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Romans 9-16

Applying Righteousness: Towards Others/Selflessness

Josh Yates · Sunday, 23 November 2025 · Romans 14:1-15:13 · 44:33 · 7,384 words

Romans S31 · 14:1-15:13 Lake Orion

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What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

liberty 17 wear 18 eat 24 minor 7 dave 6 shortfall 5 meat 10 hat 12 major 7 brother 15 unity 9 theater 5

Topics

Freedom 5 Faith 4 Judgment 3 Unity 2 Prayer 2 Sin 2 Suffering 1 Hope 1 Atonement & Sacrifice 1

Scripture referenced 18

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 14 3:56 Romans 14 5:46 Romans 14 5:58 Romans 14 6:15 Romans 14:1-12 6:15 Romans 14:7 19:25 2 Corinthians 5:10 19:48 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 19:59 James 4:17 20:42 James 4:5 20:48 Romans 14:13-23 21:45 Romans 14:21-22 28:04 Romans 15 29:31 John 17:11 34:26 John 17:20-22 34:42 John 17:23 35:09 Psalms 1:1-2 39:09 Romans 15:7 39:55

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:33. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Lorena, and thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

We're so glad that you're here, and we want to connect with you and your family.

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Thanks again for joining us, and we hope that you are blessed by today's message.

Good morning again. So glad to be able to open the Word with you.

How to get this nice and situated here so you guys can all see that.

It's an illustration this morning. Look out. Be careful. You might jump right into an illustration this morning.

Anyway, I want to make sure and give a quick announcement about the 1000x100 challenge that we gave last week.

We are in the process of, at the end of the year, looking at leader in giving.

And last week, we talked about the fact that...

The church is run by gifts and offerings of the church, right?

And we have a spending plan that we use every year that's approved by our deacons.

And through the spending plan over this last year, giving has been about $175,000, right around that, under the spending plan.

And so we have a shortfall in our budget.

And so as we have come to that, I'm wondering, God, what do you want us to do?

We came last week and we gave a challenge that 1,000 people...

Could give $100 by the end of the year.

We looked at our gatherings and realized that last...

A couple weeks ago, we had right at 5,000 people attending between all nine of our locations and our online live stream attendees.

And so we thought 20% of that, giving $100 would get $100,000 to be able to help with that shortfall.

And so I am pleased to basically announce today that as of Friday, 372 people...

Across all nine locations have given $64,288 in one week.

And so we're just thankful for that.

Is that the same number that's up there?

All right, good.

I want to make sure my numbers are right.

But here at Lake Orion, we had 18 givers that gave just under $6,600.

And so I am so grateful for that, for you guys.

And so there's two things.

We want to continue with that challenge.

You know, it's awesome that we're 65.

Almost percent to the monetary goal that we had.

But when you consider it in light of the shortfall that we have overall, that doesn't quite meet the shortfall.

And we have 372 of 1,000.

And so I know some people have to wait for payday and there's different stuff.

Don't look at that and go, oh, well, I don't really need to do that.

If God's calling you to be part of this challenge, I'd like to challenge you as your pastor to challenge you to be part of that.

Because generosity is part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

And like I think I said a couple weeks ago,

God doesn't need your money.

He doesn't need your money.

What he wants is your heart.

And so often, not often, let's be honest, our hearts are connected to where we spend our money, right?

And so I don't want to get into a big message on giving.

You had to be enrooted to hear all that one if you're in one of our Bible studies that we've been doing during the week.

But I do want to just challenge you.

If you feel like God's been calling you to be a part of that, still be a part of it.

Because we do still have that shortfall and we're anticipating how God's going to meet that need.

So if you have any questions, again,

please let me know.

You can text River Church to 97000 and you can text that question to me.

We just really want to be able to answer any questions and be as transparent as possible

about what God's doing and how we're asking you to be generous at this time of the year.

So please be sure to let me know.

All right?

So we're digging into Romans chapter 14.

And I want to read something to you just at the beginning.

Believe as I believe, no more, no less, that I am right.

And no one else confess.

Feel as I feel.

Think only as I think.

Eat what I eat and drink, but what I drink.

Look as I look.

Do always as I do.

Then and only then will I fellowship with you.

So often that becomes true of so many of us in the body of Christ.

You got to think like I think, act like I act, have the same convictions I do.

In fact, if I'm honest, the COVID pandemic, I believe absolutely exposed the church of Christ.

Especially as someone.

Who is in leadership.

Now, we weren't necessarily part of the river yet.

So I'm not speaking of a history from the river because we were still an independent congregation.

We became part of the river in 2021 and praise the Lord.

It's been great.

But I tell you, as somebody in leadership of a church during the COVID pandemic, it didn't matter what decision we made.

It was the wrong one.

We either masked too much.

We masked not enough.

We didn't have faith or we had too much faith.

Or we were too careful about our older folks or not careful enough.

Or we told people that we didn't tell people that they should get the vaccine than we should.

Or we got the vaccine and maybe we shouldn't have.

And we were just at each other's throats.

And the COVID vaccine absolutely exposed the church for what we're really about sometimes.

And it's really about our own lives.

It really, really is true.

And so as we think about this today, I'd like us to turn to Romans chapter 14.

And we're going to be reading all the way through it.

I thought about, man, can I break it up?

And I'm like, no, there's just too much.

There's just too much good here.

And so we're going to read pretty much all the way through Romans 14 today and study it.

And just as a side note, I know, guys, you're trying to fix it.

But if we still got flickering, if we could just turn that TV off, that'd be a big help to me.

So it's not distracting for me.

So thanks, guys.

So let's read through verses 1 to 12, first of all, Romans chapter 14.

It says this.

Wow, I can read it so much better.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

We could read that verse and be done.

But we're going to keep going.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.

For God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully convinced.

It's in his own mind.

The one who observes that day observes it in honor of the Lord.

The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in the honor of the Lord, and gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother?

Or why do you despise your brother?

That sounds pretty straightforward on the first read.

I really, as I was looking through this passage, I kind of just wanted to say,

look, stop it, and then we can be done, right?

But I want to dig into it and really see what was going on here.

So we have to remember that Paul was writing to a Roman church

that had both Jewish and Gentile Christians in it.

And they had very little in common in their backgrounds.

They really did.

Those that were Gentiles had come from a pagan background

that really required little of them.

They just kind of lived their lives and did what they wanted,

and it wasn't a big deal.

They came from pretty much nothing as far as religion,

and they indulged in anything they wanted.

And now they're following Jesus.

Those that are Jews in Rome often outdid the Jews in their Judaism

of those Jews that were in Jerusalem.

They were Christians for sure, and they knew their salvation was by grace alone,

but they still...

They still thought that observing the law to the letter

was more pleasing to God than not.

And that would be the right response to God's grace.

That makes sense in their minds, but it wasn't biblical.

And Paul was talking about this.

And so some of these Jewish Christians had become vegetarians.

Now, the Old Testament doesn't require vegetarianism at all.

It doesn't command it.

But they'd come to the conclusion that not eating meat

made sure that they weren't going to eat anything

that would dishonor themselves or dishonor the Lord.

So they became an anti-eating meat club that was in the church in Rome.

However, the majority of these people in the church in Rome were Gentiles,

and they were meat eaters.

So can you imagine it?

You're at the market, and you're a Gentile.

You've got a basket full of meat.

You're ready to go put it on the traeger, right?

On the smoker.

And you see your Jewish brother, Dave, coming your way.

You know he's anti-meat eating.

You have to make a decision.

Do you go and try to hide behind the baskets?

Or do you actually go and talk to him?

If you're Dave, and you see Mike coming,

you're going to go and talk to him.

If you're Dave, and you see Mike with the meat,

how are you going to respond?

Ultimately, if we look on the outside of this encounter,

and according to what Paul was saying,

Mike would approach Dave holding all the meat,

and Dave would roll his eyes and walk away without saying a word.

That's the situation that was happening in the church in Rome.

Dave walks away indignant as though he's right and holier than you,

or than Mike,

and Mike walks away judged and angry.

Leslie Flynn, in his book, The Great Church Fights,

this was written in 1976, says this.

Why disagreements exist today in our churches over certain practices?

A Christian from the South,

may be repelled by a swimming party for both men and women.

Then offend his northern brother by lighting up a cigarette.

At an international conclave for missionaries,

a woman from the Orient could not wear sandals with a clear conscience.

A Christian from Western Canada thought it worldly

for a Christian acquaintance to wear a wedding ring,

apparently in the 70s.

And a woman from Europe thought it almost immoral

for a wife not to wear a ring that signaled her status.

A man from Denmark was pained to even watch

British Bible school students play football,

was pained to watch British Bible school students play football,

while British Bible school students played football,

and British Bible school students shrank from his pipe smoking.

So what does this look like in the church today?

There's a lot of things that we divide ourselves over.

How about music styles of worship?

That was a huge thing in the 90s,

even into early 2000s, maybe even today.

And even listening to Christian music versus secular music.

Like only listening to Christian music

or listening to music that doesn't say Jesus in it

and talks about other stuff.

Let me tell you something.

The style of music in the church is not God's issue.

It's ours.

He wants you to worship him.

He wants you to worship him loudly, no matter what.

That's the call.

The rest is preference.

It really is.

How you decorate for Christmas.

Do you do Santa or not?

What's the choice?

Do you do the bunny or not?

At Easter time, twos.

Bible doesn't forbid them.

Yes, there's that one verse that everybody likes to read

that was worried about pagan culture,

not about tattoos as we see them today.

Now, the content of the tattoo,

yeah, that could be a problem, okay?

But actually having a tattoo,

How about whether it's the right to spend time with God

in the morning or in the evening?

You might think that's not a thing.

Oh my goodness.

You morning people think you're better than us.

You're laughing because you know it's true.

Going to the theater or not?

To watch a movie.

That may not be as much of a thing today,

but let me tell you something.

The church I grew up,

that was bad to go to the theater.

But you could rent the movie at the blockbuster

on Friday night.

And I went, doesn't make any sense, right?

How about wearing a hat in church?

Don't talk about the content yet.

We're going to get there.

We're going to get there later.

You don't want to get caught, all right?

How about wearing a hat in church?

I want to tell you something,

and I've told you this story before,

but I'm going to tell you again,

and I don't use names when I share stories,

but I think stories are important.

I think it was a couple of years ago,

I was told of an individual

who came to visit our location

and they were wearing a military hat

because they had been in the military.

They were a veteran

and they were wearing a military hat in the lobby.

This person was new,

had not come here often,

and they overheard somebody behind them saying,

I can't believe somebody would wear a hat in church.

Not good.

The funny thing was like,

I'm going to say a few months later,

I wore a hat in church

and that person was here and went,

okay, that makes more sense.

I don't wear a hat all the time.

I like to wear a hat sometimes.

And sometimes people could come in and go,

man, he wears a hat backwards.

He's just a punk.

No, I wear it backwards

because they don't want you to see my eyes.

That's the reality, right?

And I wear a hat to stretch us some too.

That's actually one of my points of wearing a hat

is that we got to get over some of these things.

we push people away from the gospel for nothing,

How about Republican or Democrat?

Dismissing somebody out of their title

rather than substance.

Sometimes we won't even talk to somebody.

I had the honor and privilege long time ago

when President Obama was president.

I had a friend that used to work in the White House.

He was like the White House cable guy.

He got me into a,

it was a democratic event at the Rinson

that the president was coming to speak at.

And I made sure nobody knew I was not of a democratic nature

because,

I might've gotten killed.

But the reality was,

it was an honor to go.

And I was in the,

Jeannie and I were in the very front row.

We got to shake President Obama's hand

and tell him,

I'm praying for you, Mr. President.

He stopped and looked at me and said,

thank you, I need it.

That was an honor for me to be able to,

for us to be able to do that.

I came back and talked to some people about it.

And the first,

want to know the first thing people said?

I don't think I could ever shake that man's hand.

Guys, right?

If we even have a twinge of that about anybody,

I'm going to tell you about anybody.

How can we love anybody the way God loves them?

Paul's talking about this here.

It gets real.

How about whether or not we smoke tobacco?

We all have different ideas on that.

I mean, yeah, there's,

there's definitely medical issues.

If you smoke tobacco, I get it.

Okay.

Listen to this.

Two of the most famous Christians

in the Victorian era in England

were Charles Spurgeon and Joseph Parker.

You might remember the first,

recognize the first name,

but not the second.

Both mighty preachers of the gospel.

Early in their ministries,

they fellowshiped and even exchanged pulpits.

Then they had a disagreement

and the reports got to the newspapers.

Spurgeon accused Parker of being unspiritual

because he attended the church

Interestingly enough,

Spurgeon smoked cigars,

a practice many believers would condemn.

In fact, on one occasion,

someone asked Spurgeon about his cigars

and he said he did not smoke to excess.

When asked what he meant by excess,

he waggishly answered,

no more than two at a time.

Who was right?

Perhaps neither, perhaps both.

Better yet would be to realize

that the two could disagree

and both still be in the will of God.

How about what Bible translation to use?

How about whether or not you dance?

How about playing cards?

How about longing?

I lost my first youth pastor job

because I used a deck of playing cards

only to determine all of the aces were on one team

and all of the face cards were on one team

and all the number cards were on another.

We weren't even playing cards.

I just used them to separate teams.

I about lost my job.

At 20 years old,

we've got some really good friends

that we've gotten to know.

They're very dear friends of ours.

They don't attend our church here.

We've gotten to know them in the community.

And as we've gotten to know them,

through getting to know them

and going out to eat

and just spending time together,

we then realized that

they don't eat pork.

They look at the Old Testament and go,

hey, that's probably not the best thing.

They want to follow those laws.

And so they just have decided to do that.

They feel like that's probably best for them

and their family.

And that came out in eating.

And my first thought was,

oh, you poor people,

you never get bacon.

But we talked about it.

But they didn't say that we had to do that.

That's just something that they decided to do.

And then as we talked about it more,

they're like,

we really appreciate your attitude toward this

because some of us

some people have started to get to know us.

And once they get to this point,

they're like,

yeah, they're too weird.

I'm out.

I'm not going to live.

I'm not going to be a part of that.

And I think, man,

if we had that attitude,

we've really become friends.

This, I mean, really,

this has been a blessing of God to us

to have this friendship

that we have with this couple.

And if we had had that attitude,

we would have missed out on God's blessing.

And yet again,

we continually break relationship

over things that just don't matter.

And apparently they were struggling so much in Rome

about what day they should observe worshiping.

The Lord or there must've been disagreements

over observing the Sabbath or not as well.

And Paul just again says,

stop it doing this.

Sometimes we need to hear that, huh?

Just stop it.

I mean, like Paul says in verses seven or eight,

he says, we live for the Lord.

We die to the Lord.

No matter what we do,

we are the Lords

because all of us one day will sit before the,

or stand before the judgment seat of God.

Excuse me, the judgment seat of God.

Paul's talking about the Greek word here

is the Bema seat.

It's the judgment seat for believers

where we will,

where our,

our rewards will be determined at the last day.

Paul would talk about this in second Corinthians 5:10.

He says, for we must all appear

before the judgment seat of Christ

so that each one may receive what is due

for what he has done in the body,

whether good or evil.

First Corinthians 3:13 to 15, he says,

each one's work will become manifest

for the day will disclose it.

The day meaning the day of the Lord when he returns,

because it will be revealed by fire

and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

If the work that anyone has built on foundation survives,

he will receive a reward.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer.

He will suffer a loss though he himself will be saved,

but only as through fire.

And for some of us in this room,

we separate over things that don't matter.

And that's doesn't mean a thing.

There's plenty of things that you may be convicted about

that others are not convicted about.

And let me tell you this,

if God has convicted you about something in your life,

you shouldn't do it.

Even if other Christians are.

James 4:17 says, so whoever knows the right thing to do

and fails to do it for him, it is sin.

Paul said in verse five,

you need to be fully convinced in your own mind,

in your own mind,

not in somebody else's mind.

The reality is every single one of us in this room

has one Lord and his name is Jesus.

It's not you.

You stand before or fall before him alone

and not anybody else.

And the thing that breaks my heart the most in this

is that this is this unity is where our testimony

of the gospel rises or falls to people watching.

We get caught up in arguing about things

that don't matter in eternity.

Hold your conviction and serve God and love others.

Seek to help others.

Let others know him.

That's our call.

We can't criticize or condemn one another

and stay focused on making much of Jesus

and following him as our king.

It's simply that, it really is that simple.

But then he goes on in verses 13 to 23.

Let's read this.

Therefore, let us not pass judgment

on one another any longer,

but rather decide never to put a stumbling block

or a hindrance in the way of a brother.

I know and I'm persuaded in the Lord that Jesus,

that the Lord Jesus, or that in the Lord Jesus,

that nothing is unclean in itself,

but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean.

Fear of your brother is greed,

by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.

By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,

but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God

and approved in the Holy Spirit.

I'm sorry, and is approved by men.

So then let us pursue what makes for peace

and mutual upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.

Everything is indeed clean,

but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by

what he eats.

It is not, is it not good to eat meat or wine or drink wine

or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.

That is such a huge statement right there.

The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.

Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment

on himself for what he approves.

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats,

because the eating is not from faith,

for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

So wait a minute, didn't he just say we're free

to do all kinds of different things and we shouldn't

condemn each other?

Yup, that still remains in effect.

But there is a reality that though we may have liberty

to do something, if we partake in that sin,

we might cause somebody else to sin.

Remember, we love each other well,

and we never wanna do anything that's gonna cause

another person to stumble into sin and damage

another person's discipleship into becoming more like Christ.

So Paul speaks about food again here.

And in the body of Christ, even in this room today,

we are all at different points in our relationship

with the Lord, we're at different parts of our journey.

We all have different backgrounds,

we all have different struggles.

And Paul said here, food in and of itself,

it's not unclean, but in the Roman church,

or it is clean, but in the Roman church,

there were those that were grieved by what others ate.

You know, in Corinth, food had been sacrificed to idols.

But the Gentiles were like, so what, it's cheap.

It wasn't eaten by the idol, I'm gonna go get cheap meat.

But there were other people in the church who were like,

you can't do that, that food is tarnished, it's evil.

You can't touch it, right?

Bottom line here.

What Paul is talking about is that we defer our liberty

in order to love each other well.

We defer our liberty to love each other well.

If you know that someone's feel as though going

to the theater isn't good for them,

don't invite them to the theater,

talk about it all the time when you're in their company.

I would tell you, it's not that you can't ever go

to the theater in front of people to make them mad, right?

We could go to alcohol.

The Bible does not say that drinking alcohol

in itself is wrong.

Drunkenness is, all right?

But if I know somebody's an alcoholic or struggles

with the fact that anybody should drink alcohol,

there's no way I would have anything in front of them.

And that's not to say I'm trying to sneak around,

that's saying I love people more than having whatever it is.

And that's what all of us should do

because we love each other well.

Flaunting your liberty in front of someone you know

has a problem with it, whether it's a biblical condition

or otherwise, is not loving your brother or sister

in the body of Christ.

It simply is not.

Martin Luther said this, "A Christian,

"is most free Lord of all, subject to none.

"A Christian is a most dutiful servant of all,

"subject to all."

It's this weird dichotomy.

We are free, we have a lot of liberty in the Lord,

but we limit our liberty by our love.

We limit our liberty by our love.

But then you can go, how far should we apply this?

Do we stop doing anything that may offend those

that are around you?

Because in reality, just about anything we do

could offend just about anybody else, right?

I love this account.

It's from 1928, just for context.

"Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse was speaking at a conference

"in Montrose, Pennsylvania,

"where about 200 young people were present.

"One day, two women came to him in horror

"because some girls were not wearing stockings.

"These women wanted him to rebuke the others.

"Barnhouse's reply is classic, as he tells it.

"Looking them straight in the eye, I said,

"'The Virgin Mary never wore stockings.'

"They gasped and said, 'She did it!'"

"I answered, 'In Mary's time, stockings were unknown.'"

So as far as we know, they were first worn by prostitutes

in Italy in the 15th century when the Renaissance began.

"Later, a lady of the nobility wore stockings

"at a court ball, greatly to the scandal of many people.

"Before long, however, everyone in the upper classes

"were wearing stockings.

"These ladies, who were holdovers from the Victorian epoch,

"had no more to say.

"I didn't rebuke the girls for not wearing stockings.

"A year or two afterward, most girls

"in the United States were going without stockings

"in the summer, and nobody thought anything about it.

"Nor do I believe that this led toward the disintegration

"of moral standards in the United States.

"Times were changing, and the step away

"from the Victorian legalism was all for the better."

Man, you have to be careful.

We love more than we exercise our liberty.

And it doesn't mean the thing that you're doing is wrong,

but if we can help someone follow the Lord closer,

let's do it.

I love verses 21 and 22 here, 'cause he says,

"Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment

"on himself for what he approves."

It's good, yes, it's good not to eat meat or drink wine,

do anything that causes your brother to stumble,

but that word there, he's saying it's good, yes,

but what it is, it's beautiful.

It's beautiful when we choose not to eat, drink,

or drink wine, because we love our brother or sister

more than our liberty.

It's a beautiful thing.

It's an awesome thing.

Paul's saying if you have a clear conscience about a thing,

but you limit your liberty, when you see it might offend

a brother or sister, you keep it to yourself.

It's beautiful because it puts others first.

The commentator Kent Hughes said this,

"The wise Apostle Paul has detailed four do's

"if we are to build unity amidst our diversity.

"First, we must determine never to be a source of stumbling.

"Second, we must live as citizens of the kingdom of God,

"concentrating on the internals rather than the externals.

"Concentrating on the eternals rather than on the externals.

"Third, we must actively pursue that which benefits

"other believers.

"And fourth, we must do all that with a clear conscience."

What do we do?

Paul tells us in the next 13 verses after chapter 15.

He says, "We who are strong have an obligation

"to bear with the failings of the weak

"and not to please ourselves."

Again, I could probably stop with that verse

and the points made, but he goes on.

"Let each of us please his neighbor for his good

"to build him up.

"For Christ did not please himself,

"but as it is written, the reproaches of those

"who reproached you fell on me.

"For whatever was written in the former days

"was written for our instruction that through endurance

"and through the encouragement of the scriptures,

"we might have hope.

"May the God of endurance and encouragement

"grant you to live in such harmony with one another

"in accord with Christ Jesus,

"that together you may with one voice

"glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you

"for the glory of God."

I'm gonna read that verse again for the people in the back.

"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you

"for the glory of God.

"For I tell you that Christ became a servant

"to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness

"in order to confirm the promise

"is given to the patriarchs.

"And in order that the Gentiles might glorify God

"for his mercy.

"As it is written, their father will praise you

"among the Gentiles and sing to your name.

"And again it is said, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

"And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

"and let all the peoples extol him.

"And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come,

"even he who arises to rule the Gentiles.

"In him will the Gentiles hope."

I think Paul's trying to help his Jewish brothers and sisters

understand what's going on with the Gentiles.

I think, may the God of hope fill you with all joy

and peace in believing so that by the power

of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

I know it's a lot of scripture today,

but as I looked at it, I couldn't leave any of it out.

First of all, remember, we talked about love

a few weeks ago, love bears all things too.

It bears when we don't agree.

It bears disagreement.

And Jesus defines love for us, how he lived

and how he loved.

Here's one thing Paul says, and we see it in his life.

Jesus never lived for himself.

He never lived for himself.

He allowed himself to be beaten for you and me.

The Bible says like a lamb before his shearers,

he was silent.

He stayed silent as he was falsely accused,

ridiculed, beaten, and killed.

Somebody falsely accuses me, I'm gonna be loud,

obnoxious, and as rude as I can be,

'cause I'm all about me.

Jesus stayed quiet because he knew what his father

had called him to do, to die in our place.

And if we really look at his life,

maybe that's what we need to do a lot more of.

Because what are we called to do?

Love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And wait for it, love our neighbor as ourself.

Maybe we need to be more quiet and love more.

'Cause when Jesus was on the cross,

he didn't yell at everybody.

He forgave the religious leaders.

And he forgave you and me for putting it up there,

putting it on the cross too.

He never lived for himself.

Paul says if we go back to the Old Testament,

we're gonna see that everything was written previously,

both how to act, how to act, and how not to act.

But I want you to hear how Jesus prayed

in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Garden of Gethsemane is one of my favorite places

in Israel, when we got to go there.

It's so, I mean, there's a spot where it's believed

it was the rock that Jesus prayed when he was,

when the enemy was coming to try to get him discouraged,

where he bled and prayed for us, where he sweat blood.

And I remember being there, thinking,

"This is where Jesus prayed for me."

Gina and I sat down.

Everywhere there's an important place in Israel,

there's a church.

That's just how it goes.

Gina and I sat down,

and there was a lot of other stuff going on,

and I gave her one of my AirPods,

and we just sat there and worshiped.

To know that that's where Jesus,

I mean, yes, he suffered on the cross,

but his decision was made in the Garden,

where he said, "Not my will, but yours be done, Father."

This is what he prayed for us.

John 17:11 says, "And I am no longer in the world,

"but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.

"Holy Father, keep them in your name,

"which you have given me, that they may be one,

"even as we are one."

John 17:20-22, "I do not ask for these only,

"but also for those who will believe in me

"through their word," that's us,

"that they may all be one, just as you, Father,

"are in me, and I am in you,

"that they also may be in us,

"so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

"For the glory that you have given me,

"I have given to them, that they may be one,

"even as we are one."

John 17:23, "I in them, and you in me,

"that they may become perfectly one,

"so that the world may know that you sent me,

"and loved them even as you have loved me."

My friends, the world knows Jesus

by how we are unified or disunified.

The quality of our unity attracts or repels the world.

Then I studied a little deeper about this church in Rome,

and hear this, some theologians actually believe

that some of the early Christian martyrs,

including Peter and Paul, were killed

because of jealous strife among the members

of the church in Rome.

Rivalry was so bitter, they say,

that some brethren turned in the names of their

Christian opponents, naming them as traitors

against the empire.

If this is true, envy among Christians helped feed saints

to the lions in the Colosseum and light fires

under Christians who were burned in Nero's gardens.

Christian brothers gave up other Christian brothers

because they disagreed about things that are not of God.

That happened to us.

Christianity became illegal in the United States of America.

So unfortunately, while the Apostolic Church had

some brilliant successes regarding unity,

it failed miserably in many places.

The church in Galatia was ravaged by legalism.

The church in Corinth rose up sides

as to what to do about one of its member who

was committing incest.

Pergamum was divided and diluted by Christians' marriages

to unbelievers, and the Lord said, in effect,

that the church at Laodicea made him sick.

The Apostolic Church sometimes fell far short of Christ's

explicit teaching and prayer.

To close today, I want to come back to my hat and to my team.

Those of you who don't know, I'm a 49er fan through and through.

And I knew when the 49ers ended up playing the Lions, the Lions,

and the NFC Championship, it wasn't going to be fun for me.

I knew it.

I'm being honest about this one.

Because in the days leading up to that NFC Championship

over two years ago, I actually got ridiculed

by people in the church.

Some people have asked me, why don't you

wear as much 49er stuff anymore?

Honestly, because I don't want Niners to speak louder

than the gospel.

And I had somebody literally rip me up one side

and down the other around that championship

and tell me I was a terrible pastor because I should root

for the Lions because that's what everybody else does.

And left the church.

But let me tell you something.

And why I bring this up is because they didn't leave the church

because of the 49ers.

They left the church because it started with something

that was really small and didn't matter.

And then bitterness set in.

And then it was, I don't like this.

And I don't like this.

And I don't like that.

And I don't like you.

And I don't like this in the church.

And I don't-- and it just went right on down the line

until they finally left.

It starts with something doesn't matter.

And then bitterness grows.

And it brings division in the body of Christ.

And it hurts the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's why Paul talks about it here so implicitly.

Because it's too easy to become a scoffer where nothing's right.

I know that because I've struggled with it in my life too.

Psalm 1:1-2 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not

in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is the law

of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

As I've said all this, I want to make sure we know,

we never gloss over something that is sinful.

All right?

Sin is still sin.

We still call out sin in each other's lives.

Because we love.

Remember, love is not glory or like wrongdoing.

It rejoices in the truth.

We never gloss over sin.

But so many of our biggest disagreements

come over minor issues, not major or central issues.

We're to live like Paul said in Romans 15:7 again.

"Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.

For the glory of God."

For the glory of God.

It's what we do.

So this is something I want us to walk away with.

My friends, in the minors, we've got to have liberty.

In the minors, we have liberty.

In the majors, we have unity.

But in all things, we have love.

This is not my statement.

It's just tweaked from a statement from a long time ago.

But in the minor things, my friends, we've got to allow each other some liberty.

There's so much more freedom in Jesus than any of us know.

I mean, for some people, they don't mind putting a couple butts,

a couple of bucks, that was awkward,

a couple of bucks on the Lions game today.

Some of you would be like, "Oh my goodness!"

Some of you should never do that because you might get addicted to it.

Some of you might be fine having a glass of wine at dinner.

Others of you are like, "Oh my goodness, that's evil!"

Show me in the Bible, first of all.

Second of all, or third of all, some of you should never touch it

because you might be addicted or have been.

You know, at the beginning of Romans, what Paul says,

we are all, every single one of us, broken.

We are broken by sin.

We need a savior and his name is Jesus.

And there's too many people that don't know they're broken

or they know they're broken

and they're looking to all kinds of other things to try to fix them.

And in the meantime, in all these minor issues,

we're squabbling and arguing over things that don't matter,

that aren't biblical.

My friends, we've got to have more liberty.

And for some of us, we've got to stop flaunting our liberty

and limit it by our love.

Then in the majors, we've got to have unity.

There is no other name under heaven by which people must be saved.

But his name is Jesus Christ.

That is the major.

It's the major.

That's what we preach.

And how do we do that?

We live like he did.

We love like he did.

On 133.1, it's not on the screen, but I want you to hear it.

Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

Let's live like this.

Liberty in the minors, unity in the majors, and in all things, love.

Because every one of us has been welcomed by Jesus.

Let us welcome one another.

In the same.

And let me tell you something.

This morning, if you're a guest today, I want to be honest with you.

We're not always good at this.

We stink at it sometimes, including the guy doing the talking.

Because we're all broken.

Trying to be more like Jesus.

That's the goal.

Minors, liberty, and the majors, unity, and all things, love.

Let's love like Jesus loved.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word.

I thank you for inspiring Paul to write this.

God, that we would count you as more worthy than our petty differences.

God, if it's something that's scriptural, then, by all

means, Lord, I pray that we would stand on it, Lord.

But if it's something that it's a conviction for us, I pray that we would hold to it.

Because it's something you've called us to, but it might not be something you've called

somebody else to do.

Our brokenness runs deep.

We all need a savior.

Thank you for Jesus.

I pray that we would love as he loved.

And that we would be more unified in him than we disagree over anything else.

Thank you, God.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Let's stand and worship together.