Christian Liberty #6 Directives to the Stronger Brother, Part 2

Q: What does the Bible say about Christian liberty?

Christian liberty refers to the internal relationship believers have with God, allowing them to exercise their freedoms in Christ while considering others' consciences. Christian liberty is deeply rooted in the belief that our freedom in Christ is an internal matter, concerning the mind and conscience directed towards God. As believers, we do not live in isolation from one another; thus, while we hold fast to the liberty bought by the blood of Christ, we must also be sensitive to how we exercise that liberty in the presence of others, particularly those who are weaker in faith. The Scriptures, notably in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, urge us to consider the effects of our liberties on our fellow believers to foster peace and mutual edification within the church.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of Christian liberty is true?

The doctrine of Christian liberty is affirmed by several New Testament passages guiding believers to exercise their freedoms responsibly. The truth of the doctrine of Christian liberty is supported by scriptural teachings found in key passages such as Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8. These texts emphasize that while believers enjoy the freedom to partake in various customs not inherently sinful, they must be cautious not to cause a weaker brother to stumble. The Apostle Paul, as an authoritative voice on this matter, stresses that we should always act in a manner that is loving and considerate of our fellow believers' consciences, thereby ensuring that our own liberties do not lead others into sin. This message is woven into the very fabric of the New Testament, underscoring the importance of mutual respect and love within the body of Christ.

Q: Why is considering the weaker brother important for Christians?

Considering the weaker brother is vital because it demonstrates love and responsibility within the Christian community. Paul's teachings highlight the incredible importance of how the strong engage with the weaker brother in faith. It illustrates the core principle that love ought to govern our actions—in this case, the love that seeks the welfare of others over selfish desires. Romans 14:15 states that if our actions, even in the exercise of personal liberty, cause a brother to stumble, we are walking contrary to love. This emphasizes a communal aspect of the Christian life where individuals are called to bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2) and consider the impact of their actions on the faith of others. Failing to do so risks exacerbating the struggles of weaker brothers, damaging unity within the church, and consequently misrepresenting the gospel's transformative power.

Q: What happens if we disregard our duties to weaker brothers?

Disregarding our duties to weaker brothers results in sinning against Christ and damaging our witness. When believers neglect their responsibilities towards weaker brothers within the faith, they not only fail to walk in love, but they also usurp the judgment that rightfully belongs to God. Romans 14:15 calls attention to the grave consequence of causing a weaker brother to stumble and emphasizes that such actions are a contradiction to the gospel itself. When stronger believers exercise their liberties without regard for their brethren, they fail to uphold the virtue of Christ’s selfless love and risk damaging the collective witness of the church. This neglect can lead to serious spiritual ramifications for both the strong and the weak, resulting in divisions and a misrepresentation of the values of God's kingdom.

We come this evening to the sixth
in a series of studies in the general theme of what has been
called in the history of Christian thought, the doctrine of Christian
liberty. Having laid the foundation and
the consideration of this subject from a historical and then a
biblical and theological perspective, We have been wrestling for the
past few weeks with some of the practical outworkings of the
doctrine. Now, I cannot go back and lay
the foundation. Some of you are here for the
first time. It's like coming in for the dessert
and missing the main course and everything else. Well, all I
can do is ask that if you have the time, perhaps you obtain
the tapes from the library on a loan basis, if necessary, and
catch up. in terms of the essential perspectives,
historically, biblically, and theologically, without which
the practical instruction loses much of its force and much of
its direction. But we are in the area of the
practical, having laid a solid foundation in these other areas. And as we approach the subject
of how shall we exercise the liberty that is rightfully ours
in Christ, we must never do so either ignorant of or indifferent
to that principle that I've quoted as given by John Brown in the
last two lessons, and I'll quote it again because it's the simplest
way to review the principle. Christian liberty is an internal
thing. It belongs to the mind and conscience
and has a direct reference to God. The use of Christian liberty
is an external thing, and it belongs to conduct and has reference
to man. No consideration should prevail
on us for a moment to give up any of our liberty, but many
a consideration should induce us to forego the practical assertion
or display of our liberty, and we must keep that distinction
constantly before our minds. Our liberty is the relationship
we sustain to things and to God. It is vertical. The exercise
of our liberty is horizontal. Nothing must induce us to relinquish
one iota of our liberty, for it is a liberty purchased in
the blood of Christ. But many considerations ought
to prevail upon us to relinquish and forego the external exercise
of that liberty in all of its manifestations. Having made that
distinction, I then suggested that there are four major principles
which qualify and guide us in the exercise of our liberty.
The prior claims of personal holiness, number one. Number
two, the powerful claims of the advance of the gospel. Number
three, the practical demands of edification. And the fourth
is presently under consideration, the claims of the weaker brother.
And these principles, these guidelines, have all been extracted from
the major Christian liberty passages, 1 Corinthians 8, 1 Corinthians
10, Romans 14, and 15. In our last study, we began to
consider this fourth guideline, the claims of the weaker brother.
The first thing we did was to identify the weaker brother.
Why is he called weak? Because according to the scriptures,
he's weak in faith, weak in knowledge, weak in conscience. Second question
about him, where is he? He's found mixed in with the
stronger brethren in common assemblies. The weak did not establish their
own assemblies. The strong did not ostracize
them. They did not draw aside to themselves. And thirdly, we
identified him by asking the question, what is his basic problem?
And his basic problem is, he is tempted to go beyond his own
understanding of his liberty in following the example of the
strong. And therefore, the word of God
comes both to him and primarily, or with greater emphasis, to
the strong, telling the strong that they have great responsibilities
to this man who is weak in faith, weak in knowledge, weak in conscience. And again, I'd like to go back
and redefine all of that, but I cannot do that. Those of you
who are just with us, forgive me. I feel the pain you feel.
You can't sort all this out. I felt it in preparation. I feel
it right now. If you love people and you're
not just trafficking in ideas, you'll feel pain when you know
somebody else is pained. And some of you are pained, but
you're going to have to live with your pain because more people
will be pained if I don't get on to the new material and simply
re-preach the old. All right? Having identified
the weaker brother, we then addressed ourselves in the second place
to this broad subject, the responsibilities towards the weaker brother. And
we saw from the scriptures we have three responsibilities.
We must receive him, Romans 14.1, Romans 15.7. We must not destroy
him, Romans 14.13-22 and 1 Corinthians 8.9-13. And we must not alienate
him, 1 Corinthians 9.12. Our 22 and Romans 14, 19. Now,
that's the review. And before we move on to the
next area of our concern, I want to give a word of caution. And
the word of caution is this. In all of this loving, sanctified
concession to the weaker brother, we must receive him, we must
not destroy him, we must not alienate him. We are never to
conform to his conscience. We do him no service. We do ourselves
no service, and we do God no honor, if in our loving, selfless
accommodations to the weaker brother, if at any point we allow
our consciences to come into bondage to his false standard. For remember, the standard of
his conscience is an evidence of weakness. That doesn't mean
he's weak in every other area, but with reference to God and
things and his relationship to those things, the Bible says,
he that is weak eateth only herb. And that weakness must never
become the rule to which others submit. And Paul is the great
example of this. Paul said, look, I am willing
in selfless, self-denying love to accommodate myself to the
weaker brother. He says in 1 Corinthians, a language
that's even stronger than Romans, he says, if meat makes my brother
to offend, I'll eat no meat while the world stands. I'm willing
to accommodate myself in love. But in the very setting of those
statements of accommodation, Paul makes it evident that he's
not giving up the liberty that is in Christ, nor is he bending
his conscience to the conscience of the weak. He says, for instance,
in Romans 14, 14, and the very way he does it is so powerful.
I don't know if you catch this when you read it. He said, now
I know. and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean
of itself, save to him that account of anything to be unclean, to
him it is unclean." In other words, before he goes on to say,
now look, be willing to relinquish your liberty for the weaker brother,
he makes it very evident that if that weaker brother begins
to think straight, he's going to think like I think. I know
as an apostle as a child of God, and I'm utterly persuaded by
virtue of my union with Christ, and having the mind of Christ,
and looking at things as Christ would have me look at them, I'm
absolutely persuaded that when this man says, oh, that's a no-no,
and that's a yes-yes with reference to things external, he said,
I know that the uncleanness is in that poor guy's head. It's
not in the thing itself. He said, I'm persuaded of that,
and I will not allow an army of weaker brethren who say, that's
unclean, that's unclean. He said, I will never allow them
to change my persuasion that nothing is unclean of itself.
That is, things material, things that are condemned by the law
of God, adultery and idolatry and theft, of course. Those things
are morally and ethically unclean. The context is dealing with meats
and drinks and things external. And therefore, my brethren, as
I will be speaking very forcefully tonight, because the passage
demands forceful speaking concerning the implications of failure to
respond to the claims of the weaker brother, there are at
least seven very powerful and at times almost shocking implications
if we will not do what God says we must do in the presence of
the weaker brother. refuse to destroy him, refuse
to alienate him, take drastic steps of self-denying love lest
we alienate, destroy him, or hold him off at a distance. But
in all of that, my brethren, we must never yield our conscience
to his weakness, never under any circumstances. And Paul is
the great example of an unyielding persuasion of liberty coupled
with a copious yielding of the exercise of that liberty in Christian
love. And he does that all the way
through the passages. We could look at more examples. That will
suffice. All right? I trust now, having
given an accurate statement from these passages, of what our responsibilities
are towards the weaker brother Now we come to this broad subject,
the tragic implications of failure to respond to those claims. We've
looked at the claims of the weaker brother, having identified him,
having outlined the claims. Now we come to the third major
division under the subject of the weaker brother. What are
the implications of failure to respond to his claims? The first thing we do is we usurp
the right of judgment which belongs only to God. Turn, please, to
Romans 14. We usurp the right of judgment
which belongs only to God. But him that is weak in faith,
receive ye. And that receiving, you remember,
according to 15.7 of Romans, is to be a receiving that is
parallel to the unfettered reception of Christ on behalf of his people. Receive ye one another as God
hath received you. And then he describes the areas
of difference. One man hath faith to eat all
things. He looks upon all of God's gifts
as good. He that is weak eats herbs. He's got a conscience against
eating meat. Then he encourages Let not him that eateth, set
it not, or despise him that eateth not. The temptation of the strong
man in this area is to despise the weaker. To say that crazy
guy, he's all hung up on his old legalistic, fundamentalist
mentality. Despise him, see? Treat him with
scorn. Now what's the temptation of
the weaker brother? Let not him that eateth not, judge him that
eateth. You know, he doesn't use the
word despise again. You see, the temptation of the
weaker man is to say, since I cannot eat this with a good conscience
and it would be sin to me, how can that guy claim to be such
a big shot Christian? And look what he's doing. He's
sinning. He passes judgment. The strong is tempted to despise
the weak. The weak is tempted to judge
the strong. And that theme goes right through
this passage. And Paul is very careful to keep the two things
separate. All right. Now he's going to ask some questions.
This one is dressed primarily, obviously, to the strong. Why
art thou? Who art thou that judgeth the
servant of another? To his own Lord he standeth or
falleth. Yea, he should be made to stand,
for the Lord hath power to make him stand. See, the weak man
says, How in the world can a man be a Christian and go on with
God and live a holy life and eat that? Or drink that? Or go
there? Or go here? Well, he says, wait
a minute, are you his judge and his lord? To his own lord he
stands or fall. In fact, he says, I've got news
for you. Walking in the integrity of his conscience, God's going
to make him stand because God started a work of grace in him
and he's going to complete it. To his own lord he's answerable.
He stands or fall. In fact, he says, his God shall
make him stand. Verse 5, one man esteems one
day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each man
be fully assured in his own mind, weak and strong. He that regards
the day, there's the weak man, still keeping special days that
aren't assigned by God. It's not speaking of the weekly
Sabbath. I can't go into the exegesis of that, but I believe
it's dealt with ably in Professor Murray's appendix in his exposition
of Romans on this very passage. One man esteems one day, he regards
it to God. Another man, he says, he doesn't
keep the day, he doesn't regard it. But what is common to both? With reference to days and food?
He says, he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth
God thanks. He's not eating like a pagan. He's eating as a Christian,
taking his food from God, returning thanks to God, receiving strength
to serve God. All right? He that eateth not,
unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. So when
he has his little mess of lentils, he gives God thanks for it. And
he doesn't say, now, Lord, I thank you. I'm not like that strong
man eating those crazy meats. No, no, that would be a Pharisee.
But what he has, he receives with thanksgiving. He prays that
it will be sanctified. Why? Because he's also the Lord's
bondservant. He wants to please the Lord.
You see, this is the point Paul is driving at. The concept of
each one being submissive to and answerable to Christ his
Lord is the thing that's coming through and will come to a climax
in verse 12. Verse 7. For none of us lives to himself,
none dies to himself. Whether we live, we live to the
Lord. Whether we die, we die to the Lord. Whether we live,
therefore die, we are the Lord's. To this end, Christ both died
and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and
of the living. But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother?
That's the strong, you see, judging. I mean, the weak judging the
strong. Or thou again, why dost thou set it not? You see, despise
thy brother. That's the strong, despising
the weak. So he gets at both of them. He says, look, both
of you have a defect in your thinking. You that are saying,
oh, that crazy guy got all those stupid hang-ups. And he's over
here saying, huh, how in the world can that guy claim to be
such a big shot Christian? Look what he's doing, see? He
says, now both of you have a common problem. And your common problem
is this. Why dost thou judge thy brothers?
Or thou again, why dost thou set it not, thy brother? We shall
all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written,
As I live, saith the Lord, to me shall every knee bow, and
every tongue shall confess to God. So then, here's the conclusion
of it all, so then each one of us shall give account of himself
to God. Do you see what he's saying?
If the strong does not receive the weak, If the strong does
not embrace him in unfettered, unfeigned bonds of Christian
love, he is usurping the right of judgment which belongs only
to God. He is saying, because of your
weak conscience with reference to days and foods and the rest,
you are an inferior servant. He says, who are you to say he's
inferior? That very weakness in that area
may be the same principle that makes him a superior servant
to you in ten other areas. That very sensitivity of conscience
that keeps him from eating meat may be the thing that keeps him
much more careful in fifty other areas of his life where you,
Mr. Strongman, are careless. And when you both stand before
your Lord, He may receive the ten cities, and you the five. He may receive the ten talents
in reward for faithfulness, and you only the five. Listen, He
says, get hold of this principle. God alone is the judge of His
people. And if we do not receive the
weak in bonds of unfeigned love, we usurp the right of judgment
which belongs only to God. Now, granted, that works the
other way. If the weak does not receive the strong, he is guilty
of usurping the right of judgment which belongs only to God as
well. You see, this sword cuts both ways. And there's none of
us who can pride ourselves that we're excluded from this constant
tendency in all of us to take the place of a judge. when God
says we are common servants of a common Lord. All right? Second
implication, if we do not follow these directives concerning our
actions to the weaker brother, if we refuse to receive him,
if we are not careful to take a course of action calculated
not to destroy him, not to alienate him, we are not walking in Christian
life. We are not walking in Christian
love. Romans 14 and verse 15. For if
because of meat, here's the strong man, he knows he can eat meat
to the glory of God. He knows, as Paul says, that
no creature of God is to be refused. If it be received with thanksgiving
and prayer, it is thereby sanctified. He's strong in conscience. He
understands that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
But he knows also that his weaker brother, in close association
with him, has been watching him eat that meat, and that that
weaker brother, following his example, is sinning against his
own conscience. And he says, now look what you're
doing. Look. If because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou
walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him
for whom Christ died. Paul indicts this person who
will not relinquish the exercise of his liberty in the presence
of a weaker brother as one walking contrary to love. Romans 15, 1-3, now we that are
strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please
ourselves. You see, I don't see the word
love there. Remember 1 Corinthians 13, love seeketh not her own. not to please ourselves. Love beareth all things. You see, two of the qualities
of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 are set before us in this
very passage. We that are strong ought to bear,
we ought to show that love that bears the infirmities of the
weak, that love that seeketh not her own. Let each one of
us please his neighbor for that which is good unto edifying.
For Christ also pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. In other words, he's saying,
you want to know what it is to walk in love, look at your Savior.
He deliberately, consciously chose a course which demanded
denial of himself for the benefit of those upon whom he set his
love. And he said, in essence, Father, your righteous, your
holy law must be satisfied on behalf of your people. There
must be the upholding of the rectitude of your own nature,
the honor of your law. And Father, everything that should
be the portion of your people, I will voluntarily bear that
they may be released. That's love in action that seeks
not its own, seeks the good of its object at great personal
cost. The Apostle Paul is the great
example of this in his own statements in 1 Corinthians 8.13 and 10.24.
Notice what he says. 1 Corinthians 8.13, Wherefore,
if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh
for evermore. Why? Because loving my brother
where love needs to be manifested is more important than titillating
my taste buds and filling my belly. That's exactly what he's
saying. My love for my brother is strong
enough for me to forego the taste of a succulent piece of steak
for the rest of my days. That's love in action. Love in
action. Again, chapter 10 and verse 24.
Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good, and
then Paul exemplifies that directive, verse 33, even as I also please
all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit
of the many. Now here's a good case where
you don't put more in the all than the context demands. See,
people try to do this with reference to the atonement and other things,
and they end up with ridiculous conclusions, just as you'd end
up with ridiculous conclusions here, when Paul says, I please
all men in all things. He's talking about all men in
terms of the basic categories of weak and strong, and all things
as reference to things indifferent, because he says in another context,
Galatians 1, if I should seek to please men, I should not be
the servant of Christ. Well, is he guilty of hopeless
contradiction? No. The context determines the extent
of the reference of the all. Now, here's a man who said, I'm
so immersed in that love that seeketh not her own, that in
the presence of Jew or Gentile or the Church of God, I do not
seek my own prophet. In other words, he said, I've
gotten beyond that infantile stage where the whole world revolves
around my appetites and my whims. I'm willing to forego many lawful
liberties so that I might not offend negative, that I might
edify positive. Now do you see the folly of demanding
rigid conformity in churches? You see, if you demand such rigid
conformity that the strong no longer have to deny themselves
for the weak, look what you rob them of. You rob them of the
sanctifying influence of the selfless exercises of true love. You see, nobody needs to bear
with the infirmities of the week because by legislation you make
everyone weak with your list of no-no's and do-do's in your
church covenant. Right? Come on now, isn't that
what happens? Sure it is. Exactly what happens. whereas
Paul is careful to guard from any kind of legalistic, pharisaic
uniformity of lifestyle in the opera and things indifferent.
No, no, he says, the weak will always be there dwelling alongside
of the strong, and the strong will manifest whether they are
not only strong in conscience but strong in grace if they dwell
together in love, responding to the demands of the weaker
brethren. And if we are not willing to
relinquish lawful liberties in their exercise, whether with
reference to food, associations, places of amusement, dress standards,
every single area that is a matter of legitimate liberty, if our
attitude is, I've got my liberty in Christ and I'll not restrain
its exercises for anyone, my friend, you're in a dangerous
place because the Scripture says, that loveth not, knoweth not
God." You better remember that. Paul says, if you refuse to yield
the exercise of your liberty, when you know that exercise will
cause grief to your brother, the grief of defiled conscience,
as he follows your example, he says you no longer walk in love.
John says he that loveth not, knoweth not God. If that becomes
the course of your life, there is reason to question the reality
of your professed experience. You see, on the one hand, then,
the folly of conformity causing us to miss the sanctifying influence
of self-giving love. And also, what is it that secures
your real confidence in the Assembly when you know that there is a
brother or sister? who is deliberately giving up
the exercise of his liberty for your sake. What a tremendous
bond of confidence is established between the weaker and the stronger
brother. Because remember, Paul did not
veil the strength of his conscience when he's dealing with this problem.
He says, I know an impersuaded nothing is unclean. He says,
we have knowledge that an idol is nothing. So if Paul came to
the home of one of those Corinthians who said, Paul, I still can't
disassociate the meat that's been offered to an idol from
the worship of an idol. And Paul says, look, we'll have a vegetarian
meal today. It wasn't as though Paul veiled
the fact that he had liberty to eat meat. No, no. He said,
I have full knowledge that I could eat that meat with good conscience.
But when that weaker brother sees the great apostle who could
say, look, I'm an apostle around here. It's about time some of
you people shaped up and got your kooky old consciences sorted
out. Now let's have some meat. No, no. When they saw that man
who had a clear understanding of his liberty and had great
ecclesiastical authority saying, look, brother, let's have our
vegetarian meal and give God thanks. Look at the love that
was established and the confidence between that weaker brother and
the servant of Christ. Why? Because he's walking as
his Lord did who pleased not himself. All right. If we refuse
then to follow these directives towards the weaker brother, We
usurp the right of judgment that belongs only to God. We're not
walking in Christian love. Thirdly, and the first three
are the most powerful, and they'll take the most amount of time
to get through. The others will get through rather quickly. Now,
I know some of you young budding preachers are told, hold your
most powerful things till last. Who made that rule? Since I don't
recognize the authority that made it, I don't follow it unless
it serves the interest of truth, and I wanted to deal with the
most powerful ones first while your minds were still fresh.
And they take the lesser weighty ones or the less weighty ones
afterwards. All right? Number three. We regard
lightly the purchased property of Christ if we do not follow
these directives. The Apostle emphasizes this in
Romans and again in Corinthians. If we will not receive the weaker
brother, If we will not accommodate our conduct to his weakness where
necessary, thus causing him to sin against his own conscience,
the Scripture says we are regarding lightly the purchased property
of Jesus Christ. Romans 14 and verse 15. For if because of meat, that
is, your eating of meat in the presence of this weaker brother,
thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love, destroy
not with thy meat him for whom Christ died." What value did
Christ put upon this man? He put such value upon him that
for this man he let out his life's blood. Not just death, not just
a violent death at the hands of men, But remember, every time
the Scriptures say Christ died, it means death under the malediction
of God, death under the curse of God, death in the abyss of
abandonment. It means taking our hell upon
Himself. Now, how much value did Christ
put upon that man? Weak conscience and all. He loved
him enough to die for him under the curse of his Father. Keep
that in mind now and go over to I Corinthians 8. I Corinthians
8 and verse 11. For through thy knowledge, well
let's back up, verse 9, but take heed lest by any means this liberty
of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. For if a man see
thee who has knowledge sitting at meet in an idol's temple,
Will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat
things sacrificed to idols? See, there is his problem, following
the example of the strong, against his own conscience. For through
thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose
sake Christ died. Now, instead of allowing ourselves
to become distracted with the sound of these verses, which
seem to cast a shadow on the well-established doctrine of
the preservation and perseverance of the saints, and already some
of you are all taken up with that question, sweep it aside and get the thrust of what the
Apostle is saying. Feel the impact. You are destroying
the property of Christ. Paul goes on to verse 12 to say
something that is almost staggering, and thus sinning against the
brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against
Christ." In other words, the union that exists between Christ
and His people is such that when you sin against His people, you
sin against Him. Now, you see, how you regard
a man's property is an estimation of what you think of the If I
gave this treasured volume, The Exposition of Galatians, by John
Brown, one of the young men, Dennis should say, Pastor Martin,
I'm doing some studies in a chapter in Galatians, and you keep raving
about John Brown. May I borrow the volume? Well,
after I've made him put up his car for collateral, or after
driving in that car, I want something more substantial, I think, Dennis.
And I give him my book. Suppose he returns it. He returns
it a week later. And the covers are torn off,
and the pages are soiled and muddy. And I asked for an explanation,
and it's not one that something unusual happened that he couldn't.
It was just a reflection of careless treatment of my property. I would
need to ask Dennis what he thinks of me. How he regards something
that is precious to me as an indication of the esteem he places
upon me. You say you love Christ? All of his children, the weakest
of the weak, are his property. How you treat his property is
indicative of your attitude to him. You feel the thrust of it? So Paul says, when you sin against
that weaker brother, you sin against Christ, the brother for
whom Christ died. He is the purchased possession
of Christ. Regard him as such. You see,
if Christ gave his life for him, Is it any big deal for you to
give up a little meat for Him? Huh? If Christ gave up His life
for Him, is it any big deal for you to give up a little wine
for Him? If Christ gave up His life for Him, is it any big deal
for you to give up some legitimate entertainment, to give up playing
certain records, listening to certain music, going to certain
places of amusement, which you have perfect liberty before God
to do? And you won't let Him rob your
liberty. But my friend, if you won't let the possibility that
you may wound his conscience cause you to restrain your liberty,
you show you despise the purchased property of the Son of God. And then the fourth implication,
if we don't comply with the directives of God, the strong to the weak,
we allow our good to be evil spoken of. Romans 14 and verse
60. In the same setting, destroy
not with thy meat him for whom Christ died, let not then your
good be evil spoken of. Keep that in mind and then look
at 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 30. Let not your good be evil
spoken of. 1 Corinthians 10.30. If I partake
with thankfulness, that is, of my meat, why am I evil spoken
of for that for which I give thanks. You see what he's saying?
Here's a strong brother in the presence of the weak. Now he
knows that he's in the presence of a weaker brother. And that
goes back to one of our first studies. There's got to be communication.
I'm no mind reader. And the weaker brother has conveyed
to the stronger brother his problem. And the stronger brother says,
well, I'm going to exercise my liberty anyway. So he bows his
head and gives thanks for that meat that had been offered up
to an idol and was sold in the shambles. Now, as he's eating that meat,
what's the poor, weak brother saying? Well, he's facing the
terrible and almost overpowering temptation. Even though he knows
he shouldn't judge that brother, Paul assumes that he's not quite
strong enough to live up to that directive at times. And he then
says, that guy's indulging in sin. He's eating meat offered
to an idol. And this man is allowing what
is intrinsically good in itself. Remember, Paul still calls it
good. Let not your good be evil spoken of. Now what does that
tell us about a true believer? It tells us this. He not only
wants to do what is good, he wants his good to be seen as
good, lest there be any reproach to the name of Christ. Let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and what? Glorify your Father which is in heaven. Now sometimes
our good is going to be evil spoken of and you can't help
it. Remember Jesus? His good was to be the friend of publicans
and sinners to win them. Now, the Pharisees always spoke
evil of that. They went around bumping one
another and saying, this man received sinners and he lived
with them. Look at that. He's with the harlots and the
used car dealers and the whole bunch. Look at him. I mean, he spends time with
the people that just aren't nice. Jesus never let that deter him.
He was willing to let his good be evil spoken of where it was
necessary in the course of his obedience to the Father. And
there will be times when your good will be evil spoken of.
But in this context, it's not necessary. It's the context of
brethren, the strong and the weak. And not only do we want
to do what is good, we want our good to appear as good. So that's
why Paul says, Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.
Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth.
If you can eat that meat offered to an idol and sold in the shambles
with thanksgiving to God, keep it in the fridge till your weaker
brother goes home and then have a midnight snack alone before
God and thank him for the meat. That's what he's saying. Has
thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.
Don't give up your faith and become weak with that man and
throw the meat out. That's God's gift to you. And
you've got a good meat bargain? Thank God for it. Use the money
you saved in that meat bargain and give some more to missions.
Use good sense, Paul is saying. Don't just throw your conscience
away. But don't allow your good to
be evil spoken of. And if we're not sensitive in
this area, We will have our good, evil spoken of again and again
and again. You say, but now that's that
man's problem. As long as I, wait a minute, Paul said in Acts
24, 16, Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience
void of offense toward God and toward man. We do have a responsibility
to one another. And one of the cursed things
of this crazy mixed up age that is thrown out the Bible, is the
idea that you can live as an island to yourself on the plane
flying down from Winnipeg no, from Saskatoon to Winnipeg McQueen's
magazine is a popular magazine in Canada, sort of like a Time
magazine they had an article in there, an interview with this
Germaine Greer who was one of the leading prophetesses of the
feminist movement and I could not believe what I read, much
of it was just sickening But the whole idea expressed there
is that every man and woman is an island to himself to do his
own thing. My friends, that's not the world
in which God put us. He put us in a world with our
fellow creatures. And that is most true in the
assembly of God's people. We cannot cop out like Cain,
who said, Am I my brother's keeper? God says, You bet your boots
you are, because his blood cries unto me from the ground, and
I've come to reckon with you about it. And you and I are one another's
keepers. And we must be concerned that
our good is not evil spoken of. All right. A fifth implication,
if we don't follow these directives, is we misrepresent the great
issues of the kingdom of God. Romans 14, 14 to 18. I told you
before we'd be done. We'd pretty well go over every
verse in these chapters. And I think I've kept that promise.
Romans 14, 14-18, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus
that nothing is unclean of itself, save to him that it counteth
anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because
of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love,
destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died. Let not
then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is
not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit. For he that herein serveth Christ
is well pleasing to God and approved of men. You see what Paul is
saying? Here is the strong who knows he can eat anything, he
can drink anything. He has liberty in Christ. This
is God's world. But he selfishly clings to that
liberty in its exercise. And in so doing, he's leading
a weaker brother from a path of righteousness into what is
a path of sin to him, right? To him, that esteem of a thing
to be unclean, it is unclean. What happens then when the weaker
brother sins? He loses his joy. When he walks out of a path of
righteousness, he walks out of the orbit of joy. And then there
is discord between him and the other brethren. So you have the
antithesis of those things that characterize the kingdom of God,
righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. So then, when
you are not willing to relinquish the exercise of your liberty,
which pertains to things and to places and to the external
world, If you're going to cling tenaciously to the exercise of
your liberty at the expense of your brother's walk in righteousness,
his joy in the Spirit, and peace among the people of God, you're
misrepresenting the priorities of the kingdom of God. You're
saying, look, I'm free in Christ. I'm going to stand by my liberty.
Ah, but not at the expense of righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost. There's something bigger than
The titillation of your taste buds with that hunk of meat,
Paul says. Something bigger, something bigger than the titillation
of your ears with that particular music form that you like. And
you say, I see nothing wrong with it. I receive positive good.
And therefore, no one will hinder me from listening to anything
I want to under any circumstances. And you claim to be a Christian,
concerned with the great issues of righteousness? peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost, those are the dominant concerns of the
kingdom of God. Don't misrepresent that kingdom
and say, no, sir, the kingdom of God to me is knowing and enjoying
every one of my liberties in every circumstance, no matter
what the influence may be. My friend, that sounds like another
kingdom, a kingdom of that prince of darkness,
whose whole spirit is, I'm going to do my own thing. I will ascend
into the hill of the Most High. And the little phrase, doing
my own thing, is but an echo of the language of hell itself.
And there's no greater tyranny under the sun than doing your
own thing. So don't show, don't misrepresent
the great issues of the kingdom of God by refusing to submit
to the demands made upon you by the weaker brother than two
other things very quickly enclosing If we do not conform to these
demands that we've outlined in the previous study, we show indifference
to the glory of God. And I think for the first time
I'm beginning to see what this verse means in its context. I
said, I think I am beginning to see. I've often quoted 1 Corinthians
10 31 because it's one of those texts so vast, so comprehensive,
it would stand on its own feet if it appeared in Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, or any other book in the Bible, right through the
book of the Revelation, in any context, it would be right for
this kind of admonition to be given. Whether, therefore, ye
eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Now, that's true in any context,
for the chief end of man is to glorify God. and to enjoy him
forever. But notice that comes in the
context of Christian liberty and in particular, in particular,
an admonition to the strong to relinquish the exercise of their
liberty. Look at the flow of thought. Verse 28. Verse 27. If any one of them that believe
not biddeth you to a feast and you're disposed to go, whatsoever
said before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
But if any man say to you, that is while you're there eating,
This has been offered in sacrifice. Eat not for his sake that showed
it and for conscience sake. Conscience, I say, not thine
own, but the others. In other words, Paul says the
only reason that guy would have nudged you and said, hey, did
you know this has been offered to an idol? It's because that's
bothering his conscience. You see? He says, oh, if he intimates
it by being concerned about it, if he just can't say, boy, isn't
that a choice cut of meat? Can't wait to dig my teeth into
that. If he says it was offered to an idol, Paul says, chances
are to him, Eating that meat is going to be partaking in sin.
So he said, just on that possibility. He said, you just say, thank
you, sir. I just don't feel like meat today. I just feel like
vegetables today. And you graciously refuse the meat. Conscience,
I say, not thine own, but the others. For why is my liberty
judged by another's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness,
why am I evil-spoken up for that which I give thanks? Whether
therefore, it's in this very context, ye eat or drink or whatsoever
ye do, do all to the glory of God. What is the connection?
I think the connection is this. It is utterly impossible genuinely
to glorify God while at the same time being insensitive or indifferent
to the effect of my conduct upon others. And we're right back
to this whole biblical concept. John articulates it beautifully
in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 20. He that saith, I love God
and hate it as a brother is a liar. For if we do not love our brother
whom we see, how can we love God whom we have not seen? What does it mean to do all to
the glory of God? In this context, it means to
do all unto the edification of our brethren. And if it doesn't
edify, it doesn't glorify. Put the two things together.
No edify, no glorify. How then could this man, once
the brother nudges him and says, hey, Henry, That was offered
to an idol. He says, oh, interesting. Let's
give God thanks. Now, Lord, we thank you for this
food. How can he glorify God in eating? While eating, he knows
that that's an offense to his brother. See, he's playing games. I think that's the connection
in the context. Brethren, you want to say I'm
indifferent to the glory of God? No, no. As a Christian, and much
more as one who confesses adherence to that understanding of the
scriptures, which we believe the scriptures themselves force
upon us, which makes the glory of God the beginning, middle
and end of all that is revealed. How can we claim adherence to
that and be indifferent to the glory of God in the way he says
we glorify him? And then seventh and finally,
if we do not comply with these directives, we show indifference
to the spread of the gospel. First Corinthians 10, 32 and
33. Give no occasion of stumbling,
either to Jews, that is, Jews still regarded as Jews out of
Christ, or to Greeks, those who are non-Jews yet in their sins,
or, comprised of both Jews and Greeks, to the Church of God
with the strong and the weak and everything in between. Give
no occasion of stumbling. Let nothing in your life or conduct
consciously, deliberately lead to another choosing a path of
sin, even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking
mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be
saved. Be ye imitators of me, even as
I also am of Christ. Paul says, there's something
bigger than the succulent taste of meat over my taste buds. There's
something bigger than the sweet taste of wine over my taste buds. There's something bigger than
my ability to say no to all the trappings of the ceremonial law. There's something bigger than
every lawful liberty that is mine in Jesus Christ. And it's
the salvation of fellowship. that looms bigger in my mind
and heart than every other consideration, and driven by that is that I
seek to please all men in all things that they may be saved.
Brethren, if we are not willing to follow these directives concerning
our responsibilities to weaker brethren, we show an indifference
to the gospel, directly and indirectly, directly by the offense we may
cause, to those outside the fold indirectly by disrupting the
joy and peace and righteousness of the assembly of God. We grieve
and quench the spirit and to some degree hinder then the ongoing
of the gospel. You'll notice now as I conclude
the study tonight that most of the directives in these chapters
are explicitly or by inference given to the strong and their
responsibilities to the weak. Did you notice that? Now, God
willing, next week I'm going to take up as our subject the
responsibilities of the weak. And there is something to the
weak, but I'll be able to cover all that in one message and maybe
even have to beat it thin at the edges in a couple of places. But I've had to condense to get
in in two one-hour studies the responsibilities that we have
to the weak. Now, if God's put the preponderant
emphasis there, then that's where we need to put it. Now, I believe,
if I have any pastoral knowledge of this assembly, there are a
number of you who in recent years have grown in your understanding
of the liberty that is yours in Christ. And you may now, with
thanksgiving before God, partake in a way of food, in the way
of God's gifts in his world, in many areas of your life, of
things which once you looked upon as no-nos. Thank God for
that. Others of you have been brought
to the Lord in a context where you haven't been crippled with
a lot of evangelical legalism. You've been given your liberty,
and nobody's been there to spy out the liberty that is yours
in Christ. And I give God thanks for that. I know I speak for
the other elders. One reason I've delayed in even bringing
this series of messages until now is I wanted to sense in my
own spirit that the concept of the nature of our liberty in
Christ was firmly entrenched, lest any should feel that liberty
was being snatched away. But I believe that many of you,
many of us, have something yet to learn in the area of our responsibility
in the matter of the exercise of that liberty. And some of
us have to confess before God that we've exercised the liberty
carelessly. And in so doing, some of these
things have been true of us. We've usurped God's right of
judgment. We've despised the weaker. We've not walked in love. We've regarded lightly the purchased
property of Christ. We've allowed our good to be
evil spoken of. We've misrepresented the great
issues of the kingdom of God. We've shown indifference to the
glory of God and indifference to the spread of the gospel.
What do we do? Well, we don't become Roman Catholics and go
do a form of evangelical penance. We confess our sin to the Lord.
In some cases, sins of ignorance. We say, Lord, I just didn't see
that before. My sin was sin, but Lord, it
was a sin of ignorance. And there is provision in the
blood of Christ for sins of ignorance. They're not faults, they're sins.
With some of us, it's been sins rooted in selfishness. And we
need to confess to God that selfishness. But we need, having discovered
our sins, to look out of ourselves and to Christ for pardon, Christ
for cleansing, and then Christ for strength, and Christ as our
pattern. Isn't that where Paul closes?
He says, this is my pattern. I'm doing this. As I follow Christ,
be followers of me. That's what he did in Romans
15. The strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
even as Christ. You see, Christ is the beginning,
middle, and end of the whole Christian faith. And here we've
been at the nerve centers of the most practical things. The
old writers would have called it casuistry. It has to do with
the matter of regulating conduct in detail according to the scriptural
principles. But even in the most intimate
intricacies of Christian casuistry, there's Christ at the center.
And so I plead with you, if God has discovered your sin to you,
go to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Go to Christ
for cleansing. Go to Christ for strength. Continually
gaze upon him as the great pattern of selfless accommodation to
sinners. My friends, the great accommodation
was the incarnation. He had every right to remain
equal with God in the full undiminished glory of pre-incarnate existence. But the scripture says he fought
not this a thing to be selfishly retained, but made himself of
no reputation. Now that's the Christ who has
stamped his image upon your heart. and is perfecting that image
in you by His Spirit. Do I speak to some who know nothing
of this liberty? You cannot receive God's gifts
with thanksgiving because you squander them upon your lusts,
and all of God's gifts to this present moment have simply intensified
your accountability to God because you squander His gifts in a course
of self-centeredness and rebellion. O my friend, as I have sought
to point His children to their Savior, So I would point you
to the same Savior. He receives guilty, bound, helpless
sinners who know nothing of the liberty of free access to God
through the blood of forgiveness. And He bids you to come, to trust
Him, to cast yourself upon Him. And He promises that all who
come unto Him, He will graciously and freely receive. May the Lord
write upon our hearts These directives, even as he's promised to do in
the New Covenant, I will write my law upon their hearts and
cause them to keep my statutes. Is it too much to believe that
God can give us the continuing experience of an assembly with
the weakest of the weak to the strongest of the strong, dwelling
together in the bonds of mutual acceptance and self-denying love? I don't believe it's too much
to expect God can do that. May God grant that you as an
individual part of this assembly will be found submissive to his
word. Let us pray. Our father. We are humbled by
your word. Once again, this night, we've
had our own selfishness, our nearsightedness, our callousness
laid bare, and what can we do but cry out, Lord, have mercy
upon us. We thank you for your promise
if we confess our sins. You are faithful and just to
forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And,
O Lord, where we have failed to comply with the directives
given with reference to how we are
to conduct ourselves in the presence of the weak. Oh, Father, forgive
and cleanse and purge us in the blood of your son and grant that
measure of grace that we may run in the way of your commandments. Write your word upon our hearts
for those who know nothing of the liberty that is in Christ
Jesus. who are still the slaves of sin
and selfishness and pride, O God, will you not take even a practical
message geared to your people and make it a word of saving
mercy? For you have said in your own
word, No word from God shall be void of power. O Father, take
even the name of your Son as it has been preached, and make
it a stronghold that sinners shall run into it and be saved. Seal now to our hearts the new
understanding given this day, and grant that as we go forth
into this coming week, we may do so as men and women filled
with a new vision of the glory of our selfless Christ. And as we gaze upon him, may
the Holy Spirit transform us into that image from one stage
of glory to another. Keep us, O Lord, from the curse
of legalism. But don't ever allow this assembly
to become a place where the rules of men bind the consciences of
other men. Father, preserve us from such
wickedness, and then we pray you'd preserve us from a careless
exercise of liberty. O Lord, may we have the spirit
given by your Spirit to the Apostle that says that I will eat no
meat forever if necessary. if it caused my brother to offend. Oh, God, we confess this is not
native to us. We're too selfish. We don't want
anyone to trample upon the circle of our own legitimate liberties.
But Lord, you have that right. And we confess ourselves to be
your bond servants. Oh, Lord Jesus, as you've given
us your word, give us new measures of your spirit that we may, even
as you seek not our profit, but the profit of others. Hear us
now, and be with us, and grant that we may glorify You in the
days of the week that lies before us, we ask through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.

Christian Liberty #6 Directives to the Stronger Brother, Part 2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about Christian liberty?

How do we know the doctrine of Christian liberty is true?

Why is considering the weaker brother important for Christians?

What happens if we disregard our duties to weaker brothers?

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About Albert N. Martin

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Christian Liberty #6 Directives to the Stronger Brother, Part 2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about Christian liberty?

How do we know the doctrine of Christian liberty is true?

Why is considering the weaker brother important for Christians?

What happens if we disregard our duties to weaker brothers?

Sermon Transcript

About Albert N. Martin

Comments

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