Love & Liberty

Our text is a continuation of Paul’s message in 1-12. Paul revealed that there were two groups at the church in Rome.

The Strong- liberty to not be bound by dietary laws or special days.

The Weak- Jewish converts who had difficulty not observing dietary laws. Gentiles who felt convicted for eating meat offered in the pagan temples.

There were also two sins:

The strong despised the weak. Looked down on them (Arrogance) “Just grow up!”

The weak were critical of the strong- “You guys aren’t very good Christians!”

Paul corrected them both:

To strong- Stop looking down your nose at the weak.

To weak- Stop judging the strong.

This section is also a continuation of Paul’s encouragement for the church to live in love (12:9). His answer was not to start a vegetarian church down the road. They were to learn to appreciate:

1) Christ welcomed them both (3).

2) Christ would judge them individually (12).

In this section we will see five things the church needed to learn about liberty and love.

1. Right doctrine does not excuse wrong behavior (13-14).

Two things Paul knew (14)

1) Believers are free to eat anything.

“Persuaded in the Lord Jesus” He knew what Jesus taught in Mark 7 :14-23.

Context : arguing with Jesus about his disciples not washing their hands properly. Added all sorts of rules. Even had to hold their hands in the proper way so water would run off and not contaminate them again.

Jesus explained in simple terms how the digestive system works. “Not what goes into the body that defiles it but what comes out.”

Food doesn’t enter the heart. It enters the stomach. Then it exits the body. It says in Mark10:19 that Jesus declared all food clean).

Paul was in the strong category. He was a Jew who was free to eat any meat.

2) If someone thinks something is unclean it is a sin for them to eat it. See v. 23.

They violate their conscience. Why is it wrong to do this? When you do something you think is wrong you are training yourself to violate your conscience. You believe God is grieved with your actions and you do them anyway.

What is Paul’s instruction?

1) Not to pass judgment on one another.

2) Not to put a stumbling block or hinderance in the way of a brother.

“stumbling block” makes you fall. You are no longer walking.

“Hinderance” an obstacle. It slows you down.

Every believer is on a journey to spiritual maturity.

Stumbling blocks and hinderances impedes this journey.

What is the stumbling block?

In this context it is engaging in the behavior Paul has mentioned: Eating meat.

Just because you can eat a pork chop doesn’t mean you should.

I can almost hear the spiritually strong:

The Bible doesn’t say we can’t eat meat!

Paul grants them that.

The Bible also doesn’t say you must eat meat. It’s not a sin not to eat meat.

The right doctrine= We are free to eat meat.

The wrong behavior= eating the meat in front of people who believed it was wrong.

Paul didn’t want the church destroyed over such a trivial matter.

Some of the most Biblically sound people are also some of the most unloving. If you have learned the whole bible but not learned to love you haven’t learned much.

2. On occasion believers must abstain from actions they are free to observe for the good of others (15-16; 20-21; 23).

Look at these words:

Grief (15)

Destruction (15, 20)

Evil (16)

How did we go from someone having a sausage to this?

Let me give you a scenario. Let’s use the Gentile believer who would not eat the meat sacrificed in the Temples as an example:

You berate him. You tell him he is free to eat the meat. He goes against his conscience and eats the meat. You’re happy.

When he gets home, he is grieved. He can’t shake it. He believes he has sinned greatly. Satan convinces him his Christianity is a sham.

Now comes the destruction. He reasons he might as well go back to his paganism. He starts engaging in the sins of his past.

Now comes the evil. A watching world speaks evil of the Christian faith. They say Jesus doesn’t have the power to save. They blaspheme the name of God.

Now let me make it even more practical.

A woman who engaged regularly in drunkenness gets saved. She believes she shouldn’t drink alcohol at all.

You hound her. You tell her the Bible does not condemn all drinking. You are right. It doesn’t matter. She believes it is wrong for her.

Finally, she gives in. She takes a drink with you. You are happy. She gets home and she grieves. Her guilt overtakes her, and she hears the voice of the devil. She is convinced she is a failure. She goes right back to her old ways of getting drunk. Her friends now speak evil of the Christian faith “We knew it wasn’t real!”

Grief

Destruction

Evil

Do not destroy “the one for who Christ died”. Every Christian is a work of Christ. He died for us. We should treat one another as one for whom Christ died.

When we lead others to sin, we are destroying the very work of Christ.

“But I have a right!” Friend, what is more important, your rights or your obligations?

If Christ was willing to sacrifice His life for this person, can I not sacrifice my ham sandwich for them?

I want to add something else to this: Be careful telling people what is ok for them to do.

I have had people ask me something like “Is it ok to get a tattoo?” I don’t believe the Bible prohibits tattoos any more than I think it prohibits ear piercing.

I also know normally people ask if something is ok because they don’t think it is. I must be careful. I can’t just tell them it’s ok for them to do it. I need to ask them how they feel about it. I can give them instructions from the Word. At the end of the day if they do not believe it is ok then it is absolutely a sin for them.

We can’t be a conscience for others. I should say:

You study the Word.

You pray.

You discern what the will of the Lord is.

3. The weak and the strong can edify one another (17-19).

“the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking”

We don’t gather just to eat. Some seem to think that. It’s the only time they show up at church.

If you feed them, they will come! Maybe we shouldn’t feed them then. This isn’t the reason the church exists.

What Paul is saying here is that the kingdom of God is not about exercising liberty. It’s not about “I am going to do this because I can!”

Listen closely- Christian liberty is not the freedom to do as we like. Christian liberty is the freedom to do as Christ likes.

What does Christ want in the church more than bacon?

He wants“righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”

He is not speaking positionally. He has dealt with that in earlier chapters. He is speaking practically.

Righteousness- No one judging, no one looking down, no one ignoring their conscience

Peace- No guilt, no schisms

Joy- the gladness of heart experienced when believers gather to lift up the name of Jesus. This fuels worship.

“Whoever serves Christ thus” When you serve Jesus in this way.

“acceptable to God and approved by men”

When we are willing to sacrifice our own opinions, God will be pleased with us and unity will fill our church.

“So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding”

“Pursue”= make this the priority.

Let’s focus on the mutual upbuilding for a moment. How can a strong Christian and a weak Christian build up one another?

They each can learn from one another. Let’s take the issue of alcohol as an example.

The strong’s perspective- The Bible doesn’t say a Christian can’t drink at all. Ok. Slow down. Think about why that person may not want to be around alcohol at all.

They never knew a social drinker

Their father was an alcoholic/abusive/cirrhosis of liver

They were a drunk and it ruined their life

A drunk driver killed a loved one

They don’t want to grieve God or ruin their life.

The week’s perspective- They are liberal. They probably get drunk every night!

Maybe they’re one of the few people who do only occasionally have a drink.

Maybe they have never been drunk.

Maybe they have not had anyone in their family captured by alcohol.

The strong can learn from the weak that sin should be taken seriously, and that sacrifice should be admired in the Christian faith.

The weak can learn from the strong that the Holy Spirit can give people self-control.

4. Christian liberty should not be flaunted (22).

“the faith that you have” Whether it is weak or strong.

You don’t have to go public with everything. He’s not telling the strong they must quit eating meat. He is saying don’t do it around the weaker Christians. Keep it to yourself.

If you’re weak and happen to see your brother eating meat, keep your opinion to yourself. Don’t walk up to his table at Longhorn and give him a good scolding.

In this age of social media this applies. If you know there are things your brothers and sisters in Christ disagree with keep those things off social media. You don’t have to put everything about your life in everyone’s face.

Well, it’s my page!

Friend, did you not read verse 17?

The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, it’s not Facebook, it’s not about my rights. It’s about pursuing righteousness, peace and joy with my fellow Christians.

I have a word for the strong that applies here. Be careful with your boldness in liberty.

Illust. I seldom fish on a Sunday. I don’t think it is a sin. Especially if we don’t have an evening service. There are times I might go fishing. I’m not convicted about doing that. Let’s say we stopped having Sunday evening services and I started fishing a lot. Soon I was fishing every Sunday evening. Then I started thinking about fishing on Sunday. Before long I was anxious for church to be over so I could go fishing.

The Lord’s Day is no longer my priority, fishing is. Satan has used my strength against me. He has used my liberty to bring me into bondage.

Same illustration with sports.

Same with shopping.

The weak help the strong in this way. They help us to say no to things. They help us to practice discipline.

The weak are in danger of becoming legalistic.

The strong are in danger of becoming libertines.

“Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself”

We keep ourselves from sin when we don’t flaunt our liberty.

Closing: It is Christlike to limit your liberty for the good of others. This is what Jesus did. Phil 2:5-8

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Christ limited His liberty so we could be saved. The least we can do is limit our own liberty for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Romans 14:13-23

Our text is a continuation of Paul’s message in 1-12. Paul revealed that there were two groups at the church in Rome.

The Strong- liberty to not be bound by dietary laws or special days.

The Weak- Jewish converts who had difficulty not observing dietary laws. Gentiles who felt convicted for eating meat offered in the pagan temples.

There were also two sins:

The strong despised the weak. Looked down on them (Arrogance) “Just grow up!”

The weak were critical of the strong- “You guys aren’t very good Christians!”

Paul corrected them both:

To strong- Stop looking down your nose at the weak.

To weak- Stop judging the strong.

This section is also a continuation of Paul’s encouragement for the church to live in love (12:9). His answer was not to start a vegetarian church down the road. They were to learn to appreciate:

1) Christ welcomed them both (3).

2) Christ would judge them individually (12).

In this section we will see five things the church needed to learn about liberty and love.

1. Right doctrine does not excuse wrong behavior (13-14).

Two things Paul knew (14)

1) Believers are free to eat anything.

“Persuaded in the Lord Jesus” He knew what Jesus taught in Mark 7 :14-23.

Context : arguing with Jesus about his disciples not washing their hands properly. Added all sorts of rules. Even had to hold their hands in the proper way so water would run off and not contaminate them again.

Jesus explained in simple terms how the digestive system works. “Not what goes into the body that defiles it but what comes out.”

Food doesn’t enter the heart. It enters the stomach. Then it exits the body. It says in Mark10:19 that Jesus declared all food clean).

Paul was in the strong category. He was a Jew who was free to eat any meat.

2) If someone thinks something is unclean it is a sin for them to eat it. See v. 23.

They violate their conscience. Why is it wrong to do this? When you do something you think is wrong you are training yourself to violate your conscience. You believe God is grieved with your actions and you do them anyway.

What is Paul’s instruction?

1) Not to pass judgment on one another.

2) Not to put a stumbling block or hinderance in the way of a brother.

“stumbling block” makes you fall. You are no longer walking.

“Hinderance” an obstacle. It slows you down.

Every believer is on a journey to spiritual maturity.

Stumbling blocks and hinderances impedes this journey.

What is the stumbling block?

In this context it is engaging in the behavior Paul has mentioned: Eating meat.

Just because you can eat a pork chop doesn’t mean you should.

I can almost hear the spiritually strong:

The Bible doesn’t say we can’t eat meat!

Paul grants them that.

The Bible also doesn’t say you must eat meat. It’s not a sin not to eat meat.

The right doctrine= We are free to eat meat.

The wrong behavior= eating the meat in front of people who believed it was wrong.

Paul didn’t want the church destroyed over such a trivial matter.

Some of the most Biblically sound people are also some of the most unloving. If you have learned the whole bible but not learned to love you haven’t learned much.

2. On occasion believers must abstain from actions they are free to observe for the good of others (15-16; 20-21; 23).

Look at these words:

Grief (15)

Destruction (15, 20)

Evil (16)

How did we go from someone having a sausage to this?

Let me give you a scenario. Let’s use the Gentile believer who would not eat the meat sacrificed in the Temples as an example:

You berate him. You tell him he is free to eat the meat. He goes against his conscience and eats the meat. You’re happy.

When he gets home, he is grieved. He can’t shake it. He believes he has sinned greatly. Satan convinces him his Christianity is a sham.

Now comes the destruction. He reasons he might as well go back to his paganism. He starts engaging in the sins of his past.

Now comes the evil. A watching world speaks evil of the Christian faith. They say Jesus doesn’t have the power to save. They blaspheme the name of God.

Now let me make it even more practical.

A woman who engaged regularly in drunkenness gets saved. She believes she shouldn’t drink alcohol at all.

You hound her. You tell her the Bible does not condemn all drinking. You are right. It doesn’t matter. She believes it is wrong for her.

Finally, she gives in. She takes a drink with you. You are happy. She gets home and she grieves. Her guilt overtakes her, and she hears the voice of the devil. She is convinced she is a failure. She goes right back to her old ways of getting drunk. Her friends now speak evil of the Christian faith “We knew it wasn’t real!”

Grief

Destruction

Evil

Do not destroy “the one for who Christ died”. Every Christian is a work of Christ. He died for us. We should treat one another as one for whom Christ died.

When we lead others to sin, we are destroying the very work of Christ.

“But I have a right!” Friend, what is more important, your rights or your obligations?

If Christ was willing to sacrifice His life for this person, can I not sacrifice my ham sandwich for them?

I want to add something else to this: Be careful telling people what is ok for them to do.

I have had people ask me something like “Is it ok to get a tattoo?” I don’t believe the Bible prohibits tattoos any more than I think it prohibits ear piercing.

I also know normally people ask if something is ok because they don’t think it is. I must be careful. I can’t just tell them it’s ok for them to do it. I need to ask them how they feel about it. I can give them instructions from the Word. At the end of the day if they do not believe it is ok then it is absolutely a sin for them.

We can’t be a conscience for others. I should say:

You study the Word.

You pray.

You discern what the will of the Lord is.

3. The weak and the strong can edify one another (17-19).

“the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking”

We don’t gather just to eat. Some seem to think that. It’s the only time they show up at church.

If you feed them, they will come! Maybe we shouldn’t feed them then. This isn’t the reason the church exists.

What Paul is saying here is that the kingdom of God is not about exercising liberty. It’s not about “I am going to do this because I can!”

Listen closely- Christian liberty is not the freedom to do as we like. Christian liberty is the freedom to do as Christ likes.

What does Christ want in the church more than bacon?

He wants“righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”

He is not speaking positionally. He has dealt with that in earlier chapters. He is speaking practically.

Righteousness- No one judging, no one looking down, no one ignoring their conscience

Peace- No guilt, no schisms

Joy- the gladness of heart experienced when believers gather to lift up the name of Jesus. This fuels worship.

“Whoever serves Christ thus” When you serve Jesus in this way.

“acceptable to God and approved by men”

When we are willing to sacrifice our own opinions, God will be pleased with us and unity will fill our church.

“So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding”

“Pursue”= make this the priority.

Let’s focus on the mutual upbuilding for a moment. How can a strong Christian and a weak Christian build up one another?

They each can learn from one another. Let’s take the issue of alcohol as an example.

The strong’s perspective- The Bible doesn’t say a Christian can’t drink at all. Ok. Slow down. Think about why that person may not want to be around alcohol at all.

They never knew a social drinker

Their father was an alcoholic/abusive/cirrhosis of liver

They were a drunk and it ruined their life

A drunk driver killed a loved one

They don’t want to grieve God or ruin their life.

The week’s perspective- They are liberal. They probably get drunk every night!

Maybe they’re one of the few people who do only occasionally have a drink.

Maybe they have never been drunk.

Maybe they have not had anyone in their family captured by alcohol.

The strong can learn from the weak that sin should be taken seriously, and that sacrifice should be admired in the Christian faith.

The weak can learn from the strong that the Holy Spirit can give people self-control.

4. Christian liberty should not be flaunted (22).

“the faith that you have” Whether it is weak or strong.

You don’t have to go public with everything. He’s not telling the strong they must quit eating meat. He is saying don’t do it around the weaker Christians. Keep it to yourself.

If you’re weak and happen to see your brother eating meat, keep your opinion to yourself. Don’t walk up to his table at Longhorn and give him a good scolding.

In this age of social media this applies. If you know there are things your brothers and sisters in Christ disagree with keep those things off social media. You don’t have to put everything about your life in everyone’s face.

Well, it’s my page!

Friend, did you not read verse 17?

The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, it’s not Facebook, it’s not about my rights. It’s about pursuing righteousness, peace and joy with my fellow Christians.

I have a word for the strong that applies here. Be careful with your boldness in liberty.

Illust. I seldom fish on a Sunday. I don’t think it is a sin. Especially if we don’t have an evening service. There are times I might go fishing. I’m not convicted about doing that. Let’s say we stopped having Sunday evening services and I started fishing a lot. Soon I was fishing every Sunday evening. Then I started thinking about fishing on Sunday. Before long I was anxious for church to be over so I could go fishing.

The Lord’s Day is no longer my priority, fishing is. Satan has used my strength against me. He has used my liberty to bring me into bondage.

Same illustration with sports.

Same with shopping.

The weak help the strong in this way. They help us to say no to things. They help us to practice discipline.

The weak are in danger of becoming legalistic.

The strong are in danger of becoming libertines.

“Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself”

We keep ourselves from sin when we don’t flaunt our liberty.

Closing: It is Christlike to limit your liberty for the good of others. This is what Jesus did. Phil 2:5-8

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Christ limited His liberty so we could be saved. The least we can do is limit our own liberty for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in Christ.