"Good Grace Decision-Making" | December 6, 2020

hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well good morning and welcome to worship we're so glad to have you with us both in person and on eye campus let's stand together as we join in singing joyful joyful we adore you joyful joyful we adore you god the glory lord of love hearts unfold like flowers before you opening to the sun [Music] fill us with [Music] you are [Music] you are the one who takes all our sins away [Music] you are the one who says [Music] you are the one who takes all jesus you are my rescue jesus you are my rescue i give you everything [Music] jesus you are my rescue i give you everything jesus you are my rescue jesus [Music] jesus [Music] you are the one who is [Music] well we worship a great god how great he is he's clothed in splendor clothed in majesty let's lift our voices together the splendor of the king let all the earth rejoice all the earth rejoice he [Music] [Music] to [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] and is end beginning [Music] our [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is amen amen thank you so much for that worship this morning you may be seated there is so much going on right now at first baptist dallas and let's turn our attention and find out more good morning we're so thankful to be with you in worship today and we want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events the holidays are right around the corner and we have an exciting christmas season planned at first baptist dallas don't miss our annual dallas christmas spectacular on december 13th featuring our choir and orchestra ballet magnificat and this year's special guest artist david phelps then sunday december the 20th we will have our christmas sunday with your favorite christmas worship music and our children will enjoy back to the stable in sunday school then on december the 24th we will gather for our annual christmas eve service beginning january 1st our church will begin a new season of ministry with mission 18 courageous our ministry strategy to reach our city nation and the world for christ please be praying about what the lord might lead you to commit to mission 1 8 courageous tonight leaders from all of our ministry areas will gather online for worship a vision cast and to make commitments for advanced commitment night then on sunday december the 20th our whole church will gather to make our commitments help us finish the year strong by bringing a special light of the world offering in the month of december all gifts must be postmarked delivered or submitted online by december 31st thank you for how you invest in what god is doing through the ministry of first baptist dallas finally it is a blessing to be able to worship together again and as we continue to reopen our church and our ministries you can help maintain a healthy environment for everyone by wearing your mask practicing social distancing and using our hand sanitizing stations for more information on all these exciting events happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events [Music] [Applause] aren't you glad to be here this morning isn't it a joy to be in god's house together amen and a great opportunity to read god's word together and today we're reading from paul's letter to the romans chapter 14 verses 13 through 17 and this will help prepare us for the pastor's next message in his grace gone wild series we'll read from the new american standard bible the words will be here in the worship center on the screen and for on campus as well so that we can all take part in reading god's holy word would you join with me in standing as we honor the reading of his word romans 14 beginning with verse 13 and ending with verse 17. therefore let us not judge one another anymore but rather determine this not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way i know and am convinced in the lord jesus that nothing is unclean in itself but to him who thinks anything to be unclean to him it is unclean for if because of food your brother is hurt you are no longer walking according to love do not destroy with your food him for whom christ died therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit may god richly bless the reading of his word let's keep standing as brother joe comes back to lead us in more worship this next song reminds us that we stand in the presence of a triune god the very king of kings let's listen [Music] without hope without light till from heaven you came running there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the word from the throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dark praise the lord praise the son praise the spirit [Music] oh [Music] to redeem the whole creation [Music] [Music] our salvation jesus the sun [Music] to the keys [Music] all of heaven held its breath till that stone was moved for good for the lamb had conquered death and the dead rose from theirs and the church [Music] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] ready [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh amen we praise the king of kings today we lift our voices and honor him you may be seated thank you so much let's turn our attentions for an important word about mission 18. [Music] how do you define courage it doesn't always look grand it isn't always an act of heroism it's a small word with a powerful meaning and even more powerful impact it's a kind word an open invitation a gentle gesture a prayerful spirit it's a bold voice a willing heart a step outside your comfort zone courage is an act of obedience it's following god when it isn't easy when the world calls you crazy it's a focus on others and building god's kingdom when culture tells you to build your own it's acting justly loving mercy and walking humbly it's rising up boldly for such a time as this over the next two years first baptist dallas will take on mission 1-8 courageous and we expectantly anticipate god to move like never before it means we will focus on serving our city investing in families teaching the next generation and spreading the gospel all over the world it means building our icampus community bringing bold biblical teaching and seizing every opportunity the lord provides as the world drifts further away from god first dallas will continue to step into the fray as both a physical church and a digital force seeking to reach every man woman and child like never before one act of obedience is powerful it can impact a life which can impact a city which can change a nation which can influence the world one act of obedience one courageous response one life at a time it's time to stand firm it's time to take heart it's time to move forward in faith for our god has overcome the world church it's time to be courageous how will you answer the call [Music] two weeks from today is what we call christmas sunday at first baptist we'll have great music christmas music i'll bring a special christmas message many other activities for perhaps the most important thing about sunday december 20th it's our day as a church to make our commitment to mission 108 and you've been here before you know that mission 108 is first of all our ministry strategy for the next two years based on acts 1 8 how we're going to reach our city our nation our world with the gospel the world is hungry for the gospel right now like never before and we have a unique opportunity as a church to share that gospel globally so it's our ministry plan but it's also our giving plan for the next two years to fund these ministries at our church first baptist dallas we don't ask you to give to a bunch of different offerings and funds mission 108 encompasses everything we're going to do for the next two years our local budget our missions outreach pathway to victory our debt reduction everything we give we give through this one fund mission 108 and we're going to ask you to two weeks from today bring your commitment or if you're watching online to mail in your commitment for the next two years now for those of you here in our worship center you have a mission one eight card in your bulletin today i'm not going to ask you to fill that out today but i would like to ask you to take that out right now let me explain what we're doing here we're going to ask you to do in two weeks and those of you watching online you'll see this as well this card is so simple there are only three lines to it the first line says annual giving times to we're asking you to put down what you plan to give to our church's mission 1-8 fund that means everything you're going to give to our church and then we're going to ask you to multiply that by two since it's a two-year plan this is your mission one eight giving for the next two years if you'll put that total amount times two in the first blank then the second blank says a special gift perhaps god's been especially good to you over this last year and you would like to give a special one-time gift during the next two years uh to mission one eight perhaps uh your business has done well or you've received an unexpected gift uh something you'd like to do extra so your annual giving times two is the first line the second line any special gift you'd like to give sometime over the next two years and that adds to the third line which is your total giving to first baptist dallas over the next two years now church we're asking you to bring those cards two weeks from the day or mail them in but tonight we're asking all of the leaders in our church our sunday school leaders our deacons our prayer partners first impressions music ministry we're asking you tonight to tune in to our special advance commitment night tonight usually we have a dinner for all of our leaders we can't do that but we're going to do a virtual event tonight it's not going to be a virtual dinner you have to have your own dinner you can you know bring something sit down at the kitchen table turn on the computer and you have received a special link this week to tune into that program at six o'clock uh it'll be mailed again this afternoon and tonight's service is going to feature some wonderful music by fred and wilmer and leona rupert and michael p smith and then i'm going to give a special challenge tonight now those of you who aren't on the leadership team uh you're invited to tune in tonight as well you can go to firstdallas.org forward slash acn for advanced commitment uh night firstdallas.org advanced commitment night we're asking all of our leaders to respond tonight or this week by sending your card in and then all of us as a church will do so on december 20th church i believe the next two years are going to be the greatest years of ministry for first baptist dallas this pandemic is coming to an end you know that don't you it's going to be over i believe this spring and this summer that cloud will have been lifted and first baptist dallas is going to have an opportunity like we've never experienced before as a.w toaster said a scared world needs a fearless church this is the time for first baptist dallas to be bold and courageous in its outreach with the gospel thank you in advance for what you're going to do now right now we're going to pray together for the rest of our service if you're able to kneel do so if you're joining us online we ask you to join us in praying for the message for the invitation and yes for the offering we can't take the offering as we normally do but you can deposit your offering and the receptacles on the way out ben lavorne is our executive pastor he's going to lead us now in our offertory prayer gracious heavenly father we come humbly before your throne this morning and we lift our praises to you as the sovereign god the king of kings and the lord of lords and we thank you lord that we are able to worship you and it's in that spirit of worship that we give to you this morning our tithes and our offerings we thank you also lord that we can present our cares and our concerns and our prayers to you our request to you and so this morning we commit to you the next two years mission 18 courageous and we ask that you do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine through the ministries of this church we also pray lord that even this morning you would move in this place that you would use your word to transform hearts and transform lives as you speak through our pastor this morning and we pray this all in the saving and holy name of jesus christ amen [Music] is [Music] yes me [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] see [Music] [Applause] [Music] watching [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well that is just a preview of the magnificent music you're going to hear at our first dallas christmas spectacular next sunday september the 13th thank you joe harden and choir and orchestra now we've sold out our tickets that we're going to sell for this already but you have a way to watch it if you don't have a ticket we're going to be streaming both performances at first dallas high campus so if you're watching online you're at home right now we invite you to tune in next sunday at 3 p.m and 6 p.m central time you'll hear this magnificent choir and orchestra you'll be able to see ballet magnificat and our special soloist david phelps and it's all free of charge if you want to tune in next sunday at first dallas high campus 3 p.m and 6 p.m we are halfway through our series grace gone wild and so it's time for a mid-term exam are you ready it's actually a simple exam there are only five questions true or false you've got a 50 chance of getting them right okay ready question number one true or false it's best for christians not to shop on sundays question number two christian parents should discourage their children from celebrating halloween true or false number three christian schools are preferable to public schools true or false number four christian hymns are usually more worshipful than contemporary christian music true or false and number five christians should abstain from any alcoholic beverage true or false what are the correct answers to the above questions are there any correct answers to those questions now i can hear some of you right now i can even hear you through the television camera you're shouting out of course there's a right answer every mature christian knows that blank is wrong or any student of the bible knows that blank is preferable to blank everybody knows the right answer to those questions well if there is a right answer to that question that everybody knows why is there such division among christians on these issues the visions that have gone on for hundreds of years the truth is all of these questions i just posed to you one thing they have in common is that they all deal with the gray areas of the christian life by gray areas i'm talking about those areas that the bible doesn't specifically address and today as we continue our series grace gone wild we're going to look at how a proper understanding of grace should impact the personal decisions that we make regarding these areas that the bible issues no specific commands for questions like should i allow the prejudice of others the ignorance of others dictate what i do does grace give me the opportunity to thumb my nose at those who decry dancing and drinking and reading harry potter novels can i just say i don't care what you say i'm going to do what i want to do those who pervert the doctrine of grace usually go to one of two extremes when it comes to these gray areas of christian living first of all there is legalism the legalists say there are no gray areas of christian living what do you mean gray areas i can tell you absolutely what the bible teaches about each one of these areas and they believe there's a specific chapter and verse for every issue in life and if you study hard enough or you read between the lines you can find the answer to these questions and it it's interesting for the legalists how many times those answers correspond to the legalists own personal opinion max locato points out the dangers of legalism when he says legalism makes my opinion your burden it makes my opinion your boundary legalism makes my opinion your obligation i would change that word opinion even to conviction you know what legalism is it is making my conviction your obligation whatever i think you have to do that is legalism the legalism says there are no gray areas but the other extreme of grace and it's an equally equally perverse extreme is libertarianism libertarianism says there are no gray areas or but pardon me every issue is a gray area every issue is a gray area to the libertine or the libertarian every question is a matter of personal opinion there are no absolute answers for every issue and that's what you call bad grace the libertarian says you know what i am living under grace not under the law i am following christ not man or as i as a more mature christian i understand that i have the freedom to do this and as you grow in grace you'll discover that freedom as well however the apostle paul when you look at his writings he rejected both the legalist and the libertarian viewpoint on these gray areas he reduced a manufactured man-made system of conduct that the legalists held onto but he also rejected the libertarians idea that i'm free to do whatever i want to do what standards should we use in making decisions about the gray areas of the christian life if you have your bibles this morning i want you to turn to first corinthians 8 to discover how grace ought to impact our decision-making about these questionable areas we're going to travel back 2 000 years ago to the meat market in the city of corinth in corinth there are a number of new converts and for them the raging issue the raging question was not whether or not christians should go to r-rated movies whether they ought to dance whether even they ought to have a glass of wine before their meal at night the real question was a question that was dividing the church was should christians eat meat that had been sacrificed to an idol now let me give you a little background here in both the roman and the greek cultures the romans and the greeks had a god for everything they were polytheistic they believed in a multitude of gods a god of justice a god of love of god a war and the way you would keep these gods happy and also therefore your own life happy the way you would appease these gods was by offering them a sacrifice kind of like how you you know leave cookies and milk for santa claus you would give a food gift to the deities and then so you would go to the pagan temple and you would offer your sacrifice and one third of that meat sacrifice would be burned up on the altar uh the one who offered the sacrifice could keep another third of the sacrifice once it had been offered and third the third third went to the priests who were there to oversee the sacrifice now as you can imagine a priest would end up with a lot of meat on his hand if he got a lot a third of every one of those offerings he couldn't eat all of that meat and so they would set up a meat store a meat market right there in the pagan temple where people could buy meat that had been offered to idols and this meat was especially uh delicious and it was especially sought after because instead of being cholesterol free it was demon free it had been offered to an idol and therefore it was absolutely pure meat and people wanted to buy this meat that had been offered to an idol now here's the question if you're a christian should you eat meat that had been offered to a pagan deity and if you were a christian and you were sitting down in somebody's home and the host said oh by the way the meat we're eating tonight has been offered to an idol should you eat of that or should you abstain from it that's what the church was divided over the more mature christians said what's wrong with eating meat that had been offered to a so-called idol we know there's no such thing as an idol what difference does it make but to a newer convert a new christian who had just come out of idolatry to eat meat that had been offered to an idol that was verifying that these gods were real and it reminded that new christian of his old lifestyle and he was tempted to go back into his old way of leaving a living because of eating this meat that had been offered to an idol that was the question that was raging in corinth now obviously today that's not an issue you don't go down to albertsons and see a section that says meet offered idols nobody's worrying about that issue right now but we have equally divisive issues in the church for example questions like is it permissible to worship on saturday evenings rather than sunday mornings should christians practice birth control should those who have been divorced and remarried even for biblical reasons be allowed to serve in leadership positions in the church is it permissible for christians to consume alcoholic beverages in moderation should christians participate in easter egg hunts all of these questions are dealing with issues that the bible doesn't address clearly now again for each of those questions some of you would yell no some of you would say yes but the apostle paul would say it depends what do you mean it depends we're going to see in first corinthians 8 that paul says there are three principles we ought to utilize when trying to evaluate decisions about the gray area of life in light of grace now i want you to write down these principles because they'll be a help to you as you evaluate these decisions in your life as well first of all principle number one good grace elevates love above knowledge good grace elevates love above knowledge the bad gracers in the corinthian church they said that their basis for eating the meat was their doctrinal knowledge they said unlike baby christians who don't know better we know that there is no such thing as an idol today these bad gracers might say things like we are mature students of the scripture and we know that we don't live under the old testament law or they may say things like we know that there's nothing in the bible that says there's something inherently evil about alcohol we have a superior knowledge it's interesting what paul said about that in first corinthians 8 verse 4 he agreed with these more mature christians that there was no such thing as an idol therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world and that there is no god but one knowledge is important but you know what's more important than biblical knowledge love concern for other people look at verses one to three now concerning things sacrificed idols we know that we all have knowledge but knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies if anyone supposes that he knows anything he has not yet known as he ought to know but if anyone loves god he is known by god you know we're in a church first baptist dallas that is known throughout the world for teaching the truth of god's word we've had that reputation for 152 years this is a church built on the bible and i think that's why god has blessed our church so i don't want you to misunderstand what i'm saying knowledge of god's word is essential to living the christian life it is impossible to apply what you don't know but it's very possible to know what you don't apply and what paul is saying here is not that knowledge is unimportant but he says that knowledge is worthless if it doesn't lead you to love god and love other people knowledge that doesn't do that is worthless you know there are a lot of christians who really believe that when they stand before the judgment seat of christ that jesus is going to give them a blue book and he's going to ask them to write down 10 reasons evidences for the virgin birth of christ or he's going to ask them to chart out the end times the rapture the millennium and so forth or he's going to ask people to explain the difference between calvinism and arminianism they really think that is going to be the basis of our judgment the knowledge we have no do you know the only thing we're going to be judged on as christians do our lives reflect the attitudes actions and affections of jesus christ did we love god and love other people as we love ourselves that's the basis of our judgment and any so-called knowledge that doesn't lead to that is worthless and knowledge that leads us to disregard the well-being of other people is dangerous in first john 4 20 the apostle says if somebody says i love god but hates his brother he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love god whom he has not seen you cannot be a mature christian and say i don't care how my actions affect other people the question should be how do my actions impact others am i considering not only what my actions mean to me but what they mean to the growth and the well-being of others good grace elevates love for others above knowledge second principle good grace elevates the welfare of others over my freedom you know the newer converts in corinth they didn't have the same understanding that the more mature believers had some of these new christians actually still believed in the existence of many gods now i know what you're thinking you think wait a minute you're saying they could be christians and still believe in a multitude of gods yes you see their christian faith had led them to the understanding that there is only one right god but they've not yet come to the understanding there was only one real god that was something that they would come into understanding as they matured as christians i hear people say all the time all these things you have to believe in order to be a christian i've heard people say you can't be a christian and believe in evolution or you can't beli be a christian and deny the virgin birth of christ or you can't be a christian and not affirm the inerrancy of the scripture sure you can sure you can you can be an ignorant christian you can be a disobedient christian you can be a baby christian you can be an untalked christian but acts 16 31 says there was one thing you must believe to be saved believe in the lord jesus christ and you shall be saved a non-christian doesn't have an understanding of all these other things one non-christian has to do one thing trust in christ for the forgiveness of sins and he is saved and as he grows as a christian he comes into an understanding of other truths as well these baby christians in corinth they had a very limited understanding so how should the more mature christians respond to that look at verse seven of first corinthians 8 however not all men have this knowledge that is the knowledge that there's only one real god but some being accustomed to the idol until now eat food as if they were as if it were sacrificed to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled that was the problem when a more mature christian said i know there's no such thing as an idol he led other newer converts to do something that defiled their conscience because they still believed in the existence of idols and the problem was it led their conscience to be defiled what is a conscience now stay with me on this this is so important conscience is an internal warning system god places into us to warn us about behavior that we should not engage in john mcarthur describes our conscience this way he says conscience is god's door keeper to keep us out of the places where we could be hurt as we mature our conscience allows us to go more places and to do more things because we will have better judgment when our daughters were little when they were four and five years old they were always asking us if they could walk down the street by themselves to see their friends and we said no we knew it was dangerous for them at that young age to be out by themselves they could be abducted they could fall into a pit there's no telling what could happen to them when they were five we didn't let them go out by themselves but guess what when they were 16 they came to us and said can we have a car now we would not give have given a car to our five-year-old but we were willing to give it to our 16 year olds because not only were they legal but they also had the judgment to know where to go and where not to go it's the same way with a conscience a conscience is an internal warning system and when a new christian receives christ as savior god sets that internal warning system that conscience to an extremely sensitive setting so that the new christian is limited in what he can do when a new christian gets to a danger area beep beep that warning system goes off now the more mature he comes gets in the faith uh the more leeway that he has but while he is a new convert he has a very sensitive conscience but if that new christian sees you as an older christian doing something that he thinks is objectionable what does it cause him to do it causes him to ignore his own conscience it causes him to damage to defile his conscience and so that uh he no longer is able to hear and feel that warning system would you all pardon me for just a moment i've got a piece of makeup in my nose here i hope this doesn't make anybody stumble seen me do this but anyway and notice i have my mask here too this warning system can be defiled very very easily and that's why the most important thing we can do as christians is to make sure we keep a clear conscience in first timothy chapter one paul says above all keep faith and a clear conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith you know if you defile your conscience if you ignore it long enough that conscience becomes hardened to where you can no longer feel the holy spirit convicting you of what you should and shouldn't do and that's what the problem at corinth was these older christians were saying hey i'm free to eat the meat that's all that matters my freedom no another question is how does it impact this younger christian you know when people are infants do we give more care or less care to them we give them more care it's the same way with younger christians in the church we should be more concerned about their well-being not less concerned i need to stop here and point out a common misunderstanding of this passage there are always legalists in any church who will use this passage as a way to impose their opinions on other people they'll say things like you can't do that because i object to it and i am a weaker brother and as the weaker brother i'm telling you you can't do that because it offends me my old seminary professor howard hendricks said every church has this whole group of professional weaker brothers people who love to impose their opinions on others but will you notice in this passage the weaker brother is not somebody who objects to your behavior it's somebody who emulates and follows your behavior that's the danger the danger in these gray areas of christian living is not that somebody will object to what you're doing it's that they will follow what you're doing and defile their conscience in the process the bible says we need to be concerned about the well-being of others good grace not only elevates love above knowledge it also elevates the welfare of others above our freedom and the third principle here about good grace decision making is this good grace elevates god's interests above my desires it elevates god's interest above my desires bad gracious believe that their right to do whatever they please overrides any concern that others may have or that god may have do you remember john dunn the poet who said every man is an island unto himself nothing could be further from the truth especially for a christian christians are not islands by themselves we are vitally connected to other christians and to jesus christ himself what is the image that describes christians most often in the bible we are called the what of christ the body of christ first corinthians 12 27 says now you are christ's body and individually members of it when you become a christian you're joined not only to jesus christ the head but you are joined to other believers we are linked to other believers and the bible says if one part of the body hurts the whole body hurts now let me ask you is there any circumstance under which you would take a hammer and smash your left thumb as hard as you could would you ever do that i mean to smash your thumb is to cause your whole body to hurt and yet when you sin against another christian that's exactly what you're doing it's like you're taking a hammer and hitting your own thumb and not only that can you imagine any instance at all in which you would take that hammer and hit yourself in the head with it and yet the bible says first corinthians 8 12 when we sin against another christian we're also sinning against christ look at this and so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak you sin against christ ladies and gentlemen as christians we are not free to do whatever we want to do it's not only about how a behavior affects us it's about how it impacts somebody else now i'm going to get into some controversial territory here but it's got to be said there's a great debate raging in our country right now during this time of pandemic about the wearing of these masks and whether or not we ought to wear masks and whether or not we ought to be forced to wear masks let's get away for a moment from all the medical debate and there's really no medical debate about it but let's pretend that there's a debate about it you know what really disturbs me what i'm hearing from christians it's christians who say oh nobody can tell me what to do i'm free to do whatever i want to do my body my body that's the same argument the pro-abortionists use it's my body i'm free to do whatever i want to do no that's not true for a christian if your behavior hurts somebody else you are no longer free to engage in that behavior it's not about just me it's about us my freedom stops when it harms another person and the bible says that's what we ought to be considering whenever we make a decision about the gray areas of the christian life it's not just about me it is about us and that's why paul concluded in first corinthians 8 13 therefore if food causes my brother to stumble i will never eat meat and meet again so that i will not cause my brother to stumble i will limit my freedom if it helps somebody else how do you make decisions about the gray areas of the christian life let me close today by giving you three filters three questions to help you make the right decisions they're all based on first corinthians 10 23 and 24. all things are lawful but not all things are profitable all things are lawful but not all things edify let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor how do i make a decision question number one the question is it lawful you know some things don't need to be prayed about i mean i don't need to ask god you know should i have an affair or not or should i abandon my family or you know should i cheat at work and so forth there are some things that are very clear and when paul talks about the gray areas he's talking about truly gray areas not things that the bible addresses so the first question is is this questionable behavior really questionable or not or not now remember the old testament had a law for just about every decision you needed to make in life it was very specific in the new testament there are some laws it's a new law but in the new testament you find principles more than you find specifics and just because something is not specifically addressed in the new testament doesn't mean it's okay for you to indulge in it for example you can search you know matthew through revelation and you won't find any command not to watch james bond movies okay you won't find that in the new testament but there are some principles in what you allow your mind to feed on first or second timothy 2 22 now flee youthful lust and pursue righteousness faith love and peace with those who call on the lord from a pure heart there's other regulations that may not come from the bible but they apply to you for example teenagers you know your parents may say to you well you know during the weekday you have a 10 p.m curfew well you can protest that's legalism mom that's legalism dad there's nothing in the bible that says a 10 p.m curfew well that's right there's nothing in the bible that says that but you're under the authority of your parents and the bible does say children obey your parents you may be at the workplace and your personnel manual may say you know no facial hair allowed no mustache you know no beards and so forth you can say to your employer that's legalism there's nothing in the bible that prohibits that god gives me the freedom to where i have a mustache your employer can say well that's fine but god doesn't sign your paycheck i do and here's the regulation you have to follow that the church has certain standards for leadership in our church in our church we have a standard for leaders in our church for deacons that says not to consume alcoholic beverages now that's not a biblical prohibition there's nothing in the bible that says you're going to hell if you have a drink nothing that says that says don't get drunk but there's nothing that prohibits alcohol from touching your lip under any circumstances but we made a decision that in our church given the culture in which we live given the fact that drinking is associated in many cases with a lifestyle that is not pleasing to god and we have many new christians who come out of a lifestyle that included drinking that it's best that we not lead other people to engage in behavior that would cause them to stumble so we have that prohibition it's not a biblical prohibition but we think it's one that suits our culture in our time when we ask the question is it lawful it's not only what does the bible say but what does the spiritual authority god has placed over you say as well second question the answer is is it profitable if you're wondering whether or not to engage in a particular behavior it may be allowed in scripture but the question is is it profitable for example you know i have a lot of freedom with what i can do with my time i could sit in my office three hours a day and play video games on my computer screen and probably nobody would call me out on it you wouldn't know about it but why don't i do that why don't i spend three hours a day playing video games maybe lawful but it's not profitable it doesn't help me move toward my goal of sharing christ with as many people as possible and that's not just a life goal for pastors it ought to be the passion of every christian we've been left here for one reason and that's to go into the world and make disciples and every expenditure of money and time and energy ought to be a question of does this help me in my lifelong goal of obeying the great commission is it lawful is it profitable all things are lawful paul said but not all things are necessarily profitable and then filter number three question number three even if it's lawful even if there's a way i can conjure up that it's profitable is it helpful and paul said specifically does it edify other people you know what that word edify means it means to build up to build up if i engage in this behavior does it build up or tear down another christian does it help another person move closer to god or further away from god that's a real question to consider you know um a couple of weeks ago we had the memorial service for kay brady uh long-time member of our church great bible teacher mother of doug brady one of our sunday school teachers and uh when i did her memorial service i so well i was thinking about kay and remembered an experience i had with her when i was in high school um she taught in our youth area in our high school department and i'll never forget one sunday night when i was a high school senior it was after the evening worship service we were over in the old sanctuary and she said robert can i talk to you for a moment she pulled me aside one of the vacant pews and i said well sure miss brady and she said robert our daughter went to a movie the other night and she was horrified at the terrible language in that movie and i was thinking to myself why is she telling me about this maybe it's because i'm such a spiritual giant in our youth area and she just wants me to know about it and so she told me about her daughter and i took the bait i said well miss brady why did your daughter go to that movie if the language was so terrible and she got that twinkle in her eye if you know okay she said well a few nights before she had been driving by the theater and she saw you standing in line with your date to go into that movie and she thought to herself if robert jeffress thinks this movie is okay then surely i can go to this movie i want to tell you i looked for the nearest pew i could crawl under but i learned an important lesson that night no christian is an island unto himself what we do has a profound impact on other people whether we realize it or we don't realize it a proper understanding of grace leads us to the understanding that in these gray areas that we're trying to make decisions about it's not just about me it's about us let's bow together in a word of prayer i may be speaking to some of you right now in day one on our first dallas eye campus maybe god's been speaking to you about a particular area in your life that maybe you have the freedom to engage in but you realize it could be negatively impacting somebody else maybe your own children your own family members maybe others for whom you're trying to be a witness for christ maybe it's something it's not sinful but it doesn't help you in becoming more like jesus christ maybe today you would say god i'm not trying to work my way into heaven but as a christian i'm going to say no to this freedom i have so that i can be more effective for you god will honor that decision any time you place his kingdom's interest above your own for some of you listening right now who are not yet christians and if that's true of you god is not asking you to clean up your life right now you can't clean up your life i can't clean up my life no the only thing we can do is to receive god's forgiveness in our life and once we do that once we place our faith in jesus christ he comes into our life and he works with us he goes through every room of our house so to speak every part of our life and begins a great renovation project but today if you've come to the point in your life when you understand that you need god's forgiveness in your life if today you're ready to trust in christ for your salvation i invite you wherever you are to pray this prayer in your heart as i prayed out loud knowing that god is listening to you right now would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today that you loved me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for my sins to take the punishment i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to spend the rest of my life following you and i pray this in jesus name amen if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer today i want to invite you to go into the chat room and click on the link that says i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress today and when you do that i'll be notified of your decision and we'll send you some free material about what it means to live your life as a christian don't wait right now go into the chat room and click on that link i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress today if you're watching in day one or you're here in our worship center if you prayed that prayer with me take this card that is in your bulletin right now check that third box and we'll be sure you get this material as well if you're a first time guest you can check that box the first one if you want more information about the church you can check that box the final box maybe you'd like to join first baptist today i've heard of several who've already done that today and if you'd like to do that check that box as well and then take this card exchange it at the welcome center outside the worship center or you can drop it in one of the bins on your way out and we will process your card get you the information and we'll also give you either at the welcome center or by mail a copy of our december special gift the nativity devotional it's a special devotional that you can use with your family at christmas time all through the month of december and would love that to be our gift to you for visiting first baptist today thank you so much for doing that now we're going to close our service in just a couple of minutes but i want to say just something very personal uh to each of you uh today's an important day for our family three years ago today amy and i were at dfw airport we had our boarding passes in hand we were on the way to washington dc for a christmas party at the white house and my cell phone rang and it was ryan our son-in-law telling us that julia was in labor with the triplets so i called the president's secretary and said i'm not going to be coming uh today our triplet grandchildren are about to be born we got our bags off the plane race race to presbyterian hospital and uh the triplets were born they were in very unstable condition they were in nicu for a long long time it was doubtful whether they were going to even make it or not but because of your prayers three years later they are alive and they are healthy and they are wearing us out so i just want to thank you church family today on their third birthday i want to thank you for praying for julia for ryan for our grandchildren it has made all the world of difference god bless you hope you have a wonderful day and we'll look forward to seeing you again next sunday all right joe you come and lead our closing song would you let's stand together as we sing blessed assurance [Music] this is my song [Music] [Applause] [Music] god god bless you have a great day hi campus family thank you so much for being here today and joining us in worship we hope that you are blessed by today's service make sure to invite your friends family and loved ones to join you each and every week right here on the first dallas icampus also stay connected with us all week long on our social media channels and join our new icampus global facebook group to know what's going on right here at first baptist dallas we love you guys so much and we'll see you next week hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well welcome to worship this morning we're so glad to have each and every one of you both in person and on eye campus let's stand together as we join our voices and sing joyful joyful we adore you god of glory lord of love hearts unfold like flowers [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] whose [Music] [Applause] [Music] fountain of the joy [Music] [Music] you are the one who takes [Applause] jesus you are my rescue jesus you are my rescue i give you everything i am [Music] jesus you are my rescue jesus you are my rescue i give you everything i am jesus you are my rescue jesus you are my rescue i give you everything i am [Applause] jesus you are my rescue [Music] jesus i am you are giving and forgiving of the joy [Music] you are the one who takes all of this [Music] amen we joyfully lift our voices today in worship to a king enthroned in splendor [Music] splendor [Music] [Music] how great is [Music] is then [Music] the lion and the land is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is amen don't we serve a great and awesome god today you may be seated thank you for your singing and your worship today if you're a guest in worship with us this morning we would love to give you a copy of dr jeffers's brand new booklet the nativity devotional simply fill out the guest card in your worship guide that you'll find and bring it with you to the welcome center to receive your free gift or you can turn it into the bins as you exit the worship center and we'll be sure to mail you a copy if you're joining with us on icampus we have a gift for you as well there's so much going on right now at first baptist dallas let's take a look and find out more [Music] good morning we're so thankful to be with you in worship today and we want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events the holidays are right around the corner and we have an exciting christmas season planned at first baptist dallas don't miss our annual dallas christmas spectacular on december 13th featuring our choir and orchestra ballet magnificat and this year's special guest artist david phelps then sunday december the 20th we will have our christmas sunday with your favorite christmas worship music and our children will enjoy back to the stable in sunday school then on december the 24th we will gather for our annual christmas eve service beginning january 1st our church will begin a new season of ministry with mission 18 courageous our ministry strategy to reach our city nation and the world for christ please be praying about what the lord might lead you to commit to mission one eight courageous tonight leaders from all of our ministry areas will gather online for worship a vision cast and to make commitments for advanced commitment night then on sunday december the 20th our whole church will gather to make our commitments help us finish the year strong by bringing a special light of the world offering in the month of december all gifts must be postmarked delivered or submitted online by december 31st thank you for how you invest in what god is doing through the ministry of first baptist dallas finally it is a blessing to be able to worship together again and as we continue to reopen our church and our ministries you can help maintain a healthy environment for everyone social distancing and using our hand sanitizing stations for more information on all these exciting events happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events isn't it great to be here to worship together what a blessing that is and if you're like me my heart resonates with the psalmist david when he said i was glad when they said unto me let's go into the house of the lord and we are here it's our privilege also to read god's word together and we invite you to read with us today from paul's letter to the romans romans chapter 14 and we'll read verses 13-17 as a preparation for the pastor's next message in this sermon series grace gone wild we'll be reading from the new american standard bible those will be the words that you'll see here on the screen in the worship center and for eye campus as well so that we can all take part in reading god's holy word and would you join me in standing we do that to honor the reading of his word as we read romans chapter 14 beginning with verse 13 and ending with verse 17. therefore let us not judge one another anymore but rather determine this not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way i know and am convinced in the lord jesus that nothing is unclean in itself but to him who thinks anything to be unclean to him it is unclean for if because of food your brother is hurt you are no longer walking according to love do not destroy with your food him who for whom christ died therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit may god richly bless the reading of his word let's keep standing as dr joe harden comes back to lead us as we continue our worship together this next song reminds us that we worship a holy triune god who's the very king of kings let's take a listen [Music] in the darkness we were waiting without hope without light till from heaven you came running there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the word from the throne of endless glory to a cradle praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three [Music] praise forever [Music] to [Music] foreign [Music] jesus [Music] foreign [Music] till that stone was moved for good for the lamb had conquered death and the dead [Music] shall [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] three [Music] [Music] me [Music] is amen we worship the king of kings and lord of lords you may be seated let's turn our attention as we look for an important word about mission 1-8 [Music] how do you define courage it doesn't always look grand it isn't always an act of heroism it's a small word with a powerful meaning and even more powerful impact it's a kind word an open invitation a gentle gesture a prayerful spirit it's a bold voice a willing heart a step outside your comfort zone courage is an act of obedience it's following god when it isn't easy when the world calls you crazy it's a focus on others and building god's kingdom when culture tells you to build your own it's acting justly loving mercy and walking humbly it's rising up boldly for such a time as this over the next two years first baptist dallas will take on mission 1-8 courageous and we expectantly anticipate god to move like never before it means we will focus on serving our city investing in families teaching the next generation and spreading the gospel all over the world it means building our icampus community bringing bold biblical teaching and seizing every opportunity the lord provides as the world drifts further away from god first dallas will continue to step into the fray as both a physical church and a digital force seeking to reach every man woman and child like never before one act of obedience is powerful it can impact a life which can impact a city which can change a nation which can influence the world one act of obedience one courageous response one life at a time it's time to stand firm it's time to take heart it's time to move forward in faith for our god has overcome the world church it's time to be courageous how will you answer the call [Music] that's exciting as a.w tozer said a scared world that needs a fearless church this is the time for god's church to stand up and god has given first baptist dallas a unique platform to impact the world with the gospel two weeks from today sunday december 20th is what we call christmas sunday at first baptist i'll have a special christmas message the music will be all christmas we've got all kinds of things planned but the most important thing about that date is two weeks from today is the time that we are all bringing our commitment cards or if you're watching online you can fill it out online for mission one eight for those of you who are new to our church mission 1-8 is first of all it's our ministry plan for the next two years as we apply the principle of acts 1-8 and plan a strategy that will reach our city our nation and our world with the gospel but mission 1-8 is also the funding plan to accomplish that mission and unlike other churches our church only has one fund one offering we take it's to mission 1-8 and everything we're going to do in the next two years our local ministries our debt reduction pathway to victory mission efforts we all put it into one fund we call mission one eight and what we're asking you to do between now and two weeks from today is to be praying about what god would have you give to our church over the next two years not in multiple offerings but in one offering now if you would i'm not going to ask you to fill out the card today but take your card in your bulletin and we've made it this year more simple than ever before if you take out this card and let me show you how this works and what we would like you to do you'll notice there are three lines uh on this card first of all your annual giving we're asking you to please pray about what you're going to give for the next two years that's why it says times two whatever you're going to give to mission one eight which again is our ministry budget our missions initiatives everything multiply it by two and put it in that first blank then secondly we'd like you to consider a special gift you might give sometime over the next two years maybe god's been especially good to you in your business or your investments an inheritance or some other unexpected uh blessing you've received this year maybe you'd like to give an additional gift sometime over the next two years then just add those two numbers together your annual giving times two since it's two years your special gift if there is one and that would be the third line your total two-year commitment everything you plan to give to first baptist dallas over the next two years this will be a great help to us in planning our ministry as we look to what i believe is going to be an unprecedented opportunity for ministry once this pandemic is over so thank you for doing that thank you for praying now we're going to ask our leaders if you're a leader in our church you've been invited to watch our special advanced commitment night tonight at 6 00 p.m you received in the mail a special link to watch that you'll receive it again this afternoon it's going to be a great 45 minutes of tremendous music by fred wilmer leonard rupert michael t smith and others i'll have a special challenge and then you as leaders will have an opportunity online tonight or through the mail to make your commitment to mission 108 now if you're not perhaps a leader in the church but you would like to watch would love to have you tune in it's a great evening of worship starting at 6 p.m go to firstdallas.org forward slash a-c-n and leaders please send your commitments in this week as we lead the way in mission 1-8 now today we're going to have a time to pray together for mission 1 8. we're going to pray for our message and our invitation and for the offering that you can deposit in the receptacles as you leave today ben levoran our executive pastor is going to lead us in that prayer let's kneel wherever we're able to if you've joined us online we'd ask you to join us and pray together as well ben let's pray heavenly father we come humbly before your throne this morning and we worship you we lift our praises to you as the sovereign god the king of kings and the lord of lords and we thank you lord that as we worship you we can also present our request to you we can present our cares and our wants and our desires to you and so lord as we look forward to the next two years we ask that you would bless our efforts that you would do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine through the ministries of first baptist dallas and through your people who you've chosen to work through to transform the world with your word one life at a time lord we ask that you uh receive our offerings and our tithes today as a spiritual act of worship and lord it's in that spirit that we give them to you a spirit of gratitude a spirit of thanks a spirit of worship and lord we pray that you would move in this place today as our pastor brings a message from your word and as you speak through him we know that your word does not return void so we ask that you transform hearts and transform lives even this morning and we commit all this to you and we pray this in the saving and holy and powerful name of jesus amen [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] say [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hey [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you so much joe harden and marvelous first dallas choir in the orchestra that's just a taste of what you're going to hear next sunday at our first dallas christmas spectacular next sunday afternoon at 3 and 6 p.m now we're already sold out on the tickets so there are no more tickets available but you're going to be able to watch either performance or both of them on first dallas high campus so if you don't have a ticket or you're watching online join us next sunday at 3 and 6 p.m central time you'll hear this tremendous choir and orchestra you'll worship with ballet magnificat and our special soloist guest artist david phelps that's next sunday december 30 13th we hope you'll tune in for the first dallas christmas spectacular well we are halfway through our series grace gone wild and so it's time for a midterm exam those are going on in colleges right now we're going to have a midterm exam are you ready it's actually quite simple only five questions true or false you have a 50 chance of getting these right so here we go ready question number one true or false it's best for christians not to shop on sundays true or false second question christian parents should discourage their children from celebrating halloween true or false question number three christian schools are preferable to public schools true or false question number four christian hymns are usually more worshipful than contemporary christian music true or false question number five christians should abstain from any alcoholic beverage true or false what are the correct answer to those questions are there any correct answers to those questions now some of you i can tell are getting red in the face with indignation just by asking that question well of course pastor any student of the bible knows that blank is wrong or any mature christian knows that blank is preferable to blank everybody knows that really if everybody knows it why have there been so many divisions in the church that continue today over those questions divisions that have gone on for hundreds of years what all of those questions have in common is this they deal with what we call the gray areas of christian living issues about which the bible issues no specific commands the question is how does a proper understanding of grace impact the decisions i make about those gray areas the areas the bible doesn't specifically address do i have the right for example to ignore the prejudice and ignorance of other people when it comes to my own behavior does grace give me a license to thumb my nose at those who decry drinking dancing and reading harry potter novels what role does grace play in the decisions i make in my everyday life in our series grace gone wild we've seen that they're really two perversions equally dangerous of the doctrine of grace legalism and libertarianism when it comes to the grey issues of the christian life legalism says there are no gray areas of the christian life the bible addresses every topic that you just addressed and asked about you can find a verse that tells you everything you ought to do about every area of life and if you just study the bible hard enough or you learn to read between the lines you can know what the bible says and i'm going to tell you what it says that's what the legalist says and it's always interesting how the answer to those questions always just happens to coincide with the legalist personal opinion that's what legalism is max lucado defines it this way legalism makes my opinion your burden it makes my opinion your boundary legalism makes my opinion your obligation i would change that a little bit i would substitute the word conviction for opinion a legalist actually has a deep-seated conviction about each of these issues but he wants to make his conviction automatically your conviction your obligation that's legalism the other extreme in viewing these gray areas is what we call libertarianism the libertarian says every issue is a great issue there are no one answer fits all decisions on any topic whatsoever i remember uh talking to a man one time who was considering leaving his wife he said i'm really praying about whether or not i ought to get a divorce i said oh is your wife guilty of adultery well no has she abandoned you well no those are the only two reasons for a divorce in the bible and uh but when i suggested that i mean he was offended what do you mean that that answer doesn't apply for me i'm seeking god's personal direction in my life about an issue that the bible has already spoken about that's what you call libertarianism the idea that there are no rules and the libertarian especially refuses to allow the opinions of others have any impact on what he chooses to do he'll say things like i refuse to allow anybody to place me under the law or he'll say something like i serve christ i don't serve other people or he'll say you know i've grown in my faith to a position that i understand i i have the freedom to do this and maybe if you become more mature like i am you'll have that freedom as well that's libertarianism well what standards should govern our conduct in the gray areas you know paul rejected the legalists he had no use for man-made systems of conduct that applied to everybody but he also rejected the feeling of the libertarians that i'm free to do whatever i want to do regardless of how it affects other people then what is the standard well he gives it to us in first corinthians chapter eight if you have your bibles i want you to turn to first corinthians chapter eight as we talk about good grace decision making today for a few minutes we're going to take a trip back to the time tunnel 2000 years ago to the meat market in the city of corinth you know in the city of corinth they had a raging debate in the church at corinth in the first church of corinth and their debate was not about whether or not to celebrate halloween it wasn't about whether or not to have a glass of wine before your meal at night the real question that was raging in corinth the gray area if you were if you will had to do with whether or not to eat meat that had been offered to an idol before now a little background is important to understand why this was such an issue in the pagan temple in corinth just like all pagan temples there was a place that you could offer a sacrifice to appease the gods remember the romans and the jews the greeks they had gods for everything there was a god of justice a god of love of god a war and the way to keep these gods happy and to keep your own life happy was to appease them by offering them a meat sacrifice it's kind of like leaving you know cookies and milk for santa claus you would make these uh offerings to keep the gods happy now when you would go to offer your meat offering one third of the offering would be consumed on the fire another third the offerer could keep for himself and the final third would go to the priests now day after day with all these people offering sacrifices you can imagine that one-third of meat that was offered to the priest that was a lot of meat no priest could eat it all himself and so they established a meat market right there in the pagan temple where you could purchase meat anybody could that had been offered to an idol and not only was it cholesterol-free it was demon-free it had been specially ridden of demons and that's why it was especially uh advantageous to eat meat that had been offered to an idol now here is the question the question was should christians buy any of that meat that had been offered to an idol or if they were seated at a friend's house for dinner and the friend said oh we've got a you know a burger tonight burgers on the house and we got it from the meat market there in the temple should you abstain or should you go ahead and eat that meat that had been offered to idols now the more mature christians in corinth said there's nothing wrong with eating that meat we all know there's no such things as an idol why not eat it but the newer christians who had come out of idolatry they said oh no we should not eat that meat to them it would be a signal of going back into their pagan lifestyle of idolatry and sacrificing to the idol so it was that debate should you eat meat that had been offered to an idol now today obviously that's not a question you don't go to albertsons and see a section that says meat offered to idols that's not an issue but we have equally contentious issues in the church today here are some of them is it permissible to worship on saturday evenings rather than sunday mornings many churches do that is that permissible should christians practice birth control should those who have been divorced and remarried even for biblical reasons be allowed to serve in leadership positions in the church is it permissible for a christian to consume alcoholic beverages in moderation should christians participate in easter egg hunts for each of those questions there are some of you who are shouting no under no circumstances should you do that some of you are saying yes yes yes we've got the freedom to do that what does paul say about it he doesn't say yes or no he says it depends it depends what does it depend upon i'm so glad you asked because the answer is found right here in first corinthians 8 there are three principles paul gives us for decision making about the gray areas of the christian life three principles principle number one write it down good grace a proper understanding of grace elevates love above knowledge those who were pushing bad grace in the corinthian church said that their doctrinal knowledge was the basis and the only basis for making a decision and they said we had the knowledge that there's no such thing as an idol that's why we're free to do it we know there's no such thing as an idol case shut no it's not shut paul says you know there are people today who say well we know from the bible but there's uh we're not under the old testament law anymore so we're free to break all those regulations or somebody says we know there's nothing inherently sinful about alcohol therefore we are free to drink without consideration of how it affects anybody else in paul's day they said we know there's no such thing as an idol interestingly paul affirmed that truth in verse 4 of first corinthians 8 he said therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols we know that there's no such thing as an idol in the world and that there is no god but one he said we agree with you on that but paul goes on to say but knowledge what the bible says is not the only question to consider what else could there be it's how it affects other people look at first corinthians eight verses one to three he says now concerning things sacrificed to idols we know that we all have knowledge but knowledge makes arrogant literally it puffs up but love edifies if anyone supposes that he knows anything he is not yet known as he ought to know but if anyone loves god he is known by love the bible says when we consider whether or not to do something it's not just what the bible says it is how will this affect another person you know our church for 152 years has been known as a church that teaches the bible we are a church built on the bible and i think that's one reason the main reason god has blessed first baptist dallas like he has so i want you to hear what i'm saying very clearly we do need to ask the question what does the bible say about any topic but that's not the only consideration in a church like ours sometimes we elevate knowledge over love i mean there are actually some christians who believe that when they stand before the judgment seat of christ jesus is going to hand them a blue book and ask them to do a diagram of the end times or he's going to ask them to list 10 reasons evidences for the virgin birth of christ or he's going to ask them to explain the difference between calvinism and arminianism they really think that's how jesus is going to judge us by the knowledge that we have no there's only one standard by which jesus is going to judge us and that is how well do we mirror the actions attitudes and affections of jesus christ see any biblical knowledge that doesn't leave lead you to love god and love other people more is worthless knowledge that's why first john 4 10 is very clear about that it says if somebody says i love god and hates his brother he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love god whom he has not seen you have to love god with all of your heart mind soul and strength and if you really do you're gonna love other people like you love yourself and therefore you're not gonna do anything that would harm another christian that is what good grace does it elevates love above knowledge just because i have the knowledge that i'm free to do this doesn't mean i necessarily should do it and that leads to a second principle about decision-making from this passage good grace elevates the welfare of others over my freedom good grace celebrates the welfare of others over my freedom you see these new converts in corinth they didn't possess the same understanding that the more mature christians did they didn't know that there was only one god wait a minute you're saying they could become christians and still believe that there were a multitude of gods oh yeah yeah you see when they became christians they were acknowledging that there is only one right god but they had not yet come to the position that they understood there was only one real god and so when they were eating meat that had been offered to an idol it reminded them of their own pagan lifestyle to them that was sinning against the right god by offering something eating something that had been offered to a pagan god we need to understand that today we get this idea that there are all these things you have to believe in order to become a christian i've actually heard people say you can't be a christian and believe in evolution you can't be a christian and deny the virgin birth of christ you cannot be a christian and not embrace the inerrancy of the scripture of course you can you can be an ignorant christian an untaught christian a disobedient christian there's only one thing though you have to believe to be a christian acts 16 31 believe on the lord jesus christ and you shall be saved that's the one thing you have to believe and when you trust in christ as your salvation if you've really done that the holy spirit comes into your heart and he will lead you into truth in these other areas as well these were baby christians they didn't know there was only one god they believed there was only one right god and they were committing themselves to him look at verse seven of first corinthians eight however not all men have this knowledge that there's only one god but some being accustomed to the idol until now eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled you see when you exercise a freedom that you have it could lead somebody else who doesn't have that freedom to have his conscience defiled now what is a conscience a conscience is an internal warning system that god places in each one of us to warn us a behavior that could be harmful to us john mcarthur describes it this way he said conscience is god's doorkeeper to keep us out of the places where we could be hurt as we mature our conscience allows us to go more places and to do more things because we have better judgment when our daughters julian dorothy when they were four and five they were constantly asking us if they could walk down the street by themselves to a neighbor's house and we always said no we knew they were too young to walk by themselves even in our neighborhood they could be abducted and something bad could befall them we would not give them the freedom to do that when my girls turned 16 they asked us if we could have a car they could have a car now we never would have given a car to our five-year-old daughters but we were willing to give it to our 16 year old daughters because they had the maturity and understanding to know where to go and where not to go that's what a conscience does listen to me when you first become a christian god sets that internal warning system with an unusually high level of sensitivity if you get close to anything that could lead you astray beep beep beep beep beep beep that warning system goes off the closer you get it says don't do it don't do it and yet that new christian having that sensitive warning system if he sees you doing something that he thinks is wrong he may ignore that internal warning system and follow your behavior instead and what happens it ends up defiling his conscience it does damage to that internal warning system and if you ignore your conscience frequently enough you do permanent damage to it where it no longer works you can no longer hear that beep beep beep that's why in first timothy 1. paul said to timothy above all keep faith and a clear conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith if you ignore your conscience too many times you won't be able to feel it any longer and that's why we need to be very careful about doing anything that hurts another christian you say what does all of this have to do with eating meat offered to idols when these new christian converts in corinth were tempted to eat a meal they were they were warned by their internal system don't do that but then some of them were falling into sin because of the example of the so-called mature christians i need to stop here and point out a misunderstanding that many people have about this passage in every church there are legalists who misuse this passage they don't like something you do and so they say you can't do that because that offends me and i'm the weaker brother and the bible says you can't do something i object to that's not what this passage is talking about i remember my old professor howard hendrick said in every church there's a whole group of professional weaker brothers they love to try to impose their opinions on you by saying if i object to what you're doing you can't do it no that's not what this passage about the weaker brother is not somebody who objects to your behavior the weaker brother is somebody who follows your behavior who is led to do what you're doing and ends up defiling his own conscience the bible says good grace elevates love over knowledge and not only that it also elevates the well-being of others over personal opinion and that leads to a third characteristic of good grace when it comes to deciding on the gray areas of life good grace elevates god's interests above my desires it elevates god's interest above my desires bad grace always exalts personal freedom over every other consideration but good grace elevates god's interest among my desires do you remember the poet john dunn who said every man is an island unto himself nothing could be further from the truth especially for christians we are not individual item islands unto ourselves we belong to one another remember the most common image in the new testament of the church is the what of christ the body of christ when you trust in christ for your salvation you are not just joined to the head of the body jesus christ you are joined together with other christians in a mystical spiritual but very real sense that's why first corinthians 12 27 says for you are christ's body and individually members of it what you do affects other christians just like what one body part does affects other parts of your body as well now let me ask you a question can you ever imagine in any situation in which you would take a hammer and smash your left thumb as hard as you possibly could is there anything that would ever lead you to do such a thing why would you do that why would one hand do something that brings such pain to another part of your body and the only thing more ridiculous than that would be to take the hammer and hit yourself in the head with it would you do that of course not and yet when you sin against another christian you cause him harm you're not only hurting yourself you're hurting the head jesus christ first corinthians 8 12 and so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak you're not only sinning against them you sin against christ and that's why good grace understands that god's interests are more important than my desires now i want to touch on a very sensitive topic and make a very sensitive application here it's about these things masks we've got a debate raging in our country right now about mass wear a mask or don't wear a mask wear a mask or don't wear a mask there's not any real medical debate at all about it but let's pretend that there is wear a mask or don't wear a mask you know what disturbs me about all of this it's what i'm hearing from some christians some christians who are saying you can't make me do something you can't tell me what to do it's my body i'm free to do whatever i want to do you know that's exactly what the pro-abortion people say it's all about me it's my body i'm free to do whatever i want to do no you're not if you're a christian if you're a christian the only question is not what do i want to do how does it affect me the question is how does my behavior affect other people and the bible is very clear my freedom ends when it negatively impacts somebody else don't fall into the trap of saying it's all about me it's about my freedom god is interested in something more than your freedom he has interests that supersede your freedom and his interest is the well-being of other people good grace understands that so how do i go about then making decisions about these gray areas of the christian life paul said in first corinthians 8 13 therefore if food causes my brother to stumble if alcohol causes my brother to stumble whatever causes my brother to stumble i will never eat meat again so that i will not cause my brother to stumble paul gives us three final questions to ask whenever we're trying to make a decision about these gray areas they're actually found in first corinthians 10 23 and 24. all things are lawful but not all things are profitable all things are lawful but not all things edify let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor first question you ought to ask yourself about an activity is first of all is it actually lawful that is does the scripture give you the freedom to do this i mean not everything obviously is lawful committing adultery is not lawful unbiblical divorce is not lawful stealing from your neighbors not lawful paul is talking about behavior that is not prohibited in scriptures what he's saying is you have to ask yourself the question are you talking actually about something that is lawful now remember in the old testament there was a pr there was a command about just about every area of life it was very strict what you could do what you couldn't do in the new testament there are some laws but there are more principles that god gives you for example you can look all through the new testament from matthew to revelation you won't find any word about r-rated movies whether you ought to go to r-rated movies so does that mean you're free to there is a principle in second timothy 2 22 now flee from youthful lust and pursue righteousness faith love and peace with those who call on the lord from a pure heart god is concerned with what you put into your mind that's the principle you have to allow the holy spirit to lead you and how to apply that principle by the way this i get asked about this all the time but there are situations in which you are required to obey regulations that aren't in the bible you know teenagers your parents may say you've got a 10 p.m curfew on school nights you can argue that's legalism that's legalism there's nothing in the bible that says i have to be in at 10 p.m you're right there's not but there is something in the bible that says you're to obey your parents maybe you're in a workplace where there is a a prohibition men against wearing a mustache or a beard and you go into your employer and you say that's legalism that is legalism god has given me the freedom to wear a mustache or a beard if i want to your employer may say that's fine but god doesn't sign your paycheck i do and i'm telling you you can't do it even here in the church i mean we have established a leadership standard for our deacons and staff that says we should abstain from alcoholic beverages is that in the bible there's nothing in the bible that says you're going to hell if you have a drink there's nothing in the bible that says you're never to allow alcohol to pass your lips but but we realize as leaders that could be a stumbling block for others there are many new converts in our church who have come out of a lifestyle that had drinking associated with it and if they fall back into that it's like falling back into their old lifestyle one out of seven people are alcoholics we know that for certain and uh our exercising of freedom over something we could handle might hurt somebody else who can't handle it and for that reason we've set that standard now again is it an absolute biblical standard no you can't point to a verse that says that but there's a principle there that we think we have the right to formulate for our church and you're free to be a member of the church without adhering to that standard but if you want to be a leader that's a standard that we have set so the question is is it lawful secondly question is it profitable some behavior may be allowed in god's word but that's not the only question is it profitable does it help move you towards your god-given goal and passion in life for example if i wanted to i could spend three hours a day in my office playing video games on my computer and nobody would be the wiser for it i could do it but do i want to do that no because that doesn't help me accomplish my goal in life to share christ with as many people as possible to be a an effective pastor of this church it's not just pastors who have that goal god has given us a limited amount of time and energy to spend and and transforming the world with god's word to share the good news of christ with as many people as possible and a legitimate question is does this activity help me or hurt me in pursuing that goal in my life paul said all things are lawful but all things may not be profitable the third question to ask yourself and this is all important is is it helpful is this behavior helpful and paul uses the word in first corinthians 10 edify all things are lawful but not all things edify you know what the word edify means means to build up another person this is the question about others how does this decision even if it's lawful even if you can come up with a way that it's profitable does it edify does it build up or tear down other people specifically does my behavior make a person want to follow god more closely or does it motivate them to fall away from god a couple of weeks ago we had the memorial service for k brady who's a wonderful bible teacher in our church mother of doug brady one of our sunday school teachers and as i was preparing for that service i remind i was reminded of an incident i had an encounter i had with kay when i was a high school student she taught in our youth area a great bible teacher in our youth area and i remember when i was a high school senior one night after the sunday evening service we were in the old historic sanctuary and after the service she said robert can i talk to you for a moment and i said well sure ms brady and she pulled me off to the side to one of the vacant pews and she said robert the other night our daughter went to a movie and she was just shocked by the horrible language in that movie she she just couldn't believe it and i sat there and listened and smiled thinking to myself why is ms brady telling me about that maybe it's because i'm such a spiritual giant in our youth area she just felt the need to confess that her daughter had gone to this movie so after she told me about it i took the bait and i asked the question well miss brady why did your daughter go to the movie if it was so awful and with that twinkle in her eye doug you're very familiar with she said well a couple of nights before that she was driving by the theater and she saw you standing in line with your date to go see that movie and she thought to herself where if robert jeffress thinks this movie is okay it must be okay for me to go to i looked for the nearest pew to crawl under as quickly as i could what a wake-up call the fact is what we do impacts other people people we don't even know who are watching what we're doing we're not an island unto ourselves and that's why the bible says a proper understanding of grace will always lead you to ask the question not only how does this affect me but how does this behavior affect us let's bow together in a word of prayer i'm speaking to some right now you're already a christian but maybe there's a particular area of your life a freedom you have that you know is not necessarily profitable it's not helping you and your goals in life and it's not building up other people in fact it could be a stumbling block to others maybe even to your own children or grandchildren and maybe today you would say god even though i have the freedom to do this i'm going to put your interest above my own today i'm letting go of this behavior this right this freedom i have for a greater purpose i'll guarantee you god will honor that decision in your life but today if you're not yet a christian please understand there's no way for you to clean up your life enough to make it acceptable to god the bible says all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god you can't clean up your life the only thing you can do is to ask for god's forgiveness in your life put your faith and trust in jesus as your savior and when you do that god not only will forgive you of all of your past sins he will send his holy spirit into your life and he will join you in a cleanup effort he'll go into every room every area of your life and completely renovate it you can't do it on your own you need the power of the holy spirit and that's what happens when you become a christian today if you would like to trust in christ as your savior receive his forgiveness and receive the power of the holy spirit to make you into a new person i want to encourage you wherever you are to pray this prayer with me maybe you're watching online i invite you to close your eyes if you're able and pray this simple prayer with me dear god thank you for loving me i know that i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today that you love me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment from you god that i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to spend the rest of my life following you in jesus name amen if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer with me please go to the chat room right now and click the link that says i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress and i'll send you some material right away on what it means to live as a christian it's free material but please don't wait go to the chat room click on that link today and we'll get that material to you right away if you're here in our worship center i'd like to ask you to take the card that you have right now and if you prayed that prayer with me check that third box i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress and we'll get that material to you as well maybe you're a first-time guest today check that box or maybe you want more information about our church maybe you'd like to join our church many did in the first service you can check that final box but if you would when you've completed this card if you'll take it to the welcome center in exchange for this card they will give you our brand new christmas devotional the nativity devotional for you and your family it's our gift to you for visiting first baptist today thank you so much for doing that well i believe today we have there they are we've got some families that we're going to dedicate to the lord and today so shelley's going to come our wonderful children's ministry director and it's good that we're doing this today january the 17th we are having the grand opening for our expanded horner family center and so shall we you keep bringing these families into our church and we'll keep building would you introduce our families today so we are so excited to dedicate five families this morning first we have our sweet olivia louise creswell olivia was born june 30th 2020. her parents are joseph and tiffany creswell and her pop-pop is ron creswell next we have natalya and davis natalia was born on june 8 2019 her parents are paul and lady davis and big brother and sister amanda and mito next we have charlotte and gamberdella charlotte was born on april 28 2020 her parents are ted and lauren and big brother teddy next we have mr preston ryan turner preston was born january 23rd 2020 his parents are chad and jessica and big sister madison and next we have miss victoria leal zwierkovsky victoria was born on july 20th 2020. her parents are alex and lucian and big brother benjamin each time we dedicate we always read from the book of deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 5 through 7 and you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might these words i'm commanding you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up now parents if you would turn and face me for just a moment we're so happy for each of you and this is a time we're not only dedicating your children to the lord but you as their parents as well and so today i would ask you before this congregation before god himself do you pledge to do everything you can to rear your children to know love and serve jesus christ with all of their hearts do you well let's pray pray together father we thank you for each family each child here today children are a gift an inheritance from you your word tells us and i pray for each child here father that they would soon in life come to know christ as their savior that they would be fully devoted to following him that you would keep satan away from each of these children and trying to destroy what you have planned for them and father we pray for the parents father that you would give them the physical the emotional strength they need the physical and spiritual insight they need to lead their children in a way that's pleasing to you and father today we affirm together as our church our commitment to each of these families to all of our families as we help them raise families that are pleasing to you and follow you with all of their heart father we thank you for our church that generously supports them and we look forward to reaching more families this year in the city of dallas we pray this in christ's name amen i want you to turn back and face the congregation let's applaud these families and show our gratitude for each one of them thank you and guy will take you out while they're leaving i want to say a personal word to each of you who are members of our church three years ago today amy and i were at dfw airport our bags were on the plane our boarding passes were in hand we were about to step on the plane when my cell phone rang and it was our son-in-law ryan saying that julia was at the hospital and about to give birth to our triplet grandchildren we quickly got our bags off i called the white house said sorry i'm not going to be able to make it today something more important is going on we raced to presbyterian hospital and our three grandchildren were born it was touch and go they were in the nicu for a long time whether they survived or not was a real question but you as a church family were faithful to pray for them and three years later today they are alive they are healthy and they are wearing us out and i want to say thank you for praying for our grandchildren it means so much to us thank you so much you're the best well i hope you have a great afternoon and by the way don't forget to tune in tonight leaders to our advanced commitment night and we'll look forward to seeing all of you back again next sunday joe you come now and close our service would you let's stand and sing together blessed [Music] assurance this is my story this is [Music] this is [Music] god bless you have a great day hi campus family thank you so much for being here today and joining us in worship we hope that you are blessed by today's service make sure to invite your friends family and loved ones to join you each and every week right here on the first dallas i campus also stay connected with us all week long on our social media channels and join our new icampus global facebook group to know what's going on right here at first baptist dallas we love you guys so much and we'll see you next week you

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Published: Sun Dec 06 2020