MUTUAL EDIFICATION

Romans 14:1-23
Key Verse: 14:8

     "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the
     Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

     The gospel of Jesus first began in the Galilean district in the soil of
Israel. Now the gospel of Jesus was going to spread to the whole world. In
Paul's time, there was a Christian community in Rome.  There were legalistic
Christian Jews and gospel-believing Jews and Gentiles. These Christians
gathered in Rome from all over the Roman Empire, with a diversity of
cultural backgrounds. If they could overcome their diversity of backgrounds,
they could become a big Christian army force that would march out to the
whole world with the gospel of Jesus. If not, they would remain as a handful
of Jewish immigrants and some Gentiles in Rome just trying to survive. Paul,
who received world mission purpose from Jesus Christ, gives some clear
direction about how they could build up a spirit of unity in Christ.

First, accept one another. (1-12) Look at verse 1. "Accept him whose faith
is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters."  There were two
kinds of Christians in Rome. One was legalistic Christians, and the other,
gospel-centered Christians. In this verse, the phrase "whose faith is weak"
refers to the legalistic Christian Jews. They became Christians, but they
were not free from the Jewish rules and laws and traditions, especially from
the regulations about eating food. These legalistic Christian Jews did not
eat animals without a split hoof, thinking that they were unclean. They also
didn't eat birds such as the eagle, the vulture, the red kite, the horned
owl, and bats. (Lev 11:1-19)

     The gospel-centered Christians despised them, saying, "You have no
gospel faith, so you are not free. Even though you believe the gospel, you
have not grasped the freedom of the gospel. You only take care of your bushy
beards. You slaves of religious scruples! You religious formalists! You
stubborn and bigoted vegetarians!" In Paul's estimation, those who had
gospel faith in Jesus and ate everything freely were the strong
Christians. These strong Christians looked down on the legalistic
Christians, thinking that they were still too immature to grasp the secrets
and freedom of Christianity. On the other hand, the weak Christians who only
ate vegetables condemned the gospel-centered Christians, saying, "You
barbarians! You indecent fellows! You nasty fellows! You eat everything."
The weak Christians also did not accept the strong Christians. Paul says
that they cannot look down on or condemn each other, because God has
accepted them. Look at verse 3. "The man who eats everything must not look
down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not
condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him." Paul tells them that
exclusivism is not tolerable in the Christian world; Christians are obliged
to accept one another as God has accepted us through his Son Jesus Christ.

     But in reality, it is not easy for anyone to accept those whose
cultural backgrounds are different. One young man was invited to a country
church and delivered a message. After that he was invited to dinner. He held
the bread in his right hand and ate freely. The native woman told him not to
hold the bread in the right hand but in the left hand. The woman could not
accept her precious guest. Rather she offended him, simply because of her
own way of eating bread. In short, she could not accept her guest because of
a cultural difference. One young man came to Chicago from a country town far
to the west. He had a big pot-belly. He looked absent-minded and unhappy. So
his Christian friend asked him, "What's your problem?"  "I have a big
marriage problem," he answered. So his Christian friend asked him, "How old
are you?" "I am just turning 19," he answered.  Even if he had a severe
marriage problem at the age of 19, his Christian friend must accept him in
the hope of raising him as the most outstanding shepherd for all hillbillies
in this country. Since God has accepted us, we are obliged to accept our
fellow Christians. We must remember that exclusivism is against the truth of
God.

     The last part of verse 3 says, "for God has accepted him." God could
not accept sinners because he is holy. But God accepts all sinners through
his Son Jesus Christ. Therefore we Christians should not despise each other
or condemn each other. We must accept each other as God has accepted
us. Look at verse 4. "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his
own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to
make him stand." We have no right to despise those who are weak in faith. We
have no right to condemn those who are strong in faith. It is because our
Master is Jesus. Only Jesus can judge us. We can also stand and fall, sing
and dance, before our Master. We are totally free before our Master. We are
weak and we cannot but fall. But our Master Jesus is able to make us stand.

     Look at verse 5. "One man considers one day more sacred than another;
another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in
his own mind." In Paul's time, the day of worship was a big issue. Some
considered one day as the Sabbath day.  Others considered every day as the
Sabbath. This problem came from the Old Testament background. To the people
of Israel, there were 3 major festivals: the Feast of the Passover, the
Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Tabernacles. (Ex 23:14-17) In addition,
they had many kinds of special days of worshiping God. But since the gospel
of Jesus came, the observance of many historical and traditional days of
worship was largely ignored. On the other hand, Christians gradually began
to meet on Sunday to worship God. This did not have any Biblical
background. But since Jesus Christ rose again on Sunday, they were willing
to keep the Sabbath on Sunday.  Later, keeping the Sabbath on Sunday became
a tradition of Christian churches. But in Paul's day, there were two kinds
of people. To one kind, one day was enough to observe the Sabbath. The other
kind wanted to keep all the traditional and historical days as special days
of worship. Paul says to them that whether they consider one day more sacred
than another or every day alike, they must be convinced of why they think
so. (5) In other words, they should not blindly insist on their opinions
stubbornly. Instead they must examine themselves even one time to see if
they are right.

     Next, Paul urges them to do everything in the Lord. The phrase "do it
to the Lord" is repeated six times in verses 6-8. "Do it to the Lord" means,
in this particular case, "in the Lord," or, "for his name's sake." When they
claimed they were right, they had to be sure that they were doing so in
Jesus, or for Jesus' name's sake. Jesus should be the focal point of their
thought world. Look at verse 9. "For this very reason, Christ died and
returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the
living." In this verse, Paul gives them a more fundamental reason why they
have to honor each other's opinions. Jesus died and rose again, and he
became the Ruler of the living and the dead. Therefore, our thought world
must be fixed to say, "We must live and die for the Lord. We must belong to
the Lord only." Here we learn we must advertise Jesus instead of our own
stubborn ideas.

     Look at verse 9. "For this very reason, Christ died and returned to
life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."  Jesus
is our Judge and the Lord of both the dead and the living.  Therefore, we
cannot condemn or look down on our brothers because one day we have to stand
before God's judgment seat. Look at verse 11. "It is written: '"As surely as
I live," says the Lord, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will
confess to God."'" This verse is a free quotation of Isaiah 45:23. At the
time of God's last judgment, we will see God's shining glory, and all men of
all languages must come and bow down on their knees before his throne to be
judged according to their deeds. (2 Co 5:10) At the time of God's last
judgment, those who judged and condemned others will be the most accountable
for their deeds. Therefore, we should not be exclusive by judging and
condemning others. We must accept our fellow Christian brothers as God has
accepted us. Despising or condemning other Christians seems to be a light
matter. But that is not the case. If we don't accept others, it is the
evidence that we are not accepting God and his precious children. Also, we
deny the universal brotherhood in Jesus.

     How can we accept others who are totally different from us? It is
really difficult, for us and for anybody. But if we are going to build up
the body of Jesus Christ and fulfill the world mission command, we must
accept our fellow Christian brothers unconditionally. We cannot teach them a
lesson, but God can help them out. To accept our nasty Christian brethren is
not an easy thing to do: it is a kind of spiritual battle. But if we do not
accept our weak or different brothers, we are not living for Jesus' name's
sake: we are not living for the glory of God, not to mention doing the will
of God. From the outset, chapter 14 deals with eating problems or about
setting the proper Sabbath day problem. It is boring to think about these
problems. But underneath these problems there is a serious Christian ethic
problem, that is, how to accept our fellow Christian brothers. When we can
accept any kind of fellow Christian brother with the mind of Christ, God is
pleased and we can grow as spiritual men.

Second, act in love. (13-23) Look at verse 13. "Therefore let us stop
passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any
stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way." In this verse, Paul
again urges not to pass judgment on one another. In this verse, "stumbling
block" and "obstacle" mean bad influence. In Christian life, influence is
more important than anything else. Paul gives an example to show why
Christian influence is important. Look at verse 14. "As one who is in the
Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if
anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean." Paul was
sure that no food is unclean in itself. We agree with Paul's statement. God
made the world and everything in it. God made cows and tigers and lions and
all kinds of fish in the sea for men to eat. So no food is unclean in
itself. This is what Paul believed on the basis of Genesis teaching. But if
anyone regards something as unclean, we must agree that it is unclean. Even
if we are convinced about a certain Biblical truth, if it can make our
fellow brothers stumble, we should not claim the truth we believe; we have
to wait patiently until our fellow brother comes to understand the Bible
truth concerning the matter of clean and unclean. We must be understanding
of our fellow brother's spiritual condition. Also, we should not distress
our fellow Christian brother because of what we eat; otherwise we are no
longer acting in love.  (15) We are free indeed in Jesus. But our Christian
freedom is greatly limited in love. (16) There are many kinds of laws. But
the highest law is the law of love, because love produces good influence.

     Why do we have to act in love? Why do we have to be a good influence?
It is because we are citizens of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is
not a matter of human activities such as eating and drinking; it is
revealing God's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So we must
serve God and our fellow brothers to reveal his righteousness, peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit through our daily lives, instead of insisting on our
opinions. Read verses 17 and 18.

     Look at verse 19. "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads
to peace and to mutual edification." This verse tells us to make every
effort to act in love and to be a good influence. We thank God that there
are many who make every effort to act in love and to be a good
influence. Dr. Maria Albright had been a medical student.  During her
medical school days, she never missed Friday Bible testimony sharing. She
never missed Bible study with her Bible teacher. She never gave up on
fishing sheep, even though none of them remained. After graduation, she
became a medical doctor.  Usually American medical doctors want to show off,
as if they were "somebodies." But she always looks gentle and humble. She
prays that her coworker will be the best Bible speaker in the world.
Sometimes we don't know whether she is there or not. But she is always there
with her good influence. President Abraham Lincoln was a man of good
influence because he loved the truth of God absolutely. Because of his good
influence, the United States was not divided into many parts like Latin
America, but remained as the United States.

     As we know, Jesus spent only three years in his public ministry.  But
he gave us a good influence through his obedience to God's will.  Plainly
speaking, the church of Christ is based on Jesus' death and resurrection and
on the second coming of Jesus Christ. But the life of the church of Jesus
Christ is based on the influence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Still, there are
many people who do not care about Christian influence. They are
irresponsible people. (20)

     There are many people who want to be great servants of God.  But they
don't care about how to act in love or be a good influence to others. So
they cannot be great servants of God. On the other hand, there is a staff
shepherd who has a Greek-Lebanese background and who speaks Greek-Lebanese
English. But because of his good influence many students follow him day and
night in spite of his picky eating habit.

     How can we act in love and be a good influence? Look at verse 21. "It
is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will
cause your brother to fall." Paul encourages us not to do anything that will
cause our brothers to fall, whether it is eating meat or drinking or doing
something else. (Lk 17:2) To be a good influence is hard. But without being
a good influence, we cannot be called the children of God. To act in love or
to be a good influence is not easy.  To be a good influence, sometimes we
have to keep the secrets of faith between ourselves and God only, so as not
to distress our weak brothers. (22) Sometimes when we act in love and try to
be a good influence, we are greatly misunderstood and badly criticized by
wicked people. What is worse, we fall into doubt because of others'
criticism. But this is not good. We must have faith in God that we are doing
good, so that we may overcome our doubt and self-condemnation. When we act
in love and try to be a good influence, we must do it with faith, because
everything that does not come from faith is sin. (23) Sometimes, we do the
work of God, but what we prayed and worked for does not seem to bring a good
result. We wonder if we did something wrong. But if we did it by faith, we
can commit it to God. So whatever we do, we must do it by faith.

     In this passage we learn that we must accept those whose faith is weak
and not condemn those whose faith is strong, and that we must do everything
to the Lord. May God bless you to be a good influence to others. May God
enable you to pass on the spiritual heritage to your children.


STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Read verses 1-12. Why must the knowledgeable Christian accept one whose
   faith is weak? What are disputable matters? Why must we not judge others?
   Why might the Romans need this instruction?

2. Read verses 6-8. How many times is the phrase, "to the Lord" repeated?
   What does it mean to do something "to the Lord"? How can we make Jesus
   the focus of our thought world?

3. What do verses 9-12 teach us about Jesus? What does verse 11 mean? In
   light of these verses, why can we not judge or look down on our brothers?
   What must we do instead? (13)

4. Read 13-18. What are some of the ways we put stumbling blocks in the way
   of others? Why are our Christian brothers so precious? (15b) How can we
   act in love? Why must we?

5. Read verses 19-22. What must we make every effort to do? Why and how must
   we work for peace and mutual edification? (19-21)

6. What is the general rule of thumb about questionable matters?  (22-23)