Great Quote

Peter Marshall once said, "It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail."

Bearing with the Weak

Using Romans 14:1-7 as my text, I want to talk about some principles of conduct for Christians in questionable matters. If we had time to really dig in, we would find that Paul basically gives three guidelines. 1. Conviction – Looking forward. 2. Conscience – Looking in. 3. Consideration – Looking out. In other words, Conviction anticipates, Conscience meditates and Consideration hesitates. I believe that conviction, conscience, and consideration should govern how and why we do what we do.

This reminds me of the Tate Family, "Do you know how many members of the Tate family belong to your church? There is old man DicTate, who wants to run everything, while Uncle RoTate tries to change everything. Their sister AgiTate stirs up plenty of trouble, with help from her husband, IrriTate. Their son DebiliTate is often a bad influence on other children. Whenever new projects are suggested, HesiTate, and his wife, VegeTate, want to wait until next year. DisorienTate has never quite figured out what is going on. Grandpa DisserTate will talk on and on about most any subject when given a chance. GesTate takes a long time to come to conclusions on new ideas. Then there is Aunt ImiTate, who wants our church to be like all the others. DevasTate provides the voice of doom. And of course, there are the black sheep of the family, FragmenTate seems to always be stirring up division, AposTate has formed his own following and AmpuTate has cut himself off from the Church!

Today we have two extremes about Christian conduct in questionable matters; no separation and total separation. This second group is the ones that Paul labels weak in the faith in this chapter. We must learn to balance Christian freedom and Christian responsibility. I submit ten principles for balance in each of our lives.

1. We should not be judgmental in disputable or gray areas (14:1–9).

2. We should be convinced in our own mind as to the rightness or wrongness of an action (14:5).

However we must keep in mind 1 Cor. 6:12 which says, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient…"

3. We must realize that we all will stand ultimately before God and give an account (14:10).

Hebrews 4:13, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

4. We must not put a stumbling block in the way of our brothers (14:13).

I Cor. 8:12 "But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ."

Matthew 18:6 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

5. We must always act in love (14:15).

Galations 5:22a "But the fruit of the Spirit is love…"

6. We must pursue actions which promote peace (14:19).

Romans 12:18

7. We must seek to edify others by our actions (14:19).

I Corinthians 14:12 "Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification (building up) of the church that you seek to excel."

1Co 10:24-25 "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. (25) Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience' sake;"

8. We must do only that which can be done in faith (14:22-23).

Romans 1:17 "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

9. We seek to glorify God in all that we do and say (15:6).

Romans 12:1

10. We must always love one another, even when we disagree (15:7).

A True Friend

What is a friend? Friends are people with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with them. They ask you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. They do not want you to be better or worse. When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, as long as it is genuinely you. Friends understand those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you. With them you breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meannesses and absurdities, and in opening them up to friends, they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of their loyalty. They understand. You do not have to be careful. You can abuse them, neglect them, tolerate them. Best of all, you can keep still with them. It makes no matter. They like you. They are like fire that purges to the bone. They understand. You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them, pray with them. Through it all--and underneath--they see, know, and love you. A friend? What is a friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.

Communion with God

Colossians 1:9 says, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;" From this text, I see two things. We'll look at the first one now. Paul and Timothy were praying for this church in Colosse. Prayer by definition is a "spiritual communion with God." The Apostle Paul tells us that we should pray without ceasing (1 Th. 5:17). We are constantly told in the Bible that we are to be a people of prayer and yet it is one of the hardest things to do in our Christian experience. Why? – Because the Devil knows that it is our strongest weapon against him. Thus he throws everything that he can at us to keep us off our knees. I, for one, do not pray enough. I heard of an Iranian who invented a compass-like device engraved with the names of 150 cities, in Arabic. The devout Muslim needs only to turn the instrument until the needle indicates north, twists a dial to the name of the city he is in and the arrow points the way to Mecca, which Muslims face to pray fives time a day. How many times do we intentionally pray per day? I would venture to say that our Muslim friend out-prays most Christians.

There are two problems that I think we struggle the most with in prayer. First, we don't do it enough. Why? – The world, the flesh and the Devil. The world tells us we're too busy. The flesh tells us we're too tired. The Devil tells us we're too late. Second, we give up too quickly. We pray for a few days, a few weeks, a few months and then we stop. We start thinking that God isn't listening or that He refuses to answer. We do this because we forget that God's thoughts are not our thoughts and God ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8). We forget that God does not work on our timetable. Never has and never will. In the end, we have not been called to figure out what God is doing all the time, but we have been called to pray all the time.

Graduation

Tonight will be our graduation ceremony here at Calvary Chapel Bible College Peru. We have four students who will be walking the aisle. Carlitos is from Colombia, Karina is from Honduras, Belen is from Ecuador and Candy is from the United States. My congratulations go out to all four of these graduates. They have each studied hard to earn 80 credits and graduate with an Associates of Theology degree. God bless you guys as you take the next step.