Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 2 Study # 12
July 25, 2021
Humble, Texas
(Download Audio)
(135)
Thesis: A legitimate understanding of the "Grace" of the Gospel leads to a willingness to "Love" one another enough to refuse any permitted self-indulgence that causes a "diseased" grasp of that "Grace" to be an occasion for further progression of the disease.
Introduction: As we have been moving through Paul's explanation of the implications of the nature of The Kingdom of The God as a kingdom focused upon the "Joy" that arises from the "Peace" that ensues when "Righteousness" is guiding all actions, we have seen that this "Kingdom" insists upon the most basic of all motivations for taking action: the "Love" (value system) of The King.
The particular background for this explanation is the "problem" of people who have a proper intellectual grasp of "Grace" but who have a strong antagonism toward those who are "in The Faith" but have a "diseased grasp" of the Gospel's concept of "Grace". This antagonism has arisen because those who understand the basic concept of "Grace" are being hampered in their ability to enjoy certain "freedoms" that the Gospel brings with it because of those whose "diseased grasp" of the Gospel denies the reality of those freedoms.
This evening we are going to look into Paul's further explanation of the attitude of the "Grace-believer" in regard to his/her "fellow believer" in his/her "disease".
- I. Paul's Words To Those Who Understand "Grace".
- A. The underlying reality of the impact "Grace" makes upon the "believer".
- 1. Since "Grace" removes everything that has any semblance to "merit-based obedience" from the dynamics of the relationship to which God summons men, every Law-based issue of morality that is rooted in the morality of "obedience" and not the "essential character of God" is set aside from those dynamics.
- a. This sets every believer free from the obligations of "national Israel": all dietary and liturgical requirements are set aside.
- 1) This means that men can eat whatever foods they wish to eat.
- 2) This also means that men can ignore all of the sacrificial system imposed upon the priests of Israel.
- 3) This also means that men can ignore the summons of God to Israel to assemble in Jerusalem three times a year to observe the special days, weeks, months, and years that are imposed upon Israel by the Law of Moses.
- b. This makes the dynamic of the relationship to which God calls men a matter of life by His Spirit out of what "Grace" supplies of both "motivation" and "action" so that the "righteousness, peace, and joy" of His kingdom is produced according to the essential character of God in respect to all relationships of that kingdom (Philippians 2:12-13).
- 2. Since "Grace" provides "everything that pertains to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:2-4), the human side of the dynamic is a combination of "faith" and "humility" that arises out of the preservation of a clear conscience.
- a. It is the requirements of the elements of the "Love" of the King that become the focus of "Grace": a "pure" heart, a "good" conscience, and a "sincere" faith (1 Timothy 1:5).
- b. Thus, it boils down to a firm conviction that the "believer" can depend upon the Spirit of God to produce these "bottom line" issues: "God above all" in the heart; "confession of sin" when "God above all" falters"; and "confidence in forgiveness" when "confession" is necessary.
- c. The outcome, then, is a determined focus upon "a good conscience".
- B. The insistence by Paul that it is not possible to maintain a clear conscience if a "brother's" well being is set aside for simple "self-indulgence" reasons.
- 1. To the "Grace" believer, Paul says: "Indeed all things are clean".
- a. This has strict limitations of context: "all things" are "all 'not-essentially moral' things".
- 1) "Essentially moral" issues can never be "set aside" without violation of conscience and the corruption that true guilt brings into the relationship between God and man.
- 2) The principle of God's "grant" of "cleanliness" to all things not essentially moral is an "indeed" truth.
- b. This includes all things within the category of "freedoms" to be welcomed and practiced.
- 2. But ... .
- a. There is a perversion of "freedoms" when "evil" is not recognized.
- b. It is "evil" for a man to "eat" (indulge himself in his freedoms) when the eating produces a "harm" to another "through" a hindrance placed before him/her.
- 1) Paul is declaring that there is no "freedom" to shed the reality of the constraints of "Love".
- a) This applies, first, to the "commitment to slavery to The King" in His "Love".
- b) This applies, second, to the "commitment to Love of the brother" when he/she is yet in bondage to "Law" in some of the particulars of "Life" (this goes back to the principle of "doing things for the Lord -- attempting to maintain a clear conscience -- and giving thanks -- giving evidence of an awareness of "grace" even though it is not yet pervasive").
- 2) Paul is insisting that what is, of itself "amoral", becomes "immoral" when it causes "harm" to another by bringing about a violated conscience.
- a) The "problem" of "a violated conscience" is that the person who violates his/her conscience just to be "accepted" by "brothers in The Faith" is actually revealing "an impure heart" and an ignorance of the true "Love" of the King.
- b) The "solution" to the temptation to violate one's conscience is to have "brothers" who do not put occasions of that kind of temptation before them.
