EXPLORATION

Think back over your life for a minute. When have you experienced the times of greatesst spiritual growth? Was it when things were going smoothly and you were prospering; when all your relationships were strong and you had no cares. Or was it when you were full of doubts, you were being tempted and you felt like all your own resources - both physical and spritiaul were used up?

For me it has tendd to be the latter. God seems to do the best work in the lives of those who find themselves in difficult places and dependant on God and others to make it through.

Shortly after he left the Air Force, Goeff Gorsuch was asked by a psychiatrist to share what he had learned about life and God while in Viet Nam with a small group of veterans. As he told them about being a pilot, they politely listened while he identified with their sense of loss and pain. "As tough as it was at times," he concluded, "I felt I grew in my knowledge of life and God."

How? He had experienced that for which God created all of us, vital, caring, edifying relationships with other Christians. These relationships carried him through some very difficult times because they were relationships with other people in the same boat. In the series on Phillipians that some of you are in, Earl Palmer tells about Paul who gained his confidence in the Gospel - even while he was in prison in Rome - because there was a group of Christians praying for him from Phillipi and who he looked forward some day to seeing again.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book LIFE TOGETHER , writes from his prison cell during World War II says that "the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain or discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs the brother (or sister ) as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word...The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother or sister; his own heart is uncertain; his brothers is sure.

This past few months have been tough on Judy and the girls and me. There have been times when our fiath has been weak and faltering. We are eternally grateful to God for he has used other believers - in this church family and elsewhere -to bear us up and strengthen us through times of loss when it seemed discouraging and lonely to us. When we have been weak, the word if God has been strong in you.

Christians not only need the Lord, they need each other. We were made for relationship not isolation. The only part of God's creation in Genesis that was not good is that first man was alone and needed a companion or a help meet.

Alone we are weak and prone to failure. Together we are stronger. Ecclesiastes talks of the benefit of sharing life with another, When one falls down there is someone to pick him up, if one falls among thieves, there is someone who can help, etc. (Ecc. 4)

It is to such weak and failing people that Paul is writing. They are believers who are trying to live out the faith amidst difficult circumstances under Roman rule. It was hard and many found themselves feeling weak, ineffective and even failing. Instead of living the victorious life, they were precariously close to spiritual meltdown. They needed each other. They had to depend on each other for they couldn't bear it alone. There were times when some felt weak. And yet at the same time others were strong. There were those whose consciences were vulnerable and needed closely guarded structure and rules. There were some who could not eat meat that had been offered to idols or which had not been prepared properly according to Jewish dietary laws. There were others who had no qualms about that. They were those whose consciences were strong in Christian freedom. There were those who had doubts and lacked faith. There were others who seemed to have great faith.

Together they made up - even as is true today - the Christian Church in Rome. Strong and weak, wheat and tares, sprinters and joggers.

As Paul applies the truth of Christian doctrine to Christian life, he is making the point that what we believe really changes the way in which we act - especially toward other Christians. What we think and believe has an impact on how we live.

And next to an increasing love for God which grows outr of docttrine, there neeeds to be an increasing love and forbearance of others in the Christian community. There is no room for condemnation and judgement ; only forgiveness and acceptance. There is no room for selfish exploitation of personal rights at the expense of anothers faith, only consideration and patience.

Believers, transformed by Christ need to live differently than the rest of the world. We are called to a special kind of unity...a special kind of life together.

What is that life supposed to be like.

1. Bearing with the failings of those who are weaker.

   Paul is not referring to physical strength. He is referrring to matters of conscience. And the word weak may not really be the best translation here. It may better be senstivie. The person who is more sensitive about certain things could possibly be offended or evenweakened in their faith if someone who is not as sensitive to matters of conscience goes ahead and does whatever they please because they feel no conscience. As Christians we are not to pursue the attainment of our own rights and freedoms if it means that someone else might stumble in their faith.

   There are a number of examples of this. In particular, Paul is alluding to the meat that one could buy in the market which had been offered up to idols and then sold for a prophet. Some felt that not only did this practice violate their heritage and the dietary laws but that it would identify them somehow with the worship of idols.

   Others simply saw that this was a good buy on meat. Only been used once. IT was kind of like going to the day old bread store only this was meat. But their consciences wer free and clean. It did not bother them to do this and the thought of it bothering someone else had not even crossed theirr mind. This was what we would call a gray area. There was some disagreement and no real clear NT teaching on the subject.

   We can think of some examples today; Some people think that Christians ought not to partake of alcoholic drinks of any kind. The prohibitions of Scripture in their minds apply not just to abuse and drunkenness but to any use whatsoever. That position is not wrong at all. But Paul would call such a person a weaker brother or sister. In other words their consciences are more sensitive.

   The same could be applied to the way in which we worship, the use of language, the way we dress...any number of different areas which may be "gray areas" but which could cause division in the church and coyuld cause others to stumble.

   A sensitive conscience then is not really a failing of the weak, but nonetheless we are to bear with each other.By the same token those who may hold strong convictions about certain areas are called to be patient and forbearing with those who see things differently than you do. One whose conscience forbids them from eating meat, for whatever the reason, ought not to be condemning or judgemental of those who do eat meat.

2. Building up each other.

   Notice the subtle emphasis that Paul uses here. Often times we think in terms of rules and negatives. Paul thinks in terms of Positives.

   Please your neighbor. Edify them or build them up. Make an edifice of their faith. Build something positive and concrete which will stand the test of time and trial.

3. Bring Praise to Christ.

   The ultimate goal of unity is to accomplish one important thing. The worshi and praise of God. To bring glory to him. Our efforts at doing that will be enhanced if we work to together.

	Pastor Fred D. Davis:	2025 North Valley Drive
	Revdavis@aol.com	P.O. Box 2042
	Fred_Davis.parti@presby.org	Las Cruces, NM 88004-2042
	(505) 526-4907	Fax:(505) 526-8276