Romans 14

Alright, I've been wanting to write about this for awhile and since tonight I have a horrible headache and am stuck on the bed, now seems like the perfect time. Joe just finished preaching a series on Romans chapter 14. I knew NOTHING about Romans 14 when the study began. But let me tell you, it has been FOOD for my soul. There is NOTHING like hearing scripture that you've never understood before. I'm going to put the passage here so you can read it, and then I'll tell you what God has done in my life through His word and the faithful preaching of it.

Romans 14 (please take a minute to read through it!)

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.For it is written: “ As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” Each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin

The basis of Romans 14 is that God does not call every believer to have the same convictions on secondary issues. Secondary issues would be any issue that is not BLACK and WHITE in scripture (lieing, stealing, sex outside of marriage, abortion, homosexuality, worrying, etc).

I've had conversations with many people through they years over secondary issues. I know people that believe it is sin to wear pants to church, sin to put your kids in school and not homeschool, sin to go trick or treating with your kids, sin to listen to music with a beat, sin to listen to music that is not christian, sin to go easter egg hunting, sin to have a drink of alcohol in your home with your husband, sin to go to the movie theater.. (if you believe any of these are sin, please don't stop reading, just hear me out!) What does this passage say about that?

The first part of the passage addresses this. It reads, "For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.

This tells us that back in Bible times, all Christians did not look alike outwardly. They did not all have the same convictions. Some of them could not eat the meat served to idols. These people felt like they would be sinning. And some of the people could. The people that could eat the meat, probably could find that meat a lot cheaper and brought it home and ate it with gladness feeling no conviction over eating the meat. It was obviously a BIG issue and so Paul addressed it to the church in Rome. So here is my first point. According to Romans 14,some people can do certain things with a clear conscience while there are other believers that can not.
An example for me is alcohol. God will not allow me to drink alcohol. I do not see the benefit and I have no desire to have it near me. I know a godly pastor that drinks it in his home and has told me he feels free to drink it and has no conviction. Six months ago, that would have been so hard for me to understand. Honestly, in the back of my mind, I would have judged him just knowing that he drank at home with his wife. But thank you Lord for Romans 14! Now I understand that, he has freedom in Christ in an area that I do not.

Romans 14:5 was also a life changing principle for me. It says, One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.. This verse is telling me to be FULLY CONVINCED in what I believe. Before I understood this verse (a few months ago) I would get really confused if a person told me they believed something was sin that I did not feel convicted over. One time, someone told me they thought it was sin to go trick or treating with your kids. So I got online, I read the history of haloween. I read EVERYTHING I could find about it. I prayed about it. I told the Lord if it was wrong for our kids to knock on doors and ask for candy to convicted me or Joe. He didn't. But I was not fully convinced in my mind. It was sin for their family but why did I not feel that way if it was sin for me? Now that I understand Romans 14, I realize that God has not given this family the freedom to do something that he has given me the freedom to do. So how should I respond?

Well, Romans 14 goes on to say, "Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men." So basically, if this family was in our home October 31st, we would not carve a pumpkin, we would not go trick or treating. We would find something fun to do, and love our brother in Christ in a way that does not cause them grief. This is acting in love.

If I am going into a church where I know the people are convicted of wearing pants, it is not Christ like for me to go in there and wear pants just to do it. The loving thing to do, is wear a skirt so that I do not cause offense. Why would I offend a person on purpose? There is no reason. Romans 14 tells us, we can have unity even if God brings us to different secondary issues.

Joe and I spent a lot of time Sunday nights after his sermons talking about all of this. One of the things we talked a long time about is that God does change you as you grow closer to him. As we desire to please Christ and live for him, it does effect the way we live. But we can not judge others who may also be seeking Christ if He leads them a different way. I'm not saying that everything every "christian" does is ok, I'm just saying according to this passage, 2 people can love God and desire to obey Him, but He doesn't do the same thing in their lives and we can still have unity together.

I had to write about Romans 14 because God has used it in a great way in my life. I am able to be fully convinced in where God has brought me (and will continue to bring me) I realize that God does not give the same convictions to every person that he saves. God is a Holy Righteous God and we do need to make sure that we are seeking Him for all area's in our life. It would be foolish for me to go and do something against my conscience. God has placed my conscience in me to protect me. We should never ignore His convictions in our life. My prayer is that all who read this would get their eyes off others and onto Christ. We will all stand before Him one day, not each other!