Romans

That's Romans chapter 14. The whole chapter on page 1 1 4 0 of the church bibles. Accept the 1 whose faith is weak. Without quarreling over disputable matters. 1 person's faith allows them to eat anything.

But another whose faith is weak eats only vegetables. The 1 who eats everything must not treat with contempt the 1 who does not. And the 1 who does not eat everything must not judge the 1 who does. For god has accepted them, Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall.

And they will stand for the lord is able to make them stand. 1 person considers 1 day more sacred than another Another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards 1 day as special does so to the lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the lord.

For they give thanks to god, and whoever abstains does so to the lord and gives thanks to god. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the lord. And if we die, we die for the lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the lord.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life. So that he might be the lord of both the dead and the living. You then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before god's judgment seat.

It is written as surely as I live says the lord. Every knee will bow before me. Every tongue will acknowledge god. So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to god. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on 1 another.

Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced being fully persuaded in the lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person, it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer act in love. Do not buy your eating, destroy someone for whom Christ died.

Therefore, do not let what you know is good, be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of god, is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to god and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace. And to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of god for the sake of food.

All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. So whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God bless is the 1 who does not condemn himself by what he approves, but whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat because their eating is not from faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin. Pete, Let's pray. Father help us now.

Look at this passage. There's lots of things in here to learn, and we wanna learn them by your spirit into our hearts and minds. Oh, men. Unity without diversity equals uniformity. Diversity without unity equals anarchy.

Unity with diversity equals maturity. Now what do we wanna be working for out of those things? Which of which of those things do you want Cornerstone church to be? Let's just have a think about them. Unity without diversity.

Unity without diversity equals conformity, and it does. If you think about it, that's communism, that's fascism, Everybody looks the same, smells the same, eats the same works the same, and the unity comes because there's pressure to be the same. The cults are like this. I remember, a number of years ago flicking through an American Christian magazine, and, there were several adverts for churches to come to their church. Here was 1.

A warm welcome at Calvary Church Service 11 AM on the Lord's Day, then it had brackets, no beards, no mini skirts, King James version of the Bible only. So I guess you don't get a warm welcome if you're wearing a miniskirt and you've got a beard and you've got a good news Bible in your hand. Unity without diversity is uniformity. Diversity without unity is anarchy. You know, everyone does what they want.

There's no care. There's no thinking about others. There's no real love. It's like the wild west. If you like.

You know, everybody is a law unto themselves. Everyone fights for their right and they demand what they want and they look down on others. And of course in the end, if you take that to its conclusion, you get uniformity because everybody splits and goes into their little groups. Unity with diversity equals maturity. Now that's that's that's what we should be working for.

Unity with diversity equals maturity, but in order to mature, you have to grow up. And that takes time and that takes effort. And obviously, that's the 1 at Cornerstone we want to be going for. We want unity with diversity, but it's gonna take effort. It doesn't just happen.

It won't just happen. You have to grow up. Look at verse 19 of Romans 14. Let us therefore make every effort, see this effort. To do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

It's a wonderful sentence, but it takes effort. You need to underline that. And pray about that each day probably this week. It takes effort because we have differences. We are the body of Christ, of course.

But within that body, there will be differences of opinions and preferences. We'll have strong views some of us of what Christians should or shouldn't do. And sometimes we can argue over those things. Now that was what it was like. In the first century, in Rome, Paul is writing to this group of Christians in the church in Rome.

And the obvious big differences between them in that church in Rome were those who were converted from Judaism who had lots of laws and lots of rules and lots of things about what you can eat and drink and wear. And those who were converted from paganism, gentile who had lots of other rules, different types of rules, and lots of freedoms as well. So their backgrounds are utterly different. Their cultures are very diverse. But how do they all live together?

They've become members of this 1 group called the church in in Rome. How are they going to love and how are they going to accept each other? From diverse backgrounds. Now Paul knew that as a mark of the power of the Christian message, the love of the lord Jesus Christ, We need to live this out to the world, love and unity. He knew that.

But look at some of the issues, and these are real issues. So in verse 2, it talks about food. In verse 5, it talks about special days, holy days that people would consider. In verse 9, it talks about clean and unclean. So I I don't know what the Saturday morning prayer breakfast was like.

In Rome. Let's imagine it. Saturday good. The Jews are happy about that. That's a good day to choose for prayer.

But perhaps it brought a lot of tension because the gentile converts, they wake up early, and they want to serve their brothers on the holy day. The Jewish ones from the Jewish backgrounds, and they get busy and they're up early cooking their bacon sandwiches. But the Jewish converts do not appreciate the bacon sandwiches. And the vegetarians, why are they upset because The only alternative to a bacon roll is a sausage. And so they're upset.

So it's very hard now to get the prayer bit right, isn't it? The breakfast has gone wrong. How are we ever gonna pray together? But it wasn't just a Jewish, gentile issue. It's not just a food and drink issue.

There are many issues. Look at verse 21. Paul says it is better not to eat meat or drink wine or look what he he includes here to do anything else That will cause your brother or sister to fall. There are all kinds of issues that cause us You know, people get very hot under the collar, Brexit. Some people get very hot under the collar, at that, don't they?

So are we a Brexit church or a, you know, a remain church? You know, and and people can argue and say, no, no, I really think as a Chris we should come out. I really think as a Christian others would say that we should stay in and they have good work through views. Are we gonna divide over that? Or the expensive holiday that our brother and sister are going on.

Oh, my goodness, I'd go a little bit cheaper myself. Are they really Christian? What are they spending their money on? Or the shops that we buy from? I don't buy from that.

Shot because they, they re they're they're really unethical. And I don't think you should buy from it. But The other brother might be buying from the shop because it's cheap and they have more money to to give to gospel work. There are good worked out Christian reasons for both. Or the car, or she raises her hands in church, dodgy Christian.

He keeps his hands in his pocket doesn't love the lord. There are all kinds of things that go on, isn't it? It is possible, you see, that 1 man's faith is another man's poison, even in the same church. Christ's love has brought this these Jews and gentiles and others together from their various backgrounds, and they love the lord Jesus Christ. Free grace justified by faith in Christ alone has brought them together.

Are they able to live together as brothers and sisters? That's what's going on. Now we've got to understand that there will be many differences in any church. Especially with cultures and between individuals. But look what Paul calls these differences.

He calls them disputable matters verse 1. Except 1 another whose faith is weak without quarreling over disputable matters. Matters on which people have a choice on in how to live, but they're not commanded in scripture. Let me try and illustrate it. All the married people here, who doesn't wear a wedding ring that is married hands up if you do not wear a wedding ring if you're married.

Yeah? There's a few of us. Yeah? In the sixteenth century, keep your hands up. In the sixteenth century, you're the real Christians.

We're the real Christians. If you wore hands up if you wear a wedding ring, if you're married. Yep. Very dodgy people. Clearly not Bible believing Christians.

That's what it was like in the sixteenth century, but things change, of course. Disputable matters, you see. The Bible doesn't say whether you should wear a wedding ring or not. It's a disputable matter. And they can be deeply held matters and customs and ceremonies.

Here's a young man, He's lived a fairly unrestrained lifestyle, and part of that lifestyle was getting drunk on a regular basis. And this young man hears the liberating wonderful message of the lord Jesus Christ, and he repents of his sin, and he trusts in Jesus as lord and savior of his life and his life has changed and and he wants a new life in Jesus and so he gives up drink altogether, alcohol altogether. And and that's part of his repentance, and that's part of his following the lord Jesus Christ. And then he's excited because he's invited to a party in the church, a Christian party has never been to 1 before, and he's really excited. And so he goes into this house excited at going to a Christian party, and he sees alcohol.

And he's broken by that. Because part of his repentance was not drinking alcohol, and he can't get it into his head why it isn't part of that Christian's repentance. And so he tends to see everybody black and white in that sense. And he marches out of the party embarrassing the host and thinking in his mind whether that is really a Christian because they drink alcohol. Now, getting drunk is clearly against the scriptures.

Drinking alcohol is your choice. You can or you can't. Disputable matters. Now, Paul is not suggesting that there's disputable matters in theology. You gotta get disputable matters right.

He's spent 11 chapters showing you what the gospel really is. So he's not talking. He's not this sort of weird thing that says, well, we don't argue over any theology, and let's just agree to disagree, and those no. He would be totally against that. These disputable matters are preferences or ways that you choose to follow the lord yourself or cultural matters And we all bring our different preferences and customs into a church, our idiosyncrasen whatever the word is, those things into the church.

And sometimes we muddle up those things that we like and think as that young man did about drinking alcohol, as that is the Christian way of living. And that's where we need maturity to learn the difference between fundamental truths and ways of Christian living and disputable matters. That's maturing. Now with all of that introduction, let's get into this passage. Versus 1 to 13.

That's 1 section. Just look down those verses. And I think when you look down those verses, a summary to those 13 verses is the word accept. That would be the summary. So you get verse 1 except the 1 whose faith is weak.

Then you get at the end of verse 3 for god has accepted them. You put those 2 things together and you've got a summary of those first 13 verses. Except the 1 whose faith is weak for god has accepted them. It's all about accepting. So verse 1 then.

Except the 1 whose faith is weak without quarreling over disputable matters. Now, here's where we go wrong with this passage. The weak We've got to understand that the week in this chapter are not necessarily weak people. They're not weak in faith in the sense that they're having doubts about who Jesus is and whether he died on the cross for them. That that's not the issue.

No. They're weak in the sense that they're overconcerned about rules in their life and other people. See, the weak person here is a vegetarian. Now it's not saying all you vegetarians are weak, but here, the weak person is a vegetarian for the reasons that they're vegetarian, which is they think they're following god for that reason. So the weak person here is a vegetarian.

They think it's wrong to eat meat. Look at verse 2. 1 person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. So you see what it's saying, the weak person may be a very strong self disciplined person. Yeah.

They're abstaining from meat. They go to a party and they say, no, I'm not eating that. So they could be a very strong personality. They have strong opinions. Look at verse 3.

The 1 who eats everything must not treat with contempt, those who do who the the 1 who does not. And the 1 who does not eat everything, the vegetarian, in this case, must not judge the 1 who does. Forgot has accepted them. So the weak people are tempted in their strong manner to condemn others. Like the young Christian at the party.

He's a weak person at that point, stomping out because his repentance meant no alcohol, he assumed that everybody's repentance must mean no alcohol. He was a weak Christian at that point, but very strong minded. Do you see that? To the 1 who is weak, In other words, the 1 who has lots of rules in their lives about how to live their life, it's very easy for them to condemn others that don't follow those rules. So they say things like, is he a Christian?

Is she a Christian? They can't be a Christian. They eat meat. They can't be a Christian. They're not vegetarians.

They can't be they're half hearted. They're undisciplined. They drink alcohol. They have no self control. I mean, I love the word because Paul says, It's not just that they eat anything.

There is 1 of the verses says they eat everything, you know, you sort of get this idea of of this this bloke just chomping through everything, you know, any for whatever it is, I'll eat. There's a there's a mic. I might as well eat that. You know, they're chomping away And the weak are standing back and judging and saying, now the strong who can eat everything They don't worry about what they eat. They don't even think about what they eat, and they don't worry about special days because they're free in Christ.

And the strong can feel superior to those with lots of rules because they know what the Bible says. And they know the Bible says that you can eat anything you like. And so they can stand back and look at those weak and say they don't understand notification by faith alone. They don't understand the bible. They're becoming legalists.

Now, it's interesting that Paul says that you strong ones should actually accommodate the week. If you're strong if your job is to accommodate the weak Christian, that's what he's saying. Now look, if I think of my own life, while reading this passage, I think I've taken different positions at different times of my life. In fact, I think I I sometimes take both positions at the same time depending on what the subject is. But don't you?

If you think about it, In the end though, be careful that it isn't making yourself superior to other Christians by what you do extra biblical. See, I told you that story about the young man at the Christian party. That was me. That was me. I stormed out thinking they weren't Christian.

Because part of my repentance was giving up alcohol at the time because it dominated my life. And so there as a weak Christian, I assumed everybody should do that. So we mustn't write each other off Because god has accepted us. Look at the end of verse 3, for god has accepted them. You see, if you take god out of church which is incredibly easy to do for some strange reason.

If you take god out of church and if you take god out of your thinking, Then the easy solution to a problem of differences is to form 2 churches. You have the church of the carnivores, Saint butchers, or Saint Paul Whitfield, and then you have the Church of the vegetarians, Saint Linda McCarthy. And so you go to whichever church you like and we go to the vegetarian church or we go to the that's the easy way to do it. But when you ask whose church is this, when you bring god and price back into your thinking and into your behavior, and you say whose church is it? You realize it's not mine, and it's not yours.

In fact, it's Jesus. Church. For god has accepted them. If other Christians with different cultural beliefs and different lifestyle opinions are accepted by god through Jesus Christ, then who am I to say they're not my brother or sister? Sir.

See that? Look at verse 4. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?

To judge someone else's servant. To their own master, servant stand or fall, and they will stand for the lord is able to make them stand. They belong to Jesus. You're not the master. You're not their master.

They stand in the kingdom of god because of what Jesus has done. He's made them acceptable. It's not whether they eat vegetables or eat meat or smoke or don't smoke or drink alcohol or don't drink alcohol. None of that makes you right with god. None of it.

If Jesus has made someone who smokes, his child, Who are you to judge them? What right do you have to condemn them? So accepting others is a is basic to cultivating freedom in the church. See a legalist will come into a church and they never accept. They're always judging.

They look at the the length of your hair. Is it too long? Are you looking at your clothes? Are they too expensive? Oh, he's eating and drinking that?

Well, there we go. Oh, he shops there? Does he? We to we are to accept people. And sometimes young Christians come in, and they need just time to grow.

I remember, when we were in, Tasmania, and the lord in his kindness saved a lot, you know, almost a couple of hundred young people. And they all came from sort of pretty, pretty, worldly backgrounds. It was just very interesting because they suddenly wanted me to tell them to give up smoking. They all smoked. In fact, when we did bible studies, we had to have a smoking break because they were so hooked on it.

Now I think smoking is dirty, filthy, and a waste of money, but it doesn't say in the Bible you can't smoke. It does not say that. Actually, if you're a temple of the lord, by the way, which we're told to be, well, the temple of the lord was full of smoke. So don't argue against that. So so they wanted me.

They wanted me to tell them, and I didn't. Now not 1 of them smokes now because they came to know the lord, and they grew in the lord. So it wasn't just legalism and and and sort of rules. It was a heartfelt thing. Look at verse 5.

1 person considers 1 day more sacred than another, another considers every day alike. Each of them should be look at it. Fully convinced in their own mind. So this is between you and the lord. It's a it's a con conviction in your own mind.

So real Christians don't do things to become self righteous or better than other people or to get in god's good books real Christians because they love Jesus do what they do and work it out. Each should be fully convinced in his own mind. This is back to Romans chapter 12 and verses 1 to 3. This is a renewed mind, a gospel mind thinking through their position. And how they work it out in their lives and not dictate it to other people.

Spurgence showed this up to some of his some of his Bergeon was a a a Victorian preacher, a fantastic preacher. And, he showed up his students on this on the on this occasion. So spurgeon used to, ride from his house to the Metropolitan tabernacle where he preached in a carriage, and often he would pick up some students on the way. And he picked up 2 students that were smoking cigarettes. They got into the carriage and they were smoking.

And spurgeon looked at them and said, aren't you ashamed of smoking cigarettes this early in the morning? And the students looked at each other and looked at spurgeon and then put their cigarettes out. Hung their heads in shame. And just after they put them out, spurgeon got a dirty great cigar out. He was a cigar smoker.

And lit it up and started puffing away. And the students complained and said, you said it was shameful to smoke. He said I didn't say it was shameful. I just asked you whether you were ashamed, and you obviously are. So don't smoke.

I'm not. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. It's in their own mind working through gospel applications for them. So verse 7 and 8, look, for none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live to the lord, and if we die, we die for the lord.

So whatever we whether we live or die, we belong to the lord, we belong to the lord. It's the lord we do this for, not to be better than you, not to be accepted by you, but to be accepted by the lord. And if I'm accepted by the lord and you're accepted by the lord, then we accept each other. Look at verse 13 again. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on each other instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

Our lives are not our own. Our lives are to the lord, and you may decide to bring rules into your life that are good for you at that time of your life, then fine, but don't make me submit to them. See, we're not in the business of judgment. We are not the master. Look at verse 10.

You then, why do you judge your brother or sister, or why do you treat them with contempt? For we all stand before god's judgment seat, It is written as surely as I live says the lord. Every knee will bow before me. Every tongue will acknowledge God. So then each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

This is personal. You're given account. Stop trying to be the lord of someone else in the church. Stop making them take on. So you you are not qualified to be the judge and lord of all mankind, so stop putting yourself in that position.

You see that? So that's the first point. We accept because the lord Jesus has accepted all types of people. Here's the second thing. We're trying to apply it in a minute.

Here's the second thing. If the first word is except, I actually think, this next section, which I think goes from verse 13 as well to verse 23. I think I would put the word love except, love. Or don't be a stumbling block is the way it really is put. Don't be a stumbling block.

So don't judge people with different preferences and different lifestyles accept others because Jesus, the judge has accepted them, but the second half of verse 13, instead, make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or an obstacle in the way of a brother and sister. Don't make someone stumble and fall. Love them. And that's why we need to be very careful over these disputable matters. We need to find out what they are.

If I make a not a a disputable matter of fundamental, I'm going to be in trouble. I have a responsibility over disputable matters not to make you stumble like a verse 14. I am convinced being fully persuaded in the lord that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person is unclean. Paul was saying I could eat what I like.

I'm not a vegetarian. I could eat what I like. I can eat what I like, but it doesn't mean that I can do what I like because we're in a family here. We're trying to help each other not stumble and grow. Verse 15.

Look at the second half of verse 15. Do not buy your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. That would be appalling, wouldn't it? We're supposed to be building that person up. You can't start shouting up.

It's my life, and I can do what I like. You're in the church for goodness sake. This is a family. Don't destroy someone because you have the freedom to do what you like. It's very important.

If you don't act lovingly to people, even though you're right in the fact that you can eat what you like. The good that you do will become evil. Look at verse 16. Therefore, do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. If you force someone to do something that isn't right for them, Then you are actually the good and the freedom that you have, or you're making something evil, and then verse 17, such a central verse.

For the kingdom of god is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is crazy to fight over these disputable matters when the kingdom of god is not a matter of eating and drinking. So verse 20, do not destroy the work of god. For the sake of food. Don't do that.

Just because you have a right doesn't mean to say that you have to use your right. You have a right not to use it. You have a right to not drink alcohol if a brother is going to fall. Christians never stand up for their own rights. They stand up for the rights of serving other brothers and sisters.

That's what we do. So loving others requires that we express our liberties very wisely. We know who's around us. We're not bullies. We hold back.

We're mature. See, bullies are adolescents. They're spoiled little brats, aren't they? But Christ died for them We're mature and we love and because we're mature like any mature person, you can give up your rights in order to help someone else grows, like parents do with children. You give up your freedoms to help a child grow, and that's what we should do.

So that's the second point. First 1 is accept. Except people with differences. The second 1 is to love. Don't put a stumbling block.

In them, help them grow, help them understand. But here's the third thing. It's verse 17, back to that. It's the heart of the church. This is the heartbeat of the church.

Look at verse 17. For the kingdom of god is not. Right? Is that worth underlining? A matter of eating and drinking.

If you think it is, you're wrong. The kingdom of god is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul is thinking about disputable matters, eating and drinking, They're disputable. We can talk about them, encourage people to think through them, argue about them, but you do not think you're better than someone because of them, because the real heart is disputable matters as compared to righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. I love this verse.

I mean, I I did think of doing a whole sermon on this verse when I'm trying to get through Romans before Christmas. Look at verse 17. It tells us what a Christian is not, and it's so radical. It is not about eating and drinking. What you eat or what you drink has nothing to do with the kingdom of god.

That's what he's saying. Islam is all about eating and drinking. Judaism is all about eating and drinking. Hinduism is all about eating and drinking. Mormonism is all about eating and drinking.

Nearly all religions go on and on about dress the clothing, the drinking, the food, the outward stuff. They bang on about that. You mustn't smoke. You mustn't drink alcohol. You mustn't eat this.

You can't eat pork. You can't eat meat. You have to eat vegetable. It's constantly rules and rules and rules. About these things.

I remember going to an Islamic meeting on Kingston University where they were discussing where the women are able to wear nail polish stuff. What's it called? Nail polish. And the answer is, yes, you can wear it, but when you go to prayer, you've got to take it off. Because you've got to wash every part of your body before you pray to Allah because he doesn't like dirty people.

And so you haven't washed your nail if you've got something over the nail, like nail polish. You've not actually washed the nail. So you need to take the nail polish off so you can wash the nail. And there was a whole hour on that. But that's what the religion is.

That's what religion does. When I was in, Indonesia, I was told that the way you tell a Christian is they don't smoke, they don't drink alcohol, and they listen to slushy Christian music. I tell you what, by the end end of the 3 weeks that I was there, I really wanted to smoke and drink alcohol and listen to some punk rock. In fact, when I landed at Singapore Airport, the only thing I could find, that we had a bit of guts to it was a group called the damned. And I put that on the headphones and listened to the damned who are so fed up with Christian music.

It was so slushy. It's ridiculous because this verse says that is not what makes a Christian. It's not about eating and drinking and smoking. It's about righteousness and peace joy in the Holy Spirit. You can be a vegetarian, fine.

Some of you are. You can be a carnival, fine. Some of you are. We're mixing you up. It's been annoying.

You go to guess who's coming to lunch and there's a vegetarian there. Forcing me not to eat meat. But because you're the weaker brother or sister, You see? Whatever you're persuaded as long as you're persuaded before the lord. Of course, you can do it because you don't you don't like meat or it doesn't do you very good or something.

But before the lord, if you're persuaded, Christianity is not about that, but verse 17 tells us what Christianity is about. It's about righteousness, it's about peace, and it's about joy in the Holy Spirit. And I guess that joy in the Holy Spirit is not just individual. It's as a church that we could enjoy each other in the Holy Spirit because what we're banging on about is that we're made right with god through Jesus' blood on the cross, not through what you eat or drink. And we have peace with god who was our enemy at 1 time, and we were his enemy, but he loves us.

Because of what Jesus has done, not because of my religious rules. You see? There's such a freedom in this. And the joy in the Holy Spirit. Okay.

Let me try and apply this more than of already. Well, let's just sort of bring some of the applications together that we've been looking at Are you ready? Unity without diversity equals uniformity. We don't want that. Everybody looks and smells the same.

Diversity without unity is anarchy. We don't want that. Little groups. But unity with diversity is maturity. That's what we wanna grow to, isn't it?

Isn't that? Okay. 1 then. Be careful of lists. And extra biblical rules that you have in your life and start applying them to others.

Be careful of We want unity with diversity, and that comes through being mature together in Christ and what he's done for If the church has extra biblical lists that you have to live up to, then you're probably in the wrong church. It is not the pastor's job to give you a whole load of lists. That's why I didn't do it to those young Christians in Tasmania. It's the fastest job to preach the lord Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit do his work in your life. Now, that doesn't mean to say I don't have lists.

You know, I have restrictions on my life. I have enforced speed limits on my life, but that's down to me and my conscience. You work out your own. Don't add extra limits. You know the person that's always looking for a new law.

Yeah? My wife is exactly like that. See, I'm a Freedom person. I go in, well, no, I can park anywhere. I'm like, well, no, no, where's the law?

Well, there isn't a law. Why are you doing this? And that's how our conversations to often go. So you you've got the the restraints, the biblical restraints of 70 miles an hour on the motorway. That's the restraint.

That's the law. The Bible says there's things But I don't have to go 70 miles an hour, and I I could go 40. And you may say I'm gonna go 40 because that's how I feel safe in driving for myself, and someone may say, I'm going 70. Now you go 75. You're wrong.

Do you see that? So we have restrictions We put them, but I shouldn't be sitting in the seat with you driving saying, go 70. Go 70. What are you going 40 for? Go 70?

Or you shouldn't be sitting saying, go 40. Don't go 70. Yeah? You see that? Refusing to dictate to others allows the law to direct all of our lives.

And that's a beautiful thing because we're relating to the lord. That's the first thing. Be careful of lists and extra biblical rules for everyone. Second thing is enjoy diversity and unity. Enjoy it.

Enjoy the diversity. It's a great British thing, by the way, for those of you from not Britain, to laugh at other cultures. We just laugh. We'll laugh at anything. Yeah, including ourselves.

It's a joy. Most of that laughter is not having a go at it. It's just enjoying the differences. Enjoy diversity in unity. There was a great article in 1 of the commissions and I think he did a talk at revive.

I've forgetting I forgot what the name's bloke is, the bloke's name is, but he gives a really good illustration on this. And he says there's a difference between bento boxes tomato soup and roast dinner. The bento boxes, are those sort of like, unfortunately, this is a cultural thing. It's a Japanese box. But you've got you've got your box with little, partitions.

They're all separated. So you have your rice in this 1. You have your your vegetables in this 1, you have your meats in this 1, and you have your sauces in this 1. And they're all on 1 plate, but they're all in little tiny groups. We don't want a church like that, but then we don't want a tomato soup church.

Apparently, Jamie Oliver says that a good tomato soup contains carrots celery, onion garlic, basil, and tomatoes. But the dominant flavor is tomato. It's all mashed up. You wouldn't even know it's got garlic in it. It's a sort of multiculturalism, but it comes out red.

We're not Muslims where everybody has to dress the same and smell the same and look the same, and all the women have to wear this, and all the men have to have that. He says, And it's a bit embarrassing because this is British. He says that the church should be like a roast dinner, a Sunday roast, I think it's brilliant. He says roast dinners are genius inventions, carrots, Then he makes a mistake. He says broccoli.

But anyway, carrots, broccoli, parsnips, potatoes, meat, yorkshire pitt puddings, smooshed together on a single plate and drowned in gravy. And he says, I love this. He says, No walls of separation, no single dominant flavor. The potatoes can't avoid rubbing shoulders with the carrots, and the Yorkshire puddings of of virtually on top of the meat. Then he says this, the roast dinner represents a healthy multicultural community.

Because each ingredient is given room to shine and enrich the whole meal. Isn't that wonderful? We want all of those things except if you're broccoli, then you can probably get to another church. But, but we want all of those things. Don't we?

On the plate? Put peas in instead of broccoli. But we we want all of those things on the plate. And then it and then he goes on and he gets carried away, but I love this carrying away. Of course the the central thing is meet the lamb of god that takes away the sin of the world.

And the gravy is like the Holy Spirit pulling everything together. And that's a joyful meal, isn't it? That's a joyful meal. Anyone in this room that has a roast dinner put in front of them rejoices. Even vegetarians drool at that, don't they?

It's delicious, and there's joy in the Holy Spirit as we enjoy all of those flavors in 1 mixed dish. Let's be careful we're not tomato soup. Third thing, be careful of legalists. Now, this is what the book of Galatians is all about, and I have no time to open that up, obviously, but be careful of legalists legalists sneak into the church and pretend to be weaker brothers. When anyone says I am a weaker brother, you know they're not.

They're a legalist. Weaker brothers or legalists come in and they play the weaker brother card. I don't like this, so you shouldn't do it. I'm a weaker brother. You've got to be careful.

Be careful of those people. 4 thing, make sure that your love is deep. Or I could ask the question, how deep is your love? You could do that with a high voice or a low voice. How deep is your love?

How deep is your love that you would give up rights in order to love a brother or sister? We have responsibilities to help each other grow. Fithing. I think this speaks to the world, almost like nothing else will today. We're living in a world that shouts out about diversity constantly, but in actual fact it makes tomato soup.

That's what it's doing if you think about what it's doing. It shouts about diversity but you're not allowed to disagree. It's a false unity. Let me illustrate it. The Simpsons.

Some of you like the Simpsons, some of you don't like it, I thought it was a brilliant, brilliant, the Simpsons, the cartoon series. In the Simpsons, everybody's a caricature, everybody. Everybody is. Homer Simpson is a caricature of a a a white blue collar American worker. Yeah.

The Christian next door is a caricature of a white Christian American Christian. There's nuts. Yeah. Everybody's a caricature. But now under pressure, they are writing out a poo.

A poo was the Indian Corner Shop Manager, with 8 children. He was a great character, lovable. But you see the people that are shouting out we want diversity and now put so much pressure on the writers of the Simpsons that a poo is offensive. And so he must must go. So what have you got now then?

You've got no Indian in it. Now they're all caricatures, and the great thing about the humor of is that everybody was a character and we loved it. We loved the poo. We loved the weird Christian. We loved even burns the the caricature of a nasty capitalist, you know, we we we loved all these some bloke addresses up as a bumblebee.

We loved the bloke around the pub because he was at Cara a tour of a sort of, sort of New Yorker and, we luck, and it was all a wonderful roast dinner that we could enjoy these different caricature. Now I don't care whether you liked it or not, but you see what the point I'm making, but the world now shouts. We're offended. They're legalists pretending to be weaker brothers. We're offended And so in the end, you don't even have an Indian in the program.

Isn't that strange? Now we've got to be careful, but we want people to come into the church and enjoy the and we we we enjoy in the Holy Spirit. We laugh at us British people. We have weird character, you know, we are weird. Laugh at us, but let me laugh at you as well.

Not out of condemning, but out of eating and out of loving and out of enjoying the roast dinner. Well, some of us need to think about how we've treated others. Have you raised up something that is a disputable matter, and you're not talking to a Christian because of it, then you need to repent. Have you made a disputable matter so important that it's a fundamental, well, then you're a legalist, be very careful, repent. And that's why we want to come around the lord's table.

The lord's table is saying through the blood, and the body of Christ, we are all accepted, and we accept 1 another as we take this. Because we're accepted in Christ. Have a minute just to think about things where you need to sort sort it out with the lord. And say sorry.