Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word. Take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness. That the light of Christ may be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith. Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory. Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility. Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity. Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority. Words of power that can never fail, let the truth prevail over unbelief. Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds. Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us. Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity. And by grace we'll stand on your promises, and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us. Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.

Thank you, Terry, for that good song. Good morning to everyone. It's a beautiful morning in the Northwoods, a little sunshine. No snow. But it is pretty out there this morning.

The passage that Pastor Krenz had us look at this morning in 1 John 4 ends that section by saying, if God so loved us, so we ought to love one another. And that's really what Romans 14 and 15 is about. We're going to be talking about loving one another, having an attitude of love. I found that this section becomes very challenging because it's telling us basically how we should live in light of who we are. It's telling us that we should take the truth, the doctrines of our salvation, chapters 1 to 11, and apply them to our lives. 

Love is an action. Love is a choice. And the essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. And I don't know about you, but sometimes self-sacrifice is a difficult thing for me. So we need to come back to the Word, renew our minds, and be strengthened in the Spirit to then live this truth out. 

So we're going to talk about these things in Romans 14. If you'd turn there with me, Romans 14 at verse 14. 

I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. But to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good 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. He who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything in which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 

Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith. For whatever is not from faith is sin. 

I'd like for you to focus in on verse 15 where he says, If your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. 

Well, a few weeks ago we studied chapter 13 at verse 8, and I'd like to begin back at that passage and remind ourselves of what Paul instructed. Romans 13 verse 8 says, O no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. O no one anything except to love one another. You'll remember that we tied this back to Romans 8 verses 1-4, and we saw God's intention in recreating, regenerating us, and releasing us from the power and dominating power of indwelling sin. 

The truth is, my brothers and sisters, that this work of salvation that God performed in us when we believed is a radical, totally transforming work. It changed not only our destiny and our relationship with God, but also released us from the power of sin, the bondage of the law, and the fear of death. 

The new birth, salvation in Christ, made us new men with new hearts and a new spirit, and God gave us His very life, coming to live in us. And now, in Christ, we are able to do something that we could not do in Adam. We are able to live a life of consistent love. Love for God, living for Him, and thankfulness to Him for what He's done for us, but also love for one another. Self-sacrificial, agape love as the hallmark of our lives and of our relationships. 

I read a story the other day about something that happened at Inauguration Weekend in Washington, D.C. It was quite a weekend in Washington, and across our country tensions are high, and there's a stark division in our country now, and things are a little bit unsettling. 

There's a restaurant in Washington, D.C., called Busboys and Poets. It's a very liberal place promoting social justice and predominantly filled with African-American patrons. At the end of the weekend, three white men from Texas, donning Make America Great Again hats, walked into this restaurant and sat down. They stuck out like sore thumbs. Their waitress was a young black woman who had participated proudly in the women's rally the day before in the streets of Washington. 

The waitress said she treated them like any other customer, smiling and serving, even though she was very uncomfortable. When the men left the restaurant, she found that they had left her a $450 tip on a $72 bill. And they left this note: We may come from different cultures and may disagree on certain issues, but if everyone would share their smile and kindness like your beautiful smile, our country will come together as one people, not race, not gender, just American. And then he added, God bless. 

The article quoted Jason White, who left the tip. He was described as a devout Christian. And I don't really know anything about these people, but the story struck me as an example of self-sacrifice, of agape love in a world, even in that particular place, that weekend in Washington, D.C., where there was so much division and so much hate. 

We are called as believers in Jesus Christ to love one another. And that is the thrust, again, of Paul's words to us in this last half of chapter 14. 

I'd like to frame our text this morning with three points that you have on your outline. First, we're going to see the wrong question. Second, we're going to see the wrong focus. And third, we're going to see an attitude of love. 

In the flow and context of chapters 12 to 16, we have seen that the point of our salvation, of this new creation that we are in Christ, is a new kind of life. Based on the mercies of God, the doctrines of our salvation, we are to live a new kind of life. This is the pattern all through the epistles of the New Testament. Doctrine in the first half, explained and taught, and then exhortation in the second half of the epistles based on that doctrine. 

Because we are saved, because we are new men, because we have been raised to newness of life, we are to be different.  We are now to love, to extend the love of Christ to others, especially the brethren. So we've seen through the last couple of chapters that this truth permeates every relationship that we have in life. In the home, in our workplace, in the church, even with those in authority over us, such as government. 

And Paul in chapter 14 addresses a very practical and important subject. The relationship of strong and weak believers concerning doubtful things. These issues are not really the primary issues. They are not the central things of life. But they are issues that create a lot of confusion, trouble, and even division in the church. Because the body is so diverse, because we are called out of every culture, nation, and people to come together in one body, we have very diverse backgrounds, and therefore very diverse thinking on some of these issues concerning doubtful things. 

In the area of sin and morality, we don't have to question what is right. The Bible makes clear for every believer what is right, what is wrong concerning sin and moral behavior. It doesn't matter what your background or your preferences are. Sexual immorality is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Lying is wrong. And we are not to practice these things. 

However, there are areas of life where the Bible does not speak clearly as to what we should or should not do. They are doubtful areas. Not areas of morality or sin, but this is what Paul is addressing in this important section. These areas that aren't clearly spelled out, that aren't issues of sin. Should we eat this or not eat that? Should we drink this or not drink that? Should we mow the yard on Sunday afternoon? Should we wear this or not wear that? Should I watch this or not watch that? 

All of these areas are perhaps minor points of life, but they can become major if we let them divide us. If we sit in judgment over our brother concerning these things. If we choose to separate ourselves over them or set ourselves above concerning them. And that's what Paul is warning against in our text. 

His remedy for this great division that can come with judging and condemning one another over doubtful things is to walk in love. To focus on loving one another, ministering to one another, edifying, building up, rather than tearing down. And this comes within the body among the brethren by exercising love. By sacrificing ourselves and our lives. 

You see, I find that so many times we ask the wrong questions. I've heard believers ask many, many times, well, does the Bible forbid it? That attitude is that I have liberty in Christ. I can do whatever I like if the Bible does not expressly forbid it. I want to talk a minute about our liberty in Christ because I think this is important. Clearly, we do have liberty in Christ in so many areas. 

Notice our first verse this morning, verse 14. Paul says, I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. He says something similar in 1 Corinthians 8. Where he says, Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. If anyone loves God, this one is known by him. 

Therefore, concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but One. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we are of Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things, and through Him we live. He says an idol is nothing. It's not unclean or unlawful to eat meat sacrificed to idols. 

All things in and of themselves, things, are not sinful or moral inherently. Under the law, the faithful believer did not have liberty in so many areas. In the Old Covenant, there were many restrictions, for example, on what the believers could eat. But in the New Covenant, in Christ, we can eat whatever we want. 

Remember the account of Peter and the sheep coming down from heaven, and God made clear to Peter that he could eat anything with thanksgiving and that he should not call anything unclean that God has made clean. There are no dietary restrictions in Christ. We are free. We have liberty. 

But as with all kinds of liberty, we also have great responsibility. And Paul's point in our text, as well as in 1 Corinthians 8, is that we must be careful how we exercise our liberty. It's important, very important, that we understand our liberty in Christ, that we hold fast to that liberty, that we don't let anyone take that away in the sense of false teaching or binding of law on us, because understanding our liberty means understanding our salvation. 

But choosing to exercise that liberty is another thing. In verse 22 of our text, Paul says, Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. We are to understand our liberty, and we are not to be taken captive again or to submit to false teaching concerning our liberty in Christ. 

Let me give an example that I hope will make clear what I'm talking about and the difference between understanding that we have liberty in Christ and exercising that liberty. Paul talks about observing certain days as an example in Romans 14. Some esteem one day over another, he says, and others every day alike. This is a preferential issue, a matter of conviction. We have liberty in this area. 

But there are those who would steal your liberty in Christ concerning this issue. I had a friend who came from a Sabbatarian background. His dad was and is a committed Seventh-day Adventist. And my friend was building a house. And he told me a story of how one Saturday, he and his brother were putting some very large windows in the house, and his dad had come over and was standing there watching them. He said they'd picked up a large window, and they were trying to get it up into place, and they were struggling, and they began to lose the window and were in danger of dropping it or having it fall on them. He said he called out to his dad for help who was standing a few feet away, but his dad responded by saying, no, he could not help because it was a Sabbath day, and he could not do any work. 

You see, this man was depending on his Sabbath day keeping to earn his salvation. He was a legalist, plain and clear. Do you see the difference between this and the situation Paul is highlighting in our text? 

The situation of a true believer having a conviction about setting aside the Lord's day as a day of rest or contemplation. Perhaps he does not feel comfortable mowing the yard or painting his house on Sunday afternoon for multiple reasons, whereas his brother in Christ has no problem working on a Sunday afternoon. 

Do you see the difference? The one man, the Sabbatarian, would steal our liberty. He would say that we do not have liberty, that we are going to hell because we do not keep the Sabbath in a legal sense, whereas the weak believer is simply saying, I do not believe it is right for me to mow the yard on Sunday afternoon. That is my personal conviction. 

It's important that we do not let anyone steal our liberty or convince us that we do not have liberty in Christ in these areas because it goes to the heart of our salvation. So we must be careful of legalism. But we also need to be careful of licentiousness. 

Listen to 1 Peter 2.15, he says, For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. It is possible for us to go the other way with this and use our liberty in Christ to hide our sin. 

We may say, I am free to do this or that. I am free in Christ, and yet what we are doing is hiding our sin. For example, I've known in my life many men who would say something to me like, I don't have to go to church. I worship God out on the lake or in my deer stand. I used to be one of those guys. But the truth is, they are forsaking the gathering together. They are missing out on preaching and teaching and worshiping and fellowship. They are not ministering and exercising their gifts within the body, and they miss the whole point. They're using liberty as a license, as a cloak for their sin. 

And this is what I mean by asking the wrong question. Such a man might say, well, I don't have to go to church to be saved. This is true. But there's a lot more to salvation, to the Christian life, than just being saved. If it were only justification released from the penalty of sin and hell, then the Apostle Paul could have ended this great epistle in Romans in chapter 4. But he didn't. And we have chapter 5 and chapter 6 and 7 and 8, and we are studying chapters 12 to 16 because there's a lot more to this life than what I have to do to be saved. 

And what is it that the Bible does not specifically forbid? That's the wrong question. It's not, what can I get away with? We ask the wrong questions, my friend. An attitude of what must I do and what can I get away with is selfishness. It's living for self. It is the opposite of walking in love. 

Listen to 2 Corinthians 5.14. Paul says, for the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. We ask the wrong questions, my brothers and sisters, because we have the wrong focus. 

Yes, I have liberty in Christ. Yes, I can eat whatever I want. Yes, I can paint my house on Sunday. I am free to choose how to live my life in so many areas, free in Christ. Paul is saying in this text that the strong Christian is right. He's right. He can eat. He can choose not to observe the day. I need to understand this. I need to have this faith toward God. I need to know what my salvation means, but I don't need to exercise all of these liberties. I don't need to focus on myself and what I can and cannot do. I need to love my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

I need to seek edification and building up and ministering to the weaker brother that he might grow and be strengthened in his faith. That through the love that I show, the weaker brother might be nurtured to strength. Therefore, sacrificing my liberty, not exercising my liberty, even though I have it, may be the right course of action, may be the way to walk in love. 

Look at verse 13. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there's nothing unclean of itself. But to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. 

Therefore, do not let your good be spoken of as evil. Look at verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 

Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 

Do you see the focus here that Paul's appealing to us to have? We need to start asking the right questions. What can I do to build up my brother? What can I do to edify the body? To further the cause of Christ? How can I encourage him? How can I serve him? How can I help him to focus on Christ and grow in his faith? 

We need to start having the right focus. Not what can I do and what can I not do. How can I exercise my liberty to the max and show all those old fuddy-duddies that they are silly and don't know anything about my liberty in Christ? Not what must I do to make it to heaven. If you are a believer, this is settled. This is the beauty of grace and the Gospel versus law and works. 

The assurance of salvation based on what Christ did allows us to shift our focus from ourselves and our works and the law to others. To loving one another. To living for Christ. We need to ask the right questions. We need to get the right focus and we need to have an attitude of love. 

Do I have liberty to eat a pork chop? Do I have the liberty to mow my yard on Sunday afternoon? Yes, absolutely. But what if eating a pork chop is a cause of stumbling for my brother? What if serving him a pork chop might cause him to fall, to violate his conscience? Do we really want to encourage our brother to be doing things that violate his conscience? 

I should sacrifice my liberty. Not exercise my liberty for the sake of my brother. Turn over to John 13 with me, please. Just to see an example as Jesus taught His disciples. 

John 13, beginning at verse 1. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 

After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter and Peter said to Him, Lord, are You washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this. 

Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you. 

For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, you are not all clean. So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 

For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 

Jesus taught us in His ministry that the way up is down. That the Christ life is one of service. One of submitting ourselves to God and to others to love them, to serve them, to encourage them, to point them to the truth. The Christian life is not about me. It is all about Jesus and His glory and His kingdom. 

And we are different than the world. Than carnal men. And therefore, we should live differently, seeking to satisfy our flesh, our lusts, but living out our hearts. The love of God poured out into our hearts and our great desire for men to be saved. 

Thus, it is our privilege to have liberty in Christ because of the Gospel. But it is our greater privilege to sacrifice that liberty for the sake of our brother. It is our privilege to have liberty in Christ, but it is our greater privilege to sacrifice that liberty for the sake of our brother. This is walking in love. This is pursuing the things which edify, which build up, which bring peace and growth and love and strength in the faith. 

Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another. 

We are different than the world. And that is because we love one another and thus we can live a life of self-sacrifice for the good of our brother, for the glory of God. In 1 John 3.22, John said, And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment. 

Now, He who keeps His commandments... and by this we know that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given to us. Romans 13, 8, "...Owe no one anything but to love one another." 

My brothers and sisters, we need to start asking the right questions. We need to start having the right focus, and we need to learn to walk with an attitude of love. Because if we do not, Paul says we will destroy our brother, and we will destroy the unity of the body. 

The body. And we will destroy the fruitfulness of the church. Romans 14, 19, "...Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the things which one may edify another." Do not destroy the work of God. 

He's talking about your brother. Your brother. The weak brother. The one who doesn't understand his liberty. Who can't violate his conscience by doing the things that you have liberty to do. Do not destroy him for the sake of food. 

All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. This is the heart of Paul's message to us in this chapter. Pursue. Seek after with diligence things which make for peace, and the things by which one may edify another. 

Do not destroy your brother for the sake of something like food. What if we don't choose to sacrifice our liberty? What if we choose to exercise it in spite of our brother? What if we ask the wrong questions, have the wrong focus, live our lives in selfishness as we so often do? 

Paul says we can destroy the work of God, destroy the fruitful life of our brother. This is a strong word, destroy. It's the same one used in John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish. Same word. Perish. Destroy. It's talking about His fruitfulness. It's talking about His faith. It's talking about His walk. Paul said, do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. This is pretty serious, my friends. It's very serious and very practical for our lives in the body, in the church. 

I was thinking as I was writing these notes that we really don't relate much in Paul's example of eating certain foods or observing certain days. What I've said so far probably didn't make you very uncomfortable in our culture and our time. It may be a bit of an issue here and there and we may have different convictions, but these are not big issues in our lives for the most part. 

But I want to illustrate what Paul's saying. And in verse 21, he does bring up wine. This is an example that is perhaps a bit more applicable for us. The issue of drinking alcoholic beverages comes up quite often in the Christian world and in the course of ministry. Usually, it's a serious problem that is destroying lives and tearing apart relationships or even causing health issues. 

I told you about my cousin who they buried a couple of weeks ago. 56 years old, liver failure. Drank himself to death. I had a friend I ran with in high school. We drank 190 proof Everclear and Captain Morgan straight. I ran with him for a few months until my dad ran him off. He died at age 26. Liver failure. 26 years old. 

I've seen alcohol destroy the lives of many. And so have you. Yet this is a question that persists in the Christian world. Am I allowed to drink alcohol? Do I have liberty in this area? Well, I think a very valid argument could be made that the Bible forbids the type of alcohol that we have today, calling it strong drink, but that's really not our point here. 

Let's concede the argument for purpose of illustration that I have liberty to drink wine, as Paul states here in verse 21. We are free in Christ to have a glass of wine, to drink a beer. But I would appeal to you again, my brother, my sister, we are asking the wrong question. We are focusing on the wrong thing. 

Choosing to exercise my liberty in this area is not walking in love. Why? Because this may be the clearest example in our culture, in our world, in our lives whereby a brother can be made to stumble, can be destroyed by our choice to exercise our liberty. The question I must ask is, how can my drinking alcoholic beverages edify? How does it pursue things which make for peace? How does it build up my brother and show my love for him? 

This was an issue in my family when some of us became saved because alcohol was a daily part, a central part of our lives, our family, from the time I was born. And I remember trying to convince some of my family that it was not wise as believers to drink, especially when we had other family members who struggled with this issue. 

And the first response I got was, well, our pastor drinks wine. And this is a major reason why I have chosen to abstain from alcohol. My brother struggled with alcohol all his life. It caused immense problems. He was best friends with my cousin who died a couple of weeks ago and they ran together for years. My brother quit drinking for a long period of time. And in that time, my dad died. And moments after my dad died, sitting in the living room of my parents' home, my brother's ex-wife brought him a beer. And he started drinking again. 

Now we would never do such a horrible thing as this. I still can't fathom what she did, to be honest with you. But in the same way, when we choose to exercise this liberty in front of our children, in front of our weaker brothers and sisters in Christ who cannot handle this liberty, who have maybe come out of a lifestyle of drunkenness, when we say this is what strong Christians do who have liberty, then it's much like handing them a beer. And it could very well lead them to destruction. 

Why even have it in our homes? The potential for damage is great. We have to agree on that. We have all seen it again and again. But the opportunity for edification through it is zero. We need to start asking the right questions. We need to start having the right focus. We need to live with an attitude of love. 

The word means self-sacrifice. It means giving up my liberty. It means giving up what I want to minister to my brother, which is what I really want. Yes, all things are clean. Yes, I have liberty to eat or to drink or to observe the day or not observe the day, but the real question is not what can I get away with? What does the Bible not expressly forbid? 

What do I have to do to just get into heaven? The question is what effect will my choice to exercise my liberty have on my brother? How can I edify my brother or my sister and pursue peace? 

I think it's important. I actually wrote this in a sermon and I took it out, but I'm going to put it back in. I think it's important to understand common sense on this and that there's a limit to this because I don't want us to go around having an attitude of walking on eggshells and legalism and I can't do this because it might offend my brother. 

And I was just going to tell you a little story about when I was in a church before as an elder. And in that church, we really didn't have an issue with modesty. You know, the women wore dresses down plenty far. But we had an elderly couple, not elderly, but an older couple, and the wife of this man came to us as elders and she said, my husband is having trouble lusting because he can see the women's ankles. 

As much as it depends on you, live at peace with all men. Right? He had a problem that Romans 14 couldn't fix. It wasn't a Romans 14 issue. You see? 

So we can't take this so far that we're, oh, I've got to sacrifice myself to my brother and I'm walking on... It's a matter of focus. It's a matter of purpose. It's a matter of our heart. 

I'm so thankful to preach in a church like this where we're not all focused on these silly little things. We're not judging each other and condemning each other and worrying about and whispering and backbiting. We have a focus on Christ and being a witness and that's what Paul's driving towards here. 

We can't let these things become issues of division. But we need to know each other. We need to understand each other. We need to have relationships with each other so that we know how not to offend each other. That we are looking to sacrifice our liberty for the sake of our brother, if that's the right thing to do in that situation. 

I hope that makes sense. In verse 16, therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil. This is an interesting verse. It seems to me that the evangelical church today is more concerned about showing the world our liberty than our love. 

The church wants to show the world how free we are in Christ and this is often manifest by being like the world. What they really need to see is our genuine love for one another. Paul says, don't destroy your brother over food or drink. Men are watching. 

The word approved here means to closely examine and approve. And it is our love for our brother, our willingness to sacrifice ourselves and our liberties that will cause us to be approved by men. It's the genuineness of our love relationships in the body that will be a witness to men. 

Don't let your good 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. If sacrificing my liberty to do something brings growth and love and peace and it removes the risk of causing my brother to stumble and it's a witness to men, then this is my privilege. 

It's not my burden. It's my privilege to be able to love my brother. We should have an attitude of love toward one another. Walking in love. Pursuing after. Seeking peace. So that all these little things don't become our focus. Don't become the big things and subjects of division in the body. 

We need to ask the right questions. We need to have the right focus. And as we seek to minister to our brother, as we seek to edify him and build him up and point him to Christ, then we will learn to walk with an attitude of love toward one another so that we all might grow in our faith, grow in love and be united in purpose. 

To live for the one who died for us. To love the brethren and to go out into a lost and dying world with the good news message of Jesus Christ. Our life should be about Christ. About trusting, believing Him one day at a time, abiding and seeking to walk in love toward our brethren and the lost. 

And then, these minor issues concerning doubtful things will take their proper place, and we will gain a right perspective concerning them. As Paul says, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You that You tell us what we need to hear. I just pray that You'd help us to learn what it is to love as You have loved us. If You so loved us, so we ought to love one another. Help us to have the right focus, Lord. Help us to be living for You and help us to love one another as You've commanded. In Jesus' name.