Principles for Using Liberties

Transcript

GR1629
2-12-12
Principles for Using Liberties
Acts 21:15-26
Gil Rugh

We are in Acts chapter 21. The Apostle Paul is traveling to Jerusalem at the end of what we know as the third missionary journey. He is coming to Jerusalem for the special purpose of delivering himself, with some traveling companions, an offering that he has collected among Gentile churches for the support of Jewish believers in Jerusalem. The church at Jerusalem where the church began being at the heart of Judaism was the center of on-going opposition and persecution and that would affect family relationships, that would affect the ability to have a job and make a living and so on. So the church seemed to struggle regularly with financial and material needs. Paul believed it was very important for the Gentiles to demonstrate their love and appreciation for these Jewish believers and to show in this visible tangible way their love for them. It’s key to seeing that the church is bound together. We are going to see in our section in a moment that there is tension in the church at Jerusalem and some concern about the Apostle Paul’s ministry among Gentiles. Paul was obviously aware of this. It helps us appreciate why he believed this was such a necessary part, an important part of his ministry.

Come over to Romans chapter 15 just to review some verses we looked at in our previous study. Romans chapter 15 Paul refers to this collection that he is making. Romans 15 pickup with verse 25: “But now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.” You see the thinking of the Apostle Paul here. They were happy to do it, the Gentile believers, but Paul says they are obligated to do it because they had benefited from the Jews and the Jewish believers in Jerusalem which became the beginning point of the church. They have benefited in many ways so it is fitting that they give this offering.

Come over to I Corinthians, just after Romans, chapter 16, verse 1: “Now concerning the collection for the saints as I directed the churches of Galatia so do you also.” So you see, as Paul traveled also in the churches he had established in Galatia he collected for this offering. “On the first day of the week each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper so that collections be made when I come when I arrive whomever you may approve I will send with them letters that carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it is fitting for me to go also they will go with me but I will come to you after I go through Macedonia for I am going through Macedonia.” So he has collected money in Galatia, he is coming down through Macedonia, he will come into Achaia where Greece is and then as we have seen, he is going to make his way back and ultimately end up in Jerusalem. He refers to his as well in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 8 and 9.

Come back to chapter 21 of Acts. Paul has persisted in his determination to go to Jerusalem and this in spite of repeated warnings that there is going to be trouble for him in Jerusalem. Back in chapter 20 of Acts, verse 22 Paul said: “Now behold bound in spirit [here he is addressing the elders from Ephesus at Miletus, you remember] I am on my way to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying, “Bonds and afflictions await me.” So we are not told about all of these messages but evidently the Spirit, using perhaps those with the gift of prophecy. So Paul, when you get to Jerusalem there is going to be trouble. You are going to be persecuted there. There will be afflictions. This does not deter Paul. There is no indication as we have indicated and seen earlier that Paul was resisting or rebelling against the Holy Spirit. There is no indication here that the Holy Spirit had been telling him not to go to Jerusalem but just preparing him for what awaited him when he did get to Jerusalem. And his attitude, verse 24: “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the grace of God.”

In chapter 21, verse 4: “After looking up the disciples we stayed there seven days. They kept telling Paul, through the Spirit, not to set foot in Jerusalem.” Another warning, there will be trouble for you in Jerusalem. Don’t go. I am not saying the Spirit was telling him not to go, this message from the Spirit would naturally cause fellow believers to be concerned and the natural response to protect him they told him he shouldn’t go but that doesn’t deter him.
Down in verse 10 of chapter 21he is at Caesarea and there is a message where while he stays at the house of Philip from the Prophet Agabus in verses 10-14: “A prophet named Agabus came down Judea” where Jerusalem is. “Coming to us he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: “In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” “When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” “And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”

Here we can see in the plan of God, suffering, trial, and persecution awaits Paul but it is part of God’s plan for Paul. We sometimes associate these kinds of activities – persecution, opposition as meaning the Lord would not have us continue that ministry and that is not the case. Remember the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “Blessed are you” in Matthew 5, “when all men speak evil against you, when you are persecuted for My Name’s sake.” That doesn’t mean that we court persecution, we go out of our way to antagonize people but we are faithful in representing Jesus Christ and we are prepared and expecting that that will stir opposition, that will stir resistance and create persecution. It is not just to the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12: “All who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” So Paul exemplifies that.

Now Paul knew that trouble awaited him at Jerusalem. He didn’t know how much trouble and the induration of that trouble. He gets to Jerusalem. The events that will start there will result in him being imprisoned as a prisoner of Rome for the next five years. So when they say “afflictions and trials, persecution await you in Jerusalem,” the details are not unfolded and that imprisonment will result in his transportation all the way to Rome. His desire to go to Rome will be fulfilled but in a little different way than he expected. Paul never manifested discouragement during this five year imprisonment when he is in Rome, a little further down the road as we go through Acts, he will write the letter to the Philippians. He doesn’t write and say, “You know, maybe I made a mistake. Maybe I should have listened to all those people who said, “Don’t go to Jerusalem.” In Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 and 13 his message to them is, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel so that my imprisonment and the cause of Christ has become well-known throughout whole praetorian guard and to everyone else and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the Word of God without fear.”

Paul is not weighed down by his circumstances, the difficult situations. He is always looking. This has turned out even better than I could have hoped. I have had opportunity to share the Gospel with people who otherwise would not have heard. And fellow believers are so encouraged to see me sharing the Gospel as a prisoner they have more courage to be fearless in presenting the Gospel. His personal suffering is not to the fore. His personal difficulties are not what are occupying his mind, but rather, how is the Gospel doing? How is our testimony for Christ doing?

So we come back to Acts chapter 21. We are ready for Paul coming to Jerusalem. We left him at Caesarea at the house of Philip, the evangelist. Caesarea was the seaport for Jerusalem. It was about 64 miles from Jerusalem. So Paul is ready. After verse 15 of Acts 21: “After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.” Now he is going south but remember you are going up to Jerusalem always. “Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge.” So Paul has now some traveling companions from Caesarea who are going to take the 64 miles trip with him to Jerusalem. They are going to take him to the home of a long time believer, “a disciple of long standing.” We don’t know anything else about this Mnason of Cyprus. He may have been one of the original disciples from the beginning of the church. Back in Acts chapter 4 we were told that Barnabas himself was from Cyprus. Perhaps they had been friends, shared in the ministry in the early days of the church. It’s just one of those individuals we see here. He is a well-known solid, reliable believer so these believers who know him arrange for Paul to stay with him.

Verse 17: “After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.” There is probably some excitement along with some reservation we will see in a moment but Paul is here. He is well-known. He has been to Jerusalem before. Word of his travels and ministry among the Gentiles has filtered back to Jerusalem so they know something of Paul, something of his ministry, something of the impact among the Gentiles and something of his opposition to the Judaizers and his opposition to the imposing of the Mosaic Law as a requirement for salvation.

Verse 18: “The following day Paul went in with us to meet with James, and all the elders who were present.” So James, the half-brother of the Lord here, has become a believers and a leader in the church. Remember back in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council he was a key figure there after Paul and Peter had made addresses, James came up and pulls it together. He is a recognized leader and still is here because they refer to “James and all the elders were present.” “After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.”

You know, at the end of his second missionary journey Paul had been in Jerusalem and then went back to Antioch in Syria. So here now, at the end of the third he is back. Again he has come full circle, if you will. He relates to James and the other leaders of the church there how God had worked among the Gentiles through his ministry. It is crucial here that James and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem which is a Jewish church by the very nature of its location understand that God has worked powerfully and mightily in salvation among the Gentiles even as He had worked among the Jews. Remember through the first half of the book of Acts, the first 12 chapters in particular, the focus had been primarily upon the ministry to the Jews, the Samaritans had been reached in Acts 8 and the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10 but primarily it is about the Jews. Now you see that God’s work has really come out. They had heard about it. We will see this in the following verses. They knew something of Paul’s ministry but now they are getting again a first-hand report from him and they are excited and encouraged.

Probably at this time he presents to them the offering. It is not mentioned here by Luke but this would be the occasion for him to present to James as he relates what God has done among the Gentiles and here in tangible evidence of the transformed heart of these Gentiles why by very nature were anti-Jewish. Now they have such love and concern for the suffering of the Jewish believers in the church at Jerusalem that they have collected an offering to give to them. So it is not only that Paul can talk about the mighty works on God but here is a tangible evidence that God has worked powerfully in these Gentiles lives and the churches that I have established have a love for the church and the believing Jews in Jerusalem.

The response of James and elders is “when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law.” So they are glorifying God because the work of God has spread out. Now James and these fellow elders have not been carrying the Word out among the Gentiles. Their ministry has been to minister among the Jews in the church at Jerusalem, a necessary ministry. It was a different ministry than Paul was given but they can join with Paul in glorifying God for the work but then they tell Paul that “God has been working mightily among the Jews.” “There are many thousands among the Jews who have believed.” You see the work of God has continued. While the church in Jerusalem in suffering greatly as manifested by their need for outside help financially, God has continued to bless the ministry of His Word among the Jews and there are a large number who have been saved. We are told they are “all zealous for the Law,” interesting to hear that, but we are again in Jewish territory here and people are saved. They are not saved by keeping the law. They never were. They never can be but they are Jews. So now that they have been saved they haven’t had to stop being Jews and that becomes an issue here.

Look at verse 21 now and you see word has filtered back about Paul’s ministry. “They have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” Their concern is not primarily about the Gentiles right now but the word has filtered back that as Paul has gone out into the Gentile world, we saw that his pattern was he would go to the synagogue and share with Jews there and some Jews would get saved but then he usually ended up with the Gentiles because of persecution and opposition. For the word that comes back is Paul’s ministry out there and this would be carried by as well by enemies that want to undermine and try to weaken the church at Jerusalem by saying, “Oh you know that Paul he tells Jews that you shouldn’t circumcise your children anymore and you shouldn’t keep any of the Mosaic Law anymore. In effect, he is telling Jews that they should stop being Jews now and live like Gentiles. These Jews are zealous for the law but that is not necessarily bad. We want to be careful in our understanding here. The Jerusalem Council had settled the matter and clarified things. Gentiles didn’t have to keep the law and adopt Jewish practices to be saved. They had to avoid certain things that would be particularly offensive to Jews, not in order to be saved but in order to manifest the grace of God in their lives and the respect for Jews. Now it needs to be clarified that Jews don’t have to become Gentiles either. Just like the Gentiles don’t have to adopt Jewish practices, the Jews don’t have to adopt Gentile practices so that is the issue here.

Now Paul had dealt with this. He wrote the letter to the Galatians earlier after he had established those churches dealing with the Judaizers. Those Jews who came in and tried to tell the Gentiles they needed to be circumcised, they needed to adopt the Mosaic Law or they really couldn’t be saved and sanctified.

Come over to Galatians chapter 5 and see what Paul said here in verse 1: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm. Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision Christ will be of no benefit to you.” Obviously he is just addressing Gentiles here because all Jewish men would have been circumcised at eight days. Here he is telling them if they are going to adopt a Gospel that requires circumcision you get no benefit out of Christ. “I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law. You have fallen from grace.” You see the issue here is do Gentiles have to be circumcised and keep the law? Believing in Christ that is where it got confusing. The Judaizers said to believe in Christ. We saw this in Acts 15. That they had to believe in Christ but they also required that they be circumcised and keep the law. That’s why I started chapter 1: “If anyone adds to the Gospel of grace he is cursed.” You see what Paul is arguing here when he deals with the Galatians. Down in verse 6 note the balance here: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything.” That is key in the argument here. So it’s still not wrong for Jews who become believers to circumcise their sons at eight days old because yes, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah and we believe in Him alone for our salvation but we still recognize we are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and recognize the covenant that was established with our father, Abraham. That is not wrong because neither circumcision or uncircumcision is anything. So you Jews don’t have to become Gentiles. You Gentiles don’t have to become Jews.

Over to chapter 6 and verse 15 of Galatians: “For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation.” So as regards to salvation, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation.” It is not a matter of circumcision, being circumcised or not being circumcised. It is a matter of being made new in Christ. So you have both sides and there is a battle going on. Do the Gentiles have to become Jewish? Is faith in Christ alone enough? Or, do Gentiles have to be circumcised and adopt the Mosaic Law for salvation to be complete? No. By the same token, do Jews now, that’s the issue that’s being addressed back here in Acts 21, have to renounce their Jewishness and quit circumcising their sons and quit observing any of the practices of the Mosaic Law? No because it’s not a matter of being circumcised or not being circumcised or eating certain foods or not eating certain foods. It is a matter of faith in Christ alone. If you are clear on that, you are clear on the issues of the Gospel.

Come to Romans 14 and we will finish this out in Acts and then look at some principles. In Romans 14:1-6: “Accept the one who is weak in faith but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinion. One person has faith that he may eat all things but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not regarded with contempt to the one who does not eat. The one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”

You see, these are not the issues in salvation so they are personal matters. For a Jew says I realize that my salvation is by faith in the finished work of my Messiah, His death and resurrection paying for my sin, I recognize but I still believe that I am more comfortable in observing the food restrictions of the Mosaic Law. Then Paul says, “Observe them and you who choose not to observe them don’t criticize them for observing them and you who choose to observe them don’t criticize those who don’t observe them.” So as long as it’s not made an issue of a requirement necessary for salvation there is liberty in these things. We don’t have liberty to practice paganism and say “well I don’t believe it is necessary for salvation, we can’t worship other gods and so on.”

Okay, come back to Acts chapter 21. I do this because of the recommendation that is going to come from the leadership in the church at Jerusalem. Verse 22: “What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come,” so you see, Paul has walked in. Not everybody is there welcoming Paul with open arms. Even the Jewish believers in Jerusalem have reservations about Paul and his ministry. You know how it is. People sew things, they undermine the reputation and they distort what Paul is teaching so now people don’t know whether they can trust him or not. If he is anti-Jewish and really teaching out there that Jews among Gentiles where the predominance would be Gentiles so now he slants the message that you Jews have to stop all practices associated with Judaism and really begin to live like Gentiles, that is an issue. “So therefore, do this that we will tell you: We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law. But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” That was the Jerusalem Conference. We have already dealt with the fact that the Gentiles don’t have to practice Jewish practices but you as a Jew want to make clear by the same token, that you are not denying your Jewishness and that you are not distancing yourself from being identified as a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Paul would have no problem practicing these things. In fact earlier, we find him fulfilling a Nazirite vow and the vow here is a Nazirite vow and these four Jewish men had taken this vow. We won’t go back into Numbers chapter 6. It involved cutting the hair, burning it as an offering. In addition, a number of costly sacrifices were required; a meal and female lamb, a ram, cereal and drink offerings. You can read about it in Numbers 6:14 and following. We want you to join with them by purifying yourself and then taking it upon yourself to pay their expenses, showing that you are supportive of them as Jews doing this. By doing this, you will be demonstrating that you don’t require Jews to stop being Jews when they come to trust the Messiah.

Turn back to chapter 18 of Acts. We are finished up the second missionary journey. Verse 18: “Paul, having remained many days longer took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.” We noted there, the Nazirite vow like we said, involved cutting the hair and these sacrifices when you get to Jerusalem and so on. Paul had practiced it. He was comfortable with it as a Jew. He didn’t have to do it for his salvation or his sanctification Galatians made clear. You don’t begin by grace and then experience sanctification by law but by the same token he’s free to do this as a Jewish man, reflecting his Jewishness and identification with God’s elect nation, Israel.

Back here in Acts 21, verse 26: “Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself along with them [that would involve going through the ritual requirements of Jewish purification] went into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, [required there to acknowledge to the priest and demonstrate that he had fulfilled the requirements of having been purified from any ceremonial defilements] until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.” It’s not for salvation. These sacrifices never did save. That is clear and it wasn’t for their sanctification. It was part of their Jewishness that they continued to carry out. I mean, it’s like some of you come from a German background. Now you are a believer. Well, you can’t get together and have German food and dress in a German outfit and celebrate a German holiday. You can, go ahead. You don’t have to deny your ethnic background. Now for the Jews this becomes of special significance. So either side would be wrong. Gentiles don’t have to become Jews; Jews don’t have to become Gentiles. This is consistent with Paul’s practice.

Come over to I Corinthians chapter 9, verse 19: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law.” Even as a Jew he recognized he doesn’t live under the authority of the Mosaic Law anymore. He is not yielding on that but he still has the freedom to practice those things that are contained in the law if he so chooses. Now it is an act of free will, it’s not an act of requirement and as a Jewish man he still continued to practice some of those things as we saw in chapter 18. He choose to take upon himself the requirements of the Nazirite vow and the cutting of the hair and all that went with that and going to Jerusalem to fulfill that vow but he says “I am not under law but I can choose to put myself under law. At times live under law, though not being myself under law so that I might win those under the law; to those who are without the law, as without law, though not being without the law of God.” He is not antinomian. He’s not under Mosaic Law but he’s still bound to obedience to God. “But under the law of Christ, that I might win those are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may be all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, that I may become a fellow-partaker of it.” We know enough of Paul that he is not a compromiser in the wrong sense. But he could be flexible. I don’t want to make an issue of things that don’t need to be made an issue and thus put a barrier to the Gospel. That’s the practice that he is doing here.

I want to take time at the end here to just run through some of the principles that guide us in these kinds of areas because they still come up for us. It’s not necessarily Jewishness or not Jewishness but these areas – what about what the Scripture does not directly address? There is misunderstanding of Paul’s practices here among even believing Jews because of what they’ve heard. You have to clarify it. Some people read this and think that Paul was being inconsistent. No he’s not. He is free to do this. So let’s talk about some of the principles that we remind ourselves of periodically, that guide us in these areas and were guiding Paul.

They come out of I Corinthians and Romans so we will go back and forth. First principle: Is it a stumbling block to the weak? I read about that one. Come over to I Corinthians 8. Questions that I have to ask myself, you have to ask yourself. These are not primarily questions we do for other people. These are for what we should ask ourselves. First principle: Is it a stumbling block to the weak? I Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9: “But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” There it is in the context of eating things sacrificed to idols. We know an idol is nothing but a piece of wood or a piece of stone or a piece of metal. It is nothing so once you have offered a piece of meat to an idol and then you sell it in the market place it is still just a piece of meat. To some people who come out of a background of idol worship, it troubles them. Take that into consideration in your practice. Verse 10, still in I Corinthians 8: “For if someone sees you who have knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” There are certain times that a misuse of my liberty is sin. On the point do I have liberty here, yes? Did I have the right to exercise my liberty, no? So we have to be careful. Yes, you are right, you have liberty but the wrong use of liberty is sin so I have to ask, “Is it a stumbling block to the weak?”

Keep something in I Corinthians 8 and come back to Romans 14. When I say “Keep something there” it’s because we go back and forth between these chapters. We will go quickly. I Corinthians 14, verse 13: “Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore but rather determine this – not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” So a sensitivity that we have various degrees of maturity and those with a greater maturity understand more about liberty and they understand they have the liberty to do it or not do it. So they are sensitive to the context in which they find themselves as to whether they will exercise their liberty or choose not to on that occasion. That is the first principle. Secondly, will it cause misunderstanding regarding my motives for serving Christ?

Back in I Corinthians chapter 9, verse 12: Paul is talking about his right to be paid for his ministry. Verse 11: “If we sewed spiritual things among you, it is too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this right over you do not we more? Nevertheless we did not use this right.” Why? “We endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.” So that principle – will it involve misunderstanding? Particularly here, he is talking about his motives in serving Christ. Well then, I have full right and authority, liberty but I chose not to use it because I don’t want to create a hindrance to the Gospel. So certain things we do might cause people, unbelievers, to look and question our motives or why we are doing what we do. So, it is possible that we avoid doing that. We don’t have to do that.

So Paul, if he had gone to Corinth, and preached and then taken an offering to use for himself they would have had a misunderstanding. Later he will have an offering collected among the believers that had become believers on an earlier trip. That is a different thing for the church at Jerusalem. There it is not even for himself.

Third question: Is it profitable, beneficial? I mean there are a lot of things we have liberty to do but they are not beneficial and help us grow and mature. Is it profitable? I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23: “All things are lawful but not all things are profitable.”

Come back to chapter 6 of I Corinthians, verse 12: “All things are lawful but not all things are profitable.” Is it beneficial? I don’t want to fill my life with neutral things. We often say, “Well, there is nothing wrong with it,” then fine. We don’t want to fill our lives with things that all we can say is there is nothing wrong with it. Is it profitable, beneficial? You know we have that little saying now, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” I don’t want to fill my life with things that are wrong. There is nothing particularly profitable about them so we want to be careful about that. Is it profitable?

Fourthly: Will it build up other believers? Back in I Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 23, the second part of the statement: “All things are lawful but not all things edify.” One part of being profitable is building up not only myself but other believers. Will it build up believers? “All things are lawful but not all things edify.” So, are they profitable, beneficial, will it edify others, build them up, or help them grow to maturity?

Come back to Romans 14, verse 19: “So then, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” That’s what we ought to be zealous for. We ought to be in the pursuit of, helping others to grow and mature and develop in Christ.

In chapter 15 of Romans, verse 2: “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification to help him grow and mature in Christ.”

Fifth: Is it for our neighbor’s good? In Romans 15, verse 2: “Let us please his neighbor for his good.” That is part of his edification. So, some of these things obviously are part and parcel of one another, “For the good of others.”

Come back to I Corinthians 10 and verse 24: “Let no one seek his own good but his neighbors.” What is selfish in this? I am thinking about is how does this impact others? What I am thinking about is this profitable for me, for my spiritual well-being but is it for yours? It is the way we function.

Sixth: Is it for the glory of God? This is basic to everything. As I have mentioned, we have done this before. I sort of put this one in the middle. You might build it at the end for climax but I have put it in the middle of my eleven and this is the sixth one here, five before and five after. Is it to the glory of God? I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31: “Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Romans 15:6 “So that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is about what we are doing, bringing glory and honor to the God that we serve. We get in these petty battles and conflicts that you know, I have the right to do this or I don’t think you should do that. We have to be careful of we divide the fellowship of believers over things that are not of Biblical necessity and it doesn’t bring glory to the Lord.

Seventh: Will it be offensive? I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32: “Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.” So you see here, he is talking about unbelieving Jews, unbelieving non-Jews and believers, the church. As far as is possible, as we are told in other places of Scripture, “live peaceably with all men.” “Give no offense.” That doesn’t mean we live our lives compromising principles and principles and the truth, no. But in the context here, the Gentiles ought to be careful about giving offense to Jews. If I am going to meet with some more serious Jews for lunch I don’t have to sit down and order a ham sandwich. I can have something kosher. It’s not an issue. Why do I want to offend them? Why am I making a point here? Well, I ordered a ham sandwich because I think it is important for you as a Jew to realize that when you get saved you will understand you don’t have to keep food laws. Well, already, I have created a barrier that I don’t have to climb over. I might have something kosher. I might wait and see what they order and say, “I am going to have what they are having.” They say you are a Gentile, why did you have what we are having? You don’t have to eat like we do.” “No, but I want you to understand that as a Gentile, I can.” “I want you to understand that is not an issue. Your Messiah came and provided a salvation that takes that away as an issue.” So, don’t give offense. And the Jews ought to be sensitive. They ought not to be requiring things that are of Gentiles. “Well, if you really love the Lord, you would be willing to do this.” I mean, we don’t want to be offensive.

Eighth point on my list: Will it master me? Come back to I Corinthians 6. Here is where I am considering its potential. I Corinthians chapter 6, verse 12: “All things are lawful for me. Not all things are profitable.” Note this: “All things are lawful for me but I will not be mastered by anything.” I am going to be careful about its potential to place me under its authority. So, I want to be careful here.

Sometimes I have had people come and ask me about certain practices. Is it alright for me to do this? Then I have certain questions that I ask them out of this list and one was, “Does it master you?” Well, I don’t know. I’ve never tried to stop. Well maybe you ought to try to stop just to see if it is really controlling you. I used to like to drink coffee, 20, 25 cups a day. Good, great and then I get convicted by this verse. I wonder if I could not drink the coffee. Oh, did I get a headache. Ah, man. So I decided that I would slow up and stop drinking. So I quit drinking coffee for a while. I just wanted to know. That is just a trite example but I wanted to stop it for a while. Does it control you? Now does food control me? I haven’t tried not eating for a month. But you know. Obviously you don’t put this to the ridiculous. Don’t do it. Find out. Does it control me? I believe it is right for me to have a cigarette. Good, I don’t have any problem with you having a cigarette either. I prefer you don’t do it in my office but go ahead, have a cigar, have a cigarette. I know, Spurgeon smoked. G. Campbell smoked. Go ahead. I just have a question. Does it control you? Stop it for a month, two months then start it. Do it periodically just to be sure.

I have one question, do not be mastered by anything. He lives under the control of One, his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ and we want to do the same.

Ninth question: Will it promote peace? Romans chapter 14, verse 19: “So then, let us pursue the things which make for peace and for the building up of one another.” We ought to be concerned about the peace of the body. I don’t want to make issue of things that are going to cause turmoil among believers. If the Word of God teaches it, if it is a doctrine required we have to stand there but I don’t have to make an issue over things that the Scripture doesn’t say are issues that I have to stand for. Churches divide over trivial things. We all know it. I have some Baptist history. The Baptists are famous for their divisions and it is true among churches all over. How many people do you know and some of you come from churches that are what? They were battling over … fill in the blank, not the substitutionary atonement of Christ, it was something that didn’t have anything to do with the ministry of the Word. People develop strong feelings here. People develop strong feelings here, building programs. We are going to talk about remodeling. You know, building programs are famous. I was talking to one pastor who had been through several building programs. He said, “I never go into a building program that I don’t pray about leaving before we do.” He said, “I know what is going to happen. People are going to leave. They are going to be upset,” over what? You know, it’s those things so – will it promote peace? It’s the same thing with the things we talk about, about one another. This promoting peace – well I think if they love the Lord they wouldn’t do that. How is that promoting peace? And so on.

Number ten: Does it violate my conscience? Romans 14, verse 23: “He who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin.” Now this is not talking about things the Word of God directly addresses. It’s talking about matters of freedom, liberty. I have to obey my conscience. That is where these Jewish believers are. They understood that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, why? They still believed that it was more pleasing to God when they didn’t eat pork. Then, they shouldn’t eat pork. You don’t do those things that you believe God doesn’t want you to do but you are doing it because you think some people want you to do it. Now I am doing what I think my Lord doesn’t want me to do and maybe He doesn’t want me to do it for special purposes. So, I don’t do it. That is a matter of personal conscience. Now we have to be careful because we tend to think if I’ve got strong convictions about this you ought to have the same conviction. No, it’s a personal thing. It’s your conscience in matters of liberty, my conscience. What I am not comfortable doing in certain areas you might be comfortable doing and vice versa. That’s fine. We accept that. I don’t want to pressure you to do what you believe the Lord wouldn’t have you do and you don’t want to pressure me to do what I believe the Lord wouldn’t have me to do. Well, wouldn’t you think the Lord would want us to do the same thing? No. In those things that he wants us to do the same thing He’s told us. The other things He has given us a conscience and my conscience may be weaker and more immature in some areas than yours so you have to give me some space to grow. You may be the stronger one in that area and you say, “When I am with Gil, I am more careful about certain things because I don’t want him to feel any pressure to do what I know he’s not comfortable before the Lord doing right now and I want to be the same. And as we function that way, we are helping one another. Ultimately you have to know, I am not going to do it because I am not comfortable. There have been occasions where I have told other believers but you, go ahead. Don’t feel restrained because I am not doing it. I am just more comfortable not doing it. I appreciate believers who have said, fine, that’s fine.

Alright, last and very importantly, number eleven in my list: Will it result in the salvation of souls. I Corinthians 10, I have read this verse already. As you read through these and you see the passages you see how they interlock and overlap. Will it result in the salvation of souls, I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 33: “I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many so that they may be saved.” In all these areas of liberty Paul was driven for the glory of God, for the salvation of souls. That’s what I want to do. I want to bring glory to God and see men saved so my liberty, I am glad I understand liberty in Christ, Paul would say. When I am with Jews I can use my liberty in a way that will give me a more effective opportunity to reach the Jews. When I am with Gentile I can use my liberty in a way that would give me the most opportunity for the Gentiles. In all these things I seek to please the God that I serve.”

That’s what enables us to function both in a way that brings harmony to the congregation and a way that makes our ministry together most effective and our ministries personally most effective.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord, for Your Word, for its clarity, for its beauty and for its simplicity. Lord, as we even study the history of the early church and the life of Paul we see him putting into practice those things which he taught in the letters that he wrote. Lord, we realize that this is Your Word. Ultimately it’s Your instruction for us. Thank you for the liberty that we have in Christ. Thank you Lord, for even the guidelines in the exercising of our liberty. We realize the personal responsibility we have before You to use the liberty that we have in Christ in ways that are consistent with Your will for us as Your servants. Bless our lives and our testimony for You both personally and as a congregation as we serve You together we pray in Christ’s name, amen.