Thoughts from Pastor Stan

PASSING OF THE PEACE

QUESTION: Do we have a moral obligation to convey information (that can help the other)?

QUESTION: Do you know anyone who wears masks?

QUESTION: When in Rome...(is good philosophy) (a/d/)

QUESTION: How do non-Christians perceive of Christians?

What do they see?

LAST WEEK

QUESTION: Is perception, reality?

Answer: Post Modern: Yes

Modern: No

PROBLEM:

Question: What is the non-Christian perception of the Christian?

Are Christians perceived (+/_)?

How do non-Christians perceive of Christians?

What do they see?

Do you fit what the perceive

OBSERVATION; (T/F) The non-christian population of our country is growing

an adult generation that has never attended church is growing

POINT: Christians can appear to wear a mask of righteousness, and other christians can be tempted to keep veil the real them.

PUPPETS

to the tell truth is an example of perception. There were three candidates claiming to be the same person. How we perceive determines which of the three is the actual candidate.

LAST WEEK PUPPETS: Duck! Rabbit!

How we perceive determined if we concluded: Rabbit or Duck

LAST WEEK SCRIPTURE: I Corinthians 13:12

“Right now we only see in the mirror dimly.” Reminded us that we do not see clearly. If we don’t see clearly,

IMPLICATION: If we don’t see clearly, we will not agree. some will actually think it’s a duck!

STAR TREK EPISODE: The Next Generation

INTRO

The Enterprise is about to beam aboard a future ruler of Daled IV. Before beaming aboard, her nanny inquires to the Enterprise: “What species are you?” They answer human. After they are beamed aboard, Worf will say, “do not be fooled by her looks the body is just a shell.” And Troi will say....

INTRO TO CLIP #1

Wesley is in love with Salia. But he’s young and does not know the next step. So, he sought out the advice of Jordi which wasn’t helpful, so now he is seeking advice from Lt Worf.

CLIP #1 - (12:33 - 13:06) (11 am only) LT Worf on how to Meet Salia

QUESTION: What do you see?

QUESTION: Do we have a perception problem?

NOTICE: Worf’s advice works for Klingons, but not necessarily human

PROBLEM: If Word wanted to meet a human, what must he do?

NOTICE: Data’s perspective is purely perception (empirical)

INTRO TO CLIP #2

Next Wesley seeks out the advice of Ryker.

CLIP #2 - (14:35 - 16:17) (11 am only) Riker on how to Meet Salia

QUESTION: What do you see?

QUESTION: Do we have a perception problem?

NOTICE: Guinan’s acknowledgment about the line, yet even though it is flawed, wants to keep it.

NOTE: A similar situation will arise later, when Salia runs away from Wesley, and Guinan makes a statement “even though she is running away from you does not mean she don’t want you to follow.”

PROBLEM: Perception

INTRO TO CLIP #3

Wesley became aware that Salia is not who she appears to be. She is actually not human. This complicates issues for him because he was so in love. but, now he has seen Salia in a different form.

CLIP #3 - (38: 33 - 40:14) (both 9 & 11) The Good-Bye

QUESTION: Is Wesley’s response justified?

QUESTION: Have you ever fell in love with someone and they weren’t who you thought they were?

QUESTION: Why was Wesley so angry/hurt? (was it because: did not like being fooled)

NOTICE SALIA’S RESPONSE: “took this form for your benefit”

INTRO TO CLIP #4

the journey of Salia has come to an end. She is about to be beamed down on her new home planet, the one she will rule.

CLIP #4 - (40:20 - 42:04) (11 am only) The Final Good-Bye

INTRO

QUESTION: Do we have a moral obligation to...

INTRO TO SCRIPTURE

This passage is about evangelism. Notice how much Paul knows himself.

SCRIPTURE: I CORINTHIANS 9:19 - 23

19a For though I am FREE with respect to all,

FREE

Paul was born a Roman Citizen (membership has privileges)

19b I have made myself a SLAVE to all,

NOTE: Paul is willing to leave being free and becoming a servant.

QUESTION: Why? What would motivate Paul to leave his freedom behind?

19c so that I might WIN more of them.

NOTE: Paul knows his purpose: to “win” people over to Christ.

QUESTION: What is his strategy?

20a To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.

Example: Acts 21: 17 - 26

20b to those UNDER THE LAW I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law)

UNDER THE LAW - GENTILE GOD-FEARERS, PROSELYTES TO JUDASIM

Example: Acts 16: 1 - 3 (had Timothy circumcised)

QUESTION: WHY?

20c so that I might WIN those under the law.

21a To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though i am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s Law) so that I might win those outside the law.

22a To the WEAK I became weak,

WEAK - Weak faith? Legalists (Rom 14)?

QUESTION: Why?

22b so that i might WIN the weak.

22c I have to become all things to all people,

22d that I might by all MEANS save some.

(does the END justify the MEANS?)

23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

NOTICE; Paul is willing to do anything it takes

INSIDE - OUT

IMPLICATION - What about churches who don’t do this?

What about churches who don’t “bend” to let the new ones in?

60’s - Jesus Freaks (not permitted in many churches

70’s - Youth who wore shorts to church

POINT: Paul was accommodating “to win”

How accommodating should we be today “to win”?

BIBLICAL MODEL FOR EVANGELISM

PREMISE: Begin with the listener.

STAR TREK - Different perspective (thinking pattern)

Different paradigms today

I Cor 13:12 “see dimly in a mirror’

FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM

LOVE DRIVEN

WHY EVANGELIZE?

Why is Paul so willing to do what it takes?

Why is Paul so concerned to evangelize?

GREAT COMMISSION (Matthew 28:19 - 20)

Because Jesus told us to.

AUGUSTINE (Confessions, BK VII)

Our hearts are restless until we return home to God (Prodigal son)

QUESTION: How can God communicate to us?

PAUL was not the first one.

God became one of us

SCRIPTURE: Philippians 2: 5 - 11

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
(imitate Christ)

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
(Incarnation: John 1 - “In the beginning was the Word...)

7 but made himself NOTHING,

7b taking the very nature^[b^] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he HUMBLED himself

POI NT: Jesus changed himself and became one of us to communicate to us

7c and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

POINT:

Jesus became one of us to communicate God’s love, so if (v5) we are to imitate Christ, we are to become like the other (biblical model for evangelism)

PRINCE & THE PAUPER

POINT: In order to experience what others experienced, the prince became the pauper.

CHALLENGE

QUESTION: Why did you become a Christian?

QUESTION: Why do you attend church?

QUESTION: What do you do to help others see Christ

PASSING OF THE PEACE (Plato “Euthyphro”)

SCRIPTURE:

QUESTION: Is it righteous because God declared it righteous (pious)

Or

Did God declare it righteous because it is righteous (pious)

(chicken or the egg?)

CALL TO WORSHIP (Nietzsche, Dostoevksy, or Satre)

If there is no God

all things are permissible

QUESTION: What if there is a God? Then what?

IMPLICATION: Well, maybe some things are not permissible?

QUESTION: According to your way of thinking are there some things that are permissible and some not? Why? And do you know some folks who have more and less things that are permissible, and why is that so?

PUPPET MESSAGE

QUESTION: To be good nor to be good, that is the question

INTRO TO CLIP (Speech of Emisory “Bishop”)

A ship comes through the worm hole near Deep Space Nine. On the ship is a well respected poet named Akorem, who lived 300 years ago. Apparently for the last 300 years, suspended in time (or time-warp), he spent with the prophets of the Bajorans.

At first Sisko is very happy to relinquish his role as emisory ("religious leader) to Akorem. But he is troubled by Akorem's attempt to put "old wine into new wineskins." The return to the ways of the past (seems like a step backward). There is tension between principles of the day and the principles of the religious life of the past.

In this speech, of Akorem, he decrees that the “prophets” want the people to return to the old ways (“dejara”). This system is a caste-based discrimination. If your family were painters, then you return to painting. If your family were farmers, then you return to the farm.

QUESTION: If religion is contradiction to principles, which wins out?

Is it a deal breaker? Show Stopper (for the adherents)?

IRONY: Sisko is violating his own “religion” (the Federation: Prime Directive) and speaks out against the return of the old ways. However; the “casted-based” discrimination is forbidden under Federation law.

CLIP (15:06 - 18:08) A “NEW” DECREE

The new decree is actually the old decree (putting old wine into new wineskins)

QUESTION: Has there ever been a religion that went “back to the old ways”?

Why?

THE QUESTION: How do you know what decrees to follow?

What do you do when the decree(s) goes against your principles?

LAST WEEK

Question: What “decree” would happen in church that would cause you to leave the church? (Deal Breaker? Show Stopper?)

SCRIPTURE: Acts 10 (Peter’s Vision) unclean food descending on a sheet)

SCRIPTURE: Romans 14 (Divided Church: obey the law and nope)

POINT: New wine/wineskins was a new perspective of the law which was a deal breaker for the observant jew.

INTRO TO GENESIS 22 (Another Deal Breaker)

Question: What do you do, when it’s not the church, but a decree from God that violates your principle (deal breaker? Show stopper?)

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 22: 1 - 10 (sacrifice of Abraham)

1 Some time later God TESTED Abraham.

TESTED

God is testing Abraham for a value and quality. The concept of test is to stretch to its limits. When god tests, God tests for faith and faithfulness. Thus the individual is expected to obey in difficult circumstances.

QUESTION: Do you like to be tested?

It’s not a simple test of coffee with or without milk or sugar

1b He said to him, "Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

QUESTION: What would you do if you were Abraham?

TEST - is beyond any test we will hopefully experience

This test will test the question on how one makes ethical decisions. This test will force Abraham in a supreme ethical decision dilemma. Will Abraham obey God?

Let’s test this:

Which test wold you rather have:

1. Sacrifice your only son
2. Or, be obedient to the 10 commandments

The test of the obedience to God

Door #1 - Sacrifice only son

Door #2 - obey the 10 commandments

Door # 3 - Follow the Sermon on the Mount

POINT: Yet, every day we, at some level, are being tested.

Door # 1 - follow God

Door # 2 - follow own desires

Door # 3 - follow someone other than God or self

Which door do you choose?

How do you choose? Do we choose wisely?

so, back again, IF YOU WERE ABRAHAM, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

ABRAHAM

Can’t imagine abraham happy about his prospects

obey God and loose son

or

Disobey God and keep son

HISTORICAL SETTING

What makes this test even more difficult for Abraham is that the sacrifice of a child is not shocking in this historical setting.

Canaanites, his neighbors, are doing it

YOU KNOW HOW TEMPTING IT IS WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT

Canaanites believed their god who provided fertility had the right and was entitled to demand a portion of what had been produced (from grain and animal sacrifice to children)

POINT: If Abraham passes this test,

he then demonstrates his obedience and trust in God

It is a test of Abraham’s relationship with God

it also demonstrates to himself, to Isaac, the world and to God that his faith is not driven by what he will receive out of his relationship with God but by his commitment to God

He is willing to give up everything because he loves God that much.

Kierkegaard (“Fear & Trembling”) “teleological suspension of the ethical.”

Meaning: teleological means “end” or goal

Point: killing of Isaac is ethically wrong but religious right.

SO HOW DOES ABRAHAM RESPOND TO THE TEST?

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

THIRD DAY

ABRAHAM had time to think about it. He is traveling not just one day, but on the third day he can see the mountain in the distance. He has time to think about it.

GOD PROVIDED

1. Not only did God provided the lamb
2. god provided the land (renewal of covenant)

COVENANT - AGREEMENT within a RELATIONSHIP

(WEDDING: CHURCH(BRIDE OF CHRIST

1. When we trust God - we say “I DO”
2. When we obey God - we say “I DO”

TWO WEEKS AGO

Thus one is forced to ask: how much evil was in Abraham to follow through with the attempt to kill his only son while exhibiting his faith?

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you follow decree (religion) with all your heart,

or do you follow your principles?

1. Or, are you tempted to say, my principles is my religion and my religion are my principles? (if so, what came first? Religion decreed and therefore it became one’s principles?

What happens if a time arose that your religion and your principles collide? (deal breaker)

1. Do most moral codes depend entirely on the divine will, or do they somehow exist independently of it?
2. Do you follow your faith/religion with all your heart, soul or mind; or do you follow your principles?

PASSING OF PEACE QUESTIONS (revisited)

Do moral codes depend entirely on the will of God; or do they somehow exist independently?

Is it righteous/pious because God declared it so, or did God declare it so because it is righteous/pious?

DIVINE COMMAND THEORY) (Dostoevsky)

An act is either moral or immoral solely based on God’s decree (command). The only thing that makes an act morally wrong or right is God’s command. There is no right or wrong outside the decrees of God (If there is no God, then all things are permissible)

RESPONSE: The thing in itself is intrinsically good or bad (irrespective of God’s perception). God, hence, only recognizes it as good.

SCRIPTURE: JOSHUA 24: 1 - 8

14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

CHALLENGE: Know Thyself

Whom do you follow?

Why do you choose (decide) the things you do?

TUESDAY: DEEP SPACE NINE

6 p.m. light dinner

6:30 p.m. Viewing of the episode

7:15 p.m. Discussion of the episode

PRAY

that God will use this week of wrestling to discover why we do the things we do, and don’t do the things we don’t; and why sometimes we mix them up (Romans 7:14 (two weeks ago)

PASSING OF THE PEACE

SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 20: 8 (Ten Commandments)

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

QUESTION: Which commandment, rule, law if the church did not keep, would be the last straw, and you would be out of here?

PUPPET MESSAGE

QUESTION: Is French’s the true mustard, and all other mustards are inferior?

IMPLICATION

QUESTION: Are all cultures equal?

Are some cultures more “equal” than others?

Do you find some cultures inferior?

Questions: Are some things better than others, are all things equal?

Are all baseball players equal? Singers? PoliticIans?

Implication: If so, then why is there a desire to insist that all cultures are equal?

TOLERANCE: Good or bad?

Remember Dante’s Inferno: What is virtue?

Is TOLERANCE a virtue?

Which virtue is more important: truth or tolerance?

LAST WEEK - GOOD & Evil

Gracious last week to allow a discussion on evil without a definition

Problem: it is difficult to agree on a definition of evil

Cracker Barrel: “evil is in the eye of the beholder.” (a/d) Objective or subjective?

Point: there are differences in our perception of evil.

IMPLICATION: If we are having a difficult time defining evil, how about cultures?

Question: do different cultures define evil differently?

If we do not see all cultures as equal, will we subscribe to the definition of evil of one culture over another?

EXAMPLE: 911 was seen as egregious evil by our culture and some other cultures,

but not all cultures saw 911 as evil (some saw it as a sacred moment)

Question: How do we determine which culture has a better definition of evil (or any other issue)?

Is not the (litmus)“test” founded in our own cultural (hence circular reasoning?)

Or, maybe we don’t determine one culture better than the other (equal).

CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Sophist Protagoras, as quoted by Plato, "The way things appear to me, in that way they exist for me; and the way things appears to you, in that way they exist for you"

INTRO TO CLIP - No Good Deed goes Unpunished

The Enterprise destroyed an asteroid. Unknown to the crew there was a metal parasite on the asteroid, that moved from the asteroid into the Enterprise. This foreign entity has a parasitic relationship with the Enterprise. It is consuming the Nitrium in the Enterprise leaving behind a ”gelatinous ooze. It has a relationship

Deanna Troi is the ship counselor and is counseling a father (Worf) and son (Alexander) who’s relationship is in need of repair (not fulfilling obligations: chores). Whereby she suggests they make a contract.

Deanna Troi’s mother arrives on the Enterprises. She says that "A contract is something you make with someone you distrust." Then she declares that she is about to get married and the wedding will take place on the Enterprise.

Her mother is wild and carefree, but she has arranged a computer match for herself with a diplomat she has not yet met. In this scene she meets her future husband for the first time. He is about to be beamed aboard.

NOTICE: how she is (wild and carefree) and notice how he is (proper)

Two cultures (Betazoid & ?) are about to clash in a Star Trek version of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”

CLIP # 1 - 24:36 - 28:24 (Protocol Master)

Question: What did you see?

PROTOCOL MASTER (Miss Manners)

Beverly Hill Billies did not read Miss Manners

“Take your shoes off. Stay a spell”

SHOW STOPPER

What would happen if we wanted people to feel welcome at NUMC and at the beginning of the service we said;

“We are glad you are here. We want you to feel like your home. Take off your shoes and stay a spell’

Here;’s the kicker, we have biblical precedence to do this.

SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 3:5 “Take off your shoes you are on holy ground”

Question: Is not the sanctuary holy ground?

so everybody take off your shoes

who’s with me?

let’s say you are not with me

let’s say everybody took off their shoes except you because you read Miss Manners, you had a Protocol Master

what would you do? Leave?

SCRIPTURE: Acts 10: (Peter eats!)

9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."

15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

17While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 18They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three^[a^] men are looking for you. 20So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."

21Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?"

22The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." 23Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

POINT: Dietary Laws & New Wine (& Skins)

Dietary Laws were a “show stopper” for Peter. Then Peter was transformed by God, so that he could reach out to the “unclean” gentiles.

Literal interpretation: is about food

Metaphor: but Peter recognizes this is more than food it is gentiles

BOTTOM LINE: that which was unclean is now clean

PASSING OF PEACE -

OR: what would you do something that you thought god told you was wrong as a child, but now that time has passed you would do it?

APPLICATION (Acts 10)

Peter thought it was evil to eat lobster or cheeseburgers or bacon

QUESTION: What would be the last straw? what would have to be said here or done that you would say, “i am outta here.

SHOW STOPPER IN JUDAISM

1. KEEPING THE LAW

1. DIETARY LAWS
2. KEEPING THE SABBATH
3. Clean and unclean

INTRO to Scripture: Romans 14

Paul wrote a letter to the church in Rome. The Church is divided over several issues. They are not love driven. They are agenda driven. Each driving their own perspective. The basic issue is observance of the Jewish law. Those who observe are considered weak in faith, not as though their faith is lacking, they felt was though their faith did not allow them the liberty not to observe the law. On the other hand, those strong in faith felt as though they did not need to observe the law. Each group looked down at the other. Each group thought they were right and the other group was wrong. Their way was better than the other. Love had left the building.

QUESTION: How should we treat others who we disagree with?

SCRIPTURE: Romans 14

1 ACCEPT him whose faith is WEAK,

WEAK (in faith) - vegetarians

may have abstained from meat/wine because of the pagan culture they live in (i.e. Jewish Christians following dietary laws)

Accept each other in love.

ACCEPT

receive or accept into one’s group, home, circle the other. (hospitality)

1b without passing judgment on DISPUTABLE MATTERS.

POINT: Do not judge (especially in disputable matters)

PROBLEM: How to determine what is “disputable”? (non-essentials)

2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything,

STRONG (in faith) - party animals (“eat, drink and be merry God’s Way) (Gentile Christians)

POINT: Clash of Cultures (Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians)

2b but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

VEGETALBES

Abstaining from meat and wine (in the Roman culture this may be suspect, offered to pagan gods, etc. Not being aware if the meat was Kosher.

3 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, for God has accepted him.

4 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.

JUDGE

To judge implies one is master/lord (kyrios)

Only our Lord is the one who shall judge.

ISSUE: Christians are not called to judge the other group, especially in disputable matters.

EXAMPLE:

They’ll know we are Christians by how well we argue/judge:

which worship style is best.

which music style is best.

which culture is best.

which political party is best.

POINT: on disputable matters - do not judge

Paul goes on with SABBATH WORSHIP! (Exodus 20:8)

5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. 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.

NOTE: This is not permission to avoid worship. But to worship sincerely.

Worship is not a check list (obligation), but a relationship with God

7 For NONE OF US LIVES TO HIMSELF ALONE and none of us dies to himself alone.

NONE OF US LIVES TO HIMSELF ALONE

The purpose of life is relationship (with God and others).

It is in worship that our relationship with God grows.

It is in fellowship were our relationship with the body (church) grows.

It is through God and scripture where we learn what is a healthy relationship.

8If 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.

9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

NOT A DISPUTABLE MATTER: CROSS AND EMPT TOMB

10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11It is written (Isaiah 45:23):
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' "^[a^]

NOTE: Paul begins with the listener (Jewish Christian) by appealing to OT.

12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food^[b^] is UNCLEAN in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

QUESTION: Can you hear the second greatest commandment?

Love not judge your fellow person? or Love one another?

But the specific issue in this chapter is how a church can hold together when some members are so different from each other. The way Paul sums up that difference is by saying that some have weak faith and some have strong faith.

TWO WEEKS AGO: New Wine

the conflict of cultures

Gentile (Roman) and Jewish

or Wild and Stoic

Carefree and not so carefree

Wild and cautious