Romans 14:1-12
“About Diets and Days”
Vs. 1-3 Accounts Receivable
Vs. 4-12 Reasons to not Criticize or Categorize
Introduction
Having dealt with Christian Civics Paul now takes up yet another touchy subject, Christian Ethics. The dictionary describes “Ethics” as a philosophy that deals with what is good and bad, right and wrong, moral duty and obligation. Have you noticed that often the Church’s favorite indoor sport is trying to change each other?
This chapter deals with Christian “No No’s” the so called “taboos” of the Church, such as:
Those who believe that it’s wrong to drink alcohol are trying to change their fellow believers’ opinion that it’s alright to have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner.
Those that read out of the 1611 King James Bible trying to change folks to stop reading out of those “per-versions” such as the N.I.V. which they say means “Nearly Inspired Version”.
The list goes on and on to ad-infinity, all the while those apart from Christ wonder what’s wrong with us. This is such an important topic that Paul is going to spend one and a quarter chapters on it as it is an extension of what he had said in 13:8 that we owe one another a debt of love.
There seems to be two groups in any church that are always about trying to change the other:
Those that are convinced they need to “Give it up”
Those that are convinced that they need to “Live it up“
While many in the Church are engaged in the sport of evangelizing their fellow believers, the world is in desperate need to hear the gospel. Here in Romans 14 we learn that “Love must be patient and tolerant of other Christian views”.
Vs. 1-3 Accounts Receivable
Vs. 1 The NLT renders Rom 14:1: “Accept Christians who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.” Almost every church mentioned in the New Testament had divisions to contend with that the writer has to address. Today is no different as folks are often in disputes over “grey areas”. This verse is plain and ought to be easy to put in practice but it’s not is it? Don’t reject folks, don’t ignore them, place them in categories, and argue with them simply because they practice their faith differently than you. Friends, grace sanctifies the heart much more easily than the head! Remember God washes our hearts in this life, but He washes our brains in the life to come! Accept them without doing the above because they are your brothers and sisters in the family of God and He doesn’t need or ask for your permission to invite them into the family! The word “receive” in the Greek is a word that means we are to do so without an ulterior motive so we can convince them later. This requires us to fully accept each other even if they sprinkle and you dunk… your donuts, you thought I was going to say baptism didn’t you?
Vs. 2 This wasn’t about nutrition, it may have been about being kosher or idols, but the point Paul is making is much broader in scope than just diets. The point is if the scriptures are silent about it then it’s a matter of opinion and personal preference that the Lord will direct us individually. Oftentimes folks like to lump it all together under the verse in 1 Cor. 6:19 where Paul says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” But then Paul admonishes Timothy in 1 Tim. 5:23 to “No longer drink only water but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” The problem with using 1 Cor. 6:19 as the proof text on smoking, dancing, chewing gum, sugar etc is that verse 18 gives us the context as being “sexual immorality”.
There are things that the Bible is clear on with regards to things that we should abstain from: It’s always wrong to have sex outside of marriage, it’s always wrong to get drunk, or get high. God has spoken on these things, and we are to exhort one another to abstain from these areas and in so doing we aren’t judging, God’s Word is. Even more surprising is Paul’s estimation of who is the weaker brother. This is even more remarkable when we consider Paul’s own history. The natural leaning of most folks is to see the one that has the most rigid standards as the more mature believer. Yet verse 2 says “he who is weak eats only vegetables”. The weak person is described as being “weak IN the faith” not “weak in FAITH”. Their problem is not in faith but in understanding. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Thus the mark of maturity and understanding the Bible is freedom and the person who understands that these unclear things have no bearing upon God’s love of us is stronger than the person who doesn’t.
Barclay in his commentary on this said that the person is weak in the faith for two reasons:
They have not yet discovered the meaning of Christian freedom and in their heart are still looking to things to govern their life with regards to right and wrong. They are frightened by freedom and liberty.
They have not yet separated themselves from a belief that “works” work in gaining favor with God. They are still trying to earn a right relationship with God instead of receiving one by grace through faith. They are still thinking more about what they can do for God instead of what God has done for them.
Vs. 3 Having described the problem Paul now gives his readers who are on both sides of this problem what to do about it. The strong that have greater understanding must not reject the one who lacks understanding. The word “despise” means to “look down” or “push out”. Someone has described a legalist as a person “who lives in terror that someone, somewhere, is enjoying themselves.” But that attitude towards the weaker brother is what Paul is referring to here by “looking down” on them.
The other side of that is also addressed and those that don’t eat are told not sit in judgment over those that do.
When we sit in judgment over another we typically do two things:
Criticize: We are going to be thinking or saying “I don’t see how a person is a Christian if they are doing things that I don’t allow myself to do.”
Categorize: We are going to think or say, “They aren’t much of Christian if they are engaged in doing what I don’t do myself.”
Folks that are engaged in this want the church to come up with uniform codes to enforce these standards upon all and if you don’t, they will seek to find a Church that will.
Vs. 4-12 Reasons to not Criticize or Categorize
Vs. 4-12 Having said that we ought not to do this to our fellow Christians Paul gives us three facts we ought to consider before we ostracize our fellow Christian.
Vs. 4 The believer that doesn’t see these grey areas as you don’t belong to you: The truth is God is standing with the person I can’t stand, the person I put down He holds up. Who am I to judge my Masters servant? If God wants to correct him in some nonessential area that I have made essential then He is perfectly able to do so. It is not our responsibility to change our fellow believers to our way of thinking. If such an area is not defined by the Word then we ought to leave to the Master to whom they belong to convince them. You see the Lord didn’t consult you and me in saving them and He isn’t asking for our help in making them just like we are. Notice that Paul says before God the person “stands or falls”, the words means to be straightened out. Then Paul says that even if he isn’t standing God will keep working on him to “straighten him out” until he does stand. We are all a “work in progress”, we are all in the continual process of “change” and what God has started He will finish. There won’t be a single person in heaven not finished that God wasn’t able to get to in time. There are far too many in the body of Christ that believe they’re the Holy Spirit’s “little helpers” trying to force compliance to their rules and regulations. I have a word for them, “stop it” let the Holy Spirit do His work!
Vs. 5-8 God sees what we cannot, hearts: Paul takes up another area on Christian ethics that was relevant to their time to show that this was more than a one area problem. The problem wasn’t only about diets it was about days as well! Eight times in these verses the word Lord is found which suggests to us that no Christian has the right to play “Jesus” over someone else. Often these differences arise out of honest convictions which we can’t see or know. The person isn’t trying to ruffle our feathers just because they don’t agree with us; they may be acting on what they are convinced is right for them. Paul says, let each be fully convinced in their OWN MIND, it doesn’t say in someone else’s mind. God sees both view points and both maybe honoring Him in what He told them to do or not do. The vast majority of issues in the Church today that cause divisions are just a matter of opinion and a difference of perspective. Those opinions and perspectives seem logical to us, well thought out but to others it makes no sense. We have all had areas where we practiced something and were convinced in our mind that God had told us to do it or not do it that way. That latter one He changed our mind as we grew in His grace. The bottom line is there is something worth far more value than us being right and that’s our relationship with the other person. Whether we live in liberty or are called to limit ourselves the important thing is that we belong to the Lord!
Vs. 9-12 God alone has paid the price to judge: The judgment seat of Christ is the bema seat, equivalent to the judge’s seat in the Olympic Games. After each game, the winners came before the judge’s seat to receive crowns for first, second and third places. Jesus knows the price of limitation as He humbled Himself and became a man even to the point of death. He also knows what life is like as he, like no other man, lived FREE! So Paul is saying stop trying to take Jesus’ place on the throne of judgment. We are not His consultants; we have no right to stand in that place. In 1 Cor. 4:5 Paul says, “judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” Whether we are into “Living it up” or “giving it up” our focus is to glorify God!
For a chapter and a half Paul is going to give us three guiding principles on how to apply what early church founder Augustine wrote: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity!”
The Three admonitions are:
14:1 Receive
14:19 Edify
15:2 Please
Romans 14:13-23
“Let your brother’s conscience be your guide”
Vs. 13-18 Walking in love
Vs. 19-23 Not destroying the work of God
Introduction
Paul continues on dealing with Christian ethics and how we behave to our fellow believers in those “grey areas”. He doesn’t want to leave the impression that mature believers are to just leave alone their weaker brothers leaving them immature in their faith. Christian love isn’t just not being combative it desires to take people along the same path we are on. Have you noticed that instruction assembly manuals have gotten much simpler over the years? No longer do they give a plain paper novel that resembles “War and Peace”. Now they give you a one sheet full color assembly guide located right on top of the newly purchased treasure. This page resembles something that a 4-year-old could follow, (mostly pictures). I like that, I can understand that! One of the things I’ve always appreciated about the Word of God is its simplicity! Take this chapter before us, Paul doesn’t just say in verse 13 (NLT) “So don’t condemn each other anymore.” He goes on to say, “Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not put an obstacle in another Christian’s path.” What follows in the remainder of this chapter is “How To Do This!” an instruction manual of, “How to live in liberty and freedom, for dummies like me!”
Vs. 13-18 Walking in love
Vs. 13 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that we should not judge others in a standard that we would not want to have applied to ourselves. Here Paul says, “Don’t judge some other Christian, judge yourself instead.” Are you acting in a way that is making someone else feel condemned, or behaving in a way that could destroy a fellow believer because of your liberty? If you can answer those questions YES then God is judging you! What something does to a person determines its quality! But that isn’t the only criteria we need to be concerned with as we need to also ask “How does my use of this or practice of that affect my fellow Christian?”
The truth is we do affect each other; we can cause grief, causing some to fall away from the faith and even destroy folks. When our children were little, my wife and I adopted a policy that we wouldn’t watch anything of T.V. that wasn’t appropriate for our kids to watch. I can recall that they were over at someone’s house when they were in their early teens when the classic movie the Wizard of Oz came on and they had never seen it as we hadn’t allowed it. “Legalistic”, some would say but to us we wanted to make sure that what we as adults could handle wouldn’t cause them nightmares. Strong Biblical knowledge isn’t the only quality the mature believer should have; they must possess an equally loving character as the battle isn’t one in the head alone but in the heart as well. When a child is afraid of the dark you cannot argue with them to convince them that they have nothing to be frightened over. Instead, they must be assured by love not just convinced by facts.
Vs. 14-18 The NLT renders this, “I know and am perfectly sure on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong.” In the 1940 Disney classic Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket offered Pinocchio this lesson on “temptations” saying; “The world is full of temptations! They are the wrong things that seem right at the time. But even though the right things seem wrong sometimes…. the wrong things are always wrong even at the right time!”
Paul moves on to give us two reasons why we shouldn’t judge other believers:
Vs. 14-15 Do not deliberately do things that offend or make your brothers and sisters in Christ uncomfortable: Paul had arrived at this opinion not by any other means than the direct teaching of the Word of God. The issue of eating something that others didn’t believe was right had nothing to do with a lack of morality. Before conscience is set knowledge must persuade, therefore we may have a conscience on some “nonessential” grey area that can change because we hadn’t the knowledge prior. The conscience cannot be commanded; it must be persuaded by the Spirit of God working through the Word of God. When this takes place we can move further and further into the freedom we have in Christ. It’s never a “loving action” to force people to move at our pace, instead it is better for us to adjust our pace to theirs. It is tragic that oftentimes the Church has demanded from someone what Jesus has already paid for by refusing even the smallest of self-denial on their behalf! We need to ask, “Does my Christian walk please God and is it approved in the hearts of others?”
Vs. 16-18 Give up your rights when it threatens peace or hinders growth in a fellow believer: Even if “You let your conscience be your guide” Paul says this is not enough as “You need to let your brother’s conscience be your guide.” If you insist on pushing your view on someone so hard then you are majoring in minors. In verse 16 the word “evil” is the word “blaspheme” and in using it Paul suggests that a person that is that opinionated can so offend someone and cause them to curse that which may very well be good. Often we see division over some minor area of Christian practice cause folks to have to pick sides and the world mocks Christians as they see the church just as a religion of do’s and don’ts. It is the eternals not the externals that must be the priority in our lives as followers of Jesus. Those eternals are listed for us in verse 17 as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. As we yield to the Holy Spirit in our liberties we will experience more of these three things, not to mention that there will be more harmony within the Church.
There are three things Paul says that others should see in us:
Righteousness: Already at length in the first 11 chapters Paul has written about our assurance of “right standing” before God solely based upon the work of Jesus. We are loved by God and he delights in calling us his children. As such we know that it is not based upon what we do or don’t do. The world ought to see this lived out in our lives on a daily basis, not a bunch of folks who look like they have been baptized in lemon juice. They should see us living in self respect, gentleness with assurance.
Peace: The world ought to see us living in a calmness that isn’t based upon favorable circumstances. We should be people who don’t get rattled by minor irritations of the moment. The reason for this is His presence and the reality that He is at work even though we can’t always detect it. The world will not see this peace if we are busy screaming at each other.
Joy: These three always seem to fit together: Our understanding that we are God’s beloved leads to peace that can’t be taken from us by adversity and the outcome of this is that we are full of joy. This joy is not to be confused with happiness which is conditional in nature based upon favorable circumstances and situations. The joy I’m speaking of is because of the above two things which causes me to realize that life is worthwhile even in the midst of problems and trials. When we are living in these three gifts founded upon our relationship with God, it won’t be any big deal to give up momentarily our freedom. We get to yield our right of way to someone else instead of insisting upon it and plowing ahead.
Vs. 19-23 Not destroying the work of God
Vs. 19-23 Paul gives us three guidelines to follow in laying down our liberty:
Vs. 19a “pursue the things which make for peace”: Or as the N.L.T. renders this “let us aim for harmony in the church”. Enjoy what the Lord has told you in the “grey areas” as long as it doesn’t destroy someone else’s peace. Paul clarifies this in verse 20 saying, “Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat.” When you have folks from different backgrounds, cultures you want people to focus on what they have in common, not what they don’t have in common. If we destroy the harmony and peace that is ours in Christ for some minor freedom then we are tearing apart the work of God. The quickest path to peace in any situation is the one that leads you away from yourself as it will always lead you to Jesus.
Vs. 19b “try to build each other up”: The way we do this isn’t to insist on our freedom, it is to instruct them on our freedom. If we insist instead of instruct we are by passing the learning process that we have come to. People seldom argue into a position they are won by one. In 1 Peter 2:12 Peter wrote, “having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” When we try to push someone to our position all we end up doing is hardening theirs! Neither is it a good idea to let those with immature positions run the Church as those who are freed up yield to their legalistic whims. If this takes place you will see narrow-minded people with only one aim; “prevent everyone else from enjoying the blessings God has given us.” I received a letter in the mail this week from a man who warned me I was in danger of going to hell and leading you all with me for teaching damnable heresy that Jesus could come back for His people at any moment. After reading his letter I filed it in the waste basket and prayed for him. The way he wrote to me made me even more convinced because if the way he wrote is what happens to a person who believes that way then I want nothing to do with it!
Vs. 22-23 “You may have the faith to believe there is nothing wrong with what you are doing but keep it between yourself and God.” We need to allow God’s Word to be the basis for our practice and leave it at that. If you flaunt or insist on your position, then your issue is pride. In Hebrews 11:6 we read, “without faith it is impossible to please Him”. That is what Paul has in mind here. In verse 23 he says, “If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.” There is no airport scanner that went off this morning when you came in here to worship God making sure you believe exactly like me. You are free to hold to your convictions and I’m free to hold mine, but we are not free to divide and cause division! Conscience is strengthened by knowledge, but knowledge must be balanced by love; otherwise, it will tear down instead of building up!