We then who are strong. Ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, the strong in the faith, in contrast to those who argued over what they could eat and what they could not eat, what holidays they should honor and which ones they should not. The weak ones were arguing over those things. The strong ones are saying, hey, I'm free in Christ. And we'll live like I'm free in Christ.
I know that offends you. tough.
Well, Paul came along and said, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're right. But tone down that tough part a little bit. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Romans. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he begins in Romans chapter 15 with his message called: Learning is for doing. Romans 15. Learning is for doing.
That's the title of the message. And hopefully it means something to us. Romans 14. Verses four through six. For whatever things were written before We're written for our learning.
that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.
Now May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, According to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and mouth One mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, I'm going to take a little time to introduce this section because I think it's important. And I wrestle with those things. Lord, am I repeating myself too much? Am I wasting my time with this? Is this what you want said?
Or is it me?
Well, we'll get right to it and you can be the judge. We are still in this fifteenth chapter dealing with Christian behavior inside the church. The Gospels deal much, of course, with the salvation and the character of our God and our Savior. But by the time we begin Romans through Jude, all of the epistles, they're dealing with troubles in the church. Mainly at dealing with Christian behavior.
Because That which goes on in the church always has something to do with Christian behavior outside the church. And that has something to do with winning the lost, preaching the gospel, of glorifying the Father, of having a purpose to all that we do. A sloppy church leaves A devastating witness. Concerning Christ. They become an unreliable witness.
Many believers, unbelievers, are looking to justify. their unbelief, their rejection of Christ. And it is important that the Church, the Christians, Do not help them with that. Christian living works best with stability. Honor And perhaps above all, Truth that can be backed up.
Not enough to claim I've got the truth. Why do you think you have the truth? And expository teaching is supposed to largely contribute to this. It's not enough. You still must have the Holy Spirit.
Always Be filled with the Spirit.
So, why are we Christians? Why are you a Christian? If there's someone here that's not, maybe by the time we're done, you will be. But as for those of us... Who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why are you Christian? Truth! There's no other answer. But that requires, of course, a lot of explanation. But you certainly can't say well I'm a Christian because of lies I'm a Christian because somebody said so.
No, I am a Christian because I was convicted. as a criminal against God. And that's the truth. And all that goes along with my being. made acceptable to him through the blood of Christ.
So That's why I'm a Christian, but why am I living?
Well, I'm part of the process that God has ordained to fill heaven. with love made from hurt.
So we go through this life. As Christians And we experience a lot of hurt. But we're still required to love. We're still required to trust. Hurt does not excuse us from Our mission, our assignment, our role, the objectives.
When Paul said, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Because I want out of this life too. But I have something to do here. It's meaningful. And I know that it is.
And he refused to undermine the work of the Holy Spirit in his own life. I might not be better, I am not better than anyone else, but I can see what God is using me to do. And that is reason to live for Christ. Why are we learning?
Well, to be useful. What can you do if you don't learn? Again, what is the alternative of not learning?
Well, ignorance. And so Paul says to the pastor, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That's going to call for a lot of work. to rightly divide to rightly open up.
To expound on, to understand, to apply. And to do it with an unflinching faith, even when you feel God has forsaken you. And that's what Timothy did, and that's what Paul was doing. Paul made this bodacious claim once. He said, God has delivered me from them all.
Talking about the persecutions and the sufferings. But if he took off his shirt You'd question that, because he bore on his body many marks for Christ. God delivered you, Paul? Did you think He was delivering you while you were being beaten? Yes, he did.
The proof of that is that he went back in and got beaten again. And again. and no less than five or six times, plus the stoning, This is the faith we belong to.
So, why are we encouraged by these things?
Well, to finish the job. Why are we persecuted? to stop the job. There's a very real Satan. He's opposed to everything Christ-like, everything holy and righteous, everything that God encourages us to do, he is opposed to.
It's a default. It's automatic. He never has to say, hmm, let me study about this. Let me try to find out if this is something I should do or not. Satan is not led by the Holy Spirit, he's led by hatred.
And so he is the one that opposes all righteousness. Everything about the church will find its way to the believer, and that's what Paul is dealing with in this. Fourteenth and fifteenth chapter Of Romans, because they belong together. He's continuing what he started in chapter 14 of Romans. In the first verse.
Earlier, he had written to the Christians in Corinth, and he said, I determined not to know. anything among you Except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The interesting thing, amongst other parts of that verse, is when he says Not to know that Greek word, and originally the New Testament, was written in the Greek, the Koine Greek. The Greek word for no is ida. Not Gonosco.
And the idea behind it is He determined not to concern himself. I determined not to concern myself with anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The idea is not philosophy. Not psychology, not politics, not religion, but God. That's what I concern myself with.
And we'll come to later on where Christ says, that's what John the Baptist was doing, and that's why you went out to see him. First John. Chapter 2, verse 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. It's about creative and genius people doing things oblivious.
Through the Christ of the cross. Ephesians 2, for we are his workmanship. See the contrast to the world, we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
That should put an expectation on you to be confronted by your own sinful nature called the flesh. The world will help your flesh oppose Christ any chance it gets, and then there is that real Satan.
Well, we're ready for these things. The beauty of the Bible remains even when we cannot. Lay hold of its promises. The Bible is no less beautiful or trustworthy because we cannot lay hold of all the promises. We have the main ones.
We are forgiven. We are going to heaven. Hebrews chapter 11, all these things, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. And that 11th chapter of Hebrews is about all of the righteous ones in the Old Testament, and of course, being applied to New Testament saints, that speaks about their faithfulness, even though. There are many promises they had not received.
The prophets gave prophecies they would not live to see. David invested in the house of the Lord a temple that he'd never lay his human eyes on. But by faith. He gave it all that he had with all his might, he said. He gave to the house of the Lord.
As the song goes, There will be no sorrows. In God's Tomorrows. We know that. We set the course of our sail in that direction. It is worthwhile.
It is trustworthy.
So that we can be used by God to bring glory to Him.
So it doesn't matter very much what Christians are doing in the church. Because it will find its way outside, and it will either be a good testimony or a bad one. In the book of Acts, Luke, he emphasized, Luke is the author of the book of Acts. You're the human author. God, of course, is the spiritual author, but Luke wrote it down.
And he emphasized what God was doing with His people. And what People were doing against them. He spoke of those who joined the church. He spoke of those who persecuted the church. He spoke of those who were indifferent to it all.
But in the epistles, By contrast, we find out that the Christians were facing things And doing things amongst themselves that needed constant correction. They didn't become saved, and all of a sudden, they were just marvelous people. In the 14th and 15th chapter of Romans, he's breaking up fights, not fist fights, but spiritual fights. Much of what the letters from Romans to Jude have to do with is un-Christ-like behavior. The question is: did they get it?
Well, ask yourself that question. When the preacher preaches on love, you have to understand he himself is peddling as hard as he can, hopefully, to be loving, to be patient. to do all the things that he's preaching. Are you as you listen? When you're convicted.
Do you pout? Or do you look for ways to fight through it? If nothing more, just to keep standing. to endure.
Well, that's my introduction. We look at verse 1, Romans 15. We then, who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of the weak. And not to please ourselves.
Well, if you're in the flesh, you are going to try to please yourself, never mind what the other person's going through. Strong in the faith here, we then who are strong. Ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, the strong in the faith, in contrast to those who argued over what they could eat and what they could not eat, what holidays they should honor and which ones they should not. The weak ones were arguing over those things. The strong ones were saying, Hey, I'm free in Christ.
And we'll live like I'm free in Christ. I know that offends you. Tough.
Well, Paul came along and said, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're right. But tone down that tough part a little bit. Those still subjecting themselves to Old Testament ritual. We're becoming a pain in the neck in the church.
They were too weak to trust the finished work of Christ, but they were still our brothers and sisters, as Paul was saying to them. Those who are confident about their freedom in Christ must not. Be rude.
So easy for Christians to be rude. I have witnessed. And there's no excuse for that. Love makes this easier, and the Holy Spirit makes it possible. But it's an ongoing work.
It is not a one-time event. I like the story of My wife and I have friends up in New York, the old country.
Okay. And One of their sons was a little guy to go to kindergarten, and he went to kindergarten, he came home. Jonathan, how was kindergarten? He was fine. But he didn't know he had to go back.
You see that's the catch.
Well saying Christianity is not a one-time event. Yeah. Christians can mess things up if you insist. You can live void of the spirit. You can become a sensual person.
person, void of the Spirit, as Jude points out. During the Second World War as Vessels cross the Atlantic They needed to be escorted because of the German U-boats. All the vessels Head to Adjust their speed. to that of the slowest vessel. You couldn't say, well, look, tough luck for that guy.
This thing can do 21 knots and just keep going. You had to slow it down. And that's what Paul is saying here. Bring it down some. By the way, Weak Christians need to also learn to bear with the scruples of the strong.
Not a one-way street, but they're going to have a harder time than the stronger ones. What Paul is not saying. is to continually Give in to the weak brothers hang-ups. When he wrote to the Galatians, before he wrote this letter to the Romans, He said For do I now persuade men, O God, Or do I seek to please men? Where, if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
So it calls for wisdom and dependency on the Spirit. Guidance of the Spirit, love. There are ingredients involved in being a Christian. It's not a one-size-fit all uniform. There are things that belong to it that constantly need Tailoring but never outside of scripture.
Restraint. Good judgment. Meekness. What is meekness?
Well, one of my grandsons was talking to me, talking to him about the beatitudes of Christ. And we got to meekness. And I asked him, what do you think meekness is?
Well, to get to the point, meekness in Christ is never ever weakness. It never is. It is strength. held in reserve. It is strength not used.
One of the best examples, or an easy example, is when you pick up an egg. You can crush the egg very easily. But you restrain yourself. I mean, of course, it's not thought as automatic, but the point is, you have the strength. But you're restraining the strength because you're trying to do something else.
And that's what meekness is. Christ was meek. He could have called 12 legions of angels. He restrained himself because the mission was more important than the man. Because it was that important to the Father.
So meekness is a big thing in Christianity. Blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the earth.
Well, while we're on the Beatitudes, only one of the Beatitudes really require. Skill. You know, a lot of Christians think they're just entitled to things. I'm born again, now I've got it. That's a mistake.
If that were true, we wouldn't need such a thick book. Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the children of God. It takes skill to be a peacemaker. You can't just barge in and say, hey, you two, stop it and get along.
Yeah. The world has tact. But they also usually have, along with tack, power. For example, an employer can be very tackle, hey, you're not doing a good job, we think you can do better, and it's a nice way of telling you you stink. But he also has the power of saying, I could fire you.
So that's a motivation for you to up your game. But the Christians really don't have that. The pastor has Full authority over those in the church. By consent. By consent.
is no other power Than you to say This is a prophet of God. God is leading me. under this ministry, this authority. It's by consent.
So in Christianity Everything we have is in the Spirit. Everything we do is supposed to be spiritual. Every struggle we have is spiritual. There is a Satan that is harassing us. As we pour water on whatever fires of the flesh flare up, Satan is trying to pour gasoline on them.
When we understand these things, we can take courage. Because When you're confused about things, you're weaker. We are stronger when we know where the exits are. What things are for? But when we're not sure, We're not as strong as we We could be.
So, those non-essential principles of the weak in the faith, well, the mature will yield. When they're not essentials, they'll not be sucked into arguments if they are applying their maturity. The problem that I have noticed is that some Christians will classify non-essential doctrines as essential, and there's not a lot you can do with them. I guess yielding involves, you know, not trying to exercise your superiority. And take that parking space when you can yield to the other one that got there maybe a little bit.
later than you. Learn to yield. And when you learn to yield, tell me how you did it. Do not please ourselves.
Well, it comes natural. It's only natural to please myself. That's the problem. It's natural, it's not spiritual. The natural man loves to please himself.
It extends to others. Nepotism is a wicked person doing a good thing for someone they love. Abraham. He yielded to Lot. Pick a direction.
You get first choice. I'll go anywhere else but the direction you're going in. And of course, Lot, exercising his carnality, chose the land towards Sodom. He thought that was appealing. It was a mistake.
He lost almost everything because of that choice. Yeah. Which brings us to petty beefs. That doesn't mean small Stakes.
Okay. Mm-hmm. They're useful to Satan. Maybe you know you've got one. Maybe you know that you can't get past petty, you've got to be right, you've got to assert yourself.
Will you admit? Years ago, in ministry, I headed up a ministry in New York, and the pastor came to me and he says, Hey, I want so-and-so to. Be your assistant or second in that ministry. And I said, I don't like that guy. He gave me the choice, so I'm going to tell him the truth.
It worked out well. I had no problem with the person, just as a person goes, but there were things about his personality that would clash with mine. You don't know who he is, so I can really rag on him for a moment. Yeah. Anyway, it would have been wrong for me to say, oh, sure, fine, if I met, oh man, not that guy.
But I did not allow, and this is, I've got failures, but I'm not telling you what they are. I'm just going to share the good ones. It wasn't a petty beef. It wasn't, you know, please don't sit next to me, or I'm going to change churches. Again, we'll come back to it, but this is the thing that kills churches.
petty little things because you're offended. Verse 2. Let each of us please his neighbour for his good. leading to edification. Again, Paul is trying to fix this mess.
That Did not exist only in the church at Rome. He'd already been through at Carnath, which certainly was through the churches in Galatia. It's going to stay even into Revelation. Christ is out of the seven churches, He's saying, You know, five of you, I got a big problem with you, and if you don't fix this, I'm leaving. Pretty serious how he addresses those churches.
The darling church, Ephesus. The investments that she enjoyed. Paul taught there. Apollos, Timothy, John the Apostle. That church was so blessed.
Only to end up Leaving their first love. They lost their passion for Christ. And in its place, they had a passion for religion. Christless Christianity is no joke. Verse 2, let each one please his neighbor.
for his good leading to edification. And I've covered something about yielding. But the most powerful argument for Christian conduct is the example that Christ has left us. He pleased his father. Everything was about his father in heaven.
Now you can disagree with some Christians. On their non-essential biblical views or church policy. And they'll crumble. They get in the flesh. Catch an attitude.
Argue. Withdraw from serving. Leave the church, try to take others with them, all because. You hurt their feelings. Don't be that guy.
You cannot get anything done as a body in Christ. with those kind of truths. You've got to be tougher than that, all of us. Uh But that's cute. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio.
This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe.
On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio. Uh
