(Originally preached Sept. 15, 1996 at Forest Glen Baptist Church)
Listen here: https://youtu.be/A8bJgdnHFr4
Romans 14:1-23
1Cor 6:12 "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything
SIN IS NOT PERMISSIBLE
23 All
things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful
for me, but not all things edify. 24 Let no one seek his own,
but each one the other’s well-being.
25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for
conscience’ sake; 26 for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its
fullness.”
27 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you
desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’
sake. 28 But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to
idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’
sake; for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.” 29 “Conscience,”
I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by
another man’s conscience? 30 But if I partake with thanks, why
am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks?
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to
the glory of God. 32 Give no offense, either to the Jews or to
the Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I also please
all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that
they may be saved. Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.[1]
We
have with us this morning preaching, Dave Cox. He’s no stranger to our
congregation, he’s been a member here for a number of years now he is now
ministering in the Melrose Park at a Hispanic congregation that is being
founded. Dave has been called by God to serve as a missionary in México and so
Dave, we’re anxious to hear what God has laid upon your heart.
This is the first time I’ll be preaching. It’s not the first time I’ve
spoke up here or the first time I’ve taught, but if you’ve ever preached or if
you’ve ever considered the thought, you can imagine it’s a little bit scary for
me, but I believe that I’m ready. I would like to share something. that’s kind of
interesting as an opener. There was a comic in one of the papers a while back, a
Peanuts comic with Sally and Charlie Brown. And they were leaning up against the
window watching the rain. And Sally goes, “Boy! Don’t you ever worry that it’s not
gonna stop raining” and Charlie Brown goes, “Oh no, no, God says in Genesis
that he would never let it rain again and to a flood like that.” She goes, “Wow!
You’ve really, you’ve really made me feel better.” And Charlie goes, “Well
sound theology does that.”
That’s what I’d like to do today is express some sound
theology and that you will, when you leave, feel a little bit better. Not just
that you’ll feel better, but you’ll feel better because of what you know what’s
true and what’s right.
I’m preaching from Romans chapter 14. I’m gonna be
covering the whole chapter but I won’t go verse by verse. And my theme is the
first verse of our scripture reading which I would like to read once again, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All
things are lawful, but not all things edify.”
Let me read through the passage for today:
Now accept the one who is weak in
faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his
opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak
eats vegetables only. The one who
eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who
does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who
are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls;
and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards
one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.[3]
Paul is beginning out from here. He’s speaking to
Christians. Through the book he’s been explaining salvation to the Christians
in Rome and explaining what they’ve come from and now he’s speaking to
Christians and to particular groups of Christians and he calls them the weak
and the strong. And we have a problem here because the weak and the strong, they’re
just not getting along and I’ll get to that.
There’s some contemporary examples of the of the same
kind of problem that Paul describes here when he refers to esteeming one day
above another or esteeming you know whether should we eat meat that was
sacrificed to idols or not. One person might watch television and one person
might not, or a particular show and one might say you know I should not watch
that. Another person might drink wine at dinner and another person might say
well this is wrong. And another person might say well I don’t have a problem
going to R-rated movies another person says no I don’t do that. These are kind
of contemporary examples of the kind of arguments that could occur if I, being
a Christian of the weaker side, say that I don’t watch television. “I think
that’s sinful. I don’t think it’s right, it bothers my conscience when I turn
it on.” And I go over to someone else’s house he was a good friend of mine and
I see him watching television. The problem is when I judge him for watching
television. And the problem also is when he shows contempt and looks down on me
for not living in the freedom that Christ has given us. There’s some divine principles
that we have laid down here in the Word and I’m going to read from verse 6 - 12
now,
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. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 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. For to this end Christ died and
lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you,
why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother
with contempt?
You notice he as we look at this he first addresses the
weak, then he addresses is strong with each problem.
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is
written,
“As
I live, says the Lord, every
knee shall bow to Me,
And
every tongue shall give praise to God.”
So then each one of us
will give an account of himself to God.[4]
What is the motive of each of these people? the motive
of the weak person who says “I’m not going to watch television” or the motive
of the person who says, “I’m not going to eat meat sacrificed to idols”? What
is his motive? Is he doing that because he’s trying to glorify God in his life
and his actions and choices? What about the person who does eat meat and who
does watch television or go to an R-rated movie? Is that person doing that to offend
God on purpose or to live raucously? He’s doing it for the glory of God. He
says “Praise the Lord! I am free of the law. I am free from sin and death
because of what Christ has done.” And he says I can now live in freedom in this
area. Or as the people of Paul’s time, for example. There were certain rules in
the Sabbath, that wouldn’t allow them to work, for example. Now somebody’s
working on the Sabbath, who’s a Christian but he comes from the Jewish
background. And another fellow Christian Jew who’s a little bit on the weaker
side says, “You shouldn’t do that. God’s Word says that we shouldn’t do that. We
shouldn’t work on the Sabbath.” But Christ has changed all that.
The aim of true Christians is that we live unto the
Lord. Not that we should, that we do. It’s not a choice that we try to make. Whatever
we’re doing, we’re doing it unto the Lord, And then that should strike a chord,
because if you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, you represent the
Lord as you do it.
We are God’s glory and shame. He’s the same lord over
weak and strong and he desires the weak to become strong and he desires the
strong to remain humble in their strength. To the weak he says, “Why do you
judge your brother?” To the strong he says “Why do you despise or look down on
your brother?” And then Paul refers them to the judgment seat of Christ.
The judgment seat of Christ is for Christians. Non-Christians
are not judged before Christ, they’re already condemned as Romans says. If we
don’t know the Lord, we’re condemned already. We don’t face the judgment, we
are in the judgment. Christ judges us Christians. And all of us will be there.
And what does it say here? It says, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God so then
each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” It
won’t be the weak brother saying, “O Lord, at least I didn’t do such-and-such
like so-and-so did.” Or the strong brother saying likewise about his weak
brother. It’ll be you standing there bare-naked before God with all your sins before
him and you will have nothing to say except “Oh Lord!” And there will be tears in
your eyes but the Lord Jesus will wipe those tears away.”
But this idea of judgment is… We’re not going to judge each other on these
areas. Christ Jesus judges us on areas like this. We all give account of our
self to God not of our brothers and sisters, but of ourselves.
There are some clear areas where we are to judge in
Scripture, okay. Christians are to judge other Christians when they are in sin.
That is clear. And if your brother is living in sin, there is clear principles
how you go about it. But we are to stand in judgment over sinning Christians. Do
we stand in judgment over Christians who are living a little bit different than
us though? Who feel a freedom that we don’t or who feel restriction? Not really.
We’re supposed to judge in areas of sin only.
And what about what about non-Christians? Do we judge non-Christians?
No! And that is one of the major problems between Christians today. The
Christian community and non-Christians – the non-Christians say that you’re always
judging us! And they’re right! We’re not supposed to be! Those people are
sinners just like we are but they haven’t known salvation. How can they not sin?
They can’t! Their every bent and desire is to sin, just as yours was, and as
you sometimes wrestle with even now. Only through Christ can we hold back from
that. And only when we’re in heaven will we have that perfection where we do
not sin and do not have desires that are wrong.
But when it comes to non-Christians, we are not to
judge them. We are to come alongside of them and say, “Hey, let me show you
what’s happened to me and why I have freedom not to do that. Why I don’t have
to go to the bottle when I have trouble. Why I don’t have to shoot up because the
things that work are terrible or I can’t seem to get the money to pay the bills
at home or whatever. We have an outlet that’s different. It’s not this not that
we call Christ our drug or our fix, that’s not it. Christ actually changes us.
So that we don’t have those desires.
In verse 14 I’m going to read,
I know and am convinced in the Lord
Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be
unclean, to him it is unclean.
For if because of food your brother
is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your
food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good
thing be spoken of as evil;[5]
The stronger brother may be culpable depending on
whether he knew he was causing someone else to sin or not. But he should be
aware of his surroundings, and if there’s something that has been a problem area
– try to avoid it. If you know a great many people don’t seem to feel comfortable
drinking wine at dinner, don’t drink wine at dinner! Just don’t do it! Do it out
of love for your brother.
Verse 17, “for the kingdom of
God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.”[6]
What is God’s kingdom? He says it has nothing to do
with the way we live here on earth. Whether we watch TV or drink wine or don’t.
It has nothing to do with that. How we worship in this sanctuary, it has
nothing to do with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is in our hearts. Let’s
not forget that. It’s righteousness, and joy and peace.
And I ask you, Have
you been living day-to-day and not felt that freedom, that joy? Have you felt a
burden and there’s something wrong in your spiritual life that has cut your relationship
or your fellowship off with God? And maybe if you’ve caused a brother to
stumble, or if you have stumbled yourself, that cuts both the relationship with
your brother and with your God. You no longer for the sake of this – this temporary
life – this walking and breathing around here on earth – you no longer have the
eternal comforts of joy and righteousness that live in your heart.
Is that, is that worth sacrificing, to drink a glass
of wine or to watch an R-rated movie? I don’t think so. And we wonder why?! I’m
trying to live right, “God, I pray, I read your word…” But then you go on and
sin by causing your brother to stumble or by stumbling yourself. And because it’s
not one of these sins like, it’s not an in-your-face sin like adultery or some,
you know, obvious sin like, “Thou shalt not steal.” it’s hard to pin down. Well,
where did my fellowship get broken? Where did I, where did I destroy it? And so
you live in this mediocre life trying, week after week to live with the joy and
you say well I know this should be joy here, but I can’t find it. I don’t get
it. I don’t get joy reading the Bible and so we walk off, some of us and leave
fellowship from God completely over an issue of non-importance.
There’s a verse 18, “For he
who in this way serves Christ is
acceptable to God and approved by men.”[7] I
like a proverb which really is poignant in this, “When
a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace
with him.” (Pro. 16:7)
It says here if we serve Christ in this way, yielding
to our brother, giving way the freedom that we may or may not feel, in judging
our brother or in keeping him from stumbling that’s acceptable to God and it’s
approved by men. People will see your life is different! Let’s see, how is it
that this guy isn’t so joyful? How is it that this guy seems to get along with anybody,
even the people that try to argue with him about his faith? When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, even his enemies
live at peace with him albeit they are enemies we do have enemies in
this life and we will have troubles of that nature. But if we live a life that’s
pleasing to God, our enemies individually won’t be attacking with the kind of
fervor, they cannot have any area to attack, they have to live at peace with
us, God causes it.
Let’s read verse 19,
So then we pursue the things which
make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of
God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for
the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink
wine, or to do anything by which your
brother stumbles. The faith
which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does
not condemn himself in what he approves.[8]
Let’s try and pursue peace. Verse 22, I have a note
written here for it and this is from Ryrie, Dr. Ryrie, “We all need standards to live by.” For me, I have a personal
standard which some of you may not have. I don’t go to R rated movies now. I
don’t live by this legalistically. I have watched R-rated movies from time to
time, but I just don’t go to them on the spur of the moment. I might do that
with a G or a PG movie. But I’ve decided, and my wife with me, that R movies
are out. If a friend comes along and suggests an R movie I have to think long
and hard before we decide to watch it. I don’t do that because the word says it’s
wrong. I do that because, I consider myself one of the weaker brothers. That
kind of stuff causes me to stumble, depending on what’s in it and I’ve decided
I don’t want that.
We should have standards in our lives and we need to
have standards in these areas of non-importance. But we don’t need them in
order to judge others. We need them to keep ourselves in line and to keep our
conscience in line. You know our conscience, so many times people will say that
our conscience is, well it’s you know, we’re sinful people, our conscience
sometimes is oversensitive. Sure that’s true, but it’s still your conscience
and if you if you scar your conscience, what is there left? How will you know
you’re really in sin or not? If it’s too sensitive then live within that
sensitivity, don’t break fellowship with God by scarring your conscience, by
stepping over the line. If you’re the weaker brother and you know that drinking
wine is a problem for you, don’t do it! Even though you’re trying to live in
freedom, even though you intellectually know, “I think I should be able to do
this without problem? Why do I have a guilt feeling over it?” Well don’t argue
about it – you know what the truth is but you also know verse 23, it says,
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats,
because his eating is not from faith;
and whatever is not from faith is sin.[9]
There’s a clear principle here. I don’t see any gray
areas in God’s Word. Well, how can you say there’s no gray areas?! There are no
gray areas if you take this principle and apply it to each part of your life. If
it causes you to feel guilty when you drive your car excessively past the speed
limit then don’t do it. Or to watch an R-rated movie or whatever it is – I’ve
already asked some of these questions so I won’t ask them but if you cannot in
good faith watch that movie or wear that dress or drink that wine or buy a car
or whatever it is you’re doing – if you cannot feel comfortable in your conscience
to do something, then when you do it – you’re doing it in sin. It’s clear and
that’s the kind of sin that’s so insidious you don’t see it and you get this
mediocre spiritual life because, “I don’t have joy, because I’ve cut my relationship
with God and Oh where are you Lord?! I don’t know!
Well! Here it’s clear you are right here, God is right
there, but you cut the communication by sinning! Don’t do it! I’m going to read
one verse from the scripture reading over again, “Whether
then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Do it to God’s glory, don’t do it to his shame! Our motive must be to honor
Jesus Christ! If we’re trying to do it because we know intellectually that we
should live in freedom. Then we’re wrong if it causes us a guilt complex to
step over that line, don’t do it! Our motive is to honor Jesus, not to try and
live in the most freedom that we possibly can.
And you can believe me, I have tried to live in more freedom
and there are things, you know, I thought, “Well maybe, since I know it’s
intellectually this is an area of freedom I’ll try and live in that freedom and
maybe I’ll get used to it…” But you never feel quite comfortable, if you’re if
you’re on the wrong side of the line. It doesn’t matter how long you try, it
doesn’t work. We live unto the Lord, whether we do so in sin or righteousness.
So let’s do so in righteousness, in joy, and happiness, so that others will see
us and praise us and approve of us and so that our enemies will be in peace
with us. We will all give an account of our own life before Jesus, let’s
remember that. Let’s Pray -
Father,
I just thank you that, you are the sustainer of all of us, And Lord none of us
desire to live in, none of us desire that in, Lord many of us have broken our
fellowship with you over things of this nature, such unimportant things, Lord,
I just pray Lord for them and for me Lord, make us aware of the areas that we
have stepped over the line, that we have caused our brother to stumble, that we
ourselves have stepped over into an area of conscience, make us aware Lord,
help us to step back where we belong, help us to live so the people will see us
and see the truth of who you really are in us Lord. I just commit this time in
your hands Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
[1] The New King James Version (Nashville:
Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Cor. 10:23–11:1.
[5] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
(La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 14:14–16.
[6] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
(La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 14:17.
