Well, good morning to everyone. Few in number this morning, but mighty, right? That wasn't bad out there at all. They had us scared last night. But the forecast in Ironwood said 28 to 44, and I got up and we had four inches. So praise the Lord for that.

Now, we're studying the Book of Romans. Last time we were in Romans for our communion service, we studied the first half of chapter 14. And this is such a tremendously important section of scripture and so practical for the church. Paul taught us that we are to receive one another because God has received each one of us. And we're not to dispute over doubtful things, but rather trust that God is able to make our brother stand.

Paul's speaking here about those issues of life that are neither good nor bad, that allow for personal conviction. So we're not talking about sinful things. We're not talking about immoral things, those things which are forbidden by the word of God. I cannot have a personal conviction that I can steal your stuff, because stealing is wrong and stealing is sinful. What Paul is talking about are those things which are not clearly laid out in the scriptures, things that God has allowed for us to have personal convictions concerning.

For instance, whether we observe a day or do not observe a day, there's nothing inherently evil about celebrating a day or participating in the traditions of men. But for some believers, they have a clear conviction that they do not want to observe a special day, and that's OK, too. Or perhaps you don't think that you should work on Sunday after church. You cannot, in faith, work on the Lord's Day. That is your personal conviction, your preference, and you should not work in faith. But for another believer, working on Sunday afternoon is no problem at all.

So we are discussing the realm of issues that are not evil in and of themselves, but do bring a danger of division and judgment between brothers who hold different convictions. And this is what Paul is concerned about. So he says, don't judge one another. Don't think because you are the stronger brother and you fully understand your liberty to eat and drink what you like, celebrate a day that you like, work on the yard on Sunday afternoon, don't think that you are better or more spiritual than your brother who holds different convictions; rather, receive him because the Lord has received him. And trust the Lord to work out these things in our lives.

If he believes he should not eat a pork chop, then he should not. He who eats, eats to the Lord. He who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord. He is the Lord's servant, not yours. So we learned these important lessons last time concerning disputes over doubtful things in the church. Paul is going to go further in the last half of this chapter and exhort us to exercise love toward our brothers by resolving this, not to put a stumbling block in the way of my brother or do anything that would cause him to fall.

Now, this is interesting because first, Paul exhorts us to take the focus off of ourselves. You see, it's hard for me because all of my convictions are right. And if you'd just come over to my way of thinking, we would all be a lot better off. This is the kind of thinking which is difficult to avoid because, well, they are my convictions. It's what Paul's trying to do away with in the first half of Romans 14, but in the last half, he's exhorting us to go further. Not only are we to live and let live, not to judge our brother or argue with him about coming over to our way of thinking, but we learn about love in our text today because we are to sacrifice the exercise of our own liberties in Christ for the sake of our brother.

Our striving, our goal, our desire should be to pursue peace and to seek that which edifies. In short, we are not only to tolerate one another, but we are to love one another. Let's look at our text, Romans 14 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 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 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.

We have five points on our outline this morning. First, resolve this. Second, don't destroy your brother. Third, righteousness, peace, and joy. Fourth, pursue peace, edify one another. And fifth, live by faith.

Well, Paul begins in verse 13 by exhorting us to no longer judge one another. Do not despise your brother because he holds different convictions than you concerning doubtful things. Now, I want you to watch this transition. He says, but rather. But rather, resolve this. Don't judge one another, but rather resolve this. The word translated resolve is the exact same word translated judge just before it. It means to decide, to condemn, or punish. The idea here is quit condemning your brother. Quit coming to a decision about him, about his spirituality, because of what he believes about doubtful things, specifically because your convictions are different than his. 

Rather, resolve this. Decide this. Come to a conclusion about this. It's a bit of play on words here. Stop condemning your brother, judging him. Rather, judge this for yourself. Make this final decision, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. Again, here's the context. We're talking about those things that are in doubt, that are not regulated or commanded in the word of God. Things that we all have different conviction about, perhaps due to our backgrounds, experiences, or upbringing.

I remember a lady who came to our farm years ago, and all of her husband's family were Seventh-day Adventists. And she stood in my store and began to ask me about pork. She was a seeking soul, and I was trying to witness to her. She said to me, my mother-in-law told me that pork flesh is 99% the same as human flesh. I said, well, I don't know about that. Then she said, did you know that pigs have a vein that runs down their leg to their foot that oozes out all of the toxins in their body? I said, well, I've skinned and butchered hundreds of pigs, and that's just biologically not true. She wanted to try some pork. But she had this great battle because of her family, her husband's family in this context. She couldn't bring herself to do it.

I believe that this woman came to Christ some point after that, and she's come and she's bought some pork. She even gets pork lard for her pasty crusts. But it's a tough thing for her. Now, in my conviction, I have perfect liberty to eat pork all the time, no problem. But I in my witness to this lady and in my desire not to cause her to stumble was not going to judge her. I was not going to condemn her because she was having a struggle about eating pork. You see, here's where Paul's headed in our text. I have some very strong convictions about eating pork, almost as strong as Ray Brown's convictions about eating pork. I love it. It's my favorite animal. It's my favorite food. 

But my job is not to convince this dear lady to eat pork. It does not matter if she eats pork or she does not eat pork. What matters is her salvation. What matters is her sanctification, is that I as a brother in Christ exercise love toward my brothers and sisters. Decide this, that you will not put a stumbling block in the way of a brother. The word stumbling block literally means to strike against. It is the picture of a man walking down a path and he strikes his foot against a rock and he falls. The word translated a cause to fall is a word that speaks of a trap, specifically to the movable trigger on a trap. If you ever set a trap where the animal pulls a trigger or sets a trigger and a trap goes off. 

I resolve this, I will not put a rock in the path of my brother, nor will I set a trap for him by my behavior that might cause him to fall. That's what Paul's saying. So we've moved to a higher level here in the Christian relationship. We are not to judge our brother for his convictions, but rather we are to sacrifice our own liberty in Christ for the sake of our brother. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 8 with me, please. This is a sort of parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 8. There was an issue with meat offered to idols. You can imagine if you were formerly a Gentile in Corinth and you had been involved in the pagan worship where they sacrificed animals and there were orgies and drunkenness and all these things going on in that worship and you get saved and you come out of that. 

And then you go to dinner at someone's house and they say, hey, we got this meat cheap because they sell it out the back door, what they don't, you know, they've offered it to the idols and what's left over, we've got a good deal on it. And you're kind of like, whoa, you know, I don't want to be any part of that. So this was the issue going on there. Paul 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. 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. It's the same idea Paul's writing about here in Corinth.

Let me give you an illustration. This happens not to be concerning believers, but it's a good illustration. My brother has struggled with alcohol and drug use all of his life. These things have caused him a lot of trouble over the years, especially when he was younger. When I was in my early 20s, he was about 35, and he was married, he had some boys, he was making a real effort to quit drinking and he did for a long time. And about this time, my dad got sick with cancer. He fought it for a few months, but when he was 62, he succumbed to that dreaded disease. 

And we were all sitting in the living room of my parents' home and my dad had just passed away, his body lying in his bed. Of course, everyone was upset and struggling, and my brother's wife brought him a beer. Now, this is an extreme example, but it's a good illustration of setting a trap, a stumbling stone in someone's path. Why would she do that? I can't figure it to this day. Paul talks about drinking wine or not drinking wine down in verse 21 of our text. And the diluted wine of his day was one of these doubtful areas, not forbidden entirely. 

But Paul says, if it causes my brother to stumble, I will no longer eat meat or drink wine. This is why I don't drink alcohol. It's not that I don't have liberty in Christ to do so or that I couldn't handle having a beer with my fish fryer on a hot summer day. But you see, it's not about me. I've always asked Christians who want to drink alcohol this question, what is the possible benefit in doing this? How can it possibly edify? We know the trouble it can cause, but how can it possibly edify? And sometimes there's a significant argument coming from those who contend to drink alcohol as a believer. They say the Bible does not forbid it. I understand that, but that's the wrong question.

Look at what Paul says in verse 14 of our text. 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. The kingdom of God is righteousness, is peace, is joy. It's not about me and my liberties. It's about God and His will. It's about His glory. This is about an attitude of love toward my brother.

How do I know if Mark doesn't eat pork? Well, I need to know Mark, by the way, Mark eats pork, but how would I know that? I need to be thinking about my brother. I need to be spending time with my brother. I need to get to know them. I need to be praying for them, looking for opportunities to edify them. And in that, I'm going to know things, and it could be a variety of things that would be offensive that I don't want to engage in. I may understand my liberty in Christ to do this or that, but my question should be, how does this profit my spiritual growth? How does this edify my brother? How does this glorify God?

And if the exercise of my liberty brings the ruin of my brother because of his conscience and conviction, then why eat, why drink? Why set a stumbling block in his way? Why not sacrifice my liberty for his edification? And my friends, this is the definition of agape love. Love is the hallmark of the believer in Jesus Christ. Listen to these verses, several verses, John 13, 34, 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. Did Jesus give up the exercise of his liberties for us? John 15, 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. These things I command you, that you love one another. Romans 12, 10, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Galatians 5, 13, for you, brethren, have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Ephesians 4, 2, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love. Do we have to bear with one another sometimes? Yes. Verse 3, 12, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you. He says, concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. Hebrews 10, 24, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. First Peter 1, 22, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. All of you have the same mind, have compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.

Love is the law of Christ. Love is the new covenant commandment, the fulfillment of the law. Love is what God has empowered us to do in regeneration, the new birth, by releasing us from the law of sin and death. Love is God's intention for us, particularly to love the brethren. And my friends, love means self-sacrifice, it means setting aside my liberties for the sake of my brother so that I would not cause him to stumble. Love means that I diligently pursue peace, pursue edification, not selfish ambition. 

And Paul tells us also here that love is the core of our witness. In John 13, 35, Jesus said, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Paul says we are to pursue peace and edification also as a witness to men. Think of verse 17, he says, 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, now look at this, and approved by men. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. This is acceptable to God and approved by men. 

When we display peace, righteousness, and joy in the Holy Spirit, when we love our brothers enough to sacrifice our liberties and pursue what edifies, this is a witness to the world. And we can only love when we live by faith. Look at verse 21, it's 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. God 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.

Whatever is not done in faith according to one's own conscience and conviction is sin, is condemned. In the area of doubtful things, we are to follow our convictions to do as we believe God would have us to do according to His will. If I cannot do something in faith, I must not do it. My convictions are between me and God. If I have a clear conscience before God to do something that is not a moral issue, if I can do it in faith, then that's fine. But if my conscience is grieved, if it's not clear, if I cannot do something in faith, then for me it is sin. 

Ours is a life of faith. Ours is a life of trust in God to believe Him for what He says, to do according to His revealed will. My convictions in these disputed areas should come from my understanding of the Word of God, from the leading of the Spirit as I walk in Him, as I grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And if I go against my conscience, if I continually violate my convictions, then I will learn to violate my conscience. I will become insensitive to the things of God. In his letters to Timothy, Paul talks a lot about living with a clear conscience, a pure conscience before God. He even says in 1 Timothy 1 that the purpose of the gospel, the commandment to teach no other doctrine, is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. He said some who have rejected the faith have a seared conscience. He says they have a defiled conscience. But those who believe have a conscience cleansed and live with a clear conscience before God.

How important it is to have a clear conscience, to live by your convictions according to the Word of God. And this is the essence of the Christian life, really, to know the Word of God, to continually renew our minds to it, to think His thoughts, abide in Him, trust in Him, and we must believe what He says, choose to believe it, reckon it to be so, His truth against the strongholds and fortresses of man's wisdom in this world, even our own feelings and emotions and experiences. 

We must know, we must believe or reckon, and then we must yield to the life and power of God in us to accomplish His will. This is how we live. So it's important that we live with a clear conscience; it's important that we act according to our faith as to what we believe God wants us to do. Paul said he's been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

Why do I do what I do and I don't do what I don't do? Because I believe that's what God wants. I live by faith, faith in the words of God and the God of His Word. And knowing that Word, believing that Word, obeying that Word causes me not only to know what is moral and immoral, righteous and sinful, but also guides me in the areas of life that are doubtful, that are disputed among men. And yet, I have my convictions, and they may be different than yours. You may be the stronger brother, realizing your freedom in Christ to do this or do that, but for me, I may have a firm conviction concerning those same things, and it would violate my conscience, my understanding of what God would have me to do in those areas if I do not live by faith and obey my conscience. Then that can literally wreck my walk, my fruitfulness, my faith. 

And Paul says, bring me to ruin. I must respect the convictions of my brothers and sisters in Christ; I must be willing to sacrifice the exercise of my liberties in Christ so that I do not cause my brother to stumble or set a snare in his path, and I must instead pursue peace and the things which edify. I love what Paul says in Ephesians 4, speak words that are necessary for edification, so that we might all have unity in the Spirit, be of the same mind, grow together in the body, be fruitful, effective in our witness and our living, and bring glory to God in all that we do.

This is what I want most for Living Hope Church and this body of believers, and this is what I want most for myself: peace, unity, fruitfulness, effectiveness, and witness. Sometimes it's not that way. Sometimes people are fighting over their conviction, their firmly held conviction about what color the carpet should be in the bathroom. I just talked to a guy, a neighbor, church is splitting over which woman was going to play the piano. We need to be focused on Christ. We need to be loving one another so that we might pursue peace and edification, what's best for each other. 

And this comes as we love one another, and part of loving one another is not judging others based on our own convictions or trying to argue another into my convictions, but rather loving, sacrificing, edifying, so that we might live in unity and harmony and work together for the cause of Christ, for what matters. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It's righteousness and joy and peace. And this is what should be evident in our church, especially to the world around us.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for the example of Jesus, who laid aside his divine attributes to become a man and take on flesh, who condescended for the express purpose of sacrificing himself for our sins. Help us to understand what He has done for us, and help us to follow in His steps, to love one another as He has loved us, and understand what matters, Lord. And help us not to be consumed with our own interests and desires, but with Your purposes for our lives and for the good of our brothers, that we might all be growing together, so that we might be an effective witness for You in this world. In Jesus' name, Amen.