Romans 14. Paul continues to speak to the practical ways. This is not currently working. I am on… It’s working? Can you hear me? Yeah. All right. I can hear you. Paul is speaking to the practical ways that love works its way out in the church. He’s addressing, particularly, the weak and the strong. Romans 14:13-5:7. Can you please join me in prayer as we look to the reading of God’s word. Blessed are you, Holy God, in Jesus Christ, your light shines in our darkness and your light has not been overcome by it. And so we ask God of light that you would shine in our lives with the light of Christ, that we might give you praise through him, that we might continue to reflect his radiant image before you. At this we pray and ask with he who reigns with you in the Holy spirit now and forever. Amen. Romans 14, beginning in verse 13. Therefore, let us not patch judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and I’m persuaded the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean.
For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. ‘For by what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. ‘ ‘So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil, for the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy spirit. ‘ ‘Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. ‘ ‘So then let us pursue what makes for peace, for mutual upbuilding. ‘ ‘Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. ‘ ‘Everesthe is indeed clean, but it is not wrong for anyone. It is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. But each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. The word of the Lord. Thank you. In the 1980s, Satanic panic gripped the US.
It was an actual thing, you can look it up. People were afraid and fearful of Satanic cults of abusing children and performing human sacrifices. Part of what drove this was, now making this up, Christian comedian named Mike Warnke. In his best-selling book, Satan’s Seller, and along with his many venues that he went to in terms of his comedy and his speaking, he claimed that he had been a Satanic high priest that oversaw 1,500 Satanists before he was converted. Now, he became a go-to media expert on Satanism, and he even gave the police help in understanding ritual abuse. It was all completely fabricated. None of it was true. It was exposed later. But during this time, not just because of him, but other things, people freaked out about Sepanic abuse and sacrifices that weren’t happening. In 1994, the New York Times claimed that of the 12,000 accusations of ritual abuse, the police were not able to substantiate any of them. Now, before he was exposed as a complete fraud, Warren Key, along with many others, spoke at all kinds of churches churches, and he made a connection between Halloween and all of the sanctuism. It had a huge effect in certain circles of Christianity.
If you were an evangelical kid being raised in the mid ’70s to the mid ’90s, Halloween was considered by many to be a celebration of evil rather than good. We saw a lot of churches coming up with costume party alternatives. For some, participating in Halloween was harmless For others, it was an active participation in sin of the very worst kind. A fun evening of knocking on doors and getting candy or a demonically inspired event. What was the kid supposed to do? Large parts of your friend group pulled you in one direction or another. Your conscience could have been deeply bothered by a potential sin, or your conscience could have been really irritated over the weakness of wrong-headed convictions. Like I said last week, the things that don’t bother you, you don’t consider very important or take them very seriously. But when they matter to you, it’s very different. There have always been certain flashpoints in the broader church over various issues, and These issues are of secondary importance to salvation, but we make them a primary relevance. It was food and drink in the church in Rome. That’s still an issue in many places, to be sure.
A strong but But uninformed conscience is the inciting issue. And yet what is actually central to all of it is how we are to love those who differ with us. Because Jesus has died for my brothers and sisters, I must not do anything that would destroy their faith. I’m under obligation to love them by building them up and not tearing them down. Paul continues to instruct this divided Christian church in Rome how to stand united in Christ. Likely this issue was about Jewish food regulations, about observing certain feast days, that thing. We looked at that in greater detail last week. But Paul is telling us that while these are not salvation issues, they are things that can divide us because people apply the gospel in different ways. Real believers who understand the good news of Jesus who apply it differently than us. Paul says first that we are not to cause them to stumble, and second, we are actually to build them up in the faith. We’re looking first at stumbling stones. He begins verse 13, Let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather to decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
It doesn’t come out as much in English, but Paul is using a pun here. He’s using that word judge twice He’s saying, Don’t judge the other, but rather judge what’s the best way not to trip him up. Then Paul gives a summary of what we see of Jesus teaching in Mark Chapter 7, of Jesus making all foods clean. He declares, I am now Now, I’m not persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is clean in itself. But it’s the end of the verse that’s important. But it is unclean for anyone who thinks it’s unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you’re no longer walking in love. By what you eat, you destroy the one for whom Christ died. There’s no room for just telling the other person, Well, you just need to get over it. The strength of our love is not shown in the rightness of our position. The strength of our love is shown in how we put the needs of others above our own. And Paul goes on, Do not let what you regard as good be spoken as evil. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy spirit.
Now, a freshman attitude can occur about rubbing your freedom in the face of another person who disagrees with you. In American culture, starting in the mid-1800s, the temperance movement took on a huge political and cultural force, so much so that in 1920, we ultimately added the 18th Amendment our Constitution banning alcohol manufacture and sales. This is when grape juice started being used instead of wine in communion. It was for this purpose, not making this up, that Welchish grape juice was started for communion wine. People actually left churches if the pastor thought that Jesus turned water into the wine that had alcohol in it. That happened. Large papers and discours on what Jesus actually did in the formation of water into, quote, wine, whatever that meant. People argued about this. It mattered. Alcohol use was a big deal in American churches. It still is for many. But what happened in about the last 30 years has been a shift that’s taking place. People are seeing things differently. That is not a sin issue. But as often the case, some younger Christians began to rub their use of alcohol in the face of older ones who didn’t.
So instead of maybe quietly having a glass of wine or beer for your meal, it became a very visible and vocal demonstration of your freedom. Hey, I’ll have a beer over here. Me and my boys were having beers, beers, beers, beers, beers. You just want to say, grow up. It becomes then the use of, I’m demonstrating I can use this freedom, and you’re wrong, you’re small, you’re little. Not just simply, You have freedom? Okay, fine. Paul says, The Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. I hear what he says next, verse 20, Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean. But if it’s wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats, by what he drinks. Verse 21, he’s saying, Better not to indulge in to cause your brother to stumble. The primacy of what Paul is saying, the faith, we might say the conviction that you have, he on, Keep between yourself and God. Bless is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
But here’s the issue for the strong to consider. Whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because eating is not from faith, or whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Now, you can use your freedom freely. That’s fantastic. But what is free for you It could be a chain of sin for your brother or sister. Pressuring them to join with you may be disastrous for them. Now, hear this as Americans. It is entirely possible to enjoy freedoms that you do not exercise. You can enjoy freedoms given to you that you do not exercise. You can thrill at the liberty Jesus has given you all these disputable areas without ever having to do them because your desire to love another means loving them more than your freedoms because you know that Christ died for them. You see, It’s more than not just putting a stumbling stone of some kind in front of your brother or your sister. You’re also called to build them up. Don’t just stop at not stumbling. It’s now perceived lead with the freedom you have to build them up in Christ. Paul says in verse 19, So then let us pursue what makes for peace for mutual upbuilding.
15:1, We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Notice he’s calling it failings. He’s not saying they’re right. In fact, he’s correcting them in this letter. But he’s putting the emphasis to those who are strong. We’re immediately taking back to the higher position of love for God and love for neighbor. Let each of you, verse 2, please his neighbor for his good to build him up. Why? For Christ did not please himself. Self, verse 3. And then Paul quotes Psalm 69, he says, The reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me. He’s saying, Jesus embodied this. He bore our reproach. He took our sin upon himself. Building Willing the other up is how we embody Christ in the same way, a willingness to take scorn and reproach for someone else. And then Paul gives this glorious prayer, a benediction, a blessing. It’s however you would like to see it. It’s amazing. Verse 5, May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. That’s amazing. It’s an amazing statement to make, to pull everything together, that we are one in Christ. That God has called us to be his people. In 1 Peter 2, there Peter says, As you come to Jesus, the living stone, rejected by humans, but chosen by God, to him, you also, like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house. Because Jesus, the living stone, we are being built into a spiritual house, and we have the privilege, because we’re united to him of being part of the construction team. We help build one another up to be fitted into his house. That’s a great privilege and a joy. But as I said last week, this is incredibly hard. None of this is easy. To sacrifice something you know to be okay for the sake of someone who should learn to grow up is difficult. It’s hard to lay down a right that’s yours to take in order to love somebody else well. Applying this is hugely challenging. It’s difficult. But before we start killing Paul’s commands through a death of a thousand qualifications, start with the very first principle.
In love, put others before yourself. We have to start there. Otherwise, we begin with, well, they’re uninstructed, they’re misinformed, and I’m going to be the one to educate them. Somebody’s got to do it. Really? Why you? What particularly about you needs to be the one who steps in there to correct them? More importantly, is this more about a love for them or really about a desire to have your freedom back? Because if that’s the reason, if the reason is I just want to be able to do the things I’m free to do, it’s really just about you again, not about the other person. Well, what about pharisees? Jesus correct to them, you bet. We stand firmly against anything that’s against the good news of Jesus. How we do this matters. We make very sure that actually it’s a gospel issue. Because we make our preferences or the things that we hold near and dear, we moralize them. And we have to really be skeptical of ourselves. I’m not talking simply about differences of opinion on biblical matters. It’s not like, well, it says not to steal, commit adultery or murder, but whatever you want. What’s good for you, maybe not good for another person.
No, it’s wrong to do those things. We’re talking about these issues that are of secondary importance. Things that are indifferent to the message of the gospel. I was raised as a Catholic, and a lot of things that bothered evangelicals were not on my radar screen for a really long time. The whole Halloween thing I thought was weird. Pretty sure that none of the neighbors in my rural area live in Helen Flats. None of them were Satanists. So it was just strange to me. But I had friends who were decidedly against it. Like, Oh, my next door neighbor was a devout Baptist of the King James variety. She loved Jesus. She really loved us as neighbors. She was really kind to us. Prayed for us all the time. At the same age as her grandkids, we were friends. And one of the things being over there was we were constantly told we’re not supposed to listen to music with the devil’s beat in it. I had no idea that devil had his own syncopation. I didn’t even know what it meant. How could the devil I’ll have a beat? But she meant no rock and roll or no things that started moving to making me dance or something.
But she was very clear about that. My dear neighbor, she loved to play cards, though. Now, Later, I ran into another group of Christians who thought this was a terrible sin. You could not use face cards because somehow they were also Satanic. I’m not really sure why. But you could do Dutch Blitz and Rook. That was okay. Then another group of Christians He’s later informing that, all those cards were the devil and those playing Christians are really weak and immature in their faith. Oh, okay. Then many Christians told me that smoking was a sin because as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, your body is a temple of the spirit. Well, I thought he was talking about sexual immorality, but I guess that included cigarettes. Then later, I had some European Christians quote this very verse to me, telling me about drinking soda, eating processed foods, and trans fats were wrong because it’s against the temple of the spirit. Christmas trees, wedding rings, Bible translations, dancing, political parties, TV shows, movies, the music you listen to, the food you eat, whether or not you have a tattoo, how do you dress? The list goes on.
Something somewhere offends someone. Every Christian has their things. It looks different in charismatic circles than it does a dozen Baptist than it does in reform. All of us have things that we are sure are central to a life of faith and devotion to Christ that somebody else looks at and says that’s silly, unbiblical, and misinformed. And none of these things are salvation issues. And many of them, you look at them, Well, that seems silly to me. Well, that’s the point. Until you hit on one that matters to you, then it’s not silly. It’s really important. Well, what are we to do? Offended people are legion with us today. Paul’s response, verse 7, Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. This is where we Start. Start with not despising those who differ, not judging them. That’s super hard. Start with remembering the great patience the Lord has exercised towards you, because none of us figured it all out all at once. We’re still figuring it out. I actually love this quote from John Newton. I put in your bulletin. John Newton, he said, I have been 30 years forming my own views.
And the course of this time, some of my hills have sunk, some of my valleys have risen. But how unreasonable within me to expect that all this should take place in another person, and that in the course of a year or two. One One Sunday school class doesn’t correct it. Giving a person a book doesn’t finalize it for them. It can take years for us to have deep convictions changed. And that means then that we do not flaunt our freedoms to others. We recognize that we have maybe a helpful fence in an area of our life because of our own weakness isn’t a moral law for somebody else. When I came out of grad school and applying for all the places and applying to schools to teach, often there are these school conduct codes, and several of them said things like this, In order to demonstrate moderation, we require you sign a statement where you do not drink or smoke or dance. Well, that’s a strange way to demonstrate moderation. But that’s a part of the fences they had that they were putting out there for everybody. At the same time, we don’t just jump into our little bulldozer and run over the moral fences of others because we want them to grow up.
That’s not right either. When people are moving at different speeds in their gospel understanding, love is the guiding motive. Love one another, it takes precedent over our personal freedoms. A well-known quote from Martin Luther, A Christian is perfectly free, Lord of all, subject to none. Yeah, yes and amen. He continues, A Christian is perfectly a dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all. Both of those are true. That’s the good news of Jesus, that we have been set free with nothing other than Jesus over us. And now in that, we are able to put ourselves under and serve other people because we’re following him who emptied himself and took the form of a servant. A smoldering wick he would not quench. That’s the Jesus we follow, whose name we bear in our baptism. We have a generous spirit towards one another because Jesus has had a generous spirit towards us. That is to I said last week, it isn’t just a begrudging acceptance, it is a welcoming embrace without arguing over these points of dispute when people come into our presence. That we can actually close our mouth and open our hearts to receive and to experience the fellowship of Christ in these very issues that drive us nuts at times with one another.
This is the work of the Holy spirit in our lives. This is why, again, we’re Christians. We believe in an alien righteousness that is not ours, that comes to us, that is not within my heart to do, except for that Jesus has transformed my heart, that his spirit now dwells in me, to be able to love one another, to put their preferences before my own. And when the world sees us, how attracted this is. Because look around. This has been a problem from the beginning. But certainly, I would say, when we look around our world right now, this is not what you see people doing, preferring the views of somebody else, laying down their rights so that Somebody else can have theirs. Here, the heartbeat of the gospel for us. Say, Lay it down. It’s not important. Or if it is, we can get there at some point. We’re going to figure out, but it’ll take some work, sure. But my first motive is not how can I beat them up or show them a ride or get my way, but how can I build them up? Especially as brothers and sisters, we are being built into the same house, the living temple of God.
And we have this at our disposal. The life that we can bring to other people, given to us in the good news of Jesus. That is an amazing calling. That is what we set our hearts and our focus towards, recognizing that we fall so short. It’s so easy to dismiss. It’s so easy to judge. And when we do that, we got to come back and say, Father, forgive me. Open my heart that I would warmly embrace those for whom Christ has died so that you would receive glory and honor in the lives of your people, a foretaste of what is yet to come when he returns. Pray with me. Father, as we come before you, we all confess the sin of our heart. Lord, we don’t do this very well. We do judge others. We do dismiss them. And we ask Lord God that you would forgive us. And Father, that you would continue to build us up in the beloved by your spirit working through us according to your word. Father, that you would make us into that living temple of Christ. And Father, we pray and ask that you would also continue to use us to proclaim the good news of Jesus to a world in such desperate need.
Father, free us from ourselves so that we can love you truly. And this we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.