feb 9

We continue on with our study when it comes to the relationship between the mature believer and what is called the infant in Christ.

There is a Twitter account called IFB preacher and IFB stands for independent fundamentalist Baptist. The Twitter handle is ran by a Christian who came out of the independent fundamentalist Baptist movement and wishes to expose who they really are.

It is not exactly fair to lump them all in one group because there are great ministries that are ifb ministries, however I think the amount of ministries that are good in that movement are getting smaller and smaller.

The Twitter handle shows unedited sermon clips from these guys so that the world can see how they preach and who they are. As I watched these videos i get increasingly sad because while that style of ministry his fading away, it was at one point the dominant form of ministry.

And it was at one point pretty normal. And the guys today that are still around talk about the old days. They talk about the old time religion. That's what they call it the old time religion. The problem I have with this movement is that it is very coltish.

They have no regard for history whatsoever, as a matter of fact they kind of make up history because it benefits their narrative. One of the preachers said that the reason why it came till the able was because able like all time religion and Kane like the new stuff.

And he equated that to our day now. That is in no way the context Genesis chapter 4 but that doesn't matter when it comes to this specific movement. They have taken so much verses out of context that it should be regarded as blasphemous.

And they did it all too preach moralism rather than Christ. And everybody including the preachers believe they are preaching Christ. They believe they are preaching the gospel. They're saying nothing at all. It's a great tragedy.

And it is stuff that we're all familiar with. They have used scripture where we are told that women are not to wear the clothing of men men are not to wear the clothing women and have taken that to mean jeans.

Women should not wear jeans because they are Mens clothes. That is so superficial and ignorant of history. Because the person who wrote that in their day wore what we call kilts. And a kilt was a very masculine thing in that culture and still is in the Scottish culture.

So if a kilt is defined as masculine, how would some creatures define that today? The point of those verses is that men should not act like women and women should not act like men.

It is not down to the superficiality of it all, what it boils down to is what is going on in the heart and does a female desire to be male or a male desire to be female?

We got so hung up on the outward appearance that we never took the time to penetrate the sin in the heart of man. We never took the time to work on what was inside the sinful human instead just look a certain way. Just act a specific way. And if you look a certain way and act a certain way, eventually you will be changed into a certain way.

Wrong, absolutely wrong. But they are right, that was old time religion as far as religion goes in the 19th and 20th century. And the gospel got the back seat. Real conversion was not taking place, because preachers were not demanding real conversion. Preachers were demanding conformity and confusing it with conversion.

Ultimately, even though it was considered bold preaching , even though it was considered dynamic preaching, it was purely entertainment.

It was meant to entertain you not to edify you. Then we sit here and we see the results of it all. The churches have not grown, we are seeing a steady decline in church growth and have been for years.

We have watched the millennial generation walk away from the church because they witnessed their parents walk away from the church and their parents walked away from the church because they didn't want that old time religion anymore.

Because that old time religion never really changed hearts. So we have so many in American culture that never matured in the faith. And because they never matured in the faith they never had the answers to certain questions such as why do we not follow some of these mosaic laws?

And the short answer everybody gets is because Jesus died for us so we no longer have to. It's close, but it's not correct. so in order to appreciate this text we have to appreciate the historical context of it all.

Not our traditional context but the history of the scripture. Folks, when you read the Bible you have to understand that there were intentions from the original authors and it's meant to be understood the way the original audience would have understood The Scriptures.

So let's begin by re looking at verses 5 and 6 and bring a little bit of the historical context into this.

Romans 14:

Romans 14:5–6 NASB95

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.

As we can see Paul transitions from talking about food into talking about specific days. It is the same point but a different example.

Let's provide a little bit of historical context. What we have is a church made up of gentile believers and Jewish believers. The gentile believers have a background in paganism and the paganism varies. One thing that was fairly common in this gentile Pagan culture is offering their food up to idols.

This is why Paul brought up food. But it's not the only reason why Paul brought up food. In Jewish culture, there were certain celebrations or seasons or days where they did not eat specific foods. On some certain days they would not eat meat they would only eat fish.

Some Catholics still practice this same thing though not as common as they used to. A lot of Catholics were heavier into this in the past and I mean the recent past than they are today. But not only that you had specific celebrations an Holidays that the Jewish people observed.

For example the Passover was a major day that the Jews observed. The day of Pentecost was a day that the Jewish people revered. And we have one church where these 2 cultures collide. So as you can imagine that probably created some difficulty.

This is a basic nutshell of why Paul is saying what he is saying and so he mentions the food but then he transitions into special days. I don't think it's that far from our own conversations as we also have our own special days.

So Paul let's this church know that one person may regard one day above another but another person may regard every day the same. Don't let that bother you. Don't let that divide you. If somebody thinks that this specific day is better or holier than another day don't let that bother you.

Or if somebody doesn't think about that day like you do let it go, there is no reason to divide over this. We get the word holiday from holy day. That is what we are saying when we say holiday we're saying holy day. We are marking off a specific day to be set aside from other days.

And some of us may have latitude i'm not doing anything on that day. You may tell your employer i'm not working on Christmas because that is a holiday. That is an example of you holding one day higher than another. So, it is not that far from our own culture.

Now What is interesting is that the mature believer in this context is the one who eats the meat and doesn't just eat the vegetables and it is the same one who thinks everyday is alike. Why is this the mature believer?

Their attitude was not Christ died for me so that's no longer relevant. As that is typically our attitudes when it comes to the mosaic law . We say that Christ is the one who came and died for sins and therefore there is no reason for the mosaic law.

The mature believers did not have the idea that it was because Jesus died is the reason why they don't have to take part in it anymore. They had the attitude that Jesus fulfilled all of that on their behalf. That Jesus was the Passover fulfillment he is the Passover and they go and rest in him.

That Jesus is the fulfillment of the day of Pentecost so they do not get active in the day of Pentecost anymore because they get active in Christ instead. In Christ they realized that the gentiles are not an unholy untouchable body of people that they must have nothing to do with rather that they have always been a part of God's plan and they are the ones who get to go out and take the gospel message And be apart of god adopting them By being faithful with that message.

Now we cannot sit here and say yeah that's pretty much the same thing, no it's not. Because the 1st century mature believers still revered those things and we're thankful for God that God sent his son to be the absolute fulfillment of those things and they glorified God for being the fulfillment of those things.

It wasn't Jesus died for me so we don't have to have anything to do with that. It is Jesus fulfilled that and we're still a part of that through the son of God. So the mature believer was able to eat whatever they wanted to eat because of their strong faith and they were able to think of every day the same because every day was the Passover for them and every day was the day of Pentecost.

Now often in this section preachers distinguished between Passover, Pentecost and what we called the Lords day which is Sunday worship. And some will say obviously people revered Sunday because they dedicated that day to the worship of God.

But it wasn't the day that marked it special but it was what they were doing that day that marks it special. It was for the sake of worship that they reserved that day not for the sake of the day that they did the worship.

Now it would seem that Paul specifically has the Jewish celebrations in mind because Paul would never encourage the church to take part in paganist anti Christ practices. He is speaking to believers he is not speaking to unbelievers and so this is within the context of a situation that takes place amongst believers.

So given the background of what the Jewish people has come through and now intermingled with former gentile pagans now gentile Christians, Paul makes it clear that there are some people within the church that may esteem one day higher than the other simply because they have not matured in the faith.

Doesn't matter if they are infants in Christ or mature in the faith Paul instructs the church each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. We had this discussion when it came 2 the state's responsibility in executing justice.

Specifically when it came to the death penalty. This is an area where it requires your conscience and for some people it may violate their conscience not to esteem a certain day higher than another day. For others it may violate their conscience that they don't treat every day the same.

The last thing that I ever want to do is lead any of you against your conscience because the scriptures do claim that it's an act of scent to do such a thing so long as your conscience is not in violation to God's laws.

When it comes to the in different things and you have to keep in mind we're talking about the in different things not the essential things. When it comes to the in different things everybody has their own conscience and it's up to you whether you will violate it or not. What you do not have the right to do is lead other people to violate their conscience.

If you were to do that you would be acting in an unholy manner. So if it violates one's conscience to eat a specific food respect it. And it's not far from our own culture folks. If somebody says I can't eat at that restaurant because of the things they stand for then respect it. Don't tell them they are silly or that it's nonsense.

Do not try and leave them from their conscience. If you are not on the same page as they are you can let that be known but also let it be known that you support their direction. Now here's the thing about your conscience , it must be edified it must be learning.

Your conscience must always be under submission to God's word and always being edified. Which means that there are certain things in your own conscience that goes through a process of maturing in and of itself.

As you mature in the faith you may realize or your conscience may change and suddenly you are OK with thinking of one day is not as holy as you thought. But you also might develop new things that weren't there before that suddenly become a violation of your conscience.

Regardless of where it's all coming from the mature ones are to accept those who are less mature the less mature are not to be judging the mature ones because they are strong enough in their faith to be involved with things that they may not want to be involved with because they don't understand.

So after Paul describes that this is a conscience issue in verse 6 he transitions to a very basic thought. The one who doesn't observe a day or who does observe a day and the one who eats or doesn't eat , they're both doing it with the same motive.

And the motive that they have is that they want to honor God. The one who eats does it for God because he gives thanks to God but the one who does not eat he is not eating for the Lord.

Both these people may be a animosity with each other but they are coming from the same motivation . They both want to honor God they just see how that honoring happens in different ways.

And that is the question we need to be asking ourselves, does this honor God. Is that truly my motive for why I'm doing what I'm doing. If it's not then don't do it. And that is the question we need to be asking ourselves with every single thing we do. An I mean every single thing, does this honor God.

Does my attitude honor God, does my actions honor God, does the way I eat on our God, does the way I observe this day on our God. Because if the motive is not to honor God then we have a bigger issue.

In the case that Paul is describing though he is claiming that both have the same motive, both want to honor God they're just doing it from 2 different perspectives.

And because we're talking about the in different things, there is no reason for us to get worked up over 1 another but to encourage each other in their conscience while respecting each other's Liberty.

But now Paul does another transition and he begins to unpack why we are to do things and all things to the honor and glory of God. So let's look at verses 7 and 8.

Romans 14:7–8 NASB95

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

Here is the real fruit of what we should take away from all of this. And it is something that has been emphasized from this pulpit from the moment we began this letter. It's not about you. It's not about you Anne it's not about your best life now . It's not about having all of your desires fulfilled.

It is all about God in him alone. More importantly , our satisfaction should be found in glorifying God in him alone and living for God and him alone. If you say you are in Christ then you are also saying that you live for Christ and you are living for him alone.

Everyone who says they are in Christ are admitting that they live for him we don't live for ourselves. It's not about getting what you want it's about God's will be done and all of us being faithful within that.

Our life is not only about him but so is our death. This is why suicide should be so offensive to us when we hear about people being believers and taking their own lives. And if you know of a believer who is suicidal you need to point them to this text right here . Your death is not about you and it is not up to you.

Your very life and your very death belongs to the Lord and him alone. We cannot live to ourselves and we do not have control of when we die. And Paul, speaking to believers, proclaims whether we live or we die we belong to the Lord.

And we see the lordship of Jesus in life and death. There's freedom in abandoning ourselves and devoting our life to God. And you were gonna have people upset with you about your devotion to God. You wanna be faithful to him in all things which may include packing up and moving across the world. It may include going into a hostile part of the world.

It may mean that you can't do the things you formerly once did because now you have your sights set on something entirely different. And you may have family and loved ones upset with you, friends upset with you out of concern an love possibly, but it doesn't matter because you don't belong to them.

You belong to God and you are obligated to be faithful to the mission that you have been entrusted with. Everyone of us have been entrusted with the mission whether that is raising godly kids and grandkids, witnessing in our very work environment, being active in legislation for Christian cause , whatever your mission maybe you have a mission an obligation to fulfill that mission.

You belong to God your life belongs to him your death belongs to him and in life or in death we glorify him through it all.

Romans 14:9 NASB95

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

This is where the heart of authentic faith lies. There are some people who do not like the order of verse 9. They claim that it should read for to this and Christ lamdan died that he might be lured both of the dead and living.

But the Greek does not actually allow us to make that conclusion. It would be read as Christ died and lived again. Of course people who wanted to change that order or people who deny the resurrection.

But the Greek inverse 9 is actually very reduced compared The English translations we read today. It is quite a simple reading it just simply states 4 Christ died and lived to be Lord of both the dead and the alive.

The Greek language is quite tricky because there are a lot of words we use to connect other words and the Greeks didn't have that. So it was the way you stated one verb that would insinuate the context.

It all depends on the case ending you used for whatever word that gave the context of who may be receiving who may be delivering. So a lot of our English translations try to add in those extra words for better understanding otherwise we would have a real difficult English Bible to read.

So you have the translation that I read from comma the King James version adds a little bit more and so does the new King James version. But honestly it is the new living translation that I think comes closest to the Greek language on this verse.

It states Christ died and rose again for this very purpose to be Lord both of the living and of the dead. You see the translators in my translation and in most of the English translations decided to keep up with a tradition that states that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.

But that word might does not exist in the Greek manuscript on this verse. Because when it comes to the lordship of Jesus there is no might about it. Jesus is Lord over all. That's the end of the discussion when it comes to the lordship of Jesus.

He is Lord overall and those who are constantly rebelling against him do not know that they aren't even violation to the king of Kings. I have a big problem with Christians who deny the lordship of Jesus. People who proclaim that you make Jesus Lord of your life when you are ready.

Folks, Jesus is the Lord over everyone's life whether they're ready or not. We are not the sovereign ones , we do not get to say when Jesus is Lord. He is the sovereign. And How dare us sing the words Lord of all and How dare is proclaimed the king of Kings when we actually don't even believe it.

To call him the king of Kings means that he's the King above every King. To say that he is the Lord of Lords that mean he is Lord over every ruler. Saved or unsaved, Jesus is Lord over there life. Which is why there will be a day where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

And on that day of judgment, where every son of perdition bows their knee and confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord in that very moment they will recognize that they are in fact rebels against the Lord of all creation , against his throne and against his Kingdom. A Kingdom they will never enter.

It is right here where authentic faith lies, do you know that Jesus is Lord of all, do you know that he is the Lord of your life and of your death, do you know that we live to serve him in him alone and it is for his honor and glory we do all the things that we do?

I'm not interested in your outside appearance. I don't want you to conform to me, I want us all to conform to the image of Jesus internally 1st and we will see the fruit of it all on the exterior of it all. And the result of the faith that is in our heart we will conform to the image of the sun And I want us to do that together.

If I open up the pages of scripture I read to you the word and all I could do is tell you don't dress a certain way, we need to get back to that old time religion, I'm gonna preach it for what it says, and according to me it says you shall not dress this way you shall not act this way you shall not and it becomes a rigid system of law with no gospel and no grace and worst of all no Jesus.

Jesus is talked about in passing, they're more concerned with you conforming to their image rather than you conforming to the image of the sun. And I can do all of that but I would fail you and I would fail at the mission that God has entrusted me with.

One of those preachers I heard criticize what we call the doctrine of Christian Liberty and says his Bible don't say such a thing. I'm guessing he is never read ephesians 5 one. No we play biblical hopscotch is what we do we just jump over the verses we don't like land on the verses that we want to proclaim and think we're being true to the word.

What an absolute failure I would be as an under Shepherd. the heart of authentic faith is the abandonment of yourself and your opinions and going to the throne of grace and saying my Lord I need you for all things you and you alone are my source of everything. You are my sovereign And I am your servant. That is biblical humility and it is so good. Let's pray