Romans

Romans Chapter 14

• Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 
• 2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 

Seems like in many cases this part of scripture is ignored. In Paul's day he had trouble with Jewish Christians wanting to force the law on Gentile Christians. Paul was always trying to make peace by assuring the Gentiles that they were accepted by faith and the receiving of God's Spirit and didn't need to worry about the legal requirements of the old covenant like circumcision.

Now he discusses the dietary aspect of their conversion. Their faith is still in Christ and the things of the Spirit. Eating kosher food is not going to make them more spiritual and not eating the same will not make them less spiritual. For health reasons, it doesn't hurt to go by the law because God must have known something was wrong with some foods or He wouldn't have forbidden them.  They were unclean. So for health reasons, great idea but to apply it as necessary for salvation, bad idea.

Before the perfect sacrifice, who was Jesus our Christ, the keeping of the law represented that which was pure and clean until the one came who would make us pure and clean in our innermost being. The outward ordinances pointed toward the perfect one to come. In doing so Jesus fulfilled the law to perfection without breaking it in any point. This was done so those who have broken the law will not be condemned if they simply turn from sin and receive Him into their lives. The Just One, kept the law perfectly yet suffered death anyway when He did not deserve to die. If we believe in Him and what He did on our behalf, He forgives us of any sins we did and makes us worthy to enter His Kingdom which right now comes within us. Our souls are saved, we are born again by the Spirit of God. Our natural bodies still may die, but our inner soul and spirit will enter eternal life and at the resurrection receive a new body that can't die.

In the matter of what we eat, Paul tells all of us that we are to do as we wish and not judge one another on these matters. The vegetarian is not to judge the meat eater and so forth. 

This does not apply to sin and things that are against the moral law like adultery, incest, thief, murder etc. We must judge those things to be sin and that one who claims to belong to Christ is not to do those kind of things. In trivial matters like keeping holidays or eating pork, we leave it to individual consciences and we do not judge them. 

• Romans 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 
• 4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 

Actually we shouldn't be despising anyone even if what they do is sin but we deal with things as the scripture admonishes us to do, in the spirit of meekness. 

• Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
• 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 

This really was given to us long before the celebrations of Christmas and Easter so Paul did not have this in mind unless he could see it in the future. This is in regard to Jewish holidays and feasts that the law of God given by Moses required them to keep in remembrance of events that occurred in those days, like the Passover, Feast of Trumpets etc.

They were no longer required to keep those days because of the perfect one has now come. The perfect sacrifice for sins has come. Who is Jesus the Christ. If they chose to keep them, fine. They were not to judge others who chose not to keep the feast days though. Those feasts were once ordained of God, they are good to remember but not required after Christ. Let us also not condemn those that love to keep the feast days. As for myself, I wouldn't know how to keep them correctly. It might be safer if I didn't try. The feasts though do represent something. The Passover represents Jesus' death on the cross for our sins. The blood He shed is applied to our hearts when we believe in Him just like the blood on the door posts kept the death angel from killing all the firstborn of those obedient to the warning God gave Moses.

With the coming of the Holy Spirit to each individual that seeks and obeys God, we already have a witness and remembrance every day of God's presence in our lives. Special yearly feasts are not necessary to jog our memory, but is okay if we choose to keep them. 

As for Christmas and Easter, we must remember that they are not holidays that God sanctioned in the Old Testament and we are not required to keep either one. The first century Christians did not keep these days. The death of Christ was remembered at Passover. The Christmas and Easter holidays were added years later by Roman Catholic Church as a substitute to the pagan holidays that were held by pagan Rome. 

In order to combine the pagans with the church, the pagan holidays were renamed with Christian names. Christ was substituted in place of the sun god or Tammuz. There are other names for these but that is not the message I want to emphasize at this time. 

I will leave the celebration of Christmas to the individual conscience. But Christians who celebrate these days have to remember not to judge those who choose not to. 

There are some sects who do not celebrate Christmas for instance but that doesn't bother me in the least. I am more concerned with the other things they teach that is wrong rather than the non-celebration of Christmas. 

Our salvation is in faith in Jesus Christ and walking in holiness and godliness. What we eat or what holidays we celebrate does not add to our godliness and it doesn't make us better or worse. 

Saturday worship or Sunday worship also should make no difference because it wouldn't be wrong to worship God in public meetings every day of the week. We must keep our emphasis on the things of Christ and His salvation. Arguing over holidays only hinder us from majoring on the real important things we need to take heed to do.

• Romans 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 
• 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. 
• 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 
• 10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 

We must be careful to stress the important things of God's word and that which makes us disciples and fruitful bearers of the gospel. Trivial things such as what day to go to church, what holiday to keep or not keep, or what to eat is trivial matters that have nothing to do with the beautiful things God gives us through His Holy Spirit. In other words it is a waste of our time and is very unfruitful.

• Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
• 12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. 

We all have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive our reward. Our goal should be to hear the words, "Well done thy good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord." 

Not only should we desire to hear those words but we should desire that all we can reach for Jesus Christ also hears those words said to them. Go into all the world and make disciples should be our main goal rather than worry about the part of the law that was fulfilled in Christ. 

• Romans 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. 

Paul makes it clear about judging one another in trivial matters but he adds this and I believe this is the ultimate law of love. 

• Romans 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 
• 15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. 

If I knowingly am around someone who does not believe in eating pork for instance, I do not have to purposely eat pork in front of them and offend them. This takes genuine love. Being more concerned with the spiritual well being of that brother rather than what we "want" is showing to the world what we really think is more important. 

• Romans 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 
• 17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

Happy are we if we can understand this part: That salvation and the kingdom of God are the concerns of the Holy Spirit, not what we eat or drink. Walking in love is a wonderful goal to achieve.

I know two people who did not desire to drink alcoholic beverages. It went against their conscience. In one case someone used the scripture where Christ drank wine to talk their relative into occasional social drinking and convinced them that it was ok. The one became an alcoholic later. There is a scripture in Proverbs that says, "Wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." So strong drink is not really a good thing to become dependent on and talking someone into drinking might destroy them.

In the other case a lady talked her friend into drinking and later lamented that her friend became a hopeless alcoholic. She regretted ever talking her into drinking. This has happened to many. If we walk in love we will not do anything to destroy the person for whom Christ died. Love is the key.

Never and I mean never talk someone into doing something we think is ok if they hesitate and their conscience forbids it. Even if we think it is silly like a woman not wearing pants. If a woman believes it is wrong, leave her alone. We can damage her faith if we try to reason with her about it. Like we say to our dog when he wants something he shouldn't have. "Leave it."

Something important like false doctrine that can keep them from the true path to salvation, is another story. We need to correct those kinds of errors. 

As with all Paul's writings, we must not use these scriptures to give an okay to sin. If we could just change our mindset to seek the things of God rather than the trivial things of the world, we would be happier. 

God has much better things for us than what we can receive in this life. The deep spiritual blessings from God can't even be compared with the things of the world that is passing away. If we strive for the things eternal; eating, drinking and holidays would be way down on our priority list. We should get to the place that our main desired activity each day would be the time when that we've set aside to go into our prayer closets and seek God. 

We can even get to the place where we can't wait until Sunday (Saturday) comes when we can worship God with fellow believers. 

I've been in both situations. I've been to the place where I had to force myself and drag myself to church and I've been to the place where the space between Sunday and Wednesday seemed very long and I couldn't wait to get back. 

I've also been in the state where I didn't feel like praying and I had to force myself to pray for my conscience sake. Then I've been to the place where my private prayer time was my favorite time of the day. 

Believe me, being in the state where we love being in the presence of God either alone or with other believers is a much happier state to be in. The other is miserable. 

• Romans 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. 
• 19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. 

Unless we are quiet shy people who do not like to speak, we have to work on this one. Our goal should not to just be heard and impress people with the great things we want to say, but our goal should be to keep quiet until God shows us what to speak to the edification of the church body. Maybe we wouldn't be speaking so much nonsense and foolish jesting if we would only listen to the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit before speaking. 

I've been to testimony meetings which one will be anointed by the Holy Spirit and speak a word straight from God then I've been in meetings where people would tell long stories that edified no one and sometimes they would just be a long tale of someone's troubles. This may be why so many churches have cut out testimony services. That is a shame but I understand why they have to curtail it. 

• Romans 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense.
• 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. 
• 22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 
• 23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 

God expects us to exercise common sense. We live in a day where drugs and alcohol are ruining so many lives and I'm sure Paul is not saying that its okay to indulge in things that would harm ourselves and our families. I'm sure verse 22 is not saying if we sin and not condemn ourselves, the sin is ok. We all know better than that. He is speaking of the trivial things like meats and holidays.  

I've seen personally what alcohol can do to families. Some believe they can drink a little but not to access. I will not judge them as Paul admonishes us not to do but at the same time if I choose not to marry someone who drinks or not allow it in my own home, that is my choice to make. 

I've talked to a woman who claimed her husband nailed her shut in a small bathroom when he was drunk. My great grandfather was killed because his actions when he was drunk caused someone to shoot and kill him. I knew someone that became an alcoholic and her children had to be removed from her home because she couldn't take care of them. She never regained custody of them. 

If we come to Christ and then walk in the spirit, we will not need the things that the world seems to think they need. God always has something better. 

Like one song states, "You can have, all the world but give me Jesus." DC