Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church

LIBERTY versus LOVE

Romans Ch. 14: 1-23

We’re continuing our series in Romans and today we’ve come to chp 14. Paul here is addressing the problem of differences among believers and how we are to live together in harmony, love and surrender to Christ.

How do you act towards other believers when their behaviour doesn’t meet your standards? What do you do when you see a believer engaging in what you call questionable activity? How do you react when someone tries to make you into their image? God has a word for us concerning these questions.

First, The Problem — Liberty Vs. Legalism

The first thing we need to notice in our passage is the fact that we are all at different levels of maturity in Christ. v1 speaks of the one "whose faith is weak". In other words, there are some of us who are stronger in faith than others of us.

But by referring to some as weak, he is not putting them down. This is not a value statement. Some are weak simply because they have not yet had the time & experience to mature. We don’t expect little babies in the crib to be strong, but we do expect full-grown men to be strong, at least by comparison to the little baby.

So it’s important for us to understand that we are not all at the same level of maturity. Unfortunately, this sometimes creates problems in our life together.

It certainly did in Rome, Paul mentions 2 problems: The first concerns eating meat, - v2 says, "One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables."

When the book of Romans was written, the situation among Gentile believers was interesting. Most of them had been saved out of a pagan background. Many of them participated in pagan temple worship which included animal sacrifices to pagan gods. In fact, what was going on was the practice of idolatry and the animals that were sacrificed were usually sold as meat on the open market.

So for those who had been saved out of this lifestyle, the question became whether they should eat the sacrificed meat. Were they, by eating that meat, participating in the idolatry of the pagan temples?

This was a hard question for many. And as a result of a desire not to participate in idolatrous practices, many of these Gentile Christians became vegetarians. Only in that way could they assure themselves that they were not eating meat, which had been sacrificed to idols.

Paul says that it is the weak brother who "eats only vegetables "whereas it is the strong brother whose "faith allows him to eat everything."

The stronger believer understood that the idols to which the meat had been offered were not gods at all but only pieces of wood, stone or metal. If, therefore, they ate the meat with that understanding, they were not participating in idolatry.

The second contention has to do with observing special days as holy days.

Verse 5 says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. "

Some had been saved out of a Jewish background & because of the traditions of Sabbath days & festivals, some were inclined to make a great deal out of them. Others, however, perhaps not coming from that background, felt that every day was the Lord’s day, & that none were any more special than others.

This created problems in the life of this early church. How were they to live together with other believers who did not agree with them in every detail? How are we today to deal with other believers who have different opinions

The issue, in their case and ours, is one of liberty vs. legalism.

There seems to be something within each of us that wants to set up rules of conduct - laws for living. But in our complex society, believers seeking to serve Christ often come to different conclusions.

When we come to Christ, we are set free from the Law as a means of right standing with God.. We now live by applying the principles of God’s Word to our lives & how we understand & apply those principles is based on the level of maturity & faith we have.

There are those who feel a need to have everything spelt out for them. It is easier & safer to have a set of rules, which always apply in every situation, than it is to have to live by analysing the situation in light of the principles of God’s Word.

Again the issue is liberty vs. legalism. Notice I did not say legalism vs. license. Liberty is not a license to do as you please. Liberty is living in the freedom that Christ provides under his Lordship. Christian freedom is not freedom to do your own thing, but it is, rather, freedom to follow Jesus.

Someone said ‘ Liberty is not freedom to do what you like, but freedom to do what you ought.’ We’re back to the problem of how we live together in spite of our differences. Do we have to agree on every issue to walk together? Just how much diversity can we have & still maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace? What attitude do we need to have with one another?

The Principles — Essentials Vs. Non-Essentials

In this passage we find several important principles which apply to our relationships with other believers.

The first principle we see is that we are to receive one another, v1 says, "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters" In other words, we are to allow for & accept differing opinions.

You see the question here is whether we are dealing with essentials or non-essentials. I believe that there are some things that are essential in the Christian faith. Some things are not optional. They are non-negotiable.

I believe that the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the atoning death of Christ, His physical bodily resurrection, His literal return & the authority & inspiration of the Word of God are all totally non-negotiable. These are all fundamental truths of the faith.

These are the essential clear, basic truths, which are taught in the Bible, which we need to agree on. But there are many other things that are not as clear & as easily understood in the Word of God. In these matters, we must allow for differing opinions. It may be that we think that if a brother were only stronger in faith, he would come to our way of thinking. That may be true, but it is not the point.

Here we find a principle that we are to allow for weak faith without criticism. V3 says, "The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him."

In other words, we are to allow for differing conclusions of honest believers seeking the mind of Christ without criticism, contempt, & judgement.

Finally, we see the principle that we are to recognise that God is the Master & we are all His servants. Therefore, we have no business judging another’s servant. We are not the master, we are a servant. V4 says, "Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls & he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

We must allow God to guide our fellow believers. We can share our opinion, we can encourage & teach & exhort, but we must allow each other the space to grow. And at the same time, we must recognise that we may not be right.

Have you ever considered that? We have the responsibility to come to our own conclusions before God and to be convinced of them. But we must never assume that we have the corner on truth.

Take my own experience for instance, when I became a Christian I gave up drinking alcohol for 3 years, because I felt it necessary in order to leave behind my old life style. But as I have grown in Christ I came to realise that I have a freedom in Christ that means that I can have a drink without it being a problem to my faith, lifestyle and character, and it is not against scripture to drink, where as getting drunk is.

v5 says "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind" We must live by the convictions we have come to in seeking the mind of Christ on an issue. v23 says "but the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

As we seek the mind of Christ on an issue, if we come to the conclusion that a certain thing is wrong, then for us to engage in that behaviour would be sinful. We would be acting against our own convictions & faith. Whether or not in fact it is right or wrong is beside the point.

If we think a thing to be wrong, when we engage in it, we are violating what we think is God’s standard, & therefore, insofar as we are concerned, we are disobeying God. So, unless we can act in faith, we should not act at all. That does not mean we shouldn’t be open to God continuing to speak to us through others, but we must avoid double mindedness.

But there is also another perspective to this that Paul mentions here & in 1 Cor 8&9, where he speak about the freedom in Christ we have to do anything, but that freedom is tempered by love for Christ and others.

The Perspective — is Surrender Vs. Self-will

The real issue of this passage is the perspective from which the Christian operates. It is the issue of the love & Lordship of Christ.

Here, we are presented with a choice between surrender to the Lordship of Christ or our own selfish behaviour. It is surrender vs. self-will.

Notice v9, "For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. " The moment we responded to the call of Christ on our lives he became our Lord, because he bought us at a price, he purchased us through the cross, we are his.

Look at verses 7-8, "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. " The message is clear - in life, we are responsible to God. We are called to live for Christ, to surrender our lives to Him, & to be His man or woman. If we live, we live for the Lord.

That means that whatever we chose to do with our freedom it will be tempered by our love for Christ and his lordship.

That means, as much as we will not pass judgement on one another, we will also not wish to be a stumbling block to anyone

V13 says, "let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead, make up your mind not put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way."

A stumbling block would suggest to me that we shouldn’t do anything that will cause any weaker brother to stumble, and fall into sin. That is different however from those who have no danger of stumbling themselves but object just because traditionally they been taught to dislike something.

Hence something like a Pub ministry is not necessarily wrong because it involves drink, what would make it wrong is if there was a person in the fellowship who had been an alcoholic, as it would be disregarding their feelings and struggles. I’m not saying we always get right, but as C.H.Spurgeon once said: "It’s better to do something badly than do nothing at all."

Ultimately the principle for Paul is that our freedom in Christ is tempered by love of Christ and his people. V15 "If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love…"

Paul is concerned about the attitude of the stronger brother that is not always appropriate towards those who find it difficult to share that freedom with them. That’s why he warns them strongly not judge one another or act in an arrogant manner.

It’s that attitude that he’s concerned with when he says in v16 "Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil". Paul then lifts the discussion to a higher level than mere eating and drinking v17. We are loyal subjects of Christ in the Kingdom of God, who should be marked by peace, joy and the Holy Spirit.

As v19 puts it " let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification!".

Here’s an acid test for you – can that be said of C.S.B.C, that we bring peace and mutually edify one another? That only happens when we stop judging one another & all submit to the lordship of Christ. Let me ask you, "Are you living for the Lord? Are you submitting to Him in this life? Are you surrendered to Him? Is He, Lord of your life?"

In life, we are responsible before Him, to live for Him. But in death, we become accountable to Him.

The last part of verse 10 and verses 11-12, "For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat. It is written: "As surely as I live," says the Lord, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God." So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."

We shall, one day, all stand before the judgement seat of Christ & give an account to God. The reason why we are responsible in life is because we will be accountable in death. God will judge us, not one another.

You see if Jesus Christ is truly Lord, then we are accountable to Him, for how we live and how we relate to each other.

The only option, which makes sense, is to surrender to Him at once. That surrender will make all the difference in the world in our relationships.

You see, if we are living for Christ, recognising our responsibility & accountability to Him, then we will not be so quick to judge our brother.

We will see that our responsibility lies in our own walk before God and love for Christ. We must recognise that we are all at different levels of maturity.

We must also recognise that while we come to different conclusions based on our level of maturity, we must allow for liberty in the non-essentials of our faith. We must also make sure our attitude and actions are controlled by love for Christ and others & so in all things we must show charity.

But the real question we must all grapple with is whether we are allowing Jesus Christ to be Lord over our lives. Are we surrendered to Him? It is a question Jesus Christ Himself is asking to you today. What is your answer?

Is Jesus Lord? Come afresh, re-commit life, seek forgiveness for when you have judged one another. Take hold afresh the promise of v4 that the Lord is able to make us stand. He will hold us up.

May coming under Christ’s Lordship show itself in acceptance and love towards those who see things differently from us. Amen