Welcome One Another

WELCOME ONE ANOTHER

An Exposition of Romans 14:1–15:7

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   June 28, 2020

Series: Crucial Teachings for Chaotic Times

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What follows is an edited transcript of the June 28 sermon.

INTRODUCTION

If you have your Bible, I invite you to turn to Romans 14. We're going to be looking at Romans 14:1 all the way to Romans 15:7. It's really a whole unit – all of these verses really present one line of thought to us.

To begin, I want you to look at Romans 15:5-6, because this shows us God's vision for the church – God's vision for our church family, as well as for every Bible believing church. This is what it says – Paul writes kind of like a prayer, a blessing, a godly desire – he says:

“⁵ May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, ⁶ that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5-6)

That is what this passage is all about. That is God's vision for the church – that “with one voice” – together – we would glorify and praise and worship our God. What we see here is that there's a prerequisite to this unified worship. Before we worship God together with one voice, our lives have to be “[harmonized] with one another”. Of course, it's possible for people to have their lives harmonized together apart from Christ – in which case their life, their unity, revolves around something else. But we are called to live our lives in harmony with one another “in accord with Christ Jesus” – with Christ at the center. Christ is the center of gravity. He is the One who is drawing us together. And in Him our lives are to be harmonized. Paul talked about this harmony in Romans 12:

“so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:5)

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10)

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those that weep. Live in harmony with one another. (Romans 12:15-16)

Then in Romans 13:

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)

So, with our lives harmonized in a Christ-centered way, then we come together and out of that unity and out of that common heart, we glorify our God – that's what it's all about.

But the reality is that there are obstacles to that kind of harmony. Any sin or any broken relationship undermines the harmony that God calls us to. In this particular passage, Paul is dealing with something very specific – one of the things that can undermine our harmony is differing beliefs on secondary issues.

If you look at the beginning of Romans 14, it says: “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.” (Romans 14:1) I really don't like that translation “opinions” – I mean, it's technically a fine translation, but in normal English usage it doesn’t really capture the idea that Paul is getting at here. Paul is not referring to random opinions about unimportant issues. Instead, throughout Romans 14 the “opinions” that Paul is referring to are morally significant and spiritually important beliefs and convictions – albeit on secondary issues, not primary issues. It's very important that you have these categories in your mind. It's represented here on the platform by these two buckets, which I'm going to talk about.

To be honest, if you really want to get more nuanced about the relative importance of various issues, I could probably have about four buckets out here. But I want to simplify things and I want to just kind of keep things tracking right along with our passage. So, you have to have this category called “core teaching” – this core teaching is absolutely essential to being a Christian and to functioning as a healthy church. So there is core teaching. But there are also secondary matters – what the English Standard Version calls “opinions” and what other translations might call “disputable matters” (e.g., NIV). These secondary matters are issues of conscience. They are important. They are significant. But believers with goodwill who are genuinely seeking to follow Jesus, can have differing viewpoints on them. And the theme of this passage is: don't divide over these secondary issues. You see, we have to be unified in the gospel, we have to be unified in core teaching. But we have to be able to live in harmony with one another even though there are differing beliefs on secondary issues among us.

LET'S PRACTICE!

So, I want to do a little illustration to try to drive this home a little bit. So, I've got some tennis balls. Each tennis ball has a belief or issue written on it – and we're going to find a bucket for each tennis ball. If the belief or issue written on the tennis ball is primary, we will put it in the “core teaching” bucket. If the belief or issue written on the tennis ball is secondary, we will put it in the “secondary matters” bucket. After I read the belief on each tennis ball, you can shout out and tell me which bucket it belongs in.

1) “God exists in three Persons.” (Core Teaching)

2) “The Bible is God's Word.” (Core Teaching)

3) “The only legit English translation is the King James Version.” (Secondary Matters)

4) “Train your children in the ways of the Lord.” (Core Teaching)

5) “Homeschool, private school, or public school?” (Secondary Matters)

6) “iPhones are the best.” (Neither! Irrelevant!)

7) “Drunkenness is a sin.” (Core Teaching)

8) “You can enjoy wine in moderation.” (Secondary Matters)

9) “Inside scoop is the best ice cream.” (Neither! Irrelevant!)

10) “Mankind is made in God's image.” (Core Teaching)

11) “Abortion is murder.” (Core Teaching)

12) “In vitro fertilization might be permissible in some circumstances.” (Secondary Matters)

13) “Gathering for worship on a regular basis.” (Core Teaching)

14) “The circumstances under which is it permissible to cancel a worship service.” (Secondary Matters)

15) “Wearing a mask means that you love your neighbor.” (Secondary Matters)

So, here's the burden of this passage: how do you relate to your brothers and sisters who have different beliefs than you do on secondary matters? That's the burden of this passage. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to walk through the text.

Father, I thank you for your holy and reliable and transforming word. I pray that you would build us up, and that you would strengthen us, and that you would unify and harmonize us in Christ Jesus. In his name I pray, amen.

KEEP THIS IN MIND

I want to give one little caveat before I get into this passage. I said something similar last week, and it's very important because I don't want this to get in the way of you hearing and applying the sermon. So, I'm trying to speak scripturally and wisely into our actual circumstances. And I do not want you to think that I'm angling for a particular position or behavioral outcome on any particular issue. Because if that assumption (that I’m aiming for a particular outcome) is in your mind, then you might you might start to push back. But my goal in this sermon is to help us clear wrongful attitudes and idols out of the way – so that with pure hearts in God’s presence, we can freely work things out as a church community. So if you're tempted to think ‘O, he's arguing for this position or that position,’ perish that thought! Let God speak to you through this text.

THE OVERARCHING IDEA: WELCOME ONE ANOTHER

The overarching idea of this passage is that God calls us to welcome one another. We know that's the big idea here, because that's how the passage begins and ends. Romans 14:1 says,

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.” (Romans 14:1)

Now look at Romans 15:7. After that glorious vision of a harmonized worshiping church community, Paul says,

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)

Welcome your brothers and sisters who have differing beliefs on secondary issues. Welcome them. Make room for them. Welcome them into the affections and cares of your heart. Welcome them. It says in Romans 15:7 to welcome them “as Christ has welcomed you” – so eagerly, willingly, generously, graciously. Welcome them as a dear brother or sister in the Lord. So that's the big idea.

Now, within that big idea, I think that there are four commands that God gives us.

COMMAND #1: DO NOT JUDGE ONE ANOTHER OVER SECONDARY ISSUES

Here is the first command, which covers Romans 14:1-13a – Do not judge one another and do not despise one another on account of differing beliefs on secondary issues. Let me read this passage – and you'll see recurring phrases about not passing judgment and not despising:

“¹ As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ² One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

“⁵ One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

“¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; ¹¹ for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall confess to God.”

“¹² So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

“^13a Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer” (Romans 14:1-13a).

I'm going to pause there. Do you see that recurring instruction – do not pass judgment (v. 3, 4, 10, 13) and do not despise (v. 3, 10)?

You can see that Paul identifies a couple issues that he puts into the category of opinions or disputable matters or secondary issues. One has to do with eating meat or not eating meat (v. 2-3, 6, 14-21). A believer in that time might have had scruples about eating meat, because meats were sacrificed to idols – and they might think that eating the meat would make them complicit in idolatry. And so, these scrupulous believers weren't comfortable eating meat. Paul identifies that viewpoint as actually weak and immature. Their conscience is actually poorly instructed on that particular issue, but nevertheless they genuinely hold that view as they are attempting to follow Jesus. Paul says, in essence, ‘don't trouble them over that issue, don't pass judgment on them’. And if you're in that position where you’re not comfortable eating meat but another brother is comfortable eating meat, then you're not supposed to pass judgment on them either.

The other issue that Paul mentions has to do with esteeming one day as better than another (v. 5-6). Maybe it has to do with how you view the Sabbath day, or the Lord's day, or a special feast day. Some people are into observing particular days in a special way, whereas other people treat every day the same – every day is a day to live for the Lord. And again, Paul says don't pass judgment back and forth on those issues.

Now, I want to draw your attention to the reasons that Paul gives not to pass judgment, not to despise, not to look down upon your brothers and sisters who have different beliefs and practices on secondary matters.

The First Reason: Be Aligned with God

The most basic reason for not passing judgment on our fellow Christians over secondary issues, is that we need to be aligned with God. Paul says “welcome him” in verse 1, and how does verse 3 end? Verse 3 says “for God has welcomed him.” The logic is, ‘Welcome him, for God has welcomed him.’ Do not refuse to welcome someone that God has welcomed.

In verse 4, Paul tells us that the Lord will make that brother or sister stand. Yes, they may have a different belief or practice than you have on a secondary issue, but they are the Lord's servant. The Lord loves them, and the Lord will uphold them. Who are you to tear them down?

Think about it this way: the God of the universe wants to do life with this person – this fellow believer – even if they are weak or immature. The God of the universe wants to do life with them. They have been united to his Son. He has given them his Holy Spirit. He has invited them into his family. He has set his everlasting love and affection on them. God wants to do life with them. And you don't? You don't want to do life with someone that God wants to do life with? You don't want to welcome someone that God has welcomed? You don't want to honor someone that the Lord is upholding?

You see, this is a reality check for our hearts to make sure that we are aligned with God's perspective.

You see the same basic idea reinforced in verses 5 to 9. I’m not going to go into great depth on these verses. But the basic idea is that on these issues of conscience, believers can approach these issues differently – they can have different beliefs and practices on secondary matters. And yet, the Lord receives our weak steps of faith as genuine faith, as genuine obedience. “The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord” (Romans 14:6). “[The] one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord” (Romans 14:6).

So the assumption should be – in terms of applying our passage – the assumption should be that unless the evidence shows otherwise, a believer who is wearing a mask is doing it in faith and in honor of the Lord to the best of their understanding. And likewise, we should assume that someone who is not wearing a mask is also walking in faith. This is the kind of default attitude that we should have towards our fellow believers, until we have good reason to think otherwise.

The Second Reason: Do Not Usurp God’s Role as Judge

In verses 10-12 Paul gives us another reason not to pass judgment on our fellow believers over secondary matters. The reason: we must not usurp God's role as judge. The truth of the matter is that “we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (v. 10). And the question is: Who do you think you are, to bring a fellow believer before your judgment seat? You see, that's what we so often want to do, right? When we are faced with this temptation to assume the role of judge, we think to ourselves: ‘I am a great and wise and righteous man, and I want to bring my fellow believers before my judgment seat, and I want to deliver my judgments upon them.’ And Paul says, in essence, ‘who do you think you are?’

Here is the truth: you are a servant of the living God and God is going to call you to account (v. 4, 10-12). That's where you need to have your focus. Don't step into God's role, and play judge over someone else, on secondary matters.

Don't forget the context – in Romans 14 we are talking about secondary matters. But when it comes to core teaching and primary matters, God does call us to enact judgment. In 1 Corinthians, for example, Paul says that we must pass judgment and enact discipline against someone who is walking in disobedience on a core teaching (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-13). So, don't let the world’s sentimentality get you into an absolute ‘do not judge’ mode. We actually are supposed to pass judgment on professing Christians when it comes to primary matters. It is in primary matters – in core teaching – where there must be agreement among us and where we truly walk together in unity. But if someone walks away from that which is central to being a Christian, then we must confront them. We must warn them. We must discipline them.

But what Paul is saying here in Romans 14 is that when it comes to differing beliefs on secondary matters, we must not play the role of Judge. You can have honest conversation back and forth in order to encourage and strengthen, but resolve in your mind that you’re not going to quarrel, you’re not going to condemn, you’re not going to despise, you’re not going to judge this brother or sister with whom you disagree on a secondary issue. So that's the first command: do not pass judgment on a fellow believer over secondary matters.

COMMAND #2: DO NOT INJURE ONE ANOTHER OVER SECONDARY ISSUES

Now let’s proceed to the second command, which covers Romans 14:13b-21 – Do not let your belief on a secondary issue injure a brother or sister; do not let your conviction on a secondary issue get in the way of loving your brother and sister; do not let it harm them. Let me read this passage – I’ll actually start reading at the beginning of verse 13:

“¹³ Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. ¹⁹ So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

“²⁰ Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. ²¹ It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.” (Romans 14:13-21)

Your conscience – and the conscience of your brothers and sisters – is precious. One guy has defined conscience as your sense of right and wrong.[1] Now your sense of right and wrong is not perfect. And neither is mine. Only God's sense of right and wrong is perfect. Nevertheless, it is very important that you be a good steward of your conscience and also of the consciences of your brothers and sisters. It is not good to act contrary to your conscience (see Romans 14:22-23).

Verse 14 is very interesting. There Paul says “that nothing is unclean in itself”. He's talking about food, right? “[Nothing] is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.” (Romans 14:14) This is a remarkable statement. Along the same line as Paul’s statement, Pastor Mark Dever said this: “Conscience cannot make a wrong thing right, but it can make a right thing wrong.”[2] The idea is that your conscience can make a right thing wrong for you. In other words, if you think that it is wrong to do something, even if it's objectively not wrong to do it, nevertheless if you think it is wrong, then it is wrong for you to do it.

And so, what Paul is getting at here is – suppose you have a brother with scruples about eating meat, because he thinks that eating meat is an act of idolatry. You know that it isn’t an act of idolatry, but your brother thinks it is. Now the question for you is: What do you value more – your right to enjoy a nice steak or your brother’s spiritual well-being? Paul says, in essence, ‘it’s fine to eat meat, meat is clean, meat has God's blessing on it, eating meat is good.’ However, your brother’s spiritual well-being is more important than your enjoyment of the steak. So Paul says: “It is good not to eat meat” if eating meat is going to “[cause] your brother to stumble” (Romans 14:21).

Just think through this problematic situation: You have a clear conscience about eating meat, but they don't. However, you’re going to serve meat in their company, and they're going to feel pressured to conform to what you're doing, and they may end up eating meat. And even though you have a clear conscience about eating meat, they don't, and now their conscience is soiled. And Paul says that you bear responsibility for that. You need to value their conscience. Their conscience has a claim on you. It's not that their conscience enslaves you and dictates everything you do, but the point is their conscience – their sense of right and wrong – has a legitimate claim on you. And why? Because loving your brother is a primary issue. Eating meat? You can take it or leave it. But if you use your right and your freedom on a secondary matter to harm a brother, then you're actually in violation of a core teaching of Scripture – to love your brothers and sisters.

Now I'm trying to be relevant here to our actual situation as a church family, so I might step on somebody's toes. But that's okay. And remember, this is between you and God. Let God speak to you through this passage in Romans 14.

In terms of our current situation, as Elders we really struggled with trying to figure out how to re-open our church building for worship services, and what that was going to look like in terms of the health guidelines. And I remember that we were talking about how we don't want to afflict anyone's conscience. And one of the elders made the comment that it's going to be difficult to succeed at not afflicting anyone's conscience in this current situation. I mean, just think about it.

On the one hand, if you think that the health guidelines are either foolish or an attempt to bring our country under the spell of socialism, then you may have a really afflicted conscience about a church that acts as if it is on board with that. You see the health guidelines as either foolish or destructive, and yet the church is going along with it. How are you going to handle that?

On the other hand, if you believe that the health guidelines are wise and sensible health precautions that are actually going to protect people's lives, then you may take issue with a church family that is acting like the coronavirus is no big deal and that there is nothing to be concerned about. You see the health guidelines as prudent and perhaps even necessary, and yet the church is rejecting them. And your conscience might be afflicted about this. And you ask: How can I participate in that? What am I supposed to do? And how do I feel about it? Do I feel free to act according to my own conscience, or do I feel pressured to conform?

These are real issues. I want everyone here to have a healthy conscience. And these are weighty matters. On top of all that, consider this: gathering together for worship is a primary issue. And yet the way that we handle things might push some people away, and then they're not gathering with their church family. We might agree that the health guidelines fall into the category of secondary matters, but gathering together for worship is a primary matter. Do you see the challenge?

I'm not proposing a solution right now. What I'm trying to get you to do is to feel the weight of the issue here. We must care deeply about the consciences of our brothers and sisters. Don't just be thinking in terms of wanting to do things your own way. Well, if we’re operating with a sinful and self-absorbed mindset, then we all want to do it our own way. But that is fleshly desire – and we ought not be controlled by the flesh.

Of course, ultimately we want to do it God's way. But the point here in Romans 14 is that part of doing things God's way is seriously weighing and considering what our fellow believers think. And once again, God wants us to be aligned with him. What does it say in verse 15? It says, “[Do] not destroy the one for whom Christ died.” (Romans 14:15) Here is a brother or a sister. They may be weak. They may be immature. Their conscience may be poorly instructed. But Christ died for them so that this brother or sister would live as a faithful servant of God. Will you destroy them on account of a secondary issue?

And what does it say in verse 17? “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking” (Romans 14:17). God’s kingdom is not about eating or not eating, drinking or not drinking, wearing a mask or not wearing a mask. Instead, the kingdom of God is about “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). God’s kingdom is about righteousness in the core teaching, about peace with one another, and about the “joy of the Holy Spirit” – something that God calls us to experience together. And if we operate with God's perspective and God's priority, then what will we do? We will prioritize what God prioritizes. We will major on majors, and we will minor on minors. And we will do what it says in verses 18 and 19.

What does it say in verses 18-19? “Whoever thus serves Christ” – that is, they're walking in love, they're concerned about their brothers and sisters, they care about righteousness, peace and joy – “Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” (Romans 14:18-19) You do not want the way that you handle secondary matters to destroy a brother or sister, or to bring disharmony to the church family.

What does it say in verse 20? “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.” (Romans 14:20) Do you know what “the work of God” is? You are! You are the work of God. If you are a believer in Christ, then you are God's handiwork, you are God's craftsmanship (see Ephesians 2:10). And we do not want to be found in a position where we are harming the good work that God is doing in people's lives.

COMMAND #3: BE RESERVED AND FAITHFUL IN SECONDARY MATTERS

Now let’s move forward to the third command, which covers Romans 14:22-23 –  Be reserved and faithful in secondary matters. I'm not going to spend a long time on this section, but I want you to see how it relates to the whole. Paul says in the first half of verse 22,

“^22a The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.” (Romans 14:22a)

Remember the context: when Paul mentions “faith” in verse 22, he is not talking about saving faith here. He's not talking about the faith in terms of being faithful to core teaching. Instead, he's talking about your beliefs on secondary issues. When it comes to your beliefs on secondary issues, keep them “between yourself and God” – hold them close to the vest, so to speak. It’s not that you can never talk about them. It’s not that you can never try to have edifying conversations about them – for as the Lord allows, such conversations could be a very good thing. But the point is: don't make it front and center, don't flaunt your viewpoint, don't make it ‘the issue’. Don't make the secondary issue ‘your issue’ that you're always putting in people's faces. Instead, be quiet, be at peace, be content, “keep [it] between yourself and God.” If you know that a certain brother eats meat with a clear conscience, then serve him a steak. If someone else shows up, and you don't know where they're at on the meat issue, be sensitive to that. The point is: be very cautious about how you proceed on secondary issues.

And yet, at the very same time, Paul makes it clear that you should be diligent to live consistently with your own conscience. That's what the rest of verse 22 and verse 23 are getting at:

“^22b Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. ²³ But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:22b-23)

You don’t want to be in a position where you are acting contrary to your own conscience. Internally, you don’t want to be passing judgment on yourself as you undertake the action; you don’t want to be doubting or second-guessing yourself as you perform the deed. If you believe that it is wrong to eat meat, but because of peer pressure you feel that you must eat the meat anyway, and then even as you are eating the meat you feel condemned – you feel like an idolater – that is not healthy! If you believe that mask-wearing is bound up with a lie, but you feel pressured to put it on, and even as you put it on you feel like you are perpetuating a lie, that is not healthy![3] Or if you believe that mask-wearing is truly loving to your neighbors, but you feel pressured to not wear one, and even as you take off the mask you feel like you are failing to walk in love, that is not healthy! Do you understand? You’ve got to act consistently with your own conscience. And, at the same time, you’ve got to love each other in helpful ways so that others are encouraged to live consistently with their consciences.

We want everything we do – even on secondary matters – to arise out of an honest attempt to live faithfully unto the Lord: “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) If you wear a mask, wear a mask in faith. If you abstain from wearing a mask, abstain in faith. Both attitudes are entirely possible to have within a church family, where people are walking in faith and yet believers of goodwill have differing views and practices on secondary issues.   

COMMAND #4: LIVE WITH AN OTHERS-ORIENTATION

Finally, we come to the fourth command, which covers Romans 15:1-4 – Live with an others-orientation, not a self-orientation. This fourth command really just kind of summarizes all that we've been talking about. Of course, a lot of our problems come from doing the opposite of what Paul says here. Too often we get all concerned about myself, my rights, my freedoms, my preferences – and that becomes my focus. But Paul says that self should not be your focus. Let me read these four verses:

“¹ We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ² Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³ For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” ⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:1-4)

Do you see what Paul is saying? Paul is calling us to have an others-orientation – not to be preoccupied with pleasing ourselves, but to be preoccupied with pleasing others. In this context, pleasing others doesn’t mean living in order to win the approval and applause of others. Instead, in Romans 15 pleasing others means wanting to do genuine good – and doing genuine good – to my brothers and sisters. The attitude is: ‘I want my brothers and sisters to be encouraged. I want them to be built up. I want them to be strengthened. I want them to be loved and feel loved. 

And Jesus is our example. Jesus did not come onto the scene with an effort to please himself. If Jesus had sought to please himself – if he looked out at the world of sinners and said to them, ‘you deserve what’s coming and don’t think I’m going to do anything about it’ – then there would be no gospel. The gospel is, in large measure, that Jesus did not seek to please himself. He let mankind’s reproaches against God fall on himself. He suffered shame and injury and reproach and disowning. He suffered all that in service to his Father, and in love for his people. And Paul says, in essence, ‘be like that’.

Here’s the practical implication: It is better to suffer injury than to injure a brother or sister. It is better to suffer reproach than to reproach a brother or sister. It is better to be uncomfortable than to bring unnecessary discomfort to my brothers and sisters. Do you understand?

THE REAL QUESTION FOR SOUTH PARIS BAPTIST CHURCH

Do you know what the real question is for South Paris Baptist Church? The real question is this: Is Jesus Christ the center of gravity at South Paris Baptist Church? I did not say that the question is: Do we say that Jesus is the center of gravity and South Paris Baptist Church? It is easy to say. But what I said was: Is Jesus the center of gravity at South Paris Baptist Church?

Many of you know that I love John Piper and I heard a great quote from him last week. He said: “Without Christ every viewpoint is dangerous.”[4]

Now, I know Piper’s mindset well enough to know that he would not affirm the converse of his statement – in other words, Piper is not implying that with Christ every viewpoint is safe. After all, there are some viewpoints that are just flat wrong, and Christ has nothing to do with them. But the potency of Piper’s statement is that without Christ, otherwise true viewpoints are dangerous. Why? Because you will use them to divide. You will use them to harm. You will use them to bring dishonor upon God's name. That's what the Pharisees did. They had a lot of biblical viewpoints, but they didn't have Christ, and so they messed it up.

Do we have Christ? Are we staying close to Christ? Is Christ our center of gravity? If Christ is our center of gravity, then we will have a Christ-like love to build up our brothers and sisters, and not be preoccupied with ourselves (see Romans 15:1-3). If Christ is our center of gravity, then we will seek for all of us to be “in accord with Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:5), knowing that Christ died and now lives for our brothers and sisters (Romans 14:7-9, 15). Indeed, Christ died in the place of sinners in order to bring them into God's forever family. If Christ is our center of gravity, then we will “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed [each of us]” (Romans 15:7).

Yes indeed – Christ welcomes them! Christ welcomes our brothers and sisters! And we have this instruction: “[Welcome] one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7) Do you know how Christ has welcomed you? Hasn’t he welcomed you graciously, generously, and warmly? Hasn’t he received you fully into his fellowship, without condemnation? So, I have a simple question for you: If you know how Christ has welcomed you, are you welcoming one another in that way?

I am looking forward to tonight's family meeting, because God is doing something really good here. I don't even know exactly what it is that God is doing. But I am confident that he is doing something good. And while Romans 14:1–15:7 doesn't tell us exactly what we should do on our practical questions, it does make one thing abundantly clear: it doesn't matter what we do on the practical questions, if we're not doing this. If we're not doing mutual love and upbuilding, if we’re not seeking peace and deferring to one another, if we’re not laying down our lives for one another, if we're not seeking to be harmonized in those kinds of Christ-like attitudes to one another, then it doesn’t matter what we do on the practical questions. If we don’t have love, then It doesn't matter what we do. We could have the best policy or the worst policy – it doesn't matter – but if we don’t have Christ-like love, then we should shut our doors and go home and “learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” (Matthew 9:13)

Let's pray.

Father, I pray that you would do what only you can do. We cannot change our own hearts. We cannot change each other's hearts. We cannot harmonize our lives. That's why Paul asked God to grant it, because it is a gift. So we pray: God, grant it, grant the encouragement and the strength and the hope and the power that we need in order to be harmonized together in Christ. If it happens, it will be a miracle, but you do miracles. You want to do that. Father, I pray that you would come in a mighty and powerful way and do your good work among us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

FINAL WORD AND BENEDICTION

Our Family Meeting is tonight at 5:30pm. I really do hope you come with an expectation for God to show up and do a good work, a convicting work, a unifying work, a comforting work in our midst.

I invite you to stand in order to receive the benediction. Scripture says,

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)

Go in God's peace. 

ENDNOTES

[1] I am borrowing this insight from Andy Naselli. See “COVID-19 and the Crisis of Christian Conscience,” a conversation with Jonathan Leeman and Andy Naselli. Part of the “Pastoring in a Pandemic” series of livestream conversations from 9Marks. Available through https://covid19.9marks.org.

[2] Mark Dever. Tweet on his @MarkDever Twitter account. August 8, 2012.

[3] When I say, “If you believe that mask-wearing is bound up with a lie,” I am not lending credence to the claim that the coronavirus is a hoax. Instead, what I am attempting to do is to interact with the reality that – in my estimation – reasonable people may plausibly believe any of the following: a) that coronavirus data is often misrepresented; b) that the coronavirus threat level is often misrepresented; c) that the effectiveness of mask-wearing is often misrepresented; d) that mask-wearing conveys an inappropriate level of fear; e) that mask-wearing may actually be unhealthy in some instances; f) that the government has sinister motives behind the mask-wearing mandates; g) that state governors do not actually have the authority to mandate mask-wearing. My point here is not to argue for or against any of these claims. I am only saying that reasonable people may believe any of these things with a measure of plausibility. The fact that reasonable people may believe one or more of these claims doesn’t mean that the claims are correct, but it does mean that I must respect their consciences in light of the conclusions that they have reached.

[4] John Piper. Tweet on his @JohnPiper Twitter account. June 22, 2020.