Today we’re going to be talking about Romans chapters fourteen and fifteen. It’s a long passage, so you might think there a lot of different topics, but Paul focuses on one main theme throughout. Before we start to look into the passage, let me ask you all this- raise your hand if you are in middle school. Keep your hand up if you are in the eighth grade. Now raise your hand if you are in high school. Keep your hands up, but put it down if you are a freshman or sophomore. What is the main thing that everyone who has their hand up going to be worried about? Getting accepted to a high school or college. The whole reason high school students work hard is so that they can be accepted to college. Am I correct? The colleges decide whether or not you qualify for acceptance through your GPA, after school activities, essays, SAT score, and other qualifications. They compare you to other students, and if you are not as good as others, your chance of being accepted gets smaller. What is my point in telling you this? Today the theme is accepting one another. Sometimes we are like college recruiters; we decide whether to accept others based on their so-called qualifications. Or sometimes we compare people to each other, and only accept those we like. Paul tells us in this passage that this shouldn’t be our attitude. Think about what happens when someone doesn’t get accepted into college. How do they feel? They feel awful. Now think about when someone gets accepted into their dream college. How do they feel? They are super happy and joyful, and everyone celebrates with them. This is how our Christian relationships should be. We should accept each other because we bring happiness and joy to the church. So if you haven’t already guessed, today we’ll be talking about accepting one another. It’s was hard to pick a key verse since the passage is quite long, but I chose Romans 15:7. Let’s read that together. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (Romans 15:7).” Pray.
Let’s read Romans 14 verse 1 together. “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters (Romans 14:1).” The first question we have to ask ourselves is, “what does accept one another mean?” The word acceptance means receiving something or someone favorably. The word “accept” is normally used when talking about giving. The first person to raise their hand I will give a dollar! (Give money). Like I was saying, name happily accepted the money that I gave. Acceptance can be used in other ways as well though. For example, you could choose to accept that you lost a chance to get a dollar, or you could get upset and leave worship service. Paul is talking about this kind of acceptance- when we are presented with our fellow Christians, do we choose to accept them? Or do we get upset at them?
Let’s move on and read verse 3. “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them (Romans 14:3)”. This verse is telling us that the strong and weak must accept one another. First of all, what does it mean to be “strong” or “weak”? A person whose faith is strong refers to those who have solid doctrine, and have had a relationship with God for a while. In our church I would consider all of our leaders and missionaries to be strong in faith. On the flip side, a person who has weak faith is someone who has recently come to know Christ, and whose doctrine may not be as solid. They still have questions about their faith, since they have not known God for a long period of time. I’ll talk about strong and weak faith later on, but let’s focus on what verse 3 says. “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not” means that the person with strong faith should accept those with weaker faith. The verse also says that “the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does”, meaning that the weak should accept the strong. It’s everyone’s job to accept one another, not just the people with strong faith. Some of you all play soccer with us on Sundays after church. Those of us who play can see who is a “strong” soccer player and who is a “weak” player. We would probably consider Abraham Song and John Lee “strong” players, since they are athletic and skilled. We would also probably consider people like Anthony or Peter to be “weak” players, since although they are athletic, they are not as skilled. For a team to be successful, the players have to accept one another. If the strong players simply ignored the weaker players, we wouldn’t have enough people to play a soccer game. The stronger players have to accept that the weaker players are limited by their skill and athleticism, but are still members of the team. The weak players also have to accept the stronger players. Peter could easily get upset that no one passes him the ball, but he chooses to accept that the stronger players know what they are doing. I’m just joking, clearly. The point remains though; the weak have to accept the strong, just as the strong accept the weak.
Let’s read verse 13 together. “Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister (Romans 14:13)” One thing that kills our ability to accept is judging one another. If we are always looking to point out the faults of others, we will never accept them, since no one is perfect. In verse 19 Paul urges us to make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. If we judge others, we immediately are setting ourselves up for failure. How can we edify each other if we keep judging them on their faults? No one is faultless, and we should realize that. We should make every effort to go against our nature to judge. Another key element to acceptance is to remove any stumbling blocks, even at our own expense. Let’s read verse 21 together. “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall (Romans 14:21).” Paul was willing to forgo some of his liberties if it would cause his fellow Christians to stumble. We should also be willing to do what it takes to remove stumbling blocks for our fellow believers.
The next question you might have is how this applies practically for us. What are the “disputable matters” that Paul is talking about? Paul mentions some for us, such as food and sacred days. The issue of food is not so much an issue for us today, since most of us eat everything without any issue of conscience. However, sacred days can sometimes be an issue. I don’t think it is for you guys specifically, but I do know some people regard Saturday as the Sabbath day, where they cannot do any work. Is it wrong to think that? Not necessarily. It’s also not wrong to work on a Saturday, if you believe you are free to use your day to work. What is wrong is to judge someone else because they refrain from working on Saturdays, or vice versa. Perhaps this example is still not very relevant for you. Let’s talk about something in a bit more of a gray area- alcohol. Now, none of you drink (I hope), but as you get closer to 21, like myself, people around you may drink alcohol. Is drinking alcohol wrong? No, not in itself. However, some people think that Christians shouldn’t drink. Also, legally you cannot drink until you are 21 years old. For these people, I think those who do drink should not drink while around them. While drinking is not bad, it shouldn’t be done if it makes others uncomfortable. There are plenty of other examples of things that are not sin, yet should be avoided if it makes others uncomfortable.
Now that we have an idea of what it means to accept others, the next question is why we should accept one another. The bulk of this passage actually gives answers to this question. Let’s take a look at verse 4 and read it together. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand (Romans 14:4).” Let me get this out of the way right away, who is the Master? God is. We are not in a position to judge God’s servants. Also, the strong in faith are not the masters of the weak. The weaker Christians have no obligation to serve the strong. Verse three says that God has accepted everyone, and He is our master. Therefore we shouldn’t treat others as our servants, and we shouldn’t think of others as masters over us.
The next reason is found in verse 6. Let’s read that. “Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God (Romans 14:6).” Whatever we choose to do, whether it be abstaining from foods, or regarding certain days as sacred, we should be intentional about it. We shouldn’t treat the things we do lightly. We have to remember that whatever we do is for the Lord. Simple things like abstaining from foods may seem trivial, but if we do it for God, it has significance. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” How can we not accept someone who is doing something for the Lord? No one would judge someone for doing missions for God, and we should also not judge someone who chooses to abstain from food, if it is for the Lord.
Let’s read verse 10 now. “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat (Romans 14:10).” Another easy question for you all- who is the ultimate judge? God is. If I went to a courthouse during a trial, and I pronounced someone guilty, no one would listen to me. My judgement has no impact on the case. Why? I am not the judge of the court. The only one with authority to judge the accused person is the judge of that court. No one else is able to convict that person of a crime. When we judge others, it really has no impact on their eternity. God is the judge; only He decides our eternity. The only thing that happens when we judge others is that we break our relationship with them. Paul is telling us to leave judgement to God, and accept those that God has placed around us.
-Smart
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