Before we study Romans 14-15:7, let me explain the context of Romans:
- The first 8 chapters of Romans is a defense and explanation of the gospel
- Then in Romans 9-11 Paul writes about election, predestination, God’s plan for the Jews, and how us Gentiles fit into God’s plan of redemption.
- Then the tone of the book of Romans changes in Chapter 12 and focuses more on how we are to live in light of this glorious gospel. We see far more commands and instructions on how to live. Paul did this intentionally, and he does it in other books like Ephesians, to show that proper Christian living only flows out of believing the gospel.
- Romans 13 reiterates what Jesus said about love for neighbor fulfilling the law.
- Then we come to Romans 14-15, which only makes sense when it flows out of understanding the gospel and loving of our neighbor rightly. Romans 14 and 15 are about Christian Liberties and how to love each other despite differing convictions on Christian Liberties. The church in Rome had Jewish and Gentile Christians, and both lived and worshiped in very different ways. Conflict was occurring over eating meat and setting apart certain days as holy. Gentile Christians ate pork but Jewish Christians didn’t. Some Christians didn’t want to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Others were okay with it. Gentile Christians didn’t celebrate Jewish feasts and holidays, and some may have viewed all days as holy.
So that’s some of the context.
Now as we read Romans
14-15:7, when Paul writes about eating meat or observing certain days, I believe
he views them as two “test cases” of Christian Liberties, and he actually wants
to speak to all Christian Liberties.
What’s a Christian Liberty? How would we
define it?
Christ has set us free from sin and from the law. This gives us the
freedom to enjoy all the good gifts of creation. So Christian Liberty is the
freedom we have in Christ to enjoy his creation and to live and do according to
conscience anything that isn’t forbidden in Scripture. A good definition I
found on Ligonier Ministries’ website is “Believers are free to act according
to conscience in areas where Scripture is silent.”
–
Here are some examples of Christian Liberties we all have
differing convictions on:
o How to educate your children
(Home, public, online, private?)
o How many children you have
o What clothes you wear (new,
old, style, cost)
o Where you live
o What job you work
o What hobbies and recreation
you enjoy
o Tattoos and piercings
o What food you eat
o Alcohol and tobacco usage
o Joining the armed forces
o How you order a church
service
o Financial giving
o Which politicians and
referendums and amendments you vote for
o When your daughter should
wear makeup
o How you discipline your
children
o What music you listen to
o Your corporate worship
preferences
The thing we must understand with Christian Liberties
is that we have the freedom to do this or that, but depending on your own
circumstances and your faith it may not be wise to do it or it may even be
sinful. So it depends on circumstances
and faith. What is good for one brother to do may not be good for another
brother to do.
Now the purpose of this blog post isn’t to answer all the
questions about Christian Liberties, so we’ll just focus on corporate worship
preferences. I believe Paul would want us to insert our own Christian Liberties
in chapter 14 as we read to better understand them, so as we read, instead of
reading about eating meat, let’s imagine he’s writing about worship
preferences.
Romans 14:1–15:7 (ESV)
Do
Not Pass Judgment on One Another
14 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to
quarrel over opinions. [Paul is now
addressing opinions or preferences or convictions, any of those words work
here. The goal is to be strong in faith, to infuse faith into your opinions or
convictions or preferences about worship. Love for neighbor doesn’t look like
quarreling, it looks like strengthening each other’s faith, even if your
convictions differ] [now here’s the first example of Christian Liberty Paul
addresses: eat meat or go vegetarian?] 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. [or we could say
one person believes he may raise his hands in worship while another just stands
still] 3 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. [Welcome and
worship with believers who have differing convictions and preferences on
worship. We are not to be a church that only invites people who will worship
like us] 4 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. [So don’t judge the
salvation of others on the basis of their convictions on worship preferences,
instead see that God has made them to stand righteous before Him. Now here’s
the second Christian Liberty Paul addresses: holy days or "holidays"]
5 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. [Let’s each be
fully convinced in our minds about our convictions. Let’s have reasons for why
we prefer what we prefer, let’s push ourselves to see wisdom in what we do.
Let’s avoid foolish thoughtlessness in worship, where we just do things because
we feel like it or because somebody else is likes it. God is more glorified in
our worship when we know how our
worship is glorifying to him]
6 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. [So they’re both
honoring God even though they’re doing the exact opposite actions! Do all things in
honor of the Lord and out of thanksgiving to him. See that other believers can
honor the Lord and give thanks to him too by doing the opposite thing you did
or having an opposing preference to yours.] 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to
himself. 8 For 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. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might
be Lord both of the dead and of the living. [we are servants of the Lord, and so
even our opinions and convictions belong to Him and are under His authority]
10 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; 11 for it is written,
“As I live, says
the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue
shall confess to God.”
12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. [On 9/13/2015, I preached a sermon on Zech 3, urging us to live daily in the courtroom of God and see each other as God sees us: Righteous in Christ. It transforms how we love one another!]
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. [Do not cause your brother to stumble and don’t hinder their
worship. That’s practically what love looks like in worship] 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. 15 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. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 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. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. [Strive for peace with one another, but
NOT the kind of peace that ignores the other person. God is not calling us to
say to one another, “You go your way, I’ll go mine. You do your thing, I’ll do
mine. You worship over there with your music and preferences, and I and my
friends will worship over here. You have your early service, we’ll have our
late service.” No! We are to pursue peace AND mutual upbuilding! Mutual
upbuilding can only be done if we’re in each other’s lives, encouraging one
another to infuse all our convictions with faith and wise reasons and
God-glorifying purposes! Let me say that again, Mutual upbuilding can only be
done if we’re in each other’s lives, encouraging one another to infuse all our
convictions with faith and wise reasons and God-glorifying purposes! We must be
at PEACE with believers with differing convictions while we build each other up
to be like Jesus! What an amazing vision of love! Let’s strive for this!]
20 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. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your
brother to stumble. [Don’t think that you can sacrifice love for neighbor in
order to love God! It may feel like your neighbor’s preferences are getting in
the way of you loving and worshiping God, but do you see how loving our
neighbor IS worshiping and loving God?? If you keep worshiping according to
your convictions, but in the meantime it causes another person to stumble, your
worship is not good to God! Loving
God looks like loving your neighbor and learning how to worship God together.] 22 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. 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. [So
we see here that we are to do all our Christian Liberties with faith. We are to
infuse each of our convictions about worship, each of our preferences, with
faith. Otherwise we are sinning. So we are free only if we have faith. So if
you raise your hands in worship, raise them in faith; if you stand still, stand
still in faith; if you love hymns, sing them in faith; if you prefer drums,
prefer drums in faith; if you say spontaneous praises in worship, say them in faith.
Infuse everything with faith! Give all your worship to God out of thanksgiving
and honor and trust him that He’s given you the freedom in Christ to worship
Him in that way.]
The Example of Christ
15 We who are strong have an
obligation to bear with the failings
of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let each of us please his
neighbor for his good, to build him up. [Be patient with each other. You
will please God if you please your brother in Christ in a way that builds him up.] 3 For Christ did not
please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who
reproached you fell on me.” [Here is our hope! Be like Jesus! Jesus was a part of the
greatest worship war ever. We didn’t worship God at all, and did Jesus just
ignore us and say, “Well I’ll just keep worshiping the Father here in heaven. I
prefer being in all my glory and dwelling in the Father’s presence.” That’s
Jesus’ worship preference. Did he do that? No! He let His worship preference be
disrupted, he came down here in our dirt and loved us and died for us! Talk
about sacrificing your worship preference! Jesus did not please himself, but
bore reproach. May we be like Him.] 4 For
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that
through endurance and through the
encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one
another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you,
for the glory of God. [Because Jesus died on the cross for us and has united us to
Himself and filled us with His Spirit, he will grant us to live in harmony with
one another so that with one voice we will glorify God! When unity in worship
gets hard and confusing, He gives us encouragement and endurance through the
Scriptures. So let’s stay in the Word, let’s think through all our worship
preferences with the Bible.]
