Unity Through Love, A Lesson from Romans 14, Romans 14:13-23, July 23, 2023

Introduction

- Short story: Creator of the "Peanuts" cartoon, depicting the need for unity and organization.

Unity is an Expression of Love

(Romans 14:13-23)

A. Highlight the apostle Paul's teaching on the importance of unity among believers.

Paul isn't debating the finer points of the law he's focusing on the highest value that we can have. And that is to love one another.

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

B. Share how Paul, despite his strong faith, showed understanding and love for believers who were weaker in their faith.

C. Object lesson: Show different types of food, represent "disputable matters." Even though they're different, they all contribute to a healthy body, just like varying beliefs contribute to a robust, loving church community.

Unity reveals love, the only element that can bring diverse people together.

The Spectrum of Faith

Romans 14:13–18 ESV

13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

As we see later in chapter 15 Paul identifies himself as a believer with strong faith

Romans 15:1 ESV

1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

But then he makes a point which makes the Christian perspective on relationships so unique.

Romans B. Unity Evidences Love (14:13–23)

even if you believe you are right, if your actions cause a spiritually weaker (less mature) brother or sister to stumble in his or her own faith, you are to stop what you are doing.

Paul wants us to get the reality that it's not worth it to be right if what we do harms another believer. And it's a balancing act isn't it? If you and I stayed hypersensitive to what every single person out there thought we should do we would probably be Amish.

And that's something we have to work to figure out. But Paul wants us to get the reality that in the Kingdom of God there is something more important than being right and that is our responsibility to act with love towards one another.

In the passage in Romans we see that Paul has certain convictions about what is important but he’s willing to sacrifice being right for the sake of relationship with others.

Christian Perspective on Relationships

B. Share Jesus' teachings about the Kingdom of God not being defined by external issues but the condition of the heart.

Remember how often Jesus reminded us that the kingdom of heaven was about the heart; not external issues?

Matthew 15:10–11 ESV

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Matthew 15:16–20 ESV

16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

It’s about our hearts, not what legalistic practices we employ.

Jesus wanted us to see that in the kingdom of God, God is concerned about our hearts way more than just the practices we do.

Object lesson: Use an umbrella to symbolize how the stronger believer's conscience can cover and protect the weaker believer's conscience.

Romans 14:17 ESV

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We protect our brothers and sisters in Christ by looking out for and encouraging their faith.

Love Overrides Personal Rights

There is also in this passage a painful reality. Paul is demonstrating that love overrides personal rights. You and I may have a right to eat whatever we want and drink whatever we want but sometimes we choose not to do that to serve someone else. We're serious about our personal rights especially in America but Paul wants us to see that as Christians love for other believers is more important than the rights that we have.

Remember Paul challenging us in

Romans 12:1 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

If we have sacrificed ourselves to God then serving others comes easier

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:10 ESV

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Ok, so what’s going on in this passage?

One of the discussions that Paul was referencing was the idea of meat sacrificed to idols. This was a day and age when meat was not readily available. In fact it was very expensive. To get any kind of meat you had to be wealthy. But one of the ways you could get meat without spending an arm and a leg was to go down to the temple quarter. In Rome They were constantly offering sacrifices. And the meat from the sacrifices would be sold outside the temple to raise more money.

New believers were absolutely convinced that this meat was tainted by the fact that it was sacrifice to some other God. Believers with weak faith thought that if they ate that meat they were sinning against God.

On the other hand believers with strong faith like Paul were aware that it was just meat and these false gods had no power over them. And therefore they could eat the cheap meat and be happy as well.

So the churches got together and had potluck lunches just like we did. And the cheapest and best way to get some good meat for the pot roast was to stop by the temple quarter and grab a hunk of ham. Or cow or whatever. And the people with strong faith said sure there's nothing wrong with this we have freedom in Jesus. But then the people with weak faith were convinced that eating that food would be sin.

choose to sack of so the strong faith people could choose to sacrifice their rights and not eat this meat in front of the people with weaker faith. That would show love to these people and allow them to in their own relationship with God figure out what was right. But this would be a sacrifice of and a loss of good meat and a sacrifice of the rights of the people with the strong faith.

But what if these strong faith people strong armed the weaker faith people? Where they said grow up eat this food and like it. Well think about it in that situation a more mature believer would literally be talking a less believer less mature believer into sin. Now the more mature believer wouldn't see it as sin but the reality was they would be talking someone who was growing into their faith into choosing to sin against God.

Again the weaker faith individual had all the freedom in the world but if their level of conviction and in their relationship with God they considered this sin then it was actually destructive to their faith for the stronger faith individual to pressure them into acting. It was damaging.

We can actually take and apply this lesson to any debatable issue today. Take drinking for example. There are many different levels of convictions on the topic of drinking.

If someone who believed in absolute freedom in this area try tried to pressure someone who believed in abstinence into drinking then that would be pushing another believer into sin.

You see we have to see sin in terms of relationship and not just in terms of rules. Sinning before god is not just about a line we can or cannot cross it's about a relationship We honor or fail to honor.

So if we were to pressure someone with different convictions than oz into acting out and going beyond their comfort level with alcohol than we are pressure in them to do something against what God has convicted them of.

We also have to consider whether we believe God is actually capable of convicting and working in the lives of our friends and family. If we truly believe that God is God then the greatest thing we can do is point our family and friends and other believers to a closer relationship with God.

Story of the boundary between Vietnam and Laos—known by how they livedd

Romans B. Unity Evidences Love (14:13–23)

Unlike kingdoms of this world, or other religions of this world, Christians should not be known for what they eat or drink, or how they decorate their houses or churches, but for their love, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit

Love above Rights

Romans 14:19–23 ESV

19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Object Lesson: Scales to represent balancing the exercise of our rights against the impact on the spiritual well-being of others.

Discuss scenarios in modern life, like choosing a movie in a group or using wine in the Lord's Supper.

Paul’s priority here isn’t winning arguments, it is defending the integrity of God’s church.

Paul is hyper aware that arguments and problems in the church can be capitalized on by Satan to cause believers to stumble.

Ephesians 4:27 ESV

27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

Highlight Paul's instruction to avoid causing a stumbling block (Ephesians 4:27, 2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11).

Unity for a Higher Purpose

The only times in our life where we consistently find unity with diversity is whenever we have higher purposes.

We want to keep our jobs so we put up with people that are royal pain and we learn to get along with them because we value the purpose of making money from the job.

We put up with classmates and people we don't necessarily like so we can get the education.

We fight to keep our marriages even when we discover how different men and women truly are because the higher purpose of being there for each other and our children drives us.

We don't find unity by pursuing unity as much as finding unity by pursuing a higher purpose.

Paul's higher purpose was the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was getting the gospel to more people. And far too often in the modern church we can lose sight of that mission. We can be so inwardly focused that we're only worried about maintenance rather than getting the gospel out to more people. We can be so inwardly focused about how exactly we should live our lives that we don't think about how we should be growing in our faith and doing what it takes To pass our faith on to the next generation.

A. Illustrate how the apostle Paul used the concept of unity for a higher purpose—spreading the gospel.

B. Discuss how focusing on Christ and His mission can help us hold different views without causing division.

When the church lives sacrificially putting love as more important than rights that's when the church gets busy changing the world.

In our church we need to constantly remember that a love for each other and Jesus is more important than the rights we have period we need to be passionate about encouraging the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ and doing whatever it takes. And we need to guard against a temptation to judge. Because it will take unity for us to do the mission that God has specifically entrusted to us. It will take unity for us to disciple our next generation and care for this generation. It will take unity for us to capitalize on the opportunities that God gives to us to reach the World. It will take unity.

C. Object lesson: Use a map or globe to illustrate the concept of a shared mission—spreading the gospel across the world.

Conclusion: The Call to Unity and Love

Romans B. Unity Evidences Love (14:13–23)

When Charlie Brown asks meekly what gives her the right to make him change the channel, she responds, “These five fingers!” shoving her clenched fist in front of his nose. After changing the channel, Charlie Brown is seen walking out of the room, holding up his open hand and saying to his fingers, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?” (cited by Swindoll, p. 599)

A. Summarize the importance of unity and love in the church.

B. Reiterate that unity does not mean uniformity, but love and respect for each other's faith journey.

C. End with a challenge for the congregation to practice unity and love in their daily lives.

VIII. Closing Prayer: Pray for unity, understanding, and love within the congregation and the broader Christian community.