Amen. Go ahead, grab a seat. I wish I could take you to the Sea of Galilee. And some of us have been there. We've gone out on a boat on the water that Jesus walked on. And on this boat, we got to open up our Bibles and study the miracles of Jesus, the miraculous catch of fish. Remember when Jesus calmed the wind and the waves and they said, “Who is this man that even the wind and the sea obey him?” You know, one of the things, the first impression I had when I was on the Sea of Galilee is, this is a deep body of water, and Jesus once referred to a stumbling block, and he said, “If you cause someone to sin, it would be better for you to have a rock around your neck and to be tossed into the sea than to cause one of my little ones to sin.” So, this is a beautiful place, the Sea of Galilee. If you ever get a chance to go there, you should go on that boat. They were crying. They were worshiping Jesus Christ. But Jesus also used this place to give us this strong warning. And the kind of stone he was talking about a stone that would take you down to the bottom of the sea where you would drown; it was a millstone, and this is what a millstone looks like, right here. It is a massive stone. You can imagine, if that thing was attached to you and you were in the sea, you would go straight down to the bottom.
And Jesus, he warned, you don't want to be a stumbling block. You don't want to cause anyone to sin. It would be better for you to have that stone around your neck and to go down to the bottom of that sea than to cause somebody else to stumble. I want you to turn in your Bible with me to Matthew 18, and I want you to see the image that Jesus gave us, and it's an image that he wanted to put in our minds to warn us, to make us think, to cause us to pause. This is Matthew, chapter 18, and he says it here in verses 6 and 7. And when I went to the Sea of Galilee until this day, I'll never forget this picture that Jesus gives to us, and it's meant to be the strong warning that we need to hear this morning. This is Matthew 18:6-7, “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Wow. There's going to be a judgment for those who cause other people to sin. That's going to be worse than drowning at the bottom of the sea of Galilee with a millstone attached to you. And then he says this in verse 7, “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!” Now, the word here for temptation is this Greek word skandalon, and it's this idea of a stumbling block. Woe to you, if you're the stumbling block, oh yeah, people are going to stumble. People are going to sin, but if you're the one who causes them to sin, woe to you. It would be better for you to be at the bottom of the sea. Now that's something that is meant to get our attention and get us thinking, What could I do that would cause someone else to sin. I for sure, don't want to do that. I want to decide right now never to be a part of those things, and you can start to think that through. I don't want to encourage anyone to engage in sexual immorality. I don't want to encourage anyone to start using and abusing substances that could destroy them. I don't want to hate anyone or tear down anyone. What could I do that would cause someone else to sin? I want to make sure I never do that.
Well, there might be something that you could do that would cause someone to sin that you've never even considered before, and I want you to consider it with me in Romans 14:13-19. That's going to be our text for this morning, and it's going to talk about, listen for it, this idea of being a stumbling block, and it might be a way that you've never thought about causing a brother or sister in Christ to stumble, something Jesus warns us. We definitely don't want to do so out of respect for God's Word. I want to invite everyone to stand up for the public reading of Scripture. I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because what I'm about to read to you is the Word of God. This is Romans, chapter 14, starting in verse 13, going all the way to verse 19. If you don't have a Bible, it's also on the hand out there inside your bulletin; the verses have been printed for you. Please follow along as I read.
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat, and we're back to Romans 14. And if you're just joining us, we've been going through the book of Romans together, verse by verse. And we started Romans 14 before Thanksgiving. Now we're picking it up right where we left off. And remember, look back at verse 1, the issue of this chapter was the warning that they shouldn't judge one another, that we call this series Judgy Church People. We shouldn't judge one another, not to quarrel over opinions. In fact, look at verse 2, “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables, so 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.” Okay, so there are different opinions. Should we eat the meat, or should we not eat the meat, was one issue that was presented in verse 5. We also got this idea of, should we set apart the day, or is every day the same? And people here in the church in Rome, we looked at examples in other churches. People are coming to different conclusions. Some of the people are like, I think it would be wrong for me to eat that meat. And other people are like, it’s not wrong to eat the meat. It's fine to eat the meat. And so, we have people who are weak in their faith not eating the meat, and the strong brother or sister is eating the meat, and so now he says, hey, you’ve got to be careful about this. Because not only should you not pass judgment, you need to judge that you will never be a stumbling block. And one of the ways that you could be a stumbling block is if you're over here saying it's fine to eat the meat, it's right. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm free to do it. It's my right to do it. In Christ, I can eat all the meat I want. It's okay, and you're over here eating the meat, well, if the weaker brother is caused to stumble by, you eating the meat, if it's a hindrance to their faith, you could be a stumbling block by just exercising your freedom in Christ and doing what you prefer or what you feel fine with in your conscience. If you cause someone else to go against their conscience and to take a step that is not from faith, you could be a stumbling block to them, and you should never want to be a stumbling block to a brother or sister in Christ.
Okay, so look at verse 13 with me, and let's start going through our passage, because in the Greek, there's a clear something not to do, and something to do here that has to do with the word krino, which is to judge. And so, it says, “Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another.” That kind of summarizes what we've already learned. Stop judging one another. If you're doing that, don't judge one another. But then he says, but rather, and if you are taking notes on that handout, right next to the word decide, to judge, because in Greek, it's the same word, okay? So, he's saying, don't judge your brother or sister, but judge, here's what you should if you want to judge something, judge that you'll never be a stumbling block to them. If you want to make a decision or a judgment about something, decide right now today, in your heart, I don't want to hinder them. I don't want to cause anyone to stumble.
So, that's what he's saying here, something not to do, and then something to do; something to step away from, and something to step into. Here, we like to call that the sanctification two-step, alright, and so we're giving it right here in verse 13. Let's get this down for number one, the sanctification two-step: “Not to judge, but judge to not cause stumbling.” So, maybe you can see why they changed the word “judge” to “decide,” because maybe they thought it read a little better, but I wanted to put the two judges in there. So, I'm deciding that I'm stepping away from judging other people, what they're doing or what they're not doing. Okay, but what I am judging is, for myself, I'm not going to cause anyone to stumble. Okay? So that needs to be our resolve. That needs to be the commitment that we leave here. If there are issues that come up, and some believers are doing this, and you're over here and you know it's okay to do that, that's not really a sin, that's not really an issue. I'm okay with doing that. Well, one of the reasons that you should consider not doing whatever that thing is, is because you don't want to cause somebody who's weak in faith to stumble over that issue.
So, this is what I'm saying. Is the thing that we're talking about is not a right or wrong thing. In fact, it's okay to do this thing, but yet still you decide not to exercise your freedoms and your rights. You decide not to do it. Why? Because you don't want to be the stumbling block to somebody else who is struggling with that issue in their own conscience. So, this is the level of commitment that we are called to have for one another in the Church of Jesus, that I will actually change things that I would do out of consideration for my weaker brother or sister in Christ. Now in verse 14, Paul makes it very clear. He settles this issue of eating meat or not, once and for all. He says, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. So that makes clear that this whole issue among the saints in Rome about eating the meat or not goes back to the law of Moses and how there were some foods, some animals that were considered clean, and some foods and animals that were considered unclean. And so some of these people, even though they must know that they're not justified by the works of the law, even though they must understand there's nothing we can do to get right with God, it's only through our faith in Jesus that we are justified and declared righteous, our salvation is totally based on what Jesus has done, not anything that we do. Even though these people know that, they still think I'm going to keep that dietary law of Moses and I'm not going to eat that meat because I think that's unclean, they're still thinking that.
Now Paul says, I know you can eat the meat. In fact, I'm persuaded you can eat the meat. In fact, it's not just like my personal opinion in the Lord Jesus, I know you can eat the meat. So, what is the right answer? The right answer is, you can eat the meat. It's not unclean. But there are some people who still think it is unclean, and they're feeling conflicted about it in themselves, and Paul's encouraging them not to eat the meat out of, not because it's wrong to not to eat the meat, but out of consideration for these weaker brothers and sisters. And so he says, Even though I know nothing is unclean in itself, it is unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean, if they think they shouldn't eat that meat, and they were to eat the meat, that would be a problem for them, that would go against their conscience, that would be a source of stumbling for them, and I don't want to do that to my brother or sister, so I'm not going to eat the meat.
So, let's get this down here for your first dash under point number one: “The point is not to prove you're right.” The point is not to prove you're right. The point here is not to go to the weaker brother or sister and to say to them, hey, you're not thinking about this right. It's not based on this unclean, clean dynamic anymore. All food has now been declared clean. We can eat whatever we want to eat. That's not what it's about. It's not what you eat that defiles a person, that's true. In fact, let me take you to Mark, chapter 7, which proves that once and for all, when he says, I know and persuaded in the Lord Jesus. He could be referring to the teaching of Jesus Christ himself, and what is recorded for us here in Mark 7, where Jesus addresses this issue of clean and unclean food, and he addresses it in a definitive way, because Jesus was always getting into it with the Pharisees, who thought you could be saved by keeping the works of the Law, you could find your own righteousness. In fact, they added so many of their own traditions on top of the works of the Law, and so they always had a problem with Jesus and his disciples. And here, in Mark 7:14, “And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.” Hey, let me just make this clear. Stop making it about what comes into you, defiling you. No, no, no. It's about what comes out of you. And he's going to get even more clear later on to the disciples.
Look at Mark 7:19. Here he talks about again this thing in verse 18, he's saying, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him.” In verse 19, “since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled.” Thus, he declared all foods what ? Clean. And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus is saying, yeah, we have a real problem, and it's sin in our own heart leading to all of these actions, but it's not the food that we're eating. He declares all foods clean.
So, this is what is really interesting about Romans 14, because Paul knows this. Paul's persuaded by this. Paul's confident you can eat that meat, it's not unclean. But he doesn't tell us to go and convince our weaker brother or sister that they can eat the meat and tell them, get over it, bro, it's going to be fine. That's not what he says to do. He doesn't say, go try to help that person agree with your perspective, and your perspective, in this case, would even be the right perspective. This is what happens as you mature in Christ. There become way less gray areas, and you start to see that thing would be wrong and that thing would be right. But here's somebody else, and they're still figuring it out. They're not sure. Don't try to prove to that person that they should think what you think. It's actually saying that, if you're the stronger brother or sister, you change what you do in consideration of what they think, even in this case where what they're thinking may not be the correct thing to think. That is a profound thought right there, that I would change my course of conduct even when I'm convinced that what I'm doing is right, but I would choose not to do something purely out of consideration of someone else and how they would see it. I mean, this is a definition of love.
This is a definition where the only reason I'm not going to go eat that meat, the only reason I'm not going to go do something that I want to go do is just purely because I care about the spiritual well-being of my fellow Christian. That is the definition of love, putting someone else as more important than myself, considering not only what I think, but also what they think. In fact, go back to Romans 14 now, because look what he says in the very next verse, “If your brother is grieved by what you eat.” So, you're over here knowing it's okay to eat it. You're over here eating it, they feel conflicted about it in their conscience. They're not okay with eating it, but they have respect for you, and they see you eating it, and now they're grieved. Now they're sorry. Now they're in a tough spot because they don't feel right about it, but they're feeling pressured by you that it is right. Well, if you grieve your brother by what you eat, you are no longer walking in what does it say there, everybody? You're no longer walking in what? Love.
Okay, let me just make this very clear. That's our signature. That's our calling card. They will know we are Christians by our understanding we're Compass Bible Church, and I understand if you come here on a Sunday morning, you're going to hear us preach the truth. But you need to understand that we are not about truth in any way divorced from love. Know, when Jesus, when the glory of the Father, put on flesh and we beheld his glory, Jesus was full of grace and truth. Our God is a God who abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness. You cannot be about the truth and not be about love. And if you're the kind of person who's like, well, I don't care what other people think. I know what's right. I know what's true, and I'm going to do it anyways, then you are not walking in love. That's what Paul just said. This is a way that you could see your love is not what it's supposed to be. That you're not walking in it, if you're okay with doing it because you think it's the true thing, and you're not considering other people, that's not walking in love.
So, let's get this down now for our second dash here: “Love is not putting your preference over their conscience.” We can say this definitively based on the strong language that Paul uses here in Romans 14:15. If you put what you know to be right, your own personal thought about it, if you put that as more important than the thought that your brother or sister is wrestling with and going through in their own conscience, that's not love to consider your way more important than their way. No, that should be a wakeup call for you. If you ever find yourself, I don't care what they think. I know it's right. I'm free to do it in Christ. I know it's okay. Who cares what that person thinks? If you ever find yourself thinking that you are not thinking about loving your brother or sister, we are here to love one another. In fact, this has been an overwhelming theme in these chapters in the book of Romans, ever since we kind of made that turn in Romans, chapter 12, verse 1, hey, if it makes sense to you that because Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice, that you should offer your body as a living sacrifice. Well, if that makes sense to you, then here's how you should now live. Here's how your mind should now be renewed.
And go back to Romans 12:9 and look at how we were commanded to love. In fact, it says, “Let love be genuine.” Let your love be without hypocrisy. “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” So, love is always connected to the truth. You can't separate these two things from one another. You can't say I'm loving over here while you're not addressing the issues of truth. No, you’ve got to be discerning. You’ve got to hate what is evil. You’ve got to hold to the good, but you’ve got to make sure you're really loving in a genuine way. Verse 10, “Love one another with brotherly affection.” Love that person at church like they're a member of your family. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Go over to Romans 13:8, where he made this transition from owing taxes to the governing authorities, and then he said, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” So hey, what we do owe to one another is that we are here to love one another, particularly the least of these, the brothers of Christ, these little ones that Christ died for, the people of Jesus. We all have been saved by the same blood of Christ, and so, we are now all family. We're all adopted sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, and we are here to love one another.
And so, now in Romans 14:15 he says, if you're over here eating the meat and you think it's fine, you think it's good, and you don't care about what your brother thinks about it, that's not walking in love. If you're over here saying, well, I can drink alcohol. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm not getting drunk. And your brother's over here is trying to repent of getting drunk in this, trying to find a new way not feeling good about drinking alcohol, and you're over here saying, I will. Who cares about my brother and his sanctification? It's okay for me to drink. That's not loving to do that. That's what the Scripture is teaching us. You’re even doing things that are okay to do. If you know it's going to cause your brother harm, if you know it's going to be a stumbling block to him, then the loving thing is to not do it. Now, what have you ever said? I'm not going to do that. And the whole reason you decided not to do it was for this person over here.
Have you ever made a decision like that, or are you just like, well, it's fine for me. That's not supposed to be our guiding principle. It's not just, is it fine for me? It's but how's that going to affect my brother or my sister? How's that going to be for them? And then he says something in very strong language. Look at Romans 14:15. “By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.” Wow, this idea of destruction, of destroying a person. I mean, this is the same word when it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not” what, everybody? Perish. That's the idea here. I mean, don't you care about the fact that Christ came on Christmas to save that brother, to save that sister? Isn't that precious to you, that Christ would shed his blood just like he did for you. He did that for them. And don't you now want them to grow up in their faith in Christ? Isn't that so important to you? Do you realize that if you cause them to stumble by doing your own thing, you could destroy that faith that they have?
This is why we called it The Stumbling Block Sermon, because the language here is so intense, it's so severe, it's supposed to give you a sense of gravitas. It's supposed to give you a sense of deep responsibility, of heaviness, my actions could impact the spiritual well-being of another person of faith here at my church. Wow. Okay, I need to consider what I'm going to do and the decisions I make, not just on what's right for me and my family, but how is that going to impact my brothers or sisters in Christ. That's what love is, and I don't want to go against love. Love has already been shown to us in that Christ died for us. Do you see the other people at church as strangers, as random people, as who? Why are there so many people coming to our church these days? What? It's overwhelming. I want to have a smaller church. Why can't they go somewhere else? Are you thinking thoughts like that, or are you looking at people at church like these are the people that Jesus died for? And I don't want to do anything to get in the way of what Jesus is doing in their life.
So, you are not walking in love if you put your own way over your brother's way. Go to Ephesians, chapter 5. Let's get a picture of what walking in love is in Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. It describes this idea of walking in love. It says, “Therefore, be imitators of God.” How has God loved you? Well, if you're one of God's beloved children, like father, like son or like daughter, we should want to love like our Father has loved us. And then it says this in Ephesians 5:2, “and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Okay, so under that little dash about love, let's write down words like this: “Gave himself up, offering, sacrifice.” Okay, here's what I want to ask you this morning. What has it cost you to come to this church? See, coming to church is free. Anybody can come in here. But what does it cost you? What have you given up? What have you offered? What have you sacrificed? The way Jesus loved us. Jesus loved us to the bloody end. Jesus loved us by sacrificing and laying down his life. It killed Jesus to love us. He was willing to lay down his life in our place. So now we think loving one another is just going to be positive vibes and happy feelings. That's not the definition of love.
You need to make sure, like I needed to make sure that you don't have the cultural definition of love, but you have the scriptural definition of love, because I know when I got married I loved my wife, because I was happy to be married to my wife. That's what love was in my mind. When I got married, I was just so excited that we got to be together as one and it was just such a blessing to have my wife with me. And wow, what a happy time we were having. And so, love to me was this feeling that I had that was a very strong feeling of affection for my wife. Is that how the Bible defines love? Do you love the people at church because you feel positive about them, because you smile at them, because you have general good intentions for them? That's not how the Scripture defines love. We don't just love in word and by saying we love or feeling we love, we love in deed and in truth. What does it cost you to come to church? What does it cost you to be a part of the fellowship? What are you giving up to put other people before you? You're offering yourself, you're sacrificing yourself, you're pouring your life out for who? That's church. That's what love is meant to be. Love is less of you for the preference of someone else. Are you walking in that kind of love?
See, we're living in a very consumer culture mentality where a lot of people come to church for what they and their family are going to get out of the experience, when the point of coming to church is to love the church, to love the people, and to give for others, not just to get for yourself. So, we’ve got to make sure that, oh, yeah, I love the people at church. Why? Well, I'm happy when I go there. It's positive to see them. No. What are you giving up? What are you sacrificing? What are you offering? Hey, if my brother has a problem with me eating meat, I'm never going to eat meat again. If my brother has a problem with me drinking alcohol, I'm never going to drink alcohol again. Hey, what is it for you that you're willing to say no, I'm not having anything to do with that because I love these people that Jesus died for.
Go back to Romans 14, because it says something else that might surprise you. It's this verse, the next verse, verse 16. I mean, he's already said that this could be a stumbling block if, even though it's okay to eat the meat, you could still cause someone to stumble by eating the meat. And if you know that and you choose to eat the meat anyway, that's not loving the person. In fact, it could be destroying the person, like, wow, while you're really making the point here. And then he says this, “So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.” And the word there spoken of as evil is really the Greek word for blaspheme. Don't let anybody blaspheme.
Let's get that down for our third dash: “Do not give any one reason to blaspheme.” That's literally what it says. Blasphemy is when someone speaks against God or the holy things that are associated with God, perhaps even the people of God. So, here's someone speaking evil about God because of you, because of your actions, and so you don't want yeah, you might think it's good to eat the meat. Hey, all food is unclean. It doesn't matter if I do it or not, it's fine. But do you realize that if you eat that meat and that causes your brother to stumble somewhat, that would give someone a reason to say something bad about God. Look at those Christians. They can't even love one another. Look at those Christians. They're in it for themselves, just like everybody else. There's no truth to the gospel of Jesus. There's no real glory of God among his people. Look at those Christians, self-motivated into their own freedoms and rights, just like everybody else. That's what a lot of people out there in our culture think about us. And if you act that way, you give them reason to blaspheme. If you don't love your brother or sister, then we are just in it for ourselves, like everybody else, and then they would speak against our God. So, this is the idea that Romans 14 has been bringing us into what does it mean to glorify God? Well, it means that by the things you do or don't do, people will either have a positive or negative view of God based on your actions.
Let me show you this in a couple of other passages. Go to 1 Timothy 6:1. 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 1. And this is talking about servants of their masters. And this in our culture might be similar to people working at their jobs for their bosses in 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 1, it reads like this, “Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor.” Hey, when you're at work, don't be complaining like everybody else is. Don't be talking about the boss behind their back. Don't be disrespecting the boss, like so many people do at workplaces these days, where they're always talking about the company maybe, or they're talking about the board, or they're talking about this specific person, and we're always saying all these negative, backbiting kind of things about the authorities. No, no, no, no. That's not how you should be if you're under a yoke as a bondservant, “Regard your own master as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled,” may not be spoken evil of, same word, may not be blasphemed. The way you go to work will either give people an impression that you're there doing your work for the Lord Jesus for his glory, or it will actually give them a reason to say, look at that Christian person. They're no different than anybody else here at this company. And then we give them a reason to blaspheme God.
Just a few pages to the right, Titus, chapter 2, and this is to the ladies here, as it's talking about the older women teaching the younger women and to teach them what is good. And it says in Titus 2:4, “So, train the young women to love their husbands and children. Train the young women to be self-controlled, pure workers at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands.” Why? Why should this lady love her husband, submit to her husband, love her kids? Why should she work at her home? Look what it says there at the end of verse 5, “so that the word of God may not be reviled,” spoken evil of, blasphemed. Wow, even the decisions a woman is making in her own home, how to treat her husband, how to raise her children, how to take care of her home, even what she's doing in the privacy of her own home could cause people to speak evil against God if they know she's doing it in a wrong way.
So, see, our actions are observable by all the people around us. We all have family members, neighbors, coworkers, we all have people who observe our lives. Some of them are against God, and if they see us not loving one another, if they see us dividing and putting our own preferences over others, they will use that opportunity to speak evil against our God, and that's supposed to be something that you consider. You're supposed to consider what would the haters say about our God if I do this? Because if I just do whatever I want to do, and I don't care about how that affects the other people at church, what will the haters say? They don't love one another at church. They're just like everybody else. There's nothing to the gospel of Jesus, and you don't want to give anyone a reason to blaspheme our God. They're going to blaspheme our God, and even if we do what is right, they might speak evil against us, but I don't want to do anything that would give them a legitimate reason to speak any evil. And that's what Paul's saying, if you just do what you want to do, and you don't consider your other brothers and sisters, that lack of love is a reason that people could blaspheme our God and speak against him. Now I hear people at church regularly say stuff like, well, I'm not people-pleasing, so it doesn't matter what they think. So, I'm just going to do it anyways. Now we should not be doing things to please other people. In fact, we can't please men and please the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when we put our faith in Jesus, we repent of people-pleasing, and we live to serve the Lord and to serve him. First and foremost, can I get an amen from anybody on that? We're not here to please other people, but should I consider what other people are going to think about my actions as I'm choosing how to conduct myself? According to Romans 14:16, the answer to that question is overwhelmingly yes, because even though that food is clean, and even though it would be okay to eat it, you could do a lot of damage by eating that meat. You could cause a brother or sister to stumble, and you could open up the door for somebody to start speaking evil against our God.
So, there are compelling reasons here in this text given as to why you would not do something that you could do. I wonder, what does that look like in your life? Have you even thought this through before? Is this introducing a new way of thinking to you? But what decision because you could do this thing or you could not do it, it's not right or wrong, it's something you could do. Is part of the decision making in your prize? Is it just like, well, if you have the money to do it, you do it. If it's going to work out for your family, you do it. Or do you actually think, well, how would this affect brothers and sisters at church? How would this decision even open the door for someone to speak evil against God? Are those factors in your decision making? Because that's definitely what Paul is teaching us here, that I want to do all that I do out of love. I don't just do some things out of love for my brothers and sisters. I want to do everything out of love for them, and I want to make sure that everything I do genuinely brings glory to God and shows his light, and that no one could bring a reproach against what I'm doing, because I'm doing everything for God's glory. And if somebody could say something evil about God, then I'm not going to do it, because I want people to only praise God for who he is, and I want my actions to bring glory to his name. I don't want the Word of God to be reviled because of me.
And so, Paul, he's really using some strong language, and go back to Romans 14:17, because now he kind of changes the pace in Romans, 14:17. He's made this strong case as to why you would not eat the meat, even though it's okay to eat it. You’ve got to love your brother, and you’ve got to consider even the blasphemers and what they might say. But then he kind of makes it like, hey, don't make it about these kind of issues. This isn't the point. If you're getting caught up on what can I do, or what am I not allowed to do, that's not the point of being in the kingdom. And so, look, he kind of goes big picture here in verse 17, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And this is what has happened with Christianity so much and it's turned so many people off to believing in Jesus. Let's not make this about what we can do or what we can't do. That's not the right way to think about it. What we are is we're people now in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we live to serve our Lord. And when we want to serve Jesus, we do it for God and we do it for other people. And what we have now is we have righteousness. We have sinners who are going to be in the holy presence of God. We have peace, peace with God, peace with one another, and we have joy, a joy that's the Holy Spirit in our souls, a joy that overflows and overwhelms, a joy that bursts out of us. Because I know that God loves me, just like God loves his Son, Jesus, God now loves me as his son. And just like Jesus perfectly pleased the Father in heaven, because of my faith in Christ, God is now perfectly pleased with me. I could not be more loved than I am right now. God could not be more pleased with me than he is right now, all because I'm in the kingdom. I've been saved by Jesus, and so let's not make this about what we do or don't do. Let's make this about all that we have in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And remember, you're now no longer living for what you do or don't do. You're now living for Jesus. So, live for him. That's what he goes on to say in verse 18. This is how it works. If you serve Christ, you are acceptable to God. You are approved by men. Don't make it about other things. Just keep following Jesus and serving our Lord.
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building. Now this transition in verse 17, this gets me really excited, because for Paul to just bring the kingdom in here, that's a big picture thought. Yeah, it doesn't matter if I eat meat or if I do this or if I do that. What matters is the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Ultimately, what matters is Jesus is coming back as king. Jesus is going to reign, and there will be those of us who will be in his eternal kingdom, and there will be those who are not in his kingdom. And ultimately, I rejoice that I am in the kingdom, and I want as many other people coming into that kingdom with me. That's a big picture. Don't get focused on these, on these details of do this or don't do this. No, this is the kingdom.
Now I've been reading as we've been going through Romans now for two and a half years at our church. I've been reading this guy named Martin Lloyd Jones and these are the books that I've been reading, fourteen different books that he wrote on the book of Romans. Okay, so I just want to take this moment to say that some of you think we're taking a long time going through Romans. Okay? We are lightweight. We've done seventy-seven sermons on Romans at this point, and he had done three hundred and seventy-two sermons on Romans by this point. Alright? And I have read every single one of those sermons. I've been blessed to sit under some good pastors who taught the Word of God to me in my life, and even though I never met this guy, Martin Lloyd Jones, he was a preacher in London in the 1900s. And even though I never heard him live, I feel like I have read so many of his sermons. I've read his biographies. I feel like he has taught me. And when he came to talk about the joy in the Holy Spirit that we have in the kingdom of God. Something happened to him physically. And he couldn't finish preaching. In fact, he had to get a surgery, and he retired, never to preach again. And it was on Romans 14:17, that is the verse that he got to and then he was done. So, there are only fourteen books, even though he was trying to do a book on every chapter of Romans. It stops at Romans 14:17 and so I’ve got to confess to you, I'm getting emotional as I'm reading this verse this week, because I've come to the end of the teaching of this pastor that I really respected. In fact, it kind of resonated with me, like Romans 14. For everybody at our church who, when we double into Long Beach in the new year, like Romans 14, that's where it's going to end. For all of you, you're not going to go with us into chapters 15 and 16. For some, we're coming to the end of our time of fellowship, the end of our time of teaching together, and so wow, this idea of like we're about the kingdom. We're not about the Kingdom of America or any other nation on Earth. We're about the eternal, spiritual kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. That's why we're not trying to just make life work out for us right here, right now. That's why some of us are going to Long Beach. That's why some of us are going to stay here. Because we want to see the Kingdom advance. We want to see Jesus build his church. We understand what really matters is souls being saved for eternity, souls being saved from their sins, and so let's not get caught up in all the details of what we are going to do. Are we going to do that?
No, let's look at the big picture. Is Jesus building his church? Is the one sure thing that you can be a part of on planet Earth, that Jesus is going to build his church, and what can you do as a part of that? And because of that, we should pursue peace. We shouldn't be causing conflict with one another. Man, we have so much to do to build each other up. We have so many souls that still need to be reached in the name of Jesus. We can't be over here hurting one another by what we do or don't do. That's completely off the point. So, let's make sure we have peace with one another, and then, let's go build each other up. That's what he says here towards the end of this passage. He swings away from what you should not do to don't forget what we're all about. What we're about is a few of us moved to Huntington Beach, and now there are hundreds of us, thousands of us, that gather together, and there are many souls that have been saved in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're about. And now we want to see that happen in Long Beach. We want to keep seeing it happen here. We want to see Jesus build his church.
So, it begs the question, what is church to you? Is church just a building that you come to, or do you come to build the church? Let's get this down for number two, this is the question all of us need to ask ourselves as we come to the end of Romans 14: “Do you come to a church building, or do you come to build the church?” That's the issue. Are you a part of advancing the kingdom, or are you just coming to get the kingdom for yourself? And if there was ever a time that this group of people needed to ask ourselves this question, it's right here, right now, as we're getting ready to double up, and as the new year is going to come and we're going to become two churches in two different locations, we're going to need more people committed to building up their one anothers, building up the brothers and sisters. We're so far away from wanting to cause someone to stumble, we want to do the exact opposite. We want to do whatever could encourage them and spur them on to love and good deeds, to build up their faith on the foundation of Jesus. I want to invest in them and pour into them and disciple them so they could be built up. Now is that something you've done with other people, where it's not just about you growing or your family being restored or being healthy, but it's actually about you now investing yourself into intentionally other people like you coming not just for what you will receive, but for what you will give. A lot of people are very excited about planting the church in Long Beach, and rightfully so, but the number one question that people ask me about the church in Long Beach is, do they have a place yet? It just shows how we think about church today is, tell me where they're going to meet, what building they're going to meet in, tell me the address, tell me the time, then it's church, then I can go to it. And I don't know how we got to thinking that way. But church is not any place you go, and it's not any time that you are there. Church is the people saved by the blood of Jesus who assemble in his name. That's what the church is.
And so, what people should be asking about Long Beach is not where is the building going to be, but how many builders are we really sending to Long Beach? How many people who are going to Long Beach are really not just going there because it's closer to their house or it's going to be more convenient for them, but how many people are going to Long Beach because they want to build up other people in Christ. They want to see souls get saved in that city of Long Beach, and then they want to disciple them and come alongside of them and invest into them. Do we really have enough builders to plan a church in Long Beach? Because Long Beach needs a lot of help. They need a lot of Jesus. There's a lot of souls. Do we have enough people who are going to build the church, that should be the question, how many builders? And this is a question that we've been praying and thinking about for years. And we've been investing in people here and building up people here so that they will be equipped, and they will be prepared to go and build up more people into Long Beach. And so, I'm here to tell you that we are sending a good number of builders, of people who are ready to make disciples, people who are ready to love and invest in other people, faithful men and women who have been taught and now want to go teach others also the things of Jesus Christ. We're going to send, actually, a whole bunch of them into Long Beach. And the truth is, no matter how many we send, I don't think it's going to be enough for all that God needs to do into Long Beach. The truth is we need even more builders than the ones we've trained up to send. And here's what I'm telling you is this is a perilous time for our church here in Huntington Beach, because we're taking some of our builders who really invest in other people, and we're saying, go do that in Long Beach, and that means we're not going to have as many builders here. There's not going to be as many people coming to this church with the intent of building other people up. And so, what about you? Are you one of the builders of the Church of Jesus Christ? Are you one of the investors in the eternal Kingdom? Does this verse describe you, verse 19? So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building.
Look down at Romans 15:2, because in chapter 15, and I’ve got to say this to those who are going to Long Beach, because you'll never hear me preach this. But in verse two, it makes this a command. So, it's not just a good idea. It says here, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” I'm supposed to act in ways for my neighbor, for my brother or sister, with the intent of building others up. Do you do that? And I want to say to some of you that I have seen many do that for long time. We're going to need you to keep doing that as we go from one to two churches. If you're growing weary, if you've invested a lot of people and they haven't really listened to you and responded to you in the way that you were hoping when you tried to build them up, I want to encourage you. Don't give up. Don't grow weary. We need you to keep building up the church. And what we're also going to need is people who are growing up in your own faith, people who maybe are new Christians, or people who are really starting to mature as Christians. We're going to need you to start really owning, building up the church, and not just receiving from the church.
Go with me to Ephesians, chapter 4, where it describes this very clearly, that everybody here is meant to be a builder in the Church of Jesus. Ultimately, we know Jesus is the one building his church. Jesus, he does the work through us. He gets all the glory. He's the one who saves he's the one who sanctifies. It's all through the power of the gospel of Jesus, but Jesus wants to use us. And my real concern is that a lot of us think that it's somebody else's job to build the church. If you think about it, you might even think that, oh, well, I don't need to go talk to that person. I don't need to follow up with that person. I don't need to try to encourage that person. Why? The assumption is somebody else is doing that. What I'm trying to say to our church right now is we're not going to have enough somebody else's in 2025. So, if you've been thinking, that's how it works, you need to rethink that. Look what it says here in Ephesians, chapter 4. It starts in verse 11, “And he gave,” this is Jesus “here to the church, giving the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds” are pastors and teachers. So, some of these leaders are given as gifts to the church. And what are these pastor teachers supposed to do? Well, it says here in verse 12, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” So, according to this verse, who does the work of the ministry? Everybody. Is it the pastor teachers. No, the pastor teachers, they equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Now, who are the saints? Are the saints the super spiritual people here at the church? Are the saints the fellowship group leaders here at the church? Are the saints the people you see wearing name tags here at the church? Is that who the saints are? No. Who are the saints? Well, if you've been in Romans with us, the whole letter was written to the saints in Rome. Anyone who has been set apart from their sin by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus, and has been now sanctified. You are now set apart from who you used to be, and you are now in Christ. If you are one of God's set apart ones, you are a saint. Anybody remember when I said, go around and start calling people saints here at the church? Has anybody done that? There's one guy. I call him a saint every time I see him, it puts a big smile on his face. Okay, you are a saint if you are in Christ and you are here to do some work, you are here to be a part of the construction team.
This is the sad story to me of how church works today in America. If I said, hey, everybody, amazing news. By the grace of our sovereign God, people have given us. Can you believe this? A piece of land in Long Beach, and we can have church on it. All we need to do is put up some walls and a roof. Who wants to come with me and build the church in Long Beach. If I said that, I would get an overwhelming, phenomenal response of people ready to get hammers and nails and go to Long Beach and build something. But what I'm actually saying today is what we need to build is we need to build the other people around us, the one anothers here at the church, and it's not a physical task we can go and do. It's a spiritual task that requires us to invest in other people. Who wants to go build the church in Long Beach? Who wants to keep building it here? The sad reality is, I think we might get more of a response about building a physical building. And we will be about really building up the church of Jesus.
Look what it goes on to say here in Ephesians, chapter 4, this building up that's for all of us to do. It's not somebody else's job. It's ours. I am the one who's supposed to build the church. And look what it says in Ephesians 4:13-16. “Until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The goal isn't even just to see souls get saved, but to see them grow up in their faith, to become like Christ, “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Hey, if you could underline, if you could write down under point number two, “speaking the truth in love,” speaking the truth out of a genuine, without hypocrisy, love for your one anothers in each part. When everyone is speaking the truth in love, that's what builds up the body of Christ. Okay, so this is the hammer and the nails, if you want to be a part of building the actual people of Jesus, the actual Church of Jesus. It's not as complicated as maybe you think it is in your mind. Do you know the truth of God on your heart? Do you care? Do you have the love of God in your heart for other people will go and speak that truth that you know from God's word, speak it to those people because you care for their souls. That's what it means to build the church. You could get breakfast with somebody this week, one on one, and you could speak the truth to them. You could express your love for them. And by doing that, you will be building up the body of Christ. You could go to your fellowship group this week, and you could take the Word that we're preaching here today. You could meditate on it. You could have it in your heart, and you could show up. And you can tell when somebody shows up and they've got something to say, and it means something to them, and they want to share it with you, because they really care about you, and God's really working on them. And they want you to know this when you speak like that, you are building the church of Jesus Christ. You are investing in the heavenly kingdom.
And so, you can do this if you know the truth of Jesus Christ. If you have the love that God has for you now in your own heart, for your one anothers, you can be a builder in the church. And so, we need people who haven't really been thinking this way to change the way you think. I guarantee you that everybody's fellowship at our church and in Long Beach, it's all not going to be the same there. There probably will be some brothers and sisters that you know well now that you continue to fellowship with, but I guarantee you there will be new people that you will interact with in 2025 here at the church. And are you going to be like, yes, this is our time? This is what we're here for. We're here to double. We're here to build and that means I need to step up my efforts in building up the brothers and sisters. Or are you going to be like, why did things change? I don't feel comfortable with this. I don't like it, and kind of withdraw. See this question number two, like, “Do you come to a church building, or do you come to build the church?” This is not a theoretical question. This is a question, and your answer will be clearly seen in the way that you conduct yourself in the weeks to come here at the church, whether you're like embracing yeah, this isn't about just me and how it's all working out for me right here. This isn't about me exercising the things that I want to do. This is actually about the Kingdom of the Lord. This is actually about serving Jesus, and it's the best way to reach more people. For Jesus is to go from one church to two churches. That's the best way. More souls are going to end up being saved. More people are going to end up being built up. If we could see where there is no church and we could put a church there that would reach many new people, wow, that's worth that. That is worth me feeling inconvenienced, and some of the things I may do or not do, because I'm about the kingdom. And so, this is something we need to talk about at our church this week. Is, are you one of the builders? Because I am 100% convinced. I know, and I am persuaded in the Lord that Jesus Christ is going to build his church, and not even the gates of Hades will prevail against it. Can get an amen from anybody on that?
The one sure thing that I know, if you bet your life on it, if you lay down your life for it, if you give everything you've got to it, the one investment you can make that I know you will always reap reward from is investing in the people that Jesus is saving in his church, you will never be disappointed giving your life away for Jesus and his people. And are you convinced of that to the point that you would change the way you conduct yourself and your money and your family, all to build other people up? We need the construction team. We need the builders. But it's not a work project. It's not hammering nails. It's truth and love coming out of your mouth because you care about the other people that Jesus died to save. So let us be about this mutual up-building, more now than we ever have been before. Let me pray for us.
Father, I just pray that your Word could penetrate our hearts and minds, that it could cut to the thoughts and intents of our heart, that we are a selfish people who live in a selfish culture, and even at church, it can be more about what works for me than what's really loving the one anothers, the others that Jesus died for. And so, I pray that this would be a place where people would see your signature, that this would be a place where people would know your calling card, that this would be a place here in Huntington Beach, and even as we double into Long Beach, I pray that people would know that these people, these people here, they are the real deal. They are really the Church of Jesus, and that they would know it because we love one another, that we genuinely care to build up one another. God, I want to lift up right now some of my brothers and sisters that I've had the privilege of serving with for years here at this church, and I know they've invested in a lot of people. God, I just pray that they won't grow weary in building up your church, that they won't think there's something else to move on to. I pray that they'll be reenergized and encouraged that this is a time to keep building. And God, I want to lift up people who are here in this room right now and so far that it's just been them getting saved and them growing, and it hasn't really become of yet about them intentionally building other people up. God, I pray that you would change their thinking, that you would mature them to think this way, that it's not somebody else's job to build the church, but it's each part working properly. It's all of us building up the body of Christ in love. And so, God, I pray that something that people would know about compass Bible Church in Huntington Beach and Long Beach is they wouldn't just know where our buildings are, and they won't just know our service times. But I pray that they would know we have many builders. Those people, they really care about each other. Those people that it's like they've all been adopted into the saved family. It's like they've all experienced the same love. God, let this be a place where that rings true. And when it feels hard and when we feel overwhelmed and tired, like how can I keep putting other people first, and we want to retreat and consider ourselves, God let it not be us, but Christ in us, let us firmly believe it's not I, it's Christ in me. Jesus is going to build his church, and if he wants to use me, then I'll be one of his builders. But the strength to love, the strength to speak the truth, it doesn't come from me, it comes from Jesus, and he is the one who's going to build his church, and I want to be used by him. God, please let us see. It's not us, but it's Christ. We pray this in his name, amen. Amen.