Ask Pastor Mike Fabarez

Speaker 1

Hey, Christian, do you smoke, gamble, drink? Where and when do you clearly draw the line on popular worldly pastimes?

Well, today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Febares discusses the gray areas of life that make us wonder, what's a Christian to do? Welcome to Focal Point. I'm your host. And for the next half hour, Pastor Mike Febares responds to a question from a listener who's wondering if it's okay for Christians to partake of certain activities that aren't really specified in Scripture.

Whoa. That's something we all make decisions about every day. If you'd like to pose a question yourself, post it@focalpointradio.org connect.

But right now, let's join Executive director Jay Worton inside the Pastor Study to ask Pastor Mike.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Dave.

Pastor Mike, we've had a number of questions about things like: is drinking wrong? Is cigarette smoking wrong? Is it wrong to gamble?

As Christians, a lot of these fall under what we call gray areas. So maybe you could talk a little bit about that in terms of what the Bible has to say about it.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I mean, this is a perpetual problem. In any culture in any time, there's going to be a set of things that begin to carry a stigma in society that, when they open their Bibles, they can't find it specifically addressed. And Christians have to wonder, what do we do with that? I mean, just even to frame it and define it that way gets us to thinking about the real issue, and that is there's a stigma attached to it. If there's a stigma attached to it, there are often principles that you can find with that particular activity that are problematic. In other words, why is there a stigma attached to that? Often because, well, there's something damaging about that thing, there's something harmful about that thing. There's something addictive about that thing.

And so then all of a sudden it starts to make sense. Well, the stigma is there, rightfully so, in many cases, because they're just not good or wholesome things that people should do as human beings. And so we then look to the Bible and we find principles in the Bible about that. The way I like to summarize it, and you've heard me, Jay, say this around the campus here at our church, is that we need to look at whatever we're doing and ask, is this going to cause another Christian to sin or is it going to cause another Christian to doubt my maturity in Christ? Those two things are very important.

That's really what Paul is talking about when he discusses causing another Christian to stumble. Is what I'm doing going to open up a door for another Christian to stumble headlong into something that is clearly sin? I can dance on the edge of some particular issue, but is my life going to give someone license to get into something that will be sinful for them? Secondly, is there something in my life that may just cause someone to raise their eyebrow and say, why would he be doing that? He's a Christian.

The test I always like to throw out secondarily after stating that is, is it going to cause someone to sin or have them doubt your maturity in Christ? I often say, well, if your pastor was doing it in the lobby or on the patio of your church after the service, what would they think of that? Whatever the issue is, whether it's drinking a beer, smoking a cigar, gambling, or whatever it might be, would it raise an eyebrow there? I mean, here's a guy that you're supposed to look up to as a template, according to 1 Peter 5, of our conduct, where people are supposed to model their Christian behavior after him.

If you saw your pastor engaging in that behavior, would it make you think, oh, I don't think that just doesn't seem right? Well, that's kind of a gauge of the mores of the day or the stigma of your culture. Then you need to say, well, that becomes problematic. That's why the more you grow, I think, in your Christianity and your service and your usefulness in the body of Christ, the more you find yourself, little by little, giving up your liberties that you do have the right to do, but you realize it's just not profitable. You engage in less and less of these fringe issues or these what we call gray areas.

Speaker 2

Is there an aspect to some of these things that we're talking about that can take on the form of an idol, where we're putting it in place of God too?

Speaker 3

Sure. Yeah. And I find that when, just as I described, when I'm trying to be more useful in the body of Christ, and I say, well, it seems like this has a stigma attached to it, but I don't want to drop it because I really like it, then you need to start saying, well, what kind of servant am I here?

Leaders assert their rights and say, I got the right to do this. I'm going to do it. I don't care what people think. Servants say, I mean, this is the servant leadership of Christ. Listen, I will lay down my rights and my liberty for the sake and the good of ministry. And that's clearly a principle we see in the Bible that we are to be people that are willing to lay down our liberties and our rights for the good of other people. And that's super important.

So what gets in the way of that? Clinging to something that's more important to me. Serving the body of Christ should be more important than my proclivities and my interest in this or that. And of course, I should be ready to lay them down just like Christ did. I mean, Christ put aside his comfort to put an apron on and wash the feet of the disciples as an example of, listen, let's care more about serving than we do about our comfort and our convenience and our own proclivities.

Speaker 2

And some people might even defend their position by saying, oh, the Bible doesn't prohibit that.

Speaker 4

Right, Right.

Speaker 3

And they're right. It may not prohibit that, but the Bible also says that we should be giving our lives in service to the body of Christ. Now, I'm not talking about whether anybody is ever going to look at this and say, "I don't care for that." That's one thing. I'm talking about really doubting your maturity in Christ and being led into sin. Those are different than, you know, obviously, people can have a problem with almost anything we do. If you look long enough for a critic, you will find one. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about whether the general, reasonable response of people is going to open up a door for them to engage in something that will violate their own conscience and cause them to sin, or if it will have them look at you, raise an eyebrow, and say, "I didn't think Christians did that." I know that today it is really cool for people to think, "Oh, I want to be that kind of Christian, the one who can break the mold and the stereotypes."

My answer to that is, no, you don't. You don't want to be that kind of Christian. You know, that kind of cool Christianity is not what we need. What we need is people who are willing to lay down their liberties and their rights to love the people around them, to not unnecessarily put stumbling blocks before their feet.

Speaker 2

Well, thank you, Pastor Mike. I trust this conversation has been helpful. We're going to continue this conversation by listening to a message you gave called Keeping a Clear Conscience from the series Black and white on gray areas.

Speaker 4

If you search the scripture on the issue you have in mind, and there is no prohibition and there's no applicability to any principle in scripture as it relates to doing it or not doing it, you know, this is not just a selfish act that you're doing. You also recognize that it's not going to entice you into some transgression that's going to lead you to sin. So it affects your accountability on judgment day at the Bema seat of Christ. You know that you can do it to the glory of God. You know that it's possible for you to honor Christ in this. And you know it's not going to stumble anybody. No one's going to be tripped up over this, either Christians in the church or non-Christians who watch you. All those criteria, they're all met. They're done. That's great. Even if you just score 100 and say everything's in line, I'm ready to exercise my liberty in this area.

Romans 14, 22 and 23. If you have a problem here, it will turn something that for every other reason and in every other way is a totally fine thing to do, a commendable thing that you can honor God with, into sin. Okay, so these are important verses. Let's take a look at them. We're to the last two verses of Romans 14. If you haven't already turned there, they read this way: Romans 14, 22 and 23. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Now this is not the theme verse for the anti-evangelistic Sunday school class. Faith is used so often in the Bible with a direct object being Christ that people read the word and they assume we're talking about faith in Christ. That is not how this word is used here. Don't miss this. This is critical.

The topic has been gray areas, issues that are not expressly prohibited or commanded. These areas that are debated amongst Christians. Faith here, right? Another way to translate the word faith is confidence. It's a confidence that we have that this is the right thing to do. It's okay. There's no problem. If you have that confidence about X, Y, or Z, whatever the topic might be, the gray area, he says, keep it between yourself and God, and we'll see why at the end of the message. Okay, we'll leave that little phrase to the end. Blessed is the one, happy is the one. How great it is for the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats. And that's the topic on the table by way of illustration in this text about the meat sacrificed to idols or not kosherly prepared, even though the rescinded laws of the Levitical priesthood and all the things that relate to the dietary laws are all gone. Ceremonial laws fulfilled in Christ, you know, that's the issue on the table. And for us, it's a great paradigm and example for all the things we deal with that we're debating. But if you have doubts, it's a problem.

Speaker 3

Why?

Speaker 4

Because the eating is not from faith. There it is again. It's not coming from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Now, again, don't miss. This is not the object of Christ. This is confidence. Confidence. What that's not colluded with in any way doesn't have any kind of infection by these things.

In verse 22, by some kind of part of my head that passes judgment on myself, you can see the schizophrenia in the bottom of verse 22. I'm approving it on the one hand, but I'm approving it. But still I'm passing judgment on myself in one part of my mind.

Okay, or easier word, verse 23.

Speaker 3

I'm having doubts.

Speaker 4

Doubts that. Let's just deal with the meat of this, which is the end of 22 and the beginning of 23. The issue of. Let's read it again. Blessed is the one who. No reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. Flip it over, it would be a problem. And it's not a good thing. If you are passing judgment on the thing you say is okay, you're doing it. You think it's the right thing, but somewhere in your heart you're passing judgment on yourself.

Whoever, different word for it, doubts, is condemned if he eats. Because the eating is not from faith. It doesn't have that pure sense of approval in your heart that it's all okay. Some other words that may help. Misgivings, apprehension, compunction in my conscience. That kind of feeling that, you know what? I think it's all right, but I don't feel like it's all right. It's what? Maybe a better word for it. We'll put this in number one on your outline. We need to be sensitive to this, to feeling conflicted. That's what we're talking about.

And once you write that down, go back with me to Romans, chapter two just to look at a classic passage on defining conscience. Conscience is so important in the Bible. And just to get. I just love the way the ESV translates this. It gives us two words, and they happen to rhyme. And it helps us to remember what our conscience does. It's that part of our heart, if you will, our soul, our spirit in our minds, that it looks at a proposition or an opportunity. And it gives us either. Yeah, that's cool, go ahead. No problem there. Or, I don't know. I don't think that's right. I mean, we have this conflicting heart.

Of course, the context is a little different and the subject is a little different here in Romans, chapter two. But in the middle there, you can see in verse 14, 15, 16, he's talking about issues of people out there who have no advantage of being in Sabbath school as kids. But they're, you know, they're not doing the egregious transgressions because they have a conscience. And he's saying, you know, they're doing by nature what the law requires. Of course, not perfectly, but they're doing it because they have evidence, verse 15, of the work of the law written on their hearts, while their conscience.

Now, here he's going to describe what we're interested in seeing this sense inside of us that bears witness to whatever the issue might be and their conflicting thoughts. There's our idea, there's the verbiage from which I get this point and want to kind of help us. Not just say, you know, doubts, but conflicting thoughts that accuse or even excuse them. Now, if you have thoughts that accuse, then it's bad, but you can have thoughts at the same time that excuse. You need to be able to, when it comes to gray areas, have only excusing. And that is.

Speaker 1

This is good.

Speaker 4

There's no problem here. Be like if I came up to you after church and I said, would you help me out for the next half an hour? Right?

And oh, okay, yeah, sure. What do you need? Okay. And I say, oh, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go to the mall and we're gonna let the air out of the tires in the parking lot. We're just gonna go around and do that.

We're gonna watch people come to their car and see their flat tire and go, oh, man, that'll be great. So come on. Half an hour, just tightening it. Half an hour.

Wow. No, that doesn't feel right. There's no verse, by the way, about letting air out of tires.

Speaker 1

Right?

Speaker 4

But you'll know in your heart that ain't right. Will not do that. I don't care if the pastor asked me. I'm not going to do that.

Or if I said to you, hey, my mom's car got a flat tire, would you spend a half an hour and just help me change the tire? If I said, would you help me do that? You're going to put off your lunch plan a little longer and all that, but you're going to help me do that.

Think that through now. Now you're going to think, why am I doing this? When you're with me at the mall letting air out of tires, your conscience is going to be accusing you.

But if you're thinking about, okay, the proposition of you going out and helping me change my mom's flat tire in the parking lot of the church, hopefully you're going to be like, oh, totally. It was, you know, put me back time my hands dirty, got a little smudge on my shirt. But you know what? It's okay for a good reason. I was helping out the pastor and the pastor's mom. That was a good thing, you see.

Speaker 3

Duh.

Speaker 1

Of course.

Speaker 4

But I mean, that's how your conscience works. Now, here's the thing. What Romans 14 is calling for is that you have only thoughts in your heart of excusing you that you think, this is all right, this is good. There's no thoughts in your heart of accusing you. This is the thing. Your conscience needs to be clear. We say it needs to be pure in the sense that there is no part of your heart that says you should not be doing this, right? Compunction, misgivings, apprehensions, some part of your heart that feels guilty.

Whatever the issue is, if you are doubting that you should be doing it, I don't care what the gray area is. I don't care how many other Christians can do it and feel fine about it. If you can't do it and feel a. Here's the word used in the Bible, faith, which means a confidence that's unmitigated, you know, polluted with a feeling of guilt, that's what you got to have. I mean, that's a simple point. We don't need long on that.

But let me give a little sidebar here for the rest of point number one to tell you this. Here's the problem. When it comes to me saying to you, would you help me out this afternoon? We're going to go do something. You're going to determine my assignment or my request for you to join me in the assignment just out of it's going to be in a vacuum. It's going to be a simple, okay, well, what is it? Because your desire is to do something else. This is just a new opportunity for you.

But when it comes to gray areas, we are drawn to consider gray areas because we want to do those things.

Speaker 3

Things, right?

Speaker 4

We have a desire to go there, to purchase that, to participate, to partake, to purchase, to put on all of those things that we want to do.

There's a desire there that is driving this because gray areas are not neutral opportunities. There are things that we want to do for one reason or the other.

Speaker 3

Okay?

Speaker 4

And if I want to do it, let's say in Corinth, it's a good price on meat and it's for sale in the meat market. And you know, the whole meat sacrifice to idle things, I have a desire to do that. There's an advantage. There's something that makes me want that. That desire, right, is always going to tell you in your own heart to ignore your conscience. Ignore it. Try not to feel there. Don't. Don't think of that.

But you know what the Bible's going to say. Look at your conscience, check in with your conscience. Make sure your conscience is clear. Focus on it, give it attention, put the spotlight on it and figure out whether you should or shouldn't do it.

Real quick, just on the continued sidebar. Remember this. If you don't give your conscience a microphone to speak clearly into the issues of your life, it will eventually attenuate that volume until it doesn't even speak up anymore. Or to put it in a more simple way, you ignore your conscience, you damage it. And when you damage your conscience, right.

Speaker 3

It stops speaking up on the issues.

Speaker 4

That you and I face. Don't do that. But give some attention to your conscience a lot, okay? Not paralysis by analysis. There's a few of you here that may do that. Don't take it to that level, right? But analyze your conscience and see what's going on there.

Bottom of verse 23 back in Romans 14. Because if you don't have that faith, that clean conscience, that confidence, it's not commingled with passing judgment on myself. That faith, that confidence that doesn't have any doubts. If you don't have that, here's the problem. If it doesn't proceed, the decision doesn't proceed from that kind of confidence.

It is. What's the last word of the chapter?

Speaker 3

Sin.

Speaker 4

And what this text is positing for us, think this through. Is that one guy can do one thing as a Christian and do it for the honor of God, because his conscience is clear, and the guy across the aisle can do the exact same thing. But if he is conflicted in his conscience, he has doubts, he's judging himself, and down deep there's something wrong with this, he can do the exact same thing. And for him, it is sin.

Because if in your heart some kind of doubt or some kind of conviction sets in, if you continue to do it, you will displease God. You will be in sin. And that's a big, big deal.

Put it this way. Number two in your outline, if you're confident, whatever this gray area is, and you say, "I am, I'm clean, I'm not conflicted, I have that faith" as it's defined in this context. Here's what I'm going to say. You still need to be vigilant. Be careful, be watchful, be alert, be circumspect. Think carefully.

Speaker 1

Right?

Speaker 4

I'm not. Again, I'm not advocating a paralysis by analysis, but I am saying this. Your decision to proceed in a gray area could, seven years from now, change in terms of the circumstances of the culture in which you live, and now you need to reevaluate that. All I'm saying is this: don't make a decision now, as maybe you reevaluate gray areas, and say, "Well, I'm cool with that. I'm fine with that. I'm not stumbling anybody. I can do it for the honor of God. It's not a fully selfish act. There's nothing in the Bible that prohibits it. I'm going to do it because my conscience is clear. I don't have any confliction about this in my own heart."

Don't make that decision now, this year, and then never, ever think it through again. Part of this in Romans 14 has been about those around me, right? You think you won't have different people in and around your life? Right. Think of you with young kids. You're going to have kids that are seven years older. And how about those liberties then? Will it make a difference? It may change. And all I'm saying is you need to check in with your circumstances, your culture, the people around you, and your heart to make sure that you don't fall into sin. Because that's what's at stake in the whole passage: that you and I can sin. The Bible says if you can't do it from faith, which is juxtaposed in our text to being conflicted or having doubts, it is sin.

So be vigilant; make sure you're careful with this decision. And once you make the decision, don't just never look back. You need to continually check in with your culture, your heart, your church, and yourself. You need to make sure that you have no conflicted conscience.

Now, I told you we'd leave the first phrase to the end, and let's go back to that. One of the reasons I did that is because it's a great summary of the whole chapter: the faith. This is verse 22. Now that you have, keep between yourself and God. Now let me make it clear again: this is not a faith in Christ. This is about faith regarding gray areas. Keep it between yourself and God.

Now, why would he say such a thing? Go back up to verse one and remember how this all started. We had some kind of, you know, feel-good words here like "welcome," right? Don't want to quarrel; we don't get along. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him. Don't quarrel over opinions. And then he starts nailing the bad things they were doing. They were looking down; they were judging one another and all that. The whole point of Romans 14 is that we would get along, that we'd be sensitive to one another's concerns and scruples and problems, and that we would be willing to curtail our liberties if need be because of a brother or sister in the body of Christ. That is the flavor of the text.

Now, in verse 21, drop down to verse 21. He said this: "So if eating meat or drinking wine or anything that causes my brother to stumble is a bad thing, then it's good not to eat it at all." It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. Now, verse 22, the faith that you have. In other words, you may have the complete confidence to eat that meat that was sacrificed to idols or drink that wine, right? But even if that is your confidence, keep it between yourself and God.

Now think about how that fits the tenor, feel, and flavor of this whole text. Here he's saying, listen, if there is an issue about food—and that was their context, rescinded Levitical laws, I get all that—but they were struggling with their conscience on that. Someone has the freedom and the liberty, and they may not do it in front of other people, but they are. They're out there, "I can do it," and they talk about it. See, then that's a problem. This is the whole point of this first part of verse 22, right? Never flaunt your liberties. Don't do it.

Don't flaunt them. The whole point of the passage in context is if someone brings the issue up, you slide back from the table and you say, "I'm not going to eat that." Then you curtail that liberty for the sake of other people's conscience. You following me on that? Even if everything in my life is okay regarding a gray area, I'm willing to shut up about it. Not only will I not do it in front of you, I'm not even willing to talk about it. If need be, I'm willing to ditch the whole liberty for the sake of civility, peace, consideration, love, and unity.

Speaker 3

The body of Christ.

Speaker 4

Let that be the upshot of our study through the gray areas in Rome.

Speaker 3

Romans 14.

Speaker 1

That'S Pastor Mike Fabarez here on Focal Point with a powerful reminder to weigh our decisions with care. You're listening to a portion of the message called "Keeping a Clear the Black and White on Gray Areas," and you can hear the complete uncut version when you go to focalpointradio.org.

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Give today by calling 888-320-5885 or online at focalpointradio.org. You don't have to wait another week to get your Bible questions answered. We've posted engaging Bible Q and A videos right on our website. Find wise counsel on issues like legalized marijuana, tattoos, and our popular "No Apology Necessary" series to help Christians stand strong amidst cultural pressure. Find these and more at focalpointradio.org.

Well, I'm Dave Droueh wishing you a restorative weekend ahead. We'll meet back again to continue our study on temptation with Mike Fabarez Monday on Focal Point. Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.

Speaker 5

Sam.