Love your neighbor before yourself - Romans 14:13-19
Homiletics II Expository Sermon Series • Sermon • Submitted
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· 30 viewsPaul exhorts the Roman church to put the concerns and weaknesses of others above their own freedoms and desires, thus fulfilling the law of love. This goes beyond loving your neighbor as yourself, and instead, prompts us to love others before ourselves.
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“Worry about yourself, and I’ll worry about me,”
“Worry about yourself, and I’ll worry about me,”
Societal “hands off approach”
Sin in our society prevalent
Western “freedom”
This behavior has corrupted the church as well
Present from the dawn of man when Cain said to God, “Am I my brothers keeper?”
Don’t want to worry about what others are doing or how our behavior may affect those around us
Paul deals with some similar issues that were happening in the Roman Church in our passage today.
13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Refers back to 14:2-4
Food laws
Pagan city, pagan sacrifices
Outlawed foods (Lev. 12)
Weak believers vs. Strong believers ID’d in 14:2
‘Therefore let us not...” referring back to 14:10-12
Pokemon illustration
But we must identify the method of determining what is sin and what is not.
Some sin is obviously highlighted in scripture
For example look back to Romans 13:13
Orgies/Drunkenness/Sexual Immorality/Sensuality/Quarreling/Jealousy
Sin therefore is not a matter of opinion
Current society will have issues that aren’t expressly forbidden by God
We can take the timeless truths found in scripture and apply those ideas to our current context.
This will take careful consideration and prayer to do properly
If you find yourself not willing to go to God in prayer, safe to say the behavior is wrong
No opinion can make right what God declares to be wrong
14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
Paul stands with the strong believers on this matter
Caveat: conscience determines what is sinful
Mark 7:18-19
18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
This matter of conscience becomes hugely important in practice
Not only important for the one who’s conscience objects, but for those around him as well
Brings us to 14:15
15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.
For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.
Main issue at play in this passage.
Refers back to Rom. 13:9-10
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Paul is teaching the Roman church the most important lesson that we take from Christ’s ministry: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
If we are to truly be Christlike, to truly bear God’s image, we must be so loving that we lay down our own freedoms in order to better love those around us.
Your own freedoms don’t matter if they cause someone else to fall into sin.
In the first half of chapter 14, Paul is speaking mainly about the freedom that we have found in Christ
He shifts his focus instead to laying down that freedom for the sake of others.
Let’s think for a minute about Jesus
Had the ultimate form of freedom, he is God himself and it was through him that everything was created according to Colossians 1.
But instead he cast off that freedom and subject himself to all things; being born in the lowliest of places to a poor family in a small insignificant corner of Israel. He lived homeless, and died the most shameful death imaginable in that time. And he did it for our sake.
He didn’t have to die, he didn’t have to endure the temptations in the desert, he didn’t have to be tortured, spit on, and mocked. He didn’t have to be killed, but he endured it anyway. He endured all that pain for us.
He endured that pain that there might be a new normal, a new standard which all people who call him Lord are called to follow. Loving your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus takes this love commandment very very seriously.
1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
Mafia illustration
Leading someone into sin, whether consciously or unconsciously, is not walking in love
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
The Kingdom is not built on the foundations of law, of debates on what is right or what is wrong; instead is it built upon the foundations of righteousness, of peace, and of joy in the Holy Spirit
Righteousness is walking in the correct manner with our God, and with our neighbor
To cultivate peace in this world, it will take us laying down our freedoms for the sake of those around us
and when we are able to properly walk righteously and in peace both with God and with our neighbors through the power of the Holy Spirit, joy will abound, the type of joy that only the Spirit can bring.
This type of behavior is what God seeks from us and this type of behavior towards other believers will be one of the best witnesses to God’s own love in our lives and it is through this witness that God will receive glory.
The road to peace and mutual upbuilding is paved by loving your neighbor not just as yourself, but before yourself.
Application
Application
To truly love our neighbor, the way Christ loves them and loves us, we may be required to lay something down.
Selflessly from the inside out
Hold each other accountable
Don’t be afraid to ask
To love like Christ, we must do so at all times
impossible without the Holy Spirit
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.