Trinity Evangel Church

I’ve referred to this before, (as James Clear wrote) that "Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits” and so forth. Likewise a church’s (shared) peace is a lagging measure of each member’s habits of dying to bring life. Peace is a hard thing to pursue directly, but it is impossible to achieve without wanting it.

I also like to remind us every once in a while that we always do what we most want to do. We might have multiple wants, and some of those wants compete or even conflict with each other. But the strongest want will win.

Christians can tell what they want most, in the main, by what they have (their possessions are a lagging measure of their pursuits). It’s a decent mirror, regularly not flattering. Christians who want to look good more than do good will probably get what they want. Christians who want to be right more than anything will get that reputation; they’ll be known for their want (probably more than actual wisdom). Christians who want to be left alone will make little effort to the opposite. Christians who fight for their Christian liberty will at least think that the bruises are a result of them fighting the good fight, though the good is debatable. And, Christians who want other members to be blessed will try to build them up and “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18).

Sola fide in Romans 3 might be easier to understand and practice than this application for those who are saved by grace in Christ in Romans 14. Submitting to the truths of God’s sovereignty in Romans 9 requires less sacrifice than this application for those who are serving for the glory of God alone in Romans 14.

There are a few better-thans in verses 19-23. I actually think that it’s possible to see the connections/divisions in Paul’s thought better than what read in our verse divisions, and even the paragraph division. Verse 19 ends the previous paragraph in the ESV, I think it makes a better lead-off statement for the final paragraph. Wherever it’s better to put the tab-space, we’re going to cover it, and see three points.

In the kingdom of God, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit have precedence. We should show this precedence in what we pursue.

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. (Romans 14:19-20a ESV)

The contrast is between building up and tearing down, as with walls. Christians will construct or destruct their own structure.

So then swings from verses 13-18, if not from 1-13. We’re to judge/decide never to stumble or trap or destroy a brother when it comes to disputable things (especially as the weak have convictions/opinions about things without a verse and turn their preference into a “THIS ONLY IS RIGHTEOUS!”). Here’s what we should do. “We should pursue the (things) of peace and the (things) of one-another building.” Note that peace is not the direct object. But peace has “things” that go with it, what makes for peace. So with upbuilding, a word that describes actual house-building (οἰκοδομή), the structure from construction, and so spiritually here as desiring the strengthening, the edifying, of our fellow house members. We are one body, we are one house.

Pursue the peace and edification things. Chase, seek, strive for. WANT IT. Every believer’s “aim should be to help one another rather than to criticize or despise” (Morris).

And so we’re prohibited from working against God. God is strengthening, and we are not to destroy or “tear down” (NASB) or do demolition when it comes to disputable things, like food. This is a broad word for eaten things, while meat and wine are mentioned explicitly in the next verse.

The work of God is either your brother himself, or the household of brothers, a.k.a., the body, the church.

We’re reminded of the hierarchy of rights.

Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. (Romans 14:20b-22a ESV)

In verse 14 Paul said “nothing is unclean in itself,” and in the middle of verse 20 he says, on the one hand, “all things (are) pure.” But there is another hand, and it’s the hand that ranks higher. There is clean/pure=καθαρὰ, but it is κακὸν=evil/wrong to eat and make a mess for your brother.

καλὸν=good/right not to eat meat or drink wine, which refers to alcohol for the first time specifically in the chapter. But just as Paul said, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), so he says don’t eat or don’t drink or don’t do whatever would cause your brother to fall.

The first sentence in verse 22 belongs with this instruction, and is important for any number of things it does not mean.

To keep (your faith) between yourself and God does not mean that faith is private or personal, as modern men often speak, as if faith could be separated from public or secular choices. Meat and wine are daily dinner stuff, or even potluck party stuff. “Keep ” (ESV) makes it sound quiet, but “have your own conviction before God” (NASB) means you are ready to give an account of yourself to God (verse 12). This is another way to say be fully convinced in your mind (verse 5), an introduction to doing what we do with a clear conscience (next in verse 22).

Not eating meat or drinking wine doesn’t mean a once-and-for-all transition to vegetarian or tea-totaler. It doesn’t mean never eating in the privacy of your home. This whole chapter assumes discussion about disagreements. We only know that a brother is upset when there’s discussion; we cannot read his thoughts. In that discussion, following Paul’s example, we look at the truth, that “nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4), and that not all can be thankful for it yet, and so we don’t need to flaunt it.

Both the stronger and weaker brothers have temptations, but they are to remember that 1) God has welcomed the brother, 2) we live and die as the Lord’s, 3) we will give an account to God, and 4) we ought to want blessing for our brother. Fellowship is better than rubbing our preferences in a brother’s face.

We will eat, but not all will eat blessing.

Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22b-23 ESV)

The two people: “the one not judging himself by what he’s approved,” and “the one doubting what he’s (functionally approved by) eating.” One is blessed, one is condemned.

Don’t go against your conscience, and, seek to inform your conscience with what is right. (See also Ecclesiastes 9:7.)

All which (is) not from faith is sin. From faith to faith is a big deal (starting from Romans 1:17). Decisions and fellowship must not be driven by fear or guilt. A church eating and drinking but not by faith is pagan/worldly. A church not eating and drinking in the name of faith but really out of anxiety is weak. A church ripping each other’s decisions to shreds cannot say it’s by faith.

We can work it out or get offended. We can work it out or stay immature. We can work it out or always be finding a new group of people to blame; church hop to shift blame. Pursuing peace is more than leaving others alone, and building them up in blessing is a habit to pursue.

Food is better and blessed with faith. Fellowship is better and blessed by faith.

Living by faith is the only way of salvation, the only way to have a clear conscience, the only way to please God, the only way of righteousness, the only way of recognizing that all are yours, and the only way of fellowship, at least for now. May the Lord make us strong in faith and blessed with peace and full of jealousable joy as His spiritual house.

When David fled from Saul and lived in the land ruled by Achish/Ambimelech, and acted insane and let spittle run down his beard to show that there was no reason for Achish to fear him, he had good reason to think about the man who desires life and wants to see good. Such a man would “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14).

So, Christian, in these days of great insanity, you must seek and strive for the things of peace and the things that build up your brothers.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV)

I’ve referred to this before, (as James Clear wrote) that "Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits” and so forth. Likewise a church’s (shared) peace is a lagging measure of each member’s habits of dying to bring life. Peace is a hard thing to pursue directly, but it is impossible to achieve without wanting it.

I also like to remind us every once in a while that we always do what we *most* want to do. We might have multiple wants, and some of those wants compete or even conflict with each other. But the strongest want will win.

Christians can tell what they want most, in the main, by what they have (their possessions are a lagging measure of their pursuits). It’s a decent mirror, regularly not flattering. Christians who want to look good more than do good will probably get what they want. Christians who want to be right more than anything will get that reputation; they’ll be known for their want (probably more than actual wisdom). Christians who want to be left alone will make little effort to the opposite. Christians who fight for their Christian liberty will at least think that the bruises are a result of them fighting the good fight, though the good is debatable. And, Christians who want other members to be blessed will try to build them up and “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18).

Sola fide in Romans 3 might be easier to understand and practice than this application for those who are saved by grace in Christ in Romans 14. Submitting to the truths of God’s sovereignty in Romans 9 requires less sacrifice than this application for those who are serving for the glory of God alone in Romans 14.

There are a few better-thans in verses 19-23. I actually think that it’s possible to see the connections/divisions in Paul’s thought better than what read in our verse divisions, and even the paragraph division. Verse 19 ends the previous paragraph in the ESV, I think it makes a better lead-off statement for the final paragraph. Wherever it’s better to put the tab-space, we’re going to cover it, and see three points.

# Building Up Is Better Than Tearing Down (verses 19-20a)

In the kingdom of God, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit have precedence. We should show this precedence in what we pursue.

> So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. (Romans 14:19-20a ESV)

The contrast is between building up and tearing down, as with walls. Christians will construct or destruct *their own structure*.

**So then** swings from verses 13-18, if not from 1-13. We’re to judge/decide never to stumble or trap or destroy a brother when it comes to disputable things (especially as the weak have convictions/opinions about things without a verse and turn their preference into a “THIS ONLY IS RIGHTEOUS!”). Here’s what we should do. “We should pursue the (things) of peace and the (things) of one-another building.” Note that peace is not the direct object. But peace has “things” that go with it, **what makes for** peace. So with **upbuilding**, a word that describes actual house-building (οἰκοδομή), the structure from construction, and so spiritually here as desiring the strengthening, the edifying, of our fellow house members. We are one body, we are one house.

**Pursue** the peace and edification things. Chase, seek, strive for. *WANT IT*. Every believer’s “aim should be to help one another rather than to criticize or despise” (Morris).

And so we’re prohibited from working against God. God is strengthening, and we are not to **destroy** or “tear down” (NASB) or do demolition when it comes to disputable things, like **food**. This is a broad word for eaten things, while meat and wine are mentioned explicitly in the next verse.

**The work of God** is either your brother himself, or the household of brothers, a.k.a., the body, the church.

# Fellowship Is Better Than Flaunting (verses 20b-22a)

We’re reminded of the hierarchy of rights.

> Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. (Romans 14:20b-22a ESV)

In verse 14 Paul said “nothing is unclean in itself,” and in the middle of verse 20 he says, on the one hand, “all things (are) pure.” But there is another hand, and it’s the hand that ranks higher. There is **clean**/pure=καθαρὰ, but it is κακὸν=evil/**wrong** to eat and make a mess for your brother.

καλὸν=**good**/right **not to eat meat or drink wine**, which refers to alcohol for the first time specifically in the chapter. But just as Paul said, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), so he says *don’t* eat or *don’t* drink or *don’t* do whatever would cause your brother to fall.

The first sentence in verse 22 belongs with this instruction, and is important for any number of things it does *not* mean.

To **keep (your faith) between yourself and God** does not mean that faith is private or personal, as modern men often speak, as if faith could be separated from public or secular choices. Meat and wine are daily dinner stuff, or even potluck party stuff. “Keep ” (ESV) makes it sound quiet, but “have your own conviction before God” (NASB) means you are ready to give an account of yourself to God (verse 12). This is another way to say be fully convinced in your mind (verse 5), an introduction to doing what we do with a clear conscience (next in verse 22).

Not eating meat or drinking wine doesn’t mean a once-and-for-all transition to vegetarian or tea-totaler. It doesn’t mean never eating in the privacy of your home. This whole chapter assumes discussion about disagreements. We only know that a brother is upset when there’s discussion; we cannot read his thoughts. In that discussion, following Paul’s example, we look at the truth, that “nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4), *and* that not all can be thankful for it *yet*, and so we don’t need to flaunt it.

Both the stronger and weaker brothers have temptations, but they are to remember that 1) God has welcomed the brother, 2) we live and die as the Lord’s, 3) we will give an account to God, and 4) we ought to want blessing for our brother. Fellowship is better than rubbing our preferences in a brother’s face.

# Blessed Is Better Than Condemned (verses 22b-23)

We will eat, but not all will eat blessing.

> Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22b-23 ESV)

The two people: “the one not judging himself by what he’s approved,” and “the one doubting what he’s (functionally approved by) eating.” One is **blessed**, one is **condemned**.

Don’t go against your conscience, and, seek to inform your conscience with what is right. (See also Ecclesiastes 9:7.)

**All which (is) not from faith is sin.** From faith to faith is a big deal (starting from Romans 1:17). Decisions and fellowship must not be driven by fear or guilt. A church eating and drinking but not by faith is pagan/worldly. A church not eating and drinking in the name of faith but really out of anxiety is weak. A church ripping each other’s decisions to shreds cannot say it’s by faith.

# Conclusion

We can work it out or get offended. We can work it out or stay immature. We can work it out or always be finding a new group of people to blame; church hop to shift blame. Pursuing peace is more than leaving others alone, and building them up in blessing is a *habit* to *pursue*.

Food is better and blessed with faith. Fellowship is better and blessed by faith.

Living by faith is the *only* way of salvation, the only way to have a clear conscience, the only way to please God, the only way of righteousness, the only way of recognizing that all are yours, and the only way of *fellowship*, at least for now. May the Lord make us strong in faith and blessed with peace and full of jealousable joy as His spiritual house.

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## Charge

When David fled from Saul and lived in the land ruled by Achish/Ambimelech, and acted insane and let spittle run down his beard to show that there was no reason for Achish to fear him, he had good reason to think about the man who desires life and wants to see good. Such a man would “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14).

So, Christian, in these days of great insanity, you must seek and strive for the things of peace and the things that build up your brothers.

## Benediction:

> The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV)

There are three kinds of right in this paragraph. There is the kind of right that is not wrong, the kind of right that is a liberty, and the kind of right that is relational. With these three rights you can think something correctly, do something freely, enjoy something supremely. It’s great when all three line up together, but when they can’t, there is a right right, a highest right, a ranked right. As there is a holy of holies, so there is a right of rights.

Paul continues his instructions about disputable things into the second half of Romans 14, and doesn’t finish until well into chapter 15. It’s a chapter and a half of instructions about loving our neighbor-brother, a thing that is of utmost importance and also of utmost difficulty. As disappointing as that is, it’s no surprise that our enemy would love nothing more than to attack at key fronts. The evil one hates nothing more than our joyful fellowship with each other.

What is right and true is that all are yours. What is right and liberty is that you can enjoy, by faith in Christ, all that is yours. And what is right and relational is that your brother is among the all, fellowship with your brother is above the all. All are yours to enjoy, or to enjoy not enjoying, if that makes life with your brother better. Your brother is yours more than barbecue is yours. When we put barbecue over brother we’re burning the wrong ends. It’s possible to miss the right of rights in the name of lesser rights.

We’ve seen it already in verses 1-12. We are judgment-making creatures, and one of the most important judgments we can make is to stop judging our brothers over disputable things. Judgment cuts two ways. The strong, referring to those who see and eat more freely by faith, judge-despise those who abstain (verse 3), and the weak, referring to those with more strict rules about what’s right, judge-condemn those who partake (also verse 3). We’re supposed to be convinced about what we do or don’t (verse 5), and we’re supposed to be honoring the Lord and thanking God in what we do or don’t (verse 6). All are ours, and we are the Lord’s (verse 8).

Sanctification is a process of learning to love righteousness more than sin, which includes learning to love all the gifts and blessings that make us jealousable, and that involves learning that fellowship with the brothers trumps personal convenience/preference. We’ve been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), in whom we have righteousness and fellowship between saints. We ought not live like we’re still in the old kingdom, the kingdom of the world, where self-serving and distance and despising others is the way.

There is the right requirement in verse 13, the right principle in verse 14, the right explanation in verse 15, the right conclusion in verse 16, and the right precedence in verses 17-18.

Here’s more required response about judging.

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. (Romans 14:13 ESV)

Paul uses the same word negatively (pass judgment) and positively (decide) in both halves of this sentence. I think it’s less word play and more to show that it’s the application of judging that is good or bad, not the action of judging itself. We judge, but what and by what do we judge?

We should not pass judgment on a brother, but we should [judge] never to put a stumbling block before a brother. This sequence adds to the requirements in verses 1-13. In that section we were to judge with right thinking about our brother, here we’re to judge that we could hurt our brother by doing what is technically right.

A stumbling block and a hindrance share the quality of making difficult or even causing pain. One includes the idea of offending, the other of trapping. “Hindrance” is especially a weak translation compared to “occasion to fall” (KJV) or “pitfall” (HCSB), a thing that could entice one to sin.

How might we make it more difficult for a brother? Not just by despising him, though that’s not right. We can make things more difficult for a brother by exercising lesser rights as if they were the highest right.

Only one English translation actually uses brackets around verse 14 (the HCSB), but the idea is what we might think of as kind of an inline footnote.

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. (Romans 14:14 ESV)

Because Jesus is Lord, and because we are in Him, all are ours (see 1 Corinthians 3:21-22). It’s hard to imagine a more emphatic way for Paul to put it. All the days, all the meats, all the wine, all the liberties are his, are ours (All the fulness-Psalm 24:1, the meat on a thousand hills-Psalm 50:10). The unclean terminology is basically “common,” as opposed to the sacred.

The weaker brother thinks more things are unclean than are truly unclean. There’s great similarity in what Paul told the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians 8. Whether or not the Roman Christians were struggling with the morality of meat offered to idols, the stronger-freer consciences relating to the weaker-encumbered consciences is the same. The true-right is that nothing is unclean in itself, clean/unclean isn’t a built-in of material things. So prohibition is not Paul’s principle. The liberty-right is to enjoy more, but the fact that not all see these first two right principles requires more.

With the parenthesis out of the way, Paul explains more about the requirement.

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:15 ESV)

The strong can grieve and destroy the weak (as can the weak grieve the strong, but that’s not the primary burden here). Giving grief that isn’t good is not only bad, it’s the opposite of loving one’s neighbor and it’s incompatible with the loving sacrifice of Christ. The atonement of Christ brings forgiveness and blessing and life, and to work against that works against the very purpose of the cross.

The grief/destruction isn’t loss of salvation, but loss of thanks and joy in going against what faith allows.

As I said, this is mostly aimed at the strong, But, can you see application for the weak? When the weak claim grief and hurt, when the weak use these claims to control, they are likewise grieving (with extra rules) and destroying (joy and liberty). Grief charges become weapons, and grievance mongers/victims are making a killing in our culture.

You’re fully convinced that all are yours and that all is good, but depending on how you hold it, you can make it look bad.

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. (Romans 14:16 ESV)

Don’t let “your the good” be blasphemed. You’re convinced about a good gift, and it causes someone else great grief. You give thanks for it (see verse 6), they bad mouth it. You can’t guarantee that someone won’t slander you. We’re blessed when we’re truly slandered, that is, when it’s a real lie. But we’re still in brother-with-one-another context, still in community fellowship, and there’s a way to love what you love—even when the “what” is right—and the other person is right to have nothing good to say about the “good.”

Here’s another explanation for why we should recognize the right of fights based on the kind of subculture we live in.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (Romans 14:17–18 ESV)

The kingdom of God is the rule of God (mentioned only here in Romans). What are the keys to the kingdom? What has precedence in this kingdom? It is not externals first. This does not fulfill all the kingdom promises, but we are living differently in God’s rule now than will be when His kingdom is on earth as it is in heaven (which we pray to come!). In the meantime, the fellows who share the kingdom should share a fellowship.

In this kingdomrighteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit have precedence. All of these are relational issues, and in this context we’re talking about horizontal/one-anothers and not vertical/Lord-servant issues.

This is right/acceptable in the sight of God, as it is right/approved in the sight of men. Pleasing ourselves is not to be the precedence (see Romans 15:1, 3).

Nothing in this paragraph is a discouragement against conversation, or teaching, toward the better right of broad reception. Don’t forget Paul’s parenthetical principle in verse 14. Keep in mind that disagreeing is not despising, and sharpening by a brother is not necessarily the brother condescending. Paul is not shutting down conversation, but he is shutting down condescension. Be patient, be kind, clothe yourselves with humility, grow up, give more thanks.

Watch when you are eager for a fight. The strong are not strong because they have liberty not to love, their strength is what enables more liberty in how they love. Let’s pursue peace and building up one another (verse 19), living from faith to faith (verse 23).

Christian, at present you live in two cities, two kingdoms, the city of man and the kingdom of God. You will show which kingdom you value most by which kingdom’s gold you treasure most. Pursue righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit to build up and bless your brothers.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, ESV)

There are three kinds of *right* in this paragraph. There is the kind of right that is not wrong, the kind of right that is a liberty, and the kind of right that is relational. With these three rights you can think something correctly, do something freely, enjoy something supremely. It’s great when all three line up together, but when they can’t, there is a *right* right, a highest right, a ranked right. As there is a holy of holies, so there is a right of rights.

Paul continues his instructions about *disputable things* into the second half of Romans 14, and doesn’t finish until well into chapter 15. It’s a chapter and a half of instructions about loving our neighbor-brother, a thing that is of utmost importance and also of utmost difficulty. As disappointing as that is, it’s no surprise that our enemy would love nothing more than to attack at key fronts. The evil one hates nothing more than our joyful fellowship with each other.

What is right and true is that all are yours. What is right and liberty is that you can enjoy, by faith in Christ, all that is yours. And what is right and relational is that your brother is among the all, fellowship with your brother is above the all. All are yours to enjoy, or to enjoy *not* enjoying, if that makes life with your brother better. Your brother is yours more than barbecue is yours. When we put barbecue over brother we’re burning the wrong ends. It’s possible to miss the right of rights in the name of lesser rights.

We’ve seen it already in verses 1-12. We are judgment-making creatures, and one of the most important judgments we can make is to stop judging our brothers over disputable things. Judgment cuts two ways. The strong, referring to those who see and eat more freely by faith, judge-despise those who abstain (verse 3), and the weak, referring to those with more strict rules about what’s right, judge-condemn those who partake (also verse 3). We’re supposed to be convinced about what we do or don’t (verse 5), and we’re supposed to be honoring the Lord and thanking God in what we do or don’t (verse 6). All are ours, and we are the Lord’s (verse 8).

Sanctification is a process of learning to love righteousness more than sin, which includes learning to love all the gifts and blessings that make us jealousable, and that involves learning that fellowship with the brothers trumps personal convenience/preference. We’ve been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), in whom we have righteousness and fellowship between saints. We ought not live like we’re still in the old kingdom, the kingdom of the world, where self-serving and distance and despising others is the way.

There is the right requirement in verse 13, the right principle in verse 14, the right explanation in verse 15, the right conclusion in verse 16, and the right precedence in verses 17-18.

# The Right Requirement (verse 13)

Here’s more required response about judging.

> Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. (Romans 14:13 ESV)

Paul uses the same word negatively (**pass judgment**) and positively (**decide**) in both halves of this sentence. I think it’s less word play and more to show that it’s the application of judging that is good or bad, not the action of judging itself. We judge, but what and by what do we judge?

We should **not pass judgment** on a brother, but we should **[judge] never to put a stumbling block** before a brother. This sequence adds to the requirements in verses 1-13. In that section we were to judge with right thinking about our brother, here we’re to judge that we could hurt our brother by doing what is technically right.

A **stumbling block** and a **hindrance** share the quality of making difficult or even causing pain. One includes the idea of offending, the other of trapping. “Hindrance” is especially a weak translation compared to “occasion to fall” (KJV) or “pitfall” (HCSB), a thing that could entice one to sin.

How might we make it more difficult for a brother? Not just by despising him, though that’s not right. We can make things more difficult for a brother by exercising lesser rights as if they were the highest right.

# The Right Principle (verse 14)

Only one English translation actually uses brackets around verse 14 (the HCSB), but the idea is what we might think of as kind of an inline footnote.

> I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. (Romans 14:14 ESV)

Because Jesus is Lord, and because we are in Him, all are ours (see 1 Corinthians 3:21-22). It’s hard to imagine a more emphatic way for Paul to put it. All the days, all the meats, all the wine, all the liberties are his, are ours (All the fulness-Psalm 24:1, the meat on a thousand hills-Psalm 50:10). The **unclean** terminology is basically “common,” as opposed to the sacred.

The weaker brother thinks more things are unclean than are truly unclean. There’s great similarity in what Paul told the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians 8. Whether or not the Roman Christians were struggling with the morality of meat offered to idols, the stronger-freer consciences relating to the weaker-encumbered consciences *is* the same. The true-right is that **nothing is unclean in itself**, clean/unclean isn’t a built-in of material things. So prohibition is not Paul’s principle. The liberty-right is to enjoy more, but the fact that not all see these first two right principles requires more.

# The Right Explanation (verse 15)

With the parenthesis out of the way, Paul explains more about the requirement.

> For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:15 ESV)

The strong can **grieve** and **destroy** the weak (as can the weak grieve the strong, but that’s not the primary burden here). Giving grief that isn’t good is not only bad, it’s the opposite of loving one’s neighbor and it’s incompatible with the loving sacrifice of Christ. The atonement of Christ brings forgiveness and blessing and life, and to work against that works against the very purpose of the cross.

The grief/destruction isn’t loss of salvation, but loss of thanks and joy in going against what faith allows.

As I said, this is mostly aimed at the strong, But, can you see application for the weak? When the weak *claim* grief and hurt, when the weak use these claims to control, they are likewise grieving (with extra rules) and destroying (joy and liberty). Grief charges become weapons, and grievance mongers/victims are making a killing in our culture.

# The Right Conclusion (verse 16)

You’re fully convinced that all are yours and that all is good, but depending on how you hold it, you can make it look bad.

> So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. (Romans 14:16 ESV)

Don’t let “your the good” be blasphemed. You’re convinced about a good gift, and it causes someone else great grief. You give thanks for it (see verse 6), they bad mouth it. You can’t guarantee that someone won’t slander you. We’re blessed when we’re truly slandered, that is, when it’s a real lie. But we’re still in brother-with-one-another context, still in community fellowship, and there’s a way to love what you love—even when the “what” is right—and the other person is *right* to have nothing good to say about the “good.”

# The Right Precedence (verses 17-18)

Here’s another explanation for why we should recognize the right of fights based on the kind of subculture we live in.

> For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (Romans 14:17–18 ESV)

The **kingdom of God** is the rule of God (mentioned only here in Romans). What are the keys to the kingdom? What has precedence in this kingdom? It is *not* externals *first*. This does not fulfill all the kingdom promises, but we are living differently in God’s rule now than will be when His kingdom is on earth as it is in heaven (which we pray to come!). In the meantime, the fellows who share the kingdom should share a fellowship.

In this kingdom**righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit** have precedence. All of these are relational issues, and in this context we’re talking about *horizontal*/one-anothers and not vertical/Lord-servant issues.

This is right/**acceptable** in the sight of God, as it is right/**approved** in the sight of men. Pleasing ourselves is *not* to be the precedence (see Romans 15:1, 3).

# Conclusion

Nothing in this paragraph is a discouragement against conversation, or teaching, *toward the better right of broad reception*. Don’t forget Paul’s parenthetical principle in verse 14. Keep in mind that disagreeing is not despising, and sharpening by a brother is not necessarily the brother condescending. Paul is not shutting down conversation, but he is shutting down condescension. Be patient, be kind, clothe yourselves with humility, grow up, give more thanks.

Watch when you are eager for a fight. The strong are not strong because they have liberty not to love, their strength is what enables more liberty in how they love. Let’s pursue peace and building up one another (verse 19), living from faith to faith (verse 23).

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## Charge

Christian, at present you live in two cities, two kingdoms, the city of man and the kingdom of God. You will show which kingdom you value most by which kingdom’s gold you treasure most. Pursue *righteousness* and *peace* and *joy* in the Holy Spirit to build up and bless your brothers.

## Benediction:

> So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, ESV)

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

But the reason that we have gathered this morning is to praise our Lord and to be filled with his goodness We've assembled together To look to him and to remember that our help is in the name of the Lord Our scriptural call to worship comes from Psalm 107 Oh Give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from trouble, and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way, till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Let's pray. Father, we gather as

one people before you today to lift up your praises and worship you in spirit and truth. You have redeemed us from trouble and we can say with confidence that your steadfast love endures forever. We hasten to stand before you and keep this festal day to celebrate your name with praise and prayer. Here we are before you on this Lord's Day to refresh our souls in the rest that you have brought us into, to come and drink of your word, to eat at your table, to thank you for your steadfast love, for your wondrous works to the children of man. Bless our worship here today, made be acceptable in your sight and potent in our community.

May our congregation serve towards making others jealous for you as we proclaim your Your majesty, your holiness, and your love, use us to magnify your name. It's good to thank the Lord. We praise your name most high. Amen. Sometimes we act like, sometimes with how we act, you would think that there is a verse somewhere in the Bible that commands us to grumble and complain. Maybe you are a professional grumbler and you can keep it inside. Perhaps you seek a listening ear to gain empathy with your grumbling and complaints, always telling others who don't crawl down in the hole with you that they don't understand.

Paul commands believers in 1 Thessalonians 5.18 to give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. One thing I want to mention that keeps us from giving thanks is trauma. why I don't like how the world has adopted the world trauma. It seems to have impacted some Christians who use it as an excuse to remain in their whole and disobedience. I understand that there is trauma in this life and that it could be a big deal in your world. It needs to be dealt with biblically and remember that your identity is found in Christ, not in your trauma. Your circumstances do not own you, God does.

If Paul said, grumble and complain in all circumstances, this exhortation would not be needed. The truth is that grumbling and complaining, it clogs our hearts from singing a song of thanksgiving. Think of your heart like a teabag. Whatever the circumstances are in your world, your heart will be exposed. Maybe you can hide your grumbling from others, but God knows the actual state of your heart. I know the struggle to give thanks in all circumstances is difficult and hard. I remember telling my wife and some of you I didn't see my medical vacation as a gift. I couldn't give thanks and I ran from anything that reminded me to give thanks.

Even a song called Bring the Rain became a skip song. I didn't want to be thankful, but this is God's will for my life and Jesus Christ. Grace won. It doesn't matter what circumstances are going on in your life, you can choose to find something to give thanks for. Start with repentance and then strive to clean out all grumblings from your heart. Proverbs 4.23 tells us, keep your heart with all villages, for from it flow the springs of life. Beloved, leave your heart. Do not let yourself off the hook. You have to keep moving forward. The weapon that God gave us to fight grumbling is giving thanks. He has also granted to us his precious and very great promises.

We have no excuses for grumbling and complaining. The enemy of your soul smiles when you become a victim of your circumstances. Romans 828 teaches us that because God is sovereign and good, we can trust him in what he is doing and allowing in our worlds. Be caution because a symptom of unbelief is grumbling. It is a sin that each of us must repent of as needed. Consider what grumbling and complaining in your life is keeping you from giving God thanks. Maybe it is something with your marriage. Perhaps it is work required for an answered prayer. Are you content with God's sovereignty in your life? What obedience are you running from instead of leaning into?

A thankful heart will have a mouth that sings a song of thanksgiving regardless of the circumstances. If this brings to mind any areas that you need to confess so that you can be forgiven and keeping step with the spirit, now is the time to do that. As usual, if you desire, are unable to kneel in confession, you are invited to do so and we will pray corporately in just a minute or so after you have time to pray to the Lord yourself. Father, we confess that we are guilty of the sin of grumbling and complaining. While the world seems to want to make these virtues, we know you have called us to give thanks in all circumstances.

Please forgive us of our grumbling and increase our faith as we trust and and obey you wherever you have us, knowing that you are with us and have promised to conform us to the image of your son, Jesus Christ. Give us grace to see your goodness working in and through our lives, even when unfavorable conditions are before us. And may that strengthen our hearts to sing of your steadfast love and faithfulness, which endures forever. You know where hope is, we know where hope is found, which should produce real thankfulness that works out of our lives to the praise and glory of your name. We pray all this in the name of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

You are invited to stand. Our passage for the promise of forgiveness comes from Colossians 1, 9 through 14. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in which we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Beloved, God the Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness. We belong to Jesus Christ and we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins in him. And not only that, but you are salt and light in a world full of darkness. Be light and do all things without grumbling and complaining and bring an offering of thanksgiving in all circumstances. Let us continue to sing with hearts full of thankfulness. Our scripture reading this morning comes from Psalm 50.

We'll be reading the first 15 verses. Psalm 50, verses one through 15, and I'll be reading from the English Standard Version. The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth, our God comes. He does not keep silence. Before him is a devouring fire. Around him, a mighty tempest. He calls the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge, Selah. Here, O my people, and I will speak.

O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds, for every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High. and call upon me in the day of trouble.

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. Father, indeed, what a Savior. And how we look forward to the day when that Savior shall again appear in glory, in power, in might. And so put every enemy under his footstool to make everything right. How you yourself will wipe away every tear and turn every sorrow into joy, and that we will be able to be in your presence forever and ever. In the meantime, may we continue to be faithful in what you've put before us, to be quick to give you honor and glory and all that we say and do, to as Ryan exhorted us, to give you thanks always for all things. And Father, we just wanna tell you how much we love you and adore you, and thank you for having called us by name to be a part of your family.

And as we look in your word now, may we find our souls again challenged and refreshed and exhorted and encouraged by what you have for us. We ask this all in our name, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I first preached this message eight years ago on November 15, 2015, during our Brown Paper Passages series on a Sunday night. if those of you are around for that. But since many of you have not heard it before and we're getting close to our nation's annual day of Thanksgiving, I decided to say worth revisiting the topic of Thanksgiving this morning. Hard to believe but we're only about four or four and a half weeks away from Thanksgiving again.

All of Psalm 50 serves as the text for the message this morning. It was around the time I first preached this message that I happened to be in Psalm 50 as a part of my annual read through the Bible schedule. I came across something in verse 14 that struck me as peculiar. I'm sure I had read that verse many times before but for some reason it really stood out to me this time. The part that caught my eye was where the Psalmist says to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. During that season of my life I had already been pondering the command in Ephesians 5.20 to give thanks always and for all things and everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hadn't ever thought of thanksgiving as a sacrifice to God before. I saw it simply as a command to be obeyed and I wondered what it meant to view it as a sacrifice.

Now inherent to the idea of sacrifice is the fact that it costs you something, right? What was the sacrifice I was to make when offering God thanksgiving? In Psalm 50 we're going to see that God does not fault Israel for a failure to bring him burnt offerings. says their offerings are continually before him, but he then says I'm not going to accept them. Somehow they were missing the point of what sacrifice was for and God wasn't very happy about it. As I pondered Psalm 50 I realized that I was tainting my thanksgiving to God with a grumbling spirit within me. One moment I could be praising God for something and the next I could be fussing, usually in my head, about something I didn't like. I was sinning in a similar way as the Israelites, making the right sacrifice at the right time, but not with the right heart. I like to think of myself as a realist, and I'm pretty good at spotting things that are not right. But I had to come to terms with the fact that whatever other label I I put on my quote gift of discernment, I wasn't being thankful always and for all things.

Hence my interest in Psalm 50 and why I chose it eight years ago for a message and why I'm looking at it again this morning with you. Sacrifice as an act of worship has been around since Adam and Eve. The Old Testament is filled with commands given to Israel concerning when, where, what to sacrifice. Sacrifice isn't just an Old Testament thing that no longer applies to us today. It's the crux and the call of Christianity. It's the crux of Christianity because without Christ's sacrifice on the cross there would be no gospel and no reason for giving thanksgiving. We would still be dead in our trespasses and sin. It's also the call of Christianity because sacrifice is at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Mark 834. We don't perform animal or grain offerings anymore like they did in the Old Testament times, but in truth the New Testament raises the sacrifice stakes to a whole new level. Romans 12 1 tells us to present your bodies as a a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.

Jesus teaches a foundational truth about Christianity in John 1224 where he tells us that a kernel of wheat must be buried and die before it can produce much fruit. It's the principle of dying so as to bring forth life. Compared to New Testament teachings on the sacrifice, Old Testament rules and regulations actually don't sound all that difficult. The nature and kind of sacrifice described in the Old and New Testaments may have changed, but one thing that has remained constant is what it takes to make a sacrifice acceptable or unacceptable to God. I said a moment ago that sacrifice as acceptable worship goes back to the days of Adam and Eve. And so do acts of unacceptable worship. Sin is always at work, often staining what we say and do. And our worship then is no longer in our worship is no exception how sin enters in. Psalm 50 is all about wasted sacrifice and how offensive it is to God. And I want you as I go through Psalm 50, I want you to kind of really visualize what's going on.

There's a lot of imagery happening in here. It's a pretty amazing psalm. The psalm begins by describing a heavenly court being convened. It's not your typical American courtroom where you have a defendant, a plaintiff, and lawyers for both sides, a jury, some witnesses, and a judge. In this courtroom, all we have is God, who is the supreme judge. And then we have some witnesses and Israel as the defendant. There aren't any lawyers present because there isn't any defense to be made. When God calls court, He Himself establishes the facts of the case. At issue were Israel's sacrifices. The problem was that they weren't offering them.

That was not the problem. They were. The problem was that Israel was missing the point of sacrifice and thus they were offering sacrifices that were unacceptable to God. This problem of course isn't limited to Israel. We are often guilty of the very same thing today and it's just as offensive to God.

Besides offering our bodies as living sacrifices we're told to offer our praise, our time, our talent, and our treasure just to name a few things. It is quite common for us to take the exact same to make the exact same mistake Israel made and thus render our sacrifices unacceptable to God. It behooves us to take a look and see what it was that provoked God to call Israel into court so that we don't become guilty of the same thing. If we were to read heaven's court docket on the day this trial took place it might read something like this God versus the nation of Israel and the matter of unacceptable sacrifices. The psalm can be divided into three main sections. We have the first section where the court is called in verses 1 through 7. Then we have the case is made in verses 8 through 21. And then we finally have the convicted are warned in verses 22 through 23. So first let's take a look at verses 1 through 7. The court is called into session. When a typical American court is called into session and officer of the court usually says something like,

all arise. This court is now in session. The honorable Judge Judy is presiding.

We see something in verse one. The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. I mean that verse alone should give you some chills up and down your spine. The phrase mighty one, God the Lord, invokes three distinct names of God, El, Elohim, and Jehovah. This pattern is used only one other place in the Bible in Joshua 22-22 where it's repeated twice and you can dive pretty deep into the commentaries as to what significance that may hold. If any this triple use of God's what you might you can explore deeply what that might mean this triple repeat an interesting note in the discussion is the fact that Elohim itself is a plural noun which some believe alludes to the Trinity being there the argument against that referring to the Trinity of course is that the noun Elohim usually appears in the Bible with the singular form of whatever verb it's paired with so normal grammar the subject and the verb must agree and number be in plural or singular. So the theologians, the eggheads, they debate

back and forth what the significance is. But anyhow, it's only one hundred place in the Scriptures where we see God, three names for God. You can have fun mulling over that thought later. But what I do find interesting in this triple reference to God is the sense that he is both supremely transcendent and personally, personally knowable. We see a progression from less specific and less personal to more specific and more personal in these titles for God. The first term L conveys the idea of mighty powerful, the powerful God, the mighty God. It was also used a word used in pagan cultures to refer to their God. So it wouldn't necessarily get anybody's attention, yeah, because hey you got your L, I got my L, but it was referring to this impersonal mighty God. Some might say you have your L and I have my L. Just using L by itself didn't really pin down exactly which God we're talking about.

But lest anyone be confused about which L we're talking about, the Psalmist adds Elohim which carries the idea of the God who is the Creator. It's the word used for God in Genesis 1.1. In the beginning Elohim. That's now that's just narrow down which God the Psalmist has in mind. We're referring to the mighty God, the God who is the creator. This gets us closer to which God we mean, but false worshipers also claim that their God creates too. So just to be sure there isn't any remaining confusion, the writer includes Jehovah or Yahweh, which is God's personal name. So then as the court is called into session we hear all rise, God almighty, creator of all things and below, your God whose name is Jehovah is presiding. It really gets the attention and it begins to give you the goosebumps as this court scene begins to unfold. Verses two through three go on to tell us where this court is being held and describe the scene as the judge makes his entrance.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes. He does not keep silence. Before him is a devouring fire around him, a mighty tempest. So again, just try to visualize this grand entrance. Zion refers to Jerusalem, which is where the temple is located and serves as the locust for Israel's corporate worship. To Israel, Jerusalem is everything. It is the holy city because this is where the temple of God is located. Israel's identity as a people was wrapped up in Jerusalem. Psalm 137 captures just how passionately the Jews felt about Jerusalem. That Psalm refers to when the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and the people were in exile.

And their captors, the Babylonians, are taunting them and saying, hey, seen this in Psalms about Zion. Tell us how great Zion is." And their response is recorded by the Psalmists. They say, how shall we seen the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget it. They forget its skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. If I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. We find those words in Psalm 137, 4 through 6. Jerusalem is described as the very perfection of beauty. It is the epitome of what is good and beautiful, and it makes sense that this is the spot where the Supreme Being is going to hold court.

God's entrance is likened to the coming of a mighty tempest and a consuming fire. These metaphors are a picture of God coming with power and authority to judge His people. There is something not right and we are about to find out what and why. The imagery the Psalmist gives is powerful and it's meant to impress upon us how serious the matter is. And then moving on to verses 4 through 5 tells us who the defendant and the witnesses are. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gathered to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. calls for the heavens above and all the earth below to serve as the witnesses.

This is in some small town country court where a few curious citizens with nothing to better do sit in. This is a very public court proceeding where all of creation is called to serve as the witness. The defendant is identified as my faithful ones who make a covenant with me by sacrifice. The only group that fits this description would be Israel. Nobody else has a covenant relationship with God. It's interesting that Israel is called faithful ones since they are about to be judged for being anything but faithful. Perhaps the Psalmness is using a bit of sarcasm here to highlight Israel's sin. All of heaven and earth are the witnesses. Israel is the defendant and God is the prosecutor and the judge. Now sometimes in a human court a motion might be made to have the judge recuse himself. This could be for a variety of reasons including an inability to be impartial. Verses 6 through 7 however speak to God's unassailable character as judge. Nobody can question his authority to preside over this court. There's no need for him to recuse himself. All of heaven

bears testimony of his righteousness. We see continuing on verse 6, the heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judge and then we take a pause the Selah there. Hear oh my people and I will speak Oh Israel I will testify against you I am God your God. Again can you just kind of hear him booming down that voice and we've seen the tempest and all creation has gathered and everybody is shutting up because there's no defense to be made. All it is to sit back and wait for him to pronounce judgment. It's an incredible scene. Notice the Psalmist's use of Selah here which signifies a pause.

That's a very pregnant pause. The judge is about to speak and everyone is holding their breath. Apparently Israel's sin has been going on for some time. In verse 21 God says, I have been silent but now in verse 6 he says, listen, I am going to speak. It underscores the uh-oh moment Israel is about to have. Imagine the effect when God says listen and he's going to speak. It's like that old commercial for the financial service company EF Hutton. You remember that commercial? In the commercial lots of people busy talking and gabbing and numerous conversations when someone leans over to friend they say in some quiet voice they say my financial broker is EF Hutton and he says and then all of a sudden everybody stops and they lean in they want to hear what EF Hutton had to say. It's that kind of a moment here God says I'm about to speak and all of creation closes its mouth and everybody's leaning in what's about to happen. Immediately the whole room and in this case the Hall the creation stops to hear what's going on. When God speaks creation closes its

mouth and listens. We get the sense again of God's absolute and inviolable right to act as judge over his people. So now we come then to the case is made starting in verse 8, 8 through 21, the case is made. As we move into the next few verses God begins stating his case against Israel. He begins by telling him that he's not charged, begins by telling him what he's not charging them with. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. They had been commanded to bring burnt offerings and they were doing it. He says I'm not I'm not here to fault you for that. You're doing it. The law of Moses detailed all the offerings of the people were supposed to bring and when. Apparently they were fulfilling their duty because God says he doesn't rebuke them for failure to do so. But then, even though they were doing what they were supposed to do, God says in verse 9, I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your fields. I don't fault you for doing what I told you to do, but I'm not

going to accept it. What's up with that? First, he says he doesn't rebuke them for bringing bird offerings, but then he says he won't accept them. You couldn't blame Israel at this point for maybe being a little bit confused. If Israel is technically doing what God commanded them but he's refusing to accept it then obviously there's something about their offering that is unacceptable to him. In verses 10 through 12 he begins showing them what the problem is by telling them what sacrifices are not for. He says, for every beast of the forest is mined the cattle the Thousand Hills. I know all the birds of the hills and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you for the world and all of its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?"

It's almost embarrassing that God has to point this out to Israel. You can almost see them shifting on the hot seat and staring down at the floor. Clearly God does not require sacrifice because he needs something from them. It's not like he's got a party coming. He needs a bunch of animal sacrifice. It was never about what God needs. He does not eat food like us. He already owns everything that man can sacrifice. So he doesn't need men to bring those sacrifices. There is nothing man can sacrifice to God which God does not already hold title to. Offering sacrifices to God is simply giving back what he's already given us in the first place.

Israel apparently did not understand this and somehow thought they were doing God a favor by giving him some of their possessions. So what does what did God require so that their sacrifice wasn't just a meaningless barbecue? What would cause him to accept their sacrifices and be pleased with it? Verse 14 through 15 I believe identify three ingredients that make sacrifice to God a pleasing aroma rather than an offensive stench. It says, Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and perform your vows to the Most High and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. Three things are necessary for any sacrifice to God to be acceptable and they're all related to one another.

All three must be present. It isn't enough to have two out of the three and no work is even really possible. You have to have all three or nothing. The first thing that's necessary for our sacrifice to be pleased with God is true thanksgiving. I mentioned earlier, verse 14 is what caught my eye a year or so ago. The command to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving struck me as peculiar. Not the idea of giving thanks to God, but the idea of thanksgiving as a sacrifice. We don't typically put Thanksgiving and sacrifice in the same sentence. We can express thankfulness for someone's sacrifice, but what does it mean to offer Thanksgiving as a sacrifice?

When a small child receives a gift from Grandma and Grandpa, his parents aren't going to say, Johnny, I want you to give Nana and Papa a hug and offer them a sacrifice of Thanksgiving. What is it about Thanksgiving that makes it a sacrifice? The dictionary defines sacrifice as giving up something you value. In what way is offering God a sacrifice of thanksgiving giving up something? I think there's at least two ways. First, giving thanks requires letting go of pride. Pride tends to strangle a thankful heart. Pride makes us think we are something special because of our possessions or our accomplishments. Pride makes us believe we deserve something.

So why be thankful for what we deserve? Pride makes us blind to the reality that everything comes from Christ, money, fame, friends, family, good looks, brains, talents, everything. If I see myself as self-sufficient or as a deserving recipient, then I will be stingy with my thanksgiving. The second thing we give up when we offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving is discontentment, which is the flip side of the pride coin. Being discontent will also kill a thankful heart. If we're not happy with what we have and always want something more, then thankfulness will be at best half-hearted. Being discontent is just another form of pride because it says I ought to have the things I don't. I deserve better than I have. If we really believe that God is a sovereign over everything, then complaining about our circumstances is the same thing as telling God he's not good and or just.

Being content is something that we can apparently learn to do. Paul says in Philippians 4 12 that he had learned the secret of being content in all things. Learning to be content in all things really rubs against my desire to be a realist. But God don't you see what's going on? He says yeah I see what's going on, give thanks in all things, everything, all times. Both thinking that we deserve the gifts we have, both thinking that we deserve the gifts we have or that we should have received the gifts we have not will keep us from offering up a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Perhaps the secret that Paul refers to is that he came to realize that everything from God is gift when viewed properly. That's an idea worth its own sermon sometime and we've talked about that a lot here, recognizing as everything is gift. The second ingredient necessary to make a sacrifice pleasing to God is obedience to his commands.

Getting back to the courtroom in Psalm 50 we see that Israel's disobedience was a main reason God was refusing to accept their offering. You can hear God's disdain for their hypocrisy starting in verse 16. But to the wicked God says, what right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief you are pleased with him and you keep company with adulterers. You keep your mouth free, you give your mouth free reign for evil and your tongue from deceit. You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done and I have kept silent. You thought that I was one like yourself but now I rebuke you and play the charge before you." Israel was guilty of several things including disobeying God's commands, stealing, lying, speaking evil, hating with bad company, and slandering others. But on the positive side of the ledger they were fulfilling their spiritual duty to offer bulls and goats to God. The hypocrisy is as laughable as it is

pathetic. Sacrifice without obedience is an affront to God because it fails to recognize His holiness or our obligation to submit to His will. They were offering to God just a bunch of bulls, and they knew it. Living and ongoing disobedience means we are acting autonomously and not in subjection to its authority even if we are going through the religious motions of making sacrifices. And then there's a third ingredient in making sacrifice pleasing to God and that is in recognizing our dependence on Him. As He says in verse 15, call upon me in the day of trouble. Clearly our dependence on Him is not limited to just when we're in trouble. True dependence recognizes that we are but a vapor and that there is nothing we possess that was given to us by God, that was not given to us by God. If we feel magnanimous rather than thankful and needy when we make sacrifice to God, we show a complete misunderstanding of the creature-creator relationship. Oh God, I'm gonna be so good to you today, I'm

going to offer you an extra bowl, an extra goat. We're going to be magnanimous towards God. We fail to understand what's going on in that relationship. Sacrifice to God is an act of worship on our part, not an act of benevolence. God doesn't need or want our tips. And that brings us then to the convicted warned, verses 8 through 21. At this point in the trial, God could have sentenced Israel for their evil ways, but instead, decides to give them a warning and a promise in the final two verses starting at verse 22. Mark this then you who forget God lest I tear you apart and there is none to deliver the one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me to him who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God. Why does God accuse them of forgetting him? They were offering animal sacrifices prescribed in the law, God considers failure to be thankful, obedient, and reliant the same as forgetting Him, even if we're going through all the religious motions. It's really the same old problem of

separating the sacred and the secular, and of course we know that no such divide exists. I'm not sure exactly what God means by tear you apart, but it really doesn't sound very pleasant and it communicates just how offended God is by polluted sacrifice. After strongly rebuking and mourning Israel, God then does something that shows that he is not the El of other nations. He is not a God who throws his power and wrath around when we mess up and then retreats to some heavenly loft until the next time we need a smacking. He is Jehovah, a personal God who desires relationship with his people. Even though Israel had really messed up, God extends a promise to them. He promises to show them his salvation. I don't think we can take salvation here to refer to our ultimate salvation when we die and then we're in heaven in our glorified bodies. If that's what the Psalmist was referring to, then it would suggest that we can somehow earn our salvation because his promise here is conditional on Israel offering sacrifices of thanksgiving. So we can't conclude

that he's referring to salvation as ultimate salvation. It makes more sense in the context that to show the salvation of God refers to his relationship with them on earth. If they would repent of the rebelliousness, then they would expect to receive God's blessing and experience his quote, salvation here on earth. The same principle is true for believers today. Our time on earth can be measured by increasing joy or soul draining misery. The difference is if we are receiving God's grace or experiencing his opposition. He gives grace to the humble but resists the proud. Lip service was not a problem unique to Israel.

If we're honest, there are times when we are going through the motions but our heart isn't in it. It's incumbent on all of us to examine our lives before the Lord and let his spirit reveal when we are being half-hearted or worse, duplicitous. When we do this and get our hearts right before the Lord, he restores the joy of our salvation. It's a salvation that taps into the fount of every spiritual blessing. It's a salvation that invites us into an intimate, never-ending, and forever-expanding relationship with the Triune God. It's a salvation full of joy and grace. How do you keep from wasting your offering to God?

him genuine sacrifices of thanksgiving that are evidence to buy humility, obedience, and complete reliance upon him. Offering him anything less is just sacrificing a bunch of bulls and goats, and he won't accept it. Let's pray. Well, Father, as we've gone through this psalm, it's not an easy one to read because it does, I think, confront all of us. We all have been guilty of not offering a proper sacrifice of Thanksgiving. And so may we take heed the warning that you offer us in this passage, that we would examine our hearts to find out if we make sacrifices on Sundays and then the rest of the week if we're just out living our own lives in prideful ways, in disobedient ways, independent ways.

May we just truly learn, Father, at all the moments of our days to walk before you in a way that is proper and good in your sight, that when we offer our thanksgiving, it will be a true and acceptable sacrifice in your sight. And thank you again, even as this psalm ended up, that you're not the L, just the L who smacks us and goes away, but you're the Jehovah who longs for relationship. And even though you'll rebuke us severely, you still want that relationship with us. And so may we be quick to seek forgiveness and to repent and seek forgiveness and to then enter again into your salvation. Pray this in your sign in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, after that sermon, it's time for us to give Thanksgiving, I would say. And there is no other part of our service, I think, that is more powerful than this part where we all come down and partake together of communion to what it God has done for us and how thankful we should be.

As Jim said in the Psalm as he was preaching through it, and I wanna read this again because I think it's really powerful, Psalm 50 verse 22 through 23, Mark this then, you who forget God, Lest I tear you apart and there will be none to deliver. The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me. To the one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God."

Well, however we want to interpret that, we live in an age where we have been shown the salvation of God and his perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that's what brings us together in this communion. We also see this communion as not a closed communion and those of us who you are visiting you'll notice we pray for other churches in our community not just our church. We are looking for the gospel to be presented correctly all over the place in whatever gathering there may be because the Lord is doing all kinds of things all over the world that we don't even know about and which makes him a great God knowing all those things is also was demonstrated in this psalm we've now reached the point where I am to charge you to go out into our our wonderful world that does have some troubles, but I'm to give you the charge to go out and work in it. I chose a section of scripture in Colossians that ends in this phrase, abounding in thanksgiving, because Jim told us what he was going to preach on and wanted it to

to kind of coordinate. So note as I give you this charge that the last three words in it are abounding in thanksgiving. I've chosen a passage that Paul wrote in Colossians 2, 1 through 7. And I'm gonna read the whole thing. It's a little long for the charge, but the last part of it is really good, I think. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you. and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all riches of full assurance of the understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ.

In whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in the body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good service and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving. Amen.

Download a copy of the handout for this talk.

Realities that help earthly fathers image the Heavenly Father

Human beings are choosing machines. Well, we’re not actually machines, but we are choosy choosers always choosing. We are value recognizing, value assigning, and value pursuing people because we are image-bearers. God calls things good (or not), we’re made to reflect Him, and in the new life He’s given us we’re learning how to do it better. We make judgments, with good or bad reasons, but not with instincts like animals. We make judgments, about more or less important things, because we are not nihilists where nothing means anything.

Because we are fallen/sinful, we get our judgments wrong sometimes, including our judgment of our own authority to judge. I’m not trying to be clever, but to acknowledge together some of the challenges we’re up against. While we live we can’t not make judgments, and when we get out of our lane crashes start to happen.

This is especially true when it comes to disputable things, or indifferent things. On one hand, because Jesus is Lord, everything matters. On the other hand, because Jesus is Lord, everything doesn’t matter equally, or as obviously. What Romans 14:5-12 emphasizes is that because Jesus is Lord, whatever we choose should be for Him, and one of the things we must choose is to let our brothers choose differently than us for Him.

Disputable things, in this context, are moral choices, or at least believed to be moral choices, or argued about as moral choices. This is not about the direction the toilet paper comes off the roll, though if you despise your brother over that, yikes. One dispute that goes around the internet every so often is yoga pants worn in public, and while the details of modesty are disputable, it’s not disputable that we’re to be modest. Likewise, there is probably some application here for sake of how we handle primary and secondary doctrines. Paul, no doubt, would rather have considered Romans 3 more critical than 14, yet here we are, following the Holy Spirit inspired instructions. We’re trying to figure out what needs breaking fellowship over, and fine. But don’t label everything a disputable thing in order to distance yourself from doing the work to develop and hold good convictions or good community. This passage requires the opposite.

It’s as simple as our confession: we are the Lord’s. It is not as simple as saying: don’t worry about it. The first key is not to worry about the wrong things. The most important key is to be thankful.

There are three parts to this paragraph, further explanation of verses 1-4.

Here we see another example of disputable things, and the two step plan for what to do about it.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. (Romans 14:5–6 ESV)

The word esteems works well, but what is it to esteem if not to judge? It is, in fact, the same original word as “pass judgement” in verse 3. We evaluate and then we choose.

The judgment in verse 5 concerns special days. There are the better days (or “holy/sacred” days) group, however many they have, and the “all” days are good group. Jews had a few feast days during the year, and Jews of course had the Sabbath day set apart every week; it was one day above other days. Gentiles also had public party days, though many of those celebrations were devoted to idols, so Paul probably wasn’t promoting that the same way as he allowed for buying meat previously offered to idols. It’s noteworthy that the Sabbath isn’t mentioned once in Romans, and the only other sure time Paul refers to it is in Colossians 2:16 in which “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.” Some think one is above, some think all are alike.

We kind of want to know which day was so important so we can decide who is wrong. But the instruction is different: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. It’s not “Just let it go.” It’s not even “Why not both?” You need to do what you think is right, and you need to think that it’s right for your brother to do the same. Demonstrated here is a “diversity of approved conviction” (Murray). Community doesn’t depend on conformity in disputable things.

In honor of the Lord…in honor of the Lord…in honor of the Lord. Are you making judgments, proactively, to honor Him? Or are you afraid, and reacting, thinking the Lord will be irritated? And then he gives thanks to God…gives thanks to God. Liberty for, never liberty from, the Lord.

What’s not right is choosing out of fearfulness. Anxiety is not weak faith, it’s the opposite of faith. Weak is one thing, worried is another. We should give the Lord our anxieties, but we do not serve Him in anxieties. He’s not more pleased by our level of freaking out. We do not choose out of fearfulness but out of thankfulness. As such we are not fastidious, which originally meant not just attentive to detail, but with an attitude of loathing. We’re not fully convinced so that we can justify feeling superior to our brother. If it’s so jealousable, sweet, show us, and stop hassling one another.

Choose your weapon for the Lord, steak and/or Brussels sprouts. Wield it with thanks to God. Those fully convinced about disputable things are thankful to the Lord, not fearful or fastidious.

The principle of honoring the Lord extends to every square inch and every second on earth.

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:7–9 ESV)

Because it’s almost too obvious, let’s note that four times in these few verses we’re talking about what the Lord is interested in; His cares are comprehensive. Godliness, altar-living, piety, cannot be restricted to only some types of activities/choices/judgments/locations/seasons. Living and dying take us from life’s first cry to final breath, all in Christ alone. Living is made up of judgments/choices, our physical dying is usually less of a choice, but, how we get there and in some cases how we go, is an ultimate, and final, choice.

We don’t have privacy from the Lord. We don’t have “our” things and His things. So even the disputable things can be and should be done for the Lord, while we acknowledge that our brother is doing the same. It’s not a threat, it is a comfort.

Also, the position of Lord has been settled. Verse 9 belongs among the great statements of God’s purpose. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. We think correctly about Christ’s death and resurrection “for our sins” and for our salvation. The Messiah is Savior. He was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). And He came to take up His authority as “Lord of all” (Romans 10:12), Jew and Greek, heaven and earth.

Jesus is Lord. He will be recognized by all, by His brothers and eventually by His haters. And the very practical application of this is to get off our brother’s back.

Those possessed by the Lord hold no disputable things privately from the Lord.

Good questions and a great quotation.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;

Hey, “you,” and “you” again, why are you doing this? Why do you think it’s your deal? This is “unreasonable boldness” (per John Calvin).

The quote in verse 11 is from Isaiah 45:23. Paul used it again in Philippians 2:10-11. (Of note, Isaiah 45 is God’s anointed appointment of Cyrus, the king of Persia, who was not a God-fearer, but still a chosen instrument to bless Israel in the return of the Jews and rebuilding of the temple).

The recognition of Christ as Lord has only begun to be fulfilled among us, but it will be completed.

Facts: we will all stand before the judgment seat of God and each of us will give an account of himself to God. This is true for believers, even though we are justified by faith not works, we will get to tell God what works we did for Him. That includes our choices about meat and veggies, and it includes our choices about who to confront about what and how we did it. We’ll give an account of how often we played the Lord rather than honor the Lord as representatives.

From a receiving end, I have thought for a long time that giving account to my brothers is good preparation for giving account to God, certainly if they see my disobedience, and I’d include if they have questions about the disputable. The instructions in Romans 14 are less about stiff-arming the inquiries of others and more about making better judgments. If we can/should give the benefit of the doubt, then that includes the over-confronters; “bearing with one another.”

Those prepared to answer to the Lord refuse to break fellowship over disputable things.

Pastorally I’ve observed that those who are quickest to point at others typically do so as a distraction from their own insecurities, and some of those with the highest standards are among the worst hypocrites. Others are actually mad at a third/unnamed issue, but feel that they can get a dig in with the presenting problem.

As for counsel on how to interact with one another about disputable things, in addition to Paul’s requirements for our perspective, you can hardly ever go wrong by asking questions. Start with questions toward a conclusion, not the other way around. And as for the “Tone Police,” that can be rough. But at least be sure to welcome (as Paul said) like you know the Lord is watching.

To feast or fast, to live or die, in honor of the Lord and giving thanks to God is not a crushing burden, it is a comfort against unreasonable criticism by our brothers, a protection from being unreasonably critical toward our brothers, and a spur to genuine jealousability.

Ah, how tempted we are to live in fear. How tempted we are to throw off hope, optimism, good cheer. How much sin we see in the world, and how quickly we determine our brothers are doing stupid things. We are easily discouraged by the atrocities, apostasies, and maybe worst: the apathies. But Christian, live by faith. Christian, look to the Lord, and keep exhorting one another to look to the Lord as well. Beloved, God is faithful!

[Y]ou are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:7–9, ESV)

Human beings are choosing machines. Well, we’re not actually machines, but we are choosy choosers always choosing. We are value recognizing, value assigning, and value pursuing people because we are image-bearers. God calls things good (or not), we’re made to reflect Him, and in the new life He’s given us we’re learning how to do it better. We make judgments, with good or bad reasons, but not with instincts like animals. We make judgments, about more or less important things, because we are not nihilists where nothing means anything.

Because we are *fallen/sinful*, we get our judgments wrong sometimes, including our judgment of our own authority to judge. I’m not trying to be clever, but to acknowledge together some of the challenges we’re up against. While we live we can’t not make judgments, and when we get out of our lane crashes start to happen.

This is especially true when it comes to disputable things, or indifferent things. On one hand, because Jesus is Lord, everything matters. On the other hand, because Jesus is Lord, everything doesn’t matter equally, or as obviously. What Romans 14:5-12 emphasizes is that because Jesus is Lord, whatever we choose should be *for* Him, *and* one of the things we must choose is to let our brothers choose differently than us for Him.

Disputable things, in this context, are *moral* choices, or at least believed to be moral choices, or argued about as moral choices. This is not about the direction the toilet paper comes off the roll, though if you despise your brother over that, yikes. One dispute that goes around the internet every so often is yoga pants worn in public, and while the details of modesty are disputable, it’s not disputable that we’re to be modest. Likewise, there is probably some application here for sake of how we handle primary and secondary doctrines. Paul, no doubt, would rather have considered Romans 3 more critical than 14, yet here we are, following the Holy Spirit inspired instructions. We’re trying to figure out what needs breaking fellowship over, and fine. But don’t label everything a disputable thing in order to distance yourself from doing the work to develop and hold good convictions or good community. This passage requires the opposite.

It’s as simple as our confession: we are the Lord’s. It is *not* as simple as saying: don’t worry about it. The first key is not to worry about the *wrong* things. The most important key is to be *thankful*.

There are three parts to this paragraph, further explanation of verses 1-4.

# Thankful Judgments (verses 5-6)

Here we see another example of disputable things, and the two step plan for what to do about it.

> One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. (Romans 14:5–6 ESV)

The word **esteems** works well, but what is it to esteem if not to judge? It is, in fact, the same original word as “pass judgement” in verse 3. We evaluate and then we choose.

The judgment in verse 5 concerns special days. There are the *better* days (or “holy/sacred” days) group, however many they have, and the “all” days are good group. Jews had a few feast days during the year, and Jews of course had the Sabbath day set apart every week; it was one day above other days. Gentiles also had public party days, though many of those celebrations were devoted to idols, so Paul probably wasn’t promoting that the same way as he allowed for buying meat previously offered to idols. It’s noteworthy that the Sabbath isn’t mentioned once in Romans, and the only other sure time Paul refers to it is in Colossians 2:16 in which “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.” Some think one is above, some think all are alike.

We kind of want to know which **day** was so important so we can decide who is *wrong*. But the instruction is different: **Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.** It’s not “Just let it go.” It’s not even “Why not both?” You need to do what you think is right, and you need to think that it’s right for your brother to do the same. Demonstrated here is a “diversity of approved conviction” (Murray). Community doesn’t depend on conformity in disputable things.

**In honor of the Lord…in honor of the Lord…in honor of the Lord**. Are you making judgments, proactively, to honor Him? Or are you afraid, and reacting, thinking the Lord will be irritated? And then **he gives thanks to God…gives thanks to God**. Liberty *for*, never liberty *from*, the Lord.

What’s *not* right is choosing out of fearfulness. Anxiety is not weak faith, it’s the opposite of faith. Weak is one thing, worried is another. We should give the Lord our anxieties, but we do not serve Him in anxieties. He’s not more pleased by our level of freaking out. We do not choose out of fearfulness but out of thankfulness. As such we are not fastidious, which originally meant not just attentive to detail, but with an attitude of loathing. We’re not fully convinced so that we can justify feeling superior to our brother. If it’s so jealousable, sweet, show us, and stop hassling one another.

Choose your weapon for the Lord, steak and/or Brussels sprouts. Wield it with thanks to God. Those fully convinced about disputable things are thankful to the Lord, not fearful or fastidious.

# Life and Death Judgments (verses 7-9)

The principle of honoring the Lord extends to every square inch and every second on earth.

> For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:7–9 ESV)

Because it’s almost too obvious, let’s note that four times in these few verses we’re talking about what the **Lord** is interested in; His cares are comprehensive. Godliness, altar-living, piety, cannot be restricted to only some types of activities/choices/judgments/locations/seasons. Living and dying take us from life’s first cry to final breath, all in Christ alone. Living is made up of judgments/choices, our physical dying is usually less of a choice, but, how we get there and in some cases how we go, is an ultimate, and final, choice.

We don’t have privacy from the Lord. We don’t have “our” things and His things. So even the disputable things can be and *should* be done for the Lord, while we acknowledge that our brother is doing the same. It’s not a *threat*, it is a comfort.

Also, the position of **Lord** has been settled. Verse 9 belongs among the great statements of God’s purpose. **For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.** We think *correctly* about Christ’s death and resurrection “for our sins” and for our salvation. The Messiah is *Savior*. He was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). *And* He came to take up His authority as “Lord of all” (Romans 10:12), Jew and Greek, heaven and earth.

Jesus is Lord. He will be recognized by all, by His brothers and eventually by His haters. And the very practical application of this is to get off our brother’s back.

Those possessed by the Lord hold no disputable things privately from the Lord.

# Accountable Judgments (verses 10-12)

Good questions and a great quotation.

> Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will 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 confess to God.”

> So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10–12 ESV)

Hey, “you,” and “you” again, why are you doing this? Why do you think it’s your deal? This is “unreasonable boldness” (per John Calvin).

The quote in verse 11 is from Isaiah 45:23. Paul used it again in Philippians 2:10-11. (Of note, Isaiah 45 is God’s anointed appointment of Cyrus, the king of Persia, who was *not* a God-fearer, but still a chosen instrument to bless Israel in the return of the Jews and rebuilding of the temple).

The recognition of Christ as Lord has only begun to be fulfilled among us, but it *will be completed*.

Facts: **we will all stand before the judgment seat of God** and **each of us will give an account of himself to God.** This is true for *believers*, even though we are justified by faith not works, we will get to tell God what works we did for Him. That includes our choices about meat and veggies, and it includes our choices about who to confront about what and how we did it. We’ll give an account of how often we played the Lord rather than honor the Lord as representatives.

From a receiving end, I have thought for a long time that giving account to my brothers is good preparation for giving account to God, *certainly* if they see my disobedience, and I’d include if they have questions about the disputable. The instructions in Romans 14 are less about stiff-arming the inquiries of others and more about making better judgments. If we can/should give the benefit of the doubt, then that includes the over-confronters; “bearing with one another.”

Those prepared to answer to the Lord refuse to break fellowship over disputable things.

# Conclusion

Pastorally I’ve observed that those who are quickest to point at others typically do so as a distraction from their own insecurities, and some of those with the highest standards are among the worst hypocrites. Others are actually mad at a third/unnamed issue, but feel that they can get a dig in with the presenting problem.

As for counsel on how to interact with one another about disputable things, in addition to Paul’s requirements for our perspective, you can hardly ever go wrong by asking questions. Start with questions toward a conclusion, not the other way around. And as for the “Tone Police,” that can be rough. But at least be sure to *welcome* (as Paul said) like you know the Lord is watching.

To feast or fast, to live or die, in honor of the Lord and giving thanks to God is not a crushing burden, it is a comfort against unreasonable criticism by our brothers, a protection from being unreasonably critical toward our brothers, and a spur to genuine jealousability.

----------

## Charge

Ah, how tempted we are to live in fear. How tempted we are to throw off hope, optimism, good cheer. How much sin we see in the world, and how quickly we determine our brothers are doing stupid things. We are easily discouraged by the atrocities, apostasies, and maybe worst: the apathies. But Christian, live by faith. Christian, look to the Lord, and keep exhorting one another to look to the Lord as well. Beloved, God is faithful!

## Benediction:

> [Y]ou are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:7–9, ESV)