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
I don't think any of you are sacrificing, you know, going to the marketplace and buying meat sacrificed idols.
Pastor Josh
I don't think that's the case.
Pastor Josh
If it was cheaper, okay, I can understand, but I don't think any of us are doing that.
Pastor Josh
But there's other things culturally that might cause us to stumble.
Pastor Josh
There's other things culturally, and it might be different.
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
Different age groups, different backgrounds.
Pastor Josh
And so what I want us to see here is, what does it say about this?
Pastor Josh
He says, him that is weak in the faith receive.
Pastor Josh
Yeah, but not to doubtful disputations, meaning receive those that are weak in faith, but don't lead them to a place of doubt.
Pastor Josh
For one believeth that he may eat all things.
Pastor Josh
Another who is weak eateth herbs, meaning some people might be convicted to eat anything they want, and that's okay.
Pastor Josh
Other people might be convicted not to eat that meat and eat something else.
Pastor Josh
Herbs.
Pastor Josh
Let not him that eateth despiseth him that not eateth.
Pastor Josh
Meaning you shouldn't despise the person that's different than you in this.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth.
Pastor Josh
For God hath received him, so we're received into the family of God.
Pastor Josh
So I can't sit over here and go, well, that person is exercising their liberty in a wrong way.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
If they're exercising their liberty in the confines of scripture, we can't sit there and judge them.
Pastor Josh
Now, if they are sinning out and out, we can say, clearly that's a sin.
Pastor Josh
But he's not talking about that.
Pastor Josh
He's talking about these, what we would call gray area things that meet sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
Verse four.
Pastor Josh
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant to his own master?
Pastor Josh
He standeth or falleth.
Pastor Josh
Yea, he shall be.
Pastor Josh
Holden up.
Pastor Josh
For God is able to make him stand.
Pastor Josh
One man esteemeth one day above another, and another esteemeth every day alike.
Pastor Josh
Meaning there are some people that look at one day and go, this is a holy day, and we need to honor it.
Pastor Josh
And we need to do all these things.
Pastor Josh
And there's other guides.
Pastor Josh
That's like, every day is just a day.
Pastor Josh
It's all God's days, right?
Pastor Josh
And he says, what does he say here?
Pastor Josh
What does he say here?
Pastor Josh
He says, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, meaning you got to come up with that conviction on your own.
Pastor Josh
You got to come up with that preference on your own.
Pastor Josh
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, meaning he can use that special day for the Lord.
Pastor Josh
And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it.
Pastor Josh
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth thanks.
Pastor Josh
He giveth God thanks.
Pastor Josh
And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks.
Pastor Josh
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Pastor Josh
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord.
Pastor Josh
Whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Pastor Josh
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
Pastor Josh
Meaning.
Pastor Josh
Everything that we do, it's the Lord's.
Pastor Josh
For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived.
Pastor Josh
And he might be Lord both of the living and the dead.
Pastor Josh
But why dost thou judge thy brother?
Pastor Josh
And why dost thou set at not thy brother?
Pastor Josh
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Pastor Josh
For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Pastor Josh
So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.
Pastor Josh
Let us not therefore judge one another any more.
Pastor Josh
But judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Pastor Josh
So he says again, the idea is not to judge someone.
Pastor Josh
The idea is to not put a place of stumbling for another brother.
Pastor Josh
Instead of me sitting there going, well, I can't believe that that person does that.
Pastor Josh
No, I need to look into my own life to say, it's the classic example, what Jesus said about the plank in your own eye, right?
Pastor Josh
Don't sit there and try to pick your brother's spec out when you got a plank in your own eye.
Pastor Josh
He says, hey, no, don't be a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Pastor Josh
I know, and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him, it is unclean.
Pastor Josh
Meaning if there's someone who's convicted by this, they're convicted by that.
Pastor Josh
Let them be convicted by that but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably, meaning if you just flaunt your liberty in front of them, you're not living charitably, you're not living in a kind way, you're not living in a loving way.
Pastor Josh
Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Pastor Josh
Let not then your good be evil spoken of.
Pastor Josh
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and the joy of the Holy Ghost.
Pastor Josh
For he that is in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God and approve to men.
Pastor Josh
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and the things wherewith 1 may edify another.
Pastor Josh
Do you see again what's happening here?
Pastor Josh
It's that emphasis on edification.
Pastor Josh
It's that emphasis on unity.
Pastor Josh
It's that emphasis on peace.
Pastor Josh
For me, destroy not the work of God.
Pastor Josh
All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense.
Pastor Josh
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Pastor Josh
Hast thou faith.
Pastor Josh
Have it to thyself before God.
Pastor Josh
Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
Pastor Josh
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith.
Pastor Josh
For whosoever or whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Pastor Josh
So you say.
Pastor Josh
That's a lot of.
Pastor Josh
I'm not going to be able to pick apart that whole passage, but essentially the thought is this.
Pastor Josh
There are going to be people that have preferences this way.
Pastor Josh
They're going to have people that have preferences this way.
Pastor Josh
We need to walk in unity, but we need to look to the place of not allowing the other brother, the weaker brother, to stumble.
Pastor Josh
So if there's something that I can do in my life, and I feel free to do it, okay, you have that freedom.
Pastor Josh
But the moment it becomes a place of division within the church, the moment it becomes a stumbling block for another person to sin, then you are sinning.
Pastor Josh
Okay?
Pastor Josh
So let me give you a real life example.
Pastor Josh
We've got a guy named Joe, and we got a guy named Bill over here, okay?
Pastor Josh
Joe is coming out of a life of paganism.
Pastor Josh
Joe is coming out of a life of idolatry.
Pastor Josh
Okay, I'm gonna forget these names.
Pastor Josh
Bill is over here.
Pastor Josh
And Bill is like, hey, I'm saved.
Pastor Josh
And I love eating meat at the market, and I can get a better deal on the meat that was sacrificed to these idols.
Pastor Josh
And Paul even said, this meat is free.
Pastor Josh
This meat is good, we can eat of it.
Pastor Josh
So which one's wrong?
Pastor Josh
Well, neither one of them.
Pastor Josh
They're both saved.
Pastor Josh
They're both okay.
Pastor Josh
They're both right.
Pastor Josh
This guy over here that got out of the life of paganism, though, he's like, I can't eat that meat because that's going to take me back to a place that I used to be in.
Pastor Josh
And I don't want to get back to pagan.
Pastor Josh
I don't want to get back to idolatry.
Pastor Josh
I can't.
Pastor Josh
I don't.
Pastor Josh
I'm going to abstain.
Pastor Josh
Then he looks over at Bill over here and he says, bill, I can't believe that guy, bill over there is eating that meat.
Pastor Josh
Sacrifice to idols.
Pastor Josh
He's wrong for judging him and his freedom.
Pastor Josh
But then let's say Bill comes over to Joe and says, we're in the market together.
Pastor Josh
And he goes, hey, Joe, I got some meat over here.
Pastor Josh
It's sacrificed to the idol.
Pastor Josh
But you know what?
Pastor Josh
Come on, you can do it.
Pastor Josh
You can do it.
Pastor Josh
And he eventually wears that brother down to the place of saying, okay, fine, I'll offend my conscience and I'll eat the meat.
Pastor Josh
Fine, I'll do it.
Pastor Josh
And so he's searing his conscience, and that's not a good thing to do, to push that off.
Pastor Josh
And so now who's sinned?
Pastor Josh
Well, if he eats of the meat, he's sinned because he's offended his conscience.
Pastor Josh
And this guy who's persuaded him to eat the meat has now sinned as well.
Pastor Josh
You see how that goes?
Pastor Josh
So sometimes we can be on either side, because I've heard of a lot of christians saying, hey, come on, do this.
Pastor Josh
There's nothing wrong with that.
Pastor Josh
There's nothing.
Pastor Josh
You gotta do this.
Pastor Josh
Come on.
Pastor Josh
To be a good christian, you gotta exercise your freedom.
Pastor Josh
You know what?
Pastor Josh
That is wrong.
Pastor Josh
Don't offend someone's conscience.
Pastor Josh
I know that with my kids, sometimes I'll say a certain thing to them, guys, we can't say that.
Pastor Josh
We can't do that.
Pastor Josh
And sometimes I might be doing something, dad, you said that word.
Pastor Josh
You said that word.
Pastor Josh
You shouldn't say that.
Pastor Josh
And I'm not saying bad words.
Pastor Josh
I'm saying words that just aren't.
Pastor Josh
We don't want our kids to say.
Pastor Josh
But sometimes I might say like, you know, you get it.
Pastor Josh
And I don't wanna use any of those words tonight.
Pastor Josh
Cause then they'll catch me on that.
Pastor Josh
But you know, stuff like that, dad, come on.
Pastor Josh
And like, as a Christian, I have the freedom to say those things.
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
It's not a curse word.
Pastor Josh
It's not a bad word.
Pastor Josh
Just words that we don't want to say.
Pastor Josh
It's not.
Pastor Josh
They're kind of crude.
Pastor Josh
And so what happens is, like, then I'm offending my children by saying, oh, you know, I can do it.
Pastor Josh
So you go ahead and do it.
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
I'm teaching them to not listen to that conscience that God has placed on their heart.
Pastor Josh
Now, sometimes our conscience can be a moving target.
Pastor Josh
Sometimes we can actually have a conscience.
Pastor Josh
That's more than scripture, right?
Pastor Josh
Oh, I can't.
Pastor Josh
You know, and that's something that we deal with in discipleship.
Pastor Josh
There's some people that have a conscience to do anything.
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
I can't do this.
Pastor Josh
I can't say this, I can't do that.
Pastor Josh
And the issue is that the conscience is not the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Josh
The Holy Spirit is the guide.
Pastor Josh
But ultimately, our conscience can be seared.
Pastor Josh
It can be changed depending on our culture.
Pastor Josh
And so what do we have to do?
Pastor Josh
We have to base our conscience in the word of God and the guidance of the spirit.
Pastor Josh
And so I'll say all that.
Pastor Josh
To say this, we go back to acts 15, and we'll conclude with this.
Pastor Josh
We see that James institutes these rules to allow the gentiles to walk in unison with the Jews, both Christians, so that they can have unity.
Pastor Josh
And so what we can see here is that the issue of the Jerusalem council, even though we don't deal with meat sacrifice to idols, we deal with issues of is salvation and sanctification by the law or salvation and sanctification by faith.
Pastor Josh
If it's by faith alone, then does it matter what we do?
Pastor Josh
Yes, it still matters what we do.
Pastor Josh
It doesn't save us.
Pastor Josh
It doesn't keep us saved, but it does deal with that idea of walking in unity together.
Pastor Josh
And so there are groups that declare that you must do this to stay saved.
Pastor Josh
There's people that declare that you must do these things to get saved.
Pastor Josh
But as christians, what we have to understand is that all of these arguments can be solved if we look at the truth of scripture and know that we have liberty in God's grace, but we limit our liberty for the sake of love.
Pastor Josh
So are there things that I could possibly do in my christian walk that could offend a brother, even if I'm not sinning?
Pastor Josh
Yes.
Pastor Josh
So I need to be cognizant of that, and I need to love my brother enough to say, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I'm not going to do that thing specifically in front of them.
Pastor Josh
And as the Bible says, flaunt my liberty.
Pastor Josh
Okay, now this is where a lot of churches are scared to deal with.
Pastor Josh
I'm scared to deal with this because if I got up here and said to you guys, there's rules at this church, to be a member of Middletown Baptist Church, like I mentioned this morning, you got to do this, this, this, and this.
Pastor Josh
Well, I've effectively now become your conscience.
Pastor Josh
I've effectively now have tried to pull away the discernment and say, just do whatever I tell you to do.
Pastor Josh
The problem with that is that's never what the Bible says.
Pastor Josh
The Bible says for you, it's individual soul, liberty.
Pastor Josh
All of us have the responsibility to discern what the spirit is calling us to do accordance to the word of God.
Pastor Josh
And so we feed Silas right now, Silas does not feed himself, but Norah and Micah are feeding themselves.
Pastor Josh
Micah doesn't sit down at the table like Silas and put his bib on and get to the table and just sit there like this and go, all right, dad, I'm ready.
Pastor Josh
And I go feed.
Pastor Josh
That's what Silas does.
Pastor Josh
He opens up his mouth and we put the bottle in or we put the oatmeal in or whatever.
Pastor Josh
But we would hope that as they get older, they can feed themselves.
Pastor Josh
Now, Micah, I'm not gonna feed you, okay?
Pastor Josh
He's gonna feed.
Pastor Josh
I'm gonna cook for him and I'm gonna prepare it for him.
Pastor Josh
But then there's a place where he becomes 20 and 30.
Pastor Josh
Dad, can you come over to my house and cook me chicken nuggets?
Pastor Josh
I'm going to say, no, son, you're an adult now.
Pastor Josh
You're married, you have children.
Pastor Josh
You can take care of that yourself.
Pastor Josh
Do you see how there is that not independence, but God dependence in the Christian's life as well?
Pastor Josh
So a lot of times it's like, what should I believe?
Pastor Josh
I remember I went off to college, dad, what do I believe about this?
Pastor Josh
And I remember my dad telling me, well, what do you believe?
Pastor Josh
I don't know.
Pastor Josh
I tell you what I believe, but what do you believe?
Pastor Josh
And you need to know that thing.
Pastor Josh
And so a lot of times as christians, we want to be spoon fed what's right, what's wrong.
Pastor Josh
But the truth is, is there are going to be some times where we have to grow out of that babe stage and move to that teenager adult stage to say, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I'm going to get more dependence on God and not another individual because you could come to me and say, well, pastor, should I do this and do that?
Pastor Josh
Well, I don't know, in scripture, it's not a clear statement on that.
Pastor Josh
So you're going to have to discern in the spirit and in the word how to deal with that.
Pastor Josh
So, for example, should I go and do this?
Pastor Josh
Well, did you do those checks?
Pastor Josh
What's the word of God say about this?
Pastor Josh
Well, there's nothing that the word of God says one way or the other.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
Is there a principle in scripture?
Pastor Josh
Well, I don't see a principle in scripture.
Pastor Josh
Well, is this beneficial expedient for your spiritual walk?
Pastor Josh
I'm not sure.
Pastor Josh
Is this going to help other christians in their walk?
Pastor Josh
Oh, probably not.
Pastor Josh
I could see this, this and this happening.
Pastor Josh
Well, there is an issue there, and then we need to check that now.
Pastor Josh
And I'm going to digress here in a moment.
Pastor Josh
But I will say this on the flip side of this, you can live in fear of man and say, well, I can't do anything that God's calling me to do because I know that someone's going to get upset about this.
Pastor Josh
You ever tried to please 100, 200 people at once?
Pastor Josh
I have.
Pastor Josh
Let me tell you how that goes.
Pastor Josh
It doesn't go well.
Pastor Josh
You could please maybe half, and if on a really good day, you can maybe please about 75%, but you're never gonna please 100 people.
Pastor Josh
So what do you do?
Pastor Josh
We please God.
Pastor Josh
And then you do your best to show love and grace to people.
Pastor Josh
Well, you know, as a pastor, there's things that I could say to you, this is not wrong.
Pastor Josh
And other people could say, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I don't like that they do that.
Pastor Josh
Well, is it, remember, is it a stumbling block to an offense of sin or is it something that you just don't like?
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
And then, so on the other side of things, as a christian, I need to be cautious that I'm not.
Pastor Josh
Remember the judging.
Pastor Josh
I'm not judging another person in their liberty just because I don't like what they're doing.
Pastor Josh
If it's an offense to sin, then that's what Matthew eighteen's all about.
Pastor Josh
Someone sinned against me.
Pastor Josh
What do I do?
Pastor Josh
I go tell that brother that he sinned against me, and I clearly explain how that was a sin and how that was an offense to me.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
And so then there's that process.
Pastor Josh
And so we could go deeper into this.
Pastor Josh
We're gonna stop for tonight.
Pastor Josh
We're gonna come back with part two next week because there's more to this.
Pastor Josh
Paul and Barnabas are gonna bring that message back to the church in Antioch and we'll decide, well, we'll look into it this way, we'll decide whether or not we go on to the next struggle, because shortly after this, what happens is that, guess what?
Pastor Josh
There's more conflict.
Pastor Josh
Paul and Barnabas are two guys have a conflict.
Pastor Josh
So we got to deal with that.
Pastor Josh
What do we do?
Pastor Josh
Well, the Bible has the teaching on what to do in conflict, and I can't say that, you know, because a lot of times we exalt Paul to a place of almost sinlessness, right?
Pastor Josh
We go, Paul is Paul, and he is.
Pastor Josh
He's Paul's.
Pastor Josh
Paul's an awesome dude.
Pastor Josh
One of the guys that I want to talk to when I get to heaven, like many of the other people there, but Paul isn't perfect, and there's some issues with him and John, Mark, and Barnabas, and even later on, Peter and Paul.
Pastor Josh
And, you know, so we're gonna get into that.
Pastor Josh
And I think that's important to deal with, because when we're looking at unity and we're looking at these nuanced topics of, is this gonna offend a brother?
Pastor Josh
These are real things that we gotta talk about, because what's gonna eventually happen, whether we mean to or not, we are going to have a conflict with another brother and sister in Christ.
Pastor Josh
It's going to happen.
Pastor Josh
So what do we do?
Pastor Josh
Well, you know what?
Pastor Josh
Historically, people have done well, let me get back in the old days, it was get the phone book out, but now it's, let me get on Google and see where the closest church is.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
We're going church shopping because these people have offended me.
Pastor Josh
That's not the first step.
Pastor Josh
Does God call people out of churches and move them other places?
Pastor Josh
For certain reasons, of course.
Pastor Josh
But where we have seen an issue is that there is a plethora of churches in the area.
Pastor Josh
And when there's a minor offense that could have been fixed and a brother could be gained, there's, hey, we got to leave.
Pastor Josh
We got to run.
Pastor Josh
Now, thankfully, at Middletown Baptist Church, we have a lot of faithful people, and I'm thankful for that.
Pastor Josh
There have been people that have come here for the right reasons.
Pastor Josh
There have been people that have left Middletown Baptist church, I believe, for the right reasons in a good way.
Pastor Josh
Maybe they're moving.
Pastor Josh
Maybe God's calling their heart somewhere else.
Pastor Josh
Maybe there's issues that can't.
Pastor Josh
You know, maybe there's viewpoints that don't align.
Pastor Josh
Okay, now I'm a little biased.
Pastor Josh
I think Middletown Baptist church is awesome.
Pastor Josh
I think it's the best church in town, and I want everyone to come here, but that might not be God's plan.
Pastor Josh
That might not be God's plan for someone.
Pastor Josh
Maybe someone else is better equipped than another body of believers.
Pastor Josh
And so we have to be very cautious about conflict and not running from the conflict, but dealing with it in a very biblical, patient way.
Pastor Josh
And I think that's what we talked about this morning, the endurance.
Pastor Josh
And that's not easy.
Pastor Josh
So I know that that was a heavy topic this evening.
Pastor Josh
I know that's not a topic that we necessarily get up and cheer about, but it's a topic that we have to deal with because it's something that, at least in my years of the church, doesn't get talked about a lot.
Pastor Josh
Right.
Pastor Josh
We kind of just skim over this idea of offending a brother.
Pastor Josh
And what does that even mean?
Pastor Josh
We look at different things and we say, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh
If I don't like it, then it's bad.
Pastor Josh
The truth is, though, it's all about.
Pastor Josh
It goes back to the.
Pastor Josh
It goes back to the greatest commandment.
Pastor Josh
What did Jesus say is, the first greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Pastor Josh
Okay, everything.
Pastor Josh
And then he says, the second is like unto this, love your neighbor as yourself.
Pastor Josh
All of these issues could be dealt with if we follow those two commandments.
Pastor Josh
So it's not about following the law.
Pastor Josh
It's following the greatest commandment of loving God and loving people.
Pastor Josh
If we do that and follow the word, we're gonna be okay.
Pastor Josh
We're gonna be okay.
Pastor Josh
Are we gonna be perfect?
Pastor Josh
No.
Pastor Josh
But if you love God, you're not gonna sin against him.
Pastor Josh
If you're really walking in love, you're not going to want to sin against him.
Pastor Josh
And if you love other people like you love yourself, you're not going to sin against them.
Pastor Josh
You know, when I sin against other people is when I start thinking about myself.
Pastor Josh
All those passages of scripture that said, don't think about yourself.
Pastor Josh
Think about others, don't think about your freedom.
Pastor Josh
Think about the love that you have for other people.
Pastor Josh
When I sin against other people is when I start thinking, hey, they wronged me, so I'm gonna do what I want.
Pastor Josh
They offended me, so I'm gonna do what I want.
Pastor Josh
They got me frustrated, so I'm gonna sin against them.
Pastor Josh
Instead of thinking about their well being, I think about my well being.
Pastor Josh
Well, that's the first step.
Pastor Josh
That I'm wrong in church is not about me.
Pastor Josh
I'm gonna give you a revelatory statement, and we'll be done.
Pastor Josh
This is it.
Pastor Josh
I know I keep saying that but I gotta say this, okay?
Pastor Josh
We are at church, not for ourselves.
Pastor Josh
This is not about us.
Pastor Josh
This is not about me.
Pastor Josh
This is not about you.
Pastor Josh
This is not about a ministry.
Pastor Josh
This is about Christ.
Pastor Josh
Everything that we're doing is about Jesus, okay?
Pastor Josh
We are beneficiaries.
Pastor Josh
We are background characters in the story, okay?
Pastor Josh
Sometimes I start to think that I'm the main character in the story.
Pastor Josh
I'm the protagonist.
Pastor Josh
I'm not the protagonist in the story of the gospel.
Pastor Josh
I'm just a side character that's there to support the main character, and that's Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh
And so when we start thinking that we're the main character in the story, that's when we can get into a lot of conflict and a lot of issues and don't think about the unity.
Pastor Josh
And so what Paul says is this, and I thank the Lord for this teaching.
Pastor Josh
It's like this.
Pastor Josh
If I need to die to something in my life, I will do that for the cause of the gospel.
Pastor Josh
If I need to remove something from my life that's a stumbling block to another brother.
Pastor Josh
I love my brother and I love Christ, and I love the gospel enough to say, I don't need to do that.
Pastor Josh
I don't need to do that.
Pastor Josh
We've got, and I'd love to talk to you about this more because I've got a lot of examples about this, but we've got people that will say, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I can do this.
Pastor Josh
I have the freedom to do this.
Pastor Josh
Why is this a sin?
Pastor Josh
It's not, but how is it beneficial?
Pastor Josh
And I go back to that passage in one corinthians 1023, all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient.
Pastor Josh
Not all things are edifying.
Pastor Josh
If we just thought about that edification factor, so much more would be changed within our midst.
Pastor Josh
So I will end with that here tonight.
Pastor Josh
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Pastor Josh
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Pastor Josh
If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us@middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Pastor Josh
You can also email me directly@joshmissaroiddletownbaptastchurch.com.
Pastor Josh
if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.
Pastor Josh
Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh
God bless.
Pastor Josh
Have a wonderful day.
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