Romans chapter 14, looking this evening at the verses read, verses 16 to 23, and taking the point made in verse 16 with this heading, you're good preserved, you're good preserved. Let me remind you of the wider context from verse 1, verses 1 to 15. The Apostle Paul has been looking at this matter of handling differences among Christians, and there are often differences. As the Elnathan Power once put it, one thinks one thing, another thinks another thing, and this is often the case. Of course, they all agree on the main points, and that is But then these other issues arise in which they don't see eye to eye. How are they to handle these differences? Paul has laid down a number of principles. The first thing he told us was, don't begin with a negative attitude. Don't begin with a negative attitude. And he has given us two negatives, on the one hand despise and the other hand judge. So we don't begin with these negative attitudes. as sound believers, of course, in handling one with the other. And second, he went on to tell us, remember the greater principles. What were those greater principles? Well, the first was the Lordship of Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord. The second was the Day of Judgment. We shall stand to give account to God, to Jesus Christ himself. And the third great principle was that of charity. We are to walk charitably one with the other. Now having done all of that, Paul now comes to put it all in a wider framework for us to see all of these things in verses 16 to 23. And there are three things that he tells us. First of all, a solemn entreaty. A solemn entreaty. Let not then your good be evil spoken of. Now right away, we have to face an argument. Astonishing, isn't it? Here we have the word of God, but there's an argument over what does the good mean? And commentators argue and they fight over the right way to understand this. How are we to understand this word good? Well does it refer to liberty? That's a possibility. Does it also perhaps refer to salvation? That's a possibility. Remember all of these definitions, all of these understandings have their own supporters and those who are against that particular interpretation. So does it refer to liberty? Does it refer to salvation? Does it in fact perhaps refer to the gospel? Or does it refer to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, how are we going to make our minds up about this before we get any further? Well, I've taken a very simple approach to this and asked myself another question. Does it really matter? Do we have to select one of these? It's surely to insist upon one particular definition is to defeat the entire purpose of the Apostle Paul. They have been arguing over meat and drink and days. And what is the outcome if they do it all wrongly? What would be the outcome if these two sound believers took this argument further and further? The very thing that Paul says he doesn't want to happen in verse 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of. In other words, let's forget about what the good actually means, and consider about before whom the good shall be evil spoken of. That's the material point. You see, when two Christians, at least two who profess to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, they take these minor matters and they are elevated to become the chief distinctive mark of the Christian faith, and then they fall out and they argue, what will happen? He says the young godly will react to that. And they will start to mock and to sneer at your testimony as to being Christian. Let not your good. In other words, they will mock and sneer the very cause of Christ, the truth of the gospel, and even the Saviour himself, perhaps. They will call into question the very proves that these Christians claim to believe. That's the material point. You see, when Christians fall out, it gives rise to the question by the unconverted, well why on earth should I become a Christian when you Christians can't even agree? Or at least perhaps they might say, you don't even know how to disagree. And that's the point that Paul is making. Do not be the cause of unbelievers castigating the gospel, the cause of Christ, of sneering at the Saviour himself, of cursing Christianity. Now let's go back to Romans 2. And here we have an example of this. In Romans chapter 2, verse 24. condemning these Jews for the way they are living, which is contrary to the law of God. And he says, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. Your good is evil spoken of, he says. Your good is being evil spoken of. God is being blasphemed because of you. And there are other examples of this in different contexts. Titus chapter 2 is another one that has selected. Titus 2 verse 5, and here he is referring to women, and he's saying to the women that the older women are to be examples and to show to these younger women that they are to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet and chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands. Now why on earth should Christian women do all these things? He tells us that the word of God be not blasphemed. So young married women as believers, so young Christian married women are to be careful that the way they live does not cause their good to be evil spoken of. That the Word of God be not blasphemed. And if we turn to 1 Timothy 6 verse 1, here we have It's the same point being made, but again in a different context. Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour that, well you see, here are these employees, they are slaves, and they may have bad masters. Now if they're a believer, and they start to whinge about their master who may treat them abominably, what may happen? This, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. So it is quite clear in verse 1 that they are unbelieving masters with believing slaves. The believing slaves need to be careful that their actions do not cause the unbelieving to blaspheme the name of God and God's doctrine, the doctrines that they claim to believe. So when Paul comes in Romans 14 and he says quite pointedly to these believers, let not then your good be evil spoken of, well you see now what? Trying to come up with a precise definition of good misses the point. It may be the gospel, it may be the name of God, it may be the cause of Christ, salvation itself, however it is to be understood in any particular context, the crucial thing, believers, in your discussions, do not descend into an argument whereby the unconverted will curse, blaspheme, sneer or mock Christianity. That's what you must protect. That's what you must be jealous over. The name of God, the glory of Christ. So here we have a solemn entry day. But then secondly, the true attitude in verse 17. and 18. Paul says, The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Here Paul explains to them why they have ended up in the mess that they have. They have forgotten what the Kingdom of Heaven really is. You see, the reason minor issues become big issues is because the minor issues have been taken out of their context and placed in a different context. Eating and drinking, Paul is telling us, have become the definition of the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul says it isn't. That is not the definition of the Kingdom of Heaven. And I hope that that is what happens. Minor things can be elevated to become the defining characteristic of a particular view of Christianity. Now let me illustrate this, and some of this may make you uncomfortable. But then truth is not meant to make you comfortable all the time, but to challenge us in the way we think. Take denominations as they exist. And let's put it this way. Is a particular form of church government the defining characteristic of Christianity, of the Kingdom of Heaven? Is it? Episcopalianism, not why we have it. Presbyterianism, not why we have it. By the way, just to digress for a moment, one does indeed accept Samuel Rutherford, the Jew writer of Presbyteries, but nonetheless, but as a particular form of church government, the defining characteristic of Christianity. Let's be equally uncomfortable. Is a practice of the ordinances the defining characteristic of Christianity? Isn't that why we have Baptists, for example? Or, let's go even further, is a particular method of doing Christianity the defining characteristic of Christianity? Isn't that why we have Methodists? And we get this with movements. We once had the temperance movement. The temperance movement made a claim that our form of abstinence is the defining characteristic of Christianity. But is that so? You get it in the holiness movement. You get it in the Pentecostal movement. They are saying this particular characteristic is the definition of Christianity. Paul is telling us, he's telling these Romans, and he's also telling us, you have taken the minor and made it the main thing. You are claiming that the kingdom of God is meat and drink. It isn't, he says. It is not meat and drink. You have taken it from its context and put it into this context and it's the wrong context. No, he says, the main thing is, the kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And this is what was being forgotten. They had effectively elevated what they shouldn't and diminished what they should have elevated. They diminished what was central. And you know, evangelicals stand guilty of often doing that very thing. of elevating what is minor and diminishing what is central. Well, what about these particular terms? Righteousness, peace and joy, and sadly once again, reading through all these commentators and commentaries, and they argue one with the other as to how we understand these particular terms. Well, I sometimes take the view life is sometimes too short to try and work out from all of these commentaries which thing is right or not. There are times one must do that, and in studying every passage you always have to do that, but it isn't necessary always to try and go through every bump and wart. Does it have to mean one thing or something else? Well, the context surely should always be crucial. The kingdom of heaven is righteousness. Why did he use that term? Because he's reminding them that they are Christians. It is righteousness. They are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. That should always be up front, foremost. You are Christians, he says. And second, he says it is peace, the very thing that was being destroyed by their argumentation. And he says it is joy. It is joy they should be expressing. That's what they should be conveying. as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. So here you have these two believers and everything has been put into the shade because they've got this particular division over meats and drink and so on. And this has become all important. And he says you're forgetting your duty, which is as Christians, maintaining peace and expressing joy. That's what you should be doing. And then he says, in the Holy Ghost. Well again, there's an argument. Is the Holy Spirit simply related to the joy? Or does it relate to all three? Righteousness, peace and joy. And commentators have their preferences. Well, it seems to me that in light of its context, if they were being governed by the Holy Spirit and his teachings, then these things, righteousness, peace and joy, would be central. That's what he would be saying. If they were being governed by the Holy Spirit, they wouldn't be entering into all of these debates and arguments. What they are doing, what they are saying, is that we are central and our particular view is central. Our ideas, our opinions, our views, that's what's central, not the work of the Holy Spirit. They are thinking and acting as carnal, not spiritual. They have forgotten the importance and the centrality of being governed by the Holy Spirit. In other words, they had forgotten the teaching of Romans 8. Let's look at Romans 8 for a moment. Romans 8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who, this is who he is talking about, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." Well, they should have remembered that. They are walking after the spirit, not after the flesh. If they're walking after the flesh, they're going to elevate the minor and they're going to diminish what is central. But if they're walking after the spirit, they will elevate the central, righteousness, peace and joy, and they will diminish the minor. They will keep it in its proper place. And then he goes on in verse 4. that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh demine the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Meat and drink, that's the flesh, isn't it? Righteousness, peace and joy, that's the spirit. It is spiritual things that they must elevate. Going back then to Romans 14 when he says it is righteousness, peace and joy and the Holy Ghost for, this is now the deduction from verse 17, he that in these things, righteousness, peace and joy, serveth Christ. There's what we're about. What are we about as Christians? Serving Christ. So, serving Christ, being governed and dominated by the Holy Spirit, these two things are sort of like two hedges. They should direct our path and focus and concentrate the mind. The meat and the drink. It's not that important. Oh, it has its place. Granted, after all, he has spent fifteen verses talking about it has its little place. but let us keep the main things main and the minor things minor. We serve Christ. That's what's acceptable to God and approved of men. What an interesting addition. Acceptable to God, approved of men. It is in this walk that God approves, and even the world of humanity accepts it. When Christians, governed by the Holy Spirit, serving Christ, elevate what really matters, In these things, righteousness, peace, and joy, we serve Christ. He is, of course, reminding us of the Lordship of Christ over us in verses 8, 9, and 11. Verse 8, For whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 11 As it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. What a great statement. Every knee shall bow to me. We can't get away from that. Free as sure as we can, I trust. Every knee shall bow to me. What are we about? Serving Christ as those who have bowed the knee to Him. And that's what the ungodly want to see us do, serving Christ rightly. It's acceptable to men. You know what our country needs? To see real Christians. Not Sabbath-day Christians only, but real Christians. And you know the sad condemnation of our country is that there are so many Christians, professing Christians up and down the land in all walks of life, and they seem to have forgotten these very things. We are to live what we profess. The kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Then thirdly, an urgent necessity, verses 19 to 21, Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." And all of these discussions over meat and drink and so on, the first governing principle is peace. It's the first principle. Now he goes on to tell us that those who are absolutely convinced that they shouldn't eat certain meats, are not going to eat certain meats. And those who are absolutely convinced that they can and should, they're not going to change their mind. That's fine. But something has happened in the course of their discussions. What has happened? They have come to the conclusion that peace is first, and not their own particular persuasion. And the second governing principle is edification, wherewith one may edify another. In all of their discussions then, the goal will become to edify, to help, encourage, instruct and ensure there is growth and development. But what has happened is that in all of these arguments these believers had ignored these two fundamentals of peace and edification. They should not have forgotten them and it would have saved them an awful lot of trouble and I'm sure saved an awful lot of heartache and concern if they had striven to remember that, peace and edification. And then fourthly, a closing reminder, verse 22 and 23. Here Paul says very simply to the strong, do not parade and protest your rights and liberties. And to the weak he says in verse 23, if you cannot exercise faith about it, then set it to one side, but don't continue to prosecute your case. Accept it. It's happened. how often even these words are misused. They refer to these minor matters, not the primary things, and yet even this has been taken out of context and made a general rule in just about everything that occurs in the Christian life. He is applying it to these minor matters. Well, let's come to application of this. Let me ask you first and foremost a practical, experimental question. Do you possess the good? Here I'm using good in the sense of salvation. Do you possess the good? Do you know the gospel? L. Nathan Parr, he had this wonderful illustration. He said, to have a house well built, well watered, well wooded, and in a good air. But what is it all without the gospel? In other words, to have a decent home with decent facilities, it matters nothing if you don't have the Gospel. If you don't know Christ, if the Saviour is not honoured in your home, it doesn't matter whether you live in a hovel or a palace, it's irrelevant. But if you do possess the good, then I say to you from the Apostle Paul, take good care how you use even your possessions, that your good be not evil spoken of. You know what it's like when your own converted neighbour, maybe they get double glazing in. and they want to go up and down the avenue and tell everybody about what a wonderful job their double glazing was and come down and see my windows and so on. Or maybe they get a new car and they park it outside everybody's front door so they all can see it. What happens is either your neighbours get jealous of the one who's just got these new things or they start to snigger and sneer. Well, if you get double glazing a new car or anything else you get, don't be like the ungodly. You get it, that's fine. You give God praise and God thanks. It's something material. Don't let it outshine the gospel, that you're a child of God. Keep it in its place. Don't let your good be evil spoken of. Don't have it said by the unconverted, there's a Christian up the street, and only think about and talk about our possessions. We have lived beside such dear people as believers, who have been good folk and We have been friendly to them and friendly to us in return, but they have been consumed with material things. And that's the reputation they've left behind, that the only thing that mattered to them was their antics or something else. Don't let your good be evil spoken of. Do you have the good? Oh, I trust this evening that you're going home with the good. The oldest to the youngest, I want you all to go home possessing the good, knowing the gospel, believing in Jesus Christ. But if you know the Saviour, don't have him blasphemed by the way you live. And then secondly, also from the passage, are you serving Christ? And if you are, let me ask you, is it visible? Is it visible? Do others know that you serve Christ? By perhaps even having to say, do they say, that is a Christian, I live beside them, I know that they're Christians, I work with them, I know they're Christians. Take this issue of difference. Is serving Christ visible enough? You know what it's like. You have a discussion and suddenly discover you don't actually have the same views as the one you're talking to. Do you go off and say they're nuts? They've gone AWOL, off the rails altogether? Well, I hope you haven't gone off the rails on anything. But sometimes you may think that way. If we serve Christ, is it visible even in that? Take this Kingdom of Heaven that we're supposed to be part of. What did the Saviour say? Is it visible, the Kingdom of Heaven? The Saviour said in Matthew 6 And the very important section, the Sermon on the Mount from verse 25, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body. You see, these are the things that the ungodly are passionate about, they're focused upon, they're interested in. They're interested in clothes and fashion styles. They're interested in dieting or not dieting. They're interested in possessions. This is the characteristic of the unconverted, but it ought not to be the characteristic of the Godhead. We are to visibly demonstrate that we think differently, that we are in the Kingdom of Heaven. Is not the life more than meat, and the body the raiment? Behold, the fowls of the earth, they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather in the barns, yet their Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto a statue? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Wherefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For all these things do the Gentiles see, the ungodly, For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and his righteousness. What does the kingdom consist of? Righteousness, peace and joy, and you and I are divisibly demonstrated. So what is your priority in life? Is it fashion? Is it food? What is your priority? Oh, of course if you're a believer you're going to say, well it's the Kingdom of Heaven. But is it visible? That's the test. Is it visible? Can you demonstrate it? Do you prove it? Do you show it? Is the Kingdom of Heaven and serving Christ your total priority. He who is king of kings, he who is lord of lords, the one who has conquered all, the one who is lord over us, are we serving him? Are you serving him? Is it visible, that service? Visible in your priorities, visible in your pursuits, visible in the way you examine things and The value you put upon things? What has the greatest value in your life? Where is your treasure? Your treasure is where your heart is. Where is your heart? But then thirdly, has the kingdom of God consumed you entirely? Has it? If Christians and churches often make the mistake of focusing upon one thing that is minor to the exclusion of that which is important and has priority, to the detriment even of biblical Christianity, let me say to you, don't go in the opposite direction. And that is of minimizing the kingdom in your life. Don't minimize the kingdom in your life. How do we do that? Well, there are some who limit the kingdom of heaven to the mind, and they reduce Christianity to a mere intellectual exercise, and as long as they can think reasonably biblically, nothing else really matters. That's minimising the kingdom. Some go in a different direction. They minimise the kingdom to what they call emotions. I don't like that term. As I'm sure some of you know, I do try to make a distinction between emotions and affections, because I'm not wholly convinced that they mean the same thing, but that's another argument. Some limit the Kingdom of God to their emotions, as long as they feel okay. They're not interested in what is true. They say, well, you know, it feels right to me. We often say, well, I don't care what your feelings are. All in all, they ought to be in line with scripture. The Bible says certain things. You take someone who's courting someone who's unconverted and you remonstrate with them and you say, you shouldn't be doing it. And they say, but I feel it's okay. I feel all right about it. Well, you see, what you're doing is you're limiting the kingdom to your feelings. and some limit the kingdom of God to the will. They say, I'm not interested in doctrine, I'm not interested in affection, I'm only interested in doing things. And so they're a hive of activity. They say, that's what we should be doing. We should be doing this, we should be doing that, we should be doing the other. And they're limiting the kingdom. Friends, the kingdom of God is total. the totality of your existence belongs to the kingdom of heaven, your mind, your will and your affections. Don't limit the kingdom of God in your life. So I ask you, does the kingdom of God have all of you? All of you. And fourthly, don't look to the world, but only the kingdom can give you. Take this matter of joy. Friends, you can only have it in the kingdom of God. Don't go to the world thinking it will give you joy. Take this matter of peace. Don't think the world can give you peace. You can only get it in the kingdom of God. The Saviour says, My peace I give unto you. Nor does the world give it. Don't look to the world for joy, for peace. And certainly don't look to the world for righteousness. The world may tell you, Oh, you're a fine person. You surely should be a Christian. Don't listen to the world. Righteousness is to be had only in the Kingdom of Heaven. And it's the Saviour's verdict that matters. The Saviour's verdict. Don't look to the world for that which you can only get in the Kingdom of Heaven. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, is love, joy, peace and so on. Only the Holy Spirit can give certain things, the world can't give it. Therefore it's of vital importance that we don't confuse the Kingdom with the world. Look to the world for what we get in the kingdom, and despise all that we don't bring the world into the kingdom, and thereby make the kingdom totally confused before the world. Don't look to the world for what only the kingdom will give you. And then finally, no longer our own. No longer our own. He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God. We are not our own. We belong to God. And so I say to you, learn to think in those terms. We are not our own. We belong to Christ. You are not your own. You serve Christ. You are not your own. You are in the kingdom of Christ. So we should learn to think and to speak and to act. Within this vocabulary, we are not our own. We belong to another. We belong to Christ. We serve Him. This is a whole new way of thinking, isn't it? Serving Christ. That's what Paul is driving home to us. So let me ask you, is that visible in your life? that you are not your own, going your own way, doing your own thing? Are you your own, or do you say, I am not my own, I belong to Christ? Do you see that for yourself? Can it be recognized in your life? We are not our own, we belong to God, we are in His kingdom, we are serving Christ, and everything about us must be reflected of that truth, we are not our own. Do you belong to Christ? Are you serving Christ? Are you going home saying, we are not our own? I'm a follower of Christ, I'm a citizen of his kingdom, and everything about me belongs to him. And I cease forthwith To think in worldly terms, it's my life, my body, my mind, my affections, my will. No, it all belongs to Christ. For Him to direct us pleases Him. Amen.