Is Everything Lawful for Me?

Brothers and sisters, let us turn to the Word of God, Romans chapter 14. We are going to the second part of the chapter. We are almost at the end of this journey through the Epistle to the Romans, which has taken us many months, but we thank the Lord, who has been very faithful and has brought us to the point where we are nearly finished with the epistle. Chapter 15 is actually a chapter that is more about tying up loose ends and everyday matters, but chapter 14 still has plenty of meat here from which we can continue to profit greatly. I am going to read beginning with verse 13, Romans 14, from verse 13 to the end. It says:

“Therefore let us no longer judge one another, but rather resolve not to put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in a brother’s way...”

And let me clarify something about what we are going to read, because otherwise you may be reading without understanding, especially if you have not been following what we have been preaching and do not know the context. I am going to explain it a little more thoroughly, but the apostle Paul is referring to customs that were typical of the time when he wrote this epistle, two thousand years ago, when there were differences of opinion in the church regarding whether or not to eat meat that had previously been sacrificed to idols, as well as certain freedoms that the believers of that time did or did not allow themselves. So what I am going to read may sound a little foreign to you, but I will explain it later, and I know that you will be able to understand clearly how it applies to our present day.

Then it says, “...but rather resolve not to put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in a brother’s way. Paul says, I know and am confident in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to the one who thinks something is unclean, to him it is unclean. But if your brother is grieved because of food, you are no longer walking according to love...”

There he is getting right to the heart of the subject of this segment. “...if your brother is grieved, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not, because of your food, destroy the one for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let your good be reviled—in other words, blasphemed—for the Kingdom of God is not food or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For the one who serves Christ in these things is pleasing to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue the things that contribute to peace and mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God because of food. All things are indeed clean, but it is wrong for a person to make others stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is weakened. Do you have faith? Keep it between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves, but the one who has doubts about what he eats is condemned, because he does not do it in faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin...”

And we are going to continue, because the subject actually continues in chapter 15. I am going to read only that first verse of chapter 15. It says:

“Therefore, those of us who are ‘strong’ ought to bear with the weaknesses of the weak and not please ourselves.”

May the Lord bless His holy Word. What is the apostle Paul talking about here? I believe it has been about three weeks since we last touched the book of Romans, because one Sunday was Mother’s Day, and before that we had another matter that took us out of the rhythm we had established. So it has now been about two or three weeks since we last addressed this subject in Romans, and I want to bring you up to date. In any case, it is always good to review these great truths of the Word of God.

In chapter 14, the apostle Paul takes time to call believers to a life of harmony with one another—not conflict, but harmony and mutual tolerance. Remember that he is speaking to a congregation that could be Lion of Judah. It is as though right now we began reading a letter sent by the founding pastor of Lion of Judah in which he gives the brothers and sisters certain advice about how to get along and how to avoid conflicts over specific issues relating to that particular congregation.

In the Greco-Roman world in which the apostle Paul was writing—remember that he was writing to the churches in the city of Rome—and throughout the pagan world in which the first Christians moved, a problem had arisen: what should be done when food had previously been offered to idols? What should a Christian do in that case?

Let us use an example. We could put it in present-day terms. Let us say that you are invited to a baptism, a christening, as our Catholic brothers and sisters call it, and let us say that a prayer has been said over the food. You feel that, because you are an evangelical, perhaps you should not eat that food and should not be in that place. There are Christians who do not even want to set foot inside a Catholic church because they think it is not of God. Personally, I believe that is a mistake, but I respect their points of view.

Perhaps I can use an example that is even more extreme than that. Perhaps that illustration is a little too tame, but let us say that you go to a house where Santería is practiced—that will be our example—and they invite you to eat. You are not sure whether the chicken they are serving you was first offered to one of those strange saints or not, and there they set before you a bowl of stew with good white rice and everything else. You can tell I am hungry; it is already after one o’clock in the afternoon.

But you say, “Hmm, these people here practice Santería. I don’t know whether they slaughtered that chicken and offered it to Saint Rose or to one of those female saints—the Lord rebuke them—and you do not want to eat, right? Because you are afraid that this food is contaminated. But there is another brother there from another part of the church who says, “Hey, what is all this about Saint Rose or Saint Barbara? In the name of Jesus, I rebuke those demons!” And he takes a big ladle and serves himself a good helping of stew. I see that most of you are like that. He eats it with great pleasure, gives thanks to the Lord, neutralizes any evil that might be in that food, and moves on: let us get on with what we came here to do.

So there is the dear brother who does not want to eat that food because of his conscience, watching the other brother dig his spoon into the stew, judging him and saying, “Hmm, if this man were a true evangelical, he would not do that, because he is contaminating his stomach,” and this, that, and the other. And as the other dear brother puts the spoon into his mouth, he looks at the first one and laughs at him, saying, “What a fool, missing out on such good stew.”

So the apostle Paul says that this is not how one should view the other. Rather, each of them should respect the other’s attitude. And here there is a very great spiritual truth: many times in the Bible there will be matters in which it is not clear what we must do. There is no absolutely decisive and one-hundred-percent clear word. In that case, we must instead learn to tolerate one another, grant one another a certain freedom in the Lord, and not put stumbling blocks in each other’s way.

So what we saw in that first part of chapter 14 is that the apostle Paul recommends that neither the person who feels free in the Lord to do certain things look down on the one who does not feel free, nor the person who does not feel free judge the spirituality of the one who has a little more freedom in the Lord. Instead, each one should recognize the other’s condition; they should tolerate one another and give one another room, because, after all, both of them are servants of the Lord, and the Lord will take care of each of them.

So that is what we discussed last Sunday, the last time we addressed this matter. Now, in verse 13, the passage we have just read, Paul introduces another very important point regarding these differences of opinion and spirituality among the people of God. Because it is true: there is a great deal of diversity in the churches. There are Christians who come from, let us say, a legalistic and very strict Pentecostal background, where sneezing during the service is a mortal sin. Others feel freer, have no problem with that, and feel that they have a little more room in the Lord. And there are other matters like that, because each person comes from a different culture and a different background. In that case, we have to learn how to manage the diversity that exists in the church.

Now, here in verse 13, the apostle Paul says, “...therefore let us no longer judge one another...”

Brother, neither you nor I have the right to judge anyone. To judge means to put an X on a person and say, “That person cannot be a Christian.” You are interfering in something that only God has the right to determine. There are things that seem to us to be a serious error or a sin, but you do not know all the details behind them.

Look, for example, at the time when Jesus was speaking with the Samaritan woman. He was preaching to that woman; He was evangelizing her. When the disciples arrived and saw Him talking with that woman, they were surprised, because you would never catch a devout Jew—especially a rabbi—talking with a woman, particularly a woman of ill repute like her, in a public place as Jesus was doing. If they had begun passing judgment and asking how the Lord could do this, and this, that, and the other, they would not have understood that at that very moment the Lord was opening the doors for the evangelization of an entire village, because that whole Samaritan community was converted through that particular woman.

Another example is when Mary poured the alabaster jar of perfume over the Lord’s head, wiped away the excess perfume with her own hair, and her tears fell upon the Lord. Simon the Pharisee was nearby, and what was Simon saying? He said, “This man”—speaking of Jesus—“if He were a prophet, would discern that this is a woman of ill repute and would not even allow her to come near Him.” But Simon did not understand that at that moment a mystery was unfolding, as Bob Bakke explained the time he preached here: this woman was preparing the body of Jesus Christ for His burial in a symbolic and spiritual way.

In other words, brothers and sisters, sometimes there are things God is doing in a person’s life that you can damage if you stick your spoon in too soon. A believer must exercise great care and great humility, allowing God to complete His work and giving things time before going out to judge his brother.

So the Bible says, “Let us no longer judge one another.” We have to stop doing that. In our church, we are going to decide that we will not be judging one another. Amen, brothers and sisters. That is for somewhere else, but not here, in the name of Jesus. There is no room here for gossip; there is no room here for murmuring; there is no room here for meddling in one another’s lives. Let God take care of it. Commend that person to the Lord, pray for him or her, and let God take care of it. God is powerful.

Sometimes I tell people, brothers and sisters, I tell them, “I cannot be getting involved in everyone’s private life and solving every problem that arises in the church.” First of all, I do not have the time; I do not have the energy, nor do I have the ability to be in more than one place at a time. So, as a pastor, I can pray; if it is possible and certain opportunities arise, I can confront and I can counsel. But I cannot be putting out every little fire or chasing after every mouse that appears in the church, trying to put it back into its hole. It cannot be done. But I commend my cause to the Lord. I pray for you; I pray for each of my brothers and sisters. And there are times when I say, “Lord, You know what You are doing. If that person is from You, keep them; if not, take them away in the name of Jesus. Either enlighten them or eliminate them,” as we say, right?

But one cannot be doing that. Sometimes the devil wants you to be continually peeking through a little hole to see what a brother is doing, and this, that, and the other. What for? God takes care of it. I know that, in the end, God is just and God is faithful; and if you do not conduct yourself in the proper way, the Lord will execute His justice in your life. I live with such confidence in that. I know that no one can harm this congregation because Christ is its owner; Christ is its captain. This church is not going to become defiled, be destroyed, or fall, because this church is founded upon the rock, not upon Roberto Miranda. The Holy Spirit sees to it that it remains clean. Every so often there is a cleansing, and God keeps it.... That is what we have to do: we must not be judging. In many cases, not even I have the right to do that.

Now, when there are obvious, gross violations that are harming the unity of the people of God, it is my responsibility to act. But beyond that, so many little things happen in any family that we have to give one another room. We cannot be judging one another; rather, what we must do is commend the need to the Lord. He will take care of it.

It says, “...let us no longer judge one another, but rather resolve not to put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in a brother’s way.”

That is where our energy should be invested. Rather, in making sure that I am not a stumbling block to anyone in the church. How many times, brothers and sisters, do people come to church—look, recently I went to pray for a brother during the time of intercession, and when he turned around to thank me, an incredible reek of liquor came off his breath. But look, do you think that scandalizes me? I say, glory to God because he is here. That is how I react at that moment. I say, glory to God because this brother is a brand plucked from the fire; I know his life, and I am not going to start criticizing that dear brother at that moment and extinguish him. If he is a tiger who is there solely by the mercy of God, I thank God that he came to church and that he is seeking the Lord, because I know where he comes from, and it is a miracle that he is there. I am going to pray for him, I am going to give him the Word, I am going to love him if I have an opportunity to speak, but I know that he is a work in progress. Do you see?

But there are churches where that happens, and they grab this dear brother and criticize him and do one thing to him and then another. He is not even a member of the church; I mean, he is not someone—he is on the outskirts, trying to recover, trying to enter into the ways of God. What rises up in me is a great desire for mercy, to cover him with the grace of God instead. Elsewhere, what we do, as Jesus Christ says, is make him twice a son of the devil; we cause him to stumble, we beat him down, and he leaves the church cursing and never wanting to return to a church again, straight into the arms of Satan. We cannot put stumbling blocks in people’s way.

There are many people in churches who put stumbling blocks in the way of souls. The Word of the Lord says, look, that it would be better for us to take a millstone, tie it around ourselves, and cast ourselves into the depths of the sea than to be a stumbling block to one of these little ones. Let us never attack anyone in a congregation. We can exhort one another, we can correct one another, we can give a fitting word of counsel, but always do it with humility, gentleness, love, and patience, watching yourself lest you too fall, as the Word says.

I believe that if we first looked at ourselves a little more, listen to me, we would be more afraid to go around shooting darts left and right, wouldn’t we? That is the spirit of Jesus Christ, and do you know what? That spirit often wins more people to the Gospel than the other spirit of constantly judging, criticizing, disciplining, and throwing stones. That is not of God.

Then Paul says, “...but rather decide not to put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in a brother’s way. Paul says here, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to the one who thinks something is unclean, to him it is unclean....”

Look, brother, that is one of the most profound things in Scripture: for the person who thinks something is unclean, it is. Do you know what? Many times, in fact, the Word of the Lord says in one place that if your eye is bad, it says, your whole body will be bad. If your mind is a guilty and fearful mind, you are going to see the devil even in your soup—in everything you do, in every little thing you do, you are going to think that the devil is there, that you have already sinned, that God has already sent you to hell, that you have already committed the unpardonable sin. And there are brothers and sisters who live like that all the time. They think—our mind is full of fear, full of paranoia, and we see sin in everything and believe that God is a bored old man who is always looking down from heaven through a telescope to see what people are doing so that he can hurl thunderbolts and lightning at them when they make a mistake.

Brothers and sisters, the way you conceive of God is the way your life will be. If you conceive of God as that loving Father, full of mercy and love, who wants you to pass the test, God is not trying to give you trick questions to see whether he can make you fail the test. God makes it easier for you to pass the test. I see God as being on my side, as doing everything possible for me to reach the finish line; rather, he is the one cheering me on, he is the Comforter who is there saying, keep going, keep going, you are going to make it, you can make it because you are with me. I will take you all the way to the end.

But for people who think that God is a surly God who is always judging people, their minds will be filled with complicated thoughts. I always ask the Lord, Father, cleanse my mind, purify my mind, and instruct my mind through the Word, so that I may see the heart of Jesus and understand how Jesus wants to relate to me, so that I may then know what to fear and what not to fear.

But I tell you one thing, brothers and sisters: the believer’s essential posture is one of freedom, joy, and peace. It is not a posture of judgment, guilt, or fear. And if there is fear in our lives, if there is anguish in our lives, if there is anxiety in our lives, if there is condemnation in our hearts and minds, the Word of the Lord says that where there is fear there is no love, because perfect love casts out fear.

So I have to say, Lord, what is the state of my mind; what is the state of my psychic, psychological, mental, and emotional foundation? What is my understanding of you like? Because that is where the root is. I have to go to this: what God do I serve, how does God see me, how do I see God, how do I understand God? Because everything else will flow from there. If I always think that everything is bad and that there is danger, then I will be full of anxiety. But if I think that God is my helper, my strengthener, that he has told me, ‘I will be with you every day until the end of the world,’ I can live confidently, I can live full of faith, I can dare to do new and different things, because God is my helper, my strengthener.

So Paul is referring to this there: there are people who think that if they eat, it is bad; if they do not eat, it is bad; if they miss church one day, well, it is bad; if they do not come to all six services, it is bad. I do not know, brothers and sisters; what I want to tell you is that you cannot live under condemnation. You have to ask the Lord to give you a positive attitude toward the Kingdom of God so that you can live in peace.

Do you not see what it says here in verse 17? It says, “...for the Kingdom of God is not food or drink, but what? Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit....” Hallelujah!

I want to say throughout my life that I have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. I want those to be the values that govern my relationship with God, my life with God. I want the platform on which I always stand to be a platform of peace, joy, and righteousness.

Now, righteousness means that I am aligned with the values of the Kingdom of God, that my life proceeds in accordance with the holiness of God, the uprightness of God, the divine commandments, and the values of the Word of God. When I am aligned with the Word of God, then I have peace, joy, and righteousness.

Now, what that verse also means is that sometimes we get lost in the details and forget the fundamentals. Sometimes a church splits over one tiny little thing: because drums are used, or because choruses rather than hymns are sung, or because a keyboard is played instead of a 24-pipe organ, or whatever, and churches split. And there are brothers who become enemies of another brother over one tiny little thing, over food or drink or whatever, and God says, ‘That is not what this is about. It is not about whether you observe this or do that—little things like that—but about great things, such as peace, righteousness, and love. That is what is important.’

Many times we divide a church over matters that truly make no sense and, in the end, are not that important. And many times what God says is, look, it is better for you to suffer the wrong; it is better for you to pay the price. And if that dear brother still owes you 50 dollars, do not go to the pastor and complain so that he will put that dear brother under discipline, while you go around ruining his reputation, becoming his enemy, and perhaps driving him out of the church. Look, it is better to lose the 50 dollars and entrust it to the Lord, because God is powerful enough to give you back 50 and even 100, and he will also collect it from him at some point. Do you understand? It is better to preserve the peace if possible, because the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy; that is what is important.

How many times, if we were wise, instead of going around confronting little things, would we say, Lord, you take care of that, and that allows there to be peace in the marriage, in the family, in the friendship, and at work. Do not worry about it; more was lost when Rome burned. So live your life and know that the Lord is always your provider.

Many times, brothers and sisters, if we understood that we are anchored in the sufficiency of God—in Christ I am rich, in Christ I can be generous with others, I can forget things, I can forgive things, because I have a Father who supplies me, gives to me, and blesses me. It is the person who feels miserable and feels that he has very little who is always demanding to be paid what is owed to him, whether in emotional terms, financial terms, or whatever. The generous person says, amen, forget about it, it is all right, may the Lord provide for me, and then there is peace in the home.

Now, why do I say all that? Because Paul says, look, food, drink, and feast days—whether they are observed or not—are little things; they are secondary. What is important is what is important. We must place the importance on the fundamental things in life.

Now, there is something else, and with this I will finish. What Paul is saying—and this is very fundamental—is that many times in the church there are people who are more liberal in their behavior than others. And, interestingly, Paul says that those people who feel more confident and more comfortable are the “strong,” while the weak are the people who are finicky and more careful when it comes to eating, drinking, and all of this. And Paul says, look, if you have the freedom to do something and your brother does not have that same freedom, be careful that through your freedom you do not offend your brother, cause him problems, or cause him inner conflict. Instead, make sure that the mercy of Christ always governs your actions, so that you are mindful of the other person’s sensitivity.

Look at what it says here, in verse 15: “...but if your brother is grieved because of food, you are no longer walking according to love....”

What does that mean? Well, in the case Paul is referring to, it is the brother who feels free to eat. But we could say it is the brother who feels free to have a glass of wine, or the brother who feels free to go to the movies, or the brother who feels free to dance with his wife at a party. He has to be careful that, by doing this, he does not harm others who are more sensitive about those things. And he should not do it simply because he can; rather, he has to think, okay, what does the spirit of Jesus Christ require of me at that moment?

The famous words of the Apostle Paul, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial,” were spoken in light of that subject. There are times when you can do things, and it is all right for you to do them in absolute terms, but when you stop to think about the consequences of what you are going to do for the people around you, perhaps Christian maturity and Christian love would make it better for you to refrain from doing what is legitimately yours to do.

How many times in marriage does the husband say, for example, no, I can come home whenever I feel like it because I am the head of the household and I am in charge here, et cetera, and I do not have to answer to anyone? And he comes home whenever he wants because he is the man of the house. Well, perhaps in an absolute sense you have the right to do that, because perhaps you are not doing anything wrong, et cetera, but the question one has to ask is, well, how does that affect my wife?

There are many marriages that would have fewer problems if both people were more considerate of the other person’s sensitivity. There are times when adjustments have to be made in life, not because what you are doing is wrong, but because those adjustments have to be made so that the relationship can function better.

And then one has to think, for example, that the same applies to children. The father or mother says to the daughter, look, do not wear that dress because it is too tight or too revealing or whatever. And the daughter says, no, Mom, it is just that you are out of fashion; you are old-fashioned. People wear this nowadays; that was back in your day, and who knows what else. And the girl goes out in that very dress, while the mother or father is left there with wounded sensitivities because that parent’s mind operates according to other patterns and other values, another interpretation of the Word of the Lord.

What should a son or daughter do in that case? Out of love for the mother, out of love for the father, out of love for his or her testimony in the home, and out of love for harmony, that child should find a way to honor his or her father and mother, and perhaps obey a little and say, all right, it is not what I want to do, but so that there may be harmony, and so as not to wound my mother’s or father’s conscience, I am going to adjust to that. Do you understand what I am saying, brothers and sisters?

Likewise, for example, let us say that, personally, it is no problem for me—and I say this with fear and trembling—to have a glass of wine with a good meal. I do not do it all the time, but I can do it. Now, I am careful if I know there is a brother who is offended; what is more, in a sense, I should not even say it publicly. But if there is a brother who is offended by the pastor having a little glass of wine because he did not know the pastor drank it, and suddenly it catches him by surprise, or if the brother used to be an alcoholic and now, when he sees the pastor having a little glass of wine, he is going to say, “Well, as soon as I leave here, I am going to the liquor store and buying myself six beers,” and those six beers end up becoming a case of twenty-four bottles because he does not have the self-control that perhaps the pastor has. So one has to be careful.

That is to say, the Christian’s freedom is always conditioned by love for others. Say yes or no? Amen. Never do things simply because you have the right to do them. Remember that you are part of the body of Jesus Christ. Think about how your actions affect others. Someone said, “None of us is an island; we are all part of a continent.”

Sometimes at work we do things and speak in a certain way, and sometimes we get upset and say whatever comes to mind because that is how we feel. But what about the little brother who is not mature enough to understand that you do not hate anyone either, but who says, “Wow, this is the brother who is a member of such-and-such congregation. Oh, well, if that is what being a Christian means, I would rather stay outside on the street.” Our testimony, right? How do my actions, my words, and my behavior affect the world around me, including the church?

In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks to the Corinthians. By the way, I think it is worth reading. I am almost coming in for a landing now, but these things are important because this is practical wisdom, brothers. The world would be much less violent if these truths from the Word of God were put into practice.

Look here, for example, in chapter 6 of First Corinthians. It says, “...Does any one of you, when he has something against another, dare to go to court before the unrighteous and not before the saints?”

Paul is criticizing the Corinthians, this congregation in the city of Corinth, because they were continually filing lawsuits against one another and taking one another to court. Taking people to court and filing lawsuits against them, by the way, is not something from the twentieth century; the same thing was already happening in the first century. So there were Christians who were taking other Christians from the same congregation to court over anything at all and giving the devil pleasure, so that people would say, “Look at those Christians—Christians who supposedly love one another in the Lord—and look at them taking one another to court,” right? The devil is always looking, and people are always looking, for excuses.

So Paul wrote to them and said, “Why are you taking one another to the courts instead of handling it before the saints?” In other words, let us wash our own dirty laundry at home. Let us not display our problems outside in the world so that people are not continually throwing stones.

And Paul says, instead of looking for a secular judge to resolve your problem, is there not enough wisdom among you? Listen, if in our marriages, in Christian friendship, and in the church we used that judgment, instead of my having to pay a lawyer or even a secular counselor, why not use the wisdom of the Word of God to resolve our problems peacefully in the Lord? How many problems would be resolved with fewer consequences?

Verse 2 says, “...Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge very small matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels?”

In other words, look, as Christians, brothers, one day we are going to have the privilege of sitting like a jury and even determining the eternal destiny of the angels themselves. Wow! Just thinking about that blows my mind. And Paul says, if you are going to judge matters so great and so important, can you not judge the smaller matters among yourselves?

It says here—and this is the point I am getting to—in verse 7, “...Now therefore, it is already a fault among you that you have lawsuits against one another”—look at what it says—“Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather allow yourselves to be defrauded?”

In other words, what Paul is saying is: Why do you not instead pay the price so that there will be no discord? You should absorb the problem instead and commit it to God, rather than always seeking to resolve matters in the courts out there. There are times, brothers, when losing for the love of the Lord means winning in the long run.

The Bible says that you heap coals of fire upon his head. You know there is tremendous power when you commit your cause to the Lord and say, “Father, I am not going to keep arguing or take people to court, nor am I going to destroy my marriage. Instead, I am going to sic the Holy Spirit on that man who behaves so badly, and You deal with him, Lord. And I am going to pray and heap coals of fire upon his head until his hair catches fire.” Do you understand?

Brother, that has tremendous power. When a woman of God says, “I am going to commit my cause to the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit,” and entrusts a man to God’s judgment, that person had better tremble, you know? Whether it is a woman filled with the Holy Spirit or a worker facing an unjust and exploitative employer, turn it over to the Lord, brother; commit your cause to the Lord. As we said last Sunday at the nine o’clock service, dare to believe.

If we fought less and knelt down and bent our knees more, the world would be transformed. Fewer shots would be fired; there would be less violence and less discord in the world and in the church. Let us not use our freedom to hurt others. Instead, many times let us commit our cause to the Lord and say, “Father, You know what? I am not going to use my freedom. If the brother is offended, that is fine. I will inconvenience myself a little, but I know that You will bless me in the long run.”

That is to say, there are many ways in the Christian life in which, out of love for others, we have to pay the price somehow. But you know that when you do it in the spirit of Jesus Christ, God says, “That is My son, My daughter. I am going to bless them.”

I have always used an illustration, and I will finish with it: the story of Abraham when he had his problem with his nephew Lot. Lot was a selfish young man, interested only in his own affairs, and there was a quarrel between the workers of both men because they had acquired a great many possessions, and one man’s livestock was having problems with the other man’s livestock. Both had a great deal of money; they were rich. Abraham called his nephew Lot, although he did not have to do so because he was the elder, and said, “Lot, you know what? Let us not have problems, because we are brothers; we are family. You know what? Let us do the following: Look, the land is very large. Let us go up a mountain, and you look at everything before you. If you choose to go north, I will go south; and if you go east, I will go west. But let there be no problems between us.”

Abraham was seeking peace, which is what we must always seek, because the Kingdom of God is peace, righteousness, it says, and joy. And then, you know, the story says—and you know it well—that Lot looked out for his own interests and saw the area toward Sodom. It says that it was the green region; it was the juiciest, finest, richest real estate of all, and he said, “That is where I am going.” “All right,” he said, acting as if it were no big deal, “all right, Abraham, I will take that part over there.” And Abraham said, “Amen, go ahead. No problem, brother.” And Lot went away as happy as could be. It says that at that moment the voice of God came to Abraham, who must finally have been left alone, and said, “Abraham, Abraham, look at everything around you. Look north, south, east, and west,” including the part Lot had chosen, and He told him, “I am going to give all of that to you.”

And you know what? Poor Lot suffered so much because of that land. You have heard of Sodom and Gomorrah. He lost his wife; his daughters turned out to be a disaster. He lost all his money. God had to drag him out by the hair because Sodom was completely destroyed. The person who is always seeking only what he is entitled to—my right, what I am, what I need, what I deserve—that person always fails. But the generous person who thinks about the higher values of the Kingdom of God is always blessed. God takes it upon Himself to defend that person’s interests, and that person is happy, someone who prospers in the long run and is blessed.

There is nothing like believing in a God who is just and faithful. Brothers, if we could enter into the mind of the Lord, we would know that nothing escapes God’s notice. Everything you do in the name of Jesus and out of love for Him, out of love for the Kingdom of God, and to preserve the peace of the Kingdom of God, God will repay you with interest. How many believe that this afternoon? Amen.

Let us be people of love; let us be people of mercy. Hallelujah! It is so difficult to live like that. Do not think it is easy to live like that. The very person telling you this has much to learn from what he himself is preaching. But that is what the Lord calls us to: to be people of mercy, to be people of peace, to be people willing to lose so that others may grow and be blessed, and to be people who know that above all of this the Lord is always watching, making sure that His children are never deceived, never defeated, and never ultimately lose.

If we live by the loving values of the One who emptied Himself, who did not cling to His own rights though He was equal with God, if we live that way in the spirit of Jesus Christ, then we too will experience in our lives the same thing Jesus Christ experienced: being exalted to the highest place. We will be exalted to the highest place and will also be able to sit beside Jesus, just as He is seated. That is how we want to live.

Let us stand. Let us say to the Lord, “Father, I embrace that strange, different value that the world cannot understand: tolerance, love, patience, compassion, putting myself in my brother’s place, inconveniencing myself so that someone else can grow and be comfortable, making myself a little smaller, decreasing so that others can grow—the value of the cross, which has so much power to enrich those who make themselves poor out of love for Jesus and love for others.”

That is the value we embrace today, Lord. And we say to You, help us live at that height, so great that looking down from its summit makes us dizzy, Father. But that is where we want to be, at that height, O God, in the spirit and attitude of Jesus—not judging one another, not looking down on one another, but bearing one another’s weaknesses and watching out for one another’s interests. Though it may be difficult, in the long run we will win and reflect the incomprehensibly sublime character of Christ Jesus.

Thank You, Lord; thank You for Your Word. We receive it, we receive it, we embrace it; we do not reject it—quite the contrary, Father. We know that although it is difficult to live it out, it is the truth, and in the truth there is freedom and there is life. Thank You, Lord. Amen and amen. May the grace of the Lord be with you, my brothers and sisters.