Dale Partridge - Romans 14_1-12 - How to Navigate Differences in Christian Liberty and Conviction： Part 1

00:00:00.000 Well, we are back in Romans. It feels very good to be back into some expository preaching.

00:00:12.220 If you don't know, topical preaching is very difficult because you never know where to start

00:00:15.620 and where to end. And so after spending seven weeks on topical teachings on eschatology,

00:00:20.880 it's really wonderful to have a piece of text. Now, we are doing 12 verses today. You would

00:00:26.120 think that that would make the sermon longer. It's actually not. I'm going to move through

00:00:29.040 this pretty quick. My hope, just to give you a heads up, is to finish our study of Romans by

00:00:35.980 the end of the summer and to start Genesis chapters 1 through 20 in the fall. I would love

00:00:43.320 to do that. So that's my will. We'll see if that's the Lord's will, but that would be a wonderful

00:00:49.220 thing to do. Now, if you recall, I want to give you some context here, basically where I'm going.

00:00:56.120 If you recall, in Romans chapter 13, we explored the overlap of the family, the church, and the state.

00:01:06.400 We saw how Christ restored the authority that was lost in Adam.

00:01:13.500 We discussed our duty to submit to rulers and our debt to the government

00:01:17.980 and the greater debt of love that we owe one another that can never be fully repaid.

00:01:22.640 Then in 1311, Paul called us to wake up to a spiritual urgency

00:01:29.480 To remind us that we are near our own eternity

00:01:35.760 That life is short

00:01:38.040 And that that should change the way you behave today

00:01:42.240 And he ended that chapter with a charge to kind of cast off the darkness of sin

00:01:48.000 And to live as children of the light

00:01:50.740 and to walk in the day as Christ slowly brings the light into the world

00:01:57.420 through the proclamation of the gospel.

00:02:00.400 Now, in chapter 14, Paul shifts from our Christian witness to the world

00:02:07.640 to our Christian witness to one another.

00:02:12.700 This is a message that will be hitting home and how we relate with each other.

00:02:20.740 I believe that this sermon could be summed up in really three virtues.

00:02:25.060 It would be charity, humility, and liberty.

00:02:30.580 A charity in that love covers the offense of sins.

00:02:36.820 It's amazing how much offense will be covered by the love of a mother for a child.

00:02:44.440 Toddlers are offensive.

00:02:45.540 and the reason you don't end up giving up on that child is because of love.

00:02:55.280 Humility in that we must remember that we were also once weak or young in faith

00:03:03.520 or early on the journey and liberty in that God allows for a range of Christian doctrine

00:03:12.000 or a range of Christian convictions on non-essential matters,

00:03:17.300 and they are not grounds for condemnation or division.

00:03:21.280 So ultimately, this text is hard because it calls for you,

00:03:27.620 you, to have grace and patience toward one another.

00:03:32.940 Even your own kids, even your own grown children, even your own spouses.

00:03:37.660 It calls for you to have grace and patience toward one another.

00:03:45.900 But more than that, it reveals that Christ doesn't demand a degree of sameness that we often demand.

00:03:55.580 That's a little bit difficult to grasp.

00:03:58.680 Yes, Jesus prays that, Father, that we are one, or that they are one as we are one.

00:04:04.300 and so you get to balance these truths together now the church

00:04:13.000 is not a factory the church is a garden and this is a very important metaphor because i'm going to

00:04:22.180 use it through the entire sermon the church is not a factory it is a garden in a factory

00:04:29.180 everything is the same. Identical parts, precise processes. There's really not much room for

00:04:36.340 variation in the factory. Factories value sameness because it makes management easy.

00:04:45.380 It makes it easy. But the church isn't a factory. The church is a garden.

00:04:52.500 And some plants are strong while others are weak. And some plants are tall while others are small.

00:05:00.000 Some plants are different, but they're still in the same soil.

00:05:04.340 And as you know, many of you know, I wrote a book on the topic of head coverings.

00:05:11.460 Now, I have strong convictions on that doctrine, but you might have also known that I've never taught it at the church.

00:05:19.660 I just never.

00:05:20.680 People think and assume that he must be the guy that's constantly teaching women to wear head coverings.

00:05:26.340 Actually, I'm not.

00:05:27.200 I wrote a book on it and I've never taught it at this church.

00:05:31.420 I've simply allowed families to read my position, come to their own conclusions on the matter.

00:05:37.420 And I've made myself available for questions when they come.

00:05:42.520 Now, I do know two pastors, two pastors who I believe fall in a ditch on this matter.

00:05:51.660 One of those pastors requires women to wear head coverings at church. 1.00

00:05:56.800 Requires it. 1.00

00:05:58.300 The other pastor forbids women from wearing head coverings at church. 1.00

00:06:05.600 In this, what's wrong?

00:06:07.340 Well, in my opinion, both of these pastors are causing brothers and sisters in their own congregation to violate their own consciences.

00:06:19.080 They want factories.

00:06:21.020 not gardens. They want standardization, and they want uniformity.

00:06:28.420 But churches are not factories. They're gardens. There's differences on non-essential

00:06:34.560 matters. Now, this isn't some clever illustration either. The scriptures back it up. It's 1 Corinthians

00:06:40.200 chapter 3, verses 6 through 7. It says, I planted, and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

00:06:46.120 so then neither it is he who plants nor he who waters but god gives the increase

00:06:53.560 but it's more than that jeremiah and isaiah literally refer to god's people as a garden

00:07:01.000 david calls christians to be like trees planted next to streams of water paul tells us that we

00:07:08.860 are shoots grafted into an olive branch or an olive tree. Jesus calls the evangelist a sower

00:07:16.220 of seeds. He says that we're a vineyard. He says that he is the vine and that we are the branches

00:07:22.180 grafted in. The church, Kingsway, is a garden. And anybody that has done any gardening knows

00:07:34.120 that it is not a factory.

00:07:36.100 There is not uniformity in your garden.

00:07:40.940 So the question becomes,

00:07:42.900 how are we to treat other plants in this garden?

00:07:52.340 I'm not talking about people on the internet

00:07:54.460 or somewhere in another state,

00:07:56.900 but this garden.

00:07:58.680 How are we to treat?

00:08:01.100 How should the towering oaks relate to the saplings?

00:08:07.060 Or the well-nourished to those who have shallow roots?

00:08:11.620 To this, Paul says in verse 1, 0.99

00:08:14.520 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him.

00:08:20.140 But not to quarrel over his opinions.

00:08:22.200 Now this verse, verse 1 here

00:08:26.800 Is the thesis

00:08:28.300 For the next 27 verses

00:08:31.820 All the way through chapter 15 verse 7

00:08:36.280 And at face value you go, oh it looks pretty simple 1.00

00:08:39.360 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome it

00:08:42.720 But not to quarrel over opinions

00:08:45.680 But you're going to see, this is not that simple

00:08:48.620 It's more complicated than you would expect

00:08:52.080 But how often have reformed churches spooked new or young believers?

00:09:01.400 Think about this.

00:09:03.120 How often have reformed churches spooked new believers

00:09:08.560 by overwhelming them with a flood of secondary and tertiary positions

00:09:14.300 and doctrines and convictions?

00:09:15.980 sometimes within the first week

00:09:20.220 sometimes within the first 30 minutes of meeting somebody

00:09:22.920 look at you new believer

00:09:25.900 I'm going to bring you to all these doctrinal positions

00:09:29.500 that it took me 12 years to get to

00:09:31.280 and we're going to do it in 15 minutes

00:09:33.240 we actually have a name for that behavior

00:09:41.400 in the church

00:09:42.540 it's called being in the cage stage

00:09:45.300 Cage stage. We call that because these people with such strong opinions should be caged.

00:09:52.920 Not for their sake, but for the sake of those who are weak in faith or who are new.

00:09:58.400 So you don't hurt people with your doctrine.

00:10:05.200 Now, you may have heard the phrase, begin with the end in mind.

00:10:10.740 I want you to just turn a page or turn to your Bible,

00:10:14.580 and I want you to look at chapter 15, verses 1 and 2.

00:10:22.420 I want to skip forward here because this entire topic,

00:10:28.540 Paul says here in verses 1 through 2,

00:10:34.620 he says,

00:10:35.360 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak

00:10:42.880 and not to please ourselves.

00:10:47.960 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good and to build him up.

00:10:56.460 What a different posture than the cage stager, right?

00:10:59.120 But as we will see, this is difficult because every person in that cage stage

00:11:06.700 who introduces a visitor to the doctrine of biblical patriarchy 0.98

00:11:12.100 thinks they're doing the Lord's work to that poor, foolish complementarian. 1.00

00:11:17.520 That's the problem. 0.99

00:11:19.080 That's what makes this difficult.

00:11:21.600 Is that you think that you're doing the Lord's work by sharing and projecting

00:11:25.560 all these important convictions that you have right on this new believer or this young person

00:11:30.580 in the faith. So it really does require charity, humility, and understanding liberty, which requires

00:11:43.820 patience. Now Paul is about to give us two practical examples from his time in the areas

00:11:51.040 of dietary convictions and religious celebrations.

00:11:55.180 But the principle behind all this, it applies

00:11:58.940 in so many areas in your own life

00:12:02.600 in this church. He says in verse 2,

00:12:07.380 one person believes that he may eat anything

00:12:09.880 while the weak person eats only vegetables.

00:12:14.580 Let not the one who eats despise the one who

00:12:18.760 abstains. And let not the one who abstains

00:12:23.000 pass judgment on the one who eats.

00:12:26.460 That's pretty simple. It says, for God has welcomed him.

00:12:31.220 Both of them. Verse 4. Who are you to pass

00:12:34.960 judgment on the servant of another?

00:12:38.980 It is before his own master that he stands or falls,

00:12:41.920 and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

00:12:45.600 All right, contextually, this verse, this passage, it really rests on Acts chapter 10, verses 13 and 15,

00:12:54.660 where God reveals to Peter the shift of ceremonial cleanliness among the Jews.

00:13:02.840 It says, 0.99

00:13:04.520 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. 0.69

00:13:07.780 It's after he's seen all these different animals.

00:13:10.260 Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

00:13:17.920 And a voice came to him a second time, What God has made clean, do not call common.

00:13:24.800 So this is a very big shift, especially if you're a Jewish convert. 0.70

00:13:30.640 The dietary laws were about personal holiness. 0.97

00:13:34.080 They were about separation. 0.73

00:13:35.940 They were about the anticipation of the Messiah who would ultimately make us clean. 0.92

00:13:42.500 Jesus even says in Mark chapter 7, 8 through 9, he says,

00:13:45.900 Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him?

00:13:51.360 Thus he declared all foods clean. 0.65

00:13:56.220 Now Paul does not specify in this text whether he's talking about Jews that are struggling 0.99

00:14:03.000 with the kind of sensitivities they've converted to Christ, but they still have sensitivities

00:14:07.300 to the Old Testament on the dietary laws. He doesn't say if it's that or

00:14:11.280 if it's the Gentile converts that are struggling with the old pagan rituals of

00:14:15.320 the idolatry of eating meat that were sacrificed to temples. He doesn't say.

00:14:20.080 But my anticipation is that it's probably a little bit of both.

00:14:26.560 In matters of Christian liberty, this kind of 0.53

00:14:29.460 non-essential category. The mature must not look down upon the weak, and the weak must not judge

00:14:38.400 the liberties of the strong, because God has welcomed them both. As many of you know, we allow

00:14:48.200 alcohol at our men's gatherings. We do. Whiskey, beer, cigars, and the Bible, right? We have a fun

00:14:57.160 time. Over the years, I've had men who are weak in this area condemn those men who have liberty

00:15:05.100 in that area. It's happened several times. I've also seen men who have liberty in this area

00:15:15.160 stumble those who are weak in this area. That has also happened several times.

00:15:22.180 Now, you know what the tendency is for most churches?

00:15:25.360 To eliminate alcohol altogether.

00:15:28.320 To do standardization.

00:15:31.640 To make a policy.

00:15:34.440 To become like what?

00:15:36.840 A factory.

00:15:39.060 To become like a factory of control.

00:15:41.560 Because, you know what?

00:15:42.400 We hate dealing with the indifference of the garden.

00:15:45.900 We hate dealing with the hard stuff.

00:15:49.340 that that brother over there has the freedom and liberty to drink

00:15:53.120 and not having to struggle to stumble into drunkenness.

00:15:55.960 But that brother over there can't do the same thing

00:15:59.580 because he had a past with alcohol.

00:16:03.540 We struggle to sit in the midst of that.

00:16:07.520 And so what do we do?

00:16:09.280 We turn into a factory

00:16:10.600 instead of dealing with the indifference of the garden.

00:16:17.200 That's not the path of maturity.

00:16:19.340 That's sidestepping the conversation and the difficulty and the discernment

00:16:25.780 and the relational patience that eliminate the responsibility to grow with one another.

00:16:33.040 Paul doesn't tell us, how about you just make sure that nobody eats meat?

00:16:38.520 Now, he does say in 1 Corinthians,

00:16:41.740 hey, if eating meat stumbles, my brother, I'm not going to ever eat meat again.

00:16:46.160 That's a totally different sermon on the idea of limiting your liberties

00:16:51.260 for the sake of another brother because you love them.

00:16:54.640 That's a principle in itself.

00:16:57.680 But I'm not teaching on 1 Corinthians 10.

00:17:00.620 We're in Romans 14.

00:17:02.140 But that is certainly a parallel that you have to take in consideration.

00:17:09.000 In verse 3, Paul essentially makes the point, he says,

00:17:11.820 if God has accepted him, who are you to reject him?

00:17:15.160 when paul says reject him he's actually speaking of like a removal of the church like a kind of a

00:17:22.880 kicking out maybe possibly even a condemnation that guy's not saved look at him 1.00

00:17:28.220 what a fool he doesn't understand this doctrine 0.99

00:17:32.260 paul says that it's not our place to make such a judgment 1.00

00:17:39.940 it would be like walking into someone else's house

00:17:44.140 and disowning their child

00:17:46.020 you're not their parent 0.59

00:17:49.460 it's not your house 0.99

00:17:50.280 and it's not your child 0.98

00:17:51.220 it's the same way

00:17:55.420 Paul says and reminds us here

00:17:57.300 we have no right to condemn

00:17:59.120 one of Christ's servants

00:18:00.400 you can't make that judgment call

00:18:03.780 on that guy

00:18:04.360 they belong to him and not to us

00:18:07.600 and he alone is going to determine

00:18:09.120 their justification now to make this again more tricky

00:18:17.100 this does not mean that we do not judge other believers ever

00:18:22.980 because paul also wrote first corinthians chapter 5

00:18:28.520 12 through 13 it says for what have i have to do with judging outsiders

00:18:33.780 is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge

00:18:39.700 God judges the outside.

00:18:41.100 Then purge the evil person from among you.

00:18:43.280 So there it is.

00:18:44.420 So we are to judge.

00:18:48.300 So we're to judge members of the church on matters of morality.

00:18:52.120 Matters that are clearly sinful.

00:18:56.060 We're supposed to judge people on matters of essential doctrine.

00:19:00.180 Primary matters.

00:19:02.700 But we are not to condemn members of the church on non-essential matters.

00:19:09.120 and I'll tell you what, the Reformed world has a lot of non-essential matters.

00:19:19.080 I think R.C. Sproul sums up this section nicely with a little commentary.

00:19:24.820 He says,

00:19:26.100 The tendency of those who better understand the gospel is to be impatient with the inhibitions of the weak as legalistic bondage.

00:19:34.640 the temptations of the weak is to condemn the strong for behavior that seems to them

00:19:41.520 to be lawless license these mistaken responses should yield to that light of god's gracious

00:19:50.020 acceptance of both the weak and the strong both the guy who can drink and the guy who can't drink

00:19:57.460 both the woman who wears a head covering and the woman who does not wear a head covering

00:20:04.460 Then Paul takes this principle of doctrinal humility

00:20:09.840 And mutual forbearance or patience

00:20:13.580 That was applied to this religious

00:20:16.800 Dietary ceremonial laws

00:20:20.120 And he applies it to religious festivals

00:20:21.880 Verse 5 and 6 says

00:20:25.480 One person esteems one day as better than another

00:20:28.160 While another esteems all days that are to be alike

00:20:32.640 Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

00:20:36.140 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.

00:20:40.220 The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.

00:20:45.080 While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God as well.

00:20:50.240 This is not, by the way, talking about the Lord's Day.

00:20:52.940 So just kind of put that over here.

00:20:55.760 This is talking about other religious holidays that are going on in the early church.

00:20:59.780 The transition of eras between the Old Testament feasts and festivals and the pagan rituals that were going on in this area at this time in Rome.

00:21:13.960 Now, when you think about this, you have Jews that have just converted to Christianity.

00:21:21.820 And they're probably struggling to disconnect from practices that they've been raised with their entire life.

00:21:28.480 Passover, the ceremony of the feasts, other religious celebrations.

00:21:34.760 Now, Paul teaches that the believer who observes certain days out of sincere but uninformed,

00:21:43.300 sincere but uninformed conviction is not sin.

00:21:51.560 And neither is the believer who, understanding Christ's fulfillment of those feasts,

00:21:57.200 Christ's fulfillment of the Passover,

00:21:59.400 Christ being the substance of those shadows,

00:22:02.520 and chooses not to observe them.

00:22:09.180 Again, this doesn't mean that we don't teach

00:22:11.100 how Christ fulfilled the ceremonial law.

00:22:15.000 He did fulfill the ceremonial law.

00:22:17.320 He is our Passover.

00:22:19.560 All the feasts have been fulfilled

00:22:21.680 in the greatest feast, the Lord's Supper.

00:22:24.140 However, we have to teach those things still.

00:22:31.100 It simply means that we have to exercise patience and grace on that journey as people are learning to understand the complexities and the beauty and the magnitude of the gospel.

00:22:44.080 for example we actually had a church or so we had a family in this church some time ago

00:22:52.080 who celebrated passover and refused to celebrate christmas you've met these people before not

00:23:00.060 that particular family this is a group of people there's a huge group of people that do this we

00:23:05.240 hate christmas and we want to celebrate the passover and we call ourselves christians

00:23:08.760 It's a very strange category, but they exist.

00:23:16.560 And as a pastor, my role is to gently and humbly and patiently guide them to understand that celebrating the Passover is no longer necessary under the new covenant.

00:23:34.180 and that celebrating Christmas while not commanded

00:23:38.180 is both permissible and spiritually beneficial for the church.

00:23:45.760 That is a difficult thing to do as a pastor

00:23:49.640 because people have strong convictions on these matters.

00:23:55.040 Again, as Reformed believers

00:23:59.380 who tend to be more doctrinally clear

00:24:03.580 with all of our statements of confessions and exegetical commentaries,

00:24:09.200 we need to remember this principle of incremental growth.

00:24:15.820 Incremental growth.

00:24:18.740 A great way to follow Christ is to shepherd people the way that Christ has shepherded you.

00:24:26.060 How long did it take you to form your eschatology?

00:24:28.920 Well, it took me probably about 10 years.

00:24:30.980 so i don't expect for someone to jump from their position that took them five years to get to

00:24:38.040 to shift positions in six months it may happen the lord may bring a revelation of sanctification

00:24:46.220 and shift that person's position it may not it may take much prayer and much discussions

00:24:53.800 and much Bible reading.

00:25:00.420 Too often we try to cram the content

00:25:02.720 of 25 conversations

00:25:06.520 that are supposed to happen over a year

00:25:08.320 into a 30-minute, 45-minute dinner.

00:25:12.720 It doesn't work that way.

00:25:16.940 Wisdom delivers truth gradually.

00:25:21.540 The best way to shepherd a congregation

00:25:23.700 is through the pulpit.

00:25:26.500 How often does the pulpit happen?

00:25:28.520 Once a week.

00:25:31.720 And how does it happen?

00:25:33.160 Well, it happens going exegetically through the Word of God.

00:25:36.580 My hope is that over 200 sermons,

00:25:40.680 some of you will shift towards the positions

00:25:44.700 of the teachings of this church.

00:25:47.400 I don't expect that to happen overnight.

00:25:50.360 And you shouldn't expect that to happen

00:25:52.180 to your brothers and sisters as you have your strong opinions and

00:25:56.340 positions that may also be right

00:25:59.120 with those who are in the church.

00:26:04.100 Proverbs 15, 28 says, The heart of the righteous ponders how

00:26:08.360 to answer. He thinks about it.

00:26:13.740 It says, But the mouth of the wicked pours out evil thoughts.

00:26:17.880 We also know, be slow

00:26:20.500 to speak and quick to listen.

00:26:24.000 Isaiah

00:26:24.560 28.10 says, For it is

00:26:26.400 precept upon precept and

00:26:27.960 line upon line,

00:26:30.740 here a little and there

00:26:32.260 a little. That

00:26:34.460 is how we learn.

00:26:40.060 Even

00:26:40.620 Jesus says in John 16.12

00:26:42.800 I still have many things to say to you

00:26:44.700 but you cannot bear them for now.

00:26:47.960 He gets

00:26:48.720 it, right? He goes, there are many things that if I drop them on you right now, it would

00:26:53.820 be like a fire hose and you're not ready for them. Okay. You as a member of this church

00:27:02.320 need to know when to introduce a particular doctrine to a particular person with a particular

00:27:10.240 position of force. I remember hearing when we first planted this church,

00:27:18.720 in a house, no actually we were in this building, so it might have been a year and a half ago.

00:27:24.060 We had a visiting family, and there was another family

00:27:26.880 that was a part of our church at that time, and the visiting family came up,

00:27:31.160 and the family that was here at our church asked

00:27:34.760 them point blank, are you Calvinist?

00:27:38.500 And they said, oh no we're not. And it became

00:27:42.580 a full blown conversation in the lobby. Deep end of the

00:27:46.800 pool, we are going to fit our 45, our, you know, 10-month discussion into this five-minute

00:27:54.760 window.

00:27:58.780 We have fellowship meals after.

00:28:02.160 The same thing can happen there.

00:28:05.140 We need to be patient with one another as we introduce these positions and also while

00:28:11.800 others introduce their positions to us.

00:28:17.420 Then in verse 7 through 9, Paul demonstrates God's sovereignty over the lives of all believers.

00:28:22.880 He says,

00:28:23.660 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

00:28:26.860 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

00:28:30.640 So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

00:28:34.680 For to this end, Christ died and lived again, and that he might be both Lord of the dead and of the living.

00:28:41.360 Okay, the us here is believers, Christians.

00:28:47.540 None of us lives to ourselves, and none of us dies to ourselves.

00:28:54.860 You are the Lord's.

00:28:55.840 Every word that comes out of your mouth is to be in subjection to the Lord.

00:29:00.500 All that we do is to be in submission to the Lord.

00:29:03.300 Even what we eat, and what we drink, and how we talk, and how we behave,

00:29:08.800 everything is in submission to the Lord.

00:29:11.060 It's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10.31,

00:29:13.440 So whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

00:29:21.840 Whatever you do, do to the glory of God.

00:29:27.040 And because each of us are going to stand and will stand before the Lord on Judgment Day,

00:29:32.540 who has all authority in heaven and on earth, because he is the only mediator between God and man,

00:29:38.120 we ought not to see that Christ, or we ought not to see ourselves in the position that Christ is

00:29:43.700 to judge the souls of other believers. And I'll tell you what, if you don't believe that some

00:29:49.280 people condemn other people to hell based off of non-essential doctrine, you just haven't been on

00:29:55.000 Twitter, okay? That's it, all right? Because it happens all day, every day. The Anglicans condemning

00:30:03.380 the Baptists, and the Baptists condemning the Lutherans, and the Lutherans condemning the

00:30:07.420 Catholics and the Catholics condemning the Presbyterians. And it's just over and over and

00:30:12.160 over again, not about the Trinity, no, not about justification by faith alone, but about the most 0.73

00:30:18.420 ridiculous things that you would think of and also worthy discussions to have. But the ruthlessness

00:30:26.680 needs to stop. It really does need to stop.

00:30:31.840 brings us to verse 10 it says why do you pass judgment on your brother

00:30:38.420 or you why do you despise your brother

00:30:43.040 for we will all stand before the judgment seat of god for it is written

00:30:48.560 as i live says the lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to god

00:30:53.520 so then each of us will give an account of himself to god to play judge

00:31:01.960 Even in your own heart.

00:31:02.900 You might not say it out loud, but you might be thinking, I don't think that guy's saved.

00:31:06.720 Okay.

00:31:07.860 Right there.

00:31:09.200 How many times have you said that in your own heart?

00:31:10.920 I've done it.

00:31:13.160 I don't think that guy's saved.

00:31:16.020 It happens.

00:31:18.060 It happens.

00:31:19.280 To play judge over another man's soul is to rob Christ of the cost he paid to be that judge.

00:31:29.000 None of us would step foot in a courtroom.

00:31:31.440 walk right past the judge's bench, walk right past the jury,

00:31:36.100 and declare someone guilty on a capital trial having no idea what's going on. 0.88

00:31:43.640 It'd be ridiculous.

00:31:45.680 That's exactly what we're doing.

00:31:48.560 Where can man see?

00:31:50.700 Well, man can only see the outside, but it's the Lord that sees the heart.

00:31:56.160 Do you know how many people I've probably thought that aren't saved that actually are?

00:31:59.060 Do you know how many people that I've heard 0.94

00:32:02.240 And the most ridiculous statements they've made 0.99

00:32:05.480 I go, ha, that person can't be a Christian 0.99

00:32:07.320 Then I look back at my own life 0.78

00:32:09.820 Maybe 15 years ago 1.00

00:32:11.380 About the stupid doctrines that I held 1.00

00:32:13.760 The positions of ignorance that I had 1.00

00:32:16.620 And I go, I probably would have said to myself

00:32:19.700 That guy's not saved

00:32:20.720 But who was it?

00:32:22.160 It was the Lord that was working in this tiny little seed

00:32:25.340 The seed of faith and the seed of clarity

00:32:28.800 was working to mature

00:32:30.880 me over the decades.

00:32:36.400 And so you've got to be able to take in consideration

00:32:38.900 who am I talking to?

00:32:42.600 Oh, you're new.

00:32:45.200 Well, let's talk about Christ.

00:32:47.880 We don't need to be talking about head coverings

00:32:50.080 if you just came to Christ last week.

00:32:52.440 That's probably not the priority conversation at this point.

00:32:56.120 No, let's talk about Christ.

00:32:58.800 Let's talk about the scriptures.

00:33:01.460 Let's talk about the fundamentals of the gospel.

00:33:14.880 Acts 17, verse 2.

00:33:18.100 It says, And Paul went in, as was his custom,

00:33:21.820 and on the third day,

00:33:24.400 oh, sorry, and on three Sabbath days,

00:33:27.020 he reasoned with them from the scriptures.

00:33:30.380 That's the way to do it.

00:33:31.920 You get there and you do Berean style ministry.

00:33:35.000 Hey, let's look at this together.

00:33:37.780 And we have time to do that.

00:33:39.180 Let's do that.

00:33:40.540 I think 1 Timothy, or sorry, 2 Timothy,

00:33:43.040 chapter 2, 24 through 25,

00:33:45.040 it's speaking to elders.

00:33:46.600 It's giving elders instruction

00:33:48.040 on how to care for the flock.

00:33:49.520 But I think it's extremely applicable to you,

00:33:53.020 everybody.

00:33:53.440 it says and the lord's servant must not be quarrelsome

00:34:00.700 there's a lot of fights that go on in christendom a lot some of them are worthy

00:34:09.820 some of them are unworthy in fact a lot of them are unworthy it takes a lot of restraint to hold

00:34:15.960 your tongue to not get involved and some of the quarreling that's going on now this can happen

00:34:21.940 locally at a particular table at our fellowship meal. But the reality is the Lord's servant must

00:34:29.320 not be quarrelsome. And it says, but kind to everyone, kind to everyone. And then it says,

00:34:38.560 able to teach patiently enduring evil.

00:34:42.680 that's hard how good are you at patiently enduring evil

00:34:50.180 that's a difficult command patiently enduring evil

00:34:56.880 i just think of jesus on the cross patiently enduring evil

00:35:04.740 And then it says, comma, correcting his opponents with gentleness.

00:35:16.200 Man, I don't know about you, that's very difficult.

00:35:19.880 When you're in an argument around doctrine, especially as a man with testosterone, it's pretty easy to forget that verse.

00:35:32.040 Correcting his opponents with gentleness.

00:35:34.740 that takes holy spirit restraint and patience

00:35:41.700 how many people have left a local church because of the inflexibility around non-essential matters

00:35:50.540 probably a lot you walk in you get spooked because people have all types of convictions

00:35:57.120 you never even heard of and it makes it feel like you need to have this conviction to even come back

00:36:02.260 truly the reformed world needs to understand this doctrine patiently walk with one another

00:36:11.480 as people come into this church nurture them shepherd them guide them with love and humility

00:36:19.320 ultimately and i'll close with this embrace the variety of the garden amen amen let's pray

00:36:29.600 Father, we thank you, Lord.

00:36:32.820 We thank you for the garden.

00:36:36.100 Lord, we know that out of selfishness, we want to make policies and standardize and make us all the same, Lord.

00:36:44.120 Lord, we also know that you want unity.

00:36:47.360 But, Lord, that unity is not uniformity.

00:36:49.340 Lord, that there are many members and there is one body and that we all have different functions.

00:36:52.780 And, Lord, we know that we have to sit in the midst of this, Lord, and we ask that you would give us patience.

00:36:58.960 Give us wisdom.

00:37:01.200 Lord, as new people come to this church,

00:37:03.980 they would not be afraid because of the projection of non-essential matters right out the gate.

00:37:12.140 Guide us in this manner.

00:37:14.280 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:37:16.120 Amen.

Dale Partridge - May 26, 2025

Romans 14_1-12 - How to Navigate Differences in Christian Liberty and Conviction： Part 1

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript