INTRO.- ILL.- A man said: I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said, "Stop! Don't jump!”
"Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" "Like what?"
"Well ... are you religious or atheist?" "Religious." "Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?" "Christian."
"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?" "Protestant." "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" "Baptist."
"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?" "Baptist Church of God."
"Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?" "Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?" "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!" To which I said, "Die, you heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
I do know that there are some within Christianity who are that critical, negative, and condemning. That is, if you don’t believe exactly as they believe then you won’t make it to heaven.
ILL.- A man died and met St Peter at the gate. Would you like a tour? asked Peter. Sure, said the man. Peter led the man down a long hall with many doors. They stopped at the first door and Peter opened it and said with a whisper, “These are the Pentecostals.” He closed the door quietly and went to the next door. Peter said in a whisper, “Here are the Baptists,” as he opened the door. Quietly Peter closed that door, and went to the next. The man was confused. Peter whispered and said, “This is the last one I’ll show you.” He quietly opened the last door and whispered, “Here are some non-denominationalists.”
Peter shut the last door, and led the man back to the pearly gate. He asked Peter, “Why did you have to whisper?” Peter replied, “Because each group thinks they are the only ones here in heaven.”
And I think there are many different Christian groups or churches who think they are the only ones that are going to heaven. But this is not what the scripture teaches.
Years ago, we of the restoration movement in Christianity who used to quote: “Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” But even those words can be carried to extreme and cause division among Christians.
One of the better statements we have heard for many years is this: “We are not the only Christians but we desire to be Christians only.”
Another is: "We have no creed but Christ, no book but the Bible, no name but the name Christian."
The point is: Who can we accept as our brothers and sisters in Christ and who can’t we accept? Let’s look at it from Paul’s perspective in this text.
PROP.- What does this text say about accepting others in regard to their faith?
1- We must accept others who eat everything
2- We must accept others who observe sacred days
3- We must accept others without judging them
I. WE MUST ACCEPT OTHERS WHO EAT EVERYTHING
1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
ILL.- A preacher friend of mine wrote these words on facebook: Just read in my devotions today: “One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables” (Romans 14:2-3 ). I think it was God's way of sending me to McDonald's for a sausage and egg McMuffin.
Does your faith allow you to eat at McDonald’s? And does your faith allow you to eat a sausage and egg McMuffin at McDonald’s? Or are there only certain things that your faith allows you to eat?
ILL.- Elaine’s daughter said they were coming to our house for Thanksgiving, but she called her mother and said, “I don’t want any tofu turkey!” Have you ever heart of tofu turkey?
Tofu is a soybean product (or made from soybeans) and it’s what many vegetarians eat and Kim knows that her mother has eaten only vegetables for many years and there is such a thing as tofu turkey! I personally don’t think it sounds very tasty! I prefer the real thing.
Can you eat anything you want or are there certain foods that you won’t eat because of your faith? We know, for example, that Jews don’t eat pork. Can you? I sure can and I love a good BLT sandwich!
The point of scripture is that we must not judge those whose faith will not allow them to eat certain foods.
ILL.- Someone wrote: “According to a recent article I just read on nutrition, they said eating right doesn't have to be complicated. Nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you're eating right. Colors. Fill your plates with bright colors. Greens, reds, yellows. In fact, I did that this morning. I had an entire bowl of M&M's. It was delicious! I never knew eating right could be so easy.”
We all know that some people can eat anything in regard to their faith or their health. Blessed they are!
I Timothy 4:1-5 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
While we know this is true, we must respect the faith of others and accept them in Christ even if there are certain foods they feel that they can’t eat.
II. WE MUST ACCEPT OTHERS WHO OBSERVE SACRED DAYS
5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Do you remember the days when going to church meant Sunday School, Sunday morning worship, Sunday night worship, and the Midweek Bible study? Not any more. Anything and almost everything goes as far as worship services and times.
For example, many large churches of 1,000 or more often have multiple services; two or three on Sunday morning and some even have a Saturday night services in order to accommodate people who have to work on Sunday. And I used to think that it was totally wrong to do that, that is, have a Saturday night worship service. Why? Because we know that the early Christians gathered on the Lord’s Day to remember Jesus in His supper.
Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”
As I said, however, almost anything goes with churches today in order to get more growth or get more people. Many mega churches (which are over 2,000) often have satellite churches scattered in various places across their towns or cities. They will show their main worship by piping it in to the satellite churches.
ILL.- I remember many years ago working in church camp with senior high kids. Some of the preacher faculty members wanted to serve communion or the Lord’s Supper one evening to the young people and guess what? Some of the other faculty members thought that it was totally wrong to do that, saying that the early Christians observing the Lord’s Supper ONLY on the Lord’s Day and to do otherwise would be sinful.
I want you to know that I was NOT in the ANTI-group! I was all for it. Jesus said, “As often as you do this, do in remembrance of me.” Which, I thought, meant any time we wanted to remember the body and blood of our Lord then it was ok with Him! In fact, I think it’s right to remember Him at any time, in any way! The more, the better!
ILL.- A young girl asked her neighbor, “Do you go to church?
“Yes, do you?”
“We’re Methodists and I go every Sunday with my mother.”
“Doesn’t your daddy go to church?”
“No.”
“Isn’t he a Methodist?”
“I’m not sure. My mother says he’s a Seventh Day Absentist.”
What about people who observe special or sacred days? For example, what about the Seventh Day Adventists who believe they should worship on the Sabbath day which is Saturday? Are they Christians and can we accept them as Christian brothers and sisters?
It seems to me that if they believe in the Lord Jesus and confess faith in Him then I must accept them as my Christian brethren even though I don’t agree with the day they worship. You see, I believe that we must worship the Lord every day and not just on Saturday or Sunday!
And I have discovered that if a person is faithful to worship the Lord every day then they won’t have a problem with assembling on the Lord’s Day or any other day, for that matter!
5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.
III. WE MUST ACCEPT OTHERS WITHOUT JUDGING THEM
9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
ILL.- In a sailing vessel, the mate of the ship, yielding to temptation, became drunk. The captain entered in the log of the ship the record for the day: “Mate drunk today.”
When the mate read this entry, he asked the captain to take it out of the record. He said that when it was read by the owners of the ship, it would cost him his job, and the captain well knew that this was his first offense. But the captain refused to change the record, and said to the mate, “This is the fact, and into the log it goes.”
Some days afterward, the mate was keeping the log. After he had given the latitude and longitude, the run for the day, the wind and the sea, he made this entry: “Captain sober today.”
The angry captain protested when he read the record, declaring that it would leave an altogether false impression in the minds of the owners of the vessel, as if it were an unusual thing for him to be sober. But the mate answered as the captain answered him, “This is the fact, and into the log it goes.”
Many times we may say something about someone to someone and not give the whole picture or tell the whole story. Consequently, the listener doesn’t get a proper picture of that person.
One of the problems that I see in Christianity and in our churches is judging one another and we often judge one another completely inaccurately. When I’ve heard that someone has criticized me behind my back and then it got back to me, I have thought, “If they only knew the truth” or “if they only knew my heart then they wouldn’t have said those things about me.”
But this is true for all of us. We are far too quick to judge a person. We may see only a part of the picture of that person’s life and criticize them in the hearing others and damage their reputation or character. And it can’t be taken back.
Jesus spoke plainly:
Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
CONCLUSION-----------
ILL.- The Baptist boy suggested to the little Methodist girl who lived next door that they play church. The little girl said, “I’ll have to ask my mother.” She came back later shaking her head, saying, “Mother says we can’t play church because we belong to different abominations.”
Even though many people belong to different churches (denominations), etc. we must learn to accept others as long as they believe in Jesus. Beyond that, they must give account to God, not to us.
Steve Shepherd, Cape Girardeau, MO
shepherd111@hotmail.com
