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Acceptance, Judgment, and the Essential Point of Nonessential Points
Romans 14:1-6
Nate Heitzig

Romans 14 (NKJV™)
1 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
4 Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Heart & Soul: A Study through Romans

Today it seems that the church has become known for being judgmental and critical, not just toward unbelievers but even among fellow Christians. That's why we must focus on our commonality in Christ alone. In Romans 14, Paul addressed two groups of Christians—Gentile believers and legalistic Jews—who were causing division and friction among the early church. In this teaching, Nate Heitzig shares how to navigate the nonessential points of our faith while embracing unity in the essentials.

When the wrath of God meets the righteousness of God, where does that leave us? The apostle Paul says that we are marked by sin at birth but marked righteous at salvation. In this series through Romans, Skip Heitzig explains the essentials of Christian doctrine that can transform your thoughts, words, and actions. Move from sinner to saint, and from saved to Spirit-filled as you inscribe the essence of the gospel onto your heart and soul.

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Study Guide

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Connect Recap Notes: February 2, 2020
Speaker: Nate Hetzig
Teaching: "Acceptance, Judgment, and the Essential Point of Nonessential Points"
Text: Romans 14:1-6

Path

Today it seems that the church has become known for being judgmental and critical, not just toward unbelievers but even among fellow Christians. That's why we must find and focus on our commonality in Christ alone. In Romans 14, Paul addressed two groups of Christians—Gentile believers and legalistic Jews—who were causing division and friction among the early church. In this teaching, Nate Heitzig shares how to navigate the nonessential points of our faith while embracing unity in the essentials.
  1. Start Accepting All Believers (vv. 1-2)
  2. Stop Judging Some Believers (vv. 3-4)
  3. Whatever You Do, Be Convinced (vv. 5-6)
Points

Start Accepting All Believers
  • Romans 14 begins with a clear declaration: "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things." The Greek word for dispute means "to estimate or to judge." We are not to argue over doubtful areas—that is, nonessential points of faith.
    • Some are morally weak and fall into sin because of certain struggles, while others who are weak in character struggle to stand up for their beliefs. They may be weighed down by tradition, or over-sensitized to nonessentials.
  • The NIV and NLT translate the word receive as "accept." The ESV renders it as "welcome." The Message puts it this way: "Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do…." We should be loving each other and receiving, accepting, and welcoming others into fellowship. As Christians, our job is to resolve conflict, not start it.
  • Nonessentials should not be raised to the level of essentials (v. 2). If Christians are divided, it should only be over essentials (e.g., God's nature, the deity of Christ, etc.).
Stop Judging Some Believers
  • Verse 3 begins with a challenge: "Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him." The Message puts it this way: "…God, after all, invited them both to the table."
  • If your conviction is you shouldn't eat meat, then don't. But don't infringe upon someone else's freedom to do so. Christians won't stand before other Christians to be judged—we will stand before God; we need to be right in our own conscience before the Lord.
Whatever You Do, Be Convinced
  • Verse 5 states, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind." Esteem means "to give honor to." 
  • One nonessential Paul addressed was the day of worship. Some chose Sunday due to Christ's resurrection, but some Jewish Christians preferred Saturday—the Sabbath.
    • The Sabbath is a sign of the Mosaic Covenant (see Exodus 20:8); the Jerusalem Council didn't order the Gentile believers to observe it (see Acts 15); Paul never cautioned Christians against breaking the Sabbath
  • In verse 6, Paul continued the argument. The day of the week doesn't matter, because the motive of any choice should be to simply worship the Lord.
  • When we disagree on nonessentials, how can we fellowship? Whatever you do in the nonessential areas of your life, ask if it will help or hinder your walk with Christ:
    • Does it help me toward the goal of Christ? Does it hurt me? Will it become my master? How will my actions affect another's walk?
Practice

Connect Up: One of the clear teachings in the New Testament is for Christians to love and have unity with one another. Why does God yearn for Christians to represent Him in love and unity? Discuss these verses: John 13:35 and 17:11-23, Romans 15:6, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 4:3, Philippians 2:2, and 1 Peter 3:8. What are some key similarities in these verses? How can you work as an individual toward the unity described? What can Christians do—with each other and with others—to represent the Lord in unity and love (e.g., listening before we talk)?

Connect In: Pastor Nate said that Christians need to have unity in the essentials and charity in nonessentials. What are the key essentials of the Christian faith that all Christians should uphold and defend? Throughout history, they were encapsulated in the early statements of faith (the creeds). Here's what Dr. Norman Geisler stated concerning the essentials: "The essential doctrines of the Christian faith…are those contained in the Apostles' Creed and unfolded in subsequent creeds of the first five centuries. These include (1) human depravity, (2) Christ's virgin birth, (3) Christ's sinlessness, (4) Christ's deity, (5) Christ's humanity, (6) God's unity, (7) God's triunity, (8) the necessity of God's grace, (9) the necessity of faith, (10) Christ's atoning death, (11) Christ's bodily resurrection, (12) Christ's bodily ascension, (13) Christ's present High Priestly service, and (14) Christ's second coming, final judgment, and reign."1
  • Nonessential doctrines include: the rapture, the earth's age, the millennial kingdom, various dos and don'ts (drinking, playing cards, dancing, etc.), days of worship, what to eat and drink. Read Mark 7:18-23. What matters more to God: the nonessentials, or the attitude of our hearts, which affects our salvation?
  • Why should we have a humble attitude when it comes to the nonessentials? Is there room for different but correct interpretations of a text?
  • Following Paul's instruction to receive others, what strategies can we implement when we disagree with others over their interpretation of a text or doctrine we may disagree with?
Connect Out: Often Christians hurt unbelievers by foisting nonessential doctrines on them when presenting the gospel. What are the essential aspects of sharing the gospel? Our emphasis should be that it is God's rescue plan: Christ died for our sins; Jesus lived the life we never could; Jesus rose as proof of God's love for the world; and Jesus offers His salvation as a free gift which must be received. Do you agree? How would you summarize the essential points of the gospel?

1 Geisler, Norman L. Christian Research Institute, "The Essential Doctrines of the Christian Faith (Part One)," June 10, 2009, https://www.equip.org/article/the-essential-doctrines-of-the-christian-faith-part-one/, accessed 02/03/2020.

Detailed Notes

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"Acceptance, Judgment, and the Essential Point of Nonessential Points"
Romans 14:1-6
  1. Introduction
    1. Judgment drives the economy of our culture today
      1. We try so hard to fit in to avoid being judged by others
      2. We often judge others before we even get a chance to really know them
    2. In Romans 14, Paul addressed the subject of judgment in the church
      1. Are we, as Christians, supposed to judge one another?
      2. What is the role of acceptance, judgment, and nonessential points?
      3. We each have our own unique background, which oftentimes results in division, arguments, and judgment within the church
        1. Some of us have no background in the church at all
        2. Others come from a background that involves a lot of traditions, some of the hardest strongholds to overcome
        3. In the early church, there were Gentiles accustomed to idolatry and Jews accustomed to strict lifestyle laws
    3. In Romans 14, Paul specifically addressed the question of which day to worship on and what kind of diet Christians should have
      1. In Roman culture, it was accepted tradition to offer animal sacrifices in the temples, then sell the best meat from those sacrifices to the public as food
      2. For the Gentile believers, this was just a meal, but for the Jewish believers, this was too close to idolatry
    4. The church has never been perfect; there have always been divisions and arguments
      1. Acts 5:1-11
      2. Acts 15:36-41
      3. 1 Corinthians 3:3
      4. Paul explained how we should respond to our own tendency to judge others in Romans 14:1-6
  2. Start Accepting All Believers (vv. 1-2)
    1. Paul was saying that we need to receive all believers into fellowship and stop arguing about dumb things
      1. Why is it that we as human beings love to argue about unimportant issues?
      2. We get offended over everything; it's impossible to share anything on social media without someone being offended
    2. In verse 1, Paul said to "receive one who is weak in the faith"
      1. Paul was not talking about a believer who falls into sin and temptation because of certain struggles in their life
      2. He was referring to somebody who is weak because they're having a hard time believing in the liberating truths that he had delivered up to this point
        1. They're weak because they haven't yet grasped Romans 8:1
        2. They don't understand that salvation is apart from works (see Romans 5:1)
      3. Paul was speaking of traditions that weigh on people and cause them to judge others
    3. Paul spoke of weakness in relation to oversensitivity regarding the nonessentials
    4. These are believers who take on baggage that they not only hold themselves to but hold others to as well
    5. As Christians, we need to focus on the essentials of the faith
      1. A lot of believers tend to get bogged down in the nonessentials
      2. In this passage, Paul spoke to a group of people who took on themselves the baggage of the Old Testament Law, which caused them to judge others in accordance to what they thought they needed to do
      3. There are some believers who still today revert to those Old Testament laws
    6. The weak believer that Paul spoke about here is the legalistic believer
      1. These believers think they're stronger, better, or more holy because they're doing certain things—sometimes even things that God didn't ask them to do
        1. The Pharisees thought that abiding by laws the Bible didn't even give made them stronger and more holy
        2. This tradition that they took on themselves caused them to judge others
      2. Why is the weak believer the legalistic one?
        1. Because it takes more faith to believe that Jesus is enough, that we can't add anything to that
        2. If you want to measure your faith, measure it by the strength of your belief that Jesus is enough
      3. True faith is the faith that all our good deeds and all the things that we could do to try to please God are just "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6)
    7. In this passage, Paul also addressed the strong believers who were being judged by weaker believers
      1. Paul realized that we can't control how people judge us
      2. We can only control how we respond to those people
    8. Paul said that we are to receive weaker believers
      1. The NIV and NLT translate this as accept
      2. The Passion Translation says to "offer an open hand of fellowship"
    9. We need to stop arguing about dumb things and start loving one another; we need to receive, accept, welcome, and fellowship with one another
      1. It doesn't matter if the person you disagree with isn't at the same level of maturity as you are or if they are hostile toward you; receive them and love them with an open hand of fellowship
      2. This isn't a club or some secret society; this is a family
        1. All you have to do to be part of this family is believe that Jesus came to earth to die for your sins, that He rose from the dead, and that you can find salvation in no other than the name of Jesus Christ
        2. You don't have to accomplish anything to be part of this family
      3. Christians ought to be peacemakers, not start more conflict
    10. In verse 2, Paul continued to speak to the weak believers who were hung up on eating certain things and worshiping on certain days
      1. These weak believers didn't have enough faith to trust that Jesus is enough
      2. The New Testament tells us that in Jesus, we have no ceremonial or dietary restrictions
        1. Under the Mosaic law, Jews were required to follow certain dietary restrictions and worship on a certain day
        2. Peter had trouble letting go of these restrictions at first (see Acts 10:9-16)
      3. It's fine to continue to practice the traditions you grew up in as long as you don't think it makes you holier than those who don't practice that way
    11. The danger comes in raising the nonessentials to the level of essentials
      1. Don't let your practice of the nonessentials cause prideful thinking
      2. It doesn't make you stronger or give you the freedom to judge others for not doing it the way you're doing it
      3. There are a lot of nonessentials that Christians tend to squabble over, but Christians should only divide based on essentials
      4. The essentials and nonessentials are issues we must choose between
        1. 2 John 1:9-11
        2. We must be activists when it comes to the essentials and find the middle ground when we disagree with others on the nonessentials
      5. We need to accept all true believers
      6. The measure of a true believer is their belief in the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, not the nonessentials
  3. Stop Judging Some Believers (vv. 3-4)
    1. Paul first addressed the stronger believer
      1. Stronger believers should not get upset with believers who have different convictions regarding nonessentials
      2. Don't judge the weaker believers or try to explain why their theology is incorrect
    2. Paul also addressed the weak believers
      1. Follow your convictions, but don't assume that everyone feels the same way, and don't think they're less spiritual because they don't
      2. Understand that God has accepted them, and because He has, you should as well
        1. If they're holy enough for God to accept them, don't you think they should be holy enough for you to accept them?
        2. Nothing gives the world a bad impression of Christ more than judgmental and critical Christians attacking other believers over nonessential issues
      3. We should be able to sit at the table together and, instead of arguing over unimportant issues, encourage and strengthen one another so we can make a difference in our communities
      4. We are a family, and as the body of Christ, we're meant to love one another
    3. Who are you to judge other believers?
      1. Those Christians are not your Christians; they are God's servants, and they'll stand before God to be judged
      2. Matthew 7:1
      3. This does not, however, mean that we should never discerningly evaluate anyone or anything
        1. Jesus commanded us not to judge others, but He also warned against false prophets (see Matthew 7:15)
        2. We are to watch for false prophets using discernment based on the essentials, not the nonessentials
    4. There are two wrong responses in the area of judgment
      1. Judging with an arrogant, self-righteous attitude toward those who have sinned or those who are perceived to have sinned
      2. To be completely lacking in the area of discernment and accurate judgment
    5. One of the easiest habits to acquire is the habit of criticism
      1. So many Christians look down on others because of a spiritual pride or because they do or don't do certain things
      2. But there are also those with a wide view of liberty who criticize those who hold to certain convictions
      3. If someone has certain convictions, it's wrong for those who have a different view of liberty to judge them for those convictions
  4. Whatever You Do, Be Convinced (vv. 5-6)
    1. Whatever you do—whatever nonessentials you view as important or unimportant—be convinced
      1. "Let each be fully convinced in his own mind" (v. 5)
      2. Whatever you do, make up your mind about it and stand true to the convictions that God has placed on your heart
    2. In many churches, there were Judaizers who felt they had to keep the law of Moses
      1. Galatians 4:9
      2. Colossians 2:16
      3. This conflict still exists today, and many want to know who changed the Sabbath
        1. No one changed the Sabbath
        2. Many Christians worship on Sunday because the seventh day—Sabbath day—commemorates finished creation, but the first day commemorates finished redemption
        3. 1 Corinthians 16:2
        4. Acts 20:7
    3. Paul's purpose in all of this was to prevent an attitude in the church that would demean the true meaning of Christianity
      1. The real meaning of Christianity is not tied to what day you worship on, but that you worship
      2. The true meaning of Christianity is tied to the fact that none of the days are ours to begin with; they're all God's, and He's given them to us to live
      3. We are to worship Him with the days He's given us, and whichever day we choose to devote to worship, we are to make it a holy day (see v. 6)
  5. Conclusion
    1. Paul was saying that when it comes to nonessentials, whatever you decide to do, do it with the right motive
      1. Our motive should be to give God thanks and to glorify Him in all things
      2. If your motive is to glorify God and give Him thanks, it doesn't matter what your convictions are
    2. In these nonessentials, how do we discern what we should do? We should ask ourselves several questions:
      1. Does it help me?
        1. 1 Corinthians 6:12
        2. Does it help you make personal progress toward a goal that you have as a Christian?
        3. Does it further your walk or make you falter in your walk with God?
      2. Does it hurt me?
        1. 1 Corinthians 6:12
        2. Although you can do this thing, will it become your master?
        3. Just because something is not inherently bad doesn't mean that it's not bad for you
      3. Does it hurt others?
        1. 1 Corinthians 10:23
        2. If you do this, what will it do to those around you?
        3. How will your actions affect their walk with God?
        4. Is your personal conviction, your view on this nonessential point, hurting others?
        5. No Christian has the right to play the Holy Spirit in doubtful issues
Figures referenced: J.I. Packer, Charles Spurgeon

Cross references: Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 7:1, 15; Acts 5:1-11; 10:9-16; 15:36-41; 20:7; Romans 5:1; 8:1; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 6:12; 10:23; 16:2; Galatians 4:9; Colossians 2:16; 2 John 1:9-11

Topic: judgment

Keywords: accept, conviction, decide, essential, faith, liberty, salvation, tradition, worship

Transcript

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Acceptance, Judgment, and the Essential Point of Nonessential Points - Romans 14:1-6 - Nate Heitzig

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Well, good morning and welcome to Calvary. Who's excited to be in church today?

[APPLAUSE]

I'm not going to tell you who I'm rooting for in the Super Bowl. Hopefully you already know. But if you don't, I don't want to get stoned today. This guy's still going for the Saints. They're not in it anymore, bro.

Hey, turn your Bible to Romans chapter 14. We're going to be a versus 1 through 6 this morning for a message I've titled Acceptance, Judgment, and the Essential Point of Non-Essential Points. You know, judgment is a really funny thing, isn't it? It's something in our culture that drives the economy of our culture today. We try so hard to fit in so that we can avoid judgment. That's why we do, say, and dress certain ways.

We pass it on so many people before we ever get a chance to really know them. Judgment is something we love to give, but we hate to receive, right? No one likes being judged. Who's ever been judged before? It's not a fun thing, right? Who's ever been criticized? Nobody enjoys being judged.

And one of the things we hear so many people say today is don't judge me, right? Don't judge me, bro. But let's be honest, usually, if we have to say don't judge me, we deserve to be judged, don't we? Who's ever said that, don't judge me? Right? Now that you know, I'm not going to say it.

For instance, maybe you're a buff, athletic, strong, manly man. Maybe you're like a contractor, you work with your hands, and you're having friends over today for Super Bowl. And you're ready to chow down on some wings, and you get into the living room, and you turn on the Apple TV, and the first thing they see before the game can come on is you've been binge watching Gilmore Girls for the past eight weeks. Don't judge me, bro. Don't judge me.

Or maybe you and your girlfriends decide, hey, it's 2020, we're going to go on a diet, 2020, 20 pounds in 20 days. That's not healthy, by the way. Don't do that. And you guys have this solidarity pact. You guys are going to do this together. And then one day, lunchtime, your friend finds you in the parking lot of McDonald's eating four Big Macs and a large fry. Don't judge me.

Or maybe after church today, you're going to get in your car, you're going to head to a restaurant and have some food, and you get in your car, and the first thing they hear is the song you last had playing on your iPod. (SINGING) You need to calm down. No? Nobody. All right, don't judge me.

Here in Romans 14, we find a passage that addresses this very subject, addresses the subject of judgment. Are we supposed to, as Christians, judge one another? What is the role of acceptance, judgment, and the essential point of non-essential points? See, each and every one of us has our own unique background. Some of us come from a background of absolutely no church at all, while others come from a background of far too much church, far too many traditions.

You know, traditions are some of the hardest strongholds for us to break in our lives. And some of us never do, and the result of this, oftentimes, is friction, division, arguments, and judgment within the Church of different groups who have different backgrounds and different traditions. And Paul addresses that topic here in Romans 14.

See, it was the same in the early church. In the early church, there were some who were Gentiles, and they were used to idolatry. And then there were some who were Jewish who had very, very strict laws. And in Rome, Paul's addressing a huge debate that emerges in the early church, a big division and argument and disagreement over certain practices, and it really boils down to days and diets.

Again, we're talking about non-essentials today. And we're going to talk about several different non-essentials. But the non-essentials that Paul is specifically addressing here in Romans chapter 14 is what days to worship on and what kind of diets should we have. See, in Roman culture, it was normal to offer animal sacrifices in the temples and then take the meat that was offered in the temples and sell the best meat to the public for food.

Now, for the Gentiles, they had no issue with this. They had no problem with this, with eating meat that had been sacrificed in a temple. For them, it was just meat. It was just a meal. They ate the meat, they enjoyed the meat, didn't mean anything to them. But for the Jewish person, this was a little bit too close to idolatry. This was a little bit too close to idol worship.

And so a huge argument arose with two sides, different traditions, different backgrounds, judging each other for what they were doing within the church. Now, I want to point out, the Church has never been a perfect church. Historically, the Church that we all are a part of, the Church has never been perfect. All the way back to the early church, there have been divisions, arguments, and squabblings.

In Acts 6, Ananias and Sapphira pretended to be holy, and they were dropped out of the Church. In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas had a falling out, not over any doctrinal issues, but over a guy that Paul simply didn't like named John Mark. To the Corinthians, Paul said, "There are envy, strife, and divisions among you."

Understand this, there's always going to be people in church that you don't get along with. There's always going to be people who are part of the body of Christ that you don't agree with on certain issues. There's always going to be people sitting next to you or in front of you or behind you that you just don't like for some reason. And what is our response supposed to be as people within the Church to those people that we have the tendency to judge? What is our response supposed to be as Christians in acceptance, judgment, and the essential point of non-essentials points?

Let's read Romans chapter 14 versus 1 through 6 as we see how Paul admonishes us. Verse 1, "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let him who eats despise not him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats for God has received him. Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master, he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats eats to the Lord for he gives God thanks, and he who does not eat to the Lord he does not eat and gives God thanks."

Let's stop there. In this text, we see three things in our response to acceptance, judgment, the essential point of non-essential points. Number one, we see that we need to start accepting all believers. Number two, we see that we need to stop judging some believers. And then third and finally, we see whatever you do, that is to say whatever you choose to do in relation to these non-essential points, be convinced.

Let's look at our first point. Start accepting all believers. Look at verse 1 again with me. Paul says, "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things." Basically, Paul is saying in this whole text that we need to begin to receive people into fellowship, receive believers, and we need to stop arguing about dumb things. Why is it that we as human beings love to argue about unimportant issues? Why do we love to argue about dumb things? Why do we love to fight? It's ingrained in us.

You know, my kids fight over the dumbest things. They fight over what color a toy is. No, it's this color. No, it's that color. Why? Why are you fighting over that? But it only gets worse as we get older, right? We, as a nation, are a nation of offense. We get offended over everything. It's impossible to post anything on social media without somebody getting offended. It's impossible to share a message from the stage without somebody getting offended.

Case in point, last week, the message that I shared, wake up, we had two different letters that were inside the agape box. One of them said, how dare Nate talk about alcohol in that way? And the other one said, what a great message. I needed to hear that. Two opposing viewpoints. Two very different thoughts on the same message. It's impossible for people not to be offended, not to argue about anything in society today.

Paul says in verse 1, "Receive one who is weak in the faith." I want to define our terms as we begin to dive into this text. What does Paul mean by weak? Receive one who is weak in the faith. Well, he's not talking about somebody who is morally weak. That is to say, he's not talking about somebody who falls into sin and temptation because they have certain struggles in their lives. He's not talking about somebody who is weak in character. That's to say, he's not speaking of somebody who's spineless, somebody who refuses to stand up for their faith in God.

Rather, he's talking about somebody who is weak because they're having a hard time believing in the great liberating truths that Paul has delivered so far in the book of Romans. That is to say, they're weak because they haven't yet grasped Romans 8:1, that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. They haven't yet grasped Romans 5:1, that salvation is apart from works, not through being legalistic. The weakness that he is speaking of is weakness that is traditional baggage that weighs on people and in turn causes them to judge everyone else around them.

He's speaking of weakness in relation to an over sensitivity to the non-essentials. Now, we all know people like this, don't we? People who are oversensitive to non-essentials, and we're afraid to ever say anything in front of them because they're going to start judging us and jump down our throats. So it's like don't want to say you went to a concert, you don't want to say you went to a restaurant, you don't want to say, oh man, the other night I was going to a movie, because they're going to go, movies, you're going to hell.

All I do is read my Bible 24/7. Like, they're so oversensitive to everything because of the traditional background they might have had, because of how they grew up. They have put a certain amount of baggage upon their shoulders that they hold themselves to, but that more dangerously, they hold other people to as well.

We have to constantly, as believers, think essential. Think focus on the essentials of the Christian faith, on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that we are saved by the blood of Christ. There is only one way to heaven, and His name is Jesus, that He rose from the dead, that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, that Christ was born of a virgin, the deity of Christ, that He was God and man, the Trinity, that there is one God in three persons. These essentials, we need to think on.

And yet so often times, I find what most believers get bogged down in is the non-essentials. Well, what did you eat? Well, what's that in your glass? What are you drinking right over there? Well, I heard you praying in tongues. I don't think you should do that. Well, that church had a woman teach or that person did this or that person did that, and we get so bogged down in these non-essentials. And this problem still exists very much in our modern day church life.

See, in this passage in Romans 14, he was speaking to a group of people who put upon themselves the baggage of the Old Testament law. And this baggage of the Old Testament law caused them to judge other people in accordance to what they thought they had to do. And there are still some people today who revert back to the Old Testament laws. They abide by the Old Testament dietary standards.

Some say that Saturday is the only day to worship, that it's a condition to fellowship. There's some people who would say that you being here at church on Sunday is a sin. Some say that you can only take communion if the bread is unleavened, and if it's not, it's not true. It's not valid. You didn't actually take communion. Some say that you can't have any tattoos or piercings.

You know, it's interesting that the weak believer that Paul speaks about here is the legalistic one. He says receive one who is weak, and when he starts talking about the one who is weak, he's talking to somebody who says, well, I can't eat that. He's talking about somebody who says, well, no, I have to worship on this day. The weak believer is the legalistic one.

But you know what's funny, the legalistic believer thinks that they're the strong one. The legalistic believer thinks that they're stronger, that they're better, that they're more holy, because they're doing a certain number of things, sometimes even things that God didn't even ask them to do. The Pharisees did the same thing. They were so righteous, so holy, they were abiding by laws that the Bible didn't even give, and they thought it made them strong. They thought it made them better. They thought it made them more holy.

And this tradition, this baggage that they put upon their shoulders, it caused them to judge others around them. Why is it that the weak believer is the legalistic one? Well, because it takes more faith to believe that Jesus is enough and that you can't add anything. You want to measure your faith, measure how much you believe that Jesus is enough. They are weak in the faith. They are weak in faith that Jesus is enough. They're weak in faith to say that man, God is enough. What he accomplished on the cross, it's enough to wash me white as snow.

Some people here that and say, yeah, I believe that, but I'm just going to hedge my bet. I better still do x, y, and z just to make sure that I'm OK, just to make sure that I'm good, and they think that these good deeds that they add on top of their faith in Christ somehow makes them more holy than other people around them.

Look, true faith is the Isaiah syndrome, that says all my good deeds, all the things that I could do to try to please God, they're just filthy rags. They're just junk. All I need is faith in Jesus. That's enough. Anything else that I try to do to make myself look good, it doesn't make me look good. It's just filthy rags.

See, legalism seeks to add to the gospel, to attain salvation through works and good deeds, to say, yeah, Jesus is enough, but you should also do this. You know, it's also interesting that this text is written to the strong believer. This is written to both, but it's initially addressed to the strong believers. Receive him who is weak in the faith.

Look, who in here has ever been judged by a well-meaning believer or criticized by a well-meaning believer who said something to you, and they weren't trying to be jerks, but they were? They just said something really mean to you, and it hurt you, and it cut you some way. Paul's addressing this passage to those strong believers, who are being attacked or judged by weaker believers, and the reason he is doing that is because we can't control how people judge us, but we can control what our response to those people should be.

And Paul is saying to those who are strong in the faith, hey, when somebody judges you, when somebody jumps down your throat, when they get mad at you and try to put something on you, the law upon you that you don't have to abide by, instead of arguing back, instead of fighting back, instead of pleading your case and hitting them with the Bible and showing them all the verses of why they're wrong, instead of getting into it with them, receive them, love them, accept them, put a hand of fellowship out to them.

Don't fight with them because that's not going to get anybody anywhere. We are to welcome them and receive them, not tell them how stupid they are, not kick them out. Look, again, I already asked who's been judged by a well-meaning believer. I think we all have. We've all been judged at some point by a Christian who meant well, but just didn't go about it the right way. I've been judged by well-meaning believers.

It might shock you to know the amount of letters and email I've gotten of Christians criticizing me and judging me, not because of something unbiblical I've said, not because of a false doctrine I've spread, not because of an errant word that I gave or because of some secret sin, but because I wear ripped jeans and I have tattoos and I have facial hair, literally.

I've had people say, hey, would you consider wearing flesh colored sleeves to cover up your tattoos. I've heard people say, hey, we've been praying, a group of us, that you'd stop wearing ripped jeans. Does anybody ever remember the era my dad had a goatee? If you do, you've been here for a long time. In that era, he had people call to and say, hey, several of us are together praying weekly that you would shave your goatee. Look, if your prayer life consists of praying that people would stop wearing ripped jeans and shave their goatees, you need something better to pray about.

[APPLAUSE]

When we get those emails, and when we get those letters, when someone comes up, and they'll say a joke of hey, you need some more money to get some new jeans, I don't pull out my Bible and criticize them and condemn them for looking at the outward appearance, and man should look at the heart, and God judges the heart. We don't start addressing those issues. I don't get mad at them and say, well, how dare you judge me? I laugh it off. I let it go.

There's no reason to fight about it. There's no reason to argue about it. There's no reason to get up in arms about it. You receive them. When someone judges you for something dumb, receive them. Accept them. Put a hand of fellowship to them and say, hey, it's OK. If you want to wear khakis and Hawaiian shirts, that's fine. That's you. You be you, boo. Do what you gotta do. Where would you want to wear. If you don't like long hair, shave your head. I don't care. If you don't like facial hair, go clean shaven.

Don't fight with them over those issues. Receive them. Love them. That's the desire that God has for us within the Church. And yet it seems that too often the Church resembles a playpen with babies throwing rattles around screaming at each other, throwing tantrums. I want that, you did this to me, you hurt me, you pushed me, I'm going to push you. And it resembles this contentious atmosphere.

It says that we should receive. The NIV and NLT translate this to accept. The EXV translates this as welcome. The passion translation says offer an open hand of fellowship. The basic idea is stop arguing about dumb things, and start loving each other. Start receiving each other. Start accepting each other. Start welcoming each other. Start fellowshipping with each other.

The message translate this passage as this. "Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way that you do, and don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with, even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently."

Look, it doesn't matter if the person you disagree with isn't the same level of maturity as you are. It doesn't matter if they disagree with your viewpoint. It doesn't matter if they're even hostile towards you, if they bad mouth you and talk poorly about you to other people. You hear from somebody, oh, so-and-so was saying this about you. It doesn't matter if they do those things. Receive them. Accept them. Love them with an open hand of fellowship.

It's sad that so many churches are so exclusive, that you have to go through some spiritual gauntlet to be gained acceptance into their club. That's why we as a church have never had membership, because you don't have to be a member here. This isn't a club. This isn't some secret society. This is a family.

All you have to do to be a part of this family is believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, died for your sins, rose from the dead, you can find salvation and no other name than the name of Jesus Christ, you believe the word of God.

[APPLAUSE]

You believe those things, you're family. You don't have to accomplish something to be here. You are here, so you're with us. The job of Christians is to help resolve conflict, not start it. We need to be resolvers of conflict. When someone does something or says something or comes to you or brings up something to you, be a resolver of conflict. Be the peacemaker in this situation. Don't add fuel to the fire. Don't fight back because all that shows is that you're just as immature as they are.

Verse 2 continues and says, "For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables." Again, Paul is calling those who are hung up on eating certain things, who are hung up with worshipping on particular days weak. And again, they're weak because they don't have enough faith to just trust that Jesus is enough, to trust Jesus for their righteousness.

The New Testament says that in Jesus, we have no ceremonial or dietary restrictions. However, the mosaic law does. In the mosaic law, there was a certain dietary restriction they had to follow. There was a certain day they were prescribed to worship. Peter himself had a hang up with this at first, and in Acts 10, the Lord told him, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common."

Now, again, I talked about tradition, and this tradition we grow in can sometimes bring baggage upon ourselves, that we feel we have to do certain things. Many of you might have grown up in a Catholic church, where you observed Lent, and you swapped the Big Mac for a Filet o' Fish. And that was what you did. This passage is in saying hey, stop doing that. Look, if you still observe Lent, that's OK. It's not a sin. But don't think that it makes you more holy than the people who don't.

Don't think that it makes you better than the people who don't do it the same way that you do it. The danger is to raise the non-essentials to the level of essentials. Look, if you want to go on a diet, go on a diet. Go for it. If you want to dress a certain way, do it. If you want to cut your hair a certain way, go for. It if you want to listen to only CCM music for the rest of your life, enjoy yourself. But don't think that it makes you better than those who don't do it. Don't think that it makes you more holy than those who don't do.

Don't let it cause within you this pride that makes you think you're stronger and causes you to be able to judge others for not doing it the way that you're doing it. See, the danger is this not only raises the non-essentials to to the level of the essentials, but it brings the essentials down to the level of the non-essentials. It brings the essentials, like the Atonement, like the deity of Christ, down to the level of well, should a Christian speak in tongues, or is a Christian allowed to drink alcohol, or are women allowed to teach? It brings these essentials down to a place where it takes the power out of them.

So what is defined as non-essentials? Well, we already mentioned quite a few earlier-- dietary standards, what day you go to church, should communion bread be unleavened, tattoos and piercings. Another one is the mode of baptism. Should it be immersion or effusion? The use of cosmetics is one actually. People actually fight about whether women should wear makeup, believe it or not. Jewelry, alcohol, tongues, music. We already said women teachers and pastors.

There's a lot of these non-essentials that we as Christians want to squabble over. Never separate or divide on the basis of non-essentials. Only divide on the deity of Jesus, the Atonement, the Resurrection, the Trinity, one God in three persons, the virgin birth, the inerrancy of scripture. These things-- and there's others-- that are essential to the Christian faith that we say, if you don't believe this, you can't be a Christian, these essentials, divide on those. But in regards to all these non-essentials, don't divide on them.

Second John says that with such people who don't believe those essentials we are to have no fellowship. My friend, Nate Bush, explains it this way. I had Matt bring out three chairs, four chairs rather. I can't count today. It's good. Four chairs. And he explains the essentials and non-essentials basically become issues that we have the choice. Any issue, any essential, any non-essential, we have the choice to sit in one of four chairs.

The two chairs on the outside are activist chairs. These chairs are reserved for the essentials. These chairs say, if I sit in this chair, and somebody else sits on the opposite side of this subject in the activist chair, I can't have fellowship with you. The activist chair says, I believe so strongly in this belief, that if you believe the opposite way, you're not a Christian.

Now, on essentials, we should sit in this chair. For instance, if I say Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, that there is one way to heaven. His name is Jesus. You have to accept him into your heart. But Matt says, well, actually I think all roads lead to heaven, and it doesn't really matter what God you believe in. They're all the same. And so just go on your journey, and we'll all end up in heaven someday. Matt, I don't really believe that you believe that, first of all. But if that's his standpoint, I'm going to say I'm going to divide with you on that. That's an essential. I'm going to take an activist standpoint and say that I can't have fellowship with you.

But on the non-essentials, Paul says we should sit in these middle chairs. These chairs are conviction chairs. This chair says I have a personal conviction, and my personal conviction is that Christians should speak in tongues, and you say, well, I have a personal conviction. And my personal conviction is Christian shouldn't speak in tongues. We say although we may not agree on this issue, I'm not going to sit in the activist chair and say, well, you can't be a Christian, I can't have fellowship with you. I'm going to sit in the conviction chair that says, I can understand how a thinking Christian could get to that place. I could understand why you're in that camp, and that's an issue that doesn't determine salvation, so I'm happy to sit next to you and have fellowship with you.

These are the conviction chairs, not the activist chairs. What Paul is saying is that on any non-essential, we can never sit in either one of these activist chairs, fully for or fully against and say if you believe opposite, I can't be your friend. I can't fellowship with you. Paul is saying, on all non-essentials, we have to find a middle chair. We have to find that middle ground where we can say, hey, even though I don't agree with you, I recognize that I'm going to spend eternity with you. So I better get used to it.

Let's start hanging out now. Let's start fellowshipping now. Let's be friends now because we're going to be together forever. Start accepting all believers.

Now, I want to point something out because there is the risk that when I say that, you say, well, what about the person who says, I'm a Christian, and then they start spouting off terrible things? They say I'm a Christian, I'm a Mormon, or I'm a Jehovah's Witness, and where's the line between accepting all believers? When I say all believers, I'm speaking of what Paul talks about, all true believers. The measure of a true believer is on their belief in the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. The measure that we're to use is on the essentials, not the non-essentials, and that really leads us to our second point.

Stop judging some believers. Look at verse 3. It says, "Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. For God has received him." A word to the strong and faith, "Let not him who eats despise him who doesn't eat." Look, if you've got enough faith, if you've got enough understanding of the liberty that you have in Christ, and you can do certain things, you're free enough in the spirit where you can speak in tongues, you have the liberty in Christ where you feel it's OK for you to drink, you have the liberty in Christ where you can do some of these things that other people can't do, don't judge those who can't do it.

Don't get mad at those who can't do it, and try to sit down and expose and explain to them why their theology is wrong, why they just don't have enough faith, why the Bible doesn't really call what you're doing a sin, and explain to them why it's OK for them to do the same thing. Don't judge them and despise them.

Now, a word to the weak in the faith. "Let not him who does not eat judge him who eats." Look, if you're convicted that you shouldn't eat meat, then don't. If you're convicted that you shouldn't speak in tongues, then don't. If you're convicted that you shouldn't drink alcohol, then don't. If you're convicted that you should keep a certain dietary standard, then do it. If you're convicted that you should worship on Saturdays, then you've already sinned, so you should right now probably ask God for forgiveness, because it's Sunday.

But don't assume that everyone else feels the same way as you. Don't assume that everyone thinks the same way that you do. And understand, they're not less spiritual because they don't agree with you. And also understand this, you're to receive them. Why? Because verse 3 says, "For God has received them." God's accepted them, so you should, too.

If they're holy enough and Christian enough for God to accept, don't you think they should be holy enough and Christian enough for you to accept? Rather than pulling out bibles and lashing each other, receive each other. You know it's sad to me how judgemental and critical some Christians can be towards those who don't agree with them on every single point. And nothing puts a bad taste in the world's mouth towards Christ more than judgemental and critical Christians attacking non-essential issues.

For instance, I have a letter I want to read to you. A couple months ago, my wife and I were with a couple of friends, and we went to a restaurant that also happened to serve alcohol. And we had a great meal. We had a fun time. We ended the night, and I had about a $30 tab that I closed out, and the next morning, when I woke up, I looked at my card statement, and I had a $2,300 bill on my credit card statement. And I was like, danger, Will Robinson.

And I immediately called the restaurant. It was like 7 o'clock in the morning, so it wasn't open yet, and I left a message. I said, hey, I think a mistake was made. I was at your restaurant last night. I had like not very much food, and I got a $2,300 bill on my credit card statement. I was just hoping you could fix it.

About 10 minutes later, the owner of the restaurant, not even the manager called me, and she said, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I'm driving there right now. Please forgive me. And she was so frantic, and I said, hey, it's OK. Calm down. It's not a big deal. As long as it's taken care of, I'm not mad, and she was taken back by how understanding I was. And she said, man, a lot of people would be yelling at me right now. A lot of people would be so angry right now. Why aren't you so mad? I said, because it's an honest mistake, and it's not a mistake you made, and you're being a good owner right now by taking responsibility, addressing the issue. As long as it's taken care of, I'm happy.

So she went to the restaurant, she took care of the issue, refunded the money, and she called me back. And she said, man, again, just thank you for being so understanding. I want to send you some gift cards just to thank you and just to apologize for the mistake. So she sent me about $200 worth of gift cards, and she also attached this letter, and she said "Nathan, thank you for your grace and kindness through this situation. Once again, I apologize that this happened. On a side note, when I hung up with you the first time I talked to you, I knew you were a Christian. The fact that I own bars, most people assume I am not, so I get the worst from those, even those who profess to believe. Thank you for restoring my faith in Christians."

[APPLAUSE]

You know, it's sad to me that her experience up until that point had been with Christians who had judged her based on a non-essential issue. Based on a non-essential point, she had been judged, and she had experienced, rather than grace and love and forgiveness that Jesus Christ has she had experienced hatred, judgment, and criticism from those who professed to have received the forgiveness and the grace of Jesus Christ.

The message puts it this way. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing the other over what they ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited both of them to the table. Wouldn't it be great if, as Christians, we could sit at the table together and instead of arguing back and forth about how we disagree on the non-essential, dumb, unimportant issues, we could fellowship with one another, encourage one another, strengthen one another, exhort one another for good works, so we could go out and make a difference in our communities? Wouldn't that be a great idea?

We're family, after all. And I understand that maybe family meals are a contentious situation for you. But in the body of Christ, we're meant to love each other. We're meant to fellowship with each other. You know I've noticed something about worldliness. There's some things in the Bible that for a believer, anywhere it's wrong. The Bible is expressly very clear on certain issues that this is sin, this is wrong for anyone. But then there's other stuff that is geographic worldliness.

For instance, as I already pointed out by that letter, in America, there's some Christian circles where the thought of any form of alcohol in any capacity is viewed as sinful. If you even look at it, you might feel the flames of hell creeping up on your butt. Don't do it. Stay away. And yet, if you go to Germany, you might find that after church the congregation, even the pastors would go to a bar, enjoy a beer, and discuss the work that God had done that weekend and the souls that were saved.

Two different traditions, two different backgrounds, two different viewpoints on a non-essential issue. And yet, if you put those two people at a table, they'd probably fight. Now, some might say, well, that's wrong, they shouldn't do that, they're going to cause someone to stumble. Well, they over eat and are gluttonous after church and then break the speed limit on the way home.

In Victorian era, Charles Spurgeon and J.W. Packer were friends, pastor friends. They fellowshipped together. They even exchanged pulpits together, until they had a disagreement. See, Charles Spurgeon got mad and accused Packer of being unspiritual because he went to the theater. And yet Spurgeon smoked cigars, a lot of cigars, so many cigars, in fact, that there is a billboard of him in London that said "Cigars, the kind Spurgeon smokes."

So he's condemning someone for going to the theater while he is a chain smoker. Do you see the irony there? Even after this weekend, I'll probably get a couple letters of people criticizing and mad about this message about non-essentials. They're going to judge a message about non-essentials. Does anyone see the irony in that situation?

Verse 4 says, "Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master, he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand for God is able to make him stand." See, the premise in the idea of this is who are you to judge somebody else's worker? Think of with your kids. Who are you to judge someone else's kids? If someone started judging your kids and parenting your kids, you'd be like, hey, those are my kids. Who are you to judge my kids? I'll parents my kids. I'll take care of this. It's not your place. You don't have any right.

Those Christians aren't your Christians. Those Christians aren't your servants. They're God's servants. Those Christians won't stand before you. They're going to stand before God. This verse sounds a lot like Matthew 7, where it says, "Judge not that you be not judged." Now, this does not forbid discernment.

See, a lot of Christians think that this means that we should never evaluate anyone or anything. As a matter of fact, in some Christian circles, if you have strong convictions, and you speak up, or if you discern, they respond, hey, judge not, lest you be judged. But right after Jesus said do not judge, he also said, watch out for false prophets.

How do you watch out for false prophets? Well, with some level of judgment and discernment. But the point is, we're judging, we're discerning based on the essentials, not the non-essentials. Judgment and discernment is OK in relation to protecting the church and making sure that the essentials are taught, but in relation to non-essentials, we need to draw the line. Now, there's two wrong responses in the area of judgment. One is going overboard in the area of judgment, having an arrogant self-righteous attitude towards those who have sinned or even towards those who haven't sinned, but they are perceived to have done so, because of the tendency of so many to jump to conclusions and be overly judgmental because of traditions, this baggage that many of us hold.

The second, though, is just as dangerous. That's completely lacking in the area of discernment, lacking in the area of accurate judgment, and being taken in by practically every Christian and con artists wielding a Bible that comes down the pike. This is why I said accept all true believers. Evaluate them based on the essentials that the Bible talks about, the essential doctrines. Have fellowship with those people. Have discernment. Don't judge.

One of the easiest habits to acquire is the habit of criticism. Once you start it, it's really hard to stop. This is the fault fighter, the sin sniffer. They always think the worst of everybody. This is a big problem, even in the Church today. We can be so quick to make snap judgments about people. We can be at dinner with somebody and see somebody eating a big fancy meal and say, how can they spend that kind of money with their income? Maybe they have a gift certificate. You don't know.

You go to someone's house, and their house is a mess, their kitchen is a mess, and you say, man, their kitchen is always a mess. They're not taking care of the things that God has given them. They're not being a good steward. Maybe they're sacrificing the time they spend cleaning to spend more time with their kids. Maybe they have more time with their kids than you are.

Well, they just get up so late. They're so irresponsible. We should be early to rise and be hard workers. Maybe they have a night job, or maybe they're a night person, they're more productive at nighttime than they are in the mornings, so they spend more time getting stuff done at nighttime while you're sleeping than they do in the morning.

It's not a sin to live your life based on those things, but it's wrong to judge others who don't. The sad part is that so many Christians look down on others because of a spiritual pride or because they do or don't do certain things. But there's also a danger for someone with a very wide view of liberty to criticize those people who hold to certain convictions.

For instance, it's very common sometimes for people to get saved, and then once they get saved, decide that they want to get rid of all their secular music. I've known numerous people who say, man, I got saved, and I just feel a personal conviction that all my secular music, I need to get rid of. My mom when she got saved because of her experience working in discotheques and bars and other areas where the music was a big part of that, felt that she was convicted to get rid of all her records. Now, does that mean that she still only listens to Christian music? No, she listens to some secular music now.

But the point is that if somebody has that conviction, it is wrong for us, those who have a higher view of liberty to come to them and say, you know, that's dumb. Why do you do that? That doesn't make sense. The Bible doesn't command that. Why are you doing things the Bible doesn't command? If somebody has a conviction, don't tear down their conviction because you have more liberty. If you don't have all the info, don't cast judgment.

The last thing that we see, we've seen that we need to start accepting all believers, stop judging some believers. The last thing we see is that whatever you do, whatever non-essentials you view as important or non-important, whatever you do, be convinced. Look at verse 5. "One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each person be fully convinced in their own mind."

Whatever you do, whatever see you sit in in the place of conviction, if you say man I'm really convicted that I should speak in tongues, or I'm really convicted that I shouldn't speak in tongues, or I'm really convicted that I shouldn't eat meat, or I really, really like meat, and I'm going to eat all the meat. Whatever seat you sit in, be fully convinced in your own mind. Whatever you do, make up your mind about it, and stand true to the convictions that God has placed upon your heart.

He says one person esteems one day above another. This literally means one person gives honor to. That is to say they pick out a certain day, and they give honor to it. Speaking of the Jews with Sabbath, because of the tradition they came from to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, they felt that you had to go to church on the last day of the week, the seventh day.

In many churches, there were Judaizers that they felt they had to keep the law of Moses. The same thinking influenced the Galatians. In Galatians 4, Paul referred to them, and he said, "To which you desire again, to be in bondage. You observe days and months and seasons and years." This was also a problem for the Collossian church. Collossians 2 said, "Let no one judge you in food or drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath."

And yet this conflict still exists today. Now, we have it easy because we worship on two days. Look, if you want to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, come on Saturday night. We got you covered. If the first day is more important to you, and you want to worship God on the first day of the wee, come on Sunday. We've got you covered.

But a lot of people say, well, when did the Sabbath change? Who changed the Sabbath? You know, the Church changed the Sabbath to Sunday. The answer is no one changed the Sabbath. The Sabbath is still the Sabbath. The Sabbath is Saturday. If you want to worship on the Sabbath, come to church on Saturday.

Now, there is an answer to why a lot of Christians worship on Sunday. See, the seventh day commemorates finished creation, but the first day commemorates finished redemption. Paul said to the Corinthians on the first day of the week, each one should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income. Acts 20 verse 7 says, "Now on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread."

Many people hold Sunday to be a holy day. Oh, it's Sunday. I got to wear a suit. I can't work. I got to go to church. What Paul means in all of this is he wants to prevent an attitude that would degenerate the real meaning of Christianity. The real meaning of Christianity doesn't matter what day you worship on, but that you worship. The real meaning of Christianity is that hey, none of the days are yours to begin with. They're all mine that I've given to you to live.

So worship me in them. And whichever one you choose to do, make up your own mind about it, and don't judge other people who view differently than you do. Whatever day you decide to worship, make it a holy day. Verse 6 continues. It closes and says, "He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord, he does not observe it. He who eats eats to the Lord for he gives God thanks, and he who doesn't eat to the Lord, he doesn't eat and gives God thanks."

Basically, Paul is saying in all of this, when it comes to non-essentials, whatever you decide to do, whatever see you sit in on the non-essentials-- again, you can't sit in the activist seat. Don't sit in one of those. But whatever seat you sit in on the conviction seat, whatever place you fall into, it's OK as long as your motive is the same. As long as your motive at heart is to give God thanks, as long as your motive in your heart is to glorify God in all things, it doesn't matter which seat you sit. Make up your mind, decide what you want to do, be convinced.

This brings up our closing, but possibly our main point of today. In these gray areas, in these non-essentials, we've mentioned several, but there's many more. In these non-essentials, how do we discern what we should do? Maybe you say, Nate, honestly I don't know what I should do. I was kind of coming to church hoping you would tell me what I should do on some of these issues.

But the Bible gives us a little test that we can use to decide if some of these gray areas or these non-essentials are OK for us to do or there's something we shouldn't do. Number one, we should ask the question does it help me? Does it help me? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful."

The idea is of making personal progress towards a goal that you have what is the goal that you have as a Christian? Is this gray area, is this non-essential helping you towards that goal? Or are the things that you're doing furthering your walk with God by faltering your walk with God? So ask yourself that question, does this help me? Does it help me?

Number two, does it hurt me? Again in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the control or the power of any." Ask yourself, although I could do this, will that thing becomes my master? Look, cigarettes won't send you to hell, but they can enslave you.

Just because something is not bad doesn't mean that it's not bad for you. Just because something is not a sin doesn't mean that it's not a sin for you. And so in the areas of scripture that the Bible is neither for nor against, it's always wrong to go against your conscience. What's your conviction?

If when you pray, you have a conviction that you should speak in tongues, then do it, because if you don't, you're going against your conscience, and that becomes a sin for you. If you have a conviction that when you pray, that man, I just don't want to speak in tongues, because it just feels weird to me, and I feel like it would be contrived, and it wouldn't be the spirit, then don't do it, because if you did it, you'd be going against your conscience, and it would be a sin for you to do. Whatever you do in regards to these non-essential areas of life, it's so important that you are convinced and you are sure that it's OK for you to do. Because to go against your conscience is to do that which we believe is wrong, even if it's not.

The last question you should ask is does it hurt others. This is found in 1 Corinthians 10 where Paul says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify." This is the question of, well, what will that do to them? What will it do to the people who are around me? How will my actions affect their walk with God?

Because understand this, it's also sinful to hurt the personal convictions of others, because you're pushing them to go against their conscience. That is to say, you're pushing them to do something that you believe is OK, but they have the conviction that it's not OK. Again, this is deciding to sit in the activist chair and say, hey, I think this is OK to do. I think it's OK to speak in tongues.

And maybe you have somebody who's sitting in a conviction chair, saying that they don't think that they should, but they're OK if you do it, but you're sitting here, saying, well, you should do it, too. Why don't you do it? If you were really filled with the spirit, you would speak in tongues. And if you're not speaking in tongues, you're not filled with the spirit. You know, it's actually OK-- the Bible talks about it-- trying to persuade them to your viewpoint. That's what it's talking about.

Does it hurt others? Does my personal conviction, my view on this non-essential point, is it hurting others? Am I causing others to go against their conscience, against their convictions, and causing them to sin? No Christian has the right to play the Holy Spirit in doubtful issues.

If there is a doubtful issue that you go to one side of, make sure that you don't play the Holy Spirit in other people's lives and tell them what they should do as well. We can pray We can advise. And even though doctrinally, the strong believer might be right, they are also called to tread lovingly.

Lord, we thank you for your word, the way that it encourages us. Lord, I pray that each and every one of us would begin to accept one another, accept true believers, have fellowship, welcome, receive one another into fellowship with you. Lord, I pray that we wouldn't judge one another, that we wouldn't jump down each other's throats when it comes to non-essential issues, that we would stand firm upon the essentials of the Christian faith, but in the non-essentials in those things that are unimportant issues, in those things that don't really matter or we would have grace and kindness and love.

And in doing so, you would bring us together as the Church that you desire, your Church, as we love one another. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. God bless you guys. Have a great weekend.

How will you put the truths that you learned into action in your life? Let us know. Email us at mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can support this ministry with a financial gift at calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for this teaching from Calvary Church.

Additional Messages in this Series

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5/5/2019
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The Heart and Soul of the Gospel
Romans 1:1-7
Skip Heitzig
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Today we embark on a thirty-two-week journey through the book of Romans. Considered to be Paul the apostle’s magnum opus, this book is largely responsible for igniting the fires of the Protestant Reformation and the Wesleyan Revival. As Paul introduced himself to the church at Rome, he got right to the heart and soul of the matter—the gospel—the good news that presents Jesus Christ as God’s great answer to the pressing need of the human race.
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5/19/2019
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Unashamed!
Romans 1:16-17
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Standing up for and speaking out about our faith in Jesus Christ can sometimes feel awkward and intimidating. Often our message is not received with glad faces or with open arms by the people we work with and live next to. As Paul was planning to visit Rome, he expressed eagerness rather than hesitation to herald this message. Why was that? The apostle gives us five reasons for his readiness and enthusiasm.
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5/26/2019
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Is God Mad?
Romans 1:18-32
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The Wrath of God Is Revealed God is full of love, right? Right! That’s the good news. And Paul gets back to that theme and develops it fully in the chapters ahead. But first, there’s some bad news. Like a powerful prosecuting attorney, Paul made the case as to why we need the good news of Christ. God’s grace is necessary because of our guilt. In this section, we learn about the wrath of God—an attribute that many people can’t wrap their heads (and hearts) around.
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7/7/2019
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Four Mistakes Religious People Make
Romans 2:1-11
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Jesus was not a religious leader. He was a righteous leader. And He was often confronting the religious leaders of His day. Likewise Paul found many enemies among the religious elite of his day, among both Jews and Gentiles. After announcing his theme of good news in Jesus, Paul promptly plunged into the bad news of God’s wrath—a subject that religious people sometimes love (but for all the wrong reasons). Paul tells us some of their most common mistakes.
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7/14/2019
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Hypocrisy Gets an Audit
Romans 2:17-29
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All businesses, corporations, and individuals have blind spots. Auditors can help by giving a clear and unbiased reading of practices and procedures, and then give appropriate recommendations for change. Here, Paul played the role of auditing the hypocrite—the one who has spiritual style but no substance. Let’s consider the assets, the deficits, and the net appraisal of the one who wears a spiritual disguise.
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7/28/2019
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The Advantage of Having the Bible
Romans 3:1-8
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Those who have been raised in a home with spiritual foundations and the teaching of Scripture have an edge over those who were never exposed to such benefits. The advantage of having access to the Bible is enormous, but it is not a fail-safe. Paul addressed the Jews who were caretakers of God’s own words, and much can be applied to anyone who has the advantage of revealed truth but fails to take it to heart.
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8/4/2019
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How Prisoners Go Free
Romans 3:9-26
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Freedom is a huge word for the Christian believer. Picture yourself nervously standing in a courtroom before a judge who has just read the pile of evidence against you. Just before the gavel strikes the bench proclaiming your guilt, a piece of evidence strikes his gaze and he unexpectedly announces your innocence. You can now go free! Here Paul explains how any person anywhere can find hope and freedom because of the gospel.
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8/11/2019
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Old Age; Young Faith
Romans 4
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Our skin may wrinkle but our faith never has to. Abraham’s faith was vibrant and youthful even when he was nearing one hundred years of age. As Paul points to the patriarch Abraham as an example for justification by faith, we can learn what it means to believe God through all the ages of life. How vibrant is your Christian faith? Have you let cynicism and doubt choke out your confidence in God?
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8/18/2019
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Our Benefits Package
Romans 5:1-5
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Why is being a Christian so great? Every unbeliever you meet is asking that question as they observe your life. What are the benefits of living with a committed faith in Jesus? After explaining what it means to be right with God by believing in Christ, and after illustrating that principle with Abraham, Paul gives a short list of some of the benefits of a saved life.
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8/25/2019
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Unrivaled Love
Romans 5:6-11
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Modern wisdom continually tells us, “Love is a verb,” rather than a sentimental feeling. Love is a commitment that involves action. For the first time in the letter to the Romans, Paul introduced the word love and a very singular kind of love—God’s love for us. Wanting to show how secure we are in this salvation, he described the greatest demonstration of love—its proof, its provision, and its product.
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9/1/2019
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A One-Man Show
Romans 5:12-21
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Just one person can do a lot of damage, and conversely just one person can do a lot of good. Paul here showed the effect that Adam brought on by his rebellion and the effect that Jesus bought with His blood on the cross. One caused death. One conveys life. One brought guilt. One bought the gift of grace. The big question is, have you received the gift?
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9/8/2019
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Don’t Look Back
Romans 6:1-7
Nate Heitzig
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Returning to a life of sin after becoming a Christian is like winning the lottery but choosing to continue to live in poverty. Pastor Nate Heitzig poses this question: Can one be a Christian and continually pursue a sinful lifestyle? In examining Romans 6:1-7, we find the biblical answer: No. Because of what God has done for the Christian, the Christian's rightful response to God should be to pursue a transformed lifestyle.
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9/15/2019
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Winning the War with Sin
Romans 6:11-14
Skip Heitzig
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There is not a person I know who doesn’t struggle with sin. Evil thoughts, bad habits, immoral impulses, and recurring temptations all rear their ugly heads, leaving us exhausted and disappointed in ourselves and wondering if any deliverance is possible. This struggle is real. The war can be fierce. How can we believers (who still have our old natures) win in these battles? Consider this four-step strategy.
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9/22/2019
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The Struggle Is Real
Romans 7:14-25
Nate Heitzig
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Christians can struggle with consistency. Like everyone, we sin and fall short in many areas. It's easy to get discouraged and think to ourselves, "I'm weak," or "I must not be called to the Christian life." The struggle with sin is real for every Christian. In this message, Pastor Nate Heitzig examines the believer's situation and struggle with carnality as well as the solution for victory.
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9/29/2019
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Safe and Secure
Romans 8:1-11
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As the old saying goes, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” That’s certainly true of Paul’s authorship of this book. He closes chapter 7 on a low note, only to crescendo to a swelling high point in chapter 8. “Don’t despair! You’re in secure hands and you’re safe,” Paul tells us. He reminds us of four facts that should settle every heart.
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10/6/2019
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The New You
Romans 8:12-18
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Most people love new stuff: a new car, a new set of clothes, a new puppy, a new haircut, a new adventure. But the best new thing you could have is a new you! Being a Christian isn’t a temporary reformation but a total transformation. When the Holy Spirit gets hold of a person’s life, He begins the process of a total makeover—changing you from the inside out. As a Christian believer these are among the changes you can expect to see.
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10/13/2019
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The Steady Hand of a Caring God
Romans 8:28-30
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The world to many people seems to be a random place where anything can happen. But a believer can (and should) step firmly onto the soil of life. Why? Not just because God exists, but also because God cares! There is not a single atom nor molecule out of place in God’s universe; His hands and heart are steadily controlling your every breath. Let’s examine some of the richest truths about the quality of care from a loving God.
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10/20/2019
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A Midterm Exam: Five Questions to Test Your Understanding
Romans 8:31-34
Skip Heitzig
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In the middle of any given course or semester, a test consisting of questions is given. This does two things: it measures the student’s grasp of the course materials, and it helps identify any areas that need work. Right in the middle of his sixteen-chapter book, Paul gives his readers a series of questions to jog our spiritual memory and face some wonderful realities about the love of God. Let’s consider five questions in these verses.
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10/27/2019
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For the Love of God
Romans 8:35-39
Skip Heitzig
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Can anyone really comprehend unconditional love? Perhaps the love that parents have for their children is the closest to unconditional love from a human point of view. But life’s circumstances certainly can challenge the idea that God loves us unconditionally. We’ve all heard about God’s love, we’ve sung about it, and we’ve affirmed it with our “Amens!” But as Paul closes out this section of Romans, he moves us into a fixed and secure confession that no matter what life can throw at us, we need never doubt God’s love for us.
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11/10/2019
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God, the Jew, and You
Romans 9:1-26
Skip Heitzig
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We now come to the third major section of Paul’s letter to the Romans that reveals God’s plan for Jew and Gentile. The early church in Jerusalem was entirely Jewish, but by this point, in most other parts of the world, it had become predominantly non-Jewish. But if God made so many promises to the Jewish nation, does that mean those promises are all now annulled? How does Israel’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah fit into God’s sovereign strategy, and where do we fit in?
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11/17/2019
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Salvation: Reverse Engineered
Romans 10:1, 14-17
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Right in the middle of Paul’s great trilogy about Israel (Romans 9, 10, and 11), he gave an expanded view of how salvation operates. These are the seven components that make up the journey for anyone (Jew or Gentile) who comes to know Christ. Evangelism always begins with God’s sovereign election, but it also involves human cooperation. It takes both someone who will transmit the gospel and someone who will receive it.
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11/24/2019
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God’s Plan for Israel—and the World
Romans 11:25-27
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Can God be trusted? More to the point, can God’s promises be trusted? If He promised to the Jews a kingdom, won’t their rejection of Christ cancel out His promises to them? Wouldn’t that mean that God is finished with Israel as a nation? Does their blindness forfeit God’s blessing? Today we’ll get the big-picture view of Israel, the church, and the kingdom age, and I think you will have a few loose ends tied up about God’s future plan for the world.
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12/8/2019
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Now It’s Your Turn
Romans 12:1-2
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The blessings of God and the work of Christ have been flowing like a dynamic stream for eleven chapters so far. He saves, He justifies, He promises, He gives peace, He works everything together for good in our lives, and He plans an epic eternity for us. So how should we respond to all of this? What is our part? That’s what the next five chapters of Romans are all about. The thrust of this next section is: Based on all that God has done for you, now it’s your turn!
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12/15/2019
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Made for Purpose
Romans 12:3-8
Nate Heitzig
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The beauty of God's creation is evident all around us, yet nature is not God's greatest work; mankind is God's greatest masterpiece. It's estimated that to write down one person's DNA blueprint would require 200,000 pages. And God knows every sentence on every page. For the Christian, there's a custom design—a purpose in life to partner with God through gifts from the Holy Spirit. Pastor Nate Heitzig explains how believers can find their purpose in Christ in this message from Romans 12:3-8.
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12/22/2019
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Exercise for Your Soul
Romans 12:6-8
Nate Heitzig
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Americans seem obsessed with fitness and exercise, yet the U.S. is one of the most obese nations in the world. It’s similar in the body of Christ—many Christians are idle, preferring to sit around rather than exercise our spiritual gifts. The key to both spiritual and physical health is balancing exercise and rest. In this teaching, Pastor Nate Heitzig discusses why God gives certain gifts to each member of the body of Christ as well as how those gifts are given so that the entire body might grow and be strong.
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1/5/2020
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Love Is a Verb
Romans 12:9-21
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Perhaps the most overused (but under-practiced) word in human language is the word love. We use the word for everything that includes a mild liking of a meal to having intense affection for another human. Paul is far more practical, knowing that love will show itself in the form of action. Love is a verb. He shows us how the hallmark virtue of Christianity, love, is shown among other believers and in the world, even when they hate us.
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1/12/2020
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The Christian and Government
Romans 13:1-7
Skip Heitzig
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There has always existed a tension between God’s people and human government, especially when we are not in favor of those who are in power. We may find it hard to “render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21) while being faithful to God. The Christians in Rome were no different when Paul wrote this letter. Let’s consider five principles that form a practical theology for Christian believers in relationship to secular human government.
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1/26/2020
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Wake Up Call
Romans 13:11-14
Nate Heitzig
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We are a fallen people living in a fallen world. Romans 3:10 says "none is righteous." There is evidence all around us that Jesus is setting the scene for His return, and Romans 13 is Paul’s call for the church to prepare for that event. Jesus Himself told us to "occupy till [He] comes" (Luke 19:13, KJV). In this message, Pastor Nate Heitzig explores the apostle's wake-up call to believers and helps us understand how we can effectively occupy until Jesus returns.
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2/16/2020
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The Cure for "I" Disease
Romans 15:1-6
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Selfishness is part of our basic human nature. It is the default position for every human being. Left unchecked, everybody would focus on himself and live only to please himself. But redemption brings with it a different lifestyle—one that is focused on others, patient with faults, and motivated by a sense of unity in the church. Let’s consider a fourfold strategy to counteract selfishness and promote harmonious living.
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3/15/2020
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How to Treat Your Family
Romans 16:1-24
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I am so honored and thankful to be part of this spiritual family. You are one of God’s greatest gifts in my life! In this last chapter of Romans, Paul’s tone and subject matter is familial—he approaches them not as Paul the theologian, but Paul their brother in Christ. It’s unfortunate that many believers don’t pay much attention to chapter 16 because in it we get a great example of how to treat our own spiritual family.
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There are 30 additional messages in this series.
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