People Are the priority
Notes
Transcript
In Romans 14 what we are seeing is that in truth, in the Gospel, people are the priority.
At Journey we have 6 key items that make up our Culture. They are
People are the Priority
Faith
Authenticity
Truth in Love
Intentionality
Holy Discontent
We are not doing a series on these although we should at some point soon. But here in Romans 14 see that people, in truth and in the Gospel are the priority.
To love our neighbor is to consider them when making decisions that affect us both.
I am going to give us a few verses that will frame the entire conversation today. I would highly encourage you to read all of Romans 14 this week. Take some time to sit with it and se how God would speak to you through His Word. We can only talk about so much on a Sunday morning but as you engage with God through His Word and in prayer so much more can come.
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.
For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself.
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.
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.
In verse 15 you can replace the word food with almost anything.
Again people are the priority. In the church we should be a beacon of hope shouting from the rafters that people are the priority.
The problem is that so often our differences are what we are known for.
Unity in Truth
Unity in Truth
Jesus prayed that we may have unity. If Jesus wants us to have unity then maybe that is worth pursing.
“I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.
May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.
We must have unity in truth, never unity over truth, but unity in truth.
We can have unity in truth and still be diverse.
Our goal should be to major on the major items and minor on the minor items. I am going to give us all the benefit of the doubt and assume positive intent and say this is what we desire but how do we define the major items? How do we succinctly and properly put up the guardrails on what is proper and orthodox Christianity. Thankfully we are not alone in this endeavor.
For the first few hundred years of her existence the church wrestled with what is the orthodox faith.
I have said it before but we are what some call a non-denominational church. I prefer the term, inter-denominational. “Non” can carry a tone of what we are against while “inter” says what we are for.
We have people from baptist backgrounds, church of God or Church or Christ backgrounds. methodists, Wesleyan's, charismatic, and even Catholics. We have people with no faith background, and all of that is good. All of that helps create what we have. All of it makes Journey what it is. This is good. But there are some foundational items.
There is one God.
Jesus is God and His Son.
Jesus was born of the virgin.
He died and rose again for our sins.
Jesus is King and the only way for salvation.
The Holy Spirit is God and comes to us from the Father and the Son.
There will be a resurrection.
That in a nut shell is the orthodox faith. These are our guardrails. If you like bowling these are the bumpers on a bowling lane. They help make sure we keep the ball in the lane.
We have to make sure we remember too that the basis for all of this is Scripture. What we have in God’s Word that He revealed to us.
So if someone comes to you and says “I’m a Christian, but I don’t believe Jesus is the only unique begotten son of God.” Then they are not holding on to the classic, passed down, orthodox faith.
Most other things are up for debate. There are some clear cut things that are sin in the Bible and if a church is ok with those or promote those then we can have a discussion about that. But a lot of things are peripheral issues or things not having to do with soteriology or salvation.
What we can have diversity on.
What we can have diversity on.
We do not generally struggle with some of the same things they were struggling with in chapter 14, but we do have our struggles and differing opinions. So what we can do is take the biblical principal and then apply it to other items.
ADD PEOPLE PRiORITY GRAPHIC
Wisdom is knowing what to do when there is no precedent and knowing how to apply that knowledge to different situations.
Hell
Spiritual gifts
Political parties
Female pastors
Hell
Hell
You may or may not know there are different views on hell.
The classic view is that people who reject Christ and die in their sins go to hell to suffer for eternity.
But there are at least two other views.
Possible salvation - 1 Tim 2:4
who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Some people believe because God wants all people to be saved then He will save everyone. Hell at most is for the devil and his angels and He will save people.
Conditionalism or annihilationism is the view that yes some people go to hell but it is only for a time.
Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
These people believe that people will go to hell, but because only Christ offers eternal life the opposite is simply death and that means the first and second death.
We have to remember that there are good God fearing Christians on both sides of this argument.
Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual Gifts
There are those who believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit have ceased with the closing of the Canon. They are called cessationist.
They believe that when 1 Corinthians 13:10 says that when the perfect comes the partial will pass away it means that we do not have need for supernatural gifts anymore. They see no need for spiritual miraculous gifts.
Some do not believe in spiritual gifts because they have not operated in them or because they have seen them abused.
Others embrace the gifts of the Spirit and say they are available to all people who follow Christ.
The point is not whether the gifts of the Spirit are still active. I of course believe they are. It is something I teach and participate in.
The point is not whether you believe or don’t believe. Not whether you operate or do not operate in spiritual gifts.
What matters is faith working through love.
We should never look down on someone who holds a different position than us on this and we should never break fellowship over it.
Politics
Politics
Politics and this one is fun. It is fun because nothing ruffles feathers faster than talking about politics.
It has been said you should not talk about religion or politics in polite society. Well how about we do both right now.
No one but Jesus gets my total allegiance. I serve King Jesus and only King Jesus. No one else gets that kind of loyalty from me.
As Christians we are inherently political because serve a different King and a different Kingdom.
The claim that Christ is Lord is a rejection of everyone else’s lordship.
We are only sojourners here. We are traveling through to our eternal home. Now there is work to do here. There are people to take care of, but our loyalty is to heaven.
Our insistence to not talk about politics in a civil and polite way has created a world where we make people the enemy.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
People are not the enemy. Engage in discussion and dialogue with your neighbors. Try to explain your views and why the candidate you support is right but never forget the person. Never forget that people are the priority. Never forget that Jesus will ask you for an account of how you treated the person an not just who you voted for.
Female pastors
Female pastors
We only have so much time so I want to make sure we touch on this one.
So much division has occured in the church over whether or not we should ordain women.
The question about female pastors generally has to do with three things.
Are the prohibitions in 1 Tim 2 and 1 Cor 14 universal or contextual?
What is the proper translation and understanding of the word authenteō that is used in 1 Tim 2:12
What is the proper translation and understanding of adelphos that is used in 1 Cor 14 and other places?
Some argue the prohibitions are universal but my research indicates it is contextual. In 1 Tim women were trying to exercise the same authority they had in their pagan system and were teaching when they did not have a full understanding. In 1 Cor women were disrupting the service to ask questions. They were making it hard for the Gospel to advance because of their wants and desires.
Verse 35 of 1 Cor 14 tells us as much. Also 1 Cor 11 talks about women prophesying in church. Prophecy in the NT can be foretelling (future) and forth telling (explaining scripture) that’s preaching. The word authenteō in 1 Tim 2 means to take without permission and other similar things. It has to do with taking authority not given to you.
The word adelphos can mean an actual brother and it can mean believer. This is important because Paul often talks about how believers should teach and interact with others.
We could also look at Phoebe who delivered the letter to the Romans or Junia who her and her husband were called noteworthy among the Apostles.
From both the New Testament or the Old in their context or language do I see a wholesale prohibition against female pastors on staff at a church.
The End of the Matter
The End of the Matter
At the end of it none of these are Biblical reasons to break fellowship or condemn a fellow believer or church which is what Romans 14 is about. We might go to different churches. We might disagree but they are not foundational issues.
Yes there are times when we need to break fellowship. There are some churches that promote things that are not biblical but generally we can work together for the good of the kingdom.
If we stand around and get on social media and argue all day long we lose the ability to reach people for Jesus.
We should be a people known for love for each other and our desire to see people come to Christ for salvation and healing.
People are the priority.
ADD PEOPLE PRiORITY GRAPHIC
Illustration:
Have three groups of people on stage:
Church 1 w/ their preferences
Church 2 w/ their preferences
Group of people who don’t know Jesus
We have so much work to do I don’t have time to sit around and tell everybody how wrong they are.
We should be talking about Jesus.
The man on the middle cross story by Alistair Begg