Last week we looked at the importance of those that are stronger in our local churches not allowing preferences to come between us as a family. Once again, this is not an issue of doctrine but of personal preferences, even to things like smoking, alcohol consumption, and other things like eating meat and the like. Personal freedoms are not a sign of maturity; it is the way that we use or mis-use these freedoms that make the difference.

Verse 1-6: We are to lead the way if we are strong. Each of us is to take responsibility for a neighbor. We are to be actively edifying each other, building each other up. Too many spend their spiritual lives looking down their noses at others and simply tearing them down. The only way that they can feel good about themselves is to tear someone else down, and we get this idea that if you don’t serve God like me, then you are not saved, or at least you may be saved, but you are not a mature one. This is crazy. Jesus, we are told in Psalm 69:9, bore our sins, bore our shame, and bore the wrath that we deserved. All that we do, we should do to glorify God, and if we do so faithfully, we will also build each other up.

Paul then springboards to let these Jewish believers know that the Gospel is for everyone, Gentiles included. The Jews in Rome needed to know that the Gospel was not just for them but for the Gentiles as well.

Verses 9-13, Paul lays out that the Gentiles are going to serve God as well, and he did it using Old Testament verses so that there were no disputes. Yes, the Old Testament told of the Gentiles and that the Messiah would reign over them as well and that they would worship Him.

I work in the car business, and I learned a while ago that Volvo invented the 3-point seat belt and that this was such an important discovery that they gave it to the other manufacturers for free. We should have the same mindset about the Gospel; it is so important that all need to get it for free. I am sure that these few Christian Jews in the Middle East could probably not envision a day when the new churches that they were seeing birthed would be populated almost entirely by Gentiles. But here we are 2,000 years later, and now the Gentiles are sending missionaries back to the Jews.

Verses 14-21: Paul was a pioneer of missions. He went to Rome, hoped to go to Spain, and we know that he was very active in Macedonia and other Greek cities. Paul set the idea of traveling in groups; he often had a large entourage with him. He worked secular jobs when needed, sacrificed his own needs, and built church after church all across Europe. Paul made time to write reports, to return and report to the church in Jerusalem, and made home wherever God placed him; he could fit in anywhere. He was always looking for a way to share the Gospel.

Is your church active in mission work? Are you financially supporting missionaries? Do they visit your church and share what God is doing worldwide? We could learn a lot here. Are we always on the lookout to share the Gospel; do we have a Gospel radar working all the time? Never forget that it is a privilege to be able to share the Gospel.

Verse 25-29: Don’t forget where the Gospel came from. Salvation is of the Jews. Jesus is a Jew, the apostles were all Jews, the Patriarchs are Jews, and Jesus is coming back to rule from Jerusalem. On and on we can go, but the truth is the same. Our salvation, the one that we Gentiles cling to, is a Jewish one, with a Jewish Messiah and a Jewish Savior, and we are never to forget where it all came from. Pray for Israel, pray for her peace, and that the blind Jews will have their eyes opened before it is too late and that they will see Jesus the Messiah; that they would repent, see Him as the One, and trust in His death, burial, and resurrection.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

Paul takes us into the goings on of a local NT church. Just like your body, the local church is made up of many moving parts. Some are strong parts like your thigh muscles, and others are weaker like the eye or the pinky toe, and yet, all are needed, and all serve a purpose. We need all of them to operate.

A local church will be made up of the seasoned older folks who have been through life with Jesus. They have weathered some storms with Him. You will hopefully have the new people; those who are recently saved and still finding their spiritual legs, so to speak, and then all of the in-betweens. A church needs aged, grey-haired people as much as they need the newborn toddlers that make lots of noise during church; all are important.

Verse 1-2: No need for arguments, but man – God’s people argue. We can get into a split over what brand of toilet paper to have in the washrooms. All too often, there are dogmatic people, often about preferences, who use them as doctrinal measures of salvation. I will give you one that is close to many Baptists: the KJV. I grew up using the KJV; I have nothing against the KJV, but there are those who make the KJV out to be the language that Jesus and the apostles spoke, and if you use anything other than the KJV, then you are a heretic. They will not invite you to preach in their pulpits and tend to look down on us as inferior Christians.

We can insert all kinds of things into the hole: Halloween, Christian rock music, movies of any kind, should women wear pants, and on and on we can go. No Bible verses, just preferences and judgment. Thereby are most of the disputes in our churches. Now recently, the SBC churches had a vote about female preachers, and that has caused a split; this is a doctrinal issue, not a preference.

Verse 3-4: You are not your brother and sister’s master; they will answer to God, and so will you. We all too often misuse the “judge not,” but the context is that we are to judge ourselves harshly first, and then we will be able to truly help our spiritual siblings. But that seems to rarely happen. We come to the conclusion that someone is not serving Jesus the way I do; they are not saved, or for sure that they are not serving Jesus the right way.

Verse 5-6: Matters of conscience are just that and nothing else. There are many saved people who smoke, many who enjoy a private glass of wine or a beer, and yet they are saved and can be used of God. The seminary I attended had a thing against beards; no one, not even the professors, could wear a beard. Yet, Bible characters we studied were bearded and served the Lord faithfully. Jesus was bearded, and He is the standard of being righteous. Let people live freely in Jesus. If there are no verses calling a thing sinful, let them answer to God; you may be surprised.

Verse 7-8: None of us are an island. We need each other, and we are connected in Christ to each other. We can either help and serve each other, or we hinder and harm each other, but there truly is no neutral ground.

Verses 12-14: Stop judging your brothers and sisters for things that are not sinful, and stop being a stumbling block in your local church. Learn to accommodate the weirdness of others, and they learn to accommodate yours. If you know someone hates loud Christian rock, don’t play it in your car when they are there. If a brother or sister has issues with alcohol or smoking and is trying to quit, don’t tempt them. As the stronger sibling, abstain for their benefit.

Yes, we are called to love sacrificially at all times and to take responsibility for another. Your siblings in the Lord are precious; Jesus died for them. Yes, even with the weird hair, the ladies in pants, and the guy that only has stained jeans as his best Sunday clothes; Jesus died for them too.

Verse 16-18: Love like Jesus (Micah 6:8); this is the whole duty of man. The last one is to walk humbly with God; if we did this, all the other parts would fall into place, and we would elevate our sibling in the Lord. The Devil already has us in his sights to hurt and bring down; we do not need to help him by piling on our siblings as well. We just make Satan’s job easier as he seeks to steal the weaker, newer converts. God help us to love each other more and to be humble towards each other.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario