“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13
“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” 1 Corinthians 6:12
“Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.” Romans 14:4-5
We are all free, under the Lordship of Christ, to do what we believe in our hearts in the light of God’s Word to be most fruitful for God’s glory. Like a gardener we are free to make decisions as to how we will make use our liberty, planting and weeding out what we believe will eventually be most fruitful. We are therefore free to announce our biblical convictions clearly and to live them out openly before one another, deferring to one another in love and patiently withholding judgement until the fruit is observable. We are confident that the way in which each member has used his or her liberty will eventually bear its fruit, whether good or bad, and that all such fruit must be evaluated and judged gently but openly, either to vindicate or to expose the relative wisdom or foolishness of each believer’s work. In this way we may humbly live together in peace and learn from one another’s experience so as to humbly adjust our own ways as wisdom may require.
Reform #12—“Responsible in Our Liberty”