"So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God." Romans 14:22
"God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments
of men which are in any way contrary to or different from his word in matters of faith or
worship.10 And so, believing any such teachings or obeying any such commandments of men
for conscience’s sake actually betrays true freedom of conscience.11 Requiring implicit or
absolute, blind obedience also destroys freedom of conscience as well as the free use of
reason." Westminster Confession of Faith
I feel like I need to clarify something right up front.
I AM NOT ADVOCATING DOING ANYTHING THAT VIOLATES THE CONSCIENCE OR THAT A PERSON MAY HAVE STRONG CONVICTIONS AGAINST.
Causing someone to stumble
Some time ago I was having a conversation with a fellow brother about the first few verses in Romans 14. A point he brought up is that you could literally never do anything because there are any number of things that could be a stumbling block. What if one person gets offended because I eat meat but another person gets offended because I don't? As I thought about it I came to the conclusion that the issue isn't so much that people who are new in the faith have preconceived ideas because they haven't fully learned the tenets of the gospel. It's that many people have been led by overzealous preachers to believe certain things that the Bible does not teach.
The Danger of Preaching from Personal Conviction
In Deuteronomy 4:2 God said, "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it." The Apostle Paul expressed something similar in 1 Corinthians 4:6, "Do not go beyond what is written." And Revelation 22: 18-19 warns against adding to or taking from what has been written. By the time Jesus came the first time the religious leaders had added so many of their own rules and regulations to the Law of Moses that it bore very little resemblance to what it had been originally. In trying to be even more righteous than the law required they actually disobeyed the law and became more sinful.
The church age has been no different.
It seems that in our humanity we want to know exactly what we can and cannot do..."Just tell me what to do and I'll do it." Our fallen human nature will always default to a legalistic mindset because in our fallen state we don't really believe we need God. Too often even well meaning preachers will accomodate the human nature and declare rules from the pulpit which foster a kind of modern Phariseeism. And very often, too often in fact, it is preachers who have a desire to control people and in their humanness seek to put burdens on the conscience where God has not done so. Aside from the fact that this 'rule making' nagates the doctrine of grace, all too often these rules go beyond what the scripture teaches and are nothing more than opinions dressed up as scriptural mandates. Jesus said in Matthew 15:9:
"They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men."
Here are a few teachings that many have believed that are not bibical.
Drinking alcohol is a sin.
There is nothing in scripture that supports the idea that consuming alcohol is sinful. It is often laughable the lengths that some will go to to attempt to prove that the scripture does prohibit alcohol. Many have tried to say that Jesus turned water into 'non-alcoholic' wine, etc. In making such assertions they overlook the fact that scripture is very clear that drinking too much of this 'non-alcoholic' wine will make you drunk. Drunkennes is sinful, but there is a world of difference between having a drink and being drunk. One should note that gluttony is also a sin. Yet we need to eat in order to live. But at some point the consumption of food in a healthy (and yes, enjoyable) way becomes excessive. The same rule applies to alcohol. The Bible speaks much about self control and moderation. For some people who are prone to addictions, it may be better to completely abstain from alcohol. But that should be a personal choice not to be enforced on other believers.
Smoking is a sin.
There is no commandment in the Bible that says 'thou shalt not smoke." Often those who assert that smoking is in fact a sin will invoke 1 Corinthians 6:19, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" If we are to be fair we need to apply this passage to every activity that we engage our body in; eating, exercise, recreation, etc. However, if we look at the context of this verse it becomes clear that it is speaking of sexual immorality. The previous verse explains that sexual sins are different than other sins in their effect. It is important to read verse 19 in it's proper context: vv. 18: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside the body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
Now personally, I have a hard time seeing any benefit to smoking. The jury is back, smoking is not healthy and I think we need to be good stewards of what God has given us. That includes this 'tent of flesh' he has given us for this lifetime. But it also seems that moderation is important here as well. There is a big difference bewtween a pack-a-day smoker and someone who enjoys a cigar on the weekend. Again while there may be compelling reasons not to smoke, the Scripture does not define it as sin and we have no business passing judgment on each other in such cases.
Dancing, movies, television, parties
The Bible does not contain any prohibitions against any of these things.
Be aware of the many things the Bible DOES define as sinful.
Often in our zeal to judge certain activities as sinful we have a tendency to neglect things that scripture does condemn. Things like gossip, slander. sexual immorality, (any sexual activiity outside of marriage--marriage being defined as the union between one man and one woman) and lying are clearly defined as sinful. 1 Coritnthians 6:9-10 lists a number of sins that will keep people from entering the Kingdom of God. The fact is, much of the New Testament writing contains exhortations on how we, as believers are to live.
We must never presume upon the goodness and mercy of God and think for one moment that he will simply overlook sin. He will judge sin. And the gospel message has only one message for the unrepentant sinner; "JUDGMENT AWAITS!! But at the same time we need to make a clear distinction between what the scripture defines as sin and what is not sin. It is also true that if a man is convicted that something is sinful then it is sinful to him because (Romans 14:23) "Everything that does not come from faith is sin. In the words of C. H. Spurgeon:
"Why a man may think it a sin to have his boots blacked. Well then, let him give it up and have them whitewashed instead."
The point is that we should not do things that violate our conscience in issues that the scripture is otherwise silent. But we, especially those of us who teach, must not place the burden of our own conscience on other believers.
Just because the Bible doesn't define something as sin doesn't mean it is automatically OK.
"everything is permissible for me--but not everything is beneficial. everything is permeissible--but I will not be mastered by anything." 1 Corinthians 6:12. While the Bible does not define any of the aforementioned things as sin. It is important to ask God to give discernment because in some circumstances and in some cases it may be sinful. For example, while the consumption of alcohol is not defined as 'sin' in some cases it might be better to abstain. The same with things like dancing and movies, etc. Some movies and some dancing are completely inappropriate while others are fine. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. Jesus said that the Counselor would teach us all things and remind us of everything He said (John 14:26)
Galations 5:13 and 1 Peter 2:16 both admonish us to live as free men but not to use our freedom as license to sin. I Corinthians 10:31 tells us that everything we do should be for the Glory of God.
Pastors are shepherds, not sherrifs.
The word pastor only shows up one time in the New Testament. It's in Ephesians 4:11, It comes from a Latin word that means shepherd and in other cases it is translated 'shepherd."
It is the job of the pastor to shephard the flock. That means providing guidance, care, exhortation, teaching, and sometimes rebuke. Every person who functions in the capacity of a shepherd should take heed to what James said in James 3:1;
"Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."
Paul gave this exhortation to Timothy:
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15
If you are a pastor or teacher or any type of leader in the body I would encourage you to really take these verses to heart. Teach what the Bible teaches. Guide your flocks in Biblical principles that apply to life. But take great care to make sure that you are not deviating from the text. And for those of you who sit under the teaching, be as the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and 'search the scriptures' to see if what you are being taught is true.
May you all be truly blessed by the riches of God's grace.
