Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Today on Sound Doctrine. We're to love and forgive one another now in this life. And you say, "Why? Why is that? I don't like that guy. Every time I see him, I run to the other side of the church. I don't even want to get near that guy."

You know, or this or that, we have our piddly things that we go through as a family here. But the reason he wants us to do that is that we're going to spend eternity together. So get it right now. Get used to getting along with your brothers and sisters. Guess what? You're going to spend eternity with them. Isn't that great? You can't run from them then because they can fly.

Why is it that we so often have the hardest time getting along with some of our family members? Those we should be the closest to, we sometimes find great division. You know, that's also the case in the family of God. Just look at all the bickering and fighting going on in the church today.

But today on Sound Doctrine, we'll learn why it's important that we get along with fellow believers. Sure, we may not all agree on the non-essentials or gray areas, and that's okay. Pastor Jeff Johnson encourages us to love with God's love in part two of "The Games Christians Play".

Jeff Johnson: Well, we're in Romans chapter 14 this morning. We're going to continue a kind of a part two of what I started last week. And it wasn't a pleasant Bible study. When you go through the Bible and you go verse by verse, chapter by chapter, you have to deal with whatever you're dealing with. So we've got to deal with this chapter. It's not pretty. It's dealing with us today, right now, this congregation. Not only was Paul writing to Rome about these things, and did Rome have a problem? Yeah.

The title to remember is "The Games Christians Play". And we're into the game thing. We get into games and we sometimes play very well because we get the whole thing down. We get the Christianese down and we can play the whole thing. Well, it's real personal today. It's now not to those in Rome, but to those in Downey. This is God's word to us so we would put off game playing.

So these are Paul's practical exhortations to the family of God. Personal, housekeeping matters to those here listening. Remember Jesus said, "They will know that you are my disciples because you have love to one another." And that's how anybody's going to know that we're His disciples: our love to one another in here. How Christians treat other Christians.

And therein lies some of the games that we get into, and it's not pretty, it's not good. So Paul's dealing with this issue. He's not talking about... Jesus didn't say, "And they will know you're my disciples by your judgmental attitudes, because you major in the minors, because you're really into non-essential things and you press it home and you drive it home."

He's not talking about that, about having all kinds of discussion about holy days and diets. And then somebody perks up and says, "Well, I don't smoke and I don't chew and I don't go with those that do." Okay, what are you trying to say? "Well, I'm better than you are." We get up on these little pedestals as Christians and we have to be careful.

I love what Saint Augustine said. He helps us out here. He says, "I always share with people to teach unity in the essentials." And the essentials, of course, is doctrine. Doctrine is that which is foundational, it's there, it's solid, it's truth. Nothing's going to change that. That's what doctrine is.

So he says teach unity that we'd all be together with doctrine. But then teach liberty in the non-essentials. And that can get pretty scary. What do you mean non-essentials? Well, those things that the Bible really doesn't discuss, doesn't really go over, doesn't give us a quick answer to. Preach liberty in those things.

Wow, that sounds good. Liberty is always a good word, right? Yeah, we're free. We can do whatever we want. Well, wait a minute. You know, I'm free to do anything. Paul said that. I'm free to live my own life, but not everything that I'm free to do is good for me. Not everything that I'm free to do is beneficial.

There are some things, if I'm so free, if I start getting into it, it'll bring me under its bondage. So I choose not to do those things. So there's a thing here that liberty in non-essentials, don't make a big deal about things. And then he says finally, but charity in all things.

So unity when it comes to doctrine, liberty when it comes to just those things that are the gray areas, and then in all things, love. That's what we need. So in any family we know there's personality problems. We know there's relationship problems. And the Lord is going to speak to us this morning about making allowance for those problems.

"Yeah, but Uncle Tom, he keeps... oh, I can't stand him. I just... the guy is off. I just can't get near him." Well, wait a minute. He says make allowances for him. Is he a Christian? "No, I don't think he is. He's weird." Give him a break. He's Uncle Tom. And we want to be a witness to Uncle Tom.

We don't want to turn him off. We don't want to give him the old cold shoulder or shun him because he's not exactly what we want Uncle Tom to be. We have to be loving, make allowances, give him space. I heard of a woman that wanted to join this very popular church. And to join this very popular church you had to fill out a whole resume thing.

So she fills it out, she turns it in, goes before the elders of the church and she gets a letter back saying, "You're turned down. Can't join." She comes back and says, "I'm going to try that again. I want to join this church. Maybe they didn't understand or maybe I didn't answer something right."

So she fills it out all over again and mails it in. Gets another letter back. "You've been turned down." She went up to the elder and she said, "What's going on? How come I can't come to this church? You guys turned me down twice." And he just simply says, "Well, you need to pray about it. You need to just pray about it."

She just said, "All right." She just left. And then they met in the mall and the elder... this is a few months later... sees her and says, "Oh, it's good to see you. How are you doing?" "Fine." "Well, have you prayed about it?" And her answer was, "Well, yeah, and God told me don't worry about them, He's tried to join that church for years."

So I believe what Paul is taking us into is about loving with His love, being a witness. Now, with our earthly family it's different a lot of times. It can be very distant, especially when you are the only Christian in the home. Or here you are, your husband is whatever and you now have come to the Lord.

There's a problem, there's a problem. And then with relatives there's problems. And even Jesus said, "Well, I came to send and to give a sword in the family because once you receive Me, there's going to be problems. Because there's going to be some in your family that are going actually become your enemy." Isn't that weird?

You think your family would understand. Would say, "I want to look into what you're into. What's this all about? We're very concerned about you." And want to look into it. But no, they immediately turn off, turn their back and shun you. You know, a lot of times people think that blood is stronger than anything.

"Blood relatives," you know, "they're my blood." But I've got something that's stronger. It's in Jesus. It's His Spirit. It is stronger than blood. And what Paul is saying here is that we need to start loving one another in our Christian family. Now, that doesn't excuse us from not loving the family that's outside of the Lord.

No, we need to be even more lovers of them and showing them love and sacrificing and doing whatever it takes to be a good witness to them. But to the Christian family, we're to love and forgive one another now in this life. And you say, "Why? Why is that? I don't like that guy.

Every time I see him I run to the other side of the church. I don't even want to get near that guy." You know, or this or that, and we have our piddly things that we go through as a family here. But the reason He wants us to do that is that we're going to spend eternity together. So get it right now.

Get used to getting along with your brothers and sisters. Guess what? You're going to spend eternity with them. Isn't that great? You can't run from them then because they can fly. You can't get away. So I think that's what Paul is here doing, giving us a lot of reasons why we are to get things right and how we can do that.

I mean, it's not easy. Relationships are the hardest things we have to work with. But how do you get along with people, especially your brothers and sisters in the Lord when that seems to just be one of the areas that we really wrestle with? Well, he gives us all kinds of more reasons.

Chapter 14 of Romans and verse 7 is where we left off. So this is part two of "The Games Christians Play". "For none of us," Paul says, "lives to himself, and no man dies to himself." So no man's an island. We need each other. That's just the way it is. Sociologically we need each other, spiritually we need each other.

Why? Because the Bible says we are the body of Christ. That's pretty serious language. The body of Christ? That we're intricately adhered to one another. The muscle, the blood, the everything that's in my body, He looks at it like we are the body of Christ. He's the head, we're the body.

And so we're to be moving smoothly and beautifully. Each part is important, each part is working for the betterment of the whole. As my hands are moving, it's to make an illustration or a point. I mean, every part... the mouth, the brain, the voice box... everything is seeking to make its point.

And God is using the messenger, so to speak, to bring forth His message. And by the Holy Spirit He brings it forth to our hearts and deals with us. So we're not to be cocky, we're not to say, "Well, I'm the master of my own destiny, the captain of my own ship," and that whole thing.

We're not to live and die as we please. We're the Lord's. And that's what He's trying to let us see here. We don't die unto ourselves, we don't live unto ourselves. We are the Lord's. Peter brings it home and says it this way in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18.

He says, "Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed or bought with corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your empty conversation, your manner of living by the tradition of your fathers; but you were bought with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish without spot."

Bought with the sacrificial death of our Lord and Savior. His blood flowed down on Calvary that day two thousand years ago, and it's still just as powerful as it was back then today to change a heart, to change a life. He bought us with that blood. We're a blood-bought people.

And that's the sacrifice behind it. God so loved me that His Son bled for me. And His blood covers me and cleanses me this day and changes me. Notice verse 8, he goes on to say, "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."

So what is he saying? Well, he's not talking about living in this life and just making it and living and then you die. He's not talking about that. He's talking about living in the Lord, living it up in the Lord. He's talking about living a life that's more abundantly, being joyful in the things of God.

There is a sweet spot when we're walking with the Lord that in His presence is fullness of joy, all right? So it's all about Him being Lord of my life, Lord of my heart. He's on my heart's throne. He controls everything. I submit to Him every day. I lay my life down and I say, "Lord, deal with me."

And He's constantly walking and talking with us. So there's the joy of the Lord. It's right there. We're going to have Gayle Erwin coming out. I mean, this is a guy that lives in the Lord. I mean, you just see it all over his face in what he shares and how he shares it.

And he's funny, man. But it's more than that, it's a lifestyle. He lives Jesus-style. He lives in the Lord and he enjoys the Lord. And so he's just a blessing to hear. So you just have to come out and see this guy who lives it up in the Lord. But when you die, what is that all about?

Well, it's you die to self is what he's saying. Dying here is like you're giving it up for the Lord. Living it up for the Lord, giving it up for the Lord. That's great. You just let go and let God have your life. This next year in our school we're having the scripture in Mark chapter 8 there that talks about losing your life.

So it's called "Lose Yourself," the scripture that we're using for the kids next year. Lose yourself. Be a loser for God. Man, we're going to edify our kids this year, aren't we? "Hey, you're a loser!" "Yeah, I'm a loser, man." Well, in the frame of thought that you're losing your life in Christ.

To lose your life in Him is to gain life. Is to really live life because I'm dying and He is living in me stronger and stronger on a daily basis. So that's a good thing. It's very personal, but it's definitely gain. So the key here is what he's saying is we are the Lord's.

Remember what Joshua said: "For me and my house we're going to serve the Lord." We're the Lord's. We're going to serve the Lord all the days of our life. I love that. So we have no right to judge or criticize others. Over in Romans chapter 2, if you want to turn with me in verse 1.

Check this out because Paul already said this as far as judging or criticizing. He says, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doeth the same things." You know how sometimes we're pointing at others, we've got three coming back at us?

And it's so true because sometimes we really point to those that have a weakness that we understand and that we see. And then when we start pointing at them, the Lord's just trying to say, "Hey, get that finger down, you're looking at you." And it's sobering.

But he says verse 2, "We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that commit such things." So be careful. What goes around comes around. And be careful about how you judge. We have no right to, really.

In fact, over in Romans 14 in our text here in verse 4, going back a little bit, he says, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand."

So hey, who are we to judge somebody else's servant? He's accountable to his own master, he's not accountable to us. Now remember, we're talking about non-essential areas. Non-essential things, gray areas where the Bible doesn't really specify. It's not doctrine, all right?

It's just out there. It's about if you're a vegetarian or not and these little arguments that come up about birth control and about going to battle, going to war as a Christian. Is that right? And we go around and around with these things. And these are the non-essentials.

But in doctrine, again, we're to judge. If you see a brother or sister making a real mistake like saying, "You know what? We really love each other but right now financially what we need to do is we're going to go just live together but we have two bedrooms. A two-bedroom house.

Hey bro, two bedrooms." "Yeah, okay." "Yeah, we're just going to save our money and it's not a sin thing. It's just we're trying to be good stewards of what God's given us." And so they buy this house and they get in there and they're staying in the other bedroom.

But wait a minute, this looks bad, doesn't it? It says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 we're to avoid even the appearance of evil. What are you doing? Brother, you know, don't do this because not only the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I mean, come on, you're setting yourself up.

But also we're to avoid the appearance of evil. You know, this is not the way you do it. So when it comes to fornication, when it comes to adultery, when it comes to something doctrinal that you see a brother or sister getting into that's going to hurt themselves, well, Galatians 6:1.

Write that down. Galatians 6:1 talks about you that are spiritual and you see a brother or sister in a fault and you see them going off and going to hurt themselves in this situation, go to that brother or sister in meekness, seeking to bring them back.

And to see them restored back into a right relationship with God because right now they're not hearing right. They're not doing right and you're just there to meekly... not "Hey, I'm going to tell you what to do because this is the way I live."

No, you're meekly saying, "Hey, you need to take a second look at this. You know, let me talk to you about it. Let's just talk as brothers right now." And you could save a brother there from really getting hurt, right? So that's what we're talking about here.

The difference between non-essentials and the difference between doctrine. Now, remember when Nathan came to David? And David was caught up with not only adultery, but to hide the adultery he committed murder. And he just pushed it aside, swept it under the rug, so to speak.

Can you do that? Well, a lot of people do it all the time. You know, there's something about the conscience today that's really been burned, so to speak, seared with a hot iron. People don't have consciences anymore. They don't care. They sweep it under the thing and walk on.

Everything's cool. No, it's not. So Nathan had to come to David very carefully and give him a story to get him to see it. He had to humble himself. He didn't come as a prophet of God gonna tell you what to do and what not to do. He didn't do that.

He told him a story and David got all upset at the story. And then he said, "David, you're the guy that I was talking about in the story. You're the guy that went and got this woman and took her, and then had her husband killed." Do you see that? And it just struck him and he repented.

He saw it. You see, the Lord works that way. He works through Bible study, He works through His Spirit convicting us of our sin, He works through the word of God as you read it. I mean, He just works that way in seeking us to get into a right relationship.

Now, notice verse 9. He says, "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." Romans 14:9. Listen. God's plan to pardon man. God's plan to give man peace for our hurting soul.

Holiness, to be able to walk in the wholeness of life, to have a pureness of life that you never had before. That you were just blowing it left and right. There was darkness in your life, there was sin in your life and you knew what you were doing.

And you just compacted it and built it up. But He frees us. He died, He rose again so we could have a relationship with Him. And check this out: with each other. A brother-sister relationship that's so awesome.

As we pray together where two or three are gathered, agreeing in any one thing, it shall be done in the name of Jesus. Talk about the body of Christ. You talk about making a difference in our world. When we have a relationship with Him and then with each other, nothing is going to stop the Lord in His work.

And we've seen it all the way through the scriptures, all the way to where we're at today. He's delivered us because He is Lord of my life from this critical, judgmental spirit that can come down into my life and make me Mr. Pharisee or Sadducee to those around.

I don't want to be that way. Jesus hated that attitude. And yet there are so many in the church today that have this judgmental attitude. Hey, I'm not saying that I didn't ever get caught up in it, or I never had this judgmental thing where I'd say somebody and I'd go, "Yeah, let me tell you his name."

When it comes to somebody that's messing with the flock and doctrinally off, I'll name them. Because Paul did. I'm just following Paul because he's following Jesus. So that's a good thing. And I'll name those guys. But I'm just not going to start judging ministries and judging this and judging that.

And if I do, you guys let me know. Because I'll repent. Because it's not good. It's not good if we're doing it to make ourselves feel better, or to feel like we're more on than they are.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Sound Doctrine and a message from Pastor Jeff Johnson called "The Games Christians Play", part two. It is our sincere hope that you've been blessed by the words spoken today by Pastor Jeff as we continue verse by verse through the great Book of Romans.

The 16 chapters in this amazing epistle from the Apostle Paul contain some of the most important lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus in the 21st century. Now, if you'd like to hear this study again, there are several ways to do that.

The first is online at sounddoctrineradio.org. By the way, you can also donate to this radio ministry right there at sounddoctrineradio.org. The second way to listen is through the Sound Doctrine Radio podcast app. Look for us in your favorite app store.

The podcast version of Sound Doctrine can also be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Hey, join us for another study in Romans next time we meet for Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. In the meantime, have a blessed day in the Lord.