The model for the church, Romans 15:14-21

In the epistle to the Romans, Paul spends the first 11 chapters talking about the theology and doctrine of the church.  Not the doctrinal distinctives of a particular type or denomination of a church, but the general theology and doctrine which believing through faith  leads to salvation, through which you are made a part of Christ’s church.  You cannot join this church, you must be born again to be a member of this church.  And Paul uses the first eleven chapters to teach the doctrines of being born again, which is the doctrine of salvation.  That doctrine is what is called the gospel. Belief in the gospel is what qualifies you for salvation, which is the means by which you are a part of Christ’s church.

That’s why at the very beginning of the epistle, Paul says in chapter 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  The gospel is the power unto salvation, which is the means by which you are made part of Christ’s church.

Then starting in chapter 12, Paul shifts gears to focus on the practical aspects of being the church.  The first 11 chapters teach how to become a part of the church, and then starting in ch 12 it deals with what it means to be the church.  I don’t have time this morning to summarize all the messages we have given on the church in chapters 12, 13, 14 and now 15, but suffice it to say we looked at the worship of the church, the essentiality of the church, the love of the church, the church’s attitude towards outsiders, towards your neighbor, towards the government, the edification of the church, and so forth. These 4 chapters are all about life in the church.

Now as Paul winds up his letter, as he approaches the conclusion to this very detailed, dense doctrinal essay which is called the Epistle to the Romans, he gives this last bit of exhortation or admonition concerning the model for the church. Now he tends to refer to it as his ministry, but that is essentially in this context the church.  And so Paul gives us a model for church, and illustrates certain principles by which it is to operate.

So many books and seminars and so forth have been written or presented on this topic.  How to have an effective church.  How to have a relevant church.  How to grow your church.  How to plant a church.  To paraphrase what the Apostle John said, “the world could scarcely contain the books which are written” about the church, by supposedly the experts of the ecclesiastical world.  I can’t tell you the number of pastors I have heard about that have modeled their church after the prototype presented in one of those kinds of books. And they may achieve a certain measure of success if you are evaluating it from a human perspective, or especially from a business model perspective.  But what really counts is whether or not it is successful from God’s perspective.  Does it follow God’s template? I would suggest that God does indeed have a template for the church, and it is not according to man’s wisdom but according to God’s.  In fact, it is often considered foolishness to the world. 1 Cor. 1:21, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

Now if anyone should know about how the church should look and operate it should have been the Apostle Paul. His entire life was devoted to the church, to planting churches all over Asia Minor, and establishing churches by his letters and missionary travels.  It’s ironic that the Catholics revere Peter as the founding father of the church, but in actuality, Paul deserves that title much more so than he. And I believe in this closing part of this chapter  Paul gives this template for the church, or as I have titled this message; “A model for the church.”

Starting with vs 14 then, Paul acknowledges that these Roman Christians are a part of Christ’s church.  And he does so by acknowledging their salvation.  He characterizes their salvation by saying in vs14 “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”  Paul cannot be saying that these Romans were inherently good people.  That cannot be what Paul is saying because he spent the first 3 chapters of this epistle telling them that all were sinners by nature, that there is none righteous, not even one.  

So then what is he saying? Paul is acknowledging the evidence that they have been justified.  They have been given the righteousness which comes as a gift from God on the basis of faith in Christ.  The word rendered goodness is perhaps better translated as uprightness.  According to Galatians 5:22, goodness or uprightness is one of the fruits of the Spirit.  So their life is evidence that they have received righteousness and as a result are living righteously. That’s evidence of their salvation.  That they have been made a part of Christ’s church.

The second evidence he says is that they are full of knowledge.  What Paul is referring to is the knowledge of salvation.  The very things he has been talking about in this epistle - the theology of God, the doctrines of the gospel.  It’s the knowledge of God according to the truth of God’s word. To know the truth is essential to salvation.

And because they have that knowledge, they are able to teach one another, or admonish, as Paul says here.  So they have all the requirements necessary for the church. That’s what Paul is recognizing, that they are believers, who are growing in knowledge and are able to teach.

But hen he adds that it was necessary for him to write them regarding certain points of the gospel in order to remind them again.  It’s important that as Christians we don’t neglect the teaching of the basics of our salvation.  We need to be reminded of what it means to be saved, and how we are saved, and what the purpose of our salvation is.  That serves to strengthen our faith, and we run into trouble when we think we have progressed to the point where we no longer need to hear about salvation and our need for a Savior.

Now at this point, Paul gives a synopsis of his own ministry as an apostle to the Gentile church. And while we don’t have apostles in the church anymore - they were a one time gift to establish the church, to be the foundation for the church according to Ephesians 2:20 - we do have pastors.  Pastors do not have apostolic authority, they are not inspired by God to write the scriptures, but they are given the authority to preach the inspired scriptures.  And they are given to the church for the edification of the church. Eph. 4:11-12 says, “And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” 

So we can correlate the ministry of the apostle Paul to the ministry of pastors, at least to some degree.  Now Paul says concerning his ministry first of all that it was because of the grace of God.  In other words, Paul’s ministry was a gift of God.  Being a pastor, a preacher, is a spiritual gift, a calling of God upon a man’s life.  God has to call a pastor, and He has to equip a pastor.  And so Paul rightly recognizes that his ministry is a gift from God.  I believe there are a lot of pastor’s in churches today that are probably not called by God. They may have been called by a church, but they are not called by God. For them being a pastor is a profession.  They got a degree at a seminary, they became ordained by a denominational board, and were called to fill a position in a church by a pastor’s search committee.  And as a result, they answer to the people who hired them. And their preaching is evidence that they were called by men and not by God.

Notice though that  Paul says that he is a minister of Christ, vs 16, to the Gentiles.  Not a minister of the First Baptist Church. But he is a minister of Christ.  He is an under shepherd of Christ. Pastor means shepherd, by the way. Christ is the Great Shepherd of the sheep, but the local pastor is an under shepherd of Christ.  He is not a hireling of a church, but a minister of Jesus Christ.

Not only a minister of Christ, but even more specifically, he says, ministering as a priest of the gospel.  This is a very interesting analogy.  In the old covenant priesthood, the priests offered sacrifices on behalf of the people.  They were ministers of God in the temple.  But in the church, the people are the temple of God. Back in Eph 2:19-22 Paul makes that clear;  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner [stone,]  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

So Paul is ministering in a priest like fashion the gospel in the church “so that [his] offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”  So in accordance with 12;1, which talks about our offering of our bodies as a living sacrifice which is our acceptable service of worship, Paul says that the church of which he is a minister is to be an offering, a living sacrifice to God. And the gospel which he is preaching is accomplishing that sacrifice to be acceptable by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

That shows us that the preaching of the gospel is the means of sanctification in the church by the Holy Spirit working through the word of God.  That’s why it’s so important that we submit regularly to the preaching of the whole counsel of God as a church.  The preaching of the gospel is essential to the church. It is the main thrust of the church.  So that the church might become knowledgable in doctrine, mature in their walk, sanctified, living godly, acceptable, upright lives in the midst of a perverse world. Eph 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”  The washing with the word sanctifies the church. 

Notice that Paul uses the word “acceptable” in regards to his offering of the church.  That is a direct reference to 12:1, where the living sacrifice of our bodies is our acceptable service of worship.  Do you realize that not all offerings which are given to God are necessarily acceptable to God?  Do you remember that God did not accept the offering of Cain, for instance?  Do you remember the way God rejected the strange fire of the priests Nadab and Abihu, and in fact the Lord struck them dead as they were supposedly ministering to God?  Let us be clear, God does not accept all offerings of worship.  It must be acceptable, holy, good, and according to the will of God. So Paul by his preaching of the gospel makes the offering of the church acceptable.

I think it’s clear that the preaching of the gospel is job one as far as Paul is concerned.  “Therefore,” Paul goes on to say, “in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.” What Paul is saying is that the of preaching the gospel has resulted in being able to give praise to Christ who has brought about this sanctification of the church.  It isn’t Paul’s wisdom, or his eloquence as a speaker, or his charisma, or his power of persuasion that has brought about these things in the church.  But it is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ working through him.  

I’m afraid that far too often the pastor of a church is selected or chosen according to the wrong criteria. He is chosen on the basis of his sense of humor, his eloquence, how he looks, how his wife looks, or whatever.  The success of his church comes down more to a popularity contest rather than whether or not he is truly called by God and given the gift of God to preach the gospel.  As Paul warned in 2Tim 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 

But Paul’s preaching and teaching was intended to sanctify them.  To complete them so that as a priest he might offer to God the Gentile church as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.  A sacrifice was to be holy, without spot or blemish.  And the church is made righteous, acceptable, holy in position, in practice by the preaching of the gospel.

So Paul is able to boast of the Gentiles, not because of his own work, but because of the sanctifying work of the Spirit which worked in them through the gospel which Paul administered. The result being, in vs 18, that the Gentiles were obedient.  That is the completion or perfection of faith.  Obedience to the truth, to the gospel.  Not simply stopping at justification, being saved by faith, but growing in sanctification, by being obedient to the truth.  Not just righteousness imputed resulting in justification, but righteousness worked out, resulting in sanctification.

Now Paul was able to affect this transformation on the part of the Gentiles by four methods, none of which are independent of the others, but which all work together synchronistically. The first method utilized by Paul to affect this change in the Gentiles is his word and deed. The first method is the personal example of his life; his word and deeds.  How Paul conducted himself in his day to day life as a Christian served as a living sermon that was evident by the way he spoke and conducted himself on a daily basis.  So that Paul was able to say elsewhere, “be imitators of me.” 

Listen, there is no expiration date on your personal testimony.  How you live in your day to day life is a much more telling testimony of your salvation than simply words. We had a couple of men in the church give their testimony recently of how they were saved at one of our Wednesday night Bible studies.  And the whole purpose of that was to illustrate that it’s important that we are able to verbalize what brought about our salvation and what that means in order to help others to come to the knowledge of the gospel.  But, what is a fundamental precursor to their spoken testimony is the realization on the part of other people who are watching their lives, that there has indeed been a change in these men.  That their words and deeds are manifest witness to having been saved.

Secondly, he says another method God used to bring the Gentiles to obedience of the truth was in the power of signs and wonders.  Now that phrase has become problematic in 21st century churches. There are some denominations out there who feel that signs and wonders are existent in the church today, and that they are vital for a vibrant Christian life.  What they really are teaching through this though is the idea that God is the equivalent to the genie concept of a deity, a genie that exists to grant my every wish, my every command.  

Rather than God’s control over my life being evidenced by my words and deeds, as Paul indicated his life was visibly different, visible righteous living - they think that God must manifest Himself in me through some mental or physical or spiritual experience that proves to me that He is real.  And furthermore, that we can expect and even demand of God that He overturn earthly crises as I see fit.  So that I can heal, I can raise the dead, I can move mountains, or do whatever I think is necessary. I can harness the power of God to do whatever I name and claim it in the name of faith. 

Listen, that expectation and demand on our part to see God manifest His power is not of faith. That which is seen is not of faith.  That which is unseen is of faith. We err in unbelief when we expect and demand that God do what we want Him to do.  We demote God to the form of a genie who is under our authority as long as we use the magic formula.  That’s not the God of the Bible.

This whole problem with signs and wonders goes back to the issue of the apostles.  There are no apostles today in the church.  But in Paul’s day, signs and wonders were a sign of being an apostle.  Acts 5:12 says,  “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico.”  Signs and wonders were the purview of the apostles to establish that they were speaking the word of God.  And that’s stated even more clearly in 2Cor. 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”  Paul makes it clear there that the sign of a true apostle, that they were truly speaking for God, was that they performed signs and wonders.  But when the age of the apostles faded away with their deaths, so did the age of signs and wonders.  

But don’t be deceived, Satan is able to give the power of signs and wonders to his ministers as well.  Jesus warned in Matt. 24:24  "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  It can be dangerous to follow someone just because they do signs and wonders.  And Paul made it clear in 1 Cor. 13 that many of those gifts of the Spirit which were at first manifest in the church would eventually pass away.

But let me tell you something which I am sure you already realize.  There is no greater miracle than the miracle of salvation.  There is no greater sign than the sign of someone’s changed life. I visited a certain denomination's pastors conference many years ago and heard a charismatic missionary speaking about a mission trip in Africa where they went from village to village preaching the gospel.  And according to him, everywhere they went the whole village would end up getting saved.  He said thousands of people were saved as they traveled through these small villages preaching the gospel.  But then one day they were at a river doing a baptism after a service, and for some reason, (I could hardly understand him because of his accent), but for some reason a woman came forward holding a baby who had just died.  And he said he took the dead baby from the mother and baptized it, and the baby began to cry.  The baby came back to life from the dead.

Now I have a lot of questions I would like to ask about that story, and to say I am skeptical is to put it mildly.  But what really was troubling was when he said that the baby came back from the dead, the entire auditorium of these charismatic preachers stood up and gave a standing ovation.  And I could not escape the irony of what they were in effect saying.  Just a moment before, the same man gave testimony that thousands of people were saved, transferred from death to life.  And no one even said amen, much less clapped and gave a standing ovation.  But one baby was supposedly raised from the dead and that warrants a standing ovation. I could not help but think that they did not truly understand the miracle of salvation.

So I do believe we still have signs and wonders operating in the church today, but it may not be of the kind which we are looking for.  And in fact, many signs and wonders are not indicative of God’s presence, but are very likely indicative of a great deception in the church.

The third method given in Paul’s ministry is the power of the Holy Spirit.  This shows the power of the Holy Spirit is not always equated to signs and wonders, is it?  Because Paul lists it separately.  In fact,  signs and wonders may not be of the Spirit of God at all.  But it is essential that the power of the Spirit is working in the church.  But how He works is not always in visible ways.  He works in our inward parts, in our minds, in our hearts, in our consciences.  The Holy Spirit works through preaching, He works through the word of God.  He works through prayer. And if He is not working then I can guarantee you that the church is not Christ’s church.  And if He is working then He will make what we do effectual. 

Listen, no one is saved without the Holy Spirit leading that person to the knowledge of the truth, without Him opening the spiritual eyes and hearts of the blind.  No one is given new life without the power of the Holy Spirit.  No one is able to be taught by God without the power of the Holy Spirit.  No true church is ever established without the power of the Holy Spirit. No one is able to walk the Christian walk without the power of the Holy Spirit.

When you read about Jesus’s ministry in Luke 3 and 4, when He came up out of the water the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and it says that He went out to do ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. And likewise Paul constantly referred to the leading of the Spirit in his travels, in where he went and does and what doors are opened to him.  It is essential that we lean upon the Spirit for wisdom, and that He will open doors that no man can shut, that He will open the eyes of the blind, He will give us the words to say, and He will soften the soil of the heart to be responsive to the truth.  

The last method Paul mentions of his ministry is the preaching of the gospel. He says in vs19; “so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.  And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was [already] named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation;  but as it is written, "THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.”

Paul had a desire, a calling to preach the gospel, not just to those in Jerusalem, but to the far regions of the Roman Empire, to take the good news to people who had not heard.  Paul’s ministry was unique in some respects to that missionary aspect.  Today it is difficult to find people anywhere in the world who have not heard something about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that is in large measure due to the zeal of the Apostle Paul in the early years of the church.

But nevertheless, those who have heard and have not believed have just as much a need for salvation as those who have never heard.  And our ministry is to proclaim the good news.  Our mission is to take the gospel to our family, then to our neighbors, then to our communities, and from one person to the next we will end up taking it to the world.

The church is to be about the business of the kingdom of God.  We are to be ambassadors for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are to be actively pursuing those who are lost, who have not heard, who have not believed, persuading them regarding the truth of the gospel.  And we do so through sound doctrinal preaching of the word, through righteous living, through the miracle of the new birth, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Let us pray that God will use us, each of us, in the ministry of the gospel.  Not everyone is called to be an apostle, not everyone is called to be a pastor or teacher, but all of us are called as the church to go and tell others the truth of the gospel.  Let us be the church of Jesus Christ and accomplish that mission by prayer, by following the leading of the Spirit, by the power of the word of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us through the gospel which we proclaim.

Following Christ’s example of love, Romans 15:1-13

Starting in chapter 12, Paul has basically been giving a series of admonitions regarding life in the church.  The church is not a building nor an organization, per se.  It is an organism, a living, breathing community of believers who are connected in spirit, soul and body.  The church is the temple of God, of which  indwelled by the Spirit of God. 1Peter 2:5 says, “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” And beginning in chapter 12, Paul has been teaching practical ways in which the church is to minister as the body of Christ in the world.  And the primary way that the church will be manifested in the world is by our love for one another, and by our love for our neighbor, and even by our love for our enemies.

Then in chapter 14 and the first half of 15, Paul has been trying to instruct us in practical terms how as members of Christ’s church we are to fulfill the second commandment, which is to love one another in the church.  As I have emphasized so often in the past, Christian love is not based on attraction, it is not based on emotion or sentimentality. Christian love is not based on the principle of  reciprocality.  In other words, Christian love is not based on how others respond to you.  Christian love does not say, “I will love him or her as a long as they treat me the way I want them to treat me.”  Or, “I can’t love that person because they don’t treat me right.”  That’s not Christian love.  That may be the world’s perspective of love, but it is not God’s perspective on love.

Christian love is by definition a sacrificial love. It is interested in the benefit of others MORE than your own benefit. Christian love seeks for the benefit of the other person, without considering how you can benefit from it, or how they might make you feel.  Christian love is the kind of love that Christ had for the church, as He laid down his life for her.  His sacrifice was not based on our ability to reciprocate, but based on His love for us.  And that type of sacrificial love is what we are to have for one another in the church.

But in the church, Paul recognized that there were varying backgrounds and traditions and convictions on the part of it’s members.  These factions could be categorized by two characterizations, what he calls the  strong and the weak.  The strong, for the most part were comprised of the Gentile Christians in the church.  And the weak were more than likely the Jewish component of the church.  And yet Paul, speaking through the Holy Spirit, wants both factions to be united as one.

This goal for the church is stated in vs 5 “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,  so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The goal is that they have the same mind, connected to one another, with one accord, and with one voice glorify God.  That unity is essential to the goal of the church.  The church could not glorify God if they were dishonoring one another, if they were fighting among themselves, if they were separating over non essential issues.

So their differing backgrounds, their differing traditions, their different nationalities, different races, different convictions about certain non moral issues about Christian life, threatened that unity.  And so he has been trying to show them what they need to do and how they needed to act towards one another so that the church could have the unity that it was designed to have.

We preached two messages about chapter 14 which covered all the ways that the church is to consider others needs, and if necessary to restrict your own liberties for the sake of edifying the other, and to keep from putting a stumbling block in front of someone else.  And to be truthful, I don’t know why the Holy Spirit has made such an issue out of this principle. It seems to me that it could have been stated in 3 or 4 verses.  But instead, He has spent one and half chapters talking about this issue. I can only imagine that unity in the church is very important to the Lord.  And also I believe God is very concerned over the possibility that a believer could be discouraged and possibly be caused to stumble or even fall because of discord in the church, or a bad example being set before a weaker believer by a stronger believer, which may cause the weaker believer to have a shipwreck in his faith.  

But I don’t want to spend our time today reviewing what we have already said in our previous messages, and besides, they are available online if you need to be reminded of what we covered so far. But even better than that, in vs 1 Paul gives a two verse summary of what has been said up to this point concerning this matter.  Notice vs. 1and 2, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.  Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.”

So there are two rules of thumb for when you have to decide whether you should exercise your liberty in a certain area, or restrict your liberty for the sake of someone else’s convictions or different perspective on a non moral issue.  And let’s be sure we are clear about this.  Paul is not addressing sinful areas which the Bible makes clear are sinful.  He is not saying that there can be differences in perspectives on what is sinful and what is not, say in the matter of adultery, or coveting, or lying and so forth. Those areas are well defined in scripture.  He is speaking of believers who are sincerely attempting to live the Christian life in a way that honors God through the observance of certain restrictions in their diet, in their observance of certain days, or in their liberty or restraint in regards to traditions and ceremonial aspects of worship, that have been influenced perhaps by their upbringing or certain teaching that they have received, but which are not clearly stated in the Bible, or yet fully understood in regards to their Christian liberty.  And though with the Jews and the Gentiles it basically had to do with eating certain foods and observing certain religious holidays, in our culture, the principle can be applied to a whole host of potential areas of Christian life in the church.  The key principle which I think is at the heart of this argument, is not to let anything in your life be a stumbling block to others, but to sacrifice what you think may be fine for you,  for the benefit of others.  That’s really the point of this whole passage.

So when we are faced with any potential point of disagreement in the church, the first rule of thumb for maintaining Christian love and unity is to make the decision to please your neighbor rather than yourself. Don't insist on your way of doing things; be quick to do what is best for them. This is what love does. Love does not insist on its own rights.  1 Cor. 15: 5 says “love does not seek it’s own.” Therefore, if you let love guide your approach to disagreements, you will adjust and adapt to others views so that you may encourage them and not hinder them.  Notice again vs 2, “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.”  Seek the other one’s good rather than your own.  That is love.

The other rule of thumb is found in the first verse, which is that the strong is to bear the weaknesses of the weak and not just please ourselves.   That doesn’t mean that we bear with people, as in put up with people with a kind of disdain because we think they are weak, or they haven’t gotten as far along in their walk as you have.  But it may be correlated to Galatians 6:2, which says “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.”  We are to help them in their weakness.  To bear their burden with them so as to relieve them, even if it means we are burdened with them.

Now to encourage us to love one another in this way, giving preference to the other rather than yourself, he gives us three factors that can help us when we encounter these problems. The first one is the encouragement of example that comes to us from the past.

Vs 3,4: “For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU FELL ON ME."  For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

The first example that Paul gives to us is that of Jesus himself. Jesus encountered these kinds of problem even though he was perfect. Even though he never on any occasion conducted himself in a way that was in the slightest degree displeasing to God the Father, nevertheless, he ran into these kinds of difficulties. And Paul says that Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures that predicted that those who did not like God's methods would take it out on him. Paul quotes Psalm 69:9, saying, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”  The Lord Jesus bore the insults intended towards God.  And in the same way, we should follow Christ’s example, and bear the weaknesses of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Love requires that we suffer with them, rather than cause them to suffer, so that they might receive benefit.

Not only do we have Jesus’s life as our example, but as vs 4 tells us, the Old Testament also provides many examples of yielding up our privilege for the sake of another. Remember when Abraham and Lot were to divide the land among them, and Abraham, who was the older of the two, and the one who, by rights, should have had the first choice, gave that choice to Lot?  Lot chose first, and he chose the beautiful, well watered areas of the Jordan valley, leaving Abraham the barren hills. Abraham is an example of love in action; he gave up his privilege to benefit his nephew.

Then there is the story of Moses who gave up his place as a prince in the household of Pharaoh for the sake of his people. As Hebrews 11:25 says, he gave up his position as a prince of Egypt in order that he might "suffer reproach with the people of God for a season.” Also remember David and Jonathan who were such close friends? We see Jonathan yielding his right to the throne to David, because he knew God had chosen him. Jonathan was willing to give up his privilege for David’s benefit. And yet none of these men who gave up their rights ever lost anything. God was glorified, and they themselves ultimately gained an eternal benefit, because, in giving up, they achieved the goal that God was after. 

So we get encouragement from the past, in the example of Jesus and in the examples from the Old Testament figures. But not only do we get encouragement from the past, but Paul goes on to show us there is encouragement now in the present. 

Vs 5,6: “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,  so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What that verse teaches is that God is able to help us work these sort of disagreements out if we are His church.  Paul is expressing a prayer for unity in the church.  And our prayers are also to be for this unity. Our prayer is that God would grant us to be of the same mind with each other.  And when we pray for this unity, God can and will grant it to us.

Notice that he says the same mind is according to Christ Jesus.  What he means in that is that as we are in agreement with Christ, we can be in agreement with one another.  As both sides adopt the mind of Christ, then we will find we are both on the same page.  This shows us that we need to be under the sound teaching of the whole gospel of Jesus Christ.  We find unity in the truth.  Not unity at the expense of truth.  But as we study the gospel, we are conformed to the mind of Christ, and as we are conformed to the mind of Christ, then we become of the same mind with one another.

Jesus as He prayed in the Upper Room on the night before His crucifixion, prayed for unity, and said that unity would be the factor by which the world would come to know the gospel. John 17:22-23  "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;  I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

The second thing Paul says is that we find unity in the exercise our faith together in the community of the church, praising God with one another. We are a new family, a new community, bound together by the Spirit of God.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ.  And when we come together to worship the Lord we confess the truth of the gospel and we offer praise to God.  We become united in the truth as we proclaim it in the church.

The point is this, when we come together as a church, to praise and glorify God in worship, we are united in one accord, in one voice.  Rather than focus on the things that divide us, we focus on the things that unite us.  And coming together physically is much to be preferred over separating physically.  How can you love one another if you are not together? If we go off on our own and lick our wounds, we don’t heal our relationships, we don’t grow in our relationships with one another, but we allow those wounds to fester, to become entrenched in our attitudes.  Separation doesn’t repair relationships.  Coming together in Christ repairs relationships.  So the church corporate is a present means that we have of securing peace with one another. 

So we are given encouragement from the past, and encouragement from the present, and now Paul tells us to be encouraged by what the future holds. 

Vs 7-12 “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises [given] to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, "THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND I WILL SING TO YOUR NAME."  Again he says, "REJOICE, O GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE."  And again, "PRAISE THE LORD ALL YOU GENTILES, AND LET ALL THE PEOPLES PRAISE HIM."  Again Isaiah says, "THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES HOPE.”

What Paul is saying here is that God is already working out a great program of redemption that involves reconciling the Jews and the Gentiles. God has promised that he is going to do that, and he will bring it to pass. It has already started. It started when Christ accepted both Jews and Gentiles on the basis of faith, regardless of the great differences between them.

The Jews traditionally held the Gentiles in contempt; they called them dogs. They would have nothing to do with them. The Jews even regarded it as sinful to go into a Gentile's house and they would never dream of eating with a Gentile. Of course, the Gentiles retaliated with the same kind of disdain for the Jews. They hated the Jews. They called them all kinds of names; they looked down on them. These were opposing factions who hated one another, and would have nothing to do with one another, Yet, Paul says, as bad as that is, that kind of division God can heal by the work of Jesus. 

Vs 8 says that Jesus began that work of reconciliation by becoming a servant, or minister of circumcision.  Most modern versions translate that text as having become a servant of the circumcision, which was another way of speaking of the Jews.  They had so identified with the rite of circumcision that it was used as a euphemism for the Jews.  But some commentators point out that the “the” is not in the original text, and  what Paul is talking about here is the customs and rituals and ceremonies of the Jews.

So what Paul is saying is that the Lord healed this division between the Jews and the Gentiles by taking on the burden of the Jews and limiting his own liberty. He is the Creator, He is Lord.  He was not subject to the laws of Moses.  The rituals and ceremonies spoke of Him.  He was not under compulsion to them.  But because of His love for the Jews, and because of His desire to bring Gentiles to salvation, He subjected Himself to the laws and customs of the Jews, even the rite circumcision.  He was without sin, and yet He subjected Himself to the baptism of repentance for our sakes.  

Philippians tells us what Christ gave up so that He could win both Jews and Gentiles. Phil. 2:6-8, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Vs 8 says that Christ became a servant of the circumcised for the sake of God’s truth.  The truth of God is the gospel of salvation, which was made possible by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that all men might receive mercy.  Salvation is by faith in Him and the work that He has done in paying the penalty for sin, that men might receive mercy not in accordance with keeping the law, but according to faith in Him.

Paul then gives a series of quotations from the Psalms,  from Deuteronomy, and from Isaiah, all intended to show that God can through Christ create a new body of believers that are unified in Him. So you have the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings all agreeing that God can eliminate even these endemic kinds of differences between Jews and Gentiles in order to create His unified church.  It is a promise that God has made and that He will fulfill.  Jesus said “I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”  God is creating the bride of Christ, and one day Christ will return to consummate that marriage at the marriage supper of the Lamb, which will be populated with a vast multitude from every tribe and tongue and nation.

So no matter how great the disparity, no matter how deep the divide, the disagreements, God is able to bring them together in unity as His body, and we have encouragement from the past, the present and the future that gives us hope.

So Paul concludes with a great benediction of hope for the church in vs 13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  All the great promises of the Christian faith appear here: hope, joy, peace, and faith, and finally, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God working in us change us and mold us into the image of Jesus Christ, that we might be one, and with one accord, and one voice, enable us to glorify God by the testimony of our lives and our love for one another.  

Romans 12:1-2  “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ... 9 [Let] love [be] without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 [Be] devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

The edification of the church, Romans 14:13-23

I believe that in chapters 12 through 14 of Romans what we have is Paul addressing some practical considerations for how the church is to show love towards one another.  It is one thing to say that you should love one another, and that you should love your neighbor, and you should even love your enemies.  But it is another thing to work out how we do that in real life.  In each of these aspects of love, Paul is explaining the way love is worked out in the church and through the church.  Even in chapter 13, when Paul dealt with the church’s submission to governing authorities, the ultimate issue is still love, even sacrificial love towards others.

In chapter 14 then Paul is addressing how some practical considerations in the way the church acts in love towards one another.  In the historical context, there were some problems that presented themselves in the church which threatened to destroy their unity, to cause strife between various factions, and to ultimately cause the church to not to love as it should.

The two major ethnic distinctions in the church in Rome were the Jews and the Gentiles.  It seems that for a while the Jews had been expelled from the capital of Rome by Claudius, and in their absence the Gentiles in the church had become comfortable in living out their freedoms in Christ without having to consider the Jews tradition.  But at the time of this writing, the Jews had come back to Rome and were active again in the church.  This was a transitionary time in the church when Jewish conversion to Christianity was happening, but they were used to certain regulations in Judaism in regards to worshipping God,  and it was difficult for them to forsake some of those things such as certain foods and certain holidays that had been a standard of their lives for so long.

So Paul writes this section with this conflict in mind between the Jews and the Gentiles in the church.  It was important for them to be unified and act in love towards one another and this aspect of traditions and culture from their past threatened the church from within.  Now it might be easy for us to disregard such a passage today because we don’t have most of these particular issues in the church anymore, at least not to the degree that they did. But nevertheless, we can learn certain principles which should be applicable to other areas in our lives, which are important if we are going to get along with each other and be able to act in unity as the body of Christ.  

In this passage it would seem that in a general way Paul classifies the Jew as the weak brother, and the Gentile as the strong brother.  The weak brother, or the Jew, was still convicted by his conscience about holy days and certain foods and drink.  The stronger brother, the Gentile, embraced freedom in regards to food and drink and holy days. The result was that each group looked with disdain upon the other group.

So Paul admonishes them in vs 1, to “accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”  Last time when we looked at the first section following this opening verse, we saw that there were four reasons he gave why they should accept the weak, or accept the strong.  First, because the Lord accepts us, 2, because the Lord sustains us, 3, because the Lord is sovereign to each of us, and 4th, because the Lord alone is the judge, not us. 

Then starting in vs 13 Paul makes the point that rather than judge one another, we are to edify one another.  We are to build up one another.  Not only are we to accept each other in the sense that we tolerate our differences, but we are to do that which constructively edifies each other, strengthening and building up each other.  There will be differences in spiritual maturity among Christians in the church.  There will be various ethnic traditions and cultures that exist in the church among it’s members.  There will be members of the church which have different convictions and standards which are different from others.  Not sinful issues, not issues which the Bible clearly states are sin, but attitudes and behaviors and convictions which are non-moral, but nevertheless important to each person.  And what Paul is saying is that we are not to tear down one another over such things, but build one another up.  Looking out for what the other person needs rather than flexing my liberty at the expense of everyone else.

Paul's concern, as we come to verse 13 and all the way through the section, is not encourage the strong to stand up for their rights and exercise their liberty.  His point is not to have the strong flaunting their liberty, defining and demanding their rights, but it is to teach the strong to restrain their liberty for love’s sake.

And the key to the whole section is found in vs 15, where Paul says if you exercise your liberty and your brother is hurt, you are not walking in love. The point there is really the point of the whole passage.  What you want to do is be sure that your conduct in the exercise of your liberty is not unloving, is not insensitive to other believers.  If we can just  boil this down to a principle, we would say that the objective of Christian living in the church, the goal of a strong believer is to conduct himself in love toward a weaker brother.  

In that regard, Paul shows us six ways in which we can avoid offending and build up each other.  The first one is in verse 13 which is, “not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.”  The picture here is of a brother or a sister walking through their Christian life and somebody putting an obstacle in their path to cause them to fall.  We don't want to be the source of stopping them in their onward progress, causing them to trip up and fall.

In 1 Cor. 8:9 Paul says, “But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”  What may not be an issue for you, might be an issue for someone else.  But the fact that you, as a strong Christian, are doing a certain thing that is a real temptation or a problem for the weak one, may be all the incentive that they need to do the same thing, and in so doing, cause them to fall back into sin.  I can tell you from years of experience that weak Christians look to other Christians who they may think are mature, as an example of how they are to act. I’ve seen many young or weak Christians stop coming to Bible study, for example, because so and so, the strong Christian, stopped coming to Bible study.  Leaders lead by example, and the weaker ones will follow your example.  

Jesus warned of a severe punishment for those that put a stumbling block in front of others. He calls the others little ones, but He could just as easily say weak ones.  He’s not just talking about children, but about people who are weak or young in the faith.  He said in Mat 18:6-7 “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of [its] stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” So we need to make a serious commitment that we will never do anything which could be a stumbling block to others who are weaker in that area.

Next, Paul says not only are we not to cause our brother to stumble, but secondly, we are not to grieve our brother. vs 14,15  “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.  For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”

Now Paul is talking about food here.  We need to make that clear. He is not giving us permission to arbitrarily decide what is sinful or not. He is talking about food, which in itself is not sinful.  But certain foods were originally prescribed by God in the Mosaic law as either clean or unclean.  However, in the NT all foods were declared clean and available for food.  Last week I told you the story of Peter on the rooftop and how he saw a vision with all sorts of animals coming down out of heaven in a sheet.  And the Lord said, “Arise Peter kill and eat.”  And Peter answered, “Not so Lord, for I have never eaten anything unclean.”  And the Lord said, ““What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

Also we have the testimony of Paul in 1 Tim. 4:4 “Everything God created is excellent and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.”  So Paul says in our text that no food is unclean in itself. But if your conscience tells you that it’s unclean, and then you eat it because your stronger brother encourages you, or you follow his example, then your conscience will be hurt.  And the stronger brother who encouraged you to go against your conscience has not acted in love.

The Lord wants us to have a clear conscience.  You never want to train anybody to violate conscience.  We looked at that last week.  You don't want to learn to violate your conscience.  By following your instruction or your example, he does what he believes is wrong and then has to live with the remorse and the guilt of his conscience.  He not only forfeits the peace and joy of his Christian walk but he also risks searing his conscience which is a tool that the Holy Spirit uses to lead us and guide us in righteousness.  So we don’t want to do something which may cause a brother to grieve his conscience.

The third point is also in vs 15, “Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.” Don’t make him stumble, don’t grieve him, and by all means, don’t destroy him over something like food.  Christ was willing to die for that person.  Shouldn’t you be willing to limit your liberty to keep from destroying someone?  Sin is a destroyer.  And it doesn’t have to be some major sin that causes destruction.  I’ve seen someone’s Christian walk destroyed over what seemed to be a trivial issue to me.  But obviously it wasn’t a trivial matter to them.  Once they took a step in a particular direction, the next steps followed in quick succession.  Once you go against your conscience in one area, you’re more easily tempted in other areas and you no longer seem to have the spiritual resistance to stop the downhill slide.

Fourthly, don’t allow your liberty to cause you to forfeit your testimony. It is possible to so abuse our liberty among ourselves that we create such conflict between the weak and the strong that the world in general is turned off to Christianity because of what they see.  

Vs 16, “Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Paul is talking about the world watching the church.  When a church falls, or has a falling out of it’s people, the world is watching and using that as an excuse to reject the gospel.  It’s important that if necessary we set aside our liberties for the sake of our testimony to a watching world. 

The Jews were accused of causing the world to blaspheme God because of the way they conducted themselves in the world.  And I’m afraid that the majority of Christians are guilty of the same kind of thing.  So that the world says they have no use for church, in fact, they would prefer hell over church, because the church is so full of hypocrites.  Why do they say that?  Because we are too consumed with our rights, our liberties, our freedoms, and in so doing we ruin so many that are hurt by our actions.

Furthermore, Paul says that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  In other words, the evidence of your Christianity is not found in a strict list of do’s and don’ts. The evidence of our salvation is not food and drink.  Fighting over non-essential, non-moral convictions is all too common in the church and probably a key reason so many people reject the gospel.  I’ve seen churches split over things like the Sunday School budget or the color of the cushions on the pews. 

The Kingdom is not about what we do or don’t do as Christians.  The Kingdom is righteousness and peace and joy in Christ.  Righteousness means I live in such a way as to honor God, and peace means I live in harmony with my brother.  And joy comes to the one who is right with God and at peace with his brother.  Joy is knowing God, experiencing forgiveness, grace and mercy and love.  And that kind of environment is created a by self-sacrificing love that does not exercise its liberty at the expense of offending somebody else.

Peter confirms this principle in 1Peter 2:15-16 “For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.  Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but [use it] as bond slaves of God.”  Our actions, by the limitation of our freedoms, by the avoidance of all things unseemly, serves to shut the mouths of our critics.   

Back to vs18 of our text in Romans 14, “For he who in this [way] serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.”  Our love for others, which is evidenced by our willingness to sacrifice our liberty for the sake of others, is actually serving Christ, and it brings approval from men.  Isn't that what Romans 12:1 and 2 says?  “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  God is pleased when we sacrificially restrict our freedom for the sake of serving others in the church.  And such sacrificial service also finds approval from men.

Paul said in 1Cor. 9:19-22 “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.  To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law;  to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.  To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.”  That’s the goal, the furtherance of the gospel, that I would not do anything to hinder someone from coming to the saving knowledge of the gospel.  If we truly loved our neighbor, we would do everything possible to see them come to salvation, even sacrificing our freedom or our liberty for their sake.

Then in verse 19 of our text, he says, "Therefore, let us pursue the things which lead to peace and the building up of one another."  Let us pursue  two things; one, the things that make for peace.  You know what leads to peace?  A desire to see my brother’s needs met, thats more important than having my rights protected. That takes humility.  It takes a sacrificial love for one another.

And secondly, we are to pursue the things which build each other up. So I consider doing whatever it takes to build them up, not to satisfy my ego, or to exercise my rights, or to fill my appetite.  But I want to see them strengthened.  I want to see them edified, even more than I want edification for myself. In 1 Corinthians 14:12 Paul says, “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.”  Rather than exercising your liberty which may cause them to stumble or be hurt, or to be destroyed, or which may cause a loss of testimony, seek to build them up.

Fifth, don’t tear down the work of God.  Vs. 20: “Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.”

When you cause a brother to be offended, you're tearing down the work of God.  Food is symbolic of any discretionary thing that you might think you have a right to do. It can apply to many things besides food.  But here he has the idea of the offending the Jew with food that wasn't kosher or offending a Gentile with food that had been offered to idols.  But food is symbolic of anything that might cause offense.  Don't let your liberty destroy the work of God.

That person in church you think is weak, who is hung up on legalism, who is offended by what you’re doing is a work of God. Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus."  God is at work in every Christian, even the weaker brother is a work of God. it is the work of God you're tearing down for the sake of enjoying your liberty. 

Verse 20 reminds us all food is clean.  All things refers to food, that’s evident from the rest of the sentence.  But it can apply to anything that is not sin in and of itself.  Things that are not immoral are clean, they are permissible for us.  But it can become sin for us if we eat and it causes the weaker brother to be offended. We have caused him to stumble, and to cause a stumbling block to others is sinful. 

So he says in verse 21, “it's good neither to eat meat, nor drink wine, nor anything by which thy brother stumbles.”  None of those things may be sinful in themselves, but when I do something which causes my brother to stumble it is sin.  And so I must avoid it.   Notice also that now the apostle identifies wine as the source of the problem with drinking. He is not saying wine is sinful, but it becomes sinful when it causes someone else to stumble. Your weaker brother may have come out of alcoholism.  And you should be willing to restrict your liberty for the sake of a brother.  I read a statistic the other day which said that 14.4 million people in America has a drinking disorder. You may think you’re ok, but you need to consider others.

I remember not long after I quit drinking my wife and I were invited over to dinner at the pastor’s house of a church we were attending. And they served wine with dinner.  It was a temptation for me.  After all, the pastor was drinking and offered me some.  But I am the type of person that isn’t going to drink a glass once in a  blue moon and that’s it.  I’ll drink that glass, and then I’ll take the bottle.  Thank God I haven’t had a sip of alcohol in over 25 years.  And I didn’t fall that night either, but I shudder to think what my life might be like today if I had decided that night I would just have one little drink. “It's better neither to eat meat, nor drink wine, nor anything by which thy brother stumbles.”

Then the last point, don’t flaunt your liberty.  Do you have faith that you can eat or drink or do something that you see as Christian liberty?  Great!  Just keep it to yourself before God. Vs22 “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”  I used to misunderstand that verse.  I used to think it meant that whatever I approved of, whatever my convictions were, that was fine.  As long as I am happy.  Different strokes for different folks. 

But it doesn’t mean that.  It means my convictions are between me and God. I don’t insist on my freedoms at the expense of others. Paul says, “You should keep between God and yourself that conviction that you have.” And then he adds, “Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”  Meaning; inwardly happy is that person, the strong believer, who avoids bringing God’s judgment upon himself by insisting on the exercise of his freedom at the expense of harming a weaker believer. 

Let your liberty be between you and God.  That’s vertical.  But horizontally only allow yourself freedom which does not offend your brother, does not put a stumbling block in front of another person.  

On the other hand, verse 23, "He that doubts," that's a weak Christian, "he's going to be condemned if he eats," his conscience is going to condemn him, because he doesn't believe he should eat.  "And whatever is not of faith to him is sin."  So, to the weak Christians, don't try to emulate the strong until you have come to understand your freedom or you'll be condemned by your own conscience.  Don’t go against your conscience.

The bottom line is that we are to love one another with a sacrificial love.  And when we serve one another and build up one another in the church we are serving God.  He is pleased.  That is our acceptable service to God.  And it also commends us to men.  The watching world sees that Christians are different.  They will know we are Christians by our love.   Love does no wrong to a brother.  Let us love one another as Christ loved the church, and laid down his life for her.

That’s the law of God.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  And I will just conclude with a quote from Paul in another passage, 1Cor. 10:23-24 “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.  Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.”