Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: The goal of the apostle Paul as he wrapped up this letter to a very diverse church was to help them understand the importance of unity and agreement among God's people. And he had to do that while recognizing that there are differences that will not go away and differences that should not go away. But we must learn how to make sure difference doesn't create division.

Guest (Male): Hello and thanks for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. Always a pleasure to have you with us. Well, in Romans chapter 14, the apostle Paul outlines three critical steps to achieving unity in the body of Christ.

First, we should accept others as equals under God. Second, we're told to allow for honest differences of opinion about nonessential issues. And finally, we're cautioned to avoid arrogance. It's this last one where we have a little more ground to cover, and we'll start covering it next.

If you can't stay with us, don't forget to visit our website, pastorpaul.net, where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. Now, let's listen closely to our Destined for Victory message, "Can't We All Just Get Along?"

Paul Sheppard: Romans chapter 14, beginning with verse 6, reading through verse 12. Paul says, "He who regards one day as special does so to the Lord. He who eats meat eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." Our theme is, "Can't we all just get along?" Thanks to Rodney King, we have those words.

And the goal of the apostle Paul as he wrapped up this letter to a very diverse church was to help them understand the importance of unity and agreement among God’s people. And he had to do that while recognizing that there are differences that will not go away and differences that should not go away. But we must learn how to make sure difference doesn’t create division.

Paul gives us very helpful information here, and we are attempting to plow through that and really apply it to our lives because just as the church at Rome was challenged, so is the church in the 21st century challenged. And we must respond to the challenge by saying, "Lord, we want to walk in true agreement because that pleases you and because that will allow us to be truly effective in our witness for you in this world."

We're looking at practical steps for how to achieve the goal of agreement. We've covered a couple of them. The first was to accept others as equals in the body of Christ; to understand that no matter how different a brother or sister is than you, they are your brother and sister. You pick your friends, but you're stuck with your relatives. And in Christ, we are relatives. We're born again of the same spiritual seed and therefore we must learn to accept one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Secondly, we looked at the step of allowing for honest differences of opinion and understanding that not everything is a make-it-break-it essential kind of issue. And so we talked about learning to distinguish majors from minors and essentials from nonessentials. Now we're currently exploring the third and most important point Paul makes in Romans 14, and it is to avoid arrogance. To avoid arrogance.

We've discussed the fact that Paul says we must not look down on those who practice their faith in some different ways when it comes to nonessentials. Now, I want to remind you, there are essential Christian doctrines, and we must stand there. That is the line of demarcation between the church and the cults. And so we must understand when it comes to the deity of Christ, there is no room for debate or negotiation.

The Bible teaches and the church stands squarely on the fact that Jesus was not a prophet, Jesus was God wrapped up in flesh. God came down among us. "In the beginning was the Word, Word was with God, the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory." That is essential doctrine. Not only his virgin birth, but his sinless life, his vicarious death, his bodily resurrection. These are essential doctrines that we cannot compromise for anything.

But when it comes to the other things that the church loves to fight about, we've got to learn to agree to disagree. And in the course of that, we've got to learn to avoid arrogance. And we've talked in the last message about some of the arrogance that exists in the church, and I want to pick up that discussion. I mentioned the fact that sometimes we become hypocritical without intending to. We become hypocrites because we have our list of things we're against.

And then if you look at it more carefully, many of us are inconsistent. I mentioned in the last message that I grew up in a holiness tradition. I love it. I respect the brand of Christianity that brought me to faith and taught me the Word of God. I really do. I'm holiness through and through in my belief system and all of that. And some of the things we were taught that saints don't drink alcoholic beverages under any circumstances.

Now we all know the Bible is against drunkenness. And Paul said clearly in Ephesians 5, do not use wine or any other alcoholic beverage for that matter to stimulate your life; rather, he said, be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you're looking for a high, in other words, he said God will give you every high you need. Don't use alcohol for that purpose. We know drunkenness is wrong. We also believe that you shouldn't drink under any circumstances.

Now that's my current personal measure of faith that came because of my upbringing, and I bought into that hook, line, and sinker. Don't drink liquor, wine, anything, wine coolers, anything at all. Stay away from it, stay sober. I teach the young men I disciple, stay sober, don't drink a drop of it. There's plenty of good juices if you're looking for flavors. Some folks say, "Well, I just like the flavor of it." No, no. I tell them don't worry about flavor, there's plenty of non-alcoholic flavor out there in the world.

But what I had to learn, and I talked about it in the last message, was the fact that there were believers who didn't share that particular scruple. And I learned it because I went to dinner one time with some folks. We had just ministered in a service. I knew God was with them, had blessed them and used them mightily. And then they ordered wine at dinner and messed me up. Messed me up. I sat there and thought, "I thought these folks were saved!"

I had to learn not everybody shared my scruple. They agreed that drunkenness was forbidden, but they didn't agree that you shouldn't drink any, not even a little glass of dinner wine, white, red, Chablis, whatever, I don't know what it's called. Talked about that. I talked about the fact that sometimes we become hypocritical because some of the same folks who are dead set against anything alcoholic whatsoever, they still have a drinking hang-up of another type. They can't speak to you in the morning until they drink two cups of coffee.

So the question becomes: who has the drinking problem? Well, I want to pick it up and talk about some other kinds of ways that we practice arrogance if we're not careful in the body of Christ. We've got to expose it and we've got to identify it and be kind of hard on ourselves so that if we judge ourselves by the Word of God, we can grow and strengthen our faith and we can strengthen our bonds of agreement.

Guest (Male): Still ahead, the second half of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard. If you enjoy listening to Pastor Paul, you'll be glad to know that we have a free app where you can listen anytime. Just search for "Destined for Victory" at your app store and listen anytime on demand.

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Asking the question, "What would Jesus do?" is not a bad way to make decisions, but we can't do it in every situation because the truth is sometimes we just don't know what he would have done. Now let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message, "Can't We All Just Get Along?"

Paul Sheppard: In particular, I want us to be careful of what I have identified as arrogance with regard to people assuming that their take on any number of issues is the Christian stance, is the right thing to do. You know, we have to be careful about overdoing this "What Would Jesus Do" paradigm. I want to bring that up because now, I read the original book out of which that came. Many of you did too.

And this little church that, through a series of events, came to really adopt a "What Would Jesus Do" kind of approach to how they lived their lives and how it transformed them into people who practiced genuine Christian faith. I fully respect that, and I think to the extent that we can clearly determine from Scripture what would Jesus do, that's exactly what we ought to do.

Here's the problem, though. Sometimes when we start down the "What Would Jesus Do" road, we end up simply putting words in Jesus' mouth and priorities in Jesus' life, and we use Jesus to justify our division. And I want to suggest to you that that is inappropriate. Now again, I'm not impugning the motives of people who live from that paradigm. I'm just challenging my brothers and sisters who do so to be careful.

And to make sure that where the Bible is not clear or where the Bible is silent, you do not speak with undue authority and arrogance. Because we're going down the road in the Christian faith, and we're doing "What would Jesus eat?" Oh, I'm not telling you what I imagine, I'm telling you what we're doing. What would Jesus eat? And so everybody's supposed to eat certain foods and not eat certain foods because Jesus wouldn't eat it, so what are you doing eating it?

Well, no, no, no. The Bible doesn't speak to that as clearly as you might hope it does. And therefore the Bible gives latitude. In fact, we can see Paul addressing that even with regard to the eating of meats. Now I mentioned that the particular challenges in the church at Rome were twofold. Some of the Jews were concerned about food that was eaten that was not kosher, not part of the kosher diet that meant so much to them because of their background and culture and faith.

And then the other concern was some of the pagans were worried that some Christians were eating food that had been offered to idols before it got to the marketplace and was offered at cut rates. And so they, having come out of pagan worship, wanted to steer clear of meat that had been offered to an idol. They didn't want to have anything to do with it. But they were beginning to look at other Christians and judge them because, you know, they went to the marketplace and saw this good rate on this meat, and just because it was offered to an idol they were like, "I don't come out of idol worship, that's cool with me."

And so they had some of the same challenges. But you have to be careful to understand not everyone shares your sensitivity on matters like that. So if God has put you on a certain kind of diet and certain things you can't eat and you think they're unhealthy and they're destroying the temple—your body is the temple. Yes, your body is the temple. But you don't get to dictate what all the believers in the world put in the temple. And you don't get to judge their faith because you don't like what they're putting in the temple.

Now I'll just let you know up front, I brought my own amens this morning so I'm ready to roll. I'm all right. If this just makes you think, if this is the part of the message that just make you say, "Hmm," that's fine. Please understand I'm all right. I'm all right. You don't have to say, "Well, I don't want to drop out on him." That's all right, I'm cool. I'm good to go. My daddy taught me years ago, sometimes you take your own amens with you.

Because every now and then the Word will kind of hit us in places and identify some things; sometimes you can't shout "Amen" for thinking "I am the man." But it's all right. That simply means we're engaging with the Word and that's a good thing. And I've heard the "What would Jesus drive?" What would Jesus drive? And there are those who believe strongly that Christians shouldn't be driving gas guzzlers and that sort of thing, that it is environmentally un-Christian and that sort of thing.

Oh, no, no, no. You drive your little thing that's concocted by—and drive it on in faith and thank God and all of that. But do not judge your brothers and sisters who have found a way to serve God, be generous in support of the Kingdom, and still drive some nice vehicle or some gas guzzler, expensive car, whatever it is. You are not their Lord. You are not their Lord. You don't get to walk around the church parking lot and say, "Folks ought to be ashamed! Ashamed of themselves, look at all this."

No, you can't judge somebody else's servant, Paul said. And so if the Holy Ghost is letting them drive it, you leave them alone. Now what you can do is pray for them if you believe they're deceived and they need to find the light, discover the light and drive an electric car or something. Then you pray. You can do that. You're free first of all, you're free to hold your personal conviction.

Paul says in this chapter in one place, be fully convinced in your own mind about these debatable, disputable issues. Be fully convinced. You can feel as strongly about it as you want. What you can't do is impose your view on people when it comes to nonessentials and disputable matters. And we've got to learn, we've got to learn to do that. What political party would Jesus be in?

Well, first of all, you're assuming he'd be in one of them. First of all, you're assuming that. And my question is: on what basis are you drawing your conclusions? And the fact of the matter is you'd be surprised if you talked to some folks in the body of Christ who share your moral convictions because the Bible is plain on certain things. And they share your convictions on matters of morality, but they disagree with your convictions on some of the other components of the platform of particular parties.

I had a person write me and challenge me about political issues, and "As a black pastor, you need to speak out and tell folks that they're supposed to all be voting in the same party." And I said, "No, that's not my job." Wrote back, "That's not my job. God didn't call me to do that." And so if you're fully convinced God is a Republican, hold that conviction. But don't assume every believer in the body of Christ has to share that conviction.

And if you're confused—and I've heard some Christians say, "I'm so confused." But see, what they don't know, I have worldwide exposure. I know Christian Democrats who can't imagine you being saved and a Republican. And I know Christian Republicans who can't imagine you being saved and being a Democrat. And the fact of the matter is they're both fully convinced in their own mind. And here's the problem: rarely will they talk to each other; usually they talk at each other.

And that creates division. I challenged one person who tried to jam me on that and tell me my job was to tell the whole church that God had given me a platform and influence and a voice on the radio, and "You need to tell them." And what I'm telling folk is talk to your brothers and sisters where you disagree and you're confused and don't understand, then sit down and talk to them.

I told this one man who didn't understand how people weren't in his particular party, I said, "If you want to find out, talk to some of them." Call them up and say, "Can we sit down, have a meal? I got some questions, I just want—I need you to help me here." And I said, "Now when you go, don't go with arrogance, go with humility and love." So y'all don't sit up there in the restaurant and show out in Jesus' name. Come on, come on.

You haven't seen a fight till two saints who both think God is on their side start fighting. You got trouble on your hands. The worst trouble in the world comes from religious people who think God is supporting what they're doing. Heathens didn't knock down those twin towers. Religious people who in deception think God told them to do it. Worst trouble. And look throughout history, the worst trouble in history has come at the hands of staunchly religious, narrow-minded, deceived people.

And so the church of Jesus Christ has got to learn to avoid that. And you do that by exposing yourself to understanding that not everything is as essential as you believe it is. And if you talk to others who don't always share your viewpoint, you will actually learn some things. Where would Jesus send his kids to school? One of the issues in the church today.

Now listen, you can feel strongly about how our children are to be educated in today's world. You can feel ever so strongly about it. What you can't do is dictate to everybody else in the Kingdom that they must share your convictions. And so the fact of the matter is, be fully convinced in your own mind, use your influence—I'll talk about that as we wrap up the series—use your influence as you interact with other believers.

Because the Bible says as iron sharpens iron, so one person in the Kingdom can and should sharpen others. But sharpening people and dictating to people, two different things. And so we have to learn. "I don't understand how Christians can send their kids to certain schools." Talk to them and find out. And you'll be surprised sometimes what you will learn along the way.

Christians love fighting worship wars. How you ought to worship. You ever been exposed to those kind of wars? I mean knock down, drag out. How you ought to worship. "This kind of music ought to be part of any Christian worship service and only this kind of music." So you have people who feel like the hymns came down from heaven itself and that's what you sing, the hymns, the old hymns of the church.

"Get this new little contemporary stuff out of here! It's worldly!" I've heard it. Heard it, been to conventions, people preached on it. Worldliness, bringing all this worldly, bringing guitars and drums up in the church. Well, you're assuming that the devil made guitars and drums. And my question is: from whence cometh that assumption? As if God made organs and pianos.

And it's so interesting when you study the history of Christian music. As a Christian musician, I have done it. You'd be surprised that they've been fighting these kind of battles for a long time. And songs that we now consider orthodox and what we ought to be singing, when they first came out, they were called worldly. And so you live and you learn.

Guest (Male): It's always unwise to be at odds with our brothers and sisters in Christ over things that don't matter. Remember, in the essentials unity, in the nonessentials liberty, and in all things charity. So glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message, "Can't We All Just Get Along?" If you joined us late or if you want to hear the full message one more time, stop by pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net.

When you come to faith in Christ, you were immediately made right with God. And it's because of this new relationship that believers have access to peace, joy, hope, even during life's most difficult seasons. To learn more about the access to blessings you have in Christ, I hope you'll contact us today and request your copy of our latest booklet, Access Granted.

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Paul Sheppard: There are churches that are still trying to figure out whether it's appropriate to be boisterous in worship; to sing loudly and to dance and to shout. You have the right to worship the way you want to worship. What you don't have the right to do is judge someone else's style of worship as wrong.

Guest (Male): That will be heard next time in our continuing Destined for Victory message, "Can't We All Just Get Along?" Until then, remember: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.