In his sermon 'Building Up, Not Tearing Down,' Jason Dohm explores Romans 14:14-23, emphasizing the importance of pursuing peace and edification among believers. He stresses that while all things are pure, believers should not let their freedoms become stumbling blocks for others. The sermon calls for prioritizing the core values of righteousness, peace, and joy over secondary matters like eating and drinking. Dohm urges believers to actively seek the things that build up others and create harmony, advocating for submitting one's liberty to love. He underscores that peace and edification are interrelated and crucial for fostering a supportive Christian community. The sermon concludes with a call to live out of trust in Jesus, ensuring actions are consistent with faith.

Sermon text for today is Romans 14 verses 19 through 23. For context I'll back up to verse 14. Romans 14 starting in verse 14. I know and I'm convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love.

Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.

All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself and what he approves, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith, for whatever is not from faith is sin.

God, thank you for your word. Thank you that you speak through your word, that you don't leave us to ourselves and our notions of who you are and what's pleasing to you. Thank you that you would unify a church under the banner of Christ, a body of believers who have been cleansed by the blood of your Son. I pray that you would use this time to mold us into his likeness and to to make our lives into the lives that are honoring to you. I pray that you would give power to the words that Jason preaches from your word and Lord I pray for those here that we would be eager to receive what you have to instruct us this morning.

In Jesus' name, Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is, Building Up, Not Tearing Down. Paul has been arguing and continues to argue that the way believers handle differences in how we understand different matters has both the risk of harming and the opportunity of helping. So that should give you some sense of what's at stake. A lot is at stake there.

If you said there's something out there and it has both the risk of harming believers, but it also has embedded within it the opportunity for helping believers. You handle this thing, you would probably sit up straight and pay attention because it would be obvious to you that there is a lot at stake with this thing. And so it is. Paul is teaching us that there is the opportunity of both tearing down and building up, embedded with how we handle our different understandings on different matters. So the stakes are high.

Let's pray as we come to our text. God, I thank you for your word. It's So good. So contrary to our natural inclinations about so many things that I tremble to think what my own thinking and patterns would be like if I didn't have your words. So, far short of the Lord Jesus as it is, but if you just left me to my own inclinations, it would be so much further away.

So God thank you for giving us your word. Thank you for giving us to each other such as we are with different understandings on different matters. Now as you bring us to a text it makes it so clear that the stakes are very high that how we relate to each other on these matters that we don't see eye to eye on has both potential for for harming each other and for the potential for helping each other and speeding each other along in progress in the faith. Oh God, make us able, willing, desiring to speed each other along. Pray in Jesus name, amen.

I'm gonna begin by rereading verses 19 and 20, and then we'll look at those two verses together. So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Romans 14. Please follow along as I reread 19 and 20. Paul writes, Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.

All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense." In these two verses, Paul is telling us to pursue what builds up and to forsake what tears down. So if you're filling in blanks, that's how you're taking notes. Up and down fills in the blanks. Pursue what builds up, forsake what tears down. The first word is therefore.

Because the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, these very secondary outward things that just have to do with our body, the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should focus on the core things and not the peripheral things, the most significant things, not the least significant things. In fact, we should be willing to set the least significant things to one side if they're jeopardizing the most significant things. I think that's the main thrust of the texts, texts plural that we've been in in weeks past and this week and will be again next week. Paul starts with an exhortation, a strong encouragement to pursue.

So that's the verb, that's what we're to do, We're to pursue. The Greek word literally means to run swiftly in order to catch. And it's actually often in the New Testament translated persecute. So here the context demands that it be rendered pursue, which is good, but in other places, the context actually demands that it be rendered persecute. That just gives you a feeling of the strength of this Greek word.

And the translators have done a good job. I'm not disputing with the translators. But I don't think pursue brings over the power and strength that you find in the Greek word. It is to pursue, but to think, to run swiftly after, to catch. And even it would be a right translation to persecute is a level of activity and aggression that you don't find.

So this is a very active, very aggressive word that is being translated. Paul says there are two things that we are to pursue. Number one, the things which make for peace. Pursue the things which make for peace. We should run swiftly after the things that make for peace in order to capture peace.

We're on the hunt for peace, so we should run swiftly after the things that will help us to capture it, is the thinking here. At this point, we should slow down and make sure that we're not abbreviating this into shorthand. What do I mean? Paul doesn't say, pursue peace. He means that.

Wouldn't be wrong for him to say that here, but that's not what he says. Paul actually says, pursue the things which make for peace. So don't cut out that phrase because I think it's important. What's the difference? Well what if I say make a cake?

That's actually shorthand. So think about that. When I say make a cake, it's just the objective and the endpoint, and there's nothing in between. But in the making of a cake, there's actually a lot in between. When I say make a cake, There's no mention of ingredients or required steps or a bowl mixer pan oven.

But to make a cake, you do have the ingredients, you do have the required steps. Try skipping ingredients. Try skipping a required step. Try doing without a bowl, mixer, pan, oven. So it's fine and well to desire a cake, but the things that make a cake are required.

So don't cut this out and make it shorthand. Pursue peace. Yes, we are to pursue peace, but we're actually to run swiftly after the things that make for peace. There are certain things that make for peace. Those are the things that we ought to be on the hunt for.

We can desire peace, talk about peace, but there are inputs that create favorable conditions for peace. There are things that make for peace. Paul says, pursue those things. Go make a list of things that make for peace that are between the shorthand of pursue peace, but that have to go in between. Go make a list of those things and then go hunt for those things.

Run swiftly to capture those things. What are these inputs that make for peace? Well, I'll take the cheater's way out. Paul doesn't say. But surely we should search out what Rob Ventura means when he talks about grace-filled sensitivity.

Whatever Rob Ventura means when he talks about our dealings for each other and how they should be characterized by grace-filled sensitivity. I'm sensitive to what you think. I'm sensitive to what you need. I'm sensitive to what would be good for you. And all of that is my desire to treat you graciously in a grace filled way.

And remember, Peace is more than lack of conflict. I tend to think two countries, if they're not at war, they're at peace. Well, sort of. It's good to not be at war, but peace, as God envisions it in the New Testament, especially among believers, peace goes well beyond lack of conflict to harmony. So it's not just the lack of the negative thing.

You're not at war, but it's the positive thing. You're at harmony, and there's mutual goodwill. It's characterized by relational warmth. Peace as the New Testament conceives it is characterized by relational warmth. Now is this just like making a cake?

In other words, if I use the right ingredients and follow all the required steps and have the right bowl of mixer pan oven, with a cake, you get a good cake, generally speaking. You're pretty close to guaranteed the desired result is is the pursuit of the things which make for peace like that will actually Paul has already addressed this in Romans, Romans 12, 18. It's been a little while since we've been there. Paul said, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. So, is it just like making a cake so that if I use the right ingredients and I use the required steps in the right sequence and I have the right equipment that I get a good cake?

Well not exactly, but it does create favorable conditions and that's that's what you can control. If it is possible, okay, do what's possible. As much as depends on you. Okay, do what depends on you to create the favorable conditions for harmony, for mutual goodwill, for relational warmth. You do all that you can do, you run swiftly to capture peace if you can.

That's what Paul is saying. This is actually why Paul uses this active, aggressive Greek word, pursue. Because peace might not always drop in your lap with no intentionality or effort or prayer or inputs. Have you ever found that? Oh, peace didn't just drop into my lap.

There was no intentionality. There was no effort. There was no prayer. There were no inputs and I have no peace. OK.

I think Paul is telling us that shouldn't surprise you. He is calling us to intentionality, to effort, to prayer, to the inputs that create an environment that fosters peace, favorable conditions for peace. There are things which make for peace and we should run swiftly after those things. That's what Paul is saying. Number two, the second thing to pursue.

The things by which one may edify another. Same thing here. Don't abbreviate it into shorthand here. Paul doesn't say edify another, although it would be fine for him to say that. That's not what he says.

He says pursue the things by which one may edify another. There are inputs to building up another believer. So chase the inputs. Define the inputs. Go think.

What are the things which would create encouragement and the building up of my brother and sister? You can't think of anything that would Create an environment for the building up of your brother or sister. Yes, you can. You can. But we don't.

That's sort of what Paul is getting at here. We can, but we often don't. So we ought to think, what are the inputs, the things by which I can edify my brother or sister. And then I swiftly run after those things to capture the building up if I can. And of course Peace and edification are interrelated and interdependent.

Can't you see that? These are not two totally separate things and he just happens to be mentioning them together. No, no, no, he's mentioning them together on purpose. Peace, harmony, and mutual goodwill, this relational warmth is interrelated with and interdependent with the building up of your brother and sister. Good luck building up someone who isn't at peace with you.

Good luck. Good luck building up someone who isn't at peace with you. Good luck. Good luck building up someone who you're not in harmony with, who there's no mutual goodwill with, who there's no relational warmth with. You are fighting an uphill battle there aren't you yes So they are interrelated.

They are Interdependent the one is the foundation for the other peace This harmony and mutual goodwill and relational warmth is a foundation upon which you are building on to build up your brother or sister in Christ. You can encourage me. Sometimes you say things that encourage me, sometimes you do things that encourage me. I can encourage you by what I say, what I do. You can pray for me and with me.

I'll never know it if you pray for me. I will know it if you pray with me. I welcome both. I can pray for you. I can pray with you.

You can speak the Word of God into my life. Sometimes that increases my understanding. Sometimes that is words of comfort from scripture. No words comfort like scripture words. That's true.

Sometimes it's a gentle rebuke, and I need a gentle rebuke. I can speak the Word of God into your life. I can sometimes increase your understanding or speak words of comfort from Scripture to you or gently rebuke you in times when you need it. You can listen to me empathetically. Isn't it true that sometimes we just want somebody to listen to us?

And I short circuit that by just solving your problem. You didn't want me to solve your problem. You wanted a caring ear, but I missed that. And I short-circuited it by saying, you can fix it by doing one, two, three, four, five. I didn't need any of that.

I just wanted you to care enough to listen to me. I can listen empathetically to you. Should listen empathetically to you. There are things by which one may edify another, and we should run swiftly after them to capture building up, the building up of a brother or sister. Here's what Matthew Henry says.

I love this quote. Listen to Matthew Henry. Is there anyone on planet Earth who has been so quotable as Matthew Henry? Yes, Jesus. Matthew Henry says, none so strong but they may be edified.

None so weak but they may edify. And while we edify others, we benefit ourselves. So let's break that into three. Let's do an exposition of Matthew Henry's quote. None so strong but they may be edified.

You don't know one person who's so spiritually mature that they can't be built up. The people that you think that of, like this is the continuum of believers that I know, they're over here on the way mature side. You have no idea how in need of building up they are. They probably look like that on the outside. They're probably not near that invulnerable on the inside.

No way. I don't believe it. I can't be brought to believe it. None so strong, but they may be edified. Even the most mature believer that you know needs to be built up by you.

You think, oh I'm no one. Okay, none so weak but may edify. The weakest believer that you know has something to give that will build up the strongest believer that you know. You have to believe that. Please believe that.

That is really true. The weak are not really as weak as they think. And the strong don't feel as strong as you think. He ends by saying, while we edify others, we benefit ourselves. Haven't you seen that a thousand times?

I thought I was the one helping. And actually, I ended up more encouraged than the encouragement that I gave. May we be that, may we find that over and over and over again as we as we run swiftly towards the things by which we may edify one another. May we find I'm in the in the act of building up. I'm actually being built up.

That happens. We can expect that to happen. After telling us what to pursue, in verse 20, Paul gives us a do not, do pursue these two things, Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. God is actively working every day in the life of every believer. Do not tear down that work over some peripheral matter, raising up least important things and tearing down most important things.

When you put it in those terms, none of us think of it in those terms. This is why Paul is bringing us to this and teaching us this. It's because we don't think of it in these terms, but Paul wants us to actually see it through these lens. Who in their right mind would raise up least important things and tear down most important things no one in their right mind would I think Paul is telling us sometimes we're not in our right mind God is actively working every day in the life of every believer. Leave that work untouched or speed it along if you can.

Don't tear it down over some peripheral matter. Don't tear it down so you can eat meat or drink wine. We're coming to that. The NASB translates the Greek word tear down. And not only do I find that the most consistent with what I see in the Greek lexicon, in other words, if I get to declare a translation winner here, I'm declaring the NASB the translation winner on this particular thing, destroys fine, tear downs better, based on what I see in the Greek lexicon.

Not only is it the most consistent with what I see in the lexicon, it's also a perfect fit with the overall thrust of what Paul is saying. Verse 19, build up your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Verse 20, don't tear down the Lord's work in their lives. Build them up, Run swiftly after the things that will build them up and don't tear down the work of God in their lives, which is happening every day. God is working in their lives every day.

Don't you dare touch that work that God's been doing every day in their lives. Paul says all things are pure. He's saying it's lawful to eat much more than just vegetables. That's lawful. It's fine to eat meat, But it is evil for the man who eats with offense.

It's fine to eat meat, but it can be evil. Can you imagine that? It's fine for you, but evil for me if I eat with offense. For the person who is not fully convinced in his or her own mind, just pulling the words from verse 5, not fully convinced in his or her own mind who can't eat without doubting if it actually dishonors God or not. I'm not sure.

It might dishonor God, it might not dishonor God, I don't know. It is wrong, bad, evil to eat in that condition Paul Paul is saying that here I don't know it might dishonor God maybe it doesn't dishonor God You eat in that condition that is wrong, that is bad, that is evil says the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Remember two weeks ago we were in 1st Corinthians 8 which is this companion text you are almost always you should just keep them side by side for sure. 1st Corinthians 8, Paul spoke of my liberty becoming a stumbling block for the weak and how that might embolden that weaker brother or sister to wound and defile their own conscience. So it's the same topic on the table.

Becoming a stumbling block for the weak. Paul says if you do that, You cause this weaker brother or sister, a blood-bought believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you cause them to wound and defile their own conscience. And you might be, in doing that, you might be setting them back a week, month, year in the work of the Lord in their life. In making progress in the faith. You bring their progress in the faith to a grinding halt because you embolden them to wound and defile their conscience.

And it takes a while to come back from that. And you were the source of that. That's a terrifying thought. I hate that thought. That, friends, tears down the work of God.

When you embolden a weaker brother or sister to wound and defile their own conscience, that tears down the work of God. That might set them back weeks, months, years in their progress in the faith because they have wounded and defiled their conscience doing something that you could do with a clear conscience. No wonder Paul says don't do that. No wonder he says don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't destroy the work of God. Don't tear down the work of God over a food. Verses 21 and 22. Moving to the next section. Romans 14 21 and 22 Paul continues.

It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. In these two verses Paul is training us to submit our liberty to love.

So if you're filling in blanks, love fills in the blank. Submit your liberty to love. Liberty is under love. Love is above liberty. If they cannot, in circumstances where they cannot coexist side by side, then liberty must be submitted to love.

Paul tells us what is good. Holding back. Setting aside my liberty is good. Not eating is good. If eating would trip up a brother or sister, if eating would be a stumbling block, then they would come across and stumble over.

1 Corinthians 8 verse 13, just going back to that parallel text, 1 Corinthians 8 verse 13, Paul says, Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. Never again. I don't think we have any indications that Paul Permanently gave up meat never ate meat again in any context, but Paul says So explicitly if there are only two doors eating meat and causing my brother to stumble or never eating meat again, I'm taking that door. Give me that door. I'm walking through that door.

I will never, ever, ever again eat another single piece of meat. If my only other option is to be a stumbling block to my brother or sister, I'll be done with meat forever. Why? Why is not eating good? Because my calling is to pursue the things which make for peace.

How can I have harmony and mutual goodwill and relational warmth with a brother or sister who I'm tripping up with the exercise of my liberty? How is that love? No, I should submit my liberty to love. I should set aside that liberty for the sake of my love for that brother or sister. They need me too, so I'm willing to.

My calling is to pursue the things by which I may edify my brother or sister. How can I build him up or build her up if the exercise of my liberty is offending or making him or her weak? No, I should submit my liberty to love. I should set aside that liberty for the sake of my love for that brother or sister. I wouldn't want a brother or sister to prioritize a secondary matter like eating or drinking at the risk of tripping me up or offending me or making me weak.

So to love my neighbor as myself, I shouldn't prioritize a secondary matter like eating or drinking at the risk of tripping them up or offending them or making them weak. It's just the golden rule. I was just teaching the golden rule again. Not drinking wine is good. If drinking wine would trip up or offend or make weak a brother or sister.

This is our first mention of drinking wine. You can find a cross-reference, a parallel. I'm not going there today, but you can find a parallel in 1 Corinthians 10. Does it need to be said that the use of this liberty, the liberty of drinking wine, can trip up or offend or make weak certain brothers or sisters. Does that need to be said?

Apparently it does! Just Paul put it in here. Apparently it needs to be said because Paul says it. Some people's personal history with drinking alcohol is a personal history of drunkenness and or dependence. Of dishonoring the Lord through drunkenness and or dependence.

And all the other things that drunkenness opens the door to. You understand how alcohol works. The more alcohol the less natural inhibitions. We all have these inhibitions that keep us from saying things that we shouldn't say and doing things that we shouldn't do. And the more alcohol goes in, the more those inhibitions come down.

So that you're saying things that you never would have said without the alcohol. And you're doing things you never would have done without the alcohol. You understand that people even who aren't getting drunk can become quite dependent on it and feel like they need it and begin to look to it for things that they should actually be looking to the Lord for. You understand that? Some people's personal history with drinking includes one or the other or both of those things.

Drunkenness or dependence or both. And all of the things that the lowering of the inhibitions brings in with it, that's drunkenness is a sin that doesn't travel by itself. It brings friends with it. They're not your friends. Sometimes their personal history with that isn't their own drunkenness or dependence.

It's the drunkenness and or dependence of someone that they're close to and depended on and couldn't depend on because of the alcohol. So they think very differently about alcohol than someone who has no personal history wrapped up in them. Can't you see how a brother or sister who has that kind of personal history would be tripped up or offended or made weak by your careless use of that liberty? Can't you see that? Would you not be willing to set aside that liberty for the sake of love and say, for Right now with this person, my liberty and love can't coexist side by side, so I'm putting love up here and I'm submitting my liberty to it.

You have to be willing to do that. Setting aside anything else is good if that thing, whatever it is, would trip up or offend or make weak my brother or sister. I'm not here to trip up or offend or make weak my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm here to run swiftly after the things that make for peace and the things by which I can build them up. I am here to be a tailwind for them on their way to heaven, not a headwind.

So I'm a jogger. I love me a tailwind. A wind at my back that makes it feel like I'm running downhill. And I'm not even running downhill. If you're a jogger, you know that feeling.

You get a good tailwind and you would swear you were running downhill, only you're running on level ground. It's pushing. It's making the running easier. I dread a headwind. A wind in my face that makes it feel like I'm running uphill, only I'm not running uphill.

I would swear I'm running uphill because of the effort required, but it's level ground. We're made to be a tailwind for each other. So that our interactions with each other, our investments in each other's lives, makes it feel like we're running downhill. You can have the opposite effect. You can make your brother or sister's walk, jog, feel like it's uphill.

Are you convinced in your own mind about a certain liberty? Great. God is not calling you to relinquish that. In fact, that's been dubbed the correct understanding. The understanding that is consistent with God's mind on the matter.

You're not supposed to back away from anything that's consistent with God's mind on the matter. But if it's about a peripheral matter, something like eating or drinking, one of those least significant things, hold that conviction before the Lord and be willing to submit the exercise of that liberty to love. Don't bring guilt on yourself by approving things that are no problem to you, but that emboldens certain brothers or sisters to wound and defile their own conscience. You can do it, no problem, no qualm of conscience. You're fully convinced in your own mind that what you're doing is consistent with God's mind on the matter.

It's no problem to you, but if you use it carelessly, it will embolden certain brothers or sisters who don't have that same understanding to wound and defile their own conscience. It'll be a headwind to them. It'll be a wind in their face that makes their walk uphill feel like it's uphill. Don't bring guilt on yourself by approving things that are no problem to you, but that embolden certain brothers or sisters to wound and defile their own conscience. Good for you.

Good for you. Good for you. You're eating meat with us. Good for you. You're finally drinking wine with us.

Good for you. You're finally doing whatever with us. Only in their heart they're thinking, I'm not sure I should be doing this. I'm not sure this would please the Lord. Oh well, I'll do it anyway.

I'm tired of being left out." And in that instant they're tripped up and made weak and you are the headwind. And you are causing their walk to be uphill. Is that so implausible? Hard to imagine. You can have a difference of understanding.

And when they join in, because of your carelessness with your liberty, they join in and you would say, good for you, you're finally doing whatever with us. In their heart they'd be thinking, I don't know if I should be doing this. Oh well, I'll do it anyway. I'm tired of being left out." And you become a headwind. I don't think it's too implausible.

You'll be happy or blessed, you can translate that word as either. Happy or blessed if you keep that guilt off yourself. It displeases the Lord, you're bound to feel the Lord's displeasure. It causes your own conscience to disquiet you. You ever been disquieted by your conscience, you know you have You see you can see it all they're running uphill There were They're running into the face of the headland and I was the head.

Verse 23, last verse of the chapter. Paul concludes that he who doubts is condemned if he eats because he who does not eat from faith, for whatever is not from faith is sin. He who doubts is condemned if he eats because he does not eat from faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin. Here, Paul is teaching us to live out of a Trust in Jesus.

Trust fills in the blank. Let's reread verse 14. Are you with me? Are you in Romans 14? Let's reread Romans 14 verse 14.

I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Let's reread the second half of verse 20. Are you with me? Second half of verse 20. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense." Now this verse, verse 23, concludes the thought with perfect clarity. This is why something that isn't clean isn't unclean of itself.

It's not inherently unclean, is unclean for some. This is why it is evil to eat something that's pure if you eat with offense. What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 10-31? I'll tell you. 1 Corinthians 10-31.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. When I eat out of a place of doubt, would this displease the Lord? I'm not sure. It is sin for me to eat, even though what I'm eating isn't unclean and it is actually pure, but I'm not fully convinced in my own mind that it's not unclean and that it's pure. We are meant to live looking up, figuratively, figuratively we're meant to live like this, looking up.

Jesus I want you to be honored, Am I honoring you now? In view of all these mercies, I want to present my body as a living sacrifice. Am I living that way now? Pushing through doubts about the answers to those questions and doing those things anyway in the face of those doubts is sin. It is sin.

Whatever you do, do it out of an active, present, ongoing trust in Jesus. Whatever you do. I'm going to do 100 things today. Do all 100 out of an active, present, ongoing trust in Jesus. Jesus, you know what's good, you've told me what's good, I want to do what you told me because I believe what you say.

I entrust myself to you. I know you're not withholding anything that's good. Live out of faith. You can't do something out of active, present, ongoing trust in Jesus, don't Do it! Just wait and do the things you can do with a clear conscience.

Keep within the limits of your current knowledge, as Calvin said a couple of weeks ago, and I think I repeated it last week. Keep within the limits of your current knowledge. Applications, I'll give you three. And I'll give you a dose of Martin Luther, and I will close in prayer. One.

What do I need to stop doing immediately, because I've been doing it out of a place of doubt. I have qualms about whether it honors the Lord or whether it doesn't honor the Lord, but I do it anyway. Stop it immediately. Don't be doing things out of a place of doubt. If you don't know whether or not it dishonors the Lord, you should set it aside.

Two. What am I doing that is tripping up or offending or making weak a brother or sister? Careless use of liberty. Your actual conviction, you're fully convinced in your own mind that it's consistent with the mind of God on the matter. You don't want more than that.

We should want more than that. Paula's telling us, you ought to want more than that. You ought to want to be a tailwind and not a headwind to your brothers and sisters. You ought to want to help them and make them feel like my walk is downhill, not my walk is uphill. Three.

What are some concrete things I can do? I could list them. I could put them down on paper in black and white. What are some concrete things I can do? I could list them.

I could put them down on paper in black and white. What are some concrete things I can do to run swiftly after the things that make for peace and the things that make for building up? What are some concrete things I can do to be a headwind and not a tailwind to a brother or sister who could really use it? Okay I got this brother or sister and it seems to me they could really use some encouragement. What are some things that I can put down in black and white that I things that I could do that would pursue this Relational warmth and this ability to build them up Pick a few write a few down and pick a few off this week We'll probably find Matthew Henry knew what he was talking about.

We're actually encouraged in the process. Let me close with Martin Luther. It says this, A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to all. Read it again.

Martin Luther contradicting himself into consecutive sentences. Can these both be true? They can both be true. Listen to this. A Christian man is a most free Lord of all, subject to none.

Amen. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to all. Amen. We're both. Believers are both.

We need to learn to be both at the same time. Totally free. Our conscience subject to no one else, but also a servant of all, subject to everyone. The good of all of our brothers and sisters always needing to be in view. God, I pray that you would teach us to be like this.

I find the preaching of this so aspirational in many humbling ways. I pray that you would help me and us to aspire to these things and for me and us to make progress in these things. That we would run swiftly after the things which make for peace. And run swiftly after the things by which we can edify one another, build up one another, and find that our differences have actually sweetened the things between us. May it be so in Jesus name, Amen.