Dale Partridge - Romans 12_14-16 ~ Part 5 - Thirty Marks of a True Christian

00:00:00.000 What a privilege this chapter has been to preach, but also to minister to my own soul.

00:00:13.840 Romans chapter 12 is so incredibly practical.

00:00:20.240 Now we're in a series, as you know, it's titled The 30 Marks of a True Christian.

00:00:25.460 And as I have reiterated each week, chapter 12 marks this transition in the epistle to the Romans, which goes from gospel to behavior, because we know that belief informs behavior.

00:00:42.560 Essentially, the apostle expects that what we know will inform how we live.

00:00:49.320 This is a basic pattern.

00:00:50.840 And this is an important distinction because here lies the divide between legalism and grace.

00:01:00.240 Legalism obeys to earn.

00:01:03.980 That is what legalism does.

00:01:06.840 Grace obeys to worship.

00:01:10.800 Legalism obeys from fear and from pride.

00:01:15.440 Grace obeys from gratitude and love.

00:01:18.840 In other words, Christians don't obey for salvation, they obey from salvation.

00:01:27.720 That is a very important distinction.

00:01:31.460 Your good works are the fruit of your redemption, and we know that Christ's finished work is the root.

00:01:37.640 If we can keep that part intact, then we can lift high this holy call of obedience,

00:01:44.560 knowing that it is just the outworking of the grace and mercy of God in us.

00:01:51.880 Now, last week we covered Marks 11 and 12, which were contribute to the needs of the saints

00:02:00.300 and seek to show hospitality. It was the start of several commands that really shifted from an

00:02:07.580 inward worshipful focus to an outward devotion and love for others, which as a result makes them

00:02:16.240 more difficult for the flesh because they are not, you are not the direct beneficiary of these

00:02:22.760 commands. Today, we are going to examine verses 13 through 16, which is Marks 13 through 20.

00:02:34.100 And what makes these marks, along with the ones that follow, so unique is that they are impossible to fulfill without the Holy Spirit.

00:02:44.560 It's just, sure, you can be a moralist all day, but to do them with the heart and posture that is expected when Paul speaks can only happen with the Holy Spirit.

00:02:58.660 Mark 14, or sorry, Mark 13 and 14, let's read them.

00:03:01.920 It's in verse 14.

00:03:02.740 it says, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. So first, I want you to realize

00:03:10.020 that this isn't a Pauline doctrine. This is Paul reiterating a Jesus doctrine from Luke 6, 27 to

00:03:18.920 28. It says, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

00:03:27.800 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.

00:03:32.560 So second, this is a command not just to bless, but also to not curse.

00:03:40.880 So it's twofold. You should bless those who persecute you, but also do not curse those who persecute you.

00:03:47.020 Now, if you're unaware, there has been, for the past several months, a uniquely hostile debate among Reformed Christians on social media, specifically X.

00:03:59.960 Rudeness, sarcasm, uncharitable interpretation, attacks on reputation, hostility toward one another, 0.75

00:04:09.460 they have been kind of the thematic expressions for the past several months among brothers and sisters.

00:04:17.020 And I believe this verse, along with several others, condemns many of these men along with

00:04:24.520 many pastors. And I agree, there is a place for defending yourself in the face of lies or

00:04:33.160 defending the truth in the face of lies. I think there is a place for poking the idols of the day.

00:04:40.420 I believe that using clever words or memes or whatever you may use to defend the truth is

00:04:46.720 a totally valid and useful strategy to fight for righteousness. But all of these things should aim

00:04:55.020 and come from a place of humility and a desire for peace. That should be the ultimate desire

00:05:01.940 for these things. And I believe many have failed to do this and have tarnished our witness to the

00:05:09.980 world as a result. The infighting has been real bad. There's been several people that have been

00:05:15.420 saying the phrase, no more brother wars. We know that Christ said things like sons of Satan to

00:05:26.280 the Pharisees, or you are whitewashed tombs. David, he asked the Lord to break the teeth of God's

00:05:33.940 enemies and that their children, the children of his enemies, would be fatherless. But these are

00:05:41.300 statements that are, again, aimed at cultivating repentance and a call for justice, real biblical

00:05:49.400 justice. Jesus, on the other hand, also prays for those who are murdering him,

00:05:57.340 and he heals the ear of his captor, who is the servant of the high priest when

00:06:03.120 Peter tries to lop it off. We know that Jesus saves the thief on the cross right after

00:06:11.360 He gets done reviling and mocking Jesus.

00:06:15.340 We know that David denied the opportunity to kill Saul when he had the chance

00:06:19.760 and that he wept for his enemies who had just passed away.

00:06:25.960 And so how do you square up this kind of intense rejection of evil

00:06:31.420 with the command to love your enemies or bless those who persecute you

00:06:36.100 and bless and do not curse?

00:06:38.120 How do you square those things up?

00:06:40.800 And I believe it's two sides of the same coin.

00:06:44.580 Truth must be spoken to our opponents, but it has to be always delivered with the ultimate aim of holy justice and mercy.

00:06:55.580 It has to have those two distinctives attached to it.

00:07:00.260 Holy justice and mercy.

00:07:03.260 To say or do things that are neither about holy justice, nor about mercy, nor about peace, nor include humility, is sinful.

00:07:13.520 And that has been just rampant everywhere among people in the online community.

00:07:20.580 And honestly, without the Holy Spirit, blessing your opponents cannot be done.

00:07:27.620 Calvin says of this verse, he says, quote,

00:07:29.560 no one can be justly looked on as a Christian who does not in some measure possess this spirit

00:07:37.420 and practice this precept, end quote. So this work of balancing truth, justice, mercy, and peace can

00:07:47.480 only be accomplished by someone that is filled with the Spirit of Christ. I really believe that

00:07:51.460 is true. In our home, we often tell our children, do not return evil for evil. We say it all the

00:07:59.200 time. You can return blessing for evil. You can return truth for evil. You could return

00:08:05.860 a prayer of justice for evil, but you cannot return evil for evil.

00:08:16.760 First Peter 3.9 says to Christians, and I believe is probably one of the most important passages

00:08:21.560 for the church right now. It tells Christians to not return evil for evil or insult for insult,

00:08:30.340 but give a blessing instead. That's 2 Peter, or 1 Peter 3.9. Not returning evil for evil or

00:08:38.820 insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. So, practically speaking,

00:08:47.540 what does it mean to bless your persecutors

00:08:51.000 first it means don't go around bad-mouthing people that's a real easy way don't go around

00:08:59.340 bad-mouthing people even if they are your enemies don't think even this is this is what makes it

00:09:07.180 harder is because we know that jesus says that it's not just what you do it's also what you think

00:09:10.840 don't even have evil thoughts about your enemies

00:09:14.160 because you might not have the sin of your lips opening up but you might have the sin of the heart

00:09:20.240 which is incredibly difficult and convicting because all of us struggle with this

00:09:25.200 instead we need to desire God's favor on our enemies as he has had favor on us

00:09:33.280 a few scriptures I'll disclose with on this point is Ephesians 4 29 let no corrupting talk come out

00:09:39.820 your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to

00:09:46.740 those who hear. Colossians 4.6, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that

00:09:54.540 you may know how you ought to answer each person. James 1.9, let each person be quick to hear, slow

00:10:02.320 to speak, slow to anger. Proverbs 17, 27, whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has

00:10:11.580 a cool spirit is a man of understanding. And I'll close with Jesus's words on the matter. What he

00:10:17.600 says in Matthew 12, 36, he says, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give an account

00:10:23.540 for every careless word they speak, end quote. I'll tell you what, the internet is filled with

00:10:31.000 careless words. It is a place where people think that they can behave in a way where they will not

00:10:38.200 have to be accountable. But scripture makes it incredibly clear that Jesus says every single

00:10:43.260 careless word that you make, every stupid response that you make, every dumb and prideful remark that 1.00

00:10:48.680 you make, it will be accounted for and you will answer for it. And so all of us, let's have a 1.00

00:10:56.860 spirit of humility. Let's have a spirit to bless those who persecute us or who call us names or

00:11:02.680 who insult us. And let's know that Christ is holding us accountable for everything we say.

00:11:08.760 Amen? Amen. Verse 15, this is Marks 15 and 16, it says, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep

00:11:16.700 with those who weep. One of the great tragedies of individualism is indifference. Just being

00:11:26.540 indifferent. It's a really sad reality when you start to dig down into the reality of what that

00:11:36.020 means. It's easy to walk through life, never really uniting your affections and experiences

00:11:43.640 with the affections and experiences of others. It's a sad time to see such individualism.

00:11:52.340 Now, yeah, you might extend kind of a surface-level congratulations

00:11:56.740 or maybe a surface-level condolences for the joys and tragedies of the day.

00:12:05.620 But do you truly celebrate their joys and bear their burdens as if they were your own?

00:12:14.060 Now, that's the key distinguishing factor that I believe Paul is getting at.

00:12:19.680 It's not just congratulations and condolences.

00:12:23.420 It's really getting in to one another's lives.

00:12:28.040 And as you know, that type of care, that type of involvement requires time and emotional bandwidth.

00:12:39.420 It demands that you live in a way that has some margin.

00:12:45.960 You're not so incredibly busy.

00:12:48.460 You're not so incredibly taxed that you have no margin for those in your family and in your church.

00:12:57.400 It's a call to have a posture to invite people in, to be around, to know people.

00:13:07.020 It's very strange to weep with a stranger, and it's very strange to rejoice with a stranger.

00:13:16.140 Honestly, it probably doesn't happen unless you witnessed a tragedy together.

00:13:21.120 No, this is a call to rejoice and to weep with those people you know.

00:13:27.920 And you can't know people if you don't have margin, if you don't seek people out.

00:13:35.080 I want to talk about just how nefarious individualism really is.

00:13:40.080 it leaves so many people single it leaves many people alone it breaks down families it breaks

00:13:51.240 down churches it ultimately it breaks down cultures individualism is not a Christian ethic

00:13:57.940 yesterday I shared a cartoon illustration depicting a woman she's sitting

00:14:02.760 behind on the ground behind a door that's kind of cracked open and and out in the crack of the

00:14:09.180 door, there's all these hands of men with roses and hands reaching out to this woman who's sitting

00:14:16.140 at the door in the back and she's saying with a bubble over her head, I'm so lonely. And it

00:14:23.060 highlights this reality of so many people today, especially women, maybe you're looking for kind

00:14:29.640 of this fantasy man. Now men do this too. They're looking for this perfect woman that has no flaws.

00:14:36.740 But that's what individualism does. It keeps you alone. It's not something that we should

00:14:43.140 be proud of. Now, according to Scripture, we are born into family covenants.

00:14:54.980 Your home, it's a family covenant. You're immediately brought into it without your

00:15:04.380 permission. That family covenant, if it's Christian, is brought into a local church 0.81

00:15:14.940 covenant. Here we stand with local churches or the local church that is filled with family

00:15:21.560 covenants, but we are also in covenant with one another. And our local church is in covenant

00:15:28.800 with other local churches. The body of Christ, you could even say as we join the CREC,

00:15:35.700 the denominational covenant there. But there is interdependent covenants within covenants

00:15:42.160 within covenants in the Christian life. The idea of individualism just doesn't fit

00:15:49.240 with the Christian life. I want to remind you how powerful covenantal thinking and expression is

00:15:59.620 to a lonely world. I just want to take one example with the Mormon church.

00:16:07.960 Why do so many people get drawn to the Mormon church? It's not because of the gospel. Okay,

00:16:14.220 we know that. It's because of what? Family. The covenant community that they have around family,

00:16:23.520 around church, around community. They solve the lonely problem pretty well. That's what they do.

00:16:31.840 Now, anyone can carry out the structure of covenant. It's something that is

00:16:36.420 based to society, but only a born-again Christian filled with the Holy Spirit can carry out 0.64

00:16:42.260 the true intention of covenant from gospel love. You can have a great group of people,

00:16:49.120 people covenant around all types of things, but to truly express God's design for covenant

00:16:55.640 takes the Holy Spirit. And this verse, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep,

00:17:03.040 is an expression of covenantal love. I've said it many times, there are over 100 one-anothers

00:17:11.720 in the New Testament? A hundred.

00:17:17.460 In other words, the Bible assumes covenant.

00:17:21.420 You just have to see this for a second. The Bible assumes

00:17:25.540 covenant interdependence, not individualism.

00:17:31.460 Pray for one another that you may be healed. Confess your sins to one another.

00:17:36.040 This idea that we are constantly one-anothering.

00:17:41.720 Now, because the Bible assumes covenantal life, we know that this principle that we're talking

00:17:51.740 about in this verse is to be strictly applied locally. Well, I'll say generally applied,

00:17:57.700 but mostly applied locally. And here's what I mean by that. God isn't calling you to bear the joys

00:18:04.700 and the sorrows of everything and of everybody. God is not calling you to break down in tears

00:18:14.260 over every social media tragedy you hear online. God is not calling you to rejoice in every

00:18:21.940 celebration that happens in every church across this nation. No, you are in covenant with your

00:18:30.780 family, with this local church, and the direct application of this passage is here. It's here.

00:18:43.280 It's why starting a family and being part of a church that limits the size of the church

00:18:49.520 really matters. When we thought about Kingsway and we limited this church size to about 100 families

00:18:59.140 from the beginning and that we would plant other churches, we know that it's extremely difficult

00:19:03.880 to covenant with a thousand people. You can't really do it. In fact, if you're supposed to

00:19:10.020 rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, and you have a thousand people

00:19:14.120 or two thousand people, it becomes almost an impossible command. In fact, you're not designed

00:19:21.520 for it. You're designed for small community. A hundred families is actually a lot too,

00:19:28.340 But you could probably get away with that.

00:19:32.120 You could probably know about 100 families.

00:19:36.080 But the point I want to make is that I'm not saying to lack sympathy for those outside of the covenant.

00:19:46.760 People in the world, people in other local churches, people that are not in your family.

00:19:52.300 I'm not saying to lack sympathy outside of your covenants.

00:19:55.600 I'm saying to guard your margin and prioritize your affections for those within your covenants.

00:20:03.300 That's the key.

00:20:05.860 You know, as a pastor, I get to hear a lot of the sorrows of our flock.

00:20:11.400 If I go around and lay all of the energy that I have by God's grace

00:20:20.960 to deal with the tragedies that people write me in emails and online and social media

00:20:26.960 and the miscarriage and the lost child and the divorce and the pornography addiction.

00:20:31.640 I get these messages every day.

00:20:33.680 If I allow myself to be spent spiritually and emotionally there,

00:20:42.220 and then somebody from our flock or my own family comes and needs to be counseled,

00:20:49.780 but I don't have anything left because I have misprioritized my affections for people not in

00:20:55.600 my covenant. And so there is really a priority of natural affections. I have a priority and a

00:21:04.000 responsibility to you in a way that I do not have a responsibility to someone online. It doesn't

00:21:11.240 mean that I don't care. It doesn't mean that I might not send off a quick prayer for somebody,

00:21:15.500 But it means that we are to care for one another uniquely here.

00:21:20.040 What this also means is that you are to prioritize these people over people outside of the covenant.

00:21:30.960 So imagine, I always have dinner with all these families that don't go to our church.

00:21:40.060 And you guys really have a need.

00:21:42.400 You really need to be shepherded.

00:21:45.160 You want some counsel or some discussion or some fellowship with me.

00:21:48.880 But I'm constantly having dinners with people who don't go to our church and aren't in our family.

00:21:56.620 And I'm so busy that I can't fit anybody else in that's here.

00:22:01.100 That's not good.

00:22:03.720 No, you made a covenant to be in this community.

00:22:07.720 You prioritize your family and you prioritize these people.

00:22:12.460 It doesn't mean that you can't have someone over that isn't in your local church.

00:22:17.740 What it means is prioritize these people because all of the commands of Scripture,

00:22:24.920 including the one another's, call you to be responsible to those commands with those people.

00:22:32.600 And if you're spent giving all of yourself to everybody else and you have nothing left for your own people,

00:22:40.840 that's not good and that's what the internet does that's what

00:22:48.120 this individualism does where we all kind of feel like hey you know what they're a christian

00:22:56.760 i i love christians at other churches but you leave this church and while you may have five

00:23:03.180 dinners with me a year while you're here you're probably going to get one every two years if you

00:23:07.880 leave. Not because I don't like you, but truly because I have to prioritize these people.

00:23:13.960 And that's the way we need to be thinking together. Hey, it's not that we don't want to

00:23:18.360 be with you. It's that you're in a new covenant now, and you should be prioritizing those people

00:23:23.840 in your covenant. We can't spread ourselves so thin that we don't have the ability to actually

00:23:30.920 fulfill the substance of these commands. Amen? Verse 16 in Mark 17, it says, live in harmony

00:23:44.660 with one another. I prefer the New King James translation of this verse that says,

00:23:50.780 be of the same mind toward one another. This command is much of the reason we have

00:23:58.540 strengthened and bolstered our membership process that you will hear about at the annual members

00:24:04.480 meeting here at Kingsway. The few families that recently left over theological and ecclesiastical

00:24:11.720 differences revealed that we had a degree of superficial unity. That's what it revealed to

00:24:18.020 us as leaders. Again, unity doesn't mean uniformity, but I want to make a clarifying point.

00:24:27.020 uniformity is the goal okay uniformity is the goal how do i know that because jesus says in

00:24:36.820 his prayer when he prays for the church father i pray that they are one as we are one

00:24:41.480 okay there's not just unity in this in the trinity there's uniformity in the trinity

00:24:47.900 there's absolute beauty now i know some theologians are thinking wait uniformity

00:24:52.720 Okay, don't get too deep on me here, all right?

00:24:56.880 I'm thinking about my theological critics.

00:25:00.920 They're uniform in all mission and purpose.

00:25:09.260 They're completely one.

00:25:12.720 And for that reason, I think that we should be working toward oneness.

00:25:16.700 It doesn't mean that we don't have diversity.

00:25:19.020 I love the diversity of what?

00:25:20.940 the spiritual gifts that you guys bring. That's a great diversity. You know what I don't want

00:25:27.460 is diversity in doctrine. Okay, diversity in doctrine is very dangerous. It splits churches

00:25:32.520 all the time. Now, where those differences exist, which is the principle of the next passage we'll

00:25:43.380 get through, our hearts ought to be focused on prayer and patience and peace, and we patiently

00:25:50.040 debate one another as we get toward unity. Anybody that's married has probably done this

00:25:55.360 with their spouse over the years. You start to become one. It's not that you become one when

00:26:02.280 you get married. Yes, in a sense you do, but you are becoming one as the years and the decades go

00:26:09.440 by. 1 Corinthians 1.10 says, Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

00:26:18.820 that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you,

00:26:27.380 but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

00:26:34.560 End quote. That sounds like uniformity to me. Again, yes, we're going to have differences,

00:26:42.200 but the reality is the desire is to be complete oneness.

00:26:50.120 Now, spiritual harmony begins with doctrine. It starts there. Sure, it begins with Christ,

00:26:59.300 but let's just go past Christ for a second. It begins with doctrine. If you want to have

00:27:04.280 unity in a local church, you need to have clarity of doctrine. I think the vast majority of churches

00:27:08.660 in America. They have, you know, core values or some statement of faith that's the size of a

00:27:14.680 paragraph. And they have all these people in their church and they think that they're unified, but

00:27:20.180 they really have superficial unity. They don't have real unity. Real unity takes clarity. And

00:27:26.460 when you have more clarity, you get more unity. And lack of clarity creates ambiguity. And so these

00:27:35.160 churches, they have all these people who think they're unified. When in reality, if you talk

00:27:40.700 to them about doctrine, radically different views on doctrine. And that's not good. It's,

00:27:49.620 as soon as somebody starts taking a stand on a particular position, it eradicates a whole chunk

00:27:54.400 of the church. I've seen this. I've seen a pastor all of a sudden get clear on doctrine.

00:27:59.820 and he had kind of a pretty conservative church and then he became a calvinist came to the

00:28:06.020 doctrines of grace started preaching that doctrine and about 40 percent of his church left

00:28:11.580 he he didn't realize that there was superficial unity and that's even partially what happened

00:28:20.940 here. We're a Presbyterian church. We are reformed in our doctrines. We have varying degrees of

00:28:31.120 people that are learning and holding to those doctrines, which is fine. But we want to be clear

00:28:38.680 that the goal is to get unified on the same confession and creeds and doctrine.

00:28:45.840 now it begins a doctrine but i believe it's actually great for us to be unified and harmonious

00:28:53.040 in other things and interests and values and activities politics and economics

00:28:59.940 education mission vision hope not asking for uniformity in these things but i think it's

00:29:06.800 great to work toward one-mindedness around these matters as i've mentioned before we have

00:29:13.380 been fed this incredible lie that diversity is our greatest strength, right? This is the

00:29:20.960 American lie of the last maybe 20 years. Diversity is our greatest strength. And again, as I said,

00:29:27.080 yes, diversity in spiritual gifts, diversity in age. Oh, love that. I'm a big fan of

00:29:34.820 multigenerational churches. Love the idea of having grandmothers in the faith and having

00:29:40.180 mothers in the faith and daughters in the faith. Wonderful. Okay, that's a great example.

00:29:50.140 But diversity in doctrine, diversity in mission, diversity in vision, diversity in the things that

00:29:58.560 really matter, that's a great way to ruin a church. It's a great way to ruin a marriage.

00:30:03.480 have different views on parenting as a as a married couple have different views on who god is

00:30:12.720 as a married couple that doesn't work that ends almost always in divorce a breaking of covenant

00:30:24.000 and it will here it will here if you have a different view on core values that you're not

00:30:33.540 willing to be shaped by you're not patient and peaceful you're not willing to kind of debate

00:30:39.400 prayerfully over long periods of time you'll leave that's what happens and this takes

00:30:49.220 time when it says live in harmony with one another. Be of the same mind. Don't just conform

00:30:59.740 immediately to the same mind. It's a work. Take time to be of the same mind. I want to give you

00:31:07.520 another example. What is the unifying vision and mission for Prescott, Arizona?

00:31:14.720 honestly I don't think anybody knows the answer to that question in fact I bet there are hundreds

00:31:21.120 of conflicting visions and missions for this city that's a problem it doesn't make us stronger

00:31:29.060 diversity doesn't make us stronger as a city it makes us weaker we need to know

00:31:35.720 what does this city believe? What is the goal of this city? What is the purpose of this city?

00:31:45.380 What are we trying to achieve? Because the liberals are trying to achieve something very

00:31:50.580 different from us, and certain rulers and people in political office might be having

00:31:57.260 completely different visions, even though they are our representatives, than us. And so

00:32:03.920 So, if that's true of a city and true of a family, it's true of a church.

00:32:13.820 Again, the principle, the general equity from this is to graciously debate one another.

00:32:24.400 Have conversations around these things.

00:32:27.780 Which is why the apostle offers some qualifying language in that last part of this verse.

00:32:32.980 And it's Marks 18 and 19 and 20.

00:32:41.560 Do not be haughty or high-minded, but associate with the lowly.

00:32:47.380 Never be wise in your own sight.

00:32:51.460 Don't be prideful, basically, right?

00:32:53.400 Don't be prideful.

00:32:55.340 Don't be a theological elitist.

00:33:00.000 Be a theologian.

00:33:01.320 I'm all about that.

00:33:02.980 but theological elitism is theological pride.

00:33:07.940 It's impatient.

00:33:09.420 It's like it forgets that it took you nine years to get to your positions

00:33:12.920 and expects everybody else to get there in six months.

00:33:15.700 Don't do that.

00:33:17.300 Be patient with one another as they conform and they work and they study

00:33:22.740 and the Holy Spirit reveals truths to them over time.

00:33:25.900 don't be uh the mom who thinks that your way is the only way on parenting or on homeschooling

00:33:39.520 or on cooking or whatever it is right don't be the man that's too advanced or too high or too

00:33:47.300 mature or too credentialed to be taught anything by a younger or weaker brother. Don't be that guy.

00:33:58.920 Be ready to adjust yourself based on the biblically based reasonings of others.

00:34:04.540 I've been corrected by younger, less mature men by God's grace. Take it. It's a blessing 0.79

00:34:12.860 when someone pulls you aside and says, hey, you know what? You said something stupid back there. 1.00

00:34:16.740 did you know that? I didn't. Thank you for telling me. That's a wonderful blessing. You know what's 1.00

00:34:23.060 really not great is someone who doesn't tell you that you've acted like an idiot, and you just keep 1.00

00:34:28.420 going on acting like an idiot. That's not a blessing. And so you just get to have a posture of humility 1.00

00:34:38.420 toward one another. In other words, be patient as we strive toward unity. Don't force conformity

00:34:46.680 on someone, but also don't be this stubborn non-conformist. Okay, yes, you know, if you have

00:34:54.360 a conviction on truth, you know, you think that we're violating first issues, you know, I'm talking

00:35:00.620 gospel, I'm talking trinity, I'm talking fundamentals of the faith, sure, be stubborn on those things.

00:35:08.100 But on secondary issues, on non-essentials, I always tell people I hold things with confidence,

00:35:15.380 not certainty. If it's a secondary, tertiary issue, I hold it with confidence. I have a position.

00:35:21.640 I'm going to fight for that position. Here's why. I am not going to divide and create enemies

00:35:28.680 over something that has generally two or three camps. Okay, when you have guys like John MacArthur

00:35:37.080 and R.C. Sproul on two sides of an issue, both godly men, both incredibly fruitful ministries,

00:35:46.400 both incredibly wise, studying more about scripture than I'll ever probably know,

00:35:53.740 holding two radically different positions on multiple topics. You go, okay, I'm willing to

00:36:02.120 say, hey, maybe I'm not certain, but I'm confident. I think that's a great distinction to make. Don't

00:36:08.760 white-knuckle things. Fight for them. Have fun with them. But don't separate over stupid

00:36:18.260 disagreements on secondary or tertiary issues. Yeah, you might need to worship at another church 1.00

00:36:23.900 because you might have a conviction of your heart, and I get that. Sometimes people do.

00:36:27.280 But don't divide. Don't get hostile with one another. That's not right.

00:36:37.680 Now, God wants harmony and harmony among fallen men.

00:36:44.160 It takes time. It takes prayer. It takes humility. It takes grace. It takes everything that is

00:36:49.820 impossible without the Holy Spirit. And so church relationships, when I see a church that's standing

00:36:54.800 for 20 years and it's got members in it that have been there for that long, that's a real mercy of

00:36:59.960 the Lord. Most people have no ability to stay somewhere longer than two, three years. If you

00:37:06.980 could stay five years, that's incredible. Ten years, that's incredible. Like just so rare to

00:37:14.280 be at the same church for ten years. And I get it. Some people have theological evolution. They

00:37:17.540 change and develop and it's not necessarily that they're like individualists. They actually just

00:37:21.920 had to change in theology. That's a fair option. But the truth is, if you've arrived

00:37:29.040 theologically, you've matured, staying at a church for a decade or more is a massive blessing to you,

00:37:39.100 to everybody else, as it models true commitment. It models something in a world of individualism

00:37:47.320 that is so incredibly rare because you know in 10 years i promise you'll be offended you'll be

00:37:54.240 offended so much that you'll want to leave uh there will be multiple times in a 10-year period

00:38:00.080 where you will actually be on the threshold of the door

00:38:04.120 but if you stay man that's so rare it's so rare and it's so good it's so good to do that

00:38:17.320 now i want to make a couple more points harmony for men usually starts intellectually and then

00:38:28.700 moves relationally men align with ideas first and relationship second women typically

00:38:37.340 harmonize with relationship first and then it leads to beliefs and what do you believe

00:38:44.880 and oh, me too, and it's just opposite that way. Now, I think the most effective way to produce

00:38:52.660 harmony, to really get there as a church, is two ways. It's pulpit and party, okay? Pulpit and party.

00:39:04.200 I think that's really the answer to unification, and here's what I mean by that. Spontaneous,

00:39:11.660 unprepared, passionate discussions aren't always helpful to create doctrinal unity.

00:39:21.740 Sometimes they work, sometimes they turn into bombs. The pulpit is a far better and more

00:39:28.380 effective way to create and shepherd the church toward doctrinal unity. Another great tool is

00:39:34.960 Bible studies. These are great conversational ways. Rely on those things to get people to

00:39:41.440 where they need to be. So, you know, another great one is books. A book gives you a reasonable amount

00:39:50.540 of space and time to actually shift a doctrine. You guys know it's been a year. I've never preached

00:39:59.620 on head coverings. Some people have read it. Some people have it. The book is a great tool to get

00:40:06.840 someone there but i'm not over here making everybody conform to head coverings and so it's a

00:40:14.040 it's it's almost always a more effective way is the pulpit spending you know eight weeks

00:40:22.260 systematically going through first corinthians 11 then an unprepared passionate discussion about

00:40:27.440 head coverings and why you should wear one okay that that in my experience is just not as effective

00:40:33.580 The second one is party. Sunday morning worship isn't always the best way to do relationship.

00:40:40.160 In fact, most churches totally and utterly fail because they think that this is enough

00:40:45.820 and we leave and you guys all jump in your cars. I think we do party pretty well. We just had a

00:40:51.680 great party last week. And we also party every single Sunday after church. And that's required

00:40:58.700 in order to get relationally close.

00:41:02.520 And so you need the pulpit, the Bible study, the books,

00:41:05.620 the deep thought, and you need party,

00:41:08.500 midweek, Sunday, whatever it is.

00:41:10.360 Those two things, in my experience,

00:41:13.120 are the best ways to get unity

00:41:15.520 around doctrine and relationship.

00:41:19.600 Now, I want to talk just lastly as I close out here

00:41:25.380 about honor.

00:41:28.700 And I want this last verse here, it says, never be wise in your own sight.

00:41:36.360 It's talking about humility.

00:41:40.140 And humility generally comes in order.

00:41:44.960 So there's an order in covenant.

00:41:49.040 And so, children, you are to honor your parents.

00:41:54.760 It's humble to honor your parents.

00:41:57.340 and wives are to honor their husbands and husbands are to honor christ members are to honor pastors

00:42:09.820 young people are to honor the old people novices are to honor the experienced pastors are to honor

00:42:19.480 the presbytery. It just goes on and on and on about this order, and there are exceptions when

00:42:29.160 your kids teach you something, or your wife teaches you something, or a member teaches a

00:42:36.340 pastor something. Those happen. It's a real thing, but the general flow is the order that I just

00:42:42.940 talked about. Generally speaking, older teaches the younger, and the parent teaches the child,

00:42:48.760 And if the husband is truly leading theologically, shepherding, he's shepherding and instructing his wife.

00:42:56.440 And the more experienced is generally teaching the less experienced.

00:43:00.600 And it's prideful and not humble to think that you're young, you're new, you're fresh, you're a child, whatever it may be,

00:43:12.720 and you're there always to instruct.

00:43:15.960 You're always there to teach.

00:43:17.800 Again, there's exceptions.

00:43:19.540 But the general rule is follow the order of the covenant, relationships, and I believe it's a safe place to be.

00:43:27.880 I'll close with this.

00:43:29.800 The church flows smoothly on the oil of humility.

00:43:35.140 It really does work well.

00:43:38.000 One of the favorite quotes is from an old pastor friend of ours.

00:43:42.040 He says, you can't argue with a humble person.

00:43:45.080 And it's true.

00:43:46.220 You can't argue with a humble person.

00:43:47.500 Go try it.

00:43:48.540 It just won't happen.

00:43:49.380 It goes nowhere.

00:43:50.180 It's like your words fall flat right on the ground.

00:43:53.240 You can't argue with a humble person.

00:43:56.660 Jonathan Edwards once said,

00:43:57.900 Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.

00:44:03.460 You want to not be used by the devil?

00:44:06.080 Just be humble.

00:44:07.580 You want to keep this church healthy and thriving?

00:44:10.900 Just be humble.

00:44:11.640 and humility has to be our aim at king's way not not a humility that believes that we are less

00:44:19.400 or that we are nothing or that we know nothing we have convictions but a humility that presents

00:44:25.460 itself and its ideas with a posture of gentleness gentleness patience and prayer amen amen let's

00:44:37.340 pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the work that you're doing here, the clarifying, the purifying

00:44:48.100 of our church. Lord, we ask that you would bless us with a posture of humility. Lord, that you would

00:44:56.460 make us harmonious and of one mind, that you would work your spirit through all of us, that we would

00:45:06.260 be a great

00:45:08.000 unified structure

00:45:10.500 of one.

00:45:12.800 And Lord, that we would

00:45:13.840 be one in Christ,

00:45:16.960 representing your gospel,

00:45:20.020 using

00:45:20.560 the diversity of the gifts to bless

00:45:22.260 one another,

00:45:24.020 to build one another up,

00:45:25.900 and to be a light in this city.

00:45:28.740 Lord, we ask for your work

00:45:30.200 and for your

00:45:32.320 will to be accomplished

00:45:34.420 here at Kingsway. In Jesus' name.

00:45:36.260 Amen.

Dale Partridge - December 26, 2024

Romans 12_14-16 ~ Part 5 - Thirty Marks of a True Christian

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