Romans 14
January 23, 2022

TITLE: Liberty: for we are the Lord’s

Intro:
Who doesn’t love liberty?
Who would like to make sure he doesn’t destroy his brother?
Who would like to make sure he doesn’t destroy the work of God?

1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

• Welcome the weak in faith
• but not to quarrel over opinions
• One = anything / the other weak person only vegetables
• Implicational truth: as one grows in the faith, one recognizes and understands more (godly) liberty.
• It seems the opposite should be true: more rules more maturity.
  • FALSE ➡️ more rules = more holiness
  • TRUE ➡️ more than God’s explicit rules = weaker faith / weaker Christian (Romans 14:1)
• In the early Church, their was a preoccupation with food. The New Testament has no preoccupation in it whatsoever.
  • It only looks to dispel the preoccupation from the Church.

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.

• Common, Sinful responses to opinions:
  • Stronger brother despises (look down on) the weaker.
    • Because knowledge may puff up.
    • Anything we know better, God has revealed to us.
  • The weaker brother passes judgment.

TRANSITION: In other words, he stands as judge regarding disputable matters. Look at what Paul thinks of that rebuke—v. 4.

4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

• “Who are you to pass judgment” = rebuke
  • One is standing in the place of the Lord = not good.
  • Other passages deal with these two things well:
    • The Church is suppose to judge open sin.
    • Not motives and opinions
  • All of my beliefs should be everyone’s beliefs
    • They think, “More rules = more holy.” Honestly, My rules = more holy.
  • God defines what is evil for all.
  • Individuals define what other things are evil for themselves!

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. 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, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

• Esteems = greater importance = live differently
• Paul commands that each one be “fully convinced”
  • “fully convinced” = deep thought
  • Sin is serious—think!
  • Thinking is a lost art and science.
    • We hold a vast knowledge in our hands.
    • We don’t own that knowledge.
    • We must put in the hard work to increase our knowledge.
    • Word studies = topical studies
    • Study sin in the New Testament
  • The conscience is tied directly to the mind’s theology.
• People both add and take away from the word of God with their opinions:

ILL:

• Legalism add-ons:
  • Illustrations:
    • Junk food regarding “Our body is a temple.”
    • “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
  • Everything we believe, theologically speaking, may not be rooting in what God has said, but instead, may have found its birth in what we have been taught or in our exclusive, personal opinions.
  • All my beliefs ≠ God’s truth
• Licence add-ons:
  • Illustrations:
    • Premarital sex, i.e., fornication, is a matter of conscience.
      • 11-26 yr-olds = no sex
      • Weed
  • God has expressly forbidden things for our good.
  • These are not disputable for the Church.

APPL:

• Unfortunately, some personal beliefs may set additional bars for holiness for an individual and their families that were unnecessary.
  • What you believe, live by faith.
• What holiness is for everyone, is accurately defined only by the word of God.
• There will be nuances.

7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

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; 11 for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

• Rebuke continues
• Strong and weak are cautioned here.
• Beama seat
• v. 12 “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

ILL:

• Ordination
• Forget an interview or even lie detector.
• Headed to judgement with the maker of the universe.

APPL:

• Have a clear mind and conscience!
• Walk with others in grace and freedom.
• Focus on our sin life and our walk with the Lord.
• Help our brothers and sisters.
• v.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.

• The Corinth Church struggled with food because they did not possess specific life knowledge. (v.14)
  • They had brought their old understanding to their Christian life.
  • READ: They did not fully understand that, what God has not explicitly forbidden is allowable in Christian liberty with a corresponding clear mind and conscience.

ILL:

• 1 Corinthians 10:29b, "For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?"

APPL:

• MY GOAL: ALL of what God has said and NOTHING ELSE should complete my theological beliefs.
• 1 Corinthians 4:6
  I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written.

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.

• Destroy our brother.
• Love builds up! Never destroys.
• ILL: “Togetherness, One More Time.”

20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 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.

• v.20, Notice we may destroy the work of God.
  • Sin is serious.
    • Causing others to sin is serious.
    • Destroying God’s work is serious.
    • We must limit our freedoms for the sake of others.
• Blessing available in 22b
  • Judge free life in the neutrals there is more joy / blessing.
  • 1 Peter 2:16, "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."
  • Our “private” lives should only be populated with legitimate Christian liberties.
  • Not sin.
  • Sin brings death not freedom.
• The quicker we grow in faith and understand our Christian liberties, the quicker we will experience more joy; we will be blessed more.
  - Who doesn’t love liberty?

What is Christian Liberty?
ILL:

• Can God do anything He wants?
  • **Hebrews 6:18, " it is impossible for God to lie", **
  • Is God free?
• God’s Liberty: “The freedom to act according to one’s own character at anytime.” (Allman)

APPL:

• Line up our liberty with God’s character / through His power / what He has said.
• When we are living according to the Spirit and God’s word we are free.
  • Free from the Law.
  • Free to love.
  • Free from every aspect of sin and death.

Final Charge:

• 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Bibliography

Allman, James. Dallas Theological Seminary, Old Testament Class Lecture Quote, (Lecture unknown).

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