Directives to the Stronger Brother, Part 1

Introduction to Christian Liberty and its Pillars

0:04 We come this evening to the fifth in a series of studies on one of the most delicate and yet most vital aspects of practical Christian experience, namely, the doctrine commonly called in the history of Christian thought and discussion, Christian liberty or liberty of conscience with respect to the Christian and his relationship to God and the world of things. In the first three of these studies, I attempted to accomplish several very vital things with reference to this broad subject. First of all, I attempted to give something of the background out of which this issue was forced upon the thinking and practice of the Church. We looked at the apostolic history as recorded in the Scriptures and something of Reformation history, both of which clearly indicate that the doctrine of Christian liberty or liberty of conscience was not an academic issue. It was an issue forced upon the thinking and upon the practice of the people of God because of some very vital issues that were raised in the history of the Church. And then secondly, I attempted to give a broad biblical and theological overview of this doctrine

1:25 using the four paragraphs of the Westminster Confession as a guideline, a framework within which to consider the broad biblical, and theological perspectives. And then thirdly, I attempted to give a more definitive description of what I call the four pillars upon which our Christian liberty rests. The matter of the sonship of believers, the servitude of believers, the sovereignty of God over the conscience, and finally, the supremacy and sufficiency of the Scriptures. And having demonstrated that these four realities constitute the pillars, of our liberty in Christ, we then brought into sharp focus the main implication of this great truth, namely, that the conscience of a believer is bound by no other authority than that of the Word of God, particularly in areas of doctrine, of worship, and of practice. The Christian owns Christ as his Lord. As we've sung tonight, we would not remove one bar. From the yoke of Christ.

2:38 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 what he is persuaded Christ has taught, observes no ordinance, but what he believes Christ has appointed, performs nothing as duty, but what he is convinced, Christ has commanded. He gratefully acknowledges as helpers of his faith all who will assist him in obtaining wider, clearer, and more impressive views of the mind and will of the supreme teacher and sovereign. Such he counts his greatest benefactors, but lords of his faith he will not recognize even in the wisest and the best of men. End of quote.

4:03 So this is not an individualism, independence that acts as though the son of truth rises and sets upon our head and our head alone. No, no. Anyone who can help the enlightened believer discover the mind of his Lord is his friend. Be it Luther, be it Calvin, be it Wesley, be it even Charles Finney, who in some areas had some perception.

4:28 Many areas we'd say he had little, but there are areas where he had some. But we will call no man master and Lord of our hearts, our conscience. And we do not believe things because Luther said them or because Calvin said them. We believe them because we are convinced Christ and his inspired apostles and prophets have taught them and we believe them on that account and on that account alone.

4:51 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 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 conduct and has reference to man. No consideration should prevail on us for a moment to give up our liberty, but many a consideration should induce us to forego the practical assertion or display of our liberty.

Distinction Between Liberty and its Exercise, and Prior Guidelines

6:03 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 initial appreciation of the extent of your liberty in Christ, you must at the same time come to an understanding of those guidelines which govern the exercise of that liberty. And last week I suggested three of those guidelines. I shall only mention them and then our attention will be directed to the fourth in our study tonight. The first guideline is what I call the prior claims of personal holiness.

7:06 Things innocent in themselves but which impede our Christian progress are to be rejected. We are to abstain voluntarily from any practice, any association which impedes our progress in holiness. No matter how innocent the thing may be in itself, one of God's gifts given to us freely to enjoy, if the price for its enjoyment is unnecessary, unnecessary temptation, unnecessary stumbling and occasions of sin, then these things come into the realm of what is described in Hebrews 12, 1 as those weights which must be laid aside along with the sin that doth so easily beset us if we are to run with patience the race that is set before us. Then the second principle is what I called the powerful claims of the advance of the gospel. And first, 1 Corinthians chapter 9 is an extended commentary upon this principle where Paul asserts his rights. I have a right to have a wife.

8:14 I have a right to live in the gospel. I have a right to eat all kinds of foods and drink all kinds of beverages and enter into all kinds of associations with Jews and Gentiles legitimate in themselves. But he says, I do not use these rights to the end that the gospel may be advanced. And so our liberty is never to be exercised.

8:36 At the expense of the progress of the gospel, our liberty in its exercise, not in its essence, and keep those two separate. The apostle says, I have these rights and he would allow no one to rob him of asserting his rights as a son of God, as a servant of Christ, bound only to the lordship of God over his conscience, expressed in his revealed will. But he says, I will not use these rights to the end that the gospel may be furthered and then finally, the third practical guideline is what I have called the practical demands of edification. Galatians 5.13 We are not to use our liberty as an occasion to serve the flesh, but by love to be servants one of another. We are to do all things unto edification. Let every man seek not his own good, but his brother's good, even his building up. All right.

Introducing the Claims of the Weaker Brother

9:35 So much for the broad review covering in about six or seven minutes, four hours of study together. Now we come to the fourth practical guideline relating to the exercise of our liberty in Christ. And it will take us at least two sessions to cover this in any degree of comprehensiveness. It's what I'm calling the claims of the weaker brother.

9:58 Add to the prior personal holiness the powerful claims of the advance of the gospel, the practical demands of edification, guideline number four, the claims, and if we're to put any words in front of it, it would be the self-denying claims of the weaker brother. Or we might call them the flesh-withering claims of the weaker brother. And as we attempt to think our way through this subject, we shall do so by considering, first of all, the identity of the weaker brother. Who is this character?

10:37 It is the identity of the weaker brother. Who is he? How can I know when I see him? Whether looking in the mirror or looking across the pew, how can I know when I'm in the presence of a weaker brother?

10:48 Secondly, the responsibilities towards the weaker brother. And then thirdly, the responsibilities of the weaker brother. And I believe under those three headings we'll be able to touch on every major line of thought in Paul's treatment of this subject in Romans 14, Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 8, and 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And I'm going to stick very closely to my notes tonight because we are in an area that is delicate, that demands unusual precision in expression, and therefore in comprehension.

11:25 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.

11:48 He has a period in the section in the piece where he can just take off and do his own thing. Well, those are wonderful things in preaching. I think you call it a cadenza, don't you? Isn't that the proper terminology for it?

12:00 Yes, some are shaking their heads, so I must have the right musical terminology. Well, those are great delights in preaching. Well, but I will not indulge myself in that liberty this evening because, seriously, this is a profoundly delicate and vital issue, and we must ask God for the help of His Spirit in seeking to understand what He has revealed. Let us pray together to that end.

12:22 O Lord, we are conscious as we come to this subject tonight that many have erred on the left hand and on the right by a failure to take the whole counsel of God on this issue. And, O Lord, we ask that Your servant may be unusually helped in presenting an accurate and balanced statement of this issue, and that Your people may be helped in understanding and in receiving that which is revealed. Help us then, Lord, as together we cry to You in our need. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Identifying the Weaker Brother: Why He is Called Weak

13:04 First of all, then, the identity of the weaker brother. And I think we can best identify him by asking three questions and then looking to the Scriptures for the answers. First of all, why is he called the weaker brother? Secondly, where will you find the weaker brother?

13:25 And thirdly, what is the fundamental problem of the weaker brother? All right, question number one, why is he called the weaker brother? Because certainly the language of Scripture warrants the use of such a term. Turn, please, to Romans, chapter 14, where we find these words at the beginning of the chapter, But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of scruples.

13:54 Verse 2, One man hath faith to eat all things, but he that is weak eateth herbs. And I understand now it is more and more proper to pronounce the H and to say herbs. It still sounds funny on my antiquarian tongue, but it is more appropriate to pronounce the H on my antiquarian ear, so I will continue to say herbs with a silent H. And now, chapter 15, in verse 1, We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.

14:28 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 9, But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. And so, when we use the term the weaker brother, we are not imposing a term of derision upon a brother, we are simply extracting this concept from the scriptures. Now, why is he called the weaker brother? Well, the answer of these passages is threefold.

14:59 Because he is weak in faith, secondly, he is weak in understanding or knowledge, and he is weak in conscience. First of all, then, he is weak in his faith. Romans 14 and verses 1 and 2. But him that is weak in faith, that is, weak in the realm of faith, or with reference to his faith, receive ye, verse 2, but he that is weak, that is, weak in the realm of faith, eateth herbs.

15:35 Now, in what sense is the weaker brother described as weak in faith? Notice this. God has declared in his word, such as we find in Romans 14, 14 that nothing is unclean of itself, that is, with reference to anything that is not condemned by the law of God, the Apostle Paul says in language that cannot be misunderstood, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean as reference particularly to the eating of certain meats. In this context, Romans 14, the weak man manifests his weakness in the area of being unable to eat flesh. He is a vegetarian. He that is weak eateth herbs. He's a vegetarian.

16:32 And he's called weak. Mind you, that's not a sign of strength. It's a sign of weakness, according to the Word of God. Because he eats herbs and abstains from meat as a matter not of preference for dietary reasons.

16:50 That's his liberty. But because of conscience, he cannot look upon meat as a gift from God to be received with thanksgiving and sanctified by the Word of God in prayer, as we find in 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now then, Paul says the reason he has this problem is he doesn't have strength of faith to grasp that concept that all of the gifts of God are good. And they are to be received with thanksgiving.

17:18 His faith cannot rise to a joyous grasp upon that concept. Therefore, he's a weaker brother in the area of his faith. Possibly because of past associations in his unregenerate days, or because of poor teaching since he has become a believer, one for all, he cannot do. He cannot believe that all things are clean in themselves and live accordingly.

17:47 He can't bring himself to do it without condemning his conscience. He is weak in faith. All right? Secondly, he's called the weaker brother not only because he's weak in faith, but because he is weak in his understanding or his knowledge.

18:01 Turn, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

18:05 Now the subject before us, though it's the same general field of concern, the specific application is different. In Romans 14, it's vegetarian as opposed to a full diet meat and vegetables. 1 Corinthians 8, the specific subject is things sacrificed to idols. In other words, food that was given up to a sacrifice as a sacrifice in a heathen temple, then after the worshiper went home and there was more meat than the heathen priest could eat, some of this was sold in a bargain meat counter outside the heathen temple.

18:41 And Christians trying to be frugal with their money tracked down bargains and many of them would purchase this meat and eat it. But some people, when they saw another believer doing this, they just became unhinged. They had such an association in their minds between that meat that a few hours before had been offered up upon a heathen altar and the worship of a heathen deity that they thought to eat that meat was to partake of the heathen worship out of which the Lord had delivered them. Now, the issue at hand in this passage is not eating that meat in the temple part of the heathen worship.

19:19 Paul deals with that in chapter 10 and shows the incongruity of this. But here, it's eating the meat divorced from the act of worship but the meat that was at one time a part of that heathen worship. Now, notice what Paul says. We know that we all have knowledge.

19:35 Knowledge poppeth up, but love edifieth. If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth it. He knoweth not yet as he ought to know, but if any man loveth God, the same is known by him. Concerning, therefore, the eating of things, sacrifice to idols.

19:49 That's the issue at hand. Now, notice what he says. We know, we who have enlightened consciences know that no idol is anything in the world and that there is no God but one. In other words, an idol is a non-entity.

20:05 You may give a name to something that you set up in a heathen temple. You can call that God Zubel. You can call it Jupiter. You can call it Mungibungo.

20:14 You can give it any name you want. But Paul says, giving it a name and giving it some substance in the way of an idol doesn't make it become something. You don't go out and create gods at your whim. He says, we know and are persuaded there is but one true and living God.

20:31 Verse 5. 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. In other words, Paul says, we're absolutely convinced that when a piece of meat has gone from the living state on the back of the steer to the dead state on a heathen temple, out to the cut-up condition in the shambles in the meat market, nothing material has happened to that meat as a gift from God. Because it's only been offered to something that doesn't exist in the first place.

21:09 So if it's been offered to something that doesn't exist, it doesn't affect what's been offered. That's his reason. He says, now we know this. We're persuaded of it.

21:16 Our knowledge of God and the world of spiritual reality is such that we're absolutely convinced of this. But, he says, verse 7, how be it, there is not in all men that knowledge, but some being used or accustomed until now to the idol, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. You see what he's saying? He's saying, men and sons do not have this knowledge.

21:43 They are weak in their knowledge. They do not know that that meat has no more association with a substantial reality than it does with another planet. There is no such thing as another God. Therefore, when it's been offered to another God, nothing has happened to it.

22:00 But he said, this poor man in his conscience doesn't realize that. And because in the past that meat was associated with the idol, which in his mind had substantial reality, and now he's been brought to worship the only true and living God, he just cannot go near such meat. Because he cannot disassociate meat from idol. So his problem is, according to verse 7, a weakness of knowledge.

22:28 He is not thinking according to reality. And therefore, he's a weaker brother. And then thirdly, he is weak in his conscience.

22:40 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 12. Assuming now Paul says that a man who has this knowledge goes again and buys his piece of bargain meat, and on his way home he stops by his brother who's weak in knowledge and says, Hey, Henry, look what I got for 22 cents a pound. We're going to eat high on the hog tonight. And he brags about it.

23:00 And this poor fellow's pained with that. He says, Well, look, he's been a Christian for three years and he can do...

23:05 Boy, maybe I ought to go ahead and get a bargain. So against his own conscience, simply following the example of his brother, he buys, buys that meat and eats it while his conscience is screaming at him all the while. Verse 12. And thus, sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.

23:29 Wherefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh forevermore that I cause not my brother to stumble. Now, the only point we want to make right now is the point based upon the phrase wounding their conscience when it is weak. Now, it does not mean the conscience of the weaker brother is inactive. No, no.

23:49 In the weaker brother, the conscience is hyperactive. Conscience is screaming and hollering about things that it ought to be silent about. You see, the conscience of the weaker brother is not slumbering. When it says it's weak, it doesn't mean its volume or its activity is weak.

24:03 It means that the standard to which it looks being inaccurate, the conscience is not functioning in the strength of enlightened maturity. The conscience is not functioning in the strength of enlightened maturity. Now then, he's called weaker brother then because he's weak in faith, weak in understanding, weak in conscience. Now, I want to state two things by way of qualification before we move on to consider where is he found.

Qualifications: Not Second-Class, Strong in Context Only

24:37 This does not infer that the weaker brother is a second-class citizen. You will notice in Romans 14, Paul is very, very careful to guard against casting any aspersions upon the reality of this weaker brother's relationship to Christ or upon the depth of his practical devotion to Christ. The reality of his relationship to Christ is asserted again and again when Paul affords or accords to him the lovely name brother. Romans 14 and verse 10, But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother?

25:18 Or thou again, why dost thou set it not or despise? That's the peculiar temptation of the strong to the weak. Why dost thou despise thy brother? Who is this weaker brother?

25:33 He is a weaker brother. He has full status in the family of God. The reality of his relationship to Christ is unquestionable. Unquestionable and ought to be unquestioned by the people of God.

25:48 Verse 13, Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge ye this rather that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way. Verse 15, For if because of meat thy brother is grieved. And then 1 Corinthians 8 in verse 8, he's again called with this term of filial endearment. He's a brother in the Lord.

26:12 Now it's important that we never say weaker brother.

26:18 He is weaker.

26:21 Ain't a difference? Now be careful. The Apostle Paul never cast dispersions upon the reality of his relationship to Christ on the one hand or upon the depth of his practical piety on the other. And he underscores this in verses 5 through 8 of Romans 14.

26:39 One man esteemeth one day above another. Here's another area of concern. The keeping of specialties or special feast days or fast days within the ceremonial framework. Another esteemeth every day alike.

26:52 Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regards the day, here's the weaker brother, who's still keeping certain days that have their rootage in the old ceremonial system. What does he say about it? He says he regards it unto the Lord.

27:10 In other words, his scruples about keeping certain days are deeply rooted in the old system. He's genuinely religious and genuinely pious.

27:21 Paul says this devotion to Christ is genuine. Even when he's carrying out the scruples of his weak conscience, he's doing it as unto the Lord. Furthermore, he says, and he that eateth, eateth to the Lord,

27:39 for he giveth God thanks. He that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks. None of us, weak or strong, lives to himself. None dies to himself.

27:49 Whether we live weak or strong, we live to the Lord. Whether we die, we die to the Lord. Weak or strong, whether we live, therefore die, we are the Lord's. You see what he does?

28:00 He says in the area of being the purchased possession of Christ and the outworking of that realization being a present burning longing to please him, the weak brother is not one step behind the strong brother. And it's essential for us to grasp that principle.

28:19 All right then. On the one hand, this qualification, he is no second class citizen. And on the other, the strong brother in this context is not strong in any other sense than that which fits the context. He's strong in his faith in the area that he can believe that all of God's gifts are good and receive them with thanksgiving.

28:46 He's strong in his knowledge in that he realizes an idol is nothing. He is strong in his conscience in the aspect that his conscience is not condemning him about things for which he should not feel condemned. It does not mean he's strong in all the other graces of the Christian life. It does not mean he has extra strength so that he can flirt with temptation in a way that would be wrong for the weaker brother.

29:15 And many a person has ruined himself by saying, oh, I'm the strong person according to this passage. My conscience doesn't trouble him about things it ought not. And therefore, that person has become cocky and assuming that he stood in every other area because he was strong in this area, it wasn't long before pride went before his fall. It's in a Christian liberty context that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

29:47 And I feel those two qualifications need desperately to be made as we identify the weaker brother. Do you see who he is now?

Where the Weaker Brother is Found and His Fundamental Problem

29:55 Do you see him in the mirror? Some of you see him in the mirror. You see her in the mirror every day. Some of you see her by your side or him by your side.

30:04 I see some of you sitting out there in that assembly. Now, the second question we have to ask in identifying the weaker brother is where is he found? Well, the whole drift of Romans 14 and 15 and 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 indicates that he is found side by side in the same assembly with the strong. The strong believer.

30:29 In other words, all of these exhortations to the weak and to the strong and their mutual responsibilities are given to us on the assumption that the weak and the strong are deeply and pervasively integrated into common life in common assemblies of God.

30:54 The strong did not cast off the weak as unworthy of their fellowship and the weak did not split themselves off and draw up their own covenant of membership requiring that nobody could become part of their church unless they followed the dictates of their weak conscience.

31:19 And that is one of the curses of the evangelical church today. Whole churches are a society of the weak. The strong could not get in those churches if they tried. Because they couldn't sign their covenant of conduct that condemned things indifferent.

31:43 And in reaction against that, there are churches where the weak are received as something less than genuine lovers of Christ and of His truth. And there is a de facto that is in reality though not stated as such, there is a de facto schism in churches producing and dominating the strong. And there is almost an accommodating hyper-spiritual superior attitude from the strong towards the weak. The Apostle Paul would tolerate neither of these attitudes.

32:25 The weak brother was found integrated into the life of assemblies which according to these passages seem to be dominated by those whom he would call the strong. And they are found dwelling together in mutual love, acceptance, and submission one to another as we shall see in the unfolding exposition. So then, if we're a biblical church, if the church you belong to is a biblical church, you can expect to find the weak and the strong gathering together in one common life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. And you see, that's no easy thing to keep that.

33:07 In the thirteen years that I've been an under-shepherd in the church, in this flock, I've felt all kinds of pressures from the left and the right that would either push the weak out or push the strong out. And we have stood with a rock-like adamancy by the grace of God refusing to do either.

33:29 I've had people question me about certain clothing styles. Do you permit women to come to church with pantsuits? I said, what do you mean, do I permit them? Where did God make me a pope on women's clothing?

33:44 The consciences of our church and our women are bound by the biblical norms, which are these. She is to dress modestly as becometh a woman professing godliness. And if she can do that with a pantsuit, fine. Christ is lord of her conscience, not the elders.

34:01 Well, what kind of membership covenant do you have to keep our worldliness? Well, if I thought a membership covenant would keep our worldliness, I'd have one 4,300 pages long, that one.

34:13 Yes. Worldliness is an attitude of heart. And if the grace of God is not operating in your heart, applying the absolute standard of the law of God to your heart, the amount of evangelical checklists will secure holiness. It will only promote Phariseeism.

34:31 You'll end up cleansing the outside of the cup and the platter while inwardly is all kinds of uncleanness.

34:38 If you feel uncomfortable in that setting, my friend, it ain't going to change around here by the grace of God, so you just better go look elsewhere. If you're hoping that somehow you'll get us to bend, no, sir. These are precious, precious, dearly, dearly bought concepts of the Word of God. And may God ever grant that in this place the strong and the weak will be found, integrated at a deep and pervasive level in our life before God and with one another.

35:08 That's where they were found in the apostolic church, in the same assemblies. All right? The third question we've got to ask as we try to identify the weaker brother. In what sense is he weak?

35:20 Weak in faith, weak in knowledge, weak in confidence, where is he? Right among the strong. Third question, what is his fundamental problem? In this matter of living together with the strong and vice versa, what is the fundamental problem?

35:34 Well, the fundamental problem is this. While dwelling together with the strong, who may exercise their liberty with a good conscience in the presence of the weak, the weak man is tempted blindly to follow the example of the strong and thereby violate his own conscience. That's it. That's it.

35:53 That's it. Now let's look at the scriptures to see that this is so. Romans 14, verses 14 and 15. Romans 14, verses 14 and 15.

36:05 Or let's back up to 13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore. That is, let the weak acknowledge that the strong walks in his integrity before God. Let the strong acknowledge that the weak walks in his integrity before God.

36:20 Don't anybody play the role of God in this? To his own master he stands or falls. But judge him Jesus rather. If you're going to be concerned about something, let this be your concern.

36:30 That no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way or an occasion of falling. Now he's going to explain what that means. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself, save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean. To him it is unclean.

36:47 For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, and grieved does not mean he can understand how you can eat that meat and be a good Christian. The grief here is the grief of a conscience condemned by indulging in that which the man believes to be sin. If because of thy meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died.

37:16 Now, parallel this with 1 Corinthians 8, 7 and 10 and you'll see the same train of thought. How? Be it there is not in all men that knowledge, that is the knowledge that an idol is nothing, but the sum being used until now until 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 means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.

37:51 For if a man see thee who has knowledge, that is the strong brother, sitting at the table, meet in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he's weak, be emboldened to eat that which is sacrificed to idols? For through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Christ died, and thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it's weak, ye sin against Christ. Now, you get the main thrust. There are a lot of things in those verses you'd love to have expounded.

38:20 I know that. I know that. I'm very much aware of some of the thoughts that no doubt are going through your minds. But I trust you'll see what the fundamental problem is.

38:29 Here is the strong brother whose conscience is not hung up on extra-biblical standards. It's bound by the Word and it's enlightened by the Word. Meat is meat, a gift from God, whether it's ever lain on an altar, an heathen temple altar or not. He's the strong brother.

38:48 Now, of course, the weaker brother who oft times will be the one more immature in the faith, not always, but many times. He's a newcomer to the faith. He still has a lot of the baggage from his old life and thought patterns and scruples from his old life. He sees this strong brother exercising his God-given liberty.

39:08 And his problem is that rather than following the dictates of his conscience as far as his conscience is presently enlightened, he yields the integrity of his conscience to follow the example of his brother's conscience. And when he does, instead, instead of being able like his brother who having given thanks for that meal can go away with a happy heart looking back upon what he's enjoyed, this man follows the example of the stronger brother. And lo and behold, when he's done, his conscience is smiting him. I've sinned.

39:44 I've gone back to my old ways. I've partaken of heathen worship. Woe is me. And he feels the pain and the grief of an accusing conscience.

39:54 Now, his problem, you see, is that he's following the example of the strong before his conscience has caught up with the light that the strong man has in that given area. In the New Testament, it had reference to meat offered to idols. It had reference to the subject of vegetarian or meat eating. It had reference to the keeping of specific days.

40:18 These things, these three things are explicitly dealt with in the passages before us. Current examples would be such things as such things as selective theater attendants, the moderate use of alcoholic beverages, certain types of clothing, certain types of music, certain types of entertainment, certain places of recreation. These are the current issues that fall within the same orbit touched on with the meat offered to idols, meat as opposed to vegetable diet, the keeping of specific days. And as then, so now.

40:56 The world, the weak will be tempted to look upon his brethren who obviously are patterns of godliness and piety and spiritual strength to him and say, well, if they can do that with a good conscience before God, I will blindly follow their example. And when they do, they do that which the Scripture says to them is sin. Their conscience is defiled. They are grieved in their spirits and they are crippled in their Christian walk.

Responsibilities Towards the Weaker Brother: Receive Him

41:27 So then, the exercise of the liberty in the presence of the strong, in the presence of the weak, causes them to stumble. Well, that's the problem. Now, I hope we've identified the weaker brother. Now, let us consider, or at least begin to consider, what are the responsibilities towards this brother.

41:47 It is clear that the bulk of the biblical directions are aimed towards the strong and their responsibilities toward the weak. And I know a few areas of biblical directive which more accurately lay bare the depth of your self-sacrificing love than this. Why in earth should the many bend to the few, especially when it's the strong to the weak?

42:17 Well, maybe I ought to ask you mothers,

42:21 why should so much of your time be spent with caring for your infants? Well, just because they're infants and they need that care. And the years, and the maturity, I hope, have brought you to the place where unlike the infant whose whole world begins and ends with himself, you've begun to learn something of the joy of self-sacrificing love which terminates upon others and not upon yourself. And this may be an acid test to many of you of where you really are spiritually as you face the clear directives of the Word of God concerning the responsibility we have toward the weaker brethren. Alright? Responsibility number one. We must receive him.

43:13 Romans 14, verse 1. But him that is weak in faith, receive ye. Yet not for decision of scruples. Him that is weak in faith, receive ye.

43:30 That is, we must embrace such a one in the body, Bonds of unfeigned and unreserved love. The measure of our acceptance of the weaker brother is that given to us in Romans 15, 7. It is the measure of Christ's acceptance of us.

43:52 Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you to the glory of God. Now how did Christ receive you? When you came in your sin, in your guilt, in your pollution, in your vileness, and by the effectual call of God through the gospel, how did Christ receive you? Did he hold you off at arm's length and just link a finger around you as it were?

44:25 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.

44:37 He fell upon his neck and kissed him. There was unfettered, unreserved embrace.

44:50 Receive one another as Christ has received you. That's our first responsibility to the weaker brother. We are to receive him in the bonds of unfeigned and unreserved love.

45:06 And that will mean, in a negative way, at least three things. And this is just opening up some of the perspectives here. First of all, we are not. We are not to hold him off at a distance until his conscience is enlightened.

45:18 For when his conscience is enlightened, he is no longer weak in faith. Therefore, the verse would not obtain, you see. But him that is weak in faith, receive you while he is still weak. Don't hold him off until the weak becomes strong.

45:29 And then say, now, brother, you are one of us.

45:33 Since you can now identify with me with a good conscience in the exercise of my liberty, now we can really have fellowship.

45:43 No, no. He is to be received. With all his scruples hanging on and oozing out all over him. Poor, pained brother with wrinkles in his brow.

45:52 I'm a great one to talk about wrinkles in the brow. But there he is. He's all tied up in knots. He's got scruples about this and that.

45:59 And he's obviously so uncomfortable with God's world and with himself in it that he can't help but make you feel uncomfortable around him. But God says, receive him just as he is. You receive him. With all his scruples and all his hang-ups, you receive him.

46:12 You don't hold him off at a distance. Until his conscience is enlightened. Secondly, you don't receive him only to the end of straightening him out.

46:22 And that seems to be the thought of verse 1. Yet not for decision of scruples. And Professor Murray acknowledges in his commentary on Romans that this is a difficult phrase or clause. But probably what it means is, don't receive him to the end that you may subject his scruples to your scrutiny.

46:40 Now, some would say, yeah, I'll receive the brother so I get him close enough I can get him all sorted out. If your only reason, for receiving him, is to instruct him, he'll sense that. No, you receive him for one reason. And one reason only.

46:54 Christ has received him. And if Christ has received him with unfettered and unscathed love, who are you to hold him off at a distance? So to receive him means, negatively, you don't hold him off at a distance until his conscience is enlightened. Secondly, you don't receive him only to the end of correcting him.

47:14 And thirdly, having received him, you don't despise him or set him at naught. Verse 3. Let not him that eateth, that's the strong brother, set at naught him that eateth not. And the word set at naught is the word for despise.

47:28 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.

47:43 You don't receive him and then regard him as a second class citizen. Now that's an awesome responsibility. No distinction in esteem, affection and mutual trust, even in the midst of deep and pervasive differences on matters of indifference.

48:05 You say, that's impossible. According to the flesh, yes. And that's why many people have simply thrown in the towel and you have whole denominations that have come to birth over issues related to Christian liberty.

48:20 One of the largest cleavages in the Presbyterian Church in our country, about 35 years ago, basically occurred over this very issue. Over this very issue. That brethren would not receive one another until their consciences saw alike on matters of indifference. What a tragedy.

48:46 What a tragedy.

48:49 What a tragedy. When the word of God is so clear, we are to receive the weaker brother. Now we'll see when we come to the responsibilities of the weaker brother. He's to receive.

48:58 He's to receive the strong too. That sword cuts both ways. But we'll leave him alone tonight in terms of his responsibilities for the sake of order and teaching. The strong are to receive the weak.

Responsibilities Towards the Weaker Brother: Do Not Destroy or Alienate Him

49:08 Secondly, we must not only receive him, the scripture says we must not destroy him. We must not destroy him. That is, we must restrict the exercise of our liberty to the extent that it would become the occasion of sin to our weaker brother. Romans 14, 13 to 22.

49:27 That's the drift to that whole passage. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore in a context of mutual acceptance and reception. We are now concerned with the expression of love, particularly the strong towards the weak. And the strong who knows that nothing is unclean of itself will not knowingly and deliberately continue to exercise his liberty in the presence of his weaker brother if that liberty exercise will embolden the weaker brother to violate his conscience.

50:03 And that's a summary of that entire paragraph. Now it's noticeable that Paul says, now don't, strong brother, give up your liberty. Verse 21, verse 22. The faith which thou hast have to thyself before God.

50:17 Don't let the weak brother bully you into his position of conscience. No, no. If you abstain, you abstain on the principle that I will not by my example, cause my weaker brother to choose a course that would be sin for him. I will not destroy him for the sake of meat or drink or any other thing.

50:39 Verse 21, it is good not to eat flesh if I must become a vegetarian in the presence of nor to drink wine, be a teetotaler in the presence of my brother, nor to my brother stumbles. And stumbles, may I remind you, he gets up, says, you know, your thigh stumbles me. He calls me to stumble. I say, what do you mean?

51:11 Well, I don't like ties and I get mad when I see them. So you better take your green tie off. To such a person, I'd get one greener yet. Get one greener yet.

51:25 Say, my brother,

51:27 if green ties are sin in your conscience, and by my wearing one, you go out and buy a bright green tie and wear it, all the while your conscience is telling you it's sin. Now I'll take my green tie off and never wear a green tie in your presence forever. See the difference? I'm not to bend, to some Pharisee's whims.

51:48 Don't you try to hide behind that verse if you're the weaker brother in any area and say, boy, I'm in the driver's seat. I go through in my weak wagon and make all these strong people bend. No, no, no, no, no. No, no.

52:01 Text means one thing. That is, the weaker brother chooses a course of action that is sin to his own conscience by following the example of the strong. And so Paul, says, don't destroy him. For when a man starts choosing a course which in his own conscience is sin, he's in the high road that brings destruction.

52:32 And when the conscience is wounded and defiled, conscious, delightful communion with God is severed and we wallow in that state of guilt and condemnation and unrelieved pressure of spirit, there is no prosperity in the Christian life.

52:50 This is essentially the same thrust of 1 Corinthians 8, 9-13. Having read it previously, let me just remind you of these principles. Don't destroy your brother, he says. Verse 9, Take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.

53:08 For if a man seethe, you see, here's the exercise of liberty in the presence of the weak. If he seethe, will not his conscience be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through thy knowledge, he that is weak perishes, the brother, for whose sake Christ died, thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it's weak, is sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, in this context, meat offered to idols, I will eat no flesh forevermore.

53:39 That is, in the presence of my brother, that I cause not my brother to stumble. We must not, by our example, cause the weaker brother to be destroyed by doing that which he knows, he thinks in himself his sin. And if that's so, by example, certainly, any form of coercion is equally wicked. So often, someone who's been a weak brother and had the furrowed brow, scruples about a thousand things, comes into the glorious liberty of his sonship and says, nobody can strap my conscience but King Jesus.

54:21 And he's like, it's like getting saved all over again. First time he got delivered from bondage to sin and the devil in the world. And now the second time he got delivered from bondage to men and man-made standards and scruples. And his freedom is so blissful to him in his spirit.

54:39 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.

55:02 And they said, son, daughter, they're all... He said, no, I'm afraid that one will hurt me and that one will be...

55:09 How would you feel as a father? Come on now, how would you feel? Come on now, how would you feel? The scripture says he has given us all things richly to enjoy.

55:19 The father's grieved when the child doesn't see his liberty to receive all of his gifts. And so this poor trembling person who's just reached out and taken one of the gifts suddenly finds himself free in Christ to all God's gifts and he's enjoying them and along comes one of his trembling weak brethren, you see. And his temptation is to drag him in the room and say, brother, all the gifts are there. They're for us.

55:41 They're for our good. Enjoy them all! And he tries to coerce. His motive is love.

55:49 We must not do that. You see, 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.

56:03 Many of us know when we've tried to do this, we've said, well, if I do the thing, then maybe I'll feel better afterwards. No, no. If conscience said no before, he says no afterwards a hundred times louder. Right?

56:16 Always. Always. And so we must not destroy our brother. We must forego the exercise of any legitimate liberty that will induce our brother to sin against his own conscience.

56:30 And then thirdly, we must receive him. We must not destroy him. We must not alienate him. That is, we must forego the exercise of liberties which would be so offensive as to alienate the weak brother's affections and confidence and thereby cut off a relationship in which we can help him and instruct him.

56:54 What Paul says with reference to the unsaved is true in principle with reference to the saved. Do you remember what he said in 1 Corinthians 9? He says, I become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some, gain some. To the Jew, I became as a Jew.

57:09 I bowed to all of his mosaic scruples and the dictums of the ceremonial law. Why did I do this? So that I would not alienate him from me as a person. That I might obtain such a relationship of friendship and affinity that I might communicate the gospel to him.

57:29 Now what's true with the unsaved is true with your brethren. There are times when we must restrain the exercise of our liberty not because the weak brother will follow our example and sin, but because he will be so unhinged. And I'm not just playing that word. I don't know a better contemporary word to you.

57:46 He'll become so unhinged by the display of your liberty that there'll be a suspicion as to the integrity of your moral character. And once that suspicion comes, you no longer have the platform of instructing him. And I believe this is what Paul is talking about in Romans 14, 19. Look at Romans 14 and verse 19.

58:13 So then let us follow after the things which make for peace, that is, concord, amity, oneness among the people of God, and things whereby we may edify one another. And no one can be an instrument of your edification unless he's at peace with you and you with him. Right? What happens in the church when there's animosity and bitterness and suspicion between a flock of God and the under-shepherds?

58:41 And they can no longer lead them. They can't do it. It's impossible.

58:48 Instruction and edification can only exist in the relationship of mutual confidence and love. So then, if we love that weaker brother, we will not alienate him by the exercise of liberties which will bring into suspicion in his eyes, albeit wrong. He's weak. Right?

59:08 He's weak.

Caution: Do Not Conform Your Conscience to the Weak

59:10 But we must not alienate him. Now, let me mention a word of caution. I've hinted at it, but I want to underscore it clearly. In all of this, we are never, we are never, we are never to conform our consciences to the conscience of the weak.

59:27 In every one of us, there's a pope. And we desire to bind everyone to the dictums of our own conscience. And the weak is no less a pope by nature. And if you allow the weak to do it, you know what they'll do to you?

59:42 From the concessions you make in love, they'll want to bring you into bondage to their scruples. And I am amazed and this gripped me in my preparation this week how Paul so cleverly, and I wonder if he didn't have a smile when he did it, and his tongue in his cheek a little bit. Notice how he emphasizes this principle in Romans 14. When he's going to deal with this business of the strong, not putting a stumbling block before the weak, how does he go about it?

60:10 Well, he states the principle in verse 13. Let us not, therefore, judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way or an occasion of falling. But now he says, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus.

60:28 He's saying at the outset, now look, my weak brother, you are weak. And if you were thinking up to the apostolic standard, you'd say amen to me when I say I know and am persuaded that nothing's unclean of itself. You'd say amen with me. But you haven't come to that place yet.

60:42 And I'm going to try to bend to where you are, but don't you try to bend me to where you are in your conscience because I'm persuaded. How? I'm persuaded with reference to the Lordship of Christ, with reference to my subjection to Him, my union to Him in a state of grace. Those things never change.

61:04 He's saying, in essence, don't you try to budge me from this persuasion. It's unbudgeable. It's fixed. It's reinforced concrete.

61:14 And I say to any who by the grace of God are strong in this area, don't allow the weak to be a pope to your conscience.

61:24 Paul asserts his knowledge here. He does the same thing in 1 Corinthians 8. When he's going to deal with the thing, how does he start out? He says, we know that an idol is nothing.

61:31 And he's saying, in essence, to the weak, if you thought as you ought to thought, you'd know an idol is nothing. But you don't know that yet, so I'll bend you in love in the exercise of my liberty, but I will not give up the essence of my liberty which is rooted in my knowledge. You see the principle? Don't let anyone rob you of the essence of your liberty.

61:51 It was purchased at too dear a price. For freedom did Christ set you free. Don't rob him of the reward of his sufferings. Don't relinquish the essence of your liberty in the presence of the weakest brother while being willing to restrict the exercise of your liberty to the farthest degree for the sake of your weaker brother.

62:18 Now, I think maybe that's enough for tonight. That's not all I'd hope to get through, but we'll hold the rest to the next time. Let me just tell you what I propose to do. God, willing in our session two weeks from tonight, I want to show from the Scriptures what are the implications if the strong refuse to follow these three self-withering directives with reference to the weak.

Concluding Exhortation and Future Study

62:41 If you will not receive him, if you will not take a course of action calculated not to destroy him and not to alienate him, these passages say five things are true of you and they're very sobering things. Maybe you ought to study them. I'm asking the question, if I do not do the three things in my responsibilities to the weak, what does this say to me? What does it say about me?

63:08 And then we'll conclude our study with a consideration of the responsibility of the weaker brother to God, to himself, and to his brethren. And it's all right here in these passages. Now, everything I've said tonight is assumed that I'm speaking to a body of God's people to whom the concept, the concept of submission to Christ is real and precious. But I would be foolish and unrealistic if I were to give the impression that I thought that every person in the sound of my voice tonight understood experimentally what it was to be a bondservant of Christ and a son or daughter of God.

63:51 And I want you to know that in directing my remarks almost exclusively to the people of God, it's not because I'm indifferent to your state, it's because I'm indifferent simply because the demands of covering the material have precluded any extensive application to the conscience of the unconverted. But, oh, my friend, I'd hate you to leave this place thinking that there was no concern in the heart of the servant of God or the people of God for you if you're in bondage to your sin, a slave of the devil. My friend, you know nothing of the glorious liberty of the sons of God and you will never know it until you repent and repent and believe the gospel until you come into vital union with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed. I would urge you, if much of this has gone clear over your head and you say, what in the world has that man been getting excited about and those crazy people nodding and mmm, mmm, mmm like they understood? Oh, my friend, listen, listen, listen. Their taste buds are tasting things for which you have no appetite.

65:01 No taste. And you never will until you're brought into union with the Savior who has brought them into union with Himself. And let me lovingly say to some of you who've seen yourself in the mirror of the Word and you say, Pastor, I believe I'm that weaker brother or sister weak in this area. What am I to do?

65:22 Well, you just have to hang on for a couple of weeks until I try to inspire you about what to do.

65:28 But one thing you can do is you can acknowledge that you are what God says you are. And there's no disgrace in that. You see? You're not a second-class citizen.

65:40 If you were to come up to me at the door tonight and say, Pastor Martin, I'm one of those weak brothers or sisters.

65:46 I hope you'd be able to do so with the confidence that my love to you in Christ was not one dram less than my love to the strongest brother or sister in Christ in this area of conscience.

65:59 So learn to accept yourself for where you are so you can go to work on what you are by the grace of God. There's no shame attached to it. You see, the whole assumption, the whole assumption, and this will come out more strongly in the subsequent study, but I should mention it. The whole assumption is that there is communication between the weak and strong as well as interaction of life.

66:19 And how do I know if you're caused to go against your conscience by my example unless you tell me? How do I know? I'm no mind reader. Sometimes the Lord gives an arrow from his quiver that may make you wonder if maybe the preacher's a mind reader.

66:33 An application goes so close to the conscience and close so specific to your circumstance, but the application goes so close that the preacher's no mind reader. The people of God are not mind readers. And in the context, you see, of acceptance, we can dare to be open with one another. You see?

66:48 Just as in a wholesome marriage where there is real acceptance, husband to wife, wife to husband, you can be open and transparent about your disappointments with one another, about the things that you'd like to see change. Well, can we not be this way in our relationship to one another? It'd be a tragic thing for a strong brother to be disappointed in destroying a weak brother and to be ignorant of it. Who if only, if he only knew the area where his example is being an occasion of stumbling, he would gladly say with Paul, I will eat no meat, drink no wine, do nothing, whereby my brother is caused to stumble.

67:24 But he cannot voluntarily relinquish the exercise of his liberty unless he has knowledge of the influence of that upon his brother. So there is necessity for communication the weak to the strong, and there is the necessity of sense of the strong. There is a sensitivity on the part of the strong to the weak. If we must err, brethren, let us err, and that's the proper way to pronounce it, let us err in relinquishing more liberties than were necessary, than err in indulging one more liberty than was safe for the weakest brother who's in our midst.

68:02 Oh, if we must err, let's have the excess of love, let's have the excess of love that relinquishes ten liberties where only six were needed to be safe,

68:15 than to relinquish five and find that the sixth one indulged was he. May God give us such a baptism of love as will enable us so to walk to one another's edification. Let us pray.

68:36 Oh God, our Father, we stand amazed at the comprehensiveness of your word, how we thank you for all of those circumstances rooted, many of them in heathen culture and in decadent religion, some of them in the old economy of Moses, which, when brought together in the life of the early church, forced from the pen of the apostle these words of practical instruction. Oh God, how can we ever thank you enough for that anticipation of the needs of your people throughout all the history of their life upon earth, and you've given to us this sufficient evidence and infallible rule of faith and of practice. Oh God, seal to our hearts these portions of your word which we've studied together tonight, and again we plead, help us, oh God, in this delicate, this sensitive area to walk by the rule of Scripture and by that rule alone. Burn then your word into our hearts. You've promised that in the new covenant you would write your law upon our hearts, as well as put your spirit within us, causing us to keep your statutes.

69:54 Write these, your laws, upon our hearts, and give us that measure of love that will delight to run in the way of your commandments. Hear us, oh God, in this our prayer. May the benediction of this hour rest upon us and abide with us. Oh God, as we go to our several homes, some go back to the places of study, back into the shop and the office, back into the humdrum and the mundane.

70:27 Oh Lord, grant that in every sphere of our legitimate calling in life we may glorify you, the God of our salvation, and so live as to bring praise to our Savior and be instruments of edification one to another. Forgive us, Lord, where any of us have been careless in the exercise of our liberty, where we have caused any brother to stumble by following our example beyond the present light of his conscience. Forgive us, Lord, when in our weakness we have tried to bend the whole church to our scruples and have intruded upon the throne rights of King Jesus. Oh God, what a wicked thing this is.

71:11 Forgive us. Some of us can remember how we've sought to do this. Lord, cleanse us. Oh, cleanse us, we pray, and grant that by the word operating in our consciences through the mighty power of the Spirit we may more and more have scruples concerning those things which you forbid and blessed liberty concerning those things which are your gifts to us in Christ.

71:42 Hear us then in these our petitions and receive the praises we offer.

71:48 We ask these mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, amen.