The Conscience and Christian Liberty

Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 19 views
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Introduction

According to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Conscience is the, “Human capacity to reflect upon the degree to which one’s behavior has conformed to moral norms. For the believer these norms should be those established by God.”
According to the Lexham Theological Workbook, “Conscience is not a clear-cut indicator of morality—whether something actually is right or wrong—but an indicator of one’s personal conviction about whether behavior is right or wrong.”
So what we need is to understand this part of us that is so integral in our walk with God, yet so difficult to fully understand.
This study has really changed how I view many things and promises to shape how I think about things I encounter in the future.
This study has also served to convict me in many ways throughout and understand what it is that God requires.
For background to this study, I read the book Conscience: What it is, How to Train It, and Loving Those who Differ by Andrew David Naselli and J.D. Crowley.
​
There was a very helpful chapter which walked the reader through . So, this is where I chose to focus my study. Let’s jump in shall we?

(The Weak and the Strong Sin by Judging)

​

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 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. 4 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.

This section begins our study with a warning on judging those with consciences differing from your own.
Some observations can be made on these four verses.
First, there is a difference between what God commands in His Word and our opinions and preferences.
Second, Paul distinguishes two groups by using the example of the choice to eat meat or not.
Some took the position that they were morally responsible to engage in a vegetarian lifestyle. These are the individuals that Paul designates as the weak brother.
Some understood that they were able to eat and enjoy anything. These are the strong brothers.
Third, both the weak and the strong are warned not to judge the others. Both parties would be tempted in different ways to judge the others.
In verse four, Paul makes his argument for why it is wrong for either party to judge the other’s conscience.
Paul states that we are not in a position to pass judgement on a brother because they are not ours to judge. They are God’s servants and they belong to Him.
​
As an example, think of another parent correcting your child. On top of that think of that other parent contradicting your own judgement of your child’s behavior.
An important principle to remember is that all Christians are the Lord’s because He purchased them.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

​
​

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Cf.
​
Furthermore, as it is the Lord who judges, the Lord assures that both the strong and the weak brother will be upheld. Neither is favored by God.
This upholding under the Lord’s judgement is solely based on the grace of God.

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

​
​
Cf.
When reading this whole section should be kept in mind.
For a moment we need to focus in on the groups of weak and strong.
According to Andrew Naselli and J.D. Crowley, “The designations weak conscience and strong conscience apply not to groups of persons across the board but to how each individual approaches specific issues.”
“The designations weak conscience and strong conscience apply not to groups of persons across the board but to how each individual approaches specific issues.”
Furthermore, “in most issues, you are probably both weak and strong at the same time in comparison to other people. Think of a spectrum: there is almost always someone to your left and right on any given disputable issue.”
Lastly, it is worth noting that neither a weak nor a strong conscience makes one more pleasing to God.
As Naselli and Crowley point out, “We believe that the more you understand what faith in Christ means, the more you will be set free from unnecessary regulations in your life. But we must stress again that those with a strong conscience do not necessarily please God anymore than those with a weak conscience. Both can glorify God, and both can sin against God.”
​

(Service to God is the Motivation of both We and Strong)

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. 6 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.

​
The reason that neither weak nor strong consciences are more pleasing to God is that both are acting out of the motivation of serving and bringing glory to God.
The key here is in verse six. Both parties are giving thanks to God.
This is even more important when is taken into account.
​

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

Cf.
Nothing is to be rejected or seen as unclean if it can be honestly and biblically engaged in and result in giving thanks to God.
Nothing is to be rejected or seen as unclean if it can be honestly and biblically engaged in and result in giving thanks to God.
Discernment must be used here. Another consideration to take into account is will this permissible thing bring the most glory to God.
As GotQuestions.org so poignantly points out, we are to seek not only what is permissible but what is praiseworthy!

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

​
Cf.
Conscience cannot be separated from biblical discernment, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, and a proper understanding of Christian liberty.
This passage highlights the motivation behind the action as the most important consideration when looking at the gray areas of conscience.
If our motivation is against God, even if the action or thing is not inherently sinful, we sin against God. The motivation behind it makes it sinful.
Verse five also begins the principle that we should not sin against our conscience. We need to be fully convinced and sure of our position.
Naselli and Crowley say, “You must be fully convinced of your present position on food or drink or special days - or whatever the issue - and then live consistently by that decision until God may lead you by His Word and Spirit to adjust your conscience.”
However, conscience needs to be trained as it, like all parts of our humanity, was tainted by sin.
Naselli and Crowley explain Paul, saying, “This issue, which Paul is addressing here, illustrates the principle that on disputable matters, you should obey your conscience. This does not mean that your conscience is always right. It is wise to calibrate your conscience to better fit God’s will.”
Furthermore, “As you come to understand God’s will more and more, you must do the hard work of continually adding rules to your conscience that God’s Word says should be there and continually weeding out rules from your conscience that should not be there. This will take your entire life, but you have the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to help you. God is the only Lord of your conscience.”
The proper motivation in all of this is the glory of God and greater Christlikeness.

(Both the Weak and the Strong Belong to and Serve the Lord)

​
​

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 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. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

10 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; 11 for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Christ died and rose from the grave so that we would be able to submit to His will and be conformed to Christlikeness.
We must remember that we are not our own, we were bought for a price. We are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

​
Cf.
​

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Cf.
When interpreting our conscience and understanding others’, we need to understand that the main purpose of conscience is to bring glory to the Lord.
Conscience is not about us, it is about God.
If we are correctly viewing gray area that Scripture does not directly address, we should be viewing them through the lens of Christ’s Lordship and our bringing glory to His Name.
Moving once again to the issue of judgement, Paul is arguing that since God is our master and we are all His servants, we do not have room to judge one another.
In judging by any other standard besides the Word of God we attempt to take the place of God.
The language here of standing before the judgement seat of God echos the language in verse four. We are upheld at the judgement seat of God by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord is able to make us stand.
Furthermore, as God alone is our judge, until we should be convicted of sin by God we should have a clear conscience.
One day all sins will come to light, but they will have all been paid for by the blood of Christ.
​

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Cf.
While we live our life before God and are accountable to Him, we do not live in isolation.
​
F.F. Bruce in his commentary on Romans narrows in on the phrase “none of us lives to himself.”
He explains, “What Paul means, as verse 8 shows, is that each Christian lives out his life in Christ’s sight, and as Christ’s servant; but a corollary of this is that each Christian’s life affects his fellow-Christians and his fellow-men and women in general; therefore he should consider his responsibility to them, and not consult his own interests only.”

(Rather than Judge, Love and Build Up)

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. 14 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. 15 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.

​
Paul suggests an alternative to judging one another. When stopping one behavior or manner of thought, we must replace it with a new one. Paul tells us to focus the energy we were spending on judging one another to strive to never lead a brother into sin.
The Greek word for stumbling block is proskomma.
It carries the sense here of any cause that results in a person’s sinning, whether by preventing righteous action or promoting sinful behavior.
Verse fourteen clearly gives us the context of conscience and solidifies the principle of sinning against one’s conscience.
Sinning against one’s conscience hearkens back to the idea of motivation. A sinful motivation makes something inherently acceptable, sinful.
Thus, if you believe that something is sinful, even though it is inherently not, and you do it anyway, you commit sin.
The reason for this is that you were willing to sin against God. You desired to sin against God. You wanted that thing more than God.
It all lies in the motivations of the heart.
It is for this reason that Paul is so careful to instruct the stronger brother not to lead the weaker brother into violating their conscience.
The stronger brother is commanded to make concessions out of love for the weaker brother because the stronger brother is the only one with a choice.
If the weaker brother were to bow to the desires of the stronger, he would sin against his conscience. If the stronger brother bows to the desire of the weaker brother, he follows the example of our Lord Jesus who sacrificed His desires out of love for others.
If the stronger brother does grieve the conscience of the weaker brother, he is not acting in love.
This hearkens back to . Love fulfills the whole law because love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

​
Cf.
In this case, the neighbor is the brother of weak conscience.
So, a great responsibility is put on the stronger brother to love and protect the weaker.
It is important to remember, however, that there will always be brothers weaker and stronger than us in any given area.
It is also important to remember that every Christian is weak in some areas and strong in others. None of us are strong in every area!

(The Purpose and Responsibility of Conscience)

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

​
Our responsibility when interacting with the consciences of other is to serve Christ, love others, and pursue peace and unity to the glory of God.
F.F. Bruce shows how this played out in the Roman church, “P. S. Minear has distinguished five different attitudes in these respects among the Roman Christians. Variety of this kind can very easily promote a spirit of division. Paul wishes to safeguard the Roman Christians against this, encouraging them to treat the variety rather as an occasion for charity, forbearance and understanding. It is good to be strong in faith and emancipated in conscience, but Christians are not isolated individuals, but members of a fellowship; it is therefore the responsibility of all, and especially of those who are stronger and more mature, to care for the well-being of the fellowship.”
It can be seen that Christian liberty, rather than being an opportunity to claim our rights and indulge our desires, is an opportunity to lay down our rights out of love for others to the glory of God.
The purpose of our conscience to bring glory to God. Both in individual morality and kingdom interaction.
Rather than forcing our own way in Christian liberty, the mature “stronger” brother will give up his rights to keep righteousness, peace, and joy in fellowship.
It is a beautiful takeaway that Paul gives us here. If we get engaged in minor disputes about third level issues such as what to eat or drink we have completely missed the point.
The kingdom of God is about righteousness and peace and joy. The Holy Spirit produces these in us.
Go back to our example in Rome and see how it applies today.
Bruce says, “If Gentile Christians who lived alongside Jewish Christians charitably refrained from food which the latter would find obnoxious, fellowship between the two groups would be promoted.”
In the same way, think about how fellowship would change today and love promoted if we understood what God was really after and how He wants to use your conscience.
Your conscience is not about you, it’s not about your brother, it is about God. It is a tool for God to use to glorify Himself.
​

(Clarification on the Interaction of Believers’ Consciences)

​

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. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

All of conscience and Christian liberty must be tempered by the chief considerations of will it fulfill my mission of bringing glory to God and will this hinder or build up my brother in Christ.
Our conscience dictates our Christian liberty, but so do the consciences of others.
Scripture is very other centered in its addressing conscience. It spends much more time on how to relate to other people’s consciences rather than interpreting our own.
There are two major pitfalls of conscience.
Sinning against your conscience.
Causing another brother to stumble.
I find it helpful and convicting that you can replace “food” here with any lesser glory than God Himself or the love we should have toward our neighbors.
What things in your life might be causing a brother to stumble?
We need to be aware and constantly looking out for ways we can honor our brothers and sisters better.
Let’s look closer at the phrase “the work of God.”
F.F. Bruce defines the work of God as, “His inward work of grace is causing the believer’s spiritual life to develop. This work, carried out in the individual members, will have a beneficial effect on the growth of the whole community.”
I believe that this can be equated with sanctification.
Thus, when we cause a brother to stumble, we are interfering in their sanctification. We can then understand why this is such a grave sin in the sight of God.
Paul elaborates more on sinning against one’s conscience in the following verses.

(Sinning Against One’s Conscience)

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. 23 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.

​
Paul tells us here not to try to convince the weaker brother of our convictions.
A general principle is this, if it is not a direct command of Scripture, it is either an interpretation or preference, both of which are fallible.
Therefore, there is no need to convince a weaker brother to agree. There is nothing to be gained from it and a great deal of harm that can come from it.
The only way we would know to pass judgement on ourselves is through Scripture.
Therefore, if what we approve does not violate a command or principle of Scripture, we have no reason to pass judgement on ourselves and we live in peace.
Notice that I specifically say command or principle.
There are specific commands such as love your neighbor as yourself and do not cause your brother to stumble.
There are also principles that are derived which we live our lives by, but are not specific and must be applied on an individual basis with the guidance of the Holy Spirit working through conscience. An example being do all things to the glory of God.
If you feel convicted that something is wrong and do it anyway, you have sinned.
The problem with eating when you believe your conscience is telling you something is sin is just that. Even if what you are doing is not sin, the fact that you believe it to be sin makes it so.
You were willing, able, and desiring to sin against God and so you did by eating against your conscience.
Naselli and Crowley put it this way, “In Christianity, why you do things is more important than what you do.”
This is a difficult teaching because we also have to train our conscience to react correctly.
When training your conscience, you are not sinning so long as you are training it in the correct way.
This is not to say that you should distrust your conscience! We need to have faith that our conscience is giving us correct signals! But, we also must use discernment.
All of this comes from the Holy Spirit as you are being sanctified.
Discernment, prayer, and godly counselors will tell you if your conscience needs to be calibrated in a certain area.
But, overall we must accept what our conscience is telling us as accurate. It is a dangerous thing to live in constant doubt of your conscience.
F.F. Bruce in his commentary on Romans narrows in on the meanings of a couple of key phrases.
First, the faith that you have.
“‘Faith’ in this sense is a firm and intelligent conviction before God that one is doing what is right, the antithesis of feeling self-condemned in what one permits oneself to do.”
Second, he who has doubts is condemned if he eats.
“ If he does something about which his conscience is uneasy, he is condemned at heart and incurs a sense of guilt, ‘because his action does not arise from his conviction’ (neb). But one who does something knowing it to be not only permissible but positively right does it from faith.”
Lest we think that the conscience’s primary job is to end all the fun we might think our Christian liberty has to offer us, Naselli and Crowley call it a gift.
Third, whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
“Just as God’s gift of touch and pain guards us from what would rob us of physical health, conscience continually guards us from the sin that robs our joy.”
​
“Just as God’s gift of touch and pain guards us from what would rob us of physical health, conscience continually guards us from the sin that robs our joy.”

(The Strong Must Lovingly Sacrifice for the Weak)

​

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

There is a natural tendency for the strong brother to claim his rights.
F.F. Bruce says, “It is so easy for those who are quite clear in conscience about a course of action to snap their fingers at critics and say, ‘I’ll please myself.’ Their right to do so is unquestioned, but that is not the way of Christ. His way is to consider others first, to consult their interests and help them in every possible way.”
It is for this reason, among others, that Paul has to specifically warn and instruct the stronger brother.
The goal here is to build up the weaker brother in love by sacrificing some of our liberty for their spiritual good.
It is important to remember that we are all the weaker brother in some area of life.
This comes back to the very definition of love.
Agape means self-sacrificing love. We are to always put our own desires at the very last place in life.
However, as we grow in Christ our desires match up more and more with God’s desires.
​

(The Example of Christ)

​

For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 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. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,

When we are obeying the commands Paul gives throughout this passage, we are following the example Christ left for us.
Christ did not seek His own good or His own desires, but rather endured every form of suffering and hardship leading up to and including death for our sins on a cross.
He suffered insults and slanders. In comparison of degrees, we are called by Paul to suffer far less in giving up our rights for a weaker brother.

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

​
Cf.
The point of all this instruction is that the body of Christ lives together in harmony with one another.
This harmony is granted by God to us. It is produced in us, like all righteousness, by the Holy Spirit.
We are called to live our lives in increasing Christlikeness.
Our living together should be in accord with Christ Jesus. Our lives and interactions should mirror His.
Lastly, Paul prays that God would give the church in Rome endurance and encouragement.
Paul prays that God would
This sacrificing rights for one another is not easy and does not always feel good.
Thus, to do this we need God’s enabling grace. Thank the Lord that every command is also an enablement.
It is by the grace of God alone that we can obey our conscience and sacrifice our rights out of love for others.

(The Mission of Conscience and Christian Liberty is to Bring Glory to God)

that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

​
Finally, the mission of conscience and Christian liberty is to bring glory to God.
Naselli and Crowley provide this beautiful capstone to our discussion today.
“The choice is not between pleasing others and pleasing yourself. Christian freedom is not ‘I always do what I want.’ Nor is it ‘I always do whatever the other person wants.’ It is ‘I do what brings glory to God. I do what brings others under the influence of the gospel. I do what leads to peace in the church.’”
​
There are many ways in which God is glorified through our conscience and Christian liberty.
We glorify God by enjoying our liberty and giving thanks to Him for His good gifts.
We glorify God by having the correct motivations and acting on them.
We glorify God by living in harmony as a community of believers as we sacrifice our own desires and lay down our lives out of love for God and one another.
Our conscience is just one of many tools that the Lord has to bring glory to His Name.
Paul ends this section the way he began in 14:1.
Paul commands us to welcome one another, especially those we disagree with.
This truly glorifies God because the unsaved do not typically overcome disagreements or sacrifice out of love.
When we do these things, we show ourselves to be different and demonstrate the work of God to the world.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude by leaving you with a couple of takeaways.
First, conscience is all about the glory of God and mission. In any moment conscience is about asking whether or not we are glorifying God and furthering His kingdom as much as we can be.
Second, sin is black and white. If the Bible does not call something inherently sinful, it is a matter for conscience to discern. We must understand that different people will come out with different convictions and accommodate rather than convince.
Third, Naselli and Crowley provide some useful questions to ask regarding whether or not to engage in a specific activity.
Am I fully persuaded that this is right? (, , )
Can I do it as unto the Lord? ()
Can I do it without being a stumbling block to my brother or sister in Christ? (, , )
Does it bring peace? ()
Does it edify my brother? ()
Is it profitable? ()
Does it enslave me? ()
Does it bring glory to God? ()
Let’s close in prayer.
​
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more
Copyright 2024 Logos Bible SoftwareFeatures|Pricing|Privacy|Terms of Use|Support