We Are The Lord's

Introduction:

Anyone who looks for a reason to be offended will find it. It is not hard to find something broken in a broken world. Even in the Church which is the bride of Christ you find broken things because churches are full of broken people. There are two truths that I have consistently found in ministry:

People that are hurting tend to hurt people.

People that are broken tend to break things.

It is a great tragedy when a local church is more well known in its community for its internal squabbles than for the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is one reason why Paul was so concerned about unity in the body of Christ. It comes up in nearly every letter he writes.

Before we begin this text requires a disclaimer. This is a text about not being judgmental toward your brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul never intended this to extend to black and white moral issues. If your brother in Christ confronts you in sin you have no biblical grounds to say “judge not”. God has already judged your actions to be sin by declaring it as sin. Anything that the Bible clearly defines as sinful is not what Paul has in view here.

Quarrels and Opinions

The Subject = the Reader

An implied you.

Paul’s original readers were a group of primarily Jewish Christians living in Rome.

For many years the struggle of these Jewish Christians was what areas of the law they should continue to keep.

There were those who struggled with legalism that still believed that keeping the law was a means of obtaining God’s favor.

There was also a cultural element to the Law. For them to function in Jewish society they would have to keep certain parts of the Law.

Paul himself kept the parts of the Law in an effort to be all things to all people that by any means He might win some to Christ.

As the years passed this would become major points of contention within the early church.

This text is Paul’s attempt to retain unity within the church.

As such this is a text that has direct application for the church today.

The Object = “him”

This pronoun refers back to the “one who is weak in faith”.

In this context being weak in the faith refers to those who were still hanging on to certain aspects of the Law.

There were certain foods they were still refusing to eat.

They were likely still keeping the Sabbath.

In a vacuum of sorts there is nothing wrong with this. It was not sinful for them to not eat certain things nor to continue to keep the Sabbath.

However, strong opinions about such things inevitably led to conflict in the church. Things that we are free to do quickly become requirements that we must do which then easily become standards by which we judge others. Now it is no longer just something that I am doing because I feel convicted to do so, but I view others who hold different standards as either inferior or in sin.

So to be clear the one who is weak in faith is not someone with strict standards to which they hold themselves. The one who is weak in faith is the one who has strict standards and judges others by those same standards.

The Imperative = “welcome him”

When someone comes into your sphere of influence who is struggling in this regard we are to be welcoming to them.

Illustration:

Someone walks into our church that believes that the KJV is the only version of the Bible that accurately conveys the Word of God.

What do we do? Kick him out? No, we welcome him.

What you will find is that these people will naturally filter themselves out of your life. When they find out that your church doesn’t exclusively use their preferred translation they will see themselves to the door, but not because of anything we did.

The Negative Infinitive = “but not to quarrel over opinions”

This phrase compliments the previous command.

We are to welcome the weaker brother but not for the purpose of quarreling over their opinions.

Two signs of maturity

You can allow others to be wrong without sharing your opinion.

You can allow others to believe that you are wrong without trying to convince them otherwise.

The Example (v. 2)

One person who eats anything.

The weaker brother eats only vegetables.

The law strictly forbade eating blood. So perhaps this is how they avoided that.

Perhaps the only meat in the market had already been offered to idols and their conscience couldn’t bear that.

Judgment of Another

The Nature of Conviction

Romans 14:3 “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains...”

Even if you don’t hold to the same convictions as another person you shouldn’t hold them in contempt.

Perhaps even the opposite should be true. They are worthy of your respect for having the self discipline to have these convictions.

Romans 14:3 “...and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.”

Paul is essentially saying, “stop being unnecessarily judgmental of each other.”

Don’t judge someone who refrains from something you enjoy, and don’t judge someone who enjoys something that you refrain from.

God has welcomed both into His family.

You are not the gatekeeper of what is godly.

The same Holy Spirit leads different believers to different convictions regarding their personal sanctification.

The Servant of Another

Romans 14:4 “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

When you are critiquing the convictions of another believer remember that it is not your servant you are judging.

It is not your place to judge them.

That authority belongs to their master. They will stand or fall based on their master’s judgments not yours.

And in Paul’s example this servant that you are so passionately disagreeing with, he will stand because God is the one holding him up.

Be Fully Convinced

Another Example (v. 5a)

Romans 14:5 “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike...”

Paul has in mind here the various Jewish festivals.

These Jewish Christians had to decide to what degree they were going to participate.

Key Principle (v. 5b)

Romans 14:5 “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

First, every Christian should operate with a clear conscience.

Second we see that we are being implored to have standards and to live by them.

Elephant in the Room (v. 6)

“The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.” - If Paul stopped here one side would feel vindicated.

“The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.” - Ok, if we are trying to make our list of dos and don’ts then we should observe the Jewish feast days and eat whatever we want.

“While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord, and gives thanks to God.” - There goes our list.

So Christians can make different choices from one another and still be honoring the Lord? - Yes

Different people have different reasons for making different choices, and rarely if ever do you have all the information on why someone made the choice they made. Or why they have different convictions than you.

The Holy Spirit convicts on an individual basis. This is not group therapy.

God’s will for you is unique for you so don’t assume that because you feel convicted to partake or abstain from something that the Holy Spirit has led every believe to the same convictions.

Live To The Lord

No Matter What

Romans 14:7–8 “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

Our standards and convictions are not for the benefit of others.

Neither are they for our benefit.

Whether we live for die we are the Lord’s.

As we have already seen when you are judgmental toward other believers you stand in judgment of someone else’s servant.

Romans 14:4 “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

Just don’t forget that you are a servant as well and no matter what, we are the Lord’s.

We are His possession for He bought us with His blood.

To This End

Christ died that He would be the Lord of salvation for the:

Eaters

Abstainers

Celebraters

Stay at homers

Christians are going to disagree. Can you disagree with grace? Can you have the maturity to handle when someone thinks that you are wrong? Remember that you are not living for them or yourself. You are living for the Lord.

Account Given

The Judgment of a Brother

Why do you judge your brother when you are not a judge?

You don’t have the authority.

The True Judge

One day every knee will bow.

In other words God will take care of it.

God doesn’t need you to fight His battles.

Conclusion

Save your offence for things that impugn the holiness of God.

In Pauline theology the weaker brother is not the one living in sin it is the one constantly being judgmental of his or her fellow believers.

Don’t ignore the fact that you might be the weaker brother or sister.