Living the Right-Way in a Left-Way World

•  Dealing with Those Issues with Which God Didn't Deal?

A. How believers know the correct practice in matters of faith…
1. We have a command from God, ( Matt. 28:19-20 ), “Go and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all I have commanded you .”

2. We have examples from God…
a. The examples of the apostles, ( 2 Thess. 3:7, 9 ), “You yourselves know that you ought
to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner… to offer
ourselves as a model for you, that you might follow our example.”
b. The example of Jesus, ( John 13:15 ), “For I gave an example that you should do as I
did to you.”

3. Let's take the issue of “hol(y)days.” Do we have a Bible command or example to observe
“Christmas”?
a. No. Therefore, some may ask, “Are believers sinning if they celebrate Christmas?”
b. What about other areas God didn't address? Let's discover God's principles to apply
to these areas.

B. How does God tell us to handle Non-Inspired Issues

•  ( Rom. 14:1 ), “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
a. Two key considerations in this verse:
1) God has called for us to be accepting/loving of each other.
a) ( Jn. 13:34-35 ), “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By
this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for
one another.”
b) A way to demonstrate this love. ( Phil. 2:3-4 ), “Do nothing from
selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you
regard one another as more important than yourself; not merely
looking out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of
others.”
2) He is speaking about “opinions” not doctrines.
a) Doing God's will God's way is important for believers, ( Jn. 17:20-
21 ), “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for all those who
believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as
You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they may also be in us, that
the world has believed that You have sent Me.”
b) When it comes to matters of doctrine, God demands unity, ( I Cor.
1:10 ), “Now I exhort you, brethren, that you all agree, and there be no
divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind,
and in the same judgment.”

b. Thus, God's command to us is to love and accept each other in spite of any non-
doctrinal differences.

•  A divisive issue in the early church was food (Jews ate only kosher foods, but the Gentile believers ate anything).
a. During His earthly ministry, Jesus said, ( Mk. 7:18-19 ), “Jesus said, ‘Do you not
understand that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him;
because it does not go into the heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated.' (Thus
He declared all foods clean.” [The Hebrew word “Kosher” = “Clean”].
b. Thus, “loving acceptance” demands, ( Rom. 14:3 ), “Let not him who eats regard with
regard with contempt him who eats, and let not him who does not eat judge him who
eats, for God has accepted him.” (So should we!)
c. God removes our sins as Christians but not our baggage! We must lay that down!!!
( Heb. 12:1 ), “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every encumbrance….”

•  Another issue that proved divisive was the observance of special days (i.e. the Jewish Christians in Rome kept Jewish holy days, while the Gentiles Christians did not)…
a. ( Rom. 14:5 ), One man regards one day above another, another regards every day
alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.”
b. So if God has not made a judgment then it is left up to us to make our own judgment!

•  But what if someone demands that you must accept & follow them in observing some non-inspired issue?
a. After Jesus death & resurrection all Old Testament practices/commands were
eliminated.
1) ( Matt. 5:17 ), “Do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets; I
did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”
2) ( Lk. 24:44 ), “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with
you, that all things which are written about Me in the law of Moses and the
Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
3) ( Col. 2:14 ), “…having cancelled out the certificate of debt, consisting of
decrees against us, and which was hostile to us; He has taken it out of the
way having nailed it to the cross.”


b. What if someone demands that we practice something (holiday) God has eliminated?
1) ( Gal. 4:10-11 ) , “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear
for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”
2) The person who seeks to please God through their obedience to the law will
not be saved, ( Gal. 5:4 ), “You have been severed from Christ, you who are
seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.”

C. An Example from the Life of Jesus ( John 10:22-25 )

1. ( Jn. 10:22-23 ), “ At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was
winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of ??Solomon.”
a. “Feast of Dedication” = Hanukkah, it is the only Jewish festival not ordained by God
(Yet Jesus is there!).
1) In 167 B.C., on the 25 th of Kislev (Dec.) the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes III,
desecrated the altar in the temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig on it.
2) This began the Maccabbean revolt in which the Jews re-conquered Jerusalem and
drove out the Syrians.
3) Three years to the day following the pollution of the altar the Jews rededicated a new
altar. This rededication marks the date of this non-inspired religious holiday.

2. Yet instead of avoiding Jerusalem at this time, Jesus is in the temple, ( v. 24-25 ), “??The Jews
then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long ??will You keep us in
suspense? If You are ??the Christ, tell us ??plainly.' Jesus answered them, ‘??I told you, and you do
not believe Me.'”
a. Now during a time when the Jews are celebrating their deliverance (i.e. Hanakkuh) –
they question THEIR DELIVERER!
1) Jesus uses this holiday to prove to them that He truly is the Messiah.
2) “I told you & you do not believe.”
a) ( Jn. 8:12 ), “I am the light of the world,” (only the Messiah could claim this).
b) ( Jn. 8:23-24 ), “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I
am not of this world. I said therefore to you, you shall die in your sins unless
you believe that I AM.” This could not be true of man but only of God.
c) ( Jn. 8:59 ), “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” “I AM” is God's name that
He gave to Moses from the burning bush, (cf. Ex. 3:14).

b. Thus, Jesus used the opportunity of a non-inspired Jewish festival that celebrated victory
and deliverance to teach the people the true meaning of victory and deliverance!
1) Earlier I noted the question, “Are believers sinning if they celebrate Christmas?”
2) A better question might be, “Do we have commands or examples in the Bible of
God's people observing days that God has not commanded?”
a) The answer to this, from Jn. 10:22ff , would be a very emphatic “YES!!!”
b) Thus, Christians should use the occasion of “holidays” to teach others the
truth to about Jesus.



CONCLUSIONS:

1. There are numerous “non-inspired issues.” Should believers be involved in any of these things?

2. In today's lesson:
a) Be certain they are non-inspired [is there a command/example regarding this issue?]
b) Love & accept the other person even if you choose not to practice the issue yourself,
c) The person of Jesus and the word of God must be the only standard by which all issues are judged.

3. There is one issue which is inspired and it is non-negotiable… SALVATION! Mark 16:15-16