Rom 14-Taboo or not Taboo-1

| Taboo or Not Taboo – Part 1 – On Sin & Judgment! Romans 14:1-13

July 6, 2008(NASB) 1Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.2One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.3The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.4Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.5One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.6He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.7For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;8for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.10But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11For it is written,“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,And every tongue shall give praise to God.”12So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.13Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. PRAY Scripture Memory: Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. – Romans 13:8(NLT) Intro:This morning we will be beginning a five part series entitled “Taboo or NOT Taboo.” This morning we will be doing an overview of the larger issue. Then over the next several weeks we will be looking at:·         Weak faith or Strong Faith?·         Sabbath Principles in the New Covenant·         Calling Sin “Sin”·         Christian Liberty  in Christian CommunityIn this passage, Paul is addressing the problem of divisions within the body of Christ over disputable life-style issues:Dietary restrictions – What we eat (or don’t eat) – drink or don’t drinkHow we view holy days – SabbathNext to circumcision, diet and calendar were the most sensitive issues that separated Jews from all Gentiles.It was very difficult for Jews to get kosher meat (from animals killed under the supervision of a rabbi), so many Jews chose to eat only vegetables. Furthermore, in most places it was impossible to tell whether the meat came from animals sacrificed to idols. “For some Jews, strict adherence had become a badge portraying loyalty to Judaism.”This would probably be an issue for us if we, say, were to merge with a Korean church, or with a Reformed Episcopal or Reformed Baptist Church. Two critical responses:Believers who were “strong” were viewing those who were “weak” with contemptBelievers who were “weak” were passing judgment on those who were “strong”The deeper issue, here, is not so much theological as attitudinal. “The crucial problem that needed to be addressed was the critical responses of the groups to one another. Don’t Judge each other, Accept each other1Accept (welcome) the one who is weak in faith…not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions (NIV without passing judgment on disputable matters).3The one who eats is not to regard with contempt (NIV look down on) the one who does not eat (who abstains)The one who does not eat (who abstains) is not to judge (ESV pass judgment on, NIV condemn) the one who eats4Who are you to judge (pass judgment on) the servant of another?10But you, why do you judge (pass judgment on) your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? We need to learn how to agree to disagree on non-essentials.1. Discerning the Essential Issues2. Agreeing to Disagree on the Non-essentialsWhat are the “non-essentials?”What does it mean to disagree agreeably?1. Discerning the Essential IssuesWhat are the “non-essentials?”Important note: There is no room for liberality when we are dealing with clear doctrinal or moral issues. If God says it is true in His Word, then it is true and is not open to debate. However, there are many areas which, while the Scriptures may be clear at one level, they are not as clear on another – i.e. drinking alcohol in moderation, smoking cigarettes, what it means to “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy”There are other areas where the Scripture is explicitly clear – i.e. drunkenness, homosexuality, physical intimacy outside of marriage, etc.) – Calling sin “sin” – later this month…“Often Christians base their moral judgments on opinion, personal dislikes, or cultural bias, rather than on the Word of God.”In order to understand what the nonessentials are, we have to understand what the essentials are.Essentials:1.     Absolutes: things which define a person as a child of God – The Gospel…2.     Convictions: things which are right or wrong because GOD says they are…The need to have our convictions BIBLICALLY formed – The alternatives:·     Convictions which come from other Christians·     Convictions which come from our own druthers ·     Convictions which come from the society in which we live, or from the way we were raisedNonessentials:Ø     Things which are not explicit in Scripture.Ø     Things which seem pretty clear to ME in Scripture, but are seen differently by others whom I deeply respect. 2. Agreeing to Disagree on Non-essentialsWhat does it mean to disagree agreeably?Two problems: contempt or condescension (looking down on others) and passing judgment on othersTo treat with contempt means “to regard as nothing,” to reject with contempt or scorn – Thank you, God that I am not like…To judge means to pass judgment on – to act, in our hearts and in our attitudes, as judge and jury…“The libertarian (liberal) Christians were acting superior to the more scrupulous ones.”“The narrow-minded” (conservative) Christians… became judgmental of the more liberal Christians.”  |   | Life Application Commentary on those whom Paul referred to as the “weak” in faith: “Rather than broaden their understanding of freedom in Christ, they adopted a view of condemnation toward those who ate the wrong foods and treated every day alike.”WHY do we condemn each other, or judge each other?Ø     We are threatened when others don’t agree with usØ     We tend to resent others who have freedoms where we feel restricted.We tend to look down on others when we are convicted in an area – i.e. sweets and Ursinus InterVarsity / smoking / how we use the Lord’s Day / Home Schooling (public schooling) / music style“The problem is that we judge other Christians by whether they measure up to what we ourselves do, forgetting that we are probably not very good models in these areas ourselves, at least if we are to measure our performance by the saints of a past era, and that the other Christian may be excelling in areas with which we are not even familiar. One very common form of this is the way a spiritual wife will judge a husband who does not read the Bible or Christian books as much as she does.” “It may well be that the husband is not spiritual, of course. But whether he is ot not, the attitude that judges him for what he is not doing and fails to appreciate him for what he is doing is wrong.” BoiceDonald Grey Barnhouse – and the group of ministers: …talking down about other ministers – Barnhouse: one he had known personally / gone through seminary and ordained, but seldom preached, never went to prayer mtgs., failed to attend church for weeks at a time, spent all of his time in his library and indulged habits that others felt were intemperate & un-Christian, for > 20 yrs…No credit to the ministry, perhaps not even a Christian…Later favorite Bible study helps: Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance “Both are acting according to their consciences, but their honest scruples do not need to be made into rules for the church.” A 3rd reason we condemn each other, or judge each other:Ø     We make assumptions without knowing all the facts.Like the woman on the train observing the father and his kids…We all have bad-hair days…Do we allow for what we have been taught…?1 Cor. 13:7 – Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.The invisible tape recorder around our necks… Agreeing to Disagree…·     Willingness to be challenged, without needing to agree·     Willingness to listen without needing to be heard·     Willingness to respect without needing to necessarily understand / agree… in the NONessentials…“The problem is that Christians are always dumping on one another. Instead of getting on with living their own lives as best they can to the glory of God or, which is also necessary, living so as to win nonbelievers to Christ, they are wasting their time trying to find fault with one another. They do not trust what God is doing in the other Christian.” Boice A 4th reason we condemn each other, or judge each other:Ø     We forget that people are accepted by GOD. (HE is their judge… and OURS.)The alternative: To accept each other - to take as one’s companion.Jew, Gentile, Roman, Greek, rich, poor, slave, free, new Christian, old Christian – we need “to accept, welcome, and love one another without judging or condemning—no matter how weak, immature or unlearned someone’s faith may seem. Acceptance creates room for growth to continue; rejection stunts growth.” Life Application Commentaryv. 1 – Accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.v. 3 –  The one who eats is not to regard with contempt (NIV look down on) the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge (NIV condemn) the one who eats, for God has accepted him.v. 4 –  Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls (NLT They are responsible to the Lord, so let him judge whether they are right or wrong); and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.The KEY Question: Are YOU and are THEY accepted by God?!?The gospel… communion… Unity in essentialsLiberty in nonessentialsLove/grace in all things Summary / Review:We need to be very careful and discerning when it comes to defining and confronting sin which we observe in each other, because we are often blinded by our own sin, because we so quickly forget our own need for grace and because we so quickly forget what makes others (and US acceptable to God. A Truth to Remember: If we have acknowledged the part our sin played in putting Jesus Christ on the cross and have embraced Him as our Lord and Savior, then we are acceptable to God through Him… and so are our brothers and sisters. A Challenge to Consider:Are we guilty of standing in judgment over our brothers and sisters, failing to extend the same grace to them, that we constantly receive from our Father because of Jesus? One thing I heard this morning was… |