The Welcoming Church
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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Good morning, church! We’re continuing our series through the book of Romans. We’ve entitled this message series, “Righteousness Revealed.” We’re in chapter 14 today and the title of our message today is, “The Welcoming Church.” We’re going to be taking on the first twelve verses of chapter 14.

I wonder, do you think we’re a welcoming church? Do you feel like we’re a welcoming church? Some of us, that are members, are all nodding our heads. We’re hoping we are. We feel welcome because we’ve joined here, but maybe, you are first time guests, you’ve been coming and just kind of checking us out. We probably should listen to you more carefully to see if you feel that we’re a welcoming church.

But just to bring you up to speed here,over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking from the book of Romans, how God wants to change us and how He wants to to transform our thinking, our attitudes and our actions. By receiving Jesus, we receive the mind of Christ. We get this new kind of operating system, a new kind of way that regulates our thoughts and our actions–it’s love.

Over the last couple of Sundays, we have had the idea of this new operating system of love and what it looks like as a church. We’re a welcoming church; a church that welcomes people. People have all kinds of expectations about church. They come looking for something. If you’re from a traditional background, you might come looking for hymn books. You may have already taken a seat and you are wondering, Where are the hymn books? I don’t see the hymn books. What’s this thing you’re doing on the screen? What is this screen thing? You may look and you are thinking, This doesn’t even look like a church, because you think the church is about the steeple rather than the people. Maybe, you are looking for men wearing suits and ties; especially the pastor. Maybe, it would be even better if he had a robe on. Why aren’t the women all wearing dresses? What’s what’s going on? You know, I saw somebody come in with shorts and flip flops. You’re trying to figure this thing out. You come from a background where you don’t play cards. You don’t dance. You don’t wear makeup. You don’t drink. You don’t smoke, chew or hang around with girls who do. That’s your background. If you’re from a Pentecostal background, you may have thought the worship was pretty good, but it’s kind of a one handed worship. You are really looking for a “two-handed” worship service. Maybe, you don’t know about the drums and electric guitar; you feel like it should be more about organ and piano.

We all have preferences. I don’t know what kind of church you’re looking for. I Maybe, you’re looking for a church that talks like you, thinks like you, walks like you, believes like you, same color, same race, same political party, same favorite blue color, same basketball team, same favorite barbecue style. Maybe, you’re looking for that kind of church, I don’t know.

As we look in the book of Romans, chapter 14, we see that the apostle Paul is saying that God wants us to be a welcoming church and not a church known for its judgmental nature and its quarreling, but known for its love. The truth is, God’s calling us to unity, not uniformity. He loves variety. Look around the room; there’s some variety in the room. He loves that. But, we’re to be unified around Jesus. Then, there’s a whole list of other things that aren’t that important that we make too important.

As we look in the book of Romans, chapter 14, the apostle Paul is speaking to a group of people that previously had just been Gentiles over here and Jews over here, but now they’re coming into the church because they’re believing in Jesus. They’re coming in with their different cultures and there’s a cultural clash. He begins to talk to them about the importance of welcoming each other, regardless of backgrounds, and not being known for a judgmental and quarreling church, but being known as a welcoming church. As we look at the text today, that’s what we’re going to be looking for.

We are looking for four reasons why God’s calling our church to be a welcoming church. Here’s today’s text – Romans 14:1-12 (ESV) 1 “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.10 Why 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” This is God’s word. Amen. We’re looking for four reasons why we are called to be a welcoming church. Here’s the first reason:

1. Because of God’s welcome.

We’re called to be a welcoming church because God welcomes us. If God welcomes us, who are we to decide whether we should welcome someone? Look at verse one and then verse three, you’ll see the word, “welcome,” is in there twice. The word, “welcome,” is in verse one and then, “welcomed,” is in verse three, where it says, “for God has welcomed him.” Who are you not to welcome, when God has the “welcome mat” and whosoever will can come and believe in Jesus? Who are we to say “no” to someone that God welcomes? We’re looking at this and let’s just “unpack” what he’s talking about.

Verse 1 says, “As for the one who is weak in faith…” Who’s he talking about here, when he says “one who is weak in faith?” He’s also implying that there’s someone else in the church that’s strong in faith. Does he mean that they aren’t saved? No. He’s not talking about whether or not they have a saving faith. He’s talking about, I believe, that they are young in their faith. They have a saving faith, but, as children, don’t know enough to always make the best decisions and to know right from wrong. They’re growing and they will grow as we train them. New believers are the same way.

When we invite someone to come to our church, it’s very much marked by this kind of thinking that Paul is talking about; “Come as you are.” It’s on the walls in our building, but it should be in our hearts and in our mouths – “Come as you are, and be forever changed by the love of Jesus.” Come as you are, but don’t stay as you are. Come as you are; there’s a welcome here, because God has welcomed you, we welcome you. We’re going to grow up together.

When someone is weak in faith, don’t expect them to get it all right on the first day of their salvation. Give them room to grow. Our church should be more like a “laboratory” where people can try things. They may not always get it right; sometimes, they might even blow something up, but we’ll clean it up together and help them get it right. It should be more like the way you treat your children when they first start out; they can’t even talk and walk yet, but you take care of them. You change their dirty diapers and you help them grow. You welcome them into the family.

If we’re going to allow people to come here, if we’re going to live into what we’ve been saying ever since we bought this old Regal Cinema, remember what we said when we first bought it –we said that we’re the “hospital church,” conveniently located across the street from the hospital. We are the place where people that are sin sick, struggling and have hurts, habits and hangups in their life. It’s a place where they can come, find Jesus and be welcomed. They can have a safe place to grow to be welcomed.

The Greek word for “welcome” has the original idea of “to invite somebody into your house.” We’re to be that kind of church that says, “Come on in and be in my house;” come on in. We are to be church like that, rather than quarreling and judging the weak over their opinions. All of their opinions haven’t come into alignment with Jesus yet ; they’re still growing. All of us are in a different place in our journey.

Do you want to be the kind of church where everybody is full grown – we all think alike, talk like, we all have it perfect and there’s just no room for any new people to come here because we have to check them out the door to see if they have it? Is that the kind of church that you want? Some people call that the “frozen church.” You’re at the wrong church, if that’s the kind of church you’re looking for. You should have already figured this out–we’re a mess and we know that we’re sinners. The only way that we can be right with God is through Jesus Christ. Now, we’re not saying that we are going to stay that way. We’re not saying that if you’re a baby christian, you should just keep “sucking your spiritual thumb.” We’re not saying that either, but we are saying that we’re going to give you room to learn how to walk and talk for Jesus. That’s what we’re saying. We’re going to welcome you where you’re at right now and let you grow with us because we’re messed up, too. We all need Jesus. We want to be that kind of church that welcomes them.

Verse 1 says, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. “ It doesn’t mean they don’t have faith. They’re new to the faith; they’re immature in the faith and they’re growing.

Verse 2 says, “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. “One person believes he may eat anything” refers to the mature person, the strong person. They recognize that they are free from law because law or regulations about what you eat doesn’t save you. They recognize that Jesus alone saves you; Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. They recognize that, so they know that they have freedom to eat anything. He’s saying, Okay, some people are in that category . “One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables.” What’s that about?

Paul gives two examples here in this passage about what he would call “opinions” or as “other translations,” that I think more closely interpret this; Disputable or doubtful disputes. Disputation is things that are disputable or what some people have called, “matters of conscience,” where God has not clearly forbidden anything, nor clearly commanded anything. It’s about taste and preference. The basic issue here is that some church members in this church of Rome couldn’t distinguish between those essential things that they must be unified on and the non essential or disputable things that they had liberty on. There’s these two categories here; we need to have liberty and unity. They were wrestling with this.

Paul says, I’m gonna give you two kinds of examples: diets and days. So, he talks with diets first. He tells us that some of us are vegetarians and some of us just eat whatever we want. So, why were some people only eating vegetables? We’ll just keep reading:

Verse 3 says, “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” Let not the eater despise the one who doesn’t eat. The word, “despise,” has this idea of “looking down your nose” at them like they are nothing or they are not grown up. You just don’t understand the freedom that you have in Christ. Let me educate you. It means to “brush your shoulders off” at them. I’m more grown up than you. Don’t let that be your attitude. If you’ve come to an understanding that you have more freedom in Christ, be careful about this.

I made a decision, some years ago as a young man, not to drink alcohol. My grandfather was an alcoholic. My mother challenged me over and over again, as I got older, “Gary, I really don’t want you to drink. I saw what it did to my family.” I made a commitment to my mother first and then I made a commitment to the Lord. I’m a “teetotaler;” I decided that I’m not going to drink. Then, as I became a pastor, I felt it was even more important for me not to drink because so many of the people came in and they had a weakness for alcohol; they had an addiction. Although I think it would be biblically okay for me to have a glass of wine with a meal or something, it would be biblically okay and I have the liberty to do that, for my conscience’s sake, because I’m a shepherd over a flock, someone might see me that’s struggling with alcohol. This would cause them to have a problem; it may cause them to feel tempted. It may cause them to judge me as not worthy of being their pastor because they don’t have the understanding yet . It’s just cleaner for me not to drink. I’m not bragging on myself; I just made a decision. This is a decision based on love. I have the liberty, but I choose to abstain, for the sake of the weak, but also for the sake of my mama who told me not to do it. It would hurt my conscience to do it now because I told her I wouldn’t. Is this making sense? I’m trying to just kind of walk out a personal story here.

Paul tells us to not let the one who eats look down their nose at someone who abstains. The person who doesn’t eat meat, let them not pass judgment on the one who eats meat. Don’t look at them and think, Well, you’re not as good a Christian as me , because you’re eating this meat that I know is prohibited. You shouldn’t eat it. You shouldn’t drink it. One of them looks down their nose at the other and the other judges the other. Now, they’re in a disputable disagreement over something that’s really a matter of conscience and preference. This is troubling you right now; you’re wrestling with it. Good. That’s what Paul wants you to do. The word of God wants you to think about this and not to let that cause you to not welcome someone else.

He says this in verse four, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Be careful, in this spot right here, about arguing with people over disputable things.

One of the reasons I think that people in Rome had decided to be vegetarians as they came to Christ and they used to eat meat, was when they used to eat meat, it was meat that was offered to idols. They used to believe in those false gods for them. For conscience’s sake, they couldn’t eat that meat anymore because most of it had been offered to idols. Gary, What do you mean by “most of it?”

If you lived in a city like Rome, there would be a temple to a false god, such as Apollo. I remember when my wife and I visited the ruins of Corinth some years ago in the nation of Greece. They’ve uncovered the archaeological foundations. They have partially rebuilt the Temple of Apollo. Here’s the Temple of Apollo and then the main street goes right by it. There are these booths, these stone foundations with walls that they’ve rebuilt, where probably the apostle Paul and his good friends, Aquila and Priscilla, probably rented a booth there to sell tents. Right there, close to it, would have been the butcher shop. They would have rented a booth there.

If you’ve ever been to a third world country, they don’t have refrigeration. You walk down the street and they’re standing there with a fan keeping the flies off the meat; the meat is just hanging there that they butchered that morning. They have chickens in cages right there. You can ask my wife. Some years ago, we were in Indonesia to visit, pray with and encourage our missionaries there. As we walked in the door, the woman said, “Hey, Robin, would you go across the street with me? I need to cook some chicken and I haven’t figured out how to do this yet.” Robin was not ready for what she would see next. She went across the street; they had to pick the living chicken. Then, the butcher gets the chicken out, whack its head off and it.

These people grew up in that kind of environment where they would bring their meat offering to worship the goddess Diana or the God Apollo. They would have an arrangement with the butcher shop there; would sell it to them at a certain price. Then the butcher would clean it up and resell it. So, if you bought meat in Corinth or Rome, chances are it was offered to a false God. These people had a reason and so Paul is saying to them, ‘Look, if they’re still thinking if they are eating the meat, it feels like they are worshiping Apollo, don’t look down your nose at them because it’s a matter of conscience for them. They’re still working it out; give them room to grow.’ If you’ve grown up to the point where you know and recognize that there are no gods but God and recognize that this is false and you can eat meat. It doesn’t bother you where it came from, as long as it is edible, then good for you, but don’t look down your nose at somebody else who’s still working it out. This is what’s going on.

Paul is trying to help them to stop being known for being an argumentative church that despises or looks down on others or judges other people, but to recognize if God welcomes them, we welcome them. We see this Romans 15:7 (ESV) “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

How has Christ welcomed you? He says, “Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” If you’ll just admit that you’re weary and heavy laden, you are welcome. You are welcome. That’s how we’re to welcome people.

We have these three sayings in our membership class; it’s the way we handle the difference between disputable or non essential matters and essential matters that we must agree on in order to be a family of God. We say these three sentences: (1) In essential beliefs we have unity. That’s one of the things we say. We actually have ten essentials in our membership class: What we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, Mankind, Salvation, Eternal Security, Eternity, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper. We say, that if you can agree on these ten essentials with us and this matter of faith, then you can be a member of our church. We want to have unity on those things because we have people coming from all kinds of backgrounds and we need to rally around Jesus and around the bible.

The second sentence is (2) In nonessential beliefs we have liberty. Unity, but not uniformity; we have liberty and matters of conscience – matters like diets, days and dress codes. We have liberty.

The third sentence is (3) In all our beliefs we show charity (love). We want to show love. Even if people disagree with us about doctrine or they even disagree with us about the ten essentials, we still want to show them love because love is the operating system of the newly transformed mind that follows Jesus.

Several years ago, there was a lady coming to church that had gone through a terrible trouble in her life and she wore it on her face. She came by herself; she never missed a Sunday. She always sat down front. She would weep during the whole service, during the worship and during the preaching. I’m talking “shoulder shaking, audible weeping” Sunday after Sunday. This went on for weeks. People would stop me after the service or they would send me an email and want to talk to me about the lady. What are you gonna do about her? She’s obviously hurting, but she’s kind of disrupting our services. I told them, “I see her. I hear her. Leave her alone. She’s going through things you don’t know about and I do. I’m going to protect the weak. Leave her alone; give her room to grow. She’s working on it.” She began to cry less as the weeks went on; she was less noisy. Then, one Sunday, she wasn’t crying so much. This particular Sunday, she was really getting into the sermon, but she hadn’t learned to say “Amen” when she agreed with something. Some of y’all hadn’t learned either. She hadn’t learned to say “Amen.” Instead of saying “Amen,” she said what she was accustomed to saying when something startled her that was amazing. She said the “d” word; she dropped it and you could’ve heard a pin drop. It caused me to stumble in my sermon a little bit because she’s sitting right there. I thought to myself, That’s new. I have not heard an “Amen” like that. It sounded like she meant to say “Amen,” but came out with the “d” word. I could see children whispering to their mother. Then the line formed again after the service. What you gonna do about her? I said, Leave her alone; she’s still growing and she did. She’s a mature, amazing christian today. It took her a little while to grow. I’m not saying that you need to start saying the “d” word when I’m up here preaching. Please don’t misunderstand.

We need to grow up but we want to be the kind of church where, if you’re new in the faith journey, we’re gonna give you room to grow. We are going to expect you to grow; we’re going to give you room to grow. If you’re new here and you’re just getting started on the faith journey, you’re welcome here. We want you to grow; we want you to grow more like Jesus. We want you to have room to try some things; take your time. If we pull a little too hard or push a little too hard, you tell us and we’ll back off because we want you to grow. If you’re a mature believer, join us in helping the young grow, because if we’re going to be the kind of church that welcomes people new to the faith, or people that aren’t in the faith yet, but they’re coming into the faith, it’s messy and we need help doing that. If you’re one of those people who thinks you’re a mature person, but you’re looking for the perfect church, then go ahead and leave because you’re ruining our welcome. Besides, you’ll never find the perfect church, don’t join it because you’ll mess it up. Here’s the second reason:

WHY WE ARE CALLED TO BE A WELCOMING CHURCH:

2. Because of God’s Son. Look at verse four again, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. “ If someone is young in the faith or is old in the faith, who is their master? That’s a question he’s asking, that begs the response, ‘Who are you?’ ‘I’m nobody; I’m just another servant ‘ should be your answer. I’m just another follower of Jesus.

Who are you? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. You can’t make somebody stand; only Christ can do that. You can’t make them stand up in their faith. You can encourage them, you can teach them what you’ve been learning, but do it as a co-struggler, not as a “know it all.” Do it as somebody who loves them.

So, who do you think you are? You can’t make them stand and be upheld, for only the Lord is able to make them stand. If you want them to stand up and grow in their faith, to get where they can stand up and walk on their own two feet of faith and are growing up to be mature, you need to pray for them, encourage them and guide them to the Word and then give them room to grow.

Paul switches from diets to days. In verse 5, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” So, here we are again. One person says, ‘I feel like this is a special day and I’m going to call it a “holy day,” which we call a holiday. I’m going to celebrate this day.’ Then, another person says, ‘it just feels like any other day of the week to me.’ Here again, he’s saying that’s a disputable matter.

Can you imagine joining the church of Rome back then? There’s a whole bunch of Jewish background people there. You’re a Gentile; you show up and they all start cleaning their house. They come over to your house and they ask, ‘Why haven’t you got all the yeast out of your house? It’s the day of atonement; yom kippur is here.’ The Gentile replies, ‘It’s that day that you know, because leaven represents sin and you’re supposed to sweep your house. You’re supposed to get your heart right.’ ‘You told me that Jesus has fulfilled the day of atonement. That day on the cross, He fulfilled it.’ ‘Why are you still celebrating that day, yom kippur, when I was brought up to celebrate that special day?’

What he’s saying is that it is okay. You can do that. You were brought up that way, but don’t make me do it like that. Paul is talking about the importance of giving people room. Some people celebrate this day; some that day. We get upset about these things.

We have church on Sunday; that started in the first century because it was the day that Jesus got out of the grave. Until that point, it was the Sabbath day, which is the seventh day of the week, which is Saturday. There’s some today who say we’re getting it wrong; you’re supposed to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the seventh day. But we celebrate on the Lord’s day, which is the first day of the week because it’s Christ’s resurrection day. Every Sunday, we get together and remind ourselves that Jesus is alive. He defeated sin, death and the grave. He lives in me. We worship together. Some of us are police officers and some of us are nurses and doctors; some of us work in retail and they require us to work on Sunday. That person might have to celebrate the Lord on a different day. Are we going to “look down our nose” at them?

Paul says that we should welcome them. Verse 6, “The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” If you decide, You know what? I’m not going to work today, I’m going to count this day as holy,’ that is fine, if you’re doing it for the Lord. If you’re doing it to show off, bad. If you’re doing it to be seen by others, not good. But. if you’re doing it for the Lord, good, because you’re doing it unto the Lord and giving thanks to God.You are one who abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God, for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself.

Who do you belong to? If you belong to King Jesus, you’re a fellow servant. You live for Christ and you die for Christ. Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. He’s the Lord. He’s the Master. Don’t judge another servant. Welcome him and recognize it’s the Lord that will make him stand, not you. You’re to encourage him and love him.

It says this in Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV) 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that isabove every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

He’s the Lord and I’m not, I’m a fellow servant; I’m your pastor. I’m the pastor of this church, but I didn’t earn it. He called me to it. if I would have tried to earn it, I wouldn’t be up here. I have to recognize the humble responsibility of just standing before you and proclaiming what He has told me to say from His word. If I don’t follow it as it’s written here, because you all have copies of it before you, then you need to find another pastor. But, as long as I’m preaching this word, if you’re God’s people, you’ll support it and you’ll love it because Jesus is Lord and He is our master and we are His servants.

Remember Peter’s story, Peter had told Jesus the night before He was crucified, he said , “Lord, I will die for you.” Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, Peter, you’re going to deny me three times before the rooster crows.” Peter says that he wouldn’t do that. Well the next morning before the rooster crows, sure enough, Peter had denied Jesus three times. The “rock” had turned into a pebble. He melted before this conviction and this fear. Jesus was crucified and rose from the grave. He appeared to the disciples on many occasions over the next forty days before He ascended. On this particular occasion, it’s recorded in the last chapter of the book of John. Jesus is on the beach of the Sea of Galilee and He’s there cooking some fish for breakfast. The fishermen, the disciples, they’re out fishing again. Peter was so beat up about his failure, he was so disgusted with himself, he didn’t feel worthy anymore. The other disciples followed him anyway, because Peter, good or bad, was their leader . So they went fishing. They fished all night and guess what? They didn’t catch a thing.

Then, the sun is coming up and they look towards the beach. They see a man and there’s smoke coming up from the campfire. John looks out; because John was younger, probably like eighteen or nineteen years old, he has good eyes. He shouts, “It’s the Lord!” Peter says, “What?” About this time, they pull in all of this fish; the boat is sinking with fish. Peter jumps in the water and starts swimming ashore. Can you see him standing before Jesus, dripping wet? Jesus tells him to go help pull the fish in. Peter goes back; he’s so excited to see Jesus.

Then, they’re sitting down to eat breakfast and Jesus needs to help Pete. He needs to help him; He needs to help him grow through this failure in his life. We all have failures; we all do, but Jesus, instead of judging Peter, he helps him. He pulls him towards growth. He asks Peter, “Do you love me?” It’s always about that isn’t it? Jesus asks Peter this in front of everybody. Peter replies, “Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus says to him, “Feed my sheep.” Why are you out here fishing again? I called you to be an apostle; “Feed my sheep.” Jesus asks him again, “Do you love me?” Peter tells Him, “Lord, You know all things. You know I love you.” Jesus tells him, “Feed my lambs.” A third time, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter tells Jesus, “Lord, yes, I love You.” Jesus, again, says, “Feed my sheep.”

Why did Jesus ask this three times? Because Peter denied Jesus three times and Jesus is loving Peter back into his calling. He’s called to be an apostle; one that goes out and feeds the sheep. He is not supposed to go back to his nets. He’s supposed to be a fisher of men and so he’s rebuilt. Jesus says to Peter, ‘Remember how you said you wanted to die for Me? Guess what? You’re going to get to, because there’s going to come a day when someone comes to you and they’re gonna stretch forth your hands and take you to a place where you don’t want to go.’ Jesus was describing the nature of Peter’s martyrdom, that he would die on a cross. Peter was crucified, which the first century father’s recorded that he was crucified in the city of Rome. Peter said to them, “I’m not worthy to be crucified as my Lord and Savior.” So they crucified him upside down. Jesus began to describe what was coming Peter’s way. Peter is still growing; he turns to Jesus and he points to John the beloved and says, “What about him?” What are you going to do with him? Jesus says to him, “What’s that to you if I let him live? The same was among the disciples from that day forward that it looks like John is going to live forever. Well, it did so happen that he was the last living apostle and the only one who did not die a martyr’s death.

Here’s what Jesus says to you, when you start asking, “What about him” or “What about her?” He looks at you as if to say, ‘What’s that to you? What’s that to you? I’m your master and what I want to know is, “Do you love me?” It’s because of Jesus that we are a welcoming church.

WHY WE ARE CALLED TO BE A WELCOMING CHURCH:

3. Because of God’s family.

Look at verse 10; there are two questions,10 “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;” I just want to make the point from the two questions. Whether you’re weak or whether you’re strong in your faith, you’re part of God’s family.Start acting like it. Stop despising and judging your brothers and sisters . This is the third reason that we’re to be welcoming.

It says in Ephesians 2:19 (GW) “That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family.” We are members of God’s family. If we’ve received Jesus, we are members of God’s family. Right now, we’re just getting “heaven practice.” If there are some people here that you don’t like, well, you better learn to love them because you’re gonna spend eternity with them. They’re part of God’s family. Besides, you know, the real test of whether or not you have the love of God in you is if you can love someone that’s a little bit “prickly;” if you can love someone that’s a little bit unlovable. They’re still growing.

It says in 1 John 4:20-21 (ESV) 20 “ If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandmentwe we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” We are to be a welcoming church that recognizes that we’re inviting people to come and be part of God’s family.

WHY WE ARE CALLED TO BE A WELCOMING CHURCH:

4. Because of God’s judgment. We’re at the latter part of verse 10 through 12. The latter part of verse 10 says, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” “Judgment seat” there in the Greek is the Greek word “Bema.” If you’re taking notes, some translations actually say “the Bema seat of Christ;” I think that’s correct. Christ is the son of God, so both are correct, but here I believe it is in fact Christ, because Christ has been given the authority to judge by the Father. The judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of God.

Then, he quotes from Isaiah 45:23 in verse 11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,and every tongue confess to God. Then he says this in verse 12, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” That kind of reminds me of the story of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30. This scripture tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before leaving, entrusted his property to his servants. According to the abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second had received two, and the third received only one. When he came back, he asked them to give an account of what they did with what the master had given them.

I believe the scripture teaches that there are two thrones or two judgment seats. One, we will find in the book of Revelation and we don’t have time to spend there. I will just briefly say that that is referred to as “the great white throne judgment.” “The great white throne judgment” is the place where the goats and the sheep are separated. That’s the place of condemnation, where the people who have rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior are judged. Ultimately, that’s not the throne or the judgment seat that I think is being spoken of here . That one is not for us because the book of Romans 8:1, 1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” I don’t believe that the believer will stand before the great white throne, but I do believe we will stand before the Bema seat, the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of how we practiced our faith, not under condemnation but unto reward.

May I read a couple of other verses to you to support this: 2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” The judgment seat of Christ, the Bema seat of Christ.

The Bema seat in Roman times, in the first century, might have been something you would have seen at the Olympic games. Let’s say that you came in first place in the marathon and you would stand before the judge, who would be seated on the Bema seat. He would place a crown upon your head as the victor. Maybe, you came in second place, where you’d get a second place crown. The Bema seat was more a place of recognition, whereas, the great white throne judgment was more about punishment. This Bema seat is more about reward or not reward, depending on the way we’ve lived.

Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NLT) 11 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” I think this is a picture more of the believer here. If you’ve built your life on the foundation of Jesus Christ, what that means is you’ve received Jesus as Lord and Savior. Instead of putting things on that foundation like gold, silver and jewels, representing good faith living, instead you put hay and stubble on there when you pass before the Bema seat. That stuff won’t come with you.

You know, they say, “you can’t take it with you,” but that’s not really true. You can lay it up in heaven. If you have studied the sermon on the mount, you can lay it up in heaven. What can you take with you? You can take other people. You can introduce them to Jesus and they get to come with you. Everything you do by faith is not forgotten. Paul says, ‘I run the race. I want to receive that crown of life.’ He talks about running so that you receive a reward, a crown. The Bema seat is that place where we give an account.

I’ve often said it like this. This is not in the bible. This is me helping you think about it. It’s like we all have a little red wagon and we pull it in before Jesus; only the stuff we put in the little red wagon by faith passes through that judgment. Anything we put in there according to the flesh is gone; we don’t want to take that to heaven anyway. What are you putting in your little red wagon? If you put it in there by faith, if you live your life according to the law of love, then you’ll see what I’m talking about someday before that Bema seat of Christ. Since judgment belongs to God, we must stop trying to take God’s place.

There are essentials of the faith that God has already passed judgment on. He’s put these in His word; we’re not talking about those. These are not disputable matters. Didn’t Paul tell the church at Corinth to put out the man who committed adultery with his stepmother? (1 Cor. 5:1-2). So there is a time not to welcome and accept someone who is clearly and willfully disobeying God’s Word. Indeed, they must be confronted and called to repentance.

But this message today wasn’t about that. There are things that we must agree on. Wasn’t about that. It was more about a problem that we have of arguing over non essentials and judging other people concerning disputable matters. We are to welcome them. Do you understand why the Lord wants us to be a welcoming church? It is because God welcomes. It’s because Jesus is the master. It’s because He wants them to be part of the family. And besides, it’s because judgment belongs to the Lord, not to us.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. Lord, I pray that my attempt at unpacking it today, Lord, regardless of how well I did, that Your Holy Spirit would more than make up for the difference as people listen, that You would speak to them in ways that they can understand. You want us to be welcoming and to not be known as a people who are always arguing, always angry, but instead, filled with love, joy and peace so that the world would be attracted and welcomed to believe in Jesus. Would you believe in Him today? Would you decide to follow Jesus today? You can do it right now, right where you’re seated. You can decide to be a Christ follower. What it looks like is saying “Yes” to Jesus. You can pray right now, just pray with me if it’s your heart’s desire. “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I believe You died on the cross for my sin, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. I believe that. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sin and make me a child of God. I want to be right with God and I want You as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer, believing, right now, the Lord will save you and He’ll adopt you into His family. Others are here today and you’ve done that. You’ve received Jesus as Lord and Savior and you’re in various levels of growing more like Jesus, but right now,your heart is filled with anger, judgment and criticism. Would you bring that before the Lord right now and say, “Lord help me. I don’t know why I’m like this right now. Help me to be guided by love. Help me to be a person who welcomes others.” Oh Lord, I pray for our church that we would be known as a place of rescue, a place of love, a welcoming church. May it be so in Jesus’ name, Amen.