Biblical vs. Social Conscience

Quick review

three branches?

what type of conscience do you NOT want? social

Easy example - the way people dress on Sunday

ex: using the word “stupid”

ex: Paul’s issues w/ circumcision. He circumcised one of his followers, but not the other. Why?

because one just had a weak conscience - the other was being told what to do by the Pharisees.

you help weaker brothers along the way.

Today we’ll start with the holidays - this will be fun.

What are some of our cultures calendar days? holidays?

9/11 Memrial day - Mothers Day

Every culture has a litugical calendar. By which they teach and instruct their society.

What do we want our calendar to be based on?

Romans 14:5 “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.”

Faith is rational - not by peer pressure.

we don’t want to pressure people into following Jesus, why?

Because then when a stronger “pressure” comes on the scene they’ll just follow it.

now, a little bit of peer pressure for a young christian, that’s not a bad thing. It’s a motivator, it gets them going on the right track. It’s like a stern look with small children, but that can’t be the only mechanism forever.

But back to the conscience....

Now, in this text - we’re not talking about the Lord’s day here because we know that later we’re commanded to assemble together on the Lord’s day...

There were some folks who wanted to keep the passover - that’s fine.

but if they show up and try to make everybody do it - if they claim it is a key to righteousness - now we’ve got a problem.

Paul calls the meat eating issue a weaker brother problem in one place and then later on a “doctrine of demons” what’s the difference?

the intetions. the motives.

are you genuiniely just a weaker brother? Then that’s fine.

Are you trying to make everybody else do what you think they should, is it about righteousness? Alright, different fight.

for a weak brother we acomodate and wait - for a pharisee we rebuke and refuse.

Notice the pattern: when the weaker brother starts trying to tell everybody else what to do, he’s not a weaker brother anymore. He’s a pharisee.

When something extra-biblical becomes a matter of righteousness, we’re adding to God’s law.

Gal 4:9-11 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”

they’re falling back into stuff they dealt with in their weaker brother days

Col 2:16 “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.”

What does it mean to pass judgement? To write laws and then execute based on those laws.

in other words - don’t let these guys pressure you into these ways.

This is a big deal for our Southern Baptist brothers. Why?

Don’t drink - or at least - don’t do it in public.

Wear a suit/skirt on Sundays.

Don’t Dance.

That’s a problem. Why?

Because they’re replacing God’s law with the tradition of men - they have a new ultimate authority - and when the traditions of men shift… they’ll shift too.

That’s why - I’ll argue - our Southern Baptist brothers have been so rocked by the feminism and woke movements. Because they’ve added additional laws and thus weakened the authority of the Bible.

When you have a social conscience - it will always shift with society.

Now, to be honest we’re always gonna deal with these kinda folks. At least for the forseeable near future.

so don’t let them get you.

It’s BAD FOR YOUR CONSCIENCE to let people judge you in these things.

Col 2:20-23 “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 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.”

Meat / Vegetables / Alcohol / Dancing / Suits - Who cares? We’ve got liberty here. Leave your brothers and sisters alone.

But what about sex?

there were monks that practiced an abstinence of - well - anything that caused them to be tempted. They moved into th emiddle of the desert, 600 miles away from any woman.

and then what happened? They wrote about how they were still fighting with lustful thoughts in their minds.

That’s now how you’re going to get away from it. You don’t fight sin by just eliminating the possibility of every temptation.

Sin/Temptation is something you CARRY WITH YOU.

it’s not just OUT THERE, and if we could get away from the OUT THERE then we’re not tempted anymore.

Now lets say we’ve got somebody who’s just decided that sex is dirty and it makes them feel bad - so they aren’t going to render their spousal obligation to the person whom they married.

What do you do? It’s a weaker brother, their conscience is broken, they probably went through some stuff at some point that messed them up. Heard some bad teaching. Maybe they were a part of a youth group in the 90s. Ha.

As a result - They feel guilty every time. Their conscience bothers them. So they stop.

What do you do?

You instruct them - you be patient.

but you still instruct and tell them to repent, why? Because this is a commandment in God’s law.

1 Cor 7:3-5 “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

This is something they’ve gotta resolve, and resolve QUICK. Because God’s law is on the line.

This is a BIG DEAL - THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS in the world that your conscience could feel guilty about that we are actually COMMANDED to do.

We’ve been talking about alcohol use a lot because it’s an easy target for our religious region.

what about this - “why don’t the stronger brothers just all abstain so we can be happy?”

well, what did Jesus do? He intentionally feasted and drank publicly to confront the additional laws of the Pharisees.

So quick review

stand fast in your liberty - don’t be in bondage

but don’t let your liberty become a stumbling block

what does that mean - it doesn’t mean put a beer fridge in your garage.

it DOES MEAN don’t put pressure on people

don’t force people to go against their conscience when they aren’t ready yet.

but if God’s commandments are on the line.... it’s good and right to let them know they’ve gotta deal with this pretty quickly and repent.

Mark 7:1–23 ESV

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Huge list of the oppression of the social conscience.

Do you remember the story of the 1 demon that was cast out and then seven more took it’s place? Luke 11:14-26

that one always confused me. I think I get it now though.

Jesus is accused of being of the devil, and that’s why he can cast out demons.

But Jesus makes the argument, no I’m definitely of God, and you can tell by the results.

but when you guys cast them out - things always get worse… because you’re doing it the wrong way - with your extra-biblical laws and traditions.

and not just worse - but seven times worse.

So to apply this to our current topic - if we’re casting aside our sins in the wrong way… with added laws, rather than the written law of God.... watch out. Because things will get a lot worse very quickly.

Think about it. Have you met the religious legalist with all the skeletons in their closet? with all the secret sins?

NO! We NEVER drink or watch rated R movies or dance! NOT in this house.

Weve always got our Sunday suits and dresses always pressed and ready! But they’ve got a porn addiction or are having an affair. Or they beat their wives and demean their children.

They always shout AMEN the loudest… but they’ve also got the darkest secrets.

watch out.

Why do we have women pastors today - social conscience.

Why do we get triggered when a girl gets pregnant? As though thats the offense? The baby is the only good thing out of it.

The problem is our casual approach to dating. We allow our dating relationship standards to be set by the world. Rather than being engaged as parents throughout the process.

and not even letting the idea of a relationship being entertained until the man has proven himself able to keep a job and be faithful.