The Things That Make for Peace

Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. We could spend indeed not weeks, months, but years and never do a full exposition of the book of Romans. I want to tell you something as you're finding the book of Romans chapter 14 about the devil and what the devil would like to do. The devil had rather send division in the body of Christ than to open a porno palace or open a new distillery.

Did you know that? Satan wants to divide the brethren. Now what we're going to be talking about today is unity in the church. And the key verse here in chapter 14 is verse 19, Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace. And that's the title of our message today, the things that make for peace. Because what God wants is unity in the church.

Let me tell you three things about unity. Number one, it is the desire of the Savior. Jesus wants unity in his church. And in John chapter 17, the Lord Jesus is praying his great high priestly prayer and he prays in verse 22, Father, that they may be one even as we are one. One of the things that gives Joyce and myself great joy is to see our children loving one another. We pray for our children every day. We pray for our children and grandchildren and we want them to love Jesus. We want them to love us and we want them to love one another. And I'll tell you that our Lord wants you to love your brothers and sisters in Christ, all of his children. It is the desire of the Savior.

I want to tell you something else about unity. It is the delight of the saved. There's nothing more heartbreaking than to be in a church where there's division. There's nothing more glorious in my estimation than to be a part of a church where you have a sweet fellowship and a oneness of spirit.

Is that not true? What a fellowship and what a joy divine. That's the reason the Psalmist said way back yonder in Psalm 133 in verse 1, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Unity is the desire of the Savior. It is the delight of the saved and it is the dread of Satan. It is the dread of Satan. Satan gets very nervous when God's people dwell together in unity when they become one because when we dwell together in unity, we become a winning team. Coach Wooten of UCLA, great basketball coach, a legend, was asked, what does it take to make a winning team?

Now, they were expecting some great convoluted explanation. He gave the most simple explanation of what it takes to make a winning team. He said, number one, get the players in condition. Number two, teach them the fundamentals of the game. Number three, teach them to play together as a team. Teach them unity. Isn't that simple? That's exactly what it takes to make a great church.

Get in condition, get right with God, learn the fundamentals of the game, learn what this thing of being a Christian is all about, and then become a team for the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know how many of you read Peanuts, but in the comics, you know, I'm a connoisseur of the comic strips. And Lucy came in the room where Linus was watching television. Linus on his beanbag watching television. And Lucy says to Linus, change the channel.

Linus looks up and says, why should I do that? She said, I'll give you five good reasons. She held up five fingers. And she said, you see those? Like that, they're not much.

But she said, when I curl them together like this, they're a power awesome to behold. Linus said, what channel do you want? And then after he changed the channel, he held up his five fingers and said, why can't you guys get together like that? Now, folks, listen, the folks at Rome were in danger of disunity. And that's what this chapter is written about. Now, let me tell you what they were divided about, not fundamentals, but incidentals. They were divided primarily about two things, days and diets.

What foods that they could eat and what days that they should keep. And they were, both sides were sincere. And so Paul is writing to get unity in the church. I think it's a wonderful chapter for us to study together because we can learn that sincere people, people who love God with all of their hearts, can have different opinions. Have you learned that yet?

If you haven't learned it, you will learn it. Now, Augustine, St. Augustine, a man we call St. Augustine, was a great believer, great Christian, a great mind. And he made a statement that I would like for you to remember.

You've probably heard it before. But he's talking about what we should do or what attitude we should take when we differ in the body of Christ. And this is what Augustine said. He summed it up in this way, in essentials, unity.

Now, got that? In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. And in all things, charity. Did that sink in?

If not, I'll give it to you again. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. And in all things, charity. Now, I'm going to borrow those thoughts from St. Augustine and use that as an outline to think about today because we're going to think about essentials and then we're going to think about non-essentials. And then we're going to think about the love that we ought to have in all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me tell you, number one, about unity.

This is the first point. Unity is, number one, a matter of lordship. That is the essential, the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, look, if you will, in verse 9 of this chapter, and this is another key verse. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. It is a matter of lordship. Now, there were some incidentals compared to the fact that Jesus is Lord don't seem so important.

For example, they were disagreeing over the matter of diets. Go back now to verses 2 and 3. Now, Paul, well, let's begin verse 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Now, that means take a new believer, somebody who is weak, who doesn't understand a lot of things, receive him into the church but don't argue with him about incidentals, doubtful disputations.

That's just arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pen. For he goes on in verses 2 and 3, says, For one believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs.

Herbs is vegetables. Now, in the church there were some people in Rome who had been saved out of raw paganism. And in paganism they made blood sacrifices to their pagan gods, to their idols, and these people had been saved out of that paganism. And they saw that some of the people in the church were buying that meat that had been offered to idols, and they were eating that meat. And these new Christians, weak in the faith, they were scandalized. They were former pagans. They said, How could you possibly, how could you possibly partake of that kind of food, lest I should touch any of it?

I've become a vegetarian. And then Paul says in verse 3, Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. That is, if you're strong, and these believers have been in the faith for a long time, they knew that an idol was nothing. They knew that meat is meat, and that idol was just a stick or a stone, and just sheer rationality said, There's nothing wrong with this food. And so they were a little hacked at these pestiferous, weaker brothers who said, Ah, ah, ah, you ought not to be eating that. And so they're looking down on these people who are criticizing them, and Paul says, Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him which eateth, for God hath received him. They were just divided over and incidental whether or not to eat food that had been offered to idols. Paul is saying, Look, it's a matter of lordship, not a matter of diet. And now here's a second thing that was dividing them.

Not only diets, but days. Look, if you will, in verse 5. One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own heart. Do you see how Paul is dealing now with the incidentals?

Now, how did this work out? Well, the Jews, who thought it was quite all right to eat this meat that had been sacrificed to idols, also had come out of Judaism and they had their special high holy days. And even though they had become Christians, these high holy days that the Jews had meant so much to them, so they observed these days. Now these pagans had not observed these high holy days and these days didn't mean anything to them.

And the early Jewish believers looked down upon these pagans because they would not keep those high holy days. And they said, well, it's just a day. We're saved and we're in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now again, Paul is saying, look, it's not a matter of diet. It's not a matter of days. It is a matter of devotion. Jesus is Lord.

Now, folks, we can get divided over incidentals, but we must stay united over one thing. Jesus is Lord. Now get that down in your heart. If you don't, it's going to be a long, hard ride in this matter of being a Christian. Now, because Christ is Lord, listen, when somebody receives Jesus Christ as Lord, we receive him and we don't divide over incidentals. That's the way he leads out this chapter. Look in verse 1, him that is weak in the faith.

Receive ye. Don't argue with him. Not to doubtful disputations. Don't divide over incidentals. And he says the same thing in chapter 15, verse 7. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. We can be brothers without being twins. We don't have to be just alike if we are from the same family. We can have different ideas, different opinions of different things. You can have unity without having uniformity. Now, why should we welcome those who differ with us?

Why should we not try to make everybody march in lockstep? Well, first of all, we ought to receive them because God has received them and their salvation is from God. Notice verse 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth.

Now, watch this. Here's the key, for God has received him. Now, folks, when God receives somebody, you better receive them.

Say amen. When God has received them, you had better receive him. You see, his salvation is from God. If the brother or the sister is a Christian, we're in the same family. Why, we're even in the same body. And so if you hurt him, you dishonor the father and you harm yourself.

So put it down. Why do you receive a weaker brother? Well, number one is salvation is from God. Number two, his service is to God. Look in verse 4. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?

To his own master he standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to make him stand. Now, if you have somebody working for you in your business, who am I to come in there and tell him to do this or not to do that or to criticize the way he does what he does in your business? He doesn't answer to me.

It's your business. He answers to you. Now, in the same way, brothers and sisters in Christ are servants of God.

They're not your servant. And who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls, so it's not your job to pull him down and you don't have to prop him up. Paul goes on to say in his great statement on eternal security, God is able to make him stand. God is able to make him stand.

Now, we're talking about why we should receive one another. Number one, his salvation is from God. Number two, his service is to God.

Number three, look at it right here in verse four, his security is of God. God is able to make him stand. He may not be where you are spiritually, just give him time.

You don't pull your radishes up by the roots to see how they're growing and then jam them back in the ground again. Give him time. God will help him to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His salvation is from God, his service is to God, his security is in God, and his stewardship is to God. Look in verses 10 and 12. But why dost thou judge thy brother?

Or why dost thou set it not by brother? That is to say to him, you're not worth much, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God, and my stewardship is to God, and your stewardship is to God. And so, you know, rather than going around judging other people, we'd better get ready to answer to God ourselves.

Isn't that right? We'd better get ready to answer to God for ourselves. One lady had gotten into politics in a state election and she told her husband, looks real good.

Said, I believe we're going to sweep the state. He said, I suggest you start at the back door. Now, folks, so many times, we're out there looking at other people rather than looking at ourselves. Faults and others I can see, but praise the Lord, there's none in me. Well, listen, Paul says, receive him. His salvation is from God. His service is to God. His security is in God.

His stewardship is to the Lord. Now, therefore, we are not to disagree about doubtful things. Very frankly, the great issues of disagreement are not about diets and days. Not really. To some degree, it may be. But we have our things that we disagree with.

But come think about it, we do have disagreements. For example, I love Christmas. Do you love Christmas? I love Christmas. I love everything. I love the sights, the sounds, the lights, the music.

I love our pageant that we have here and everything. But do you know every time we have a Christmas pageant, I'll get some letters from some people that say, how on earth could you celebrate a pagan celebration like Christmas? And they will send me volumes of material to tell me all of the pagan accoutrements of Christmas and all of that sort of thing.

And then I think, boy, I know that there's a lot of junk out there, but I know something else. I know our Savior was born sometime, and I love to take a time and celebrate it. We've seen multiple thousands of people come to Christ by the pageants and so forth that we do. But I'm telling you, folks, there are good and honest people who love God as much or more than you who think that Christmas celebration is wrong. Have you discovered that?

Well, what do we do? Listen, folks, we can't judge them. They're not supposed to judge us.

I mean, in the body of Christ. I'm sure we have in this church some members who when we have a pageant just stay home and say, I just want preaching, praying, and singing. That's fine. That's fine. Let me tell you another thing.

I'm just giving you some examples. Did you know when we come in the church like this and somebody will sing, there are people who want to applaud. They're just so blessed, they say, praise God, that was wonderful. Other people say, don't you know we're in church?

Now, that was unto God. You don't need to applaud some man, some woman, some performance. Well, who is right and who is wrong? May I suggest to you neither is right and neither is wrong. It's just a matter of preference.

It's a matter of difference. Now, some people call that a 20th century Amen. The Bible says, clap your hands all ye people and sometimes I get so excited I can't sit still.

That's fine. I mean, we don't have to make everybody a clone of ourselves. I jokingly said sometimes we're going to have the ushers at the door and greet the people when they come and say clapping or no clapping and sit them on either side of the church. Hey, hey, folks, let me tell you something. You want to have some fun, you ought to be a pastor.

I'm telling you, it is so easy for us to get divided over things that are, you know, incidental and not fundamental. I'm not trying to... People talk about the way we dress, you know, and some people think, man, you're so snooty, you come to church and you wear a tie. Who are you trying to impress?

I mean, this is just family. You don't have to wear a necktie to come to church, dress up and show off your glad rags. Who are you trying to impress? We just think we ought to come in our cutoffs, our blue jeans, our sandals. You're welcome that way, and you're welcome to wear a necktie and dress the way that you think is appropriate to give honor and glory to God. Folks, we're never going to please everybody, and if we keep picking fault with people over incidentals, we're going to divide till there's nobody left standing but you and me and then just be me.

Just be me. All kinds of things. Politics. Boy, you talk about some folks that say, I would to God that you never mention anything political from the pulpit ever again. And other people say, good night. When is somebody going to stand up and speak out and say what is wrong in this world and call the people of God to action? Both people are sincere.

Now, folks, can you understand the kind of situations that arise in churches? But you see, you just come back to one thing. That's the reason Paul said, look, it's not a matter of days.

It's not a matter of diets. It is a matter of devotion. Jesus Christ is Lord to this end.

He died and rose and revived that he might be Lord of the living and the dead. And the unity in church is not in the organization, not in the music, not in the preaching. It is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Say amen.

Now, folks, we need to understand that in essentials we have unity. Donald Gray Barnhouse was a great Presbyterian preacher and he went to a conference one time to preach and it was a Bible conference and some of the women there were not wearing stockings. And some of the older ladies in the church were scandalized that some people had come into the worship service and were not wearing stockings.

And they told Barnhouse about it and here's what Barnhouse said. He said, did you know that the Virgin Mary did not wear stockings? And he said they were first worn by prostitutes in the 15th century. And then he said a lady of nobility wore stockings one time to a court ball and that was a scandal to many people.

But before long people in the upper classes began to wear the stockings and then Queen Victoria began to wear stockings and then wearing stockings became the badge of a prude. See, those are incidental things. Sometimes we say this is right or that is right and these are incidental things.

Now, listen to me. We're talking about the things that make for peace. Number one, in essentials, unity. That's a matter of lordship. Number two, unity not only is a matter of lordship, unity is a matter of liberty.

That's the second point. Look if you will now in verse 17 of this chapter. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, that is what you eat or what you drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. When you're saved, our Lord sets you free.

Now, liberty has its rights. There are certain things that I can do just because I've been set free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 14, Paul said, I know and I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus. There's nothing unclean of itself. Now, this meat offered idols, there's nothing wrong with that. Look if you will in verse 22, Hast thou faith? Have it thyself before God. Paul is just saying, Look, I have faith that there's nothing wrong with this meat.

I could eat this meat if I wanted to. I have my rights. And you see, liberty has its rights. Now, but not only does liberty have its rights, liberty also has its responsibilities.

Look if you will in verses 16 and 17. Now, Paul is talking about things that are good, nothing wrong with them, but he says in verses 16 and 17, Let not then your good be evil spoken of. That's the responsibility of liberty.

Look at the balance in this chapter. Liberty has its rights and liberty has its responsibilities. I know that it's fine, nothing wrong with it, but I don't want my good to be evil spoken of.

Now, you see, Paul says, There's some things that I'll give up because it's no big deal if I give them up. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost. You know what is wrong in a church? When people take their liberties and try to make such rights out of them that they wound the fellowship. Let me share this with you. I think it's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. A lady is writing and she says, and I quote, A lady took my seat in church a while back.

It's not that important really. She is a very nice lady, kind and considerate, a good friend in fact. There were several other seats available. I can sit any place.

The people in our congregation are as friendly and as caring as you will find any place in the world. A person should be comfortable sitting any place. It's no big deal. My seat is on the seventh row back from the front of the church. I'm sure that she did not intend to take my seat. She just wouldn't do that, nor would anyone else in our fine church.

It doesn't make that much difference. My seat is on the end of the pew on the north side by the windows, on the left as you come into the sanctuary. I can rest my left arm on the end of the pew. It's a good seat. But I would never raise a fuss about a seat. She probably didn't intend anything personal by taking my seat.

I would never hold a grudge. Actually, it was about three months ago when she took my seat. I really don't know why she took it. I have never done anything to her. I have never taken her seat.

I suppose I will have to come an hour earlier now to get my seat, either that or sit on the south side. She really took it because it is one of the best seats in the house. That's why she took it. She had no business taking my seat. And I am not going to church two hours early to get what was rightfully mine from the beginning. This is the way great social injustices began, abuse of people taking other people's seats in church. This is the way the seeds of revolution are sown. A person can only stand so much.

Where is it going to end? If somebody doesn't stand up and be counted, nobody's seat will be safe. People will just sit any place they please. And the next thing they will do is to take my parking place too.

World order will be a shambles. That's what happens, folks, when we don't realize that rights have responsibilities. I've seen people try to move a guest out of their seat. May God have mercy upon your poor, pitiful soul. God have mercy upon you. Some soul that may be lost and on the road to hell.

You say, pardon me, that's my seat. We're here to reach souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some things that are incidental and there are some things that are fundamental. The thing that is fundamental is that Jesus Christ is Lord. It's a matter of lordship and it's a matter of liberty. We have liberty, but liberty has its rights and liberty has its responsibilities.

Now here's the third thing I want to say. Unity is a matter of lordship. Unity is a matter of liberty.

And last of all, unity is a matter of love. Look, if you will, in verse 15. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably?

Charitably, that means in love. Charity in the King James Version is love. Now if you wound a weaker brother, you're not walking in love.

Now let me tell you what love will do in a church. Love will keep your brother from stumbling. Look in verse 13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Look in verse 21. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumblest or is offended or is made weak. Now you see, love says I'm not going to give him a reason to stumble. Now there are certain things in life that I don't do, not because I think that they would hurt me, but because I think they may hurt somebody else who would see me doing those things. And I wouldn't want to cause anybody else to stumble. Now I don't drink wine.

I don't touch it. I don't drink beer. I don't drink alcoholic beverages. I believe it's wrong. I believe I could give you a Bible reason, and I have done this on occasion, why no Christian should drink even moderately. But one of the major reasons I wouldn't do it even if I thought I could argue the case is I wouldn't want to cause somebody else to stumble. I'll tell you, if you were to walk in a restaurant and see me sitting in there drinking a beer or wine, it would hurt my testimony before most of you and especially little children. If you had a son, a teenager, who said, well, I want to go out with the boys and drink some beer, you say you ought not to do it.

Pastor Rogers does it. He's a good man. You see, we have to be careful, folks. We have to be careful that we don't do any things that causes somebody else to stumble. It's good neither to eat meat or to drink wine or anything whereby thy brother is offended or is stumbled or is made weak. And so love does not give somebody a reason for stumbling. And love does not give somebody a reason for sorrow.

Look in verse 15. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably? I wouldn't want to do anything that would break your heart even though I said I have every right to do it. But you say, but pastor, it grieves me to see you do that. And then he says, don't destroy your brother with your rights.

The word destroy here actually means to overthrow or to ruin. Don't mar his well-being. Love does not give my brother reason to stumble. Love does not give my brother reason for sorrow.

Love does not give my brother reason for separation. Look in verse 19. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and whereby we may edify one another. Love says, what can I do that will maintain the unity in the church? We must not do anything that causes division or separation.

And last of all, love must not give my brother reason for suspicion. Look in verse 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of. And look in verse 22. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which he allows. Now what does all that mean?

It means, look, perception is one of the cruelest forms of reality. And if somebody sees you do something that in itself is not bad, but Paul says, don't let your good be evil spoken of. Down in Florida, I had a lady come to see me and alcohol was her problem. She reached in her pocketbook at the close of session and took out a pint of whiskey. I said, pastor, I'm finished with that and set it on my desk. Fine.

We prayed and I felt God had done his job and she walked out and I am sitting with that pint of whiskey on my desk. I said, this will not do. So I said, well, what will I do with this pint of whiskey? I said, well, I'll throw it in the trash can.

I said, no, I can't do that. The janitor, you know, he'll come and pick that out of the trash can. I said, well, I don't want to leave it sitting on the desk.

Somebody come in here. I know what I'll do. I'll hide it behind my books.

I said, oh, no, that's worse. Just as sure as I put that pint of whiskey behind my books, somebody's going to come down and look and there it will be. What am I going to do with this pint of whiskey? I got to get rid of it.

How am I going to get rid of it? I'm sure I'm going to drink it. What am I going to do with it? I said, well, I'll dispose of it on my way home in some neutral spot. So I'll put it in a bag and put it in my car.

I said, God, if I have a wreck, don't let it happen, Lord. And so I'm driving around with this half pint of whiskey in my car. And I stop at a wooded spot and I said, well, I'll just walk out there in the woods and throw it away. I said, well, what if I get caught out in the woods with this half pint of whiskey out here? Somebody sees me out there. Folks, I breathed a prayer and walked out in the woods with that bottle and I don't believe in littering, but I did. I poured it out and killed some ants and threw that bottle away just looking. I felt incriminating. Now you say that's such a silly thing.

Yeah, maybe. But you know what? The Bible says don't let your good be evil spoken out. Don't do anything to cause anybody to be offended. Don't get divided over incidentals, okay?

Not over days, not over diets, not over opinions, not over what somebody else does. If you know your rights, fine, but also exercise those rights in love and receive one another. When people come into a church, they may not know what you know. They don't need to be criticized. They need to be loved. They need to be received and to help them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

Isn't that true? Now folks, you know what makes this church the great church that it is? It's not a what, it's who. His name is Jesus.

That's what we started with. Christ is Lord. He's like the hub of a wheel. Our membership, the rim of that wheel, the members, the spokes in that wheel. And the closer the spokes get to the hub, the closer they get to one another. Our unity is in Jesus. Amen.