Love and Liberty

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
Therefore let us not judge one another anymore,
but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block
or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

Romans 14:12-13

These verses come in the middle of a discussion on the “hot issues” of Paul’s day. It was something that the church needed to be reminded of, and I think it is something that we need to be reminded of today. Most of the time we don’t argue about meat offered to idols, or holy days, but we all have the little things we have firm opinions on. One of the most common disagreements is on the topic of music. On one side we have the conservative Christians who believe in nothing but hymns. On the other side, are those who believe the hymns are too old to do us any good. They say we need to just have the new music. But in the midst of all this arguing, we forget something: Love and Humility.

In verse 15 Paul says, “If your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love.” The same applies to music. If we are hurting our brothers because of our music, we are not walking in love. We are fighting about how to worship God! How foolish! I don’t mean to be rude, but honestly, think about it for a moment. We are arguing about how to glorify God. We are marring the image of God’s character as we claim to be concerned about praising Him! Does this make any sense? What if instead of fighting amongst ourselves, we started showing love? What would happen if we simply learned to respect each other’s opinions? I think it would make God quite pleased to see His children living together in love and unity.

Honestly, both sides make some good points. The words in the old hymns are beautiful, and full of rich reminders of God and His glory. They can be an incredible blessing. We shouldn’t just throw them away! However, some of the new worship songs are just as worshipful. They show us God’s character in a fresh light. We’ve heard the hymns so many times that we can often sing them without even thinking about the words. It’s good to have some new music, with a fresh perspective. Even if you don’t feel the liberty to listen to contemporary music, please don’t condemn your brothers and sisters simply because God has given the freedom to joyfully worship God with CCM.

Likewise, if you have this freedom, and your brother does not, please don’t condemn him. In 1 Corinthians 8:13 Paul says, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” That is the attitude we should have. It would be better for us to never listen to CCM again, than to cause a brother to sin. I’m not suggesting that we all need to give up our freedom, but our freedom does need to be tempered in love, and we need to be willing to lay aside our music if necessary.

Romans 14:3-4 says, “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” God doesn’t want us to look down on each other, simply because of difference of opinion. God will take care of teaching each of His children what His will is. The music with which you choose to worship God is between you and God. At the same time, though, we need to remember that it grieves the Lord when we ignore our brother’s conscience. If we are causing harm to our brother’s spiritual walk, it is not glorifying to God. We often remember this principle when it comes to not offending the more conservative brother, but it applies to both sides. If you are restricting your brother from worshiping God with a particular type of music, you can be doing more harm to his spiritual walk than you know.

Looking at verses 5-8, we read, “Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” If you worship with CCM, use it as an act of worship to the Lord. If you feel that CCM is sin, let your refusal to use it be an act of worship to the Lord. In all things we should seek to glorify God.

And we come back to verses 10-13, “But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ For it is written:

“ As I live, says the LORD,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” And in light of all of this, “let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.” This will take effort on both sides, but if we were to live this way, I believe God would be glorified. Isn’t that what we’re here for?

Taking Pleasure in Trials

“He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I have heard this passage many times over the years, but this morning, something new caught my eye.

The thorn in the flesh that Paul spoke of in the previous verses was clearly not pleasant. It was bad enough that Paul pleaded with God three times that this thorn might depart. But God didn’t take away the trial. Instead He told Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee: My strength is made perfect in weakness. Whenever God allows trials to come our way, He also provides the grace to deal with them in a manner that will glorify Him.

If a friend moves, God will be there with an extra measure of grace to comfort you. If a family member dies, God will be there and He will provide the strength to handle it. So often when trials come our way our first impulse is to say, “I’m tough enough, I can handle it,” but the truth of the matter is, we’re not tough enough. We aren’t strong enough, we can’t handle it. We need to depend on God for the grace and strength to make it through difficult times. God created us to live in dependence on Him, and one of the reasons He brings trials into our lives is to teach us to live in dependence upon Him. The only way we can make it through is by leaning on Jesus, and when we do so, God’s glory is displayed beautifully. One of my favorite quotes from the movie Facing the Giants is a father-son scene, where the boy asks his father why God made him so weak. His father looked at him and said, “To show how mighty He is.” That’s so true. God loves to display His glory, and when we are weak, His strength is magnificently displayed.

I look at the way the world “handles” it’s problems. It’s so sad. When people get down they go get drunk, ignore the problem, or commit suicide. What a terrible way go through life! We are so blessed! We don’t have to deal with problems on our own, God has promised to be there with us! He has guaranteed us the grace and strength we need to continue. We don’t need to pretend our problems don’t exist, because God is with us to help us deal with them!

What really caught my eye, was verse 10. Paul says that because God’s grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses” Think about that for a second. I take pleasure . . . how often do we actually take pleasure in pain, suffering, mocking, hatred, or hard times? When you really think about it, that’s quite a statement Paul is making. He learned how to take pleasure in trials. Look at his reason for glorying, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” God gives the strength, and glorifies Himself through it. God loves His glory above all else, and if our desire is truly to glorify Him in everything, we should learn to say with Paul, “Most gladly will I rather boast in my infirmities” for His glory.