Love - The Overriding Principle
What is our duty and our obligation to our brothers and sisters in Christ? Do we “owe” them anything, or are they merely just fellow pilgrims on this road into God’s glorious and everlasting Kingdom? We had talked about why we serve the Lord, whether from love or from obedience, but is there yet another reason to serve him, or reasons to serve him another way? These many questions are answered by the apostle Paul in a very straightforward manner. I shall share the scriptures first, then I will explain.
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we 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. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? 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 confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Romans 14:1-23
In this lengthy passage of scripture Paul is dealing with some very delicate issues in the church. The Jews had very strict dietary laws that restricted them from many foods. Pork for instance was an unclean meat to the Jew. The Jews also regarded the Sabbath, Saturday, as a holy day – more holy and important than any other day of the week. Yet these men and women of a Jewish Christians were worshiping in the same church as Gentile converts who held none of these regulations as sacred. On the contrary the Gentiles held that pork was not only acceptable to eat, but had been taught from the beginning that they merely needed to abstain from food sacrificed to idols and what had been strangled. (Acts 15) And it seems from all accounts that the Gentiles and even the apostles in the early church held that all days were equal, and it was equally important to serve God on those days.
As we note these things, we see some very major differences in some of the members of the church. These would seem to be major core doctrinal issues that would divide the church into factions, yet Paul encourages love and acceptance. Paul tells the church that if one person holds to abstaining from a certain food that we should accept them and love them for if they are a Christian that is abstaining from that food they are doing it out of love and honor of God. Likewise if one is eating everything because they have the faith that all foods are clean we should love and accept them because they are doing it out of honor of God. We should also do likewise with the Sabbath.
At this point Paul asks the stronger brother in the faith to not judge or condemn the other brother. Going so far as to encourage that if the weaker brother is the one who does not eat all foods, then we should abstain from that food for his sake while he is with us. He does not tell us we can not eat it, but merely that we should abstain during the time that we are with the other brother. The overriding principle in all of this is to love our neighbors as ourselves. You see we can obey and serve God because we love him, or for simple obedience’s sake, but we can also serve God by loving our brothers, and not causing them to stumble. For if we eat, and the brother eats with us but holds doubts inside verse 23 makes it clear that we have caused the brother to sin when it says that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. These issues were not reasons to split the church, they are reasons for the church to be bound together even stronger, for love must always be the overriding principle that controls all that we do.
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we 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. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? 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 confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Romans 14:1-23
In this lengthy passage of scripture Paul is dealing with some very delicate issues in the church. The Jews had very strict dietary laws that restricted them from many foods. Pork for instance was an unclean meat to the Jew. The Jews also regarded the Sabbath, Saturday, as a holy day – more holy and important than any other day of the week. Yet these men and women of a Jewish Christians were worshiping in the same church as Gentile converts who held none of these regulations as sacred. On the contrary the Gentiles held that pork was not only acceptable to eat, but had been taught from the beginning that they merely needed to abstain from food sacrificed to idols and what had been strangled. (Acts 15) And it seems from all accounts that the Gentiles and even the apostles in the early church held that all days were equal, and it was equally important to serve God on those days.
As we note these things, we see some very major differences in some of the members of the church. These would seem to be major core doctrinal issues that would divide the church into factions, yet Paul encourages love and acceptance. Paul tells the church that if one person holds to abstaining from a certain food that we should accept them and love them for if they are a Christian that is abstaining from that food they are doing it out of love and honor of God. Likewise if one is eating everything because they have the faith that all foods are clean we should love and accept them because they are doing it out of honor of God. We should also do likewise with the Sabbath.
At this point Paul asks the stronger brother in the faith to not judge or condemn the other brother. Going so far as to encourage that if the weaker brother is the one who does not eat all foods, then we should abstain from that food for his sake while he is with us. He does not tell us we can not eat it, but merely that we should abstain during the time that we are with the other brother. The overriding principle in all of this is to love our neighbors as ourselves. You see we can obey and serve God because we love him, or for simple obedience’s sake, but we can also serve God by loving our brothers, and not causing them to stumble. For if we eat, and the brother eats with us but holds doubts inside verse 23 makes it clear that we have caused the brother to sin when it says that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. These issues were not reasons to split the church, they are reasons for the church to be bound together even stronger, for love must always be the overriding principle that controls all that we do.
posted by Pastor Jerry at
5:15 AM
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