Conscience #4

Review

Legislative - makes laws (or is aware of law)

Executive - approves dissaproves (facebook)

Judicial - judges

if we aren’t careful we will develop a social conscience that approves of us when man approves of us - rather than God.

Christians get a renewed conscience when they become Christians - slowly but surely.

but, similar to a dog, it’s gotta be trained. guard dog analogy.

What kind of consciences are these?

pro 30:20 “This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.””

Jer 6:15 “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord.”

notice - the social conscience of the community has no issue here

gal 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

either or - remember “woe to you when all men speak well of you”

Remember - your conscience can shame you (if it’s broken) when you’re obeying God’s law.

have you ever felt ashamed when you know you’re doing the right thing?

have you ever felt shamed by others?....

When folks are gathering up pitchforks and forming mobs against someone - we need to ask “what sin has been committed?”

if it is “the tone” or “they’re prideful” or ...

if there is a sin being committed, then we gotta deal with it. But we’re not gonna get up in arms about our “feelings”

Rom 14:1-3 “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 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.”

don’t quarrel over stupid things - like eating meat and vegetables.

in other words - some things aren’t worth arguing about.

The Bible explicitly says - go ahead and eat meat - Acts “rise kill and eat” - so stop arguing about this. it’s clear.

but still welcome in the weaker brothers. They just don’t get to teach. And if they start stirring folks up to follow them, well, now we gotta deal with something.

1 Tim 4:1-5 - same problem - but Paul calls it a doctrine of demons - why? Because they’re leading people away in this way.

deals with the ascenes. no marriage, no wine, no meat, etc.

lotta rules that weren’t in the Bible - and so Christians who came out of that sect since their childhood - they’re carrying it with them.

There were also the Judaizers. They were teaching the ceremonial laws must continue to be saved - circumcision laws.

Paul deals with this the same way - one disciple he circumcizes the other he says absolutely not?

why? - because in one case it’s with weaker brothers, in other it’s the category of pharisee.

So, receive the weak, and don’t let them argue over stupid stuff. Don’t hassle them, don’t push them around, don’t mocke them, but teach them. Bring them along.

You go to somebody’s house for dinner and they start to hand out the vegetables, or whatever, and then they say “now we’ll teach you the ways of true righteousness” - no… we can’t do this.

but if they’re just folks that don’t do wine and so they give you a coke, let it ride.

don’t mock, and they ought not judge.

but we do want to teach the right way.

BUT TYPICALLY WHAT HAPPENS - if they see you do somethign and it makes them emotionally uncomfortable now we all have to stop doing it

when the Bible says don’t offend your brother it means don’t cause them to sin, NOT don’t emotionally bother them.

So, we’ve gotta help weaker brothers - but we also have to protect the church - WHY?

because if the church is governed by the social conscience - social laws - what happens? Change w/ Society

The weak are not to violate their conscience - but need to be willing to be discipled

“he should not eat meat until he can eat in faith” Rom 14

well, what if they think the way the ascenes did about sex? they believed it was bad. what do we do?

for example - some cultures would burn the wife on a pire when the husband died.

so when missionaries show up, they start putting that to a stop.

but there are other things, food and dirnk type things,. We’re not in a rush over that stuff.

Things to avoid

letting a social conscience dominate the church

KJV Only - Ties Only - Skirts only -

any other examples y’all can think of?

what kinda clothes rules does the Bible give us? Women don’t wear mens clothes, men don’t wear womens.

what about hair length?

The extra-biblical law cannot be allowed to govern the church

rom14:3 “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.”

The new law of abstinance - abstaining from things outright forever - actually creates weakness.

because you can’t remove temptation by removing the good gift that you abuse.

we don’t want to use pressure and rhetorical devices to convince people

we want to use the Biblical arguments.

Don’t try to make folks go against their conscience before they’ve been convinced.

Rom 14:14 “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.”

they’ve gotta be convinced in their own minds.

Lets hang in Rom 14 - do some feel guilty eating meat today?

sure, vegans, some Catholics during lent,

but if one of those folks gets saved and come to our church, what do we do?

“y’all are eating meat?!”

do we let them just follow along because of social pressure? no, we want them to be convinced in their own mind.

Using what? BIBLICAL ARGUMENTS

“But scientists and politicians say red meat is bad for you and wes should all stop eating steaks...”

who cares. what does the Bible say?

but if they’re still struggling - they shold not eat meat until they are convinced in their own minds.

they need to rebuke their conscience, but still follow it until they’re convinced.

But what if it’s a taste thing?

“look I just never ate meat, I’m not into it, don’t have a taste for it....”

same with alcohol. They know the law, it’s not a matter of sin, they just don’t like it. Let ‘em be.

You go over to somebody’s house, and there’s no booze in the house. What do you do?

let them be.

don’t show up with a hamburger to the vegan brothers house and try to make them eat it.

but what if they know the Bible verses and refuse to budge? Now they decide they’re about to start making everybody else do it as well.

well, now we’ve got a pharisee problem and we gotta loop in the elders.

Look - truth - some folks are slow movers. BUT THEY’RE MOVING.

What about holidays?

Rom 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.”

Paul kept these in Jerusalem, but not everywhere else.

REMEMBER

for a weaker brother we accomadate and wait - for a pharisee we rebuke and refuse.