I have been
studying Romans 14 over the last week or two and came up some main points that
Paul states that I wanted to meditate on and share with
you. Some may seem basic, but that doesn’t
mean that we should not consider how we are acting on them to achieve them.
1. 1. The gospel is not about what I wear, eat, drink
or what day I celebrate. Colossians 1:16
says, “Therefore do not let anyone be your judge by what you eat or drink, or
with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath
day. These are a shadow of the things
that are to come; the reality is found in Christ.” Some believers at that time recognized some
days as more important than others. To
Paul, he clearly didn’t think that this was important. Rather, he says in Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of
eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The truth is, where people try to pursue the
law and legalistic thought tends to kill joy and peace. While those who walk in Spirit are the ones
who truly enjoy the peace and joy of the Spirit. Paul says in Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds
on things above, not on earthly things.”
The kingdom of God is not just about what we do or don’t do, but whose
we are. Also see Galatians 4:10-11
2. 2. We are under
one Judge-Christ and he does not need our help. He is able to make us stand. People judge by external
characteristics. They may think you’re
holy or good based on external standards alone.
But, God doesn’t judge us that way.
He looks at things like motives and thoughts and what is going on in the
heart. Since I don’t know what is going
on in the heart of another, I am not fit to judge others. Not only that, but the believer is not my
servant but God’s servant. Paul says
that he didn’t even judge himself. The
truth is, that God knows us better than we know ourselves.
Paul says here in Romans 14:13 “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 Luke 17:1-2 Jesus
said that it was inevitable that stumbling blocks would come up, but the one
who creates the stumbling block would be better off if a milestone was tied
around his neck and he was thrown into the sea.
Sounds like the Lord took stumbling blocks pretty seriously, I don’t
want to be one. I think to me this means
that our actions and words should point others to Christ and not away from him
or discourage others in their walk of faith. Also see 1 Cor 8:9; Romans 14:20;
Romans 9:33
3. 3. We are to
act out of love and a desire for mutually building up others. Romans 14:19.
The Bible makes it very clear that I should consider how my actions help
build up or encourage others. Paul goes
into specifics in Romans 14 here about eating meat offered to idols. We could replace this with a lot of other
rules and regulations that are more likely issues of today such as working on
Sunday, going to rated PG-13 movies or smoking or whatever. Paul
says that our motives for what we do should be out of love for others (1 Corinthians 13) and not judge thinking
about ourselves. 1 Corinthians 10:25-31 “do
all for the glory of God.”
4. 4. Paul says
clearly that if your conscious bothers you when you do something then you
shouldn’t do it. A key verse is
verse 23 “But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his
eating is not faith; and everything that
does not come from faith is sin.” So, if my conscious is bothering me by
watching a certain movie or being in a certain place then I need to excuse
myself and leave the situation because I am not acting out of faith.
