Lord, I swear there's no pain I know there's no danger In that bright world to which I go Welcome to this podcast from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. Faith Bible Church is a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching ministry dedicated to bringing the good news of the Gospel to the whole world. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And now, for this week's message from Pastor Alan Battle. Romans 14, 15 through 19. 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. This is the word of God. It's Saturday night in first century Rome. And you put on your best toga. And along with some friends, you head down to the Temple of Apollo to offer sacrifices to the God. The temple is impressive. Steps lead up to the main doorway behind the pillars. Inside, the temple is beautifully decorated, and there's a statue of the God. And here are some of the ruins of that very temple in Rome. The Temple of Apollos. But back to Saturday night. Off to the side, there's an altar where the priest makes sacrifices. So if you were a person of means, you may have purchased or brought one of your own domestic animals with you as a sacrifice. And after the priest killed the beast, you may have had one of the augers come and give you a reading. What's an auger? An auger was a kind of fortune teller. They predicted the future by interpreting the guts of the slain animal. Finally, you and your friends might have gone into the restaurant attached to the temple. You go in there and eat the roasted flesh of your sacrifice. Here's the ruins of one such restaurant in Corinth. Downstairs on a lower level to the east of the court of this temple, there was a suite of three dining rooms that they found. Each room originally had seven tables set before 11 stone couches. You and your friends would linger long over the meal, enjoying the wine and one another's company. And finally, you'd head home to bed confident that the God was smiling down upon you for having done your religious duty. A lot of Christians in the Roman church, to whom Paul wrote his letter, probably had many a night like this before they became believers. But now they had nothing to do with the pagan gods. Last week we saw that there was an issue among these Romans over the eating of meat. We said that those who were identified as the weak believers were probably Jewish Christians who were having a hard time getting over the traditions that they had lived with all their lives. And those traditions are hard to break. In fact, it was their traditions that held the Jews together for the 1500 years of Jewish history since Moses received the law at Mount Sinai. Those traditions had set them apart from all the other nations, from all other cultures, but now they were in the church where Jew and Gentile are one people of Christ. Before, they couldn't even go into a Gentile home without becoming ceremonially unclean. But now, they're coming together every week to eat a meal and to celebrate the Lord's Supper together. But the meat, it was a particularly sticky issue. Most of the meat produced in those temple sacrifices was taken to the marketplace where citizens would go and get their groceries. For the strong believers that Paul was addressing in the first half of Romans 14, that wasn't an issue. But some of them looked down on their weaker brethren. And it did present a problem for some of the Jews as well as for some of the Gentiles. In order for a Jew's meat to be legit, it had to be kosher. It had to come from certain parts of an animal. It had to come from certain animals. And it had to be slaughtered in a certain way. So I guess that's where we get the word certified. I'm not sure. And for some of the Gentile believers, the association of the meat with the pagan temples gave them the willies. We didn't finish this topic last week though. So we'll continue this morning talking about spiritual bullies and weaklings. Last week we also saw that those who ate meat were commanded not to quarrel and not to bully the weak ones who didn't eat. And the weak ones were instructed not to judge the strong ones who did eat. So I'd sum up the first half of chapter 14 with this statement. Stop judging one another over non-essential issues. That was last week's message. Issues like dietary choices or the observance of certain holy days. This command applied equally both to the strong and to the weak. But the rest of chapter 14 is gonna deal with the distinction of the strong and the weak in a different way. Paul shifts his emphasis here in verse 13 where we begin. Romans 14, 13. 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. Therefore, let us not pass judgment. What's the therefore therefore? Well, it's referring back to the whole first half of this chapter. But now he offers an alternative to that judgment. He says, but rather, instead of judgment, make a decision that you're not going to cause your brother to stumble. And here Paul focuses his message on the strong. In fact, he won't address the weak brother again until the last verse of this chapter. So we can sum up the second half of chapter 14 with this. Love triumphs over liberty. What do I mean by that? We're gonna see that although we may have liberty to do certain things, like eat meat offered to idols, love must override that liberty in favor of the well-being of our brother. Paul continues with the example of food here in verse 14. 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." Paul puts himself in the camp of the strong here. He's convinced that nothing is inherently unclean. He's persuaded in the Lord Jesus, it says. What does that mean? It means that Jesus himself taught this. Look at Mark chapter 7, starting in verse 15. Jesus said, There is nothing outside a person that is going into him that can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters in not into his heart but his stomach and is expelled? Thus he declared all foods clean. Jesus was announcing the change from the old to the new covenant. In the new covenant the dietary laws are no longer in effect. The purpose of those laws was to separate the Jews from the Gentiles. And under the new covenant, there is no separation. After his resurrection, Jesus made this very clear to Peter. You remember the story? Peter was in the seaside, that's easy for me to say, seaside city of Joppa. He was staying with one Simon the Tanner. We saw the purported house where this happened when we were in Israel last year. There it is. In Acts it says that Peter was on the housetop and he had a vision of a giant sheet coming down out of heaven full in Acts 10-12 in it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time, what God has made clean, do not call common. Peter had to be told again three times, but he finally got the message. Gentiles and their food were welcome in the church of Jesus Christ. Peter then went and stayed at the home of a Roman centurion, Cornelius. He stayed there for several days after this vision. And it had been unthinkable for any faithful Jew to stay in the house of a Gentile before that. But old habits die hard. And everyone didn't get on board with this right away. Even Peter fell back into his old way. In Galatians 2, Paul describes an event in the church of Antioch. A contingent of leaders were sent by James from Jerusalem. And up to this point, Peter had been eating regularly with the Gentile Christians there in Antioch. But when these guys showed up, Peter, along with Barnabas, withdrew from the Gentiles because they feared the reaction of some people that Paul called the circumcision party. These were Jews who were still advocating that Gentiles needed to get circumcised if they were gonna worship Yahweh. And apparently, they also insisted on these dietary laws. So Paul tells us about this incident in Galatians 2.14. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, Paul's talking about Peter and Barnabas here, I said to Cephas, that's another name for Peter, before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force Gentiles to live like Jews? Now, why isn't this a strong versus weak thing? Why isn't it right for Peter to abstain in order not to offend the weaker brother? Well, it's because these guys from Jerusalem, they weren't weaker brothers. They were legalists. Legalists who were endangering the gospel. It was a gospel issue here. Look at the verse again. Their conduct was not in step with the gospel. He went on to say that we're not saved by works in this chapter, this section of Galatians. So here it is an essential issue, not a disputable thing, not an indifferent thing. It was a non-negotiable gospel thing. But the church was still struggling to come to grips with these issues. And this prompted a council in Jerusalem. You can read about it in Acts 15. At that time, based on the testimony of both Peter and Paul, the leaders in Jerusalem decided that Gentiles should not be required to keep the law. So back to our passage in Romans. If Paul is so convinced that there is no such thing as unclean meat, why does he say here that it is unclean for the one who thinks it unclean? Let's go back to our text, verses 14 and 15. I know and am persuaded in the Lord, 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. Remember, the weaker brother is not a carnal Christian who's having a hard time giving up sin. He's not a false convert, a legalist, or a Judaizer who's attempting to be saved by keeping the law. These are brothers who just haven't got over their cultural heritage yet. And Paul wants to be sensitive to that. Why? Because he says it's possible to destroy them. It's a strong word, destroy. It's possible to destroy them through eating meat. And although this Romans passage is probably referring to Jewish believers, the principle is the same for weak Gentiles. Either one of them could have their faith shaken if they saw a mature believer eating something that they thought was sinful. For Gentiles, it takes us back to that scenario that I introduced at the beginning of the sermon, meat being offered to a pagan idol. If you've got your Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians 8, where Paul deals with this issue at length. Starting in 1 Corinthians 8.4, He says, therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. Then jump down to verse 7. However, not all possess this knowledge, but some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat foods offered to idols? And so, by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed. There's that word again. The brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat lest I make my brother stumble. You see the similarities in this passage with the Romans passage? You have the idea here of the strong one being a stumbling block. You have the knowledge that no food is inherently unclean, and therefore we have the right to eat it. And then you have the weak brethren who are not convinced of that. And you also have the potential of destroying the weak brothers by encouraging them to violate their conscience. So how could this destroy them? It can't take away their salvation, but it can make a shipwreck of their faith and sidetrack them from serving God. If they're tempted to violate their conscience in this issue, they might do it in other areas of actual sin, and they can become progressively less sensitive to the Spirit and eventually end up with a seared conscience. So the strong brother has the responsibility here to abstain in order to avoid that scenario. And Paul says that he would give up his God-given right, his liberty to eat meat for the sake of his brother's well-being. In other words, love triumphs over liberty. So you might ask, what does this have to do with anything today? Eating food offered to idols isn't a thing. Nobody does that. So how can we apply this to our lives? As I thought about it this week, I remembered another story from my days at the Kmart Distribution Center. There was this young black kid that I worked with on the shipping dock named Joseph, and he was a nice guy. I hit it off with him, and I found out that he was brought up in a Christian home, but he wasn't very well taught, and he had drifted from the church. So I initiated a lot of spiritual conversations with him. Well, during the World Series, someone started a betting pool. You know those things where you pay a small amount to put your name in a box on a grid, and then if the numbers match your box, then you win the pot? Well, I thought nothing of putting a couple dollars on there. It was cheap fun among the crew. But when Joseph saw me do that, whoa, he freaked out. I mean, he got visibly upset. He'd go, you gamble? Christians shouldn't gamble. The soldiers who killed Jesus gambled for his clothes. And I just, whoa. So I could have been a smart aleck, you know, and said, yeah, well, they drank water too. Should I stop drinking water? But I didn't do that. I didn't do that. I just simply quit the betting pool. Because I didn't want to put a stumbling block in the way of his continuing discipleship. And I'm not saying that all betting is okay. There's great dangers in gambling. But I think that these workplace pools or putting a couple dollars in a machine while you're waiting for a table at a casino, in the restaurant, they're just harmless diversions. The Bible doesn't address this kind of thing. There's no command, thou shalt not gamble. If you're convinced it's wrong though, don't do it. Or if it's gonna freak out a weaker brother, don't do it. Love should triumph over liberty. Now Paul gives us some added motivation to act in favor of love. Verse 16. So do not let what you regard as good to be spoken of as evil. Not only do these kind of controversies cause trouble between Christians, they reflect badly on us in the eyes of the world. the world is eager to jump at any hint of disharmony among Christians. A few years ago, Christmas Day fell on Sunday. And some churches, they decided to not have services that day. And some did. So when a reporter at the local newspaper heard about this, he started interviewing various churches. and he stirred up controversy. It worked. There were all kinds of opinions flying around, and not all of them were gracious. But we're called to unity, not only within our own body, but also among the churches in our community. The world will know us by our love, not by our wranglings over non-essential issues. We have to focus on what's important. Look at verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I wish I would have thought of it ahead of time. I would have had Stephanie do that song. Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. We've all known people who focus on nitpicky issues, especially those who are overly concerned about other people following the rules. And those are invariably miserable people. They don't exhibit righteousness and peace and the joy of the kingdom of God. they get the cart before the horse. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you. And when we do seek first the kingdom, verse 18 says, God's happy with us, and men cannot help but admire the work that he does in our hearts. Unbelievers might argue against the truth, they might even be hostile. But the goodness that God can produce in a humble, loving heart is self-evident. Before I was saved, I worked with a Christian guy who I envied for the joy that I saw in him, even though I cussed him to his face when he tried to tell me about Jesus. But there was this lady that we worked with in the same place who was very religious. She was always concerned about what other people were doing wrong. She was the nastiest, most despised person in the warehouse. She was like the Pharisees, whom Jesus denounced when he said in Matthew 23, verse 23, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. These guys were meticulous in the rules of religion and oblivious to the heart of faith, the weightier matters of justice and mercy and faithfulness. Those are the things that are going to build the kingdom. Paul illustrates this with another contrast in verses 19 through 21 in our passage today. He says, 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. We have a choice. We can either build up the church by forfeiting our liberty in favor of loving our brothers and sisters and keeping them from stumbling, or we could destroy God's work, His work in the church by insisting on our rights, and even though we might cause them to stumble and just not care. You and I have that power in our hands. Now we have Paul's final counsel to the strong. It says in verse 22, the faith you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. So to the strong, he says, have your convictions, but not at the expense of peace in the church and the spiritual well-being of others. Remember the beginning of the chapter last week, he said, don't quarrel over these things. You don't have to prove it to anybody. You can keep it between yourself and God. And finally, to the weak, he says in Romans 14, 23, 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." If you're not sure, don't do it. Don't violate your conscience. The bottom line is this, whether you're weak or strong, don't violate your conscience. So which one are you? Are you the weak one or the strong one? Well, having studied this all week, I don't think that question is really an issue. I believe that Paul wants us all to behave as if we are the strong one. Strong believers put others first. Strong believers allow love to triumph over liberty. Every one of us should aspire to that. Martin Luther, he wrote a whole book about this called Concerning Christian Liberty. And here's a statement that sums up his whole thesis and puts a nice bow on our passage today. He said, a Christian is a perfectly free Lord of all, subject to no one. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all. If you're a Christian, this should be your attitude. But this kind of selfless love, it's only possible if you've surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord. Not until you renounce the control of your life to God. By confessing and forsaking your sin, can you become the servant that Jesus calls you to be? Have you done that? Has Christ made you a new creation? If not, the time is now to put your faith in him. Put your faith in what he did for you on that cross, dying for your sins. He died that you might have life and live for him and his church. In the first century, the Romans were very social people. Every afternoon, you'd find a good majority of them at the public baths at the end of their workday. And they weren't there just to clean up. They were there for human connection. And this isn't peculiar to Romans. Every person created in the image of God has the need for human contact. At the dawn of creation, God said that it's not good for man to be alone. You know, a baby will not thrive without the regular loving touch of her mother or someone who can give that same care. In fact, children have died in infancy for lack of that touch. Each one of us has a deep-seated need to be touched by others, to be known, to be heard by others. And the church is designed by God to be the best place for that to happen. So what does this have to do with our passage today? Well, Paul built his whole argument around the example of the choices the Romans were making concerning eating meat. This wouldn't have any meaning if it were not for the fact that the Christians that he was writing to were meeting regularly, every week, to have meals together. this regular communion is a normal part of the Christian life. It's the milieu in which we grow in sanctification. I've got a plaque over my office door engraved with Proverbs 2717. It says, iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. If we're not rubbing up against one another on a regular basis, we're going to remain dull weapons in the battle that we're called to fight. And the ultimate goal of our sanctification is the growth of Jesus' church. So do you want to be used by God to advance his kingdom? You can start by regularly being with your brothers and sisters in community where loving the other triumphs over our selfish liberty. May such love be exhibited among us as we grow together in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost until the day of his return. Thank you Lord that you put us in the church, that you've made us a family. Lord we praise you and thank you that we have one another. to encourage one another, to sharpen one another. Lord, we ask that you show us ways to do this. Lord, that you help us make opportunities to be together. Lord, to exhibit the love that you've called us to have for one another so that the world might see and know that you are our Lord. So we give you praise and honor and glory for everything you're doing in us and in your church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the preaching of God's Word from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. We hope that it has been an encouragement to you and that the Word of God will fill your hearts and minds as you walk through this world. 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