Romans 14:1-12
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SLIDE 2
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
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Rom 14:
SLIDE3
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. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
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Rom 14:4-
SLIDE4
The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.
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Rom 14:6-
SLIDE5
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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Rom 14:8-
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SLIDE6
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
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INTRO:
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I’ve been a Christian since 1984. In the past 34 years, I’ve been involved with several different churches and parachurch ministries. I grew up Lutheran, I was saved in a Baptist Church, my high school years were spent at an Evangelical Free Church, I’ve been on summer trips with Campus Crusade and Teen Missions,.
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In my college years I attended and served in a Charismatic church, a Pentecostal church, a Baptist Church, a Christian Missionary Alliance Church, A Presbyterian church and a Calvary Chapel.
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After that, I worked with two organizations: Missionary Gospel Fellowship and A Christian Ministry In The National Parks.
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After that, I was involved in a small church plant, two house churches, and a Christian group home ministry, before I finally arrived for the long haul with Calvary Chapel.
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One thing that all these different experiences have taught me…
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Is that today’s passage: , is probably one of the most disregarded and ignored passaged in the entirety of the Bible.
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literally… in every situation I’ve been in, my current one included… the unique differences of conviction that we see here in this passage… have not always been treated with consideration and respect.
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Instead of consideration and respect, these differences of conviction have become points of division, debate, legalism, restriction, condemnation, and sometimes… down right tyranny.
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Paul is making it clear… while that there are many differences that fall under a clear definition of being doctrinally right and wrong… which is not what this passage is dealing with.
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There are also differences that are accepted by God, based on a person’s conviction… and these differences are not intended to incite conflict or division. These divisions are to be regarded with consideration and respect.
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So, first off, I want to recognize, that THIS CALL TO SHOW LOVE AND CONSIDERATION TO EACH OTHER, IN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP IN AREAS WHERE WE DISAGREE… is not easy.
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It fights against our human nature.
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When we are right about something, and someone else is wrong… we are wired to respond. Our response is fueled and perpetuated by an underlying, deceptive force called… pride. We all have it… we all deal with it. We all wrestle with it.
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Pride has a way of quietly and deceptively weaving itself into the making of our own personal religiosity.
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When we come in contact with an idea we disagree with… and our proverbial feathers get ruffled. - THAT’S PRIDE. Pride surged w/in us… and instead of holding our composure, counting to ten and thinking it through… we came out of our corner like a fighter at the sound of the bell.
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It’s a reality that is within us… and we all have to figure out how to identify it, and how to root it out.
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People are called to be in fellowship together… to be in community with one another… and people bring with them, their differences, their misunderstandings, their influences, their experiences, their convictions… AND… their pride.
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God gives us a recipe for unity, but in our brokenness, we bring a recipe for conflict and division. Today’s passage challenges us, to take heed to the difficult task of following God’s recipe and not our own .
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By way of reflection, let’s be reminded of the big picture that Paul is laying out in Romans. He spent 11 chapters teaching us from different doctrinal angles… just what the grace of God is all about, and how it works.
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Then, starting in chapter 12… he calls the believer to be shaped by that grace…
Here in chapters 14 and 15, he is now specifically, calling the church to be shaped by that grace.
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If we think of our primary goal… as an individual… we are to bring glory to God.. - We think also of our primary goal as a church… it’s the same. In all that we do, every deed, every action, every lesson, every engagement… - they all fall under the umbrella of our primary goal. WE ARE CALLED, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY, AND CORPORATELY, TO BRING GLORY TO GOD.
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And we can easily think of some things we do here, as a family that brings Him glory. Hopefully our intentional time of focused worship brings him glory. Hopefully this preaching brings him glory, hopefully our outreach brings him glory. Hopefully, our fellowship brings him glory..
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God is glorified, whenever His invisible character becomes visible, and is recognized as a good thing.
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This is what Paul is encouraging the church in Rome to experience… In the midst of their fellowship… -He is calling incompatible people to welcome one another in JX, and so prove that God has kept His promise to Abraham… that indeed, through his seed… which is Jesus… ALL THE NATIONS… all these different people with different views and levels of understanding… WOULD BE BLESSED…
So with that… let’s jump in.
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SLIDE7
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
ROM
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It is offensive to be called weak… especially if we don’t see our particular stand as being one of weakness.
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But what Paul is saying here, isn’t derogatory… and it probably wouldn’t be received in an offensive fashion by his readers. Right in the middle of this Greek word for weak, is the word ‘strengthen’… and the idea behind this word, is not just ‘weak’… but it literally indicates a person who is not yet strengthened.
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All the liberty, revelation and understanding that is available through the faith, is not yet, fully discovered and embraced.
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They have embraced the Gospel. They believe in the work that Jesus accomplished for them. They are truly saved and truly redeemed… -BUT, like most humans who come into a new faith… - THEY STILL HAVE TO WORK OUT THEIR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING.
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They have a faith that sustains them well in some areas, but they struggle in the midst of certain kinds of conduct.
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Maybe they don’t fully understand that when the meaning of ‘justification by faith’ is grasped… questions like the the use of meat and wine and special days don’t carry the same kind of significance.
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They still have to process the old ideas… the old influences… the old way of thinking… the old practices…
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They are ‘yet to be strengthened’… and in one way or another, I’ll bet we all could take an honest look at our lives and confess… that we too, are yet to be strengthened in one area or the other.
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The topics… the examples… through which we are learning this lesson here in this passage… are FOOD AND DRINK and THE RELIGIOUS CALENDAR.
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Food - The Religious Calendar - and then later, in next week’s passage… in
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Are these the only topics that would fit under this lesson? Absolutely not… but the principle will hopefully become clear as we work our way through this.
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So… Paul has divided these people into two groups. Those who are weak and those who are strong.
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Basically… Paul is addressing a people who are religiously incompatible, and He’s calling them to live in love and harmony with one another.
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I don’t know about you, but this is the kind of challenge that I like.
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We live in a world where Christians divide themselves over so many tiny insignificant details. The signs in front of our churches declare just what kinds of clothes we wear, the manner of our baptism, our political leanings, the food we eat and the day we gather for for worship.
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But I want you to take note of something that is absent from Paul’s lesson… - division - THERE ISN’T A SEPARATE CHURCH FOR VEGETARIANS… THERE ISN’T A SEPARATE CHURCH FOR MEAT EATERS… THERE ISN’T A SEPARATE CHURCH FOR PASSOVER OBSERVERS…
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They are all together. Not in a manner that compromises sound doctrine… NOT in a manner that forces people to embrace wrong thinking about God… but they are together in spite of their .... let’s call them - ALLOWABLE DIFFERENCES.
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PAUL IS TELLING HIS READERS… in verse one… to welcome the person who has ALLOWABLE DIFFERENCES.
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He is telling them to not do what they feel so driven and inspired to do… -and that is: TO QUARREL WITH THEM OVER OPINIONS.
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And then, in vs 2., the lesson is laid out with the example of food. - One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables..
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Now, let’s stop and ask the question… ‘Why would some think it’s ok to eat meat, and others would think it’s not.”
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in the context of the Roman church… we have two options. The church was comprised of both Jewish and Gentile believers… therefore, both could have potentially brought with them some ideas that were engrained in them.
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Some of these Gentiles might have come out of a background of pagan worship. It wasn’t as prominent in Rome as it was in Corinth, but Paul is writing this letter from Corinth, so it’s on his mind. In pagan worship, they made sacrifices to their gods, and then sold that meat in the market. Many who came out of this background may have felt a strong conviction to avoid any connection to the past life. For this reason, they wouldn’t dare eat mean, in the off chance that it had passed through a pagan temple.
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This is why some of the strongest voices against drinking alcohol in any form, usually comes from people who were alcoholics.
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This is why some of the strongest voices against the potential misuse of authority, usually comes from people who were abused under some form of authority.
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This is why, some of the strongest voices against anything that might seem legalistic, usually comes from people who grew up in a legalistic culture.
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Our experiences shape our convictions… and our convictions might be in the ball park of truth… but, because of our own personal history, sometimes we have a tendency to take it to a more extreme level.
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It’s most likely… in the Roman church… that the people who struggled most with the eating of meat… were those who grew up in Judaism.
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Jews ate meat… but not all meat… and the meat that they did consume, had to be slaughtered in a specific way.
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Therefore, many Jews avoided any meat that had questionable origins. They also avoided the meat of animals that the law declared as being ‘unclean’.
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So in the Roman church… you had people who carried over with them, convictions from their previous life… and then, you had people, who did not carry over these convictions. - It’s the same for us, and for any church.
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We have some who believe one way… and some who believe another.
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SLIDE8
Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 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.
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Rom 14.3-
The eaters and the abstainers generally look at each other with judgment.
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The eaters declare that they are walking in all of the liberty that Christ has given them, and they look upon the abstainers and judge them for being legalists.
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The abstainers declare that they are holding to their beliefs and convictions, and they can quote their passages as proof and consider the eaters to be abusers of grace who deny what’s written in the law.
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That’s what is natural. That is how we are wired to be. We are automatically drawn to behave in this manner. We are wired to take up sides, to draw lines, to pick a team, to declare that our team is better…
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But Paul calls us out on this behavior.
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Not in terms of doctrines that matter… but rather, in terms of these non-essential issues of personal growth and conviction.
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We’re going to look at a passage in in a moment… but I want you to notice something here first…
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This isn’t a one sided consideration. Both sides have a responsibility here. The one who eats is not to despise the one who doesn’t… and the one who doesn’t eat, is not supposed to judge the one who does.
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when you despise someone… you’re looking down upon them with contempt or aversion. You are thinking of them as being ‘less than you’.
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You might think… “What’s a matter with that person? Why do they hold on to so many legalistic and ritualistic ideas? Why do they disregard the grace of God? Why do they limit themselves and restrict themselves?”
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But at the same time… the one thinks it’s important to observe certain days, or refrain from certain foods.... they are prone to judge.
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Their argument is often: “Yes, God has made all food clean… but the things that are called unclean in the Bible, are not food.” They hold to this idea and believe it with conviction… so when they encounter Christians eating pork chops and shrimp… they feel inclined to judge.
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Why? Because they feel like they are walking a narrower path… they feel like they are being obedient… maybe their practice of abstinence has been so engrained in their early life… that the idea of trespassing it, is unthinkable..
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Therefore… they might feel inclined to judge.
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Paul is telling both parties… that they have a responsibility to each other.. but as we’ll see in in … the stronger has a greater responsibility.
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The passage starts out by addressing the topic of food offered to idols.
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Some have knowledge… that it’s just meat… and whether it has passed by an idol or not, because an idol is actually nothing but a piece of stone… it’s still just meat.
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But Paul warns those who have this knowledge… don’t let it make you prideful.
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He makes it clear… that this is not a practice that is worth offending someone over.
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SLIDE9
Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
I cor 8
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Paul tells them, if they intentionally flaunt their liberty in front of a person who has strong convictions about the practice…they are actually sinning against their brothers and wounding their conscience.
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We can’t always guard our liberties from those who are stumbled.
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This condition of the weak person in is more intense than the one in … so therefore, it’s hard to come up with a consistent rule.
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Which is where… discernment comes in.
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In fact, we often quote
SLIDE 10
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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this is actually the context of that passage.
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In chapter 10 of 1 Cor, Paul is still teaching on this topic… encouraging believers to abstain when sharing a meal with an abstainer…
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Yes, the abstainer is to not judge the one who eats… but at the same time, because of their conscience… if they eat… it is to them sin.... which leads to the challenge to:
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SLIDE 11
Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
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1 COR 10.
BACK IN … Paul lets them know… that the one who abstains… and the one who eats… - they are honoring the Lord. They are responsible to the Lord. God honors their conviction… and if the strong makes the weak stumble… it is sin. And if the weak eats against their conscience… to them, it is also sin.
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I am not the master of the weaker brother, and the weaker brother is not the master of me. Concerning these issues of conviction… we are responsible to God.
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IN OUR CULTURE… in this modern day… the issue isn’t a matter of meat very often. It is for some in the sense of OT Law… and many still believe that it is wrong to eat what is unclean…
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It is my Biblical responsibility to respect that conviction, and not despise them… and it is their Biblical responsibility to not judge my freedom.
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They say unclean meats aren’t food… even though they are categorized as such… even though Paul says later in , concerning food… that all things are clean.
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If unclean foods are not food, there would be no need for Paul to say that all things are clean.
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The issue at hand… isn’t so much about what we are allowed to do, and what we are not allowed to do. The issue at hand is this: How can we, as a body of believers, who have incompatible beliefs… reveal God’s glory to this world, by loving and respecting one another?
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This if probably most prominent in our culture concerning things like… the movies we watch… or the language we use… or the alcohol we drink.
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Alcohol is probably the most prominent issue… that fits into this scenario for us.
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When the US Government created laws on prohibition… the church embraced it. Before the 20’s, you read very little about a call to not ever drink alcohol.
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The Bible clearly calls us to not be addicted… and to not be brought under the influence of alcohol…
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In terms of principle… it teaches us to not stumble those who hold to a strong conviction on the issue. And in the church, we have a lot of people who hold to this conviction… whether it be a matter of past alcoholism, or the influence of the prohibition doctrines...
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Whatever the case might be… this principle stands strong. As mature believers… we are not to despise the teetotaler… and the teetotaler isn’t to judge the one who consumes apart from drunkeness or addiction.
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As imitators of Christ… the greatest responsibility again… falls upon the one w/o conviction, in consideration of the one who holds the conviction.
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SLIDE 12
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
ROM 14:5-6
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Many of the believers who came from a background in Judaism still felt compelled to observe the feast days… The saved Gentiles didn’t see the need for doing this.
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Since they were in fellowship together… this too was a potential topic for conflict.
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I love Paul’s advice on this: - Whatever your conviction on this is… make sure you are fully convinced in your own mind.
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If you observe, or if you abstain… if you don’t observe, or if you eat… just make sure it’s about the Lord. In fact, the verses that follow tell us… to make sure we do what we do, not for ourselves… but for the Lord.
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SLIDE 13
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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Rom 14:
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SLIDE 14
Rom 14:
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
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This is what we have in common…
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We will all stand before God.
We will all bow your knee to the Lord.
We will all confess that He is God.
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Now, I want to conclude with a warning.
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The differences that Paul speaks of here… are not issues of clear cut doctrine. There are many rights and wrongs in the Bible… There are many things which are clear cut. There are actually issues that we should at times, break fellowship over.
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This is not a call to stand in unity with someone who denies the deity of Jesus. This is not a call to stand in unity with someone who elevates the so call truth of culture over the truth of the Bible. This is not a call to stand in unity with someone who uses their legalistic views to oppress others.
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The Christian church is divided… more than it should be… but in many ways, it is necessary.
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We con’t compromise sound Biblical doctrine for the sake of unity… but we do behave with consideration… when it comes to issues of personal conviction.
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More than anything… this isn’t an issue about food, or alcohol, or movies, or mixed swimming, or gambling, or long hair, or head coverings, or Saturday vs. Sunday...
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This is an issue… about loving one another, in the midst of our differences… and letting that supernatural love and consideration, be a testimony to the world around us.
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i love the fact, that we can disagree in some areas… but still be in fellowship.
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i love the fact, that we are diverse in conviction… but somehow, we are sticking it out… loving each other even as we disagree… and being imitators of Christ.
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in a world where we are told to hate those we disagree with… this is our testimony… this is our opportunity… this is our chance, to reveal God’s glory, to those who look on.
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