Directives to the Stronger Brother, Part 1

Driving home: A Christian acting worthy of the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free, believes no doctrine, but what he is persuaded Christ has taught, observes no ordinance, but what he believes Christ has appointed, performs no…

Martin quotes John Brown's definition of Christian liberty, emphasizing that a Christian believes only what Christ taught, observes only what Christ appointed, and performs only what Christ commanded, rejecting human authority over faith.

But he who most intelligently acknowledges the supremacy of Christ's lordship over his conscience will most vehemently reject the intrusion of any other authority into the sphere of that lordship. Perhaps the best way to summarize all that we tried to assert in that study is to quote from John Brown, who in his classic treatment of this subject, in, 1 Peter, he has almost 70 pages on the verse in Peter as free, yet not using your freedom as a cloak of maliciousness. I quote now John Brown, a Christian acting worthy of the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free, believes no doctrine, but wh...

2:38 - 4:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Christian liberty is an internal thing, Christian liberty is an internal thing, it belongs to the mind and conscience and has direct reference to God. The use of Christian liberty is an external thing. It belongs to cond…

Martin quotes John Brown again to summarize the distinction between Christian liberty as an internal matter of conscience and its external use in conduct, which has reference to man.

And that's the great implication of these four pillars of our liberty in Jesus Christ. Well, having laid that theological basis, that biblical overview of the subject rooted in history, I began, I began last week in attempting to lay before you what we are calling the practical guidelines which relate to the exercise of our liberty. And when we come to this area, we must constantly keep before us that major principle of distinction which I sought to articulate last week and I shall summarize the teaching of some 15 or 20 minutes in about 32 seconds by reading, again from John Brown, Christian ...

4:51 - 6:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Come to an understanding of those guidelines which govern the exercise of your liberty.

Martin paraphrases Calvin's observation that some believers feel compelled to exercise their liberty to the full in every circumstance, which Calvin deemed a violation of biblical principles.

And in rereading the very perceptive section on the subject, the subject of Christian liberty in Calvin's Institutes this week, I was reminded of how often, apparently, the people of God have failed to make this distinction for Calvin said, and I'm paraphrasing, he said there are some fellows who feel the only way they can prove to themselves and others that they understand their liberty is to exercise it to the full in every circumstance. And he went on to say that this is a violation of clear principles of the Word of God and so having come, I trust, to a new, for some of you perhaps, an ini...

6:03 - 7:06 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the fourth guideline: the self-denying claims of the weaker brother, outlining the structure for the study: identity, responsibilities towards, and…

Martin uses the analogy of a violinist's cadenza (a solo improvisation) to describe the temptation to preach extemporaneously, but he restrains himself due to the delicate nature of the topic.

And I don't trust myself to the heat of the moment, and I have fuller notes than I normally take, and I'm sticking to them in the interest of edification. It's not that I'm afraid of your faces. It's not that I would not delight to just take off and have what I'd call a preaching, what do you call it when the violinist can take off on his own? I forgot the word now.

11:25 - 11:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine where you really are spiritually as you face the clear directives of the Word of God concerning responsibility toward weaker brethren.

Martin asks mothers why they spend so much time caring for infants, drawing a parallel to the strong bending to the weak, emphasizing that the weak need care and that self-sacrificing love is a mark of maturity.

Well, maybe I ought to ask you mothers,

42:17 - 42:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive the weaker brother in the bonds of unfeigned and unreserved love, as Christ received you.

Martin uses the parable of the prodigal son to illustrate how Christ receives believers—with unfettered, unreserved embrace, even in their sin and vileness—as the standard for how the strong should receive the weak.

And say now when you straighten up here, there, and that and the other place, then two fingers? No, no. He received us as the Father received the prodigal. While he was yet a great way off, the Father ran to him.

44:25 - 44:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Having received the weaker brother, do not despise him or set him at naught, but maintain no distinction in esteem, affection, and mutual trust.

Martin alludes to Luke 18, where the Pharisees 'set all others at naught,' to illustrate the wrong attitude of despising the weaker brother.

To treat with scorn or contempt. It's the word used in Luke 18. Of the Pharisees, who set themselves apart as righteous and set all others at naught. That is, despised all others.

47:28 - 47:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You cannot enlighten conscience by imposing an activity and hoping that the activity will filter back into the conscience. Conscience must lead into the activity with peace.

Martin uses the analogy of a parent loading a room with gifts for a child, but the child only taking one out of fear, to illustrate God's grief when believers do not enjoy all His gifts due to weak conscience.

He hasn't become a liberty using his liberty for a cloak of license. He's begun to enjoy God's world. And the father smiles when he sees the child smile. How would you feel if as a parent you loaded a room with a hundred different gifts, every one of them suited for the good of your child and your child came in and after looking them all over reached out with trembling hand and only took one of them.

54:39 - 55:01 Read in full sermon