The following message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. Well, go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to do something a little different this afternoon. Ephesians chapter 4, we're going to read verses 1 through 6. This is the reading of God's holy word. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. Amen. You may be seated and let's pray together. Our Father, how we thank you for the truths that we've just sung together. When Satan tempts us to despair, shows us all the guilt within, upward we look and see him there who made an end to all our sin. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the hope that we have in him. Father, he is our only hope. We thank you that through your great mercy, you've caused us to be born again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Father, we thank you that you are the eternal God, indeed the ancient of days, and we thank you that you're in control of all things and you govern our lives with wisdom and love. And Father, we think this afternoon of those whose whose hearts are breaking. We think of those who are downcast. We think of those who are discouraged, for those who are struggling. And Father, we pray that you would be near the brokenhearted. Father, your word promises us that you are near the brokenhearted. And so Father, we pray that you would minister your comfort and your strength to us. We pray that you would help us as we go through this life. And Father, so many trials and so much darkness and so many mysteries, and yet, Father, we know that we can trust you, that we can trust in you with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding and in all of our ways acknowledge you and you make our paths straight. And so, Father, give us hearts that trust you. Give us hearts that even in the midst of tears trust you. And we now pray, Father, that you would open your word to us, that you would speak to us through your holy word. We pray that you would sanctify us and help us to grow. In Jesus' name, amen. So by the way, what's gonna happen, I don't know exactly when, but since Daniel finished Philippians on Sunday afternoons, he's gonna be starting in the near future, Exodus. And then what I'm gonna do, since I'm almost done, well, we just started, we'll start 2 Thessalonians, but we'll do that quickly, and then I'll do on Wednesday nights, Leviticus. All right, so we've already preached Genesis, so we'll do Exodus, Leviticus, and then if we finish up and do Numbers and Deuteronomy, I'll make sure Daniel gets Numbers and I get Deuteronomy. So anyway, but there was something this week that actually prompted me to take up this subject that we're gonna talk about this afternoon. So a few years ago, many of you know the name Alistair Begg. Alistair Begg had answered a question about attending a gay wedding, and of course, many people disagreed with his answer. I disagreed with his answer, but what ended up happening is that there were many Christians that actually just were willing to utterly dismiss not only decades of a faithful ministry, but also they dismissed the man. And over something that they thought was wrong, something that they disagreed with. I know of churches where the leaders have landed on a theological issue, and instead of trying to see that theological issue in maybe its broader historical context and, of course, its relative theological importance, they've made it into a litmus test of fellowship and even membership in their churches. Doctrines which actually few Christians have even heard of, let alone understand, become the new shibboleth of confessional integrity and basis of unity. And it's actually sad. The internet actually has taken doctrinal disagreements to a new level. I don't know if any of you ever look on Facebook, but there's quite a bit of theological argumentation that happens on Facebook, I don't know if you've noticed. And I would be willing to bet, I simply doubt that even 1% of the participants in the keyboard wars are ever convinced and come to that place where they go, oh my goodness, I'm wrong, they're right, I should actually say something about that. It doesn't happen. In fact, the wars continue and words of condemnation are flung all over the place. It's actually quite discouraging when you think about it. And biblical principles of how we actually are to talk to each other and treat each other end up being violated. And so even this last week, as many of you know, Pastor John MacArthur, really one of the giants, actually went home to be with the Lord after over 50 plus years of faithful service in one church. And although there was an outpouring of appreciation for his ministry and gratitude, it seemed that the warmongers could not keep to themselves. And some of the worst and most vile things were posted about John MacArthur, And really, at the end of the day, they just end up being pot shots by men of lesser characters, smaller minds, and no hearts. Things that are posted with impunity. And so, here's really the question that all of this brings up, and that is, why do we actually find it so hard to be honest? to love both the truth and people. A lot of times it's easy to love the truth, but it's hard to love people. And so what I wanna talk about for a few minutes this afternoon is I wanna talk about how to love the truth and to love people even when you disagree with them. We live in a culture where disagreement is not allowed. There actually used to be sort of a social standard that if I disagreed with you, I could still respect you. That standard has eroded today. And I'm not just talking about out in the world, I'm talking about even in the church. Truth matters, right? Truth absolutely matters. We wouldn't have these banners on the wall behind me if truth didn't matter. Truth matters, but I will tell you what else matters. Love matters. And so doctrine is vital, absolutely, 100%, but so is unity. And I think that oftentimes people in our kinds of circles are really quick to say doctrine, yes, but then hang unity. And I wanna say that's not being consistent with a New Testament ethic that says truth is important, but we're also supposed to love each other, be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now, if you're here and you're not a part of grace, this is not because there's stuff going on here. The people around you are the best, finest people in all of the earth, well, at least in Gardnerville. But so how do we, how do you, how do we love the truth and then love people when we disagree with those people? Now I was thinking actually to increase attendance that I would call this how to argue and win. Okay, so because that, people be like, oh yeah, but loving truth and then loving people. Yeah, okay, well, yeah, that's for, that's for the milk toast among us. So just a few preliminary considerations. Number one, truth is essential. Without the truth, we don't have anything. And what I'm talking about is, of course, is the truth of the gospel. And so Proverbs 23, 23 says, buy the truth and sell it not. Why? Because truth is vital. Truth is essential. Truth is important. Without it, we have nothing. Buy it, don't sell it, keep it. Treasure it. It's interesting, in 2 Thessalonians chapter two, The Apostle Paul actually talks about people who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. So is truth important? And the answer is yes, without it, you can't be saved. And in fact, without loving it, you can't be saved. And so truth is essential. But love is essential too. Love is essential. And so, you know, think about what Paul tells the Corinthians. So the Corinthians had this very inflated view of their own knowledge and gifts, right? Incredibly inflated view. Paul actually reminds the Corinthians that knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Now, does that mean that the apostle actually was discounting knowledge and the answer is no, not at all. But what he was pointing out is that it is very easy for us to be puffed up with knowledge and then to be really short on love. And Paul wants to remind us that actually it's love that edifies. Think about the beginning of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and the way that the apostle puts things in perspective for us. Let me just read that to you. It's very familiar to many of us. So if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I've become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." He goes from, by the way, I've become a noisy gong to I am nothing. Then he says, and if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. And so Paul says, you could have all the knowledge in the world. You could have all the prophetic insight in the world. You can understand all mysteries. And here's the thing, is if you don't have love, it profits you nothing, and at the end of the day, you are nothing. So love is also essential. So gifts are important, knowledge is important, service is important, but none of it profits if it's without love. And so what we take away from this is simple. Truth and love are friends. The Apostle Paul says to Timothy, the goal of our instruction, so what's that? That's truth. The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart. And so it's not as if you have to try to figure out, so am I a truth Christian or a love Christian? Right? Ariel and I used to joke around, it really wasn't a joke, but when Jehovah's Witnesses would show up to our door on Saturday mornings, I'd say, okay, I'm truth, you're grace, let's go. Well, you don't have to pick. You don't have to decide, am I gonna be a truth person or a love person? You're both. You're both. Here is, this is what I wanna lay out before you. I think that there is an important way for us to think about loving truth and loving people in a way that helps us as we have disagreements with people. All right? So, are you interested in this? Okay, good. So, I have two slides and they're super fancy. I spent about 18 hours this morning doing this. No. So, the first slide, Dina. Okay. Can we go back to the other slide? There we go. Now, I want you to know, this took me a while. Okay? The first thing that we need to think about when it comes to loving truth, loving people, and how do we interact with those that we disagree with, is first of all, we have to have in our minds what I'm going to call a doctrinal hierarchy, okay? A doctrinal hierarchy. And so we do this every baptism class. I'll draw on the board a big circle, and I'll say, these are essential truths, all right? So in other words, these are the truths that you must believe if you're to be a Christian. These are the truths that if you deny one or more, you're not a Christian, okay? All right, so we're gonna break protocol here and do this a little differently. So what might be some of the things that go in that circle that we're calling essential truths. Truths that, if you don't believe it, you're not a Christian. So what might go in that? The Trinity. Do, if you're gonna be a Christian, do you need to believe that there's one God who eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Okay, yeah, so we would, so if I was at a board, I could write. If I had a ladder and a pen, I could stand up and write on the screen. So we got Trinity, all right? What else should go in there? What's that? The Bible, right? So if I say to you, you know, the Bible's really a lovely book, but it's really just filled with myths and the traditions of men. Am I a Christian? No, I actually have to believe something about the Bible, don't I? What do I have to believe about the Bible? Okay, all of it. All right, good, right. I have to believe that the Bible is the word of God, right? That it comes from God, that it's inspired, that it's authoritative, so forth, right? So I have to believe something about the Bible, okay, which is more than just a historical collection or myth. I have to believe it's an inspired word of God. If I deny that, I'm not a Christian, all right? Dan. Oh, we get two for one here, all right. The deity of Christ, right? So Jesus Christ is fully God. Does that go in that essential circle? Yes, so if I deny that Jesus is God, I'm not a Christian, okay? And so before we get to the other thing Dan said, what else do you wanna put with that? the humanity of Christ, right? So full deity, right? Jesus is fully God, fully human. What if I just say Jesus was God, but he only kind of looked like a human? Is that good? No, that's actually error. Jesus can't, here's the litmus test. Jesus cannot be our savior if he is God, but only looks like a man. He has to be fully God, fully man, all right? So we've got, what, four things in that circle. And then Dan said, the bodily resurrection. Now, do you have biblical warrant to put the bodily resurrection of Jesus in that essential circle? And the answer is, yes. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If Christ be not raised from the dead, your faith is in vain. If Christ be not raised from the dead, you are still in your sins. Now, this is important. We're talking about the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus. Okay? I'm not interested in the guy that says, yes, the memory of Jesus lives on. Okay? No. The physical body of Jesus lives on, alright? Raised up from the dead. So, absolutely vital, goes in that essential category. What else might go there? The virgin birth, okay, so I'm gonna say, yes, the virgin birth, and the virgin birth, especially as it's connected to the divine and human nature of the Son of God, okay, right? So understand, a lot of these truths are gonna be connected, okay? So virgin birth, what else? Ray. Okay, saved by grace. Does that really go in the essential truth circle? I mean, what about people that think that you're saved by works? Can't they be Christians too? And the answer is no, actually. So if you think that you're saved by good works, you're not a Christian. You have to believe that you're saved by grace. So yeah, that goes in the essential circle. There's other stuff too. Okay, so when Jesus dies on the cross, he is actually a substitutionary, a vicarious atonement. So Jesus is dying in our place. He's paying the penalty for our sins. What if I said, you know what? Boy, I love Good Friday. It warms my heart and brings a tear to my eye to think that Jesus was the innocent one crushed by the wheels of Roman injustice. What if that's what I think about the death of Jesus? I've just relegated him to being a martyr. That's all, right? So the cross of Jesus belongs in that center circle as his substitutionary atoning death, right? By the way, if I don't believe in substitutionary atoning death, there's no way I can be a Christian because there's no way my sins are forgiven apart from Jesus dying for my sins, okay? What else might go in that circle? Original sin. Yeah, why would that go in the circle? If you don't believe that we're sinners, there's no need for a savior. You might as well just give it your best college try. So original sin, so what we mean by that is sin in Adam, passing down of a corrupt sinful nature, and then the willful choice of sin, right? By the way, all those are related. So, by the way, this is not necessarily easy for the 21st century American, right? When you say, guess what? One of the essential truths that you need to understand is that you're a sinner that needs to be saved, okay? That you just didn't lose friends. Right? Okay. Well, nobody's perfect. Well, no, we're actually saying something more than nobody's perfect. The essential truth is I'm dead and trespasses and sins. Okay. So anything else? Yeah. So, uh, Dan gave us resurrection. Are you talking about our resurrection or Jesus resurrection? Jesus resurrection. Yeah. So yeah, absolutely. Without it, there's no gospel, right? Okay, so do we have to believe certain things about the end? And the answer is, I'm pretty sure we do, right? The final judgment and an eternal state, which means either heaven, new heavens and new earth, or eternal punishment, okay? By the way, what happens Some people would argue that we shouldn't put eternal punishment in the essentials category. I would argue that it needs to be there. It needs to be there. Because again, what happens if you take away the idea that there's only two places, heaven and hell, and just go, there's just heaven? What happens? All of a sudden, The urgency, the gospel urgency, the evangelistic urgency, the missionary urgency, it dies, absolutely dies. All right, anything else that needs to go in that circle? Okay, creation. I'm absolutely positive that creation needs to go in that circle, all right? Hmm, is there a certain view of creation that must be in that circle? Okay, be careful. We'll come back to that. Anything else? This is good, this is a good list. All right, really good list. Yeah, second coming, right? Do I need to believe that Jesus is coming back? And the answer is, well, yes, because he said so. Right? Okay. All right. So that's a pretty good list of the essentials. All right. So what I want to say is this. So if a person adheres to those essentials, all right, that puts him within the scope of historic Christianity. Now, let me just, let me qualify quickly. You can believe all the right things and never be transformed by the grace of God. Okay? So being a Christian isn't just checking off the boxes, I believe this, this, and this. There are things that you must believe if you are a Christian, but being a Christian is more than just checking off the boxes and assenting to certain truths. Okay? There are plenty of people that know their catechism and have all the right answers, and as A.W. Tozer used to say, doctrinally straight as a gun barrel, but empty as one too. Okay? So, but here are the essentials, okay? Now, by the way, this is helping us whether you believe it or not. So, I have many Presbyterian friends. I even have some friends that are Lutheran. I even have some friends who are Southern Baptist. Can you believe I have Southern Baptist friends? And guess what? Regardless of denomination, regardless of, those are the things we agree on. Those are the things that give us unity. All right. Okay. Now to the, now to the really special slide. Okay. So now we have essential truths. Now we go to secondary truths. Now, Let me be very clear. Secondary does not mean unimportant. All right? Secondary does not mean unimportant. So we have the essentials. What might go into the secondary circle? Mode of, okay, subject and mode of baptism. All right, now, let me, that's a good one, by the way. So, secondary, so are there people who believe in the essential truths who, let's say, our Presbyterian friends, who would baptize their children because of their understanding of the covenant, and yet we would still consider them brothers because the mode and subject of baptism is a secondary issue. Does that mean subject and motive baptism is an unimportant issue? Not at all. It is a very important issue. But just because my Presbyterian friend has a covenantal view of baptism and I don't, doesn't mean that we're not brothers. Secondary issue. But let's say I run into somebody that says, I believe in baptism, but I believe baptism saves. So what happens is a secondary issue is then, in a sense, employed in a way that undermines one of the essential truths. Okay, so you gotta be careful. So yeah, so baptism would fit in there. What else might fit in there? Millennial views. Well, not according to Daniel, no. Yeah, so, by the way, it's absolutely true. relationship of Christ's kingdom to his second coming, right? Second coming, essential. Timing, relationship to the kingdom, secondary, right? All right. Secondary truths are truths that we disagree about. Okay? Yes. I can see this was a mistake. Anyway. All right, so somebody just said something else. I can't even remember now. Oh, millennial, all right. So let's just say in times views, all right. Now, is there flexibility in in times details? Yes, but what if I said to you, Jesus came back in AD 70 and we're part of the new creation. Is that a problem? It's a big problem, guess what? Because my view of eschatology is actually denying one of the essentials, right? So just because you throw a category into secondary doesn't mean it cannot actually creep in and end up impacting the essential, all right? So we have baptism, we have in time stuff. What else might be in that secondary category? The ESV is... It's actually not a secondary issue. All right, so. Okay, Lord's Supper. Who said Lord's Supper? Yeah, yeah. So is there any disagreement among Christians about the Lord's Supper? Oh, absolutely, and so, okay, so here's another thing. Does it fit into the secondary truth category? And the answer is yes, except when I start to argue that the bread turns into the real body of Jesus, and the wine turns into the real blood of Jesus, and I need to actually eat Jesus' body and blood in order to be a Christian. So there's a problem. Right? But ordinarily, the differences between Lutherans, Baptists, and Presbyterians on the Lord's Supper, all secondary issues, right? So in other words, legitimate disagreements. Not unimportant, but legitimate disagreements. Elke. Thank you. Young earth and old earth should be secondary. Okay? The fact that God is creator is essential. Okay? Old earth, young earth. A person is not going to eternally perish because they thought the earth was old. Okay? Any more than anybody's gonna be saved because they thought the earth was young. Okay? Now, let me just tell you, don't have this conversation with certain people who are geologists because you'll be trapped forever, all right? But yeah, secondary. Thank you, Elke. All right, anything else? There's a few other things. A few. Okay, so now you're, you're bringing up something that impacts the essential, right? So if, let's say I say I'm a theistic evolutionist, okay, and I deny that there was a real atom. Okay, see, that's the problem with theistic evolution is that you don't have any grounds for a real atom and therefore a real fall. Okay, so the issue is the historicity of Adam, okay? So I would say theistic evolution is not a Christian option. Okay? All right, Gene. What's that? Okay. We should all have a biblical view, right? Okay. Very good. Miles. Okay. Sure, sure, sure. So, you know, I wanna really be in the essential truth, but here's the thing, is that there's going to be variation, and that's the key. There's gonna be variation in the way that a person views the Holy Spirit and the grace of God working for a person's salvation, right? And so, Many of us have friends that would not hold to our particular form of theology, and we don't doubt that they're saved, right? So I think that that's true. I think that's where it goes. All right, we'll take a couple more if you can think of them. If not, I have 14. Okay, gifts, yeah. Yeah, the gifts. So is there disagreement in the body of Christ as to whether all the gifts continue, some of the gifts continue, right? So there's disagreement. Does that mean that I can't have a charismatic as a friend? And the answer is that doesn't mean that at all, right? So I put gifts up there. All right, somebody else had a hand up. Yes, Regina. About, what, salvation through, Yeah, I wish you wouldn't have brought it up at all. Yeah, so I would actually argue that the idea of salvation by free will is an error, okay? An actual serious theological error. So can there be people who believe in free will who yet still believe in the necessity of divine grace and not in a cooperative way, the answer is yes, that's true. But if I am a soul free willer in terms of salvation, then I don't understand the grace of God. Okay? So this is what Miles was getting at, is that there is a difference. All right, I think that is about exhausted. Actually, there's one more. What are you talking about? How about church government? Okay? Are there different forms of church government? Yes. By the way, our denominational titles are often connected to our view of church government, okay? Episcopal, Presbyterian, so forth. All right, so those are secondary. Now, within the secondary, I'm not gonna put membership in there, all right? Within the, yeah, yeah, okay. You win. Membership, all right, so. So within the secondary truth circle, Are there degrees of importance in that secondary circle? The answer is yeah, there are areas of importance. So I would argue, for instance, that let's say the subject and mode of baptism is probably more important than certain end time views, okay? So there is a hierarchy within the secondary. There are things that are more important, but still, they end up being secondary things. All right, now, here we have these two circles, and they are important. So is it important for us to have the, In a sense, that hierarchy of essential and secondary. Is it important for us? What happens, what kind of person are you if everything is in your essential box? You don't have any friends. Because you don't think anybody's a Christian. If all of your secondary stuff is in your essential box, then you actually have a very, very, very, very, very narrow view of what a Christian is. But what if nothing's in your essential box? then none of the other stuff matters anyway, all right? So I'm gonna argue that one of the ways we love truth and love people is that we understand that there's a doctrinal hierarchy of essentials and secondary truths, okay? Now, that brings us, we don't need the slide for this, because it's not a very good slide. It's unlike those two that I made. Then there comes now levels of unity. So what I've just described to you guys is now related to how do we understand essential secondary in terms of levels of unity and standards of fellowship, okay? So when it comes to the unity of the essentials, right? We could then ask, so who is my brother or sister? And we would say, those who profess faith in Jesus and who believe the gospel and regardless of denominational affiliation, The bonds of essential truths forms our unity and creates a Christian fellowship so that I have a unity with everybody who holds to those essentials. Right? Is that actually a good and charitable position? Yes. If you've been a Christian for more than a minute, you realize that there are people that don't see everything the way that you see it, and to be able to actually just say, they're my brother, they're my sister. When I was at Westminster in California, working on my doctoral degree, there was a guy in my class who was a Missouri Synod Lutheran, And he was a good spirited guy, but I will tell you, we'd go to lunch and we would actually, in a good spirit, we would argue with each other. And I would poke him all the time and like, so is the water magical? And he'd be like, no, but we think more about the water than you do. And so it was just this great banter, right? But the reason that we could do that is because we knew we were brothers. Right? So there is a very broad, universal sense in which we can claim brothers and sisters in Christ who hold to the fundamentals, to the essentials of our faith. And we should. We should acknowledge them, we should affirm them. Let me ask then a question, and you might not want to blurt out right away, except of course for the gifted blurters. What about a joint community worship service? Is the level of unity going to be different there than it would be in just the broad sense of who's my brother and sister? Let's say somebody organizes and says, hey, all of the churches are getting together and we're all gonna have a worship service and Do I say yes simply on that broad perspective of that if they're in that essential circle, it's all good? No. Why? Because there are things that we believe about worship or preaching that would be important to us and may end up having to be compromised in a community worship service. It would be great to say, yeah, they're our brothers and sisters, but then what do you do? you know, just bear with me here. What do you do if Pastor Jane says, I'll preach? That changes things. What about the worship that, let's say, was more entertainment than actual worship? Would you actually be comfortable submitting your heart to that in a worship service? So there's levels of unity, all right? So years ago, when we first moved here, people thought I was the most uptight, they were probably right. You want to have a community worship service. You want to participate. And the guy that believed in the laughing revival was going to be the preacher. Okay? I know he's a Christian. Those of you who are old enough to remember the laughing revival of the 90s. So now all of a sudden the level of unity gets a little tighter. Alright? What about this? What about joining a church? Is the common bond just that essential circle? You go, why? Is it an important question to say, who's in the church? Is that an important question? Who belongs in the church? My Presbyterian friend would say believers and their baptized children. I would say only believers. So could you actually have a church that functioned Let's say half of the church practiced the revelatory gifts, and the other half didn't, and half of them baptized their babies, and the other half didn't, and half of them thought women elders were fine, and the other half didn't, right? So you could imagine, so guess what happens? In terms of church membership, the level of unity gets even a little tighter. But what about serving as elders? Do we just go, hey, we're all brothers and sisters. Anybody that's qualified gets to be an elder, for instance. Should the elders actually have an even tighter bond of unity, a closed, let's say, a more closed circle of unity? And the answer is of course. So imagine this. Imagine you have an eldership where you have six elders and all six of them have a radically different view of divorce. How could you shepherd the flock? Right? You understand what I'm saying? So now all of a sudden doctrinal and ethical issues are actually the unity that exists among an eldership is even tighter than what's in the membership. So you have doctrinal hierarchy and then you have different levels of unity. And so those, by the way, those things are just realities. There's not gonna come a time in the history of the church until Jesus returns, there's not gonna be a time when everybody agrees on the secondary issues. It's not gonna happen. I mean, our best shot was John MacArthur and now he's in glory, no. It's just not gonna happen. There's always, but here's the thing, and this ends up being the point. How in the world do we actually, understanding those different levels of unity, how in the world do we interact? It may be people within our own body, may be people outside of the body. How in the world should we interact knowing that truth matters, but so does love? Have any of you actually felt this tension before? Okay, those of you who are actually breathing have, okay? So let me just, let me recommend one thing that you're gonna, that you'll absolutely love. Read John Newton's letter on controversy. If you don't have the letters of John Newton, you should get the letters of John Newton because it is a course in biblical counseling, all right? He has a wonderful, and I could read passage after passage in his letter on controversy. I just point you to that. Let me just do three things very quickly. Number one, when we disagree with other people, all right, the first thing that we really do have to do is we have to put this in, is this an essential or is this a secondary, okay? And so if it is an essential, then what we're engaged in at that point is evangelism, right? If they don't believe Jesus is the Son of God, then I'm engaged in evangelism, not doctrinal dispute, okay? But granting that we've got the center together, what do we do when we have disagreements? And so here's number one, and this is so simple, but it is really important. We should try to be kind to those we disagree with over secondary issues. We should actually just try to be kind. We don't have to be warriors. We don't have to actually go after other Christians because they disagree with us on secondary issues. Now again, levels of unity is going to impact actually what that interaction looks like. But interaction with those who have difference of opinion on secondary issues, we should remember Titus 3.2, we should malign no one. We should be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. ESV puts it like this, show perfect courtesy to all people. Colossians 4.6, let your speech always be with grace, seasoned as it were with salt, so that you may know how each should respond to each person. 1 Peter 3.15, but in your hearts honor Christ as the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. And so Gavin Ortland, I know you thought I was gonna say Gavin Newsom. Not really quotable in a sermon I suppose. Gavin Ortland says, it's hard to deny the beauty of the redemptive power of kindness. Even in our surrounding culture, while outrage and snark are escalating around us, there is also a thirst for sincere kindness. We should seek to be kind and respectful to people who disagree with us. I want to say that Ariel excels at this. We were abandoned a few years ago, was it maybe two, three years ago. And Elliot comes running up to me and he's like, dad, there's a spinny wheel and you get a prize. And Seth says, I think it's like this prophetess or something. So I go over and I start talking. and you spin the wheel and she'd prophesy over you. And it's just a bunch of nonsense. You're the first person that landed on hope. And I think that the Lord's gonna give you, I said, I already have hope. I have hope in Jesus Christ through the resurrection of the dead. And she's like, yeah, but this is God's word for you. Well, actually, that was 1 Peter chapter one. That was God's word for me. And so we start going back and forth, and I start talking to the people that are, and I'm like, so, and it was kind of funny. It was kind of creepy, actually. She was all dressed in this white flowing robe. And so I start talking to the people, and so I'm not paying attention to her anymore. And so here we are, we're talking, They're saying all kinds of crazy stuff, and I'm trying to bring Scripture, and it wasn't heated, but it was direct, and I hear laughing behind me. And I turn around, and Ariel's talking to the false prophet, and they're laughing together. And so I'm like, okay, well, I gotta end this. So I said, hey, it's time to go, and so we're walking away, and I'm like, what are you doing? You can't be friends with a false prophet. She said, well, she was so nice, she's a grandma like me. I said, Ariel's so nice, like Lucifer could walk in and she'd be like, hey, it's great to have you today. She's way nicer than I am. That's why I'm preaching this sermon to myself. All right, so just try to be kind. If you need to pray before you open your mouth, then pray before you open your mouth. The corollary is, we should avoid being quarrelsome. So are there times where we're gonna have to stand for the truth of the gospel? Yes, Galatians one, six to nine, Jude verse three, there are gonna be times where we have to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. There are gonna be times where that happens, but we should actually make an effort to avoid being quarrelsome people. Proverbs 17, 14, the beginning of strife is like letting out water, so abandon the quarrel before it breaks out. This one is particularly convicting. 2 Timothy 2, 24, 26, the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth. Wow! Be kind, gentle, patient, because God may be willing to grant them repentance. It says, leading them to the knowledge of the truth and they may have come to their senses and escaped the snare of the devil having been captive by him to do his will. Titus chapter three, verse 9, 11, avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strifes and disputes about the law for they're unprofitable and worthless. And so I would encourage all of us I know some of you, you're so smart and you just avoid social media altogether, but I would actually encourage us to avoid doctrinal debate online because it is unfruitful. Number three, when we do have to engage in controversy, let's make sure it's over something essential. I just said there's a time to take a stand. There's a time to stand for truth. But if we treat every secondary thing like it's an essential thing, we'll just be fighting all the time. It's just that simple. Now, is there something that is healthy about having a lively discussion between brothers about secondary issues? The answer is yes. When I was in seminary, I went to school with a guy whose name was Bob Bonebrake. I said, Bob, forget the ministry, become an orthopedist. You will be a rock star, right? Bob Bone Break, yeah. And here was the thing, is that I was high strung, I was wrapped tight. Did you wanna add any others? I could argue, In fact, Charlie and I were in seminary at that same time, and Charlie could tell stories, but he's sworn to secrecy. And this friend of mine, Bob Bonebrake, actually understood the gospel better than I did, understood theology better than I did, and when Bob, I still remember the day Bob tells me, you know, Brian, there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. And I'm like, what? What? No, right here, right here, right here. And I would start to argue with him, and then Bob would stop, and he would say, let's not argue about this. This isn't going to help. If you want to, read this little book and we can talk about it. And then he'd hand me one of these little banner truth books and I'd read it and I'd be like, ah, seems like he's right. Bob was a model to me of how you treat somebody you disagree with. John Newton did the same thing. He had a neighbor, Thomas Scott, who was an Anglican and actually entered into the ministry so he could lead a life of leisure. How's that for motivation? He wanted to be a literary man. And he found out that John Newton actually held to the doctrines of grace and he said, oh, I think I can sharpen my debate skills by going over and speaking to this country bumpkin. And so he'd go over and he would try to argue with John Newton and John Newton would never argue with him. He would share the truth and would refuse to argue. God used the kindness of John Newton to bring Thomas Scott into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he ended up being one of the most effective Anglican ministers in all of England at that time. It is an infrequent thing to have heated disrespectful debate and have it turn out any other way than increased hostility. So if we have to engage in controversy, we need discernment. Not every hill is a hill to die on. You do know that, right? Not every hill is a hill to die on. Not every opinion needs to be shared or declared. Don't be the kind of person that walks around with sort of the subtext that says, you are entitled to my opinion. Criticism should be rare, not regular. Criticism should not be our first instinct. So do we need courage to speak the truth in love? And the answer is yeah. Sometimes we might have the tendency to shrink back when we need to be bold. So we might need courage. But sometimes we need humility because we rush headlong into the fight. And so, courage and humility. We need to check our pride. Am I engaging in this because I like to argue? Have you ever met anybody that just likes to argue? I mean, besides your spouse? Do I like to win? Do I like to make a show of how much I know? So, I would argue that once we understand the hierarchy of doctrine and the degrees of unity, we can actually afford to love each other, be charitable with each other, and show the kindness of Christ to each other at all times. It is in fact possible to hold to our convictions and to love others at the same time. Let's pray. Our gracious God, we pray that you would expose our hearts where they need to be exposed. We pray that you would unveil our motives where they need to be unveiled. And Father, we pray that we would be as well known for our love as we are for our commitment to truth. And so help us. Father, remind us that grace and truth were incarnate in one person, Jesus Christ. Help us to be like Jesus. Amen. We hope that you were edified by this message. For additional sermons as well as information on giving to the ministry of Grace Community Church, please visit us online at gracenevada.com. That's gracenevada.com.