Built Different: Love Different
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: When we experience the grace of God, we have freedom to look out for other’s interests, and not just our own.
Convictions
Considerations
Standing Before Christ
Convictions
Our convictions should be shaped by the word of God and love for him.
Romans 14:1-9 ESV
“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 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. 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. 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. 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. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
Paul begins the letter by emphasizing the gospel of Jesus Christ - that in the cross God is both judging sin and at the same time manifesting his saving mercy.
Paul was writing to the Roman congregation which was one that had a diverse population.
At the time, Rome had just reintroduced the Jewish population, who had been previously expelled from the city under Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2).
As the gospel of Jesus Christ spread in Rome, there were Gentile converts who now needed to learn how to interact with Jewish Christians.
To this end, Paul addressed issues such as 1) can one be counted innocent before God by obeying the law?, 2) the faith of Abraham and his relationship to both Jewish and Gentile Christians, 3) how the law relates to sin, 4) how Gentile salvation relates to the future of Israel as God’s people and 5) whether or not Christians should observe OT food laws, including how to relate to fellow believers properly based on those convictions.
In addition to a roadmap to salvation in Jesus Christ, how to navigate the cultural tensions that existed between Jewish and Gentile Christians was a central theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans that would serve us well today.
By the Holy Spirit, Paul communicated how to keep Jesus and his gospel central as the church worked to live as a unified people.
Unity amidst diversity is God’s desire and is where he commands his blessing (Psalm 133).
Yet the question is:
How do we build such unity in the body of Christ while maintaining distinct convictions?
Individually, we each live by faith in Jesus, obeying God with the convictions that he gives us through his word and by his Spirit.
Collectively, we make a distinction between direct commands and disputable matters.
Disputable matters is another way to describe what Paul references here as opinions.
Proverbs 18:2
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.”
Your convictions may not be mine when it comes to what Paul called “disputable matters.”
We are to be unified in the direct commands that are plain as we adhere to what is written in God’s word.
This means that we strive to have Scriptural chapter and verse for what we think, what we believe and therefore, how we live.
Yet we are not to go beyond what’s written when attempting to discern how people are to live out the application of godliness on things that are not written (I Corinthians 4:6).
*This is where relationship with God through the Holy Spirit comes in to give application to people in their personal walks with God.
There will be diversity in how we apply our convictions before God, many times in relation to our histories, our strengths and weaknesses, or even the particular call of God on our lives.
Think about the Nazarite vow.
What we can not do is live by projecting our personal convictions on others allowing ourselves to judge them in regards to disputable matters.
Always remember, Jesus said if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off - he did not say for you to cut off your neighbors‘ 😆.
In summary, God’s rule is that we do all things by his word and in love with consideration towards others.
Mark Ross of Ligonier Ministries wrote an article entitled “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”
In this article, Ross wrote:
“Philip Schaff, the distinguished nineteenth-century church historian, calls the saying in our title “the watchword of Christian peacemakers.” Often attributed to great theologians such as Augustine, it comes from an otherwise undistinguished German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century, Rupertus Meldenius. The phrase occurs in a tract on Christian unity written (circa 1627) during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), a bloody time in European history in which religious tensions played a significant role. The saying has found great favor among subsequent writers such as Richard Baxter, and has since been adopted as a motto by the Moravian Church of North America and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.”
Considerations
When Christ is our king, we are built differently to, in love, consider not only our own interests, but also the interests of others.
Romans 14:10-23 ESV
"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; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. 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. 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. 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. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 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. 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. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 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.”
We can love differently when we are not looking to maintain our own rights, but are looking to build others up in Christ.
We can love differently when we’re not trying to judge others, but are attempting to remove stumbling blocks for others so that they can see Christ clearly.
We can love differently when we are not trying to be proven right but are fighting for everyone to be found righteous in Christ.
Life on life interactions matter in your Christian development.
Yet you can not live in a fish bowl, walking on eggshells, perpetually subjecting yourself to the judgments of others, because sometimes their judgments are ungodly and wrong.
As Paul instructed, we are to:
Be fully convinced in our minds that what we are doing is pleasing to God.
Do all things to honor the Lord and give thanks to him in doing so.
Do what you are doing in love and faith - because anything not done in faith is sin.
Never forget, people had issues with both John the Baptist and the sinless Son of God.
Matthew 11:16-19 ESV
“"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."”
A shared life is important vs. simply listening to podcasts or reading articles because the people on the other side of the podcast don’t usually know you or your situation.
You can be deceived, convincing yourself that your assessments of the world are flawless when they are not vetted by anything but your own wisdom or are without the whole picture in mind in each scenario.
Proverbs 18:17 ESV
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”
People who only tell part of their story to different parties often get conflicting and imperfect advice because those counseling them are getting doctored, revised and colored perspectives.
“Our self-abnegation is thus not for our own sake but for the sake of others. And thus it is not to mere self-denial that Christ calls us but specifically to self-sacrifice, not to unselfing ourselves but to unselfishing ourselves. Self-denial for its own sake is in its very nature ascetic, monkish. It concentrates our whole attention on self—self-knowledge, self-control – and can therefore eventuate in nothing other than the very apotheosis of selfishness. At best it succeeds only in subjecting the outer self to the inner self or the lower self to the higher self, and only the more surely falls into the slough of self-seeking, that it partially conceals the selfishness of its goal by refining its ideal of self and excluding its grosser and more outward elements. Self-denial, then, drives to the cloister, narrows and contracts the soul, murders within us all innocent desires, dries up all the springs of sympathy, and nurses and coddles our self-importance until we grow so great in our own esteem as to be careless of the trials and sufferings, the joys and aspirations, the strivings and failures and successes of our fellow-men. Self-denial, thus understood, will make us cold, hard, unsympathetic—proud, arrogant, self-esteeming—fanatical, overbearing, cruel. It may make monks and Stoics, it cannot make Christians.”
-BB Warfield
John 13:34,35 ESV
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."”
Standing Before Christ
Each person will stand before the Lord in judgment, and will only stand because of Christ.
“After the fall into sin, people remained image-bearers, but Adam’s disobedience brought fundamental changes to our ability to reflect God’s image. The direction of the human heart became oriented not toward God but toward self. In the garden, man began repeating a mantra that will persist until Jesus returns. Adam said, “I want.” “I want glory for myself rather than giving all glory to God.” “I love my own desire rather than loving God.” This came to be known as covetousness, lust, or idolatry.”
-Edward Welch
Before we stand, we must bow before Christ.
The goal of all of our convictions and considerations is to love Jesus, love others and bring glory to God amongst all people.
Romans 15:1-13 ESV
“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." 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. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name." And again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him." And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope." 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.”
At the judgment, we will all give an account of our lives to God, with every tongue confessing and every knee bowing, acknowledging Jesus as Lord.
Yet how you respond to Jesus before reaching the judgment seat of God will determine whether you meet God as a friend or foe.
Attempting to stand on our own merits, we would all suffer a terrible fate.
We’ve all lacked Biblical convictions, have all loved imperfectly and we all deserve death and hell because of our sin.
Yet because of God’s great love for us, he sent his son Jesus to live perfectly the life that we should have lived, die sacrificially on the cross to take the penalty for our sins and rise three days later to provide not only forgiveness of sins, but eternal life in him.
Only bowing before Christ today and choosing to be found in his righteousness, not our own, can we truly stand reconciled to a holy God.
Now, as we cry out to God, repent of our sins and turn wholly to Jesus, he allows us to be built different to think, live and love in image of Christ - which is better by far!
Second City Church
