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Your Day in Romans - 14:1-15:7

Started by Al Moak, December 31, 2004, 09:54:52 AM

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Al Moak

The Nineteenth Sermon
Romans 14:1-15:7
The Most Important Things For The Church


According to the Bible, God wants His people in the Church to love one another.  But, we need to ask, what about the specifics? Does He say specific things about how that love operates?  What does God's Word say are the most important aspects of it?  I believe that there are indeed some specifics, and I believe we can find those specifics here in Paul's letter to the Romans.

In the previous chapter, Paul's exhortation to the Roman church concerning their relationships to one another had reached a very high point.   He had told them, in fact, that they could fulfill the entire law by loving one another.  They should, in fact, be very, very diligent in it in view of Christ's soon return to usher in the eternal day.  He told them that it was in that way that they could a very acceptable offering to God.  (12:1, 2). 

He was really quite urgent about it.  In paul's view, their love one to another was essential to the fulfilling of the very purpose of the Church.  The purpose of the church - perfecting every individual (Eph. 4:11-16) - could only be fulfilled as they loved one to another. 

Like these Romans, we too need to see that we are responsible for perfecting one another as well as ourselves.  We too need to see that it can only be done as we love one another.  That love can't be lackadaisical.  It has to be active, ongoing, and growing.  Through love and ministry one to another we are shaping our own and other's lives for eternity - and for Christ!  Everything in our lives is to be aimed at that purpose.

That purpose is still the apostle's focus in the present chapter, and its theme is therefore still the importance of love one for another - of its contribution to maximum spiritual growth for every individual. 

He deals here with a particular aspect of that love - the necessity to avoid letting minor and relatively unimportant things stand in love's way.  He tells them that they must "receive the one who is weak in the faith . . ." He just means that no one, no matter what the reason, is ever to be excluded from loving ministry, not only from the pulpit, but via mutually loving ministry not only of some but of all the people. 

His focus in this chapter is one aspect of that ministry.  He tells the Romans – and us - that relatively unimportant beliefs or practices should not be allowed to limit loving ministry. 

We need to be quite clear here, though: Paul is not saying that Christians should "water down" the essential doctrines of the faith in favor of getting along with one another.  Members of local church bodies are not members of mere social or fraternal orders.  They are brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Son of God Who came, Who offered Himself on their behalf, Who rose again, Who now reigns as Lord, and Who is coming again.  Without proper emphasis on these doctrinal facts there is no Church.

Nevertheless, the Church is made up of people – people of many different backgrounds.  Some in Rome, for instance, may have heard that eating meat that had been offered to idols was sinful.  Others, perhaps from Jewish backgrounds, may have grown up observing various traditional feast days or fasting days.  Still others may have been won to Christ out of pagan backgrounds, and they may have come to realize that their previous practices weren't of any value - that what they really  needed was a true relationship to Christ according to His Word. People were delivered from various "hangups," and they would wonder why other people didn't feel equally free.

Do any of these things sound modern?  They are.  Today there are such issues as "dressing up for church," or how much "work" a person should do on Sunday  (or even how "work" is defined), or whether to ever play cards or drink wine (or beer), or whether to sing only psalms in church or to use hymns, choruses, and songs as well - and etc.  Some people (like me) are even concerned about which version of the Bible people are using!

The important question we need to answer is, "do any of these (or other) things keep us from truly loving one another?  Do they keep us, in other words, from pleasing our Lord?  Do they occupy too much of our attention, and do they result in being judgmental toward others?

Paul lays down certain rules here to deal with these things.  The first one could be summarized simply by saying,  Don't try to run one another's lives. He says, "Let not him who eats (or does any other minor thing) 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 man's servant?  To his own master he stands or falls."  In other words, simply put, let God (Who, after all, lives and moves among us) take care of any problems your brother or sister has with minor matters.  Your concentration should be on LOVING them, on saying and doing things that will help them serve Christ!

The second general rule could be summarized by saying, "Each one should do what he or she thinks is right in minor issues - without worrying about the actions of others."  He enlarges on this by saying, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.  Let each be fully convinced in his own mind."  Then he follows with the only really important aspect of it all: "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's just saying that we should allow others to serve our Lord in their own ways.  We only need to be sure each one is serving the Lord.

The third rule could be summarized by saying, "Let GOD do the judging!"  In fact, says Paul, "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.  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."  Simply put, we shouldn't do anything that will make someone else sin in light of their own conscience. 

That just leads to a fourth general rule, one which could be summarized by saying, "Don't do anything that will grieve your brother."  If you're doing something or abstaining from something, and it grieves your brother - then you're sinning against him.  If you feel you can drink wine in moderation, but your brother thinks it's sin, then don't do it anywhere near him or in any way that will grieve him.

The next rule, boiled down to its essence, is, "Do everything you do out of faith and love.  If you do this, you won't injure yourself or another."  Paul explains by saying, "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith, for whatever is not from faith is sin."  If you do one of these minor things, and you do it just because someone else is doing it, but you're not sure you should - then you've sinned, because you've disregarded the Lord and paid no attention to what you believed was right or wrong.

Paul calls worries about minor things that don't really matter "the scruples of the weak."  He says we who are "delivered" from these scruples (the "strong") should bear with our brothers.  The reason he gives is so conclusive!  He says, "For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, 'The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.'" In our churches, let our brothers and sisters in Christ have their scruples - we've probably got one or two ourselves!  In fact, maybe we're not as "strong" as we think we are!

The last rule just sums up all the rest.  Paul says, "Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God."  Do you see it?  Christ received us!  How could we do less than receive one another (with or without scruples)?  If He could receive such mixed-up servants as we are, surely we can receive others in real love.  Let's concentrate on the things that really matter in our Lord's kingdom – things such as His truth and actively loving one another.

One more thing and we're done.  What is this love we should be concentrating on?  We've heard what we ought not to do - but now we need to think at least a little on what we ought to do.  Paul expresses it quite well and in just a few words in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 6, verse 2.  He said, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."  It means that at the very least we need to know one another well enough so that we can pray for one another specifically.  I need to know some of your concerns, some of your worries, some of your joys and sorrows - so that I can pray and work specifically and often for you. 

Secondly, it means diving in and helping, even if it costs some of my precious time (or even money)!  It means spending some effort to help you get something done that needs doing.  And if you have trouble paying for it, then maybe you and I - or you and I and others - can do it together.  Or maybe it just needs sympathy and concern, and maybe I should come alongside and offer that genuine concern - on an ongoing basis.  If it'll help you to serve our Lord - in your family, in the church, or on your job - then I ought to do it (as quietly as possible).


Chris & Margit Saunders


Al Moak