Balancing Liberty & Love

Well, with any form of communication, there is an amazing potential for misunderstanding. You know, there are at least four levels of communication. There is what the speaker intends to say. What he's thinking, same as true of any written communication as well. But what the speaker intends to say, what he's thinking, and then there is what the speaker actually says, which I can assure you is not always what he's thinking. Then there is, on the part of the here, what the here hears the speaker saying. And the here may not hear what the speaker intends by what he's saying. So the breakdown can happen there. And then after some reflection, there is a fourth stage in communication. And that is how the here interprets what he has heard the speaker to say and mean. Anywhere along that line, communication can break down. Sometimes it's the fault of the speaker. One lady was trying to sell magazine subscriptions for a Christian magazine in her church, and she made this announcement. Let's all subscribe this month so we can all expire together. Sometimes the problem is with the speaker. Sometimes the problem is with the hereer. Two friends were talking one day about the economy and one friend said to the other, do you know what the gross national product in our country was last year? And a 10 year old son who was overhearing that said, spin it. Sometimes the problem is with the hereer. But at any one of those points, communication can break down. Now, a few weeks ago, actually three weeks ago, we began talking about an area that is very delicate. And that adds another layer of complexity to communication. The area of delicacy that we've been talking about is the area of Christian liberty, of Christian freedom. We've been working our way through the book of Romans on Sunday morning, taking a journey with the Apostle Paul as he pins a letter to the Romans. And three weeks ago, we started into Romans 14. We sometimes face these kind of interruptions with other things that happen in our schedule. And so it's been three weeks. So I think it's necessary that we do just a little bit of review. As we talk this morning, pick up in Romans 14 talking about balancing liberty with love. It's, I think it's very important that we do just a little bit of review because again of the potential for misunderstanding. With areas of Christian liberty, when we talk about Christian liberty and Christian freedom, we're talking first of all about areas where there is no specific command in scripture. Okay, this is not, this is not something that the Bible clearly says, thou shalt or thou shalt not. This is not something where the Bible clearly speaks about something we should or should not do. This is not an area of doctrine. This is an area where we have the freedom to form our own convictions and God gives us that freedom to form our own convictions. Now, when that happens, we may differ with one another. One person may come to a certain conviction on an issue, another person may come to an entirely different conviction on that same issue. And that's okay, Paul is going to say, that's okay. Now, when that happens, there can be some conflict, there can be some difficulty. And Paul gives us some principles to know how to deal with those conflicts and those difficulties in Romans chapter 14. I want to make very clear what we're talking about. Last time we were in Romans 14, I gave some specific illustrations, some instances of the kinds of things I'm talking about. So I want to just review those real quickly. Some of them are not issues at all with most of you, some of them may be. These are all issues I have faced in ministry throughout the years. For instance, whether or not ladies should wear slacks, whether or not ladies should wear slacks to church, whether or not a Christian should eat an arrest warrant that serves alcohol, whether or not a Christian should actually partake of alcohol in moderation, for instance, glass of wine with dinner, whether or not one should eat in the church building. That's an issue with some folks, whether or not you should attend the theater, whether or not contemporary Christian music is acceptable or other forms of music are acceptable. How you observe holidays as a believer, do you observe Christmas, do you observe Easter, do you have Easter basket, do you let your kids go trick or treating, you know, things like that, Christians differ on those, those issues, translations, which translation is best for a believer. Education, public school, Christian school, home school. What is acceptable or not acceptable on Sundays? Is it okay to play ball on Sunday afternoon, okay to wash your car on Sunday afternoon, okay to mo your yard on Sunday afternoon, or are those taboo, Christians differ on those kinds of issues? Is it okay to wear certain fashions, to have certain hairstyles, even the use of wealth for those who God has blessed with that? Is it all of those issues and many more are issues the Bible does not specifically address by way of a command or principle and we are free to form our own convictions in those issues. And I've not listed a lot of them. I remember the first time I ever became confronted with this and ran head up against it in my ministry was, was many years ago when I was pastoring in the 70s in North Carolina. I was just a young man, I started pastoring when I was 21 years old, I had a lot to learn. And so we're doing a church directory and we had a guy come up to me when we announced we're doing this church directory. The church had never done that before and so we were doing one and he came up to me and said, John, that's the first step toward liberalism. You will not have my family's picture in that directory. And it really stunned me. I thought he was joking at first, but he was solid in that conviction. He thought it was too much social stuff in the church. This is a fine, godly man. In many ways a strong believer, but he had a real strong conviction in that area. Now does the church say thou shalt have a church directory or thou shalt not have a church directory? Of course not. But it's an area where we may differ, may have differences of opinions and convictions and so forth. I want to make it clear. So there's no misunderstanding. I want to make it very clear this morning that we're not talking about doctrinal issues. We do not have the liberty to choose what to believe on the deity of Christ or the inspiration of scripture or the second coming of Christ. By the way, as I hope you know, but now it didn't happen last night. So the Bible teaches some very clear things about those doctrinal issues and many others. And we're not at liberty to choose. There is a right and wrong on those kind of doctrinal issues. I want to also make it clear that I'm not talking about issues where the Bible has clear commands about right and wrong. Without shout not lie, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's possessions. Okay, those are clear issues of sin. I'm not talking about those issues. I'm not preaching pluralism and relativism that everything is up in the air and what's right for you. It's right for you. It's not right for me. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about issues where the Bible does not give us a clear command. And we have the freedom given to us by God to form our own convictions. I also want to make very clear that I'm not talking about children who are still under the authority of their parents. You have no freedom. You have no liberty. Let's just get that straight right up front. As long as you are under the authority of your parents, you're to abide by their convictions. Okay, now hopefully and listen up parents, hopefully by the time your parents, your children, what a Freudian slip that was. By the time your children reach middle teenage years, you should begin teaching them how to make those kind of choices so that they can at the time they get out on their own, they'll know how to make decisions on these kinds of issues and they'll not be at the women fancy of the crowd around them. They'll have wisdom and maturity to know how to make those decisions. But as long as they're under your roof, children, if you're 13 years old, don't go up to mom and dad say, I can choose my own decision on whether or not to do this or that or the other. No, you're under the authority of your parents still. Okay, I want to make that very clear. Now, Romans 14. Last time when we were in Romans 14, we saw that Paul gives us four principles for dealing with these issues of Christian liberty. We saw principle number one, principle number one is guard your attitude and we saw that Paul talks about three attitudes in the first three verses that we are to have toward one another. He talks about the strong brother and the weak brother. Let me do just a little bit of review there as well. Remember the stronger brother is the brother who understands that these issues are issues of Christian liberty. That they're not dogmatically stated one way or another in the scriptures. And so we have the freedom of the liberty to choose to form our own convictions. That's the stronger brother. The weaker brother is the brother whose conscience or whose faith Paul says here may be weaker in these areas. In other words, his faith may be weak to the point that he does is faith in Christ does not yet give him the confidence and assurance that these are issues of liberty. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 8, he may be weak in conscience. May have an over sensitive, sensitive conscience where the Bible gives us freedom. And so he forms very strong convictions about things. The Bible says that shouldn't be an issue. Paul also says that he may be weak in knowledge. He may just not understand the word correctly. And thus his understanding of the Bible forms him to or causes him to form real strong convictions on things. The Bible doesn't really speak that strongly about or Paul says he may be weak in his will. He may be influenced contrary to his own convictions, not have the strength of will to stick by what he believes God wants him to do. Those are the ways in which the weaker brother is described. That brother, like the one I mentioned in the church in North Carolina, very strong Christian, godly man. But weaker brother in the sense of this issue of Christian liberty. The person can be very strong in many ways and be called the weaker brother in this area. So we got the stronger brother, the weaker brother. And Paul says, okay, here are the proper attitudes you should have toward one another. First of all, to the stronger brother acceptance. Except welcome the brother that has stronger convictions than you. Welcome them. Don't get down on welcome accepted. Also for the stronger brother, he says that you should have the attitude of humility. Don't look down on your brother. Don't become descending to him or to her. Have humility in that area. And then the third attitude that we should have is addressed to the weaker brother. And that is an attitude of grace. Don't condemn. Don't criticize over these issues. Show grace to one another. Okay, so those are the proper attitudes. Now, here's where we left off last time. We're going to jump right in now. I thought you were already into this message. I am, but the little review needed because of the subject matter. Okay, what are the reasons for these attitudes? Paul gives us three reasons why we should have these attitudes of acceptance, humility and grace toward one another in Christian liberty. The first reason is this. Verse three, God has received him or her. God has received. Look at verse three of Romans 14. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not. And the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does. I remember the issue was whether or not to eat meat in the Roman church. Call some people from a Jewish background would say, wait a second, I don't know if that meat's been prepared correctly and still kind of carrying their Jewish background with them. And so they might have a strong conviction. I shouldn't eat meat. Others would say, what's the problem? God's made all things clean. No issue here. And they came to different convictions on that issue. God says, don't look down on the one who doesn't eat, don't judge the one, condemn the one who does and then notice these next words for God has accepted him. God has accepted who? Which one? I mean, every one of us in this room would have liked to know which one is it that God's accepted. I don't want to be in the other crowd. Paul left it imperposely ambiguous because it's both. God has accepted both. God has accepted the one who understands the issue of Christian liberty, doesn't have a problem with eating meat. God has also accepted the one who has the stronger conviction, personal conviction that he shouldn't. God's accepted both. Who am I to say I know more than God? So I'm not going to accept you. You know, it's been my experience that most problems in churches are caused over these kinds of issues and disagreements between brothers and sisters over these kinds of issues. Do I know better than God? When I disagree with a brother and calls division and contention over an issue like this, I'm saying I know better than God. I don't accept you. Well, God accepts him. God accepts her. So why should I do any different? Most problems between churches who separate from each other are over issues like this. Now, if it's a clear doctrinal deviation, we have a right to withdraw fellowship from another church. But if it's over these kinds of issues, no. Why? Because God's accepted them. Why should I accept them? So these are not to be issues. We're to have these kind of attitudes of acceptance and humility and grace because God has accepted them. Second reason for these convictions or these attitudes in verse four is we have only one master. Verse four says, who are you to judge someone else's servant to his own master? He stands or falls and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. Now, there's when I get to the point where I'm starting to criticize somebody, I need to remember that I am not to judge someone else's servant. We only have one master. It's not me. It's not you. It's the Lord. He is our master. And so I'm not to judge someone else's servant. Again, remember in the context, talk about these issues. If someone denies the deity of Christ, then I have a right to make a judgment there because that's a clear biblical issue. But when someone disagrees over issues of Christian liberty, we are not to judge, criticize, condemn, look down on. Why? Because? Because God says you only have one master. And God is able to deal with us. That's what Paul means at the end of the verse where he says he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. God is able to deal with us on our own convictions and personal preferences and issues. He's able to convince us that maybe we haven't chosen wisely or maybe we need to reconsider. God is able to deal with that. Don't you be a self-appointed judge over someone? God is his master. God is her master. He'll take care of that. Second reason we should have the right attitudes. Third reason we should have the right attitudes in verses five and six. Paul says there are legitimate differences. There are keyword legitimate differences. Look what he says in verse five. One man considers one day more sacred than another. Another man considers every day alike. He raises a different issue here. He's kind of gotten away from the issue of meats and he's raising a second issue that would have been an issue in the Roman church because of Jude Gentile difference in background. One day one person considers one day more sacred than another. That obviously would be someone from a Jewish background. They had all kinds of special days in the Old Testament prescribed by the mosaic law. Feast days, Sabbath days, festivals, days of celebration and worship like the new moon every month and those kinds of things they would celebrate that special holy days. Now a Jew coming out of that background might fully understand I'm no longer into the mosaic law. I don't have to fulfill those days. But I may choose to in a different way. I may still see the Sabbath days special time or I may still see the Passover as a special time to remind me of God's deliverance and salvation. So a Jew might say I'm going to still observe the Passover but not in the way of the mosaic law. I'm not going to offer sacrifices. I'm just going to observe the day. It's a special day to me. And a Gentile might look at him and say are you completely out of your mind? What are you doing? Special days to a Gentile would be days associated with paganism, with pagan religions. And they would say wait a second, every day is a like. You know, God is the Lord of every day. I can honor him on every day the same. By the way, the same issue happens today with Sunday. There are many people who believe that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. I think that's an issue of being weak in knowledge. The Bible doesn't teach that. Exodus 31, study it sometime. The Sabbath was for Israel only. It's not for the church. Sabbath was for Israel only. And yet there are some people who take the Sabbath laws and apply them to today or Sabbath rules or regulations or traditions about what you can and cannot do on Sunday. Now you may have a certain particular conviction about, you know, I'm just not going to wash my car on Sunday or momma yard on Sunday. And that's fine for you to hold as a personal conviction. But don't make that a test of spirituality for your brother who may consider every day alike. And say, yes, Sunday is a Lord's day and I'm going to worship him. But on Sunday afternoon, I'm going to momma yard. Do you believe that you can mow your yard to the glory of God? Of course you can. Paul says, whatever you drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So I can mow my yard to the glory of God, which means personally, I would have the freedom to do it on Sunday. Now I've chosen not to because I may offend some people who my neighbors who say preacher, he's mowing, I've just chosen not to raise that issue. But I have, and we'll see that principle later about restraining your liberty when that's wise. But I have the complete freedom to do that. You see, one person says, certain days are special. Another says, every day is alike. Now notice God's conclusion on that issue, the end of verse 5, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Now for some of you, that's going to blow your mind. What God is saying is you form your own conviction on that. I'm perfectly satisfied with that. You form your own conviction. It's an area of freedom, area of liberty. You form your own conviction on whether or not there's one special day a week or every day is alike. You form your own conviction on that. Now some of you, you're thinking, no, no, wait a second, my whole world's come crashing down. I thought everything was black or white. Not in these areas. There are some gray areas. Please. So there's no misunderstanding communication here. I'm not talking about doctrine. I'm not talking about clear commands or scripture. There is right and there is wrong in those areas. There are absolutes in those areas. But in the areas where God gives us freedom to make our own choices and form our own convictions, there are gray areas. And God says, you just be settled in your own mind. Have your own conviction. Make sure it's what you believe the Lord wants you to do. Let it go with that. He says, I'm fine with that. You say, what's your name? Where does he say I'm fine with that? Look at verse six. Verse six. He who regards one day a special does so to the Lord. He who, and he goes back to the other issue here, he who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. And he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. What he's saying is if your heart is right with God and you are honestly seeking with your life to discern the will of God and to please him with your lifestyle and your choices, I'm good with both of you. You may have differing convictions, but I am pleased with both of you. So the gentleman who says, I will not mow my yard on Sunday. That for me, that's just a personal conviction. I don't think that's right for me. Sunday's a date of arrest and so far I'm just not going to do that. You know, God can be pleased with that. If you, in your heart, you're right with God. For the guy who says, I have the freedom to mow my yard on Sunday afternoon. It's not going to keep me out of church. I'm going to honor the Lord's day. But I'm going to mow my yard on Sunday afternoon. If you've come to that conviction with your heart clear before God, God says, that's fine. I accept you too. You see, the Lord is telling us here that because there are legitimate differences, we can come to differing convictions on these issues of liberty and freedom. So guard your attitude. Guard your attitude. Paul makes very clear. That's the first principle. Very important. Let's move on to the second principle for dealing with areas of Christian liberty. And don't start squirming. You can tell already we're not going to get done today with Romans 14. And I'm not going to try to, but this is so important because there's so many problems in churches over these issues. Second principle. Remember to whom you answer. Remember to whom you answered verses 7 through 12. Paul reminds us to whom we answer for our lives. First of all, in this life, he tells us to whom we answer. Verse 7. For none of us lives to himself alone. None of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. That's the key issue right there. Whether we live or die, whatever life brings, we belong to the Lord. He is the one to whom we answer. And he summarizes that in verse 9. For this reason, for this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. Paul's point is this in this life I answer to the Lord. Now, little balance here, a little bit later, we're going to see there is a sense in which we are accountable to one another in these issues. We do have some accountability to each other. But ultimately, we answer to the Lord. I have got to be concerned that my life is pleasing to Christ. And whatever decisions I make, even in debatable issues or issues of liberty, I've got to make sure I'm trying to do what is best for my testimony and what is best for my testimony may not be the same for what's best for your testimony. But I've got to make sure I'm trying to please the Lord because I answered to him in this life. But I also answered to him in the next life. I'm not only belong to the Lord in this life. So whatever I do in this life, I belong to him. But also in the next life and Paul deals with that. Verses 10 through 12. Look at verse 10. You then why do you judge your brother? That question is asked to the weaker brother. Why are you judging and condemning your brother who exercises freedom, liberty and an area you don't? Why are you judging him? Second question is addressed to the stronger brother there in verse 10. Or why do you look down on your brother? Why do you have a condescending attitude on your brother that may have more strict, more narrow convictions in this issue? Why are you looking down on? Why are you? Why are you condemning him? God's calling us up short about our attitudes again. And he says you should not judge or condemn for this reason. Look at it, verse 10. For we all will stand before God's judgment seat. Now the judgment seat of God or the judgment seat of Christ mentioned three times in the New Testament, by the way, is for believers. It is only for those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their savior. Unsafe people will not be there. Unsafe people will be judged later at a judgment called the Great White Throne judgment that's described in Revelation 20. But every believer, every child of God will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of God. It will happen after the rapture. Doesn't happen right after you die and go to heaven, happens after the rapture. After the rapture, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will give an account for our lives. When I give an account for my life, you are not going to be sitting on the judgment seat. Christ is. I'm not going to be sitting on the judgment seat for you. You will not give an account to me. You will give an account to Christ. That's Paul's point. This is a very individual judgment. I will not give an account for how you live your life. I will not have to answer for your personal convictions on issues of liberty. I will have to answer for mine. You will not answer to Christ for my convictions. You will answer for yours. That's why Paul makes such an important point of this being an individual judgment. We will all stand before God's judgment seat. Notice how personal this is verse 11. It is written, as surely as I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow before me. Every tongue will confess to God quoting from Isaiah 45. It's an individual judgment and he summarizes it in verse 12. So then each of us, each of us individually will give an account of whom, of himself to the Lord. I'm not going to give an account for you. I don't answer for you. I answer for myself and I answer to Christ both in this life and in the next life when we stand before him in judgment. So principle number two for understanding these issues of liberty and freedom is recognize to whom you answer. You see that will go a long way to helping you in dealing with brothers and sisters. Ultimately, although we have an accountability to each other and we have a responsibility as we'll see in a moment not to hurt the weaker brother, we ultimately answered to Christ alone. For our convictions in these issues. Okay, third principle Paul begins and we'll just start this this morning. Paul begins in verse 13 to describe the third principle which is very important and that is restrain your liberty when necessary. Restrain your liberty when necessary. Look at what he says. Verse 13 and 14 he addresses the principle of restraint. He explains the principle of restraint. What this means? Verse 13, look at it. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Okay, there he's summarizing what he said in the first 12 verses. Remember the principle of viable interpretation. Whenever you see it, therefore you go back to see what it's there for. He's talking about the first 12 verses. Therefore, since we should be guarding our attitude, since we should remember to whom we answer. Stop passing judgment on one another. By the way, that goes both ways. It's not just saying to the weaker brother, stop criticizing the brother who has more freedom. It's also saying to the stronger brother, stop looking down on and condemning your weaker brother. Stop passing judgment on one another. Rather or instead, he says, which is a clue that he's heading into a new principle here, instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. Okay, we've dealt with how to guard your attitude. We've dealt with recognizing to whom you answer. Now here's a third principle and that is restrain your liberty when necessary. It's interesting the way Paul says it. Paul says here, uses two different words. He says, don't put any stumbling block. That is a careless unintentional hurting of another brother stumbling block. When he uses the word obstacle, that's a word that's used for a purposeful laying down of something in another person's path. It's the kind of attitude that says, I don't care what you believe. I'm going to do what I know is right to do for me. I don't care about you. Paul says, don't you dare do that. Don't you do that to your weaker brother. You have a responsibility either unintentionally or intentionally not to cause him to stumble. What Paul is saying is this. I am not to cause my weaker brother to go against his own conscience because he looks up to me or respects me or as a friend of mine or could be influenced by my actions. I am not by my actions to cause him to sin against his own conscience. Look at how he addresses it in verse 14. He gives us an example that will help us here. He says, as one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. I was, Paul is saying, I'm in Christ. I'm not under the mosaic law anymore. I understand that God has made all food clean. Jews don't have to worry anymore about the food laws. But notice what he says next. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. In these issues of liberty and freedom, if someone has a strong conviction about something, for him to violate that would be wrong. That's what Paul is saying. And for me to cause him to violate his own conscience would be wrong of me. You see, if a person goes against his own conscience in these kinds of issues, he will also go against his own conscience in issues where the Bible is clear and the Holy Spirit is telling him, don't go against this. Now, as that brother gets stronger in his understanding of the word, he should be able to distinguish between issues of conscience and issues of command. But when he's in the position of a genuine weaker brother and could be influenced by me to go against his own conscience, then I'd better restrain my liberty. I'd better back off my use of liberty. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. How far do you take this? Does this mean that my conduct is going to be controlled by the narrowest, strictest person in the church? Not necessarily. Let me see if I can help us out a little bit here. There are three kinds of people that you may encounter in these issues of Christian liberty. Only one of the three is the weaker brother. Let me use the example that I've just used with Moengu yard on Sunday afternoon. Let's say you have a personal conviction that Moengu yard on Sunday afternoon is not a problem. Every day is alike. I can honor the Lord even in Moengu yard. I can glorify Him and praise Him while I'm Moengu yard. I don't have a problem with that. So I'll move my yard on Sunday afternoon. It's not going to keep me out of church. I still honor the Lord's day. I can honor Him with my activities. Not a problem for me. You have liberty to do that. Let's say another brother has a conviction otherwise. If that is a genuine weaker brother, and he has a strong conviction that that would be wrong for him to do. But because he looks up to you or maybe he's your neighbor, and he might be tempted to go against his own conviction, you better restrain your liberty. If he's a genuine weaker brother, there's a responsibility on the part of the weaker brother to grow in knowledge of the word of God so that the conscience is not so easily offended. But as long as the conscience could be offended and he would go against what he believes is right, then restrain your liberty. That's one person, kind of person. Second kind of person is a brother who may hold a different conviction from you, but he understands it's an area of liberty. He just has the personal conviction. He's not going to mow his yard on Sunday. He doesn't mind if you do. He's not going to criticize you. Not going to condemn you. You don't need to restrict your liberty for him. Go ahead and mow your yard. The third kind of person you may encounter with different convictions is the legalist. You've got the genuine weaker brother. You've got another brother who just disagrees with you, but understands it's an area of liberty. The third kind of brother is the legalist. This is a kind of person who says not only is it wrong for me to mow my yard, it is wrong for you to mow your yard on Sunday afternoon, you he, then you pagan, you ungodly person. I'm more spiritual than you because I don't mow my yard on Sunday. What makes a person really spiritual is not mowing your yard on Sunday. I'm really there. You're out to launch your own spiritual. That's a legalist. That's a person who doesn't understand issues of liberty and he will condemn you. He will judge you and he will think himself to be more superior to you spiritually because he observes certain rules. That's the legalist. You do not have any need to restrain your liberty for the legalist. Go ahead and mow your yard. Did Jesus restrain his liberty because of the Pharisees? No. I mean, Pharisees accused him of all kinds of stuff. The Pharisees actually accused him of being a drunkard because he ate in situations where alcohol was served. Did he restrain his liberty? No. Because of Pharisee, you will never convince otherwise unless you know he gets saved. Sorry. Unless he gets right with the Lord. A legalist is going to hold his position and condemn you regardless of what you do. So go ahead and exercise your liberty. But if it is a genuine weaker brother, maybe a new believer whose conscience, whose knowledge of the word of God hasn't yet fully developed in these areas, or maybe just someone who has a different conviction, and it would be harmful to that person if you went ahead and followed through on your conviction, then restrain your liberty. Okay. Now, I wish we had time for more, but we don't. I want to, next week, close with a very detailed example of how you apply these principles in a real life situation. I hate to put that off, but we've got some folks to baptize this morning. I want to make sure we do that in a timely fashion. Let me just remind you Paul is dealing with very critical issues issues that determine whether or not we get along with each other in the body of Christ. And on issues where we may have differing convictions, Paul says guard your attitude. Please don't judge one another. Remember to whom you answer. And yes, be willing to restrain your liberty when that's necessary, not in every case, not with every person. When it might cause a genuine, weaker brother to sin against his own conscience.