Sunday Morning Service

Romans 14 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

"The Stronger And The Weaker Together"  •  7.29.12  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- In Romans 12, Paul began his final section, teaching us about the application of the mercies of God and their implications practically in our lives.

- It began with our rational response to God, giving ourselves totally to Him, which then issues, becoming functional members of His body, serving each other with His gifts.

- Chapter 13 moved us outside the walls of the church, dealing with our relationship to the government and with our neighbors, respect to the one and love to the other.

- Today, Paul moves us back into the realm of the church and our relationship to individual believers, which proves to be a matter of some complication.

- How do you treat a believer who has a different set of convictions than you do? How are we to respond when we are living in light of certain convictions while others are not?

- In Romans 14, Paul begins to answer that question providing us with three principle notions.

I. Receive One Another (v.1-6)

II. Reject Judging One Another (v.7-12)

III. Resolve Not To Stumble One Another (v.13-23)

Text

I. Receive One Another (v.1-6)

• Romans 14:1 : "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things." : The original language emphasizes the weakness or feebleness of one's position in the faith. There is a type of faith that is weak. It's not wrong. It's not unintelligent. It is weak.

- The context will bear out that weak faith refers to a belief that God can be more pleased with a person who is given to performing certain spiritual acts.

- Those with weak faith in the Roman church were recent converts from Judaism, who were bound by certain traditions and forms of religious practice.

- There is an acknowledgement from Paul that this is a weak practice of the Christian faith. Not all things are equal. But having understood that condition, what is to be our response?

- When you encounter someone in that position, receive them, accept them.

- Some may naturally seek to shame or change them. The Biblical position that Paul calls us to is to receive them. Take them as a companion. Be their friend!

- Receive this person without seeking to change their present convictions.

- They are brothers or sisters and we are to receive them as such, just as they are.

- Because the church is an ever changing complex organism, there are those who are among us who have not yet understood the fullness of their faith.

- For many, their faith requires the simplicity of black and white rules. That is how they relate to the Lord and that is that! Receive them, but don't engage them in their doubtful opinions.

- The ESV renders verse 14 this way: "As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions" or as the NEB puts it, "to settle doubtful points."

- Paul recognizes and agrees with the need for fellowship, but not contention! We want to receive this in two ways. One, we are not the Holy Spirit! Only He does the changing!

- Don't get together to share your opinion as to what is a more correct than another thing. There is no need to gather together to change another person's way of thinking! That's God's job!

- At the same time, we are not to get together to indulge the weaker believer's need to impress with his doubtful or secondary issue. Our fellowship is not to be predicated on debate!

• Romans 14:2,3 : "For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him." : Who would eat anything? Any Gentile! They had no dietary restrictions, but the Jews were hardwired!

- One need only refresh themselves in Leviticus 11 for a list of clean and unclean foods that the Jewish people were prohibited from eating. Those habits were dying hard!

- Remember Peter's vision in Acts 10. Jesus had to show him 3 times that all foods were clean! Most Jews followed Daniel's diet of vegetables only!

- The problem here is two fold. The stronger believer would say, "Who cares what I eat?" Well, the one who is weak in faith, that's who! This would be cause for despising the one who doesn't eat!

- To "despise" meaning "to hold to no account" or "to hold in utter contempt and disdain." "They don't matter! They are so immature and uninformed."

- If you are supposedly a more experienced believer, do not resent them for the place that they are in as they journey with Christ! But the opposite problem is true for the weaker believer.

- For those who do not eat, don't sit in judgment on the one who does eat. Don't come to a conclusion about the legitimacy of their walk, questioning their commitment to Christ!

- "They are obviously willing to compromise, walking close to the fire!" That's not the case!

- The truth is that both believers are received, taken in, brought in as a companion by God! The younger believer and the experienced believer are both rightly related to the Lord!

- What an important word for us! Remember that God delights in His relationship with both believers! He died for each one and is currently doing a work in both!

- Our problem is and will always be that of considering ourselves the standard of righteousness! Jesus Christ is the standard and what He does in each life is His business.

- What we need to grab ahold of is that God receives us both!

• Romans 14:4 : "Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand." : What an indictment! God has received both the younger and the older believer. Who am I to come to a conclusion about someone else?

- Paul is not referring to first line, clearly prohibited, scriptural precedents. We are all to adhere to the plain truths of scripture. What he is referring to is second line, non-essential issues.

- How can you stand to judge another man's servant? When we judge, do you realize that we are saying, "God, you obviously need my help!" Wrong!

- You do not know what God is doing in that person in that moment of observation, nor what will happen in the next. Who are you? What is your job in the faith? Be concerned about that!

- Ultimately, the stronger and weaker believers serve the same master! What happens with your fellow servant is someone else's business!

- They have a master that decides what happens with them. What He tells them to do, they are accountable to perform and if they do not, they will fall in the same way that you will.

- The difference with God is that He is able to make us both stand, to persevere before Him! He keeps us from stumbling beyond spiritual repair!

- What a wonderful promise to remind ourselves of! How strong is our God? How able is He to finish what He started in a person's life!

• Romans 14:5,6 : "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks." : The first issue was diet, the second issue revolved around days! The Jews had a myriad of days and weeks that were recognized and held in esteem. Not the Gentiles!

-  Every day to them was a day to praise the Lord in an equal way because they had been alienated before Christ's gospel. They were itching to get to church! What are you supposed to do?

- Whatever is significant to you, be resolute in your own mind. Enjoy it as unto the Lord. Recognize that the person who is observing or not observing is living that day to honor God!

- Those who do not, "do not" being fully convinced that doing would add nothing to them and "do not" unto the Lord! Their abstinence is a tribute to their faith.

- But the same applies to those that "do!" They eat, completely convinced that their eating is bringing God glory and honor! Both are pleasing their God! Both are living by the faith that they have!

- This will help you to receive that brother or sister, knowing that even though they don't practice their faith like you do, they are achieving the same goal as you are!

II. Reject Judging One Another (v.7-12)

• Romans 14:7-9 : "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living." : Some people view their Christianity as a way to please themselves, but this is contrary to Biblical faith.

- We are meant to live for God's pleasure. Nobody lives to Himself and no one dies to himself. Paul's point is that none of us is an island. We affect God and each other with our lives.

- Jesus is the center of your life and when you die, you are dying to Him. Either way, you belong to the Lord! You are His person! Jesus died and rose again so the He might be the Lord of all!

- Paul is saying that the only Lord of anyone, here visible to us or alive before Him, is Jesus!

• Romans 14:10-12 : "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: 'As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." : If Jesus is the only Lord, Master, ruler and judge, what are we doing standing in judgment upon our brothers and sisters actions before God!

- The weaker faith Christians are judging the stronger faith Christians for their liberality and the stronger faith Christians are showing contempt for the weaker faith Christians for their legalism!

- As Christians, we all have an individual date with destiny, the judgment or Bema seat of Christ. This refers to an elevated position or a platform, where a judge would determine rewards.

- Believers will not come to a judgment seat to settle their salvation. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ and have repented from known sin, your eternity is settled!

- The Bema seat judgment is a place of rewards for the believer! All of us will stand there! There is not one believer who will be exempt and you don't really want to miss this!

- Jesus is going to reward His people based on how they have responded to Him!

For every act of obedient faith, prompted simply by a desire to please God, Jesus will reward it! Nothing that you do is lost on Him! He sees it all perfectly and rewards each proportionately!

- Verse 11 is a quote from Isaiah 45:22-24. God's people would be saved in order that every knee would bow and every tongue would confess to God.

- What will we as Christians confess? The account of ourselves to God!

- We will give a reckoning as to how we lived our lives, but for His audience alone! We won't be there with our families or fellow church members.

- Neither will Jesus require us to add our testimony regarding another believer's walk!

III. Resolve Not To Stumble One Another (v.13-23)

• Romans 14:13 : "Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way." : Knowing that Jesus is the Judge and that we will all answer directly to Him for how we have lived, what shall we then do? Give up looking at others and resolve not to put an obstacle in their way!

- "Stumbling block" is also translated "an offense." The onus is on me as a Christian, to examine my life constantly, to see if there is anything in my language or life that is offensive.

- What freedom do I enjoy that another may find offensive? I need to honestly look at that. What would they think if they saw me reading that, going there, drinking that or speaking that way?

- None of us will ever do this perfectly, but we are not called to perfection, we are called to principle! We are called to be resolute in our desire to live this way!

- The other word, "a cause to fall" comes from the word for "scandal." One is scandalized when they see us acting in a way that would cause them to think twice about God and His reality!

- Because of our individualism and pride, this is often difficult for us to live under, but our lives are meant for mutual inspiration!

- We must be conscious of the reality of our environment! We are living for the Lord and for one another. Paul gives us another illustration.

• Romans 14:14,15 : " I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died." : I know and am convinced by the Lord! There is the right way to live! What I am doing, I know I can do because of the Word of God. I am further convinced that His Spirit has given me no check!

- In this case, Paul had come to know that there was nothing unclean of itself.

- There was not a food that by itself that was intrinsically unclean before the Lord anymore because Christ's work on the cross was so complete as to cleanse what had been unclean forever!

- You might say, "There is nothing unclean about various artists or media. There is nothing unclean with any liquid." However, Paul knew and you must know that others are minded otherwise!

- Live with a consciousness toward that person! Love them more than you love your freedom!

- The weaker brother needs to be aware to love above his legalism but the stronger brother needs to love above his liberty! It is simple. spiritual consideration.

- If I know that a person is grieved, saddened, burdened by my freedom, I am participating not in building him up, but in bringing disaster upon his walk!

- Listen: He's the one that Jesus died for! He died to set him free! I need to love and encourage and support that growth by shunning my own freedom!

• Romans 14:16-18 : "Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men." : Don't let that which you know to be good be blasphemed! It's good for you, but blasphemous for him and therefore, bad for both!

- If for the sake of my brother or sister, I choose not to engage in an area of freedom, then nobody will criticize or call that freedom evil!

- "Ah but I don't want to. I like eating/my freedom too much to abandon it!" Friend, you are not living with a mind to the Kingdom of God!

- The Kingdom of God is not about either eating or drinking, the freedom that we might enjoy. It is about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!

- Those are the things worth living for, the principles that are worth sacrificing for.

- The person who lives this way, serves Christ! You are serving Christ by living in such a way that nobody around you is offended. That is acceptable to God and approved by men!

• Romans 14:19-21 : "Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 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." : Let's run after the things that make for peace and build each other up!

- We are used to thinking in the negative. "What can we do that won't offend!"

- Paul turns it around and says that we should be thinking, "What can I do that will build that person up?" That is what the word edify means.

- A Christian is looking for ways to build another person's faith! How can I strengthen that person? How can I encourage them? The opposite of building up is tearing down or destroying!

- This word is very picturesque. It speaks of two travellers coming to a halt for the evening. The original might sound a bit more like this to our ears: "For FOOD you'll interrupt their journey!?"

- It's incredible to think that you would choose that over your brother or sister! Yes all things are pure, but what an evil thing it is for you to indulge in something that stumbles or offends!

• Romans 14:22,23 : "Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin." : The NLT is exceedingly clear for verse 22: "You may believe there's nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God."

- In other words, if you have freedom, have freedom between you and God. Don't flaunt it. Don't post it. Don't brag about it!

- You are blessed if you live a life where your conscience is free. However, the opposite is true. If you do anything that your conscience calls you on, that you doubt to be good, then that is sin!

 - Whatever is not from faith, being fully convinced of pleasing God, is a sin to engage in!

Conclusion

- "Receive one another." Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum, know that God is pleased with you and with "them!" Their just different and at a different place in their walk.

- Be gracious to them and walk with them toward Jesus!

- "Reject judging one another." You have a Master who has given you a job that you will be required to account for. "What about them" is a waste of your time!

- "Resolve not to stumble one another." Your attitude, your behavior, your freedom to express is to only limited by love. Love your brothers and sisters more than you love your freedom!