Title: A Matter of Faith
Text: Rom 14:1-13
Date: 6-8-08.am
Passage:
Ro 14:1-13
1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 2 One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3 Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or 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 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall 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 give praise to God."
12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this -- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. NASB
Introduction: I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but the theme beginning in chapter twelve has been relationships. Paul continues that in chapter 14 where he teaches about the relationship between those who are strong in the faith and those who are weak.
Beginning in chapter 12 and going through chapter 15 Paul's emphasis living the new life through relationships. Paul has utilized the metaphor of the body, which he developed much more fully in 1 Co 12, to argue that in Christ the members of a congregation belong to one another and serve one another in different and various ways. The key to that and all other relationships is love, not just emotional feelings but
Agape or unconditional love. Believers love one another in spite of their differences, whether it's difference of opinions, politics, economic status, position, tastes etc. In chapter 14 Paul is going to extend that broad umbrella to include matters of faith as well.
What does Paul mean by Faith?
When he refers to those who are strong and weak in faith he isn't talking about sufficiency of their faith. He's not talking about those who have enough faith against those who don't have enough faith. He uses faith here to refer the entire body of Christian teaching, as in the Christian faith. It's similar to what he said in 1 Cor chapter 8. The person who is weak in the faith is the person who doesn't have a mature knowledge or understanding of Christian faith. None of us are completely mature in our faith, none of us knows or understands everything completely. We have talked before about sanctification. Sanctification is that process of growing or maturing in our faith, not in having more faith but having a better knowledge or understanding of our faith.
Not all of us are at the same place in our Christian faith. We are all learning every day. Some of us have been Christians a long time, some are relatively new believers and some new believers have studied their faith more than others and I'm not talking about just going to seminary or Bible college. But some are in the Word on a daily basis and have a good grasp of the teaching of the New Testament and others haven't gotten there yet. That's true in any church, believers are all on different levels in their spiritual walk. It was true in the church at Rome. This congregation included people who differed in their attitude to the observance of festivals and to food, in a way that was similar to with the issue discussed in 1 Co 8-10, which was written about two years earlier.
What was the problem?
From the context of the book of Romans and the issues Paul addresses in this chapter these are likely Jewish believers, who haven't fully grasped the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They are still observe Jewish religious rituals with kosher food holy days, which was ok, Paul did that but, as we see from the book of Acts they seem to be attempting to impose a type of legalism on Gentile believers who have a better understanding of Christian liberty. It was a two way street, however, those who considered themselves strong in faith were condescending or looking down on those who were considered weak. Both were being judgmental.
This wasn't a new problem. In Acts chapter 21 Paul had gone to Jerusalem and met with the church leaders there, some were upset at what he was teaching. The church leadership examined what Paul had been preaching and he was given a letter Ac 21:25 "But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication." NASB
This seems to be a continuing matter of strife between Jewish believers who want to continue with the traditional Jewish religious rituals and Gentile converts to Christianity. Basically what Paul is saying to the church is that on nonessential doctrines like those he mentions, dietary restrictions and special days, there needs to be sensitivity on both sides, rather than judgmentalism.
It's important to take this in context. Paul told us we are to be living sacrifices and we are to live holy lives, so what he is writing here is not saying that Christians are to accept any kind of behavior or belief as Christian just for the sake of fellowship nor that Christians are not to make judgments about sin. If we look into the Old Testament we see the Prophets were continually instructed by God to condemn sin. John the Baptist condemned Antipas for adultery in Mk 6:17, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for a lack of sincere faith and Paul himself condemned the immorality in the Corinthian church in 1 Cor 5:1-5. Paul even mentions two people by name Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Tim 1:20 as being delivered over to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme. NASB The bible is clear just as Paul has been in Romans that biblical faith rejects injustice and immorality and false teaching.
There are some essential doctrines that make Christianity, Christianity. These essentials can't be compromised. These are the historical bed rocks of our faith. I'm not going into a detailed list or teaching on those essentials this morning. I'll just mention a few of those. First Christianity is based around a person - Jesus Christ. The deity of Jesus is an essential of the Christian faith. The deity of Jesus is necessary for an understanding the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. His deity stands together with His humanity and the two can't be separated. Jesus of Nazareth was Lord of all creation, He was God's Messiah or the Christ and at the same time he was fully human. That is the undeniable teaching of Scripture and those who deny either of those are denying the Jesus of Scripture and can't lay claim to or be accepted as being Christian.
The authority of the Bible is another one. It is God's revelation of Himself to man and it's how we judge all other doctrines and beliefs. Because God is it's author all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy (2 Tim 3:16). And, all Scripture is a testimony to Jesus Christ, who is the focus of divine revelation. The nature of salvation the atonement of Christ on the cross, and the physical bodily resurrection are two others. We find these in a number of Paul's writings. In Rom 10:9 where he wrote: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, (deity) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (resurrection), you shall be saved (atonement); NASB
In 1 Co 15:1-4
1Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ (deity) died for our sins (salvation) according to the Scriptures,(Scriptural authority) 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day (resurrection) according to the Scriptures, NASB
Of course these are not all of the essentials but from a minimalistic approach there are about 6 or so essentials that distinguish Christianity from other world religions and from cult groups. Understand when I say essential I don't mean these are the only important ones. All biblical doctrines are important but these are some that are a must if a person or group is going to call itself Christian
But there are quite a few non-essentials that Christians can disagree on and still maintain fellowship. There are different rapture views, when will the church be raptured, there are Pre millennial, post millennial, ahmillennial views. Whether the church should have deacons or elders. There are some others things Christians can disagree on and still be Christian and still be in fellowship.
Some other non essentials are things like watching television or going to the movies, whether it's ok for women to wear pants, dancing, some believe all dancing is of the devil, smoking; when you get away from the South most Christians don't smoke, but in the south particularly in NC and VA where Christians have been growing tobacco for generations no one thinks a thing about it. And one of the greatest preachers of all time Charles Spurgeon smoked cigars. I remember in the 60's and early 70's there were preachers who condemned guys for wearing their hair long on the basis 1 Cor 11:14. And, I have been in church where the pastor condemned anyone who would dare wear shorts to church. And even worship style is a matter opinions differ between genuine believers.
Paul and the rest of the New Testament is clear that on the essentials we can never waver. And, we can never overlook or excuse sin.
Paul wrote in 1 Co 6:9-11
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. NASB
Gal 5:19-22
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. NASB
But on nonessentials we must show sensitivity and love. While Paul made it clear that we are not bound by strict legalism, he also warned that Christian liberty isn't an excuse for sin and unrighteousness as we understand from reading 1 Corinthians liberty is not license. That's was the problem at Corinth Christian liberty gone wild.
Paul gives us four Principles in this passage for why act this way towards other believers on these nonessential doctrines.
1. God accepts other believers just as he accepts us v.3.
2. God sustains every believer. V. 4
3. God alone is sovereign over each believer v.5-9
4. The Lord God Himself is the ultimate judge v. 10-13.
Jesus words to us in Mt 10:16 are: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. NASB
Our challenge as Christians is to be wise in our discernment; strong in our stance against sin and unrighteousness, never compromising on that, never compromising the essential doctrines of our faith; faithful in living in holiness, exhibiting genuine love, and not being judgmental of other believers on nonessential issues. And to remember like every other believer without Him we would be nothing.
If God is speaking to your heart this morning we invite you to respond as we stand and sing our hymn of commitment.