Andy Naselli

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How to Disagree with Other Christians about Disputable Matters

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That’s the title of a sermon I preached on Sunday on Romans 14:1–15:7.

  • I open by explaining triage in order to introduce the idea of theological triage. We must distinguish between first-level, second-level, and third-level issues.
  • I suggest about 75 disputable matters (grouped into 17 rough categories) that can be extremely divisive in some churches.
  • I present 12 principles from Rom 14:1–15:7 about how to disagree with other Christians. I borrow these from a forthcoming commentary on Romans that veteran missionary J. D. Crowley wrote for people in Cambodia:
  1. Welcome those who disagree with you (Rom 14:1–2).
  2. Those who have freedom must not look down on those who are strict (Rom 14:3–4).
  3. Those who are strict must not be judgmental towards those who have freedom (Rom 14:3–4).
  4. Each believer must be fully convinced of their position in their own conscience (Rom 14:5).
  5. Everything you do, or refrain from doing, must be for God’s glory (Rom 14:6–9).
  6. Do not judge each other in these matters because we will all someday stand before the judgment seat of God (Rom 14:10–12).
  7. Your freedom to eat meat is correct, but don’t let your freedom destroy the faith of a weak brother (Rom 14:13–15).
  8. Disagreements about eating and drinking are not important in the kingdom of God; building each other up in righteousness, peace, and joy is the important thing (Rom 14:16–21).
  9. If you have freedom, don’t flaunt it; if you are strict, don’t expect others to be strict like you (Rom 14:22a).
  10. A person who lives according to their conscience is blessed (Rom 14:22b–23).
  11. We must follow the example of Christ, who put others first (Rom 15:1–6).
  12. We bring glory to God when we welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us (Rom 15:7).

MP3 (about 57 minutes)

Related:

  1. Posts tagged “judgmentalism“
  2. John MacArthur on How to Serve Christians Who Are Needlessly Restrictive

 

 

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  1. Excellent summary Andy. Oh how the application of these principles in the church would circumvent much conflict and frankly, a whole lot of nonsense.

  3. Hi Andy

    Since I can read faster than I can listen, perhaps if you posted your list of disputable items, I would be easier to see where you are going with this. I suspect that any disagreement would be in application, not interpretation.

    Maranatha!
    Don Johnson
    Jer 33.3

  7. Good stuff. I’d now like to hear you preach a sermon on how to disagree with Christian on 2nd level matters:)

  8. Dr. Naselli, do you have projected forecast for the publication of the book you are co-authoring regarding culture as it relates to the Christian conscience?

    Thanks!