If Not Disputable Matters, What Should Our Focus Be On? Series

A BIGGER VISION: Are we thinking of denominational correctness or of the expansive kingdom of God?

- Romans 14:17a.

- [Note: focus here on the Kingdom; leave the other for the second point.]

- So often we get down into the weeds on all these disputable matters that we’ve been discussing for the last few weeks. We get focused on our church or our denomination and why it’s right.

- This morning we want to talk about what our focus should be instead.

- I want to get to the larger point in a moment, but the first few words of v. 17 are a good place to start this morning. It speaks of “the kingdom of God.”

- There are various ways you can define “the kingdom of God.” You could talk about it in terms of what all the churches are doing all over the globe. You could talk about it in terms of where God is working in the lives of all the Christians around the world. You could talk about it in terms of the proclamation of the glorious gospel of the crucified and resurrected Jesus. You could talk about where all the Holy Spirit is moving and changing lives.

- For our purposes this morning, any and all of those are perfectly fine.

- The reason is that the big point I want to begin with this morning (and this is such an important truth in the arena of disputable matters) is that there is one big kingdom of God that God is working in and through today.

- Sometimes we get caught up in the smaller divisions: we like other Baptists but we’re not sure about the Pentecostals. Or we are ok with Methodists but aren’t sure about Mennonites. Of course, throughout this, we like people like us.

- We should have a far more expansive view: we are all part of one kingdom of God. If you’re a follower of Jesus, then we are on the same team. It doesn’t matter what the name on the door of the church says as much as who is in your heart.

- We have far more in common with those who are followers of Christ (whatever their denomination) than we have differences. Why? Because we are all part of the redeemed Body of Christ!

- We rejoice wherever the name of Jesus is lifted up.

- Now, this all takes us back to something we’ve talked about earlier in the sermon series. There are a few core issues that are essential. Things like the deity of Christ and the inspiration of the Bible and the Trinity.

- When we think about this, it should be an exciting truth for us. We are part of a global move of God. We are part of a worldwide brotherhood and sisterhood.

THE WRONG FOCUS: The point is not to win arguments about secondary spiritual issues.

- Romans 14:17b.

- Paul tells us that the kingdom is not about eating and drinking. What does he mean? That we aren’t supposed to eat and drink? No.

- Looking up at v. 15, Paul references a disputable matter of his day that he also talked about in vv. 2 and 6. It was a controversy in Paul’s day about whether it was appropriate for a believer to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Some said yes, some no. It was a disputable matter. Today, that issue has no resonance with us, but we have our own issues.

- So you could rephrase v. 17 there to say, “For the kingdom of God is not about disputable matters.”

- As we’ve discussed earlier in this series, that is not to say they are of no importance. We are called to be “fully convinced in our own mind.” (v. 5). But we are to keep that between us and God and not spend our time arguing with everyone.

- The verse here is saying that disputable matters are not supposed to be our focus. That’s not what the kingdom is really about.

- This is essential to say because far too often the church is about these secondary spiritual issues.

- There is endless arguing over relatively minor points of theology. There is enormous energy given to denominational theology and potential splits. There are lots of Christians who seem to believe that spiritual maturity is measured by your ability to vehemently argue your viewpoints.

- This should be obvious . . . and maybe it is. But far too often we certainly don’t live like it’s obvious. Probably all of us could tell stories of a church we went to (or a family member went to) where they split over some relatively minor issue. You can see by the innumerable denominations that are out there that we like to divide up over theological differences.