Religious versus Righteous

Scripture: Romans 13:8-10

C.I.: The Righteous Person and Matters of Opinion

During this series… - Last week we saw that one of our motives for obeying God was our love for others.
Today we will see how that is played out in very practical terms.

I. Five Questions to Ask Ourselves, (Romans 14)

A. “Am I Fully Convinced?” (vs. 1-5)

1. ( vs. 1-5 ), “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment upon his opinions. –One
man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Let him who eats not regard with contempt
him who does not eat, and let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. … Let each man be
fully convinced in his own mind.”
a. The “Jew-Gentile” issue in Rome is analogous to the “mature-weak” issue in all churches today. 1) Matters of opinion - THEN: Diet & Days (explain – Mk. 7:19; Gal. 4:10-11 ), “He declared all
foods clean” – “You observe days, months, seasons, and years; I fear for you, my brethren, that….”
2) NOW: Clothing style, entertainment choices, worship styles, teaching styles, etc.

b. Understand that we are talking opinions, not doctrines!!!
1) The strong should not demean the weak for their immaturity. The weak should not condemn
the strong for the use of their liberty.
2) It is not “our job” to judge others. We need to be “fully convinced” re: OUR OWN choices.

B. “Am I Doing This for the Lord (or me)?” (vs. 6-9)

•  ( vs. 6-8 ), “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. – For not one of us lives for himself, and not one of us dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”
a. “I want what I want!” is not something a righteous person says!
1) The person who understands what God has done for them through His Son makes all of their
decisions on the basis of the question, “What does God want?” – cf. Eph. 5:10 , “trying to…”.
2) This is Paul's point in calling for each of us to be a living sacrifice, ( quote Rom. 12:1 ).
3) For congregations where there are problems, if they would take the time to look they would
probably find their issues are based on selfishness not godliness, Col. 3:17!

C. “Will It Stand the Test at the Judgment?” (vs. 10-12)

•  ( vs. 10-12 ), “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God.”
a. We must recognize that it is God's responsibility and not ours to judge others!
1) ( Matt. 7:1 ), “Do not judge lest you be judged.” – “Judge” = to condemn !!!
2) ( II Tim. 4:1 ), “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge….”
3) The issue is not, “Will it pass my judgment?” But “will it pass the judgment of God?!”

b. We must be ruthless in the examination of our own practices!
1) ( Matt. 7:2 ), “For in the way that you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it
will be measured out to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not
notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘ me take the speck out of
your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”
2) If we spend our time & energy getting our own house in order we will probably find that we
don't have the time to meddle in the opinions of others!
a) ( II Thess. 3:11 ), “For we hear some of your are leading an undisciplined life … acting like
busybodies.”
b) ( I Pt. 4:15 ), “Let none of you suffer… as a troublesome meddler.”

D. “Will It Cause a Believer to Stumble?” (vs. 13-21)

•  ( v. 13 ), “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this – not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.”
a. To cause a brother to “stumble” means, to cause others to fall into sin! ( “Wine,” & Women's apparel)
1) ( Mk. 9:42 ), “And whoever causes one of these little ones [spiritually immature] who believe in Me to stumble, it
would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.”
2) Just because we may have the “right” to do something – doesn't mean it is the “right” thing to do!!!
3) This violates the love we are to have for each other. This is clearly Paul's point in this section
( v. 21 ), “It is not good to eat meat or to drink wine, - or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.”

b. Yet we must recognize that there is a broad difference between causing to stumble & causing to grumble !
1) “Grumble” = when a fellow believer does not like what someone is doing (in some area of opinion) –
but they themselves would NEVER be tempted to do the same (or to fall into sin!).
2) Jesus was constantly bombarded by “religious grumblers” – ( Mk. 2:15-16 ), “Jesus was reclining in
Matthew's house, and many tax-gatherers and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were
many of them, and they were following Him. – And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with
tax-gatherers and sinners, they began saying to His disciples, ‘Why is He eating & drinking/T-G & sinners?'”
3) We must be very cautious about this, ( Phil. 2:14 ), “Do all things without grumbling or complaining.”

c. Therefore, we need to love others enough to ask ourselves, “Could by my actions a fellow Christian or even
a non-believer be emboldened to do something in violation to their conscience?” And if so, why do it??!!!

E. “Am I Doing This by Faith?” (vs. 22-23)

1. ( vs. 22-23 ), “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn
himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned he eats [or practices anything in violation of his conscience],
because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.”
a. Essentially we are asking ourselves, “Do I fully believe that this practice is acceptable to God?”
1) The rule to follow is, “IF YOU DOUBT… DON'T!”

CONCLUSIONS:

•  Point #1: The issue in this chapter is ACCEPTANCE! We must accept each other, though we may not accept their practice!

•  Point #2: This is about matters of opinion, NOT DOCTRINE! We must never accept sin (a violation of God's doctrine)!

•  Point #3: Each of the questions are ones we should ask OURSELVES, not others.

•  Point #4: Salvation is NOT a matter of opinion! ( Mark 16:16 )