Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

As I was getting this sermon ready for today, I kept thinking about the old Cub Scout competition of the Pinewood Derby—are you familiar?

(The other incarnation of it that a lot of kids today know about is the AWANA Grand Prix.) Whatever version of it you’re talking about, the concept and execution is pretty much the same.

A long gravity-powered track with grooves cut into it where you place a car that you’ve carved out of a 7” x 1-3/4” x 1-1/4” inch block of white pine and carefully added weight to until it comes out to exactly 5.0 ounces.

Now, if you’ve been to one of these races, or if you’ve been a competitor, you know how these races play out—there are some cars there that look like they were made by The Master Craftsman Elf in Santa’s Toyshop—sleek, shiny, exquisite detail, and they flash down that gravity track straight and true as if they were an arrow shot from a bow.

Then there are other cars (specifically, my car when I was a kid) that I carved out with an old rusty hacksaw and then painted with leftover watercolors that would wobble its way down the track about a half-second slower than the rest of the heat.

I mean, I always did my best, I worked hard to make my car as speedy and good-looking as possible, but I always wound up feeling inadequate—like I should have done better.

I should have worked harder, I should have spent more time making sure the axles were straight and the wheels spun freely...

And then there was the other reaction that I would have—I would look over there at those flashy, speedy cars that won handily and take cynical notice of the fact that the kids who raced them were never allowed by their dads to touch them!

“Well, naturally those kids win—their dad is a machinist, for crying out loud!!!” So there was a fair amount of temptation towards judgmentalism when it came to comparing my racer with theirs.

Now, can you see how this kind of thing translates over to thinking about the conscience?

We talked last week about the attitude of the stronger conscience toward the weaker conscience, and today we want to consider the attitude of the weaker conscience toward the stronger.

And those two reactions—inadequacy and judgmentalism—are the peculiar dangers that a believer with a weaker conscience has to guard against in our relationships with our fellow believers who differ with us in third-order issues.

And that’s why we want to turn to Paul’s words here in Romans 14 again—because he is addressing believers who have a weaker conscience as well as those with a stronger conscience.

(Again remembering that issues of conscience are not an “On/Off” switch of “strong” or “weak”, but a scale of “stronger” or “weaker”.

You can always find someone who is more confident than you on a particular matter, and you can always find someone who has a weaker conscience than you on the same matter.)

Last week we learned from God’s Word that a strong conscience leads a Christian to a walk of humility; this week what I want to show you from these verses is that

A weak conscience leads a Christian to a WALK of DEPENDENCE

The way that we combat the sins of inferiority and judgmentalism towards other in matters of conscience is to walk in a spirit of dependence—first,

I.

In your walk before GOD

The first thing to consider is that there is no liberty that you can enjoy—no strength of conscience or freedom in disputable matters—that can compare with the treasure you have of your intimacy and close fellowship with God in Christ.

In all of the considerations of your conscience and what it forbids, you must always

LOVE Him more than any LIBERTY (Romans 14:6)

Look at verse 6 of Romans 14--

rom 14:6

Romans 14:6 (ESV)

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.

Paul is reminding his readers that the believers who only eat kosher do it because they love and honor God—and the same is true for those who eat anything.

And so what this shows us is that there is no freedom or liberty that you can pursue that is worth losing your intimacy with God! Do you feel like you are “missing out” because you don’t share the freedom that another Christian might have in those third-order issues?

How much more would you be “missing out” if you pursued that freedom in conflict with your conscience, and then had to deal with the distance you feel from God, the cooling of your intimacy with Him, the deflating of your prayer life, the drag on your Bible reading?

In other words, whether or not the issue you are concerned with is actually a sin or not, if your conscience tells you it is sin to do it, then you are sinning against God if you disobey your conscience!

And there is no good that can come out of violating your conscience that is worth losing the sweet fellowship and intimacy you have with God when you walk in obedience to Him!

Walk in dependence on God by loving Him more than any liberty you may miss out on.

And secondly, in Romans 14:7-8 we learn that we are to

SUBMIT to Him more than your NEIGHBOR (Romans 14:7-8)

Romans 14:7–8 (ESV)

7 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.

Now, there’s something surprising in the way Paul lays out his argument here in these verses.

Here’s what I mean.

He’s exhorting the church to get along with each other—and so you would expect him to follow up the statement “none of us lives to himself or dies to himself” with “we live and die for each other...”

But he doesn’t go there, does he?

Instead he says, “None of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself—if we live we live TO THE LORD and if we die we die TO THE LORD”.

What is he after here?

Why does he turn our attention to our relationship with Christ, and not toward each other?

One reason, at least, is that your weak conscience must be guided by Christ, and not by the fear of men! Far too often Christians are tormented in their weak conscience more by what other people will say about them, rather than by what Christ wants of them.

Surely what Paul means by focusing our attention on the fact that we live to the Lord instead of focusing on living for each other is that a Christian with a weaker conscience must never be ashamed of their convictions—you live in dependence on CHRIST, not on them.

Your fellow Christian did not die for you; they did not rise from the dead for your salvation!

You answer to God alone for the things your conscience restricts (or permits).

Let’s say that you are the only Christian that you know who is convinced that it is a sin to go to a restaurant on Sunday, and all your friends at church are going out to eat after the service and invite you.

And you want to go share fellowship with them, you love them and want to be with them but you simply can’t go and be a part of the reason the diner staff are working on the Lord’s Day.

You may love and cherish your fellow church members’ friendship and love—but you owe God your faithfulness more!

You love Him more than any liberty, you submit to Him in obedience to your conscience even more than you love your fellow Christians.

And you are not permitted to feel inadequate about it!

You abstain, you do it to the glory of God, and you never need apologize for glorifying God in your weakness!

You live and die before Him, not your neighbor!

A weak conscience leads a Christian to a walk of dependence—in your walk before God, and secondly

II.

In your PURSUIT of HOLINESS

Keep your finger in Romans 14, but turn with me for a few moments to the book of Galatians.

Galatians Chapter 2, (Page 973 in the pew Bible.)

Though Paul does not directly address issues of conscience here in this book, he does say a great deal about the way we are to think about where our righteousness before God comes from.

And as I hope you’ll see, this is directly relevant to our study of the conscience.

Look for a moment at what Paul says in Galatians 2:21

Galatians 2:21 (ESV)

21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Paul is warning the Galatians that if they try to consider themselves justified on the basis of how well they follow some set of rules, they will cancel out God’s grace.

I hope you can see how this relates to matters of conscience, because the temptation of the weak conscience is to think that because I abstain from this particular liberty, I am more acceptable in God’s sight!

But Paul says here that in your pursuit of holiness,

Do not NULLIFY God’s GRACE to you (Galatians 2:17-21)

Your righteousness does not consist in your weak conscience--your avoiding of disputable matters does not make you more righteous in God’s sight.

The peculiar temptation of the weaker conscience is to begin to believe that not smoking or watching R-rated movies or going to a diner on Sunday makes you more acceptable in God’s eyes.

But Paul says that when you allow that thought to creep in, you are gutting the grace of God in your life.

You are saying, in effect, “Jesus made me sufficiently acceptable to God, but if I add this matter to my conscientious pursuit of holiness, I will be even more acceptable to Him!

He is more satisfied with me because I only read the King James Version; I am more justified in His sight because I refuse to go to a restaurant that serves alcohol!

The Scriptures tell us in Colossians 2 that none of those things get us anywhere with God:

Colossians 2:22–23 (ESV)

22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?

23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

As one author put it, when we begin to believe that our weak conscience is a sign of our greater holiness, or that the things we are compelled to abstain from make us more acceptable to God somehow, it is as though the high priest in the Old Testament would run into the Holy of Holies and do one hundred pushups to impress God with his piety and depth of worship—and God asks, “Who told you I wanted you to do that??” Don’t nullify God’s grace to you by acting as though the abstinences of your weaker conscience are somehow more impressive to God or make you more holy in His sight!

In your pursuit of holiness, don’t let your pride in your weak conscience nullify God’s grace to you.

Instead,

Always RECKON on Christ’s SACRIFICE for you (Galatians 3:10-14)

Look over one page at Galatians 3, starting in verse 10:

Galatians 3:10 (ESV)

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

No matter what disputable matter you are abstaining from or whatever issue of conscience you are bound by, remember that you can never perfectly keep any rule (v.

10).

Turn that issue of conscience around, and instead of thinking of it as a matter of your purity and piety before God, imagine that it is a condition of your salvation!

To take the example from a few minutes ago.

Say your conscience does not permit you to patronize a restaurant that serves alcohol.

In and of itself, fine—third order issue, your conscience tells you it is a sin to spend money there, no harm, no foul.

But then, partly out of the sense of inferiority that your weak conscience makes you susceptible to, you begin to tell yourself that you are actually being more spiritual because you won’t spend money there—God is particularly pleased with you for your sensitive conscience!

And that’s where the danger comes in, that’s where you begin toying with gutting the grace of God in your life.

And here’s a way to think about this that reveals the danger in it—move this issue up into “First Order” territory.

Imagine for a moment that not spending money at a place that sells booze actually impacts your salvation!

That your justification before God really does depend on not spending money there.

What happens to you the day that you go to your favorite “dry” restaurant and as you are paying your bill you see a waitress walking by carrying a tray with a bottle of beer to another table!