Thank you again, Mark, for leading us this morning. Good morning to everyone. Beautiful sunny day this morning. Better enjoy the snow because it's not going to be here more than another month or so. Parking's getting a little tricky out there, I see. 

We're working our way through the Book of Romans on the last Sunday of each month for our communion services. And we find ourselves right in the middle of the application section of this epistle. You'll remember that for the first 11 chapters, Paul taught us doctrine, the great truths of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Beginning in chapter 12, he exhorts us to apply those great truths in our lives and how we live, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice to God. 

This morning, we come to chapter 14, and really one of the most important and most practical sections of scripture that we could study. We're kind of going to do a little overview of the chapter this morning and hopefully capture the essence of Paul's intent and the meaning. Then we'll finish the chapter with another message next month, Lord willing. 

Well, we've studied so much clear doctrine in this book—foundational, rock-solid truths about who Jesus is and what he has done, who we are in him, and the hope that we have in Christ. But here, Paul wants us to talk about practical matters of preference, what he calls doubtful things. 

There are many things in life that are not moral issues, that are not defined as having a right way or a wrong way by the word of God. We categorize these things as areas of personal preference. We each have personal preferences concerning what foods we eat, what clothes we wear, what hobbies we participate in. When you have people from all different backgrounds, different cultures, different upbringings coming together in the church, then you have a lot of differences in preferential areas. 

In many areas, these preferences become strong convictions. When believers in the local body have strong convictions based on personal preferences that differ greatly, then there is the potential for conflict and division. I may have a very strong conviction that the Lord's day, Sunday, is a day of rest. Therefore, I would be offended at the idea of working on Sunday after church. But you may be just fine with spending Sunday afternoon working as unto the Lord. 

Paul uses foods and days as examples in our text. In his day, there was a combining of Jew and Gentile in the church. These were two very different people groups with very different backgrounds and experiences. To the Jew, a festival or Sabbath or a day was a very big deal, and God himself had prescribed the observance of days one day over another. The Sabbath had very strict rules.

In the church in this new covenant time, we know that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. Those who believe have entered that rest. So the Sabbath day, or a new moon, or a festival, or whatever day is no longer a matter of importance. One day is just like another. These convictions, though, were very strong in the context in which Paul writes. 

There were also Gentiles who came out of pagan religion who used to sacrifice animals to the gods, and the temples. That meat was left over from those worship services and would be sold at a reduced cost in the market. For someone who came out of that horrific pagan religion, the thought of eating that meat that was used in pagan worship would be unconscionable. But for another believer with no association with those things, it might be a matter of being a good steward of his resources to buy the cheap meat. 

There are an endless number of issues that fall into this category. These are not moral issues. They are not issues of clear doctrine—things commanded or things forbidden in God's word. They are preference issues that the word of God does not give clear instruction on or allows personal preference concerning. 

One thing that always comes to mind when I think about these things for me is pork. Quite often we run into those in the course of our business on the farm, some of which are believers in Jesus who will not eat pork. They base this in Old Testament laws, and there's a lot of misinformation about pork being unclean on the internet, especially. 

We know from the scriptures it's very clear that in this new covenant time, we are able to eat anything we want. There are no dietary restrictions from God in this time. It's clear from Peter's experience with the vision of the sheet coming down and God's proclamation that he's made all things clean. 

From passages like 1 Timothy 4, listen to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 4. He says, "The spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 

So if you like bacon, that's okay. We were having dinner with a pastor in the Bahamas, and he said that bacon is just one more proof that Jesus loves me. But some today, such as the Seventh-day Adventists, are misguided in their understanding of dietary restrictions and make what you eat not only a preference but part of salvation. This is a real problem concerning the gospel. 

But there are also those who love Jesus, who are faithful believers, who have a strong conviction that they should not eat pork. Some of our friends in India would hold that conviction—not Augustine, but some of the other ones. The message of Romans 14 is this: it does not matter if you eat pork or you don't eat pork. What you eat does not commend you to the Lord. It's not what goes into a man that defiles him. 

But what does matter is that I exercise love toward my brother and do not cause him to violate his conscience, go against his conviction, and cause him to stumble. So practically speaking, I know it's fine for me to eat a pork chop. But for him, it is sin. It violates his conviction, his conscience. So if I were to have his family over for dinner, I most certainly would not serve pork out of my love for my brother. I would yield to his conviction in this area of preference so as not to offend him or cause him to stumble.

This is the message before us, and my friends, it's a very important, very practical message for the church in Paul's day, but also for the church in our day. Let's look at our text together. Romans 14:1 says, "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. 

One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God, and he who does not eat, to the Lord, he does not eat and gives God thanks. 

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." 

I've given you four points on your outline. First, receive such a one. Second, doubtful things. Third, the Lord's servant. And fourth, God is able.

Well, the first instruction we see in our text is this: receive one who is weak in the faith. Well, we must first define what Paul means by weak in the faith. This has nothing to do with saving faith or justification in any way. Paul is using the term weak in faith here to describe a believer who does not fully understand his liberty in Christ in certain areas. It's very important that we get this straight and clear in our minds. 

Being weak in faith or being strong in faith, as Paul uses the terms here, does not indicate a level of spirituality or carnality. A man is spiritual when he is filled with the Spirit; that is, he's walking by the Spirit. In Romans 8:9, Paul says, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his." Every believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling him permanently. But every believer is not filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit all the time. 

So to be spiritual is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. This is a moment-by-moment choice. This has nothing to do with what Paul is talking about here when he says weak in faith. Notice the language of Paul in verse 1: "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let him who eats not despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him." 

The context is so important here. We're talking about doubtful things, personal preferences. These are not doctrinal. They're not moral issues that are clearly expounded in the Word of God. We're not talking about stealing or covetousness or idolatry or murder. I can't say I have a conviction that I could kill Mark. That's not how it works, right? We are talking about what we choose to eat or not eat, whether we want to set aside a day or have one day be just the same as every day. 

Paul says to receive the one who is weak in faith, who has a conviction based on his upbringing, his culture, his religious background—that he should not eat pork, or he should not go to movies, or he should not work on the Lord's Day. 

"Do not despise him," he says. The word “despise” means to esteem him as lesser. Don't set yourself above another. Don't think more of yourself because you don't work on Sunday and he does. Don't think less of him because he does not fully understand his freedom in Christ. 

Rather than receive him, you have to receive him. The word “receive” means to fully embrace, to wrap our arms around, to welcome into full fellowship. Don't let eating or drinking or observance of days become a point of division. Paul says to receive the weaker brother. 

Let's use another example. How about what we wear to church? Some of us have a conviction that for the worship service we should dress up; we should have reverence for God in his house in this way, perhaps wear a suit and tie. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. It's cultural; it's part of how some of us were raised. It's good. 

But we have had brothers in our fellowship over the years who were comfortable wearing pajama pants to church or a variety of casual attire. Over time—since our church has changed, the dynamics of those who fellowship here—the dress has changed as well. And that's all right. In this area of dress, there's a moral line, a doctrinal admonition for modesty, and that must be sorted out at times. 

Even that can have preference. So imagine if you were saved out of a background in Islam, and you'd worn a burqa all your life. You wouldn't be comfortable wearing something—maybe someone was saved out of a paganism or atheism or no religious background. But as far as just my personal conviction as to whether I should wear a suit and a tie or if it's okay to wear blue jeans, in this, we should not judge one another and should not despise the weaker brother. 

See, I'm not sure we always understand this. The weaker brother is the one who cannot work on Sunday or would offend his conscience if he eats the pork chops or feels like he must wear a suit and tie to church. The weaker brother is the one who does not understand his freedom in Christ. 

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 8 with me, please. 1 Corinthians 8 is sort of a parallel passage. 

1 Corinthians 8:1 says, "Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But 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. We know 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 for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live. 

However, there is not in everyone that knowledge. For some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food does not commend us to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. 

But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? 

But when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat lest I make my brother stumble. 

Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. The point, our purpose, our desire is to edify, to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ, to encourage, to grow together. I have knowledge that I can eat pork, but eating pork or not eating pork is not what matters. 

Therefore, it's not my job to convince or persuade my brother that he should eat to violate his conscience. If it's his conviction, if it violates his conscience to eat, then I will not eat either with him in his presence so as not to offend or cause him to eat and thus commit sin. 

Go back to Romans 14, look at verse 14, the second part of this chapter. Romans 14:14 says, "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. 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 have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself by 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. 

Do not despise your brother over a difference in conviction over doubtful things. Rather, receive him and sacrifice your freedom in Christ for his edification. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

Receive the one who is weak in faith. Don't dispute with him over doubtful things. We are individually responsible to our Lord. Who am I to judge another servant? In verse 3, he says, "Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. Let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him." 

Why do you judge another servant? God has received him. Shouldn't I receive him? None of us lives to himself—we live to the Lord. Why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? We shall all stand before the Lord. 

The one who is strong should receive the one who is weak, and equally important, the one who is weak should not judge the one who is strong. This is interesting to me because, as I studied this passage, I sometimes find that I'm the weaker brother in certain areas, and sometimes I find that I'm the stronger brother in certain areas. 

A major issue in the church is music, and because of the direction of the evangelical church in the context of men like Bill Hybels and Rick Warren and those who promoted a market-driven, seeker-style church growth model, contemporary Christian music is a concern for me. This style of worship, this preference, very often goes hand-in-hand with those movements, and thus I've always been cautious about these things. 

However, the style of music that we employ for worship in and of itself is not good or bad. This has become apparent to me in the times when I’ve preached outside of our culture, apart from what I'm used to and comfortable with here. When I was in India with Augustine and Philip, I saw men who were wholly dedicated to the proclamation of the pure, clear gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Men who sacrificed their entire lives to do nothing but preach Christ crucified day in and day out, disciple believers, and minister to the abandoned, abused, and neglected people of their cultures, taking care of widows and orphans, ministering to the untouchables, the leper colonies, the slum dwellers. These are men who I observed to be focused entirely on Jesus and preaching his gospel to every creature and loving God and loving men, and this is why we are eager to support them in any way we can. 

However, when we go out into a village to preach, we would have a worship service there in India, they had a very different style of music. They have a very heavy drumbeat, and it's very loud, and they employ several different instruments and electronic simulation. When I was in the Bahamas preaching at the Haitian Church recently, the people very much loved the Lord. They were seeking to glorify him in all that they do, but their church service was completely different than ours. 

They had all kinds of bright colors, and streamers, and decorations, and all kinds of things hanging from the ceiling. The music was excessively loud. They wore fancy dresses and weaves in their hair and big hats, and they danced and raised their hands and sang with all their hearts to the Lord. 

I rather enjoyed their worship service, but I think we would be very uncomfortable to have that in this building in our culture. For myself, I do not fully sense my liberty to worship in that way, thus I would be a weaker brother. The tendency is for me to say, if you employ contemporary music and drums and electric guitars in a church service here today, then you'll end up worldly in preaching the social gospel and forgetting the Word of God. 

If you exercise that liberty, then you'll run amok. My tendency is to judge the stronger brother. I do believe there is wisdom and caution in these areas, but the style itself is not the issue. 

Whether we use a guitar, or a piano, or an organ, or no instruments at all, is purely preferential. I was thinking about this when we were in the Bahamas, and I had a conversation with my friend Adam about some of the push in the urban churches to integrate the churches, like forcing them to come together type of thing. 

I think a church should take on, in form and preference in doubtful areas, the personality and preferences of its congregation. It should not be forced as if there's some virtue in one preference over another, forcing brothers and sisters into someone else's mold. 

We do many things the way we do them at Living Hope Church for one reason: because of the preference of the elders, the leadership. But that's always changing. This church does not look like it did 25 years ago, or 15 years ago, or five years ago, because the people have changed, and thus the preferences of the church have changed. 

Not drastically, and remember, not doctrinally or in areas of morals, or truth, or focus on preaching and teaching the clear commands of the scriptures, but in areas of preference, and the dynamics of the body, and those who make it up. 

But what we do, largely we do because of the convictions of the elders. Maybe if you had your druthers, you’d do things a little differently. 

We're coming up on Easter here again pretty soon. I know some of you would prefer that our church do something to celebrate the holidays. Some of you see this as a missed opportunity for evangelism, but it's the convictions of the elders, myself included, that these holy days are tied specifically, particularly, to pagan roots and celebrations that are not consistent with the Christian faith. 

I don't want to get too far afield on that, but the point is that there are many in our fellowship, including the elders, who have a conviction that the Christ Mass, or the Goddess Easter, and all the fertility rites and rituals, and weeping for Tammuz for 40 days, and eating ham at the end of it, and Easter egg hunts, and bunnies, and all that comes with it from the mother-son cults of antiquity, are not something we want to be associated with. 

We have a firm conviction that the best policy is to continue verse by verse, book by book, preaching through the Word of God for the edification of the saints. But understand this, we are the weaker brothers. Paul says not to despise us, nor should we judge those who understand their freedom in Christ to have a ham dinner, or wear a fancy dress, or have an Easter egg hunt. 

These things are not moral issues, nor are they commanded or forbidden in the Scriptures, and so they are doubtful things. Don't dispute over them. Don't fight about them. Don’t feel like you have to convince your brother that your conviction's right. 

If you want to decorate your home like Clark Griswold and go caroling all around town, have at her. If you are constrained by your conscience to not have any part in a religious holy day, then more power to you. Each one should live unto the Lord according to his own conscience concerning doubtful things. 

We should not judge the servant of the Lord. The Lord will judge, and listen to this good news: the Lord is able to make him stand. 

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. Let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able. 

God is able to make him stand. It’s not in my power or my commission to sanctify my brother or sister. It's my job to love my brother, my sister. It’s my job to not put a stumbling block in his or her way on preferential issues. God is able to make his own servant stand. 

Those whom He justifies, He also glorifies. He'll not lose one, and He has promised to conform us to the likeness of Christ. It’s sometimes very difficult for me to appreciate the convictions and preferences of others, and I’ll tell you why. Because my convictions are right, and if everybody would just share my convictions, we’d all be better off. 

It's hard not to think that way, isn't it? We’re a family, a body in fact, each members of the same body, and in a family we sometimes have disagreements. Sometimes we have different ways of thinking, doing things, looking at the world. I know this is true for me and my wife. Every time we conceive some project together and plan it out in our minds in conversation, when we go to build it or put it on paper, in Bobby's mind it’s a hundred and eighty degrees from what’s in my mind. Every time.

Our minds work differently; she does things differently than me, sees things from a different perspective, and thus she has different preferences than me. Our marriage is harmonious only when we yield to one another's preferences. My job is not to make her like me, nor to convince her that I’m right about everything. My job is to love her, to sacrifice my desires for her, to build her up, esteem her, and do what is best for her. 

I'm not always good at that, but it’s the same here in our family at Living Hope Church. This body, this living, growing organism that is the church. Truth is truth. Doctrine is doctrine. Who Jesus is, what he has done is settled in God's Word. We pursue that knowledge with passion, and we seek to obey God's Word with eagerness. 

Where there is sin, there is rebuke and correction and restoration and encouragement to that which is holy. But in all these many areas of life where we have our own preferences concerning how we live our lives, how we worship, what we will and will not do, based not on doctrine but on conscience and conviction, we must yield to one another. 

We must be willing to sacrifice our liberty for the sake of our brothers and be sensitive, be aware to the things of our brothers and sisters, to what they hold dear, to what they hold fast in their own convictions, so that we do not set a stumbling block, do not destroy our brother by causing him to violate his own conscience and sin. 

It's a matter of love. It's a matter of doing what is best for one another so that we might all work in harmony and fully function as the body of Christ concerning what really matters. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, 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. That’s the meaning of Romans chapter 14. And really that's the meaning of the cross as well. 

Jesus said, "I didn't come to be served, but to serve." He said, "The greatest thing we can do is lay down our life for our friends, to love one another. By this we're known to be His because we love one another as He has loved us." 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful—thankful that You teach us about these practical things and help us to think through them and to guide us by Your Spirit. Help us to love each other. Help us to yield to one another in these preferential issues. Not to judge one another, not to despise one another, not to have to be right in these things that others may have a different opinion concerning. 

Help us to remember what matters. Help us to remember who You are, who Jesus is, what He's done for us and to live in thankfulness, to have love poured out through us to others, and to be different than the world. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.