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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
April 30
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Today's Pathway:
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In chapter 14 Paul begins a lengthy discussion on the relationship that believers who are more spiritually mature should have with those who are younger in the faith. Any time a church grows it will be seeing people saved, and those people are not only spiritual newborns, but they also have a tendency to bring some of their previous beliefs with them. If people have been taught heresy all their lives and then get saved it normally takes time for them to reject all the false doctrine that they have been given. These people would be the folks in verse 1 who are "weak in the faith". Those who were strong in the faith, the spiritually mature, were to receive the weak, which means that they were to bring them into the church and accept them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Dave Guzik wrote,
"Paul warns us to not make spiritual maturity a requirement for fellowship. We should distinguish between someone who is weak and someone who is rebellious. There are many reasons why a Christian might be weak. They may be a babe in Christ (babies are weak). They may be sick or diseased (by legalism). They may be malnourished (by lack of good teaching). They may lack exercise (needing exhortation)."
Mature believers must give young Christians the opportunity to grow in the Lord. They have to be willing to exhort them and teach them. Of course, they shouldn't ignore the errors of the spiritually weak, but they need to help them in a gracious and loving manner. Paul summarizes this in Romans 15:1-2 when he writes,
"We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification."
The mature Christian needs to assist the young Christian in dealing with his spiritual weaknesses, and do his best to build the novice up in the faith.
Young believers are to be taken into the church, but they are not to be brought into "doubtful disputations". Henry Morris defined it this way,
"'Doubtful disputations' refer to critical judgments on the inward reasonings of others. Unless some practice is specifically revealed in Scripture to be right or wrong, each believer should be free to formulate his own convictions about it. New Christians may still feel constrained by certain criteria they had followed earlier, and thus may be reluctant to change when they become saved. Unless these are specifically enjoined or prohibited in the Word of God, older believers should receive them into fellowship without argument or criticism."
The mature Christian should not be bringing younger Christians into debates simply so they can "beat them up" spiritually. Allow me to illustrate this from a natural human standpoint. When parents have children, they obviously want to see their child grow and mature. If they are good parents they will love their child and teach their child by word and example and slowly bring them to adulthood. When the child disobeys they will discipline him appropriately. However, they will also realize that a six year old is a six year old and can't be expected to act like an eighteen year old. They will not expect their elementary age child to know things and do things that are beyond his years. In the same way the mature Christian should be willing to work with the infant Christian. They should give instruction in the Scriptures and teach right from wrong. But they should also remember that when they were spiritually young it took them some time to mature, and they should be willing to give that same consideration to others.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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