Food, Covid, and Other Matters – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

Bill Johnson talks about food, covid, and other matters. Sharing from Romans 14 and other scripture, Bill emphasizes the importance of living according to our own faith, while protecting the conscience of those around us. Bill relates it to covid and how we are called to love and honor one another in these times despite differing convictions.

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so funny

um i’m going to talk today

on a subject that i’ve actually never

taught him before

and it’s a little bit odd for me

paul dealt with this subject

in at least four

major portions of scripture that i can

think of in the epistles in romans and

first corinthians

and first timothy and there’s probably

more but that’s what comes to mind

offhand

and it’s about food

but it’s not about food

it’s like he uses this

subject that was very pertinent in that

day because they had

you know food that was sacrificed to

idols and they had all kinds of weird

things going on dietarily and plus

they’re coming out of judaism where they

had certain standards for eating etc and

they’ve got new converts with certain

convictions about what they should do in

that so there there’s that there’s that

dealing with that issue

but there was such a bigger issue at

stake

that uh that he was dealing with so so

i’m i’m going to mess around with that a

little bit

and i’d like to give honor before i

start to the vegetarians who are part of

bethel just want you know i love you you

are the most forgiving group of people

i’ve ever met

you are still half here after all the

years

of my

ridiculing etc

yeah i started with the bacon i’ve got

one more and then i’ll get it out of my

system and we’ll be good i i found this

verse

chris just said oh no but this is i’m

i’m going to quote the verse my

interpretation is correct i’m just

telling you offhand it’s it’s right

solomon

the wisest man before

jesus said

vegetables

where there’s love

is better than a fattened ox where

there’s hatred

it takes hatred to make beef less than a

vegetable

[Applause]

is is that not a correct interpretation

i’m sticking with it i’m telling you i’m

sticking with you

i want you to turn to two we’re going to

read three portions three of the four

that i uh

have made reference to we’re going to

read two of them to start with and then

we’ll end with a third piece

and do have your bibles open because i

want you to follow in your own

uh in your own bibles the first one is

first timothy chapter four

and the second one is first corinthians

chapter 10. put your finger in first

corinthians 10 because we’ll come back

to it right

first timothy 4.

and then first corinthians chapter 10.

we’ll end up in romans 14 but this is

where

i want us to start

uh as i as i told

everyone in the first service i’m kind

of experimenting walking through this

this subject

um so just just kind of bear with me and

follow with me as we as we look at the

scripture because i i love

i love the obvious truths that are

proclaimed in scripture and i’m i

fantasized the wrong word i

i’m captivated by the truth that’s

behind the obvious truth

there’s there’s stuff behind it

sometimes that is this so deep and so

profound and so necessary for us to see

where that came from because he’s not

just dealing with a cultural problem

he’s dealing with a value system

that uh is huge it’s significant for us

so

let’s uh let’s go ahead and start with

the first timothy chapter four

um verse one says now the spirit

expressly says

in the latter times some will depart

from the faith

giving heed to deceiving spirits

doctrines of demons

speaking lies in hypocrisy

having their own conscience seared by

the way your conscience isn’t the voice

of god

it’s a fascinating thing it’s an

important part of life and it can become

seared but it’s almost like the canvas

that the spirit of god writes on

if if that makes sense

um you you want to protect your

conscience a clean conscience is an

extremely valuable thing

it’s it’s where we pick up that which

god is impressing upon our hearts so

that’s just enough to create confusion

so let’s move on

um

speaking lies and hypocrisy having their

own conscience seared with a hot iron

forbidding to marry

commanding to abstain from foods which

god created to be received with

thanksgiving

by those who believe and know the truth

all right

look at it again commanding the

deception is to command people to

abstain from foods which god

created to be received with thanksgiving

by those who believe and know the truth

and here’s the truth for every creature

of god is good and nothing is to be

refused if it is received with

thanksgiving

for it is sanctified

cleansed made pure

by the word of god and prayer

a thankful heart

prayer does something to

sanctify if you will

even food so here paul’s making a

statement he says all right

don’t call anything that god made to be

eaten

evil

it’s interesting when peter had this

vision of the unclean animals the word

of the lord was don’t call unclean what

i’ve called clean and of course he’s

talking about ministry to the gentiles

but he used a natural illustration and

here’s the point if it’s not true in the

natural it’s illegitimate to use for the

spiritual

that was a good point bill all right

it has to it has to be true in the in

the natural for it to carry weight to

describe something in the spiritual

i’ll just leave it

all right

so here he makes this statement

these things are good these things are

clean this is what truth is all food

is to be enjoyed now go with me to first

corinthians 10

and let’s read uh let’s read some out of

this this chapter we’re going to go all

the way down

to verse 23.

all things are lawful for me but not all

things are helpful all things are lawful

for me but not all things edify

let no one seek his own but each one the

other’s well-being

eat whatever is sold in the meat market

asking no questions for conscience sake

for the earth is the lord’s

and its fullness

if any of those

who do not believe invite you to dinner

and you desire to go eat whatever is set

before you ask no questions for

conscience sake but if someone says to

you this was offered to idols don’t eat

it for the sake of the one who told you

and for conscience sake

for the earth is the lord all its

fullness verse 29 conscience i did not

say your own but that of the other for

why should my liberty be judged by

another person’s conscience

all right

this is a

this is kind of a strange portion of

scripture to me

we don’t have the cultural setting that

they have

most of you don’t have neighbors that

sacrifice their goat

to some demon god

most of you

some of you out in some of the outskirts

you might but

just yep

not naming names all right

seriously you don’t have neighbors that

sacrifice

animals to foreign gods false gods

demons

but in this particular culture that

would have been normal and the point was

don’t violate conscience by asking where

it came from because once you find out

it was sacrificed to devils you can’t

eat it but then he goes on to say it’s

not to protect your conscience because

that thing can’t defile you because you

sanctify with prayer you sanctify with

thankfulness

do it for the sake of the person who

invited you to the meal so here’s an

interesting thing you’ve got a person in

this case who is an unbeliever and yet

you are

are asked to live by a certain standard

to protect what remains of their

conscience

the whole focus of of this study if you

study in the

in several passages that i’ve referred

to in others you’ll find that the the

effort was to protect what remains of a

conscience in an individual or in the

case of a believer faith although in

some cases it’s weak faith

what stands out to me i’ve been

pondering this one for uh in recent uh

weeks

it says jesus

wouldn’t extinguish a dimly burning wick

what does that mean you’ve got a candle

that’s got just a tiny little flame it

looks like it could go out any moment he

won’t breathe carelessly in the

direction of that flame why because he

lives in protection of what remains

it is possible when we insist on our own

rights our own liberties our own

privileges

to in the process destroy the work of

god and actually extinguish a dimly

burning wick

all for the sake

of our rights

satan was one of the three arch angels

there was saint lucifer

gabriel and michael

he was booted out of heaven

for this reason

he became caught up in his own glory can

i say he lost sight of the glory of god

became caught up with his own glory

that god created him with

and wanted to be worshipped equal to or

above god himself

when he lost sight of god’s glory

he caught a glimpse of his own

significance

and moved into demanding his own rights

satan is the father of entitlement

is the father of entitlement because

once the subject turns from

from responsibility

as a child in the kingdom

to what my rights are

it doesn’t matter what reason you use

it cannot end well without repentance

alexander solzhenitsyn the great russian

novelist came to america goodness i

think it was back in the

70s

and he spoke at a university i don’t

remember which one it was a graduation i

think was harvard harvard yale one of

those

and when they introduced him of course

he’s uh

he was this courageous courageous man

and writer that really confronted the

evils of the culture that he lived in

and he took the podium and he gave his

speech and i just remember one

part of his speech

and he said in so many words he said the

decline of american culture is because

you have emphasized

rights above responsibilities

the decline of any culture

when a people become empowered here’s

the challenge of having a

constitutional republic where we are all

given the privilege and the right to

vote is we actually can vote for our

benefit and not for what’s right for the

country

the focus shifts now sometimes they’re

the same but they’re not always

and the focus shifts from

what is

is best for the overall well-being of a

church family a local family

or a city a nation whatever it might be

is to make decisions that are actually

the best for all

and that begins to diminish the more we

become

trapped with that spirit and it is a

demon

that spirit of entitlement

where we become caught up with our own

significance and our right to have

expression and

you know

i’ve said for years if jesus doesn’t

defend me i’m not worth defending i’ve

added a new one to the if he doesn’t

promote me i’m not worth promoting

because any anything you obtain through

self-promotion you’ll have to sustain

through self-promotion it takes a lot of

work to sustain what you obtained in the

fight of being recognized for who you

are in your gifting

it may sound good and i’ll tell you

there’ll be people all around you that

will applaud you for taking a bold stand

but it’s exhausting

it’s it’s it’s like inflating a a beach

ball that has a hole in it you have to

just keep pumping it to keep it up keep

it alive to keep it up a bit filled you

have to just keep pumping away and keep

it filled

and self-promotion is that it’s got a

leak because it has a faulty standard

it really comes down to

a failure in the heart of god’s people

to actually trust god to do what he said

he would do that he would actually do

the promotion or the provision or the

open door or the whatever it is is at

the right time in due season these

things happen

jesus came to earth in the fullness of

time

it was a specifically set time in which

everything was perfectly set for his

coming and there are certain times where

jesus would burst forth in your life and

in mind in a perfectly suited time

but sometimes we

try to speed up the process and we ended

up we end up with something much less

than what god intended

it’s true

all right

um

first corinthians 10 we’re still there

i think so

i’m still there i don’t know where you

are but i’m still there

all right so

uh verse 29 conscience i say not of your

own but that of the other why is my

liberty judged by another person’s

conscience let me i need to make a

comment here that i wish i didn’t need

to make but culturally we just need to

we have people who

who

say they follow us

but they use our statements on liberty

and our determination to not allow

ourselves to be judged by any other

people

they use our statements on freedom

to

fund and fuel and support deviant sexual

lifestyles

that are in opposition to scripture and

they claim to be

following us and came to that conclusion

they didn’t get there by following us

it’s it’s forbidden in scripture

and to use

a term of liberty

outside of context to support a sin

lifestyle

is is the evidence of a seared

conscience

and uh so i i just you know i i just

want to throw that out because i

i i

i i get saddened by those who will use

our name your name whatever

uh to support their lifestyle and uh

all right let’s move on

good point bill let’s move on

hurry bill move on

verse 30 if i partake with thanks why am

i evil spoke enough for the food over

which i give thanks

whatever you eat or drink whatever you

do duel to the glory of god all right

now let’s go to one more portion and i

want you go to romans 14.

romans 14. how many of you have your

bibles

i want to see them how many of you love

your bibles i love my bible

i love my all right

romans

14. romans 14 verse 1

receive one who is weak in faith

but not to disputes over doubtful things

for one who believes he made all

things but he who is weak eats only

vegetables

now

[Applause]

i didn’t write that

[Applause]

although some of you would blame me for

writing it i did not write that

in all seriousness i don’t believe he’s

condemning a vegetarian lifestyle

he’s is condemning the fact that there

are people that have those kinds of

disciplines

that believe

this discipline is the standard for all

and it gives them extra favor with god

that’s the deception all right so

as much as i like to use this

to support my

all right back to the scripture here

let me read it again he who is weak only

eats vegetables all right

verse 33

let not him who eats despise him who

does not eat

let not him who does not eat judge him

who eats

for god has received him

let’s read that again verse 3

let not him who wears a mask

despise him who does not wear a mask

let not him who does not wear a mask

despise him who wears a mask

does it does it not have masks in your

translation

[Applause]

well here’s the amplifier

the the bill johnson amplified

let not him who gets a vaccine

despise him who does not get a vaccine

let not him who does not get a vaccine

judge him who gets a vaccine listen

honestly

the issue is shaky

put aside all the arguments debates for

our various opinions put all that aside

for a moment there is a greater issue at

stake

there are dimly burning wicks in the

room

and even though i don’t believe

in

now we’re not talking about moral

lifestyle we’re talking about just the

personal disciplines applications of

following jesus

even though i don’t believe and i can

point to scripture to say

i’m right in this thing it is my

responsibility i am compelled to stand

in their defense so that that dimly

burning wick is not extinguished

in fact we actually according to this

chapter especially we become stewards of

another person’s conscience stewards of

another person’s faith

now

it says

without trying to be funny here it says

the meat eater is strong

the vegetable eater is weak

amen

we can be in faith

i’m trying i’m really trying

just follow my follow my thinking here

the the meat eater

in in this context

has greater faith than the one

who doesn’t believe they can eat meat

because they would be

unacceptable before god all right it’s

not lifestyle choice it’s it’s that

perception all right so they’re weaker

in faith

the stronger are always required to

sacrifice more for the weaker

we do it as parents we do whatever we

can

i i saw i didn’t see i i heard uh

i think it was actually on a radio show

a gal was talking about she was driving

down the street with her elderly mother

and she had to slam on the brakes and

she found herself putting her arm out in

front of her elderly mother so that she

wouldn’t hurt herself in the in that

having slamming on the brakes and then

she remembered all the times as a little

girl when it was the mother in that role

who did that for her

the point being the stronger works to

defend the weaker it’s the way life

works

and if

you the

meat eater

or in this case the one who feels you

have

greater biblical strength behind your

personal discipline whatever that might

be

mask or vaccine or who knows a thousand

other things

if you were the one who believe you have

the insight from the lord then you are

the one

to pay the most to protect the one who

differs from you

it’s it’s defending

the flame

it’s it’s protecting the conscience

it never means agreeing with a lie it

never means it never means endorsing

something that’s not true

but what it does mean is we we come into

a place where we we learn this gift

chris teaches on this quite a bit on the

discerning of spirits we’ve come to

recognize that discern the gift of

discerning of spirits

discerning the spiritual is not just a

gift to recognize demonic activity

it’s actually spirit recognizing spirit

so so in other words

in a conversation i see that the person

i’m talking to really

cannot eat

meat i’m going to use that as an example

cannot eat meat without believing

that they would really grieve the heart

of god

there are moments for that kind of a

discussion but in this tender moment

that’s not it

wisdom says that’s not it in this moment

i have to honor and celebrate

this person’s conscience

and this person’s

expression of faith

i like the fact now now we have almost

everybody not wearing a mask but i like

the fact that through the journey

we we still have people in the school

every every school ministry every week

that have mass guns and some don’t

i love the fact that they feel that kind

of a liberty

to do what they have a conscience

to do the issue isn’t the mask i’m not

saying there isn’t

there’s not medical reasons for all

kinds of things i’m not saying that i’m

just saying

there is a reason

for me to value and to celebrate

the uniqueness

of this person’s

faith

guardians of one another’s faith

guardians of one another’s conscience

now take a little we’ll go a little bit

farther in this uh in this dialogue

i want you to go with me down to verse

14.

you guys doing all right

you still have your bibles you didn’t

close them good all right

verse 14 i know and i’m convinced

by the lord jesus that there’s nothing

unclean of itself but to him who

considers anything to be unclean to him

it is unclean that’s interesting

this is a hard one in this season to

actually make practical up it’s much

easier to talk about sacrificing animals

to demonic gods in your neighbor’s

backyard

it’s a lot easier than it is to say

you got a vaccine you have a friend who

considers it unclean

it grieves their conscience

please protect them

and the other way

you’ve got a friend who

believes

with all their heart

that they’re

directed of the lord

to get that vaccine then you protect

them

you protect them

paul never sacrifices the right to meet

just in the presence of the one who

would be hurt

and damaged

he controls his personal activities to

protect

that’s the point

oh boy

verse 15 if your brother is grieved

because of your food you are no longer

walking in love here’s the scary part to

me

do not destroy with your food the one

for whom christ died

therefore do not let your good be spoken

of

as evil for the kingdom of god is not

eating and drinking but righteousness

peace and joy scripture that i quote

often this is the context

for he who serves christ in these things

is acceptable to god approved by men

let’s jump down to verse 21 it is good

neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor

do anything by which your brother

stumbles or is offended or is made weak

do you have faith

have it to yourself before god

happy is he who does not condemn himself

in what he approves

i don’t i don’t know if this is standing

out to you it seems like every other

line is worthy on camping on for a week

that’s you know happy is he who does not

condemn himself and what he approves

now this last verse

is the reason i wanted to talk to you

about everything that we’ve done

is to come to this last verse because

this last verse for me

is the sobering passage

he who doubts is condemned if he eats

because he does not eat from faith

whatever is not from faith is from sin

paul has already established eating meat

is biblically correct

it is not

bad theology to eat meat it’s actually

good theology to eat meat he establishes

that throughout this is right this is

good

and yet it’s possible for someone with a

weak conscience to approve of that

activity that is biblically accurate

and condemn themselves because they’ve

actually moved into

supporting something

that their own weakness of faith does

not allow

the priority here isn’t your diet the

priority here is how you manage your

heart for the well-being of other people

and here’s this last phrase for whatever

is not from faith is sin say that with

me whatever is not from faith is sin say

it again

whatever is not from faith is sin

there’s two absolutes in in the new

testament standards for the christian

life the old testament has many

different kinds of laws the new

testament has these two absolutes that

we can always make reference to the

first one there’s faith hope and love

the greatest of these is

love we know that love is the primary

standard did a set for each of us but

this

gives us the second standard

and that second standard is that

anything that is not from faith is sin

now probably most of us grew up with a

concept of sin

that sin

is doing the wrong thing

and yet for the believer

it takes on entirely new meaning because

you’ve been delivered from the wrong

thing

now we have a new standard to follow

people say oh i’m free from the law i’m

i’m under grace yeah grace requires more

but he can because he helps you

he he makes he makes it possible to live

in grace because he’s the enabler

freedom is not doing what you want

freedom is the ability to do what’s

right he enables and empowers for a

lifestyle that would be impossible apart

from him

that’s the evidence of grace

so here it is without faith

whatever’s not done in faith is sin

so that’s the opposite side the flip

side of that coin love is the greatest

whatever’s not done in faith is sin

galatians paul in galatians ties these

two together he says that faith works

through love

so love is supposed to be the vehicle

that faith rides in is delivered in

what’s the point

why is that phrase added at the end of

this chapter on food

i mean it almost seems funny but

it’s to me it’s it’s it’s like

you know what due north is where there’s

this reference point and everything else

relates to this one reference point this

statement for me is due north in this

chapter

because it is saying

if you the meat eater

persuade your non-meat-eating friend to

eat meat and they do so without faith

you’ve just caused them to stumble

because your goal was to make them like

you not to protect their conscience

your goal was to be proven right not to

be the defender of their flame

whatever is not from faith is sin

i believe that in this next season

because i feel like the lord has brought

chris’s heart and mind to mind many of

ours this whole thing of discerning of

spirits

that this is a theme for this next

season that we need desperately for many

many reasons many many reasons

but one of the reasons is because

we will be called upon

to defend

a flame

that is barely lit

and if and if we think it’s about us in

our opinion

we will walk by quickly and extinguish a

flame that should have been protected

we’ll spout off our opinions on this and

that and

and cause more harm than good

i don’t think this

is an invitation to

forget about the liberties or privileges

or assignments or responsibilities that

god that god’s given us

you don’t see that in the rest of

pulse

dialogue on this subject

but he does

describe the backbone

behind this way of thinking

it’s the fact that we have true

value

for another person’s conscience

in another person’s faith

pretty much it

why don’t you stand

[Applause]

well you just endured the experiment

i had

i’ve actually yeah i’ve actually wanted

to talk about this for a while and

yeah whatever

it’s

you know certain parts of the scripture

stand out more more than others and for

a while

paul’s

talking about eating and violating

conscience is what’s been standing up

for for this last whole season

and i i could feel the weightiness of

the lord but also um

uh

you you know when you’re inexperienced

in something there’s that fear and

trepidation

in a right sense of not mishandling

something

and and i have that sense even right now

because i i believe i believe we’re

supposed to take stands i believe

there’s a place where we take bold

stands for something we make our decrees

we there are mountains that we will die

on you know to protect something that

god has said or is doing i believe in

that

i

strongly believe in that we’re in a

season of great government overreach

that’s my opinion that’s all

i’m not vaccinated but if you follow me

you might die

don’t follow me follow me i’m serious

don’t follow me follow your faith follow

your faith that’s the whole point

holy faith get it settled before the

lord

get it settled before the lord

and follow your faith be open to input

all of that stuff but the the point is i

i don’t want

on an area that is this

shaded to me it’s a it’s a very gray

area

i don’t

i don’t want to make

bold statements

that are just my effort to be right

i in instead

i think taking the posture of protecting

conscience

protecting faith

giving place in our own hearts where we

celebrate

uniqueness there’s a time for defending

the mountain

i was going to mention

you know if if you don’t like

you know you go to a doctor’s office

don’t take your mask off just because

you think it’s your right that’s that’s

just dumb put the mask on

the poor reception that has to deal with

you just wants to keep her job

he said these are not policymakers

sometimes we we make the biggest scene

over the people who don’t make the rules

you know if if you don’t like to rule

write the person

write write the person write them a nice

letter

don’t blame jesus for your opinion

either

don’t don’t use scripture to prove

you’re right because they probably don’t

value the scripture

and

by honestly i know it sounds wrong but

don’t don’t write scripture to prove

you’re right

because unless you’re talking to a

brother

a sister

they’re not going to it and as soon as

you do that they can put you in a

category

and the whole reason that people want to

put others in categories is if i put you

in a category i no longer have to listen

to your voice

if i can categorize you i have silenced

you in my own thinking uh it’s just a

right-wing fundamentalist i was just a

left-wing liberal if i can categorize

you then suddenly i don’t have to listen

to you anymore because you’re one of

those

and when you when you write that kind of

a letter you you you

you get yourself categorized

so don’t blame it on jesus and don’t put

my name in there either

let’s

let’s get down to what’s really

important here

blame him before you blame me how’s that

all right you’ve been very patient let’s

pray

father again

i ask

for a grace for the discerning

of spirits that you would help us to

read the moments we’re in

that we could recognize when there’s a

dimly burning

flame when there’s a conscience to

defend

when there’s faith

to support

and that you’d help us to bring

healing to a city that’s just afraid

just afraid

help us to bring healing to a city

and lord we do pray as well our medical

community i need to i need to just say

i’ve said it many times over the last

year year and a half but our medical

community really are heroes

when there’s no pandemic they put their

life on the line every day for our

well-being

in the middle of this craziness

it multiplies it it amps it up times a

thousand

father we ask for special grace special

wisdom protection over their health

and a healing deliverance for our city

we pray

that this would be a city of divine

health we pray this in jesus name

amen all right