Accepting the Weak for a Strong Church, Part 1

Romans 14 is a glorious chapter of truth in God's Word. It tells us how those with very different convictions in things that are "gray" in Scripture can live in unity.

What are some of the things on which all true Bible believing disciples agree?

• That the true and living God is one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• That the Scriptures are infallible and inerrant and the ultimate rule for belief and practice
• That salvation is by grace through faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone
• That there is a place of eternal, conscious torment for the unbelieving lost: hell
• That the Lord Jesus Christ was and is both fully God and fully man
• That Christ will return bodily, visibly, in power, and unexpectedly some day

These are some of the bedrock beliefs that serve as the foundation of the body of Christ. We stand on these things and we stand TOGETHER on them in order to have true unity in the church.

But there are probably MORE things that true believers DIFFER on. These things are not foundational truths, but important truths nontheless. Things such as:

• The precise sequence of events in the last days
• The mode of baptism
• Styles of corporate worship
• Whether certain spiritual gifts are still in operation or not
• How much a believer should give to his local church
• What music is glorifying to God
• What movies are permissable for believers to view
• How much money a believer should store away for the future
• How Christians should school their children
• Whether Christians should use insights from psychology in dealing with people's problems
• And many, many, many more!

God's Word has many things to say about these issues, but what the Word says is interpreted and applied differently by different believers. From these differences emerge TWO basic groups:

• The STRONGER brothers
• The WEAKER brothers

The great difference between these two groups is their FAITH: what do they BELIEVE is right and wrong? What are their CONVICTIONS?

The STRONGER brother typically believes that Scripture gives him a broad freedom with lots of options. He might be stereotyped as saying, "JUST DO IT!"

The WEAKER brother, however, typically believes that Scripture gives a narrower range of options. He might be stereotyped as saying, "JUST DO IT THIS WAY!"

For example:

• Stronger brother on music: "I am free to listen to any music I desire. I can glorify and worship God using any style of music."
• Weaker brother: "Only music that remains within certain rythyms and beat glorifies God and does not appeal to the sinful flesh."
• Stronger brother on schooling children: "God gives me the latitude to school my children in public, private, or homeschool. As long as I keep up with what my children are being taught, God is pleased."
• Weaker brother on schooling children: "To raise a godly offspring requires homeschooling because God has given us as parents the sole responsibility for training of our children."

These kinds of differences can easily become WALLS in the church between believers. These convictions can be used to DEFINE who is on the Lord's side and who isn't! But they should NOT be.

How can we have a strongly unified church in spite of all the differences?

Romans 14 gives us the answer.

I will begin to look at the first answer in this passage in this entry and continue later.

Principle #1: ACCEPT one another.

"As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions." v.1

• This deals with our ATTITUDE towards those with different convictions.
• ACCEPT means more than to let in the front door, it means to let the person with differing convictions into our intimate FELLOWSHIP and into our HEART!

Is there room in your heart for those with different convictions in areas of minor truth?

If you stand together on the MAJOR doctrines, do not allow differences in minor doctrine to become WALLS!

Thoughts for those who Shepherd God's Sheep

Following are a couple of quotes from Charles Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students. They are good roughage for the soul of those who serve others to chew on.

Quoting M’Cheyne: “It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

Spurgeon: “True and genuine piety is necessary as the first indispensable requisite; whatever “call” a man may pretend to have, if he has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry.”

Character holds the priority over gifts every time. Who I am will make more of a lasting impact than What I can do or how Well I can do it. There is an old, well-known story about a preacher who lived a less than godly life. It is said that he preached so well that when he went up to preach the people wished that he would never come. However, it was also said that he lived so poorly that when he was not preaching the people wished he would never go up to do so!

This is not only applicable to preachers! For all of us, the question we must continually ask is: "What is my reputation with others? Do they see in me a disciple of Christ? Do they see one who takes up his/her cross daily to follow Jesus? Do they witness the fruit of the Holy Spirit when I am near? Do they see one whose life matches his words? Am I a fragrance of Christ or of His enemy?"

God will bless personal holiness to have a lasting impact on others. May we all pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14

Holiness for Fellowship

In Leviticus 11, after a long list of unclean animals that Israel may not eat and clean animals that they are allowed to eat , God tells His people,

"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." v.45

The message is clear: God brought His people out of captivity so that He could be their God. His purpose was a covenant relationship with His freed people. BUT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN they must be HOLY. Why? Because HE is holy.

We learn:

• God is the DELIVERER. It is HE who sets us free from our Eygptian captivity to sin and idols. HE does it. He might use teachers or books or seminars or fasting or a long, desperate time of prayer but ultimately HE is the deliverer. "I am the Lord who brought you...out of..." If you find yourself still drawn to bow at the shrine of pleasure or appetite or an ungodly relationship or the menacing god of bitterness and unforgiveness, CRY to the LORD who brings His people out. He did it for 2,000,000 mud-squishing slaves under the military might of Egypt. He does it today for all who call upon Him in a desperate faith.
• God delivers us from bondage to sin for RELATIONSHIP. We can easily lose sight of the relational purpose of God in our deliverance. We can settle into a "gotta check the boxes" Christianity where we labor under the stern, watching, easily-displeased eyes of God in heaven and forget that this LORD is my FATHER in HEAVEN! What a loving Father He is. Have you forgotten the infinite extent of His love? Look to the CROSS and look to the bloody, tortured form hanging there, nailed to the cross bearing YOUR SIN (Colossians 2:13-15). There the love of God was proven once and for all forever. Realize that every embrace of an idol is an adulterous liaison before the very eyes of your Father. Let His redeeming you for relationship draw you back into His arms. Turn from the empty trysts into the everlasting arms.
• To live in this love relationship with our redeeming Father, we must be HOLY. And we must be HOLY because HE IS HOLY. God will not, God cannot become less than God in order to walk with us. HE is eternally and infinitely and immutably holy. He cannot become what He is not. WE, however, can and must become what we were not so that we can walk with Him. We must cleanse our hands and our hearts. We must separate from what is unclean. I cannot link my left arm in God's right arm while I carry my favorite idol in my right arm. How do I know what is unclean? His WORD! His LAW! Just as God gave detailed dietary laws to emphasize the need for holiness amongst Israel and to draw distinct lines between the holy and the common, so He gives His commands and principles to us to define the holy life that can walk with the holy God in loving relationship. So God's Word tells us: it is His will for us to be PURE (1 Thessalonians 4:3). It is His will for us to do all things without grumbling and complaining (Philippians 2:14). It is His will for us to be holy by praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It is His holy will for us to obey the governing authorities (Romans 13), and so on. We must strive for holiness or we will not walk in joyful, intimate, loving relationship with God.

How close is your walk with Him? Do you enjoy daily intimacy with Him? Is He your joy? Are there idols under your arm as you bemoan the lack of closeness with the LORD? Are you living in the light of the truth of His Word that you ALREADY know?

If you are a true disciple of Christ, He has redeemed you from the Egypt of sin and idolatry to be His and for Him to be yours. What a sacrificial love He has extended to you so that you could know Him up close and personal. Turn to the Father today and cry for restoration to His loving intimacy.

He will hear and He will answer.

There ARE Two Sides!

What relationship reconciling wisdom is packed into Proverbs 18:17:

"The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

This pithy proverb tells us that there ARE two sides to every story, every situation, every quarrel. The first one to share what happened seems to be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Why would they ever tell anything else?

If you are listening to someone "share" about their struggles with another person, you tend to feel with them and believe that they are stating the objective and unbiased truth about the events, statements, reactions, etc that brought about the problem. However, how many times have you heard a drastically different story when the "other" person shows up and asks a few well placed questions of the first? There are TWO sides.

The basic reason for this is that when there is interpersonal conflict TWO people are involved...2 sinful people...2 seeing life through the lens of their own jaundiced eyes people. The unchangeable reality of life before heaven is: sin affects all we do, our finiteness affects all that we do. No one ever sees all the sides. No one ever sees the situation clearly from the OTHER'S perspective. Our sin-skewed subjectivity affects all efforts at objectivity.

What do we learn from this? Listen to SIDE ONE with the certainty that there is ANOTHER SIDE to this story, this struggle. Do not align yourself with the first person to report what happened and against the one who has not yet shared. Refuse to listen to any accusations against someone not present. Discourage the first person from assuming they know the motives of the other person. Ask if this first reporter is willing to share their story with the second person present.

Too often folks share their struggles with another person only to enlist supporters for their side. How FOOLISH to side with a person with only half the story told! NONE of us are totally objective, even at our best and most clear headed and humble moments. We see through skewed eyes. There is always a better chance of seeing the whole picture when all those involved are able to recount what happened.

If the first person is laying all the blame on the other(s) involved, you KNOW you have a dangerously biased and blinded account. If they seem uncomfortable or offended at being asked questions about their story, you know the other side is desperately needed.

It is important that we guard our minds and emotions from being prejudiced when one person shares their conflict story with another person. Deep emotions, tears, minute details, and even seeming humility can capture our hearts for #1's cause and raise walls of bias towards #2.

Get BOTH sides of the story, especially if your are in the role of a peacemaker. Work hard to have both parties present. Listen to each as though each is telling the truth. Realize and let them know you realize that no one has a totally impartial story.

Glorifying God in Life and Death

As Jesus and Peter walked along the Sea of Galilee in John 21, Jesus not only restored Peter to a preeminent place of service, He also predicted how Peter would die.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hand, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go" v.18.

Jesus has told Peter how he could glorify Him in life: Feed My Sheep. Now He has told Peter how he WILL glorify Him in death: You will die FOR Me by the hands of others. John, the writer of this Gospel, adds an editorial comment, "This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God" v.19.

Ultimately following Jesus is about glorifying Him. There is no way TO glorify Jesus except by following Him. This following means to take up our cross daily, to say "NO" to our desires and plans and glory in order to pursue His (Luke 9:23f). And to follow Jesus means to follow Him in another day of life or in the final day of our life: death. In life or death, Jesus says, "Follow Me."

The life of a disciple of Jesus is never wasted, in life or death. Every moment is an investment in glorifying God by being a light that shines in this dark world and salt that is rubbed into the rotting moral decay of our culture. The ultimate life-purpose to glorify God never stops. There is no retirement from glorifying God. There are no vacations from glorifying God. My work is to glorify God. My parenting is to glorify God. My leisure is to glorify God. My eating is to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31). My speech is to glorify God. My spending is to glorify God. My home is for the glory of God. My sickness is to glorify God. My death is to glorify God. My funeral is to glorify God.

If I live for the glory of my glorious God, ALL ELSE will receive its rightful and needed attention and blessing from God. Family does lose out. Work does not lose out. Others do not lose out. Rather, they all receive from me the best of what I can give because now I give it out of the overflow of a life satisfied with and supplied by God.

To live for the glory of anyone or anything else is to raise it in my heart to god-hood; it becomes my idol and it reduces me to living on the fumes of what man or matter can supply.

Finally, don't miss the absolute SOVEREIGNTY of the Lord Jesus Christ that is evident in His statement to Peter about His death. Peter WILL die a death for Christ's glory. He WILL die as others take him bound to execution. Tradition tells us this happened, indeed. Peter was crucified upside down to the glory of God. But Peter could NOT die, Peter would NOT defect, angry leaders could NOT kill Peter, accidents could not unexpectedly take his life, sickness could NOT be his end...WHY? Because Christ had planned, pre-ordained Peter's death and therefore he could not die otherwise.

Therefore, know that your entire life and death is about God's glory and that the life you live and the death you die are all under the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't fear disease, or accidental death on a plane or by a terrorist or in a car crash, don't live in anxiety about that hereditary heart condition or high cholesterol. Do what you should to be safe and be healthy, but above all - LIVE and DIE to the glory of God.

What is that to you? Follow Me.

As Jesus and Peter walked that recommissioning walk by the sea in John 21, Peter noticed that John was following. It seems like John was always following Jesus. Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" v.21.

Jesus' answer is packed with instruction for you and me. We don't know what Peter meant when he asked Jesus about John. He might have meant, "Lord, what is your will for John? You've just said that in old age I will be taken where I don't want to go. What will happen to him?" Jesus doesn't tell Peter what he has in store for John. He says, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" v.22. It seems that Jesus is saying, "I have given indication that your death will be by the force of others, just like mine. What if I will that John doesn't die until I come?" That is, "I am not telling you what his end will be. Whatever happens to him will be by MY sovereign will, just like for you. But no matter what my will is for him, you are still to FOLLOW ME!"

What God wills for our lives is what He wills for US. What He wills for others He wills for THEM. THEY are not to be our focus, JESUS is! We are to follow Jesus, no matter what He chooses for us or for others. He may choose a hard way for us, full of suffering and pain and loss. At the same time He may choose for our best believing friend a way that seems relatively free from difficulties (though no believer is without them!). We might be tempted to become bitter at the hard way chosen for us and the "easy" way for them. Jesus would say, "Follow Me." Take your eyes off of them and put them on Me. Don't get into the comparison game. Don't begin to weigh what you go through against what others go through...it will only lead to bitterness and thoughts of "NOT FAIR!" "Follow Me!" There is a race marked out for you by Jesus (Hebrews 12:1). You run your race. Do not long for another's course. Do not allow yourself to envy their path. "Follow Me."

When we stand before Jesus at His bema seat of judgment some day, He will not ask us about the race of others. He will not compare our sufferings with others. He will simply ask, "Did you follow Me?"

Embrace the race marked out for you and Follow Him.

If You Love ME, Feed My Sheep

You are probably familiar with the re-commissioning of Peter by Jesus as they walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee in John 21. Peter would NEVER forget his three adamant, even cursing denials of Christ before the crucifixion. He was crushed. Who knows the thoughts that tortured his mind as he was brought to true repentance for disowning His Lord.

But Jesus was not finished with Peter. Jesus knew the denials were coming. He had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail, and though it was bruised and bleeding, it held. Peter was back with the disciples.

After Jesus gave bread and fish to the disciples (sounds like some other familiar incidents, doesn't it?!) he began to address Peter. THREE times He asked Peter a sort of re-commissioning question, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" Remember in Mark 14:29 that Peter had said, "Even though they all fall away, I will not," in essence saying that he loved Jesus more than all the other disciples. He also passionately declared he would die for Christ before He would deny Him.

Now Peter is seemingly emptied of his self-confidence. Does he love Christ more than the others? Well, he does love him...but he will not exalt his love above the others, and he will not declare that there is no chance of his defection. He simply says, "...You know that I love You" (John 21:15)

Jesus asks the question TWO more times, now without the "more than these." The third time Jesus asks Peter is grieved with His question. Why? It seems it would be because this third question parallels his third denial. That is, the third question hits at the heart of Peter's sin of self confidence and reminds him of his cursing denials that came on the heels of his statement that he would NEVER do so. It is as though Jesus is asking, "Peter, do you REALLY love Me?" Peter does.

There are several wonderful lessons here for us:

• The AWESOME MERCY and GRACE and FORGIVENESS of the Lord Jesus. I suppose if I were Peter I would think that I was in company with JUDAS! I would be tempted to go out and hang myself, too. But Peter's sorrow was a godly sorrow that led to true and lasting repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). This repentance is a gift of God just as surely as faith is (Acts 11:18). Even cursing denials are forgiven by our Lord (see Mark 3:28). Is there any sin of yours that He will not forgive? Go to Him. He will forgive and restore you like He did Peter. If you find yourself without the true desire to turn back to Him, ASK for the gift of a repentant heart.
• Jesus IS concerned that we LOVE Him. It is not serve, obey, take up your cross, deny yourself, be a living sacrifice ALONE...in fact NONE of these please the Lord Jesus if we do not love Him. And the love that He demands from us is a whole-hearted, above-all-else love. Do YOU love Him above all others? Above all things? Where does this love come from? First, from knowing His prior love for us (1 John 4:10). Second, from His Spirit (Romans 5:5).
• How are we to love Jesus? He gives us great insight into the answer when He tells Peter 3 times: "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," "Feed my sheep" (vv.15-17). How do I love Jesus? Love those that are His! Share His heart for the flock. Give yourself to those that HE gives Himself for. His little lambs...His sheep. When Jesus confronted Saul on the road to Damascus, He asked him, "Why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4). Saul had never met Jesus! But he HAD persecuted Jesus' people. Jesus is organically knit to His people...He is the head and they are His body. You touch them, you touch Jesus. You hurt them, your hurt Him. You bless them, you bless Him. You shepherd and feed their souls, you do so TO JESUS! Love for Jesus does not happen primarily in the secret place, though it does happen there. Love for Jesus is a demonstrated love, like His for us in His life, death, resurrection, and current High Priestly ministry in heaven. Jesus says to us today, "If you love ME, show it to my sheep." We can show this love for Jesus to His sheep by praying for them, encouraging them, helping them to grow in a hundred different ways, providing for their physical needs, pointing them to Jesus when they are discouraged, listening to them when they need to talk, reminding them of the faithfulness of their Lord, etc.

No matter how great your failure, the Lord Jesus Christ seeks you out to restore you to loving fellowship with Himself. He is ready to forgive the repentant one and to restore him to His service, loving His sheep.