The following message was delivered
on Sunday morning, December 15, 2002, in the Adult Sunday School
class at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now just a word of explanation
as to what I'm doing up here this morning. those of you who
attend this place know, Pastor Carlson is just completing a
guided study in Dr. Carson's book on spiritual reformation
priorities in the prayers of Paul. There will be one more
sort of catch-all review study in that book and in its biblical
content, and then you will be guided in a study in one of the
Gospels. We're still wrestling whether
it's going to be the Gospel of Luke or the Gospel of Matthew.
We've been seeking to find a book that is not a detailed commentary,
that is about the size of Dr. Carson's book, suitable for an
adult class, not the kind of book that a preacher would use
as his primary books of study were he preaching through one
of the Gospels but as we have weighed the various emphases
in our ministries we felt it was time to have a good dose
of a first-hand lengthy glimpse of our Lord himself as he is
set forth in the Gospel records and God willing that study will
begin the last Lord's Day of this year So here we are, I have
a one-off opportunity to lead the class, and as I've reflected,
there have been several things that have been kind of churning
around in my mind and in my spirit. And I had thought that it might
be a good opportunity to have an open forum. Periodically,
over the years, we've had those in which you are given the opportunity
to raise any question relative to the various ministries that
have been set before you in recent weeks and months, or general
concerns of a biblical nature that would be of general concern
to the people of God. However, as I reflected more
on the issue and realized that we have a number of people who
have joined the Church, visitors among us, who have not been present
when I have taken up the whole subject of the Christian in relationship
to Christmas, I thought it would be good to have a guided study
on the whole subject of the Christian and his relationship to the celebration
of Christmas. And I have a twofold purpose
in doing this. Number one is to see how much
you old timers have really absorbed from past ministries. This is
going to be a public testing time to see how much you have
grasped. And then for those who are newer
among us, I hope it will not only give you some basic reference
points that you might think and act in a biblical way with respect
to this holiday that, like it or not, is upon us, around us,
under us, and any other preposition you want to use. And so it's
for that purpose that I decided to lead a guided discussion on
the subject of the Christians' attitude and actions regarding
the celebration of this holiday called Christmas. All right? So this is going to be the Socratic
method. I'm going to ask a question,
and if you're all mute, I'll stand here mute until somebody
overcomes his or her reluctance and responds to my question,
and we think through this thing together with open Bibles. Now
listen very carefully to my questions. They're not trick questions,
but the answer that may appear to be the right one initially,
if you think about it, may not be the right answer, at least
in an absolute sense. All right? Question number one.
Is a Christian under moral obligation to celebrate Christmas? That is, as a Christian's conscience,
enlightened by scripture, knows that he has a moral obligation
to honor the Lord one day in seven, the Sabbath, the Christian
Sabbath, Lord's Day, as he has a moral obligation to come to
the Lord's table, this do in remembrance of me, a moral obligation
to gather with God's people, forsaking not the assembling
of yourselves together, is a Christian under moral obligation to celebrate
Christmas? If yes, Why? If no, why? All right, how many believe that
a Christian is under moral obligation to celebrate Christmas? Wonderful,
but the only thing, only question on which there's going to be
complete unanimity. All right, how many believe he
is not? Wonderful. We're of one mind. Now that's
easy to raise your hand. I want you to open your mouth.
If not, why not? Why is a Christian not under
moral obligation to celebrate Christmas in any shape, form,
size, whatever? Why is he not? Jerry, and speak
up please, and then I'll repeat it for you, Leslie, and for our
dear friends, okay? There's no commandment in Scripture
to do so. Alright, there is no express
commandment in Scripture to do so. And is that enough for you?
Yes, for Jerry it is. If he had an express command
that would alter it, where there is none, he's not going to have
his conscience bound by anything other than the express command
of Scripture. Someone else wanted to give a
reason why you believe a Christian is not under moral obligation
to celebrate Christmas. Anyone else? Or is that behind
the unanimity? Yes, Linda? 13 verse 6 when he
talks about principles of conscience and talks about the verse, and
observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and on and on with
that. Well, we're going to eventually
come into that, but right now we're just isolating this issue.
We're all agreed a Christian is under no moral obligation
to celebrate Christmas. Jerry Smith has said the rationale
for that is there is no express command to do so that settles
it. And does that settle it for the
rest of you? All right? Okay. Now then, listen carefully
to my next question. Is a Christian under moral obligation
not to celebrate Christmas? You see, this is different from
the first question. The first question is, should I feel pressure
at my back to celebrate Christmas? This question is, suppose someone
feels pressure to celebrate Christmas. Is he violating a moral principle? Is the Christian under moral
obligation not to celebrate Christmas? In other words, if you see someone
celebrating Christmas, do you have grounds to believe he is
violating a moral principle? Now see, that makes us think
a little bit, all right? Is a Christian under moral obligation
not to celebrate Christmas? If yes, why? How many of you
believe that some Christians are under moral obligation not
to celebrate Christmas. And if you believe that any Christian
is under moral obligation not to celebrate it, got one, only
one, two, three, four, oh, we're getting the groundswell here.
All right. You shall not follow a multitude
to do evil. All right. Whoops. We're going
to come to them. Is a Christian under moral obligation
not to celebrate Christmas? If so, why? All right? You want to tell us, Ernie? Okay, Ernie says it is a matter
of conscience and for some Christians it is a moral obligation not
to celebrate Christmas because in Romans 14, a passage we're
going to come back to and root around in much more fully later
on, the scripture is clear. that if we do that, concerning
which we have any question that it pleases God, for us it is
sin. Romans 14, 23. He that doubts
is condemned if he eats, because he eats not of faith. Whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. For some Christians, it is sin
to celebrate Christmas. In their consciences, the association
of the very word, Christ Mass, gives them real problems. Their
understanding of the origin of the celebration, that when the
Roman Empire was, quote, Christianized, all of the major pagan holidays
were also Christianized, and Christmas was one of them. And
so because of the very word, Christmas, dripping with Romish
connotations, an understanding of the origins, paganism, baptized
into Christianity, because of, thirdly, the connotations of
the wretched sin that is proliferated at Christmas, the sin of irresponsible
spending, the sin of crass materialism, the sin of drunkenness, the sin
of ribaldry. I simply cannot with good conscience
have anything to do with it. So for that Christian, It is
a moral obligation not to celebrate it. You follow me? So that when
I ask the question, is a Christian under moral obligation not to
celebrate Christmas, the answer is, for some Christians, yes. They are under moral obligation
not to celebrate Christmas because they cannot celebrate it as unto
the Lord in faith that that celebration is well-pleasing unto God. Am I making, you're following
me? You're making sense, all right. Next question. In the
light of these answers, into what broad category of Christian
living does this whole issue of Christmas fit? If we're trying
to slot it into a broad category of Christian living, what is
the category into which the subject of the celebration of Christmas
fits? All right, it fits into the category
of what we know is the doctrine of Christian liberty. And historically,
that term, Christian liberty, refers to those things which
are not expressly commanded by scripture. or expressly forbidden
by scripture, and concerning which good and godly Christians
may have a differing pressure of conscience. It fits into the
category of Christian liberty, and because it does, we must
bring to bear upon it the major principles set forth in the scriptures
with regard to those watershed passages that address the subject
of Christian liberty. Now, that subject comes to us
in its most dense passages where, someone already mentioned one
of them. Eli? Alright, one passage is 1 Corinthians,
we should say all the way 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10. Alright, 1 Corinthians
8, 9, and 10. And then what's the other watershed
passage that addresses this subject, Bill? Romans chapter 14. So whenever you're wrestling
with an issue concerning Christian liberty, a practice that is neither
commanded nor forbidden as our confession clearly states. In
fact, it would be helpful for us to turn to our confession
that's found in our hymn books under the subject of Christian
liberty, page 681. The opening two paragraphs deal
with the liberty that is ours in Christ, in which we are made
free from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the
rigor and curse of the law, etc. Now, the issue we're concerned
with is taken up in item number two. God alone is Lord of the
conscience, who has left it free from the doctrines and commandments
of men which are in anything contrary to his word or not contained
in it, so that to believe such doctrines or obey such commands
out of conscience is to betray true liberty of conscience, and
the requiring of an implicit faith and absolute and blind
obedience is to destroy liberty of conscience also. so that in
this whole matter of Christian liberty, our consciences, by
the grace of God and the work of Christ in the gospel, are
free from the commandments of men. We are Christ's bondservants,
and we must never allow ourselves to come into bondage to the commandments
of men. Well then, coming to the watershed
passage, I'd like us to turn to Romans 14. Now these issues
came to light under apostolic guidance, not with respect to
shall we or shall we not celebrate Christmas or Easter, but it came
to light with reference to such things as shall we keep certain
feast days which may or may not, and the issue is not that clear,
may or may not have been associated with some of the special feast
days mandated by Old Testament mosaic legislation, or it may
well be that it was certain feast days that were simply part of
the Roman culture, which was a pagan culture. So that issue
came to light, the issue of liberty of conscience. What do I do where
God has neither commanded nor forbidden something? It came
to light in conjunction with the issue of days. It came to
light with the issue of foods. Wine. It came to light in 1 Corinthians
8 with respect to the issue of meat offered to an idol. with meat that was sold in a
bargain meat market outside the idol's temple. So what we must
do as we come to those passages where we have days and drinks
and meats and meats offered to idols, we must seek to dig beneath
the specific expression of these issues that have to do with those
matters and lay hold of the principles that apply whenever we are wrestling
with the issue of Christian liberty. God has neither commanded nor
forbidden that I wear a tie. And if someone came up to me
and said, you must wear a tie in order to please God, I'd say
no. I'd take my tie off and stick my liberty under his pharisaic
nose. And if someone then said, you
must not wear a tie, I'd get one of those old, remember when
they were about six inches wide? With the nice bright colors that
our brother Bert often has in his ties, and I'd wear it. And
I'd say there, show me from the Bible where I can't wear this.
As Calvin said, he never, never scrupled about showing up and
offending Pharisees. The issues come to us in those
things, but we've got to dig beneath those specific issues
and lay hold of the principles. And now I want, in the time that
remains, to see if we can lay hold afresh, and this is where
I'm putting some of you old-timers to the test. What are the major
principles that must guide our thinking with respect to how
we relate to issues of Christian liberty, and how we relate to
others who are wrestling with the issues of Christian liberty
as they pertain to the circumstances of their lives. So in that category,
what are the major principles that must guide our thinking
and our conduct? And remember, brethren, it's
always in that order. We've got to think right to do
what's right. Otherwise, if you attack the doing without the
thinking, you just have a wooden framework, and the minute someone
gets in a situation that you haven't described in the doing,
they're left without any rudder, without any compass, because
they never wrestled with the principles that need to govern
our thinking. But if we've got the thinking
right, we've got a built-in compass, and even if we're away from those
specifics, we're able to say, all right, in this situation,
where's my compass? My thinking is right, therefore,
it will be the mother of proper action. All right? What are the
major principles then in Romans chapter 14? We're going to stick
primarily with Romans 14 this morning. Let me read the passage,
and then I would like you to tell me what are the major principles
that are to regulate our thinking. Him that is weak in faith, receive,
yet not for decisions of scruples. That is, don't receive him with
a view to saying, okay, this guy can't eat this meat, and
this guy can't do this, and I'm going to receive him, but I'm
not really receiving him with all of his hang-ups that I regard
as hang-ups. I'm only receiving him to get
him close enough to straighten him out. I'm going to receive
him with a view to zap him, all right? He said, now receive him,
but let it be true, open-hearted, unfeigned reception. You don't
receive him in order to put him under censorious scrutiny. One
man has faith to eat all things, but he that is weak eats only
herbs. Do not let him who eats set it
not him who does not eat, and do not let him that does not
eat judge him that does eat, for God has received him. Who
are you that judges the servant of another? To his own Lord he
stands or falls. Yes, he shall be made to stand,
for the Lord has power to make him stand. One man esteems one
day above another. Another esteems every day alike.
Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regards
the day, regards it unto the Lord. And he that eats, eats
unto the Lord. For he gives God thanks. And
he that eats not, unto the Lord he eats not and gives God thanks.
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. Or whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. For to this end, I'm sorry, we
die to the Lord, whether we live therefore or die, we are the
Lord's. For to this end Christ died and
lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the
living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why
do you set it not your brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of God. For it is written, As I live,
saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess. So then, Each one of us shall
give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one
another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling
block in his brother's way or an occasion of falling. I know
and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean
of itself, save to him that accounts anything to be unclean, to him
it is unclean. For if because of meat your brother
is grieved, you no longer walk in love, do not destroy with
your meat him for whom Christ died. Do not then let your good
be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he
that herein serves Christ is well pleasing to God and approved
of men. So then, let us follow after
the things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify
or build up one another. Do not overthrow for meat's sake
the work of God. All things indeed are clean,
howbeit it is evil for that man who eats with offence. It is
good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything
whereby your brother stumbles. The faith that you have, have
to yourself before God. Happy is he that judges not himself
in that which he approves, but he that doubts is condemned if
he eat, because he does not eat of faith, and whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. What are the major principles
now? The things that by God's grace have kept us from having
a civil war over the celebration of Christmas in this church for
years. And I know from a pastoral standpoint, we've had some people
that were ready to start a civil war. On the one hand, we've had
those that are aware of the pagan origins of the celebration, its
associations with Rome, the horrible fruits of it in terms of sin,
really were disappointed in me that I did not stand in this
pulpit, or the pulpit that's now in the multipurpose room
when it was in the cracker box, or when it was in one of the
schools and in vain against any form of the celebration of Christmas. They really felt, poor Pastor
Martin, I respect him in so many areas, but in this area he's
just a little bit, he's a little bit a coward, he's a little bit
accommodating, a little bit worldly. They wanted to bend the whole
church to their convictions and we've not bent. And there are
others Seeing some who had scruples about it, they weren't quite
as aggressive, but they would have felt a lot more comfortable
if I had stood up and said, you silly, stupid, overly scrupulous
people, get on with it! Have some fun with the rest of
us! But God's kept us, and we've maintained peace, and we don't
come into potential civil war. There's no wars and rumors of
war with December 25th coming on every year. Well, these are
the principles that have worked their way into the bloodstream
of this church. Well, what are they, okay? What's
the first principle in this passage? The first major principle with
respect to matters of Christian liberty generically and Christian
liberty specifically with regard to the issue of the celebration
of Christmas. What's the first principle in
the passage? All right, Chuck? The organizing
principle that Paul uses of the strong brethren and weak brethren, and what their
viewpoints are in each of those two categories. All right, that
there will be within any healthy church, for remember, this wasn't
an infantile church troubled with all kinds of internal problems
like the church at Corinth. This was fundamentally a strong,
vigorous, healthy church at Rome. that's clear in Paul's greetings
to them where he speaks of their faith being known throughout
the whole world toward the end of the epistle he lets them know
that he hopes to shift his base of fundamental support for his
missionary endeavors from Antioch to Rome and be sent by the church
at Rome on to Spain for new gospel endeavors and enterprises this
was a healthy church yet within that church there were these
two categories of people with regard to matters of Christian
liberty. Some are described as strong, some are regarded as
weak, and without going into a dissertation on in what sense
are they strong, in what sense are they weak, remember now,
this is not a generic term describing what we would call the whole
complex of their spiritual lives. It is with respect to these specific
issues that some are strong. In other words, they have a conscience
that has more light in the light of the full revelation of God's
Word. They are the strong. and others
are the weak. That is, their conscience is
not fully enlightened with respect to the extent of their liberty
in Christ. But remember, the strong and
the weak in this setting, though they are two real categories,
as Mr. Davies has suggested, they are not generic statements. They are specific statements,
strong and weak, with respect to the specific issue at hand. For example, the strong man who
is able to eat all meats and drink all beverages, if he does
not manifest the measure of love that makes him willing to say,
with Paul, I'll neither eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything
that causes my brother to stumble, at that point he's weak in love.
He may be strong in his conscience regarding things indifferent,
but he's weak in love if he is not willing for love's sake to
forego his liberty. So remember, strong and weak
are not broad, generic descriptions of Christian conditions, but
with respect to the specific issue. So within the church,
there will be the strong, there will be the weak. Alright? So
we have these categories. Now what principles are to regulate
the way they operate? Do we have the strong go off
and start the strong conscience church at Rome? And then the
weak go off and start the weak conscience church at Rome? No,
he obviously assumes that they're going to get on together in the
same house and do so peacefully. So what principles then are to
be at work in them? We've seen the categories. Now,
what are the principles that help them to work together? All
right, Bill? Bill? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, the other Bill had a chance.
Bill in the blue shirt. Bill Michael. All right. Give it a little louder with
my tin ear here, Bill. OK, all right. So Bill is suggesting
that the first principle is that we leave each to answer to his
own master. I'd like to hold that off for
a little bit. I think there's another principle that is highlighted
before that as we work through the passage. That's to help us obey this other
principle. Here's the weak brother, here's
the strong brother. They recognize their difference.
They see it manifested in terms of how they keep certain days,
how they eat certain foods. What is the tendency of the strong
brother? Despise. All right. In what sense
would he despise him? The speaker probably doesn't
have what I have, and I don't see it as sensitive either. Okay, looking down, there's the
key. It's not despised in the sense that, you know, I despise
spinach, but to look down the nose that this guy's not quite
with it. When he sees this brother who
cannot enjoy all foods, this brother who feels he must keep
certain days, and this man knows, in Christ I'm free from this,
his tendency with regard to the weak will be to look down his
nose at him and say, what in the world is wrong with you?
Get with it, man. Don't you know you're free in
Christ? Alright? So he says, verse 3,
let not him who eats set it not him that does not eat. Don't
let him despise him. Don't let him look down his nose
at him. And what is the tendency of the
weak who sees the strong, remember the strong with regard to matters
of Christian liberty, fully enjoying his liberty? What's his tendency
as he's walking so carefully? He won't eat this, he won't eat
that, he'll keep this day, he'll keep that day. What's his tendency
when he looks at his strong brother? Yes, Elaine? Maybe pride, thinking
that he's more value than the other guy? To think that he's more godly.
Yes. He assumes, well, if he was only
as spiritual as I, he'd know that someone really walking with
God wouldn't take his glass of wine. I mean, if he were spiritual,
surely he would not this, he would this. So he says, okay,
I'm going to deal with both of you. I don't want the strong
to look down their snoot at the weak, and I don't want the weak
to stand in judgment of the strong. The first thing you must do is
establish in your mind and heart when you become aware that within
this congregation there are differing convictions and differing practices
with regard to the celebration of Christmas, that those of you
who can celebrate it to the hilt in Christ Don't look down at
others who can't and say, what in the world is wrong with them?
Even if you don't say it with your lips, don't do it in your
heart. This is a heart issue. And you
who feel, if only you... Don't you know the pagan origins
of this thing? Don't you know Christ's Mass
ties you with... Don't you... You unspiritual,
unenlightened... No, no, God said don't do that.
Don't do it! It's forbidden. All right? So
there's the first principle. The strong are not to set it
not, the weak, and the weak are not to judge. The strong. Now.
Here's where Bill's principle. Principle number two is, to buttress
that posture, what great theological, biblical issue needs to grip
our hearts? And here it is. Who are you to
judge the servant of another? Verse four. To his own Lord he
stands or falls. Yes, he shall be made to stand,
for the Lord has power to make him stand. In other words, The
Apostle says, look, you must mutually recognize that you stand
under the same Lord, and you answer to the same Lord, and
He hasn't shared His Lordship with you. So get off the throne. Stop trying to share His authority
over the conscience of your brother. That's my place, not yours. Bug
off. Back off. Mind your business. Okay? That's the second great
principle, is that we recognize from the heart that each believer
stands under the Lordship of Christ and answers to Christ
and to Christ alone. Alright, what's the next great
principle? Just think down through the passage,
alright? Okay, whatever we do, we must
be fully persuaded in our own mind. Verse 5, one man esteems
one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let
each man be fully assured in his own mind. Now that means
you can't simply go with the flow in terms of the consensus
around you. You have got to take the time
before God with an open Bible to wrestle through this issue
for yourself. No second-hand actions based
upon second-hand convictions. Let each one be fully assured
in his own mind. And in the context, that means
recognizing Christ's Lordship over me. Lord Jesus, can I before
your face celebrate Christmas? Can I before your face eat this
food, drink this beverage? If I cannot before the face of
my Master, then it doesn't matter what kind of pressure is on me
from the consensus of those about me. That is inconsequential because
I don't answer to those who make up the consensus. I answer to
my Lord. So I must be fully persuaded
in my own mind before Christ. And then he goes on to amplify
sort of the confluence of these principles, verse 6. He that
regards the day, if he's a true Christian, regards it to the
Lord. You see, if you're a true believer
and you celebrate Christmas, you don't say on December 24th,
Lord Jesus, goodbye till the 26th. See what I'm saying? You do not divorce
your celebration from Christ. You do not for a period of Christmas
Eve through Christmas Day. Think and act as a non-Christian,
divorcing yourself from the consciousness that you live before the face
of your Lord, that you answer to your Lord. No, you regard
it unto the Lord. You can with good conscience
say, Lord, thank you for this wonderful family time. Thank
you for a day which with all of its paganized trappings, still
forces people to say the name of my blessed Lord. They gotta
say Christ, Christmas. Oh, I know, some put the X and
they don't know what they're doing, but we know. It's a he
in the Greek alphabet, the first letter of Christos. And we know that. And as unto
the Lord we can celebrate that day. He that regards the day,
regards it to the Lord. He that eats, eats to the Lord,
for he gives God thanks. He that eats not, unto the Lord
he does not eat and give thanks. He comes to Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day and says, Lord, thank you for another day in
which to serve you. Thank you, Lord, for a day in
which I'm not buried beneath all of the rubble of the trappings
of Christmas." And he thanks God for that. He keeps not today
as unto the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, without judging
those who are buried in the day as unto the Lord. You say, that's
unnatural. No, it isn't. You've got the
Holy Spirit dwelling in you. He helps you to do many things
that aren't natural. Naturally, we want to make everyone
line up with us. But Paul envisions a wonderful
context in which we are perfectly content to say, I know my brother
John is going to get up this morning in his bare house, he
doesn't have a wreath, he doesn't have a Christmas tree, he doesn't
have a present, he's going to get on his knees, and he's going
to keep not today as unto the Lord. And I'm going to get up
buried with presents and tinsel and toys and all the rest. And
I'm going to keep it as unto the Lord. And we both are thankful
that we're under the reign of the same Lord. That's what Paul
is saying. You see that in the passage. All right. So we read
on. None of us lives to himself if
we're true believers. None of us dies to himself. For
whether we live, we live to the Lord. Whether we die, we die
to the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died
and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and
of the living." You see the tremendous emphasis in the midst of this
tacky issue. Paul doesn't give some artificial
rules. He said it comes down to the
very nerve centers of who a Christian is. A Christian is one who from
the depths of his being has not only embraced Jesus as his only
substitute and sin-bearer, but he's embraced him as his sovereign
Lord, Lord over his holidays, Lord over what he eats and doesn't
eat, Lord over the days he'll keep and the days he doesn't
keep. His Lordship extends to every single facet of my life,
and he flushes that out. And then he goes on to say, coming
back, you see, he started with saying, don't judge one another.
And here's my fundamental reason. Each one answers to his Lord.
Now he comes back and he gives another punch in that direction.
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or again, why do you
set it not your brother? You see the two temptations?
To judge, here he deals with the strong first. And why do
you set it not? I'm sorry, the weak. The weak
who would judge his brother and then the strong. Why do you set
it not your brother? you have this wonderful bookend
construction where he deals with the issue, then he flushes out
the whole matter of the Lordship of Christ and then he puts another
bookend on it and says, no judging, no despising, because Christ
is Lord, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God, each
one of us shall give account of himself to God. Now then,
as though they didn't get the message, he said, now, what's
the summary of everything I've said? It's this. Let us not therefore
judge one another anymore." So there is the major principle.
There are two categories, the strong and the weak. The first
directive is, first of all, that they are to receive one another
with their strong and weak conscience. Secondly, they are not to sit
in censoriousness, in judgment, Snoot, looking down to Snoot,
standing in judgment, and he gives the fundamental reason,
the Lordship of Christ, but now he comes with another principle
that he begins to enlarge upon in 13b. And what is that principle?
All right, Donnie? We have liberty to not exercise our liberty for
the sake of our brotherhood. A little louder, please. We have liberty to not exercise
our liberty for the sake of our brotherhood. Alright, the whole matter of
how we relate to our brother, who has a differing conscience,
and that our liberty in Christ is to be exercised with a deep
sensitivity to how it will affect our brother. You see, he's dealt
with the horizontal, our liberty before the eye of Christ, we
might say is a good summary statement. Now he's dealing with the exercise
of our liberty before the eye of our brethren. For our liberty
many times is not something just exercised before Christ, but
it's exercised in the presence and in the sight of our brethren. Oh boy, time is gone. Well, basically then what he
says is that if I know that my brother, whose conscience tells
him I shouldn't do this, I shouldn't do this, If by exercising my
liberty in his presence, I embolden him to do it against his conscience,
I'm causing him to sin, I must be willing in his presence to
back off from the exercise of my liberty. Now this is not saying
that if the one who doesn't have the liberty is going to be a
Pharisee. and say, you've got to keep my rules, you've got
to bend to me. No, no, what he is saying is, here is a man who
has a genuine scruple of conscience about an issue, and if, knowing
that, you exercise your liberty in his presence, you then nudge
him into doing what for him is sin, you are not walking in love,
you are causing him to stumble, and he says in verse 20, do not
overthrow for meat's sake the work of God. Now a concrete example
would be this, if you know there's a brother in the church who has
reservations of conscience about celebrating Christmas, but you're
good friends. You don't invite him over to
your house if you've got a Christmas tea, you're going to have a Christmas
dinner, you're going to sit down in the living room and have presents
open, and out of love to you, and out of respect for your friendship,
he comes. And all the while he's there,
he feels he's participating in this pagan holiday and sinning,
You didn't walk in love. Show your love to that brother
by taking him out for a steak dinner between the 25th and the
31st. And show your love in a non-Christmas
celebration context. You follow me? That's the great
principle that he enlarges upon in this next part of the passage.
Well, as I said, our time is gone, and I trust that this review
of these principles has been helpful to us as we face the
Christmas holidays But brethren, it has application in so many
other areas and one of the great joys of laboring amongst you
as a people is to see the extent to which you've internalized
these principles so that we're not all a bunch of cookie cutter
Christians. When I go into a situation and
all the women are dressed alike and all the men are dressed alike,
my nose says something's fishy here. Something is bad wrong. On matters of liberty, our basic
dress styles and our basic living styles and the rest there should
be a broad spectrum of expression within any healthy congregation
and when you begin to see a wooden conformity you know that people
have given up being persuaded in their own minds and they've
begun to just go with the flow and fall in with the consensus
the day that happens that's the beginning of the death of true
liberty of conscience where we are prepared to wrestle through
these issues before God and be fully persuaded in our own minds. Well, as I said, our time is
gone. Let's pray and ask God to help us in the days to come.
Our Father, we're so thankful that we have the scriptures as
a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. Thank you for
the way you've helped your people in this place to internalize
these great principles over the years. And for those for whom
these things are new, we pray you would help them to grasp
them, to internalize them by the Spirit's help to apply them
even to the celebration of this season. We look to you for your
grace and help through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.