We turn tonight in our Bibles to Romans chapter 14. We're continuing our study tonight in the book of Romans, and we conclude chapter 14, so just a few chapters left, and we will conclude our entire study in the book of Romans. If you're looking for a page number tonight, that's found on page 1207 in your pew Bible. Romans chapter 14 tonight, we're in the second part of Romans 14 on the issue of Christian liberty. And so we'll read together verses 13 through 23 tonight. That will be our text. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. 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're 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 up-building. 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 to 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 may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word last week i told that story that john mcneill the scottish preacher gave of the two blind men and their different experiences and i always found that to be an amazing little comparison of how people think and how they react you know the one blind man he said was healed a certain way and the other blind man was healed another way and remember they would get together he imagined that conversation they got together they had this imaginary conversation and talked about how they're healed and the one tells the story he says I was healed by the mud being put on the eyes remember and the other one says well Jesus didn't do that for me and they have this ongoing dispute and the one says well I don't think you're really seen and they fight about this and it gets worse and worse until in the early church remember you would have two new denominations the muddites and the anti-muddites. I love that story. I love that because it illustrates exactly Romans 14. One of my greatest discouragements as a believer is that Christians don't seem to get along. It discourages me. It has always discouraged me. And we'll look at, again, real reasons for division. But I remember Howell Jones saying to me years ago, isn't it amazing how the Lord preserves his church through all of this? It's an amazing thing that the Lord preserves his church, but it's sad how destructive we have been to the unity of it. And that's exactly right. That is exactly right. This has been one of my great frustrations. It seems that Christians conquer and divide one another. It was James himself who said that we bite and devour one another. And I know, I know there's legitimate reasons for division. Paul said that. You can never say that division is not necessary. Division is necessary because Paul says at some point that tests those who are approved. Divisions are going to be inevitable in the life of the church because you have a demonic realm and you've got false ideas that enter into the church. Those things are going to happen. We looked at that last time. When it came to the gospel, when it came to Paul's defense of the gospel was no holds barred. I mean, he got in Peter's face. We looked at that last time. But it seems to me in the history of the Christian church, we've not known how to treat one another as fellow believers when it comes to the most basic of disputes. The most basic of differences. This is where people are willing to cut it and divide. And I'm amazed at how much attention the New Testament gives to this. This is not a small phenomenon in the New Testament. In fact, it's so important, I want, again, us to remember where I left off last time with Philippians and the whole problem of the church in Philippi. Remember what happened. A conflict broke out in the life of the church. That was a church that had, remember, when the Bible study began and these women And this church was flourishing because of their gospel fellowship. And Paul has to come along to this church because it was divided and sides were being taken with these two women at the head of it all that are mentioned in Philippians chapter 4. And remember what Paul said. Remember the way that he instructed the Philippian church to deal with that problem. This verse is so key. This verse is so helpful. And then you'll see it applied tonight in Romans. But Paul said this in Philippians 3. Let those of you who are mature or have this mind, the mind of Jesus, think in this way. And if in anything you think differently, God will reveal even this to you. Only let us hold true what we have attained. Now, I find that remarkable. I know there are things in the church that you guys think differently on. I know that that happens in the life of the church. You have a whole host of issues that people think differently about. But you need to remember the mind of Jesus Christ that was a mind of a servant. And as you pursue that mind, God gives a promise in Philippians. He'll reveal it to you. He'll give it to you. As you strive together, only here's how you go forward. what did he say none of those things the things that we're going to talk about tonight none of those things should break the fellowship you should walk together in those things which you've already attained now he mentioned the great thing they had attained together in philippians chapter one it was gospel good news fellowship it's an amazing promise martin lloyd jones once said about that verse anyone who's familiar with church history will realize what an important principle this is have we not all known christian people who have made their christian life unhappy simply because they would take things with which we cannot arrive at any degree of real certainty and make them tests of orthodoxy and insisted that we should agree with them absolutely before we could have fellowship with them well i've met dozens of people like that in my time as a pastor how much harm he says has been done in the church because of this paul said in philippians don't break the fellowship over this stuff and this i suggest is predominantly where fellowship is broken today in these areas now Why do I raise that tonight? Mind of Christ, he says, should govern us. Romans chapter 14 helps us to understand that, what it looks like when conflict comes. Tonight is one of the most helpful passages to deal with this because it helps us to think through how to go forward when you come to a time in the church and church life ebbs and flows and you have positive times of real peace and calm where there's building and then, hey, there's spiritual darkness, there's spiritual forces, We know that stuff goes on. We know that we're called as a church to take up the armor. And there are times at which ideas come in. And then there are just basic problems between believers, between practices that come up. And he uses the teaching of Christian liberty to help us think through how to handle this, how to deal with this. And I hope it's an encouragement to you to see how the mind of Christ shows itself when these sort of things come up in the life of the church. essentially what the apostle paul is doing tonight in romans chapter 14 is helping us with how to go forward when there is a dispute and particularly when there's this dispute that arises in an area of freedom because some particular brother or sister has not understood the freedom that the gospel has brought jesus said that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free, but they haven't fully grasped that yet. They haven't understood what that looks like in the life of the church. And so here what we have is Paul helping us to deal with these things. What particular issue is on his mind? Well, the problem in Rome was a problem that was a real threat to the church's unity. You had a mixture of Jews and you had a mixture of Gentiles, and the jews were really struggling with their paths they're not the judaizers that paul was dealing with in galatian these are the jews that were actually in the church these were the jews that were attending the home church these were the jews who were a part of the christian fellowship they're sitting under the preaching of jesus and they were still struggling with observance of holy days what do we do with these and it was causing a real problem in the church of rome the gentiles had none of that history the gentiles didn't do that stuff they heard their freedom in the gospel they grasped that freedom and they saw these things were types and shadows these things were shadows and the reality that we now have in jesus frees us from all that we have the reality we have everything that those things pointed to why would we go back and it's interesting how paul dealt with this what paul when paul was dealing with actual judaizers and hebrews has a strong warning about this the book of hebrews don't go back you crucify the son of god again underfoot but when they were perverting the gospel to undermine it he went after but paul's not talking about that he's not talking about those types he's talking about Christians who were struggling they weren't there yet new Christians they're your brothers Paul says they're your brothers they don't get it like you do Christians who had joined the church in Rome some of them were very weak. And Paul's dealing with this distinction between the strong and the weak. And Paul had an entirely different message in how they were to treat one another. What did he say? In any given church, you have the strong and you have the weak. The strong are those who understand what the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, what it's secured for them, what it's brought for them, what it's done for them, and how that freedom translates to daily life, how they live. But the weak don't quite get it yet. And they struggled with the full significance of freedom. Now, what does somebody do who doesn't understand their freedom? We've met people like this. Paul deliberately used the word last time for what? Passing judgment. He used two different verbs to describe the strong and the weak. The one, he said for the weak, what do they do? They pass judgment. they condemn those who are not like them they they don't do things the way that we do it this is the only way it could be done they should completely conform to us but for the strong he chose a different word what do the strong do they despise they disdain the weak oh those legalists they scoff at them you know they're just stuck in their traditions to the jews they would have said they're just stuck in their cultural traditions now can you put this together what did paul do in the first part he showed us the problem he explained the problem this is what goes on but and his answer to that was to say don't judge one another god is the same god for them and for you now not everyone is in the same place spiritually this was also one of the things that we looked at but i love tonight's progression in this because now he provides what i call a shocking solution to this how would you solve this two brothers get together and they're not getting along and they're digging in their heels and all of us are extremely bullheaded i can be the worst of them. What do you do? How do you handle this? This is very practical tonight. Now, there are certainly strong and there are certainly weak. Everyone raised their hands here who thinks they're weak. You wouldn't have this problem, would you? The problem is everyone thinks they're strong in their positions. You think anyone's going to be willing to admit they're weak? if you did you could have the solution but here's the issue tonight the actual strong are the ones who assume they're strong and they may be the strong paul is addressing the strong tonight and what does he say he looks at the strong and he says okay your freedom should not be exercised in a way that would hurt your weaker brother what is the first thing he says then well it's remarkable that in this section you have a continued thing that he has been driving the whole time and you see how this whole practical gratitude section of romans is driven by one great principle what is it it's the principle of love and he says it again did you notice that as as as he went on he talks about love he mentions love and i want you to think about all the way back you're not walking in love notice that in verse 15 if your brother's grieved you're not walking in love this this this law of love this development of the principle of love that he has been and we looked at in romans chapter 13 here he's using that if you are causing a problem you're not walking in love so where's the solution where does paul go to start and deal with this well he goes right to the strong if you are strong and you've got it nailed down and you're free and you get that guess what you get a greater responsibility this is what he's doing what is it i know verse 14 and i'm persuaded in the lord jesus that nothing is an unclean in and of itself okay you're right but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean for if your brother's grieved by what you eat you're no longer walking in love but by what you eat do not this is strong language it's amazing how strong the language is paul uses here. Do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. What a statement. You know how radical a statement it is in light of this whole section in the gratitude? I am strongly convinced by Christ himself that there's nothing unclean in and of itself. Where did that come from? Well, that came from Jesus' teachings in Matthew chapter 15 when he was dealing with the externals and the heart the unclean thing is the heart but the externals remember what he said when he had called the multitude to himself he said to them hear and understand not what goes into the mouth defiles a man but what comes out of the mouth this defiles a man it's not those things that's not what's defiling imagine how hard that was for the jews to listen to that how offended they were by that and that's what the disciples said do you realize you offended them. The apostle said the same thing in 1 Timothy 4, everything God created is good and nothing is to be refused if it's received with thanksgiving. I just had an email this past week and I had to practice this of a listener who wanted to beat me over the head about the seventh day Sabbath and dietary laws. But she was struggling with it. And she had questions. And I had to be very careful in how I handled that. Paul just said, I agree with those who say that these things aren't the problem. I agree. But essentially what he said is that the strong are correct. You're right. But then notice what his concern is. If there's someone who thinks one of these things is unclean, for him it is complete liberty of conscience here he's working with isn't he as believers so in other words there may um there may come somebody who absolutely thinks that in these areas of freedom that you have and you understand it is it is unclean and it's wrong to partake of or to do as a christian notice that liberty here paul doesn't say well let him have it and break the fellowship then? No, no. That's not what he's saying. He says they're wrong. They're wrong. I agree with you, dear Strong. They're wrong. Let me give you an example. Brother A understands his liberty. And you know, you have a whole bunch of issues here. Paul uses food and Paul uses days. And there's some application to that that I used last time with our observance of special days we could tie more to that than we should but paul here we could apply this by looking at individual practices of piety couldn't we brother a understands the liberty that he has to drink alcohol i mean this is just the common one everyone uses brother b does not for him it's wrong paul then says well then for brother b it's wrong it's wrong for him so then brother a who adamantly knows his freedom and believes his freedom, should let it go. What is another area? Schooling. Remember, how about this one? Brother A believes adamantly in homeschooling. Brother B believes adamantly that it should be the Christian school. Now, what kind of tendency would you have if these two get together, and they both believe that? the tendency may be judgment, the tendency may be looking down, the tendency may be they're not doing it the right way. And notice Paul here is giving liberty of conscience on these issues. If there's never been a consensus in the 2,000 years of the church history in a gray area, we might want to recognize it's an area of Christian liberty. We might want to realize that. And Paul is telling us here, resolve it. This is not an option. You don't have the right to look down on somebody because of that. If your brother is grieved because of your food, you're not walking in love. And so, again, I'm talking to you strong who understand your liberty. If you're grieving them, you're wrong. And so, essentially, what he's doing then is appealing to maturity. he's appealing to the maturity of the strong why is he saying that because you have the freedom to do it or not to do it the weak don't so you concede you let it go let go of your conviction on that issue now what's the what's the fear in that for us i'm compromising i'm compromising and the lord's saying no you're not you're demonstrating the mind of christ you're demonstrating the mind of christ should we just cater to the weaker brother all the time i mean they can be such pains i know that because i'm of course the strong one you know should we just always cater to the weaker brother they borderline on legalism i get tired of it should we give any credence to that i agree some of the weak are almost pushing their convictions to the point of bondage i found this quote i loved what c.s lewis once said one of the marks of a certain kind of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up that's not the christian way an individual christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons marriage or meat or beer i would say why give up beer but why do that cinema and c.s lewis comes along and says the moment that he starts saying these things are bad in themselves or looking down his nose at other people who do not use them he's taken the wrong turning. It's absolutely right. It's a warning to the weaker brother. But at the end of the day, Paul is appealing to the strong and saying, the solution lies with you. And that's why I love this passage. It's a real solution. The way this is achieved is through the actions or through the actions of the strong. So if you're strong, guess what God's commanding you? let it go. James says, the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and I've always loved this one, open to reason, or better translated, willing to yield, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, And that is genuine love. He further supports this in verse 16. So don't let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. Don't let this freedom of the gospel that you run around proclaiming, don't let it be completely undermined because you're behaving like a jerk. That's not love. So the principle of love guides this. And then he says what? Then he says, in that liberty, one more thing to me. pursue peace. Notice what he says in verse 17. The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. That's not what the kingdom's about. But here's what the kingdom is about. I love this. Peace, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. What is the last thing you see when two Christians have dug in their heels and are ready to fight. Do you see joy? Do you see peace? Do you see righteousness? The anger of man does not produce what? The righteousness of God. So then, what does he say? Whoever serves, thus serves Christ, is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Not in eating and drinking there's not a reason to be adamant about those things there's no real reason to be adamant about those things but the kingdom shows itself in things that you should be adamant about righteousness joy and peace and if you pursue that that's a healthy way to break down the dispute and so i think this is a really beautiful section tonight i want to close with one example from the bible to show this at play and at work uh in the new testament let me get back to the food thing for one more minute. Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 8 addressed food, offered to idols? And I remember that. I remember going to the Buddhist temple years ago in seminary and we had that. They had all these fruits and there was that little fat man and you had to bring up food to that little fat man. And I thought, this is just ridiculous. So I said, I'm free. I can eat that stuff. And there were some brothers there that said, you can't do that. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat. And no better off if we do. If you eat food offered to idols, it doesn't matter, it's nothing. But be careful. Take care, he says. Lest this right of yours somehow causes a stumbling block to the weak. Or 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 the food offered to idols? What is he saying to the strong? You see how you're affecting somebody? And so by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it's weak, you sin against Jesus Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest my brother stumbles. That is a powerful ending. I'll never do it. Can you imagine if you had that kind of spirit in the life of the church when there were disputes? Now, if you turn to Acts 15, the Gentiles were coming in in droves and the Jews were saying, well, you need to be circumcised. In fact, in verse 5, the Pharisees were saying it's necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. I mean, it was awful what they were doing. They were so afraid that these Gentiles would become antinomians, if you will, They tried to rein him in. So here you have this huge church council and much dispute happens. And if you've ever been to a church meeting, get a bunch of pastors together, a dispute will happen. I assure you of that. Peter stands up in verse 10. Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus just as they will. So what is the final judgment in this matter? Look down at verse 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Now, if you were to break that down, a few of those things belong to the moral law of God, don't they? Of course they should abstain from sexual immorality. Of course they should keep from idols. But there was one thing there that the Gentiles were completely free to do. Eat food. Food offered to idols. But you know what it did to the Jewish brethren? It disturbed them so immensely that they couldn't have fellowship. So what was the council's decision? The Gentiles should concede on that point. The Gentiles should let it go on that point. And it demonstrates exactly what the Apostle Paul is teaching. They honored the truth. So the council here honored the concern of the weaker consciences in that case. Now, that's how it closes tonight. You know the scripture shows us this everywhere. It says in verse 20, all things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. If you want to insist on your position as the strong one, if you want to be unrestrained in your freedom, let me ask you a question. do you have faith, he says? Do you have faith? Then you know what? Keep that conviction of yours between yourself and God. That's how you can handle it. And recognize that when you exercise your liberty to your brother's hurt or discouragement, you're causing his own conscience grief. And then you're setting a stumbling block before one for whom Christ died. And Jesus warned that the characteristic of the ungodly is that they love to set stumbling blocks in front of people. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. It means a lot to our Lord for how we love one another and how we care for one another. He nailed his son to the cross that we might practice the mind of Christ and demonstrate fervent love for one another with a pure heart, not pushing ourselves on one another. And he wants us to demonstrate that kind of sacrificial love that we've enjoyed and that we've known. That's the mind of Christ. It kills the Pharisee that resides in our hearts and it casts us upon the mercies of Jesus as our whole lives are then given to show forth what gospel fellowship looks like in a broken world, in a world that can't get along, in a world of people who hate one another and despise one another as we learn together to love one another in the way that Christ has called us to love. Let's pray together tonight. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you instruct us on these things and that you care, that we have regard for our weaker brothers' consciences. And how many disputes in the life of the church, we confess, have been from these kinds of things. And then on the essentials, we just let it go. And we ask for forgiveness for this. That in the course of our lives, we have demonstrated this, we've been part of this. We sung out on that psalm saying that we're going to strive in life in gratitude to you to be blameless in these things. And so wash us and cleanse our consciences and help us to love fervently out of a pure heart. And what you care for, Lord, we care for. And if you have said this, then it is the drive of our life now. And may that be so for all of those who call on the name of Jesus Christ. In his name we pray tonight, amen.