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The Balance of Liberty and Love in the Christian Life - Sunday Evening - October 13, 2024

This podcast episode addresses the complex relationship between Christian liberty and the responsibility Christians have to not offend their brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor Josh Massaro emphasizes that while believers have freedom in Christ, this liberty should be limited by love for others. He explores the significant discussions from the Jerusalem Council in Acts, where the early church wrestled with the implications of faith versus the law and how Gentile believers should navigate their new faith in light of Jewish customs. The episode highlights the importance of unity within the church and encourages listeners to consider how their actions may impact the faith of others. Ultimately, the message is clear: love and consideration for fellow believers must guide our exercise of freedom in Christ.

Takeaways:

  • The relationship between Christian liberty and offending others is a complex issue.
  • Unity within the church is essential, especially when differing backgrounds are present.
  • Rules for behavior, such as abstaining from certain foods, promote harmony among believers.
  • We must consider how our actions affect the spiritual growth of others.
  • It's important to balance our freedom in Christ with love for fellow believers.
  • True liberty in faith should not lead to an occasion for the flesh.

Links referenced in this episode:

Thank you for joining our podcast. Visit our website at https://middletownbaptistchurch.org/

Subscribe to our YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@middletownbaptistchurchde5091

Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MBCDelaware

This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/



Transcript
Pastor Josh:

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh:

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh:

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh:

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Pastor Josh:

We'll go ahead and get into the word here this evening.

Pastor Josh:

Now, how many of you had a really, really big lunch and you're ready for a nap?

Pastor Josh:

Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one.

Pastor Josh:

Then we are going to be getting into tonight a very complex issue within the church, and that is the relationship between our christian liberty and freedom and offending other brothers and sisters.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

And you would say, well, what?

Pastor Josh:

What are you talking about?

Pastor Josh:

As Christians, we have freedom, we have liberty.

Pastor Josh:

Let me ask, this is gonna be more of a teaching session, okay?

Pastor Josh:

Tonight it's gonna be a little bit different, so I hope you're okay with that.

Pastor Josh:

It's not gonna be as preachy as much as it is teaching because it's a necessity to teach through this.

Pastor Josh:

These are the topics that are not always brought out in church.

Pastor Josh:

Sadly enough, these are issues that sometimes get skipped over when we are looking at other more popular, easier to preach passages.

Pastor Josh:

But we're in the book of acts.

Pastor Josh:

You can go ahead and get ahead of me and get to acts, chapter 15.

Pastor Josh:

We are right in the middle of the Jerusalem council.

Pastor Josh:

Now, I know it's been a couple weeks.

Pastor Josh:

I know we had the McCluskeys here last week.

Pastor Josh:

I know we had a fifth Sunday before that.

Pastor Josh:

So it's been two whole Sunday nights since we've talked about this.

Pastor Josh:

And so I'm going to catch you up with what the Jerusalem council is and what we can learn from it.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

So this is a topic that we're gonna be talking about this evening that is sometimes glossed over or it's over emphasized on one side or the other.

Pastor Josh:

As Christians, do we live now under the law?

Pastor Josh:

Let me see, yes or no?

Pastor Josh:

Do we live under the law?

Pastor Josh:

No.

Pastor Josh:

We're thankful for that.

Pastor Josh:

Amen.

Pastor Josh:

Right?

Pastor Josh:

Guess what?

Pastor Josh:

You cannot keep the law.

Pastor Josh:

None of us can keep the law.

Pastor Josh:

Now do we throw out the law and say the law means nothing to us?

Pastor Josh:

No.

Pastor Josh:

There are things that we can learn from the heart of God in instituting the law, but there is something called abusing our liberty and offending another brother.

Pastor Josh:

We're going to talk about what the outcome of that would be within the church, specifically within the Jerusalem council.

Pastor Josh:

So let me catch you up with this.

Pastor Josh:

There's this church in Antioch that had Jews and gentiles as believers.

Pastor Josh:

And so they were fellowshiping together, they were worshiping together.

Pastor Josh:

And ultimately everything was going smoothly as best it could.

Pastor Josh:

And then there were some people that came from Jerusalem.

Pastor Josh:

That started to tell the people that everyone there had to be under the law of Moses.

Pastor Josh:

So to be a believer, to be a Christian, they had to adhere to circumcision, which meant this was the gateway to get into the faith.

Pastor Josh:

So you had to do that.

Pastor Josh:

You had to be marked by the law of Moses to become a Christian.

Pastor Josh:

And you had to keep the law to continue to be a Christian, to receive the grace of God.

Pastor Josh:

So they were preaching faith plus works, faith plus the law.

Pastor Josh:

And you can go back and look at that there.

Pastor Josh:

In the early part of acts 15.

Pastor Josh:

And certain men which came down from Judea.

Pastor Josh:

This is verse one, taught the brethren and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Pastor Josh:

And so there is the issue of salvation.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

So to come into the family of God, you must be circumcised.

Pastor Josh:

You must be part of the law of Moses.

Pastor Josh:

And be under the law of Moses like they had been for thousands of years.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

Then we see later on in verse five, it says.

Pastor Josh:

But there rose up a certain sect of the Pharisees.

Pastor Josh:

Which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them.

Pastor Josh:

So to get into the family of God, you had to follow the law.

Pastor Josh:

But then it says here, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

Pastor Josh:

And so that speaks to, after they're saved, to follow the law of Moses.

Pastor Josh:

Or they would not be in God's good grace.

Pastor Josh:

And so there was this conflict.

Pastor Josh:

Because they had heard from Paul and from Barnabas.

Pastor Josh:

That it's by faith and faith alone.

Pastor Josh:

And now they're hearing that it's faith plus the law.

Pastor Josh:

So now they have to figure this out.

Pastor Josh:

So we have what's called the Jerusalem Council.

Pastor Josh:

All these people meet there in Jerusalem, and now they're going to have this council.

Pastor Josh:

And we see the first person talking here.

Pastor Josh:

It's Peter, verse seven.

Pastor Josh:

And when there had been much disputing, so there was a lot of conversation, there's a conflict.

Pastor Josh:

Some people believe this.

Pastor Josh:

Some people believe this.

Pastor Josh:

They're disputing.

Pastor Josh:

Then it says here, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us.

Pastor Josh:

That the gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

Pastor Josh:

And God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us.

Pastor Josh:

And so Peter is the first one that steps up and says, no, God has said the gentiles can come in by faith and faith alone belief.

Pastor Josh:

That is the standard, just as it is a standard with us.

Pastor Josh:

Then he goes on to something very interesting here.

Pastor Josh:

He says that this is the same holy spirit that you have, that the Gentiles have.

Pastor Josh:

And he says, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by this is verse nine by faith.

Pastor Josh:

And so Peter is emphasizing salvation by faith alone.

Pastor Josh:

We're going to get to the importance of that here in a few moments.

Pastor Josh:

But then he says in verse ten something very interesting now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke or a burden upon the neck of the disciples?

Pastor Josh:

That's not just the twelve disciples.

Pastor Josh:

That's the followers of Christ, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.

Pastor Josh:

So Peter's essentially saying this.

Pastor Josh:

We weren't able to keep the law to save us.

Pastor Josh:

Our fathers weren't able to keep the law to save us.

Pastor Josh:

Why would we expect the gentiles now that are accepting Christ to keep the same law?

Pastor Josh:

We can't.

Pastor Josh:

That's something that God has not expected from them.

Pastor Josh:

And so we see that verse eleven, but we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as day.

Pastor Josh:

Peter gives this great statement here at the Jerusalem council about salvation by faith alone, by God's grace, not by works.

Pastor Josh:

And so we see what happens here in verse twelve.

Pastor Josh:

The multitude kept silent.

Pastor Josh:

So they're thinking about what Peter just said and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul.

Pastor Josh:

So they're hearing the testimonies of these gentiles coming to Christ.

Pastor Josh:

And then it says, verse 13.

Pastor Josh:

And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, men and brethren, hearken unto me.

Pastor Josh:

And so this is where we're gonna pick up now.

Pastor Josh:

James is going to add on to what Peter has said.

Pastor Josh:

Now who is this James?

Pastor Josh:

This is not the apostle James.

Pastor Josh:

The apostle James, as we already know, has been martyred by Herodore.

Pastor Josh:

So this is not the apostle James.

Pastor Josh:

This is James, the half brother of Jesus.

Pastor Josh:

This is James that wrote, and most commentators will believe that this is James that wrote the book of James.

Pastor Josh:

He was at this point in time a leader in the church at Jerusalem.

Pastor Josh:

So he holds a lot of weight.

Pastor Josh:

He holds a lot of authority.

Pastor Josh:

Now we don't believe that he holds authority above the word of God.

Pastor Josh:

That's a whole other teaching, and we don't need to get there right now.

Pastor Josh:

But there is no man that holds authority over the word of God.

Pastor Josh:

It's the word of God as our sole authority in faith and practice.

Pastor Josh:

So James is just discerning by the spirit here.

Pastor Josh:

And ultimately we know that they don't have the canon of scripture completed.

Pastor Josh:

So James is here, is explaining this teaching and this thought process.

Pastor Josh:

And so he says, men and brethren, hearken unto me.

Pastor Josh:

Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles.

Pastor Josh:

He's talking about Peter here to take out of them a people for his name.

Pastor Josh:

And to this agree the words of the prophets as it is written.

Pastor Josh:

After this, I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof.

Pastor Josh:

And I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord.

Pastor Josh:

And all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things known unto God are all of his works from the beginning of the world.

Pastor Josh:

And so essentially what we see here is he's quoting the prophet, saying, this was a prophecy that is now being fulfilled, that God is going to engraft in the gentiles into the family of Goddesse.

Pastor Josh:

So he says, hey, this was already told to us that we don't need to be shocked about this.

Pastor Josh:

So he says, this is God's plan coming to pass.

Pastor Josh:

Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble, not them.

Pastor Josh:

So what James says, is this the same thing Peter says, don't trouble them with something more than what God expects from them.

Pastor Josh:

Don't trouble them with the law.

Pastor Josh:

If the law is not what saves us, don't expect them to do something to add on to their salvation.

Pastor Josh:

Now, we need to stop here, and we need to say this.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

None of us struggle with keeping the law of Moses.

Pastor Josh:

I don't think any of you read through the ten commandments or all 613 commandments and say, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

We all need to keep that, or none of us are saved.

Pastor Josh:

I don't think we struggle with that.

Pastor Josh:

But sometimes what we end up struggling with is things that we've been taught by tradition that we think has to be added to have someone completely saved or to be growing in their faith.

Pastor Josh:

And so what we see here is Peter and James.

Pastor Josh:

And all of scripture tells us that if we add anything to the gospel, if we add anything to our faith, if we add anything to the grace of God, we're adding something that doesn't need to be there.

Pastor Josh:

That's the yoke of bondage.

Pastor Josh:

Now you're going to say, where are you going with this?

Pastor Josh:

Where I'm going with this is sometimes we can abuse this liberty.

Pastor Josh:

We're going to talk about that here in a few moments because James is about to say they're free to not be under the law of Moses, but there are some things that they need to do.

Pastor Josh:

You say what?

Pastor Josh:

He's contradicting himself.

Pastor Josh:

He just said that they're only saved by grace through faith.

Pastor Josh:

But now he's going to give them some guidelines.

Pastor Josh:

Well, we're going to talk about what these guidelines are here this evening.

Pastor Josh:

So he says, verse 19, wherefore my sentence is that we trouble them not, which from among the gentiles are turned to God.

Pastor Josh:

So don't trouble the gentiles that have turned to God.

Pastor Josh:

Don't put a stumbling block in front of them.

Pastor Josh:

Don't put a rock of offense in front of them.

Pastor Josh:

If they're trying to follow God, let them follow God.

Pastor Josh:

Don't give them something that.

Pastor Josh:

That we think is so important.

Pastor Josh:

Verse 20.

Pastor Josh:

But that we write unto them that they abstain from pollution of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.

Pastor Josh:

Say, what is he talking about here?

Pastor Josh:

Well, essentially what happens here is that James, this is, again, the half brother of Jesus, he says that there are some things that we would call them, quote unquote, rules or guidelines that the gentile Christians should live by.

Pastor Josh:

These were not rules that the Gentiles must follow in order to be saved or keep being saved.

Pastor Josh:

These were rules that would build harmony with the jewish people and the Gentiles, the jewish Christians and the gentile Christians.

Pastor Josh:

And so if the gentiles were to eat meat, sacrifice to idols, that would offend.

Pastor Josh:

If the gentiles ate the meat, it would offend the Jews.

Pastor Josh:

Right?

Pastor Josh:

And so there was something for the gentiles to do to not cause an offense with the Jews.

Pastor Josh:

And so that's what he's telling them here.

Pastor Josh:

And so, yes, they should abstain from fornication.

Pastor Josh:

They should abstain from the pollution of idols.

Pastor Josh:

But then we see this idea of them eating certain types of things, like they can't eat this meat that's strangled meat sacrificed to idols.

Pastor Josh:

This way of living was a very pagan way.

Pastor Josh:

And the four rules were essentially this.

Pastor Josh:

They should abstain from food polluted from idols.

Pastor Josh:

They should abstain from sexual immorality.

Pastor Josh:

They should abstain from meat of strangled animals and of that blood of those animals to not eat that blood.

Pastor Josh:

And so the instructions were not intended to guarantee salvation, but to promote peace within the early church.

Pastor Josh:

So I want you to think about it this way.

Pastor Josh:

Could these individuals actually eat meat sacrifice to idols?

Pastor Josh:

We're gonna dig into that here this evening.

Pastor Josh:

We're not gonna finish this complete message.

Pastor Josh:

This is a two parter.

Pastor Josh:

I can guarantee you that.

Pastor Josh:

But we're gonna see in other passages of scripture that Paul says, meat sacrifice to idols in and of itself isn't evil.

Pastor Josh:

Go ahead.

Pastor Josh:

You can do it.

Pastor Josh:

If it doesn't offend your conscience, do it.

Pastor Josh:

But then we see somewhat of a contradiction here.

Pastor Josh:

James says, don't eat meat sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

So what is he talking about here?

Pastor Josh:

Well, he's not talking about salvation.

Pastor Josh:

He's not talking about sin.

Pastor Josh:

He's talking about offending our brother.

Pastor Josh:

He's talking about offending someone within the church and going away.

Pastor Josh:

That would be in my purview as a Christian to live out, but it might offend my brother.

Pastor Josh:

And so we're going to dig a little bit deeper into that here tonight.

Pastor Josh:

And he says here in verse 21, for Moses of old time hath in every city them that preached him being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.

Pastor Josh:

And so I want to dig a little bit deeper into this thought process.

Pastor Josh:

But what I want you to think about here tonight is the concept of unity.

Pastor Josh:

Do we as christians, have freedom to do certain things?

Pastor Josh:

Yes, we do.

Pastor Josh:

Does anything that you do negate the grace of God in your life?

Pastor Josh:

Can you sin and lose your salvation?

Pastor Josh:

We don't believe that.

Pastor Josh:

I don't believe that we can sin and lose our salvation.

Pastor Josh:

I believe in the eternal security of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh:

I believe that if we sin, we are still in his grasp.

Pastor Josh:

We still have eternal destination.

Pastor Josh:

So you have the freedom to exercise whatever you want in your life.

Pastor Josh:

But we're gonna look here in a couple of different passages in the New Testament about how there's danger in living out my liberty completely, fully, and not caring about others around me.

Pastor Josh:

And so we're gonna see that the whole heart of the Jerusalem council was first to figure out how individuals can come to Christ.

Pastor Josh:

Is it by faith, or is it by faith plus works?

Pastor Josh:

But then the secondary issue was the unity of the fellowship when you have two different types of people, the Jews and the gentiles.

Pastor Josh:

And so I want you to go to a couple other passages that deal with eating meat sacrificed to idols, because that's the big issue here for the people, whether or not they were going to eat this meat or where they weren't, because if they said they're saved by faith alone, James just says, no, you can't do these things.

Pastor Josh:

And so there's an issue here, and some people would call this a contradiction, because there's some passages in the New Testament that say you can eat meat sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

There's other passages in the New Testament that warn against eating meat sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

Oh, there you go.

Pastor Josh:

There's a contradiction.

Pastor Josh:

No, because we're talking about unity here.

Pastor Josh:

We're talking about the difference of my freedom in my salvation and my discernment in how to deal with other christians.

Pastor Josh:

And then the big issue is the conscience.

Pastor Josh:

The Bible speaks of offending conscience, and then also the Bible says about how I can be a stumbling block to another brother or sister in Christ.

Pastor Josh:

So first Corinthians, chapter eight.

Pastor Josh:

Let's go over to one corinthians, chapter eight, because we're going to dig deep into this topic this evening.

Pastor Josh:

I don't know how much we're going to accomplish, but we're gonna get through as much as we can here this evening.

Pastor Josh:

So let's think about this idea of meat sacrifice to idols, because that's in context what's being talked about.

Pastor Josh:

But ultimately, we're talking about the freedom that we have in Christ.

Pastor Josh:

So, first Corinthians, chapter eight.

Pastor Josh:

And I want you to look at verse number four.

Pastor Josh:

Paul addresses food sacrificed to idols.

Pastor Josh:

Now, we can all agree, hopefully tonight, that idolatry is sin, that idolatry is wrong, that idolatry is something that we should not deal with.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, but what if meat is sacrificed to idols?

Pastor Josh:

What do we do?

Pastor Josh:

Well, Paul deals with that here.

Pastor Josh:

So he's not justifying idolatry.

Pastor Josh:

He's talking about eating meat sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

So, verse four, as concerning, therefore, the eating of those things which are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world.

Pastor Josh:

So what is Paul saying here to the teaching?

Pastor Josh:

In this teaching, he's saying, an idol is nothing.

Pastor Josh:

An idol's not real.

Pastor Josh:

An idol is made up of gold or wood.

Pastor Josh:

And so the idol in and of itself does not corrupt the meat.

Pastor Josh:

It's the action or the heart behind it.

Pastor Josh:

It's the worship of that idol that's a sin.

Pastor Josh:

It's eating that meat and saying, well, I'm partaking of this in the spirit of this idolatry.

Pastor Josh:

But he says, in and of itself, the idol is not a real thing.

Pastor Josh:

And so he says, consider those eating of the things sacrificed to idols.

Pastor Josh:

We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one.

Pastor Josh:

So it says these idols are just nothing.

Pastor Josh:

There's only one God.

Pastor Josh:

For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be many gods many, and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the father, of whom all are all things, and we in him, and one lord Jesus Christ, by whom all things, and we by him.

Pastor Josh:

We're gonna go all the way down here to verse number 13.

Pastor Josh:

HoWBEIt there is not in EveRy man that knowledge for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol.

Pastor Josh:

So he says, there are some people that eat it with that mindset of offering it to an idol, and they are sinning.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, that is wrong.

Pastor Josh:

And so he says so.

Pastor Josh:

And their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

Pastor Josh:

So he's talking about someone who has an understanding of this idolatry, and they're eating it with the understanding that that idol is in that meat and that meat is corrupted.

Pastor Josh:

He says, if they have offended their conscience, being weak, then they have sinned.

Pastor Josh:

But MEat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat, are we the better.

Pastor Josh:

Neither if we eat not, are we the Worse.

Pastor Josh:

But take heedless any means, this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.

Pastor Josh:

And so what does he say here?

Pastor Josh:

He says, it doesn't matter what you eat.

Pastor Josh:

It doesn't matter what you eat because meat is meat.

Pastor Josh:

But he says, if there is an individual who in their conscience is, this is a sin.

Pastor Josh:

We need to be cautious of that.

Pastor Josh:

We as a person need not be a stumbling block to somebody else in our freedom.

Pastor Josh:

We're going to get to that here in a few moments.

Pastor Josh:

A little bit more, he says, for if any man see thee which has knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols?

Pastor Josh:

And though thy knowledge shall be the weak, shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?

Pastor Josh:

But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

Pastor Josh:

So he says, yeah, you could eat meat sacrifice to idols on your own, and that's not a sin.

Pastor Josh:

But you take meat sacrifice to idols, knowing that that person is offended by that, knowing that person will lead back into sin and idolatry.

Pastor Josh:

You have now sinned against Christ because you sinned against your brother.

Pastor Josh:

So there's discernment there.

Pastor Josh:

Do you have freedom to eat the meat.

Pastor Josh:

Yeah, because the meat is one way.

Pastor Josh:

It's the same thing.

Pastor Josh:

Even if you sacrifice to an idol, it doesn't mean anything.

Pastor Josh:

But if your brother, who has a background in that pagan worship, eating that meat might mean that that's a lifestyle back into paganism.

Pastor Josh:

That is an offense.

Pastor Josh:

If you push them into that, oh, come on, eat some meat.

Pastor Josh:

It doesn't matter.

Pastor Josh:

You see, as a christian, we can exercise our freedom, but when we're pulling someone into a lifestyle that they were saved from and saying, hey, you have the freedom to do this, this isn't really a sin.

Pastor Josh:

You're now pulling them into a place of sin.

Pastor Josh:

You've offended your brother.

Pastor Josh:

Ultimately, you've sinned against the father.

Pastor Josh:

That's what it says there.

Pastor Josh:

You sinned against Christ.

Pastor Josh:

Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Pastor Josh:

He says, be cautious.

Pastor Josh:

This is what we talked about this morning.

Pastor Josh:

Be cautious of your testimony.

Pastor Josh:

I don't want to be a stumbling block to somebody else.

Pastor Josh:

And so ultimately, we see with what James is saying in the Jerusalem council is, hey, gentiles, don't eat the meat.

Pastor Josh:

Sacrifice to idols, you had the freedom to do so.

Pastor Josh:

But in the church, you need to seek after that unity.

Pastor Josh:

You eating meat to that sacrifice idol is gonna cause your jewish brother to stumble.

Pastor Josh:

So don't do it.

Pastor Josh:

Keep unity.

Pastor Josh:

So the thing is, is within our churches in America today, a lot of times what happens is the focus is me.

Pastor Josh:

What can I do, pastor?

Pastor Josh:

Am I allowed to do this?

Pastor Josh:

Can I do this?

Pastor Josh:

How much can I do?

Pastor Josh:

Do I have the freedom to do XYz?

Pastor Josh:

I can tell you, as a pastor, I get that question all the time.

Pastor Josh:

Is it a sin for me to then fill in the blanken?

Pastor Josh:

Sometimes it's very clearly in scripture.

Pastor Josh:

Yes, this is a sin sometimes in scripture.

Pastor Josh:

I can tell you, no, the Bible doesn't say anything about that.

Pastor Josh:

But I can tell you that that isn't the biggest question.

Pastor Josh:

The biggest question is me doing this.

Pastor Josh:

Is this going to offend another brother and hinder them in their spiritual walk or hinder the gospel to be presented?

Pastor Josh:

And so what Paul says here is, yeah, I could eat the meat.

Pastor Josh:

But verse 13, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Pastor Josh:

And so he says, be cautious of how you deal with others, because I'd rather have unity than me just to exercise my freedom.

Pastor Josh:

And so what he's saying, is this.

Pastor Josh:

Having the right to do something doesn't mean that we should do something.

Pastor Josh:

Sometimes we have the right as a christian to have freedom, and there could be some, what we would call gray areas, and you might have the freedom to do that and do it.

Pastor Josh:

But if it's offending another brother, then that's where the issue comes in to.

Pastor Josh:

And so that's the whole idea of the issue with James speaking to those former pagans, those gentiles, to say, hey, be cautious of how you're dealing with the other jewish people within your church.

Pastor Josh:

I want you to go to another passage of scripture, just a couple pages over in first corinthians, chapter ten.

Pastor Josh:

First Corinthians, chapter ten, verse 23.

Pastor Josh:

This is a verse that I think is a verse that we all need in that next step in our spiritual maturity.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, let me tell you the question should not be, can I do this as a Christian?

Pastor Josh:

You can.

Pastor Josh:

Let me just tell you.

Pastor Josh:

If you sin as a Christian, there is God's forgiveness.

Pastor Josh:

There is God's grace.

Pastor Josh:

Romans chapter six, though, says this, why offend God's grace?

Pastor Josh:

Why abuse the grace of God?

Pastor Josh:

And so this verse is a verse I take a lot of people to because you'll hear a lot of people say this.

Pastor Josh:

Well, can I do this as a Christian?

Pastor Josh:

Does the Bible explicitly say that I cannot do this?

Pastor Josh:

I'll tell them no.

Pastor Josh:

But let me read this verse to you in verse 23 of one corinthians, chapter ten.

Pastor Josh:

And if we can grasp this, this can help us in a major way in our spiritual maturity.

Pastor Josh:

He says all things are lawful for me.

Pastor Josh:

This is Paul speaking here.

Pastor Josh:

He says all things are lawful, meaning I'm not bound by the law anymore.

Pastor Josh:

I don't have to follow the 613 commandments.

Pastor Josh:

I can eat whatever meat I want.

Pastor Josh:

I can do this.

Pastor Josh:

If the Bible doesn't explicitly say that it's a sin, I can do this.

Pastor Josh:

And even if the Bible does say it's a sin, I had the freedom to do it.

Pastor Josh:

Now I have to deal with the consequences.

Pastor Josh:

I can disobey my savior, but I had the freedom as a Christian, I can do what I want.

Pastor Josh:

I'm not gonna lose my salvation.

Pastor Josh:

But then he says this, but all things are not expedient.

Pastor Josh:

That means better, good for me, beneficial.

Pastor Josh:

Say it this way, I can do all things as a Christian, but not all things that I can do are beneficial to me and to others around me.

Pastor Josh:

This is huge because that's not usually our mindset.

Pastor Josh:

Our mindset is this.

Pastor Josh:

Well, I don't care what anyone thinks about me.

Pastor Josh:

I'm gonna do what I wanna do.

Pastor Josh:

I'm a Christian.

Pastor Josh:

I'm free.

Pastor Josh:

God's not gonna.

Pastor Josh:

God's the only one that can judge me, right?

Pastor Josh:

Yes, but all things are lawful for me.

Pastor Josh:

But not all things are expedient.

Pastor Josh:

Not all things are beneficial for me or for others around me.

Pastor Josh:

All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

Pastor Josh:

Meaning this.

Pastor Josh:

Some things that I do as a Christian, I can do, and I'm not gonna lose my salvation.

Pastor Josh:

God's gonna still love me, but it's not going to be beneficial for my spiritual growth, and it's not going to be beneficial to edify other christians around me.

Pastor Josh:

Think about that for just a few moments, because this is an area of the christian life that I think comes later on in our spiritual maturity.

Pastor Josh:

So, for example, and I don't want to go too far into picking out specific gray area items, but there might be something that you say, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

I have no problem doing this.

Pastor Josh:

I have no problem exercising this.

Pastor Josh:

And I can't see anywhere in scripture that says that this is wrong.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, fair enough.

Pastor Josh:

But if me doing this, is this going to help me in my spiritual growth, or is this going to hinder me in my spiritual growth?

Pastor Josh:

Well, possibly could hinder me.

Pastor Josh:

Well, then that's something that I don't need to necessarily do.

Pastor Josh:

There's another thing in the spiritual walk.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

This isn't going to hinder me at all, but it might hinder someone that I'm discipling or that I'm ministering to or that I have fellowship within the church with.

Pastor Josh:

And so it's not expedient to edify.

Pastor Josh:

And so here's the test that I would say for you to do within the church.

Pastor Josh:

Is this.

Pastor Josh:

Can I do this in the word of God?

Pastor Josh:

Is this a sin?

Pastor Josh:

Okay, that's your first step.

Pastor Josh:

What does the Bible say?

Pastor Josh:

The Bible says it's wrong.

Pastor Josh:

Just don't do it.

Pastor Josh:

The Bible doesn't speak specifically to this.

Pastor Josh:

Then what you do is you say, okay, is there a principle there?

Pastor Josh:

Okay, there probably is some element of a principle there, but if there isn't an element of sin or either an element of a principle in scripture, then we would say, okay, is this expedient for my spiritual growth?

Pastor Josh:

Is this going to build me up in Christ?

Pastor Josh:

And then the next question that I would ask is this, does it edify the other believers around me?

Pastor Josh:

If you check the boxes there, then do it.

Pastor Josh:

Live it up.

Pastor Josh:

Do what you want to do in that case you say what?

Pastor Josh:

I've never heard a pastor tell me to live it up.

Pastor Josh:

Well, if you do all those checks right there, then God has given you the go do it.

Pastor Josh:

And a lot of times, people are like, well, that's not good.

Pastor Josh:

I'm just telling you now.

Pastor Josh:

There's interpretation there.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

The interpretation would be, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

The Bible says this, but I don't mean it to say that.

Pastor Josh:

I don't think it says that.

Pastor Josh:

Well, that's where you get into some issues.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

Some people might say, well, I don't think the Bible actually says this.

Pastor Josh:

Well, you're misinterpreting scripture, and that's a whole other conversation for another day.

Pastor Josh:

But what I would tell you is, check the word of God.

Pastor Josh:

If the Bible says something about it explicitly, it is sin.

Pastor Josh:

But if there's something that we would consider to be a gray area, then you do that check of what verse 23 says.

Pastor Josh:

Is it expedient?

Pastor Josh:

Is it edifying?

Pastor Josh:

But then go on a little bit further there.

Pastor Josh:

In verse 24, it says, let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

Pastor Josh:

Meaning this.

Pastor Josh:

I shouldn't be thinking about myself.

Pastor Josh:

I should be thinking about others in these decisions.

Pastor Josh:

Like, that's the big thing.

Pastor Josh:

Cause we're always thinking about ourselves.

Pastor Josh:

Like, what can I do?

Pastor Josh:

Am I allowed to do this?

Pastor Josh:

Can I.

Pastor Josh:

You know what?

Pastor Josh:

The gentiles.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, fast forward to when they go back to Antioch, because Paul and barnabas are gonna bring the message back to Antioch.

Pastor Josh:

Some of the gentile christians could be like, well, I can't eat meat sacrificed to idols.

Pastor Josh:

I can't eat the blood of these animals.

Pastor Josh:

Come on.

Pastor Josh:

I had the freedom to do that.

Pastor Josh:

No, it's thinking about others.

Pastor Josh:

And so that's what it says there in verse 24.

Pastor Josh:

Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no questions for conscience sake.

Pastor Josh:

So it's like, don't overthink it, okay?

Pastor Josh:

For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

Pastor Josh:

If any man, if any of them that believe not, bids you to feast and ye be disposed to go whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no questions for conscience sake.

Pastor Josh:

And so going back to the meat.

Pastor Josh:

Sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

You go over to a gentile's house.

Pastor Josh:

They have meat there.

Pastor Josh:

Don't ask if it's sacrificed to idols.

Pastor Josh:

Like, just eat it.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

That's what he's saying here.

Pastor Josh:

But he says, but if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake.

Pastor Josh:

For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

Pastor Josh:

Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other.

Pastor Josh:

For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?

Pastor Josh:

For if by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of?

Pastor Josh:

For that for which I give thanks.

Pastor Josh:

Whether.

Pastor Josh:

And then he goes on to this classic verse, whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all the glory of God, give none offense, neither to the Jews nor the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.

Pastor Josh:

So it goes back to the spirit of, am I offending another brother in this?

Pastor Josh:

Am I offending somebody else?

Pastor Josh:

And he says, hey, if nothing's mentioned, you have freedom to do it.

Pastor Josh:

But if something is mentioned, stop and make a decision, okay?

Pastor Josh:

Now, you know that's going to offend someone's conscience, so stop.

Pastor Josh:

You don't have the freedom to go forward.

Pastor Josh:

And so it goes back to that phrase, having a right to do something, quote unquote right.

Pastor Josh:

Or having the freedom or liberty to do something doesn't mean that we should.

Pastor Josh:

And I want you to think about this phrase here this evening.

Pastor Josh:

Liberty is limited by love.

Pastor Josh:

Liberty is limited by love.

Pastor Josh:

Do we have christian liberty?

Pastor Josh:

Yes, but that liberty should be limited by love.

Pastor Josh:

If I love my brother in Christ and I'm discipling him, and I know that this is going to cause him to fall back into a pita that he got saved from, I need to love him enough and love God enough to die to my liberty to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

I don't need to do that.

Pastor Josh:

I don't need to do that specifically in front of him so that I offend him to go back to that way of sin.

Pastor Josh:

And so love, in this case, is trumping our liberty.

Pastor Josh:

You say, don't we have 100% liberty?

Pastor Josh:

We do.

Pastor Josh:

But ultimately, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Pastor Josh:

Isn't that what the Bible says, to love them?

Pastor Josh:

And so I wouldn't want someone to offend me.

Pastor Josh:

I wouldn't want someone to bring me to a place of sin in my life.

Pastor Josh:

Now, let me pause here, okay, because I need to clarify something.

Pastor Josh:

This is not talking about someone doing something that you don't like, okay?

Pastor Josh:

Because a lot of times we pull this card out, if someone does something that isn't our preferential thing.

Pastor Josh:

Well, I don't like that you, you know, let me use something very vague.

Pastor Josh:

I don't like that you sit in this pew up here.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

That bothers me.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

Well, they're not sitting in that pew and offending your conscience.

Pastor Josh:

It's when you offend someone to a place of sin.

Pastor Josh:

Right?

Pastor Josh:

It's not just doing something that someone else doesn't like.

Pastor Josh:

And you go, well, you've offended me, brother, so therefore I want you to stop doing that.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

I don't like when you drink coffee around my presence, so stop drinking coffee.

Pastor Josh:

Well, it.

Pastor Josh:

How was me drinking coffee going to lead you to sin?

Pastor Josh:

If you can lay that out for me and you could explain to me my actions lead you to a place of sin, then as a brother, I have to respect that.

Pastor Josh:

But just because you don't like what someone's doing, you can't pull the card of saying, well, I'm the weaker brother, so don't do that in front of me.

Pastor Josh:

Well, what sin is this causing you to fall into what is appealing to your flesh by what I am doing?

Pastor Josh:

So there's discernment here, because we can't all walk around saying, well, I gotta exercise my preferences on this person.

Pastor Josh:

This is talking about the issue of sin being a stumbling block to sin.

Pastor Josh:

And so I want you to think about that when it comes to exercising the weaker brother card.

Pastor Josh:

Right?

Pastor Josh:

Well, I'm the weaker brother, so don't do that.

Pastor Josh:

Well, here's the thing.

Pastor Josh:

Maybe you are the weaker brother, but the concept must be that you are going into sin here and then is it?

Pastor Josh:

And this is how the unity works.

Pastor Josh:

You tell me that this is offending you.

Pastor Josh:

You tell me that this is leading to a place of sin, then I must respect that.

Pastor Josh:

In love.

Pastor Josh:

A passage of scripture that made me think about this is psalm 133.

Pastor Josh:

Psalm 133.

Pastor Josh:

Verse one is a passage of scripture that speaks of this unity.

Pastor Josh:

And, folks, let me tell you that if there is one thing that we should seek after, obviously it's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh:

But when we come to dealing with other people within the church, we see the heart of God.

Pastor Josh:

And the heart of God for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is unity.

Pastor Josh:

If we don't have unity, we have to get to the root of that.

Pastor Josh:

And when we have brothers and sisters exercising liberty and offending other brothers and sisters to sin, we can't be unified in that.

Pastor Josh:

And so I must be willing to say, I will stop this if this is causing you to sin.

Pastor Josh:

And so, psalm 133, one, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

Pastor Josh:

That is a testimony to say we're dwelling together in unity.

Pastor Josh:

We don't have time to go there.

Pastor Josh:

But in Jesus high priestly prayer.

Pastor Josh:

In John 17, Jesus prays for the unity of the church.

Pastor Josh:

We see over and over again in the book of acts, unity is the heart of God.

Pastor Josh:

And so we go back to the Jerusalem council.

Pastor Josh:

Why would James give these four rules to the Gentiles?

Pastor Josh:

It was for unity.

Pastor Josh:

It wasn't for their salvation.

Pastor Josh:

Because go back to that acts passage.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

What is being decided in the Jerusalem Council?

Pastor Josh:

Is it morality?

Pastor Josh:

No.

Pastor Josh:

What's the core issue of the Jerusalem council?

Pastor Josh:

Salvation and sanctification.

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

Salvation, predominantly, do you have to be under the law of Moses to be saved?

Pastor Josh:

Okay, so then we see the rules that he gives.

Pastor Josh:

Those four rules, if you go back to them, pollution of idols, fornication.

Pastor Josh:

Now you would say, is fornication wrong?

Pastor Josh:

It is a sin.

Pastor Josh:

Yes, fornication is wrong.

Pastor Josh:

But do people that have fornicated, can they get saved?

Pastor Josh:

Yes.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

Yes.

Pastor Josh:

Sins are forgiven, right?

Pastor Josh:

If you come to Christ in faith, in repentance, your sins are forgiven.

Pastor Josh:

And so James is not saying, well, they have to be people that don't do these things to get saved.

Pastor Josh:

No, what he's saying is these are things that you seek after so that there can be unity in glorifying God in the way that you live a righteous life.

Pastor Josh:

Cause he doesn't list here.

Pastor Josh:

Don't lie to each other.

Pastor Josh:

He doesn't.

Pastor Josh:

I mean, we know lines of sin, but he doesn't list that.

Pastor Josh:

And so he's specifically talking about things that were pagan that would have offended the jewish people to the point where they would have fallen into the same path.

Pastor Josh:

And so what we can see here is that this is a desire for unity within the church.

Pastor Josh:

Now I want you to see Galatians chapter five.

Pastor Josh:

Galatians chapter five is another passage that deals with our freedom and our liberty.

Pastor Josh:

So our freedom and our liberty should be celebrated within our faith.

Pastor Josh:

We're not in a cult.

Pastor Josh:

You don't have to keep a list of hundreds and hundreds of rules.

Pastor Josh:

You can't lose your salvation.

Pastor Josh:

So we have this freedom, and we should be celebrating that, but not celebrating to the point where we exercise our flesh.

Pastor Josh:

So what happens within churches today, and really throughout all of history is that when we emphasize freedom and liberty, it becomes an occasion to the flesh.

Pastor Josh:

And then we mingle in sin within the church.

Pastor Josh:

And then we have a church that looks exactly like the world.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

Now does every church have to be a certain way?

Pastor Josh:

No, that's why we had the freedom to be the type of church that we're called to be.

Pastor Josh:

But what does Galatians chapter five, verse 13, say, galatians 513 says, for brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.

Pastor Josh:

So you're called unto liberty.

Pastor Josh:

As a Christian, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.

Pastor Josh:

There it is, but by love serve one another.

Pastor Josh:

So why is liberty given to us?

Pastor Josh:

Not so that we can exercise our flesh, but so that we can serve one another, so that we can have people within our church that are from different backgrounds and different cultures and different preferences and different mindsets, and we can be unified in that common purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh:

And so we can have freedom and liberty to be different.

Pastor Josh:

We can have freedom and liberty to extend ourselves to a place that maybe not everyone could go.

Pastor Josh:

So, for example, brother Tom might be able to minister to someone because of his freedom and liberty that I'm not able to minister.

Pastor Josh:

Because maybe we have a different background, a different upbringing, you know, maybe there's someone in the church.

Pastor Josh:

I won't pick an individual out because I don't want to pick any, you know, pick on anyone.

Pastor Josh:

But maybe we have someone that was saved out of a life of really dark, bad places, and they knew what it was like to be addicted to drugs, and they knew what it was like to be part of really bad things.

Pastor Josh:

And because God changed them and saved them, they now can minister to other people.

Pastor Josh:

And they have freedom to minister to people that maybe would never listen to me, okay?

Pastor Josh:

Because I come in, I've been in a christian home my whole life, and I grew up in church, and I go to someone and they're like, yeah, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

Pastor Josh:

He doesn't know what I've gone through.

Pastor Josh:

Well, maybe this fellow up here who has gone through all that struggle can go with his freedom and liberty and minister to somebody else and lead them to Christ.

Pastor Josh:

That's the beauty of our liberty.

Pastor Josh:

And so he says, our liberty is not there for an occasion of the flesh.

Pastor Josh:

I can do this.

Pastor Josh:

I had the freedom to do this.

Pastor Josh:

God never says, I can't do this.

Pastor Josh:

Yes, but is it an occasion of your flesh to exercise your freedom and your rights?

Pastor Josh:

Or is it to say, I'm gonna serve one another?

Pastor Josh:

Is it by love and service, or is it by an occasion of the flesh that we're exercising our liberty?

Pastor Josh:

So one last passage of scripture, then we'll circle back to the book of acts.

Pastor Josh:

I want you to see Romans, chapter 14 with me.

Pastor Josh:

Romans, chapter 14.

Pastor Josh:

This is what I believe to be one of the clearest teachings on this idea of exercising our christian liberty and not offending our brothers in Christ and our sisters in Christ.

Pastor Josh:

Now, you would say, why are you talking about meat sacrifice to idols?

Pastor Josh:

Because that's what this passage is talking about.

Pastor Josh:

But for us, that's not a big issue.

Pastor Josh:

Like, if I go over to your house, I've been over to many of your houses or gone out to eat with you.

Pastor Josh:

I don't go, hey, guys, I need to know, is this meat sacrifice to bail?

Pastor Josh:

I don't ask that.

Pastor Josh:

Right?

Pastor Josh:

That's not an issue in our culture today.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

I don't think any of you are sacrificing, you know, going to the marketplace and buying meat sacrificed idols.

Pastor Josh:

I don't think that's the case.

Pastor Josh:

If it was cheaper, okay, I can understand, but I don't think any of us are doing that.

Pastor Josh:

But there's other things culturally that might cause us to stumble.

Pastor Josh:

There's other things culturally, and it might be different.

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

Different age groups, different backgrounds.

Pastor Josh:

And so what I want us to see here is, what does it say about this?

Pastor Josh:

He says, him that is weak in the faith receive.

Pastor Josh:

Yeah, but not to doubtful disputations, meaning receive those that are weak in faith, but don't lead them to a place of doubt.

Pastor Josh:

For one believeth that he may eat all things.

Pastor Josh:

Another who is weak eateth herbs, meaning some people might be convicted to eat anything they want, and that's okay.

Pastor Josh:

Other people might be convicted not to eat that meat and eat something else.

Pastor Josh:

Herbs.

Pastor Josh:

Let not him that eateth despiseth him that not eateth.

Pastor Josh:

Meaning you shouldn't despise the person that's different than you in this.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth.

Pastor Josh:

For God hath received him, so we're received into the family of God.

Pastor Josh:

So I can't sit over here and go, well, that person is exercising their liberty in a wrong way.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

If they're exercising their liberty in the confines of scripture, we can't sit there and judge them.

Pastor Josh:

Now, if they are sinning out and out, we can say, clearly that's a sin.

Pastor Josh:

But he's not talking about that.

Pastor Josh:

He's talking about these, what we would call gray area things that meet sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

Verse four.

Pastor Josh:

Who art thou that judgest another man's servant to his own master?

Pastor Josh:

He standeth or falleth.

Pastor Josh:

Yea, he shall be.

Pastor Josh:

Holden up.

Pastor Josh:

For God is able to make him stand.

Pastor Josh:

One man esteemeth one day above another, and another esteemeth every day alike.

Pastor Josh:

Meaning there are some people that look at one day and go, this is a holy day, and we need to honor it.

Pastor Josh:

And we need to do all these things.

Pastor Josh:

And there's other guides.

Pastor Josh:

That's like, every day is just a day.

Pastor Josh:

It's all God's days, right?

Pastor Josh:

And he says, what does he say here?

Pastor Josh:

What does he say here?

Pastor Josh:

He says, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, meaning you got to come up with that conviction on your own.

Pastor Josh:

You got to come up with that preference on your own.

Pastor Josh:

He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, meaning he can use that special day for the Lord.

Pastor Josh:

And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it.

Pastor Josh:

He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth thanks.

Pastor Josh:

He giveth God thanks.

Pastor Josh:

And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks.

Pastor Josh:

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

Pastor Josh:

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord.

Pastor Josh:

Whether we die, we die unto the Lord.

Pastor Josh:

Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

Pastor Josh:

Meaning.

Pastor Josh:

Everything that we do, it's the Lord's.

Pastor Josh:

For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived.

Pastor Josh:

And he might be Lord both of the living and the dead.

Pastor Josh:

But why dost thou judge thy brother?

Pastor Josh:

And why dost thou set at not thy brother?

Pastor Josh:

For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Pastor Josh:

For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Pastor Josh:

So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.

Pastor Josh:

Let us not therefore judge one another any more.

Pastor Josh:

But judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Pastor Josh:

So he says again, the idea is not to judge someone.

Pastor Josh:

The idea is to not put a place of stumbling for another brother.

Pastor Josh:

Instead of me sitting there going, well, I can't believe that that person does that.

Pastor Josh:

No, I need to look into my own life to say, it's the classic example, what Jesus said about the plank in your own eye, right?

Pastor Josh:

Don't sit there and try to pick your brother's spec out when you got a plank in your own eye.

Pastor Josh:

He says, hey, no, don't be a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Pastor Josh:

I know, and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him, it is unclean.

Pastor Josh:

Meaning if there's someone who's convicted by this, they're convicted by that.

Pastor Josh:

Let them be convicted by that but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably, meaning if you just flaunt your liberty in front of them, you're not living charitably, you're not living in a kind way, you're not living in a loving way.

Pastor Josh:

Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

Pastor Josh:

Let not then your good be evil spoken of.

Pastor Josh:

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and the joy of the Holy Ghost.

Pastor Josh:

For he that is in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God and approve to men.

Pastor Josh:

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and the things wherewith 1 may edify another.

Pastor Josh:

Do you see again what's happening here?

Pastor Josh:

It's that emphasis on edification.

Pastor Josh:

It's that emphasis on unity.

Pastor Josh:

It's that emphasis on peace.

Pastor Josh:

For me, destroy not the work of God.

Pastor Josh:

All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense.

Pastor Josh:

It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Pastor Josh:

Hast thou faith.

Pastor Josh:

Have it to thyself before God.

Pastor Josh:

Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

Pastor Josh:

And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith.

Pastor Josh:

For whosoever or whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Pastor Josh:

So you say.

Pastor Josh:

That's a lot of.

Pastor Josh:

I'm not going to be able to pick apart that whole passage, but essentially the thought is this.

Pastor Josh:

There are going to be people that have preferences this way.

Pastor Josh:

They're going to have people that have preferences this way.

Pastor Josh:

We need to walk in unity, but we need to look to the place of not allowing the other brother, the weaker brother, to stumble.

Pastor Josh:

So if there's something that I can do in my life, and I feel free to do it, okay, you have that freedom.

Pastor Josh:

But the moment it becomes a place of division within the church, the moment it becomes a stumbling block for another person to sin, then you are sinning.

Pastor Josh:

Okay?

Pastor Josh:

So let me give you a real life example.

Pastor Josh:

We've got a guy named Joe, and we got a guy named Bill over here, okay?

Pastor Josh:

Joe is coming out of a life of paganism.

Pastor Josh:

Joe is coming out of a life of idolatry.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, I'm gonna forget these names.

Pastor Josh:

Bill is over here.

Pastor Josh:

And Bill is like, hey, I'm saved.

Pastor Josh:

And I love eating meat at the market, and I can get a better deal on the meat that was sacrificed to these idols.

Pastor Josh:

And Paul even said, this meat is free.

Pastor Josh:

This meat is good, we can eat of it.

Pastor Josh:

So which one's wrong?

Pastor Josh:

Well, neither one of them.

Pastor Josh:

They're both saved.

Pastor Josh:

They're both okay.

Pastor Josh:

They're both right.

Pastor Josh:

This guy over here that got out of the life of paganism, though, he's like, I can't eat that meat because that's going to take me back to a place that I used to be in.

Pastor Josh:

And I don't want to get back to pagan.

Pastor Josh:

I don't want to get back to idolatry.

Pastor Josh:

I can't.

Pastor Josh:

I don't.

Pastor Josh:

I'm going to abstain.

Pastor Josh:

Then he looks over at Bill over here and he says, bill, I can't believe that guy, bill over there is eating that meat.

Pastor Josh:

Sacrifice to idols.

Pastor Josh:

He's wrong for judging him and his freedom.

Pastor Josh:

But then let's say Bill comes over to Joe and says, we're in the market together.

Pastor Josh:

And he goes, hey, Joe, I got some meat over here.

Pastor Josh:

It's sacrificed to the idol.

Pastor Josh:

But you know what?

Pastor Josh:

Come on, you can do it.

Pastor Josh:

You can do it.

Pastor Josh:

And he eventually wears that brother down to the place of saying, okay, fine, I'll offend my conscience and I'll eat the meat.

Pastor Josh:

Fine, I'll do it.

Pastor Josh:

And so he's searing his conscience, and that's not a good thing to do, to push that off.

Pastor Josh:

And so now who's sinned?

Pastor Josh:

Well, if he eats of the meat, he's sinned because he's offended his conscience.

Pastor Josh:

And this guy who's persuaded him to eat the meat has now sinned as well.

Pastor Josh:

You see how that goes?

Pastor Josh:

So sometimes we can be on either side, because I've heard of a lot of christians saying, hey, come on, do this.

Pastor Josh:

There's nothing wrong with that.

Pastor Josh:

There's nothing.

Pastor Josh:

You gotta do this.

Pastor Josh:

Come on.

Pastor Josh:

To be a good christian, you gotta exercise your freedom.

Pastor Josh:

You know what?

Pastor Josh:

That is wrong.

Pastor Josh:

Don't offend someone's conscience.

Pastor Josh:

I know that with my kids, sometimes I'll say a certain thing to them, guys, we can't say that.

Pastor Josh:

We can't do that.

Pastor Josh:

And sometimes I might be doing something, dad, you said that word.

Pastor Josh:

You said that word.

Pastor Josh:

You shouldn't say that.

Pastor Josh:

And I'm not saying bad words.

Pastor Josh:

I'm saying words that just aren't.

Pastor Josh:

We don't want our kids to say.

Pastor Josh:

But sometimes I might say like, you know, you get it.

Pastor Josh:

And I don't wanna use any of those words tonight.

Pastor Josh:

Cause then they'll catch me on that.

Pastor Josh:

But you know, stuff like that, dad, come on.

Pastor Josh:

And like, as a Christian, I have the freedom to say those things.

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

It's not a curse word.

Pastor Josh:

It's not a bad word.

Pastor Josh:

Just words that we don't want to say.

Pastor Josh:

It's not.

Pastor Josh:

They're kind of crude.

Pastor Josh:

And so what happens is, like, then I'm offending my children by saying, oh, you know, I can do it.

Pastor Josh:

So you go ahead and do it.

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

I'm teaching them to not listen to that conscience that God has placed on their heart.

Pastor Josh:

Now, sometimes our conscience can be a moving target.

Pastor Josh:

Sometimes we can actually have a conscience.

Pastor Josh:

That's more than scripture, right?

Pastor Josh:

Oh, I can't.

Pastor Josh:

You know, and that's something that we deal with in discipleship.

Pastor Josh:

There's some people that have a conscience to do anything.

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

I can't do this.

Pastor Josh:

I can't say this, I can't do that.

Pastor Josh:

And the issue is that the conscience is not the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Josh:

The Holy Spirit is the guide.

Pastor Josh:

But ultimately, our conscience can be seared.

Pastor Josh:

It can be changed depending on our culture.

Pastor Josh:

And so what do we have to do?

Pastor Josh:

We have to base our conscience in the word of God and the guidance of the spirit.

Pastor Josh:

And so I'll say all that.

Pastor Josh:

To say this, we go back to acts 15, and we'll conclude with this.

Pastor Josh:

We see that James institutes these rules to allow the gentiles to walk in unison with the Jews, both Christians, so that they can have unity.

Pastor Josh:

And so what we can see here is that the issue of the Jerusalem council, even though we don't deal with meat sacrifice to idols, we deal with issues of is salvation and sanctification by the law or salvation and sanctification by faith.

Pastor Josh:

If it's by faith alone, then does it matter what we do?

Pastor Josh:

Yes, it still matters what we do.

Pastor Josh:

It doesn't save us.

Pastor Josh:

It doesn't keep us saved, but it does deal with that idea of walking in unity together.

Pastor Josh:

And so there are groups that declare that you must do this to stay saved.

Pastor Josh:

There's people that declare that you must do these things to get saved.

Pastor Josh:

But as christians, what we have to understand is that all of these arguments can be solved if we look at the truth of scripture and know that we have liberty in God's grace, but we limit our liberty for the sake of love.

Pastor Josh:

So are there things that I could possibly do in my christian walk that could offend a brother, even if I'm not sinning?

Pastor Josh:

Yes.

Pastor Josh:

So I need to be cognizant of that, and I need to love my brother enough to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

I'm not going to do that thing specifically in front of them.

Pastor Josh:

And as the Bible says, flaunt my liberty.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, now this is where a lot of churches are scared to deal with.

Pastor Josh:

I'm scared to deal with this because if I got up here and said to you guys, there's rules at this church, to be a member of Middletown Baptist Church, like I mentioned this morning, you got to do this, this, this, and this.

Pastor Josh:

Well, I've effectively now become your conscience.

Pastor Josh:

I've effectively now have tried to pull away the discernment and say, just do whatever I tell you to do.

Pastor Josh:

The problem with that is that's never what the Bible says.

Pastor Josh:

The Bible says for you, it's individual soul, liberty.

Pastor Josh:

All of us have the responsibility to discern what the spirit is calling us to do accordance to the word of God.

Pastor Josh:

And so we feed Silas right now, Silas does not feed himself, but Norah and Micah are feeding themselves.

Pastor Josh:

Micah doesn't sit down at the table like Silas and put his bib on and get to the table and just sit there like this and go, all right, dad, I'm ready.

Pastor Josh:

And I go feed.

Pastor Josh:

That's what Silas does.

Pastor Josh:

He opens up his mouth and we put the bottle in or we put the oatmeal in or whatever.

Pastor Josh:

But we would hope that as they get older, they can feed themselves.

Pastor Josh:

Now, Micah, I'm not gonna feed you, okay?

Pastor Josh:

He's gonna feed.

Pastor Josh:

I'm gonna cook for him and I'm gonna prepare it for him.

Pastor Josh:

But then there's a place where he becomes 20 and 30.

Pastor Josh:

Dad, can you come over to my house and cook me chicken nuggets?

Pastor Josh:

I'm going to say, no, son, you're an adult now.

Pastor Josh:

You're married, you have children.

Pastor Josh:

You can take care of that yourself.

Pastor Josh:

Do you see how there is that not independence, but God dependence in the Christian's life as well?

Pastor Josh:

So a lot of times it's like, what should I believe?

Pastor Josh:

I remember I went off to college, dad, what do I believe about this?

Pastor Josh:

And I remember my dad telling me, well, what do you believe?

Pastor Josh:

I don't know.

Pastor Josh:

I tell you what I believe, but what do you believe?

Pastor Josh:

And you need to know that thing.

Pastor Josh:

And so a lot of times as christians, we want to be spoon fed what's right, what's wrong.

Pastor Josh:

But the truth is, is there are going to be some times where we have to grow out of that babe stage and move to that teenager adult stage to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

I'm going to get more dependence on God and not another individual because you could come to me and say, well, pastor, should I do this and do that?

Pastor Josh:

Well, I don't know, in scripture, it's not a clear statement on that.

Pastor Josh:

So you're going to have to discern in the spirit and in the word how to deal with that.

Pastor Josh:

So, for example, should I go and do this?

Pastor Josh:

Well, did you do those checks?

Pastor Josh:

What's the word of God say about this?

Pastor Josh:

Well, there's nothing that the word of God says one way or the other.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

Is there a principle in scripture?

Pastor Josh:

Well, I don't see a principle in scripture.

Pastor Josh:

Well, is this beneficial expedient for your spiritual walk?

Pastor Josh:

I'm not sure.

Pastor Josh:

Is this going to help other christians in their walk?

Pastor Josh:

Oh, probably not.

Pastor Josh:

I could see this, this and this happening.

Pastor Josh:

Well, there is an issue there, and then we need to check that now.

Pastor Josh:

And I'm going to digress here in a moment.

Pastor Josh:

But I will say this on the flip side of this, you can live in fear of man and say, well, I can't do anything that God's calling me to do because I know that someone's going to get upset about this.

Pastor Josh:

You ever tried to please 100, 200 people at once?

Pastor Josh:

I have.

Pastor Josh:

Let me tell you how that goes.

Pastor Josh:

It doesn't go well.

Pastor Josh:

You could please maybe half, and if on a really good day, you can maybe please about 75%, but you're never gonna please 100 people.

Pastor Josh:

So what do you do?

Pastor Josh:

We please God.

Pastor Josh:

And then you do your best to show love and grace to people.

Pastor Josh:

Well, you know, as a pastor, there's things that I could say to you, this is not wrong.

Pastor Josh:

And other people could say, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

I don't like that they do that.

Pastor Josh:

Well, is it, remember, is it a stumbling block to an offense of sin or is it something that you just don't like?

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

And then, so on the other side of things, as a christian, I need to be cautious that I'm not.

Pastor Josh:

Remember the judging.

Pastor Josh:

I'm not judging another person in their liberty just because I don't like what they're doing.

Pastor Josh:

If it's an offense to sin, then that's what Matthew eighteen's all about.

Pastor Josh:

Someone sinned against me.

Pastor Josh:

What do I do?

Pastor Josh:

I go tell that brother that he sinned against me, and I clearly explain how that was a sin and how that was an offense to me.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

And so then there's that process.

Pastor Josh:

And so we could go deeper into this.

Pastor Josh:

We're gonna stop for tonight.

Pastor Josh:

We're gonna come back with part two next week because there's more to this.

Pastor Josh:

Paul and Barnabas are gonna bring that message back to the church in Antioch and we'll decide, well, we'll look into it this way, we'll decide whether or not we go on to the next struggle, because shortly after this, what happens is that, guess what?

Pastor Josh:

There's more conflict.

Pastor Josh:

Paul and Barnabas are two guys have a conflict.

Pastor Josh:

So we got to deal with that.

Pastor Josh:

What do we do?

Pastor Josh:

Well, the Bible has the teaching on what to do in conflict, and I can't say that, you know, because a lot of times we exalt Paul to a place of almost sinlessness, right?

Pastor Josh:

We go, Paul is Paul, and he is.

Pastor Josh:

He's Paul's.

Pastor Josh:

Paul's an awesome dude.

Pastor Josh:

One of the guys that I want to talk to when I get to heaven, like many of the other people there, but Paul isn't perfect, and there's some issues with him and John, Mark, and Barnabas, and even later on, Peter and Paul.

Pastor Josh:

And, you know, so we're gonna get into that.

Pastor Josh:

And I think that's important to deal with, because when we're looking at unity and we're looking at these nuanced topics of, is this gonna offend a brother?

Pastor Josh:

These are real things that we gotta talk about, because what's gonna eventually happen, whether we mean to or not, we are going to have a conflict with another brother and sister in Christ.

Pastor Josh:

It's going to happen.

Pastor Josh:

So what do we do?

Pastor Josh:

Well, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

Historically, people have done well, let me get back in the old days, it was get the phone book out, but now it's, let me get on Google and see where the closest church is.

Pastor Josh:

Okay.

Pastor Josh:

We're going church shopping because these people have offended me.

Pastor Josh:

That's not the first step.

Pastor Josh:

Does God call people out of churches and move them other places?

Pastor Josh:

For certain reasons, of course.

Pastor Josh:

But where we have seen an issue is that there is a plethora of churches in the area.

Pastor Josh:

And when there's a minor offense that could have been fixed and a brother could be gained, there's, hey, we got to leave.

Pastor Josh:

We got to run.

Pastor Josh:

Now, thankfully, at Middletown Baptist Church, we have a lot of faithful people, and I'm thankful for that.

Pastor Josh:

There have been people that have come here for the right reasons.

Pastor Josh:

There have been people that have left Middletown Baptist church, I believe, for the right reasons in a good way.

Pastor Josh:

Maybe they're moving.

Pastor Josh:

Maybe God's calling their heart somewhere else.

Pastor Josh:

Maybe there's issues that can't.

Pastor Josh:

You know, maybe there's viewpoints that don't align.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, now I'm a little biased.

Pastor Josh:

I think Middletown Baptist church is awesome.

Pastor Josh:

I think it's the best church in town, and I want everyone to come here, but that might not be God's plan.

Pastor Josh:

That might not be God's plan for someone.

Pastor Josh:

Maybe someone else is better equipped than another body of believers.

Pastor Josh:

And so we have to be very cautious about conflict and not running from the conflict, but dealing with it in a very biblical, patient way.

Pastor Josh:

And I think that's what we talked about this morning, the endurance.

Pastor Josh:

And that's not easy.

Pastor Josh:

So I know that that was a heavy topic this evening.

Pastor Josh:

I know that's not a topic that we necessarily get up and cheer about, but it's a topic that we have to deal with because it's something that, at least in my years of the church, doesn't get talked about a lot.

Pastor Josh:

Right.

Pastor Josh:

We kind of just skim over this idea of offending a brother.

Pastor Josh:

And what does that even mean?

Pastor Josh:

We look at different things and we say, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

If I don't like it, then it's bad.

Pastor Josh:

The truth is, though, it's all about.

Pastor Josh:

It goes back to the.

Pastor Josh:

It goes back to the greatest commandment.

Pastor Josh:

What did Jesus say is, the first greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Pastor Josh:

Okay, everything.

Pastor Josh:

And then he says, the second is like unto this, love your neighbor as yourself.

Pastor Josh:

All of these issues could be dealt with if we follow those two commandments.

Pastor Josh:

So it's not about following the law.

Pastor Josh:

It's following the greatest commandment of loving God and loving people.

Pastor Josh:

If we do that and follow the word, we're gonna be okay.

Pastor Josh:

We're gonna be okay.

Pastor Josh:

Are we gonna be perfect?

Pastor Josh:

No.

Pastor Josh:

But if you love God, you're not gonna sin against him.

Pastor Josh:

If you're really walking in love, you're not going to want to sin against him.

Pastor Josh:

And if you love other people like you love yourself, you're not going to sin against them.

Pastor Josh:

You know, when I sin against other people is when I start thinking about myself.

Pastor Josh:

All those passages of scripture that said, don't think about yourself.

Pastor Josh:

Think about others, don't think about your freedom.

Pastor Josh:

Think about the love that you have for other people.

Pastor Josh:

When I sin against other people is when I start thinking, hey, they wronged me, so I'm gonna do what I want.

Pastor Josh:

They offended me, so I'm gonna do what I want.

Pastor Josh:

They got me frustrated, so I'm gonna sin against them.

Pastor Josh:

Instead of thinking about their well being, I think about my well being.

Pastor Josh:

Well, that's the first step.

Pastor Josh:

That I'm wrong in church is not about me.

Pastor Josh:

I'm gonna give you a revelatory statement, and we'll be done.

Pastor Josh:

This is it.

Pastor Josh:

I know I keep saying that but I gotta say this, okay?

Pastor Josh:

We are at church, not for ourselves.

Pastor Josh:

This is not about us.

Pastor Josh:

This is not about me.

Pastor Josh:

This is not about you.

Pastor Josh:

This is not about a ministry.

Pastor Josh:

This is about Christ.

Pastor Josh:

Everything that we're doing is about Jesus, okay?

Pastor Josh:

We are beneficiaries.

Pastor Josh:

We are background characters in the story, okay?

Pastor Josh:

Sometimes I start to think that I'm the main character in the story.

Pastor Josh:

I'm the protagonist.

Pastor Josh:

I'm not the protagonist in the story of the gospel.

Pastor Josh:

I'm just a side character that's there to support the main character, and that's Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh:

And so when we start thinking that we're the main character in the story, that's when we can get into a lot of conflict and a lot of issues and don't think about the unity.

Pastor Josh:

And so what Paul says is this, and I thank the Lord for this teaching.

Pastor Josh:

It's like this.

Pastor Josh:

If I need to die to something in my life, I will do that for the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh:

If I need to remove something from my life that's a stumbling block to another brother.

Pastor Josh:

I love my brother and I love Christ, and I love the gospel enough to say, I don't need to do that.

Pastor Josh:

I don't need to do that.

Pastor Josh:

We've got, and I'd love to talk to you about this more because I've got a lot of examples about this, but we've got people that will say, you know what?

Pastor Josh:

I can do this.

Pastor Josh:

I have the freedom to do this.

Pastor Josh:

Why is this a sin?

Pastor Josh:

It's not, but how is it beneficial?

Pastor Josh:

at passage in one corinthians:

Pastor Josh:

Not all things are edifying.

Pastor Josh:

If we just thought about that edification factor, so much more would be changed within our midst.

Pastor Josh:

So I will end with that here tonight.

Pastor Josh:

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh:

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh:

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us@middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh:

You can also email me directly@joshmissaroiddletownbaptastchurch.com.

Pastor Josh:

if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Pastor Josh:

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh:

God bless.

Pastor Josh:

Have a wonderful day.

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