Romans 15_1-7 - How to Navigate Differences in Christian Liberty and Conviction： Part 3
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Summary
Unnecessary division in the church is a grave sin against God's will. God does not desire for the church to be divided, but he does desire for it to be unified in the body of Christ. This is why he calls us to eliminate unnecessary division, and to preserve unity for the sake of the gospel and the testimony of the church.
Transcript
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Well, praise God. We are, you don't realize that you saw a miracle of the last two weeks
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because we got through Romans 14 in two weeks. Okay. That was an incredible feat. I've been
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in Romans for two and a half years now. It feels like I think, I think it's actually
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about right, about right, maybe two, two and a half years. And so absolute blessing to
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fly through a chapter of Romans. But we are in 15, 1 through 7 this morning. And today we finish
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this three-part section that Paul is talking about how to navigate differences between liberty
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and conscience. Liberty and conscience. Part 1 was chapter 14, verses 1 through 12. Part 2 was
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14, 13 through 23. And today is going to be chapter 15, 1 through 7. That whole section
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is on one topic, navigating differences within the church. And you think, wow, that's a lot of
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content to dedicate to this particular topic. Paul does it again in 1 Corinthians. This is
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obviously a very important topic. Now, the central call of this section of Romans is to eliminate
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unnecessary division, to eliminate unnecessary division, and to preserve unity for Christ's sake
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and the testimony of the church to the world. That is why we preserve unity. Jesus prays,
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John chapter 17, the high priestly prayer, he says in verse 21, he says, Father, may they all be one
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as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they all may be one in us, that the world may believe
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that you sent me. Unnecessary division. And there's a time for division, division of truth
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and error. That's a, that's a right division, but unnecessary division on secondary and
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tertiary matters, causes the world to doubt that the Father sent Jesus to be the Savior of sinners.
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Look at that group over there. They all hate each other. Yeah. Sounds like I want to go to church.
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Division is wicked in the church. Now, division is not just harmful. It's actually a grave sin
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against God. On Friday, I was meeting with a pastor in town, and this pastor had experienced
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a sobering account that he had shared. A woman in their congregation had been extremely divisive
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for a period of time. I don't know how long it was, months to years. Not long after she had been
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corrected over and over again, she mysteriously and suddenly died. Now the pastor accounted and
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believed that it was an act of divine judgment. That's what he associated that with. Now I know
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we should always be cautious about interpreting providence, and who knows, the Lord knows about
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the reality of that. But scripture does actually show that God kills people who divide the church.
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I'm going to give you some scriptures. Okay. Numbers 16, Korah and his followers inside a
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rebellion and division against Moses and Aaron. And what happens? Well, God opens up the earth
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and they fall into their death. In 2 Samuel 15 through 18, Absalom, he stirs up division and
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controversy and takes the hearts of the people away from David and to himself, dividing God's
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people. And God takes Absalom's life through Joab in battle. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul talks
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about the Corinthian church having divisions for their selfishness during the Lord's Supper.
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and paul says that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died there's actually many
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more instances in the scriptures that speak about this unity in the church is god's will
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it's very serious and if unity is god's will it must be your will because we are to say
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thy will be done. I will submit to your will, God. Your will for this church should be unity.
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Now, I don't know about you, but when I hear calls of unity in the church, it can often feel
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overwhelming. You go, oh, I don't even know if I can do this because I look at the church and the
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controversies on the internet and the national divisions, the denominational lines, my own church
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experience and my own wounds and hurt from divisive
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And, you know, you see the Lutherans that are damning, you know,
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the Baptists and the Baptists that are damning the Presbyterians
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for baptizing babies. And then you got, you know, the Calvinists
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bashing on the Arminians and the Dispensationalists
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bashing on the Theonomists. And it's just this constant
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dumpster fire of people fighting each other to the death
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over secondary and tertiary doctrine dividing the body of Christ
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that is tarnishing the ministry and witness of the church
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and it's sinful doesn't mean that we don't have
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cordial loving respectful conversations around doctrine again I always use John
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MacArthur and R.C. Sproul not ever that I see them
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disrespect one another, ever. And yet they had wildly different doctrine. It's amazing that
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we have inherited a generation that cannot understand that reality. Now, this week,
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in an effort to eliminate the kind of constant anathematizing that I've seen on the internet,
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Any believer, any believer in a denomination or a tradition
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has been baptized and professes faith in Christ,
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I don't care if that's a Roman Catholic, an Eastern Orthodox, a Lutheran, a Baptist, an Arminian.
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If they will say all of those things, we know the Mormons can't do that.
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We know the Jehovah's Witnesses can't do that.
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But any believer in any denomination or tradition who can affirm the Trinity, the Apostles' Creed,
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say Christ as Lord has been baptized, professes faith in Jesus, I can say that person's a believer.
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but i'm not going to be able to say you're going to hell
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if all those things are true we need to get back to that place
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to have cordial discussions on these matters now look i have strong opinions on doctrine
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but we need to have stronger opinions on unity okay we have strong opinions on doctrine
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Okay, you should have stronger opinions on unity.
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So while this sermon speaks of God's universal principle of unity,
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Don't get distracted about what's happening out there.
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When we hear about unity, I'm talking about this.
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First to your own household, then to these people.
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And if you have anything left in you, sure, go out and try to start fighting for unity in the greater church.
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Now, if you recall, Paul is dealing with cultivating unity between weak and strong Christians.
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I found one illustration from a pastor pretty helpful.
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He said, quote, Christians can be compared to porcupines.
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On a cold winter night, porcupines huddle together in order to keep warm.
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But as they draw together, their spines actually dig into each other and cause them to pull back apart.
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So all night long is a process of huddling together and pulling apart.
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This is the essential problem that Paul is addressing.
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How do Christians in the local church remain close without poking each other?
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You see, some people in the church may be poked by the freedoms that you have.
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Others might be poked by the sensitive consciences that you might have
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As we saw last week, this principle has a wide range of modern applications from modesty and head coverings to drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco, holiday celebrations, Christmas, Sabbath.
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There are a variety of applications for this concept and universal principle.
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so so far the central takeaway has been a four-part takeaway and i'm going to just
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give that to you before we get rolling here number one don't condemn your strong brothers
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and sisters for their freedoms and liberties if your brother can drink a glass of wine before the
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lord don't condemn him for it because it is extremely i mean again if i'm talking to an
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SBC church in Alabama, they're going to go, well, alcohol is sinful. Well, the reality is
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there is a freedom. All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful, Paul says.
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All things are lawful, but not all things build up, but all things are lawful.
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Number two, don't condemn your weak brothers and sisters for their sensitive consciences
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or personal convictions around these matters so if the guy is frustrated with you for
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your freedom to drink don't condemn him for his weak conscience instead point three
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the strong are responsible to limit their liberty for the sake of the weaker brother or sister
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And number four, if the strong have liberties which might stumble a believer that is weaker, keep those freedoms between you and the Lord.
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Go have that glass of whiskey in your bed as you're getting ready for tidying up the night.
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I'm not saying that you need to keep things completely private.
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You can have those conversations with those brothers and sisters in the church that share those same liberties.
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But to flaunt your liberties in the face of those who may be weak or who have told you that they are weak.
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We who are strong, sorry, verse 1 says, chapter 15, verse 1 says,
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We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
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Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.
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Okay, you can read stuff from Paul and you're like, wait, what did you say?
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I have to read that 14 times before I understand it.
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We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failures of the weak.
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So first, notice that Paul places himself among the category of the strong.
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Implying that having freedoms is a sign of maturity.
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When you don't have your conscience bound to the externalism of, you know, you can't do certain things and certain holidays.
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Second, he says that the strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak.
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So it's not good to have an ultra-sensitive conscience and not understand that all things are lawful.
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You're free to basically do anything as long as it doesn't sit against the law of God.
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But wine in and of itself does not sin against the law of God.
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Tobacco in and of itself does not sin against the law of God.
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But abusing it might or using it as a way to stumble another brother it might.
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So Paul does not sugar foot around these issues of right and wrong.
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Doctrinally speaking, the strong are right and the weak are wrong, doctrinally speaking.
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But what makes this entire narrative so interesting is that being right is less important than being loving.
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I know a lot of you who are married can understand that reality.
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Sometimes being loving is more important than being right.
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and the men often say well being right is being loving
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well there's truth to that now the greek word for obligation
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ophelo it means a duty to pay you have a duty you have an obligation
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you have goodwill that is due it's often translated as the word ought ought
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uh example uh in ephesians husbands ought to love their wives as christ loved the church same word
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same word there and so here it has the same force it's really a command the strong
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but then he says and pay attention here he says and not please ourselves
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okay like you know how hard that is not please ourselves
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your whole life is about pleasing yourself when you look at it honestly in a mirror
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in other words when we live in a way that does not consider how our actions or our freedoms or
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affect other people. It comes from the motive to please ourselves. Now, self-awareness is
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very difficult because self-love is very easy. Self-awareness is very difficult because self-love
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is very easy. Matthew Henry says, every man is a self-flatterer and ready to take the first
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in the next verse, instead of pleasing yourself,
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because it's really easy to miss the greater Christian principle that's being taught here.
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And that Christian principle is one of the most important Christian principles in the entire Bible.
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It may be the most important Christian principle in the entire Bible.
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self-denying love it's like it's such a big topic you can't even preach on it
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you just have to say the words self-denying love in other words this is not just a response to a
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conversation around liberties and convictions paul is importing a christian virtue that is
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way bigger than this little conversation we're having today.
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We see it all over the Bible, and I'm going to just read a few verses. Philippians 2, 4,
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do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. How many
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But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only
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to his own interests, but to the interests of others.
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If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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I think you start to quickly realize, I need Christ.
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Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
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Self-denying love is what Paul wants us to grasp in the conversation of unity.
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I'm a pastor, and I deal with conversations of division a lot.
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Between family members, between spouses, between business partners.
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the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.
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and the slaves are not greater than their master
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for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.
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Now, when it comes to us, there's a difference between sacrifice merely because it's commanded and sacrifice because you actually love people.
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That's the difference between moralism and worship.
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By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our life for the brothers.
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It's because it's not me just throwing out words.
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I have to care that what I read gets into your soul.
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Why don't you turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9
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We are to be like Christ and Paul, who are willing to modify our lives on non-essential doctrine for the betterment of the souls of our brothers and sisters, or for the lost.
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Then he cites Psalm 69, 9, which is, it's actually a messianic psalm.
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You know, he says, for zeal for your house has consumed me.
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And the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen on me.
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Now, Jesus is the ultimate model of loving sacrifice.
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We'll talk more about that passage in a second.
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Paul offers a brief affirmation in the next verse.
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Paul offers this brief affirmation of trustworthiness of the scriptures.
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It's like a weird parenthetical that Paul inserts there.
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And then verse four, he goes, for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.
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that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
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Now, I want you to pay attention because we're smart Bible interpreters.
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This is the second sentence in a row that begins with the word for.
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I don't know what translation you're using, but in my NASB, and I believe the ESV as well, for.
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Now, the word for functions almost always as what's called a causal clause.
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So essentially, Paul is making this kind of cascading argument.
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He's like, let each of us please his own neighbor for building them up, verse 2,
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And we know that because the model was prophesied in the Old Testament, verse 4.
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That's kind of the argumentation that we see there.
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In other words, he's justifying his use of the Old Testament by reminding believers that whatever was written in the former days is for our instruction.
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Now, I'm deciding if I want to, there's a section of my sermon that I've highlighted.
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I'm not sure if I want to preach it, but I think I'm going to, okay?
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throughout the new testament the apostles rarely if ever
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appeal to non-scriptural tradition of the old testament
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are over 300 direct quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament. And there are
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over a thousand allusions to Old Testament scripture in the New Testament. So why do
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I say this? Because I'm constantly battling over doctrine with Roman Catholics. Now for
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So in the New Testament, we have three calls for honoring tradition.
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And 300 apostolic examples of using scripture to affirm doctrine and practice.
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So to walk into a Roman Catholic Church where the central focus is Mary and praying to the saints should at least cause you pause.
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Well, because they appeal to tradition over Scripture.
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It's to ask them for an examination and an answer.
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The New Testament emphasizes the word of God as the rule to Christian life and practice.
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Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy, they emphasize tradition and the church fathers.
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The question I have for you is what rule will you adopt?
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glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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I want harmony even between Rome and EO, Eastern Orthodoxy.
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Lord willing, in a thousand years, as the Holy Spirit works through the church,
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we will find greater and greater unity so that when Jesus returns,
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May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another.
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Okay, first, I want you to notice that in verse 4, look back to verse 4.
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It says, Through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
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And then, here he says, may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another.
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It just showed that you cannot separate God from his word.
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Now, I don't know about you, but church conflict is difficult.
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And it's fascinating that the apostle here uses the term endurance.
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In the midst of these fights, again, how many of you have church hurt?
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You know, the vast majority of church conflicts end because they have lost endurance and encouragement.
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It's wonderful that Paul prays for that specific thing.
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May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony.
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now again I want to make it clear that when you pray for harmony
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you're not praying for compromise I think it was
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I'm not telling any of us to divide or to compromise
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Now, it's not as extreme when they're 7, 8, and 10.
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But I know some of you older folks have watched your kids fight at 25, 30, and 35.
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Proverbs 6 16 through 19 the author of Hebrews or the author of this is using a Hebrew rhetorical device
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When I was in seminary, I had to study Hebrew poetry.
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And you had to learn that the way the Psalms and the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes,
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the way they are written is actually quite fascinating.
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All we know in America is that a poetry must rhyme.
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But in Hebrew, there is a variety of materializations of poetry.
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And a numerical ladder means that it's building suspense and a climactic end.
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So the last thing on the list is the most important.
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But here in our verse, in Proverbs 6, 16 through 19, it says,
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there are six things the lord hates seven that are abomination to him so it's like six but the
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plus one the seventh is the serious thing and it goes on he says haughty eyes a lying tongue
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hands that shed blood that innocent blood a heart that devises wicked plans feet that make haste
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and run towards evil, a false witness who breathes out lies,
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that. God hates divisive people in the church. Now, I don't think, from my experience, been in
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ministry about eight years full-time, my experience so far is that the vast majority of people aren't
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at first being intentionally divisive. Oftentimes, they're being unintentionally divisive,
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They're not understanding that what they are doing is gossip.
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a root of bitterness often takes in the heart and that unintentionality turns evil
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and that evil starts to divide the church and that division often proliferates because
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people go and they create a fellowship around their grievance. They invite and
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they build alliances with other people who share those grievances and they
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create allies. And then you have three or four families, six families, seven
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families, and it turns into church splits all over the world. God hates that. He hates
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it. Unity is the priority for his church. Unity is the priority for this church, for
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again i'm not asking you to compromise i'm asking you to prioritize unity have hard conversations
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but do it with unity at the forefront amen let's pray father we thank you lord
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for your holy spirit who helps us in this difficult world this difficult work of unity