Title: The Priesthood of the Believer
*Note from Pastor Ben: The original sermons from Romans 14, which I preached through in early 2008 were lost to a hard drive crash. The following is an hour long teaching I presented in the Summer of 2016, covering the entirety of the key aspects of Paul’s teachings in Romans 14.
While not as detailed as our usual verse by verse exegetical teaching, my hope is that it will offer some insights for consideration. I figured it was a better alternative to just leaving all of Romans 14 out. Romans 14 is quite possibly my favorite chapter in all of scripture, the irony of it being lost to a hard drive crash is not lost on me. ;0.
Usually we preach through books. Occasionally, we deviate so that I can address some current issue we are facing by looking to Scripture. Today is the latter. I do not know how far we will get through today’s lesson, we may not make it past the first point. I pledge to stay here as long as it takes for every question to be answered. My door is always open.
I’ve felt led by the Spirit and driven by two external factor to deliver a rather unique message to all of you this morning. I want to be very transparent with all of you this morning and confess that I poured over this message, in some points at great discomfort to myself, in order to correctly, humbly, and Biblically address these two things. My prayer is that by the end of the message today, we can all be on the same page moving forward.
Some things have come to my attention about a troubling growing trend of hand-wringing about non-essential issues, combined with the fact that we are very close to embarking upon a major church project moving forward (the basketball court) that perhaps we are not all on the same page concerning.
Stick with me through this study, and we will have ample time for question, answer, and application discussion.
What I’m going to do today is work through one of my favorite chapters in scripture today, Romans 14 which deals with the priesthood of the believer, and weave in current issues and questions within our church so that you can see my clear and necessary connection with these scriptural concepts and my own vision for this church.
Let’s Pray
Let’s get right into the thick of it:
Read Verse 1: “…but not to disputes over doubtful things.”
What makes something a doubtful thing, a non-essential thing?
Why can these things be so dangerous?
Why do I think that church covenants are so undermining?
Application: Is there anything Holy or Sacred about this building?
(Mike Wilson ripping down the signs/Why do you think Mike told me he Purposefully Moves things around just so the church? Why am I doing this crazy, totally out of order service today?
Did Jesus not die to get rid of this idolatry?
Will I say “No” to anything? Yes. Distraction.
Read Verses 2 and 3.
We cannot look down our noses at believer’s who don’t share our convictions. We also cannot rub our liberty in the noses of those weak believers.
Examples of where this can be important.
(I don’t think alcohol is sin, but I also wouldn’t crack open a Budweiser while preaching.)
Read 4-5
How can we be “fully convinced” in our own minds?
Discussion, Debate, Prayer, Study, Repeat
Read 6-8
We are always the Lord’s.
What is the church? Is the Church this building? How much does this building matter?
Read 9-12
“Each must give an account of themselves to God”
What is important to you as a believer?
How many of you are brave enough to confess that right now, or in times past, things have been important to you that should not have been? How many of you would say, “Yes, I’ve been guilty of attempting to make my personal conviction a binding rule upon others?”
Read Verse 13
Paul is NOT telling us to just ignore all debate or conflict in the Church…so the question becomes this: How do we determine what is a legitimate stumbling block, and what is a selfish stumbling block?
Scripture
If someone has a dispute with me I say: Show it to me in Scripture? Why?
Because I’m better at Scripture than all of you, and therefore I can “Win” all those arguments? (I’m not…I’ve been consistently blown away at how many times you guys consistently catch things that I miss)
No. Because the second our history, our tradition, our preference, or our desire starts to become a biding agent between us we are guilty of no less than idolatry…because we have ADDED to God’s commandments.
How many of you have this (Bible) all mastered?
Let me suggest this: You can start to add your own rules the second you have mastered This.
Read verse 14-18
As if things were not heated enough, now it gets really tough. If the Spirit convicts you of something, Paul does not say to repress it, he says to acknowledge it.
Then Paul tells us to be sensitive to others weaknesses. That’s why I would be careful about not drinking a beer from the pulpit, out of love, but THAT is a FAR cry from me being afraid of the tee-totalers in our congregation and out of fear start to teach that the Bible says alcohol is sin.
Friends, I’m afraid of one thing. One. And none of you are Him.
Paul then reminds us what the Kingdom of God is, and what is made of. It’s bigger than all these “things.” It’s about peace and joy in the Spirit.
Read verses 19-23
All things are pure. But only if we can do them with a crystal clear conscience.
And how to we qualify our consciences?
Discussion, Debate, Prayer, Study, Repeat
How does this relate the the basketball court?
We may not all be on the same page…and that’s FINE.
You only need to speak up if you think it’s SIN to proceed.
How many of you want the church to grow?
You sure?
Because the larger we get, the more diverse we get, and the more things like basketball courts, knitting clubs, or Thursday night Judo For Jesus classes are going to present themselves as viable options for the ministry.
They may not all be YOUR cup of tea, and that’s FINE!
Your job is to ask three questions:
Is it sin? (If yes, then stop. If no, move to question two.)
Is it wise? (If no, then make your case, and consider stopping, if yes, then move to question three.)
Is it something I want to get involved with? (If no, Fine. if yes, Fine.)
“It is well with my soul” A-cappella