ROMANS 14:1-15:7 - The Conscience In Community - The Stronger Conscience

Introduction

On September 23rd, 1999, NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter passed around the far side of the planet Mars, 49 seconds earlier than expected—and was never heard from again. For the past 9 months the MCO had been making the 416 million-mile journey from Earth, periodically guided by adjustments sent from NASA to keep the spacecraft on-target to its destination—a parking orbit 140 miles above the surface of the Red Planet. But instead of an altitude of 140 miles, the probe flew a mere 35 miles over the surface of Mars—close enough to rip the $327 million-dollar craft to tiny flaming shreds as the Orbiter plowed through the thin Martian atmosphere at about ten thousand miles per hour.

During the investigation that followed it was discovered that the probe had been reporting its position during its 9-month flight using metric measurements, while the computers that were receiving that telemetry were reporting its position in standard measurements. So whenever the flight engineers relayed a course correction back to the probe, their calculations were off by the difference between standard and metric measurements (in this case, by a factor of 4.45!) leading to the (presumably spectacular) demise of the probe. The moral of the story: You can cause a catastrophe if your instruments aren’t calibrated with each other!

In the same way, churches can be buffeted and strained (and in some cases torn apart) when their members are operating on differently calibrated consciences. This is what we began to explore earlier this month here in Romans 14, when Paul was guiding the church in Rome over the issue of eating meat considered “unclean” in the Old Testament. Some had no trouble eating non-kosher foods, understanding that “nothing is unclean in itself” (Rom 14:14), while others were not able to eat such foods with a clear conscience, and so reverted to a strict vegetarian diet (Rom 14:2), possibly following the example of Daniel and his friends in the Old Testament who did not want to eat the unclean foods of the Babylonians (cp. Daniel 1:12).

Paul makes it clear here in Romans 14 that there is nothing wrong with Christians coming to different conclusions about what we have called “third order issues”—issues that are not about getting the Gospel right (“first order issues”) or broad doctrines of agreement for fellowship and unity of a church (“second order issues”). In other words, (and as Paul goes to great lengths to point out here), whether or not you eat a non-kosher meal does not make a difference to your salvation! In the same way, your convictions of conscience over whether Christians can go to a restaurant on Sunday or drink alcohol responsibly or smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco or watch horror movies or get tattoos or use medical marijuana or put up a Christmas tree or celebrate Halloween or use a particular Bible translation are not matters of whether or not you are saved—they are matters where good Christians can honestly differ and have different consciences.

Back to the Mars probe for a minute—if the NASA engineers had simply known that their instruments were calibrated in metric on one side and standard on the other, they could have accounted for the difference, and the Mars Climate Orbiter would be merrily spinning around the Red Planet as we speak.

In the same way, there is nothing wrong with Christians having different convictions over matters of conscience—as long as we know how to account for those differences in our life together. This is what we must come to God’s Word to discover—how do we live together as believers in one body here at Bethel Baptist Church when we differ on matters of conscience? How do we keep from going down in flames of dissension, bitterness and spite over matters of conscience? How do we navigate these issues in such a way that we can not only survive but thrive together as a church? So what I want us to do this morning is to look again at Romans 14 and 15 to see what God will teach us about how to navigate through this world with different convictions on matters of conscience.

As we saw last time, the issue in the church in Rome was a difference in conscience over whether it was right to eat non-kosher meats, observe the Sabbath, and so forth. Paul described the issue in terms of believers who had a strong conscience, and those who had a weak conscience. Now, it’s important to note here that the designation “strong” and “weak” is not an “either/or” idea—you don’t have either a strong or weak conscience. You can always find someone who has a weaker conscience than you on a particular issue, and you can always find someone with a stronger conscience. So this week I want us to consider how we relate to those whose conscience is weaker than ours in any given matter, and next week we will explore how we relate to those whose conscience is stronger than ours.

And so if you have a stronger, more theologically informed, more settled conviction on a particular “third order” issue, here is what God’s Word says to you:

A strong conscience leads a Christian to a WALK of HUMILITY

And I want to suggest that there are three areas in which Christians with a stronger conscience are to walk with humility. The first is in

I. Your walk before GOD

Writing to those who had no issues of conscience over eating “unclean” meat, Paul says

Romans 14:6 (ESV)

6 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...

Once again notice, as we did last time, that if you have a conscience that gives you freedom in a particular matter, you are to

HONOR GOD with your freedom (Romans 14:6)

The reason you are free to eat foods formerly unclean (or to go to a restaurant on Sunday, or to drink wine on your anniversary, or any other third-order matter) is not because you are free to toy with sin. Your freedom in a particular matter of conscience is so that God will be glorified, not as a way of freeing you up to indulge in a little sin here and there. Think of it this way: If you cannot immediately follow the expression of that freedom with the words, “Let us pray”, then you are not honoring God with that freedom. A truly strong conscience will lead you to walk humbly before God, honoring Him with your freedom, and will also cause you to

THANK GOD for your freedom (Romans 14:22)

We see that in verse 6: “The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God! And again in Romans 14:22:

Romans 14:22 (ESV)

22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

This is something that we will explore more thoroughly next week, but it is important to consider here: If God has really allowed you to have a clear conscience in a disputed matter, you have no reason to apologize for it. Nor should you. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:29:

1 Corinthians 10:29 (ESV)

29 ...why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?

If God has given you no reason to pass judgment on yourself for what you approve, it is a blessing from God. And you must never apologize for or disdain or turn down a blessing God has given you! The faith that God has given you, the convictions and certainties that you have about those disputable matters, those are God’s gifts to you! So delight in that freedom, and thank Him in humility and gratitude for that freedom!

If God has given you a strong conscience in a matter, walk humbly before Him in it—honor Him with it, thank Him for it, and remember that

You will ANSWER to GOD for your freedom (Romans 14:12)

In the context of reminding us not to judge or despise one another for our different opinions on matters of conscience, Paul says

Romans 14:12 (ESV)

12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

As we saw in Romans 2, we will each give an answer to God for how we obeyed or disobeyed our conscience. And for that reason it is very important to understand that in many ways a dulled conscience can masquerade as a clear conscience. If you have not sought God’s supervision to calibrate your conscience, if you have been taking your cues from the world around you more than God’s Word, you may think that you have a strong conscience in a particular matter when in reality you are only being spiritually and morally lazy. And spiritual laziness instead of maturity in matters of conscience will cause frictions and animosity and dissension in a church fellowship.

A strong conscience leads a Christian to walk of humility before God—honor Him with your freedom, thank Him for your freedom, and remember you will answer to Him for your freedom of conscience someday.

And that humility in which you walk is not only a humility before God, but also in

II. Your walk with YOURSELF

Look again at verse 5. As Paul describes the differences between the “strong” and “weak” conscience, he says

Romans 14:5 (ESV)

5 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.

When it comes to the freedom in disputable matters that a strong conscience provides you, you must always strive to be

Fully CONVINCED in your own MIND (Romans 14:5b)

And this goes back to the point we just made—you must be sure that your conscience is calibrated according to God’s Word and “clear reason”. Don’t conduct yourself in matters of Christian liberty just on the basis of what you are pretty sure is right; be sure to live in such a way that you are being led by God’s Spirit so that He can get your attention to sharpen your conscience through His Word. This means that you walk in humility with your strong conscience—that you are always willing to reevaluate your conscience in light of God’s leading and His Word!

And a great deal of being “fully convinced in your own mind” about your freedom of conscience is to be

Fully PERSUADED in the LORD JESUS (Romans 14:14; cp. Mark 7:19; 1 Cor. 8:6)

This is how Paul describes his “strong conscience” in Romans 14:14:

Romans 14:14 (ESV)

14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself...

It is a wonderful thing to be “persuaded in the Lord Jesus” about a matter of conscience. What Paul is saying here is that he knows that all foods are clean because the Mosaic Law has been completely fulfilled in Christ! Think of that—Paul’s freedom to eat non-kosher foods was purchased for him by Jesus’ death, bural and resurrection! Paul has no more worry that he is being unfaithful to God or dishonoring Him by what he eats, because Jesus Christ has freed him from every guilt and every shame and every legalistic requirement of the Law!

This is where a strong conscience comes from—when you can see and understand that you hold this freedom, this liberty in a “third order issue” because of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, then you are truly free! But Paul hastens to add at the end of verse 14 that this is not a reason to disregard or despise or look down on someone who does not have that same understanding:

Romans 14:14 (ESV)

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.

And that is the third area where we must understand that a strong conscience must walk with humility—in

III. Your walk with OTHERS

You may have no problem whatsoever eating lizard fritters for lunch, but your brother or sister in Christ might have a real problem with it. And you are required to

Walk with RESPECT for their CONVICTIONS (14:1, 3, 10)

Several places here in Romans 14, Paul doesn’t just “suggest” but commands those with a stronger conscience to respect the convictions of their weaker brothers and sisters:

Romans 14:1 (ESV)

1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

Romans 14:3 (ESV)

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.

Romans 14:10 (ESV)

10 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;

Never forget that a weak conscience does not mean a weak man. Desmond Doss had a weak conscience that convicted him that killing in war would be sin—but he was one a Christian who possessed both a weak conscience and the Congressional Medal of Honor!

If God has welcomed that weaker brother, who are you to despise him? If they have searched the Scriptures just as diligently as you have, if they have sought to be led by the Spirit of God and calibrate their conscience under the direct supervision of God just as honestly and humbly as you have and they have come to a different conclusion over some third order issue, you have no right to quarrel or argue or look down on them. You walk in humility with your weaker sister, because Christ died for her and accepts her just as He does you.

A walk in humility before others means that you walk with respect for their convictions (even if they differ from yours). And Paul also says in verses 21-23 that you

Walk with CONCERN for their HOLINESS (14:21, 23, cp. 1 Cor 8:10-12)

Romans 14:21–23 (ESV)

21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

In other words, if you insist on your own rights borne of a strong conscience, if you say, “My liberty to eat this food or observe this day or drink this drink is my right and I don’t care what you think”, then you are becoming a source of sin for your brother.

In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul was dealing with a similar situation borne out of some believers who were going to feasts at pagan temples—kind of a First Century barbeque. They didn’t care about the little ritual some priest conducted at the beginning of the feast, dedicating it to whatever god they worshipped; they were just there for the pulled pork and beef brisket. Paul warned them in 1 Corinthians 8 that their going to those feasts may not be a problem for them (and in fact it wasn’t a problem):

1 Corinthians 8:4 (ESV)

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”

BUT, Paul said, there was a real danger that by going to those feasts they were going to destroy their fellow Christians:

1 Corinthians 8:10–12 (ESV)

10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Let me try to put what Paul is saying in the clearest terms possible for you this morning: When you insist on observing your liberties rooted in your “strong” conscience in a particular matter without caring about those who may be upset or anxious over it, you are becoming a source of temptation to sin for them. In short, you are playing the part of Satan in their lives. You tempt them to do something they believe to be sin, and if they violate their conscience and do what they see you doing they have fallen into sin. And it was your doing. You have become the Tempter in their lives. So Christian, you walk in humility with your stronger conscience, out of concern for the holiness of your brother or sister in Christ.

And Paul makes it clear the best way of all to walk in that kind of humility in Romans 15:1-3:

Romans 15:1–3 (ESV)

1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Do you see it? The way that you walk as a Christian with a strong conscience for the sake of your brothers and sisters in Christ is to

Walk in CHRIST with SACRIFICIAL LOVE (Romans 15:1-3)

Here is Christlikeness in your walk with Christians who have a weaker conscience than you—to have the privilege of liberty in a matter, to know that God has blessed you with it and to be firmly and completely convinced in your own mind and persuaded that the blood of Jesus Christ has purchased that liberty for you, and then lay it down for their sake! To say, “This is not about me, it’s about my brother! This is not about my strength, this is about their need!

Jesus Christ Himself is our example, is He not? His liberty, His utter and complete confidence in His Father, His comprehensive and unquestionable freedom in everything as the eternal Second Person of the Trinity—and He laid it down for the sake of weak, struggling, failing souls like ours!

Yes, Christian, you may be completely free to enjoy a glass of wine on your anniversary, you may be utterly convinced in your own mind and certain that the blood of Jesus Christ has purchased your liberty to celebrate Halloween or take the COVID shot or pay for a Disney+ subscription or whatever it might be—but the most Christlike action of all is to be willing to lay down that privilege for the sake of your brother or sister’s spiritual health! It doesn’t mean that you apologize for that blessing, it doesn’t mean that you totally reject that freedom, but it means that you love your weaker brother in Christ more than you love your strong conscience!

I want to tell you about something that happened here at Bethel last year, just as all of the mask mandates and church closures and authoritarian clampdowns were just starting to show up. I don’t want to use their names, but they may talk about it themselves if they want to sometime.

It was a discussion between two church members about wearing facemasks in church. One member felt very strongly that it was inappropriate and an unlawful intrusion into the worship of the church for the state to require facemasks, and they were perfectly at peace in their conscience to disobey the state mandate. The other individual did not have such confidence, and was in fact feeling uncomfortable with the thought of others not masking up in church, as a practical matter and as a matter of conscience.

Now, there are churches out there and Christians out there over the past several months who would have looked at that difference of opinion as “fighting words”—and there are many fellowships that burst into flaming ruins of dissension, strife, church splits and other kinds of smoking moon craters in the landscape because two consciences were calibrated differently over facemasks in church.

But in the kindness and overflowing grace of God, His Spirit guided that conversation here at Bethel right where it needed to go: Because when the weak believer said, “My conscience convicts me about not wearing a mask”, the strong believer said, “If it means that you will keep coming to church, I will wear a mask every week!”

Beloved, that is what God calls us to do in matters of two consciences calibrated differently! It’s what Paul said about eating meat or not in 1 Corinthians 8:13:

1 Corinthians 8:13 (ESV)

13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

A strong conscience leads a Christian to a walk of humility before God, in your own heart, and with your fellow Christians. If God has enabled your conscience to be free in a matter, thank Him for that freedom, glorify Him for that freedom, and remember that you will be called to answer for how you used that freedom when you stand before Him.

And if you have been clinging to that freedom of a strong conscience in spite of the way it hinders your fellow Christian, if you love your liberty more than you love their holiness, if you would rather fight for your “rights” than look out for the tender conscience of another precious soul for whom Christ shed His blood, then you need to stop, you need to lay down that pride and self-centeredness, you need to repent of becoming the Tempter in your weaker brother’s life. “Do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil” (Rom. 14:16), do not let your strong conscience cause another’s weak conscience be thrown into sin. Be ready to lay down that freedom for the sake of your brother, be ready to forgo the liberty you have for the sake of your sister

Romans 15:6

6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

BENEDICTION

Jude 24–25 (ESV)

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Read Romans 14:7-8. What do these verses say about the importance of our church understanding how to live and worship together while holding different convictions in matters of conscience?

What is one area where you believe God has given you a “stronger” conscience regarding a particular disputable matter? What does Romans 14:6 say about how you are to use that freedom? How can you honor God with your freedom in that area?

Read Romans 15:1-3 again. What is one way you can use your freedom in Christ to build up your brother or sister with a weak conscience? Spend time in prayer this week that God will show you how you can “please your neighbor for their good, to build him up” this week, while thanking God for His gracious gift of a good conscience!