”Our Conscience” (Part 2) | 13th September 2026

Well, good morning. Please take your

Bibles and open them up to Romans

Romans 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14. Please take your Bibles

and open them up to Romans chapter 14.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

This morning we are going to stay in

Romans uh 14 together.

Let's pray and ask the Lord to bless his

word to us. Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for the words of the

song that we have just sung. He will

hold me fast.

Lord, as I was singing, I was just

recognizing if it was up to me to hold

on to you, I'm so weak and I would let

go. But you hold me fast.

We praise your name for all of those who

have trusted and believed in you as

savior. You hold us. You hold us through

suffering. You hold us through pain. You

hold us and keep us even when we are

prone to wander. Lord, you hold us. And

we thank you for that.

And so Lord, I pray as we hear your

word, use it as a means to hold us.

Use it as a means to keep us close to

you because we need you, Lord Jesus. We

need you this morning. And we pray that

you would speak to us

in your precious name. I pray. Amen.

So this week again we are going to be

speaking about the conscience. We spoke

about the conscience last Sunday. I'd

encourage you to listen to that if you

didn't get an opportunity. And we're

speaking again about the conscience. And

what is the conscience? Well, it's that

sense within us of what we believe to be

right and what we believe to be wrong.

That is our conscience. So, we'll look

at something that we are about to do and

our conscience will tell us that's

wrong. Don't do that. Or we'll look at

something that we're about to do and our

conscience will tell us that's right.

You should do that. And so, there is a

conscience, a God-given conscience, as

we looked at last week, that everybody

has in this room, whether you're a

Christian or not. You have this sense of

that's right and that's wrong. That's

your conscience.

What makes it complicated for us is that

our consciences can be different.

So maybe you're a Christian this morning

and you've been saved. The Holy Spirit

came and he opened up your heart and

your mind and he and he cleaned your

conscience.

And when he cleaned your conscience,

what happens often is that we then have

a a sensitive conscience. So then the

things that we believed were right

before we now think they are wrong. So

every Christian in this room has a

conscience that is renewed by the Holy

Spirit. And every Christian in this room

will agree with their conscience renewed

by the Holy Spirit on the big things,

the primary issues. So we will agree

that Jesus died, he was buried and that

he rose again. We will agree in the in

the virgin birth. We will agree that we

should gather together and worship and

sing and read the Bible. But guess what?

In case you didn't know already,

Christians don't agree on everything. Do

you know that? We don't agree on

everything. We all have clean

consciences before God. But we all have

different consciences.

Not maybe on the primary issues but

certainly on the secondary issues

and sometimes what happens even in the

church is that our consciences on the

secondary issues what happens our

consciences collide. So let me give you

an example and this is going to be

interesting because even naming some of

this this morning you're not going to

like me but that's okay. Let me talk

about this educating our children.

We all have a conscience as to how we're

to educate our children. Now, the

primary issue is solved. The primary

issue is solved. We probably should

educate our children. But how, when, and

where we educate our children, that we

have different consciences on. Some of

us believe that we should send our

children to Catholic schools. So, we'll

send our children to Catholic schools

because maybe, okay, maybe I don't agree

with the religion or whatever, but

there's high moral values. And so I see

the value in sending my children there.

Some of us will send our children to

Church of Ireland schools. Maybe we like

the ethos or whatever and and we say

they don't really push it too much. So

it's okay. I'll send my child there.

Some of us want to send our children to

educate together schools because they

don't push any one religion. They they

speak about them all and so we'll do

that. And some of us want to homeschool

our children because and rightly

speaking, we're we're worried about the

worldview that our children might be

taught in the schools. And so we as

parents want to teach our own worldview.

What happens when all those people are

in the same church?

We have different opinions. We have

different consciences as to what is

right or wrong. What the Lord will allow

us do, what where the Lord will allow us

send our children. So what's the

solution to that? When you have

different opinions and different

consciences within the church of what we

should do on the secondary issues, here

are the bad solutions that you can have.

Bad solution number one, I'll still talk

to the person with a different

conscience and opinion, but we just

won't talk about the hot topics.

Okay? So we'll But that's a bad

solution. That's the Irish solution.

Keep the peace, lads. Just don't talk

about the hot topics. Talk to them, but

don't talk about the hot hot topics. Bad

solution number one. Bad solution number

two, avoid the person and therefore you

won't talk about any topic. So they hold

this conscience, they hold this belief,

I know them, we're in the church, we can

sing together or whatever, but I'll just

stay away from them. Avoid them alto

together. That's a bad solution.

Bad solution number three is maybe I'll

find the church that agrees with me on

this secondary issue and we'll all have

the same agreement. Number one, it

probably doesn't exist that church. And

if they agree with you on your one hot

topic issue, they probably won't agree

with you on the others. So then what's

going to happen to you is you're going

to keep moving and moving and moving and

moving until you finally end up in

heaven where everybody will agree.

So this is complicated.

What's the solution to our complicated

consciences and opinions? The solution

is found in Romans 14.

While we're all arguing and debating as

to what we believe should be done on the

secondary matters, Paul is raising his

hand and says,"I have a better solution

than all of your terrible solutions."

And he's coming to the church in Rome.

And the church in Rome is this

hodgepodge of different people. It's

Jews and Gentiles together. It's

different cultures and different

nationalities. Does that sound familiar?

Different cultures, different

nationalities, all in the same church.

That's us. Paul is saying, "When you

guys get together, guess what? You're

not going to agree on everything."

So Paul puts up his hand in Romans

Romans 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 and says, "I have a solution

for you."

Romans chapter 14 verse 1.

Romans 14:1

As for the one who is weak in faith,

welcome him.

But not to quarrel over opinions,

one person believes he may eat anything,

while the weak person eats only

vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one

who abstains.

And let not the one who abstains pass

judgment on the one who eats,

for God has welcomed him. Who are you to

pass judgment on a on the servant of

another? It is before his own master

that he stands or falls,

and he will be upheld,

for the Lord is able to make him stand.

So Paul puts up his hand and we're going

to look at different verses in chapter

14, but I I want us to focus a lot this

morning on verses 1 to4. Paul puts up

his hand and says, "I have a solution to

these different consciences. What I want

you to notice first in in these verses

is is the two consciences that are

present.

There is the weak conscience and the

strong conscience."

Notice in chapter 14:E1 he says as for

the one who is weak in faith. Now when

he says the one who is weak in faith he

is not saying they are weak in their

saving faith. It's more like he is

saying they are weak in their practice

of faith.

They have a weak conscience or what

another way you could put it is they

have a strict conscience. They're very

strict in what they do in how they

practice their faith. That is the weak

conscience. And Paul talks about the

weak conscience specifically in 1

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 8 when he's talking

about food offered to idols. He says to

the strong people, listen, you need to

bear with the those who have a weak

conscience, who feel like they can't eat

that food. Bear with them. Be patient

with them because they have a weak

conscience. They have a strict

conscience which says I can't eat that

food. My conscience doesn't allow me to

eat that food. So you have to bear with

those who have a weak conscience. So

there are some who have a weak

conscience, a more strict conscience.

And then there are others who have a

strong conscience. And he names the

strong conscience in chapter 15 verse

one.

He continues this whole argument from 14

on to 15 verse one. He says, "We who are

strong have an obligation to bear with

the failings of the weak and not to

please ourselves."

So

all of those who have clean consciences,

who've been cleansed by the blood of the

lamb, we also have sensitive

consciences. We can sear those

consciences. And then what happens to

make it even more complicated, there are

some in the church who have weak

consciences, who are strict in what

they're doing. And there are some who

have strong consciences, who feel free,

much more free to live however they want

before the Lord within the confines of

scripture. So how do these weak and

strong consciences work? Well, it might

work like this for films or movies or

what you watch on Netflix or Prime.

All of us watch something, I'm guessing,

YouTube, Netflix, Prime, whatever. And

all of us can be addicted to it. You

know, Netflix when it finishes and it's

got five, four, three, two, one, and it

flips on to the next show. And then you

keep watching for way longer. And then

it's Saturday night and you know, you

have to wake up for church. you come in

groggy and he starts talking about the

conscience and you feel like oh I watch

watch too much. Well, you have to

determine within your own conscience

what you are going to watch, don't you?

And some of us some of us we have strong

consciences in terms of what we're going

to watch. We're more free in terms of

what we can watch. We're more free to

maybe watch violence or something like

that. We're we're more free. We don't

have as many rules and regulations. We

feel like we're free in Christ to watch

a lot. But to that person who has a

strong conscience, here is what I would

always say. You always need to match up

your conscience

with God's word.

Just because you might be believe it as

right in your own conscience, you need

to match that up with God's word in

terms of what he might say about use of

language, what he might say in terms of

sexual immorality. So you might have a

free conscience, but you always need to

measure that up with God's word, but you

are more free. That's the strong

conscient person. But then there are

those who have a weak conscience. And

they will say something like this. Just

in case I end up watching something

that's bad, I won't watch anything at

all. My conscience actually won't allow

me watch anything at all. That's the

weak conscience.

And to that person, you might say to

them, "Well,

maybe in Christ, God has given you a

little more freedom that you can watch a

a U-rated show or a G-rated show." And

so, so you come up and you you help kind

of push each other's consciences and

measure each other's consciences. And

yet, there is this reality in the

church. We will have some who feel more

free and we'll have some who are more

strict. We'll have different opinions

and different consciences in the church.

And the two opinions that they have, so

that's the two consciences, weak and

strong. And the two opinions that they

have are in relation to food and days.

The food opinion is in verse two. One

person believes that he may eat anything

while the weak person eats only

vegetables. So this was a specific Jew

gentile issue. One person says, "I'm

free. I'm free to eat whatever I want."

And they have a strong conscience. The

other person says, "Well, no, I need to

still o obey these food laws that are

there." And so so so I'm kind of more

strict.

So that's on the food. And then there's

also this reality of the days. Look at

chapter 14:5.

They had an opinion on the days. Chapter

14:5. One person esteems one day as

better than another while another

esteems all days alike. Each one should

be fully convinced in his own mind. So

when it comes to days, when it comes to

food, one's vegetables, one's all you

can eat. When it comes to days, one's

all the days and the other is like, "No,

only certain days."

So, it might be Sabbath days or Passover

days or whatever remembrance days for

them,

different consciences,

different opinions about food and days.

Now, while we might have different

opinions about the same food and days

that they have, guess what? We have

different opinions about food and days.

We do. We have different consciences,

different things that that allow us. So,

some of us after church, we're going to

go to the golden arches and get all the

Big Macs we like. And some of us will

say, "My conscience just doesn't allow

me do that."

Okay. So, so we have different opinions,

different consciences about what we're

to eat.

We also have different consciences about

what we are to drink.

Again, I I'm going to get myself in

trouble this morning. Let's see what

happens. Alcohol.

We have different consciences about what

Now, if you're not a Christian this

morning, this is going to sound really

weird and strange, but just to let you

know, Christians have opinions on

alcohol.

And so even though we're saved by the

same Holy Spirit, even though he has

renewed our minds and consciences,

you're going to have the decision to

make with your food and you're going to

have the decision to make in terms of

what you eat and what you drink. And

when it comes to drink, you basically, I

think, have have three options. You can

reject the alcohol,

you can redeem it, or you can replace

it. Now the governing principle over

alcohol is this in scripture. We don't

abuse it. So the governing principle

that we should all agree with is we do

not get drunk. That's the governing

principle for every Christian. But then

after that underneath that our

consciences will play out differently.

So one person in the church might say,

"Listen, I have to reject alcohol

and here's why my conscience their their

reasons might be this. Maybe I grew up

in it in an abuse or whatever. Maybe I

abused it myself, but I have to reject

alcohol. That's what some people will

hold in the church." Others might say,

"You know what? I'm going to redeem

alcohol. Here's what I'm going to do.

I'm I'm going to sit down with my

friends and I'm going to have a glass of

wine and and it allows me have a

conversation with my friends after work.

And so they seek to redeem alcohol. And

some might seek to replace it. Say, you

know what? I I really don't care either

way, but when I go out, I may as well

get a Heineken Zero or a Guinness Zero

or whatever and replace it. But still

the other person over on this side will

say I can't even get a can and drink the

zero because my conscience won't allow.

So what's the solution for all those

people with different consciences?

What's the solution?

Well, it's the same solution

that Paul gives to those here in this

passage with the different solutions or

different problems of days and food.

The solution he doesn't present to them,

notice the solution that Paul doesn't

present to them is this. Here's the

solution. Church at Rome, have two

different churches. Have the all you can

eat church and have vegetarian church.

He doesn't give them that option.

But some reason we think that's the best

option. If we don't get along, just

create new churches.

Vegetable church, all you can eat

church. Or the church says, "Well, I

don't feel free. We don't feel free to

split us up like that. So, here's what

we'll do. We'll do different times. The

vegetable guys will meet at 9:00 and

they'll all be happy. and the all you

can eat guys will meet at 11:00 and

they'll all be happy. Isn't it

wonderful? Don't we get on in Jesus? No.

What Paul says is an entirely different

solution than that. He doesn't say leave

so you can get on. He doesn't say change

the time so that you can get on. He

doesn't even say compromise your

conscience so that you can get on. He

doesn't even say that. That's

incredible.

He allows people still hold those

consciences in the same church. So what

is his solution? His solution

is this.

Chapter 14 verse1. As for the one who is

weak in faith,

welcome him.

That's his solution for the church.

Don't change each other

in the intimacy of your own conscience

on these secondary issues.

Open out your arms and welcome each

other.

Don't avoid each other just so you can

avoid the hot topics.

If there are people that you're avoiding

just so that you can avoid the hard

topics, here's here's here's my

challenge to you this morning.

Go and welcome them. Go with open arms.

I'm not sure if this Sunday would be

appropriate. You're like, "Open arms?

Oh, yeah. You know, it draws attention."

But go and welcome them with open arms.

I think we as a church, I actually think

we're quite good at welcoming new people

into the church. I think we're we're

okay with that.

As Jeda says, you are more than welcome.

But are we good at welcoming one another

when we have different consciences and

different opinions?

Do we open our arms out wide to each

other? You should.

If our Christianity is going to mean

anything, do you know why non-Christians

hate the church so much? It's because we

all look like a bunch of hypocrites. And

how do we look like a bunch of

hypocrites? Because we don't allow each

other live within our consciences. We

disagree. We fight. We split. We do all

that kind of stuff. And to the world

that looks foolishness.

Welcome one another.

That's his solution.

And he says, "Welcome one another not to

quarrel or fight over opinions."

The solution is welcome each other and

don't fight over your opinions.

Have you noticed in the church that

Christians tend to have opinions?

We do. We have an opinions about all

sorts of things. And I I wrote them

down.

We have opinions about songs.

Some of us want to sing hymns and some

of us want to sing modern Christian

songs.

We have opinions about the amount of

songs we sing. Some want to come in and

sing only two songs. Others want to come

in and sing 10 songs. We have opinions.

We have opinions about our meetings.

Some think we don't have enough

meetings. Some think we have too many

meetings. Some want to meet on Tuesdays.

someone to meet on Thursdays. Some want

to even meet twice on a Sunday.

We have different opinions on our

meetings. We have different opinions on

what those meetings should be. Some want

only prayer meetings. Some want only

Bible study meetings. Some want only

fellowship meetings. Some want

all-in-one meetings. We have different

opinions. We have different opinions on

membership. whether we should have it or

whether we shouldn't have it and how

members are to serve and how they

shouldn't serve and all those types of

opinions. We have different opinions on

youth club. We have different opinions

on sermons. We have different opinions

on children's ministries. We have

different opinions on Sunday services.

We have different opinions on times of

meetings and how long those meetings are

and how long or short the sermons are.

We have different opinions on Bible

translations and ministry methods. We

have different opinions about chairs and

how many chairs. And we have different

opinions about parking and and the day

away or a weekend away. And we have

different opinions about Christmas

services and Easter services. And we

have all of these different opinions in

this church. And you're probably asking,

Shane, are you talking about me? Yes, I

am.

I took out this morning the pastoral

machine gun and I went to try and shoot

absolutely every single one of you and I

do it in love because I love you.

You're to love one another as Christ has

loved the church.

We have different opinions and the

solution is not avoid one another. The

solution is open up our arms and welcome

each other.

The solution is open up our arms, he

says in verse three, and not despise

each other. The solution is open up our

arms, he says in verse three, and not

pass judgment on each other.

And then the person says,"Well, why

should I do that?"

It just sounds like a lot of work.

A lot of work to get along, doesn't it?

Why should we do it? The end of verse

three, look at what he says.

For God

has welcomed him.

Why should you welcome one another?

because God has welcomed you.

>> Paul has worked really hard in the book

of Romans to make that point that God

himself has welcomed you. In Romans

chapter 1:3, he makes this point that

all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God. There is not one

righteous, know not even one. And then

he goes to chapter five and says, "But

God has demonstrated his own love for us

in this, that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. That even

though we were sinners, God welcomed us

in Christ while we were still sinners."

And then he moves to chapter 8 and says

this, "There is therefore now no more

condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus." And then he comes along after

after 11 chapters of this glorious

rendition of the gospel that we have. He

comes to chapter 12 and he says this big

conclusion. Therefore, brothers and

sisters, offer your bodies as living

sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

And then he says,

welcome each other as God has welcomed

you.

This is the call for those who have

different consciences. The weak

conscience and the strong conscience.

And from there, as he continues on in

his argument in in chapter 14, I want to

just draw out, we're not going to go

through all the verses. You can read

chapter 14 when you go home today. I

want us to just draw out three

principles in relation to how we live

with our conscience. that sense of what

we believe to be right and wrong before

the Lord.

Principle number one is this. Follow

your own conscience. Look at verse five

again.

One person esteems one day as better

than another, while another person

esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully convinced in

his own mind.

Do you notice one person says all days

are the same?

Another person says, "Well, I'm

restricted in my days." One day, one

person has a free conscience. One person

has a very strict conscience.

And he says, "Part of the solution is be

convinced in your own mind.

Follow your own conscience. You're not

going to change another person's

conscience necessarily on the secondary

issues. He repeats this again. If you

turn to verse 23

in chapter 14, he says this about the

principle of following your own

conscience. But whoever has doubts is

condemned if he eats because the eating

is not from faith. For whatever does not

proceed from faith is sin. So if your

conscience is telling you don't eat this

thing, don't drink this thing, don't do

this thing, what this is encouraging you

to do is is follow your conscience. That

it might be sin in that instance to go

against your conscience.

So that's the principle, follow your own

conscience.

But the caveat to that is this.

Remember the two great commandments as

you seek to follow your own conscience.

Love the Lord your God and love other

people. So yes, follow your own

conscience, but don't say this is my

conscience and I don't care what God

says or what other people say. No,

follow your own conscience,

but love God.

So measure your conscience up against

God's word. Measure your sense of right

and wrong up against God's word. And

also as you seek to follow your

conscience,

remember to love others and know they

don't have the same conscience as you.

So that's principle number one, follow

your own conscience. Principle number

two, assume

a good conscience.

Assume the best in people.

If I were to critique Christians a

little bit,

I don't think we always assume the best

in people, assume the best in other

Christians.

Assume that they are following their

conscience by just basically their

conviction. We should assume a good

conscience. And here's why. Look at

verse six of chapter 14.

Listen to what he says in assuming a

good conscience.

The one who observes the day observes it

in honor to the Lord. The one who eats

eats in honor to of the Lord since he

gives thanks to God. While the one who

abstains abstains in honor of the Lord

and gives thanks to God. For none of us

lives to himself and none of us dies to

himself. For if we live, we live to the

Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord.

So then whether we live or whether we

die, we are the Lords.

For to this end Christ died and lived

again that he might be Lord both of the

dead and of the living. What is he

saying? As you look at the other person

and as they follow their conscience

about eating or the days, believe the

best. Look at the person and say they're

doing that to honor the Lord.

Don't always conclude that they're doing

that because they're legalists.

No, they're doing that because they want

to honor the Lord. Don't assume that,

oh, they're doing that because they're

abusing grace.

No, they're doing that because they

believe that that on that secondary

issue, that's the best way that they can

honor the Lord. Believe the best in

people.

Wouldn't that be wonderful if we were

that type of church that just believe

the best in people that that person is

trying their best to honor the Lord and

what they are doing. And so this happens

to us. We have different consciences not

in relation to just what we drink or

what we eat, but we also have different

consciences in relation to days.

So, as Christians, people have different

consciences as to what you're to do as a

family on Christmas Day.

As Christians, people have different

consciences as to what you're to do on

the Sabbath day or the day of rest. We

have different consciences on those

days.

And guess what? It's coming up to

October. Now, again, if you're not a

Christian, this is going to sound weird.

It's an in-house conversation, but here

it is. We're coming up to October. We're

coming up to Halloween.

And Christians have different opinions

about Halloween. Did you know that? We

have different consciences as to what we

should do on Halloween.

And as we think about our different

consciences,

I think we can think about it in those

three ways again.

You can reject, you can redeem, and you

can replace.

Some person in their conscience might

might look at Halloween and say, "It is

far too dark. It seems like it it has

pagan practices in it."

And so they choose within their own

conscience to reject.

You shouldn't laugh at that person.

That is that is a viable option.

in relation to scripture and how they

might see it. They might choose to

reject. The other person within the

church might choose to redeem and say,

"Wait, here's a minute where every

single neighbor calls to my house. And I

have an opportunity to have fun with my

kids and to welcome in all these

neighbors and maybe even share the

gospel. I'm going to redeem this day

because I never get to see my neighbors

anyway. We're always shutting the door.

We're always running away from rain. I

know we had a good summer, but we're

going to run away from the rain soon. We

always run away. We close the doors and

whatever. So maybe you kind of think

Halloween's a chance for me to redeem.

That's a viable option. Or other people

might say, I'm going to replace.

We're going to think of a different

event that we can do with our children

so that they can have fun on the day.

And so what we're going to do is we're

going to replace brothers and sisters. I

actually think all of those options are

quite viable under scripture. It is it

is a secondary issue. Where we get into

problems is when we make that secondary

issue a primary issue.

That's when we get into problems.

And so what are we to do with the person

who wants to reject and the person who

wants to redeem and the person who wants

to replace? What should we do in the

church? We should assume

that each one is doing it to honor the

Lord. Person who rejects, I think

they're doing it to honor the Lord. The

person who redeems, I think they're

doing it to honor the Lord. And the

person who replaces, I think they're

doing it to honor the Lord. And we don't

avoid people on that day. We don't avoid

opinions or hot topics. We engage and

welcome one another. And it's okay. And

I'll say this carefully. It is still

okay, I think, to kind of push each

other's consciences.

Are you thinking about it this way?

Here's why I do it that way. And yet you

end with love.

The third principle then is this. So the

first is follow your own conscience. The

second is assume a good conscience. And

the third is love with your conscience.

Verse 13, it says this. Therefore,

verse 13, chapter 14, 13. Therefore, let

us not pass judgment on one another any

longer, but rather decide never to put a

stumbling block or hindrance in the way

of a brother. I know and am persuaded in

the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean

in itself, but it is unclean for anyone

who thinks it is unclean. For if your

brother is grieved by what you eat, you

are no longer walking in love, by what

you eat, do not destroy the one for whom

Christ died.

So there might be a person who says, I'm

free to eat,

but they might be with the ve person

who's saying only vegetables. They might

be sitting down for a meal. And the

strong person might understand that for

the weak person, this is going to be

really hard if I get a medium rare

steak. This is going to be really hard

for them. So, do you know what the other

person, Christian person does in love?

They say, "Give me the biggest bowl of

vegetables you have." Even though this

person is free to have the medium rare,

they're sitting down with a person who

says, "I'm not free. I can only eat

vegetables." and they say, "Well, give

me the biggest bowl of vegetables, then.

I don't want to be a stumbling block. I

want I want to love this person." Well,

now that person who is strong and eats

the medium rare steak, they shouldn't

have to feel like every time they eat

out just for the sake of this person

that they should get the medium rare.

But there are those occasions where

you're specifically present together.

So, I'll give you an example. We had a

guest speaker coming over for a

conference and he came over and he said,

"Guys," he's from America. He said, he

said, "Guys,"

he said, "I really want to have a

Guinness. I'm in Ireland. I want to have

a Guinness, but he understood that we

were Irish pastors."

And he says, "But I want to make sure.

Are you okay? Would this go against your

conscience? Have you decided not to

drink? Are you okay? or or potentially

would would someone from your

congregation kind of walk past or

something or or would that cause you

harm in any way?

He asked the question. He loved even

though his conscience was free to order

whatever pint he wanted. He loved with

his conscience.

Love one another with your conscience.

That is the principle. Ultimately, what

we want is we want things to be black

and white. Are you a black and white

person? Are you a black and white

Christian? We love things to be black

and white. We would love Paul to say to

one of those groups, just change.

We'd love him to say to the vegetarians,

you can eat all the meat you want. EVERY

ALL THE FOODS ARE ARE clean now. Just

eat. Stop being wasters. Come on. We're

the black and white people.

Give us an answer, Paul. He doesn't. He

says, "You follow your conscience. You

follow your conscience. Stay in the same

church and love each other because of

Christ and the gospel." Isn't that

glorious?

It's glorious.

We are a church that's entirely

different. Different personalities,

different nationalities. We would be so

weak if we just gathered together a

church with our own personalities. We

would be so weak if we just gathered a

church together with our own

nationalities. No. What shows the gospel

is this? That we're all together as one.

Every tribe, every tongue, every nation,

and we worship him even though we're

different. Because one day, guess what?

In heaven, every tribe and tongue and

nation will bow and worship him. Then I

know in heaven we're going to get along.

And until then, let us love one another

with our conscience.

And Paul, he finishes by saying these

wonderful words.

Chapter 15 verse one. This is how he

finishes. Listen to the word.

We who are strong have an obligation to

bear with the failings of the weak and

not to please ourselves. Let each of us

please his neighbor for his good to

build them up. For Christ did not please

himself. But as it is written, the

reproaches of those who approached him

who approached you fell on me. For

whatever was written in former days was

written for our instruction, that

through endurance and through the

encouragement of the scriptures, we

might have hope.

May the God of endurance and

encouragement grant you to live in such

harmony with one another in accord with

Christ Jesus that together you may with

one voice glorify the God and Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, listen

to this. Therefore, welcome one another

as Christ has welcomed you for the glory

of God.

Brothers and sisters,

what do you do with a person who has

different parenting style than you?

Welcome them as Christ has welcomed you.

What do you do with a person who is a

different personality than you? Welcome

them as Christ has welcomed you.

What do you do with a person who has a

different opinion on different days,

different meetings, different sermons,

different Bible translations?

Welcome them as Christ has welcomed you

and do it all to the glory of God. Let's

pray.

Lord, we thank you for your scriptures.

We thank you for your word.

We pray that you'd help us as your

people to be those who would welcome one

another even when we have different

opinions and different consciences and a

different way of looking at life. May we

love one another well for the glory of

God. Amen.

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