Lesson 58c

All right, we are on question four, which was from verse 15, what is meant to destroy? So we went through that, and it's a harsh word. So we got to, how do we destroy them? It's with food, strangely enough. It's by your food or meat, and that's why it's the non-essential things. And I think we got to the point at the very end from Wiest, said, in the sense of this, at the same time aware that the weak in these circumstances may easily be persuaded or overborne into doing what his conscience disapproves, the apostle exclaims abruptly. To tamper with conscience, it is here implied, is ruin. And the selfish man who so uses his Christian liberty as to lead a weak brother to tamper with his conscience is art and part in that ruin. So again, how does this happen? How do we destroy somebody by eating meat or anything like that? What does it say about that? How do we destroy them? How does it happen?

Don't all talk at once. I think out of our own selfishness to say, I've got freedom, I'm going to do what I want, is not loving and caring and bringing along with you the weaker brother. Good. The answer is in the verse, and you just said it. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are what? No longer walking according to love. So, Russ, you had it right.

If you're doing it out of selfish motives or... Actually, I had a talk with the family that's staying with us, Nathan's family, and his brother was with us and we were talking about that. And if you're choosing to offend somebody, then you're not doing it in love anymore. And so, if you're eating meat and you know it irritates somebody, or whatever you do, and you know it irritates that person and you do it, Is that doing it according to love? No. So this is what it's talking about.

If you use your liberty, you're no longer walking according to love. If you know it is something that is going to not stumble a brother, but basically cause him to be drawn away from the Lord, any of these things, then you're not doing it according to love.

Remember I was talking about actually at the beginning of this lesson about how beginning in chapter 12, Paul is instructing from a broad perspective. He starts from the broad about the church and social relationship. Then he focuses down in chapter 13 about government. Now in chapter 14, we started about weaker brothers and the focus was on weaker brothers.

Now we're talking about the strong brother and how they react. So at the end of all this, the root of it comes down to this big funnel, I say, from the broad all the way down through the weaker brother to now us, the stronger or the stronger brother. The end point of that funnel is love. Love for the Lord and love for your brother. And so I was actually reminded of this in my daily readings.

I got through Titus right now. where this is Paul advising Titus about how to run the church. I think he was the head of the church in Crete. Paul had left him in Crete to look over the church there. Titus 3, 1, and 2, it says, and this is for Paul telling Titus how to run the church there.

Remind them to be subject to their rulers, to authorities, Boy, it's similar to what Paul just said in 12 and 13 about the authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable and gentle. Remember how in the end, in 14, I think the beginning of it, or end of 13, where it says, where at all costs try to be at peace with all men? Same principle here, to be peaceable, gentle. And the last is showing every consideration for all men. So again, Paul is giving Titus the same commands or the guidance that we're getting right here, showing every consideration for all men.

Be the root of all your actions is love. So that's the end of this funnel, as I call it, coming down to where it's all based on love and love of your brother, and the focus on them rather than you. Even though we have all these liberties, the focus is still on your brother.

Question five, how could something good for you as a believer be spoken of as evil by someone else? So this comes out of verse 16. Therefore, do not let what is good for you, a good thing, be spoken of as evil. So, first of all, what is for you a good thing? What does that refer to? What is a good thing he's referring to?

A freedom that you have. Freedom, okay. Others? Brisket. What was that? Brisket? A good thing? Yeah. You didn't come to the picnic. We had brisket. We had pork butt. We had a lot of good things. So is that your contribution, JD, that that's your good thing is brisket? At this point, yeah. OK. We're in the shallow end of the pool right now. Okay, so, barring JD's comment, Kathy, you are much more on target than JD at this point. So... In my translation here, there's a little...

It says that the evil spoken of is... Yes, I'll get to the bad. So yeah, and you have the right thing for the good thing. So the good here refers to Christian liberty or the freedom, as you said, Kathy, the freedom of conscience, which has been won by Christ. This not only speaks of Christian liberty, but first to the use of it by those who are strong in the faith, which is indeed good and delightful to God in itself. So the good thing he's talking about here when he says, therefore, do not let what is a good thing be spoken of evil. He's talking about your liberty.

So he's saying, don't let this liberty be spoken of as something that is bad, that you're using it in a malicious way. the we have this freedom that's the good thing but don't let where as we get to it be spoken of what is evil and and kathy i'm getting to that is for the the evil which is in the greek word is blasphemy oh what does that sound like lastly blaspheme so i'm not to hurt the reputation or smite with reports of words speak evil slander or rail Now, how does the good thing become something that is spoken as of evil?

How is that done? Well, if there's a misunderstanding of the liberty, then the person would judge and criticize. About what they criticize what? That the person is doing something wrong, when it was simply liberty. Okay. The law would do that. They would think, oh, you're not abiding by the law, so your Christian liberty is evil. Yes. And so this, basically what I said is liberty will inevitably get a bad name if it is exercised in an inconsiderate, loveless fashion.

So, I have all, you know, Galatians 5.1, stand fast in the liberty that we have in Christ. I have a tremendous amount of liberty, but if I know that something irritates somebody and I do it, is that in love? Even though I have the freedom to do it.

You know, we're talking about our friend. If, if he had a drinking problem and he's in the hospital because of all this, he gets out of the hospital and we have him over to the house and we pour, you know, a big glass of wine for him and we're drinking wine and all that. I have the full liberty to do that. Am I doing that in love? No. Because I know that will bring him back into a position that will inevitably cause pain, cause health issues, all that. I have the full liberty to do it. But if I say, well, I'm just going to have a glass of wine, don't worry about it. Well, you don't have to have one, but I'm going to have a glass of wine in front of you. This is what it's talking about. If I do that, I am not showing love. I have the full liberty to do it, but I'm not showing love to that brother.

This was from Vincent in there. The whole chapter is concerned with mutual relations of Christians rather than their relations to God. I thought that was a good thing. This is about our interpersonal relationship between believers. This is not really a relationship to God, although it does impact that by having, you know, we're not a good witness, all these different things, we're not being good ambassadors for Christ. It does have other ramifications, but what this is really talking about is mutual relationships between believers. And so that's the focus of this whole chapter, really. As I said, it started with the weaker brother and about that, but now it's down to the stronger brother and how we relate to that weaker brother. So it's all about the relationship. So Newell states it this way. But in the use of which one must take heed that it not be judged or spoken evil of by the weaker brother, we must always have the weaker in mind.

You may have a very blessed liberty in Christ, and that is good. But watch in using your freedom, lest someone not having your freedom calls your path wickedness. Don't lose your liberty, but use it carefully. I thought that was good. Don't lose it, but use it carefully. I thought that was a good summary point. Don't lose it, don't give up all your liberties that we have.

Stand fast, Galatians 5.1. Stand fast in your liberty, but exercise it carefully. I thought that was very good. I posed the question, and I actually went through this this morning when I came here with our friends who are staying with us, with Nathan.

And so what if somebody doesn't like how you dress or what I'm wearing? Should I dress the way they say? If they don't like the color of your shirt or what I'm wearing. Fortunately, you only see me from my waist up, thankfully. You don't get to see my wonderful gray shorts right now. Again, those are those things you don't want to see. So, what if somebody says you shouldn't be wearing shorts?

What's your response? I could get back and actually try and show you my, can't read. Or what, don't like what you're wearing. I think there's a, that's a huge issue today with what's going on in our society, you know, where. I don't know, are you talking about that they think it's sinful to wear shorts or something like that? Or that they just don't like shorts? How do you respond to somebody who says, you shouldn't be wearing shorts? And I don't think you can pick, Mike's being picked up again. How do you respond to that?

And is there, can you speak in yours and see? Can you, see if you hear Donna. Can you hear Donna? Can you hear me? No. No. Seems like all the mics are shot down here. And yours is on, right? Pull it up near you and see if you can see it. Can you hear me now?

Not through that microphone. Huh. All right, well, I'll either walk by Mike and... This is my greatest dream, muting Mike. No, that's what I'm trying to do. Sorry, sorry, that was uncalled for. Yeah, I'm abusing my liberty, yes. So... Go for it. JD? Did you say something? No, I wasn't.

The response is, in terms of shorts or colors or styles, it you know i i just don't feel like that that falls into this first concert christian freedom uh... i think we can all dislike certain things uh... we'll maybe like the car you drive we don't like the color you where we are like clothes you put on uh... but i don't i don't feel that i don't believe that that's the heart of this version that it would restrict us to wearing pants alone. That just becomes a legalistic item that's not even... I'll stop there and just see what the class has to say. Any other thoughts? Yeah, the refraining from the meat also could be legalistic. Very legalistic. Yeah.

So what I was saying before was, I mean, if they really think it's sin to wear shorts, you know what I mean? Like, oh, if a lady wears pants or has a very short skirt or something like that, and that's sin, is that what you're talking about? Or are you talking about that's just their taste?

Getting to the point, and this is, so this verse is really talking about the non-essential things of a believer. We're talking about meets and days and festivals, those type of things. Paul is bringing out those things that are not germane to the Christian life. So these are similar things that are not germane to our Christian walk. But how do you respond to those? And I think it's kind of a real, case-by-case basis.

You know, I come out of the old Brethren Church, and in the old days, if women did not cover, it was split churches, whether you wore a hat or a head covering or not. That split Brethren churches. Some felt that you had to have a head covering, and if you didn't, you couldn't worship. So, This is the kind of stuff that Paul was addressing, I think. It wasn't the meats in the festivals, but it was head coverings or something that was dividing the church.

And so I'm very, not sensitive, but I know this very well, that these superficial things can be very divisive. And they're not anywhere germane to the Christian life. And so, I think in here, it's this real individual, I don't know how to say it, the individual dealing with other individuals. Again, this is the mutual relationship between believers. How do you, in a loving fashion, respond to these things?

And I'll tell you, this morning it was kind of interesting. The guy who was with us, staying with us, he comes from a charismatic church and he went to ORU and there were ties and coats and everything like that. And I'll tell you, I got dressed this morning and I thought, shoot, I'm not gonna wear shorts because that'll really irritate him. So this is how weird it is. So I'm thinking of this lesson and I go and I put my long pants on and I'm thinking, help him, and I thought, you know, this is a good lesson. I put my shorts back on. And I went to him, and I talked to him, and I said, you know, Vic, I just want to talk to you about this.

Would you have, if I wore shorts to your church, would you have, you know, because it's not what you're wearing that deals with how you relationship with the Lord. And he goes, absolutely. You know, it's not what you wear. He says there's a cowboy church he goes to, and if he dressed up in cowboy boots, jeans, and a hat and went to the cowboy church, does that make him a cowboy by what he's wearing?

The point being, is what we wear, is that how it determines how we're a Christian? that uh... it's awfully hard taking these lessons and you have to listen to what you're teaching and and you have to apply it so i was actually trying to apply that that wearing shorts may be offensive to him and i just i've got to talk to him as i don't know it's fine with itself i'm in shorts all the people here to see my wonderful legs here but the uh... so it's again those things that are not germane to christian life But you have to be sensitive to the brother or the sister, and you walk them through that.

You come beside them. The stronger, remember what we were talking about early in the chapter? The strong comes beside the weaker and brings them along. We're now in that case where the stronger brother is to bring them along in this and walk them through.

If there's not, if there's still this tension and the liberty that you have, you have to really think about whether you're doing it in love. So the way ahead is two things about this. Does it cause a person to stumble, which means to have that person return to a sinful behavior or fall away from their personal fellowship with the Lord? The second is the response must be made out of love.

All of this falls into the same funnel of thoughts and practical applications of chapters 12 through 14, which has been to be at peace with all people, be an ambassador for Christ, representing him before the world and other believers. So again, it goes back to the Titus verses that I just read about, we're to be at peace, we're to be an example, we're to lead, but not abuse our Christian liberties. So everybody good with that? Courtney?

Yeah. I thought that was really brilliant and it was very loving. you know that instead of just agonizing over it in yourself, you used it as a teachable moment and demonstrated love to it. It's because when I think of the teaching I don't want somebody to go, hey, didn't you say? And I'm teaching this. Actually, yesterday we had a lot of good discussions about Romans with this couple who was with us. And actually, some thing with some other believers, we had a wedding thing to go to yesterday.

And a lot of the things that we're teaching were relevant to what we're discussing at the at a wedding so yes uh... that the lord brings these things and to teach me as well and so you know uh... i can't just do as i say not as i do that is not the not what you do here so uh... All right, question six.

From this passage, what is acceptable to God and the Holy Spirit? And so verse 17, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

So, from the verse, what is not related to the Kingdom of God? What? Eating and drinking. Eating and drinking. Basically saying that all the religious ceremonies, traditions are not relevant to the Kingdom of God. All those things that are not relevant are not related to the kingdom of God, the eating, the meat, the festivals, all those things. So what does pertain to the kingdom of God from these verses? Well, righteousness, peace, and joy. yes in the spirit righteousness peace and joy in the spirit that's the things that pertain to the kingdom no makes a comment that the kingdom of god in this versus this is interesting is not in christ but in the spirit therefore these verses are not speaking of our position which is in christ but i walk or condition in the spirit so i thought that was a really important point this is not talking about anything of our eternal position none of this relates to that it's all secure eternal this is the the stuff that deals with our walk so then back to the question what is acceptable to god it's that What pertains to it is righteousness, peace, and joy, but what is it that is acceptable to God?

Walking according to love. Okay. Others? Being in righteousness and in peace and in joy. Okay? Donna says, serves with Christ. That's in verse 18, for he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So he who serves Christ.

So now the question is, in this way, what is the way? It's not like if you've been watching the Mandalorian where they say, this is the way, the way, it's not that way. What is the way? I think it's what brings unity and peace and love in the body. Yep. Any others? So, the way it is, living our life in liberty, which we have in Christ, exercise in a considerate, loving fashion, without destroying our brother and sisters in Christ. By doing this, we'll be approved by men also. So, Newell makes the following comment.

We cannot too strongly emphasize this fact that the kingdom of God now is altogether in the spirit. This leaves forms and ceremonies, days and seasons, unclean meats and clean meats absolutely out. Such things are not, quote, Christian. They are Jewish or pagan now. Such religious distinctions as these concerning eating and drinking are certainly not at all in the Holy Ghost, where all the saints now are, and whose energy in all the real operations of the kingdom of God now are.

So again, we're in the spirit now. And these are the things that matter about the peace, the love. We have liberty, but we have to exercise them in a very loving fashion. So, moving on. How do we tear down the work of God? Now that we've built it up, how do you tear it down? so in verse nineteen so then we uh... pursue the things which make for peace and the bill building up of one another do not tear down the work of god for the sake of food so first let's define what's the work of god what is that edification of the believer what's that the edification of the believer edification of the believer mike are you going to say something if i turn the uh... if you turn the speaker off here, then I can talk and you and you know, can you hear him now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, so you have a situation where he's talking about occupying and living in Christ and he's associated with Christ. The whole kingdom of god is there in him and so the behavior pattern that goes on in in a selfish world where my sin nature is in control.

So now I'm living in a circumstance where I'm the least important person in my sphere of influence rather than the most important one. And so therefore my focus, because that's the way Christ's life is implemented by the Holy Spirit, operates in a way where I focus on the on the benefit of my brothers and sisters in Christ rather than my own benefit. And so therefore, it not only works for believers, but it also works for the world as they observe how we function. So I would say that any behavior outside of walking in the spirit is detrimental to what God is doing. base comments think uh... again we're talking about the work work of god what is that they want to get back to that real quick the work of god here for city and this is from newell refers the operation the spirit of god and what mike was saying about the holy spirit when we're in the spirit walking in the spirit refers the operation the spirit of god within the soul the fabric which the grace of god has begun in which the edification of christians by each other may help to raise So, it's basically our uplifting, our edifying our brothers, our sisters. It's, again, coming down to the end of the funnel, which is love. You love your brother, and you can only do that in the spirit. So, that's the work. Are you? I'll add just one thing.

I'd agree with everything that was said there, for sure, but I think at the end of the day, that is glorifying to God, right? So, all of this work, of God is ultimately glorifying Himself. And the love that we, and the edification that we show our brethren, ultimately glorify Him. So that funnel includes that result. Yeah, the end result is to glorify him. That is true. That's it.

The end one, by giving up your liberty and uplifting a brother, uplifting somebody, a fellow believer, is uplifting ultimately, you know, the church, the body, and ultimately the body of Christ who are in believers. So, yeah, the ultimate one is to glorify him.

And, you know, again, that's, if you're doing it out of selfish motives, is that correct? It's ultimately not because you want to selfishly do something. It's giving of yourself. You have this liberty which you have, but you're going to defer that because you want to strengthen or build up a brother or sister.

I would say, too, that it's not a refrigerator list that this is how I should act or this is how I shouldn't act. The issue is I have the life of Christ that's my life now. And that life by its very nature is not self-centered. And so my job as a believer is not to learn the rules and try to implement it.

My job as a believer is to depend on the spirit to implement that the life of the Lord Jesus in and through me and not to keep score. Now, in that sense, so I'm alert to when I may have placed a stumbling block in front of somebody or some circumstance like that, but I think it always comes back to my self-centeredness, that I want to demand my rights, and I want to somehow insert myself into the conversation or the equation, and I'm important. abiding in the spirit of Christ, there's only one person important in that whole realm of things, and that's the Lord Jesus himself.

So that's actually, we get to the second part of the question, how do we tear it down? How do we tear down the work of God? Mike basically gave the answer. When you're selfish, When you're selfish, you tear down the work of God. Newell put it this way, or which the selfish refusal to walk in love may pull down. For we find more people stumbling at inconsistencies and lack of love in professing Christians than at all things else. You know, this is one of those ones where I, it's a song, I think it's a Bruce Carroll song, and I always sing it. I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. And I think that's almost referring here that if we're selfish, if we're this and people see that, that tears down the work of God.

And if you're selfish and people see that, you can say all the words you want, but if your life doesn't reflect that, it i think it tears down the work of god that he's talking about here this reinforced uh... by what paul just stated in the previous verses for the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit there's nothing about self in there for he who in this way serves christ is acceptable of god and approved by men And he also emphasized this in the epistle to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2.22.

Now flee from your youthful lust, and what? Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. See the consistency in all of Paul's epistles and everything? So not acting this way or not walking in the spirit can tear down the work of God, which is God working in the hearts of people. So, Newell also backs this up with other verses from Paul in 1 Corinthians 9, 19.

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. we're getting the hook here and i think that uh... i've got a couple more things on this so what will finish uh... this one up this question and really think i guess that the last thing is i have a question with her all of this is this convicting when you think about this that you know all these things that paul is given to timothy to titus as i wrote the air as he wrote all these things is is convicting to you about how you relate to somebody. Just what I was talking about this morning, it's convicting.

How am I relating to a brother? How am I relating to somebody? Is it in love? Is it in righteousness? Do I think of the other before myself? and so i found that you know as i was studying this it's very convicting to see these these verses and how i relate with other believers so they give that some thought and will uh... will continue on and finish up this question hopefully next week we will finish jd i don't know we're counting how many now so that's okay i'll be ready to go uh... let's play have a father we thank you we uh... we thank you as we see as believers we have so much liberty stand you tell us to stand fast in that liberty and we thank you for all what that means that we are not uh... uh... bound by all these laws and rules and different things that the uh... the world has in the the old religious systems have we we are not bound by that and we thank you for that liberty that we have that uh... these things uh... we can do it without having any uh... problem however here now uh... told us to that with that liberty comes with uh... that provision that we use that liberty in care and that the ultimate focus is love, which as we know from scripture, the root of all love is from you, Father.

You are love. And we love because you loved us. And so we're just getting back to the root of who you are and the love of you and the glorification of you by giving these liberties up in love to support and uplift a brother or sister. We thank you for that and we realize that none of this happens without the Holy Spirit working within us. That and with your word are the convincing and convicting of our conscience and the persuasion of our conscience to be able to do this without malice or doubt or anything. We rest in that and thank you for that. We just thank you for this time, and we look forward to opening up your word anytime in the fellowship that we have in your word. And we thank you for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.