Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] My junior year of college, I found myself co leading this Bible study, and I was trying to find someone to kind of lead it with me. And I made this friend. His name was Adam. He was on the football team. He was super jacked and way better athlete than I was. But more importantly than that, he. He loved the Lord. And we came from very, very different backgrounds, but it was very clear from his life and just different times, we have to speak together. He loved Jesus. That, you know, we shared a passion for the scriptures and we wanted our, you know, our peers to know Jesus. And there wasn't. There wasn't necessarily many of us that were trying to follow the Lord. But, you know, Adam was one of these guys, and I was. I was obviously so much more mature than he was. You know, as a junior, you know, I knew so much more about the world than he did as a freshman. But I remember actually meeting with him and, you know, I'd kind of poured into him a little bit, and it was his turn to kind of lead the Bible study that week.
[00:00:52] And I remember I found him in the library. I'll never forget. He had, like, his earbuds in, and he's, like, furiously taking notes. And I was like, adam, what's up, dude? Are you ready for a night? You ready to, like, crush? He's like, yeah, man, I'm so excited. I was like, what are you going to talk about?
[00:01:06] And he's like, oh, I'm so excited. Look, I want to talk about how tattoos are sin and they're going to send you to hell.
[00:01:14] And I remember being like, oh, my Lord, you know, Like, I about fell over in the library right there, you know, and I. I wish I could say I was like, hey, how'd you get there, man? You know? Or like, let's open the Bible together. I was like, heck, no. I probably, like, yelled, and the librarians, like, shh. Kind of thing. I was like, no, dude, we can't. Because I'm thinking about the room. I'm thinking about the room. I'm thinking about, like, dude, you just invite half the football team and they have tattoos, like, what are you doing? You know? But this was a deep conviction for him. And, you know, it was kind of from his background. And.
[00:01:44] And in that moment, I wanted to kind of be the theological referee, right? I was trying to throw the red flag and say, no, no, no, we're not doing that.
[00:01:51] I don't know if you've had a moment like that, but I think if you walk with Jesus long enough, you will maybe have this moment where you disagree with somebody, maybe not about the main thing, but about how we live it out.
[00:02:05] And so this is the question I want us to wrestle with this morning. What do you do when sincere followers of, of Jesus disagree?
[00:02:12] None of us have ever disagreed with one another, have we?
[00:02:15] Right. No, we just all agree on everything. No, no, that's not human nature. Right. And it's in wired in us that we were independent thinkers and that's a good thing. But as we dive into scriptures, we follow Jesus. And that's what me and Adam did, right? We were following the same Jesus, we had responded to the same gospel, but yet there was different convictions around this. Now, before we dive into our text this morning, I want to make something really crystal clear because I don't want to email us this week, right. That the Bible is very clear. Like Paul has been talking for 13 chapters precisely describing what the gospel is and articulating theology. That's really, really important.
[00:02:55] But I want you to know something. In those, there are, there are truths that are worth standing for, worth suffering for, even dying for. And Paul's been laying that out for the church in Rome. This is the most essential things. Those are the things like that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he died for our sins, that he rose again, that we can be saved only through grace, through faith alone. Right? That those are first tier things. Those are things that if those things aren't true, if we don't hold those things, that's where like our creeds and our belief statements and those things are really essential to our belief. And if those are off kilter, it's going to be hard for us to agree on much.
[00:03:33] But those are first tier things. But what about our convictions?
[00:03:37] Well, that's where Romans 14 comes into play, right? And so what we're gonna do this morning, it's kind of a bigger chapter. So here's my promise to you. This week we're gonna do the first 12 verses, which means we're gonna talk about the why. It's the why this matters. And next week is the how. I know we're all like doers in this room and we're like, just tell me how to do the thing. That's next week. You gotta come back next week. Okay, but we gotta understand the why. So here's the idea. I want you to carry through this 12 verses. As we look through it this morning is this. Every church has only one Lord and it's a terrible place to try to take his job.
[00:04:11] That's what Paul's gonna make really clear in these 12 verses, every church only has one Lord.
[00:04:17] It's a terrible place to try to take his job. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to Romans, chapter 14, verse 1.
[00:04:24] It'll be on the screen as well. First verse, it says, except the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling or without over disputable matters. One thing I just want to highlight the first word to start. Accept.
[00:04:39] Now, that is a command. That's an imperative. He starts this verse by saying, accept one another. Doesn't say. It's not a suggestion. It's not a recommendation.
[00:04:47] It's not, like, come with some kind of pretense of, like, you only need to accept those who do this. No, he says accept that Greek word there. It's a really beautiful word. It means to receive someone, to. To welcome them in, but also to bring them close.
[00:05:03] Like this idea of putting them at your table, right? To even, like, give them the very food from your plate to invite them into your life. That's the word. Paul's not saying, hey, you need to put up with each other. He's saying, you need to welcome one another.
[00:05:16] You need to invite them to your table.
[00:05:19] And who are we talking about? We're talking about those whose faith is weak. Now, at first glance, we need to unpack that. Cause that's like, man, is Paul, like, throwing shade at somebody, right? Like, dang, Paul kind of being rude, right? No. What does a weak faith mean?
[00:05:34] Well, Paul's not describing someone who, like, there's not a validity in their faith. He's not saying that there's weaker faith or stronger faith based on, like, God loves them more or something weird like that. That's not what's happening in this passage when he is using that statement. It's more about their conscience, right? Weakness means that their weakness, like, they're easily offended or you could be easily pricked, right? Like, you can ruffle their feathers pretty easily. Are you one of those people or do you know one of those people?
[00:06:02] Right? And what he's talking about in this passage specifically is that there are those who have a weaker faith who, because of that, there's weaker and stronger. We're gonna see this morning, they're quarreling over disputable matters. Which means that Paul says, there are things that you're debating that are disputable, that are kind of silly.
[00:06:21] And so some believers. What's happening? What is the weaker believer? What's happening in this space? Well, what we know is that this church is made up of predominantly two groups. One is the Jewish believers. So they would have grown up Jewish. This is their background. Excuse me, man, last time I cried, now I'm coughing. Here we go.
[00:06:39] But these Jewish believers, they grew up kind of Jewish in culture and nature. So they would have had.
[00:06:46] They would have kept, like, a kosher diet. You might be familiar with that, right? So they ate certain foods that were considered clean or unclean, or they would abstain from things that were unclean. And one of these things in this group is these Jewish believers who grew up Jewish, now they're become believers, followers of Jesus. They're wrestling kind of with their past a little bit, and they don't know what. How to honor him with their new freedom that they've received.
[00:07:11] And so one of those things they're getting hung up on a bunch is that maybe meat was really hard to come by. It was really expensive. But one of the ways you would distinguish someone who was Jewish is they would avoid all the meat because it could have been one not kosher, like, say, pork, right? So more bacon for the rest of us. But then they also would avoid anything that had anything to do with idols.
[00:07:32] And a lot of the meat would have been sacrificed to an idol, like a pagan idol. And then they would have brought it back and kind of sold it in the marketplace. Does that make sense?
[00:07:42] So they wouldn't, you know, these food vendors would be like, saying, hey, come get your, you know, brisket or whatever. And these guys would be like, no, no, no, no, not me. So they would have avoided it at all costs because they were very, maybe cautious is the word to say. They'd say, if that, oh, I can't touch that. And so they're getting kind of hung up there a little bit. And so there's this group that's being very cautious. Meanwhile, there's these gentiles who are like, great, more bacon for me, baby. You know, and they didn't grow up kosher, so they don't have any idea. So they're like, well, why are you getting hung up on this? If we're all team Jesus here, why is this the thing? You're getting up? You're acting like these guys you're supposed to like, hasn't God made us free? And so there's this bickering that's happening amongst them. See, they're two different groups of people. They have. They're following the same Jesus.
[00:08:23] They've responded to the same gospel, but they have different convictions, don't they?
[00:08:28] Different ways. It's Getting lived out. And Paul's response is fascinating. In this. In this very first verse, he's not saying, hey, if you're weak, you need to strengthen up. You need to get smarter, get better.
[00:08:41] But he's also not telling the strong to convince the weak. He's not saying that, hey, you have some work to do. He says this. He begins by saying, you need to welcome one another.
[00:08:50] Welcome one another friends. Can I be honest? My instinct is like, well, once they believe like me or they agree with me, then I'll welcome them in.
[00:08:59] That's not what Paul does. He says, no, welcome them first, because why? Because that's what Jesus has done for us, hasn't he?
[00:09:05] See, Jesus, we were welcome before we ever had it all figured out.
[00:09:10] Before our theology was right, before we had all of our opinions were correct. Before, you know, while I was still learning. Like God, because of his grace, we are welcomed in.
[00:09:22] And so we're welcomed while we're still learning, while we're still misunderstanding things, while we're still growing. And church, if Jesus has done that for us, and if Paul is saying this to this church and in Rome, shouldn't we extend the same grace to our brothers and sisters in this room?
[00:09:37] That's what God's calling us to.
[00:09:39] Verse 2. One person's faith allows them to eat anything. But to another whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. Now, I know when you see this word, you're like, are we really talking about veggies today? Like, is this really just like, Logan, Pastor Logan told me to eat some veggies this week. Right? Like. And you're like, I got some real things. Thank you so much. That is so kind of man. This is water.
[00:10:01] Thank you, man. You guys are awesome. I will not drop down that iPad, I promise. But they brought a lid just in case. This is like, childproof. I get what you're doing. That's good.
[00:10:11] Like, we were thinking here for a moment. Like, man, is this really about. Are we talking about meat and veggies? This is like carnivore versus veganism. No, that's not what we're talking about this morning. See, this is not a conversation around diet as much as much as it is about worship.
[00:10:25] That's what's happening here, right? The strong, and this is really important here. The strong are starting to actually hold and contempt those who are weak.
[00:10:34] Like, they see those people and they're kind of like.
[00:10:37] And the same thing happens for the weak. They are feeling. They are feeling that contempt. So what they're doing is they're starting to judge their Gentile believers.
[00:10:45] And so Paul spent 13 chapters talking about, this is the gospel, this is who God is, this is what it means to be one of his followers, a disciple of Jesus. And oh man, we gotta talk about this issue where you guys are kind of looking at each other side eyed a little bit.
[00:10:58] See, in verse three it says to the one who eats everything must not treat with contempt. There's that word, contempt. The one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the other.
[00:11:08] See, Paul is such a great communicator. He addresses both in the crowd, both, both who are hearing this letter. He's saying, hey, to you who are strong, the Gentile believer who don't grow up, didn't grow up with this kind of background. Don't hold in contempt the one who is struggling with this. Don't look down on them, right? Because don't think, hey, I understand grace better than you do.
[00:11:28] That's what they're saying. They're like, oh dude, you don't understand grace, you don't get it.
[00:11:32] But then to the Jewish Christian, the one who grew up, he's saying, hey, don't judge them and don't get this temptation to think, hey, because you don't practice my convictions, I must love Jesus more than you.
[00:11:43] Because that's what's also happening here. One side is saying I'm better and the other side is saying I'm right.
[00:11:50] Does that sound familiar at all?
[00:11:54] Like friends, it might be 2,000 years later, but we've just kind of swapped out issues, haven't we? We're not talking about veggies and meat, but we're talking about other things. I mean even think about this phrase, how could any Christian blank.
[00:12:07] And as soon as I say that or you say that or we say that as a church man, we're just in the same place the Roman, the Roman Church was.
[00:12:16] And so maybe Paul's words have something for us. Maybe we've both forgotten verse three. This, and this is really important for us, for God has accepted them. You know, his answer is, I've accepted both the Jewish Christian and the Gentile into my family. The one who grew up with all this religious knowledge or the one who without any of it, he says, I'm bringing both into my family.
[00:12:40] That's what, that's what God's saying. And this is what Paul's saying. He said, God has accepted that.
[00:12:45] See, that is our foundation. God has already welcomed them into the family and friends when we Say yes to Jesus when he has made that move towards us. And we say, yes, we've been in need, and say, I will follow Jesus in my life.
[00:12:55] Whatever our background or our culture that we grew up in, or even our preferences, we have been accepted by him into his family. We're adopting his family.
[00:13:06] And because if God has welcomed some of his family, who am I to then push them back outside of it and say, no, no, you're not really welcome here. Who am I to withhold fellowship from them?
[00:13:17] Someone who God has already embraced a brother or sister in Christ? And here's a question I think worth chewing on this morning. Have I rejected someone that Jesus has welcomed?
[00:13:30] Not because they've denied the gospel, not because they've rejected Jesus or abandoned him, but because they do disagree with me on something. Let's call it what it is. That's secondary to that.
[00:13:40] That's secondary to the Gospel. And that question has a way of searching our hearts. Verse 4, it says this. Who are you to judge someone's servant?
[00:13:50] Paul's not asking this because he didn't know the answer. He's actually asking it to help them realize how absurd they're acting. Where's my high schoolers at? In the room. Any high schoolers, Raise your hand.
[00:14:01] Raise them big. You got long. Come on. All right. Does anybody have a summer job?
[00:14:06] No. No workers. Okay. Where's a summer job? What's someone doing? Someone give me a summer job you're doing right now.
[00:14:12] And mom and dad, if they're not yelling at you, you can yell it for them.
[00:14:15] Landscaping. They hear landscaping. Let's go with that. Okay, Landscaping. All right, so imagine this. Teenagers out there just putting in irrigation for the. The work of the Lord. I don't know, you know, weeding for the Lord out there. Let's just imagine this. So you're out there just doing whatever it is, getting those sprinklers right, And I just show up tomorrow on the job site and I go, hey, man, you're doing that wrong.
[00:14:41] I would do it this way.
[00:14:43] This is obviously not meant to be. You know, you need to dial in your sprinkler head a little bit more. Or like, you know what? Actually, you're using the wrong weed and feed or whatever it is.
[00:14:52] That would be ridiculous. Now, someone might be excited if I was there for, like, free labor, but otherwise, I imagine the owner of this business or someone might be showing up. They might actually say, like, hey, dude, what are you doing here? You're not on payroll. And also, like, why are you telling my employee how to do this?
[00:15:11] Like, whose job is this? This is not you. You don't work for me. And that might sound absurd, but that's exactly what Paul is pointing out to these believers in this room. He says this. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? That believer. You're criticizing that believer. You're tempted to dismiss the one that their convictions, they just frustrate. You know what? Whose servant are they?
[00:15:33] Are they yours?
[00:15:36] Are they mine?
[00:15:37] No, they're Jesus.
[00:15:40] And if they belong to Jesus, if we are his servants, then Christ is the one who's ultimately responsible for them, not you and not me. Look in verse four. I love how it says this. It says the Lord.
[00:15:52] It says they will stand, and the Lord is able to make them stand. I think that's such a beautiful promise.
[00:15:59] Any of us in this room who call ourselves believers, who've said yes to Jesus, who've accepted him as Lord and Savior, we are standing on the grace of God alone. Not on my good works, not on my best day or my worst day. It says that we will stand.
[00:16:13] Why? Because the Lord is able to make them stand. It's not my arguments. It's not my criticism. It's not my ability to persuade somebody or convince them. It's the Lord.
[00:16:23] Now, does that mean that we never get to lovingly challenge one another? Right? No, of course not. We know that's kind of part of it, right? We all have blind spots. I got lots of them. And I need believers to look at me and say, logan, what's that in your life?
[00:16:36] And it could be really direct or sometimes like, it was this past week. I remember I said something and a guy in my life just started laughing. He goes, that's not Jesus, Logan. He just laughed. But he's like, I don't think that's the Lord's voice. I think that might be something else. And I was, like, so grateful. I was like, oh, man, thank you for helping me. Remind me that's not God's voice. That's someone else's. In my life, the Bible's filled with those people, especially Paul. Paul's one of those who is always correcting and teaching and rebuking. But here's the difference. There's a difference between lovingly pointing something to Jesus and appointing myself as the Holy Spirit in someone else's life.
[00:17:11] Do you know the difference?
[00:17:13] In the south, we would call this the Bless their heart. You know what I mean?
[00:17:18] Like, it's where gossip lives and all that stuff. And it's like, oh, they don't bless their heart, you know, they need Jesus. I'm gonna bring them up in the prayer meeting, you know? And you're like, you're praying for them. Like, no, you're not. You're gossiping about them right now, right? Cause you think that you are the Holy Spirit for that person.
[00:17:34] And we can laugh and chuckle, but I also know there's a lot of damage that can be done in that sometimes we can care more about changing that person than actually trusting the one who is actually responsible and able to change them. Right.
[00:17:47] Sometimes we can be so focused on correcting someone else's journey that we forget that Jesus is already walking with them. That's what it says in Philippians 1:6. Right, Paul, same person says this. I'm convinced.
[00:17:59] I'm convinced of this. I'm confident that the one who began a good work in you, what will he do?
[00:18:04] He is faithful to complete it and bring it to fruition.
[00:18:08] The one who began this work, the fact that anything that we have any maturity we have in Jesus is because Jesus initiated that, and he is faithful to bring it to completion. Not me, not you. We can be part of that story, yes. But when we start thinking like, it's my job to get you across the finish line, that's weird. Bad things happen.
[00:18:27] The Lord is the only one able to make them stand.
[00:18:31] Verse 5, it says, One person considers one day more sacred than the other. Another considers everyday alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their mind. I want to point out this idea that Paul is not saying nothing matters. He's actually saying the opposite. He says that you should be convinced, fully convinced.
[00:18:49] So have convictions.
[00:18:51] Have convictions. You should be getting into this word and you should be thinking about it deeply, praying about it, letting the word read you as you read it and say, man, what. What does this mean for my life here in Bozeman in 2026? If this is true of Jesus, Lord, then what does that look like for my life? And so there'll be convictions that rise up out of that. Absolutely. Study it carefully. Pray carefully. Follow your conscience before the Lord. My wife will tell you I'm a very passionate person. As she describes.
[00:19:19] We start talking about Jesus, I'm going to start talking about, I have strong beliefs about things. Absolutely, we should have convictions.
[00:19:28] But Christian Christianity, or, excuse me, maturity in our faith is not about having the absence of convictions, but it is about holding those convictions with humility, with empty hands before the Lord, saying, lord, to the best of my ability, this is What I'm going to. I interpret your word and I've put myself under sound judgment. I've brought before the people. But, Lord, I'm also super flawed.
[00:19:50] And like, I want to hold your word up high, but I'm going to hold with open hands, saying, God, what would you. You know, it says the refining fire. What would be fall away? Lord, what is true? I want it to stand still. That's what I do before you when I preach to you guys. I'm saying, lord, I want what's true to land on their hearts, not my funny words or anything like that.
[00:20:09] And I think this is something that we all need to hear this morning. I need to hear this week, that we can be so right that sometimes we're wrong.
[00:20:18] Right. We can be right biblically, we can be right historically, exegetically, theologically, and yet sometimes relationally wrong.
[00:20:28] Like, we think we have to defend the faith sometimes. And here's the question. We're not going to get to the end of our life and say, do I have the right answer, Jesus?
[00:20:38] Like, that's not the goal of our lives, is just to have the right answer. But our goal is this, that we would actually. Am I becoming more like Jesus as he is? The answer?
[00:20:47] Does my life become more. It's different just having the answer to the test or actually applying it to our lives.
[00:20:54] And what Paul is trying to point out to these believers, man, you might have the answer or might have all the conviction in the world, but you're treating each other like garbage.
[00:21:01] And Paul gives this reason in verse six, he says, whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. And whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God. Whoever abstains does so to the Lord and give thanks to God.
[00:21:15] Do you notice a phrase? There should be something jumping off the page to you this morning. Anytime an author in the Bible is trying to get your attention, it's because they repeat something. It's this phrase to the Lord.
[00:21:28] See? So the person and Paul's bringing it back to the same place. Hey, that person who's eating meat, they should be doing it for the Lord. The person who's only crunching down some celery and kale, they should be doing it for the Lord. The person who thinks this day's more sacred, they're doing it for the Lord. The one who doesn't give a rip and thinks every day is holy. Great. They should be doing that for the Lord. They're living out those convictions, right? But here's the issue that's underneath this, Paul's saying this. He says, am I really submitting? Am I ultimately living? Who am I ultimately living for?
[00:21:56] He's saying, hey, whatever you're doing, all these actions, these convictions, who are they for? Are they for you or are they for the Lord?
[00:22:05] Friends, that's a. Because sometimes I think we see this. Like, if I see someone who's generally trying to follow the Lord and they're humbly seeking him, you know they are. You know, you can see that fruit in their life, and they're trying to glorify in their life, then my posture towards them should be humility. Not because I think I agree with maybe all their convictions perfectly, but because that believer ultimately is not responsible to me. They're accountable to the same Lord that I'm trying to be generally following, too, right?
[00:22:33] And here's the beautiful part. I think in Romans 7, this is kind of Paul, he's gonna do something remarkable in this passage here. Cause for six verses, if I'm being honest, even when I was studying this week, I'm like, that's a lot of veggie and meat talk, Jesus. You know, what are we doing here?
[00:22:46] And you can get caught up in the details a little bit. You read this story and you're like, what the heck does this have to do with my life?
[00:22:53] Like, I know I probably should eat some more veggies or whatever, you know? Or maybe you're like, anti veg. I don't know. But you're like, is this about a holiday? Do I need to do Sabbath? Like, what's going on here? And if we're not careful, you can get lost in this a little bit, and you kind of. You can kind of get lost in all the details. I know. I felt that this week. But Paul's about to do something in verses seven through nine. Almost like a movie.
[00:23:16] It's kind of like Ocean's Eleven. Anybody ever seen that movie? I love that movie. Anybody love that movie? Raise your hand.
[00:23:22] All right. Way more in the 9am okay, so this may not land with the 11 as much.
[00:23:29] My wife also says she's never met a man who doesn't like Ocean's Eleven.
[00:23:33] I don't know if that's true or not, but if you're a guy, I don't know, maybe this is metaphors for you as well. But Ocean's Eleven. I also recognize this movie's 25 years old now. Sorry about that. So if you haven't seen it, sorry, it's quarter of a century okay, you'll figure it out. But 25 years ago, this movie, 2001, I mean, it's who's who in 2001. You got Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle. I mean, there's like some Andy Garcia. Great movie, right? This movie's about these lovable crooks who are kind of robbing a casino, right? And you might know that story, but the movie's shot in a really interesting way because all of the scenes are just little details, really flashes. You know, it's like someone eating or someone hanging out, or you see this vault or you see a security guard.
[00:24:18] And the first time you watch that movie, you might get kind of cut off of, like, what's happening? Like, how does this all fit together, right? Like, is this.
[00:24:27] How do I pay attention to all these details, right? But then the reveal happens, and you realize suddenly how all these things fall into place. These details weren't just random, they just weren't the main point. They're just a part of a bigger story. And, friends, Romans 14 is so much better than that.
[00:24:44] But Paul's about to do. He's gonna say, hey, man, for six verses, I've been telling you all these details, but he's gonna pull back and says, hey, you're looking at all these different pieces. Let me show you what the true bigger picture is. This verse 7. For none of us live lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
[00:25:02] See, this is the reveal. This is the issue at hand that's really under that. Paul's gonna underline. He says the issue is not about diets, special holidays. It's about lordship.
[00:25:15] It's about lordship.
[00:25:17] Notice that Paul says this line. None of us live lives for ourselves alone. And that is like the great temptation of our lives these days, right? Everything in me, in our world, our culture, is supposed to tell me that my life is about me.
[00:25:32] To live for yourself, bring yourself the most happiness. You. Your life belongs to you.
[00:25:37] But you know, in this room, if you've said yes to Jesus, that Paul's gonna tell you right here, no, you don't live for yourself. You belong to Christ, and your life is no longer your own. And that can sound really harsh or almost like oppressive in some way until you realize who Jesus is, right? We were not purchased by a tyrant. We're not claimed by someone who wants to use us. No, we belong to the one who loved us enough to die for us.
[00:26:07] Paul says in First Corinthians 6, you are not your own. You were bought with a price. And friends, I hate to be the bearer of bad news or to. But I don't want to sell you a bag of tricks here. Our faith is not a faith of saying, hey, Jesus, would you just come and be part of my life.
[00:26:20] Come, ride Jesus as my co pilot.
[00:26:24] That's not what we're here to do. That's not what we're singing this morning. That's not what this book is about. I want to be really clear with you. Our faith is a faith where we are surrendering our lives to the One who gave his life for us.
[00:26:35] That's what this is about. And Paul will repeat this phrase again and again. Listen carefully. If we live, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord. Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord, Right? It's the idea over and over again. Do you hear that rhythm? To the Lord. To the Lord. To the Lord. Everything comes back to him, or it ought to be. And I know there's a gap in that. There's a gap in me, too. But every decision I make, every conviction, every freedom I can experience or sacrifice, every. It should be for the Lord. Why? Verse nine, it says this. For this reason right there. Christ died and returned to life so that what he might be, Lord of both the dead and the living.
[00:27:16] This is the center of the passage. This is right here at the crux. I want you to know something. Why did Jesus die? If I were to ask you that question, many of us would say, to forgive us of our sins. And I would say, absolutely. That is a glorious truth.
[00:27:30] But Paul's saying something else. It's not just the forgiveness of our sins. It's actually that he died and rose again. What? So that he might be Lord of our lives.
[00:27:39] The goal of the cross was not only forgiveness, but it was also restoration. For Jesus to be put back in that right place, that he belongs in our lives. He didn't simply rescue us from something. He actually rescued us to Himself and for something. That we would be his disciples, that we would follow him and to the ends of the earth, right? We are rescued to live under his good and loving reign.
[00:28:02] But we have to remember, what does that word Lord even mean?
[00:28:06] Maybe even this week you've used that word Lord, just flippantly. Maybe you've even, like, you know, you get a phone call and you're like, oh, Lord, what's this about? Now?
[00:28:14] Right?
[00:28:16] I've done that.
[00:28:18] But what does that word Lord mean? It means master. It Means king, it means authority. It means the one who gets the final say. And Paul is writing this letter in a time where the cry of culture would have been Caesar is Lord, which was not just a title, it was about Caesar having the ultimate authority. And Paul is saying something really bold here. He's saying, no, Jesus is Lord, he is our King. He's the one that gets the final word. He's the one not my preferences, not my opinions, not my convictions. Jesus is the one that's going to get the final say.
[00:28:51] And I think that's where Paul begins to dismantle both of these arguments. Because the strong believer in this church, they're going, yeah, I'm free.
[00:28:59] And Paul says, yeah, you are, but you're also Jesus.
[00:29:04] It's like God's saying, yeah, but you're still mine.
[00:29:06] And this person over here is going, yeah, I'm right.
[00:29:09] Like, yeah, you might be, but you're also mine. That's what Jesus is saying in this passage. See, neither person gets to become the Lord in someone else's life. Why?
[00:29:20] Because they already have one.
[00:29:22] And friends, every church only has one Lord.
[00:29:26] And it's a terrible place to try to take his job.
[00:29:30] It's a terrible place to be when we try to take his job.
[00:29:33] And once Paul established that, once we remember that he asked this question in verse 10. So you then, why do you judge your brother or your sister?
[00:29:43] Why do you treat them with contempt?
[00:29:47] Notice Paul asks something not are you correct? He says, who gave you that authority?
[00:29:53] Who are you to make that question right?
[00:29:56] Questions have this way of slipping through our defenses, the things that we feel most strongly about. And that's our convictions, right? Cause these aren't little things they're arguing about. We might think they're silly, but these are deeply held convictions.
[00:30:07] But imagine if you're a first century reader, you're a Jewish believer, and you're doing all of this stuff, avoiding stuff, having the perfect diet.
[00:30:14] And you just have this feeling inside, you're like, man, you know, these Gentile people I'm worshiping beside, they don't take holiness serious enough.
[00:30:22] They're not serious enough about this.
[00:30:25] And I think in that moment, Paul's saying, why do you judge your brother?
[00:30:29] And maybe you're this gentile believer, maybe you didn't grow up with all this church stuff. And maybe you're sitting here looking around going, you know what? They just need to get over themselves. All these legalistic people, man, they're annoying to be around.
[00:30:41] And Paul's saying to that person, why do you despise your sister?
[00:30:47] Notice he doesn't let either side off the hook, does he? See, the weak don't get a pass because their motives are pure or right.
[00:30:55] And the strong don't get a pass because maybe their theology is just a little bit more developed.
[00:30:59] Both are called to the same thing.
[00:31:02] They're both called to humility. Why? Because both have forgotten that the seat that they're trying to occupy is already taken by Jesus.
[00:31:09] See, Christian maturity is not about having no convictions. It's about having deep convictions. But with a humble posture, friends, it's someone thinking. And some of us, I think, even as I see here, that you say, oh, man, if you're being humble, you're being uncertain about things. Absolutely not.
[00:31:24] Absolutely not. I'm not wishy washy on what I feel. But humility means remembering that even when I'm convinced of something, that I'm still a learner. I'm still a disciple under Jesus. And so I don't get to be. And his job is to be the judge over that person, not me.
[00:31:39] So I can say with full confidence, this is where I believe Scripture leads me. This is where I think. This is my evidence for this, right? This is where my belief is based on Scripture, and it should be. I just want to make that clear too. Not just what I think or feel or because some YouTuber told me, right? It's like, do I find this in the word of God? But I can say that without saying, and therefore, if you disagree with me, I'm actually better than you, or my faith is more developed than yours and you're less faithful than me. Those are very different things. Because judgment belongs to God, not because truth doesn't matter, but because we are not the final authority, friends. Not me, not our staff, Jesus.
[00:32:19] And Paul says this. He says, we will stand before God's judgment, seat all of us.
[00:32:25] So this is where this is heading, right? One day, every believer in this room, if you bent in knee to Jesus, you will stand before Jesus, right?
[00:32:34] And it will not be before me or before Brandon or your theological tribe or your Facebook social comment section. You know, it's before Jesus and every believer who's ever argued about anything that was secondary. We're not gonna be looking down the line. And, you know, people we've disagreed about, you know what, maybe it's something like worship styles or alcohol or spiritual gifts. These things that we start to highlight, these are just to name a few, right? But we highlight these things. But in that moment, right, when we're standing before the Lord. We're not going to look around and look down the line and go, did I win the argument, Jesus?
[00:33:13] It's not what Paul says. He says we're going to stand before him. What does it say? He says that as sure as I live, every knee will bow before me and every tongue will acknowledge God.
[00:33:23] So we're going to be looking at Jesus, aren't we?
[00:33:27] Because he is Lord.
[00:33:29] He's the one that gets the final say.
[00:33:32] And friends, if that's where history's leading us, if that is what Paul's saying, where everybody in this room that can hear my voice online that has said yes to Jesus, then shouldn't we start practicing for eternity right now?
[00:33:47] See, this week I found myself thinking about my time in seminary. And, you know, I entered it with a lot of conviction, a lot of zeal. And I was like, great, finally I'm gonna get all the answers, man.
[00:33:57] Let me get all these things figured out. And some of you guys, I can see your faces. You're smiling, laughing. Cause that's not what happened, right? I walked in there thinking, like, someone's finally gonna give me all the answers to the test. Certainty on all these hard passages or doctrines or theological debates, right? And here's what Something that surprising happened. I graduated probably with more questions than I entered with, but I left. That's not discouraging because I left so much more in love with Jesus and more sure of who he is and who I am in relation to him than ever before.
[00:34:29] And that wasn't just an academic setting. That was a space where God used to, you know, really just, you know. Yeah, there was other questions, but I could bring them to him. I had more confidence to bring him to Jesus. And I actually left loving his word more. And I actually started to leave believing, hey, I think there's a faithful scholarship to Him. Like, I don't mean academically, but just like to study to know him. But also a humility about that as well.
[00:34:54] One of our values at our seminary was this, and I'll share it with you, is this idea of charitable orthodoxy.
[00:35:00] And that's a big phrase and sounds fancy, but it's just simple as this. Orthodox means, right? Belief. So here's those first tier things, the things you're going to find on our website. You know, the things that, you know, Christians have always said, these are the main things here.
[00:35:13] Jesus is Lord, he's the Son of God, he died for our sins. That there is only one. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and life, no one comes the father but by me. Right. These are the non negotiable things. And so as long as we're in that category, we can have charity for one another. And does that mean we're gonna have debates and arguments and even say, hey man, I disagree with you, but it doesn't mean I have to break communion and I can actually break bread with you. I can actually be in relationship with you, that we don't have to agree on every single thing. You know, I hate to be a bare bender. The only person you agree with is yourself 100%.
[00:35:48] And are you a flawed person?
[00:35:50] Yes.
[00:35:51] Right. I agree with myself 100% of the time. And that's not always a good thing.
[00:35:55] Right. And I know I'm wrong. I know I got some blind spots. So we need that. We're gonna have some people who rub off those edges for us. Right. We want to hold tightly the truth, behold, gently to one another. Why? Because that's what Jesus exactly did with us.
[00:36:08] I'm so grateful for God's patience in my life that he never compromised truth, but he has never stopped extending grace to us.
[00:36:17] Paul says something very similar in 2 Timothy. I'll read it just quickly for us. It says in second Timothy 2, verse 22, it says, Flee the evil desires of your youth.
[00:36:27] Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don't do anything. I love this part. Do not have anything to do with foolish or stupid arguments because they will produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God here, God will grant them repentance, leading them to the knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.
[00:37:01] I love that Paul is teaching this younger pastor. And even this week I was thinking about, as Bob shared this, he said, you know, when he read that passage as younger, he thought it was all about, you know, flee sexual morality. And it could mean that, right, Your youthful lust. But you know what I recognize about myself as someone who's Bob's walked 20 years in faith more than me, is there's a temptation when you're younger in your faith to think you just, you have it all figured out.
[00:37:26] And I think what Paul's trying to say to Timothy is, hey, man, flee that useful desire to think you know everything.
[00:37:32] And what's interesting is that I noticed this about believers in their lives is that, and I noticed in my own life is that when I started walking with the Lord 20 years ago, it was really, I kind of beat people over the head with it a lot.
[00:37:42] Like I got all the things and the doctrines and I kind of beat everybody together and that kind of happens. And then, you know. But I've also noticed the end of life, that sometimes people get to the end of life and they kind of their curmudgeons at the end of it too.
[00:37:53] And they're hard pressed and they're just mean and they're grumpy, right? And man, I think we get this life in the middle. Hopefully God will work out some of those things for us. And I think that's what he's doing for us here this morning. Journey Church. And so here's what I want to do. As we close this time together, I hope that we would become kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful, gently instructing other people.
[00:38:15] And I want to do that through three questions. And we're going to give you just a minute or two. At the end of this, they're gonna be on the screen to really thoughtfully, prayerfully think through these. But I'm just gonna say them to you really quickly.
[00:38:26] Have you made a secondary issue into a test of fellowship?
[00:38:33] And I'm gonna be like a teacher where I give you a freebie. You probably have, you know, like that's a free one. You know, everybody get some points for their name on the test. Like this is it. You probably have. I know I have.
[00:38:43] Is there a real believer? Someone in this room, in your community, in your small group down the hall from you, maybe down the, down your dorm hallway, or a neighbor that maybe you've just kept at arm's length, not because they've denied Jesus or they have some, you know, some outlandish belief, but because they just don't share the same exact convictions as you.
[00:39:04] Maybe today the Lord's inviting you to welcome that person in that someone that he's already welcomed.
[00:39:11] Second, have you been trying to do the Holy Spirit's job?
[00:39:16] Have you been confused with whether it's being fully convinced, with being responsible for someone else's faith?
[00:39:23] You can be fully convinced and still not try to do that for everybody else.
[00:39:27] Maybe today's the day to repent and say, lord, I'm sorry, not for not loving truth, but for trying to sit in Christ's seat in someone else's life.
[00:39:36] And finally, this is the one that cuts to the heart, I think the most.
[00:39:40] Is Jesus truly Lord?
[00:39:44] Is Jesus not just your Savior? Is he not just like your, you know, your helper or your advisor? Is he, Is he truly Lord?
[00:39:50] Are there areas of your life that you have not surrendered to him or given to him?
[00:39:55] Because that same Jesus who forgives you is the same one who lovingly reigns over us, friends. He's the one who sits on the throne, is the same one who stretched out his hands on the cross for you and I. His authority is not distant. His. His sacrificial crucified love is nearer than the very breath in our lungs. His rule is not oppressive. He is life giving grace. He welcomes sinners, he transforms saints and he builds his church.
[00:40:23] And one day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess and every believer will stand before him, not comparing ourselves to one another, not replaying old arguments. But we're not, we're not going to be defending our opinions, but we're going to be just fixing our eyes, beholding our King.
[00:40:41] Amen.
[00:40:43] And so friends, let's stop trying to occupy Jesus seat.
[00:40:49] Let's welcome those he's welcomed, let's speak truth with humility and let's love one another deeply.
[00:40:57] And I think if we do, then we're going to joyfully live under the Lordship, the one who is truly worthy to rule his church. Amen.
[00:41:08] So I'm gonna pray for us and I'm just gonna give you a minute or two as they're playing some keys in the background just to sit with these questions and let the Holy Spirit do what he does and reveal the area that he would have for your life.
[00:41:19] Holy Spirit, we thank you for this time and we simply say come speak to us, convict us.
[00:41:28] Lord, I'm grateful that your word speaks to us and it's sharper than any two edged sword. Lord, I'm grateful for Paul's words that look in my heart and say, where am I Pushing out a potential brother or sister because of some secondary conviction. Lord, Lord, I let that, let that pierce my soul this morning.
[00:41:47] God, would you move in our hearts? Would you speak now and do what only you can do? Be the Lord of our lives in Jesus name. Amen.
