Our Responsibilities in the Worthy Work

Well, take your Bible and turn back with me to Romans chapter 14. I'm going to be in chapter 14 and we'll be in a few verses in chapter 15 as well. So just have your Bible turn there. We'll get to those scriptures here in a little while throughout the message. Now right off, I want us all to have something in our mind and in our thinking before we get started in the message. Even though we are examining passages in Romans 14, Romans 15, and even though I will call you to study Romans 14 and Romans 15, we are still working to understand and we're all still working to apply what we've been studying together in Ephesians 4 verses 1 to 6.

Now let me explain this a little further. For three weeks we have been studying basically two works from Ephesians 4, 1 to 6. First, our responsibility to this worthy walk, and then second, our responsibility to this worthy work. Now I have said numerous times that the apex or the climax of these verses in Ephesians is the worthy work of maintaining the unity of the spirit of the church. Last week I even gave us four lessons for the worthy walk and four lessons for the worthy work. We've applied together and this is all to help solidify these things in our minds and in our hearts.

Now with Ephesians 4 verses 1 to 6 in one hand and keeping our eye and our heart on the worthy work of eagerly preserving the unity of the spirit in the church, let's turn our attention to Romans 14 and 15. Let's put these verses in Romans 14 and 15 in our other hand and let's look for some teaching here that will help us in this work of preserving the unity of the spirit in the church. Now I want us to see what is at hand here in these verses, Romans 14 and 15. Here in these verses is a work of God that can swing open the door to a new understanding and appreciation to our responsibility in this work of unity.

In my opinion from my years of study and years of life in the local church, the work that God can do from these verses can truly make all of us more capable in this work. I will go so far as to say that if we will not allow a work of God in our lives from our verses here in Romans 14 and 15, you and we will all be a hindrance to the worthy work of preserving the unity and we may even destroy it. We may even destroy it. Now here in Romans 14 we find four responsibilities, four responsibilities that we have in our relationships to one another.

These are four maintaining and protecting even fostering this unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now I will go ahead and give you these four one anothers. These are what I call four one anothers. Receive one another, build up one another, please one another, and rejoice with one another. You can summarize that and shorten that by saying receive, build up, please and rejoice. Now this is a common outline. This is a common breakdown of the passages of scripture and in your own study you're going to run across other pastors and writers and commentators that will give this type of an outline.

And I know you are because I'm going to call you to do some extra study here. I'm going to call you to do some faithful study on your own. But also here in Romans 14 and 15 we find all types of knots, knots. Paul calls us knot to do quite a few things here. Now I'm not going to list all of the knots, the list of knots is long so you're going to have to see them. But I want us to see that these knots are for the same work. These knots are here so that we would be capable and able to do the work of maintaining unity of the spirit in the bond of peace in the life of the church.

Now before we get started I want to explain how this message will unfold. Obviously this is a unique message and how this all relates to the worthy work of maintaining unity. First I will briefly describe this church situation briefly. I want us to see the context and the background of these verses and while Paul is writing like this. And again you need to study here so that you can get more of this background in this situation. Next I want us to examine these four one anothers. We will look at some positive instruction, the one anothers are very positive and then we're going to look at some negative instruction. That is those knots there.

These knots in the verses are negative. And I will put these things in a very specific, very specific context. And then third I'll make some application from some very specific areas of our lives, your life, our life and how all of this relates to life in our local church. And then last I will make some concluding comments about how all of this relates to the worthy work of maintaining the unity, the spirit in the church and our great responsibilities here. So first I want us to see that in this real church, the church at Rome, there were very different Christians in the life of this church. Now this was a literal local church.

Any of your study bibles will give you some very relevant information and much needed information about the church there at Rome. And there were very different Christians in the life of this local church when Paul was writing this letter. We must see that there were differences and their differences were centered around Jews and Gentiles but it was much more complex than simply differences between these two groups. Yes, they did have those who were Jews who had come to faith in Christ and those who were pagan or Gentile and they had come to faith in Christ.

These Jews were brought up in the religion of Judaism following the law of God and everything in the Old Testament but the Gentiles were much different. They came from pure paganism. The Gentiles worshiped many gods and in their day and the day that this letter was written many of them even worshiped the emperor, the Roman emperor. The Jews worshiped in their synagogues and then ultimately they worshiped in the temple there in Jerusalem while the Gentiles they worshiped in their many pagan temples.

The Jews made animal sacrifices as they worshiped the one true God while the pagans, the Gentiles, they made sacrifices to their gods and much of their worship involved all sorts of gross immorality. The Jews had been waiting for the long awaited Messiah that is spoken of all throughout the Old Testament but the Gentiles knew nothing of a Messiah. So both the Jew and the Gentile had come to faith in Christ and they are there in the church but everything wasn't going along easy in the life of the church.

Now not only were there differences and difficulties between the Jews and the Gentiles, there were difficulties and differences between the weaker Christians and the stronger Christians that were there in the church. This is where things get rather convoluted. They can even seem confusing. Some of the Christians who were formerly Jews were stronger Christians and some who were formerly Jews, they were weaker Christians. And some of the Christians who were formerly Gentile or pagan, well they were stronger Christians and some who were formerly pagan or formerly Gentile, they were weaker Christians.

It is easy to see the weaker because they are mentioned right off in verse 1. And then it is easy to see the stronger because they are mentioned right there in verse 2. So right away we need to see that there were different kinds of Christians in this local church, a real church. The formerly Jews, they were Christians and then there were the former pagans, they were Christians and then there were the weaker and the stronger and they came from both groups. And these differences led to factions and frictions as well as differences and divisions. Now I'm going to pose a few rhetorical questions here and I don't want you to forget them.

I want you to write them down. I want you to think about them. Maybe answer them in your mind and in your heart where all of these differences wrong. Were they? Did the weaker have a responsibility to become like the strong? Did the strong have a responsibility to become like the weak? How should these groups, these different Christians, how should they have related to one another in the life of the church? These are questions that we must ask and we must ponder. I want us to continue second. I want us to see that there were very difficult divisions in the life of this church.

There were different Christians and now I want us to see there were very difficult divisions in the life of the church. Now these were, these divisions were difficult and they were confusing because Paul isn't exhaustive here, but they ran along two lines. First there were differences and divisions over foods. It's easy to see. And second, there were differences in divisions over days. That's easy to see. And we need to see that Paul does not chase down every detail here. He kind of speaks to it broadly. Broadly. Broadly this is the way it was. First the Jews, they came to Christ out of very strict legalistic backgrounds.

All their lives they headed here to strict dietary laws and they had strictly observed different holy days, even holy feasts and celebrations that came from the Old Testament in the old covenant. They strictly observed the Sabbath day and there were many, many rules pertaining to the Sabbath that told them what they could do and what they could not do. And then second, the Gentiles, these pagans, they came to Christ, but they did not come from strict rules and regulations from their religions. They came to Christ, but they did not come from this type of a background. Basically in their pagan religions, there were really no rules.

In many ways in their former lifestyle, nothing was off limits. Their backgrounds were very different, completely different than those of the Jews. So simply this is what was happening in the early church, in this church at Rome. You had Jews come into Christ and many could not break away from their ceremonial laws that they had practiced all of their lives. These were the things that their people had adhered to for generations.

They were steeped in ceremonial laws as well as rights and prohibitions that God Himself had instituted under the old covenant and they just couldn't let go of all of those rules, all of those laws, all of those prohibitions. But some of the Jews were much different. Some of the Jews could break away from those food laws, those special days, all of those things that were pertaining to the ceremonial law. Some could break away. But in the churches, you had the Gentiles. They were coming to faith in Christ as well, but they were coming into the churches with the Jews and they had been steeped in their pagan religions and their rituals.

They had come from polytheism, multiple gods, sacrificing animals to their gods, these religious feasts that were practically religious sexual orgies and all types of debauchery. And when they came to faith in Christ, some could not break away from some of these things, but many could break away from these things in a great, great way. See, these were the divisions and the differences. Christians from Jewish backgrounds who could not break away from their past were in conflict with those who could break away from their past. Let me narrow it down to a specific example. Some of these Jews could not break away from the old Sabbath day.

The Jewish Sabbath was a Saturday. So Paul is showing us that some of these Jews, they could not let go of that old covenant Sabbath day. And so some of these Jews were Christian and they were adhering to the Sabbath day. Saturday is the Sabbath day, but yet some of the Jews could let go of that and they understood it was old covenant. So they were in conflict. There are many more examples we could get into, but Christians from a pagan background who could not break away from some of their past, they were in conflict with some of those who definitely could break away from their past. Let me give you an example.

Some of those who could break away from their pagan past, they knew that they could eat meat that were sacrificed to idols. They knew that they could eat meat that was sacrificed to idols because they knew that those idols didn't exist. There was nothing inherently wrong with that meat. But some of those Gentile Christians, oh they couldn't do that. It violated their conscience. It grieved them. So there was a conflict there in those types of areas. And again, we could be more exhaustive there. So there were divisions, there were conflicts between these groups.

There was friction and there was factions and it really was a bad deal more so than you know. Now, remember our rhetorical questions? Were all of these differences wrong? We must ask those questions. Did the weaker have the responsibility to become like the strong? Most of us would instinctively say yes. How should these groups, these different Christians, how should they have related to one another? They are clearly Christian and they're under the roof of one church. How should they have related to one another? So while this church was in the middle of these differences and these divisions, Paul writes and he does two basic things here.

Really he does a lot. First he identifies the problems by calling out their divisions and differences. Second he calls them to do four things, four things that are positive. He calls them to four responsibilities that were very positive in nature. And then in the midst of these positives, he addresses many, many negatives. Here's where we run into the knots. So number one, Paul calls them to receive one another. He calls them to receive one another. Now if you want to see this command, you must really examine closely verses 1 to 12 of chapter 14. Now I'm not going to read all of those verses. It is your responsibility to do so.

Look at verse one. Paul says, "As for the one who is weak in the faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions." Now notice that Paul commands them to receive the weaker brother in the faith. The English standard says welcome him. The new American standard says accept the one who is weak. Now this word welcome, this word accept is key. It simply means to accept someone as a friend and as a brother, but more. It means to receive a brother as a brother in Christ, but more. It means to receive them, welcome them warmly, freely, openly, and genuinely. Now I'm not going to read all of the knots in verses 1 to 12.

I'm not going to read all of that, but we must see them. Paul calls them to receive their weaker brother, but not to quarrel or to pass judgment on their opinions. He calls the weaker and the stronger not to fight, not to debate, not to judge one another. He says in verse 4, "Who are you to judge your brother?" He says in verse 10, "Why do you judge your brother? Why do you despise your brother?" You see all the negatives? See all the knots there? So Paul plainly calls the stronger brother to receive the weaker brother and not just to tolerate them as some kind of a second-class citizen.

He calls them to fully and warmly welcome them as a brother, and he calls them all, all of them, the weak and the strong, to stop quarreling, to stop judging, and to even stop despising one another. For us, you, me, and our day, our responsibility is that we are to receive, welcome, and accept the stronger and the weaker brother fully, warmly, genuinely, not as some kind of a second-class Christian, not as some kind of a second-rate church member. The command and the responsibility is to receive and accept the brother fully. It's really easy to see. So we must receive one another. And then number two, Paul calls them to build up one another.

Paul calls them to build up one another. Now we find this command starting in verse 13 and going all the way in to the end of the chapter to verse 23. So you need to go read those verses on your own as well. But notice chapter 14 verse 19. We see this specific command. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Now we see this command in verse 19. I've read it. Now the newer American says, "Make for peace and the building up for one another." The English standard reads upbuilding. The King James uses the word edify. And this language pictures building something up like in the construction of a building.

But Paul isn't calling them to pursue the construction of a building. No, that's not the work. He was calling them to pursue the work of building up or the construction of one another. Not destruction, but construction. You see the positive. And again, I'm not going to read all of the not commands in verses 13 to 23. But just like before, there are many here. Paul says not to pass judgment on each other anymore. He calls them not to be an obstacle or a stumbling block or a hindrance for a brother or a sister. He even calls them not to destroy one another.

So Paul plainly caused the stronger and the weaker to receive one another warmly, freely, openly, genuinely. And now he calls them to the next step. And that is to build up one another. As a building is being constructed, they were to pursue the work of building each other up in the faith. And he calls them not to even be a hindrance to one another, much less destroy one another. For us, our responsibility is that we are to pursue the work of building each other up. The weaker brother and the stronger brother. We are to pursue the work and we are to do the work.

The command and the expectation and the responsibility is to pursue the work of building each other up. So we must pursue the building up of one another. And then number three, Paul calls them to please one another. Paul calls them to please one another. Now we find this command in chapter 15, really in verses 1 to 7. But notice what verse 2 says. Let us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. Now this command to please one another, it may seem odd to you, the New American in verse 2 says, let each of us please his neighbor. Even Christ did not please himself. You notice the example here?

Paul says that Christ did not even please himself. This simply means that the brother and the sisters here, that they must live for the good of others rather for the good of self. They must live to please others rather than self just like Christ did. But here I'm not going to read every not command as well. But there's only one. There's only one. Look back at chapter 15. Look back at verse 1. I didn't read that earlier. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. You see, there's only one not command here and it is about pleasing self.

So Paul clearly calls the stronger and the weaker to receive one another in love and in genuine acceptance. He then calls them to pursue the work of building up one another. And here he calls them to live for the good of others rather than pleasing self just like Jesus did. And for us, our responsibility here is to live to please others. It is our responsibility to live not for the good and the pleasure of self, but for the good of others, the brothers and sisters in the church. Just as Christ put the good of others first, the responsibility for us here is to do the same. So we must please one another.

And then number four, Paul calls them to rejoice with one another. He calls them to rejoice with one another. Now we see this rejoicing starting in verse eight and really going all the way to verse 13. Now I'm not going to read those verses. You need to read them on your own. Now here there is really no key word and there are no not commands. It really changes. But here Paul is quoting a number of Old Testament scriptures. Some of you have Bibles that note that and show you that. And he is quoting passages from 2 Samuel 22 verse 50, Psalm 18 verse 49, Deuteronomy 32 43, Psalm 117 verse 1, and Isaiah 11 verse 10.

And Paul is calling on both the Christians with the Jewish past and the Christians with the Gentile past, all of the weaker and all of the stronger to do what? To praise God and rejoice with God and rejoice in God's great salvation plan that involved them all. So Paul calls on all of these believers in this church to accept one another with a warm and a genuine acceptance. And he is calling them to pursue the work of building up one another. And he is calling them to live so as to please one another just as Jesus lived to please others and not self. And now he is calling all of them Jew and Gentile or formally Jew and Gentile strong and weak.

And he is calling all of them to rejoice in God's great salvation plan to save all of them. And for us, our responsibility is to praise God and rejoice that God saves Jew and Gentile. All kinds. So listen church. Make sure you have those four one anothers noted. Written down. We are all going to need them from this day forward. They're right there in verse one. They're right there in verse 19 of chapter 14. They're right there in chapter 15 verse 2. And specifically you see it even in verse 7 but all of those verses. So make sure that you have these one anothers. But we must realize something.

And we must realize and remember the specific issue at hand that made Paul give these four responsibilities in the first place. You might say I know why he gave them. I know why. The church had some serious problems. That's true but it's more specific than that. It's much more specific. All of this. All of this is centered around matters of the conscience. These things concerning days and foods were matters that pertain to the conscience as these people in this church were striving to live before God in this local church. These were not clear biblical commands. These were not moral issues.

These issues at hand in this church there at Rome were not about breaking or keeping clear biblical commands or moral commands. These were issues of their conscience as they dealt with these things before God and in the life of the church. Look back at chapter 14 verse 5. Paul says one person esteem's one day is better than another while another esteem's all days alike but each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. That shows you that these are matters of conscience but if you pay attention in your study from verse 5 all the way to verse 23 you will see that Paul points out four things here.

First these were all matters of conscience. Second they were to be fully convinced in their own mind of these matters. Third these things were to be lived out before God and then fourth these things were to be lived out in such a way so that their brothers are not harmed. But all these differences, all these divisions and the teaching that Paul gave here centered around matters of the conscience. Today in today's language scholars and commentators will say that these are things that pertain to matters of the Christian conscience. Christian conscience. But you know for us we don't deal with differences and divisions from Jew and Gentile.

We're all Gentiles. We don't deal with that. We don't deal with groups from each group who are dividing and fighting over views that pertain to days and food. Really in many ways none of this applies to us but all of this applies to us. We have this same type of behavior and we have these same type of people all around us. At least the potential to be all around us. First we always have people who confuse their personal convictions with the commandments of God. And we must see that commandments from God, pure black and white commandments are for all time and art all people and they are found in the scriptures.

But matters of the Christian conscience are matters of conviction and convictions should be based off biblical teaching and principles and examples yes. But second we always have people who have a tendency to judge, they have a tendency to debate and to fight and even despise others who don't see matters of the Christian conscience as they do. And they can be judgmental, they can be quarrelsome and they can even cause tremendous hindrances to those who do not see things the way they do. They can really hurt and even destroy others if they are not dealt with.

And we must see the tremendous damage that these people in this kind of behavior can cause the body and the unity of the body. Now at this time I want to list a few issues that are matters of the Christian conscience that can be debated and they can cause divisions and differences in the life of the church even today. And we may live these things out different, much different than other brothers and sisters around us. We may live these things out a lot different than even someone who is sitting in front of us or behind us. I think about matters of entertainment.

Some people watch TV, subscribe to television and things like that and some don't. Some spend money on going to the movies, the theater and some do not. I think about matters like vacations. Some never make vacation, they think it's frivolous to spend money like that while some people do. I think about recreation, hobbies. Some have hobbies, some do not. Some enjoy recreation while others do not. Some fish, some hunt. Some maybe have a boat for things like water skiing. Some play sports like tennis and golf, maybe ride a bike or even run, some do not. I think about things pertaining to money. Some make more money and some do not.

Some spend money on certain things while some do not. Some spend more money on clothes while others may spend more money on things like vehicles in their homes. Some people save a whole lot of money and some people do not. Now I could go on. These are general things but I want you to see that we can be very, very different here in how we view these things, how we spiritualize these things or not and how we live out these things. These kind of matters, these things speak to our convictions and our positions. We must ask ourselves, how do we relate to one another in relation to these kind of things if we're different?

And are we accepting of a brother who is different here? Are we judgmental here? Do we want to debate these things here? Do we hinder others and our attitudes and our words and our positions about these kind of things? But I also think about matters of the home in home life. These are things that we can be very passionate about. This is where we can have more firm convictions. Maybe we think about these things more and in your home life it may look a lot different than somebody else in the life of the church.

You might be walking with the Lord and they might be walking with the Lord but the way you deal with your home life could be a lot different. Some here your marriage dynamics might be a lot different than someone else. Some here the way you raise your children is much different. Some feel led of God to home school while some do not. Some feel led of God to private school while some do not. Some feel led of God to public school while some do not. Some here have different convictions and views on medical issues. Some have convictions about birth control and how many children they should have. Some have views and convictions about vaccines.

The COVID vaccine has brought this kind of a debate right up to the forefront. Some feel like they should get the COVID vaccine. Some feel like they should not. Some have different views on vaccines when it comes to their children and some are much different. Some here have different views on how they lead their family spiritually. Some are prone to sit down with a family and have what's called family worship while some do not. And the issue is how you lead but the issue is that you do lead. And again we must ask ourselves how do we relate to one another in relation to these types of themes?

And are we accepting of a brother or a sister who is much different here? Are we judgmental? Do we want to debate these things? Do we hinder others by our attitudes and our words in the way we express our positions? These are all definitely matters of the Christian conscience. We could go on and on and elaborate on these lists. But these are matters of the Christian conscience. These are not matters of black and white commandments. Now listen to your pastor here. I want to speak to the positive and then I want to speak to the negative. First we are commanded to accept one another. How? Gritting our teeth? Tolerating each other? No.

Warmly, freely, genuinely. You can't fake being genuine. We are to pursue, pursue the work of building up one another. Not tolerating one another. Not tearing each other down. We are expected to please one another which is putting others first. We might need a little help there. Christ did. He did that. And we are called to praise God and rejoice in God's great saving plan. The fact that he saves and he sanctifies all sorts of people and sometimes their sanctification might not look like ours. And look, these are our responsibilities in the church.

With the one who is weaker and with the one who is stronger and in all of these differences and different personal convictions in the Christian life, we are expected to do these things. It's in the text and we can't sidestep them. What about your attitudes? We can automatically think of actions. We can automatically think of words. But what about in our attitudes and our thoughts? You might not realize that your attitudes and your thoughts can be just as sinful as your actions. The ramifications might be different. But sometimes if you harbor the wrong attitudes and the wrong thoughts, ultimately it will come out in action.

But then second, we are commanded not to judge one another and not to quarrel and debate over matters of the conscience. Now can we talk about them? Sure. But there's a lot of difference between a good friendly conversation and quarreling and wanting to debate. We are commanded not to fight against and to hinder and to trip up one another in these things. We are commanded not to destroy other brothers and sisters in matters of conscience. Listen, folks, we can't even destroy a brother or a sister if they are in sin and violating a clear passage of scripture, much less matters of the conscience. And look, these are our responsibilities.

The knots are our responsibilities as well. With the one who is weaker and the one who is stronger and all of our differences and our different personal convictions in the Christian life, even when we're a lot different than someone who is sitting right behind us. And again, it starts in our attitudes. It starts in our thoughts. And then it goes to our speech. Maybe not in the piece here, but when you're in your home. It starts with our attitudes and our thoughts and how we express those thoughts. We do not have the right to be judgmental, to want to debate, to fight, and then ultimately hinder and destroy others.

Now as pastor of Grace Life Church, I want to quickly speak to the three that can be the most contentious of our day. Hey, folks, you have no idea how contentious foods and days were for those Jewish Christians. You have no idea how contentious the issue with meat being sacrificed to idols. You have no idea how hot that was in the life of that church. Now I want to speak about three things that can really turn negative in the life of the church. First of all, doctrine. Now we should have our doctrine straight.

But you know there are always those who want to debate doctrine and they want to quarrel over doctrine and they also want to debate and quarrel over how you express that doctrine. But what about that brother? What about that sister who just can't express it the way you do? What about that brother? What about that sister who is struggling to understand that doctrine that you proudly say that you can grasp? And I have seen people and groups be extremely divisive, extremely difficult, extremely quarrelsome, extremely judgmental when it comes to the matter doctrine. One that I've already mentioned is the issue of how we school our children.

Now I want to say something. I'm going to say it emphatically. I've said this before and I've had people misconstrue my words, twist my words and turn my words. I am for homeschooling. I am for public schooling and I'm for private schooling. Now the culture is changing fast. I know that. But what I'm trying to show you is this. These are matters of the Christian conscience. I have counseled with men and families in the life of this church and I have counseled with them and prayed with them and they have come to the place where they've said, "Pastor, I feel led to homeschool." And I always have the same response, "More power to you.

Praise the Lord. I support you wholeheartedly." I've sat down with men. I've sat down with families and I've counseled with them and I've taught with them and prayed with them and I've had them come back and say, "Pastor, I feel led of God to pursue private school." And I've said the very same thing, "More power to you. I support you. I pray for you. I love you in the whole thing." And I have people who say, "Pastor, I feel led to put my children in public school." And I say the very same thing. But what I'm trying to show you is this. I have seen people that want to debate it. They want to argue it. What's the best way?

What you should do, what I should do. And I've seen some be very judgmental. I've seen some be very quarrelsome. I've seen some have the most negative attitudes and the most negative thought life that comes out in words and these things are matters, Christian conscience. What God leads you to do could be something different than God leads someone else to do. I've used this example before. I was watching a conference Q&A. I wish I would have noted the year. But it was a Q&A with a panel of leading pastors at John MacArthur's Shepherds Conference. And there were some younger pastors debating what was best.

Home schooling, private schooling, public schooling. They were just going around. It was friendly, but it was a good discussion. And an older Sinclair Ferguson was sitting off to the side. He didn't say much. And finally one of them looked at Sinclair Ferguson and said, "What do you think?" He shrugged his shoulders. He said, "I live in Scotland. We don't have these choices. All of our children must go to the state school and we teach them at home." He wasn't being authoritative. He wasn't being rude. He wasn't being arrogant. And he wasn't taking a shot against those guys.

What he was doing was he was just showing that sometimes the debate is so far you. But what is the point? We have the freedom and we have the choice. And we must do these things as unto the Lord. But the third subject that I have seen be very contentious in the life of the church is how people express and live out the Lord's day. The Lord's day. Now we're not Christian Sabbatarians. We believe that things change under the new covenant. I have preached and taught on this extensively. It's the Lord's day, resurrection day. It's a new day. But I have seen people be very contentious about what you can and can't do on the Lord's day.

I've seen people, they have rule after rule of what you can do and what you can't do. And I've seen people be pretty lax and have a lot of freedom. And I've seen certain people cause a lot of tension and strife and difficulties in the life of the church over what you can do and what I can't do. And these things come down to a matter of the conscience. The point is we should not forsake the assembling of together. It's the Lord's day. It's a day of worship. And you know what? You ought to be able to lay your head down at night and say, "Lord, I have committed this day to you. I have not let it be another Saturday.

I have plugged my life into the local church and I have been all that I can be for you today." And I'm just pointing out those three issues that have been very, very difficult at times, not just in the life of our church, but with certain people, but with pastors that I know and churches that I am close to. Now I want to begin to close with some instructions here. And what I'm saying is this, we have a lot of work to do. We do. We have to continue in this work. I'm not going to give it all to you. I can't give it all to you. We would take weeks to study this in an in-depth manner.

So first, you must study and learn the verses here in Chapter 14 and Chapter 15, verses 1 to 3. You need to study and know these passages. You need to ask God to help you to apply them. We all need a working wisdom and understanding of the verses. Don't memorize them. Memorize them if you know them and God has given you a working wisdom and understanding of the verses. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes work. It takes time. It takes time. It takes time. And then, the third thing is to know your responsibilities. And that is we all have responsibilities towards one another in these four one-anothers. You see? They're positive.

God expects us to live up to our four responsibilities here. All of us, all of them. And then third, we ought to know all of the not commands, the negatives. Look for them in your attitudes. Look for them in your attitudes. Look for them in your thought life. If it's wrong for me to lust in my heart for another woman, it is wrong for me to be judgmental in my thought life when a brother doesn't live the Christian life like I do. Thoughts and attitudes. Because listen, thoughts and attitudes, those things come out in our action.

So look at these not commands and look for them in your attitudes and in your thought life and in your words with your spouse when no one is around. And then ultimately, in your actions and look for these nots in your personal convictions. We must rid our lives of these nots. They have no place in the Christian life. These are brothers and sisters. We are brothers and sisters. And then fourth, pray through your own personal convictions all throughout your life. Your convictions are a work in progress to the day you die, folks. How you evaluate your convictions are these matters of Christian conscience.

Make sure they're biblical, not necessarily traditional. Make sure they're biblical and not necessarily what was passed down from your family. Make sure they're healthy. Make sure they're balanced. Make sure they are what is best for you and they are what's best for your family and what's best for the church that God has called you to be a part of. And know that these things can change and in time sometimes they should change. Now the big question. I called you to keep Ephesians 4 in one hand and put Romans 14 and 15 in another.

How does this relate to the worthy work of eagerly maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the church in the bond of peace? These things can hinder, fracture, and even break up the unity of the church. And see, that is the danger here. And that was the danger then in the Roman church. That was the danger and that is the danger that can lurk outside of the door of this church if we're not careful. A part of maintaining the unity is dealing with what we see in Romans 14 and 15.

But if we embrace and understand and live out what is before us in Romans 14 and 15, I am convinced wholeheartedly that it will swing open a door, a door of a new level of unity in the bond of peace. It could cause you to grow closer to a brother and a sister that just lives out the Christian life a lot different than you. And you might find that these things have been in your mind and your heart and in your thought life and it has kept you across the sanctuary from a brother. Now, but what do you do if you're struggling here? Some of you are. You need to be honest. Don't hold on to this if you are. What do you do?

First of all, stay planted in the life of the local church. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen people and families get up and go to another church just because they will not cross this bridge. I've even seen people drive great distances because they won't deal with these matters right at the expense of their children and their marriages. Stay planted in a local church. Now, spoiler alert, this is not a perfect church and you are not looking at a perfect pastor. And the longer we live this thing called the Christian life together, you're going to see that and I'm going to see that. Spoiler alert, you're not a perfect Christian either.

We are a healthy church. We preach the biblical gospel. We strive for a regenerate church membership. We practice loving, healthy church discipline. We adhere to the ordinances. We are governed by God called yet flawed men of God and there are many other marks of a healthy church here. Stay planted in a local church. Also, second, and I say this humbly, stay under your leaders. You can't deny that God places leaders over you. Hebrews 1317 says submit to your spiritual leaders because they serve you. Stay submitted to the leaders that God has for you.

And I have seen people, they just wouldn't stay submitted to the leaders that God's given them and what do they do? They hop and they ski up and they jump. Usually it's because they will not cross this bridge with their leaders. And then I've said this one before, third, allow your leaders to shepherd you through these things. Sometimes it just takes time. Sometimes it's hard work. It's called shepherding people through, shepherding people through. First Peter 5, 1, 2, and 3 calls me to be your shepherd, not your tyrant. I'm called to be your shepherd, not just the one who preaches to you. I'm to be a shepherd, not the Lord over you.

I'm to be patient with you. I'm to be humble and gentle and patient. And I'm to possess this forbearing love. And listen, I will help you. I will counsel with you. I will meet with you. I'll pray with you. I'll help sort these things out with you. I'll be balanced with you here. And some of you need to do this. Sometimes you don't see this part of my job as pastor, but brother Keith would attest to this. I'm giving hours and hours and hours to people just trying to help them work through these types of struggles. And you know what? You're worth it. You're worth it. Now you know me, I give titles to the message.

I have titled some teaching out of Romans 14 before a little differently. But this morning, what have we been dealing with? Matters of the Christian conscious? Yes. There are responsibilities that we have the life of the church. Yes. A list of knots in the life of the church. Yes. There's been a lot, but what do we have here? These are our responsibilities in the worthy walk. Because see, listen folks, if we can't deal with matters of the conscience in the life of the church, we can't do the work of unity because you know why? We're all different. We're all different. And we're going to always be different. And God's designed it that way.

So let's pray. We'll commit these things to the Lord and then we'll close out our service in worship.