Conflicts in the Church Romans 14:1-9
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Review: Chapter 13 of Romans. When we last left the Apostle Paul in Romans 13 (November 1) we were looking at a few different things:
Romans 13:1-7–Submitting to the government. This tied back to chapter 12 where Paul said that we should not repay evil for evil. Vengeance is God’s, but Paul writes that God uses government to punish. We looked at the believer’s response to the government.
Romans 13:8-10–Love your neighbor. We had looked in chapter 12 about loving your enemy, now Paul talks about your neighbor. We looked at the parable of Good Samaritan when Jesus was asked who is my neighbor. Finally on November 1 for :
Romans 13:11-14–Wake up! Time is Short! Put on Christ! We only have a short time here and we have a mission. Only one life will soon be passed only what’s done for Christ will last. Time to put on Christ.
Introduction
Introduction
Now we transition into another area of Romans that encompasses chapter 14 and part of chapter 15. Paul deals with how to deal with conflicts in the church. Since the church began in the book of Acts there were disagreements and many revolved around Jew/Gentiles in the church. Here in Romans it appears to be related this as well dealing with dietary concerns mainly, but with a few other things. These concerns are brought up in Acts as well as many of Paul’s other letters. As we look at these in the historical contexts and see how they apply to our 21st world and church.
Romans 14:1
Romans 14:1
Romans 14:1 (NKJV): Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
Romans 14:1 (ESV): As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
Romans 14:1 (NLT): Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.
The Apostle Paul begins this part of his letter by telling the church to Receive/Accept/Welcome a believer who is weak in the faith. The Greek word is an imperative (command). It is not a suggestion. It is a command. Now what is Paul talking about “weak” believers? The way that this word is in Greek is that it could be translated “those who are currently weak”. John MacArthur talking about how it render in the Greek “suggesting a temporary condition. The Greek text also has the definite article (the) before faith, indicating that Paul was not speaking of spiritual trust or faithfulness but of understanding the full truth of the gospel message. A better rendering, therefore, might be: one who is weak in the faith.”
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
When talking about weak, Paul is talking about maturity in the faith and in this context he is not talking about sin issues, but rather opinions. As I mentioned in the introduction there were many things both with the Jews and Gentiles that caused issues.
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
The church has been divided by issues many time that are not sin issues, but many times are related to opinions/disputes over doubtful things.
Romans 14:2-3
Romans 14:2-3
The first area is over food.
For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
English Standard Version Chapter 14
2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 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.
New Living Translation Chapter 14
2 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. 3 Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.
Believers in Jesus Christ that came from a Jewish background as well as believers in Jesus Christ from a Gentile background both had issues in terms of food.
Kosher Food (Mosaic Law)
Kosher Food (Mosaic Law)
Acts 10:9-16—Peter’s vision on the rooftop.
Galatians 2:11-21—Paul’s conflict with Peter over this very issue.
While not directly about food (more with circumcision) Act 15 deals with this idea of becoming Jewish before becoming Christian.
Food Offered to Idols (Pagan Sacrifices)
Food Offered to Idols (Pagan Sacrifices)
Going back to Jerusalem Council the first message to the Gentile believers was: Acts 15:29 “that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.”
Yet, it appears that when Paul is writing to the church in Corinth he goes into more this area
Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.
But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Paul deals with this more in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians.
But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”
Looking more at this:
Looking more at this:
So one of the areas in the church that could and did cause conflict was over food. If food causes a brother or sister to stumble don’t do it in front of them. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8 “lest somehow this liberty/freedom of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak.”
Case in Point: Alcoholic beverages
Case in Point: Alcoholic beverages
The Bible does NOT say you cannot drink alcohol. It clearly says DON’T GET DRUNK. For you, you might not have an issue with alcohol. You have one drink and that is enough. Yet, another brother or sister in the faith might have an issue. Maybe they were alcoholic or grew up in a family that was alcoholic. Maybe there is no such thing as just one drink. You drinking in front of them might cause them to stumble. They might be strong/mature in the faith in some areas, but weak in other areas.
Yet, in either case. How do we respond?
“Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him”
Don’t Despise/Disdain/Scorn (once again a command). Don’t treat them with contempt.
Remember these are not sin issues, but Paul is warning them that judging / the contempt and the non-loving nature of believers could turn opinions and disputes into sin.
Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary God Receives Them
Exoutheneō (regard with contempt) is a strong term that carries the idea of looking on someone as totally worthless, as being nothing or less than nothing. It does not connote simply dislike or disrespect, but utter disdain and abhorrence. Many Jews of that day regarded all Gentiles with contempt, and many Greeks and Romans had the similar regard for those they referred to as barbarians.
God has already received them/welcomed them both the strong (mature) and weak.
The Letter to the Romans (Second Edition) 1. Serving the Same Lord (14:1–12)
Christians have no right to reject from their fellowship those whom God himself has accepted. They must “receive” those whom God has “received.”
Romans 14:4
Romans 14:4
Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Romans 14:5-6
Romans 14:5-6
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
Should we worship on Sabbath or on Sunday?
Romans 14:7-9
Romans 14:7-9
For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Conclusion / Application to the 21st Century Church
Conclusion / Application to the 21st Century Church
An issue that has been around since the beginning of the church is something we still face today. Churches have arguments and splits . Christian brothers and sisters refuse to speak to each other because of differences that are not even a sin issue, but because of opinions.
He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
If our actions are in genuine agape love (unconditional love) we will be coming beside our brothers and sisters. That they might grow and mature in the faith. Maybe we are the weak ones still growing in the faith and most likely each one of us is maturing in different areas and other areas are still weak. We are all in a process. That is why we are a body. We help each other out to grow together.