‘Nothing Is to Be Rejected’ — Including Pot?

Audio Transcript

On Wednesday, we appeared at our greatest joy. What could make you content forever? The surest and most stable answer to this concern is found in the Bible, in 4 agent texts. People have been Psalms 40:16 70:4 Romans 5:11 and 1 Peter 3:18. And they get outlined a large amount on this podcast to make just one important position: God himself is the prize of the gospel.

But even as God is the prize of the gospel, he every day lavishes on us all sorts of other designed gifts that are superior and lawful and need to be embraced with thanksgiving. But handling these kinds of presents is not without challenges for all of us, and particularly for Jameson, a podcast listener with today’s query.

“Pastor John, howdy! Here’s my problem for you currently. I have Christian pals who think that alcohol and medicines, specially pot, are morally fantastic points to be been given in the spirit of what Paul states in 1 Timothy 4:4 — ‘Everything produced by God is good, and absolutely nothing is to be rejected if it is been given with thanksgiving.’ But I know Paul also states, ‘“All things are lawful,” but not all points are practical. “All factors are lawful,” but not all points establish up’ (1 Corinthians 10:23). I’m seeking to figure out what we can thank God for, and what we simply cannot thank him for. (1) Can we thank God for a compound that is illegal for us — say underage ingesting or recreational pot where it breaks the regulation? And (2) does Paul suggest that we can’t thank God for anything that is lawful for us but not practical to us? I guess I’m asking, in what techniques would you qualify Paul’s ‘nothing is to be rejected’? When my mate makes an attempt to thank God for the pot that I never believe rewards his existence, and which is unlawful for him to use, I’m troubled.”

Appropriate. You ought to be troubled. I’m glad Jameson acquired to the issue exactly where he mentioned, “I guess what I’m inquiring is, In what means would you qualify Paul’s ‘nothing is to be rejected’?” since that is definitely the concern. The situation is not, What can I give thanks for? Paul teaches that we ought to give thanks for anything. It doesn’t enable his situation at all. Ephesians 5:20: “[Give] many thanks often and for everything to God the Father in the identify of our Lord Jesus.” But that does not necessarily mean “Give moral acceptance to almost everything.” It indicates, rather, that we realize that, in the providence of God, he can make every little thing provide his sensible and loving reasons, even some quite agonizing and even sinful matters.

Crucial Question

I never consider the key problem is, What must we thank God for? When Paul explained in 1 Timothy 4:4, “Everything made by God is great, and very little is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,” he’s saying, “That’s why anything exists — namely, to expose the goodness of God and to awaken in the human soul thanksgiving.” In other words, we should only use creation, all of it, the way it was designed to be used — namely, with thanksgiving.

So Jameson claims the true dilemma is — and he’s proper, I believe it is surely the dilemma that physical exercises me — What does Paul imply when he states nothing in development is to be turned down? I assume he usually means nothing is to be turned down simply because it is ritually unclean. According to Mark 7:19, Jesus declared all food items clear. So they’re all lawful, not to be turned down. None of the Outdated Testomony dietary regulations applies anymore. They had been a temporary way for Israel to set itself off from the nations.

The church doesn’t aim to set by itself off from the nations in that way any more with food items regulations. Practically nothing is ritually unclean for the Christian in that perception. It’s lawful — it’s all lawful. None is to be rejected as ritually off-limitations, which also suggests that the false teachers in 1 Timothy 4, who were being forbidding relationship and requiring abstinence from food items (1 Timothy 4:3), were falling again into the aged authorized way somewhat than walking in the freedom of Christ.

3 Concepts

But to say that nothing at all is to be turned down as ritually unclean does not necessarily mean that all is to be eaten or drunk, even with thanksgiving, due to the fact there are other components to get into account, which Paul does not point out below for the reason that they are not the situation with the false lecturers in 1 Timothy. But Jameson is ideal that he must bring in Paul’s ideas from 1 Corinthians, for the reason that they are related as to what we shall reject or not reject. I consider there are at minimum a few ideas that Paul mentions as to what we do with mother nature, the goodness of nature.

“To say that practically nothing is to be rejected as ritually unclean does not suggest that all is to be eaten or drunk, even with thanksgiving.”

One theory is enjoy. Very first Corinthians 10:23–24: “‘All matters are lawful,’ but not all things are valuable. ‘All matters are lawful,’ but not all points create up. Enable no a person look for his very own good, but the good of his neighbor.” So we do not just say, “I’m absolutely free. All foods are clean up, and that’s that. I eat what I want.” No, that’s not the way a Christian talks. We inquire, “Will it be valuable? Will it be profitable? Will other people today reward from my pleasure of this use of this, this executing of this?” That is the principle of enjoy.

Then, in 1 Corinthians 6:12, he provides out two other principles, I believe. He claims, “All things are lawful for me” — same commencing, but he carries on otherwise — “but not all items are useful. ‘All issues are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated [controlled, taken over, enslaved] by just about anything,” even superior items. Below the principle seems to be the exact as 1 Corinthians 10, but it is not very. In its place of declaring, “Seek the fantastic of your neighbor in what you take in,” he suggests, “I will not be dominated or enslaved by anything at all.”

You may possibly say this is the basic principle of self-love, a good self-really like. Be watchful not to be addicted. Be watchful not to be weakened. I imagine those people would be the two principles. (1) Is it tending toward my slavery, earning me a slave? I’m out of control below. I’m totally dependent on this thing. (2) Is it hurting me? Is it accomplishing me damage as my learn?

Everybody Tends to make Distinctions

So three concepts, at the very least, put boundaries on the assertion “nothing is to be rejected”:

1. Like: Will it assistance or hurt other individuals?
2. Dependancy: Will I be enslaved? Is it enslaving me?
3. Hurt to my physique or soul: Will it dominate me hurtfully?

Probably the clearest way to show Jameson’s pals that they never really mean it when they say, “Since every little thing that God manufactured is superior, unquestionably nothing’s to be rejected” — they don’t signify that, for the reason that they know very good and properly that there are mushrooms that will eliminate you if you take in them. There are some folks with this sort of intense peanut allergies that they would die if they ate a peanut. They will not even allow you have peanuts on the airplane when these men and women are on board. They really don’t serve peanuts. They know this. These friends know this. They make distinctions them selves.

“Is cannabis valuable to many others when we use it? Is it addicting to my brain? Is it hurtful to the intellect or to the soul?”

So the inquiries are these: Is cannabis helpful to some others when we use it? Is it addicting to my head? Is it hurtful to the brain or to the soul? All those are the key concerns.

Our Radical Connect with

It may well support to close by me just accomplishing a minimal memory training listed here. When I arrived to Bethlehem Baptist Church 43 years ago as pastor, the church covenant claimed this: “We have interaction to abstain from the use and sale of alcoholic beverages,” which meant that teetotalism was essential for church membership. Now, I instructed the leaders when I came, “That is significantly unbiblical. Even even though I myself see very good reasons in our tradition, in our working day, with my character, for being a teetotaler, that’s not a biblical requirement for church membership.”

So how did we modify it? We did. I indicate, it nearly price tag me my job in the second 12 months I was there, but the vote passed, and I survived. How did we modify the covenant? We designed it far more radical. Here’s the present wording: “We have interaction to find God’s enable in abstaining from all prescription drugs, food items, drink, and tactics which deliver unwarranted damage to the overall body or jeopardize our personal or another’s faith.” So not just liquor or cannabis or no matter what, but all prescription drugs, all meals, all consume, all procedures. The way we examination what we try to eat or consume or do is this: Does it deliver unwarranted damage to the physique, or does it jeopardize our very own or another’s religion? I believe that’s a very good software of Paul’s concepts in the New Testament.