Well, good morning to one and
all. If you would open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 2. Mark
chapter 2. Let's begin by bowing before
our Lord in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend, is your matchless name. And Father, how thankful
we are to be able to come into your courts this morning, to
be able to come before your throne of grace, crying, Abba, Father,
and know that we'll be heard because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How thankful we are that we do not have to appear before you
in ourselves as we are in ourselves, as we are in Adam, pleading our
own sinful works, but Father, how thankful we are to be able
to come before you in your son. our Lord Jesus Christ and be
heard and be accepted. How we thank you for his obedience.
It's the only hope of righteousness that we have. How we thank you
for his precious blood. It's the only hope of cleansing
from our sin, forgiveness of sin we have. Father, we're so
thankful. And Father, we're thankful for
this opportunity to be able to meet together and to worship
you in peace and harmony And Father, I pray you bless us this
morning as we look into your word. Enable us to see the Lord
Jesus Christ and to learn more of him. Father, I pray for this
congregation. I thank you for each one, for
each home that's represented here. Father, we pray your mercy
and your grace. Father, I pray you give us the
heart to love and to care for one another, to watch out for
one another, not be a stumbling block to our brothers and our
sisters. Father, we pray for those that
you brought in the time of difficult trials, deep waters, dark valleys. Father, we pray you'd be with
them, that you'd give them a fulfillment of your promise that you'd never
leave nor forsake your people, that you always give grace that's
sufficient. And we pray, Father, that you'd
deliver as soon as it could be thy will. Father, I pray that
this morning that you'd show us your glory. For it's in Christ's
name, for his sake we pray, Amen. I titled our lesson this morning,
Handling Matters of Indifference. In Mark chapter two, verse 18,
and the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast.
And they come and say unto him, why do the disciples of John
and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And here
the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees, they
come to the disciples of the Lord, and you know what they're
doing? They're trying to cause a division between them. That's exactly what they're doing.
They wanted to make themselves look better because they were
fasting and these others were not. And that means we're more
religious than you. We're more dedicated than you.
We fast and you don't. We go through this religious
ceremony and you don't. Now our lesson this morning is
ripped from today's headlines. It is very, distressing and depressing
to me to see how rampant this very same thing is in our day. You know, people, it seems to
me like, look for ways, they look for ways to divide themselves
between brother and they look for ways to make themselves look
better at the expense of a brother or a sister. It's so distressing
and depressing to me And our Lord gives us the way that this
situation is supposed to be handled. Now there are legitimate reasons
that we would not have fellowship with someone if they're not preaching
the three R's, ruined by the fall, redeemed by the blood of
Christ, regenerated by God the Holy Spirit. If they don't preach
that and they deny that, we can't have fellowship together. If
they make salvation dependent in some way, in any way, on man's
works, and it's not completely and totally by the sovereign,
electing, redeeming, regenerating, preserving grace of God, if it's
not grace alone, now we can't have fellowship with them. But
if the issue is not Christ alone, if it's not the word of God alone,
if it's not by faith alone, if it's not by grace alone, and
it's something that we do or don't do, then you mark this
down, that's a matter of indifference. A matter of indifference is something
that has nothing to do with the salvation of our souls, has nothing
to do with making us righteous or accepted before God. It's
just something that the flesh does or does not do. That is
a matter of indifference, 100% of the time. And you be very
careful of people who take one of these matters of indifference
And what they do is they wrap that matter of indifference in
religion, and they take a scripture and attach to it. Now, the scripture's
all twisted out of place. It doesn't fit, but they make
this thing a matter of righteousness. They say, if you don't do this,
you're not righteous. If you don't do this, you don't have
faith. If you don't do this, you're not truly worshiping God
over, and they make it a matter. Now remember, this is a matter
of indifference. It doesn't affect your soul in any way. but they
make it a matter worth dividing over because they love it so
much, just like these fellas did with their fast. If the matter they're making
a fuss over is something that I do or don't do, and they make
it a matter of righteousness, I'll tell you what that is. It's
righteousness, self-righteousness, pure and simple. That's exactly
what it is. That's what these men were doing
in our test. And there are one or two very
good lessons for us to learn here. If you'll pay attention
and God the Holy Spirit will be our teacher and enable us
to learn this, I believe it'll save us from some heartache down
the road. The first lesson is this, even true believers can
get caught up and sidetracked by a matter of indifference.
These disciples of John the Baptist were true believers, at least
many of them were. I feel very safe in saying that. I know there are always tears
among the weak, I feel very safe in saying these men were believers.
They're disciples of John the Baptist. They heard John teach. John the Baptist taught repentance
from sin. John taught everything we do
is sin, so there's nothing that we can do to make ourselves righteous
by obeying the law. John the Baptist taught that.
And John was always pointing sinners to Christ. Behold, the
Lamb of God was taken away the sin of the world. John said,
now you go to him. This is the one I've been preaching.
I'm not even worthy to bend down and untie his shoe. You trust
him. You look to him. You go to him.
This is the one I've been telling you about. When John was in prison,
he told his disciples, now you go ask the Lord Jesus if he's
the Messiah or not. Are you the one we're looking
for or do we look for another? Now John knew who the Lord was. He
knew who the Lord was from his mother's womb. But he wanted
his disciples to know that Jesus is the Messiah. You see what
John was doing? He didn't want them to follow
him, he wanted them to follow Christ. John's always preaching
Christ and pointing people to Christ. Now somebody who believed
that message is a believer. So for the sake of argument,
that's what we'll assume, that these men were believers. Then
what on earth were the disciples of John doing with the disciples
of the Pharisees? I mean, these men didn't agree
on anything that was important. They didn't agree on one thing
that was important. There's not one doctrinal point that they
agree on. So what were they doing together? And what were they
doing together coming and attacking the disciples of our Lord? What's
going on here? It's pride and jealousy. That's
exactly what it is. Look over John chapter three.
You know, one time, the disciples of John, you think about them.
They were with the most popular prophet in Israel. There had
not been a prophet in Israel in hundreds of years, and they're
with him. They're his disciples. They're
with the most popular prophet in Israel, and now, not so much,
because so many people who were following John had left John
and started following Christ. Look at John 3, verse 25. Then
there arose a question, the same thing going on, just different
questions. There arose a question between some of John's disciples
and the Jews about purifying. And they come unto John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom
thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth. He's baptizing
just like you are. And all men come to him. You
see, they're jealous. So many people have left John
and following Christ and they don't like it. And look how John
answered, remember this later on. John answered and said, a
man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven.
And on down in verse 30, he said, he must increase, but I must
decrease. See, John had the right answer.
I'm not the issue. I'm not the issue. Christ is
the issue. But it was jealousy that caused these true believers
to fall under the wicked influence of the Pharisees. Just a natural
emotion of the flesh, pride and jealousy, And see how dangerous
that can be? It caused them to fall under
the influence of the Pharisees. Now be warned, the same thing
still happens to this day. Believers still fall under the
wicked influence of someone or something because we're still
in this flesh. And it's something to constantly
guard against. I can't help that somebody else
does that. But I don't want to be that guy. I don't want you
to be that. I want us to be self-aware, watch
what we're doing, that we're not making a matter of indifference,
something that can be added to the righteousness of Christ.
And I tell you, I just don't think there can be a bigger matter
of indifference than fasting. You know, skipping a few meals,
that's just never gonna have any effect on your soul. It just
never will. I don't really know people that
fast for any religious reasons. But I do know men who never eat
before they preach. Eric hardly ever eats before
he preaches, does he? You get so nervous, and you've got that
food in your stomach. It just makes your stomach upset.
They don't eat before they preach. They're not feeling sick before
they preach. I always eat before I preach. Always. I don't want
to be up here and get hungry. And you hear my stomach growling
on this microphone. I don't want to get low blood
sugar and pass out or not be able to think clear. I always
eat before I preach. But whether you do eat or you
don't eat, it doesn't affect your preaching one little bit. We're still dependent on the
Holy Ghost, aren't we? We're still dependent on the
Lord to make our preaching effectual. Let me show you a few scriptures.
Look at 1 Samuel 6. I'll show you what fasting is.
1 Samuel 7. Fasting is an outward sign of
repentance. 1 Samuel 7. Verse 6. Well, look at verse five. And
Samuel said, gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray for
you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to
Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord as the
water offering. And they fasted on that day and
said there, we've sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the
children of Israel in Mizpah. That fasting that they were doing
that day was a sign of repentance, just an outward sign of inward
repentance. Now look at 1 Samuel chapter
31. Fasting was also an outward sign of grieving over sin. 1 Samuel 31. This is after Saul
and Jonathan had been killed and the Philistines hung them
up on a wall. In verse 11, 1 Samuel chapter
31. And when the inhabitants of Jabesh
Gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul.
All the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body
of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan,
and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their
bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven
days." They fasted mourning over Saul and Jonathan and his sons.
Now one more scripture, 1 Kings chapter 21. And this one, this
will really drive the point home. Fasting is an outward sign. Now
it doesn't indicate anything inwardly, it's an outward sign
of humility and dependence upon the Lord. 1 Kings 21, verse 25. But there was none
like unto Ahab which did sell himself to the work of wickedness
in the sight of the Lord whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up. And he did very abominably in
following idols, according to all things, as did the Amorites,
which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. And it
came to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he ran his
clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay
in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the Lord came
to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, seest thou how Ahab humbleth
himself before me? That fasting is a sign of humbling.
Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil
in his days, but in his son's days, while I bring the evil
upon his house. Ahab fasted and the Lord did
not bring the evil that he had promised until upon Ahab's sons
when they were kings. But here's what I know for sure.
Ahab's fasting, that was only an outward thing. It didn't help
his soul one bit. He died like he lived in his
wickedness. So fasting is just an outward
thing. Fasting is an outward sign of begging for mercy and
forgiveness. Remember when Jonah finally went
to Nineveh and preached the message that God gave him to preach?
You know what the king of Nineveh did? He proclaimed to fast. He said, who can tell whether
the Lord will spare us Let's fast and beg for mercy, beg for
forgiveness. It's an outward sign. But now
look at Matthew chapter six. Fasting is an outward thing,
and it does not contribute to our salvation, to our righteousness.
It doesn't make God have mercy on us. It doesn't make God forgive
our sins. It's an outward thing. And fasting is a personal thing. I know the king of Nineveh did
this publicly, the whole city is begging for mercy, but fasting
is to be a personal thing done privately. Look at our Lord,
says Matthew chapter six, verse 16. Moreover, when you fast,
be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure
their faces that they may appear unto men to fast, Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. When somebody sees and says,
oh, look how religious they are. Look how dedicated they are.
Look how, you know, orthodox they're fasting. Well, they have
their reward. They just want everybody to know that they were
doing it. But verse 17, but thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine
head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast,
but unto thy father, which is in secret. And thy father, which
seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Now, if the Lord's
disciples were fasting Properly? Nobody would have known that
they were fasting, would they? I mean, you come and ask them,
why don't you fast? Well, maybe they are. They're just doing
it the way the Lord told them. It's a private thing unto the
Lord. Now, fasting is not an issue
in our day. It's not a religious issue in
our day. But I went through those scriptures
to show you that. Now, this is just a matter of indifference.
because the same principle can be applied to what people use
today to try to be divisive with a matter of indifference. I reckon
it's constantly changing. But I remember when I was a little
boy, I remember a day when the length of a man's hair was a
serious, serious religious issue to people. I remember that. I
remember being a little boy in Michigan Pastor said, now, all
you men put your hand on the back of your neck, put it on
your shirt collar, and if your fingers are touching your hair,
your hair's too long. I mean, he took time in a message to
say that. I mean, this was a serious, serious
issue, the length of a man's hair. If his hair was long, oh
my goodness, he couldn't be saved. He's a rebel, you know? And you
know how old that was? It was just men and women who
hated the hippies. They didn't, you know, all this
long hair and all this stuff the hippies were doing, and they
just wanted them to conform, you know, to society. And in
order to strengthen their argument, they made it a religious issue.
And no thought whatsoever went into that. It's almost certain
our Lord and all of his disciples had long hair. That's the way
the men wore their hair then. See what they did? It's just
taking something that has absolutely nothing to do with your soul
and making it a matter of righteousness. How about a Christmas tree? I
know people today are still, oh my goodness, about a Christmas
tree. They're so, they just stumble over it so much, they think if
you have a Christmas tree up and you're living, they think
you're an idolater. Maybe that's the way Christmas
trees started. I don't know. I really don't care, because
that's not what they mean today. I love a Christmas tree. I love
all the decorations. I love the family getting together
and gift giving and the lights on the tree. I mean, oh my goodness. I mean, I'm going to have a tree
hut. And I'm going to have the biggest tree you can get. I mean,
my son Clark went to get a Christmas tree one year. And Janet told
us what she wanted. And I found just exactly what
she wanted. And Clark kept saying, no, no, no. And he finally went
up to the person and he said, don't you have a big tree? And
that's the one we got. I mean, we had to cut it to make
it fit. I'm a big tree. Now, if I know somebody that
thinks I'm an idolater for having a Christmas tree in my house,
you know what I'm going to do? I'm not going to force it down their
throat and tell them how wrong they are. I'm not going to invite
them to my house between Thanksgiving and January 1. Problem solved. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. How about a glass of wine? Now,
I know people who think, boy, if alcohol touches your lips,
you're a lost person. You're lost. You cannot be saved
if you drink alcohol. And I know a lot of them, they're
afraid. of what happens when somebody
gets drunk, you know, what they do, or they're afraid of becoming
an alcoholic, and I understand that. Boy, if you feel that way,
don't do it, don't do it. But they're doing what these
folks did with the long hair. In order to strengthen their
argument against alcohol, they wrap it in scripture, and they
make it a matter of righteousness. And you know what? Not very much
thought went into that one either. The scriptures say, take a little
wine for your stomach's sake. The scripture says, use wine
for the Lord's table. Not grape juice, wine. Well now,
how am I gonna take the Lord's table if alcohol ever touches
my lips? I'm gonna go to hell. The scriptures don't teach that
at all. But people like to use that, wrap that up in religion
as a way to make themselves feel better. It's self-righteousness
is all it is. And listen, it's fine. if you want to abstain
from alcohol. That probably is a real good
idea. But it's also fine if you want
to drink it. Either way, it's fine. But don't put that on somebody
else. It's a sin if you drink it. And
don't do the reverse either. Don't put on somebody else. You
better drink a glass of wine to show you've got faith in Christ.
If you don't drink a glass of wine, you're just being self-righteous
and you don't have any faith in Christ. Both are just as wrong. You're putting a burden on somebody
either way. Don't put anything between you
and Christ and don't let anybody else do it either. I mean anything.
Don't let you let put anything between you and Christ. Cause
listen, I'm telling you, whatever it is that goes into the mouth,
whether it's wine or it's grape juice, whether it's water or
it's milk or it's water, you know what? It's going out to
plumbing and hadn't affected your soul one bit. So don't go
telling people, oh no, Frank, he don't preach the gospel because
he drinks wine. Or Frank don't preach the gospel
because he won't drink wine. See, that's what, you apply that
to every one of these matters of indifference. Now listen,
if you feel like something is wrong for you to do, don't do
it. But don't put that burden on
somebody else. If there's something that you do that it makes you
feel like that you can worship better and you can be more focused
on your own Lord, that's fine. That's fine. Do it. But don't
put that burden on somebody else. All you're doing is trying to
bring somebody back into captivity to the law. It might not be the
Ten Commandments. Worse yet, it's your law. It's
your law, not God's. See that? So just be very, very,
very, very careful about this. You know, we want our conduct
to be beyond reproach, don't we? I mean, absolutely. I'm not
saying, you know, I want my conduct to be beyond reproach, but be
very, very, very careful. You don't take something about
your conduct and make it a matter of righteousness, because even
believers can get sidetracked on these things now and come
under the influence of something that's evil. Well, here's the
second lesson. This is a very important lesson
now. You know what the cure for these matters of indifference
is? It's looking to Christ. How our souls say, look and live,
look to Christ. How are you gonna walk through
this world the rest of the time the Lord gives you on this earth
that he calls you home? By looking to Christ. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. That's what we're called
on to do. Trust Christ at all times in
every situation. I don't care what people do or
what they don't do. You trust Christ. So that is the cure for all these
matters of indifference. If you're trusting Christ alone,
you're looking to Christ alone, you cannot be sidetracked by
one of these matters of indifference if you're looking to Christ alone.
If both of us are trusting Christ alone, we'll find no reason to
divide. Now, as long as we're trusting
Christ alone, we won't. Look to Christ in times of joy. Look what our Lord says in verse
19, back in our text, Mark 2. And Jesus said unto them, can
the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is
with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they
cannot fast. If you're trusting Christ alone and you have his
presence, I tell you, nothing gives the heart of a believer
more joy. the knowing and feeling, having a sense of the Lord's
presence with me. Well, if I have that, there's
no reason for me to fast. There's no reason for me to grieve. I have a real good appetite. I mean a real good appetite.
And the only time I find I really don't want something to eat is
when I'm sad, when I'm grieving. Well, if the Lord's with me,
I'm not sad and I'm not grieving. No need to fast then, is there?
If you trust in Christ alone and you're worshiping Him, oh
my, your heart's happy. And it's just not gonna matter
if your hair's long or short. It's not gonna matter what you
drink or what you don't drink. If you're trusting Christ alone,
you're not gonna feel the need to do something to make yourself
more righteous. If you're trusting Christ alone,
you're gonna feel the need to do something to make yourself
more saved or more accepted than the Father. Because it's all
in Christ. It's all in Christ. Just trust Him. If you're trusting
Christ alone, you're looking to Him, you have His presence,
you're looking to Him, you have the joy of His presence, you're
not going to feel the need to make yourself the standard of
righteousness to somebody else. You've got to do what I do in
order to be righteous. If you're looking to Christ alone,
He's the standard of righteousness. And you'll be saying, let's look
to Christ together. Let's hear Him preach together. If you're
trusting Christ alone, you're looking to him, you're trusting
him alone, he's all your hope, it's just gonna be impossible
for a religious hypocrite to turn you away from Christ. If
you're trusting Christ alone, all these matters of indifference,
they're gonna be so insignificant, they're not gonna be able to
sidetrack you, because they're just insignificant. And look
to Christ alone in times of sorrow. Verse 20, the Lord says, but
the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them,
and then shall they fast in those days. You know, in times of sorrow,
maybe you do fast, maybe you're just fasting because you don't
have an appetite, you know, you're too sad to eat or whatever. In
times of sorrow, trust Christ alone. He's our only comfort,
the only true lasting comfort, the only thing that'll truly
calm the heart of one of God's children is looking to Christ. It's all found in Him. He's my
righteousness. He's my salvation. He's the one
that's directing all things. You know, this trial, this thing
that's brought me such grief, He's the one that's directing
it. And He's promised He's going to come get me again real soon.
Very soon, this trail of tears is going to be over. And I'm
going to be brought into the presence of Christ Himself. Be
made just like Him and worship Him face to face forever. That'll calm your heart and put
all these other things in perspective. The answer is always look to
Christ. It's always trust Christ. In
times of sorrow, don't put up a hypocritical false front that
you think, you know, is going to make you look like, you know,
the standard everybody's got to keep stand up to because it's
not going to help them. If you put up a false front,
this is being hypocritical. Just trust Christ in the heart.
Now look at Colossians chapter two. I'm gonna read you two scriptures
in closing because the best commentary on scripture is always scripture. This is gonna be a point in the
message in just a few minutes. All of our messages has to agree
with all the word of God. That's what the Lord's saying
there. Let's look at the rest of scripture to see if that's
not true. Colossians 2 verse 16. Let no man therefore judge
you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the
new moon or of the Sabbath days. Don't let them put these things
on you. Those things are just a shadow of things to come, but
the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility, worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which you hath not seen. vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which all the
body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit
together, increases with the increase of God. Wherefore, if
ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why,
as though living in the world, are ye subject to these ordinances,
these fleshly ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which
all are to perish with the using? after the commandments and doctrines
of men. See, these things are not from
the word of God, they're the commandments and doctrines of
men. Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship
and humility and neglecting of the body, but not in any honor
to the satisfying of the flesh. These things, you know, put on
a good religious show, but they're not gonna help your soul one
bit. That's what Paul's saying. Now look at Romans chapter 14. You see how that is the same
thing in short with what the Lord was saying to these who
are trying to use this matter of indifference to divide. Romans
14 verse one. Him that is weak in the faith,
receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth
that he may eat all things. One believes he may eat meat
that's been offered to idols. Another who's weak just eats
herbs. He's not gonna risk ever eating
meat that's been offered to an idol. Well, let not him that
eateth despise him that eateth not. And let not him which eateth
not judge him that eateth. For God hath received him. Now
here's the brother, he acts very orthodox. He's very strict about
these things of conduct. He would never associate himself
with meat that's been offered to idols. And boy, he just looks
so strong and orthodox. I would just rather be a vegetarian
than risk ever eating meat offered to an idol. Paul calls that the
weak brother, not the strong brother. See, because he's using
that as a way to, you know, make himself more righteous. He's
weaker in faith because he's hanging on to some matter of
the flesh as a matter of righteousness. Read on, verse four. Now who
art thou that judges another man's servant? What are you gonna
divide about this? What are you judging him for? To his own master
he standeth or falleth. Yea, he should be holding up,
for God's able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above
another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the
Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the
Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not, to the
Lord he eateth not, and he giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself, For whether we live,
we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we're the Lord's. For to
this end, Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might
be Lord, both of the dead and the living. See, the issue's
Christ, isn't it? Now verse 10, but why dost thou
judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy
brother? What are you dividing with him for? If we shall all
stand before him, the judgment seat of Christ. Christ is our
judge, Christ is our master, we're not to judge one another
in that way. For it's written, as I live, saith the Lord, every
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God,
so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Now let us not, therefore, judge one another any more, but judge
this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or occasion
to fall in his brother's way. I know and am persuaded by the
Lord Jesus that there's nothing unclean of itself, but to him
that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
What if he'd eat that? His conscience would bother him
so much because he feels like it's unclean, and if you're the
one that made him eat it, you know what you did? You put a
stumbling block in front of him. Paul said, no, don't do that.
But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou
not charitably? Destroy not him with thy meat
for whom Christ died, Let not then your good be evil spoken
of. For listen, the kingdom of God
is not meat and drink. It's not what you do, what you
don't do. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth
Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore
follow after things which make for peace and things wherewith
one may edify one another. Don't look for reasons to divide.
Don't look for these reasons to be offended and to divide
and start causing a fuss and fight. Look for a way to edify
your brothers. Look for a way to strengthen
them. Look for a way to be a help to
them. Look for a way that we can still have unity because
we're all worshiping Christ together. See that, that's what Paul's
saying there. And if we'll handle every matter of indifference
that way, We won't have a problem, Willie. All right. Lord bless
that to you.