The Facts about Opinions

Paul continues to encourage the church to love in a godly way. In chapter 14 he provides them with a tangible way they can express the love he has been writing about since 12:9. There were issues in the church at Rome that needed to be addressed. There are two parties involved:

The strong

The weak

Specifically, the issues revolved around two things:

Food/drink (1-4)

Days (5-6)

The strong- they believed they could eat/drink whatever they wanted and that the religious festival days of the OT no longer needed to be observed.

The weak- Would not eat meat and continued to observe the holy days outlined in the OT.

These groups attended the same church. The strong despised the weak. The weak were judgmental toward the strong.

This caused issues in the church. Paul addresses the problem and gives them the solution.

1. Problems will arise in the church because God brings people from different backgrounds together.

A. Food was a common area of disagreement in the early church.

1. Those who were raised Jewish found it hard to forget all they had learned.

What did the OT Law teach concerning food (dietary laws)?

Leviticus 11 lays out requirements:

Land animals had to have split hooves and chew the cud.

Water creatures had to have scales and fins.

Birds couldn’t be scavengers.

Insects had to jump and fly

Swarming things like mice and lizards were off limits.

Some Jews were even stricter than the Law said in their personal life. They wouldn’t eat any meat at all. They were vegetarians. That way they could be sure they never ate anything unclean.

Why did the OT give dietary laws?

Many have said it is for health reasons. This doesn’t make sense because there was no significant change in NT times with the care of meat.

The reason is very simple: Lev. 20:25-26

You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the

unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall

not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the

peoples, that you should be mine.

Why are Christians not bound by OT dietary Laws?

Why were the animals unclean? Because God declared it so.

How are they made clean? God declared them to be (Acts 10).

God separated Israel from the Gentile nations to protect them from idolatry. The prohibition of the food made it almost impossible for them to embrace the Gentile way of life.

Gentiles could become Jews under the old covenant, but Jews could not become Gentiles.

The dietary laws are done away with because there is no longer a separation between Jew and Gentile. They are brought together in Christ.

Imagine being Jewish and never eating pork. No one you worshipped with ate pork either. Now you are in a church with Gentiles. They bring a BBQ pig with an apple in its mouth to the potluck.

2. Those who had been engaged in pagan worship sometimes had issues with eating meat (1 Cor. 8).

The Greek and Roman culture embraced the idea of many gods and spirits. It was believed these spirits could influence one for the good or the bad. For that reason, the gods were to be appeased. As well there was a paranoia that existed in the superstitious community. It was believed that evil spirits were continually trying to enter humans. It was taught that one of the easiest ways they could enter the body was through food that was consumed. So evil spirits would attach themselves to food, the food was eaten, and now the spirit had a host body.

There was a process to remove the evil spirits. If the food was offered up to one of the gods, it was believed the food was cleansed. The evil spirits were wiped away from the food. On top of that, the god you offered the food to would bless you.

Because of this belief. In places like Corinth there was an abundance of meat that was offered. As a result, the priests couldn’t eat it all. It would be sold to the market. It was valuable meat because it was already cleansed from all the evil spirits.

Many believers thought it was wrong to eat this meat.

What would you do? A meat market opens. Has great meat but all of it is sacrificed to Allah?

B. Holy days were an area of common disagreement in the early church (5-6).

“One person esteems one day as better” This probably refers to the feast days in Lev. 23. The Jews were given instructions to keep many days as Holy. Some Jewish Christians couldn’t give this up (Galatians 4:10 & Colossians 2:16).

These were non-moral issues.

It wasn’t a sin not to eat meat.

If you wanted to observe certain days as special to the Lord (other than the Lord’s Day) it wasn’t a sin.

2. It is the Christians responsibility to worship in unity with those who disagree with them in non-moral matters.

A. The strong fell into sin.

Paul makes it clear what the sin of each group is. He mentions it in verse 3 and then repeats it in verse 10.

“the one who eats” the strong.

His sin is:

“despises the one” (3) to cast aside as worthless.

He was proud. Think about why he was strong. It wasn’t only because he knew more. It was likely because he was raised a Gentile. That made it easier. You didn’t have all the baggage a Jewish person would.

B. The weak fell into sin (3). “the one who abstains”

“pass judgment” They thought the people who ate the food and didn’t observe the days were not very good Christians.

C. There are still differences of opinion in the church today.

Women should not wear pants/ makeup

Men should not have facial hair

Men shouldn’t wear a hat inside church

Drinking in moderation

Dancing

Preachers wearing a suit

Dietary laws/Sabbath observance

Tobacco use

Tattoos

Cutting the grass on Sunday

KJV only

Important to recognize Paul is speaking of non-moral matters. He is not suggesting each person can create their own code of ethics. The Bible is clear that many things are sinful. He gave a list in 13:12-13.

There should be no difference of opinion on what the Bible clearly labels sin. There will be differences of opinion on other matters.

“Well, I don’t think a person should…”

It has been the habit of some not to worship with anyone they disagree with. The answer for many people would be, let’s start:

First Baptist Church of the Omnivores

First Baptist Church of the Herbivores

That wasn’t Paul’s answer. He said:

Quit despising

Quit judging

3. Paul gives us some principles to help us overcome the problem of disunity in the church.

A. Be patient with people.

“not to quarrel over opinions” (1)

He doesn’t tell the strong to get in an argument and convince the weak believer.

What does it matter if a person doesn’t eat meat?

How does that affect you?

Now, if this person starts saying you can’t be a Christian if you eat certain foods you must deal with it. Paul confronted Peter about this very issue (Galatians 2).

If it’s only a matter of opinion, leave them alone.

Let God work. Admire their discipline. Admire their convictions.

“Welcome him” (1) a warmth there. Not just tolerate.

We want people to see things just the way we do. It doesn’t always happen. Even if you are the strong one (right) you are required to be patient with people and treat them kindly.

B. Be willing to look at things from a different perspective.

Why does the person have the conviction you disagree with?

“One person believes” (2)

“observes it in honor of the Lord” (6)

“abstains in honor of the Lord” (6)

Do you think they’re just trying to get on your nerves?

There are people who were raised that women wear a dress to church on Sunday. They’re not trying to make you feel bad for not wearing one.

There are people who were not taught cutting the grass on Sunday is wrong.

Both the strong and the weak live according to their beliefs. Consider that before looking down on someone or judging them.

C. Consider whether your opinion may be wrong.

“Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (5)

Convinced by what? Scripture.

Our opinions can sometimes be shaped by things other than Scripture.

How we were raised

Our church background

Our culture

Our education

Take your opinion to the Word of God. If you discover your opinion is wrong change your opinion.

D. Remember that you are not the Master (4, 7-12).

“Who are you?” (4) Two reasons we should not judge in non-moral matters:

1) We don’t have the right. Paul uses the illustration of a person who attempts to instruct the servant of another person. “it is before his own master that he stands of falls” (4).

Illust. You ride by my house and see someone cutting my yard. You stop and tell them they’re doing it the wrong way. Maybe I want my lawn scalped. If I do that’s none of your business.

2) We don’t have the light. “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (12)

At the judgment seat of Christ, Christ will be the Judge. He sees what we cannot see. He sees action. He sees motive. Our judgment is always:

Partial- There is much we do not know about a person.

Prejudice- We judge according to our own ideas.

God don’t need you at the judgment seat of Christ to tell on people. We all stand alone.

Without :

An attorney

Mother

Enemies

Emotional support animal.

If we care for the souls of people, we will not despise them or judge them unfairly. We will see that we are all in the same boat. We are servants to the Master not the Master of the servants.

E. Rejoice in what Christ has done for His people.

1) He has died for us (9). Jesus died to purchase us for Himself.

Since Jesus bore our sins can we not bear with one another?

2) He has welcomed us (3) “for God has welcomed Him. Points back to verse 1 “welcome him”. God has no children on the porch. We have all entered completely into His grace. We are to welcome one another because God has welcomed us.

3) He upholds us (4) “for the Lord is able to make him stand”.

Christ is committed to you making it to heaven. Phil 1:6 says He will finish what He has started in you.

Are committed to helping our brothers and sisters stand?

If we are we won’t despise them. We won’t judge them on non-moral matters.

We quarrel over non moral matters while Christ intercedes for our salvation.

The error of the strong is to argue. Do you insist on your way? Do you get angry when others don’t see things the way you do?

The error of the weak is to judge. Do you impose your own convictions on others? Do you think less of Christians who engage in non-moral actions you abstain from?

We will fit into one of those categories. No one is immune.

Closing illust. Pastor who would not fellowship with me because we saw the end times differently.