Paul uses “strong” and “weak” to describe the believers. “Strong” believers are those who understand their freedom in Christ and who are sensitive to the concerns of others. They realize that true obedience comes from the heart and conscience of each individual. “Weak” believers are those whose faith has not yet matured so as to be free of some of the rituals and traditions. “Strong” believers can function in a variety of situations and be influences for good; “weak” believers find that they need to stay away from some situations in order to maintain a clear conscience. But both are still believers, and both are still seeking to obey God.
Paul identifies himself as one of the “strong” who knows that these things (issues of food and drink) make no difference when it comes to salvation. But yet these strong believers are not to live just to please themselves. They have an obligation to be considerate of the doubts and fears of those who think these things are wrong. They may find themselves frustrated by the failings of the weak—their concerns and worries over what, to the strong, seems trivial.
But the responsibility lies with the strong to maintain harmony in the church by bearing with these brothers and sisters (Galatians 6:1-2). The stronger believers demonstrate their spiritual strength precisely at those moments when they are practicing compassion for those who are weaker. The kind of strength modeled by Christ allowed him to put up with our failings. We ought to do the same for one another.
The strong believer must never be self-centered, but must be concerned for the spiritual welfare of his neighbor—the weaker person beside him or her in the congregation. To please others is done with a goal in mind—to encourage and build up that other believer in the faith. There is a fine line to walk—the stronger person should not push the weaker one to change his or her ways before he or she is ready; neither should the stronger person pander to the scruples of that weaker one by allowing such scruples to become rules for the church. Instead, the stronger believers should bear with (15:1) and work to help the weaker believers in their faith; this will benefit the church as a whole.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
In Romans chapters 14 and 15, Paul specifically goes into six ways of how we are to build each other up rather than tear each other down.
#1. By committing ourselves to building each other.
Make it a commitment. Decide. Choose. From this day I'm going to make it as one of the goals of my ministry, regardless of what ministry I'm involved in specifically, to build up everybody around me. Can you imagine what could happen in your world if believers would commit themselves to "I'm going to build up everybody that I come in contact with" what that would do to the morale of our church? If just 300 people would begin to write letters -- one note a week - just saying "I appreciate you" to somebody in the church, what kind of impact would that have on the morale of our church?
Make it your goal. I think what I would love to be known as is a Barnabus. Barnabus' name meant "son of encouragement". How would you like to die and have written on your tombstone, "She was an encourager." I can't think of any finer thing to be said. Life's tough and there's enough discouraging people in the world that what we need is a whole band and army of encouragers. Instead of criticizing people you don't agree with or you don't like their lifestyle or you don't like the way they handle things, pray for them and encourage them.
#2. By recognizing the value of every person.
v. 15b "Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died." They may be obnoxious, immature, and you may disagree with them but Christ died for them and don't forget it! When you start to get upset with somebody in your area of ministry or somebody in the church or me or anybody else just remember that Christ died for that person. That shows how valuable they are. That shows how important they are. What right do I have to hurt people that Christ died for? I don't have that right.
#3. By keeping our focus on what's really important.
v. 16 "Don't allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and is approved of men."
Food, drink, -- these things are not the real burning issues of life. The essence of Christianity is not external but internal. We can put up with a lot of external quirks and faults when we focus on the things that are internal.
In 1917 when the Bolshevik Revolution occurred the Russian Orthodox priests were in a heated debate that nearly split the church. They were totally ignoring the Bolshevik Revolution. They were arguing about how long the tassels should be on their robes. That was the burning issue while their country was going to hell. They were arguing over trivia.
In our church we have people who are charismatic and they speak in tongues. We have people who are non charismatic and they don't speak in tongues. We have people who are anti-charismatic and somehow we manage to all get along together. Why? Because that is not the key issue. Jesus said love is more important than any gift. We have people in our church who have different beliefs about prophecy -- premillennial, poastmillennial, ammillennial, pretrib postmillennial.... I'm a pan millennialist -- I believe it will all pan out in the end.
Jesus said in Matthew 25 "No man knows the day or the hour, neither the angels, neither the Son, but only the Father which is in heaven." Jesus didn't even know the time. If Jesus Christ didn't know I'm not going to set myself up as the next expert. Some of you wonder why I don't start predicting times and dates. Jesus said no man knows the day or the hour. He just said be ready. Three times He says in Matthew 25 "Be ready". I'm not on the date and place committee. I'm on the welcoming committee. We don't argue over that kind of stuff. We love you and you're welcome here. Jesus is coming back and it's up to Him when He wants to do it.
What's the point? We keep our focus on what's really important. The Bible makes very clear that it is a sin to disrupt fellowship of a church. No matter how important the issue is if you disrupt the church because of it, you're sinning. It's real clear. Over and over. "preserve the unity at all costs". When the world looks at a Christian, what they ought to see is not every jot and tittle crossed, but they ought to be able to see righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's what a believer is. You can be straight as a gun barrel doctrinally but be just as empty spiritually. Focus on what's really important.
#4. Limiting our liberty out of love for each other.
v. 20 "Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean. But it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It's better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that will cause your brother to fall."
Refuse to do anything that will cause your brother to stumble. When my liberty hinders the work of God, then we have a problem. He says, I limit my liberty out of love for each other.
When is it wrong for us to do something that is OK? There are four ways you know if something's wrong to do.
1) I John 3:4 "Everyone who sins breaks the Law in fact sin is lawlessness." This is the first way when you know some thing's wrong. It is wrong -- sin -- when it violates a clear standard of the Bible. That's obvious. Sin is lawlessness, breaking God's laws. Adultery is wrong, getting drunk is wrong (Eph. 5:18 "Be not drunk with wine.") -- there are lots of things that are real clear in Scripture -- do this or don't do this. If it violates Scripture you don't do it.
2) James 4:17 "Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins." The second way is when I know to do good but I don't. When I don't speak up when I should. When I don't help a person when I should like the good Samaritan. I see a piece of liter and don't pick it up that's wrong. I know to do good.
3) Romans 14:23 "But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith and everything that does not come from faith is sin." When I'm not sure it's right but I do it anyway, that's sin -- it's wrong for you. If I can't do it in faith then I better not do it. When in doubt, don't! If you have a doubt about a certain activity, watching a certain movie, it's telling you then -- don't! If you can't do it in faith because whatever is not of faith is sin. It is wrong to violate your conscious even when it's morally permissible.
4) 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 "Be careful, however, in the exercise of your freedom. Be careful that it does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For anyone with a weak conscious sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brother in this way and wound their weak conscious you sin against Christ."
When I cause a believer to stumble even if my action is OK in itself, it's wrong. When you sin against your brother in this way you wound their conscious, you sin against Christ. When I cause a believer to stumble, even if my actions are valid, then that's wrong.
I Corinthians 10:23-24 "Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. Everything is beneficial but not everything is constructive." Remember the goal is to build people up. Some things are not necessarily wrong, they're just not necessary.
Too often we're only concerned with enjoying our own freedom. A selfish insistence on my freedom is an act of immaturity. It is an indication that I really have not grown in the Lord. But a wise expression of your liberty limited on certain occasions for the benefit of other people is an act of maturity. When on occasion you limit your freedom in the way you say or dress or act or do for the benefit of others it is an act of maturity.
#5. Not forcing my opinion on others.
We will not make disputable issues a test of fellowship. "Eat as I eat, drink as I drink, do as I do, Only then can I fellowship with you." "Be like me!" Don't force your opinion on others. Romans 14:22 "So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves." On these disputable matters, keep it between you and the Lord. Enjoy your freedom but don't flaunt it. Enjoy your freedom but enjoy it in privacy. Don't flaunt it. And don't force it on others. And be considerate. I can practice my freedom without parading it.
Romans 12:18 is a good balance to all of this. Some legalists are going to be upset no matter what you do. I'm not talking about people who are offended by a legitimate issue that might be a stumbling block and you limit it. But some people you just can't get along with. You just can't please them. "As far as it depends on you, if it is possible, live at peace with all men." God even admits that there are some people you just can't get along with. That's not so much your problem as their's. It says more about them than you. Jesus frequently did things that the Pharisees disapproved of. They were hard core legalists. He went ahead and did it anyway. It wasn't a stumbling block, they were unpleasable.
#6. By living by faith.
"The man who has doubts is condemned if he eats because your eating is not from faith and everything that doesn't come from faith is sin." You need to be convinced in your own mind. What you need to do if you're going to mature as a believer is develop some Biblical convictions. When it doubt, don't. But if you can do it in faith then forget it! Don't worry about it! Maintain a clear conscious. Happy is the man who can make his decision with a clear conscious.
In the first part of the next chapter Romans 15, he talks about why we are to build each other up. He gives us the Responsibility, the Reason, and the Result.
Let's live this kind of life. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!
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