Unity > Uniformity, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with JD Greer. Friend, the good news of the gospel is that God accepts us despite our mistakes, and that should influence how we accept each other. How can you not fellowship with somebody that God is in fellowship with?

In fact, by not welcoming them, you're implying that God's acceptance of them is misguided. When you love somebody and you accept somebody, even when you disagree with them about something you're passionate about, that shows the power and the magnitude of the gospel. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovich, and we are so thankful that you've joined us today. All right, let's think about this together. What are some of the issues not directly addressed in Scripture that might divide you and someone else in the church? Is it a worship style, a ministry that seems to be missing, or maybe the building needs updating? Today, Pastor JD shows us how when it comes to debatable matters in the church, we can obey our conscience while still being open to having it retrained. That means we are willing to be humble enough to learn from another Christian's perspective, and it helps us remember that the gospel message is much more than simply all thinking exactly the same. So let's rejoin Pastor JD as we continue in Romans chapters 14 and 15. All right, so my point today is not to tell you the right answer on any of those, or even my opinion on them. The point is, what are Paul's instructions on how to handle those conflicts in the church?

Here they are. I give you a handful of principles. Number one, he says you've got to obey your conscience. You have to obey your conscience. Let each one be fully convinced that you're going to obey your conscience. In other words, whatever you do, you ought to be able to do it as an offering to your Heavenly Father. Can you listen to that?

Can you participate in that? Can you go to that as an offering, as an act of worship to God? And you need to be fully convinced that you can because here's the thing, if you feel like something is wrong, and you do it anyway, you're going to be able to obey your conscience. The point is, you've got to obey your conscience and don't do something unless you're fully convinced you can do it as an offering to God because it is always dangerous, Paul says, to go against your conscience. We don't talk much about conscience anymore, and that's kind of tragic because a conscience is a gift from God. Your conscience is a type of moral intuition where you know something is wrong before you can articulate it. It's like a sixth moral sense. It's in the etymology of the word, conscience. Science means to know.

Con means with. It's something outside of cognitive knowledge. Your heart knows it before your head can explain it. Conscience is a gift from God, so you need to be very cautious in going against your conscience because numbing your conscience is dangerous. Because if you get used to doing what your heart feels is wrong, you'll gradually numb your conscience and tear it apart until doing wrong doesn't feel wrong anymore, and you'll lack the fortitude to be able to do what's right. Paul says, don't go against your conscience. Be fully convinced before you do something.

Number two, be open to having your conscience reformed. Like I showed you, Paul challenges the weak in this passage to get stronger in both direct and indirect ways. First, he calls them weak.

That's pretty direct. He says, you're weak. But he also very subtly begins to explain the gospel to them in new ways to show them how to better think about these questions. He's telling them, reform your conscience. Even though your conscience is a precious gift from God, that doesn't mean your conscience can't be wrong. It doesn't mean your conscience can't become better informed. This might be the most countercultural thing I say today.

Sometimes you have to challenge your conscience and reform it just because it feels right or feels wrong doesn't mean it is right or wrong. The Christian school I grew up in taught me that any kind of rock beat in music was sinful. That was the devil's beat. Even if you put Christian words to it, they said, that's like serving a T-bone steak.

On a platter of manure. Now later I learned that that wasn't true. But even after I understood that here, whenever I go into church and they'd have the drum beat out, I'd be like, oh, I feel the presence of Satan.

Right? You know, I can just feel him coming in and trying to invade the church and I feel guilty about it. My conscience was still reacting to that set of drums, even though my head knew that wasn't the truth.

My conscience had to grow and it had to be reformed. It bothered Peter's conscience, for example, to eat with Gentiles. That was a compromise and that the dinner table was holy and you shouldn't have unbelievers around it. So Paul in Galatians 2 says, you're wrong.

The gospel has changed that. You need to reform your conscience. Your conscience is wrong.

Here's one more. Some of you grew up being taught that interracial marriage was wrong. Even after you came to realize that that was not true, it still bothered you when you saw an interracial couple. You have to retrain your heart to feel the right thing. To having your conscience reformed. So Paul says, obey your conscience, but be open to having it retrained. Again, that might be the most countercultural thing I say today.

And I would say that what kind of church, how awesome would it be if members of this church were willing to listen to each other and to change their minds? Humble enough. Humble enough to just say, tell me why you find that so offensive. Tell me why that bothers you so much.

Tell me why it's objectionable. How awesome would it be if we were secure enough in our identity in Christ to let people tell us why they disagree with certain things that we think or certain things that we say? I mean, as it stands right now, a lot of times if you have some kind of disagreement in your small group, you just find a new small group. I was even around people who think like me and everything.

How awesome would it be if we're like, okay, tell me more about that. I want to learn from you on that. And that would be the right way. That's the way Paul sees the church. Number three, you've got to be patient with those who don't see things like you see them. Be patient with those who don't see things like you see them.

Verse three, one who eats must not look down on one who does not eat. When you feel freedom to do something that somebody else has a problem with, you're going to be tempted to say, when you feel freedom and they don't feel the freedom to do it, you're going to be like, why are you adding rules to the Bible, you Pharisee? You're such a legalist.

By the way, the definition of a legalist is anybody who has stricter standards on anything that you do. But when you feel freedom to do something that somebody else doesn't feel freedom to do, one of two things is true. The first one is, you might be wrong. The guy who is a professional pastor, I have a degree in theology. There's a lot of things that I've changed my perspective on in the last decade or two. Not essential matters of the faith, the things that I've just been around people and learned to see things differently. The more older I get, the more I realize how much of my perspective was shaped by my own selfish and sinful prejudices. Or by unquestioned things that I just heard from other people.

So I might be wrong. Or two, maybe God has graced you with insight that he just hadn't given to somebody else yet. And if that's the case, you need to realize that you didn't get that insight because you were a better or smarter or more moral person.

God gave it to you as an act of grace. Think about how patient and gracious God was with you, how many errors, theological errors you had. And then you be patient like that with others and give God time and space to be able to give that grace to them. You see, the church is a miracle of unity, not because the weak learn to conform to the strong, but because the strong also bear with the weak and because they don't condemn them and judge the weak and because they're just being patient with them. When the roles are reversed and when you don't approve of something that somebody else does, they're doing it, you think it's sinful and you don't like it, Paul says, well, don't reject them. See what he says there in the rest of verse three, the one who does not eat must not judge one who does because God has accepted that person. When somebody else does something you don't approve of, you're gonna be tempted to say, oh, you're just not very spiritual like me. You're not very mature like me. You're not being to holiness like I am.

You're just worldly, right? Or maybe even you're not really a Christian. The word judge that Paul uses, krino in Greek means to pronounce doom on. You're judging him and you're not even really, you're not serious about your walk with God.

What does Paul say to do? Paul says God has accepted that person despite their mistakes. So who are you to reject them? Do you realize how many times you've been wrong on something in your spiritual life and yet God has never stopped accepting you? Have God accepted you in the midst of your errors and wrong judgments?

Who are you to reject somebody else? Friend, the good news of the gospel is that God accepts us despite our mistakes and that should influence how we accept each other. How can you not fellowship with somebody that God is in fellowship with? Are you saying that your fellowship is more selective than God's? In fact, by not welcoming them, you're implying that God's acceptance of them is misguided.

But I'm saying I can't really get along with them in the family. Paul says, chapter 15, accept one another just like Christ accepted you because that glorifies God. It puts the gospel on display. When you love somebody and you accept somebody, even when you disagree with them about something you're passionate about, that shows the power and the magnitude of the gospel.

I love how Michael Byrd says it. He summarizes it. Paul has been unstressing that Jesus is Lord of the weak, that is, the teetotaling, the Sabbatarian, vegan Jews, and the strong, that is, the brave. Urban sippin', Saturday shoppin', bacon munchin' Gentiles. If God has justified them, they cannot condemn each other. If God has raised them up, they cannot put each other down. If they belong to the Lord, they belong to each other. If everyone calls them Lord, they must call each other brothers and sisters.

If God has accepted them, they must accept each other. What the unified looks like is it looks like the strong and weak together. It looks like not just the weak conforming to the strong, but the strong bearing with the weak and the walking patiently with each other. That leads me to number four because this one's crucially important. Number four, stop judging God's servants as if they reported to you. They don't. Who are you to judge another household servant? Before his own Lord, he stands or falls.

Y'all, that one principle would dissolve so much conflict. They don't answer to you. They're not gonna have to give an account to you. If they're wrong, God will correct them. They're his servants. So stop acting like it.

They answer to you. I'm not gonna spend my whole life trying to correct somebody else's servant. Now, that doesn't mean that I stop speaking my convictions. Paul keeps expressing his conviction throughout this passage.

But after speaking his convictions, he still embraces those who disagree with him as brothers and sisters, and he doesn't look down on them. You are listening to Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer. I wanted to take a second to shout out a very special group of people. You guys, our gospel partners, are the team that gives so generously to this ministry each and every month.

It's not an exaggeration to say that they are the financial fuel behind everything we do, including broadcasting Summit Life every weekday. We call them gospel partners because that's exactly what they do. They are actually partnering with us to help make the gospel known around the globe. This month, we are sending each of our faithful givers a copy of In View of God's Mercy, the second part of a two-part study through Romans written by the late Pastor Tim Keller. This ministry couldn't exist without our gospel partners, and it's always a privilege to say thank you with our specially curated featured resource each month. To give a one-time gift or to join us as a monthly gospel partner, as well as to get your copy of In View of God's Mercy, call us right away.

The number is 866-335-5220, or you can visit us online at jdgreer.com. Now let's get back to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor JD on Summit Life. Can you accept into close fellowship in this church people who see the public school, home school question different than you? Why is it that home school families only hang out with each other? Why is it that public school families only hang out with each other? Is this issue so important that you're like, well, I just can't hang out with people who don't see it like I see it?

How about this one? Can you be in close fellowship, like in the same small group, with those who answer the who should we vote for question differently than you do? Or is that the time when you hear somebody express something to your small group you don't quite agree with? You're like, oh, time for a new small group.

You hear one thing one time and you're out. What does that say about our love of the church? It says that we want uniformity more than we want unity. Speak your convictions, but don't stop embracing brothers and sisters and including them. If God embraces them and welcomes them as beloved family, so should you. Number five, Paul says prioritize your brother's spiritual health over your freedom.

This is a big one. For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you're no longer walking according to love. Don't destroy by what you eat somebody for whom Christ died.

So then let us pursue what builds up one another. It is a good thing not to eat meat. It's a good thing not to drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. Paul's like, look, I feel totally free in Christ to drink wine and eat bacon, but if me eating Baal bless bacon is harmful to my brother, and if my brother or sister just can't shake feelings of it being wrong and their conscience is wrecked when I eat it, I would rather give up eating pork in their presence at least than hurt them spiritually.

That's love. To the Gentile Christians, Paul's like, look, stop bringing your BLT sandwiches to discipleship group because your Jewish brothers and sisters are freaking out. And the Roman Christians are like, yeah, but Jesus died for bacon. Paul's like, yeah.

Yeah, he did. But even more importantly, he died for your brother. He died for your brother. Your focus should be the same as Jesus's was.

How can I help him build up my brother? How do I walk away from my freedom for his benefit? John Stott says it this way. Did Christ love him enough to die for him? And shall we not love him enough to refrain from wounding his conscience? By the way, the word wound in verse 15 means to cause distress, to grieve, to wreck. It means you're doing something that somebody just can't shake. It's like this is just, it's evil and I can't get over it. If you're drinking alcohol really bothers somebody's conscience, for example, don't do it in front of them. Don't talk about it. If it makes them stumble, love them more than you love your freedom.

Number six, last one. Paul says you've got to prioritize unity over uniformity. For the kingdom of God, he said, is not in eating and drinking the right things. The kingdom of God is not going to be experienced in uniformity and how we think about eating and drinking and what we read and who we vote for and where we send our kids to school.

The kingdom of God is going to be found in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Again, some of my family, hear me, truth matters and some things are worth dividing over. Throughout Paul's letters, he tells us, right, you can't get along with people that were thinking this and you got to mark these people and you can't be in church with them. There is a time to divide.

His point is the bar for division should be really, really, really high. After all, one of Jesus' last prayers was for the unity of the church. So if I'm going to separate from somebody else, if I'm going to say we can't be in close fellowship with each other, it ought to be about an essential matter. The kingdom of God is not about uniformity and all the non-essentials. The kingdom of God, the fellowship of the church, is about righteousness and peace and unity for Jesus' sake.

So you got to remember these three levels of importance that I told you Michael Byrd gave. You need to think about your disagreements and figure out which category they go in. There are matters essential for salvation. Friends, we're going to be clear on that.

We're going to be clear on that and that's the basis of our unity. There are matters that are important to the faith of the church, though they're not essential for salvation. Again, things like inerrancy of the Bible and how we understand marriage and morality and gender and that kind of thing. Those are things that sometimes you have to divide over, quite often you have to divide over. Number three, there are matters of indifference, non-essentials, debatable things, preferences and opinions. These are things we dare not divide over.

But let's go ahead and tell you, that's a lot easier said than done. Because some of those non-essential things, some of those debatable things, we're passionate about. And that's fine.

It's okay to be passionate about it. It's just that for many things, family fellowship is more important than being recognized as right. And for many things, unity is more important than uniformity. The gospel is more important. Summit, can we be a church like this? Because our community needs a church like this. Especially y'all, as we go into by every estimation, a very contentious election year. And we've got media outlets and politicians that are bent on polarizing us.

And what our community needs is a church that is more passionate about Jesus than we are about our opinions on non-essential matters. By the way, that's why I rarely tell you my opinions on these non-essentials from up here. It's not that I don't have these opinions. It's not that I'm scared to tell you what they are.

It's not that I don't think I have good reasons behind them. It's that I want this church to be about the gospel and not about uniformity and non-essential or debatable matters. Because I know the gospel we preach and the Savior we serve, it's too important for me to get divided on non-essential things.

Can we be that kind of church? Can we do it for Jesus? Here's how Paul starts to conclude himself, 14 verse 8. If we live, see, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord.

Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. We're the Lord's and it's not pleasing to King Jesus to be united in Christ and divided over debatable issues. You see, insisting on uniformity in your opinions is a very self-serving thing. Because when you're only surrounded by people who echo what you think on all these things, you feel justified.

You feel comfortable. And so we surround ourselves with people who echo back to us what we already think. Love lays down the desire to be exonerated as right. Love feels secure enough in who it is in Christ that I can have people around me that don't agree with me on non-essential things. And I'm like, I'm here not to be justified in how right I am on everything. I'm here to love and serve other people, even when they disagree with me on some of these things.

Paul says, do it for Jesus, because this is his body that he died for. As a parent, when my kids are not getting along, it bothers me. I really want my kids to grow up and love each other and get along and be a close family, right?

Isn't that how you parents feel about your kids? When Jesus looks at his children and they're divided over all these non-essential matters, it grieves his spirit. And so Paul says, do it for Jesus. Whether you live or die, do it for the Lord. Again, wouldn't it be awesome to be a part of a church like this? We need it as we go into 2020.

By the way, if you just nodded your head and said amen, there's a bunch of you that need to go home and change your Facebook stuff today. That's what that means. Because what you put up on those situations is nothing but division and polarization over debatable matters. It means that you've got to start thinking, what kind of person do I want?

Do I want to be a person who's built on category three? Or do I want to be a person who says Jesus and his love is more important? I'm not saying there's not a time to talk about these things. I'm not saying you should be passionate about them.

We should. Paul's talking about this whole meat offered to idols. We ought to talk about education and politics and all those things, but never to the point of division. And I'm not going to position myself on Facebook or Twitter in a way that causes division. And there are some of you in this church that are divided from other brothers and sisters in this church over a debatable matter.

And you need to repent and you need to seek reconciliation with them today. Let's be a church where our love of the gospel is stronger than our perspectives on debatable matters. And let's bear with one another, even in our weaknesses, even where we don't see it quite right. Let's bear with each other for Jesus sake and for the gospel sake.

Amen. Friend, this all starts with the gospel. The gospel that God accepted you, even though you were wrong, even though you were weak, even though you were sinful. Jesus paid the full penalty of your sin debt in your place and he offered you eternal life.

Paul says that's going to change how you treat each other. Have you accepted the gift of Christ? Have you begun that walk of discipleship? Have you accepted God's love and forgiveness of you?

Because your relationships with others will never change until you do. Father, I pray, I pray that the gospel would be the big thing in our church. I pray, God, that would be a church that would be united for Jesus sake. Make the gospel large in our eyes, so large that everything else pales in comparison. I pray in Jesus name. Let's be unified in our love for the gospel and the message of grace it represents.

That's all that truly matters, right? You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. If you missed any part of today's sermon, remember that you can always listen to today's broadcast or any other sermon free of charge at jdgreer.com. Recently, I sat down with Pastor J.D. to ask him about how the book of Romans can be pretty intimidating. I asked what our goal should be in studying it through a guide on your own, and here's what he had to say. I've always loved the words of Martin Luther about Romans that if he said if Romans were a tree, he'd want to climb to the edge of every single branch of the tree and shake it so vigorously that he got every last bit of fruit off of it. That's what we want to do with the book of Romans. We're offering along with this a resource by Tim Keller. But it's basically a study on how to go deeper into the gospel, into God's mercy in Romans and the difference it makes in your life.

Dr. Timothy Keller, who in many ways was a mentor of mine and so incredibly shaping on my preaching here. He says that Romans eight contains the secret to real life change, real life change. And so that's where the second volume picks up there in Romans eight. We offered the first part of this study earlier this year, so hopefully you got that. You can get the second half now.

That includes chapters eight through 16. You can get that right now at jdgreer.com. We'll send you a copy of Pastor Tim Keller's study that covers Romans chapters eight through 16 as a way to say thank you for your financial gift of thirty five dollars or more to this ministry. To give, call us now at 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220 or give online right now at jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch inviting you to join us again next time when we will talk about the will of God for our lives, a subject we all would like to know more about. So tune into Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.