ROMANS
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Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Romans chapter 14 as we continue our study through the Word of God. Paul is in his fifth and last main division of his letter to the Romans, a section dealing with application which began in chapter 12 and continues on through chapter 15, verse 13.
As we have seen so far, you can’t apply the things of God to your life until you first surrender your life to Him, as Paul said in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Once you have placed your life as an offering unto God, consecrating your life to Him, then you will be able to use the spiritual gifts that God has given to you for the edification of the body of Christ instead of being self-seeking. You will love the brethren. You will overcome evil by doing good and not succumb to the draw that evil has and be overcome by it. You will submit to the government who is in authority over you. You will love those outside of the body of Christ. You will walk with the armor of God, His light flowing from your life because the days are drawing to an end, the Lord’s return is getting closer!
Now here in Romans chapter 14 Paul is going to speak on the liberty we have in Christ and how we are to use that liberty. You see, in the early church many of the Jewish believers were compelled to follow the Mosaic Law with all its dietary restrictions and-so-on. It was hard not to practice that which you had been taught since you were a child. There were also Gentiles who were not bound to the Law but couldn’t bring themselves to eat meat that was offered to idols and sold in the marketplace. On the other end of the spectrum were those Jews and Gentiles who saw the freedom they had in Christ and were not shackled to the traditions or superstitions.
That is going to be the focus of our study tonight, walking in Christ with people from various backgrounds and ideas and still be in unity! That is something we truly don’t see but it is something that the Lord prayed for. In John 17:20-21 Jesus prayed to the Father, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” So with that as our background, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 14, starting in verse 1, and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
There are a few reasons why someone is weak in the faith. They could be new Christians. They may lack the teaching by which they would grow and mature. But I believe the idea here is legalism, and the example Paul uses is that of eating meat. Some Jewish believers might reject meat because it was not kosher. Some Gentile believers may not eat meat because it was offered to idols before it was sold in the marketplace.
Now, interestingly enough, those that are weak in the faith, bound by legalism, always see themselves as more mature, stronger in the faith than those who walk in the liberty of Christ. The reality is, the exact opposite is true. Several years ago a group of people left the church because they didn’t like the style of music we listened to, Christian music. They thought contemporary Christian music or Christian Rock music, however you might want to categorize it, was of the Devil. In doing that, hanging on to these legalistic views, they looked down upon us and called us, not “Calvary Chapel” but “Compromise Chapel”! I wonder how the Lord feels about that?
The issues of legalism back in Paul’s day may have changed in our day, but it is still legalism! Paul’s point is simple, “Who really cares what you eat!” You see, these are not foundational issues folks, not issues to cause division by. If God has placed upon your heart to be a vegetarian, praise the Lord for that! For me, put a steak with that fat around the edges on the old barbecue and I must agree with the Lord, it is sweet smelling and good tasting!
I do believe we need to and we must stand up for foundational issues, don’t get me wrong. But we argue and fight over music, what day of the week do we worship the Lord, what we eat, how we dress, the length of our hair, and-so-on. These are not foundational issues and I don’t think they bring honor to God when we fight over them. The Lord may convict you on a certain issue but don’t make that conviction into a Law for everyone to follow or they are compromising their faith! I think Augustine put it best when he said: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” I think that is the correct perspective to have and to walk in for God desires us to walk in unit not disunity!
For those of us that walk in the liberty that Christ has given to us, don’t look down upon those who are bound in legalism. On the other hand, for those that are bound in legalism, don’t start judging those that are walking in liberty for God is the ultimate Judge! Folks, lets face it, we are all going to have our differences, Paul is not saying to erase them but to rise above them and embrace your brothers and sisters in Christ in His love. Don’t allow silly differences to cause divisions among you, for if you do, you let the Devil win! Instead of having “The First Church of the Carnivores” and “The United Assembly of Vegetarians” be united in the Lord and see what awesome work He will do through people who love Him and love each other!
A favorite Christian sport is judging others, and that can be very dangerous and not what God desires. Let me show you what I mean in regards to the diversity there is with Christian churches, a diversity that should not cause division but enhances the body of Christ! Leslie Flynn, in his book Great Church Fights, tells us:
Wide disagreements exist today in our churches over certain practices. A Christian from the South may be repelled by a swimming party for both men and women, then offend his Northern brother by lighting up a cigarette. At an international conclave for missionaries, a woman from the Orient could not wear sandals with a clear conscience. A Christian from western Canada thought it worldly for a Christian acquaintance to wear a weeding ring, and a woman from Europe thought it almost immoral for a wife not to wear a ring that signaled her status. A man from Denmark was pained to even watch British Bible school students play football, while the British students shrank from his pipe smoking.
- Leslie Flynn, Great Church Fights, p. 46
The point is simple, have fellowship without arguing over non-essentials. Everyone doesn’t have to agree with everything you do in the area of non-essentials and vice-a-versa!
Here is another issue, which day of the week do we worship the Lord on? Some would argue that it is Saturday, the Sabbath and any other day is just compromising your faith, some would even say you were not saved! Others said that it is on Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead! Folks, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but who cares? I worship the Lord every day of the week, not just one day! The early church had their service on a Sunday as Acts 20:7 tells us, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” (See also I Corinthians 16:2). But again, every day is the Lord’s or it should be. Paul tells us in Colossians 2:16-17, “ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Don’t place yourself as a judge condemning people when they worship God, the day of the week, the food they eat, because the substance is Christ and not those things!
Paul is not giving us a license to sin as some may argue, but he is telling us that whatever we do unto the Lord, let our conscience be our guide, our conscience that is directed by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God! It is when we move away from God’s Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit that we get ourselves in trouble!
The idea here is we are all part of the body of Christ, we are all connected, and what we do will affect others in the body of Christ either positively or negatively! The way in which it is possible to affect the body of Christ in a positive, an edifying way is to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, to be sensitive to His leading!
Paul makes this powerful point of us all being part of the body of Christ in I Corinthians 12:12-17 as he tells us, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. . . .
. . . But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” Let us not forget the big picture by being self-centered, self-motivated, and self-seeking!
First Paul speaks to the legalist Christian who found it easy to come against the Christian who walked in liberty, seeing him as a compromiser of the faith. Then Paul speaks to the one who walks in liberty showing contempt or despises those who were legalistic in their faith, kind of being uptight holier-than-thou thinking of them! Forget about it – don’t you have enough to deal with in your own life, with your own walk? You are going to have to answer before God for your own actions!
Paul speaks of the Bema Seat or the judgment seat of Christ that we as Christians will appear before. To illustrate this point he speaks of the Isthmian Games, which were like the Olympics except they were held in Corinth. And like the Olympics, the winners would receive a crown for their victory.
Paul, in II Corinthians 5:9-10 tells us, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Then he expounds on the Bema Seat of Christ in I Corinthians 3:12-15 as he tells us, “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” You see, God will judge the motives of our hearts, why we did this or that and reward us accordingly. We can lose our rewards by not having the right motives but we can’t lose our salvation!
There is coming a day when we all will appear before God in humility to give an account of our life, and like I said, for those who are saved, not for judgment but for rewards. On the other hand, those that are not saved, they too will bow in humility before the Lord and ultimately appear before the Great White Throne judgment where they will receive their eternal punishment for their actions in this life in the Lake of Fire!
Paul now summarizes what he has said so far, that we are not to judge our brothers and sisters in the Lord when it comes to non-essentials and we are not to use the liberty we have in Christ to cause them to stumble. You see, if a brother or sister is sinning, we do need to come to them in the love of Christ and correct them. But in non-essentials, you can state your view but don’t go into a filibuster with it!
Is it wrong to eat meat? Of course not! In fact, Paul tells us in I Timothy 4:4-5, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” You see, it is not what goes in a man that defiles him but what comes out of his lips from his heart. Jesus made that point in Matthew 15:17-19 where He said, “Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” The point is this, if what you are doing is causing another to stumble, don’t do it for love’s sake! Can you give it up to help a brother not to stumble? Now we can go crazy with this and thus, just be wise.
Now in saying that, we have so much freedom in Christ but let’s use that freedom we do have to edify, build up the body of Christ and not to tear it down. A neat example of what we are to do is given to us from this World War II story. Back in the early days of that war, German U-boats attacked allied ships traveling from the East Coast to Europe. To rectify this problem they decided to travel in large convoys. The problem was that the convoys could only go as fast as the slowest boat. So the faster boats slowed down so that they all might be protected. In other words, don’t let the enemy torpedo our brothers and sisters in the Lord because we are running on ahead of them in the freedom we have in Christ! Know who you are traveling with and adjust your speed and surround them with the love of Jesus because folks, we are the body of Christ and not out there on our own!
Yes, we have freedom in Christ but don’t let the freedom you have cause a brother or sister to stumble as I have said, or else good will be looked upon as evil! Paul, in Philippians 2:1-4 tells us, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” You see, if you are walking in the Spirit the focus of your life will be righteousness, joy, peace, and you will not be focused upon yourself but upon others! That is the mind of Christ! And as we do then our service is acceptable, it is good before the Lord.
Again, we need to be careful that as we are doing these things we are not succumbing to their legalistic heart. You see, in this chapter Paul is speaking of someone who has a sincere heart, that they may be stumbled by our liberty in Christ. We don’t want to encourage someone to remain legalistic, but we also want to be careful we don’t cause someone to stumble by our actions. Now some want a black and white answer to this question, “How do I know how to respond?” It is not black and white, you need to pray about it and let God speak to your heart in these areas! The thing is, don’t force your convictions upon another, but walk in love. I would never tell someone they have to listen to a certain style of music, that is wrong. We all have different tastes and praise the Lord for that. Walk in love, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading and you will not destroy the work that God is doing!
Paul is telling us that if God has placed a conviction upon our heart not to do something, and we do it, then it is a sin to us. “But what about the guy over there, he is still doing it?” That is not the issue, God may allow them to do that, it may not be a problem for them but it is one for you and thus, you are ignoring what God has told you. Far too often we look at what others are doing instead of what God is telling us to do, how we need to deal with a certain situation, our heart issues.
Remember after the death and resurrection of Jesus as He appeared to His disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, we are told in John 21:20-23, “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’ Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?’”
Peter was concerned about John and what was going to happen to him. The Lord said what was going to happen to Peter, “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” But Peter, like most of us, was worrying about others and the Lord’s response to Peter was great, “. . . ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’” You see, we are to follow Jesus and apply to our lives the things He has told us! May we listen and allow God’s Word to penetrate our hearts so that we may grow and allow God to work in the lives of others. It is as Paul said in Romans 14:8, “For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.”
As I close this evening, let me leave you with this true story. We are told:
In 1928 Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was speaking at a conference in Montrose, Pennsylvania where about 200 young people were present. One day two women came to him in horror because some girls were not wearing stockings! These women wanted him to rebuke the others. Barnhouse’s reply is classic. As he tells it:
Looking them straight in the eye, I said, “The Virgin Mary never wore stockings.” They gasped and said, “She didn’t?” I answered, “In Mary’s time, stockings were unknown. So far as we know, they were first worn by prostitutes in Italy in the 15th century, when the Renaissance began. Later, a lady of the nobility wore stockings at a court ball, greatly to the scandal of many people. Before long, however, everyone in the upper classes was wearing stockings. . .” These ladies, who were holdovers from the Victorian epoch, had no more to say. I did not rebuke the girls for not wearing stockings. A year or two afterward, most girls in the United States were going without stockings in summer, and nobody thought anything about it. Nor do I believe that this led toward disintegration of moral standards in the United States. Times were changing, and the step away from Victorian legalism was all for the better.
Voluntary limiting of our freedom is not meant to subject us to the prejudices of Christians who are well established in the faith but persistent in sub-Biblical legalism.
In Rome the believers were relatively young in the faith, and their scrupulous consciences had an ostensible Biblical base. We must remember to wisely apply Christian self-restraint and never to unknowingly or knowingly, by our exercise of liberty, cause another Christian to go against his conscience.
- R. Kent Hughes, Romans, pp. 269-270
May we learn to walk in the love of Christ, and remember what Augustine said: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Wise words to apply to our lives as we walk in the liberty that Christ has given to us!