An assembly where fellow pilgrims meet for worship,
instruction, and fellowship. An oasis in the
desert of the world's pressures. That's what
God intends for the local church to be. And he
intends for one of the chief joys of the local
church to be its unity of heart and its purpose.
But as we have been discussing in the last several
weeks, that unity can be easily fractured and
the joy stolen from a local church. This unity
develops within a church when believers become
carnal and independent. That state is quickly
exposed when issues which fall into the gray
zone are focused upon. I have said before, and
I repeat it, that there are more churches that
split over non -essentials and differences over
legitimate gray issues than over the major doctrines.
You say, what is a gray issue? A gray issue is
one in which there is no clear, properly interpreted
Bible passage which says right or wrong. regarding
that issue. In other words, it is a legitimate,
disputable issue where the Bible is not clear
as to what is yes or no, right or wrong. And
there are those issues in every church. Unity
can be achieved in a local church and preserved.
if God's people will practice three principles
that we've been studying in Romans chapters 14
and 15. The first principle is found in Romans
chapter 14, verses 1 through 12. That principle
is simply accept one another. To the strong,
the apostle says, quit despising those who are
weak of conscience. And to the weak, he says,
stop judging those who have a stronger conscience
about these gray issues than you have. So quit
judging one another is really what he says several
times in that part of the chapter. That brings
to mind a question. Is it ever appropriate to
judge another person? Well, someone says, Jesus
says, judge not that you be not judged, doesn't
he? Yes, he does say that. I'd like you to turn
to that passage in Matthew chapter 7 and look
at it with me. Matthew 7, verse 1. This is in
the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus says, Do not
judge, lest you be judged. For in the way you
judge, you will be judged, and by your standard
of measure it will be measured to you. And why
do you look at the speck? that is in your brother's
eye. But do not notice the log that is in your
own eye. Or how can you say to your brother,
let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold,
the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite. First,
take the log out of your own eye, and then you
will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye. And so our Lord is not saying
that it's always wrong to judge. But he's telling
us how we are to do that. First, we are to examine
ourselves before we make judgment on another.
And if we need to take corrective steps in our
own life, we are to do that. But after examining
ourselves, we then are able to see the brother's
need more clearly, and we are able to judge him.
But why do we judge him? Not to condemn him.
Please notice that. We judge him to help him.
Jesus said, take that speck out of your brother's
eye. He's got a problem. He can't see very well.
He keeps winking and blinking. So get his eye
open. Look in there after you've gotten the log
out of your own eye and take that speck out for
his good to help him. So Jesus is not saying
here that it's always wrong to judge. There are
times, in fact, when we must judge another person
if we're going to be obedient to God. I'll give
you an example or two of that. In the first place,
in Romans chapter 16, verse 17, we are told that
we must watch out for a divisive person. If you
want to go back there and look at it, that's
fine. We can do that. Romans 16, verse 17, I
urge you, brethren, Keep your eye on those who
cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to
the teaching which you learned and turn away
from them. Now if I'm going to recognize them
and keep my eye on them and turn away from them,
then I am in doing that judging them. You see.
If I just try to push everything under the rug
and ignore it and pretend it's not there, I'm
not only disobedient to what God tells me to
do here, but I'm creating a problem later down
the road that's going to come up. So I am to
judge what a divisive person is, and I'm to keep
my eye on him and stay away from him. He's a
troublemaker. We're also warned in 1 Corinthians
chapter 5, to judge an unrepentant professor.
I don't mean a college professor. They are rather
unrepentant though, aren't they? I'm talking
about one who professes to be a Christian. An
unrepentant, professing Christian who's living
in sin is one who is to be carefully judged.
by the church, and if necessary, even put out
of the fellowship of the church. So there is
a proper judgment to make when there is an unrepentant,
professing Christian, one who is involved in
a public sin and will not give it up. Galatians
6 .1 commands me, if any man be overtaken in
a fault, you who are spiritual, restore him,
considering yourself first, and do it with meekness
and fear. And so I am to know when a brother
is overtaken in a fault. I am not to pretend
he's not in a fault, that he's not been overtaken
by his sin. I am to see that he is and make that
judgment. And then considering myself first,
I am to go to him in a humble attitude and seek
to help him recover himself from his sin. So
there is a proper time to judge. Another one
involves false teaching, 2 John chapter 10, Titus
1, verses 9 to 14. We are to watch out for those
that teach contrary to the word of God. We are
to make a judgment about them and to rebuke them
and expose them openly so that God's people are
not led astray. So don't ever get into the mindset
that it's always wrong to judge. That is not
true. But when we do judge, we are to do it with
a right motive, having checked ourselves first,
and do it for the good of the other person, the
good of God's people, and not to condemn and
to criticize and to be censorious. And when we
come to this matter of gray issues, where the
Bible is not clear as to what is right and wrong,
where something is not clearly labeled a sin,
then we are not to judge one another. That is
an area where judgment is not to be carried out.
If it's sin, if it's false teaching and so on,
that is to be judged. But if it's one of these
areas where the Bible is unspecific, we are not
to judge one another. Rather, we are to accept
one another, to welcome one another, to embrace
one another. If you and I will learn to do that,
then we will be preserving unity in our fellowship.
And then in verses 13 to 23, he says we are to
build up one another. That's principle number
two we're to follow. Essentially, he says we
are never to destroy another believer by insisting
on our own rights. We may feel a freedom of conscience
to do certain things. For example, And we may
know that it's okay to do that. But we have to
remember that there are brothers who don't know
that it's okay. Take that into consideration.
And that love and concern for my brother will
cause me to restrict myself. Because my concern
is I don't want to make him stumble. I don't
want to tear him down. I want to build him up.
And so in love, I do what is necessary. with
my own freedoms and rights, so that he is not
harmed, but rather is edified. We come now to
the third of the principles, and it's found in
chapter 15, verses 1 through 13. And by the way,
you will notice, as I read through this text,
that the first two principles are reiterated
in the text that we're going to read. You'll
see them there if you look closely. Now we who
are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those
without strength and not just please ourselves.
Let each of us please his neighbor for his good
to his edification. For even Christ did not please
himself, but as it is written, the reproaches
of those who reproached thee fell upon me. For
whatever was written in earlier times, was written
for our instruction, that through perseverance
and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance
and encouragement grant you to be of the same
mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus,
that with one accord you may with one voice glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ
also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say
that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision,
that is, to the Jews, on behalf of the truth
of God, to confirm the promises given to the
fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God
for His mercy, as it is written, Therefore I
will give thee Praise to thee among the Gentiles,
and I will sing to thy name. Again he says, Rejoice,
O Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise
the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples
praise him. And again Isaiah says, There shall
come the root of Jesse, and he who arises to
rule over the Gentiles. In him shall the Gentiles
hope. Now may the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing. that you may abound
in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The
third principle as to how to maintain unity in
the church and to avoid church splits is this
one that we are to please one another. This matter
of pleasing one another is described in verse
1 as a debt, something that is owed. especially
by the strong, that is, those whose consciences
are more mature, more enlightened. He says that
those who are stronger in conscience have a special
obligation to those who are weaker, and that
obligation is to bear their weaknesses. That
word bear means to carry. It is used literally
of Jesus bearing his cross. It is used figuratively
by our Lord when he says those who would be his
disciples must bear their cross. It means that
we who are stronger of conscience must bear the
load of the weaknesses of those who are weaker.
What that means is that I must be willing to
restrict my own freedom. And not to live the
way that I want and the way that I may feel free
to live. But I must be willing to restrict my
own freedom. To adjust my own convictions to
whatever will contribute to the good of another.
That's what he's saying. And I am to do that
not with condescension and not with resignation,
but I am to do it with humility and love. I says
that which is to guide me as I restrict myself
is that which is the good of another. Verse 2.
He says, I am to please them for their good,
that is, those who are weak. In other words,
I am not to please him if in doing so I would
actually do him damage in the long run. I am
not to restrict my freedom if in so doing I'm
going to set an example for him that will hinder
him ultimately. Example. As a parent, I get a
little concerned when my youngest son, who is
two, picks up a butcher knife. Now, I realize
that I'm restricting his liberty. I know that
it makes him unhappy when I take it away. But
I do that nonetheless. Now, the reason I do that
is for his good, right? That's my concern. That's
my guide. Now, if you can carry that idea across
to what we're talking about here. When it comes
to these gray issues, where I have more freedom,
perhaps, than my brother, I am to please him.
And to do that, I probably will have to restrict
myself. But I need to be sure that as I do that,
I'm doing it for his good. that in the long run
I'm not going to do more damage to him than good.
To please him does not mean to indulge him, but
it means rather that I do what is necessary that
he, for that period of time, may be helped along
in his Christian life. And my motive for doing
this is to be his good and the glory of God.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ who gives us the
example in this. I think there are four words
in verse 3 that, in a very fine way, give a summation
of his whole life. He did not please himself.
He did not please himself. That's the way I'm
to live and the way that you're to live. Psalm
69, the last part of verse 9, is quoted here
in verse 3. The reproaches of those who reproach
thee fell on me. That's a word put into the mouth
of our Lord by the Holy Spirit. What it actually
does is to prophesy the cost to God's servant
who would seek the good of others. Because you
see, often when you seek the good of others,
you're not appreciated. So don't expect applause
when you seek the good of somebody else. So you
restrict yourself. Don't expect anybody to get
up and give you a check for that. Not going to
happen. As a matter of fact, the Word of God
indicates that more than likely what you're going
to get is reproach. You'll be misunderstood and
maligned by some people when you begin to live
to please others. That does not mean that I become
a man -pleaser in my motive. That's not the idea.
But for my brother's good, I seek to please him.
And to do that, I'm willing to restrict myself
and my own liberty. Now you say, well, that seems
like an awfully big sacrifice. After all, I have
a clear conscience about some of these things
that other people stumble over. Let them grow
up. Well, perhaps they need to grow up. But we
ought never to shun the sacrifice that we may
need to make for their good. I think our Lord
gives us the example in that too, doesn't he?
He did not shun the sacrifice that he needed
to make for our good. So any sacrifice that we
think we are making in our liberty, let us examine
that sacrifice and measure it against the sacrifice
that Jesus made for us. But you say, that's tough.
Yeah, it's tough. It's tough to live for others.
It's difficult to be consistent in doing that.
How's it done? It means living a selfless lifestyle,
and that's a lifestyle that self doesn't like.
It's not natural to myself to give up my rights
for another person. I mean, I can do it once
or twice, especially if I'm patted on the back
for it, but to do that all the time? Come on.
I don't think anybody can do that. Well, you're
right. We can't do it in ourselves. If we try
to live this way in ourselves, we're going to
get tired and we're going to get discouraged.
But Paul tells us that we can do it because God
gives us both perseverance and encouragement
as we live a selfless life. Where do we find
this spiritual power? Well, he tells us in verse
4 of the Scriptures. It was the scripture which
predicted Christ's sufferings and the glory that
was to follow. And he says it is through the
scriptures, the examples of the scriptures, the
stories of the saints in the Old Testament and
in the New as we look at it. It is the examples
of the scripture that gives to us perseverance,
patient endurance to hang in there when it gets
tough. living to please others. It is the Scripture
which brings us promises of encouragement. After
all, isn't the process of Scripture always suffering
followed by glory? Yes, it is. God doesn't promise
us we won't have suffering. Indeed, He assures
us we will. But He says, be encouraged because
following the suffering comes the glory. So you
see, from the Bible we get, by examples and by
promises, both endurance and encouragement. We
see that it's worth making the temporary sacrifices
that we do in order to receive eternal gain.
It's worth it. The scriptures tell us that. So
that's one place that we get spiritual power.
But that's coupled here in the text with prayer.
In verse 5, Paul prays. He says, Now may the
God who gives perseverance and encouragement
grant you like -mindedness. Prayer is the other
source of the qualities of endurance and encouragement
that we need to live a selfless life. As we pray
and come before God, God gives to us supernaturally
the fruit of the Spirit. And the characteristics
of Jesus Christ then flow through our lives,
and those include love and joy and peace and
long -suffering, patience with others, with circumstances.
The Lord gives to us encouragements along the
way. Aren't you glad for the little encouragements
that God drops into your life every now and then?
Maybe it's a note from somebody. Maybe it's a
very clear, specific, and quick answer to prayer.
Whatever. God drops encouragements into our lives
as we abide in fellowship with himself. You say,
it's tough to live to please others. Yes, my
friend, it's tough. But God gives to us his word
and fellowship and union with himself so that
we have the power to do it by the Holy Spirit.
So we can't cop out and say it's too difficult.
It's not too hard for God. You say, what's it
going to accomplish if I live this way? Just
exactly what we've been talking about. If you
and I will learn to accept our brothers who differ
from us and to seek to build them up and to please
them, it will produce unity in the fellowship
of our church. Now it seems to me that we have
in verses 5 and 6 three insights into what kind
of unity this is, the nature of it. He says in
the first place, it's like -mindedness. A united,
harmonious church has mutual like -mindedness.
Now that does not mean that everybody agrees
on every little detail. That will never happen.
Never in this world will that happen. We all
have little idiosyncrasies and differences about
things. We're never going to see everything just
alike. There are Democrats and Republicans here
in this congregation this morning, for example.
I'm sure there are Democrats. I'm sure there
are Republicans, too. What does it mean then
that we're like -minded? I'll tell you what it
means. Here's what it means. It means that those
differences that I perceive, I push down and
away. And I don't concentrate on them. I acknowledge
that they're there, but so what? They're unimportant.
The important things are the things that count
and on those we agree about. And so therefore
we have a like -mindedness. That's what the like
-mindedness is that he describes here. A united,
harmonious church is one that has a mutual like
-mindedness in the membership. Then he says,
furthermore, we're to be of the same mind with
one another according to Christ Jesus. This harmony,
this unity that we are to have reflects the person
of Jesus Christ. That's the second thing I'd
like to say about it. Jesus Christ is not divided.
As God and man, he is perfectly united, never
to be separated or divided in his deity and humanity.
He is perfectly united in one person as God and
man, fully God and fully man. And just as He
is perfect in His unity, we are to reflect Him
in the unity that we have in our church. Just
as He lived in perfect oneness with His Father,
we are to live in a oneness with one another.
The unity that we are to have is to be one that
reflects the person of our Savior. And thirdly,
The third insight that we see about this unity
is that it glorifies God. In verse 6, he says,
That with one accord you may with one voice glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
My friend, God is glorified when there is unity
in a church, and when there is disunity, God
is not glorified in that church. It's that simple.
With one accord and one voice, We are to worship
God and in so doing we glorify Him. We honor
Him. We exalt Him. We extend His reputation in
the community. We help people to understand what
God is like when in love and humility we love
one another and accept one another and build
up one another and please one another. The world
looks at the church like that and it says, my.
Isn't that unusual? Unfortunately, yes it is.
That's what this will accomplish if we dare to
live this way. It seems to me this final thought
about the glory of God is the most important.
It serves really as the motive for preserving
unity. Why should I be concerned as a member
of this church about keeping it united? Well,
my primary motive is that That glorifies God.
And really, verses 7 through 13 in our text,
the glory of God is the content of it. He talks
about that. He says in verse 7 that it's for
the glory of God that Christ welcomed us. The
Lord Jesus Christ does not hold us off from himself.
He doesn't keep us at arm's length. No, he's
embraced us and held us to himself. He has accepted
us fully. Do you understand that, Christian?
Do you understand that you don't have to do one
single thing to make the Lord Jesus Christ accept
you? As one who has trusted him, he has fully
accepted you. You can't do anything to make you
more acceptable to him. He loves you. And just
as he has accepted us so freely by grace and
in love, we are to accept one another the same
way. And there are times when that means overlooking
a fault or ignoring a sin against us, thinking
the best of the other person rather than what
we may have heard. We accept one another just
as our Lord Jesus has accepted us. Then he says
that it is for the glory of God that Christ became
a servant to his fellow Jews. See that in verse
8? I say that Christ has become a servant to
the circumcision. That's the Jews. In behalf
of the truth of God, in order that he might confirm,
the idea is to confirm by fulfilling, the promises
given to the fathers. So for the glory of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, came into the
world and made himself a servant. He did not
express himself as a sovereign, but rather he
came as the servant of the Lord. And he did that
that he might minister to the Jews and fulfill
God's promises to them, but more than that, he
did it for the Gentiles too. Verse 9. He became
a servant to the Jews that by fulfilling God's
promises to them, he might bring glory to God
through the Gentiles by bringing them to God
too. The idea is that he has united Jew and Gentile
now in one body, the church. So that there's
no difference as far as God is concerned anymore
between Jew and Gentile. And then he quotes from
the Old Testament here, from every part of it
as the Jew would look at it, from the former
prophets in 2 Samuel, verse 9, from the law in
verse 10 when he quotes from Deuteronomy. He
quotes from the writings as the Jews divided
the Old Testament in verse 11 when he quotes
from Psalm 117. And in verse 12 he quotes from
the latter prophets. The prophet Isaiah, again,
as the Jews would divide the Old Testament. He
says, throughout all the scriptures in the Old
Testament, God has prophesied that he is going
to bring blessing to not only Jew, but Gentile
too. And he says, now Jesus Christ came as a
servant to do that, to put us together. And so
the thrust is, what he has put together, don't
you tear apart. Because you see, the problem
was, apparently there in Rome, the Jews and the
Gentiles were the one arguing over the diet and
the days that we've talked about before. And
they were in danger of creating a little schism
in the body. And so Paul writes to remind them,
look, the Lord Jesus Christ came as a servant
to put you together. Don't tear it apart. For
the glory of God, maintain that unity in the
body. Though you have some differences. in these
gray issues. You see the point how it applies
to us? I'm sure you do. Verse 13, he says that
the result of Christ's saving, unifying work
is that the God of hope gives us hope. That is,
Jew and Gentile alike now have a glorious future.
A glorious future in the plan of God. Not only
that, but right now we also have joy and peace
and the power of the Holy Spirit. I am burdened,
dear people. I am burdened that we maintain and
preserve with all diligence the unity of Grace
Church Roseville. And that's not just my job
or the job of the elders or the job of the pastor
teachers or the Sunday school teachers or the
pastoral staff. That is the job of every one
of us who's a member of the church. Chances are
that we would be divided over those non -essentials,
over those gray issues that really don't amount
to a hill of beans in the long run. Because that's
what most churches divide over. But let's refuse,
by the grace of God, to do that. But let's obey
the Word of God, accept one another, build up
one another, and please one another. How concerned
are you for your fellow believers' spiritual
welfare? Oh, you say, well, I want all Christians
to grow. Wonderful. But how are you applying
that in some other believer's life? How do you
really measure your concern for another believer's
spiritual welfare? What specific actions or what
changes do you need to carry out this week in
order to be a preserver of our church's unity?
Do you need to go to a brother? and bury the
hatchet? Do you need to stop another person who
is involved in a conversation that's critical
and judgmental and correct him? Do you need to
ask God yourself to correct your own attitudes
in some of these non -essential areas? How are
you going to apply this passage? What other believer
do you need to accept who differs with you over
a gray issue? How are you going to build up that
person who's seated beside you or behind you
instead of turn them down? What do you need to
do to please another, to restrict yourself for
another's good? I recognize, too, that I'm talking
to... not a small number of people who really
don't belong to our local church. May I say to
you that if you don't belong to a local church,
you ought to, to be under its watch care, to
invest your spiritual gifts, your time, your
resources, to be active in its ministry. Well,
you say, I haven't found a perfect church yet.
Congratulations, you've made an important discovery.
There are no perfect churches because there aren't
perfect people in the world, not even Christians.
You never will find a perfect church. So be realistic.
You say, but I don't agree with some things in
the church I'm thinking about joining. Then where
will you find a church where you agree on everything?
You better go out and start it and plan for a
membership of one. Because that's the only place
you're really going to agree. And you'll probably
have a split over that someday. You need to let
God lead you in this matter of being a part of
a fellowship. To find out if you can agree on
the essentials with the body of believers. Perhaps
here at Grace Church, perhaps another church
in our town or in the city where you live. And
then you need to decide to become a functioning
part of that body and to forget about the disagreement
on those silly minor things that are holding
you back now. God's plan for this age is not
complicated. It's the local church. Are you part
of God's plan? Are you part of building what
God is doing in this world? Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, Grant to us, I pray, the ability to personally
examine ourselves to see where we are. Not to
examine anyone else, but just our own hearts.
And may we be able to honestly say that we're
living in conformity to your revealed will for
us as your children, pilgrims in this world.
And Lord, if there are some brothers and sisters
here who need to get attached to a colony of
believers, in this alien atmosphere. I pray that
you'll lay on their hearts your direction and
guide them to make that attachment so that they
can participate in that local church. And Father,
if there be someone here today who's not saved,
who's never trusted the Lord Jesus, who's still
lost in sin, oh, may that one today understand
the finished work of Christ. his death, burial,
and resurrection, and receive the living Christ
into his heart and life today. And we pray this
in Jesus' name. Amen.