Brother for Whom Christ Died – (not the same as above)

Introduction: The Lord's Table and the Cross's Influence on Relationships

0:00 The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, December 5th, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:12 Now, before we turn to the Word of God, just a word of explanation for the sake of our visitors. We would normally, if this were any other Lord's Day evening, have a ministry in the Word that would generally occupy approximately an hour of our attention. I'm presently bringing a series preaching on some basic gospel text, entitling that series, Simple Signposts to the Celestial City. But when we gather on the first Lord's Day of the month to come to the Lord's table, the ministry of the Word is to be regarded as preparatory to our coming to the table, and therefore both in its subject matter and in its length is tailor-made. For this blessed occasion of obeying our Lord Jesus, who said, This do, as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, in remembrance of me. And in a very real sense, it is the Lord's table that gives us this monthly call to bring every facet of life under the scrutiny of the cross of Christ. It calls us.

1:32 It calls us in a very concentrated way to trace the various beams of light that go out from the cross, and to see how those beams of light touch all of our relationships and all of our activities. And in particular tonight, I want us to trace one of those beams of light that goes out from the cross, which touches the matter. It is the matter of how we treat one another as brethren. And I want to demonstrate from one particular passage of the Word of God and its parallel passage, that in the thinking of the Apostle Paul, it is the truth that we regard one another as the purchased property of Christ that will radically influence how we treat one another in the most mundane, and practical issues of life. And I felt that it was particularly suitable that we should take up this aspect of the light that radiates from the cross, given two realities. One, our present subject matter, Lord's Day mornings,

2:51 namely the subject of what constitutes the climate of true and distinct Christian coinonia, or fellowship, and also, also because tonight we'll have the joy of receiving three new members into the fellowship of the assembly, and it is good for us at the very outset of this new and intimate relationship with these who are to be received to think of them as the Word of God mandates that we think of them, that is, to think of them in the light of the cross of Christ. Now, if you will turn with me, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. This is the first passage, and then we will look briefly at a section of a parallel passage. In this particular chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 8, the Apostle Paul is dealing with the subject of meat that had been sacrificed unto idols, and the whole question of whether or not a Christian, could eat that meat when it was subsequently sold in a bargain meat shop outside of a pagan temple. And there was a differing perspective on this matter, and the Apostle addresses it head-on as he does so many other practical pastoral concerns

The Core Principle: Brother for Whom Christ Died (1 Corinthians 8)

4:21 in this first letter to the Corinthians. Now, concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have...

4:31 Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies or builds up. If any man thinks that he knows anything, he knoweth not yet as he ought to know. But if any man loves God, the same is known by him. Concerning, therefore, the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one.

5:05 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are gods many and lords many, yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him. How be it? There is not in all men that knowledge, but some, being accustomed until now to the idol, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food will not commend us to God, neither if we eat not are we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better. But take heed, lest by any...

6:01 He means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. For if a man see you who have knowledge sitting at meat in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he that is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake, Christ died. And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

6:46 Wherefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh forevermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble. And then just several verses from a parallel passage, in the book of Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 14.

Parallel Passage and Doctrinal Grounding (Romans 14)

7:11 Here, the concerns are broader than just meat offered to idols. It touches special days, special festive seasons, in the Jewish calendar, or perhaps even in their old pagan calendars. One man esteems one day above another, verse 5, but it also involves the matter, of eating and drinking, as we read in verse 20, over not, throw not for meat's sake the work of God. Verse 21, it is good not to eat flesh or drink wine, nor do anything whereby thy brother stumbles.

7:50 So you see, it is a parallel passage, and in the midst of that particular passage, notice what Paul says, with reference to this matter of the death of Christ. I read verses 30, 13 through 15. Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling. I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself, save to him who accounts anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

8:33 For if, because of meat, your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Destroy not with your meat him for whom Christ died.

8:51 Now you will notice in the two pivotal passages, the text just read in your hearing, and in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 11 and 12, the apostle is reasoning, with these Christians at Corinth and at Rome. And he is saying, as you wrestle through to personal convictions, and to a commitment to personal actions, in these matters where you have Christian liberty to partake of certain meats, or drinks, or to celebrate or not to celebrate certain days, one of the central considerations in making your decisions, and the main reason on these issues, must be the consciences of your brethren, but not the consciences of your brethren simply considered as brethren in some general way, but brethren particularly as those for whom Christ died. Notice how explicit he is in 1 Corinthians 8, 11. 1 Corinthians 8, 11. For through your knowledge he that is weak perishes the brother for whose sake Christ died.

10:16 And the similar emphasis in Romans when he says, for if because of your meat your brother is grieved, you no longer walk in love, destroy not with your meat him for whom Christ died. In other words, the Apostle Paul expected that the cross of Christ would condition the relationship of believers one to another in terms of personal practices that would be observed by one another, and in some cases imitated against the conscientious scruples of one another. So the great principle is that the cross of Christ is indeed within the fellowship and interaction of the people of God to condition our relationship to each other. We are to think of one another in terms of this reality, Christ died for that brother. Christ died for that sister.

11:34 He. That brother is Christ's purchased property. She, that sister, is the purchased property of the Lord Jesus. I must think of my brothers and sisters in terms of the reality that for their sakes the Lord Jesus underwent the agonies of Gethsemane.

12:00 For their sakes, he underwent the shame and the spit, and the mockery, and the beating, and the impalement upon this instrument of execution, the shame of nakedness, the taunting of those that passed by, the shrouded heavens, the horrible sense of forsakenness. For their sakes, he underwent vicarious curse-bearing. For their sakes, all the billows of God's wrath went over the Son of God. For their sakes, Christ died.

Application 1: Christian Liberty and Causing Others to Stumble

12:46 And I am to look upon them, and I am to relate to them in every facet of that relationship in the light of that reality. And I want to underscore how that comes to expression in three very specific, practical ways in the twenty, twenty-five minutes that yet remain to me. First of all, when I consciously regard my brethren as those for whom Christ died, I will not knowingly be the occasion of leading them to sin by a careless, selfish indulgence of my own Christian liberty. Secondly, when I consciously regard my brethren as those for whom Christ died, I will not knowingly or carelessly be the occasion of leading them into sin by the indulgence of my own Christian liberty." Now, that's the explicit teaching of these two passages. The subject, in Romans 14 and in 1 Corinthians 8 is the subject of Christian liberty.

14:13 And Paul asserts that every believer has a blood-bought liberty in Jesus Christ. All things are His in Christ, and if they are not forbidden by the law of God, I am permitted to indulge in them. He says that the piece of meat that has been offered to an idol in an idol temple and then is subsequently sold is a piece of meat before it was offered to the idol, and since the idol is nothing, it is a piece of meat still, and therefore if I see it in its stark reality, I can eat it with a good conscience giving thanks unto God for His good gifts of this bargain meat. However, Paul says, that knowledge is not present, there is someone who has just emerged out of the thick cocoon of a lifetime of involvement in pagan idol worship. And for so many years, that meat was associated with the idols, and in his case, as Paul says in another setting, behind those idols, there is demonic influence. And he knows now that he's a Christian, that behind this idol worship, is the power of the Prince of Darkness, and therefore he cannot view that piece of meat

15:41 as simply a piece of meat that was offered to a nothing, and now is sold in a bargain meat shop outside an idol temple. In his mind, that meat is forever stained by its association with idolatry. And if he beholds this mature brother with joy, giving thanks to God for that meat, and he is thereby emboldened to eat it, even though his own conscience says to him, John, did you partake of that meat? You are still partaking in idol worship.

16:18 But then another voice within him says, yes, John, but look at your brother George. He's a mature Christian. He's able to give God thanks. Therefore, the way to maturity is for you to give God thanks, and eat it anyway, in spite of your reservations of conscience, and the teaching of the Scripture is that when a man violates his conscience, even though his conscience may be weak and limited in its instruction, he is sinning.

16:46 He is choosing a course which to him is not a course of righteousness, and in so doing, Paul says, you cause that brother to stumble. Now his question to the stronger brother is this, will you not forego the few moments of pleasure of the taste of that meat in your mouth when Jesus Christ underwent the hours of shame, the bitter agonies of Gethsemane, the terrors of vicarious damnation upon the cross for that very brother? He died. Will you not give up your meat for his sake? If Christ gave up his life, how then can you stubbornly or selfishly stand upon your liberty to indulge your carnal appetites at the expense of your brother's spiritual well-being, the brother for whom Christ died? He did not decline from all of the agonies of the cross to win that man. Will you not be willing

18:16 to deny yourself a few moments' pleasure with a piece of meat on your plate, a few moments' pleasure with a certain beverage in your glass, the liberty of observing a certain day? Will you not be willing to forego those liberties for the spiritual well-being of one for whom Christ died? And so the apostle's argument in these two passages is that I must view all of my brethren and all of my interactions with them as those for whom the Savior has shed his own precious blood and if he died on their behalf, then surely I will be willing to forego my lawful liberties for their spiritual well-being. What is that compared to the bloodletting of the incarnate God? How can I claim to be saved by the bloodletting of the incarnate God? How can I claim to be bound in faith and love to the Lord Jesus and to the Lord Jesus?

19:40 And be unwilling to forego a meat or a drink or a day for the sake of another for whom he died? You say it's unthinkable. Yes, it is unthinkable. The apostle, by using this argument, is seeking to use the most powerful argument the same way he used it in a personal sense in 1 Corinthians 6 when he's giving incentives to the believers to flee fornication.

20:12 He gives as his crowning incentive what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which you have of God and you are not your own. You were bought with a price. You see, he there in that context says I must look myself in the mirror and say Albert and Martin you are purchased property from the top of your head to the sole of your foot and every man member of your body in between. You have no liberty to use those members as you choose.

20:49 They are the purchased property of another and in so doing no man will ever fornicate. Thus regarding his body as the purchased property of Christ to be used only at the will of his master. Now he says, look out of the mirror and look at your breath and when you look upon them view them for what they are. View them as the will of God.

21:13 The brother, the sister, the brethren for whom Christ died and if he purchased them at so dear a price to jeopardize their spiritual well-being at so cheap a price as a few moments pleasure in your taste buds, in your belly, in your eyes or in any other way. When dear people we consciously regard one another as those for whom Christ died we will not knowingly be the occasion of leading our brethren to sin by the careless use or indulgence of our Christian liberty. But then secondly when we consciously regard our brethren as those for whom Christ died we will not carelessly or unwillingly maliciously harm them by our speech or our actions in general. In other words, Paul applied the principle to the specific issue of Christian liberty, but the principle is broader than

Application 2: Speech and Actions in General

22:34 that one issue. If I regard my brethren as those for whom Christ died, I will not carelessly or maliciously harm them by my speech or actions in general. If I look upon my brother or sister as bought by the blood of Christ, will I shred the character with a slandering tongue when I know that that person has been bought by the blood of Christ? That I am shredding with my slanderous tongue.

23:15 The purchased property of Christ, I say again, it's unthinkable. Will I churn out gossip concerning those for whom Christ agonized in Gethsemane, for whom he travailed upon the cross, for whom he underwent the baptism of his father's wrath and anger and unleashed fury? Will I tear down with my tongue one whom he purchased with his own precious blood? You say, well, that's unthinkable.

23:56 Then that's why we must constantly think of each other in terms of this reality. My brother is the brother for whom Christ died. My sister is the sister for whom Christ died. And according to the Corinthians passage, when you sin against them, you sin against them. When you sin against them, you sin against Christ himself. So vital is the union between Christ and his people. You slander one of his people and you slander Christ. You tear down with your tongue one of his people. You tear down Christ. That's what the text says. Look at it. Verse 12, thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience, destroying their conscience, their reputation with slander, grieving their hearts by gossip, you sin against Christ, Christ himself. This is serious business, folk. It's one thing to have professed great personal rapturous delights in the contemplation of Christ crucified in a vertical way, and say we taste thee, O thou living bread, and longed. We feast upon thee still. We drink of thee the fountain, heaven long, and thirst our

25:25 souls from thee to fill. My Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine. For thee all the follies of sin I resign. My precious Redeemer thou art. Wait a minute. You can't sing that and make it stick with Christ. If with the same tongue you slice up his people, when

25:51 you sin against your brethren by slander and gossip, you sin against Christ himself. And likewise, not only with slander or gossip, speech, but our actions in general. Do you see how radical an influence this will have upon us if we view one another as the brother, the sister for whom Christ died? Think of the scandal.

26:22 In recent years, with preachers violating women left, right, and center, how could any man, especially one who is supposedly a herald of a crucified Christ, lay his hands on the purchased property of Christ in an illicit sexual relationship?

26:43 Shall I fornicate with the sister for whom Christ died? Unthinkable? Yes. So the devil tries to get us to the bottom of this.

26:57 If you're in a interior differences you will think of one another in another light. For you will not even allow a millisecond of conscious, lost full desire to a sister for whom Christ died. If you're in a healthy state, so let alone violate the sanctity of the sexual relationship. Would I do embodieden hilliardides you'd find that you just to the spine a conect lähár thelly karrardide prophet s store of kilometers of war may manage to create a hubris motion Christ died?

27:29 Would I be? Would man that? dishonest even to a penny with a brother for whom Christ died. You see, it will not only affect our speech with respect to one another, but all of our actions and interactions will be influenced when we consciously regard our brethren as those for whom Christ died. We will not cause them to stumble by the careless indulgence of our liberty. We will not cause them harm by carelessly or maliciously speaking evil of them or doing evil to them. But thirdly and finally, when I consciously regard my brethren as those for whom Christ died, I will not be indifferent in responding to their manifold needs. When I consciously regard my brethren as those for whom Christ died, I will not be indifferent

Application 3: Responding to Manifold Needs

28:40 in responding to their manifold needs. How does He regard them? He regards them as such that He gave Himself for them. He intercedes on their behalf. He nourishes and cherishes them, and He will make theirovm job better. When He has an Ideal olla for them, He will return them lightly, we will not have to answer that question, even though it is rather finding them out. It is not a rigid thing to be ordered to act, therefore it must be completely transparent. When I consciously regard my brethren as those for whom Christ died, I will not be reasonable with their mental needs or physical needs. I am stillly willing to become parakaners when

29:26 Christ died as well. If I coexist in the given的人el, then I will only be able to find mark my brethren. And if the truth is a hindrance to the truth, then I will smoke from the judgment of my brethren. He is less worthy of life and more worthy to be a beenter of the world.

29:31 Nothing can who knows the expected justice of this place. He that sees his brother in need and shuts up the bowels of his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? We may well ask the question, he that sees his brother in need, and there is the wherewithal to meet at least some of that need, and there is no response to meet it. How can we be said to regard him as the brother for whom Christ died? Christ spent his blood to purchase him. Will I not part with a few bucks to help him in his need?

30:10 Sometimes the need is not monetary. It's the need for a sympathetic ear. It's the need for a willing hand to undertake in a practical project. Sometimes it's the need of time to enter.

30:24 To enter in, to deep and complex burdens. You see, some of you, again, wonder at times, why as elders we don't bail out sooner with long-term, chronically sick sheep. I've had people over the years say, why in the world do you put up with that stuff? Well, I'll tell you why. The Bible says to elders, take heed to the flock of God which he purchased with his own blood.

30:55 And until they either declare themselves by mouth and life not to be part of that flock bought by the blood of Christ, we cannot let them go. And he says to us, watch over them and seek to take them to heaven safely with you, as much like my son as is possible. And so you hang in there, and you're disappointed, and you're grieving. And you're relieved, and you're pained. And you feel with the prophet who exclaimed, I've spent my strength for naught.

31:37 But then you come back again, and you seek to follow up and follow through and wrestle with their need and their problem. And you don't give them up. Why? Because you look upon them for what they are, Christ's purchased property.

31:54 And what is spending a few extra hours at the end of a wearisome day? Why to help them? What are a few ounces or pounds of emotional energy compared to what Christ paid to make them his?

32:15 You see, in our relationships to one another, when we regard each other as those for whom Christ died, we will not be indifferent in responding to the manifold needs of one another. But as we view one another in the light of what we are, Christ's purchased property, then we cannot help but respond in an appropriate manner.

Conclusion: The Tattoo of Christ's Purchase and Final Exhortations

32:46 I was mentioning to my wife on the way in the illustration with which I was going to close, and she saw through it right away. I had seen through it, but she saw through it, and so we both saw through it, but I'm still going to use it.

33:02 You know, there is a way. There is a...

33:05 There is a sense in which I wish, when a person became a true Christian, that part of the requirements of admission into the visible church of Christ as part of the community of the purchased people of God would be to have a red cross tattooed on the forehead so that every time we looked at one another, we'd say, he's the purchased property of the Lord Jesus. She's the purchased property of the Lord Jesus. He is the purchased property of the Lord Jesus. How I relate to him reflects on how I regard my Lord.

33:50 Then you see the thought of foregoing a hunk of meat or a glass of wine or a festive day for one who's been tattooed by infinite eternal love and the horrors of Golgotha. Golgotha. Surely. Surely.

34:09 We've counted a privilege, as Paul said. I'll eat no meat while the world stands. That is, no meat that's been offered to an idol. I'll forego that liberty for the rest of my life.

34:22 What is that little thing? If in so doing, I can help to heaven and strengthen a brother for whom Christ died. Then when your mouth begins to speak slanderous, gossipy words, and you say, Wait a minute. That sister is tattooed in her forehead.

34:45 How can I speak of one so marked out by God? Loved in eternity in the councils of electing greats, purchased in time by the blood of the Lamb. Shall I say that of the sister for whom Christ died? In the language of Paul, God forbid.

35:06 Dear people, do you see how the cross, extends its influence into these most practical areas? The use of our liberty. How we speak and act to one another. How we respond to one another in the face of observed need.

35:31 And my plea tonight to you as God's people is, that as we come to this table, as the bread is passed, that we will consciously say, Oh Lord, I'm breaking bread together. Amen. Together with those for whom you died. And as I break bread with my brothers and sisters, Oh God, imprint upon my heart the reality that they are the brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.

36:05 And in a new way, Lord, give me grace that nothing that I do with respect to my liberty, my tongue, my hands, my response to observed need, would ever undermine the confession that I do believe they are brethren and sisters for whom Christ died. What better place to seal afresh our commitment so to relate one to another in the forbearance of Christ, in the self-denying grace of Christ, in the tender compassion of Christ, than at this table where we take the very emblems of that act by which he did die to purchase his people. And for you who are not Christians, I hope in the language of Paul where he said, I want to provoke my fellow countrymen, my Jews, to jealousy as I tell them what God has done in sending mercy to the Gentiles. I want to provoke them to spiritual jealousy, that they may seek that mercy that at one time they spurned. And I would provoke you to jealousy.

37:24 Don't you think it's a wonderful thing to be part of a community of people who treat one another with the highest dignity with which any human being can be treated? The dignity that rests upon a man bought by the blood of Christ. Wouldn't you like to be a part of such a community? You can be.

37:53 The only way we came into it was the way of the cross, the way of owning the reality of our sin and our need of that which Christ did when he lived the perfect life we should have lived and did not, died the horrible death of the cross, that we dare not die. And my sinner friend, young or old, by coming to Christ in the nakedness of your sin, in the state of that Joshua, Joshua the high priest, owning the reality of your native guilt and filthiness and crying to God that for the sake of Christ he would be merciful, you too can be part of such a community where you will be regarded as Christ's purchased property. See what this does, young people, to the great traumatic issues before you of dating, courtship, marriage, what a wonderful thing to be part of a community where young men regard young women as Christ's purchased property, not a thing to be used and thrown away when it's spoiled. And if any young man is here playing games to get your hands on a pure Christian girl, I pray God will expose your hypocrisy. If any woman, young woman is playing games,

39:21 we've had it in the past, people make professions and come into the church to get a man or a woman, and when they didn't get what they wanted in a year or two, they were gone. And this day they're married to non-Christian. Don't you play games. If God's people take at face value your testimony, God will expose your hypocrisy.

39:46 But dear young people, wouldn't you want that security of knowing that the older men in the church are not out to exploit you, not out to use you, that their affection to you is that of fathers to daughters, and the younger men of brothers to sisters with all purity. In a world that has become paranoid with its constant emphasis upon child abuse and every other kind of abuse, what a haven is a place where people regard one another as the purchased property of Christ. And you men, who have Christian wives, how can you speak in a denigrating, disrespectful way to Christ's property? She's Christ's property first, and only yours secondly as a wife. And you wives, that husband of yours is Christ's property. See the implications of this.

40:45 I've only suggested three areas. May God seal them to our hearts even as we come to his table and fellowship with him and with one another. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the richness of your holy word.

41:09 We thank you for the broad spectrum of light that breaks forth from the cross of Christ, and that those beams of light touch every facet of life. We pray that our meditation tonight will be fruitful unto new dimensions of tender, careful regard of one another, that we may not violate one another's consciences, that we may not in any way destroy one another's character by gossip, violate one another's sanctity of goods, that we may not be insensitive to one another's needs. Oh, help us, Lord, help us, that we may view one another as in reality we are, those for whom Christ died. Continue with us as we come to the table. Make our coming to the table especially sweet as we meditate upon these realities. In Jesus' name, amen.